Monday, October 24, 2011
Prime Time
So, I managed to successfully order the NYCC Exclusive Transformers Prime set last week, which arrived today. I expected the set to sell out quickly, but as of today it's still available on HTS.
Getting this set is a bit weird. First of all, it's the first NYCC exclusive - so far, the only exclusives for comicons have been at SDCC, and this was announced just a few days before NYCC, so it sort of came out of the blue.
Also, these are my first Transformers Prime toys. Normally, exclusive repaints of toys don't get released until after said line has been out for a while, but that's not the case here - TFP deluxe Optimus got an exclusive release for SDCC, but only with exclusive packaging, but other than that, "normal" TFP toys won't get released until next month at the earliest (a full year after the show debuted).
Now, had this set just been the taxi-flavored Bumblebee, I probably wouldn't have gone for it. What really made this set a must-have was the deluxe Arcee in G1 colors. See, Arcee is blue on the show - a bit confusing, since Chromia's traditionally the blue fembot, and has more than once shared motorcycle-based bodies with Arcee - so I didn't really know if I wanted the normal release as Arcee, since I thought it was pretty likely that it'd get repainted in Arcee's traditional pink and white (or at least pink/magenta, like the movie versions).
Turns out that I was right, though I was expecting a G1-style Arcee repaint much later in the line and as a retail store exclusive of some kind. To end up getting it before Chromia, er, show-accurate Arcee, even hits stores is pretty great.
Of course, Bumblebee isn't bad, either. In fact, I'm really having more fun with him. It's a neat mold that certainly echoes the various movie BB toys in many, many ways, but much cleaner lines, so it really exemplifies the "movie/animated" view of the TFP aesthetic.
Oh, yeah - the set includes two of the human figurines from the upcoming Optimus/Megatron deluxe Entertainment Pack. We've only got Raf and Jack here, since they are the "buddies" for BB and Arcee, respectively. They both get decked out in "NY" shirts with Autobot logos, a sort of take on the classic "I <3 NY" shirts."
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
NOOOOOOOOO
So, I found the 2nd wave of the new, smaller Star Wars Crossover toys the other day. I didn't want any of the wave 1 guys, which have been out for a month and a half or so, but I knew that Darth Vader would be in wave 2 (a remold of the wave 1 Anakin toy) and decided to at least get him.
The toy itself is pretty decent. I mean, if you take the already questionable SWTF design choices and shrink it down to what's essentially the same size as a Cyberverse Commander class toy, you get an idea of what you've got here. If you know this going into the situation, though, you can look past some of the toy's deficits and enjoy what it has to offer. I'll not get into all of that here, as I'll probably review him at some point, but the point of this post is to insert Darth Vader into the TF mythos, since that's what his new toy got me thinking about.
Anyhow, once upon a time, after the 13 had banished/defeated Unicron and the Fallen with him, Prima (first of all transformers and first Matrix bearer) creates, from the first generation of "normal" (read: non-13) cybertronians, the Knights of Prima, a group whose role is to generally safeguard Cybertron and the Matrix. The youngest of these Knights, inducted into the order when Prima is already old, is the cybertronian represented by the SWTF Anakin Skywalker toys (I've yet to come up with an decent TF-sounding name for him; "Anatron" isn't that great). Vector Prime, to Prima the most trusted of the 13, assists in leading this group and is most likely Prima's choice to succeed him as Matrix Bearer. Vector also takes an interest in Skywalker, becoming his mentor and attempting to shape him into being the best Kinight he can be so he can take over leadership of the Knights when Vector holds the Matrix. Skywalker takes to the role of apprentice very well, excelling in all fields, to the point that some believe that he, not Vector Prime, should be the next Matrix Bearer.
Later, Skywalker learns that Unicron has returned and invaded a nearby star system, beginning to devour planets and presumably making his way back to Cybertron. Vector Prime and the ailing Prima are not terribly concerned, as the Matrix defeated Unicron before and should be able to do so again. Skywalker, however, believes that no chance should be taken and that the fight should be brought to Unicron. He implores Prima to go and unleash the Matrix on Unicron far from Cybertron. When Prima declines, Skywalker then begs Prima to allow him to take the Matrix himself and use it to defeat Unicron. Both Prima and Vector are taken aback by this show of hubris, for they believe that only a true Matrix Bearer can wield the Matrix, and that means that Skywalker has begun to believe the rumor circulating about him. Prima denies his request again, explaining that even if Skywalker took the Matrix, it would not respond to him. Vector Prime urged Skywalker to calm himself, that Unicron would be destroyed by Prima when he reached Cybertronian space.
Skywalker found this unacceptable. He gathered a crew of other Cybertronian soliders (not Knights) that could change into starfighters and left to find and attach Unicron. He knew that his chances of defeating the Dark God were slim without the Matrix, but he could at least damage the beast and perhaps save some of the planets currently under threat of destruction.
Upon arrival in Unicron's space, Skywalker and his Troopers attacked the devouring planet as it prepared to ingest yet another world, home to a sentient species. This species was technologically advanced such that they too had spacecraft capable of fighting back. Skywalker managed to communicate with the planet's military. He learned that they had a superweapon that, if brought to Unicron's center, should be able to destroy him from the inside out. However, Unicron had adapted to the creatures and had his internal antibodies equipped with a biological weapon that would infect and kill their pilots before they could reach the core. Skywalker agreed to carry the weapon himself, reasoning that his cybertronian constitution should be able to survive the trip to Unicron's core (which he knew to be his spark).
Skywalker began flying his way into Unicron, superweapon in tow. Sensing the imminent danger, Unicron began to accelerate the ingestion process against the planet. Skywalker and his Troopers tried to fly and fight through Unicron's internal defenses as fast as they could. However, once Skywalker reached Unicron's spark and prepared to arm the weapon, another explosion (caused by the fighting between the Troopers and some of Unicron's antibodies) sent Skywalker himself flying into Unicron's spark. This nearly killed Skywalker, leaving his spark destabilized, parts of his body destroyed and his mind unconscious.
The planet under attack was completely ingested. When the Troopers managed to get Skywalker to come to, they informed him of this and explained that they needed to leave immediately, lest Unicron turn his full attention to them and destroy them. Skywalker became enraged. He armed the weapon and threw it straight into Unicron's spark, even as his Troopers were evacuating. However, when Skywalker had been knocked into Unicron's spark, the weapon had become partially damaged, as well. It only managed to release a percentage of its power, and instead of destroying the Dark God, it merely sent his spark into stasis and teleported his planet-body elsewhere.
In the aftermath, the Troopers saw Skywalker's broken body, once more unconscious, floating in the space where Unicron once was and went to retrieve him. Upon their return to Cybertron, Vector Prime ordered Skywalker to immediately be repaired.
More to come...
The toy itself is pretty decent. I mean, if you take the already questionable SWTF design choices and shrink it down to what's essentially the same size as a Cyberverse Commander class toy, you get an idea of what you've got here. If you know this going into the situation, though, you can look past some of the toy's deficits and enjoy what it has to offer. I'll not get into all of that here, as I'll probably review him at some point, but the point of this post is to insert Darth Vader into the TF mythos, since that's what his new toy got me thinking about.
Anyhow, once upon a time, after the 13 had banished/defeated Unicron and the Fallen with him, Prima (first of all transformers and first Matrix bearer) creates, from the first generation of "normal" (read: non-13) cybertronians, the Knights of Prima, a group whose role is to generally safeguard Cybertron and the Matrix. The youngest of these Knights, inducted into the order when Prima is already old, is the cybertronian represented by the SWTF Anakin Skywalker toys (I've yet to come up with an decent TF-sounding name for him; "Anatron" isn't that great). Vector Prime, to Prima the most trusted of the 13, assists in leading this group and is most likely Prima's choice to succeed him as Matrix Bearer. Vector also takes an interest in Skywalker, becoming his mentor and attempting to shape him into being the best Kinight he can be so he can take over leadership of the Knights when Vector holds the Matrix. Skywalker takes to the role of apprentice very well, excelling in all fields, to the point that some believe that he, not Vector Prime, should be the next Matrix Bearer.
Later, Skywalker learns that Unicron has returned and invaded a nearby star system, beginning to devour planets and presumably making his way back to Cybertron. Vector Prime and the ailing Prima are not terribly concerned, as the Matrix defeated Unicron before and should be able to do so again. Skywalker, however, believes that no chance should be taken and that the fight should be brought to Unicron. He implores Prima to go and unleash the Matrix on Unicron far from Cybertron. When Prima declines, Skywalker then begs Prima to allow him to take the Matrix himself and use it to defeat Unicron. Both Prima and Vector are taken aback by this show of hubris, for they believe that only a true Matrix Bearer can wield the Matrix, and that means that Skywalker has begun to believe the rumor circulating about him. Prima denies his request again, explaining that even if Skywalker took the Matrix, it would not respond to him. Vector Prime urged Skywalker to calm himself, that Unicron would be destroyed by Prima when he reached Cybertronian space.
Skywalker found this unacceptable. He gathered a crew of other Cybertronian soliders (not Knights) that could change into starfighters and left to find and attach Unicron. He knew that his chances of defeating the Dark God were slim without the Matrix, but he could at least damage the beast and perhaps save some of the planets currently under threat of destruction.
Upon arrival in Unicron's space, Skywalker and his Troopers attacked the devouring planet as it prepared to ingest yet another world, home to a sentient species. This species was technologically advanced such that they too had spacecraft capable of fighting back. Skywalker managed to communicate with the planet's military. He learned that they had a superweapon that, if brought to Unicron's center, should be able to destroy him from the inside out. However, Unicron had adapted to the creatures and had his internal antibodies equipped with a biological weapon that would infect and kill their pilots before they could reach the core. Skywalker agreed to carry the weapon himself, reasoning that his cybertronian constitution should be able to survive the trip to Unicron's core (which he knew to be his spark).
Skywalker began flying his way into Unicron, superweapon in tow. Sensing the imminent danger, Unicron began to accelerate the ingestion process against the planet. Skywalker and his Troopers tried to fly and fight through Unicron's internal defenses as fast as they could. However, once Skywalker reached Unicron's spark and prepared to arm the weapon, another explosion (caused by the fighting between the Troopers and some of Unicron's antibodies) sent Skywalker himself flying into Unicron's spark. This nearly killed Skywalker, leaving his spark destabilized, parts of his body destroyed and his mind unconscious.
The planet under attack was completely ingested. When the Troopers managed to get Skywalker to come to, they informed him of this and explained that they needed to leave immediately, lest Unicron turn his full attention to them and destroy them. Skywalker became enraged. He armed the weapon and threw it straight into Unicron's spark, even as his Troopers were evacuating. However, when Skywalker had been knocked into Unicron's spark, the weapon had become partially damaged, as well. It only managed to release a percentage of its power, and instead of destroying the Dark God, it merely sent his spark into stasis and teleported his planet-body elsewhere.
In the aftermath, the Troopers saw Skywalker's broken body, once more unconscious, floating in the space where Unicron once was and went to retrieve him. Upon their return to Cybertron, Vector Prime ordered Skywalker to immediately be repaired.
More to come...
Monday, October 3, 2011
He's back.
Unicron, I mean. I haven't made many Transformers: Prime posts, and I've certainly not made one recently. The show, which started almost a year ago, is now in the final 3-parter of its first season (and still not a single toy on shelves until maybe next month...).
Anyhow, the 3-parter (One Shall Rise or whatever) is all about the return of Unicron to the small screen. In this universe, dark energon is the blood of Unicron, and Megatron ended up finding a literal mother load of the stuff on Earth (he thought he'd have to go out into space to get more). This is because, at Earth's core, there's Unicron. He's been taking a dirt nap (ok, he wasn't really dead) for billions of years. After his defeat by the 13 Original Primes/Transformers, he apparently ended up floating off near the Sun's orbit and amassing a bunch of accreted rock and dirt, with the planet Earth eventually forming around him.
Now, since some 47 celestial bodies have aligned in such a way that the gravitational forces will disturb/awake Unicron, he's up and he's pissed. He's trapped and now has about 6 billion little "parasites" running around on his surface, which he's not happy about. Also, the only one who's shown up to help him is Megatron, who's not impressive enough to Unicron to even bother with. Optimus makes an impressive appeal to Unicron's vanity to spare the humans (he tries to make the big guy think that they're his offspring, a la Minicons), but Unicron's not having any of that, and just geopaths a bunch of rocky simulacra of his body (which, by the way, was once small enough to walk on Cybertron's surface) to fight Optimus.
Oh, I failed to mention that he's voiced by John Denethor/Dr. Bishop Noble! Awesome. However, I didn't think it sounded much like him, though I did think it sounded like a good Unicron.
Anyhow, the 3-parter (One Shall Rise or whatever) is all about the return of Unicron to the small screen. In this universe, dark energon is the blood of Unicron, and Megatron ended up finding a literal mother load of the stuff on Earth (he thought he'd have to go out into space to get more). This is because, at Earth's core, there's Unicron. He's been taking a dirt nap (ok, he wasn't really dead) for billions of years. After his defeat by the 13 Original Primes/Transformers, he apparently ended up floating off near the Sun's orbit and amassing a bunch of accreted rock and dirt, with the planet Earth eventually forming around him.
Now, since some 47 celestial bodies have aligned in such a way that the gravitational forces will disturb/awake Unicron, he's up and he's pissed. He's trapped and now has about 6 billion little "parasites" running around on his surface, which he's not happy about. Also, the only one who's shown up to help him is Megatron, who's not impressive enough to Unicron to even bother with. Optimus makes an impressive appeal to Unicron's vanity to spare the humans (he tries to make the big guy think that they're his offspring, a la Minicons), but Unicron's not having any of that, and just geopaths a bunch of rocky simulacra of his body (which, by the way, was once small enough to walk on Cybertron's surface) to fight Optimus.
Oh, I failed to mention that he's voiced by John Denethor/Dr. Bishop Noble! Awesome. However, I didn't think it sounded much like him, though I did think it sounded like a good Unicron.
B-day wrap-up
Ok, so I didn't end up getting that much this years. Here's the run down:
What I bought myself:
-DOTM DVD
-DOTM Voy. Sentinel Prime
-DOTM Legion Flak
-Kre-O Bumblebee (large version)
Here's what my parents got me:
-Kre-O Megatron
So...yeah. I'm not as disappointed as last year (kre-O Megatron being awesome doesn't hurt), but I'm pretty disappointed - no, that's not the word - I'm pretty worried that I didn't get MP Rodimus Prime. My mom warned me yesterday not to buy anything else on my birthday list (as she'll be pulling from the remaining stuff for Christmas), but I fear that if I don't track down a Rodimus myself, he'll be gone (if he isn't already). I didn't get to go to any functioning TRUs in Orlando, so I can't yet confirm this for myself. Of course, she could have bought it already (she did get Kreotron at a TRU...), but I'll probably just call her to be sure.
And, yeah - Kre-O Megatron is great. And I haven't even built the truck mode yet. I bought the larger BB at the local Walmart last night, but since I was also getting groceries with both kids and had to also get them fed at home when I got back (all by myself), the farthest I got with BB was opening the box. I figured I'd get him because he wasn't on the list and he's the only one of the car Kre-Os that really looks pretty decent.
What I bought myself:
-DOTM DVD
-DOTM Voy. Sentinel Prime
-DOTM Legion Flak
-Kre-O Bumblebee (large version)
Here's what my parents got me:
-Kre-O Megatron
So...yeah. I'm not as disappointed as last year (kre-O Megatron being awesome doesn't hurt), but I'm pretty disappointed - no, that's not the word - I'm pretty worried that I didn't get MP Rodimus Prime. My mom warned me yesterday not to buy anything else on my birthday list (as she'll be pulling from the remaining stuff for Christmas), but I fear that if I don't track down a Rodimus myself, he'll be gone (if he isn't already). I didn't get to go to any functioning TRUs in Orlando, so I can't yet confirm this for myself. Of course, she could have bought it already (she did get Kreotron at a TRU...), but I'll probably just call her to be sure.
And, yeah - Kre-O Megatron is great. And I haven't even built the truck mode yet. I bought the larger BB at the local Walmart last night, but since I was also getting groceries with both kids and had to also get them fed at home when I got back (all by myself), the farthest I got with BB was opening the box. I figured I'd get him because he wasn't on the list and he's the only one of the car Kre-Os that really looks pretty decent.
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