Basement Invasion

2011 Transformer of the Year...Finally

2012-01-26T18:06:00.000-08:00

So, I finally got around to finalizing my 2011 Transformer of the Year! I only opened this guy up after I did the actual Best of 2011 post, so he may have other wise gone somewhere else on that list, but he's awesome enough that he deserves to be here in his own post.

So...drumroll........

The Basement Invasion 2011 Transformer of the Year is Transformers: Prime: First Edition Starscream!

Yeah, this guy is awesome. He really redefines what can be done with a deluxe jetformer. Yes, he has his kibble problems - his bottom half is all legs and his chestplate just aft of the cockpit. However, the legs (in jet mode) are headed up buy the F-16's intake and they occupy a space that actually exists on that airplane, so this isn't the traditional jetformer bottom kibble that we're all so used to. Also, the chestplate is a lot less of a big deal in person than I thought it would be, as the details do actually flow fairly well with the rest of the design. Perhaps the only real downside to the jet mode are the permanently deployed landing gear, though they are thankfully short.

Robot mode is where Starscream really shines. He does look pretty much like his on-screen counterpart, which itself is a sort of deadlier-looking version of Animated Starscream. His headsculpt is great with its smirk, and his articulation allows him to have some great, character-filled poses. Also, I love how the jet's exhaust actually forms the back-mounted jetpack as on the show. His hunched back doesn't hurt, either.

Love this guy; hope the voyager's at least as good.

More TF: Prime around the corner...

2012-01-21T04:15:00.001-08:00

Ok, we're moving into Toyfair season! kind of like with Toyfair 2010, we've stumbled on some images for upcoming toys that will undoubtedly be part of Hasbro's Toyfair 2012 offering a few weeks earlier than expected. This time, it's from a catalog for Argos, the UK retailer, and they show some of the upcoming Transformers: Prime: Robots in Disguise and Cyberverse toys.

Just for your edification, the Transformers: Prime toyline has been a unique one. The TFP toys that were/are available at Toys R Us/HTS.com were the TFP: First Edition toys. Now, US TRUs have only gotten the first wave of TFP:FE deluxes (Bumblebee, Arcee, and Starscream) in, leaving still quite a few FE toys unreleased, such as voyagers Optimus and Bulkhead, the Entertainment Pack (with deluxes Optimus and Megatron, along w/DVD and human kid figurines), and deluxes Cliffjumper, Vehicon/Eradicon, and Terrorcon Cliffjumper. This would normally not be much cause for worry, but the newer, "actual" toyline for the show is already starting to hit shelves overseas and will soon here in the US. The problem is that the new line includes toys for the characters from the FE line, but the newer toys are all new molds or remolds. For example, TFP:RiD Bumblebee has a totally new upper body and two guns that can combine and be mounted on his engine block, something that FE BB can't do. RiD Cliffjumper is a totally new toy, and while he looks a bit more screen-accurate in bot mode, he does so at the expense of a non-cheating transformation, as his car roof-chest is a fake one. Also, while he includes a new weapon, he appears to lack the FE version's deployable arm cannons. There's a new Arcee coming, too, but we don't know what she's like yet. A new voyager Optimus has emerged, which (in the reverse of CJ's situation) now has a non-cheating transformation, though his new weapons look less accurate to the show. The Eradicon, too, has gotten a newer mold, that may or may not cheat less, but certainly ends up looking much cleaner in bot mode.

Anyway, here's a quick run down of my thoughts on these newer TFP toys, ripped from the Allspark boards:

Legion (blue): I guess this is Evac. Interesting that he got an energon weapon. I thought that he, at least, would get a proper "movie" release, seeing as how he's the centerpiece of the new movie-focused ride.

Legion (red): I guess this is DotM Mirage, which sucks. They couldn't even manage to give him a new mold for this smallest size class. At least he got something, I guess, and the energon weapon is at least a blade, so it's sort of appropriate. I'm sure he won't have a new head. I'll get him, regardless.

Drill Tank: This is friggin' great. Way better than anything I expected, and while I've been pretty impressed by all but the first images of the Star Hammer, this looks way more fun. Not sure why Knockout is included with it other than we're probably not getting a Miner Drone toy.

Voy. Megatron: No surprises here, but it certainly looks good. TFP Megatron's design is remarkably consistant across his three size classes, at least compared to the various versions of the movie Megatrons. I'm glad that it has the sword, as I would have been a bit disappointed if only the CV Commander had it (as great as that little mold looks).

New Eradicon: Looks way better than the FE mold, as that was the one FE toy I wasn't worried much about missing. This also makes me think that TFP RiD Arcee will be another new mold, or at least major remold like BB. I was going to only get the legion Eradicon, but it'll be hard to resist this version. Also, as a plus, if you do manage to find the FE version and want to army build, at least now all of your drones don't have to be exactly alike. However, I'll probably hold out for the jet mode Eradicon to get a toy.

Bluebee: Looks pretty cool. Assuming this is Hot Shot, I'll probably get it, as it's the new RiD remold of TFP BB and I prefer the FE version to be BB himself. Smart of them to homage Hot Shot's Cybertron color scheme, and it's kind of neat in a "full circle" sense, as both Classics Legends BB and SG Goldbug are Hot Shot redecos/remolds. Of course, you may want to buy it just to support more non-extraneous BB repaints...though I agree with the post asking for a Wasp scheme. When, Hasbro, when?

Botcon....2012

2012-01-06T17:46:00.000-08:00

So, I'm not going to Botcon again this year. While getting to go two years ago in 2010 was a blast, the main reason I was able to attend was that it was within a half-day's drive and I could stay for free in Orlando at my cousin's place. Last year was California, so that was a no-go, and this year is Dallas (which my sister-in-law, of course, just moved back from earlier in 2011). Basically, unless it's Atlanta sometime, I'm probably not going again.

Which is (sort of) fine for this year. The box set manages to do what I've wanted since 2008: revisit of the Shattered Glass universe! However, sort of interestingly, it's only half SG - the other toys are "Classicsverse" (referring to the 2007 set), and FunPub's versions of G1 characters tend to leave me wanting something better. So, it's a bit of a mixed bag, and as such, I'm most likely not ordering the entire non-attendee set, but will try to buy a couple of the toys from other Allsparkers if possible (it worked well for me in 2008 when I managed to get SG Starscream for only $50).

So, here're the toys:

SG Ultra Magnus: A repaint of RtS "Laser"/G2 Optimus Prime, and possibly with that mold's preexisting second head, Ultra Magnus is a must-own for me. Unfortunately, he's also a pretty popular character amongst most of the fandom, so he may be expensive. by the way, he's in "Powered Convoy" colors - the colors his G1 toy had in its original Japanese Diaclone form before being released as UM in the US.

SG Soundwave: a remold (new head) of Universe Ironhide/Ratchet, this toy is also a must-own, despite not being a great mold. SG Soundwave is a fun character, and will go well, colors-wise, with the SG Ravage I already own from 2010.

SG Tracks: a repaint of RtS Tracks, this is one I'd like to have, but don't have to have. It's basically tracks done up in Road Rage's colors (she was a G1 E Hobby repaint of Tracks) - mostly red, but some purple, too. Pretty cool, and it would also be the first non-G1 Tracks; he's actually managed to stay in just one universe since 1984!

SG Treadshot: A repaint of RtS Jazz (like Magnus, using that mold's preexisting alternate head mold). Fans assumed Treadshot would be the good version of the G1 Decepticon Action Master of the same name (and therefore perhaps be a Generations Warpath redeco, since he also has a cannon-chest). Instead, we got an homage that's much more oblique: this is the SG version of Universe (1.0) Treadshot, who was a repaint of Armada Sideswipe. Now, his colors were purple and orange (a very similar looking repaint, Oil Slick, was also released in Universe). However, SG Treadshot ends up using the colors of the source mold, Armada Sideswipe, which are blue and orange. It looks really nice, but the character is such a nobody that, unless I were buying the whole set I probably wouldn't want him. Too bad!

Classics Metalhawk: A remold (new head) of Generations Thunderwing, Metalhawk mostly looks like his pretender shell (the new head is human!). While I don't really care about Metalhawk as a character, this toy does look good, and I'm a fan of the mold. Again, if I were getting the whole set, I'd be excited about this guy, but as is, I think I can pass on him (the human head is, honestly, a turn-off; I would have liked the Club Comic's hybrid design using the shell's helmet over the inner robot's head).

Classics Gigatron (Overlord): A remold (surprise! new head) of RotF Bludgeon, Overlord is supposed to be a toy of the G1 guy, but using a movie line mold (a first for FP, by the way) with a G1 head is pretty off-putting. Also, I think they went with "Gigatron" because this toy is really only half of Overlord - just the tank half. While the colors look great, this is really the only true dud in the set, and what has really kept me from wanting to go all in. If, for some reason, I do end up trying to purchase the non-attendee set, I'll be selling this guy, stat.

Christmas Time!

2011-12-23T12:40:00.000-08:00

So, it's the day before Christmas Eve. I'm taking a break from wrapping presents (about to wrap my a few for my son, including Rescue Bots Optimus and Charlie Burns), but I thought I'd go ahead and go over my...contingency plan.

As you may recall, last year I purchased a few TFs ahead of time for myself in the event that my family wouldn't be able to find them. The plan worked fairly well, as (I think) I only ended up having to return two transformers that I had bought for myself (though I did receive 1 HftD Highbrow apiece from my mom and mother-in-law, so I returned one of those as well).

This year, I've managed to mostly refrain from purchasing items on the list I gave to my mom, though there were a few exceptions. I got DOTM Voy. Sentinel Prime right after my birthday, and then bought HA Roadbuster during my October fall break. I also went ahead and purchased TFP Arcee, Bumblebee, and Starscream last month, though Starscream was the only one originally on the list anyway. All three of them remain hidden in package, along with Generations Black Shadow and Junkheap (who also weren't on the list, since I got them before I had a chance to add them). I also picked up DOTM Legion Soundwave last week.

And that's pretty much it...we'll see what else I get over the next few days!

Windcharger

2011-12-10T17:16:00.000-08:00

So, hey, my Windcharger arrived in the mail today! Luckily, some low-tier retailers in other parts of the country have started getting a lot of them, and this has in turned driven down his asking price on eBay. I managed to get mine for 2x retail, including shipping.

Pretty neat little guy - it's a shame he's the only classics-style scout-class toy to see US release.

Best of 2011

2011-12-09T18:34:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it could be a bit early for this kind of post. Christmas isn't here yet, and some of the more high-profile TF toys of the year (MP Rodimus, Kre-O Optimus, etc) aren't in my possession...yet. Even so, someone started the yearly "Best of" thread over on the Allspark, and I figured I could go ahead and compile a tentative list here, and I'll revise it later in the month if necessary.

I'll be breaking everything down by toyline, and then by size class. Ultimately, I'll post Basement Invasion's Transformer of the Year.

Ok, here we go:

Reveal the Shield:

Legends class: Megatron, for Hasbro having the ***** again to make a realistic gun mode G1 Megatron. Also, bonus points for making the barrel the fusion cannon instead of back kibble. Extra bonus points for making it compatible with the Masterpiece Seeker mold!

Scout class: not that I have it yet (I did manage to win one on ebay for only 2x retail the other day, though), but Windcharger kinda takes this one by default. I mean, his only competition was Chopsaw, and no movieverse repaint is going to be able to compete with an elusive new-mold G1 character. It's just too bad we never got Frenzy/Rumble to go with Windcharger.

Deluxe class: Perceptor. Very cool alt mode that echoes the Animated version of the character, and a great bot mode to match it.

Voyager class: Lugnut, no question. Yeah, Solar Storm Grapple (I swear, it's like I could just make shit up and it'd be a TF name) is pretty cool, but Lugnut is fantastic. He not only manages to be a great homage to the Animated version, but also be a much better toy.

Generations:

Deluxe class: Well, this is the only category, isn't it? And there's so much awesome to choose from...I guess I'll have to go with one of the most recent entries, Black Shadow (well, Sky Shadow, but whatever). See, the thing is, most of the other awesome new mold guys (Kup, Scourge, Warpath) would have inevitably gotten new molds anyway, or at least gotten an homage mold from some other part of the franchise. But a new Black Shadow was never going to happen. Well, at least until we also got a new Thunderwing, the original version of whom the first Black Shadow was remolded from. Even then, the release of Generations Thunderwing last year didn't guarantee a new Black Shadow. He'd have to at least get a new head mold, and there was always a chance that the Thunderwing mold could end up as one of those (nowadays) rare molds that never gets repainted. Or Hasbro could have just repainted him as someone totally unrelated (Earth-mode Terrorsaur!) or brand-new. But, no - Hasbro took the opportunity, made a new head AND chest piece for the toy, and one year after Thunderwing we got Black Shadow. And, right now, he's relatively easy to find, too.

Dark of the Moon: OK, the big bad movie line of the year.

Mini-con: Yep, there are four older minicons repainted and put in DOTM-style packaging, so I figure they could get a shout-out here. "Dualor" is the best of the set, being that he's basically a Grimlock minicon (a Classics Terrorsaur repaint, if you couldn't figure it out). Still, Catilla (from the tiger minicon mold) gets up twinkles for being, well, a Catilla
homage.

Cybervese Legion: I dunno. There's a lot of fun ones here. I'll have to settle for a 3-way tie between Sideswipe, Roadbuster, and Crowbar. Sideswipe has a fun, clean transformation, Roadbuster is just a lot more than you expect from a legends/legion toy, and Crowbar is really interesting (not to mention pretty posable).

Cyberverse Commander: On the Allspark, I posted Hatchet as my choice here, but now that I think about it, I'm going with Blackout. He has an amazing transformation and manages to be a much better toy than his TFM Voyager counterpart. Add in the tiny Targetmaster Scorponok, and you're golden. Really, this size class has been one of the best new things about 2011. The only real "duds" are Optimus and Sentinel, and even they're decent (especially the Battle Steel Optimus repaint with the new weapons).

Cyberverse Action Sets: I've only got the Megatron one, and even that one I just got a few weeks ago. It's pretty cool, though. I'll eventually get Shockwave, since it's not clear that he'll get a single-packed release, but all the other ones are passable.

HA Scout/Basics: Maybe Icepick? I think that's my favorite to transform, and it makes some good ninja poses. Plus, Sgt. Chaos is pretty cool. Doesn't have the best weapon mode, though; I think that goes to Whirl.

Deluxe: Cyberfire Bumblebee. The new BB mold for DOTM is pretty awesome, but when Hasbro slapped this deco on it, they really hit a home run. It's like BB is possessed by the Fallen. It's great. Also, bonus points to a very awesome (and fun!) Laserbeak.

Voyager: Megatron. Just a great, creative voyager. Also, one of the few DOTM toys to have an integrated Mechtech weapon. Both Shockwave and Sentinel are fun, too, though.

Human Alliance (large): Roadbuster. Yeah, he's the only DOTM HA I have right now, but he's also really good. His car mode is really cool and he has a very interesting, involved transformation. One of the best HAs and reason for this size class to continue.

Leader: Sentinel. When you're competing against an oversized BB and a sort-of-crappy Ironhide, it's easy to be #1. However, I think it's awesome that we can even say the phrase "Leader class Sentinel Prime" without it being a pipe dream. All you Bay haters better thank the movies for giving some of the really obscure characters a spotlight.

Kre-O: Seeing as how I only own 2 of these sets, and there aren't that many releases in each of the "size classes", I think I'll just break it down between the sets themselves and the Kreons:

Sets: Megatron. Between him and the larger Bumblebee, he's a bit more interesting in terms of blending design traits of various Megatrons. It's easy enough to construct an awesome wheel cannon, a la Cybertron Megatron, for him too. Also, the truck mode looks really cool, and the tiny cell is fun.

Kreons: Of the ones I have, I'll go with Shockwave. He's just a cool looking little guy, mostly due to his helmet/face. The gun could be better, though.

Transformers: Prime (First Edition):

Deluxe: As of this posting, this is the only class that has been released in the US. While I own the normal releases of Starscream, Arcee, and Bumblebee, I've yet to open them as I'm saving them for Christmas. The two toys that I do have open, NYCC Arcee and Bumblebee, I'd say that Arcee is the better of the two. Bumblebee is pretty cool (I especially like the shoulder transformation), but Arcee is the best version of that character that transforms into a motorcycle. Also, G1 colors FTW.

Basement Invasion Transformer of the Year: ???????

Prime Time: Part Deux

2011-11-22T03:15:00.000-08:00

Ok, so in the past couple of weeks the TF fandom rather quickly learned that the Transformers Prime: First Edition toys would not be carried at general retail stores like Walmart and Target. BBTS started this all off by insinuating that only they (and some unnamed specialty stores) would carry the toys, so you should preorder the stuff from them, shipping and markup and all. Thankfully, some people read between the lines, realizing that Toys R Us might be one of those "specialty" retailers.

Sure enough, within a week or so, we saw TFP Bumblebee get listed as in-stock on the TRU website. Then, within a couple of days, not only do Starscream and Arcee show up online, but all three also being to appear in stores! I thought this was great, as I had been worried about my chances of getting the toys online. I got excited when some of my online GA TF allies began to report seeing the toys in stores not too far away, but since I mostly wanted just Starscream from this wave, I was content to wait it out and leave Starscream on the Christmas list I had sent my mom.

But then, I further learned that, basically, the shipments that had just started to show up this week were basically going to be the only shipments of this wave, meaning that there was going to be some ungodly low number of TFP toys available - like only 1500 or so Arcees on the Atlantic coast at all! So, since I was headed to my old college town to have lunch with my friend, I determined to head to the TRU there as well and just go ahead and get all three of the toys if they had them.

I was in luck. They only had four TFP toys - 2 Bumblebees and one each of Arcee and Starscream.

Some Kre-O vehicle mode pics

2011-10-24T15:38:00.000-07:00

Prime Time

2011-10-24T14:23:00.001-07:00

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."

NOOOOOOOOO

2011-10-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

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...

He's back.

2011-10-03T12:38:00.000-07:00

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.

B-day wrap-up

2011-10-03T04:18:00.000-07:00

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.

Oh son!

2011-09-30T12:13:00.000-07:00

So I picked up the DOTM DVD today!

I haven't gotten any physical presents yet, so I also picked up a Voyager Sentinel Prime. I know, he's on my list, but it's like only the second time I've seen him, so I have no idea how much luck my parents would have at finding him. Awesome gun.

B-Day

2011-09-29T04:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, here it is. So far all I've gotten is money/checks and a Starbuck's gift certificate from my wife (along with a drink!). Pretty cool. Now, if I only knew what my parents planned to get so I could buy whatever in Orlando this weekend...

B-day list, round 2

2011-09-15T06:23:00.000-07:00

Ok, so here's a C&P of the Word file b-day list I've made for my mom:

Masterpiece Rodimus Prime (Toys R Us exclusive; $60 – this is the one I want most)

Transformers 3 (Dark of the Moon):

Human Alliance class (all $30 each)

Leadfoot (red Target NASCAR; only avail. at Target stores)

Roadbuster (green Amp NASCAR w/guns sticking out)

Skids/Elita-1 (black/green compact car w/purple motorcycle robot)

Voyager class ($20)

Sentinel Prime (red fire truck)

Cyberverse ($30)

Ark (Spaceship/base w/Roller robot – turns into lunar rover)

Kre-O (Transformer legos)

Starscream (Red/grey/blue jet, $30)
Megatron (Grey/red truck, $30)
Sentinel Prime (red fire truck, $40)
Optimus Prime (large version: truck with trailer, $60)

Man, that's a lot more spaced out than I expected. Anyway, here's some of the other stuff that'll be out this fall/winter that I want before the year is out:

DOTM:

CV Legion:
- Soundwave

CV Commander:
- ??? Is anything else interesting coming out this year? I guess we'll likely get a Shockwave release.

HA Scouts:
- Icepick

Deluxe:
- Air Raid
- Wheeljack
- Soundwave

Voyager:
-Cannon Force Ironhide

Human Alliance:
- Soundwave

Generations:

Uh, the only 2 guys that are left:
- Sky Shadow
-Junkheap

Prime:

CV Legion:
-Arcee/Chromia
-Wheeljack (likely w/o spaceship)
-Bumblebee

CV Commander:
-Ironhide
-Optimus Prime

Deluxe:
-Starscream
-Bumblebee
-Optimus Prime
-Megatron
-Cliffjumper (probably normal, not Terrorcon)
-Soundwave
-Wheeljack

Voyager:
-Optimus Prime
-Bulkhead
-Starscream

September looms

2011-08-29T16:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's getting close to that time of year again. It's one month until my birthday. You may recall my angst-filled wait last year, where I didn't buy much at all for myself before my bday and tried to depend on my family for my TF desires. It kinda worked, but not that well and not without some doubt.

This year, I'm still nailing some TF hopes and dreams on my family, but between streamlining my collecting and just not wanting some current/upcoming stuff, there shouldn't be too much I want this fall to begin with.

So, top of the list is TRU Exclusive Masterpiece Rodimus Prime. I got MP Grimlock from my parents for my last birthday, and this year Hot Rod/imus is available. I'm a bit worried, as the TRUs don't seem to be carrying too many of these and I'm sure that my family probably wouldn't try to find this until late in September, so there's a decent chance this may not happen. If not, I'll be trying to get it on my own, because this is a must-own figure.

Next is (possibly) DOTM Ultimate Optimus Prime. He looks fun enough, but he's more expensive than MP Rodimus and could be clearanced later, and I'm more concerned about getting Rodimus right now. May leave him off.

Next are 3 DOTM HA toys: Skids/Elita-1, Roadbuster, and Target Exclusive Leadfoot. I really only want Skids because he has a sick deco and he comes with Elita-1 (who I want more than ever now that I just read Rising Storm the other day). Both Wreckers, though, look great and very fun for HAs. However, if I don't get them, I may not pursue them, because I'm sure that a HA Topspin will follow, and altogether that'd be $90 for very non-core characters. I will definitely get HA Soundwave down the road, though.

Also possibly on the list is the Cyberverse Ark. This used to be a must-have for me, but now I'm not so sure (I haven't bought any of the smaller CV playsets, and they all interact and so on). I don't have to own Roller, seeing as how he's not really in the movie, and it's not like the Ark turns into Omega Supreme or anything. Still, it looks fun enough, and it plenty interactive. And I do like the idea of playsets in general, so I kind of feel like I need to do my part to convince Hasbro to make more.

And, of course, there're the Kre-O sets. I'm still feeling the itch, but have yet to scratch it. I'd like to at least get Starscream and Megatron, and wouldn't mind the huge Optimus or Sentinel either. Most of the smaller ones I'm not too big on, and the only big one I don't really want is the larger Bumblebee. I may just ask for Starscream, being as how he's my "official" favorite Transformer and I could probably get away with asking for just one of these sets. I may get the other larger ones on my own later, but I'll at least buy some of the Kreons online from eBay (Shockwave, Soundwave, the Seekers, Megatron, Sentinel, etc).

Last, but certainly not least, will be the DVD copy of Dark of the Moon itself! That's right, it's getting a very early release on the day after my Bday, September 30th (a Friday, no less)! Pretty danged awesome. On top of that, my wife and I will be taking that day off work to be in Orlando for her master's degree class that weekend staying at my cousin's, so I should be able to enjoy the movie just fine. Of course, this also means I'll likely have to wait for the end of the weekend to get anything from my parents, but oh well.

Hot Rods

2011-08-03T18:26:00.001-07:00

This year's Transformers Collectors' Club free toy was Sideburn. I got mine in the mail yesterday. He's awesome.

Sideburn is a repaint of the 2006 Classics Rodimus (Hot Rod, really) mold. This makes him a continuity transplant - the Sideburn character began life in the 2001 Robots in Disguise show as one of the three Autobot Car Brothers. Along with Prowl and X-Brawn, he was a key character, and in many regards filled the Hot Rod-esque "young good-natured punk" role. This eventuated in a repaint of RiD Sideburn in Hot Rod's red & orange colors. For the new, G1 version of Sideburn, the opposite was done, putting Classics Rodimus in Sideburn's blue & white. As I said, it looks great.

Sideburn inspired me to finally getting around to purchasing one of Walmart's DOTM exclusives - a legends class 3-pack with ROTF Bumblebee repainted in gold & silver (pretty much movie Goldbug), ROTF Soundwave in G1 colors, and Universe Rodimus in orange, brown, and silver.

Yeah, you read right. The Rodimus mold has been released in the US twice before, the first time in his typical red & yellow flame deco, and also in blue & red as Smokescreen. However, the original release was all but impossible to find and commands a much higher-than-reasonable price on ebay. Luckily, this mold is close enough to being Rodimus' G1 colors to satisfy me. Heck, IDW has even provided a good excuse for his brighter-than-normal colors - Hot Rod was shown in Maximum Dinobots to have the ability to pull a Human Torch-style "flame on" and engulf himself in flames. So, I guess this toy will be Flaming Hot Rod to me. Go ahead, get the giggles out.

The Kre-O itch

2011-07-30T19:03:00.001-07:00

I was initially intrigue by the idea of Kre-O. The cross-section of Transformers and Lego-style building block toys is a great idea, though its last iteration (Built-2-Rule) wasn't great and I avoided them. Still, even though Kre-O looked to be better executed, the pricing and lack of normal transformation has largely kept me from indulging in the new toys.

That's starting to fade. I guess the first trigger was the Kreons - Hasbro's answer to the little Lego people figurines - that are (by and large) just little G1 figurines with interchangeable parts. These have been a big hit in the fandom, largely because they hit all the important notes (Optimus, Bumblebee, Megatron, all 3 main Seekers, Shockwave and Soundwave, even a G1-style Sentinel Prime). Furthermore, we were made privy to the toys' bios a few weeks back, and it turns out that these guys, in fact, comprise their own continuity, just as how the G1, Unicron Trilogy, Animated, and Movie franchises are all different. Of course, it's separate largely to give the creators a large berth for silliness and humor (Sentinel is retired and likes to fish, Optimus can't stand Bumblebee's punk self, etc). Even so, the idea that these toys represented yet another continuity is pretty strong bait for me. *(see below for my continued riff on continuity)

But, I haven't bought any yet. The cost is still a pretty big deterrent, as the sets I really want - big Optimus, Starscream, Megatron, and Sentinel - are all within a range of $30 to $60 (!). Also, they're not that readily available - sure, you can get them online, but then you have to factor in shipping on top of the already high cost. TRU got them first, and got them strong - I remember the first time I saw them anywhere was at a TRU over a month ago, and there weren't many sets they didn't have. Targets apparently started getting them, too, as I saw a few different sets when I got my DOTM Space Case last week. However, here in town we only have a Walmart and a Kmart for TF retail, and only the Walmart has put out any Kre-O sets. Of course, they only put out Ratchet and Sideswipe, neither of which I really want.

Also, there's this whole Dark of the Moon thing. You know, the year's mainline for the nigh-billion dollar movie? I still will be making a fair amount of purchases from that line (Voy Sentinel, Soundwaves, Wheeljack, and so on) through the course of the year, and while Kre-O looks more and more awesome, it's still, in my mind, a side-product, not a true, normal Transformers toy.

Of course, should I actually move to my "key-characters only" collecting format, where I only buy iterations of characters like Optimus, Megatron, Bumblebee, Soundwave, and few other exceptions, the Kre-O sets will certainly be there for me pick up. That's part of its appeal; it does something pretty new with the transformers brand while grounding it pretty solidly within the core cast. Sure, you're not going to find Kre-O sets for Drift, Thunderwing, or Black Shadow anytime soon, but that's what the Generations line is for.

Thankfully, I am actually beginning to move in the aforementioned direction with my collecting. With DOTM, I've largely restrained the buying of "new" (whether they're truly new or just new to the movie series) or non-multiversal characters (like, say, Barricade) to the Cyberverse size classes. There have been some exceptions, of course. I was never going to pass on stuff like Voyager Shockwave or Leader (or Voyager, really, though I haven't seen it yet) Sentinel Prime. However, I've managed not to buy any Wreckers over $5, and I've avoided deluxes like Crankcase, Jolt, Ratchet, the Twins, and Bumblebee (any versions, though the new Cyberfire one is a likely buy). I say all this to say that I will feel more justified to get bigger purchases of core/key characters - like DOTM Ultimate Optimus or Kre-O Optimus (the bigger one, obviously) if I'm not buying every other TF toy under the sun.

* Ok, on continuity: Many of the Kre-O set robots (not the Kreons themselves, which, as I've stated, adhere very closely to G1) have designs that pick and borrow from a mix of other TF continuites. Megatron's a good example - his head is clearly modeled after Animated Megatron's Cybertronian helmet (itself inspired by the unused head design for Megatron in the 2007 movie). However, his body and alt mode clearly are an adaptation of the DOTM Megatron design, what with the truck mode and all (perhaps the worst thing about Megatron is his complete lack of a cannon of some kind, something I don't think we've seen since...well, I don't know. Even Cybertron and RiD Megatron could arm-mount their weapons into a cannon configuration). Sentinel's not a bad example either, with his alt-mode and body being from DOTM and his head (aside from color) being from Animated. Then there's Jazz, who looks completely G1 aside from his movie-esque silver color. Now, there are some straight-up G1 figures - Prowl and the small Bumblebee toy don't owe anything to a non-G1 continuity. But I bring all this sort of thing up to point out that, even if we hadn't officially been given a Kre-O continuity, the designs would have essentially necessitated one.

One more thing - the Kreons. Since these little guys are, with little error (Megatron's helmet looks a bit more Animated, much like the helmet of the building set robot) are G1 designs, I consider them to be G1 toys. In Hasbro's eyes, they belong to the same silly, brick-based world as the building set robots and human Kreons, with, of course, no real explanation in play (are the building sets mechs/remotely controlled drones? Are the Kreons manifestations of the Kre-O sets' spark, a la TM II Megatron/Tigerhawk?). Yeah, I'm getting too deep into this, but suffice to say, the robot Kreons and the building set Kre-O robots won't be inhabiting the same world in my book.

SDCC 2011!

2011-07-23T06:20:00.000-07:00

Last year's SDCC TF news kinda sucked. That was partly because I had seen most of it at Botcon the month before, but this year that isn't the case, and Hasbro had a pretty decent amount of new stuff to show (including some things they didn't show at this year's Botcon).

So, here's the run down:

Generations - ok, we're only getting one more wave this year, and they didn't show any 2012 stuff (though pretty much said they were going to continue it). But it's a pretty cool wave - giving us two remolded toys that represent pretty obscure characters.

- Junkheap - this is a remold (new head) of RTS Wreck-Gar, being that he's one of the other Junkions. His real name is either Junkyard or Scrapheap (not sure which, and it doesn't matter much to me), and he uses a different new head mold than the one that Takara used on their other Junkion remold of Wreck-Gar. I'll be getting this guy - no, he doesn't meet the criteria of being a legacy character in any way, but he and Wreck-Gar can ride each other in motorcycle mode, which is a pretty awesome gimmick, being as that's how the Junkions rode into battle in the Animated Movie. Also, as you can tell, Generations is a pretty small line for the remainder of the year, so purchasing these 2 deluxes isn't that big of a dent.

-Sky Shadow - Actually Black Shadow, this guy previously only showed up in Japanese fiction (in the Victory cartoon) and had a cameo in The Last Stand of the Wreckers. His original toy was a remold of G1 Thunderwing (just the shell; the inner robot was identical other than coloration) and so is this guy, gaining a new head and chest plate. Not only that, but by giving him larger horns/antennae than the original toy had, they made him more screen-accurate. He looks great, with his colors being a bit nicer than Thunderwing's. I'm certainly getting him, and more excited for him than Junkheap.

DOTM: Ok, it's still the year of DOTM. However, while a decent amount of stuff was shown, hasbro's still definitely keeping some stuff under wraps (for example, we haven't seen any Mirage/Dino toys other than the Hot Wheels-style Speed Stars toy). Here's the list:

-Air Raid - a deluxe first shown at Botcon, this Autobot is a green AWACS-converted airliner (pretty awesome - he' close to being in scale with ROTF Sratosphere). His radome (removable) is his mechtech gun, but can function as a shield when not in gun mode. His right hand is a bit strange as a claw of sorts made from his tail fins. Kind of insectile bot mode, but still a must-get.

- Dark Steel - remold of DOTM Sideswipe to be a BW Quickstrike homage. He has a new head, and also has a remolded version of DOTM Starscream's Mechtech weapon with claws/stingers rather than sword blades. Not bad looking, but I don't care enough about Quickstrike to get this toy (despite how fun his original toy is). That, and I'm still waiting on a properly painted Sideswipe...

- Armor Topspin - repaint of deluxe Topspin in grey and black. Looks pretty cool, but I don't plan to buy the deluxe Wreckers, and would likely opt for the screen-accurate one if I was.

- Soundwave - in his movie-accurate car form. Pretty cool - not sure if this one has the opening gull-wing doors, but still a nice car mode. His Mechtech is a gun/satellite dish. Obviously getting this guy.

- Wheeljack - the blue Mercedes that looks like Einstein, this is pretty different than most Wheeljack toys. He includes some kind of back-stowing sword and a Mechtech weapon that involves a buzzsaw, and maybe one or two other accessories. Looks fun, and has a somewhat unique transformation. Obviously getting this guy too.

- Cannon Force Ironhide - repaint of the new DOTM Voyager mold that was shown at Botcon. a G1-stlye repaint (finally), it isn't totally red in truck mode, but has some black striping that helps break up the main color. Keeps his original Mechtech gun (not sure if it's significantly repainted). Going to get this guy, as I want the mold but passed on the original black version, since I have two other black voyager movie Ironhides. Only new voyager shown, strangely (his packaging co-sell is not visible in the display case pics).

- Human Alliance Soundwave - An HA version of his new car design. Includes a Dylan Gould figure (hilarious) and also a Laserbeak that appears to turn into a gun. Hope it can also be used by the deluxe. Gull-wing doors do work. Definite purchase. Only new HA shown (again, strangely).

- Cyberverse Legion Soundwave - What you expect. No Laserbeak gimmickry or anything, not that you'd expect that from a Legion toy (which SW should be, since he's a car). It's Soundwave; I'm getting it.

TF: Prime:

- Deluxe Cliffjumper - comes in two flavors: normal and Terrorcon. The normal version (wave 2, I'll definitely get this one) has his tri-barrel arm cannon (possibly on both arms; not sure) and look how you'd expect it to, aside from some shoulder kibble. The Terrorcon version has a new head with one horn (the other got cut off before CJ was killed) and replaces the clear plastic with translucent purple to show the idea of him being powered by Dark Energon. This works to great effect on the car roof/chest, where they leave some of the red paint off as battle damage that allows some of the clear purple to show through. There're also some normal purple damage paint apps on the opaque red plastic (like on his leg). Pretty interesting repaint, and it somewhat surprisingly comes out in wave 3, right after the normal version. I may eventually get this one, too.

- Deluxe Eradicon/Vehicon - this is the more numerous (on the show) car version, with its awesome, almost batmobile-looking car mode. Great black, purple and silver color scheme. The bot mode suffers a little from the kibble backpack, but overall it's really pretty spot-on. Probably won't get this one, unfortunately, just due to his character status.

- Deluxe Soundwave - awesome! They managed to capture his thin, vampiric look pretty well. His UCAV mode looks great, and his does include his Laserbeak, which can perch on his arm on attach to his chest. Just great; definite purchase.

- Deluxe Knockout - I'm glad they're making this guy; I wasn't sure that he would. The only truly new Decepticon so far (outside of the drone-like Eradicons), he sticks to his animation model pretty well, too, including his somewhat unique transformation/kibble layout in bot mode (doors on his arms, hood/grille halves on shoulders, etc). Probably won't get, unfortunately.

- Deluxe Wheeljack - looks great, pretty much just like the animation model. Includes his two swords (Wheeldrift?) that can also mount on the front of his car for an attack mode. Definite purchase.

- Cyberverse Legion Arcee - looks pretty cool - a little stumpy, but otherwise fairly impressive for the scale. Does the "wings" better than the deluxe does, I think. Should come with some kind of weapon, from looking at the others, but I don't think they showed any.

- CV Legion Bumblebee - adorable, not unlike TFM Legends BB. Looks to come with four weapons - 2 guns and 2 blades, possibly all different. Not sure if he'll actually be sold with all four, but they showed them. Has a peghole on car roof for mounting weapons (and on the doors/arms, too).

- CV Legion Wheeljack - basically a tiny version of the deluxe, complete with both swords. They manage to peg into his back for storage. Don't think he has his wings in bot mode. It's a bit weird that they've shown this before showing a DOTM Legion Wheeljack.

- CV Commander Ironhide - this is the first we've seen at all of TFP Ironhide - no animation models or anything have been shown yet. Still, it's a great mix of the basic movie design (pickup truck alt mode, big arm cannons with a "normal"/G1-ish head. Not sure on the color (I kind of hope he's red), but overall he borrows a lot from the Earth mode design for Animated Ironhide, who was also a blend of G1 and movie elements. He'll have lightpiping of some kind (not sure if they meant for his eyes or his weapons), and the guns can mount on the truck doors, like DOTM Commander Ironhide.

- CV Playset - Wheeljack's ship - honestly, I wasn't that impressed by this. I don't remember what the ship looked like on the show, so I'm assuming that it's screen accurate. Also, I'm not sure if it's the size of the DOTM Ark, one of the action sets, or some new size in between (I think it's the latter). It does transform into a battle base like the Ark does. Need better pics; might get.

- Voyager Skyquake - awesome; like Knockout, I wasn't sure if this guy'd get made either. He really looks great, with a beefy jet mode (bot mode kibble doesn't seem to be too bad, either) and a fantastic bot mode that's very show-accurate. Comes with a big sword. Appears to have lightpiping in his arms like Starscream does, so maybe he comes with a light-up weapon, too. Unfortunately, I may not get him for character reasons.

- Voyager Starscream - in terms of kibble in jet mode and transformation, this isn't much better than the deluxe. However, the jet mode does look a little more substantial (the deluxe's jet mode is smaller than Classics Starscream's). He also includes a pretty big mechtech weapon that both transforms and lights up. Like Skyquake, he's got some lightpiping on his arms so that the weapon can light up the arm as well, which is a cool reversal of the same basic gimmick that toys like G2 Laser Optimus and Armada Superbase Optimus had. I'll be getting it.

Transformers: The Ride: Ok, so technically, this is part of the movie franchise. Only one toy here, this transformer represents the vehicle that you ride in at Universal studios in California.

EVAC - has both a Legion and a Deluxe mold. For a movie character, his car mode (a sort of hatch-back thing) is very futuristic and looks, like the DOTM Wreckers, to be in "Stealth Force" mode on top of that. The deluxe has opening gull-wing doors like HA Soundwave. The bot mode overall is kind of reminiscent of Cybertron Red Alert/Cannonball, though he has the same sort of bars on his legs as DOTM Roadbuster. I think he's supposed to be blue. Interesting. It will at least be sold at the theme park, but I assume it will be sold elsewhere, too. The Legion toy is about what you'd expect, by the way. Also, if I do get him, he won't be Evac, as I already have 2 very different versions of the movie Evac helicopter character.

Space Case

2011-07-19T07:12:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I've already talked about Space Case in the last post and now put up my review of him. Still, some toys I end up building a bit of mental fanfic around, and Space Case is one of them. Thought I'd just write out my take on the story behind this guy here.

Ok, so in the movie universe, there are different transformer groups. There's the original Seekers, as shown in ROTF that served the 13. There're the Constructicon drones that built Solar Harvesters. Later, we get groups like Starscream's Seekers (who I envision as being started by Ransack, one of the last original Seekers, and then taken over by Starscream) and the Dreadwing-lead Alpha drones. Last year's Terradive toy lead me to imagine another group - the Decepticon Hunters.

It's not a very creative name, but it's rather just the other word from the term "hunter-seeker," of which, of course, "seeker" is the other part. Just as the latter-day Seekers were formed to be an elite group of aerial warriors within Megatron's pre-Decepticon Defense Force, the Hunters were another such group. However, they had a more specific mission profile in accordance with their name - in addition to generally engaging in combat, they were to hunt down and capture or kill Defense Force traitors and defectors, a role that became increasingly important during the conflict with the Malcontents, a movement that had recruited several Defense Force soldiers.

Terradive, obviously, was one of the Hunters, and his partner Space Case was literally the fastest of the Defense Force, let alone the Hunters. He was also an effective soldier, working well with his partner and doing his job with high competency. Both used a special spear/trident weapon to carry out their tasks. Unfortunately, the Hunters' role was sidelined after Shockwave introduced the Defense Force Drone program, which involved creating 3 types of military drones. Moreover, these drone body-types wouldn't just be used for sparkless robots, but also as replacement bodies for sparked cybertronians who entered the Defense Force. This achieved several goals, including streamlining the Defense Force's physical assets, allowing for more uniform tactics and so forth, but also putting ultimate control of the soldier's bodies into the hands of Megatron & Shockwave, the latter of which had designed the bodies to have fail-safe measures to prevent any soldier from defecting (or performing any other similar activities). Granted, many soldiers still were allowed to exist in their own, individualized bodies or in bodies of freely chosen types (like some of the Seekers, most of whom stuck to a particular group of body types) largely due to the warriors' capabilities and skills being too limited in drone bodies.

This clearly had an impact on the role of the Hunters, whose skills were now less and less needed. Space Case in particular took the "demotion" harder than most, but as one of the top enforcers of loyalty in the Defense Force, he never contemplated resigning or anything of the sort, and went along with the program when the Fallen helped corrupt Megatron and the Defense Force gave way to the new Decepticons. Space Case secretly hoped that the new civil war would lead to a higher number of defections among the non-drone Decepticon populace, as he knew some would be swayed by Optimus' claim to be Prime and his support from the aged Sentinel Prime. And there, were, for a time, an increase in hunts for Space Case, Terradive, and the rest of the Hunters, but the response from High Command was to increase the number of free-to-drone conversions and also the population of sparkless drones, who operated under the supervision of Dreadwing, who possessed a drone body himself (Starscream was now Air Commander in addition to leading the Seekers, so Dreadwing officially reported to him, while more truthfully operating under Shockwave, as did all drones, sparked or sparkless).

Space Case was eventually selected to be one of the crew of the Nemesis, captained by Soundwave. He did not see this as an honor (which Terradive did), but rather took it as a sign that he was wanted out of the way, off of Cybertron where the real conflict was going on. Much later, after the Nemesis had collided with the Ark and had been set down on Titan, Space Case was charged by Megatron to be one of many to continue watching over the ship as he took the hatchlings and remaining key officers back to Earth after his defeat by Optimus and the death of the Fallen. Space Case followed these orders for a time, but, already bored and dissatisfied with his fate, left Titan on course for Earth, where he figured there could be something going on.

In the meantime, the Seeker Firestorm had defected to the side of the Autobots during the events of ROTF, changing his appearance somewhat and his name (to Breakaway) in the process. Terradive had become aware of this and proceeded to Earth to take in (or, more likely, take out) the rouge Seeker. He sought the Nemesis first, where he attempted to find his old partner to join him on this mission; Space Case wasn't there, having already departed for Earth. So Terradive went on to Earth, hoping to find Space Case and hunt his prey. When he reached the planet and got in touch with some of the Seekers, he was rebuked; Breakaway's old brothers-in-arms Thrust and Dirge were furious that the Seeker known as Firestorm was now with the Autobots and embarrassed that a Hunter had found out that an elite Seeker could also be a defector. Insisting on keeping the elimination of Breakaway in-house, a skirmish developed between Terradive and the two Seekers. Terradive decided that he would indeed need backup, and set about trying to find the as-yet-unseen Space Case and then take care of Breakaway (and teach Thrust and Dirge a lesson).

Unfortunately, upon his entry into Earth's atmosphere, Space Case crashed into a cavern that collapsed on him, trapping him and also damaging his cerebral circuitry, putting him in stasis lock during the time that Terradive had come to Earth. When he finally woke and freed himself (thanks in part to the inadvertent actions of a squad of autobots) he eventually met up with Starscream, who had had a falling out with Megatron and was wandering the planet, attempting to find hidden Decepticons to recruit to his own cause. Space Case would have never desired to work with the Air Commander and leader of the Seekers before, but the damage from the crash was severe, causing profound memory loss and a dulling of his mind. Regardless, Starscream saw value in recruiting him.

Later, Terradive caught wind of Starscream's activities, and, thus far unsuccessful in locating Space Case, thought he'd take up the issue of Breakaway with the head Seeker himself. Of course, when he confronted the Air Commander, he found Space Case with him, which he could barely believe. While Space Case recognized Terradive, he did not fully remember him as his Hunter partner and excitedly asked him to join on with Starscream. Terradive was dismayed; he understood that something was wrong with Space Case and refused to join Starscream. He attempted to lure Space Case away with the promise of the hunt of Breakaway, but Starscream's personality and flattery had already worked its magic on Space Case. Terradive left discouraged, but still on the hunt for Breakaway. He would eventually meet back up with Megatron, and later, before the events of Dark of the Moon, Starscream and the rest of his recruits (including Space Case) were once again part of the Decepticon fold.

New stuff

2011-07-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

So, as you can see on the collection roster page, my DOTM is growing fairly healthily. I don't feel too bad about this, as I'm trying to reserve most of my larger (read: scout class and above) purchases for "legacy characters." By that, I mean those characters that already have some kind of presence in my collection, as they've been around in the franchise for a while. Many of these, of course, are key characters like Optimus, Starscream, and Megatron, who I have several toys of (just in the movieverse alone). Others I may only have one previous toy of, like the newly acquired Space Case (I own the Universe 1.0 repaint of the G2 mold). Granted, I've caved on a few new characters, like Human Alliance Backfire and Thunderhead, but, for instance, I haven't bought things like Skyhammer (a voyager) or the deluxe Wreckers, whereas in the past I probably would already have them. I'm trying to collect "new" characters (not that Roadbuster or Leadfoot don't already have spots in my collection) largely within the Cyberverse size classes, where I have bought things like all three Dreads and both currently available Wreckers. I'll also likely buy the Legion Twins, as I'm not too interested in spending the money on their new deluxe toys, much as I like them (I'd planned to already have purchased the repaint HA Skids, mostly because of his sick black & green colors and it'd allow me to complete the HA bike triplets with Elita-1, but it's not been easy to drop $30 on that set).

Anyway, my original intent with this post was to wax poetic on a couple of new guys I picked up today, namely the aforementioned Space Case and also Hatchet, the only Commander class Dread. I'll go into more detail with their individual mini-reviews, but I'm really digging these guys, so I thought I'd give them some front page time.

Space Case is a remold/repaint of Terradive, a Su-47-ish Decepticon. He's one fourth of a whole wave of Target exclusive repaints, but he's the only one that's got a new head, is a new character, and most importantly, one that I want. The other three (another iteration of Cannon Bumblebee, ROTF Arcee, and TFM Jazz) just aren't really necessary, and ol' Space Case is limited to just one per case, so I'm glad I was able to get one while it's easy. Like the others in the wave, he's got translucent plastic (his is blue) and is covered in cyberglyphs, not unlike ROTF Starscream, who I guess inspired this whole set of exclusives. Anyway, Space Case takes an already great mold and does something pretty logical with it (which I'll get into in his review) and manages to look pretty at the same time.

Hatchet's really cool. Probably the most massive of the CV Commanders (people keep saying he's really a scout, but he's not quite there), he's based on the Hatchet from the DOTM movie, but unlike in the film, he transforms into a fighter jet, not a police SUV (as the Crankcase toy does). His jet mode is nice and solid, and the size of the cockpit is almost enough to make you believe that he's in scale with most deluxe jets, but I'm not sure. He's got a great, simple color scheme, and his animalistic robot mode is really fun. His transforming cruise missile weapons aren't bad, either.

DOTM!

2011-07-03T20:39:00.001-07:00

So, I saw DOTM last night. No 3D, but whatever. It was awesome! Definitely the best of the 3 movies. I might do a full review later (I never did finish the ROTF one!).

2011-06-11T11:38:00.001-07:00

Got RTS Legends Prowl today!

Botcon - 2011!

2011-06-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

Hey hey, it's Botcon weekend! No, unfortunately, I'm not reporting from sunny Pasadena, but I'm excited anyway.

So far, there's not a lot of news yet, but here's what we've got:

At-con exclusives (they managed to keep them under wraps until the convention this year!):
- 3-pack of Animated Autotroopers (I'd like one, but not at con prices)
- 2-pack of Animated Toxitron and Sideswipe (in G2 Sideswipe colors; new head) (I'd like Sideswipe and may try to get him, but I'll live without him)
- 2 pack of SG Galvatron (Cyb Evac repaint) and SG Thundercracker (repaint of Classics Seeker mold) - I'd really like to get these; we'll see.

In attainable toy news, the only truly new stuff we've seen so far has been a grey/green repaint of DOTM Thunderhead (looks good! Not sure if it's a 'Bot or 'Con yet) and a new DOTM HA Scout mold - another motorcycle. Red, it's named Reverb, not unlike the ROTF toy. However, We've also gotten to see MP Rodimus Prime in and out of package. He lacks the trailer of the foreign release, but include a new mold Targetmaster partner. A TRU exclusive, it looks great and I'm sure to get it. We've also just recently gotten to see the packaging for Transformers: Prime Bumblebee and Arcee. Starscream was also on display, but his packaging wasn't. These three are part of a "First Edition" series and will apparently be out next month! Glad it's just three of them.

Also, my DOTM collection is now up to 8! I found a couple of Christmas gift cards today and went ahead and picked up deluxe Barricade and CV Legion Sideswipe. Both are nice; I love Barricade's Mechtech weapon.

Starscream

2011-05-30T03:15:00.000-07:00

So, I picked up DotM Starscream yesterday (we got paid). I'm also typing this from my new laptop, which cost a little more than Starscream did!

I'll do a proper review later, but Starscream is pretty great. He's easily the best version of Movie Starscream that's close to this size, and even rivals the leader mold in some regards. I'll still be getting the upcoming silver repaint of ROTF Voyager Starscream, but this new toy is definitely a better mold. The Mechtech weapon(s) is pretty good. The conversion mechanic works well, but the connection between the two parts isn't quite as strong as the spring, so the flipped-out blade slowly moves out of its fully extended position while the two pieces are connected. I may try to get another one. We'll see. I am very happy that the repaint, Thundercracker, is in wave 3, which is already starting to hit shelves in some places. I'm sure I'll buy any and all other-Seeker repaints of this mold (and maybe even a G1-style Starscream repaint, should they choose to go that route).

Cyberverse Commanders Megatron and Optimus - pics

2011-05-27T06:48:00.000-07:00

Cool stuff!

2011-05-24T15:20:00.000-07:00

Well, there's a lot going on here. First off, yesterday was the last working day at school, so we're now on summer break. On top of that, I ended the day with an interview to work at the local high school (I currently work at the middle school, which is not ideal), and inadvertently interviewed again today with the head principal and got the job! I'm pretty stoked. I'll partially celebrate by getting some more DOTM toys next week after payday. Most likely Megatron, Starscream, and a couple more Cyberverse.

Also, my son turns 4 tomorrow! It's hard to believe that he'll be that old. Just this morning the wife and I went to check out the preschool he'll likely attend this fall, and after Friday he'll be out of daycare for most of the summer. He's going to have a Transformers birthday party tomorrow at his daycare - we've got a cake ready to pick up in the morning. He's also getting some of those new DOTM battle bumper (or whatever they're called) toys - the ones that are paired up and you press the back of the vehicle in and the robot mode automorphs into a standing position. They're pretty fun, and he enjoyed doing the "try me" deal at the store last week. We settled on the Bumblebee/Megatron pack. I also picked him up a Cyberverse Legion toy - Bumblebee. However, I got him the "Bolt" repaint/remold of the ROTF toy. It's got a zig-zag striping pattern and the right hand is remolded to accept CV weapons. He should be able to transform it on his own, so I hope he likes it. I also wanted to get him one that I wouldn't end up getting for myself, and I think this BB repaint fits the bill.

Anyway, just a fun day overall.

OK, so D-Day has come and gone.

2011-05-17T05:25:00.000-07:00

The Dark of the Moon toys were officially released yesterday! And you that list I had with the stuff I wanted to get? Yeah, that didn't really happen.

I went by the local Walmart before work yesterday morning. Money's pretty tight, so I expected to walk out of there with very little; I thought I might by a Cyberverse Legion class toy (the new version of the old, normal legends class toys - $5) or maybe Deluxe Starscream. Well, they didn't actually have much out. They had some deluxes - about four of each wave 1 toy, save for Starscream, of which there was only one. I decided that I'd hold off on him, though I was worried about him selling out before I'd be able to get him (locally, at least). So then I focused on the legion toys. Well, except for the fact that they weren't there. In fact, there weren't any Cyberverse playsets, normal Human Alliance, Leaders, or Voyagers, either. They did also have the Human Alliance Basics and Cyberverse Commanders (though oddly lacking any Sentinel Primes), both of which tempted me. Still, I settled on coming back later, even possibly after the end-of-the-month paycheck.

In the afternoon, my wife and I realized that I had to get some staples at the store, so after we got home from work, I took the kids to the WM. We, of course, ended back up over at the toy section. Clearly, someone had worked hard since the morning. A ton of more stuff was out - Voyagers (just wave 1, it looked like), Leaders, Cyberverse (or CV) Legions, CV Commander Sentinel Prime, the larger/normal Human Alliance toys, and a ton of the extraneous "kiddy"/role play toys. In addition, they had put out their two current exclusives for the line: a two-pack with a remold/repaint of HFTD Battle Blades Optimus (now has faceplate-less head and hooks rather than swords, not to mention a hilarious "sparkle" deco) and Commetor (a repaint of 2007 Landmine) and then a Legends 3-pack with a Goldbug-inspired ROTF Bumblebee, a G1-style ROTF Soundwave, and a more orange than normal repaint of Universe Rodimus. They're both great deals, being much less than their component toys would cost separately, but I don't need them now (and will probably only get the Legends 3-pack).

Anyway, I sifted though the Legions, which offered a few surprises (I didn't expect to see Crowbar, Leadfoot, or Mudflap yet, and I didn't realized there was another psuedo-repaint of ROTF BB). However, since I wanted to focus on core characters for the most part for DOTM, I figures the first toy I get should be one of the those characters, and the only Legions that meet that qualification were Ratchet and the two BBs, none of which I wanted to be my first DOTM toy. So I looked at the Commanders again, and I was leaning toward getting Megatron. However, I let my son decide which one I should get between Megatron, Optimus, Ironhide, and Sentinel, and he went for Optimus (after a few attempts to get me to buy more than one), so that's what we got.

He's pretty cool. I'll put of some pics later.

T-minus 12 days to D-day

2011-05-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

Well, D-day keeps getting closer. In fact, many people online are finding stuff already out at Targets and Walmarts. However, with gas prices this high, I'm not going hunting just for TFs, and I'll be fine waiting until the actual release on the 16th (or maybe later in that week to celebrate the last day of having students).

However, due to slim finances and my son's birthday coming up at the end of the month, I'm only getting a few things before the end-of-the-month paycheck, and this is my likely list:

-Deluxe Starscream
-Cyberverse Sentinel Prime (if he's available)
-Cyberverse Optimus Prime (the one with the jetpack, but not the preview 3D glasses release)
-A couple of the "legion" (i.e. normal sized) class Cyberverse - probably some new characters here, like Crankcase, Crowbar, Topspin, etc...but probably only two of them.
-...maybe Voyager Megatron (or possibly Ironhide)
-...maybe HA Sandstorm. I really want all of the HA scouts, but only Sandstorm comes close to being a "legacy" character I already have other versions of (in his case, HftD legends Sandstom and Energon Cliffjumper, who's very Sandstormish).

And I'll probably get something outside of the mainline toys for my son's birthday. I'm also going to hope to get Leader Sentinel Prime for Father's Day...my son has already said he wants to get me a DOTM toy (he actually says the whole phrase "dark of the moon.")

Got Grapple and PCC Overspazstrip

2011-04-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

Started adding pics to the mini-reviews.

2011-04-19T08:25:00.001-07:00

So...yeah. I did.

Transmetal II Megatron, G1 Sixshot, ROTF legends Devastator.

Here's another:

Countdown to D-Day

2011-04-12T16:57:00.000-07:00

So, D-Day - that is, the release date for the Dark of the Moon/DOTM toys - is coming up here is just over a month. Come May 16th, Transformers 3 toys will be...unavoidable.

Here's a list of the Wave 1 stuff I'm looking to get:

TRA MV3 CYBERVERSE BASIC ASST W1 11
1x Crankcase
1x Skids
1x Top Spin
2x Sideswipe

4x TRA MV3 CYBERVERSE ARK SET

TRA MV3 CYBERVERSE ACTION SET ASST W1 11
2x TRA MV3 STARSCREAM W/ORBTL ASSLT CARRIER
2x TRA MV3 BUMBLEBEE W/MOBILE BATTLE BUNKER

TRA MV3 CYBERVERSE PLUS ASST W1 11
2x TRA MV3 CYBERVERSE PLUS OPTIMUS PRIME
1x TRA MV3 CYBERVERSE PLUS IRONHIDE
2x TRA MV3 CYBERVERSE PLUS MEGATRON
1x TRA MV3 CYBERVERSE PLUS FIRETRUCK

TRA MV3 MECHTECH VOYAGER ASST W1 11
1x TRA MV3 VOY MEGATRON
1x TRA MV3 VOY IRONHIDE

TRA MV3 MECHTECH DELUXE ASST W1 11
1x TRA MV3 DLX STARSCREAM

TRA MV3 HUMAN ALLIANCE ASST W1 11
2x TRA MV3 HA AUTOBOT SKIDS/ELITA-1 W/EPPS

TRA BASIC HUMAN ALLIANCE ASST W1 11
2x TRA BACKFIRE W/SPIKE WITWICKY
2x TRA ICE PICK W/SERGEANT CHAOS
2x TRA THUNDERHEAD W/MAJOR TUNGSTEN
2x TRA SANDSTORM W/PRIVATE DEDCLIFF

TRA MV3 MECHTECH LEADER ASST W1 11
Xx TRA MV3 LEADER SENTINEL PRIME

2x TRA MV3 ULTIMATE OPTIMUS PRIME

RTS Legends

2011-04-10T06:54:00.001-07:00

THE MILLENIUM

2011-04-07T04:27:00.000-07:00

So, if you go over to the Collection Roster page, you'll see that since I last updated the total count to 998, I recently got a couple of more HTS orders in that bumped me up to 1,006. Pretty crazy. Granted, this count includes all individually transforming toys (like mini-cons) and also figurines (like Robot Heroes and 3" Titaniums), but still, it's a bit crazy to think I finally went over the 1,000 mark.

Anyway, the most recent stuff to come in was:

-the new RTS legends (Optimus, Megatron, Goldbug, and Starscream)
-RTS Lugnut
-PCC Heavytread/Groundspike
-HFTD Axor

Legends Megatron and Starscream are particularly impressive with great transformations for such a small scale, and Heavytread is easily the best 2-pack Autobot PCC. All three of his modes are great with no deficits. Groundspike is ok, too, except for his low number of paint apps and somewhat weak claw mode (reminds me of Energon Sledge/Bonecrusher's weapon a bit). Lugnut is also good, although the transformation has some fiddly steps and the cannon in the plane's tail can't be pointed directly forward in a normal way. Still cool overall. Haven't opened Axor yet.

Oh, and RTS Grapple and PCC Over-run/Spastic/Dragstrip are also on the way.

Crackerjack box

2011-04-01T09:33:00.000-07:00

So, my Wheeljack and Thundercracker from HTS arrived yesterday!

Thundercracker is, at this point, very old hat, although his deco is pleasing (very metallic paint on the torso) and he manages to look very different from that other blue Seeker, Dirge. Even so, after transforming him into bot mode, it didn't take long for him to be squeezed into my Seeker shelf, where he'll remain for a long time.

Wheeljack, on the other hand, while being "just" a remold and not a brand new toy, is as fun as a barrell of monkeys. He's based on the same mold as Tracks, but there are a number of new parts:

- Head (obviously)
- Wingtips on car doors
- Front bumper/feet
- Back of legs (now has a C-clip connector for his tools, and the wheels can rotate down)
- Spoiler (the panel it's connected to no longer rotates)
- Wrenches/exhaust pipes/guns instead of rockets
- Knees (bend the other way now)

If that wasn't enough, Wheeljack also has a different key transformation step to make him look even less like Tracks - this time, the hood of the car forms his shins, rather than the back of the legs, like Tracks. Also, the leg remolding has made its so his legs don't extend as far, making Wheeljack fairly short for a Deluxe Autobot that's not Bumblebee or Cliffjumper, but it's not a real bother.

While Tracks and Wheeljack have been somewhat similar over the years, this is the first time they have actually shared a mold, and while Tracks was both revealed and released first, how great Wheeljack has turned out makes you wonder which character the mold was initially intended for. The end result, though, is that it doesn't matter; unlike with Universe Sideswipe and Sunstreaker (where Sunstreaker ended up less like his initial G1 design due to transformation changes), neither character here suffers from being a remold of the other. They both look great and do a fantastic job of updating the originals. Here's hoping we get more remolds of this nature.

A few more HTS orders

2011-03-27T03:58:00.000-07:00

So, I got my stuff from HTS a couple of weeks ago. Skyhammer, whom I call the UT version of Movie Dreadwing, is better than I though, as is his minicon Airlift, who has this great trick where his hips/legs link and turn with his head so that you can have two weapon modes that look essentially the same, but one attaches via a powerlinx port (female) and the other can be held by a male one that's a 5mm post. Pretty neat. Also, Scourge is great; his alt mode is unique among aircraft TFs and is actually close to being beautiful. Kup is not quite as awesome as you think he'll be, but neither does he really disappoint. I'm really glad now that I caved on the Walmart HFTD repaint of Recon Ironhide, because he still makes a pretty nice Movie Kup and can exchange weapons with the new Generations one. However, I now feel the need to go back and get Brakedown GTS, who is a blatant War Within Kup homage, even if I don't care much for the mode (it can't store its cyber key in alt mode, and it's the only Cybertron toy to not have that ability).

Anyway, newer stuff keeps sporadically popping up, and I've managed to get most of it, at this point only missing out on RTS Grapple (a Universe Inferno remold) and Windcharger (the only Classics-stlyed scout so far, at least until they release Frumble). So, I made two orders, one with RTS Lugnut and four of the upcoming RTS Legends (Megatron, Optimus, Starscream, and Goldbug) and then one with Generations Wheeljack and Thundercracker.

New stuff coming in from HTS...

2011-03-10T15:51:00.000-08:00

Well, finding new stuff, especially PCCs, has not been easy lately, so I bit the bullet a week & and a half ago and ordered a few items from HTS: Generations Kup & Scourge and PCC Skyhammer/Airlift and Undertow/Waterlog. I'm sure I'll never see the latter two at retail, and finding the first two won't be too easy either. I was disappointed that PCC Heavytread/Groundspike wasn't available, because I know he'll be equally unavailable. They also added PCC Over-Run (Dragstrip) after the order, but I'm not sure about him.

Really looking forward to Thundercracker and Wheeljack, too.

DOTM

2011-01-23T11:29:00.001-08:00

Yeah, that means Dark of the Moon, the subtitle (and thus internet prefix for toys) for Transformers 3.

And already, there's a ton of DOTM toys leaking onto the internet. Mostly cool, some not quite so.

My favorites so far:

- Deluxe Starscream: We got a deluxe movie Starscream when the first movie line fist started almost four years ago, but that was of his Cybertronian "protoform" mode. This new deluxe is clearly based on his ROTF appearance - apparently, he keeps his scars/tats for the new movie - and even learns a trick or two about transformation from the HftD Leader class toy. Being that he's a deluxe, F-22 Starscream, he reminds some of Energon Starscream - a point magnified more so when you see that his has nonintegral weapons that also resemble Energon Starscream's (one's a gun, the other's a blade, and they combine).

-"Dread" - another deluxe, this one a black SUV. I'm not sure of the actual character's name (could be Crankcase), but apparently there's a subgroup of 'cons in the new movie called the Dreads. And they actually have dreadlocks in bot mode. In fact, the overall appearance of the toy's robot form really isn't that dissimilar from the Yautja Predators of cinematic fame (amusing when you consider how much like a xenomorph ROTF Ravage looks).

REVEAL THE SHIELD

2011-01-11T13:02:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I caved on the RTS Battle in Space set the other day. That Cyclonus kept looking better and better, and the metal Matrix that can fit G1 Optimus and exclusive comic book didn't help.

I guess I'll try to sell the Hot Rod/imus, as I don't think he looks as good as the original Classics release. I also prefer the Universe purple version of Nightstick to this more G1-accurate repaint, so he'll have to go, too.

However, Cyclonus is awesome. I had been a big fan of the very dark purple of the original Universe release, but when compared in hand to this new version, it's clear that the cruddy light grey doesn't do much for the older toy, especially when comparing the faces. And yes, the new repaint is more cartoon-accurate, even though I'm not always a big stickler for that. It helps that this new Cyclonus doesn't have trouble with one of his arms remaining connected to his torso, I suppose. So, yeah, I'll somehow get rid of old Cyclonus.

Also, the Matrix is pretty great. No paint, but it's a nicely shiny silver color, and looks very good in hand or in G1 Prime's chest. It's also got a nice heft to it, which was a bit surprising.

As for the comic, it's pretty fun. Boo's on art, so everything looks very loose and Animated-ish. This worked very well for his 'Bots of Science' story in The Arrival, and it's not the worst thing ever here, but it could be better. For example, Hot Rod looks very little like the toy in the box that this comic's included with. Cyclonus fares better, as do Kup and Galvatron. On the plus side, many of the characters have been redesigned to look like newly released/upcoming toys - Kup, Scourge, Grapple, for example. There's even a Warpath with a new design, leading most to think he'll get a new toy (as all the characters in non-new toy bodies have designs that strictly adhere to the G1 looks). Also, notably, RS Lugnut makes an appearance, confirming that his new toy represents a G1 version of himself, not from the Movie-verse or Prime-verse. Lastly, the comic takes place "behind-the-scenes" (or maybe between the scenes?) of the 1986 Animated Movie, which is pretty cool. I guess you could keep this with IDW's adaptation of the 86 Movie from a few years back, even if the designs don't mesh.

Post-Christmas

2011-01-07T08:57:00.000-08:00

The holidays were very whirlwind this year, but a lot of fun. I only got a few TFs as actual gifts, but I was given a fair amount of cash/gift cards and I also had a small...contingency plan. So, actually, here's what all I got:

Generations:
-Thunderwing
-Skullgrin
-Cliffjumper
-Red Alert

Hunt for the Decepticons:
-Battle Blades Bumblebee
-Sidearm Sideswipe
-Elita-1
-Hubcap
-Insecticon

Reveal the Sheild:
-Tracks
-Jazz
-Mindset

Power Core Combiners:
-Leadfoot/Pinpoint
-Sledge/Throttler
-Icepick/Chainclaw
-Stakeout w/Protectobots
-Steamhammer w/Constructicons
-Grimstone w/Dinobots

So, of the available stuff I wanted, I really just need Axor. Well, and a replacement Skullgrin; his right heel spur wasn't pinned in.

YES

2010-12-22T19:27:00.000-08:00

BBTS listed the case breakdown for the Generations wave that comes after the Kup/Scourge wave:

Wheeljack (!) and.....THUNDERCRACKER.

Finally! Come springtime, the dance of Seeker completion will be finished.

Unfortunately, it seems that this apparent gift of generosity from Hasbro has also unleashed Phazer from the depths. Not good.

But man, this is a great time to be a TF fan.

Overlord!

2010-12-01T05:52:00.000-08:00

I caved on PCC Crankcase when I found him for $15 on Saturday. He's awesome, and does pretty well as an Overlod stand-in, despite the mostly RiD Scourge/Nemesis Prime-esque colors. Best looking PCC 5-pack so far, despite the molds not being intended for each other originally.

$25 - the conclusion

2010-11-13T16:02:00.000-08:00

So, while I'd planned on possibly ordering a couple of PCCs with this late b-day cash, I decided to run by the Kmart to see if they still had any of the newer stuff.

I'm glad I did - not only did they have some new stuff, but they've also matched Walmart's current lowered price on deluxes, so they now only cost $9. They had HftD wave 3 deluxes and also PCC 5-pack wave 3, and I settled on getting the former - Tomahawk and Terradive. I was largely drawn in because of their alt-modes - I'm a sucker for nice looking aircraft TFs - but their bot modes are nice and somewhat unique, as well.

$25

2010-11-12T04:30:00.000-08:00

So, my grandma sent me a late b-day check for $25. I'm trying to decide which TFs to get with it, since I've spent more than I should have on them lately. I want to still have a healthy list for folks to choose from for Christmas.

I'm leaning toward some of the wave 2 PCC 2-packs. Mostly because they look awesome, but also because I've only seen one of them - Sledge - on shelves once, and that was back in August. So, I'm kind of worried that if I leave them on the list, I might not get them, especially since stores appear to be restocking the 2-packs with wave 3 - which I'm not really interested in; they're all uninspired repaints - instead of wave 2, despite being clogged with wave 1 for months.

Of course, this means I'd have to order them from HTS, which luckily does have them in stock. on the other hand, I can then only get two due to shipping costs. Sledge is a definite, and I'm leaning toward Leadfoot over Icepick, mostly because Leadfoot looks to have a simply awesome torso mode that will go well with the Rallybot drones from DoubleClutch.

Or I could just pick up some more stuff at retail, like a couple more deluxes. We'll see.

Fun with new, if lower-tier, toys

2010-11-09T14:34:00.001-08:00

So, I got Hailstorm a couple of weeks ago. He's great.

I mean, the fact that he's a de facto movieverse version of UT Demolishor is great in and of itself, but it's just a fun mold. Neat tread/arm transformation, too.

Get him. Or his upcoming remold, Mindset.

Also, the TF Club has some mock-ups for their Animated Transtech Cheetor exclusive up on their site, including the art of the Wyatt-designed head. Awesome. I'm pretty excited about this year's exclusives - this guy and G2 Ramjet!

Vengeance

2010-10-29T06:04:00.001-07:00

Man, I want Crossovers Ghost Rider for Halloween. He's just now hitting stores, too. Whenever I do get him, he'll be another version of the Fallen for me.

The evolution of a repaint...

2010-10-13T17:38:00.000-07:00

So, Kmart released another legends multi-pack this fall, this time a much better deal than last year's, at least in terms of dollars and cents - instead of 4 legends toys for 25 bucks, you can get five for 22 dollars! Not bad, particularly for Kmart.

Why did I get it? The movie Starscream legends toy, first put out in 2007 (fall; I got it around this time that year) is not the best legends mold ever, but outside of the intentionally different looking repaints (Stealth Starscream/Skywarp, Thundercracker, and the black/teal Nebular-Starscream mimmick), the normal Starscream versions keep improving. The original was actually pretty terrible, in retrospect; look here to see what I mean. The repaint for RotF was better - it added the interesting tattoos that he gained in that movie, and, while still not the color of an F-22, at least the sandy color he had was shared across his torso and arms, giving the robot a consistent, non-wifebeater-wearing look. Now, flash forward to 2010, and the HftD line gets him repainted in pretty much the best possible way. Basically, in your mind, think of the visual difference there was between 2007 Movie Starscream (Voyager) and his Premium/Deep Space repaint. That's how much better HftD Starscream is compared to the RotF repaint. Lots and lots of silver paint over silvery-grey plastic, and he keeps the neat looking tattoos. Paint isn't skimped on for the robot mode, either, so he looks great in both modes.

Now, I just need to sell the other four repaints I don't need. I thought I would like the legends version of the Burning Fallen deco, but in person it's not as nice as the original metallic look (which is the closest any of his toys have gotten to looking like the movie appearance) and it's a bit redundant after getting the Voyager in those colors last year.

More new stuff!

2010-10-10T18:04:00.000-07:00

Went to Orlando again this weekend and found Generations Dirge! I never expected to find wave 4 so soon. No Blurrs around, though.

I also picked up Animated Ironhide from my friend Jason. He's pretty neat. A guy I met at the Toys R Us in Orlando was cool enough to find and pick up an Animated Rodimus for me today, since they didn't have any at the TR we met at. He also offered to hold onto it until we go back early next month, so hopefully he'll do that rather than having me pay the extra for shipping...Thanks again, Nick (and Jason)!

The Hunt for TRU Animated Exclusives, Part II

2010-10-07T04:08:00.000-07:00

So, since I didn't get Animated Ironhide or Rodimus for my birthday, I've got to track them down myself. One of my old friends, who my wife and I are visiting this weekend, was nice enough to check out the Toys R Us in his town yesterday afternoon and found Ironhide and picked him up for me. He said he would ask when they would possibly get more in, but I somehow doubt that it'll be before tomorrow or Saturday. However, one of the two TRUs I normally am able to visit is (sort of) on the way to Orlando (our actual destination for Friday night/Saturday), but it's a bit off the interstate and would add at least 20 minutes to the trip. Still, I'm going to call, and if they have Rodimus, I'm going to try and persuade my wife to let us stop by either on the way down or back up Sunday. But, you know, at least I'm only looking for one.

Thanks, J-Man!

Finally, TFCC mag # 35

2010-10-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

I finally got the new club mag in the mail today. I was kind of pissed, since one of the truly new images, that of the new legends class Trailbreaker toy, was released online the other day. However, the one remaining new pic in the mag was worth the wait.

Yes, I'm talking about Generations G2 Optimus Prime. He's very cool, and not quite what I was expecting. He's certainly not just a downscaled version of the original. In fact, you might be forgiven if you thought he was yet another iteration of Movie Optimus Prime. Granted, Movie Optimus borrowed a bit from G2 Optimus in the first place - both were longnose cabs, had decos that didn't directly copy G1 Optimus', and they both have swords.

Ok, so not quite a bust.

2010-10-03T10:59:00.000-07:00

So, we went to my parents' house Friday night. I was halfway right about the expectations I had for my mom; she did indeed have my Dad pick up MP Grimlock from TRU, but no luck on Animated Rodimus and Ironhide. We're going to visit some friends of ours this coming weekend, and they have a TRU in their town, so I think I'll have them check or check myself once we get there.

My wife took me to the store Saturday and bought me Iron Man 2 and let me pick out roughly $30 worth of TFs; I got Generations WFC Optimus Prime and PCC Mudslinger. However, I had also gotten a check from my grandmother, so I also picked up Leader Starscream and WFC Bumblebee.

So, all in all, it's not a bad birthday haul, even if it seems numerically small. That sentence rhymes too much. I may still try to pick up another Generations toy or two if they still have them in town, specifically Megatron and Soundwave.

Edit/update: Ok, so I picked up Generations Megatron, Soundwave, and Straxus at the Walmart this afternoon. After I get the two Animated exclusives, that'll be it (save for maybe the odd legends or scout toy) until Christmas!

Ok, the whole thing was a bust.

2010-09-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

Birthday: 2010

# of TFs on day of: 0

Zero Hour

2010-09-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

So, the big day is here. So far, all I've got to show for it are two cards - one from my insurance agent, and the other from the 3rd period class of 7th graders I teach. Can't really say I expected that second one. But anyway, nothing else yet. Didn't even finally get the TFCC mag in the mail. However, the wife isn't home from work yet (will be soon), so maybe she'll give me something.

T-minus ~12 hours!

2010-09-28T15:29:00.000-07:00

Well, the b-day drops tomorrow. Ideally, I'm getting at least one or two TFs from my wife, one of them before I go to work. I doubt this last part happens, though. We'll have a pretty busy evening, too, as Wednesday is church night, and we'll be there for at least 2.5 hours or so. I'm most likely not being taken out to dinner. But whatever. My wife's at the gym right now; I can't help but wonder if there's a side trip to Walmart or Kmart before she gets home (with Chik-fil-A for dinner!).

I saw some guy on TFW who went to Target today and walked out with Iron Man 2 on DVD and wave 4 of Generations (Blurr and Dirge). I told my wife that it sounded like he had an awesome afternoon. I'm really just, at this point, hoping that I get to go on a shopping spree or something this weekend after payday.

Transformers: Prime Soundwave

2010-09-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

So, here he is - Soundwave from the upcoming Transformers: Prime television show. I have to say he's pretty different from what I expected. I know I've brought up the aesthetic disconnect between War for Cybertron and Prime before, but this is yet again a pretty striking example. WFC Soundwave (who's sort of available now, by the way) looks pretty much nothing like the guy, and, to be honest, if this image was shown to me in isolation, I don't think I'd automatically think it was Soundwave. Still, it's a neat design, and I like that it turns into a real alt mode - a Predator-esque drone airplane.

Argh...

2010-09-26T15:34:00.001-07:00

Man, there's all kinds of new crap on Hasbro Toy Shop.com. This is hard!

Especially since my mother-in-law, who stayed for most of the weekend, just had me pick out something online for my birthday. For the past couple of years, she's gotten me a comic/magazine subscription, so I went for a DC subscription to Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors. Had I known the likes of Crankcase, Stakeout, Blurr, and Dirge were on HTS, I totally would have tried to convince her to let me get some of those. Oh well. Maybe at Christmas or with birthday money.

Oh, and no, I didn't get the latest TFCC magazine yesterday. Maybe tomorrow.

T-minus 5 days...

2010-09-25T03:06:00.000-07:00

So, it turns out to be a good thing that I haven't been spending much extra money this month, as we're still barely making it to the end of the month, financially.

Still, my birthday is around the corner, and while my wife may not have the money to get me much, my parents will be meeting up with us next weekend, and (as I noted before) I can at least expect a few things from them.

Also, we've been flooded with images of new stuff this week. Most of them are better images of stuff I first saw at Botcon, but there were a few new surprises among that crop. In addition, some Walmart computer listings revealed a new Wreck-Gar toy, which we quickly saw is, in fact a G1-style Generations toy of the character, as shown on the front cover of the latest TFCC magazine (which I'll hopefully get today...). Inside, another totally unheard-of surprise was also revealed; a new deluxe mold of Generations 2 "Laser Rod" Optimus Prime. Which is interesting, as that was one of the best of the G2 molds (I don't have it, but I do have its later-released repaint into Scourge, a villain from RiD), being very solid and well-articulated. However, the new mold apparently gets around the original's cheaty fake window-chest. Also, the original was not the best in terms of molded detail, with a lot of large, flat panels everywhere and stickers for detail (even RiD Scourge makes use of some stickers), and the new mold apparently won't have that issue either. At any rate, I won't be able to not get it, with it being an Optimus toy, but I'm also glad they're releasing it so I won't feel like I have to track down the actual G2 toy (which is hard to find in good shape for a decent price). I also hope for a repaint in the same vain as the eHobby G2 Ultra Magnus repaint of the original. It's one of the better executions of the "white Prime" Magnus repaints, and it'd be nice to have an affordable version.

Film accuracy?

2010-09-15T10:16:00.000-07:00

Rock Lords

2010-09-09T04:35:00.001-07:00

So, apparently, Dwayne Johnson - The Rock - is going to be voicing Cliffjumper in Transformers: Prime. This is unexpected, ridiculous, and pretty awesome.

Also, Amazon leaked some pages from the TF: Prime preview comic the other day, revealing a few character designs, namely Starscream and Bulkhead. We see a lot of Starscream, who is like a really creepy version of his Animated incarnation (no nose! so creepy!) and appears to be in charge of a bunch of those Decepticon car drones. Bulkhead we see less clearly, but he seems to stick pretty close to the Animated design, sans back-mounted kibble "wings." Oh, and then there's Breakdown, who's this massive guy, not at all like his War for Cybertron incarnation* (or any other, for that matter) who is a bit reminiscent of the unused Transtech character Immorticon. He also looks like he could be Bulkhead's blue brother, just more ripped and less fat.

*Why does this matter? Because, according to Hasbro, the War for Cybertron/Exodus continuity (such as it is; the two don't mesh that well) is the same continuity as Transformers: Prime. This is all despite the characters looking virtually nothing like each other across the two stories. Starscream in particular (and the aforementioned Breakdown) is a pretty extreme example, but even Optimus, Bumblebee and Megatron look pretty danged different. WFC has a distinct G1 flavor to it; none of the characters in it that originate from the G1 continuities had a major design overhaul, they're all recognizable (save for maybe Barricade, who takes some cues from the movie version). This is in contrast to TF: Prime, where the character designs seem very much to be a mix of the Animated and Movie/RotF aesthetics.

September is here

2010-09-03T04:24:00.000-07:00

Well, it's now September. With the wish list in play, it's now a month until I find out if it was worth the time it took to type up.

My predictions are that I'll get the Toys R Us exclusives on the list - Masterpiece Grimlock and Animated Ironhide & Rodimus - because my mom is really reliable about getting TRU exclusives. However, I've updated the list to show the full range of toys that should be out before Christmas (and many of them are showing up already - Generations waves 2 AND 3 have already been sighted!), so I wonder how overwhelming it looks. I haven't bothered to sit and calculate the full price of all the stuff on there, because I know it's a few hundred dollars.

Still, at this point I'd rather ask for this stuff and be a bit disappointed than get it on my own and get criticized. Last time I talked to my dad about scaling back my collection was about a year ago, for last year's birthday. I haven't done a good job of that (obviously!), but this is my attempt to seriously tackle it.

Well, I made an exception.

2010-08-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

If you check out the collection roster, you can see it was updated recently. Yeah, I made an exception to my TF purchase moratorium - Crossovers Spider-Man (specifically, the black repaint of the car mold). You see, this guy is damn hard to find, and this was the only one I've ever seen (down in Orlando this past weekend, no less), so I didn't really think I could pass it up.

It helps (me, at least) that I deemed this guy's existence to be so minimal that he didn't even make the long TF wishlist I gave my wife and mother, so I don't feel too bad. After all, I didn't get anything that was on the list.

And, you know, he's pretty cool. Check out the mini-review here on the Crossovers page; it's the second one down. I'm thinking about even doing a full photo-review for this guy, as I don't think I've seen one yet online since he's so friggin' rare.

I guess I can get rid of that Black Symbiote Spider-Man action figure I got a few years back now.

Random TF thoughts

2010-08-26T16:25:00.000-07:00

First: I am now, suddenly, really anticipating Generations/War for Cybertron Megatron. I mean, I was never not going to get him, but since I already had a deluxe, cybertronian G1 Megatron (the Universe Special Edition repaint of the Classics deluxe tank Megatron mold), I didn't quite know where to fit this mold into my "fanon." But I figured it out. One of the neat things about WFC Megatron is how his chest slightly echos the chest design of Classics Voyager Megatron (hereafter "Imperial" Megatron), a toy which I consider to be an upgraded form/new body for the aforementioned Universe SE Megatron. However, Universe SE Megatron looks a bit "primitive" compared to both WFC and Imperial Megatron, what with his missing right hand, being replaced by the not-quite-a-fusion-cannon tank barrel and all.

So, I decided that USE Megatron is Megatron when he's only just begun organizing the 'cons - as per both the Exodus novel and Megatron: Origin, he's modified his "mining tank" alt mode into a combat tank, but it's a bit cobbled together. Later, he upgrades to a body fully designed for combat from the get-go, which is his WFC toy. This also introduces the proper, arm-mounted fusion cannon, and his tank mode now has hover capabilities, but not flight. Much later, when the 'cons have taken over most of Cybertron (much like a time just before the very beginning of the G1 cartoon), he upgrades again into his Imperial body, a much more powerful and imposing form with a Shockwave-esque flying cannon alt mode and wings that convert starlight into energon for his weapon systems.

Second, I've been having a lot of fun over the past two days with Drift and Animated Freeway Jazz. Remember that pic I posted at the beginning of the year, with Jazz holding ROTF Bludgeon's weapons? Yeah, he looks just as awesome wielding Drift's swords. Also, lately, I've got the two paired as a multiversal team tracking down Shattered Glass Wheeljack (yes, Botcon Slice(r)), with SG Ravage as point man, in part inspired by Walky's Botcon Shortpacked posts. I've really taken a liking to the idea that SG Wheeljack and G1 Slicer are, in fact, one and the same - SG Wheeljack ends up dimension-hopping and gets stuck in the G1 Universe for a time, but not before finding himself int he UT universe where he upgrades his body with Autobot combiner tech and energon weapons. Also, the stay in the G1 universe as Slicer explains him having the 'con symbols in addition to his SG Autobot symbol.

Yay for imagination.

Self control...holding...for now.

2010-08-24T05:21:00.000-07:00

So, I know it's only been just over a week since I bought my last transformer (HA Jazz), but I already feel kind of proud of myself. I guess it's just because every time I go to the Walmart, I see all this awesome new stuff on the shelves and it's still there the next time.

Attempts at self-control...

2010-08-14T03:56:00.000-07:00

So, I convinced my wife to let me pick up Human Alliance Jazz yesterday (get him, he's awesome). However, he's going to be the last of the new stuff that I'll get for a while. Money's tight, and my birthday is coming up at the end of next month, so I'm going to try and let a lot of this new stuff rest on the shelves for a while before getting them (hopefully as gifts!)

So, of the new stuff here's what I have gotten:

PCC Bombshock, Skyburst, Smolder, Huffer, and Searchlight

HftD Dlx Ironhide, Legends Ravage & Rampage, Seaspray, and HA Jazz

Generations Drift & Thrust

SW Crossovers Yoda & IM2 Crossovers Iron Man car

You'll notice that I haven't gotten any toys of the Big 4 characters - Optimus, Bumblebee, Megatron and Starscream. Hopefully, I'll get all of their respective new releases for b-day/Christmas. Believe it or not, I'm actually thinking about scaling back my collecting to just those key characters. It would still allow me to get a fair amount of releases, but it wouldn't be nearly as many toys as I collect now (notice I'm quickly approaching the 1,000 mark!).

S(uck)DCC

2010-07-23T17:33:00.000-07:00

Well, Hasbro's SDCC panels have come and gone, with very little new info to comb over. Almost none - save a few things like the 3rd PCC wave, which leaked online last week anyway - of the new stuff from Botcon was shown to the general public here. I'm glad I got to see it at the time, but I wish I had online photos to refer to. Whatever.

At least the new stuff is finally starting to reach something approaching wide distribution.

Star Wars TFs...and their strange charm.

2010-07-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite vehicles designed for the Revenge of the Sith movie was the Nimbus/V-Wing. It just looked awesome, and was yet another spacecraft, along with the Eta/Actis, designed to bridge the gap between Episode II's Aethersprite Jedi fighters and the TIE fighters of Episodes IV-VI. So naturally, when Hasbro unveiled sometime ago that they were using the Nimbus for a SWTF design (as one of the cool Ep III Shock Troopers, no less), I was pretty stoked.

However, when I eventually got it, I was a bit disappointed. True, most SWTF molds are not, generally, superb examples of engineering (usually because they have a strange alt mode they have to exactly replicate), but the Shock Trooper's toy had bent wings/solar panels and was a particularly wonky mold, especially in the arms. As a result, it sat in one of the storage tubs for a long while.

However, Hasbro recently released a repaint. Not strikingly different, this Nimbus represents those spacecraft used by the first starfighter pilots of the Empire, and thus is dominated by a grey color scheme, unlike the Republic red of the original. In short, it was different enough to convince me to want it, but not without getting rid of my lackluster older version. Luckily, I managed to pitch it on ebay for a decent price and recently picked up the new version.

I'm really glad I did, as this copy has perfectly aligned wings and a great color scheme (it lacks the very white plastic of the original's robot mode, which helps). Also, I've found renewed interest in the unofficial "hover" bot mode, which is extremely reminiscent of Beast Machines Jetstorm.

Hey, new stuff

2010-07-06T10:21:00.001-07:00

So, I managed to find some of the new product at a semi-local TRU yesterday. I'd wanted to get PCC Searchlight and Skyburst, but there weren't either any Skybursts nor Bombshocks left, so I just got all three of the "Commander/Mini-con" 2-packs. Huffer is actually a lot better than I expected. Can't wait to get Skyburst, though; I'm itching to try out the combined modes.

Botcon news review

2010-07-03T04:46:00.001-07:00

So, I hadn't really gotten a chance to go over all the new stuff they showed off at the Hasbro panels last weekend. My memory is already a bit fuzzy, so I'm basing this off of TFW's new list (my comments are underlined):

Legends Size Class
- G1 Optimus Prime (Awesome! Now I can have a real Legends G1 Prime in the collection)
- G1 Starscream (he looked really impressive. Glad I never really considered the Universe repaint to be the G1 character)
- G1 Megatron (A handgun! In his original colors! That can be held by the MP Seekers! I never thought we'd see anything like this again)
- G1 Prowl (About time he finally gets something like this, since his Robot Hero was canceled)
- All will have rub symbols (I didn't notice this on the legends, but that's pretty neat!)

Scout Size Class
- G1 Windcharger (First off, Generations scout class! Yay! Secondly, I never really cared about Windcharger, but this toy looked pretty cool, reminding me, at least in spirit, of Cybertron Clocker. Has the same "rail" system that Recon Ironhide does, so he can use his weapons, despite this being a Generations, and not movie, toy)

Deluxe class -
Skullgrin (Darkmount redeco, has a new ram-style head) (Nice enough for what they were going for - kind of a take on Stormbringer pretenders - but I'm not really that invested in the character. Nothing I have to get.
- Scourge (G1, stealth jet, white in color, head elevates in vehicle mode, gun is a mixture of his G1 head-gun and his Targetmaster gun, NOT A TARGETMASTER TOY! (Alt mode is actually based on those Blended-Wing-Body airliner designs I love so much. Looked pretty awesome)
- WFC Cliffjumper (repaint of WFC Bumblebee, Cliffjumper will have "devil horns") (No surprise, but looked good. I guess this will be the last of the Cliffjumpers to be made from a BB?)
- Thunderwing (G1, has detachable drone which does not transform) (Awesome. Detachable drone is a neat throw-in, and both the jet and bot modes looked great, very close to the original).
- Tracks (has a car and flying-car mode) (Really glad to see this guy. I thought he would, if anything, get relegated to repaint/remold status. Also glad they managed to keep a flying car mode!)
- Jazz (has car speakers that pop out of his vehicle mode) (Really great, and again, it's nice that he gets his own mold instead of being made from Universe Prowl. The speakers are neat, new touch that make a lot of sense).
- Perceptor (slightly based on Animated design, will be redeco'd in to REFLECTOR, chest opens to 'scan things') (Very military, the alt mode is actually a half-track to the Animated version's off-road truck. Looked superb)

Other size toys (actually all voyagers, duh)
- Grapple (Universe 2.0 Inferno redeco/remold, will come with crane) (looked WAY better than I thought it would! The crane boom and new head look awesome. Definitely worth getting)
- Lugnut (new mold, WWII style bomber, looks amazing, very bulky) (Absolutely fantastic - managed to still be recognizably Lugnut without being in the Animated stylized aesthetic. Also looked better than the original version, with the fingers very cleverly being formed from wing flaps)
- The Fallen repaint (shown in previous pictures, blue in color) (Still not sure about the colors, but the new, removable face and the folding staff make this one pretty tempting. At least he doesn't look just like the other to versions...)

...and it's over.

2010-06-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

Well, Botcon actually ended two days ago, but we didn't leave Florida until yesterday morning, and we actually went past home to my parents to visit with them last night, since they had my grandmother with them until this morning. So we didn't get home until lunch time or so today.

My first (and likely only) Botcon was pretty cool. Now I just need Air Shark's guns to straighten out. I really hate bendy plastic, and FP should have taken that into account and at least put them (and the loose Sky-Bytes) in cheap cardboard boxes or something.

Con Hauls and the Hall of Fame....

2010-06-27T04:01:00.001-07:00

Ok, so Soundwave didn't win the Hall of Fame. I don't really know how, but it doesn't matter because he'll win next year or some other time int he near future. Dinobot won.

I should also share that I managed to trade a couple of Hard Hero statues for Botcon Banzai-Tron and Skyquake and BW Silverbolt (who I've been wanting for a while recently). I then managed to trade Skyquake (who is not a Seeker and really shouldn't have been done with that mold) for Universe Chevy Aveo Swerve! I never thought I'd own that figure, but he's pretty great. Wonderfully unique transformation.

Man...it's going to be a long day.

2010-06-25T04:18:00.001-07:00

Well, after getting back to my cousin's, he and I stayed up until 2 am. Then my son wakes me up at 5:30, and I'm leaving to go back to the con in 30 min. I haven't even really had time to look at the toys - so far, I've only opened the Timelines Landquake and Breakaway I needed to complete Nexus Prime. They're actually pretty nice, particularly Breakaway.

Overall, I got the boxed set, a loose set, and 1 each of the souvenirs, giving me these toys to sell: all the loose stuff (Spark, Clench, Breakdown, Streetwise, Skybyte) and 2 of the Sharkticons and Scorch. I'm keeping everything else (at least for the short term - if I can suckers someone into trading me a SG Megatron for Double Punch or something like that, I'll totally part with some of these).

We're here!

2010-06-24T16:25:00.000-07:00

Got here to my cousin's in Orlando around 4:30. Headed out to pick up in about 30 min!

Florida Invasion!....or Basement Convention, or something...

2010-06-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

Well, in less than 24 hours, we'll be on our way to Botcon 2010 in Orlando! We're planning to leave at 8 AM, meet up with my wife's friend in a town about an hour away at about 9 AM, and then move on from there! A direct trip would be about 6.5 hours or so, but we'll be making at least two stops, so we'll probably arrive in the late afternoon. Which is fine; that should give me just enough time to get us settled in at my cousin's house, have dinner, and then hang out at the pool before going over for pick-up at 9pm (I can't believe that I can't get in line until then. Oh well; it gives me an "official" reason to stay up late). I'll probably make another post late tomorrow evening, if only to give a rough first impression of the toys.

Which, by the way, it seems we know most of the at-con exclusives now:

Gnaw/Sharkticon (Energon Sharkticon repaint, possibly a multi-pack)
Rapido (Universe Prowl repaint w/new head remold, as seen a few posts back)
Slicer/Shattered Glass Wheeljack (Energon Downshift repaint; the toy appears to be both characters)
Double Punch (Energon Scorponok repaint)
Scorch (Universe deluxe Hound repaint)
Shattered Glass Ravage (Universe Ravage repaint)
Cindersaur (BWX/Cybertron Megatron repaint; not definitively this character)

Pretty sure that's all of them...I'm most looking forward to Slicer/Wheeljack, Ravage, Rapido, Double Punch, and Cindersaur. Gnaw and Scorch are really the only unappealing ones.

I did not win the waiting game.

2010-06-16T12:37:00.000-07:00

Back in March, I wrote about how I wanted the ROTF Walmart exclusives Beachcomber and Trenchmouth, but didn't want to pay full price for them since they came packed with two repaints that I didn't want, Slapdash and Deadlift. I reported that I'd totally jump on them if I saw them clearanced for $5 per pair, as I had seen reported online.

Well, 3 months later, I have never seen any kind of clearance on these toys. And lately, the only thing I'd really been hunting was HA Mudflap, hoping to use the Recon Ravage coupon on him. However, I really doubt that I'll find him at retail before July 1st (I'm banking on finding him at Botcon). With all that in mind, and not having gotten anything new in a while (save Dion), I decided to finally cave on these guys today. It wasn't so bad; between the coupon and a gift card I had gotten from a student last month, the 2 sets were about as cheap as they would have been on clearance anyway.

As of now, I've only actually opened/transformed Beachcomber and Trenchmouth (Who's Movieverse BW Inferno to me); I haven't decided if I'm going to keep Slapdash and Deadlift or try to trade/sell them next week at Botcon. For now, I'll add them to the inventory, but they may not stay long.

Oh, and Infernomouth is awesome. He actually has better quality control than Knock-Out/Wasp, something I didn't expect. This is mostly due to the fact that his waist really locks in place in bot mode. Oh, and he does look nice, too, not to mention appropriate as Inferno - even my son, without prompting, said he turned into an "ant-motorcycle" when looking at his packaging photos.

edit: And, wow, I now have 101 individually transforming ROTF toys. Granted, this includes stuff like Stratosphere's mini-Optimus and the individual Legendstator components, but man, that seems like a lot.

Reorganizing the Invasion, Part Deux

2010-06-15T10:47:00.000-07:00

Last summer, I spent some time rearranging the toys downstairs, producing a display that has lasted for most of the last year. I've started rearranging it again, though.

On the chest-of-drawers, All the Optimus Prime toys have stayed, but everyone else (Ultra Magnuses, Primals, the Cybertron Prime candidates, etc) was moved up to where the Megatrons were.

It's actually the Megatron toys that precipitate this whole thing, since after Christmas, I couldn't fit both TM II and Megabolt Megatrons on the Megatron shelf. Now, they (and all Galvatrons, including the previously uninvited Universe Galvatron) all are on the chest-of-drawers opposing the Optimus toys.

The Starscreams are all still at the top (now unencumbered by TM II Megatron). The book shelf is going to change; it has mostly hosted Movie/ROTF toys for the last year; now, it will display characters who have many iterations from different toylines, such as the various Prowls, Ironhides, Seekers, Scorponoks, and so on.

Hot Shot Part Deux

2010-06-14T10:33:00.000-07:00

We got back late last night from being out of town for several days. While on the road, I'd seen online that the TF Collector's Club had begun shipping out this year's "free" toy (that you get just for paying the membership fee), Elite Guard Dion. I was a bit worried, since I didn't know if he'd be shipped in a little box that would fit in the mailbox and could hide there until we got back. Luckily, that turned out to be the case, and he was waiting in the mailbox when I got home.

The figure itself looks great. The orange and blue, of course, got well together, and the white is a good choice for an accent color. Cop-Tur, his mini-con, also looks good; being mostly blue with some orange and silver apps. Overall, I think they both look better, color-wise, than both Hot Shot and Jolt (well, the Henkei versions, at least).

Of course, the toy(s) also share the same problems I have with the Japanese release. The toe joint is floppy, making Dion hard to stand up. The left lower leg pops off a bit too easily just below the knee. Cop-Tur doesn't lock into the spoiler like he's supposed to. The rear wheel back kibble can't get out of its own way unless Dion's arms stick straight out. Cop-Tur can't stand up without leaning far forward. Et cetera.

And then there's the fictional issues I have with the toy; I don't really know where to place him. He's intended to be part of the Wings of Honor Universe that the club is building on in this year's club comic. That universe is very similar to the G1 cartoon universe, but with some slight changes; one of those changes is that, after being severely wounded by Megatron (a la War Dawn), Dion's fate isn't unknown. Fans have speculated that cartoon Dion was rebuilt into either Ironhide or Ultra Magnus (I'm in the Magnus camp, myself). WoH Dion was rebuilt into...Dion. Who can apparently just up and join the Elite Guard immediately afterward. Oh, and he has an Earth car mode millions of years before cars will exist on Earth.

So you see my problem. It's confounded by the fact that I really don't like seeing UT molds (and yes, I consider this a UT mold. It's a UT character and has a minicon port) being utilized in other fictional universes. So I'm trying to figure out a way for this toy to simply be UT Dion, even though the UT doesn't have an Elite Guard and already has an Ultra Magnus.

Lastly, it's hard to shake the feeling that this toy is just Elite Guard Hot Shot. The color scheme isn't too far removed from being a plausible Hot Shot scheme (his Cybertron mold had a ton of blue, and orange is of course close to yellow). And, more importantly, this mold was specifically designed to be Armada Hot Shot. It's hard to look at him and not see the impetuous young Autobot.

But yeah, he does look great.

Rapido!

2010-06-02T03:40:00.000-07:00

I'm officially excited for the convention now. This isn't the best pic, but his new head mold is great, and the colors scheme just works so well. This will probably be the best version of the mold that I'll own (and I'll own FIVE after the convention).

Masterpiece Grimlock

2010-05-31T04:43:00.000-07:00

We've known about MP Grimlock since Valentine's Day. However, we now see his packaging, which is pretty swank. It has a lot of similarities to the packaging of both MP Starscream and Skywarp, but is obviously done up in the style of the Generations line (even if it doesn't say so). More pics at TFW.

New stuff on HTS (sort of)

2010-05-25T08:32:00.000-07:00

Hasbro Toy Shop has once again had a major transformers update. Unfortunately, it doesn't involve getting Human Alliance Mudflap back in stock; rather, they've put up for preorder a bunch of the new stuff shown off at ToyFair back in February. Stuff like Hunt for the Decepticons movie toys, the first wave of Power Core Combiners, and also the first wave of Generations deluxe toys.

Which is all pretty cool, because I'm excited about almost all of that stuff, except that these, again, are preorders, but they don't ship until August 9th. Makes it all kind of a tease, especially since the toys will probably/hopefully be on US shelves much sooner (hopefully by Botcon next month). They're actually already out in places like Malaysia and Australia, so it really should only be a few weeks before they get here. Which is good, because the pickings are getting very slim at the local Walmart (which never got the ROTF NEST wave with Ratchet and Lockdown, mind you).

Anyway, at least this shows that Hasbro is moving ever closer toward releasing all this awesome new product.

Well, more like $500.

2010-05-23T05:25:00.001-07:00

So I registered for Botcon Friday night. I signed up for the Primus package (~$300) and an extra bagged set of the toys ($210) and, after slapping the ten dollar registration fee on top of all that, I'm now over $500 out for this thing. Luckily, I already have most of that saved up for; the cash is literally sitting here. I've got to get it to my dad this week, since I registered on his line of credit.

But I'm pretty excited. I showed my wife some encouraging completed ebay sales of previous years' Botcon toys to help her see that, yes, it is possible that I might be able to pay for the whole trip by selling the extra set of toys (and then some). I also haven't been to Orlando in a long time, and I'll be staying for free with my cousin, so that should be cool.

This is what I'm going to drop $300 on - part V.

2010-05-15T05:01:00.003-07:00

And, so, here's Sky-Byte. In him, we finally get a repaint of the fantastic Energon Sharkticon mold and it's done in nice colors and with a new head to boot. Now, I really don't know much about SkyByte as a character, since I never watched Robots in Disguise, so I'm not having fanboy seizures over him, but I always like it when a character can get transplanted from one continuity (especially somewhat obscure/forgotten/underused ones) to another, more popular one (in this case, one of the G1 continuities). In the G2: REdux story, apparently SkyByte is one of the first Predacons, hinting that this continuity will lead into some version of Beast Wars.

This is what I'm going to drop $300 on - part IV.

2010-05-11T17:33:00.000-07:00

So, here's the real Botcon exclusive Clench. I'm very pleased with this toy; I think it may be my favorite from the set.

Hall of Fame day 3

2010-05-05T05:37:00.001-07:00

The 3rd nominee is Jazz. He's a pretty good choice, and I'm thinking that he might be the only 1984 Autobot car character to choose from. Which I won't; as stated, Soundwave gets my vote.

Oh, and I decided to open Recon Ravage last night. I'm glad I did; he actually does look pretty awesome in hand and also quite different from the original version. Also (and I don't know why it took me so long to think of this), but I finally made fictional sense of him, too - he's ravage after being rebuilt following his death at the hands of Bumblebee. Sure, he doesn't look like this in the post-ROTF comics (where he has been resurrected), but the vaguely-patchwork look he has really sells the "rebuilt without a new paint job" idea I've got.

The Hall of Fame

2010-05-04T16:35:00.001-07:00

So, Hasbro let fans know recently that they're making a Transformers Hall of Fame. The "inaugural class" this year will have 5 characters, with four already chosen by Hasbro. They are, pretty predictably:

Optimus Prime
Megatron
Bumblebee
Starscream

The fifth character is to be chosen by the fans via online voting next Monday, the 10th. The nominees were culled from various websites' own polling, and this week Hasbro is posting the 5 different nominees. Yesterday began with Soundwave as the first nominee, and today the second was revealed to be Grimlock.

So, you know, I'll be voting for Soundwave. It just makes sense. He's iconic in the same way Optimus is, and, arguably, is the more recognizable Decepticon compared to either Megatron or Starscream (most people remember "the tape player guy.")

What's neat is that the winner won't be revealed until the Saturday night dinner at Botcon. And I'll get to be there, so that's pretty cool.

I got a letter from Optimus Prime

2010-05-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it's taken a while, but Recon Ravage was waiting on my doorstep after we got back from the park. Honestly, I think I'm most excited about the "$5 off any $20 or more ROTF toy" coupon than anything else; if Human Alliance Mudflap ever appears (within two months, anyway, this coupon expires on July 1st!), I'll use it on him.

Not quite sure what to do with Recon Ravage himself. He looks a little better in person than he did online (especially the chrome, it's pretty awesome), but I'm not scrambling to get him out of the packaging like I am with most transformers. I think it's the yellow that I don't really care for. I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep him, but I may just leave him in package for a while, maybe even take him to Botcon to trade or put him on eBay in a year or two...

Oh, and speaking of cats arriving at my house, exactly two weeks after my daughter was born, my smaller cat had her four kittens. She's a patchwork of white and dark grey, and the kittens are as follows: 2 white, 1 like its mother, and one almost solidly dark grey except for a white patch above its eye (one of them, not sure which).

And I also caved on the Kmart Mini-con 10 pack last night. It's actually pretty awesome, mostly solid repaints. Especially Longview; can't wait to crack him out for the Fourth of July.

p.s.: I've got several pages up now for the mini-reviews; many of them did end up including several toylines (that are at least thematically connected), but I guess the biggest one missing right now is a G1 page. Also, I'll have to shoehorn Machine Wars Megaplex in somewhere; he's not getting his own page. Maybe I can just make a G1/G2/MW page, since MW, for all intents and purposes, seems to be in the G1 continuity (and really is just shy of being a G3 toyline).

ROTF Ratchet mini-review

2010-04-25T03:59:00.000-07:00

Added mini-review for ROTF deluxe Ratchet. Not to mention a page for ROTF reviews! The page may eventually turn into a catch-all for any movie-themed toys (2007 movie, Hunt for the Decepticons, and so on).

And no, I'm not going to do a front-page update for every single mini-review, but probably will whenever I add a new page for a different toyline.

This is what I'm...wait, no, nevermind.

2010-04-24T20:39:00.001-07:00

No, this isn't real. The real Botcon Clench will be much cooler.

Is it weird that I actually don't think this looks that bad?

This is what I'm going to drop $300 on - part III.

2010-04-24T20:29:00.000-07:00

Well, here's Streetwise. Well, not really. He's now called Streetstar (sounds like his dancer name, I guess). Like Breakdown, Streetwise (I'm going to stick with the original name, thanks) started off as a G1 character, one of the "Scramble City" combiner limbs who, along with his fellow Protectobots, was supposed to be repainted for G2. This never happened for whatever reason, so we're getting another G2 toy that never really was. Which is pretty cool.

However, I'm not too excited by the character. I've never really cared for the Protectobots in general. Streetwise, to me, has always been, simply, That Other Autobot Police Car. He's the poor man's Prowl. He's especially so now, since he's repainted from the Universe Prowl mold. And the colors, while accurate to the proposed G2 repaint, really just make him look like Stealth Silverstreak.

It's not all bad, though. He looks pretty damned sharp in car mode, which also has the awesome combo G2 Autobot sigil/police sheild that was exclusively on Streetwise, not unlike movie Barricade's Decepticon police sheild. Also, I don't own any version of this character, so it may as well be the Botcon version that I can sell for decent money if I really don't want him down the road. And, as I kind of mentioned, he'll do well as Breakdown's opposite number.

Mini-reviews

2010-04-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

I'm now undertaking a project on this site that's going to take a long while to finish. I'm writing mini-reviews on each of the toys listed in my collection, starting with Energon Cruellock, Sharkticon, Universe Bonecrusher (Target version) and Classics Ramjet. Each line (well, roughly each line) will have its own page. They will all be linked to this main page and to each other. Each review will specifically list the toy's faction, size class, time of release, and accessories along with the actual mini-review paragraph.

Wish me luck!

Oh, and while I'll do a full post once actual toy pics are shown, the Botcon site has put up artwork of Clench, who's an awesome remold (new head) of Universe Onslaught, just like I wanted. Slammin'.

edit: Breaking news!
Turns out they are making a Rapido repaint for Botcon! Awesome! Of course, it's a crappy pic missing the head section, so we don't know if there's a head remold or not. Then again, the pic is of the toy in alt mode, so even if the piece was there, we couldn't see the head. So, while this means that after Botcon I'll own five (!) version of this mold, I'm pretty happy that one of them is based on one of the most fun little toys I got in 3rd grade. Oh, this reminds me - I need to do part 3 in the Botcon post series.

...man. It's been a big week.

2010-04-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

Me and my wife's second child was born this past Monday morning!

She's a little girl and was born with 6 lbs and 0.8 oz and is 19.5 inches long. She's a fantastic little child and our son, who'll be three next month, seems to be adjusting to her pretty well. It was a Cesarean delivery, too, and my wife is recovering and a pretty good pace. We got to leave the hospital around 10:00 on Wednesday morning, but we had to drive all the way to our pediatrician (almost an hour) so we could go ahead and get the appointment out of the way before bringing her back home. I've taken the whole week off and will be going back to work on Monday, but my wife will be staying out for several weeks. Which is nice; when our son was born, her job at the time didn't allow here to take but maybe a week and a half off!

So, as you can imagine, we've been pretty busy around here.

In transformer related news, my wife had purchased ROTF Lockdown for me as an Easter gift, which was greatly appreciated. I also used some spare money to get a few things off ebay to fill in some gaps in the collection.

I got:

Universe Battle for the Cyber Keys Sam's Club exclusive 5-pack

Legends of Cybertron Red Alert, Leobreaker, Evac, Scourge, and Jetfire.

Also, I nabbed the one ROTF Evac at the local Kmart (that was a surprise, let me tell you). I just couldn't resist the newness of him...even the red Rampage repaint looked tempting, but I'm holding off for the new-mold, non-combining Legends version of him.

This is what I'm going to drop $300 on - Part II.

2010-04-02T13:24:00.000-07:00

Well, G2: Redux has gotten even more eye-searing, and we're only 2 toys into the set!

This here is Generation 2 Breakdown. Like of the early G1 toys, this guy (and the rest of his group, the Stunticons) were set to receive ridiculous G2 repaints. However, THe G2 Stunticons were never produced in appreciable amounts, and only Breakdown got any sort of real release. Apparently, he was the very first Botcon exclusive back in 1994 (when G2 was still current, and I was 11!).

He's repainted from the Universe Sunstreaker/Sideswipe mold, although obviously with an all-new, great and totally accurate head mold.

I am disappointed that we haven't see Pyro/Spark's bot mode (not officially, anyway), as there is some doubt as to whether or not he too will receive a head remold (and he, like Breakdown, really needs one).

This is what I'm going to drop $300 on.

2010-03-23T14:35:00.001-07:00

The Botcon folks have put up the first image of one of this year's convention exclusives, and as you can see above, it's Pyro! Or, well, Spark. Which is more appropriate, since the theme (as is clearly evident) is Generation 2, and Pyro's actual G2 release name is Spark. Which I didn't know until I looked it up last night.

Anyway, the short history lesson to help you understand why this violently gaudy toy is actually cool:

Transformers began back in 1984 and had a good, solid run up until about 1990. That last year offered nothing but non-transforming Action Masters (I still have Devastator/Scorpulator) and a bevy of tiny Micromasters (which I also have a lot of). After that, Transformers disappeared from American store shelves.

Well, not for too long. 3 long (well, to a kid's perception) years later, in 1993, Hasbro returned Transformers to the shelves with the Generation 2 toyline. It began, largely, with repainted (or otherwise changed, such as with new weapons) Generation 1 toys and a handful of smaller new molds (that honestly weren't much different than your average G1 toy). Thing was, a lot of these G1 repaints - like, say, Ramjet - often had very bright, neon, or clashing color schemes. A lot of these color schemes also carried over into the increasingly high number of new molds that the line acquired over the next two years before its end in 1995.

So, what about Pyro/Spark?

Well, remember that gap between the Generations 1 & 2 toylines? That didn't exist everywhere. Like in Europe, where the G1 toyline ran so long that it actually overlapped a bit with the American G2 toys. In Europe's G1 toyline in 1993, a new mold Autobot leader toy named Pyro was released. When Europe belatedly made the switch to G2 the next year in 1994, Pyro got rereleased and renamed, this time as Spark. And those two releases are the only ones he ever got.

Flash forward to 2010, and IDW has an current comic called Last Stand of the Wreckers, about some relative nobodies getting recruited into the Wreckers, the elite Autbot fighting group that engages in missions so dangerous that most Wreckers end up dead. One of these nobodies is the aforementioned Pyro (going by that name). Author Nick Roche plays up his toy's physical resemblance to Optimus Prime, basically casting Pyro as a Prime emulator/wannabe. This comic portrayal has increased his standing as a character in the fandom, and, let's be honest, that's mostly because it's his only existing real character treatment. Of course, being in the hands of Roche doesn't hurt.

So, take a character whose toy is rare and has recently stepped into the comics limelight, and the club has really got something good on their hands. So, despite how Pyro looks, I'm pretty excited to have him as part of the first (and probably only) Botcon set I'll be getting.

Man, Power Core Combiners look cool.

2010-03-17T14:28:00.000-07:00

Some more pictures of some PCCs (Searchlight/Backwind and Smolder/Chopster) have surfaced, and they've really just sent me into a fit. I cant' wait 'till these guys are released later this year. They're so Unicron Trilogy, it hurts. And what's great is that they're basically a melting pot of all the major UT gimmicks: minicons, energon weapons, and combiner (E. Prime style). Ok, so there aren't any cyber keys, but I don't think anyone's complaining about that.

I just hope that they sell well enough to convince Hasbro to make some at a bigger size class, because, as it stands, the biggest individual toys are only scout class.

update: Also, here's an awesome new pic of Bombshock.

The clearance waiting game

2010-03-13T14:38:00.000-08:00

So, a few weeks back I convinced myself into wanting 4 current Walmart exclusives that, at first, I was pretty uninterested in.

They've got 2 two-packs of ROTF scout repaints. One set has Beachcomber (a blue Dune Runner) and Deadlift (a black & orange Dirt Boss), and the other has Slapdash (an orange Detour/Dead End) and Trenchmouth [a(nother) red Knock Out].

Truth be told, I'm really still not interested in either Slapdash or Deadlift. Slapdash's mold is pretty good (I really like Detour), but it's really hard for me to swallow it being an autobot, since it's so monstrous, even if the colors and alt mode make it a great G1 Wheelie homage. Deadlift is an homage to a Gobots forklift with the retarded name of "Spoons" (as evinced by the alphanumeric code that the two toys share). The colors are ok, and I've kind of bought into his bio (basically, he's the guy who lifts the bodies of the dead Decepticons into the smelting pools for parts reuse). Even so, he's still not something I'd probably buy if he was a single-packed release.

Beachcomber and Trenchmouth, however, are actually kind of cool. Beachcomber, for starters, is kind of one of those no-brainer repaints - Dune Runner looks something like a dune buggy, and Beachcomber was the original TF dune buggy, plus the head mold (with its visor) isn't a bad match. And after skipping out on Energon Beachcomber a few years back (who's really expensive on the aftermarket, by the way), I'd kind of like a multiversal equivalent to hang out with my Universe Legends Beachcomber.

Trenchmouth is desirable for much more oblique reasons. Firstly, as I noted, he's a repaint of ROTF Knock Out. Besides being a great mold, Knock Out is also pretty much ROTF Wasp/inator (despite being an Autobot). Now, the first repaint of Knock Out was also a red Decepticon - Reverb. And while most thought Reverb was an homage to a Gobot motorcycle (and he really does look like Dart), it turns out he's actually an homage to that other BW hymenopteran, Inferno the fire ant. This is pretty cool, as it shows that Hasbro wanted to use the mold to homage not just one, but two insectoid BW Predacons. Well, it would be pretty cool, except that Reverb's overall look kind of sucks. Then Trenchmouth comes along - here's another red Decepticon repaint of Knock Out! In other words, he manages to look better than Reverb while still filling the same basic aesthetic niche. Sure, some of the specific Inferno callouts aren't there - there's no "97" racing numbers or "Colony Racing" logo, nor the teal accents, but overall it still works, while also adding one of the better looking cyberglyphics tattoos from the movie. So, when I boil it all down, I want Trenchmouth because I'd like Knock Out/Wasp to have an evil counterpart who's also based on another BW Predacon (Inferno, who, at least visually/structurally, also resembled Waspinator quite a bit) without the sucky look of Reverb.

Of course, they can't make it easy on me and put Beachcomber and Trenchmouth/Inferno in the same package. No, they're both put in with the two I don't really want. So, to avoid paying ~$32 for 2 toys I want and 2 I don't, I'm waiting to see if these two sets go on clearance, as I've seen they have elsewhere, for only $5 a pop. That would mean that'd I'd pay only $10 for 4 toys - rendering the 2 I don't want free and one of the 2 I do want heavily discounted, as one scout toy on its own costs $8.

While they haven't hit clearance anywhere that I've seen them yet, I checked again today with the wife, and she specifically tried to memorize the names of the 2 sets. I might be getting them for Easter of something.

Check this out...

2010-03-08T13:32:00.001-08:00

Life support

2010-03-07T16:26:00.000-08:00

My wife's pretty sick. I was sick the other day myself, but she's particularly not dealing with it well. Because of this, my parents (fresh back from their cruise yesterday) ended up coming to our house this afternoon; we had originally planned to go to them. They cooked lunch, and my mom and I cleaned up a bit.

Somewhat appropriately, my dad also brought the resident Autobot medic, Ratchet, with him. As I've noted earlier, he managed to snag one early last week. However, he wasn't aware that I'd found my own Arcee, and he also picked up one of those he found in Florida - he actually went out of his way on vacation to check a Toys R Us for a toy for me. What an awesome dude. What this means, of course, is that now I have an extra MISB Animated Arcee on my hands. I'm trying to decide how long to hold onto it before unloading it on ebay.

Oh, and Cybertronian Ratchet is neat. I love how he's a totally different toy from the original deluxe Animated Ratchet, but still manages to capture his character. Too bad we're not getting cybertronian versions of Prowl, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee so that the entire main cast gets the pre-Earth treatment.

Scattornot

2010-03-04T16:29:00.000-08:00

I found the recently reported variant of ROTF Scattorshot today. The gray plastic that makes the initial release to terrible looking has been replaced with a much nicer, darker gray. So much nicer looking that it changed my mind about making a purchase.

One thing I like is when Transformers from continuities other than G1/BW get updated or homaged in newer lines - like 2007 Evac, or Universe Hot Shot. This time, ROTF has a new scout mold that's an homage to Cybetron Scattorshot. Pretty cool, right?

I guess. But other than the color scheme, there isn't much about this guy that screams Scattorshot. He doesn't have the goggles or the visor. He doesn't turn into a military vehicle. He transforms totally differently, and his robot mode proportions are pretty different, too. Dune Runner and/or Beachcomber make better Cyb. Scattorshot homages.

In fact, the more you look at this mold, the less it looks like Scattorshot and more like Animated Sentinel Prime. The smooth crown with twin striping, the blue pickup with "snowplow," the roof-mounted weapons, the fake hood-chest kibble, the angled back kibble, the wheels near the shoulders, it's all there.

But since a Sentinel Prime already exists in the movieverse, I'm just calling this guy "Sentinel." Or maybe "Sentinel Minor."

No pics for now...

2010-02-28T14:11:00.000-08:00

Can't post pics right now since the wife's computer is on the fritz, and mine is too old to be able to accept SD cards, and we don't have an adapter.

Also, any worries about the tax return are now over, so Botcon is still a go. Hooray.

Possibly bad news: my wife went to the obstetrician the other day, and she isn't measuring as big as she should be. So I'm praying that when we go in for the ultrasound tomorrow that everything's ok with our daughter (who still doesn't have a first name, by the way).

Ok, so maybe I do own them.

2010-02-26T18:01:00.000-08:00

Ok, I was able to pick up the Animated Arcee being held for me today. I'm so glad I called - they only got these in this Wednesday, and there were none left on the shelves. Cybertronian Ratchet (they had 2 of those left) is still at my parents', and I probably won't pick it up from them until next weekend, as they've just today left for a week-long cruise.

I also found and picked up ROTF Skystalker at a Target. He's pretty damned awesome.

Animated Arcee and Cybertronian Ratchet...I don't own them.

2010-02-20T02:47:00.000-08:00

I've only checked for these 2 toys twice myself. The fact that they're Toys R US exclusives means that even checking a store requires driving at least an hour away. I got my mom to check a store on her route home from work yesterday, but still no dice. I'm thinking about checking my closest store again today, but fear walking away empty handed after driving all the way there just for those 2 toys.

Why, oh why, couldn't these be mass releases or, at least, Walmart exclusives?

Update on 2/24: Well, I may not yet own them, but I soon will. My dad (rather unexpectedly) picked up Ratchet on Monday, and I called the local TRU this afternoon, and they've got an Arcee set aside with my name on it. Got to decide if I want to go all the way there on Friday night or just wait until Saturday morning...

At any rate, I'll do another set of photos this weekend with the new Animated deluxes, and the recent ROTF legends I promised to take pics of.

Sadly, the Animated TRU exclusives will be the last TFs I should be buying on my own for a while...I told my wife that I'd not buy any until Botcon this summer (however, I may not be able to go at this point if our tax return is as bad as we think it might be). So, I'm hoping that my wife/parents will get me a couple of the new NEST deluxes and scouts for Easter and/or random gifts.