December Hauls!

[Onslaught Six]

I get to start one! I rule! Everybody else sucks!

For working 12 hours in a row on Black Friday at the esteemed Walton Market, I received a voucher for 25% off one entire order. So I did some Christmas gift shopping (although not as much as I wanted to; store didn't have everything I wanted to get people) and grabbed a bunch of food...and using the perks of being a stocker, managed to grab Brainstorm! Actually, I grabbed two Brainstorms, because one is for someone else. So now my store has no Brainstorms. But it does have three Whirls and a Rudebastard. (And a smashed up Springer that's probably feeling pretty lonely right now.) Spent about $100 altogether, which is not bad for everything we got.

[138 Scourge]

Nice! Brainstorm is one I've been looking forward to. How you like it?

[BWprowl]

I too am curious about Brainstorm.

All the crap I’ve bought or got up to this point:

Generations Cosmos and Swerve – Came in from BBTS. Cosmos is as good a toy as everyone’s said he is, but it’s hard to enjoy him being paranoid that Hasbro’s just going to trot out another new one in a few years. Swerve is kinda meh, but his little gun-jet guy is neat.

Generations Dreadwing – I dunno, he was on the shelf (it’d been a while since I saw one in the wild) and his colors looked cool and I’d been fiddling and enjoying that mold as Megatron recently and there were G2 Decepticon symbols and I didn’t have anything else I’d bought in a while, so whatever. He’s pretty, and neat, and pretty neat.

MU Death’s Head – Eff yeah! So happy when I saw his wave had hit my stores. He’s damn near everything you need a DH toy to be (I kinda wish his colors were closer to his TF comic appearances, but whatever). Chest armor/cape chunk needs to be secured better, I’m gonna glue it down at some point, but everything else, including his weapons and storage thereof is great. Plus just the fact that this toy exists, which is insane.

Marvel Legends Agent Venom – By sheer chance I found out this toy existed, as, of all things, a Walgreens online-exclusive. It looked awesome, and his guest-starring roles in comics like Spider-Island and Scarlet Spider have made me appreciative of Flash Venom, so bought. It’s a pretty solid figure. Mine came out of the package with the hands somewhat warped, but otherwise he looks awesome and has great accessories (four guns, plus a plug-in tentacle bit for his back that can wield them if you want). He’s a rad toy and can go well with my Scarlet Spider.

Transformers GT Mission GT-R Megatron – Been wanting this for a while, noticed they were kinda disappearing from auction sites and sellers, decided it was now or never, and hey, with the Dollar down and the Yen up, there’s never been a better time to import! It’s a very nice toy. A smidge above the average Deluxe size, but very ‘full’ and detailed, and weighed down with a solid core of die-cast. And absolutely soaked in paint. And sponser decals. He looks terrific, especially in car mode. Transformation is Alternators-absurd, the legs in particular are purely complicated for the sake of complication, but nothing about it is ‘challenging’, and the folding-up-auto-transforming-pinching chest and upper body are actually kind of clever. Arms are just okay, the running boards are very particular about how they get folded in, but I like the way the seats fold back on them and let blasters pop out. Fire extinguisher gun is equally amusing and somewhat visually-appropriate for a Megatron. Noa, his GT Sister (which, if TFWiki’s synopsis is to be believed, are basically TF Spirit Animals as cute animu girls) is a decent extra. Sculpt and detailing aren’t really up to figma snuff, but she’s nicely posable and goes with Megatron well. I’m glad I got this toy.

Generations Crosscut – Traded to me by Six for another Death’s Head I was able to grab for him. I was mildly interested in this mold, but didn’t want it as Skids because MTMTE has made me hate Skids. But as an obscure Japanese exclusive/Diaclone homage? Hells yeah! As mentioned elsewhere it feels mildly redundant to get a Deluxe-sized red, black, and silver race car so soon after I just got another one of those in GT Megatron, but Crosscut’s transformation is a lot more streamlined (the feet in particular are cool and something I don’t recall seeing before) and his gimmickry is distinct (I was not aware until I got this that you could ‘un-deploy’ all his various weapons in robot mode). Vehicle mode is cute, reminds me of TFPrime Rumble (another reason to be glad I didn’t get the blue version, I guess). Overall, just a solid Transformer toy.

Pokemon Alpha Sapphire and Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth – Two 3DS games that shipped and arrived to me at the same time because clearly, I got a lot of fuckin’ time to kill. Both are really good so far, which is good because at this rate I’ll be playing them for like a year or something to finish both (and the new Guilty Gear comes out at the end of the month! Fuck me!)

[BWprowl]

I have no self-control.

First off got deliveries: Amazon order with gifts for my brother and sister-in-law (All of Sealab 2021 and the new DBZ movie, respectively) plus Volume 3 of Terra Formars. Goddamn the manga version of this is a million times better than the currently-airing anime, but I’m watching the latter anyway because I’m interested in the whole plot of this thing.

Then got an AmiAmi box with some Velcro Lagoon Trading Company patches (from Black Lagoon) plus Nendoroid Kinomoto Sakura aka Card Captor Sakura! Alright, I mostly pre-ordered this months ago to ensure Good Smile got that there was demand and went ahead with a figma version of the character (they did) but the Nendoroid is nice enough. Was impossibly fiddly out of the box and I was almost really frustrated with it (Nendoroids aren’t ‘toys’ or ‘action figures’ so much as they are very nice SD display figures with lots of optional attachable/swappable parts for different pre-set poses and looks. They look great, but they are the opposite of fun to mess with.) but after some time I loosened some parts up and got used to changing things out and I’m glad to have her on my desk now. Her hat is held on her head with fuckin’ magnets, it’s great. Can’t wait for the figma now.

Also got a delivery from Mandarake, this one had the Vocaloid Megpoid Nendoroid, another Christmas gift for my brother.

Then went out on Saturday and picked up:

Generations Jhiaxus: Lone survivor of his wave at one Target. I thought the new ArScream was pretty cool, and I daresay this version owns the mold (or what parts it has in common with Starscream) better. Very nicely conveys size and presence, despite the relatively small Deluxe frame. Colors are ridiculous, I don’t understand who at Hasbro keeps thinking Jhiaxus is supposed to be orange, grey, and black, but whatever, it looks nice (the orange absolutely pops, it almost glows). Headsculpt is really nice. Wouldn’t mind seeing someone do this up in G2 colors, but this version’s quite nice for now.

Generations Nightbeat: Found him at another Target. I knew what I was getting into, and I still kinda wish I’d waited for a sale, maybe? The colors are really nice (love that shade of blue), the vehicle mode is cool, and the headsculpt is spot-friggin’-on, but the weapons are as unbelievably shitty as everyone knows at this point (why is there no way to peg their combined form onto the back of the vehicle mode as some ridiculous rocket booster? That might’ve redeemed it) and the whole thing is a riot of nonsensically-applied fake kibble and vehicle parts (the feet, with their sculpted-but-unpainted wheels and taillights are just a nightmare). It’s okay as Nightbeat, but I definitely know why I never picked this mold up as Bumblebee, despite actually really liking the Ongoing design it was originally based on.

Where my Windblade at?

Also went to TRU and got:

Disney Infinity 2.0 Marvel Super Heroes: Christmas gift for one of my roommates, also grabbed a Rocket Raccoon for him to use with it.

MMPR Legacy Dragon Dagger: Way back when I talked about the Legacy Power Morpher I said it might be the nicest piece of merchandise Bandai of America has put out for the franchise, and Six said I should just wait and see the Dragon Dagger they were doing. Well he was right, this thing is *nuts*. It’s a huge, intricately detailed replica of the damn thing, weighed down with shitloads of die-cast and *actual gold plating*, because what the hell why not. It’s got ‘attack’ sounds that ring out when you click the buttons regularly, then when you hold down the ‘mouthpiece’ and press them you get ‘Deluxe’ sounds, IE: The Dragonzord summoning and transformation tunes from the show (very sadly, it only plays that first stanza of the summoning tune, not going all the way through and playing the whole progression) as well as the show’s theme song (unlike the Morpher, you get the lyrical version here, which is awesome). It’s a thing of friggin’ beauty.

MMPR Legacy Dragonzord: Another surprisingly nice piece from BofA here, even moreso given the point of the thing. They released a ‘new’ toy of the main MMPR Megazord back in the 2010 re-airing line, but aside from some slightly more accurate design-work, that toy wasn’t much of an improvement on the old one from the 90’s. A light, simple, smallish, unposable affair, it only cost twenty bucks and for that you would get a Megazord that could combine together and stand behind your Rangers looking decent and not much else. And we didn’t even get a Dragonzord to go with it, adding insult to injury! Well four years later we finally have that Dragonzord, and it’s basically the opposite of that old toy. This is a *wonderful*, DX-level toy of the Green Ranger’s mecha, with loads of paint and details, die-cast, and some decent jointing (it’s got ankles! A fully-articulated-yet-also-collapsible tail!). It’s not at cracked-out Chogokin articulation levels, but it’s at least as posable as the old suit was. It even has optional hands so you can have it with relaxed-pose fingers or straight-out for missile-firing (or when you transform it). The combination is where things get surreal. Breaking this massive hunk of niceness down and combining it with the creaky, cheap 2010 toys is bizarre, and yet the quality of this toy actually manages to *carry* those old ones and make the whole thing feel worth it, somehow. Dragonzord Battle Mode has always been a mecha I was fond of, and the combination looks great here (and thanks to the base combination, THIS one has knees where the vanilla Megazord did not, score!). The Dragon Megazord is a little tricky, wrestling the hat of the whole damn thing onto the Megazord’s head, but it’s solid when combined. Being the base 2010 Megazord with just a solid hunk of die-cast heaped on top of it, it’s as much of a brick as it was, and a damn top-heavy one now too, but again, it *looks* amazing now. The combined chest-tail weapon of the Dragonzord is ridiculous and huge when wielded by either (it is so tall it prevents me from displaying those combinations on the shelf where my MMPR setup is). Overall, this thing was worth the wait, and is SO good a Zord toy by BofA that it very nearly makes up for the overwhelming mediocrity of the 2010 Megazord.

Impressed as I am with this thing, I still don’t know that I’m down enough to drop like $150 on the also-out Legacy Titanus. Where would I put THAT thing?!

And I also ordered other Christmas presents: Cards Against Humanity and two expansions for my mom, Persona Q Wild Cards Edition for one of my friends, and my sister-in-law is also getting a Squishable PuppyCat. Viva capitalism!

[andersonh1]

Generations Jhiaxus: Lone survivor of his wave at one Target. I thought the new ArScream was pretty cool, and I daresay this version owns the mold (or what parts it has in common with Starscream) better. Very nicely conveys size and presence, despite the relatively small Deluxe frame. Colors are ridiculous, I don’t understand who at Hasbro keeps thinking Jhiaxus is supposed to be orange, grey, and black, but whatever, it looks nice (the orange absolutely pops, it almost glows). Headsculpt is really nice. Wouldn’t mind seeing someone do this up in G2 colors, but this version’s quite nice for now.

I really want one in G2 colors. I get tired of the Halloween colored Jhiaxus too.

[Onslaught Six]

(very sadly, it only plays that first stanza of the summoning tune, not going all the way through and playing the whole progression)

Actually, if I'm not wrong, that's accurate to the US show. Even if the jingle is the same melody as the Zyu one, the Zyu one goes on twice as long and moves up and does some cool shit. US version just plays the first part over and over.

[BWprowl]

Actually, if I'm not wrong, that's accurate to the US show. Even if the jingle is the same melody as the Zyu one, the Zyu one goes on twice as long and moves up and does some cool shit. US version just plays the first part over and over.

I coulda sworn the MMPR version played the standard jingle twice then it went up a bit on the third one, but a YouTube search yields nothing, just the simple single jingle like you refer to. Ah, the misguided mists of nostalgia!

Part of me wonders if there are any Japanese Zyuranger fans importing this (or the Morpher). Even with the slightly different sounds, it's a nice piece, though I don't know if Bandai Japan has produced, like, a 'Compete Selection' version of the Zyusouken that's up to modern code (the original roleplay version of it they came out with back in the day was actually a revolution in toy/screen accuracy for these sorts of Sentai toys).

[BWprowl]

Gundam Build Fighters Try HG Model Kits: Build Burning Gundam, Powered GM Cardigan, and Lightning Gundam - Build Fighters is one of the most enjoyably effective toy commercials available (seriously, TF could learn a thing or two from it), as evidenced here by me jetting down and grabbing the first three kits of the new series, Build Fighters Try, as soon as the guy at the hobby shop let me know they were available. Originally I just wanted the GM Cardigan, since Fumina is handily the best character in the show, but then I found out her second suit, the Winning Gundam, combined into power-ups for teammates Build Burning and Lightning Gundam, and the show worked hard to sell me on them as well, so I just snapped 'em all up (and now I gotta find time to snap 'em all together). Really can't wait for the Winning to come out now.

Seriously, I'd love to see a TF show in the vein of Build Fighters, just a rip-roaring fun romp screaming at the top of its lungs "This thing is awesome and here is every reason why you should think it is awesome!"

[andersonh1]

"The Sandman" by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby arrived today. It's the Wesley Dodds version after he ditches the gas mask and gets the yellow and purple tights and a sidekick. Between this book (which contains scans rather than restored art from the look of it) and the single Archive, I'll bet the majority of 1940s Sandman is in print. I've never been a big fan of Jack Kirby's art, but compared to other artists of the 40s, I can see how much more dynamic and full of energy that it is. And it's enjoyable to see a long run of his pre-Marvel work (though the stories follow his run on Captain America I believe). Should be a good read.

[BWprowl]

Mail guy got here late tonight! Well, it is raining.

Anyway, brought the Machine Wars Megatron I won off eBay! Big ups to Six for alerting me to its presence in the first place, thanks for caring! Admittedly, I effectively just wanted this thing as an accessory to 'complete' the existence of my MW Megaplex, a job it does with aplomb; my adorable little Decoy has a guy he can actually stand in for now, it's great! Of the two, Megatron definitely has the less favorable color scheme, especially in robot mode with his head almost entirely teal, no paint or anything picking out his face or helmet. Then again, I guess that's the point of Megatron's look in this context, to look innocuous and uninteresting in the background while the more striking, regal, and well, Megatron-ish Megaplex draws all the attention. Helps explain the smaller stature too. I've said it a million times before, but I just really love the concept behind Megatron with Megaplex in Machine Wars, and having the two of them together is fulfilling.