Re: Winter Hauls
Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 11:30 am
Been a while, everything's been a tad crazy more, so I'll just do a few highlights:
TF ER Soundwave w/ Ravage & Laserbeak - this is an oddball set, but likable for 3 remolds that I never got in Siege. Ravage has no tail but has an open mouth, he's painted like a microcassette, I don't love or hate this figure, it does the trick. Laserbeak has no microcassette paint but nice techno detailing overall, when worked into place he does eject from Soundwave's door, but he is a pain in the ass to clip on Soundwave's forearm, it's easier to just use his alt mode tab to hold him in place there. Soundwave isn't terrible, bot mode does the trick well, alt mode is only fair at best, and for some reason he has 2 sets of cassette player buttons on his crotch which is a waste of efforts, if you're putting them on his front don't also put them on his backside. The lack of Siege weathering is really welcome.
TF ER Thrust - the coneheads are complete, and they're all kind of middling - this mold is not worth dumping 8 figures out of, I'm glad I have Siege Starscream and Thundercracker (I only got these guys to pad the Seeker ranks). At least I got nice discounts on each.
TF ER Bumblebee - Walmart canceled my second order of these, making me wonder why they allowed anyone to order 2 in the first place, but overall it's a pretty good Bumblebee figure if you don't mind the Cliffjumper mold underneath. Should have really tooled up new weapons for him though.
TF ER Ironhide & Prowl - I don't like ER Prowl much, he's basically a facade of a robot. Ironhide's ok but suffers the same stupid giant vehicle-ruining boots as his Siege tooling origin.
TF Prime 10th Anniversary Jet Vehicon and War Breakdown - a mixed bag, it's great to have these molds, but each has some foibles holding it back from greatness, and the Arms Microns model kits are weak sauce. Jet Vehicon's got a lot of kibble and the alt mode underside is uncovered, leaving out his weapon for the Arms Micron was not the best choice. War Breakdown looks great but his transformation ends on a very sour note of the back end of alt mode not wanting to complete transformation, and his parts are thinner than other TFs. It's weird going back to this line with Siege having blown me away, but in some ways you can feel the evolution from Prime's design to the current day, such as using a lot of 5mm ports.
Star Wars Beskar Mandalorian in Black Series, Vintage Collection - Hasbro sucks at chrome-look figures, the silver deco on both has no weathering and no wash to make it feel more alive. It's a much bigger problem for the Vintage Collection figure though, his scale doesn't work with that paint. The Black Series looks good with it because it's I think colore mixed into the part (and on mine one shoulder isn't fully mixed). TBS version's cape doesn't work with the jetpack though.
SW TVC Moff Gideon - mine has defectively-painted eyes, my Hasbro defects in 2020 were probably 1 in 5 between SW and TF, but after 3 weeks waiting for a replacement to show up anywhere I figured I couldn't get another so I opened it... not 12 hours later Pulse and Amazon added new stock. It's a pretty good figure, but I've grown weary of TVC as a line, the sculpting and articulation don't work as well at this scale. Still, Gideon seemed like he'd go with my armada of ships and figures.
Lodge 10" skillet, Thermo Pro remote dual probe thermometer - the former for makin' steaks and whatnot; the latter for making bread first, meats second. I've made a few good bread loafs so far.
GI Joe Classifieds Cobra Commander (Regal Variant) - finally got this preorder to show up, and the truth is I don't love it. His sculpting doesn't work with his articulation as well as other figures in the line, he has 2 sets of hands but only 1 of those 4 hands actually holds his sword or pistol so he can't hold both at once, and his sword blade is fuschia red for some reason. Honestly, between Cobra Commander being a let-down and so many awesome figures being COVID-exclusives, GI Joe Classifieds has been enough of a misery to collect that I might just divest myself of the whole thing.
TF ER Soundwave w/ Ravage & Laserbeak - this is an oddball set, but likable for 3 remolds that I never got in Siege. Ravage has no tail but has an open mouth, he's painted like a microcassette, I don't love or hate this figure, it does the trick. Laserbeak has no microcassette paint but nice techno detailing overall, when worked into place he does eject from Soundwave's door, but he is a pain in the ass to clip on Soundwave's forearm, it's easier to just use his alt mode tab to hold him in place there. Soundwave isn't terrible, bot mode does the trick well, alt mode is only fair at best, and for some reason he has 2 sets of cassette player buttons on his crotch which is a waste of efforts, if you're putting them on his front don't also put them on his backside. The lack of Siege weathering is really welcome.
TF ER Thrust - the coneheads are complete, and they're all kind of middling - this mold is not worth dumping 8 figures out of, I'm glad I have Siege Starscream and Thundercracker (I only got these guys to pad the Seeker ranks). At least I got nice discounts on each.
TF ER Bumblebee - Walmart canceled my second order of these, making me wonder why they allowed anyone to order 2 in the first place, but overall it's a pretty good Bumblebee figure if you don't mind the Cliffjumper mold underneath. Should have really tooled up new weapons for him though.
TF ER Ironhide & Prowl - I don't like ER Prowl much, he's basically a facade of a robot. Ironhide's ok but suffers the same stupid giant vehicle-ruining boots as his Siege tooling origin.
TF Prime 10th Anniversary Jet Vehicon and War Breakdown - a mixed bag, it's great to have these molds, but each has some foibles holding it back from greatness, and the Arms Microns model kits are weak sauce. Jet Vehicon's got a lot of kibble and the alt mode underside is uncovered, leaving out his weapon for the Arms Micron was not the best choice. War Breakdown looks great but his transformation ends on a very sour note of the back end of alt mode not wanting to complete transformation, and his parts are thinner than other TFs. It's weird going back to this line with Siege having blown me away, but in some ways you can feel the evolution from Prime's design to the current day, such as using a lot of 5mm ports.
Star Wars Beskar Mandalorian in Black Series, Vintage Collection - Hasbro sucks at chrome-look figures, the silver deco on both has no weathering and no wash to make it feel more alive. It's a much bigger problem for the Vintage Collection figure though, his scale doesn't work with that paint. The Black Series looks good with it because it's I think colore mixed into the part (and on mine one shoulder isn't fully mixed). TBS version's cape doesn't work with the jetpack though.
SW TVC Moff Gideon - mine has defectively-painted eyes, my Hasbro defects in 2020 were probably 1 in 5 between SW and TF, but after 3 weeks waiting for a replacement to show up anywhere I figured I couldn't get another so I opened it... not 12 hours later Pulse and Amazon added new stock. It's a pretty good figure, but I've grown weary of TVC as a line, the sculpting and articulation don't work as well at this scale. Still, Gideon seemed like he'd go with my armada of ships and figures.
Lodge 10" skillet, Thermo Pro remote dual probe thermometer - the former for makin' steaks and whatnot; the latter for making bread first, meats second. I've made a few good bread loafs so far.
GI Joe Classifieds Cobra Commander (Regal Variant) - finally got this preorder to show up, and the truth is I don't love it. His sculpting doesn't work with his articulation as well as other figures in the line, he has 2 sets of hands but only 1 of those 4 hands actually holds his sword or pistol so he can't hold both at once, and his sword blade is fuschia red for some reason. Honestly, between Cobra Commander being a let-down and so many awesome figures being COVID-exclusives, GI Joe Classifieds has been enough of a misery to collect that I might just divest myself of the whole thing.