July hauls

[Onslaught Six]

I've no idea how horrible he's supposed to be, apparently. The mould looks pretty decent, anyway, but I'm still waffling.

[BWprowl]

Ooh look, paycheck! Picked up the Maximum Dinobots Trade, plus toys. First impressions:

Chromia- Niftier than I expected, but still somewhat lacking. Bike mode is really cool. Loads of detailing (valve stems!), and the snap-on-cannons look really nice (plus I just dig the idea). Robot mode is a bit iffy. There's just...not much going on there. I suspect this is because of her status as a combiner component, but she still looks like there should be more to her. Mainly in her upper body (though it would also help if the torso halves stayed connected worth a damn). Cannon hand looks cool, but is unwieldy, and the mech-alive gimmick dragooned into both restricts its movement and increases the force needed to move the joint anyway. Here's hoping the combined form is better than the individual robot mode...

Demolishor- Got him because Target was out of Stratospheres, blah. Definitely on the small side for a Voyager, especially for a guy who was so huge. And the shovel seems...undersized somehow. Almost chibi, actually. And the wash on it looks kinda lame. The transformation is where this toy shines. It is truly unlike anything you've ever seen before. EVERYTHING spins and rotates around the head-core to wind up in different positions. The robot mode is kinda the same way. I was delighted to discover that his wheels can roll over each other and switch places and have both on the ground just like in the movie. He's got a lot of options. Poseability of the arms is tricky, but once you get the hang of it, you should be fine. I might swap the arms. There's a LOT of fiddle potential with this guy, and those who enjoy such things should definitely get him (I believe I heard '86 loved him already, so).

Mixmaster- Holy Toledo. Okay, those of you who wondered what Bonecrusher would've been like at a larger pricepoint, Mixmaster has enough similarities to be considered a follow-up on that idea. Vehicle mode is small, for a Voyager, but looks nice, and it even has a working, moveable sement spout. The drum, unfortunately, does not turn due to the transformation. Holy Toledo the transformation. I wrestled with him for ten minutes, then pulled out the instructions and wrestled for another ten minutes before I finally had it. Now admittedly, a lot of this was confusion over what panels were supposed to fold together versus which were already together in vehicle mode. The fact that he's got a third mode (more on that in a second) with parts dedicated to it doesn't help with the nebulous-ness. Then there's the arms. There's really nowhere right for the wheel chunks to go, as far as I can tell; they just sorta hang off the elbows. One set of elbows, anyway. See, each arm has TEN POINTS OF ARTICULATION APIECE! It's pretty much up to you how you want to position them and what part you want to designate as the shoulder, etc. And you will pop off at least one of the drum-shell pieces in the process. This is a fact. Now, the resulting robot is admittedly impressive. Satisfyingly sizeable, with details EVERYWHERE. Very 'high-end action figure' looking, if I do say so myself. Could use a bit more paint in some places (like the head), but otherwise looks really good. And as mentioned before, there's articulation in spades. The 'Attack Mode' is another excercise in instruction-squinting and guesswork. Good luck figuring out exactly how they want you to position the arms. End result is okay, but kinda irritating when you think "I went through all that just to launch a missle?". And then you try to go back to vehicle mode. I sincerely hope you remember how everything incorporated into the cab was positioned, or you're fucked...

He's honestly a good toy though. Just really gonna take some time before I learn all his ins and outs.

Also, on my way out of the aisle, I saw that Target had the Destro/Iron Grenadier comic pack clearanced down to three bucks! Snag!

[Onslaught Six]

Ooh look, paycheck! Picked up the Maximum Dinobots Trade, plus toys.

Wait, this is out? Damnit. I'm waiting on my aunt, see. If I don't have it in-hand by the end of the month, then I'm just gonna buy it myself.

Chromia- Niftier than I expected, but still somewhat lacking. Bike mode is really cool. Loads of detailing (valve stems!), and the snap-on-cannons look really nice (plus I just dig the idea). Robot mode is a bit iffy. There's just...not much going on there. I suspect this is because of her status as a combiner component, but she still looks like there should be more to her. Mainly in her upper body (though it would also help if the torso halves stayed connected worth a damn). Cannon hand looks cool, but is unwieldy, and the mech-alive gimmick dragooned into both restricts its movement and increases the force needed to move the joint anyway. Here's hoping the combined form is better than the individual robot mode...

No combined mode can save these monstrosities.

Demolishor- Got him because Target was out of Stratospheres, blah. Definitely on the small side for a Voyager, especially for a guy who was so huge. And the shovel seems...undersized somehow. Almost chibi, actually. And the wash on it looks kinda lame. The transformation is where this toy shines. It is truly unlike anything you've ever seen before. EVERYTHING spins and rotates around the head-core to wind up in different positions. The robot mode is kinda the same way. I was delighted to discover that his wheels can roll over each other and switch places and have both on the ground just like in the movie. He's got a lot of options. Poseability of the arms is tricky, but once you get the hang of it, you should be fine. I might swap the arms. There's a LOT of fiddle potential with this guy, and those who enjoy such things should definitely get him (I believe I heard '86 loved him already, so).

I got him too. Swap him at the forearms. You lose a little bit of the articulation in the vehicle mode--unless you disable his Mech Alive. (Or cut out some tabs.)

Mixmaster- Holy Toledo. Okay, those of you who wondered what Bonecrusher would've been like at a larger pricepoint, Mixmaster has enough similarities to be considered a follow-up on that idea. Vehicle mode is small, for a Voyager, but looks nice, and it even has a working, moveable sement spout. The drum, unfortunately, does not turn due to the transformation. Holy Toledo the transformation. I wrestled with him for ten minutes, then pulled out the instructions and wrestled for another ten minutes before I finally had it. Now admittedly, a lot of this was confusion over what panels were supposed to fold together versus which were already together in vehicle mode. The fact that he's got a third mode (more on that in a second) with parts dedicated to it doesn't help with the nebulous-ness. Then there's the arms. There's really nowhere right for the wheel chunks to go, as far as I can tell; they just sorta hang off the elbows. One set of elbows, anyway. See, each arm has TEN POINTS OF ARTICULATION APIECE! It's pretty much up to you how you want to position them and what part you want to designate as the shoulder, etc. And you will pop off at least one of the drum-shell pieces in the process. This is a fact. Now, the resulting robot is admittedly impressive. Satisfyingly sizeable, with details EVERYWHERE. Very 'high-end action figure' looking, if I do say so myself. Could use a bit more paint in some places (like the head), but otherwise looks really good. And as mentioned before, there's articulation in spades. The 'Attack Mode' is another excercise in instruction-squinting and guesswork. Good luck figuring out exactly how they want you to position the arms. End result is okay, but kinda irritating when you think "I went through all that just to launch a missle?". And then you try to go back to vehicle mode. I sincerely hope you remember how everything incorporated into the cab was positioned, or you're fucked...

Put the wheel chunks behind his upper arms. Looks great.

it even has a working, moveable sement spout.

*stifle* *snicker* *laugh*

[BWprowl]

Curse my suggestive spelling! And poor choice of enthusiastic adjectives!

[Onslaught Six]

Weird, TFWiki says Maximum Dinobots isn't out until the 29th. Anyone else got info?

[onslaught86]

I return! Was away for a week, staying Down South at my ten-flavours-of-awesome-girlfriend's (Seriously ten flavours, if not more. She collects TF too. And comics. And wears Space Invaders underwear) father's place. Had a fantastically relaxing holiday and wish it hadn't ended. Alas.

While away, I picked up a whopping one toy, but fiddled with a bunch that a fellow collector down that way had. In brief, Wheelie is fiddly and fun, Skids is much cooler than I thought he'd be, I'll definitely be buying Dead End, Mega Megs is holy shit levels of awesome in robot mode, Mixmaster is a mess, and Stratosphere is surprisingly excellent.

Bought Mudflap. Mudflap is better than he looks. Cute car mode, surprisingly involved and satisfying transformation once you get it right, more intuitive with multiple transforms, instructs are a bit off on the kibble placement. Hideous robot head and odd giant hand, otherwise good, I like the moving arm panels for the gun. Some grey parts interfere with the arms in robot mode, and I wish the back clipped up better, yet he's worth the buy if you're interested and can get past the head.

Also bought the complete Black Books boxset.

[JediTricks]

Star Trek Art Asylum / Diamond Select Toys Enterprise D - some little issues, but magnificent and large overall, very impressive for the price.

Hasbro Star Wars TX-130 Republic Fighter Tank - unweathered deco stalls this, but a fun design and holds 3 figures inside quite nicely. Has cool GI Joe factor, fun, but could be better too.

Samsung Exclaim cellphone - way bigger than my last phone, but has full GPS and a big clear screen and both a sliding keypad and thumboard. Battery gets twice the life as my last phone despite being the same size battery, but still could be better. Twice as heavy as my last phone too. Like it, but it's bigger than I would have preferred. However, the current Sprint phones all suck and my old one was on its last legs, we were signing a new contract either way so it was either a big discount on the phone now or no discount tomorrow.

Sideshow 12-inch-scale Star Wars ANH Darth Vader SE - he's here, and he's big, and he's got a few little issues that make me glad that they also screwed up the paint so I get to send him back and try again with a replacement. There's a lot of accuracy in the design and in the sewing which seems to use up the huge budget. Armor is accurate everywhere except the chest box (too long, and toyetic execution) and the helmet sits too high. Cloth vest-skirt is fairly accurate but a little too wide, same as prototype but works better with personal futzing. Exclusive hand is lying about what it is, it's clearly the "you are part of the rebel alliance" gesture and not a Force choke. Saber is good. Joints are fairly solid, some are limited in range by armor. Cape opening is too small to nail the early part of the film where the cape is up on the mask's neck. Pricetag hurts the final grade, which I'm calling a "B" but doesn't feel entirely accurate.

Also, Dune Runner. He can fight Deep Desert Brawl! I kind of wish the scouts came with some melee weapons so they could match the bigger classes better.

At Botcon, they mentioned that they're trying to make more larger figures come with small accessories that Scouts can use via c-clips.

Chromia- Niftier than I expected, but still somewhat lacking. Bike mode is really cool. Loads of detailing (valve stems!), and the snap-on-cannons look really nice (plus I just dig the idea). Robot mode is a bit iffy. There's just...not much going on there. I suspect this is because of her status as a combiner component, but she still looks like there should be more to her. Mainly in her upper body (though it would also help if the torso halves stayed connected worth a damn). Cannon hand looks cool, but is unwieldy, and the mech-alive gimmick dragooned into both restricts its movement and increases the force needed to move the joint anyway. Here's hoping the combined form is better than the individual robot mode...

The bot mode is largely the fault of the movie concept art: http://tformers.com/ig.php?mode=view&al ... 00&start=0
The toy is a fair representation of that turd of a design, except for the gun which is just cheap laziness on Hasbro's part. I don't think this design could really be done as a toy, and Hasbro's execution was as good as I could expect at this pricepoint. Still, their work is lackluster with hints of good intentions, and that's still a fail. Combined is going to suuuuck, I guarantee it, as the combiner is either 2 Chromias and an Arcee or 2 Arcees and a Chromia (at Botcon, Hasbro mentioned the 3rd bikebot is a repaint).

[BWprowl]

The Transformers: The Complete First Season, 25th Anniversary Edition- Holy crap I did not even know this existed. Saw it at Target while I was grocery shopping of all things. Now, I've only seen a smidgen of the G1 cartoon, and my feelings on it in general, well...let's just say I greatly prefer the comics. BUT, this set was a mere twenty bucks, so I figured this was as good a time as any to finally get this stuff on DVD. Also, if the notes in the booklet are to be believed, this set has restored frames and scenes that didn't make it into the previous DVDs of G1, so this is the definitive version to get. And only twenty bucks. Cool.

I also got One Piece Season 2 First Voyage, but that was the other day and no one cares.

[Onslaught Six]

Yeah, Shout! Factory is redoing all the G1 DVDs. They're also releasing a hugeass boxset in a spiffy Matrix box when all's said and done, with more extra bonus features. (Which kind of pisses me off, because that means you need to get the big box to get the bonus features.)

They undid all the crap Rhino did, made it all nice and spiffy. Unfortunately, um, the G1 cartoon kind of sucks. I'd rather not bother owning it, honestly, TFTM does much more for me. There's some really good episodes in there--Transport To Oblivion, The Revenge of Bruticus (both parts), The Gambler--but much more of it is just crappy stuff. But it forms the basis of a lot of G1 fiction-fact, and a lot of that I wouldn't change for the world. Soundwave, man. 'Soundwave.'

[BWprowl]

Unfortunately, um, the G1 cartoon kind of sucks. I'd rather not bother owning it, honestly, TFTM does much more for me. There's some really good episodes in there--Transport To Oblivion, The Revenge of Bruticus (both parts), The Gambler--but much more of it is just crappy stuff.

Oh believe me, I understand. Like I said, I greatly prefer the comics for my original G1 fiction (especially the UK stuff. Mm...). BUT, I figured that for twenty friggin' bucks, I might as well check it out, since I hear far less horrible things about Season 1 than I do about...well, all the seasons after it.

Watched the first episode. It was...not bad, actually. Christ, G1 was able to get a whole lot to happen in the space of one episode. And damn, Cullen's voice really does sound younger here. I was so much more used to his post-Toonami stuff, it caught me pretty off guard.