July Hauls!

[BWprowl]

AoE Generations Deluxe Drift – Target’s got all their TFs on sale right now, and >$10 was enough to get me to buy this toy, I’d juuuuust been interested in it, mostly for the transformation. It’s got some bits that really caught my eye, namely the car-panels folding up into samurai shoulder-armor and the way the car hood peels off to reveal the robot-mode-version of the hood, leaving the grille for both modes. Also, like with Crosswise, there’s something about a TF toy turning into a friggin’ Bugatti (licensed this time!) that just sells it for me. Transformation aside, the rest of the toy’s fine, vehicle mode is nice, super-blue colors look cool, face is creepy as per Drift. I hate his stupid flappy wrist joints, they do nothing for sword-holding in robot mode, why are they even there? Had they bent along the other axis they would have facilitated sword-pointing and would have been awesome, or even swivels would have been better than this. I also dislike his sword storage in both modes, it’s clunky and inconsistent and nebulous, and I REALLY don’t like the smaller swords basically being extraneous bits you’re just supposed to plug into his back in robot mode for screen-accuracy, rather than true weapons he’s really meant to use (the handles aren’t quite big enough to hold well), that’s just no fun. Overall though, he’s fine, worth $9.98 for the transformation and vehicle mode, at least.

Legacy of Revoltech Queen’s Gate Alice – The folks at Kaiyodo figured out how reissues work and are starting to put out new releases of previously in-demand Revoltech figures, starting with a couple from the I-have-no-shame-to-admit-I-buy-these Queen’s Blade line. I’d eyed Alice before for her ridiculous $80+ aftermarket prices, but a new one for under $30? Yes please. She’s actually better than I was expecting, looks crisp out of the box, and the tail-to-whip gimmick is pretty neat, though I wish she had a genuine bendy tail/whip rather than the soft plastic ones that you just kind of have to arrange around her. Guns are cool too, and I like her ‘pinky-out’ hands for holding them or the whip. Goes well with her utterly silly donut face, gives her that cheeky style that’s the main reason I’d wanted her before. Being a Queen’s Blade toy, she has a few contemptible accessories I’ll never use, most infamously the, uh, “spilled beer” puddle. No thanks, she’s staying as an awesome gun/whip toting demon gal chomping down on donuts on my desk, thank you very much.

Glad they reissued her though, Alice is pretty much the last QB toy I want, unless they ever get around to making Irma (unlikely, the line’s pretty much dead as far as new releases go, and Irma wasn’t that popular anyway), though I still might get Menace or Aldra at some point.

[andersonh1]

Today's comics: Batman 66/Green Hornet #2 and Green Lantern #33. And All-Star Archives #1 arrived in the mail finally, making it the fifth volume of that series I've acquired so far. No, I'm not reading them in order.

[JediTricks]

The inward-bending joints on Drift I think are to get his hands under his thigh armor in transformation, which is essentially unnecessary by the amount of play in the plastic, but I would assume that's the reason since it's the only place it comes into play logically.

[BWprowl]

Generations AoE Crosshairs - If seeing the movie did anything, it made Crosshairs's design work for me. And the toy was still on sale for less than ten bucks at Target, so I snagged it. Vehicle mode is very nice, guns are annoying in that they don't store all that stably, plugging the coat bits in is needlessly hard but looks cool once you've got it done, face needs more paint. A decent toy, at least worth the sale price.

Transformers Dark of the Moon DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack - Target had this out for ten bucks, and if there's anything ELSE seeing AoE did, it made me want to watch the TF movies I actually enjoyed, so I finally picked this one up. I should watch the 2007 movie and this soon.

[Shockwave]

Did I mention the minicons? Cause I got the Minicons 3 pack. Review in the appropriate thread.

Also, extension cords for my NES and SNES controllers. Now I can play those systems from the comfort of my couch and not have to be right up against the tv.

[BWprowl]

Got a package at the end of last week:

Kamen Rider Gaim DX Kachidoki Lockseed - JUNGLE's shop had it available for like 1200 yen, and I was gonna want it eventually, so I went ahead and ordered it to ship with...

Kamen Rider W Super Best Henshin DX W Driver - Finally own one of these bad boys, the belt from possibly my favorite Rider series (it's a close run-off between W and Ryuki). I'd owned a couple of the candy-toy sound Memories before, but this 'Super Best' reissue set comes with all six DX Memories. I was not aware that they had lights in them, nor was I aware that all the sounds and effects came from the Memories themselves; the actual driver is just a plastic shell you insert them in to activate, smart. The Maximum Drive slot is nice too, mixing and matching and moving memories is fun and effortless, the whole thing is just a joygasm to play with (gotta love the voice on this one. Anyone play Sonic Colors? Same guy who does the Wisp power announcements). Scored the thing for retail price too, always a bonus with DX Rider toys. Definitely one of my favorite things I've bought all year.

Oh, also picked up a river tube and some water shoes, then this weekend went on a float trip down the Russian River by San Francisco with some of my friends from there plus about a bajillionty other people. Great time, though I did get what appears to be the worst sunburn of my life on my knees, so standing and sitting is kind of agony right now. But worth it!

[andersonh1]

Two more golden age DC archives to read: Doctor Fate and Starman vol. 2. According to the intro by Roy Thomas, between the All-Star Archives and the single Doctor Fate archive, every Doctor Fate story from the 40s has been reprinted. I imagine the same is true of Starman. A lot of these guys only lasted until the mid 40s or a little after, but at least that means it's easy to be a completionist when it comes to collecting their appearances.

One of these days I'm going to get the 90s Starman series in omnibus format and finish that series as well.

[Shockwave]

Mandatory Fun by Weird Al Yancovic. I still need to get his last album. He's still as hilarious as ever.

[andersonh1]

Mandatory Fun by Weird Al Yancovic. I still need to get his last album. He's still as hilarious as ever.

Word Crimes is awesome.

[Shockwave]

Mandatory Fun by Weird Al Yancovic. I still need to get his last album. He's still as hilarious as ever.

Word Crimes is awesome.

LOL, yeah I think it's my favorite off the new album, followed closely by Tacky and Foil.