Opening Salvo
Well folks this is the first CE I’m writing under the new IP V3 format. I hope everyone browses around because I kinda like the new layout especially being with the comic guys. Onward and upward!
Pluggin Away
OK fWo roll call:
Some people call him the Professor or Mike but to the fWo he is Big Sexy.
Next the guy that got the ball rolling and an OG if there ever was one Plutonium Boss.
Of course there is yours truly The Lone Wolf.
Because we need him; call him Elohim, call him Lord, we call him Vince.
You know him as Batesman but he is a MAN among men long live EzE.
Last but certainly not least our leader the almighty PK, Hollywood.
Toys: What I got, what they got and some news too
Well as some of you might have read last week Mike is retiring from the CE as soon as he can find a replacement. This is a problem that all of us in the fWo have had recently. I’ll be with you for the next few weeks if not longer so you don’t have to worry about your TF news going away. If any of you are interested in writing the CE you can contact myself at chuckdawg1999@juno.com; Mike at Y2Kaye@adelphia.net; or Lord Elohim at LordElohim@aol.com. If at all possible please include a sample of your writing for us to look at.
The funny thing about the end of a line is that if you have been buying all along there really isn’t anything left for you. I of course am now kicking my ass because I could have waited for the sales and bonus pack deals and really cleaned up. With that said it looks like that my local stores aren’t restocking like they used to; like their waiting for something big. What I’m trying to get at is that I haven’t gotten much in the way of Transformers. I am the proud owner of a VF-1J Max Jenius TV edition and Wave 1 of the 1/100 Toynami Veritechs. Since I discovered the Yamato Macross line I haven’t been able to resist. Toynami is probably the best designer in the world when it comes to Mecha; their attention to detail is second to none. I also got some articulated PVC figures from the Brave series made by a company called CMS. These are like those SCF figures Takara did a few years ago. I kinda got taken on these since I thought they were transformable; they do look nice though. I did get a few Transformers namely Atari Convoy, Cybertron Cannonball, and Titanium Megatron. I haven’t opened Kiss Convoy and have no desire to except for the surfboard sword and CD; I have to hear how a Japanese announcer explains this one. Titanium Megs pleasantly surprised me since I have heard horror stories of how he would fall apart right out of the box. Needless to say there were issues with loose joints, but everything stayed together.
The rumor going around now is that the Movie toy line will be released on June 2nd 2007. I personally couldn’t care less since none of the designs wow me except Optimus Prime and I still think Hasbro will just re-release G2 Laser Prime. In other movie news a train station in Detroit will be used to shoot a few scenes and some pictures of Bumblebee disassembled have been floating around. Also the latest issue of Hot Rod magazine will feature the ’09 Camaro, which is the car Bumblebee evolves into. I’m kind of frightened that out of all the bots it appears Bumblebee will see the most screen time. Frank Welker has recently done an interview where he basically says he won’t know about doing movie Megs until postproduction sometime in January. I don’t think there is as big an uproar for Welker as there was for Cullen so I don’t expect an early announcement one way or another. He can still do the voice well though. The official website is now available in several other languages. Isn’t crap the same wherever you go? Don Murphy has announced that principal shooting is done for the movie and that the next few weeks will feature a few pick up shots here and there. Right before I went to press with this column TFW2005 posted concept art of what appears to be Jazz from the movie.
Those going to Botcon are in for a treat as they will be able to catch an advance screening of the newly re-mastered TF: The Animated Movie. I’ve heard something about a free CD from an artist by the name of Adrian James who will also be performing. I’ve said this a few times already but it bears repeating; a no name TV Sci-Fi convention was able to get John Wetton of Asia to play at their dinner. A few Botcons ago Vince Di Cola played selections from the animated movie soundtrack with his band. As a fellow musician I don’t mean to nock the guy, as I’m sure he is good at what he does but Master Collector could have done better.
Hasbro.com has now added Alternator Rumble to the site. Along with the confirmed shots of a Jaguar Ravage I believe a Soundwave car carrier can’t be far behind. Also I remember seeing some test shots of Rumble where he did have hands so those pile drivers must fold away somehow.
Along with a chess set using Transformer characters there may be a Risk board game released. Personally I want Transformers Battleship.
Takara has announced that they will be releasing black repaints of their Kissplay figures as magazine lucky draws. For those of us who paid a premium for Nemesis Prime get ready to bend over again. I know that Kissplayer Atari is the first one up for the treatment but one can assume Convoy and Rodimus won’t be far behind.
Continuing on our Goth trend E-hobby will be releasing a black version of THS-02 G1 Convoy. He will come with twin laser cannons ala G2 Prime and two interchangeable heads. It is unclear at this time if he will be an Autobot or Decepticon.
Some pictures of transforming robots in prototype stage have been making the rounds on the net. Most people are in agreement that they will either be for the classics or movie line. I think they are part of a non-Transformer line since the quality at even this stage is crap.
There are now in box images of Classics Jetfire making the rounds of the various TF pages. I would say that there are grounds for a lawsuit since he obviously looks like a take off on the Robotech Valkries, but who is gonna sue? Bandai? Yamato? I can’t believe Hasbro is going to get away with it.
The Cybertron repaints of Beast Wars 10th anniversary Optimus Primal and Megatron have been sited. These will be the final two deluxe figures of the Cybertron line. Thus, all good things must come to an end. Which is a nice segue way into my commentary for this week.
The Pros and Cons of Being a Transformer Fan: The end of the line; Cybertron edition.
Of the three lines that made up the Unicron trilogy Cybertron was my favorite. I really can’t put my finger on the reason why but I truly enjoyed collecting every figure. Here are my favorite figures from the line one from every class.
Scout
Armorhide: This was a tough one since the Scout class was the real Gem of the line. I liked the idea they had early one where you had a Scout figure paired with a larger classed figure. (i.e. Jetfire with Scattorshot; Crumplezone with Ransack.) I went with Armorhide who is a US exclusive because he is the most well rounded of the bunch. He has extremely good articulation an interesting Cyber Key gimmick, and an overall cool look. I’m also looking forward to the eventual repaint/remolds into G1 characters Huffer and Pipes. Honorable mentions go to Ransack, Scattorshot, and Hardtop.
Deluxe
Hot Shot: This was a tough section as well since there were a lot of great figures released in this class. Hot Shot gets the nod since I feel after the previous two lines HasTaks finally got it right with this guy. Not as articulated as his Energon counterpart he still is capable of some really cool action poses. It will probably be a year and a half until we see another Hot Shot figure, which is disappointing since the character has grown on me. Honorable mentions go to Thundercracker, Red Alert, and Downshift.
Voyager
Vector Prime: No brainer here; he is my overall favorite from Cybertron. I can understand how some people were disappointed with the fact that his sword and wings were made of rubber that often times were bent out of shape fresh from the box. He is well articulated for his size and has an interesting sound feature with his sword slashing action. Honorable mentions go to Dark Crumplezone, Cybertron Defense Scattorshot, and Leo Breaker.
Ultra
Cybertron Defense Red Alert: This was tough since none of the figures really wowed me. Red Alert was neck and neck with Jetfire for the nod but ultimately the giant rocket won out. Good articulation and a double Cyber Key gimmick makes this guy a must own. Honorable mention obviously goes to Jetfire.
Leader
Optimus Prime: Quite possibly my favorite Prime ever. It’s nice to have a Prime that can look Megatron square in the eye. Almost makes me overlook the movable mouth plate. It is disappointing that out of the five figures in this class there were only three molds. Honorable mentions go to Galvatron, and Metroplex.
Supreme
Primus: Was the Unicron head worth the wait? No, the bonus minicons would have been better. Does it make sense that he has minicon ports? No, it just draws attention to how small Primus is. I would have said something about having a Cyber Key gimmick but he uses it in the toon so I guess it’s ok. I’ll admit that I prefer Starscream but I don’t want the swamp of letters telling me I’m wrong. Don’t get me wrong I like Primus as my glowing review attests to; but I feel he could have been so much more.
Next week I’ll have my least favorite figures from the line. Also there should be a thread in the forums for you to post your favorite figures from the Cybertron line. Time for a sixty second review and we go home.
Sixty-Second Review
Demolishor
MSRP:$9.99
OUT NOW!!!
No I’m not cutting and pasting an old review; Hasbro has re-released Demolishor again. Unlike the Armada remolds from earlier in the line Demolishor is just re-colored and features a modified Cyber Key that can activate his minicon gimmick. His new color scheme is an urban camo design that is somewhere between his Energon and Collectors Club comic colors. One thing that I found disappointing was that his minicon wasn’t included and thus made Demolishors still functional launcher useless. One thing I found cool was that in mid transformation he bears a slight resemblance to an ED 209 from “Robocop” as well as a Tripod from an old BBC series that I watched on PBS a long time ago. Another plus is that he doesn’t seem to suffer from SMS in that all his joints are tight and fit together well. All in all I can’t recommend this figure unless you’re a completist or addicted to the Cyber Key codes like I am. I give Cybertron Demolishor a There was no reason to release another repaint of Demolishor.
Parting Shots
Since this is the last CE before Botcon I want to wish everyone on team IP good luck on the Battle of the Boards competition. For those that may not know team IP received a first round by automatically putting them into the second round. I’m personally hoping for a Siebertron.com/IP final. To everyone else attending have a good time; card the girl who you’re buying a drink for; and shower at least once a day while you’re there. Take care and I’ll see you all back here next week.
The King of the Fanboys,
Charles
