Opening Salvo
Well folks it’s Bot Con weekend. I have a ton of news from the event and I do believe Mike will be checking in sometime this week with his report as well. Here we go.
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 I did well at the buy 2 get 1 free sale at TRU. I picked up GTS Ransack and Breakdown; then got the yellow Scrapmetal free. I then got GF Vector Prime and Quickmix; and got the BW 10th anniversary version of Megatron. All in all a nice haul but keep in mind that I still have to get BW Primal, the two re-colors of the BW 10th figures for Cybertron, GF Prime, Smokescreen, the TRU BW two pack, Hightower (Lugnutz repaint), Cryo-Scourge, Sky Shadow, and Menasor. I might as well turn my paycheck over to Yamato, and Hasbro.
Well I was putting off doing the Bot Con news for last since I was trying to find out how team Inside Pulse did at the battle of the boards. We received a bye to the second round but that doesn’t necessarily make things easier. Most of the leaked images we have seen over the past few months were attendee exclusives; the brown and red Divebomb repaints were revealed to be Buzzsaw and Laserbeak. I for one am a touch disappointed that out of the entire Decepticon army only the cassettes survived. The green and white repaint of Clocker did end up being Tigatron; if my math is correct this now makes Clocker the most repainted mold of Cybertron. We knew about the CD Red Alert remold into Megatron but he was packaged with the green and yellow Machine Wars flip changer Waspinator. These are all above and beyond the Decent into Evil box set.
On the news front Hasbro unveiled all of the Classic Transformers; in doing so they confirmed that Cliffjumper and Ramjet would be part of the line. They also said that if the first wave sells well they have eight other figures that they would like to release. Besides the Ultra Magnus/Skywarp set Wal Mart will also be seeing a Classics Devastator set. Don’t get excited it is just a repaint of Energon Constructicon Maximus. More tidbits from the Hasbro design panel were that if IF they release MP Starscream he will be in his Anime accurate colors and be an entirely different toy. That last line has started speculation that there would be some sort of remolding involved with the toy. Personally I see a straight re-color sometime right before or after Christmas. They did make a point to say that they would love to do a MP Grimlock figure. I spooched a little when I read that.
The Titanium line is shaping up to be pretty good. Don Figueroa mentioned that WW Prime and Cobra Megatron would be retooled to make them less floppy and more durable nice to know that Hasbro does listen. The Fallen and WW Megatron will be released as a two pack set. There will be a G1 Ultra Magnus that transforms into the classic bot without removable armor. Also announced for the line are WW Ultra Magnus (Prime repaint), WW Sunstorm (Thundercracker repaint), Rodimus Prime, G1 Soundwave, BM Cheetor, G1 Galvatron, and Alternator Sunstreaker.
Not too much to report on the movie front since principal shooting has now ended. One big thing is that Megatron will NOT be a Razor as once believed so any hope of a “normal” looking Megs have been shot down. There is nothing I can say that will amply describe my disgust.
Sony has announced the extras for the re-mastered version of TF: The Movie. There will be a commentary track as well as some sort of documentary. The pop-up video style feature will be called the Matrix of knowledge. A real bonus is the inclusion of the Japanese OVA “Scramble City.” On the downside they couldn’t get the rights to the Japanese audio track so the special will feature fan commentary that explains what happens. For those that might not know “Scramble City” was created in 1986 as a way to explain to the Japanese audience who all the new movie characters were since TF: The Movie didn’t appear in Japanese theaters until 1990 and the newer seasons were to feature the movie characters. The OVA relied heavily on the combiners and introduced the concept of the limbs switching out with each other, thus Scramble City became a term to describe this feature. On a related toy note the reissue of 20th anniversary Prime repainted in movie colors has been released. They used a local actor to record the lines for the voice chip and it shows; the guy sounds nothing like Optimus Prime.
Some fans are reporting that the Classics line is out already in some parts of the country. I’m really excited to get some of the figures but I hope it doesn’t hit in NY until I finish off on Cybertron. Jetfire will be mine no matter what though. MP-03 and 04 have hit the shelves in Japan and BBTS will be filling all preorders October 2nd. Reports have come in from those few who have Starscream already that the hip fins are removable but the posts aren’t and are really noticeable. Also the toy is mostly plastic except for a few joints and the chest in robot mode. I found out this week that the guy who designed MP-03 is also the same guy who designed most of the Macross/Robotech Valkries. Folks Starscream isn’t a Transformer; he is a veritech fighter.
Finally the Micromaster Airealbots have been released in the US. The Airealbots are repaints of the Japanese Sixwing reissue and are available exclusively at KB toys. This marks the final Universe release, until the next one.
The Pros and Cons of Being a Transformer Fan: The end of the line; Cybertron edition part II
Well last week we looked at the best of the Cybertron line. This week, the worst this isn’t for the faint of heart folks.
Scout
Backstop- This one was a no brainer. I don’t ask for much in my Transformers. Just elbow and knee joints and hands, must have hands. Backstop has none of this. Although not as bad as the concept drawing made him out to be, he still falls far short of the other figures in the division. Dishonorable mention goes to Lugnutz.
Deluxe
Runamuck- Ok so maybe this one isn’t fair since he is an Armada remold. Now that I think about it I don’t think he should be here. Runamuck was a tribute to the G1 Battle Charges Runamuck and Runabout. Both of them had zero articulation and so does this guy. Cool key gimmick aside there was no reason that they couldn’t have given him better arms or even hands. Dishonorable mention goes to Brimstone.
Voyager
Crumplezone- This kills me, as I really like the character of Crumplezone. Unfortunately the toy is grossly mis-proportioned especially in the arms. Dark Crumplezone was a better figure but not by much. Dishonorable mention goes to TRU 2-pack exclusive Starscream.
Ultra
Scourge- At first I really liked Scourge and to some extent I still do; that doesn’t excuse that he has poorly designed arms that make it look like he wants to hug you. Although the design makes for some rather interesting poses anything “normal” is impossible. Dishonorable mention goes to Cryo-Scourge.
Leader
Galaxy Force Optimus Prime- Yeah I know what you’re thinking. The mold is one of the best in the line but that doesn’t excuse an unnecessary repaint. Besides the key code there is nothing new to this figure that warrants a repaint. No dishonorable mentions for this class.
Supreme
Nope sorry not gonna do it. I liked Supreme Starscream and thought he was a good addition to the line. The figure served a purpose and made sense storyline wise.
Overall I was pleased with how Cybertron turned out. Even the worst figures had something to them that made them worth a purchase. Seeing as how it is going to be roughly a year and a half before we see a new cartoon series, this is a nice way to put things on hold.
Parting Shots
Well Mike will have his in depth Bot Con report some time this week so be on the look out for it. Until next time have fun.
The King of the Fanboys,
Charles
PS It is 1:00 NY time and I just found out that team Insidepulse lost in the final round of Battle of the Boards to Allspark.com. Good work guys and better luck next year.
