Opening Salvo
Has it been two weeks already? Well I’m back and got some goodies for ya this time and some pics too.
Toys: What I got, what they got, and some news too
STOP BEFORE GOING ANY FURTHER I BRING YOU A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM MIKE KAYE
“Howdy Primates! I just wanted to drop you all a line about what I got this week. First, did anyone see the Protoform movie figures that Wal-Mart had up? Yeah, guess who got the last two Wal-Mart had? That’s right, your favorite TF Guru grabbed them. Keep in mind this is about four months earlier than expected. Second, I finally found the “Prime Directive” movie script. Now I’m sure you’ve read some reviews of the script, but I’m going above and beyond next week. What better way to do this than give you intimate details on the entire movie? Be prepared for some major spoiler next week!”
I have him sending me a copy, not sure when I’ll get a chance to read it though. Other than that I didn’t get much this week in the form of toys except for the Universe Airealbots that Mike was kind enough to pick up for me. Here’s a photo of them in package
Hopefully by this time next week I should have my Atari and Autotrooper plus sized set, my YF-19 and my Hensi Robo transformable Scott Bernard Cyclone. On with the news!
Mike may haven mentioned it in passing a few weeks ago but just incase I’ll mention it again, at Winter Fest ’07 a hobby festival in Japan there will be a rare Binal Tech figure of Nemissis Convoy. This is a black version of Alternator/Kiss Play Convoy but with a twist, it will be all die cast. There will also be another chapter to the Binal Tech story, it is rumored to be the conclusion to the epic in nature tale. Definitely going to be looking for this guy.
The bulk of the news this week revolves around the movie toys so lets just plow through and get it over with. Pictures have finally surfaced of Fast Action Battler Brawl and Ratchet; there are also in package images of Starscream, Prime, Ironhide, and Jazz. An interesting note is that each one has one of those “Action†tag lines to their name i.e. “Battle Blade†Starscream and “Grappling Hook†Optimus Prime. I still think these are going to be the runaway hits of the entire line. Speaking of in package figures the entire first wave of the Movie Legends line has surfaced. I really don’t understand why these exist since the Fast Action Battlers fill the same role and do the job better. I should mention that the Legends line includes Bumblebee and Barricade who we haven’t seen FAB versions of yet. A new “Real Gear†figure has surfaced named Booster X10. Booster appears to be some sort of listening device that transforms into a bird that is eerily similar to Laserbeak. On the same note there is something called the Carbiner set making the rounds on the net. This is going to be a set of three key rings that transform into various spy devices. Big, big news thanks to Wal-Mart; somehow, someway they got a hold of the Protoform figures four months early; they weren’t on the site long but Mike and Ryan from Siebertron.com were able to get them. Ryan had them shipped over night and already has a gallery up. According to Mike the plastic appears to be of a much cheaper quality than what most main line TF’s are made from. Wal-Mart also had listings for what will probably be the first wave of movie deluxes’ but they are now all out of stock. Remember the movie video game? Well direct from Toy Fair here is the scoop; there will be nine playable characters for the Autobots and Decepticons each. Boss’s and other important characters will be non playable. The game will have a non-linear feel similar to Grand Theft Auto. From what I’ve been able to gather there wasn’t a playable demo ready. Visit the official game site at Transformersgame.com.Also At Toy Fair we were able to see a boxed Leader Class movie Optimus Prime and first shots of Ultimate Bumblebee. The rumors of Bumblebee having some sort of animatronic features were correct. Besides having lights and sound, and the ability to aim and fire his gun, Bumblebee comes preloaded with Devo’s “Whip It†the rumor going around is that the song plays some sort of role in the movie. Get ready for the full storm; there will be movie bed sheets, pens, plates and clothing among other goodies. From the reports I’ve gotten the bed sheets will only be kid sized and not designed to fit larger scale beds.
Those of you who buy the 3†Titanium figures will be interested to know that on the pamphlet for 6â€Cheetor and The Fallen were the names of some never before seen figures; War Within Megatron, Jetfire, Soundblaster, Skywarp, Silverstreak, Black Rodimus, Shockwave, Ultra Magnus, and Grimlock. It’s interesting to see a non-toon character repaint in Black Rodimus. Bios have surfaced for two new 6†figures; Soundblaster and Prowl. Soundblaster is obviously a repaint of Soundwave but this time comes with Ravage. What’s unclear is which version of Prowl this Titanium will be based on; either his G1 version or his War Within.
Spin Masters are simple radio controlled flying vehicles; mostly helicopters. Well according to a news story from NBC they are going to be releasing a transformable helicopter. It is unclear at this time whether or not the vehicle will be part of the Transformers line but judging from the early photos I doubt it.
Remember last week when Mike mentioned the transformable Soundwave MP3 player? Well BBTS now has a listing for a pair of headphones that are supposed to transform into Rumble and Frenzy. No pictures yet so I haven’t pre-ordered them.
We have finally seen CGI images of Frenzy; imagine taking a drawer full of table knives, throwing them up in the air, letting them land on the floor, then adding two eyes; you get Frenzy. We now have a final image of Megatron’s head… IT’S STILL CRAP!!! I don’t know who’s going to look worse Starscream or Megatron. I’m kinda glad that it looks like Frank Welker won’t be Megs in the movie I wouldn’t want to hear “The Voice†coming out of something that looks like something I passed this morning.
Remember the movie tie in site SectorSeven.org? well an ad on ESPN.com revealed a new log in password. Instead of Takara 83 use thefirst7 and get a whole bunch of new video’s and stuff; enjoy.
The Pros and Cons of Being a Transformer Fan: Another Break
This is going to be a “What If…†type of piece so let me set the stage. It is August 2007; a little over a month since the Transformers movie had the absolute worst opening in history. The movie only lasted seven days in theaters and is considered the biggest bomb in history, worse than Ishtar and Heavens Gate. Michael Bay has been removed from all future projects with the rumor being he will probably never direct again. The financial loss was too great from Dreamworks and they were forced to shut their doors. On the merchandising end store shelves are clogged with movie merchandise that in some stores has been marked down almost 75% of it’s original price; except for Wal-Mart who forced Hasbro and other third party licensees to buy back the bulk of the stuff. Toys R Us, Target, and the aforementioned Wal-Mart report that 90%-95% of the movie figures were returned due to the automorph features breaking down; making the toys useless.
On August 1st Hasbro announced that until further notice all production would cease on the Transformers brand and that focus would be placed on their other properties like GI Joe, and My Little Pony. This includes any recently announced lines like the return of the Alternators and Classics. We will never see the rumored Megatron tank or Starscream F-15. Cartoon network quickly drops Transformer: Heroes since there will be no toy line to boost ratings. Takara, who got into a bit of trouble after the debacle that was Masterpiece Megatrons release, will focus only on high-end collectors pieces and their revived Brave line. Since 85% of American collectors are now on a watch list that blocks them from importing Transformers, this basically means Takara will be focusing on the European and Asian market.
Having fallen out of favor with most of its audience and the world Transformers begins a steady decline into oblivion. IDW canceled all of their Transformer related titles while on E-bay most sellers are forced to drop the asking price for most of their items; it is not a rare occurrence for a mint G1 Jetfire AFA graded 100% to go for $100 or less. It should go without saying that most Transformer related websites have gone offline due to lack of traffic. Much like wrestling in the early 90’s, it is no longer considered hip to be a Transformer fan.
Pretty scary isn’t it? One movie could do all this. Remember the last time Transformers went on hiatus? It was what two years between the end of G2 and Beast Wars? That’s a long time for a product that went almost 10 years with something new on shelves every year. Well it is a strong possibility my friends. There is hope though; I believe that if we do go through this down turn we will come out on the other end better off where we were before. Hasbro will begin to focus more on the collectors market like Takara seeing an overall improved product. Then again when you have a lead character that looks like animated fecal matter, there may be no hope at all.
Surfing The Space Bridges
What do you guys think will be the biggest Transformer related news item to come out of Toy Fair? What are you looking forward to the most?
The World Around Transformers
OK I have a few things for you this week. First I made a mini Gallery for my Soldiers of the Southern Cross of my 1/60 scale super Max VF-1J and Classics Jetfire that I thought you might enjoy.
Next up is part one of our look at the Japanese Chogokin Dancouga-Super Beast Machine God.
Basically Dancouga is your standard “Humans defending the Earth against Aliens in a giant robot†story. Four humans pilot Dancouga and the name of the Alien race is the Muge. Faith and religion, mostly Christianity, played a big part in the series. It did run in America on TBS from April to December 1985 during the time when stations were trying to pick up anything close to Transformers. The various abilities of the component robots are triggered by the aggressiveness of the individual pilots; basically the machines are linked into the humans Adrenaline.
I’ve decided to break up the set and do each component separately; first up Eagle Fighter.
The Eagle Fighter is the captain of the team and forms the head of Dancouga. It’s interesting to note that due to its size Eagle Fighter is the only one not to have a ground based vehicle mode.
More on Dancouga in two weeks.
Sixty-Second Review
Shadow Recon Mini Con Team
MSRP:$6.99-$9.99
OUT NOW
The only Mini-Con team to be featured in the Cybertron cartoon was the Recon team. They also were the first new Mini-Con molds since Armada. Not surprising they were some of the best and innovative. Towards the end of the line they were repainted and recast in clear, dark-colored plastic to show that they are now “Undercover.†Nice.
Jolt, Six-Speed, and reverb are still the loveable group we all know and love, transformation has remained the same although I should mention that I do detect a hint of Second Mold Syndrome so frequent transformation is discouraged. It is interesting, in a bad way, that on the back of the card they have the names for Jolt and Reverb under the wrong robots.
I can’t really recommend a Mini-Con set over the rest of the toys in this stellar line especially since if they are a repaint. On Elohim’s Energon Cube ranking scale I give the shadow Recon Mini Con Team a five; get them after you have gotten everything else.
Parting Shots
Well that’s it for this week. Mike is in next so I’ll see ya in two.
The King of the Fanboys,
Charles
