Beast Wars Telemocha Series Cheetor

Every line of TransFormers needs a headstrong, action-hungry kid-appeal character who starts off completely arrogant, insubordinate and consistently bites off more than he can chew, but grows not only to respect his Prime but the rest of his team as well. Lately, that's been the Bumblebee role... but in the Beast Wars, another yellow character fulfilled the same purpose...

The Cat Returns

I was very lucky a short while ago.

When I popped out earlier to empty my bins and start restocking my fridge, I found ParcelForce had tried to deliver something to the flat yesterday, around 5pm. Annoyingly, it was another one of those occasions where I heard the buzzer go, seemingly at random, in the early evening, and decided not to answer. I should really try to look out the window on these occasions, but there's no way to do that subtly, or quickly enough to get to the intercom afterward.

Anyway... I popped out to get the first part of my shopping and, upon my return, found the postman handing some stuff over to one of the ground floor businesses. As I unlocked the main door, he followed me in, but didn't seem to be carrying any boxes (at which point, I remembered I wanted ParcelForce, not Royal Mail).

He didn't have anything for me so, once I'd put my shopping away, I popped out again for the other stuff I needed. When I got back, I saw a guy walking away from the front door with a box in his hand.

He was heading to a red van.

A red van labelled 'ParcelForce'.

So, lugging my shopping, I ran after him, and caught up to him just as he was logging his failed delivery. I knocked on the window and asked if, by any chance, he had just tried to deliver to my address. He said this was so, and I produced the card he'd left yesterday, saying "That's me!". Since he needed proof of identity, he had to follow me back up to the flat to complete the delivery... but now it's here!

Far earlier than I'd expected, my TFCC 2011 Exclusive Animated Transtech Cheetor has arrived! The actual toy's box is less than half the size of the shipping box - it's only a little larger than the toy, for a change, though about twice as deep as it needs to be. No comic with this one, sadly, but he does have a G1-style Tech Spec card stuffed in there (really, I mean it was stuffed in - it's slightly longer than the box, and so had to be put in diagonally, but even then the corners have bent).

Pretty cool stuff... Pictures soon (in the Collectors' Club sense of 'soon', knowing me...)

Masterpiece MP03 Starscream

After repainting MP01 Convoy into MP02 'Ultra' Magnus, cheapening the 'Masterpiece' branding, and thereby disappointing legions of fans with yet another straight white repaint, Takara Tomy really had to create something stunning for MP03. It wasn't long before the first sketches made their way onto the internet, and Masterpiece Starscream was the centre of much speculation. How big would it be? Would it have the same extent of die-cast metal parts? How would Takara Tomy create a convincing F-15 and a cartoon-accurate robot?

DotM Definitely Out...

Took myself off to one of the nearest branches of Toys'R'Us today, since the Dark of the Moon toyline was supposedly launched in the UK yesterday. For the first two films, the TransFormers toyline took pride of place in the main display area at the front of the store. This time... it was Lego.

Dark of the Moon has a small block in one of the smaller shelf units at the front - you know, where they tend to put the special offers, clearance items and cheap crap - with the designated TransFormers shelf space up the back occupied by Iron Man action figures and some old Animated stuff (Shockwave and Wreck-Gar).

A closer look at the small block at the front of the shop revealed three Voyagers (Prime, Megatron, Ironhide) and a host of Deluxes (Skids, Starscream, Crankcase, Roadbuster... possibly the new Barricade and Jolt (not 100% certain of those)... Oh, and another Bumblebee), along with some Legends and Activators, which I didn't pay much attention to, but I do remember seeing the white repaint of Barricade.

Not a great deal of interest to me, but I did pick up Voyagers Megatron and Ironhide...

And here's a quick size comparison with the original Voyager Ironhide:

Quite significantly smaller, ain't it? In all honesty, it feels more like a large Deluxe than a Voyager. Disappointing... but transformation is far better. On the downside, arm articulation isn't half as good.

More to follow, obviously... but I should really catch up on older Movie stuff first...

A Taste of Things To Come

'Nuff said.

(OK, I found him by chance in the Brent Cross branch of Toys'R'Us and, despite never really intending to pick up this particular Masterpiece, the fact that it's had an official UK release, and for a mere £60, was enough to change my mind about him... I'll be going through my other Masterpieces first - Starscream, Megatron, UK Skywarp - but Grimlock will appear sooner or later...)

Content Update #2

Almost all of the older, crappy, 'grey-towel' photos have now been replaced:

• Binaltech Argent Meister
• Timelines Nightbeat

The comparison photos, between G1 'HeadMaster Junior' Nightbeat and the Collectors' Club update will have to wait... G1 Nightbeat is still in storage. Till he's out again, the crappy old photos will remain...