Second on the agenda for this week is the so-called '30th Anniversary' Generations take on Beast Wars Waspinator, not least because I've already written up the only other version of this character I have, the 2007 Reissue with its mostly show-accurate colourscheme.
Of course, that reminds me that I have yet to write up the TransFormers: Animated version... but there's so little of TFA that I have written up, that's sort of forgivable.
It's slightly puzzling of Hasbro to include Beast Wars in it's 'Thrilling 30' anniversary lineup because Beast Wars will celebrate its own 30th anniversary in 2026... but with Rhinox already out and looking awesome, Hasbro seems to be trying to make up for its early mistakes with the hideous Classics Cheetor and Dinobot.
...But which end of the reboot spectrum does Waspinator fall into?
Dropping plastic crack-related litter in the zen garden of your mind since 2008
Tuesday, 4 November 2014
Monday, 3 November 2014
Universal Studios Evac
To kick off what I'm hoping will be a week of examining my Holiday Haul, I shall start with the odd one out - the only new and entirely unique character, since he was created for TransFormers: The Ride at Universal Studios Hollywood (and Florida, I gather). All things considered, it's a very clever move to create a toy based on such a character, but it has to be something pretty special to justify a premium price point ($24.95), even in the gift shop attached to the ride.
Sunday, 2 November 2014
Holiday Haul
Got back home yesterday after almost a full week in Los Angeles with my girlfriend, visiting her best friend. It was an awesome holiday, but the only parts relevant to this blog are that, yes, I tried the TransFormers ride at Universal Studios Hollywood, and that I bought a few TransFormers toys while out there.
I'll get to the toys themselves later, but I have to confess I was deeply disappointed in the Burbank branch of Toys'R'Us as it had very little that my nearest branch wouldn't already have (all I picked up there was a Generations Rattrap). Target did slightly better, offering Voyagers Galvatron and Hound (I only picked up the latter), so I had to allow myself to be stung to the tune of about 8 extra dollars, buying Skids, Waspinator along with the ride exclusive Evac at Universal. Going by the TransFormers news I'd seen before heading off, I felt sure I should have found the likes of Generations Windblade, if not the US Masterpiece releases. Sure, I saw the new Jetfire but even having seen it, I'm not sure I want to add it to my collection.
The ride is naturally based around the first three movies - though, who knows, perhaps an update will come along in the wake of Age of Extinction considering the format is ideally suited to involving the Dinobots - with all the robots exhibiting the original - and, in my eyes, preferable - mechanical aesthetic. What impressed me the most, particularly having spent most of a day at Disneyland only a couple of days before the visit to Universal, was that the queue is kept entertained with on-screen presentations, featuring the likes of Ironhide, the awesome Glenn Morshower and, of course, the ride's central character, Evac. We were never queuing for long, visiting on a Tuesday (I think 30 minutes was the absolute longest wait on a ride, and we used our special passes to jump those queues!), but Disney did virtually nothing to keep its queues occupied other than wind them round in increasingly elaborate patterns to prevent them from overflowing around the park.
As the TransFormers ride begins, you're strapped into Evac's passenger compartment (seating rather more than the toy would suggest) as the Decepticons mount an attack to retrieve an Allspark shard, reminiscent of the military base attack in Revenge of the Fallen, only without the mass of transforming ball-bearings coughed up by Ravage. Since Evac obviously has to remain in vehicle mode throughout, all you ever see of him is his arm popping out in front of the car, but Ravage, Bumblebee, Optimus, Megatron and Starscream bound about all over the place. The ride is fairly short - though longer and more effective than The Mummy ride, just next door - but well worth a visit. The gift shop afterward is well-stocked with Evac toys, but also had a selection of current Generations toys, but only the Deluxe class, carded figures as far as I can recall (it's possible I saw the new Leader class Jetfire, but I'm not certain). A display cabinet in the middle features some of the larger toys and statues, and there was also a selection of t-shirts, caps, children's costumes and sweets. The strangest thing I saw there would probably be the chocolate Allspark cube, which sounded interesting... but was basically just a silver-powdered cubic Easter egg.
Most annoyingly, the day we were due to come back home was the opening day of the Comikaze Expo, Stan Lee's own LA-based geek extravaganza, which would have been an excellent place to shop for even more TransFormers though, by that point, I already had enough to fill the remaining space in my suitcase.
I'll get to the toys themselves later, but I have to confess I was deeply disappointed in the Burbank branch of Toys'R'Us as it had very little that my nearest branch wouldn't already have (all I picked up there was a Generations Rattrap). Target did slightly better, offering Voyagers Galvatron and Hound (I only picked up the latter), so I had to allow myself to be stung to the tune of about 8 extra dollars, buying Skids, Waspinator along with the ride exclusive Evac at Universal. Going by the TransFormers news I'd seen before heading off, I felt sure I should have found the likes of Generations Windblade, if not the US Masterpiece releases. Sure, I saw the new Jetfire but even having seen it, I'm not sure I want to add it to my collection.
The ride is naturally based around the first three movies - though, who knows, perhaps an update will come along in the wake of Age of Extinction considering the format is ideally suited to involving the Dinobots - with all the robots exhibiting the original - and, in my eyes, preferable - mechanical aesthetic. What impressed me the most, particularly having spent most of a day at Disneyland only a couple of days before the visit to Universal, was that the queue is kept entertained with on-screen presentations, featuring the likes of Ironhide, the awesome Glenn Morshower and, of course, the ride's central character, Evac. We were never queuing for long, visiting on a Tuesday (I think 30 minutes was the absolute longest wait on a ride, and we used our special passes to jump those queues!), but Disney did virtually nothing to keep its queues occupied other than wind them round in increasingly elaborate patterns to prevent them from overflowing around the park.
As the TransFormers ride begins, you're strapped into Evac's passenger compartment (seating rather more than the toy would suggest) as the Decepticons mount an attack to retrieve an Allspark shard, reminiscent of the military base attack in Revenge of the Fallen, only without the mass of transforming ball-bearings coughed up by Ravage. Since Evac obviously has to remain in vehicle mode throughout, all you ever see of him is his arm popping out in front of the car, but Ravage, Bumblebee, Optimus, Megatron and Starscream bound about all over the place. The ride is fairly short - though longer and more effective than The Mummy ride, just next door - but well worth a visit. The gift shop afterward is well-stocked with Evac toys, but also had a selection of current Generations toys, but only the Deluxe class, carded figures as far as I can recall (it's possible I saw the new Leader class Jetfire, but I'm not certain). A display cabinet in the middle features some of the larger toys and statues, and there was also a selection of t-shirts, caps, children's costumes and sweets. The strangest thing I saw there would probably be the chocolate Allspark cube, which sounded interesting... but was basically just a silver-powdered cubic Easter egg.
Most annoyingly, the day we were due to come back home was the opening day of the Comikaze Expo, Stan Lee's own LA-based geek extravaganza, which would have been an excellent place to shop for even more TransFormers though, by that point, I already had enough to fill the remaining space in my suitcase.
Sunday, 19 October 2014
Kinder TransFormers: Prime Toys - Optimus Prime & Arcee
This wouldn't be a proper TransFormers collection blog if I didn't occasionally write about some of the awful junk that Hasbro grants a license for. I have a friend who went through a phase of buying me gifts of anything featuring the TransFormers logo (several volumes of Armada, then at least one DVD of random episodes of Robots In Disguise, as well as a sticker set based around TF Animated, just for starters), some of which may eventually turn up here.
To start with, here's a new Kinder Egg promotion, tying into TransFormers: Prime, and featuring 'articulated' figures of various characters from the TV show...
To start with, here's a new Kinder Egg promotion, tying into TransFormers: Prime, and featuring 'articulated' figures of various characters from the TV show...
Classics Jetfire
Generation 1 Jetfire was among a group of toys which Hasbro appropriated from a company other than Takara to add to their early TransFormers range. Bizarrely, he was licensed from Bandai's Macross line (which Bandai picked up from another company which had gone bankrupt) which, in retrospect, seems completely insane given the longevity and popularity of Macross.
In any event, what the TransFormers toyline got out of the deal was a nice - and very large - model VF-1S Super Valkyrie along with armour and booster pack, all of which made it very difficult to bring Jetfire into the TV show (he was redesigned entirely and renamed 'Skyfire') due to someone else already holding the necessary licensing for showing the Valkyrie in animation. In recent years, the current license holders in the US have thrown legal action at Hasbro every time they tried to create a Jetfire toy, most notably - yet weirdly - the non-transforming GIJoe/SDCC2013 exclusive Skystriker repaint.
However, back in 2006, Hasbro decided to try their hand at a new Jetfire toy for the Classics range - something entirely new in both jet and robot modes...
In any event, what the TransFormers toyline got out of the deal was a nice - and very large - model VF-1S Super Valkyrie along with armour and booster pack, all of which made it very difficult to bring Jetfire into the TV show (he was redesigned entirely and renamed 'Skyfire') due to someone else already holding the necessary licensing for showing the Valkyrie in animation. In recent years, the current license holders in the US have thrown legal action at Hasbro every time they tried to create a Jetfire toy, most notably - yet weirdly - the non-transforming GIJoe/SDCC2013 exclusive Skystriker repaint.
However, back in 2006, Hasbro decided to try their hand at a new Jetfire toy for the Classics range - something entirely new in both jet and robot modes...
Saturday, 18 October 2014
Generations (30th Anniversary) Tailgate & Groundbuster
I can't remember the last time I actually bought something in Forbidden Planet other than the occasional book or DVD. I fondly remember visiting that shop, back in its earlier days, and finding some amazing TransFormers stuff, from Robots in Disguise Megatron and Ultra Magnus, to my very first Binaltech model, Smokescreen. When they moved the Shaftesbury Avenue, the premises were slicker and more spacious (it was all too easy to trip over stock in the shockingly crowded old place!), but the quality and variety of stock interested me far less over time. For many years, they haven't stocked any TransFormers toys that weren't available - cheaper - at Toys'R'Us, and most of it wasn't even imported stock.
I do still visit occasionally and yesterday, being my wonderfully geeky girlfriend's birthday, was one of those occasions. Imagine my surprise, then, when I found something new and interesting... A Generations toy that isn't (yet?) available in the UK elsewhere... and which came in US packaging. The pricing was fair, too - approximately what I'd expect to pay for something in this size class these days - so I decided to part with £11.99 for an update to a G1 toy that I never owned and his 'TargetMaster' partner...
I do still visit occasionally and yesterday, being my wonderfully geeky girlfriend's birthday, was one of those occasions. Imagine my surprise, then, when I found something new and interesting... A Generations toy that isn't (yet?) available in the UK elsewhere... and which came in US packaging. The pricing was fair, too - approximately what I'd expect to pay for something in this size class these days - so I decided to part with £11.99 for an update to a G1 toy that I never owned and his 'TargetMaster' partner...
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