A return to Transformers Generation One?

Last week an interesting article was posted on TFormers.com.  While I normally wouldn't give much credence to anything posted on that site, I figured this was a topic worthy of talking about.

If you didn't see the story or if you didn't click on the above link, the deal is well known analyst and adviser (the Motley Fool) had suggested Hasbro to return to the G1 era.  They cited Hasbro's stock has been very high during the TF movie year, only to plummet after the movie.  Plummet may be too harsh, but you get the drift.  Motley Fool goes on to suggest a new animated cartoon series to help sell a new toy line.

I'm sure a lot of fans immediately jumped for joy when they say this article and thought about the possibilities.  Given as much talent there is out there these days I'd love to see what Hasbro could come up.  I'm sure the staff at IDW could be recruited to help craft and tell a story, much like Marvel did back in the 80's.  As far as toys go would fans want new G1 style "brick" figures?  In this day of articulated figures, would fans buy and support toys that are blocky and non-articulated?  Before you say no let me point out Fans Project's latest original creation, the Glacialbots.

Fans Project has crafted a new Scramble City type combiner that to me combines the best of both worlds.  What I mean by that is the Glacialbots retained the blocky look and feel of G1, while adding just the right amount of modern technology.  Think about all of the G1 characters (whether they be from the old Sunbow animation or IDW/Marvel comics) that never had toys.  Could you imagine a retro G1 style Devcon, Orion Pax, Ariel, or any of the fembots.  It's been suggested that Hasbro could throw out the whole Rebirth story and create a new story that bridges the US and Japanese G1 continuities.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts about this topic.  Would you like to see a return to G1 w/ retro style toys.  If yes, which characters would you like to see finally get a toy.  If no, why?  What are your reasons.  I can't wait to hear your thoughts and read your comments.

LEGO Castle: Crossbow Attack #7090

Growing up I never owned a LEGO themed set outside of the Town / City sets, however there were several sets that came along that captured my attention...just not my parent's attention (you know, since they bought me stuff).  While I still don't fancy myself as a collector, I found myself buying more LEGO sets in the past few years and when LEGO introduced skeletons, dwarves and trolls into their then current Castle theme, I was hooked.

 

Even as an adult I've always favored the smaller to medium sized sets and this Crossbow Attack was right up my alley.  3 minifigures, a skeleton horse and firing crossbow wagon?  Yes please!

Minifigures are a big draw of any LEGO set and these two knights are worthy additions to any castle / medieval collection.  The figure on the right I'm familiar with, but the one of the left has a helmet that I've never seen before.

The little crossbow cart is small, but still packs a punch.  There are a set of handles on the rear for one of the minifigures to hold and "push" the cart.  Using a red rubber band and tension, you can really launch an "arrow".  The silver crossbows on each side of the cart are removeable and can be wielded by a minifigure.

If the two previous minifigures weren't enough to sell the set, I'm sure this skeleton minifigure had people buying this set in bulk.  Arm the skeleton with a mean looking sword and shield and you've got yourself a great army builder type figure.

I love how the skeleton comes packaged with his noble steed!  The legs are in a fixed position, but it still looks fantastic with the skeleton in the saddle.

This is a fun little set and is recommended to anyone that enjoys the castle theme.  It's a plus that just about everything in the set could be used to build your army of knights or skeleton warriors!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Nickelodeon): Leatherhead

I have a confession.  I haven't watched more than 1 or 2 episodes of the new TMNT cartoon.  It's not that I don't want too, it's just I haven't gotten around to it.  However I love the designs of these classic characters and it's been hard resisting buying the entire line of TMNT.

Like I mentioned in my previous review of Metalhead, I wasn't planning on buying much outside the four turtles and Shredder.  Each new wave of figures brought more cool characters, but having not watched the cartoon I didn't have the same connection with the characters that I did with some from the original cartoon.  Then I saw Leatherhead and the rest was history.

I remember Leatherhead has being the Louisiana cajun gator wearing a vest and hat.  This new version of Leatherhead looks quite different, yet still retains some of the classic feel.  I had to make another exception and pick up this guy.

Team Turtle was severely out numbered early on in the series, but as you can see the sides are now starting to even out.  I'm not sure which figure will be my next purchase.  I'm thinking maybe someone from the Foot Clan as Shredder looks awfully lonely going up against the turtles, Metalhead and now Leatherhead.

A lot of these new TMNT figures look so much smaller when crammed into their blister card packaging and Leatherhead is no exception.  While hunched over a bit, Leatherhead has soon good heft to him.  Paint apps are pretty good, especially around his mouth - just look at those teeth!

If I didn't know the history of this character or saw on the packaging that he was one of the good guys, I'd swear Leatherhead was one the villains.  The sculpting on this figure is phenomenal.  The scaley skin looks great, you can almost see and feel the roughness.  The long lumbering arms and claws give him the appearance of being pretty vicious on the battlefield.

I don't have many complaints about the figure, but I wish the beige paint on his chest would have extended to the underside of his tail.  Not a big deal, but when you look at him straight on it just looks odd the that beige comes to a screeching halt just below his waist.

His tail comes unattached in the packaging, but easily snaps on and into place.  You can swivel the tail if you wish.  Articulation wise you have rotating shoulders giving the arms a good range of motion.  His hip joints don't allow much movement of the legs, but I guess there are only so many dynamic poses you can get a gator w/ arms and legs into!

Leatherhead is a fine addition to any modern TMNT collection.  After messing around w/ this guy a bit it has me more curious as ever to finally sit down a watch a few of the episodes online.  It appears that Playmates has yet another hit on their hands w/ these toys so I imagine there are more great toys to come.

Transformers G1 Zone: Rabbicrater C-350

I'm not one of these Transformers collectors that has deep pockets. Not even close. However I do tend to have some good luck from time to time when it comes to acquiring some sought after Japanese G1 items. I mentioned in my Sky Garry review that I had a stroke of good luck a few months back and put together my own little haul. This is the second piece from said haul.

Your eyes aren't deceiving you...that is a VHS cassette and a single Micromaster in that box. Rabbicrater C-350, the one piece from the Zone series of toys that often gets overlooked. I can't really say this guy was on my collecting radar at all, but I ran across one for sell and I had a hard time resisting. Actually there is a funny story behind this piece.

Most of you know my good friend Arkvander from his awesome TF blog, Mostly Transformers Redux. Little beknown to each of us, we were both bidding on this item and driving up the price. I don't know who was the first to place a bid, but I'm sure each of us would have backed off if either of us knew. So lesson of the day is make sure your friends are bidding against you!

For those of you that don't know, the Zone anime takes place after the events of Victory. Victory Saber is called into action to save the planet Feminia against the demonic Violen Jiger and his Decepticon Generals. Victory Saber is unable to escape the destruction of the planet so the Powered Masters (Dai Atlas & Sonic Bomber) leave planet Zone in search of their commander. Only one episode of Zone was ever animated. The rest of the story was told via comic strips in TV Magazine. For this reason, perhaps Takara figured the one lone Zone episode would be a hard sell as is this the inclusion of Rabbicrater.

For the contents to be relatively small, this sure is a lot of packaging. Thankfully though in Takara fashion, the box is beautiful. On the back of the box we have a nice large image of the Powered Masters and the Decepticon Generals' animation models. The upper left corner shows a cool toy diorama using various Zone toys such as the Powered Masters set up as Big Powered. Below that Rabbicrater himself and his tech specs and transformation instructions.

Nice, huh?

Top and bottom of the box. Unfortunately my specimen has somewhere and a portion of the top of the box has a raised crease. It's not all that noticeable, but the anal collector in me cringed a bit when I first removed the shipping bubble wrap and saw the damage.

The contents inside the box include the VHS video in a nice black clamshell case, a pencil board and Rabbicrater himself. I don't believe he came packaged with any other paperwork outside of maybe a catalog.

I called this laminated insert a pencil board, but I'm not really sure what it's called or what it is actually. Times like these I really wish I could read the Japanese language. With all the arrows it makes me wonder if this is some sort of timeline?  The jury is still out.

The flip side of the laminated insert has some great animation models of Violen Jiger and his Destron Generals (Black Zarak, Abominus, Predaking, Overlord, Devastator, Menasor, King Poseidon, Bruticus and Trypticon). On the Cybertron side we have Rabbicrater, Moonradar, Sonic Bomber, Dai Atlas and their allies Akira Serikawa and Cain & Emusa.

For a short time I thought that Rabbicrater was still sealed in his small plastic bag, but after I opened the box I realized there was a small slit in the plastic.  Not a huge deal.  Actually I was kinda happy since I really wanted to open him up in the first place.

If Rabbicrater looks familiar to you he should. He is a simple recolored Sky Stalker Micromaster from the U.S. release. This mold was also used as Metro Bomb for the Japanese release of Metrotitan.

He's fairly plain and simple, just like a majority of Micromasters. Nothing really special here, other than the fact that he's pretty hard to come across these days.

Don't let the idea of Zone only having one animated episode make you think it's not worth watching.  In my opinion, this one lone episode offers some of the best animation I've seen in a Transformers series.  I love the story that has been set up and I really want to find a translated version of the stories continued in TV Magazine.  Plus the opening of this episode has a catchy theme song that I have a hard time getting out of my head.

Fun Fact:  Right towards the end of the episode during Dai Atlas' coronation ceremony, you can see Road Caesar, Grand Maximus and Landcross standing to Star Saber's right.  To his left are the three Cybertron Godmasters - Ranger, Road King and Lightfoot) as well as two Pretenders I'm told are Metalhawk and Lander!

All in all the C-350 release is only for the die hard Transformers collector.  After all you're getting a recolored Transformer toy and an old VHS cassette.  I ended up paying more for this than I originally had wanted to, but in the end I believe I got a good deal regardless.

Robo Force: Blazer - the Ignitor

Earlier this summer I had the chance to buy a lot of vintage toys from the 80's and 90's. Of course I grabbed them as I knew at some point I'd want to take a look at some of the toys here on this blog. Some of the toys I knew about, while others I remember seeing as a kid, but didn't know what they were called.

Robo Force, created in 1984 by a small toy company called Ideal Toys, was a toy line that I barely remember. I don't recall seeing these toys on retail shelves, but I'm sure they were in one of the many Sears Christmas catalogs I used to rummage through when making my annual Christmas list.

Blazer, the Ignitor. Is it odd that a figure called Blazer also shoots water? I don't know where the idea for this toy line came from, but I find it funny that in the early 80's this is what people though robots should look like. Short w/ flexible arms and a suction cup base.

The packaging for this figure looks rather nice, despite the box showing it's age. Surprisingly the plastic window is still intact, albeit very brittle. The box is very colorful and has some nice artwork of the character. I find it odd that a box of this size would have a hanger tab. I would've thought this packaging would have been better suited for shelves versus pegs.

The side of the box shows off the action features of the toy. Blazer comes with two different flame thrower attachments that are interchangeable and work on either arm. Surprisingly it doesn't mention the button on the back of the toy that works the moving arm mechanic.

I would have thought that Blazer would have been one of the enemy robots...then again I'm not completely sure on the story (if one even exists) behind Robo Force. The little blurb of text underneath the logo tells you a little bit more about the character and his abilities.

These robots stand about 8 inches or so tall and it appears they all feature a similar body construction. The head is made of a soft plastic that actually squirts water. The base of the figure is a large suction cup and even after all of these years still works.

On the back of this figure (and all of the others from what I know) is a square button that depresses. When pushed in, it sends a stream of (weak) air down each arm. This makes the arms bend inward, almost like it's trying to grab something. While compared to today's action figure standards the gimmick is pretty weak, but I would imagine this was pretty revolutionary for it's time.

I ended up taking the two Robo Force toys I had with me to Charticon 2013 to sell at my booth. Being a Transformers convention I was hoping that someone in attendance would know what these are and appreciate them. I didn't prominently display them as I had so many TFs with me, but it didn't take long for someone to spot them on one of the lower shelves behind my table. He was really excited to see them and bought them up without hesitation. I'm just glad they are in the possession now of someone who really wanted them.

Rock Lords: Marbles

Being a huge fan of Transformers one might think I also like or at least had a lot of GoBot toys as a kid too.  Wrong.  While I remember having a few GoBots, I never cared for them as a kid.  Today as an adult, I found a certain appreciation for the toys, especially knowing the history of the toy line from Japan.  So while I didn't have many GoBots, I did have several Rock Lords.

Yes, Rock Lords.  "Robots" that turned into living rocks.  Even back then I caught flak from some of my friends for having Rock Lords.  That still hasn't changed.  I don't care, I still love the toy line and I'm getting ever closer to completing the line.

  

Marbles is the last of the "regular" Rock Lord characters that I needed.  He hailed from the second series, hence the reason why I probably never had him as a kid.  Marbles made an appearance in the GoBots versus the Rock Lords movie and oddly enough he was shown featuring psychic powers.  Marbles rock type is that of Cristobalite.  In Japan he is known as Mask Rock.

While most of the Rock Lord characters have very interesting designs, Marbles here just looks freakin' weird.  His face looks like a sketch of something that could've been found in Roswell, NM.  His head as a while reminds me a lot of this guy:

For the comic reading challenged, that is The Leader from Marvel Comics.  He is one of the Hulk's adversaries.  See the resemblance?

I almost skipped over the listing for Marbles as the pictures in the auction just showed the figure itself.  After reading the description carefully I saw that the seller forgot to include his weapon in the pictures.  Glad I'm not the only one that happens too!  Most of the weapons for the Rock Lord toys are goofy looking, but I like Marbles' gun.  Even better I like how he "holds" it.  With his arms being molded on the inside of the rock, he can't wield a weapon in the traditional way.  Located on the top and bottom of his hands however are two small peg holes.  These peg holes allow for his weapon to clip in and gives the appearance that Marbles is holding his weapon.

While Marbles is far from my favorite Rock Lord, I'm glad to have finally got a complete specimen for my collection.  Getting him for $6 was just the icing on the cake. 

Bucky O'Hare & the Toad Wars: Bucky O'Hare

As much as I love Transformers, I also love toys in general. One of the things about having this blog that I enjoy so much is using it as an excuse to see what else is out there that I might have missed from my childhood days. After all I really had my blinders on as I was fixated on Transformers and to a lesser degree, G.I. Joe.

While I'm not made of money, I have grabbed a few toys here and there for the explicit purpose of this blog. I have no desire to start up a new collection or anything, but from time to time I like to deviate from Transformers. This is one of those posts.

To preface this post, I know very little of the topic - Bucky O'Hare. I vaguely remember seeing the comics on the rack and I knew there was a 8-bit Nintendo game released towards the end of the NES' life. Outside of that I'm going in blind!

I grabbed this sealed Bucky O'Hare online for just a few bucks. Once it finally came in the mail I can see why I got it so cheap. Of course the blister bubble is horribly yellowed, but the card is all warped and bent as well. Since I planned on opening him from day one I could have cared less for the packaging's condition. I didn't want to settle for just a loose specimen though. I like toy packaging and to me it's a part of the toy. Besides, check out the great art work of Bucky...I love how the packaging's front looks like it was ripped right out of the comic book.

Released in 1990 by Hasbro, the Bucky O'Hare line of action figures reminds me a lot of the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Crazy animal creatures battling each other...this time in space instead of underneath the streets of New York.

The back of the package has the obligatory cross sell showing off the other figures then available at retail. I believe these 10 figures shown were the only ones released as the toy line had a very short lifespan. What I find interesting is the little comic on the right side.

Beneath the images is a little S.P.A.C.E. security file card you can clip and collect. During a little research I found that the Bucky O'Hare character and world was created by Larry Hama! Yes, the same guy that wrote the Marvel G.I. Joe comic and file cards for all the ARAH toys. I wonder if he wrote these file cards too? The artwork supplied was by none other than Michael Golden. That's why the art looked so familiar to me.

Out of the package I was surprised at just how brightly colored Bucky truly is. He's also a lot smaller than I thought he would be. I apologize for no comparison pictures, but at the time I snapped the photos I didn't have anything nearby to compare him against.

Despite the packaging calling these "fully poseable" figures, they really aren't that articulated. Then again I guess for a figure from the early 90's this was considered fully poseable. The arms & legs move back and forth a bit, but the molding of the toy prevents a full 360 degree rotation. His wrists swivel a full 360 though. Weapons are interchangeable between the different figures in the line.

I can honestly say this toy has intrigued me enough to seek out some of the old comics and maybe even the NES game. Knowing Larry Hama was behind it makes me want to read the various stories. From a toy perspective Hasbro did a good job with these. As I mentioned earlier, the toy line is rather small and would be somewhat easy to collect - loose or packaged. I've got a few more Bucky O'Hare posts for later if you enjoyed this one. If not, just sit back and wait as I'm sure there is another Transformers review on the horizon!

Transformers 3rd Party: Unique Toys - War Hawk

When newcomer to the 3rd party Transformers market, Unique Toys, announced they were making a new "Predaking" fans went crazy.  Then resin images were shown of their first 'bot, War Hawk, some of the fans that were clamoring before started to back off.  I was reserving my thoughts until I saw the final product and even though I never placed a pre-order for War Hawk, I was tempted.

Of course not that long after Unique Toys' announcement, Mastermind Creations also announced their plans for their own take on "Predaking".  I wonder how many canceled pre-orders BBTS had for War Hawk?

I can appreciate what Unique Toys was trying to do here with the packaging, but look at all the wasted space!  Turns out this release was rushed through production and subsequent releases featured a large window showcasing the toy inside the box.  I like the box art and the gradient fade and grid lines harken back to the days of G1.

I love how the box art of War Hawk wraps around the side of the box.  On the other end in comparison is an image of the actual toy.  Beneath the image is a gold War Lord logo of sorts.

The back of the packaging just looks really drab and unexciting to me.  It doesn't help that the little bio doesn't make a lot of sense.  "No member of the War Hawk as struggled with a sense of identity quite like War Hawk".  Huh?  So is War Hawk a team name or the name of the individual character?

Inside the box you'll find a clear plastic tray holding War Hawk along with his sword and a fist for the combined mode, War Lord.  You also get a combination instruction book / comic book and a tech spec card.

Instructions are well laid out and the line art makes it easy to follow the transformation directions.

I don't recall who the artist is that supplied the art for the comic portion of the instruction booklet, but it's nicely drawn.  It seems the inker however laid it on thick in some areas though.  By the worst part of the comic is the dialog.  If this isn't a good example of "Engrish" I don't know what is!  Nice attempt though and I would like to read all the parts to the comic to see how the story turns out.

  

I love trading cards so I'm really enjoying that many of the 3rd party companies are including tech spec style trading cards such as these.  While some companies are producing thick plastic, credit card like, cards, these are just your standard thin cardboard.  The rounded corners give the card a playing card feel.

To be honest I was surprised at how small War Hawk turned out to be and how "simple" he seems.  Many have described Unique Toys' version of the Predacons as G1 toys with more articulation.  I can see that now.  Color wise it looks good.  The orange and black look great, however the fists and feet are cast in a different shade of orange.  A lot of people early on also reported very sloppy paint applications to the chest and eye visor.  My sample seems to be worry free.

The wings each attach to the back via a small black peg.  This allows for a lot of articulation independent from the other wing.  Articulation for the rest of the figure is done quite well, but it still reminds me of a G1 figure so don't expect FansProject type articulation here.

One aspect that I really applaud Unique Toys on is the individually articulated feathers on the wings.  Being able to spread each feather out a bit gives the toy a little more sense of realism.  War Hawk's only weapon is a sword and it looks great.  The black hilt and red stripe in the center of the blade puts the sword over the top.

War Hawk's robot head is not contained inside the mouth of the eagle, but underneath it.  I kind of wish the designers would have made the eagle head to lie down flat behind the robot head.  As is I think it looks like he's wearing one of those old dunce hats.

The robot head itself has a great sculpt, features red eyes and a yellow face just like his G1 counterpart.  Side by side with G1 Divebomb you can see how Unique Toys take on the Predacons are stylish, but simplistic upgrades.

I often forgot to show off the scale of toys I review so I grabbed Henkei! Ironhide off the shelf so everyone could get a better idea of the size.  As you can tell War Hawk is basically deluxe size.  For this reason alone some people complained that the asking price was too high.  (and yes I realized I have his legs in the wrong position in this picture)

Eagle mode is where I feel this toy really falls flat on it's face.  Granted G1 Divebomb was never my favorite Predacon, the eagle just looks so boring.  Transformation from robot to eagle is also very simple.  The eagle claws fold up inside the legs and during the transformation I noticed that one of the claws was the wrong one!

I don't know if this was a wide spread issue or not, but this is just another example backing up the rumors of War Hawk being rushed through production.

Top down back view

More articulation in the wings and legs when compared to G1 Divebomb, but the eagle mode still fails to impress me.

War Hawk's longer legs allow for "elbow" articulation in arm mode. That one small feature I'm sure goes a long way once the arm is combined with the rest of War Lord.

The large hand for the combiner is no longer stuck in a fist.  The wrist and fingers are all on ball joints allowing for great poseability.  The thumb is on a hinge joint.  Each finger sports two points of articulation in the knuckles.  What I don't care for are the large spikes protruding from the top and bottom of the hand.  Also the little nubs on the back of the fingers along w/ the claw tips are pretty sharp so use caution when playing w/ this toy.

I really wanted to like this toy, but there are just too many things about it that disappointed me.  For that reason I'm glad my friend lent me his figure to review because I would have been severely disappointed if I had paid $75 for this toy.  I applaud Unique Toys' vision and it seems they have learned a few things with subsequent releases in this War Lord series.  However if you want a new "Predaking" to add to your Transformers collection, spend the extra money and go for MMC's Feralcons or even TFC's version that is now underway.