Transformers Cyberverse: Sky-Byte & Driller Drive

The Transformers Cyberverse line of toys seemed to start off a little flat in my opinion. The designs of core characters such as Bumblebee took design elements from other iterations of the character, but put a new "kid friendly" spin on things. Initially I dismissed most of the gimmick filled releases and focused more on the Transformers War for Cybertron: Siege series instead.

As later waves of figures begin to hit store shelves, I started to pay the series a little more attention, starting with Shockwave. Suddenly Cyberverse began to at least gain my attention. More and more classic characters were starting to be introduced into the series. While they all had a twist on their look, many of these classic characters were modeled after their Generation 1 (G1) selves that I grew up with.

The most recent wave of Cyberverse toys includes characters from other "universes" such as Cheetor from Beast Wars / Beast Machines appeared, followed by Sky-Byte from the Robots in Disguise universe. When I first saw these images solicated online I didn't know what to think of them. Silly maybe? Out there? Creative? Maybe a little of all of the above? When I finally found the Spark Armor releases at retail I just stared at them. I looked them over and over and before you knew it I was headed to the checkout with several in my hands.

While I never liked the Transmetal 2 Cybershark mold that Sky-Byte's RID toy was based on, I loved the goofy character he was portrayed as in the animation. The more I stared at Sky-Byte in the store the more I became intrigued with this toy. Sky-Byte comes packaged on a blister card and retails for $14.99. Starscream, Prowl and Jetfire are his wave mates.

Hasbro has used so many terms to describe their various size points of Transformer toys that I don't even know what this size toy is called. It's smaller than a standard deluxe scale figure, but a little bigger than the old basic size. For me it's the perfect size of figure to fiddle around with. In fact, he became my desk-bot for several weeks after opening him for this post.

Sky-Byte resembles his Robots in Disguise self pretty good. While not as big or detailed as his original toy, there is no mistake who this character is. This size Spark Armor toys are a little more simplified than some of the other larger releases, but that doesn't mean the toy doesn't pack a punch. The design is simple, but gets the job done. Paint applications are limited, but well applied. Articulation is much better than I anticipated as well. There are hollow parts on the toy, but that is the new norm when it comes to Hasbro.

Transformation into shark mode only takes a handful of steps (10) before you are done. I was able to go between the two forms rather easily without the use of the instructions. In shark mode Sky-Byte resembles a submarine more than a cyber-shark. Actually I love this new look.

One of my pet peeves is when you can see the robot parts or kibble in the alternate mode, especially the robot head. The designers did a good job at concealing most of the robot parts in shark mode. Here on the bottom you can make out the robot's waist and legs, but they are glaringly noticeable. 

Sky-Byte's Spark Armor is Driller Drive. While I've not yet watched any of the Cyberverse animation, I'm going to assume these armor pieces like Driller Drive are not sentient robots and just weapons. My first impression of this piece upon pulling it out of the packaging was it immediately reminded me of Bandai's Machine Robo Mugenbine toys. If you're not familiar with Mugenbine, those were transformable toys that had a core robot that could form a cube and all of the included pieces could be assembled with the core robot to form various animals, vehicles and more.

Sadly the wheels and drill piece on Driller Drive do not move. In fact you can't do much with Driller Drive on it's own other than to use your imagination. However his real purpose is to form a set of battle armor (or Spark armor) for Sky-Byte.

Driller Drive easily separates into a few pieces, mainly the drill piece, each side of the drill vehicle and the center portion. The two side pieces simply attach to the sides of the upper arm, while the center portion folds in half to reveal the battle helmet. This piece fits over top of Sky-Byte to form armor for the chest and back. The drill piece can be wielded using the attached 5mm peg.

While I've only opened one other Spark Armor release, it seems as if the battle helmets all have some sort of theme that matches the main character. In this case the battle helmet has a fish motif...fitting for Sky-Byte. I like the look of the helmet, even though the Sky-Byte's actual face sets back in the helmet and makes it a little hard to see his face.

Here you can see Sky-Byte compared to a Legends class Sharkticon from Titans Return. While the figure is small, it's a fun release. I know the Cyberverse series isn't aimed at me, but this toy has reminded me that it's OK if my Transformer isn't super detailed or super articulated. Toys are meant to be fun and if I was a kid I would be all over this toy as well as others I've seen in the series.

Transformers Beast Wars II: C-13 Big Horn

Looking back I loved Beast Wars. When I was just coming back to Transformers I was able to catch the tail end of Generation 2 toys on clearance at various stores. Shortly there after I was first introduced to Beast Wars on a visit to Toys R Us. I didn't have access to information like I do now so I knew nothing of the series or the toys. Fast forward a bit and Takara released their own series of Beast Wars in Japan simply called Beast Wars II. I was already enamored by the animal choices Hasbro had chosen for release here in the States and one of those was a bison called Bonecrusher. For whatever reason I never bought him and as time went on I started to regret that decision. Thankfully Takara decided to use this mold for their line - with a better color scheme.

Bio:  Big Horn always dashes forward recklessly and hates to turn his back on the enemy, and it sometimes causes him to play into their hands. He also has a gentle side which appreciate the nature. He especially favours red flowers and has painted his body red. He has Buffalo Missile with his tail as the trigger. By having his comrades adjust the trigger timing and pull his tail, he can increase the accuracy because he himself can concentrate on setting his sights on the target. He has a habit of stomping his feet.

Strength:  9  Speed:  9  Rank:  8  Firepower:  8

Intelligence:  6  Endurance:  9  Courage:  7  Skill:  8

Takara opted to go with overall darker colors. The back and silver look fantastic on the bison. The robot bits were changed from cream to red and unfortunately those red parts tend to stand out a bit more.

This picture made the tag line of "robots in disguise" pop into my head. Can you see Big Horn's eyes "peeking"?

Transformation into robot mode is fairly simple and there is a good bit of articulation for a mid 90's figure. The red is a stark contrast to the rest of the figure, but I like it. It gives me the sense of rage which just seems appropriate for him.

Take a look at the robot head. I've got a lot of Transformers and never have I seen another face like this. I love how the bison's hair gives him a brow...kinda like the rocky brow the Fantastic Four's Thing has. The horns protruding from each side of the head and the open mouth makes this a memorable face. 

The mouth is exposed as such as it doubles as his weapon. A lot of the early Beast Wars figures had self concealed weapons. His mouth doubles as a spring loaded rocket launcher.

If there is a downside to this is the fact that it gives him a backpack of sorts. The way the launcher works is you pull on the tail. See how it looks almost like a trigger? Pulling on the tail will elevate the head and launch the missile from this mouth...quite far actually. The figure has good balance so this firing mechanism doesn't hinder the robot's stability too much.

This is a fun figure and I personally like the color changes over the American version. He isn't that hard to find either as he was also packaged in one of those versus sets paired off against Starscream & BB.

I will also mention this figure was released in Japan as a Lucky Draw item. He is supposed to be blue in color, but because of it's rarity finding the toy let alone the actual toy is very hard...assuming it really exists.

Hell House LLC

With October upon us I felt the desire to revisit the horror movie genre and seek out some new films. While my normal go to is either Netflix or Redbox, I recently stumbled upon Tubi TV and their massive library of free movies. I immediately started to browse their horror movies and added several to my que. The first one I fired up was Hell House LLC.

Directed by Stephen Cognetti and released in 2015, this horror "documentary" found footage movie caught my eye as I was browsing the listings. The movie's description reminded me of another well known documentary style movie called The Houses October Built. While I need to revisit that movie, what I remember from it I didn't particularly care for. While there may be similarities between these two movies, Hell House LLC I believe separates itself from the competition with it's story telling.

The movie revolves around a ground of friends that set out to create a haunted attraction inside an old abandoned hotel in upstate New York in 2009. As the team starts to create their venue inside the old Abaddon Hotel, things aren't what they seem as the group of friends become on edge as opening night gets closer and closer. On opening night, 15 people, including most of the crew are killed. But why are the police and the town essentially covering up what really happened?

I know the found footage type movies aren't for everyone, but the directer did a great job at using multiple camera view points to help set the stage and tell the story. In addition to the main story, you have a story happening in current time as well. The story is told via flashbacks of the footage from the group of friends, a leaked YouTube video, interviews with the media and even a 911 call. Most of the movie is done in a way where if you are sensitive to movement you shouldn't get motion sick. Towards the end of the movie however I can't say the same thing.

While I knew this was a movie, there were times while I was viewing it that I could have sworn this was real. The acting was good and the aforementioned uses of various media used to tell the story was great. While I personally don't care to attend haunted attractions, I love the idea of them and I've always wondered what kind of work goes into these type of things. Perhaps this is another reason why I enjoyed this movie because you get to see this group first visit the old hotel and then slowly have their vision come to life.

The setting of the hotel is creepy enough, but you really don't get a lot of history on the hotel itself and why it was closed. Not at first at least. Slowly but surely pieces of the story are revealed, leaving the viewer the opportunity to piece things together. The group stays in the hotel while they work on transitioning it into the haunted attraction and this is where things begin to pick up. While there are some jump scares, most of what makes this movie so spooky what you don't necessarily see. You see the effects of things, but not always what (or who?) is behind them. I know that may sound a little cliche, but the noises and weird things that occur are done in a way that aren't cheesy. Just like you get bits and pieces of the back story and are left putting what is happen together, the same thing can be said with what is happening.

Alfred Hitchcock did a great job at cutting the camera away as tragedy would strike, knowing what the viewer could and would imagine what was happening was more frightening than what he could actually show. While special effects have come a long way since then, I can't help but to agree with that mindset. The director must have had that on his mind at times as you never really see who is behind the murders.

Apparently there is an extended cut of this movie as well that delves into a little bit more of the story. I've seen a few still images and I've read reviews, but I've not actually viewed this extended cut. It appears the few extra minutes that were cut from the version I viewed contained some crucial info as it pertains to the story. I'm really puzzled as to why they cut it. Perhaps it gave away too much information and took away from the intentional gaps in the story?

The movie obviously had a low budget, but they did a great job at stretching their dollar. The hotel used in the movie was great, very creepy. The acting was pretty good and the special effects were equally as good. The one main gripe viewers tend to have with this movie is the ending. While I'm not going to spoil it because I highly recommend watching this movie, most people either love the ending or down right hate it. I'll just say I could take it either way.

Apparently there have been two additional sequels made, which caught me by surprise. I've yet to watch them, but I do intend on trying to track them down as I enjoyed Hell House LLC. Thankfully this one is easy to view (if you don't mind a few commercial interruptions) as you can stream it for free at TubiTV. Just use this link to jump straight to the fun. 

** UNDER CONSTRUCTION **

When I first started this blog I used Photobucket to host just about all of my pictures. Over the years this service seemed to work just fine, however recent changes have led to some of the pictures on my older reviews disappearing and being lost.

I really like the idea of archiving items in my collection with this blog and I really don't want to lose some of the things I've posted in the past. That said the blog won't be receiving much new content while I work to go back through my catalog of posts and back up the photos, clean some of them up (if necessary) and remove all ties to Photobucket.

I know this will take some time as it's a little tedious (and boring) so I do plan on posting some new content here and there...but I really want to get this work done before I charge forward.

Leave on the Light

Just in time for Friday the 13th! Since I've moved to ordering my comics online my horizons have been broadened. What I mean was that I've always been a Marvel superhero comic fan and I've often ignored other genres such as horror. A few months back I saw an title solicited by Antarctic Press, a small comic publisher that I somewhat follow. Simple titled Leave on the Light, the cover image and description of the book immediately had my attention.

I've always been a fan of horror movies, especially the 80's slasher sub genre, and this book looked really appealing. The description straight from the Previews website:

Brace yourself for a shocker of a horror story! In a small town near New York, an undead serial killer has begun claiming the lives of children by using the city's electrical system.

I received the book in last month's shipment of comics and I sat the book aside, originally wanting to wait until all 3 issues had been released before I sat down and read them. However with Halloween just around the corner I've been on a little kick of late, watching horror flicks and even re-visiting Dead Rising 2 on my Xbox One.

I thought with today being Friday the 13th it would be a great day to go ahead and check out issue #1. While the book was short, it was great! You're immediately introduced to the story's villain, a old prison inmate that is back from the dead? If you like gore and violence then the opening few pages will be right up your ally. While not overly graphic with gore, the violence is right up there with your typical 80's slasher movie.

After the initial opening scene, the reader is then introduced to the other two main characters (police officers) which have been assigned to the case. The lead detective soon learns that things are starting to look a lot like a case he had years ago and that something wasn't right. 

The book is 21 pages long, filled with some gorgeous art and coloring. Leave on the Light is the creation of Bradley Golden. What I didn't know going in was this project originated as a Kickstarter campaign. Similar to another Antarctic published horror book, Rags, somehow the creators got a publishing deal w/ Antarctic Press for a wider distribution.

I've already got issue #2 on order and after reading the first issue I anxiously await to read the next part of the story. The book has a cover price of $3.99 and there is a gold foil variant you can chase down if you wish. The book also features a flip cover and I believe the other two issues will feature flip covers as well.

If you are a fan of horror in general, especially in comics then you may want to give this book a try. Even though comics aren't necessarily rated like movies, this is definitely not a book for the kids. At the time of this post I've seen several reasonably priced listings on eBay, however larger online shops my MyComicShop.com has both the regular issue and the variant currently in stock without a mark up.

KO Korner: Poison Dragon - Transformers G1 Skullcruncher KO

To kick off the 11th year of Random Toy Reviews, let's take a trip back to the KO Korner. Ever since I created an Instagram account I've seen a lot of great vintage G1 KO toys posted. Most of these come from countries in the east. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone as copyright laws are more lax outside of the U.S., especially 30 years ago.

Everytime I'd see one of these awesome G1 KO toys I'd always wonder just where that person found them. Was it a recent acquisition from a store in some other country? Was it old stock that was recently found? Or has this been sitting on someone's shelf for the last 20-30 years? Whatever the case, most of the oddly colored KOs I've never seen for sale. If I would happen to come across one on eBay, usually the asking price was far outside my comfort zone.

Luck would finally be on my side as I ran across a listing on eBay for Poison Dragon, an obvious KO of the G1 Transformers Headmaster Skullcruncher. The price was much more reasonable than I thought so I bit the bullet and made the purchase. Then the waiting game had to be played as the toy was coming from Malaysia I believe. Man, I think the last time I bought a Transformer from Malaysia was when I bought a complete, MIB Transformers Blue Bacchus for $50. True story, I swear...but that'll be for another time.

When Poison Dragon finally arrived at my doorstep, he was crammed in a small box with a little bit of newspaper padding inside. The backing card is cheap cardboard and had already shown some wear. However what I didn't fully realize before I made the purchase was that the bubble (which was very close to cracking apart) had started to lift from the backing board. At some point someone stapled a portion of the bubble back down, but not before the gun must have slipped out. Bummer.

The back of the blister card seems to have been lifted straight from the actual instruction booklet that was included with the legit Skullcruncher toy. The back of the packaging even refers to Poison Dragon as "Skullcruncher" and the Headmaster "Grax". Best that I can tell there was never a label sheet or tech spec decoder included.

Once I was able to carefully fish Poison Dragon out of his flimsy packaging, I could immediately tell that the quality of this KO was rather good. That's the thing with KOs, especially toys as old as this. You never know what the build quality is. Will it be shampoo bottle quality plastic or the good stuff? 

Poison Dragon features a similar color scheme to his G1 counterpart, however where Skullcruncher had green this one features blue. The pink sections are similar and even the shade of pink used is very close to the G1 toy. As far as I can tell, there are no differences in the mold. Even the factory applied stickers (minus the rub symbol on the gator's head) are the same as it's G1 counterpart. One of the main differences that you can easily spot is the addition of some gold (or is it copper?) paint applied to the ridges and notches alongside Poison Dragon's gator back. Being as old as this toy is, I was surprised to see that some of this paint has already started to wear off.

Where as Skullcruncher came with his Headmaster trainer, Grax, Poison Dragon comes with this "Headmaster" figure. He's not named and he's not a 1:1 KO of Grax or any other Headmaster figure that I recognize. 

This nameless Headmaster figure still retains the ability to ride inside the mouth of Poison Dragon if you so choose to. The figure seems to be just a smidge taller than Grax so I had to slide him down a little bit to get the gator mouth to close all the way.

Once I really started to inspect the Headmaster figure I could tell the same quality that went into the main figure was not used here. This plastic felt cheaper, almost slick to the touch. I had to shave off a few plastic spurs on the feet just to get him to stand up in robot mode. If you look at the right knee joint, you can see that it's bulging out a bit. I was worried when I transformed into head mode that the lower leg may pop off. Since I don't plan on transforming him much (if at all) I guess I shouldn't be too worried.

I gotta say this has to be the happiest looking Deception Headmaster I've ever seen! The facial expression really doesn't match the toy, let alone the red and yellow used. Ah, gotta love KOs is all I can say!

The transformation is spot on to the vintage G1 toy. Transforming Poison Dragon from gator to robot was one of the scariest things I've done in awhile. He was far tighter than my original Skullcruncher. The hinges of the tail section that splits apart were so tight I didn't think I was going to get them to split and fold down. Once I got them moving, I just knew something was going to break. I noticed what appeared to be small, flat excess pieces of plastic just above and below the hinge. I thought these were adding to the resistance so I took my pocket knife and carefully jimmied them out. I don't think it really helped loosen up the hinges, but it couldn't have hurt to remove them. The upper half of the toy seemed to transform just fine. I did find that the arms were a little loose, but nothing too bad.

If you remember both the Autobot and Decepticon (large) Headmaster toys had a gimmick where you could see partial stats of the robot once the head was plugged into the body. Not surprisingly this play feature was removed on the KO. The flip down chest plate is still there, but as you can see where the meter once was is now a solid piece of plastic.

As I mentioned earlier, the gun was missing from the packaging however he can wield the tip of his tail as a sword just like his authentic counterpart. I did notice the holes in the fist were a little tight. This made it a minor challenge to fit the peg on the underside of the tail piece into the fist hole.

On it's own this is a great KO. I love the colors (minus the Headmaster) and it reminded me of just how awesome this mold is. Now it's time to get the KO alongside the authentic toy for some comparison shots.

As great as Poison Dragon is, I love seeing these two side by side. They compliment each other so well. I may eventually try and pick up another Skullcruncher gun just to complete the look.

Last, but not least I was curious if Poison Dragon was compatible with his G1 self. Without any issues I was able to swap the heads just fine.

With the notches on the bottom of the KO Headmaster being different lengths than on Grax, when you plug him into Skullcruncher's body you get different ratings in the Speed/Strength/Intelligence categories. 

If you are a big G1 Transformers fan such as I and you enjoy a good quality KO TF then I highly recommend this bootleg toy. While I've seen several packaged and loose pictures of this toy before, I've never seen one for sale until I ran across this one a few weeks ago. I know Chromedome was KO'd in a similar fashion, as well as Highbrow (in an awesome Sprite "lemon & lime" color scheme!), but I don't know if any of the other larger Headmasters received KOs. I know for one I'll be on the search. Pictures will probably surface on Instagram at some point!

10 Year Anniversary of Random Toy Reviews!

Exactly ten years ago to the date, I published my very first toy review on this blog. It's hard to believe it's been ten years. I can remember however starting up the blog, being so excited to share many of the cool toys that I owned at the time. It was about a month before my first daughter was born too.

However what I didn't realize at the time was that blogging was "work". The time it took to take pictures, edit them and them piece it all together in the form of a blog post took more time than I thought it would. There were times I thought I'd let the blog die since the number of views per post have dropped, but then I would stop and realize that if I'm being truthful with myself, this blog is for me and how it helps me document and remember the toys I once had.

Space is an issue any collector of anything faces at some point. With me having multiple hobbies and thus multiple collections, it becomes necessary at times for me to part way with certain toys. I find it fun to look back at old posts and remember what was going on during that time in my life. While I do enjoy seeing a lot of people visiting the blog and reading/commenting on the posts, I don't do this for others. I do this for me and my own enjoyment. 

For all of those who have supported me and the blog, I thank you. It's been a wild ten years, full of ups and downs. I've covered everything from Transformers, to GI Joe; Marvel to odd Japanese toys and everything else in between. Most toy reviewers have taken to YouTube to share their thoughts and opinions, however I find it almost therapeutic at times blogging. I know I may not always be the most eloquent when it comes to words, however this is something that I have enjoyed and still enjoy to this day. If there is one thing about having this blog that drives me crazy is that I tend to sit on opening items and enjoying them for far too long. I know I can't do a post on everything I buy. After I get through my backlog of some items, I have a new approach to toy collecting / blogging that I hope will keep things fresh and exciting for me.

I know there have been times where the content has suffered, but ten years later I still find it fun to create new content and share it with others. I don't plan on stopping, though as my family grows older and my work responsibilities increase, I don't see me being able to pump out a lot of new content on a regular basis like I once did. However I hope if you're reading this you'll bookmark the site, or give our Facebook page a like so you can follow on.