Lego #30002 Police Boat & #30010 Fire Chief

QUICK INFO:
Name: Police Boat #30002 & Fire Chief #30010
Line: Lego - City
Year: February 2010
Price: $2.99 (each)


Thanks to Adam Pawlus over @ www.16bit.com it was brought to my attention that Target had already put out 4 new Lego sets (2 City & 2 Star Wars) in their newly set Easter section. I'm a sucker for small, cheap City themed Lego sets so I had to check these out.

We'll start off by looking at the Police Boat. It consists of 30 pieces. It's a very small and simple set by design, but a very nice set. The colors are almost all traditional blue and white. One of things I like best about the boat are the controls. You may expect to find a steering wheel, but instead of the more traditional controls you'll find 2 black levers. They look like wrenches, but when attached to the bar piece they make convincing steering controls. The engine is nicely constructed. I'm not sure I've ever seen the piece used on the top of the engine.

Another feature about the boat that is a nice touch is the spot light that clips onto the left side of the boat. Minifigure is your traditional police officer. Nothing we haven't seen already.

Now we'll shift our focus to the Fire Chief. It consists of 31 pieces. This is my least favorite of the two sets, but this one isn't a complete throw away. First off all I would call this more of a Fire ATV than car as you can tell from the pictures. It's a very small and compact set, but the wheels freely move without problems and the water cannon on the back is different. You can position the fireman mini figure forwards like he is driving, or backwards like he is operating the water cannon. Mini figure pretty standard. I really can't say much else about this set other than it's what you would expect out of a $3.00 toy.

For $2.99 you really can't go wrong with these sets. They are very easy to construct and have charm, esp. the Police Boat. If you could only afford one set however go with the Police set. It just feels more well rounded of the two.

Transformers Beast Wars: Icebird

Sage-like leader of the mutants. Very wise and powerful. Possesses colossal size and strength in bear mode - silent aerial abilities in owl mode. Resentful of his lost ability to convert to robot mode. Believes mission is to nullify technology completely and evolve into a purely organic existence. Does not fight with the Maximals, but believes they are a necessary component of the organic evolution. Can communicate telepathically, become invisible, read minds and shut down machinery at will. Views Optimus Primal’s heroics with forgiving tolerance. Greatly feared by Megatron.

Strength:	8	Intelligence:	8
Speed:	7	Endurance:	7
Rank:	10	Courage:	9
Firepower:	8	Skill:	9

The story behind the Mutants:
Megatron developed an anti-conversion virus, intended to prevent the infected host converting into robot mode, resulting in eventual shutdown. The Mutants were previously Fuzors, and the virus reacted in an unanticipated way with their physiognomy; it caused their conversion abilities to change, trapping their robot modes between two different beast modes. The virus also bestowed 'potent extrasensory powers' upon the former Fuzors, with each member having several unique abilities, such as invisibility, teleportation, or technokinesis. Unsurprisingly, the foursome managed to escape Megatron's clutches and then went renegade, calling themselves the Mutants.

A few years into the Beast Wars run of Transformers Hasbro decided to try something a little different and introduced the Mutants subline if you will in Beast Wars. These were robots that were essentially trapped in their organic beast modes by Megatron. We'll take a look at the leader of the Mutants today, Icebird.

I'll start off with Icebird in his snow owl mode since that is what is depicted on the packaging. Of the 2 modes it is my least favorite, but I can live with the design. Let's start with the positives. The owl face is done really well. The feathers that are sculpted into the plastic give it a nice touch. The beak is spot on and is ever so slightly articulated. The wings are the other highlight of this beast mode. While the feathers on the face are very lightly molded, these are large feathers that really stand out. Because of the transformation each wing has 3 points of articulation. Tip of the wing, middle of the wing and where the wing attaches to the body. This does allow some different poses for the wings which is a nice touch. Now to the negatives. In my opinion the most blaring obvious down side to this mode is the bright red claws. I'm guess they are supposed to represent blood, but it's just too bright and really detracts from the overall look. The paint deco on the lower half of the chest again is too bright. I'm not sure what kind of owl they were trying to imitate here, but I can't find any kind of specimen that has colors or patterns like this. Closet thing I can find is the Snowy Owl...at least the wings on Icebird are a match. The tail features are nicely molded, but they are on a spring mechanism and they don't like to stay in once place very well.

Icebird's other beast mode is that of a polar bear. I really like this mode and how they pulled it off. As you can see from the photo he's got big feet that allows for some good poses. I've got Icebird displayed @ home like this...makes him look more intimidating (and takes up less space on the shelf!). The figure has more heft in this mode and feels more solid. There are 9 points of articulation in bear mode. Ankles, shoulders, elbows, wrists and jaw. The front paws split into halves to form the owl's claws, but you can rotate the entire claw. The shoulder joints are ball & socket, but mine are incredibly tight. More so than I've seen on other toys with similar construction. You can open and close the mouth too so you can have a more subdue or growling facial expression. Like feathers were molded into the plastic for the owl, this mode has molded fur. The things I don't care for in this mode again are the red claws. If it is meant to be blood then it makes a little more sense for a bear to have bloody claws than a snow owl, but they are just too bright. The other distraction carries over from the owl mode too, the colors on the chest. It didn't work for the owl and it definitely doesn't work for the bear.

Here is a side view of the bear mode. Where did you think the owl's wings would go once folded up?! If the wings had been molded in the same white plastic it would blend in much better, but at the same time I don't think it looks too bad. You can also get an idea just how much larger the front legs and paws are compared to the back legs.

All of the mutants have their own faction symbol molded on the toy. Icebird's is on his right shoulder. If you flip up the panel you'll notice some robotic circuitry of sorts underneath. This was a nice little touch and gave the character a more robotic feel.

The other robotic feature of the mold is the inclusion of a robot head. Yes, while the toy cannot transform into an actual robot it does have a robot head. Sorry for the blurry picture, it was hard to get a good close up. The head still has a beastly look to it in my opinion, but so do most of the robots in Beast Wars. This head is on a spring mechanism behind the polar bear's head. You simply lift you the panel on the back of the bear and you can fold in the bear's head and flip out the robot's head. I've seen some people pose the bear standing up with the robot head exposed for a pseudo-robot mode. The head is very tiny so it looks weird on such a large body, but it's still a nice added touch.

There were only 4 Mutant toys produced and Icebird is hands down my favorite with Soundwave a close 2nd. Where Icebird's owl form is light and almost hollow feeling, the polar bear is heavy and solid. If you can forgot about the mass difference between the two modes the owl and the bear forms work hand in hand. While the toy may not have the same feel as a regular Beast Wars toy since it lacks a true robot form the toy makes up for that with the inclusion of a 2nd beast mode and it's on unique charm. If you're looking to expand your Beast Wars collection Icebird is a good place to start.

2010 Topps first impressions

2010 Topps Baseball, Series One
First Impressions



Alright, so this has absolutely nothing to do with toys. My first hobby dates back 20 years to 1990. A friend of mine got me into baseball cards on the way home from a vacation in the mountains. We stopped at a rather large roadside flea market of sorts and I walked away with a large stack of 1990 Topps and Donruss baseball card packs. I guess as they say is history.

With the release of the 2010 Topps Baseball cards I've bought/collected baseball cards in some capacity now for 20 years. Just typing that makes me feel old! I thought it would be kinda neat (at least to me) to give my first impressions of the first baseball cards of the season since it's kind of a bench mark for me.

After reading some blogs and viewing some pictures of the 2010 Topps Baseball series 1 I decided to hit a few Target stores in my area to see what I could find. My first trip found one of those large gravity feeders of packs. I was particularly looking for the "blaster" boxes...but nothing could be found. A trip the following day to a different Target found me one lone box. I snatched it up with a little reservation. Since I'm not into set building I cringed a bit at the $19.99 price tag. Since it was the only box though I decided to go ahead with the purchase anyhow.

These "blaster" boxes give you 10 packs, each with 8 cards for a total of 80 cards. I guess the main draw of these boxes is that you get one exclusive patch card. I saw these with the 2009 cards so I knew what I was getting here. Nothing special since the patches are created just for these cards and not game used. The checklist for these patch cards is 50 cards long and features names such as Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Ryne Sandberg, Ichiro, Chase Utley & Albert Pujols. The other draw is that 2 of the packs are Throwback parallels. These cards are essentially the same as the base cards except they are printed on the old style brown cardboard. The Topps logo is also the old logo. I like these myself so the inclusion of these made the decision to buy the box a little easier.

So, what did I end up with you may wonder? For starters I got a Hank Greenberg (Detroit Tigers) 1935 World Series commemorative patch card. Nice looking, but I had rather have Chipper Jones or Pujols. Oh well. At least I got a Pujols from one of the Throwback packs.

As a Braves fan I was happy with some of the pulls. In the Throwback packs I got a Javier Vasquez. From the base set I got a few more Braves: Tommy Hanson, Tim Hudson, Reid Gorecki and Javier Vasquez.

Also ended up w/ 2 of the Million Card Giveaway cards. This program really intrigues me, but I'll have to wait another week or so before the program goes live. Pulled a few of the Cards Your Mom Threw Out (even one of the original back versions), one When They Were Young (Johnny Damon) and a few of the other low odd inserts.

I love the basic and clean design of the base set. The team logos are large and colorful and the names are easy to read. I could have done without the silver foil, but I'm afraid that foil stamping and the glossy U/V coatings are here to stay on the regular Topps set. Backs of the cards have been improved over last year's set as well. Biggest change I noticed and I know a lot of others noticed is the card number in the upper right corner is MUCH easier to read. I've never been a set builder so the card #s have been irrelevant to me, but it's nice to see that Topps listened to the complaints and rectified the issue this time around.

All in all this set is a home run in my opinion. Great base design and pretty good inserts. Yeah so people may be sick of the gold parallels or the ToppsTown inserts, but they are OK additions in my book. Without new kids coming to the hobby it'll start to die off so if Topps has to use the ToppsTown program or something else to attract kids I'm fine with that. So, what are you waiting for? Head on down to your local hobby shop (if you're lucky to have one) or to your local Target store and pick up some packs. I think after you've busted a few packs you'll be glad you did.

Transformers Micron "Mighty" team

QUICK INFO:

Name: Mighty Bull, Mighty Dozer, Mighty Sutora
Line: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Takara Tomy)
Year: 2009


To celebrate the release of Revenge of the Fallen in Japan a few retailers partnered with Takara Tomy to give away special Micron toys with the purchase of 2,000 yen or more. While they are simple repaints of Mini-Con toys released in the west under the Classics banner, many many Mini-Con/Micron collectors have sought these out to add to their collections. Are they worth the effort in tracking them down? Read on and lets find out.

We'll start off by taking a look at Mighty Bull. He is a repaint of the Classics Mini-Con Sledge.

Let me start off by saying that I love Mini-Cons/Microns. I have found myself buying just about every one that I can find. I was thrilled to hear Hasbro was bringing Mini-Cons back w/ the Classics line a few years ago and was even more thrilled to find out there would be new molds. Then I got my hands on this mold (as Sledge). My excitement was quickly dimished. I hate this mold hands down. In vehicle mode it's passable.

Now that I've got my rant out of the way, let's take a look at the mold. Mighty Bull was available in Japan at Bic Camera and Yodobashi stores and free with a purchase of 2,000 or more yen. In vehicle form it's a decent figure. The front shovel lifts up and down and the back shovel arm can pivet from side to side while the shovel itself can swing up and down. That is where the good ends though. It has a very weak feel overall. The wheels are free rolling, but getting all 4 flat on a surface isn't as easy as it should be.

If you thought the vehicle mode was bad, well the robot mode is just plain ugly. Come on, this doesn't even look close to a robot in my opinion. It just isn't very convincing. There is little to no articulation in this form. The "arms" (and I use that word loosely) only rotate up and down. You can't pose the arms very much at all. The waist is a ball & socket joint which doesn't give the robot a whole lot of stability. The legs...well if you look at them wrong they fall off. When I first fiddled with this mold as Sledge I thought the problem may be unique to my toy. I've got 4 of this mold now and they all suffer from the same issues. This is just a poor, sloppy executed toy. Unless you are a completist stay away from this mold.

I snapped a few comparison shots so you can see how the mold compares to one of it's counterparts, but I dislike this mold so much that I didn't even feel the desire to post the pics. So you can just click on the links here and here to take a peek.

Next we'll take a look at my favorite of the trio, Mighty Dozer. Growing up I loved the G1 toy Wideload.

Mighty Dozer was available exclusively at Toys 'R Us Japan stores and was given away with more than a Revenge of the Fallen purchase of 2,000 or more yen. When I first saw pictures of Mighty Dozer on in the internet images of Wideload immediately popped in my head. First thing you should notice is the eye popping orange. The flash of the camera makes the orange appear a little brighter than the actual color, but it looks great on this mold. Originally this mold was released by Hasbro in the Classics line as Wideload (interestingly enough). Hasbro should have used the color scheme. This is one of the better new Mini-Con/Micron molds...at least in vehicle mode. The dump truck design is very well designed. The mold holds together really well. The bed of the dump truck sadly doesn't lift thanks to transformation restrictions. The wheels are free rolling, but the back wheels have an extra tire molded into the plastic on the inside of the rolling wheel to give it that needed size appearance. This molded wheel isn't painted though so at least to me it looks odd, though it really isn't that obvious unless you flip to toy over and look at the bottom. The only other complaint I have with this mode is the robot's head is partially exposed on the rear of the mold. The face is looking down, but you still have this little robot head protruding from the back.

Here we have Mighty Dozer's robot mode. While it's not nearly as bad as Mighty Bull's robot mode it doesn't quite hit a home run. First thing you may notice is the, um, chest...boobs. Yes, this is the first "male" Transformer I've seen with giant man boobs. Again this robot mode just fails on some many different levels. Ignore the mammary glands for a moment if you can and lets take a look at the rest of the robot. You should notice the arms are simply the dump truck's bed split into two halves. The ends of the bed has a articulated flap that I guess is supposed to be passed off as fingers? Just doesn't cut it for me. The feet are the front part of the dump truck. OK, that I can deal with. The part of the feet that bothers me is the front wheels being fully exposed make it hard to stand this figure. There aren't any plastic tabs that stick down to help balance this guy. Make one wrong move, breath, cough or sneeze near this guy and down he goes. At least the robot head sculpt is pretty good.

As with Mighty Bull, here and here are some comparison pics of Dozer with the Japanese Micron Booser Refuser.

Lastly we'll take a look at Mighty Sutora, or also known as Mighty Stra.

Mighty Sutora was exclusively at Bic Camera & Yodobashi stores and free with a purchase of 2,000 or more yen. Mighty Sutora is a repaint of the Classics Mini-Con Strongarm. It's obvious the alt mode this time around is that of a police car. While the color scheme may not invoke the image of a police car you or I would think about, the colors work really well. I like the "TF Police" stamp on the sides of the car. It would have been nice to see some extra paint apps on the light bar or to have the side windows painted black like the front windshield, but we are talking about a Mini-Con/Micron here. Not else much to say about this mold other than it's a rather long car and the wheels roll just fine.

Not again! This is yet another new Mini-Con/Micron mold with a decent alt mode that suffers from a horrible robot mode. The best thing going is the transformation. It's rather cleaver I have to say. The whole car basically folds in half to form the robot. Unlike the other Mighty partners, Sutora does have limited articulation in robot mode. The arms bend at the elbows so at least you can some what pose him. The long vehicle mode also makes this figure taller than other Mini-Cons/Microns. Another good head sculpt is present, although it seems to get "lost" in between the arms. The paint apps are exposed in robot mode which helps the overall appearance. I still think the robot mode is weak, but when compared to Mighty Bull & Mighty Dozer it wins.

I was going to pull out Strongarm for the comparison shots, but I simply love the deco & name Hasbro decided to use on this mold for their 2nd Mini-Con 10 pack. Click here and here to see shots of Mighty Sutora and Overcharge side by side.

In closing I really can't recommend this trio of Microns. As I said earlier in the review I'm a sucker for these little TFs and I tend to buy as many as I can. If I weren't a fanatic I would be sorely disappointed in these 3 molds. I tend to display all my Mini-Cons/Microns in vehicle form so at least these look half way decent on my shelf (excluding the horrid Mighty Bull mold!). The decos Takara Tomy went with are an improvement over their Classics counterparts, but the price tag for them (thanks to their exclusivity & people like me) tends to be a little high on the secondary market. If you want the molds, then just stick to the Hasbro Classics versions.

WWE Basic Collection Series 1: Batista

This is a first for Random Toy Reviews today. I often review toys from lines of which I grew up playing with, but today I'm going to venture into a type of action figure that I've never played with as a kid or even owned. Wrestling figures. Today we're going to take a look at one of the figures from Mattel's newly acquired WWE licensed series 1 action figure line. If you are like me and wondered how Mattel would handle the WWE super stars as compared to Jakks Pacific (the last company to hold the license) then take a few moments as we look at Batista!

I gotta say that I really like the packaging...well at least the front. The blister card is rather slim in design and allows a good view at the wrestler depicted on the back of the card. The back of the card however is another story. I understand Mattel's desire to want to sell other figures, but the cross sell is a little overkill here. There is only one small picture of the actual product and it is at the bottom of the card. Usually the item you're buying is largely depicted on the card with the thumb nail like pictures of the cross sell items across the bottom. Yeah it really isn't that big of a deal, but it still bugs me some.

Upon the first time picking up on these packages I was surprised to notice the air holes on the sides of the blister bubble. The first time I had ever seen this done was with Mattel's very own Masters of the Universe Classics line. I'm guessing this is geared to the collector's who don't want to open their figures, but worry that the plastic could degrade and break down inside the package without proper air flow. Personally I think that idea is silly. I understand the desire to collect figures and not open them (I have all of the Cobra figures from the 25th Anniversary G.I. Joe series carded, in display cases on my wall @ home), but the idea of the plastic deterating inside the package? I'm sure though to a lot of fans and collector's alike the air holes are a welcomed addition to the packaging. You can also see a small action shot if you will of the product printed on the small piece of cardboard insert.

Here you can see Batista freed from his plastic & cardboard prison. My first impression of the figure is that he seems pretty solid and the likeness is fairly spot on. I know that Dave Batista is a very chiseled athlete, but the sculpting of the muscles on this figure just seems to rigid and stiff. The tattoos resemble the real thing which really surprises me. The red used for his outfit is too bright in my opinion and that really takes away from the overall presentation.

Just take a look at the detail on the large tattoo that covers the majority of Batista's back. Amazing. Kudos to Mattel for giving this as much detail as they did. Too bad this detail can't be seen while packaged as I think this could be one of the figure's strong selling points.

As I mentioned earlier I thought Mattel did a fantastic job capturing the likeness of Batista in plastic form...especially in the face. While the figure may not be as bronze or oily as Batista on a episode of Friday Night Smackdown, they were able to capture a lot of his facial features down to his signature gotee. Having never bought or paid much attention to the Jakks Pacific figures in the past it's hard for me to comment or make comparisons, but I'm going out on a limb and say the likeness of the Mattel figures is much greater to the athletes than what was produced in the past.

What good is a wrestling figure you may ask if you can't pose it in a number of ways? Well I'm happy to report that this figure isn't lacking in the articulation department. I count 20 points of articulation to be exact. The head and rotate a full 360 degrees as well as up and down. The arms can rotate 360 degrees at the shoulders, biceps and wrists. Both the elbows and the wrists also bend back and forth. You can rotate the figure 360 degrees at the waist. Legs are articulated at the waist, but can only be moved back and forth. Knee joints bend as well as the ankles. The feet can be swiveled 360 degrees as well. There isn't any toe articulation as seen in other 8 inch scale action figures...but I like that. It gives the foot a more solid look and stable base. Batista's right hand is sculpted in manner which would give you the idea that he could hold something while the left hand is sculpted in a more open position. I'm also happy to report that the plastic used for the elbow and knee pads is made of a soft flexible plastic so it doesn't hinder the articulation in those areas. The knee pads on my figure do slightly move up and down, but for the most part are fixed into place...they are not removable.

I'm a sucker for action figure stands and I'm happy to see more stands included with the toys. The stands are rather simple, made of black plastic with the now classic WWE logo recessed in the center of the stand. There is one peg that firmly rests in either peg hole on the bottom of the figure's feet. Also included is a thin cardboard name that clips into the front of the stand. While I feel this was a cost cutting measure versus stamping the names on each stand it still is a nice little touch. I just foresee these name tags easily being lost or damaged down the road.

I grew up watching wrestling with my grandfather and older brother. Many of my memories of my grandfather include gathering at his house to watch the then quarterly pay-per-view events. We watched more NWA/WCW growing up, but I remember the flashly WWF broadcasts back the in the day. Flash forward to 2010 and it's clear to see that the WWE hands a firm grasp on the professional wrestling genre. I can see from a business perspective why Mattel wanted to jump in the ring (no pun intended) and manufacture wrestling toys, specifically WWE toys. I'm sure this will be a cash cow for Mattel if they continue to make the figures as they have with this newly released series 1. All in all I have to say that I'm fairly impressed with Mattel's take on the 8 inch scale wrestlers. The attention to detail, articulation and overall likeness of the characters are handled very well and I'm sure the WWE loyal will appreciate this and gobble up just about everything that is released. Will I buy any more of these figures? I doubt it, but that isn't because the figures lack quality. If you are a die hard wrestling fan I believe you will like what Mattel has done with the license. As for me, I'll just stick to watching wrestling on TV and stick w/ my other action figures.

Lego #3177 Small Car

QUICK INFO:

Name: Small Car #3177
Line: Lego - City
Year: January 2010
Price: $6.99

For the last day of 2009 we'll take a look at one of the first Lego City sets in the 2010 line up. This set may be one of the lower price points, but it has a lot to offer in this small box. Read on and discover that small packages can contain lots of fun.

Set #3177 is simply labeled as "Small Car" and has 43 pieces. This is a very small and simple set, but a nice addition to the City subgroup.

When they labeled this set simply as "Small Car" they weren't lying! The car measures 2 1/2 inches long and only 1 inch wide. The majority of the pieces are black and white and a splash of gray used on the front's grill and the wheels. The window is a translucent smoke color which fits in nicely with the monotone color scheme. One of the thing I like most about the car is the smooth tires. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall past sets using smooth tires. It almost gives the set a go-kart feel as the rubber tires grip a smooth surface really well. In typical Lego fashion there are some odd color pieces used in the construction of the set. There are 2 flat green pieces that elevate the blue steering column to the correct height for the mini-figure. The same green piece was used in the front bumper. Most of the pieces can't be seen very well, but I often wondered why not use a different color that blends in better?

After taking a look at the mini-figure I'm surprised they didn't label this set as "Doctor's Car" or something similar. You can see the blue mask hanging down around the guy's neck and the green pants do look like hospital scrubs. Regardless of what the figure's occupation is the figure is done well. I don't recall seeing the top half of the figure used in the past. Hair piece shows some good sculpting and resembles hair much better than the older "helmet" sculpt.

Remove the top of the car to insert the mini-figure. It is a snug fit, but there is even plenty of room for his luggage behind his seat. This is a very nice touch as you can fit everything included in the set securely inside the vehicle.

This is a great little Lego set. While it may not offer anything innovative or new or does do a good job at giving the buyer a new compact car to work into your own Lego city. The set is small enough and easy to construct that it won't give smaller hands trouble. Even at 32 I enjoyed putting the set together! The $6.99 price point also makes this set an impulse buy for a lot of people. I can happily say that I recommend this set on all fronts. If this isn't on your local retail shelves already it should be within the coming days/weeks.

Machine Robo: MRR Rock Commander

Time time around we'll take a look at a toy that is even new to me, the Rock Commander vehicle from the Machine Robo line. First off you may recognize this vehicle as the Stone Wing from the Rock Lords line. As you may or may not know, Tonka Toys brought this sub line from Bandai's Machine Robo over to the U.S. and branded it as Rock Lords...which was a sub line of sorts of Go-Bots. So give me a few minutes of your time and we'll take a look at this toy together.

The toy comes packaged in the same style as the rest of the "Rock Lords". The front of the package depicts both modes while the back shows almost a blue print like diagram of the toy. Since all the language is printed in Japanese I can't read anything, but it looks as if the back of the box is pointing out unique features of the vehicle.

This is the top of the box. I love how it shows a step by step transformation of the vehicle from ground based to fighter jet. I was lucky that all the vibrant colors on the box were not faded as the packaging presentation is very beautiful.

 

I have to admit that the ground mode of the vehicle is very odd looking. I'm guessing the best way to describe it is call it how I see it. It looks like a large rock shaped dune buggy. I'm not a fan of this mode at all, but it does have some redeeming qualities. First off the swirl in the plastic is beautiful. I don't recall seeing this much swirl in the plastic used on the Rock Lord action figures themselves. The main color is brown, but you can see shades of red and gold swirled in. There is a bit of chrome plating used as well. The exhaust intakes on the sides of the nose are a bright silver while the seat in the cockpit is a bright gold. The roll bars around the cockpit are painted a duller gold color. The other chrome used is for the wheels as they are a bright gold as well. Usually with older toys it is quite common to see chrome plating flaking off or it has a real dull sheen (common w/ the Rock Lord figures Nuggit or Slimestone). I have to say however my specimen does not appear to suffer from this. Either the toy was not played with much by the original owner or this thing was built better than I expected. The vehicle measures 10 inches long. All 4 wheels roll freely and the way the toy transforms it gives the suspension a little play in how low or high the toy can ride above the wheels. Not sure if this was intentional, but it makes sense when you stop to think this vehicle may be traversing rather rocky terrain.

Now this is what I'm talking about! I love this mode. This is why you should buy this toy if you are fan of the series. Yeah sure, it still looks like a rock just with wings. Pictures just can't do this toy justice. First let me describe the super simple transformation process. From the ground mode, you simply pull down on the wheel assembly and rotate it 90 degrees. Along each side of the nose are the wings that fold out and back into place. The tips of the wings are articulated if you so choose to pose them. Take the silver canister on each side of the cockpit and fold down onto the top of the wings. Then take each wheel and fold them up further, connecting the tabs on each end of the canister to the back side of the wheel. There is a panel in the back of the jet that when folded out turns into a rear mounted twin gun. You can also press down on the small gray gun on the nose of the vehicle to activate it's battering ram. In this mode the vehicle has a wingspan of approximately 10 1/2 inches! I forgot to fold down the landing gear in this mode before taking the pictures. Underneath the nose and each wing is retractable landing gear with free rolling wheels.

The cockpit is rather roomy and large, but of all the Rock Lord figures I own only a few would actually fit and look good in the vehicle. You'll notice on the packaging it depicts Boulder as piloting the vehicle so he was the first figure I grabbed to stick in the cockpit. I was a little surprised to see how odd he looked in the vehicle. Because that particular toy's legs don't fold forward into a sitting form the figure was basically standing in the seat! After taking a second look at the box I figured out how they got Boulder in the seat...they basically half transformed him! (see my pic above). I thought this was rather lame on Bandai's behalf that you couldn't put the action figure in robot form in the cockpit. Almost all of the Rock Lord's designs don't allow the figure to sit so this is a major design flaw in my eyes.

I started to think about Tonka's version of this toy and I remembered that the packaging depicted this as Magmar's vehicle and the action figure was used prominently all over. I'm wondering if this move was made because Magmar could actually sit in the vehicle? I have no idea why the vehicle basically switched factions when it came from over seas, but it does seem to blend in better with Magmar as it's pilot.

In closing I have to say I was rather pleased with this toy. Not only did I get the awesome Japanese Machine Robo packaging, but my specimen seems brand new. All the pieces are super tight and there is no apparent wear to any of the chrome. I should add too that this vehicle is surprisingly heavy. The majority of the suspension underneath is composed of die-cast metal. I guess that should not surprise me too much as a lot of toys from the 80's used die-cast metal, but it's a nice touch and seems to hold this vehicle together really well. I don't own the Rock Lords Stong Wing version of the vehicle so I'm not able to compare the two, but from the photos I've seen the two toys seem to be identical. Is this worth your money you ask? I say yes for the jet mode alone. As far as the Machine Robo line goes this is the only vehicle released. Tonka did release one more vehicle for the U.S. line of Rock Lords called the Rock Pot, but it looks cheaply made when compared to this toy. No matter which version of the toy you track down I don't think you'll be disappointed. If only this line had lasted a little longer I believe we would have seen more toys and vehicles built as well as the Rock Commander.

Transformers Henkei! / Gentei!: Ghost Starscream

QUICK INFO:
Name: Ghost Starscream
Line: Transformers Henkei! (Japan)
Company: Takara Tomy
Year: November 2009
Price: $79.00 USD & up
Info: Transformers Generations 2009, Vol. 2 mail-away exclusive

Today we have the latest mail-away exclusive from the 2nd volume of the Transformers Generations book. In order to obtain this toy in Japan you had to buy the book and fill out an included order form to send away. If you didn't live in Japan you had to go through a 2nd party re-seller and it wasn't cheap as I've seen it being offer for as much as $120.00 USD! Is it worth your hard earned money? Hard for me to say, but let's take a look at one of the most iconic Generation One characters, Starscream.

Starscream comes packaged in the standard Henkei! style blister card, however as you can see the package is done in blue monochrome. I was a little surprised to see that the image used of Starscream is actually the translucent version and not simply a monochromed shot of the regular toy. The included tech spec trading card features the same product shot as the front packaging, only a full body shot with the power ratings on the reverse side.

I normally don't care for translucent toys, Transformers or not. The use of the translucent plastic this time around makes sense though and it works really, really well. Ever since Megatron returned as Galvatron and obliterated Starscream in the classic cartoon fans have wanted a ghost version of Starscream in toy form. Granted this is not the first version of Starscream in his ghost form (e-Hobby did a translucent version of the original G1 toy a few years back), this is argubaly the best version to date. I don't have many complaints about the toy in jet mode. I was a little disappointed that the Decepticon emblem is not tampographed on the underside of the wings. Small gripe granted, but it doesn't really take anything away from the rest of the toy.

The toy looks great under regular lighting, but it really shines (no pun intended) when exposed to natural light. I used a little sunlight in these pictures to show just how ghostly the figure can look. The only solid plastic used are the thighs and the silver chrome around the tips of his missile launchers. The rest of the body is fully translucent, even his head!

Here is good comparison shot of the toy in natural light (sunlight) and regular lighting (florescent).

This toy is wonderfully done and would make a great addition to any Transformers Henkei! or Classics collection. Because of it's exclusive nature and price it isn't for everybody. If the price tag scares you away then I highly recommend you track down the regular Henkei! version of Starscream as you see in this last comparison picture. It is much more G1 accurate than Hasbro versions. A fellow collector friend of mine brought to my attention that this mold surprisingly doesn't appear to be suffering any mold degradation. Seeing how Takara Tomy has used this mold approx. 11 times (Classics, Henkei!, Botcon uses) prior to this release one would think the mold would start to show some signs of where. All the joints are very tight which is really nice since there are a lot of points of articulation in the figure. Of the 4 Gentei! figures released thus far (the other 3 being Mirage, Wildrider, Strafe) I have to say Starscream is tied for being my favorite. Takara Tomy hit a home run with this release and I can see it being very popular with the fandom for years to come.