Charticon Exclusive Baleful Head Upgrade

The final Charticon exclusive I want to cover was one that almost didn't happen at all. Originally I wanted to do something special for the wonderful committee of people I had working on the convention with me. Eventually I decided a "staff exclusive" head upgrade might be a good idea and I was originally going to keep it a surprise for everyone. But obviously that didn't pan out as I expected.

Charticon Exclusive Snipenose

Here we are still riding the Charticon Train. The next figure in our exclusive line-up was the custom class Snipenose figure. After we had decided to homage Quake with Warpath we thought it might be a good idea to give him a companion in the form of Needlenose. With Needlenose's recent resurgence in popularity in the RID comic, this seemed like another one of those no-brainers.

Charticon Aftershock, A Personal Look

Let me preface this by saying I know Flywheels is planning on doing a review of this figure if he hasn't already. Because I don't want to go over the exact same things I decided to make this post about my personal experience in creating this figure over the past ten months. This thing has been my "baby" and I am very proud to have such a nice finished product.

It is hard to even know where to start. When we first set up the idea of this convention there was no doubt in my mind that we were going to do an exclusive. And because I am very passionate about transformer toys in general, I decided I wanted to do an exclusive that would exceed all expectations, something that would literally be the best of the best. Did I achieve that?

Art Feather Bumblebee

Okay, so I had to at least get to this guy. I first found out about this figure on the TFW boards about eight months ago, but I must not have read everything carefully enough because I originally thought this was a kit that you could modify on to your existing Classics Bumblebee. So imagine my surprise when I receive the figure fully finished and packaged. I was all ready to make it an afternoon project, but I'm not complaining!

Toyworld Hegemon in all his Megatron-y goodness

Due to his unique nature Generation 1 Megatron is very difficult to update. I mean, he turns from the leader of the Decepticons into a handheld gun, which honestly seems kinda stupid. But ever since Generation 2, Megatron has always taken another form whether that be a tank, jet, or tanker truck. Everyone can agree that Optimus Prime has always been and will always be a semi-truck of some sort. But with Megatron it is a different story, no one can really agree on what exactly he should transform into. This also has really affected the G1 updates we have received in the past. The closest we ever got to an actual G1 Megatron was the Nerf-inspired classics Megatron which was a bit of a disappointment, but hey we take what we can get.

Third Party Minibots - Brilliance in the Making

Anyone who has been collecting Classics figures knows we need more minibots, Hasbro just hasn't delivered the goods in this department. For those not in the know the minibots were small basic figures that were easy to transform released during the original Generation One run. Despite this they included some of the most important characters in the franchise including Brawn, Cliffjumper and Bumblebee. If there was ever an opportunity for Third-Party companies to fill an opening it is this one. And so far Maketoys and IGear have delivered nicely even if there is a bit of overlap.

In honor of Botcon: Action Master Thundercracker

Since Botcon is being held in Dallas this week I thought it would only be appropriate to do a post about a G1 figure that received an update from the Botcon folks last year. Of course I am talking about Action Master Thundercracker. Like so many other things at Botcon, AM Thundercracker has a complicated history that only the most fervent fans tend to appreciate, but I'll do my best to iron it all out.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Mostly Transformers!

A very Happy St. Patrick's Day to you and yours! Don't forget to wear your green!

Transformers Prime....uh Prime.

What a stupid name for a series, I don't even really understand the rationale behind it. I mean, Prime is probably the least featured Autobot in the show thus far, everyone else has gotten a lot more screen time and characterization. But I digress.

So apparently Optimus here never came out in the U.S. I had to get mine from a seller in Canada due to the whole First Edition debacle, along with pretty much every other First Edition toy. Although I got Bulkhead from a seller in Singapore. I've had such a hard time attempting to wrap my head around why Hasbro would go to the trouble of designing an entire line of figures and then scrapping those figures after one run and releasing another set of (some say inferior) molds of the exact same characters! Then a friend of mine pointed out that due to the rising costs of petroleum in the world market Hasbro may have decided that it would be too expensive to continue to produce the 'First Edition' line of figures since they are more complex and from what I have heard slightly larger. Hasbro may have already had the first run of these figures in the works by the time they made this decision so they decided to release them as First Edition only and they would use the less expensive molds for the mainline. Unfortunately this theory fits all the known facts and if it proves to be true, some of the First Edition figures could end up being some of the rarest figures that have had a semi-mass release. Three figures, Bumblebee, Starscream and Arcee, were released in the U.S. and were pretty easy to come by around the holidays but have since disappeared. The other figures in the First Edition: Optimus, Bulkhead, and Cliffjumper only saw release internationally. The two remaining figures: Vehicon and Zombie Cliffjumper have not even seen a release yet and may never reach any market. Only time will tell.

The gun is just an add-on and doesn't fit into the figure anywhere which is just fine with me.

The same goes for the sword which is super bendy and flexible.

The truck mode is very impressive, the arms fold up in a very unique way.

At any rate, from what I hear the First Edition Optimus is superior to the general release version that is coming later in the year. I don't have them both to compare side by side, but I can say Optimus is a very sold figure by himself and fits the animation model quite well. He also scales well with Bumblebee and to some extent Arcee. Since he is the first Voyager class Optimus I have purchased in a while I thought I would show him with the last Voyager class Optimus I purchased...back in 2006.

Pretty much the same size figure.

I feel pretty lucky to have gotten this guy at a good price, eBay just about exploded the day after the First Edition cancellation announcement was made. Although I am hoping this figure does see a wider release so more people can get their hands on it since it is a very faithful and fun interpretation of the character.

Reprolabels makes G2 come alive!

If there is one thing G2 is not about it is subtlety. It seems like the entire line was devoted to garish colors, odd decorations and down right blatant pronouncements ("Megatron Rules!" comes to mind). However it is this 'extreme' take on Transformers (which was present in many early '90's properties) which makes me enjoy them even more. So when I found out about some G2 Reprolabels for Classics figures I knew there was no way I wasn't going to get them.

Currently Reprolabels carries two G2 upgrade sets for Autobots: Jazz and Volt. Jazz of course uses the recent Reveal the Shield mold of the same character. Volt uses the 2010 Revenge of the Fallen Hubcap figure as a base. Fortunately I already owned Hubcap due to his innate similarity with Volt but I had to purchase another RTS Jazz since I only owned one. Usually Reprolabels makes things pretty easy for their customers; you remove old stickers and apply new ones. Except in this case due to the nature of the difference in the designs I had to remove most of the paint off RTS Jazz with rubbing alcohol. This was my first experience removing paint from a Transformer and although daunting at the beginning I was pretty happy with how he came out.

Before...

...and After

My vintage G2 Jazz is looking pretty weary these days.

The new stickers do a great job invoking that G2 feel.

I'm not as satisfied with Volt, but overall he doesn't look bad.

I never realized how small the laser rods actually were.

I'm always on the lookout for new figures that could be converted to Neo-G2 figures, especially after the Botcon 2010 set. I only have one other right now which is Mindset, so I am hoping for an upgrade to make him look a little less movie-ish.

TFC Neckbreaker and Madblender, Hercules is complete!

It has been an exciting ride, and unexpectedly short! When we first learned of the release schedule for the six members of the Hercules combiner these final two figures weren't even due until March and April. So imagine my surprise when they showed up at my doorstep two months ahead of schedule. I really must commend TFC Toys for not only sticking to their schedule and releasing everything ahead of time, but for providing excellent customer service throughout this entire process. As many people know Heavy Labor's waist has a fatal flaw that eventually destroys the ratcheting mechanism inside. Neckbreaker comes with an entirely new waist for Heavy Labor since attempting to fix the existing one usually destroys part of the figure. In the same vein Heavy Labor came with a replacement shovel for Exgraver because there was also a fatal flaw in the original shovel which caused stress and eventual breakage. Throughout the entire process they have refined their methods and produced a very high quality product on par with any other official figures I own. I don't believe we'll ever see a better representation of Devestator in both the combined mode and individual robot modes. Hercules feels exactly what a modern Devestator should be, not that unholy monstrosity that came out of Revenge of the Fallen.

Neckbreaker and Madblender hold up amazingly well when compared to their original counterparts. Neckbreaker deviates from the design a little more, but appropriately. Madblender is almost a completely faithful homage to Mixmaster, except of course that his mixing barrel splits into eight pieces as mountable weapons.

I need to reprolabel my Bonecrusher, he's naked.

"SUPAH MODE!!"

I am also really pleased with the final Hercules combined mode. The figure is very stable, all the individual members connect very well, and there are no extra parts to keep track of (except maybe the hands). Although the figure can't be picked up by its head (a usual indicator of combiner strength), he is still very sturdy and holds up well with handling. He also has a wide range of motion and a lot of articulation which is something the original was sorely lacking. Finally, this guy is huge. Like bigger than Primus huge. I always found it odd that he was supposed to be the strongest and biggest combiner figure in G1, but his toy was most certainly the weakest. It falls apart if you look at it wrong. But this figure takes care of all that. He towers over every other classics figure, but still feels like he fits in. He is appropriately larger than Fansproject Bruticus and Superion.

His face also calls back to the original figure while still giving us a nice classics style update.

I really like the built in symmetry of this figure. Combiner figures by nature usually don't have a lot of symmetry due to being made up of different types of robots, but TFC did a nice job of making the forearms match each other bringing as well as appropriately weighting the figure with a large right shoulder to balance the crane of Dr. Crank. Of final note is Hercules' weapon. Each figure came with one small purple and red gun, all of which combine into a purple superblaster and a translucent red superblaster. I like the purple one myself so I'm using that one with my figure, but the 12 individual weapons allow for I don't know how many different combinations.

Old and New

I never really thought anyone could top Fansproject in terms of quality and execution, but due to figures with solid construction and ease of transformation, TFC has proved they are in it for the long run and are the new top dogs in my book.

TFC Hercules: Structor and Dr. Crank

I hope everyone had a good holiday these past few weeks, I've been out of town spending time with friends and family but it is always good to get back home for some more Transformerin'.

I ordered these guys a few months ago from Robot Kingdom overseas mostly due to them being such a good deal. RK's policy is to wait until all the items in your order have arrived before they ship; in other words they won't ship individual items unless you place individual orders. After I placed my order I realized I probably should have ordered them separately since I didn't want to wait on Dr. Crank to be released before I got Structor. Well fortunately they were released within a week of each other! So my Hercules count goes instantly doubles! Also the release of these two figures marks the first time fans can actually start assembling Hercules since they have all of the body (Heavy Labor and Dr. Crank) and at least one leg (Structor). I've seen a lot of people do this online and I've decided to wait until I receive the final two members before I assemble Hercules. I can remember doing a similar thing for Devestator when I was a child; I got all six members over the course of a couple of months but I didn't put them all together until I had every part. I just feel like the characters themselves wouldn't decide to combine until all members were present and who am I to tell them they are wrong?

At any rate, these are two great figures again from TFC Toys. Part of what I really like about these figures is the transformations feel very G1. They aren't too complex and transformation only takes a few seconds. I really feel like ease of transformation has taken a real backseat to complex transformation in modern toys. Sure, I like a challenge just as much as anyone (MPM Starscream and Leader Prime, I'm looking at you!) but it also becomes a chore if you just want to fiddle with your figures for a few minutes. TFC is bringing that simple feel back with Hercules. When all six figures are released it should only take 5 minutes or so to transform them all from one mode to the other and then to combine them into the gestalt.

So we are four down, two to go! C'mon Neckbreaker and Mad Blender!

Structor aka Scrapper

Nice details in vehicle mode

Dr. Crank aka Hook

This bad boy has one hell of a crane!

TFC Toys Heavy Labor...a sturdy Long Haul

Two down, four to go. Heavy Labor has arrived. I must say that after receiving Exgraver from TFC Toys I was not very impressed. The 'bot mode seemed spindly and the transformation clunky. However after opening and playing with Heavy Labor I am much more satisfied. This figure is very nicely constructed and gives me a lot more hope about Hercules (Devastator) than Exgraver did. Plus he is a lot more fun to play with. TFC seems to have refined their processes to produce a superior figure with Heavy Labor. I only hope this trend continues. I'm not sure who my second Constructicon was as a child, for all I know it could have been Long Haul (which would make this very appropriate) but again it may have been Hook. For some reason I can only remember getting Scavenger and none of the others. But I can also remember playing with all of them and I still have them all from my childhood so I know I got them somewhere! Anyway, this is the Long Haul for my grown-up inner child, if there is such a thing.

That is one big dump truck!

The robot modes match each other nicely. Good color combinations.

Vehicle modes

I imagine all of these figures in this set will be about the same size, as they should be. However it is too bad there isn't a way to make all of the vehicle modes in scale with each other and still make the robot modes the same size. Apparently when you do something like that you end up with this monstrosity.

Keep it up TFC, I am getting really excited about Hercules now!

Beast Wars Revisited: Part 4 of 5

I had the good fortune of obtaining some nice vintage Japanese Beast Wars last week so I thought I might be a good idea to do a mini-series on them. There is nothing really spectacular about any of these figures other than the fact they are different from their domestic release counterparts and thus interesting to me.

Part 4: Beast Wars Neo D-30 Saberback

Saberback is another one of those figures that I never really desired to own because I already had his mold as it was released in the Beast Machines Dinobot line, much like Archadis. Not to mention it was released two more times; once in the 2003 Universe line and again in the 2004 Armada: Dinobots line. So for the longest time I figured I really didn't need this guy. However when I discovered what a bargain he could be (probably due to so many domestic releases) I decided to go ahead and nab him.

And I am glad I did, the only real difference between him and prior releases is his color scheme and his 'Destron/Predacon' spark crystal which is not present in any of the other releases. But I like being able to bolster my Neo Destron troops some more. While this guy can be a bit of a pain to transform due to him being a 'shellformer'; he does have a very interesting robot mode that distinguishes him from most other Neo releases. His headdress, skull amulet, and loincloth all callback to Aztec or Central American designs which makes sense since he is an expert in black magic. It makes for a very cool looking toy which has been diminished due to multiple releases.

He also comes with this cool tail weapon that looks like a lotus of some sort

...Mysterious...

He's got a great alt mode with some nice paint apps!

All four releases together

Which one doesn't belong?