Terrorcons

Tis the year of the Dinobots and barely a Predacon did growl. Apart from Feral Rex, quite loudly in fact. Thanks to Transformers 4, Grimlock and the Dinobots have had more toys than ever before; there seems to be a strategic move on Hasbro's part to establish Grimlock as a top tier character, so he'll be in the new RID series and even in Angry Birds; technically birds are dinosaurs so I suppose that makes sense.

This all makes for bumper pickings for my Grimlock collection. I'm not sure about the Green Grimlock that's been shown at NYCC, but maybe it's a G2 homage, or even the previous RID. Actually, that would make quite a lot of sense. If I can buy it in store then I'll pick it up.

Loyal subjects have shown off the entirety of their Wave 3 and it contains Sludge. In addition to Swoop. This makes me very happy, and so I performed a happy dance on the spot upon spotting the character (Sludge) in the new photos. A complete set of dinobots is a rare thing indeed, particularly in the UK where later waves never see the light of day....

Speaking of NYCC, it's good to see pictures of the next wave of Marvel Infinite. I'm not sure about the use of Absorbing Man's legs for Doc Ock, but at least it's the classic version of the character, and similarly with Vulture. I'm surprised they waited so long to get a second use out of Falcon's wings. Shanna looks okay, I'm really hoping for some decent dinos from the Jurassic Park line next year to go with and hopefully Ka-Zar won't be far behind. A 3.75" scaled T-Rex would serve a dual purpose - going nicely with my Grimlock and Marvel collections.

There wasn't much new stuff revealed at TFCon Chicago, although I was rather intrigued by the stuff from 'Play with this too', 6" figures based on Pretender shells - the Skullgrin and Bombburst looked pretty good and the Grimlock could also grab my fancy. Skullgrin and Bombburst would both go in my Masterforce display, hopefully they'd do the other the one as well, y'know, the other one...... One google seach later: Submarauder, that's the fishy fella. I want one of him too.

I had the realisation/observation that the Dracula in the new Untold film is visually pretty close to the Marvel version, I also found out that they're planning a franchise much like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which if they did a 3.75" toy line could all work out rather sweetly for a Nick Fury's Howling Commandos display.

Thinking about the MCU, it just seems to go from strength to strength: Agent Carter and Daredevil TV series, Ant-Man and Doctor Strange films, possibility of Spider-Man being incorporated. Everything being linked together really appeals to me, just need to get those X-Men and Fantastic 4 back (although it seems that the X-Men films are getting back on track now).

I haven't bought much this month, or in fact opened much of the unopened stuff I've already got, one thing I did pick up though was the AOE Prime Evolutions 2 pack which made an appearance at TRU. I've been following the FansProject Classics Prime upgrade (hoping there will be an additional apex armour upgrade component), so well worth picking up an additional version of that figure whilst I had the chance. It's better than the original Classics version I've still got so even if the FP thing never happens (no mention from TFCon), it's no great loss.

One thing I did open was Marvel Infinite Death's Head; a slight remold of Colossus, he comes with a good selection of accessories which fit nicely on to his back (attached to the shield). In anticipation of getting this figure I bought a 3.75" scaled Tardis a while back (I didn't really need an excuse) and now am going to display him with my 1986 era Classics Transformers.

I also opened FansProject's Columpio  - Sludge; mine seems to have perfectly acceptable joints with nothing missing, not sure whether that was just luck. I think the figure is great; the dinosaur head in particular is very nicely sculpted, and the neck is posable. I think the tail is a bit short and it's not movable, but I guess this is so that it can be folded away into the robot mode legs as part of the transformation. I'm not sure which mode I'm going to display him in yet although for space reasons it might have to be robot. I'm looking forward to getting Slag soon.

I also opened Generations Swerve, nice little figure, I've also bought Gears, looks like we're getting Brawn from the same mold. I wonder about Outback?

I've been looking at Transformers and toy fan sites for a good few years now; I listen to podcasts -Seibertron and TFW's for instance. But I've never really looked at stuff on YouTube, however, a chance comment on a thread about a video review caused me to and go and watch it, and it's gone from there; there's a whole universe of fan made media which I've never really paid much attention to. There's one guy doing video reviews who spookily really reminds me of myself, he has a similar way of talking and obviously similar interests. One thing I came across was a review of the various Marvel films by ralphthemoviemaker (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvJLOFhmogw), well worth a watch!

It's time to whiz back in time again, this time to 2011.......... I remember 2011 Toy Fair and SDCC very fondly; the Marvel Universe reveals were particularly good that year, and although we never got Fin Fang Foom, the Legends version is a more than acceptable stand in.

My custom Metroplex that I was working on has been well superseded by the Generations version so I decided to revert mine back to the classic G1 look; I gave him the 'upgrade' stickers from Reprolabels and so now display him with my WST. I can highly recommend the upgrade if you want something to display with your smaller figures.

In 2011, I promised pictures of my custom Terrorcons in several years, and whilst it's possible it may have ever so slightly have slipped my mind, here goes:

I bought a set of crappy KO Terrorcons a good few years ago, they were the ones where the colours were swapped around a bit. I originally gave them to a mate, but in 2011 he gave them back to me (sans Hun-Grrr), so I thought it might be cool to upgrade them with balljoints and some replacement limbs. I had the aim of making them actually a bit a terrifying. I used Energon Terrorcons for Rippersnapper and Sinnertwin, and then Cybertron Brimstone parts for Cutthroat and Blot.

I think Rippersnapper worked out the best but I'm pretty happy with them all. They all still transform, just with a bit more kibble!

2x1 Lego Tiles

At some point in the IDW comics Bumblebee became the leader of the Autobots, as part of this (or maybe because he died beforehand and got rebuilt, I can't really remember) he got a new body which was heavily based upon his movie appearance. The thing I don't like about the movie designs is that they all seem to have bits of car pointing in random directions (it's like 2007 all over again isn't?!). So this new Bumblebee has a movie inspired look which features bits of bonnet pointing diagonally upwards.

Bumblebee then got a new Generations figure based on this new design, I have a Classics collection 'rule' of one figure per character, so I shrugged my shoulders, looked over at my iGear VW legends Bumblebee, nodded approvingly and carried on with my day. Bumblebee then gets a redeco as Goldbug, again, I give iGear Bumblebee the nod and carry on with my day.

Nightbeat is one the few characters who alongside the likes of Bludgeon and Thunderwing, was a popular character due to the Marvel comic, despite not being in the cartoon. I can't remember whether I was aware of him when he was originally released, probably not, but somehow he feels important. He got his own Spotlight so he must be important, and what's more, he's a detective, with a trench coat. A bit like the Turtles Raphael and the Fantastic 4 member Thing. He is also clearly a master of disguise..........

Rumours started that Nightbeat was going to get a figure as a repaint of Generations Jazz, I think there might have been a listing as such. Nightbeat is a Porsche, Jazz is a Porsche; clearly Hasbro has done this repaint thing before. Jazz is an awesome figure with bits of car pointing in acceptable and certifiably G1 directions. But then........... official pictures arrived, and he's a repaint of Bumblebee with the shoulders at funny angles. But, give Bumblebee a different colour scheme and a really good head sculpt and suddenly, the shoulders can point in whatever damn direction they want. We have a winner, Mr Nightbeat, come on down! And feel free to give Bumblebee a kick on the way.

So I think I might get Nightbeat. What I might also get is the Million Publishing repaint of the Nightbeat remold, GoShooter. If I can afford him that is, but he also has me abandoning my long held beliefs on shoulder orientation. The other Million Publishing figure, Shouki (a repaint of Astrotrain) also has shoulders pointing slightly diagonally which I have never objected to. I like the figure, I like the Trainbots, but it seems a bit pointless having one Trainbot, especially when they never got any character development in the cartoon, unlike say, Leozack. One hundred-odd dollars seems a bit much for pointless. Still, pretty pictures of them both.

I like Reprolabels; several of my more tatty G1 figures have been tarted up nicely with a new set of labels. They might be slightly yellowed with missing accessories and loose joints, but at least their insignia is bright and true. I also like what Reprolabels do for Classics figures, adding in details that were on the original G1, but missing from the new version. Particularly with third party figures it can help give my figures a joint sense of identity. Also, it often makes them more shiny where chrome has been woefully neglected.

I am particularly interested in one of their new releases, a set of stickers to turn 2x1 flat lego tiles into the G1 cassettes. They have done a stunning job in making stickers of just about every cassette ever envisioned. I have to applaud Reprolabels for such a simple and ingenious idea. They are suggesting it as being part of Classics, but I think they will fit in nicely with Kreons; you could have Soundwave with a cassette in each hand for instance. I think I will just create the original twelve cassettes that appeared in the cartoon and display them with my Grimlock and Predacon Kreons.

Speaking of which, I built my Grimlock Unleashed Kreo set recently. They seem to have given up on the 2 in 1 build thing and just concentrated on the one mode. Similarly to the original larger Kreo sets, he utilises several ball joints which works pretty well. Hasbro aren't quite ready to challenge Lego with their builds just yet though. Still, I enjoyed it, and my Grimlock collection has increased in size, variety and interest. A robot dinosaur made from bricks is fun! Dinosaur + (Small) Robot + Sword = Win. I hope we get the remaining Dinobots as Kreons soon.

I picked up another Kreo Prime set, there's tonnes of the bloody things sitting in TRU and I feel I should do my bit to help shift them, but frankly, at the the price they're offering them at, they're not going to go quickly. I'm not sure they could even give them away really. I bought it primarily to make the trailer on the Prime I already have longer by an extra section. It's supposed to be an American truck; one thing I know about American trucks (and in fact any American vehicle) is they're supposed to be big, not stumpy (or munky). I'll donate the extra cab/robot section I have to charity which will be a test of whether you can actually give them away. If you're wondering why size is so important it's because I intend to use it as a platform to display my Lego minifigs.

Whilst at TRU I also got the Strafe then and now set, which is retailing at exactly the same price as the regular deluxes, so you effectively get a free minicon; if I didn't already have it I'd be rather happy. I'm not sure whether we're going to see Wave 2, let alone Wave 3, so this might be the only way to get him. I'm in it for the long haul though, and I reckon we might see them at discount stores if TRU don't do the business, and given how much stuff they've got lying around from the last couple of years, I don't think they will. Strafe is a nice enough figure; not sure why he's double headed, symmetry I suppose, but they could have just had the head split in two if that was so important. Some wrist swivels would have been good, but he has a nice colour scheme and I like displaying him in robot mode with his wings out for a rather dynamic look. Dinosaur + Robot + Swords = Win.

My big purchases this month were the Divebomb and Rampage figures to complete Feral Rex, sadly they will be sitting in my pile of loot for a little while yet, but the pictures I've seen of completed Rexes look solid and imposing to say the least. I've got Leo Dux in hand, but haven't opened him yet. I could put together an armless Rex I suppose. I love what Mastermind Creations have done with Sixshot and Predaking, and am really looking forward to their Overlord. Mastermind Creations' figures tend to be on the larger size, luckily they create figures of characters I like, and so am happy to have in a larger size, I wouldn't want a movie inspired Bumblebee with weird shoulders towering over everyone else for instance.

Looking over my posts from 2010 (as part of my ongoing celebration of five years of self-indulgent rambling), we have got pretty much every figure I wanted, yay. The other thing that stands out to me is my enthusiasm for larger figures: Galactus and Unicron for instance. They are just great centre pieces for a display, surrounded by smaller figures so they really stand out as something special.