My collecting habits dictate that I needed to buy him, I buy every character now just in case they turn up in something I see, but in this case, I'd already seen him so it was a done deal. I found somebody selling the boxset on eBay, which to be honest, I've already got the 2 captains and there are that many Captain America's already out there that you probably couldn't even give him away, but I went for it. It arrived today and the quality's not great, the paint is a bit sloppy and the figures feel like cheaper plastic. Red Guardian's shield is pretty bent and there's actually mold flash on his arm, which is something I've never experienced in Marvel Universe. Anyway, I kind of like the idea of having a Russian team to go alongside Alpha Flight and Excalibur (and I guess the Avengers, who are pretty much international but based in the US).
I will look into getting a bear figurine to be Ursa Major so I can display them as a proper team.
I've been catching up on all three Marvel cartoons on at the moment, Ultimate Spider-Man, Agents of Smash and obviously Avengers Assemble. I think the thing that all Marvel cartoons have in common is they turn the most popular characters into leaders (Spider-Man and Hulk). I mean, Hulk, really?! Also, it's funny, they seem to use all of the Fantastic 4's villains without actually featuring them. (They do have good villains.)
I quite enjoy Spider-Man, the finale with the Grandmaster and Collector was a nice throw back to the Beyonder (secret wars) episodes of the 90's cartoon. I'm not sure whether that was intentional. I find myself missing the classic incarnations of the villains, but I guess the world has to move on. I do like the cameos from the wider Marvel universe such as the Howling Commandos.
Avengers is kinda okay, though I much prefer Earth's Mightiest Heroes. The main cast in Avengers Assemble are less rounded, Thor seems a bit brainless, Iron Man is more reckless (what was that stuff with Arsenal?!), Hulk collects glass figurines. Hawkeye seems like he's trying too hard to be funny. I like Red Skull, Dracula and Modok as villains, but similarly, their motivations are just a bit less interesting. Also, I don't understand why Namor doesn't turn up given that Attuma features so much. Namor has been criminally neglected for too long!
Agents of Smash has it's good moments, but the characters are so one dimensional, since when does Hulk give motivational talks?! It's a little preachy, but then, hey, it's meant for kids, not me! It's also the show that's trying the hardest to be funny (and streetwise/cool) which can be quite annoying.
Overall, the episodes in all three series are quite stand alone (there are some multi-part episodes), but really there's not an over-arching story connecting the series together, the characters don't really evolve. I think I'm probably giving the 90's and 2000's series a bit too much credit, but I enjoyed them a lot more. If they do another X-men series then I'll definitely watch that, but otherwise I think the end of the current seasons will be the jumping off point for me with Marvel cartoons. Though with the MCU in full swing, maybe that's not such a bad thing as that's the media that's actually aimed a bit more at me.
I decided to open my 3.75" Black series Luke Skywalker (Vader will now be able to stop fighting Mace Windu!). Pretty solid figure, the legs could do with a bit more range though (I tried to replicate the Empire Strikes Back classic shot). I've opted for the Bespin Luke as he doesn't face off against Vader in his New Hope outfit, and I plan to display the Emperor (when I get him) with Yoda so the ROTJ Jedi look didn't really work for me. I'm not a die-hard Star Wars fan so I'm not worried about the fact he's not wearing a shirt over his vest like he should be.
I've also opened Generations Waspinator, it was a bit fiddly to get him to tab together properly, but not in an annoying way, I really like him and I think it's almost impossible not to talk to yourself in a Wazzzzpinator voice as you do so. There were no signs of any stress marks that some people got, but I think he's from one of the later runs. The Generations Beast Wars figures have all been absolutely brilliant, I really hope they can do a few more after Combiner Wars (20th anniversary?). Speaking of which, Takara have announced/leaked that they are doing a release of Blackarachnia which is a remold of the Animated figure. Sweet!
My villains collection has had a new addition: Hiya Lurker Alien. It comes with a few accessories including a stand, egg, facehugger and some extra hands. I'm very happy with it, I think the main complaint would be that it costs a bit extra than most 3.75" figures, but given the quality and the fact that I was never likely to find it in a store, I'm not worried.
I have a few Marvel Universe customs lined up for which I've already bought the base figures. It then occurred to me, once I've completed them the only figures I'll really want would be Pyro, Avalanche and Toad. Then it occurred to me to think about how I would make them if I was so inclined. This started me down a very dangerous route of which other characters I would like and how I'd make them. I then scrolled down the Marvel Legends page on Wiki and added some more characters. I then thought about even more characters who would fill out the roster for a team (Shaman on Alpha Flight, Darkstar on the Winter Guard, Frankenstein for the Howling Commandos).
So I'm all set for about 25 odd customs now once SDCC is done! (I'll just hang on to make sure they're not getting official figures.) I've put in a large order on Chinabay for a load of figures to use, but have also started looking for some other figures to use for parts. One such figure is the Spider-Man 3 Green Goblin. Nice figure, but I won't reveal who I'm going to turn him into yet. Expect many customs over then next few months!
SDCC have revealed that the Marvel Legends exclusive will be Doctor Strange inspired. I'm pretty tempted by the Dormmamu, but think I'll go for a 3.75" custom initially.
In other SDCC news, Hasbro are doing a class of '85 Kreons set. I had a quick look on eBay for the prices for last year's set, and wow, could be a bit pricey trying to get hold of them (I only really want the Dinobots). Mind you, part of it might be that the announcement on this year's set has caused the price increase.
There has been confirmation that the UK isn't going to get the Generations Stunticons wave. I guess it was kind of obvious, but I quickly put in an order for them online. Bit of a shame as I was hoping to be able to get them all in person. What really pisses me off though is that they wait until most e-retailers have either sold out or charging more before it is announced. Just tell us! Communication on the subject would really help. Given that most stores still have the Aerialbots I can see why, though quite why they order so much I don't know. I wonder whether it's because UK stores just don't understand (or care) about the wave system, or whether it's Hasbro central screwing us over.
The Protectorbots are out in the UK now though I've only seen them in Forbidden Planet and so picked up First Aid, he's a nice little figure with another superb head sculpt. I've decided to skip Rook since there seems to be a chance of getting a deluxe Groove, and if we don't, I've already got a spare limb in the shape of Alpha Bravo who soon won't have a space on the Aerialbot team. I'm assuming we will get the Rook mold as a Combaticon or Technobot (I'm hoping for good news from Botcon on that front, though they might hold it back for SDCC).
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Well, Masterpiece Ironhide has finally been shown off at the Tokyo toy show, I wasn't overly impressed on first sight, but after googling an image of his crotch area has confirmed for myself that the strange diamond shape is anime accurate! Ratchet of course won't be far behind so my 1984 lineup will soon be looking pretty good.
Thinking about the other figures that might be on their way, I think we'll get a new Megatron, Shockwave and Galvatron. I don't think there any other deceptions prominent enough to get their own mold. I also think we'll get Dirge, Ramjet and Thrust at some point because they're just too easy.
Autobot wise I think Takara will be doing their best to get the Porsche license to do Jazz, they could then do the easy Stepper repaint. I think we'll get Blaster and his cassettes because it's an easy (box), unlicensed (cheap) and popular character to do. With Twincast repaint naturally. I can see us getting God Ginrai as Japan likes their leaders ala Star Saber and the newly announced Optimus Primal. I think (hope) we'll get Victory Leo as well. After that I think it's hard to call, I reckon Sunstreaker because the licensed sports cars have done well, perhaps Hound because he's fairly popular. After that, well at 3 figures a year, that's 5 years. Then it's version 3 of Optimus Prime because it will have been 10 years since the last one, v3 will be electronic and will be operable from your tablet or computer. Oh yes, I have seen the future.
In other news there's been something called Botcon going on in 'Chicago'. Some interesting hints about Titan Wars, a remolded Metroplex as Fortress Maximus, as well as headmaster Astrotrain and Blaster. Fort Max makes sense, the other two seem a bit random. I'm not that attached to my Perfect Effect Fort Max that I wouldn't happily upgrade.
Bruticus was finally unveiled, a new mold for Brawl which looks good, remolds for Onslaught and Swindle which look solid, some strange colouring going on with Blast Off (who is actually Blast Off) and Vortex. I'm not really feeling the combined form of Bruticus, the colours seem off, especially with the attempt to be anime accurate with the Blast Off coloured chest. Hopefully the final product will be better, otherwise I might have to investigate the Takara option because the sculpts look solid. (Speaking of which I might have to keep an eye on their Devastator with fully elbowed individual bots, possibly to go with my Masterpiece stuff.)
So I think the highlight of the weekend for me has been the announcement and showing off of Sky Lynx! Really wasn't expecting them to do him, he looks great so will look forward to getting him next year. Possibly a bit small compared to Mastermind's Predaking, but with space at a premium I can't complain.
It seems that Play with this too are gearing up for another Kickstarter, this time leading with Grimlock and Starscream, who seem pretty solid. I hope they can do it this time. I recently picked up legends (Universe) Starscream and Jazz to go with my Classics Grimlock and iGear Bumblebee so I'm planning to display them all together, hopefully PWTT will do a Jazz and Bumblebee eventually as well.
I've had some fun and games trying to obtain my wave 2 combiner wars deluxes from my neighbour who signed for it, I've finally got them in hand. I opened Air Raid first so I can finally complete Superion.
I love the simplicity of the figures so far, posable robot mode, solid vehicle mode, plus they form a combiner. Brilliant, and I really like the posable wings on him. When I started collecting I bought a job lot of KO combiners, I think these new figures actually make up for the joint disappointment of the crappy KO quality, plus the realities of G1 figures compared to the cartoon. I really like the Energon Superion, but it's not G1 Superion. This is. I am very tempted to display all of the combiner wars figures individually I like them so much.
I later opened Breakdown, whom I had heard wasn't as good as Dead End. I think robot and car wise I really like him (I'm a sucker for Lamborghinis). The transformation should have been good, but the tabs were a bit iffy, I don't think that's the case across the board, but it took the gloss off an otherwise nice figure.
I found wave 2 of Marvel Infinite, picked up Vulture and Shanna. Not much to say, glad to have Vulture, he pretty much rounds out my important Spider-Man villains (I'll still gladly get Chameleon though). Shanna will go well with my Zabu (a repurposed wildlife figure) and custom Ka-Zar when he's done (he needs a loincloth!).
I found and bought my first ever toys at Tesco today: Streetwise and Blades. I've got all of the deluxe Protectorbots I want! If it wasn't for the crap with the Stunticons I'd say I was quite impressed with Hasbro UK getting waves 1 and 3 out in such good time. Streetwise has the same transformation as Wildrider obviously, but I like the distinctive headsculpt, I've held off opening Blades just yet. I've now got 12 combiner wars deluxes and 2 voyagers, Motormaster or Hot Spot where are you?!
SDCC and TFCon next month, come on Technobots! Hopefully I'll also find out that some of my Marvel Universe customs are not needed.
