Transformer of the Day for November 30, 2009
METROPLEX
-Faction: Autobot
-Era: Armada-Energon-Cyberton (2002-2006)
-Function: Guardian
-Motto: “There is No Room in Justice for Vendettas“
-Notable Toy: Leader (Hasbro,2006)
Notes: Admittedly, this was going to be yet another Generation One entry, until I came up this incredible representation of the Cybertronian hero. It almost makes up for the fact that, for what is otherwise a fine Transformer robot, Metroplex is cursed with one of the ugliest alternate forms. Still, it would be nice nonetheless to see him redone in blue, given a Decepticon allegiance and debuted as Metrotitan.
Transformer of the Day for November 29, 2009
BATTLE GAIA
-Faction: Decepticon
-Era: Generation One (1984-1992)
-Function: Gestalt Attack Soldier
-Motto: “There is No Purpose But War“
-Notable Toy: Gestalt Set (Takara, 1992)
Notes: Battle Gaia has the almost singular distinction of being the only Destron released in Japan in the whole of 1992. Which makes you wonder if Japan has something in particular against villains. But I guess if you are only to release one villain, judging by the image to the left, Battle Gaia is the one to go with.
Transformer of the Day for November 28, 2009
HOT ZONE
-Faction: Autobot
-Era: Generation One (1984-1992)
-Function: Evacuation
-Motto: “Rust Never Sleeps and Neither Do I“
-Notable Toy: Titanium (Hasbro, 2009)
Notes: Hot Shot is an interesting case of how individual Transformers have evolved and changed. The G1 combiner leader of the Protectobots, Hot Spot was originally released in 1986 and subsequently re-released in Europe under the Classics header in 1991. Similiarly he was slightly re-imagined, in red as Fire Chief, leader of the Guard City team for the Japanese market. From here, he was originally intended to be part of the G2 line, but never made it to stores. A bit of a dryspell followed but, with the return of Classics and Universe, Hot Zone returned in Legend format with a number of other combiner leaders and in this form, a repaint of the Titanium version of Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime. Interestingly enough, he appears in a form remarkably similiar to another aborted attempt at reissue, the never-realized exclusive planned for the third “Official Transformers Collectors Convention” that was left on the drawing board with that organization’s loss of the license from Hasbro.
Transformer of the Day for November 27, 2009
RODIMUS
-Faction: Autobot
-Era: Shattered Verse (2008 - Present)
-Function: Warrior
-Motto: “To The Victor Go the Profits“
-Notable Toy: Botcon Exclusive (Hasbro, 2008)
Notes: Rodimus was one of the additonal add-ons available as part of the Shattered Glass storyline of Botcon 2008. The good news is that the-powers-that-be did a bang-up job of turning the eventual G1 hero into a selfish, power hungry seeker. The bad news is that Takara would use the same classics moulds (and would mirror Rodimus‘ colours) to create its exclusive, Wildrider, which kind of negates having both of them on the same shelf.
Transformer of the Day for November 26, 2009
WHIRL
-Faction: Autobot
-Era: Generation One (1984-1992)
-Function: Aerial Assault
-Motto: “If Used Logically, Madness Makes A Great Weapon“
-Notable Toy: Deluxe (Hasbro, 1985)
Notes: Like his partner, Roadbuster, Jetfire and the deluxe Insecticons, Whirl was a non-Takara edition to the Transformers, used to round out the ranks of the second year. And like those Transformers (save for the heavily modified Skyfire), he didn’t see action on the cartoon. But he seems like a logical counterpart to Shockwave, to say nothing of a shoo-in for the downhill events at the Cybertronian olympics.
(Apologies and thanks to bbts.com and shmax.com for the toy image.)
Transformer of the Day for November 25, 2009
NEEDLENOSE
-Faction: Decepticon (Targetmaster)
-Era: Generation One (1984-1992)
-Function: Aerial Warrior
-Motto: “Get Hip or Get Hit”
-Notable Toy: Deluxe (Hasbro, 1988)
Notes: As I talked about for Spinister, Needlenose was part of his year’s triad of villains. He didn’t get the airtime he might have warranted due to the absence of a North American cartoon, but that didn’t mean he didn’t make his presence known. Which, as you can see, frequently consisted of him getting beat on or running away, frequently in the company of Spinister. Maybe they shouldn’t hang out after all…
(Apologies and thanks to bbts.com and shmax.com for the toy image.)
Transformer of the Day for November 24, 2009
BRAVER
-Faction: Autobot (Brainmaster)
-Era: Generation One (1984-1992)
-Function: Strategic Knight
-Motto: “To Find the Perfect Strategy, You Have to Find the Perfect Calculation”
-Notable Toy: Gestalt Set (Takara, 1989)
Notes: Targetmasters, Headmasters, Power/Godmasters, Brainmasters? Yes, Takara decided to make the exposed brain the transformable partner, rather than the simply going with the entire head. And the three Brainmasters formed Road Caesar, whose a really top notch toy. But I gotta say, of the three Brainmasters, you really have to go with the “strategic knight.” I mean, it’s like modern warfare and chivery all at once.
(Apologies and thanks to bbts.com and shmax.com for the toy image.)
While it is entirely possible that Hasbro will get around to releasing the unreleased wave of Transformers Universe Robot Heroes (BM Optimus Primal and Jetstorm, RiD Optimus and RiD Megatron, Prowl and Laserbeak, and Victory Sabre and Deathsaurus), I am getting itchy. Particularly when they appear on eBay.
On the one hand, how can I not have them in my collection? And yet, do I want to pay the sky high prices for the prototypes of what may actually be eventual releases? I mean I was willing to pay in the $25 range for the Tigatron / Inferno and Predaking / Stepper two packs that have so far only appeared in Europe. But $25 is not the $132.50 paid for Laserbeak / Prowl. But what if they don’t get bid up? Can I really afford not to be involved in the process in case the final price was one that I was totally willing to pay?
With these mixed feelings, I have been doing a bit of defensive bidding when the two packs come up. Early this morning (4:00 a.m. to be exact), the auction for all four sets loose came to a close. I didn’t stay up until 4:00 a.m. to see them through but I put in some defensive bids (although admittedly they were high defensive bids).
The results? Well Prowl and Laserbeak were gone gone gone well before I started my bidding, already at $65 four hours before the auctions closed. So I put in $45-$50 bids on the other three. For some reason, $46.79 was enough to secure the winning bid on Star Sabre and Deathsaurus (so they are coming home soon), but I was narrowly outbid on the Primal and Jetstorm set ($46.61) and Optimus and Megatron set ($47.78). The only thing I can think of is that since the other two sets went to the same person, and the Star Sabre and Deathsaurus set was the middle auction of a string of three auctions in a one minute period, my competitor just could get his computer to turn back to this set in time to outbid me. Lucky me!
Yes, it’s more than I had hoped to get them for, but I have them and there is satisfaction in victory. There will be disappointment if I find them as peg warmers in TRU in 2010. But then I hope they do make it too, because they are such a fantastic wave.
Part four is a response to 21st century technology.
There was a nice little post all ready to go on the new computer, but it got lost in the reworking of a bunch of other posts (which happens sometimes when the website overwrites one post with another). Anyway, I’ve already talked about the new computer over at the other blog, and here it is, all shiny and out of box.
It’s fast and the screen is beautiful, but I am still migrating files from the portable drive onto the new harddrive, and I have yet to install a version of Photoshop because I don’t have one that is Windows 7 compliant. Which is causing grief for the TF of the Day work, but I hope to correct that soon.
Anyway, behold the box, set up on November 15th.
