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Silverbolt
Universe 2.0

February 16, 2011: 17th in a series
Toy Line: Transformers
Region, Year: North America, 2008
Essential Weblink: http://www.tfu.info/2008/Autobot/TFUSilverbolt/silverbolt.htm

The Rundown: Silverbolt rounds out the first (and only) three unique Voyager molds for Universe 2.0.  There is very little difference between his North American and his Japanese release, other than shading - North American Silverbolt is slightly grey; Japanese Silverbolt is all white. I wonder what effect that will have on the toy in terms of plastic discolouration for years to come?

Powerglide Hothouse
Universe 2.0

February 15, 2011: 16th in a series
Toy Line: Transformers: Universe
Region, Year: North America, 2008
Essential Weblink:

The Rundown: The second of three Voyager-scale Universe figures, Powerglide is an example of getting a good thing wrong. Here is a perfect toy mold, one that is both modern and reminiscent of the original toy mold, with all kinds of swell extras like lights, sounds, and hidden hearts. And they get the colour wrong, wrong, wrong! It’s almost like they ran out of red crayon after the head and had to leave the page unfinished.

It was little wonder then that Takara-Tomy’s release was so radically different. Even Hasbro acknowledged its mistake in a fashion. When it lent the three Universe molds (Onslaught, Powerglide, and Silverbolt) to a K-Mart exclusive release, Powerglide was the only one of the three that was not given a new identity with the redeco. They simply put him right by making him red.

What was sad about the whole exercise is that Powerglide was screaming out for a white repaint as the old Micromaster Hothouse, something the gang at reprolabels.com were able to facilitate (and thus save poor Powerglide version 1.0) with a few inexpensive stickers. As you can see from my version, comfortably sitting on a stove burner, it’s the route I took.

Okay, the Mattel stuff is starting to come up onto the shelves so I’m putting together another Toyfare post:

DCUC

• Okay, DCUC is the greatest collection of DC super heroes (or any heroes for that matter) since the Super Powers Collections. That said, here’s hoping they can finally get some of the quality control issues dealt with (and maybe put some more “meat” on their female figures).
• Last year it was announced we could expect a 10 piece Legion of Super Heroes package (sadly with only Saturn Girl for women characters). Sunfire is the best of what is going to be awesome set!
• The Crime Syndicate looks like another great set, even if it means getting a second (albeit modified) version of Ultra Man for those who picked up two pack with Alexander Luthor. But it does means another Power Ring for the collection. Sweet!
• Other notable figures? Mr. Freeze (referenced earlier), the White Lantern Hal Jordan and Orange Lantern Lex Luthor. And Black Vulcan and Samarai! Now if only there was a better picture of Catman…

Green Lantern

• The only surprise about Green Lantern is the relatively limited numbers of figures that are coming. In the movie-style that is. Given some of the designs, that might be a good thing.
• However, there is a better Kilowag, even if the Guardians still looks stuck in the 1970s. And thankfully more DCUC-style Lanterns, even if they have pretty much already been revealed.
• And because it is Mattel, there is even a Barbie as Carol Ferris. I wonder if her Star Sapphire costume is included. Dear God, do not let Ken be Hal Jordan!
• However, Mattel can do no wrong after this - original costume Kyle, Sinestro Corp Sinestro, Guy Gardner and John Stewart, Mego Style!

Other Figures

• How unexpected is it to find a 12″ Movie Luthor (looking more Kevin Spacey than Gene Hackman actually) to go with the already available 12″ Zod?
• Young Justice looks like it is going to be an interesting line. From the Speedy package, catching the figures to build a Hall of Justice might just be in order. But if Black Canary is any indication, the articulation is not going to be great. Also, while it makes sense, it’s so strange to see Arthur Curry with barefeet.
• It is astonishing to me that Mattel continues to keep the JLU alive for collectors. I am sure it has a lot to do with price point and the ease in changing characters, but if only Hasbro did that with Titanium. Or Alternators… Anyway, the highlight of the group is clearly S.T.R.I.P.E. for me.
• The Brave and the Bold line, which was really really cool, seems to be going the way of all Batman lines, which is to say All Batman All the Time. So it is nice to see they found a way to work Superman into the line at least. And look at the cute Lanterns! And Kilowag done right!
• Last but not least is the incredibly good Masters of the Universe line. Some high points? Check out King Hiss and what looks like Pre-Eternia She-Ra. I’m afraid they will have to come home too. Unfortunately, Mattel is still rockin’ the pop-out battle damage shield for its third release (Skeletor), which is upsetting because they can clearly do turning motions as evidenced by Man-E-Face right behind his skeletonness. This to me is the biggest disappointment of a line I shouldn’t be this excited over.
• But to end on a high note, check out this groovy two-pack tied into everyone’s favourite Vancouverite-wielding-a-power-ring! He has the power!

(Thanks to ASMzine for all the great links.)

Weren’t invited to Toyfair 2011? Well, sit down partner, neither was I! So welcome once again to a brief armchair review of some particularly juicy toyfair highlights.

G.I. Joe!

Can you believe that G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is 30 years old in 2012? I surely can’t. More than any other (possibly excluding Micronauts which I really didn’t have enough of), G.I. Joe was THE toy line I grew up with. While I may be a Transformers guy now, I came to the Transformers universe as I was putting the toys away to avoid the shame of being a “doll guy” in high school. But G.I. Joe was a toy I actually played with, and my figures have all the scars, lost thumbs, terrible paint experiments, and missing parts to prove it (although even at nine years old, I was still pretty careful with my toys for a nine year old.)

So I am really pleased and excited to see some of the early promo pictures to be coming out of Toyfair. Eminently more satisfying in fact than the Transformer releases, actually (but more on that later…)

First, figure-wise, let me say that I have been really happy with the cardbacks produced for Pursuit of Cobra, particularly the thickness of the cardboard. And the new card artwork really looks great. It will be so good to see it used for the likes of a new Steel Brigade member, Cobra Trooper and Blowtorch, as well as Crazy Legs and Techno-Viper.

Clearly the highlight of the G.I. Joe presentation had to be the Skystriker. I always thought it was a shame Hasbro hadn’t released it for the 25th Anniversary line like they had the Rattler and the Conquest. But here it is in all its glory. If you look closely at the nose cone and the cockpit, you can see this is not simply just a reissue of the original either, since the gun is notably different and the cockpit is a one seater.

But even better? A G.I. Joe / Transformers crossover! Yes, Starscream with Cobra Commander (and a little baby Megatron). I predict this will be the most sought after item at SDCC this year! Who wants another look? I DO!

Definitely have to call in some favours since failing in my efforts to get tickets…

Transformers

While it is not a big deal to see the Optimus Prime truck, it is really cool to see it with its trailer!

Kre-O is clearly Hasbro’s attempt at matching Lego and MegaBlock in the building blocks market. Think of it as Build-to-Rule 2.0! I actually liked Build-to-Rule, and I believe it got dealt a bad hand basically because it (a) focused on the big brand exercise of the time (i.e., Armada) rather than focusing on something more recognizable (i.e., Generation One), and (b) really only got the glitches out of its system in time for the very limited release of series two (i.e., Energon).

Kre-O seems to take what Hasbro learned from Built-to-Rule, while keeping the line relevant to collectors by incorporating a Generation One feel through the figurines. Whether this will pay off, it is hard to say, but I’m certainly on board for the effort. So far, we’ve seen a really great Optimus Prime, a decent Starscream, and a more-blocky-than-hoped Bumblebee. I really keen to see what future figures bring, including and especially Ratchet, Prowl and Jazz.

Rescue Bots is another return to past roots, this time Go-Go-Gobots 2.0, albeit with contemporary characters like Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. There’s even a base! Clearly there is a bit of Rescue Heroes influence here as well, but I can live with that, if it means that I can finally stop hoarding the increasingly hard-to-find GoBots in order to give tough, kid-friendly Transformer-brand transforming robots to the niece and nephews.

The new Transformers: Prime cartoon (RIP Animated) is getting the toy treatment it seems. The toys look fine, but I’m hardly excited about them yet, as I’ve not yet watched any of the cartoon. The best of the lot is clearly Arcee.

But of course, Dark of the Moon is the focus of the Transformers line. And there are some very nice toys that come out of it. For me the highlights were definitely the new Powerglide, the Voyager-class Skyhammer (nice use of a vintage Pretender name by the way), and Sentinel Prime (wonder if he will be as big a jerk as his Animated counterpart…) Otherwise, while there are some nice toys there isn’t a lot that really sings out to me yet. Oh sure, it’s nice to see the Optimus Prime toy with transforming trailer, but the line reminds me of Revenge of the Fallen - a lot of similar looking toys at the front end. Which saves me a bunch of cash actually for what one can hope are some super designed off-screen action in 2012.

What’s missing you ask? As reported by Battlegrips.com, there appears to be no further mention of Generation. As he rightly maintains, despite Hasbro comments to the contrary, it is entirely possible that comments regarding the continuation of this line is simply referring to planned toys yet to hit toy shelves. Like Wheeljack, Reflector, and others. Which wouldn’t surprise me - “Classics” went on hiatus for the first movie, Universe “2.0″ for the second. But it would sadden me all the same.

Final though? Can I say how awesome it is to hear that Vickie Stratford, missing last year from Botcon festivities, is now heading up the Star Wars line? That’s awesome - congrats Vickie! - I won’t tell them how young you are if you don’t!

Super-Heroes

Yes, it is the year of Green Lantern, Captain America, and Thor. Which, given my love of Green Lantern and flag wearing heroes, could make for a harsh year on the pocketbook. Unless Green Lantern’s figures end up looking this bad! I hope to have more details about these lines in the coming days. But for now, let me show off U.S. Agent and Taskmaster! And Catman (finally!) and Mr. Freeze!

Also, Captain Action! And the Doctor (love the sign in the background about the head) and a Classic Cyberman!

Thundercats

And Thunder-thunder-thundercats are back! I remember the cats although I didn’t have any myself at the time (I’ve since picked up a few including my favourite, Pantha, and a Thundercat that has subsequently discoloured).

First, that is a mean looking glove and sword combo. I figure it is for the new animated show, because here comes the classic sword. So much better than I put together when I tried my hand at Lion-O for Halloween.

And Bandai, to its enormous credit, is doing things right, releasing a new imagined version of the line and a classic version for collectors. And both look great! Except maybe for Panthro, who I don’t care for at all.

And that’s it for this round. Keep

(Thanks and apologies to asmzine.com, poeghostal.com, tfwiki.net, battlegrips.com, and idealhands for the references and links.)

Onslaught
Universe 2.0

February 14, 2011: 15th in a series
Toy Line: Transformers: Universe
Region, Year: North America, 2008
Essential Weblink: http://www.tfu.info/2008/Decepticon/TFUOnslaught/onslaught.htm

The Rundown: Onslaught leads off a week or so of Voyager-class Universe 2.0 Transformers. What’s funny about Onslaught is that, back before we had any idea that “Classics” would evolve between the first and second live-action Transformer films into Universe, I grabbed two Cybertron Mudflaps from Botcon for very cheap. The first was intended to be for the collection (I’d not bothered with him at regular price to that point) and the second was to be repainted into Onslaught since his body resembled the original GI form of the mighty Combaticon.

So while I’m happy to have a proper Onslaught, I don’t have any use for the Mudflap anymore. Poor loose (because space considerations came into play in his case) Mudflap. Not really feeling the love today. See if Andrew has any thoughts on what to do with Mudflap…

Combattra
Banpresto-Toru Toru Item

February 13, 2011: 14th in a series
Toy Line: “Shogun Warrior”
Region, Year: Asia, 2000
Essential Weblink: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%8Ddenji_Robo_Combattler_V

The Rundown: Combattra was one of the anime giant robot warriors from the early to mid-1970s that were introduced to many North American collectors as Shogun Warriors by Mattel. Combattra was particularly cool because he broke apart into five different units that could fight individually.

I don’t know a lot about this version of Combattra, made by Banpresso, because of my inability to read Japanese. Combattra basically folds his arms and legs into his torso to resemble the separated head shuttle that was one of the five units of the original toy. He was advertised with a Gundan figure that appears to do the same. He was just one of those toys I picked up in Akihibara, Tokyo, in November, happy to bring home to adorn my toy shelves.

Additional Pictures:

The Dangers of Daily Posts

From my first daily posting series, the Transformer of the Day that ran throughout 2009, I learned there are two possible problems I can encounter.

The first danger is that I will fall off the wagon, for some reason or another. While short term gaps can be corrected, longer term gaps make it virtually impossible (or at least improbable) to continue. My time away at Botcon 2009 and the publishing issues associated with that week made for a tough slog to get back up to date on the 2+ weeks of failed updates. Same held true for the changeover to the new computer in November 2009 (and the much maligned lost of a functioning Photoshop program). Given the quick disintegration of the Collectible of the Week (four short instalments in January 2010), I was (and am) really concerned about this possibility.

I’m pleased to say that, having given myself some leeway with regard to the quality of the pictures (although I not-so-secretly hope to some day correct them), I am increasingly encouraged that I will be able to hold out for the year and beyond. Mainly this is because I’ve allowed the format to be fairly straight forward, and allowed myself to be as quick or verbose as I want to be. The most notable hurdle will be finding items to discuss on a daily basis while everything is packed up pending a possible move or renovation, but there are ways to deal with that (like buying more toys, naturally!)

The second danger, preoccupied with staying on track, is that I will stop blogging about anything else. That I will be bereft of ideas, particularly when I can expect any comment to be quickly put to the bottom of the pile as soon as the next day hits and the next Collectible entry hits the net. I hope this is not the case but it did tend to happen in 2009. However, it also happened in 2010, so at least there is the hope of content with a daily feature.

In any event, I’m here to add some non-Collectible content

Mea Culpa Julie!

Remember how I said that this new segment was all her fault when she called me about the Optimus Prime and Megatron 10th Anniversary releases from Takara. Oh I was so sure on the phone I knew exactly what she was referring to, and that conversation led to the first week of various Optimus Primal and Megatrons released in 2006 and 2007. I was probably quite smug too, because that’s how I get when I’m in a conversation about Transformers and I think I know what is going on.

But I was wrong.

Seems Takara threw me for a loop. Seems that, in addition to the Telemocha Optimus Primal and Megatron recolours of the Robot Hero versions, and the super fancy 10″ Anniversary Ultra beast set on which the North American Toys ‘R Us exclusive is based, there was a third set of figures. These figures, marketed separately, came in packaging identical to the Telemocha editions (albeit larger) and with DVDs. The figures themselves appear to be simply straight forward reissues of the original Ultra-scale Optimus Primal and Megatron (price point $29.99 in 1996 Canadian dollars). They do not feature the new, improved head sculpts of the two-pack edition.

I didn’t know this set existed. Until I was in the Comic Book Shoppe on Wednesday night and saw them at $100 each in their original package. So mea culpa!

Optimus Prime
Movie Edition - Nightwatch Version

February 12, 2011: 13th in a series
Toy Line: Transformers
Region, Year: North America, 2008
Essential Weblink: http://www.tfu.info/2008/Autobot/NightwatchOptimusPrime/optimusprime.htm

The Rundown: Another movie-former, Nightwatch Optimus Prime is a pretty good lesson in how not to collect toys. Not because he is a bad toy, but because of the experience in getting him.

First, he who waits takes his chances. Nightwatch Prime was released near the end of the first line of Movie toys. In fact, in Canada at least (which admittedly is not the best gauge for toy availability) he was kind of a “blink and you miss him” deal. Having been burned on a number of occasions for buying a figure one week, only to find that the cost was cut dramatically the next, I tend to hold off on more common figures to allow for sales to actually occur. The bigger the figure, the more likely this is to happen, particularly when a sale can take a leader class figure down from the CDN $60-$70 range to CDN $35-$40. So when I did see him, I took a pass waiting for a sale that never came. Finally, I broke down and grabbed him from one of the Comic Book Shoppes in the city.

Second, always check the box. So when I finally did grab Optimus, I did so with a gift certificate won at the 2009 Heroes and Villains masquerade. But I was so eager to finally bring this figure home (for some reason the blues and black just sing to me on this figure), I neglected to notice the box was damaged. Given I already had two versions of the same toy (the Costco regular edition Leader Prime with Legends Bumblebee and Jazz, and the Premium edition), I figured he was a Mint in Box item (something that tends to happen when I have multiples of the same figure when he is the same character). Doesn’t work so well when there is a big tear on the top flap.

Ironically I paid more for him (in a fashion) than the other two versions, for whom I waited on the sales. That’ll learn me to trust a black and blue truck.

Bludgeon
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

February 11, 2011: 12th in a series
Toy Line: Transformers (Revenge of the Fallen)
Region, Year: North America, 2010
Essential Weblink: http://www.tfu.info/2010/Decepticon/Bludgeon/bludgeon.htm

The Rundown: Moving away from Beast Wars for a change and the first character I put up happens to be from Revenge of the Fallen, one of the worst movies ever, made even worse for destroying happy childhood memories?

I know! But here me out!

Bludgeon is an example of Hasbro taking advantage of the Movie line to really introduce new and old characters in really cool forms, in a way they didn’t avail of themselves after the success of the first movie. Yes, Bludgeon is a Movie-former, as the aesthetic very different from the Generations line that has successed Universe 2.0 and Classics. And yet here is a good example of trying to take a classic, albeit obscure character, and bringing him to life.

Bludgeon is a character that should be forgotten. There was so much working against him. He was part of the sixth and final year where Transformers actually transformed (quickly replaced by non-transforming, show accurate Action Masters). He was on store shelves for less than a year (as opposed to being featured for up to three years like some of his predecessors). There was no cartoon to feature his likeness. He was not a re-imagined classic character like Pretender Grimlock or Starscream, nor was he has large as the previous year’s Pretender offerings.

He was an ordinary little tank with an outer shell that looked like a samarai with a skull for a head.

And he would be forgotten too if Simon Furman hadn’t been turning out good comics in the dying days of Marvel’s original Transformers comic. He took the quirky shell and made Bludgeon de facto leader after the fall of Scorponok and Megatron. He made him ninja-cool with his Metallikato skills. And made him stand out among the crowd. And so he never quite faded away. He was briefly a Universe 1.0 figure in 2004, a repaint of Megatron interestingly enough. Later he was a two pack movie character, a repaint of an off-screen movie character called Wreckage.

And then he got spruced up proper like.

Alas, poor Bludgeon. He is still trapped in his plastic package. Another Transformer I have yet to free from his shackles. But that day will come. Bludgeon is too cool to stay bound for long.

Dinobot
Tekemocha Edition

February 10, 2011: 11th in a series
Toy Line: Transformers (Beast Wars)
Region, Year: Asia (Japan) 1997
Essential Weblink: http://www.tfu.info/2006/Maximal/Dinobot/dinobot.htm

The Rundown: So two days ago, I brought you the 10th Anniversary North American rendering of Dinobot. Today, it is the Tekemocha edition (which sound absolutely adorable when said by a nine year old Andrew on the phone). Not a lot new to say other than, man, did Takara-Tomy get the face right. Check out those teeth!