Red Alert [Age of the Primes/Voyager Class]

In Transformers Armada, fans got introduced to a new character named Red Alert whom was much different than the G1 original. This Red Alert was a different character who served as the teams medic. If you're noticing the similarities to Ratchet, you're not alone. That was his name in Japan. Red Alert was styled after Robocop and Power Rangers. I strongly remember the conversations about how much he looked like Robocop before it was confirmed. At BotCon 2002, there was some design art inside the convention booklet.

A few images of Red Alert were there, this lead to my friends and I talking again how much he looked like Robocop. Later after the convention and getting home, my job had screwed up my scheduled time off and I had to go in just a few hours after getting in from the long road trip. Later that evening, a very tired me stopped by Walmart on the way home for some food and they had the newly released Red Alert in stock. After talking about how much he looked like Robocop the days before... I bought him on the spot. Initially I wasn't very interested in him, but at that point had to have him. He looks like Robocop, ever notice?

Opening my new toy while eating my frozen pizza... I quickly became a fan and have been ever since. He was great! Though I initially thought he should have been a smaller toy, something that the Deluxe Class Cybertron figure would be a few years later. Still, there's nothing better than a big chonky robot toy. So thankfully this new figure is a Voyager Class, but it's a little smaller than that original despite being a comparable price class (Voyager Class wasn't the term until Cybertron, they were called Max-Con during Armada). Times have chance in the 23 years since that original... and so has the price.

This new Red Alert still is a very good update of that toy bringing it to the year 2025 with current engineering. He looks pretty much the same but there's a lot more articulation (and sadly no Mini-Con gimmicks). The left hand retains the swappable gimmick with two different weapons that can be plugged in. Whichever is not in use can store in the alt mode kibble on his legs. Since there's no Mini-Con gimmicks (and you get less toy for the money), the kibble doesn't fold down into a repair bay. His gun still attaches to the vehicle roof and can unfold into a shoulder mounted cannon from there, or be removed to be held traditionally. It still has that claw missile, but doesn't fire anymore. I don't mind that honestly.  Since we're talking about that vehicle mode, transformation is pretty easy and could probably done by veteran TF fans by muscle memory as it's similar to several other toys. The only real challenge is some of the joints are pretty stiff.

Red Alert's cool Rescue SUV looks just as great as ever. It's super satisfying and all around pleasant. There's no electronics, so you'll have to just say "RED ALERT WOO WOO WOO" on your own... and I assume many of you are doing that anyway. As someone who enjoyed the original upon it's release, this is a real treat... even if it's a stark reminder of how much $20 got me then, vs what $35 gets me now and it's kinda a bummer. I do wish there was Mini-Cons... but they're just not in use currently. There is some ports throughout his body where at Battlemaster could probably fill the roll. Regardless, it's an excellent toy that I'm very happy with. Yes, he's got some long legs. It's a thing.

Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus [Swapticons]

You'd be hard pressed to get a Transformers line without an Optimus Prime figure and since this is Swapticons we're talking about, you know he's paired with Ultra Magnus. Being silly little toys, they have some wacky faces with Optimus giving the people's eyebrow while Ultra Magnus makes an attempt to be like Optimus. The two link up to form a version of Optimus's truck and trailer mode that's pretty similar to some of it's newer depictions.

Slightly armored, a little sporty. I think someone in the design team must be really insistent on this look. It's not on every toy... but sure pops up every so often. It does look cool, so no problem. I can't help but to see Ultra Magnus as Gears though. It's the colors. A lot longer than I should remember, I had a dream where I found an Ultra Magnus made from a Gears toy. So now sometimes I'm reminded about that dream when I see an occasional Ultra Magnus toy. You haven't dreamt about your hobbies? What's that like?

Prima Prime [Age of the Primes/Voyager Class]

Signaling the end of Legacy and beginning of a new Generations series is Transformers Age of the Primes. Like other Transformers Generations series before, it brings us updates of the different incarnations of various Transformers characters with a central theme. Age of the Primes is based around the original 13 Primes from Transformers lore. We'll be starting our look at AOTP here on Zone Base with the first Prime figure released in the series, Prima Prime.

Prima Prime has appeared throughout the years in various media, but you'd probably recognize him best from Rodimus Prime's Matrix Vision in the multipart episode 'Five Faces of Darkness'. That's the depiction this toy's mostly based on. I've always thought it looked cool, so no problem... though I've never been super fond of the name. Sounds like a pizza place.

Ever since the Aligned Continuity, the 13 Primes served a specific purpose. Prima is the very first Transformer made by Primus and is the Warrior of Light. He carries the Star Saber sword which you may notice has the Matrix of Leadership in it's hilt. Prima lead the other Primes in the fight against Unicron. He's kind of a big deal. Before we go any further, Star Saber is a character. The Star Saber sword is an item first appearing in Armada and various swords ever since have been randomly named it ever since.

One of my only complaints with Transformers is sometimes the names can get confusing, but I guess Power Sword was already taken. The Matrix can be removed and stored in Prima's chest when not needed, but it does look cool on the sword. He's decently articulated with some nicely stiff joints. You can pose him in all sorts of sword fighting poses, even holding it with both hands in front of himself stoically. Neat!

Transformation to vehicle mode isn't too hard, though there's some odd places that you'll have to get just right or it's not fitting together in the upper body that becomes the vehicles front end. I'm pretty sure I got something wrong when transforming mine, but cannot tell what. One front wheel seems to rub against the fender while the other rolls freely. No clue. Alt mode is a lunar truck that looks pretty neat and the wheels can be arranged to give it a hover mode! It's pretty cool looking and so are the colors. Actually, I really like Prima Primes colors all together. There's been some complaints that he needs more... but I really like the white and grays.

He looks like an ancient statue and the colors transfer well over to the sci fi vehicle making it look like something you'd see in space. I really like the blue used in detailing. If there was any more color added, I'd like it to be a little more of that as it contrasts nicely against the white and gray. The Star Saber sword (not the guy) can store pretty easily in alt mode forming a nicely compact vehicle. I really like this guy and enjoy the somewhat mystical theme of the Primes. Transformers has needed a little fresh air and dipping into the more fantasy elements of it's lore is a pretty good idea. With the Cybertron anniversary series at Walmart later this year and Micronauts being in stores again... it's nice to see some of the more space opera elements come back to the forefront.

It's Monday, weird.

It's time to start another week of robots, monsters, and misadventure! Thank you all for coming back to Zone Base on this Monday morning. I hope you all enjoyed the Halfway to Halloween fun last week. We've got a little while until the spooky season starts, but who doesn't like a little pumpkin spiced mayhem in the spring? Of course the Code Orange fun will be starting soon enough in June. At Home stores, the biggest signal alarm during summertime Code Orange fun, has some Halfway to Halloween suprises at certain store locations if you're feeling a little spooky. We plan to stop by ours this weekend hoping to get a sneak peak. In addition, Spirit Halloween has shown off a new NES game they'll be selling in stores this year. I'm definitely interested! 

I've had a cold the past few days, so this weekend meant a lot of downtime for me. I did make a trip to the local Walmart for some more Coricidin and while there found some new toys! I picked up Transformers Solus Prime, Air Raid, Scrapper, and Gamer Edition Ironhide! I feel guilty as to not do more toy room organizing, but being under the weather I just wasn't up to it. The Mrs and I enjoyed watching Longlegs, Wolfman, and the newest episode of 1000lbs Sisters while enjoying some good food and getting some rest. Well, I've got to get my week started. Time to take some toy pictures for the site, do some household chores, and... I dunno... take a nap? Sounds good! Thank you all for reading Zone Base. I've got a fun week in store for you all, so don't forget to share with your friends! 

Moonsafari BB-69 [BeastBox]

[Dual Shape of Mecha Moonsafari and Cube] Transform Moonsafari from cube mode to mecha model and back again in minutes! The whole body of it has fully adjustable joints, allowing to display in a variety of poses.

BeastBox really cranks out some fun ideas. Moonsafari is a cool robotic giraffe that of course, turns into a box. How? Magic... I'm convinced those designers are magicians.

There's been a few transforming giraffe toys, but there's a big difference between going from an animal to robot vs animal to box. Well, those magicians at 52Toys pulled it off with one pretty amazing toy. Moonsafari is a very well articulated robot giraffe that stands pretty tall at 8.66" according to 52Toys. His (assuming) mouth can open and ears can move in addition to all the cool leg and neck articulation allowing for a very expressive toy that's pretty darn cute. Don't let that adorableness fool you though, because this is a serious robot ready to fight!

I've mentioned my appreciation to the similarities BeastBox toys often share with Zoids and that comes into effect here giving Moonsafari a visual edge. Adding to that is an additional accessory set that I was made aware of just recently. With the add on set, Moonsafari gains twin weapon pods manned by pilots. I'll be sure to stay on the look out for these when they become available to me separately from the bonus edition version Moonsafari. Remember the mentioning of the magic? It's performed during transformation as somehow he just went into box mode pretty easily. I say pretty easily and not very easily as I struggled with his back hips quite a bit initially.

There's a joint inside the hip that folds into itself uniquely and I didn't understand the instructions at this step. I got pretty frustrated after trying for too long to get those back legs properly into place, put him down, and watched a transformation Reel while riding my exercise bike. Turns out it was actually pretty simple and I originally didn't understand. Once that was understood, everything just went into place. 52Toys has a great Instagram presence and those Reels can be a life saver. I'm pretty amazed by the neck wrapping around itself so fluidly to finish everything up. It's weird, normally I'm hardly concerned with the actual transformation with a toy. BeastBox though... I'm thoroughly amazed by the process. See, it's magic.

Halfway 2 Halloween~Watch Halloween this Halloween

It's no surprise that a movie series named Halloween would be popular during Halloween. Though, if you're around my age, you'll remember it being a more forbidden thing. The escaped mental patient that killed kids on Halloween urban legend spread like wildfire during October. At the time, Halloween was a popular movie... but not the institution that it is now. Kids were often more sheltered by their parents from these movies, and Michael Myers was one of the more taboo movie monsters. So of course your local television station commercials had an aura of mystique. I'm glad these old local spots somehow survived and got uploaded. They're firmly a relic of days gone by.

Originally Posted: 10/12/2023