The Lawsonville Horror

Voice Input Child Identicant, or better known as Vicki, is the Lawson family's little secret. She's actually a robot created by Ted Lawson. Ted brought her home under the guise as an adopted daughter and and they're all one big happy family. Well, cue one scary family movie night and an electrical accident involving the robot child... before you know it the house is haunted! Being a man of science, Ted's first reaction is to call in a team of paranormal investigators. Obviously.

Override (Cybertron Speedia 500/Voyager Class)

Often with updates and homages to older figures, the design is improved. This makes for a better figure than the original in most cases. Override is a prime example of that when released as part of the Velocitron Speedia 500 Collection that I loved so very much. When the original toy released in Cybertron/Galaxy Force, I looked forward to the then new Override/Nitro Convoy leading me to actively hunt the figure. She was initially pretty hard to find (not knowing just a few months later she would be plentiful), finally tracking one down at Kohl's of all places. Unfortunately I didn't the toy as much as I wanted too. Her arms were pretty stubby against her seemingly too large upper body. Don't get me wrong, I got the GTS version and even used the toy for a custom Blaster figure. I didn't hate it at all, those proportions just irked me.

A lot more years later than if feels like, Override got an update as a new Voyager scale figure that improves on the original toy perfectly while still capturing that way cool design. Ironically, this figure was pretty hard me to find at first. After weeks of never finding her, thankfully I was gifted her and Cosmos (also hard to find) by my good friend Shawn. Being a Walmart exclusive, I don't think Kohl's would have came through again. A few weeks later she became more abundant and I ended up with another copy thanks to my Mom's habit of shopping the clearance aisles. I definitely don't mind having another one to keep in box as I love this figure. Those formally stubby arms and weirdly too large upper body are now perfectly portioned in a figure that I have nothing bad to say about.

Override transforms very easily, yet still has a great deal of articulation. Her Mach 5 inspired race car mode is pleasing to the eyes and the entire toy looks like the character just walked off my TV screen. This is the figure I wanted in 2005. Her blaster is still made from the cars engine and transforms from engine to gun simply, this time without the aid of a Cyber Planet Key. I've been told this toy is still compatible with one. That's neat. Personally, I was always a mixed bag about those. I thought they were cool looking, but was often annoyed with them generally in the way most of the time when plugged in. While I liked Cybertron, there was some issues that thankfully updates like Override eliminate. Override is a cool toy. I've always liked the design and colors. Now they're on a toy that's much better than the original. Awesome.

Transform Squadron 48- House of Frankentron

LISTEN NOW!

It's the Halloween season on Zone Base and a good time to look at some monster robot toys! Come for Draculus and Frankentron, stay for Nightprowler and Skywasp. It's spooky fun at the haunted house full of scary robots!

Yeah yeah, be safe... but really be KISS

There's something hypnotic about Halloween Safety tips. It doesn't matter how many times you hear the same ones, you'll listen intently... and straight up ignore them. Another hallmark of the Halloween season is local news segments on where to get a costume or fun spooky things to do. Of course it's only natural for the local news to give some safety tips. The real take away from this Channel 8 clip from 1980 is the showcase of some really cool old costumes. Ben Cooper, Collegeville, make-up kits... KISS.

Bios: Oil Slick

Function: Anarchist Road Warrior

"Fear is my ally."

Vehicle to vehicle combat is something all Transformers are skilled in, but with Oil Slick, it's a particular specialty. He knows more about how to disable and destroy a vehicle than almost anyone else in the galaxy. He knows that if he can break down the robot inside, the vehicle will come screeching to a halt. Canisters attached to his sides dump special chemicals that unlock the deepest fears of any robot exposed to them, while at the same time rotting wheels and burning through axles. Once the vehicle mode is destroyed, Oil Slick moves in close to finish off with his chain weapon.

 

* Talented chemist and mechanic
* Trained in Circuit-Su with Prowl
* Immune to chemical attacks

Beware of the Terror House!

I'm mostly aware of Takeshi Kitano from Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, a funny dub job of the show Takeshi's Castle that was on in my early 20's. I still watch it regularly and it introduced me to Takeshi Kitano. Who's been in so many things... it's hard to list them all. It's no wonder why Bandai asked him to help sell their line of handheld LCD games in 1982, he's a big star. This one in particular is perfect for a spooky night with a horror marathon on in the background. Or something creepy to do in between handing out candy to kids on Halloween night.  Known here as Terror House and in Japan as Akuryo no Yakata, the game has some pretty great spooky graphics. I kinda want to play it right now.

Mortal Kombat!!!! (you have to yell it)

I've talked about that college job at Office Max here before. I took advantage of the copy center to make an enlarged diagram of all the special moves in Mortal Kombat Trilogy. It came in handy.

Have a Spirited Halloween

When I was a kid, I'd get my costume at Kmart. As an adult, I get my costume at a Spirit Halloween... that's in that old Kmart. Sometimes it can be hard to remember when Spirit Halloween was a more low key operation. They're such a force to reckon with now... they've even got a movie.That's hard to believe when you think back to those older stores and their seemingly grassroots vibes. I guess that's just the passage of time for you. Something I reflected upon in this posts opening joke. Did it make you feel old? Know what else will make you feel old? This commercial is from 2008, a kid born that Halloween just started the 10th grade. Somewhere there's a picture of me getting younger.