Microman Robot Machine-Z commercial

Sometimes I feel like more Microman stuff could have been used in Transformers. These guys could have been great post movie baddies.

Ju-On: The Final trailer

Ok, is the Toshio phone grip at the end out of place or what?

A Robot MAN

I've been finding myself wanting a Robotman/Biotron lately. Even one of the smaller ones will do. Think that's going to be something I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for at Toylanta in the spring.

Great Value BotCon

Ever since the Walmart exclusive G1 reissue Transformers were first shown, I've been jokingly saying Great Value BotCon or Sam's Choice BotCon. It's a silly thing I've been saying as back in the day, something like a G1 Transformers was something you might have to wait until BotCon to score a decent one. Now you can just go to Walmart. I'm being silly, but I'm also outright going to use the term for something else right now.

BotCon was the first Transformers convention, and for many years the only Transformers convention. It became Hasbro supported and eventually an official entity. Ran by a few different organizers, it was retired in 2016. Somewhere around the early 2000's (maybe even earlier) smaller fan run shows became a regular thing, some growing to even rival BotCon in size. There's also the occasional fan meet up organized by individuals based on things like fan groups or local areas. I've organized a few back in the earlier days of the  Georgia Transformers Fans group. It's fun and that's where I'm going with this.

Going to conventions is great, it's awesome, it's a fun time to be had with other fans in the hobby. It's our little subculture that lives on the fringe, still not sure how to handle the mainstream popularity of Transformers since the live action movies. Problem with conventions is, a convention is just once a year. BotCon (and now TFCon USA) traveled each year. You might not be able to make it due to location, finances, personal situations, or maybe all of the above. Things happen, life happens. Other Transformers shows are generally in the same location, but still might not be accessible depending on factors.

So why not have your own?

Since the dawn of social media, it's much easier to hook up with fans in your area. It doesn't take much to plan a get together with a few like minded individuals. Maybe everyone meets up at a restaurant and goes to some nearby stores after. There was just that screening of the 1986 Transformers movie. That would have been ideal to organize something with others in attendance. Or hey, Bumblebee is about to come out. Arrange a group viewing and a trip to the store later! Maybe rent out a room somewhere, get some folks to set up tables with toys they may have to sell or customs they have to show off. You could play some episodes and order pizza (everyone can chip in $5 each for some Little Caesar's). There's that new trading card game, I'm sure getting players together couldn't be that hard.

Name your event, it can be as simple as just 'Transformers Delaware Fans Meet Up' or 'Local Fans Bumblebee Viewing'. Maybe even give it a neato name, maybe it could become bigger and become the next BotCon one day. Have one as often as you can possibly have one, it's your party. The Transformers fandom was grown from grassroots and from grassroots it will continue even if the mainstream attention fades away (won't be the first time). Have fun, you might meet some new people and make some new friends, or have some new fun with old friends.

You know, maybe you could just stroll into Walmart and get one of those G1 reissues.

Magic Manor commercial

You know, I miss these types of commercials. I still see local business commercials mind you, but it's normally for things like lawyers, doctors, and car dealers. These kid of shops generally don't have commercials on TV any more, usually relying on social media to help spread the word. I understand, times change. Though I have to mention, I do hear local business commercials on radio though. A few years ago I moved to the rural outskirts from the suburbs of a major American city and was very happy to find small local radio stations. I love listening to the radio and remember all the small town stations I'd listen to growing up. Even when we moved to those suburbs of a large city, that's mainly what was available until the mid-90's when giant companies seemingly took over the local radio outlets.

So now, I'm very pleased to find myself hearing a home made commercial for a gas station off some odd road while driving home. Now that Halloween is near, there's more local festivals and pumpkin patches getting plugged. It's pretty neat.

LG-EX Big Powered!!!!

News just broke of Takara's new Big Powered! As one could infer from this sites name, I kinda need it! Seeing as it's likely a Takara Tomy Mall Exclusive... I'll uh... not eat for a month or something.

Popeye: Fright to the Finish

Hey now this is crazy, but Transformers Series 2 maybe?

I've mentioned before how I sometimes wonder how things would have been if Takara had been more successful with Diakron. Well, that's not the only 'what if' that crosses my mind occasionally. DiC took over making GI JOE cartoons post GI JOE the movie with what's commonly referred to as GI JOE Series 2.  Sometimes I wonder, what if DiC made Transformers cartoons post 'The Rebirth'?

The Rebirth's art isn't too far off from a DiC production.

Think of the possibilities. Instead of Season 5 with repackaged reruns, we could have had new adventures. Pretenders, Micromasters, Actionmasters... yeah. What if instead of the repackaged reruns we got as Transformers Generation 2... we got a whole new show? All those awesome Generation 2 original molds and characters... yeah, and one could wager better toy sales. As good as Beast Wars was, this could have led to a different DiC produced beast era. Which, being a cheaper production could have featured more characters. Not to mention, I wonder if would have been received better by those who hated Beast Wars? Obviously not those who didn't like the change, but I did witness several G1 purists like BW II and BW NEO more since it was more like a traditional TF show.

M.A.S.K was a DiC production that was compared to Transformers.

Part of thinking about this possibility would include possible cast changes. I'm sure not all voice actors would have worked on the DiC produced shows. Budget reasons, voice directors, or maybe just conflicting schedules. What if we got a different sounding Optimus in 1989? Imagine the debates over who was better. Or Vince DiCola and Stan Bush are regular Transformers convention guests, what about all that funky DiC music? What if those musicians performed live? Sometimes fans complain about regular convention guests, well I'd assume this would have created a deep pool of talent to invite out. Not to mention, just about I mentioned imagining the debates. People already debate which show is better, what if there was 2 G1 shows by way of a series 2?

What if these guys were on local TV?

Sure, I can 'what if' all day and probably would if given the freedom. It's one of those things that just make me wonder why it didn't happen. Why didn't Transformers get a DiC cartoon and got repackaged reruns instead? What was the business behind those decisions? Would it have been a success or a massive failure? I don't know. Nobody does, it never happened. Sadly so, because I would have loved it.

Castlevania Requiem trailer

Oh sure, I've already bought these two games a few times already... but what's one more time? Hitting the Playstation store just in time for Halloween is this cool bundle of two of the best Castlevania games ever. Just right for a spooky night!

Red Bugs

Ever since I got my Studio Series Bumblebee this past Sunday, I've been really wanting a red version of him. Not Cliffjumper, not Stinger (ok, maybe Stinger), but the red Bumblebee from various reasons in G1. I've always liked the way the classic BB looked in red and looking at my new VW Bee... man that sculpt would just really pop en rojo. I could probably take the Speed Series incarnation instead. I guess it doesn't matter, but man I just really dig the way movie Bee looks in this VW form. I could see some really neat exclusive with mock Brazilian packaging. Or really, just a play off those rando G1 cards with a red BB inside.

While I can hear folks complaining about the amount of Bumblebee toys already... Look, I'm just thinking about myself here.

Sooper Dooper 7

 

Super 7 has even more cool stuff coming and that includes a dead version of the X-Ray Optimus Prime figure for NYCC. Man, I really, really, really want those Keshi Surprise. Those are super neat.

Takis Zombie commercial

Every Halloween season, Takis puts out their amazingly tasty Zombie Nitro chips and I'm sure to grab a few bags during the season. I'm sure nothing that spicy and green can be good for your insides, but here I am... eating some right now.

Dang things are good...

Transformers Watch commercials

These would be later released in America during Generation 2, but dig that action deployment of the robot mode in the commercial! If you have noticed the amount of watch commercials I've been posting, I've had watches on the mind lately. The time to upgrade my trusty Pebble is near and the options I've been looking over are many. Part of me doesn't want a Fitbit since they bought out Pebble in the first place... but I do kind of like some of their offerings. I'd really like a Samsung, but the model I want is just a little more than I think these things should cost. If only there was a Kronoform option!

Western Yokai Dracula/Dracula

Halloween Whopper commercial

Man, I really miss this one. Sure, it was just a Whooper with A-1 on it, something they do practically every other month already, but it had a SCARY BLACK OMG HALLOWEEN HAMBURGER BUN! Little things go a long way, and a special spooky wrapper and a black bun did just that. BK claimed the bun was infused with A-1 flavor, which I don't think I outright noticed, but it was really good... so maybe I just assumed it was the A-1. A-1 is good. I just typed A-1 a lot.

A-1.

The bummer is, somewhere along the way people started listening to stupid people again and well what happens when you eat a lot of food coloring? Well let's keep it classy, but it's hilarious later. So the more dumber people of society caused such a stir over what could probably easily be guessed would happen and it got pulled early never to return. Ironically there was a spicy Whopper with a red colored bun some time later and nobody said anything. Which honestly, that color would have been actually something to get upset about later.

Poop.

What the heck did I do this weekend?

Actually, quite a lot. Saturday after I got home from work the wife and I went to go visit my mom who lives about 2 hours away. While we were there, we did some shoe shopping (I got some neato blue sneaks) as well as check out that Target's Halloween section. They had a great layout! Unfortunately they didn't have any TF's I was looking for. Which is ok, because on our way out we checked our P.O BOX and it had a gift from my pal John! John sent me a cool weapon pack from Drive Head. It's a translucent version of Sonic Interceptors weapons! Neato!

We ordered way too much pizza and watched Black Panther before heading back home.

Sunday, I woke up early to pick up our grocery order and a few more things we needed while the wife slept in (she drove home the night before). The store had a few substitutions for some items which I rejected and went inside to pick out something else which somehow led me to the toy section and whammo bammo there was reissue Hot Rod sitting on the shelf. I grabbed one before picking out tortellini.

On the way home, I somehow found myself inside Target where I picked up some early Christmas shopping for my wife. While they didn't have any of the Speed Series I was hoping to find, they did have the new Studio Series Bumblebee movie figure...somehow he ended up in my basket. Weirdest thing.

I got home and was welcomed by not only a fresh cooked breakfast, but also my super duper Walgreen's info friend leaked me some new Siege listings including a Ratchet that was previously unknown and possibly exclusive to Walgreen's. I decided to go ahead and forward the info to my friends at Tformers before posting here. I wasn't planning to break out my laptop, but wanted to help get the news out fast.

While eating breakfast, I caught up on my DVR and man Super Ninja Steel had a surprise.

While I'm aware Jiraiya made an appearance in Ninninjer, I didn't anticipate the footage in Ninja Steel. It was super cool to see Metal Heroes make a Power Rangers showing and with his new American name Space Sheriff Skyfire (if only Greg Berger did his voice), I really hope there's a surprise toy of him in the toy line like the Evil Red Ranger. 

I ended the weekend like I do most, in bed with the wife watching spooky videos before we go to sleep. Something about weird things Drones manage to video makes for a good time.

Bumblebee movie trailer *new one*

It's really hard to not Bee excited for this.

Battle Convoy commercial

I've always been very fond of using the trailer as some sort of sarcophagus for Optimus Prime/Convoy.

Alice Cooper- Man Behind the Mask

Friday the 13th Part 6- Jason Lives! is one of my favorite of the F13 movies. If I were to call it right now, 1-7 is the series prime time. 1-4 being the best, 5-7 being the back end. The rest are enjoyable, but obviously not up to the prime standard. Still though, 6 is one of my favorites for it's awesome self awareness. They really tried to make it special and they sure did. It was thanks to repeat viewings of this on HBO as well as the constant marathon of prior installments on WGCL 46 (before it was a CBS affiliate and was AWESOME) and WATL 36 (when it was AWESOME) all summer (remember when I said summer was the lead in to Halloween) which inspired me to be Jason for Halloween the following year.

Of course, it was the late 80's, so you know what I wore.

The ever present dollar 'horror' mask that can be found at any store during the season in a variety of colors and sometimes mouth hole opening variations. Before higher end licensed masks of Jason Vorhees was available, THIS was what you had to work with. Honestly, I'd wager this still outsells the official ones. Of course sales data would be impossible to prove since a million of companies make them and you practically trip over them in any store you walk into from September to October. I still occasionally buy one and wear it to a random fall festival or Halloween occasion. That or those rad skull and pumpkin masks that are always hanging next to it. 

The 'horror' mask is at this point as much of a staple of Halloween as a pumpkin in my book.

Mister Rogers Google Doodle tribute

Today's Google Doodle celebrated the 51 year anniversary of Mister Rogers Neighborhood. I am not even going to pretend this didn't get me a little emotional. If I can place one person as a definite role model in my life, Mister Rogers would be it. If there's one person who I can strive to be as good as, it's Mister Rogers. The world is better for having such a person in it who told children each and every day that they're special just the way they are. Sometimes when I was a kid and I felt all alone in the world, that's all it took to give me a glimmer of hope. I don't care how old you are, everyone needs to be reminded of that occasionally and shown just how better of a person you are for just being a good person.

Kronoform watches commercial

Being the second Kronoform commercial I've posted this week, I think it's safe to say it's been on my mind. Thing is, I think Microman and it's related extensions are super neat. Part of the charm of Transformers is the idea that the car that just drove by could be an alien robot from space. Microman follows this same idea, just the adventure is so tiny it's just under our noses. With the Microchange concept, that micro-cassette you used to record a lecture in class could actually be a robot fighting a battle while your not aware. I mean, those little dudes just up and had a fight in the living room on that end table where all the remotes get thrown. Whoa.

Diakron and Kronoform are particularly sticking out to me as we put so much focus on Diaclone and Microman that what is essentially the missing link in Transformers history gets looked over. Sometimes I wonder (and I've done it here before) how things could have been IF Takara was successful and the deal with Hasbro never happened? How different would things be right now? As I was writing that, it occurred to me that the Michael Bay movies would have been a little truer to form...

Guns N Roses- You Could Be Mine

I wish I could fully explain the impact Terminator 2 had on a young me, but I'll just leave it as that Terminator 2 deluxe make-up kit I got at Walmart made for one of the best Halloween costumes ever. Even though my Mom made me wear a horror robe with it.

Real talk: I didn't even like Guns N Roses until this song.

Bumblebee McDonald's Happy Meal commercial

These cute little toys have been on a world tour this year, appearing all over in different Transformers Happy Meals. Here in America, they're going to be matched up with the Bumblebee movie. Which is a little odd, but considering how more traditional looking the bots in the Bumblebee movie are and the 80's aesthetic... why not go with classic evergreen designs? Honestly, I'm down for a few Happy Meals. I like McDonald's.

Dennou Keisatu Cybercop intro

Dream Warriors-Dokken

Kronoform robot time machine commercial

I just realized I've been saying Kronoform wrong for all these years. That and mmmmaaaaaaannnnn this watch had so many more modes than Six Shot. Like you know that weird pose you get into when trying to do a cartwheel before you fall over? Turns out that's a battle station!

PS Classic

Well, I need to get this as well. I had a thought after I saw this. I'm going to take my SNES and NES classic, that tiny Genesis mini, and this... and just stick them all in my backpack.. and still have plenty of room. Teen-aged me's mind would explode.

Wait... what if I cram this and the SNES mini together... would I make an SNES CD mini?

I think I really like the mini retro game system concept.

Zomramen

I'm a life long fan of ramen noodles, I've been eating them since I was a child and still relish in a good bowel of the salty noodles. When I was a kid, for some reason I believed they were expensive as it took a good deal of begging to get my mom to get me some at the grocery. Later when I was older I discovered just how cheap they were and went nuts buying as many as I could! I guess my mom just didn't feel like making them for me.

They're often joked about as food you eat when you're broke as a pack generally runs about 10-20 cents. To me, that's just an extra plus as I can easily put away a dozen packages in a sitting without thinking. I was often ridiculed in college as my roommate and I would come up with various dishes to make with the noodles. Being broke and under employed, you some times had to get creative to come up with different meals for not a lot of money. We'd find various web sites with recipes and come up with out own sharing them online. It was fun despite the teasing by others.

Turns out, we were actually making them correctly. You see, while the noodles are a fast and easy lunch, they are intended to be instant noodles to make a ramen dish at home. If you ever order a ramen dish at a restaurant, you'll find that the noodles serve as a base for meat, vegetables, and other food items creating a tasty filling meal. While I still often just eat the noodles straight with just the flavor packets, I do occasionally enjoy using them to make myself an amateur ramen dish at home.

Zomramen is a newer variety of noodles hitting the scene with a bit of a gimmick, they're crazy colored and feature a zombie bear as a cute mascot! While the pictures I'm providing don't show it, included in each packet is a little card with a mini comic featuring the bear! That's super neat. I've noticed while looking around the internet for information regarding the noodles I've found various ramen plates made to have fun with the zombie theme. The company in fact encourages it!

This makes for a fun and spooky lunch that is just right for the Halloween season. I discovered the noodles from watching Japanese vending machine videos (a guilty pleasure of mine) and have been curious to try some ever since. I've seen a few options for ordering, but I'm hoping to score some at H-Mart or even the Japanese grocery store near me. Despite already being a fan of anything Halloween, despite ramen noodles being one of my favorite foods, and despite being a sucker for anything like this... I don't know where I was going with that sentence. Zomramen is super cool and I want to try it sometime.

Lupinkaiser and Patokaiser are swell

I really like Lupinranger vs Patoranger. Really hope Hasbro makes it a Power Rangers series one day so I can get the toys for a good price (man I'd love to get my hands on these). I particularly love Lupinkaiser's combination lock themed transformation. It's just so dang clever and imaginative.

For the cost of a Legion...

I'm going to invent a time machine and ...

Burger King Trick or Treat saftey commercial

When I first saw this commercial a few weeks ago, I was a little amazed. I mean... that flashlight had to have cost as much as a kids meal and they were just giving them out!?!?!?!?!!

What the heck did I do this weekend?

This weekend was pretty chill. The wife and I did our weekly shopping Saturday morning when I got home from work, leaving the rest of the weekend relaxing around the house. We stopped by Target to look at all the cool Halloween stuff they'd put out since last weekend. On the Transformers front they still hadn't stocked the last wave of Primemasters or Optimal Optimus. They did have Shadow Striker and Grimlock from Cyberverse in the larger $20 scale. I plan to get those, just didn't right then. I've got a few items coming from online purchases and I really don't like to spend too much at a time. Most notably from my online purchases coming is the bucket of monsters pictured above. I don't know what type of toy you technically call a green army man, but toys along that type are something I'm very fond of and jump on the more random assortments. In the past I've gotten great selections of robots, ninjas, zombies, skeletons, pirates, and all sorts of wacky designs. This set is really amazing. It's a large tube full of various monsters like Frankenstein, the Wolfman, Godzilla, and all sorts of cool monsters. It's coming Friday and honestly I'm having a hard time waiting. We also picked up out Walmart grocery order as well as a trip inside to peak the Halloween stuff. A nice supper from Zaxby's and a great weekend at home.

Some stuff did come to my attention over the weekend. Just as I completed the first wave of scouts from Cyberverse there's been reports of wave 2. Now, there's just 3 figures I need from this set as I already have Bumblebee. I'm looking forward to the cool recolors of the Starscream mold for Windblade and Slipstream, though I'm a little hesitant to fiddle with them. My Starscream's wings kept popping off and his left arm was pretty loose. I'm hoping I don't have that same issue with these two jets here. The QC issue was a bit of a bummer for me as I've mentioned it's the recolors that make little toys like this fun and I'm betting the jet mold is going to get the most mileage. I really don't want to have the same issue with a million jets.

Pictures of the upcoming Battlemasters in packaging went about the internet this weekend and man do they look great. The package art with the neat SIEGE logo makes it looks like a game for the SEGA Genesis. Just super sharp packaging. Despite the negativity floating around online around Siege (I just don't get it), I'm really looking forward to it. This looks like a great time.

Mega Construx has been showing off their new Breakout Beasts blind package line and I think they look swell. Little monsters and dragons in an egg with slime... what's not to love? I'll be sure to jump on these when I find them.

Friday I finally figured out what Instagram TV is despite it being as thing for a few months now. Despite being a regular user of Instagram, that one just passed me by. It's pretty neat and I plan on using it semi-regularly. I had tried on doing some sort of vlogs using YouTube but I just can't put into words what went wrong there. For some reason Instagram TV makes more sense in my head, so be sure to check out my Instagram page for updates (links are in the about section... mobile users, click the full web version down at the bottom of this page for the links) and go ahead and follow me as I posts regularly there. I don't know if I want to call it my photo blog, but it sure is something.

Repost- Transform Squadron episode 1

For the Weekend Crowd:

Transform Squadron episode 1

After some introductions, Rob talks about the Dollar Tree Robots toy line! He then talks the Power Rangers 25th anniversary episode, the upcoming conclusion of Voltron Legendary Defender, and thoughts on new Transformers stuff! Robots/Monsters/Misadventure

Showtime Halloween Make Up commercial (1988)

I've made my fondness for Halloween make up kits known pretty often, so obviously it's something I have something to say about. My local stores have been slowly putting out the seasonal stuff, finally telling all the back to school section to beat it. I guess it takes so long because the first month of school is always the non stop battle of teachers not approving of any of the supplies you got, despite the list of supplies the school gave your parents. But the first things on shelves are candy with a smattering of decorations and costumes before the stock starts going out in full force. The make up kits are usually in that initial batch of first out. Just the simple stuff first. Budget kits, a few tubes of various colors, and then wham the more deluxe kits.

Last week I was enjoying looking at the kits that were already on shelves and man, no matter how many times I get disappointed by that tube of glow in the dark make up (Why does it only seem to glow when it's in the tube?), there I am... in awe. This commercial for Showtime make up (a more prominent brand at the time) is intended for adult costuming. Which brings something to mind that I've always noticed. When I was a kid in the 80's and into the 90's these adult kits always seemed to market those metallic face designs. I don't think I've ever actually seen it in real life outside of commercials and packaging. Did anybody actually do that?

Vampire/Witch/Devil, sure. Animal face, yeah there's always those. Skull or ghosty face pretty often, with occasional variations on face paint color. Metallic faced person? Nope.

I just like saying Botbots

This has nothing to do with Botbots...I don't think

Those Transformers Botbots have popped up in the news again. I'm totally happy for more blind bagged stuff, but really want to know more about them. I looked at the Trademark for them and it looks like they transform in some manner. So... I guess they transform. I don't know if they're a new extension of Tiny Turbo Changers (still need the newer series on those, wonder if they'll eventually show up at Five Below?) or something all together new. I've often wondered if G1 style toys in blind bags would be a hit, they were in WST, but that wasn't at my local Walmart... that would have totally sold well at Walmart.

It'a kind of funny that a new blind bagged series is on the way, as I've been formulating a plan involving them. I'll go into that more later as it's silly to talk about here and better to just randomly do and post (hi Authentics hunt post!). Though I've been watching a lot of Gashapon videos on YouTube. I love Gashapon machines and am eternally jealous of Japan for having them in such abundance. I used to shop at a comic shop that had some set up and that was always a good time. Not to mention those fun nights in my early 20's of driving to every grocery store with a pocket full of quarters and buying as much vending machine toys as I could find (sssoooooo many Homies figures).

Blind bag and box toys are kind of like that, but I just buy them from a store. Five Below and Walgreens are really great places for those. Sometimes they can be a belly punch though, ever buy a $12 blind box toy and be COMPLETELY disappointed with what you got? I sure have (man... that was 10 dollars...). I know your encouraged to trade them, but I almost never get around to it. The wife does. She collects Tsum Tsums and often trades them online in various Tsum Tsum groups to great results. I think the bulk of what she got me for Christmas last year was paid for by selling off extra Tsum Tsums. That's Tsum luck right there. I almost forgot how to spell luck just then.

The most I did of that was the old Bubble Twist Transformers figures from around 2003-2004. Bubble Twist was a really neat little candy line with little capsules full of gum that you twisted out like a Play-Doh fun factory. Inside each capsule was a mystery toy... obviously the Transformers ones had Transformers toys. They were these great little keshi type figures of the Armada TF's in a variety of colors. I mainly wanted one of each, not really worrying about the colors while a friend wanted one of each in each set of colors. Somehow I ended up with extras in all sorts of colors... and he usually needed those. That was a cool thing, wish they made it again. I guess those Robots in Disguise waters are sort of similar, though I got discouraged. I wanted the little figurines and just kept getting pencil toppers.

So I'm all in for Botbots... even though I don't know anything about them. Mystery toys are fun.

McDonald's McBoo Pails commercial

Ok, let's talk about a conundrum here. The McBoo Pails were the literal bomb. 

THE LITERAL BOMB. 

You had to have one each year, if not all of them. When they went away, they were sorely missed. When McDonald's started doing pails again at Halloween it was celebrated even though it wasn't the same thing. Just nothing compared to how awesome they were. Nothing too fancy, really simple, a Halloween character themed pail with a lid. Intended to use for trick or treating... but that's where the conundrum came in. You didn't use it for that. You used something bigger. A bag or a bigger pail that could handle the bulk of candy you better damned well be getting while out. Yet, so help me God if I didn't get one or more of these each year all would suffer and I mean all. Sure they just got used to hold crayons or something. Maybe the bank teller used one in place of a bowl for those suckers they had for kids in the car for the season. Either way, the things were important and I believe if McDonald's brought them back (and I mean the real deal ones) each year folks would get over any complaint they have with fast food in less than a second. We'd even forgo the apple slices, but enough with the tiny fry box bs.

Beast Wars Kabaya model kits commercial

I've been having a slightly busy night tonight, one of those nights that make thinking about fun stuff hard. Though I really felt like showing you all this commercial. Because I'd love to be having some fun right now and look at this stuff. This stuff is fun.

Pocky zombie commercial

I wonder if Pocky and a dance routine ever occurred to Rick Grimes?

Pumpkin Kutter commercial

Every year I buy a new set of these things (you kind of kill those little knives) and if it's one thing I've learned, it's that the scoopings always look particularly gross when you use the scooper. Mainly for the little shaving of the pumpkin sides. Looks like slimy carrot sticks and cheese shreds floating in seed puke.

The Magnus Effect

A recurring argument within the Transformers fandom is things like Blue Bluestreak, Transformers the movie in widescreen, and other various things. While such things as false memories can be spread easily and gain traction quickly (hey... I do remember that come to think of it) a lot of people believe in such things as the Mandela Effect creating such instances (Berenstein Bears... what do you mean Berenstain Bears?... wait what?). Now such things are usually be dismissed by people who'd rather say such things as 'Occam's Razor' instead of 'the simplest answer is usually the right one', which I guess is less words but non-the-less super duper pretentious. It's Halloween time, it isn't the time to be serious and super logical. It's a time to be spooked and laugh at yourself when the ice maker scares the crap out of you.

Look, they were the Berenstein Bears ok?

The Madella Effect is kinda spooky in theory and the idea of it can really get you thinking of various times in your life where you swear something was different than it is. My point is maybe there's plenty of these reality holes all throughout Transformers and we can't help but thinking these various things because maybe it really happened in a timeline we were previously in. Perhaps a good part of our current population is from an alternate reality that they were transported from when theirs was destroyed and because that's just the way it works. We are don't know any better as our perceptions of things have always been one way. I mean, when so many people swear they saw TFTM in theaters and it was in widescreen... there's got to be something to it. And when I mean something to it, I mean of course the most crazy thing possible and not something logical.

Mega Construx Heroes series 4

 

Just as I finally was able to track down series 3, series 4 should be arriving at my stores soon. I say should as series 2 and 3 took a bit of hunting. I've already seen online retailers pricing them around $16 each, which is a big nope as these things are generally $5-6 at standard retail. Though I am excited for them, or at least some of them. The big draw for me is the Masters of The Universe guys. I was a big fan of MOTU as a kid. The 2002 line didn't light much of a fire for me and while I think the current classics figures are super cool, mini figures like this is exactly what I want for updates of the characters. Though I'd really like to get the Super 7 ReAction versions, those are just neat.

The Terminator T-800 Endoskeleton is also a must have. He'll go with the other Terminator figures I've gotten quite nicely. As a Terminator fan, I'm mainly interested in parts 1-2 with T2 3D thrown in. The newer movies haven't grasped my interests as much as those two and these figures are really serving that specific want.  I may get Hellboy. Not sure about that one. I like the character, but have never been outright drawn to buy a toy of him. Kratos is cool, I've certainly enjoyed his games, but I'm not sure if I want a toy of him either. I wish I had any sort of enthusiasm for Assassins Creed, but I don't. It's clearly a popular series, but I've never been drawn to it.

I'm hoping with the timing of this series release, they'll be easy to find. Most online stores have them shipping in September, which makes a retail appearance realistically by October. I can see them in a stocking stuffer display at Target or Walmart and really hoping they aren't as challenging to find as series 2 and 3 was for me.

Magmar file card

Woolworth Halloween commercial (1978)

I can't say if I've ever gotten my Halloween costume at a Woolworth. I can assume some of the candy I got could have been from there, but can't say for certain. I don't specifically remember it, but my Mom did grab my Collegeville/Ben Cooper costume sometimes and surprise me with it when I was pretty young. So it could have been from a Woolworth. I didn't think to ask, just happy with the ultra cool Spider-Man costume. I did, however, do a few years at a Haunted House that was once a Woolworth store at some point. That's got to count for something, right?

What the heck did I do this weekend?

 

Honestly, not a whole lot. Though it did seem like quite a bit. Perspective is everything I assume, and I was tired when I got home so I say a lot. After sleeping off my work night, the wife and I went out for a bit of shopping Saturday. Normally we order our groceries and schedule a pick up time, but this week we decided to physically shop for them. We do this occasionally just to see what all new might be in the store. We also wanted to get out for awhile to look for new Halloween stock and with the short week from labor Day, we didn't feel like doing our normal order list throughout the week.

Friday, the wife stopped at Kroger and found the remaining Mega Construx Heroes series 3 figures I had been needing. So far I had only found the T-1000 and was starting to feel a bit hopeless on it. I know that's some strong working, but I really didn't want to order figures that I should be easily able to find. Partially because the price gets jacked up and second the availability isn't always there. So if you're like me (and you're reading this, so presumably so) it's a bummer to miss out on stuff sometimes. I've been really enjoying this series, not buying everything... but close to it. Series 4 (post regarding it coming soon) has some good looking options in it, so I'm hoping it's easier to find.

Saturday when we went out to see what all Halloween stuff might be out and do that grocery thing I talked about above, we stopped by Target and they had restocked the Cyberverse toys so I snapped up the Scout Starscream and Megatron. I'm enjoying these Scout class dudes (as I've said before and before and maybe again before) and they're easy enough to collect. Though, it is a hard pill to swallow them being $8 considering a Legend was $10. Though, the toy economy is always changing and as I always say, you gotta pay if you want to play. I'm looking forward to the crazy recolors in the future. That's the kind of thing that really makes these smaller toys fun.

I had mentioned Zombot Friday night and found one right off the bat in the Hot Wheel section at the same Target. He was so under my nose this entire time that he was just right there on the hook as I walked up. Weird. I got the blue one, looked as hard as I could for the red version, but that wasn't in the cards (he's a chase item). I also grabbed this rad x-ray truck, it just looked too cool to pass up. We bought more Halloween candy than we should and a stop by Kroger to peruse their Halloween merch left to a new blow mold to go with out others and then a disappointing trip to Home Goods. Starting to think that store sucks.

This left us with a quick lunch and a few hours at Walmart for groceries and their awesome Halloween section where we once again bought too much (and made of list to get next weekend) stuff. Walmart had the Evil Red Ranger figure I've been looking for the past few weeks and for that I was happy. Aside from hoping to get the Bullrider Megazord sooner or later, that's probably it from Ninja Steel for me. Just one more stepping stone towards Beast Morphers! The Evil Red Ranger was pretty cool to me as I thought the Ranger clone army from the 25th special was really neat. Not to mention, I'm mainly a fan of MMPR first, so a evil version of the Tyranno Ranger is right in my wheelhouse. Right in it. Nothing but net.

I won't bore you with what we got for groceries (ok fine, we got bacon for Sunday breakfast) but we pretty much did that before going home. We tend to spend our Saturday nights at home watching spooky stuff and try our best to relax on Sundays. Just to get that recharge in before the work week. Oh, and Sunday night the first episode of Transform Squadron went up. That's the new podcast of Zone Base. Yep, that's it. I plan to have one at least once a month. Hopefully you all like it!

Transform Squadron ep 1

Transform Squadron episode 1

From the files of Teletran 1, 2, 3, and more comes Transform Squadron: the podcast component of www.zonebase.org! Rob, something something awesome brings you a new podcast from the same train of thought!

This episode- After some introductions, Rob talks about the Dollar Tree Robots toy line! He then talks the Power Rangers 25th anniversary episode, the upcoming conclusion of Voltron Legendary Defender, and thoughts on new Transformers stuff! Robots/Monsters/Misadventure 

Back to the Future Ju-On edition

part 1 of 2

part 2 of 2

Not long ago, I posted footage of the special Halloween Horror Nights version of Terminator 2 3D at Universal Studios Japan. Not to be outdone, Sadako's rival Kayako from the Ju-On (The Grudge) series also took over the Back to the Future ride. Man, what a freaky ride show. Kayako was always more brutal and visually scary than Sadako and I'm sure having her right in your face like that was pretty nightmarish. I really enjoy both series, though sadly haven't seen the newer entries (including the vs movie). I need to fix that as Japanese horror is something I've always really liked and I'm a little ashamed to have ignored some of it's newer films considering how much I've enjoyed the older films.

The best things are often under your nose

I don't claim to know everything. There's a million of people on the internet who do, but I don't. It's just not plausible being a functioning adult to know every little thing, you can try, but it is what it is. For years I've been seeing images of this neat little robot dude and never knew anything about it. Just thought it was neat looking and assumed it was a part of some line or collection I wasn't paying attention too. I mean, this has been going on for years seeing this little robot dude who's in a variety of colors and a few sculpt variations. I've always though it looked neat, but like I said, just absent minded on it.

So earlier today (to you it was yesterday, but for me it was today), my curiosity finally got the best of me and I decided to look into this neat little robot dude. Well holy crap it's a Hot Wheels toy that's been in steady availability since the mid 80's. I've probably looked it over a million times somehow. I mean, as a kid I was a big fan of the Speed Demons line and he was part of that and I somehow never saw him until adulthood.

The car is named Zombot, but also known as Computer Warrior and Phantomachine in some instances. My mind is completely blown on this as like most kids I had a ton of Hot Wheels, but I was seriously into the Speed Demons line and still casually look at the cars when I'm in stores. Occasionally still buying some. They're just neat, you know?.

So this cool robot guy I've been noticing for YEARS has somehow slipped completely past me and I'm astounded. I'm not going to go crazy, but I'm definitely going to attempt to grab a few versions when I can. Considering the amount of loose Hot Wheels in boxes I see in various stores and shows, it shouldn't be too hard. Know how I just said those boxes of loose Hot Wheels? I always go through them and usually advise others too because often smaller Transformers and Gobots will end up in those and you can score some good finds usually cheap by just digging though them. I've done this so often that I've probably passed over a million Zombots doing so. I'm both amused and baffled by this.

R.E.V.

Plan well, win easy.

R.E.V. is the tactical officer of the Spy Changers and an advisor to Hot Shot. As smart as he is fast, R.E.V. never misses a detail. He can leap from one building to another with such ease that he looks as if he's flying. His main weapon is a shotgun.

Lupinranger vs Pataranger Switch game trailer

It's not getting released here, which is a shame because I could be that happy kid.

Hardees Halloween Fun Machine

Whoa...

GI JOE Mega Marines vs Mega Monsters commercial

So, I understand why the Joes would need bio armor to fight the Mega Monsters, but the APC seems a little overkill to me... You know, it is kinda rad to just roll up and shoot a monster with a giant cannon though. Carry on.

Battle Beast Former Saga

I don't make my fondness for Battle Beasts a mystery. Even of they weren't related to Transformers, I'd still love them dearly. What's not to love? Little animal dudes with cybernetic armor fighting it out using basic elemental powers in an eternal struggle of roshambo. It also doesn't hurt that they're great toys either. Thankfully for us Beastformer fans, Takara's latest Transformers Legends web comic includes the little fuzzy dudes beating the crap out of each other in good form.

Halloween trailer #2

This movie looks freaking amazing. I'm very, very, very glad to have the franchise put back on it's proper tracks. I wasn't a fan of the Rob Zombie movies and vastly prefer the first 3 movies as well as H20. I do enjoy 4-6, just not as much. 8 outright angered me and the remakes missed the mark. This returns the series to it's origins, and looking better so than how H20 did. I really like how they're skipping over all the sequels and this just resumes 40 years after the original. I do appreciate the Easter Eggs towards the other movies that I'm seeing in the trailer though. As a 40 year old franchise, there's no need to completely ignore the past 40 years, it just works better from a story telling stand point. There's been a fan theory floating around that Michael has a helper in this movie, which I don't mind. He's in his 60's. Sure, he's completely capable of moving around and doing all the stuff he does, but let's talk facts here. It was always a little bit of a reach that he was in such good shape after being an invalid for all those years, now he's been locked away for 40 years after getting the hell beat out of him at the end of the movie? Look, he's going to be feeling it. Either way, I love just how brutal this movie looks and can't wait to see it. I just hope it doesn't disappoint.

Ultra Halloween

「東京ドームシティ ウルトラハロウィンパーティ」2018年10月に東京ドームシティで開催！ハロウィンの仮装をしてパレードや撮影会を楽しもう！https://t.co/GIdbvAUVEJ#ハロウィン pic.twitter.com/rp1uio48yr

— 円谷プロダクション (@tsuburayaprod) September 5, 2018

Tokyo Dome City Ultra Halloween party held in Tokyo Dome City in October, 2018! Dress up for Halloween and enjoy a parade or a photo session! https://m-78.jp/news/post-4891/ #ハロウィン

Bladez instructions

Halloween SEGA racing

Dig through the ditches indeed! 

You know, for an almost 10 year old game... it still looks pretty ghoul... 

I mean good.

Pepsi is more than meets the eye!

I had completely forgotten about this commercial until seeing it again just now. I remember marveling how much the Coke machine looked like Soundwave. 

I swear it's just a coincidence that I prefer Pepsi!

What did I do over Labor Day Weekend?

 

Honestly, not a whole lot. I played Switch, watched TV and just relaxed. It's been something I've been needing to do as I haven't taken much time off this year, so some down time was certainly in need. Of note, news today came out that Beast Morphers will start airing in February! I was figuring March/April, so this is most welcome news! Also of note, Friday news came out that Bandai released an Evil Red Ranger figure to coincide with the 25th Anniversary Power Rangers episode last week. I've been on the lookout since, so hoping I find one soon. I guess for a what the heck I did this weekend post, this one was lame. But, I honestly didn't do much at all. So, bear with me as I get Zone Base back up to speed after a few days off.

The Pumpkin who couldn't Smile

I'll sneak a programing note into this here Halloween Horrorcon post. It's Labor Day weekend and between having company and needing a little R&R, I'll be taking a few days off from posting until after the holiday. Hope everyone ejoys the long weekend as well as this charming cartoon staring Annabelle from the Conjuring.