Masterforce English dub bumbers

While we're all enjoying the holiday break, why not take a few moments to enjoy the bumper segments for the Star TV/Omni/RTM1 version of Masterforce. That guy totally gets hoarse halfway through.

Even Godzilla loves a turkey dinner

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everyone out there is having a great holiday and enjoying a great dinner! I'm sure you all understand me taking a little break from regular posting for a few days as I'm enjoying the holiday break and getting some much needed rest. But don't you worry none, in just a few days the lights will go up and we can all celebrate Christmas for the next month together!

Dark of The Capsule Machine

Epoch makes some really great capsule/gashapon toys. Their Dareore Dark Side line is particularly neat to me. A line of skeleton robot guys with various series of accessory toys. The machine skull series seen above is really drawn my interest. In the vein of more recent 'head' capsule toys, the head itself is the capsule dispensed from the machine and the various parts are inside the shrink wrapped head. Once assembled, you get one of six (two mystery versions) types of piloted units. I was first made aware of these cool walkers in Microman groups as they're a good fit for your micros. Though the Dareore figures they're intended for are a perfect match.

Cool articulated little robotic skeletons. Man, I dig that chest armor so much. The multiple colors and weapons are wonderful. I love it when sci fi is blended with gothic horror. Love it. Just for good measure, check out the Magic Furniture set. They just need a spooky space castle now. It even has an exclusive body type in that batch.

Damn, that's awesome. I've often wished I had access to gashapon machines like they do in Japan and other countries. Occasionally a random comic shop will have one or two, but the best I can hope for is that the gumball machines in front of the grocery store has something cool in it. I watch a lot of videos of people hitting up the machines and while I'm extremely jealous, I'm also in extreme awe. There's stores full of just the machines and often even with rent-able lockers to display the toys you're willing to trade and lists of what you're looking for. If I had those stores here... man. You could be sure it would be a big topic here on the site. I'd probably make a big deal of it. I'd have at least 3 more followers on Instagram.

Kuntilanak (ghost) in an abandoned Indonesian house

Guess I just won't go exploring in any abandoned houses in Indonesia.

Nope.

Israeli Robots in Disg...that's G1

Wait. So... I was expecting 2001 Robots in Disguise footage in Hebrew and instead was given clips of G1 with... Axel F? That's kinda amazing. I'm not sure if the Israeli version of RID was just a repackaged G1 or if this was just some neat commercial package made for Fox Kids there. I tried finding some info on the wiki, but nope. I do have to say, I absolutely LOVE that logo.

The Simpsons (1991) Attract Mode

I wish I was at Designer Con

I've been watching Designer Con 2019 via Instagram posts from various other toy bloggers and indie groups I follow. Man it looks like such a good time. I'd love to go take in all the art, indie toys, and just love all the cool stuff. It's the Sunday night before Thanksgiving here, so I'm working to offset the holiday week a little (weird holiday hours come with the life of a night shift cnc programmer). Though looking at all these pictures of cool stuff makes it easier... and me a little envious.

Some of my favorites are there. The Godbeast, Spy Monkey, and a bunch of other Glyos guys. Not to mention great keshi and sofubi on display. It's probably a good thing I wasn't there, I'd go broke. A con like this is refreshing, because it's artists showing off their art and people that enjoy it. There's not the pissing contest that comes with all sorts of news from the con and various click bait sites trying to capitalize. Just a bunch of people who like the same kinda things. I dig that so freaking much.

Go! Transform!

Roadside ghost in India

Guess I won't drive down that road at night.

Neon Alien Syndrome

Great news, everyone. Earlier today news broke of upcoming Alien toys by Lanard! Lanard, best known as the makers of the Corps! line of action figures has been making some really great licensed toy lines. From Kong to Rampage, and now with Jumanji, Lanard has been really knocking it out of the park with their great toys at really low prices. This year I've been a big fan of their Primal Clash line of figures myself. They're just good toys at a great price despite the snorts of toy snobs online (how does that even happen?).

With this new Alien line, Lanard is following their formula of new sculpt monster packaged with reused Corps! figure molds. These toys are bright colored and neat looking. The sculpting of the Corps! figures with the colorful Aliens make me mentally think of various video games like Alien Syndrome by Sega or the Konami arcade game (among others). Not to mention by making the Xenomorphs colorful, they make me draw mental comparisons to recent Reaction figures and the classic Kenner line. I also like bright colors on toys and man just LOOK at that neon nightmare packaging.

So far details are scarce. They've been spotted on Smyths Toy Stores site and I sent Lanard an email this morning asking for any details they could give me. Usually Lanard action figures are exclusive to Walmart stores here in the US (for the past few years with a few exceptions here and there), so I already know where to look. I'm hoping they'll take the place of Jumanji toys and replace this years selection sometime after Christmas. As much as I loved Primal Clash, this would make one awesome replacement.

*edit* I just got a reply from Lanard,  the Alien toys will be in US Walmart stores shortly after Christmas with even more Alien product due halfway into the year.

Air Raiders of the Lost Waft

For a while there, toy's that required air pumps were all the rage. They're still around, sure, but there was a time when a puff of air was the next big thing. Air Raiders by Hasbro was a very short lived toy line that was fully centered around poofing air into things. A small scaled toy line, the air gimmick was centered around the vehicles and play set. With included air pumps you could do things like fire missiles or propel a vehicle across the ground.

Honestly, it's a pretty fun gimmick that worked well with well designed and neat looking toys. Though it's legacy is more focused on the figures themselves than the vehicles the gimmick was focused on. I know even back then, I loved taking the tiny figures on all sorts of adventures forgoing the air poofing all together. You could even buy multi packs of the figures on their own and I pretty much just wanted those.

The love for the figures has resulted in various homages on the indie toy scene. Most recently a Designer Con exclusive set by Warlords of War. Warlords of War make really good figures based on the Glyos System and share parts with Battle Tribes, a line I really like. So it probably goes without saying that I'm jealous of those lucky enough to snag a set.

Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare

Color Changing Mayhem

I love the G2 Transformers toy. When I say that, I mean the gimmick heavy robot figures. There was a charm about the basic robot toy that went with such things as water squirting action, or rotor shooting guns. I would say they don't make them like that anymore, but they do and I talk about it often. Still, I buy regular modern TF's too and wish these guys were homaged as much as other eras. There's an occasional bone thrown here and there. I get it, it's business and they'd rather go with safe bets. I'm not a gambler, I'd go with a safe bet. Just man, how can you not look at these guys and just want more of that?

Ninjor likes to kick it

I'll never be a ninja. Mainly because I'm 41. Sure I've still got a lot of life to go... but there's a window for learning somethings and I'm pretty sure the life of a middle aged cnc programmer doesn't line up to that skill set. Ninjor is a ninja though. An evil ninja, who has all the cool weapons from that glass case at the gas station. The one by the cash register that has knives, dragon ash trays, and that one stuffed tie dye bear they all seem to have.

Ninjor is 100% the awesome ninja that has graced your favorite t-shirt and is probably exactly what you want to be for Halloween. The perfect evil doer to join the ranks of Skeletor in his quest to master the universe. Man... thanks to release timing, they liked to pair him off against Clamp Champ. Clamp Champ is a fine heroic warrior who worked with He-Man quite a bit in the mini-comics and magazine. Though... his special ability was a clamp (it's in his name). Pretty sure he's loosing in a fight against a ninja.

Godzilla Collection from Kidrobot Out Now!

Godzilla officially kicked off the 65^th anniversary earlier this month, but if you ask him about retirement, you’re likely to get blasted with radioactive flames – because Godzilla is having busiest year ever. After making a historic debut at San Diego Comic Con this year, Toho Studios has partnered with Kidrobot to introduce an atomic-sized Godzilla capsule that celebrates the King of the Monsters 65^th year on our planet. 

The atomic-sized Godzilla capsule includes two 8-inch art figures, one plush, one flat-billed hat, a bomber jacket, and a festive Godzilla City-Destroyer holiday sweater, all in celebration of the iconic lizard’s 65^th birthday. 

AVAILABLE NOW! 

Special Thanks to Rogers & Cowan for providing Zone Base readers with this news!

Ultra Noodles!

Mego Man

I was already looking forward to Toylanta as is, but earlier today they announced that Marty Abrams would be at the show this year! Though Marty won't be alone, also with him will be Joel Rosenweig and Dr. Mego! Basically Mego will be at the show and even have stuff for sale! Last year's Kenner design team panel was a big highlight for me and the cool stories bound to come from these guy's has to be great. I really want some insight on the process of bringing Microman over as Micronauts as well the Mad Monster line. This is just great news all around.

Do what with Kong?

I have never considered this as a possibility.

I'd make a more clever title, but crap Webdiver is 18 years old

There's specific times that make you realize more time has passed than you realized. Earlier I was thinking about 2001 and going crazy for Robots In Disguise toys. A lot of us were, except for those who had already gotten most of the line earlier by importing them. It was around that time Takara released Webdiver. Another transforming robot line with cartoon that was pretty similar to Transformers, like they did with Brave. I don't think it was very popular in Japan as there wasn't anymore series after the original. Or maybe putting the resources into other projects kept any more Webdiver from being released. Sadly, it was one and done.

That being said, it was pretty popular around the Transformers world. Not hugely popular, but maybe on a underground/cult level. Lot's of those TF fans who already had most of the RID stuff from importing seemed to latch onto it, as well as a good bit of general Transformers and robot toy fans. It was just a cool line. Great transforming robot toys and the video game gimmick was years ahead of it's time. I've only got two figures, in hindsight I should have gotten more. For awhile there you could get them for a song. These days not so much, but it was 18 years ago I suppose.

Ghost in airplane

Guess it was Spirit Airlines.

Transformers X Nezha

I've been watching this line develop as much as I could since it was announced. A Chinese exclusive Transformers series, Transformers X Nezha will be a cartoon and toy line for the Chinese market involving Chinese mythology. Details have been pretty scarce. Mainly getting a 'it's coming' blurb occasionally without anything really concrete. Honestly I had assumed it would be mainly a new cartoon involving current Transformers toys in a new setting. Today images of the toys were leaked out and I can't lie. I'm interested.

The image above doesn't reflect the line as a whole. There could be all sorts of size classes and such. Right now all we have is a fuzzy picture of what looks like a 3 pack of Legend/Legion scale figures. My affinity for this size class isn't a secret, nor is my fondness for the more unique things that happen in Transformers. I've been wanting Terracotta Army Transformers forever, and while this isn't the same thing, it's close. That traditional old world Chinese armor looks GREAT and really lends itself to Transformers design. Optimus Prime is a Samurai, Megatron a Sphinx. Ancient Chinese armor? Perfect.

I hope these aren't to hard or expensive to get, as I want some. I'm not saying I plan on going whole hog or anything, but definitely want a few and plan to pay attention to this. It's neat, it's cool, and it's different. Seeing as Tu Xingsun looks to be using the Prime Knock Out legion/legend class mold to some extent... and I'm seeing other familiar parts on the other two... I wonder how many original toys will be produced for this series vs remolds and recolors. Either way, I like this.

Godzilla sings the blues

Nothing like a nice evening at home with the family after a long hard day.

If all your friends were jumping of a cliff...

Images of the new Earthrise Cliffjumper toy surfaced earlier today and man does he look sharp. I really like the inclusion of his overcompensation cannon. I always dug that from the cartoon (where did he even keep that thing?) and they did a really good job recreating that classic look. I've always liked that red on black deco and his squat robot form.

His car mode looks really nice. It's not a toy car like his G1 toy turned into, but that's not really a big deal. I don't think any of the Mini-Cars kept that aesthetic after the original molds. Not to mention, despite being a homage, it's still not the original toy. So seriously. Cliffjumper's a deluxe, and a smaller figure than other deluxes which is kinda a bummer since he's still going to cost the same deluxe price. Though I guess scale accurate folks will like that. His overcompensation cannon probably makes up for some of that in the overall cost.

I'm really glad to get a pretty accurate Cliffjumper. They've generally made steps to make him different in more recent toys and that's cool, but with the obvious classic-ness of the WFC toys, duh. I've always been pretty fond of the Mini-Cars and whenever they do a new version of them, I'm usually all over it. Looking forward to the various conversations over him in the Microman groups.

Crystar has the power of being see through

It's a little weird how Crystar went from a short lived fantasy themed toy line to Danzig. Though that story has been told countless times on the internet, I'm here for the Crystal Warrior himself. Crystar was a creation of Marvel comics realized into toys by Remco. I usually make a joke about how most fantasy toy lines are walking heavy metal album covers and use left over Halloween decorations. Aside from the whole Danzig thing, that's a pretty good description of the Crystar story line. And I quote directly from Wikipedia.

Years ago, The Demon Lord sent his demon armies to conquer the world of Crystalium. The King of Crystalium led the fight against the Demon Lord in the Chaos War, but he was killed during the war. The forces of Order then sent the wizard Ogeode and the Prisma-Crystal to drive away The Demon Lord's minions and the forces of Chaos. In his defeat, the Demon Lord made the "Prophecy of Chaos", that he would one day send another of his servants to divide the planet against itself and bring ruin to all. 

After the end of the Chaos War, the wizards Ogeode and Zardeth visited two princes, the brothers Crystar and Moltar, who had to decide whether their people would ally with Chaos or Order. Crystar chose Order and its champion Ogeode. As Moltar considered Chaos, their uncle Feldspar tried to convince him that Chaos was evil. Moltar, feeling that his uncle had always favored Crystar, became enraged and fought Crystar, injuring Feldspar in the process. Leaving them for dead, Moltar led his followers to the Fountain of Fire to find the wizard Zardeth and ally with Chaos. 

Ogeode saves Crystar's life by merging him with the great Prisma-Crystal, rendering the prince's body into crystalline form. Similarly, at the Fountain of Fire, Zardeth magically transforms Moltar and his followers with the power of lava. Moltar and his Magma Men then attempt to conquer the city of Galax. Crystar and his warriors, feeling that flesh and blood would prove ineffective against the transformed armies of Moltar, selected an elite group to be transformed into crystal form like Crystar: Koth, Stalax, and Kalibar.

Disney Plus Fox Kids X-Men

Disney+ rolled out today and boy are my arms tired. Despite some difficulty this morning getting it working (that's bound to happen at any launch), we've got it up and running. So far it's a pretty great service chock full of great content. I'm looking forward to the Star Wars stuff, and I plan on watching The Mandalorian in the morning assuming I'm not a complete zombie. While checking it out this afternoon before work I was pretty happy to see the animated Marvel shows available. Watched about 15 minutes of Fox Kids X-Men before looking for Mr. Boogedy. I'm pretty happy with it so far and plan to put some hours into the classic Disney catalog. This is just perfect.

Avalanche!

Dang, anybody else think they weren't going to get there in time? They were in that tunnel FOREVER.

Zemmix MSX console

MSX seemed much more exotic that it was when I was a kid. A computer standard popular in Japan and other countries, MSX seemed like gaming wonderland thanks to games magazines of the time. Like other popular with gamers home computers of the time, there was console versions that could be converted into into full versions of said home computer. I guess it was really just a budget friendly way to slide into a system.

I kind of miss those days. Sure now I can grab a cheapo PC at Walmart for a few hundred dollars... or even a basic tablet for under a hundred and cover my basic home needs for a computer. Then it was the wild west and convincing Dad I wasn't just going to play games on it was... aside from the occasional school project I was just going to play games on it. But Dad, that occasional school project...

Humanoid Thing

A newer phenomena has been sightings of these white humanoid creatures. Reports have been coming in from all over on various groups/forums. There is some caught on tape footage, like the video above. The videos could be faked admittedly, but with the abundance of sightings, it's pretty weird.

Ooh baby, do you know what a tickets worth? Ooh, Metrobase is a place on Earth.

A little over a year ago, I talked about the Transformers Land planned for Universal Studios in Beijing China. So earlier in October the same blog covered the park more in another post that I somehow missed during all the Halloween hoopla. I know this falls under the rumors category, but seriously, these guys are always right. Like, they cover all their bases and even address when things change. It's really neat. So more information regarding the Transformers Land below and I quote:

This new land has a clone of the Hulk coaster found at Islands of Adventure. Plus it will feature another Transformers: The Ride found at other Universal Parks. From the press release:

An expanded story was specifically developed for the character Metrobase, who is a Titan, a robot the size of a city. In conjunction with top Chinese scientists, Metrobase selected this Energon rich site just outside the city of Beijing to serve as the N.E.S.T. Beijing headquarters– a top-secret, technologically-advanced zone where an alliance between humans and Autobots developed to protect the Earth. The land is filled with Cybertronian architecture and advanced technology that creates an immersive experience that brings “guest agents” into the world of Transformers like never before.

 So the setting for the land is a movie version of Metrobase. A kinda obscure Metroplex repaint mostly appearing in Japanese manga. Who now serves as the setting for a theme park area. Neat.

That's amazingly out of left field. I can't help but to speculate on the merchandising potential for this. I imagine the Supply Vault store would have plenty of Evac and the new Studio Series Megatron toys on hand, but wouldn't a Metrobase repaint of the Generations Metroplex be nuts? If you've ever been in a Supply Vault at Universal Studios, you know they're not shying away from big ticket items. Something like that would drive a specific section of the fan base nuts (like me).

Armor Bros. The Lost Levels

I knew Takara would hit the ground running with Cyberverse.

Something Spooky in the woods

Yeah, staying out of the woods from now on.

An Animated Happy Meal toy

I kinda wish I had gotten more of the Transformers Animated Happy Meal toys when they were out. I got a few, but not all. They were probably the last of the transforming kids meal toys available, and not too badly done either. Not that I've minded the non-transforming ones much. Just, it was nice to get a fully functional Transformers with those tiny boxes of fries and baggie of mutant apples.

Ninja Ryukenden/Ninja Gaiden PC Engine

Giant Wolf attacks dog

Guess I'll never go in the woods again.

Dang, that's neat

サイバーバース：1ステップチェンジャー2020年向け商品の店頭発見報告。なぜかシリーズロゴが2種確認。
https://t.co/xvP2dxExDA pic.twitter.com/T1ufuQ8pDX

— オートベース愛知 (@autobase_aichi) November 6, 2019

Cyberverse: A one-step changer 2020 product discovery report. For some reason, two series logos have been confirmed. http://snakas.blog95.fc2.com/blog-entry-734

スーパー7製「リ・アクション」トランスフォーマーシリーズ第一弾商品画像 https://t.co/IaHXIsosZR pic.twitter.com/z6CsIjwiK6

— オートベース愛知 (@autobase_aichi) November 6, 2019

Super 7 “Re-Action” Transformers series first product image http://snakas.blog95.fc2.com/blog-entry-734

Gamera, it's about time for you to have an adventure

I was thinking about old 90's CD ROM games and how they seemed like the wave of the future back then. There was a charm to them, and just adding the CD to anything's name made it badass by default. The Playdia by Bandai never got a release outside Japan. It was a CD ROM game system that was heavy on the FMV style games aimed more towards a younger crowd. Though I could see myself having fun with it at the time. For example, I would have loved this Gamera game.

Transform Squadron 15- Ugly Friend

LISTEN HERE

This month Rob discusses Godzilla turning 65, Madballs at Sonic restaurants, Transformers bag clip figures at Dollar Tree, and Botbots. Clearly life-changing material.

Super 7 is gangsta

You can keep your MP's, I want the crap outta these.

woke up dead

I'm pretty damned excited for the new Ghostbusters next summer. Fortunately there's been the excellent Playmobil Ghostbusters and Ectoplasm Mystery Tube toys to keep me busy. I've been hoping the less than stellar results of the 2016 movie don't spoil any companies from producing tie in merchandise. I had so much fun that summer buying things like Ghostbusters marshmallows and the various merchandise.

Just living up something that I love that generally doesn't get a ton of attention, you know? Here's hoping that good time happens again. This video? Oh, that's for an attraction at the

Laguna Ten Bosch Lagunasia amusement complex that tied into the 2016 movie. Looks fun huh? I love light gun games.

Pro Wrasslin

I often find myself wishing for a sequel to this amazing game. Spiritually, the Fire Pro Wrestling games are follow ups as the programmer went on to work on those. Though there's no official sequel. I want to see what happened to the gang and what all new roster came into the promotion. It's pretty important that I find out.

Transformers: VR Battle Arena

News broke earlier today of a new Transformers VR game. I'm pretty excited for this, even though I haven't had a chance to play the SEGA TF arcade games yet. A new Dave and Buster's has opened closer giving me a better opportunity to play those as well as this when it's released. So now it wouldn't be an all day thing to make it somewhere that has them, instead maybe an hour drive. Much more doable.

According to what information is available, it will be a 4 player battle arena type game. It's still early, so details are scarce other than news site click bait fluff. Hoping it's more than bots vs bots, I'd love more mission based gameplay. Which is what the SEGA arcade games offer, though they're light gun games (which I love) in cabinets that are pretty close to a simulator type experience (some units more than others depending on the facility you play them at). A full VR experience in mission based combat would be great, but I'll take what I can get.

I do like that the game seems to be using the evergreen designs, which is basically a modern G1. You can't realistically expect 80's vehicle modes in a modern day setting, so the updates work well. Not to mention, I just think they look good. Hopefully the game makes it to my local Dave and Busters so I can give it a try. Also hope they don't clear out those SEGA arcade games before I can make it there. Adulting can be hard, yo.

Mummy Dearest

Man, it sure is Monday.

Charge that battle!

The Battlechargers had such a great commercial, it's a shame that there's so many low quality copies of it around. Fortunately I stumbled across this great upload and can relish in that original animation without a bunch of squiggly lines. I've always favored the animation made for the commercials, especially after new episodes of the show ended.

Shadow Dancer, dancer for SEGA

I'm admittedly taking it a little easy after the seasonal change. But I can't relax when there's ninja business to be doing. Shadow Dancer is one of the more popular Shinobi games, and for good reason. Most Shinobi games are pretty dang good as is, but adding that pet dog to the mix made for a great game. SEGA games have a loose enough continuity as is and Shadow Dancer adds to it. Arcade wise, it's the second Shinobi game. Home console wise, the third. Look, confusing the enemy is part of ninja business.

Godzilla's 65th Anniversary Celebrated by Takashi Murakami with Monstrous Original Artwork

©Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.

TM&©TOHO CO., LTD.

This Sunday, November 3^rd is Godzilla’s 65^th Anniversary! 

To celebrate Takashi Murakami has created an amazing new piece of art, which you can see in the link below. 

Godzilla will be at ComplexCon this weekend in Long Beach, with exclusive merch including some lines based on Murakami’s art, so if you’re around (or have another writer who is) please stop by!

Thanks to Rogers & Cowan for providing Zone Base readers with this news!