Super Street Fighter II Ken Stage Diorama [Console Heroes/SEGA Genesis]

A little while back, I was very pleasantly surprised to discover the Console Heroes line at my local Target. Not only because the line itself is amazingly cool, but also because it was nice to discover something out in the wild. Console Heroes (so far) is a neat line of little retro gaming dioramas, with the current SEGA Genesis series obviously based on my beloved SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive.

The Mrs. saw my excitement, and I was very happy to find almost the entire series under the tree on Christmas morning. The remaining one was bought shortly after, and we’re about to spend the next few weeks looking at Series One here on our random Wednesdays.

The first set we’re looking at is the Super Street Fighter II Ken Stage Diorama, which is currently the only third-party game represented in the series. This is the standard diorama set, which comes as a replica cartridge that opens clamshell-style to reveal sculpted scenery and pegs for the included figures and accessories.

Since it’s Ken’s stage, it’s obviously a diorama depicting… KEN’S STAGE! Usually, Ken was the first World Warrior you’d face in a one-player game, and his theme is one of the songs most associated with Street Fighter. So this is a pretty obvious choice.

The set’s accessories include a barrel and four of those concrete dock things that sit in the corners. I think they’re called pilings, but I’m totally not sure. Also included is a clear stand-up doohickey and a HADOKEN fireball, which can be used together to position the HADOKEN dramatically in mid-air.

Why would there dramatically be a HADOKEN in the air?

Because the two figures included to round out the set are Ken Masters vs. Ryu! These nicely sculpted figures plug firmly into the base, with Ken blocking the HADOKEN that Ryu is firing at his longtime rival/bestie. The figures and accessories can be plugged into multiple ports across the base, letting you arrange the fight however you like.

Last—but not least—is one more accessory: a life bar that attaches to the top of the diorama.

This is one neat little toy, and I’m really happy to have it. The cartridge looks very much like a classic Genesis cart, albeit a little larger. Even the box resembles classic Genesis packaging. The whole series is great and feels like a giant high five to those of us who still love our Genesis/Mega Drives.

I was a big Street Fighter II fan back in the day and still love it now. Like many of you, I’m looking forward to the new movie and have been enjoying the awesome Japanese McDonald’s commercials tied into the crossover promotion.

Round one—we win.

Fisitron [Age of the Primes / Wreck ’N Doom Collection]

Back in the day, Ironfist was a bit of a Mandela Effect for many Transformers fans. He was released late in G1 in European markets, in that gray area between G1 and G2 often called G1.5 by many fans. Like many other G1.5 toys, he was also released in G2. This tends to be confusing, as everything is pretty identical and G1.5 toys are often lumped into G2. To be fair, it is a bit confusing.

Adding to his Mandela Effect–ness, he’s often been confused for an Ironhide toy. This is due to the fact that the Generation 2 Power Master Ironhide toy has a similar alt mode, and obviously the names are similar as well. At some point he was redubbed Fisitron. This cuts down on the confusion—not only is it similar to Ironhide, but there’s also a Marvel superhero named Iron Fist. Fortunately, that one doesn’t have an alt mode.

Fisitron comes in a 2-pack with Carnivac (we’ll be looking at him a little later) as part of the Amazon-exclusive Wreck ’N Doom Collection. The name plays up Fisitron’s role in Last Stand of the Wreckers. This 2-pack was one of my Christmas gifts from the Mrs. this past year, and I was pretty excited to get it.

Fisitron hadn’t really appeared in any official Transformers fiction outside of a toy bio until around 2010, when he showed up in both IDW’s The Last Stand of the Wreckers and Fun Publications’ Wings Universe stories. He’s got two distinctly different personalities in each, though I tend to favor the Wings Universe incarnation. I’m a cartoon guy, and the G1 cartoon is my preferred fiction for these GeeWun bots; Wings Universe is set in an alternate version of the classic cartoon.

Not to mention, he’s a gun nut there, and I absolutely cannot not associate Fisitron with Doom Guy / Doom Slayer due to his appearance in this toy. The Wreck ’N Doom Collection name doesn’t hurt either, as you’re all well aware I enjoy playing Doom for hours on end. For what it’s worth, it’s hard not to love Fisitron in Last Stand of the Wreckers as well—I’m just more of a cartoon guy.

Fisitron is a pretty extensive retool of the Legacy: Evolution Detritus toy we looked at a little while back. I enjoyed that figure quite a bit, but I can honestly say I like Fisitron a whole lot better. The new parts really upgrade the mold for the better. I’ll be focusing on Fisitron in this post and his differences, so feel free to check out my take on Detritus in his post.

This version of Fisitron is a combination of his different designs. There’s a mix of the G1/G2 toy along with his IDW and Wings Universe looks. It makes for one attractive toy, though I do find his mostly gray alt mode funny, as it resembles that G2 Ironhide a bit. It never ends.

Fisitron has a new head that, of course, resembles him instead of Detritus. Most notable are the new roof and windshield areas, which cleverly change a Jeep into an armored truck. Is that called a canopy? I have no clue. If I were an influencer, I’d say “let me know in the comments” (cringe).

Speaking of that vehicle roof area (maybe it is a canopy, who knows), they’ve added some new parts that are removable and can be used in robot mode.

Those parts resemble the original Ironfist’s Lightformer gear when in vehicle mode. Unfortunately, they don’t form a cannon like the original does, but I appreciate the effort. The parts can be removed from the roof (can we call it a canopy?) and used in robot mode. Well, the laser gun can, obviously. But also the round dish-like thing—whatever the hell it’s supposed to be—can be removed and used as a shield if one so chooses.

The other portion remains as a backpack, which is where I chose to leave mine’s dish-like thing in this post’s pictures. It never occurred to me that it could be a shield; you don’t have to let me know in the comments. The laser makes for a nice rifle, with a bright yellow that contrasts nicely against Fisitron’s grays, blues, and copper colors.

I really like this toy—more than I thought I would going in. Detritus was already a good toy, making a solid base for the new parts to improve on. It’s like that extra pass over the mold provided room for improvement. Not to mention, Fisitron just looks sharp.

It’s a great-looking figure of a formerly obscure character who, despite a little time in the limelight, seems to be slipping back into obscurity. Hopefully this great figure inspires future uses of him in Transformers media.

Still Here

Another weekend has sadly come and gone bringing the start of another work week. Fortunately, Zone Base is here to save the day with robots, monsters, and misadventure! I sure have a fun week in store for you all, but first let me catch you up on my weekend. Well, first off, I hope yours was great. Mine was a nice and relaxing spent mostly at home. It was actually pretty rainy and a tornado even popped up Saturday afternoon. Winter in the American South can be tumultuous. It gets very cold, but storms roll in occasionally bringing humidity and creating all sorts of chaos.

I went out briefly for a few things needed outside of our grocery order and man, it was crazy out there. Too many people for me at the moment, with lots of folks just standing in the way. Good grief! As far as toys go, Target was pretty barren. Being just weeks after Christmas, it's going to be that way for awhile, but it's always jarring. I've been on the hunt for a Big Convoy and Quickstrike (in addition to Combaticons and Primes) and it's disappointing to come up enpty handed. They had a Razorclaw who is the case mate of Big Convoy, so they did have him at one point. I picked Razorclaw already, so the hunt continues! I didn't walk away empty handed this weekend, as Yolopark's mini wave 2 is on the way! I've been meaning to order them already, so it'll be good to finally get my hands on them.

For whatever reason, my temperment wasn't there for video games this weekend. It seems like everything I tried to play felt like a struggle. It didn't help that I'm stuck in a few different games that I've been playing. Oh well, it just goes that way sometimes. However, I had fun with the Mrs opening my new Blokees that came in during the week. I had ordered Defender Version series 04 and 05 with some Christmas money (as well as the Unicron head) and it was fun seeing who all I got. We generally do this together as even though Transformers aren't her thing, she has fun opening blind boxes. We opened them while watching The Twilight Zone movie. 

A new season of 1000lbs Sisters started and we enjoyed the premiere during one amazingly good dinner. It was my cheat meal of the week and we had Steak and Shake! Speaking of dinner, the Mrs made an excellent Sunday dinner that I enjoyed while building more Blokees! I assembled Classic Class 07 Movie Megatron and that Unicron head! I've got quite the backlog that's fun to work on! To be honest with you all, with the way toy prices are going, models might be the main focus of my buying going forward. That's not to say I still don't want regular Transformers. But distribution and rising costs are not making it an easy hobby. So while I'll definitely still be buying regular Transformers, frequency might slow down a little. It's a good thing the universe has been steering my focus towards various model kits anyway. I've built models on and off my entire life. So it's just another day for me. 

Speaking of Transformers I want to buy at stores, Tiny Turbo Changers have returned! I've got the codes for wave 1 ready for packs to appear... now if they'd just appear. Currently they're repaints of the Cyberverse figures from years ago. Seeing that the last waves were impossible to find and I loved them so anyway, no problem! Here's hoping new molds do appear. According to online leaks, there's more Cyberworld on the way as well. I'm chomping at the bit for more Cyber Changers, so here's hoping it's not a long wait.  Generations may be making itself difficult to buy, but thankful there's other retail lines that I've had no problem getting!

In addition to Transformers, I've been on look for a Donatello for my TMNT x Godzilla figures. He's the only one of the set I haven't gotten yet, and when I do, you can be sure to see all 4 covered here on those weird, random Wednesday posts! Speaking of Wednesday posts, starting this week is the first of a cool 5 part series on a neat line I discovered shortly before Christmas. One that Santa surprised me with under the tree! Hope you all are ready for some Blast Processing! 

Before I end this  week's weekly update, about those bootleg Micromasters I spoke about last week. The correct assortment came and they were marvelous! I got a box of 40 Micromasters that despite being unofficial, are really cool! Coming in a variety of wild colors, there was some straight recolors of existing toys, and a lot of original creations using Micromaster skeletons. As in, they made ones with new vehicle bits! New Micromasters! There's a few mystery bots as well, some tiny transforming bots from a line I don't recognize as well as some Hot Wheel bootlegs. Funnily, they bootleged some of the Speed Demons series. That was a line of monster Hot Wheels I loved as a kid and occasionally pick up still. So  those few in my crazy case of bootleg Micromasters were a welcome site. The Micromasters are available on Amazon, but be careful if you buy them. The sellers offer different sizes for different costs. They mistakenly sent me the 16 count case... and those were not Micromasters! It looks like the 40ct will get you the set I got. They're also available in a 28ct Valentines set. I'm not familiar with the cost, but you get 28 Micromasters with Valentines cards. Pretty neat!

Well, I've apparently written a novel this week. I guess after a few weeks of brief updates there was a lot to say. Thank you all for reading Zone Base. You'd never know it from social media, but THOUSANDS of you show up each day to read my thoughts on robots, monsters, and misadventure. That's extremely flattering and it means a lot to me. Thank you all so very much. I don't plan to make the biggest deal about the sites 10th anniversary, but starting the 10th year with all you reading feels amazing. Thank you. Please share the site with your friends and be excellent to one another. 

IDW Optimus Prime [Galaxy Version 06 – Parallel Universe]

What is Megatron without Optimus Prime? Also in that Galaxy Version 06 – Parallel Universe case I bought a bit back was an IDW Optimus Prime, naturally. Optimus represents his Cybertronian form as seen in the IDW Transformers: Stormbringer comics. To be completely honest, I never paid this design much attention back then. No real reason — I guess my mind just glazed over it. However, when assembling this kit, I found myself appreciating it quite a lot.

This is another one of those Blokees Galaxy Version kits that feels a little more deluxe than the others. There’s even a chase version of it as Orion Pax that looks spectacular as well, but there’s really no beating a good Optimus Prime, and that’s exactly what we’ve got here.

Optimus looks pretty stocky, which is funny since he’s not the squared-up version we’re used to thanks to his Earth-based designs. Actually, pre-Earth designs for him are usually extra stocky or at least adjacent to his traditional look. This one feels like it stepped straight out of a mecha shooter game. I could totally see him in something like Virtual On. Actually, does anyone remember that SNES Generation 2 game that got cancelled? Obviously he would’ve looked more traditional in that, but a design like this would have been amazing in something like that.

I’m pretty fond of his forearm blasters — come to think of it, I think I always like forearm weapons. They just look cool, you know? Optimus also has twin blasters mounted on his back, which look super cool as well. They create a nice parallel to his smokestacks in more traditional designs.

I know it’s just the standard mix of red, blue, and gray with some yellow highlights, but the classic Optimus Prime colors really pop on this design. They’re a little brighter and give him an almost electric look. Optimus has a variation of his Ion Blaster, which may be intended as a different rifle, but it’s what I associate with him by default. It’s a pretty rad-looking gun, and honestly, Optimus looks pretty hardcore. You know — for a pacifist… he’ll absolutely kill the shit out of something.

Of course, he’s got the standard set of Galaxy Version hands and the display stand. Like Megatron, he also came with a pew-pew blast effect that I didn’t include in the photos. I actually took the pictures and noticed it sitting off to the side afterward. I know some folks really like those effects, but I’m admittedly a little indifferent.

This is just a really sharp-looking Optimus Prime once you’ve got him assembled. Galaxy Version, being a blind box series, really benefits from all these alternate takes on familiar characters. Someone like Optimus has had a million different forms over the years, and that could get boring in a regular toy line — but it’s fun here. The design looks great, and in Blokees’ signature style it really shines. It’s a solid Super Robot look — a mix of tech and ornamental design that just works for me, man.