It's time to start a new week of robots, monsters, and misadventures here on Zone Base! I hope everyone had a great weekend! Pumpkin Spiced Mayhem 2026 is chugging along nicely, with the fun just getting started. We still have two more months!
It's still August, which means there's plenty of fun ghost stories coming out of some Asian regions. Zone Base gets a lot of its readership from those areas, and I not only appreciate my friends from that side of the world supporting the site (thanks, guys!), but really enjoy their ghost season. As usual, I've been partaking in the various podcasts and videos from those areas and enjoying the spooky stories.
Japanese car camping videos are also a guilty pleasure of mine, and so many of them have been "Horror Camping" during the month. It's been fun watching people find themselves in scary situations while cooking ramen noodles in the back of their cars.
Me? I've been busy getting my new place arranged. Being a graveyard-shift CNC programmer means I work some odd hours, so a lot of tasks like arranging shelves tend to wait until the weekend, and even then they have to wait until after everything else gets done. I'm setting up my new desk space inside the house while simultaneously organizing the storage space where the bulk of my toys are. Eventually it'll be nice, but right now it's just poorly organized chaos.
You know, I never think I have a lot of toys until it's time to move. Then I just stare at the boxes like I'm in that warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Transformers- It seems we're not done talking about Jada Metalfigs or blind boxes, as Jada Transformers Nano Metalfigs and Nano Rides have been spotted for sale individually in blind bags. Just when I was lamenting the glory days of individual Nano Metalfigs, they return! Hopefully they'll make an appearance at my stores soon!
Target has recently been expanding its blind box section, while Five Below, which has always been a good source for them, has started putting an even bigger emphasis on blind boxes as well. Hopefully the bags will pop up there soon, as I'd love to get some gatcha of my favorite characters!
A new Godzilla x Transformers collaboration also seems to be in the works, as listings for two figures have surfaced recently. Obviously, this is in part due to the upcoming releases of Godzilla Minus Zero and Godzilla Supernova. Part of me wonders if they're rereleases of the Takara ones from last year. Hopefully they're all new and... not a struggle to get.
A Target exclusive 30" Optimus Prime figure was shown off in conjunction with a Target end cap tied to the 40th Anniversary showing of TFTM next month. Here's hoping they don't vanish before I can get one. I'm looking forward to attending a showing of the movie and a trip to Target afterwards sounds awesome!
Blokees- The new Wheels Motormaster truck and trailer kit was shown off and I definitely want it. I would have never thought Wheels would be something I enjoy so much, but it is and I love these trailer sets.
Godzilla- Speaking of Godzilla, the new Godzilla x Hello Kitty collaboration Happy Meals have launched at McDonald's and they're pretty great! The toys are figurines of various Sanrio characters dressed as Godzilla and his fellow monsters. Kaiju fans are practically stalking their local McDonald's, just like with the Changeables from February. I'm going to spend some cheat meals with Ronald! Hopefully I get Rodan/Badtz-Maru!
Power Rangers- The MMPR Re-Ignition Dragonzord has been a hot topic lately. Like many of you, I felt his absence last year while completing the Re-Ignition Dino Megazord and was pleased, if not a little perplexed, to see Playmates offer it through a Kickstarter. I pledged right away on launch day, as I definitely need him to go along with my set. The base toy comes with a mini Green Ranger to boot, and there are plenty of add-ons and additional packages available when you pledge. Here's hoping he meets the goal!
The Re-Ignition Thunder Megazord is also now showing up on store shelves, and I'm looking forward to building it. The Thunder Megazord has always been a favorite of mine. Hopefully the blind box MMPR minis will show up soon, too. I really want those.
Man, blind boxes are all over this week's update.
The Weekend (written from my phone Monday morning)- It was a pretty low key weekend with not much going on. I hit a few McDonald's trying to get some of the Godzilla x Hello Kitty toys and got Rodan and Godzilla. Hopefully I can get more, my local stores aren't great and have some pretty terrible customer service, so these things can be tricky. A stop by Gamestop resulted in me finally getting some Godziburst figures and Godzilla Scramble eggs. I picked up 2 of each with plans to get more. I got the cupcake and Jet Jaguar Godzilla toys in the eggs. In Godziburst I picked up Plasma Space Godzilla and Formula Type 3 Kiryu. At Walmart, I grabbed 2 more Transformers Blokees Galaxy Version blind boxes from the Transformers One wave 2 case... and got Elita-1 and Starscream again... ugh. CVS sent me a great coupon for a metalic poster print that combined with rewards points was free. I've now got a great poster of the site badge (mobile readers, check out the desktop version!) and thanks to a slight scuff on the first print, got two! The scuffed one will go in the storage space as it gets organized. A little later after I originally wrote this, my mom stopped by and gave me a Wold Cup x Transformers Breakaway she had purchased on clearance. You know, I'm not a sports guy, but he's kinda neat!
I got some gaming in, dropping back into Resident Evil Requim after not playing it for too long and gave Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare for Gameboy (via Switch Online) a try and had fun with it. Definitely putting some more time into that. Built the Mrs's new hutch this weekend and more Blokees Wheels from the backlog. Well, I guess it wasn't the most momentous weekend, but they don't always have to be. It's time to get the week started Zone Base readers. Thank you all for your support. Please don't forget to share the site with your friends and be excellent to each other.
