Weekly Update 10/12/26 — Rebellion Looks Good on You

Monday has reared its ugly head again, Zone Base readers, and it looks like the perfect time for another week of robots, monsters, and misadventure!

We're waist deep in pumpkin-spiced mayhem as the annual Halloween party is entering the main event. It's been another fun Halloween season, so let's keep going and make it another one for the books.

Thousands of you read Zone Base daily, and that's without the shameless shenanigans those big sites pull. The TikTok and Instagram project has been slowly growing, and more and more people are seeing the fun side content I've been publishing over there.

And all without paying for views like those big-name sellouts!

Please like and follow so we can keep growing this community together and take back fandom for ourselves!

Like I said, it's Halloween, which is like WrestleMania... the Super Bowl... the main event of Zone Base!

Wait, I already used that analogy earlier.

It's super flattering to see the extra readers I get each year who just want to go trick-or-treating with me. Let's continue to throw our horns in the air and flip our middle fingers to those who just don't get it!

Transformers-

Speaking of capitalizing off our interests, NYCC 2026 has been going on, and with it comes a slew of new toys soon to empty our bank accounts.

You've probably found your social media impossible to use thanks to all the clickbait news being shared, just like I have, but I'd like to point out a few of the things I've seen that have grabbed my interest.

In Generations, there's a repaint of Onyx Prime that I'm absolutely sold on. It's blue and is meant to represent The Deceiver from the IDW comics (I think that's where that came from), but frankly, I just really liked that toy and think it looks fabulous in blue.

There's also a new Machine Wars Starscream toy getting released that made me make audible noises of excitement when I first saw it.

I say it like that because I can't fully explain the sound I made. It's beyond comprehension, but if your dog suddenly started howling... that's probably my fault.

Then there's the new Walmart-exclusive Bugbite and Exhaust. These are part of their retro-carded series and look absolutely incredible. And I am absolutely ecstatic for that cassette set!

I must have them!


They're so pretty!

Also, it's been reported that both Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay are in talks to be brought back into the Transformers live-action movies.

It's hard to deny the power Spielberg brings, and one can only hope his involvement is a good thing. But let's not forget, Bumblebee not talking was his idea.

Michael Bay is a weird one, as his movies have developed a reputation for *ahem* their quality. However, they also make a ton of money, which means people were watching them regardless.

I mean, there's literally one always playing on a FAST app channel, still making money, still being watched. Why do you think they keep making those movie-based Studio Series toys?

It's hard to be too critical, because I'm going to see the movie and buy a copy of it.

Hell, I legitimately like the 2007 and Dark of the Moon movies.

Problems? Yeah, they have them.

What doesn't?

The Weekend As reported from my phone Monday morning while eating breakfast-

This weekend was pretty busy. The Mrs and I stayed out almost the entire time doing some shopping. Visits to Walmart, Target, Ross, and TJ Maxx were made with various things bought. I hoped to find some of the Yolopark Transformers models that have been allegedly showing up at Ross stores, but nothing at mine yet. I actually need to order the Yolopark Transformers Mini wave 3, but am still admittedly a little burned from my clear Hound and Acree from wave 2 being shipped with missing and wrong parts with the multiple customer service emails being completely ignored. That and I won one of their social media giveaways in January and they just never sent it. Doesn't make someone super excited to buy more of their products, but whatever I guess. Companies aren't your friends, and things like this happen. Regardless, I still want their kits so I guess it didn't completely sour me on them, just turned me off a little. I've never had a bad experience with Blokees or Flame Toys, just saying. 

We actually spent almost the entirety of Sunday at Costco stocking up for the next few months of groceries in an attempt to lower our weekly grocery costs as those companies just keep gouging the crap out of everything. It was fun, but man, as much as I enjoy Costco trips, that was a lot of walking! Still, a lot of good things were purchased to keep us fed for quite some time. I even got a fun tray of rice balls that I plan to eat for the next few days. We topped off Sunday with a fun take out dinner from Olive Garden Sunday night and even got some fun Halloween donuts from Donut Worry that we've enjoyed all weekend. I managed to get in some quality time playing Heretic, because some games I'll never get tired of.

I mainly purchased needs over wants this weekend, and while I'm sure you're potentially fascinated about my new pants, I did get quite a bit of toys that are on subject for this site.

I ordered a case of Blokees Transformers Wheels Series 4 as well as the new Wheels Motormaster kit that should show up soon. In addition picked up a Transformers the Movie ReAction blind box and 2 Godzilla Scramble blond boxes from Target. Target had a large blind box section now that the Mrs and I enjoy quite a bit! I got an Optimus Prime from the ReAction box, which has lovely chrome paint and battle damage.

The 2 Scramble eggs yielded in Zebra and Jaguar deco Godzilla figures! While at TJ Max, I checked their growing toy section (Christmas is right around the corner) and found a Transformers Cyberworld Energon Surge Off-road Optimus Prime! He was standard retail, but that's one more I needed for my all of Cyberworld quest. Just need one more Cyber Changer and then time to focus on the larger figures.

At Walmart I picked up Transformers Age of the Primes Joyride, something that made me super happy to find as I sure do love Powermasters! It was pretty awesome to see his colors on the shelf, he's so pretty! I forgot to mention the tiny bat mini figure I picked up fron Target's dollars spot, I think he's going on my desk at work. 

Ok, ok... I'll watch

I've praised Disney's contributions to Halloween so much, you'd think I was on the payroll. Nope, that's those other sites (and YouTubers).

ME? I just like what I like and have always liked how Disney does Halloween.

This spot advertising the 1989 spooky season programming gives each show its own little mini trailer. That's pretty great because you'd probably skip over some of these going by the name alone.

Okay... I'm still skipping over Rusty and Buttons.

Squawkbox (Squawktalk and Beastbox) [The Transformers/Mini Cassettes]

@robfromzonebase Squakbox (Squaktalk and Beastbox) [The Transformers/Mini Cassette] #zonebase #transformers #decepticons #toys #g1 ♬ Maniac - Carpenter Brut

I've been organizing my new storage space lately, which has had me wanting to look through boxes at some of my older toys.

Which made me wonder...

Why don't I talk about those more here?

When it comes to the G1 Mini Cassettes, everyone (myself included) thinks about Ravage, Laserbeak, Rumble, and Frenzy first, with the rest following behind. As neat as the original batch are, the later ones tend to be really interesting.

That brings us to two of my favorites of the cassettes, Squawktalk and Beastbox!

Squawktalk's robot mode is allegedly a parrot, from what I've always heard, and he's also a completely new design rather than a repaint of Buzzsaw or Laserbeak.

It's actually a really sharp-looking design.

To be honest, you could have told me he was supposed to be any other bird than a parrot and I'd believe you. I'm inclined to believe they assigned him to be a parrot based on the name rather than the design.

The design itself?

A pretty threatening-looking bird robot with big-ass wings.

Takara designated him an eagle, which is a lot more fitting. He's cast in an awesome aqua-blue-ish color, and the whole thing just works. It's a cool-looking robot toy that somehow manages to make a cassette-sized bird look pretty damn imposing.

For a change, I'm about to talk about a Beastbox toy that wasn't made by 52TOYS.

The name Beastbox originally hails from Transformers, specifically this guy, Beastbox, whose robot mode is a gorilla!

I've always specifically loved his look. There's just something about the way the gorilla design comes from a flat cassette while still fitting perfectly with the aesthetics of the era. He's cast in that wonderful purple that several post-movie Decepticons came in, which just tops off the entire thing.

I remember being a kid and seeing him in the pack-in toy booklets and just thinking he looked awesome.

I got the toys we're looking at today while I was in college and was so happy to finally have this awesome purple gorilla guy.

"Hey Rob, I thought you said you were pretty broke in college."

I was.

Before the live-action movies, you could get older Transformers toys for pretty cheap, usually cheaper than the new ones at stores. Back then, they were pretty dismissed by most of the "serious" fan outlets like comic shops.

Another thing that makes these two special is that they combine to form Squawkbox, a pretty neat-looking robot that, despite being formed from two completely different animal-based robots, doesn't really show it.

The Autobots also had a cassette combiner, Slamdance, whose combined robot is pretty nice as well, but the individual modes don't impress me as much as these two do.

I guess it's just more impressive when a freaking gorilla and a bird with big-ass wings make a robot that doesn't look like it's made from either.

Another thing I enjoy is how Beastbox's Compression Cannons combine with Squawktalk's High Decibel Sonic Boomers to form big guns that mount on his arms in a very aesthetically pleasing way.

Thanks to their design, there's no specific order for this, so you can just stick whichever gun with whatever other gun and it'll work.

There's also a pleasant amount of articulation for the team, more than you'd realistically expect from a toy of this era.

Considering how little I harp on articulation, the fact that I bring it up should say something.

Overall, this is a fantastic toy all together.

The Transformers Mini Cassettes have always been beloved for good reason. It's a genius toy gimmick that never gets old. Even now, you can explain Soundwave (or Blaster) and the cassettes to someone, and they'll make that undeniable "whoah" face, even if they don't actually say it.

It's just neat!

Not to mention, these two just look great, even compared to modern toys and engineering.

I do wish they got more attention, because they really are on the higher level of the original Generation One Transformers toys.

Plenty of Headroom

So maybe I relate to this one a little bit. Not just because I drive a Corolla and am tall, but also because I like Frankenstein.

Okay... okay, Frankenstein's Monster. That's how you can tell when someone has nothing to bring to a conversation, when they say, "You mean Frankenstein's monster? Frankenstein is the scientist."

Real ones know the scientist is the monster.

Regardless, man, I love those old world production values at the beginning of this commercial. You can love modern and old-world at the same time, and man, I do love those old haunted castles and the way they filmed them on older film stock.

Absolute peak cinema... and a pretty good car to have.