Shattered Glass Rodimus

To the victor go the profits.

Rodimus was once a mercenary who commanded a team of fellow mercenaries known as "The Wreckers". They plundered resources across Cybertron and preyed upon the weak. While Rodimus always believed in Optimus Prime's vision of conquest, he did not want to be a follower. During the battle of Praxus-Delta, Optimus Prime hired Rodimus' team to bolster his own forces. In the battle, the Decepticons managed to destroy every member of the Wreckers except for Rodimus. Despite the heavy losses, Rodimus wanted to fulfill his contract with Optimus, so he fought on. As a result, the Autobots were able to retreat that day without further casualties. Optimus Prime was impressed with Rodimus' fighting ability and asked him to join the Autobots. Rodimus agreed. He is determined to eventually take leadership for himself and turn the Autobot forces into the largest mercenary group the galaxy has ever seen!

New Waruders are coming, so you better watch your back, IT'S A SPACE BUG ATTACK

The title was my best attempt at a G2 commercial

This morning I was delighted to find out that Takara finally has new Waruders coming for the current Diaclone line. This is awesome, while I don't know if they'll ever do any sort of new Insect-Robo toy as so far they've been keeping what was used in Transformers out of the new Diaclone line (though a new Warudaros would be AMAZING). These are updates to the classic Waruder mech suits that look simply outrageous with several multiple modes of awesome. Being that today was my birthday, this was a most welcome and happy surprise for me personally. It was like a greeting card from Takara before my wife spoiled me with an amazing lunch from Taco Bell (one of my favorite places to eat), birthday cake, and a butt load of awesome gifts (it's Easter weekend, so getting around to a big old post to show off all the greatness of the gifts might take a minute... or days).

The Waruders are planned for an August release, which will be plenty of time for me to sell the kidney to afford them. I really want to get stuff from the new Diaclone, but sadly haven't yet. Though I must get one of these.

The new Diaclone is kinda expensive.

Speaking about those Beast Wars pilot figures

After I posted that last post, I remembered one of the pilots did get released. Cryotech, the much beloved fan favorite character who was a redeco of that Transmetal 2 Megatron got a Japanese release which did in fact have the pilot figure included. While the one I got at Target here didn't, man what a cool special feature huh?

Transmetal 2 Megatron vs Tigerhawk commercial

Boy, this sure is a 20 year old commercial. Still, not too bad considering the state of CGI at the time. Both toys are certainly favorites from the time for me. Both have third modes that aren't very well covered by many. Tigerhawks is a kinda-sorta tank mode that a basic Beast Wars figure could drive. Both have the cockpits from the abandoned Spark figure concept which at the time I initially rejected as Transformers are sentient beings and pilots were for other robot toy lines, but now would have liked to have seen more of. Honestly that was a non-sensical reaction as it was still the Transformer itself and not just some guy who found the robot in a garage somewhere (I was young, you don't always think the best when you're younger). There's a nice thought to the visual of a Transformer's essence forming a physical presence and acting as a pilot or ejecting for adventure in harder to reach areas.

It's kinda like Beast Wars Blaster Master in that manner of speaking and that's really appealing to me.

Tell me that tiny pilot wouldn't have been awesome.

Jumpstarters 1985 commercial

As I begin the last day of my 30's, I can't help but to reflect on a lot of things. I'm kidding, I'm not reflecting on anything. I'm mainly moved on mentally from the decade already and really thinking about Easter dinner.

Topspin

The thrill is in the journey.

No mountain high enough, no river wide enough to stop this one robot wrecking crew. Has superior mobility due to his Cybertronic vehicular form. Views conquest of rough terrain as much a victory as beating Decepticons. Uses 2 rear jet engines to go 300mph... goes 80mph on water with 2 front pontoons... has 2 hi-voltage electric cannons and 2 hand lasers built in... carries a powerful twin ion impulse blaster.

Guarding this here city

Thinking more about my Guard City idea, I think using Moonracer won't be too big of a departure for my POTP Guard City idea. I mean, it won't be to exact as is, but the teal is close enough to the blue that Fly Up has. Seeing as none of these will be exact anyway, I think it just may work. Sure, I could use my Protectobots with Inferno, but they're currently in use as Defensor. Besides, I didn't specify what city their guarding anyway. Jazz is a special agent and Moonracer is in the business of defending. Cities even.

Oh no, there's a fire. Don't worry, I'll save the day!

Cybertron is known for war and disco

I've always liked Inferno. I don't have a real reason why, he's just a likable character. There's just something about a big red fire truck I guess. Seeing as his newest toy is being made from Combiner Wars Hot Spot, I'm anticipating really enjoying the figure. While I'm not 100% set on it yet, My plan is to pair him with Rook, Alpha Bravo, Jazz, and maybe another white or light colored combiner limb figure to form sort of a Guard City combiner. I want to use that Wreck Gar that's allegedly coming to Walgreens, but feel that maybe someone else would at least pass better as Wreck gar is orange. Maybe Moonracer as her white and teal wouldn't clash too much.

Since I'm daydreaming

I love Primemasters. They're a great way to homage Pretenders and Powermasters all in one. But I'll be super honest, I think it would be so freaking cool if there was a way of putting tiny versions of the original Pretender inner robots into Primemaster decoy armor. I loved smallest Transformers back in their day and can't help but to think tiny little transforming bots to go in those tiny shells would just be the Bumblebee's knees. The transformations aren't even complex, so I can't imagine they'd be that hard to pull off.

So... why does' he have to suit up before unleashing his inner robot? He's inside the shell right?

Daydreaming of the Primes

I know me saying who and what Pretenders I'd love to see as Primemasters is hardly anything new, but man I'd love to see that un-produced spider monster Pretender shell as a Primemaster. The gorilla has seen the light of day as Oilmaster and Optimus Prime by way of Fun Pub (with all new shell albeit), but man that spider monster is just so crazy cool looking that I'd LOVE to see it make an appearance. I know it will never happen, but I see it as an ideal choice.

Pacific Rim Uprising

Cancel the Apocalypse again!

Earlier today, at about 4:20 I saw Pacific Rim Uprising and I'm just now coming down from the adrenaline rush. Without giving any spoilers my thoughts are simple. I liked it. I liked it a whole lot. That was a damn good follow up and a worthy continuation to the Pacific Rim storyline. I really liked the developments since the last movie and how things are set to go forward assuming they make more movies. I know they plan to and before I go any further consider this a spoiler warning even though I don't consider what I'm going to say is an actual spoiler.

Potential spoilers below!

There's intention to crossover Pacific Rim in with Monsterverse (I CALLED IT), you can look the movie up on Wikipedia and see the citations for yourself. That however isn't a big issue here. Here the big issue is expanding the setting to allow the series to go forward, which they did with full robot cartoon love letter madness. I really liked some of the kaiju's methods and the evil Jaegers (that's in the trailers, so not spoilery). The final battle was amazing on an apocalyptic and insane level.

Though the cheesy dialog is often cited as a problem by critics without much sense of awareness. Point blank, this movie is 100% for it's intended audience with no apologies or compromise. Just like with the original it's chock full of homage and even has a few extremely happy Easter eggs.

The only problem I had with the movie is the story moves just a touch too fast. While I could easily keep up with what was going on, I could see where someone else might not. It does stand out from the originals more slow paced pacing leading up the final act. Though with the original masterpiece I wanted more Kaiju vs Jaeger action, something Uprising makes up for in abundance. There's crazy action everywhere with Jaegers taking center stage. So essentially the sheer amount of robot carnage made up for the breakneck pace of the storyline. I've already seen folks in toku groups compare it to Godzilla Final Wars. Which while it might come at you at a crazy pace, it's not near as crazy or as epileptic as Final Wars.

My minds a mush of colors and rovot insanity in the best of ways. Pacific Rim Uprising was an absolute blast and gets my approval as a big fan of the original movie. I want more and I want it now.

NOW!

Tickets Uprising!

Earlier tonight, my wife purchased our tickets to Pacific Rim Uprising and boy are my arms tired. Mostly because of me flapping them around like crazy in excitement. I was a little peeved by the lack of listings at my local theaters to purchase them ahead of time, but then like a sudden Uprising of awesome all the theaters suddenly posted showtimes! We bought our tickets in what the theater calls 2D Extreme which I'm assuming means a better sound system, and that's totes ok by me!

My excitement is near catastrophic levels, I've been waiting for this ever since the sequel was first announced as Maelstrom. Pacific Rim when it hit in 2013 was the perfect storm and completely blew me away. It was like a religious experience, I was telling people about this movie I saw that was amazing. Going in a fan of robots and kaiju and witnessing an amazing big budget love letter to all things super robot, tokusatsu, kaiju, Saturday morning cartoons performed to perfection was a game changer. It took me awhile to accept that my long time favorite movie, Halloween (1978) had been knocked off it's throne in my head space. It had been so long that Halloween and Transformers the movie (1986) had occupied a shared ground in that favorite movie category in my mind that I ... had to come with terms with it.

So with the long awaited sequel coming (releasing tonight, but work schedule and you know, I can't buy things like movie tickets without a job) and my viewing Saturday afternoon (I'll sleep like 3 hours after work and drink a ton of Monster before seeing Gypsy Avenger punch a ton of monster) I am probably unbearable to deal with in levels of giddy.

I might shit my pants.

A little 3 step on the beach

Yes it's meant for children (toys? nah) and the toys are simple children's toys (what kind of world do we live in where...), but you know what? This commercial is great. Steeljaw just comes out of the sand like a monster and Bumblebee throws him in the water all while a kid looks on (and should have taken cover). That little 'yeah' from Bumblebee should have been followed by a high five or fist bump with the kid though. Sounds silly, and it is, but that old bit in the G1 commercials where the kid said 'robots in disguise' with the robot voice was often imitated on the playground.

Besides, who wouldn't like a high five?

Shattered Glass Sideswipe

There is only one rule now; revenge

Once part of Prime's elite Seeker unit, Sideswipe was feared as the most ruthless of the trio. Drench, the team's leader, believed that there should be a balance between a stern hand and compassion. Though there was a difference in philosophy between the two, there was also a mutual respect. However, for Optimus, these were not traits he found appealing in his sub-commander and when the opportunity arose, he had Drench killed. Sideswipe, though ruthless, was loyal and did not agree with the fate that had been dealt to his fallen leader. Sensing a conflict in Sideswipe's "loyalties," Prime let Sideswipe walk into a staged ambush in which he and a fellow Autobot were left to die. Though the companion, who had been there by mistake, was killed, Sideswipe survived and ended up being accepted into the ranks of the Decepticons. While Sideswipe fights for different reasons than his new comrades, he fights nonetheless. As a tribute to his former commander, Sideswipe has taken the colors Drench once bore as a constant reminder to Prime that vengeance is coming

Somebody got it

An annoyance as a Pacific Rim fan is the person who just doesn't get it. No, not the person who may not be a fan or it's just not their thing, the person who just doesn't get it. The robot or kaiju fan who just compares it to other similar properties amd dismisses it with flippant and arrogant remarks. I try to just ignore them as it's usually the best policy, but it does get a little grating at times. Fortunately theirs the occasional little bit like this that 100% nails it.

Max Team Form Up!

Last week I briefly mentally compared Zenon to God Max, which resulted in having God Max on the brain. I spent a little time with mine afterwards, and what a great toy. Ok, mines a Family Dollar knock off, and so is most of my Brave toys. I think my Death Garry Gun is the only legit Brave toy I own. The rest being knock offs bought from various discount stores in various forms of quality. My God Max is pretty good actually, I think you can still find it at Family Dollar stores (comes in a set for about 15$). Decent quality (some loose bits, but it's a knock off of a 20 something year old toy) though the colors are off, which happens with discount store knock offs.

Fun toy, Brave toys are essentially G1 Transformers under a different line name and it shows. Takara decided to work on a  new venture and let Transformers cool, which resulted in a very Transformers show and toy line called Brave (think late Japanese G1 and you've pretty much got it). It's really neat to show someone who isn't familiar. First there's TF mold reuses in the line, which gets a few laughs, then you show them the newer mold toys for the line and their mind just blows.

Goldar is a badass

Can we just address the elephant in the room? Goldar is a complete bad ass. Just look at him, LOOK AT HIM. He can kick your ass by just looking at him. I think the most legitimate complaint with the Power Rangers movie is in that Goldar was mishandled. Sure, he was cool, no doubt, but there's no comparison to the real deal.

Rad

Think before you shoot, but shoot before you're shot!

With more moves than an all-pro halfback, this clever, cool-headed daredevil is equally adept at combating Decepticons or calculating the coefficient of friction for a rocket booster. Paired with Lionizer, a roaring raging bundle of overheated circuits who can change into an atom-smashing blaster at the drop of a microchip... unless Rad can cool his engines first.

Fox Megazords *spoilers*

Now that it's been a few days since the Power Rangers mid season finale, I feel comfortable talking about the cliffhanger. If this is still spoilers for you, feel free to scroll down fast.

I wasn't expecting a cliffhanger for the mid season finale of Ninja Steel, but I'm not complaining as it was a really cool fight and  introduced a new threat with what's most likely going to lead into the Blaze Megazord being introduced. I know at best the Fox Megazord will only get an action figure, but I'd love a full size Megazord toy complete with fox drones.

Uprising this weekend!

I'm so very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very excited for Pacific Rim Uprising this weekend.

Strangely my local theaters are a bit limited on showtimes for it, which is very perplexing. This was the same issue I had watching the new It this past fall. I don't understand why either, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I had wondered if the big success of Black Panther had caused my theaters to have more showings of it creating a shortage of showtimes for other movies, but no, it's slowing down in showtimes, so I can't figure out what exactly is causing this. It's a Legendary Pictures movie, which Kong Skull Island was and it had plenty of showtimes at my local theaters. It's a Universal release, so one would think it would be really wide spread. Strange, really strange.

Either way, with my birthday less than two weeks away, this will be the ideal way to begin ringing it in. Come to think of it, it's pretty similar to last year with March kicking off with the Switch release, then Toylanta, followed by Kong Skull Island and the Power Rangers movie before my birthday. This year it it's been Toylanta and Pacific Rim Uprising. Like, somebody decided to make March big ass monster movie month.

Sounds like a good idea.

KB Toys, rise from your grave

Here's another know it all putting their two cents in

In a feel good moment in a time where most are a little bummed  that Toys R Us is going out of business, news hit yesterday that plans to resurrect the Kay Bee brand name are underway. As usual on the internet this news was met with great applause and the usual amount of predictable naysaying (good thing this ain't a drinking game or I'd have died of alcohol poisoning over a decade ago). While it does feel good to see an old well loved name return, and the news brings such good karma points as taking resumes from Toys R Us employees, one does have to look at the facts when considering the possibilities of this venture being successful.

Point blank, Toys R Us is closing business because of high prices. No matter how much know it alls like to point out internet-based shopping, the bottom line of the size of the crowds at your local Walmart on a Saturday or Christmas season obviously points to retail still being well and good. In fact as internet based shopping is becoming more and more a force in how we buy things, most successful retail stores have integrated internet shopping into their business model with the success depending on how the chains utilize their strategies.

Going back to Walmart, while success and ultimate satisfaction will depend on each stores staff, they've been doing some good work utilizing internet based shopping with their retail experience. I'm a big fan of their grocery ordering system. Either on their site or app, my wife and I complile a shopping list of what we plan to buy each week. When we're done, we reserve a time for pickup when we finalize our purchase. Any item we select that is ok for a substitution is usually substituted for a greater priced or larger portion version of what we've picked and any item we won't take a substitute for is not charged to us. We are notified of these details from an email that we get around an hour before our pick up time. With the apps use of location services, the employees know when we pull up usually and meet us shortly after depending on the amount of people waiting in the designated area. Each purchase includes a online survey form for that purchase that we do every week and literally see the difference by the next week. They have a similar service for online store pick up with a lounge area equipped with lockers that your purchase is waiting for you in (they're locked and only you have access to unlock yours).

Assuming this new Kay Bee will do as they say and work better than prior toy stores such as Toys R Us or even the original incarnation of Kay Bee, one can assume web site/physical location integration will be utilized. Another hope will be for better pricing. Kay Bee formerly specialized in close out toys at low prices with newer toys costing more than a Walmart (sound familiar). As the retail landscape has changed since Kay Bee shut down, I can only imagine what the new version would be. Indoor shopping malls are still a thing, but in my area, have really reduced since the 90's. Big box style open air shopping centers cover the landscape here with many smaller stores in the smaller shops in between Target and Petsmart.

I can easily see a toy store the size of an Old Navy or a Five Below in one of these shopping centers doing well. I can imagine a similar sized store with a healthy mix of normal retail toys and  higher priced boutique collector items with those neato low cost items like novetly slimes in the mix doing well even outside the Christmas season. Working in a well executed web site integration and you might just well have a hit.

Sure people order like crazy from Amazon, but even Amazon is working on physical locations. If you look at all the reports of delivery items being stolen off porches last Christmas (I even got a po box in retaliation), you can see an example of why a person would be interested in a good store pick up experience. Or no matter how much a rando will tell you that Amazon is how they buy anything, not much longer you'll hear about how they spent all Saturday shopping in a shopping center.

Pretender Starscream

Conquest is made of the ashes of one's enemies!

A cheating, traitorous villan. Ruthless and cold-blooded. Always plotting another evil attack against the heroic Autobots. Determined to rule the universe with a fist of iron. Outer shell armed with methylial-powered jet pack and thermal carbine that can either freeze or melt metal on impact. Inner robot armed with null ray rifle that shorts out electrical impulses. Maximum speed: Mach 3. Also equipped with suborbital capabilities. Arrogance is Starscream's only weakness.

PoliceKeeper Buildbase commercial

Every so often there's just a Microman commercial that's just crazy. Crazy awesome and crazy crazy. The Buildbase is amazing, and tons of fun. I particularly like the cannon for shooting Micromen. I do wonder though what the purpose of that is. I mean sure, it's awesome, but... are they outright just shooting Micromen to the scene of the action? They have all sorts of cars, jets, robots, you name it. But there's cause for just shooting a Microman out of a cannon for action. Maybe some Micromen don't have the proper permits and the best solution is just shoot them where their needed.

Man, workplace accidents in a Microman base have to be crazy.

Diamond Cyclone

I just wanted to point out just how nice this image is. I'm not sure, but I think it's a scanned sticker sheet. Just found the image without any context to where it's from originally.

Galaxy Defender

Sometimes I wonder, just how jarring it would be for a more casual Transformers fan to take in Diaclone uses of the mold. This awesome image, for example, has Construction Robo taking on a swarm of Waruder Insect Robo. In 2015, when BotCon did a number of Diaclone homages in that years exclusive set, I noticed a lot of scoffing from folks regarding some of the choices with no insight to whom these choices were. Then I remember the number of random colored Devastator knock offs available at most discount stores.

My point is, I wonder if you showed this picture to some folks, how many would think it was a bunch of bootlegs?

Super Gridman Cyber Squad

Gridman/Super Human Samurai Syber Squad toys are great. Mostly Zenon though, not that the others aren't as good, just man Zenon is such a bad ass. Getting that pvc of him this past weekend at Toylanta reminded me of just how much I'd like to track down his DX figure.

It's TRU, it's damn TRU

Sorry Geoffrey

It's been all over the toy collecting world for months now, and today has finally been announced. Toys R Us is closing down. I expected this to happen eventually as TRU was sold off years ago and the buzz of that company slowly killing it was all around. I think we've all seen the writing on the wall for some time now. Tons of online competition, stores like Walmart and Target beating them in prices and selection, general unhappiness with the stores in general, just odd after odd getting stacked.

Myself, the last straw was the Fortress Maximus fiasco from summer 2016. Sure, they came through in the end, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. I had slowly began not visiting as much as result, still not completely turned away, but burned enough to not fully re-embrace them. Before that I was still a faithful customer, but still smart enough to only take advantage of sales and rewards points. Their regular prices were getting absurd, and it was a big factor in shopping elsewhere.

What's bad is the people who are losing their jobs to no fault of their own. Store employees and various distribution and district based jobs are just going away. I hate that for them. It's not their fault the situation happened or the various conditions occurred. They just wanted to support themselves and their families, and for that, I'm truly sorry. I've been laid off before due to the mistakes of companies poorly run and it really took a toll on me. That sucks and it's not fair. I feel sorry for the folks who are going to hurt due to no fault of their own and wish them all the luck in the world.

New Planes!

I'm in the middle of appreciating Cyclonus and Scourge getting such a great commercial and REALLY loving the announcers voice.

Henshin Cyborg Shonen Cyborg commercial

Coming back from Toylanta, which was formerly known as Joelanta (as it was originally a con for 12 inch Joe fans), conversations are still fresh in my mind. One gentleman had plenty of Henshin Cyborg figures and I enjoyed chatting with him about them. He was older than me and is from the pre-internet generation that relied on pen pals and the like to help him track down these great toys from another country. Sometimes I feel older than I am talking with younger fans about the early days of the internet and what it was like before the internet was really a thing. Back pages of magazines with various classified ads for fans and collectors, ordering catalogs and getting on fanzine lists. Then I talk to this guy, or hear stories of the guy who used to form grassroot letter writing campaigns to get things produced and I'm taken aback and amazed. Somehow those old pages in the back of toy and video game magazines don't seem so archaic.

SF X Fantasy Rayforce

I regularly talk about how awesome Korean shows are and I freaking mean it. SF X Fantasy Rayforce wasn't fully made, but this music video promo shows just how awesome it would have been.

Set your DVR to beast mode

*sigh*

There's a song called, 'you're going to miss this' about how the little things that may annoy you later turned out to be the good things you miss later in life. And man it's true, even though I was broke and sick of it at the time. Tired of juggling school, work, and social woes,  I miss watching Beast Wars on tv. It came on in the afternoon here, and when they started showing it afternoons on Fox Kids, it directly lined up with my school/work schedule and I got to watch it every day without the occasional missing an episode. It was my own little personal moment of zen that nobody but the march of time could take from me.

Beast Saga Toonami

Adding to my earlier post, there was at least this English promo for Beast Saga for Toonami produced and I believe aired in Japan. Man, I can dream of a world where Beast Saga was sitting on my DVR every Saturday night.

Beast Saga 3DS game promotional video

I've noted here before that I wish that Beast Saga would have made over to the US in some form. Admittedly because I'm a Battle Beasts fan, but I can't help to think it would have been a hit here. Not to mention, I would love to play this game. It looks pretty darn fun. I could see now a pre-order exclusive with some cool alternate colored figure.

Victory Saber commercial

I've made my point time and time again about loving the tiny tokusatsu productions in Japanese toy commercials, but this one really uses that production to sell the idea of these two combining. Victory Leo is just running like it's cat crazy time there with all that dramatic lightening. I really appreciate the time taken to animate his legs just going.

Super Mid-Season Break

This weekend will bring the mid season finale of Super Ninja Steel. Not that it will be a giant cliff hanger or anything, but it will be the last episode until fall. Hopefully the Galactic Ninjas will stick around longer as I'm quite enjoying them. I've definitely enjoyed the last few episodes using music from MMPR as it's definitely added something to the show.

With Beast Morphers coming next year and frankly looking like the next big thing, it's putting a shadow on this show, which is super enjoyable, but could use some improvement.

Toylanta 2018 Report

 *Note- I will be adding to this post throughout the weekend, so please check back as I'll be adding to it periodically, also please check out my Instagram for pics from the show*

Friday- After sleeping off my work night, the wife and I headed to the con getting there around 7pm for the opening evening activities. Roaming around the dealer area as it was being set up and popping in and out of the lobby swap I spent most of the evening with my friends Shawn and Stuart as we chatted about various things. Tons of toys were out and of course I didn't stop by the ATM on the way, so mental note for the morning: bring some cash tomorrow!  So far aside from some random G1 bots (and the mandatory Firecon purchase) I've spotted some great deals on kaiju vinyls and some great custom GIJOE that at least one must come home with me. Shawn gifted me with legion Hound and Dragonstorm, which was most awesome. We came home and ordered pizza on the way home for a great supper. Time for some sleep before a busy Saturday.

Saturday- Saturday started off well enough, we got to the show around 10am and roamed the dealer areas a bit before a run to McDonald's for some lunch. I managed to snag some Beast Saga figures and some Maximal symbol pins. After a Big Mac, we headed to the panel area for the Space Toys panel and it was a treat. I initially thought it was going to be a roundabout of all space toys, but was mostly about lines from the 60's and 70's ran very well by some well spoken gentlemen. One speaker that I enjoyed talked about his time trying to get stores to carry Star Wars toys by way of letter writing campaign

After the panel I met up with Dusty and we went over notes for our Transformers panel as we found Gabe, Mike and Alan. The Transformers panel went extremely well and I'm very happy with how it went. Afterwards we made a rush back to the dealers room where I caught up with Aaron and Tony where we talked about wrestling and the ROH ppv that took place Friday night. While in there I bought the remaining Beast Saga figures from the dealer I went to earlier. That had to be my favorite dealer, just a big set of tables with baskets full of various parts, pvcs, capsule toys, and random toys for great pricing. I plan to visit him again tomorrow to raid his bin of 1$ monsters.

Parachute drop went well, though wasn't as populated as before. Papi's Toys had several paratroopers in use including a Pretender Vroom equiped with a parachute. Surprisingly made for a good drop participant. Here was where my only complaint for the weekend has been. The hotel restaurant was renovating and had a temporary set up in the lobby. Which during a regular day wouldn't have been an issue, during a con was a giant pain. Not to mention, the diners were constantly bombarded by thr parachute dropped toys, so I'm sure they didn't appreciate that. Due to the overall sea of people my wife and I was seated for a table, but never got served prompting us to leave without eating. Though that was probably for the best as word was it wasn't very good.

I spent most of the day with Shawn, whom I shared a great conversation about Battle Beasts with at one point. Really glad he came, awesome dude to hang out with. Came home and ate the rest of the pizza from Friday night. One more day of the best damn toy show going.
 
Sunday- Sunday started off kind of rough as daylight savings time hit overnight throwing me off (really can we just stop doing this) as well as a headache I developed overnight. I took some medicine and fixed a simple oatmeal breakfast before heading out (the wife felt like staying home) stopping only for a can of Monster. It was rainy making for an interesting drive, but in all nothing too bad. Got in the dealers room around 10am and spent the next few hours with my friends Shawn and Stuart whom where heading out soon.

After they left, actually I missed Stuart leaving somehow (sorry man), I poked around for a little bit. Almost bought a vintage Pirantishead before deciding the Imaginext one I'm getting soon would suffice. I did visit my favorite dealer from the weekend and grab a Zenon pvc amd stop by the pin and sticker dealer to grab something for my wife. I decided to check out the custom cars one more time and head home (Sunday everyone is wrapping up and the show wraps up earlier).

Ran into Aaron and Tony at the cars and we chatted for a bit, they were heading out too. As we were chatting Gabe was coming in to get a little extra filming done for his school project, so we came in with him. Spent a little longer farting around with the guys and got a free bottle of Billy Mitchell hot sauce from the Southern Friend Gaming Expo booth who had been selling arcade marquee art and various oddities. I was super close to grabbing the Altered Beast arcade cabinet instruction manual. We headed talked wrestling a bit before all heading out. The great toy show had come to an end for the year and time to return to normal life. The rainy weather got me stuck a little in some wreck traffic. Passing some of the cars moved off to the side of the show, I recognized a few folks I had seen at the show over the weekend. Man, that had to suck.

Overall- Wow, what a great weekend. I've been having a pretty stressful time recently so this fun weekend was exactly what I needed. As fun as the Botlanta event was last year, it was a lot of work and it was a relief to return to the normal Toylanta. The RFC crew couldn't make the show, instead opting to gather for the weekend at Kilby's house for the weekend. Kilby sent me a portable recorder to make a podcast out of the Transformers panel. Unfortunately the recorder didn't show up until Saturday afternoon, so I regret not getting that recorded, though Gabe did film the bulk of it and offered to give Kilby the audio from that.

The hotel's renovation efforts was mainly a pain for the lobby as that's a main meet up area during a con and it was reduced that area greatly, not to mention had to be unpleasant for diners while trying to eat. Outside of that I really enjoy the hotel and talks of the show eventually moving makes me hope if and when that happens they'll find as good as a space to host the show.

As usual, I pretty much hibernate all day after the show, but also enjoyed some home cooking after a weekend of fast food. Absolutely had a blast and as always makes for great memories.

Little Things

Oh potatoes, and molasses

One thing I always appreciate in robot cartoons is that bit of life given to the bots in the animation. That sounds stupid, but bear with me. Be it Transformers, Voltron, Zoids, whatever, that little shifting around. Those little bits of personality that are extremely pronounced. In the live action movies, Bumblebee has a distinct personality in his movements. He's based on Marty McFly in that. Watch a clip or two and a clip of two of Back to the Future. See? The lions in Voltron don't just move like cats, they behave like cats. Look at that picture of the Red Lion up thar. In a cheaper show, he would just be jumping. But this is a quality cartoon, he's arched, his head is bowed, tail even curved. He looks like my cat pouncing on a toy.

Personality matters.

The Zodiac Instrumental

I don't think I have to explain that I just mmmmiiiggghhhttt like Zone. Just might. Maybe a bit.

Reset the Clock

／#立ち上がれイェーガー❗️
＼

⚠️緊　急　指　令⚠️
次世代型イェーガー起動させて、超ド級合体KAIJUを撃破せよ！

フォロー&RTでイェーガー起動💥成功すれば報酬としてイェーガーフィギュアほか豪華賞品を贈呈🎁結果はすぐに返ってくるぞ👍
詳細は⇒https://t.co/n6q5ssVJL8#パシリム pic.twitter.com/aOzIQdVc5L

— パシフィック・リム 公式 (@PacificRim_JP) March 8, 2018

Damn, I'm so excited for this.

Incase you didn't know

I want to thank each and every one of you who reads Zone Base. I'm doing this completely on my own while working over 60 hours a week. I know I don't always have the most things said, I know I don't have breaking news or in depth reviews or anything. This is me 100% enjoying the things I'm into without any hitches and it's extremely flattering to see so many of you want to see what I have to say, no matter how silly it is. I won't lie, I'm actually feeling really down right now and seeing that those of you out there have been reading made me smile. Thank you.

Two reasons you should buy a Blaze Megazord

1. His left arm is a fish. He's going to punch you with a fish.

2. His chest shoots ninjas.

Ya'll folks like BBQ?

I've been very busy today, so here is a picture of the Bullrider Megazord for no reason.

I don't need no stinking reason to post it.

It's a cowboy.

Centaurus Phoenix Megazord

I'm sorely tempted to rock out a bunch of Mystic Force swag the next time I go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

War Ready

 Just a few more weeks.

Toylanta prep

Firecons are kinda my mental mascot for this years con

It's Monday night as I'm writing this. I'm at my desk taking a small break from my work. Despite it only being a 4 day week this week (taking Friday off for the con), I'm pretty busy. I always try to make up ahead of time for time off I take as to not burden my department too much. It's also going to be a long week for a 4 day work week, as I got Toylanta to look forward to this weekend and I'm pretty excited. These days it's pretty much the only con I go to and honestly, it's the perfect con. Just a giant adventure of toys everywhere you look (and even more just out of sight) and fortunately for me, the stuff I'm into usually goes for a pretty fair price.

I like digging in bins for figures, scouring for deals, and this con has plenty. I dig the shows vibe too. Relaxed, laid back, meant to be fun. No anxiety or various fandom drama, just a bunch of cool people enjoying their various hobbies together. The high quality conversations I have over the weekend cannot be replaced. One year I spoke for hours with a dude about discount store fantasy figures. Another about Starriors. Just a great convention.

Fortunately the show is just a short road trip for me, so I just have to plan for the drive each day, which isn't too bad. Mainly anticipate where I'm eating lunch more-so than really anything else. Looking forward to the Transformers panel I help line up each year. Dusty and I are planing some good conversation and hoping those in attendance participate.

I've been slowly working on a list for stuff to look out for, though I wonder just how much I'm going to adhere to it. I don't really buy a whole lot at the show, but what I do get is generally great. I still fondly remember my main purchase of 2016. Aside from some great Beast Wars stickers I got, I hadn't really bought anything until I was about to leave that Sunday ending out the con. As I walked around and said goodbye to friends I dug through one last dump bin and there it was. A gallon zip lock bag containing about 75% of a G2 Bruticus in fairly good condition for 20$. Well shucks.

Just a few more days and we'll see what fun I'll have this year. What's great about this show is it's always an experience. Each year I have a different experience and that's the kind of thing you can't buy.

Combine! Invincible Brave Exhibition!

It's a shame I live in Georgia and not Japan. Not because of any grass being greener on various sides of fences, but then I'd be able to make this great looking Brave Exhibition going on in Nakano. Taking place over the course of three weeks looks like a fun time showcasing the history of Brave.

Well, I did just get my oil changed and did just swap my air filter. Guess I'll gas up my Fusion and see just how good that gas mileage is.

Source:Hero Club

Speaking of Authentics

Thr similarities between the G1/Diaclone Skids mold and Authentics Optimus Prime occurred to me earlier. It's mainly the arms, but I can't unsee it.

Hope these show up at Walgreens

While initial looks at these two popped up online last year, pics of the actual toys started showing up this past weekend. I've voiced before my fondness for these cool Cyber Battalion figures and here I am again doing so. I don't just want, I need these newest additions. Those look AMAZING. I don't know how much longer Cyber Battalion has in it with the Authentics showing up (specially the larger figures coming).

I think I'm only lacking Megatron and Grimlock ((not counting these) and the larger Optimus and Bumblebee as far as owning all of these. I really hope they show up at Walgreens like prior figures did. These big chunky robots are wonderful toys and pretty nice looking at that.

Man, these two look sharp. Sideswipe just looks great with that classic deco of his, and Shockwave almost looks like a premium toy.

More of that Power Rangers rpg

You know, it does look fun. I'm going to give it a try when it comes out, really hope it can keep my interests for more than a few minutes. I'm looking forward to building a team comprised of multiple teams, though not looking forward to the random character lottery that you get in these games.

Shadows Rising

In a surprising turn of events. looks like a sequel to the SEGA Transformers arcade game Human Alliance is in development. I'm pretty excited for this despite not having a chance to play the original yet, though it's pretty obvious by now that this kinda thing is my jam. The cabinet looks to be Optimus Prime in visual instead of Bumblebee as in the first game. I wonder if Joypolis will be getting another special version of this one? Man, I've got to get myself to a Dave and Busters soon and play Human Alliance. This one's still in development, but I want to have spent a ton of time with the first by the time I get a chance to play this one.

Credit: Arcade Heroes

Power Rangers Dino Charge Intro

Honestly, I'm just posting this because I like the theme song.

Nano Cars!

Guessing the top Bumblebee will be from the movie

Jada, makers of my beloved Nano Metalfigs have some Transformers characters coming soon in their diecast car line. They did this before last summer, with a range of cars based on The Last Knight. At the time, I thought they were neat, but they got buried under the onslaught of movie merchandising. 

Bee my honeybee

This new batch is also including G1 cars, which has my attention, as well as I understand smaller cars closer to the Nano size. I'm totally down for Nano sized G1 cars. That would be really fun to collect, especially if they're at a normal Nano price ($1 each).

slick wheels man

Hoping this takes off as I can see myself going nuts for these.

Dear Easter Bunny

This isn't for sale here in the US, but man I think the Easter Bunny should bring it for me anyways. Mainly because Easter often overules my birthday.

Man, so awesome.

Beast Morph!

munkey truck

My growing excitement for Beast Morphers is probably ridiculous. But it goes along with something of a theory I've been forming. Maybe more of an idea. A belief. A thought, perhaps. I've noticed with Cyberverse's smaller line, no previews of War for Cybertron, movies simmering down after Bumblebee, Hasbro's scaling back a little on Transformers. I figured this would happen eventually, sure a weirdo like me can't get enough, but the rest of the world was bound to cool on them eventually.

The Last Knight made a respectable amount of money, but not as much as expected. The signs are there and it's good that it isn't devastating and fortunately Transformers isn't going away, but obviously is slowing down a touch. Time will tell exactly how much, but the signs are there. With Hasbro acquiring the Power Rangers toy license and possibly the brand as a whole, I wonder if there's thought at a corporate level to branch out more. Get a little more experimental. Do something different. Different is good.

It's no secret that the news of Hasbro getting Power Rangers was a collective explosion of happiness online. I know the grass behind me is still on fire.