Magmax Beyond Thunderdome

Magmax looked awesome on a video rental shelf. That cool robot fighting what looked to be Mecha King Ghidorah in space was hard to deny. It was rented and brought home for a weekend of space robot adventure fueled by Ecto Cooler and some pizza. The game I brought home was not the game I had thought I rented. Thanks to the pictures on the back of the box, I had assumed you played the robot the entire time. Not so much. 

Instead you start out as a small space ship flying and shooting your way through a horizontal playing field. As you go, parts of the robot are collected slowly building the full robot. Of course every hit looses a piece of that robot. The game never ended, just went on a continues loop until running out of lives. Occasionally you'd face the big bad boss Babylon, the Mecha King Ghidorah look alike I mentioned earlier.

Magmax wasn't what I expected going in, but still was a lot of fun. I'm mostly familiar with the NES version though it's on a variety of other systems. Originally starting it's life in the arcades, which explains the endless nature of the game. Just keep shooting until you run out of quarters. The game isn't completely forgotten by time, but doesn't come up a lot either. I do see occasional fan art which is nice. I'm not saying it deserves a much better legacy, but it would be nice if more people knew what I was talking about more often. Which is at least a quarter of this site's content.

Bios: Horri-Bull

Function: Ground Trooper 

"Smash all that stands and trample the rest."

A snorting, belching bully with a nasty temper. Drips grease and oil from his mouth and emits billowing black clouds of noxious black smoke from his nostrils. Enjoys destroying anything that stands in his way, particularly Autobots. In robot Mode, uses flamethrower tail to incinerate his enemies. Also armed with a concussion blaster. Range: 12 miles. Binary-bonded to the nebulan, Kreb, a former talk show host with obnoxious manners.

Not As Brightly Lit: Pumpkin Medely

Download And Listen Here!

Rob returns from his medically forced hiatus to just generally talk about Halloween stuff he likes.

Bios: Ectotron

FUNCTION: PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR

"When life splatters you with goo, just go with it"

When the GHOSTBUSTERS need a ride to the next paranormal hotspot, it's nice to have one who can also handle a Proton Pack.

On Fright Features Night

At this point I feel like I've been waiting for Hasbro's Fright Features toys since the 90's. Spiritually I have as they're a follow up to the Real Ghostbusters toys. Since The Real Ghostbusters are the exploits that the movies are based off of, these would be those toys in cartoon world. So in theory, if we were living in a cartoon produced by DiC, these actually would be The Real Ghostbusters toys. I should probably stop myself before going any further... we might open a worm hole in reality or something.

After a year of covid-19 based delays, Ghostbusters Afterlife is finally getting released this November. With it is a slew (that's right, a damn slew) of various tie in merchandise. You already know the Fright Features line is the most interesting to me. A spiritual follow up to Kenner's classic Ghostbusters toy line is just the perfect thing. Sure, there's things like Plasma series and other neat stuff. Just nothing feels as right as these, THIS is what goes through my mind when I think Ghostbusters action figures. The kids from Afterlife will be featured in wave 2 with some familiar looking ghosts. I hope this goes on past wave 2. I'd love wacky variations like the original Kenner line, or even the girls from the 2016 movie. While we're at it there's Janine and Louis. There's no limit to where they could go with these. Or at least no limit I want them to hit.

Let Me In

@michealandheather

this happened while we were watching tv! ##wtf ##demonic ##paranormal ##haunted ##ghosts ##creepy ##spirit ##poltergeist ##scary ##creepytiktok ##haunting ##fypシ

♬ original sound - Paranormal Videos

Summer is a Spooky Season

Ultra Gear

I'm pretty partial to Cheetor. He's one of my favorites in the world of Transformers. So it's probably to no surprise that when the images of the new Cyberverse Deluxe toy of him popped this past weekend, I was pretty ecstatic. With Cyberverse toys I'm content with all the other toy offerings and hardly mess with the nicer deluxe figures. I have a few, but it's the weird way I enjoy Cyberverse in particular. 

There's no shortage of Cheetor toys lately, there's plenty. However, this one in particular really talks to me. Maybe because, like the prior Cyberverse Cheetor toy, it's something new. Sure it still looks like Cheetor, but the more angular nature of the design really works for me. He's more mechanical, fitting in with G1 style animals and I've always liked that blocky look on animal bots. 

Not that I mind the more organic look of Beast Wars, I've always liked it in fact. Just this particular Cheetor, man, he does it for me. If it were the older days of the fandom, I could and would expect multiple repaints of him. Though for no particular reason that I can think of right now, the toy I want made from this most is Jaguar from the McDonald's toys. I can just see that every time I look at these pics. It's just an insane siren song that these JPEGs have been singing. He's wonderful

New Week, New Nightmare

It's the beginning of a new week here on Planet Zone and with it a new beginning! Actually, not really anything new, but after the past few weeks, it feels like starting over. I'm returning to work this week and even returning to regular posting! Spooky Summer has a few more days in it untill the pumpkin spice mayhem begins. Hopefully I'll be able to get a new Not as Brightly Lit up this week as well. I've got some great stuff in mind (or what I think will be) to post about this week. So thanks all of you for your continued support. Not just during my downtime, but this whole time. Please share with your friends!

I Have The Revelations

A plus of being home sick was watching Masters of the Universe Revelations right away. The long awaited show debuted today on Netflix and was a fun watch. Serving as a sequel to the original Filmation series (and ignoring all other series), the show takes place years after a pretty big event that changes everything. I'm not going into super detail and trying to avoid spoilers (the show is just a few hours old) the best I can. Let's just say, this isn't what you expected.

It's really hard to dislike this show as a He-Man fan. Though the bedwetting is generally being done by those who generally do that sort of thing. Combined with holier than thou types instantly disliking something, it's the same general generic complaints. For the most part I've seen mainly praise, so it's not just me liking something from a series I like. Not as goofy as the original series and that's fine, you can't expect it to be the same thing. It's not supposed to be. What I got was a fairly true to form series written for an adult audience without the same generic 'edgy' trappings such things normally get. 

The jump forward in time gives us a look at Eternia very different than we've seen and I liked it quite a bit. I loved Tri-Klops and his crew. I didn't see that coming. Once again, I'm trying to not give away anything. However it was a really fun way of giving the usually ignored character a purpose. Roboto was ssssoooo good. The season is a short five episodes and I'm really looking forward to more. That and some resolutions for that cliffhanger. Man, what a great show.

Bios: Rescue Patrol

True victory can only lie in the ability to locate and mend the injured.

This fearless foursome braves the heaviest combat fire on land and sea to perform their assigned tasks. Fully equipped to administer emergency aid under the most adverse conditions: Seawatch has over-the-horizon radar and towing capability; Stakeout has a state-of-the-air communications dashboard; Fixit is outfitted with repair bay and life-function monitors; Red Hot contains fire-retardant chemical foam.

ICU Shadow Man

The Spooky Summer stuff unfortunately has taken a backseat during my hospital stay forced break in posting. Though I do have a weird story to tell you of my week in the Intensive Care Unit. Early in I made jokes about an ER ghost. Just outside the room I was in a woman was strapped to a gurney and wailing loudly about how she was bleeding to death (she wasn't). This was for the entirety of the time in the Emergency Room before getting a room in the ICU Monday evening.

The ICU, it was pretty nice and quiet. Which is what brings me here today with this little story. I swear I saw a shadow person in my room several times. Could it have been a figment of my imagination? Sure, absolutely. But I saw it enough to spook me out on more than one occasion.

I wasn't heavily medicated. They experimented with different blood pressure medications while an IV dripped various medications to flush fluids from my body. The only sedation I had was when my heart catheter was performed Friday afternoon.

If you don't know what a shadow person is, a better explanation can be found by Google. Briefly, it's a person usually in shadow seen out the corner of your eye (sometimes during sleep paralysis). Generally believed to be a ghost, demon, or otherwise unnatural being. Whatever it was, that shadow jerk lurked around the left corner of my room. I'd be watching TV and there he'd be slinking around. It was just there enough to make me full stop turn and look. Of course nothing was there and it could have just been my eyes playing tricks on me. But when you're in and out of sleep late at night in the hospital.

Yeah.

He-Man In Space

While being off the past days recovering from my ICU stay, I've been taking in a lot of TV. Well, I've been taking in a lot of TV in between bouts of sleep. You'd be surprised just how tired you get after heart failure. One of the shows I've decided to spend some extra time with is 'The New Adventures of He-Man'. I spend so much time with G1 MOTU that the follow up almost gets forgotten sometimes.

Also, 'The New Adventures of old Christine' is always on late at night. This has nothing to do with that, but I am bewildered how such a long running show could air completely without me knowing.

With He-Man though, his new adventures are really a shot in the arm of rejuvenation as it takes the formula and changes it just enough. It's easy to dismiss as mostly forgotten by history, but it's pretty good. He-Man and Skeletor find themselves in the future on a planet named Primus taking part in their war. I won't go super into details as why, but that's the gist of it. Skeletor finds himself paired with the Evil Mutants while He-Man obviously is with the Galactic Guardians.

The toys are pretty different from the original. It's clear that a complete new direction was the idea. Later some of the molds would be reused for the Demolition Man toyline. The cartoon, while a western production, has a very anime look. It's pretty hard to ignore, so much that if you told me they recycled an anime to use... I'd have a hard time not believing it. It's distinctly in that 80's/early 90's anime style. Some scenes could easily be mistaken for Masterforce. Clearly I like it. While I'm not saying you should, I am saying it's worth checking out.

Back Home

It's a new week and you know what that means...I'm back home. After a week in the ICU I got released yesterday. We stopped to pick up some stuff from the store and my medication and I pretty much passed out. It's good to be home. I've got to spend the next week recuperating before I go back to work. Even looking up a video for this post wore me out.

Thanks all of you for your continued support while I was in the hospital. I plan on doing more posts this week and hopefully getting back into my groove next week. It's baby steps and honestly a lot harder to write a post when you feel like crap than you'd imagine. Once again thank you for reading Zone Base even during this less than fabulous time of posts. It'll get back to normal before long, just bare with me while I try to get back to normal. As always, please share with your friends.

Bios: CatSCAN

CatSCAN is in many ways like a lost child in the wilderness -- he knows to some degree where he came from, but is unsure as to where he will eventually end up. Brought to life by a bizarre combination of Apelinq and his digitization powers and the artificial intelligence of a medical diagnostic computer, this curious creature has found a permanent home with the Wreckers team. Armed with two battle blades of ancient Cybertronian design and a tail-mounted plasma torch, CatSCAN could easily be considered a lethal one-robot army. This fact notwithstanding, his fearsome appearance belies an inherently gentle and nonviolent personality -- it is simply not in his programming to cause harm to other beings. Lacking a Spark of his own, CatSCAN has a deep wish to understand the true nature of his self-awareness. He looks up to Apelinq as a mentor and "creator figure" and often acts as a voice of conscience among his teammates.

Tales From Medical Hell Prt.2- The Not Much Quickerning

 

Another day of hospital life is winding it's way down. Fortunately being in my own room is a much more pleasant experience. Things look good and hopefully I won't require any surgery. I've spent the day on a medicinal trial and error course. This meant lots of napping between viewings of Aliens and Captain America. Not to mention hours of COPS and Golden Girls reruns.

The wife brought my recent purchase of the Netflix Optimus Primal and Rattrap 2 pack. At some point it's getting opened up and checked out. I don't know if it's genuine or just Stockholm syndrome, but the low sodium food was pretty good today. If this was a text message I'd use the shrugging guy emoji.

Tales From Medical Hell Prt.1

To say this week has not gone as planned would be an understatement. It's night 2 at the hospital and I've gotten a little too used to the TV system already. So far I've put in viewings of Gozilla, Godzilla Raids Again, and the original Star Wars trilogy. Not counting various reruns of Golden Girls and Family Guy. I had planned to do some gaming or more updates to the site, but with doctor's in and out all day... it didn't happen. I did manage to pre-order T-Wrecks, so go me! 

I've got more doctor's work to be done before they let me go home. Going to be on some medication for awhile and a low sodium diet. Not forever, just for a while. So here's hoping I don't make any mistakes in the next few months. Don't feel like a heart transplant later and would rather not spend another week in a hospital. I'm finally in a room and not in the ER. So much cozier accommodations for the rest of the stay. Though the ER had a ghost that moaned the entire time. When I say ghost, I mean crazy old woman moaning non-stop. She may be a ghost.

Initiate New Week

It's on to hate Mondays, but if you do, you can at least look forward to a new week here on Planet Zone! We're firmly into summer and entering mid July, meaning just a little longer until the full Halloween Henshin! I hope your excited, because I sure am. If you need a little taste of something spooky until then, there's a new Not As Brightly Lit up for some scary fun. I've got a fun week planned, as always thanks for supporting Zone Base. It means so much to me to see you all take part in my nonsense. As always please share with your friends!

*edit* So, I wrote and scheduled this post Friday night. Sunday night I went to the Emergency Room for heart failure. It's Monday 3:24AM now and I thought I should let all of you know.

I'm ok, just staying at the hospital for a few days. I've got my tablet with me and I'll be doing some updates. Just, uh, I don't feel good. So, the site will be a little weird for a few days. 

Bios: Grimlock

"Among the winners, there is no room for the weak."

A raging, reckless robot. The most fearsome and powerful Dinobot ever. Very strong and very stupid. Easily angered. Power pistons in legs enable him to produce small earthquakes when he stamps his feet. Also armed with serrated steel jaws that can tear through solid rock. In robot mode equipped with double-barrelled, self-propelled rocket launcher. Also armed with heat ray beams in eyes that can turn hardened steel into molten metal. Jet boosters in legs provide flight capabilities.

Replay: The Spirit Of Summer

Replay: Summer is a Spooky Season

Keeper Your Trapper Shut

A Trapper Keeper is a pretty great thing to have. If you're a student it's a great way to organize all of your subjects in one place. As an adult it's a great way to organize various paperwork related to your career or other important aspects of life.

Technically it's just a binder to hold portfolios and notebooks together. Speaking about daily life here on Planet Zone, it's a good way to keep track of checklists included with various blind bag figures. Tracking down BotBots? Keep a list right here, it's exhilarating to mark off that final one.

It's a great way to keep track of all those handmade notes and maps you made while playing Metroid last weekend. When it's time to refer back to them, there they are. Back to school stuff has been filtering into my local stores and with it opportunities to really step up your Trapper Keeper game. Like puppy stickers.

Bios: Narligator

Name: Narligator (evil)

Meaner than the meanest Rock Lord, the Narligator lives among the evil rock warriors. Even Magmar keeps a respectful distance from this quick-tempered Narli. The Narligator is always in the thick of things with fangs bared and deadly jaws chomping at his enemies.

Not As Brightly Lit: Calling All Souls

Download and Listen Here!  

More signs of Halloween 2021 are being seen prompting Rob to play an episode of Quiet Please from Halloween night 1948. The story is named 'Calling All Souls', get it?

Bios: Magnificus

Once the Military Consul for the Decepticon domain of Mebion, Magnificus was framed and convicted thanks to a crafty trap set by Decepticon command staff who were jealous of his position.  He was ousted and sent to be a pit-fighting robot in a remote region of space.  His partner Ga'mede was a member of the royal family of Xeptos, a planet existing a subatomic inner space, but just as he was to be executed over a family dispute, he was rescued into the macroverse thanks to Magnificus' matter-enlarging scope.  The two were bonded almost immediately by implicit trust owing to their similar circumstances, and have crossed numerous battlefields and parts of the underworld together.  Their travels have gained them a suitable stock of wealth and armaments, with which they carry out a campaign of heartless revenge on the traitors who brought Magnificus low.

A Fine Day

Summer is a Spooky Season.

Sword Of Demons

Demon Sword/The Legend Of Acala is a game that might just be the definitive hidden gem of all time. Chances are you saw an ad or two for the game and later lucked up upon it in a clearance bin. That's what happened to me. I saw an ad or two then later got it dirt cheap at KB Toys. From what I can tell, this is pretty much the only way to get the game.

Demon Sword plays a lot like Legend of Kage or maybe even Ninja Spirit in that you run like crazy and mow down enemies with your sword. Jumping propels you forward into the air turning your swordsman into a helicopter of death. You play as Victar and must gather all the piece of the titular sword to defeat the demon currently ruling the world. As you play through the levels and gather pieces, the sword gets bigger and more powerful.

In addition to your growing sword, there's also projectiles like darts. These obviously come in handy for bad guys just out of range. You'll acquire magic spells that come in handy when fighting level bosses. The bosses and bad guys are various demons and yokai in bizarre hellscapes. It's pretty awesome. As normal during the time, the U.S box art depicts more of a standard mid evil fantasy setting, however Japanese advertising gives a better idea of the actual game.

Speaking of difference between the American and Japanese versions, in Japan the game is longer and has more items/magic. I remember thinking I achieved the impossible upon beating the game that one weekend in the seventh grade. Now I wonder if I could repeat history with the Japanese version. Probably not. Demon Sword was one of those things that was MY thing. I'd draw (badly) the characters on my notebooks, and dream up potential sequels. I'm sure to this day though, that I've never said Victar correctly.

Holiday Over, Return To Base

It's the start of a new week here on Planet Zone! After a much needed long weekend I feel nice and refreshed. It's a shorter week, but I still have some fun content planned! Speaking of plans, just one more month until the Halloween Hootenanny begins! Until then, there's a new Not As Brightly Lit ready for a little something spooky. Thank you for continuing to support Zone Base. As always, share with your friends!

On Holiday

You're used to seeing a new week post at this time... well... it's a holiday weekend. I'm taking some very much needed time off to recharge my batteries. Instead this week will start tomorrow and today is something of an anomaly. Sorry for the break in schedule, I just really needed some rest. Thanks everyone for reading Zone Base! It means so much to me to see you all enjoying my nonsense. Regular posting will resume tomorrow.

Bios: Laser Ultra Magnus

"Consistency is victory!"

Profile: Ultra Magnus once lost his life in a Decepticon attack. When he did, as he had briefly been the bearer of the Matrix, his soul was invited to join those guardians of wisdom beyond that of the present world, but it did not seem to him that he truly belonged there. Now, aware of Galvatron II putting the galaxy in crisis by commanding a fearsome mobile battle fortress, he has used Optimus Prime's "Matrix of Reconfiguration" and achieved his own resurrection!

Abilities: Programmed with a new combat structure, Ultra Magnus normal form now possesses power rivaling his original large robot mode, on top of which he has complete control over a battle station equipped with a diverse array of armaments. He can also feed energy from his laser core into the gun and long sword that are his personal weapons, providing them enormous destructive power.

Happy 4th Of Summerween

It's the beginning of July and now that we're fully into summer, it's only natural to talk about a holiday four months away. But hey, what's logic got to do with Summerween? It's a holiday weekend. July 4th is celebrated here in the states usually with fireworks, pool parties, and grilling. It's a good time. 

Ever see Silver Bullet? Marty fends off the werewolf with a bottle rocket on 4th of July and later the final battle is on Halloween night.

Something about these extra few nights off makes for great horror watching. A plate of leftovers from the cook out and kick back with something spooky. It's not just my nonsense, the Halloween spirit is in the air now. More and more pumpkin spice mayhem will soon appear. It's a good time.  

Transformers United EX#10: Hope For The Next Generation (part 2)

Amidst a long and vicious battle with many of his comrades sustaining damage, Assaultmaster proceeded into the cave rumored to be a Decepticon hideout.
As if being drawn in by some unseen force, Assaultmaster moved deeper and deeper into the tunnel. Strangely, Clouder could detect no trace of life from within it. Just as he began to doubt whether this “High Regent” really existed or not, a voice rang out within his mind… or more precisely, from within Assaultmaster’s body.

“I thank you, Major Clouder… or as you were known as our ally, “Doubleclouder.” This sparkless body is an ideal vessel for me. Now, the true master of the future to come… is the High Regent Scrash!”

Clouder’s control of Assaultmaster was being rapidly eroded. He struggled to activate the combiner’s internal Immobilizer unit, setting it to overload.

“Now I understand what you are… But I won’t let your scheme come to pass!”

So began a battle that held in its grip the fate of a new era…

Not As Brightly Lit: CODE ORANGE

DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN HERE!

WE HAVE A CODE ORANGE, I REPEAT CODE ORANGE. HALLOWEEN MERCHANDISE IS BEING SPOTTED! In addition to Rob talking about some of the early Halloween stuff he's been seeing, he talks about some of the spooky stuff he likes from various stores each season. The best time of the year is starting up, everybody hop in your Doom Buggy and enjoy the ride!