It's a New Year on Planet Zone! I have a fun years worth of content in mind for you all, but before we get to that... dude it's a holiday weekend. You're having one too. I'm well aware that nobody is reading this. It's ok. I understand. Totes. I just hope you understand me enjoying the holiday and taking a little break in your regularly scheduled reading material... that... you're... not ... reading. Thanks for supporting Zone Base! If you were reading, all I'd ask would be for you to share the posts with your friends. Since you're not reading though and enjoying the holiday... please share with your friends! I'll be back Tuesday to start the New Year off with more robots, monsters, and misadventure!
Burn Out is a repaint of the Legacy Skids toy with a new head released in the Velocitron Speedia 500 Collection. That Skids toy is a great toy, so it's no surprise that Burn Out is also a good figure. The black and red colors along with the new head look much sharper on the toy. I like it a lot more. As with Skids, Burn Out is pleasantly articulated and transforms into a Honda City Turbo fairly easily. Both modes are quite solid and the included guns add a bit of additional play to the figure. They can be attached onto the car mode or held in Burn Out's hands. There's also the option to plug them into her arms or combine them into larger guns. It's pretty neat.
Burn Out is meant to be the Diaclone version of Skids. In G1, Skids was made from the Honda City Turbo Diaclone toy. That figure was available in multiple colors like other Diaclone Car Robots toys. This Legacy update is a fairly faithful to the original design with updated engineering. Unlike the original toy mold, this update cannot hold a driver. However you could probably plug the BotCon 2015 Diaclone pilots into the holes intended for the guns like with those figures.
Diaclones do not have an individual personality. They're driven by pilots. However, Diaclones released as Transformers DO have a personality. They're either released as new Transformers characters based on the Diaclone colors (like Road Rage). Or, like with Burn Out , they have an Artificial Intelligence that mirrors the pilots personality. Burn Out is driven by Dia, thus she's much alike her. Diaclone in Transformers fiction are much like their original counterparts. They're a military style force that pilots robots to fight threats, just now alongside the Transformers. When they expand the world with other series like this... I love it. Burn Out is an somewhat easy to get at a fairly low price new Diaclone figure that fictionally is in the same universe as the series her original line birthed. That's ridiculously nerdy... but in a very cool way.
I'm more of a dark ride guy. I like the theming and the spectacle, so when a roller coaster gets any kind of theming... it's a good thing in my eyes. But a scary roller coaster? Ok. Vampire's commercial really sells the idea with the spooky graveyard and the scary bats. It's like a little classic horror short and even the parks mascot gets in on the act! I watched some ride on videos of the coaster and it whips you through a heavily tree covered area and around the old tiny Belgium village area of the park. I really hope some guy dressed as Dracula makes occasional appearances during night time rides.
Anti-Blaze, a junior member of the Mini-Con Council of Sages, was among those who argued most passionately against asking Optimus Prime and his Autobots for help. He felt that involvement with the larger Transformers had brought only grief to the Mini-Con race, though he now regrets his position. He has been forced to make the unpleasant transition from a relatively unknown political figure to a military leader at the front lines as he fights against Thrust and the other evil Mini-Con rebels.
It's Christmas on Planet Zone! I hope all of you reading has a happy holiday and I'll be back Tuesday with more robots, monsters, and misadventure! Thank you for continuing to support Zone Base. Hey, you know what would make a great Christmas present? Sharing with your friends!
Nothing says Christmas like worrying about getting laid off after it's over. The bot we're looking at today is from that same mindset! Merry Christmas! Jhiaxus debuted in the Marvel Transformers Generation 2 comics. His name being a play on the words 'Gee... axe us' as the comic had really high sales numbers to meet to not get canceled. Like everything else in the G2 comics, Jhiaxus is batshit crazy looking. From the extreme 90's face to that gnarly exposed wiring. The far out design is highlighted with bright colors symbolic of the era. This new toy of Jhiaxus from the Transformers Legacy toy line is a perfect representation of the character in that comic series.
Jhiaxus is a voyager class figure and that larger scale benefits the design quite nicely. His beefed up seeker style body should be imposing. The design just commands to be bigger. Transformation from robot to jet is pretty simple. Everything goes into place where it should without any unnecessary steps. Both modes are really clean too, not much left over kibble from either mode. With a little more features, this could be a higher priced figure. Jhiaxus is pleasantly articulated and packing two guns to properly represent the comics blood lust. It wouldn't be the G2 comic without an insane amount of violence.
I legitimately do not have a single bad thing to say about this toy. Not just because I love Transformers, Generation 2, and the character. It's because this is a really good toy. As we're coming to the end of the year, it's safe to say THIS is my toy of the year. They nailed it. I don't see how another figure of Jhiaxus can beat this one without being a higher priced offering. Even then, I'd be surprised this one's engineering wasn't the base for that supposed higher priced toy. As a Transformers fan from a certain era, this feels like a love letter from Hasbro. There were two other toys of Jhiaxus that were not super great representations of him. This, THIS is what I've been wanting since his introduction in 1993.
Everyone will bring up Krampus each year. It's to be expected during such a happy and cheery time. Real ones know about Christmas time monsters that terrorize kids and adults alike during the most wonderful time of the year. It used to be time for scary stories after all. Probably one of the most fun Christmastime creeps would be Gryla, the Christmas Witch. In Iceland, she's believed to take naughty children back to her cave and eat them. Her story goes back a long time and has several variations thought history, but that's the general gist of it.
She's not alone either, her kids (or brothers depending on story) tend to cause all sorts of troubles in the homes of these naughty children. They eat the kids back at the cave along with Gryla and her lazy husband. Just like most witches, Gryla has a cat who eats those that didn't get new clothes to wear before Christmas Eve. Suddenly all those socks and crappy sweaters from grandparents don't seem so bad. I think whats really funny, is that thanks to so many parents using Gryla as a way to scare their children into behaving, it was actually against the law for a while. Gryla is still somewhat a common mythological character that terrorizes Iceland during Christmas. That says something to her spookiness that she's been around so long and still somewhat a real world terror to those who hear about her every Christmas. Happy Holidays... if you survive.
During the long years of relative solitude before and since their discovery on the Moon by the larger Transformers, Kobushi came to the conclusion that personal perfection could be attained through challenging combat. Every enemy destroyed, he believes, adds to his own power as a warrior. He has devoted his life to improving his martial skill, adapting the ancient art of Metallikato to most effectively use his diamond tipped drill arm. Landslide, the toughest individual on the Exploration Team, has been his frequent opponent, and Kobushi challenges him at every opportunity.
It's not just the beginning of a new week here on Planet Zone, but the first of two holiday weeks! I'm sure you're aware that Christmas is this weekend and New Years is next. With that, I have some long holiday weekends ahead of me. So the next two weeks here on the site will be a little different. Nothing major, but off schedule. Things will get back to normal after the new year as usual. I have a fun two holiday weeks in store for you all. Thanks for reading Zone Base. I really appreciate the support. If you like what I here, please share with your friends!
My toy backlog seems to know no limit, and yet, there's ones I hold off on just to feel the anticipation a little longer. Wheeljack is one of those types of toys. I got him in the summer and of course it's the Studio Series Wheeljack as he appeared in the Bumblebee movie (just in case you didn't know). I've been really into these particular figures despite not getting as many as I would have liked. Readers know just how much I loved the Bumblebee movie and these Cybertronian versions of the characters were a particular highlight. They successfully took the live action movies sci fi/tech look and applied it to the traditional Transformers looks very well. There's no wonder I'm looking forward to Rise of the Beasts as much as I am. Let's watch a little of that right now.
Damn that's exfiltrating. Wheeljack was in that scene, did you see him? I've always liked Wheeljack's design. It looks really cool. Here, it looks badass. That sci fi/tech works really well with Wheeljack's traditional design. I really like the colors on that design, in car mode it almost gives me Macross/Robotech vibes. Transformation is not terribly hard, but maybe a little picky in a few instances of getting everything into place. It's a fairly predictable transformation for a car bot, but that's not something I'd complain about. Robot mode is a little short like other recent figures, but it's substantial. The figure is fairly solid feeling with no noticeable hollowness. I'm fine if the hollow parts are from transformation (within reason), but there's just none here. I've noticed the aftermarket upgrade kits just kind of polish off the toy and don't make up for any lacking instances.
Like I've said before, I'm fine with the toys being a little smaller. Not just because I have a thing for smaller Transformers, but because I've usually felt they were just a little too big. Wheeljack is a good example of that. He's damn near perfect, and the smaller size keeps it compact and avoids unnecessary negative space. If there's an argument for the smaller sized Transformers figures of late, Wheeljack makes for a good one. There's a lot of articulation as well. You could pose him in all sorts of action scenes with that gun. I do wish Wheeljack's traditional shoulder cannon made an appearance as I think it'd add something. That's not a fault either. Just something that I think would really make an already good toy better.
This powerful Autobot enforcer is cool under pressure, but hot on the tail of the Predacons!
Firelance Missile: - Warhead is specifically tuned to track down Predacon energy signatures. - Even a near miss can short out flight systems, causing Predacons to crash to the ground. - Allows Prowl to also fire a short-range burst of fire from his grille.
Kid Dracula/Akumajō Special: Boku Dracula-kun is a very fun little game where you take control of a young Kid Dracula (as the name implies) and take on Galamoth the demon. Kid Dracula uses his Dracula's (his father) cape as a weapon on his adventure. Kid Dracula is the self proclaimed Demon King, or was until Galamoth challenged him for the title. After defeating Galamoth, his title is restored and all the monsters in Transylvania want to be his friend. Despite all the monsters and demons, the game is obviously pretty cute.
It's intended to be a parody of the Castlevania series, though depending on who you ask, is part of the series. Kid Dracula being a young Alucard prior to growing up and becoming a more serious character. I prefer to take it on it's own though. It's hard not to enjoy the cute monsters and the fun platforming action. The game is available on most platforms now, but was originally a Famicom/NES game. Later the Gameboy version was released which is supposed to be both a remake and a follow up at the same time. I'm not sure how that works, but I am much better at the Gameboy version for some reason.
I've been having a great time with my Guardians of the Galaxy advent calendar this Christmas season. Normally, I do a Star Wars one, but like last year, they sold out before I could purchase one. However, like the GOTG movies... it's kinda the same thing. Before any of you coming in give me the 'well actually' treatment... let me explain. I'm well aware of the GOTG prior to the movies, but it wasn't until the movies until I became a fan. They were just kind of in the various comics I'd read and frankly not much more. I do wish now that I would have paid them more attention, but if I had a time machine there'd be more pressing issues I'd focus on. The movies though, *chef's kiss*.
I enjoyed the Star Wars prequels, but not as much as I wanted to. I'd have liked them to be a lot better. Before Disney restarted Star Wars, I has accepted things the way they were. The GOTG came out and well, felt like a pretty decent Star Wars movie. No, it wasn't exactly the same, but pretty close. It's in that space opera nebulous that Micronauts falls in. It's like Star Wars, but different.
So what's that got to do with the above commercial? Well, the toys came out after the movie and well... how many of those mofo's were dead by the time you got the figure? It sure was exciting to get that Boba Fett or Darth Vader on Christmas morning. The Jabba's Palace play set was an amazing gift from Santa. But uh, I already knew what happened to those dudes. Did that have any effect on my enjoyment of the toys? Absolutely not. Sometimes I'd recreate scenes from the movie. Maybe they'd be adventures prior or even after and the guys somehow lived. Sometimes I just played with my toys and didn't care. I think that's where GOTG kinda falls into this. It's that side thing that also works. It's totally Star Wars, while being it's own thing.
The weekend is over, but at least a new week on Planet Zone is here! Yeah, I don't blame you. I'd like more weekend too. I spent mine with the Mrs showing my mother a good time for her birthday. We went looking at Christmas lights and generally enjoyed life. I didn't really get myself anything as usual during the Christmas season, but did grab a Jurrasic World mini and Sonic the Hedgehog figurine. I on and off buy the minis. They're a lot of fun, and buy the occasional inexpensive video game figures Jazwares makes. They're a great little representation of the characters I love without costing very much money. That's important this time of the year.
It's Christmas, so I got to have the occasional clarification of Transformers and other robots. The Mrs and the mother tolerate my hobbies, but it can be confusing for people outside of the robot world. Next weekend will be spent doing one more massive shopping trip before the big day. We're going to be exhausted, but the madness is all part of the fun I suppose. Speaking of fun, I've got a fun week in store for you readers. Hopefully the new episode of Transform Squadron will get posted this week for your listening pleasure as well. If you could, would you mind sharing the site with your friends? This isn't one of those big mega sites bankrolled by the big companies, just a labor of love by a crazy fan. It's all I ask that others help spread the word. Thank you for supporting Zone Base. It's super awesome that you do.
I've always liked Perceptor. There's just something charming about him. Before we go any further, I vastly prefer the cartoon version to the newer sniper version. This isn't a battle line to fight over, just a preference. That's why we'll be looking at the Studio Series 86 figure of Perceptor toy. I got it a few months ago, that ever growing backlog keeps getting bigger. If this was a review site, I'd be more hard pressed to get posts out about certain toys faster. That's just not what I do here though.
What I'm doing here though (today anyway) is looking at this newer figure of a classic character. It's a really solid update of Perceptor. Like other newer updates of classic Transformers, Perceptor looks like he just walked off a cartoon screen. He's pleasantly articulated and has the gun you expect him to have. Of course a microscope is the alt mode and just like always... it's not the most accurate microscope, but it'll do. Once again, it looks like how you'd expect it too. The tank mode (yes, he was always a triple changer) is right along with the same accuracy to the original. I don't know if it could fit a Microman, maybe something smaller. I didn't test that out. I could see a Mega Construx figure sliding in there without any issue.
This is really just a new update. That doesn't bother me and Perceptor is a character I'll always appreciate getting a new toy. The last one can out 5 years ago. Not the worst timing for another new figure. I've always liked his reds and blues. The bright colors really pop against such a rigid looking robot design. His design always reflected his personality to me in that way. Perceptor is this really smart bookworm who'll give you the most elaborate answer you didn't want. Then he'll drop something and say "oh dear" before hitting his head. That design is the genius, the color is the silly. I never outright desired a microscope that also turned into a tank and a robot... but I learned a long time ago that one was necessary.
"Peace is the absence of conflict and the presence of justice."
Function: Starship Captain
A veteran of the last Great War that resulted in the defeat of the Predacon forces, Optimus Primal embodies many of the Maximal philosophical ideals. He is a heroic figure whose ability for self sacrifice knows no bounds. While he understands that war and conflict are sad realities of his existence, he has made it a point to study the historical and scientific records of past generations. He believes it is the balance that his idol, the original Optimus Primal, maintained throughout his long service. While Optimus Primal has a vast understanding of standard battle protocols, he sometimes utilizes unconventional, yet creative tactics to succeed in his missions. In vehicle mode, his boosters allow the ability to move at speeds of up to 350 mph for short bursts. While in robot mode, the boosters can become forward deployed missile launchers capable of locking onto two targets independently. The boosters can also be used for flight in robot mode. While always battle ready, he believes his current mission of exploration aboard the Axalon is symbolic of the Maximal goals of peace and harmony in the galaxy.
What is it about face pant that's so scary? A clown without it is just a guy in a silly outfit. KISS was just some pop rock band that were linked to Satan because of it. Your favorite wrestler? Just a little make up and evil inccarnate.
When I was a kid, Zillion was just a game on the Master System. It wasn't until gettingt older that I learned of it's toys and cartoons as well. It was around then realization that the weird laser tag gun my friend down the street had was a knock off of the Zillion light gun game released by SEGA. Zillion was a media mix series in Japan that was a collaboration between SEGA and Tatsunoko Productions. There was an anime, toys, and video games. It wasn't much more than a blip on our radars here in the States but reasonably popular in Japan. If you've ever used the Master System Light Phaser, it's specifically the Zillion gun. Pretty weird how that worked out.
It's Monday... ok, Mondays suck. But, also the start of a new week here on Planet Zone! I spent the weekend watching paranormal television and playing video games. Agood time was had playing The Goonies, The Punisher, and Mighty Final Fight. I also spent some time organizing Bakugan. Think I need a binder for the cards.
It's Christmas time and I hope you all have been keeping up with my Guardians of the Galaxy advent calendar posting on social media. There's a handy link over on the side bar if you'd like to check it out. Speaking of Christmas, I don't buy myself stuff during the season, but totally splurged on Legacy Skullgrin this weekend. I get each of his figures, NO EXCUSES.
I've got a fun week planned for you all. Thank you for reading Zone Base. There's a lot bigger and better sites out there (they'll even tell you), so it means alot that you take time out of your day to read me curse about Gobots. You can tell I'm not a bigger and better site because I never ask for money. However, if you like what I do, it'd mean a lot if you shared the site with your friends.
I've been wanting to talk about Buggyman for awhile now. Buggyman is a Gobot that doesn't get included often when the subject of Gobots comes up. He's not one of the main characters, so that's understandable. Gobot's have a lot of different toys and were released under a bunch of different lines. I don't know everything about them... nobody really does. The best you can do use use the references available. However, back to Buggyman. He's a pretty charming little guy. Pretty much what I think of when thinking of Gobots. He's got the signature look. This is the second version of Buggyman in Gobots, the first is in blue. I actually tried to go over the variations in a recent TikTok I made on this toy. Let's watch that real quick.
Honestly I'd make more videos more often, but spare time is a fleeting thing. I don't think I'm writing this posts intention to talk about Buggyman in the same way you'd talk about a toy in a review. I don't think I do reviews... I mean... it's a purely subjective subject. What's my qualifications, or anyone else's to decide if a toy is good or not? I really just want to talk about Gobots and Buggyman is going to be my example for today. Ya'll dig? I'm going to put pictures of Buggyman in for the people who don't read and just skim over the pics. They'll never know. The actual post will just be our thing. Post readers club... somebody make a hand sign and we'll all do it.
I said Buggyman (damn, that's a fun name) was what I thought when thinking of Gobots. That means a few things. First... look at that face. That's the quintessential Gobot face. It's similar to several others across all the Machine Robo/Gobot robots. That goes for that box around his head as well. Despite what Buggyman turns into (a dune buggy, it's in his name), he absolutely looks like a standard issue Gobot. All the design bullet points are met. You may second guess an oddball robot here or there, but this is definitely a Gobot on sight. Also a great example of why Gobots are so fun. The wonderful die-cast, that traditional Bandai look, those rubber tires. For what was intended to be an inexpensive toy, Buggyman is pretty high quality.
Then there's the influence, intended or not. I loved Mini-Cons when they were first released. Still do. Not only did they remind me of Micromasters... but they also reminded me of Gobots. Take Ironhide for example... it's almost a tiny recreation of Buggyman. All those random alt modes and the mixture of unique and traditional robot modes. They were almost a Machine Robo line nestled in a Transformers line. Ironically the two brands were heated competitors at the time with robot fans winning in the end.
A pair of glowing eyes pierce the night like twin lasers scanning for prey. Steel-plated fangs glisten as the full moon rises. A deep growl rumbles in the night air. It is Wolfang, the warrior beast, searching for Predacon enemies! Swift and agile, prefers to hunt cloaked as an animal. But, quickly converts to robot mode for battle, when he can best utilize the secret attack launcher disguised as his tail!
