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Spooky Summer~Henry Eats

Summer is a Spooky Season.

Rhinox (Beast Battle Masters)

Beast Summer is beginning with an analogy for life. You need thick skin and to charge forward, you need to be a rhino. A rhino also makes for a good beast mode in battle. Thick skin, heavy hitter, charge forward. That's why Rhinox as a Beast Battle Master just works. Admittedly I'm a big fan of both beast warriors and Battle Masters... but it's hard to not enjoy the idea of an animal based partner figure that changes into a weapon. In this case Rhinox changes into a chain gun. This is super appropriate as something like a rhino needs to be a BFG and well... it's Rhinox, those signature chain guns of doom are a necessity.

As a Beast Battle Master, Rhinox's main form is his rhino beast mode. It makes for a great partner figure, though I do wish they would have made it a different character in this form as there is a plethora of other Rhinox toys in the line. However they probably want to get some name recognition going as well as there's only so many trademarks in the budget. It also makes me think of the Arms Microns from Go! that were main characters as smaller weapons based partners. Like Bulkhead Knuckle. That being said, I'd love a boxing glove alt mode in Beast Alliance.

Transformation into gun mode is pretty easy as it should be for something this small. To transform into gun form, you essentially split the rhino in half and the chain gun barrel comes out the rear Ace Ventura style. The sides and extra parts fold away and you've got a BFG for whatever figure you wish to use it. I paired it with Battle Charges Rhinox. Because yo dawg, I heard you like rhinos. Also that toy was handy.

Happy Memorial Day!

It's not just any Monday, it's a holiday on Monday! Hooray for a 3 day weekend! I'm definitely taking advantage of the break to get some much needed rest. Hope everyone has a great holiday and I'll see you all tomorrow with the start of Beast Summer!

Optimus Prime (Beast Alliance/Battle Changers)

I'm taking another look at the Beast Alliance Battle Changers with Optimus Prime. He is a better representative of the size class than Bumblebee with gimmick compatibility. Battle Changers Optimus is similar to a Legion/Legend class toy only sized up. I can see that being a turn off for some folks, but if you know what you're getting going in... then it just is what it is. Battle Changers are meant to be a lower cost option and seeing as they're to scale with the higher priced Beast Alliance figures... it kinda works out. I'd be lying if the fact that this lower priced option is what I paid for a deluxe about 11-12 years ago didn't irk me... but times change.

Optimus turns into a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT), which is a militarily truck that's kinda like a hardcore version of his standard semi truck. Personally, I think this fits Optimus pretty well. It looks cool. As you'd expect the transformation to robot mode is fairly simple and you end up with a fairly satisfying figure of Optimus Prime. Optimus has a basic level of articulation, arms move from the shoulders and legs from the hips. His forearms do swivel from transformation adding a little extra possibility. Like I said prior, he has compatibility with the lines gimmicks. Specifically the Battle Masters. Optimus can hold one in weapon mode or it can plug into his forearms. Like other Battle Changers so far, he has a flip out weapon. His sword from prior movies folds out and it's pretty neat.

Battle Changers Optimus Prime is a fun simple toy that's probably not going to be for everyone. That's ok... there's literally a ton of product coming out for this movie, so I'm sure there's a little something for everyone. This is clearly intended for children to have little adventures with that's more affordable in these somewhat harder economic times. Considering this toy was probably designed during the pandemic with expectations for the current economy in mind... just think what's in store about two years from now.

For somebody who likes gimmick toys and enjoys oddball little things like myself, Battle Changers are pretty neat. They're an entryway, lower cost figure for a play pattern designed sub line. Honestly I do wonder if these will continue past Rise of the Beasts as it sure is a pretty fleshed out system for a movie tie in line. I've been a fan of these simpler toys for some time now anyway as they make me think of older style robot designs. While I've been happy to see the advances in things going forward, older style robot toys still had a place in my heart.

Bios: Skyhopper

"The bigger the boom, the better I like it."

Function: Aerial Assault Commander

Likes to watch things explode. Especially enjoys firing his helicopter's sonic cannon at anything associated with the Autobots. Transforms the copter into a battle base to use its powerful molecular disrupter gun to alter the Autobot's circuitry. Other Decepticons suspect all the explosions have rattled his brain circuits once to often!

Strength: 6 Intelligence: 4 Speed: 7 Endurance: 6

Rank: 6 Courage: 8 Firepower: 8 Skill: 9

Transform Squadron 44- Sacred Legend Family Dollar

LISTEN NOW!

This month, Rob talks about Shin Universe Robo, Beast Alliance toys, and Sacred Beast Legend Bioroid! In that order!

Weekly Halloween~ Let's Get Creepy

Spooky robots make for wonderful pre-Halloween game, but it also let's me tell you about this summer I got. For you, that is. Thinking about that variety I speak so highly of, I thought it'd be a good time to make a return of the Spooky Summer posts as a source of mid-week thrills. With Beast Summer starting next week, it seems like a good time to give Weekly Halloween a little break before the Pumpkin Spiced Mayhem goes into full sensory annihilation in August. So while we're enjoying the Beast Summer with bomb pop ice cream, fireworks, and watermelon (summer pumpkin), let's not forget.

Summer is a Spooky Season.

Generation MSX

This won't be the first time I've wistfully looked at MSX commercials on the site and wished I could have been one of those lucky kids to grow up with one. I'll even admit, the grass is usually greener on the other side of the fence. However, I don't think any amount of realistic thinking or applied rationale could make up for a lifetime of being in awe. Like I said before, thanks to older gaming magazines, there was something badass and punk rock about playing games on an MSX. I fully understand just how stupid that sounds now, but at the time that was the impression that I got because they made it sound just so hardcore. To be honest... I think I was right.

We don't need another Monday

It's Monday... dammit. Oh well, at least next week is Memorial Day and a welcome 3 day weekend. I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a good week ahead of them. I did some shopping this weekend and finally saw Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Trips to Costco, Walmart, and Target were had. I got Rise of the Beasts mainline Rhinox and Beast Changer Mirage as well as Studio Series core class Ironhide. Not to mention a  Great Posing Figure Demon Slayer gatchapon blind bag (Inosuke!). Thanks everyone for reading Zone Base. I've got a fun week planned and hopefully a new Transform Squadron coming soon! Right now... it's time to get woken up. I'm... ah... still sleepy.

Origins Jazz (Buzzworthy Bumblebee)

Like many folks, I was pretty excited when first seeing Origins Jazz announced online. Those cool Cybertronian forms from the opening scenes of More than Meets the Eye have stayed in the fandom lexicon since those olden days. Having these cool new toys of them is really neat. Jazz is a Buzzworthy Bumblebee release, meaning it's exclusive to Target stores here in the states. Normally it's pretty easy to get those, but not this time. I had firmly accepted that I wasn't ever going to find one until recently lucking stopping by Target for pasta. The didn't have the ravioli (seriously, it took 3 stores), but they did have an Origins Jazz.

This may be my favorite Jazz figure so far. I'm not just saying that because of the cool alt mode, or the elation of finally finding one, but it's just a really good figure. Jazz is like that, they seemingly improve each design as they go along. Considering the formula and regular updates to existing characters, that's great. I know that's the general idea... but it doesn't always work out. Jazz also looks similar to his Action Masters figure. I've always been pretty fond of that toy, so it's something I'd like overall.

Another neat feature is the weapons. Jazz has his standard Photon Rifle as well as a grappling hook. In transformation, fists are folded inwards. This provides a place to plug the grappling hook in similar to it's appearance on the show. There's even a winch on the left arm for it! The hook can also attach to the rifle so Jazz can fire it up high. I really like the inclusion of the hook, it's just a neat little extra they could have skipped and I wouldn't have noticed. It's inclusion is a fun little extra that frankly the rising cost of Transformers really should have. I'm paying more, I should get more. There's a difference between rising costs and gouging. They've been firmly in the latter lately.

Origins Jazz is an overall excellent figure. He has a ton of articulation and that dang grappling hook is a winner. Transformation is a little persnickety. It's not super hard or anything, but there's some points I found myself saying "come on dammit" or "aw dammit" and sometimes just plain "dammit". Ultimately, that's my only complaint with the toy. There's a few spots where you've got to get everything just right and I fumbled with it a little getting it there. Jazz's rifle can store on top of the car and it kinda looks like that's where it belongs. I really like this figure and wish he wasn't so hard to find. When he was announced it was a cool surprise as was finding it that day.

Shin Universe Robo

THIS IS AMAZING.

Bios: Star Convoy

Function: Supreme Commander

Ability: The new leader of the Cybertron corps including the Micromasters. He fights with the power of supernova energy "Zodiac". Caterpillar treads on his feet are his special ability, allowing him to travel over all terrain.

Weapons: Galaxy Bomber, Shoulder Cannon 

Strength: 10 Intelligence: 10 Speed: 10 Endurance: 10

Rank: 10 Courage: 10 Firepower: 10 Skill: 10

Weekly Halloween~ Around the Corner

With Halfway 2 Halloween over on the site, I guess it's time to get back to normal for awhile. It's not fall, it's spring... not quite Halloween. Halfway to summer too. Summer is when Halloween truly rears it's head as the alarm is sounded... Code Orange. Soon enough there'll be little sneaks and peaks of the spooky season as it slowly makes it's ways into stores. Some will outright start stocking in summer for the Great Pumpkin's arrival...others will slowly filter it in before their onslaught of orange. Until then, everyday is Halloween on Zone Base.

Xexious Promotional Video

Xevious is one of those games I wish I was good at. I can generally get a few minutes in before giving up. Sure, if I practiced more, I would probably get better and when I was younger did just that. I'd play these games over and over until I got somewhat decent and could get pretty far. Unfortunately a game like Xevious is like a martial art, you've got to keep at it or the skills will fade away. The game was originally released by Namco in Japan before Atari released it here in the states. Atari and Namco had a working relationship back then which lead to kids like myself not knowing they were different companies initially. I recently discovered this little video produced by Atari when they were introducing the game to arcades. It's a fun little look into Xevious's backstory and game play from back in the day. It's hard not to appreciate these older promotional videos these days.

Primeval Monday

Dang, it's Monday again. Guess it's time for another new week here on Planet Zone. Hope everyone had a great weekend as we near the Rise of Beast Summer! I had a pretty good weekend. We had a fun family pizza party at my Mom's house for mother's day. Speaking of mother's day, I helped our cats give the Mrs a surprise. 

Saturday the Mrs and I did a little shopping. We had intended to watch Guardians of the Galaxy 3, but like Mario... time wasn't on our side. Friday we did pick her up the new Zelda game while Saturday I found some fun stuff. Got Super Powers Darkseid and the 1989 Batman from the Flash toyline. I don't care about the movie, except for him. Also grabbed some Star Wars discount figures and a gray Yoshi from the Jazwares Super Mario figures.

Later a stop by Target resulted in picking up the Buzzworthy Bumblebee Jungle Mission 3 pack on sale. Good weekend for fun stuff. Speaking of fun stuff, an impromptu stop by Pelicans Sunday resulted in me getting a Super Mario snowball from their Mario Bros movie flavors. It was a hot day and that was just the thing. I've got a fun week in store for you all. Thank you for reading Zone Base. If you like what I'm doing, please share posts with your friends! Or hey, follow our new Facebook page! There's a handy link in the right column links!

Halfway 2 Halloween~ Why so Glum?

Ultimately, Halloween is all about candy to some folks. Which is a big part of the night I suppose. Our little cowboy here sadly lost his before finding a new friend who offers to share a full sized bounty. But wait a minute... that a ghost! It's hard to make fun of this commercial, literally a perfect taste of Halloween. Since we're halfway there, it's a little of that scary flavor we all savor. With it our Halfway 2 Halloween special event comes to a close. Thanks to everyone that read along for some spooky fun. With code orange alerts to be going off soon in the summer before the Zone Base Halloween goes into full scary swing in August... I don't know what I was going to say. Happy Halfway 2 Halloween!

Twincast with Rewind (Legacy Evolution)

I recently lucked up on Twincast and Rewind at my local Gamestop and eagerly purchased them. For the record, my local Gamestop is rather large, well run, and feels more like a small toy store than a traditional Gamestop. I'm quite aware others don't have that luxury... and find it kind of weird myself. Twincast happily came home with me and even though I have the Blaster and Eject this set is made from... they're sadly in a backlog of unopened toys. So this is my first time experiencing the mold in all it's glory. Twincast and Rewind are pretty much a straight repaint of the prior toys, thought Twincast does have a slight head remold. He's giving a slight wink, similar to his first appearance in the Headmasters cartoon. While I understand this incarnation's backstory is that of a failed clone by Shockwave... we all know who he's supposed to be.

It's easy to automatically think Twincast uses Radi-Casse Robo's colors, but he's actually quite different. The blue does make me mentally think Mico Change and I find myself forgetting the differences as well. Actually, both Microman versions are similar enough to the Transformers toys that a straight homage would probably get a lot of criticism. That's a shame, it's an exclusive version I'd like to see. Especially using this mold as a basis, because it's a great update to Blaster/Twincast. Pleasantly larger than a standard figure being a Voyager class and well articulated. His transformation into a boombox is pretty easily done. There is a little bit of panel forming that can make the process a bit fiddly if you don't get everything lined up just right, but I found it pretty simple. Rewind is, of course, much smaller but feels pretty well done. Like with Eject before him, Rewind is mostly cast in translucent plastic. That's a sticking point for some as the stuff tends to get brittle and crack in time, but it does look nice. 

Rewind of course turns into a cassette tape that fits in Twincast's tape deck via pressing the player's buttons. Doing so will cause the door to pop open, allowing for Rewind or any other to scale tape bots to fit in. I do love my cassette robots, really with I could have scored that Siege two pack that got released with the Micromasters a few years ago. Oh well, hopefully some more will find their way out. Blaster and Twincast could use a Ramhorn and Steeljaw. Twincast comes with his Electro-Scrambler rifle as did Blaster. It can store on the back of the stereo or held in either hand. His right hand is posed with an outwards finger to simulate pulling the trigger or pressing his tape deck buttons. It's a cool touch. Twincast is an Evolution toy, which means he features some for of combination gimmick as does the rest of the Legacy Evolution figures. Though being a mold from a prior line they try to sell storing the gun in alt mode as his Evo-Fusion ability on the back of the box. Yep.

Halfway 2 Halloween~ Newsworthy Costumes

While we're all having a little Halloween fun in spring, I'm sure costumes came to mind for a few of you. One year I wanted to be Eddie from Iron Maiden with a zombie mask I saw at Spencer's. Unfortunately the cost of the mask was around the "hell no boy, go mow the damn grass" mark so those plans were ditched. Anyone else have an asshole lecture you about the costumes they wore in the good old days? I think the reporter in today's clip is among that breed of jerk. While I'll never argue over the quality of a good scary face made with make up... how you gonna disrespect Garfield at Halloween?

Bios: Nuggit

Rank- Good rock warrior

Body Type- Golden: a shiny, metallic finish that covers his robotic circuitry

Weapon- Tri-Gun

Bio: Though he's a robot, Nuggit is worth his weight in gold! He's smaller than the other rock warriors but brave and bold beyond his size. Nuggit is very proud of his shiny finish.

Nuggit's Tri-Gun does triple duty; the top barrel hypnotizes; the second barrel paralyzes; the third barrel revives the unlucky victim for questioning.

Halfway 2 Halloween~ Ha! Ha! ...Hell

I've never worked for Disney, so I can't tell you who got fired over Eddie Murphy's Haunted Mansion movie. What I can tell you is, it was so bad that they waited 20 years before doing it again without seemingly learning anything. Regardless of some of their bad choices, Disney has always been synonymous with Halloween for me. Between their impeccable Halloween Treat special and all the other ways they downright wallow in pumpkin spiced mayhem... it's just a part of the spooky season for me.

Koopa's got kids

I've always loved the Nintendo cartoons produced by DiC in the late 80's and early 90's. To be fair, I've always been a fan of cartoons made by DiC. They really made great shows that I still watch regularly to this day. Their Super Mario Bros cartoons have always been a bright spot for me as... I freaking love Super Mario. Some of my favorite games of all time and I still have yet to get tired of playing any of them. At the time, media about video games was hit or miss. There was gaming magazines, but I wanted fiction. Prior, there was the Saturday Supercade and Pac-Man cartoons  that gave some extra life to those characters I liked on my Atari. That was much needed as in those days the plot was mostly a basic scenario. I was fully in love with the richer gaming worlds my NES gave me and just gobbled up the characters however I could.

Needles to say, thanks to the time they were made, the shows weren't very true to the source material. Like Saturday Supercade and others before it, some additional world building was needed to make a show out of the games. A boss in a game's personality back then was often a few sentences in a game manual. Not to mention, animation companies like DiC was provided material by the companies localizing the game from Japan. So whatever material they had to give them was likely pretty limited at the time as the game was probably being localized at the same time. We know him as Bowser here in the western world, but in Japan his name is Koopa. So he's King Koopa in those old cartoons. After hearing a Milli Vanilli song on the radio recently, I was reminded of that episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 featuring them. Somehow that thought resulted in me wanting to write about the Koopa Kids from said cartoon and their name differences from game to cartoon. You can blame this post on the rain

Game/Cartoon
Larry Koopa/Cheatsy, he tends to be a cheater.
Morton Koopa Jr/Big Mouth, talks a lot.
Wendy O. Koopa/Kootie Pie, spoiled brat.
Lemmy Koopa-/Hip (twin of Hop), not very smart, but also genuinely innocent.
Iggy Koopa/Hop (twin of Hip), immature and childish, but a brilliant inventor.
Roy Koopa/Bully, calm and collective.
Ludwig Von Koopa/Kooky, mad scientist and elder Koopa kid.

Halfway 2 Halloween~ Magic Meals

One year before trick or treating, my Mom took us to McDonald's for Happy Meals. It was great! Unfortunately they wasn't running a Halloween promotion at the time. They were, however, still giving out Hot Wheels from a prior promotion. By Halloween night though, all they had were a bunch of the same orange van. Same night, afterwards she stops by the store on the way home and got us Dragon Riders of the Styx toys while there. Now those fit the holiday.

Bios: Barrage

"Nothing left standing means nothing left to change."

Function: Gunner

Winning is not enough -- this Insecticon's attack continues until the ground is scorched and leveled. Merciless, cruel... believes kindness only stirs hope among the vanquished. Disliked by fellow Decepticons. In insect Mode, can shoot non-stop explosive charges from gun mounts, high energy photons from antenna. Flies 15mph with 400 mile range. Has powerful sonic rifle in robot Mode.

Strength: 3 Intelligence: 8 Speed: 3 Endurance: 7
Rank: 5 Courage: 10 Firepower: 9 Skill: 8

Hagen no Monday

Monday has come again signaling the beginning of yet another new week. I hope you all had a great weekend, mine was pretty neat. Saturday we took a long road trip to visit Buc-ee's, an insanely large gas station with a pretty neat store inside. They've got good food and cool stuff. It was a long trip, but a fun way to spend a day. Sunday, a quick stop at Target resulted in Origins Jazz and Studio Series Arcee and Freezer from Rise of the Beasts. We were just getting some pasta! I intended to organize my toy room, but ended up taking a very long nap before playing through Super Mario Land 2. 

The weekend is over sadly and with it begins a new week of fun posts planned for you all. How's everyone enjoying Halfway to Halloween? It's been fun doing it, though makes me look forward to the spooky season all the much more. Beast Summer is right around the corner and you know what? I've changed my mind. I think Weekly Halloween is gonna swap out with classic Spooky Summer posts until the Pumpkin Spiced Mayhem starts in August. Let's be seasonal in our mid week horror! If this was a post on Facebook, I'd have posted a wacky emoji after that. 

Thanks for reading Zone Base! If you like what I'm doing, please share posts with your friends. It's all I ask!

Rise of the Mermaid

At my #GotGVol3 screening they played the transformers and little mermaid trailers at the same time and they synced up perfectly pic.twitter.com/IVoxjaWQYN

— Blake Perry (@BlakeRobPerry) May 5, 2023

This could be the best movie ever.

Halfway 2 Halloween~ Macbre Marathons

We're Halfway to Halloween as you're aware and with hat comes a little spooky fun in the springtime. An easy way to do that is a scary movie night, easy to do with most streaming apps. Back in the day, many of us have fond memories of the horror marathon on local TV during October. It was such a regular thing that characters are doing it in Halloween 1978 and Halloween 2 1981. Long before AMC was known for it's original programing, the channel was for old movies. They have their annual Fear Fest to this day, but it's roots were more classic. Halloween night with the Universal Monsters? Heck yeah!

Bumblebee (Beast Alliance/Battle Changers)

Transformers Rise of the Beasts means a lot of new Transformers toys. Ever since it's announcement, I've been most interested in the Beast Alliance sub-line. Featuring the return of Battle Masters and partner figures for larger bots that are a mixture of beast and traditional TF characters... it's the kind of thing I really go for. Not to mention, it's priced very fairly. That's been a sticking point lately. In some ways Beast Alliance is similar to the Energon Igniters from the Bumblebee movie. A simple, gimmick based line obviously intended for children as opposed to the more serious and costly Studio Series offerings. However, Beast Alliance is a much better toy line and striking a positive chord within a large part of the Transformers fandom. I like it too.

Today we're looking at Bumblebee from Beast Alliance, or more specifically his Battle Changers figure. Battle Changers are more simple figures sold for around $10. They're mostly compatible with the Battle Masters and to scale with the other figures. In the case of Bumblebee here... he feels like a sized up legion/legend class toy and lacks compatibility with Battle Masters unlike the others in this class. Honestly, he feels like a holdover from another design stage before the gimmicks were decided on. The simpleness can be ignored easier with the other figures in this class thanks to the gimmick integration. Bumblebee can't hold a Battle Master, nor can one plug in anywhere. Considering how gimmick heavy Beast Alliance is, the lack of comparability is impossible to ignore. Aside from that, Bumblbee is a pleasant little figure.

Bumblebee returns to his Camaro alt more we're used to in the movies. However this time, it's a fun off road variation that I'm pretty fond off. I can't stop thinking that this is an up-scaled legion/legend toy as the transformation is VERY similar to prior movie Bumblebee toys of that class as is robot mode. Perhaps the engineering was reused or this is a modified CAD model. One neat feature Bumblebee has that seems to be a standard feature in Battle Changers (or all the ones I've seen) is a flip out weapon. You can spin his right hand around giving us that trademark buster style gun BB uses in the movies. It's simple, but satisfying. Speaking of simple, in robot mode he has basic arm and leg articulation. That'll be a sticking point for some people, as would the basic nature of the toy itself. With the others in the class I looked it over with the gimmick capability. I'm only harping on it so much here because it's impossible to ignore considering just how largely it plays into the rest of the line. 

Beast Alliance Battle Changers Bumblebee is a very pleasing figure. His simple design allows for fast transformation. Perfect for playing around with while watching TV or a little buddy to carry around with you. If you enjoy a desk bot, he'd make a good one. While working at the computer, the need to take a little break happens and a little something to fiddle with is a good way to  clear out the mental fudge. Drive him around and getting in an epic shoot out with the stapler, or just transform back and forth a few times. We're starting off with our dive into Beast Alliance with arguable it's weakest figure, but still a fun little one regardless. It's uphill from here... and this is not a bad start at all. 

Halfway 2 Halloween~ Spooky Saftey

You can't go trick or treating without somebody advising to be careful. Safety PSA's are almost as part of the season as buying too much pumpkin spice flavored things. We've all seen this classic one a million time, but that's because it's good! Sure a lot of the dangers of the holiday can be debated, but it's probably a good idea anyway. Halfway to Halloween is all about enjoying a little spooky season in the spring. And nothing say's that better than being warned by a talking pumpkin.

Bios: Crackpot

Rank- Good rock warrior

Body Type- Azurite: a mix of violet and gray that's tough enough to resist good natured kidding.

Weapon- Magnetic Pulse Gun

 

Bio: Crackpot's name describes his personality-slightly goofy. The other warriors give him a hard time about his crazy notions but Crackpot can think of good ideas that save them from a jam. His magnetic pulse ray "attracts" bad rocks and turns them into magnetic heaps!

May the 4th Be With You

Halfway 2 Halloween~ Wickedly Walgreens

Buying your costume from the local drug or grocery store was a pretty common thing back in the day. However, since the advent of big box stores, not so much. There's still a mask or odd vampire fang, but what's really great about these stores during Halloween is the random neat stuff they'll have. Walgreens has always been a haven for Halloween. Every spooky season it's a must stop shop and I'm sure many of us are taking a swing through their seasonal aisle while picking up prescriptions and imagining when it'll be covered in pumpkins and skulls.

Aliens and Predators, Always Fighting

Both the Aliens and Predator movie franchises list really highly among my list of 'most awesome things ever'. However, I tend to distance myself from the movies released after the 90's for personal preferences. When it comes to Aliens, a lot of my exposure to them came from their use in video games... mostly unofficially. The Xenomorphs poped up in almost everything for awhile, or inspired creatures (it was totally them). To be fair, Aliens, Predator, and Terminator all had unlicensed appearances in a lot of video games during the 80's and 90's. So it's probably not a stretch to imagine how I'd appreciate a video game from the 90's that pit Aliens vs Predator in a setting that looked more like the unofficial efforts.

The games story is actually based on an early draft of the Aliens vs Predator comic book that would have tied into the movie. The game was intended to be out around the release of the movie... however things changed and the movie came out a decade later with another script. In this game, San Drad (translation error from San Dorado), California is overrun with Aliens. Major Dutch Schaefer (now a cyborg) and Lieutenant Linn Kurosawa of the US Colonial Marine Corps have been abandoned and are fighting the swarm alone. They are joined by two Predators (Hunter and Warrior) and take on the Aliens leading to facing off with the sinister Weyland-Yutani Corporation. It's a pretty fun story line that fits the game well... but admittedly might have been too far out for a movie (I would probably loved it).

Game play is a 3 player belt fighter with 4 different playable characters (mentioned above). Like other Capcom side scrolling beat 'em ups, it never gets boring thanks to interesting levels and constantly changing enemies. You'll go from fighting Aliens to Space Marines as the scenario changes to fit the story. There's even 'Infectoids', zombies created from face hugger host bodies. They make me think of Masterforce. Like other Alien games, I appreciate the alternating colors on Xenomorphs. It gives them a lot of character rather than just being black. It's a great game and a fun time, but there wasn't any home ports. A 32x version was planned, unfortunately not released. That's a shame, this would have been a great weekend rental.

Halfway 2 Halloween~ Pizza Head's Haunted Adventure

Halfway to Halloween fun usually means a spooky Saturday night with a scary movie or spooky show. If you've ever tried to order pizza on Halloween night... you're well aware just how hard that can be. While pizza is a standby of any special occasion, it sure does make for a perfect meal while trick or treating kids. We all have that friend who tries to look interesting by saying they prefer local places... but it's probably coming from Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut doesn't mind dipping their toes into the spooky season either. Good old Pizza Head here finds himself in a haunted adventure we all want to see come Halloween. Or in this case, halfway to it.

Bios: Roadbuster

"War is a dirty business... and I'm as dirty as they come."

Function: Ground Assault Commander

Likes to pass the time 'demolishing Decepticons'. Not happy if not fighting... bores easily, quietest of Autobots when not in battle. Charismatic in combat... inspiring to fellow warriors. Natural leader. Can traverse most terrains as 4-WD, 600 mile range. Carries turret-mounted linear blaster gun... can blow a hole in 2-foot thick concrete. As a robot has laser rifle and shrapnel-missile launcher.

Strength: 8 Intelligence: 7 :Speed 5 Endurance: 9
Rank: 8 Courage: 10 Firepower: 6 Skill: 7

Halfway 2 Halloween 2023!

Christmas in July... well, Halloween in May is only fair! While in the past I've kept the Halfway to Halloween a little light around the site seeing as everyday is Halloween on Planet Zone... but I can't take it anymore. The 3 months of Pumpkin Spiced Mayhem is so fun and I look forward to it all year long. So I decided to just do a mini version of it here to celebrate Halfway to Halloween! Over the years I've gotten a reputation for pulling out some pretty obscure stuff for the spooky season and don't worry... this years gonna be a doozy.

However, Halfway 2 Halloween is more about having some of that fun mid year... which considering stores aren't stocking giant fun sized bags of Snickers, you're relying on what's around the house and probably just enjoying some additional spooky fun. So for Halfway 2 Halloween, we'll be taking a more nostalgic look at the spooky season. I hope you enjoy it as I enjoy making it. The regular post structure will mirror the regular Halloween season though, with two regular posts and two bios interlaced with the seasonal fun. Obviously Weekly Halloween posts will be on pause for the time (because, duh). Thank you all for enjoying the mid year dip into all things pumpkin flavored with me. Now get your glow sticks out and pin something scary to your shorts, we're going trick or treating in spring.