Get a Tattoo in the Horror Zone!

Temporary tattoos are far from a Halloween tradition... but they should be. Every season there's always sheets of them along side the spooky stuff. Scars, bugs, random dragons... they're a pretty versatile and easy way to costume on the big day. In 1988 they even came in bags of chips. You know, you're probably buying a few of those for your Halloween party. Good thing they’ll come with something to wear.

Bios: Backstop

Once the most feared and powerful warrior on the Jungle Planet, Backstop was long ago beaten and cast out by Scourge. Forced to live among weaker beasts, he came to value the equality of all creatures above all else, and now fights against Scourge with the other Jungle Planet rebels. He hates the cruel dictator, and dreams often of the day on which he will finally throw down and destroy the evil, three-headed dragon-bot.

Strength: 8 Intelligence: 6.5 Speed: 5.5 Endurance: 7
Rank: 5 Courage: 9 Fireblast: 7 Skill: 6

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X-Ray your Candy!

I know a lot of studies and other various sources dispute many of the urban rumors around Halloween safety. However, it's probably a good idea to be cautious when getting candy from strangers. Even though actual reports of razor blades in apples are hard to come by... the local urgent care isn't going to release what all they treated either. If you're not worried, cool. if you are, in 2011 KTVK-TV told us how to get your candy x-rayed for free at the local hospital. Just figure out how to go there 22 years ago and get that bag of sweet stuff scanned. You know, just to be safe.

Raphael (Mutant Mayhem)

My newest TMNT figure from the Mutant Mayhem line is Raphael. I've always loved his always angry character. Normally the group is recognized for being goofballs when the focal point is often between Raphael and Leonardo bumping heads. Like the two before him, Raphael is well articulated and full of character. His trademark grimace is topped of with his mask worn more like a bandanna as it often is. 

As you'd expect, he comes with his trademark pair of sai. Also included is his the weapon rack like the others and a baby turtle. This rack comes cast in silver plastic for some nice variety. There's a can of ooze, throwing stars, and a slice of pizza as in the other racks. There's also a pair of hook swords and a dirk to give Raphael something extra in a fight. I like the contrast between the sillier turtles and the more serious ones that starts here with Raphael. I didn't have time to get a regular picture of him either, but I doubt you mind the stock imagery. We just have Leonardo to go and I'm looking forward to completing the set.

Happy Halloween in 1993

It may not look like much now, but this little Happy Halloween bumper from Fox 53 Pittsburgh in 1993 screams awesome to me. That was a big ass sentence about something so small but... That specific look, the production, that style of graphic on  TV. That's the 90's. Watching this and suddenly I'm a dorky kid in my early teens watching cartoons after school again. It's my favorite time of year and my local channel is flashing this great haunted house with a pumpkin in the window. It's perfect, it's Halloween.

Optimus Primal w/Skullcruncher (Beast Combiners/Beast Alliance)

Getting back to Beast Alliance, Optimus Primal is the weird one of the bunch. The only Beast Combiner so far to be a Maximal main robot and a Decepticon partner. However this works out for one gnarly looking combined form that grew on me really fast. Skullcruncher returns from his Beast Battle Master toy, and his crocodile beast mode paired with Optimus Primal makes me draw mental comparisons to the original Beast Wars 2 pack. Just wish Primal had his bat alt form. Primal does resemble his original Beast Wars design a lot, however. Like the Beast Weaponizer toy, he's made from an earlier design for the movie. They've gave him Transmetal colors this time and that just makes me want an Apelinq from this mold now. 

Unfortunately, Optimus's mold isn't as great as his Beast Weaponizer toy. Beast Combiner main bots are more simple figures and there's just no ignoring it here. He's arguably more simpler than a Beast Changer figure and it's a little disappointing. Really though, you got the figure for the gimmick. Skullcruncher combines with Optimus just like all the other Beast Combiners including the tail becoming a melee weapon and an appendage folding out to become a gun. Obviously they all follow a similar template to allow for interchangeability between figures, so this is all pretty standard fair. Yet the vision of crocodile armor on simian robot mode is just so bizarre... this just might be the most original Beast Wars feeling toy of the new Rise of the Beasts toys. Not just because of the two beasts, but the overall look of the toy. He looks like Beast Wars box art and I freaking dig it.

Fire beats wood, Monday beats everything

It's Monday yet again... bleah. However It's the Monday before a holiday weekend. That's right, next weekend is a 3 day holiday weekend. Meaning this will be a pretty hard week, but don't worry, Zone Base will be here to help you navigate your way through the next few days. I hope everyone is enjoying the Halloween posts. It's a lot of fun to post them and this year looks like it'll be quite the spooky season. I was happy to see my local Target, Walmart, and Dollar Tree stores starting to stock for the season. 

Speaking of the season, I can't wait for the weather to cool down. It's been a very hot summer and these 100 degree days are the worst! I picked up a new light hoodie to wear when the weather cools down in anticipation of the joyous event. My light hoodie is something I'll wear almost all year, even in the summer on a rainy day, so getting a new one every so often is a big deal to me. As far as toys go I got a few cool ones.

There was still no new Toxitron collection Transformers to be found this week. I found ones I already have, but not the ones needed. Ggrrr. I did manage to find new Beast Alliance! Beast Combiner Scourge with Scorponok! Hooray! I'm honestly sad to see Beast Alliance wind down, hopefully the rest of the figures will be easy to find. I also completed my Mutant Mayhem TMNT figures with Leonardo. Super cool. I got some great blind bag figures. A Sonic Prime Knuckles and Demon Slayer Hashira whose name I've currently forgotten. I got a Bakugan 3.0 Dragonoid in a wonderful translucent white. 

Target had some great Halloween wind up figures that I was excited to find as well as a cool vampire skeleton purchased at Kroger. That Demon Slayer gatcha I talked about earlier was bought at Party City. We were checking out the incoming Halloween stock and picked up some spooky paper plates. They had a specifically awesome set of Disney Villains paperware in black light colors. Guys, it has the Horned King on them. This is truly going to be an epic Halloween. 

A lot of time at home was spent playing old video games while watching Transformers and Super Sentai. I almost forgot to mention the Star Wars Micro Galaxy Squadron Razorcrest I picked up for $15. I hadn't gotten one yet and there it was on clearance. Awesome. There's new multi packs coming in Micro Galaxy Squadron for your Inchman needs and mine. Oh hey... it's Monday. Thanks for reading Zone Base. I've got a fun week planned full of robots and spooky stuff. Did everyone like the new episode of Transform Squadron? Speaking of liking what I'm doing, if you do, please share with your friends!

Beware of the Castle of Doom

Troll dolls were all the rage in the early 90's. I myself had quite a few and honestly still kinda dig them. The Norfin brand of Trolls even got a few direct to video cartoons! Castle of Doom, their Halloween special is something interesting. Some good natured trolls find themselves in a haunted castle pursued by Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Wolfman as trolls. There's a mad scientist too! Look, if I were to tell you there was a Halloween Troll OVA, would you believe me? Good thing I found an upload of the VHS. Ironically, troll dolls are also known as Dam dolls thanks to being created by a dude named Thomas Dam.

Battletrap (Studio Series/Voyager Class)

Rise of the Beasts is certainly a bright spot in recent Transformers for me. One unexpected stand out was Battletrap, the orange Terrorcon who didn't get much focus in media leading into the films release. However, once the movie got rolling, there was this badass villain that I found myself wanting more of. He's a little slim on toy releases for some reason, but today we're looking at the Studio Series toy of him in all it's glory. Battletrap is a Voyager Class figure that turns from spike covered robot bruiser to a somewhat rustic looking tow truck. There's some great character design going on, it's a shame he was just in the background for the most part. 

Battletrap's tow hook can be used as a melee weapon as it's kibble is a part of his arms. This can also be done with his wrecking ball. I do wish he had more in the line of weapons. You could really see him carrying a battle axe, hammer, or some crude rifle. In fact one of my only complaints about this toy is those arms. They just don't look right to me and that kibble doesn't help. The other complaint is transformation was rather difficult for me. Admittedly, I could have been just having a bad day or clumsy hands... but he just didn't want to go together right. Those arms I spoke of earlier were part of that. That's really a shame because he's such a cool looking character and this is a really nice looking toy outside of those issues. 

I REALLY like the way Battletrap looks. There's some visual cues reminiscent of Kamen Rider Zero-One that goes well with the more brutal looks of live action Transformers villain designs. Orange is one of my favorite colors and it plays so well with black. Of course he works just right for a Halloween time post here on the site. I also like the older GMC pickup truck used. The movie takes place in 1994, but the truck looks to be a late 70's model. Being a work truck, it would normally be an older model and seeing one of it's year wasn't out of the norm around that time. I feel that's more realistic than the out of touch decisions you normally see in movies. In vehicle mode, Battletrap looks all too familiar thanks to the vehicles I was accustomed to seeing my family members from my fathers more rural side of the family drive.

In all Battletrap is pretty great despite a few problems I had. It's hard for me not to like him thanks to all the things mentioned above. Just a great looking robot and a cool character. I really wish he got more character time and the character was a little more fleshed out. That's one thing I liked about the 2007 robots, they got another life in assorted media. I could see Battletrap in some anime really causing a problem. Though with his name being reused from a classic character, he'd probably be called something else. Honestly I wish he would have been Big Hoss. Unfortunately, Battletrap so far only has two toys, and the other is an Ironhide repaint. I'd love to have seen him in Beast Alliance. 

Hello Halloween

For some reason, fast food just goes with Halloween. McDonald's, the epitome of fast food, has always been right there each spooky season. The shake machine may never work, but they got your back for an awesome Halloween Happy Meal. This one is particular... dang, it's pretty cool. Hello Kitty and her gang are impossible not to love and these little figures are ready to go trick or treating. I don't have any jokes... this is pretty great.

Bios: Clocker

Before the war for the AllSpark began, Clocker was a professional racer on Cybertron. His speed and skill dazzled millions of fans, and for a while, he seemed unbeatable. He was on top of the world. Then war came, and there were suddenly no more races to run. He turned his skills to finding the AllSpark, stopping the Decepticons, and bringing peace to Cybertron. He dreams of the day the war ends, and he can race again alongside his Autobot friends with no limits on how far or fast he can go.

Strength: 5  Intelligence: 6 Speed: 10  Endurance: 5
Rank: 3 Courage: 9 Fireblast: 6  Skill: 8

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Transform Squadron 47- Neon Nightmares

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It's the beginning of the Halloween season and Rob talks Toxitron Collection Transformers and Monster Cereals while loving neon and the epic dance scene from Once Bitten.

Just a Sweet Trick or Treater

My Rocky Horror Picture Show days are long over. While I had fun, I never get nostalgic or anything over it. I do, however, get nostalgic for my younger days seeing clips like this on local news. After initially learning of it on a random episode of Head of the Class, these clips made the whole thing seem like something a punk rock nerd wanted to do. After a few years, it's novelty definitely wore off. Halloween was without a doubt the best time to take in a midnight RHPS adventure. Either in the audience or in the cast, it was the time of everyone in that buildings life.

Donatello (Mutant Mayhem)

Getting back on my look at Mutant Mayhem toys is Donatello. Before I go any further, I'm using stock photography. I wasn't happy with my normal picture for this post and haven't had time to take a new one. Donatello is my wife's favorite of the TMNT... and seemingly everyone else's. I get it, he's the smart one that comes up with all their neat gadgets. With a group of 4 fighters, an additionally smart guy is very appreciated. Donatello has a similar base body as Michelangelo did, however with a few differences. His glasses and sling bag with smart phone hanging out is a great touch. Once again, he's a teenager and the smart guy. There's a set of headphones so he can listen to some beats on that smart phone. I love these little extra touches in this line. Of course Donatello has his bo staff, but the additional tree of weapons includes a spear and 3 sectional staff which are great variations of a bo staff that I could see him using in a fight. Then there's the throwing star, can of ooze, baby turtle, and slice of pizza (love) that seems to be standard with this team. I really appreciate the solid action figure with plentiful articulation and characterful design coming with so many accessories for a low price ($10). Donatello doesn't disappoint and has me looking forward to my next toy in this set.

Was that Bill Clinton?

It's fun going to Spirit and picking out a costume... but real talk, sometimes Spirit doesn't cut it. Just like when they messed up your order at Olive Garden, you need to take it up with someone in charge. Look Spirit, your half assed Deadpool costumes isn't going to work again this year. I need to see someone in charge, I need the Halloween Headquarters. I'm not sure where they're at now, but in 1996 you could go to the Halloween Headquarters located in the Methuen Mall. 

Nemesis Leo Prime (Legacy Evolution/Voyager Class)

As happy as I was to get the updated Lio Convoy, it's probably no surprise that I'd be all over his repaint. I have a few different Lio Convoy toys from over the years, but this is the first 'black' version that I've gotten. Takara often does a 'black' version of some of it's toys. It's a simple repaint and often used as a special edition. With Hasbro, it's usually an easy repaint called 'Nemesis' instead of 'Black'. In Beast Wars II, Black Lio Convoy was a result of the Copy Machine creating an 'evil' version of Lio Convoy and some of the other Cybertrons. Black Lio Convoy was a much more arrogant character than Lio Convoy as these 'evil' mirror image types tend to be reversals of the characters they're based on. It's an old trope that's fun if handled right.

So far there hasn't been much to make me think Nemesis Leo Prime is a separate character, other than he's in the Velocitron Speedia 500 manga as a background character. I guess he could be another guy. There's also Dark Amber Leo Prime, who's a repaint of the Masterpiece Lio Convoy and another character. Dark Amber Leo Prime is created from the body of Lio Convoy/Leo Prime (spoiler, he died... like all Transformers leaders do regularly) and some of Unicron's energy. Bluebolt thought it would be a good idea to revive Lio Convoy to save the dying universe (in Transformers, our words are in danger... always). Of course he isn't Lio Convoy reborn, but a new character who borders on good and evil for a bit. Not sure if he saved the universe yet, but if that's him in the crowds on Velocitron... 

Really, I wanted to talk about this new toy, but as it's a straight repaint of one I got not too long ago, there's not too much to say. Despite his naming, Nemesis Leo Prime is more than just a black repaint. There's a mixture of dark gray and teal in the mix creating a very pretty toy. I do wish there was some new feature added for this figure, but he's  literally an easy repaint. I don't mind though as it is what it is, and repaints in Transformers is just how it is. Either way, I'm happy with my purchase. Lio Convoy is one of those Transformers characters I hold in a higher regard. Whenever I get the chance to buy a new toy of him, I usually jump on it (assuming I'm able). Prior versions of Black Lio Convoy were special editions, so having a version available at general retail is hard to complain about. 

New Week Extreme!

Holy crap, it's Monday again. Of course that means another week here on Planet Zone! I hope everyone had a good weekend, I did and I'm personally pissed off that it's over! Saturday we ate at my Mom's house with my brother's family. It was a nice BBQ dinner! Afterwards the Mrs and I went to Walmart and Home Depot for various needed stuff. While out, I picked up Toxitron Collection Mirage and Laser Cycle! Just two more to go! I also grabbed Mutant Mayhem Raphael, just one more to go before the teams complete! Apparently the mini Super Mario Bros movie figures have gotten new toys. I got Tanookie suit Mario and one of the new 3.0 Bakugan figures. Which one? I forgot his name! Dammit! I aslo got Monster Cereal, it's officially Halloween!

While at Mom's house I was gifted a WWE Superstars Undertaker figure. This is the line that Mattel replaced Masters of the WWE Universe figures with. Same MOTU style figures, but in their classic gimmicks. The Mrs and I enjoyed a late supper while watching Cobweb on Amazon Video. It's a fun new Halloween themed horror movie. Really good, but the ending reeked of studio involvement. You know, when suddenly it feels like another movie all together?  Sunday morning we had french toast before taking the Mrs to Bed Bath and Bodyworks and a stop for me at Barnes and Nobles. 

I intended to get some Kitaro manga, however none was to be found. So instead I got a book of Japanese ghost stories. August is ghost season over in Japan and other Asian countries. I love all the stories that come from Obon and Hungry Ghost Festival each year. It's only appropriate to indulge in a little yokai fun. Not to mention, I just like Barnes and Nobles. Well, I got a fun week planned for all of you. Thank you so much for reading Zone Base. Halloween is in full swing and a new pumpkin spice infused episode of Transform Squadron is coming your way soon! Be sure to share with your friends!

Monstro vs. The Wolf Hound

I love watching old Heathcliff cartoons, but it brings to mind a question. Why did they split it up with another group of cats? I wanted to watch Heathcliff. Regardless, the Catillac Cats are a fun group of felines who get into various adventures and are generally likable. What's this got to do with Halloween? They watched a scary movie and have nightmares! Classic Halloween episode plot! Watch the gang act out classic monster tropes in obviously outsourced animation!

Optimus Prime with Chainclaw (Beast Alliance/Beast Weaponizers)

Getting back to Beast Alliance, we're taking a look at Optimus Prime. This toy of Optimus is like the others in it's class in that you have a very similar to Core Class figure (about Robot Master sized) with a Beast Battle Master partner included. You all know I'm a fan of partner figures and this gimmick, so obviously I like this set. Thing is, I really like this set. There's just no getting over just how awesome the idea is. Optimus Prime has a wolf that turns into a chainsaw. In the future, the product description will be in a book of great poetry. Let's talk about Chainclaw for a second. He's a wolf or maybe a dog, that's not clear nor is the gender. I'm just assuming. Like Arrowstripe, Chainclaw is a more simple Beast Battle Master than the individually packed ones. It is what it is. 

Chainclaw is a name reuse of an older G1 guy. This kind of thing happens, especially with glorified accessories. It just is what it is. There's not much sense getting too worked up over it, not to mention the whole wolf/chainsaw things just kinda makes everything better. The chainsaw of course can be held by Optimus Prime, but is compatible with most 5mm ports and hands. 

Speaking of Optimus... since he's technically the main figure of the set (personally I bought the set for Chainclaw)... he's a pretty standard Optimus Prime. The intention is a representation of his appearance in Rise of the Beasts, though could really be his classic self if you so desired. I wouldn't be too surprised to see this figure pop up elsewhere down the road. Or any other Beast Alliance figures either, they could work in multiple places and I almost think that was intentional. Optimus is decently articulated for a toy his size and price class and honesty pretty nice. Like, there's nothing bad to really say here. If you came in expecting the smaller toy at a lower price to be a Masterpiece style toy, you fully deserve that disappointment. If you come in knowing what you're getting... you'll be pleasantly surprised. That's been my general impression with Beast Alliance toys. The Beast Weaponizers are generally nicer figures than the others. Optimus could use a little extra paint, which is obviously a price cutting issue. If you're prone to customs or adding extra detail to your toys, he's a prime candidate. I'm not apologizing for the pun. 

Get scary with K&B

I've spoken at lengths about how great drug stores were in the past. It's like telling someone that a town they only know to be crappy was once a nice place. When my generation is gone, it'll be useless knowledge that benefits no one. This K&B ad from the early 90's is a great example of that! I specifically like the low rent animated ghost and those classic smock with masks costumes. These day's I only go to drug stores to refill prescriptions and pay 3 times as much for a soda. Back then, it was a wonderland.

Bios: Dirt Boss

A wild outlaw, rugged villain of the rough backwaters of the Speed Planet; those who are fooled by the sheer size of Dirt Boss into thinking he's slow are soon left choking on his exhaust. He lives to pound his opponents into the dust and leave them spinning their wheels - that's if he decides to leave the wheels attached. Hot Shot is certain to learn some tough lessons from him.

Strength: 7.5 Intelligence: 6 Speed: 7 Endurance: 8

Rank: 5 Courage: 8 Firepower: 6.5 Skill: 6

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Dude... calm down

You always hear about it. That one person who's just completely offended or upset by somebodies Halloween decorations. Now admittedly, if the display is overly violent like the first guy in the clips lawn... yeah... I get it. I remember my first place, decorating my little front yard (it was a duplex) and the neighbor cheeking to see if we were ok. I had bought a roll of caution tape from the Halloween aisle at Walmart and put it around the front porch. At the time I didn't too highly of the neighbors concern. Looking back... maybe that wasn't so great.

Gatchaman - La Battaglia dei Pianeti September 28, 1980

From September 28 on Channel 5
The most extraordinary science fiction series
to ever appear on the screen. For 7 months
every Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 5:30pm,

Gatchaman - La Battaglia dei Pianeti  September 28, 1980

Get Mad

Mischief Night is a long standing tradition of Halloween, so much so that it eventually led to trick or treating. In Detroit, the night is known as Devil's Night where instead of kids soaping windows and egging cars... miscreants set fires. Obviously that's pretty terrible. Part of the charm of Halloween is the underlying danger and evil under all the fun. However, setting fire to someone's home is not exactly welcomed behavior. The day sounded awesome when I was a teen thanks to The Crow and the foreboding name. In reality, it's horrible. It's pretty unfortunate that something so terrible is part of the holiday. But once again, it's a dangerous holiday. Be careful out there gang.

Soundwave (EarthSpark/1 Step Flip Changers)

I've been a fan of 1 Step Changers/Turbochangers since they were introduced, so it's no surprise that I jumped on the new EarthSpark versions. There's a difference with this new type. Despite the extremely simple transformations, the prior ones required manual change. These new toys do not. You simply push the robot over or flip it in the air and it will self convert into alt mode. It's a super neat gimmick and fun to play with. Unfortunately, they don't have any articulation (so far). The older Turbochangers had very limited articulation, but it was still there. That's probably my only complaint about these going in.

I like Soundwave a lot and tend to get as many of his toys as I can. Given that and his super cool design in EarthSpark... this was a must have. Soundwave's design is a mixture of his Cybertron toy and Armada Thunderwing with some super robot flair. With the right colors, he'd blend right on in on  a shelf with late Takara G1 or Brave toys. I like this little bot and want to get more toys of his design. I mentioned Armada Thunderwing above, which is funny as I'd really like a Tacticon version. This design just looks like it'd work well in a tiny toy. As is, Soundwave is a pleasant Flip Changer. I do wish there was arm articulation, but it's not a deal breaker in a low price gimmick toy. These make good desk bots to occasionally play with and clear out some mental fudge. Man, he looks like a 16 bit game character.

New Week Robo

It's Monday and that means a new week here on Planet Zone! I hope you had a good weekend, mine was pretty hit or miss. I managed to assemble that new home office furniture for the Mrs. Not to mention my Toxitron arrived Saturday with Grimlock coming later this week. We got some Halloween Jibbitz for our Crocs and ordered new Hey Dude shoes. A trip to Five Below provided TF Micro Machines and a Jada Michelangelo to pair with my prior Raphael. I plan to complete the Jada mini figure TMNT team as well as the Mutant Mayhem set. Speaking of, got the Donatello from that series. 

On the crappy side, the SD card in my Q90 died. Meaning I'll have to make an all new one. That's something I should have done already knowing the cheap one packed with the Q90 wouldn't last long... but it was easy to forget about. Not to be outdone by a gaming inconvenience, some random car troubles popped up Sunday that'll require a trip to the dealership today. Not awesome. Here's hoping it's covered under some recent recalls so I don't get stuck with a big bill. From what I understand, it's related to them, so fingers crossed. 

Well, I've got some fun stuff in store for you all. Hope you're enjoying Halloween, because we're just getting started! Thank you all for reading. I really appreciate it and all I ask is that you share with your friends!

The Morkville Horror

Mindy is having a hard time selling her childhood home. Further complicating matters, turns out the place is haunted! Thankfully Mork is coked out of his mind able to communicate with the dead after some spooky hi-jinks. Nanu nanu, somebody call the Ghostbusters!

Metalhawk (Legacy: Evolution/Voyager Class)

Thoughts of Masterforce take me back to the days of fuzzy episodes on worn out VHS tapes and VCD's full of digital noise giving me a different appreciation of toys I already had like Powermaster Optimus Prime and desire for out of reach ones like Overlord. It was exciting to see the Pretenders animated (aside from footage used in commercials and the season 5 intro) lead by Metalhawk. 

Thankfully, Metalhawk these days has the occasional release outside of Japan, like the toy we're looking at today. Released in Transformers Legacy: Evolution, Metalhawk is a remold of the excellent Kingdom Cyclonus toy (who I have, but never talked about here). Unlike his prior updates, this time Metalhawk is based on his inner robot form and not the Pretender shell. I'm a fan of the shells designs,but it's a nice change of pace. 

Metalhawk is a larger toy as a Voyager Class figure that's pleasantly articulated and features his trademark sword and blasters. The blasters are formed by the tail fins from vehicle mode. They join together for form the blaster. The Evo-Fusion gimmick of the Evolution sub line isn't always spectacular, but I guess it makes sense here. In all honesty, it's just clever marketing to keep retailers happy while not sacrificing anything on the toy. Still, it can be funny sometimes. Other than the shell, all Metalhawk is missing is his larger rifle. Hopefully some fan groups produce an aftermarket gun and shell to really round out this pretty solid toy. 

To be honest, if I didn't know better, I would have thought this was a new mold. Metalhawk is a great update to his original toy. They really did a good job here, it looks like he stepped right off the TV screen.  Transformation is easy and felt natural. If you have Cyclonus you already know this as did I. Though it felt fresh this time. Even though I have a few other Metalhawk toys, it's still exciting owning this one. I'm brought back to the days of being a purple haired kid in a dingy hoodie working at a office supply store despite being a shaved haired middle aged man working an office job in a regularly washed hoodie. It's much easier to watch Masterforce now than it was then, though I still have that VCD set somewhere.

Crazy, but thats how Wendy's goes

McDonald's gets a lot of focus when it comes to kids meals at Halloween. It's not surprising that something this awesome snuck by. In 2002, Wendy's had a cool Halloween Lionel Train promotion offering neato little spooky trains. Sure, it's a different sort of premium for the season... but I dig it. Each year Hot Wheels puts out a set of Halloween cars and I chase them down. They're just toy cars with scary pain jobs... but it's cool. Same sentiment with these neat trains. I'm a little envious I wasn't aware of them back in the day. I most definitely would have tried to get them all.

Bios: Road Pig

Function: Autobot Harassment

A street thug with a reputation for instigating trouble. Once challenged an order from Megatron, but backed down after nearly having his internal wiring pulled out through his visual receptors. Has no known friends among the Decepticons. Processing circuitry slow - intelligence minimal. Considered to be a rebel without a clue by Autobot enemies. Prowls streets at night searching for victims to intimidate, harass, and eventually destroy with metal-slashing light saber. Easily detected by internally illuminated engine which superheats when he's angry.

"Light my fuse and I'll race like a rocket!"

 

Strength: 8 Intelligence: 2 Speed: 7 Endurance: 5

Rank: 3 Courage: 6 Firepower: 6 Skill: 4

 

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Transformers Missing Link

So, 20 years ago at OTFCC 03, when they debuted 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime (now known as MP-01) I thought it was pretty great... and I still do. However, if you had shown me this, then I'd have blown a gasket. 

For the record, it's 20 years later, and this 40th Anniversary Optimus Prime is making me blow a gasket.
 

I need this... and a new gasket.

Hometown Kia Kills

I've never owned a Kia before, but not heard the best about them. Don't get me wrong, they look nice and you may enjoy yours. Just... look, I'm just trying to set up a joke here. Boy oh boy, Hometown Kia sure sold Michael Myers a Kia that didn't work out so well for either of them... Frankly, it's my love for local TV Halloween airings commercials that drove me to post this. It's a staple of spooky seasons past that I'm glad to see live on. Unlike that salesman after selling The Shape a bum Soul.

Michelangelo (Mutant Mayhem)

 

It's been too long since I've taken a look at the TMNT here on the site. My fandom of such is mainly focused on the 80's/90's incarnations, so these new toys from the Mutant Mayhem movie are strongly resounding with my senses. So far I've been having fun with the various frozen pizzas, breakfast cereal, and oddball candies available from the movie. However I couldn't resist these cool new figures from Playmates. My plan of buying one a week has started with my favorite of the turtles, Michelangelo.

Michelangelo is hard not to like. Pleasantly articulated and that big goofy grin brings him to life. I admittedly like Mutant Mayhem's attempt at making the turtles look like kids. Always have felt like they looked like adults, despite being teenagers. This is clearly a 15 year old getting himself into an adventure. Like the turtle toys of old, Michelangelo comes with a bit of extra weapons in addition to his trademark nunchuks. I especially like the slice of pizza, it feels more important than the throwing stars. Cutely enough, the figures come with normal turtle toys of themselves prior to mutation. That's a fun touch. One toy in, I'm loving this new set.

Tonights Forecast, Costumes!

Your local news often highlights local going ons that you may or not be interested in. Breaking news, it's Halloween! In that time old tradition of sending a weather man to try on costumes at the local store is... the weatherman trying on costumes at a local store. These news segments are hardly anything new, but neither is this clip from 2001. Jonathan Novack from KCBD-TV in Lubbock, TX is at the local party store trying to find the right costume. I guess he's a wacky kind of guy. Bad impersonations and Martha Stewart jokes ahead as we look in the background at some of those cool costumes from years past.

Cheetor (Flex Changers)

Flex Changers are an oddball novelty Transformers line that I'm not sure how I feel about. They're a form of those rubber band type action figures you'll see that are clearly popular enough to warrant a constant shelf space. I guess it's a type of fidget toy, I can see the fun in them. I do have some gripes though, mainly the price. Cheetor was $16.99 and doesn't have any actual articulation in robot mode. A Core Class is around $10 and does. So, it's a little bit of a thorn in my side. I do plan on getting more... but they're going to be on some sort of discount or clearance price. 

I bought this Cheetor because I wanted to check these little figures out and love Cheetor. Like other Cheetor figures in the Rise of the Beasts toy line, he's got a more traditional look. This leads me to think the figure will pop up in other lines. Toy companies like to reuse assets and I can see these selling well at the holidays. Like Titan Changers, they're obviously sold at a huge mark up and make profit even when on clearance. As the name implies, they 'flex' to transform. The parts are all held together by a larger rubber band. You essentially take them apart and reassemble to transform with said rubber band holding everything together. It's a simple toy that honestly pleasant if you can get past the limitations... or the price. If you don't mind the price or can get one on sale or clearance it'd make a great little desk toy.

War of the New Week

Monday has reared it's ugly head again signaling the beginning of another new week. Fortunately you've got Zone Base to get you through it. Hope you're enjoying this year's Halloween party so far. We've got 3 months of Pumpkin Spiced Mayhem to go and we're already off to a good start. 

I spent this weekend on and off sleeping and doing odd tasks. I had intentions to start assembling furniture for home office space for the Mrs, however those plans got moved to next weekend. We did get some shopping done that unfortunately didn't bring anymore Toxitron Collection Transformers home. That's going to be a big thing for the next few months untill I complete the set. I did score Nemesis Leo Prime. So that's something. There's some new Buzzworthy Bumblebee stuff available that I held off of until going to Walmart. I think next weekend Target will have to come after Walmart for when there's no new Toxitron in stock.

I finally grabbed a new figure from the new TMNT movie, Michelangelo! I plan to get all 4 core turtles and probably Splinter. Though doing that a figure at a time each week. It's fun doing it this way, trust me. I found myself in and out of little sleep comas all weekend as I was very tired.  However while awake I found myself watching lots of the Transformers channel on Roku. It's a newer version of the Pluto TV version that seems to be the same, but shows entire seasons or series on the weekends. The Pluto TV TMNT channel has begun showing the classic show as well.

Streaming TV has slowly outdone the convention video room, but online watch parties are a lot more accessible. I did find myself looking at a lot of old Bandai Spiral Zone art. I absolutely love Bandai and wish I was more into Spiral Zone. Of course the cartoon is on YouTube incase I ever put in some watch time. However that old art from Bandai's version of it is just wonderful.

Well, I should finish my breakfast and get the day going. I'm having a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats with some yogurt. Hoping that helps with the upset stomach I've woken up with today (ugh). I hope everyone has a great week, there's some fun stuff planned this week here on Planet Zone. Thank you all for reading and please share with your friends!

You Can't Do that on Halloween

You Can't Do that on Television is fondly remembered for sketch comedy and children getting assaulted by slime from the lack of knowing. The gang is in full Halloween mode for this spooky edition that features plenty of trick or treating and Moose casting a spell on Ross. In all, it's a lot of Halloween fun. Why isn't this considered a holiday classic?

Tow-Line (Buzzworthy Bumblebee/Deluxe Class)

Robots in Disguise/Car Robots has always been a bright spot for me in my Transformers fandom. It was the gateway from my beloved beast era back to vehicular bots. As much as I loved beast era, it was time for a change and RID was just right. It still had beast warriors, but the overall direction was back to cars and jets. It didn't hurt that the designs were super slick and the cartoon was entertaining as hell. There was a lot of repaints in the line and the original Tow-Line was just that, a repaint of the Machine Wars Hubcap/Hoist mold. A really solid toy that didn't get a lot of attention like most of Machine Wars at the time. 

In the show, Tow-Line was a charming character who lived out the role of his tow truck alt mode of a little too much. His infamous "No parking means no parking" catchphrase was forever cemented in fans minds. Later he got an 'evil' repaint in Robot Masters that has on and off been one of my user pics ever since. I was really surprised when Tow-Line got an update in Legacy: Evolution under the Buzzworthy Bumblebee banner. What's now referred to by Hasbro as Robots in Disguise 2001 doesn't get a lot of love unfairly and of all the bots, Tow-Line isn't the one you'd think would get a new toy. Like his original toy, Tow-Line is a repaint of an existing mold. This time of Scraphook from Legacy: Evolution, a toy I've not yet found, so this was my first experience with the mold.

Tow-Line turns into a Mad Max sort of tow truck. This is in line with all the other new Junkions in Legacy: Evolution and a direction I quite like. However it is odd on Tow-Line as he's normally just a regular old tow truck. It makes me REALLY wish for a repaint based on his Robot Masters toy though. The spiky, post apocalyptic design plays oddly well with Tow-Line's trademark bright colors. It just works somehow as does the new faithful recreation of the classic toy head. They did a really good job with a toy that's a mix old old and new.

These new Junkions can separate into parts and connect to other bots similar to the Weaponizers from Siege. For once giving the Evo-Fusion blurb an actually good example. Unlike the Weaponizers though, the toys doesn't part form as transformation doesn't require disassembly. You might find yourself pulling off a piece by accident like I did though. Various parts can be attached or held as weapons. This leads to blasters from parts of his hood that resemble the original toys gun and a spiky spare tire that could work as the Boost Hammer from the Robot Masters toy. Maybe. I really like this toy, it's fairly articulated and transforms pleasantly. Mine has a bit of loose joints. Not sure if that's the mold or I just got a random floppy one. Stop laughing. Either way, it's hard not to love a Tow-Line update. Especially when it's a good one.

Kut the Pumpkin, not your Finger

Back in the old days, you had to rely on kitchen knives for carving your pumpkins. Ever carve a pumpkin? It's ah... not exactly the prime shape to safely use the knife Dad will carve the turkey with in a few weeks. That's where the Pumpkin Kutter comes in! You can carve all sorts of fun faces without chopping off your finger! Wow!

Bios: Menasor

 

Menasor knows the power of the Giant Planet. He burns with jealousy of the glory of Metroplex, and is disgusted that the leader of the Giant Planet uses all of the power at his disposal only for peace. Menasor has waited centuries for the arrival of an ally like Megatron - a true leader with the wisdom to know the true purpose of power. With the might of the Decepticons at his back, he hopes to overthrow Metroplex and turn the Giant Planet into what it was always meant to be – a conquering war world at the center of a Galactic Empire!

Strength: 9 Intelligence: 8 Speed: 7 Endurance: 8

Rank: 8 Courage: 9 Fireblast: 9 Skill: 9

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Haunted Hyundai

I'm a sucker for local business Halloween commercials. I mean duh, anything Halloween and I'm generally there... but dude. There's just a charm to these small production, homemade commercials and the attempt to stay fresh in customers minds. Buying a new car is a horrifying experience and you can tell Bob's about to rip you the hell off ... but come on. Coffee flavored Halloween jokes in a Hyundai commercial? Dang, it's almost worth being there all day while they take forever to process your paperwork and the finance department causing your credit score to lower somehow.

La Choy Egg Rolls

Now that the 3 month Halloween party has started here on the site... I figured the novelty of a weekly spooky post would be redundant for a little while. So now we'll have a weekly variation on the idea... but it's a grab bag of content! Something random on Wednesdays for the entirety of Pumpkin Spiced Mayhem. Can you tell I was a fan of mixed video clip VHS tapes back in the day?

Hot Rod Halloween

Back the in 80's the WWF was full of living cartoon characters duking it out in the ring for championship gold. Hulk Hogan was a super hero and with his friends would face some real nasty characters. Roddy Piper was one of the vilest of them. Announcer Vince McMahon (back when he tried to hide that he owned the company) visited Roddy one Halloween night when Hot Rod was getting ready for trick or treaters. Look, when Vince McMahon is the most normal person in the room....

Cloudcover (Toxitron Collection/Voyager Class)

The Toxitron Collection is this years Walmart Exclusive sub-line taking the place of last years Velocitron Speedia 500 Collection that I loved. This time the toy's concept is unused Generation 2 designs and the original unused Toxitron from Universe. With EXTREMELY AWESOME black light art boxes (and instructions) selling these VERY BRIGHTLY COLORED toys. I love them... maybe more than the Velocitron set. The story line is that these radical radioactive robots rose from the Toxic Sludge Swamps on Cybertron to cause all sorts of mayhem and anarchy. Hopefully Takara will produce another manga like they did for the Velocitron Speedia 500 set to flesh it out some more. It's not super necessary for a store exclusive set to have such a thing... but it's fun and I appreciate it.

Cloudcover is based on a mock up Seeker whose picture I feel like I've been looking at forever. Like everything else from this set, it's an un-produced concept that's finally being made on a newer updated figure. This time the Earthrise Conehead Seeker mold. I didn't get that specific mold, but really liked the Starscream version. The urge to get all the various Seekers was ruined for me thanks to the Seeker mold, but it is nice to finally get a version of the Conehead version of an excellent Seeker base toy. It's also nice to get it in such a specifically awesome concept. To be honest, I wasn't as interested in Cloudcover as the other members of the collection. Like the Velocitron set, I just want the entire set and he's the first toy from it that was found. In hand however... wow this color scheme is awesome. Over what's felt like a lifetime of looking at that blue Seeker mock up (and not being very concerned about it), I'm actually glad to own it. The blues and whites are specifically nice in robot mode... but are amazing in jet mode. This is a very nice looking toy and makes me a little sad that the original never happened. That cloud camouflage design is super pretty.

I talked about the base mold in the post linked to above, but this is a little different with a few mold changes. Specifically the head and wings. Cloudcover is a repaint of Earthrise Ramjet as the original mock up was a repaint of the G1 Ramjet toy with the Earthrise Dirge head was used. I know the pictures don't show it pretty well, but his mouth is open and there's some nice dark red eyes. That black contrasted SO HARD against the lighter colors and I'm obviously not a professional toy photographer. Hence the lace of monetization and actual content produced on a regular basis. The toy itself is pretty nice, but the real draw is the color scheme. Hopefully I can score the rest of the Toxitron Collection, Cloudcover is a wonderfully surprising start of the series for me.