Lockdown [Star Raiders Collection/Deluxe Class]

Getting back to the Star Raiders is Lockdown. Lockdown original appeared in Transformers Animated, and was so popular that he was worked into other Transformers settings. This newest figure has the bounty hunter joining up with the space pirate crew... and that feels pretty fitting. He isn't wearing a Star Seeker/Raider insignia, so I like to imagine he's either a new recruit or just in for the ride. Either way, a new Lockdown toy is always welcome. Lockdown uses the Axlegrease mold as a base with a newly sculpted head. Axlegrease herself is a retool of Scraphook whom was also reworked into Tow-Line. Clearly that mold has gotten some use over the past few years, I've talked about Tow-Line, whose post will have details I may miss when talking about Lockdown today.

The use of a Junkion mold fits Lockdown pretty well. The spikes and Mad Max vibes fit his design... and that car mode makes me think a Lockdown was intended from the start when Axelgrease was conceived. The head sculpt looks great, I think I like the 'G1' version of his looks the best. It really brings everything together nicely and just works. Being from a Junkion mold, you can combine his parts with other bots or similar gimmick toys to create various armors and weapons. Considering Lockdown's penchant for collecting trophies of his hunts, I like to imagine him wearing another bots parts. Speaking of parts, he's got quite a bit of accessories. An engine block that can be wielded as a gun or split into two guns (that's neat). Two exhaust pipes that one can get creative with. Do what feels natural, man.

Two thrusters that can be combined into one double barreled blaster or held as two. not to be left out is a hook that I believe is in all instances of the mold, but works well for Lockdown as you can combine it with one of those thrusters to replicate his trademark hook hand. In the image I have all his weapons shown without any sort of rhyme or reason other than wanting to show off all the parts. You can get creative and combine them in a variety of ways. Transformation to car mode is relatively easy and I don't have any real complaints. I did have a problem at a few points due to thinking a part fit differently than it did, but that's my fault, not the toys. In car mode Lockdown looks badass. The various spikes combined with the engine block and pipes just makes for a crazy looking car. I'll never drive something like this in real life, but if I did, it'd be awesome pulling up to the CVS for my medication in it. Lockdown is a satisfying toy and it's always good to see him make an appearance. He was a welcome appearance under the tree as part of my Christmas gifts from the Mrs.

King Ghidorah [Monster Egg Series Godzilla]

Look gang, it's known that I love some transforming egg toys. It's also been far too long since I've talked about them on this site. The Mrs., understanding my love for kaiju and knowing I'd find them neat, got me the new entire set of Bandai Godzilla Monster Egg Series that was available at Target for Christmas. These four monster eggs were exciting to find inside my stocking and absolutely something I'd talk about here on Zone Base. We're starting at zero, Monster Zero that is, King Ghidorah! Ghidorah looks straight out of the classic era (though could represent his 90's appearances) in his trademark gold colors. Transforming to an egg makes for some visual distinction that wouldn't be in a regular toy. His body is more round, wings are smaller and shell shaped.

It's to be expected with these egg toys, but probably a good idea to explain. Ghidorah's legs, tail, wings, and neck can articulate thanks to the transformation. There's additional swivels in each neck so heads can look in separate directions. Speaking of, each head has a slightly different sculpt. Egg toys tend to be simplistic, so the extra detail is appreciated. Transformation is easy. A chest panel opens up to allow the heads/neck to be folded away, the legs rotate up into position while everything else basically just closes. Egg mode is a simple egg shape that can neatly stand on it's own. The monsters details are visible and make for a strangely ornate egg. It's been way to long since I spent time with transforming eggs and the joy and excitement that comes with these new toys is exfiltrating. The Mrs. really got me something great and Bandai is the best at this sort of thing. Totally eggcellent.

Bonecrusher [Galaxy Version 03 The Autobot Run]

I'm not sure why, but at some point I've started really appreciating the individual Constructicons. There's just something about those purple and green guys that's impossible to resist. Naturally, combined they form Devastator, who's one of the more popular Transformers combiners. Being the first will earn you that sort of admiration. Blokees, of course, don't transform or combine. Therefore these little kits give us great representations of the characters, and a great way to enjoy those individual Constructicons. Bonecrusher is one of the more signature Constructicons who pops to mind when the team is mentioned. Despite the team colors, he has some unique style. The bucket of his bulldozer alt mode forms his chest and gives him a stocky appearance.

I've always thought he looked muscle bound because of it. Bonecrusher is a bit of a perfectionist... and a little psycho. He likes to destroy things, he loves to show off when he's destroying things. If something isn't perfect in his eyes... he's going to destroy it. There's something admirable about that. He's packing his laser pistol and has a set of open and closed hands as well as the display stand (with symbols) that come standard with Blokees. The Blokee style really lends itself to Constructicons I think.

Initializing New Week

It's time to get the week started Zone Base readers! I hope everyone had a great weekend, I sure did. To celebrate the Mrs's birthday, I took her shopping and we enjoyed dinner at Medieval Times. We got some fun stuff from Teso and Miniso and had an all around great time. We were exhausted Sunday, so it was spent napping, watching TV, playing video games, and enjoying chilli the Mrs made in the crock pot. 

I managed to get some great stuff. The Mrs picked up MOTU Origins Snake Face for me Friday. Saturday during our shopping trip, I got several Japanese Transformers school supplies. I also got some great Ultraman and Demon Slayer keshi. Godzilla and Ultraman sofubi was purchased (who would have thought Miniso sold kaiju toys?). I also picked up an SD Gundam model and Shin-Chan blind box.

We made a visit to the 52toys store where I bought some BeastBox toys and a Stranger Hands blind box. I got the vampire hand! I played some more of the Halloween game Sunday and as much as I enjoy it... that is one frustrating game. I was all too happy to buy it last October... but still am only halfway through thanks to getting angry and not playing for weeks. Speaking of Halloween, our first spooky season decorations were gifted to us during the week. Considering it's January, we're right on schedule! Well, it's time to get this new week started. I've got some fun posts headed your way! Thank you so much for reading, please be sure to share with your friends!

Transform Squadron 59 - Fly yourself to the Moon

LISTEN NOW!

It's a new year and a great time to talk about new toys based on old toys! Rob's really excited about the new Micronauts and Transformers Cyberworld toys. He also swears Cybertron Jolt is a Microman homage, listen now to hear him talk about that way too much! All this and Switch 2 excitement, this month on Transform Squadron!

Shrapnel [Transformers Retro]

I was fortunate to find The Retro Collection version of Shrapnel at a local Ross while Christmas shopping. These types of store are generally a haven for oddball liquidation toys during the holidays and like others, I try to take advantage of it. It's jokingly called RossCon by many people online, which I find funny as I've been calling the reissues and exclusives at Walmart Great Value BotCon for years. Thankfully, I made out with some great finds this year. Shrapnel is another member of the Insecticons (and you all know I love bug robots), and painted in a cartoon accurate deco like the other recent reissues. I can't say enough good things about these cartoon accurate reissues, they look amazing and it's always good to get vintage toy molds.

When it comes to Shrapnel, aside from the variety of his toy's I've accumulated over the years, my biggest memory of Shrapnel is the one my older brother owned. He's a few years older than me and was slowly phasing out from toys. However a few managed to always stick around. Right next to his Clawtron and Zoltek was a Shrapnel and Cop-Tur on a bookshelf with a Journey carnival mirror in the background. I guess they were badass enough for an early teenage to display while listening to Cinderella. Shrapnel is decidedly badass looking, as are the Insecticons in general. The mostly black robot with purple and silver colors looks dark and plays well off each other. So much so that the yellow cockpit that makes up his chest practically glows. His insect mode is a stag beetle, which is one gnarly and threatening looking bug.

The insects  pincers display nicely behind his head creating large horns and giving Shrapnel his signature look. Included is 6 Energon Cubes and the signature Gamma Ray Detonator. You can store a cube in his chest compartment. This compartment is originally the cockpit where a pilot figure would sit in  the Waruder Insecter Robo Kuwagatrer from Diaclone, which is the original use of the toy. There is a set of Insecticons based on their original Waruder coloration who are meant to represent the Insecticon clones often seen in the original cartoon. It's a neat thing to own. Transformation from robot to stag beetle is easy, parts really just fold up and the robot is laid on his back. There's wheels on the legs to roll the insect around, another holdover from Diaclone that's a pretty fun play gimmick. It's sort of an insect tank.  Shrapnel is a really good looking toy, and especially so in these show accurate colors. For a toy of his era, there's a decent amount of articulation that I find admirable. I'm sure my admiration for Insecticons is overshadowing any objectiveness, but this is just a wonderful toy.

Godzilla 1954 Translucent Edition [Godzilla Monster Series 5"]

I'm a sucker for translucent toys and have been clamoring for a X-Ray version of Godzilla or King Kong in the newer figures I've been getting. Bandai must have been reading my dream journal as they made this specifically cool Translucent Edition of the Godzilla 1954 we spoke about a little while back. Part of the Godzilla Monster Series 5" line I've been recently enjoying, it was a real treat to find this under the tree Christmas morning. The Mrs likes to spoil me and knew I'd love this 'cool sparkly one'. She was right and today we'll be taking a look at it. At it's base, it's from the same mold as the Godzilla 1954 toy, so I'll be focusing on the specifics of this version.

What's different is instead of the grayish green we're used to, Godzilla is colored in a neat smoky grey translucent plastic with some great looking glitter in the mix. Being a vinyl toy, the translucency isn't as transparent as something like a Microman and comes out as a rather soft color. It's really pleasant. The glitter adds to the look nicely and adds some visual texture. They painted the eyes, which I find great. It's something simple that adds a lot. Without the glitter the toy could have made a cool black and white edition of the figure, but with it... it just pops. This feels like a much more premium figure than it's standard edition counterpart.

Sideswipe [Galaxy Version 03 The Autobot Run]

It's been far to long since we've talked about Blokees Transformers model kits here on the site, and since the Mrs gave me a box of Series 3 at Christmas, now seems like a great time to get back to those great little kits. Blokees have been very popular among the Transformer fan community for good reason, they're fun! I'm reminded of buying Transformers SCF figures in the early 2000's. Sure those were blind boxed figurines and not models, but these bring out the same sense of joy that those did. Today we'll be looking at Sideswipe, an original cast Autobot loved by everyone. He's often known for being a bit of a meat head and a little reckless. Sideswipe usually wears a rocket pack that's used for flight in the original cartoon as well as utilizing arm pistons to dig at times.

As a Blokee, Sideswipe is presented as you'd expect him, but in that cute Blokee style. He's got a great deal of articulation and comes with the laser gun and shoulder mounted rocket launcher you expect to see. Of course he also has open and closed hands as well as a display stand with Autobot and Decepticon symbols for decoration. Sideswipe toy molds often get used for a variety of different characters, so I hope to see a variety of characters made from this kit's parts in the future. One is already in The Autobot Run wave (we'll be getting to him later), but there's quite a few that can come from these parts. It's impossible to not like Sideswipe... or this model.

Monday Detected

Dammit, the weekend is already over just as I was getting used to it. Oh well, let's make the most of another Monday with another week of robots, monsters, and misadventure! I spent a good bit of time this weekend with my Evercade and Switch having a grand old time, hopefully whatever you did was just as fun. The Mrs and I got out for some weekend shopping and once again the toy aisles were a little disappointing. It's usually this way in January, but man... that doesn't mean I like it. My Mom did randomly surprise me with some Transformers One Battle Cubes. I've never bought any before, but do admit they're kinda neat looking. I was going to order some stuff, but decided to hold off as this coming weekend the Mrs and I are going on a shopping trip that includes visiting the 52 Toys store! Well, I guess this isn't the most exhilarating weekly update, but hopefully you'll enjoy this weeks content here on Zone Base! I've got some fun stuff planned, including recording a new episode of Transform Squadron! Thank you all for reading and please share with your friends!

Bombshell [Transformers Retro/Bomshell and Ramhorn 2-Pack]

Earlier this week, we looked at Ramhorn. That means it's a fine time to talk abut the Bombshell he came packaged with. Ramhorn is a Rhino, so have him packaged versus a Rhinoceros Beetle is a fun bit of synergy. Not every multi-pack has to match, but similar worded names is good enough for me. Like other G1 reissues being released recently, Bombshell uses his original toy mold and is painted in a cartoon accurate paint scheme. Also like the others, it looks great. Bombshell's mold was one of the Diaclone toys that got used in the early years of Transformers. Insecter Robo Kabutron was a robot of the Waruders, the main villains of Diaclone. I've made my fondness for robot insect toys known here many times and that extends to Waruders. There's just something about them that I find awesome. Being a Diaclone mold, Bombshell has a cockpit that a pilot figure can sit in. However, being a Transformers toy, Bombshell doesn't have a pilot. Like other recent Insection reissues have included Energon cubes accessories (awesome) and you can fit one in his cockpit. It's a silly bit of fun and pretty great. He comes with 6, and that makes for a great bit of scenery to put around your toys.

In addition to the Energon Cubes, Bombshell has his Twin Ion Impulse Blaster. I think it's a pretty trademark rifle for him, but when it comes to Bombshell, everyone focuses on that beetle horn. It's been famously used for launching his signature Cerebro-Shells into the heads of enemies and making them his slaves. It's not just a cool special ability, but also looks neat. A bit of nice ornamentation on a somewhat creepy looking toy. Bombshell has some pretty decent articulation for a toy of his era. Arms move at the shoulders and legs at the hips. Thanks to his transformation, his hip can swivel and there's some movement at the knees... though you can mostly make him kick forward comically. Sure, he doesn't have anything on today's super articulated wonders, but it's a pretty good amount for the toys of that time. Transformation to beetle mode is easy and looks just as great as ever. My love for insect robots definitely flavors my opinion here. I can't help it, those designs are full of charm. There's little wheels on the insect legs to roll it around on and I just love that. Despite the older engineering, this is really a nice little toy. The cartoon accurate colors really pop and breathe new life into a 40+ year old design. The older I get, the more my appreciation for the original toys grows. The die cast is just so satisfying as is the overall product. So, so very good.

Abadox: The Deadly Inner War

Natsume/Milton Bradley 1989/1990

Ramhorn [Transformers Retro/Bomshell and Ramhorn 2-Pack]

Around this time last year we took a look at some of the more recent neat G1 reissues that have been painted to match their orignal series selves. Here in the States, they're exclusive to Walmart (unless you can find them at liquidation stores like Ross). I lucked up on this cool Bombshell and Ramhorn two-pack on clearance on the Walmart app. A rhinoceros beetle and rhino make for a fun vs pack and today we'll be looking at Ramhorn. Ramhorn is one of the Autobot cassettes who debuted in 1986 during the battle of Autobot City in Transformers The Movie.

Prior to this, only the Decepticons had cassettes. So it was a pretty cool moment. For me, I got my original Ramhorn at a K-Mart one rainy weekend. The cassettes would come in 2-packs and he came with Eject. I still remember being enamored with his gold chrome weapons. Needless to say, the two had many adventures in my bedroom and still reside among my various Transformers toys from the past 40 years.

Ramhorn is pretty much a straight reissue. He's largely the same as that one I've owned forever. There is some updated Copyright stamps on his body, so I assume the molds have had some maintenance done recently. There's something so great about these original toys updated in their show accurate colors. The brown used is a softer color and combined with the dark grey used for accenting colors and in place of the originals chromed legs... it just looks great. The red Autobot symbol almost glows against his colorization. I really like the contrast it creates.

The missile pods are not chromed like the originals, but colored in a metallic gold that looks really good. Ramhorn is a simple but pleasant figure. Transformation to tape mode is easy. Fold the legs up into his body and the head and tail fold backwards. The cassette can fit in any G1 Blaster toy... and maybe a Soundwave if you're feeling rebellious. I've never found fault in the original Ramhorn and just don't now either. In these cartoon accurate colors, he feels like a much more premium figure. The combination of him and Bombshell is fun and we'll be looking at his pack mate later this week.

My New Week

Another week has begun and it's only natural to spend it with robots, monsters, and misadventure! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was pretty cold as we were snowed in since Friday morning! Nothing like a winter storm to bring in a suprise 3 day weekend. We did get out for a little bit Saturday afternoon and hold the press, Walmart FINALLY HAD BLOKEES! I grabbed the 4 left on the display happily. They were 2 Ironhides and 2 Optimus Primes from wave 1. I didn't only get doubles, but technically triples since getting those same ones in an earlier order. No problem, that's the game you play with blind boxes... and these bots are designed in a way that makes customs easy. So maybe they'll get turned into someone else soon. I also played a surprising amount of The Adventures of Lolo for the NES this weekend. It's a great classic game, I just didn't anticipate playing it that much. Well, the snow is melting and the work week has begun again. Time to get some site pictures taken and the day started. Thank you all for reading Zone Base. I've got a fun week planned, please remember to share with your friends!

Squeezeplay with Lokos and Browning [Legacy United 4-Pack/Deluxe Class]

Finishing up with our look at the Target Exclusive Transformers Legacy United 4-Pack is the main reason I wanted the set, Squeezeplay. I've got a real fondness towards the era of G1 he's from and the gimmicks they had. Admittedly I have a fondness for Transformers period, but it's like your longtime favorite restaurant. There's multiple things you like for multiple reasons. Squeezeplay is from the post movie G1 era where the Decepticons had fun colors and changed into more crazy alt modes like monsters and I love monsters. He's a Headmaster, I love partner figures and pilot figures.

His Japanese incarnation, Cancer (like the crab, I didn't name it), was heavily featured in Masterforce. A specific series I really like. Adding to that, this update is a reworked Titans Return mold, which is going down as one of my favorite Transformers series. Let's add one more specifically 'me' thing, he comes with a tiny gun mode Browning as a weapon... things like that are super awesome for me. This toy is like a bunch of beloved songs from my favorite band.

Squeezeplay uses Titans Return Mindwipe as a base mold. I most recently talked about this mold in it's use as Draculus, which was another clever use of it. Squeezeplay is pretty ingenious as they took a bat alt mode and turned it into a pretty convincing recreation of his reptile/crustation themed monster form. The entire toy is a pretty remarkable update of the original all things considered. I should probably talk about the actual toy more than just go on and on about how cool he is.

In robot mode Squeezeplay looks an awful lot like his original toy with Lokos transforming into his head. There's a little tail piece from alt mode that can be a shield or weapon and cleverly playing into the similarity of his original gun accessory is a gun mode Browning. Browning is another original series Transformer made from a Microman toy. Browning was also in Masterforce and tended to partner up with Cancer. Just so we're clear, there a character in Masterforce named Cancer whom was a child that worked with the Decepticons and was carrying around a gun that he was friends with.

Browning doesn't transform, but is a cool little extra. Robot mode is decently articulated and looks pretty good for a mold from 2016 compared to the other more recent molds in the 4-Pack. Transformation isn't difficult, but just involved enough that you need to pay attention. Lokos feels like a softer plastic, I popped his legs off accidentally bending his knees to sit him in the cockpit. I'm really impressed that his transforms mostly the same way as Mindwipe did, but now instead of wings there's arms. Alt mode looks pretty on par as an update to the original. I'm very surprised just how good this came off as, once again, the source mold turned into a bat. I think the only new parts here are the head and arms too. I'm always fascinated by design stuff like this. Ingenuity is really neat, you know? The monsters chest compartment opens up to become a cockpit for Lokos as I mentioned above and Browning can be stored on the tail... or just held. Man, imagine a monster packing heat. The really did an amazing job with Squeezeplay. The 4-Pack is a good set all around, but Squeezeplay is definitely the stand out toy of the set. So, so very good.

Mechagodzilla 1974 [Godzilla Monster Series 5"]

It has been too long since I've taken a look at Bandai's fun 5" soft vinyl figures from their Godzilla Monster Series line. I get these from my local Target (because some of us live in a society) and had been on the look out for more as the lines stocked in the 'collectors' section can be short stocked at times. Unless it's those Parks and Rec ReAction figures that'll be there after the nuclear apocalypse. My wife had pointed out that they had the 'tin foil guy' leading to the happy discovery of a Mechagodzilla sitting on the shelf waiting for my purchase. This is a great little toy of the 1974 version of Mechagodzilla as he appeared in Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla. This 5" series is a less expensive set of figures that are perfectly adequate, but don't have the number of paint apps as larger, pricier figures.

This works out ok for the Showa Mechagodzilla as thanks to his design... he doesn't need a lot of colors to be accurate. Articulation is pretty limited on this one compared to a regular Godzilla. Arms move at the shoulders, and swivel at the waist. I have other sofubi with this amount of movement so it's not a negative for me. I can see others taking issue however. His sculpt is really great and pretty screen accurate. I've always liked Mechagodzilla quite a bit and the original incarnation is a ton of fun. He's from that same era that gave us Henshin Cyborg and Microman so there's a similar aesthetic. For the low cost ($10 at Target) this is a solid figure and man I just love anything Bandai makes. The smaller size is welcome as it can be stored easy or have plenty of room on a busy kaiju toy shelf. Just great all the way around.

Tarantulas [Legacy United 4-Pack/Deluxe Class]

If you would have told me I'd end up with a Tarantulas in his original prototype colors a few years ago, I probably would have scoffed. If anything it'd be a convention exclusive or something. However thanks to the Target Exclusive Legacy United 4 Pack... here it is. A recolor of the Kingdom Tarantulas figure with a new head makes for a good base to finally give this version life. I quite liked the Kingdom Tarantulas, so it's probably to no surprise that I like this version. I'm mostly in awe of it's existence. I'd expect a toy based on his Fox Kids deco before this, but I'm not complaining.

I'm really happy with his orange colors. Partially because it makes me think of one of those plastic spider rings at Halloween, but also because it's kinda freaky. Gives a mutated vibe to him... which leads us to his new head. The original Beast Wars toys often had a regular head and a Mutant Head gimmick. The idea was the character's head would change for battle and often which head was the regular or mutant would be swapped for new characters made from repainting a toy mold. Blackarachnia was a repaint of Tarantulas that used his Mutant Head for a main head. Mainframe took some creative liberties with that to create the Blackarachnia we all know today. This new take on the original Mutant Head looks the part, though is painted with more colors than the original prototype featured. That prototype had a gray head, while this is in more classic Tarantulas colors. He actually matches up with the Tarantulas released under the 10th Anniversary Beast Wars line. I wonder if that's intentional or just a neat coincidence.

Aside from the head and colors, Tarantulas is the same toy as his Kingdom release. Nothing seemed loose on mine, so I think the mold has held up well. I liked the figure then and I like it now. Part of me wonders if that prototype could have became a Japanese BotCon Exclusive like Double Punch and Barbearian. Another part of me is considering if the orange colors were inspired by Creepy Crawlies as they were popular at the time. As someone who loves Beast Wars, I'm obviously happy with this toy. It's cool to have a little bit of random history put out in toy form after almost 30 years. Not to mention, Tarantulas is such an established character... seeing him in a different set of colors is neat. With the Mutant Head I almost want to make Monster Gobot comparisons. He seemed like the perfect figure to start a new year at Zone Base off with. Hello 2025!

Who ordered the New Week Combo?

Welcome back to Planet Zone after that long holiday break! It's not only a new week, but a whole new year! Thank you all for returning for more robots, monsters, and misadventure! I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I sure did and got a bunch of new toys, movies, video games, and clothes (I use them too yanno). While I don't plan to list everything here, plenty of the toys will be making appearances on the site. 2025 looks like it's going to be one hell of a year, but here on Zone Base, it's going to be another great one. Speaking of, I've got to get working on stuff for the site. I know it's been a weird past two weeks with the holidays throwing things off schedule, but we'll be back to regular posting this week. It might be a new year, but this is the same old school Zone Base. Thank you for reading and please share with your friends!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Zone Base readers! Thank you so much for supporting the site and here's to another year of robots, monsters, and misadventure!