Monday Burst

It's the start of an new week of robots, monsters, and misadventure here on Zone Base. I hope you all had a great weekend, mine was pretty good... and went by way too fast. The Mrs and I did our weekend shopping and even checked out some early Halloween stock in our local At Home and Cracker Barrel. We got some great spooky stuff and had a lot of fun. 

Ealier in the week my Godzilla Megatron came in and I didn't expect my happiness to be that high. I knew I had it on the way and that it was real. But actually holding it in my hand... wow. I'm not sure when the MechaGodzilla Optimus Prime will ship, I guess it's coming later as it doesn't look like anyone has gotten theirs yet either. Speaking of Godzilla, the Mrs picked me up some fun Godzilla stuff while on a shopping trip with her friend. She got me a bag full of Godzilla blind boxes and bags along with some Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Stranger Things, and Shin-Chan stuff. That was super nice of her while they were in Popmart heaven.

My local stores are still pretty barren. I've still not gotten the rest of the Turtles of Grayskull figures and that's causing me some distress. I really want to complete the line and feel so close to my goal. Not to mention,  not a single new Transformer in some time. I haven't gotten the Studio Series B-127 yet... and that's all they seem to have other than leftover TF One stock. It wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't anticipating Cyberworld so much. I really can't wait to get my hands on those! Considering the show is premiering July 12th, I'm hoping they'll be on shelves soon. I did order a case of Blokees. I sure do love them... I just wish they were easier to get!

July the 4th is Friday and I'm gearing up for the holiday weekend. It's going to be a short work week and probably a hard one too. I'm looking forward to the break though and getting some rest. Well, we've got a fun holiday week in store for you all. Thank you for reading Zone Base. I really appreciate your support and just ask that you share the site with your friends. Mutual High Fives everyone, let's get this Monday started!

Solus Prime [Age of the Primes/Deluxe Class]

Joining the ranks of the butt heads I talked about last week is Solus Prime, another figure from Transformers Age of the Primes that I had bought and almost forgot about. Solus, like Prima Prime, is a member of The Thirteen. One of the original Transformers made by Primus. Solus Prime's role is maker and creator. With that fancy hammer you see her holding in the pic, she can make just about anything.

The Thirteen Primes are the template for the Transformer race and all female Transformers are based on her. She was also in a relationship with Megatronus Prime, which obviously didn't go as planned. Solus Prime created many of the more powerful and mystical objects in Transformers lore. Personally I think it's cool that they made her a more in depth character and didn't go down a cringe route like often happens with female characters.

Solus, like Prima, has a more fantasy themed appearance. I've always liked when robots are designed with similar cues. Egyptian, Easter Island, Mid-evil, and similar design elements make for an interesting looking character. Solus is pleasantly colored in dark purple armor with gold highlights on her grey robot parts. She's pleasantly articulated, you can even move her dress (is that a dress?) in sections to allow for leg movement. Her hammer can be held by one or both hands, though you'll have to disassemble it first. Solus Prime transforms into a Cybertronian Armored Truck, and that's unfortunately where things go south.

Transformation is not a pleasant experience at all. Honestly, it feels like the alt mode was an after thought. It looks cool, but the shape suggests they initially had something else planned. There's a few spots that feel over complicated for no particular reason. The arms, for example, form the front wheel assembly. By itself it's fine, but there's an odd flat plate in both shoulders that has to be folded into the truck body. I never noticed these panels in either mode and have no clue what purpose they serve. Fitting them into their spot in vehicle mode wasn't easy for my big fingers either.

Then there's the feet. the legs fold up into the rear section of the truck. Like the arms, that's mostly ok, but getting the feet to fold into place is pretty unclear and awkward. Even looking at the instructions, it just doesn't work until miraculously it just does. Of course you'll have to knead the toy a little to get everything to align properly after doing so. It just doesn't seem to work right. The biggest problem that's actually a problem and not subjective is various parts just kept coming off during transformation. The plastic grade on some joints isn't great and various places (like the knees on mine) pop out of place while you're folding them around. It's infuriating. Several others have complained about this online, so I can be assured it wasn't a case of clumsy fingers or QC issues specifically with mine.

Truck mode looks neat, though after the unpleasant transformation it'll take a minute to appreciate. The hammer can attach to the side. You'd think since it can be disassembled that the pieces would be distributed about the mode. That's another thing that makes me think the truck mode wasn't originally intended. She folds up into a shape and there just happens to be truck parts to put into place. The dark purple and gold highlights are dominant in the form and once again look great. It's a very neat looking toy, I just wish the less than stellar transformation didn't overshadow the positives. 

Local News

Summer is a Spooky Season.

Wild Jungle Mission 5-Pack [Swapticons]

Between upcoming Swapticon waves getting revealed/leaked online and being inpatient waiting for this set at at stores, I ordered the Wild Jungle Mission 5-Pack from Walmart shortly after Memorial Day. I think it's Walmart exclusive here in the states, which may not be true, but Walmart has been the only place I've actually seen Swapticons... so maybe. You don't get much news about these sort of things online unless it's from a site's sponsor, so *shrug*. I've been anticipating this set since getting bit by the Swapticon bug for three reasons.

1. It's a mostly Beast Wars set. I'll cut a fool over Beast Wars. On their feet, so they feel me cutting them when they walk. 2. There's some choice selections here. Not just the Alligator Megatron, which was originally part of that initial Beast Wars 2-pack that I've always loved... and is apparently officially named Megatron Gator now (that's awesome). But also because of the addition of Apelinq. Not the movie Apelinq, but the BotCon 2000 exclusive Apelinq. That's super cool! 3. Because I've really been having fun with Swapticons. Despite being vastly different, they manage to fill the spots that BotBots and Kreons took. Fun and weird little Transformers like BotBots were. Then they're the fun cool mini-figures that occasionally take a deep dive into Transformers history like Kreons did.

Due to the nature of Swapticons and this being a 5 pack, there's an odd bot out. There's 2 complete sets- Apelinq and Optimus Primal (they form a gorilla) and Megatron Gator and Skullcruncher (who form an alligator). Scorponok is the back end of a Scorpion. Thanks to various leaks and reveals, I know an upcoming 5-pack has a lone G1 Scorponok. He'll form the front of a scorpion that will match up with this one. Well, kinda. It's G1 Scorponok and Beast Wars Scorponok. They'll be a little mishmash... but the idea will be there. HOWEVER, with the implied wackiness of Swapticons... you can just have an alligator with a scorpion backside. Think about that.

Let's look at these little bots individually. Apelinq is the front of the gorilla with Optimus Primal forming the rear. Both are colored pretty closely to the incarnations they're based on, but still manage to match when combined. Considering Apelinq was a repaint of Transmetal Optimus Primal, it's pretty neat that they work well together. Primal's robot arms do not hide away as well as other Swapticon arms do. In fact, they don't hide at all. There's just a set of arms hoping that you don't notice them... and they manage to blend in if you don't look very hard. The magic of unifying color. As you could expect, Megatron Gator and Skullcruncher form an alligator. Thanks to their similar color schemes it's a pretty cohesive alligator.

Due to how Swapticons connect, the alt mode tends to be a little stretched out. It works pretty well with the gators long body though. Skullcruncher is the lone G1 character in the set, but he's been paired with BW characters lately (Beast Alliance toys, for example). It works. Scorponok is the oddball like I mentioned here and... his colors look pretty nice on the square Swapticon body. He makes me think a Tarrantulas could probably pull off being a solo bot when not connected to anyone else. I'm looking forward to partnering him later on with the other Scorponok. This is a fun set. Swapticons are fun in general, but a themed set is extra neat. Thankfully there's more coming. They may be silly, simple little toys... but also a fun time. That's what a hobby is all about.

Monday Darkness

The evil of Monday is upon us Zone Base readers. Brace yourself for another week of robots, monsters, and misadventure to protect yourself! My weekend was pretty good! Saturday the Mrs and I attended the grand opening of our new Daiso store. It was a fun experience, though the long lines were a bit tedious. We got a good bit of fun stuff and plan to come back often. Local stores were pretty barren on the new toy front, fortunately my Transformers Godzilla Megatron pre-order shipped. For some reason the MechaGodzilla Optimus Prime hasn't yet, which I find really odd. I did pick up a Universal Monsters ReAction blind box and got The Wolfman! Hooray!

Sunday was a day full of household work and Super Mario Kart World. For dinner Mom ordered Olive Garden and we watched more Stranger Things. Our rewatch of the series is going well and we've completed season 1 last night. It's Mom's first time with the show and she's hooked! Mom surprised me with a Studio Series Leader Class Shockwave from Dark of the Moon! He's a really nice looking figure and a really great surprise. Well, it's time to get the week started. I've got some chores to do and content to get started on. I've been hard at work preparing for this years Halloween content. I know I say this every year, but this year's going to be great! This year has felt like a return to form for the site and I think our annual Halloween party is going to represent that. Thank you all for reading. Please don't forget to share with your friends and Mutual High Fives everyone!

Air Raid [Age of the Primes/Deluxe Class]

Rounding out the second new Aerialbot available as of this writing is Air Raid. Air Raid, like his team mates, is a butt head. He's fearless, reckless, and often in some sort of trouble. While that doesn't sound so fun to most folks, Air Raid couldn't be happier. I've actually got a bit of affinity towards the little shit. When I was younger Air Raid was my first Aerialbot outside of Easter Basket bootleg sets.

I had acquired him for cheap and happy to finally have an official member of the team. Those G1 toys are actually pretty small, and Air Raid found himself in my bag for a little while. I still remember a late night visit to Dunkin Donuts with friends after work with Air Raid getting passed around. Good times.

Air Raid is very faithful to his appearance in the original Transformers cartoon. He's well articulated and just overall pleasant. To be fair, the Aerialbots are pretty plane looking... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *cries*.  Originally, the Scramble City Combiners and Metroplex were designed to be Diaclone toys, but were released as Transformers only. I can see that Diaclone heritage in this Air Raid toy a lot. Makes me wonder what if Transformers never happened. Imagine if Diakron and Kronoform had lived and this was a new updated toy from those series? Air Raid has two blasters that can connect under his wings for alt mode firepower. That's a small thing that's done often... but I like it.

Transformation to his black F-15 Eagle jet mode is pretty easy. Everything just goes into place easily. The only place where you've got to be careful is when folding his legs into the rear of the jet. There's nothing too hard about it, but it's another one of those exactly right or it's not working type spots. It took me a second to get the two sections to snap together out of lack of wiggle room. Not a deal breaker and or a dark spot. Just a brief moment of saying dammit. Air Raid's mix of white, red, and black looks great. It gives a fairly simple looking bot and give him some visual pop. It's funny that a team of butt heads have such simple looking figures. I guess the old mantra 'keep it simple stupid' is always true for a reason. Air Raid looks great in his simplicity and jet mode is fun. Maybe I'll take him with me to Tim Hortons and relive some old memories. My local Dunkin sucks.

Optimus Prime [Galaxy Version 05-One]

Being the main character of my main subject matter, I talk about a lot of different Optimus Prime toys. I don't even talk about all of them and there's still a lot of Optimus talk around here. Fortunately he gets some really cool toys. In Transformers One, we got another version of his origin that was pretty great with some pretty great toys as well. I've been praising these Blokees takes on the Transformers One characters and Optimus is no different. Peanut butter and jelly, Blokess and Transformers One. Some things just go great together. .

In addition to the parts that your standard Galaxy Version kit offers is that way cool take on his energy axe. It's always looked good, but was downright awesome the way they used it. Because of that, it stands out to me more here than the normal inclusion would. He's also got that cool generic rifle the various Trackers carry around. It's dumb, but for some reason I just like these generic guns. Of course there's the standard set of hands and display base to stand on. Don't forget that new Galaxy Version build that debuted in this series. It's so much sturdier and better. I can't express just how much better it is. So much. One thing I enjoy is his smoke stacks. Thanks to the way they attach, you can flip them around to simulate when he used them as a flamethrower.

It's just a coincidence, but a cool accident is still cool. I mainly liked that part as when I was a kid and playing with the original Optimus Prime toy, his smoke stacks often got turned around to be used as little gun turrets. Newer editions lack that ability, but my 1984 one could do it. Optimus has a standard Optimus color set, but it's a good color set. So of course it looks great here. Of note is the Matrix shining through his chest windows, which is a nice touch. I like it when there's something going on in those vehicle windows in robot mode. In the end, this is another Optimus... but not just another Optimus. It's a good Optimus. Nice things are nice.

Slingshot [Age of the Primes/Deluxe Class]

The other day I was at Walmart with the Mrs and my Mom. When we had walked out to my car, a Slingshot was parked next to us leading my Mom to marvel at how neat it looked. That lead to me remembering the Age of the Prime toys I've been sitting on without posting about.

For example, today we'll be looking at Slingshot the Aerialbot. The Aerialbots, like other classic combiner teams is getting updated with all new and improved toys. It feels like just yesterday that the Combiner Wars version came out... but it sure wasn't. That was 9 years ago. So hey... almost a decade later they're getting updated with new engineering and frankly, they look great!

The Aerialbots are mostly remembered for being butt heads in their initial appearances in the original cartoon. Slinghsot's claim to fame was his adventures with Prince Jumal/Hassan in the episode Aerial Assault. During this episode, the Aerialbots were damaged and got repaired with car parts, leading to Slingshot having an older cars grill for a chest. I think an aftermarket company is making a snap on version of that car grill, which I might be tempted to buy. Slinghsot is also known for his G2 toy being one of the most fragile Transformers ever. It's made of solid gold plastic, which doesn't age well.

Horror stories of fans finding theirs in piles of rubble are well spread. Allegedly newer metallic plastics don't have this problem, but time will tell. Fortunately his newest toy is pretty good. Thanks to advances in toy engineering in the more recent years, the design team is able to make toys that look as if they stepped right off the TV screen. Well, toys that actually physically transform that walked off the TV screen. Slingshot looks like the butt head I just watched the other day. Just so happened Aerial Assault was recently aired on the Transformers Channel. I watch it daily.

In robot mode Slingshot is fairly well articulated. He can be put into a variety of poses and is pretty expressive. It's like the design team made a point to engineer his attitude. He's packing twin double barrel blasted that plug under his wings in jet mode. Transformation is pretty easy and he folds into a jet pretty quickly. Jet mode is the same Sea Harrier you know from his classic appearance. It looks great and is pretty solid. I enjoy how the front landing gear unfolds from the back of Slingshot's head.

Like most jet Transformers, there's a good bit of robot folded under the plane. It's been 41 years, I'm used to it. Thankfully there's not much to really complain about. The bulk of his jet kibble in robot mode is part of his classic appearance. Like I said, transformation is pretty easy. My only gripe is the same I have with a lot of recent cad designed Transformers. There just isn't a lot of wiggle room in the design, so you'll have to get thing exactly right or it's not coming together. Fortunately that wasn't as much of a problem with Slingshot, who being a butt head, you'd expect a little fuss.

Monday Blaster

It's Monday morning again, I'm enjoying a cup of coffee and watching a video on cursed Japanese websites.

Welcome to Zone Base.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, mine was awesome. The Mrs and I did some early Halloween shopping and found some great stuff. Our local At Home hasn't stocked yet disappointingly enough, though plenty others we've seen online have. Michael's, however, had an aisle halfway stocked with the spooky seasons initial offerings. It was very fun and even though summer is just starting, Halloween is coming.

While out Saturday, I picked up a Flame Toys Furai Model kit of Rodimus. It's his IDW design and looks great. I've got a few Flame Toys kits, but with Blokees and Yolopark having such a hold on my attention at the moment, feels weird. I really should get more, they look amazing. BotCon was going on this weekend and I wish I could have visited some of those booths! Both Blokees and Yolopark had solid representation and once again Yolopark made the exclusives. I should really get those.

I'm really looking forward to the new upcoming mini AMK Transformers kits they have coming. I'll be sure to talk about them here. I also picked up a ReAction Universal Monsters blind box from their current Silver Screen set. It's a black and white figure set of the classic monsters and awesome as always. I got The Mummy! I also grabbed a digital download card for Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. It's an oddball mixture of a technical showcase of the new hardware and cozy game. I wasn't going to get it until seeing several people online praising it. It was only $10, so why not? I found myself enjoying it quite a bit and yeah, it's oddly fun. 

Sunday was Cat Dads Day. The kitties and Mrs suprised me with a gift bag of fun! The Transformers X Sonic crossover set was inside as were some Transformers 5 Surprise mystery balls and a Star Wars Micro Galaxy Squadron blind box. They had made me some awesome cards too... how do our cats have better grammar than me? I'm lucky to have such a wonderful little family and enjoyed it very much. The Mrs and I played Mario Kart and we're steadily working our way though Stranger Things still and on our way for Season 5 this year! 

I've had a fun weekend full of fun stuff, and even pre-ordered the Transformers Godzilla toys. They're due to be shipped soon, so hopefully my history of bad luck with pre-orders doesn't reappear. Well, we've got a new week to get started. I've got a fun week of robots, monsters, and misadventure coming your way! Thank you all for reading Zone Base. Please share with your friends and Mutual High Fives everyone!

Chomp & Battle Grimlock [Cyberworld]

Transformers Cyberworld is the newest Transformers mainstream series taking over for EarthSpark with a new cartoon and toy line. I've been pretty excited for it since the series reveal as it looks really fun and feels like a spiritual follow up to the Beast Alliance toys from Rise of the Beasts that I enjoyed immensely. While the various figures haven't shown up at my local stores just yet, the large sized Chomp & Battle Grimlock is readily available on Amazon.

I got mine during Memorial Day weekend and today we'll be taking our first looks at Cyberworld. The larger toys in Cyberworld are neat as they serve as vehicles for the standard sized toys with the upcoming Scorponok even doubling as a play set. The smaller figures are more basic toys that can interact with these larger toys in a variety of ways. Grimlock, for example, can be ridden in dinosaur mode. Dinosaur mode also forms an exo-suit and arm bits can be removed to form a neat hover bike. Cool huh? Since I obviously don't have any other Cyberworld toys yet, I've demonstrated those features in the post pictures with a Micronaut as Cyberworld has a very 90's Microman vibe to it. This is going to be fun.

Grimlock is 9" tall and of course turns into a T-Rex. In robot mode he features limited, but meaningful articulation. Shoulders, elbows, legs and knees move respectively. He can move at the waist, but it's similar to a classic He-Man figure in that Grimlock will swing back into place giving a punch. His right arm is the T-Rex head, similar to Beast Wars Megatron. It's spring loaded and closes with a snap when opened. I can see some smaller Decepticons being held in it. The left arm features a rotating chain-gun tip. There's a sculpted fist as well, so you can remove the chain-gun barrel for a more traditional looking arm.

The chain-gun rotates with a satisfying clicking noise. Removing the dino head and chain-gun parts at the elbows and combining them gives you a cool hover bike mode a standard figure can operate. Though removing those parts is HARD. I was worried about breaking my figure while doing it, so be careful. Those things are really on there. Fortunately the top half of the dino head comes off easier as that's not only part of the hover bikes conversion, but also for Exo-Suit mode. Fold Grimlocks robot head down and place that dino head on his shoulders. The chest plate folds down to create a seat, there's even a little bar to secure the driver into place. The right hand is a claw of sorts without the head portion and that chain-gun provides some firepower.

Rescue Bots Optimus Primal's design was clearly used as a design template as there's some very similar engineering. It's noticeable when looking at his legs and in transformation to beast mode. While obviously not the same, that transformation is very similar. Not a big deal, but worth noting. That being said, transformation is very easy. The arms are held out with the obvious ends forming a head and tail. You can adjust the legs some to make it more natural and those tiny T-Rew arms move into place. The little cover for Grimlocks robot head forms a bit of a saddle for a figure to ride the dinosaur.

It's nice to see Transformers embrace being toys again and feature all sorts of silly gimmicks. While there still is Generations and other lines more geared with more serious tone... these are toys and I can see children having fun making Optimus ride Grimlock around. As a guy who likes robot toys, Cyberworld is a return to older style toys and gimmicks that I like to revisit. Not to mention, there's nothing like a big ole chonky robot toy. Cyberworld is going to be extremely fun to write about here and I'm really looking forward to it. 

Kanzenban

Summer is a Spooky Season.

Tobot X [Tobot/Mini Tobot]

I've been wanting to dip my toes into the Tobot waters for some time. Like Metal Cardbot, Tobot is finally becoming easier to acquire in the states (and less cost prohibitive) and I'm excited to get my hands on these cool robots I've been admiring from afar. Today we'll be looking at Tobot X from the New Tobot range. I've not watched the Tobot cartoon, so I'm pretty ignorant of it's fiction. I should fix that, but until then, we'll just be appreciating these toys as they are.

Tobot X is my first Tobot (go me) and a pretty cool looking little guy. I picked him (assuming gender) based on his colors. It's not often that you see a creme and orange  colored robot toy. Also, I like the sculpt. X is a great looking little bot. Tobot X transforms into a Hyundai IONIQ5, which is an electric SUV. It's a neat looking vehicle mode. From what I understand X along with Y and Z are the main robots of Tobot. This is a new look for X, but he's still the same bot. I've really got to watch this show.

Robot mode is a little basic as he's a Mini sized toy. There is meaningful articulation, but you probably notice the lack of elbow joints. Plenty of movement in the legs and a wide range in the shoulders though. If I were to compare this to a transformer, he's similar in build to an Energon Omnicon and about the size of Armada Smokescreen without the crane bit. Small, but not tiny. He's actually a very pleasant robot toy and I enjoy him very much. I need to get more of these. Transformation is pretty simple and satisfying. You will need to remove the vehicle mode's roof to allow for parts to move around. It serves as a backpack in robot mode and is attached by pegs.

Take that off, fold everything in, and put it back. Everything just goes into place easily without any fuss. I'm not much of a car guy and am mostly unfamiliar with Hyundai vehicles, so I think this is the first time I've ever seen an IONIQ5. It's pretty neat looking and pretty great in this color. You do have to apply included stickers for the detailing. Thankfully there's just enough stickers to make it fun and not so many that it becomes tedious. I did have to refer to pictures of the toy online for placement as the instructions were a little unclear in a few spots. Overall my first Tobot toy was a very positive experience. I definitely plan to get more and they'll be fun to write about here. I should really watch that show.

Bio-Booster Monday

Monday has a returned, and with it, a lot of cursing. My weekend was pretty great, how about yours? Thursday the Mrs and I bought the new Nintendo Switch 2, so a lot of time was spent this weekend playing Super Mario Kart World. It feels weird to move on from my beloved Switch 1, but this is the way it goes. I'm thinking my 1 will join my Evercade EXP-R and be kept bedside for night time gaming. I know it's weird, but I get attached to my electronics. They're a companion for years... it's a little sad when their time comes. Appreciate your electronics, just think of all you do with your phone! 

I found some new toys this weekend too. It was actually quite stormy this weekend so the Mrs and I didn't stay out much. Just a trip to Target for things the grocery order didn't have. I picked up Bandai Godzilla Monster Series Godzilla 2023 Odo Island version. It represents Godzilla as he appears earlier in the film. I also picked up the Age of the Primes G2 Grimlock. My Target has been pretty slow to restock Transformers since Christmas, so finding Big Grim was a surprise. Hopefully I can find Megatronus Prime (his casemate) soon. Speaking of hoping, here's hoping Cyberworld hits stores soon. I'm beyond excited for those bots.

Code Orange is starting to materialize as early Halloween stock is beginning to arrive at stores. The Mrs checked last weekend and our At Home hadn't stocked anything yet. We'll be checking this coming weekend as mid-June seems to be when it shows up at our stores. Michael's is supposed to start stocking this weekend as well  so it's worth a look! In two weeks our new Daiso will be opening in a neighboring town and we're excited! We plan on checking it out opening day and you can be sure I'll tell you all about it!

Well, I've got some chores to do and pictures for upcoming posts to take. Thank you all for reading Zone Base. I know it's just some podunk fan site, but hey, thank you for supporting it. Zone Base is 9 years old this year. That's almost an entire decade of sharing our fandom together without trying to capitalize on fellow fans. I've got a fun week in store for you all and even more coming in the future weeks. I'm gearing up for the big Halloween party (it starts in just 2 months!) and having the time of my life! Please don't forget to share with your friends and Mutual High Fives everyone!

ZombieTrack BMM-02 [BeastBox Mega MechaBeast]

ZombieTrack is another toy I had been waiting to get stocked in the Amazon 52Toys store for what seemed like forever. Thankfully he was same day delivery and was in my hands the minute I was finally able to purchase. ZombieTrack is the second Mega MechaBeast in my beloved BeastBox series of toys. ZombieTrack is something I've been really looking to get my hands on. Just look at it! With Halloween around the corner, there's nothing like some Devil Invader energy to get the spooky summer going!

ZombieTrack is a smaller BeastBox that transforms into a grasshopper whose mech suit transforms into an all terrain bike. Larger figures can drive the bike and it can carry a box mode ZombieTrack or other smaller BeastBox. The grasshopper forms the head of the larger MechaBeast mode. I love this toy.

Don't ask me how the combination of a grasshopper and all terrain vehicle creates such a creepy robot, but I'm all here for it. There's a resemblance to Vamp/Casmodon that I can't help but to love, but ZombieTrack is still his own robot. Well, I'm saying he generically. Judging by the box art, there's a horde of these. There's probably a variety of genders in that swarm. As a grasshopper, ZombieTrack is surprisingly articulated.

The legs have a wide range of movement and the head can look all around. I like the antennae. Even though I didn't do it in the picture, you can raise it's wings up as well. Those wings are laser guns in MechaBeast mode, so I like to think of them as boosters in beast mode. Transformation to box mode is easy enough, but maneuvering the legs can be tricky the first time. Box mode can easily slide into the smaller Box Charger that comes included. Head mode is a variation of box mode with a few parts flipped out.

The all terrain bike transforms pretty easily. it essentially folds into itself and the treads are the arms and legs. The head snaps in securely and those wings I mentioned earlier become back/shoulder mounted lasers. There's quite a bit of articulation and even though he doesn't come with a weapon to hold... it looks like a standard sized weapon could fit into the hands. It's nice to pose him with those claws out though. There's a little tread kibble in the arms that ends up looking like legs and I find that to be a creative way to deal with it.

MechaBeast mode looks like a giant grasshopper that's learned to stand upright. Man, could you imagine that? I live in the American south and the grasshoppers don't get that big here... but you drive a little further south and they start getting larger. Scary large, but thankfully not as big as ZombieTrack looks to be. Overall ZombieTrack is an awesome addition to the BeastBox ranks and my favorite of the two Mega MechaBeast toys available. He's super creative and wonderfully spooky. I wonder if whatever comes after him in this series can top this?

Ironhide [Galaxy Version 05-One]

I've been mentioning how much the blending of Blokees and Transformers One visual styles remind me of Megaman X, and I think Ironhide just might be my best example. Just look at him, he literally looks like Megaman X. Equipped with Rising Fire, maybe. It's a good look. To be fair, I've been comparing Ironhide to Megaman ever since his old SCF toy. I'm not saying he always looks like him, but in some instances he does. That being said, we've got another fantastic Blokees kit from this series with the new sturdier builds.

You know, I really liked Transformers One, but these have really reawakened my fandom for it. TF One was such a good movie, it's good to bask in it some more. Blokees are quickly becoming one of my current favorite TF things to do and this series has been specifically fun. Good times. This is Ironhide in his miner body without a Cog, and it looks pretty great. I appreciate how the characters are getting toys of both forms as they spend most of the movie without Cogs and it's actually a pretty big plot point.

Of course being a Galaxy Version Blokees, Ironhide has the standard open and closed hands and a display base. He's also got that generic laser pistol that looks a lot like his G1 cartoon characters laser. While I'm used to most characters having personalized weapons, I do enjoy the generic guns from TF One. They're not bad looking and represent the uprising which included taking weapons from the look-alike Trackers. See, these Blokees are more than blind boxed models. They're a fun way to enjoy the world of Transformers.

Psychotrain BMM-01 [BeastBox Mega MechaBeast]

52Toys has really came up with something special with their new Mega MechaBeast series. This new twist on BeastBox takes a smaller sized BeastBox and pairs it with a large transforming exo-suit. The BeastBox forms the mechs head and other BeastBox toys can be combined to create some crazy monstrosities. You can even use different Boxes for different heads, it's crazy!

Starting out look at these new monsters is Psychotrain, the first in the series. I got mine a few weeks ago once the Amazon store had them in stock and have been waiting patiently to talk about him. Psychotrain is an elephant, whose suit transforms into a train. The train can carry more than one box for bigger railroad nightmares! Honestly I wasn't aware of the additional combinations until I flipped through the instructions, I had saw Psychotrain and just had to have it! There's just something so cool about this big behemoth that I couldn't ignore.

Let's start off by talking about the elephant. It's downright adorable thanks to the small scale. That's pretty funny considering that's the same face as Mega MechaBeast mode. The elephant is obviously a more basic to than a larger BeastBox, but still has articulation in the trunk and ears in addition to simple leg articulation. Despite being so basic, it's still a very sharp looking elephant. He folds up into box mode easily and fits snugly in the included small Box Charger. Head mode isn't much different than box mode, just position the face outward (but leave those ears tucked in). The train is something else to transform. Somehow it goes from a serpentine shape to a big brute of a body. It's pretty impressive and kind of mind boggling. To put it in perspective, the MechaBeast's head area forms the front of the box car while the legs become the rear. Meanwhile the chest is the front of the steam engine. Honestly, I don't think I can even explain exactly how everything folds into place, but it does... and everything has to be just right.

Once transformed, Psychotrain is once big and scary bot. It's hard to believe that train formed this brute. That cute little elephant is now one scary face, and the sides of that box car have formed some new ears. They can be folded away if you use another box for the head. Psychotrain is heavily armed with dual forearm mounted chain guns and hefty morning star. The morning star can be stored on the back of his calf and in the rear of the box car in train mode. It actually holds that rear section together better thanks to the way it pegs in. He's large and imposing... but also decently articulated. Proportions can make some poses a little tricky, but I don't see a body like this doing much more than lumbering. Psychotrain is a really cool  and impressive toy. I'm generally pleased with BeastBox toys, but these new Mega MechaBeast's really blow me away.

More Violence, More Action, More Monday!

Monday again, yeah... dammit. Like you, I wish it was still the weekend. I guess we'll just have to get through the work week with more robots, monsters, and misadventure! My weekend was pretty good. Some weekly shopping and good food. The Mrs and I decided to re-watch all of Stranger Things so we'll be caught up when the new season premieres later this year. So far we're 2 episodes down and it's just as good again! 

As for toys, my stores were pretty limited. They're due for a restock. The Mrs did grab me some gacha while out at Target Friday. 4 of the new 5 Surprise Transformers balls and a Voltron bag figure. Voltron was him forming the blazing sword (woo). The TF's were 1 Megatron in robot mode, 1 Wheeljack in vehicle mode, and 2 Starscreams in vehicle mode. These new 5 Surprise Transformers are pretty neat, but they sure are stretching the '5'. You get the character and a weapon. A trading card, a sticker, and a bag of kinetic sand. I guess that's 5 things? I also ordered the Swapticons Jungle Mission 5 pack. It's never showed up at my local stores and I didn't want to miss out. With new Swapticons images getting leaked, my excitement for the little bots was revived. The line is getting even more fun toys that I'm looking forward to. There's a Clench!

I've got a fun week in store for you all. We'll be looking at the new Mega MechaBeast toys from 52toys BeastBox! Of course another Transformers Blokees will be making an appearance. Halloween is around the corner and I'm gearing up for another spooky season on Zone Base. Code Orange is starting to ring out as some stores are starting to stock their early wares. New items from Target have arrived at my house and we're keeping an eye on our local At Home. Thank you all for reading Zone Base. Don't forget to share with your friends and Mutual High Fives for all!