Thank you all so much for coming and reading Zone Base. I really do appreciate each and every one of you all for supporting my little site. Normal posting will resume next week as we pack away the pumpkins and skeletons for another year. But don't worry, every day is Halloween on Zone Base! There's always monsters creeping out and random scares around every corner! Once again, thank you all for reading and remember to check your candy before you eat it. Mutual Spooky High Fives everyone!
I picked up Onyx Prime a few weeks ago. Happy to see my local stores restocking in the first time in forever. However, not just happy to see something new, but happy as I've been looking forward to this particular toy. You've got to admit, he's got one neat design. In robot mode, Onyx stands tall and beastly. He's got big pointy wings that match pointy armor full of creature flavored details. If you noticed the chest armor looks like hooves, we'll get to that a little later. Speaking of hooves, check out the legs. He outright has big ole hooves with legs similar to an animal that would have hooves. Hooves. Technically that's called digitigrade, but I'll call it backwards knees. Because that's how you'd know what I'm talking about. Robot mode is pretty large and nicely articulated. You might notice his hands open up. That's both due to beast mode and goes along with his accessories.
That Triptych Mask I mentioned earlier combines with a pole to form a big spear... or staff if you so fancy. It's also a rather big arrow for a bow that's formed from his tail. With those articulated hands he can hold these weapons and draw that really big arrow. I wasn't initially aware of the bow and arrow, it just somehow escaped my attention. Remember that chest armor that looks like hooves? I talked about it last paragraph, and said hooves a million times, how could you forget? What if I told you they actually were hooves? THEY ARE! *no shit* Folding those down and some adjustments here and there will reward you with Onyx Primes first alt mode- a winged centaur! This is a pretty cool form that you wouldn't expect normally. It really fits with that bow and big ass arrow!
From here, with a few more twists and folds you'll find the third mode. A winged dragon monster type creature! This beast mode is super gnarly with six legs and those giant wings that have been prominent in every mode. I'm very fond of its head with horns and opening mouth. The colors of Onyx Prime really shine in every mode... but make for one interesting beast mode. A mixture of black, copper, brown, with silver and gold highlights creates a figure seemingly out of some old Dungeons & Dragons source book. This is one cool toy that I had a great time playing around with. His transformations and overall design really brought back memories of older Beast Era toys. Not just because of the beast mode, but the actual transformation schemes and overall design and look of the toy. If not for the newer engineering, I'd almost swear this was an older unused design Hasbro had sitting around in the vaults. He'd have made an excellent Transmythics toy!
I didn't expect to like Onyx Prime as much as I did. He's a very cool toy with a design right out of my dream journal. I've always thought of leader class figures as more nicer size class when it comes to standard retail Transformers. With this toy, that thought process feels proven. Onyx Prime is a big and ornate beastly bot with fantasy looks and modes whom is a pleasure to hold. Looking like something you'd find sculpted at a museum, he's got a mythic air to him. That's freaking neat. His dangerous looks and supernatural powers give way to a friendly robot who paved the path for animalistic Transformers that came after him. Truly one of those toys that just doesn't come around often enough.
Here we are again. The Halloween season is slowly coming to a close and that means once again I'm talking about The Halloween that Almost Wasn't/The Night Dracula Saved the World. It's my favorite Halloween special... I've said that each time. I said it because I meant it. When I was a kid, Halloween was this weird patchwork holiday. Spooky, creepy, scary... but also ratchet as hell sometimes. The Disney Channel, for example, a big company with lots of money and slick polish would fill October with tons of old specials like this.
It's got the production value of a school play, almost amateurish things happen on screen like when the Wolfman is standing in view before he's supposed to go through a door. The Mummy just falls on his ass a few times. But... it's funny as hell. Like, legitimately funny. There's a fun script and the actors are obviously having a great time. It's a good thing the special is easily watchable, because none would believe that this thing exists. Despite all that, it's so very Halloween at it's core. Pure Pumpkin Spiced Mayhem. Happy Halloween everybody.
These Neca Ben Cooper figures are a great replication of those classic Costume & Mask sets that lined store shelves during my childhood. I did a quick Google to check and the little costume our Trick or Treater is wearing is a great reproduction of the one offered in 1984. That is very impressive as those old costume weren't digital files. Someone had to recreate them. Great job Neca! The figure under the costume is decently articulated and comes with a little Trick or Treat bag to carry up and down the streets. Completing the look is the packaging that replicates the old boxes these would often come in. It's funny, I've had some come on hangers and not in boxes. Of course those were Collegeville Costumes. I think their offerings came in boxes or on hangers. I don't remember any of my Ben Cooper costumes not being in a box.
These figures are available all year round for a dose of the spooky season whenever the mood hits, but obviously are perfect right now. If you've never worn one, I'm sure you've heard the same old worn out comments about them. Jokes about the name on the chest, the rubber band cutting into your skin or breaking. Wearing a jacket or coat over it in more colder areas where it snowed on Halloween. *sigh* Yes, we know Superman doesn't wear a jacket. *we've heard it* However it's impossible not to be flooded with memories of wearing these back then. Of course there's the comments told a million times that I was just being sarcastic about... but the other things. They had a smell that you'll never forget. That costume aisle at K-Mart was filled with it.
I'd always stick my tongue in the little mouth hole, sometimes cutting myself a little. The masks were also super hot. Even if it was freezing cold, the mask had a way of keeping all the heat from your face and breath. You'd regularly take it off for some air in between houses, or wear it more as a hat for a few minutes. The inside of the mask would be coated in sweat and that air felt amazing. Thing is... you still loved wearing it and looked forward to the experience. There's an indescribable feeling that many of us who spent our Halloweens in those outfits have. Despite the worn out jokes and odd complaints, they were pure love. There's a reason these Neca figures are so popular with a certain segment of people. For those of us who worn them, they're a bit of magic that faded away around the same time as we got too old to wear them. It'd be great to see a Ben Cooper Stripe at my door this year, though I'll gladly give the droves of Minecraft kids the same amount of candy.
The opening music to Garfield's Halloween Adventure is burned into my memory they way a channel logo is on your TV. At any random moment, there it is... that flute followed by the screams of Blinky the Clown. I don't know how many times I've seen this special, but it doesn't matter. I'll watch it even more times. It's wonderful. This is another of my annual Halloween posts. It's tradition! The perfect Halloween night as experienced by our favorite lasagna addicted cat. It's all there. Deciding on a costume, carving a pumpkin, trick or treating, and even something scary! Perfection.
Like all Defender Versions, Shockwave is well articulated once assembled. He's got his ray gun left hand and a little hose, matching his traditional look. It makes me think of Action master Shockwave and how fans used to use the hoses from GI JOE figures to give theirs one. Allegedly there was one in prototype stages that didn't get included in the released toy. It had the places to connect one. Fortunately Blokees included a hose with theirs. I'd hate to try and track down one tiny enough to fit this guy.
Shockwave's head is one piece and doesn't have the little neck part that also tints the robot's eyes. It's a unique sculpted part, so that makes sense. Though after assembling so many of these... something like that stands out. I really like the translucent plastic and how nice the colors look in it. The purples and grays really pop, damn, I wish Blokees would do Microman/Micronauts. I just know they'd do a great job.
Last year I was pretty bummed. Witches Night Out had been bought up by some distributor and disappeared from all my streaming apps. Thankfully, it's now on Tubi, so it's easily watchable again! This is one of my favorite Halloween specials and it's admittedly pretty whacked out. I've posted it here every Halloween... but every season is someone's first. You've got some kids who are disappointed that their costumes didn't scare anyone and they meet a Witch who feels unwanted. Mayhem commences as the grown ups boring Halloween party gets a taste of the spooky shit! One thing that everyone notices is the solid colors the characters are represented in. I think first seeing this on Disney Channel made me make comparisons to Monsters in My Pocket and drew me in. Either way, it's pretty weird... and pretty great.
Good morning Zone Base readers, welcome back for another week of robots, monsters, and misadventure! It's that sacred time of year, Halloweek! This year's Halloweek is particularly special as Halloween is on a Friday! That means extra fun without worrying about getting up the next day! One of my favorite Halloweens was on a Friday. It was 1986 and I was in the 3rd grade. That year was a special one. Transformers the movie had came out just as school was starting and it was the Halloween that I was the Wolfman! Yes, that freaking Paas make up kit werewolf costume I've talked about a million times happened that fateful Halloween on a Friday night!
I'll never forget coming home that evening with my cousin, washing off the make up with a McDonald's sponge and watching Teen Wolf! The following day I picked up Masters of the Universe Rio Blast! I don't know what toy luck I'll be having this weekend, but whatever it is will be the last toys I buy for myself untill after Christmas. I've got plenty of stuff to talk about here on the site, but hey... how was your weekend?
Mine was great. The Mrs and I went to Five Below and Target Saturday morning. While there we got the last of our Trick or Treat goodies for the kids Friday night. The Mrs happily spent the weekend making treat bags for handing out to our lucky door knocking ghouls. At around 15lbs, we've got a lot to hand out! Candy, little toys, and lots of fun. Speaking of lots of fun, as tradition, the Mrs and I exchanged our annual Halloween gifts to each other. We like to do it before the actual day to enjoy the spooky season a little more.
The Mrs gave me mine in awesome Lego monster buckets! There was candy, Mad Balls, cool toys, a DVD of Witches Night Out, a new yokai book, and tons of love! As usual she included this years Halloween Star Wars Droid Factory droid. It's a fun little tradition of hers that I always look forward to. There were also some great skeleton figures in the bucket. They're in various colors and really neat with tons of articulation and fantasy weapons. I'll definitely be posting about them in the weeks to come. Afterwards we ordered Taco Bell for dinner and I carved the pumpkin!
Sunday morning meant another annual Halloween tradition of mine. I took a small roadtrip to the nearest Krispy Kreme for this years Halloween donuts! It's about an hour away and was a great time to enjoy the fall weather while listening to the radio. One station that usual has a b-side show on Sunday morning played spooky hits for the holiday. It's been a while since I've heard Echo and the Bunnymens version of People are Strange and a pretty good occasion to play it. The Mrs had breakfast (and she made one amazing dinner later) ready Sunday and I spent the day finishing that Flame Toys Furai Model Rodimus kit I've been working on the past few weekends. Please look forward to an upcoming post on it soon.
I also started a new game of Cave Story as I forgot where my last save left off. I didn't delete the old save though, just incase my memory returns. Yesterday was the start of the Halloween version of the game. Halloween and Christmas are observed in game and it's fun to see the familiar characters get a new seasonal look. Cave Story is a game I really do enjoy, I'm glad I've got it on my Switch. I've had it on multiple consoles, but damn I love the Switch!
Well, aside from the Halloween gifts from the Mrs, I also got some great toys. Target had the Godzilla Monster Series 5" Flaming Godzilla and Destoroyah! As for Transformers, they had Age of the Primes Minimus Prime, Venin/Venom, and Skydive! Target also had a great Circle deal on toys, so I save a little money thankfully. Well, as usual, I've got to do some household chores and take toy pictures for upcoming posts. It's also a nice rainy fall day, so I think one of those donuts with some coffee while enjoying the sounds outside and watching Gobots is in order. Have a great Halloweek Zone Base readers. Just a heads up, next Monday I'll be a little busy, so there won't be one of these Weekly Update posts. But don't worry, normally scheduled content is on the way! I hope everyone has a fun Halloween. Please feel free to check out my Instagram for updates from me. If you like what you see, give me a follow! Thank you all for reading Zone Base. Please remember to share with your friends and Mutual High Fives everyone!
Me, I like the little step back in time they offer. I don't buy all of them, but I like to dip my toes in the old school DNA flavored water they present. It's just neat to buy a new 'old' toy. Well, I'm not crazy *in those regards anyway* as someone at Hasbro apparently sees it too. While I've been comparing the Transformers Cyberworld toys to older lines, they outright made a new G2 Megatron for the line. Not just a G2 colored Megatron, but one directly out of that time frame. Utilizing the Armor Turbo Changer Hound toy from Transformers The Last Knight and giving it a heavy retool... we've got a figure straight out of Euro G1.5 available at your local Walmart in the year 2025.
Megatron is billed as a Ultimate Cyber Changer and also has 'RIDE & BATTLE' emblazoned across his package. Like other larger Cyberworld toys, he offers interactivity with the standard Cyber Changers figures. In vehicle mode, one can ride on his back and man the vehicles guns. Admittedly it's a lot less than Grimlock or Scorponok *we'll get to him soon* offer. However, considering it's a modified mold of a toy released in 2017... not bad. In robot mode, Megatron is about 7" tall and very stocky. Movie Hound (who should have been Bulkhead) is a big boy and that carries over here even with the extensive remolding.
How extensive is that remolding? He's got a new head and abdomen in addition to the new gunner platform and blaster. Some of Hound's detailing is still there, but it blends in pretty well. Since this is a new G2 Megatron, all the bullets and weaponry make me think of the comics. I don't know whose idea it was to take the brightly colored robots and adorn them with spikes, bandoliers, and assorted weaponry... but it was awesome. Speaking of bright colors, Megatron has been painted to resemble his first G2 toy and they did a great job. Cyberworld toys are pretty bright already and it blends right on in. The new blaster even resembles the originals tank cannon. If only they'd included a G2 Decepticon logo. Or a Predacon one... *oooohhh*
Transformation to armed military truck mode is done in a simple 4 steps. Knees are one piece and were pretty stiff on mine. The little back panel disconnects from his back to fold into a gunner platform and connects onto the rear end. The blaster connects here and as I said earlier, a standard Cyber Changer can RIDE & BATTLE. Overall it's a pleasant vehicle mode and the G2 colors carry over nicely. It really does look and feel like a toy from that time. I do wish the windows were painted, some stickers would have went a long way. I also wish the robot mode had more articulation. Going in, I knew it would be limited, but a little more would have been nice.
Ultimately, this is a toy I bought for two reasons. One, the novelty of a new 'old' toy. Two, I'm trying to complete the Cyberworld toy line. Even though, though Megatron should have been a little cheaper, it's a fun little mostly inexpensive line and completing it should be pretty easy. I do hope there's future Ultimate Cyber Changers that recreate older style toys as it's pretty neat stepping back in time this way.
MEGATRON ATTACK!
Rodney is a a big old fraidy cat. If there's a superstition, Rodney is scared of it. Which one begs to reason... why does he even go trick or treating? Or even to a haunted house? Does he just relish is pooping his pants or something? And what's up with that one kid while they're in the haunted house? Is he ok?
originally posted 10/26/23
What's Halloween without a ghost or two haunting the holiday? To answer that, we've got one of this years holiday Star Wars items. A Target exclusive Halloween Edition Royal Guard member who was apparently a victim of the second Death Star explosion. As always, I manage to get a few holiday edition Star Wars toys each year. The Mrs usually gets me the Halloween Droid Factory toy in addition to whatever Halloween and Christmas items they have at stores. A few weeks ago, we picked this guy up at our local Target while excitedly checking out all the new spooky season merchandise. I don't think there's ever been a holiday edition Star Wars toy I haven't liked, but this one is particularly cool. The Royal Guard are usually seen standing by Emperor Palpatine in their striking red robes, keeping vigilant watch over the Supreme Leader of the Galactic Empire. This one must being watching over his throne in the wreckage as he's clearly passed on. Cast in white glow in the dark plastic *yay* and draped with a white glow in the dark *omg* cloth cloak is our ghostly guard.
I hadn't noticed before that the guards are wearing armor under those robes... but it makes sense that they would. From what I understand, this mold was originally released in 2017. I wouldn't be able to tell though as he's got all the articulation that I've come to expect from current 6" figures. As for accessories, our ghostly guard has a tiny little pistol and a staff. These are the ones Royal Guards commonly carry, so it makes sense that even in the after life he's got his gear. Did I mention they glow in the dark too? They do and it's wonderful *I'm going to explode*. The pistol stores inside a holster, but mine tended to fall out easily. So be careful not to loose yours. *mines safe* Completing the look is a skull face variation of the Royal Guard visor. Our ghastly guard is all set to haunt the wreckage of the Death Star. Hopefully whatever scavenger who decided to loot and pillage the remnants brought an extra pair of space pants.
Like most Black Series holiday editions there's a partner figure in the form of a little Bogling who has been turned into a goblin! The adorable little scamp is painted in green with red eyes. It may be hard to tell in my *obviously not professional* pics, but he's got a little pair of slightly different colored shorts. Of course with the name, I couldn't help but to think about Boglins... but that's a different little creature all together. Boglings are normally adorable little critters and this one's definitely a goblin up to all sorts of mischief in a galaxy far, far away. This is a great little set and I'm not sure if your Target has any left, but I'd advise you to get one if they do. Not only is it a great Halloween toy, but it's a fun version of a really well made Star Wars toy. The force is definitely with this ghost.
I don't know who needs to hear this, but... Halloween is a dangerous holiday. When you've got all sorts of ghosts, and monsters, and demons just roaming around - things are bound to happen. Add in trick or treating and that's just one more thing that's going on. I swear I was going somewhere with that train of thought. Oh well, fuck it. It's a damn fucking dangerous holiday full of danger and fucking devils and all sorts of evil spooky shit and we fucking love it. That being said, to quote Okefenokee Joe, you've got to be swamp smart. Somebody put a needle in your Twix? Sorry to say, things like that are bound to happen. It's best you take in a safety tip or two before the big night. Trick or treat, you're dead meat.
originally posted 9/28/21
Buying Blokees by the box tends to get you at least one special version. Defender Versions you get 12 in the box, at least 1 will be one of the various specials. *Neat!* In 03 Heavy Metal War, I got the Special Galaxy Type Soundwave. He's in a metallic paint and comes with Ravage. *Awesome!* Being Halloween time, it's the perfect time to focus on a Ravage toy and this is a good one to take a look at. The Defender Type design fits Soundwave's classic design pretty well.
His classic boxy design combined with the Defender cuteness looks really good. It's got the standard articulation you expect from a Defender... which is a pretty good bit. These little shits can really move. Nicely enough, he's got both his traditional shoulder Concussion Blaster and Rocket Launcher. No generic laser like several of the others have. These weapons were made from the original G1 toy's batteries and are a part of Soundwave's classic image. At this point I shouldn't be surprised in regards to Blokees attention to detail, but I would have been fine if he came with the regular laser. The extra mile taken is much appreciated, however. This is a nice little mini-figure after assembled. The Special Galaxy Type is painted in a metallic paint that just makes him feel more premium. It's super shiny.
Also as a special version, a tiny Ravage is included. Ravage is static and non-articulated, but his inclusion is just really freaking neat! Like, when you think of Soundwave, Ravage is almost always in that mental picture. I don't think I've ever had anything negative to say about a Blokees product, they're definitely in my favorite category when talking about the current state of Transformers. While I'm enamored by anything they do, I think at this point Defender Types may be my favorite thing they do. This little blind box model kit with it's extras feels more important than whatever high end unit is available is out at the moment. Just look at that Ravage!
Scary board games are always fun during the spooky season (or any time), especially in the company of good people with a horror marathon going in the background. A particularly fun one is 13 Dead End Drive (or it's follow up, 1313 Dead End Drive). A game where you avoid getting murdered while committing murder. Honestly, it's the game I wanted Clue to be. There's something special about this commercial for the game from 1996. It's got to be hard to sell a game about murder to a family friendly audience. Playing it safe be damned, they outright killed a bunch of puppets on TV. Talk about truth in advertising.
Beware Zone Base readers, Monday has came back. We'll have to band together and fight this menace together. I hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was for the most part, aside from a moment of sadness Saturday. The Mrs and I got out for a little weekly shopping Saturday morning. At Target I got the rest of the goodies for the Mrs's Halloween present and some other great stuff. We then went to Costco, but on the way stopped at Tim Hortons for their Halloween bucket full of Timbits! It's a great glow in the dark bucket decorated with cats full of donut holes that we're still working on. Man they're tasty!
We had lunch at Costco before getting our candy for Halloween. Costco has pallets of Halloween candy each year for amazing prices. We got over 11lbs for the kids this year with a little extra that we've already got. This weekend we'll get some other goodies as the Mrs likes to make some treat bags for the first few kids that'll come by. While passing my Mom's house (she lives a few blocks away) we sadly saw one of the stray kittens who have taken residence in the neighborhood whom had been ran over in the street. I got my shovel and we had a little funeral for the poor fellow in Mom's backyard. Rest in peace little one, I'm sorry you had that happen.
The rest of Saturday was spent at home with dinner and TV... and a long nap. Sunday morning I made a quick trip to Publix for a few things and picked up some Halloween donuts. While out, I swung by TJ Max to get the Mrs a little suprise. She made us a great breakfast and deserved a little something nice. I enjoyed MeTv Toons Spooky Sunday while working on a new backdrop for toy pictures here on the site. Afterwards a nap was had before Mom came over and we ordered dinner from Longhorn Steakhouse. A great meal that was enjoyed while watching True Haunting on Netflix.
After Mom left, I worked more on the Flame Toys Furai Model Rodimus kit I started last weekend while we watched Silver Bullet. I've almost got it completed... which I'll do next weekend. I've got quite a backlog of models, including some more Furai Model kits. I think I'll follow him with some Blokees as they're a little easier on my fingertips. I spent last night assembling his legs which had more tiny things than the arms had to work together. It's a pretty intricate kit that's looking pretty great. In some ways, I guess I'm still that kid putting Robostrux together on the kitchen table with my brother.
As for toys, yeah, I got a few this weekend. The Mrs and her friends took a trip to the northside of town for Labubu and other similar toys Friday and she brought back some surprises for me. Some ramune candy that I love and a fish wafer cookie. They're delicious and don't taste like fish. Some Transformers soda cans and a TF pencil sharpener as well as some Ultraman sticky notes. She also picked me up a Bandai blind box Gundam figure. The series is based on the Chinese zodiac, I got a delightful green snake one! Target had some Galaxy Version Blokees. I got almost the entire box (it was only missing one) and you can be sure to see those on the site in due time. They had several other Transformers I needed, but I had other things to get. I'll be sure to pick them up soon and of course Christmas is around the corner. I'm disappointed that current Transformers prices are so high. Voyager class is now 42-45 dollars each and that is ridiculous. I do hope things get worked out soon. Though I think lost sales will result in some of these pricing conditions to mysteriously vanish. Money talks and bullshit walks.
I was sad to learn that Bam Magami's mother had recently passed. It's an honor to express my condolences and be in a position to speak with one of my favorite Transformers artists. Though I'm definitely sad for him. Let's keep him in our thoughts Zone Base readers. Well, it's time to get this week started. There's some household chores to be done and I've got the last of this years Halloween post pics to take. Being ahead is weird sometimes, because we've still got two weeks of Spooky Season to celebrate. This week's full of pumpkin spiced robots, monsters,and misadventure! Please look forward to it! Thank you all for reading and your support. Don't forget to share with your friends and Mutual High Fives everyone!
Bumblebee is one of those characters in Transformers that ever since the 2007 is guaranteed to get a bunch of toys in every line. We're generally all for that here at Zone Base as we love him. This incarnation is a particularly neat variation of him from Transformers Cyberworld. Here, Bumblebee transforms into an off-road rally car. This isn't too unlike his appearance in Rise of the Beasts or the unreleased game Reactivate. Actually, the look is very similar to the Reactivate design.
Bumblebee's head is based on the original G1 toy's face plate design, we're used to that being referred to as his battle mask as new incarnations have incorporated it that way. It looks really rad usually. This sculpt is fucking dope. Part of me wishes it was another character so there would be more attention to it. He hasn't appeared in the cartoon in this body yet, but considering Optimus also has an off-road version, I'm guessing it's a power-up in an upcoming episode. Of course this is your standard Cyber Changer, so articulation and proportions are to be expected. I really like this on. It just looks awesome, even for a simple figure.
Transformation is the standard Cyber Changer car scheme. It's simple, easy, and gets the job done satisfactorily. I like this car and once again wish it was another character so more attention would get paid to it. A little more paint would benefit this toy a whole lot. It's a cool design and the idea of it in translucent plastic crossed my mind as I was writing this and makes me mentally salivate. That would be awesome. Hopefully Takara gets a hold of these molds at some point, they'd likely do such things with them. EZ-Collection DX?
I discovered this ad for a showing of Halloween 2 on the USA channel while remembering the old urban legends of the 'real' Michael Myers. These days kid call him Stanley Stiers lol, but in my day he was the escaped mental patient that comes out at Halloween to kill people. It may sound silly now, but he was the source of real terror for the kids in my neighborhood. I still remember a commercial for Halloween 4 airing while my brother and I were watching The New Leave it to Beaver.
Immediately after the commercial was over, my brother told me about the real killer attacked his home room teachers friends when he was in school. Yikes! This commercial is fun as it's another airing of Halloween 2 on Halloween Night (2 and 3 usually together) with the same set of clips from the movie. Though USA did something I've always appreciated, they added their own homemade flair. This time in the form of an animated pumpkin. In today's age of streaming fast channel apps, little things like a TV station making low budget commercials from media package clips full of charm feels like a Mandela Effect. But it happened, and it was glorious.
I've heard folks say that The Wolfman is the Boba Fett of the Universal Monsters/Dark Universe crew. I'm inclined to agree, though I'd argue it's more like Din Djarin. He's introduced as more of a tragic character. Gets bitten by a werewolf who's attacking his date's friend. Turns into a monster at night and murders innocent people against his will and much to his horror. Tries to tell people, but everyone, including his father, thinks he's crazy. Later is killed by his own father, who now see's his son was telling the truth.
Returns from the grave multiple times. Unable to die thanks to the werewolf curse and in his further adventures with the other monsters is more of an anti-hero role. Ultimately the Wolfman tries to thwart their misdeeds, even though he can't control his own actions. Often old monster movies can be cheesy, but The Wolfman's emotional punch is still there after 84 years. I've probably mentioned the time I was The Wolfman way too many times than anyone cares. So it's probably obvious why I waited until Halloween to talk about this toy.
As a standard Reaction toy, The Wolfman is a 3 3/4" action figure in the style of older toys. Mostly inspired by the Kenner Star Wars series from the 70's -80's, but also like others of the time. The Remco Mini Monsters for example. Those would be the most obvious comparison point here. The Monsters of the Silver Screen blind box series features the toys in black and white colors to match their appearances in those movies. Larry looks really good. His sculpt is out of an old Kenner or Remco design book spiritually.
He features 5 points of articulation in the obvious spots and some fun sculpting. Hands are open to have claws ready to strike and his legs are slightly bent in conjunction with his wolf feet. Mirroring the wolf that he has become. Even with his limited articulation, he's pretty expressive. He can creep up on a victim, howl at the moon, or just stand on your desk next to that little cup where you keep your pens. Super7 has released a bunch of different variations of this figure, but there's a charm to this black and white version.
Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.
There's nothing more Halloween than this old Disney cartoon about a bunch of skeletons dancing around a graveyard at night. All the classic spooky shit is on full display. Black cats, big spiders, a howling dog, an owl, and of course the skeletons. The ghouls dance around, playing each other as instruments (don't be weird), and having a grave old time. You saw what you saw. All hell breaks loose and the grim reaper gets served before sun rise. Which of course means it's time for the skeletons to rush back to their graves.
originally posted 10/20/20
Being a Cyber Changer, she has the same standard articulation and proportions as we've come to expect by now. We've got a new transformation scheme too. Elita-1's upper body essentially slides up and compresses, while her legs join together with parts snapping into place. It's a really neat speed boat mode that makes me think of Manta Ray from Generation 2. I'd love to see him brought to life using this mold. Some folks might complain about the basic articulation, but he'd have more than the original toy.
Elita-1's colors look pretty good too. The pink and salmon are complimented by the white and yellow. Cyberworld has some bright colors, but this is pretty close to her classic look aside from the salmon... and that makes for some good visual variety. Cyber Changers are continuing to be a neat little size class that I wouldn't mind going on for years. Just keep them a basic format that's compatible with upcoming lines and their settings. Would be neat.
I live in Georgia, which means I've never had an Arctic Circle restaurant near me. I've never been to Utah or any of the other states in which Arctic Circle has locations in. Which means I've never had a Square Pumpkin meal. One of the greatest disappointments of my life. Have you seen it? You get the Square Pumpkin box, with haunted house game on the back. I will not mince words, that is fucking bad ass.
Of course you also get food, but dude, square pumpkin with haunted house game. A Google search shown me years of amazing Halloween kids meals from Arctic Circle. I can't believe just how much I've missed out. I didn't I even know about this place until I found this commercial. I'll be honest, I kinda forgot Utah existed too. Working the graveyard shift for 10 years has have altered my world view a bit. I'm not kidding, the first time I see the sunrise in spring scares the shit out of me every year.
I'm pretty sure if Arctic Circle was available to me the Square Pumpkin meal would be a hotly anticipated item each year. It's pretty badass. McDonald's can't decide if they want to do Halloween pails regularly or not. Starbucks kinda shit the bed with the Halloween drinks after 2018. It'd be nice to have something like a Square Pumpkin to look forward to each year. I crave annual fast food spooky shit. I don't even want the food, just the haunted house game.
originally posted 9/23/20
Thank you Zone Base readers for coming back for another week of robots, monsters, and misadventure! The weather is getting chilly and there's another 3 weeks of Halloween to chill our bones even more! I had a mostly relaxing weekend. The Mrs and I did some shopping, I reworked some of our lights outside and added more making our Halloween decorations really pop, and spent some quality time building robot models. The Mrs made us a wonderful Halloween taco dinner Sunday complete with a spooky cake!
As for toys, I got some good ones. Target didn't have the Age of the Primes 4 pack despite it being released last week. In turn, I ordered one in the parking lot. Long time readers know how much I love their Transformers multipacks and this one looks great! Target did have a Burning Godzilla Egg Monsters toy that I didn't have. I was glad to pick that one up. A trip to Walmart resulted in the larger Megatron Cyberworld figure that I've been looking forward to. It's a clever remold of a Hound figure from The Last Knight that becomes a early 90's throwback toy. It's hard to believe I've already got all the Cyberworld toys and I hope more are on the way!
Well, I've got chores to do and pictures to take for upcoming posts here on the site. I also want to take a nap, which will probably come first... my eyes are getting heavy as I write this! Thank you all for reading Zone Base. Don't forget to share with your friends and Mutual High Fives everyone!
Unlike his normal race car based bodies, Mirage turns into a jet. It's an odd choice for a character who even appeared as a race car not long ago in Rise of the Beasts... but I dig it. Sometimes reinvention is a good thing and this Mirage looks pretty neat. I make older robot toy comparisons all the time with these Cyber Changer toys, and because of his head, I think this mold would make a good Fitor. Also due to the head and colors, I'm reminded of Cop-Tur. Oddly enough, it's also making me think of Machine Wars basic figures. Combined with all the other old robot toy comparisons and I am all over the map with Cyberworld. I love it, it's fun when a toy makes you think. It's also fun when such a simple toy line is so full of old robot toy DNA that it adds to the convo. Other sites you'll be getting affiliate links, here at Zone Base you got a crazy old man telling you he saw Elvis.
I love the red, white, and blue (running through his veins) colors on this toy. They contrast so nicely with the design. It's a good looking toy... even if they didn't paint his eyes. He has the same basic universal articulation and size the other Cyber Changers have, which I absolutely don't mind. However there's an elbow joint sculpted into his arm, which kinda irks me. It's just a design choice, but seeing as these toys don't have an elbow joint... *sigh*. Overall, it's a good looking robot mode and I really like it. In the show, Mirage is a bit of a trickster and is initially sided with the Decepticons. At this point, it's not completely clear what his intentions are. In prior cartoons, other characters have thought Mirage was a traitor... a Cliffjumper or Ironhide to call him out in Cyberworld would be great.
We've got a new alt mode type in Cyber Changers... man, what if the line was just called Cyber Changers? That way the plot and cartoon could change, but the mainline could stay consistent for awhile. Anyway, Mirage is the new jet type and the engineering isn't too different from the other types. Man, they've really stretched out the budget on these guys. Jet nose folds up and the body accordions itself. The arms fold into the body and the legs form the tail end and fins of the jet. The jet is a unique looking jet with folded wings. I can't exactly place where, but it's a familiar design. Looks out of a video game, which is appropriate as the Cyberworld is seemingly a video game/computer simulation.
The Devil and Daniel Mouse was a Halloween special produced by Nelvana and first aired on CBS on October 5th 1978. It's an adaption of the short story 'The Devil and Daniel Webster'. I made a point to be informative at first because it's slightly obscure now. This is the information super highway, right? Daniel and Jan mouse are folk musicians struggling to get by when one night at the peak of their struggles Jan makes a deal with the devil while Daniel is away. She signs her soul away for fame and success and becomes a huge star leaving Daniel behind.
I know, this has never worked out in the past, but to her credit, she doesn't realize it's the devil she's talking too. Somehow. All is going well before she realizes who her new agent is actually when he comes to claim her end of the bargain. She runs away and finds Daniel and begs him to help. Daniel represents her in court and you've probably figured out the rest. It's a retelling of an old story that's been redone a million times. This particular version though is pretty cool. Despite the cute animal characters, the devil and assorted imagery are still pretty scary.
Taking place in the 70's, they change from hippy folk music to hard rock really driving home the thematic change. There's such a change in tone from the folksy innocent Daniel and the newly glam Jan that I can't help to see it as commentary from the production crew. I do suppose it was a pretty stark change from flower power to gritty and glam. Either way it's a pretty unique little cartoon that may not be specifically pumpkin spicy as a Halloween special, but works tonally.
originally posted 9/9/21
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That is technically newer than the focal point today. That movie came out in 1932, which was 93 years ago. Honestly, I prefer Kharis over Imhotep. He's The Mummy in all the sequels and is the stereotypical Mummy you think of regarding the monster. Imhotep spends most of his movies rejuvenated and is only in the traditional look in fleeting moments. When I was very young, my brother and I had Remco Monsters that got played with a lot. My brother had The Mummy and I had Frankenstein's Monster.
They glowed in the dark and had a terrifying grabbing gimmick when a button on their back was pushed. A little later on, my Dad acquired a sale boat model that went on display in our living room. I don't know why, but The Mummy and Frankenstein became the permanent passengers of that boat. Come to our house, watch TV in the living room, and be amazed by our boar piloted by monsters dammit. I've got multiples of these ReAction versions of the monsters, this one is in black and white... like the movie.
It's a dark, something scary is lurking in your house... IT'S A MONSTER!! What do you do? Scream? Run? Nah man, you open up a can of whoop ass and beat Frankenstein like he owes you money. Run a mud hole in the Mummies ass and walk it dry. What I'm saying is, you kick that monsters fucking ass. That's what Stretch Screamers give you the chance to do. Take a scary monster and kick the shit out of it.
Clearly there's either an upcoming gimmick that will utilize them... or one that was dropped that did utilize them. I wonder if that information will ever get out? The characters have weapons on the show that many toys don't feature either.
Weird.
Despite these things that I can't help but to notice, these are great little toys and Wheeljack is a fine example of that. The uniformity and low price of these is probably the reason for the shared engineering, and Wheeljack uses the same as Bumblebee. It's a simple little transformation that'll get you from robot to car and back quickly. In robot mode Wheeljack has the same basic articulation as other Cyber Changers, which really feels like just enough for the little bot. His colors looks really great and overall look works well on the Cyber Changer style.
In car mode, Wheeljack is a mostly white race car. It's a neat looking car and I'd like to think Wheeljack's mold could become a variety of G2 characters with a recolor. Wheeljack is a great little robot toy and another solid Cyber Changer. Really, there hasn't been one I haven't liked. They're obviously not Masterpiece or Generations figures... but are pretty great for a basic series. I really like the way Wheeljack looks. I also hope Takara releases these in Japan. I'd love a Cyberworld manga.
The Pink Panther and his gang are alongside the classic cartoons that I grew up with and still love watching to this day. Timeless and endlessly entertaining, there's always one for the occasion and today is a good time to look at Pink Plasma. In Pink Plasma the panther finding himself in a spooky castle full of monsters and other classic haunted house tropes. This one feels like a Halloween greeting card to me. No jokes this time, let's just watch a great cartoon.
Welcome back for another week of robots, monsters, and misadventure here on Zone Base! I hope everyone had a great weekend, I sure did! This week is the first full week of October and officially the rest of the world is also celebrating Halloween. Of course we've been going strong since August here on Zone Base and there's one more month of Pumpkin Spiced Mayhem to run wild with. If you use Instagram, please check out me out! This year, the Mrs and I acquired a Simpsons Treehouse of Horror advent calendar and I'm posting each days spooky surprise. Give me a follow too if you want. That's my main social media account where I have all sorts of fun.
This weekend was a fun one, albeit a little laid back. The Mrs and I took my Mom with us Saturday to Walmart to pick up a few things. Saturday evening was a relaxing one at home with Sunday being a nice rainy fall day. After a quick run to the grocery store for a few things, I spent the day playing the Silent Hill 2 remake that came out not long ago. I had bought it for the Mrs on release, but it's largely been unplayed. Since she's been working her way through the new Silent Hill F, she asked if I could play 2 so she could watch. No problem, 2 is easily my favorite Silent Hill game and it's been a long time since I've played the original version.
I planned to organize the cords on our Halloween lights a little better this weekend, but a rainy day wasn't ideal for that task. Next weekend for sure. Wonderfest Shanghai this weekend and some really cool stuff was shown off. Of course various companies had assorted Transformers merchandise on display. Both Yolopark and Blokees made a great showing. Speaking of Blokees, they introduced Defender Version series 5. It looks great, damn I really need to get some series 4! 52toys had a great display as well. Of course there's some good BeastBox and BeastDrive bots coming, but what really has my attention is Roboforce. Roboforce is a new transforming robot toy series from 52toys that looks amazing! Hopefully they'll be easy to get here in the states. I usually don't have a problem, but every once and awhile there's a turd.
As for toys, I picked up Onyx Prime from Transformers Age of the Primes. Walmart had something new! They also had the new Voyager wave, but seeing as it wouldn't scan... I decided to wait for another time. Sometimes they just don't enter them in the system correctly and it won't ring up at the cashier. There's nothing more infuriating than being denied purchases due to someone else's incompetence. Hopefully I'll be able to buy them soon as well as the newest Target 4 pack that should be showing up this week. I've got to get in my new toy purchases in soon. After October, my annual tradition of not buying myself toys during November and December will be in effect. I'll be swimming in new stuff on Christmas, but will be spending money on others during the season. I've got quite a lot of toys still for us to look at, so content won't be lacking here on the site. I've never considered Zone Base to be a new toy review site anyway. This is a place to enjoy our fandom together and I'm flattered that you chose to spend some time here with me. It's time to get this week started Zone Base readers. Mutual High Fives everyone and please remember to share with your friends!
So I won't go into super detail about that here as that's one of my longer posts and hey... feel free to check that out if you're interested. It's literally one of those times several things are referenced and branch off from. Kinda neat. Shattered Glass Sideswipe toys are usually made from Armada Wheeljack toys. Because they look A LOT like Sideswipe and that particular Wheeljack has a backstory that the name Sideswipe really fits.*sigh* Obviously this SG- Sideswipe is made from an upcoming standard Sideswipe Defender kit and gives me hopes that all the different recolors made from Sideswipe toys get represented.
Because they're cool.
Considering SG-Sideswipe is very similar to Armada Wheeljack's backstory, the more eagle eyes ones of you out there probably noticed the lack of chest would scratching out the Autobot symbol and new Decepticon symbol underneath it. That leads one to think this kit represents a pre-turn version of Sideswipe. Which is also pretty cool. I'm also appreciating the colors unmarred by the scar as not only is it a really nice color scheme, but I love G2 Drench's colors. If I had an extra one of these, I'd definitely make a project out of bringing a Defender version of him to life.
Of course these Defender kits assemble super fast and result in a very pose able mini figure. Sideswipe has the standard Defender laser, which kinda resembles classic Sideswipes laser gun. He also has the rocket launcher G1 Sideswipe has... and it really looks great. I've always been a fan of Diaclone shoulder rockets and they really translate to the Defender Version style very well. This is one of those times where a lot of things I like are combined into one thing I like. I really like that sort of thing.
Heinz Scarios were a spooky shaped pasta in sauce available throughout the 80's in Canada. For the record, I'm very jealous of those of you in Canada who were able to eat these. They look amazing. Admittedly I'd probably eat them all year, but it would be perfect on a cold October night spent inside watching Sleepy Hollow.
originally posted 9/21/22
South Claw is a Monster Gobot member of the Renegades who turns into a pretty gnarly flying kaiju monster. One fun thing about Monster Gobots is just how far out their designs are. South Claw is this weird cycloptic freak who looks like something Samus Aran would battle. Like most Gobots, he's reasonably articulated for a toy of his time... actually, maybe a little bit more. His forearms have a nice swivel and his wings can be posed in robot mode to give him an extra devilish look. Transformation is pretty easy as he mostly folds in half with parts re-arranged. I really like the purple/pink he's cast in.
I got this South Claw (it's a play on south paw) at ToyLanta 2024 from a hipster couple who regularly run a pretty decent booth. They sold him for a really low price because, as you can probably tell, he's got a chewed up foot/claw. Either someone's dog or feral cousin got a hold of it. Outside of that, the toy is in decent shape. A little paint wear and dings here and there. It's to be expected when paying a few bucks for an almost 40 year old toy. Maybe I'll find a junker to swap out parts with... or just have a South Claw with a fucked up foot. Sometimes these little dings give older toys extra charm. South Claw is a pretty good Gobot on his own and part of a pretty cool combiner team. His weird looks give him extra character and those colors make him look out of this world.
Sleepy Hollow has problems. For one, the damn Headless Horseman is constantly terrorizing the town. The other? That whole milk crate thing. Where the hell do they keep getting those anyway? There's a serious problem with a Headless Horseman and these damn fool kids all have broken hips! The local school teacher, Ichabod Crane, is into the paranormal. So he forms a team with Rip Van Winkle and some dog to go confront that damn headless fool. He's a shitty teacher, so the whole milk crate thing doesn't even get a speech in homeroom. Things don't go how you'd expect them to as they face all sorts of monsters in a spooky showdown with a wicked witch. For the record I didn't make any of that up, that's what happens, and yes this is one weird cartoon. Also people keep hurting themselves climbing milk crates. Happy fall y'all.
originally posted 8/27/21