The Wolfman [ReAction/Monsters of the Silver Screen]

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.

The Skeleton Dance (1929)

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

Elita-1 [Cyberworld/Cyber Changers]

In the video game land of Transformers Cyberworld, Elita-1 transforms into a boat instead of the cars or motorcycles we're used to seeing her as. An odd choice, but a welcome one as it's pretty cool looking. Elita-1 in robot mode is fairly similar to her traditional design, but with some extra armor and heft. This matches her more recent portrayals making her a little more heavy duty. It's a pretty cool design and I wonder what other characters will come of it. I do wish she had her rifle from the show.

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.

Arctic Circle's Amazing Square Pumpkin

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

Mondays Suck

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!

Mirage [Cyberworld/Cyber Changers]

I remember during Robots in Disguise 2001, occasionally people would take their Spychanger Mirage toys and custom them into Starscream or other jet characters. The F-14 racer body made for an easy jet. Take out the wheels, glue on wings. Neat. Well, all these years later and we've got a jet Mirage whose mold is also used for Starscream. I'll be getting to that Starscream later, but today we'll be looking at Mirage.

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.

Daniel Mouse Went Down To Georgia

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 

The Mummy [ReAction/Monsters of the Silver Screen]

It was the monster figures that first caught my attention when Super7 started their ReAction figure line a good decade or so ago. I was quickly hooked and have been buying the old school style figures ever since. Their Monsters of the Silver Screen blind box series features Universal Monsters in black and white colors similar to how they appeared in those classic movies. Obviously, I'm a fan. Today we'll be looking at The Mummy. This figure represents Boris Karloff's portrayal of Imhotep, who was also played by Arnold Vosloo in the popular newer moves. Well, the ones that started in 1999.

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.