I don't know why or when the Buzzworthy Bumblebee was decided to be an outlet for older toys molds or why Target was the place for it. However I'm enjoying it, so whoever had that idea, good job. It takes me back to Universe. When Universe was a place for mold reissues in interesting new colors not when it became the new banner for Classics. Before it became Generations. Damn Hasbro, y'all got to get these names worked out. Regardless, it reminds me of the first version of Universe when it was a fun outlet for repaints. I was a fan of Crash Combiners, so obviously I'm all for more of them.
I found myself in Target this past Saturday and grabbed Bumblegrim. Despite being RID 2015 toys, with the Evergreen box art, I'm guessing these are supposed to be regular G1-ish Bumblebee and Grimlock. They're certainly colored more to be that way. Also, they have the new naming of 'Crash and Combine' on the packaging instead of Crash Combiners. I guess it's to describe the gimmick without using a potentially expired trademark. The toys look good, a little better than I remember actually. I'll admit the alt forms are a little rough, particularly Grimlock's. Combiner toys often sacrifice one mode for the benefit of the others and it's definitely the dino mode. Bumblebee doesn't come out too bad, just not great. They're pretty simple transformations as you can expect.
The combination is basically the act of cramming the two together. Grimlock you have to pre-arrange to properly get him to form into Bumblegrim's legs. Bumblebee pretty much goes directly from car to upper body. This is the kind of toy where the gimmick is actually the toy more-so than the figure. It's a fun and silly little robot toy meant to be played with. As a super mode, Bumblegrim is ok. He's basically Bumblebee with a Optimus type helmet. I wish there was a weapon. I could really see a sword in those hands. After a few years, it's good to play with a Crash Combiner again. They were just this odd little thing that was fun while it lasted... and are still fun a few years later.
Another week on Planet Zone rears it's head, and with it... I don't know. Cheese? We're firmly into the Halloween season with August almost over already. Soon there'll be more than just the early birds like me pouring the pumpkin spice mayhem all over. Speaking of Pumpkin Spiced Mayhem, I've spread myself a bit thin over the recent weeks. As much as I've liked making Not as Brightly Lit over the past few months, I have to put it on hiatus. Just for now.
It's a bummer since we're actually now in the Halloween season, but I didn't foresee having health problems when I started it. Between doctors visits and various other things, I have less free time than I did a few months ago. Instead of phoning it in every week (which I've admittedly been doing), I felt it best just to put it on hold until some times frees up. Of course it'll still be Halloween Hootenanny here. Actually nothing's really going to change here, just had to streamline other things a little. I do want to make this a better site. Like, do a better job. Be a better blogger. Write dammit more often. Dammit.
I'm getting better, just it's one step at a time. Which can be frustrating because I feel great. But, every once and awhile I get a reminded that I'm not there yet. I get tired really easy. Even though I'm getting more and more endurance, sometimes I'm really struggling. Ranger Stop is next weekend and I really wanted to go, but between the Covid numbers rising and all this, I decided to stay home this year. Bummer, but realistically I'd be worn out by the time I got out of the parking deck.
It's Friday evening as I'm writing this. What if I updated more a little later and told you all what happened over the weekend? Dammit.
It's Sunday morning now. Like 5am and I've woken up. Thinking about eating some fruit. Dammit. Yesterday the wife and I did some shopping. Target had Revelations Eternia Minis, got the entire series except Beastman. So I'm currently hunting Stratos from the last series and Beastman from this series. Fortunately they're not blind bagged anymore. I also grabbed one of those Buzzworthy Bumblebee Crash Combiner sets. The Bumblebee/Grimlock one.
I got a new pair of Nike and a visit to At Home not only nabbed a dollar skeleton (yearly tradition), but this awesome skeleton monster. I have no clue what it's supposed to be, but it's awesome and I'm convinced they shadow released a He-Man villain as a Halloween decoration. We've went full circle, just check the animal skeletons in the Halloween decorations and you'll see. Got one of those bony octopuses working for Merman currently. The Dollar Tree had started putting up their Halloween wares resulting in a most excellent discovery.
Each year there's some great keshigomu/erasers put out with treat bag stuff likes spooky pencils and stuff. Well, instead of generic packaging, they have a set in one of four carded packages! It's the same set of freaks on each card, but the individual art really makes them special. I got the black card with trick or treating ghost. They really come off much neater than a dollar store eraser set should. Hoping Target and Party City also have some cool offerings in the gift bag themed erasers. Party City is the only place local that'll have Boo Hollow, so we'll be there often already. We stopped by the newly opened Spirit, that was fun. It's in a new location this year which looks like a castle.
I think that's enough for now. I'll post pics of new stuff to my Instagram a little later. This will post Monday morning, which isn't right now. I like pretending there's a format to this site. There's not really. There's no ads either, so look at that. Thanks for reading Zone Base, please share with your friends!
I'm really looking forward to the new season of Robots in Disguise (2015, not 2001...you know this by now) with the new sub title Combiner Force that's starting up at the end of the month. The show has been constantly good, starting small and steadily improving as it goes. I've said here before how much I'm looking forward to Combiner Force and so far have been enjoying the Crash Combiner toys. Hoping that the series continues to excel and go forward.
It's awesome.
-Thanks to TFW2005's YouTube channel for the video.
Recently art for new combiner teams for Transformers Robots In Disguise popped up. On a bus, but still, there it is. Recently I've gotten the Crash Combiners from the new Combiner Force expression and I'm loving them. They're simple, but all toy. So seeing news of possible traditional combiners in Combiner Force, it's got me wondering.
As the art shows, the teams have 4 members. So, they're not traditional. It looks like the team would have a body bot, two arm bots, and one leg bot? Other art floating around of the Bumblebee combiner shows Grimlock as the legs. So, obviously he splits to make a pair of legs. So it's easy to deduce that the leg bots would be a bit bigger than the others.
I wonder if the teams would be Crash Combiners style toys. The existing Crash Combiners are really basic robots with three modes. A vehicle, a robot, and a combiner form. A team could be released in a box set and if they're Crash Combiners, they could be reasonably cheap. Though, I do feel like Crash Combiners should be less expensive. As is, a two pack costs about $15 at Walmart. So a box set could be pretty pricey for the simple toys inside.
I keep saying I'd love to see individual Crash Combiners released blind box style, and I would. In crazy colors and crazy characters. However, a combiner team in blind box packaging would also be something neat. Each series could be a different team. Maybe even an alternate colors version.
