It's a happy day because there's a new Armorizer arriving at Zone base! Calcitron is the newest rock bot to join the ranks and he's a cool one. Unlike the other Armorizers, Calicitron has sided up with a group. The Star Raiders- Thundertron's crew of space pirates can boat that they have their own dedicated living rock creature among their ranks. As his name suggests, Calcitron is mostly composed of blue calcite. Blue calcite is a very pretty stone that allegedly adds to your positive aura and will clear negative energies. Hopefully the pirates can benefit from that little bit of spiritual energy as the galaxy can be a scary place. Personally, I like to think the various mysticism surrounding some stones makes for an interesting trait in Armorizers and Rock Lords. I've always really liked when robot cartoons blend in fantasy elements.
Calcitron is a repaint/remold of Magneous like Nucleous was. While not as extensive as a remold as Nucleous, Calcitron is a rather cool remold all the same. The only new part is a head, which ties into the Rock People of Daira from the Headmasters cartoon. Ultimately though, it's still the same base mold as Magneous, so there's nothing functionally new aside from appearances. Fortunately Magneous was a really good toy. There's plenty of articulation and transformation from rock person to rock truck is pretty easy. He has the same axe/crossbow weapon and the roof of the rock truck can be used as a shield or worn on his back. The axe/crossbow can be mounted on top of the truck like a rocket or in front to serve as a battering ram. I feel like Calcitron would like a crossbow. Like most Armorizers, individual parts can be removed and made into armor or weapons for other Transformers figures. The blue colors look great giving Calcitron an almost icy appearance that's really pretty. That's a rock fact!
Magmar (Devilrock in Japan) is the leader of the EVIL ROCK LORDS. As his US name would suggest, he turns into an igneous rock which forms when magma cools and crystalizes. Thus his name is symbolic of his alt mode. Normally Magmar comes with a club that looks like a torch, though it's labeled on his US package as an Ax-Rifle as a goof on Tonka's end. It's the same weapon that comes with Devilrock, but for some reason in the Gobots meet the Rock Lords movie, he's carrying Brimestone's axe. Somehow they just couldn't get it right with Magmar's weapon. Unfortunately mine in the pictures is missing the weapon. Honestly I kind of like the weapon being a weird torch. Rock Lords are so absurd that one using a torch as a melee weapon is pretty satisfying.
It's worth noting that both the Rock Lords and Machine Robo version's weapon is black, while in Robo Machine and Machine Men it is a dark brown color. The toy itself is in the same colors in Rock Lords, Machine Men, and Robo Machine. In Machine Robo, however, the green is lighter and the orange is swapped out for purple. Machine Robo's eyes are a pinkish color, while the other versions are white. There is a pink eyed version of Magmar on Machine Men packaging, but so far that seems to not be a released version. I love these colors as it gives him a Frankenstein like appearance. Magmar/Devilrock is supposed to look scary and he pulls that off.
Magmar is a pretty nice toy around the size of your average Gobot. Like most Rock Lords, he's pretty chunky as the rock alt mode makes for a thicker robot mode. If you like chonky robots like I do, you'll find this pleasing. He's fairly articuated for a transforming toy of his time. Arms bend at the shoulders and elbows can bend inwards. Do to the transformation, legs can move at the hip, but only forward as though kicking. His knees are arlso articulated, but once again, only forward. Do to his top heavyness, you'd probably want to keep both legs down anyway or he'd fall over. Magmar's head does swivel up and down from transformation, so he can look down imposingly at smaller toys.
I like this toy a lot. I like Rock Lords and transforming toys that transform into unconventional forms admittedly. I also like monsters, so when you have a fairly monstery robot toy that turns into something unconventional... I'm generally happy. Though it's hard not to like Magmar, he's just cool looking. Rock Lords have a wonderfully medieval fantasy vibe to them that stands out among other robot toys. Machine Robo has a tendency to make their bad guys spooky and creepy flavored. There's the Devil Invaders, or in this case Devil Rock. It's a neat little touch that makes me think of super robot cartoons and their monsters of the week.
From the planet Geolon to battle on Eternia, the Rock People were a surprisingly cool addition to the Masters of the Universe. You have Stonedar the older wiser member of the duo and Rokkon the... he's basically Hot Rod. The two arrived on Eternia just as He-Man needed a good rock. I've talked about their comrades The Meteorbs here before, but man... I've really been needing to talk about these guys. Because they rock... I'm not going to apologize for that pun. You're just going to have to live with it.
Rokkon and Stonedar didn't make it in time to be on the daily Master of the Universe cartoon, but just like Hordak and his crew, they showed up on She-Ra. My main source of their adventures was in the mini-comics (and I swear the magazine) where they turned up occasionally after starting a village on Etheria. It's funny how something that turns into a rock can be as amazing as these guys (or The Rock Lords for that matter) are, but here I am talking about toy rocks in my 40's, because they were just that cool. Not just mere rock, they were comets that unfolded into metallic skinned aliens with ray guns hell bent on stopping the evil forces of living Halloween decorations that populated Eternia. I certainly cherished my set during their heyday and really wished I had that Matty Collector set. Right now I hope they make an appearance in the excellent Mega Construx series or pray Super 7 comes through with the goods.
Wow, this is a weird one. It feels almost as if I'm watching a trippy B movie trailer more so than an action figure commercial. The Rock People seem like a nightmarish fever dream. It's strange and awesome. I've really amped up my desires to get some Rock Lords, hopefully at Toylanta next month I'll be able to do so.
