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!

Sonic Claymation

Monday's are an odd day for me. Working at night usually means I'm free all Monday before going to work (aside from a nap). Usually I spend a lot of time uploading toy pics to Instagram if not running odd errands. Or both. Those Instagram days are usually have YouTube or Tubi running in the background while I arrange toys on my TV tray. One of my favorite things to watch is compilations of old commercials. Probably not a surprise to any of you, but I absolutely love it.

The above commercial is for the original Sonic The Hedgehog game. As you can see, the Japanese commercial featured a cool claymation Sonic dancing around while being cheered on by a crowd. The craftsmanship is pretty dang cool and hard not to like. I've always liked the Noid from Domino's, partially due to the clay animation used to bring him to life. It's not a lost art, but it's certainly not as common in today's world of CGI.

Halloween SEGA racing

Dig through the ditches indeed! 

You know, for an almost 10 year old game... it still looks pretty ghoul... 

I mean good.

Timing is everything

Ok, now every time there's a new Transformers movie, I start clamoring for the return of the Bumblebee Snickers bar. But... you know... there's a Bumblebee movie coming out this summer, which would be just the perfect time.

Look, my stock pile ran out in 2010 and I haven't been holding out for a candy bar for 8 years for nothing.

Oh hey, think Sonic will get those Transformers slushes again?

Those were good.

Transformers Human Alliance Arcade

Insert Coin

A few years ago SEGA released the Transformers Human Alliance game in various arcades. I haven't gotten a chance to play it, but maybe one day I'll make it out to a Dave and Busters to give it a whirl.

As the game's trailer indicates, it's one of those crazy SEGA arcade gun games that always manage to be super fun and a wee bit insane. Seemingly the Autobots and Decepticons are fighting over a Cybertronian Fidget Spinner. I was watching random theme park videos on YouTube where I saw a special version that moves and flips with the onscreen action. I'd really love to play that version, but I don't see myself flying to Japan for an afternoon in a Sega Joypolis anytime soon. Though, I'm sure I could talk the wife into an evening at Dave and Buster's and play the standard version.

Admittedly, it's going to be awkward with him staring at me like that.

I recall when the game was released reading some negative responses over being movie and Human Alliance based (negativity online? go figure). I can understand why some wouldn't like to play a human in a  Transformers game, but seeing how it's a light gun game and basically a simulator ride type attraction, it makes sense to me. It doesn't hurt that I particularly enjoyed the Human Alliance series of toys. Basically, as a player, you're shooting at the bad guys while the Transformer races through all the craziness with you in tow. I could see myself getting a Transformers slush at Sonic (OMG, go get one, they're great) and plopping myself down at one of these for a few hours. Though if I was at Joypolis, I'd probably spill it.

Considering how highly I regard the Universal Studios ride, I could see these machines parked next to the Supply Vault near the meet and greet with Optimus and crew. In fact, here I go again, creating my own ideal Universal Studios setting. Is this a type of fanfic? I dunno. But I can see it, there's the ride with that giant Optimus statue pointing out towards the Universal lagoon (talking Florida). There's the line que. Now normally the Supply Vault ride store is behind the ride, or you exit the ride into it. The meet and greet is just a little down from the Supply Vault entrance towards the rear. What if there was an additional building with the special version of the Human Alliance game and maybe a few stationary versions that also served Transformers treats. Such as Transformers drinks (like those bomb slushes they sell at Sonic right now) and snacks.

Honestly, at this rate, I'm wondering why I'm not on the board at Universal.

Don't look at me like that.