Cheetor (Legacy: United/Core Class)

Of all the pleasant surprises in Transformers Legacy, a Core Class Beast Machines Cheetor was definitely not expected. Beast Machines was one of the more derided series of the past 40 years in Transformers due varying reasons and doesn't get a lot of attention when it comes to updates and homages. Personally, I've always liked it despite the departure from Beast Wars (which it was a direct follow up). Sometimes it does irk me from time to time, but with all the actual problems from the real world... I just take it in stride usually. I've always liked Cheetor's BM design, though in toy form it's been hit or miss. The Night Slash Cheetor mold is the best version of the character personally, though this new Core Class might just give it a run for the money. It's pretty good. As you'd expect, Cheetor turns into a techno organic cheetah.

The transformation is fairly easy, he basically lays down and a few things fold/unfold around to present his beast mode head and feet. His main torso stretches out and tail unfolds. Pretty simple. I know one complaint some had about beast era toys was often transformation was basically standing up... they're still going to have that complaint here. No reason to overly complicate the transformation when you have something with four limbs that turns into something with four limbs. My only complaint in transformation is the robot head doesn't tuck away neatly. The beast head flips over it like the hood on a hoodie. That's fine, but you end up with a visible robot face. You can turn the head around a, but some bits poke out of the neck. I'm sure creative posing can help hide that some... but it sticks out like a sore thumb. I'm fond of Cheetor's twin scimitar swords. They're faithfully recreated here and can even be doubled up like in the episode 'Fires of the Past'. Cheetor can hold them individually, or in double blade form. They even store on his shoulders neatly. This is a pretty impressive toy for a Core Class, which admittedly I'm often impressed by regularly... it's impressive what's being done at the small scale.

I hope to see recolors of this new toy mold into characters like CatSCAN or incarnations like Night Slash Cheetor. I'm reminded of the Go-bots cat bots by those larger front paws, so would definitely be game for some of those characters to make an appearance here. I like this little toy. It's a solid example of why Core Class Transformers are so great. They're small, but not specifically lesser than the standard Deluxe Class figure. I like that for the $9.99 I paid for Cheetor (what I USED to pay for a Deluxe) I got a solid action figure that doesn't feel compromised. Your results may vary, but I'm VERY happy with this cool cat.

Terror of a New Week

Hope everyone is looking forward to a new week! Me... I'm a little sleepy. Daylight Savings time happened over the weekend and it always throws me off for a few days. The weekend was good, though I can't say alot happened. New episodes of The Mandelorian and 1000 lbs Sisters was watched. We had a nice dinner with Mom at Olive Garden Sunday. Gargoyle's Quest was played... it was cold and rainy. 

As far as toys go, I finally found Shadowstrip at Walmart completing the Velocitron Speedia 500 collection (unless they release any more). This little set of exclusives meant a whole lot to me for some reason and now I'm ecstatic to have them all. I almost bought a few more EarthSpark flip changers, but held off. With Toylanta coming and my birthday at the end of the month... I kinda feel guilty indulging too much. 

I did grab a set of the Dollar Tree Power Rangers figures. I was hoping to find more Final Faction, but sadly they haven't restocked. The Rangers though are a nice little set of mini figures. It's the MMPR team, sadly without the Yellow Ranger. I found it ironic as I passed out while watching Zyuranger Saturday night before finding these Sunday. I love Pluto Tv, speaking of which, they're doing a Beast Wars/Beast Machines thing today. There's a cool re-airing of Beast Wars happening in Japan thanks to Rise of the Beasts... so I like to think this is our equivalent here in the states. 

Despite being very sleepy, I've got a fun week in mind for you all. Thanks for reading Zone Base. It means so much to me that you all support this little fan blog. If you could share it with your friends, that be awesome. Well, I've got some chores to do between watching Beast Wars on Pluto Tv. We've got a new bird bath that could use some adjustment. 

Transform Squadron 37- Season of the Witch

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It's Halloween and this month we'll be celebrating the spooky season! Rob talks about his cherished Dynabot (Snarl) costume before a look at Halloween urban legends! There's all that and even vampire robots. It's sure to be a scary good time!

Fox Wars

 

I obviously love Beast Wars as do a lot of folks. It's this great period in Transformers history that's been pretty hard to recreate. Though I do appreciate the return of sorts it's had lately. A particularly fun time during the beast era often goes by without a lot of talk. I don't know if that's slowly getting lost to time... or maybe just meant more to me than others. That would be the Fox Kid's Beast Wars. Beast Wars was originally a syndicated show. Beast Machines, it's follow up, was on Fox Kids. For a while during this time, Fox Kids also ran older Beast Wars episodes. For me this was pretty great as I wasn't able to watch every episode during the shows original run. However now these reruns fit my schedule better and I managed to catch the ones I missed. Honestly, it was aired at a particularly sweet spot for me that I never missed an episode and watched the series in it's entirety over and over until the eventual end of the run. That was great.

Fox Kids Beast Wars wasn't just reruns to supplement Beast Machines either. Hasbro/Kenner re-released some of the toys in great new colors as well. I liked Beast Machines, don't get me wrong, but I vastly preferred Beast Wars. So I was really happy to see the figures on shelves a little longer. This was still during the time where older toys had a longer shelf life. It wasn't uncommon to still find something like an Inferno or B'boom in 2000. In fact, as I was starting to have a disposable income, it wasn't until then that I was able to get some of these great toys. 

Those Fox Kids Beast Wars toys themselves were something special. Like I said, they were released in fun new colors. If you didn't already have a character, there was another chance. If you did already have a character, maybe you'd like it in fun new colors. Initially these recolors were listed as powered up versions of the characters. Energon Surge Rhinox, Live Wire Dinobot for example. However they were released as their normal names. The Fox Kids toys ran for about the same length as the show aired on Fox Kids with the later figures sharing cases with the Mutants. It's not often that reruns get their own figures or can be partially credited for expanding the toy lines shelf life. But, these did. I'm not sure anyone at that Walmart I'd frequent remembers the kid in a Static-X t-shirt and a grubby hoodie late at night buying these. But 22 years later, I still look back at it fondly. It was pretty great.

Bios: Optimus Primal

 

"We will win if we believe in ourselves and our unity."

After his ultimate sacrifice to defeat Megatron, in which he became part of the core of Cybertron itself, Optimus Primal rose to the level of a mythic legend among the grateful populace of Cybertron. Now as the battle against the ancient monster planet known as Unicron has begun once again, Primus himself has called Optimus Primal to be brought back into action to help in the fight for the very survival of Cybertron. Optimus Primal represents a uniquely powerful fusion of the Maximal Forces' advanced technology with the raw power of their mighty Autobot ancestors. In this supercharged form Optimus Primal possesses unmatched strength among the techno-organic populace of Cybertron. His weaponry has also been upgraded significantly: He wields an impressive array of both long range and melee weapons including twin battle blades that can cut through solid rock, a vanadium steel reinforced mace, left arm retractable double barreled plasma cannon, and twin independently targetable shoulder mounted missile launchers. Rear mounted jets give him flight capability. Energy receptors allow him to absorb much of the damage from energy-based attacks and re-channel it back at his enemies. Intelligence, experience, passion and skill are all crucial parts of what makes Optimus Primal a born leader of the Autobot cause. Serves as an inspiration to help others find their own strength to keep fighting despite the odds. 

Strength:10 Intelligence:10 Speed:8 Endurance:10 Rank:10 Courage:10 Firepower:8 Skill:10

Transform Squadron 32: 8 MEGS to harm you with

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This month- Rob briefly talks about the days of zines before going into summer leading into the Halloween season. Then he talks about buying Beast Wars toys on clearance back in the day. At some point the power goes out. I don't know... it was weird.

Bios: Che

Function: Interceptor

Relentlessly hunted by Megatron and frustrated by Optimus Primal's beliefs, Cheetor swipes the blueprints oft he Beast Riders technology and creates his own individualized transport. Encased in a unique Quintessian alloy recovered from the lower levels of Cybertron, Che is impervious to most artillery attacks. Razor-sharp battering rams slice through barriers while front-mounted galvaconductors emit 10,000-volt charges to neutralize any obstacle. When in pursuit mode and at full acceleration, Che can reach hypersonic speeds while maintaining incredible maneuverability. Only Cheetor can operate Che at its peak performance through the focus and balance of his spark energy interface, but allows his fellow Maximals to pilot it in his absence.

Bios: CatSCAN

CatSCAN is in many ways like a lost child in the wilderness -- he knows to some degree where he came from, but is unsure as to where he will eventually end up. Brought to life by a bizarre combination of Apelinq and his digitization powers and the artificial intelligence of a medical diagnostic computer, this curious creature has found a permanent home with the Wreckers team. Armed with two battle blades of ancient Cybertronian design and a tail-mounted plasma torch, CatSCAN could easily be considered a lethal one-robot army. This fact notwithstanding, his fearsome appearance belies an inherently gentle and nonviolent personality -- it is simply not in his programming to cause harm to other beings. Lacking a Spark of his own, CatSCAN has a deep wish to understand the true nature of his self-awareness. He looks up to Apelinq as a mentor and "creator figure" and often acts as a voice of conscience among his teammates.

Evolution Revolution

Today (yesterday for you) was the 20th anniversary of the premiere of Beast machines on Fox Kids. Beast Machines was one of those shows that upset a lot of people who had nothing else to do. Admittedly it took me a while to warm up to it as well, despite being the direct sequel to Beast Wars, it was a pretty big departure. The characters all acted different, they looked different, it was different. Despite change being the central theme of Transformers, it doesn't always go over well. In fairness, when established characters behave completely different the following season, it's jarring. Once I warmed up to the new show though, I found myself liking it quite a lot.

One thing I did enjoy immediately was the fact that the show was based on Cybertron. I like space opera and the post movie seasons of G1 I liked the best. For the record, I'm not concerned with alt modes in how much sense they make. They never do. It's a fun play gimmick that they shoehorned into a plot. To me it's always been a utilitarian type of thing more than a disguise despite how much the concept of disguise has been sold. Just like nobody complained about Laserbeak and Ravage in space, I'm not concerned with a monkey on Cybertron. Smaller more tactical alt forms makes more sense to me in tight fitting corridors and avoiding getting shot by hordes of enemies. Even without Beast Wars leading in, it just makes sense that a small group of survivors would pick forms that would help the evade and hide themselves. Besides, who the hell was Cosmos disguising himself from? Skeptics?

The show had a really mature theme and dark outlook. I'm not sure of the show runners were aware that it was intended for children, it felt way more like something made for the Sci Fi Channel. That's another thing that drew me in, I was 21 and it was 1999. Darker and edgier stuff was my cup of tea and pretty much everything had gone hardcore as well. Then you have the updated designs, the Vehicons look more at home in something like Evangelion or other far out mecha shows. That was definitely the cool thing at the time in robot shows and BM utilized it really well.

A lot of people didn't like Nightscream. That's one thing I never got. I loved him. I thought he looked cool and he was based on John Connor from Terminator 2. That's something I really liked. Everybody has the right to their own opinion of course, but if it's not the popular one good grief. I never lost any sleep over it though. If you're still whining about a cartoon character you didn't like 20 years later, good lord find something to do. There's literally actual important things happening right now and since then.

20 years later, I still enjoy the show. Is it my favorite? No, just one of the shows from the past 35 years that I enjoyed. There is something novel about a 20 year old show that upset everything so much that the franchise did a complete about face. Or as much as I joke about fanboys crying about a 20 year old cartoon they didn't like, there is something to be said that they're still complaining 20 years later. Sometimes a paradigm shift doesn't last, but I can appreciate it non-the-less.

They call him the Streak

Some of the more cool toys that have come around in the history of Transformers are the non show characters. While this kind of character doesn't happen as much these days, there was a time when they were a good portion of a toy line. In Beast Machines there was some really good figures in the off camera character category. Maybe even better than the main cast folks. Spy Streak was one such toy.

A basic class Vehicon, Spy Streak was a sci fi jet that would look at home in a shoot 'em up video game or a tokusatsu production. Of course being that Vehicons were Cybertronian based vehicles in alt mode, this was a good fit for the theme. In robot mode he had a fun design that fit in with robot designs at the time, while having an alien looking appearance. Simply put, Spy Streak looked like he was from another planet.

The toy mold got used again in Robots in Disguise (the 2001 line) Nightcruz. Nightcruz was a great repaint with the jet parts being mostly black with white robot bits. Blue and yellow accents with dry brushing bringing out the jets tech detail made for a great looking toy. Released in a cool 3 pack with Scavenger and Mirage GT (also Beast Machines toy molds), the toy fit in with the look of the new molds of the line while helping to add more product to shelves.

The toy got used one more time a few years later in the original version of Transformers Universe as Fireflight. Now in an awesome white and blue-gray deco with red highlights, this is my favorite version of the toy. While I normally don't mind when a name gets reused, I do wish Fireflight had a more original name to make the figure more than just another repaint. Fireflight came packed with two Mini-Cons to put the toy in the deluxe price class making for a great little set of toys.

Fictionally non of these great toys got more than a background appearance in BotCon/OTFCC comics. During the 3H fan club, I submitted a bio for Fireflight to the magazine shortly before that clubs demise. At the time I had made him into a version of Randal from Clerks. Looking back now, that was terrible.

Beast Machines Deployers

Beast Machines was a weird Transformers line. It had the misfortune of following Beast Wars and forever living in it's shadow combined with being a hodgepodge of ideas. During it's short life it had a few interesting sub lines. One such was the Deployers, a lower priced set of figures meant to serve as partners for your Maximals in the fight against the Vehicons.

They were a great idea, doubling as a figure and an accessory. Each Deployer had a robot mode based on an animal that would convert into a weapon to be manned by your Transformer. There was three toys that later got alternate recolors, but stayed the same character. Allegedly the recolors were planned to be new characters, but it never came to be for some reason. You had my favorite Rav who turned into a crossbow. There was also Mol who converted into a drill of sorts, being more of a tool than a weapon I guess. Then there was Dillo, whom turned into a catapult of sorts.

They never appeared on the show, but between the packaging and appearances in 3H's BotCon comics, they got a little life. The Deployers were Drones found by Nightscream and were brought into the team. Despite being drones, each has an individual bio and personality. In the 3H BotCon comics they were scene in action along side the Maximals. That's one thing I always liked about those comics, they'd take place along side the show and feature non-show characters. It was a great way to breathe a little life into toys that generally never got a chance to shine.

The Deployers were a small addition to the overall line and for the most part generally forgotten about these days. They were just odd enough to be neat and added just a little extra play value to your toys. They are small and colorful. The mixture of translucent and opaque plastic makes for generally really nice looking toys of little mechanical animals. With the Battlemasters in Siege and other weapon based partner Transformers that have been available recently, I'm surprised a new version of the Deployers hasn't been on the shelves yet.

Beast Machines Dinobots

Earlier this week, I talked about one of my favorite Transformers sub-groups, today I'm going to talk about another. Around the same time as the Mutant Beast Wars toys were released, Hasbro also put out the Beast Machines Dinobots. In fact both were previewed at that years Toy Fair and were something I had eagerly anticipated. The toys were made using dinosaur based molds from Beast Wars recolored and sold as new characters except for Magmatron, who was a straight release as the Japanese character on US shelves.

While the idea of a team made solely of repaints may not excite some, hear me out. This was a time when getting toys from Japan wasn't as easy as it is today and four of the toys used molds from Beast Wars Neo. Magmatron was basically the Japanese toy in US packaging (it even says so on the box) while others used the BW Neo molds to create new characters. At the time you usually either waited for BotCon or hopefully could score Japanese toys online. Getting one of the Japanese molds easily at your local store was pretty welcome for most fans.

 Fictionally, they didn't do much. A little here and there in the 3H BotCon fiction and a text blurb on the back of the box. There's not much reason as to why I like them as much as I do, I just do. I like the molds, the colors, and the idea of a next generation of Dinobots. Maybe it was just the right thing at just the right time. The team is pretty obscure these days, obviously overshadowed by the regular Dinobots, and that's ok. Every once and awhile a new Dinosaur based TF will come along and I silently hope for one to be repainted into some sort of homage and of course it never happens. Fortunately there's plenty of Dinobot toys with a surprising amount of variety (movie, Generations, random toys) so I can't complain too much. Just in a world where fans have grown tired of Stepper (who ever would imagine that) one could hope another semi obscure weird batch of homages could see the light.

Mutant Beast Wars

The year was 2000, and even though Beast Wars was technically over and replaced with Beast Machines, there was still plenty of Beast Wars toys on the shelves. Since reruns of Beast Wars were steadily running on Fox Kids on weekday afternoons, it was natural to stock Beast Wars figures with the Beast Machines figures. The Fox Kids versions of Beast Wars toys were neato recolors of BW toys that took advantage of kids who saw those reruns and wanted a Transmetal Cheetor. With this and Animorph Transformers toys stocked with Beast Machines, there was a lot of beast themed Transformers on the shelves.

Animorphs wasn't a successes (I mean, I liked the toys... but that was something I found out after they went on clearance), however a company doesn't start out to fail at something and there was a few Animorph Transformers toys designed that went unused in the line. Somebody had the idea to remold the human bits into robot parts and release them.

So there you had the Mutants of the Beast Wars, The Mutant Beast Wars! What made them mutants exactly? Well, thanks to a virus unleashed by Megatron, these Fuzors were lost in their beast modes. Transforming from beast mode to beast mode with the robot lost inside (but maybe you could find their robot head peeking out). In case that description and the picture above doesn't clue you in, they don't have a robot mode. Icebird, for example, turns from owl to bear.

Like Animorphs, they were great toys, but now they were actual Transformers (not just in name). Though like their Animorph heritage, they were misfits in the Transformers fan world. As one could expect the G1 Purist crowd obviously despised them. A good deal of the beast era fans also wasn't fond. Though a handful of us did, and personally I loved them.

I was all over the figures the moment they arrived at my local Walmart. In fact the first one I grabbed was Icebird (my favorite of the bunch) one Friday night. I had the night off and took a quick stop to check out the toys and grab a bite to eat. An excited jump in the air lead to grabbing Icebird and a pack of chicken wings. That evening was spent with a toy I couldn't put down and messy homemade buffalo wings. Mutant Beast Wars didn't have any fiction outside the text blurb on the packaging. If I was a better writer, I probably would have written tomes of terrible fan fiction. The Mutants DID however appear briefly in 3H's BotCon comics. While they didn't get the biggest starring role, I was glad for something. Later they made some various low key fictional appearances in IDW comics and Fun Publications Fan fiction. Soundwave even made appearances in E-Hobby and Kre-O manga.

The Mutants never got any extra members, though some fans speculated Savage/Noble (Beast Changer) could be a Mutant. The 'Ask Vector Prime' Facebook Page (ran by Fun Publications) said in some realities he was and in some realities all BW characters were Mutants. Which I suppose in some reality is an answer and in some reality the alternate reality trope isn't played out yet (but Thanos still wins). All jokes aside, I've never considered him to be a member, but if you want to go ahead. There's a multiverse shoehorn for that.

Another would be new member is Leatherhide. A planned repaint of the Soundwave mold for the ill-fated Halloween Horrocon sub-line (that's a nifty name, huh), Leatherhide would probably be released as an Autobot, but a Mutant in any fiction. Leatherhide fictionally did appear in The Allspark Almanac volume 2 and in Fun Publications fiction meaning I'm not the only person who really wanted this toy.

Mutant Beast Wars over the course of time has managed to remain obscure in the greater world of Transformers with a little nod here and there. An odd team of misfits loved by some and despised by others. I suppose for the opposing team it's a good thing they didn't take off. Though as someone who came close to buying a test shot at a BotCon, I would have loved for them to take flight. The little nods here and there are great (and appreciated), but in some alternate universe I have a display of Mutant Beast Wars Masterpiece toys.

Transform Squadron episode 4- New Glowstick Crunch

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In the December 2018 edition of Transform Squadron: Rob talks about the Christmas robot toy selection at his local Family Dollar. Then about Kinder Jurassic World toys before looking back at the Night Slash Cheetor Mold.

McDonald's Beast Wars

It put a smile on

Often I'll mention how the McDonald's Beast Wars Happy Meal is one of my favorite things in my Transformers fandom and get a smile and nod in response. It's just one of those things that gets dismissed easily by a lot of folks. I guess it's hard for some people to take something as basic as a Happy Meal as something that would mean something. Regardless, it's always been something that meant a lot to me and I thought it would be a good time to divulge into that.

After all, it's my site.

Jollibee Beast Machines kids meal commercial

I've said it before, and I'll say it again and again and again. I wish we had Jollibee here in my area. I'm sure the food is good... but my desires comes from their excellent kids meals toys. More recent ones look like Legion toys with a little lower budget. These Beast Machines toys could pass for retail toys. It's crazy how nice they look in these commercials. These look like something you'd buy in a store.

I wonder how the food is?

TFNation 2019 logo is awesome

Realistically, I'll never get to go to a TFNation show. That's a shame because it looks like a really good time, but being a working professional, going a few states over for a convention is hard to fathom theses days let alone another country on the other side of the world. Regardless, they deserve a great deal of applause for the Beast Machines inspired logo for next years show. Say what you will about Beast Machines (and you probably already are), but that was a good looking logo and packaging. Nice to see it getting some love here, specially in these G1 era heavy days.

Transtech-nically speaking

Draxhall Jump concept art

Transtech was the cancelled follow up to Beast Machines that for some time was a hot topic in the Transformers fandom. From all descriptions it was to be a merging of sorts of classic G1 characters and beast era characters in an all new cyberpunk story. By all means it looked bad ass. It was canceled in favor of Hasbro wanting to simplify Transformers fictionally (almost 20 years of story telling is a bit much for a target audience of children, Star Wars does it, but that's with the benefit of individual eras) as well as do something different as Beast Machines didn't perform as well as Beast Wars for a variety of factors (Though Transtech did get used as a fan club setting, it was more of using the designs in a alternate dimension story setting than what was pitched). This lead to Hasbro importing Car Robots (as Robots in Disguise) as a placeholder while Armada was developed which returned the concept back to traditional Transformers that played more into the anime tropes that were all the rage at the time. Armada was a hit and we've had traditional themed Transformers back ever since then.

Now here's where I can already hear some of you huffing and puffing about the live action movie Transformers and how they look different than traditional Transformers. When the movie designs first leaked out, one of the things I thought was that they were similar to Transtech. Not the same obviously, but similar. It's clearly a mindset of something from another planet in the design. It's an alien from space after all and it turns into a vehicle of some sort.

I distinctly remember getting the Bonecrusher toy from the 2007 movie when my Target had put them out a little early. I opened that thing up and instantly felt like I was holding a Beast Machines toy. The same with the movie preview Optimus and Starscream. They were Beast Machines toys. They looked a lot like Draxhall Jump designs. Sure they didn't turn into animals (man, you say beast and people cut off the rest of the description before you can finish), but they had that same alien robot aesthetic. Sometimes I think Transtech could have worked out with that in mind. I mean, sure the beast era was over. As big of a fan I was of it, I was happy to see something different. It was time for something new and turns out what's old is new again.

But that design style obviously wasn't done yet as a decade of movie toys have proven, alien looking robots do sell (despite all those naysayers nayysaying) and those movies made a fortune. So I wonder if, and it's a big if, if something like Transtech came out now... would it be a hit? Cyberverse is traditional Transformers with a cartoon-ish flair. The upcoming War For Cybertron figures are Cybertronian designs, which is usually a mishmash of traditional robots and alien vehicles. But would alien robots with alien vehicles work? Would far out sell? Certainly nobody knows for sure. Big companies like Hasbro do all sorts of market research and testing before they try anything, so I'm sure they'd have a far better idea than me.  I just think it would be rad.

Draxhall Jump concept art.

Without a doubt

I'm sure I've said it before and most likely will say it again, the Beast Machines Dinobots are my favorite group in Transformers. I don't think I can completely put it into words as to why or what it is that makes them so much more special to me than any other group. Nor do I honestly want to. I feel to many people try to focus on why instead of just doing. I've often hoped for updates to these guys, and had to use my hoping hand to help out with the overpopulation in the other hand (look... it's really starting to pile up). It's not happening. When the Fall of Cybertron Grimlock was shown to have an alternate Megatron head, my mind was taken over with hope for the eventual T-Wrecks version of the toy by way of random exclusive. Same with the movie Dinobots. They're solid candidates as updates in my book. The Walmart Dinobots I hoped were the second coming at the time, but alas, just another (awesome) set of Dinobots that were not the beast era N.W.O.

Since I'm talking Snarl

The name Snarl often gets reused on other pretty cool characters. The Beast Machines Snarl character was never on the show, but was featured in the 3H fiction that took place just after the show ended. Snarl's toy got re-released in the Universe toy line with a new deco and he got some much deserved time to shine. At one point the mold was going to represent Alpha Trion, but a toy was never made. It's a great figure, a neat techno organic lion with a pretty solid robot mode. He's not too different from toys of the time, but that's not a bad thing. I really liked him then and wish he got more love in current times.