Beat Monday

Hey Zone Base readers! Thank you all for coming back for another week of robots, monsters, and misadventure! I hope everyone had a great weekend, I sure did! The Mrs and I went to Daiso for Halloween goods and other fun stuff. We enjoyed pizza Saturday night and I awoke to a wonderful breakfast the Mrs cooked. Aside from household chores, video games were played and I grilled out hamburger sliders and hot dogs! The Mrs made some  fries, baked beans, potatoe salad, and banana pudding to complete the meal. Mom came over and we had a great Sunday evening. 

I got some fun stuff as well. My local Walmart hasn't seemed to stock toys in a while sadly, but another BeastBox order was made getting me mostly caught up with the boxes I'm wanting. Just waiting for some more to show in the US Amazon shop. Who'd I get? I got Fire Power Robo to go along with the Sacred Power Robo bought last week! I was happily able to buy the bonus versions that came with keshi pilots and in a fancy box! Please look forward to posts about them in the coming days. While Walmart was pretty barren on toys, they did have a Beast Wars Megatron Funko Pop figure I'd been wanting. I've had the Optimus Primal for a little bit and plan on eventually completing the range. 

I'm taking a little break from Donkey Kong Bananza and decided to buy a spooky game from the e-shop for Halloween. Fortunately they had Pumpkin Jack on sale for a little over $6. It's just the thing for the spooky season and pretty fun too! A little reminiscent of Midi-Evil for PS1 and maybe a little like Maximo for PS2. For a few dollars it's just right and pretty fun! At Daiso the Mrs and I bought a lot of fun stuff for the house. We got a good bit of Halloween figurines and I got their fun range of Halloween wind up toys. They're cute and full of character. I also got some Display Bases for models as well as some more tools to go in my modeling tool box. Sometimes you need more than nippers and a hobby knife. Daiso tends to have some pretty great items for the task. 

Well, it's time to get my day started. I'm enjoying a cup of coffee while watching G1 on the Transformers Channel. I'm endlessly entertained by the fact that the version on Pluto TV has a completely different schedule than the version on other fast channel apps. That's weird, but beneficial at times. As usual I've got some chores to do and pictures for upcoming posts to take. I hope everyone is enjoying the Halloween party. We're halfway through the season and it's been a really fun one. Normally I try to outdo myself each year. This year has been a little difficult and I've found myself extra busy at times. So instead my goal was just to have a fun Halloween and it's been the most successful yet. Thanks to all the additional people coming to check out the site in the recent weeks. I really appreciate your support! If any of you could or would like to, please like and follow the sites Facebook page. I had made it a while back to share posts to groups. I love the followers it has, but would love for more. All I ask is for readers to share the site with their friends and that's an easy way to do so! Let's get this week started Zone Base readers, Mutual High Fives everyone!

Fire beats wood, Monday beats everything

It's Monday yet again... bleah. However It's the Monday before a holiday weekend. That's right, next weekend is a 3 day holiday weekend. Meaning this will be a pretty hard week, but don't worry, Zone Base will be here to help you navigate your way through the next few days. I hope everyone is enjoying the Halloween posts. It's a lot of fun to post them and this year looks like it'll be quite the spooky season. I was happy to see my local Target, Walmart, and Dollar Tree stores starting to stock for the season. 

Speaking of the season, I can't wait for the weather to cool down. It's been a very hot summer and these 100 degree days are the worst! I picked up a new light hoodie to wear when the weather cools down in anticipation of the joyous event. My light hoodie is something I'll wear almost all year, even in the summer on a rainy day, so getting a new one every so often is a big deal to me. As far as toys go I got a few cool ones.

There was still no new Toxitron collection Transformers to be found this week. I found ones I already have, but not the ones needed. Ggrrr. I did manage to find new Beast Alliance! Beast Combiner Scourge with Scorponok! Hooray! I'm honestly sad to see Beast Alliance wind down, hopefully the rest of the figures will be easy to find. I also completed my Mutant Mayhem TMNT figures with Leonardo. Super cool. I got some great blind bag figures. A Sonic Prime Knuckles and Demon Slayer Hashira whose name I've currently forgotten. I got a Bakugan 3.0 Dragonoid in a wonderful translucent white. 

Target had some great Halloween wind up figures that I was excited to find as well as a cool vampire skeleton purchased at Kroger. That Demon Slayer gatcha I talked about earlier was bought at Party City. We were checking out the incoming Halloween stock and picked up some spooky paper plates. They had a specifically awesome set of Disney Villains paperware in black light colors. Guys, it has the Horned King on them. This is truly going to be an epic Halloween. 

A lot of time at home was spent playing old video games while watching Transformers and Super Sentai. I almost forgot to mention the Star Wars Micro Galaxy Squadron Razorcrest I picked up for $15. I hadn't gotten one yet and there it was on clearance. Awesome. There's new multi packs coming in Micro Galaxy Squadron for your Inchman needs and mine. Oh hey... it's Monday. Thanks for reading Zone Base. I've got a fun week planned full of robots and spooky stuff. Did everyone like the new episode of Transform Squadron? Speaking of liking what I'm doing, if you do, please share with your friends!

Fire beats Wood, Weekend beats Monday

It's one of those Mondays that I feel hung over. However that still means it's a new week on Planet Zone! Thanks to everyone for coming back. I've got some great content planned for all you readers. But before that, let's talk about what I did this weekend. Well, let me talk... hey weekend! Saturday the Mrs and I did quite a bit of Code Orange Halloween shopping. Home Goods, Joanne Fabrics, Michael's, and At Home all have a lot of Halloween merchandise available and dang we bought a lot.

That's not counting the Bath and Bodyworks pre spooky season sale on their site. They have launch day next Monday that we'll be attending. The early online event was fun, but nothing beats the in person experience. Speaking of the podcast, I didn't find any of the new Toxitron Transformers series. Hopefully soon. I was a big fan of the Velocitron Speedia collection last year, and this is a great follow up. I hope Walmart does something like this every year. 

Speaking of Transformers, I did find some new bots while out. Legacy Animated Universe Prowl as well as Core Class Skar and Swoop. That makes my collection of Core Class Dinobots a total of 3. Hopefully I won't have any problems getting the others. I really want to complete the new Volcanicus and love Dinobots. I ate more grocery store sushi and watched more spooky TV. It was a good weekend. 

Sunday started with a movie. The Mrs had gotten free tickets to The Sound of Freedom. We partially was curious if anything crazy would happen thanks to all the urban legends going on around the movie would happen. Allegedly showings get mysteriously shut down by various groups not wanting its message spread. No craziness, but it was a pretty good movie on its own. I love going to the theater, so no problem with a free one.

We spent the rest of the day doing household chores and watching other Code Orange shopping trips on YouTube. Mom came over for dinner Sunday evening and ordered us ice cream for dessert. Winner, winner... it was a chicken dinner! The Mrs is a good cook and made some good food. Currently I'm going back and forth from the Godzilla channel and watching videos on old Japanese computer games. I've actually got to be at work early today for a department meeting, so my mind is in preparation mode. I suppose it's time to get the week started, let's make this a good one! If you could, please share posts with your friends. It's all I ask!

Pretty Mayhem 4 -The Spark Master

 

Summer fireworks season is still going on and with it our look at monster sparking Transformers. This week, we're taking a look at some monsters who aren't here to hurt you... unless you're a Decepticon. The Monsterbots! The Monsterbots are Autobots who turn into big scary fire breathing monsters. Released in 1987, these are some seriously cool toys. In Headmasters, they're mainly stationed on Planet Beast helping the Beastformers.

In more recent times they got new updated toys. Now with with the Titanmaster and Primemaster gimmicks that are modern updates of Headmasters and Powermasters, they fit more into the timeline that they were introduced in. Some of the Titanmasters are Beastformers even! Repugnus seemingly gets the most new toys over the years (it's impossible to ignore his excellent Cyberverse figure). However Doublecross/Twinferno has been getting some extra attention in more recent years. 

Summer is a fun time that can also be pretty scary sometimes. We've got one more look at sparking Transformers until the fireworks season is over. But don't worry, Spooky Summer won't be over for a while and we've got some more scary themed Transformers to help with the creepiness of the season. After all, we're getting into ghost story time.

Dolphin Burst

 

Today we're ending our weekly look at the Burst series from Beast Saga with Dolphin Burst. I've also seen him called Dorufan and Dorfan. Dolphin is one of those Beast Saga characters who doesn't seemingly have a Battle Beasts/Beastformers predecessor. New characters are always good! Dolphin's colors aren't very different from his standard figure, but I do prefer the translucent plastic. The blue armor looks like water and the simple colors look more dynamic. Dolphin is carrying a sword and shield combo like most Beast Saga toys do. Being a nautical based character, he of course has a pirate style scimitar. His shield though is a unique combination of geometrical shapes that looks pretty neat. I can see him using them on an Atlantis inspired city.

Eledram Burst

 

This week in our ongoing exploration into Burst Beast Saga figures is Eledram (I have seen him also called Eledrum) Burst. Who as you can see is an elephant. Eledram is the Beast Saga update of Sledgehammer Elephant/Elephan and he came out pretty great. No doubt about it, he's a tank. Broad shoulders and big frame with cannons on his shoulders. I like the little goggles pulled up on his forehead. You can tell Eledram pulls them down when charging into battle. For a change, the update's weapon is an update of the originals lance. All of the elephants in this family tree carry a version of that, though Eldram also has a shield like most Beast Saga figures. His dark green armor really stands out against the white elephant parts and just looks great in that translucent plastic. This is a really good figure.

Killer Shark Burst

 

This week in our ongoing look at some 'Burst' versions of Beast Saga toys is Killer Shark. I probably don't have to explain why he'd be named that combined with the photo. Killer Shark is one excellent looking figure. He's the update to Sawtooth Shark/Badshark for the the Beast Saga era. It'd be great if there was an update of the Shocking Shark Transport Station to go along with him. Just look at that thing, it's awesome.

In this Burst version, Killer Shark could be an entirely different character. The black shark with dark blue armor is so vastly different from his normal deco. I almost expect this to be a 'nemesis' version. Regardless, he looks cool. The shark head with the fin armor is just too well executed. Speaking of his burst colors, the translucent plastic works really well here. The shield and lance weapon are a natural fit, though I'd love to have seen a trident or spear. What about a harpoon gun?

Morick Bat Burst

 

One of my favorite Battle Beasts/Beastformers is Blitzkrieg Bat/Devil Bat. Our weekly look at Beast Saga is Morick Bat Burst, the modern day update of that very bat. Admittedly the reason I picked him was because he fit the early year spooky vibe I always fall into and I'm not one bit ashamed of that. In his Burst colors, Morick Bat is translucent orange with dark red armor. These fiery colors make me think of Red Arremer or Satan from Ghouls 'N Ghosts. He's packing a sword and shield, by now you're probably recognizing these. The same handful of weapons molds are heavily used in the line. I don't mind it at all, though the original's axe would have been nice. Instead of Devil Bat's cybernetic eye patch, Morick Bat is sporting some cool goggles. The goggles are a lot cooler even though the eye patch is certainly part of that look. He's an update of sorts, but not the same character. Though in these colors, I can see him flying around breathing fire.

Meiji Beastformers Snacks

 

This is the kind of thing I absolutely go crazy over. I love blind bag/box toys as is, but you put something I like already in one and I'll go nuts! Beastformers/Battle Beasts are one of the coolest parts of Transformers that will never fully go away. From official to unofficial, they're evergreen. These little keshi style mini figures sold blind with a card. There's a snack of some sort in there but I can't tell what it is and honestly I wouldn't be buying it for that anyway. I think that's one of the plus's of the Hershey's Treasure boxes, I like the candy already. I still have a bunch of those weird lemon flavored candies that came with Armada/Micron Legend blind boxes some where. Regardless, this is the kind of series I'd go hunting store to store getting as many as I could. I'm pretty jealous of those who got to enjoy this series.

Raioga Burst

 

This week in our look at Beast Saga figures from the Random Booster v1 series is Raioga Burst. As the name implies, this is the Burst version of Raioga who is basically the main character of Beast Saga. Think of him as the replacement for White Leo/Pirate Lion for a new era. That's how I think of him anyway. Like other Beast Saga figures, Raioga comes with a few dice to use with his chest launcher in the battle game. He's carrying a sword and shield with the usual amount of Beast Saga articulation. I particularly like the orange and red colors of this Burst variation. It makes him look like some sort of fire version, not to mention it just looks in translucent plastics. I particularly like the claw themed armor Raioga is wearing as well. This is an all around great looking figure.

Bamed Burst

I don't claim to know everything. Bamed is a good example of that, I was fairly ignorant of the character. Upon getting this burst version of him, I assumed it was an update of Pugnacious Penguin. Probably because of the translucent colors look icy on a slightly pudgy bird. However it's a different character whose normal deco looks a lot like the little birds I take so much joy in watching eat from the bird feeders on my front porch. In the end, it's not a bad trade off. 

Bamed as we've spoken is a bird based beast whom battles and looks wonderful. Especially in these burst colors which look so good! The cool lance style weapon and shield have a pleasant speckled look that go along well with the icy translucent colors. I felt it was a natural fit for Christmas week. Beast Saga figures are larger than older Beastformers/Battle Beasts and offer a little more articulation. Instead of just arms, the legs and sometimes heads also move. Not a lot, I know, but it's just enough for a toy of it's size.

They have a dice based game instead of the heat rub symbol play of the older toys. Each comes with various dice that are launched out via chest gimmick. I don't know how to play the game, but find the characters symbol side charming enough for display purposes. Bamed doesn't have a name that naturally rolls off my tongue. Sometimes I see it translated as Bamet. Which may or may not be the correct name, but I see Bamed more often. The other day some of those little birds were fighting over one of my feeders. I can see Bamed on a Sunday morning running off a red bird for some choice sunflower seeds.

New Week Loading...

It sure is Monday and that sure does mean the start of another new week here on Planet Zone! It's also the last few days before Christmas and that means a few hectic days. That being said, aside from this weeks Beast Saga post, there won't be any toy posts. I just don't forsee and spare time to dive into the backlog for a bit. However, I do have some other fun in mind, so stay tuned!

It was a good, but busy weekend. Saturday was spent doing the last of the Christmas shopping before the big day. There was a lot of running around and big crowds. I do enjoy shopping, but doing so much in a day can feel like a second job! Not to mention the strange events that took place in the parking lot of one shopping center. The entire area was covered in hundreds of turkey vultures. There was a very bad smell that coated the entire area. Clearly something was dead in the area and judging by the large amount of birds, a lot of it. Christmas is also a time for scary ghost stories and that certainly was one. Fortunately we got everything we needed unscathed before retiring for the evening with dinner from Longhorn Steakhouse (one of our favorites).

Sunday the wife's brother, father, her father's wife and grand daughter came over for our Christmas with them. The Mrs had prepared a bunch of snacks while they brought a sandwich tray. It was a fun dinner that included some sushi from the local Publix for me. I'm still on a low sodium diet while recovering, so I wanted to offset some of the food. I really love sushi from Publix, so no complaints from me. Gifts were exchanged and a good time was had. Afterwards, my mother came by for dinner and holiday special viewings. Actually, we've been watching Christmas specials all weekend.

It's Sunday night as I'm writing this and that means a few episodes of Beyond Belief before sleep. I've got a busy day tomorrow before work. Christmas can be hectic, but nothing beats how nice it is on Christmas Eve. All the stress is over and you can just bask in the joy. It's going to be a fun week here on the site. I hope you all enjoy it. Thanks for your continued support and please share with your friends!

Long Giraffe Burst

Every once and awhile you have to assure somebody that is indeed it's name. Long Giraffe Burst is one such toy. Continuing our weekly look at some Beast Saga figures is a fellow who happens to be a giraffe with a long neck as his name would suggest. The Burst is because this is a Burst version like the others we'll be taking a look at. Like other Burst versions, Long Giraffe is in translucent colors which I just love. They just look so great. Back in the day translucent variations of toys were often called 'crystal' versions.

That's always stuck with me and I mentally default to calling them such still to this day. I recall opening some Gundam blind boxes that the wife had given me and was happy to get a 'crystal' version in the one I opened. Come to think about it, I've got quite a few of those still unopened. Dang. Back to our friend here. Weird name aside, he looks awesome. The giraffe doesn't look out of place in that distinct Beasftformer style. In fact it makes him more neat as opposed to the standard 'vicious' animals used in action toys. He's packing a long sword and shield to battle other beasts in addition to the various dice play the figures game. Long Giraffe Burst is a really neat little guy, different, but we like that sort of thing around here.

Bill Sword Burst

Back in 2018 at Toylanta, I was fortunate enough to stumble across a dealer selling Beast Saga figures at a really good price. He had several figures from the Random Booster vol. 1 Burst Collection set and I bought one of each. I think Shawn and myself revisited his booth a million times hoping he'd add more to the box. While we didn't have any luck with that, we did manage to each complete a set. They've been in a plastic storage container on top of a drawer I use for mini-figures and off keshi storage ever since. 

Something inspired me to take a look at each one here. 

Bill Sword is a sword fish. That's the kind of animal that seems like an odd choice at first, but then makes plenty of sense. I mean, it's a BATTLE Beast right? A weapon is implied in it's name. There was even a few in Beast Wars, it makes sense. Here though, he seems a little silly. Probably because a slight resemblance to Gonzo The Great a little. Still this is a great little figure. Beast Saga figures are a little bigger than a normal Beastformer/Battle Beast. They also have articulated legs in addition to the dice launcher. It's a more complex figure with a more complex game. The Burst versions came in very nice looking translucent colors. I really like translucent plastic, but it does get fragile over time. Beast Saga figures are made from a more rubbery grade, so that won't be an issue. Bill Sword is a weird little guy, but still a pretty cool dude.

Beast Mode Saga

It's been a while since I've talked Battle Beasts, so why not look at this cool Beast Saga promo video from 2012... which is a lot longer ago than I normally realize! I really wish the little critter offshoot of Transformers would make another resurgence. Beast Saga was so dang neat, I'm really surprised it didn't last much longer. Though, there is plenty of unofficial Battle Beasts out there, but man wouldn't it be great to see these guys just hanging off the pegs at Target? Wait... work with me... Beast Sega. If anyone can take a good concept and make it great it's Sega. Guys... whoa. Beast Sega Mini...

Kabuto Mushi Halloween wave is up!

Order Here!

The Godbeast has updated his store with the new Reverse Hallow Wave! This new batch of his awesome Kabuto Mushi line has a great deco based on vintage Halloween blow molds!  I ordered the compete set and suggest you not to sit around if you want them as they're going fast!

Fire, wood, lame dealer

I've had Battle Beast Chariots on my mind today. Instead of asking myself why, instead I chose to bask in the glory of little cat head cars. I could say here again that I wished the line would return again, but you know I do and I'm sure you do as well. Fortunately there's plenty of homages and similar toys to help fill that void. I am instantly reminded of Shawn and I's little Battle Beast adventure at Toylanta this past spring though.

Last year, we both racked up on Beast Saga figures via the awesome dealer who sets up a giant display of baskets with grouped together toys. This past year, they were a little harder to find. As Saturday marched on, Shawn got in a conversation with a dealer who had promised to bring a bunch of Battle Beasts Sunday. He told me that evening and we made plans to hit that table first off and clear that mofo out. Battle Beasts are like the N.W.O, they're for life. Unlike the N.W.O, we don't have to figure out what Stings up to. Sting wasn't being very clear. Wolfpac or not dude. Wolfpac or not.

Sunday morning came and I was running a little late getting to the con thanks to traffic, but Shawn had stayed at the hotel and got to the guy first thing. As I was walking in he found me with the look of cold blooded murder in his eyes. The dealer lied. Not a one. Not a single fire, wood, nor water. It was then and there we shot the guy and fed his asshole to his children. I'm lying, we just sulked a bit and his asshole eating children went hungry,

Battle Titans

It's funny the way things work out. I was thinking earlier that I hadn't done a Battle Beast post in a while and out of nowhere, the newest Legends Web Comic went online today. As you may know, the web manga/ comics are Battle Beast heavy. This issue was an absolute treat to skim over (it's not in English, so I have to get what I can out of it) as there was a little surprise in the panels.

That sure looks like a Kabuto Mushi in the mix, because it kinda is. The designs were in the Laser Beast Japanese book, but The Godbeast did make a set. That's super dooper cool man. I mean like, sooper dooper. I've made my love for Titans Return and Battle Beasts far known here and have really appreciated the many Battle Beasts worked into Titans Return as Titanmasters. One neat thing about Battle Beasts is the fact that there is constantly new ones coming out. Be it newer lines like Titans Returns, Beast Saga and in the Minimates assortments, or unofficial figures in other lines (Imaginext has all but out heat rub stickers on theirs), there's usually some form of Battle Beast available.

Looking back, it wasn't until I was older and had internet access until I discovered that Battle Beasts were part of Transformers. Both were toy lines I had always loved, but their association never occurred to me and then it was all so obvious. Seeing the continued use of Battle Beasts in Transformers is something I just freaking find awesome. Not just that they're constantly still used, but generally used well and in a way that I enjoy quite a lot.

Battle Beasts (Diamond Select stop motion)

I was only able to find Ruminant and Spyrnus from the Diamond Select version of Battle Beasts, which was a bummer since they were such good looking figures. Though I admit, I never felt like these were Battle Beasts, just cool fantasy figures. Guess they were too grimdark.

Battle Beast Former Saga

I don't make my fondness for Battle Beasts a mystery. Even of they weren't related to Transformers, I'd still love them dearly. What's not to love? Little animal dudes with cybernetic armor fighting it out using basic elemental powers in an eternal struggle of roshambo. It also doesn't hurt that they're great toys either. Thankfully for us Beastformer fans, Takara's latest Transformers Legends web comic includes the little fuzzy dudes beating the crap out of each other in good form.