Bumblebee Strikes A Blizzard

The Dollar General Kreon Iceberg continues as we take a look today at Blizzard Strike Bumblebee. As the name implies, he's the Blizzard/White version of the Armor Up Bumblebee I spoke about earlier this week. I've yet to find the Night Strike variation... and hopefully I will soon. It's stealthy. 

Blizzard Strike Bumblebee however is fantastic looking. Like the other color variations of these guys he's a straight recolor of the regular toy. His armor is white to match his arctic theme, while the rest of it as well as the standard kreon is this WONDERFUL translucent/clear yellow that just POPS. There's sharp, and then there's this.

I've always been a fan of translucent colors on Transformers and this is a prime example of why. It just looks marvelous. Of course the Microman resemblance is strong here. The standard Kreon looks a lot like a Microman M10X type or with the armor a little like a Rescue M25X type. It's funny how just a few colors can make a recolor look like a different Microman, but it does. When Hasbro first got the Micronauts license, I said they should use them in Kre-O.

I was so right.

Armor Up Of The Bumblebee

Continuing on our Custom Kreons found at the Dollar General adventures on what's apparently a Bumblebee heavy week... man that was a long sentence. Here's Armor Up Bumblebee! Bumblebee is a bit of a standout from the other figures in this selection. Instead of having ornate armor, BB has two big chain guns just hanging off his shoulders. I mean, why not?

I didn't go into these expecting everyone's favorite little yellow guy to be carrying the heavy weapons, but I ain't complaining. It looks great. Just for good measure they gave him a standard laser gun. Just to make sure he REALLY kills somebody.

In all honesty, as good as he looks, he doesn't make me think of Bumblebee at all. The Kreon makes me think of a Saram from new Microman. Those are from the Microchange era of Microman, which ironically is where the original toy mold for Bumblebee comes from.

These resemblances can't just be a coincidence.

Night Strike Sideswipe Cosplays Baron Karza

Earlier this week I talked about Armored Up Sideswipe from the Custom Kreon selection at Dollar General. Today I'm going to be talking about the Night Strike version of the toy. Which as you can see here, almost looks like a completely different figure. Something as simple as different colors can go a long way, even more so if you add a new part here or there. In this case, it's a straight repaint that just looks amazing.

As a Transformers fan, the first thought that'll pop into my mind would be G2 Sideswipe when the subject of black repaints comes up. If you mixed parts from the standard red Sideswipe kit you'd probably get a good little version of that idea. Even the facial expression screams G2 comics. However, you guys know that uncanny Microman/Micronaut resemblance I've been talking about with these guys?

In this color set, in this armor, he looks so much like Baron Karza that it's almost impossible to ignore. Like, maybe a few different parts and it would be a Baron Karza figure. As Sideswipe however, he's a straight repaint of the one I talked about earlier. So it's a good toy in another good color set. A very Baron Karza color set.

Grimlock Is Armored Up And Ready

Continuing on my exploration of the Custom Kreons from Dollar General is Armored Up Grimlock! Like Sideswipe yesterday, Grimlock is from his 2015 Robots In Disguise appearance (incase you thought he looked funny). I won't mix words here, aside from the colors, I don't think he looks anything like Grimlock here. G1 or RID 15. 

That being said, I do think he looks cool. The claw shaped spike armor combined with claw shaped spiked club is thematically awesome. Like most Kreons, this Grimlock doesn't transform, but still looks primitive despite being an alien robot from outer space.

I dig it.

The extra parts look pretty great here. Adding extra height , body mass, and articulation. It's really neat how you can take the basic Kreon figure and make a much nicer toy by snapping on parts. Like the others, Grimlock makes me think of a Microman. Cosmo Spark to be specific. As a basic Kreon, a Spy Magician MX14.

Armored Up Sideswipe And Nowhere To Go

Not long ago the wife picked me up some more of those Kre-O kits that make me think of Microman. So it's going to be a accidental Microman Kreon week here on Zone Base! These fancy Kreon kits are seemingly exclusive to discount chains here in the US and so far I've only seen them at Dollar General. After taking a bit of a Kre-O break for awhile I'm admittedly a bit out of the loop on these guys. I couldn't find much info about them other than they fall under the custom Kreon class. Which I guess is as good as any for classification. If that's your sort of thing.

The line up is Optimus Prime, Sideswipe, Bumblebee, and Grimlock from the 2015 Robots in Disguise Transformers series. each figure has three different color variations. Armored up, or traditional colors. Blizzard Strike, is arctic themed. Night Strike, in black/stealth colors. You can mix and match parts for some cool color combos. Or leave them stock for a pretty good looking toy. 

Like I said, I get strong Microman vibes from these guys. Armored Up Sideswipe makes me think of Flame Micro Knight and a Spy Magician. Though the toy has some character of his own as well.

Robots in Disguise's incarnation of Sideswipe had a great martial arts flair that carries over here with katana and shuriken star armor. Not to mention the sai he carries and the kanji on his chest. The katana and sai's can be swapped out if you choose. As you can see in the pics, the base Kreon can be built up with the additional parts. This makes for a fancier robot action figure. It not only looks great, but now features additional articulation.

Kre-O was pretty addicting for me during it's time. Only when it became a discount line did my interest start to decline. The initial batches of discount toys were mostly repacks of sets I had already gotten. Add that with the spotty distribution of discount chain toys and it was pretty hard to keep up with leading to my mental disconnect. I gotten some since then, but these are the first Kre-O product I'm actively seeking out in some time. 

The Microman similarities are fun, but I'm digging these on their own as well. They're just fun toys to play around with. The build is simple, really just adding a few parts onto a figure. Like most Kreons they don't Transform... but that's never been an issue for me.

Power Rangers blind bag series 1

Mega Consrtux has released a line of Power Rangers building brick toys that are just fabulous. Before, as Mega Bloks, they released similar lines for the Power Rangers Samurai and Megaforce series. I enjoyed the blind bag mini figures from those lines, though doing a series based on the classic Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series is a solid way to sell me on your product.

While I'm still on the fence about the building sets (I may get one or two), I am definitely all over the blind bags. In my first sighting earlier today at Toys R Us, I googled up the id codes and got the complete set. I'm hopeful the following series will fill out and complete the cast. In fact I may get a few more Putties to make a sizable patrol. Hopefully future series will also have Z Putties and Super Putties.

The figures are pretty decent in their simple sculpts. I've done my best not to compare them to my beloved Imaginext Power Rangers (now those I plan to complete, just holding off on the rest of the Zords until I move this summer. They are huge. The entire line is wonderful). Probably because of their small size and charming nature.

There are some notable things to point out. The Red Ranger is translucent. He's like this on the package, so I don't think I got a special version. I'd assume this is because a solid Red Ranger is included in a few of the building sets. That and judging by the codes, he was one of the more rare figures. So I figure the translucent plastic is the reward for him being harder to find. The shelf pack I was going through was pretty full and mine was the only red one I found. The Putty Patroller and Green Ranger seem to be the most common. Which works for army building a massive Putty Patrol if you want. I'll probably grab two more. Three figures is the usually case in troop building packs and works for me as a rule to go by.

Green Ranger's dragon dagger seems to be a re-use of some other weapon mold. In fact, all of the weapons aside from Zedd's staff look like they could have been from another line. Mega Bloks has made plenty of fantasy themed sets, so I would imagine these weapon molds could be from those. Still, I posed Green Ranger like he was playing it as a flute. Somewhere the Dragonzord is responding I'm sure. The Pink Ranger's bow is almost bigger than her. It's a solid piece that she can hold, though it isn't exact. The tip is molded like it's on fire, which matches up to my mold re-use theory. Pink Ranger and Lord Zed seem to be the middle ground as far as difficulty in finding goes. There was just a couple in the shelf box.

Speaking of Lord Zedd, he's a little silly. He doesn't have much detail and kinda looks like someone wearing one of those zip up character hoodies. His plastic is a darker red and looks a bit like one of those chocolate covered cherry M&Ms that they sell. His staff is great though. White Ranger, I figure, is either equal to Pink and Zedd, or just a little harder to get than Red. I only found the one I got, so I can't speak factually. The included checklist doesn't specify which ones are harder to find than others. The White Ranger comes with a rough estimate of his tiger scimitar, once again possible from another mold. I still posed him holding the sword upside down so he could consult with Saba.

Like all Mega Bloks mini figures, the figures come with stands, which is extremely helpful. You can put them all over the place posed for battle or maybe posed for success. I suppose the Putty could be on his way to apply for a job. I hope at Panda Express. They never seem to have enough help when I go in.

Turns out my kitchen has good lighting.

Below is the list of codes I used when I found mine, allegedly there is another set of codes used on some bags, I have no clue, these are what worked for me. Feel free to copy them to a little note file on your phone so you don't have to play a guessing game when buying the figures. Unless you like that. That's fine, but if you want to use the codes they're on the back on the lower left corner in a black ink.

A17106ES - White Ranger

A18106ES - Lord Zed

A19106ES - Pink Ranger

A20106ES - Green Ranger

A21106ES - Red Ranger

A22106ES - Putty