Friday Night Frights- Halloween Saftey (1977)

Time for another Friday Night Frights here on the Base! It seems like everywhere I look these days there's all sorts of safety tips ad guidelines for the world we live in. I find myself walking around in a mask, not going inside stranger's homes, not eating unwrapped snacks, not... Did I somehow wish us into a early Halloween? No, sadly no. Halloween is awesome and fun, what's going on right now sucks. Hopefully all will be somewhat back to normal by fall (or I'm going to the corona's house and kicking it's ass). Because Halloween is awesome and fun... which we all could use some of that right now.

Spinjas don't get dizzy

This past weekend when I was at Kroger looking through the blind bag toys, I saw Beyblade packs and was admittedly tempted to grab a few. It's not the first time either, I've often thought they looked neat. My main draw to them though if thanks to Spinjas, a very long forgotten and short lived toy line/game from Parker Brothers. From what I've gathered the line has had a few reboots both officially and non officially throughout the years in various countries. Which isn't surprising. What's not to love about making little figures duke it out? Instead of wwwaaaaayyyyy too many rules and instructions that just don't make any sense (looking at you every other miniature game ever made). Just pop the toys in a little gizmo and let them fight as tops, who gets knocked out of the ring looses.

If you don't Botbot, kiss a Buttbutt

It's been a minute since I've talked about Botbots here and that's a shame since I love them so. I've got a pack unopened in my toy room and plans to grab another pack or two this weekend. I've been sick all week, so having some fun with Botbots this weekend sounds like just the pick me up. I'd call this Botbottalk, but I recognize other sites.

These came along as I was pining for a return of Food Changeables and offered a spiritual follow up that built upon that idea. The thing is, these don't have to be a Transformers branded thing for me to enjoy them. A hamburger or a laptop that transforms into a robot as a small inexpensive toy is just the kind of thing I'd be all for. In fact, I kinda hope to see cheapo rip offs of Botbots eventually. I'd totally be down for hitting up multiple Family Dollars tracking down weird copycats. Everyone has made the Shopkins comparison, and since we're comparing I hope they do holiday themed sets like Shopkins does. My wife buys Shopkins and frankly I'm jealous of those holiday sets. They're really neat.

Everyone and their neighbors mama has wished for a McDonald's Happy Meal of Botbots. Part of me just wants to buy a cheeseburger and fries and drop a blind pack into the bag. That's how ridiculous I am for the idea, I'm planing to DIY a Happy Meal. Though thinking Happy Meals, they'd obviously be lower budget versions of the Botbots (which I'd be ok with) or maybe even odd figurines or odd gimmick toys (which I'd surprising also be ok with, I'd kind of like a pull back corn dog toy). Realistically, I'd be all for whatever fast food place that would do a Botbots meal, but deep inside I want to see that Food Changeables/Botbots cross over happen. It kinda has to.

I'm excited for the Japanese market to get these. I'd love to see Gatchapon versions or what kind of odd exclusives they'd get. Clear Botbots exclusive to some random release that I'd probably never be able to obtain? That would drive me crazy, but I'd love the possibility. You know, maybe they could actually make the Rockbots happen. Man, what kind of world would it be where a never produced toy concept from G1 was released decades later in a sub line with a cupcake vampire?

Where there's heat, there's Cyberfire

Me Grimlock radical

So, work with me here. I had an idea while working. You see, The wife and I are going to see Avengers this weekend. While we normally wait for video for Marvel movies as there's about 50 of them a year, we never miss the new Guardians of the Galaxy movies in the theaters and that's the reason we're making a point to see this. Because the Guardians are in it. Well, I figured we should see the new Thor beforehand as we havent yet and while it was in it's theatrical push, my wife noted they were giving it the same 80's airbrushed, classic rock treatment as Guardians. Which I figured was probably their vibe for the Marvel cosmic stuff in general, which works for me (I really dig it).

So, while I was working I keep thinking about the pseudo 80's graphics floating around these days (and loving it). While internet hipsters try to hate on it (because heaven forbid something be popular), it's a pretty popular theme in general these days (and I love it). So, here's where I'm going with this. I distinctly remember people loving Guardians of the Galaxy use of that old Atari and classic rock type fun. Then the following year, The Force Awakens came out and it too had the neo 80's vibe working with it. It was on t-shirts, trading cards, you name it and both movie series are using the look still (and people clearly like it). It's being used for tons of stuff that you can buy, is being bought, and hey remember that popular 80's logo generator?

My point is in this shirt

The Cyberverse cartoon and line is so G1 that folks don't know how to comprehend it. It's intentionally so as the 80's designs are the traditional Transformers that even the most casual of fan buy t shirts and random stuff on. It's embedded in pop culture and despite how much those fandom hipsters tell you they hate it, they're buying it too.

My idea? Use those pseudo 80's looks and fonts all over the packaging and marketing. Use that cheesy classic movie theme on the cartoon intro. What if the tagline was 'The Touch'? Sure it may be a fad, but it was a fad back then too. Hell, complaining about fads is a fad that will eventually go away (take those hipsters with it, nobodies impressed anyway). Sure Cyberverse is a modern take on traditional Transformers updated for modern kids. But the obvious is right there and man Teen Titans Go! sure doesn't mind using that neo 80's cheese on all it's sandwiches. Come to think of it, lot's of things are using it.

These are toys meant to be played with and entertainment meant to enjoy, so make it fun. The movie series has been so grimdark that the upcoming Bumblebee movie's apparent fun vibe is really catching folks attention. Look around, people are complaining about gritty dark and mopey. They want bright colors and fun. Notice what all the kids are wearing? It's not hard to ignore, as it's so bright it can be seen from space. So, hey a fun cartoon and toyline?

What a weird idea, a fun cartoon and toy line for kids.

Programing Note: Zone Base VR

So, I've become a fan of VR videos. While I've always held a curiosity in virtual reality in general (including my time spent with the Virtual Boy in high school), I've recently let my fandom of POV theme park ride through videos guide me into getting one of those cell phone VR set ups. I have no clue what took me so long as I've been eyeing them for quite a while now (the mask was literally 5$ at Five Below, and I bought a controller for 5$ also), but I recently bought the needed stuff at my wife's insistence ('just buy it already, you want it and it's not expensive') and I owe her flowers for that. I love it.

After some basic experimenting and switching around phones in the headset (got a few older phones not in use that make for good fodder for a good set up), I've got myself going with my wife's old S4, which is doing a good job. It took a minute to get used to the controls and figuring out that on screen mouse that the controller I bought serves as (might be getting a better one in the future, you never miss a spring in a joystick until a 5$ one doesn't have one) to really get the swing.

360 VR video is really neat, though you really need to sit in a swivel chair to fully enjoy it without tripping over your own feet (that and you're not actually in the surroundings you see). Though I enjoy the 3D POV style videos the best. There's a basic narrative device in treating your point of view as a camera that really makes the experience a lot of fun (and downright frightening in those scary videos).

It's inspired me to start sharing some of these videos here. Seeing as I've already posted about Universal Studios a few times here, I figure regular readers might enjoy these experiences. All you need to enjoy these is a smart phone (one with a gyroscope for 360 videos) and a VR mask (they run in price ranges, but I got one for 5$ as I said above). They make controllers that are optional, but you don't really need one if you don't want to use one (it's just handy for clicking stuff and maybe volume). Perhaps headphones would be handy depending on where you're enjoying the VR.

So, from now on, whenever I use VR in a post title, well... it's a VR post. There'll be VR tags to for easy searches. This is going to be a lot of fun come Halloween.

Miniforce is on Netflix!

They're cute and cuddly and they will kick your butt.

A few years go Miniforce started showing on Korean tv. I've been watching the clips online for some time and was overjoyed to discover it was put on Netflix just recently (June 1st to be exact!). So I put my watch through of Attack on Titan on pause (eventually I'll watch it all) and immediately began my binge (add to list, check).

The show is also on Youtube if you don't have Netflix. Being on Netflix though gives me hope that the toys will be released here in the US and potentially easier/cheaper to get. It's the same kind of hope I give that eventually the super cool Tomica Hyper Drive heads (man, they are cool and expensive) will find it's way here. Being that Super Wings is on US tv and it's toys are now on American shelves, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to hope to see these guys at my local Toys R Us.

The show is obviously aimed at smaller children. Each episode is about 13 minutes long, so you can really watch a bunch of adventures in no time. The Miniforce is a gang of smaller animals who spend the first few minutes of an episode being silly at home with their human companions. Shortly after the episode starts we see where the bad guys have sent the monster of the week, the gang changes into their Invincible Miniforce forms and rush off to battle. From there the show is an action packed animated Sentai/Super Robot show. When the big Mechamon of the week is turned giant, they call upon their Forcecars/Transcars to take them out.

The Forcecars are sleek vehicles that transform into larger robot modes and can even combine together to battle the larger threats. In all honesty, if the younger demographic cares you away from this show, it's really just in the opening of each episode where we see the gang at home. Once the action starts, it would probably be easier to swallow for you. It's a fun, albeit silly show that I dig 100%.

Between odd clips, discount DVD bins, and random toy finds. I've developed a casual interest in Korean robot/sentai shows that I'm happy to divulge in as the means to enjoy them becomes more readily available. With Miniforce getting a more mainstream push being now on Netflix, I hope it continues.

The last knight (until the next one)

I'm not one of those fans that craps all over everything. I think this looks like a lot of fun and I personally am excited to see it. Looking forward to drinking a can of soda with a TF5 promotional image on it while out looking for Tiny Turbo Changers, Turbo Changers (yay, One Steps got that more exciting name!), Legions, and more.

I love Transformers, all of them.

Transformers at Joelanta 2017

http://www.joelanta.org/

For the past few years, I've been helping operate the annual Transformers panel at Joelanta here in Atlanta. It's been a ton of fun and thanks to it's success, it's grown into it's own event within the convention. This year (2017) the Transformers panel has changed into it's own series of panels in it's own dedicated space. The planning for the event has been fun and the closer it gets, the more excited for it I get.

Joelanta is a wonderful convention in it's own right. It's this amazing nirvana of toys and fun that just can't be replicated. The annual parachute drop is probably my favorite event. Just imagine throwing action figures in parachutes off the balcony of a very tall hotel and you've nailed exactly what it is. Pure fun and a little crazy. I'm also looking forward to the trading party on Friday. Last year I traded a giant ziplock bag full of tiny monster toys for a Green Goblin. I kinda want to take him back and see what I can swap him for. Just see if I can keep it going and see what I get each year.

It's totally him

Well, I guess... maybe... uh

There I was, late July 2002 sitting in the lobby of a Holiday Inn in Fort Wayne Indiana. It was Friday morning and I had driven overnight for BotCon. I had planned on driving the 10-12 hours from Atlanta over night and sleep a few hours before pre reg pick up. I didn't count on getting there too early and having to wait for my room to become available. So there I was sitting in the lobby, half napping, half playing my Gameboy Advance. Eventually more people started pouring into the hotel and before I knew it, some friends from Transfandom/TFW2005 (before they split up) had plopped down next to me in chairs. We all were super excited for the weekend and chattering away about what we hoped the exclusives would be.

You see, back then, it was a mystery.

That's right, back in the old days, the BotCon exclusives were a mystery. You could wait until the con to buy them, or buy them at pre reg blind. If you didn't like them, there was plenty of dealers willing to buy yours on the spot. The most you had for a clue was a rough size hint on the pre registration form.

It was super fun.

Well, in 2002 things were changing. Instead of the usual one or two exclusives, there was four. That's right, before the 10-15 exclusives of the Fun Publications days, we only got one or two. So four seemed insane. Let me break it down for you. This year there was a pre registration exclusive. Then, as the current comic publisher wasn't happy with 3H selling comics, they sold a small exclusive that came with that years convention comic. Then after that you had the traditional large and regular sized exclusives. Also for the first time, we all knew who the large exclusive was going to be. 3H had shown him off in order to get more fans to the con.

So, going in we knew the large toy was Cyclonus made from the Beast Machines Ultra Class Jetstorm toy. Which still left the other three a complete mystery. To add to the fun, there was two different con shirts that year and if you bought one during pre registration, it would be a mystery as to which one you got. Of course you could buy the other one at the show (and I did).

After I got my room and a nap, I met my friends from the lobby to go to pre reg pick up together. We were all staying at the Holiday Inn, the second hotel with a convention discount rate, but also about two blocks away from the con center. So we had a short walk ahead of us. We got in our respective lines (separated alphabetically by last name) and picked up our pre reg kits.

We were given our shirts and a small box with all out con materials inside including the pre reg exclusive. The other three were available for pick up at the Friday night dinner for those in attendance, or Saturday morning for everyone else.

The shirts were either Optimus Prime or Megatron decorated with neat art of their various bodies on the back. I got the Megatron (and totally bought the Optimus shirt the next day). The pre registration exclusive was Tap Out! Made from the recent Cliffjumper keychain toy in a neat green deco. I was ecstatic over Tap Out. I was a big fan of the keychain toys that were released months before the show.

They were reissues of the classic Bumblebee and Cliffjumper toys with a small plastic loop molded on allowing for a keychain to be attached. With this in hand, we all decided the small toy with the comic had to use the Bumblebee keychain mold. Also inside the little box was all sorts of goodies including an Optimus Prime sucker (I still have it, good thing it's wrapped in plastic... yikes) and also a neat art print. My friends got Skywarp, but I totally got Tigatron. They were all jealous, as they should have been.

There was also the convention guide book inside, which on it's cover had what one friend decided HAD to be the other exclusive. You see, the cast of Robots in Disguise (the 2001 series) were all guests and the guide cover reflected that. Each actors characters were on the cover... but for some reason, Prowl was purple and black. This wasn't too much of a hint to the rest of us, but that one guy swore we were definitely getting this.

I mean loudly. Very loudly. We were in the Burger King and there he was screaming over and over, "GUY'S, IT'S TOTALLY IT, IT'S TOTALLY IT, OH MAN IT'S SKYWARP FROM PROWL THATS WHY THE PRINT WAS IN THE BOX, GUY'S THAT'S WHY!"

So we had to leave Burger King and eat at Rally's and he had to chill out, which he didn't. He went on and on and on. Later as the dinner went on, we went down to hang out at the con center with the other non dinner attendees and tried to hear what was going on inside. Those in attendance were given free Armada and Heroes of Cybertron toys and a showing of the pilot episode of Armada was shown.

I wasn't too jealous of the toys, because they had already been showing up at stores. I was jealous over the Armada showing as it wasn't due for air for a few more months and I was eagerly looking forward to it. During the dinner, 3H revealed what the exclusives were to much applause. We didn't get to hear what they were and headed out to join in the parts parties.

Over the course of the night, I heard that there was a Cheetor in Jetfire colors. I also didn't pay it too much attention as that just sounded ridiculous.

The next morning I stood in line to get my exclusives, still mostly clueless to their identity. Then one of my friends stopped by to show me one of their con exclusives. It was CatSCAN!

Made from the Beast Machines deluxe Nightslash Cheetor in RATCHETS COLORS, in a pretty neat box that was made to resemble a small laptop, CatSCAN was pretty cool. In fact he remains to be one of my favorite BotCon exclusives. The small comic toy turned out to be made from the Bumblebee keychain as we predicted. In a cool metallic blue, Glyph was a really nice looking mini bot!

Now, about that Skywarp Prowl toy... it of course never happened and that friend didn't really hang around us for the rest of the convention.

Guess he was embarrassed.

Burning Something

Yuki/Koji looks like he saw the ring video.

Jump back a little farther back in time than it feels like and picture the year 2000. There I was, a broke community college student. Living in my first place, a duplex shared with my best friend since childhood. It was late night into the early morning.

I was sitting in our kitchen, my laptop ran to the phone line, looking at all the cool stuff for Car Robots while listening to the newest episode of WCW Thunder I had taped while at work.

Beast Machines had recently started in America, but in Japan, they got this new show that was a return to vehicle Transformers. I was interested, it looked super cool. All the toys were just out of my reach, as I was hardly able to afford the occasional regular retail TF release. Let alone import toys from another country.

It wasn't but a year later that I was watching episodes of the show subbed on VHS tapes my roommate/friend (different apartment, different friend) would bring me from his part time comic shop job. News of the show and toys getting a US release was starting to filter out and I was pretty excited for the chance to finally get them.

Few months later, there I am waking up early to watch the show on Fox Kids on Saturday mornings. A few episodes in, 911 happened and ruled out certain episodes to be shown. I still woke up every Saturday morning to watch each episode. Then before long, just before the last episodes of the series would air, the Fox Kids affiliate in my area would turn into a Spanish channel and there I was without the end of the show.

Dammit.

Few years later, I acquired a not exactly official DVD release of the series from Rockman666 and finished watching the show (pre YouTube). Little more time and history seemed to try and forget the show, but occasionally reference the toys. For some reason, fate had decided to wipe this show from history, or try to anyway.

Several years later, I'm laying in bed next to my wife, writing a post about how I liked that show on my phablet with 10% battery left. I've seen the standard amount of internet hipsters poop on the show. I've also seen the back of my eye lids roll as I wonder how they magically hate things people like. I don't know, I don't care. That was a lot of fun for me back then.

I liked that show.

My personal Woodstock

It's hard to believe that this week is the 3 year anniversary of the best damn Transformers convention ever. Charticon was more than your standard fan convention, Charticon was an event that made every attendee family.

I'm not intending to take anything away from other convention organizers. Putting one together is a huge act of work that requires miracles and heart trauma. I've mentioned before how much OTFCC meant to me. I meant it. It's just, the bar was raised in August 2013 in Charlotte, NC.

It's literally the gold standard.

It's kind of hard to pinpoint what made it so special. I'd been to plenty of TF conventions before. It was like everyone involved was bubbling over with how much love and work they put into the weekend and it bled out onto all the attendees. Almost all of us at RFC made it and we spent the weekend having the time of our lives. My wife, who normally humor's these things, still calls back to it fondly.

We kind of had a follow up with TFCON Charlotte in 2015, and myself and others hoped it would signal the start of regular shows in the area. But a sadly, that wasn't the case. Charticon was a one time deal that's left it's fans wanting more ever since.

I promised them a tolberone if they brought it back and forgot to bring it at TFCON Charlotte.

It might be my fault we haven't had another.

Warfare of Cybertron

I'm no stranger to mobile games or apps featuring unlicensed famous characters. They're usually cheap click bait fodder aiming to make a few bucks off ads. However, hidden in the Google Play store is a charming little series of platformers that are made with 100% love.

Robot Warfare is a free game series made by a fan who has managed to make fun mobile gaming experiences with our favorite robots from Cybertron. Gameplay centers around working your way through a stage full of platforms and Decepticons. Impressively enough, each game offers a variety of characters to play including G2 Laser Optimus Prime (DUDE!).

The games look great on my 7 inch Galaxy, so I can only imagine they'd look great on a phone. Bright colors and a variety of on-screen characters add to the challenging (but not cuss and fling your tablet across the house hard) gameplay.

Considering the price (free), you have nothing to loose trying these out. So trust me, they're great and have more heart than some official offerings. There's even a GI JOE game!

I'd make a joke about these tablet games have the touch, but I'd like readers to come back.

Looking forward to Universal

I've always wanted to go to Universal Studios. I've been to Disney World a few times and other neat theme parks, but never Universal Studios. I distinctly remember the 'coming soon' ads for Universal Studios Florida on vhs tapes we rented when I was a kid. It's always seemed just out of the reach of possibilities.

So, when the future Mrs Rob and I decided to take our honeymoon there this fall, you can imagine how excited I got.

Ironically, it's worked out in a funny way. I usually travel to a Transformers convention once a year. I've always entertained the idea of taking a year off convention travel and go to Universal Studios and ride the Transformers movie ride and shop at the attached store. This year, I was taking off traveling to a convention for my wedding. Somehow both ideas came together wonderfully, and it was her idea!

So adding to my excitement for my honeymoon, my excitement for Universal Studios, let's add in my excitement to really take in the Transformers ride. Despite the negativity in the fandom towards the movies, I've always had a lot of fun with each movies release. The ride and all its included fun has been very interesting to me. I've watched the ride through videos, and seen the pictures of the general attraction. It looks like a lot of fun to take in.

I already have the exclusive Evac figure (he's the ride vehicle!) thanks to a friend picking one up for me. But there is also a plethora of neat licensed exclusive items as well as some other movie figures in exclusive packaging to check out. Not to mention the recent news.

Recently news of the Cyber Battalion figure line, which was prior sold in such countries as China and Brazil will be sold in the US as a Universal Studios exclusive broke out. I've been wanting these simple, yet neat looking toys for a while now. Instead of ordering them, my plan has been to pick them up at a convention (either local or one I travel to). I figured that would be a fun thing to look out for. So needless to say, picking them up on this fateful trip will just be really neat.

So far the two of us have been giddy over all the fun we're going to have. She's looking forward to shopping in the Harry Potter area, I'm looking forward to the Transformers area, and we're both looking forward to all the fun the park offers. Sometimes it's kind of neat having a story that goes with a toy. These Cyber Battalion guys are going to be forever mentally tied to what's going to be an awesome time of my life.

There's something great about that.