Godzilla (Zebra Version) [Godzilla Scramble]

We're cracking open another Toho-flavored Monster Egg this week with another look at those wonderfully decoed Godzilla Scramble toys I'm so drawn to. I mean, really, can you blame me? Absurdly artistic color variations of a Godzilla Monster Egg toy by Bandai, sold gacha style? I never had a chance.

This one is an absurdly wonderful take, with a zebra colored Godzilla looking absolutely fabulous! I'm especially fond of his silver eyes. It's such a tiny detail, but it absolutely mesmerizes me.

Speaking of Bandai and zebra themed color schemes, it's been far too long since I've talked about M.U.S.C.L.E. or Kinnikuman here on the site. I'm drawn to think about them here because, back in the day, my favorite of the intergalactic wrestlers was Zebra!

*edit* the video for the post before whatever caused them to stop working is here*

Godzilla (Ice Cream with Sprinkles) [Godzilla Scramble]

@robfromzonebase Godzilla (ice cream with sprinkles) [Godzilla Scramble] #zonebase #godzilla #godzillascramble #blindbox #kaiju ♬ Halloween - Siouxsie And The Banshees

It's well past time that I've started talking about the Godzilla Scramble toys here on the Base.

Godzilla Scramble is a cool blind-box gacha line by Bandai utilizing their Godzilla Monster Egg toys in fun color variations. Series 1 is out now, and I've gotten a few of them and want to get them all!

These are great.

The color variations remind me of art vinyl sofubi and various pop art pieces, while I just love transforming egg toys. Not to mention, Bandai.

You say Bandai, I'm in.

Today we're looking at the Ice Cream Godzilla, or as I insist on calling him, Ice Cream with Sprinkles, because he has sprinkles and I love that extra detail.

Despite not normally liking sprinkles on my ice cream.

I initially thought he was supposed to be a cupcake thanks to those sprinkles, which is probably why I focus on them so much.

I'm neurodivergent. Work with me.

The mold used is the standard Godzilla from the Egg Monsters series, and I've talked about that a few times before here, so pardon me while I focus on the spectacular deco today.

Now, it's easy to just glance at this toy and write him off as just pink with sprinkles painted on his chest.

Which, frankly, would have still been awesome.

However, there are little swirls of colors floating around that add to the look and frankly just look nice. Godzilla is basically a living nuclear reaction, so he's going to melt that ice cream, and that's what happened to some of those sprinkles.

Those little swirls of color...

We've all made that mistake of adding sprinkles to our ice cream only to regret biting into the little shards of hard asshole particles floating around. Some people like the added texture. I prefer to enjoy my food.

My point is, those sprinkles tend to leave little swirls of color in your ice cream, and those little swirls of color look fabulous on this design.

Not to be left out is the slightly darker and metallic shade of pink used on his dorsal fins. I've seen multiple kaiju fans refer to those as sploots, which kinda fits on an ice cream-themed kaiju.

It just occurred to me that egg mode looks kinda like a scoop of ice cream.

That's probably unintentional, but I'm going with it.

The other color versions in Godzilla Scramble are fun too, and I plan to go more into those in time. This is a fun little blind-box series to collect that's pretty creative with some of the color versions and right up my egg-robot-loving alley.

I do hope future series utilize more monsters from Toho's catalog. Bandai has made plenty of them into Egg Monsters, so it's probably a safe bet.

Weekly Update 8/24/26 — Kaiju, and Dragons, and Gatcha Oh My!

It's time to start a new week of robots, monsters, and misadventures here on Zone Base! I hope everyone had a great weekend! Pumpkin Spiced Mayhem 2026 is chugging along nicely, with the fun just getting started. We still have two more months!

It's still August, which means there's plenty of fun ghost stories coming out of some Asian regions. Zone Base gets a lot of its readership from those areas, and I not only appreciate my friends from that side of the world supporting the site (thanks, guys!), but really enjoy their ghost season. As usual, I've been partaking in the various podcasts and videos from those areas and enjoying the spooky stories.

Japanese car camping videos are also a guilty pleasure of mine, and so many of them have been "Horror Camping" during the month. It's been fun watching people find themselves in scary situations while cooking ramen noodles in the back of their cars. 

Me? I've been busy getting my new place arranged. Being a graveyard-shift CNC programmer means I work some odd hours, so a lot of tasks like arranging shelves tend to wait until the weekend, and even then they have to wait until after everything else gets done. I'm setting up my new desk space inside the house while simultaneously organizing the storage space where the bulk of my toys are. Eventually it'll be nice, but right now it's just poorly organized chaos.

You know, I never think I have a lot of toys until it's time to move. Then I just stare at the boxes like I'm in that warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Transformers- It seems we're not done talking about Jada Metalfigs or blind boxes, as Jada Transformers Nano Metalfigs and Nano Rides have been spotted for sale individually in blind bags. Just when I was lamenting the glory days of individual Nano Metalfigs, they return! Hopefully they'll make an appearance at my stores soon!

Target has recently been expanding its blind box section, while Five Below, which has always been a good source for them, has started putting an even bigger emphasis on blind boxes as well. Hopefully the bags will pop up there soon, as I'd love to get some gatcha of my favorite characters!

A new Godzilla x Transformers collaboration also seems to be in the works, as listings for two figures have surfaced recently. Obviously, this is in part due to the upcoming releases of Godzilla Minus Zero and Godzilla Supernova. Part of me wonders if they're rereleases of the Takara ones from last year. Hopefully they're all new and... not a struggle to get.

A Target exclusive 30" Optimus Prime figure was shown off in conjunction with a Target end cap tied to the 40th Anniversary showing of TFTM next month. Here's hoping they don't vanish before I can get one. I'm looking forward to attending a showing of the movie and a trip to Target afterwards sounds awesome!

Blokees- The new Wheels Motormaster truck and trailer kit was shown off and I definitely want it. I would have never thought Wheels would be something I enjoy so much, but it is and I love these trailer sets.

Godzilla- Speaking of Godzilla, the new Godzilla x Hello Kitty collaboration Happy Meals have launched at McDonald's and they're pretty great! The toys are figurines of various Sanrio characters dressed as Godzilla and his fellow monsters. Kaiju fans are practically stalking their local McDonald's, just like with the Changeables from February. I'm going to spend some cheat meals with Ronald! Hopefully I get Rodan/Badtz-Maru!

Power Rangers- The MMPR Re-Ignition Dragonzord has been a hot topic lately. Like many of you, I felt his absence last year while completing the Re-Ignition Dino Megazord and was pleased, if not a little perplexed, to see Playmates offer it through a Kickstarter. I pledged right away on launch day, as I definitely need him to go along with my set. The base toy comes with a mini Green Ranger to boot, and there are plenty of add-ons and additional packages available when you pledge. Here's hoping he meets the goal!

The Re-Ignition Thunder Megazord is also now showing up on store shelves, and I'm looking forward to building it. The Thunder Megazord has always been a favorite of mine. Hopefully the blind box MMPR minis will show up soon, too. I really want those.

Man, blind boxes are all over this week's update.

The Weekend (written from my phone Monday morning)- It was a pretty low key weekend with not much going on. I hit a few McDonald's trying to get some of the Godzilla x Hello Kitty toys and got Rodan and Godzilla. Hopefully I can get more, my local stores aren't great and have some pretty terrible customer service, so these things can be tricky. A stop by Gamestop resulted in me finally getting some Godziburst figures and Godzilla Scramble eggs. I picked up 2 of each with plans to get more. I got the cupcake and Jet Jaguar Godzilla toys in the eggs. In Godziburst I picked up Plasma Space Godzilla and Formula Type 3 Kiryu. At Walmart, I grabbed 2 more Transformers Blokees Galaxy Version blind boxes from the Transformers One wave 2 case... and got Elita-1 and Starscream again... ugh. CVS sent me a great coupon for a metalic poster print that combined with rewards points was free. I've now got a great poster of the site badge (mobile readers, check out the desktop version!) and thanks to a slight scuff on the first print, got two! The scuffed one will go in the storage space as it gets organized. A little later after I originally wrote this, my mom stopped by and gave me a Wold Cup x Transformers Breakaway she had purchased on clearance. You know, I'm not a sports guy, but he's kinda neat!

I got some gaming in, dropping back into Resident Evil Requim after not playing it for too long and gave Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare for Gameboy (via Switch Online) a try and had fun with it. Definitely putting some more time into that. Built the Mrs's new hutch this weekend and more Blokees Wheels from the backlog. Well, I guess it wasn't the most momentous weekend, but they don't always have to be. It's time to get the week started Zone Base readers. Thank you all for your support. Please don't forget to share the site with your friends and be excellent to each other.

Jetfire (Robot & Vehicle) [Defender Version 05-Traitor to Tyranny]

It's clearly not a secret to anyone at this point that Jetfire's original toy was a reuse of a Macross Valkyrie, which was also getting used in Robotech. This of course led to his character getting named Skyfire in the cartoon and given a different look on the show. Various toys and lawsuits later and it's still a thing.

That leads us to today's really well executed Blokees Transformers Defender Version Jetfire, who's appearing in his G1 cartoon looks and I'm pretty happy about that as I've always liked that design. In Series 05-Traitor to Tyranny, Jetfire was released in robot and vehicle forms with a Special Armor Type available if you were lucky enough to get one.

Starting with the vehicle kit, you actually get a pretty neat little approximation of Skyfire's jet mode seen in season 1. It assembles pretty easily and features wings that can fold back similar to the Valkyrie Jetfire's based on. I probably should have taken pictures of the jet's additional features... but it didn't occur to me until just now that I should have. The jet has features, and some pretty neat ones.

For starters, the top can be opened which allows for a Defender Type robot mode Transformer to ride on top of Jetfire via two pegs. In addition, there's two pegs on the jet's bottom that allow it to be used as a jetpack. On top of that, thanks to those pegs and a few other ball joints, you can take the legs and arms from a robot mode Jetfire and recreate a Macross Gerwalk mode. That's a lot of features for this little vehicle that I probably should have showed off, but honestly I was more focused on how cool I think the jet looks. To further illustrate that, in the picture I used a piece of popcorn to prop him up at an angle. Tunnel vision.

The robot mode kit is pretty special. The Skyfire design really lends itself to the Blokees look and that really shines as a Defender Version. I specifically favor Defender Versions due to their proportions and smallness (the site's named after a Micromaster base, there might be something to that). That and Defenders have a lot of really cool features like all the gimmicks in Jetfire's vehicle mode kit for example, or the various combiners.

Not only can Jetfire interact with his alt mode kit in fun ways, but he's pretty visually distinct in robot mode too. Of course he's representing his Skyfire design, but that big honking backpack contrasts so neatly with those smaller proportions that it really looks fabulous. I'm glad these are smaller, not just because I lean towards smaller toys often, but because if this was a larger figure, the design would lose a lot of its personality.

It kind of reminds me of Skyblast, who of course was patterned after Skyfire, but the proportions are similar enough that I think a clever repaint would make for a fun conversion.

Of course he's fairly well articulated. For a blind box model kit that results in a mini figure, the range of movement is pretty impressive. Frankly, it's pretty impressive overall regardless of any of those factors. Jetfire has his Photon Missile Launcher and if you got the Special Armor Version, it also came with launching missile effects and a mounted forearm sword similar to his appearance in the War for Cybertron cartoon, which the kit is colored to match.

It's honestly pretty neat how Blokees managed to reference War for Cybertron, G1, and those Macross roots. Not to mention giving the Skyfire design Macross style gimmicks is really clever.

Ultimately, it's a solid case of why Defender Versions are so damn cool.

SG Sideswipe [Wheels 02-Wreck 'N Rule]

The Shattered Glass version of Sideswipe is one of those characters that's just chock full of Transformers trivia. On the surface, he looks like a version of Sideswipe who left the Autobots and joined the Decepticons (you could say he swiped sides). I've explained it before, but let's see if I can do it in a shorter version.

Originally there was a toy in Transformers Armada named Wheeljack who looked like traditional Sideswipe and had left the Autobots to join the Decepticons. Meanwhile, there was also a character named Sideswipe... who didn't look like traditional Sideswipe. It was a weird time.

Then in the early 2000's version of Transformers Universe, there were plans to use that Armada Wheeljack mold as a new version of G2 Drench. I had always liked G2 Drench's colors and loved the Armada Wheeljack toy, so I was super excited about this at the time. Unfortunately, it was canceled. A few years later, when Shattered Glass was introduced as a BotCon exclusive, Sideswipe made from the Armada Wheeljack mold in that canceled Drench deco was released. Needless to say, I was a fast fan.

I think the only version of SG Sideswipe I don't own is the Generations Selects version that I really should get. I clearly wasn't his only fan either as Sho Utsumi from SSSS.Gridman is heavily patterned after SG Sideswipe. Actually, most of the cast in that show is modeled after Transformers characters, which is pretty neat.

This incarnation of SG Sideswipe is from Blokees Transformers Wheels Series 02-Wreck 'N Rule. A 1/64 scale model of his vehicle mode. It's pleasantly small and the Solidex is satisfyingly used for the main car body shell. Really, the colors pop as it just looks so sharp.

The kit came together well. The universal chassis all Wheels kits seem to share connects to a skid plate type piece and everything builds up from there. A Blokees driver can fit inside the car's interior nicely and probably most Inchman style figures could as well. I'm moving, so I don't have time to experiment with this currently, but I really want to stick a Micro Galaxy Squadron Storm Trooper in there.

SG Sideswipe shares a mold with the Blokees Wheels Breakdown who is in the same series. I'll definitely be talking about Breakdown a little later as I assume the Stunticons will eventually be represented fully as Wheels kits.

Ultimately, this is a very slick looking little car and another great Wheels kit.

Ironfist [Wheels 02-Wreck 'N Rule]

The first kit I assembled from the Blokees Transformers Wheels Series 02-Wreck 'N Rule was this one, Ironfist. I'm not going to act like I'm Ironfist's biggest fan, but it's hard not to like him. I've gone over some of the confusion surrounding his original toy in another post from earlier this year. It's honestly hard for me not to remember all of that whenever thinking about him.

This Ironfist is another non-transforming blind boxed model kit from Blokees, who at this point are the main focus of my Transformers buying. Wheels of course represent the alternate modes of Transformers characters, and this one is firmly based on his appearance in the IDW comics where he's most popular.

What draws me to this the most is the resemblance to a Diaclone vehicle. I just want a fleet of these piloted by Dianauts. I can imagine that's possible too, as there's a little cockpit up front intended for a Blokees driver to pilot the vehicle.

This was one of the easier to assemble Wheels kits I've come across. Even with the small instructions that I sometimes have trouble with, I was able to snap everything together within minutes. The only trouble I had was these little bits that go between the wheels. Initially, I wasn't sure which way they were meant to be positioned as it wasn't very clear in the instructions. However, it became pretty obvious when I just looked at the damn thing. That was one of those moments where I said "oh... yeah" out loud and then looked around to see if anyone saw that. Thankfully I was alone at the moment. Something like that would go on my permanent record.

A nice touch is the cannon turret moves a little when the ammo drum is turned. That whole section can also be moved around so that Ironfist can aim his gun as well. I didn't notice any Solidex pieces in his construction disappointingly, but thankfully the vehicle is nice enough to excuse its absence. Seriously, I love Solidex.

Swerve and Gears [Wheels 01–Roll Out]

Swerve and Gears are a fun pair to look at together.

Originally, Swerve was a repaint and slight retool of Gears in the original Transformers toy line. Gears himself comes from a Microman Microchange mold, which in turn traces back to an unused Mysterians concept. There’s a lot of toy history baked into these two.

Now with Blokees Wheels, things come full circle. They’re clearly built from the same base, but this time they’re released together in the same blind box series instead of one being an afterthought repaint.

Personally, I’ve always preferred Swerve’s toy, but I like Gears’ character more. That mostly comes from their appearances in the original cartoon—Swerve barely gets a personality, while Gears gets a whole episode dedicated to being a grumpy ass.

Meanwhile, Swerve went on to become a fan-favorite in the IDW comics, and it’s his Cybertronian vehicle mode that this Wheels version is based on. Gears ends up being the repaint/retool here.

Blokees really did bring it all the way back around.

Even though they share a lot of parts, there are some nice differences beyond just color.

Swerve comes with his “My First Blaster” gun, which can mount on the rear of the vehicle. I really like how that looks—it actually reminds me a bit of the Sophia from Blaster Master. If you don’t want to use the weapon, there’s an alternate rear panel that gives him a cleaner look, closer to his original G1 toy.

Gears, on the other hand, leans more rugged. He’s got a roll cage with a spare tire, which gives him a totally different silhouette. He also includes a rocket exhaust effect piece that attaches after removing the rear bumper.

It’s impressive how something as simple as alternate rear sections and color choices can make two nearly identical builds feel so distinct.

The builds themselves are very similar, of course. The Wheels line uses a universal chassis system, so once you’ve done one, you’ve basically got the foundation for all of them. It makes assembly quick and pretty satisfying.

That said, the instructions are printed on the back of the included mini trading cards, and they can be a little hard to read. I’m honestly considering picking up a small magnifying glass for my modeling kit. Maybe Daiso has something like that—I take a weird amount of pride in grabbing medeling tools from there.

One thing I really like is that parts of the rear section are made from Solidex, giving them that satisfying die-cast feel. It adds a nice bit of weight and makes them feel a little more premium than you’d expect.

Both vehicles have opening canopies, although from what I understand, the Blokees driver figures don’t actually fit inside. That’s a little odd and I haven’t tried it myself yet. Maybe something like another Inchman style figure would work better.

It’s funny—I didn’t expect to enjoy the Wheels line as much as I do. As I’m writing this, I’ve got a box of Series 2 on the way and I’m basically chomping at the bit to get into it.

Blokees has clearly cast some kind of spell on me… and I’m not even trying to resist it.

Hedorah 2004 [Godzilla Collection/Blind Box]

Bandai's various blind box lines are pure love, especially when it comes to something like Godzilla and all his various cast mates. It's been awhile since I've seen this particular series at retail, maybe 2020. Fortunately, during a recent Popmart shopping trip with her friend, my wife found some and surprised me. I believe it's the same series as the ones I was buying in 2020, just in a different box. Luckily I pulled a monster that I couldn't find back then, Hedorah! Or as my wife calls it, that gross booger looking thing.

She's not wrong, the Smog Monster just looks like what it is... a pile of grossness. This figure represents it as it appeared in Godzilla Final Wars. I really liked that movie despite feeling exhausted after watching it each time. That's not a movie, it's a full throttle manic fever dream. Hedorah is about 3" tall with two points of articulation in the shoulders. It's very well painted and looks pretty close to screen accuracy. It's a simple blind box gatcha figue, but a pretty great one. Bandai just makes good stuff, you know.

Hagen no Zista? I hardly know you

One of the more pleasant discoveries while I was at Toylanta was that of a small gatcha/gashapon line of figures (and trading cards) by Bandai called Hagen no Zista. I knew nothing of this line before the convention and at the time of this writing still know very little. To be fair, the amount of this type of thing that completely escapes my attention is not uncommon. It's a much bigger thing than a single person can keep up. That being said, this is a cool little series that completely passed me by a few years ago and seems to be over... though I seem to be able to track down some of the stuff still. 

Hagen no Zista is a neat little line of robot mini figures with fun designs in mostly translucent plastic designed by Bandai. There's probably an accompanying fiction, but at this time I haven't learned of it. Knowing these kind of things, it's a typical good vs evil formula. There is some sort of card inside the boxed ones I bought, not sure if that's for a game or just a cool bio card (there seems to be associated trading cards). I generally appreciate when mini figures and keshi come with that sort of thing.

The blind boxed/gathca style figures are seemingly candy toys that regularly came with a chocolate. The ones I got had some apple gum inside that my wife convinced me to try. It was a pretty tasty apple flavored gum that I hope hadn't gone bad. I didn't get sick, so guess not. The Gashapon capsule I got seemed to be the same style of figure as the boxed on, just delivered differently. The figures are pleasant, articulated little robots in colorful translucent plastic. They have that Bandai look, but also look like they should have been from a video game. I could definitely see some of these in a LCD game like Digimon or an RPG.

The line has ended, sadly so because I'd love for these to still be readily available. That's the kicker when you discover something after it's over. There was an apparent successor named Robot Concerto. I can't tell if Robot Concerto is still going, but honestly, Bandai makes so many of this type of thing... there's always something else similar. The boxes for Robot Concerto look like Mobile Suit Gundam Ensemble boxes, so it's possible the team moved onto that. I'm partially stoked about Hagen no Zista as it's something that's clearly my type of thing. But also because, it's neat to discover something at a con. It's been a while since that's happened for me and I'm happy for it.

Hagen no Zista TV Magazine scans