Happy Labor Day!

It's not just Monday, it's Labor Day, meaning I'm enjoying a 3-Day weekend! Personally, I could use the break. Don't think just because I'm taking the day off that things around the site are going to slack off. Nope, regular posting resumes tomorrow. Know what? Since Labor Day is a holiday for those who work, let's take a look at some robots who do a lot of work building things! While we're doing that, the Halloween party is still going strong... and your local stores may have started stocking their Halloween stuff now that Labor Day is signaling the end of summer and beginning of fall. Thank you all for reading Zone Base. I put a lot of work into the site each week without any ads or pointing to tip jars. Nope. All I ask is that you share the site with your friends and to be excellent to each other. Weird huh? Mutual High Fives everyone!

Combine into New Week

Gang, another week has begun. Like you, I'm not a fan of Mondays, but that also means another week of fun here on Planet Zone! I had a pretty good weekend. Did some weekly shopping and picked up Studio Series Game Edition Megatron while out. Ate some great salad and my favorite grocery store sushi. We watched The Nun 2 and took down the Halloween decorations in the yard (boo). The Mrs made us an excellent chicken dinner Sunday night and I got an errand for Christmas done. In all a productive weekend, but still fun. Right now I'm enjoying some coffee and watching Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla. I've noticed my company has some commercials playing on the Godzilla Channel. I know it's probably part of an advertising program, but it still makes me happy. Thank you for continuing to support Zone Base. I've got a fun week planned, so please be sure to share it with your friends. 

The Dark Pharaoh's Curse

I don't know if it's been noticeable, but I've got a really big toy back log. This isn't a problem, and if it is, it's a good problem to have. Because it gives me plenty of material to work with here. Speaking of here, today we're talking Machine Robo. You know, Gobots.

I have two boxes of Mugenbine I bought in 2019, Mugen Saga to be exact. Machine Robo Mugen Saga is a series of Mugenbine candy toys Bandai has been putting out the past few years. Dark Pharaoh here is the 'evil' version of Mugen Pharaoh and released with a new Arthur Paladin (I'll get to him later) in the same series. Mugenbine's gimmick is that every robot can combine with each other. The possible combinations are only limited to how many you have. It's pretty neat.

The specific team that makes up Dark Pharaoh is the Dark Five God Beasts. Individually: Dark Anubis, Dark Sphinx, Dark Ra, Dark Scorpion, and Dark Sobek. I'm pretty sure you've picked up on the that it's an Egyptian themed set. You may have also noticed it's dark. Dark Sphinx comes with a tiny pilot figure. The human pilot is a designation of a good guy as the robots without pilots were turned evil.

There's not much of a story to Mugenbine outside of a few blurbs of text and commercials (maybe a pack in manga). Mugen Pharaoh has a Buildroid so presumably he's a good guy... but this is Dark Pharaoh and dark versions are traditionally evil. Because of that and based on the teams individual forms, I've mentally classified the them as newer Devil Invader members. Because I like Monster GoBots and they pretty much fit the bill. Just look at how disapproving Lorraine Warren is towards Dark Pharaoh in the top picture. That's not just because I was watching spooky shit on Discovery+ either.

The set is pretty great and no matter how slick the combiner looks, the individual members still feel like old school GoBots. It's a nice balance between new and old. The combination isn't a simple affair, you literally have to completely dismantle the team and assemble it from all the parts. Not to mention, these are candy toys. Which are basically model kits that need to be individually assembled themselves. Opening up each members box, assembling, and then assembling Dark Pharaoh was almost an all night affair. It was a lot of fun and I've got three more teams waiting in their boxes. Good thing I've got Discovery+ and Doordash.

Maybe Dark Sphinx's pilot is a ghost. Ooh SpOoKy!

Visual Kei Robots or when I name something for no reason

I was thinking today about a specific look in robots and don't think I quite know how to word it. I really like the visuals of beast themed robots when drawn a certain way. Compare Beast Wars Neo to Beast Wars season one. The season one gang is very traditional Transformer in looks and design. Beast Wars Neo designs have a particular flair, look at the picture of Break for example. Homeboy is pretty and he knows it. I'm definitely fond of both looks that I'm poorly describing. It's a style all it's own that I just want to appreciate a little right now.

The look isn't cemented in a certain time frame or series either. Look at the Lio Kaiser members in Transformers Victory. These designs are pretty similar to Saint Seiya or Ronin Warriors. Maybe it's a particular look or style that I just don't know the name of. I'm just a fan not an expert. Think I'll just refer to them as visual kei robots. Because they're glam rock. I got my order of Mugenbine candy toys in today and the box art just got my brain going. I'm not a very stylish man, I dress painfully casual. But dude, I can appreciate those fancy pants robots.

Let's all get our Multiple General Node Combine System's on

Boy, it's hard to get my mind back on track after the Christmas break. My work schedule is all wonky for a while (still got New Years next week throwing things off) and my sleep schedule is complete off track. I'm normally a little confused about what day it might be, but right now I'm just lost.

One cool thing about the days after Christmas is buying neat stuff with gift cards you might have received. I've spent such funds on things like another year of Nintendo Switch Online, Siege Astrotrain, something for the future of the site (nope, not telling yet), a few others things... but relating to this post some way cool Mugenbine sets.

Mugenbine, for those not in the know, is a series of Machine Robo (Gobots) toys chock full of combination. I'm pretty excited to get them and hope they get here sooner than later (free shipping from Japan means around a month). In my excitement I thought I'd look up some commercials and found this compilation. It's one of those things that make you wonder, if Gobots would have continued on here...

Mugen Police