Venin/Venom [Age of the Primes/Deluxe Class]

I’m double-dipping into things I love with today’s toy. Both an Insecticon and an Armored Insect Corps Beetras update, Transformers Age of the Primes Venin is a treat for me. Of course, the name Venin is an alternate name for his real name, Venom. Despite the Insecticon Venom pre-dating the extremely more popular Marvel character… he’s only had three toys total. And there was a 29 year gap between the first toy and the second.

During those 29 years the trademark lapsed and Eddie Brock got the symbiote suit… and a ton of toys. Actually, that second toy and now this new toy are both named Venin, so it’s not too hard to adjust. However, venin isn’t just a made-up word — it’s the toxic component of snake venom and literally means “venom” in French. So it works, even if it doesn’t exactly make for the best character name. Much like the rest of the original batch of G1 Transformers, Venom was made from a pre-existing toy mold. The Deluxe Insecticons came from the Armored Insect Corps Beetras toy line. These weren’t from Takara, so they didn’t show up in the original cartoon. Venom was made from the Beet-Zeguna mold, though with very different colors. Interestingly, the Deluxe Insecticons do appear in their Beetras colors on the 1985 Transformers box art. Always found that neat.

Unlike his second toy which I love, this new Venin is a direct update of his G1 figure. The modern engineering gives us one well-articulated bug robot. His bright colors look as great as always. The Insecticons usually stick to darker palettes, so Venom having this bright green and orange with light gray robot parts really makes him stand out. Not just visually, but as a personality among them. It just looks great. His colors and helmet have always reminded me of Samus Aran — same era, so there was probably some shared visual inspiration floating around. Ironically, it occurred to me that one of the core reasons I like Insecticons and insect-themed robots is likely tied to my appreciation of bio-horror. Metroid itself is heavy bio-horror. And yeah, I am really looking forward to Metroid Prime 4.

Venin has recreations of his original toy’s electric-blaster gun and battle axe. I honestly forgot about the axe entirely since my G1 toy was bought loose and missing it. I really like it — it’s not your standard He-Man style axe. Both weapons store on the sides in beast mode. Speaking of, Venin transforms into a cicada. Being from the American South, I’m used to hearing these guys all summer. It’s generally pleasant… unless one gets on your window. Then it’s maddening. I once had one trapped under some porch furniture that screamed non-stop. When I tried to scoop it up, IT GOT LOUDER. I never thought flinging a bug across my yard would be so satisfying. Little bastard.

Transformation to bug mode is pretty easy. His arms fold into the upper torso while the legs fold into themselves. Then it’s just arranging bug bits into a pleasantly blocky robot cicada with the most adorable face. In beast mode, his wings and legs have decent articulation, and the weapons can store on the sides for added firepower. If there’s anything to complain about, his wings can get in the way in robot mode, and folding his arms into place during transformation feels like the toy is about to break. Some sturdier plastic would have helped. But it’s not enough to ruin the toy. I’m admittedly biased when it comes to insect robots and am loving this one unabashedly. It is a good toy outside of my affections, and it’s just great to see a new Venom figure. I wouldn’t mind finding this cicada on my porch. Well… assuming he isn’t loud.

Keizer Monday

Bloody hell, it's Monday again. Personally, I was having a great weekend too. Saturday the Mrs and I went Christmas shopping and Sunday we saw the newest Venom movie. Actually, I went Christmas shopping Friday morning too. The season is drawing near, meaning I'm going to have some extra busy days working in the holidays with my work life. I'm sure you will too, but no worries, Zone Base is here to keep you entertained with robots, monsters, and misadventure! This weekend will be extra hectic to prepare myself for next weeks Thanksgiving holiday break. Not just a hard work week, but some weekend work to offset the days off. No so great, but it will definitely make the time off sweeter. 

That being said, next week will have a little interruption in the normal posting schedule. There will be content, just not as much. I'm sure you all understand and hopefully you'll have a great holiday week too! I did get some great new stuff for myself while shopping. The Mrs picked up Studio Series Gamer Edition Ratchet for me last week, and I found Studio Series Gamer Edition Bumblebee and Monster Series Mechagodzilla while out Friday. Saturday was busy, but I did pick up Legacy Quake. 

Actually Saturday was kinda a little personal BotCon for me. I only got a few hours sleep. Bought toys, watched Transformers One and played Transformers Minecraft. I had some frozen pizza and fell asleep watching GIJOE.  Just like the old days! I'm actually planning to watch Gobots all day today and get a few weeks of toy pics for upcoming site posts. The holidays are wild times, and I'm sure to ring them in the only way I know how. By the skin of my teeth and keeping it gonzo as always. Thank you all for reading Zone Base. Next week will be a little different, but don't worry, it will return to normal soon after. I've got some fun stuff coming over the upcoming days, please look forward to it! Don't forget to share with your friends!

The most Final of the Factions

Two years ago I walked into that Dollar Tree on a cold November day and discovered a new toy line called Final Faction. Like other early adopters of the line, I was blown away by this really cool set of figures reminiscent of 80's and 90's action figures available exclusively at the Dollar Tree of all places. Final Faction has since grown to be something special in the toy world. I'm glad I discovered it organically just walking into the store.

It's neat to be on something from the ground floor and I'd never had thought something like a discount store toy line would ever be cool. But here we are, and here it is. I'm mentally drawing comparisons to other discount likes like Dragon Riders of the Styx and The Other World. Even with the thematic differences, it's great to see something similar happening again. Most discount lines these days are discount versions of mainline brands so seeing an original creation like this is refreshing. In 2003 the line will have the new Venom and Elite series. I'm pretty excited to see it continue.

Symbiotic Dark Cherry Liemade Brisk commercial

I really like Brisk. I can't say I drink it all the time, but pretty close to it. Ever since I learned of the new Venom themed Brisk I had to have it. Just right for Halloween time, just right for a Spider-Man fan, and just right for a Brisk flavor. Unfortunately I had the hardest time finding a bottle for no real reason, just my usual haunts never have it. Fortunately they usually have my favorite flavor, so I don't complain too much. So while out the other day running some errands, I found myself in a Family Dollar and what else do I find?

Venom Symbiotic Dark Cherry Limeade Brisk!

So I grabbed two bottles (it's only $1 a huge bottle) eagerly and stuck them in the fridge as soon as I got home. Bringing one to work with me, I could hear it calling me, demanding to drink it and have a taste. If you're not familiar with Brisk, let me give you a quick introduction. It's a half and half beverage by Lipton in partnership with Pepsi. A half and half is half iced tea and half lemonade of some variety. The Venom Brisk is half tea, half dark cherry limeade. I usually enjoy a good cherry limeade, so this was really calling out to me. Like a symbiote to a host.

How's it taste?

Pretty darn good. At first I wasn't too impressed with it, but over the course of the bottle began enjoying it more as sometimes with soft drinks, the first impressions aren't lasting. The dark cherry variation of cherry limeade is new to me and took a bit to get used too. It's a little sweeter than I anticipated, and the dark cherry dominates the flavor with the lime being more of a chaser. It's good. The dark color is really neat, I'm used to the more bright green of my usual Brisk so the dark red is really standing out. The color also fits Halloween time as it could easily pass for blood if ever in a vampire themed release.