Halfway 2 Halloween~ Wickedly Walgreens

Buying your costume from the local drug or grocery store was a pretty common thing back in the day. However, since the advent of big box stores, not so much. There's still a mask or odd vampire fang, but what's really great about these stores during Halloween is the random neat stuff they'll have. Walgreens has always been a haven for Halloween. Every spooky season it's a must stop shop and I'm sure many of us are taking a swing through their seasonal aisle while picking up prescriptions and imagining when it'll be covered in pumpkins and skulls.

He Ratchet

While running a few errands this weekend I stopped by Walgreen's hoping to find the exclusive Bluestreak. While they still didn't have him, I didn't walk out empty handed either. Walgreen's had begun their Christmas set up and as usual the Authentics Bravo figures were with the extra stock. I quick look through them and I found the newer Ratchet figure. 

I'd been looking for this guy for a little while now, so it was good to finally find him. That's the thing with these discount store figures, they're made for stores that don't heavily restock their toy sections throughout the year. Unless you hit up a random Walgreen's or Five Below, the discount stores might not get any for a while. 

Ratchet is a Bravo class in the Authentics discount line. That means he's the smaller 3" toy as opposed to the 7" Alpha class. These run around 5-6 dollars. I got Ratchet for $6.50, which is pretty fair for a toy bought at a drug store. I almost didn't recognize him at first. I'd gotten so used to never seeing him that upon seeing him... I just stared at it for a minute.

 

At this point I shouldn't need to point out that these little discount toys are not going to be the caliber of a Cyberverse or Generations toy. If they were a little smaller in Legion size, maybe. But they were making a larger toy toy and with a lower price so there's going to be some concessions. Ratchet is a budget toy through and through. He's pretty basic.I know what I was buying and like oddball things like this. These are a quirky side item to the normal Transformers toys I buy. A fun and weird diversion. Ratchet is hollow, flimsy, and a little funky looking and that's ok. I know a 35 cent cup of noodles isn't the same as a hibachi restaurant.

Honestly Ratchet isn't terrible looking. Maybe a little sharper head sculpt and a little more mass in those arms and he'd be a much nicer looking toy. With these proportions he reminds me a little of Armada Hot Shot. As is, he's fine. His head is made from a different material than the rest of the toy. Several of the Ratchets in the little shelf box at Walgreen's had yellowed already. I picked out one that was in better shape and I suggest you do the same. I don't know if it's a lighting thing or just discolored cheap plastic. It was pretty weird though. 

 

Ratchet folds naturally into his ambulance mode. It's a nice little ambulance that's naturally bare on details as paint tends to cost a little higher than a shoe string budget. What painted details he has though looks pretty good. Noticeably lighter in this mode, but still rolls fairly well. Or he did on the TV table I took this picture on. I had just eaten some leftover pizza. It was pretty good.

As far as these little discount Transformers go, Ratchet isn't too bad. It wasn't that long ago that a Transformer from a discount store was a bootleg that often broke in your hands upon opening it. An official toy for the same price is a good trade off. The line itself is a fun little side quest and a fun occasional diversion. Just neat enough for the price and simple to fiddle with while watching TV after eating leftover pizza. Which I did.

Transform Squadron 11: Destroy

Listen Here!

Rob talk's Stranger Things 3, Halloween decorations at At Home, SEGA Mini Goodness, New Godbeast and Battle Tribes waves, and Walgreen's Siege and Power Rangers exclusives!

Power of the Primes Wreck-Gar

I was really happy to find this years Walgreen's Exclusive toy on the way to a Pumpkin Patch with my wife. Weirdly enough, the annual Walgreen's exclusive Transformer has become a big deal for me. It's one of the bigger moments in Transformers toys for me each year and Wreck-Gar is definitely a good choice. Using  Combiner Wars Groove as a base mold, Wreck Gar has a new head and includes his axe weapon from the Reveal the Shield Wreck-Gar toy. Since this is a POTP toy, Wreck-Gar comes with a POTP Primemaster armor hand/foot unit.

The Walgreen's Wreck-Gar Saga continues

In what has seemingly become a legendary adventure, it's seems Walgreen's exclusive Wreck Gar is soon to becoming a reality. My main man at Walgreen's shot me some more info regarding the release. Like the past 2 Transformers exclusives, Wreck Gar will be available in the fall/winter.

Credit: Homeslice from Walgreen's

That date implies an arrival of September 28th 2018, though considering it's in a deluxe shipment, that's not a hard date (so settle down if it's not at your store until a little later). The past two exclusives have been making appearances anywhere from October - December, so this shipping date falls in line with the same general expected time frame.

Also of note, looks like the smaller Authentics figures will be making an appearance at Walgreen's too. Hoping this leads to a few more molds, I'm sure enjoying the silly little things.

Form ratchet Devastator!

It occurred to me that many of you might have assembled your Constructicons from various thrift stores, loose seller boxes, or random bootleg toy sets. Assemble those mofo's into Devastator! Actually, if you've got a bunch of mismatched parts, even better! Know what? If you've got some Frankenstein creation of a Devastator, send me a pic (include a link or something for the pic) with some details and I'll highlight it here on Zone Base. I don't know just how many of those K.O set Devastators I have, but man there's a million! I've seen folks mix and match parts just to form a Devastator and it's usually great! I still regret not building that Walgreen's multicolored set from around 2003 (that joker was diecast!).

The Walgreens Wreck-Gar saga keeps on saga'ing

There's been a slow trickle here, a little drip there regarding the Walgreen's exclusive Wreck Gar I've talked about here before with nothing more than some pictures popping up a little while ago of a Combiner Wars Groove repainted and given a new head as Wreck Gar to go by. While everyone assumed it was more evidence of this cryptid of a toy seeping out, still no one really knows anything. Well, some official pics of the toy have found there way all over the internet (you can see them at any TF news site or group) and boy is this toy a weird one. You got CW Groove with a new head and deco to be Wreck Gar. Then you have the Generations/Reveal The Shield Wreck Gar's weapon (from around 2010/20111). Then instead of CW hand/foot pieces, you've got the POTP hand/foot/Prime armor thing. The former makes sense as it's released in POTP, so might as well tie in the gimmick. The mold makes sense as it's a completely compatible combiner limb deluxe that turns into a motorcycle. Not to mention, the CW molds are recent enough to not be lost in a warehouse somewhere. But man, that axe thing is out of the blue. Realistically, they could have used the hatchet from other CW deluxes to give Wreck Gar his trademark axe, so it's a little weird to pull a weapon tooling from so long ago out of the storage abyss.

I'm sure the toy will be available in the fall as the past two Walgreen's exclusive Transformers have been. I'm looking forward to it too. I quite likes Combiner Wars deluxes and Power of the Primes as an evolution of the idea. Not to mention, I just plain like Wreck Gar. So as usual, I look forward to that evening this fall when I take a break from work to visit my nearby Walgreen's and grab this guy and a pack of gummy worms.

Cyber Battilion Sideswipe

Stopping by a Walgreen's Saturday morning, I was happy to find the new Cyber Battalion Sideswipe toy. I've been really looking forward to getting this guy as he's just plain good looking. I mean look at those colors! I've always been a Sideswipe fan, so a solid new toy of him wasn't a hard sell. One thing I like about Cyber Battalion figures is the box they come in. Many Korean releases come in similar boxes and I've always liked it.

Sideswipe uses the same base skeleton as the Prowl toy, but with new car parts and head. This car mold is one of the better Cyber Battalion toys, so it's a good base for a car bot. Many have noted he looks more like Windcharger, and he sure does look like the Reveal the Shield version of the character. It doesn't really bother me as one of the things I like about Sideswipe is how his basic form is so universal (like Prowl). It just lends itself to being reused as other characters. I coudln't help to notice how close his head is to the MP Sideswipe toy. While there's no mistaking a more simple children's toy for a Masterpiece, that head really looks like the MP head. I wonder if they reused the mold or made a mold from from it (it's happened before). Either way it's a good looking toy.

Some folks have a hard time getting around an obvious G1 looking Sideswipe turning into a car that resembles his Robots in Disguise incarnation. To me it looks like a choice made for kids who may recognize the RID version while leaning towards the more traditional (that Evergreen buzzword we've been seeing so much) looking Transformers. Regardless, it looks good. The shape of the cars hood invokes a Lamborghini to me and I wonder if that's intentional. If Cyber Battalion continues, I could easily see this toy (or the Prowl version) being made into other characters as it's such a versatile looking mold.

I like these big chunky figures, there's something really pleasing about them for me and hey... why wouldn't I want that?