M'Kyuun

Although I have a soft spot for Beastbox (love that little pink gorilla- still have my G1 set, and love Wu's update), compared to his Squawkbox, IMHO Wu's take on SlamDance translated into a more cohesive toy except for the precarious weapon attachments which could have greatly benefitted from stronger tabs. Be careful with them, as they're very small and their attachment is tenuous at best. That bit of frustration notwithstanding, I hope you enjoy them. I wish Tak/Has were doing the cassettes at this level, but alas, not even close, except for Legacy Eject. Wu's figs still enjoy better articulation but Eject is the best official cassette thus far in the Legacy scale. Their new Rumble was so close, but the lack of elbows was pretty disappointing. Like, c'mon man, just two more parts on the sprue could've given us ball jointed elbows, and that would've been awesome. I would have rather had elbows than the pile drivers. As much as I love the cassettes, I own nary a single copy of Slugfest or Overkill, so a new Dr. Wu set is very much welcomed for my CHUG collection. I'd love to see Keith (KFC) do an updated version as well in the OG micro-cassette scale. If they were to turn out anywhere near as good as his recent Ramhorn and Steeljaw, fantastic! And of course, I'd love for MMC to do their takes as well for the MP scale. In case you weren't aware, this set is coming from Fans Toys: Robot Paradise RP-01C Buzzsaw, Overkill, Autoscout & Slugfest Set of 4 - Show.Z Store (showzstore.com) FT's cassettes are OG micro-cassette scale, and with this set, I'll finally have my first copies of Slugfest and Overkill. I wish they'd put Ratbat in there instead of the pointless Autoscout, but I guess they need to keep him tied to Acoustic Blaster so people will buy him. Hopefully, they'll eventually do just a solo release of Ratbat or a two-pack with him and another recolored cassette, probably the Autoscout just to get their money from the mold.🙄 Just to add my additional $.02, I have both KFC's and FT's recent OG micro-cassette scaled Ramhorn and Steeljaw and I think Keith's versions are far superior. At that scale, I don't know how he could've improved on them, especially Ramhorn; they're just so well done. If Keith can replicate that effort with the dino-cassettes, yes please. I won't begrudge you Dr Wu's Extreme Warfare line, as it obviously has its fans or he wouldn't still be making more figs. Although initially I tried to resist falling down the legends rabbit hole, I've plunged, especially this month. I've spent a lot more than I should have filling the ranks with various figs from both MS and NA, especially NA's Dinobots (their Sludge and Swoop are excellent, their Grimlock not as good, but still ok IMHO- looks slightly undersized to me). However, I have holes in my cassette collection that I'd love to finally have filled in at least some capacity and, given how much quicker he's pumping these things out than anyone else currently, I'm hanging my hat on his continued production of these things. Moreover, he's making cassette teams that we'll otherwise not get if left solely up to Has/Tak, or really anyone else for that matter. Case in point: https://showzstore.com/drwu-mini-cassettes-impact-wave_p5895.html I know, not the Slugfest/Overkill team we both want, but it is a Dino combiner cassette team. And yeah, I know that pterosaurs aren't technically dinosaurs, but for the sake of simplicity, I abuse the term. These guys are based on Graphy and Noise, of which I had no familiarity until Pulse had the G1 cassettes for sale awhile back. I passed, as they were pretty expensive, had G1 Frenzy (cartoon's Rumble) packed in as a third wheel to raise the price, and had even more lackluster articulation than most other G1 cassette bots. Guess my waiting for better paid off as Wu's versions are vast improvements, especially Noise's articulation and most certainly Decibel's. I'm looking forward to their and the FT 4-pack's releases to fill some voids in my collection, and I continue to hold out hope that Wu will eventually plumb the entire library of G1 cassettes to give us improved versions in Legacy scale. Versions of Dile and Zaur would be awesome next to Overkill and Slugfest- a nice little menagerie of dinosaur cassettes. Beyond that, if Wu wanted to really get adventurous, he could do updated versions of Micro-change Battle Bike and Jet-heli from the Microman line along with his own mini Microman figure. It's a stretch, but dreams are free. If you're reading this, Dr Wu, do all the TF cassettes first please, and thank you most kindly. Cassette Machine Battle Bike HG90 (MC-08) (Microman, Microchange, VS/Unaffiliated) | Transformerland.com - Collector's Guide Toy Info Cassette Machine Jet Heli XL120 (MC-09) (Microman, Microchange, VS/Unaffiliated) | Transformerland.com - Collector's Guide Toy Info

I've been collecting Dr Wu's cassette bots, and I've been pretty impressed all around with the majority of them. As you say, despite their diminutive sizes, they're robust enough to be played with and they generally capture their subjects very well. The only non-cassette Wu fig I own is their take on Arcee. I chose Wu's over NewAge's, as I felt both the backpack and alt modes were better executed. However, I'm more into the cassettes, which are all done in Hasbro's new smaller-than-RW micro-cassette scale so they fit in with current figures only better engineered with superior articulation. Thus far, he's been concentrating on the cassette combiners which Hasbro seems unlikely to do, but eventually, I hope he'll move on to the regular cassettes like Ravage, Laserbeak, Rumble, etc. Ravage is my all-time fave of the cassettes, and I'd love to see Wu's take- I'm not expecting MMC levels of engineering, but if he could approximate what Keith did with his excellent takes on Ramhorn and Steeljaw recently, albeit at regular micro-cassette scale, that would be remarkable as I seriously doubt that Tak/Has will ever come close. I know Hasbro's planning a Steeljaw later this year, but again, after owning the travesty that is Ravage, I have little faith that it'll anywhere approach good let alone mere mediocrity. Dr Wu seems to be our only hope of decent Cassettes at the current scale. Have money, want cassettes.

My usual prejudice towards Cybertronian alts is manifesting with this fig. Just like most jetformers, the arms are right out there in plain sight. However, based on the trailer for One, perhaps the transformations at this stage in Cybertronian evolution are purposely more simplified. That doesn't please me, but holy heck, that trailer sure did. Many of my fears are relieved as the look and feel harken back to Prime. They're obviously leaning hard into the humor, and just from a few minutes of footage, it feels somewhere between Animated and Prime, and even a bit like the Marvel films in its tone. Setting the story in the deep past of Prime and Megs before either wore their destined honorifics, after seeing the interplay between them, essentially a buddy comedy, feels like a good decision. I like a good laugh like everyone else, but I hope this movie, like the '86 Movie, has a lot more to offer across the gamut of action and emotion. After all, we know how that friendship ended and if they choose to show that parting of ways in this film, there's going to have to be some substance there. I'm assuming both Prime and Megs are going to assume those names and their roles in the coming war by film's end, but if I had my druthers, the film would lead up to a fracturing of the friendship and a parting of ways only to continue the story of their developments and the development of the Autobot and Decepticon factions in a tv series. After all, there are likely thousands, if not millions of years of history between the events of One and the G1 series in 1984 in which any number of stories can be told. The friendship of Starscream and Skyfire. The forging of Megs' and Soundwave's relationship (why is Soundwave so loyal, and at what point did he develop the ability to carry his minions around within his body?) Are Cybertronians built in factories as base protoforms, lovingly crafted by Wheeljackian inventors, or some other methodology(ies)? Why did the bots who would become Insecticons leave Cybertron? Why is there such a vast range of size differences among the denizens of Cybertron? Will they finally try to explain mass-shifting as a technology rather than an artifact of animation cheatery? And on and on. A tie-in series to One presents an awesome opportunity to not only tell stories about our favorite bots early in their lives but also to explain some of the burning questions surrounding the characters and circumstances that remain elusive. I'd be down for a series like that, a deep dive into Cybertron's history with good storytelling and writing that appeals to kids but doesn't speak down to the older fans. Like Prime and Animated. Here's to hoping Hasbro will leap at this opportunity to tell more stories, create new characters, and sell more toys along the way. This could be the new G1, a perfect gateway into that universe for this generation of young Transformers fans who thirty years from now will still keep this franchise going strong. I hope it continues long after I've become one with the Matrix.

Just got these guys in this week. They are New Age's Rhedosaurus (Sludge), Freyr (Swoop), Herbie (Bumblebee), and Vanishing Point (Cliffjumper). These guys are tiny. a few reference pics. First a LEGO minifig for scale. Here they are with New Age's takes on fellow Minibots Powerglide and Cosmos. Sorry for the blurry pic. Here they are with G1 Huffer, the only OG Minibot I own. With Iron Factory's takes on a blue Cliffjumper repaint and their take on Huffer. Here are Rhedosaurus and Freyr with New Age's take on Grimlock. I also wanted Freyr (Swoop) in G1 toy colors except with a blue chest, but they only make a toy version with a red chest. So the blue version unfortunately has the toon coloration instead of the shiny paints and tampo. I love how that blue looks though. NA's Sludge stays true to the G1 toy's shaping and placement of the robot chest in sauropod mode, two areas where the Has/Tak SS86 deviated much to my disappointment. This take on Sludge is nigh perfect. Like the SS86, there are dino-specific front legs, which store in the bot's torso, used effectively. The sauropodian neck has two swivel joints built into it allowing for several degrees of motion omnidirectionally, the head can look up nearly 90 degrees, and the mouth can open about 30 degrees. The tail has three swivel joints allowing for some expressive left and right swishing. Bot mode has all the standard pose ability, including ankle rockers. He also has double jointed elbows for 180 degrees of bend, single jointed knees that extend well past 90. Paint and tampo are crisply applied and look amazing. Being partial to Sludge, the only Dinobot I owned as a kid, I love this figure. Freyr is no slump, either. As well as sporting an excellent range of articulation throughout in bot mode, his transformation skews towards the G1 toy where the arms collapse on themselves, the chest collapses upwards and inwards, and then the arms further collapse inwards giving his ptero mode a slimmer body. he's still somewhat brickish , but it's not as bad as it could be if all those things didn't collapse to thin him out a bit. Overall, he looks great in both modes, and again, I'm glad I got him. New age is killing it with their Dinobots and I'm excited to get their takes on Slag and Snarl when they release.

I'm catching it on Sat the 18th with the wife. I seldom go to downtown Spokane (parking is expensive), but as it happens, the mall with the theater playing Transformers just got a LEGO Store last year, so that and eating somewhere where we don't usually frequent are additional draws. Kinda wish they'd come up with some new animation for this instead of just playing a few eps of the old toon (as much as I love it), but I guess we have Transformers One to look forward to in the fall. I hope it's good.

I doubt they were referencing other toys, as Lucasfilm would provide them with reference materials, not to mention they look grey in the films, and LEGO was still fairly isolationist in its approach to media. The OG Kenner TIE was white, and that would have made more sense to me than the blue and black which never matched the Kenner toys or how the actual filming models looked onscreen. Again, I just chock it up to LEGO's weird choices. However, I remember that Action Fleet TIE; I like that color as a way to distinguish it, besides the forked wings, from standard TIE fighters. Almost wish they'd made the current TIE Interceptor set (75348) a similar shade of blue, but they went with standard light bley.

CW from top left: New Age's Freyr (Swoop), Rhedosaurus (Sludge), Herbie (Bumblebee), and Vanishing Point (Cliffjumper).

Alas, all good things... Such a good show. Looking forward to how they wrap it up.

For its day, it was an impressive model. There were virtually no curved or rounded bits back then and most of the System scaled TIEs were essentially cubes with panels. That they were able to coax a somewhat ballish cockpit section for that model really elevated it above the smaller sets. The blue and black color scheme always made me scratch my head, but it may have come down to the cost of the colored plastics. This was back when LEGO was struggling financially, and I've heard over the years that black was the cheapest color for them to produce, so maybe that was a factor. But then again, they did the Millennium Falcon and AT-AT sets in grey, so who knows? It was just one of those weird LEGO decisions from the past. Fortunately, they're much more concerned with accuracy these days and they've got the financial wherewithal to do pretty much what they want.

Wotafa's reviews always evoke a smile or a laugh. I don't speak Nihongo, but his enthusiasm and presentation carry the message clearly. This is a guy who really likes toys and has the personality and skill to show them off in a light and enjoyable manner regardless of language. Gotta say, Takara did a good job with OG Wheeljack. Sure, his bot mode is a little compromised to fit all those panels, but in this case, I'd prefer all the panel-fu over his just being a big shellformer where the entirety of the vehicle mode maybe split into two parts and folded into one another. This guy's engineering took ingenuity and manipulating all those leg bits to form his boxy Cybertronian hover-van mode is satisfying. Love, too, how, like the toon, his arms form the front of the vehicle. They didn't need to add his shield, or his little propellers, but they did to complete the scene, and I appreciate that. The proverbial frosting, though, is being able to fit OG Bee, after folding the outer bits of his hull, fully into Wheeljack's vehicle mode. Again, they could have just phoned this fig in, but they went the extra mile to bring him as close to the animation as possible at this size class and I think they did an admirable job. What he lacks in accuracy in bot mode he makes up in sheer fun factor, play experience, and nostalgia. I think most G1 fans will be happy to have him. I surely am.

Yeah, I've seen MOCs that do the ball section better, but I think they're trying not to copy anybody else and put their own stamp on the design, not to mention make the build experience more interesting. However, as it's a display model, I'd prefer they just went with what looks best. I have the OG set still in all of its blue and black glory (still wonder what they were thinking going with that color scheme for TIEs for years when light and dark grey existed), and my need to collect everything LEGO Star Wars cooled off years ago. I wish there was a LEGO lending library where you could check out a set just to build it for the experience and then return it. But maintaining the integrity of the sets would be extraordinarily difficult even if you kept the sets in-house. Sure, I could buy the set, build it, and then sell it, but what a hassle. I'm better at buying stuff than selling it, which is why I own so much crap. 😄

I've played most of the Fallout games since Fallout 3, and it captures the look and feel of those game very well. Kudos to the location scouts for finding so many real-world derelict and dilapidated places to film. In Fallout, the environment is as important to the game as any other element, and they did an exceptional job of capturing those areas and set pieces in the show to resemble game environments. Ella Purnell does a great job as a cheeky adorable Vault dweller who leaves the safety and naivete of her vault on a quest. Aaron Moten, in turn, gives an enjoyable performance as a member of the Brotherhood of Steel with his own issues. Not to be outdone, Walton Goggins chews the scenery in both his pre-bomb life as a popular actor, and post bomb life as a ghoul bounty hunter. Moreover, just like in the games, the Vaults hold secrets and surprises. My wife and I watched the first six eps today, and we're planning on finishing it off tomorrow. My wife has never played the games, so I give her a little bit of backstory as we go along, but she's into the show regardless due to the strengths of the storytelling, the incredible visuals, and well-acted roles across the board. Def hope this gets another season or two. It's fun to visit the Fallout universe in this format.

I wish I could be so enthusiastic, but I have no expectations for this at all. Nevertheless, I'm curious to see the trailer if only to get a feel for it. I hope it's good.

Classics are classics for a reason; there are qualities to those films that have had an effect on people that have made them extremely popular for various reasons and that are difficult to recapture in an update or a reboot. The simple answer to reboot madness is to do original stuff and leave the classics alone. Sequels are another category where sometimes less is more. I wasn't aware of a Jacob's Ladder reboot. That's a film that I never would have even pegged for reboot material. The original gave a pretty haunting look into the life of a post-Vietnam veteran's dealing with delusions from what we today would call PTSD and likely exposure to all the chemicals we dumped both for defoliation and psyche-ops. Tim Robbins gave a great performance. No need for a reboot.

Interesting. I'm guessing they're going with a tank mode, as a pistol at that scale would be ludicrous except in the hands of someone with gigantism. (Sadly, Andre's no longer with us). Moreover, there's the old chestnut with gun restrictions. I'm still curious to see what they pull off. Robosen have proven themselves extremely adept at doing what seemed impossible- making Transformers toys that can move autonomously and transform on their own. As I get older, more and more I get to see what was once sci-fi become reality. Fantastic!