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  1. Today
  2. mikeszekely
    While I love Dr. Wu's Micromaster-sized Extreme Warfare line, I've been a little more lukewarm on his tapes. His version of Squawkbox was a so-so Beastbox and kind of crappy Squawktalk that combined to make a pretty awkward robot. His version of Slamdance fared a bit better, but between tepid reviews and the fact that the G1 toy never released in the US I opted to pass entirely on Dr. Wu's Decibel. Perhaps they'd have quirks if they didn't have to have to worry about getting both an alt mode AND a combined mode out of a tiny rectangle? Still, it's nice that the good Doctor is covering those late G1 cassette combiners, because who knows when Hasbro would get around to it? It took them how long just to get a version of Buzzsaw out there, and we're just now getting Ramhorn (but only as part of a Target-exclusive package). And speaking of tapes Hasbro's not getting around to, we're still missing two that weren't just part of the US G1 toy line, but characters that had screen time in the Sunbow cartoon. So I'm turning to Dr. Wu once again for Brutality and Slaughter, his version of Slugfest and Overkill. Both figures are lacking the cassette decals the G1 toys had, though there's a case to be made that it makes for more cartoon-accurate "robot" modes. Then again, I think in the cartoon Overkill's biceps, thighs, and tail were white instead of blue, and like most Decepticons he had his eyes colored red in the cartoon, so they're still more toy-colored than anything. Brutality is very similar to G1 Slugfest, with the most obvious difference being that his legs are more on his sides that directly under his belly. Slaughter, meanwhile, stays mostly accurate to G1 Overkill but I feel enjoys an overall better shape and proportions than the G1 toy (ignore the fact that his tail is upside down, I fixed it later). While the early Siege tapes ignored (or in Laserbeak's case, half-heartedly integrated) their accessories, accessories are kind of the good Doctor's specialty. So naturally, this pack comes with all of the weapons needed for both bots. Brutality doesn't enjoy a ton of articulation. His head and tail can bend up, due to transformation, but it ways that break the sculpt. His head is on a swivel, though, so he can tilt his head like he's confused. All four of his legs are on ball joints that allow them to swivel at the hips as well as provide some lateral hip movement, but that's really it for him. Well, it's not like the Siege tapes had the best articulation, either. Brutality's weapons have tabs on the sides that fit into the channels that the sliders for his dorsal plates use. Slaughter, meanwhile, got all the fresh engineering and has much better articulation as a result. No neck swivel, but he can look straight up and tilt his head down until his chin touches his chest. His jaws open and close. His shoulders are on ball joints that swivel and give him about 90 degrees of lateral movement, plus he's got hinged elbows that bend from 90 degrees the anatomically-correct way to 90 degrees the wrong way. His hips are also ball joints for swiveling and some lateral movement, but not a ton, plus he's got a hinged knee and a hinged digitigrade joint. And if all that wasn't enough, his tail actually has a pair of hinges as well, which don't have a ton of range but still allow you to get a little bit of side-to-side curl. Slaughter's weapons have peg holes that plug into small pegs on his sides. Brutality is one of the most convincing tapes we've seen so far, due to all of the molded details on both sides. I think he can afford this luxury due to his pretty simple engineering; his head, tail, and dorsal plates transform exactly like the G1 toy. Really, the only difference is that there's a flap on either side that reveals a gap. His legs hinge into that gap and tab together before folding the flaps back down to cover them. Slaughter is where all the engineering went. His tail rotates 180 degrees and his head folds onto his back, then his entire body splits down the middle. His limbs arrange themselves along the sides, with holes in his ankles pegging the legs in place using the same pegs the guns do for dino mode. Finally, his tail splits down the middle and the halves re-fold at the edge of the "tape." I'm using that word in quotes because he resembles a tape less than even Siege Ravage, with one side largely a white expanse of hollow gaps and the other clearly dinosaur limbs. I'm not going to judge too hard, though, because that's been pretty par for the course not just for Wu but for Hasbro. No one seems to care if they actually look like tapes, so long as we've got little rectangles that fit inside Soundwave and Blaster. Wait... do they fit in Soundwave and Blaster? For the most part, yes, though Brutality is cutting it close. Aside from being right at the limit on height and width, he's one of the thicker boys. I was able to work him in there, but I'd be worried about getting him stuck with the door closed. End of the day, I think these are my favorite tapes that Dr. Wu has done, at least so far. Uncompromised by a combining gimmick, these guys focus on being the best dinosaurs you can get out of tiny rectangles. For Brutality that means fairly basic, very G1 engineering, but I'm not going to complain because he nails the look. And for Slaughter we get a dinosaur mode that beats the robot/animal modes of just about anything Hasbro's done so far, and if the tape mode's a bit messy that's still par for Hasbro's course. And at around $25 after shipping they're priced right around what Hasbro would charge for two Studio Series Core-class tapes, so what's good enough for Hasbro seems like it should be good enough here. So yeah, if you're a fan of Soundwave and want to complete his collection of tape-bot minions, Brutality and Slaughter do a very good job filling Slugfest and Overkill-shaped holes in your collection, and I'd give them a recommend.
  3. pengbuzz
    Maybe they can lampshade this in a later episode with Una growling "Don't remind me about that one!!"
  4. Papa Rat
    Hahaha.
  5. Big s
    Looks like a fun game.
  6. Thom
    I did like it and the resolution. That was a nice twist. As for the hair, maybe it was a turban..?
  7. Seto Kaiba
    Being trapped inside is fairly common, as are the safety protocols not working, but usually how it plays out is that some outside force somehow screws up the holodeck and the main characters have to stall for time while folks outside try to fix things or otherwise escape the holodeck through irregular means. I don't recall any offhand that required the characters to explicitly finish the program. I'm no style guru for sure... but that new hairstyle they tried out in "Shuttle to Kenfori" definitely has a lot of people saying it's not the right look for the actress. A lot of folks seem to think it looks less like a wig and more like some kind of weird hat.
  8. Yesterday
  9. Big s

    Wave 1/72 vf-171

    Big s replied to seti88's topic in Model kits

    That’s the odd thing is that no matter how packed the boxes are in most cases everything still fits easily in the boxes after construction
  10. Papa Rat started following Wave 1/72 vf-171
  11. Papa Rat
    That’s such a great design. Might have to order one. 🤤 I Don’t know too much about Wave, but I loved the couple FFS kits I built. I appreciate the box to be large enough to accommodate a completed model “with some dismantling if possible like removing arms, legs etc…” for safe storage until a proper display presents itself.
  12. Thom
    The first half of Wednesday Season 2 is out and I am enjoying it as much as the first one!
  13. Thom
    Malfunction in that they are trapped inside, have to complete the program and what they are doing is effecting the rest of the ship kind of way. Which is weird in that I prefer Janeway's original look with her hair down as well. Must be just a quirk of mine about women's hair. And I guess I could squeal about SPOILERS, but if they are teasing it even if I am choosing to remain not so.... oh well.
  14. Tking22
    Four episodes into the new season of King of the Hill and I gotta say, it's absolutely peak. I'd put this season up there with the best seasons, oh which most are, King of the Hill was always great, but for a long time coming revival this season is excellent. We're in the age of legacy sequels and revivals, some are great, some not so much, this new season of King of the Hill has gotta be one of the best revivals in TV history, not a beat has been skipped, it's firing on all cylinders right from the beginning. It's like slipping into a comfy old pair of shoes, everything is just right, nothing amiss, just absolutely peak King of the Hill, it's good to have the King back, I've really missed this series.
  15. Tking22
    I saw the leaked image of the box for the Icons Black Pearl and yup, I'm gonna need that, it looks phenomenal.
  16. Seto Kaiba
    Yep, I made a similar remark in my original response to the episode. They managed to work in a nod to TAS and do a holodeck episode in a way that not only doesn't contradict any prior series continuity but also provides an explanation for a remark made way back in season one of Voyager about holodecks having dedicated power systems incompatible with the rest of the ship. If only Star Trek: Discovery had showed half as much attention to detail, it might've been a vastly different and far better show.
  17. Urashiman
    Anyone seen mew pictures of this? Any news?
  18. Old_Nash_II
    New Samurai Warriors teaser
  19. Urashiman
    Almost there. hands, speaker gunpod and shield not done yet. all of a sudden, one runner after another fell. Kinda like, you reached the peak and then rolling downhill at incredible speed. I‘ll handpaint the white and yellow stripes on the head. It definitely is not an easy build, but my experience with robots/mech kits is… low. A few gundams, the plamax vf-1 and this one here. It looks really nice though. can recommend
  20. Chronocidal
    That's kind of the funny thing though, they're already way past that point in some cases. For the most part, I think the prices still tend to float around 10 cents per piece on average (lots of exceptions in both directions, depending on the size of the parts included), but they keep pushing out bigger and bigger sets. At the end of the day, I'm ok with spending more if I'm still getting what feels like my money's worth in parts. I think this might be pushing that envelope a little, but it's also just a set I really want to build to see how they made it (and how difficult it will be to convert it into a Nebula ).
  21. Big s
    Can you heat the hands with a blow dryer to get them soft enough to grip the weapons and then ice bath to hold the new pose? that was the trick for a lot of toys, but I’ve never opened one of the reactions
  22. Big s

    Wave 1/72 vf-171

    Big s replied to seti88's topic in Model kits

    For me, it was a few of the wave Votoms kits and they have a bunch of little runners instead of the bigger ones like Bandai and I would check out the contents, but I could never get the boxes back together without a bulge at the top
  23. Raikkonen
    Lego will continue to push the prices up till they hit that cieling where people drastically cut back on their product.
  24. Hikaru Ichijo SL
    Well, now it is 3 horrible episodes in a row. Can the writers not steal from other Trek. Get a new idea. Can they make 4. I liked season 1 and 2. Season 3 i such a let down.
  25. azrael
    Side comment. I gotta give props to the writer of this episode for doing their homework. The whole holodeck needing its own power supply came from Voyager and later, Picard. Physical characteristics based of the transporter's pattern buffer came from DS9 when they had to store the patterns in a large enough storage space (namely the holosuite). The duotronic computer systems of the 23rd century likely made independent holodeck servers infeasible but the latter 24th century isolinear systems made it feasible.
  26. danth
    As a Joe fan I look forward to seeing/hearing what you think of these!
  27. danth
    I picked up the Reaction+ Jinx, Falcon, and Cobra La Royal Guard. Jinx and Falcon are kinda rad but the Royal Guard definitely can NOT hold his weapon without breaking his entire hand. No idea what they were thinking with the completely different size hand holes. Falcon's hands are too open to hold Jinx's weapons so they just fall out. Jinx can't hold Falcon's gun, and her hand grip is so tight she can barely hold her own weapons. Seems pretty bad when a figure can't hold his own weapons, and figures in the same series can't hold each other's. Also I wish the Royal Guard had a little more texture because he's kind of boring. The original has little details all over.
  28. KOG Water Dragon
    I have that tightly packed issue with a lot of Kotobukiya (Armored Core) kits. Some Bandai kits too for that matter.
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