mikeszekely

You saved my vacation!

I know nothing about Shenzhen IO, but I've been to the actually city of Shenzhen. It's not that great. You're better off crossing the bridge and going to Hong Kong, or if you want to stay in the mainland (Hong Kong is nice, but doesn't feel particularly Chinese) go to Beijing.

Plug the mouse, keyboard, and one or two other devices that stay plugged in all the time into the back, then use the last port to connect a powered 7-port USB 3 hub in. I mean, that's what I do, anyway.

Top to bottom: FansToys Phoenix FansToys Soar, FansToys Scoria, FansToys Grinder, FansToys Stomp, FansToys Sever Takara MP Ironhide, MMC Occular Max Terraegis, Takara MP Optimus Prime, Takara MP Ratchet Takara MP Bluestreak, Takara MP Sideswipe, Takara MP Sunstreaker, Takara MP Prowl, Maketoys Downbeat, Takara MP Wheeljack, MMC Occular Max Sphinx X-Transbots Boost, Cubex Huff, BadCube Grump, Takara MP Bumblebee, BadCube Brawny. EDIT: Almost missed what looks like FansToys Willis peaking between Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.

It could be. I didn't go with the Retroarch option, but I saw attached there's a compatibility chart. I don't know if that list is supposed to be just what compatible with the original emulator or not.

No stones here. You like what you like; no judgment, no need to apologize. Personally, Transformers that don't transform aren't really my thing because I got into Transformers as a 4 year old whose dad bought him Sideswipe because a cool cat that turned into a robot was mind-blowing to 4 year old me. But I can rationally appreciate the additionally articulation and stylization to can get in a toy that doesn't have to make any concessions to turn into a car.

Who's being subjugated? This isn't TFW; Macrossworld is a much smaller community, and a lot of the regulars have been posting for 10+ years. Like any little group, we have our in-jokes. We were pretty open about it; we're not trying to be exclusive. By the same token, no one is forcing you to call Drift Peg, either.

This is true. At the time, Peg was a better character to have a toy of than Drift.

Yeah, he was a good toy. He released (in the States, anyway) before he'd even shown up in the comics, though, so I guess people were passing on him because no one knew who he was. Hasbro should try doing a new version of Peg now, since people actually know him now (and he was pretty cool in More Than Meets The Eye and Empire of Stone).

It's starting to turn up in stores. So far I've been able to find the red, green, and yellow lions at Target.

Years ago, when the Hasbro Drift was in stores, there was some discussion of Drift shelfwarming. Someone said something about there being pegs full of him, and another board member, in a moment of confusion, thought we were saying that Drift's name was Peg. I gleefully latched onto that, swearing that Drift would be known as Peg forever more at Macrossworld. And thanks to a few people like JB0 who seemed as amused as I was, the name's stuck.

Is there a mode of transportation you don't possess better than average knowledge of, David? Ok, well the points stand. Sunsurge and MP-12 have black paint on the designer's badge and the NACA ducts (brake cooling, or engine intakes?) that the door handles hide in. MP-39 lacks that (and most of the other black vent paint), as does MP-12+.

Mine shipped today. No way it gets here before we ring in the new year, but I should have him late next week.

I'd caught some reviews of the recently released MP-39 Sunstreaker, and although the reviews were quite positive (Andrew at The Chosen Prime said he thinks it tops Megatron as the best Masterpiece release so far), I actually came away disappointed. While there's definitely a lot there to like, I think everything about the head sculpt looks terrible. But worst of all is his back. Now, I don't always have a problem with backpacks, but MP-39's isn't just large. It hangs below his waist, with chunks of spoiler dangling down over a prominent butt flap. In fact, I was so disappointed that I mentioned that I should just buy Sunsurge, BadCube's year-old take on him. Then someone PM-ed me with a tempting offer of a new-in-box copy for $55 shipped, I bit, it arrived, and now here's my final review of 2017. Well, I think his feet are a little wide, or the base of his shins too narrow, take your pick. I'm also not a fan of the way his shoulders are kind of stuck so that his arms are held a little too far out from his body on gray parts. The fake roof chest is a bit of a cheat, but considering that Takara seemed to think it was a good enough cheat to copy and Omnigonix showed that using the actual roof doesn't necessarily work I'll give it a pass. I don't really have much more in the way of aesthetic complaints, at least not from this angle. Indeed, there's a lot to like here, especially the headsculpt complete with ear ridges and the little red and silver details on his black shins. Also, note how the faux windows have a blue tint to match the cartoon. He looks about perfect next to MP Sideswipe, and I think that's really all you could ask for in an MP Sunstreaker. BadCube crammed a ton of accessories into Sunsurge's box. You've got his silver-painted rifle and a pair of chromed missiles. You've got an alternate face with a smile (vs the stoic expression on the default face). You've got Chip Chase and his wheelchair (not sure how Chip became associated with Sunstreaker, but it's an accessory that both Omnigonix and Takara also included with their Sunstreakers). It's an ugly piece that's going back in the box, so I'm not even going to bother with Chip's articulation. You've got a tiny screw driver and a little baggie of screws. And, just in case you didn't care for the G1 toy-accurate chrome spoiler and engine intakes (and chrome rims), BadCube included silver-painted parts. Personally, I like the silver paint, and swapped the parts in between taking pictures and writing this. Sunsurge's articulation is above average, I'd say. His head is on a hinged swivel so he can turn his head, look down just the tiniest amount, and straight up nearly 90 degrees. His shoulders have soft ratchets at the torso that allow him to droop his shoulders a bit, or to work in tandem with the ball joints inside his shoudler armor to extend his arms over 90 degrees laterally. His shoulders also rotate on those ball joints. His biceps swivel. His elbows are double jointed and allow his arms to curl all the way up; the lower joint is a friction joint that gives you 90 degrees and the upper joint is a soft ratchet that gives you 90 more. His hands are typical for MP cars with a fixed thumb and all four fingers molded as a single curled piece pinned at the base knucles. His waist can swivel. His hip skirts are hinged to move out of the way so his hips can move 90 degrees forward, 90 degrees laterally, or 60 degrees backward on well-toleranced friction universal joints. His thighs swivel around the universal joints. His knees are double-jointed and ratcheted at both ends for an extremely deep 160-ish degree bend. Even his ankles are double-jointed, with a ratched hinge at the top of the ankle and a ball joint inside the foot. They combine to give him 45 degrees of upward tilt, 90 degrees of downward tilt, 45 degrees of inward tilt, and even a small amount of outward tilt. He holds his rifle very securely using a fairly common system of tabs on the handles fitting into slots on his palms. As for the chromed missiles, you can flip his hands back into his forearms to reveal little tabs, and the missiles peg onto the tabs. Alternatively, there are small posts on the sides of the rifle and holes on the sides of the missiles, so you can attach the missiles to his rifle. From behind, Sunsurge does have a bit of a messy backpack. It's one of the reasons I held off on him for as long as I did. I don't think it's as bad as the official's though. Plus, you can use the pegs on the sides of his rifle to mount it on his back if you like. While we're back there, the official transformation has you fold the side windows all the way down against the door before tucking the door along the side of his legs. However, you can leave them out when you tuck the door in then fold them over his calves if you prefer. Personally, I think it helps fill the backs of his legs out a bit, but I don't care for the way the black on the windows breaks up the yellow, so it's a wash. There are also little pegs back there to store the missiles on. Unfortunately, if you want to store all his weapons you have to put one of the missiles on the rifle, since it blocks one of the pegs. Without the rifle, though, you can set the missiles up like a jet pack, and I think it actually makes his back look better. And here we have his alt mode.. Notice how the real windows on the car are tinted black, so they're a better match for MP Sideswipe (assuming you have the first version and not the newer cartoon-style one). BadCube actually did a good job keeping the car as close to Sideswipe's as possible, with the same rims, same black paint in the door handles and vents, same black side mirrors, same molded windshield wiper, and even that litle black line under the door handle (I think it's supposed to be a running light or a reflector). Even the overall dimensions are very close. I want to talk about his transformation here, because I'd heard that it was with Wardog and Sunsurge that BadCube started to get their reputation for overly complicated, fiddly, difficult, or otherwise not fun transformations. Instead of just looking at the instructions like I normally do I watched the transformation portion of Ben's (of Ben's Collectibles) review because Sunsurge's rep scared me. And maybe part of the problem is that BadCube's instructions seem to leave out some steps. But all-in-all, it's not that bad, guys. The hardest part is getting the clearance to get the back of the car over and between the split halves of the spoiler. Getting his backpack and flanks situated properly is where I'd expect most people to have the most confusion, but once you do it once or twice it starts to seem obvious and transforming him starts to seem fairly easy. Of course, he's got the modded rear that Sunstreaker had, including the engine intakes, faux hinges at the rear edges, and round tailights where the original toy's shoulders pegged in. That makes the rear of the car arguably more cartoon-accurate, but I must confess that I do wish he had MP-39's ability to swap them out for the actual Countach tail lights. He does roll, and his tires are rubber. The handle on his rifle folds up to allow you to plug it into a notch between his engine intakes in a manner very similar to MP Sideswipe's. If you choose to put the missiles on the sides of the rifle, they can rotate on their peg to make it look like they're surface-to-air missiles for taking out Seekers. The rifle itself can't really articulate in vehicle mode. Without handling MP-39 myself I can't give it a fair shake. Going entirely off of how they look, I feel like Sunsurge is a better match for the original MP-12 Sideswipe, while MP-39 is a better match with the new MP-12+. I think both Sunsurge and MP-39 have things I like and dislike about them, aesthetically-speaking. Looks only tell part of the story, though, and without posing and transforming an MP-39 I can't definitely say that it's worse, a little better, or miles better, which makes giving any sort of buying advice difficult. What I can say is that Sunsurge is a very good toy, easily the best BadCube figure I've handled. He looks the part in both modes, and the transformation isn't as bad as it's made out to be. A year ago, when he first came out and he didn't have any competition (or his only competetion was Spinout), he'd have been an easy recommend. On aesthetics alone, I want to say that if you already have a Sunsurge there's no need to upgrade. I want to say that if you think MP-39's head and backpack are bigger aesthetic sins than Sunsurge's shoulders and feet like I do, or you find the discounts people are offering on Sunsurge these days more palatable than MP-39's price tag, that Sunsurge is a perfectly worth alternative. I can tell you that I don't regret my purchase decision in the slightest. In fact, I like him in hand better than I thought I would. Of course, it's possible that I'd like MP-39 more in hand as well. I will say that the fact that its so difficult to decide a clear winner, and the fact that I'm hesitating to recommend a figure this good because there's a possibility of a better alternative are loud reminders that it's a great time to be a Transformers fan.

Oh. The same day I got the Sunsurge I ordered because I was so disgusted with MP-39's back.

If Nintendo follows through on their stated intent to re-release the NES Classic in 2018 I will try very hard to get my hands on one, because the same process used to add games to the SNES Classic works on the NES Classic. I'll do the same thing, cram it full of all the best NES games it was missing and make it the definitive NES experience (for me). Between the NES and the SNES classic my gaming youth would be pretty well covered.

OK, now for some thoughts on the SNES Classic. As I mentioned previously, I was a Nintendo kid growing up (although never at launch; I got my NES in '87 and my SNES in '93), so YMMV but I was instantly struck with some seriously strong nostalgia just by the box. And inside the box, you get the console, an HDMI cable, two wired controllers, an AC adapter, and a micro-USB cable. The console's power jack is actually micro-USB, which is handy because you can use many other chargers or even power it from the USB port on many modern TVs. It'll also come in handy for another purpose, which I'll get to in a minute. The console itself is a nice but not totally faithful replica of the SNES I had as a kid shrunk down to a size closer to an Apple TV or a Roku than the original SNES. Plastic quality seems fine, but the bottom is smoother than a real SNES and the controller ports and cartridge slot doors are just molded detail. Ditto for the eject button. The working power light is in the right place, though and then there are the Power and Reset buttons. Both work identically to the original, with Reset sliding up and springing back while the Power button moves up with a satisfying click. The Power button turns the console on, just like the original, but this time the reset button is for brigning you back to the console menu, where you can save your game state to one of four slots per game or pick a different game. As for the controllers, they're faithful recreations of the original SNES pads, except the ends are the kind of connectors that plug into a Wiimote instead of actual SNES controller plugs. Sadly, to plug them into the SNES Classic you have to pull the panel with the molded controller ports forward and down, revealing the Wiimote-style jacks behind them. The cords on the controllers are fairly short, and the controllers don't have any sort of buttons needed to return to the menu, forcing you to get up and use the Reset button on the console. The interface is for the SNES Classic is simple and effective. A happy chiptunes jingle plays in the background, and you use the d-pad to scroll horizontally through the 21 included games. Each game has the original box art and icons to indicate the number of players and which if any slots have a save state. Underneath is a smaller representation of all 21 games with an arrow to indicate which game is in focus. You can highlight the game you want and press Start or A to launch it, or you can press down on the d-pad to see what save states you have. From in a game, pressing Reset will bring you back to this interface except you'll see a tiny screen with wings indicating the game state currently in the RAM. To save press down, to get into the save state window, use the d-pad to pick a slot, and press Y. Then you can either go back into the game or pick a different one to play. Super Nintendo emulation at large is pretty good these days, so it should come as no surprise that the emulator built into the SNES Classic runs great. Playing a game like Mega Man X with the same controller I used back in the day felt just like I was in the 90's again. Everything felt spot on. Now again, as a Nintendo kid, I can't really argue that any of the games on the SNES Classic aren't all classics that deserve to be there. If you had a SNES back in the '90s you almost certainly had at least a few of the included games and most of them hold up really well. The catch is that there's just 20 SNES games from the '90s plus the unreleased Star Fox 2. And I think that's the SNES Classic's biggest problem. While a case can be made that 20 excellent games and some nostalgic feels are worth the $80 price of admission, another case can be made that you might already have a lot of those games on a Wii, Wii-U, or 3DS Virtual Console. Or that you'd rather have a Switch Virtual Console library. Or that you could just fire up a SNES emulator on your PC/smartphone/Android TV/PSP/whatever. And in those cases you'd probably have access to many of the just-as-classic yet not included games. Like, the SNES Classic has Final Fantasy III (VI) but not II (IV), Mega Man X but not X2, X3, or Mega Man 7, Super Mario World but not Super Mario All-Stars, Donkey Kong Country but not its sequels, not to mention that there's no Chrono Trigger, no Turtles in Time, and no Super Bomberman. Fortunately, if you're feeling a little adventurous it's extremely easy to add games to the SNES Classic with a tool called hakchi2. The tool itself will provide a series of prompts walking you through the process (just be sure to use the tool to back a backup of the system's default kernel in case something goes awry or you otherwise want to restore it to its factory state). While you can apparently do things like install Retroarch and run emulators for other consoles, add new borders for the emulation window, or replace the menu background music with a little work simply adding more SNES games to the built-in emulator is as simple as telling hakchi2 where your ROMs are. It'll process them into the right format, plus give you a chance to add cover art and edit name, publisher, release date, and number of players (although those fields will be auto-populated if hakchi2 recognizes the rom and you can even Google search for cover art within the tool itself). When you're ready, you simply hit the button that says to copy the games to the console, wait a minute, and you're done. Once loaded, you'll see a folder icon added to the default games. Opening it will reveal the games you added (although, depending on how many games you added, you might have half and another folder for the other half). The games are displayed identically to the built-in ones and most run fine. I personally added around 56 more games, which is pretty much every SNES game I'd want. Adding games to the console makes it a definitive SNES experience for me, and definitely makes the console a worthwhile purchase if you can find one.

Ok, I got a little time with the Genesis Flashback HD. And... it's ok. The interface looks nice enough, but the way it operates is weird. There's two areas; on the left is a list of sections, and they basically break down to the cartridge slot, favorites, Sega Games (which are not all Genesis games, but also include Game Gear and Master System games), Sonic Games (which also show up in the Sega games), Mortal Kombat games (MK1-3, which oddly do not show up in any other category), and Bonus games, which are basically shovelware crap like Snake that AtGames can use to make the "85 Games!" on the front of the box technically correct by padding the 40-something Sega and MK games with stuff you will likely never play. You scroll through those categories using the B and C button on the controller. The d-pad only moves between the games in a given section. As far as hardware goes, while the Flashback HD is smaller than the original Genesis 1 that it imitates, it's still much larger than the SNES Classic. I think, from what I recall, the Genesis 3 was smaller than the Flashback HD. It weighs way less, though. It feels so light I was afraid they'd packed an empty console shell in the box until I peeked into the cartridge slot. Aside from the console, you'll find the AC adapter, an HDMI cable, and two wireless controllers in the box. The controllers are a little small and the buttons are mushy, but I didn't have any problems playing with them. Two minor irritations I have are that it uses AAA batteries (seriously, use AA if you're not going go rechargable!), and that to open the battery compartment you have to remove a screw first. If you don't like the packed-in controllers, you can always use actual Genesis controllers. I happened to have an old 3-button pad laying around, and despite some people online claiming you have to have a six-button, it worked fine for me to navigate the menu, launch Sonic the Hedgehog, and finish Green Hills Zone 1. If you use real controllers, aside from having a wire you're missing out on two functions built onto the AtGames controllers. They have two extra buttons, rewind and menu. Rewind takes the game's state back six seconds. Potentially useful, I guess, but I didn't try it. The other, as you might have guessed, opens a menu. You can save your state, load your state, change state slots, toggle a scanline filter, or quit the game and go back to the console menu. All of that worked like it should on the two games I tested (Sonic the Hedgehog and Golden Axe III). Now, there's a menu button on the console itself, and in theory it works the same as the one on the controller. In practice it was really wonky, bringing up and closing menu before I could do anything and causing glitches in the game I happend to be playing. As you're probably aware, rather than clone the original hardware AtGames is using an emulator, and it's OK. Offhand, I've seen better Genesis emulation, and I've seen worse. To be honest, although I'd play sometimes at friends' houses, I personally never owned a Sega system until the Dreamcast, and I'm honestly not familiar enough with how any of the games played on the original hardware to nitpick. Suffice to say there was sound, and it seemed ok (but not as good as Kega Fusion on my PC), I didn't notice any slowdown or flickering that wasn't present in at least Kega Fusion on PC or MD.emu on Android, I didn't have any noticeably (by me) input lag, and again I had no trouble completing Green Hills Zone 1 (and 2, but I quit after 2). That just brings us to the games themselves. Aside from Mortal Kombat, it seems like it's mostly (all?) 1st party Sega games. If you were a hardcore Sega fan back in the day there's probably stuff you're going to find that it doesn't have that you wish it did (Jurassic Park, the X-Men games, all the sports games that helped sell the console in the US). From my POV as a Nintendo kid who didn't feel like he was missing out on anything besides Sonic, it's adequate (although, oddly, no Sonic 3. Music licensing, maybe?). Sonic 3, TMNT: The Hyperston Heist, and Castlevania Bloodlines are the only games I really wish it had, although it'd have been nice to get Streets of Rage, Shadow Dancer, Mutant League Hockey, Splatterhouse, and Mega Man: The Wily Wars. Of course, there is that cartridge slot. I don't own any Genesis carts to test, but in theory the Flashback HD is a console that can play your old Genesis carts on a modern TV. This week, while my wife is on vacation, I might even swing by some of the shops that carry older games and pick up a cart just to try it out. All-in-all, if you already have a Genesis and a CRT, stick with that. If you just want to play a handful of Sega game, especially ones that aren't included, you're probably better off running an emulator on your PC. But if the model 1 Genesis gives you nostalgic feels, you like 1st-party Sega games like Sonic, Golden Axe, and Shining Force, you have some Genesis carts laying around, and you're absolutely stuck with a modern HDMI TV then the Flashback HD isn't bad. It's just not great, either, and OK might not be enough for you open your wallet and drop $70-$80 on it.

I'll post some thoughts when I've had a chance to mess with it. I also got a SNES Classic today, so what free time I had today I spent running hakchi2 and adding more games to it.

I've watched a few reviews for MP-39, and while they all speak pretty highly of it (Andrew at The Chosen Prime suggested that it's not just the best choice for an MP Sunstreaker, it's his favorite MP from Takara so far), they basically convinced me to buy a cheap Sunsurge. As always, it's just my opinion and YMMV, but I cannot get over his backpack. It's like, yes, Sunsurge has a backpack (the real roof has to go somewhere, eh?), and it's kind of messy-looking, but MP-39's is large and leaves the halves of the spoiler hanging down over a prominent buttflap made from a chunk of the hood. A part of me wants to say "who looks at the back anyway?" but it's such an eyesore to me, I really can't get over it.

No SD slot. Just the cartridge slot on top and two jacks for original Genesis controllers on the front.

Even if my retailer got them in stock tomorrow I doubt I'd get mine before 2018. I got something else today, though. This is (the reissue of) Andras, X-Transbots take on a Masterpiece Scourge. That sure is a Scourgy-looking fellow. The very light blue could have arguably been white, but I think it's actually a fairly good match for the cartoon. Similarly, the primary blue clor on him could have been a little more purple. The goatee, the collar, the pink finger tips, the red tips of his toes, the dark inside of his wings, the darker stripe in the middle of his chest, all present. His wings have the correct scalloped shape, something I've yet to see any other version of Scourge manage. His got the light knees with the blip of darker blue, the light diamond shape on his thighs, and the light ridged areas on his forearms, biceps, and abdomen. His got the circular bits with the red in the center on his shoulders, hips, and the inside of his ankles. really, he's just missing the ones on the outside of his ankles, and the his calves are the super light blue/white instead of his primary blue, but I'll forgive him because this guy had to transform somehow. I guess the only other thing I'd note is that the eyes are a little dead, but this is due to a light-up gimmick. If you have the right batteries, a switch on the nacelle on top of his head will cause it and his eyes to light up red. Nitpicks aside, aesthetically this is a very accurate Scourge. Size wise, he's maybe a smidge taller than a Seeker, and a head shorter than DX9's Tyrant (and presumably Sovereign). That seems about right. Andras comes with a flight stand, a rifle that's very evocative of the G1 toy, and another gun that looks kind of stupid and not very accurate to the G1 version. It is, of course, his Targetmaster buddy, Rimfire, aka Fracas. Rimfire's robot mode looks a lot better and more accurate in robot/humanoid mode. He sizes fairly well with Carry's Targetmaster, yet is taller than MP-08's or MP Artfire's and much taller than Contact Shot's. Sorry, I don't know how his size compares with any other 3P Targetmaster. As far as articulation goes, Rimfire can swivel his head. His shoulders are on ball joints in his chest for rotation and some lateral movement, but he's also got a detented hinge for lateral movement as well, allowing him near 180 degrees of total lateral range. His elbows are double-jointed and can curl all the way to his biceps. No bicep, wrist, or waist swivels. His hips are ball joints and can move forward, backward, or laterally about 90 degrees. You can also twist the thigh on the ball joint for just a taste of thigh swivel. His knees are also ball joints, so he can swivel there and bend 180 degrees. His feet are hinged and can move up a bit and down a lot, but no ankle tilt. His heel spurs are on a separate hinge. All-in-all, he makes for a pretty neat little robot dude. As for Andras, his head is on a swivel for turning. I think there might be a hinge in his neck, but his up/down range is basically nonexistant. His shoulders rotate on ratchet, and a hinge gives him 90 degrees of lateral movement. His biceps swivel. He's got double-jointed elbows that curl all the way to his bicep. His wrists can swivel. Each finger and thumb connects to the hand via a tiny ball joint. The thumb has one additional pinned hinge, and each finger has two, so his hands are fully articulated. His waist has a ratcheted swivel, but getting more than one click in either direction requires messing with his backpack. His hips ratchet forward a little under 90 degrees and backward about 45 degrees. They move laterally on friction joints a little under 90 degrees. It's worth noting that on my copy the friction on the right hip feels good, but the left hip is a little loose. His thighs swivel over the joints, so they don't break up the sculpt of the thighs. His knees are double-jointed. The upper joint, a friction joint, only bends a little, but combined with the lower ratchet joint you can get just a bit over 90 degrees. Then there's his feet, which are kind of weird. There's a ratchet at the top of the foot that can tilt his foot up and down. His heel has its own ratcheted joint to move it up and down. The front of his foot has a friction hinge that moves it up and down, and his toe has another friction hinge that moves it up and down. How well Andras stands is determined by how you manipulate all four joints. Get any of them off a bit and he'll tip over backward, but if you get them all in just the right position he could remain standing in an earthquake. There's also a hinge for inward ankle tilt. In theory he gets an extreme 75+ degree tilt. In practice, the hinges in both feet are pretty weak, and the weight of the figure and the position of the hinge tend to push the foot back into a straight position. His wings do have some articulation. That can rotate back and forth at the transformation hinge, and a ratcheted swivel lets him spread his wings about three clicks. Both of his weapons have tabs on the handles that are meant to fit slots on his palms. In my case, the slots in his palms were slightly too narrow. Once I sanded them down a bit both guns fit very snugly into his hands. If you don't want them in his hands, either gun (but not both) can be stored on his back. Andras has a few other gimmicks, and I do mean gimmicks. The first is a door that opens on his chest, revealing another set of doors. Once they're opened, you'll have a cavity that you can fit MP-10's Matrix into. This door can also be accessed in vehicle mode. The other gimmick is that his abs flip open to reveal... well, it's supposed to be the key to the plasma energy chamber. Except I remember the key being more pyramidal; in some scenes it looked smooth on the sides, in other scenes it was a step pyramid, but it defintiely seemed to be a square base with four sides to me. This non-removable thing in Andras' tummy is round with little bumps. It looks to me like he's keeping a little coil of cyber-poop in his tummy. Andras turns into... whatever Scourge turned into. Starship? Rocket sled? Space boat? I dunno what it is, but I dig it. Even as a kid I lamented that the new Autobots weren't real cars anymore, but I always liked Scourge's (and Cyclonus') alt mode(s). And Andras is nice and cartoon-accurate again, with the deck sweeping upward to a taller nacelle flanked by two lower ones and the intake vents on the sides. My one and only complaint about this mode is that while the very light blue/white is correct, the regular blue and the dark blue are inverted. His alt mode should be the same color that dominates his robot mode, while the tips of the nacelles and the two lighter panels should be the same dark blue as the inside of his wings. I wonder if XTB did it like that because the blue they used for his primary color isn't purple enough? One thing to be aware of is that almost all of the very light blue is actually paint, and due to how the panels lock together I've already noticed places where the paint is wearing off. XTB put Andras' head on a sliding pole inside his body. What this does is allow Andras to stick up his head while in alt mode, so you can recreate those scenes where he did it in the show. Flipping Andras over, we can see that he's got fold-out landing gear and lots of molded, painted details that I assume are some kind of thrusters for VTOL. If we open one side up, you can see that there's a little notch that you can tab his rifle in. Unfortunately, there's not enough space to fit his Targetmaster in there, but still I love me some out-of-the-way weapon storage that isn't just plugging the gun into the top of the vehicle. Of course, being a Targetmaster, plugging a weapon into the top of the vehicle is part of the gimmick, and XTB has you covered there too. Since both the Targetmaster and his rifle uses the same kind of handle you can plug in his regular rifle instead, if you so choose. As for his flight stand, there's a tab at the top. His crotch has a spring-loaded panel that pushes in, revealing a slot that fits onto the stand's tab. There's one thing I have to talk about with this figure, and that's the transformation. For the most part, it's pretty simple. However, there's one thing that's a significant issue and that's is feet. Basically, the very front of the vehicle are his calves, and in alt mode they're folded out 180 degrees. To transform him, you fold them in about half way, then you're supposed to stick a finger in there and jam his feet out before folding them the rest of the way up. The problem is that his feet are folded up in just such a way that what you're really doing is sticking a finger into a confined space to push on a hard ratchet as you force the foot through a gap that has the absolute minimum of clearance to do so. It's awkward and frustrating, and that one element kind of sucks the fun out of what would otherwise but a simple and fun transformation, and it was totally avoidable. All XTB had to do was put another hinged panel at the base of the part to allow it to open up more and give the foot more clearance. Wrong alt-mode colors and frustrating feet aside, I'm going to give Andras a recommend. Simple fact is (and despite XTB's reputation), Andras is still a well-built, adequately articulated figure that absolutely captures Scourge in robot mode. Inverted color aside, he nails the alt mode pretty well, too. I don't see anyone else lining up to do an MP Scourge, let alone an MP Scourge that so completely captures the character. Now, should someone like Maketoys, Fans Toys, or DX9 come along with one eventually I'll be curious. I'll try to see how it shakes out, and it if it turns out to be better than Andras I'd upgrade. But if they don't, I'm pretty content with this one.

Rogue Squadron. Meh. What I really want is TIE Fighter II.

I'm getting one for Christmas. I'll let you know.

So I've been trying to explain how Christmas works to my two year old. For over a month I'd ask her what she wants for Christmas and she'd either say, "Uh... I don't know," or "Presents!" Out of the blue the other day she's looking at an ABC book. She gets to "Y" and she suddenly gets up and brings the book over to me. "This is a yo-yo," she informed me, pointing to the picture in the book. "I want a yo-yo to throw on the ground. A red one. For Crimmas." Needless to say, while my wife took her to see Santa, I found myself braving the crowds at TRU to see if they had any red yo-yos. I didn't find any at TRU (although I did find her one elsewhere, don't worry!), but I didn't want to go home empty-handed. So I bought myself MPM-3 Bumblebee. In some ways, I question designs are even possible to translate into truly screen-accurate toys that still transform (although Unique Toys is possibly doing the best job of it). And while I don't know if this is the most-accurate Bumblebee toy ever, mostly because there were like a thousand of them and I stopped caring after the second film, I think HasTak made a pretty solid effort here. Obvious details like the shape of his shins, the toes, his head, etc, are all correct, but they went the extra mile vs stuff like Battle Ops Bee here by hiding the tires in his feet, bending panels around to give him his second set of door wings, giving him his little collar antenna, etc. If you look at the GCI model, he's even got yellow details in basically the right spots on his arms and abdomen. He's even got a tiny Autobot symbol on his forehead. If I have one complaint with his aesthetic, it's that the yellow plastic is a little light. Not that it's showing up that way in pictures. If I have two, it's that they were kind of sloppy with the paint. MPM-3 is roughly Voyager-sized, so bigger than G1 (ok, 2) Bee, and way smaller than surprisingly still good Battle Ops Be. If you're wondering how he stacks up with non-Bumblebee figures, he's roughly as tall as an MP car (official or 3P), and comes up to about the lights on MPM-4's abs. I think that's pretty accurate. Bee's sole accessory is his Stinger blaster. I mean, I guess it's ok. It's got silver paint with some sloppy yellowish paint in the barrel. I appreciate that they gave you a way to store in out of the way on Bee's back when you're not using it. Bee's head is on a swivel at the base of his neck so his head can turn, but because the base is at an angle turning his head also sort of tilts it. A hinge at the base of his "skull" lets him look up and down with pretty decent range. I like that when he looks up more of the sculpted neck is exposed instead of a gap or a plain post. His shoulders rotate on super soft ratchets, and can move laterally 90 degrees on a friction hinge. An additional transformation hinge gets you a little extra lateral motion. His biceps swivel, and he's got friction elbows good for 90 degrees. His wrists can swivel. His thumb is hinged at the base and at the mid-kuckle, but the lack of a swivel at the base means that he can never put it into anything like a relaxed pose; it's either tucked in for a fist or giving a thumbs up. The rest of his fingers are similarlly pinned at the base and the mid-knuckle. His index finger is separate from the other two, which are molded together. His waist can swivel. His hips can ratchet forward and backward over 90 degrees, and laterally (also on ratchets) a little under 90 degrees due to the yellow panels on his hips getting in the way. His thighs swivel. His ratcheted knees bend 90 degrees. His feet can end up and down a little, and inward a little under 45 degrees, all above the tire in his foot. Additionally, the front of his foot (that is, the yellow toe and the diecast protrusion from the top of his foot) can also tilt inward or outward, and his toes can bend up and down. His heel spur can also bend up and down. The only problem is that he's a little back-heavy, and despite the length of his heel spurs the friction joints in his ankles are a little weak. It's not impossible to keep him standing, but his inclination toward leaning backward is a little annoying. His Stinger can only fit on his right arm. Simply open the yellow forearm panel, fold in the fits, then fit the Stinger over the wrist by lining up the two holes on the side with the holes on his wrist. Then, when you close his forearm panel, the tabs that usually go into his wrist will go into the holes on the Stinger. And, although I think that's pretty common on Bumblebee toys these days, you can lift his forehead and fold his battle mask down over his face on a double-hinge. Camaro mode. I mean, yeah, that looks like a Camaro to me. The alt-mode scale doesn't quite work with G1 MP Bee, but I think that's G1 Bee's fault. There's some details, like the brake vents, the front bumper, and the fog lights that are different than on Battle Ops Bee, but I think that might be due to running changes between the Camaro used in the first movie vs the Camaros used in the sequels. More size comparisons. Car gurus might nitpick, but I think he looks fairly correct with other MP cars. He's definitely too big compared to MPM-4, or MPM-4 is too small whichever. Bee should be a little less than half Prime's length. Again, I think this alt mode is pretty accurate to the movie. Unlike a lot of Bumblebee toys that either go for silver rims or unpainted black rims, the rims here are painted a nice gunmetal. The tops of Bumblebee's feet are kind of showing in the back, but it's mostly forgiveable. Again, my big complaint is how sloppy the paint is. The Chevy logo in the rear is a muddy mess, and the "Camaro" on the sides looked worn off out of the box. The tires are plastic. If you look at the underside, I think that looks pretty good too. I mean, if you know what you're looking at, that's obviously Bee's arms, hips, crotch, and shins, but if you're not super familiar with how Bee looks they come across as random mechanical bits that aren't immediately recognizable as body parts. Bee's Stinger can also be stored in this mode by splitting it down the middle and tabbing it into the correct notches. He still has the clearance to roll with it pegged in, and I prefer this method of out-of-sight storage to MPM-4's method of pegging everything into his hitch. Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of the Bayverse aesthetic. After 10 years, though, the Bayverse Bumblebee and Optimus are are part of our cultural zeitgeist, arguably more so than their G1 counterparts. To that end, if you want a version of this Bumblebee in your collection that qualifies as a Masterpiece I'd say this version will do fine. The paint could be better, and tolerances in his friction joints could be better (and for all I know the Takara-box version does have better paint and joints), but this toy looks the part in both modes, has reasonable levels of articulation, and has a fairly intuitive transformation to boot. His $80 price tag also seems pretty reasonable for what you get.