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mikeszekely

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  1. mikeszekely
    But Pulse doesn't charge your card until they ship, so you won't fee the Overgear stuff until December... when you're trying to buy Christmas presents. I just went it for a single Blackout. Until/unless he gets a G1-ified Generations version, Overgear Blackout will be my stand-in. I'll definitely go in on Prime, too, but I just don't care enough about Ironhide.
  2. mikeszekely
    To be fair, Monstructor is a retool of Dinoking, who himself was a repaint of the Core-class Dinobots. If you'll recall from my reviews the were never the best, as Core-class toys were pretty limited by their budget when they only had to do a robot and alt mode, but the Dinobots (and Dinoking) were further hampered by having to do the combining gimmick. Frankly I'm impressed that that Hasbro even bothered to do any remolding to make their alt modes look a bit more like G1 toys (sans Pretender shells).
  3. mikeszekely
    Because nothing says 'Murica like Walmart, that patriotic Airazor repaint will be a Walmart exclusive. Same goes for soccer ball Prime... er, Breakaway.
  4. mikeszekely
    It's my understanding that they used unpaintable plastic for that part. (Note that "unpaintable plastic" doesn't mean it's actually unpaintable, just that for whatever reason the factory can't paint it). Every time I've preordered something at Walmart (almost entirely Walmart-exclusives) either they've canceled it, at which point I'd find it later at a local store anyway, or I'd cancel it myself because the toy turned up in my local store before Walmart bothered to fulfill the preorder.
  5. mikeszekely
    This whole situation has gotten way out of hand. Tech companies are pushing hard for AI because they think it'll be cheaper than humans in the long run, consumers are pushing back hard against AI because it's stupid, creatively bankrupt, hallucinates, massively wastes resources, and maybe they'd like to keep their jobs, actually. So instead of rethinking this whole AI thing, the tech companies are doubling down, creating RAM and storage shortages that are spiking prices across a variety of tech products, delaying new tech products like the RTX 6000 series, Steam Machine, and the PS6, and creating shortages of current products like the Steam Deck. And the like two companies who are poised to do anything about it (did we need a reminder that monopolies are bad?) won't, because 1.) they're making a crapload of money exploiting the shortage, and 2.) they don't want to be left with a pile of suddenly worthless chips if/when the AI bubble does finally burst. I know it's kind of a meme to keep saying that every year is the worst year until the next one, but I genuinely don't think I've felt this pessimistic about the immediate future since the pandemic.
  6. mikeszekely
    Studio Series preorders are live. I passed on the Matrix... $125 was already pushing it, but then Pulse wants $140 for some reason. And it sold out anyway. I already have Snarl, Wheeljack, and Sunstreaker, so... I guess good for those that need another shot at them, but that's like half the wave right there. I preordered the rest. Skywarp is the one I'm most looking forward to... While not perfect, I do think the 86 mold is an improvement over the Kingdom mold, and I'm looking forward to replacing (at minimum) the main three Seekers. Shockwave was a bit iffier... I am very dissappointed that they remolded some parts but couldn't find a way to make him bigger, but the remolded parts (especially the head without Siege greebles) and color are an improvement over the Siege toy. Kranix is one of those goofy characters with very little screen time that was never actually meant to have a toy... But that didn't stop me from buying guys like Devcon. Astrotrain is the real elephant in the room. I don't think anyone can argue that the Siege toy has a better robot mode, and for a lot of collectors that alone means the new toy is worse. The thing is, I really dislike both of Siege Astrotrain's alt modes. The shuttle has so many gaps and greebles at the rear that it looks unfinished. And the train looks like a bigger train giving birth to a smaller one- the wheels on the front don't even line up with the ones on the sides. The new shuttle mode is far from perfect, but I think it's at least a small improvement, and the train mode is significantly better. Two out of three modes improved, that's enough that I at least want to review it myself. *I agree that Springer is probably the best of Hasbro's triple changers. But I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Sandstorm came out pretty good, too. **Totally agree that MFT did the triple changers better for less on a smaller scale (at least the Decepticons). Anyone that upscaled them to Generations size could make a killing. ***If I ever win the lottery I'm going to start a 3P Transformers company that focuses only on making Generations-scaled toys for the figures that HasTak whiffed on.
  7. mikeszekely
    I've been really looking forward to this kit. I'll review it proper when I get mine, but painting Grimlock gray and calling it a day was a huge letdown. This kit really looks to take the figure from dud to stud. I like supporting domestic small businesses when there isn't a huge price difference, and with DNA it was often even cheaper to buy from TCP than ShowZ in the pre-tariff days. But TCP has gotten to be BBTS slow lately. If it weren't for the fact that it's CNY and nobody's shipping anything for the next week anyway I'd cancel my preorder and just buy from ShowZ.
  8. mikeszekely
    Oh, that'd have to be a Commander-class, I think. "Nobody transforms better than me. Nobody. I go from luxury semi-truck — the best truck, by the way, tremendous torque — into a giant, beautiful robot. People see it and they say, ‘Wow. We’ve never seen hydraulics like that.’ The fake Cybertronian media? They said it couldn’t be done. They said, ‘He’s just a truck.’ Wrong. Total transformation. The best transformation. Maybe ever. When I roll out onto the battlefield — chrome shining, engine roaring — the Decepticons? They scatter. They say, ‘Please, don’t rev the engine again.’ But I do. Because we’re bringing strength back to Cybertron. We’re making Cybertron great again. Optimus? Nice guy. Very stiff. Very by-the-book. But does he have gold trim on his armor? I don’t think so. Under my leadership, we’ll have the strongest Energon reserves. The best defense systems. No more bad trade deals with the Quintessons — terrible deals, folks. We will transform like never before. Fast. Powerful. Winning." In all seriousness, though, they should have picked some licensed muscle car... Studio Series Dropkick or Shatter, one of the myriad Camaro Bumblebees, etc, and just repainted it red, white, and blue with a bald eagle on the hood.
  9. mikeszekely
    Near as I can tell, it was for awhile when Peacock was supposed to be making the reboot, but when the reboot died they dropped the older stuff from the platform.
  10. mikeszekely
    Celebrate America's 250th birthday with... a lazy repaint of Airazor. 😒
  11. mikeszekely
    Yeah, I think that even if/when we see Astrotrain transformed proper, the robot mode is clearly not as good as Siege's. But the thing is, they fixed the mess of a rear on the shuttle, making it slightly better, and the train actually looks like a train with all it's wheels lined up. So I'll probably get him anyway. Likewise, I'll probably grab Shockwave. The colors and the remolded parts are a bit of an improvement. But I'm very disappointed that they didn't do more with him. Disappointed or not, preorders will be Tuesday for the figures. Monday for the Matrix.
  12. mikeszekely
    Yeah, but to buy digitally. It's not part of the Prime Video sub I already have (nor Netflix, Paramount Plus, HBO Max, Hulu, or Disney Plus).
  13. mikeszekely
    Seeing this thread bumped reminds me again that BSG isn't available on any of the myriad streaming platforms I subscribe too...😒
  14. mikeszekely
    I mean, that applies to MW, too. But that's ok, we Gen Xers know we're the best generation.
  15. mikeszekely
    Someone pointed out that SS86 Skywarp's shoulders are black when they should be purple, and it's driving me nuts because I know it's wrong but I kinda think black looks better... EDIT: And yeah, Shockwave is WAY too small. If I were Newage, I'd make a Shockwave that's the same size as SS86 Megatron with none of the Siege holdovers like those heels. Get one over on Hasbro for making SS86 Optimus bigger so Romulus wound up too small.
  16. mikeszekely
    Well, not particularly interested in Ironhide at that price, but I suppose I'll have to get Prime...
  17. mikeszekely
    18cm is Voyager-ish sized. I don't have a ruler to double check, but iirc Hasbro listed SS86 Optimus as 18.5cm, and Megatron (despite being the same head height) as 21.5cm.
  18. mikeszekely
    Maybe they're not ships, but airplanes.🤔
  19. mikeszekely
    Disagree. The best Macross games were on the PSP.
  20. mikeszekely
    Legacy of Kain: Defiance remaster, another Metal Gear collection, new Silent Hill, new Castlevania, and a God of War Greek Trilogy remake (I guess they forgot that there were six Greek games😒). Not sure about Control Resonant; I loved Control, but very unsure about the shift from atmospheric third-person shooter to a DMC-style action game. Here's hoping Sony keeps supporting PC. I do want that GoW Trilogy, but I'm absolutely done with PlayStation hardware.
  21. mikeszekely
    Well, @sh9000 just beat me to it. Dang dance class. Kranix is fine, if you really want those minor characters. I had to compare side-by-side with Siege, Shockwave is retooled by barely. I'm not happy, he really needs to be bigger to scale with the new Megatron. No surprises with Skywarp, and I guess I already own Wheeljack and Sunstreaker because they're the same as the ones in the Target five-pack. I don't know how I feel about Astrotrain, to be honest. Train mode is a huge improvement, shuttle mode seems a little worse at the front, better at the back, still not great. The robot mode looks noticeably worse, but I'm thinking that the chest is mistransformed and those purple panels need to be folded down. Oh, and here's the Matrix I mentioned. No SS86 Unicron.
  22. mikeszekely
    Animation version.
  23. mikeszekely
    I promise if they do a Studio Series Unicron it'll be smaller and cheaper than the Haslab. Anyway, the teaser was for the Matrix.
  24. mikeszekely
    I transformed mine into a ball. ...I just never turned him back into a robot.
  25. mikeszekely
    Well, the new HVAC company seemed a lot more thorough. He put cameras in the different pipes and junk, took a bunch of pictures, checked the inducer with a multimeter, etc. He found that the inducer is running at a higher amperage than it should be, and there was a bunch of water in places where water shouldn't be (including in the inducer). So he took the inducer out and apart, cleaned the water and the lines again, the put it all back together. Lo and behold, the furnace has now gone almost 30 hours without a fault (though the fact that it's gone from negative temperatures to almost 55 (or around 12.5 for those of you who value base ten more than precision). It's not all sunshine and rainbows, though... the tech can't figure out how the water got in there in the first place. So we've decided to replace the inducer and the collection box, which means I have to wait for the parts to come in and for him to come back and install them, while kinda hoping that more water doesn't build up and cause issues in the meantime. And even at that, with some corrosion in the heat exchanger and the fact that the furnace is about 14 years old, it was also suggested to me that I might want to start budgeting for a whole new furnace in the next five years. Still... I was able to enjoy my first night in my actual bed in two days, and my first morning waking up to an alarm clock instead of an uncomfortably low temperature in the house in two or three weeks. So, feeling a bit refreshed, I can finally give you my thoughts on MMC's Ocular Max REmix Forte, their take on Ramhorn. Can we just take a minute and marvel at MMC's ability to take a flat rectangle and turn it into a three-dimensional shape for a minute? The engineering makes Jaguar (Ravage) seem almost primitive... like, in Jaguar's case, you could think of the cat's spine as a line from the top of one side of the tape to the bottom, and everything sort of folds along that spine. Forte, a bit like Tempo (Steeljaw) here, has a spine that runs like an imaginary line through the tape from one face to the other, and the cassette has the fold around that imaginary line. But the process seemed to feel a bit more refined than Tempo. And, again, it's really amazing that they got this form out of a flat rectangle. He's got a humped back and a low chest that tapers back to a thinner waist, and his head is at the end of an actual neck. The silhouette is less rectangular than either the cartoon or the G1 toy... it's almost organic. And he does all this while maintaining a shoulder-to-shoulder width that's probably triple his alt mode thickness. Speaking of alt modes... like all the non-humanoid cassettes MMC has done, Forte's missile launchers are permanently attached to his body and are incorporated in the transformation. So I guess the only real accessory here is the box he came in... a clear cassette case, with a wrap-around box that has the instructions attached and collector's card tucked into. Getting back to the rhino mode, Forte's neck has two black hinges that attach it to his body. These hinges allow for a slight side-to-side movement. Meanwhile the head is attached to the neck via a ball joint. That joint gives a little more side-to-side range, plus a little up/down tilt and a swivel. His mouth can open, and his ears are on little ball joints, too, so you can swivel them or tilt them a bit. The middle of his torso can move to give him a slight ab crunch or back arch. His shoulders and hips have swivels for forward/backward movement and hinges for lateral movement. The knees and elbows are hinged to cover about 90 degrees forward or backward. His feet are on hinged ball joints for more than enough up/down tilt and ankle pivots. Finally, the base of his tail has a hinge for some up/down movement. And I know I kept alluding to it, but yes, that rhinoceros really does turn into a cassette tape. As always, MMC eschews that microcassette size favored by G1/MP/Robot Parasides/X-Transbots for a standard cassette size. This of course means there's no Blaster toy that these guys will fit into, but frankly I think the microcassette figures transformed into robots/cats/rhinos that were too small. For an MP display, I think this size works better. Also, likely to keep the rhino mode more cartoon-accurate, the cassette mode has no labels. I would have liked to think that Toyhax would be on it, but I just checked, and while they did labels for all of MMC's versions of Soundwave's tapes they have done any of Blaster's. I think that some of you will find the barren cassette modes a little disappointing, but without a robot with a chest I can store the tapes in I don't see myself transforming them very often anyway. No robot chest, but Forte does of course fit in his case. As will the last several OX tapes, the instructions aren't liner notes that fit inside the case with the cassette, which is a bummer. Rather, the instructions are like a fold-out cover on a box that wraps around the case. Not my preferred way of doing it, but I wonder if there are tighter tolerances involved. Gonna be honest here... I was never really into Blaster's tapes as much as Soundwave's. What's more, I feel like MMC's Ravage, Rumble, and Frenzy came out at a time when I was very much invested in building up a Masterpiece Collection, and I was willing to give up the ability to fit in Soundwave's chest for better-looking, better articulated versions that (to me) scaled better. Fast forward to the present, where it's looking increasingly likely that Hasbro really is going to give me (mostly) cartoonish versions of the entire G1 cast and my MP collection is starting to look like a waste of space. Couple that with the fact that Ramhorn is, for whatever reason, one of my least-favorite of the cassette bots. So I've actually had Forte sitting on my desk for awhile, unopened, as my purchase felt more like an obligation than a general desire to have the figure. But after messing with him I'm really glad I did! The engineering to get from a cassette to a reasonably-shaped, reasonably-proportioned rhino with reasonable articulation feels like witchcraft. And while I don't see myself transforming him often, he's fun to put into poses and does look good displayed with your MP Blaster of choice (I've still got KFC's, little disappointed I slept on Deformation Space's). If you've been enjoying MMC's line of OX REmix cassettes then you should enjoy Forte too, as he might very well be their best one yet. Now if I could just get MMC to release their Ratbat that they announced back in October... of 2023. (Side note, kinda bummed now that I never got the condors. Unlike Ravage and Rumble/Frenzy, I thought the MP ones were an ok size and the REmix ones too big, but now it feels like a shame that I have that hole in the collection.)
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