Wolf-1

Just finished-up Amazon's Zorro and was pleasantly surprised.  The show is filmed in Spanish but Amazon does provide a dubbed English track.  The show mainly sticks to the typical Zorro story but did throw in a Native aspect that I haven't encountered before; it adds to the mystique while also providing addition drama.  Action scenes kind of go all over the place; some fights are very technical, while others, editing does the work; the Mexican Army isn't full of idiot's this time around so, it has that going for it.  No one is going to win an Emmy but performances are for the most part, good.  It's not going to compete with Mask of Zorro or even the Legend of Zorro; but it does beat out the old Family Channel show, which is where I really came into enjoying the character as a whole.  Overall, worth checking out at a bare minimum.   

4 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I gave my initial impressions of it a couple posts ago.  I haven't done any multiplayer at all, but I'm close to completing the career mode.  I just have Prototype Power and the showcase left of the featured Track Tour, the Pony Car Showdown, C8 Tour, and showcase from the Power Tour, and the B, A, S, and showcase from the Open Class Tour.  I've just been playing here and there, it hasn't been my "main" game.

You're further along than I am; I find that for career mode I only have about 2-3 races in me before I tire of the rinse-and-repeat anymore.  Practice is a double-edge sword, either cut it short because you know the track and lose out on XP or suffer through the 10+ extra minutes so that by the end of the series the vehicle in question is all but maxed out. I am impatiently awaiting the release of the "Green Hell" this coming Spring.

Anyone lapping around on the latest Forza Motorsport?  Don't play Multiplayer that often but I'm always looking for more Rivals. Had a group on FM7 that did a weekly Hot Lapping challenge with winner choosing track, car, and P.I. and occasionally a specific "tune"; though given the new "unlock" feature of tuning that may need rethinking.  Still adapting to the newer physic's but still maintaining a 75-95% world wide ranking on official Rivals, depending on track, car class.  Looking forward to chasing some of you down or at least getting frustrated in an attempt.  

Not sure how or where this guy fits in, genre wise, but I'll take the mix and heart.  

15 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Maybe I'll hit Ollie's this weekend.  I'd actually seen Silverstreak there before, but I already have one.  Technically I already have Coronation Starscream, too, but for $15 a pop it's worth it for the chairs.

That's pretty much exactly how I justified the purchase; 14.99 for the chair and a free figure with some extra bits.  Takara Tomy's Leadership set suddenly isn't near as appealing as it was just a few days ago.  Silverstreak was one I also already had, unfortunately, because there is no local Target, I paid a premium; so seeing him for a Lincoln kinda poured salt in a wound I wasn't aware of.

14 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

I went to my local Ross over the weekend and all I could find was a Walmart reissue BW Scorponok.

Ollie's is worth checking out if you have one in your area.  They have lots of Silverstreak from the Buzzworthy line and I couldn't pass up on Coronation Starscream for a whole $14.99.  

7 hours ago, Old_Nash_II said:

https://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/todd-mcfarlane-will-be-releasing-transformers-figures/47909/

The real question is:

They will produce original figures from new comics, or the will put a "tag" in the box for the new collection

McFarlane is doing a Page Punchers run; with the mini figures to start.  Two per comic: Optimus & Shockwave/Soundwave and Megatron &  Bumblebee.  The real question becomes which comic run are they using?  The new comic run already has a slated list of 30+ cover variants, might these simply be two of them?

Displacer Beast is a decent figure, though it makes the previous Guenhwyvar release look like a typical panther now.  The tentacles do have a  wire inside, so some poseablity is attainable. The legs have plenty of articulation, ,though with six of them to mess with, it takes awhile to achieve a pose.  As far as monster figures go, this one is good, just not as good as the Owl Bear in my estimation. That one has some heft behind it on top of it's size and just about all the acticulation one could want; it can pull off the looking behind itself, just not on all fours.

59 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

 

In other news, apparently there's a "Dying Prowl" version of Earthrise Prowl coming. It's a rather macabre and unnecessary way of reissuing the fig, not to mention there are still characters in need of figs that have yet to receive them. The forsaken Omnibots come to mind, as well as Gears, Seaspray, Powerglide, any number of cassettes (including existing ones that could use some serious improvement-looking at you, Ravage), improved Mirage and Seeker molds, an 'origin' version of Wheeljack in his boxy Cybertronian alt mode (of which brilliant custom model maker Jizai Toys just created an amazing digital model), and perhaps new Deluxe Autobots that skew closer to their original Dorvack models. I really wish, too, that Takara would work out a way to make a proper G1 Megatron that turns into a Walther P-38 to fit in with the WfC/Legacy line. That would sell like water in the desert, and I'd be all in for a copy.

 

 Dying Prowl is a Buzzworthy SS release, so I've heard, and the code indicates yet another two-pack  release.  So is it Ratchet or Brawn to keep the "Dying" aspect of the pack going?

42 minutes ago, TangledThorns said:

Thought we're talking about Paramount's movies 😜 But yes, their franchise related series have been poor however their Taylor Sheridan related series are excellent.

1883 was good, but far from great.  One doesn't give up a Ferrari(Stallion) for a woman and then allow said woman to just wander off hundreds of miles in the hopes that she'll return. "Oh I've lost one family already, what's another one."  The fact that Elle is still the Narator for 1923 didn't land really well with me, her story is told and it had very little to do with Yellowstone beyond the fact she was buried there.   

6 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Man, I was all-in until you mentioned arm guns; I'm a fan of bots with hands to hold a weapon, not have the arm be the weapon.

JK, about the all-in part, not the arm weapon part. The latter's true. This set doesn't really appeal to me at all. However, I'm rue to be down on a toy simply b/c it doesn't meet my personal preferences, which are likely a little more sophisticated than your average 8-12 year old's. There are likely adults out there who have fond memories of these toys, just as many G1ers have fond memories of the G1 toys, despite their limitations. I try to keep the 'toy' aspect in mind when judging these things and hope that somewhere, there's a kid, or a big kid in many of our instances, who adores these things warts and all.

So, Chefatron already has Legacy Armada Prime in hand. Legacy Evolution Commander Class Armada Optimus Prime In-Hand Images & Video - COMPARED! (tformers.com)

I'm not a fan of the entire UT, so my interest is very low. However, I know this is a highly anticipated toy for many, and judging by Chefatron's comparison shots to earlier toys, this one looks to be the best version yet, as it should be at the commander class budget, and by virtue of being a new release. Granted it doesn't auto-transform like one of the previous versions, a pretty neat feature even if it rendered the combined mode's legs immobile, but it does offer a fairly clean combined mode with a sizeable backpack, but otherwise no kibble to interfere in posing, which IMHO, is the best you can ask with this sort of fig. I hope Legacy Armada Prime fulfils the longing of many a fan, and just turns out to be a really good toy.

I watched that earlier today as well.  While I can recall being excited about the news of the release, mainly due to it being somewhat like PowerMaster Prime/God Ginrai, in that the trailer and regular figure combine to make a larger Bot.  I'm still excited, just for the Power Master and the upcoming S.S. Ultra Magnus now. I'm actually impressed with how well the combined mode turned out since the leaked photos had the mode mistransformed, nothing new.  I do feel like the truck is a little too long in the back half of the chassis, but necessary for the combined mode.  Should this see a Nemsis/Scourge repaint I'm down, but I'm not feeling the typical Prime colored version.  I am a bit worried now that the S.S. Ultra Magnus will end up measuring the same rough 10 inches, which only puts him a few inches shorter than Jetfire/Skyfire or Menasor and any other previous Combiners. 

While the Trailer looks entertaining, I couldn't help but giggle and cringe at some of the scenes.  If Jason Mamoa's character is so badass, why wasn't he turned loose on the crew once they torched the first stack of money that led to the vault heist?  It's not like Bryan and Dom were subtle with winning new cars to try and find the right ones for the job; this film even does a call back to that very street scene.  If Dom and company took this dude's entire fortune, how is he funding this uber revenge plot?  Granted he still has a network he could tap into, but on that side of the fence, nothing is done with or for a promise of better riches, needs proof in the pudding.  Are we simply seeing the Letty story reused with the return of Giselle in this film?  Why would Bryan allow his wife to get involved if he's not? Will wait until it's free to stream.

16 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

First, thanks for the response. Too, let me advance an apology if I came across as miffed; I'm not. However, the frequency of delays does get to be frustrating sometimes, especially if I'm expecting a package, I see that it's on the truck or at least due the following day and tracking shows it in my area, the expectation of delivery is reasonable, and then it gets delayed.

No need to apologize, didn't come across as upset/miffed, just curious. I was only trying to offer what little insight I may be privy to, which is little to none. Since I live in what is technically a small city but still maintains a "Big/small town" feel; so while we certainly have Porch Pirate issues, I've never really worried about it; even when living in the "Hood" part of town; we'll just say it's good living, yeah, that's it. On a plus note, FedEx broke down a purchased a new van for around here, I'll give it 1 week before it's in for an oil change, minimum.  Guess that doesn't really help you out though, but it does mean my collection can continue growing along with everyone elses.  

30 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Just curious if any of you guys are experiencing weird delays and long delivery times from Fed Ex. I was expecting a package per email notification today that shipped on the 2nd, last Thursday. Tracking shows it's only made it to VA from Harrisburg, PA in the last 6 days, so I don't expect to see it until next week. Previously, my copies of Tarn and Leo Prime shipped on the same day from Atlanta, GA, Friday 27 Jan, initially scheduled to arrive 31 Jan, which is pretty unrealistic in the best of times. I continued to receive projected delivery dates even when the parcels were still a couple states removed. So, somewhere in this transit time, the packages got separated. I received a delivery date for Tarn on Tuesday, 2 Feb, and indeed he was delivered. Meanwhile Leo Prime decided he needed a little more time to take in the sights. On Friday 3 Feb, I got a delivery notification for Saturday the 4th, which was then delayed to Sunday. On Sunday, he was apparently on the truck out for delivery but didn't make it due to "operational reasons", or so the email they sent me said. Delivery was rescheduled for Monday the 6th, which finally proved successful. This sort of situation has become my norm when waiting on Fed Ex- lots of projected and missed delivery dates and unusual delays. 

The "operational reasons" is a easy catch-all for everything under the sun; truck broke down and none were available for a swap, driver had legitimate issues or just said that's a day.  The shop I work for has the local FedEx fleet account, something that is typically taken care of in house at the Hubs.  The way these drivers treat the trucks, even with all the Big Brother equipment installed in them, would make a Cabi cry!  They're lucky if half of the available trucks are road worthy, while the other half awaits corporate authorization for repairs. Employee retention has been an issue lately for them.

Noticed Flame Toys is set to release the second model kit in their G1 line; it's Soundwave with a Ravage, the previous release being O.P., which is the Sunbow version.  Having built 4 of them, all Prime's to this point, they compete with practically any Bandai HG/MG articulation, in other words they have quite a lot of abiltiy to pose.  Personally, I feel like the Soundwave sculpt is slightly off, I expect the legs to be big and boxy but it seems like the forarms are twice the width of his shoulders.  Ravage also seems to come with quite the bit of articulation.  I've seen a proto-type for Megatron in G1 goodness and he like Prime is lifted directly from the Sunbow version.  

If you like the concept of the Red line but won't fork the money out for the rubbery feel and lack of articulation, the Flame Toys model kit line is a great alternative.                                          

5 hours ago, TangledThorns said:

AC7's flight action is fun but I skip through the story cut scenes as they are boring AF. Only gripe is I wished the controls were more configurable for game controllers.

Well it is called Strangereal afterall.  Be thankful you aren't hearing "Go dance with the angels!" over and over and over; do miss the allied attack/cover option that 6 provided however.

It seems to have the spirit of the original show, or does it?  Initial D was about the "street" scene and how it can be used to learn various styles, even for established professional drivers.  However, it never made a huge spectacle of the races publicly, if you were there and in the know, then you knew; if not, you remain clueless.  There are more than a couple of driver's who will always get to say to themselves, "I've still got room to grow because I know this guy who started on Akina and worked his way across Japan owning everything, then just dissapearing."  This new series seems to be making a very big spectacle of the races to the general public; Tak would have retreated back into himself if that were the case instead of letting the beast out.  I'm still going to watch of course!

Never made it to the end of episode 1; while it was nice to see that they did bring back Sorsha, I was appalled to see a mirror finish on her sword.  It was menacing in the first film, had a well used and trusted look, now it's just wall art.

My favorite piece of work with her in it, was a made for Television mini-series, The Last Don. While she never truly wields power in the series, her character is integral to the first part of the series at least.  Sort of a Beth Dutton, but with far more family drama to help one over the edge.

Edit: Can't leave out Summer School.

Would prefer to see Powermaster Prime but the Armada version is essentially the same thing, just carried out different.  As far as Cybertron/verse; I had heard, though I pay it little head, that the upcoming Cybertron stuff was instead for the game WFC/FOC designs. 

Saw this on R.A. Salvatore's FB page; Fleetwood Mac being his alltime favorite band. 

On 11/5/2022 at 11:35 PM, mikeszekely said:

I mentioned when I reviewed the Megatron H.I.S.S. tank that I'd hoped it might make for a better CHUG Megatron than Earthrise Megatron.  And I elaborated on my issues with Earthrise Megatron earlier when I reviewed an unofficial Megatron that does turn into a gun but isn't particularly good... my second such figure, as it were.  Why is it that we have a pretty great Optimus with Earthrise, but the best we can do with Megatron is a kibbly partsformer (Earthrise), a so-so also kibbly unofficial figure that actually turns into a gun (ToyWorld Hegemon/Zeta Mega-Tron), or 3P stuff that's great but not at all an aesthetic match (MMC Tyrantron, Maketoys Despotron)?  I got so desperate that I started looking at the R.E.D. Megatron.  I stopped caring if he transformers (especially if he's going to wind up a tank), as long as he was G1 cartoony and had adequate articulation.  Oh, but it turns out the R.E.D. figure is like a head or so smaller, and while I can tolerate a Megatron that's slightly bigger than Optimus a Megatron that's slightly smaller is simply too small.

But, you know who is the right size?  Earthrise Megatron.  And as an official WFC figure he's got the right mix of Sunbow and greebles.  He's just got that backpack kibble and the crappy partsforming bits for his tank mode, but if I don't actually care anymore about a transforming Megatron could I "fix" ER Megatron?

Turns out, yeah.  Kind of.  Here's what I did...

(1) Since I don't need it to peg into his other arm, I grinded down the peg on top of the fusion cannon to more closely resemble the dial on the G1 toy.
(2) I painted the red bits connecting his shoulders to his torso gray.
(3) I tossed aside the tank barrel and rear filler entirely.  No tank mode means we don't need it anymore.
(Not numbered, because I nearly forgot I did it) I painted the silver square on Megatron's abs red, to better resemble the Sunbow model.

(4) I painted his flanks red.
(5) I pained the black part his arms are attached to, and the entire turret base, gray.  It's not a perfect match, but a, when does Hasbro match their own paint and plastic, and b, a not-quite right gray is still closer to the gray plastic than black.
(6) I used a rotary tool and cut off the panel with the tank treads entirely.

(7) I painted the black backs of his arms gray.
(8) Where Hasbro only painted the front of Megatron's biceps red, I painted the sides and back.
(9) I painted the black heels gray.

(10) The big flap on his back that forms the front of the tank?  I picked a spot near the small of his back, just above an indented spot, and used a rotary tool to cut through it.  The idea is to leave enough to cover the hollow areas on the back of his torso but to create more clearance for the waist swivel and to minimize what can be seen from the front.
(11) The finishing touch... on what was left of the flap, I drilled a 5mm hole.  Then I went on got one of those folding pistol things that came with Siege/Netflix/Legacy Soundwave or Siege Soundblaster.  I unfolded it, then cut off the end below the 5mm peg.  Technically, I even ground the peg a little shorter and sanded off some of the molded detail to fit the thing more flush in the hole I'd made on Megatron's back.  It's a tad thinner than I'd really like, but it gives Megatron his back-mounted gun barrel.

Speaking of gun barrels... like I said, this pretty much ruins his ability to transform.  But, when Megatron transformed in the cartoon he didn't turn into a tank, he shrunk down into a gun that Starscream or Soundwave could hold.  And while my post-op Megatron can't shrink down and transform into a gun, you can swap him out with a gun that other figures can hold when you need Megatron to have an alt mode.  Two examples that I have at home are the Megatron gun that came with a reissue G1 Starscream, and a Megatron gun that came in a pack with the Generations Selects Centurion drone.  You have to remove the stock and set it aside for the former, as your average WFC figure doesn't have the little tabs on the bottoms of their fists that the reissue Starscream does, but as you can see here Earthrise Starscream can hold the gun part just fine.  Meanwhile, the Centurion Drone one simply has a 5mm handle and no stock at all, and it's designed specifically for WFC figures.  If you don't have either of these, there are other options.  Dr. Wu created something like this years ago, and while you're unlikely to find an original Dr. Wu Megatron gun these days I was able to find knock offs of the Dr Wu, the Centurion Drone, and the Starscream reissue Megatron guns on Ebay.

So... yeah.  I'd still love for a better 3P Megatron that checks all my boxes- scale, articulation, cartoon look, turns into a gun, doesn't suck.  I keep thinking a WFC-scaled version of Magic Square's Megatron without that nylon plastic would be the bee's knees.  Until then, though, I can live with my non-transforming fixed Earthrise Megatron and a separate non-transforming Megatron gun that Starscream can hold.

I am not sure where he found the printable file at, but Lazyeyebrow has essentially done the same thing to Meg's back, only the faux barrel is the proper size.  It's not up on his site for sale or at JRC Designs.  Maybe try Shapeways but better pile on a few orders to make the shipping worth the effort.

Seems like a combination of Rocky's 3-5.  The (Fr)enemy is still "street hungry" like Clubber Lang and carries that same persona, though with Adonis working with him, we get a little bit of Tommy Gun from 5.  Looks like we'll get both a street fight and ring side as well.  Seems like we also see a, "should have thrown the towel" as we did in 4.  Has potential but the lack of Rocky, even in pictures around their house is concerning; the title may be Creed but we all know and follow this mainly because it's still a Rocky film, or should be at least.

Fantastic Voyage had the better video; the Impala parked on the beach with the endless party popping out the trunk.