Apologies for the ongoing lack of ‘proper’ reviews. I’m getting a lot better with my new meds so reckon I might be up to some photography soon (and there are OH SO MANY figures to choose from – Maketoys Downbeat and Gravity Builder in particular screaming out at me). I’ve also been bogged down in another big project which has just entered a bit of downtime, so fingers crossed.
You know that thing where you take a punt on a Transformer you’ve been eyeing for a while, and you don’t really know what to expect, and then it turns up and it’s just an absolute delight? Well, I missed the boat initially on both of the Takara TAV Optimus Primes. However, I saw both the vanilla and the Supreme versions on Chimungmung recently and took a punt on the pricier one. And he’s glorious! He’s absurd, obviously, and in no way fit for a TF Prime collection due to the obscene size. But he’ll make the most joyous of additions to one of my Optimus shelves.
I take particular delight in the way you think the roof of the cab is missing, but then the feet swing all the way from the bottom to the top to complete it. Fittingly ridiculous. God, I love it.
(And props to Chimungmung – he was only dispatched late last week owing to Chinese New Year and he’s here today, complete with a complimentary emblem sheet).
I really liked Hasbro’s Transformers Prime toy line. RiD has produced SOME corkers, too. Combiner Wars was a mixed bag, certainly. A handful of molds recycled over and over to produce lots of dross, some occasional smash hits and, to be fair, some really excellent combiners.
But who saw Titans Return coming? Continue reading
There’s a bit in my notes here made quite early on in my time with Masterpiece Inferno that reads as follows: ‘Would leg detailing save it?’ The bit I want to draw attention to here is not necessarily the sentiment but more the fourth word – ‘save’. An hour or so into my Inferno experience and I felt that it was a figure that needed saving.
It’s a good time to be a seeker collector (that’s the name we give to Starscream and his Decepticon jet pals). It’s not such a good time for Takara’s seekers, however. Its first conehead release (the three jets where the cone sits above the head in robot mode), Ramjet, was hit with one of the worst QC controversies we’ve had in the official line, with huge numbers of copies coming with incorrect shoulder assemblies. For a figure that cost so damn much (even by Masterpiece standards) it was a shocking error, and one that weighed heavily for anyone pre-ordering its next conehead – Thrust.
I’m going to come straight out of the gate here and confess that I don’t much care for Beast Wars.
I’m not saying it’s bad. I’ve tried to watch it a couple of times but have never been able to get past how ugly it is. It’s kinda like Dora the Explorer. Dora’s not a bad show, but I could barely tolerate my little one watching it because every aspect of the visual design made my soul itch. In The Night Garden, on the other hand, is some sexy shit. Lovely trees, well kept grass, and Makka Pakka is a total dude. Nickelodeon’s Ninja Turtles? Beautiful. Adventure Time? Glorious, in every way.
Yeah, anyway…
ben parfitt 