Making Turbo Tracks

Only this guy and one more to go.  I have to wait for a new Metalhawk head as the one on mine looked like it had gone 10 rounds with Overlord (the real one).

Back to Tracks though.  Oh, Sorry.  Turbo Tracks.  Once again we have a couple of influences for making this evil version of Tracks.  It is based on Road rage, an e-Hobby release of G1 Tracks that was inspired by the Diaclone colouring of the same toy.  For a pretty interesting read, have a look here.

 

Believe it or not, I actually like this one.  Oh, except for maybe the bio, it’s a bit too similar to normal Tracks’ one for my liking.  The bio is written fairly well which is a nice surprise.

 

Botcon 2012–Treadshot

Oh goodness me.  Of all the Botcon figures for this year, none of them actually display a sense of confusion and desperation quite like this character. G1 Treadshot used to be an Action master, that is a Transformer that doesn’t transform, but he had a little friend that did.  Then the name got used a couple of times, usually with little relation to the original Treadshot.  One use was a recolour of a particularly rubbish toy from the Armada series (it was a recolour of Sideswipe) which was used in the generally awful Universe line, which featured such lovable classics like, purple Silverbolt, purple Tigerhawk and various other ugly recolours.

 

Now we have this guy for the Shattered Glass side of things.  It is generally assumed that the Shattered Glass reflects the G1 interpretation of toys, so it wouldn’t be odd to expect this to be an opposite character of the Action master toy, which was a bit of a gunslinger character.  However it appears to be entirely based on the Universe toy.   Out of all the other Shattered Glass characters they have done, only this guy isn’t G1 based.  As a final nail in the coffin of confusion, the head for this guy isn’t related to the Action Master figure (which could have worked by blending them all together), nor does it look like the Universe Treadshot.

 

For all intents and purposes, we have a new character that is based on a series that is supposed to be using warped versions of the ones we know. 

 

Nice one Collector’s Club.

 

More glow, Skylanders

My ceaseless efforts to acquire glow toys has been somewhat slow.  But recently I found out about some Skylander toys that glow.  An ebay search yielded one that was completely glowy.  But priced at $100, I laughed at the foolishness of the seller and promptly closed the window and moved on.

 

Unperturbed, I later found out about a figure with bits of glow.  A trip to my local dept. store and the forking out of $15 (!!  Seriously?) and I have in my hands the “Stealth Elf.  Silent but Deadly.”

 

Yes, that is what the packaging says.  I am not sure if it’s intentional or not.

 

Optimus has to tell someone!

Oh man, this is so awesome, who can I tell?  Grimlock, Ratchet and Bumblebee are too busy… Oh, I know who, he’s never busy!


Guess what I just got!!  It’s so cool!

What is it now Prime?



SBS and Eurovision 2012, Approved by Optimus Prime!

Soundwave and Zartan’s Excellent Adventure

Before I started typing this, I was thinking about what to write and my thoughts drifted to how much I like Soundwave and even this interpretation of him.  Then they shifted to this year’s Botcon theme and the confusion I feel towards it.  My thoughts then drifted to the characters themselves and the controversy.  They shifted back to Soundwave and my thinking that, like Magnus, I had a character I liked without any issues.

Then, I remembered the headband.

Something’s not right…. Gigatron

Just note, there is a lot of thought-working-through that goes on in this post.  If you want to know what I think straight away, scroll to the last line where I finally managed to work it out.  Then you can enjoy the pictures as you see fit.  Otherwise, just keep on reading.

 

So here we have probably the most controversial choice in this year’s Botcon set.  It is Gigatron.  Or the character he was inspired by, Overlord (from Master Force).  The original toy was an impressive massive dude, who was made of two characters.  He was a Power-Master, so he had two engines that Transformed and connected to his chest.  The engines were Giga and Mega.  Obviously Mega has gone somewhere and here we just have Giga.  The original toys transformed into a space shuttle and a tank as  well as a sort of base and a large, impressive robot mode.  It is very cool and now very very expensive thanks to a comic book.

 

THIS version of Overlord (hereby referred to as Gigatron to avoid confusion) is re-using the body of Bludgeon from the Hunt for The Decepticons line that was a space filler after the Revenge of The Fallen movie.  The reason for the controversy is this, Bludgeon was a samurai character and the body is well designed to represent a samurai body with swords and armour.  It also has a skull theme going on, which is good for Bludgeon as his face was a skull.

 

While the tank is appropriate for an Overlord homage, in my opinion the robot mode is not.  So now that that ugly business is out of the way, let’s get on with a look at the toy.

 

Botcon 2012 main Intro

From Top L- Top R (SG= Shattered Glass, C = Classic)  - Metalhawk (C ), Turbo Tracks(SG), Ultra Magnus(SG), Soundwave(SG), Treadshot(SG), Gigatron(C).

Here is the set in the er flesh?  Kind of busy, little bit confused box art with the main characters I guess in the centre.  That’s MetalHawk and Gigatron there, with some of the attendee only figures flying in from off the sied.  The new Optimus’ legs can be seen there.  I am not that fond of this year’s art.  Or the set to be honest.

It feels like a random mish-mash of ideas, a smell of desperation hang on this box set.  After the previous years, Animated, Wings of Honour, Games of Deception, the rather inspired G2 set and the original Shattered Glass have all been fairly cracking in terms of characters, but obviously following those up has exhausted ideas.

This year’s though, hmm, a little bit of classics (loosely associated with the ‘Wing of Honour’) and a continuation of the Shattered Glass series.  Smashed together.  Into a bit of a sad dog’s dinner.   I just hope the toys are nicer than the possible story…

There is a typical Botcon Badge supplied.

Nice enough.  I also got the first day Badge. Previously covered here.


And the comic, which I forgot to photograph….  and an extra set for figures for a pal.



I have taken a few photos of most and am working through them now.  Keep an eye out.

Evil Ultra Magnus!

 

This year’s Botcon set is an eclectic set.  A bit of a mish mash ideas, it reeked of desperation and a lack of ideas.  It contains a mix of ‘classic’ (G1-ish normal) characters and some from the ‘Shattered Glass’ series, which was an opposite ‘universe.’  So the Autobots are the bad guys and the Decepticons are the good guys.  Shattered Glass was done a few years ago and I really liked the idea.  Seeing it again so soon though made me think, “Hmm, this is a bit sad.”

 

I thought that the set was going to be a bit lack-lustre this year and the figures a bit rubbish.  Well, the set is a tad lack-lustre, but the figures are surprisingly well done.  Well, the ones I have looked at so far anyway.

 

Ultra Magnus here is one I thought would be pretty good and was looking forward to, as he has an opaque head…

Tea, disco and c64

This is the creativity that happens when I drink a sugary can coffee, a good coffee and a cup of tea one after the other.

And a bit of boredom for good measure.  Actually I had a really fun time making this video and might consider doing some more is I get the inspiration again.  i.e, drink too much coffee/tea, which I do quite a bit really...






The music is from the Commodore 64 game Parrallax, a  snazzy little shooter game that I thought was (and still do) brilliant.  The title was really trippy with flicky lights and it really portrayed a sense of depth in the way it flowed.   This music is the title music and I loved it too.  Programmed by Martin Galway and released by Ocean Software in 1986.

BEHOLD THE GLORY OF SIDS MUSIC!

Sad fact of Botcon 2012 sets.

Hooray! I received my Botcon figure set today!!  I was surprised however to find I also got a Botcon First Day pin, which they usually give to people who order the box set on the first day (clever name hey?).  It’s not a bad looking pin to be honest.

 

What’s so sad about this though is I didn’t order my box set until the second week that they had been available.  I knew sales were slow this year because of the dubious figures, but crikey!  I was a bit taken aback by that.  I am pleased I got it though.

 

I did think they had messed things up though, as it has a picture of Zartan from G.I Joe on it and very little that seems to relate to Transformers.  It turns out that it’s the same picture that Soundwave has on his side, and says ‘Cold Slither.’  Erm , whatever that is.  Not too sure what to think of this to be honest, sure I know that GI Joe and Transformers have crossovers all the time, and that the TF Club also runs the GI Joe club and they did GI Joe before Transformers.

 

It seems incredibly out of the blue to link this, as it hasn’t been even slightly touched on in the Transformers club mags that I have received unless it was mentioned in one of the text works that they have done.  Which I haven’t gotten around to reading yet.  If they are anything like the club comic, they won’t be better than a fan made story…

 

Incidentally, the toys themselves actually look ok.  Pictures and reviews are in the works.

Chaos Emeralds? Lollies!

Oh No!  Robotnick has a Chaos Emerald, this can only mean two things!!

 

An adventure for Sonic.

 

or

 

Some lollies for meeeeeeee!

 

Pictures of a sunset

Taken from my car window, with my phone.  Not by me though!  Oh no no no!  Passenger snappy.

 

More follow.

Nendoroid Sonic The Hedgehog.

Here is my video review of Nendoriod Sonic.  SO cute. So awesome.  I have a heap of pictures after the jump thing under the video, please have a look!

A trip (or two) to the Peninsula Tea House.

On the Swan River in Maylands, there is this fantastic spot right next to the river.  There is a Tea house there.  There aren’t many tea houses around Perth at the moment, so after discovering the place, the better half and I went off to check it out.  It is placed next to a museum of sorts, Tranby House, which was an early WA settler.  Hmmm, Historic! I like it!!

Playing with my Bot Shots

Final post in the Bot hots trio.  This one is me playing with them and checking out their features.  Optimus and his trailer, Megatron, Nemesis Prime, Acid Storm all get a battling work out as I blunder my way through the game.

Bot Shots 3 Pack review.

So since I thought getting only one Bot Shot seems a tad boring, and being a sucker for clone-bad-guy-of-the-good-guy characters, I grabbed this 3 pack as well.  It is all about Decepticons and has Megatron, Nemesis Prime and Acid Storm in it.

How do they rate without a launcher in their pack?  Let’s find out hey?

Bot Shots Optimus Prime and trailer.

I swore never to buy these when I heard about the release.  Well, not at the prices I thought they’d be anyway.  I assumed that Australia would get slugged about $7.00 a pop for the Bot Shots individual figures, whereas I don’t think they are worth more than $5.00.  Anyway, then I saw the Optimus Prime with his trailer launcher.

THEN, Nemesis Prime.  And they were both cute.  As it turns out, they didn’t end up being as pricey as I’d though, being in packs.  Still, Optimus came to $15 something, which is a bit pricey, but considering the amount of plastic, probably better value than say a scout class figure, or even those awful 2.5ish Avengers figures at $18 a go. Seriously?  Who'd pay that for those bits of rubbish.

Erm, long story short, here is a review of Bot Shots Optimus Prime with his launcher trailer.

Capt Liliana Statue

Hmmm, Pirates.  So cool, even before Johnny Depp was one.

Hmmm, Lady Pirates.  Pirates + Lady = an irresistible force.

Hmmm, Queen’s Blade.  Pandering to fetishes since um, whenever the books went down that path.

Hmmm, Captain Liliana.  So sexy that I can justify purchasing a statue of you.  Er, because she is a pirate.  Not that I’m a perve or anything…

Pocket Power Turbo Prop

A review of the Pocket Power Turbo Prop.  It flies up.  It drops down.   That's all it does, but it soo darn cool!



So, sadly that is the last of the Pocket Power toys I have access to for reviewing.  If anybody has any that they want to lend/sell to me, especially that little mongrel Glo Bones ( I have a thing for glow in the dark stuff), please drop a line.

For more Pocket Power, check out www.pocketpowertoys.com

Interview with Sumo's Gareth Wilson on Sonic Transformed

Might be a bit old now, well 13 days old now... But here is an interesting interview with Gareth Wilson about Sonic Racing Transformed which is a pretty good read and rather sadly has some bad news for my hopes for an awesome character, but does explain perhaps where he has been the past years.

Oh woe is Wonderboy...

Anyway, it's interesting, goes off on a bit of tangent at points, but stick it out as it is interesting.

Here it is on Spong.com, a site I have never heard of before, but wooo!

Awesome Japanese Lollies!!

AAAggggees ago a friend visiting from America went for a family visit to Japan and then over to Australia for a catch up with us and others.  Luckily for me, she remembered how much love I have for a delicacy that is unobtainable out here in the land of Aus, Cinnamon flavoured chewing gum.

 

I just can’t get enough of the stuff!  Quite literally there, as it is no where to be found in any shop I have ever been to, but I digress.  As an added bonus, she also brought some really cool lollies, that would be close enough to be described as ‘rock candy.’

 

What’s so cool?  Well, not only are they packed full o sugary goodness, they are terribly pretty and make me feel guilty while I devour them.

 

Pocket Power Top Fueller review!!

Wooooo!  And here is a review for the groovy Top Fueller Pocket Power toy from Sega and tyco from the days of yore.

Pocket Power Roadblaster review

Just a quick video review of the PP Motorcycle, called the Roadblaster.  In the video, I called it by its Japanese Name, "Hang On" from the arcade game of the same name.  Like the Thunderblade!!

On a side note, the English name "Roadblaster" was also the name of an arcade game.  "Roadblasters" (with an S) was made by Taito I think.  Anyway, watch the review and enjoy.

Pocket Power UFO

Pocket Power U.F.O toy review.

It goes up! It goes down.

Pocket Power Hover craft review.

A vid review of the Hovercraft from Pocket Power.  This one is my favourite!






And after that I discovered a little bit more!

My two loves combined!

ZOMG!  I really like All Stars Racing and am looking forward to number 2.  Now even more so.

Check the Trailer!!



Panzer Dragoon level anyone?  Transforming vehicles?
I think I can consider my pants officially wet!!


Interview with a couple of the team:


I really want to see some Wonderboy love in there fellas!

Thanks to Sonic Retro for the heads up and Sonic Stadium for the pics I just dled and will go over tomorrow, after some sleep!

The biggest Pocket Power site on the web!

www.pocketpowertoys.com is now live!  Go there and have a squizz at all the Pocket Power information around.  Links, vids (mine ;) ) and more all at the touch of your keyboard!