Shattered Glass Rodimus

Since I managed to get the way through the 2012 Botcon set which featured a handful of Shattered Glass characters, I thought I might as well go through my previous box set and start doing some work on the actual Shattered Glass Box set itself.  However I have just realised that I have ignored that theory by having a look at Rodimus, who was a site exclusive character (i.e you could only pick him up from the convention) and wasn’t in the initial box set. 

 

A good friend managed to acquire the extra characters from the Botcon and offered me some (he ended up with doubles) and so I took off his hands Rodimus, who also came with Megatron.

Final Turtle, 2012 Raphael!!

Saving the best for last, it’s my favourite Ninja Turtle the angry scrapper Raphael.  Much the same design as the other Turtles I have looked at, but yet again a new sculpt.  Let’s have a look at what makes Raph different as well as similar to his reptilian brothers shall we?

 

TMNT 2012 Michelangelo

Michelangelo is the youngest of the Ninja Turtles and here I have the Playmates version of him from the new 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon.  Once again this guy is a new sculpt and is visibly smaller than his brothers.  A nice touch.  I have also modified his nunchucks because originally they

A) Looked like sausages.

B) Developed a stress mark when holstered  

And

C) A chain just looks better.

 

Let’s have a closer look shall we?

Card Power Speedboat

Or Pocket Power as it is also known as.




For more information on this sexy beast visit:

www.pocketpowertoys.com

2012 Leonardo TMNT

Here I have the fearless leader of the Ninja Turtles, Leonardo.  I like Leonardo, the ability to whip his swords around always impressed me and he is my second favourite of the TMNT.  This new Leo is just as good as the other Turtles and I think that will do for his intro.

 

2012 TMNT Donatello

Keeping in the theme of the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle reviews, I have now the clever Donatello of the Turtles to look at.  The Turtles seemed to get a bit more love in the sculpting side of things when compared to the other figures.  No surprises there, after all the Turtles will sell more than the others by a long shot.  What is surprising is that Playmates toys, usually known for creating figures with little articulation, have actually done a pretty good job on the Turtles when they easily could have slacked off.

The Infamous Headband!!!

Ha ha ha!  I remember ranting on like a mad man about this cursed Headband back when I was running through the Botcon set for 2012.  It is part of the character of Shattered Glass Soundwave and my rant was concerned about how it didn’t come with Soundwave.  It was a separate piece.  A five dollar separate piece at that.  Oh and available only at Botcon, apparently one per person, yet they showed up on online stores for no less than $70 or so I think.  I hope that no-one bought any at that price.

 

Anyway, due to a pal picking one up for me from Botcon, I have it.  So was it worth the angst?

 

TMNT 2012 Kraang

Kraang was always my favourite enemy from the 80s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, I wasn’t so keen on the later interpretation, but what can ya do?  I just preferred his big goofy robot body.  The Kraang for the 2012 Turtles seems to be a cross between the two, with a smaller robot body, but still looking like a goofy brain.  As a result, I felt compelled to get this guy as well.

Had I known more about the figure, I probably wouldn’t have…

From Club to Toy Store

 

Back when Fun Publications took over the running of Botcon and started up the Official Transformers Collector’s Club in 2005 I joined. 

 

Why?  Because the blurb I had read mentioned how they were the official Hasbro endorsed club FOR THE WORLD.

 

Why?  Because the blurb I read had advertised how their relationship with Hasbro and being THE Official Transformers Club gave them unprecedented access to toy news and information.

 

Why?  I expected to see lots of cool information on the making of Transformers from designing to toy.  Lots of prototype pictures of figures that would be released and interviews with core members of Hasbro’s Transformers team telling us what plans they had for the brand and sneak peaks at the next series, whatever that may have been.

 

Of course, this was to be relayed by The Official Transformers Collectors Club magazine which came out every 2 months, packed full of exciting news.

 

Or was it? 

 

When the club first started pumping out the mags, there wasn’t that much in there.  Half the mag had a pretty crap comic, bios and occasionally a bit on toys.  Of course, being in Australia it meant that by the time I actually got the magazine it was old news anyway.  I still don’t understand why it seemed to take a month for a letter to get from America to Australia.  But I let that slide.  After all, I was part of the Official Transformers Collectors Club and it was new.

 

Surely it will get better.

 

But it didn’t.

 

Every year the Botcon came around and we were faced with a batch of 6 toys in a set, plus a bunch that could only be nabbed by going to the Botcon.

 

Still the Magazine didn’t get better.

 

But they sure pushed a lot of toys.

 

No new news, very little information on toys.  Some articles with people related to Transformers appeared and in one case wasn’t even related to Transformers.

 

But we had plenty of toys chucked our way.

 

It was at this point I saw a pattern.  The excitement over the Botcon toy sets had changed the essence of the Club.  It was becoming less and less Club and more exclusive shop.

 

This year after they got the website back online again (after how many months???) they set up a subscription service.  6 Toys are in the subscription.  5 toys for the Botcon Box set.  Another 7 or so toys available for pickup at Botcon again, totalling about 18 toys.

 

Now what I find interesting here is a sharp focus on exclusive club toys…  The Magazine now is just a half-arsed piece of rubbish with a horridly drawn comic and ho-hum story.   The latest issue actually had an interview with the designer of Sunstreaker, so an article on a toy!  Rare.  However it was done by a fan.  NOT by anyone at the club.

 

They devoted two pages to pushing 2 toys in the subscription service.  They certainly didn’t need 2 pages but if they hadn’t they would probably have just put in another word search.

 

So with a huge increase in the amount of toys they are producing and looking at how the website has been handled after the crash.  The board still isn’t up to my knowledge.  But they certainly got the Shop up and running all right.  Leads me to look at the Official Transformers Collectors Club not as a club, but just another source for toys.

 

And not a good source either.  I had a look at the subscription charges and as far as I could tell, it would cost me $40 postage each time a toy was sent out.  That was the cheapest option.

 

Nice one guys.

 

As a result,  after almost 8 years of being a member I will not be renewing my membership.  This isn’t a club anymore.  At it’s zenith it was a badly run ‘professional’ club run by a bunch of fans.  A bunch of G.I Joe fans that is.  At it’s lowest point it was a twitter account.  Now it’s somewhere in between, but no longer a club.  I see they are far more focused on hocking exclusive toys to Transformer fans.  In America.  Despite holding the license for the whole world, they focus all their attention on the US.  Sure most of their members are probably in the US, but that is beside the point.  As license holders for the whole world, they have a duty to cater for THE WHOLE WORLD.  I guess you could say they do, but they don’t do it very well.

 

I have had enough.  I will no longer pay  my yearly money for the crap magazine they vomit out every 2 months.  I don’t care about the exclusive toys (especially judging by this years lacklustre Botcon set) I think that the prospect of producing so many toys will lead to poor choices and execution.  Lets’ face it, some of the subscription figures are strange choices.  I look forward with evil twinkles in my eye at the theme for the 2013 Botcon.

 

I was previously determined to go to a Botcon one day, but now I just don’t really care that much.  There is no club feeling to this club and since all they want to do is sell toys which are overpriced I am going to move on and leave them to their own devices.

 

Goodbye Transformers Collectors Club Shop.  You won’t be receiving my money anymore.

TMNT 2012 Foot Soldier Review

Any nerd worth their salt knows that when the Turtles get released, so should the cadre that follows them.  With the announcement of the new Turtles cartoon for 2012, we see a new toy line of Turtles and bad guys as well.  Here I am going to have a look at the faithful little Foot Soldier.