Chogokin Tetsujin #28

 

Since I have been getting into and somewhat impressed with the Chogokin series of toys from Bandai, I decided to get this guy.  Why?  Well I’m not too sure.  All I knew about him is that he is a remote controlled robot of sorts from the olden days of anime and the better half likes him.  I gotta admit that his cool chunky retro-style really appealed to me too.

 

After keeping an eye out for him for a while, I noticed that despite his modest original price, he commands a huge amount of money on the second hand/after market.  Actually, I should clear that up a little bit.  There were two colour variations for this dude initially.  One was a flat blue and another a metallic blue, with an extra character.  I decided to get the metallic blue.  Naturally, it’s the rarer more expensive one.  Luckily I found one a reasonable price.  And now we shall have a look at him!

 

Tails' Tornado Racer review

Just a looky look at the delightful Tornado Racer that Tails drives in Sonic and SEGA All Stars Racing.  Hmm, flyaliscious!

Fall of Cyberton: Bruticus

And now we come to the crescendo of the Combaticons.  Yes, it’s BRUTICUS!!  The wonderful combined mode of the team.  It has been a while since we saw a decent combiner form of more than a couple of Transformers.   Sure there was Energon, where the entire Autobot line was based on combining, but they were pretty bad.  Power Core Combiners only had drones and they didn’t transform.  Off the top of my head, (not counting re-issued G1s) the last one would be Railracer from the Robots In Disguise line. (I don’t think Minicons from Armada count…).

 

Hasbro used a type of connection port previously seen on the Power Core Combiners and adapted them to suit these larger deluxe sized figures.  It’s an interesting idea and has worked fairly successfully.  I acquired the amazon.com ‘exclusive’ version which also ended up on Toys R Us as well, but it has the lovely looking G2 colours on it.

 

 

Enough Blabber, we’ve looked at the individual components, let’s see how they go when we smash them all together.

figma Racing Miku 2012

Well a little bit late for 2012, but here she finally is.   Hatsune Miku from Vocaloid, made by the Good Smile Company as she is their mascot for their little racing venture.  On a whim I got the 2011 racing Miku and ended up really liking it.  It was a more mature version of Miku than what we normally recieve and I dug that.  After seeing a statue version of the 2012 version, I decided to get this figma one as well.

 

Now the collector in me says I should sign on for the 2013 version too.  Maaaaann…..

 

Enough of my slightly OCD characteristics.  I think the 2011 is my favourite Miku form.  Can 2012 surpass her?

 

Fall of Cybertron: Vortex

I am proud to present the final of the Fall of Cybertron G2 inspired Combaticons.  Vortex, without a doubt probably my favourite of the bunch for both robot mode and vehicle mode.  He comes with a nice pale blur for his main colour with the prerequisite purple camo splodges.  Which of course any helicopter needs really.  Not only does this guy look good in chopper mode, he also looks good in robot modes too.  So let’s have a look-see shall we?

 

Fall of Cybertron: Onslaught

Oh yeah, the calculating and planning leader of the Combaticons.  This here is the version of Onslaught from Fall Of Cybertron in his G2 sexy sexy colours.

In the Multiplayer of WFC, Onslaught was a BEAST!  It would seem that Onslaught has undergone a bit of a downgrade (perhaps due to the needs of the combiner operation perhaps?).  Let’s check him out.

Gurren Lagann by rio Bone Video review

Damn! I think I love this toy!  My first 1080 filmed and edited video, and have been working on this vieo on and off for nigh six months now due to audio, conversion and content issues.  It's been a drama and I am still not entirely satisfied with it, but it's up now.

A brilliantly designed figure this one.  I don't need another Gurren Lagann that's for sure, oh maybe one with the head separated.  Enjoy the vid, it took more than 2 days to upload!

Fall of Cybertron: Swindle

Here I have the lovely Swindle.  This is an interesting mix, you see theoretically he is the Combaticon Swindle from Fall of Cybertron in G2 colours.  That’s a lot of classification right there.  Let’s start at the beginning. 

 

The Combaticons are like a Decepticon S.A.S/special forces type of team that could combine into one large robot.  Recently they made a comeback in the snazzy Fall of Cybertron game from Highmoon Studios.  To appeal to the nerds, Highmoon offered the chance to download a new skin for Bruticus (the combined mode, NOT the individual Combaticons) that was based on their bright colours from the overly bright Generation 2 series.  That is also why the Decepticon logo above is funky looking.

 

Hasbro released 3 sets of toys.  A San Diego Comic-con version in the standard game colours (almost, but not quite original colours), the normal shelf release (horrible, possibly related to ‘Bruticus Maximus’ from the Universe lines) and an Amazon.com exclusive colour ‘collector’s’ set which also showed up in my local Toys R Us.  I ordered mine from Amazon because I didn’t know TRU was getting them (they were classed as Amazon exclusive you see) and I managed to get 2 sets for $20 more than 1 set in TRU Australia.  That includes postage costs.  See?  Aussie toys are ridiculously expensive.