Normally I separate games and toys on these lists, BUT 2024 has been a pretty lean year for me gaming wise. Sure I bagged a fenrir for my Sega Saturn which was a worthwhile purchase, but since it has opened up many games, I am in two minds as to whether to include them here. Mainly because I can't remember the ones I played. And despite having amasse a rather nice collection, I find myself spending all my time playing the translation of Grandia on it.
Okay, I guess that's where I'll start.
Sega Saturn Grandia (fan-Translated)
I played Grandia on the PS1 and thought it was a fantastic game. it truly gives you the feel of being a kid going on a massive adventure. I bought a PS digital version for my PS3 many, many, many years ago and never really got into it. Somewhere along the lines, I bought the Saturn version years ago, as it has some different graphical effects and stuff I thought worth looking in to. It is also all in Japanese, which while I can understand, reading a lot at times is tiring. Then some nice chaps on the intanets made a patch with a nice little translation and I got that on my Fenrir ODE.
And it took me back to being a teen again. Much fun with the time based turns of combat, actually having to use your special moves and magic to level them up and of course the wonderfully cute story of a boy going out and becoming and adventurer! It's so good!
Not many games are able to create that special feeling that Grandia manages to do.
Of course Red Dead Redemption 2
is here, I am still playing this wonderful game, but I feel like I've been messing around with so many side quests and stuff, I should get a move on with the main story. So I have been. It's still great!
God Of War - PS4
I blurbed about this one last year, but I finished it this year. I feel exactly the same about this game as I do now. I am kind of looking into giving the Last of Us a try. (link not related at all)
Castlevania Dominus Collection - Switch
This came out with the DS games on it. I loved the two main ones and kinda dislike strongly the Order of Ecclesia and so never finished it. The price was good, so I nabbed it and thought I would give Ecclesia another go. I remember at the time of the DS version, I gave it a go, but gave up on it pretty soon, so I really tried with this.
And it still sucks. Repetitive room design, boss fights I just don't find fun and it has a kinda annoying main character. It left such a bad taste in my mouth that I moved on to Saturn games and haven't gone back for the other two good games in the collection.
Verdict: I like it, But I hate Order of Ecclesia a LOT.
Sonic Frontiers
Got itself a bit of saving grace. I've briefly gone back to the DLC "Final Horizon," but soon left as I did get into the mood for a bit of S-Ranking the times on each level. The DLC doesn't have an S-Rank for times thing, and all the challenges are kinda naff; find the special rings, rescue the animals etc.
I did manage to S-rank each of the Cyber zones (ie, normal Sonic boost zones) and complete the trophy list...
and that is all thanks to my game of the year. Which is
Sonic X Shadow Generations
This is interesting. The game is a remaster of the old Sonic Generations game on PS3, which I of course got and while I enjoyed it, I never felt I wanted to go back and master the game, but the new content that is included in the Shadow side was really gaddam good. Like seriously, the levels are well designed, smooth and there's quite a bit to go about. You can see the various routes throughout each level and in a way, it kind of taught me how to play Modern Sonic's boost style gameplay.
So I went in to Sonic's side and have had a blast trying to find the Chao, gather all the red rings and S-ranks those levels (admittedly, S-Ranking the levels is easier than Frontiers, the game is very lenient in the times), I even want to go back and see if I can beat my own times! I've not felt this urge since, er.... SEGA Rally?
I kind of stemmed from at first challenging myself to a smooth no-stop run of each level. Then from there it escalates:
- How long can I keep boosting through the level?
- Okay, I can see the upper route there, what do I have to do to get there?
- Now I'm there, how do I stay on this upper route?
- Now that I know the way, can I do a complete run, nice and smooth, using as much boosting as possible to finish the level nice and fast?
All this thanks to the level design of the Shadow stages of Shadow the Hedgehog. I really feel like it's a Sonic gaming renaissance, IF they can continue this, Sonic games are in for some good shit in the future!
Sonic X Shadow Generations is a great game.
I do have some comments to make about it though.
The Shadow side of the game, while new levels, are all based on his previous exploits in some way. Same with Generations. I feel like they need to move away from the nostalgia of Green Hill Zone, Radical Highway etc for the next game. Sure, revisiting the past is this game's them, but even Frontiers still had this theme, and most of the "action stages" (Cyber Stages) were cut and pastes of previously done Sonic levels.
They gave Shadow some new "Doom skills" which I liked and thought were implemented well. I hope he keeps (some of) them, it makes Shadow play significantly differently to Sonic.
What I really like is that they did away with the lives system, so now I feel like I can practice a particular spot. If I gran a thing earlier, I would feel pressure to finish the level to keep it in case I ran out of lives, but now, I don't need to worry about that. Need to perform a tricky jump-boost-attack-ring-jump combo? No worries, just continue from the last post. It's so liberating and has enhanced my enjoyment immensely.
To compare, I have also been trying Sonic Generations on 3ds which has a lives system and it's just annoying; if I run out of lives, what happens? It just boots me back to the level select screen anyway and I have another 3 lives to try again. The fact that there is no actual "game over start again from scratch you loser," points out how irrelevant a lives system is in non-arcade games. My enjoyment of 3ds Sonic Gens is lessened because of a weak punishment system. It's harder to get better because I can't practice certain sections (and there is no doubt about it, you NEED to memorise the level layout) as I am limited by my life count. Sure it extends the gameplay time if I persevere, however, I am more likely to say, "Nah, that's enough thanks" and miss out on a potentially exciting part of the game (The thrill of a good, smoothly run S-rank)
Really, my main gripe is that I feel that Sonic spends a lot of time regurgitating the past, OR going off in a completely new directions (lost worlds Anyone?) SEGA need to focus and sit down properly for the next game, not just rush out some vomited shit. Seriously SEGA, look at the difference between Mario Wonder and Sonic Superstars. Nintendo wouldn't shit out some rushed/crunched turd, so why must SEGA do so?
The best part of SXSG is that it has rekindled my interest in previous Sonic games. I'm currently playing through Sonic Unleashed and am the furthest I've managed to put up with in Sonic '06. Sonic '06 is a particular surprise. I figured its all down to enjoying the terrible nature of the game.
So there ya go. A strangely short year of gaming, the first half of the year was filled with Saturn games and Red Dead Redemption and the end of the year was filled with Sonic's of various descriptions.
Sorry about that. It makes for a boring post.
So, I'll continue with my
TOYS OF 2024!
First off the list:
| Snarl Core Class | Mini Action Voltron |
| Bombshell | Super 7 GITD Voltron |
| Convoy (Missing Link) | MOTU Revelation Scareglow |
| Detritus | MOTU Skeleton Warrior Guys |
| Trashmaster | Zarana |
| Ultra Magnus | Buzzer |
| Galvatron | Ripper |
| Rodimus | Torch |
| Sideswipe | M Bison |
| Grimlock | Death's Head |
| Soundwave | Cliffjumper (ML) |
| Blaster | Swoop |
| Ratchet | Bumblebee (ML) |
| Optimus | Jetfire |
| Tidal Wave | Mafex Magneto |
| Figuarts Buzz Lightyear | That's it. |
Not that much of a list this year. So lets get on with it.
Convoy - Missing Link
A new line that many people have kind of thought about and wished for. It's actually a very clever idea, taking the original toy design of the very original toys and giving them modern articulation. Its unbelievably amazing! Such a simple thing, but so damn good.
The toy is solidly made and has die cast pieces in him, just like before! It's very nice.
It also has a very not good price though, just as a bit of fore warning.
The Missing Link line is the toy you thought you had when you were a kid. It is a real thing of beauty. Can you see what I'm getting at?
(I am dead when the Dinobots get done)
Bumble(bee) and Cliff(jumper) - Missing Link-
I would also like to add, I think it's amazing that we can finally have toys that can pull off the G1 Toybox artwork!
Many of the comments for these guys you can just take from Missing Link Convoy. They are nicely articulated, just as cute as they were in their G1 days with their ChoroQ vehicles.
However while Convoy's high price was justifiable, these guys really push the envelope. They are the exact same size as their original toys, but were 50 bucks a pop, which is an incredible stretch. Sad, because these guys are actually awesome and require some mental gymnastics to justify their cost.
Snarl (this time of a core class variety), Maybe Legacy?
This guy is part of the combiner team Dinobots. Something I am a little against, not all teams need to be a combiner group. Last year I got Swoop and was pretty impressed. This Snarl, while not a toy of the year *spoiler alert* like his leader brother, it's still a fun, if slightly derpy little stegosaur and for a few bucks *ha ha ha* he's a fun little fellow.
Bombshell (Legacy)
The last of the Insecticons for the Legacy bunch. Bombshell is the worst of the lot, a kind of remould which uses Shrapnel's butt and a slightly ugly make of Bombshell. While the robot mode is pretty neat, the insect mode is very, very naff indeed.
Detritus (Legacy)
I've always had a soft spot for the Junkions and specifically Detritus for some reason. In my adventures, I did pick up the e-Hobby version of the G1 character (and first appearance I believe) and liking that, felt compelled to get the Legacy version. It's pretty good and a lot less hassle to get than his Autobot lookalike, Hound. It's just a shame that it is a remould of an earlier Cybertron mode one, as there are big ass gaps in the vehicle mode, which are somewhat unsightly.
Trashmaster(Legacy, but the guy has never existed before)
As I earlier stated, I dig Junkions, especially when they have facial hair. The recent ones have also been pretty fun, with their break apart bodies and interesting vehicle modes. An so, when I saw there was a Voyager version coming out, that also can break apart, as well as having facial hair, AND a professional wrestler style personality, I had to get it.
The vehicle mode is pretty nice, and the parts he breaks in to are versatile, except for the torso, which always seems to remain a lonely solid chunk.
He can also be a tad floppy, but he does have a cool weapon, a unique vehicle mode and plenty of personality. Me likey!
Oh yeah, did I mention the facial hair?
Galvatron, or is it Megatron? (Legacy core class)
While I've been enjoying core class figures, I have also been extremely picky about which ones I get and Galvatron here was a bit of a spur of the moment thing. I wasn't so impressed with him when I reviewed him and now, I see he is sitting in my sell pile. So he still isn't doing it for me. Sorry guy.
Ultra Magnus (Studio Series)
Oh the commander class of toys, how you have tickled my fancy. These guys often come close, if not grab toy of the year. Rodimus Prime certainly did an Armada Convoy was a close one as well. Is Mganus toy of the year?
Maybe.
He's really goddam nice. Transformation is fun without being basic and they end rsulting robot is just glorious to look at. It makes me glad I didn't pay for the Masterpiece version, which I thought a little bit fat, because this guy comes along and looks just right. He comes with a matrix and POINTY FINGERS!
While I've never been that big of a fan of Ultra Magnus' truck mode, this one seems fine enough and can carry some of the recent cars as well Luckily the robot mode manages to do everything it should do (minus having a little white robot inside it) .
It even breaks apart for recreating that scene from the movie. Poor old Magnus.... and looks great doing it.
It even breaks apart for recreating that scene from the movie. Poor old Magnus....
Except for pointing up and being looked at from a low angle... Man, what were Tak Tom thinking with that shot?
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| Here's a better shot |
Swoop (Studio Series)
Oh ho ho ho! At last the leader sized Dinobots are complete! EXCELLENT !
Let's just ignore the fact I don't have Slag, nor regular Grimlock shall we?
So Snarl bagged my toy of the year last year. Is Swoop in for the running as well? Actually yes, he is!
He's a pretty boy this one and does exactly what you want him to do. You have a nicely sized robot for him to be and a nicely sized Pterandon bot for him to be. Robot mode has all the swoopy bits you want. Golden Claw knees? Yes. Spike off the noggin'? Yes. Golden bird head in the chest? Yes! Pteranodon mode has some nice additions as well, flappy wigs ( mostly) yes... I would've liked to see a bit more motion available in the wings. Laser tongue? YES. Big ass backpack that probably weighs a tonne? YES.
Both modes are quite satisfying and transformation is more complex that I thought it would be. The way the chest folds in and out to increase/decrease it's width is very clever. Posing options are good and the guy is a lot of fun to play with. I recommend him a LOT.
He does have a few quirks though. The robot arms are just THERE under the bird wings. Sure they're accurate and all, but they are rather chunky now. They're also designed to plug in to the wings, which ends up hindering the flap motion somewhat.
He's still a pretty boy though. I wonder if he wants a cracker?
Grimlock - Generations Comic Book Edition
This guy uses the Studio Series Grimlock bod, which I missed and gives us a lovely comic book inspired colouration. I remember they did a Masterpiece version like this and I got it and thought it was beautiful. The moment I saw the SS Leader Grimbo, I thought I would wait for either a G2 Blue version, or a Comic Book version. Luckily this amazing coloration came first.
TBH, I would be pretty happy with the standard SS version as the toy itself is solid as heck and great fun to play with! Now that he has dot colouring, bright yellows, a beautiful blue head and a bunch of swords, I'm totally satisfied! It's super nice!
Highly recommended!
Plus he has a crown!
Jetfire (Siege)
Wew! Jumping back a few years here aren't we? This toy was the first of the "commander" class toys and I skipped it as in Japan his price was OBSCENE 19800 yen, a huge 50 bucks more than the following Commanders, something they did rectify later on. Also, despite that insane price, I never ever saw one in person... Except for one on display at some thing I went to. I was however very curious about it. It looked cool and all, just not worth the price they were asking.
Anyway, it was re-released and I didn't get one, then some friends got one and started showing me pictures and raving on about it. And then I went insane and found one at a reasonable price an bought it. Now I have one. It's very cool. However, not as good as the other Commander figures I fell. Firtsly, the jet mode is incredibly gappy and kind of sloppy. From the top, it's looks perfect. From the bottom, it looks like a folded up cartoon robot.
Robot mode is very nice and where he'll spend most of his time. He also comes with various pieces of armour and stuff, that when put on make him look nothing like Jetfire/Skyfire at all. HOWEVER, he does look like an incredibly badass space adventuring ass kicker of a robot and I love it.
Jet mode sucks, but robot is cool.
The next lot of Transformers are something a little different:
Rodimus Prime - Shattered Glass
Ooh baby, I seem to like me some Rodimus action, and for my particular eye, I like me some EEEEVvvvIIIlllllll Rodimus action. This guy uses the Studio Series voyager (at a deluxe size) body with a coloureation based on Nemesis Prime/ Black Convoy. Shattered Glass comes from the old Transformers Collector's club and is based on the good old, "What if the good guys were... da bad guys???" theme. Very original.
Here is a link to the original Rodimus from the Club, and for some other knowledge, not an actual Shattered Glass Rodimus, but a Black Rodimus from Hyper Hobby (who is a clone of Rodimus, just to clear up any confusion.)
Anyway, the original toy of this guy was REALLY good and now he has a kick ass colour scheme and a newly sculpted face with facial hair. 12/10!
Sideswipe - Shattered Glass
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| Goddam those vehicles look ace! |
This guy cam with Rodimus and while I'll admit that Rodimus was my main push for getting him, Sideswipe and his G2 Drench based colour scheme has grown on me a lot. It's based off the of the old Siege Sideswipe mould, with a few changes to make it Earthrise. This time they've added a Minicon named Whisper, making a nice tie in to the Armada toy and original Botcon version of this dude. Oddly the actual Legacy version of Micron Densetsu Rampage/Armada Wheeljack, does not come with the Minicon. A massive oversight and I'd feel rightly gipped TBH.
Soundwave - Shattered Glass
This mould didn't really come out in Japan until some TV action set or something, with Shockwave and Meagtron and a chair. So I didn't really bother with it. Then I found a cheap SG one in JB Hifi in Australia and picked one up.
It's fine I guess and makes for a reasonably convincing cassette deck. However it is a remould of the Siege toys, which transforms into a block
*ahem* Excuse me, a "spaceship" and so its a bit hodge podge and dodgy looking, especially from the back. He does come with Ravage and Laserbeak though, so that's nice.
The colours of Soundwave are pretty whack and are based on the old MP3 Player Spark White Soundwave. I did get the original Club one as well, but he was a car. Luckily this soundwave comes with his iconic headband moulded into his head.
It's fine I guess.
Blaster - Shattered Glass
Another recolour of a Siege/blah/Earthrise/Whatever toy. I didn't get the original, but I got this guy. He is actually pretty nice and has some nice touches. The very original Shattered Glass version was a version of the G1 toy coupled with G1 Soundwave and issued by e-Hobby when they seemed to be teaming up with the TF club for a very short while.
Most of the colour variations I get, but old Blaster here baffles me. He's just sooooo dark. It' not terribly eye catching, nor is it cool. But it's Shattered Glass and for some reason I like that. The toy however is actually pretty good and a better music box than Shatty Soundwave. So there's that. He also comes with Shattered Glass Rewind, which is nice. Rewind is fine and all. SO there you go. Overall, it's not too bad and a decent enough toy.
Ratchet - Shattered Glass
Can you see a bit of a trend coming here?
This guy was a bonus figure, as he was packed with Shattered Glass Optimus, which of course is the one everyone wants. Poor old Ratchet.
Optimus's feet are mis-tranformed for the vehicle mode. Great work Hasbro Pulse!
This toy is redeco of the Siege figure with a new sled that forms the top of an earthen ambulance and it seems to work pretty well. The roof thing can kind of pull of a med-bay, which is a nice throwback to the G1 toy. You can pop some blaster looking jet things out the back for some boom boom action, but you can't use them in vehicle mode, which is a terrible oversight as a sickly-white-with-minty-green-bits ambulance with 4 rockets helping propel it down the road would be absolutely terrifying.
It's a shame the guys in charge of the toy colours messed up, as his whole colour scheme is supposed to be scrubs that surgeons wear and they misinterpreted it. At least he has rubber gloves (and shoes?) on though.
A decent enough remouldy-colour. I'm not sure which came first TBH.
Optimus Prime - Shattered Glass
This is guy everyone wants from the set. Which apprently is part of the Generations Selects line. So this guy is juts a recolour of Earthrise Optimus Prime, but without the worst part, the trailer. So swapping a crappy trailer for Ratchet? Yep, that's a good trade in my book.
I thought the ER Prime toy was really good TBH and if it had a better trailer it would've been a real contender. Sadly though it was only a contender for the "Soon to be sold pile" the moment I head the slightlest inclicling of a Commander Optimus.
Old Mr. Purple here though, he is staying. He has the requisite broken tit window and decently evil looking colours. Character wise, he's a bit boring, just being a usual hate filled fellow and even the club stories spend more time with Rodimus than they do with Optimus. But the toy is great, with nice colours. Recommended. (if you can find one)
Well, I do believe that is the end of the Shattered Glass figures!
Next up
Super Starscream
(Legacy I think, limited to the 40th Anniversary thing in Tokyo)
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Man, searching for these pictures was a real pain. It should be on Takara's website somewhere, but buggered if I can find any trace of him. Poor fellow.
Anyway this guy is a recolour of the general release Red Armada Starscream from the Legacy line and while not that big of a fan of the general release, I was able to see this guy at the 40th anniversary conventionny thing Takaratomy set up in September and since it was a special occasion (and limited to this event toy) I bought it.
I'm kind of glad I did, as it's very nice. And while my friend the Androgyne will disagree (probably) I think he looks pretty spiffing in his super mode colours. In fact, I think I like them better. Sure, sure, he is just wearing very Thundercracker colours and yes, he was called Thundercracker in the Armada cartoon, but eh. I don't care.
The toy is nice and these colours are very nice. It's just a shame that swords under plane wings never looked that great. I also have the old Generations version of Starscream, as well as the Club Slave of Unicron Ramjet, which both use a similar body. I skipped the original Starscream colour of this Legacy toy as it didn't seem to be that much of an upgrade.
I'm well pleased with the blue version though. I'd probably even buy pretty Skywarp colours.
Legacy Cybertron Starscream
So far the releases of "updated" Galaxy Force/Cybertron series Transformers has been less than stellar. Optimus was a sloppy remould, Vector Prime was a sloppy remould. Hot Shot looks like a barely updated version of the original toy. Override, well, he had to go. And so I bought this Starscream. Admittedly the original Galaxy Force toy is one that absolutely adore and think is great.
Legacy though is a major let down and I just can't put my finger on the reason why. My gut tells me it's due to his skinniness and lack of paint. The robot mode is pretty good to play with and while the shoulders are a little hindered, it's not too bad. The wings are attached through pegs, so, does that qualify as parts forming? When transformed into it's jet mode it just looks so chunky and uncool.
A TRAVESTY for this beautiful mode. Why did they add the big heel spurs to the sop of the nose? Why is there a big flat ugly panel under the plane? Sure it's his calves and all, but they could've come with with a more subtle way to blend it in to the undercarriage!
Worst of all, his booby guns aren't articulated! WHAT THE HELL????
Not recommended, a shitty update.
Tidal Wave (Legacy)
Oddly he is awesome and also a bit disappointing at the same time... He does cover all the stuff he should do. He is a big robot, can be a big ship and also breaks up into the Dark Fleet of three not-as-big-ships. On top of that, Hasbro incorporated a "base" mode.
Uh, okay. I thought his normal ship mode was a base, but it would seem not. The base mode is there because they "didn't want him to be a partsformer" apparently. Let's have a closer looks at the base shall we?
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| As you can see, it's the old lie down and open your legs mode |
I'm not gonna lie, that's a pretty poor base mode but I guess many Transformers do that. Now the other odd thing is while he can shift from robot to base mode easily enough, shifting from robot to big ship mode requires you to rip the poor sucker apart!
+
=
Why? The original toy managed to do it! However the original toy is full of big gaps and empty areas, so I can kind of see why. I must say I'm a little disappointed though.
Tidal wave also comes with an almost mini-me version of himself shoved inside himself. Just so you can do this combination with Megatron:
But then I suspect there would be people complaining that a titan sized Tidal Wave is too big to combine with Megatron, so they're damned if they do and damned if they don't. However, I still rather enjoy old Tidal Wave and absolutely adore his BIGNESS!
And thus ends the Transformers toys.
MOTU comes through again! These guys are essentially generic plebs, well one of them is, the guy in the blue is an actual character by the sounds of things, but I don't care. Here we have two nicely articulated skeleton guys with lots of GITD action going on. They are great! Not muscley dudes like Scareglow, but a new skeletonny moulding. You can remove the armour if you like and the come with lots of accessories. Well worth the purchase. Jason and his Argonauts are in trouble now!
And thus ends the Transformers toys.
What treasures await the next section?
Masters Of the Universe!
x2
Revelations Scareglow
Scareglow would have to be my second favourite He-Man toy. Awesome name, awesome gimmick. I was annoyed the he was going to be an SDCC exclusive for the Revelations series toy, and also annoyed that only his head glowed. What a disappointment! Then I saw there was a less extravagant normal version and after some piss farting around with Amazon, I got one.
While the cloth Cape is very nice and the articulation is pretty good, the fact that ONLY HIS HEAD glows is a series WTF moment. Major disappointment. The rest of his body is transluscent black plastic which is kind of sparkly. The head sculpt is good, but the eyes don't follow you around like the Classics one does. So while he's nice and all, he's not that great.
Origins Skeleton Warriors
Mini Action Voltron (Vehicle Variety).
By Artstorm
I've gone on and on and on about my irrestiable love for the ridiculousness of Voltron over the years, and despite having this V Voltron in Chogokin and another big robot mode I just can't get enough of it. Whay? Dunno. Don't care.
Anyway, this is a little 12cm ish tall figure that breaks up into the correct amount of vehicles as well as the 3 teams that each one does. On top of that it's a super artcualted action figure and it's bloody awesome. When I got this toy, it was well up there (and still is) for toy of the year, despite being only a light teeny tiny thing. It's great!
No where's that lion Voltron one they were talking about gone?
Lightning Glow Voltron (Super 7 ULTIMATES!)
I found these images online and was excited thinking that he was going to be an awesome yellow glow Voltron. When I eventually got it (after preordering) it turns out he is just the good olde green glow.
I'd only had limited experience with Super 7 toys. Mainly because I stuck to their GITD offerings. The TMNT GITD Foot Soldier and The Toxic Crusader, but neither of them were ULTIMATES! So I expecting something pretty cool.
What I got was a nice fat heavy chunk of glow plastic, however this Voltron is severely lacking in ultimate-ness. The articulation is there, but extremely hindered and on top of that, there has been no changes to the moulding to allow for easy weapon insertion and the inflexibility of glow plastic. I saw a Lion head jaw develop a crack from putting the sword in the sword holding hand. WTF is THAT!??? Come on man that's just sloppy.
Luckily the glow is just amazing! It's so powerful and the simple paintwork really enhances the look without tacking away from the cool glow.
Far from Ultimate, but looks great at night time! I would not buy the non-glow version.
Next up is an odd bunch I'd never really thought I'd be in for, but here I am
Zarana - GI Joe Classified
I've not really been that much into GI joe, but I did have two comics when I was a kid and one of them featured the Dreadnoks rather heavily and their Mad Max/Post apocalyptic look really drew me in. The I saw Zarana, the lady of the Dreadnoks on amazon at half price. Well, why the hell not says I and now I have here and she is great. She comes with a backpack and a knife for the backpack as well as a machine gun with a er... circular saw blade on the end and a thin stabby stab knife.
Add to that, you can decide to leaver her with her cool 90s inspired rainbow cool tough lady hair, or go for the bouffant mowhawky( ?) thing inspired by her 80s toy. I thought the 80s hair would look daft, but I swapped her wig over and I think I prefer it to her modern hair style.
Articulation is pretty good and on par with what one would expect from Marvel legends toys and since she has not much in the way of bulky pieces or armour, she is really fun to pose!
Buzzer - Also GI Joe Classified.
I did have to read up on him though, knowing nothing about him, and I found out that he is Australian! That was a pleasant surprise! He does come with some nice tattoos and other designs, like golden arm hair and nice boots.
But overall, he's just a guy...
Ripper - you guessed it.
Ripper, dude has a mohawk and another pair of shade and looks pretty cool. His novelty weapon seems to be based on the jaws of life or something, but that could well be pretty terrifying if used as a weapon. He also comes with a machine gun a chest mounted knife and a pistol. Sculting is pretty good and he is a lot more exciting to look at than Buzzer. The cool thing is the gun has a magazine that can be taken off. Realistic? Maybe.
This guy has a crazy squint and generally super rough look with chains, spikes, dogtags and all sorts of awesome stuff, plenty of tattoos as well. I was particularly impressed that he even has a smiley face eye contact on his right eye. Talk about detail.
He is also much more solid than Buzzer as well. so Ripper is pretty good.
Torch - Yet another Dreadnok
This guy I don't really remember all that well, BUT he does come with a flamethrower and two different flame effects. His glasses aren't removeable, but he does have some nice facial hair. He makes a good heavy for backing up Zarana!
Also the flames from the eyes of the flamethrower are just great!
Death's Head - Marvel Legends
M Bison (possibly Vega) - Jada Toys
I never knew cloth goods on a toy could be so fun!
If you don't like the cape (what is wrong with you), you can take it off and have his shoulder pads on proud display, like he does when actually fighting in SF2. This toy was surprisingly good and I hear in America, it's pretty reasonably priced. Sadly not so much in Japan. But eh, I like it!
Finally
Magneto (comic ver.) - MAFEX
Based on the Age of Apocalypse design this Magneto was on special and knowing that Mafex do make nice figures I nabbed it. He comes with a cloth cape, but unlike Bison, it only has wire on the l/r edges, not the bottom. Still, the cape is MASSIVE and is good fun to mess about with.
The toy has great articulation and I believe is a very sexy looking Magneto. I much prefer this one to the Yamaguchi heavy Chunky guy I got many years ago. Oddly Mafex Mags doesn't seem very popular, but oh well. He's cool.
And so that's the end of the year. Wow.
So my toy of the year will go to:
Missing Link Optimus Prime/Convoy.
Really nothing else had a chance after this guy fell into my lap. The greatness of G1 Optimus, but with awesome new articulation. Oh it's just so
SATISFYING IN EVERY WAY
Less so for the minibots and their price. Regardless, I'm already hooked in for Sunstreaker's white friend Cordon and will be watching for future releases to see what happens.
The problem I see for Transformers in the future is that between the Commander toys and Missing Link lines, the Masterpiece line seems to be losing value and a place in the shops.
#2 Is going to be Studio Series Magnus/ Super Starscream
#3 Leader Swoop/ Titan Tidal Wave/ Jetfire.
Anyway, thanks for reading through my sloppily made post, and here's to more shenanigans in the year of 2025 hey?
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