Shattered Legacy Sideswipe review

 It's been a while, make sure your shoes are one, we're gonna look at some Shattered Glass, Sideswipe!

Avoiding the Boxset. Shattered Glass Megatron

So, yeeeeaaahhhh…..

Sure I said after doing the  Botcon figures from 2012 that I would get about going through the  Shattered Glass boxset and then promptly followed up by doing Rodimus….  Weeeelll, I’ve done it again.  Megatron here was Rodimus’ bag buddy and therefore isn’t a part of the box set.  That all said though, after I finish this review, I have no other Shattered Glass characters to do except the box set.

See?  The silver lining.

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.

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?

 

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.

Metalhawk, Botcon 2012 Final figure review

So I finally have my new face for Metalhawk, actually, I don’t know why I used finally. After I emailed funpub in regards to the face I received before, they sent it out pretty much right away and I had it within a week or two at most.  Cheers guys.  Thus I now have  the final review I will do for the Botocn 2012 (Mainly because I don’t feel the need to hunt down the attendee figures at all this year), the leader of the Autobots on the Skyhammer over Japan, Metalhawk.

 

Metalhawk was a Pretender back in the day.  I know a lot of people dislike Pretenders as the robot is usually sacrificed so that they fit inside their monster/human shell.  I have a soft spot for them, as you kind of get two figures and their rubbishy look is cheesy and baffles the mind as to what vehicle they are sometimes.  Now he doesn’t have a Pretender shell, but he still manages to covey the organic feel of Pretenders. 

 

So how does a shell-less Pretender rate?

 

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.

 

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…

The Stunticon’s director: Wildrider

Wildrider, the last of the Stunticons to be typed up for my blog.  I never quite dug Wildrider when he was kicking it with his G1 fellows.  Not too sure why.  I should really as I did end up with him somehow and his personality, like his name, is completely crazy, much like my favourite Battlecharger Runamuck (who is part of next years TFCC figures!!).  They would probably go together quite nicely really.  Hmmm.

Stunticon’s Femme fatale; Dragstrip

Dragstrip here uses the Animated Arcee body.  Concerns were first raised that the ‘drag’ on Dragstrip may well relate to dressing in drag.  Luckily, despite the OTCC’s fascination with trying to be  ‘clever,’  they made Dragstrip a girl Transformer.  Well as much as robots with no sex can be…

Breakdown of the Stunticons.

Oh, Breakdown.  Probably my favourite Stunticon of the lot.  I picked the G1 version of this guy up from somewhere when I was younger and since his G1 mode was a a Lamborghini style car I really liked it more than the others.  So it’s appropriate that the same body that was used for Animated Sideswipe (whose G1 form was also a Lamborghini) is used for Breakdown.

The Stunticon’s Deadend.

Deadend, the depressed member of the Stunticons.  I always liked this guy and I still like this incarnation of him as well.  A clever recolour of the Animated Jazz body, he looks like he has a new head, but it is just a clever bit of painting!!

The Motormaster. Leader of the Stunticons!

The Motormaster here is based on the wrestler Randy Savage apparently.  He comes with his instructions and a g1 style tech spec card.  He is a recolour of Animated Optimus Prime and sports a new paint job and newly sculpted head.  He is the only Voyager sized figure from the set.  Appropriate considering how he is the leader after all.

Botcon 2011 Stunticons Boxset. Wooooo!

I finally received my boxset of this years Botcon toys.  Impressions are good so far! 

 

I really like the box art this year.  Simple and effective!

 

 

A little shot of all the Stunticons.  They are as most Botcon toys are recolours of existing figures.  This year three of them have a new head.

 

They are nicely packed in the box and well cushioned in the foam.  Tech Specs and instructions are underneath the foam.  Each year there is a Botcon badge included.

 

This year, I managed to make it in quickly enough to get the 1st day ordering badge.  I am pretty happy with that as I usually manage to miss out on that one!

 

I quite like this, as it is the Stunticon Decepticon symbol.  In a badge for me!

 

Good thing is the toys are pretty good as well.

 

 

 

Reviews and shots in progress.

Ironfist.. errr, I mean Fisitron!

To keep the ball rolling on the Botcon 2011 figures and because I suspect my box ‘o’ Stunticons will be here soon, I have done these pictures NOW.  And it helps that Fisitron is a recolour of Ironhide and Ratchet, which I have covered before.

Badly Written Bios - Fisitron.

Fisitron
Function: Weapondry Expert 
“A brilliantly designed piece of firepower is a work of art”
Fisitron is an overly enthusiastic maker of tools, and the genius behind some of the most effective weapons in the Autobots arsenal.  In his cozy lab he makes whatever comes to mind.  For each strange gizmo he dreams up, he also manages to develop devices that can turn an Autobot into a one-bot wrecking crew.  He always keeps a pair of nucleon shock gauntlets handy.  Although Fisitron created Optimus Prime’s laser axe, it is often credited to his rival Skyfall.

• Strength        - 8
• Intelligence    - 9
• Speed           - 5
• Endurance     - 8
• Rank             - 7
• Courage        - 6
• Firepower      - 8
• Skill              - 9

OK, for a start is ‘weapondry’ even a real word?  I can see my spellchecker doesn’t like it.  Surely they mean ‘weapons’ or ‘weaponry.’  Or even perhaps ‘Armourer’?  All of those would be a better option than some random combination of letters or odd suffixes to get their meaning across.

“For each strange gizmo he dreams up, he also manages to develop devices that can turn an Autobot into a one-bot wrecking crew.”
 I think the message of this sentence is a little bit off.  I would recommend dropping the ‘he also’ as with it, it implies that he is creating other strange things, like a “flavour-wave” that are unrelated to weapons and the weapons that are dangerous are just a side project, which is not the case.

The shock gauntlets look like they are just a side comment with no relevance.  It could have worked better is it was something like “His Nucleon Shock Gauntlets were one of his earliest inventions.”  Which justifies what they are and keeps them in theme of his inventing and weapons creation.

Finally, the spelling of ‘cozy’ as opposed to ‘cosy’ although I suspect this is an American fascination with phonetic spelling, like ‘apologize’ and ‘apologise’ and dropping the ‘u’ from ‘colour.’  I will let this slide.

On the positives, we finally have the correct usage of ‘Although’!!  Well, they use it often enough, so they were bound to get it right at least once.  Huzzah!


The Bio in question.