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Posts Tagged ‘Hardbone’

Happy St Patrick’s Day 2018! Green Transformers Gone Wild

March 17th, 2018 Comments off

Here we are again. Another St Patrick’s Day, another post for my green Transformers.

Featured in this year’s green and mean machines:

For the first time in the history of these St Patrick’s Day posts, the number of third party figures outnumber the official HasTak figures. Very indicative of the trend in the hardcore TF fandom.

Another weird trend: this is the 4th blog post in a row that I have featured MakeToys Gundog. This is not be design. Maybe I’m secretly in love with Gundog. Smart readers will notice that I took this pic before my last post about the rub on decals, since Gundog still is shown here with his sticker faction logo.

And in the tradition of these St Patrick’s Day posts, I have to mention March Madness. My beloved UCLA is already knocked off in the First Four! They couldn’t even get to the First Round. And I never thought I would see this in my lifetime, but a No. 16 seed has knocked off a No. 1 seed! UMBC just eliminated Virginia in the First Round! This totally busts by bracket. Yes, I picked Virginia to win it all. This is much like 2012, when I picked No. 2 Missouri to win it all and they were upset by Norfolk St. I don’t even know why I try. But this is historic! UMBC didn’t just win, they completely dismantled UVA. And Virginia wasn’t just a No. 1 seed, they were the overall No. 1 in the Tournament. UMBC is a school you have never heard of (unless, of course, you’re from there). You could Google what UMBC is, but after tonight, everyone will know them as U Must Be Cinderella.

Here are links to previous St Patrick’s Day posts:

2015
2013
2012
2011

Have a safe and happy St Patrick’s Day everyone. And congratulations to UMBC! Transform and Roll Out.

 

Categories: Pics

Transformers Purchased in May 2014

November 7th, 2014 Comments off

Around May of this year was when Age of Extinction toys started to appear. I started to see them in early May, but I wasn’t able to purchase any until late May. More on this later in the post. Here are my acquisitions for May.

  • ToyWorld Hardbone, bbts.com, $69.99

  • Age of Extinction High Octane Bumblebee, TRU, $14.99

  • Age of Extinction Slug, Target, $14.24

  • Age of Extinction Scorn, Target, $14.24

  • Age of Extinction Evasion Mode Optimus Prime, Target, $23.74

Other than Hardbone, all figures are from Age of Extinction. The release of AoE toys finally ends a long retail TF drought that lasted for much of the year. I was happy to see some new figs on the shelves, but at the same time I knew that Hasbro’s focus on AoE figures would also equate to less attention on the Generations line, my favorite TF line from Hasbro. Still, seeing something I want on the shelf is always better than seeing nothing.

But before I get into AoE, let’s talk about Hardbone, ToyWorld’s homage to G1 Hardhead. I actually bought this figure late last year, around Thanksgiving I believe. BBTS was doing their Black Friday sale. Only thing I wanted from the sale is Hardbone. As a whole, I’m very impressed with figures from ToyWorld as I think they all have solid construction, nice design, good value, and G1-inspired aesthetics. And I saw good reviews of Hardbone on YouTube, so I wasted no time to buy one at the sale. I always use the Loot feature at BBTS, to save on shipping. However, between then and May, I bought nothing else from BBTS. Any item in the loot can only be held for 6 months, so in May I had to ship Hardbone. I was not disappointed when I received the figure. Both modes look nice and the figure is well built. Transformation is not anything revolutionary, but in this case the tried and true formula works. Hardbone has weapons galore. Obviously he’s got his big shoulder cannon, but the twin guns that he had in G1 are here as well. And TW included some extra weapon accessories for good measure. The Headmaster gimmick itself is not really improved upon for G1, but suffice to say that it’s there. Overall I think this figure is an excellent modern update of G1 Hardhead.

OK, now onto the Age of Extinction figures. In early May I first saw them at K-Mart. I found the first 4 deluxe figs from Wave 1, which are High Octane Bumblebee, Crosshairs (not pictured), Slug, and Scorn. I tried to buy Slug and Scorn, but at checkout they would not ring up a price. So they wouldn’t sell them! K-Mart said they were put on the shelves by mistake. Lame! Anyway, less than 2 weeks later I found them elsewhere (and pretty much everywhere).

When I first saw the AoE figs, I definitely wanted the Dinobots. Robots transforming into Dinosaurs are some of the best ideas Takara has came up with, and the G1 creators were smart enough to personify them as the bad asses that they are. So I’m kinda surprised that Hasbro doesn’t milk this more by making Dinobots all the time, in whatever is the active TF continuity. At least for the 4th movie, Michael Bay was smart enough to include them (minor SPOILER ALERT, highlight over the next sentence to see: they only appear at the very end, for about 15 minutes. LAME!). Anyway, as for the figures themselves, I like Scorn. He’s my favorite of all the deluxe Dinos released so far. I like both the dino mode and the robot mode. Slug is ok. He’s obviously a homage to G1 Slag, being a triceratops and having a oh-so-clever name change. These movie dinos sure are colorful, like Power Rangers. In the movie they are more metallic looking, like G1 Dinobots. I bet in the future Hasbro will make limited editions of these guys in movie colors.

I like the Bumblebee figure. At the core, he’s not anything that we haven’t seen before in a movie Bumblebee. But I’m digging the classic muscle car (it could be a classic Camaro, but I could be wrong). The only other time they made a classic car movie Bee was in the first movie (which I have and broke), so it’s good to see him in this form again after all the modern Camaro Bees.

Last but not least, there’s Evasion Mode Optimus Prime. When I first saw preview pics of this figure, I was beyond thrilled. That alt mode is so G1 it would be illegal for me to not get one. The robot mode is still has the signature Michael Bay look, but with more G1 aesthetics and colors (though in the movie he does not appear in these colors). The transformation of this piece is actually very refreshing. The legs are kinda the same as always for Prime figs, but the upper body transformation utilizes quite a interesting twist. It’s as if the cab folds inside out on all sides to form the upper torso. The result is a nice movie-verse figure that mixes well with G1. I recommend this Prime, and with this upcoming aftermarket accessory to make him look like Powermaster Optimus, I say all G1-ers should get this fig.

That’s all for now. Age of Extinction has arrived… Transform and Roll Out.

Categories: On The Hunt, Pics