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Transformers On My Shelf, June 2013

June 11th, 2013 Comments off

The “active” TFs on my shelf have changed somewhat from the last time I did a post like this. So here they are. Most of the figs on the shelf are new for this post. Some are the same as last time, with some of them in a different mode.

Same pic, different angle.

From left to right
Top shelf, back row: FOC Blaster (with Steeljaw inside), FOC Omega Supreme, FOC Air Raid (on Omega’s shoulder), FOC Grimlock, TFP Beast Hunters Optimus Prime
Top shelf, front row: Generations Springer, FOC Starscream, FansProject Car Crash, FansProject T-Bone, TFP Rumble, TFP Beast Hunters Smokescreen
Middle shelf: TFP Breakdown, TFP Dreadwing, TFP Shockwave, TFP Beast Hunters Starscream, TFP Jet Vehicon General
Bottom shelf: TFP Beast Hunters Soundwave, MP Soundwave (with Laserbeak insde), FOC Soundblaster (with Buzzsaw inside)

All these TFs are excellent. There’s not a single one on here that I would not recommend.

I believe all the figures on here are 2013 purchases, with the exception of Breakdown and Dreadwing (which were late 2012). The middle shelf appears to be a TF Prime Decepticon shelf, and the bottom shelf is a turning into a Soundwave exclusive shelf. Maybe I should add a few more Soundwave figs here.

The most recent acquisition displayed here is Springer. I have only transformed him from robot to car, but I can already say that he’s AWESOME! I can’t wait to do the heli mode next. He must be reviewed and I intend to do one.

Transform and Roll Out.

Categories: Pics

Transformers On My Shelf, April 2013

April 8th, 2013 6 comments

Quick post today. I got this little shelf in my bedroom where I like to display my “active” TFs. Usually this refers to the figures that I recently bought and are still playing with, before they get boxed and stored somewhere. Occasionally this could be a TF that I dug out from said storage, for one reason or another. It’s impossible for me to display every single TF that I have, and quite frankly I don’t like having a lot of clutter. So I display my TFs with this more limited approach.

But the TFs are adding up on this shelf, and it does look quite awesome to see them all together.

TFs on my shelf

Same pic, different angle.

TFs on my shelf 2From left to right
Top shelf, back row: MP Optimus Prime (US TRU exclusive), FOC Air Raid, FOC Omega Supreme
Top shelf, front row: Reveal the Shield Battle in Space Rodimus, MP Soundwave with Laserbeak, TFP Beast Hunters Trailcutter, Reveal the Shield Windcharger, FansProject Car Crash, FansProject T-Bone, TFP Wildrider, TFP Rumble
Middle shelf: GDO Megatron, TFP Breakdown, TFP Dreadwing, GDO Powerdive, MP Thundercracker
Bottom shelf: GDO Cliffjumper (with G1 head), FOC Kickback, TFP Beast Hunters Wheeljack, TFP Beast Hunters Bulkhead, TFP Beast Hunters Smokescreen
To the side: Spike, Roller, and Trailer for MP Optimus Prime (US TRU exclusive)

Most of these are recent purchases. Reveal the Shield Rodimus and Windcharger are the only two older figures that I dug out from boxes, and even they aren’t that old (2011 I think). MP Optimus, Cliffjumper, and all the figures on the middle shelf were all purchases late in 2012. The rest were acquired in 2013.

FOC Omega Supreme is such an awesome figure! He’s robust, well built, and very playable. Not to mention easy to transform. The details on this figure is also superb. This Omega functions well as both a toy and a collector’s piece. I need to do a full review on this figure soon.

Notice that Spike is sitting inside Roller. And Roller is hauling the Trailer. Optimus can be such a slacker sometimes.

Transform and Roll Out.

Categories: Pics

Transformers Purchased in March 2013

March 31st, 2013 6 comments

When people say March, I think March Madness. It is my favorite time of year as far as sports go. The NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship has my full attention once it gets going. Especially when UCLA does well. But even when my alma mater makes a surprisingly early exit (like this year) or fail to make the tournament altogether (like last year), I still follow it closely to see how well my bracket does in the office pool, or whatever other pools I happen to participate.

As for Transformers, there was a madness this March as well. I didn’t think I was going to get this many TFs this month. In fact, I was kind of counting on a TF drought. So it was a total shock when I added up all the March figures when the end of the month was coming. Ever since I started tracking my purchases every month, this was the 3rd most action packed month, behind only February 2012 and October 2012. I was fairly busy this month too, which makes me wonder when I even had the time to hunt for these TFs. But whatever. Feast your optic sensors on the Transformers below.

  • Generations Fall of Cybertron Blaster and Steeljaw, Walmart, $22.96

  • Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Smokescreen, Walmart, $15.47
  • Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Bulkhead, Walmart, $15.47

  • Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Starscream, Target, $15.99
  • Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Ripclaw, Walmart, $12.97

  • Generations Fall of Cybertron Eject and Ramhorn, Target, $9.99
  • Generations Fall of Cybertron Rewind and Sunder, Target, $9.99

  • Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Trailcutter, Target, $8.99
  • Transformers Prime RID Rumble, Ross, $5.99

  • Transformers Prime Arms Micron Jet Vehicon General, amiami.com, about $23 shipped

  • FansProject Car Crash, bbts.com, $59.99
  • FansProject T-Bone, bbts.com, $59.99

  • Year of the Snake Fall of Cybertron Omega Supreme, bbts.com, $99.99

As you can see, that’s a lot of TFs! Especially since I wasn’t expecting all that much. 7 figures came out of Fall of Cybertron, 7 figures from TF Prime, and 2 independents from FansProject. That makes a total of 16. Certainly a busy month to say the least.

Problem with buying so many TFs in one month is that you just don’t have time to process all of them. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but recently I have become backlogged in opening my Transformers. I’m almost wishing for a TF drought, so I would have the time to properly give each figure the time that it deserves.

As of this writing, I have only opened 4 figures of the 16: Smokescreen, Bulkhead, Car Crash, and T-Bone. I’ll open the rest sooner or later, preferably sooner.

I highly recommend Smokescreen. Bulkhead is ok. Buy him if you got the money to spare, but if you’re on a tight budget then you may want to reconsider.

Car Crash and T-Bone are both smaller than I expected. Early reports of these latest FansProject offerings is that they’re somewhere between scout and deluxe size. They were right. In robot mode they are exactly between these 2 sizes, and in car mode they’re barely bigger than scout. So at $59.99 each, I don’t think they are good value. Also, transformation from robot to car is kind of a pain in the boron compressor. They’re not complex figures, but getting all the tabs to line up to connect takes some effort. They are not figures that I can transform fast for that reason. Still, the figures do look good. They are well articulated and well built. I’ll reserve final thoughts about them after I see the combined Menasor mode.

The only repeat purchase here is RID Rumble. I know I said no more doubles, but I got him purely for the extra pile drivers that I will put on AM Rumble. Besides, he’s so cheap at $5.99. Yes I broke the rule. Sue me.

Year of the Snake FOC Omega Supreme is huge! This is Omega done right! I look forward to some quality time with this piece.

So that’s it for March. There’s a lot more that I wanna talk about, but I think I need to go open these TFs first. Til then, let the March Madness continue. Transform and Roll Out!

Categories: On The Hunt, Pics

Top 10 Lamest Ideas out of G1

December 10th, 2009 9 comments

Lame!

I love G1 Tranformers. Those that know me as a TransFan know that, even to this day, I consider G1 Transformers to be the greatest TFs of all time. I buy most of the G1 re-issues that come out, both US and Japan. I buy DVD releases of the G1 cartoons. I read comics that tie into the G1 continuity. The Classic/Universe line may be my favorite line of TF toys currently, but even this line is G1 inspired (most of the time). There is just something charming and endearing about the G1 line that no other TF line since has managed to capture. (And yes, that includes the Michael Bay TFs, which IMO are some of the worst ever.)

So with that said, I will also say that there were many, many lame ideas to come out of G1. Some of these ideas are up there with the best (or worst) of all lame ideas in the history of mankind, such as New Coke or the Geico Cavemen TV show. Some of these ideas are G1 specific, and it’s good to see them die with G1. But many of these ideas are carried over into the later lines, and have had a long and lasting legacy of lameness. It’s nice to see G1 have such a deep and profound influence on all TFs onward, but some of these ideas are just so lame, they need to stop.

Below I present my top 10 lame ideas that either started or were made famous in G1.

10. Reflectors
These three gets the proud distinction of having the most inefficient transformation of all time. Think about it. Three powerful Deception Warriors, each having no alt modes of their own, that need to come together and form… a camera?! Is Decepticon technology so limited that a robot cannot transform into a camera by itself?! While we’re on the topic, I think having camera capabilities built into the optic sensors of all TFs should be standard gear for a race that has achieved transformation, mass-shifting, and space travel. And we see from the opening moments of the 1986 Movie that even Lazerbeak has camcorder equipment built into his head. This makes the alt mode of the Reflectors even more useless, and the fact it takes three of them to do it makes it lame. And it looks like they can’t even take pics and send them digitally, they have to print them out like Polaroids for its reader (I can understand if this is done for humans, but for Thundercracker?!). If the camera is more disguise than function, it still makes little sense as to why 3 Decepticons are required. Yeah I know this is how the toy was, but the toy was lame even for 80s standards. Supposedly, Megatron selected some of his best for the mission of tracking the Autobots aboard the Nemesis. I can’t believe he picked these three. Or maybe they had better Cybertron alt modes but Teletran made them stupid. Whatever the case, I’m glad the Reflectors (or any other group with similar inefficiencies) did not make it past G1.

9. Sky Lynx
There’s just something unappealing about Sky Lynx. It’s hard to put your finger on it and give concrete reasons. Maybe it’s the fact that he doesn’t have a robot mode. Maybe it’s his snobby British accent. Maybe it’s because he was introduced in Season 3 and that was such a crappy season. Maybe because the toy offered a transformation that was so unbelievably obvious for a figure of that size. Or maybe I just don’t like the gimmick of him splitting into two components. Whatever the reason, I dare say Sky Lynx is one of the lamest Transformers ever designed. When I was a kid I knew no one that had him (most probably because he was an expensive piece). Sky Lynx was not re-issued at all after G1 until the recent Encore line, and I’m still scratching my head as to why he was chosen to be re-issued over much cooler TFs, such as Dinobots or Constructicons. I think MSRP for the Encore was close to $100, and now most online sites have him at around $40. That alone should be testament to his unpopularity. Heck, I would even buy Encore versions of Reflectors if they made them, but not Sky Lynx.

8. Use of English Expressions in Cybertronian Context
Expressions in one language usually does not translate well into another, usually for cultural reasons. If I wanted to tell a Chinese person that “the devil’s in the details”, I would not literally use those words. This is why it really pains me when I see Transformers use English expressions, and give it a Cybertronian spin. Expressions across different parts of the Earth don’t even translate well, so why would expressions across worlds be any better? Some choice examples: “Five up, five down! It’s like shooting cyber-ducks in a barrel!”, “When are we gonna start bustin deceptachops?”, or “Aint no one calling me a robot chicken!” This is seriously lame. TF writers need to come up with some new material.

7. Parts Appearing Out of Nowhere
I’m sure all G1 fans have noticed this. A TF would transform from one mode to another, and all the parts that you need to attach to the other mode in the toy, they just magically appear out of nowhere. The reverse is true too; some parts simply disappear into thin air. I had the toys of several G1 cars, like Smokescreen, Jazz, and Trailbreaker. None of them can carry their guns and missiles in their alt modes. So where do they come from when they transform into robot mode? Do they just pull it out of their ass? Megatron doesn’t walk around with his attachments, so when he transforms into the gun, where do the silencer and the shoulder mount come from? Omega Supreme would often fly off somewhere and we only see the rocket. When the rocket lands at the destination and the smoke clears, the rest of Omega Supreme magically appears. WTF?! Perhaps the most famous example of this is none other than Optimus Prime. Everytime he transforms into the truck, no matter where he is, the trailer magically comes from behind and attaches itself to his ass. What gives? G1 made no effort to explain any of this. It’s nice to see the modern toys make room for all the accessories in all the modes so we don’t have to wonder if they are hiding stuff in their body cavities.

6. Facial Hair
Tom Selleck. Burt Reynolds. Billy Dee Williams. These are guys that look good with facial hair. Alpha Trion. Scourge. Wreck-Gar. These are guys that DO NOT look good with facial hair. In fact, Transformers should not even have facial hair. I like to remind all character designers working on Transformers… THEY ARE ROBOTS!!! Robots don’t have hair! Period! Maybe beards and mustache looking attachments are given to these characters to convey a look of authority, but it doesn’t work for me. Find some other way to convey the same look. I know I’ve seen facial hair on both Beast Wars and TFA characters. Heck, even Jetfire in ROTF had a beard. This is a trend that needs to stop. Like, now. A young TF needs to transform into a electric razor and shave them all. Whoever does that deserves to inherit the Matrix and become Autobot leader.

5. Killing Optimus Prime
Sometimes you sit on a gold mine and not know it. This was exactly the case when Hasbro approved the idea of killing everyone’s favorite Autobot leader. Word has it that in 1986, kids were walking out of movie theaters crying, and angry parents wrote nasty letters to Hasbro demanding explanations as to why death of a central character was a major theme in a kid’s movie. Personally, I loved the movie because it was mature beyond its years. But from a financial perspective, Prime’s death was a really bad move for Hasbro. Not only does the franchise lose its most recognizable character, Hasbro can no longer sell figures of the iconic Optimus Prime. I think Hasbro has learned its lesson since then. Later in G1, Optimus was revived. Every TF line after G1 featured some form of Optimus Prime. Even in ROTF, Prime was killed about midway thru, only to be revived by film’s end. And of course Hasbro has made a figure for every single one of these Primes, and suckered us fans into wasting our hard earned dollars to acquire them. Damn you, Hasbro.

4. Female Transformers
No offense to all the female readers out there (all 3 of you), but female Transformers… what exactly does that mean? Before the introduction of females, many fans assumed that Transformers were gender neutral. But the writers went ahead and created some female Autobots, perhaps as a way to win more female TF fans. No one really knows if that really worked, but it sure sparked a debate as to why Transformers would even have genders. I know at one point, the US Marvel G1 comics had maintained the position that female Autobots were not really female, the were just Autobots that resembled human females. They also had a reason for Arcee, supposedly “she” was created by the Autobots to be some kind of public relations between the Autobots and Earth’s female population. Whatever the official story was, none of it really made sense. I’m guessing many TF fans don’t really think about this, and just simply accept it as if TFs are like people. This is perhaps what the writers counted on, as I’m pretty sure female TFs have appeared in every TF line after G1. Personally, I feel that female TFs should not have been introduced. They never played a major role in G1 anyway (arguable for Beast Wars). Some ideas are best left unexplored, and this is one of them.

3. Repaints
Repaints. Redecos. Recolors. Whatever you call them, this is an idea that reached new heights (or lows) with G1. This is actually a smart idea on the part of Takara/Hasbro, but it’s lame that they make one mold and then milk us fans over and over with different colors of the same thing. I guess there are other toys lines that do this too. Heck, even anime figures has resorted to this. But I don’t think any other toy line is more guilty of this than Transformers. G1 took this concept to new levels of craziness. Perhaps the most infamous example of this is the Seekers, 6 jets that were essentially the same as each other. Even as a kid I was not fooled, and made a point of buying toys that were different molds before I even considered repaints. But even today, repaints are alive and well. One of these days I should compile a TF repaint database and get some statistics as to how many TF molds have a repaint and how often. I doubt repaints would stop any time soon, though. I don’t mind repaints done in moderation, but it’s excessive when it seems like every mold is repainted. We as fans have to be strong and not buy recolored crap.

2. Actionmasters
I love to meet the geniuses that came up with this idea. Actionmasters appeared in the twilight days of G1, when sales were dwindling. One Hasbro exec probably said, “Transformers sales suck. We gotta do something different. But what?” Another one probably answered, “I know, let’s make Transformers that don’t transform!” The first one responds, “Yeah! Let’s do it!” Then they high five each other. Then G1 Transformers dies for good. There is a story to the “Actionmasters” that don’t transform. Prime and company finds a source of energy called Nucleon that is 10 times better than Energon and makes them much more powerful. But one side effect is they lose their transformation. As for the toys, I’m guessing the figures sucked. I don’t know a single person that has bought these. I read somewhere that Hasbro pursued this idea only because the toys can be easily molded based off of G.I.Joe figures at the time. Non-Transformers are so lame, I was so tempted to put them in the top spot, if not for…

1. Pretenders
Pretenders also came out during the final seasons of G1, after they stopped doing the US G1 cartoons. I think the idea of a Transformer hiding inside a shell is on the same level of lameness as Actionmasters, but Pretenders get the nod for the top spot simply because Hasbro really thought this was a good idea. Many Pretender figures were made, and variations of the Pretender theme were introduced. The basic Pretender is a TF in bot mode hiding inside a humanoid Pretender shell, but then they also made Pretender Vehicles (alt mode inside a vehicle shell), Pretender Beasts (alt mode inside a creature shell), and Mega Pretenders (shells that transform). Some classic characters even got incorporated into the Pretender line, like Jazz, Bumblebee, and Grimlock. I no longer remember the backstory for the Pretenders in the G1 comics. In Stormbringer, Simon Furman came up with a pretty good explanation. Cybertron is completely polluted with radioactive material on the surface from years of the war, so in order to survive, some Decepticons started wearing these shells to protect themselves from the radiation. However we still don’t see any Autobots wearing the human shells, so even Furman can’t explain that one. I was so afraid that Michael Bay would find out about the Pretenders, because I knew he would be all over this. Sure enough, my worst fears were realized in ROTF when Alice was revealed to be a Pretender. But I guess the good news in all this is that Pretenders pretty much died with G1. Rest in pieces.

Until the next lame idea… Transform and Roll Out!

Categories: Top Ten

Top 10 Transformers That Talk Funny

November 11th, 2009 2 comments

There are a whole lotta Transformers in the TF universe. To give them more personality and character, the creators of the show gave many of them interesting speech patterns. Some of them are very charming, while others are just plain annoying.

But you gotta figure that for a race with unlimited technological advances at their disposal, such as transformation, mass-shift, intergalactic travel, and space folding just to name a few, fixing speech patterns for the vocally unorthodox should be a simple matter. My guess is Transformers don’t value speech all that highly, or maybe some of them are simply too proud of their individuality.

Below I present my top 10 Transformers that could use a lesson in speech etiquette. I would love to hear any of these guys make a wedding toast.

10. Wheelie

Wheelie talks in a funny way.
Wheelie will annoy you every day.
Wheelie likes humping Megan Fox’s leg.
Wheelie rhymes ’cause Wheelie’s gay.
9. Wreck-Gar

Wreck-Gar and the Junkions learned how to talk by watching Earth’s TV. I guess it’s true that TV does turn brain to mush. Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong?
8. Blurr

Blur talks so fast and so much to hear what he is saying is abolutely positively definitely impossible and you try and try and try but he keeps talking and he talks non-stop and you try some more and you don’t give up until you get him but it’s just impossible impossible impossible.
7. Waspinator

Poor Waspinator. The only TF to come from Beast Wars on this list, Waspinator talks in a high-pitch voice, always refers to himself in the third person, and has silly aliases for everyone. He has a tendency to get himself blown up every episode, only to come back in the next episode (if not in the same episode) to get his big stripey butt kicked some more.
6. Seaspray

Someone fix Seaspray’s vocal generators stat. This guy sounds like he is constantly under water and his speech is filled with bubble or gurgling sounds. Sometimes I wonder how other Autobots understand him. However a mermaid did fall in love with him so I guess chicks dig it.
5. Warpath

Warpath is one over-caffeinated Autobot. He ends every sentence with a “wham”, “bam”, “zoom”, or “yeehaw”. Dude, chill.
4. Insecticons

The Insecticons must be around if you hear speech echoes. It sounds pretty cool at first, but after while they just start to bug (pun intended).
3. Omega Supreme

Words few. Talk unnecessary. Resolve unyielding. Firepower overwhelming. Personality boring.
2. Soundwave

The king of monotone speaking usually has little to say, but when he does, Deceptioncs usually listen. I like the way Soundwave talks, I can’t explain why. But it is ironic that the Decepticon communications officer, with an audio device as his alt mode no less, cannot speak in less robotic ways.
1. Grimlock

Me Grimlock no bozo. Me grimlock love Kup’s war stories. Me Grimlock no like you. Me Grimlock love saying me Grimlock. Me Grimlock number one on this stupid list. Me Grimlock King.

Me Grimlock say… Transform and Roll Out!

Categories: Top Ten