Headrobots Courageous

I receieved the Headrobots upgrade / replacement kit for Robots in Disguise Brave Maximus recently.

The set consists of two heads, one with the typical face plate and the other with nose and mouth. As well as a transparent blue sword. I've read in other reviews of the set that the reds didn't come out well, and didn't go well with Brave Maximus. I didn't find this to be the case at all. They are not an exact match, but they seem quite close to me. An don't look bad at all. They also both come with the headmaster attachment while in head form.

If you have ever seen or handled a Headrobots release before than there is nothing really new about these two bots but for the colors, and the design of the heads.

This was an exclusive set from Megatoyfan limited if memory serves to 200 pieces. If Brave wasn't going to be my giddy big bad boy of my collection I don't know if I would have been able to justify the cost. But I had some money I could spare on it, and I want my BM to have all the pieces and upgrades to make him 'Complete'

So in the end I would have to say the choice is yours if you think you would want it for yours.

Classics Bumblebee Upgrade Kit

I decided that since I liked the original Beezleboss Devil Horns upgrade kit for Classics Cliffjumper that I would get the Growing Pains kit for my spare RTS Bumblebee. I didn't know how well it would look since I didn't have a United Gold Colored version of the mold. But figure I would try it anyway.

The kit came in a tiny little box, which is of no real surprise since all it is is a head and two pistols. I kind of wish the guns were a little heftier, but they are pretty cool. And I like the head sculpt just fine.

The plastic seems to be of pretty good quality, and the details are nice. No complaints there.

The only thing I could see is I do wish it was a little cheaper, by around $5 to $10. It would have been a lot nicer to have the kit be around $20 to $25 instead of $29.99. But over all, I am satisfied with it. And my new Goldbug looks very nice with the upgrades.

Installation was simple, just one small screw to change out the head and it's all done.

Here is the picture of him alongside my classics 'Bee with his FP Pistol from the G3 Trailer.

RiD Scourge

Today I received my latest figure, a Robots in Disguise Spychanger Scourge. I won this one on Ebay about two weeks ago from a seller in England. I was the only bidder, I didn't expect to win it. But no one else wanted it, or maybe I flew under the radar.

He arrived today in small little box. And except for a little dust his joints are tight, and everything seems to be in order except for a small scuff on his chrome bumper.

I really like the Spychangers, they remind me a lot of the old G1 minicars, of which I had quite a few when I was a kid. I picked up a bunch of them last year second hand. And they all have simple transformations, and that suits me fine. And after watching all of RiD recently the series has become one of my more favorites of the available transformer series.

Scourges robot mode is nicely detailed, espeacially his head sculpt. And frankly he looks just like a small exact replica of what I presume is his more articulate and detailed big brother.

So in the end to sum up, a great little figure. Not very articulate, but nicely sculpted and detailed. A great addition to my other Spychangers and G1 minibots on my shelf.

Post Wrestlemania 28

It has been a week now just about since the biggest wrestling extravaganza of the year. And I have to say that I wasn't as impressed with it after I've seen it than I thought I would be going into it.

The opening match was one that I was interested in seeing. And should have been a great match. And then I sit down to enjoy a great start to a four hour show and see it end in roughly 18 seconds. What.the.hell.. This wasn't a good way to start. I like D Bryan as Booker would put it. And if they wanted him to drop the belt to Shamus then that was fine. I liked him before he became the 'Great White' back when that was actually an insult to him.

And things on the card didn't go a whole hell of a lot up from there. At least with the exception of the Hell in a Cell match. I need to see that one again. But, we did have three veterans working that match. And they all knew what they were doing. I found this one to be much more entertaining than last years. Which I would have to give the credit to Michaels for adding that level of uncertainty to the outcome. Although I was very very doubtful that Undertaker was ever going to lose this thing. Hopefully he will retire undefeated at Wrestlemania. Seeing I don't find anyone worthy of the rub, and with the pace of things these days it would be forgotten in weeks anyway. But if they must, I would love to see someone like Ziggler get it.

Anyway as the card wore on things didn't get much better. The Punk and Jericho match didn't thrill me either. And I know both men can work. Maybe it has something to do with the storyline. Which doesn't interest me at all. And the tag match was tossed to the dark. I've seen good womens matches, and most of them seem to be over in TNA / Impact these days. And The Rock and Cena didn't work well for me either. I was disappointed in Team Teddy losing, but maybe this will provide an opportunity to do something with Teddy. He is miles more interesting and likeable than Johnny Ace.

We get to RAW and Smackdown! and things for me just get worse. RAW was good with the Rocks promo and all downhill from there till we end with Lesnar. What anyone sees in him I will never know.

I've been watching the Wrestlemanias starting at #1 this past week. And it's going to take awhile. But so far I'm up to number six and they have all been much better than what I watch now. Maybe it's because I'm a product of the 80s and that's what I grew up with. But maybe they just did it better then. You know, they don't make things like they used to. A good example being this weeks ref reversing a decision on (Smackdown! was it??) over an incident he didn't even see.. I just saw two WM in a row where Jesse was complaining and praising the fact that the heels cheated well, and kept things hidden from the ref. And they didn't go around changing the decison for things they thought they saw.

I guess alot of this boils down to something I probably said before. Modern wrestling is now so totally shifted to the entertainment (WWE at least) that they don't even pretend to be a sport anymore. Or even act like there are rules and this is supposed to be an atletic competition. And it shows. From what I have been told I should be watching Ring of Honor. Or maybe I need to watch more Impact. But Impact has a lot of failings in other areas. But they do have some good talent.

I have quite a few WMs to get through, and it will be interesting if the decline hits your like a brick wall once I get past the Attitude Era into the PG era and rise of Cena. Maybe it's a gradual thing. Should be interesting to see..

Wrestlemania 28

It's that time of year again, time for Wrestlemania.

Now I haven't been too excited in recent years, the PPV events just don't seem to be all that grand and dazzling anymore. Compared to my memories of the early years, they just seem like extended episodes of RAW or Smackdown! Maybe returning to an outdoor arena. With the large setup might give it back some sense of atmosphere. I really need to go back and watch the old 'Manias. I remember when the WWF/E released the big boxset of all of them. I wish I could have found it for a good price. After that I would have loved a set of the Rumbles. Even if it was just a set of all the Royal Rumble matches themselves.

But oddly I am finding myself getting a little excited this year. Even though I had said I wouldn't be. After all, I saw HHH and Undertaker last year. But I am interested in seeing them now in a Hell in a Cell match, with Mr. Wrestlemania as the guest referee. And Punk and Jericho along with Rock and Cena. Against my better judgement I'm looking forward to Sunday night.

I'm even interested in the 12 man tag match, hopefully team Teddy wins.

So here we are at another Wrestlemania, one I said I wouldn't be excited about. And yet I find myself drawn to it. We shall see how it all goes by Monday night.

Dark of the Moon : Darksteel

Picked this guy up at TRU last weekend. They were having a $10 sale on the deluxes. And until I heard that he was a Beast Wars homage to Quickstrike I wasn't much interested.

But once I got him transformed into robot mode and put his weapons into his hands. He actually does look really cool. The head especially, and with the weapons in hand they resemble claws / blades.

The mold looks like a repaint and tooling of DOTM Sideswipe.

If you liked Quickstrike I'd say you should grab this guy while you can. If not, I wouldn't bother. Since he's just another 'Sideswipe' and I actually already have two versions of movie Sideswipe already. But this one is more than different enough to fit in for me with my like of Beast Wars.

Thanks to the WTF@TFW 2005 podcast and Vangelus or I would not have known he was a Quickstrike BW homage.

3.5 out of 5

MMOs and Gaming

And the pendulum swings and I find myself returning to PC gaming. With the closure of Blockbuster and the Rogers outlets. I no longer have any good alternatives for renting. This has mostly ruined what was a good deal several years ago when I had swung into console gaming to play all the cool titles I was missing. But at $70 a title that lasts usually no longer than two weeks buying isn't a choice. I sold off my Xbox 360. And am content to hold onto my PS3 since the media capabilities of it are fantastic. And it's also my Bluray player. I don't see myself going into the next generation. I can further beef up my PC instead. And play some of these games a year or more down the line on my PC that still works. And not have a bunch of games that have no value and can't be used once their console system has been put out to pasture.

So, now I am back to PC gaming. I was enjoying Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. And Diablo 3 is right around the corner. But predominantly I find that MMOs are the titles that I usually get the most out of. Been playing them pretty much since 1999. But I find myself once again returning to Azeroth and World of Warcraft. I have always like Blizzard as a company. And maybe that is part of it.

I've been away from the game for must be at least six months or more. And in the interim I played the F2P versions of City of Heroes, EverQuest 2. As well as played the beta and launch of Star Wars The Old Republic. Which I left once I hit the cap and there didn't seem to be much left for me to do. I would say that SW needed another 6 months or so to fill out. And CoH and EQ2 even when they were pay subs didn't hold my attention that long. I would have to say looking back, that EQ1 and WoW were the two MMOs that I've played the most. Everything else were short diversions. I even played DC Universe Online on PS3 and it was only fun for a few days.

But I received one of the new super turbo charged Scrolls of Resurrection and it lured me back in. At first I played a couple hours and didn't have much fun with it. I was bored. Which was why I left in the first place. I had one 85 and several 80s and nothing I felt like doing. But now I was able to bring my Mage over from another server. And get a boost to level 80. And now I've been taking it easy fishing with my 85 and doing low key stuff. While with my newly minted 80 Mage (Who was 73 before) I find some more fun coming back. I don't find I have the time or the patience for Raids or even groups usually. Maybe with a guild dungeons wouldn't be so bad. But PUGs never seem to go well. And as a Mage my role is pretty simple. DPS. I don't have the pressure of healing or tanking. And back in the beginning days of WoW my Mage was into all the dungeons and raiding. But when I went horde I didn't recreate my Mage since I don't like to do the same things over and over. I didn't want to have to level a Mage a second time. Although it took me about three times to get a Shaman past 24.

And I guess with the single player games I have this sense of being alone, playing against a machine. And again I tend to get bored. With MMOs they seem to be like a pseudo sand box. And there are always other people around. Whether I choose to interact with them or not. I can buy, sell, trade and still feel like I'm part of something persistent. So even with my lack of interest in the main social aspects of the games (Grouping and Raiding) it still seems to be mainly a social atmosphere. This 'it' factor that single player games seem to be lacking.

So with my play style I tend to solo the game and play Battlegrounds. And this generally seems to be enough of a social interaction to keep me interested. Where single player games don't. At least when I'm not suffering MMO burnout.

But I knew that I would in all likely hood be buying Mists of Pandaria this fall. So a few months to finish up some levels and skills before that would be good. And I will be ready to dive into the expansion. And it looks like they are adding a lot of stuff to do with the 'Pokemon' aspect besides grind out another five levels. And I've been missing a Monk class since the game launched. They were one of my favorites in EQ 1 back in the day. And I still wish I had of come back for two months last fall for Brewfest and Halloween events.

Anyway, I better stop. Since this is turning into a large wandering post.

Transformers Prime Legion Class Vehicon

Prime figures have finally started to appear in my area. I picked up the Legion class Vehicon.

What a fantastic little figure. He looks great, has knee joints, unfortunately he could have really used an elbow to help pose and aim his weapon.

He is mainly black, with grey tires and silver head and some purple highlights. He also sports the cyclon red visor. Transformation is nice and simple. And his weapon is made from some kind of soft type plastic. Also purple.

Over all I am very pleased, he looks great in both modes. If I had to complain about anything it would be the lack of an elbow joint, and I would have preferred his weapon be a gun. And not a gun / sword type thing.

If this is a preview for the deluxe version. Than I am going to want more than one..

4 out of 5 stars

Great figure.

iGear Rager and Spray

I'm kinda doing these comments / reviews in reverse order. Or maybe I should have done one big one.

I got my Spray last week, and Rager after him. iGear has had some things I was interested in before. Namely the Masterpiece Seekers but I wasn't going to pay those prices. And I really don't have the space. I already have the Hasbro MP Starscream and Skywarp. And I would rather have Takara Thundercracker or by some miracle a Hasbro one. But with the prices of the Takara Tcracker and the new mold coming I doubt we'll see a Hasbro TCracker, but that's another story.. Not too mention I'm not as attached to the Coneheads as the original Seekers..

But on to Spray..

I'm quite happy with him. I love the shade of blue they used for him. And he just seems to be the right size. Not too big, but not too small either. Transformation was simple. No problems. He's nicely posable. And his plastic quality seems to be good. He has a small amount of paint, his face and hovercraft windows. And he even comes with a spear gun. Which was fantastic. And I was impressed with the laminated sparkly bio card he came with. And unlike the Maketoys version he did not come with any instructions. If I had to complain about anything with him, it would be he suffer a little bit of having large pontoon feet. And some rather obvious gaps in alt mode. But it's not enough to bother me.

Over all I am quite pleased with Spray.

Rager..

Much the same as Spray. Transformation was simple, no popping out of place ball joints. Nice colors, and good pose ability. He comes with two pistols, which was cool to have some accessories. And his head even seems posable, but I can't quite reach in to move his head. As with Spray he's just the right size. And his quality seems good. He also comes with a nice laminated sparkly bio card. But no instructions.

If this is what we can look forward to with iGears Miniwarrior line. Than sign me up. At around $18 to $20 each depending on where you buy them, won't break the bank like a lot of third party items unfortunately. I can't wait to see Cosmos and the rest of the line.

It's kind of sad when I think about it, but it seems more and more these days third party are making more exciting products than Hasbro and Takara themselves are. And I am very interested in the Prime line. Maybe it was the over saturation of the movie toys for the last 5 years or so. But then they release the Prime FE and we find out they get cancelled. And the main RID line with duplicate molds are inferior in some respects.. Come on Hasbro. Maybe it's my nostalgia. But it's kind of sad when I look back to toys from 30 years ago and I still like them better, and they have better quality than modern designed stuff. And it takes third party to give these stuff back to us with faithful modern adaptions. Not to get too long winded on this, thankfully we got the Classics, Generations and those lines. Those were fantastic. Then I see FOC Bruticus and hope he's mistransformed =)

Anyway..

iGear Miniwarriors

Spray 3.5 out of 5
Rager 3.5 out of 5

Maketoys Hover & Bomber

Ok, so I finally got my box with Maketoys version of the minibots Hover (Seaspray) and Bomber (Powerglide) this morning.

And I have to say, that over all I'm not all that impressed with them. And I will be looking forward to iGears forthcoming Cosmos and the rest of their line predominantly.

The design of Hover and Bomber just seem to be off. Visually they look nice, in both modes. I find that Hovers blue is a little too dark. And I Also find him and Bomber to be a little bit on the short side. Just a little bit taller would have been nice. Rager and Spray aren't that much bigger. But I like their size better.

But my problem with how they were designed I guess mostly applies to bomber more than hover. With bomber the transformation was simple enough, but even so they seem to have some ball joint problems. His fore arms like to pop off, and in 'bot mode he can't raise his fists up without turning them palms up to do it with how they were designed. And the small flaps on the back of the engines on his legs like to pop out of their notches. And they don't like to clip back in place too well. They just fit into little notches. It seems like the friction will hold them into place. Unless they get worn over time by transforming. But I don't tend to transform my figures very often. So it probably won't be much of a problem for me. I've also had some minor problem trying to pose them, as their joints like to slide back to their original positions. And neither of them come with any accessories. A few spots on Bombers ball joints look to be thin plastic, so I would be careful with him transforming.

As mentioned though, they both look nice in robot and alt mode. I almost like Hovers face better than Spray. And they have a little bit of paint. But it seems to accentuate them well. Bomber with yellow eyes and some black on his chest. And Spray with his face, chest and Hovercraft windows.

So, in the end I guess I am a little disappointed in them. The iGear Spray and Rager are much nicer. A little bit bigger, and both came with accessories. Not too mention a cool sparkly, laminated bio card. And were sold separately for around $18 about. Where Hover and Bomber came as a two piece set. I only wanted to get Bomber, but had to get the pair. Figuring I would sell off Spray. And I may do that still.

So I would say go for iGears Rager and Spray and try and get a loose Bomber if you want Powerglide for the new minibots. Unless iGear releases him down the line. The only one I know of coming up is Cosmos. And I'm looking forward to him. I love the minibots, and had a bunch of them when I was a kid. And it looks like iGear really has something I like going with their line.

Maketoys Bomber and Spray

Bomber 2 out of 5
Hover 2.5 out of 5