X-Transbots Survivalist Ollie Review (Masterpiece Wheelie)

                        
A beautiful homage to Generation One Wheelie, X-Transbots Ollie has been designed to fill that tiny Wheelie shaped space on collectors Masterpiece shelf.

Back in 1986, Hasbro released Transformers the Movie, introducing many new characters, whilst horrifically killing off many beloved ones in a moment they would later come to regard as a bit of a misstep. Surprisingly kids did not take too well to seeing characters they were fond of brutally murdered and then have fire coming out of their mouths (RIP Prowl).

Wheelie has never truly had a decent toy with his Generation One figure being terrible, homages coming with a small legends figure that turned into an Earth car, and a confusing (but awesome) repaint of the RTS Jazz mold.

X-Transbots are a 3rd party company that have previously bought us the knock off of Jizai Toys Powerglide and more recently a quite cool looking Huffer.

Now with X-Transbots Wheelie, they have stepped up their game and bought us a Masterpiece scale version of the character that has a near uncanny resemblance to the character model - which is no small feat.

To read the X-Transbots Masterpiece Wheelie review hit the button below

Transformers MP-20 Masterpiece Wheeljack Review

I will start this by saying that I cannot believe that this figure actually exists. Wheeljack was always one of my favourite Auotbots, and his car mode was one of the ones I liked the most - and I am not a big car person.

But Wheeljack just looked cool.

Takara may have soft rebooted their Masterpiece line, and knocked out the Lamborghini duo of Sideswipe and Red Alert, and then the Datsun trio featuring Prowl, Bluestreak and Smokescreen - but a licensed Lancia Stratos? Without an easy repaint? Nah, it would never happen.

Only, it did.

So to read the review, and find out just how glorious Wheeljack is - hit the button below

Transformers Generations Jetfire Review

Before nude pictures of celebrities were being leaked onto the Internet, a similar fate befell Hasbro's then unannounced Generations Jetfire.

As you would expect, the Internet oooh'd and ahhh'd with admiration, and it became one of the most hotly anticipated figures in living memory.

There were a couple of reasons for this, first among them was that it was the first leader class figure we had seen in a few years. Second, and most importantly it was a brand new Jetfire figure that was based on his cartoon robot mode, and toy jet mode.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat???!!!! Mind blown.

In the original Transformers cartoon, Jetfire was called Skyfire and was found by the Decepticons buried in ice. Freed from his prison, he joined them due to his old friend Starscream (what could possibly go wrong), but soon realised his error and became essentially a giant Taxi for the Autobots.

His animation model was completely made up, and based on the toy that was released as Jetfire, and was a Robotech/Macross toy that Hasbro licensed to fill out the line.

Not confusing at all.

So now this new Jetfire is here, and I finally managed to get my hands on it despite it not being released in the UK (thanks again Hasbro UK!), did the toy live up to all that promise?

Hit the button to find out

Transformers Generations Skids Review

For the last two years, Hasbro has doing some excellent work with its Generations line. Moving a side step away from simply homaging or updating G1 characters, they have been using IDW's work as a template, and giving us spins on the characters more in tune with the comic series.

Springer was the first, if memory serves, and laid down a marker that would be tough to compete with. Since then we have had a growing list of additions to the line which each seem to do a decent job in their own way - yes, even the Bumblebee figure.

There was a growing desire for a new Skids figure, as he made his debut in the fantastic More Than Meets The Eye comic series. Skids have been a character who prior to this had done extremely little in Transformers Generation One fiction, only making brief cameos in the cartoon, and not appearing much in the Marvel comics series.

Even his original toy caused much confusion over his alt mode, with many thinking (including the cartoon shows animators) Skids was a mini van, when he was in fact a tiny sub compact (as the Americans call it) car.

IDW worked their magic, just as they did with Swerve, and took a forgettable character and transformed them into an A list star of the comics, much to the delight of its readers.

Hasbro took this as an opportunity to knock out a toy of Skids which came out at the very end of last year or start of this year but was only available briefly in small quantities. But now he seems to have gotten a re-release in a later wave so I managed to get Amazon to send me one over (by giving them more money than I would usually spend on a Deluxe).

So is he any good? Hit the button below to read on and find out.
I have also decided to try out a new layout, all feedback appreciated!

Mastermind Creations Tigris Review

Time flies, when you are waiting for robotic Animals that not only turn into robots, but merge to form a gigantic robot.

I *think* the Feralcons were initially announced about two years ago. I know I got Bovis last November, which was already on the back of heavy delays with the set, and they were supposed to be released I think monthly after that.

So here we are in October 2014, and the final member of the main team has finally found his way to freedom from the factory. MMC named him Tigris, but most of us know him as Rampage the Generation 1 Predacon, and Predakings usual right arm.

Now that Tigris is finallyhere, is he as good as the other Feralcons? How did Feral Rex turn out?



Hit the jump to find out.

TFC Hercules Review - Exgraver and Neckbreaker

Time for part 3 of my review of TFC's first combiner - Hercules.

Originally this was intended to be a review for Mastermind Creations Tigris, but the lighting Gods decided otherwise, and took out another of my photo box lamps. So I am down to one, and did not think it would be wise to continue with a spooky Goosebumps look to the photo's.
You want to see Tigris in all his glory, and it is well worth it. Hopefully it will be done before the end of this week, depending on the speed of Amazon.

Back to Hercules, next up are the fine two component, Exgraver and Neckbreaker, who are analogues to Generation Ones Scavenger and Bonecrusher respectively.

Exgraver was the very first figure from the set to be shown, and also released so it will be interesting to see how he stacks up.

To read my thoughts, hit the jump

TFC Hercules Review - Heavy Labor and Dr Crank

Part 2 of my review of TFC's Hercules combining team continues with Heavy Labor (Long Haul) and Dr Crank (Hook). As an Englishman, it annoys me to have to spell "Labour" with the Americanised spelling...no, just no!

Anyway, these are the next two Herc bots on my list to review.

Forming the torso of Hercules (Devastator) how do they stack up today?

Hit the button below to read the retroish review

TFC Hercules Review - Structor and MadBlender

It is funny to think now, that there was once a time, only a couple of years ago, when Transformers fans thought we would never see decent combiners again.

Not only have we had an avalanche of 3rd party attempts, from many different companies covering almost every conceivable base, but now Hasbro has taken notice and is developing a theme called "Combiner Wars" which will see new toys of the Aerial Bots and Stunticons based on the original G1 teams and featuring in the IDW comics.

It is a glorious time to be a fan of combiners, and I am very much looking forward to Hasbro's figures as they are far more affordable than the 3rd party equivalents.

So where did it all start? What was the catalyst for this change in thinking, that would propel almost an entire market by itself and start something of a toys arms race?

A strong case could be made for the starting point being TFC's Hercules series of figures. Based on the original G1 Constructicons, they are voyager sized figures that do combine into a much larger gestalt.

Awesome. 

It was the first full set of combining figures, and how successful was it? Well here we are a couple of years later, and after picking it up off my shelf and dusting it down, I thought I would take a look back at this set to see how the figures stand up now.

I will start with Structor and Mad Blender as they form the legs, and work my way up.

Hit the button to continue on to the reviews and pictures.

Micro Yamaguchi Revoltech Revolmini Solid Snake Review

 

I don't usually bother with Revoltech figures. As much as they are wonderfully sculpted and detailed, I do not like how the articulation works with them.

I have the Optimus Prime and Megatron figures that were produced, based on the Dreamwave comics designs, but despite being very poseable, the articulation always seems very awkward.

back in February I was pre-ordering Masterpiece Wheeljack on Anime Export when I spotted a new Solid Snake figure listed based on the original PlayStation game.

I had to order it, despite my reservations about Revoltech figures.

Year ago I had the Macfarlane toys Snake and Meryl figures, but the head sculpt on Solid Snake was derpy to say the least.

So how does this Revoltech figure stack up? Has it changed my opinion on Revoltech figures? Or have I flushed some money down the drain?

Hit the button below to see more photos and find out

Keiths Fantasy Club BoxBomber Review

It was inevitable that once a Masterpiece Soundwave was announced, a 3rd party toy company would appear to bring us the cassettes that were not slated for release.

So step forward Keiths Fantasy Club, or KFC- though not to be confused with the worlds leading provider of fried chicken. Keith has bought us some cool figures in the last year, with a few different cassettes, various versions of Perceptor and more recently the amazing looking Citizen Stack and Sencho Barbossa.

Citizen Stack is a figure I would dearly love to have, even just for a brief time, but alas it is out of my price range at the momenr. I really need a lottery win as I really want to add it to my collection and take lots of pictures of it :(
It looks like such a fun toy. Another one is KFC's take on Slamdance, the Autobot combiner cassettes which I really do need to find. Clearly I like Keith's designs more than I thought.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand and that is Bird Bomber. Based on the later G1 Cassette toys of Squawktalk and Beastbox who combined to form Squawkbox, KFC have produced a couple of figures that Takara are very unlikely to ever bother with.
So this is a great way to fill that burning gap on your Masterpiece shelf (said no one ever about Squawkbox), or more aptly just give you more play value from Soundwave.

The original Squawkbox was released in 1988, as the Transformers brand was slowing right down in terms of popularity and as such they did not appear in any of the cartoon series or even the original comics. Instead, their fictional appearances have been limited to brief cameos in IDW's various series.

So not a character everyone is crying out for then? Well, no not really, they are not one of the first names (or even one of the top 50) anyone thinks of when asked to name Transformers characters but they were cool tools, with an interesting combining gimmick. So actually, they are pretty cool.

KFC have had a dubious reputation for quality control in the past, but that is always going to be a peril of doing cassette size figures due to their tiny size. But lets see how these guys stand up.

Hit the button to see the pictures and read the review

Mastermind Creations Talon Review

I believe this figure was first revealed, and put up for pre-order, almost two years ago. Originally slated to be the first Feral Con released, he was delayed several times due to revisions and various other issues, and slipped back to being the 4th figure from the set to make it into fans hands.

Feral Rex is now just one member short of being completely, ready to dominate your shelves and finally give your wallet a little breather.

So after the long wait, does the figure live up to the hopes and dreams of many a collector?

Hit the jump to find out.

Transformers Generations Legends Swerve and Flanker

Hasbro completely revamped their Legends class figures last year, with the introduction of the new Generations figures into that scale.

After the Legends class was renamed "Legion", the original name was bought back and applied to a new line of figures that were about the same size and complexity of the old Scout class. Confused? Aren't we all.

Yet again, Hasbro UK chose to let us down by not importing them all into the British Isles, so Toys'R'Us stores up and down the country can still be found stuck trying to shift Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, which were the first two in the new line, followed by Starscream and Megatron (not released here). Swerve and Cosmos came next, and Swerve at least is bigger than the previous 4.

Swerve has arguably been IDW's most successful revamp. In Generation 1, he was a later era minibot, from the Gears mold, but got almost zero exposure in any fiction.

IDW then chose to brilliantly give him his own personality, and he has become a huge fan favourite. So we come to this toy, which is Hasbro's interpretation, of IDW's interpretation of Generation 1 Swerve.

Confused again?

Hit the button below to see more photo's and read the review.

Transformers Generations Armada Starscream Review

In the early 2000's, Hasbro rebooted the Transformers line with Transformers Armada. It bought fresh takes on classic characters, and a bundle of new ones. The core gimmick here was to take the Micromasters, turn them in minicons and then make them unlock action features with the larger figures.

There was a cartoon which was horrible, and its well worth reading the Tfwiki's write up on it, but the toyline had some really cool figures in it. They were big, chunky and had serious heft to them.

Like almost every iteration of Transformers, Starscream was a character who got an update with a fanciful looking new futuristic jet mode, and a toy that was something akin to a brick.

Now in the 30 Anniversary Generations range, Hasbro have decided to pay homage to Armada and Starscream with an updated deluxe class figure.

Is it any good? Read after the jump to find out.

Transformers Generations Scoop Review

Back in the mid 80's, Hasbro decided to jazz up the Transformers Toy line with the introduction of the Targetmasters.

These were toys who came with weapons that could themselves transform into small robots. Pretty cool idea huh?

The concept has been used since, with various toys such as mini cons and Powercore Combiners, but never have we had legit Targetmasters.
Until  now.

With the 30th Anniversary of the Transformers brand upon us, Hasbro have kicked it a gear with their Generations lines and given us some awesome figures. Amongst them was this gem, Targetmaster Scoop.
I was so happy!

But is he a worthy update of the original toy? Hit the button to read the review

Mastermind Creations MMC Reformatted R04 Leo Dux Review

Leo Dux is Masterminds Creations take on Razorclaw, and the main body for their Feral Rex combiner - or Predaking.

He was released earlier in the year, and when I got him I loved him. But I opened him, played with him for a brief time and stuck him back on the shelf, never to go back to him.
Until now.

With the next figure in the long running saga of MMC getting these guys released, Talon, now slowly appearing in peoples hands, I figured I'd rediscover Leo Dux.

The name Leo Dux reminds me of Frankie Dux, so I think of this version of Razorclaw of being Jean Claude Van Damme-esque. It's probably not what MMC intended...

If you want to read a review, and look at some photo's, then hit the button below to continue past the jump.

Unique Toys Metropolis Cityset for Generations Metroplex

Unique Toys are a company who's toy's I have never bought, as they always seem to come with some caveat.

First there was the Predaking who needed a whole separate chest section to be added, that stored nowhere. Then there was the Galvatron (Mani King), who had no wrist swivels, giving him Gorilla arms. Next up were Sharkticons which were either broken, or not the joins were not lined up properly, and a G1 style Blaster who was too small to fit the standard Cassette bots. Not for me thanks.

But this then curiosity started to appear. A new head for Generations Metroplex, based more on his comics appearance, and some extra little accessories for his other modes.

I am a sucker for add-on's for Metroplex, so I was eager to hand over money for it.

The odd thing is, when it came the box has a a rather nice image of G1 Metroplex on the front, of which no part of this set is based, nor is the figure it is designed to upgrade.

Mad.

If you want to see some pictures of the set, and read a review, hit the button after the jump

Lego Ghostbusters Ecto-1- pictorial review of the build

I don't get any Lego sets in years, and then two come along in quick succession.

Like buses then.

My girlfriend, bought me the Lego Ecto-1 for our anniversary a couple of weeks back, proving yet again that she is wonderful, amazing and all of that.

I love Ghostbusters, and I am quite fond of Lego, so this is an absolute no brainer. To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the first Ghostbusters movie, Lego have released a set based on their ever popular Ecto-1.

It's the second 80's movie themed set to come from the Cuusoo initiative (recently renamed "Lego Ideas), whereby people submit ideas and designs for sets, then if they gain enough support Lego will look at it, see if its possible and then release it. Of course, in the case of sets based on franchises, Lego have to acquire the license, and just like they did with Back to the Future-they managed to secure one for the Ghostbusters.
Much to the relief of the millions of us still stuck in our 80's childhood-Proton packs and all.

I will get this out of the way now, its an amazing set and insanely fun to build and you should buy it.


Hit the button below, to see some pictures, and read my thoughts, after the break

Transformers Generations Whirl Voyager Class Review

Wreck and Rule

With his starring role in IDW's recent comic book series, and rise in popularity, it was a no surprise that Hasbro would eventually give us an update of the character in the Generations line. But was was a surprise, is that there was already a deluxe class version (a repaint of FOC Vortex) released recently, and also how much of an homage to the original toy this is, as opposed to being based on IDW's design as we have seen with other figures recently

So Generations Whirl is an update of his Generation 1 figure. In a twist of irony, just like his Generation 1 figure - Generations Whirl has not been released in the UK.

Same old Hasbro UK.

So after importing the figure, and playing around with it - is it any good?

Hit the button below to see some shiny pictures, and a review.

Lego Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Kraang Lab Escape

 Reading this blog, you would be forgiven for thinking its solely for putting up pictures of Transformers. That is the brand I seem to spend most of money on, when it comes to toys, but I do venture into toy lines too.

Lego is not often one of them, not because I don't like Lego, but because normally its quite expensive and I only have so much room in my house.
On my lunch break today, I was having a wander around Sainsburys, and whilst trying to decide which was a better option, Sushi or a Cheese and Onion pasty, I nipped over to have a look at the toys. Nothing stood out, lots of Lego and Transformers Age of Extinction stuff amongst other toys, but then on my way back I stumbled across the Clearance isle.

Amongst a sea of discounted Transformers Beast Hunters Legion figures (none of which I bought) was the last piece of Turtles Lego in the place, and it was reduced by 50% to £5 - I couldn't say no.

As a kid I was massively into Turtles after Transformers and He-Man died. It filled the void, and then expanded past whatever any of them had ever been. The new Turtles show is even better, and seriously if you are not watching it - you really should be.

If you like Lego, and Turtles, hit the button to see a few pictures of the build.

Transformers Masterpiece MP12-G G2 Sideswipe Review

In the early 1990's, Hasbro decided to try and revive to its dying Transformers line, by rebranding it. Generation 2 was not the kiss of life it hoped for, it was merely a form of life support.

The cartoon was repackaged in the worst possible way, rendering it almost unwatchable, but the toy line was much better. Not only did we get new figures later on, but we got re-releases of the original toys in jazzy new colours. Blue Dinobots? Hasbro had you covered man.

Some of these were less successful, but there were a few good ideas in there. One of which, was repainting G1 Sideswipe from red to black, and making him an absolute nut job in the comic books

Takara, in an effort to get more life and money out of the Masterpiece Lambor mold, saw fit to pay homage to that character by releasing it as a Masterpiece figure, complete with comic inspired angry face. The Internet rejoiced and I screamed like mad...in my mind.

I had the original toy, and knew I had to pre order this the second it became available.

Hit the button to see the review, and lots of pictures.

Reprolabels Beast Hunters Smokescreen Upgrade Set

Recently, I ordered Reprolabel sets for Beast Hunters Smokescreen, and for Masterpiece Sideswipe. After hours of painstakingly applying them, and an equal amount of time spent cursing them, I finally finished and took a few photo's.

It was a painstaking process, but years of practice with Panini football sticker books has stood me in good stead, and lead to this moment.

Hit the jump for some pictures and brief thoughts of the set for Smokescreen

X2 Toys XT004 Interception Metroplex Gun Review

I have taken more photo's of this, than almost anything else in the history of my life. You may be forgiven for thinking that that must mean there is a lot to this set, and it would make sense. However, owing to me still recovering from knee surgery, and so not able to get in positions to take photo's easily, and also due to the sheer size of Metroplex - well that's how I ended up with close to a hundred pictures of something that does not really do that much.

Don't worry, I am not going to post all those photo's here, but I hope it goes some way to explaining quite why the photo's are not as great as I would like.

This right here is X2 Toys extra gun for Metroplex. Hasbro's retail release of the venerable Metrotitan only comes with one gun, whilst Takara's and special editions come with two. Metroplex is quite famous for having two guns also.

So these guys caught wind of an exploitable gap in the market, and then went a step further by making it transform.

Click the button below, to read the review, and see some more pictures after the jump.

Transformers Generations Legends Bluestreak Review

I have been off work for almost a month, after having an operation to reconstruct my ACL, which I tore playing football late last year. As I am bored, I have spent a ridiculous amount of time scanning EBay for crazy bargains, and I came across one with this.

For £2.34, buy it now, I got the Asian Generations Legends Bluestreak shipped all the way from the other side of the world.

That's less than the cost of a pint!

Renderform RF-015 Nightshade - Universe Darkwind upgrade set

A couple of weeks back, I picked up a Transformers Universe Darkwind (an update of Generation 1 Darkwing, and repaint of the Universe Voyager Silverbolt) from EBay for the bargain price of £1.24. Sure its a little battered, and was missing his gun, clearly it had been beaten up by a child - but that did not matter.

I really liked the figure as Silverbolt, but the the colour scheme on Darkwind looks better and really fits the character. Sadly, Hasbro didn't feel a need to remold the head so it was just a straight colour swap.
Boooo Hasbro!

So in stepped Renderform who created a new head and weapons set, that sold out and has been highly sought after on the secondary market. However, recently he did an updated version with a new head sculpt, and I managed to snag one.

You get a brand new, more accurate head, 2 grey G1 styled guns and as a bonus he threw in a gorgeous clear purple gun.

This is my first Renderform kit, and if you want to see some pretty pictures and read a review of the set - then click the button and continue after the jump.

Dr Wu P17 Bitz - Generations Blitzwing Upgrade Kit

 Dr Wu, purveyor of fine 3rd party Transformers upgrades you never you needed, has finally released his long awaited upgrade kit for Generations Blitzwing.

Is it worth buying? Hit the jump to find out