AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
edited November 2022
Trust me, I've been following it.. VERY closely. If they announce a Wing Saber (or OMG, Omega Supreme)... then I'll be all over it. So well fucking done.
Edit: Jeez. The details and transformation flexibility... even watching the prototype development process for the last year, I am still shocked by how much thought went into it.
I fucking love Cosmos. Just everything about him; his portly proportions (not quite replicated on this figure, but I'll take what I can get), his ridiculous classic Adamski UFO alt-mode, and the fact that he was a proto-Waspinator a decade before Waspinator even existed. Just a character the universe loves to crap on.
You see, Cosmos was fairly unique among the Autobots at the time (Season 2). In that he was the only space faring autobot who wasn't also a discontinued toy (Jetfire) or the Autobot's last line of defense (Omega Supreme) so Cosmos was frequently the default choice for space stuff, often ordered to do a lot of crappy jobs because noone else could. The Autobots would have him go on long orbits around earth to spy on Decepticons, leaving Cosmos so lonely and bored that he would frequently fly around on Earth intentionally scaring farmers and livestock. He would often get caught up in all sorts of terrible situations that none of the other Autobots ever had the misfortune of dealing with, but he always rose to the challenge.
As Optimus Prime once said "Cosmos has survived worse"
Cosmos rules.
This figure is a bit of a miracle, originally he was going to be a retool of the Buzzworthy Bumblebee Origins.. uh.. Bumblebee, pictured below on the left,
I'm a little unclear on the specifics, but they basically had four "slots" in which to do new tooling, and some crazy designer at Takara went "I can do a whole new figure in four toolings" and the dude actually did! As mentioned, Cosmos proportions aren't quite as portly as he was in G1, but hey, as someone who's lost nearly 50 pounds in the last year or so, good for Cosmos! Get you're svelt on! He comes with a gun that you can slap a checkered flag on, because he was released in the Velocitron line, they needed some way to tie him to the race, so he's the race starter / one who flies around keeping tabs on tings. The flag is only painted on one side, which Hasbro says you can flip it around into a surrender flag, but while Cosmos may not be the toughest bot, he never gives up dammit! Overall the figure is pretty good, though the hollow areas in his forearms are really big, and snapping the backs of his feet in always feel like I'm grinding off bits of plastic to do so. Otherwise I'm pretty pleased with him.
He turns into not a classic flying saucer, but an saucer styled after those of author George Adamski ('course that begs the question on what the hell did Cosmos actually scan when he came to earth). A fun thing you can do is get a plastic drinking cup and use it as an abduction beam. Let us get space expert Micromaster Countdown in here to demonstrate.
Thank you Countdown! Eventually Sky Lynx came along and took the pressure off of poor Cosmos. Not that it stopped terrible things from happening to him, of course. Stay classy, Cosmos!
Earthrise Commander Class Sky Lynx
Oh hey, speaking of Sky Lynx; here's a weird ass character. IIRC, he was an originally an unreleased mold made by the same people who made the original Omega Supreme; Hasbro bought their stuff because Transformers was a white-hot toyline and they needed all of the toys they could get on shelves.
Sky Lynx is WEIRD. Like he might honestly be the weirdest Transformer in history. He's a space shuttle and the shuttle's ground transport. His shuttle half transforms into a vaguely flying dinosaur like critter (that looks more like a monster space shuttle) while the ground transport turns into a Lynx, so he's two different animal based robots. Those robots can combine into the full Sky Lynx, which is basically the dinosaur part sitting on the lynx's legs. It works.. somehow.
His character is great though; but like, literally. Dude knows he's hot stuff and will not let you forget it for a moment. He has to be a space transport because that's the only way he can carry his ego around. He's not a jerk about it, but he is going to let you know how lucky you are to have someone as magnificent as him here to help. The toy is pretty cool, though the transformation appears simpler than it is, as there's a few steps that are easy to miss if you don't look at the instructions. My copy has kind of floppy wings, especially when you extend them fully. Just too much weight on the joints, though if you properly transform him it's less of an issue.
Vehicle Mode
For his Earthrise release, they also added a base mode, which is.. meh..
There's just something.. missing about it. Let's bring in our space expert again and see what he has to say.
Well, he seems to be excited about something... Wait, is that..
Man, here's a pack of guys I bought and then didn't take out of their box until just now. They're recolors of Earthrise Ironworks, Overair, Micromasters Fuzor, Blast Master and Siege Direct-Hit and Power Punch. They've been recolored into.. Ironworks, Overair, Fuzor, Blast Master, Moon Rock and Missile Master. I guess Hasbro got tired of naming stuff. Is should find some new names for these guys at some point. They do come with an extra missile accessory, borrowed from Earthrise Doubledealer. Anyway, what the hell are they doing here? It's not like there's any character stuff to talk about with them, really, and I already review the big guys years ago.
Seriously Countdown, I'm not sure where you're going with th... Oh!
Behold, a VERY haphazard recreation of Countdown's original Micromaster Rocket Base from G1! This was kind of a pain in the ass to get the pars to assemble (One titan for Countdown, one Commander for Sky-Lynx and then an Amazon exclusive multipack) and doesn't quite get there, but I appreciate the effort. Not sure it's worth leaving Sky-Lynx stuck in base mode for, but then again I'm not sure where else I'm gonna stick him if not my Micromaster shelf :biggrin.
Whew, that was a lot. Thankfully that's all of the space stuff.
*eyeballs the December shipping date for Galaxy Shuttle*
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Forever Zefirocloaked in the midnight glory of an event horizonRegistered Userregular
Haha thanks for posting pics, now I no longer feel (as) bad for not posting pics of the Cosmos and Sky Lynx I recently obtained/mentioned
And thanks for reminding me of that Galactic Odyssey set I forgot about that I also own and haven't opened! My life is a mess!
Personally I love that they included the base mode (and of course the connection ports to link up as you've shown), as I love Micromasters and bases for them to play on
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
I have a dream of one day making as big a base as I can, using Omega Supreme as the go between for older and more modern base connectors.
I also wish I could have gotten a hold of the track extensions for Omega Supreme.
Honestly it was just going to be a Cosmos review, but then I realized I could throw in Sky-Lynx while I was at it, and then I realized that meant I should break out the Botropolis set.
Then I realized I could use the the Tim Curry clip and I was basically forced to make that post.
Oh for the love of.. My copy of Crasher came in and she has a big old paint mishap on her face.
Guess I've gone from "Will probably buy an upgrade kit with the proper head if someone makes one" to "dear god I hope someone makes an upgrade kit with a proper head"
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
I have zero paint experience, so even 8f there is an easily available paint that matches the pink, I don't have any brushes or skill to apply it. Plus I'd be paying how much for a bottle if pink paint that for a tiny, tiny area?
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
If you have a game store in your area, maybe ask around to see if they know someone who does commissions? Heck, I bet someone on this forum could do it for you too with some shipping involved.
It's a minor thing, though, so it is up to you. Just suggesting options.
AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
ITSHAPPENING.GIF!!!
Cang Toys Volcanicus. I talked about this in the past, but in brief: It is a super stylized take on the Dinobots to be more Zoids-like, but with an extra member and able to combine.
So far, all we've seen are sketches of the potential members in robot and dino form. Nothing physical, and no sign of the combined mode. And that was a while back.
These are obviously super early prototypes, but it's very much in keeping with the prototypes we've seen in the past from Cang Toys.
I am still firmly on the side that believes we won't get this until the Legends-scaled Thunderking is either done or mostly done, but I'm okay with that. Even with some simplification from the concept art, that appears to be Not-Grimlock over on the left.. and he is yet another BIG BOI.
I like the look of these way more than their Predacons (I won't lie, the fact that they are dinosaurs makes things like 1000% better for me). Apparently they said that they will not do a Legends-scale version of this combiner, the way they're doing a Legends-scale Predaking, so that makes this a much more difficult decision for me. The MP-scale Predacons are quite big, I'm not sure if I can find a spot for them. On the other hand, this looks like such a cool and unique set. Guess I'll have to see how it reviews, how I'm feeling at the time, etc. I agree with you, Athenor, I suspect we won't see this set for a while yet.
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
Looking closer, it doesn't even look to be all the members. It looks to be doubled-up sets so they can show robot and alt modes at the same time.
Who's a cute widdle cuddly wuddly intergalactic megalomaniacal tyrant who turns into a military vehicle designed to end lives? I said who's a cute widdle cuddly wuddly intergalactic megalomaniacal tyrant who turns into a military vehicle designed to end lives?!? You are, yes you are, there's a good evil boy.
Hey, by the way, since we're heading into mid/late November, I wanted to remind folks that if they're looking to buy more expensive Transformers (Masterpiece and 3rd party, I mean) and maybe some other toys targeted at collectors, it might make sense to wait for some end-of-November sales.
ToyDojo typically has a Black Friday sale, and I think The Chosen Prime has had some kinda sale the last few years. These are small, family-owned stores, and at least some of the items in their sales feel more like "we gotta get rid of this garbage inventory" than actual good deals, but sometimes there's something worth getting out of bed for (I bought MP-49 Black Convoy from ToyDojo last year, and MP-44 Optimus Prime the year before that, both for very good prices).
TFSource seems to have a perpetual sale going on these days, but (1) 99% of those items are things that no one has wanted to buy for 10 years, and (2) they typically mark up a lot of their inventory, so the sale just brings the price down to what other stores have (and sometimes, not even). BBTS also usually has sales, and they have a wide inventory, so there's a lot of stuff to choose from. I feel like these sales tend to be more noise than signal, but it doesn't hurt to take a look (and if you're looking for specific items, you can just look them up to see if they're on sale). TFSource has had credit card data breaches at least two times in the past, so probably best to use e.g. PayPal if you buy there.
ShowZStore is a Chinese retailer that doesn't really care about Black Friday, but they do have November 11th sales (I guess because it's Singles' Day in China, and it has become a major shopping holiday?). I don't remember seeing any mind-blowing discounts in the past, it's usually more like a few dollars off here and there, but they tend to already have lower prices than U.S. retailers on many items, and they often increase the point rewards for their loyalty program during this sale. Bombusbee is another Chinese retailer similar to ShowZ (I think they started as a TaoBao vendor or something, but now have a really nice online store) that has really spread its wings this year, and I'm guessing that they might do something on November 11th as well - especially since Bombusbee and ShowZ have been trying to undercut and outdo each other all year, so I doubt they'll miss the opportunity to compete on this.
Anyway, my point is that consumerism is great, buy buy buy, get a second mortgage to buy some little plastic soldiers, sell a kidney, whatever, as long as you just spend.
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Forever Zefirocloaked in the midnight glory of an event horizonRegistered Userregular
Did I mention I bought Titans Return Twintwist from a Canadian seller for $40??
Open/used, but complete, which is still crazy because this TF seemed basically nonexistent when it originally released, so aftermarket prices are like double that at a minimum, plus shipping from Canada definitely ate into any profit. But I think he’s one of those rare collectors that just appreciates passing on a figure and isn’t worried about milking aftermarket prices, which I sincerely appreciate
So thank you Canada bro, super happy to finally have Twintwist to go with Topspin, and it’s one of my favorite molds… maybe ever? It’s just fun and simple yet clever, and I know some of the hardcore TF community hated that non-Headmasters were turned into them for the TR line, but like I mentioned earlier about loving Micromasters and bases, the Headmaster gimmick is just fun. Having these little dudes to interact with their vehicle modes adds a lot for me
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
Did I mention I bought Titans Return Twintwist from a Canadian seller for $40??
Open/used, but complete, which is still crazy because this TF seemed basically nonexistent when it originally released, so aftermarket prices are like double that at a minimum, plus shipping from Canada definitely ate into any profit. But I think he’s one of those rare collectors that just appreciates passing on a figure and isn’t worried about milking aftermarket prices, which I sincerely appreciate
So thank you Canada bro, super happy to finally have Twintwist to go with Topspin, and it’s one of my favorite molds… maybe ever? It’s just fun and simple yet clever, and I know some of the hardcore TF community hated that non-Headmasters were turned into them for the TR line, but like I mentioned earlier about loving Micromasters and bases, the Headmaster gimmick is just fun. Having these little dudes to interact with their vehicle modes adds a lot for me
Yeah, Twintwist being near impossible to find pissed me off to no end. I wanted him the worst since he was the Jumpstarter I have as a kid so had to have the new one. Luckily I bought one from BBTS when they had some in stock so only paid a bit over retail. I loved the design so much that I bought the diaclone colored one this past year.
Did I mention I bought Titans Return Twintwist from a Canadian seller for $40??
Open/used, but complete, which is still crazy because this TF seemed basically nonexistent when it originally released, so aftermarket prices are like double that at a minimum, plus shipping from Canada definitely ate into any profit. But I think he’s one of those rare collectors that just appreciates passing on a figure and isn’t worried about milking aftermarket prices, which I sincerely appreciate
So thank you Canada bro, super happy to finally have Twintwist to go with Topspin, and it’s one of my favorite molds… maybe ever? It’s just fun and simple yet clever, and I know some of the hardcore TF community hated that non-Headmasters were turned into them for the TR line, but like I mentioned earlier about loving Micromasters and bases, the Headmaster gimmick is just fun. Having these little dudes to interact with their vehicle modes adds a lot for me
Yeah, Twintwist being near impossible to find pissed me off to no end. I wanted him the worst since he was the Jumpstarter I have as a kid so had to have the new one. Luckily I bought one from BBTS when they had some in stock so only paid a bit over retail. I loved the design so much that I bought the diaclone colored one this past year.
Never did get Misfire and that also annoyed me.
Nice, glad you were able to snag one! I also got the Diaclone color, which aesthetically I actually prefer, but I’ve needed the original to hang with his bro!
And yeah, I never did come across Misfire or Slugslinger myself. Thankfully Triggerhappy is my favorite of them and he was easy to get
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
Sorry to keep harping on the discounts and all that stuff, it kind of makes me feel a little gross (like I'm shilling for individual retailers, or trying to get folks to spend money that they shouldn't), but I think for me, looking for deals has become part of the overall collecting hobby (...so that I feel less like an irresponsible child when I add 10,000 toys to my cart).
Anyway, I mentioned before that ShowZ was gonna have an 11.11... I don't know if "sale" is correct, but let's say "shopping incentive". ShowZ has a point reward program ($1 spent=1 point; cash in 100 points to get $1 off), which also doubles as store credit - instead of having gift cards or whatever else, they just let you buy reward points. One thing I forgot to mention is that right now they have a coupon (usable once per user account) where if you buy $20's worth of these reward points, the coupon knocks $10 off the cost. So, effectively it's a "Buy $10 in store credit, get $10 in store credit for free". If you're planning on buying anything from ShowZ, anything at all, you might as well go now and get your free $10.
They also just added ANOTHER $10 of store credit to my account as a "gift" for 11.11. They did it for everyone with an active account - $10 gift for people with a premium account (like me), $5 for people with a regular account. To be honest, I doubt they'll give you this gift if you make a new account there now, after the fact, but if you already have an account there, take a look, you probably have some free money.
As I was writing this post, they actually just put up the specifics of their 11.11 promotion: https://showzstore.com/art/showz-store-1111-promotion-details-amp-tips_a0056.html
So, not something as exciting as huge discounts on hot items, but rather some "take a few dollars off of anything in the store" coupons. They do make a good point that even if there's nothing you want to buy at the moment, you can use the coupons when you buy store credit, so you can still make use of the discounts and then use the credit later on when you decide that you do want to buy something.
EDIT: If you want to spend money but don't know what to buy, ask me and I will recommend things, I'll be the devil on your shoulder who's telling you that little robots are cooler than money.
Delduwath on
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
Well, you have gotten a monkey on its way to me much faster than I was expecting, sooo...
So I got my Marvel Legends Tesseract in today, and after the sheer awesomeness of the Eye of Agamotto, this thing was kind of disappointing. The eye had all sorts of neat and wild features, while this thing looks pretty good, and that's it. Even worse, while the Eye is a cinch to use, the tesseract is a real bear to turn on and off.
As you can see, there's a clear plastic shell around the blue rubbery shell to mimic the light effect, which in turn is around the weird whatever-hedron that has all the lights in it. You have to open this thing twice to turn it on and then again to turn it off.
Even worse is it came with a Loki figure I don't really care about. Didn't even bother taking him out of the box. Maybe he can go hang with Squirrel Girl if I ever open her.
EDIT: In case anyone is wondering, the Orb is the one that came with the Phase 2 Blu-Ray collection (the blu-rays are actually stored in the base), which really looks terrible next to the other two. Even worse, it's powered by 3 watch batteries that cost me like 18 bucks to replace after I accidently left it on for two long. Three watch batteries! For a single LED! And they're stored in the bottom of the orb so it's not like there wouldn't have been room for some triple-a's dammit.
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CambiataCommander ShepardThe likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered Userregular
Hey, some doll stuff arrived for me today!
First off, I did buy a pair of silicone boobies for my dolls a while ago - this was even before I mentioned my interested in a full body silicone doll. Adyka has been making these since before they came out with the full body, and I'd wanted to order a pair as soon as I was aware of them.
One innovative thing this brand does that others don't is that he has an inside form of less flexible silicone to make the part keep its shape.
From this photo you can even see that he has an air gap between the squishy silicone and the firm silicone, with little breather holes so that you can, well, squish the boobies and they won't vacuum in on the inside form.
Even with the inner shell, though, the part is remarkably rubbery and soft, making it feel fragile. The boob size choice by the designer of this part was to go for large size boobs, which I'm not the biggest fan of, despite having enormous juggs myself. I mean maybe because of that; I already know how hard it is to find clothes that are flattering for giant bewbs, I don't necessarily want that struggle replicated in doll form.
I decided to give this set to Sofia, seeing as she was already doing her best Lara Croft impression, she might as well get the rack to match.
The other thing that was delivered today was exactly two sets of blue frames and blue vinyl shells that Smart Doll released a few days ago (and which are already sold out):
What can I say, I like the DIY aspect of these pseudo-kits. I figured I'll cut the flash on the vinyl, assemble the bodies, then sell the completed bodies on ebay or Facebook. I also have more than a few extra blue heads I could sell along with them to make a completed doll, but I haven't decided if I want to do that yet.
"If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
Haha, ok, remember how I said that ShowZ - the older, more established retailer - and Bombusbee - the new kid on the block - have been snarling and nipping at each other all year, like feral dogs fighting for dominance? We'll, now that ShowZ showed their 11.11 offers, Bombusbee unveiled their 11.11 offers, and they are juuust marginally better than ShowZ's: https://www.bombusbee.net/art/bombusbee-winer-sale-a0050.html
ShowZ gives you coupons that start with $2-off-of-$100? BBB will give you coupons that start with $5-off-of-$100. ShowZ only lets you use each coupon once? BBB tells you to use them as many times as you want. BBB will also give you (while supplies last) knit hats and scarves scaled to your Masterpiece Transformers!
More seriously, they also have some really good discounts in the Flash Sales section right now, there are a few figures there that I'd recommend even at full price. Just watch out for shipping, they don't include it in the listing price and it can get expensive for some items.
How does TFSource preorders work? Do you pay now or do they charge once the order ships? Thinking of splurging and getting Seige Jetfire and Earthrise Sky Lynx.
How does TFSource preorders work? Do you pay now or do they charge once the order ships? Thinking of splurging and getting Seige Jetfire and Earthrise Sky Lynx.
I know they charge you up front if you have it shipped. Not sure if they charge you later for stuff if they hold it (forgot what they called it, stash, pile of loot, etc.). I know that Big Bad charges when they get it in stock.
I wanted so share photos of Transformers Minerva. Sadly I wanted to take more photos of her to share, but puppies did not allow me the luxury of time. So I took these two quick shots of her to share. I will have to admit that I bought a third party version of her a while ago because I saw that she was a female looking Transformer and a Porsche 959 alt mode (which I absolutely loved as a kid) with no other information other than I knew she was called a Headmaster Jr and was in the Japanese Headmasters show. A few months later I started watching my DVDs of the show and I found out that she was made to be a stereotypical "teenage girl" with two other teenage type boys. So she's the pacifist, healing, caring type of character. At least from the parts I could watch, but then again she also can kick some butt in a few episodes as well. Flash forward to seeing the announcement of her official new toy version and she was a Walgreens exclusive in the US (but Hasbro Pulse put up some inventory on their site) and I had to have this version. I like her robot mode a whole lot more than her alt mode (which was used for Elita-1 earlier). There is a part in her instructions that shows Elita-1's fake head part that sits on the top of the vehicle mode which made me snicker a bit. The reason I'm bummed at her alt mode is not a Porsche looking vehicle, but I can understand given that they had to use molds of what they already had to save money. Her head doesn't look up or down, but at least it swivels.
So yeah, I'm jazzed to have an official Minerva and hope that one day Hasbro/Takara will release a Porsche looking alt mode and Headmaster gimmick with her so she's done correctly. Hopefully others will be able to get her when Walgreens puts up their stock for ordering or buy in store.
It does almost look like a headmaster could sit in the car, I wonder if it was planned but cut
Yeah it could have been since there is some room there. I really should have taken a photo of the underside since she is staring out from her underside.
Walgreens needs to get off their asses and start selling her.
Yeah, hopefully it is this year and not next year like Red Alert ended up being. I honestly don't understand Walgreens given that Hasbro obviously has Minerva here, but Red Alert is showing up in stores???
I'm keeping my eye open and will post here as soon as I can if I see her show up online.
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Was kinda hoping Hasbro was going to reissue them but I guess not
Why, you might ask?
To turn him into the effin' DOOM SLAYER.
If Brawn was more green, this'd be an instant buy. I'm still sorely tempted.
FansHobby's take on Energon Optimus Prime
Edit: Jeez. The details and transformation flexibility... even watching the prototype development process for the last year, I am still shocked by how much thought went into it.
Velocitron Speedia 500 Deluxe-Class Cosmos
First of all, my beautiful chonky boy is here!
I fucking love Cosmos. Just everything about him; his portly proportions (not quite replicated on this figure, but I'll take what I can get), his ridiculous classic Adamski UFO alt-mode, and the fact that he was a proto-Waspinator a decade before Waspinator even existed. Just a character the universe loves to crap on.
You see, Cosmos was fairly unique among the Autobots at the time (Season 2). In that he was the only space faring autobot who wasn't also a discontinued toy (Jetfire) or the Autobot's last line of defense (Omega Supreme) so Cosmos was frequently the default choice for space stuff, often ordered to do a lot of crappy jobs because noone else could. The Autobots would have him go on long orbits around earth to spy on Decepticons, leaving Cosmos so lonely and bored that he would frequently fly around on Earth intentionally scaring farmers and livestock. He would often get caught up in all sorts of terrible situations that none of the other Autobots ever had the misfortune of dealing with, but he always rose to the challenge.
As Optimus Prime once said "Cosmos has survived worse"
Cosmos rules.
This figure is a bit of a miracle, originally he was going to be a retool of the Buzzworthy Bumblebee Origins.. uh.. Bumblebee, pictured below on the left,
I'm a little unclear on the specifics, but they basically had four "slots" in which to do new tooling, and some crazy designer at Takara went "I can do a whole new figure in four toolings" and the dude actually did! As mentioned, Cosmos proportions aren't quite as portly as he was in G1, but hey, as someone who's lost nearly 50 pounds in the last year or so, good for Cosmos! Get you're svelt on! He comes with a gun that you can slap a checkered flag on, because he was released in the Velocitron line, they needed some way to tie him to the race, so he's the race starter / one who flies around keeping tabs on tings. The flag is only painted on one side, which Hasbro says you can flip it around into a surrender flag, but while Cosmos may not be the toughest bot, he never gives up dammit! Overall the figure is pretty good, though the hollow areas in his forearms are really big, and snapping the backs of his feet in always feel like I'm grinding off bits of plastic to do so. Otherwise I'm pretty pleased with him.
He turns into not a classic flying saucer, but an saucer styled after those of author George Adamski ('course that begs the question on what the hell did Cosmos actually scan when he came to earth). A fun thing you can do is get a plastic drinking cup and use it as an abduction beam. Let us get space expert Micromaster Countdown in here to demonstrate.
Thank you Countdown! Eventually Sky Lynx came along and took the pressure off of poor Cosmos. Not that it stopped terrible things from happening to him, of course. Stay classy, Cosmos!
Earthrise Commander Class Sky Lynx
Oh hey, speaking of Sky Lynx; here's a weird ass character. IIRC, he was an originally an unreleased mold made by the same people who made the original Omega Supreme; Hasbro bought their stuff because Transformers was a white-hot toyline and they needed all of the toys they could get on shelves.
Sky Lynx is WEIRD. Like he might honestly be the weirdest Transformer in history. He's a space shuttle and the shuttle's ground transport. His shuttle half transforms into a vaguely flying dinosaur like critter (that looks more like a monster space shuttle) while the ground transport turns into a Lynx, so he's two different animal based robots. Those robots can combine into the full Sky Lynx, which is basically the dinosaur part sitting on the lynx's legs. It works.. somehow.
His character is great though; but like, literally. Dude knows he's hot stuff and will not let you forget it for a moment. He has to be a space transport because that's the only way he can carry his ego around. He's not a jerk about it, but he is going to let you know how lucky you are to have someone as magnificent as him here to help. The toy is pretty cool, though the transformation appears simpler than it is, as there's a few steps that are easy to miss if you don't look at the instructions. My copy has kind of floppy wings, especially when you extend them fully. Just too much weight on the joints, though if you properly transform him it's less of an issue.
Vehicle Mode
For his Earthrise release, they also added a base mode, which is.. meh..
There's just something.. missing about it. Let's bring in our space expert again and see what he has to say.
Well, he seems to be excited about something... Wait, is that..
Galactic Odyssey Collection Botropolis Rescue Mission
Man, here's a pack of guys I bought and then didn't take out of their box until just now. They're recolors of Earthrise Ironworks, Overair, Micromasters Fuzor, Blast Master and Siege Direct-Hit and Power Punch. They've been recolored into.. Ironworks, Overair, Fuzor, Blast Master, Moon Rock and Missile Master. I guess Hasbro got tired of naming stuff. Is should find some new names for these guys at some point. They do come with an extra missile accessory, borrowed from Earthrise Doubledealer. Anyway, what the hell are they doing here? It's not like there's any character stuff to talk about with them, really, and I already review the big guys years ago.
Seriously Countdown, I'm not sure where you're going with th... Oh!
Behold, a VERY haphazard recreation of Countdown's original Micromaster Rocket Base from G1! This was kind of a pain in the ass to get the pars to assemble (One titan for Countdown, one Commander for Sky-Lynx and then an Amazon exclusive multipack) and doesn't quite get there, but I appreciate the effort. Not sure it's worth leaving Sky-Lynx stuck in base mode for, but then again I'm not sure where else I'm gonna stick him if not my Micromaster shelf :biggrin.
Whew, that was a lot. Thankfully that's all of the space stuff.
*eyeballs the December shipping date for Galaxy Shuttle*
And thanks for reminding me of that Galactic Odyssey set I forgot about that I also own and haven't opened! My life is a mess!
Personally I love that they included the base mode (and of course the connection ports to link up as you've shown), as I love Micromasters and bases for them to play on
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
I also wish I could have gotten a hold of the track extensions for Omega Supreme.
Then I realized I could use the the Tim Curry clip and I was basically forced to make that post.
Guess I've gone from "Will probably buy an upgrade kit with the proper head if someone makes one" to "dear god I hope someone makes an upgrade kit with a proper head"
I have zero paint experience, so even 8f there is an easily available paint that matches the pink, I don't have any brushes or skill to apply it. Plus I'd be paying how much for a bottle if pink paint that for a tiny, tiny area?
It's a minor thing, though, so it is up to you. Just suggesting options.
Cang Toys Volcanicus. I talked about this in the past, but in brief: It is a super stylized take on the Dinobots to be more Zoids-like, but with an extra member and able to combine.
So far, all we've seen are sketches of the potential members in robot and dino form. Nothing physical, and no sign of the combined mode. And that was a while back.
Well, out of the blue today...
https://news.tfw2005.com/2022/11/07/cang-toys-dinobots-volcanicus-gray-prototypes-469683
These are obviously super early prototypes, but it's very much in keeping with the prototypes we've seen in the past from Cang Toys.
I am still firmly on the side that believes we won't get this until the Legends-scaled Thunderking is either done or mostly done, but I'm okay with that. Even with some simplification from the concept art, that appears to be Not-Grimlock over on the left.. and he is yet another BIG BOI.
(also my Thorilla is in transit, yay!)
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B09H1653S1
Steam: betsuni7
That was probably me and I already got him, but thanks!
Who's a cute widdle cuddly wuddly intergalactic megalomaniacal tyrant who turns into a military vehicle designed to end lives? I said who's a cute widdle cuddly wuddly intergalactic megalomaniacal tyrant who turns into a military vehicle designed to end lives?!? You are, yes you are, there's a good evil boy.
ToyDojo typically has a Black Friday sale, and I think The Chosen Prime has had some kinda sale the last few years. These are small, family-owned stores, and at least some of the items in their sales feel more like "we gotta get rid of this garbage inventory" than actual good deals, but sometimes there's something worth getting out of bed for (I bought MP-49 Black Convoy from ToyDojo last year, and MP-44 Optimus Prime the year before that, both for very good prices).
TFSource seems to have a perpetual sale going on these days, but (1) 99% of those items are things that no one has wanted to buy for 10 years, and (2) they typically mark up a lot of their inventory, so the sale just brings the price down to what other stores have (and sometimes, not even). BBTS also usually has sales, and they have a wide inventory, so there's a lot of stuff to choose from. I feel like these sales tend to be more noise than signal, but it doesn't hurt to take a look (and if you're looking for specific items, you can just look them up to see if they're on sale). TFSource has had credit card data breaches at least two times in the past, so probably best to use e.g. PayPal if you buy there.
ShowZStore is a Chinese retailer that doesn't really care about Black Friday, but they do have November 11th sales (I guess because it's Singles' Day in China, and it has become a major shopping holiday?). I don't remember seeing any mind-blowing discounts in the past, it's usually more like a few dollars off here and there, but they tend to already have lower prices than U.S. retailers on many items, and they often increase the point rewards for their loyalty program during this sale. Bombusbee is another Chinese retailer similar to ShowZ (I think they started as a TaoBao vendor or something, but now have a really nice online store) that has really spread its wings this year, and I'm guessing that they might do something on November 11th as well - especially since Bombusbee and ShowZ have been trying to undercut and outdo each other all year, so I doubt they'll miss the opportunity to compete on this.
Anyway, my point is that consumerism is great, buy buy buy, get a second mortgage to buy some little plastic soldiers, sell a kidney, whatever, as long as you just spend.
Open/used, but complete, which is still crazy because this TF seemed basically nonexistent when it originally released, so aftermarket prices are like double that at a minimum, plus shipping from Canada definitely ate into any profit. But I think he’s one of those rare collectors that just appreciates passing on a figure and isn’t worried about milking aftermarket prices, which I sincerely appreciate
So thank you Canada bro, super happy to finally have Twintwist to go with Topspin, and it’s one of my favorite molds… maybe ever? It’s just fun and simple yet clever, and I know some of the hardcore TF community hated that non-Headmasters were turned into them for the TR line, but like I mentioned earlier about loving Micromasters and bases, the Headmaster gimmick is just fun. Having these little dudes to interact with their vehicle modes adds a lot for me
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
Yeah, Twintwist being near impossible to find pissed me off to no end. I wanted him the worst since he was the Jumpstarter I have as a kid so had to have the new one. Luckily I bought one from BBTS when they had some in stock so only paid a bit over retail. I loved the design so much that I bought the diaclone colored one this past year.
Never did get Misfire and that also annoyed me.
Steam: betsuni7
Nice, glad you were able to snag one! I also got the Diaclone color, which aesthetically I actually prefer, but I’ve needed the original to hang with his bro!
And yeah, I never did come across Misfire or Slugslinger myself. Thankfully Triggerhappy is my favorite of them and he was easy to get
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
Anyway, I mentioned before that ShowZ was gonna have an 11.11... I don't know if "sale" is correct, but let's say "shopping incentive". ShowZ has a point reward program ($1 spent=1 point; cash in 100 points to get $1 off), which also doubles as store credit - instead of having gift cards or whatever else, they just let you buy reward points. One thing I forgot to mention is that right now they have a coupon (usable once per user account) where if you buy $20's worth of these reward points, the coupon knocks $10 off the cost. So, effectively it's a "Buy $10 in store credit, get $10 in store credit for free". If you're planning on buying anything from ShowZ, anything at all, you might as well go now and get your free $10.
They also just added ANOTHER $10 of store credit to my account as a "gift" for 11.11. They did it for everyone with an active account - $10 gift for people with a premium account (like me), $5 for people with a regular account. To be honest, I doubt they'll give you this gift if you make a new account there now, after the fact, but if you already have an account there, take a look, you probably have some free money.
As I was writing this post, they actually just put up the specifics of their 11.11 promotion:
https://showzstore.com/art/showz-store-1111-promotion-details-amp-tips_a0056.html
So, not something as exciting as huge discounts on hot items, but rather some "take a few dollars off of anything in the store" coupons. They do make a good point that even if there's nothing you want to buy at the moment, you can use the coupons when you buy store credit, so you can still make use of the discounts and then use the credit later on when you decide that you do want to buy something.
EDIT: If you want to spend money but don't know what to buy, ask me and I will recommend things, I'll be the devil on your shoulder who's telling you that little robots are cooler than money.
So I got my Marvel Legends Tesseract in today, and after the sheer awesomeness of the Eye of Agamotto, this thing was kind of disappointing. The eye had all sorts of neat and wild features, while this thing looks pretty good, and that's it. Even worse, while the Eye is a cinch to use, the tesseract is a real bear to turn on and off.
As you can see, there's a clear plastic shell around the blue rubbery shell to mimic the light effect, which in turn is around the weird whatever-hedron that has all the lights in it. You have to open this thing twice to turn it on and then again to turn it off.
Even worse is it came with a Loki figure I don't really care about. Didn't even bother taking him out of the box. Maybe he can go hang with Squirrel Girl if I ever open her.
EDIT: In case anyone is wondering, the Orb is the one that came with the Phase 2 Blu-Ray collection (the blu-rays are actually stored in the base), which really looks terrible next to the other two. Even worse, it's powered by 3 watch batteries that cost me like 18 bucks to replace after I accidently left it on for two long. Three watch batteries! For a single LED! And they're stored in the bottom of the orb so it's not like there wouldn't have been room for some triple-a's dammit.
First off, I did buy a pair of silicone boobies for my dolls a while ago - this was even before I mentioned my interested in a full body silicone doll. Adyka has been making these since before they came out with the full body, and I'd wanted to order a pair as soon as I was aware of them.
One innovative thing this brand does that others don't is that he has an inside form of less flexible silicone to make the part keep its shape.
From this photo you can even see that he has an air gap between the squishy silicone and the firm silicone, with little breather holes so that you can, well, squish the boobies and they won't vacuum in on the inside form.
Even with the inner shell, though, the part is remarkably rubbery and soft, making it feel fragile. The boob size choice by the designer of this part was to go for large size boobs, which I'm not the biggest fan of, despite having enormous juggs myself. I mean maybe because of that; I already know how hard it is to find clothes that are flattering for giant bewbs, I don't necessarily want that struggle replicated in doll form.
I decided to give this set to Sofia, seeing as she was already doing her best Lara Croft impression, she might as well get the rack to match.
The other thing that was delivered today was exactly two sets of blue frames and blue vinyl shells that Smart Doll released a few days ago (and which are already sold out):
What can I say, I like the DIY aspect of these pseudo-kits. I figured I'll cut the flash on the vinyl, assemble the bodies, then sell the completed bodies on ebay or Facebook. I also have more than a few extra blue heads I could sell along with them to make a completed doll, but I haven't decided if I want to do that yet.
https://www.bombusbee.net/art/bombusbee-winer-sale-a0050.html
ShowZ gives you coupons that start with $2-off-of-$100? BBB will give you coupons that start with $5-off-of-$100. ShowZ only lets you use each coupon once? BBB tells you to use them as many times as you want. BBB will also give you (while supplies last) knit hats and scarves scaled to your Masterpiece Transformers!
More seriously, they also have some really good discounts in the Flash Sales section right now, there are a few figures there that I'd recommend even at full price. Just watch out for shipping, they don't include it in the listing price and it can get expensive for some items.
I know they charge you up front if you have it shipped. Not sure if they charge you later for stuff if they hold it (forgot what they called it, stash, pile of loot, etc.). I know that Big Bad charges when they get it in stock.
Steam: betsuni7
So yeah, I'm jazzed to have an official Minerva and hope that one day Hasbro/Takara will release a Porsche looking alt mode and Headmaster gimmick with her so she's done correctly. Hopefully others will be able to get her when Walgreens puts up their stock for ordering or buy in store.
Steam: betsuni7
It does almost look like a headmaster could sit in the car, I wonder if it was planned but cut
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
Yeah it could have been since there is some room there. I really should have taken a photo of the underside since she is staring out from her underside.
Yeah, hopefully it is this year and not next year like Red Alert ended up being. I honestly don't understand Walgreens given that Hasbro obviously has Minerva here, but Red Alert is showing up in stores???
I'm keeping my eye open and will post here as soon as I can if I see her show up online.
Steam: betsuni7
The one near me has *4* SS86 Slugs
First time I’ve ever seen them in stores.
(I got one already thanks to Forever Zefiro, but man, talk about “really?”)
Damnit. I was hoping this was Sludge, but alas. Still no sign of him and I am not paying inflated prices.
See: me buying Sky Lynx a couple weeks before it was reissued
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL