A web based comic review show. This week, we review Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman, a Superman action figure, Dresden Codak, and we introduce the world to our time machine. We also talk to Jason Palmer and Jim Lee.

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Transformers Universe 2.0 Review: Kmart exclusive Mini-con 12-pack

Size: special

Series: Armada

MSRP: 20$

Out: October 2008 (uhm… )

A TF review written exclusively for Inside Pulse by Alessandro “Rikkomba” Riccombeni

Unbelievable! Incredibile! Parbleu! Unglaublich!

Yes, you are right: Insidepulse’s Transformers section ain’t dead yet. It may not have a real section, it may not have any active writer at the moment (ehm…), but it still has your so, so lovely Rikkomba! What more could you want ?

Maybe a decent TF review?

Naaah, come on, stay with me!

Gotta catch’em all (fast version)

Please, don’t ask how I got this item weeks before its release, it would be too much knowledge for a mere mortal mind. Just know that this fall Kmart’s shelves will be graced by some of the coolest store exclusive Transformers ever: a minicon 12-pack! Yep, they are 12 in a single package. A wonderful package, actually: even Energon Ultra Magnus’ box has to kneel in front of this amazing feat of packaging design. Not only each minicon has its own, separate space in this box, but there’s also an uber-cool transparent plastic cover with printed-on names for the minicons. Please use this as reference. Actually, since Insidepulse started “modernizing” its posting system, nobody bothered to tell how to post pics again, so this will do for the moment.

Minicons, Transform And Rise Up!

This is what happens when you try to screw up things but you get distracted at the very last moment. As I always say, it’s insulting, to say the least, to have introduced minicons during Armada as the new Third Transformers Faction, to only have them repainted as Autobots and Decepticons for the Cybertron toyline. “The Third Faction”! Naaah, no new factions, just old marketing trickes. Though, minicons survived Armada, and after all this time, now that series Energon, Cybertron and Classic joined past TF toy lines, we got a decent amount of new teams. Transformers Classic finally brought 6 new teams, where Energon had only a new one, Energon Perceptor, and Cybertron gave us just a couple (Recon Team, Giant Planet Team). These 6 teams’ present situation is as follows:

1. Dinobot Team: no Hasbro variants; Takara repainted it for Micron Booster 4
2. Demolition Team: repainted by Hasbro for this 12-pack; 2 members have been repainted for Micron Booster 4
3. Night Rescue Team: repainted by Hasbro for this 12-pack; 2 members have been repainted for Micron Booster 4 the last one became a Japanese exclusive toy for the Movie toyline;
4. Dirt Digger Team: repainted by Hasbro for this 12-pack; 1 member has been repainted for Micron Booster 4
5. Predator Team: repainted by TFCC as BotCon 2008 exclusives; 2 members have been repainted for Micron Booster 4 the last one became a Japanese exclusive toy for the Movie toyline;
6. Clear Skies Team: repainted by Hasbro for this 12-pack; each one of its member became a Japanese exclusive at different times, including one of the most studiply named toys ever.

So, there we go, team by team, repaint by repaint. Mind that, while being direct repaints of minicon teams, for this release 4 new minicon teams have been formed, shuffling all members. After 5 years of straight repaints of minicon team, I am happy somebody put a drop of originality into the formula. And you can’t even just “make things right”, because at least 3 teams have a strongly unifying theme.

An important note: minicons are stronger than Hasbro! Don’t you believe me? Well, even though Hasbro put Autobot and Decepticon symbols all around the packaging… all 12 minicons bear a Minicon Faction Symbols, and nothing more! That’s the way! Such little Patriots!

Every team has its own story, but I won’t waste my time pasting something you can easily read here.

Landslide Team

• Backstop: repaint of Classic Sledge, comes with weak knee joints which cause its weird legs to flal on the floor all the time. This mold already sucked by itself, regardless of QC issues or this new, awful new color scheme.
• Bodyblock: repaint of Classic Grindor, an awful repaint, let me say it: they took a good minicon and returned… a snack! Too much cherry for my tastes.
• Knockdown: repaint of Classic Wideload, after color schemes Vomit 1.0 and Vomit 1.1, they finally made it. One of my favourite minicons of the bunch.

Overall: the Landslide includes a bad mold (Backstop), a nice mold affected by a stupid color scheme (Bodyblock) anda weak mold whose color scheme has been GREATLY improved (Knockdown). While Blight is even worse, this still is the worst team of all 4.

Safeguard Team

• Heavytread: repaint of Classic Broadside, it seems to homage G1 Warpath directly. Still a minicon with MANY, many design problems, at least it gets a strong color scheme. But… I mean, couldn’t they just release Movie Brawl? No, they had to experiment on the minicon size class first. Dammit.
• Makeshift: repaint of Classic Oil Slick, this solid mold gets a vastly improved color scheme, even though the huge minicon logo is cheesy at best.
• Flatfoot: repaint of Classic Strongarm, even like this it keeps reminding me of Movie Barricade somehow. I mean, this time it reminds me of Movie Recon Barricade, but this mold sucks much, much more. I mean, when it is like this, ok, release it once to experiment a little, but then… stop it. STOP IT, please!

Overall: the Safeguard team has solid and defined color schemes, unified by the strategic use of black to give more seriousness to these 3 little robots. My second favourite team.

Ransack Team

• Suppressor: repaint of Classic Firebot, one of the strongest Classic minicon molds.This time it gets a Hazmat logo, which together with the yellow paint reminds me of the HAZE videogame. Luckily, this little guy is much better than that awful game.
• Blight: repaint of Classic Dirt Rocket,a boring repaint of a boring minicon. You can probably exchange the arms with this mold’s other 2 versions without trouble. Maaan, this sucks. Next?
• Brimstone: repaint of Classic Nightscream, it reminds me a lot of Cybertron Brimstone with these colors. Nice, ok, but I was really hoping for Cryotek colors… maybe next time?

Overall: the Ransack team has a unified color scheme, more or less, something I don’t see so often these days. This team includes a cool mold, an awful mold and a nice mold. Good effort, but it only ranks at third place.

Overcast Team

• Cloudraker: repaint of Classic Divebomb, which had already been repainted in Japan once. This time this helicopter got a realistic color scheme, without homaging Whirl… most importantly, finally we got a green ‘chopper without getting any G1 Springer homage. Kudos!
• Boltflash: repaint of Classic Thunderwing, seems to be a homage to the Go-Bot leader of the Guardian faction… Nice minicon in the end, and it’s the best version too!
• Skyhammer: repaint of Classic Steel Wind, it homages a Cobra airplane from Transformers’ sister toyline. Great color scheme, you should get this 12-pack just because of this guy.

Overall: the Overcast Team is what the Clear Skies Team should have been. It’s always like that: Hasbro first releases a new mold with a so-and-so color scheme, then they release a repaint in gorgeous colors. See Energon Jetfire and its repaint, for example. All 3 minicons here have at least a decent mold, with an awesome color scheme. My favourite team of the whole 12-pack, I’d gladly spend 20$ for these 3 guys alone.

Armada Series

Yes, Universe, being the Cloaca Maxima of non-TV series Transformers, has “Series”. These 12 minicons belong to the Armada Series, even though NONE of them are Armada molds! Do you know why they didn’t use Armada molds? Do you think they didn’t because Hasbro developed a coscience, and so it won’t beat the dead horse with more repaints of 4-times repainted molds? Nah, come on. The answer is easier: the factory contaning Armada minicon molds burned down to the ground. Well, shit happens.

Rikkomba Wants You!

At the present moment I am all alone here, so if you are interested an motivated to write TF reviews and articles about TFs, please send me and email, possibly including a review written with your own personal style. It’s full of passionate TFans out there, so I hope that somebody will bring new life to Insidepulse’s TF section… even if there won’t be any real section, who cares, I review 4 da lulz. Lol.

Write me!

Bottom Line

The Kmart Universe 2.0 Mini-con 12 pack should be out in stores in October, but it’s possible you’ll find one at your local Kmart even during September, these things are not written in stone lately. With a 20$ price tag you get 4 Scout class toys, which would cost 7$ each. Is an 8$ discount a good reason for buying this set? Well… I’d say, if you are a minicon fan like me, buy it without thinking twice about it. If you like TFs, you are getting 12 little TFs for just 20$, and this is never a bad thing. Actually, MISB collectors are the ones who’ll enjoy the most this item, probably the best TF packaging I’ve seen since a long time. And again, at 20$ it’s a recommended buy for most.

On the Energon scale, I give this 12-pack 7/10 Energon cubes.

So… keep yourselves healthy and write me if you wish to write about Transformers here on Insidepulse!

Yours,

Rikkomba

Transformers Review: Cybertron Minicon 2-packs Wave 4
Size: Minicon 2-packs
MSRP: 7$, at the exact time of their release. Now, MUCH more.
OUT NOW (So? What were you thinking?) A TF review written exclusively for Inside Pulse by Alessandro “Rikkomba” Riccombeni Yeah, I know, I don’t believe it myself. Another TF review on Insidepulse. Amazing, ain’t it? Kaye is married man, Charles a not so married man… and who’s still around to hold the TF flag on IP? Your faithful Rikkomba, of course. Dudes, come on, I could have used some email like “Dear Rikkomba, please write another email very soon, my life sucks without your wonderful reviews”. I mean, if you ever thought of something like that you should really get shot. Immediately. By a rabid mutant hamster. Yep.Collecting Minicon exclusives is like having orgies, you never know what’s next but you know your ass will pay the consequences.Yeah, because even Italian collectors have a heart too. And a wallet, though for some people I know the latter is the same as the former. Strong Euro? Weak American dollar? Don’t worry, international sellers paid me a courtesy and raised the prices accordingly. Bah. Amazing, I am reviewing an item that I bought in August 2007… why the delay? Well, basically… ehr… you know… Hillary, Obama, lots of problems here and there, the international contingencies… Yeah.

Micron Booster 4 is actually the fifth. The first one was called Micron Booster v0. That’s premeditation!

At the end of last summer, to add some meat to the Japanese Movie toy line menu, several Classic Minicons got repainted and sold as store exclusives. I already reviewed most of those microns, so give a look if you want. Among the remaining microns are those included in Micron Booster v4.
Thanks to Tformers.com I was able to get a list of names for these little robots. Because they are repaints of very simple TFs I won’t focus too much on the engineering, we already know that Classic minicons experimented a lot in the way of new transformation schemes and odd proportion, yet delivering some coolness here and there… SOME coolness, however.

RADROGE
Radroge (Roadrage? Whatever)is a straight repaint of Classic Strongarm (Night Rescue Team, wave 1). As you can see from the pictures, only some details vere changed from the US release of this mold, nothing major.

(CLEAR) RADROGE - chase figure
This clear version of Radroge is one of the 2 chase figures of this set and the most common one. You should find at least a clear Radroge in every sealed Micron Booster 4 box, while to get the other chase figure your chances drop to 1 figure every 2 boxes. They are not so expensive or rare, anyway, I wouldn’t pay more than 30$ for each of them.
I really dig this version of Radroge, I think the time has come to get a Micron Booster 5 with only clear microns inside. I mean, Cybertron Shadow Recond Team showed us the path to Coolness, HasTak should just follow it!

Overall, I give to Micron Booster 7 out 10 Energon cubes. Without the 2 chase figures, it could have been a 5 out of 10 cubes, anyway.

I’ll soon review something nice and sweet. Yeah. Meanwhile, when you have some time to spare drop by to leave a comment in my new blog, http://transformersarmada.blogspot.com; that’s mostly used for pictures, I’ll keep reviewing TFs here, so don’t worry.
Until next time, take care, my fellow TFans.

Rikkomba

DC Comics

Mattel’s New York Comic-Con Exclusives

Mattel will have slew of DCU figures as exclusives at this year’s New York Comic-Con.

Black Suit Superman

Be the first to get your hands on the 2008 Convention Exclusive Black Suit Superman action figure from Mattel. Superman ditches his traditional red and blue in this exclusive toy available only at 2008 Conventions. Get Black Suit Superman only at the Mattel Booth (1547)!

Knight Shadow Batman

Be the first to get your hands on the 2008 Convention Exclusive Knight Shadow Batman action figure from Mattel. Batman becomes darkness itself this exclusive toy available only at 2008 Conventions. Get Knight Shadow Batman only at the Mattel Booth (1547)!

Tech Suit Mr. Freeze

Be the first to get your hands on the 2008 Convention Exclusive Tech Suit Mr. Freeze action figure from Mattel. Victor Freeze is ready to put the cold chill on Gotham City in this exclusive toy available only at 2008 Conventions. Get Mr. Freeze only at the Mattel Booth (1547)!

To see all the exclusives for this years NYCC, head on over to their website.

Justice League Unlimited

Two weeks ago I showed you the plans for JLU going forward. But since then, Mattel has issued a statement on it, basically saying the same thing.

Due to overwhelming support from the fans, Mattel and Target are teaming up to bring an all new Collector’s Line to store shelves starting this August!

Along with these figures, we are excited to announce that the line will also include several major MIA characters including The Question!

Here is a better image of the New Gods box set.

The first wave will be shown at New York Comic-Con in April, with the second wave shown at San Diego Comic-Con in July. Tickle me excited.

Justice League: New Frontier

I know this might be a bit too late, however Best Buy has an exclusive set of the new DVD Justice League: The New Frontier that comes with a 3.5″ Green Lantern DC Direct figure.

New DC Direct

Here are the newest announced lines coming from DCD:

This is a really cool figure. It comes with one figure base, and the four different heads (Hal Jordan, Abin Sur, Tomar Re, and a never before seen NautKeLoi).

Marvel

Marvel Legends 2-Packs

Here are the images of the upcoming Marvel Legends 2-Packs

Ultimate Captain America & Ultimate Nick Fury

Ronin

Elektra Regular

Elektra Variant

These will be in stores this May. If it wasn’t clear, the Elektra/Ronin 2-Pack will come with a Skrull Elektra Variant.

Images from wizarduniverse.com & marvelousnews.com

FING FANG FOOM!!!

If you didn’t already know, Fing Fang Foom will be a Build-A-Figure in the upcoming Hulk Marvel Legends waves. However, if you don’t want to wait, Hasbro will have him at SDCC along with all 8 of the figures in the 2 Hulk Legends waves.

Oh man, I can’t wait to get this!

Marvel Mighty Muggs Series 2

Here are the images of Marvel Muggs Series 2:

OK, that is quite a bit! I am still working through some Toy Fair crap, but I should have images of Hulk & Iron Man movie figs, along with their Superhero Squad next week.

~Pk

DC Comics

Justice League Unlimited

This is the news we have all be waiting for. In this month’s ToyFare magazine, Mattel has revealed that there are some pretty big plans for JLU this year!


Reportedly (I say reportedly because none the bookstores around here stocked the new issue yet), the article goes on to say that JLU will be a Target exclusive starting the summer of 2008. Also, there will be a Apokalips 6-pack with Superman, Mr. Miracle, Darkseid, Lashina, Forager, & Mantis (the latter 3 pictured below). On top of all that, there will be 13 new characters (including The Question), and plenty of repaints along with a few re-decos.

Moving into 2009, more characters from the DC Animated Universe, not necessarily from JL or JLU, along with characters that have never appeared (Com’on Blue Beetle!!!!) in any of the shows look to be making their way into plastic.

To read the full article, pick up the current issue of ToyFare.

Marvel

Hasbro’s Marvel in 2008

IRON MAN

For nearly 50 years, Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk has been one of the most popular and recognizable Super Hero characters in the world. As Hulk fans await Bruce Banner’s alter ego smashing back into theaters on June 13, 2008 in Marvel Studios’ The Incredible Hulk, Hasbro unveils a monstrous new series of toys, games, and collectibles inspired by the movie. Highlights from the strong toy line-up include the ultimate Hulk role-playing toy HULK SMASH HANDS, (Approximate retail price: $19.99; Ages 3 & up; Available: May 3, 2008)movie action figures that appeal to kids and collectors alike, and even a singing and dancing HULKEY POKEY HULK plush figure that shows a more cuddly side of the Super Hero for the pre-school crowd. (Approximate retail price: $29.99; Ages: 18 months & up; Available: May 3, 2008)

I am sure plenty more information will be available after Hasbro’s Toy Fair showing this Saturday.

Hellboy

Images of the figures for the new Hellboy movie have surfaced.

Pictured above (in order) are Johann, Wink, Prince Nuada, Liz, Hellboy, and Ape Sapien. The movie will be released July 11, so one would expect to see these around then.

That’s all for this week, actually a much larger issue then the past few weeks. Keep it here this weekend for Toy Fair coverage. We will not be attending, however with Hasbro’s media briefing is on Saturday, and Mattel’s on Tuesday, we will be sure to pass along any of the big news that is released!

~Pk

Marvel

Marvel Legends: Hulk

Over the past year or so, rumors of a Hulk themed ML line. Well, it seems as this summer it will happen. This is a shot from a Hasbro order catalog supposedly leaked from the UK Toy Fair. I must stress that this is not straight from Hasbro, and may not accurate.

Fing Fang Foom, Hulk: The End, Savage She-Hulk, Absorbing Man & Wendigo. It looks like Fing Fang Foom will be a Build-a-Figure, however I don’t know how big it will be considering there are only 4 figures in the assortment.

Yup, that’s all I got this week.

~Pk

Yeah, I know, I don’t believe it myself. Another TF review on Insidepulse. Amazing, ain’t it? Kaye is married man, Charles a not so married man… and who’s still around to hold the TF flag on IP? Your faithful Rikkomba, of course. Dudes, come on, I could have used some email like “Dear Rikkomba, please write another email very soon, my life sucks without your wonderful reviews”. I mean, if you ever thought of something like that you should really get shot. Immediately. By a rabid mutant hamster. Yep.

Collecting Minicon exclusives is like having orgies, you never know what’s next but you know your ass will pay the consequences.

Yeah, because even Italian collectors have a heart too. And a wallet, though for some people I know the latter is the same as the former. Strong Euro? Weak American dollar? Don’t worry, international sellers paid me a courtesy and raised the prices accordingly. Bah. Amazing, I am reviewing an item that I bought in August 2007… why the delay? Well, basically… ehr… you know… Hillary, Obama, lots of problems here and there, the international contingencies… Yeah.

Micron Booster 4 is actually the fifth. The first one was called Micron Booster v0. That’s premeditation!

At the end of last summer, to add some meat to the Japanese Movie toy line menu, several Classic Minicons got repainted and sold as store exclusives. I already reviewed most of those microns, so give a look if you want. Among the remaining microns are those included in Micron Booster v4.
Thanks to Tformers.com I was able to get a list of names for these little robots. Because they are repaints of very simple TFs I won’t focus too much on the engineering, we already know that Classic minicons experimented a lot in the way of new transformation schemes and odd proportion, yet delivering some coolness here and there… SOME coolness, however.

RADROGE
Radroge (Roadrage? Whatever)is a straight repaint of Classic Strongarm (Night Rescue Team, wave 1). As you can see from the pictures, only some details vere changed from the US release of this mold, nothing major.

(CLEAR) RADROGE - chase figure
This clear version of Radroge is one of the 2 chase figures of this set and the most common one. You should find at least a clear Radroge in every sealed Micron Booster 4 box, while to get the other chase figure your chances drop to 1 figure every 2 boxes. They are not so expensive or rare, anyway, I wouldn’t pay more than 30$ for each of them.
I really dig this version of Radroge, I think the time has come to get a Micron Booster 5 with only clear microns inside. I mean, Cybertron Shadow Recond Team showed us the path to Coolness, HasTak should just follow it!

REFUSER
Refuser is a green repaint of an already green minicon, Classic Wideload (Demolition Team, wave 1). Its face is still unpainted, while some purple detail has been lost. Oh, my.

ROCKBLADE
Rockblade is an evil repaint of an already evil minicon, Classic Sledge(Demolition Team, wave 1). Interestingly enough, The latter could really pass as an Autobot, because of the opposite choices for colors. Quite appropriated for a ‘Con, I’d say, it would be nice to get someday a larger Decepticon toy with a similar color scheme.

GREDATOR
APEXIS
Gredator and Apexis, as repaints of Classic Overbite and Snarl (Classic Predator Team, wave 2, respectively, have already been covered in Wedgeshape’s review, check it out if you want to know more about these two.

WINDLASER
Windlaser is a straight and, let me say it, poor repaint of Classic Dirt Rocket (Dirt Digger Team, wave 2). The American release was yellow and black, while Windlaser is mostly pink and black. It seems a shade or pink having lots of orange in it, or whatever, as you may have guessed having read some of my past reviews. By the way, it still sucks, even by minicon standards.

REPTICS
Reptics is a repaint of Classic Swoop (Dinobot Team, wave 1). According to TFCC profiles, this TF should be no less than G1 Swoop in a new body! Instead of red and gray we get two different shades of red for this tiny legendary dinobot. No big deal.

NASHTOOTH
Nashtooth is a purple BW Megatron-like repaint of Classic Terrorsaur (Dinobot Team, wave 1). Those red eyes really show the evilness inside this mold, and the metallic blue details help a lot. Definitely the best repaint of the bunch.

(Chromed)NASHTOOTH
This purple chromed version of Nashtooth is the other chase figure of the set, supposed to be limited to 1 every 2 boxes or 24 microns. These colors seem to homage Transmetal Megatron, which is always a good thing. Spectacular micron if you ask me, but I still like its regular version more.

Collecting Minicon exclusives is like having a wife, you never know how much it can hurt your wallet until it’s too late.

Well, considering the overall laziness in repainting these Classic minicon molds, I guess we should think of this Micron Booster as a first, regular Japanese release, instead of seeing it as the usual dozen of expensive minicon repaints. The presence of 9 regular figures and 2 chase figures, instead of 11 figures and a single chase as in Micron Booster 1, 2 and 3 bothers me, anyway. I like both chases, but I really don’t understand why the number was dropped to 11. That sucks.

And if you noticed I deliberately ignored the repaint of the Classic Triceratops dinobot, because it sucks SO badly in both its original brown and repainted blue forms. I don’t even want to remember that I own one. OMG, mercy!

Overall, I give to Micron Booster 7 out 10 Energon cubes. Without the 2 chase figures, it could have been a 5 out of 10 cubes, anyway.

I’ll soon review something nice and sweet. Yeah. Meanwhile, when you have some time to spare drop by to leave a comment in my new blog, http://transformersarmada.blogspot.com; that’s mostly used for pictures, I’ll keep reviewing TFs here, so don’t worry.
Until next time, take care, my fellow TFans.

Rikkomba

Man, oh, man…no DC or Marvel news this week!! It’s ok, I have news and images on 2 other Superhero franchises!

Spawn

Spawn 34: Spawn Classics

From Spawn.com:
For Spawn’s unprecedented 34th series of action figures, Todd returned to some of Spawn’s greatest hits and gave them new life. Spawn 34: Spawn Classics re-imagines four of the most popular Spawn characters, reinvented in entirely new sculpts. An absolute must for fans and collectors. Today we’ve got photos of these extraordinary figures.

Wings of Redemption Spawn 2

Pirate Spawn 2

Manga Spawn 2

The Poacher 2

These are great figures. Does anyone else find it amazing that Spawn figures are still being produced? Look for these in July.

Mezco

Heroes

To anyone who didn’t know, Mezco (makers of South Park, Family Guy & Hellboy figures), has the licensing rights to make figures based on NBC’s hit Heroes. Images of Series 1 has surfaced, and while they do not look great, they do look much better then I expected from Mezco.

Sylar

Peter Patrelli

Claire Bennett

Mohinder Suresh

Hiro Nakamura

Also, rumored line-ups of Series 2 & 3 have come out. Series 2 will have Future Peter, Noah Bennett, Nikki/Jessica Sanders, Matt Parkman with Molly, and Mr. Linderman. Series 2 looks to have Hiro in Kensai Armor, Adam Monroe, The Haitian, Elle Bishop, Nathan Patrelli.

That will be all this week. Here’s hoping for some Pre-Toy Fair leaks in the coming weeks!

~Pk

No, Hell hasn’t frozen over. After a far too long delay I’m back just in time to say goodbye for a while. We’ll get to that at the end. Up ahead we got a TON of news to catch up on a few words of wisdom that I’m going to leave you with and even a review. Plus I’ll show you how to piss off a club in one easy step. Zip up, buckle up, and get cab fare home; it’s time to Transform.

Toys: What I got, what they got, and some news too

You would think that after all this time I’d have a ton of new collectables to discuss. Believe it or not, I haven’t bought much. The new 25th anniversary GI Joes are selling out like hot cakes so it takes BBTS longer to get them in. I’m expecting another shipment this week so I should be all caught up with the newer Joe releases as well as getting Encore Ironhide and Ratchet. I also preordered New Years Ironhide in his old Diaclone black colors. I swear I had that toy as a child or some cheap KO but I don’t remember. My latest TF purchase was Death Star Vader from the SW/TF line and that was this past weekend. I haven’t had a chance to transform him yet, but I’m digging his look. I’ll go over my other non-TF mecha purchases later on. Well, on with the news.

OK. I’m not going to go through two and a half months worth of news that you probably have read elsewhere. I’ll just highlight a few choice bits.

Transformers the movie has set and/or broken every record it could. It’s still making money in foreign markets. Oddly enough DVD sales weren’t spectacular which is rumored to be due to a gross lack of any compelling extras. Many fans were disappointed that an alternate audio track wasn’t made available that featured Frank Welker doing Megatron. Such a track is still rumored to exist. Michael Bay has even expressed his regrets with the DVD so expect a re-release somewhere down the line. With that said it still ended up being the biggest selling DVD of 2007. In other movie news Bay admitted that false information would be leaked out to keep fans guessing. One rumor that has come under serious debate is the actual fate of Jazz. Bay has said unequivocally that Jazz is dead but many fans beg to differ. The current writers strike has halted any forward movement on Transformers 2 so news on that end has slowed. On the plus side the movie is up for 3 Oscar nods in editing and effects.

Masterpiece Starscream was released in the US as a Wal-Mart exclusive in a battle damaged version of his traditional G1 Colors. I haven’t gotten mine yet and will probably hold off until the Japanese exclusive minus the dirty paint job. Funny enough Wal-Mart.com is also carrying MP Skywarp and Target.com is carrying the Encore line. Take that for what you will but I think both stores are onto something.

The new animated series has debuted and to be honest while the writing was quite good the animation was utter crap. I forced myself to watch the first episode then dipped my frank and beans into battery acid to see which was less painful; the battery acid won. I do like that Ratchet is supposed to be THE Ratchet and ditto for Megatron, but then again that causes holes in continuity a mile wide.

The Next Bot-Con will be April 2nd in Cincinnati, Ohio. The TFCC just released the brochure, which reveals the convention set which as expected revolves around a “What if?” tale where the Autobots are bad guys and the Decepticons are the heroes. Only the names have been revealed and speculation has revolved around two figures Goldbug, and Jazz. Goldbug is being rumored to be a remold of Cybertron Hot-Shot while Jazz will be a remold of Cybertron Crosswise. The long rumored Universe Seacon set has been confirmed as well as an Energon Hot-Shot repaint/remold as Nightbeat. The aborted Transtech line will see a new lease on life in the pages of the TFCC comic. Somehow it will tie into the Classicverse story that just ended.

Starscream and Hot Rod will join Optimus Prime and Megatron in the Revoltech line. I have a set of the Macross figures from this line and while they’re great for dynamic action poses they suck if you want a more traditional type of pose.

Wave 1 of the Transformers Universe Classics line has been revealed it is as follows:

Deluxe’s:
Sunstreaker
Prowl
Tankor (formerly known as Octane)

Wave 1 Ultra’s:
Onslaught
Powerglide

Tankor will still be a triple changer and will be called Octane by most fans. Onslaught was revealed a month ago and looks very close to his G1 counterpart. No clue yet as to whether or not he is a combiner or not. I think making Powerglide that big is a mistake but we’ll see.

Hasbro has said that they will not release any of the Droids in their SW/TF line due to the fact that they can’t think of anything for them to turn into. I find the thought of R2-D2 as a TF a bit redundant.

The next Masterpiece is all but confirmed to be Grimlock. What he will look like or what extras he’ll come with have yet to be announced. I’ve got a hunch that we might see a dual release with Hasbro since Hasbro mentioned Grimlock quite frequently at last years Bot-Con.

The World Around Transformers

Over the past few months I’ve acquired quite a few choice Chogokin. Voltes V, Ideon, and Iron Gear have all found homes with me. As of right now I’ve only spent time with Voltes V and I’m very impressed. He is mostly Die-Cast with a ton of accessories. Combining is easy and intuitive. The only disappointment I have is that he didn’t come with any of the spring-loaded weapons the Poppy version did. For $200 I want the danger of shooting my eye out. Upon doing some research on each figure I discovered that Ideon has to be the most depressing Anime in history. Heck, in Super Robot Battles 3 the Ideon “Ending” basically results in all the characters loosing hope and the end of the world.

Yamato in 2008 will be going back to their roots by revisiting their 1/60 scale of VF-1 Veritechs. All will now feature improved detailing and articulation with perfect transformation; no more will we have to remove the legs of our VF-1S, J, and A’s. Don’t forget we also have the 1/60 scale YF-21 to look forward too.

There will be a ton of Mospedia figures coming first with Ashomia releasing the Japanese version of Toynami’s Alpha fighters. I have heard that all the problems with the US releases have been fixed but I’ll find out when mine is in my hot little hands. Toynami, CMS, and Megahouse will also be doing their take on the Cyclones as well. Now this is just a feeling but don’t be surprised to see Revoltech Cyclones and Alpha fighters by the end of the year.

Sixty-Second Review

During my lull in writing and collecting I finally had a chance to open my set of Aerialbots. For those of you who might not know during the final days of the Universe line KB toys got exclusive releases of the Japanese Micromaster Combiners who were renamed for their more familiar larger scale North American counterparts.

If you’re looking for highly articulated robots that are complex to transform then perhaps you should look elsewhere. The Aerialbots were designed when Transformers were meant to be fun, chunky robots that you could smash and bash around. Unlike the larger scale Aerialbots these guys are comprised of six flying vehicles; five jets and one helicopter Rotor. Rotor ended up being my personal favorite of the set sine he formed the tail section of Superion and I never fully understood why any of the combiners needed one in the first place.

Like the other Micromaster combiners the component pieces that formed the main body and limbs could combine together to make some sort of flying vehicle. What I found odd with the Aerialbots was that not all the Micromasters could fit in the cockpit. Then again why would flying robots need a ship to fly in? Superion features the same limited articulation as the other combiners meaning he can’t move his legs and hold his gun straight. Basically combined mode is just a showpiece and not meant for anything more. If you enjoy smaller scale Transformers you probably already have these guys in your collection if not then you might be better off going for their larger brethren. On Elohim’s Energon cube scale I give the Micromaster Aerialbots 6 out of 10 cubes.

The Pros and Cons of Being a Transformer Fan: Parting Shots

I decided to combine my little op-ed section with my closing since it’s going to be a bit longer than usual. Some of you might be wondering where I’ve been and to be honest I’m not sure how to answer that without sounding like a total douche. With the success of the movie I feel really out of place since that will now dictate the future of all Transformer lines for at least the next ten years. I’m ok with being told I’m wrong but to be hit over the head constantly with it becomes a bit too much to handle. With the new animated series it’s clear that Transformers is becoming a younger mans game and that an old schooler like myself has no place. There may have been a column or two that I might have not put my all into but I never half assed it; that was slowly changing having to report every new record the movie broke. That’s not fair to you who have been so loyal to Elohim, Mike, and I over the years. So I’m going to take a break for a while. I will still be around haunting the Figures forum and most certainly will be back when Classics 2.0 hits if you’ll have me. It probably won’t be the same CE since I’ve been using this form for roughly two years and I think it’s time for a change. I was planning on quoting Prospero’s closing soliloquy from The Tempest but I figured that might be a bit to heavy handed. I wanted to thank some people, I hope I don’t leave anyone out but here it goes; Lord Elohim, Mike Kaye, Alesandro Riccombeni, Myles Carlton Garlick, TG, and anyone who has ever written for the TFRC. PK, Batesman, and all the writers for the figures section here at Inside Pulse; my brothers in the fWo. Everyone who writes for or has written for Inside Pulse over the last few years; and finally, Chris Hyatte; without whom I’ve would’ve given up on the net a long time ago. Well I do believe that’s it. It’s been a fun ride with some bumps along the way so as always… oops; I almost forgot, I’m going to show you how to piss off a club in just one easy step. Ready? Just click here. I had posted a picture of Classics 2.0 Sunstreaker much to the chagrin of the TFCC. PK had to take it down since well; we have enough people mad at us as is. The fWo shall live forever. Goodnight, good morning, good day, and God bless.

The King of the Fanboys,

Charles

Hey, welcome back! Not too much news to hit this week, so lets dive right in.

DC Comics

DC Direct All-Star Comics

DC Direct updated their line-ups to include their September products. The only new line of figures is based on DC’s All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder & All-Star Superman.

While All-Star Batman is a bit lackluster in my opinion, All-Star Superman is one of the best comics going today. These figures look great, and it’s good to see a Jim Lee Batman figure.

Marvel Comics

Iron Man

Hasbro has opened up a subsite on their website focusing on the Iron Man movie line. They are debuting a new figure every few days, so keep your eye on Hasbro’s Iron Man site.

Mighty Muggs

Here are the images of the Marvel Mighty Muggs.

These are pretty cool, as I have seen the Star Wars versions. These will be in stores in March.

TMNT

For anyone who didn’t know, NECA will be releasing TMNT figures based on the original comics.

These looks amazing. The original Eastman/Laird TMNT comics are what got me reading comic books, and this is a great way to remember them! There isn’t a time frame for release, but you can bet that these Turtles will be on my desk as soon as I can get them.

Short column this week, and you can expect more of the same the next few weeks, as we are less then a month away from Toy Fair 2008!