Hasbro loves me.

Maybe it's the multiple emails I've sent to various Hasbro people. Or all the times I've asked about this at cons, or had friends ask.

Whatever it was, Hasbro finally got the message.

And, thus, this is happening:

NEW GODDAMN WRECK-GAR

Umm...

Hi...

I've, uh, been busy lately. New job, trying to get into college, etc.

Also, Final Fantasy X has sucked up a lot of my time.

I also haven't gotten many toys lately, and my camera no longer wants to upload pictures onto my computer, making it completely useless.

So, obviously, it might be a while before I start reviewing things again. Maybe some of the other idiots will write something...

Sorry.

Christmas haul

So, here's what I got, with mini reviews!

PS2 Slim- Wow, this thing is tiny. I had the original version of the PS2 years ago (It died), and it was huge compared to this. The slim one is about the size of a trade paperback copy of Watchmen. Smaller, actually. Anyways, it's a nice little system, and, unlike when I switched to an Xbox, the controller didn't take some time to get used to. I also got a memory card for it, which is one thing the original Xbox has over the PS2 AND 360- built in hard drive.

Kingdom Hearts 2- This is why I wanted another PS2. I played the KH games years ago, and was starting to miss them. It's a very Japanese game, in that (Aside from being an RPG and all) there's quite a lot of story and videos and mysteries and what not. The gameplay is excellent. It has a lot of Disney's whimsical feel, which meshes surprisingly well with the Final Fantasy elements. Also, you can fight alongside Jack Skellington on one world. How awesome is that?

Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories- The card based fighting system isn't really as good, but the game is still enjoyable. You can still kind of tell that it's an upgraded DS game, though.

Tetris Worlds- It's Tetris. Tetris is, and always has been, perfect.

GameStop Edge card with subscription to Game Informer- Free magazine, and a card to get extra money on trade-ins, and money off used games. This will be particularly useful, as you may have noticed I did not get the first Kingdom Hearts (Apparently the main GameStop here (There's almost as many GameStops as Starbucks, including two right across the street from each other and another two next door to each other) didn't have it).

Clothes- You don't care, but I got some nice pants, shirts and a sweatshirt.

So, what did you get?

Happy X-mas

War is over

(If you want it)

Finally.

I have finally found my camera, so new reviews shall commence soon.

Possibly tonight.

Trans-Scanning Bumblebee Guest Review

Tonight we have a review of the Japanese exclusive "Trans-Scanning" Bumblebee (More like Dress Up Bumblebee, amirite?) by General Tekno, the artist and writer of the webcomic Big Time Toons!
*Note: Everything in black was written by GT, and eveything in red, I added.

Ahoy-hoy, everyone! General Tekno here with a very special guest toy review for RawToys! Only several months late! (Looks around to make sure he's not about to get shot) [POW! -ed.] Today, I'll be looking at one of the more original figures to spin out of the Transformers movie toyline: TakaraTomy's TransScanning series Bumblebee. To give a bit of background, the TransScanning toys were based off the concept in the movie where generic Autobot protoforms would crash to Earth and scan a new alternate form- as such, these figures are Shellformers, and yet they're not...

Each Trans-Scanning figure is made up of a base protoform robot - a superposable stickman with a sparkcore on the chest and the same generic build/color/head. Both figures that were made, Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, share base robots. These suckers are very posable, in keeping with the fact that they're designed to contort like crazy for their transformations.

Snap on the first set of armor that comes with Bumblebee to give him his "landing" mode. As far as I know, this is no different than Prime's re-entry armor save for color - it's basically a bunch of neatish looking clear armor pieces that give the robot some pizazz. However, this isn't THAT recognisable as Bumblebee at this point save for the fact that it's yellow armor.

With this armor applied, Bumblebee has properly placed pegs and holes to transform into his comet altmode. All things considered, it isn't THAT bad - it looks like a contorted body, but honestly there's not much more they could have done. However, in a definite plus, he comes with a stand that pegs in and allows him to at least look like he's re-entering an atmosphere.

Where Bumblebee really gets neat though is when you apply the Camaro shell. Suddenly, he now looks like his movie self!

Sadly, there IS a bunch of kibble on his back, legs, and arms, which seems garishly out of place, he's got a fake chest, and his "wings" don't work quite the same in how they're formed as the movie model. HOWEVER, there is a great tradeoff for this - as aside from the fact that you snap on armor, he is NOT a shellformer...

...he can TRANSFORM. With NO REMOVING OF PARTS. This figure forms a VERY nice Camaro, through contorting around, and no removal of armor is necessary at all to transform it. This is where the Trans-Scanning concept of having modular Transformers with different sets of altmode "shells" becomes brilliant in its execution, and as a proof of concept it is a VERY neat idea. [GT wanted me to mention that the crazy difference in the yellow colors is a result of the camera flash, and not nearly that noticeable in person -ed.]

Plus, you can mix and match the armor, to get more of a Cybertronian mode Bumblebee, and to remove the kibble which restricts his movement at the same time. He can be tricky to balance in poses with all the kibble, but since you can choose to give him as much as you want, it's not that big of a deal.

Overall, this Bumblebee is a VERY cool concept, but if he suffers from anything, it's that he's constrained to the movie designs. As a proof-of-concept though I would LOVE to see a toyline just like this, where we got a core figure with snap-on-armor that could STAY on while he transformed to his altmode.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Pros: Nice Camaro mode, cool concept, very posable
Cons: Kibble, kibble, kibble! Protoform mode kinda weak too.
Rating: 3.5/5
Recommendation: If you find one on sale, get him. Otherwise, maybe not.

GT also sent me some other pictures, and I can't really find a place for them, so here they are!:

The back of 'Bee's altmode


Bumblebee with Marvel Universe Iron Man (IM is roughly 4" tall)


Bumblebee close-up


Bumblebee's chest and spark without armor

Joes For Tots

Paul, formerly of ToyBender, has put up a post on Poe Ghostal's site concerning this year's Joes For Tots contest, which you can read here. Basically, you donate stuff to Toys for Tots, send along proof, and you can win freaking AWESOME stuff.

But to sweeten the deal, anyone who reads any of my blogs (Or even writes for them), who enters and sends me the proof as well (Email me at reilly_weakley@yahoo.com or rawtoys@live.com) gets a free, black and white, artwork commission from me, and if you win, I might even throw in something else.

So! Go! Donate! Enter! DO IT!

A few things

First off, happy Halloween! Or All Hallow's Eve, or even Samhain, if you so prefer. I, of course, implore you all to have as much fun and cause as much trouble as possible (Though, anything illegal you do is MOST CERTAINLY not my responsibility, m'kay?), while also staying as safe as possible. Can't have my readers dying on me, can I? To help get you in the spirit, here are a few scenes from the first 2 Evil Dead movies:

The creepily realistic pencil scene:


WHO'S LAUGHING NOW?!


"Groovy."


Secondly, I have decided that this whole going a month or more between reviews WILL STOP. I'm going to review more, get the others to review more, and try to get some guest reviews. So, yeah, if you'd like to review something for RawToys email me at reilly_weakley@yahoo.com or rawtoys@live.com.

Third, I recently read Deadpool #900, and it was great. I have no idea WHY it was #900, but it's Deadpool, so reason doesn't matter. Be warned though, it has Liefeld "art" in one (Otherwise nice) story. Yech.

Finally, you should all read Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. I've been reading it lately, and it's one of the best comics I've read. Seriously. Read it. All of it. Torrent it if you have to.

Birthday/Christmas list

You can view it here, on my other blog.

PLZ?

The wierdo with the long hair is part of RawToys.

Cam, you lucky son of a bitch...

(Cam's in Evil Dead: The Musical and Bruce came to see it)

Need a little help from my friends...

I don't know if any of you collect Mattel's DCUC, but there's an awesome Joker figure out now. There's also a Man-Bat and Power girl I want, in the same series.

Unfortunately, that series is a Walmart exclusive, which, coupled with Mattel's usual crap distribution means I probably won't find him without help.

So that's where you guys come in. Next time you're in Walmart, could you PLEASE check and see if they have this series, and if so, if they have either of those three figure, and if they do, please pick one up for me. I will gladly pay for it, plus a reasonable finder's fee.

Obviously, Joker is the most important and the figure I want the most, then Man-Bat, then Power Girl.

PLZ HALP MEH.

Transformers Animated Megatron (Leader Class)

One of the interesting story elements from the first season of Transformers: Animated was the fact that Megatron was more or less out of the picture. He showed up at the beginning, was blown up, and then spent more of the season as a head in Isaac Sumdac's lab. Sure, he was able to slightly influence events, such as inspiring the Dinobot's creation, making the Autobots think their new HQ was haunted/trying to kill them, and becoming a voice in Lugnut's head, among other things. It freed up the writers to create stories different from previous TF series, including using a lot of human supervillains. But, in the season finale (appropriately titled Megatron Rising) when Megatron got his new body, it was awesome.

This is the third Animated Megatron toy, and the first with his new, Earth mode body. It was released a few months after the first bunch of Animated toys (And the two toys of Megs's Cybertron mode), which seems to have been planned to not spoil the big reveal of the new and improved Decepticon Emperor of Destruction's body, but, given the long delay of the toy's release, it was pointless, as everyone had seen Megatron rising already. Anyways, this is a beautiful toy. Megatron's Earth mode was based off Super/Ultra Megatron from the Japanese G1 manga, which were upgraded forms of G1 megs, so TFA Megatron here looks very much like the original, yet is still very distinct. As a Leader hetowers ovetr most TF toys, like he towered over everyone in the show. His overall look is accurate to the cartoon. Like most TFs, Megatron is mostly molded in color, but what paint there is has basically no errors, other than a stray bit of red on the helicopter cockpit piece. It's worth noting that I love the red used for his highlights. It's not particularly bright, but has a nice sort of purpleish tint to it. His 'Con symbol is red because of the lights, but I have since painted it purple.

Luckily, Megatron is no slouch in the articulation department (He has articulation! If you didn't get that, you suck and should talk to Darth as he never shuts up about that JaAm comic). He has swivel/pin shoulders, hips, and knees, swivel head, biceps, and wrists, ratcheted hinge elbows, and very nice rocker ankles (You can also use the conversion joints in his feet a little for posing). He can't raise his arms up a high as most TFs, because his big, tall shoulders, which house the pin joint, block them. Luckily, his shoulders aren't tall enough to hit the wings on his back. His elbows are a bit odd. Like a lot of Animated toys, the "default" position for his arms are with the elbows sideways, so you have to swivel hi arms to bend them properly. But, his wrists mean this isn't really a problem, like it is with Starscream and Blackarachnia. There's also a conversion joint that you can use to give his elbows a bit larger range of motion.

Conversion is simple, but still pretty good (I ten to like the tougher ones, but I do appreciate the simple conversions, if they're well done). His legs are particularly innovative, with the outer shell of his lower legs flipping around and moving up. Make sure you push the wings (With the rotors) down and his arms out. That little step was left out of the instructions.

His helicopter mode is nicely huge, and very cool looking. It is, of course, a completely made up model, but still looks like it would actually fly in the real world. The 'copter has various nice details, like the jet engines (Which are used on some advanced attack helicopters) and even a seat in the cockpit. There's landing gear, with working wheels on the underside of the fusion cannon, and on the bottom of the tail. You can also remove the fusion cannon, and flip down another set of landing gear under the cockpit.

Megatron's main weapon is, of course, his fusion cannon. It's nice and large, and has some parallels to the G1 cannon, with the larger bits on the end and in the middle. It's removable due to the conversion process, so it can be put on either arm, though the right is the default place. Unfortunately the base of the cannon is rather large, butIt does look sort of like extra armor to protect Megatron's arm from the recoil such a large, powerful gun would surely produce.

But wait! There's more! Megatron's helicopter rotors can fold up to become twin sowrds. The hilt uses the standard TF 5 mm handle size. You can also leave the words where they go in vehicle mode, storing them on his back.

Like all Leader TFs, Megatron has lights and sounds, plus a few other gimmicks. But, instead of telling you about them, I made this (very low quality) video:



I love that evil laugh.

Now that the movie stuff has come out, and the Animated cartoon has ended, the TFA Leader toys are going on clearance in many places (I got Megatron for half price), but even if you only find him for full price, I still HIGHLY recommend him.

Bionicle: The Legend Reborn

Alright, in case you haven't guessed already, I'm a pretty big Bionicle fan. So, I was pleased when they announced the new Bionicle movie, based on the Bara Magna storyline. It does come with a bonus comic (thanks alot for ruining the suprise, Monty), but since ODST is com- I mean, because of financial limitations, I could only rent it.

Here's the plot from Wikipedia, so I don't spoil it.


Cast out of his own universe, his stature gone, Mata Nui fights to unite a devastated land and find the secret to reclaiming his own lost empire.

In this ever expanding universe of heroes and villains, Mata Nui, once a great and powerful ruler, awakens to find himself in a remote, decaying wasteland of scrap parts and burnished metals. A desert junkyard. Local villages scavenge for what remains, building shelters, survival gear and ultimately arenas where they can settle their disputes. Pitting the best gladiator in each village against one another, tribes can quickly end quarrels based on the outcome of the fight. Mata Nui, in search of how to get home, quickly finds himself in the middle of one of those battles.

However, the outcome is as much of a surprise to him as it is to the villagers when he leaves the arena triumphant. As a result of his brave actions Mata Nui strikes a friendship with the famous Glatorian Ackar and is asked by Metus to become a Glatorian. Mata Nui coldly refuses, and meets Kiina, a Glatorian who believes Mata Nui is her ticket out of Bara Magna. The three attempt to go the Tajun but are ambushed by Bone Hunters and a Skopio creature. After barely escaping alive, the three begin assuming that there is a traitor among them.

Now, with the Skrall and Bone Hunter alliences building, and invasions taking place all over the planet, it is up to Kiina, Mata Nui, Ackar, and new allies such as Berix and Gresh to stop the terror and expose the traitor.

The characters are really great in the movie. Metus was one of the better characters. He reminds me of Obediah Stane from the Iron Man movie, while he reminds Monty of TFA Swindle. Ackar is also another great character, one of Monty's favorites in fact. Mata Nui happened to be my favorite, considering he's both new to the world, but still wise in the way things work. Sadly though, that's not the case for all characters. The Skrall, my favorite characters from the Bionicle universe, were, as Monty put it, "victims of limited screen time". And they weren't the badass motherfuckers from the comics. Also, Tuma, the leader of the Skralls, was deprived of screentime. And his voice wasn't what I was expecting at all. I expected a more authoritarian sounding voice, not some Lord Voldemort crap. I mean, wouldn't it be cool if he sounded like BW Megatron?

Also, the CGI has been greatly improved since the last three movies. The Glatorian's armor and weapons have a great weathered effect. Also some of the standard pieces that are part of Bionicle sets, such as the tiny little pegs, actually appear and are moving pieces.

The best part about the movie is the casting. The two best examples are Mata Nui and Ackar. Ackar in the movie is played by Jim Cummings, who was the voice of Shredder in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And Mata Nui is voiced by Michael Dorn. You know, COMMANDER WORF?!?! FROM STAR TREK?!?!?

Overall, this is an excellent movie. I recommend buying it.

Or at least renting it as soon as possible.

And now, for your daily recommended dosage of Skrall.

Not dead yet!

Just busy...

Another new blog, already?!

Well, this one's less of a blog, and more of a WEBCOMIC!

Yes.

Go here to read it!

I has a new blog!

You can see it by clicking here.

Why did I create a new blog?

You'll have to go there to find out!

Mata Nui: The Legend Reborn!

The legend himself has been reborn.......MATA NUI IS HERE!!!

Mata Nui, in case you don't know much about BIONICLE, is essentially the god of his universe [Actually, he IS the universe. -editor]. But when Makuta Terridax banished him from his own universe [his body. -ed.] and gained control, Mata Nui was exiled to the barren desert world where the Glatorian live [Geez, you'd think Darth could name the world. It's Bara Magna. -ed.].


As you can see, Mata Nui has the Mask of Life [Kanohi Ignijka. -ed.], which was a big fucking deal for the past three seasons now. However, it has been designed to fit on the Glatorian heads.

He also happens to have the Life Counter for the Glatorian game.

In the BIONICLE canon, Mata Nui's shield came from his friend Clixx, a Scarabax beetle that touched his mask. You can also split the shield into two swords, which is kinda cool.

He also has a Thornax launcher. Unlike the previous Glatorian sets I've reviewed, Mata Nui holds it in his hand, which makes aiming it a bit easier.

That's pretty much it. He's a good buy, but there's also a larger version of him. Which I hope to get one day. [But it's a $50 TRU exlcusive... -ed.]

Selling stuff.

Well, DragonCon is coming up, and I need money to go.

Being jobless, I'm trying to sell stuff.

First off is my art. Pretty much everything in my deivantArt gallery (given that I can find it) is for sale.

I'm also open for artwork commissions.

Secondly, I'm making the ultimate sacrifice and selling some of my toys. I'll have to go through my stuff after I move to decide what I'm willing to sell, but until then feel free to name stuff you want that I might have. Transformers, action figures etc.

Help me!

What happens when Bumblebee runs out of ammo:

Human Alliance Bumblebee is freaking awesome
Read the review of him at OAFE to see why.

Marvel Legends "Nemesis" Punisher

Hey, you can actually finally find these figures! Over a year after they were first shown at SDCC 2008.

As you can see, there's two variant figures of this here Punisher. There's the basic, black skull t-shirt and black pants modern version, and the green jungle camo version. The camo one is more or less based off a level in the 2005 Punisher game (A very underrated game)
in which the Punisher attacks an island of Russian mercs. I'm not entirely sure which figure is the main one, and which is the variant. Originally it was thought that the green one was th evariant, but when the figures FINALLY showed up, there seemed to be more green, whereas here, there were just as many black as green. In any event, assuming you can find them, you should be able to get whichever you want, or, if you're like me, both.



Both variants use the body from the two pack Ultimate Nick Fury, with new arms and a new head. That Nick Fury figure was too tall, which makes it seem as though the body was meant for the Punisher, who is a big guy. He's got a ribbed t-shirt and baggy combat pants tucked into the tops of his big boots. The wrinkles on the shirt and pants are sculpted nicely, though his knee joints do break up the sculpt a bit. However, I'd rather have great articulation than perfect sculpting. The paint is handled well with few problems. The skull on the black version doesn't line up over his chest joint perfectly. As you can see, they have different skulls. I'm not sure where the black one's skull is from, but the green one is the basic comic skull, with a few small bits from the 2004 movie skull. On both the shirt is a slightly different color from the pants, making them look like different material. The camo on the green Punisher's pants looks like camo pattern, not just random colors thrown on a green background. His head is molded in skin colored plastic, but painted green with the the skull, which is a bit surprising. You'd think it would be molded green. The dark patches around his eyes make him look suitably menacing.

Articulation, though not the best from Marvel Legends, is plentiful. He's got a balljointed head, torso, shoulders, elbows, hips, and ankles, swivel wrists and thighs, and double hinge knees. The wrists are disappointing, and double hinged elbows would be useful, but, overall, I'm pleased.

Each Punisher comes with a pistol, that fits in a holster on his right thigh (The pistol is also re-used from Ultimate Nick Fury), and an M-60 machine gun. More guns would be nice, of course, but the ones he comes with are well done (Though, the M-60 is a belt fed gun, and he doesn't have an ammo belt). Both hands have the trigger fingers extended, so he can dual wield, with either one of each, both M-60s, or both pistols. Some people have reported having trouble getting him to hold the M-60 with both hands, but he can hold it using either the handle on top, or like a normal rifle.
Overall, this is a good figure, but we already got a classic Punisher back in the ToyBiz ML series 4, and a movie version (Which is just like the modern comic version) in series 6. This is really a figure that I'd recomend for either big Punisher fans (Like myself), or if you want to complete the Nemesis/Holocaust BAF.

Finally, also in this series is a great Daredevil figure, which inspired me to take a picture mimicking this old Frank Miller era Daredevil cover. I then got some help from Matt Booker, who did an absolutely FANTASTIC bit of Photoshopping to create this: