Bionicle: Glatorian Skrall review

Hey everybody! Darth Shadow is back, and he's doing his first actual toy review.

Why I was speaking in the 3rd person back there, I have no idea. But enough of my insanity.

Behold, the mighty Skrall!

The Skrall is my first experience with the new Glatorian sets from the new BIONICLE storyline.

The Skrall are actually their own species, and originally did not live in their current home of Roxtus. They only moved there when their original home was attacked by the Baterra, who are mysterious, shape shifters that strike from the shadows. For some reason, that sounds really familiar.

The Skrall has some new features with the rest of the Glatorian. First off, actual hands! Now the Glatorian actually look like they are holding something and not giving you the bird. You can also do this:

They also now have real face, too. And I don't mean those heads that came with the Toa with just a hole for a mouth. They actually have real faces this time. But those faces look really familiar. Now where have I seen them before....?

(Sorry about the quality of this picture. It was the best I was going to get of the Glatorian face. )

And then there's the Life Counter for the Glatorian Battle game. I haven't played it, but it seems rather pathetic to me. Why not come out with another trading card game? The Skrall's Life Counter happens to be on his foot, which makes things awkward.

Now onto the Skrall's weapons. First off, there's his sword. Nothing to really talk about there.

Then there's his shield. The shield actually does spin like a buzz saw, which I imagine would be devastating in battle.

Then there is the new projectile weapon, the Spiked Thornax launcher. These guys actually get pretty far when you launch them. However, in the Skrall's case, the launcher is attached to his sword, which makes aiming rather awkward.

So there you have it. The new bad-ass villian from Bionicle. I recommend that you buy a Skrall set. NOW.

Darth_Shadow, out.

Disclaimer: I wish to say that the Baterra are not the Makuta. If you want to think that, go ahead and do so. I only did that reference as a joke, and I have no knowledge that the Makuta will even be involved in the Glatorian story line. Srsly.

New Transformers M&M's are out!

I just got these new M&Ms packs:



The plain packs have "Chocl-O-Bots" (Autobots) while the peanut packs have "Delect-O-Cons" (Decepticons). I have not found the Skids and Mudflap "Strawberried Peanut Butter" M&Ms, but a source says "Those will be released when the movie actually comes out", and "They are amazing."

Transformers 25th birthday special commemorative review: WRECK-GAR!!!

(Click the badge for more TF25th birthday blogs!)
Okay, this is a bit later than I said. Cut me some slack. I was busy, okay? (That's such a lie. I was asleep on the couch.) Shut up. (No.) Jerk.

Anyways, FREAKING WRECK-GAR YEAH! I've got pics, I'm listening Dare to be Stupid (The album, with the most awesome song of awesome, Dare to be Stupid), and, of course, it's a special day in TF history. SO LET'S DO THIS!


As you can see, Wreck-Gar's alt mode is a motorcycle. It has a rather random color scheme and isn't the most sporty looking bike, but remember, they're called Junkions for a reason. Still it looks nice, with no incredibly obvious robot bits, a bit of a rarity for motorcycle TFs. Well, maybe his feet and hands are kind of obvious, but too much.
His legs end up on the side of his motorcycle, looking like some sort of running boards. This also makes him pretty wide.


All in all though, he's got a nice satisfying alt mode. What about robot mode? Well, his conversion is pretty easy. He is a G1 toy, after all.

Wreck-Gar's robot mode has a very G1 body. Rather blocky, and all that. The sculpt is simple, but with some nice details thrown in. Because the unsculpted details were done with stickers back then (My Wreck-Gar, which I got used, is missing a lot of them, but I do plan on ordering the Reprolabels set for him), pretty much everything is molded in color. The only paint is on his metal shoulder pad thing (Metal parts are one of the things they no longer use anymore, like rubber tires) and face. All the toys based on new movie characters were designed before the character models were finalized. This is why Wreck-Gar looks different from the cartoon. This is also why he lacks his awesome mustache and goatee. =( He also has red eyes. Toy Wreck-Gar (Who was billed as a Decepticon in the commercials) must be from before Kup and Hot Rod showed up and managed to save the day instead of messing everything up like Hot Rod usually did. You see, the Junkions thought the Autobots were invaders, so they attacked to protect their home, nearly kicking the Autobot's asses. While Dare to be Stupid played in the background and Wreck-Gar, voiced by Eric Idle, said silly things. Then, after the universal greeting had been delivered, a Junkion kissed Grimlock ( =D ) and everyone danced to Dare to be Stupid. It was awesome.


Wreck-Gar is slightly above average in terms of articulation for a G1 toy. Yes, his legs are bricks below the hips, which only move forward (It looks like he has knees, but they bend backwards so he can convert), but his arms. His arms are great. They have some of the first ever balljoints on a Transformer, along with hinge elbows and swivel wrists. His arms are basically as articulated as a modern TF.

Wreck-Gar's accessories are his awesome ax, a "Decelerator Laser" gun, and his shield, which is really his front tire. While there's no real place to store his weapons in motorcycle mode, you can place them in his hands for a sort of attack mode.
The ax and shield were what he mainly used in the cartoon, so they're obviously the most classic weapons, but the gun is also nice. Wreck-Gar was deadly with that ax. He nearly beat the crap out of Springer (Who's known as a great swordsman) with it. Then Daniel had to screw things up.

There's really not much more to say. Other than some limitations due to his age, Wreck-Gar is basically perfect. Easily my favorite toy in my collection. In the picture above, you can see how Transformers have evolved in their 25 years. Then, and now. Here's to another 25 years!

~Raw/Monty


Wreck-Gar (G1): "Whatta beaut!"
Wreck-Gar (Animated): "I am Wreck-Gar! This is the best part!"
Shhh. I'm trying to watch.

25 years of awesome robots, great stories (Well, other than RiD), and a lot of fun.

Today, May 8, 2009, marks a great day in history. Why? Well, exactly 25 years ago today, Transformers #1 was published and shipped out by Marvel comics.

That was the first anyone was really introduced to Transformers, so it's Transformers 25th birthday!

I think a song is in order here.


I'll post a commemorative review this afternoon.

The Vision is passed out drunk on my monitor.

I just realized it's been too long since I posted something here.

This is the result of nothing more than boredom and messing around with one of my new Minimates (Minimates are fucking FUN).

Tee hee!

DCUC Batman, Robin, & Nightwing

NANANANANANANA BATMAN! And so on. Anyways, DCUC has already released the main male members of the Batfamily. And, seeing as Batman and his assorted companions are really the only DC characters I care about (Fuck Superman. Spidey could kick his ass. Seriously. I've got how he would do it all figured out in my head.) I've picked them up. This review is 50% ranting about Mattel.


First up is, of course, Bats himself. Batman was originally available in Series one of DCUC with a piece of the Metamorpho "Collect and Connect" figure (Mattel fails at names). I got that one when it first came out. It then disappeared. But, Mattel has started re-releasing the best DCUC figures as DCUC World's Greatest Superheroes subline (The full name is DC Universe Classics World's Greatest SuperHeroes. Quite a mouthful. Again, Mattel fails at names), which I got to replace the original Bats. The main point behind DCUC WGSH (Even when you abbreviate Mattel's names into acronyms, they still suck) is to re-release the most popular figures, and figures representing big name characters, so that people who didn't find them before have another chance. Because Mattel's distribution for DCUC has been HILARIOUSLY bad. And, of course, you still have to be damned lucky to find the DCUC WGSH figures. I somehow managed to find, and buy two Batmen (One is for repaint purposes).


Anyways, about the figure itself. Like the rest of the line, he's sculpted by the Four Horsemen, so the sculpt is obviously good. Batman shares most of his body with the DCUC figures of Red Tornado, Orion, Electric Superman and a bunch of others. Only his head, shins, forearms, belt, and cape are new. This body swapping has caused a lot of problems, which I'll discuss later. The figure's paint is good, without any of the numerous problems reported with DCUC (I know of at least one person, Poe Ghostal, who got a figure with an obvious fingerprint smeared into the chest emblem). He does however have the weird shadow thing on his face that's put on every recent silver age based Batman. Why the hell is that there? The only Batman I've ever seen with it is Adam West. I might remove it (CAREFULLY) with some paint cleaner. There is a dark wash on Bat's body that brings out some of the details, but it's more apparent on his limbs than his torso. He's got the standard DCUC articulation (Balljointed head, swivel-pin shoulders, post-hinge hips, hinged torso, elbows, knees, and ankles, rocker joints on the ankles as well, and swivel biceps, wrists, waist, and thighs), so he's poseable, but not as much as a Marvel Legends figure.


Batman gets a Batarang (Every Batman figure should have at least one), a grappling gun thing with rather large hook and a rather short string (I've replaced the string with a longer piece of thread), and a clear base. The base more or less replaces the CaC figure piece. You can also order these bases in bulk from Matty Collector.com, but that site seriously sucks.


Secondly is Batman's first apprentice, and the original Robin, Dick Grayson. He's now known as Nightwing. Basically, in the 70's they re-imagined Batman as a darker, more serious hero. Part of that was Dick Grayson quitting as Robin, becoming Nightwing, and finally becoming cool. How cool? So cool he boned Starfire. Lucky bastard.


Nightwing uses the medium male body, so he's slightly smaller than Batman, which is correct. Nightwing was a circus performer, so his fighting focuses more on agility, while Batman is more brute strength and gadgets. Nightwing gets a unique head (With the same hairstyle as me, which is slightly creepy.) and forearms and shins with the glove- and boot-top things his costume features. The paint is mostly good. The black with bright blue has always looked nice, so I'm glad they went with that instead of Nightwing's other (Disastrous) costume's. However, the paint on my Nightwing's mask sucks, and his left shoulder is particularly bad. His hair features a nice blue drybrushing.


Nightwing gets his two escrima fighting sticks. They're pretty simple, with a grip pattern in the middle. Unlike the others, he has clips on his back so they have a place to go when not in use. He also gets the torso to the Solomon Grundy "CaC" figure.


Robin. Yep. Robin. Yippee. They at least made Tim Drake, who is the closest Robin's come to being useful and cool. And, he's in his best costume. But, really, it's nearly impossible to get excited over Robin. Not that this is a bad figure. Quite the opposite, in fact. But it's still just Robin.


Robin is mostly based around the teenaged male body. He does get unique torso pieces (Along with the usual head, lower legs, and forearms, and his cape (Which is molded to go around his legs. Sweet!) and belt) because of his little R-logo and the clasps on his suit. I'm surprised Mattel didn't just paint those details on, so kudos to them. The proportions actually make him look like a teen, and not a short man, which is surprisingly tough. His paint is also good, with the only problem being a bit of his cape that should be black is yellow. He has the same articulation as everyone else, though the high collar on his cape greatly restricts his head movement. Also, the right elbow on mine was stuck. Luckily though, I haven't gotten any of the completely stuck joints, or limbs that fall off that others have with this line.


Robin's accessories are the same stand as Batman (This Robin also came from the DCUC WGSH sub line. Speaking of those bases, why do they only have one post? The other side just has a random hole. WTF?), his bo staff, and two Birdarangs. The second Birdarang is mostly useless though. Because his hands are meant to be used by other figures, he doesn't hold his accessories very well, though it is possible to get him to grip them well enough.

DCUC has been plagued with problems. Quality control has been shoddy. And the practice of using the same set of bodies for everyone has caused problems. Starfire is the best example of this. She's two short, has some weird monobreast thing, and is nowhere near busty enough. It's just plain stupid. If Mattel wants to re-use body parts, they should follow Hasbro's example with the GI Joe line: Have various body parts generic enough to switch, but create new parts when needed, and mix and match.

Anyways, these are some of the better figures in the line, and they represent iconic characters. If you can somehow find them, grab them.


DRAMATIC LIGHTING!!

More photographic shenanigans!

My DCUC Batman (Who I may review, in a special triple review with DCUC Nightwing (Yes, I know I reviewed him months ago back in the old Rooster Teeth group, but I'm no longer happy with that review) and DCUC Robin) has been in this pose for a few hours. Obviously, I put him like that, but why? Was he checking his watch, when something else caught his attention? Was there a mark on his glove that he cleaned off? Is he showing off his spiffy spiky glove bits?

WHY?