Posts Tagged ‘toy review’

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Dec31

This Year’s Most Awesome Christmas Present – Yobo FC Twin

by DestinyHelix on December 31, 2011 at 12:01 AM
Posted In: Blog

New Years Resolution #1: Play more video games.

I wanted to let everybody know about my favorite Christmas present this year (and hopefully make some money in the process). Roberta got me a Yobo FC Twin. For those of you scratching your heads (like I was the first time the used game store girl dropped the word “Yobo”), Yobo is an electronics company that produces video game consoles to play vintage video games. You see, while the content of the old cartridges themselves is protected intellectual property, the patent on the hardware itself has expired, effectively allowing Yobo to produce “generic” Nintendo and Super Nintendo Entertainment Systems. Somewhat hilariously, those names are still protected trademarks and as such go unmentioned on the box. Restricted from mentioning that it plays “NES” and “SNES” games it instead simply declares generically that it plays “8bit” and “16bit” games. Previous Yobo consoles had played each of those cartridge types individually, while the FC (presumably an abreviation of “Famicon”) Twin has a slot for each. I desperately wanted something to play the few NES and SNES cartridges I had hung onto when I sold my systems, but I was initially very skeptical about picking up a third party video game product. Eventually my doubts were outweighted by the naggingly recurring thought: all real NES’s are 25 years old and can only have so much life left in them.

I’m pretty hard to shop for (mainly because I have no impulse control, especially when I’ve been making a lot of money on eBay) so when Berta asked me what I wanted for Christmas I knew what to say and I promised not to buy it before Christmas. So the Yobo rules! I’ve been playing a lot of the Mega Man Collections on PS2 and it could be my imagination, but it seems like the games run a little faster, making some parts of the game much harder and difficult to keep up with (particularly Quick Man’s stage). I had feared it might be the case with the Yobo, but let me put your mind at ease. It runs at the same speed as the old NES and even suffers the same jumps and flashes that the original systems when there are too many enemies on the screen. The experience is virtually identical to playing the original NES (or SNES depending what games you’re playing). The controllers included with the FC Twin are basically the same design as the SNES controller just a bit lighter, thus the ports are made for SNES plugs. It’s a bit odd to be playing NES games with a SNES conroller but, eh, I manage. However, this means you’re out of luck if you want to play Duck Hunt with your NES Zapper. The only other real drawback is having to wiggle the cartridges out when you’re done playing. I do miss the old “eject” button on the SNES.

All in all, the FC Twin is a great value. Berta picked me up one at around $35 on sale. It occupies significantly less room than the individual original systems and only requires one power source and A/V jack connection, so I really prefer it to having the separate consoles. If you’re interested in vintage gaming and aren’t bothered by the cartridge ejection issues and incompatabilty with NES controller port accessories, you should definitely pick one up. Available from Amazon in Black or Silver varieties (I’d appreciate if you use my link to buy it. I’m an Amazon Associate and I get a small commission on referrals and it takes a bit to run this site, you know):

 

 

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Feb21

Complete Pharaoh’s Quest Lego-palooza

by DestinyHelix on February 21, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Posted In: Blog

The whole sha-bang

This is the first time I’ve ever collected an entire Lego theme (or for that matter more than two sets from the same theme since 1986). I’d have never managed it if they hadn’t gone half-price or better. I’ve had most of these since shortly after Christmas, but I just finally got done building them last week . Anyway, awesome as these sets are, I’m already going nuts thinking about the other things I could build with some of these bricks, so I thought I’d take some pics and a moment to talk about them before I start destroying them.

The Scorpion Pyramid (with Time Lord visitor)

“The Scorpion Pyramid” is the single largest Lego set I have ever owned, but frankly it’s not THAT MUCH bigger than the Sphinx considering the price difference. It is still extremely awesome though. The traps are reminiscent of the great action figure playsets of the 80′s, although the pit full of scorpions and gold coins is hilariously obvious. I can just imagine two guys standing at the edge debating whether it was trap for greedy retards or some kind of modern art represention of how greed poisons the soul. The half-track included in this set is a bit underwhelming as far as vehicles in this theme go, but I see a lot of potential in those tank treads for some projects I have in mind.

“The Rise of The Sphinx” is pretty awesome itself. This was my first experience with the ratcheting ball-joints and I can’t wait to try my hand at some new mecha. The big, black, scary Anubis head is a nice touch.

“The Cursed Cobra” is probably my favorite of the theme, though. I really love the Jeep that comes with this set and, again, more ball joints (this time of the non-ratchet-y variety) make the cobra my favorite of the monster/statue thingies.

The bi-plane and motorcycle that come with “Flying Mummy Attack” and “Golden Staff Guardians” are a lot of fun and really round out Jake Raines’ (and friends’) arsenal of awesome vehicles. I feel the vehicles are where this theme really shines. The architectural bits in these two sets are very “meh”, but as cheap as I got them and as cool at the vehicles are, who cares?

My army of Prince Dastan clones stands no chance against you, Jake Raines clones!

“Scarab Attack” rounds the theme out nicely, giving you access to the lead character of the theme and a pretty cool monster (or a bunch of robot fingers) for a very reasonable pricepoint.

Technically, I am missing one item to have the COMPLETE theme. There is a minifigure set of more mummy warriors that I will most likely pick up on eBay or Amazon when the price is right, but they are just repeats of the minifigs I already have. I usually just buy spacey sets and neat cars, but DANG! these were cheap and turned out to be a lot of fun. I really regret missing out on the Indiana Jones sets a few years ago, but I was dirt poor at the time. Jake Raines, the obvious Indy expy is a pretty good consolation. Most of the minifugres in this theme are pretty cool especially the Pharaoh’s servant monsters (the creepy Anubis Guards in particular). All in all, I love this set and its varied and versatile parts assortment as well.

“Nice army of the undead you got there. Mind if I AXE to join? Get it?”

I highly recommend these and if you’re interested you can pick them up on Amazon at really good prices (at the time of writing this anyway so don’t poke around):

 

 

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Apr25

“Distract her while I put it in her taco.”

by DestinyHelix on April 25, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Posted In: Blog

“What’s a bunghole?” “You’re a bunghole, bunghole.”

There have been some mighty fine exclusives over the years, but only two have been desirable enough to motivate me to shell out the money to join the Official Transformers Collector’s Club: Runamuck and Over-run (Runabout). The two idiot Decepticon hoodlums first burst on the scene in 1986 with a pair of horrible toys and were the feature characters in a fairly early issue of Marvel Comic’s “Transformers” series, where they travel across the country generally making nuisances of themselves, earning themselves a very special place in the fandom. The moronic and destructive nature of these two mostly-too-stupid-to-be-dangerous ne’er-do-wells has garnered them the fan designation of the “Beavis and Butt-head” of the Decepticons and the fan-appointed moniker the “Runabros”. When these fellas went on sale (along with Shattered Glass Drift), demand was so high the credit card processor for the OTFCC could not keep up, forcing the site to shut down. It was close to a week bfore they switched card processors and sales were able to resume. I received Runabout (Over-run) early last month and have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Runamuck to complete the pair. He arrived late yesterday, so I wanted to share some pictures/opinions of the duo.

“If you’re gonna walk the walk, you gotta… uuhhhhhh… talk, too.”

Over-run and Runamuck both utilize the oh-so-awesome “Generations” Wheeljack mold from last year but with a brand-new head mold. This really almost makes them too bad-assed. The colors are a pretty close match to their G1 toys (Or at least Runamuck is; I don’t own the original Runabout.) Runabout/Over-run’s black has been replaced with a very dark metallic charcoal gray, which really adds some richness to the figure as well as making it a lot easier to photograph. Poseability is just as good as on Wheeljack. They do feel a bit looser than Wheeljack or Tracks (a bit of mold wear creeping in perhaps?). Their robot modes do a respectable job of evoking the comic character models for both ‘Cons, but I do think I would have preferred that they use Tracks’ front bumpers on one of them as the originals did have different vehicle modes. If you want the robot modes to look even more like their character models, it is possible to fold the wings down and slide them in and flip the back of the car up behind the head to recreate that Battlechargers/Throttlebots configuration. I don’t think I would recommend making a habit of this on Runamuck though, as the back section of the car makes contact with the doors on his back, particularly the gold paint stripes and could cause wear on them.

“Damn, I’m smooth.”

If you like G1 and especially Runabout and Runamuck, these figures are definitely worth picking up. Of course, its too late to get them straight from the Collector’s Club, so you’ll likely pay a significant mark-up on two already fairly high-priced figures. I ended up paying about $40 for the membership to get Runamuck “free” and about another $64 with shipping for Runabout. So, they will likely cost you at least that much unless someone has some extras they are desperate to get rid of, which is very doubtful. I don’t know if I would have paid any more for them than I did, but now that I have them I wouldn’t take, like, a bajillion dollars for them.

“We’re gonna SCORE!!”

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May02

Review: Transformers Prime… er, Prime

by DestinyHelix on May 2, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Posted In: Blog

I’ve been putting off buying any of the “Transformers Prime” toys for quite some time. I’m not quite sure why. Maybe ’cause I was on a clearance Lego binge when the “First Edition” figures hit my closest Toys R Us or because lately I’ve been pouring most of my money into promoting the comic and (ugh) practical stuff like food and gas. But hey, Transformers is my first love in the toy multiverse and this show is pretty darn good (I’d say the best Transformers series since “Beast Wars”). It’s also nice to have some relief from nearly 6 years of Movie Trilogy fatigue,  so I decided to splurge and pick up my two favorite main cast members: Optimus and Ratchet. Ratchet is pretty straightforward, but Optimus really stands out so I thought I’d share my thoughts on him.

Is it possible to be blocky and lanky at the same time? This Optimus sure seems to pull it off.  Optimus is packaged in robot mode like the Voyager class figure have been for the last few years, which makes for a nice display for his quite foreboding form. Op, like the other characters of “Transformers Prime”, is an interesting hybrid of the movie and classic Transformer aesthetics. He has a ton of details and has the beyond-human exaggerated proportions of the “Bayformers” movie designs, but with greatly softened edges and smoother, blockier surfaces like tradition vehicular Transformers. He has great poseability and an awesomely detailed face. Oddly though, as much as I griped about Optimus having a mouth in the first movie, I almost wish this was either the “maskless” Optimus as most often seen on the show (his face is much less scary than movie Optimus) or that he had a sliding face mask where you could switch (a la “Animated” Optimus). It seems to be popular to gripe about the translucent forearms on this Optimus, but it doesn’t really bother me that much. In fact, it’s the sort of nice visual touch that miss from the “Beast Machines” and “Robots in Disguise” era toys. Sure it isn’t a “show accurate” detail, but it’s a nice touch that certainly doesn’t make of break the toy, especially from a fun standpoint. Yeah, I’d like to see more red on the robot mode overall, too, but it looks pretty slick and is great fun as it is.

Optimus’ truck mode is pretty neat. It’s nice and blocky. The fact that his feet turn into a trailer hitch gets me excited that maybe Hasbro has plans cooking for a trailer at some point. As is pretty common these days, paint apps are pretty sparse on Optimus, sadly, but at least there is a lot of color variety in the plastics used. The two different shades of gray used on Optimus in addition to his blue, red, clear blue, and black add a subtle complexity that most Transformers these days lack (Ratchet comes to mind).

Optimus’ transformation is quite fun and possesses an entertaining but not frustrating complexity. He takes about 3-5 minutes to transform and looks great in both modes, unlike the Movie Optimus that seems like it takes about 15-20 minutes.  There are a lot of elements reminiscent of Optimus’ G1 transformation in this toy, like the shoulders folding back and forearms pushing forward under the chest to form the front of the truck. That makes me happy. It makes me want to see a G1-style robot Optimus that transforms into the more common long-nosed modern truck (besides the Laser  Optimus transformation).

“Driving a truck! Driving a big ol’ truck!”

If this toy has a weakness, it’s the accessories. If the gun held in its deployed mode, it might be okay, but as it is… meh. Optimus’ sword is a pretty nifty gladius-style blade with a lot of detail, but seems kinda dinky for a big, epic bot like this Optimus.

Considering how good the figure itself is, I can overlook the shortcomings of the accessories. I have owned practically every Optimus ever released in North America (and then some), and I can fairly confidently say this is one of my favorites (top 10 or better, for sure).

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May09

Review: Transformers Prime Wheeljack

by DestinyHelix on May 9, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Posted In: Blog

With almost 15 years passing between his Action Master incarnation and his homage/counterpart  in the form of “Energon” Overdrive, a new Wheeljack toy used to be a rarity. That’s pretty surprising considering Wheeljack was the very first Transformer to appear on-screen in the G1 animated series. It seems that Wheeljack has made a resurgence in recent years, with Overdrive being repainted into “Shattered Glass” Wheeljack/ Slicer, the release of the amazingly cool Generations Wheeljack, and now his “Prime” Universe counterpart. He even made a few background appearances in “Animated”, although without a corresponding toy release.

Before I get to my feelings on the toy itself, I’d like to ad least mention the character himself as portrayed on the show. I have mixed feelings about switching Wheeljack from mad scientist to consummate bad-ass warrior. Wheeljack was one of the first non-mini-car Autobots I got as a kid and was one of my favorite characters, largely due to his cartoon portayal. So changing him into the ninja Wrecker he is in “Prime”, didn’t make me very happy. Not that the character isn’t cool, just to me, he’s not Wheeljack. This would have been a more suitable characterization for Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, or Tracks in my opinion. I do think it’s kinda neat that James Horan (who played one of my favorite “Highlander” villains Grayson) does his voice. No one can truly replace Chris Latta, but at least they got a pretty cool actor to fill the role. Now, on to the toy!

Wheeljack is packaged in vehicle mode, so we’ll start there. “Jacky’s” vehicle mode is sort of an amalgation of many elements reminiscent of late 70′s and early 80′s European high-end sports cars. This is pretty appropriate considering his original car mode was a Lancia Stratos Turbo, a very rare race car from Italy. There are elements of the Lancia in there as well as some models of Lotuses and Lamorghinis, unified by a sharp-edged “stealth” faceted design which gives it a futuristic/slightly alien look. All-in-all, it is an amazingly cool vehicle mode with Wheeljack’s classic red and green accents in a highly graphical, but suspiciously roughly-Decepticon-symbol-shaped racing design.

Wheeljack’s transformation to robot mode is VERY fun! There are a lot of motions and mechanisms in his transformation that I have never seen on any Transformer that I have ever owned before. The front fender/hood sections splitting and rotating/sliding up the calf to form his shins is pretty unique and interesting motion. There’s all kinds of crazy stuff going on as his windshield/doors split off from the main body, the windshields rotate back to form his elbows and his shoulder joints fold out and peg in under his chest. There is a fun level of complexity, but the transformation is very quick one. That’s win-win as far as I’m concerned!

Wheeljack’s robot mode is visually true to the character’s history and to his current animation model. He has the way-long arms like most of his “Prime” colleagues as well as his G1 toy. The shins forming out of the hood are a classic Wheeljack trait, but this time executed in a much more clever, creative way. He is much more angular and pointy and less bulky than previous incarnations. The much more angular head has elements with a somewhat similar shape to Wolverine’s mask/hairdo and sideburns. With paired swords in hand, Wheeljack gives a slight impression of an angry robotic Ninja Turtle (anyone remember Mecha-Turtle from the original Konami TMNT video game?). Being able to stow his swords in his “backpack” is a nice touch, but it makes me wish there were somewhere concealed to put them in vehicle mode.

“GO SPEED RACER!! GOOOOO!!”

Like Optimus, Wheeljack is molded in two different shades of gray plastic (a nice dark Gull Gray and a lighter Ghost Gray) in addition to his overall white and black and touches of transparent blue. In a time when paint applications on toys are pretty sparse, he has touches of green and red racing pattern paint apps, a painted black faux windshield on his chest, some touches of silver detailing on his face and hubcaps, and painted yellow and red tail lights as well. Conspicuously absent from this Wheeljack is any kind of Autobot insignia. That, in conjunction with the Decepticon symbol-like racing pattern, makes we wonder if the Wreckers are actually a separate entity from the Autobots or if Hasbro has some sinister plans for him in the future.

Wheeljack is a great toy whether you like his “Prime” characterization or not. If you don’t, just throw away the swords and pretend he’s an upgrade for Classics Wheeljack or maybe even a Cybertronian mode. Definitely worth picking up if you can find him at retail price, but I wouldn’t pay a big premium for him (up to about $20 would be my top price for a non-exclusive figure this size, no matter how cool he is).

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