MichaelandChrissy.com

I was taking a photo of “Armada Airazor” for my daily Flickr posts, when it occurred to me how rare a figure like this is.  This version of Airazor was a repaint of “Transmetal Airrazor” from the “Beast Wars” line, only the mold had been retooled slightly, adding two posts to allow Mini-cons to attach to the wings.  Hasbro is well known for repainting figures from older toy lines to include them in the current line, but only rarely is there a change made in the mold itself.

Mold changes (specifically, head changes) are what make Botcon exclusive figures so great.  They’re not just repaints, as something extra has been added.  Previous examples of this were relegated to the Takara series, such as “Runamuck” and “Longrack” in their “Galaxy Force” line (although these were released in the US later).  So the few retools that showed up in the Armada line were a big deal at the time.  I like a good repaint, but I will hunt down a retool until it is mine (oh, yes).

The point was to make old Beast Wars figures work with the Mini-con gimmick.  All Armada toys had Mini-cons, and it was a good choice to pack a repainted Mini-con in with the figure.  But what about figures from other previous lines?  “Robots in Disguise” was full of potential retool candidates.  The “Rail Racer” gestalt absolutely begs for Mini-cons on its arms and shoulders.  And how cool would it be to load half a dozen Mini-cons on “Fire Convoy“?  Although Fire Convoy was repainted in yellow later, no retooling was done.

Speaking of Robots in Disguise, why not retool the “Spy Changers” to allow for a Mini-con port?  These things, originally released as Go-Bots in the G2 line, were already repainted to death by the time Armada came out.  But a simple Mini-con port on the underside of the vehicle mode could have sparked new life into them.  They wouldn’t fit in exactly with the rest of the Mini-cons, but they would look good combined with other Robots in Disguise retools, such as the above-mentioned Fire Convoy.

Although new molds are nice, if Hasbro intends to flesh out future toy lines with older figures, it would be preferable to see more retooling.  We’re already seeing this in the Animated line with the “Cliffjumper” repaint of Bumblebee (he’s got a new head), so I applaud them for this.  But if older figures start popping up in, say, the “Universe” line (cough, Blaster, cough), then some new parts would be appreciated.  Change the head, or tack on a Mini-con post or two.  People would hate repaints less, I’m sure.

Hasbro announced a brand new mold for a classic “Generation 1″ character, “Cyclonus“.  This is part of their plans to release new figures for many of the original characters for the 25th Anniversary of the franchise.  Better still, this new Cyclonus figure would have a “Targetmaster” partner, making him an homage to the very rare Targetmaster Cyclonus (1987).  This was pretty exciting news by itself, but then the Hasbro representatives showed the audience at Botcon what it would look like.

Jaws dropped and cheers erupted.  The new Cyclonus had the great vehicle mode that the old Cyclonus sported, but the robot mode was better in every way.  He had full articulation and an excellent paint scheme, yet the figure stayed very true to the original. Unfortunately, fans failed to understand that they were looking at a hand-painted prototype that had yet to pass through plausibility testing.

When the Hasbro designers create a new figure, they go through several test versions.  The new design starts off as clay or a simple mockup, then goes on to prototype modeling, and then that mold (or a copy of it) is hand-painted for approvals.  The test model is then checked for plausibility to see how much it would cost to build versus how much it would be sold for.  A single paint application can cost two cents per toy, which adds up considerably when hundreds of thousands are produced.

Apparently, the paint applications for Cyclonus shown at Botcon were too expensive for mass production.  Changes would be required to get this figure out to stores.  The shiny purple paint was replaced with matte purple paint, and the silver paint was eschewed for grey plastic.  Dark blue paint applications on the wrists and weapon were pulled completely.  Finally, the red and fuscia highlights were replaced with a reddish brown color.  This is what a cost-effective figure looks like.

Were we cheated?  No, the Cyclonus figure is still a great mold.  It’s not as pretty as we were hoping (and were led to believe) that it would be, but we should have know better.  Plenty of leaked images of upcoming figures are not final models and are subject to change before release.  I’d still like to pick up a Universe Cyclonus when they’re released, and I’m sure there will be people who repaint their figure by hand to its former glory.

At the last Botcon, Hasbro announced a whole slew of new homage figures to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Transformers, to be released under the Universe moniker.  Not only would more G1 characters be receiving new, updated designs (as in the Classics series), but characters from all Transformers lines would also be getting updates.  The fan base was very excited.  Recently, a new repaint for the Universe line was announced: Hasbro would be repainting Cyberton Scourge (”Flame Convoy”, in Japan) as “Robots In Disguise” Bruticus.

“Predacon Bruticus” seems like an odd choice of characters to pay homage to, since that figure wasn’t very well received by fans or collectors.  At the time, Takara had just thrown Transformers fans a colossal bone with the return of realistic vehicular alternative modes: “Car Robots” featured robots that turned into models of real-life cars, as opposed to animals.   The Beast Machines series was trying to introduce vehicles, in the way of “Vehicons“, but there was little fan support for these futuristic styles (I’m one of the few that liked them).

Bruticus was meant to be an addition to the eclectic Maximal lineup on Beast Machines, but the series died before he could be released.  However, Hasbro managed to shoe-horn him into the next line, “Robots in Disguise” (RiD), which was basically the Car Robots line from Japan repackaged into English packages.  Bruticus didn’t appear on the television show and had a strange form in both modes.  Worse, he used up a name from Generation 1, so the actual repaint of G1 Bruticus for the RiD line was instead named “Ruination”.

As for the new paint scheme, I’m not sure if I like it.  Was RiD Bruticus originally supposed to have a similar paint application?  He was styled in red, yellow and black, after the original G1 Predacon combiners (orange and gold would have been a given, but blue works).  He may have actually had more paint on him in pre-production stages, but those were probably nixed for cost reasons (in order to retain the complexity of the mold).  To be honest, RiD Bruticus would have looked great with some gold and dark blue highlights on him, as one of the biggest complaints leveled against him was a lack of paint applications.

I really liked RiD Bruticus though.  What’s not to like?  He’s an armored, three-headed dog with bat wings on his head.  He’s got spikes and saw blades everywhere.  And he’s mysterious.  I mean, why do his back legs turn into a second pair of arms, complete with flip-up weapons?  Why does he have a broken chain on his leg?  Why does his robot mode have three faces?  What was supposed to go under the flip-up panel on his chest?  It’s clear that this figure never quite reached his potential, but I’d like to know what was the original plan for this guy.

There was a recurring mystical theme with the Maximals in the Beast Machines line.  There was a unicorn, a griffon, a dragon, and even a lion.  The inclusion of Cerberus would have been natural.  Toss in a personality conflict, one persona for each beast head, which would correspond in turn to each robot face, and you’ve got an interesting story.  Maybe he was supposed to be a quadruple-changer, with each robot face having a slightly different robot mode?  This would explain the extra set of arms.  We’ll never know, I guess.

McDonalds has picked up the Transformers promotion this time around. I had mentioned to Chrissy that the new Happy Meal toys were out, and she filed it into her unlimited memory.  We were out shopping today when she casually suggested that we swing by the McDonalds.  I’m thinking that it’s almost lunch time, but I don’t really care for McDonalds (the meat is all cow lips and eyeballs).  More precisely, you don’t say no when an extremely pregnant women tells you what food she wants.

We found the nearest McDonalds (you never have to go far for one of these). We walked in, with Aiden in tow, and Chrissy orders a Happy Meal with four chicken nuggets.  Aiden loves the chicken nuggets. Then she orders four cheeseburger Happy Meals.  She looks at me and says, “What do you want?” Thinking that she must be damn hungry, I say that I’d like a Big Mac meal.  She says, “No, you’re getting a Happy Meal too.  How about a cheeseburger?”

I agree reluctantly, but then it occurs to me that she’s buying an entire set of Transformers Happy Meal toys.  I’m a little slow on the uptake.  But she not only has a mind like a steel trap, she’s very good to me (she doesn’t like McDonalds, either).  I got Optimus, Ratchet, Bumblebee, Megatron, Starscream and Lugnut.  The figures themselves are about what you’d expect from a Happy Meal, but the simple design fits in well with the Transformers Animated theme for most of them.  Not a bad set, as themed meal freebies go.

The Transformers Collectors’ Club exclusive “Topspin” figure came in the mail yesterday.  Since Fun Publications took over the TFCC and Botcon duties, they have worked with Hasbro to consistently release excellent exclusive figures.  Each year for the last four years, they have given away a free basic-sized combiner piece to all current members.  I’ve got them all, but I can’t believe that I’ve been a TFCC member for four years now! 

So far, the exclusive pieces have been two repainted limbs from Energon Superion and two repainted limbs from Energon Bruticus.  This works out nicely, since each of those gestalts had two sets that were effectively the same mold, only repaints of each other.  So, TFCC has given us the first Energon combiner that has non-identical limbs.  

Just one more piece to complete the TFCC exclusive combiner set.  Rumors say that the torso piece will be the Energon Storm Jet (not “Silverbolt”?) mold.  Can’t wait to put all the pieces together to display my Collector’s Club set next to my completed Energon Superion and Energon Bruticus sets. But that will have to wait until next year!

Rene Engström is a Swedish cartoonist who does the web comic “Anders Loves Maria“.  She draws and paints each update by hand.  The art seems to be finished in water colors, and they turn out beautifully with spectacular shading and gradation.  The subject matter leans towards the adult side, with some nudity and mature topics, but the story is taken seriously and is very well put together. I’ve added it to my daily reading list.

I first heard of Rene on Twitter, where her handle is “reneengstrom“.  Today, she was taking random requests for quick sketches and then posting the results for everyone to see.  Some of the requests were pretty out there, but she came through imaginatively every time.  I requested an Optimus Prime sketch, and she sent over a picture of her work.  That’s some funny stuff; I laughed out loud.  Thanks, Rene! You made my day.

I haven’t finished writing down all of this year’s Botcon experience, and I will most likely only write a short bit about the huge haul that I brought home. However, I did notice that I have a ton of tweets (Twitter posts) pertaining to Botcon, so I thought that I would post these for anyone who is both interested and not already following me on Twitter. To get the full effect, click on the “Continue Reading” link below!

Since I made a decision to avoid the 2007 Movie toys, I haven’t aggressively pursued my hobby in the last year. I picked up some chain store exclusives along the way, mostly repaints from earlier lines, and a few eBay auctions for older stuff, but no real conquests.  I spent an awful lot of money on vintage toys at last year’s Botcon, but then there was a “collecting lull” until this year’s Botcon.  So, I wanted to cut loose and gobble up whatever I wanted in the dealer room this year.

What I ended up with was a cornucopia of Transformers that spans all lines. Although I was specifically looking for HeadMasters and TargetMasters from the G1 era, I found only some PowerMasters and Triggercons. From the G2 line, I got a packaged “Road Rocket” and a set of Sideswipe’s weapons. I completed my Universe collection with “Dinobot Stryker“. I picked up a couple of Robots in Disguise figures, “Super Sideburn” and “Super X-Brawn”.  I finally found an elusive Energon “Rapid Run” with both of his biker Mini-cons.

The majority of this year’s haul might be Micromasters though. I got accessories for my incomplete “Groundshaker”, an almost-complete “Anti-Aircraft Base”, the “Race Track Patrol”, three of the “Hot Rod Patrol” (still need that orange car), a hard-to-find missile for the “Astro Squad”, and the “Countdown” rocket base. I only started collecting the Micromaster sets a year ago, so there are still a few that I don’t have, particularly the base sets from the final year of their run. Maybe I’ll find them next time.

I have to thank Cory from Decepticon-Matrix again this year, since he once again came through for me.  Cory is a good guy and I wish that all of the dealers were as helpful and pleasant to work with as him.  I also did a lot of business with TFSource again this year.  They had a good deal on the Japanese Masterpiece Megatron ($75 with no orange barrel!) and the fan-made “Scope and Silencer” set.  They also took credit cards, so I splurged a little on a knockoff “Metrotitan” and the Asterisk “Position Cassette” set.

We began the annual pilgrimage to Botcon on Thursday. We left home after an early lunch so that Aiden would sleep the majority of the way there. He normally naps for about three hours after lunch. The drive was four and a half hours long, however. Aiden was not the least bit happy about being stuck in the car seat after he woke up, so he yelled a lot during the last hour of the trip.

When we got to Cincinnati, we were confronted with a grid of one-way streets. It took a few tries to get to the valet entrance of the Millenium Hotel, but we finally made it. I even got to go down the wrong way on a one-way street, which you could never get away with in Chicago. We had originally made reservations at the Hyatt, across the street, but they had accidentally overbooked the Botcon rooms. They gave us a free night if we would just accept the lower rate and stay at the Millenium. Sure, why not? Our room was tiny; we barely had enough room to store the crib and the stroller at the same time. I wonder if the Hyatt had bigger rooms?

Due to the time zone change, we had an hour less to make the drive than I had thought, so we made a quick dash to the convention registration lines shortly after checking into the hotel. Chrissy pushed Aiden around the huge hall in the stroller while I stood in line. As usual, they lumped everyone with last names of “S” through “Z” together in one queue, even though “R” through “T” should have their own. We complain about this every year, since our line is always the last to finish, so we never get to the Store line to buy the souvenir sets.

We signed in and received our exclusive “Shattered Glass” box sets and attendee-only figures and then shuffled over to the Convention Store, but the line was already snaked around the hall and back. We were too hungry to wait in that line all night, and it was after Aiden’s bed time already, so we went out to find some food. Apparently the convention planners didn’t look into restaurants in the area, because there aren’t any that are open after 6 PM. I guess the whole city shuts down at 6 PM. So sad.

We ended up eating in the restaurant in the Millenium, which was our only (and worst) option. The service was terrible. They never brought us a high chair for Aiden or a booster seat, even after we asked several times. The waitress literally threw menus at us. I was sure that this place must be Cincinnati’s version of “Ed Debevic’s” (where they’re deliberately mean to tourists). We couldn’t wait to get out of there, which was difficult because the waitress never came back to give us our check.

We finally made it back to our room and put Aiden to bed.  Chrissy had requested a crib ahead of time, but the one that they sent to our room was cheap and flimsy.  Aiden didn’t seem to mind, and it was big enough to hold him, so we made some room for him and tucked him in.  It had been a long day, but Botcon had barely started yet. 

I can’t wait for Botcon 2008 to happen. I look forward to Botcon every year, even though my Transformer collecting days seem to be winding down. I’m looking forward to seeing the exclusive figures as well, since there seems to be a lot of good ones this year.  One of the extra figures available to attendees this year will be “Shattered Glass Blurr”, who will be a repaint of “Cybertron Blurr” (2005).

This mold was a retool of “Armada Blurr” (2002), which came with a Mini-Con sidekick named “Incinerator” instead of a “Cyber Planet Key”.  An additional ”flight mode” is common to all three figures. The entire rear end of the vehicle mode was retooled to allow the wing gimmick to be triggered by the Planet Key instead of the Mini-Con.   In addition, a new head was given to Cybertron Blurr to make him look more like “G1 Blurr“.

“Universe Swerve” was released in 2004 with his Mini-Con, “Roadhandler“, as a repaint of Armada Blurr. This character was named after G1 Swerve, but that version was a white and red truck, a retool of the red and blue G1 mini-bot, Gears.  Swerve was once again upgraded in 2005 as “Alternators Swerve”, a figure that I was never able to find (and still fetches a huge sum on eBay).