Galaxy Force Noise Maze today. Tightened up his joints with some clear nail polish and used a tooth pick, some water, and a can of canned air to clean the entrenched dust out of his detailing. He's shiny black and neon orange, he's got a firey hole for a face, he's an Autobot, a Decepticon, he's got shiny blades and an axe-gun of doom, and he transforms into a crazy ass spaceship. After 12 years, it's still my favorite deluxe class figure and definitely one of my top ten. To you newer collectors, I don't have pictures' but y'all got google, find a gallery, fall in love, and get yourself a Cybertron/Galaxy Force Sideways/Noise Maze!

 

World Smallest Starscream for today

 

The Mastermind Creations Feralcons (Predacons) for today:

 

Astrotrain is representing the bad guys chez Middleton today.

 

MPM-3 Bumblebee.

 

Tankor is Rhinox!?!?!

So I've come to understand that Beast Machine wasn't all that well received. I've even heard people say it's the worst Transformers cartoon ever, which is hard for me to swallow. Having watched all five seasons of Beast wars and Beast Machines all together I must say, I rather enjoyed it. I thought the writing was still witty, though it had obviously traded in some of Beast Wars sass for a more desperate tone, and it was all still very much character driven. I hear 'preachy' being used a lot, but I guess that didn't bother me too much.

I thought the twists with Vehicon generals was great and played out as great drama. It's a lot of fun when characters reach the wrong conclusions and drag us along with them, which James Roberts certainly seems to enjoy over in the More Than Meets the Eye/Lost Light, so when Black Arachnia is convinced that Thrust is Silverbolt it really worked for me. And then to turn the knife a little more and make brilliant, compassionate Rhinox the nasty Hulk riff that is Tankor was inspired. Sure, his ultimate turn seemed a little abrupt, but from what I understand that was a quirk in the voice direction more than anything else. And it's a pity, because if i imagine a calm, rational Rhinox saying the same lines to Optimus Primal it works so well.

Tankor's Beast Machines figure is an…interesting one. Character model accuracy is such a funny criteria to measure a figure by. Not an unreasonable one, as we're often trying to recreate the fiction in our collections, and often the fiction's primary function is to sell the toys. But a really good toy can get a bad rap for not being 'right'. So as Tankor gets an F for accuracy I'll try and just skip that altogether to look at the toy objectively.

Tankor has some great features, for sure. in robot mode he has that excellent big shoulder mounted cannon, the creepy cylon eye and the spinning rotor blades. But all these aside I find the robot mode to be really pretty lame. I think it's the arms. They're so bloody oversized. There's three possible ways to arrange them 1) rotorblades forward, which makes sense as the elbows then bend in the right direction, 2) rotorblades facing inwards, which makes sense as the claws can then move side to side but of course robs him of an elbow bend 3) Raise the shoulder joints, as if he's drying his armppits, and bend at the elbow with the rotorblades still facing inwards. But none of these makes perfect sense and it's frustrating. His legs aren't quite as bad, but they're not great either. Too much shin and too little thigh. The vehicle mode is pretty good, even if those front panels tabs together very erratically.

If nothing else, T:30 Tankor does a good job on the screen accuracy. He's instantly recognisable as the guy from the cartoon, having the distinctive face, the blues, reds, and yellows of the upper torso, the claw hands, and even the shoulder cannon does a great job of evoking the Beast Machine model. In fact, on looks alone I'd deem this to be an unqualified success. Alas I'm not, so let's look at the downsides. HE'S TINY! I mean sure, you might say this guy should be a massive, hulking, Voyager or even a Leader class figure. But this guy is small for a deluxe. This could work if the figure was a dense, chunky little thing. But it isn't. It's an incredibly light, hollow toy. The Transformation is irritating, either because it's not that intuitive or because I'm hungover and my brain is at 30% functionality as I write this. The tank mode itself is fine, again looking close to the cartoon design.

It's funny that some of the main problems of these two figures are about the weight of expectation. We'll often accept something that comes close enough to what we see in the media. The colours can be right and it can stand more or less in scale with it's friends and we're ok. We forgive. Give me something that makes me stop, squint, and scrutinise and suddenly any of the positives of the figure become that much harder to see. If I knew nothing about Beast Machines and just got this as some new Cybertronian based Decepticon I'd probably think it was pretty cool, if a bit light and hollow. But make the big geezer a midget and my mind rejects it.

 

Skids and the Cybertron Seven

 

All you had to say was 'Cybertron Seven' and I was ready to like this x100. Bonus that it's such a great picture!

 

Cheers Barry. Poor old Beachcomber has seen better days. He was the first Transformer into our house. My brother got him in December 1985.

I've a new appreciation for Perceptor lately since someone here showed me how to fix his legs so he stands better.

I got Seaspray yesterday and I can't put him down.

 

He's bloody great! I like how much braver they seem to be in doing straight up G1 homages. This guy pretty much looks like he stepped off the screen. Just compare him to T:30 Cosmos or CW Powerglide.

 

Yup, keep rubbing it in guys. Damn illusive seaspray   one day I'll find him

 

OMG ARE YOU ME?!

I JUST got that arm replacement in the mail yesterday and have been playing with Megs last night!

 

TLK voyager Hound--a nice, solid voyager--love the 'con kill tallies.

 

Sorry man! Thoughtless of me.

 

  don't be. I'm just being a jealous little bitch

 

"No, next to him. In the mankini"

 

IF-EX20R Wing of Tyrant (Starscream):

 

Dia-Battles V2 Cosmo Maneuver Type. Sod your lack of likes  



All the best
Maz

 

Him today

 

It is a fantastic upgrade