Now worries, I left something out of the last thing i sold

 

It was the alien head that gave it away to me  

 

Aw yeah, I'm straight on that! Expensive month. I just spent £95 on tickets for Gorgio Moroder next April.

Ah yeah! Glad to see this lad in progress.

Check these cunts out!



Turbo is such an iconic design classic. I love 'im. Got a gun for Tank coming in the post too.

And the final PotP ramble!

“Fine. You deal with my Autobot counterpart. I’ve heard he’s nearby. Real nearby”

A great character concept that never gets much of a look in in the fiction. Some incoming TF writer -be they in animation or the comics- has a great opportunity to do something interesting with this guy.

Much like the Clones, Punch/Counterpunch got a single memorable scene in ‘The Rebirth’ and then was pretty much lost to the annals of history. It was a damn fine scene and tickled my childhood imagination. A spy risking everything, including his sanity? like I say, it’s a great character concept…if you don’t think about it for too long. I mean, they both share the same alt mode. I know, don’t bother you with details. Punch/Counterpunch rules.

I’ll start with his car mode, as that’s kind of a nice neutral place to start.

It’s actually weird to see such a contemporary earth vehicle in the ’87 line up. Other than the Throttlebots, who were always a bit of a law unto themselves, everything else had an alt mode that didn’t need to worry too much about being faithful to any existing vehicle. It’s kind of nice to see something that doffs it’s cap to the old days of ’84/’85. Admitedly it’s a lot more kidifed than Jazz, Sideswipe, or even any of the Stunticon limb car modes, but I’m a sucker for a Pontiac.

Of the two ‘bots, Counterpunch (pssst, he’s the Decepticon) is probably the star of the show. He’s tall, imposing, has the cool 80’s shoulderpads, and a nice moody dark colourscheme. The headsculpt is maybe a wee bit weird and those arms are a bit spindly, but the overall effect is really, really nice.

It’s when you go from one ‘bot mode to the other that the party really starts. There’s two ways of transforming him, depending on your preference; you can just move the shoulders round, fold the other set of arms out and flip the helmet OR you can bend the knee down and flip out some feet and have a much shorter Autobot Punch. As one of those guys that likes the idea that the Decepticons are generally taller than the Autobots I’m a sucker for the latter method. I also like anything that makes the difference between the two bots more dramatic.

I kind of wish they’d not given him a faceplate in Punch mode. Despite Prime’s iconic faceplate, I always think of the faceplate as being more of a Decepticon thing. Blame Soundwave and the ‘Con insignia. Otherwise, I really like Punch. He’s simple and stout but I’m kind of into that. And a nice big splash of mustard yellow on his chest really livens him up.

I was kind of amazed when I saw that Power of the Primes Punch/Counterpunch was an all new mold. I was genuinely expecting him to be a redo of PotP Jazz (I mean, what is going on with that being a single use mold?). It was a welcome surprise and it definitely looked very promising. These ‘special editions’ just kept on pleasantly surprising me.

For me, when the Prime wars Trilogy stuff has worked best is when it’s stayed true to the G1 designs whilst giving us a poseable, dynamic figure of the kind we could onyl dream of as a kid. I know many people prefer the early days of ‘Classics’ and ‘Universe’ where we got things like Perceptor with a van mode, but I’ve always found those sorts of updates a little dissonant.

All of which to say, Punch/Counterpunch nails the G1 style.

Because I’m a whore for symetry I’ll start with Punch. My eyes always seem drawn to this lad’s chest. Not in a dirty way. It’s so weird but this the point where the PotP best invokes the original. The original had a very distinctive chest design and the current design time have elaborated on it, without losing it;s essence. Funny wee detail to pick up on, but an indicative one. And then there’s that beautiful, elegant headsculpt. He’s really a stunner. Optimus handsome.

A weird complaint I have about Punch is that he’s too tall. Or rather he’s disporoprtionate. He’s got short arms and massive lower legs. When I first saw pictures of Punch I imagined there to be a way of rolling the knees round so they’d click into the lower legs and give the option to make the Autobot smaller than the Decepticon, in much the way the original allowed you to. Wishful thinking on my part.

Oddly enough Counterpunch seems to manage these proportions so much better. Sure the arms are still too short and he’s a leggy number, but through some amazing sleight of hand (possibly the big shoulder pads) he manages to look…a bit righter.

And while Punch is – as I say – Optimus Handsome, Counterpunch is Soundwave sinsiter. That evil looking dash of solid red that sits under his visor gives him that cylon vibe and the down turned mouthplate gives a big dolop of contemptuous character. It’s a fine piece of work. I love the ‘fake’ roof chest and the shoulder pads, which are so much more imposing that the original.

But what i love most is the eleegance of changing from one bot to another. I’m delighted they kept the simple ‘flip it the other way’ helmet while giving us a much nicer way of changing the arms. Just a wee flip of the hands, it spins round from the forearm and blue hand turns to red hand turns to blue hand. Wicked. And if you hate simplicty then you can have a little fiddle with the shoulders.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wish they’d kept the pontiac as the model for the vehicle mode, but there’s got to be a line in the sand as far as indulging old twats like me, and that’s a good one to draw. The vehicle mode is a classy affair, with lovely clear plastic windows and plenty of paint detail (painted rims! What an indulgence!). I thought this was going to be a total pain to transform, but I was really pretty pelased with the ways the ‘real roof’ folds out from the legs and folds over the chest. Real fucking clever.

When I saw those first pictures of Counterpunch I was confident that I was seeing some sort of ‘pre-tool’ of Pointblank, and maybe even Nightbeat in Punch, but in hand I’m not so sure. I’m not sure I can completely atriculate it. Maybe the parts count is too high for a regular deluxe, maybe he just feels too lithe for the more jock like Pointblank. Maybe, once the thought becomes clearer, I’ll go back and amend this review so it looked like I was more incisive (and, perhaps more curcially, totally right first time).

 

I've a few I'd be happy to part with - after anyone in particular?

Nice!! and excited to see you are working on Bugly next!

Good luck with the move dude.
m
Kudos to the good folk at Kapow! I've been more that pleasantly surprized at the pricing for the Siege stuff and now the price on Big Powered is more reasonable than I'd expected. Couldn't not sling a wee deposit down on it.

I'll have to be more stringent with my bot-buying from now on. The wife and I are expecting a baby in March! So it'll be bottle sterilisers, nappies and the like I'll be spending most of my dosh on   We're off to get one of those creepy '4d' scans tomorrow - and hopefully we will find out if it's a boy or a girl. Regardless of gender, it'll have to contend with Papa B trying to foster love for transforming robots.



That is from the last scan. Doesn't it look like the wee'un is wearing a Halloween mask or something?

Anyway - seems like there are listings for Barricade in the Siege line. Prowl repaint, or mislabelled Studio Series figure?

 

Massive congrats Brian! That is lovely news. When you're getting the scan done, don't forget to ask if it's Autobot or Decepticon. Seriously though, made up for you man!

 

Welcome to the club, congratulations

Your life will never be the same!

 

Autobrat or Deceptikid! Cheers guys! I always expected I'd be shitting myself at the prospect, but so far I've been just really excited!

I expect the terror will set in first time I have to change a shitty nappy.

 

Huge congrats to the both of you  

 

Cheers dude!

 

Congratulations!  

 

@MyTea Boc - massive congrats - shall drop you a DM ref the Action Masters

 

Cheers folks  

 

The Disease is in me! As is easily guessable by one of the other Lego cart contents blatantly showing the nascent possibility of yet another shell mod (fairly guessable from a single item in it's case) even though I'm running out of Primes to bung in 'em! (Good Job there are those Special Eds?) It's just a matter of do I cave sooner or wait in the hope that Kapow have a clearout on the last wave of fellas. I also have a neat idea what to do with an extra Landmine but his Wave Hi'ed then Died so I dunno if I want to go to the extra effort/expense to do that. I guess I'm just not ready to let go of the little guys yet, even though I'm so looking forward to siege!

AW! Congratulations and Bestest of Wishes to you and the Missus Boc! That's one way to ensure a renewed hobby fanbase!  

Going back to my illness:

REUNITED... ♪ ♫ ♬ and it feeeeels so gooood... ♪ ♫ ♬

Amalgamous is suited and booted as Waverider, he's just waiting for his mail-order melee sidearm!

Trying my bestest to show off the tiny wee sliver I glued in place to give him his wee rebreather mask bit (yes, what a surprise, Mister Pernickerty couldn't let having the exact same visor silhouette lie).
This Waverider might be a little scruffy and not-quite-factory finish round the edges but he is mine!
Plus I'm quite chuffed about how my attempt to keep some character dec in gun mode worked out.

Ship-shape indeed, me Lubbers!

 

@MyTea Boc - huge congrats to you and yours.

 

Congrats @MyTea Boc! Shitty nappies are indeed the bane of existance...

Shameless plug, I am having a clearout! I have listed a bunch of stuff on eBay so please, check it out.

tikgnat | eBay

There's stuff from Transformers, Centurions, Thundercats, G.I.Joe plus whatever else. And for you fine gentlemen if you want anything PM me and I'll unlist the item and knock 20% off the starting price!

Buy my stuff, you know you want to.

 

before I forget: congrats, a new life is always reason to celebrate! (brace for impact!  )

and here's Furman's last addition to Earth Wars storyline

also, and if anyone has time, during my last stream (reading out of infestation)
I ... did that thing where you watch a (music) video clip and instead of singing the song u sing what you see... well I wasn't singing...
its NOT slapstick commedy, but its funny.. at times... it takes a sec to kick inn... anyways :
the question: does anyone have any suggestions on what title to give the video
or any advice (if its funny or not, should i just take it down?)

have a nice day ya'll

 

Congratulations mate!

 

I for one enjoy your disease! Not an easy enough guess for me, my brain is already in weekend mode - but - Iganus?

Thanks everyone!!

 

Massive congrats @MyTea Boc !!

 

Not a bad weekend brain guess, Brian, big lizard heed for a big lizard heed it is indeed! Not sure about what body to nab for the head yet, gonna compare & contrast with the lads I have in hand and ponder it.