Thrilling 30 Rhinox is a great figure. He deals with beast kibble fairly well and is decently sized in bot mode, he should scale nicely with the kingdom lads.

 

FYI, Chapses...

 

If that Shockwave is less than a tenner, I’ll be having it! So long as it actually gets imported...

 

Can confirm that Smyths list one less than they have in store. Got lucky this morning from Sheffield and picked up Bumblebee from retail.


done until new year with Ironhide and Soundwave w Optimus coming from ID

also completed Teletraan

 

Ooh, end of lockdown feels!

 

Bumblebees out again?

Hope is all we've got where Thunderclash is concerned!

 

Hey folks! I have some new vids...

Keeping busy, you know! Grapple won't be live until 8pm tonight.  

 

Ooooh! KREO making a come back? That could be cool. I don't think I ever saw those in the UK

 

How could this not be my favorite game this year.

 

Wouldn't PotP Optimus Prime be a better mold for Thunderclash? Orion Pax already has a similar chest to Thunderclash, and you can retool the trailer armour to form Hyperdrive.  

 

It has been a superb distraction - possibly THE highlight of my 8 year old's year too! I do feel slightly annoyed some of the animals in the aquarium don't have very much space though, I don't think it sends a good message...

 

So sick! How do you export screenshots from the Switch?

 

Good morning All.

So do Smyths now have stock for Netflix Bee et al?

 

Guide: How To Transfer Screenshots And Videos From Switch To A Smartphone, PC Or Mac

 

Fat Arse Megatron is the CHUG Megatron we didn't know we were all dying for.

Oh, Brian. Why do you always have to be so good.

Selfishly, I'm a little relieved. If it had been Thrust at a decent price and I've created some conflict, and potentially some admin faff in cancelling an order elsewhere. I am, of course, sympathetic to anyone else who was hoping it would be Thrust. Fingers crossed he does become available (after mine's been shipped and I won't have to deal with any angst).

I support this.

In the far flung future of 2006, anything is an earthmode.

So, howsabout all that Kingdom wave 2 stuff? I am surprised how happy Inferno coming with two little plastic molded hoses makes me. But this was the guy that thought TR Broadside was the shit because he came with little plastic Aerialbots. Airrazor and Dinobot look awesome in robot modes and wonky as fuck in beastmodes. I appreciate all the effort that's gone into them, especially what appears top be a tiny articulated jaw on Arrazor, but the finished article doesn't work to my eye. Magnus is all wrong to my eye. I knew he was going to be a pass for me from the first hint he was coming, but yow! That pass became a hard pass whilst simulataneously becoming an easy pass. Like sucking and blowing at the same time, if I may reference B.Simpson.

BATTLECHARGER TIME!!!


I can’t separate these two out. Like Tweedledee and Tweedledum, or -to be more on the nose- Beavis and Butthead, these guys live and die as a double act. I mean, do they even have distinct personalities? Would it matter if they did?

I was first introduced to this pair of endearing goofballs in the first weeks of January 1987, when the UK comics ran ‘Decepticon Graffiti’, a story which the distorted lens of collective memory has done a lot of favours for. Truth be told, it’s a pretty turgid little tale that spends more time with the dull Donny Finkleberg, Circuit Breaker, R.A.A.T. storyline than it does anything else. However, when it does let our two Battlechargers take the stage they waste no time in dominating the story. Throughout this they are a complete joy. Their sheer delight in every bit of diabolic mischief is infectious, as they go about defacing as many American landmarks as they can with illegible graffiti, constantly wondering why the dumb humans aren’t appreciating the joke. Only when they realise that the humans can’t read Cybertronian is the punchline finally delivered; their scathing wit that they’ve boasted about throughout the issue, yukking it up like Beavis and Butthead along the way, is shown to be of the level of ‘Humans are wimps’. It’s a good gag.

Then Circuitbreaker zaps them in the fucking absurd big robot cobbled together out of bits of the Cybertron Seven. and we go back to the dull stuff. Yay.

While I don’t remember my first words upon seeing my friend’s Battlechargers for the first time, I ‘m pretty sure they amounted to ‘ick’. There can be no pussy footing around here. These two toys SUCK. And SUCK hard. Ok, obviously we’ve seen this sort of compromised design before, with the Jumpstarters. Two bots who were so much more basic in construction than their contemporaries. But again, let’s not pussy foot around; The Jumpstarters had arms and legs. This pair have got the cheapest possible excuse for limbs. I have ALWAYS, to this very day, found this offensively bad. These two may actually be my least favourite G1 toys.

Which is frustrating, because if you stuck with the basic conceptual design of these two and just never bothered with the shit gimmick, you’d have a pair of classic Decepticon Carbots. One can imagine al alternative history where these two followed the basic design layout of yer Sunstreaker or Wheeljack, with a roof chest and ‘front of car’ feet. The basic design of the their head’s really works and makes them feel like low level ‘con infantry. Even their car modes had the opportunity to be incredibly cool. A fucking Trans Am and a Lotus Esprit? Come on! And the complimentary colour schemes are to die for.

It’s so frustrating. Never has the potential of some incredibly cool Transformers been squandered by sticking a shite gimmick on it. An, once again, let’s not pussy foot around. This is a franchise that has squandered many a cool design through forcing a gimmick on it. Nothing speaks to the evil of the gimmickformer than these two Battlechargers. Weep for them!

So you can imagine how excited I was when Runamuck won the 2019 fan-vote (not very. I voted for Needlenose). At last we were going to get a mainline version of the Battlechargers, free of poor design choices and done properly in such a way as to celebrate the best aspects of both cartoon and toy, right?

A fucking fake vestigial wheel hanging off the back of their heel? Fuck’s sake, man.

Sometimes, when it comes to making a decision about which aspects of an animation model to stay true and which to steer clear of, it feels like Warden and co. make the wrong decisions. Was anyone really demanding that the Battlechargers come with all four wheels on their feet? Ok, anyone sound of mind? Also, did they really go with excruciatingly bland cartoon deco and miss off that lovely dash of orange behind Runamuck’s head? For shame.

And of course there’s another niggle have to address before I actually talk about the qualities of the figures. It is deeply annoying that you can get one of these guys at retail and the other is a Target exclusive. Doubly annoying if you live in a country without a Target (Hi!). I’m fuming and I’m one of the lucky ones that actually managed to get Runabout. Do better, Hasbro.

In hand the pair of them certainly look the part. The bot mode is a solid little carbot, and I certainly appreciate having a Decepticon carbot. There’s certainly care and attention gone into this. The headsculpt on both faces is beautiful, particularly the almost feline shape of the eyes. I am glad that they’ve done the decent thing and given them both different ‘helmets’. It’s the least you could do!

Dynamic and poseable though they both are they could have done with a little better articulation. Like Sunstreaker there’s a lack of clearance around the shoulder, and I do feel the absence of the ankle tilt. Also, a fake roof chest is always going to bug me.

The transformation is pretty smooth despite the number of problems it has to solve, but it’s hard to love it when the end result produces such a panel-ladden mess. This is one of the messiest car modes I’ve seen in quite some time. It’s got so many cracks in the vehicle surface that I can barely focus on the car. Not good.

And it’s so frustrating, as there’s so much loving detail put into this car, not least of which being the clear red plastic on Runabout’s windows. The detail on the rear is to die for (I’ve heard that before) and I love that they’ve taken the time to put in the window wipers. Also, I find it utterly infuriating that they’ve put in the gold detail on Runamuck, you know…the gold detail that’s on the toy and not the animation model. You couldn’t have just put in a little orange behind his head? And naturally, I find it somewhat annoying that Runabout comes with an extra gun that Runabout doesn’t. So much for symmetry!

Ultimately, I feel like I’m going to have to put these two in my ‘conflicted’ pile. I’m genuinely delighted to have the pair of them. Sure, maybe I’d have liked Needlenose more, but I certainly don’t resent these two for robbing him of his chance. But having these two together is a total buzz. I just wish they were better figures.

 

I need to check that out, I didn't noticed that much of a space issue -which would be annoying for sure.
Also yes, as much as I have played incredible games from this year (Hades, Noita, Ori 2, Spelunky 2, Streets of Rage 4, Inmost, Paradise Killer, Doom Eternal, Half Life Alyx, Carrion, Alwa's Legacy, Shantae, Spirit Farer, Neon Abyss, Scourge Bringer, Panzer Paladin, or even the Paper Mario that I did enjoy very much despite all claims, or Trial of Mana remake which was way better than it should have), AC overall wins my heart the most. Of course the incredible timing with the immense help it procured with the pandemic but just saying that would be selling the game way too short. It just feels so good. And I for one applause the decision to delayed various events during the year and not everything right of the start.
Could you believe I feel nostalgic of march april 2020 when I hear some tracks from the OST ? Nuts.

Thanks! I simply publish them on Twitter then dowload them from there.

 

Most have probably had it for a while over your Lockdown but you won't be able to tell from the Stock Tracker as there will only be 1 of each and so it wont show up online

 

Absolutely love the robot mode, absolutely like the transformation, absolutely meeeeeeeeeeeeeeh the car mode. Yep.

Also a crazy reminder that those two were on the very first page of the very first issue of IDW (along my beloved Ratchet).



And, if we ignore Starscream's mouth (yeah that's hard I know), Ironhide flipped head and reversed Starscream on a screen, those two were the first TF in robot mode we saw in that universe.

Quite the feats.

 

Thanks. Looks like I will be going for a quick visit to the local Smyths in my lunch break.

 

It's more that we are able to access the rest of the case contents, Smyths list one less online than they do have in store so if someone walks in and sees they have one in stock online they won't be disappointed if they go in