Red Alert has arrived from IDT, he sure looks good, even with his unfortunate belly gap - but now I need new 3rd party replacement weapons - the gun and launcher I got for Siege Red Alert are the wrong shade of red and don't match.

Hopefully someone is also working on a spoiler to take advantage of those gaps in the back of the legs

 

And @Brooticus @LorDZeeD @fwestivus

I think Rodimus is great value. Even at £94 which is the new Smyths rrp. At £75 he's a bargain.

When you compare what you get with other genres of collectables he's brilliant, especially compared to the static figurines in some of the other Japanese genre themes.

Now whether he is affordable is a different debate.

Transformers have been hit very hard by the very rapid supply chain rises over the last couple of years. They are pretty complicated figures so that's understandable and this has effected these more than action figures or dolls.

Unfortunately profits require the same scaled growth so aligned to brand strength, they haven't had to accommodate increased costs in their margins. If transformers were struggling for market share and position then I imagine they would have been more price sensitive.

Lego price rises are equally rapid.

 

So, I need to buy Selects Hotshot now?

Blargh.

The heat has well and truly done mi brane in today.

 

That's a really good point! Many of us, (myself included) will whinge when a figure doesn't represent good value for money for us, but will happily spent an extra 20 quid to upgrade a Voyager.

We are such imperfect and irrational beings.

 

Is he still available?

 

I'm still fond of Potp roddy, my head cannon is he's Rodimus' power master form, just like prime  

Your perfect just the way you are  

It is true though. I think of the amount of money I was happy to throw at upgrades for cw magnus, legends ginrai and even Potp roddy - and it made me realise it wasn't much of a stretch to pay the commander price for kingdom Rodney.

 

Few things look cute at 5am particularly after continued lack of sleep but Rebecca ferret snuggling next to a frozen water bottle and resting her head on it with a content look on her face managed it  

Recieved a package from Amazon this morning with the complete series 1 & 2 of "Man Down" starring Greg Davies which I've been meaning to see for ages as his father in the first series was played by Rik Mayall.

 

Do ferrets and cats get on out of interest?

 

Love this idea, I really would love to see more Decepticon stories. Not like the Drift mini-series but actually a Decepticon, just going on an adventure, being challenged with both good / bad morals, what it means to be a decepticon, hating the autobot code, but also finding the spark in themselves.

Think this is why the Scavengers from MTMTE were so great to me, and in fact Roberts writing in general the way he wrote Megatron and Ravage for example.

 

I see the odd one on eBay from China.

Absolute comedy gold.

 

It's a good day for red and white emergency vehicle robots. Luna Park finally delivered on Ratchet (Centurion Drone is missing because I ordered the full set, taking that up with them) and he had to get immediately Toyhaxed to break up all that white.. I think I might paint his helmet comic colours eventually. And then half an hour later, Red Alert showed up after being misrouted and going around the houses for two days.

 

I can’t remember if the Christmas Special is on the DVD but if it is, prepare to dissolve laughing at ‘The 12 Scares Of Christmas ‘

 

Yes!

Obviously it depends on the individual animals but in general they appear to tolerate each other's presence, same applies with dogs at least if the evidence given via many YouTube videos is any indication.

I have also seen ferrets and raccoons getting along which is very bad news for humanity if they organise in enough numbers  

@Ottertron,
I just checked and the Christmas Special is on there so I'll brace myself for some serious chuckles  

 

It's possible you have the wrong franchise if that's what you're after.

Speaking of which, I went back to that the other day to try and get it finished. I stepped away for a long time because the multiple parallel threads in the third act were getting tiresome to write - especially the bits with Spike and Daniel. Dialogue is much more interesting to write than long action scenes. But I'm back on my bullshit now by leaving the Spike/Daniel stuff for the time being and concentrating on the fun bits between Hot Rod and Galvatron.

Anyway, the midpoint of the script has Hot Rod getting a matrix-vision where he talks to Optimus Prime. It's basically the fulcrum point of the piece, and it allows Hot Rod to address his guilt at being involved in Optimus's death. It goes a little something like this:

Spoiler: Back on my bullshit

CUT TO:
EXT: A wide plateau of rusted metal, surrounded by golden stars in a black sky.

This time the vision does not disappear, and HOT ROD stands up to take in his surroundings. The cave is gone, along with WHEELIE, SCOURGE and the Matrix. The plateau is completely barren save for a lone figure in the distance.

HOT ROD:
Um. Hello?

He spots the figure, and walks towards him. As he approaches, it becomes clear that it is none other than OPTIMUS PRIME, staring up at the stars.

OPTIMUS:
Beautiful, aren’t they? Each one shines like the life of someone we have known, or lost. But still they shine on.

HOT ROD:
O-Optimus? You’re… you’re back! I don’t believe it!

OPTIMUS turns to face HOT ROD. He might be smiling, but it’s hard to tell under that faceplate.

OPTIMUS:
Optimus Prime has died, as all living things eventually do. And his spirit has rejoined the Matrix to exist in peace.

HOT ROD:
Then... what am I talking to? And what is this place?

OPTIMUS:
I do not know what you are seeing. Whenever anyone makes contact with the Matrix as you have done, the experience is always different, and personal. If you see Optimus Prime, then perhaps that is who you most wish to see.

HOT ROD:
Optimus, so much has happened already. Things have gotten so bad… I-I don’t know where to begin! A monster planet, Decepticons attacking, the Matrix lost… we really need you back right now.

OPTIMUS:
So long as we remember them, remember them as they were, the dead are never truly gone. They live on in our memories and in our hearts. And we can still learn from their past deeds, both good… and bad.

HOT ROD:
I don’t understand.

OPTIMUS:
Courage, wisdom, compassion. These are the three greatest virtues of a leader. When I was alive, it was my greatest privilege to see these virtues every day in the Autobots I led. Courage in battle, wisdom to know when to avoid it, and compassion to strive for a better world where battle is no longer necessary.

HOT ROD:
I don’t know if I have any of those things. I let you down. You were hurt because of me.

OPTIMUS:
You do yourself a disservice, Hot Rod, and there is nothing I need forgive you for. As for yourself, look to your friends and allies for inspiration, as they already look to you.

As OPTIMUS continues to speak, we briefly see images behind him of WHEELIE, KUP and ARCEE respectively.

HOT ROD:
I… I’ll try.

Seconded. Honestly, as a flying car she can't be that much of a difficult retool. Just slap some wings and some hips on some other car former and be done.

What's the alt mode like? I've always been wary of legends-scale, because while the robot modes tend to be ace, there's a real pot luck with alt modes.

From what I've seen the most common form of the maskless seems to be red-faced white men with shaved heads. Funny thing, that.

Agreed on all of these. The bot is leader-class engineering crammed into a voyager-size bot at the very least, possibly more than leader, in the same way as SS Hot Rod was voyager-class engineering in a deluxe-size bot. And to me, the alt mode and the trailer are super-exciting. I've got a deep-seated love of large vehicles that can carry small vehicles inside them, so doing that with Rodneymus is fantastic. Plus there's all those 5mm sockets on the inside, as well as flaps and drawers to help tidy away spare guns, accessories and blast effects. He's the tidiest of the Primes!

(I bet Sentinel Prime was super untidy)

Oh look, it me.

 

Weeeeeeee!

  Ok, the Vok. Or one of the weird cosmic horrors from the Japanese side of Transformers, or something  

Oooh I like that!

Yeah... I had wondered about trying to make her out of the Siege Prowl mold but one of the biggest hurdles with her is she's pretty short and squat in robot mode so trickier to find a bot with the right proportions.

 

You truly don’t realise how much you own until it’s time to pack them away for transport/storage. Converting every figure I own into the safest alt mode for moving is such a chore. At least I’m able to tally off what gaps are now filled and still need to be filled. As for the Minibots, just need Pipes. Buzzworthy Bee is standing in for Bumblejumper/Bumper until we get an official one. I’d like an update for Powerglide though he’s minuscule even by Minibot standards.

I’m likely to be cutting what I have so just to test the waters, who would be interested in the following?

Siege Mirage - £20
Siege Smokescreen - £23
Siege Prowl - £20
Siege Bluestreak - £20

Depending on if I decide to swap out my Siege lambros for the Kingdom mold when Red Alert shows up, I might be selling:

Siege Sideswipe - £20

Siege Red Alert -£20 (slightly customised, just had pieces swapped around between the repaints)

If not, then I’ll have Kingdom Red Alert going. Need to double check which stock I ordered from at IDT since I think they changed the price after the first lot went?

More to likely come.  

 

We need to get this man blitzed at the next tfn so he spills all the beans on Upcoming releases.

Remember not to tell him!

Lol

 

Are you kidding? I can barely afford one drink there, let alone that many.

 

I have a new/old bot, had a Hasbro silver X-Brawn back when the line was out and had fond memories of the toy, didn’t want to full on replace so ultimately upgraded to the Takara Car Robots Super Wild Ride



and looking at the Hasbro version, yeah, I made the right choice, especially since mine’s accessories were still inside a sealed bag!

 

A mate found a way to <ahem> share Beast Wars season one with me. Megs is the absolute tits!