Canada East (family).

 

Holy nightmare fuel, Batman!

 

Well I opened (Boxing day) Crankcase, and boy oh boy are his knees super loose. Also annoyingly the spare leg inserts I had for Crosscut and Skids don't fit due to the remolded rear of the car... so I'll have to file them down to fit or buy another set specificly made for him.

I also opened Gi Joe Classified Lady Jaye, I found her accessories momentarily mystifying until I figured out it's a spear gun in 3 bits. I really like her one of the best so far out of the ones I got. She's not a gorgeous as Movie Scarlett but she's nice looking in her own girl next door kinda way.

 

Is it the original or the newer Retro version?

I have the original and am trying to decide if I want the Retro one as its cheap in a few places

 

Spot on! It was from the hotel lobby - the only pic I had without my kids in it!

Took one actually with a toy today:

Not taken a pic that does it justice, but I'm realising the beautiful bright red sunsets here are the entire aesthetic I'm obsessed with in my pics.

 

Thanksgiving Prime that changes into a Turkey.

Can reuse the mould for another Christmas Prime. This is practically printing money for you Hasbro.

I broke out CW Menasor (to compare to Legacy) and he's really not as bad as I remember/people make out. Amusingly the CW limbs can be used on Legacy's leg connectors, but the CW ratchets are a bit too weak so he falls over backward all the time. Annoyingly you can't use Legacy connectors with CW Menasor... that weird little tab seems like a deliberate choice to prevent this. Boo hiss Hasbro.

Gives him stumpy legs too.

Hope you all had a great Christmas.

 

Best thing about the latest one is the camera and the 80s vibrant green.

 

Well i just cant decide if I want Classified to be 6" versions of the original toys or modernized versions.

The Lady Jaye mounted Go-Pro vs handheld camera is the perfect example

 

Happy boxing day folks!! Hope santa was good all around.

No bots for Xmas myself, but a good day. Currently spawled on the carpet with the youngest while he smashes linkimals about. Endless fun.

 

New micromaster moulds are unlikely in general. They didn't seem well in the first place and their time has passed Hasbro aren't going to want to put any more money into them than necessary.

I was surprised with the late announcement for Boat Fella and Mister Ambulance with Deathsaurus, but there's a strong chance that a lot of the development of those had already been done around Earthrise time and they had been dropped, only to be brought back as a bonus.

Jolt would work as a Blazemaster redeco, but micromasters were cancelled before Blazemaster even happened. We'll have to wait and see. I certainly hope there'll be some minicons this year, but there definitely won't be any at general retail.

 

I’ve been a bit down on toys in recent weeks but putting Menasor together has brought me back. 2021 Primacron was against having multiple versions of the same character, but 2022 Primacron decided that Menasor counts as a different character.

Not too bothered about Breakdown. Weirdly I think the white makes him seem skinnier than Wildrider which reminded me of the FP version a bit.

Menasor looks great!

 

Props have those Judge Dredd figures restocked in some cases, Dredd himself and Death for instance.

 

The only Thanksgiving Turkey that comes back after is the one the President Pardons tho, innit?

My pet theory is they were worked with alongside Deathsaurus, as they have seemingly dropped the combined weapon mode, and those actual designs are dead on for the more Chibi/slightly SD'ed Victory show designs, Boater in particular had his/her/their boat mode redesigned as more a small coastal rescue lifeboat for the character model instead of Seawatch's more beefed-up Hydrofoil, over the Siege Micromaster Aesthetic which was more stoic/heroic looking characters.

Speaking of said personal problematic fave TF of 2022...

The Current State Of Theoretician

Whilst checking out a G1 Skids gallery (to double-check I was right that the bicep tech details from the set were pure invention, and help decide whether to leave them off or not, and confirm I was right that the G1 had a black rear bumper) I was reminded that OG1 toy Skids actually had blacked-out "drug dealer windows" on his rear sides (which also explained why my brain was niggled by the Toyhax options for the rear windows seeming "too bright")!
This was, of course, too gloriously daft a detail on a City Nipper for me to not do on Legacy Skids, so off came the rear window decals, and on went the black paint (straight black, to have some differentiation from the metal black I used for the bumper due to the stock front bumper being very close to metal black).
I didn't like the offset numberplate option shown in the sticker set's gallery, so I'm risking more central on an intermittent surface for accurate IRL homage placement, and I couldn't resist homaging the red-edged black faux number plates of the OG1 at the back where there was juuuuuust enough of a lip ridge around the license plate area to pull off a metallic red trim.
Read window decals got Sharpie'd to a deeper blue shade as well, not perfectly even but I'm calling that "weathering"!  
I'm having a bit of a break before I come back to painting the taillights, I would have run with the set's rear lights but there's that little bit of rounded corner they wouldn't cover that deserves acknowledgment.


Besides the taillights just his Nitrogen Rifle & Secret weapon to dye black and overpaint silver to go!
Luvverly Jubberly!

 

https://twitter.com/ROTBTrailer/status/1607240105931964416?t=C7RGehssgFytem9roEICzg&s=19

 

I have both 15cm Lady Jaye, there isn't a lot of difference in price really. I was talking about the one showing her hair in the muted deco though, for me she's a better match for The Classified Falcon and the other boys dressed in muted green.

I wonder what other Python Patrol they will do. or if they will just do "alt deco" Alley Vipers in Blue look pretty great. It is a shame they don't make 6" scale vehicles though as I'd love to see them have a crack at something like a RAGE without having to charge a small fortune for them. it is really only a 25 to 33% size increase they need after all. Smaller vehicles should be possible.

Some of the 1990's vehicles were quite compact and might work well upscaled. Even an AWE Striker would be nice, especially with rubber like tires. so long as the materials are strong enough to not have it tear itself to pieces.

I really don't need every vehicle to be $300+ though, I'm glad they are doing a 'Trouble Bubble' in 2023, maybe they can do a CLAWS or a Ferret as well.

One thing I don't like though it them charging you a premium to army build that is flipping annoying.

 

Ahhhh, back to normal on Boxing Day. Open my inbox to find a payment request from Bombusbee for the Hellboy mech I preordered fucking months ago. Two weeks to pay, but over three weeks to payday. Effing typical.

 

Damn fine paintwork sir.

Also you are not alone. I very much love skids! Not sure if he's top ten this year, but he'd be in contention

 

That's a good looking Skids

 

Loving Skids of all flavours.

 

So I didn’t get to any bots this Christmas as holy crap it’s been a week, but it’s great to see all the awesome Christmas Haul(er)s and as escapism from a myriad of annoyances I’m hoping I got some cash in some cards, so more Bots are possible. I snapped up Fangry via the awesome @Siege Fan and his upgrade kit is joining Menasors cyclone cannon in kicking off 2023 hopefully, I’ve a hankering for some RID Bisk and a few other fandoms that just seem like fun…