I picked these up at Toys R Us a few weeks ago, and decided to take some snapy snaps. First up are these two magnetic figures of Iron Man and War Machine. They stand around 6″ tall and have 4 magnetic joints, one for each shoulder, one in the waist and one in the neck. I wish I had magnetic shoulders.

The lolly-pop guild gets serious.

The armor comes off to reveal this very Terminator-ish skeleton underneath.

The range of movement is actually pretty good.

There is a soft PVC band around the shoulder, it helps the magnetic joints stay tight.

Hey, you isn’t Robert D. Jr.

Take it apart again and again, this toy teaches you the joys of dismemberment.

War Machine. He has stuff! Just like in the movie!

W.M. includes his big-ol-gatling-gun, and his shoulder launcher full of ineffective “Hammer-brand” munitions.

A very good sculpt of Don Cheadle.

Yes, Mega Bloks spares no expense when it comes to cutting corners.

“THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!“

These little wastes of time and money sure are fun.

Ok, now for the big guy. This is Mega blok’s mega-sized Iron Man buildy figure. This thing is almost 12″ tall, and by almost I mean 10″ tall. But it still feels big in the dark……

Nice claws.

This figure has TONS of articulation.

The chest opens to reveal that Tony Stark has no heart after all.

All the armor is removable.  Sadly the face place doesn’t flip up like the smaller ones.

While the big figure is cool, the little magnetic one is the better of the two. Buy him, love him, and one day set him free so he can case women and drink booze. We love you little Tony Stark.

-Tom.B

Not sure why they chose Blaster and Shockwave for their next WST’s but I’m glad they did. The Dinorobots were made larger than Takara’s original WST lineup, I guess it was to simulate how the Dinobots were bigger than the rest of the Autobots. Blaster and Shockwave however, are now made in scale with the original WST, so as you can imagine they are tiny little toys.

I love how sharp and crisp all the detailing is on these little guys. 

I mean little guys.

The Boom Box handle bends inward, but at this size it’s forgivable.

WST Blaster actually comes with a WST Steel Jaw.

Blaster and his nemesis, Soundwave.

You need to be careful when transforming Blaster, his arms pop off if you use to much force. The tiny gun is perfect.

G1 Blaster was a much larger toy than G1 Soundwave, but Just-i-toys has corrected that. They’re now a perfect complement for each other.

Just to give you an idea as to how small Ravage and Steel Jaw are.5 out of 5 starsToy crack: 5 – A must get for any Blaster or WST fan.

4 out of 5 starsOverall: 4 - It’s a great little toy. The arms come off a little easily but look how small those ball joints are. To be honest it’s a very impressive feat of toy engineering.

-Shockwave-

Shockwave is more impressive than Blaster. What with the transparent parts, and a spring-loaded pop-up head gimmick. The tube running into the barrel is made of a very soft and flexible material.

And yes, he’s just as tiny.

Ahh the evil Decepticon guns. Perfect complements.

The arms have tiny ball joints at the shoulders, and even tinier ball joints in the elbows. Oh, and the outer hales of his legs are die-cast.

Just-i-toys WST’s are more accurate scaled down renditions of the G1 toys. But in Takara’s defense, their WST were like $3 dollar toys, and it didn’t take them 2 years to produce 2 figures.

I hear Astro-train, Six-shot and Blitzwing will be the next WST figures that Just-i-toys makes. I’m not going to hold my breath though. If Just-i-toys has one major flaw, it’s that they can’t deliver anything on time. 5 out of 5 starsToy crack: 5 – This toy is the very embodiment of toy crack.

4.5 out of 5 starsOverall: 4.5 - The only thing that would make the toy rock harder would be if it lit up when you pulled the trigger (but the trigger actually doesn’t move).

I remember when Just-i-toys announced these new WST, they actually implied that Sun Streaker was going to be made as well. But Sun Streaker didn’t happen, much to my disappointment. So I’m not going to get to excited over the WST triple-changers and Six-shot, not until I see some prototypes. Seriously though, great job Just-i-toys.  If you keep making ‘em like this take all the time you need.

-Tom B.

Hasbro already has an extensive line of 3 inch IronMan 2 figures, but if you find those to be too small, try these instead. The IronMan MK. VI and WarMachine figures are Walmart exclusives, but they should be easy enough to find. They retail around $11.99 per figure. That’s half the price of the FUGLY Marvel Select  IronMan 2 figures.

Each figure come with interchangeable hands molded in various poses.

WarMachine’s bullet ribbon is made of a soft flexible material. The chain gun can also pivot on a ball joint and slide from shoulder to shoulder.

To make things better, WarMachine also comes with a shoulder rocket launcher (right shoulder only, must be pegged on). All the MK. VI gets is a crummy spring loaded launcher (looks like it was just scaled up from the 3in figure).

Both these figures rock! The proportions are right on the money, the poseability is great, they look better than the Marvel Select line, and they are cheaper than Hot toys 12in figure (which rock to no end).

-Tom B.

Kabaya use to make Transformer candy and toy models back in the 80′s. The little models were basically scaled down versions of the real toys, complete with weapons and similar transformations.

I had hope that the new kits would follow in the footsteps of the old ones. Sadly they didn’t, there’s a lot of part swapping to the transformation, and it really takes the fun out of the miniature figures.

Both kits look pretty nice in truck mode, a few more labels wouldn’t have hurt but maybe the guys at Reprolabels could help with that.

The Kabaya kits are roughly 1/2 scale of the toys there based on.

-G1 Optimus Prime/Convoy-

Look at that chrome shine! I love me some G1 Prime. The G1 Prime is the Hasbro commemorative edition with G2 Prime smoke stacks. I added the rub-symbol the the Kabaya Convoy.

Takara’s WST Convoy is roughly 1/2 the size of the Kabaya kit. The WST Convoy has rolling wheels, a perfect transformation, and die-cast feet.

The sizes just work out perfectly, now if I only had trailers for the Takara and Kabaya toys.

The transformation dose require you to take the lower arms off, and then peg them back on. But with a little ingenuity and some left over Gundam model parts, you can make the G1 Convoy perfect transform.

It’s a very simple mod, and it only takes a few minutes. I encourage anyone who has this kit to do it.

The Revoltech Convoy’s Matrix of leadership fits perfectly in the Kabaya Convoy’s hand.

This is my favorite kind of display, staggered from largest to smallest.5 out of 5 starsToy crack: 5 – Irresistible, a must have for any Prime/Convoy fan.

4 out of 5 starsOverall: 4 - With a simple modification, the kit can be made into a great little toy.

-Classics/Henkei Optimus Prime-

The pegs on the sides of the Kabaya kit are an eye-sore.

The pegs are for when you “transform” the toy, and peg his arms back on. If you can really call this a transformation.

I would’ve been nice if Kabaya put a little more effort into this one.

After all the part swapping is done, the toy actually makes a rather nice looking miniature Henkei Convoy.

Shown here with Classics Prime instead.4 out of 5 starsToy crack: 4 – It’s hard to pass up a mini Henkei Convoy.

3.5 out of 5 starsOverall: 3.5 - The toy would be a lot better if it didn’t have to be taken apart and put back together again.

There is actually a 3rd Kabaya kit. Star Saber. It’s not really all that great, and I don’t have a Star Saber to compare it with, but here it is.

-Star Saber-

Robot mode isn’t bad at all, it looks like a smaller version of the Robot-masters Star Saber. The gun came from a knock-off Robot-master toy.

There called “Transformers”, not “Trans-Fall-aparters”.

I’d rather have the real Star Saber.3 out of 5 starsToy crack: 3 – It’s gonna be hard to buy the other two Convoys and not pick this one up too.

2.5 out of 5 starsOverall: 2.5 – Like I said before, I’d rather have the real Star Saber toy. This thing is just disappointing.

This concludes the Toy Crack report.

-Tom B.

I’ve always loved Spinger, he was my favorite Autobot from the post-G1-kill-o-rama that was the original 1986 movie.  When Hasbro started the classics line, and Hot-rod got the revamp treatment, I prayed for a new Springer. But the best Hasbro has done for Springer lately is just some Cybertron toy repaints. Then steps in Fansproject, a small toy company in China who plans to rule the world. And like a large pizza with the wrong toppings, they deliver hi-priced greasy-justice.

-Helicopter mode-

The original G1 Springer toy was always lacking, Oh… I dunno. Appeal…. Like a lot of post movie Transformers toys, Springer looks like he was designed by the company interns.  This is his old toys Helicopter mode. In all fairness, it is that toy’s best mode.

Fansproject even includes a custom adapter to use with one of Bandai’s  Action Base 1 display stands.

The new toy’s design is loosely based off the old toy. The copter mode can roll around on the car mode’s wheels, just like the old toy.

-Car-thing mode-

The original toy’s car mode didn’t really look like anything more than a block with some wheels. To be honest, it’s still kinda hard to tell what Fansproject had in mind for Defender’s car mode.

Defender’s pistols can peg into his hands in car-thing mode.

The sword stows snugly on the bottom in car-thing mode.

-Bot mode-

A HUGE improvement over the original toy’s robot mode. Even for a toy in the 80′s, Springer’s was pretty crappy. Some G1 toys ooze nostalgia and many are actually great toys, but Springer got the short end of the stick. It’s easily one of the most forgettable G1 figures.  

The head sculpt it awesome. Fansproject did embellish and made a more updated design, but it’s still right on the money. The sculpt is based on the animation line art.

In bot mode, the pistols can store in holsters on the sides of Defender’s legs.

The sword can peg on his back when not in use. The sword is made of a bendable, yet impervious plastic. I don’t think you can break it if you tried.

Defender has a great range of motion all around, but his ankles are very restricted. On top of that his knees are weak, and they buckle pretty easily.

He’s got better things to do tonight than die, like laundry. He’s been putting that off for weeks.

-Rankings-

4 out of 5 starsAesthetics: 4 – This toy looks great in bot mode, good in helicopter mode, and passable in car-thing mode.

3.5 out of 5 starsQuality: 3.5 – The plastic is sturdy ABS with die-cast metal. The paint apps. are crisp. The sword  is perfectly straight and I don’t think anything will ever be able to warp it. The only real problem is loose joints in the knees, and they will probly continue to get weaker until they’re a floppy mess.

3.5 out of 5 starsPoseability: 3.5 – A great range of movement in the arms and hips. But the limitation of the ankles  dose put a hamper on what you can do. Also the weak knees can be a pain.

5 out of 5 starsTransformation: 5 – This thing is a real effort to transform. It’s well thought out and it makes excellent use pegs to help hold everything together in all 3 modes.

3 out of 5 starsFeatures: 3 – I’m always picky here. Two little guns and a sword is about all you get. It dose help that the sword is made of some kind of space-aged plastic.

3.8 out of 5 starsOverall : 4 - I love this thing, I can’t put it down. I put off getting one for sometime. I was afraid that it was going to be Battle Roller all over again (made like crap, and can barley stand). But thankfully not. Defender is made better than any of Hasbro’s transformers released after the end of the Alternators. It’s a real joy to have such a nicely made toy of a character I love, who has gotten shafted on every single one of his toy releases. My recommendation is to buy one before they are all sold out. You can still get them at Big Bad Toy Store. Hurry.

-Tom B.

I really had no idea what I was going to paint this thing as. I just ordered it because it looked like “so much fun a bear do it”. After reading a few threads where people were whining about customizers making this thing into Autobot Jetfire, I knew what a wanted to do. JetFire! That’el piss’em off!

The kit came with an assembly guide that was’t even remotely check for accuracy. I figured, Yamato had to screw up QC somewhere, might as well be here. The manual actually made this kit harder, what with all it’s shenanigans. But not to fear, I have made a page dedicated to Manual corrections for all who want to build their kit correctly. If you do not want to build the kit correctly, simply use Yamato’s default assembly guide.

The kit came in this spiffy box, with writing in Japanese that I can only guess says “Toy is the built with hands of labor. Great is the! joy”.

Hmm, it’s just all piled in there huh?

There it’s done.

My own little pilot to love and feed, I think I’ll call him George.

Hooray! Yamato didn’t sort the pins! This was a fun 2 hours figuring out which is which.

Oh, I’m so…. ..SCREWED!! Ha ha…blehh.

Well enough of that, lets get started. I was only a few minutes into the kit when I realized that the runners didn’t have any part numbers on them. I though “what a minor inconvenience” and kept working. Little did I realize that things were about to get messy.

Very, messy

I picked up some Tamiya model spray paint, and used regular ‘ol scotch tape to mask the parts off.

It worked well enough.

This isn’t even half the tape I used.

Day, 7: I remembered that I should be taking photos so I could make a photo-blog thing. So I half-assedly throw together most of the photos above.

Well, painting and assembly are complete, I’m so glad that I documented the processes so thoroughly. Now all that’s left is this wonderful mess.

Which sat there for a few weeks before I did anything about it.

I did have a lot of fun with this kit, and I actually hope that we see more Toys-as-models in the future. Bypassing the QC and being able to take your time with the construction is a big win in my book. No more “Surprise! You spent $150 and the stupid thing is broken before you even take it out of the box!”. Model kits really aren’t like toys, most are kinda frail and can’t really stand up to being played with (transformed) several times. And they’re almost always made of styrene, and have no ratchet joints, or metal axles, or die-cast parts….or……..blahh blaahhh…..

Well enough talking, lets see what the finished kit looks like!

I give you JetFire!

Well there it is. Maybe not the best custom you’ve ever seen, but at least I got the construction right. It was definitely a learning experience and if I decide to build another I’ll use an airbrush and some proper masking…things…

-Tom B.

I can’t promise when the next volume will be out, so eat up as much as you can till your full. You may have a long fasting period ahead of you…..or will you? I don’t really know, squirrels do right? Are you a squirrel?

«Fun with toys Vol. 2

-Tom.B

Well I’m back from my 3 month long hiatus. There were lots of little life problems I had to deal with and now that they’re dealt with I can get back to neglecting them once more. So lets not waste any time and get the toy ball rolling again. Enjoy Black Convoy.

-Vehicle-

The same sexy Nissan GT-R, now with a slick glossy black paint job.

So very very hard to keep this guy clean. It’s a total dust/fingerprint magnet.

The mono-chrome Convoys.

-Transformation-

Video to be the soon. I’z promiss.

-Bot-mode-

The Black Convoy characters usually have red windows, but this one has white windows, it’s a little bit of a fan-boy gripe.

The paint apps could have had a few more silver accents, as it is, the robot mode looks bare and a little unimpressive.

Black Convoy didn’t come with any new weapons, he only has his seat-warmer blasters. This figure would really benefit from the gear of war 2 set.

It would have been better if Black Convoy had more of  an inverted Silver Convoy color scheme.

Bi-plane Red Convoy is still the best color scheme of this mold, too bad it’s so hard to find now.

-Score-

3 out of 5 starsAesthetics -3- The glossy black paint looks gorgeous on the GT-R car-mode, but a lack of silver paint apps hurts the robot-mode’s appearance. It looks flat and bit underwhelming when compared to it’s predecessors.

4 out of 5 starsQuality -4- It’s built just as well as the other AT Convoys I have, a few paint defects here and there, and a few scars where the parts were cut from their runners.

2.5 out of 5 starsPose-ability -2.5- No improvement over it’s predecessors. The feet are odd, and awkward to pose. The arms are limited in what they can do. And the die-cast metal in the waist make the toy a little difficult to balance.

4.5 out of 5 starsTransformation -4.5- Same great transformation.

1 out of 5 starsFeatures -1- This is the third incarnation of this mold, and Taka-Tomy still couldn’t give him a gun?

3 out of 5 starsOverall -3- This is a good toy, but it’s a pass if you have either (or both) the Silver or Red version of AT Convoy. The weak appearance in Bot-mode is a big letdown especially sense the Car-mode looks so sweet with it’s glossy black goodness. And seriously, why dose Convoy still not have a gun?

-Tom.B

Her name is “Jolokia”, or Jolo for short, taken from the pepper Naga Jolokia. I name all my Tarantulas after peppers.

Shes a very nervous little spider. Jolo runs away from any disturbance leaving a trail of kicked-off hairs in his/her wake. It’s funny right now cuz Jolo is so small, but it’ll probly get annoying as she grows up.

Jolo on display.

Sorry for the “bad photoshop effect”. It was caused by the terrarium wall.

Ok kids, time for entomology class. Is Jolo boy or girl?

And the answer is:

Girl

She chewed on the molt for a while and really put up a fight when I came to take it away.

Here she is, bigger and more vibrant than ever.

-Tom.B