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A Fantastic Upgrade - Wing Blade Optimus Prime

2010-10-09T20:36:00.006+08:00

Quite some time ago when I started up this blog, I posted a review on the Voyager size Animated Optimus Prime. It was one of the figures that made me fall in love with the Animated line. Sadly, the Animated line came to an end in the US earlier this year, even though they still possess huge potential. It is around the same time that Takara picked up this line again and come up with their own figures with their usual chromes and decors. As Takara is committed to release all those unreleased figures, this is of course a great chance to pick up whatever that was unreleased by Hasbro. One of the highly anticipated figure is this upgrade set, Wing Blade Optimus Prime.

This package basically comes with a crystal version of the previously reviewed Optimus Prime, together with a winged backpack. First of all, this crystal Optimus Prime is absolutely gorgeous. This is the exact same figure that came out previously, just that he looked sugar coated all over. You can see a comparison between the 2 figures here. Under normal lighting, the new Prime doesn't look all that different.

So let's put Crystal Prime under a spotlight so that you can see the effects for yourself, shall we?

Nice effect isn't it? He is definitely not one to shun away from the limelight as he glows real well and is really pleasing to the eye. The crystal name is definitely not a gimmick.

This is Wingblade Optimus Prime's new backpack/trailer upgrade. Other than the crystal Prime, this is the only new piece in the whole package. The paintwork on this piece is of glossy paint, which give it a shiny look. The 2 missiles attachment fire off and travel quite a distance without much problem. When stand alone, this wingblade pack is weird looking and out of the place. However, it looks much better when paired with Prime.

Optimus's vehicle mode was previously designed to be a fire truck. The original trailer is an Axe and blaster, but now it has been replaced by this wingblade trailer which transformed it into a weird vehicle. It's not the most realistic alternate mode, but it does look better when compared to the original as it add some much needed bulk to the vehicle mode.

Prime's robot mode is being upgraded by detaching the wingblade parts and attached them onto Prime's body. Prime now have an awesome wing, a pair of twin cannon, a pair of giant glove, as well as the Magnus hammer. He looks fantastic in this configuration as he ready for war more than ever.

His color scheme is classic Optimus's colors of red and blue. The joints on my piece is pretty tight. There is a few sloppy paint-job here and there, by it doesn't deter this figure from being excellent.

The original mold is already an exceptional figure and this is a worthy upgrade to the original Voyager Optimus Prime. I fully recommend this version to anyone who does not own the original version. Even if you do have the original version, chances are you will be tempted to get this regardless of what I said.

Recently I have visited the stats in this blog and I am surprise to see so many viewers from all over the world. I'm thrilled by it and hope that you enjoyed the blog as much as I am writing it. Looking forward to see your comments on the blog. Cheers.

Finally.... My Favourite G1 Hot Rod / Rodimus Prime

2010-09-19T00:26:00.003+08:00

Hi folks, after a short break for sometime, I'm back again with two G1 figures to make up for the lost time. They are my favorite Autobot character of all time, Hot Rod and of course, Rodimus Prime.

Just a short character introduction, Hot Rod is a young Autobot that was introduced in the 1985 Transformers The Movie. Young, rash and full of confidence, he was so likable that I fall in love with his character immediately. Rodimus Prime on the other hand is the evolved version of Hot Rod. Upon receiving the power of the Matrix of Leadership, Hot Rod transformed into Rodimus Prime and took over Optimus Prime's position as the leader of the Autobot when Optimus died. Whew, this never gets old to me.

Without anymore further delay, let's take a look at Hot Rod first, shall we?

This is G1 Hot Rod in his vehicle mode. Sleek and streamline, this is a vehicle unlike anything you will see on earth (So what's up with the Robot in Disguise?). But one thing for sure, this is a fast moving beast and you can see it just by looking at the shape of the car.

This version that I have gotten is the Takara book collection reissue that came out several years ago. To many collectors, this is considered the best reissue version in the whole market. The reason for that? Hot Rod comes with rubber wheels, metal feet and best of all, both the twin pistol for the original Hot Rod and Firebolt for the Target Master Hot Rod. It's like an all in one package for G1 Hot Rod, wrapped in a sweet sweet book style box with awesome character design printed at the front. I personally feel that this is the version to get if you are looking for this mold. No doubt about this. (Unless you are a hardcore vintage collector, then of course nothing beats the original G1 Hot Rod from 1985.)

Here is a picture of Target Master, Firebolt in his weapon mode attached to the Hot Rod vehicle. It looks a bit odd to me to have a big fat cannon slapped onto your windscreen like that, but oh well, that's 1980s toys for you.

This is Hot Rod is his robot mode glory. His transformation is simple but fun. Articulation wise, his head move, his hands can move reasonably well but let's not talk about his legs. As a kid, I have never owned this mold so I can't do any comparison between the reissue and the original. All I can say is that I had a lot of fun meddling with him now.

This robot here is Firebolt. Hot Rod's Target Master partner. The story of how he gets involved with Hot Rod is a bit confusing for me to explain here, so do go read up if you are interested. Firebolt here is well painted and not much articulation to talk about. However he does...

transform into Hot Rod's weapon as seen above. A pretty well proportion twin laser gun for Hot Rod is born and he looks pretty good with it. ( I did not take out the original G1 Hot Rod's twin pistol here, so apologies that there is no picture for that.)

Overall, I love this Hot Rod to bits. I actually have 2 more version (including a crystal exclusive version which I will show you guys some other time!)) of him still in their boxes never opened before. Yes, I find him very addictive.

Next up, we have the Autobot leader Rodimus Prime. This is G1 Rodimus's vehicle mode, which is some sort of big camper bus. Hot Rod's transformation to Rodimus apparently gifted him a trailer of some sort for his vehicle mode. The color scheme remains faithful to Hot Rod's, and I have to say this mode is pretty cool.

Here we have a comparison shot between Rodimus and Hot Rod. Rodimus is obviously much the bigger and bulkier of the two. I actually favor Rodimus's vehicle mode to the also excellent Hot Rod's vehicle mode. Don't ask me why, but I just thought Rodimus camper bus looks more awesome and very true to the cartoon version.

Rodimus Prime's robot mode. He looks pretty good overall, but after fiddling with him for some time, you will notice his apparent flaws. His back wings look unnaturally over-sized and his transformation is one of the simplest you will ever find in a Transformers of his status. You can do it in 5 seconds. I am not kidding you, that's how fast I can do it. Let's see why, shall we?

Basically, you just detach him from his trailer and you're more than half way done with his transformation, haha. I don't know whether this was designed so that he can have an accurate vehicle mode. But I thought the transformation was pathetic. And I have not even hit his worst problem yet, which is his articulation. His hands rotate fine and that's about it. His legs won't bend at all due to his design. Granted, Hot Rod's legs also won't bend, but it looks much worse on Rodimus as he is much taller. And for a toy that is supposed to be the leader of the Autobot, I was hoping they can do better than this.

Now that I have got past my complaints, we can move on to the nicer things about this figure. Rodimus's trailer actually become a mini battle station for him to operate on. It actually looks quite good with him on it. My version is missing the two black shield that is suppose to be attached to the battle station. This is the Takara reissue version with rubber wheels and metal feet and I got it MIB off Ebay.

Don't go thinking that I must hated this figure with so many complaints. I still love him despite of all his flaws, simply because he holds a sentimental value to me. I owned him when I was a kid and subsequently lost him, so getting him again is like seeing an old friend. This is the part that I love most about collecting of the old toys I once have, indescribable feeling.

Overall, these two figures are good G1 gems that I won't trade for anything else despite their flaws. Simply because they are my favorite character. With the coming Masterpiece slated to be Hot Rod/Rodimus, I am really excited to see what kind of engineering marvel Takara and Hasbro can perform to finally give the character a toy he truly deserve. This is a truly awesome time to be a Hot Rod/Rodimus fan.

Animated Blackout Flying In

2010-08-23T21:29:00.000+08:00

The Transformers series that I thought I would hate turns out to be one of the best ever. Transformers Animated has brought us a very good story line, memorable characters and best of all, great show accurate toys. Now that the show has ended, I have been busy searching for the rest of the figures that I still don't have. One of them is Animated Blackout.

Animated Blackout appeared in season 3 in a fight between the Decepticons and the Autobots led by Rodimus Prime(Oh yes, there is an Animated version of Rodimus!!). To be honest, his screen time was pretty limited. However, don't let that deter you from getting this great figure.

Blackout's alternate mode is an attack helicopter that resembles an earth helicopter, except that it is fully loaded with weaponries. There is a total of 6 Gatling guns and 4 missiles in this mode, which make him a mean fighting device. The body of the chopper is shaped like a whale, which results in a very slick figure. Blackout actually look pretty big in helicopter mode for a voyager class figure. The rotor blade spins very well and looks great on photo as shown.

This is Blackout's robot mode. Even though he is shown to be big and mighty like Bulkhead in the cartoon, he is only a voyager figure here. He is about Animated Lugnut's size and suffer from being out of scale when you display him with the rest of the leader figures. I must admit that I am slightly disappointed that he is not of leader class sized. Ignoring that, Blackout is still a very very cool figure.

Blackout's transformation is fun as with most Animated figures. It is not as simplistic as the G1s and not as frustratingly complicated as the Movie figures. Over here, we can see the reason for Blackout's small size despite having quite a big helicopter mode. Blackout's tail rotor actually detach itself and become a disc launcher sort of weapon in robot mode. This significantly cuts down on Blackout's size as a chunk in his helicopter mode went missing.

Blackout's face is nicely sculpted and even though I have heard complaints of him being bug faced, I like it very much. I thought the face gave him a unique look and personality. I also particularly like the way the 2 Gatling guns sit on Blackout's shoulder, very cool.

Pose-ability wise, he can have a wide range of movements. The only complaint that I have will be the fact that his wrist cannot rotate. It would not have been a very complicated mechanism but I have no idea why the designers omitted it. Having it would have boosted even more great poses~

Overall, I am loving Animated Blackout a lot. This version that I am showing is the Takara's version. Apparently, the Hasbro version never made it into retail. Thus, I have to spend more to get hold of him. I must say that he is well worth the money now that I have him. Highly recommended to any Transformers Animated fans.

Best Movie Bumblebee Ever??

2010-07-25T21:49:00.005+08:00

A lot have been said about Michael Bay's re-imagination of the Transformers in his two life action movies so far. Some of the character designs passed with flying colors, while some simply didn't make the mark. Even in situation where the designs on screen were fantastic, they were designed with realism in mind. Thus, it was not easy for their toy counterpart to do them justice. Up till now, I have only been convinced by the Revenge Of The Fallen Optimus Prime (covered in an earlier post) which was absolutely stunning in its toy design.

That is of course until now... I present to you what I feel is the best Bumblebee toy representation of the entire movie toy-line, Human Alliance Bumblebee. Rarely do I hear so much praises to a figure before I even purchase it. I have to admit that prior to all those reviews that I have watch/read, I have no intention to own this figure. Now that I do, I have not the slightest of regrets.

For those of you who have caught the movie, you would have already know that Bumblebee is the main character (yes, even more than Optimus Prime) as he is portrayed as the guardian bot to Sam Witwicky. This Human Alliance toy-line is a new concept which packaged a human character together with a realistic and detailed Transformers for interaction purposes. And from what I have seen so far, this is a very very promising line is expanded properly.

Bumblebee's alternate mode is a 2010 fifth generation Camaro and is about 18cm long. He is very in scale with the earlier Alternator and Binaltech toy-line (A line with Transformers in realistic real life vehicles). An added bonus is that he even matches up very well with the Leader class Revenge Of The Fallen Optimus Prime in terms of proportion. The car rolls well and the door open without much problem. Bumblebee is painted in solid yellow with black detailing around him, while he also comes in light blue tinted windows which blends the overall colors very well. The silver Camaro logo printed onto the side of the car is a nice little touch.

As mentioned earlier, this Human Alliance line allows the human figure that comes with it to interact with the Transformer. Sam fits quite well into the car as other than this, there's nothing much the figure can do with this mode.

Presenting Bumblebee's robot mode. Bee is a highly detailed robot with an impressive head sculpt. Some people complain that his eyes are a bit too big, but I thought they look just fine. His transformation is pretty complex like all movie figures, but he is so well design that it doesn't get to the state of frustration. I especially adores his leg transformation, very very fun to perform it.

Bee's right hand is molded as a cannon like in the movies, while his left hand left me a bit underwhelmed. If there is one complaint that I have about this figure, it will be his left palm. Somehow, the open palm design doesn't sit very well with the overall figure. Nevertheless, it is a small complaint for such a great figure.

Articulation wise, you can't go wrong with him if you like posing your figures, He can be posed in a variety of ways and still maintain his balance. As you can probably tell, I had a lot of fun toying with the possibility on how to pose him for this photo-shoot. Over here, you can also spot Sam behind Bee's back. He can operate Bee's back guns from there and this is just one of the examples how Sam can interact with Bee. You can also make Sam sit on Bee's car mode chair around the arm area (Apologies as I didn't take pictures of those).

Before I forget, Bee comes with two missiles which can be stored underneath the car in his alternate mode (it's always a bonus for figures that can store their weapons in their alternate mode). In his robot mode, you can load it into the spring loaded cannon and attach the other one to the side of the arm. Cool stuff.

Another feature that this figure has is that it includes Bee's battle-mask as shown in the movie. Personally I don't like the mask for it's look, but each to its own.

Bee's eye made use of light piping which can show it's worth very well under good lighting. A very awesome effect that effectively bring the figure alive. To me, such simple touches are what made a good figure great.

This is a comparison between Leader class Buster Prime and Human Alliance Bumblebee. They look great together and are both at a fair proportion in my honest opinion.

Get this if you are a fan of Bumblebee from the movie-verse. This is by far the best version till date. Forget about the disappointing Supreme class, say hi to Human Alliance Bumblebee!!

Please feel free to post your comments around the blog. It gives me motivation to write more knowing that there are people out there reading and enjoying this. Cheers~

Move Aside King Kong, Here Comes Optimus Primal!!

2010-07-19T17:54:00.003+08:00

I will first start by saying that I have never properly watch Beast Wars throughout my lifetime. In fact, I was hating them for their 3d graphics and animal characters when they first came out in the 90s. I was horrified that my beloved Transformers now resembles more like the zoo and that was the point when I started to lose interest in Transformers (A sad way to stop).

So why am I reviewing this now since I condemned Beast Wars so much? Have my opinions of the series changed now that I am an adult? Well not quite, but I do acknowledged that this Optimus Primal figure is one oozing with quality. Who knows, I might fall in love with Beast Wars because of him.

Well, enough of my rattling about Beast Wars, let's take a look at Optimus Primal's Gorilla mode. Big, black and bulky, he is an ultra size figure with an ape face that looks pretty convincing. Do note that there have been quite a few version of this guy ever since the original Optimus Primal came out. If I'm not wrong, mine is the latest reissue version which fixed the flaws of previous versions, making him more realistic and show accurate in beast mode. The previous version had funny ape faces which was pretty funky in my opinion.

Overall, the Gorilla mode is pretty decent looking with little kibbles on him. he also possess a gimmick which will allow him to pound his chest (activated via a switch on his back). He is not bad but nothing fantastic as a beast, so let's move on and get to the meat of this figure.

Now this is the reason that I bought this guy for. The robot mode of Optimus Primal is pretty awesome. He is definitely not a shell-former like so many of the Beast Wars toys are. He transforms fairly easily and when he is done, he is instantly recognizable as the Autobot leader that we have come to love. ( Apparently in the Beast Wars show, he is not Optimus Prime but rather his descendant. I have not watch the show so don't ask me~)

As you can see here, his robot mode exposes more classic Prime colors which blends in pretty well with his Gorilla's black skin. He has a classic Prime face with the faceplate instead of the original Beast War Optimus Primal's mouth. I have seen older versions of him with the mouth and I really don't fancy that too well. He possesses excellent articulation as well, so you can probably pose him however you like with little difficulty.

This toy is also full of gimmicks well hidden within. His left arm can be transformed into a double barrel blaster via the click of a button. He was supposed to have missiles for these but I am just lazy to open up the missiles package, so no pictures for that~

If you open up his right arm, a skull shaped flail will be exposed for some close quarter combat. Sweet stuff.

His shoulder also have pop up cannons which just flips up from his Gorilla back. This gimmick is actually very very cool and I like it a lot. For some reason, Optimus Primal also comes with an alien type mask. I would imagine that somewhere in between the series, he could have gotten taken over by some nasty aliens (perhaps like the Animated Headmaster?). So a nice little touch there.

Overall, this guy is armed to the teeth and is just great. If he is good enough for a non Beast Wars fan to like him, I would think he is good enough to be in your collection. Get him if you like Prime or just toys with a lot of gimmicks to fiddle with. Cheers~

G1 Dinobots Unite!!

2010-04-27T21:52:00.005+08:00

Well, after a slight departure from G1 for a few post, we're going to be back in business yet again. Today I shall present to you the Autobot group that anyone who watches the old Transformers cartoon will remember, the Dinobots!

The Dinobots are a rowdy, arrogant, lowbrow, disobedient band of warriors that some Autobots would rather scrap than deal with. They're also one of the most devastatingly powerful and close-knit combat units in the Autobot army, being incredibly powerful in robot mode and taking alternate modes based on dinosaurs, the most powerful creatures to ever roam the Earth.

Most of them dislike Optimus Prime, so whether or not they follow the Autobot leader's orders depends on what those orders are. If it's to destroy stuff, they're down with that. If it's to help people, it kinda depends on what the weather is like.

There are altogether 5 Dinobots in the Autobot's rank and I shall go through them one by one showing you both the dinosaur mode as well as the robot mode. I have included their character profile from the Transformers Wikipedia source as I thought these bots are real interesting characters. To appreciate their figures, let's first understand who the hell are they. Please bear with me if some of the figures don't look shiny brand new. After all, they are already almost 25 years old~

First of all, this is the Dinobot's leader, Grimlock the Tyrannosaurus Rex. He is one of the few characters that can stand toe to toe with Optimus Prime and Megatron in terms of raw power and strength. In fact, he might very well give them a run for their money.

His dinosaur mode is that of a mechanical robotic T-Rex. The figure itself is very sturdy and solid. The color scheme is the classic gray and gold which also make up the colors for the majority of the Dinobots. His two tiny hands/claws can rotate and move pretty well for some posability. The legs are articulated as well. And most importantly, the jaws can open up wide to chew whatever Decepticon standing in king Grimlock's way. This is also one of those very rare figures where I would prefer the alternate mode to the robot mode. It's really that good.

His T-Rex mode is overall very sleek looking and convincing. One thing to note though, this is not the regular T-Rex that you will see if you open an encyclopedia. Why you might ask? Well, the true features and behavior of a T-Rex was not yet establish 25 years ago. So whatever you are seeing here is the world's perspective of a T-Rex a quarter decade ago. Neat huhz? Ha-ha. Strictly speaking, this figure can be consider pretty significant, isn't it?

Character wise, he values power and strength over wisdom and compassion, and furthermore, he doesn't really get along with most Autobots. When faced with a problem, his usual responses are to slice it with his energo-sword, tear it to pieces with his bare hands, or outright eat it. He is also more willing to accept casualties than most of the Autobot leadership. In addition to his dislike for Optimus Prime, you wonder why is he even an Autobot.

Grimlock's robot mode is a imposing and bulky bot that carries a mean red flaming sword together with a laser cannon. Other than the grey and gold which you see in Dino mode, red appears as well now. His transformation is pretty fun and interesting. I basically just did it without any instructions.

As you can see, the sticker on this Grimlock is not in the best of condition after so long. But who cares!? He's still standing tall and mighty, which is pretty amazing considering how old this thing is.

Slag is the Dinobot most likely to live up to the team's bad reputation. Slag is surly, mean-spirited, nasty, and disturbingly violent, to the point where it really is a wonder he's not a Decepticon. Slag will fight anyone, over anything, at the drop of a microchip, and fight dirty. Slag enjoys nothing more than reducing his enemies (and he's more than willing to include annoying Autobots on that list) to pools of molten metal with his fire-breath.

His Dino mode is a mechanical Triceratops which is a popular dinosaur among kids due to it's presumably friendly nature. Slag is colored grey, gold and red like all the other 4 Dinobots( I'm just going to stop mentioning their colors after this -_-")

Slag looks very convincing again in this mode. He is mainly made out of plastic here, no die-cast metal(Damn it...) Articulations are just what you would expect a toy dinosaur to do. All 4 legs move and the mouth open and close. (Gee.. what else do you expect?)

Some interesting character traits on this guy. None of the Dinobots really like Optimus Prime, but he and Sludge share an especially intense dislike of him. But it's not just Prime's orders he questions. He'll even mouth off at Grimlock every now and then, but somehow does not end up as scrap or lunch. Slag's bad attitude means the rest of the Autobot forces are unlikely to come to his aid when he bites off more than he can chew.

Slag's robot mode is pretty cute looking. Due to his Dino mode, it looks as if Slag has a hat with two horns sticking out of it, Ha-ha. He has significant amount of chrome around the chest and feet area, so make sure to check for any chrome wearing off when purchasing him.

Other than also carrying a big red sword, Slag also possesses a silver chrome pistol. This is worth mentioning as he is the only Dinobot with a chrome weapon. The rest basically just have big black guns.

His transformation is pretty simple but effective. My Slag is still looking very sturdy with tight joints. In fact, I find some of the joints too tight for comfort. Well, might be a case of the screws rusting (Time for some cleaning~) Getting this guy shouldn't be too difficult on the Ebay currently. Just make sure they come complete.

"Sludge dumb," is how Grimlock, the Dinobot commander himself, describes the plodding Autobot. The Dinobots have a perhaps undeserved reputation for being dimwitted, but Sludge is the genuine article. He makes the other four look like scholars in comparison.

As Sludge can't make much of an impression in the mental department, he likes to make his presence known physically. He'll stomp his hefty hide around just so you know he's there. Sludge believes that the strongest should lead, and in his mind, Grimlock is the strongest Autobot. But Sludge genuinely believes in the Autobot cause, so he tolerates Prime. Beyond that, Sludge is actually what you might call nice... Maybe not to Swoop's level, but nicer than the other big bots.

Sludge's strength is considered by some to be second only to Grimlock's in the Dinobot faction. Sludge also has the great power to shake the ground violently and make huge tremors when stomping around in his Brontosaurus mode, which is a good weapon for shaking up Decepticons.

What a cute profile this guy have, ha-ha. Here it is, dimwit Sludge. Sludge's Dino mode is Brontosaurus the giant dinosaur. The piece that I pick up at an online toy-store is almost like brand new. And this is important as Sludge is full of chrome goodness on his back which make him look real shiny. Any flaw on any of the chrome would have made him look real bad.

His Dino mode is actually my second favorite after Grimlock (Who doesn't like a bad-ass T-Rex?). Articulation wise, Sludge is actually the worst out of the 5 Dinobots. Oh yes, he doesn't fulfill the criteria of 4 legs and mouth moving. His front 2 legs are actually hindered by his robot's mode arm. Thus, it can barely move.

Weirdly enough, the designers decided to stick a piece below his lower jaw, making him look as if he has a goatee. This piece has no purpose at all in either mode but I thought it was hilarious.

Sludge's robot mode is actually very similar to Grimlock's in certain aspect. However, I find that he is slightly more proportional when compared to his leader. As you can see, my Sludge is really very new. Head sculpture wise, he looks real cool and is one of the better Dinobots. As you probably can tell, I like this guy quite a bit.

Snarl is an unhappy, unsociable loner. He grudgingly follows Grimlock's orders and that's about it. He leaves thinking to others. He has few opinions and rarely expresses those he has. Snarl's uncommunicative nature only serves to fuel his sense of isolation. On top of all this, he hates the ungainly stegosaur form given him by the Ark and feels that the war on Earth means he may never see his beloved Cybertron again. Snarl is a profoundly unhappy being.

Only in war does Snarl feel happiness. Only the joy of combat washes away the ache in his spark, and lets him forget anything but the rising thrill of the fight. For these reasons Snarl revels in combat more than even his fellow Dinobots.

His unique design makes Snarl particularly useful in sunny, arid environments. The large golden plates protruding from his spinal assembly are solar collectors. Although he can operate without sunlight, solar energy can increase his strength tenfold and his endurance to a virtually limitless degree. A swipe of his tail can shatter a 20-foot concrete cube. His heavily armored hide makes him resistant to most missile fire.

Being a Stegosaurus, you might be imagining Snarl to be heavily armored to the core. In a way, you're right. He is one of the only Dinobots to come with heavy die-cast parts. In fact he feels very heavy and solid when compared to the others. His gold spinal assembly which you can see here are all made of metal, making them shiny shiny when soaked in sun-ray.

Articulation wise, he fulfills the basic dinosaur movement which I have mentioned over and over. Oh no, I'm wrong, his mouth doesn't open!!

Snarl's robot mode is a very good looking one, probably due to his wing like feature. His entire red torso is made up of metal as well so keeping this guy from rust is a challenge on it's own. The Snarl that I purchase wasn't in the best of conditions. In fact, he is defective to a certain extent. After doing some maintenance of my own, at least he is in a reasonable shape. Well, at least the Ebay seller return me half of my money after my complaints to him.

Swoop is the friendliest and most outgoing of the Dinobots. He's surprisingly good natured, kind, and upbeat. Few of his comrades realize this however, as his team's reputation and his alt-form, considered (for some reason) particularly "horrifying" to Transformer aesthetics, makes others wary of getting close enough to learn about the bot himself.

Swoop is an excellent aerial combatant and bombardier, and has become skilled at using the fear his alt-mode creates in battle. He considers it his greatest weapon. Like all the Dinobots, Swoop tends to be arrogant, disobedient, and generally disagree with Optimus Prime's leadership style. He's also a bit of a show-off.

And here we are finally. the last but not least member of the Dinobot, Swoop the Pteranodon. Swoop is easily the fragile Dinobot among the gang. Yes, you read me correctly, he is fragile~! This is not to say that Swoop is not a good figure, in fact he is very well design and make a very convincing Pteranodon. Swoop's entire wing is chrome while his movable beak is made of clear plastic. He is armed with 2 rocket missiles attached to his wings, making him an effective Autobot bomber.

Now, let's get to why it's so fragile. Firstly, his wings can break easily when bend in the wrong direction. Swoops's head piece which consist of it's entire beak also crack easily with the slightest of stress. I have not even mention the easily lost missiles. He just feels like a delicate piece of flower. Good luck in finding a working and complete piece of Swoop for a reasonable price. It's not going to be easy at all.

Swoop's robot form is easily the smallest among the Dinobot. His transformation is one of the hardest, not in terms of complexity. You just have to be so careful so that you don't break any part of him. I sweat when I was transforming him for this post. During the process, I almost snapped his legs when pulling them out....

Regardless, he looks pretty good and unique in his robot mode provided you don't break him into a million pieces during the process.

There we go, finally finish all 5 Dinobots. I have been wanting to do this for the longest of time. Finally, after writing bits and pieces over a period of time, this post can be publish. The Dinobots are some of the most sought after Transformers in today's market. Buying all 5 of them cost me a bomb, but it was worth it to fulfill a childhood dream. Which kid doesn't want a dinosaur transforming robot when they first saw the cartoon?

One thing to note though. There are knockoff versions of these Dinobots currently out in the market. And they are not cheap at all for knockoff. Although I spent almost 1 year in total, I manage to get these vintage versions for almost the same price. I would encourage that you do the same if you are interested in them. After all, tracking down the vintages and buying them for a reasonable price is part of what make this hobby so wonderful. Enjoy.

Revenge Of the Fallen Buster Optimus Prime

2010-03-07T17:08:00.006+08:00

Recently, my posts have mostly on vintage G1 Transformers. The main reason for this is because not many new figures has attract me enough to make me shelf out money for them.. However, I gave in to this fantastic figure the moment I lay my eyes on it. In fact, this is the only figure that managed to convince me buying 2 of them ever since I have started collecting.

This is of course Revenge Of the Fallen's Buster Optimus Prime that I am talking about here. Normally, I will not be attracted to whatever figures from the live action movie as I find them too bug like and ugly. I even passed on the first movie's Optimus Prime as he is simply too fat and out of proportion.

It was however a truly different story when the second movie, Revenge Of the Fallen came out. The manufacturer made the wise decision of redesigning Optimus Prime's figure and gave him a new fantastic mold. This mold caught my attention the moment I cast my eyes on it as it is sleek, screen accurate and very very sexy.

I knew I had to get him but I waited as I knew prices will drop for movie figures after some time based on past experience with the first movie. This decision proved to be a wise choice as the manufacturer decide to come up with an upgraded version of the figure. Chromes and silver paint peppered Optimus's body while paintwork was given a significant upgrade. Best of all, this Buster Prime version came with a big frickin gun ( thus comes the name Buster Prime) transformed from Optimus's engine.

Needless to say, I could no longer hold back once this version was annouced. I immediately snapped up 2 of these babies the day they were released as I knew I wanted one to stay in box for collecting purposes. Saying that it is awesome is an understatement!!

This is Optimus Prime's vehicle mode. A long nose truck that greatly resembles how he looked in the movie. As you can see, his grills are well filled with chrome goodness with a red Autobot insigma at the center. In this Buster version, the flames are being pinstripped with white paint that enhance the paintwork significantly. The truck looks wonderful and does such a good job disguising Prime that you will never know that there is a robot hidden within this vehicle if I don't tell you.

For me, it's the small details that seperate a good and a great figure. Over here, there is no lack of details on the truck. I really wish you can touch and feel it to appreciate it's greatness rather than me going on and on rattling about it.

Prime's robot mode is the main attraction here. He is a leader class figure and his transformation truly reflects that as it is complicated but at the same time quite brilliant. It is going to be a challenge for anyone to try transforming him without any instruction for the first time. It took me almost an hour to get him to his truck mode the first time round. It can get frustrating at times but you will really learn to appreciate it once you know the proper way to do it.

The Buster Prime version of this figure shows Optimus without his fame faceplate. Some people complained about this feature, but I don't see that as a problem at all. In fact, I love it as he spends most of the time without his faceplate in the movie. This is the more movie accurate head if you ask me!!

As with the original Revenge Of the Fallen figure, Optimus comes with his twin blade as well. Over here, it is painted in silver and translucent yellow rather than the cartoony orange colour in the original figure. This is yet another plus point for this version.

I would have really bang my head if I have bought the original figure before this came out. To put it simply, this version absolutely kills the old one. They should have just come out with this at the very start. I pity those who have already purchase the original version. But rest assured that the upgrades here will warrant you to buy him again.

If you have ever spotted the original Revenge Of the Fallen Optimus Prime in the shopping center, you will be stunned by the upgrade that Takara decided to give him. This is even more apparent if you compare them side by side. Buster Prime looks a class apart from the original figure and if there ever was a Masterpiece Movie Prime, this should be considered as a Prime (couldn't help the pun) candidate to be one.

I am absolutely in love with this figure and highly recommend him to anyone who love both the movie and Optimus Prime in general. You would not want to miss him out.

Most Sexy Transformer Ever - Black Pearl Nemesis

2009-11-22T21:53:00.011+08:00

Not too long ago, I have post a Universe series Nemesis Prime together with his Shadow Commander Armour. That was a beautiful piece that still stands up as one of my favorite Transformers.

Today, I shall present to you the figure that the Universe Nemesis Prime tried to pay homage to, he is non other than the original Nemesis Prime, The Car Robot series's Nemesis Prime.

This figure is Takarsa's Car Robots series Decepticon known as Nemesis Prime. Since I have never watch that series before, I can't share too much on the character bio of Nemesis Prime. One thing that I can tell you is, this figure is actually a repaint of the old G2 Laser Optimus Prime. However, the repaint totally enhances it into another level. This is an excellent example of how repainting can change a figure from a normal one into a must have!!

Nemesis Prime alternate mode is as shown here, an oil tanker truck which suits Nemesis Prime's rugged evil nature pretty well. It seems that this mode is made for Nemesis Prime rather than Prime originally. One thing that you might have noticed is that the trailer is covered with chrome goodness. It is so shiny that it can be used as a mirror, very nicely done.

Above is Nemesis Prime's robot mode. He has a very Primish looking head and his colors are mainly made up of black and turquoise blue, which really enhances how the figure looks. You no longer need to paste stickers on him anymore as most of the stickers either come pasted or has already been painted directly onto the figure.

Similar to the new Shadow Commander Nemesis Prime, the original Nemesis Prime also comes with a pink translucent sword which suits his evil side very well. The sword is made of solid plastic that wouldn't bend or break easily. One gimmick that was lost during the repaint is the electronics. The original G2 Prime has some electronics which allows lights to come out of his hand, which in turn can light up the sword. Not a big loss for such a beautiful repaint in my opinion.

Another gimmick that this figure has is that the trailer can be transform into a battle base. Unlike most trailer bases, this is actually pretty good and is one of the first that doesn't sucks. It is chock full of missiles, launchers and all these can actually be fired off. The package even comes with extra of these ammos in case you lose them while firing away.

Transformation for this figure is simple, nice and sweet. Nothing is overly complicated as everything fits in place nicely without me having to force bits and pieces into place like some of the new Transformers nowadays.

Black has always been a mysterious color that never fail to amaze me. So secret, easy on the eye, and of course sexy~ Black colored Transformers are normally very popular and rare as they are normally created as an exclusive.

However, we should consider ourself lucky that this figure which I have shown, was available to the general market when it was released. If not, I can imagine the disappointment in everyone if they can't get hold of this baby. Get this if you like sexy stuff... Now!!!

Disney Transformers - Mickey Prime

2009-11-13T17:30:00.005+08:00

After the recent posts on G1s Transformers, I have decided to post something different for a change. Today, I present to you a Disney and Takara crossover Transformer, Mickey Prime.

Mickey Prime came out earlier this year and was surprisingly popular as a toy as it ran out of stock within days it was out in the market. This caught everyone by surprise as few anticipate such a huge popularity for him. But again, I guess the popularity is warranted. After all, this is a mixture of 2 of the most iconic character ever in the magical world of fantasy.

Here you can see Mickey Prime in his alternate mode, a van of some sort which is not very unlike the iconic Prime's truck mode. His colour is classic Prime's colour and you can see a nice little Mickey sitting in the driver seat inside the vehicle. That is a very nice touch in my opinion.

Mickey came out in 2 different colour scheme, the Prime's colour and the black and white classic Mickey's colour. Personally, I have gotten the Prime's colour version as that is what makes it links to Transformers in the first place. If not for the trademark Prime's red and blue, he would have been just another version of robotic Mickey Mouse. This is a classic example on the world of difference a good paintwork can make.

Transformation from vehicle mode to robot mode is relatively simple yet fun. Mickey is mainly all plastic, so don't expect it to have any heavy duty die-cast parts. A small gimmick of this figure is the popping out of a small mickey on top of the robot's head. Another nice cute touch by the maker.

Mickey Prime is not difficult to get now since it was reissued recently after the overwhelming success of the first batch. However, you do get the feeling that whoever wants him have already gotten him the first time round. That being said, don't hesitate to snatch him up if you are interested. Don't regret when he is gone again.

G1 Shockwave - The Logic Machine At His Best

2009-10-19T14:09:00.016+08:00

Here it is, another true vintage that I am proud to own, G1 Shockwave. The background story of Shockwave varies to different degrees depending on which continuity you are looking at. In the cartoon, he is a loyal servant to Megatron. However, he is a cold, calculating figure who based everything on logics in the comics.

He has been referred to as "a computer on legs." This is not far from the truth. Logic rules Shockwave's thought processes and is the source of his every inspiration. He sees emotion as a weakness and a distraction. His cold and calculating modus operandi is supported by his frightening and exceptionally powerful form. In fact, he is possibly more powerful than Megatron. Perhaps logic may one day dictate that the time to replace Megatron's flawed, emotion-fueled rule is at hand.

Regardless of which Shockwave it is, he has been always well loved among die-hard Transformers fans all over the world.

Shockwave transforms into a large Cybertronian handgun. He has light and sound electronics activated by his gun-mode trigger and powered by a 9-volt battery. The sound effects can be switched between two (fairly generic) blaster-sound frequencies with a small toggle on his battery pack. His gun mode is pretty big unlike Megatron's gun mode. He fits just nicely into the hands of an adult.

Here is the main dish of this post, Shockwave's robot mode. The color scheme is just about identical to his gun mode, except that there's more silver and more transparent purple (hands, chest). He stands tall among the Transformers and is around the size of Blaster and Sixshot. His thighs are made of die-cast metal that give it a very classy and sturdy feel to the figure. You can pull the trigger on his chest to activate the same electronics that was on the gun mode. However, you will see his left laser gun hand light up instead.

His face needs no introduction as it is one of the most classic and memorable Transformers ever. One thing I really like about Shockwave is his joints as they make a very satisfying ratchet click when you move them about. Articulation wise, he is pretty good for a G1 as he has quite a bit of movable parts. Thus, I won't really classify him as a brick. Make no mistakes as this figure will surely bring much class to your display shelf for sure.

My Shockwave arrives with his battery cover missing, as well as some wear and tear to his notorious rubber hose. His electronics work perfectly and overall he is in very good condition. Considering the price that I paid, I thought it was well worth it. I hope you like what you see because he is really up there with the very best of G1 figures in terms of detail and design. Please, do yourself a favor and find him while you can.

Vintage G1 Gnaw - A Shark Or A Frog?

2009-10-19T13:20:00.011+08:00

So far, most of the G1s that I have shown are reissues. However, this piece that I am about to show you is different. This is a piece that has never been reissued before (although people make knockoff version of them, I can never get those as I can't stand knockoffs).

These bots first make their appearance in Transformers The Movie, these Sharkticons are big, dumb, plentiful and voracious—in short, perfect soldiers for the Quintessons (go Google them to find out who they are if you are interested). It's not unusual for the Quintessons to throw their captives into a big tank full of the feisty nippers after a mock trial just for chuckles. Though individual Sharkticons are not especially durable, like piranha, they swarm in en masse and can devour a full-sized robot in a few seconds with their razor-sharp teeth and claws.

Taadaa, I present to you my beautiful G1 Gnaw. I remembered having a very hard time searching for him as he is not very common on the market. A complete Gnaw is rare as his parts (mainly his mace-like tail) are easily misplaced over the years. Do a search on Ebay if you don't believe me~ He is one of those rare vintage that looks so unique and out of place when you displayed them with the rest. But I must say I am really fond of it.

His alternate mode is a Sharkticon which looks very much like a piranha rather than a shark. To be frank, I have no idea how is this a shark at all (My girlfriend even commented that he looks like a frog!!). Armed with razor sharp shiny rows of dagger like teeth, he can gnaw (can't help it~~) through anything!!

My Gnaw came in a very minty condition with very minor sticker wear. I couldn't believe the condition he is in when I received him. In fact, I have to double check he is not the KO version available out there (just look behind his lower jaw and check for the Hasbro/Takara stamp together with the rub symbol to check for the original). Needless to saw, I am very pleased with him even though he cost me quite a bit.

Here is the robot mode of Gnaw. Cute, isn't he? He looks so bloated and chubby like he has just eaten a cow. As you can see, he comes complete with his gun and mace. Even though his faction state that he is a Decepticon, he is actually pretty neutral. To be frank, his alternate mode looks much better than his robot mode but he is really quite an entertaining piece overall. To conclude, he is not for everyone, but get him if you like vintages and unique figure (just be ready to spend quite a bit on him). Cheers~

G1 Blaster Vs G1 Soundwave - Let The Music Roll!!

2009-10-05T13:23:00.029+08:00

I am sure in one way or the other, one or two specific Transformers will particularly catch your attention when you were a kid. One of the Transformers that everyone the deepest impression when they were a kid was this cassette player that ejects tapes out of it's chest and the tapes itself are robots!!!

I am of course talking about the well loved G1 Soundwave. Everytime I talk to people about Transformers, they will always tell me they have this blue cassette player that can change to a robot when they were young. I guess one of the main reason people has such a deep impression of him is because the Transformers back then were mostly cars, airplanes and even tanks. However, Soundwave turns out to be something that either you or me have in our own household, a cassette player!! maybe it's due to this that we can relate to him better.

About a year ago, I have shown you the Encore version of Soundwave in his box. Now I shall open it up and unleash it upon you!! I have already done quite a few character introduction on the other versions of Soundwave already, so I will not repeat it here again. Let's just move on to the toy, shall we?

The Soundwave I have here comes with his trusted servant, Laserbeak. Soundwave comes packaged in his alternate Cassette player mode as seen above. This mode is quite wonderfully done and looks very much like it does in the cartoon. There are details found all over him, including the ability to open the cassette door through the press of a button which allows you to believe this is just a harmless piece of electronics.

Soundwave's robot mode is also very similar to what he appears in the cartoon. He is armed with a shoulder cannon and a very nice laser type gun. His transformation is pretty easy and fun without being overly simplistic. Like his cassette player mode, his chest can also be open to store any of his cassette minions.

His color is in his trademark blue and with the details the stickers gave to him, everything about him is so likable the moment you set your eyes on him. His articulation is not too bad for a G1, but nothing like the new generation of Transformers.

His servant, Laserbeak is a condor robot that acts as the perfect surveillance and reconnaissance machine. His alternate mode is his cassette mode where can be inserted into Soundwave's chest/cassette compartment for playback of what he has witnessed during his duties. He comes with a twin laser gun that can be fitted on him in condor mode to make him look more menacing. A very basic but great little tape.

Next up, we have Autobot's Blaster here. He is to the Autobot what Soundwave is to the Decepticon. Blaster, like the Autobot Jazz, has a great love of Earth culture, rock music and other forms of music as long as it is "good, hard and loud". He's normally at the forefront of any given situation. As an AM/FM stereo cassette player, he can perform as a deck, plus receive radio signals on a variety of frequencies. As the Autobot communications center, he can transmit signals within a 4,000 mile radius. Blaster is sometimes depicted as carrying various tape warriors within his deck.

His alternate mode is a very nice and brightly colored AM/FM Stereo Cassette Player that looks quite wonderful with all the buttons and tape compartment. He also comes with his own cassette tape, Steeljaw.

The Blaster toy itself looks very nice in his robot mode but articulation is pretty horrible as usual for a G1. He is pretty huge when compared to a lot of other toys in his generation. His basically towers over Soundwave and is around the size of G1 Sixshot and Ultra Magnus.

He looks extremely similar to his cartoon depiction and look great on display with his rifle in hand. His chest opens up in either mode to store his tapes (again like Soundwave). I personally find his transformation a bit more fun compared to Soundwave, especially the way the leg portion which I find pretty ingenious.

Overall, I am glad to own Blaster as he is one of the more interesting and memorable Autobot that I liked. Obtaining him is easier and cheaper now as he was reissued in the Takara Book Reissue series (which was a fantastic series that I have no idea why they stopped).

Steeljaw is one of the best at tracking down robots who don't want to be found. He is a tenacious tracker of unmatched skill, whose olfactory sensors in his tiny nose can track even the faintest scent for a range of 800 miles. Off the clock, he loves to investigate odors of all shapes and sizes, and Earth has many new and unusual smells for him to enjoy - the perfume of young women being one of his favorites. Steeljaw has a nearly unbreakable bite, from which he takes his name, and is armed with two solar-powered pellet guns. He can electromagnetize himself to stick to surfaces in cassette mode

He comes decorated with stickers that attempts to make him look like a tape and I must say it is a less successful attempt when compared to Laserbeak. However, his lion mode is a totally different story. As you can see, he looks pretty fearsome in his beast mode.

The wing cannon weapons he carry only serve to enhance Steeljaw's details as a robotic beast. Some people might complain that he is too flat and unstable due to his tape nature. I however, have no such complains as I have no problem posing him and displaying him in such manner.

These cassette tapes are great little collectibles and other than the 2 shown in this post, there are still a whole lot of them out there that I am dying to get. With the latest encores being the cassette tape giftsets, I am absolutely thrilled.

These 2 Transformers best represents what Transformers were about when it first started out. Unlike the later designs which came out with those futuristic modes, Soundwave's and Blaster's alternate were true to the words of Robot in Disguise and true treasure to the past in their own rights.

The Original G1 Seekers

2009-10-04T22:01:00.019+08:00

I suppose from here on, you will see plenty of G1 figures showing up in the blog. However, not all of them are going to be vintages. Due to the beauty of the Encore series reissues, I am able to get these old designs for a relatively affordable price. And it's thanks to this, that I am able to own the 3 original Decepticon seeker jets. As you can see from the pictures, these jets are truly pretty amazing. A very nice reproduction of the F-15s and remember this is from the early 1980s technology.

I won't really dwell too much on their background this time round. I think I have talk about Starscream more than enough in this blog. Thundercracker and Skywarp are basically the exact same mold as Starscream here. The only difference being the colors, with Thundercracker being blue while Skywarp is made up of mostly black. Despite saying that, the 3 seekers are attractive enough in their own rights and I have to say they look pretty fantastic when displayed together.

The robot mode of these seekers are pretty good to say the least. They do look like their cartoon counterparts to a certain extent. But that is provided you don't compare them to the classic Starscream that I have presented to you in the earlier post. These babies are quite heavy due to the use of die-cast metal(I love die-cast!) around their legs area, making them feel pretty solid when holding in hand. All in all, if you like fighter aircraft, you couldn't go wrong with these seekers.

Another beauty of owning these vintages is the ability to decorate them with stickers. Yes, they come with stickers for you to decorate your bots with, and if left unapplied, it will make your figure look bare and empty. The eyes of these Seekers is the hardest part to apply those stickers properly. I had to try darn hard to get it right since I don't want them to look like dorks.

It's refreshing to touch these old designs again and it really makes you marvel the progression of engineering when you compared the past with the present. Go out there and seek for these F15s~

Start Of A Beautiful Poison: Vintage Sixchanger!!

2009-10-04T19:44:00.017+08:00

Up till now, I have been focusing on the new series of Transformers. I have generally ignored G1s unless they are reissues due to the fact that those vintages are so so expensive and there are so many of them to start with. However, opening those reissues makes me recall how beautiful those bricks can be. Touching them reminds me of my childhood times... times that can only be recalled...

Oh well, enough of the emotional words. Those Encores reissue was not enough to make me break my bank yet. It was until the arrival of a certain G1 Decepticon that trigger my G1 curiosity all over again.

Behold, the precious vintage Sixshot!! (Not the reissue, mind you) This is given to me by my good pal, Wenkai. This was his childhood toy and he has kept it in such a good condition. When he offered to give it to me, I was so ecstatic but scared at the same time as I know this might open up a whole new world of collection possibility. Ultimately, I did not reject his offer as I am really keen to own a Sixshot after all these years. When I got it, the only flaw to it has to be the lack of stickers. No problem as I ordered from Reprolabels for those.

Sixshot is mainly made up of grey, purple and a nice tone of green. The end result is pretty breath taking as it is extremely visual attracting. His articulation is not that bad as compared to the other G1s, but he is still nevertheless a brick. Arm with 2 big mean gun, he is ready to finish any Autobot that stand in his way off.

Sixshot is a Solo Transformer Assault Group (“S.T.A.G.”), or in simpler parlance, a one-robot army – he is named for his near-unique ability to assume six different modes. Impressive isn't it? While we are overly excited over a triple changer at this age, there already exist a six changer in the 1980s. I shall briefly go through each of his six mode and hopefully tempts you enough to track one down~ Haha.

His armored carrier mode is armed with twin laser batteries and looks a bit flat, but overall it still manage to look like a carrier.

This is his rampaging tank mode, he is outfitted with an infra-red range finder and target tracker. This mode is a pretty successful one as the big guns and lasers really show it's worth here.

Sixshot can also attain the power of flight in his star cruiser mode, with a range of eight million miles. This guy can sure fly like the wind in this mode. A very nice spacecraft sorta mode that are pleasing on the eye.

He also act as a jet-propelled laser pistol (either full-size, or shrunken to be wielded by other Transformers). This mode is a bit forced in my honest opinion, Shockwave's gun mode looks much much better than this. Not a mode that I like too much of.

In the four modes and robot mode, he wields twin hypersonic concussion blasters, but his sixth mode – that of a winged wolf-creature – has no need for them, preferring to tear his opponents apart with its claws and fangs. This mode is pretty fantastic as it seems pretty menacing as a beast. It looks convincing enough and actually fairs better than the later Beast Wars series's figures as a beast.

Whew, what a day of hard work. I hope you are not overwhelmed by the pretty pictures. Sixshot is an amazing piece of art that no Transformers fan should missed. Everything about him is just about topnotch and I really urge you get one. This figure has certainly reignite my love for G1s and I am surely going to look for more to quench my thirst. Those pieces that i missed out as a child, here I come~~!!

Classic Starscream and Hinkei! Cyclonus

2009-10-04T19:32:00.001+08:00

It has been ages since I last posted a Transformer, but that does'nt mean I have stop collecting them. As a matter of fact, I have tons of them purchased between my last post and now. They are now awaiting on the wings waiting for me to show them to everyone. I shall kick off my restart with 2 figures in 1 post today. The first figure is Universe Classic Starscream.

As you can see from the above picture, Starscream's alternate mode is a F-15 Jet. This classic version is redeco to resemble the G1 version more closely and I must say that they did a very good job. White and red makes up it's primary colour while the whole thing in hand feels slick and realistic. I would have prefered the missiles to be non removable, but overall this is still a very nice figure.

Moving on to the robot form of starscream, we have a figure that highly resembles the G1 Starscream. He really looks pretty lovely. In terms of articulation, this beats the G1 Starscream hands down. There have been many version of this mold. Including the Universe and Hinkei Starscream. Not to mention the Skywarps and Thundercracker repaints. My piece feels a little flimsy and sloppy, but I'am not sure if this is a design problem or I am just plain unlucky to pick a flawed one. It's not enough to detract me from owning it~

If you are looking for only 1 deluxe Starscream in your collection, you won't go too wrong with this one. But the masterpiece version might be the one to go if you are a Starscream fan.

This is such a slick nicely coloured flying thingy, isn'nt it? So unearthly and alien like but beautiful all the same. This is Cyclonus, the badass decepticon warrior who exist to assist Galvatron in his conquest over the Autobots.

Let me give you a brief character history on this iconic decepticon. During Transformers The Movie, a group of damaged decepticon were jettison off the Decepticon's transport, Astrotrain after their big battle in Autobot city (Yes, it's the battle that claims Optimus Prime's life!). The group of Decepticon elites which includes Megatron, Thundercracker, Skywarp, the Insecticons and etc etc..~ were thrown off board by Starscream, as he claims that they no longer functions. Deep down, he sees it as the perfect opportunity to overthrow Megatron in his ambition to become the Decepticon's new leader.

However, little did he know what a big mistake he has made as Unicron summoned these damaged Decepticon to reformat them for his own use. One of the original seekers, which is Skywarp, reformats into Cyclonus and he has not look back since.

This is Cyclonus's Targetmaster, Nightstick. Bascially, Targetmasters are humanoids who transformed themselves into the Transformer's weapon in a bid to make them more powerful. The Targetmaster concept pops up near the end of Generation 1 series and it involves quite a confusing plot, so let's just stop here~~

All you need to know is the original Cyclonus does not comes with Targetmaster until later in the series. So in reality, there are 2 G1 Cyclonus's toys. One with a normal gun, the other with a targetmaster. The only difference between the 2 of them other than their weapons is basically their hands which has different sizes of holes to allow them to hold their respective weapons.

The figure I am showing everyone here is an update to that G1 Targetmaster's Cyclonus. This is Hineki! Cyclonus and I am very pleased to say that this is one of the more successful update to a classic character.

The colours are a tad brighter as compared with the G1 Cyclonus (which I also owned) but the shows actually depict Cylonous to be of light purple. So in a way, you can say that this is the anime accurate version.

The articulations has also been greatly improved (not saying too much as all G1s were bricks back then) while the transformation is fun and not too complex. I got it for quite cheap as it was available in mass retail a while back. However, it has since make way for the ROTF toys and is nowhere to be seen. Be prepared to fork out a bit more if you want him. This is highly recommended and as good as a redesign of Cylonus can get.

Rules are meant to be broken

2009-07-30T19:25:00.008+08:00

It has been 2 months since I joined the school for a course. As a civilian, I got the shock of my life when I was told that I am required to stay in throughout the course. The very thought that I am being denied the freedom to walk straight right out of the gate and do anything that I like just sickens me to no end. I felt the sweet air of freedom being strangled right out of me. What in the world is wrong wth this people? No offence to the other personels, but why must a civilian be confined to such stupid rules? I demanded and expected an explanation from the course coordinators. I was replied with what I thought was one of the lamest answer in the world. "It is to build up good relationship and bondings with your course mates."

Wow, what a fantastic reply! I guess I am not mature enough to build a rapport with my fellow peers without you enforcing us to eat, sleep and faced each other 24 hours everyday together.. At the beginning, I can appreciate such acts for the first couple of months, but as time goes by and the class get closer and closer. I strongly believe that it should be presented to us as a choice rather than still enforcing it.

I am currently really intrigued to hear what the management has to say now about us needing to stay in, since the original intent of needing us to be closer has been fufiled and accomplished. Personally, coming out with some lame excuses just because I want to lead a normal life to stay out every now and then simply tires me. In cases like this, should'nt rules and regulations be revised and enforced using a case by case basis?

This brings me to the topic on what exactly are rules and regulations for? Are they tools to help improve an organisation? Or are they simply a set of idiot proof instructions written on some papers or handouts that people follows blindly?

I have always challanged stuffs and questioning things using the fundemental word, "WHY." I believed it is what made me who I am today. I was simply molded this way by my enviroment, and the people around me. I believed that rules are there to help improve any organisation by providing stability and setting a standard for all. However, I am even a greater believer that rules should be bend and adjusted based on different situations. There will be times when exceptions will need to be made and common sense comes into play. How can one rule applies to all still baffles me till this date. If one never makes an effort to make use of the rule to improve things around them as a whole, then rules become a liabilty, making things inefficient and worsen the morale of people.

In case you have not yet noticed, I am a guy who hates doing something for the sake of doing it. If I am instructed or requested to perform certain tasks, I will always make sure that I am aware and understand what is the true meaning of doing these particular things.

Following rules just because some ancient guys set these rules which may apply during his/her era is really rubbish. Following such rules blindly will lead to fustration, internal bleeding and finally brain dead for me. What applies before and to everyone might not work now. If it is a new beginning/era, should these stuff be reviewed and challanged? Why was'nt that done in most cases? I have no idea at all. Maybe it's all the same in big copoarations, people up there in the management gets too comfortable with what they have. When this happens, minimum changes will be made as the focus will surely be to make as little mistake as possible, rather than making changes and risking their rice bowls. After all, they are already in such a high position that efforts to shine can be afforded to be at a minimal.

I might not be able to do much about it now but I strongly believe heaven gives me my head not for the sole task of simply nodding it to whatever that comes my way. I will still work towards what I feel is right.

Champions League FInal!! All Hail The Catalans~

2009-05-28T18:21:00.002+08:00

It has been quite some time since I last posted. So to get me to lift my puny fingers and start rambling on again, it must be something special. And so it is, the historic night where records will be set regardless of which team wins. Fc Barcelona Vs Man Utd, a dream match up they say.

This is such an emotional night for me as I have seen my favourite team suffer for the past 2 years without winning anything and worst of all falling behind Real Madrid. This year however, is a totally different story altogether. In one of my earlier post, I wrote about the match up between Real Vs Barcelona earlier in the season. Real lost 2-0 and I was convinced this is going to be the season we are going to do something special. I was spot on as Real was trashed 6-2 in the second match up of the season in the league. From then on, the league title is Barca's to lose. Riding on strength to strength, Barca collected the Spanish Cup as well and complete a double.

Last night, they have the chance to create history by completing the exact treble that Man Utd achieved in 1999, ironically in Nou Comp against Bayern Munich. And so they did, they won 2-0 against Utd and did it with style and confidence. The first ever Spanish Treble has been won by Fc Barcelona and my word do they deserve it.

This must be the best footballing side I have ever seen for the past 10 years. Say what you want about all the great teams, but nothing come close to this Barcelona side (Well, maybe Arsenal came close). With Xavi and Iniesta so assured and creative in the central midfield, it must be a dream to be the forward in this side with chances coming freely. And the forwards in this team are simply delightful. Messi, Henry and Etoo'. All 3 of them can create and score, in terms of attacking football, there must not be a better side than this currently. All hail the Catalans and Guardiola for making this team happen. This is how football should be played.

I Need To Cool Down

2009-03-19T23:29:00.004+08:00

It has been almost half a year now since I first started my job. Things have gotten slightly different in a few ways. As time passes, the responsibility on my shoulder get heavier and heavier. It was to be expected in a way, but I seriously do feel I am taking up a little too much for someone so new.

With the lack of knowledge, I am expected to make decisions with huge implications. It's a scary thought, but it's the world I am living in daily. Informations come fast and furious, with little time for you to read, less digest. People wants answer, with a snap of the finger regardless of how new or junior you are. Arrows rained on you with things that you do not even know whether it belongs to your realm. With little or no direction given, you do feel lost and lonely at times. It's nerve breaking at times.

I took a look at my fellow colleagues from other departments who has joined the company at around the same time as me. Some are still happily taking their half year holiday course, while some seems very relaxed and picking up things at their own pace. There is no such luxury for me though. Things are so fast and at a non stop pace that sometimes I forgot to breath.

I have no idea whether it's down to my bad luck or due to whatever reasons, but I do heard from my colleagues that my position was pretty alright before I took over. It was never this filled with things before. The worst part is, the things that come along is not something that you can make a mistake and learn again next time. Why? It's because we are dealing with important and sensitive issues that implicate something mere working class people will never come to know about.

In a way, I'am glad that I am priviledge enough to know them, but at the same time, I am stress to the max that the doctor tells me I having a slightly high blood pressure. At my age, that is so unthinkable but yes!! It happened just a few days ago. I am now trying to take things in a different perspective, take it easier on myself and try to be a nastier person. Perharps, my friend was right. I have been too uptight about things and worrying things that even my boss is not worried about. I am being a too nice to others that I am getting exploit in some ways, which is crappy at times as being good does'nt really pays off. You'll most probably be used by others and end up being eaten alive. It's really an interesting world out there...

Shadow Commander Nemesis!!!

2009-02-22T17:49:00.021+08:00

Nemesis Prime is a name I only come to know after I got back into the Transformers half a year ago. He looks just like a black repaint of Prime to me but after reading some of his back story, he seems much more than that. In different continuity of the story, he is most of the time an evil force that takes the form of Optimus Prime. As far as character is concern, I am not too worried as I simply love black Primes. They look so cool and awesome. What I am going to show you is something special from the regular item. Hold your breath as I present to you Shadow Commander Nemesis Prime.

This might look familiar to some of you who has read my past post. I have an exact Prime figure of this mold not too long ago and praise it's greatness. This is an SDCC exclusive repaint of it and was named, Nemesis Prime. The mold is still fantastic and the repaint is very very wonderfully applied, giving Nemesis a very grim and evil look. I have nothing much more to say regarding this figure that has not been said before for the Prime one. So just enjoy the pictures before I get to the best part.

Now, let's look at the main attraction now shall we?

This is the trailer that was created by Fan's Project, an unofficial source unlike Hasbro and Takara. I have hesitated to get this trailer due to it's pricey tag, but in end after much consideration, I finally gave in. Have I regreted? Not a single bit. I am absolutely loving this piece. It connects nicely with the original Nemesis Prime and the colouring complements it very well. High quality plastic, tight joints and fine fine details. If Hasbro and Takara comes up with such wonderful product, I would be a very broke man by now. Now let's get to the meat of the package.

This is it... Shadow Commander Nemesis Prime!! (I love the way this picture above is taken. I thought the effects look very cool) The trailer is seperated into individual pieces and attached perfectly to the original Nemesis Prime to act as a sort of an upgrade armour. This is just the perfect figure complete with style and a badass look. I have never own such a fine piece of Transformers before so far in my collection. Owning this makes me feel as proud as a peacock. I think Hasbro/Takara should just go ahead and hire these guys without much consideration, wonderful stuff indeed.

This trailer originally came out a while ago in white and blue to complement the white version of this classic Prime mold (I heard there is as much as 6 repaints for the classic Prime mold, holycow!!) to form Ultra Magnus. I somehow missed out on that one as the white Prime mold was difficult to find. When this black trailer came out for the black Prime mold (which is the Nemesis Prime I featured at the top), I was determined to get it since I have heard great praise on the previous Fan's Project trailer and Nemesis Prime is more readily available. Turns out to be a better deal as other than the Big Fat Gun that comes with the trailer, the mold is being upgraded with better screws and even comes with a red sword which mimics the Car Robot serie's Nemesis Prime. This black trailer is considered rarer as this is more limited in production. I heard there's a bout 1500 of them? Not too sure.

With the Fan's Project next upcoming project named Protector rumored to be a classic Hot Rod's trailer to upgrade him into Rodimus Prime, this will definitely not be the last time I patronize them~ Highly recommanded!!!

New Year Special - Raging Prime Combiners Arrived

2009-01-27T10:32:00.003+08:00

It has been almost half a year since I started collecting Transformers. The fun and excitment that keeps my adrenaline pumping everytime I get my hands on a brand new piece or a rare one still intrigues me. Ever since I have gotten Galaxy Convoy and Sonic Bomber to form Sonic Convoy, I have been at a rampage to locate the rest of the Prime Combiners. And this New Year shall be the time you witness it's emerging from the boxes and into my new display cabinets. God Ginrai shall remain in box though as I simply adore it's G1 box and can't bear to open it up~ Anyway, enjoy the pics and a very Happy Chinese New Year!!

1. Car Robot's God Fire Convoy ( Robot In Disguise's Omega Prime)

Fire Convoy

God Magnus

God Fire Convoy

2. Micron Legend's Jet Magna Convoy (Armada's Jet Magna Prime)

Convoy

Jetfire

Overload

Jet Magna Convoy

3. Superlink's Omega Convoy (Energon's Optimus Supreme)

Omega Supreme

Grand Convoy

Omega Convoy

4.Galaxy Force's Sonic Convoy (Cybertron's Wing Prime)

Galaxy Convoy

Sonic Bomber

Sonic Convoy

A very Happy Chinese Lunar New Year to everyone of my friends, relatives and love ones~~ May you have a wonderful year ahead.

The Ultimate Evil: Unicron

2009-01-23T17:35:00.000+08:00

Unicron The Chaos Bringer.. a name that strikes fear in every Cybertronian, irregardless of you being a Deception or an Autobot. He is the eternal arch nemesis of his brother, Primus The Creator even before the dawn of time. While Primus represents order and hope, Unicron is the polar opposite, bringing chaos and destructions wherever he goes.

Unicron have only one goal, to consume the multiverse and bring an end to all the creations who declared independance without him as their lord. He aims to wipe out all life, planets, stars and even space itself to achieve nothingness and a void world. He succeded in doing it several times and always falls into a deep sleep after that. However, once he wakes up to find that the universe has been reborn, his destiny continues. Unicron first appeared in the 1986's Transformers: The Movie, making his intent clear by consuming other planets in the opening scene.

He is a being that has a humongous robotic form and possess an alternate mode as a devastating huge predatory planet. An incredible force that no one can stop, maybe only rivaled by the god of light, Primus. However, despite being almost invincible, there is one thing that Unicron fears the most. The Autobot's Creation Matrix which contains Primus's essence. It is this very legendary item that leads to his ultimate destruction courtesy of our beloved Rodimus Prime in Transformers: The Movie.

Okay, so enough with the introduction to the background of the evil one. It has been a long time coming for this to happen. Now, the almighty ultimate evil is finally within my grasp and how I will savour this moment. Unicron now sits just beside Primus on my shelf, just the way it should be right from the start.

For a start, the Unicron that appeared in Transformers: The Movie was never made into any figures for some reason. After some near 15-20 years, he reappeared in the Transformers: Armada series. I was searching for Armada's Unicron high and low after obtaining my Primus through E-bay. However, I was put off by the high prices that those sellers were asking for. I knew it was inevitable since the sales of Unicron in retail ended a few years earlier than Primus. It is going to be an even tougher task to find one for a reasonable price as compared to Primus.

Thus, when I saw the news that Hasbro is going to reissue Unicron under the Transformers: Universe line for their 25th anniversary, I almost jumped out of my seat in joy. I am so glad I held up for so long and kept my head as now, I am going to get rewarded for my patience.

Imagine my dismay when I found out that it is going to be a toysrus exclusive selling at SGD$130 locally (quite a high price for an item in retail). This means that I have no choice but to pay that high price as there really is no other place I can get him. (unless someone smuggles Unicron out of Toysrus to sell) However, knowing that discounts are common in Toysrus, I held out for a while and immediately swoop in for him when the price drop to SGD$99. I am sure in future it will drop again, but I don't want to be rushing in for him in clearance. I am satisfied with the price tag and most importantly, I am satisfied I finally have him within my grasp.

Unicron is a humongous figure that towers over almost any other Transformers figures that I have at the moment. Maybe only the Takara Superlink's Omega Supreme can rival him in terms of size. Articulation for this figure is average due to his large size, his hands and legs can move pretty well but posing can be a problem due to the heavy weight of the figure. Unicron has very articulated fingers though, very cool as few Transformers get them. His wings tends to get into the way at times when posing, but once you get it right, it will look menacing and fearsome.

You can see that Unicron is holding something in his hand here. This is his minicon, Dead End. He is used to unlock a couple of Unicron's gimmick, like activating a huge cannon to pop out from his chest. Dead End himself also possess a robot mode like any other minicon. Unicron can also be battery operated and produced several sounds, but as I am never a fan of sound making Transformers, I totally removed the battery to avoid damage to the figure in the near future.

This is Unicron's alternate mode, his planet that has a pedatory instinct of the highest order. In this mode, he specialize in devolving other smaller planets as seen in the movie itself. This mode looks slightly different from the movie Unicron as it does not look quite as sleek and complicated in design. However it can still do one thing and it's funz~ Chompz Chompz Chompz~ Burp!! Thanks for the meal!!

Convoy + Jetfire + Overload = Magna Jet Convoy

2008-12-22T21:06:00.033+08:00

This above picture shows the members of the next Prime Combiners that I wanted to get my hands on after God Ginrai. Armada's Magna Jet Convoy (I have no idea what his US name is). He is a slightly different Prime Combiner when compared to the others as he is made up of not 2 but 3 figures!! They are Prime himself (Top Pic), Jetfire (Bottom left) and of course Overload (The art for Overload at bottom right here are created by a person named Luke.)

Getting all 3 different figures from the Armada series was always going to be expensive and filled with difficulties as they are already around 7 years old. Ebay has plenty of Armada Prime still available nowadays, but the problem is finding Jetfire and Overload for a reasonable price. Overload was the worst of the bunch, I have no idea why he is going for such a high price.

After searching and tracking, I decided to get them together in the hope of saving some shipping fee. I finally chanced upon a K-Mart Jetfire + gold Armada Prime giftset that is up for bidding. I grabbed the chance to bid for the set and my persistant pays off as I won the bid for a relatively cheap price. After 2 weeks, it has finally arrived, my K-Mart giftset.

It's the biggest box I have in possession so far (Not suprising since it contains both Jetfire and Prime), which kinda explains it's relatively steep shipping fees. If I were able to do without the shipping fee, I would have got it for a stealing price. But I was still pleased with my catch. The gold chest make Prime look very different and unique. There are several Armada Prime repaints out there, but I thought this gold chest plate version will look good overall when Magna Jet Convoy is formed. Whether I am right or not, only time will tell when I actually merged them. To the left are the bonus Minicons that came with the giftset. Prime's minicon was also repainted gold.

Jetfire is the best second-in-command Prime would ever wanted. He is the crucial link between Prime and his troops. Though professional and businesslike, Jetfire infuses his interactions with a down-to-earth friendliness. While Optimus Prime is cautious, Jetfire is more prone to tempered bursts of gusto and bravado. While Optimus Prime is your leader who's your leader, Jetfire is your leader who's your friend. Because of this, Jetfire is very popular among the Autobots. The Jetfire remains the same figure from it's original release without much changes at all in this giftset. It is still a fine looking bot with the alternative mode of a space shuttle. Hopefully the white figure won't turn yellow over time like so many other Transformers that encounter that fate. With Jetfire and Prime settled, the real problem is just arising. Where in the world am I going to get a MISB Overload?

An MISB Overload is hard to come by and buying it seperately from the other 2 bots is going to cost me quite a sum now. This left me scratching my head for weeks trying to find a right deal to complete my Magna Jet Convoy.

My search for Overload carries on for quite some time. Luck was with me when I spotted one Jap's Takara Overload MISB going for $60+ locally. I swoop in without even thinking much. It was totally worth it as I have saved so much on the shipping fee. It feels even better as this is the Takara's version with the cool boxart.

Overload is a fantastic heavily armed robot that bears some resemblance to G1 Ultra Magnus. In fact, Overload was redeco and repaint as Ultra Magnus as a limited special prize in a Tv show. In robot form, he looks very much like a G1 style brick bot with little articulation. He comes with a minicon named Rollout like pretty much everyone else in this series. However his minicon plays a very important role as it can transform to become the head of the robot. Very cool stuff indeed. However, the main reason I got him is not only because he is a cool figure. It's his fantastic ability to merge and upgrade our beloved Prime to one of his most powerful form. Behold~~

This is Prime with Overload right behind his trailer. Overload is also holding Jetfire, acting like a space shuttle launcher. This is one friggin long truck as the 3 figures display their alternate mode glory.

The ultimate combiner in the Armada series. To the left is Magna Jet Convoy, where Jetfire forms the legs and chestplate of Prime. While Overload transforms into a dual cannon that rests right on Prime's shoulder. Fantastic combination as Prime gains flight ability with supremely upgraded firepower. The right side of the picture shows Magna Convoy, where Prime only combined with Overload and left Jetfire out of the picture. But why settled for this when you can utlize the very best? Haha, Prime Combiner No.4 is down!! Last one to hunt~

Six String Performance

2008-12-21T10:39:00.005+08:00

It's finally over. The once in a year guitar/band performance at Sembawang CC has ended last night and it sure was tiring. When Sotong and Jinhan approached me for help on the performance and asked me to choose the songs, I admit I was a bit hesitant because of the location yet again. Another thing that was holding me back was my work commitment which requires me to travel to USA for a week, meaning I will miss this performance. With all these in mind, I choose 2 songs (One night in Beijing and Xin Bu Liao Qing) and told them to find an alternative first just in case I cannot make it. They found a good singer in Riguang in the end but even Riguang was not confirmed free on the day.

When my US trip was cancelled, I realised I can't reject the dudes. Haa, friends and buddies from Secondary school till now. How could I reject helping them? I decided to commit myself with a month to go from the performance. At the same time, Riguang has also confirmed his availability on the night. Now we have 2 singers!!! haha.

Since Riguang had already practiced with them several times before, I thought it will be unfair for me to cut in at this point. But they managed to make space for me and we ended up singing together, which was pretty new and fun for me. On the night, Riguang sang the first song (Yang Guang Zai Nan) and continue to the second song (One night in Bejing). Halfway through the second song, I walked out to sing the opera part. My friends had always said that their hairs stand everytime I sing the female opera part. I wondered if I managed to do that to the audience, haha. I took over for the last song singing Xin Bu Liao Qin to end our band's performance for the night. I really hope that we did well as the rest of the band really put in a lot of efforts and time compared to me. I hope that we have brought enjoyment and entertainment to the crowd, which to me is the most important thing in a performance. Who are we performers when there is no crowd?

The teacher of the bands seems pretty pleased with our performance in the end. I was once his guitar student (think he forgot about me already), and have never been on the receiving end of such a smile and praise from him before. Think I really don't cut out to play instrument at all~~

I hope that the teacher's compliments are truthfully from the heart as it will further enchance the confidence of the band, which is good. I just hope that I have achieved my original aim of helping the guys out. Having funz last night was a bonus~

A Leader That Is Not A Prime

2008-12-19T22:29:00.016+08:00

The Cybertron Supreme Commander of the Autobots in Transformers:Animated, Ultra Magnus. This is the first time (if I did not recalled wrongly) that Ultra Magnus is being potrayed as the leader over Optimus Prime. it is a rather fresh twist to the story and I must say it isn'nt such a bad thing after all. Powerful and decisive, he is the stern leader that his subordinates respect and a warrior that the enemy feared.

This is the second leader class figure that I have bought from the Animated line and I must say that it was worth every penny. If Megatron was good, then I must say this is absolutely fantastic. I can proudly say that this is one of the best figure I possessed in my collection.

To the left is Ultra Magnus's attack mode where his back pack is lifted up to be his shoulder cannon while laser missiles can also be found probbing out of his arms. To say he is armed to the teeth is probably an understatement. You must have noticed that there are lights emmiting out of his shoulder cannon. He can be electronically operated and say 3 different sentences while lighting up. very cool.

Magnus's weapon of choice is a heavy duty hammer. The hammer itself has a gimmick that allows it's side to expand outwards into a longer hammer. It also grants Magnus the power to command and summon lightning (he is basically like Thor~) I find that he looks really badass with the powerful hammer in hand. A clash scene with Megatron's twin blade will be great eye candy.

I am now basically just typing for the sake of typing as I just want to show you all these great pictures of the figure itself. In case you can't tell, I had a lot of fun trying to pose him for nice photos. The articulation of this figure is pretty good as I have little difficulty trying to get him into the position I wanted. I think he only lacks movement around the waist area and fingers, haha. But so far which figures have individual fingers movement? Not much I must say (Maybe only Unicron, Beast Machines' Optimus Primal and those MasterPieces), so there really isn't much to complain about this figure. If by now you have not fallen in love with it, please check your pulse to make sure you are still alive??

I do have difficulties finding a very good condition figure in retail as the QC problems of the Transformers: Animated series are really quite bad. Missing paints, scratches, dirty markings and other wierd stuffs smeared the figures. And these are still new in box!! Hasbro had better buck up on this aspect if they don't want to lose their customers. I personally have to go through 10+ boxes with the help of my gf to find the perfect flawless one. Luckily my gal is eagle eyed and can often spot all those minor defects that I normally missed out. Haha, I realised that bringing her along when I shopped for Transformers: Animated is turning out to be really really handy~~

Magnus's alternate mode is equally impressive as he takes up the disguise mode of a heavily armed missile vehicle that looks like a half tank half truck thingy. His hammer is tuck nicely behind him like a siren looking lights. His weapons can also be fully utilize in this mode in full glory as seen above.

I wonder why in the right mind did he choose this mode if he wants to avoid attention on earth~ But oh well, I'am glad he did. If not, we might not be getting such a fine toy. The transformation sequence is a lot of fun and well thought, creating another engineering marvel for us to toy with.

Ultra Magnus is very highly recommended by me if you have the slightest interest in robots. He is a great design and reimagination of the classic Magnus and really deserve his role now as the leader of Autobots after being 2nd in command for so long. Best of all, this is not just a simple white repaint of Prime himself. Do yourself a favour and get him now for a bargain~ Top notch!!

The United Nation Coming Together

2008-12-15T22:29:00.005+08:00

Whew, with the capture of Superlink/Energon Grand Convoy and Omega Supreme today (thanks to Sotong and Wenkai for accompanying me and helping me check my stuff), my aim of having all the Prime combiners are now complete. I am looking forward to merge them all and showcase them to everyone. All these is made possible with the help of several of my buddies.

It has not been an easy task finding the combiners as even the latest Galaxy Force's Sonic Convoy is a figure that is at least made 3-4 years ago. There are only 5 Prime Combiners that have ever been made in the history of Transformers toys if I did not remember wrongly, and now they are finally gathered boy am I happy~ Please awaits the unleashed real soon.

El Classico

2008-12-14T15:45:00.005+08:00

I seldom stayed up so late to catch a soccer match. So a match that is worth me staying awake till 5am must be something special. It's the El Classico, Barcelona vs Real Madrid held at Nou Comp. With Barcelona in such a rich rein of form and Real Madrid just having their manager replaced, the pre match predictions was all on a Barcelona win. But I have watch enough matches to know that in soccer, things are never so straight forward.

The match started at 5am sharp and I was pleased to see that Barcelona has almost a full squad to choose from. Real Madrid on the other hand is depleted with injuries to many key players. I was anticipating a fantastic match as both teams still possesses 11 players who can walk into any team in the world. Barcelona was dominating proceedings as usual with their style of possession football, attacking Real with waves and waves of attack. However, they keep running out of space when it comes to the final ball. Real Madrid on the other hand can only rely counter attacks in the hope of any Barcelona slip up. However, something else disgusted me thoughout the first half. The Real players were resorting to rough and unfair play in order to stop Barcelona. Messi alone was at the end of several disgusting challanges just in first 30 minutes or so. I knew it was inevitable from the start that Messi was going to get rough up as he was at times unplayable. Real Madrid was never going to stop him through legal means with him going in full stride.

However, the way that Real was playing is just so... unReal. They are simply not here to play football as they seems much more interested in breaking Messi's legs at times. With players like Sergio Ramos and Gago in particularly guilty. I can understand teams of a lesser talent like Blackburn or Sunderland resorting to such tactics, but Real Madrid?? How low have they fallen?? If the Referee had been a bit more stricter, Real would have seen red several times already.

One thing that I have to give credit to Real is that, they managed to exploit the one weak point in the Barcelona team at the moment. They keep on attacking through Barca's right side of the defence and getting plenty of space to operate there. Dani Alves was the right back for Barcelona on the night. I'am not saying that he is not a good player. In fact, he is currently one of the world's leading right wing back, always bombing down the right side with pace and skills. However, whenever he does that, he is leaving a big hole behind him, therefore leaving space for oppopnent to exploit. Barca was lucky that Real's left winger was Roysten Drenthe. If it was someone of a bit more decent caliber, Barca would have been shred apart on the right. I think Real really got a lousy deal getting Drenthe as he is simply not living up to his name as one of Dutch's youth team best player.

In the 2nd half, Real was playing more decently and matching Barca to a certain extent. However, Barca exert their dominance after a while and even got a penalty which E'too missed. I thought the match was destined to end up in a stalemate when suddenly in the 87th mintue, Barca score from a corner through E'too. I was thrilled and in the end, the match ended 2-0 as Messi inflicted the killer blow to Real in the 91st mintue. Justice has been served and I was a happy man eager to go to bed. Football... ahhh.. Barcelona always empotise the way I thought football should be played. I am so in love with them.

Not Too Bad A Job

2008-12-14T02:41:00.005+08:00

It has been 2 1/2 months since I have gotten my job. Times really flies fast and without knowing it, my confirmation date is near. My boss talked to me last week and said that there is no need to wait for the 3 months to be up, he wants to confirm me now. I really wonder if that was a compliment, haha. Anyway, I must say that the job is much more challenging and interesting than I have previously imagined. The people here are very nice and helpful to me so far. course, I must say that my boss is a very good one so far. Hopefully you won't see me complaining too much here in future. I hope to do well in my job and perform to the best I can even though sometimes it's not entirely up to me alone. With the current recession going on, I'am just glad that I have a job, though it's not too bad a job~

The Lord Of Decepticon: Animated Megatron

2008-12-01T00:13:00.018+08:00

Well, I already told you I got this as a gift, so it won't be very nice if I delayed sharing it with you, isn't it? Here's Transformers: Animated Megatron and I can tell you straight away that he is just awesome.

This Megatron is a Leader class figure whose alternate Earth mode is an attack helicopter. I would say it's like a product of Apache and Chinok making sweet sweet love~ if you know what I mean. You can manually turn one of the rotary wings and the other will automatically follow suits. The figure will also produce a chopper sound in this mode when you press the figure's chest decepticon insigna. A very slick mode overall.

The robot mode of this figure is just classic Megatron. A huge menacing frame with a big fusion cannon strapped to his arms, not to mentioned it is well coloured in grey and black. Any decent guy who has ever watched Transformers will have no difficulty recognising him.

Now, he even have two swords (Shown Below) that was transformed from his rotary wings to add to his arsenal. His posability is pretty good and I find him very well polished.

There is actually a voyager sized Megatron available on the market. However, it has a cybertron alternate mode which is a wierd shaped craft instead of the awesome earth mode helicopter. The alternate mode of that figure really feels very poor in my opinion. Under comparision, this Leader Class Megatron is much much more superior in every single departments. it can beat the voyager figure hands down with his eyes shut~ haha.

As you can see, Megatron is an extremely fun figure to play around with as you can strike a lot of poses with him for display pretty easily. If I have to point out one fault with this particular figurine, it will has to be his transformation sequence which is a little too simple for a Leader Class figure. Other than that, thumbs up for the Animated reinvention of the Decepticon leader.

A Decent Birthday After 3 Years

2008-11-30T23:40:00.005+08:00

It has been an eventful past week. On 21st of Nov, I celebrated the day I was borned into the world together with my girlfriend. I took a full day leave while she took a half day one. I knew that she spent a lot of effort to make sure it was an eventful day for me, so I was pretty happy before anything even started.

After meeting her, we went shopping for my present first at Orchard Road. After thinking and searching high and low, I finally decided to get Transformers: Animated Leader Class Megatron. I was so tempted to get Universe's gigantic Unicron instead (my Primus have to wait a while more before he reunite with his nemesis), but thinking that she is going to spend much more in the evening, I decided to go easy on her wallet, haha.

Around 5pm, we took the shuttle bus to Singapore Flyer. We walk around the place before boarding our Singapore's famous flyer. We were lucky enough to share the cabin with a few adults who was pretty quiet. I certainly cannot imagine spending half an hour inside the cabin with noisy children running around. Throughout our trip, we were busy taking pictures and looking around us. It was a very nice view especially at the very top of the flyer. On the way down, I enjoyed a peaceful moment with my love one by hugging her while overseeing the whole of Singapore. It feels really good.

After getting down, we proceeded to the seafood restaurant named "Seafood Paradise" there. The food was pretty outstanding even though prices are a bit on the steep side. We ordered some fresh steam prawns, coffee ribs which were tender and juicy, a deliciously cooked mee goreng and last but not least, their famous butter milk crab. The butter milk crab was one of the best crab dish I have eaten in a long time. The sauce was milky sweet with buttery fragrance and goes down very well with their fried "man tou." I have to give special mention to the service over here as this is one of the few places that I actually thought the 10% service charge was more than justified. It was a great meal overall as we finished it off with mango pudding and red bean paste.

After dinner, we went for the complimentary open top christmas bus ride which came free with the purchase of Flyer's tickets. It was a nice way to end the evening as the bus strolled around Orchard Road giving us a very good view of the lights and decorations. With the wind blowing against my cheeks, I felt wonderful. And I knew it's because of the person beside me more than anything else. Another reason for enjoying this birthday so much was because, for the past 3 years or so, I have been spending my birthday either in the exam hall or the tutorial room. So this is a change that I very much welcomed.

Welcome Back To My Arms, Ginrai!!

2008-11-18T22:20:00.017+08:00

This is so soo sooo nogalistic. A drop of tears appeared from the slit of my eyes when I see this box finally standing right in front of me. It's just like seeing an old friend revive again... Ginrai (Prime's name in the Japanese version in the Masterforce series), you are finally within my grasp again after all these years.

Opps, sorry that I got too emotional~ haha, I just can't help it. The reason for me getting all wishy washy? Well you see, I was fortunate enough to own the original Ginrai figure when I was a kid.. a mere 8 year old kid if I did not remember wrongly. That was my first official/original Optimus Prime toy and I was so thrilled when I received it. I toyed with it to no ends, bringing it out when I went outdoors. But due to me being a kid, I was careless and rough with it. Eventually, parts went missing and Ginrai finally breaks down and ends up in the garbage bin courtesy of my mum. I truly thought that I will never ever see it again~

If you have been reading my past post entries, you would know that I have a recent obsession with Prime Combiners, I am tracking down all the exisiting Prime Combiners that were ever made. While researching, I recalled that Ginrai actually have the ability to combine with another bot known as the God Bomber. God Bomber eluded me when I was a kid and it has always been one big regret (Another big regret is having Star Saber but never getting my hands on Victory Leo) that I have never gotten my hands on him. In order to complete my ultimate Prime Combiners grand collection, Ginrai + God Bomber is a must have since it is the first ever Prime Combiners.

The question is, should I track down the vintage Ginrai and God Bomber Wanting them is one thing, actually buying them and owning them is a totally different issue altogether. It would have been very very expensive to get both of them.

Imagine my joy when I found out that these 2 figures has been reissued as a giftset a few years back. When I saw the exisitance of the reissue, I told myself that there might not be another chance to own it again if I miss it this time round, especially with the reissue getting rarer in the market. With the reissue, the price is significantly cheaper than tracking down the vintage. As a bonus, I even managed to get a great bargain with this giftset. Extreme Satisfaction achieved indeed.

Ginrai is a character protrayed in the Japanese cartoon, Transformers: Super-God Masterforce. He is not exactly Prime in a sense. He is just a mere human who was transporting something and had his truck broke down on the way to the destination. He then rented himself a Transtector to complete his delivery.

However, in the glove box of the cab, he discovered a pair of Masterbraces and slipped them on his wrists, only to discover that he was unable to remove them. Later on, when he was attacked by the Decepticon Godmaster brothers Hydra and Buster, who forced the truck off a cliff. By accidentally touching both the bracelets together as he attempted to escape the crushed cab, Ginrai was infused with the Masterforce, and a suit of armor materialized around him, healing both himself and the Transtector.

His life was forever turned upside down when he discovered that he was an Autobot Godmaster and became bonded to a Transtector (which looks mysteriously like Prime) from the planet Master. Now wearing the visage of the legendary Autobot commander Optimus Prime, he found that the evil forces of the Decepticons were too great to ignore and decided to battle against it.

This story is very unique in a sense that there is no continuity from any other generations of Transformers. It acts as more like a stand alone story which was later continued by Transformers: Victory. Ginrai here is also a very special and different sort of Prime. He is one of the first ever Prime that promotes the idea of having the front cab (which can transform into a robot itself) of the truck combines with the trailer to become a super mode of himself. Ginrai himself transform into a cassette-like figure and attached himself to the front cab during the transformation.

The above picture shows the robot mode of Prime's front cab on the left hand corner, Prime's trailer transformed into a base in the center and of course God Bomber's vehicle mode on the right hand corner. Speaking of God Bomber, he is an upgrade for Ginrai which was created by Grand Maximus. When Grand Maximus arrived on Earth to inform Ginrai's Autobots of the impending arrival of the Decepticon super-weapon, Black Zarak, he provided them with the schematics necessary to create the drone Godbomber.

When combine with Ginrai, they formed the all power God Ginrai, a gigantic robot that possesses outstanding strength and firepower. Below shows God Ginrai in his fully upgraded form.

In case you can't tell, I really really have deep feelings for Ginrai. So getting him in his upgraded form to God Ginrai really brings a tear to my eye. I remebered fondly that he was bought for me by my 2nd uncle, who doted on me and my brothers. But times have passed and a lot have changed since then. I do not expect anything less as people are changing all the time. However, my heart still remains... hopefully I will remember this feeling forever till the day I myself end.

The Club I Love, Fc Barcelona

2008-11-09T10:01:00.006+08:00

Ole~Ole~Ole~Ole, Fc Barcelona has finally come good again this season. After 2 seasons of playing with no soul and passion, the new manager Pep Guardiola (their former captain) has now managed to awaken the spanish supreme again. Free flowing football, dominating games with possessions like no one else (maybe Arsenal comes close) and playing with a certain flair sprinkled with plenty of brilliance that gells effectively, they are now the free scoring side that I have come to love over the years. Having won their previous 4 games 6-1, 5-0, 1-4 and 6-0, they now have a +26 goal differences. Heck, Guardiola even managed to make their previously laughable defence into a decent one. You just have to give it to him for the impact he is making.

I was first introduced to Barcelona in the 1998-1999 season when the likes of Rivaldo, Luis Figo and Guardiola grace the pitch of Nou Camp. That was the first great Barcelona side that attracts me with their style of playing. Their emphasis of the game is always playing beautifully. For your information, their fans are a demanding group. You can scrape 1-0 wins and be the league leaders all the way, but you can be sure the fans will soon be showing their displeasure. Such is the expectations and traditions of this club. In a time when the football world was filled with rough plays and play actings, they were a refreshing lot. At a time when many of my age group fall in love with Manchester United after their magical 1999 Champions League win, I was mesmerized by Fc Barcelona. However, their decline started when the Portuguese wing wizard, Luis Figo left for their greatest rival of all time, Real Madrid. As a Barcelona fan, the seed of hatred for Real Madrid was planted at that very moment. In that few years, Rivaldo was getting old while their lynchpin, Guardiola retired. The end of a great era was near.

Their decline lasted about 5 seasons, which during the period, Real Madrid has obtained some of the best players in the world with their galactico policy. Their revival was sparked by a certain brazilian named Ronaldhino. After their last league victory, Barcelona did make a lot of efforts to replace the old guards. Big names come and go, but none could duplicate the success of Rivaldo and co. That was until 2003-2004 when Ronaldhino was signed. Signs were not good as his first season was blighted by injuries. However, he was at his brilliant best the following season, guiding Barcelona to victory in the league. However, he was not the only reason Barcelona won in that year. Eto'o emerged and was the goal poacher that Kluivert never was while the most crucial signing was Edgar Davids. Davids solidified Barca's midfield that was sometimes deemed too lightweighted and that really gave them the platform to attack and play with flair and creativity. Deco also came from Fc Porto to boost Barca's attack, which he did so very successfully. In the mean time, a little player known as Lionel Messi was slowly emerging.

The 05/06 season was the best season for Barcelona in a long time as they won the league and Champions League double. This was a Barcelona team that was applauded by the neutrals for the way they play their game. I was proud to witness the birth of what I deemed as the second great team of Barcelona after the Rivaldo's era. The European Cup was a long time coming as we were so often overshadowed by rival, Real Madrid when it comes to the European title. Victory was extra sweet when Real Madrid has been substandard in the competition in recent years. However, like all good things, this will all eventually come to an end again.

After 2 extremely successful years, things started to all went wrong. Although Arsenal's legendary striker, Thierry Henry arrive, he never did adjust to Barca's style of playing. Ronaldhino was also starting to play below his normally high standards. Barcelona then went 2 years without winning anything. The 07/08 season was a disatrous one for him as injuries hit and morale of the team hit an all time low. Ronaldhino was said to be needing a new challenge to respark his career. At the start of 08/09 season, Ronaldhino was sold to Ac Milan while Deco was sold to Chelsea. Even the manager was changed, Frank Rijkaard was replaced by a former Barca legend, Pep Guardiola. I was fearing for the worst, will history repeat itself and another long transition period awaits after 2 of their most influential players were gone? How are they going to replace such big names? Will the inexperience Guardiola be able to raise mighty Barcelona once again and play the football that it is famous for?

The start of the season was not good, but after a slow start, they are now absolutely flying. Eto's is now playing again like he did 2-3 years ago when he was scoring goals for fun, while young players like Iniesta and the prodigy Lionel Messi are now starting to play with a confidence like never before. With Xavi pulling the strings in midfield and Puyol marshalling the defence, they are playing some of the best football that I have seen for quite some time from any team. Barcelona have not played like this since Ronaldhino was world player of the year a few years back. Even Henry is starting to look good now. Will they win anything by the end of the season? No one knows for sure about that, but one thing is certain, the spirit of Fc Barcelona is back again.

The Original Autobot Leader, Optimus...

2008-11-05T23:32:00.022+08:00

It seems fitting that I should talk about the toy update of Optimus Prime himself after talking about his successor in the previous post. This is the Optimus Prime figure which belongs to the same toyline as Rodimus Prime. Unlike Rodimus who is a deluxe size figure, this is a voyager size one. Pretty fitting for Optimus Prime. The US Hasbro version of this figure is Transformers: Universe, while the Japan Takara version is well known as, Hinkei! Hinkei! Transformers.

This figure is the one from Takara. So what's the major differences between the Hasbro and the Takara version? For a start, Takara's paintwork is much better and they have lots of shiny chrome parts for their figures in this series. I have seen the Hasbro version of this figure in it's box, and I am dissapointed to say that the QC is not good at all. Paintwork is sloppy and it really spoils this wonderful update of Prime. In short, I find that the Hasbro version is not doing this character any justice.

The alternate mode of this figure is a truck but without the trailer that the original Prime has. I'am not too disappointed with that though as in a way, it's a blessing in disguise. Any trailer included in the package would have make this really expensive. Even without any trailer, this looks really close to the G1 Prime that we have all come to know very well of. The front part of the vehicle is nicely chromed and the blue transparent window really looks very nice. All this small things add a touch of class to the vehicle mode. The whole vehicle feels solid in hand and rolls pretty well on the ground for those of you who like to go Vroom~~ Vroom~~~ with your toy car, haha.

The transformation for the alternate mode to robot mode is challanging at first if you don't look at the manual. It is pretty complex but funz to play with if you try to figure it out by yourself. The robot mode is superbly well done, Optimus Prime looks very nice in this mode as he looks very close to what he looks like in the G1 cartoons. If he is without the two window shields attached to his hands, he will look even more perfect. Hinkei! Hinkei! has so far done a very good job with all it's updates on the classic characters. You can see that his face is classic Prime with his signature faceplate on with the close up shot above. The Autobot sigma imprinted onto his shoulder also serve to enhance his details.

The gimmick of this figure is that parts of the vehicle can be use as Prime's weapon. His vehicle smokechute can be transform into his weapon in robot mode as shown on the left while the vehicle's rooftop can also be transform into an ion blaster sort as shown in the pictures at the bottom. This give him the power to dual wield weapons like a mighty warrior should~ Maybe if he had two guns instead of one during his fight with Megatron in the movie, he would'nt have died.

The final gimmick of this toy is that you can combine both the weapons to form a small weapon shoulder pack for Prime. It's a nice touch and something different if your Prime is feeling lazy holding them all the time.

Anyone buying this and expecting a new kind of Prime will be disappointed as this is more of an upgrade from the original G1 toys with good articulations and soild joints rather than a reinvention of Prime like the Animated series. However if you are planning on having a classic looking Prime, this Hinkei! Prime is the one to go for.

Arise Rodimus Prime...Light Our Darkest Hour

2008-11-02T11:56:00.025+08:00

I am so excited when I see this figure being available. Due to the toyline US toyline of Transformers Universe, a lot of classic characters are being redesigned and reintroduced. At around the same time, Japan came out with the Hinkei! Hinkei! toyline series which mimics the US's Transformers Universe toyline, differing only in paintworks, colour scheme and some additional chromes. Generally, I find that the Japan version looks nicer overall, so this is one of the classic Hinkei! figures that caught my eye. Sleek and futuristic design of this vehicle mode makes it pleasant on the eye. And the back story behind this character just makes it difficult to ignore him.

Before I go into the figure itself, I want to share with you the history of this character. Unlike some of the characters who sometimes seems to be too one dimension, Hotrod's character is immensely interesting. Another reason that I want to share this with you is because he is one of my favourite Autobots characters in the series.

He was first introduced in the 1986 Transformers The Movie as a new character. At that time, he was a rookie bot named Hotrod. Young and full of passion, he can be reckless and full of self confidence at times. His key moment in the movie was being somehow indirectly responsible for Optimus Prime's death as he interrupted the epic fight of Prime Vs Megatron. He did it out of good will of helping Prime, however he ended up being held hostage by Megatron. Prime was killed due to this reckless act, but before he died he managed to deal a fatal blow to Megatron. After this incident, Hotrod forever hold the title for the one indirectly responsible for the death of their supreme commander.

At the death bed of Optimus Prime, he pass the Autobot's Creation Matrix to Ultra Magnus in the hope that it will help light the Autobot's darkest hour one day. His predictions prove to be true in the near future. A huge monstrous being known as Unicron appears and threaten the very existance of the Transformers. Unicron reformatted Megatron and his fallen troops and transformed them into new deceptions lead by the reformatted Megatron, now known as Galvatron. Galvatron's mission was simple, to locate and eliminate the only one thing Unicron feared, the Creation Matrix.

A flurry of epic battles went on, Galvatron finally obtained the Matrix but then decided to betray Unicron. He and some of the Autobots ended up within Unicron's body~~(I won't go into detail on how they end up there, just go watch the movie, it's really good). After several significant events, Galvatron and Hotrod stand face to face on a 1 vs 1 battle. Just as Galvatron was about to dismantle Hotrod, Hotrod caught hold of the Matrix and yank it right off Galvatron. The most significant moment of the movie has arrived, with the Matrix in hand glowing with intent, Hotrod heard a familiar voice saying, "Arise Rodimus Prime..." Optimus Prime has called upon the new Autobot leader, the almighty Rodimus Prime was born.

Hotrod has been upgraded and transformed into Rodimus Prime. In his new upgraded form, he easily bested Galvatron and throws him out of the picture. He proceeds to try and open the Matrix and succeeded in doing so, destroying Unicron in the process (This is easily the best and most emotional part of the movie). Rodimus Prime saved Cybertron and the entire universe from the Unicron threat. Optimus Prime was right, the Matrix lighted their darkest hour, and how shiny it turns out to be. The new leader of the Autobots have arised.

Now that was quite a story isn'nt it? The classic rookie rise to the top story that is done very very nicely. Let's get back to the Universe toy that I have mentioned at the top of this post. The figure pays very good homage to the classic Hotrod/Rodimus Prime. However, I am a bit confused over who it is actually representing. The alternate mode shows a sleek sport car which is Hotrod's alternate mode (Rodimus Prime's mode is slightly different from Hotrod's. Rodimus's alternate mode includes a trailer). But the robot mode looks suspiciously like Rodimus, who is bigger in built and sports a much more mature and sterner face than Hotrod. Well, see and judge for yourself who it is representing~ I shall just call him Rodimus Prime for the rest of the post.

As I have already mentioned, Rodimus's alternate mode looks very Hotrodish~ It is a slick futuristic sports car (At least it was very futuristic in 1986). Rodimus has a weapon that can be attached to the back of his vehicle mode to act as flame, giving the impression that the vehicle is travelling at hyper speed. It looks real nice and neatly done, very nice gimmick.

Rodimus Prime's robot mode looks real good and display details like the flame on his chest with the Autobot sign. Despite of it being just a deluxe size figure, the figure has some good articulations and can be posed in a variety of ways. The paintwork on this figure is good and eye catching, making it very similar to the G1 classic figure. The transformations of this figure is also pretty interesting but I can't compare it with the G1 version of this figure as I don't own it. I think this should be an improvement over it since engineering has gone a long way since. I just love the way this figure pays homage to the original, wonderful stuff. If they have the technology to make Rodimus in 1986, I have no doubt this will be the way it will be done.

Even though I like this figure a lot, I do hope that they release Rodimus as a bigger figure in the future, in the form of either a leader class figure or even as a Masterpiece. He deserve it as he is truly one of the most interesting character in the entire Transformers universe. Till all are one!!

Makan Ba Kut Teh~~

2008-11-01T23:57:00.003+08:00

Hidden at a little corner at Eunos, I heard that there lies a stall selling nice Ba Kut Teh. Having tasted it once with my girlfriend, I find that it is indeed heavenly. The soup is peppery just the way I like it, while the pork knuckles taste smooth and smacking melts in the mouth soft~~ Hahaha, okok, maybe I am exaggerating a little bit too much. But I must honestly say that the Ba Kut Teh here tastes quite good for the price that we are paying.

Yesterday, I decided to meet up with the guys for dinner over there as it is a friday weekend. Many of the guys could'nt make it, so only Jianxu, Jinhan, Wenkai and Daniel came. We ordered two bowls of medium size Ba Kut Teh and a large pork knuckle. We also ordered You Tiao and salty vegetables to go with them. Each of us had two bowls of rice and in the end all got too full to even move about~ As I still owe Jianxu a makan, I though I might as well treat all the guys around for the meal since the meal is not too expensive. After the meal, we mingle around and chatted for quite some time before leaving the coffeeshop.

Later on, Wenkai and Daniel decided to come to my house to do some gaming exercise. We played Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros Brawl for most of the night. It was good funz. We were later join by Christopher and we played through the night. They left around 5am+ which by the time I was already shacked out. Tiring night but good jolly funz~~ It's nice to have this once in a while~

Encore #9 Omega Supreme: The Guardian

2008-10-27T21:18:00.018+08:00

After the first 4 G1 reissue (Covered earlier in the blog) of the Encore series, nothing particularly interesting caught my attention to warrant a purchase. (Sky Lynx came close but I resisted~) However, Omega Supreme is an entire different entity. This original vintage Omega Supreme which was produced in 1985 is considered to be one of the holy grails among collectors and it's so darn expensive to track one down. Therefore, I was estatic that this character is rereleased for the Encore series. If not for the reissue, I would never have a chance to own him.

Omega Supreme is one of the largest Autobots in the entire G1 series, rivaled maybe only by Metroplex and of course the incredible Fortress Maximus. It's robot form is titanic and he often act as the last line of defence for the Autobots with his massive frame and overwhelming firepower. He hates the Decepticon's Constructicons and will stop at nothing at destroying them. As for why he hates them and what is his origin, blah blah blah~~~ you can check it out through the net as I will not dwell on that.

Omega Supreme is a unique figure by itself as he can transform into three different alternate modes unlike having only one alternate mode like any other Transformers. (Yes, I know, there are quite a few triple changers out there like G1 Astrotrain, Animated Blitzwing, etc... but this is different.) The thing that make him special is not only having three different alternate modes, it's having the three modes coexisting at the same time.

Omega Supreme is mainly used by the Autobots as a transporter as much as a defender. Thus, it's no surprise that his alternate modes consist of a large rocket base, an armoured tank that can travel on the tracks of the base, and of course a rocket for launching. Another unique feature of Omega Supreme is that it actually has the capabilities of moving on its own. He contains a battery operated motor that will allow the robot to move slowly forward on it's own, or allow the tank mode to go round the tracks choo-choo train style. Fantastic design for a 1985 toy huhz?

All in all, the Encore series that is still running now is an excellent chance for any Transformers fans to own those hard to get G1 classic toys. The figures that has been chosen to be release in the series so far are pretty outstanding. With #11 Thundercracker and Skywarp set (not very interested in these seekers) and #12 Metroplex (you know I'am gonna get you soon~) out now, the line is going stronger than ever. I am looking forward to more goodies in the line. Fortress Maximus or Devastator, anyone??? (The image to the left is obtained from Transformer Wiki)

Brothers In Arm!!! Arise Omega Prime!!

2008-10-23T00:09:00.014+08:00

It has finally arrived (with the help of Jianxu). Transformers R.I.D Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus mint in their respective boxes. The first thing that I did when I received them was to wrap them up to protect them. These stuff is near 7 years old so I thought it will be nice to protect them with tender care. The two figures are about the same size and has one ultimate gimmick, which is to merge together to form the fabled Omega Prime.

Let me first introduce Prime from this R.I.D series. I have never ever seen the series so most of the information I put here is from the site "Transformers Wiki". Optimus Prime was created, along with Ultra Magnus, by Alpha Trion. They were raised up together, and thus, see each other as brothers. However, the close relationship that they have was torn apart after the Cybertron Civil Wars, where the Matrix chose Optimus Prime to command the Autobots in the face of threat caused by Megatron. Ultra Magnus left Cybertron that very same day feeling bitter and spiteful of his brother. After that, Prime came to earth to fight the Decepticons where he took the form of a fire engine truck as his alternate mode.

Matters got worse when Ultra Magnus appeared on Earth, making his desire to take the Matrix from Optimus Prime. Optimus refused to fight Magnus, and was thus mercilessly fired upon. Prime was rescued by his subordinates to rest on an deserted island. However, Magnus and Megatron both tracked down Prime. In the middle of the battle, Magnus forcibly activated their ability to combine into Omega Prime, intending to use it to drain Prime of his energy so that he could take the Matrix, however Optimus managed to take control of their combined mode and managed to stop the Decepticons in the end. Ultra Magnus's forced fusion resulted in both of them now sharing the Matrix's power, which led to Magnus's attitude softening towards Prime.

As you can see from the above picture, Omega Prime is very big and bulky. It is said to be the most powerful incarnation of Prime of all time with no peers. (this is subjected to personal view of course~) This picture to the right is obtain from "Transformers Wiki" as well as i thought the artwwork looks ubercool. I am recently more and more into Prime combiners. With this latest purchase, I am getting more and more convinced that Prime combiners are very worthy of keeping due to the fact that one, it's Prime. Second, they normally look big and awesome. What's better than a big robot? Well, 2 big robots combining into a monster of a robot, that's what~~ Prepare to see more Prime combiners here in future!!!~

BMTC I'am Back!!!

2008-10-17T21:14:00.006+08:00

It has been a week since my brother entered BMTC in Tekong. I took half day leave to accompany him with my parents and grandma on enlistment day. Needless to say, he was pretty tense at the ferry terminal. Looking at him, I cannot help but think of 5 years ago when I was in the exact same position as him. Except that during my enlistment day, only my dad and my brother was there with me. He was still laughing at me that day and saying that he can go home and play games now without me fighting over them with him. Haaa... how times have change and roles have switched. I look around and saw a Captain sitting nearby. I told my bro that my current position in my job now as a civilian staff officer is equivalent to his rank. He gave me that disbelief face and ask me is he big? I laughed replying, "He's going to be your OC or MO inside and you are going in as a recruit~ So what do you think?"

Taking the ferry "Penguin", a familar feeling emerged from within. the seats, the smell of the sea, the television at the front. All these are just so familar to me. I was looking forward to stepping onto Tekong~ haha. I can't say the same for my brother though. But I can understand that perfectly. Upon reaching the famous island, my brother was brought to exchange for his 11B (He won't see his IC for his next 2 years~), while we families were brought to tour the bunks where my brothers and the other recruits will sleep. We were shown recreational areas with tv and pool table. I told my parents to forget it, they will never get to use them as far as I know~ haha.

Next up, a 2wo gave us an introduction of a what the recruits will be using for their time here. Gee, it feels funny but, I remember 2wo to be very intimidating. Somehow, they look very ordinary to me now. I guess it's because I get to work with them as a specialist after my BMTC life. They're now like uncles to me.

Finally, we took a walk to the canteen. On the way there, we walk past BMTC school 2 and I saw my company. The "U" company!! As I walk past the running tracks, visions of me and my fellow mates doing our morning 5BX, training, getting punished and marching on the very same track fills my head. It all happens on the very same ground that I am standing on right now. The feeling is pretty nice, it brought a smile to my face. I guess this is what they meant by memories are always the best (I'am sure I don't feel that way when I was getting punished here 5 years ago).

After the canteen sight seeing~, we went into the hall to listen to the new recruits take their oath. The words ring a bell as I thought they would. The school commander then have a meet the parents session. Wow, it lasts almost an hour. I can't believe it but the parents nowadays got a 101 questions to ask about (Mostly related to the welfare of their son). Guess they forget that they are not here for a vacation.

Finally, we meet up with my brother in the cookhouse for our together meals before we leave him there. The food was okay, but by now I can see the sian 1/2 look on my brother's face. Before we left for the ferry terminal, I took a final swibe at him. "I'am going home to use your new com now!~". I'am glad I took time off to accompany him here. It was a nice feeling overall.

Soundwave The Gitaroo Man

2008-10-16T22:07:00.016+08:00

This is a piece i bought from the Transformers: Animated line some time ago. It's a redesign of a very cool character that I have always adored. Here's some clues~ He's blue, he's cool and he has a loyal servant with him all the time. Guessed who he is yet?

In case you still don't recognise him, he's Soundwave in animated style. Only this time round, he's not a casettee player. His alternate mode is the blue bumber car as shown above. The car has light blue designs over it in homage of his sound-inducing G1 casettee player. His robot mode though is pretty familar looking. Fans of him will most definitely recognise him as the basic features of Soundwave is still here. Especially his chest, which can be open G1 style~ So where the hell is his loyal servant that I have been talking about?

Here he is~~ Ta da~~ The guitar is his servant~~ isn'nt that nice and cool looking? In case you are wondering what the hell is that guitar doing in Soundwave's hands? I did'nt just pluck a random toy guitar and stuck it into his pair of hands. This is the accessory that came packed with the figure.

This is our familar Laserbeak, back again on another outing with his master. Now that his master is no longer a cassette player, of course he no longer remains a cassette. His alternate form is a guitar and he is still swift looking as ever in his condor form.

I'am sure that if you have read my previous posts, you should by now figure out that I am a Soundwave fan. And I rate this Soundwave figure pretty highly even though this figure is a bit small (It's only a deluxe sized figure). Hope you enjoyed the pictures~!

Galaxy Convoy + Sonic Bomber = ???

2008-10-11T01:29:00.000+08:00

This is it.... Ta Da!!! my personal Holy Grail so far, Galaxy Convoy (Ala Galaxy Prime). This piece is from the Galaxy Force/Cybertron series that I am currently collecting. I have chosen the Galaxy Force version for this figure as the Cybertron versions still available nowadays are all of an alternate colour scheme, which is black and red coloured Prime. To me, the traditional Prime colour still look the best. Furthurmore, I could'nt resist the chrome and extra detail that they put on this Jap piece. I don't know if its my eyes playing tricks on me, but i feel that the US Cybertron version does not look as nice as the Jap Galaxy Force version in this case.

However, this Jap Galaxy Force Convoy does not come easy as it is almost non exisiting in the market as I have visited several hobby shops locally and still can't find one. I even had someone gone to Japan helping me find this figure in MISB, but it was also not to be found. This came as a big surprise to me as I really expect Japan to still have them.

Thus, I almost given up my hope to have a new piece when this rare piece appeared on sale as a package with another figure, Sonic Bomber (I will get to that figure in a while) online locally. After thinking about it for a while, I bought them both. Boy, am I feeling satisfied~~

As you can see from the pictures here,
the alternate mode of this robot is a fire engine truck that is armed to the teeth with huge cannons. This is one of the nicer truck design that Convoy has gotten in recent years. The Armada and Energon series's alternate mode pales in comparison with this version in my humble opinion. The fire truck can also be transformed into a jet like vehicle, complete with it's own wings. The front part of the truck becomes the regular robot Convoy like all previous incarnations of Prime, while the trailer of the truck can act as a weapon launcher base. Pretty inpressive, especially if you placed Prime together with the weapon launcher base. It looks just like he is manning the launchers like an one man army.

This is the mode where Galaxy Convoy shines. When the regular Convoy combines with his trailer, Galaxy Convoy super mode is formed. This figure is huge and menancing looking. With the awesome big wings and two humongous cannons by it's side, he looks stunning. This was the mode that caught my attention to this figure in the first place and it sure does'nt dissapoint now that I have finally get my hands on it. So, surely it cannot get any better than this, right? Well it did, much to my surprise, the best is yet to come. Read on and you will know how is that even possible. Next up is Sonic Bomber. I will show the pics of him in box to you as promised.

This is Sonic Bomber (known as Wing Saber in the Cybertron version). When searching for Galaxy Convoy, I have no intention of getting this in the first place. But due to the fact that the seller is selling them as a set, I have no choice but to obliged. But it turns out to be a blessing in disguise as Sonic Bomber is that figure that I never knew I wanted. Now that I have him, I don't want to live without him again. Hahaha.

This is the back of the packaging that Sonic Bomber came in. His alternate mode is a fighter jumbo jet and it seems that it is armed to the teeth. In robot mode, Sonic Bomber uses two blades for combat, samurai style~ The main difference between the Galaxy Force and Cybertron version for him is that the chest plate for him is chromed beautifully in the Galaxy Force version. While the Cybertron one has normal yellow painted chest plate. I have heard that the blades is also only chromed in the Galaxy Force version. So, who is that in the bottom right corner of this picture? Looks familiar, does'nt he? Everyone, arise and hail to Sonic Convoy!!!

It turns out that Sonic Bomber is a combiner of Galaxy Convoy. You can't imagine how excited I was when I knew this (I have'nt really sit down and finish the anime of Galaxy Force so I did'nt knew Sonic Convoy existed at this point). Sonic Bomber replaced Galaxy Convoy's trailer in this combination and combine with him in a way similar to Galaxy Convoy super mode. The result is a magnificent robot with Convoy at the center of attraction while Sonic Bomber act as an armour upgrade for him. He looks every bit like a knight in shining armour especially with the chromed chest plate and the twin blades. The strength of Convoy and the speed and grace of Sonic Bomber. Superb figure indeed.

It's a shame that I cannot release the figures from their boxes yet. I would have loved to show you the exact toy instead of these images from the boxes. I promised that I will do that in future once i sort out space to display my stuffs. Next up, my target will be the ultimate combiner of all time, the almighty Omega Prime from Transformers: R.I.D series. Enjoy~!~!~!~

A Trip To CSC With The Guys

2008-09-26T14:28:00.007+08:00

Wenkai ask me to accompany him to China Square yesterday to look for his Transformers: Binaltech. This is a series that has the transformer's alternate mode modeled after real life cars, and so far it's the only one that attracts him to make a purchase.

I asked Maxwell along as he always wanted to visit the place but was not sure of the location. I also asked Jianxu along since he was also interested in the some of the figures sold there. This time round I did'nt ask the others as it was a short trip where not everyone would be interested.

Once we reached there, we visited the individual shops and was unable to find what Wenkai wanted. There were a few shops that might have, but they were closed~~ too bad for him. I think we were a bit too late there as we have to wait for everyone to finish their job before joining us. A bonus find though was that I found out that I got my Transformers: RID Omega Prime set much cheaper than what they are selling there (can't wait for them to arrive). Got myself a good bargain this time round.

Dinner was at the chinatown market. We each ordered our own and were sad to say that the food was quite disappointing. Not what we expected from a market famous for pretty good food. I ordered dumplings for us all to share. Cost of food has to be shared though, cause my budget now is according to what I have enough to spend on myself but not on others~ Maybe next time bros~~ looking forward to the time when we can treat each other freely~~

Toonsquad Forever

2008-09-26T14:04:00.004+08:00

Met my long time friends twice this Tuesday night. It's been long since we have ever get out together as a big group for dinner and chatting.

Met Wenkai, Weisheng, Jianxu, Daniel, Christoper, Maxwell, Jianwen and Wei Lun at Bedok 85 market for our dinner. Order tons of food to makan and update each other on ourselves. Jianwen was late due to work and we have to leave some food for him. Nowadays all busy with their own stuff, I guess very soon it will be my turn once my work start. We ate till we can hold no more in our tummy before we decided to go to East Coast Park for a chillout.

At East Coast, some of us decided to bowl while the others just watch us. We were halfway through when Kai Ee shows up and join us. We had a bet overall on treating the game and a drink to all for the losers. Maxwell and I lost ( I really sucks pretty much at bowling :p) but the guys were never really serious about asking us to treat as they were just joking. That's what I like about us. Our group never have the intentions of taking advantage of each another. Instead, care and concern is there when you need them. I don't know about the future, but for now, I still like the group very much. I think the feeling is there mutually, if not, we won't function for almost 10 years together.

The day ended with us each buying a drink and gather around chatting away under a shelter near the sea. It was great fun (cannot forget Kai Ee's face when he drank that unknown Big Glup) and really reminds me of the past, We used to do that a lot during our secondary school days. We play soccer almost everyday after school, we had our meals together, we go window shopping at tampines mall. We practically spend anytime outside our own house doing stuff together. Ah~~ the memories.

But now that all of us have grown up, we have a lot of personal things to take care of. Each of us has our own problems and issues to take care of. Time spent together will definitely be lesser than before. Even within this big group, we might be closer to some or further to some due to interests, workscopes and lifestyles. But I hope that we'll cherish this relationship no matter where we go in our different path of life. May we last many more 10 years together.

Transform And Roll Out! Optimus!

2008-09-22T10:43:00.017+08:00

I am back yet again with another Transformers: Animated figure as promised. This is Optimus Prime, who is normally the supreme commander of the autobots in the series. In this series, however, he is not ( that honor goes to Ultra Magnus ), and instead is just a washout from the elite guards due to certain reasons. He is young and wanted to be a hero more than anything else. Now on earth, he is learning his trade as a young officer and leading a group of autobots to help defend earth from any external threats.

This is a very different Optimus Prime character that we are talking about here. However, a look at the figure and you should be able to tell that it's Optimus alright. The pictures here shows the alternate mode of Optimus. This is a fire engine style truck, which is the earth mode he took when he arrived on earth. The truck's rear portion is actually his weapon ion axe and his extinguisher cannon.

This is the truck mode without the rear compartment. It looks like the standard vehicle that is always used throughout all the series that will change to Optimus himself. The transformation to robot mode itself is a little tricky as this figure has an auto-morph gimmick that involves pressing a button on his butt to allow his lower part of the body to flip down and to be rotated into the proper position for robot mode. But you can easily find the video online to show you the proper way to do it. Do not force your way as it will spoil the mechanism.

Behold, robot mode Optimus Prime. Looks fantastic isn'nt it? Without a doubt this is Optimus alright. The major colours used on the figure is classic Optimus colours, red, blue and grey. He looks great and have a decent amount of articulations to allow for some nice poses. He is a well proportioned figure and feels pretty solid overall. This is a voyager class figure and there are other sizes of optimus also available. There are the dexlue size cybertron mode Optimus, which I find a tad too skinny. And the supreme sized roll-out command Optimus, which I find a bit too big and bulky. There are even mini versions of him now known as activators. However, The voyager size to me is the best of them all.

Optimus can also have his faceplate pulled down as shown above, revealing his face. Very wierd to me at first, I just like the classic prime with his classic faceplate. Well, maybe the face will grow on me over time like the series have.

On a whole, I am very satisfied with this figure, although the axe that came along with the toy is not very cartoon accurate, it is still a nice weapon for posing. It's amazing how Optimus has grown throughout the years, yet retaining his unique feel that never fails to let us identify him. That is really a true measure of an extremely successful character and I hope that the legacy will remain forever. Enjoy the pictures, "Autobots, Transform and Roll Out!"

A Point To Make

2008-09-21T23:30:00.016+08:00

A lot of my friends and relatives were quite stunned when they found out that I started collecting Transformers figures. They had their comments and their own set of reasonings on why i should'nt waste money on them. Their comments make me feel that I am doing something bad and make me feel that they won't pity me if one day i fallen into hardship cause I waste my money on useless stuffs. Wow, is it that serious? I mean, they don't spend money on food, entertainment, cars, drinks and etc...?

Yeah, I understand that I complained that I am poor after buying them, but don't they as well? Don't they always also grumbled at how poor they are after paying for their petrol, buying whatever they like, get a new computer etc...? I mean that's life right? We all have the right to grumble and complain about being poor after wasting some of our money, don't we?

Then comes my question, what is considered wasting money? To me, the meaning and perspective of wasting money might be very different from yours. What I deemed valuable and sentimental might seems utterly useless and no meaning to you. And that of course applies the other way round.

There are people who collects stamps and coins. To me, they might be consider just pieces of papers and metals and not worth my time.

There are people who collects branded bags that they never ever use. To me, it's a waste of money and space.

There are people who spends on cigarettes and smokes like there is no tomorrow despite knowing that it will harm their health. To me, they are just doing what we all know, slow-sucide.

There are people who buys so many shoes that they are unlikely to ever run out of them in his/her lifetime. To me, I only have a pair of legs...(Well, you get what I mean :p)

There are people who spends all their earnings to party all the time and tell me it's social entertainment. To me, it's well... oh nvm...

And the list will go on and on and on... You see, the point is, it is always easy to dismiss someone's interest and passion especially if you yourself holds no such passion for that particular thing. It's one thing to give constructive comments out of goodwill ( I don't really approve of people going to pub partying whole night long, but I understand that it's an interest for some of my friends. So normally I will just tell them not to do that too often, but I respect the fact that they will know their limits). But it's another thing to criticise it till the point that it is like the most evil thing that you have ever laid your eyes on?

To me, collecting Transformers figures is an interest, a hobby and it is something that has great sentimental value. It is link with something dear to my memories and seeing them just makes me happy. I don't know why, but it just happens that way. I don't steal and I don't beg to obtain them. I spend within my own limits and will never ever borrow to purchase them. I hope I did'nt hurt anyone with my hobby.

Not all of those around me have been critical though. Some of them are really supportive and encouraging towards my hobby. I thanked them for their understanding and respect for the things I loved. It is not easy to find a hobby that you have interest and passion for. I have seen friends who have told me they feel that they felt empty in life as they have no interest for things even though they have plenty of money. That's sad in my opinion.

I don't ask for much, just some understanding and respect for my hobby that is not something really as bad as smoking~~ There are worse things in life, and I am pretty sure this is not one of them.

The process of tracking those rare pieces of Transformers down and buying them for bargain prices just intrigued me. Touching and feeling them just feels oh so good. I am proud to own these babies.

Fine Sunday~

2008-09-21T23:16:00.003+08:00

Had a good night sleep last night and accompanied my family together with my grandma to have ba kut teh today. My mum suggested it, and we happily obliged. I drive for the journey to the place with my dad guiding me for directions. I am really very bad at recognising roads and places. Wonder how would I drive next time all by myself~ Once we reach the place (I forgot the name of the place...duhz...), it was already very crowded. I heard that the ba kut teh here is suppose to be very famous.

The food was okay only in my opinion. For the price that we are paying, I was expecting the quality to be much better. But I think it's a case of overhyped here. They do have teapots for you to make tea to go with your food with, makes it feel a wee bit different from eating in a hawker. Overall, not worth the money~

My mum and grandma decided to go Bugis OG for some shopping afterwards. This time round, I left the driving to my dad while I relax~ we dropped them at Bugis before heading home ourselves. Lazy to shop around and I am just anticipating the Chelsea VS Man Utd match tonight~ don't wanna go out and end up missing it.

A New Generation Of Transformers!! Grimlock returns!!

2008-09-17T12:43:00.019+08:00

A while back when I first saw the news that they are going to come up with a new transformers cartoon series known as Transformers: Animated, I was excited. What kind of designs are they going to come up with now? A whole new line of figures to look forward to.

However, when i finally saw the first screenshot of the cartoon, I almost fainted. The characters look like they come right out from those Teen Titans cartoon!!! (No offence to Teen Titans fans) It is heart crushing that my beloved transformers are going to be shown in this manner. What kind of show are they going to put up? I am utterly disappointed with what i saw and i was ready to dismiss this new series entirely. I would never even look at the figures that are going to come out, and don't even mention about buying them...

Well, fast forward to now and here I am, ready to present to you my first figure from Transformers: Animated. Haha, I know I know... I said that I won't even take a look at them before. How wrong was I for making such a quick judgement on the new series. I have never been happier to be proven wrong. Make no mistakes, these new figures are definitely worthy of the name Transformers. The new designs of the characters bring another layer of dimenson to the series in a way I never thought possible. I am now starting to fall in love with what I hated at first. This is really a case of never judge a book by its cover.

So what changed my opinion so much on this series? It has something to do with this T-rex figure that I am going to show you. (No... it's not Barney :p)

Behold, I present you Animated Grimlock!! Anybody familiar with the original G1 series should know who Grimlock is. He is the leader of a group of 5 Dinobots in the original series and was quite popular as a character. I never got the chance to own any of the G1 Dinobots, thus when I see this figure, I was immediately attracted to it. I just could'nt resist buying him to see how good this new figure is. And it turns out that this is really good stuff.

As you can see from here, the alternate mode of Animated Grimlock is a T-rex dinosaur. It's pretty well made and really looks like a T-rex. The jaw makes Grimlock looks grumpy in my opinion, but I really like the choice of colours used on this figure, it is made up of mostly grey, red and gold. It's attractive enough for me to buy it without much thought. The alternate mode can be displayed without much difficulty as the hind legs make it easy for it to stand without wavering. However, there is not much pose that you can display him in when he is in dino mode as other than the hind legs, there is not much parts that can move about. The jaw can be open through the press of a button on Grimlock's head though. Pretty neat gimmick.

This is Grimlock in his robot mode where I find that he shines the brightest. The articulations of this figure is pretty good and you can display him in some pretty nice poses. He has a flaming sword that he can wield and I have heard people commenting that his transformation is very similar to his G1 counterpart, but I am not sure, cause I don't own G1 Grimlock. But the transformation for this figure is pretty enjoyable.

As you can see, Grimlock is an awesome figure that altered my perspective of the new series. I am now looking into the line and searching for more fantastic releases. Let's hope they make more figures with the quality of Grimlock. You will know if I purchase anymore~ Enjoy the random pictures shown below~ Me GRIMLOCK KING!!!

Cybertron/Galaxy Force Soundwave

2008-09-15T14:22:00.012+08:00

After getting Primus, the Cybertron/Galaxy Force toyline started to catch my attention. I started to find out more about the series and finally watched the Galaxy Force anime. Some of the character designs are really nice in this series, especially the updates on some of the older characters. I spotted a few that I really like, and begin searching for them.

Between the Cybertron and Galaxy Force toyline, I chose to follow the Galaxy Force toyline. This might be due to the fact that I watched the Galaxy Force series instead of the Cybertron ones (From what I know, even though Transformers: Cybertron and Galaxy Force sports a lot of the same characters, they tell a very different plot from each other). Some of the figures that I was looking for also features more anime accurate paintworks and shining chromes on the Galaxy Force version. Thus even though they are slightly more pricer, I still go for the Galaxy Force version. This is unless the figures that I want sport not much differences between the 2 series (which is the case for the Primus toy), then of course I will go for the cheaper Cybertron toys.

This is my first Galaxy Force figure, Soundwave. He is no longer a cassette player anymore, he now has the alternate mode of a stealth bomber style jet instead and is looking very nice and attractive. The packaging is pretty nice although i have heard people not liking it before. But, each to its own~

As we can see from the back of the box, Soundwave still has his trusted Laserbeak with him in this incarnation. However, Laserbeak now transforms into sort of an booster for the jet instead of it's traditional cassette mode. In robot mode, Soundwave still can have his chest open, which allows Laserbeak to be store inside G1 style. The wings on Soundwave give him a very different feel and look from what i was used to.

This soundwave is one sleek figure that I am looking forward to unwrapping soon. I wonder when I can have some display cabinets in my room.... Until then, it remains in the box as I don't want such a piece to get dirty or damage. Obtaining this has not been easy as Galaxy Force toys are getting more and more difficult to find. How I wish I got into this line when it was still new~ But rather late than never~~

Mooncake Festival

2008-09-15T02:34:00.004+08:00

Here it is again, the once in a year mooncake festival. Nothing eventful happen, but I did drive to my grandma's house with my family for dinner. This was the first time my mum and one of my brother is sitting in the car drove by me since I obtained my license around a week ago. I am pretty sure my mum is not yet confident in my driving from the way she acts~ Oh well, the more you drive the better you get, so i just need to keep practicing.

After dinner, we went to ntuc for some groceries which my little brother needs for his home econs test. He is cooking fried macaroni-pasta style, taught by my mum. I wonder if what he cooks is edible at all...

Upon reaching home, the first thing that comes to mind was to eat some mooncake and admire the moon. But too bad, it was raining and the moon can barely be seen today. So much for 'MOONcake' festival.

Feeling bored, I try to inject some mooncake festival atmosphere by brewing a pot of chinese tea and play a game of chess with my brother while eating some mooncakes. What has playing chess got to do with mooncake festival? i don't know~~ Haha, at least it was fun, even though overall i lost.

A Busy Saturday

2008-09-15T00:53:00.003+08:00

My aunt proposed a family trip to ktv this saturday and I suggested a ktv that was cheap and good located around Plaza Singapura area. It was a big room when we arrived, which was good as we have near 10 people. It is rare and weird for me to end up at the ktv with my mother, 2 brothers, my cousins, grandma, aunt and of course my gf. It has been long since I have sang in the ktv. The session lasted around 3 hours and it was fun in a weird way while it lasted~

After the session, we went to the nearby little india area for food. My aunt and I were so tempted to go into an indian restaurant for their curry fishhead, naan and butter chicken~ But too bad, my mum can't take indian food, so we ended up in the foodcourt at tekka mall instead... I ordered a plate of bbq chicken rice and some prata and naan to share among us. Suprisingly, the naan here was pretty good for it's price, so it's worth a try~ After the meal, we went shopping in the market for a while as my gf needs to buy some coffee powder for her mother.

When it's time to go home, we took buses to tampines interchange. My gf decided to take a cab since her house is pretty much out of the way from mine. I live in the east end while she lives in the western end. She wanted to wait for the taxi alone and ask me to go ahead, but I can't bear to see her wait alone in this area. So I decided to wait with her and ask my family to board the bus without me if it comes along first. I finally went looking for my family when she hurried me off to join up with my family before they went off without me. I really appreciated her joining us for this family trip~

Managed to catch up with my family just as they were boarding the bus. My gf called to tell me she got onto a taxi by now, I was glad it all went well~ It has been a tiring day.

Creator Primus Arrives

2008-09-14T16:36:00.003+08:00

I was looking at other people's wonderful collection of transformers figures when something caught my eye. A planet transforming transformer?

Wow, the only planet transformers that i know is Unicron as I have watch the 1986 Transformers The Movie many times as a kid.

So who/what is this figure that i have saw? It turns out that this is Primus The Creator. (Yes... this is how i got the name for my blog :p)

Primus is said to be the creator of the original 13 transformers. He himself is a godlike being. While Unicron is the Lord Of Darkness, Primus is the definite Lord Of Light. I shall not dwell on the story much, you can find the story easily through the net.

Once i set my eyes on this figure and learn of it's fantastic origin, I was determined to get my hands on it. The problem is, Primus is part of the toyline series Transformers: Cybertron, which is also known as Transformers: Galaxy Force in Japan. And this particular series has ended quite a few years ago. Thus getting Primus through retail is quite impossible now. Furthermore, I learned that the Galaxy Force version which sports a fantastic G1 packaging cost a bomb now.

So the only way was through e-bay or hobbies shop to find the Cybertron version, which was not much different from the Galaxy Force one, except for the packaging in this case. Normally, Japan and US version of the toy will have different paintwork etc... However, as Primus was reported to be not much different for the 2 version, i was happy enough as long as i can get my hands on the Cybertron version. Through the help of my buddy, Weilun, I finally shipped it from US and here it is!!!

My very own Primus The Creator~~ Needless to say, i was thrilled. I was overwhelmed by how big this figure is when I first saw the box that comes with it. Unfortunately, the packaging is slightly damaged, but it's ok, i still love it.

I love the colours of this figure, which is a mixture of light and dark blue. As you can see in this closeup shot, Primus has a very nice facial expression and it gives a very awe inspiring aura. I find it extremely detailed and feel that this figure is definitely worthy of the name Primus. I am so glad i got it before it become extinct.

As a bonus, the toy comes with 4 mini-cons robot figures. There is a version of Primus which was retailed before this version of packaging that comes with a free damaged small Unicron head. It looks extremely cool and being someone who have seen the 1986 movie, I naturally would love to get my hands on one of those battle damaged Unicron head.

But since I was unable to get that version. These 4 mini robots shall act as a nice consolation prize for me.

To end this post, here is a nice picture of Primus on the back of the packaging. I should be keeping this one MISB until i found a suitable and worthy place to display his glory.

Encore #2 to #4 G1 Goodness

2008-09-14T16:00:00.002+08:00

This is Encore #2 Megatron. As we can see here, the decepticon leader is in all his glory shining weapon mode. I purchase this together with #3 and #4, which is shown below.

Encore #3 Soundwave in his cassette player mode. Included with him is a cassette tape, Laserbeak. Soundwave has always been one of my favourite decepticon (yes, even more so than Megatron) in the G1 series. His monotone voice has always been able to attract my attention. And smaller transformers like Laserbeak popping out of his chest is just neat!!

Needless to say, i was quite please that i have finally obtain this figure as i never got a chance to buy it when i was a kid. I will most probably let these encore pieces rest in their comfortable boxes and keep it MISB. They really look fine in their great G1 packaging and it's best keeping them in there in my opinion.

If you watch transformers as a kid, chances are you will recognise this figure as soon as you lay your eyes on it. Behold~ Encore #4 Starscream. I have never really like Starscream very much, but he just brings back so many memories that i just have to get him to complete my #1 to #4. Just like Soundwave, his voice acting at that time was so memorable that the moment you hear his voice, you know it is Starscream.

The Encore reissues are now on #12. With memorable release like Skylynx, Omega Supreme and the upcoming Metroplex, I will need to plan my purchases well for the sake of my pocket~

Encore #1 Reignition Of An Interest

2008-09-14T15:46:00.001+08:00

This is the figure that reignites my interest on collecting transformers. I came across this G1 Optimus Prime when i was shopping in JB not too long ago. At first i thought i came across a gem as i thought this was the original G1 piece that was produced some 20 plus years ago. It was in such great condition that I instantly purchase it without thinking too much.

After returning home and reading it up on the internet, i realise that this was part of an encore series that was released quite some time back. It was then that I realised that i have bought an reissue of the figure. Nevertheless, i was quite satisfied with my purchase as i have always wanted a G1 Prime. However, my interest starts to venture out from here on. I started to look for more of the encore series as time goes by. After some searching, i managed to get the first 4 encore series figures.

Sharing Interests

2008-09-13T02:31:00.003+08:00

Transformers cartoons and toy figures have accompany me for the majority of my childhood. Like most children, i was fascinated by the robots which can transform into vehicles and objects. I have fond memories of them and have decided to collect them as display nowadays.

As a child, I was fortunate enough to own quite a few rare pieces of the transformers figures which are difficult to find nowadays. But unfortunately, they are either missing parts or spoiled. I really regret playing with the old pieces that i have and spoiling them~ but oh well, I was small then, so what to do~~~

So now, I am considered a new collector on transformers figures, hope to share the joy of my modest collections through here. I will be posting new pictures of what i have to share with everyone. Cheers~~