Toy Review – Combiner Wars Liokaiser

Just when you think the Combiner Wars toyline is dead, they keep chugging along with even more obscure subgroups.  This time they have given us a character that you may be unfamiliar with unless you watched the Japanese G1 cartoon series Victory back in the 1980’s.   A group originally named Breastforce (no I’m not making that up and yes, you are allowed to giggle) has been reborn as the Destrons (the JP name for Decepticons in general) who combine into an almighty gestalt!  So here we go, a big review for a name as long as some of the old Street Fighter games, Combiner Wars Liokaiser: Platinum Edition!

Please note: As all these toy molds have had numerous iterations already, I will be mainly talking about any changes made rather than going over old ground.  I will put in links to other reviews of these molds as appropriate.

 

Ironbison

Doesn't fear Autobots as much as PETA
Doesn’t fear Autobots as much as PETA

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Renamed from Killbison as it sounded like he was related to the Bufflekill’s from The Simpsons.  Here we see the usual CW Brawl (for a review of Brawl – see HERE) remold but with added horns on his head to represent the original toy/character.  I found the limbs on mine to be a bit loose, very hard to pose him without the shoulders sagging.  But the mustard and silver colour scheme work together and he looks nice and tough.

 

Drillhorn

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Probably the only limb figure here whose updated alt-mode doesn’t look as cool as the original one.  This has been remolded from CW Nosecone and they probably would have done better to use the UW Nosecone mode (for a comparison between those two toys – see HERE).  Also the drill bit does not fit in the gap properly with mine which is quite annoying, I have to use the double-barreled rifle on top to keep it in place.  A nice little touch is a horn that pops out of his forehead in robot mode which adds that extra unique touch.

 

Guyhawk

Pretty in pink!
Pretty in pink!

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Did this guy pick his ultra-masculine name to make up for his colour scheme?  The most pink in a Transformer I’ve seen this side of G1 Sparkstalker!  But the colour actually seems to work quite well, it’s very vibrant indeed!  Nice head sculpt, the only one of the limb characters that doesn’t require pop-out bits.  Remade from CW Air Raid.

 

Fellbat

I'm a bat out of... er.... fell? Yeah, I'm a bat that fell I guess.
I’m a bat out of… er…. fell? Yeah, I’m a bat that fell I guess.

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Renamed from Hellbat because, well…. pretty crappy reasons actually because Hellbat was a much cooler name.  Remade from CW Skydive, this guy has his signature little bat-wing fins that pop out of the sides of his head and is one of the few characters from Victory I can remember from my one watching of the series.  Already killed off in the IDW comics which is a shame, hope that doesn’t stop Liokaiser showing up there.  A nice touch in jet mode is they have given his missiles a striking red paint job.

 

Dezarus

I shall shuffle you to death!
I shall shuffle you to death!

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Ok, here is where it gets a bit trippy, follow me if you can.  The original Breastforce (again, insert requisite giggle) had two characters that made up the torso – Leozack and Jallguar.  Since all CW gestalts (excepting CW Devastator) are mainly four smaller bots as limbs and a larger single one as the torso, these two characters were dumped for Dezarus.  Dezarus is in turn based on Deathsaurus who was the leader of the Destron army in the Victory cartoon.  To add further confusion, since Deathsaurus’ had a bipedal bird-monster alt-mode, they chose to recolour CW Sky Lynx (for a review of Sky Lynx – see HERE) to make him.

Keeping up?  Well done!  Because I’m writing this bloody review and even I’m getting lost!

Anyway, Dezarus here has the same modes as Sky Lynx (rather than his original ones) and his colour scheme makes the shuttle mode look a bit odd.  One thing I was pretty happy with though was how easily the toy lent itself to being put in a bipedal position, even achieving a certain limited poseability!  Yes it’s a stretch, but it’s the closest you are going to get Dezarus to Deathsaurus that you can.

 

Ion Scythe

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By the Power of Destron!
By the Power of Destron!

Another weird but welcome inclusion, put in mainly I suspect to keep up the now set pattern of all these CW groups having six members.  Ion Scythe is based on an old Arms Micron toy and despite his name turns not into a scythe but a sword.  The original Breastforce group (ok, you’ve had your laughs, time to get over it now) had little animal partners so it could be Ion Scythe’s inclusion is a shout out to that.

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Liokaiser

G1'ish accurate
G1’ish accurate

The head from Sky Reign (find the review of Sky Reign HERE) has been retooled to look more like the original Liokaiser and both share the animalistic helmet.  There are plenty more tricks you can do to make this toy look more G1 Victory accurate.  These include positioning Fellbats wings up and horizontal, placing Fellbat and Guyhawks grey guns either side of the right fist and turning Ironbison and Drillhorn outwards so that their treads face inwards.  All these little things help, the only problem is rotating the lower legs means he can’t use his knees, but that’s easy to turn back when you want to do some action poses.  It really is a nice looking combiner overall with plenty of poseability and mismatching-yet-working colours.  Ironically Ion Scythe is far more suited to be a CW hand weapon than the likes of CW Powerglide and CW Shockwave (for a review of Shockwave – see HERE) who both were too heavy and pulled down their gestalts arms – Ion Scythe seems to be just the right size and weight!

 

Worth Getting?

Overall I would have to say yes.  These are characters that haven’t had new toys since they first appeared in Victory nearly 30 years ago.  I would advise shopping around; I got mine for a good price whereas if I had ordered it through my usual international source I would have paid about $50 more.  And for those who have Masterpiece Star Saber – that big fragger now has someone to fight!

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Ask Trev: How to battle mosquitoes

This question comes from Betty in Boga:

“Dear Big Angry Trev.  My whole family supports you in your war against the mosquitoes!  Do you have any tips for us so that we may battle them too?”

Well Betty, like any great battle there are two main areas you need to consider – offense and defense.  I’ll assume you already have the supply chains to your troops in place so lets get straight to weaponry eh!

 

Offense – Weapon 1 – the HAND!

The best friend of Mozzie haters and single men alike
The best friend of Mozzie haters and single men alike

Not just for self-gratification and the ferrying of meat and beer to the mouth, your hand is your first line of attack when battling the airborne foe.  Mosquitoes don’t fly as fast as flies do so quick reflexes and a clap of the hands wshould guarantee a kill.  Be careful though when slapping them when they have already alighted on you, I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve deafened myself by slapping my ear or had to go have a sit down because I whacked at one too hard that had landed on my crotch.

 

Offense – Weapon 2 – the SWATTER!

Not just for bargian basement S&M anymore
Not just for bargain basement S&M anymore

A lot more fun than actually effective.  It gives you good reach and speed but more often than not will just injure – not kill.

 

Offense – Weapon 3 – AIRBORNE SPRAYS!

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Choke the fraggers!

Very good for indoors, give a room a damn good spray and watch all mozzies in the area drop like flies!  If they are bad indoors it’s a good idea to give your bedroom a spray before turning in.  Downside of these is that they are not particularly effective outdoors unless you actually hit the target.  One trick I have learned is to leave the outdoor light on for an hour at night, then go and spray the million mozzies that have been attracted to it.  Of course, that’s a lot of corpses to be cleaned up in the morning but since they are your enemies you should do it with a vengeful smile on your face!

 

Offense – Weapon 4 – the ZAPPER!

Ah the serenity
Ah the serenity

Puts out UV light which attracts the mozzies and then when they get too close ZAP!  Instant electrocution!  I went and bought the biggest one I could find.  There are a few downsides though.  Very ineffective during the day as their light is drowned out by the sun, even if you hang them in a shady area.  Also the bigger ones need to be plugged in which usually necessitates it being close to your house or shed.  Personally I have mine hung under the verandah as far from the front door as possible since they need to attract mozzies to the area before it can kill them.

 

Defense – Weapon 1 – CREAMS and SPRAYS

Lather yourself up baby!
Lather yourself up baby!

Lots of different bug repellents on the market and all work to a greater or lesser degree.  The mozzies we have this season seem to happily pierce clothing so I give my clothes a good spray of Aeroguard as well before going around the farm.  There are lots of kid friendly brands and you can get creams that are both sunscreens and big repellents in one.

 

Defense – Weapon 2 – CITRONELLA CANDLES

Both pretty and punitive
Both pretty and punitive

These may seem a bit hippy but they do work.  They give off a smoke from the wax and wick that keeps the mozzies at bay.  While having a candle or two lit is always nice, these are completely ineffective on a windy day outside and are too smelly to use indoors.

 

Defense – Weapon 3 – INDUSTRIAL GRADE BARRIER CHEMICALS!

F*CK YEAH!
F*CK YEAH!

Now we are talking!  These are designed to keep damn near every bug in existence away!  Spray it on the ground, ants wont walk over it.  Spray it on the walls, the smell sends away the fliers.  Spray it around doorframes, no spiders trying to get in.  Really does work a treat!  I use Insectigone which, while not as strong as some others, emits no odours humans can detect, has no detrimental effect on kids or animals, and if you reduce the dosage (you mix this stuff with water then spray it) you can even spray it on plants!  I’ve given my veranda a good going over and since I’ve done it I only get a couple of mozzies there a day instead of dozens.  Only downside with these are if the mozzies are already chasing you or actually on you, they wont give a damn when you cross the barrier line and then they are trapped in with you until you kill’em.  Also these are usually available at places that sell proper chemicals, not supermarkets.

 

Good luck with the war Betty – and as a great man once said – KILL!  KILL THEM ALL!

Toy Review – Masterpiece Thrust

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Oh Tak/Tom, why do you not want me to pay off my house?  Why do you keep releasing these overly-priced MP exclusives that I just have to have?  Shame on you!  If I was a stronger man I would resist, but since I’m not and have caved yet again, I may as well share with the public my thoughts on your latest attempt to empty my wallet – Masterpiece Thrust.

 

Robot Mode

I have thighs - I promise!
I have thighs – I promise!

Thrust looks quite nice here, the expression is a tad blank but the face is a nice white colour and the eyes are yellow just like in the cartoon.  The body has cartoon accurate colours too, though one could ask is this a good thing?  In the cartoon Thrust’s colours were more muted and pale then the toy, the toy being a more rich maroon verging on brown with black highlights and in the cartoon he was a reddy-brown with grey.  The idea of the Masterpiece line is to make these toys show accurate rather than toy accurate, which means that sometimes we miss out on the great features of the toy (for instance Tracks flying car mode was cooler in the toy than the cartoon but the MP we got looks like the cartoon).  Thrusts knee pads are a bit too big and obscure his thighs, making him look more stubby than he really is but he does have his tail wings coming out of his calves and the main wings angle all make the legs and torso work.  Despite some quibbles that are all relatively minor this is a pretty damn fine looking Thrust!

 

Vehicle Mode

Just too sexy!
Just too sexy!

The theoretical F15-VTOL mode Thrust was based on has been faithfully represented here.  Once again one must wonder if the colour scheme would have looked better if they had gone with the toy than the cartoon but it’s really hard not to love the MP Seeker mold – in my opinion the best looking jets of the entire Transformers line ever!  A very nice little touch they have put in is that his wing turbines actually rotate, though one has to do it via finger rather than being able to blow on it like some other TF toys.  Thrust here has all the features the other MP Seekers have such as the nosecone and cockpit that open.  A couple of extras are the guns that sit under the wings and for once they seem to have gotten the pilot right – it being a translucent hologram character rather than a half-sucked Simpsons-jelly baby like came with Sunstorm.

 

Transformation

The seedy underbelly of weapons placement
The seedy underbelly of weapons placement

Most people that have been collecting the MP Seekers know how to do this and it’s certainly not the most onerous MP transformation ever.  I tend to use the instructions the first time round though just to give myself a refresher – given how much these latest Seekers have cost one does NOT want an accidental breakage!  A change they have made here from some of the other Seeker toys such as Ramjet is the configuration for the guns when converting to jet mode.  The guns instead of swinging out on two big struts under the wings now fold down and sideways on double jointed smaller struts to sit flush with the side of the jet whilst two removable guns are placed under the wings.

 

So is Thrust worth getting?

For the exorbitant price tag I’d say unless you are a mad TF collector then no.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great robot and a brilliant jet, but because of the toys exclusive status they have ramped up the price to a level that is verging on the rip-off side.  But if you ARE a mad TF collector like me then he is a must have.  Can’t wait to get Thundercracker and Dirge so my MP Seeker collection can be complete!

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