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My Transformer Collection Showcase, Transformatorium

Transformers Collection – Robots in Disguise (2015)

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And thus the great cataloging of my personal collection continues.

Transformers Robots in Disguise (15) was very much an “Eh – it was ok” entry into the Transformers multiverse.  Set in the Aligned Continuity, it was meant to be the sequel to Transformers Prime and run cocurrent to Transformers Rescue Bots.  However whilst Prime impressed fans with its ongoing mature storyline, impressive graphics and excellet figures, Robots in Disguise was far more simplistic and considered a downgrade.  The cartoon became a The Tick like show where the team battled a differently themed bad guy each week, and the toyline introduced Warrior-class and 1-step changer toys – simplistic toys with simplistic transformations.

Whilst never hated like Kiss Players, Robots in Disguise (15) failed to impress anyone, and will remain a cartoon and toyline that the majority of fans feel ambivelent about.   At least we got some better figures from other toylines RID crossed over with such as Adventure and Go! 

 

Transformers Robots In Disguise (15)/Adventure Action Figure List

Autobot Figures

 

*Item #RID150001: Transformers Robots in Disguise Autobot Mega Optimus Prime

*Item #RID150002: Transformers Robots in Disguise Autobot Optimus Prime

 

*Item #RID150003: Transformers Robots in Disguise Autobot Drift

*Item #RID150004: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Jetstorm

*Item #RID150005: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Slipstream

 

*Item #RID150006: Transformers Robots in Disguise Strongarm

*Item #RID150007: Transformers Robots in Disguise 9 (1-step) Strongarm

 

*Item #RID150008: Transformers Robots in Disguise Sideswipe

*Item #RID150009: Transformers Robots in Disguise Activator Sideswipe

*Item #RID150010: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Great Byte

 

*Item #RID150011: Transformers Robots in Disguise Twinferno

*Item #RID150012: Transformers Robots in Disguise Bumblebee

*Item #RID150013: Transformers Robots in Disguise Blurr

*Item #RID150014: Transformers Adventure TAV23 Jazz

*Item #RID150015: Transformers Robots in Disguise Stormshot

*Item #RID150016: Transformers Robots in Disguise Windblade

*Item #RID150017: Transformers Adventure TAV59 Ratchet

 

*Item #RID150018: Transformers Robots in Disguise Dinobot Grimlock

*Item #RID150019: Transformers Robots in Disguise (1-step) Gold Armour Grimlock

 

*Item #RID150020: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Sawback

*Item #RID150021: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Windstrike

*Item #RID150022: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Velocirazor

*Item #RID150023: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Sawtooth

*Item #RID150024: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Beastbox

*Item #RID150025: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Tricerashot

 

*Item #RID150026: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Bashbreaker

 

*Item #RID150027: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Fixit

 

*Item #RID15MD0028: Transformers Robots in Disguise Autobot Optimus Prime

*Item #RID15MD0029: Transformers Robots in Disguise Autobot Optimus Prime(V2)

 

*Item #RID15MD0030: Transformers Robots in Disguise Dinobot Grimlock

*Item #RID15MD0031: Transformers Robots in Disguise Dinobot Grimlock (V2)

*Item #RID15MD0032: Transformers Robots in Disguise Dinobot Grimlock (V2) (MISB)

 

*Item #RID15MD0033: Transformers Robots in Disguise Autobot Bumblebee

*Item #RID15MD0034: Transformers Robots in Disguise Autobot Bumblebee (V2)

*Item #RID15MD0035: Transformers Robots in Disguise Autobot Bumblebee (MISB)

*Item #RID15MD0036: Transformers Robots in Disguise Autobot Bumblebee (MISB)

 

*Item #RID15MD0037: Transformers Robots in Disguise Autobot Strongarm

*Item #RID15MD0038: Transformers Robots in Disguise Autobot Drift

*Item #RID15MD0039: Transformers Robots in Disguise Autobot Sideswipe

 

*Item #RID150040: Transformers Robots in Disguise TAV10 Dinobot Slug

 

**Item #RID150041: Transformers Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime vehicle (MOSC)

 

*Item #RIDTT0042: Transformers Robots in Disguise Tiny Titans Autobot Optimus Prime

 

*Item #RIDGO0043: Transformers Go! Kenzan

*Item #RIDGO0044: Transformers Go! Ganoh

 

Decepticon Figures

 

*Item #RID150001: Transformers Robots in Disguise Megatronus

*Item #RID150002: Transformers Adventure TAV37 Megatronus

 

*Item #RID150003: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Starscream

*Item #RID150004: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Lancelon

 

*Item #RID150005: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Chompazoid Underbite

*Item #RID150006: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Quillfire

*Item #RID150007: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Amphiboid Springload

 

*Item #RID150008: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Fracture

*Item #RID150009: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Airazor

*Item #RID150010: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Divebomb

 

*Item #RID150011: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Overload

*Item #RID150012: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Backtrack

 

*Item #RID150013: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Crazybolt

*Item #RID150014: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Crazybolt (vehicle)

*Item #RID150015: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Hammer

 

*Item #RID150016: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon (Warrior) Soundwave

*Item #RID150017: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon (Activator) Soundwave

*Item #RID150018: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Mini-Con Laserbeak

*Item #RID150019: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Mini-Con Ratbat

 

*Item #RID150020: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Thermoidor

*Item #RID150021: Transformers Adventure TAV38 Decepticon Thunderhoof

*Item #RID150022: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Skywarp

*Item #RID150023: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Bludgeon

*Item #RID150024: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Steeljaw

 

*Item #RID150025: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Clampdown

*Item #RID150026: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Cyclonus

*Item #RID150027: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Groundbuster

 

*Item #RID150028: Transformers Robots in Disguise Combiner Force Decepticon Bisk (MOSC)

 

-Combiner Menasor, consisting of:

*Item #RID150029: Transformers Robots in Disguise Stunticon Motormaster

(torso)

*Item #RID150030: Transformers Robots in Disguise Stunticon Drag Strip

(right arm)

*Item #RID150031: Transformers Robots in Disguise Stunticon Wildbreak

(left arm)

*Item #RID150032: Transformers Robots in Disguise Stunticon Heatseeker

(right leg)

*Item #RID150033: Transformers Robots in Disguise Stunticon Slashmark

Left (leg)

*Item #RID150034: Transformers Robots in Disguise Stunticon Crash Combiner Drag Strip

*Item #RID150035: Transformers Robots in Disguise Stunticon Crash Combiner Wildbreak

 

*Item #RID150036: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Crash Combiner Warnado

*Item #RID150037: Transformers Robots in Disguise Decepticon Crash Combiner Shockdrive

 

*Item #RID150038: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Swelter

*Item #RID150039: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Doomitron

*Item #RID150040: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Lord Back

*Item #RID150041: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Sandsting

*Item #RID150042: Transformers Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Dragonus

 

*Item #RID150043: Transformers Adventure TAV08 Decepticon Gregevor (MOSC)

 

*Item #RID150044: Transformers Adventure TED-05 Decepticon Junkion

 

*Item #RID15MD0045: Transformers Robots in Disguise Chompazoid Underbite

 

*Item #RID150046: Transformers Robots in Disguise Steeljaw (vehicle) (MOSC)

 

*Item #RIDTT0047: Transformers Robots in Disguise Tiny Titans Fracture

*Item #RIDTT0048: Transformers Robots in Disguise Tiny Titans Fracture ((2nd unit)

*Item #RIDTT0049: Transformers Robots in Disguise Tiny Titans Steeljaw

*Item #RIDTT0050: Transformers Robots in Disguise Tiny Titans Minimus Ambus

*Item #RIDTT0051: Transformers Robots in Disguise Tiny Titans Minimus Ambus (2nd unit)

*Item #RIDTT0052: Transformers Robots in Disguise Tiny Titans Thunderhoof

*Item #RIDTT0053: Transformers Robots in Disguise Tiny Titans Terrashock

*Item #RIDTT0054: Transformers Robots in Disguise Tiny Titans Nightstrike

*Item #RIDTT0055: Transformers Robots in Disguise Tiny Titans Filch

 

Transformers Collection – Prime

Transformers Collection – Rescue Bots

Random Rants, Random Reviews

Movie Review – Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

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After a 5 year absence of giant shape changing alien robots in theatres, Transformers Rise of the Beasts has hit cinemas worldwide June 9th.  Thanks to the generosity of Hasbro and Paramount Pictures, some of us lucky folk even got to attend Special Preview Showings on Thursday 8th, being able to quench our thirst for Autobot antics a day early.

Even Mirage got invited to his own flick! Love Hasbro & Paramount putting on these special events!

Warning, this is a Movie Review – so SPOILERS!

One of the main complaints of the live action Transformer films is having to wait around for ages to finally see some robots.  No such complaint can be made here.  One of the main groups of protagonists – The Maximals, and the main antagonists – The Terrorcons and their gigantic master Unicron, are introduced at the outset, setting the stage for much mayhem to come.  We are also introduced to the Allspark Matrix Control Pillar Seed Staff of Merlin Transwarp Key, a… glowy thingie… which will be used as an excuse for robots to travel to Earth, trapse all over the globe and fight each other to obtain it.

I can eat whole planets – but can be defeated by the lack of a glowy thing the size of your forearm

And then of course we transfer to the obligatory human characters and their backstories.  Firstly Noah Diaz, an ex-solider who is about to embark on a life of crime in order to support his younger brother who, I dunno, has a pain in his hand or something.  And Elena Wallace, an undervalued researcher in a museum.  So yes, we have humans but good news – there is no romantic subplot!  That’s right folks, a live action Transformers movie with no romantic awkwardness between teens or overt sexualization of young women – can I get an amen!

We are never scantiy dressed or sexually attracted to each other – are we sure this is a Transformers movie?

Anyways, these humans need to meet the Transformers for the plot to advance, so Noah tries to steal Mirage, police chase ensues, they escape and we get introduced to the bulk of the Autobot cast.  Brooding Optimus & perky Bumblebee, the mainstays of the movie series are on hand with Arcee, returning for her third outing, combining her robot look from the Bumblebee movie with her motorcycle altmode from ROTF.  But its Mirage who takes the staring role both in this scene and for much of the movie (oh thank you, thank you Primus for not making yet another movie all about Bumblebee and Optimus again!).

We are fam-i-ly!

Lets take a look at Mirage shall we.  Originally in Generation One the character was a blue & white Autobot Warrior, a member of the upper class who wants the war over so as to return to his lavish lifestyle on Cybertron, who could turn into an Indy Racer as well as cloak himself with invisibility.

‘A giant robot race car that can cloak? I rock!’

Here he seems to be a pastiche of other G1 Transformer characters.  He has the youthful exuberance of Hot Rod, the altmode of Jazz and the holographic powers of Hound.  That said, at least there is some resemblance to previous incarnations there.

‘You are  really going to enjoy me’

Mirage also seems to be able to turn into anything.  Yes I know that’s the point of Transformers, that they can change their forms, but Mirage can change into most anything on a whim.  In short order he transforms into a Porsche, a Lamborghini and an Indy Racer (in an homage to his G1 counterpart).  Yup, all cars approximating his mass and size, so what’s the problem?  No problem as such yet, but a short time later he transforms into a garbage truck bigger than Prime himself, and near the end an exo-suit for Noah which is not much bigger than the human.  By making Mirage seemingly able to be anything, it waters down the specialness of the transforming ability in general.

Wait, wasn’t I like 100 times bigger only an hour ago in the movie?

It isn’t long before, in pursuit of the glowy key thingie, the Autobots meet the Terrorcons, with much fighting and general violence taking place.  Thankfully for the franchise it learned from Dropkick and Shatter from the last flick as in a few fleshed out bad guys can prove more interesting than an army of generic ones (don’t worry, that happens later too). Scourge, the Terrorcon leader and main Herald of Unicron, is powerful and commanding enough as the main villain, though can’t be said to be breaking new ground – at least he comes with a couple of deployable Freezer minions.  Battletrap is pretty cool, using chains with clamps and wrecking balls on the end in both his modes to hurt his opponents, often using the environment around him to help smash his foes.  Nightbird can fly to provide her group air support, she also produces her signature swords near the end of the movie but doesn’t do much with them.

I will use the one ring to rule you all!

The glowy thingie is found, but oh no!  It got all broke up and now we need to find the second half!  Cue off to Peru, courtesy of Stratosphere, a pretty cool old transport plane character.  They meet up with Pablo Wheeljack who has an idea where the second half may be.  There we see the Autobots actually using their ‘robots in disguise’ moniker by hiding around the city in vehicle mode while the humans do their thing.  Then off to the jungle where the Maximals are hiding out where they are most definitely not robots in disguise.  Don’t get me wrong, they look cool.  But they are all way bigger than the animals they are supposed to be disguised as (the glowing eyes don’t help much either).  Maximals and Autobots team up, get their arses kicked, the glowy thing is put back together and thus the final act is underway.  The transwarp portal is opened, allowing Unicron to come and chow down on Earth.

‘Wait, you can tell that I’m not an Earth-gorilla? How?!’

But things don’t happen that fast.  Despite the transwarp portal castle thing materializing in seconds, it takes a long time for the portal to open enough for Unicron, so even though Airazor is now dead and Bumblebee near death himself, the remaining bots go to stop the portal opening, Optimus and Noah learning the magic of friendship (or something) and trusting each other.  Here we get the big final battle, with all the good guys who survived near dying at some point but never quite managing it, while the bad guys (along with the promised hordes of weaker bad guys to go smashy smashy on) get their comeuppance.  Cue some post battle scenes and that’s a wrap folks.

Movie Review – Bumblebee

So yes, the plot is very formulaic and nothing you haven’t seen in a hundred other flicks.  So is this movie worth watching?

Yes, yes it is!  This is actually to my mind the best live action Transformers movie to date, as well as being the most fun!  The majority of robots are treated like actual characters, receiving their fair share of screen time and character development, not simply murderbots to show up to kill each other between prolonged human scenes.  Speaking of, they finally seem to have struck the right balance for robot-to-human screen time – it’s a Transformers movie with actual Transformers!

We are in the film! We are in the film lots!

The only time I got sick of the squishies was the final battle scene; a huge stunning battle taking place with the Maximals and Autobots fighting the Terrorcons and a legion of their minions while Unicron decends from above, and they halt the action for two full minutes for Noah to have a heart-to-heart with his brother over a walkie-talkie?!  Shut the hell up Noah – we want to see the robots fight!  This did detract from the exo-suit scene for me, as I was all pissed off with Noah ruining the flow, but thankfully times like this in the movie were rare – no 10 minute scenes of Sam Witwicky having a mental meltdown in class, followed by talking about how a kiss had a deisely tinge to it.  The pacing of the movie is spot on, keeping you entertained without things going so fast you don’t know what’s happening, the humour gives you a few genuine laughs without it ever sinking into the gutter, in short this movie seems to have listened to all the fan gripes about the first 5 movies and rectified them, producing a fun and entertaining flick about our favourite giant, shape-changing alien robots!

I give Transformers Rise of the Beasts 9 out of 10 stolen Autobot badges.

You like me, you actually like me

Have you seen this movie?  What did you think of it?  Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Movie Review – Transformers: The Last Knight

Transformatorium, Transformer Toy Reviews

Toy Review – Studio Series Airazor

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The new Transformers: Rise of the Beasts movie is less than two months away, and figures are already turning up on shelves in anticipation of the latest instalment of the franchise.

Movie Review – Bumblebee

When I attended the Beasts Base Camp experience at Taronga Zoo I was lucky enough to be given a gift bag by Hasbro that contained, amongst other things, a Studio Series Airazor.  Then when attending the MTMTE Exhibition at Kings Comics my son was lucky enough to receive the same!  So being the first foray for both of us into the new movies toyline, thought it only fitting that we give you our thoughts on the figure.

 

Robot Mode

Given that Airazor has not, as of the writing of this post, had her robot mode shown in any footage, it is hard to give a proper account of how screen accurate the figure is.  It is certainly a nice looking figure, with an avian-like head, consistent colour-scheme, good proportions and decent articulation.  The wings give a cape-like appearance and the missiles on the arms lend that combative look of an alien robot about to enter the fray.  The face is not particularly feminine, but then very few Airazor figures in the past have had one either so one could say its true to form.  The feet should be turned so that the smaller talons face the front, but I personally think she looks that bit cooler and more bestial with the larger facing forward.

 

Falcon Mode

The figure really shines here.  A beautiful wingspan that can be adapted to a number of different configurations and poses.  A sufficiently detailed head and claws really give that metallic-bird appearance, with this Airazor not having an organic outer form like previous iterations of the character.  Looking from below she doesn’t look great, but then to be honest most real life birds don’t from that angle either (I raise ducks and chickens – trust me on this) so I personally find it forgivable.  The only main detractor is that the outer wings unclip very easily.  They can be clipped back on with similar ease so it’s a mild irritation at best.

 

Worth Getting?

Studio Series rarely lets us down in terms of screen-accurate & highly detailed figures, and has not disappointed once again.  The figure boasts a lot of detail, though more detail in the Transformation would have been nice, you definitely don’t need the instructions for this gal.  The figure shares much of its engineering with Kingdom Airazor so anyone who has that figure will know largely what to expect.

If you are into Beast Wars characters, or are looking to pick up toy representations of characters from the upcoming movie, then Studio Series Airazor fits the bill nicely and I welcome her as the first Maximal to enter my Studio Series collection.

Got something to say about this figure?  Pop it in the comments section below!

Transformatorium, Transformer Toy Reviews

Toys Review – RID Deployer Decepticons

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The Deployer toys from the RID(15) series certainly cause conflicting reactions amongst TF fans.  On the one hand they are very simplistic toys with very simple transformations and models.  On the other hand they come with Mini-Con partners which turn into either discs, missiles or cyclone spheres which they can shoot in either their robot or alt-modes.  Anyway, lets have a look at the three Decepticon ones that have been released to date – namely FRACTURE, OVERLOAD and CRAZYBOLT.

Please note: As Fracture was released so long ago I will mainly focus on the other two which can still be found on store shelves.  I will still touch on the Bountyhunter Deployer from yesteryear though.

 

ROBOT MODES

Overload

Very stock standard but a vast improvement on the first round of Deployer toys (Fracture and Drift). Some poseability but not much. Decent proportions, looks like a real bruiser!

1a

Crazybolt

Some sort of weird stylized chameleon lizard thing. Looks a bit of a hodgepog with bits of the alt-mode going every which way. When not sporting a Cyclone-Sphere Mini-Con the jaw comes up, leaving the launcher hanging below awkwardly. When having a Mini-Con in place the jaw extends down much like a snake eating an egg so it looks like he is coughing up a Cyclone Sphere to spit at someone which is kinda cool.

mm mmm

 

VEHICLE MODES
Overload

Very stock standard again but ok. Just looks like they changed the Megatronus mould a bit. At least his vehicle mode still kinda works without the Mini-Con attached – again, a great improvement over the likes of Drift.

5 3

Crazybolt

Looks like a pretty cool, stylized Cybertronian Dragster, would not have been out of place from the Speed Planet line of toys in the Cybertron series. Very nicely proportioned and the touches of dull-orange help to add contrast to the light blue and white colouring overall, especially on the dual-triple flame exhausts that cleverly come from the lizard modes toes.. The Mini-Con launcher is set at the back of the car, which while not as aggressive looking as say the placement on Overload, makes sense if it’s a dragster character who is always going to be racing ahead of whoever he is battling.

mmmm

 

MINI-CON PARTNERS

Backtrack looks like he would fit in well with one of the new Star Wars movies, whilst Hammer looks like a prehistoric chicken!

6 6a

 

FRACTURE with AIRAZOR

When I first went to open this toy I was thinking “Wow – the robot looks a helluva lot better than the Drift Deployer – this might be good”
Fracture
Then I opened him and realised the deployer mechanism does not detach – what balls! It looks so stupid and unsightly sitting up over his right shoulder!
I don’t mind the motorcycle mode too much – looks suitably Cybertronian and it looks like it could be a Cybertronian side-car. Not nearly as detailed as the robot mode but with the awful backpack that is how is gonna live.
I quite like Airazor especially his leg structure, its nice to see something a bit different and it looks pretty cool. Only let-down for me is the face – looks like some bad lava-moster. And all the extra bits you can attach to him don’t look as good as other Mini-Cons out there.

 

Overall opinion of the Decepticon Deployers

Look, none of these three toys are great.  But then none of the RID(15) toyline figures are so at least these come with little Mini-Con partners they can shoot.  If you are a fan of the cartoon or a completionist then these three are worth picking up on the cheap if you can find them.  If not, then do not bother my friends, very average figures indeed.