Transformers Prime: Cliffjumper

Presenting the ill-fated Cliffjumper from the new Transformers Prime animated series who's most famous quote is "Do I ever need back-up" and who can "layeth the smack-down" on any Decepticon dumb enough to cross his path. 


"Alas poor Yorick!  I knew him." SPOILER ALERT. If you haven't seen the series yet, you might want to stop here and just look at the pretty pictures. Well come to think of it, if you read the Transformers Prime Arcee review where I didn't put a spoiler alert, then I suppose you already know that Cliffjumper died. 


Unlike his Gen 1 "Whimpy little Autobot" character who is in there to teach people that little people can do great things, Transformers Prime Cliffjumper is a bad-ass! And best of all! Also unlike his Candy-ass G1 counterpart, Transformers Prime Cliffjumper is voiced by one of the ultimate bad-asses there is! The Great One! The People's Champion! The Brahma Bull! The Most E-lectrifying Man in Sports Entertainment! Dwayne "The Rock!" Johnson! Which is probably also why they had to kill him early on because the Rock is back and busy in the WWE having just Rock-bottomed the Miz, R-Truth and John Cena. 

Transformers Prime: Arcee

Presenting Arcee from the Transformers Prime animated series. Arcee is a Cybertronian Scout - when is she never a scout? One of Optimus Prime's best actually.





Except this particular Arcee is suffering from a severe case of Survivor's Guilt. Before the Autobots in the Transformers Prime universe abandoned Cybetron in what would be later called the Great Exodus, Arcee was paired with an Autobot named Tailgate.

During a mission, Arcee was captured and tortured for information by the Decepticon Airachnid. When Arcee refused to reveal any information, Airachnid brought our Tailgate - who was apparently also captured. Tailgate was tortured will Arcee admitted that she did not have any valuable information. Satisfied, Airachnid killed Tailgate. Arcee was rescued before Airachnid could do her in as well.

After the Exodus, Arcee was again paired with another Autobot, Cliffjumper. He not only looks like Tailgate, he gets killed too - well later he gets re-animated as a psychotic Zombie, cut in half by Megatron and scattered in a mine. Anyway, this drives Arcee - understandably over the deep-end and Arcee ends up hating having to be paired with anyone. Ironically, she's assigned by Optimus Prime to protect the human Jack Darby. You can imagine her joy at having to protect someone from the Decepticons.

G.I. Joe Pursuit of Cobra: Storm Shadow Desert Battle

Presenting: the Desert Battle Storm Shadow from the G.I. Joe Pursuit of Cobra line. Ok I have to admit that it took some time for me to get this up here in the blog and I almost considered forgetting about it, but I had the time and he's really cool so why not?

In March of this year, we talked about the G.I. Joe Pursuit of Cobra Wave 3 Snake Eyes - which I believe is the counter-part of the Desert Battle Storm Shadow - and how cool he was because Hasbro gave the character so many different accouterments to choose from. Desert Battle Storm Shadow is no different and comes with a plethora of weapons that make him look really cool! Consider these images:

Toy News: Toys R' Us (Philippines - Glorietta) Sale - Nov 24-26, 2011

Make sure you drop at Glorietta Activity Center from Nov. 24 to 26, 2011 for the Toys R U Big Toy Sale!

You can enjoy up to 70% discount on your favorite brands. And BPI credit card holders will get more freebies when they purchase toys using their BPI credit card.

STAR WARS: Darth Nihl (Legacy series)

Presenting Darth Nihl of the One Sith Empire from the STAR WARS Legacy Series. Darth Nihl is a member of the Nagai race - a race of near-humans with pale white-skin and sharp features (often thought to be walking dead-humans) - also known as "Knives". They come from the planet Nagi from the Firefist Universe - one of the closest universes to the main STAR WARS universe that is still currently classified as "Unexplored" though the Nagai have actually tried several invasions and member of the Nagai have long traveled the STAR WARS universe, some of whom actually became Jedi.

Darth Nihl chose a different path obviously.

Darth Nihl was recruited by Darth Krayt for his One Sith Empire, initially serving as a "Fist"or warlord. Eventually however - given the more... "expansive" yet heretical view of how the Sith should be organized by Darth Krayt, Darth Nihl was eventually promoted to the rank of "Hand" (A position he would have to begrudgingly share with Darth Talon.) Upon becoming Darth Krayt's hand, Darth Nihl would lead an attack on the Jedi Praxeum on the planet of Ossus where he would find himself in battle against, among others, Jedi Master Wolf Sazen who would severely wound him (At the cost of an arm). Before his battle with the Wolf though, Darth Nihl was able to kill Kol Skywalker, ancestor of Luke Skywalker and father of Cade Skywalker - who was presumed dead after the destruction of the temple and who would later resurface as a bounty hunter.

G.I. Joe 2011 SDCC Exclusive: Zarana Sister to Zartan

Presenting the SDCC 2011 Exclusive Zarana: the younger sister of Zartan and older sister to Zandar.

There's a lot more to Zarana than meets the eye. A lot of people only see her as the female version of Zartan  or as the Dreadnok's token greedy, ambitious short-tempered bad-ass female - which is definitely easy to understand given that she is notoriously short-tempered - which unfortunately at one time led to her being sent to the Cobra dungeon.

But if you've read the Marvel comic book series, you'll actually see that naturally auburn hair colored Zarana is more than a mistress of disguise, she actually at one time rose to the become the second in command of Cobra Commander and more than once has she displayed a keen tactical intellect fully utilizing her natural ability to read and mimic other people's personalities - at one time, to turn on fellow Dreadnok Thrasher's berserker rage, she punches his broken arm.

Exosquad LD-029 Field Sergeant E-Frame - G.I. Joe Custom

Presenting an Exosquad LD-029 Field Sergeant E-Frame Power Armor stripped and modified for  G.I. Joe action figure use.

Exosquad is a cartoon of American origin that ran for two seasons between 1993 and 1994. Unfortunately I've never seen the series and I don't believe it was ever released here in the Philippines.

But according to their wiki, Exosquad follows the exploits of Able Squad: An E-Frame (Exoskeleton Frames or Exo-Frames) enhanced military arm of the Earth Congress that becomes Earth's spearhead against the invading Neosapien Commonwealth.

The Neosapien Commonwealth is a race of what can best bed described as genetically crafted Humanoids made by humans to assist in the colonization and terraforming of Venus and Mars. Which is interesting because until 1991, no one knew if there was any "Terra" on Venus to "Form". Anyway, the Neosapiens get pissed at the abuse of the humans and revolt. Their first revolt is crushed and things are made better for them, but they rise again this time with a vengeance and a severe Adolf Hitler complex (Think Battlestar Galactica).

EPILIPSY FUNDRAISER ALLOWS FANS OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE DINNER WITH STAR WARS AND STAR TREK STARS

Earlier this year John McLaren and RickMan completed a comic book for the Epilepsy Foundation. It's a story of a boy who, while having a seizure, is aided by a superhero with personal experience of the affliction.  Now, with the help of the Great Allentown Comic Con and TheBigToyAuction.com they are raising funds to publish a full size, full color version of this comic to distribute, free, to hospitals, libraries and schools around the world.

To raise money for this project, the Great Allentown Comic Con 2011 MEGA SHOW will be hosting TWO Benefit auctions featuring unique items that every Star Wars, Star Trek and Science Fiction fan will love.  100% of the final hammer price of every lot sold will go directly to the Toteman epilepsy education project.

The Sunday, November 20^th Art Auction will be held LIVE at the Merchant Square Mall in Allentown beginning at 3:30 PM EDT. Dozens of pieces of original artwork, created by fans and professionals alike will be on display and available for bidding. The MEGA SHOW welcomes everyone to come out and support the event. For those unable to make it, Preview and Inspection of the Auction Catalog is available online via http://TheBigToyAuction.com/GACC.html. Bidders can leave absentee bids through the Proxibid automated system, or listen in to the auction webcast and bid LIVE against attendees.

Targetroids Optiaim & Megashoton (Transformers)

Presenting the Targetroids Optiaim and Megashoton, 3rd party mini-versions of the Transformers' Optimus Prime and Megatron.

Optiaim and Megashoton - TFC-EX-004 are from  TFCtoys, the same people who brought you Battle Rollar TFC-EX 002 and the Gears of War Packs. They are also the people behind the new Constructicons.

In what was probably an attempt to avoid even more copyright issues than they already have violated, TFCtoys called them Targetroids - which are not to be confused with Targetmasters - Targetmasters are pair-bonded Transformers (one usually larger than the other) where one of the pair transforms into a weapon. This is not to be confused with Transformers who just transform into a weapon like Megatron does.

To further confuse Copyright lawyers, TFC- EX-004's Optiaim - whose appearance and likeness to Optimus Prime is purely coincidence - transforms into a cannon, not a truck,  which can be hand held or mounted. Megashoton - whose appearance and likeness to a certain Megatron is also purely coincidental - transforms into an elongated sniper rifle, not a luger or pistol, that can also be hand-held or mounted.

These two Targetroids come together as a set and there is another set out in the market that involves Rodimus Prime (Called Hot Flame) and Starscream (Called Screamer).

Mint Museum Singapore: Found the Sign

Last month, we wrote about a very gleeful sign that laid the challenge "Whoever has the most toys when he dies wins"

But I did not know where the original photo of the sign was taken nor by whom.

This week found me in Singapore visiting the Mint (Moment of Imagination and Nostalgia with Toys) Museum - a world class collection of toys that span more than 25 countries covering over 100 years.

My wife and I stepped into the elevator and "Whoa! This looks familiar!"

The sign is not from an exhibit, it's in the Mint Museum elevator. Do check it out if you ever end up in Singapore, it's a wonderful museum that we'll be writing about in a bit.

The Mint Museum's address is 26 Seah Street, Singapore. Their website is HERE.

Where's Wall-E?

Where's Wall-E? I'm not really sure who came up with this particular little piece of ingenious art-work, but it is really, really cool.

Not only do you get to search for one of Bill Gates' legacies, but you also get to reminisce, remember those younger years and basically hit yourself on the head as you struggle to remember some of the names of these classic cartoon robots from the.... 70s to the present.

I'd open the image in another tab if I were you and you really wanted to find Wall-E.

Clue: He's not that far from EVA.

STAR WARS: Rogue Squadron

Presenting Rogue Squadron, the Star Wars Universe's most famous (infamous) fighter squadron and one of the collections that I've struggled to complete. Unfortunately I still do not have the new Battle of Endor 1 & 2 Pilot Packs.

This particular collection covers the Rogue pilots from Star Wars Episodes IV, V, VI; everything prior to Episode IV,  everything in between those three; everything after VI, the novels and most of the expanded universe.

As you can see from the photo, Rogue Squadron has had some pretty surprising members over the years. This particular collection includes 5 Jedi, 1 future Sith, a Princess, the leader of the Imperial 181st Squadron, and a Princess - though the full roster of Rogue Squadron members is actually much more interesting. If you want the full roster and history of Rogue Squadron, visit the Rogue Squadron wiki HERE.

Halo 3: Interchangeable Armor Pack - Hayabusa, Rogue, Scout & CQB

Presenting Halo 3's Interchangeable Armor Pack which allows you to customize your Spartan with Rogue, Scout, CQB (Close Quarters Battle), and the infamous Hayabusa Spartan variant armor. I chose to write about the Mjolnir Mark VI Power Armor today, November 4 - which is my birthday by the way - because today is the official anniversary of the Dark Lord Dungeon.

One year ago today ( I started writing this on November 4), I made a commitment to sharing with the world my collection, my toys and my experiences with the rest of the world. A year ago I opened with the G.I. Joe Rolling Operations Command Center (ROCC)  and moved on to talk about the, then, spanking new HALO Warthog and the HALO UNSC Special Warfare Command Group Three. Believe it or not, but the highest viewed item on this blog over the past year is Halo's Noble Team so it was only fitting that I start a new year with Halo.

It was my wife who prodded me to start writing about my toys and In the process of this blog I've had my first exhibit, and met some incredible people whom I can call friends both on-line and in real life AND started two other blogs: Denis del Callar: Fan Art (NSFW) and Fairladytower (Which I really should update). What used to be a very selfish hobby has become a crusade to share with the rest of the world  just how much joy toy collecting can be. It's also given me back the opportunity to go back and practice what I used to do so easily and so well when I was younger - write.

And for that I thank her.

R2-KT IS NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH THE SANRIO R2-D2

Addendum to my post on R2-KT thanks to my friend Rhoel. R2-KT is NOT to be confused with the Sanrio Pink R2-D2 - the OTHER Pink R2 unit.

Sanrio R2-D2 photo courtesy of: hawaiikawaii.net

Star Wars R2-KT: The Pink Imperial Droid with the Heart of Gold

Presenting R2-KT the Star Wars Universe's first and, so far, only Pink Imperial Droid with the Heart of Gold.  I purchase R2-KT around 2006 or 2007 not because I wanted a pink R2 unit, but because R2-KT was born as a result of a crippling disease that claims the lives of thousands every day. I've never felt the need to open this particular figure and probably never will because she was purchased not out of want, but as a very small way of giving to a cause worth fighting for.

Arcee, Elita 1 and Chromia Combined - Tripartite Cybertronians

Presenting Arcee and her sisters Elita 1 and Chromia, Transformers the Movie's Tripartite Cybertronians and one of their POSSIBLE combinations.

I'd like to take this moment to point out the following:

• The Transformers movies changed the general cartoon history of Arcee and her sisters. In a nutshell, Elita 1 and Chromia are dead. But a Decepticon experiment to create Tripartite Cybertronians brought the two back to life as nothing more than extensions of Arcee. They were supposed to combine in the second movie but the producers passed on the idea and in fact hinted that all three died by the end of the second movie. However the individual figures' blister cards still list all three with distinct personalities.
• Tripartite Cybertronians are three transformers who can operate as individuals but only share one personality - like the Decepticon Reflector. 
• Hasbro has never acknowledged the correct transformation sequence for the three sisters

Frankly it does look like a crappy car-wreck, but it does work.