Petron 80th Year Limited Edition Porsche Collection

Presenting the Petron 80th year Limited Edition Porsche Collection.

It's Holy Week here in the Philippines. Three to four days when Catholics are supposed to reflect on the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. There's a plethora of Filipino traditions done during this time, including the Pabasa - a dying tradition actually involving publicly singing the narrative of Christ's life (While I write this, just such a chant is going on in the background courtesy of some well meaning but extremely tone deaf elders. I suppose this is my penance. I will suffer in silence).

Ironically - or because we live in modern times - most of the youth today would rather take this opportunity to spend the weekend in debauchery in the provinces or in any of our wonderful provinces and majestic beaches.

On the way to these beaches, do top off in a Petron Station and check out their 80th Year Limited Porsches that are for sale for P180 each for every P500 fuel purchase - though since there's no demanded proof of purchase (No stamping of receipts or anything) you can actually just flash a smile and get them for P180 without the fuel purchase.

Dream Maker Warriors from Cyborgtron - Optimus Prime Upgrade

Presenting the War for Cybertron Optimus Prime upgrade from 3rd Party toy makers, Dream Maker (AKA Warriors from Cyborgtron).

I'm a great fan of 3rd party toy manufacturers - despite the fact that main toy manufacturers tend to look down on them. I'm a fan because I truly do appreciate the effort that goes into making what is already a great toy even better.

Take for example the Reveal the Shield Optimus Prime - a truly offal toy the likes of which has never been seen in a long time. God I hated that Prime.

Then came along the Battle Tanker Upgrade and the Reveal the Shield Optimus Prime suddenly became one of the sexiest Primes on the block.

So when an upgrade appeared for one of the best Primes EVER!!! I just had to get it.

The Rock layeth the Smackdown

GI Joe Retaliation Battle Kata Roadblock

Presenting the Battle Kata Roadblock from the second series of the GI Joe Retaliation Toy line.

I remember the series 1 Roadblock from the same line and I remember thinking... "He's soooo..... white!"  And I really did not understand why the son of a Black Nova Scotian and a rich brown Samoan would agree to have his skin represented as white. And I bashed this fact when I reviewed the GI Joe Retaliation Ninja Dojo Set.

I was so bothered by what I considered racisim that I actually tweeted the Great One.

Clearly someone must have heard me as now the GI Joe Battle Kata Roadblock has a nice brown skin tone that's closer to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's.

I'm also not sure why, when or how Roadblock, the GI Joe machinegunner, became a ninja, but I doubt if this is anything more than a marketing gimmick.

Jango Fett

Presenting Jango Fett from the Star Wars 2013 Line

I recently came to realize that I actually did not have a lot of Jango Fetts in the Dungeon. I had a lot of Boba Fetts and I was particularly smitten by the Vintage Edition Boba Fett, but not a lot of Jangos.

Probably because - like Boba Fett again - the market is flooded with crappy figures. So when I saw the 2013 Edition Boba Fett I just had to get it.

To the uninitiated, Jango Fett is the  Mandalorian Bounty Hunter who would be come the Genetic "Father" of all the Clone Troopers  (Including Boba Fett who he raised as a real son) that were used in the Republic's Grand Army. He saw not just to their genetic makeup, but to their training and even their outfitting - which explains the similarity between Jango Fett's armor and the armor of the Clone Troopers.

He would meet his fate at the end of  Jedi Master Mace Windu's blade in the Battle of Geonosis where, ironically, his Clone Prodigy would come to the rescue of the overwhelmed Jedi.

GI Joe Retaliation: Flint

Presenting Flint from the GI Joe Retaliation Toy Line.

GI Joe Retaliation finally hits the big screen at the end of the month and we get to see if the release delay was really due to the movie having an incredibly horrible story or due to the supposed oversight of not having filmed the movie for 3D release.

Personally I think it's probably because the story sucks - I mean in what universe is Roadblock a Ninja?

Anyway, the GI Joe Warrant Officer Flint will be portrayed by D.J. Cotrona - the guy you all loved in that chick-flick "Dear John" and one episode of Law and Order SVU, and this is his action figure. To be fair at least it kinda looks like him - it's not a recast of previous Flints - unlike that feeble attempt to repackage Scarlett figures and call them Lady Jayes despite the fact that they look nothing like Adrianne Palicki.

Marvel Legends X-Force Wolverine

Presenting the Wolverine in his X-Force uniform from the Marvel Legends Hit Monkey BAF series.


I have to admit that I actually stopped blogging about Marvel Legends for the simple reason that they were a) becoming a pain to store; b) Marvel/Disney had produced some really hideous Marvel Legends with varying levels of articulation that gave insult to the name "Marvel Legends", and; c) I was having more fun playing with my Transformers and GI Joes.

I only picked up the Red She Hulk because I thought she was hot, but I did indeed like what I saw in terms of articulation and quality, so I tried the X-Force Wolverine.

And I have no regrets about it.

Darth Maul

Presenting the one, the only, Clone Wars Darth Maul from the 2013 Star Wars Toy line.

You have to admit that when you watched Episode 1 and saw Obi-Wan Kenobi slice Darth Maul into half that you thought "What a waste of a kick-ass villain!"

Clearly George Lucas agrees because the guy was cut in half but he was still able to crawl his way back out of a pit. Through sheer hatred - and because a lightsaber strike is cauterizing - Darth Maul found his way to another planet where he would spent a full TWELVE years fixing himself and becoming a horrifying spider creature.

Driven insane with hatred, Darth Maul would eventually be rescued by his brother, Savage Opress, returned to his home planet of Dathomir, healed, given a new cybernetic body and join his brother on a rampage across the universe.

Transformers Beast Hunters: Starscream

Presenting the Deluxe Class Starscream from the new Transformers Beast Hunters Series 2 Toyline.

On to the obvious: "Is the Transformers Beast Hunters Starscream a retool?" I'd argue that he  isn't. He's a brand new mold inspired from the designs of the original Transformers Prime Starscream.

The sharp, angular "cutter" lines from the original Transformers Prime Starscream are gone, replaced by a more jagged, armored look - reducing Starscream's sleek look and replacing it with a more aggressive and menacing exterior.

Without replacing that oh-so-lovable personality that we've all come to love and hate over the years.

Star Wars Vintage Darth Vader

Presenting Darth Vader from the Star Wars Vintage Edition Toyline.

Take note that this is Darth Vader, or Darth Vader's armor as it appeared in Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope.

To the uninitiated, the Darth Vader armor used in Episode IV is different from the armor used in Episodes V (Star Wars Empire Strikes Back) and VI (Star Wars Return of the Jedi); and is VERY different from the armor used in Episode III (Star Wars Revenge of the Sith).

When Episode IV was made George Lucas was not 100% sure of the origin of Darth Vader - much like he didn't know that later on Luke and Leia would be twins - so when George decided that Darth Vader was a cyborg, he needed to emphasize this a little more in Darth Vader's armor for when it would appear in Episode V.