Where to buy toys in Manila: Robinsons Galleria, Ortigas

Comic Odyssey: Robinson's Galleria

Where to buy Toys in Manila:Robinson's Galleria, Ortigas Avenue cor. EDSA, Quezon City.

While the Toy Mecca of Manila will, in our opinion, always be that wretched hive of scum and villainy called Greenhills (Seriously, it used to be a real hive of scum and villainy); time, circumstance and company sometimes prevent us or visitors from going to Greenhills - especially with the traffic.

So we've decided to start compiling alternate places where you or visitors to our country may find toys.

Presenting: Robinson's Galleria, Ortigas. Wikipedia defines the Robinsom's Galleria mall as: "...a 5-level shopping mall and a landmark along, EDSA and Ortigas Avenue with more than 400 shops, dining outlets, entertainment facilities and service centers. It is located within a mixed-use complex composed of two high-rise office towers namely the Galleria Corporate Center and the Robinsons-Equitable Tower, the Holiday Inn Manila and Crowne Plaza Manila, the Galleria Regency and the historic EDSA Shrine."

John Gokongwei purchased the land where Robinsons Galleria now stands from the government in 1987 following the miracle of People Power that led to the fall of the Marcos Dictatorship - yes it was a dictatorship, and he did not stand down to prevent bloodshed (God knows he's spilled enough already), he was ousted and ran with his tail between his legs He is no hero. The Catholic Church purchased the land at the very corner where now stands the EDSA shrine. The mall opened in 1990. 

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

GI Joe Retaliation Firefly with Power-Up Blast Board

Presenting Firefly with his Power-Up Blast Board from the GI Joe Retaliation toy line.

I have to say that I'm not really fond of Luges - especially motorized ones. I think that they border on the reckless and irresponsible and that they're road hazards.

But that's just me.

The Cobra Saboteur Firefly finally makes an appearance in the upcoming GI Joe Retaliation movie where he is portrayed by Ray Stevenson - you may remember him from Marvel's Punisher: War Zone (2008) and from Thor where he played - get this, Volstagg.

So immediately you can see that his toy version LOOKS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LIKE RAY STEVENSON!!!! If anything he looks a lot like Zartan. He doesn't even sport an unkempt beard that Ray sports as Firefly in the GI Joe Retaliation movie.

Major bummer.

Transformers DOTM Powerglide

Presenting the Commander Class Powerglide from the Transformers Dark of the Moon (DOTM) Cyberverse - Collect the World Series. Wow that's a long name.

I have to say that I'm not really a big big fan of the smaller class of Transformers. But I am a fan of Transformers that come close or pay homage to their animated roots. And the DOTM Powerglide is pretty close to that in my opinion - save for the fact that the wings should be at his shoulders and not on his arms when he transforms.

Anyway, he was on sale so I got him.

The arrogant Powerglide will forever go down in Autobot history as being one of the only (?) Transformers to fall in love with a human. I'm sure more than one of us shed a tear when - upon realizing that he had no future with socialite Astoria Carlton Ritz (Now THAT's a name) - whom he single-handedly saves from the Decepticons - he opens up his chest in private and reveals that his circuits are lit up in the shape of a heart.

Marvel Avengers Movie Series: Captain America Shield Launcher

Presenting Captain America (Shield Launcher) from the Marvel Avengers Movie toy series.If you read our review of the Avengers Goliath Assault Tank, then you've already seen this figure replacing the crappy Captain America that accompanied it.

In a nutshell, this is the modern adaptation of the movie-based Captain America as it will appear in the upcoming Avengers movie. As you may recall, Captain America's original costume - not the pansy one he wore while selling war-bonds - was born out of the 1940s. They obviously thought that he needed an up-grade and here he is.

As with his 1940's movie costume (Though he kept losing his helmet), this modern uniform is closer to the Ultimates Captain America uniform (By Brian Hitch) than to Captain America's uniform in the normal Marvel Universe timeline.

Marvel Universe: Gambit (Marvel Greatest Battles Comic Packs)

Presenting the Marvel Universe Gambit from the Marvel Greatest Battles Comic Pack. The Ragin-Cajun  is accompanied by... well I don't believe we can actually call him his arch-nemesis and none of their battles honestly are epic... so we'll just say he's accompanied by Mr. Sinister.

I won't bother reviewing Mr. Sinister because he's just a repainted version of the Marvel Universe Colossus. In fact if you wanted to you could probably repaint Mr. Sinister back into Colossus.

I have to admit that I'm not quite a fan of Gambit because all he's ever been to the X-Men - particularly to Rogue - is trouble. So you can imagine how elated I was when Rogue chose the man old enough to be her grandfather over the the guy who can't keep it in his pants. And what's up with his uniform! I remember asking myself that the first time I ever saw it: purple leather armor, leggings and knee-high boots with a weird looking wire collar. Honestly that red-scarf - that he started sporting I believe in X-treme X-Men - is the best thing Marvel ever did for him. That one simple touch, in my opinion, transformed him from weirdly dressed to 'roguish" - no pun intended.

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.

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.

Toy News: Toys R' Us DOTM Toy Launch at Robinsons Galleria

Here's me at the Toys R'Us/Hasbro DOTM Toy Launch at Robinsons Galleria yesterday evening. When I first saw it on the internet, I swore that I would not purchase the Ultimate Optimus Prime because it looked like a "Paru-parong Bukid" (Provincial Butterfly - an old Filipino folksong that negatively compares a provincial butterfly to the actions of an extremely vain woman), but I had received potentially life-changing negative news that day so I was really depressed. 

Toy News: Win a Jetwing or Ultimate DOTM Prime at Toys R'Us Philippines

Toys R'Us gives you a very good reason to get out and drop by Robinsons Galleria this weekend, July 9 and 10! Every PhP 500 single-receipt purchase of Transformers Toys done this weekend in Toys R' Us Galleria, entitles you to a raffle coupon where you can win

• A six inch limited edition Transformers Silver Bumblebee
• One of Two Jetwing Optimus Prime Supreme Class figures
• One of Two Ultimate Optimus Prime Figures.

AND THAT'S NOT ALL!!!!