Transformers Hall of Fame 2011 - Vote for Action Master Thundercracker

Well, since Ratchet is ineligible for support for the Hall of Fame (the non-Marvel-ness of the Ratchet likely to actually be honored notwithstanding), let's have some fun.  Vote for this guy instead!

And, for those who've missed it, you can have more fun with Action Master Thundercracker here, and read my efforts to get a toy produced here and here.

Transformers Hall of Fame 2011 - Vote for G1 Marvel Ratchet

Because it's that time of year again.  (Actually, I'm told that Ratchet is already being inducted this year, without the need for a vote, but I have doubts that they recognize that the Marvel version isn't the same as, say the current version seen in Transformers: Prime, let alone the old cartoon version)

Transformers Feature: Kabaya Ultra Magnus (2010)

A couple of weeks ago, the folks at Fun Publications finally unveiled MCAX.com.  This site has been promised to members of the official Transformers club (and others) for several years now, so it's good to finally see the promise become a reality.  Basically, MCAX.com is intended to be an alternative to eBay.  Members are able to post items for sale without having to worry about those annoying fees that eBay charges (unless you choose to utilize certain special features).  I have doubts that MCAX.com can ever develop a sufficiently large userbase to be of much value to most fans.  If there aren't a lot of people selling, there's not a whole lot to buy.  To their credit, the site is free to everyone (not just club members) until Labor Day, so head on over there to see if something interests you.

My first purchase from MCAX.com was a model kit of Generation One Ultra Magnus produced by a company named Kabaya.  I've been reading about these things for several years now, but I've never actually bought one before.  Basically, they're little model kits sold with a piece of chewing gum (that's the packet to the left) so they can be sold in grocery stores.  The Asian grocery stores here in Southern California often have lots of these kits from Kabaya, from all sorts of different franchises, although I've never seen a Transformers kit "in the wild," but only through online vendors.  My model-making skills are decidedly rusty (the last time I put them to use being at the BotCon 2009 Customizing Class), but strangely enough, none of the reviews of these figures (and there are actually quite a few of them out there over the past 25+ years) seem to go into any detail about the construction of the models, so I'll do what I can here.

In a nicely efficient use of space, the assembly instructions are printed on the inside of the box itself (which itself has a perforation along one side to ensure you open it correctly).  Although the instructions are in Japanese, the images are reasonably clear, and the numbers are the same Arabic numerals we westerners are familiar with, so I didn't really have much trouble following along.  The instructions do suggest putting the stickers in place while you assemble the figure, but I held off on that at first.  I'll explain why in a bit.

As with any model kit, you put the pieces together in sections.  Here's a somewhat fuzzy (sorry!) picture of the legs.  The arms and torso were each their own individual sections, as well. The set doesn't really require any glue, and in fact I would recommend against using any.  This model is, in fact, a transforming toy much like the "real" Transformers.  Think of it as a smaller-scale and simplified version of the original, and you're not too far off from the idea.  To use glue on the wrong piece would be disaster!

In the case of this Ultra Magnus model (Kabaya did another one back in the mid-80's), the assembled figure is almost entirely blue (the only exceptions are for the black rifle and small smokestacks, and the white arms and missile launchers).  This is why the stickers were provided, but I can't tell you how tempted I was to just paint it up instead, despite my previously stated lack of painting skills.  I hate stickers that much!  Here's a shot of the unstickered-vehicle mode.

Ultimately, the need to go ahead with the original intention won out, and so here's Ultra Magnus with the absurd number of stickers applied.  This is really pretty ridiculous.  While I grant that one shouldn't expect all the pieces to be molded in all the colors of the original, part of the problem here is that the stickers are going over sections that have molded detail on them.  If I was putting those big white stickers over smooth legs, for example, it wouldn't be nearly as much of a problem as what we have here.  I'll truly be shocked if that sticker on Ultra Magnus' face stays on for more than a few months, and just look at the cab in the picture below!

Even so, this was a fun little afternoon project, and worth the money I paid to get it.  I doubt I'd ever do a lot of these (unless they do start showing up in grocery stores that I can actually go to here in Southern California, at which point I don't have to pay for shipping), but it makes for a somewhat unique addition to the collection.  And even the chewing gum wasn't at all bad!

I'm Not Really Irish

While chatting with my sister online, we got to talking about yesterday's St. Patrick's Day holiday.  The love of all things Irish commonly associated with that day got us to thinking about one of our favorite movies from our childhood, The Happiest Millionaire.  As I said when I mentioned that movie a few years back, we really like the stuff featuring Tommy Steele, and can actually skip most of the actual plot that pads the middle of the movie.  But an early song featuring Steele from the movie, "I'll Always Be Irish," seemed especially appropriate.  You can find lyrics to the actual song here, but we decided to go in a different direction.  The parody that follows was written as a collaboration between the two of us.

I'm Not Really Irish
by Mark Baker-Wright and Ruth Wright

One night last week I pined away, at places far and near
All the sights I've never seen and never will, I fear.
I know I'll never see the place, and yet I dream to see,
that land of magic wonderment, that calls so much to me.

I'll always be Irish! Well, actually, I lie!
I'm NOT really Irish, you can poke me in the eye!
Although I can sing Danny Boy, and even sing it well,
If I try an Irish accent it will make you want to yell!

I’m not really Irish, I guess that’s plain to see,
I’m not really Irish, though I’d give the world to be!
I love to eat potatoes, and I’m not real fond of snakes,
But the closest I can get to green is baking minty cakes!

I’m not really Irish, I’ve known this for awhile,
I’m not really Irish, ‘though I love the Emerald Isle
I'd love to kiss the Blarney stone, and have the gift of gab,
but I fear that my inanity would make it rather drab

I wish I were Irish, and had that lovely hair.
I wish I were Irish with the passion that lives there!
But since I'm an American, I've gotten used to that,
and I guess I'll have to settle for this t-shirt and a hat.

Transformers Feature: Animated Ultra Magnus

Transformers fans definitely have Animated on their minds these days. Yesterday saw the reveal of Motormaster, the final figure of the five-figure "Stunticon" box set for BotCon 2011, a toy that even before the reveal was generating a huge amount of discussion. I don't actually have the Voyager Optimus Prime toy on which Motormaster is based (although I could grab it for about $12 at Tuesday Morning at the moment if I really wanted to), and I reviewed popular alternative mold-choice Wreck-Gar more than a year ago (ironically, a Twitter "repost" of that entry went live yesterday, entirely by coincidence. I set up that buffer weeks ago, before I knew that Motormaster would be revealed the same day), so I'm instead going to discuss one of the admitted "longshots" that some fans wanted to see made into Motormaster: Animated Ultra Magnus.

As I mentioned when I discussed the Optimus Prime/Megatron "Battle Begins" set, Prime's not the supreme leader of the Autobots in Animated. That honor goes to Ultra Magnus. This is actually quite ironic, because Generation One Ultra Magnus was the consummate soldier, more comfortable following orders than giving them. This is just one of the many ways in which the Animated version departs from the Generation One original that it nonetheless clearly homages. It really does amaze me how many fans complain about such divergences. It's by no means universal, and many, many fans appreciate both the homages and the differences for what they are, but people really can get uptight about this stuff!

One element of Ultra Magnus' design peculiar to the Animated character is the "Magnus hammer," apparently not only a powerful weapon, but also a symbol of his leadership of the Autobots. And this is by no means the only weapon at Ultra Magnus' disposal, although most of the others are admittedly concealed in the pictures shown here. For images of Ultra Magnus with weapons deployed and ready to go, click here for vehicle mode and here for robot mode.

There are at least two reasons why the suggestion of BotCon Animated Motormaster using this mold was always a longshot. The first is that Fun Publications (the folks who run both BotCon and the Official Transformers Collectors' Club) has never used a figure this large as an exclusive for BotCon (much less in the box set). It would therefore seem unlikely that they could do so now (and still keep prices remotely low enough that people would still pay for the set, which is already quite expensive). The other main reason is the fact that this mold has the "Elite Guard" Autobot logo squarely in the middle of the toy's chest (where it serves as a button that activates lights and voice effects). Although this button/logo could theoretically be remolded, doing so is by no means easy or inexpensive to do, and it simply stood to reason that Fun Publications would find a cheaper way of achieving their goals. Although the debate continues to rage about whether the mold they actually chose was in fact that best choice out of their available options, using the Animated Ultra Magnus mold was simply never a realistic possibility.

Transformers Feature: Animated Ratchet

Every once in a while, a character in Transformers: Animated, while definitely being an homage to the Generation One character for which it is named, shows signs of being at least as much an homage to another character entirely.  This is the case with Ratchet.  While Ratchet remains the doctor of the group, just as the original version was, the personality of Ratchet bears a stronger resemblance to Kup, the "crotchety old guy" character that originated in Transformers: The Movie back in 1986.

Like Kup, Animated Ratchet is a veteran of the seemingly endless war between the Autobots and the Decepticons (although, when Animated begins, there hadn't been any serious fighting for some time, as the Decepticons were in hiding).  The mold for Ratchet attempts to convey the sense of Ratchet's age in a couple of ways.  One is the intentional "beer belly" of Ratchet's robot mode.  Another is the broken crest on the right side of Ratchet's head, one of a couple of injuries from times gone by that this doctor has apparently never sought have healed for himself (the other will be covered when we get to Lockdown).  In keeping with being a doctor who's main patients are, in fact, machines, Ratchet comes with a number of tools that can either be held in his fists (actually, they clip on the inside, rather than actually being "held") or stored on clips in a compartment behind his back.  The toy also features a flip-out tool on each fist, apparently intended to represent electromagnets that Ratchet is often seen using in the cartoon, but they get only half the job done.  Even less, really.  Thankfully, third party groups have stepped up.

Like his Generation One counterpart, Ratchet turns into an ambulance and a generally red-and-white color scheme.  Whereas most modern Transformers are designed so that all weapons and accessories can be stored in both modes, this is not possible for Ratchet, and all of those tools have to be stashed somewhere for safekeeping whenever Ratchet is in this mode.

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Transformers Feature: Animated Bulkhead

Not every character that appears in Transformers: Animated is a Generation One homage.  In fact, there are a few characters in Animated that are entirely new to the Transformers canon.  Bulkhead is one of these.^*

Actually, all things considered, it's probably a surprise that Bulkhead's character-type hasn't been seen more often.  One could safely sum Bulkhead up as "big, strong, not especially bright, but a well-meaning gentle spirit."  It's an archetype that's certainly been seen in various forms, especially in sitcoms, for years.  Animated certainly used Bulkhead to great comedic effect, causing destruction that might have even given Michael Bay pause if the show had been done in live-action, yet somehow always with the understanding that Bulkhead is unquestionably one of the good guys.

I actually have two Bulkhead toys, which is a bit unusual (and not something I expect to remain true for forever, depending on what kind of prices I can ultimately get for the smaller one on eBay), but I'll briefly note both here.  The "smaller" one isn't actually all that small, being at the roughly-$20 "Voyager" price point (although because most of the mass of the toy's goes to making it look... bulky, the Voyager does remain shorter than many $10-ish Deluxes!), while the larger one is a $40-ish "Leader" figure (I didn't pay that price, but got the "Leader" figure on a fairly significant discount, as is usually the case for such large figures if I get them at all).  In pictures that show both figures, the Voyager version will be on the left while the Leader version will be on the right.

Oddly enough, the Voyager figure is arguably closer to Bulkhead's animation model than the Leader figure, which is a bit unusual for characters having more than one size of toy, since the larger toy can almost always incorporate greater detail.  While this much remains true of the two Bulkhead toys, one of the main "issues" with the Leader figure is the amount of weaponry it includes, most of which never appears in the cartoon at all.  One rather surprising cartoon-accurate feature that only the Leader figure has, however, is that it is possible to recreate a scene in which Bulkhead transforms the kibble that usually hangs above his back into an actual chair that he then proceeds to sit on!  Here is Leader Bulkhead in this configuration.

The Leader version of Bulkhead also comes with a "Headmaster" accessory, based on a human character that showed up a few times on the cartoon.  Whereas the Headmaster in the cartoon (an obvious homage to the Generation One Headmasters) would replace the original head with the Headmaster's own mechanical "head" in order to control the larger robot's body, this toy is basically just a helmet that can fit over the head of the figure, which then activates a different voice for the Headmaster character, as well as changes the colors of the lights from yellow to red.  Actually, all Animated "Leader"-sized figures were made with tabs that lock this helmet accessory into place (although only Bulkhead has the alternate voice and lights included). It's a nifty little extra, perhaps not worth buying on its own, but worth knowing about.
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^*I fully expect some know-it-all to try to tell me that there was another character named Bulkhead before the Animated version, so I'll point out right here that, yes, that's true.  However, that character is pretty much nothing like this one.  They just share a name.

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