Loot Crate Highlight of the Month - Darth Vader Vinyl Bobble-Head

About a month ago, I decided to give Loot Crate a try. For those not familiar with the program, here's the idea: for a nominal fee, you get a box packed with items intended to appeal to geek and gaming culture. The items that will be in the box are not revealed in advance, so there's admittedly a risk involved that you might not get anything that particularly appeals to you. The upside is that there is an opportunity for a little bit of Christmas once a month when the package arrives, and since you know that the items are geared toward geeky interests, if those interests apply to you (and if they don't, why are you reading a nominally Transformers-themed blog?), there's a pretty good chance that you can get some really cool stuff.

The company hasn't even been around for a full year yet, but it has already generated a fair bit of buzz due to people posting videos of each "unboxing," as they show off what's in that month's crate, and the Loot Crate folks themselves have embraced the idea as a way to get free promotion of their service. Me, I'm not really into videos, and don't want to just do the same thing other folks are already doing online already, so I'm looking to just feature one highlighted item from the half-dozen-ish items that arrive in each box, at least for the next few months (after which I will determine whether or not I myself want to continue with the service).

Each month's Loot Crate attempts to group items around some kind of a theme. I gather that the themes are fairly loose, but it's still a cute idea. The theme for March is "Cosmos," and the item I'm highlighting out of the box is the Darth Vader Vinyl Bobble-Head from Funko. I never really knew that Bobbleheads were a thing when I was growing up (the more recent resurgence of their popularity not having started until almost the turn of the millennium), but they date back to at least as early as the 1950's. Nowadays, it's practically a sign that someone (or some character) has "made it" to have a Bobblehead made after their likeness. Certainly, Darth Vader is a prime candidate for such a distinction!

If you're interested in learning more about Loot Crate, you can do so via this link. While exploring, you can also check out videos that other Loot Crate subscribers have posted detailing the boxes they've gotten in a given month. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to next month!

Reactions to the 2013 BotCon Box Set

So, now we know (cue "and knowing is half the battle" response).

Over the past few weeks, fans have been treated to previews of the toys that will be featured in this year's BotCon box set, based off of the old Machine Wars line.

Long-time followers of BotCon will, of course, already know that these five toys won't be the only exclusive toys to come out of BotCon 2013. These are simply the ones that we can order in advance (actually, there will one more toy you can order in advance if you want to this year. For the first time ever, the toy that will be made in the Customizing Class will be available to everyone in an unpainted, but assembled, form. But we won't know what that toy looks like until the convention itself. And, of course, there's also the attendee-only exclusive...). Even so, these revelations have caused plenty of reaction so far on the online boards, and not all of it has been positive.

I am not here seeking to defend Fun Publications (henceforth, "FunPub," for the sake of brevity), although I hope not to denigrate them, either. I myself am particularly disturbed that the character that most needed a remolded head (Megaplex, because pretty much the only thing known about the original Machine Wars version of the character is that he's a Megatron clone, and thus he shared Megatron's head shape) is the one toy that doesn't get such a head. FunPub has explained how this came to pass, and while I still wish that another decision had been made, what's done is done, and the mold being used for Megaplex itself is very appropriate for the character. It just needed the Megatron-y head to finish the homage. That said, to get as many as four of the five figures in the set with new heads is unprecedented!

I do think a lot of the negative response arises from fans holding either of two different, but related, ideas: 1. a misunderstanding of FunPub's intentions (this isn't a reworking of Machine Wars concepts so much as a "second series" of Machine Wars figures), 2. a feeling that a set that purports to be Machine Wars-themed should more closely resemble the original line than what was actually done, regardless of what FunPub's intentions were (although noting that Strika and Obsidian are from Beast Machines is not to be ignored). To the extent that fans have misunderstood, both FunPub and other fans need to do a better job of explaining the reality in ways that people can hear (although this is undoubtedly an uphill battle). To the extent that fans simply think that FunPub should have done something else... well, there's little to be done on that account. Opinions will always differ.

Like many fans, I'm also a bit put off by the ever-increasing prices attached to the set (up $25 from last year, for a set which has one less figure than last year's had), but acknowledge that the prices of toys at retail venues have gone up quite a bit (to use the easiest example, most fans still have a lingering mindset that Deluxe-sized toys should go for about $10, even though that hasn't been true for several years now. The current around-$15 price reflects a huge increase from those levels). That said, I've done calculations for the "retail multiplier" of exclusive toys on the data pages, and these suggest that this set actually is more expensive than last year's, even accounting for retail inflation. This year's price is better compared to the "retail multiplier" a couple of years ago, but considering that I calculated that set as the highest such multiplier of all time, that's not necessarily high praise.

Ultimately, the question comes down to whether or not fans will buy the set regardless of whatever deficiencies it is perceived to have. As long as these sets continue to sell out, neither FunPub nor anyone else has any real reason to change the current pattern.

Why Selling on eBay Often Scares Me

It's no secret that I've been using eBay for quite some time now. In fact, a quick search on my account reminds me that I've been using the site for more than 15 years! Over that time, I've both bought and sold items (mostly Transformers, but by no means limited to them) and feel that I understand the system pretty well. It has been of tremendous help to me in allowing me to cultivate my collection while keeping some semblance of financial responsibility. Yet most of the time I do try to sell an item, I'm filled with a sense of fear.

Now to be clear, I've witnessed a number of changes to eBay's policies over the years, as they themselves have tried to figure out how best to keep their business going while providing the service they provide. To say that these changes have not always been popular is an understatement, but I'm not looking to get into those debates here. My fear is not based on some sense that eBay's policies are buyer-focused to the detriment of sellers, as many contend the current policies are. Rather, my fear is based on knowing the nature of toy-collecting fans only too well.

Fans do not come in only one stripe, of course. We range from casual to obsessive, with many areas of grey in-between. Although I have always done my best to either sell items that are in good condition, or to be honest about any faults that the items have (and am proud of the 100% percent positive feedback rating I've maintained all these years, even before eBay changed their policy to reflect only the most recent 12 months in that rating),  I know that what seems to me to be a "perfectly good specimen" may not seem so to a fan who (for example) obsesses over the smallest apparent imperfection.

Of course, most sales go off without a hitch, but every once in a while those fears become justified, as I hear back from a buyer that something was wrong with the figure I sold them. Now, it's of course always possible that nothing was wrong with the figure, and the buyer is just trying to get away with something, but I've long since accepted that it is unhelpful to start with such an assumption. Rather, it is simply good policy to assume good faith and to offer a refund upon return of the item (I do not offer refunds before the item is returned. I'm not crazy!).

It's easy to hold to a standard of good behavior when nothing goes wrong. It is really only when things don't go as expected that one really gets to the true nature of one's character. I hope that my character has been demonstrated well when I've responded to sales that didn't go as well as I'd intended, but I expect that, someday, the difference between my viewpoint and the buyer's may become too great to reconcile amiably, and I've got to admit, the prospect still scares me all the time.

When the Turtles Joined Starfleet

This post was inspired by a comment made during the live recording feed of Radio Free Cybertron this week (the episode should be available for download later this weekend. If you subscribe via iTunes, you can get it automatically). The hosts were talking about the current line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys, and remembering the line that came out back in the early '90s. Long before Transformers had launched the "Crossover" line, this figure of Donatello as Mr. Spock came out.

This toy, officially called "First Officer Donatello" ("The Subspace Shelled Science Officer!"), came out as result of serendipitous timing, as Playmates toys decided to capitalize on the fact that they held the licenses to make toys based on two certain popular television series. Thus, the "Star Trek Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" line was born.

The line featured all four Turtles as characters from the original series of Star Trek. Donatello is clearly Mr. Spock, Leonardo was Captain Kirk, Michaelangelo was Scotty, and Raphael was Dr. McCoy. Donatello is the only figure I actually own. Oddly enough, although certain Star Trek concepts are explicitly used on the packaging (The USS Enterprise, pon farr, the communicator, the tricorder, and the phaser, for example), none of the names of the actual characters seem to be used. Thus, while "First Officer Donatello" is said to have been "born on the planet Vulcan," Spock's name never actually shows up, despite the clear intention. I don't pretend to know why.

BotCon 2013 Speculation Via Machine Wars Mirage

A few weeks ago, the theme for the 2013 BotCon was announced to be "Machine Wars." We still don't have any more specific information in regard to characters or molds that will be used, but that obviously hasn't kept fans from speculating about what a set based on the 1997 Machine Wars line might look like. Let's look at Machine Wars Mirage as we consider the possibilities...

As I've mentioned before (for example, when featuring Machine Wars Hoist back in 2009), the Machine Wars line was exclusive to KB Toys, and consisted entirely of molds that had been created for previous lines (although many had not actually been released previously). Of course, all BotCon toys are exclusives made using previously-existing molds, so this distinction of Machine Wars isn't especially helpful. Perhaps more relevant to Machine Wars is the fact that most Machine Wars toys used the names of Generation One characters. Still, what would make a BotCon "Machine Wars" toy any different than any other Generation One homage that they've done over the years? (And even there, there are two noteworthy exceptions: Machine Wars Hubcap is almost certainly not the same character as the Generation One character of that name, and Megaplex is an entirely new character, even if he is a clone of Megatron...)

Machine Wars molds came in two basic types. Four "basic" molds that all featured a "flipchanger" one-step, spring-loaded transformation (I'm not counting the step of pulling the figure's weapon out of storage, which obviously must be done manually), and four larger molds that originated in the European markets in the later years of Generation One. The four "basic" molds were all used twice, while the four larger molds were used one time apiece, for a grand total of twelve Machine Wars toys. While I can't see BotCon going with "flipchanger" designs (which exist, but aren't especially common among more modern molds), I do wonder if a possible pattern exists here that BotCon might emulate for their "Machine Wars" set. I could easily see about half of their dozen-ish toys (recent BotCons have given just over that number) being repaints of each other....

But what about the homages themselves? Now that I'm getting around to Mirage, I can say I've covered all four of the "basic" molds in the Machine Wars line, although in the case of Beast Wars 2 Dirge, I covered a later redeco of the Machine Wars mold, since I don't have either of Machine Wars Thundercracker or Skywarp. Looking strictly at those toys, it becomes fairly clear that two of these molds — this Mirage mold and the one for Megatron/Megaplex — have heads that were clearly molded to resemble the Generation One character the toy is named for. The same cannot be said of the Hoist/Hubcap mold or the Thundercracker/Skywarp mold (FYI, Mirage's Machine Wars redeco was named Prowl, but although Prowl is apparently intended to be the Generation One character, there's little in the mold that suggests it's any kind of an homage beyond the name use). This doesn't give us much help in determining a pattern, except perhaps to note that the same hit-and-miss pattern of homages might be said of BotCon exclusives of the past, as well.

I have less experience with the larger, Europe-originated, molds that were brought over and redecoed for Machine Wars. In fact, the only specimen I currently own that uses any of these molds is Universe Soundwave. Even so, there's not much of a pattern that I can glean out of those four toys, except to say that they pretty much all make for fairly weak homages for one reason or another. That said, since we're only talking about eight molds, total, for the entire original Machine Wars line, the lack of cohesion among the homages has been suggested, itself, as a way that BotCon 2013 might create its set of "Machine Wars" toys. However, I'm not at all confident that a set of toys that bear little-to-no resemblance to the characters whose names they're given will go over very well with fans once the choices are announced.

I do have one additional note that I'm holding out a small hope that the folks at BotCon might notice. The Tech Specs for the Machine Wars toys all used the Generation Two faction symbols! These are symbols that have been largely forgotten today, although they have resurfaced on the occasional Generation Two homage. BotCon 2013's "Machine Wars" toys represent a rare opportunity to give these symbols some love. However, I don't think these symbols appear on any of the original Machine Wars toys themselves (which mostly ignore symbols entirely for some reason, and the few symbols that do appear are of the Generation One variety, since in those cases the molds were created back in that era^*), so I can't say that I hold that hope with any real confidence that BotCon will follow through. Time will tell....

---

^*It was later brought to my attention that there was a G2 faction symbol on the original Machine Wars Skywarp toy. Sadly, the reveal of BotCon 2013 Skywarp on February 12th displays a G1 symbol.

Transformers Robots in Disguise Jhiaxus

Although it is fairly uncommon, there are a few Transformers toys that depict characters that were first seen in some other part of the Transformers franchise. Drift was one such example, having been created for the IDW comics. Spike, the Headmaster partner of the original Fortress Maximus, clearly homages a prominent character from the original cartoon, and is perhaps the earliest example of this trend. Arguably the first toy created for a previously-comics-only character is Jhiaxus.

Jhiaxus was a character created for the short-lived Transformers: Generation Two comic book of the early 1990s (in fact, the name is intended to be pronounced, "Gee-ax-us," in reference to the fate that Simon Furman correctly predicted for the comic book). This toy, a repaint of Beast Machines Jetstorm (and also used for other toys, such as Universe Skywarp), bears practically no resemblance to the Generation Two character, but "Jhiaxus" is the kind of distinctive name that simply doesn't show up by coincidence! The bio given to Jhiaxus in the only edition of the Official Transformers Club magazine to come out from 3H Productions (before the license was given to current club-runner Fun Publications) suggests that the different body was created by Unicron after Jhiaxus was abducted (along with many other Transformers) to serve Unicron's purposes.

Having already featured Skywarp (even if it was nearly four years ago), there's little need to talk about the aspects of this toy that it shares in common with that one. Just click on Skywarp's link above for that stuff. It is, however, worth noting that this version of the mold has some noticeably softer plastic in places, especially the black parts (some parts, such as the head-fins, were soft plastic on other versions of the mold already). Some fans have suggested that this might have been a cost-cutting measure on Hasbro's part, but although at least one other toy from this mold also features this softer plastic, this has never been proven. These toys may be nothing more than a fluke of the era.

When this Jhiaxus toy came out in 2003, it created a fair bit of buzz among the fandom because of the novelty that Hasbro would reference a comics-only character in such a way, even if it was just a repaint that bore little-to-no resemblance to that character (toys such as Drift have demonstrated that Hasbro has been willing to do far more in years since), but that buzz died down after a year or two. However, Jhiaxus hasn't been entirely forgotten. Just this past year, Jhiaxus was the main antagonist in Fun Publications' club comic, featuring this version of the character for the first time in nearly a decade. It's nice to see this character show up again in this form.

Transformers Generations Warpath

I was somewhat surprised to learn last week that Transformers fan and author Jim Sorenson's blog has been hiatus for almost as long as mine has. Despite the fact that both of us live in the greater Los Angeles area, this is purely coincidental (in fact, the only times Jim and I have ever met in person have been at Transformers conventions and book-signing events). I don't know if I should take comfort in the similar timing of another blog's hiatus, or if that fact should make me feel more guilty, but since Jim's back up and running, I probably should take that as a cue to do the same.

A few years ago, I did a feature on the two versions of the classic character Warpath that were available at that time. In 2011, just a year or after I wrote that article, yet another Warpath toy was released, this time at the "Deluxe" price-point (which I really think should be renamed, as it's more or less the standard size. Shouldn't the word "Deluxe" imply something better than the standard?). Like the "Legends" version of Warpath from 2009, this version of Warpath turns into an "H-tank." This imaginary style of tank has been fairly popular in the Transformers franchise, as it provides for separate arm and leg transformations fairly easily.

In addition to Warpath's signature chest-turret, this toy also has a working missile launcher and an ammo rack, both of which can (if desired) be detached from Warpath's shoulders (or turret, if in tank mode) and re-attached anywhere an appropriately-sized rod can be found. These kinds of accessories are often called "c joints" within the fandom (because the shape of the clip), and quite a few Transformers of this era were using them, making for a myriad of mix-and-match possibilities.

Although I think the Deluxe price-point may no longer be living up to its name in general, there is little doubt that this version of Warpath is quite a bit larger, more detailed, and able to hold a far wider variety of poses than either of its predecessors. The odds are, if you're at all interested in this toy, you've already picked it up sometime over the past year or so, but if you haven't, I strongly urge you to do so. The toy can still be found at brick-and-mortar stores with a bit of searching, but whether you prefer that route or just picking it up online, it shouldn't be hard to get, and there's no reason anyone should have to pay too much for it.