Rescue Bots Optimus Prime

"Cuteness is the right of all sentient beings"

I first spotted this Transformers Rescue Bots Optimus Prime figurine over at Battlegrip. Non-transforming and possessing limited articulation but as cute as all hell, this small almost Imaginext sized Autobot is a must have for any G1 Optimus Prime fan!

Newly released by Hasbro and Playskool as part of their Playskool Heroes Rescue Bots series, what I didn't realize until I found mine is that he is available individually bagged, (the set shown at Battlegrip includes a useless-to-me human figurine.)

I found this guy at Toys R Us last night. Bagged (but not 'blind-bagged,' you can see the figure right through the front window!) each bagged figure cost $2.99.

Chase the Police-Bot, Heatwave the Fire-Bot, Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are all part of this release. They're all cute but only Optimus Prime had to go home with me. If Bumblebee looked more G1 than Bayformer, I'd have grabbed him too. Here's hoping for more classic characters in the future!

Prime is articulated at the neck, 2 points at each shoulder, and one point for both legs (they move in unison.) He also has a wrist joint at his hand and saw-blade.

The saw-blade is very cool, giving Prime a weapon/tool without creating a separate piece for little kids to lose. At first I thought I might be disappointed in the saw/lack of a gun/left fist, but it has grown on me and I actually think it's a super cool weapon - especially in case of a zombie outbreak...

"Lock and load and prepare to roll-out!"

Here's Prime with Double-Barrel Carol to give you an idea of his size, and to serve as a portent of things to come!

To be continued...

Random toy Pic :: He should have gone with the hybrid

"Goddamn these new 'energon efficient' recruits!"

Random Toy Pic :: One shall stand, one shall ROCK!

More Than Meets the Eye...Literally

What the hell is this?

And is there any reason anyone in the world should expect to find the following within?

No. No there is not.

In a marketing move that can only be summed up with the word 'Huh?!?!' Kre-o, the makers of the 'don't call 'em Legos' Transformers building sets and minifigures have stocked the local K-Mart shelves with...a red box.

The box is factory sealed shut, with no indication on what lies within.

Well okay, there's a picture of a Bumblebee minifigure, or Kreon, on the back; but within all ten of the boxes on the shelf (and yes, I peeked in all of them) Optimus Prime was the only figure inside. If they all contain Optimus Prime, why seal them shut in the first place? Okay, maybe I got there late, and there were other boxes containing other Kreons. But I doubt it.

Once you open the flap it does make a little more sense. Maybe. Looks like they are trying to push Kre-o sets by getting you interested in this little Optimus Prime first. Then why hide him behind a blank red flap?!?!

The box contains one Optimus Prime minifigure with his exposed (scandalous) matrix of leadership. And the block he's standing on. That's it. Big box, little bang. For $4.99.

Weird.

Oh, there is a booklet on the inside flap which shows all the Kre-o sets we've all already seen a million times. Yay.

I admit I bought this to have an Optimus Prime Kreon...and also to take one for the team. This package/presentation is truly terrible product marketing and I just had to share my thoughts. In fact, I bet a lot of folks out there have or would have walked right past these. I almost did.

One last thought: Is this set a mis-shelved Valentine's Day promotion? Possible, but it should still either contain more (ex: Valentine's cards) or be better marked on the outside of the package (ex: I love Kreons!)

The world may never know.

Releasing Kreons individually: smart. Releasing only one Kreon individually, in an unmarked blank red box and charging five bucks? Lame.

EDIT: A little internet sleuthing has revealed that this figure/packaging was a convention exclusive last year. So much for 'exclusive,' eh? Apparently there were a few leftovers and they hit my local K-Mart. Keep your eyes peeled if you too want to find this 'exclusive!'

I'm Just a Skater Boy...

Actually, I'm not. I haven't owned a skateboard since the late seventies. Those skinny vinyl/plastic numbers were pretty sweet...but I digress.

These guys are skater boys - finger-skater boys that is!

They are also blatant ripoffs of pop culture icons that border on (if not cross by miles) copyright infringement - maybe skateboarding, or at least finger-skating, is a crime after all!



Let's start with Adam. Yup, that's the name Tech Deck gave Batm...I mean this non-descript blue and grey clad pointy eared utility belt wearing individual (back off, lawyers!) when they released him a few years back. I think they actually got some heat from this one, because he was only around for a very short time, he has never been re-released, there is no mention or sign of him on the Tech Deck website, and the name "Adam" has been used on a different figure (a Zombie) ever since.

As you can see, Adam is an OG Tech Deck Dude, from back before they gave the figures arms. Their schtick is that these guys are little living fingers. They even have fingernails sculpted into the backs of their heads. Whatever - if anyone can fight crime without arms, it's Batman.


Up next is Megatr...I mean Mort (whew, that was a close one!) Mort is a recent release and can still be found on the shelves. He's a special Tech Deck Dude who comes with a pet "Zood." Mort's zood is a total rip...er looks vaguely like the G1 Transformer Ratbat if you squint.


This here is Bruce. There was once a famous Kung-Fu expert named Bruce Lee, who played a character named Kato on television. Kato was the Green Hornet's chauffeur. I don't know why I mentioned all that, as clearly it has no relevance to this Tech Deck guy who they call Bruce.


This is Minga *coughcough Optimus Prime coughcough* Sorry. Where was I?


"One shall stand, one shall fall...off the half pipe."


"You remind me of a kid I once knew. He was a good soldier."

Tech Deck does characters like this every so often. There's a Robocop, a Terminator, a purple Hulk, and just recently I spotted two new releases blatantly ripping...I mean vaguely reminiscent of Dr. Doom and Onslaught from Marvel comics.

They're usually pretty cheap - around 3-5 bucks each, so I suggest you grab the ones you want when you see them. You never know when a lawyer might be walking down the toy aisle, or reading a toy blog for that matter ;)

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down...

Back in the early 2000s another of the many versions of Transformers appeared on the scene. Known as Robots in Disguise, this series got Transformers back to their vehicular roots (as opposed to the Beast Wars concept which I just could not get behind in any fashion.)

There was also a cartoon, which I didn't watch. I believe it was a Japanese series that was altered for US audiences. I wish they just gave us straight translations, but they tend to re-write entire episodes/characters etc. in situations like these and the end result is usually junk.

I did pick up a couple of the toys however. Mostly out of nostalgia, few of them really blew my socks off.

Except this one:






Known as Scourge on the Robots in Disguise cartoon and Black Convoy in Japan, this is Optimus Prime's evil doppleganger. The figure is actually a re-paint of the gawd awfully colored G2 Laser Optimus Prime from 1995. Man, that thing was butt ugly, which is sad because this is an amazing transformer!



Thankfully they brought the toy back...but this time he's black with turquoise trim and Decepticon allegiance!



He's an awesome figure - a simple transformation with excellent truck and robot likenesses. His sword stashes under his rear axles so you can't lose it (that's a bonus for anyone who grew up with G1 parts all over the place) and he has all kinds of articulation: knees, hips, waist, elbows, head etc. for tons of poses! His trailer transforms into a battle station, with tons of firepower, but all the missiles are boxed up, so I didn't bother transforming it for the photo shoot.




From what I understand this one was hard to come by...it may have been a Toys R Us exclusive or something. Whatever, I have him so I am happy.

Optimus and Nemesis Prime - in miniature!

These came out a few years back. They are the size of Hotwheels, and represent Optimus Prime and his evil doppleganger Nemesis Prime (aka Scourge.) I think Scourge came out first, followed by Optimus himself, who was a KB Toy Store exclusive.



Based on the larger scale G2 Tanker Truck Optimus Prime who was later revamped and re-released as a new character called Scourge (more on him later) these mini-transformers are unbelievably cool. I think the size and vehicle representations are where Go Bots had Transformers beat back in the eighties. Big Transformers are cool, don't get me wrong, but I wish there was a line out today that provided the variety and scale of the 80s Go-Bots. These come close.

Small, cute, a simple transformation, a close-to-true vehicle representation, and a kick-butt design homage to the original Optimus Prime. What could be cooler?