Cyber Slammers Jazz

I have a review in the works, but got lazy and didn't finish it. Today I, well my mom got me a Cyber Slammer. She didn't know that it was for kids, smaller than I, but she knows I love TFs and got me Cyber Slammers (CS) Jazz at Ross for $4.99

The vehicle mode of CS Jazz is a miniature form of the Pontiac Solstice. It's pretty squat in length and wide in width. Molded of greyish plastic, it has several paint apps, including "sparkling" blue windows, red tail lights, light "sparkling" blue and yellow head lights, black grill and side vents, and a red Pontiac emblem in the front. The back wheels are slightly larger than the front, with rubber treads around the wheel for friction. A minor problem shown in the picture and the final product is that assembly sticking up above the hood sculpt. It's mainly due to the tension in the spring, I believe...

The main gimmick and fun of the toy to kids is the automorph feature. Not called automorph though, in car mode there is a plastic white molded switch, hold the back wheels, push the switch towards the back and let it go on the ground or any flat surface. Jazz will spring up instantly or after a few inches of rolling. With the most of the plastic in the body of Jazz's semi robot mode, him springing up will cause the Solstice to do a pop up wheelie.

In his go-cart mode as I like to call it, it's basically Jazz and what happened to him when Megatron ripped him in two. The only robot parts seen are the waist up, no legs. Jazz is pretty nicely molded overall though, much leaner than the deluxe. From the front it's awesome, but because his body and feature, he pops out from the middle and along with him the roof and doors of the Solstice.

Despite being a "kiddies" TF, he does have some articulation. His ball jointed and really limited to movement. Just a few degrees to the left or right, and his head can do a slight nod. Paint is good, some bronze apps, and his Solstice paint scheme. His visor is done great, as he has purple paint apps on both sides for to signify lighting, the middle is blue, that's cool!

To transformer him back this is where Slammers come in play. First and most importantly, the switch you pushed to the back, push it forward so a hole on exposed in the switch area. I got confused the first time, and I actually had to read the instructions. From then on, slam him down. Though I pull the front and push him down, kids would slam them down either way.

At first, when my mom was like look in the back and see what I got you, I was hoping for the Final Stand Longarm, not the case. After examining it and deciding to open it or return it, I returned to my Movie Jazz collection tactics and opened him. He's quite fun, and very cute. At $4.99 I can surely recommend this. After all, my mom was about to get Robot Heroes if not for Jazz...

Transformers Movie Payload Review

Some of the first Transformers Movie figures were great, but I took interest in the characters that didn't appear in the movie, rather noes that had look a likes, or appeared on another continuity, like games or comics. My last review was that of Stockade, the "bully" of the Autobots, the one, even Ironhide couldn't punch down. Today we have Payload, the Armored Truck of the Decepticons...

Payload appears in the Transformers Video Game as drones. There were many drones in the game, either Decepticon or Autobot. The differences were the heads, with the 'Cons having one eyed Zaku/Shockwave style heads, and the 'Bots with more humanoid classic TF heads. Most drones released in toy form were Decepticon, I believe to my knowledge...

Payload is a dark blue Armored Truck as stated. He has some minor silver paint on the back and hub caps. Parts that are supposed to be silver is the front grill, and side skirts. Some orange paint apps on the top lighting, and red light in the back. There are two red and one white stripe on the front hood. The windows are a dark illegal tint translucent plastic. The emblem on the sides on the Truck are also red and white and have a purple Decepticon symbol. The insignia reads, "Armored Security Services", and coincidentally the first letter of each word spells out ASS...Overall it's a pretty cool design, though the hinges for transformation stick out like a sore thumb...Something to take notice is the front portion, or the cab-like front is paint or made of shinier plastic than the rest of the truck. Also the grill seems to come off, I fixed that with some super glue...

His transformation is pretty simple. Nothing too hard, but some issues that are being addressed below...

In robot mode, he's pretty short, and also rather awkward. He's still dark blue, still has some grey palstic, and some silver apps, but now he has some shiny "AllSpark" blue. Detail is great in these TF Movie figures, even the newer ones took a huge step forward. A lot of wiring sculpt and exhaust fans, panels, the whole deal in mechanics is sculpted here. I especially like the hands, as they have a very skeletal appearance. He has a camera eye, much like Zaku and Shockwave, which is cool, nothing too special though. He stands pretty good despite a "tower" sticking out his back.

Articulation is pretty good. Very limited swivel head, sadly, ball jointed shoulders, swivel biceps, hinged elbows, and ball jointed hands for the top half. The bottom half consists of swivel waist, ball joint hips, swivel thighs, hinges knees, hinged knee pads, and hinged ankles. He's pretty well articulated and could get into some decent poses.

The awkwardness begins here. First off, in transformation, and in robot mode, his entire head and chest piece tends to snap off, or peg off. Again I used superglue and it's on permanently now, and will now alter the transformation. His gimmick is the huge stick poking out his back. You push that and a claw comes out his stomach and eats you or something... It's a rather dull gimmick and gets in the way. Sometimes, or several times for me, the claws dangle or don't retract with the gears and it gets stuck. As with many I don't like the gimmick, but I think it's an cool gimmick if I was still a kid. Ending with that...

I think it's a pretty cool toy. Great vehicle mode, you can pretend he could carry Energon to the Decepticons for power, or whatever you'd like. His robot mode is pretty cool. The gimmick is iffy. Totalling up that, he gets a 8 out of 10. Now I know some hate this guy, for the gimmick mainly, but get past that, and he's a great detailed, well articulated figure, and a very cool design. He was a pegwarmer, so if you look him up online or ebay, he might be cheap. It's definitely something to look at...

Transformers Stockade Review

Stockade likes Gatorade! No, he doesn't, it just rhymes... Stockade is one of those vehicles in the first TF Movie line which had a similar stunt double, but didn't actually transform or was called by their figure name. Stockade is based on the vehicle used by Sector 7...

Stockade's vehicle mode is a Cadillac Escalade SUV, of course made by GM. It's not an exact replication of and Escalade, there are some minor changes like the grill. It's not a single piece, but rather it's split into three sections, also some additions and lack of other detail. Colors featured are black, silver, red, and translucent dark blue. On the grill is also a Decepticon emblem, and S7 and symbol on the driver and passenger doors. It's really a great vehicle mode overall. There is a luggage bar on the top that's just grey, nothing painted, it really sticks out though...

Nothing too hard about his transformation. It's really easy, but effective...

Now, this is where he shines. Stockade is a short, stocky robot, and has a gorilla like appearance to him. Not Optimus Primal gorilla, but his physique. He features long arms that almost reach the ground, he also has a wide chest. You can pose his with his fist impaled to the ground and his legs slightly bent for the gorilla look. What you really have to appreciate about this mold is the detail. IT'S EPIC! I can't quite explain all the detail, there is so many. There are panels, internal wiring, something the looks like disc brakes, and some vents. The head is cool with some details too. He has a Prime-like face mask, but he features bar-like details around his head. He doesn't feature a black pipe lighting in the back of his head, but rather the top of his head is like a separate piece and the dark blue light piping wraps all the way around his head. The way his top half has a ridge makes his look evil...

Now that he's unfolded into robot mode, you notice some new colors, and more of the same colors. Of course he still has the main characters of black, red, silver, and translucent blue. There is also an addition of a dark grey, "AllSpark" blue and more of the plain light grey plastic. It doesn't take away from the appearance, but I think anything that's bright or light takes away from the Decepticoness of the character.

Articulation is good, just enough to get some good poses. He features a limited ball joint head because of his bulk around the head. His shoulders are balljointed, double hinged elbows, and two hinge joints on his knuckles. His waist rotates 360 degrees, his hips are balljoints, hinge knees, and hinged ankles. It's a pretty decent set of POA, expecially the fingers.

Like most figures from the TF Movie line, it features an Automorph or now called Mech Alive gimmick. Stockade's gimmick is his luggage bars that are molded plain light grey. When you push them up, he'll gain additional arm length when his "internal" forearms slide out, giving him a wingspan of about 12 inches, more or less. He's known for punching the crap out of Autobots, or Autobots trying to punch the crap out of him. While not necessarily an Automorph gimmick as it doesn't help with transforming Stockade, it can be considered a Mech Alive Gimmick...

Overall this figure is great, the mold is great too. Looking at him now, he has a Nemesis Prime fell to him, and since I'm lacking a Nemesis Prime he looks to be a great substitute. They are releasing a Gears in this mold, but I like the original color scheme better, but you gotta pick up the mold, even if it's not in Stockade's colors. I'd have to give it a 10 out of 10. It's simply one of the best molds, and coolest character designs created.

Animated Ultra Magnus Update

There are some stuff I failed to mention as I played with the figure more last night...

First off, his Elite Guard Autobot symbol has lights too. I didn't see it because the Elite Guard symbol is made of clear plastic, but it's painted red. It flashes when you use his robot talking gimmick or when you flip his shoulder blades up or snap them on for transformation.

There is a red button on the side of vehicle mode that creates shooting blaster noises, and will flash the Cannons that were on Magnus' shoulders. On the opposite side there is the battery compartment which uses 2 AA batteries already included.

That's about it. I don't know if anything else is missing, it was mostly minor features...

Animated Ultra Magnus

Blah, I don't like the Animated TF series that much. I only watched one or two episodes. I do like the somewhat G1 styles though. Some designs are cool too, but the strangest of them prevail. Out of the Animated Series I have, Swindle, Soundwave, Samurai Prowl, and Ultra Magnus...

Ultra Magnus is a leader in the now defunct Animated line. Leaders of the Animated line usually run for $39.99 or more depending on the store. TRU is having a sale right now with the Animated Leaders and Supremes half off, so I got mine for $20. Who knows if this means the Animated Leaders and Supremes will be on clearance forever...

Magnus comes packaged in robot mode in the recognizable animated style box. There is a whole in the front to allow the person to push his Autobot insignia and make his mouth move with one of the three phrases:

Ultra Magnus Here
Don't be a hero Optimus... it's not in your programming
We must return the AllSpark to Cybertron

The speaker is located on the stomach, and the mouth opens and his "eyebrows" tilt to the side. In which his optics will have green lights, as well as yellow lights on his shoulder cannons. These are really decent features for a Leader Class...

The robot mode is great for Animated Magnus, not for the G1 counter part. The head is about the only G1 thing about him. Ultra Magnus is huge, it's like he's from Texas or something. Big shoulder pads, big arms, big legs, and his big Mass Hammer. Though not show accurate, it's better than not having one at all. The sculpt is pretty good, but basic. Some of the complex sculpts include rivets and wiring details, but it's basic enough to include flat sculpts with only indents of other shapes. The Elite Guard insignia is nicely sculpted. The paint on UM is pretty good. Mostly blue, some light blue, plastic grey, "AllSpark blue", red, silver, yellow, and black. He does have translucent tealish blue on his shoulder cannons and his Mass Hammer.

Part of his features also include the weaponry found on Ultra Magnus. Weather it be hidden or in plain view. As mentioned a few times his shoulder cannons folded on his back, goes on his shoulders. On the side of the cannons are tabs, you list it up in the groove and push it forward to reveal tank line cannons, or heavy cannons as the box calls it. Inside the shoulder is a battleship type turret. The shoulder pads are hinged in the front, pull the turret out and push the peg to extend the barrels. He's still not done. There is a bar on each shoulder on the front. It reveals Gatling guns, which are a bit hard to get out because I had excess plastic restricting it. His Mass Hammer extends when you pull the Hammer base. He's fully loaded, there's no competition!

Articulation is weird...a 360 degree cut swivel head, moving mouth, and eyebrows if you'd like to include that. Swivel shoulder, hinged shoulders at three places. On his shoulder blade, back of his bicep and his shoulder...Swivel bicep, hinged elbow, and hinged fingers, no individual finger movements. Hinged-swivel hips, hinged knees, and swivel thighs. His hip armor is also on hinges. His other weapons have movement, but it's more necessary to use them, that's why if you'd like to include his facial movement as articulation. One problem I do have is the weak click joints. You can't pose his with his Hammer straight out, his arm just tilts back down.

His transformation is pretty basic. The Classic Transformation sound are located on the shoulder blades when you unpeg them...

His vehicle mode... The box calls it an Assault Carrier. I can see that, it just looks weird. It's probably me because I'd rather have a truck or car carrier mode. All his weapon features are still functional in Assault Carrier mode with the exception if his Mass Hammer. It's a pretty solid vehicle mode though. He has eight nice rolling wheels. All is good in vehicle mode, maybe the back is kinda bare.

Overall a very well made TF. He's packed with fun, his full range of arsenal is something to be feared for any Decepticon. You guys should pick him up while he's on sale now. Tomorrow's the last day. A great figure with great features and tons of play value. Clearly a 10 out of 10, despite his shoulder problems.

Toybiz Sentinel Review

Sentinels, yeah, this isn't the most "recent" incarnation of it from the ML series. This is the pre marvel legends version. The animated version if you will. I got this at the flea market, still in the original box with the stickers not applied. The figure itself has some minor play scratches. Nothing too bad though, all for $4.

The pre ML Sentinel is nothing as good as the ML Sentinel BAF. The paint is bland, not a lot of detailed sculpt, but there is some, and the articulation is just meh. To start things off, paint... There are really only a few colors, Some magenta, purple, black, red eyes, and skintone for the face. It's basically Sentinel colors, so it's most recognizable to the comic fan.

The sculpt is good, not great like the BAF Sentinel, but it does feature some wiring here and there on the boots. The head has a great sculpt, definitely cartoon accurate to some points. The skull cap is kinda flat and not rounded on the top. The face sculpt a shocked face look, with it's internal mouth circuits showing. It's definitely more humanized than the BAF Sentinel with wires and such some the mouth AND jaw internals. There are no panels or nuts and bolts sculpted like the BAF Sentinel...

Articulation is okay, considering it's from the 90s. Two points of articulation, swivel shoulders. Moving on...

Action features, being labeled a robot playset on the box, it's bound to have some features, let alone the whole body. Lets start from head to toe. His head is like a trigger, when you hit his head, his chest armor shoots out to reveal a hollow interior fit perfectly for a pre ML X-Men figure. They said they are prisoners, but I don't know how the X-Men gets in there in the first place. Plus they show a Sabretooth jumping out the chest on the artwork, so it could be like a insurance back up to house more mutant baddies. Sadly the newer figures won't fit.

His hands feature two features. on his right hand, a stringed orange segmented claw can grab figures, then it has a button to pull it up. It's an alright feature. His left hand shoots out when you press the trigger on his upper arm. KA POW!

His last feature in his knees. Shoot his knee caps and the corresponding front foot shoots forward. Shoot both knee caps and TIMBER the Sentinel falls over. This and the head/chest feature is the coolest of the bunch. I think the hand features could been cooler.

It's really a cool figure at the price of $4. They released the same mold of it, for the X-Men Classics line. They retooled it a bit, like the head, paint, not sure on the chest compartment though. I think I might do a little paint app to it to show some detail, or I might keep it as a vintage figure. I'd give this a 8/10. It's pretty cool, not as cool as the BAF Sentinel, but it has tons of play value. For the price I got it for, it's a great value too. It's a Sentinel after all, yo gotta have it for your X-Men.

*Another note to make, this version isn't as tall as the BAF Sentinel, just a head size smaller...

Giratina

After my purchases of the DS and Pokemon Platinum, I found the addiction of Giratina. With that said, I went out and got an accessory for my DS and a little action figure, both being reviewed below...



Giratina Pokemon Platinum DS Lite Case
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I bought this case seeing, if I went anywhere or if I were to buy more games, I'd store them in there. The price tag is pretty killer though, $9.99 for a lightly padded case with a pocket for games and straps and clips to carry along. The case has a zipper on the edge of the case and opens up to reveal two elastic straps that secure the DS Lite very securely. There is some padding on each side when enclosed. There are two little straps on the inside of the spine, holding the strap, which is optional. The exterior features a clip to go on your pants. I would use the little straps to maybe hold any extra stylus'.


Zip that up and the outside has a pocket. It appears to be mesh, but unzipping that pocket reveals a cloth interior for your games, or maybe you can keep a few Pokemon cards in there. Now this wouldn't be a Giratina review without the cover art on the front. It features the text "POKEMON PLATINUM VERSION" then below it is Giratina's Origin Forme, then below that it's the Nintendo DS signature. It's rather a nice case. It's all cloth or close to it. There are two colors available, a dark grey, or white. I chose the dark grey that fits Giratina's nature. If I could rate this, it would have to be an 8 out of 10, partly the price tag...





Jakks Pacific Giratina
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This figure is not the huge one, it's the single pack, smaller figure. It's pretty small, but pretty bulky looking at the other figures I saw on the pegs. Standing a bit more than an inch, with a wing span, probably two inches. Giratina has decent amount of articulation. All six legs and the head has swivel, though only his head can turn 360 degrees, with the legs restricted. The wings are on hinges, so you can give him a flapping motion. I'd want some articulation on the tail, but it's alright.



The paint isn't that bad, but th paint doesn't fill in the lines sculpting on the body, it's either too thin, or too much that it runs over. His face has this goofy smile, but it's meant to look like it's roaring or something. It's fairly accurate though, even with painted lines around the eyes. It has a hole on each foot, so maybe he's supposed to be pegged in somewhere? Who knows, it's my first Pokemon figure, ever. The price was $4.99, so I didn't think it was expensive at all. I'd give this a 8 out of 10 as well. The paint ruins the look of Giratina, but if he's on display and you look far away, he's decent. He doesn't have a lot of poseability either. I mean what can you do with six legs, a head, and wings? I would've liked balljointed segments or some tail articulation, but that may be asking too much.



These were decent purchases, definitely something to look for in stores...

Pokemon Platinum Review

Along with my Nintendo DS, I got the game Pokemon Platinum. I haven't played any Pokemon game in a while, actually since Crystal. It'd be nice to get a reboot of a classic game...

Pokemon Platinum comes in a plastic box that snaps open. A definite change from GB and GBA games which came in carboard boxes and was immediately thrown away. In the DS box you can store one GBA cartridge. The hardware itself is what appears to be a huge memory card. It clicks in the slot in the DS. Oh the times... There are also instructions about gameplay, and how to catch the Pokemon, Rotom, and how you can get special mystery gifts to change his form from several varieties. Though, you'll need a wi-fi connection to obtain it...

The gameplay is pretty simple. It's near exact the same thing as the old games. Catch Pokemon, raise them, and fight the Elite Four and become Champion. After that, it's a post story travelling to other regions of sorts. There are a few changes in additional gameplay. The bottom touch screen features a multi task watch. It features a calculator, a coin toss, your party Pokemon status, among other features to help you during your quest. You have a variety of pockets in your bag, something quite different from Crystal, but I'm guessing in the modern games, it's nothing new...as well as the dual battles you can have. Either two people jump you, or you team up with an ally.

Some bad guys you encounter are Cyrus, and Team Galactic. I have no idea what happened to Team Rocket or Jessie, James, Meowth, and Giovanni. Heck, your rival is a pain in the a**, so he's on my bad guy list.

I got the Platinum version over the Pearl and Diamond because of the Pokemon on the box, and one of the main Pokemon, Giratina, a dragon like serpent creature. It's truly a cool design, and ever since I was addicted to it. I have since then caught it, and he's cool. When you fight it, he's in his Origin Forme, the snake like dragon form. When you catch him, he transforms into his Alternate Forme. It's mostly the same body, but it has wings instead of finger-like tentacles, it's head is tweaked a little with a more bulkier head design, and most noticeably, it has six legs.

Overall this game is pretty fun, addicting actually for the first few days. After that, it's play for fun. The new slim look of the cartridge is space saving. The gameplay is near identical, but that's the fun of it. I think Pearl and Diamond are the exact same game with minor tweaks, so you have three to choose from. I gotta give this a 10 out of 10. It's just pure awesomeness, I don't recommend it if you already have Pearl or Diamond, though.