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07/09/2007: Summer Megaparty: Transformers Robot Heroes!

Today was a day that could do no right, and when it was finallly over, I rewarded myself for surviving it with a trip to Toys 'R' Us. There, I picked up Pokemon Diamond, and nearly blew a blood vessel in my eye as two horrible, HORRIBLE children screamed and cried their way through a twenty-minute duel using Pirates of the Caribbean swords. I pride myself on understanding the child's mind and being tolerant of their ways, but these kids nearly had me to the point of needing to get physical. Mostly because they were six, and I knew that I could take them.

With the new Transformers movie being a rousing success, its real estate within toy stores has bloomed into two entire aisles dedicated to nothing but robots in disguise. Between Transformers, Star Wars, Ninja Turtles and Pokemon playthings, I'm going to have to mark 2007 as one of the best toy years of my lifetime. Yours, too. Even if you're 300.

I picked up a couple of the "Robot Heroes" two-packs, which is basically the Transformers' answer to Star Wars' "Galactic Heroes" line. In both cases, you get some of the most beloved characters in toon/movie history immortalized as cute little figures bordering on the super deformed.

The figures remind me of the old "Action Masters" Transformers, in a good way. They don't transform and they're not terribly posable, but when you can cram this much adorable firepower into less than three inches, you don't need too much gravy. They're the kind of figures that'll make you wish you had a thicker window pane, because they so deserve to be lined up in alphabetical order along one.

I got Megatron, Ultra Magnus, Soundwave and Bumblebee, but the other available figures are arguably even more desirable. The line has everything from a Matrix-opening Prime to a Unicron, and even a Ravage in a seated position who looks much like a family dog begging for chicken.

I feel like I should write a little more, but all I can think about doing now is lighting a Macanudo and heading into the ALF Season 2 DVD set with class.

"There, I picked up Pokemon Diamond, and nearly blew a blood vessel in my eye as two horrible, HORRIBLE children screamed and cried their way through a twenty-minute duel using Pirates of the Caribbean swords. I pride myself on understanding the child's mind and being tolerant of their ways, but these kids nearly had me to the point of needing to get physical."

And that is my exact feeling each day that I go to work in that place. It's even worse now that school is out… *cries*

I got my HARRY POTTER ticket for the geeky midnight showing. Squee, is the mania hitting you?

Hey Goob!!! Vegas was awesome. It's cool to sit next to an eighty year old, emphazima strickened, short haired, gambling addicted chainsmoking woman hitting max bet on 25 cent slots for 10 hours straight just to get free beer because the bars charge $6 for Budlite. But it's great to be home and read about octosquids and people puhing their kids with weedwackers. I missed you guys.

I have a good feeling my son will be getting alot of Transformer figures for his birthday and Christmas this year so I can play with them. I feel a bit guilty admitting this, but no Jazz, I don't like him By the way, Matt, have you seen the movie yet?

With the heat butting up against 100 here in Southern New Jersey, it was a good day to spend with a TV box set. I polished off nearly the entire second season of "The Monkees" (didn't get to the last disc with the final two episodes of the show and that bizarre "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee" special). That's probably all I would have done today, even if my knee was up to snuff. (I sprained it slipping down my stairs when it poured last week.)

Why does Megatron look SO happy? Either he just killed an Autobot, or someone just offered him a very yummy ice cream cone. I'm totally with you about those kids, Matt. I work in a portrait studio which mainly deals with children, and the stuff people let their kids do in public is just amazing. In a bad way. I took pictures of a four-year-old today who was not cooperating, and kept saying she was mad. Mom: What are you mad about? Kid (melodramatically): My LIFE!!!

Hoverbored here, still suffering from hip and back pain and stuck at home watching old movies and playing old video games. Today I played Batman Returns for SNES on "Mania" difficulty and got a special ending: A screen of Batman in 3/4 profile with a caption reading, "You are the true Dark Knight." Finally, some recognition! As for Transformers, my brother and I were going to see it last Friday, but by then I was stricken with back pain and we couldn't go. So my brother did the next best thing: he bought a photo book from the movie from Borders. One thing I can't figure out is, why doesn't this movie have Hot Rod? Wasn't he a fairly popular character in the series?

This has nothing to do with his blog, but I bet Matt would be great on VH1's World Series of Pop Culture. I do alright, but I'm guessing Matt would beat me to a bloody pulp.

Damn- I need help. Should I buy a wicked cool Jack Sparrow figure or a Harry Potter figure or some new Transformers?? AHhhhhh!

iAMYou: I'd probably suck on that show, honestly. I'm really just a dabbler. I'm not a pro-geek in too many fields.

Muppet Baby: You should buy a clear, ghostly Jor-El figure, because TRU is selling them on clearance and really need help getting rid of them.

Hey, Matt, what's your friend code for pokemon diamond, assuming you can get it working? I'd love to battle ya sometime.

Muppet Baby My vote is for Harry Potter, but the only figurines I still buy are Harry Potter related. I'm totally biased.

Saw those Transformers in Toyfare a lil' while back. Have to say I really like the Shockwave.
And speaking of Toyfare, I went out today to try and find issue 120, got weirdly guilt-tripped by the guy at the store for being too late to get it, and wound up buying a Wacky Wobbler of Cocoa Puff's Sonny. Might go out and scour the city some more tomorrow.

And Hoverbored, I'm pretty sure Hot Rod's name is tied up in legalities, that might kinda account for this. It also explains why he was called "Rodimus Major" in a reissue a few years back.

To be honest, Manimal, I haven't been all that geeked out over the movies since Prisoner of Azkaban. I'll still probably see it this week, but I'm actually more excited about seeing Grindhouse again on Friday and then heading out to the Kwik-E-Mart. I'm BEYOND geeked for the new book though. To the point where I can't even think about it too much or reread any of the others because I'll just go crazy.
Muppet Baby, I'm not really a big TF fan (don't hate me guys…I did enjoy Drama's reference on this week's Entourage) but I'd go with Transformers just because the HP/PoTC toys tend to be a little cheesy. I did notice there were NO Potter toys on my last Target trip. I know they're trying to get the older demo, but you'd think there'd be some room on the shelves between all the Transformers, Star Wars, Ninja Turtles, Pokemon and Pirates stuff. Maybe it was just my store?

Matt, have you ever tried a Hoyo de Monterrey Presidente cigar? It is great with wine, beer and just about any cocktail that isn't too fruity. I'm not an aficionado by any means but these you don't need to work your way up too. I buy one every Friday.

I got the Prime/Ravage two pack weeks ago; now Ravage sits on my dashboard and stares at any passenger foolish enough to ride in my truck

To add to what Tutsuro said: many of the original Transformers' names are lost to copyrights since bought by other companies; mostly the comic companies. That is why all toy versions of Jazz, for example, are called "Autobot Jazz"…they have starting to get around copyright laws by adding the word 'Autobot' or 'Decepticon' to many a character from the Classic and Movie lines; but, the name 'Hot Rod' has been used in recent series - the last being Hot Rodimus in the Classic line- I bet he was left out of the movie to keep all the character inspirations very early G1 characters….

And Manimal I got my tickets for Harry Potter, too! It also hit me while watching the A&E special last night that the last book -where we find out how it all ends- is so close

…I hope your new family member can wait and not make you miss the movie! But I know that's a much more important kind of 'magic'….

Those things are cute. There seems to be a small trend in toys lately of shrinking down toys and making them cuter, even if they shouldn't be. Have you guys seen those Marvel Minimates? They're basically Lego people versions of a bunch of Marvel Heroes and villains. Even Venom looks cute at that size.

Oh, you better BELIEVE I got the Optimus/Ravage set as soon as I could. In fact, the K Mart I got them from acidentally put them out a day early, and I argured with the clerk for a good fifteen minutes before I told her the filthy lie that the toys were intended as a kid's birthday present and she sold em' to me.

These don't float my boat because I am not into the Transformers that much. I still think the star wars Galaxy heroes are really cute.

Bill cool! I went to one of those Indian casinos up here that was in Washington on the border of Oregon (there are popular up here) and that was my only time in a Casino and it wasn't bad. I stuck to the multi-line slots.

starwenn A monkees story for you…when I was a kid (and still sometimes now) my family called me monkey and my cousin would sing "hey hey Jodi's a monkey she likes monkayin' around" he also sang that I was on his back but not as often.

And I wish Matt would insist me on buying things. I want to prove my loyality by buying things I most likely won't like

Can you possibly write out the full Recipe for the Ninja Turtle Cereal Fruit Pie thing!?!?

I remember devouring the hell outta those things when I was little. I just need to eat it one more time. Dont make me do the sad face man. I have to save those for my Girlfriend so I wont get yelled at for Buy ANOTHER G1 Optimus Prime.

Megatron looks like he wants Ultra Magnus to join the conga line. And now that I know there's a Grimlock, I don't think I can live without it. I think it's great how everything is getting shrunk down and cuted up. A few weeks back I got this plush beanie Venom from Target. He's only about six inches tall and very adorable.

Diamond? Nice choice. I have Pearl. I'm pretty sure Diamond has some better version-exclusives (Dialga, Murkrow/Honchrow, Stunky/Skuntank, Scyther/Scizor, Cranidos, both the Tyranitar & Aggron lines), but I got Pearl, which is pretty nice too, we get the Hoenn Dragon line: Bagon, Shelgon & Salamence, not to mention Shieldon, Pinsir, Houndoom and the Walrein line.

But I digress…I, too, will want your Friend Code when you get it (Oreburgh City pokemon center, need wifi)

Once again, I want the new Transformers figures, but I'm too broke to get them, sadly.

Also: new pokemon-related topic: Because I got the national dex in Pearl, I got a free Eevee (house next to pokemon center in Hearthome City).

The thing is…What will I evolve it into? That's YOUR decision! By the way, it's female, so I'll be able to get more of them (I had to reset like 15 times to get this). The 7 Eevee-lutions are:

Vaporeon (water stone)
Flareon (fire stone)
Jolteon (thunder stone)
Espeon (Friendship during day)
Umbreon (Friendship during night)
Leafeon (level up at Moss Rock in Eterna Forest)
and Glaceon (level up at Ice Rock on Rte 217)

Yes, you, my fellow X-Eers, will decide which of these 7 forms my Eevee will evolve to!

My girlfriend and I watched all four of the Alf DVD sets over the span of about a year; totally fell in love with the show, you know? Then, we got to the infamous final episode, and that mind numbingly awkward ending. I can’t even think of it without getting a headache, in fact, I would deny its existence had I not seen it with my own eyes. Has anybody else had the misfortune of witnessing it?

Those Robot Heroes packs are too fun, though mine still sit in their packages since they are cute enough inside to be displayed. I have passed on the 10 dollar Walmart exclusive set though. Getting Cliffjumper and Thundercracker (or is it Skywarp? Forget which one is in there) makes it nice, I then would be rebuying Prime, Megs, and Mirage, even if they have modified paint apps.

I recently put down Pokemon Pearl because it was becoming more like a job than a fun game. I need to find a faster way to level up my little dudes, it's taking waaay too long.

I need to find a faster way to level up my little dudes, it's taking waaay too long.

I took to dropping mine off at the daycare and since they go up based on number of steps, I just rode my bike up and down the hill near there over and over and over.

Yesterday wasn't such a great day for me, either. First thing when I woke up I had to go lend an ear to my mom so she could vent for 15 minutes about what selfish, low-life, shit my lazy bigot of a father has tried to pull now. My hatred for all men is only now starting to dissipate. After that I looked at the clock wrong and wound up leaving for class like an hour early so I had to sit around buried in a notebook for an hour. THEN THEN a bee mistook me for a flower and got caught up in my hair. I'm not one to be freaked by bugs (I realize I'm a zillion times bigger than they are) so I let him try and struggle his way out but ultimately had to go in and pluck his ass out. Thankfully it wasn't the stinging kind of bee.

Those figures look rad…especially Soundwave. I hope they decide to make Rumble! He was the best in the cartoons. I still haven't seen the movie. After i saw what they did to Frenzy, i grew frightened.

I can't stand any screaming child. I'm still trying to figure out why their parents let them act like that. Stupid peoples.

I've always loved Jazz (RIP Scatman), but now I have an unholy obsession with movie Jazz. I have two versions of him already, and I will buy anymore that are released (well not that crappy spring-loaded version. What are those called again?). That of course includes the planned Classics version.

I like these figures, but I can't justify buying them when I could just keep buying movie Autobots instead

After reading a the last few of your Blogs, im glad there is other adults out there that like Pokemon. I was starting to feel a little like a Tard.

Because of this site I had a song stuck in my head all day yesterday….time to return the favor

Nice pick up Matt. If you ever happen to shoot over the bridge, they have a Wal-Mart exclusive window box like the Galactic Heroes Bounty Hunter set. It's got a metallic Megatron (which makes the cartoon grey version look cheap by comparison) and a Metallic Optimus Prime, a translucent Mirage, Cliffjumper and Skywarp… for $10. Pretty darn good set.

Those are pretty awesome Transformers, and you're right, window panes should be expanded to incorporate such awesomeness.

Haven't noticed too much "Transformers" movie talk on this thread, and forgive me if I'm late for the party and the pros and cons have already been debated elsewhere in the Megaparty, but what did everyone think? Personally, and I seem to be in the minority here, but I thought it sucked. Even on a "check your brain at the door beforehand" level. I guess I coulda used more giant robots fighting and less chicks with bad Australian accents and donut-eating "greatest hackers in the world."
Them's just my two cents, though.

Those figures kind of remind me of those non-transformable transformers figures that came in McDonalds happy meals in the mid 80s. I was so pissed as a kid, trying to transform a plastic bumblebee robot back into a VW Bug, without any luck.

I have 30 extra bucks to blow on something fun, so thanks for your input, everyone.

I think in the end I will go with a Harry Potter figure, since working at the bookstore, we have a HUGE selection of Harry Potter stuff, and lots of it is limited and all that. For example, we only got 20 of one figure. 20! For the whole city! Some of it is fantastic, too…very realistic.

To make room for all the Harry Potter stuff, our Pirates of the Carribbean stuff is now 30% off, though…so I could get Jack Sparrow for like 10 bucks….christ- this job is both great and a burden on my wallet!

There's a rumor that there's larger sized gestalts planned kinda like the Sentinel and Galactus they're making for the Super Hero Squad sets. That should be fun. Sign me up for a Bruticus!

Hee, Rhubarb, I don't need any help getting that song stuck in my head. In the duuuuuuuunes of the cape…
Yesterday was pretty crappy, even for a Monday. I can't decide whether it's worse to be sick in the middle of the summer or winter. Hell, it's summer; it's way worse to be 102 when it actually IS 102.

My first great toy was a transformer, a Griffin it was and this was way before beast wars. It was a purple and black griffin transformer, even in that simple description it sounds badass..Does it not!? and it was bad ass, it was the greatest toy I have ever seen at my age (4 or 5 I think)and the sad thing about it is I don’t know what happen to my precious prized tranformer, to this day I can't remember its name nor find it in any search of transformers and yes it was a transformer, it was a deceptacon. I wish I could find the bloody thing (see I went all English now in my frustration)but to this day I cant find it, with all my search engine powers I can't find it…It's feels like I’m missing a part of my childhood not even knowing its name.

Hey if someone wants to be super kick ass please I beg you find out the name of this transformer for me, I'll love you forever…but only in a long distance metaphoric kind of way, but stiiiill!

Well, I am off for two days to see the WHITE STRIPES IN CONCERT!! I will talk to you all later. Enjoy the MegaParty while I am rocking out!

Even though my brain screams that the Transformers movie sucks,(characters I don't really care about, plot holes Optimus could drive through, overacting, disappointing missed opportunities, etc.) I still fucking loved that flick. I've seen it twice now and really thought it would have that "I actually liked this pile of crap?" feeling, but alas! No. The overall kick-assness overwhelms all. I didn't mind the redesigns at all once I saw them in motion on camera. I love the little details like Prime gingerly running through the city streets so as not to crush puny humans, and Megatron flicking away the annoying human pest. I can't wait for Transformers 2. The ending seemed to give it a great set-up for being more like the original show. Although I also liked the aspect they borrowed from "Robots in Disguise" about how they all live "normal" lives as vehicles until being called into action. At least a little.

I loved the flick and I so wanted to walk out of the theater saying I hated it. I did have one nitpic with it tho… and Lil Formers seems to have summed it up nicely

Sallee, did your Transformer shoot sparks out of it's mouth? If so, then I think I found it…you can also look through the toy list archives on the right side of the page on this site: http://unicron.com/

So far this is the closest figure I could find. It doesn't match your description exactly, but give it a look. Click my name below for the link.

Deep sixing the 'Cons isn't a really good idea. There are lava vents to be found on the ocean floor.
I'm planning of getting some movie TFs, but I'll wait on some of the upcoming repaints in G1 colors. Starscream and Jazz, movie bodies, original paintjobs.
Using the Frenzy name was a bit of last minute juggling. The character was going to be Soundwave, but they felt it wasn't right to relegate one of the great ones to a spastic semi-comedic role, so after some debate, a more apropos name was used.

Shuanfu Are you looking at Sparkstalker? If so, that is what I was thinking as well.

The G2 version was one of my very first Transformers figures, which I got for my 5th or 6th birthday…and I also made the huge little kid mistake of immediately breaking him beyond repair not 10 seconds after opening the blister pack of him. I felt incredibly guilty (as that figure was hard to come by in the first place) that I kept what was left him, perhaps to this day. I know I used the legs to create a new figure with the legless G2 Bumblebee…that I also broke not 5 seconds after opening him. That new transformer kicked all kinds of Transass in my little kid action figure battles. (I'm pretty sure I made him a villain, incredibly pissed that he was made up of 2 broken autobots)

So when I found the G1 Reissue of him…I got him as soon as I saw it, and remains unbroken!

So when I saw movie Jazz being ripped in half onscreen…it felt like a really weird omen.

No..it wasn't Sparkstalker, it's pretty much all black…uhmm I remember it having a large two jointed wingspan specially large for a transformer for that time, it also seemed a bit more complex then most transformer I remember back then but you'll know it when you see it.

I've searched for it even in the knock-off transformers, foreign, even prototype but still nothing. Thank you for trying tho.

I was looking at the link Magic Toe gave me and I think it might have been Doubledealer but just maybe tho and a bit most likely…I was 5 so it could have been.

Thanks you all for the transformer search party, I feel a bit better now…really.

Oh how I have looked and drooled at some of the TF toys!! Sadly, I haven't the funds to purchase them but I do have a birthday coming up in 26 days (but who's counting?) so I am hopeful to get at least one! Of course, I'll probably get a bunch of boring "grown-up" type stuff though.

I have Optimus Prime, Ravage, Bumblebee, Soundwave, and managed to find the really damn rare Optimus Prime with Matrix/Unicron 2 pack.

Matt: I had Grotusque once, and I personally found him to be more Dragony than Griffony.

I saw the movie last weekend, and found it to be awesome, with the possible exception of the ending. Dismantling the government organization responsible for DEALING with aliens and deep-sixing the carcasses of the aliens themselves AFTER you find out that they're out there is a very bad idea(as someone will likely point out during the next movie).

On the subject of reissues, I personally want to see the Pretenders and other Combiners released. I'd get me the Predaking box-set if I could find it, but what I REALLY want to see is Monstructor. He was the only Combiner I ever collected in his entirety, and made of awesome and kickass to boot.

I saw Transformers on Saturday and I thought it was freaking badass. It was just so damn fun to watch, and it was actually funny in a lot of places.

Anyway, I bought my fiance the Soundwave/Bumblebee Robot Heroes pack for his birthday. I kinda wanted some for myself, too.

We also bought Softimus Prime. Not quite as cute as the Robot Heroes, but much more cuddly.

Oh, sorry to double post, but I remembered something. We also got these lollipop-holding Prime and Megatron toys that are kind of like Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. They have buttons on their back that you push and it makes them punch, and if you hit them in the belt their head pops up. I thought they were pretty awesome.

I just noticed something… in the group pic, it looks kinda like Soundwave's trying to be menacing, but isn't pulling it off what with having no face.

Soundwave's pose is off. Not very true to Soundwave. He should be more laid back.

Umm… Maggie's (the aussie chick) accent is authentic because she's played by an Australian actress.

To me, it seems like they cross-bred the old Hasbro Decoys (the little red & purple M.U.S.C.L.E. Men-like transformers in the 80's) with Battle Beasts & made Robot Heroes.

I managed to snag all the sets I could find, plus that Wal-Mart 5-pack. Good stuff. ^_^

I have all the sets, minus one….the Prime/Unicron set. I already had the Prime/Ravage set and I wasn't up to having to explain to every passer-by at my desk as to why I had two Optimus Primes. I may go back and get it anyway just for the Unicron figure. I have all my Robot Heroes figures proudly displayed on my desk at work in a nice classic battle scene.

Now that I know about the Wal-Mart 5 pack with Cliffjumper and Skywarp, I need to go get that as well. I don't know what I will do with the other 3 figures since I already have a Mirage, Megatron and Optimus from the other pairings I've bought. Maybe someone else in my office would want my leftovers.

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