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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.

Posted by Matt on 07/09/2007. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 74 comments

Alf Season 2…I’m jealous.

Chestnuts roasted by iAMYou @ 07/09/2007 11:05 PM

I absolutely love how its old Megatron! Metal mullet and everything!

Chestnuts roasted by Conbon @ 07/09/2007 11:07 PM

Hot…it’s so hot..

Chestnuts roasted by Jessica Marie @ 07/09/2007 11:08 PM

“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 keep meaning to get those SD Transformers. Sooooooo cute. :D

Chestnuts roasted by Ryane @ 07/09/2007 11:12 PM

Good buy!

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

Chestnuts roasted by The Manimal @ 07/09/2007 11:13 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Bill @ 07/09/2007 11:17 PM

I’m a proud owner of all 16 Robot Heroes. Grimlock is the coolest.

Chestnuts roasted by RageTreb @ 07/09/2007 11:17 PM

“Macanudo” does not equal “Menudo.” I can’t read. :(

Chestnuts roasted by Rainbowfeet @ 07/09/2007 11:30 PM

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?

Chestnuts roasted by kb @ 07/09/2007 11:31 PM

I’m not even a big “Transformers” fan, and I think those are adorable.

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.)

Chestnuts roasted by starwenn @ 07/09/2007 11:40 PM

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!!!

Chestnuts roasted by heeree @ 07/09/2007 11:42 PM

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?

Chestnuts roasted by Hoverbored @ 07/09/2007 11:44 PM

I’m going to need to see tales of your poké-adventures that lie ahead, Matt.

Chestnuts roasted by Bifflog @ 07/09/2007 11:52 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by iAMYou @ 07/10/2007 12:02 AM

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

Chestnuts roasted by Muppet Baby @ 07/10/2007 12:06 AM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 07/10/2007 12:12 AM

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

Chestnuts roasted by TRUKK NOT MUNKY @ 07/10/2007 12:15 AM

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

Chestnuts roasted by iAMYou @ 07/10/2007 12:17 AM

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.

And Rios lost to Guerrero in the Home Run Derby. Blech.

Chestnuts roasted by Tutsuro @ 07/10/2007 12:24 AM

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?

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 07/10/2007 12:34 AM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Bill @ 07/10/2007 12:36 AM

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 ;)

Welcome home Bill! I hope you had a great time….

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 :P …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’….

Finally, apologies for my weirdness the last few days; I was in an odd place…

Chestnuts roasted by Shuanfu @ 07/10/2007 12:42 AM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by JLAJRC @ 07/10/2007 12:58 AM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Shawn @ 07/10/2007 1:01 AM

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.

My real first name is Jodi. woot.

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 :(

Chestnuts roasted by Goob @ 07/10/2007 1:46 AM

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