Jun

26

Elsewhere on the web

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Unicron versus the Death Star.
The age-old question answered.

Coming soon: Mega Bloks Gundam. [via]

Henry Jenkins salutes Robot Chicken.
“Action figure cinema is an emblematic example of the capacity of grassroots media makers to archive, annotate, appropriate, and recirculate media content. Fan filmmakers essentially take toys that were sold to them as commodities and transforming them into resources for their own creative output.”

Jun

22

Strongarm

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Transformers Energon Strongarm

Another photo of Strongarm from the Transformers Energon line.

Jun

22

Elsewhere on the web

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Superman at the World Cup.
“Superman” apparently needed help to go pee-pee in the restroom.

Drew Carey: football fan.
“Being a soccer fan, there’s fewer of us, so it’s the cool thing to be …. It’s like knowing about the cool band before everyone else does.” Yeah, everyone else bar the billion or so fans worldwide, Johnny-come-lately.

Nami Tamaki’s Monhun blog. [via]
This is probably a move calculated to ingratiate herself with the otaku in order to get their money.

Jun

19

Elsewhere on the web

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Lockwasher’s BR2D2.
Refreshes the parts other droids can’t reach.

A new Guild Wars webcomic.
The downside of playing a Ranger.

Choose your perspective wisely.

Jun

19

Basic

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Transformers Energon Strongarm

A photo of Strongarm, a Basic-priced Transformer from the Energon line.

My very first Transformers purchase was a Autobot Mini Vehicle, Warpath. Subsequent purchases — Powerglide, Bumblebee, etc — were also from the same price point. This was partially due to affordability but it was mostly due to availability. It was months before I located a store that sold boxed Transformers.

The Mini Vehicles were rather poor Transformers even back then. The transformation took three or so steps. The articulation was usually limited to swivel joints at the shoulders. If it weren’t for the fact they were often memorable show characters, I would’ve passed on them.

Transformers have come a long way since then. These days, the Basic category often has the best action figures of the line since the cheapest figures are unlikely to be saddled with the embarassing gimmicks usually found in Transformers at higher price-points.

(”Hey, kids! Push a button and a light switches on! All the excitement of playing with your household lights!”)

Strongarm is a prime example of Basic excellence: a compact vehicle mode, a satisfying transformation and a very nice robot mode.

The robot mode would be outstanding if the hips weren’t impeded by vehicle mode seats.

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