Monday 26 February 2024

PANGU TOYS PT-01 COMMANDER > REVIEW

Preamble

Go big or go home! The 6000 SUX, because bigger is better! and so on… You get the point, sometimes things are just better when they are bigger. There is a history of up-scaling Transformers on the 4th party market, some of the Takara MP’s have had the treatment, the biggest of which I believe was/is the Lewin MP-10. To date it’s still the largest Optimus Prime by a 4th Party company.

Sunday 18 February 2024

X-TRANSBOTS MX-28 FAST & MX-29 FURY > REVIEW

Preamble

Released in 1986 the Battle Chargers had a similar auto-transformation gimmick that the Autobot Jumpstarters had from the previous year. A simple pull back and go mechanism which then activated a pop-up feature to give them their robot modes. At the time I had no interaction with the toys and as for the characters, I recall their appearances in the Marvel UK comics to be brief. I have since owned both the Battle Charger and Jumpstarter toys, but now reside in the care of another having long since being sold.

Friday 2 February 2024

FANS TOYS FT-61 INQUISITOR > REVIEW

Preamble

It’s amazing to me to think that Fans Toys first teased us with Inquisitor way back in 2015… that’s almost 10 years ago! It was a blurry silhouette but it had Masterpiece collectors intrigued. In that time we have had to put up with / enjoy X-Transbots Andras (depending on your point of view and collecting preferences). But since obtaining Quietus back in 2018, it has been a release I have been anticipating for some time. Of course Scourge has been represented upon my shelf by the aforementioned Andras, but like in all things, the new comes to supplant the old.

Wednesday 31 January 2024

X-TRANSBOTS MX-46 BIG LOAD > REVIEW

Preamble

Begun, the Devastator Wars have!

Okay, that’s a little dramatic I know but I’m not so sure I’m far off the mark here. Of all the offerings for a Masterpiece style Devastator that are to come, X-Transbots would not have been high on the list. Okay, maybe they would have made the top 5 but to get into the top 3… maybe even the top spot! This was something I’d not considered. But after having played around with MX-46 Big Load for a week, I’m thinking that all bets could be off!

Sunday 28 January 2024

2023: A YEAR IN COLLECTING RETROSPECTIVE

We are almost done with January, February is looming on the horizon, much like the sun of the lengthening days. I’m a little later than usual with my year end look-back. I could make a plethora of excuses, each more dramatic than the other. The truth is two fold and quite unremarkable. Firstly I’d not been so well over Christmas and the New Year, still not 100% even now but getting there. And secondly, I’d really enjoyed not doing the whole social media / collecting thing over the festive period. I’d come to really appreciate not feeling the need to come up with new content, new camera angles and how to do my next Photoshop gimmick. But, there are still things I want to do so it’s back to it and where better to start than the retrospective of my collecting during 2023.