Star Wars Day | Bespin Luke is Home

Growing up there was one time that I became a Star Wars fan, but I didn’t see the movies on the big screens. I only saw them through the Betamax rental copy from a family relative who has them. I didn’t even see Star Wars in cinemas until The Phantom Menace came out and around that time it was the biggest thing ever. The toys of course are what made the franchise partly known for. I never owned the figures, vehicles, or playsets. Well, until I was old enough to buy some of them. But I did own one figure in less than 24 hours. Unfortunately, it was stolen from me in the morning of 1983. It was Luke Skywalker in Bespin outfit from the Empire Strike Back that Mum bought at the Santa Ana Market and that was it.

Studio Series | Cogman of Mystery

01.17.2020 – The live action Transformers films have produced five main movies and a spinoff from the success of Bumblebee. It built interest to attract a huge fandom, but to be honest; the only significant live action film I remember was the 2007 introduction and the later mentioned spinoff from 2018. While the rest of the follow-up films from 2007 are forgettable, but the toys and merchandise that came with it wasn’t all that bad. The fifth film Transformers: Last Knight was Michael Bay’s swan song although making a lot of money at the box office it had mixed reactions from the press and the fans alike. Considering the last movie would produce some interesting toys namely a character named Cogman.

Power of the Primes | Bludgeon Prime

05.24.2019 – There have been many characters introduced in Transformers from the original animated series to the beloved comicbooks written by Simon Furman with artwork by Andrew Wildman. It’s a challenge to track each one if you just got into the hobby collecting the characters. But as fan for its world building the stories by Simon Furman got some interesting characters fleshed out that wasn’t given screen time in the cartoon. There have been some interesting ones out there that are dark and weird and one of them became a personal favourite with Bludgeon, the Decepticon’s Samurai Warrior!

WFC Siege | Megatron Blasting Con

02.15.2019 – Transformers Generations in the past has been met with mix to positive views bringing them back from the classic cartoons. The Prime Wars Trilogy was the recent culmination of the brand that they can revive nostalgia back to the fans that grew up with the series. Hasbro has cemented Transformers to the collective consciousness again to its relevance. Despite the recent negativity of the ‘Bay Formers’ films the toys continue to be innovative. After the Bumblebee Movie screening in cinemas, they’ve also slowly changed that perspective. Now the Generations line gets a new trilogy with War For Cybertron (not to be confused with the videogame) it beings with its first installment “SIEGE” introducing one of the two Voyager Class figures in Megatron!

WFC Siege | Sideswipe Action

02.01.2019 – Before there was Transformers in the early 1980s they were known as two products by Takara. They are Diaclone and Microchange range of different characters and colors before they became what they are popularly known today. Hasbro and Marvel collaborate in making the fiction behind these toys that would become the Transformers. It’s the year 2019, Hasbro and Takara Tomy continue to make innovation with the Transformers brand now that the Prime Trilogy is done they move forward with sort of reboot with installing a brand new trilogy with War For Cybertron. The first series reveals Siege as its initial installment and the first wave was released in Philippine retail in the late December 2018 that includes Autobot Warrior Sideswipe!

Studio Series | Bumble-Beat Tunes

01.11.2019 – There have been so many iterations and variations of the Bumblebee character based from the live action movies that sometimes it’s challenging to keep count. But only if you’re a hardcore Bee collector who focuses on one character and not the entire population of planet Cybertron, and then there are casual fans that only need that one character to represent their favorite. The Studio Series that featured the live action movie characters in their actual scale and detailed appearances from across all the films has worked wonders to some. Hasbro and Takara Tomy has streamlined this range of collectibles to fans who has followed the films since 2007 and they continue to add more to the series with the Bumblebee Movie already playing in cinemas.

Go-Bots | Robo Killing Machines

12.28.2018 – The Go-Bots property has been ridiculed, lambasted, and embarrassed for the last three decades or so being called a “poor man’s Transformers” because the toys back in the day that was manufactured by Bandai was affordable in some countries all over the world. The toyline has been introduced under Tonka prior to merging with Hasbro that owned the Transformers property. Originally, the Go-Bots property is known in Japan as Machine Robo a faction-less toyline that produced robots that turn vehicles. Though they are not as popular as their famous counterpart they have built its niche fanbase. It has been thirty years since there’s no material from the brand until IDW Publishing has announced a comic book mini-series based on the original characters like Leader-1 and Cy-Kill. The new series will be a separate universe from Transformers and as mentioned this will be a mini-series that will be written and drawn by Tom Scoili, who worked with John Barber on G.I. Joe VS Transformers mini-series. This time Scoili not only did write and provided the art for the mini-series he also handled the colors and lettering. The pages are impressive and design appears like an old comic book as you go through each scene seeing how the artist took time in making the first issue stand out from the comic shelves having Leader-1 on the cover.

Robots in Disguise | Getting Bludgeon-ed

12.07.2018 – When you talk about Transformers and the Decepticons you think about the usual bad guys that make up the faction. From Megatron, Shockwave, Starscream, and his seeker team they’re most known baddies that put the Autobots to shame. All of them have appeared in the classic cartoons, but the comic books are entirely different they flesh out more characters that you won’t expect. Bludgeon is one of those characters that Simon Furman has introduced in the original Marvel published series that lasted up to issue 80. Then this series was revived from issue 81 to 100 by IDW Publishing with some retcons and continuation of the saga. But before the Marvel cancellation Bludgeon was heavily featured in that final issue that made this character memorable.

TF Generations | The Ballad of Drift

11.09. 2018 – Finding time to do some photography again, but rarely with robots as subject matter. Action Figures and Figurines are much easier to take due to the environment where I often go to. Mostly the nearby parks are still good even though sixty percent of it is more concrete than natural green. The Transformers is a staple brand and when you talk about alien robots that turn to anything you’re quite fascinated by any form they take. There are A LOT of characters now if you’re not following the comic books, but one bot sticks out and that is Drift!

TF PotP | Beachin' Beachcomber

03.10.2018 – Every kid who grew up their first Transformers means something. Personally back in the cool looking TFs where expensive as presently now. But Hasbro made it possible to bring these characters in a more modern aesthetics with impressive details and articulation for some action packed poses. Some may be impressive others were downright forgettable. Beachcomber is an Autobot geologist and would be considered a true blue hippy hence the description in the characters original bio file being a pacifist that tries to avoid conflict. In the cartoons the Autobot speaks like a surfer dude as voiced by Alan Oppenheimer best known for invigorating the personality of Skeletor from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. The Power of the Primes version is also cool!

Marvelous: New Toys for the Summer

03.16.2012 – I rarely share about my toy collections or what I got today here and mostly the general stuff that goes out here is unrelated to my other blog. But I have previously shared to you the stuff I get from close friends based outside the country. Some of them where unexpected since I never asked for them and out of friendship they just surprise me. I stopped buying toys in a long time and I can only get them when I’m willing and able to afford them. I get them through the gift checks that I receive as a token from previous blog events but rarely buy as I have enough.

Toy Photography: A Productive Inspiration!

10.02.2011 - How do you give a good impression? There are a lot of ways to be inspired and sometimes I top myself in one category I truly enjoy. Toy Photography is one of the areas where I don’t compete with anyone but myself alone. In my own little way of getting myself doing something out of the ordinary it makes me slow down for a bit and admire the view. Currently a few people already had their “thumbs up” on the subject. I love Toy Photography that I don’t mind seeing myself competing. I look at it now as an art form rather than boasting on how topping the others.

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The First Imperfect Panorama Toy Photography!

01.10.2011 - There are many versions, concepts, and imaginations done in Toy Photography. From my perspective, I try to make them into artwork using a camera rather than a pencil or paintbrush for most talented artists out there. The concept can be indoors or outdoors capturing one image with toys as the subject of its narrative that you put together from your imagination that could mean a lot of expressions. I've been doing Toy Photography since 2007 and have been pushing the envelope of coming up with new ideas that some might have done way better than I could have first thought about.