TRANSFORMERS: WAR FOR CYBERTRON TRILOGY: SIEGE begins in the final hours of the devastating civil war between the Autobots and Decepticons. The war that has torn apart their home planet of Cybertron is at a tipping point. Two leaders, Optimus Prime and Megatron, both want to save their world and unify their people, but only on their own terms. In an attempt to end the conflict, Megatron is forced to consider using the Allspark, the source of all life and power on Cybertron, to “reformat” the Autobots, thus “unifying” Cybertron. Outnumbered, outgunned, and under SIEGE, the battle-weary Autobots orchestrate a desperate series of counterstrikes on a mission that, if everything somehow goes right, will end with an unthinkable choice: kill their planet in order to save it.
Rooster Teeth (RWBY, gen:LOCK) is producing the Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy. FJ DeSanto (Transformers: Titans Return, Transformers: Power of the Primes) is the showrunner, and contributing writers will include George Krstic (Megas XLR), Gavin Hignight (Transformers: Cyberverse), and Brandon Easton (Agent Carter, Transformers: Rescue Bots).
Polygon Pictures is perhaps best known for the two Ajin television anime series and film trilogy, and the Godzilla: Kaijū Wakusei film trilogy. Its latest works include the Human Lost film and the ongoing Drifting Dragons series.
After playing both of the War For Cybertron video games, I wanted to see an animated series based on those events for a while now. I'm glad that someone is actually green-lighting this endeavor. The only thing that surprises me from this trailer is that they aren't relying on the old classic voice actors for these iconic characters and taking a chance at recasting them, much like Beast Wars Transformers instead of hanging onto the past.
Bumblebee premiered in Berlin on December 3, 2018, was theatrically released in the United States on December 21, 2018, and has grossed over $455 million worldwide. The film received positive reviews from critics, who praised the action and Steinfeld's performance, as well as the 1980s setting and sense of nostalgia, with many calling it the best installment of the Transformers franchise.
Cast:
Humans
Hailee Steinfeld as Charlie Watson, a 18-year-old girl who finds and befriends Bumblebee John Cena as Jack Burns, a former U.S Army Ranger lieutenant and agent of Sector 7 Jorge Lendeborg Jr. as Guillermo "Memo" Gutierrez, Charlie's next-door neighbor who befriends Bumblebee John Ortiz as Dr. Powell, an agent of Sector 7 Jason Drucker as Otis Watson, Charlie's younger brother Pamela Adlon as Sally Watson, Charlie and Otis's mother Stephen Schneider as Ron, Charlie and Otis's stepfather Glynn Turman as General Whalen, Burns's superior at Sector 7 Len Cariou as Hank, the owner of a junkyard where Charlie sources car parts Gracie Dzienny as Tina, Charlie's mean-spirited classmate Ricardo Hoyos as Tripp Summers, Charlie's classmate and Tina's boyfriend Fred Dryer as Sheriff Lock, a sheriff who enters into a high-speed chase with Charlie, Memo, and Bumblebee Lenny Jacobson as Roy, a trailer park resident killed by Dropkick Megyn Price as Amber, Roy's girlfriend
Nick Pilla as Seymour Simmons, an agent of Sector 7. John Turturro portrayed an older version of the character in the previous live-action Transformers films. Edwin Hodge as Danny, an agent of Sector 7 Tim Martin Gleason as Mr. Watson, Charlie and Otis's father, who died of a heart attack
Transformers who appear in non-speaking roles include: Ironhide, the second-in-command of the Autobot resistance on Cybertron, Starscream, the second-in-command of the Decepticons and a Seeker, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Dirge, and Teletraan 1, who appears as one of the computers on the launchpad tower. There is also various generics like a Blue robot, an Orange robot, some generics of Arcee, Wheeljack, Ratchet, a Yellow robot, a White robot and a robot that looks like Huffer. A Seeker that looks like Red Wing is shooting at someone, also Nacelle. Prowl also appears in the movie, as well as an Autotrooper, some soldiers, Hot Rod, Jetfire, one that looks like Brawl and a Thundercracker clone. This is also the first Transformers film not to feature an appearance from Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons and Optimus Prime's nemesis.
Plot:
On Cybertron, the Autobot resistance led by Optimus Prime, are on the verge of losing the civil war against the Decepticons and prepare to evacuate the planet. A Decepticon force, led by Soundwave and Shockwave, intercepts them during the evacuation, and Optimus sends Autobot scout B-127 to Earth on an escape pod in order to set up a base of operations where the Autobots can regroup.
In 1987, B-127 reaches Earth alone, crash-landing in California and disrupting a training exercise by Sector 7, a secret government agency that monitors extraterrestrial activity on Earth. Colonel Jack Burns presumes B-127 to be a hostile invader and attacks him. B-127 scans a Willys MB Jeep and flees into the forest, where Blitzwing, a Decepticon scout, ambushes him. When B-127 refuses to reveal Optimus's whereabouts, Blitzwing tears out his voice box and damages his memory core; despite this, B-127 stabs and kills him with one of his own missiles. Before collapsing from his injuries, B-127 scans a nearby 1967 Volkswagen Beetle.
Meanwhile, teenage girl Charlie Watson remains traumatized by the death of her father, and resentful of her mother Sally for remarrying. Charlie finds a yellow Volkswagen Beetle in a scrapyard belonging to Hank, who gives it to her as an 18th birthday present. When trying to start it, Charlie unknowingly activates a homing signal that is detected by Decepticons Shatter and Dropkick as they interrogate and execute the Autobot Cliffjumper on one of Saturn's moons. The pair heads to Earth, where they gain Earth vehicle forms and pretend to be peacekeepers, persuading Dr. Powell and the rest of Sector 7, despite Burns's disagreement, to help them find and capture B-127, whom they claim is a fugitive and a traitor.
While Charlie attempts to fix the Beetle, it transforms into B-127, whom she befriends and nicknames "Bumblebee". She then unknowingly unlocks a message from Optimus urging Bumblebee to defend Earth in their absence, which restores some of his memories. Bumblebee is discovered by Charlie's neighbor Memo, who agrees to protect their secret due to his feelings for Charlie. Left alone, Bumblebee accidentally destroys Charlie’s home and causes an energy spike that attracts Sector 7’s attention. When Sally blames Charlie for the destruction, Charlie angrily leaves with Bumblebee and Memo, only to be intercepted by Sector 7 and the Decepticons. Bumblebee is captured while Charlie and Memo are returned home. Charlie finally expresses her pain over her father’s death and makes amends with her brother Otis, who helps Charlie follow Burns to the Sector 7 outpost where Bumblebee is being held. Shatter and Dropkick torture Bumblebee into revealing the Autobots’ whereabouts, discovering that the Autobots are coming to Earth. They leave him for dead after revealing their plan to bring the Decepticons to Earth. After alerting Burns to the truth about the Decepticons, Dr. Powell is killed by Dropkick.
Charlie electro-shocks Bumblebee back to life, restoring his memories. After fighting past Burns' obstruction and attempt to re-secure Bumblebee with the help of Memo and Charlie's family, Charlie and Bumblebee set out to prevent Shatter and Dropkick from contacting the Decepticons using a radio tower at a nearby harbor. Burns also intervenes and defends Charlie. His helicopter is shot down by Shatter, but Burns is saved by Bumblebee. While Bumblebee fights Dropkick, he binds him with a chain, entangling his systems when he transforms and Bumblebee rips him apart. Charlie deactivates the Decepticon beacon, causing an enraged Shatter to pursue her. Bumblebee destroys a dam wall, triggering a flood that causes a cargo ship to crush and kill Shatter. Burns, having a change of heart and feeling gratitude towards Bumblebee, gives Charlie and Bumblebee time to escape before the army arrives.
Charlie and Bumblebee arrive on a cliff overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, where Charlie, realizing that Bumblebee has a greater purpose on Earth, says goodbye. Bumblebee scans a 1977 Chevrolet Camaro and drives away, and Charlie returns to her family.
Bumblebee reunites with Optimus Prime, now using his new name instead of B-127. Prime praises Bumblebee for keeping Earth safe as they watch more Autobots arrive through Earth's atmosphere. Meanwhile, Charlie finally finishes repairing the Corvette she and her father were working on, and drives off into the sunset.
The Verdict:
If I'm perfectly honest, I was ready to leave the theater after this introduction with the Autobots and Decepticons at war on Cybertron. Roll credits. That's all I really needed to see and that was worth the price of admission alone that I paid for to see this in the movie theater before the Christmas holidays.
I couldn't help but throw my hands up in the air and internally shout, "WHY THE HELL WE CAN'T HAVE A LIVE-ACTION TRANSFORMERS FILM ENTIRELY ON CYBERTRON WITHOUT THE RANDOM HUMANS INVOLVED?" I loved that scene on Cybertron - like ALL of it. All of those 15-20+ minutes that started off this film in epic nostalgic fashion, then Bumblebee crash lands on Earth and the bulk of this movie turns into typically the same stuff that we've seen since the first Transformers film. Seriously... is it really THAT hard to ask for a Transformers film that's set entirely on Cybertron? I mean c'mon, those War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron games are begging for a cinematic adaptation in some fashion - even more so for that Combiner Wars webisodes from a few years back too that Machinimia did with IGN. At least we got a pretty sweet toyline out of that though...
Yes, we mean you..
To be quite honest, I didn't mind Charlie (portrayed by Hailee Steinfeld) too much - the character nor the actress playing her; we've come a LONG way of annoying human protagonists from the initial portion of this film franchise (hey Shia LeBouf). Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) wasn't bad in his role in the previous two films either. I'm just like whatever at this point of human sidekicks in this Transformers stuff. I never liked it in the Generation 1 cartoons when I was a kid, I really didn't like it when Transformers went into that whole anime phase in the early 2000s post-Beast Wars/Beast Machines to current with their animated outings, and I just don't really see the point for it in these live-action films either. My years in college from taking film theory courses would easily chuck that up to "spectators needing something on screen to identify with in said medium" but I'm like screw that. I can identify with whatever Transformers' personality that I can relate to my own. I don't need to see diversity or whatever to draw me into these films. That's the problem right there to be honest - Hollywood currently has this fixation that they have to please every possible audience that would ever look at their products and it's not really necessary nor a requirement to successful storytelling. Fans of Transformers are going to see this one way or another whether there's humans in it to identify with or not.
One look at the kid brother and you can tell he's going to grow up to be a bigger douche than is was here.
That being said, I thought Charlie wasn't annoying but goddammit I hated her family though from start to finish. They weren't funny nor charming, they just came off as tacked on distraction and waste of this film's runtime. Most of the film's runtime was wasted on Charlie and Bumblebee just sitting around her garage, moping around since Bumblebee couldn't remember his mission parameters on Earth while Charlie was still mourning the death of her father. I thought it was pretty fucked up that her family didn't allow her to grieve at times while her mom and kid brother just moved onto the new step-dad taking his place without question. Like even their birthday presents for her were pretty fucked up too. Being a Christmas baby, believe me that I know a thing or two about receiving some shitty ass gifts for your one special day of the year.
Charlie's next-door-neighbor, "Memo", was a little entertaining in his own right, but nowhere as funny as Cade Jaeger's assistant who was killed by Lockdown in Transformers: Age of Extinction. I still say that was the biggest tragedy of that film. Should've killed off Cade's annoying daughter instead. There's a reason she didn't return in the sequel that that film since I don't know a single person who actually enjoyed her character in that film. Just ugh... WWE's John Cena is in this film too as part of the Sector 7 organization that has been aligned with the Transformers since the start of this film franchise. We get to see the "origins" of that relationship as they are the ones who make first contact with these visitors from Cybertron - both Autobot(s) and Decepticons.
Shatter and Dropkick, the two Decepticon triple changers that act as the primary antagonists for this film.
If you can find me someone who believes that pitch, then I got some real estate on Krypton I want to sell 'em...
I thought it was interesting that the featured antagonists in this film weren't Megatron, Starscream, and a host of easily forgettable (and yet VERY disposable) Decepticon underlings. Instead, they went with two triple changers (something that hasn't been touched upon in these films to date by my personal knowledge and memory) - Shatter and Dropkick - as the primary Decepticon antagonists in this film. Bumblebee faces Blitzwing when he first crashes onto Earth, who rips out Bumblebee's vocal circuits during that altercation. These battles are pretty much what we've all come to expect from these Transformers films and Michael Bay in general - some flashy, yet stylish cinematography, followed by a finishing move that looks like something straight out of Mortal Kombat, and ends with a battlefield littered with explosions. You're either going to love it or hate it at this point.
Watch It or Don't Bother?
I won't go as far as the people who hate everything that Michael Bay has done in terms of bastardizing stuff that I've grown up with and reducing them to stuff that you would need that roll of toilet paper to wipe your ass with of, but Bumblebee's origin here isn't much to write home about.
If you hated all of these Michael Bay Transformers films up to this point, then this film clearly isn't for you. It's more of the same, just with some Generation 1 Transformers flair and nostalgia thrown in for good measure. I felt that they wasted 80% of the runtime on far too much human-oriented distractions than the titular Transformer that the film was named after in my humble opinion. For fans of the film franchise and the Transformers franchise as a whole, do yourselves a favor and check out the amazing Cybertron scene at the beginning. After that, I can't really recommend wasting your time watching the rest of the film for everything that follows unless you don't mind the heavy human-related exposition that plagued Transformers: The Last Knight's narrative.
Sorry, B, but I can't recommend people to go out of their way to watch this one. Wait for the Redbox release or to show up on Netflix in a few months.
No joke, I have been sitting on this article for at least half a year now. I just keep seeing stuff that I want to include, but I thought about it and figured I should just go ahead and post this as is instead of holding out to share more stuff I keep running into.
Ever since I was a kid, I wanted my own Voltron set of Lions to own. Fast forward to 2017, I'm 32 going on 33 and I STILL want my own set of Voltron Lions. Hell, beats trying to make Megazords and Voltron out of damn Legos and Construx Building Toys when you were a kid in the 80s because Voltron toys were rare as fuck.
Transformers
I was really tempted to get this for my best friend since he loved Hot Rod so much ever since we were kids. His birthday is in a few months, so I guess I still have time.
I've recently seen Rodimus Prime too in another store.
WWE Action Figures
What's wrong with this photo?
Isn't this Sasha's like 3rd or 4th basic figure now? Looks just like the last one! At least the face looks better than the Elite does.
I wasn't even trying to find this and managed to snag an Elite Asuka after a late night movie screening. I have to wonder why Mattel didn't think to add Asuka's cape to add to her entrance gear. Just seems lazy to make a figure of Asuka without it.
Cross Fit Jesus and Samoa Joe basic - another two alleged "rares" from Ringside Collectibles that I've seen in the wild. SMDH, I swear Ringside are some fucking crooks outside of their occasional holiday sales and clearance stuff. 9 times out of 10 their so-called "exclusives" can be found in the wild. FYI List of Jericho Elite Y2J can be found in GameStop of all places.
Savvy collectors, what's wrong with this picture?
Someone must REALLY doesn't like Tamina...
All of that hype from Ringside Collectibles acting like these would be rare as fuck and I see them all the time in Toys R Us.
Collectors might wanna hold off on these as I saw that Kevin Owens (at least the one with the NXT title) in Big Lots for $10 along with Samoa Joe's first Elite and a few others.
Seriously, the only thing I noticed when I first saw this was Dana's boobs in all of her big boobed glory. The figure itself was merely icing on the cake.
Those FigureArts The Rock and Stone Cold were originally told to collectors online that you would have to order them if you wanted one, but score again for Toys R Us having them in stock. I honestly don't want them TBH.
Marvel Legends Series
Seemed odd to do another Star-Lord when this one isn't that much different than his one from the first movie outside the lack of a trench coat. From what I've been told by fellow collectors, the trench coat made it hard to pose him in the previous line. I never opened mine from the original GOTG line so I wouldn't know.
Video Games (Games, Consoles, Accessories, etc.)
Clearance pick-ups from the local Wal-Mart for $3 a piece. Talk about a steal, man.
After streaming Twilight Princess in its entirety on my Twitch/YouTube channel a few months ago, I honestly considered getting this.
You'd be surprised on what you'd find in Goodwill from time to time. I tend to have a lot of good luck seeing older gaming consoles in there.
DC Comics Multiverse
I have to admit that this Diana looks pretty good. Definitely a step-up from the shitty figure she got for BvS.
Jay Garrick Flash and Supergirl were pleasant surprises, but looking up close at these and they could have touched up the faces better IMO.
Zoom was a cool to see, but I think the new age Batgirl was the best out of this line of DC figures I've seen lately in the wild.
Gaming/Anime-Inspired Merchandise
That Kratos looks pretty bad ass.
The only thing that stopped me from picking up Mikasa was that the paint detailing on her face was HORRIBLE.
Transformers: Devastation is an action hack and slash video game based on the Transformers franchise developed by Platinum Games and published by Activision. It was released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One in October 2015.
The Plot:
In New York City, a swarm of Insecticons and giant metal claws emerge from below, wreaking havoc. The Autobots arrive to investigate, battling Megatron and the Constructicons, who form Devastator. Megatron escapes into a hatch leading underground and reveals the attacks are the automatic defenses of the Proudstar, an Autobot ship which crashed on Earth millions of years ago that Megatron now controls, and announces his plans to use the Insecticons to cyberform the Earth, turning it into metal and creating a new Cybertron.
Optimus Prime explains that the Proudstar, captained by Nova Prime, was a ship meant to convert uninhabited planets into ones suitable to support Cybertronian life, and that its Ferrotaxis supercomputer contains a record of Cybertron's history and culture which had been lost during the Great War. Entering the ship, the Autobots fight off Soundwave and attempt to access the plasma core powering the Proudstar and the Insecticons, but the security system ejects the core from the ship. Emerging, the Autobots learn the core's location from Thundercracker and follow the trail. While they are distracted by fighting Blitzwing, Starscream arrives to take the core back to the Decepticons, but loses control of it due to a storm and crash-lands. The Autobots beat Motormaster to the core, but find it damaged and at risk of explosion. Before they can shut it down, the rest of the Stunticons arrive and form Menasor. The combiner throws the core to Megatron, who takes it to Cybertron to be properly repaired.
The Autobots follow the Decepticons through the Space Bridge, but are delayed by Starscream and Shockwave, arriving too late to catch Megatron. Conversing with Shockwave, Optimus discovers that during the Proudstar's voyage, Nova Prime and the crew were corrupted by Unicron and had begun to cyberform inhabited planets as well, planning to do the same to Earth before they crashed. Returning to the Proudstar, the Autobots try once again to disable the core, but it ruptures and becomes inaccessible, leaving the Ferrotaxis, now in Megatron's possession, as the only way to stop the cyberforming process. The group head for the Proudstar's control room, fighting off the Decepticon forces as they ascend. Megatron escapes, ordering Devastator and Menasor to finish them, but the Autobots defeat them and follow Megatron, fighting him for the computer.
As he is defeated, Megatron fires the Ferrotaxis from his cannon into orbit, and Optimus rides an Insecticon into space after it, with Megatron in pursuit. The two engage in a final battle above the Earth, with Optimus emerging victorious, but cannot shut down the Insecticons due to Megatron's tampering. Left with no choice, Optimus destroys the Ferrotaxis, stopping the cyberforming and preventing the plasma core's detonation. As he falls back to Earth, Optimus declares Earth is now their true home, and they must protect it at all costs. Later, with Defensor andSuperion's support, Optimus commissions plans for the Optimus Maximus project.
In a post-credits scene, aboard the Proudstar, Nova Prime is seen awakening from stasis.
The Verdict:
I felt like a kid again playing this game. From the second it started to the ending credits, I felt like I was back in the 80's eating a bowl of cereal and enjoying watching my favorite Transformers foil the recent plot cooked up by the Decepticons. A lot of the original voice acting talent return to reprise their roles from the animated series from the 1980s and it really adds to the nostalgia. Platinum Games went with a detailed cell-shaded look for the game that captures the look of the original cartoon perfectly, even though it looks as good as the Blu-Ray copies of Transformers: The Movie if I'm perfectly honest.
Autobots, transform and roll out!
In terms of gameplay, this is a Platinum Games title so you should know what to expect for the most part. The action is best described as the original Bayonetta reskinned as Transformers. You have weak and heavy attacks, with different combinations of those buttons will yield combos of various results. Most players could simply mash weak attacks to victory with very minor resistance on Normal difficulty. The thing that makes the combat system a tad different than Bayonetta's is the fact that during combos, each of the Transformers can transform into their vehicle or dinosaur (if you're playing as Grimlock) and do an additional follow-up (or two if you're really sick with your combos) that does massive damage compared to your normal attacks. Another feature that is carried over from the Bayonetta series is Witch Time or "Focus" as how it's referred to as in this game, where if you evade an incoming attack with precise timing, everything slows down around you to allow your Autobot(s) to unleash a devastating counterattack. This is where the combat truly shines as you're taking all of these concepts and putting them together as every enemy encounter becomes a creative experiment to see what ways can you utilize your Autobot's combos, ranged weapons, vehicular attacks, and even each of their unique abilities in combat.
This definitely keeps combat interesting for the most part, despite the game recycles a lot of the same enemy types throughout the game before adding more periodically over the course of the narrative. For example, you will fight Devastator twice, then each of the Constructicons that he consists of as mini-bosses before reaching the finale of the game where you face Devastator and Menasor (the Stunticons' combiner led by Motormaster). I was kinda surprised that PredaKing wasn't in this but I guess Platinum Games are saving them, along with appearances by Metroplex, Protector, and Tripicon, for an inevitable sequel down the road.
During the last portion of the game, ALL of the Autobots work together against multiple
waves of enemies and bosses. This results in a lot of craziness as seen above.
Unfortunately, this game has the same problem Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance had in terms of dealing with airborne foes. The Autobots are only playable in this game (so far in terms of DLC content) and you are left to rely on your ranged weapons, all of which that have limited usage, to force airborne foes to come down to ground level for you can take them out. It's not as annoying to deal with like in Revengeance, but becomes easier to deal with after gaining more powerful firearms and weapons throughout the course of the story. At least with this game, you have MUCH better firearms and subweapons integrated into the combat system so you don't feel awkward switching to them when needed.
Between levels and at specific checkpoints throughout the game, players can teleport the Autobots back to the Ark, where they can purchase new weapons or even create new ones via synthezation. Synthezation is something that is worth experimenting with as two weapons are combined together to create a stronger one, oftentimes carrying the abilities and attributes of the discarded weapon. Everything in the Autobots' arsenal is customizable in combat to suit any players' particular playstyle. I highly suggest investing credits into purchasing the extra skill moves in the shop as well as they allow you to acquire the ability to break enemy shields without moving, the ability to parry enemy attacks (sorry but it's nowhere as flawless and borderline overpowered from the original Bayonetta) or more means to utilize the Focus ability.
Rent it, Buy it or Don't Bother?
At this point, this title is easily $20-30 brand new, but back when it originally released at retail it was $59.99 full price. Back at launch, I would have said rent it as it's an easy weekend rental to breeze through on a weekend, but at the current price, you might as well buy it. The amount of nostalgia for Generation 1 Transformers fans is uncanny with a lot of the original cast on board to voice the Autobots and Decepticons. Platinum Games made this game a blast to play, despite getting a little repetitive by the end of the campaign but that just comes with the territory in these types of games.
I don't know why this game and TMNT: MiM got low reviews but you should know what to expect from these types of games by now, especially from what you're getting from a Platinum Games-made style beat 'em up, action game.
"Black Man"? C'mon how can you even read this
packaging label without thinking it's racist LMFAO...
Cheap Knock-offs -- I touched upon this subject briefly in the last article on my personal journey of collecting pop culture collectibles but good Lord, we have to talk about this a bit more in detail. There's a LOT of people trying to sell cheap knock offs as legitimate toys while there's even MORE knock offs disguised as heavily sought after popularized toys and collectibles. To be honest, if you're a collector who is merely concerned with having all of your favorite characters instead of looking to sell your collection at some point, you could buy a few cheap knock offs to fill the gaps in your collection, customize the toys to your liking, and no one else but you would know any different.
I happen to be in a roughly three pop culture toy collector groups on Facebook (2 following and detailing pro wrestling collectibles and memoriblia, and another covering anything and everything else nerdy collectors like myself should have their eyes out looking for), where we discuss, trade, and sell our figures for profit. While I have only bought from a few trusted sellers on there, I do happen to see a lot of hilarious posts with photos of cheap knock offs that they have seen in the wild in various retailers.
Here in the Carolinas, the biggest outlet that has all of these cheap knock offs seems to be the Rose's/Maxway store chain.
Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to a WHITE Kofi Kingston...
You're not seeing things that's a REPAINTED Kofi Kingston that one member shared on the group. At least the packaging is top notch, but everything else is left to be desired. I know a lot of guys who do their own custom figures for wrestlers and characters that WWE and other various promotions have been too lazy to make themselves. I'm still finding it hilarious that WWE raced out of their way to make a Kevin Steen/Owens figure after Ring of Honor announced that he was one of their premiere figures in their upcoming debut action figure line. Talk about petty much?
They aren't the only ones who have been seeing these cheap knock offs. I managed to visit some of my local outlets here in the Carolinas and EASILY found a few offenders. Let's take a look shall we?
(Laughs) I don't even think Ultimate Warrior would approve of these figures...
(Busts out laughing) So let me get this straight, this is supposed to be a hardcore match pack of wrestling figures? Sweet idea, but very, very BAD on the figures. From left to right, the only thing they have done here was took two Sabu ECW/WWE figures and head swap them with Jimmy Wang Yang and Brutus the Barber Beefcake's heads. Rambo/Rocky or whatever Stallone figure they used was head swapped with a Vince McMahon repainted body while the last figure on the right is CLEARLY a repainted D-X 2006 era Triple H figure. Once again, if you're hardcore into creating custom figures then this might be up your alley to drop $10 for these figures. I know I personally wouldn't bother. I was cracking up laughing so hard.
"Superior Robot Fighter"... Hmm, why do I suddenly have the old
Mega Man cartoon theme song in my head now?
A "Superior Robot Fighter" that is clearly in Gundam packaging. On the back of the box is a clear picture of New Mobile Report Gundam W's Gundam Epyon, but this looks more similar to one of the Universal Century timeline mobile suits from the Principality of Zeon or possibly of the ZAFT organization from Gundam SEED. (Shrugs) No idea as I've been out of the loop on newer Gundam series for a LONG time now. For $3, that's not a bad deal if I'm perfectly honest. If I was sure of which Gundam it was, I would totally snatch up one and repaint it (Walmart sells the paint that is usually used on Gundam model kits and figures on their model plane/cars aisle in the toy section).
After Gundam licensing has gone through quite the mess nowadays in terms of distributing anything Gundam-related "officially" outside of Japan without a ridiculously high price, I'm not surprised to see Gundam knock-offs. I'm pretty sure you are going to continue seeing this pop up until Gundam gets a reasonable distribution deal stateside again.
Yep, FROZEN knock offs...
C'mon you can't be too surprised. Pretty much the most popular children's cartoon for little girls right now and you know someone had to make some knock offs. Hell, that packaging is enough to fool most kids for Christmas. If you want to go that cheapskate route, more power to ya' because I know I won't judge you - those damn dolls are expensive as hell.
Yep, that's a non-Transmetal T-Rex Megatron from Beast Wars.
Ever since the revival of the Transformers franchise with the VERY popular Beast Wars: Transformers cartoon in the early 2000s, which led to Hollywood seeking to make a live-action blockbuster franchise based on this 80's cartoon and toy craze, there have been MANY knock off toys from the Beast Wars toyline. Japanese originals and other standard figures in mint condition from this toyline will net you between a couple hundred to thousands of dollars trying to get them all, but a crafty collector will simply buy a few of these knock offs, repaint them to their liking and call it a day. It just depends on how badly you want these Transformers in your collection.
