Date: Friday, April 11th 2008 1:38pm CDT
Categories: Site News,
Movie Related News,
Digital Media News,
Editorials
Posted by: First Gen |
Credit(s): Robinson
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Views: 39,119
Transformers merchandise keeps rolling out with this new edition to the mix. A 4 socket USB hub that can connect to your PC.
Product Description:
The All Spark was very prominent in the Transformers movie, with it’s ability to make objects into Transformers. Now it can transform your computer connections. Access 4 devices through it and it speaks All Spark phrases as they engage - “We must protect the All Spark Cube” etc, works straight from your computer no mains cable needed.
The Allspark USB Hub is expected to hit Preorder by August 29th, 2008. Priced at £17.99.
EDIT: Direct link and pic added.
Allspark USB Hub
Date: Friday, April 11th 2008 10:46am CDT
Categories: Comic Book News,
Digital Media News,
Editorials
Posted by: First Gen |
Credit(s): Denton J. Tipton, IDW Publishing
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Views: 25,460
IDW Publising's Transformers editor Denton J. Tipton was nice enough to update his blog with a sneek peek into the upcoming Grimlock spotlight comic. Spotlight Grimlock is set for release on April 23rd.
You can see the 5 page preview on Denton's blog at
From the Tip.
Date: Monday, March 17th 2008 6:25pm CDT
Categories: Toy News,
Reviews,
Site Articles,
Collectables,
Editorials
Posted by: i_amtrunks |
Credit(s): Counterpunch
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Views: 53,742
Seibertron's own Counterpunch has started a series of articles on how we, Transformers fans "have it good".
This series of articles will focus on what was good about certain toy lines of figures, focusing on the positive, rather than the negative.
In his third article, Counterpunch discusses all that was good and right with the Superlink/Energon series.
Let me take you back to 2004 briefly to the day I saw the first pictures of Transformers Energon Toys. “Those look terrible. I’m not buying that crap with its stupid clear weapons.”
Then I went to Wal-Mart and saw them putting out the display pallet for Energon. Ten minutes later I had picked out all the best paint app figures and was on my way into nearly two years of bitter frustration. I loved every minute of it.
Before talking about the toys, I want everyone to understand something about the Energon line, especially you new ‘movie’ people…This was, by far, the most difficult, evil set of TF toys to find in retail, ever. Concept Bumblebee you say? F’ your Bumblebee. Find me an Energon Grimlock and Swoop.
To read the rest of Counterpunch's article, please
click here.
Please feel free to add your comments and thoughts on the topic in
Counterpunch's original thread. Please remember that we are trying to keep these discussions positive, in relation to the articles.
Date: Monday, March 10th 2008 5:25pm CDT
Categories: Toy News,
Reviews,
Site Articles,
Editorials
Posted by: i_amtrunks |
Credit(s): Counterpunch
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Views: 43,019
Seibertron's own Counterpunch has started a series of articles on how we, Transformers fans "have it good".
This series of articles will focus on what was good about certain toy lines of figures, focusing on the positive, rather than the negative.
In his second article, Counterpunch discusses all that was good and right with the Micron Legend/Armada series.
The title alone brings with it a tide of discontent, disappointment, and overall dislike. Arguing for the high points in this line is like playing Devil’s Advocate. Childish, lacking articulation, and gimmick heavy, Armada is the whipping boy of modern Transformers lines. I have to admit, after being taken in by RiD, I was certainly taken back by Armada. Many of my early purchases of this line were actually due to boredom or just to buy something ‘fun’ (I was working a miserable, exhausting job as nighttime security for my University…). Needless to say, my first take on the toys, like many people who see them today for the first time, was not necessarily positive.
Interestingly enough, the line started to sell really well. Not only that, but there was a lot of hype and excitement around the series, much like Animated is causing today. There were people who were unhappy with this new series, but for the most part, those folks were able to get by on the new and exciting reissue G1 toys that were appearing from Takara. Hard to believe in a way, but Armada got less popular with collectors as time went by, where as most series toys seem to see a slow but steady gain in popularity.
Why take another look at this series? Do we really dislike these toys to the degree that popular opinion would suggest? I don’t think so... We all know the bad, I’m going to review some things which might just change your mind, well, that or have to justify to your girlfriend and/or wife why you are spending $40 on a Mini-con.
To read the rest of Counterpunch's article, please
click here.
Please feel free to add your comments and thoughts on the topic in Counterpunch's
original thread. Please remember that we are trying to keep these discussions positive, in relation to the articles.
Date: Thursday, March 6th 2008 4:48pm CST
Categories: Reviews,
Site Articles,
Interviews,
Editorials
Posted by: i_amtrunks |
Credit(s): Counterpunch
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Views: 43,899
Seibertron's own Counterpunch has started a series of articles on how we, Transformers fans "have it good".
This series of articles will focus on what was good about certain toy lines of figures, focusing on the positive, rather than the negative.
In his
first article, Counterpunch discusses all that was good and right with the Car Robots/Robots in Disguise series.
I'm going to start this conversation with RiD/Car Robots as the basis. Beast Wars was fine and good, but I think of Car Robots as the Preface to modern day Transformers both in style and substance.
When I first saw RiD, I was to put it mildly, blown away. This was everything I had hoped for in Transformers from when I was a kid. Detailed toys, great sculpting, TOYS THAT WERE ACCURATE TO THE SHOW, and a Train combiner! (how f’n cool was that? Seriously, I'm an American kid and we never got that before)
Then, I found out that these toys were complicated. Damn Sideburn is really hard to Transform. What's going on here? Prime and Magnus combine? Megatron is a frickin puzzle? This was way, way more than I remembered from my G1 days of flip the legs out, pull the arms, flip the head, you're done. These toys were engineered in a way that was asking for adult and older collectors to actually handle them. They looked great and were fun/tough to transform.
Counterpunch continues on with the article, which you can check out in full in the
original thread, and please feel free to add your comments and thoughts on the topic in Counterpunch's
original thread. Please remember that we are trying to keep these discussions positive, in relation to the articles.
Date: Saturday, January 12th 2008 5:13pm CST
Categories: Site Articles,
Editorials
Posted by: i_amtrunks |
Credit(s): Counterpunch
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Views: 38,789
Seibertron's own Counterpunch has come back from a deep undercover mission with a report regarding the safety of your toys, and how to keep your collection safe from the threats of sunlight, smoke and even terrorists.
Firstly a word from our agent Counterpunch:
Hey gang. This is not my most cohesive article I've done, but there were a lot of topics I wanted to hit on and one major one to work towards. Hopefully you can forgive the flow and ask questions to expound on anything particular to you. This article is geared towards collectors with large or soon to be large collection as a wake up call. My goal was to have this serve as a note to stick in the back of everyone's head as their collections start to grow and the small difficulties of ownership start to catch up with them.
This is all from my personal experience, so of course results may vary.
Also, I've been asked on a few occasions about my interviews. Be assured that they aren't done. Hopefully one or two can get pulled together soon (PM me volunteers!). My goal is to do actual video interviews at BotCon. 8)
In the absence of anything witty to say (it's 3:15 am) understand that I will personally come to your door to discuss any "criticism" you might throw my way.
To read Counterpunch's article, please
click here.
Date: Tuesday, September 25th 2007 6:42pm CDT
Categories: Toy News,
Digital Media News,
Editorials
Posted by: i_amtrunks |
Credit(s): Burn, Tiby
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Views: 47,666
For those who may have missed all the news a few months ago when Masterpiece Megatron was released, a number of Australian collectors found their MP Megatron's seized by Australian Customs.
They had decided that MP Megatron was to be classified as a "replica firearm" and could only be imported if you had appropriate licenses and what not.
Not all Megatron's were seized and some made it through, but a number of them were which spurred Australian Collector Tiby (a practicing Lawyer) into action to help his fellow collectors get their hands on Megatron without too much hassle.
The result hasn't been highly overwhelming but the Government and Customs have made regulations for collectors to import and own Megatron legally.
The full story
| Tiby : |
Announcement on 25 September 2007 by Police Minister David Campbell. Click here
I am setting up a collector's club which will be open for collectors to join, and thereby fulfil one of the requirements for owning Masterpiece Megatron. To quote the Minister, the requirements are as follows:
· Undergoing a criminal and probity check;
· Providing a genuine reason for ownership of the toy;
· Providing proof of membership to a collector’s club; and
· Abiding by safe storage, surrender and disposal requirements.
The criminal and probity check is a Firearms Registry requirement, and usually done by local police.
A genuine reason for ownership of the toy is that a person is a collector of Transformers.
Proof of membership of a collector's club will be part of what I will provide in the club.
Safe storage includes a locked cabinet. I recommend the following:
Display and Rack Systems
I will update this site as the club progresses with more details on how to join.
Thanks for your support! |
The collector's club he's setting will no doubt be Australian only, however if you're Australian and already a member of the international club that should cover you.
Either way, plenty of hoops to jump through just to own a toy.
Date: Sunday, September 2nd 2007 8:25am CDT
Categories: Toy News,
Site Articles,
Collectables,
Editorials
Posted by: Tigertrack |
Credit(s): An_de (video), wikipedia, youtube.com
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Views: 81,834
The purpose of this news blurb is to make awareness that locking brick Transformers is a popular idea, and a missed opportunity for the Transformers property.
There is a plethora of high quality fan made LEGO Transformers out there. The most recent version was shown yesterday (
Movie Blackout), and today with this video of a transforming
Movie Concept Camaro LEGO Bumblebee and others.
I believe that a large part of the collectible, and toy market is being missed because apparently there is no love for the merging of what seems like a match made in heaven...Transformers and LEGO blocks.
As a child I loved my LEGO sets almost as much as my GI Joes, Transformers, Star Wars, etc. Not true, I think I loved them more. They were a huge part of my childhood play. I used them in conjunction with and separately from all my other beloved toys. They are as much a part of my memory as those other beloved properties.
Fast forward to today, where we see a gap in the Transformers armor. Sure the movie has spawned so much TF merchandise, one would wonder just how there are any gaps at all. After all, there are bed sheets, lunchboxes, wrapping paper, toy lap tops, and so many versions of the characters in toy form that there should be no wanting for anything by any Transformers collector at all right? Wrong.
Why has the locking building blocks market been forsaken? Why are they skipping this style of play that was and is popular with children of many ages? I wish I knew. After all, you can see that many of the most popular movie franchises of late have made sure that they have their foot in that market: Spider-man and Marvel, Star Wars, and Harry Potter.
Perhaps because they are not sure how to go about doing it, especially with their first U.S. venture a few years back, Built To Rule Transformers. I can remember threads in the toy forum where all we did was come up with negative names that either rhymed with, or used the acronym, to create whatever negatives we could (many were quite vulgar). Doomed from the start some might say, because it was representing robots from the "as well loved" ARMADA television show, and not doing a very good job of it.
These
Built To Rule configurations seemed like a great idea to try to get into the locking blocks market. Instead, they failed miserably. However, it was not the idea of tranforming block made robots that was bad, it was the design and execution of these robots that made people say, "Uggg..." The robots were flat, lacking in articulation, fairly fragile. And oh yeah, you had to take them apart to turn them into the more superior alternate modes. Oh and the blocks were not able to be used with LEGO bricks, so one could not modify the robots, and improve on them, unless they used another BTR set, which there were not many of at the time.
The popularity of Transformers at the time was also very low. The T.V. show was bouncing around time slots, the aisles were clogged with toys, which were actually pretty decent, but that lacked in comparison to previous lines due to the new gimmick, minicons. The BTR line was quickly cancelled after a handful of releases, although a small portion of the next round based on some Energon designs did make it into a very small number of retail stores, creating an interesting collector rarity. It could not compete in a market where LEGO was creating Star Wars based sets, highly popular, and able to fit with many other brick sets for modification, and increased play value.
One could argue that there is no better time than now for the HASBRO Transformers creative team to try this again. I don't have to tell you how hot Transformers Movie toys are, and just how popular the brand is at this time. Dia Block, a block company in Japan, released a "G1 Transforming Convoy" that met with mixed results here. Not because it was poorly designed, on the contrary it is very cool, very large, very detailed, and has the "perfect" transformation (for you Macross folks), meaning you do not have to disassemble any pieces to get it into an alternate mode. The box is G1 in design, making it a great collector's toy. The main problem, it was way too expensive for most to import. The money could easily be justified to be spent elsewhere, thus many folks do not own a very cool toy that should be available here, if marketing were thinking.
The japanese have seen the importance of locking building blocks since all the way back in Generation One when they included some smaller Transformers with environments created from locking blocks.
So why forsake this creative niche? Are the powers that be assuming that another such venture would fail miserably? Do they feel that the transforming gimmick alone is going to sell toys (Armada, Energon, and Cybertron are proof that they obviously do not)? Have they tested the market recently and found that children would rather play video games, and have other creative outlets, and that this line of toys would tank as badly as BTR Armada?
I can't argue with what I don't know. All I do know is that there are a lot of creative children and adults out there that feel that Transformers should delve back into this medium. Take time to generate 'good' quality, representative, and detailed designs. Make sure they have the "perfect" transformation, and don't be afraid to share some profits with LEGO, so that customization and creativity can occur.
Just some thoughts based on a fan's desire. Comments welcome.
Date: Friday, July 27th 2007 7:04am CDT
Category: Editorials
Posted by: Air Commander Starscream |
Credit(s): Kern, Louise Barnett of the Mirror
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Views: 24,120
Louise Barnett of the
Mirror has posted a editorial on the outrage some have felt over Burger King UK putting toys in their kids meals, when the movie is rated 12A.
To view the editorial please click
here.
Date: Sunday, July 1st 2007 7:38am CDT
Categories: Movie Related News,
Editorials
Posted by: Stormrider |
Credit(s): Associated Press
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Views: 30,307
Sandy Cohen from the
Associated Press, describes how the
Transformers Movie brings back memories from the 1980's.
Their mythology is about good versus evil on a very basic level,' Lorenzo di Bonaventura said, adding that in that regard 2007 is the perfect time to retell the Transformers story.
In the `80s, 'the world didn't seem quite as threatening a place, but from a creative point of view, it ... was a decade when people seemed to want to explore larger-than-life characters and take them to a place they had previously not been doing,' he said. 'It was a time period that was searching for its own identity, much as we are now.
Click
here to read the entire story.
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