Convention Experiences, Celebrity Pricing, and Revoltech Transformers

Cliffjumper, commence countdown. Five, four,

three, two... Hello and welcome to the 15th episode

of Transformers toy cast brought to you by the

geek cast radio network I am TFG1 Mike and I

am joined by general techno. Hello. Hello and

a goddamn proto man. Hello. Hey, hey, hey And

before we get into the toy discussions, we do

have some news as far as the podcast stuff goes

our supposedly quote -unquote second contest

where we were going to give away a single disc

more than meets the eye shout factory transformers

25th anniversary DVD which is the first five

episodes of G1 no one entered the contest Emails

whatsoever so they were practically giving it

away Exactly. It's like it's free. We're not

even charging you people for shipping which we

should but we not or not So I once I paid all

my bills and everything this week this past actually

was last week I went on Amazon and I ordered

one for myself and I ordered three for or excellent

three total i were one for myself and then two

others to give away the you know what i'll do

i'm gonna advertise it on my twitter it's a little

bit well that's over we're not i'm not even dealing

with it but you're not going to do it anymore

okay this is a totally different prize this prize

we're probably going to get bogged down once

i reveal what this prize was and it is and i

really wasn't going to reveal it i was going

to keep it as a secret prize but i figure out

what the hell might as well i got in today three

copies of the all spark almanac and holy shit

are these things heavy yes they are they're like

phone book size i was i was expecting something

Like a little bit bigger than I don't know if

people know like a standard manga Yeah, maybe

like and I'm talking in size and in width too,

but I really didn't expect to be that big Yeah,

I was expecting something half the thickness.

Yeah Yeah, I really was because you know why

because I mean sure like the other books like

the the the arc and the arc to done by Bill Forrester

and Jim You know, those are thick but those are

thick because they're simple thick, you know,

like all they had to do was scan Outlines like

from old, you know stuff that's been around for

years Anyways, and they didn't really have to

type out a lot of text and everything So those

were easy to make like big thick books of those

but this this was just like well Wow, someone

sat down and really like page by page I mean

to go through all of it is incredible, you know,

it's 220 pages. It's it basically is a coffee

table book It's a heavy read. That's what it

is. It is. I just got them today. Again, we're

going to use the same question as we did last

time. So if you can tell us what item Optimus

Prime was carrying in the final scene of Transformers

Animated Season 3 Endgame Part 2, you will win

a copy of Transformers Animated the All Spark

Almanac. We have two available, so two winners

will be drawn randomly. All entries must be sent

to tftoycast .gmail .com. The contest begins

as soon as this episode airs which will most

likely be tomorrow the 15th of September. The

cutoff time for entries is Saturday evening the

19th of September at 10 p .m. Eastern Standard

Time. And as I said, all correct answers will

be put into a hat and we will do a random draw

in the next episode. The question again is if

you can tell us what item Optimus Prime was carrying

in the final scene of Transformers Animated,

you will win a copy of the AllSpark Almanac.

As I said before, we have two of these available.

that we're going to be giving away and the only

thing that I really have a complaint about in

this is this one hopefully there is going to

be a volume two because this basically takes

you through the end of season two. Yeah they

said pretty much Jim gave a comment on that he

said they will do a volume three and on top of

a volume three it will include some like you

know because there was the comic book exclusive

stuff too that IDW did. That was all in there

already. Was it art? Well, there were some of

it was but no because there's a chance that there

might be an animated comic Coming again, you

know, so like they they want to have a little

more meat to do another one It's it's the same

reason where they wanted to do an arc book three

Yeah, but right they have material for it, but

not enough to make a full book because a friend

of mine he is like the sole owner of the animation

cells for Pretender Bumblebee So Bumblebee was

never in the cartoon, but there was a commercial

that Bumblebee was in. He owns the cells and

he owns the character models and those were never

put in the arc. So he sent them to Jim and Jim's

all happy, but he's like, hey, it's great, amazing,

but yeah, we need a little more than that to

make a whole book. So they're kind of waiting

to get background images from headmasters or

whatever they could get to fill it out. So it's

the same deal. It's the same guys too, pretty

much, where they want to They want to like get

enough material because season 3 is as awesome

as it is and all the cameos They really need

a lot more than just that too. Well see when

I first heard about this I thought it was gonna

be 220 pages over the entire series all oh no

one and two is just enough to fill everything

right there Because when I was looking through

it earlier today, and I'm like wait. Where's

Rodimus? Where's cyclonus? What? Well, there's

probably enough animation models just for Autobots

and Decepticons to take up double the space that

they allotted in the first book. Oh yeah, clearly

if Derek wants to get on board... and really

also include his April Fool's stuff that he included,

like the botanica and everything, and give us

some extra with that. Here's alt mode, too, and

then write a story for it. Hey, that's great.

I mean, I'm pretty sure already they considered

that to fill pages. Maybe even an animated evangelist

page. God knows what the... Oh, he'll love that.

With his alt mode, which is a camera or something.

I don't know. I know there was joking going on

on Twitter with Wyatt regarding a bit of a discussion

that's been creeping up regarding the Afterburn

character from the UK comics and Wyatt was basically

like, yeah, I'd have to redesign this guy completely

if I wanted to get him to work. I know for sure

we're going to get the season three characters

in some kind of almanac form it's just right

now they want more meat and everyone's screaming

animated everyone wants more anime who knows

maybe even because whatever that new series is

that's going to come up maybe they'll just do

season three animated and you know season one

of whatever that new series is who knows like

but he says we will get it in one shape or form

or another it's the same it's kind of the same

answer with the last animated toys you know like

we'll get them don't worry just we have to figure

it out Or who knows what would be ultimate is

just to do half the book with that and then do

half the book that's like Half the book is just

like a graphic novel or something We'll see again.

Yeah Yeah, it's a good book. I think that the

one of the neatest touches I'll just touch on

this very quickly that some people on the all

spark the forums noticed is Apparently they've

been translating all the cyber glyphs that were

in the book As just an aside, I guess Sorensen

and Forster were among those who actually originally

translated them back on Beast Wars. So they put

cyber glyphs messages all throughout the book

and Chris McFeely on the Allspark has been translating

these and finding all kinds of different references

from all facets of pop culture hidden in these.

Overall, I think it's a good thing. I think it's

a good book. I understand they want to end up

making more money with a volume 2 but when I

first heard about this I thought it was like

the complete guide to Transformers animated this

was like the end -all be -all guide to the entire

show and now that I've looked through it and

there's no season 3 I'm kind of actually disappointed

in it but just overall with the content that

it does have I do enjoy it well it's it's more

that it's like you could be disappointed at the

same time you should almost be like happy with

how much They were able to do it and it only

being season one and two and it only being 20

bucks I would have paid double for this book.

Oh, yeah, clearly I know I would have I've spent

easily $60 on some Japanese source books that

were number one. I couldn't read them So I was

paying $60 or something. I couldn't read but

I was just buying it for the colorful pictures

and on top of it It was a lot smaller, you know,

yeah like a hell of a lot smaller maybe 50 60

pages So I need to clear I'm not saying that

I'm disappointed with the content that's in there

You were just expecting a complete one. Yeah,

exactly. Well, here's one thing I do guarantee,

and they did this with the Ark. They released

part one, they released part two, and then they

released the Omnibus of part one and two together.

When that part two comes out, if you don't buy

it, wait a little bit, I'm sure they're going

to do an amalgam of the two together down the

line. And then they put extra stuff in the Omnibus,

apparently. Yes, they do. Yes, they do, because

the Ark Omnibus has extra stuff in it. That is

correct. Yeah, you know so that's the prize for

this contest again It is the same question as

last time and I'll I'll go over it again at the

end of the show The other thing I wanted to bring

up is we were talking off air before we started

this about how to box And mail stuff from wherever

you are. I just got a I ordered something off

eBay a few months about a month ago, and it just

got to me today I don't know whatever it came

in a Nestle drumsticks box like a ice cream cone

box thing I'm like what when the mailman handed

it to me I'm like okay I just look at it like

what the hell is this mailman delivers ice cream

now come and get your ice cream come and get

it and the other thing I wanted to bring up Proto

Man went to fan x and uh... you had a really

bad uh... voice actor uh... experience i guess

you can call it yes i have lost all respect for

this actor now i don't care what kind of you

know mythos he's been in because he doesn't even

acknowledge one of the most important roles he's

done bastard take it away I don't want to say

I didn't enjoy myself at Fan Expo. I think Fan

Expo was an amazing experience. I had a great

time. And again, I did meet a lot of amazing

voice actors which made the experience incredible.

I met Scott McNeil who I don't even have to explain

who he voiced in Transformers and he's always

a pleasure to talk to and hang out with and he

always hangs out with everyone. I met Lee Tokar

who a lot of people don't know is Beast Wars

Ravage. He was there. He was great to talk to.

I met Brad Sway. Brad Sway who is the voice actor

of Kicker from Energon. When I was in line and

then I finally got up to him and got him to sign

a kicker or lithograph I brought. He was like,

wow, really? Everyone tells me how much of a

shit job I did on that role. So I liked it that

he was aware of how bad a job he did. And then

I told him, oh, don't worry, man. No one ever

likes the dub of animes anyways. And then he's

like, yeah, everyone hates my Death Note stuff

too. So it was cool to meet him. I met Len Nguyen.

He did a whole bunch of G1 episodes. Of course,

yes, he was also the creator of Wolverine and

Legendary and the comic book scene of Marvel.

But on top of that, in a Transformer -related

way, he also wrote the episode Webworld for G1,

he wrote the episode Savage Noble for Beast Machines,

and he wrote the episode Tangled Web for Beast

Wars. So he's been around in Transformers. He's

done three generations of cartoons right there

too, which was pretty awesome. I was in line

for him and I got his autograph and he's a super

talkative friendly guy considering how you know

sometimes I say to myself you know like the more

important they are the more of a snob they are

but him it's like he's so critical and important

in comic book history and yet everyone you go

like he's the kind of guy like there were some

guys that were in line that had like 50 Wolverine

comic books all the same Wolverine comic book

and you know most people like you know these

are guys are clearly comic book store owners

that are here to make money you know He signed

every single one of them, you know, like with

a smile, like he didn't even like, you know,

he didn't even say no only to like, he is super,

super nice. And again, there's a negative with

that because then the line takes forever. But

at the same time, he's super great, he's super

nice. The whole convention was incredible. I

could keep going on and on with all the guests

that were there that I didn't even... Richard

Comley, the creator of Captain Canuck, was there.

There's so many other important... If you're

a Marvel or DC fan, I know I'm forgetting someone,

but they were there and they were amazing. Just

to step back a sec with Brad Swaley, I actually

met him earlier in August as well because he

was out here for a convention. And he seemed

like a pretty good guy there too. You know what

it is? He's self -aware that people don't like

dubs, but yet he's cool with them. He, this is

a guy who, here's just a quick anecdote where

at the panel I went to, people were asking if

he could like do the laugh from the final scene.

Oh yeah, everyone. He's got a cardboard cutout

of Blight's face which he sticks over his own

when he starts doing the laugh. Cause like his

whole explanation is, you know, he doesn't like

being caught on camera doing this because when

he originally did it, he was in a sound booth.

He wasn't, and just how he looks when he does

it. It's funny because when I was in line he

was asked to do that many times too. Oh, did

he bring up the cardboard cuddle? I didn't notice

that He had a cardboard cuddle in front of his

face He starts to laugh and then when he starts

getting to the more and more crazy part of the

laugh He flips it around and there's a different

expression on the other side Yeah, he's a great

guy No, he was awesome. That's what I mean. The

convention was amazing because you have to realize

Fan Expo is like the San Diego Comic -Con Version

of for Canada and it's huge. It's it's super

packed. There's tons of free swag going around

tons of free stuff I mean it was a nuts and before

I get to the voice actor that I That I meant

that kind of like ruined my Saturday, so to speak

I also got to meet some Hasbro designers because

they were there too and they brought with them

only 15 of these Hasbro sketchbooks that were

like these like super exclusive sketchbooks with

all these animated designs in them that never

happened. That was an amazing book and they only

gave it out to like really important people and

so right away TFCon staff got all 15. You know

Like it was just and like oh my god when I got

that book I was like, oh, you know, I was holding

it like it was a bot con exclusive or something,

you know Going off the one page that we saw I

would love to get my ruby little hands on that

It's insane that book like I was showing like

two pages, but it was just like there's a huge

section There was like stuff showing GI Joe versus

transformer stuff They were brainstorming that

never happened like roadblock coming with with

hound, you know, like just sketches of how it

would work out. It's mind -blowing. The animated

stuff, before it was confirmed to be animated,

the idea of Prowl in animated was designed with

the concept that animated didn't exist. Like

the style, so he was done in like a G1 style

or I guess a Galaxy Force, Cybertron style. There's

a few of those in the Almanac, so like the Magnus

sketch, that's awesome. Yeah, some of those were

included in the Almanac, but a lot of it wasn't.

Like again, like the season three characters.

So it's just, there was so much of that. That

was a great book too. But anyways, what ruined

everything for me though was I had a great Friday

and then the Saturday started and that's when

all the big name guests start showing up that

are movie related. Linda Hamilton from Terminator

was there, Lou Ferrigno, Bruce Campbell. You

know, the list goes on and a lot of Star Trek

and Star Wars characters too. Hell, even the

soup Nazi from Seinfeld was there. I mean, it's

just everyone was there. Yeah, seriously, he

was there and he was signing soup ladles and

giving them to people. I know, it's crazy. I

actually have a story about, even though I wasn't

at FanX, my buddy Mike Dodd from This Week in

Geek was there, and apparently Bruce Campbell

walked by them and complimented Mike on something,

but Mike completely ignored him. Of course, he'd

regretted it later. Really quick, I'm not meaning

to interrupt the story flow. Go ahead, go ahead.

Apparently, I was just checking Twitter because

I have my phone on vibrate so it doesn't make

any sound, and Shout Factory posted some sad

news. Apparently, just came across the news,

rest in peace Patrick Swayze. What the hell?

Really? I don't know if it's true or not. I don't

know. Sudden and weird? Yeah, very sudden and

weird. 2009's the year of the dying celebrities.

I think that's the truth. There's been what,

like at least, there's probably been at least

like 10 big names that have died this year. Since

the beginning of summer. Just like in pop culture

and politics and stuff. Bad, but just in like

the last four months, not just even 2009 as a

whole, just the last, pretty much all summer

long. Right, I just mean 2009's like the year

of killing people. So, getting to your bad experience,

which makes me... Well, what happened was the

Saturday started, everything was great. We were

setting up for our table and stuff. I decided

I had to get, out of all the autographs there

that I was going to get, I had to get Leonard

Nimoy's autograph because I knew that the opportunity

to get his autograph would not come about again.

I mean, even the likes of Len... Scott McNeil.

I mean they're great guys, but I know I get a

feeling I'll see them down the line You know

like because I do a lot of comic conventions

and stuff, but Leonard Nimoy. You know the guy's

80 You know and there was a lot of things going

through my mind I was like you know what I have

to get it now Otherwise I won't get a chance

otherwise And I knew what I was going up against

fan expo is was crazy busy and insane I mean

I was standing in Brad Sway's line for two hours,

and it's Brad Sway No offense to him, but he's

not exactly you know high -tier in terms of celebrities

and stuff but I was in his line for two hours

so I knew that Leonard Nimoy's line was going

to be crazy just using that kind of logic so

I got there extremely early and I must have been

I would say 20th in line which is very fair to

say the least in terms of you know and I was

surrounded by Star Trek fans everyone guys and

vulcaneers and all and costumes and cosplay and

there I am you know holding my Galvatron lithograph

because I'm the only guy in line literally for

that like for me it was like who the hell is

Spock like who's Spock to me you know so every

but everyone else in that line was there for

for Spock you know so I would and I was like

all right this is gonna be great I'm gonna get

it and you know even if I get when I get to them

you know I'll be able to ask him and get the

final word on like, did you like doing the movie?

Just put an end to all those fan rumors that

we've been hearing for years. So we get closer

to the line and then all of a sudden this guy

starts coming down the line and starts telling

us the prices. And he's like, okay, here's how

it's going to work, people. Autograph is $60.

To take a photo with Mr. Leonard Nimoy is another

$60. And the lithographs, because every celebrity

did this, so this is not unexpected. And an extra

lithograph of the character that he played is

an extra $20. Now keep in mind with characters

like Lou Ferrigno, who was the Hulk, for $30

you got his autograph, but you also got a lithograph.

You were able to take as many photos as you want

with him. He was intimate with you. He talked

with you. It was a good experience. It was like

a $30 worth. You got a lithograph. You got to

talk with him. Signed whatever you brought to

the table on top of that. If you ask him to sign

three things, he'll do it no problem. he had

to pay $30 for that quote, experience, if you

will. And all the other celebrities were like

that too. I think the only other person that

was not $30 was Bruce Campbell and he was 50.

So Wetter Nimoy was the big package and he was

insane because it was like just to take a picture

with him was 60, to get one autograph of whatever

you chose was 60, to then get a lithograph. And

then to get them to autograph that would be 25

plus another 60. So, I mean, you're talking an

insane amount of coin just to get them to like

do a brush stroke, you know, and then to smile

for a photo. So I was like, you know what? Screw

that. I'm just getting the autograph. That's

it. And, you know, I have my picture that I printed

out a nice glossy picture of Galvatron. from

the movie. Let's get that sign. Let's get the

hell out of here. And that's it. And I'll ask

the question. Worst comes to worst. I get closer

to the line. I would say I'm about tenth at this

point. And then all of a sudden, the guy comes

back who's like, you know, his, I guess, bouncer

in the line. He says, Mr. Nimoy is going to be

taking a two -hour break now. And everyone looks

at each other like he's barely been here for

half an hour and he's already taking a break.

Right. And I looked behind myself. And of course,

the line at this point was out the door. You

can't even see it anymore. So the thought of

getting out of line, because he's going to be

back in two hours, is out of the question to

lose this spot. Because I know the Trekkies are

going to stick around just as much as I would

have. Oh, yeah. So I was like, you know what?

I'll stick it out. I could survive two hours.

I got to get this autograph. No one has. signed

merchandise of Leonard Nimoy for Galvatron. It

just doesn't exist. So I waited. Two hours came.

He didn't come back. And then everyone's looking

at their watches, getting kind of angsty. Two

and a half hours have passed. He's still not

back yet. And then everyone's like, what the

hell's going on? Three hours pass. And again,

now I stayed an extra hour. And he's still not

back yet. Everyone's losing their mind at this

point. People are getting out of line to go to

the front to complain. And then at this point,

the convention people are getting on phones.

And I'm standing in line going, oh, great. Leonard

Nimoy died in his hotel room. I missed my chance.

Son of a bitch. If I was 10 people earlier in

the line, I would have had his autograph. Now

he's dead, and his autograph's going to go through

the roof. So I was like, oh, this is great. I'm

like, what the hell is taking him so long? Anyways,

now three hours late, after another hour, so

now four hours late, he shows up. No apologies,

no explanation. Let's get down to business. He

rubs his hands to go start some autographs, and

then he goes into rapid fire mode. Then he's

like, sign, get out of my face. Sign, get out

of my face. Sign, get out of my face. Sign, get

out of my face. Sign, get out of my face. So

when I got there, I give the $60. I go to put

the lithograph. I literally, before the lithograph

even hits the table that he's signing on, sign

out of here. And then you have the bouncer guy,

OK, move along. And it's like, holy crap. I didn't

get to say anything. I was lucky because I had

a friend recording a video of me getting the

autograph signed, so I was able to take screenshots

of quote, me with Leonard Nimoy. They didn't

know that the video camera was recording, so

I got some pictures of Leonard Nimoy, although

not as I expected. I didn't have to pay for it.

He didn't even look at what he was signing. It

was just like quick. So like I joke around I'm

like wow I could have had like a picture of a

man's penis You know and he would have signed

it like he didn't even care what he was signing

He was just signing anything you know just give

me money give me money sign it sign and it was

horrible It was horrible because every like I

had my girlfriend with me and she went to all

these other celebrities They were so like intimate

like Linda Hamilton who played Sarah Connor from

Terminator like she talks with everyone for like

half an hour It's like, oh, what did you like

about the movie? She was so sweet. And I have

video, by the way, of all the actors and meeting

them and stuff. And it's just in comparison.

We meet Wu Farigno and you're talking with him

for a good 10 minutes. And Leonard Nimoy doesn't

want to breathe the same air you do. It's horrible.

It's absolutely horrible. And the fact that he

made me wait for four hours, it ruined my whole

Saturday. I don't want to sound like a wimp or

anything, but I think my ankle gave out at one

point just standing there for so long. My ankle

actually hurt for the rest of the day. When you're

doing a convention like that, you're doing nothing

but walking. Luckily, I had my TFCon table, so

I was able to sit down and chill for a bit, but

it wasn't fun. It really wasn't. When you stand

somewhere for four hours, you get hungry, but

you can't get out of line. It just it was wasn't

cool on his behalf on top of it to charge like,

you know 160 plus, you know just to Just to have

the full experience with him was not cool Like

and there was guys who were paying that there

was guys that were like, you know These trekkies

were paying the easily, you know, give me the

autograph the lithograph and the photo, you know

And i'm like wow man, like you guys just enjoy

getting picked on because I would have not stood

for that Well, you see the thing that you know

since you put that video up and since I saw it

and now we're talking about it now what makes

me realize is that apparently he is the people

that go to these things that and I'm sorry to

call the Trekkies out but that's mainly what

he's known for the Trekkies that go to these

things and just unabashedly feed him this money

to get this stuff to basically have no real connection

with him whatsoever you know You had said in

the video that he didn't even look up at you.

He didn't even make eye contact for Christ. Well,

one day I'm going to put up the video because

I have two videos up now. I'm going to put up

a third one with just the actors I met. And it's

just because it's sad because when you're going

to see his and then you see me with Scott McNeil,

and Scott McNeil, by the way, is free. And he's

the kind of guy, it's free and he'll buy you

dinner. He's that amazing. And then there's Omega's

Prime on TFW who, last year at the convention

he went to, he showed him his Waspinator custom

and then this year he gave him the Waspinator

custom with the, he made a custom that had a

missile launcher in the head so that you could

shoot the head off. Oh, yeah, I saw, okay, yes.

He gave that to Scott McNeil. I was there when

he gave it. Yeah, like the head pops off when

he pushes a button. Yeah, I saw, yeah, he was

in front of the line with me. I saw that one,

yeah, yeah. Well, you know, now that you've told

the story and I've seen the videos and everything

else, it just makes me think that all these damn

Trekkies that put all this money into fucking

Star Trek make people like him act that way.

Well, look, William Shatner is the same thing

from what I was told. He's the same kind of attitude

also, which is a shame because it literally is.

It's bad. It's bad karma. I don't even know how

to put it. I don't know how a person could get

so much love from a fandom. Again, I'm not part

of the Trekkies, so I don't expect that kind

of respect anyways. I'm here for Galvatron, not

for Leonard Nimoy. It could have been Sue Blue

at the end of that line. If it was her who did

Galvatron, then it would have been her. I wasn't

there for Leonard Nimoy. If he never did Galvatron,

I would have just ignored him the whole convention.

That's just it, but all these Trekkies who are

there and they're dressed up and they pay $160

for the full package and he did nothing for them

either. Me, he brushed off on nothing, but he

did the same for all the other ones too. That's

horrible. That's really horrible because I've

been to TF Conventions, I've been to Congo Conventions

and where you have people like Yoke who saw the

girl who was cosplaying as Perceptor and he came

up to her and he thanked her and he signed her

costume and everything because that's like a

connection. with creation or the art that you've

done in a fan where him people are dressed up

as Spock and he doesn't even care. Where to this

person it could be the biggest moment of their

life. And I guess he doesn't give a shit about

that. It's a real shame because again going back

to all those other actors I met or all those

other voice actors or artists that I met they're

all so endearing and personal and him he's just

so cold. I mean I heard even Bruce Campbell was

amazing. I mean, there was just no one else that

was like that. It was just him. Yeah. Well, you

know, that's what happens when you get spoiled

by your fans and you just don't care about them.

It's interesting, too, because since I've put

up that video and since I've made a public note

about this, haven't I? I put it on my Twitter.

I've yet to get any flack from any Star Trek

fans. A lot of them were kind of like, yeah,

that's just how it is. And I'm like, wow. But

that doesn't mean what it is, though. Imagine

if Peter Cullen gave the finger to the entire

fandom. No one would like Peter Cullen after

that. Peter Cullen's like, fuck you guys. No

one would like Peter Cullen after that. Everyone

would hate him. But see, he wouldn't do that,

though. And that's what perplexes me about Star

Trek fans. That they would take this kind of

stuff from not to mention the letter Nimoy who

is I guess you would call the Megatron To the

way even what and then you have William Shatner.

That's like I'm just saying like two big heads

Yeah, they're fiction and both of them are like

that. It's like Wow, how can you even look at

these these actors? You know, I would like I

would want like Jean -Luc Picard instead of these

guys if that was the case. It's mind -blowing

what they take because if Frank Welker was like

that or if Peter Cullen was like that, no one

would like them in the fandom. Everyone would

hate them. Look what Pat Lee did and how now

everyone hates him. I imagine that Patrick Stewart

is probably great with his fans. I've heard that

he's really good. Just look at his sense of humor

on his recurring role in American Dad. Oh, yes,

I've seen that clip. If you love Patrick Stewart,

go see Extras. That clip, at least search for

the clip on YouTube from the trailer. Yeah, at

least find the clip of Patrick Stewart from Extras.

If you're a Star Trek fan and you like Patrick

Stewart or anything, even X -Men, wow, it's hilarious.

But it's just it was incredible and in a lot

of it ruined my Saturday like I remember going

back I stayed at my buddy Chris's place GM fan

on the boards And I was just like holy crap man

like it kind of lingered with me for a bit I

was just like wow I paid 60 bucks to like you

know to get treated like garbage But only after

the convention was over and everything it dawned

me and I was like you know what? I got the bastard's

autograph. He's 80 years old. He could die tomorrow

and I don't care. But at least I got Galvatron's

autograph. That's it. Because one thing is I

have a wall of autographs from all different

kinds of Transformer characters that I've met

throughout the years of all their actors. And

while it's impossible, I won't get all of them.

I'd have to dig up Chris Latta at this point.

But I want to get as many as I can. I have almost

all of Beast Wars. You know, thanks to TFCon

and conventions in Montreal, I literally have

almost every Beast Wars character. you know like

to get you know to get that like you know those

movie g one characters are difficult they were

all big -name actors you know robert stack forget

about it now he's dead but you know like to get

i'd love to get you know for obvious reasons

more than just to be a hot rod because you know

judge else that be difficult to get uh... to

get you know iraq idol to get you know john machia

you know those were the really high -end actor

i mean to miss out on getting you know weirdo

at bachata Yeah, you know, yeah, I know Like

to get those actors, you know, those are the

real like tough ones And so for me to get Leonard

Nimoy was like the peak of that. It was important

to me to get that It's just it's such a shame

how much drive I had behind that and to willing

to like waste all that time For the end result,

you know, like it was a real shame, you know

to anyone you would have to get You would have

to get two autographs for Hot Rod slash Rodimus.

You know that, right? Well, actually, technically,

it's three. I have Dick Gautier. Oh, OK. And

Dick Gautier, I have to remind, let everyone

know also, he's an awesome guy. And he's the

kind of guy that if you fax him something that

you want him to sign for you, he'll send it to

you for free. Sign back. I'll just let you know

that. That's actually how I got his autograph.

I didn't attend BotCon. I think it was 2001 that

he was at. I just like caught I got his email

through again through my contacts in TFCon and

I sent it to him and he was just like sure fax

me whatever you want and I'll sign it and send

it back and I'll pay for the posters he was amazing

he's an amazing and for anyone who actually owns

the matrix DVD box set of g1 the roundtable discussion

that he's in it really shows how much of a cool

guy he is like you really his personality shines

through there too And well, Judd Nelson is just,

you know, he's a more, I guess you could call

him a B -list to A -list celebrity, so he's a

little more difficult to get. But who knows?

Opportunity might knock, and I'll get that chance.

We'll see. You know, I know you don't want to

really talk about any TFCon stuff, but maybe

TFCon could get Judd Nelson. You know what? When

we look for actors, we kind of try to get a broad

actor that did more than one voice. Uh, oh yeah,

animated. The only, well yeah, that's just said,

like, now that he's done animated, but still

it's only two voices, pretty much. I mean, he

did Hot Rod, Artemis Prime, and now, Rodimus

Minor, if you will, or Rodimus from animated.

Where usually when we get an actor for TFCon,

we could try to get someone that, if he did do

only one role, it's gotta be the role. You know,

it's gotta be a bumblebee. Like, but even then

- Let's call Hot Rod that. Well, you know what?

To some people, they don't see it like that.

That's the problem. I mean, who did more hot

rod material, Dick Gotay or Judd Nelson? That's

the problem. So it's the same thing. Even though

Leonard Nimoy is associated with Galvatron, it's

Frank Welker that did more Galvatron. So we would

want Frank Welker more. It's more material. When

we got Dan Gilberson, sure he did Bumblebee only.

I think he only did Bumblebee and I think, oh

God, Scamper from season three for Metroplex.

But I think he only did like two, but the thing

is he was Bumblebee. So we were able to overlook

all of that. Where when you have... When you

have Michael Bell, at least you have a whole

cast of G1 characters. Even with Greg Berger,

he'd done a lot of voices. Oh yeah, exactly.

Greg Berger, who yes, sure, he was Grimlock,

but he also did Outback. He did Skyfire, Jetfire.

He did Torque, which was the computer from one

of the episodes. He did a lot of different...

Characters too for g1 so it was it was nice because

at least in his case you got a mixed bag Same

thing with Gary chop with the gilva said we got

spider -man I guess well in that was nothing

too because we had the 80s expo that year We

also had you know some 80s characters that he

did too when he worked for Hannah Barbera and

Viacom so You know I was I'm just putting this

out there I don't think anybody would actually

put this together, but technically Frank Welker

could have his own convention dedicated to him

of course Charlie Adler It's the same thing when

we had Michael Bell He told like most of his

stories were his days with Hanna -Barbera And

then you realize how much like he's done to he's

you know he's a part of Scooby -Doo He's a part

of the Harlem Globetrotters. He's a part of of

all kinds of like you know Flintstones episodes

So I mean a lot of especially the older guys

from g1. They're very seasoned Before they jumped

on the Sun Bow train and they were doing a lot

of TF and GI Joe, they were doing Hanna -Barbera.

They were doing Looney Tunes stuff if they got

chances. They have their own histories. Those

are guys. Those are stories. Those are guys you

want to, if you're at a convention, get them

to tell a couple of stories. Those are the stories

that stick with you. Let me tell you. I think

we're going to go into a break really quick because

this has been a... almost 40 minute discussion

on just a little stuff and then we're gonna get

into the toys we'll be right back Twin rocket

launchers for double the damage, and a light

and sound power pack for real battle action.

And when Optimus talks, I am Optimus Prime, the

Decepticons will run for cover. Transformers!

Come on, Centaur! Transformers Center, Agent

2. Optimus Prime is all you see here. The Transformers.

More than meets the eye. Autobots wage their

battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons.

Transformers. All right, we're back and I am

gonna go first because I can I'm the boss I run

this show I recently got Rivaltech Megatron and

Rodimus and I'm gonna talk about Rodimus more

than Megatron. First off, I've never had Rivaltech

figures before and the images show them larger

than what they actually are. I've got Rodimus

here and I've also got my Shattered Glass Rodimus

just for a comparison. Rivaltech Rodimus comes

up, his wings come up to about where Shattered

glass Rodimus's wheel is on his arm. So technically

these are not close to even close to deluxe size

They're about three and a half inches shorter

My main issue with this figure was the hands

he comes with like four other hands that you

can interchange. Well One of the nubs is stuck

and the hand actually broke And for some odd

reason every time I went to go because the rival

figures are supposed to be super posable every

time I went to pose him his legs or an arm would

just They would just completely come out of the

joint So I'm not too even though I am a Rodimus

fanboy. I'm not too thrilled with this figure.

I like these much better I mean as far as Revoltex

go, I don't have any of the Transformers ones.

I've got Gurren Lagann ones. The only trouble

I've had is the fact that Gurren Lagann's sunglasses

on the original figure especially, they were

glued on to a chest piece which was removable,

which you could swap out for a piece without

the glasses, and the glasses, they break easily.

Well, and the other issue with Rodimus, I haven't

noticed this on Megatron, Rodimus' waist is like

where his chest is and his torso. it's very movable

like it's on a swivel almost even though it doesn't

swivel unless you're actually playing with it

which whatever I you know I don't really care

and eventually I'll take a pair of pliers and

get this other piece of other piece of plastic

out of his out of his left arm so I can put his

his other gun hand in there overall I've had

a bad experience with the storm not saying anybody

else that that would want this is going to The

other thing some of the rival take figures come

with stands to put them in like high -flying

poses Artemis's It's very very very horrible

His his plug where the stand goes in it's right

in the middle of his ass crack that's pretty

much the same with uh... i think that standard

for rebel tax oh my god yeah i'll explain all

of that afterwards but it just doesn't seem right

it just doesn't when i put this thing in the

stand uh... when i first got on like oh wow that

is going to be really uncomfortable well what

do you want they're uh... they're an asexual

robotic race they can pleasure themselves in

multiple ways God, this episode just took a drastic

turn. Well, it's rated explicit, so. Yeah, that's

true. But I don't know. I think I was more disappointed

with the fact that these figures weren't as large

as the pictures lead them to be, I think. Or

maybe I was just overestimating what they actually

are. Honestly, I can't recommend The Ceratomist

to anybody. Just can't because of all the issues

that I've had with him pretty much his Like his

his bottom part of his legs where his feet are

that has come out of the joint his Top part of

like the leg where you're where you're like below

or above your knee that joint has come out The

forearm joint has come out the actual shoulder

Joint has come out. I mean the arms. I mean they

just you know when you're trying to pose them

It just pops out of place. Maybe I got a bad

figure. I don't know. These came mint in box.

So I'll explain all of it after because it is

a possibility of quality control. I'll get into

the whole thing with Revoltec and stuff that's

similar to Revoltec. It's a very Japanese thing.

I'll explain it all after you're done. Overall,

I like him, I guess, but it's not one of my favorite

ones. He's probably actually going to go back

on the shelf like Behind my DC universe figures

actually That's pretty much all I have to say

about him Actually you can move you can put the

cuz the peg on on the stand adjusts itself You

can move it up to where it looks like he's on

an operating table I'll have to take a picture

of this later and post it on Twitter or something

so Go ahead with the history lesson for me. Well,

the thing is, is that Revoltech as a whole, not

just Transformers Revoltech, but the whole line

in general, it was created to kind of be this

cost effective way to get a Soul of Chogun figures.

And for people who don't know what Soul of Chogun

is, Soul of Chogun is like the superposable,

articulated, multi -part, insane, metallic, robotic

line. And it kind of only catered to like Evangelions

and Gundams and a lot of super robot stuff. But

it also is extremely expensive. We're talking

about $180 a figure easily and that's a little

crazy So what yeah, and then what happened was

Bandai then created a line called fixed figuration

Which was the same idea a little smaller not

metal this time Tons of parts again and everything

but now it's $60 a figure And really get paint

jobs and everything and again, it's still 60

bucks a figure So it's not exactly for every

market Then they got around to what was called

the revolt tech line and the revolt tech line

was and now the cost Effective these you have

to keep in mind these figures in Japan go for

about the equivalency of 12 to 14 dollars Okay,

like when we when we pay for them We kind of

get the markup and the shipping and everything

but they go for about you know 12 ,000 to 14

Excuse me. They go for about 1 ,200 to 1 ,400

yen, which is the equivalency of American of

12 or 14 dollars and They're really cheap so

Considering the amount of parts you get and everything

and the stand and you know the paint and the

joints and everything it's about on par with

the The budget against quality issue. That's

why you kind of get hit or miss. I own again.

No shock here I own four of these revoltec rotimuses

and And I have had varying quality in joint looseness

and problems here and there on each different

one. So it's not shocking that you could get

one and one sucks and the other one doesn't.

That being said, the problem with the hands there,

where you're losing pegs and they're getting

ripped off from the hands and getting stuck in

the joint holes, that has been a common problem

in Japanese action figures since the beginning.

It's just that we as Americans started finally

getting these hand -swapping toys and everything

where the Japanese have had these for years.

And the secret? Pull. Don't twist. That's all

I'll say. See, I did pull to get it out. His

regular hand, I did pull it to get it out. But

it didn't come out all the way. Yeah, the thing

is that you have to pull. And even though you

pull and it's not working, keep pulling. I know

it's like, it's an insane amount of strength

that's required to pull these out and it's like,

you feel like your arm's gonna like jolt back

and elbow something, but you have to do it that

way because if you twist, you end up creating

a friction that damages the rubber. I have, again,

prior to the Revoltek figures, Transformers had

a very similar idea, which was the Mega SCF PVC

line, which was the six inch, multi -posable,

non -transformable transformer figures, which

they did Rodimus, they did Hot Rod, they did

Optimus, they did Megatron, Starsaber, Starscream.

They did a multiple amount of characters and

they were the exact same idea, multiple different

hands, changeable heads, the whole thing. And

same thing with those, if you put in a head and

you twist it instead of pulled, you're gonna

lose that peg. It's gonna like, you know, melt

off into the peg. And that's happened to my Rodimus

figure, one of them. And I learned my lesson

from that one. The same applies to all the others.

The aesthetic of the figures, well, we all know

where the aesthetic of all these figures came

from. These were all based off of the Dreamwave

designs, the bloaty, Pat Lee kind of design of

Dreamwave. So that's why, you know, this figure

is supposed to be a hot rod. And it kind of has

a very small spoiler and a very interesting look

to it, to say the least. But it's Pat Lee's design

of Rodimus. So that's why he also has that very

weird shape. part of the reason also why they

shrunk down the spoiler I think is because a

problem with Rodimus toys since the beginning

is that you lose shoulder articulation if you

have a big spoiler so if you have a small one

you could do a lot more of those crazy you know

you know what is it called there you know Johnny

Woo double guns blazing you know shooting poses

and stuff like you know that they show on the

box oh yeah Like, you know, that's the whole

point of that peg thing to do all those, like,

flying in the air, blasting poses. I mean, it's

cool. It's a good figure. I will agree it's not

the best figure, but usually when the Japanese

do this kind of stuff, you expect those kind

of problems to come with it. Again, if they did

this figure in a Solve Chogen line, then you'd

be, like, loving it because they put a lot more

money into it and thus quality. You know, Revoltax

are cheap. Mega SCF PVCs were about the equivalency

of $8 to $10 when they were sold in stores in

Japan. And then we got them for like 15 when

they were sold in the aftermarket in America.

So part of the problem is that they're cheap

figures. And not to say that they're shitty figures,

but they're cheap in production and thus in terms

of quality. If you buy a Revoltech of like one

of the... and you're shocked by how bad the quality

is, well, you had an option. There was a lot

of other AVA figures of bigger quality and plastic

you could have bought of the same end result.

Where with the Rotomist, I guess we're kind of

angry because we don't really have much choice

when it comes to show accurate, gorgeous standalone

non -transformable TF figures. So it's a little

different, I guess. I don't know. The other thing

is, he's comparing him to Megatron. Again, Megatron's

in the room, but I looked at Megatron a lot more

than I did him at first. Megatron's more shiny

than he is. Well, Megatron and Optimus were made

early in the Revoltek line, before they got the

concept like settled, if you will. Where Rodimus

came or Hot Rodimus or Hot Rod he came with Starscream

like in that case if you will and That's when

they started getting sloppy with the paint jobs

and they started like again when the line when

the line first launched They had an idea and

they kind of put some attempts and quality into

those ideas But as the line progressed and there

was more and more figures have to keep in mind.

This is not just transformers It's Gundams and

Ava's and super robots any kind of designer It's

all the same guy. He's just belting this stuff

out. Now that there's multiple molds, the molds

are painted rather quickly to get onto the next

mold. When it first started out, there wasn't

a lot of molds. They were putting a lot of effort

to sell this line. Look how nice it is and articulated.

Whereas it progressed, obviously the quality

went to hell. The only other one I forgot to

mention is there's also There's the ultra Magnus

which was a which was a wonderfest exclusive

Which was a white optimist prime repaint that

came with the exclusive shaking hand extra hand

attachment Or you could have them shaking hands

with optimist prime which was kind of cool that

they included that instead of it being just a

straight -up repaint And then if you want to

be really anal Because this line again has all

different kinds of robots from all kinds of different

lines The Valkyrie from Macross is included in

this line also. So if you pick it up, you paint

all the black spots red, you got Jetfire. And

I actually did this myself. I actually commissioned

a Gundam model painter in Montreal to make it

into Jetfire for me. And it looks dead on like

G1 Jetfire if he was a Revoltek figure. So for

you Revoltek collectors, if you want to add one

more transformer, pick up the VF -1S. Macross

Valkyrie and paint them into Jetfire Cool Yeah,

that's pretty much all I have on Unravel Tegronomus

Why don't you go next Proto Man? I actually I

know this is unprofessional, but I have to go

somewhere just really quick So I will be right

back go ahead take it away Well my choice this

time around I'm gonna be doing human alliance

side swipe Part of the reason why I chose him

was because I actually opened him up recently

I picked him up about a week and a half ago,

and I just got around opening him and I was actually

a little excited about this figure initially

because bumblebee got my hopes up so much I love

to hell the human Alliance bumblebee figure I

think it's I think it's an amazing figure. I

think it's well -designed. I think if there's

one movie figure you have to buy of Revenge of

the Fallen, it's either whenever there's going

to be a premium of the optimist, the leader -cause

optimist, because I still think that figure could

be better. Buster Prime, you mean? Yeah. Well,

yeah. Whether that's Buster Prime or whatever

is going to come, that's going to be the better

version. Like, whatever that is going to be,

or this bumblebee, because this bumblebee is

just absolutely breathtaking. It's an amazing

figure. That being said, it made me have these

high hopes for this whole human alliance concept.

And so when we saw Side Swipe... I was like,

okay, well, I have the deluxe side swipe, and

it's a really good figure on its own. Granted,

it has standing problems, but it's a very nice

articulated figure, and it does the alt -mode

justice, you know? So, I mean, I have it in really

nice poses. It's a good figure. And then I thought

to myself, well, you know, the Legends does a

pretty damn good job, too, for being a Legend.

So, I mean, how could they screw this up, you

know? I mean, this is a line that already through

Bumblebee we've learned is an amazing line of

concepts and quality and budget, you know, because

it's also a lot more expensive for what you're

getting. I'm expecting this side swipe to be

incredible. I got it and I was really disappointed.

You know, transformation wise, nothing shocking,

but it suffers from backpack syndrome like crazy.

A lot of... a lot of pictures that you see of

the side swipe already you kind of go well it

doesn't look as good as the deluxe but if you

ever saw pictures of this toy standing sideways

you're gonna get like the universe cheetoor syndrome

where you're gonna be like oh man what the hell

is going on back here it's not as bad as universe

cheetoor universe cheetoor is bad this is oh

yeah it's not nearly as bad as universe cheetoor

but it's that same vibe you know where it's like

One thing I'll say as well that a lot of the

earlier pictures we got of the figure where he

didn't look nearly as good he looked the legs

looked pretty horrible in a lot of the earlier

pictures and but really in the early ones they

weren't actually extended all the way. And in

person the actual though. It's hard to tell in

pictures I think the backpack helps obscure it

a bit, but the legs are actually in a fairly

good scale to the figure I'm not saying it's

a horrible figure. It's just I think I've set

my I was too excited I guess my my anticipation

was way too high for it like I was expecting

like okay here is now the perfect side swipe

figure But then I guess it dawned on me that

when you mess with the deluxe figure, you're

like, okay, well, I guess there was no place

for the cockpit with this one, where they had

to have the cockpit gimmick for Epps. What I

do appreciate about this figure over the Bumblebee

is that I think the only flaw with the Bumblebee

one was the seats and where they had to go. So

they were kind of hanging off his arm. Although,

again, the beauty is that you could kind of...

Molded into a way where it's kind of part of

the alt mode of the robot mode rather than it

Just be seats hanging off of his arms and there

are those pieces that hang off the actual CGI

model They're not as pronounced on the CGI model,

but they are there Yeah, so it's kind of like

you know they get away with it at least with

the bumblebee where this one Getting you know

dealing with that cockpit was very difficult

for this toy And it I don't know it just I was

really expecting a lot more In this case, where

the Human Alliance Bumblebee is clearly the best

movie Bumblebee toy ever made, period, without

question, no one argues it. Where this Sideswipe

one, I'm really disappointed. I lean back to

the difficult to stand deluxe figure and say,

so far that's the best one. Which is a shame,

because I was really looking forward to this

one, and I hope that Skids down the line is gonna

be... is maybe going to change everything around

again and get back to being awesome. Going off

of Pia's video review of Skids, which he did

a while back, Skids does look incredibly awesome.

You can't go wrong with a figure that comes with

two extra figures. That's another thing that's

great too. Again, part of the reason why I think

I bought it was, hey, I get an Epps figure, so

added to the human collection. But then that's

another thing with side swipe that makes him

a bit subpar just looking at apps. As pretty

much everybody has commented just based on photos

on apps, he suffers from some very weird proportions

in that to me it looks like they decided that

okay they need to make him taller than Shire

or something so they just gave him longer legs.

My only problem with apps It's kind of ironic

with the box art, too If I would have done an

EPS figure I would have done one without the

army fatigue helmet thing going on there You

know like like I think the famous EPS like it

whenever you ask anyone to picture EPS in Transformers,

you always picture them in that t -shirt desert

scene bring it yes And everyone sees that Epps

and that's the image of him. And even again,

ironically, on the Human Alliance box, that's

what they use. They use that helmetless Epps,

desert scene, sweating from battle look to him.

But for some odd reason, they included sideswipe

because he was dressed like that in the... But

the box itself, the background is Hong Kong from

Revenge of the Fallen, where he's dressed like

that. Epps is in his nest, Hong Kong fatigues.

Even referring to box art and stuff, if you look

at it, the box art for all the Human Alliance

characters so far has all been movie one box

art for the human pictures. Like Shia's pictures

from the first movie, Megan Fox, it's noticeably,

noticeably from the first movie because she doesn't

have any of the plastic surgery she got in the

interim. And I mean, with Epps though, I mean,

the other big thing is this is really I shouldn't

be criticizing Hasbro much for this because just

the fact that they made a figure of this small

disposable in itself is pretty amazing. But just

the eyes, are yours a bit weird looking or whatever?

Yeah, well, that's where I think that by putting

the helmet on and creating this small area that's

expected to be painted, like I guess a crack

or a crease by having that helmet dip, I think

that if they just had a bald helmetless app,

it would have been an easier paint job to do.

And it would have looked a lot nicer. I know

someone online who was not happy. This was on

the Cybertron .ca boards. Someone who wasn't

really happy with how both human alliance figures

turned out. They showed us they took a heavy

duty from the Rise of Cobra line. Oh, that would

work well. And he did a few little tweaks here

and there and turned it into an EPS figure. And

now I want to go out and get a heavy duty. It's

the heavy duty figure that comes with the riot

gear. OK, cool. And if you could find that one,

go out there and get it, I'm telling you. Because

the figure itself, it comes with this army fatigue

jacket on from the desert, and it comes with

all this riot gear. But when you take that all

off of him, and you can, it's Tyrese Gibson.

It's scary. It's very weird. And it's funny because

he even has the shirt that he was wearing in

the desert scene from Against scorpion ock, which

is very has bros trying to throw but double dip

on the collectors market Well, that's what I

think a lot of people are saying like it's kind

of funny how we had the whole thing with Shia

with the Indiana Jones line Where everyone bought

that that that you know, what is his name mutt

figure? Yeah, yeah as it was a shot It was a

three inch Shia figure and now it's like oh now

you have to go and get heavy duty and riot gear

and Take off all his armor and now you got EPS

You know and it's great and like now like even

like repro labels is noticing this and going

Oh now we can like make some repro labels for

because like he comes with like all this armor

But why don't we make it like EPS armor? So now

like it says HD for heavy duty on the belt Like

it has like this attachable belt if you want

we'll put EPS across it instead or something,

you know, like so I like it like right away like

people are noticing that and so We've already

seen pictures now where you have human Alliance

bumblebee and side swipe and they have the EPS

From heavy duty and then you have the Shia from

Indiana Jones, and it looks gorgeous But I'm

gonna try to find someone on the it on cybertron

.ca posted the photo. It's in the TF shots Yeah

myself with myself with side swipe just in terms

of my own criticisms. I just got him last week

I mean he looks like a really nice figure the

thing that's really nice about him is that he's

all painted silver to go on his merits for a

sec. Oh yeah, that's one thing I wanted to just

say I completely forgot. His alt mode? Gorgeous.

I won't, yeah. His head sculpt too. As a car,

it's a very nice figure. I know in the future

when I do display this figure, I think I'm gonna

leave it in car mode with the door open, with

the driver's side door open, like to show that

gimmick, because it looks great. It looks great

that that I won't take away from the figure like

it does a great job of being like an alternator

toy where it shows the inside interior and you

know, but It ends there. So yeah great alt mode

continue Yes, but yeah, the head sculpt is also

pretty good The little blade gimmick is kind

of neat as well because I didn't expect to see

a gimmick like that in this figure And you know

with the spinning blades. Yeah But one thing

that's there's a couple things that I don't like

about it One of them is the backpack as you mentioned.

There's actually a mod I found for this I'm linking

you the picture right now there Pia sent this

to me Because I'd heard about this and forgotten

about it But basically it's you cut some stuff

off a few of the tabs of the backpack and you

can compress it a heck of a lot More like in

that picture there. Oh, yeah, I see for that

connection So then you can get the backpack compressed

a lot more. So it looks a lot nicer. I haven't

been willing to try that yet because it's like

a $40 toy. And the other real thing is the leg

articulation. I'm not a huge fan of for two reasons.

One, just the, he's got the front knee articulation,

but he doesn't have the foot articulation like

the... Where there's you would think there should

be a joint for the rear to be able to bend so

you can get them in Some more dynamic poses there

isn't It's just it's a real shame because you

really you look at this figure and you look at

people who do photo shoots of it They're trying

to make it look like a great figure, but it's

very difficult And then for and then you look

at the deluxe and you're like wow, you know So

then the other thing is the little rubber nubs

like on the deluxe Those are really well implemented

as people who have the deluxe can tell you they're

really quite It's really clever how they're thought

out. They work really well in the deluxe On this,

the rubber is too stiff to actually allow for

any poses. Now, I also know there's also kind

of a fix on this. There's someone on TFW who's

actually casting, who actually took these pieces.

He made a mold of them and he's actually casting

some of these with smaller rubber, with not so

stiff rubber. It's like they allow for much more

posibility with the legs. Because the legs would

be a lot more posable for those pieces. Definitely.

There's some people that have even just snipped

them so that they can get proper leg posibility

out of them. Well, that's the problem, where

Bumblebee almost out of the box was just breathtaking.

Yes, then you do the leg mod and he becomes even

better. Yeah, and the figure just on its own

is incredible. And then there's these little

things you could do to it that just make it like...

a masterpiece scale figure. That's a high thing

to say, but it literally becomes a masterpiece

line figure at that point. Where this figure,

it's such a shame because it makes me go back

to the deluxe. Like I'm going to say right now,

I don't recommend this figure to anyone. Unless

you're a side -swipe completist or a big side

-swipe fan, or if you really want that Eps figure,

don't get this figure. If you need a side -swipe

for your line, if you have to get that one side

-swipe figure, get the Deluxe. I'll second that

as well, but I will add the provision that if

you're going for Human Alliance figure as well,

he's still a Human Alliance figure. He's pretty

nice. He's not bad. It's just right now... I'm

a little disappointed with him. I guess again,

I'll go in like we'll see what happens with skids.

That's the next one. I have high hopes for skids.

Yeah, so I guess we're gonna move on to yours

then because it doesn't look like Mike's back

yet. I don't care about the movie line. It's

oh, yeah. Okay. Awesome All right. So now we're

on to you. Yeah general techno. All right. Yeah,

my pick is one that so a lot harder to come by,

but it's one that I'm really like, that I really

do like quite a bit. Proto Man has this one as

well, I believe. It's the Chevrolet, pardon?

I have two of them. Right, it's the Chevy Ave

of Swerve figure that was the exclusive, that

was available through GM Promotions and stuff.

As many of you probably know, was it in July

that they had the promotion? What happened was

in select parts of the Golden Horseshoe of Ontario,

the Golden Horseshoe, for you people who don't

know, it's Mississauga, Toronto, all that that's

wrapped around the Great Lakes. Certain select

areas, it was like end of June, early July, there

was all these weird GM stands showing up and

asking surveys or test driving and doing all

kinds of stuff, and you had a choice of one of

many free gifts and it was a t -shirt or a hat

or a transformer toy and so I mean again I can't

tell this story better firsthand than the people

who actually did it like the people who are actually

there that hooked me up but I remember hearing

the story multiple times through my friends that

actually did do this and test drove the car or

took the survey so But yeah, it just showed up

out of nowhere over there and only in that select

region We're not talking all of Canada. We're

talking just like this small part of Ontario

and but luckily, you know the fandom in in droves

went and got every single swore of humanly possible

and shared and Amazingly in an act of kindness

shared it with the rest of the fandom And not

just that, but also the GM guys were very good

about it because once they caught on that there

was a community out there that was looking for

these, someone actually went on Cybertron .ca,

registered, and said, yeah, I'm one of the guys

running this promotion. Here's where we're going

to be, and here's when we're going to be there.

And he was very gracious about trying to allow

people to get as many swores as they could. That

was what was really cool about it was that in

the end a lot of the Canadian fandom and some

select members that were below the border who

were buddy buddies with us managed to get this

extremely elusive figure and by elusive I mean

I don't know like the history of this figure

is so bizarre to begin with. You know it starts

in China where it was just like a test shot that

showed up and everyone thought it was a future

movie toy for the 2007 line and then like when

the instructions for it showed up oh it's going

to be a universe figure because the classics

line was finished and the universe line was starting

who is it going to be and then that didn't happen

and then there was the rumors that it was it

was if you bought a car a Chevy any Chevy car

in China, you got this figure for free. So then

all of a sudden everyone's like, oh my God, it's

the most expensive transformer toy ever made

technically, because you had to buy like a, you

know, 20 ,000, $30 ,000 car in order to get a

transformer toy. So that would make it like really

expensive in the primary market. And then when

it showed up in the UK, then all of a sudden,

you could buy it off of the website, but of course

all those orders and pre -orders ended up not

being honored, so that never ended up happening.

Really? They didn't get honored? None of them.

I actually got a friend in the UK to order five

of them for me out of anticipation, and nothing

came of it. That ended up not happening. Then

there was also a yellow version of it showed

up on Yahoo Japan Auctions and that went nowhere

because it was just a custom and someone trying

to make money off of the whole insanity of this

figure. Then it fell off the radar completely.

What ended up happening, a hundred of them pretty

much got into the fandom or so through crazy

eBay auctions or weird Chinese stolen bootlegs.

Then it disappeared. Then it shows up in Mississauga

and in Toronto. You know wherever and it was

just Incredible and so now at least a lot of

Canadians have it. I know you're one of them

I'm one of them. Yeah, it's a great figure I

had cuz I had relatives that a lot of relatives

that in Toronto I kept putting it off But finally

the last week I sent out an email request asking

if anyone could pick it up for me I paid shipping

to get it which was about the end up being about

the cost of a deluxe or so Just a bit less. So

I got a pretty good. So really I got paid You've

got something that's more or less the limited

run of say an e -hobby figure. If I had to make

some numbers up here that were pretty understandable,

I would say there's only about 1 ,000 out there.

That sounds about right. Because the GM guys

said they only had about 1 ,000 from that factory

that we're given. They didn't know how many they

had, but they had about 1 ,000. Yeah, as for

the actual thing first to talk about the actual

figure vehicle mode I'll start with that vehicle

mode is really nice because the just all the

it's a good reproduction of the car I guess from

the looks of it and Well, it's got a lot of really

good paint apps I mean like it's got gold for

the Chevy logos and stuff. Those are all painted

the Door handles are painted which is you never

see the door handles painted. I think even the

gas cap was painted on this thing really they

put a lot of paint apps in this thing it's like

more detailed than it you usually get with like

a deluxe figure in terms of the paint apps in

vehicle mode just not just the little ones that

you don't normally see these days I mean that

painted wheels that had painted doors it had

painted headlight yeah the tail lights just looking

at these now the tail lights are actually painted

and they're painted with yellow as well as red

on them so It's a very weird figure because to

this day, we don't really know what was the true

story behind it. We don't really know why it

was made. Even when Hasbro was asked in 2008

what was the story, no one that was at that panel

was able to give a straight answer. I think the

original intention was it was going to be some

kind of... dealership exclusive that just kind

of fell through because GM was going through

all the problems that my opinion was that after

the movie and they were like, okay, we've got

to capitalize on the movie and make this figure

and everything. But I think then all the financial

problems started happening and the dealership

started closing down. That kind of all started

to fall through and they were a little less focused

on getting a toy out as a car dealership, keeping

themselves in business. There's another Hasbro

Q &A coming up. That's always a possibility to

ask. Oh, yeah. Well, we're always trying to figure

out what that is. But that's a problem. At BotCon,

everyone that was at the table and it was the

head guys, no one was able to give a really good

answer because they weren't too sure either because

of everything that was going on during that summer

of 2009. GM was going through the worst of the

worst at that point, so I think there was no

way in hell to get an answer from GM. I think

GM would be the only one that would be able to

give us that answer, maybe a marketing exec or

something. Then the transformation itself, it

does a lot of things which ... I'm amazed that

we haven't actually seen a lot of this in the

mainline toys in terms of just some of the way

it transforms. Like the legs for instance, the

legs like are like one of the coolest bits about

the transformation just in how they transform.

It doesn't look like it would still have a knee

articulation the way that it the because you've

got like the back of the car behind the leg but

in fact it does. Yeah. And then furthermore like

on the back just as a really neat touch the windshield

folds down and covers the back Like a lot of

figures nowadays have like there will be a lot

of figures that have open backs and stuff But

this one it actually has a piece that goes down

and covers it like an armor panel It's you never

see that on these figures. It works. So well

Yeah, it was definitely a different twist on

the whole, you know front end becomes chest idea

It was it was a really different take on it from

Years and years of jazz and prowl ideas if you

will and less so very good take Yeah, it was

not it's a good. It's a good change. I know already

people now Within my little circle here who have

managed to get multiples of these because we're

greedy bastards Some of them are actually considering

customs now like what they're going to be doing

with this mold again I know it sounds horrible

to do this to the figure But I know one person

is planning to do a Robocop custom. I'm not going

to show up one day on Raticon. What about an

auto trooper? Auto trooper head would be perfect

for an auto trooper. We'll see what comes of

it right now. Me, I have two because I wanted

to have one open and one still in the baggie

like sealed and everything. So we'll see what

comes down the line. But it's one of those figures

that it's kind of a shame that the mold is out

there. But yet maybe one day we'll get a repaint

of something. Maybe who knows just wondering

did yours come with instructions or yes it did

Okay. Yeah mine didn't so I didn't I don't know

if it got instructions But they just weren't

sent or what but I don't have the instructions

for it either way It's still I'd seen reviews.

I still figured it out pretty well But yeah,

the only real if I have to nitpick about something

on this figure because there's a couple things

that I will nitpick about but I really shouldn't

be nitpicking on it because otherwise he's pretty

much an incredible figure. The first one is the

fact that the way the hands are molded, they're

just the wrong size to really hold any weapons.

So I haven't really found a weapon. Yeah, I guess

so. But again, considering what his intentions

were, who knows? Was he intended to be a Transformer

figure or sit alongside the other Deluxe figures?

Who knows? Right. And then the only other real

criticism is just the forearms. There's a lack

of a forearm swivel, which this figure has really

good leg posability. The arm posability isn't

quite as good as the legs, but it's OK. And it

could have been there too. Yes, if they put that

forearm swivel in there, that would have made

this figure take the leap from really good to

godlike. Already, I jokingly refer to it just

privately as alternative swerve. and basically

godmode him to the point where he's stronger

than everyone else in Alternate. Because he's

rare, he's rare, he's a new mold of a somewhat

obscure character and he's, yeah, he's a very

nice posability. Plus he turns into a car. Swerve

has always been lucky, he's never been a straight

up repaint ever. He's always been some kind of

remold or... Right, but this is the first time

he's being the original mold, isn't it? Yeah,

it is this for yeah, it's this row actually He

wasn't us he wasn't a remold in Cybertron when

they repainted a clock or in this work Well,

like again, it's you know, you could argue Like

his original g1 incarnation to like yeah, okay

gears to an extent But you know a lot of stuff

had to be changed in the process, you know So

it's it's kind of like saying I don't know Generation

2 smoke screen which was part of the ATB jet

with with Dreadwing Right as opposed to the Starscream

from energon, you know, even though they're not

the same toy They're in that same vein if you

will Right, but I think anyways, I think still

this is like the first where we've ever gotten

that's actually its own mold Yeah, it is very

very nice mold at that Yep, it is. It was definitely

a definitely nothing. This has no aspects from

any other previous toy up to this point It's

100 % new and unique and it's a great figure

and I'm happy to know that at least a good amount

of people have got it because when we got our

hands on these We tried to make sure that at

least everyone at least in the Canadian fandom

Who was who came back and call was able to get

one? Right, and then I think pretty much everybody

on the podcast who wanted on TFW's podcast who

wanted one Oh, yeah Gogg Dogg, Vangelis, Seth

Buzzard, they all got one. I'm trying to remember,

was it Gogg Dogg on there who had a hilarious,

very funny story regarding Swerve or? Oh, I don't

know. There was someone who had one about how

they'd gotten one of the original ones for free

or something in the mail. Oh, yeah. It was Goggog

got one originally for free in the mail, and

then he sold it or something. Right, because

he needed it. He wasn't expecting it at all.

And then he was inquiring about it for a while,

didn't hear anything. He eventually sold it because

he needed the money. And then it all came back

up again. Can't get rid of this figure. Boomerang's

back. Anyways, yeah. You have any final thoughts

on that techno Well swerve is a great figure

if you can find I'm not sure how much I'd say

he's worth in terms of what I'd be willing to

pay because Since the influx of those figures

like since because obviously some scalpers, you

know Capitalized on this also. Yeah, the average

I see him going for on eBay now that people are

aware that he's not as You know uber rare as

before Seventy -five dollars max. Okay, I was

seen for a couple hundred I thought but originally

originally he was now now it's I've seen I saw

like some buy it now is for 75 85 so Maybe that

maybe those are gone now, but Yeah, looks like

I guess that I'm looking at a lot the ones that

are by it now is our but one are the lowest is

a hundred but a hundred a hundred and ten bucks

or so, but the other ones are 160 the other two

are 160 and There's a bunch of auctions that

are around 80 bucks or so. Yeah. There you go

All right. Well, I think we're gonna bring this

episode to a close Again, we are running the

second to get cast radio network contest If you

can tell us what item Optimus Prime was carrying

in the final scene of Transformers Animated Season

3 Endgame Part 2, you will win a copy of Transformers

Animated The Allspark Almanac. We have two available,

so two winners will be drawn randomly in Toycast

16 airing next week. All entries must be sent

to tftoycast .gmail .com. The contest begins

as soon as this episode airs, which will most

likely be tomorrow at some point the 15th of

September. The cutoff time for entries is this

Saturday evening, the 19th of September at 10

p .m. Eastern. It's been good having you guys

on. Let's see, thank you for joining us here

on Transformers Toycast. There are several ways

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.com. You can also follow us on Twitter. The

show name there is TF Toycast. Mine is TFD1Mike

and what are your all's Twitters? Mine is GeneralTechno,

as in I'm just trying to remember if I've got

an underscore in it. I don't think I do, but

it's T -E -K -N -O, GeneralTechno. Yeah, no underscore.

And I am ProtoManX, all one word. ProtoMan and

the letter X at the end. Yes, because some bastard

stole ProtoMan. Exactly. And I'll hunt them down.

And just to mention it, for anyone who's curious

at all, I actually have a review of the Aveo

Swerve figure on my YouTube channel. It's the

same spelling of GeneralTechno, I believe. I'm

just, yeah, it's the same spelling, GeneralTechno,

all one word. And the video is one I filmed like...

uh... five -minute within the five minutes after

i got this is the author do do do stop this is

the outro man we're gonna close this out it's

almost yes and yes i'm doing the seamless plug

as well your shameless plug is taking too long

all right then uh... you just basically go to

his youtube channel is general techno and look

for the video for now i am tfg1 mike saying more

words of optimus prime transform and rollout

thank you for listening you