Swords and Spaceships

Well, the man part is obvious. The bat part is obvious in the ears and the Horde symbols. The pig is less obvious. It's in the nose, and if you ever saw any of the She-Ra cartoon, you'd know that whoever Filmation cast to voice Hordak gave him this awful snort that sounded like a pig, so that's why I picked the title. Anyway, UPS dropped off my Hordak figure today. Apparently, since I don't live in what they consider a war zone anymore, they just leave it at the door. Works for me. I gleefully opened it when I got home from work, and there it was- the first new Hordak action figure I've owned since my fourth birthday in 1985 (which is also in June. Huzzah.) Hordak is a great action figure. All the things that made Hordak back then look so great are present, and there's a few added flairs- namely, the staff that the 200x incarnation carried. It's the best of both worlds. He also carries a meaner-looking crossbow and little bat dude that the vintage version ha...

So I bought this a week or two ago. I opened it tonight, and it's one of the few purchases that made me go "cool" as soon as I opened it. It's Soundwave from the Revenge of the Fallen toyline. I had a hell of a time finding it. No local retailer bothered stocking the preview toys until a week after the release of the regular line, so I was Soundwave-less for like three weeks, which in this internet age, is like a lifetime. Memes rise and fall in less time, for instance. Apparently, 'Wave is a satellite and a space cruiser in addition to his robot form. I really can't tell one from the other, so I'm just going to assume his true form is the satellite, since that keeps with Soundwave's function while still making him different from Frenzy in the first movie, who ostensibly was Soundwave in all but name. (Of course, had the producers used Soundwave's name for Frenzy, I would still be up in arms about it, but I'm an ornery fanboy who is prone to su...

Yes kids, the toys for the new Transformers flick are out. The first one I bought? One that probably isn't in the movie. But look at this dude. It's an antiquated vehicle that transforms into a freakin' robot! That's steampunk-y, and I like it. It reminds me of that story IDW published when they first got the TF comic license, called Hearts of Steel. The TFs were trains in that story, and I love the idea of the TFs coming here at a different era in history than whatever entertainment they're in says they arrvied in. I suppose Ransack here would have arrived during WWI. Which gets me going- what about a bunch of TFs from WWII? It's an idea ripe for the picking, but would probably only appeal to dorks like me. At least I got the WWI biplane. Ransack here is a Scout class TF, meaning he'll set you back $8-9 at retail. Not cool, when a mere year ago, you could get a Deluxe for $10 and a Scout for $6. Considering the money I've spent on this shit (and the f...