The Christmas Toy

Christmas 1986 my parents gave me an Omnibot MkII (replete with 'ejecting' cassette deck), by Tomy, along with an assortment of Transformers and Zoids toys! To this day it remains one of my most cherished holiday memories! Therefore, whilst watching The Gadget Show on five (a UK-based commercial television network), it was with some amusement that I learned of Takara Tomy's latest addition to its burgeoning Omnibot family! i-SOBOT!

i-SOBOT, looking not unlike Transformers Decepticon Shockwave sans weaponry and alternate mode, retails for a hefty £200 and, inflationary factors aside, matches the original Omnibot's price tag! Not exactly an impulse purchase at the best of times let alone during a serious economic recession! Yet, how could I resist buying an i-SOBOT for £100 and adding Meccano's Spykee to my Amazon order too? Keep your eyes peeled for future robotic antics in my Flickr photostream!

This is my final post of 2008 (I can be found on Twitter)! May I take this opportunity to thank all my readers and sponsors for their continued support. Wishing you all a Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa and a Festive Festivus. I hope that 2008 was a good year for you and that 2009 will be even better. I'll be back in the New Year...

The Movie Hero

Ultimate Bumblebee has eclipsed my modest expectations! Here he is, case fresh, direct from Hasbro UK's warehouse!



Ultimate Bumblebee elicits the kind of gadget-geek excitement once reserved for Tomy's Omnibot! It's no wonder he's made it into this year's Toys R' Us Fabulous Fifteen and among the toys chosen as "12 Best toys of 2007" by Parija B. Kavilanz, senior writer at CNNMoney.com. Or was it the profit margin?

Fiscal matters aside. Ultimate Bumblebee is one cool electronic toy for boys and girls of any age! Omnibot who?

"Underwater, no one can hear you scream."

Nerd alert!

Spent a pleasant afternoon basking in the sunshine on Exmouth seafront and envisaging Transformers Seacons, an aquatic team of Decepticons that combined to form Piranacon (known as King Poseidon in Japan), harassing swimmers, jet skiers and kite surfers! Old habits die hard, blame Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) and the recent media moral panic surrounding alleged Great White shark sightings off of the Cornish coast!

A monolithic menace. The diabolical combination of the five Seacons who comprise him. Master at undersea warfare. Few Autobots can outdistance him or escape his evil clutches. Destroys everything in his path with ghoulish glee. A troublemaker and malcontent. Rarely follows orders. Fellow Decepticons are unable to control him. Capable of creating colossal tidal waves over 300 feet high. Because of his incredible size, Piranacon's reflexes are impaired out of water. Armed with the Seacons' entire arsenal of firepower.

This evening I've been analysing site search statistics. And the top two search terms for this blog are:

1). Jennifer Love Hewitt
2). Scarlett Johansson

Hmm...

Bot-Bombast

This weekend I really can't wait to see the first live-action Transformers movie in Colchester, Essex! My generation grew up with Hasbro's inspired rebranding - with a lot of help from Marvel - of Takara Tomy's Japanese puzzle toys Diaclone and Micro Change. And Transformers, alongside their ingenious stablemates, Microman and Zoids, are amongst some of the most imaginative and clever toy lines ever conceived.

Critics may lambaste Hollywood for its voracious consumer-orientated ideology in the wake of Star Wars revolutionising merchandising - eclipsing box office receipts tenfold. I'm guilty of perpetuating the phenomenon, and dutifully aspire to George Lucas' and Steven Spielberg's adoration of toys; the term gadgets sweetens the pill somewhat. Movie-making is a glorious playtime, which can, at its best, also instruct and educate. Go on fellow deconstructionists, discuss.

So, Michael Bay, director of Transformers, it's over to you for some serious Autobot vs Decepticon bot-bombast! Review to follow.

Birthday Bot

Today is my birthday and, whilst downloading new iTunes songs (thank you David and Michael for the most excellent iTunes Gift Certificate), I discovered this snippet of Apple Inc-related news. A new Convoy (AKA Optimus Prime) from Takara Tomy is on the way!

The Convoy is an ice white Apple iPod digital music player docking station with speakers, which is fully licensed by Apple Inc. The docking station can be transformed from the cab (with trailer) to a robot.

Convoy will be the same size as its Generation 1 variant and features a brand-new head sculpt. This is the second in the "Music Label" line.

Takara Tomy extends its co-branding franchise, beyond Apple Inc, with the new Transformers Sports Label series!



The new Sports Label series features 1/2 scale transforming Nike-branded shoes! These licensed items should be somewhere around 6" in length in shoe mode and it looks like they even have real laces connected to the top of the shoe. Convoy and Megatron are also each sporting a miniature pair of Nike Free 7.0 as a finishing touch.

Hope Hasbro decides to release these brand fusions in the UK and USA. Pretty please?