Today, we take a look at Transformers Prime Robots in Disguise Wheeljack from Wave 1 and his repaint Dead End from a later wave.

NOTE: The articulation in the joint below the shoulder and at the elbow are both hinge joints. I misspoke when I said they were swivel joints.

It was first revealed in the Transformers Collector Club Roundtable panel at Botcon 2012, that the Club would be putting together a Figure Subscription Service (FSS). Largely seen as a shot across the bow of MattyCollector.com, the subscription will feature six figures shipped out over the course of a year.

To order you can visit this link.

Here are some of the details:
You have to be a member to subscribe.
This is built to order. No limits on quantities. However much is ordered will be made.
The ordering period will end on September 10th at midnight.
You can pay in full ($282) or in three installments ($94) plus shipping and service fee.
Items will be shipped in random order. Everyone will receive the same figure each month.
If credit card or address changes, you change it on your club account only. Change will effect everything else.
Some extra figures may go up in the club store after shipment at a higher price point. Availability not guaranteed.

The figures included in the subscription are:
Transformers Animated Jackpot
Transformers Prime Slipstream
Transformers Generations Circuit
Transformers Generations G1 Breakdown
Transformers Generations RID Scourge
Transformers Beast Wars Neo Ultra Mammoth

Yet more great Kickstarter gaming news! So a back earlier this year, I produced a retro review of “The Great Giana Sisters”, a game from the Commodore 64 and Amiga days of gaming that was notorious for being one of the earliest Super Mario Bros. clones in existence. The review mentions a recent remake of the game for the Nintendo DS that, while imaginative, some fans believed fell short on paying proper homage to the original’s fantastic music and unique charm.

Unbeknownst to me, a Kickstarter was established by independent developers, Black Forest Games, under the name “Project Giana”. With the idea firmly cemented in their brains, they set to work with the goal of making a truly innovative remake of Great Giana Sisters that would help to not only bring back the spark of the original game, but hook players that may not have cared for the DS revamp. What the Kickstarter originally didn’t really make clear, but thankfully writer Audun Sorlie at Destructoid managed to lay all out on the table with his interview with BFG, was that original game composer Chris Huelsbeck was along to help with the project’s soundtrack, along with DS-version composer Fabian Del Priore co-producing and metal-chiptune maestros Machinae Supremacy along to help out.

With a playable demo currently available to try, and a ton of goodies for those who pledge to the fund, (the very first tier gets you the game for PC), “Project Giana” is shaping up to be one of those Kickstarters that again appeal to the childhood gamer in so many of us. (Now that we’re adults with larger budgets than our weekly allowances) Whether it make it’s 150K goal within the August 31st deadline or not will be determined these next few days, but if it does, it will be another testament to the growing idea of resurrecting similar older games through the power of the gaming community.

Lets get dangerous!

Before Capcom got its hands on the Marvel license, it made several games based on Disney franchises, particularly based on movies and TV shows. Chip and Dale’s Rescue Rangers, Duck Tales, and Tailspin all received video game adaptations. However, one of the best NES Disney games was undoubtedly Darkwing Duck. You all remember Darkwing Duck. Basically it was a Ducktales spin-off that’s best described as Batman-meets-Spider-man-meets-The Shadow with ducks. It was fun to watch, and the game was just as fun to play. Built off a slightly tweaked version of the Mega Man 5 engine, Darkwing Duck took players through several levels as they attempted to stop a crime wave hitting St. Canard. Armed with your gun (which you can collect adapters to enhance), you take on several enemies from the show on your way to confront the villain Steelbeak. There is probably a very slim chance we’ll see this on Virtual Console, and it’s too bad. Thanks to its quality platforming gameplay, not only did kids enjoy the game, but older players enjoyed it as well. How frequently can you say that about video games based on Disney properties these days?

In the past few years, video game conventions have managed to take great strides to become a heavy presence in the convention and event field. With PAX, and later PAX East, and eventually smaller but more tight-knit cons like MAGfest and Gencon, video games have been getting a lot of venue attention. Eventually, gaming media giant Screwattack decided to create their own event called SGC (Screwattack Gaming Convention) Started in 2009, it was in their own words – “We don’t think of SGC as a “convention” but moreso as a 72 hour gamer slumber party.”.

Unfortunately, after the second SGC in 2010, funding the event became too hard and the venue did not return for 2011 or 2012. However last month, Screwattack posed the idea of bring SGC back with the help of Kickstarter. If 100K was raised in the month timeframe, SGC would be able to rise again and offer another fun gaming event for all to enjoy. However, the campaign started slow and suffered from a slight lack of publicity and details as to how the money raised would be spent to make SGC come to life.

Surprisingly, however, it became Cindrella story of sorts, since within a 12-hour period, not only was the gaming fan community able to rally together and raise the remaining 30k in funds that was missing from the original goal, the goals was actually succeeded by an additional 20k.

Sadly, they couldn’t make the goal of 300k that would ensure Stuttering Craig would cosplay as Chun-Li the entire con. A heavy loss indeed.

From the people that bought you Uplink comes Defcon, a simple looking, yet complex PC indie game. DEFCON is reminiscent of the computer screens in movies such as WarGames which depict war and human loss as a series of onscreen icons. Your goal is complete destruction of every region that isn’t yours. You make use of combers, nukes, subs, and other weapons to try to blow up the other players’ cities. There are 5 different levels of DEFCON, allowing you access to certain abilities and weaponry so you can plan your strategy. When you reach DEFCON 1, everyone gains access to nukes, at which point all hell breaks loose. This is designed for multiplayer. Although you can play against AI Bots, there is no storyline to speak of. Like Uplink before it, DEFCON’s simplistic graphics disguise some deep gameplay. It’s available on the cheap on most game distribution services, so pick it up and satisfy your evil overlord fantasies.

Marvel continues its series of short form films to include on DVD/Blu-Ray releases of its movies. In the same vein as “The Consultant” and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer”, “Item 47” deals with a minor story line related to the aftermath of the Avengers.

UPDATE – Looks like the video was taken down pretty quickly. Here’s a movie poster for the short film in it’s stead.