The fifth and final figure in the Botcon 2007 Exclusive set was revealed today. Dreadwind will be a repaint of Classics Jetfire with a remolded head designed by fan club artist Dan Khanna. As always, I have mirrored the images below.

When I first heard that Dreadwind would be one of the exclusives, I hoped that we might get a Darkwing to go along with him. I was a big Darkwing fan when I was younger because I had the toy and he had an unusually cool transformation for the time. If you compare the two G1 characters in jet mode to the jet mode of Classics Jetfire, Darkwing is actually a much closer match. Going by robot mode, though, Dreadwind wins out since he has the cockpit on his chest, while Darkwing’s chest is the underside of the plane.

Source for image of G1 Dreadwind head: TFU.Info.

“We’re Doomed. Not that it matters.”
  

Botcon.com has posted the fourth figure in the Botcon 2007 exclusive box set of five. Bugbite is a straight repaint of Classics Bumblebee. He is another Decepticon and supposedly the leader of the pack. Bugbite is actually not a new character. Similar to Sunstorm, the Bugbite character originates from an E-Hobby Exclusive repaint of the Generation 1 book-format reissues. In the reissue set, six minibots were included with Bumblebee featuring a retooled, cartoon accurate face (see post banner). This set’s E-Hobby exclusive counterpart featured repainted versions of the six minibots with new names and some new alliegances. It is also worth mentioning that the names given to the repaints were all former Go-Bot names with similar alt modes (Pathfinder, Smallfoot, Bug Bite, Treads, Bad Boy, and Road Ranger).

 

Bug Bite photos from Botcon.com
Bug Bite E-Hobby Exclusive face picture from tfu.info.

Botcon.com posted some images today of Exclusive Classics Thrust that have eased any concerns I had on the figure. Images of both modes have been mirrored below. As the last of the original seekers to be revealed, it was significant that his wings have been remolded to more accurately portray his original namesake. Dirge and Thundercracker did not really need any retooling. While all the ‘coneheads’ (Ramjet, Thrust and Dirge) had differently molded wings, Ramjet and Dirge’s wings were similar enough that a straight repaint was not out of left field. Thrust, however, had very different wings in that they had VTOL fans in the center and were placed in the mid section of the fuselage with additional tail fins, whereas on the other jets the main wings were based further back on the fuselage.

You can view some pictures of the original toy and its cartoon counterpart here. To see the previously announced exclusives, see here for Dirge and here for Thundercracker.

If you haven’t read on numerous other sites such as Bites & Bytes before, then you need your eyes checked. However, we’re reporting it here as well. (mainly because I feel ashamed in having not reported on this sooner as toys isn’t my usual domain)

It seems that NECA will be producing its own line of Castlevania action figures, starting with releases of traditional Simon Belmont (not Chronicles version), as well as Alucard from Symphony of the Night. This will just be the Series 1 releases, which leads the reader to believe that there will be other series releases as well. Castlevania fans haven’t seen anything of this calibur since a few homemade figures were once featured at the Castlevania Dungeon. (which have mysteriously vanished….weird o.O) More news will be brought up about this as I run into it.

[EDIT – Crazy: Just wanted to mirror the two pictures that surfaced in this post. See below]

 

Earlier today, I posted that the first figure in the Botcon box set had been revealed last week. That figure was Dirge. I’m pleased to say that the second figure in the set has been announced today. Thundercracker. “The ringing in your ears is the sound of your own destruction.”

For those who keep track, it appears Thundercracker will feature the running change on the seeker mold that I mentioned in this video on Classics Skywarp.

Outside of that small factoid, there’s not much else to say. The figure is pretty much exactly what we were expecting (and hoping!) to see. A straight up repaint of Starscream/Skywarp with the appropriate colors. As always, images mirrored below.

Source: Botcon.com

 

Botcon.com has posted images of the first exclusive from the Transformers convention boxset “Games of Deception”. Dirge is a direct repaint of Classics Ramjet featuring a paint scheme pretty close to the G1 version. I have mirrored the images below. It should also be noted that this exclusive has nothing to do with the Botcon 2005 Exclusive Dirge.

The pictures were followed by this quote: ” Talk all you want loser! The only sound you
make that I’ll listen to is a death rattle. ”

 

I have also included a couple side by side shots with the G1 version of Dirge and the Botcon photos for comparison

 

You’ll note that the nosecone is flipped down in robot mode for the G1 figure. The boxart for G1 Dirge shows him with the nosecone of the jet down, whereas in the original cartoon it was straight up, giving he, Ramjet and Thrust the nickname of the Coneheads. There are also no vertical tailfins on G1 Dirge. That was specific to Ramjet’s wings which is carried over from the original mold for this figure. G1 Dirge’s wings also featured a small wing just in front of the main wing. Most of the differences that will exist between the G1 versions and the Classics versions of the Coneheads will be localized to the wings and missiles. Those are the main identifiers for each of the first Coneheads from G1 outside of color.

More exclusives will be revealed in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

I got this hot tip on the chellphone this evening from powet faithful Robbie.

Reebok will be releasing 5 new colors for the Reebok Classic this October. These special shoes will be colored like one of the 5 Lion mechs, and each pair will come with the corresponding toy. Blue shoe gets you the blue lion, red gets you the red lion, and so on. Get all 5 pairs and you’ll be able to form Voltron: Defend Of The Universe!

I’ve never in my wildest dreams imagined the Voltron revamp would come from Reebok, but here it is. Five shoes, Five lions. These are apparently destined to tie in with a new 2008 series, which we’ve heard some rumors about.

We’ll have more info on this later, including where these shoes should be for sale and how much they’ll cost. If you had to give your favorite toyline a shoe, what would it be? Leave a comment below.

The Cohen Brothers have certainly made some good movies, and even made a few of them with John Goodman. But none so good as The Big Lebowski, and no John Goodman role is as good as Walter Sobchak.

It was with a great amount of excitement that I noticed a pair of action figures based on Walter and Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski are coming from a new toy company called Bif Banf Pow. They appear to be stylized, almost animated versions of Goodman and Jeff Bridges along with expected accessories: bowling bags, can of Folgers, and Walter’s ex-wife’s dog. At 8 inches, they’re a might big to put with some of my super hero action figures on a shelf, but The Dude should be right at home with any Sigma Six figure.

If for some reason you’ve not seen this movie, please do so. The Big Lebowski may be one of the greatest screen comedies ever produced.

From TNI

[Read the rest of this entry…]