BIRTHDAY BLOG PART FIVE- HERCULES MADBLENDER

This figure is from TFC Toys which is a third party.This means that this figure is really expensive and will not be found in your every day toy shop.I got mine from America He came out last year in 2011. Madblender is part five of Hercules the giant combiner that he helps make. He makes the left leg of Hercules. I am hoping to collect the other parts as he looks amazing. He will stand about two feet tall when combined.

SATS; Strength 7, Intelligence 6, Speed 3, Endurance 8, Rank 4, Courage 6, Fireblast 9, Skill 9

Robot mode- Assault mode

Robot mode

Assault Vehicle mode side

Assault vehicle mode front

Truck mode mixer side

Truck mode front

Box front

Box back view

His vehicle mode has an amazing amount of detail to it. You can even turn the cab so it looks like it is turning in a circle. This is to give Hercules an ankle tilt when combined.

The mixing drum spins freely. You must make sure the hinge is pushed flat so it will work better.

The only thing is that his wheels pops out of the hinge but you have to push it back in which can be annoying.

His leg mode really give you the idea of how big Hercules is going to be.

Wow!This guy has lots of weapons. He comes with one purple gun, a translucent version is also included. There is a kind of ammo rack sticking  inside the gun. The weapons combine from all the combiners to form Hercules's gun. in this case Madblenders guns turn into the handles.

There are a few mounting points for the guns in vehicle mode if you want to mount them but I put them on the back to disguise them.

He also comes with a double barrelled cannon which becomes the centre of Hercules's chest plate. This can be stored on the rear of the vehicle.

In robot mode there is yet more amazing detail. he has good articulation. his head has great light piping but he does have a big block at the back of his head so you have to tilt it to get the full effect. He has a well moulded head. he has a type of mining helmet and a visor.

The ammo racks make much more sense in robot mode as they look like machine guns in this mode. They can also be arm mounted and they can even combine to make a bigger gun. The ammo rack is removable but I don't think you need to do this as it looks great.

The double barrelled cannon can be mounted above his head. Once again the machine guns can also be attached to the cannon so all weaponry is above his head so his hands are free for other weapons.

Unlike the other Hercules figures he does not have a backpack.

I would like it if the mixing drum could be stored on his back like a certain constructicon Mixmaster but of course Mixmaster has nothing to do with this figure.

You can do more with the mixing drum in robot mode. You can attach it to his hand as a club weapon. It is alittle heavy though. You can split it which can be tricky to reveal a complete armoury. The central bar piece which the mixing drum is built around becomes a sniper rifle. The mixing drum pieces come away two way to make four different weapons, two of each. One giant cannon, one small cannon, a double barrelled cannon and a double barrelled machine gun. these can be placed anywhere on the figure and you can combine them in crazy combinations to destroy everything.

In vehicle mode you can make an assault mode to make a rolling death machine. The mixing drum is great and it is such a surprise what it contains. very clever design

Overall this is a superb figure and well worth the money. It is a collectors item so not for play or for small kids. ii you like mixing truck transformers and neon green robots you will love Hercules Madblender. 10/10

ALTERNATOR SWINDLE

This figure is from 2004. He is a Decepticon. Alternators are replicas of the actual cars they transform into. They are really display pieces as they are quite fragile and detailed.
He is a repaint of Alternators Hound with a new head. He was intended to be Trailbreaker but through some copy write issues with the character they could not do this. People also wanted more Decepticon Alternators so they turned him into Swindle. The head sculpt does work for Swindle even though it was intended for Trailbreaker. He was also repainted as Trailbreaker with the same head as Swindle.

                                                                        Swindle car mode front view

Swindle car mode side view

Showing engine

Doors open showing interior

Robot mode

His vehicle mode is great with a steering wheel, air conditioning and even a gear stick moulded in for detail.

his steering wheel is flexible plastic. He has wing mirrors with reflective plastic on them like real mirrors but they are delicate .

He has suspension and rubber tyres with chrome hub caps.

The bull bars are also chrome.

The front seats can tilt forward to allow access to back seats. The back seats can also be folded down for extra storage space.

It is a brilliant vehicle mode.

His transformation is not to bad compared to other Alternators and his robot mode is pretty good.

I love the way his visor is translucent purple rather than red because he had purple eyes in Gen 1.

He has good articulation with some ankle tilt to get him into natural poses.

His head is  on a stalk attached to the back which can seem a little weird as he has a gap at the back which makes his head look like it is floating.

The kibble on his back means that the roll bar section hangs off his back allowing the windscreen to lie flat.

I am not sure that I like this so I fold the roll cage flat against his back but it does mean that the windscreen is visible by his head but I don't mind this.

My main complaint about this is his weapon . For the Decepticon munitions expert Swindle only has a puny pea shooter for a weapon. He should have giant machine guns and bazookas. It does not even fit into his hand that well. It sits at an angle and looks really bad but it could be sorted by some more articulation. This weapon stores in the spare tyre case for vehicle mode.  But if you leave this out it looks like a holster in robot mode. he has good articulation in his fingers especially his index one.

He is a good figure. One to have. If you like Alternators than defiantly one to get.

BIRTHDAY BLOG PART FOUR- DARK OF THE MOON HUMAN ALLIANCE ROADBUSTER

The last figure that I received for my Birthday.

This figure if from 20011. He is a wrecker and AUTOBOT.
In the movie Roadbuster along with the two other wreckers Topspin and Leadfoot were the engineers looking after the Autobot ship the Zantium. This ship brought the second wave of Autobots to earth long before the second movie.
In Dark of the Moon novel the wreckers are all really rude and argued amongst themselves . Whenever they got too argumentative the humans put on Nass car racing as this would stop them as they loved this sport.
The wreckers in every series are always the Autobot squat team, the special forces.

The thing I always liked about these is they always turn into modified Nass cars.

BIO; Roadbuster has found that allowing humans to ride with him sharpens his tactical skills and knowledge of Earths road network

Strength 8, Intelligence 5, Speed 8, Endurance 9, Rank 9, Courage 9, Fireblast 6, Skill 5

Robot mode

Without visor

With visor

Sgt Recon on back

Sgt Recon on shoulder

Sgt Recon

 Car mode front

Car mode side

Car mode with Sgt Recon in seat

His car mode has a great amount of detail compared to the Deluxe figures. He is really big,  heavily armed but not as much as the other wreckers in car mode. He has a Gatling gun sticking out of the front grill and some bonnet mounted turrets which have cannons.and on rear of the car he has missile pods for rocket launchers. He can fire sixteen rockets from each launcher. the giant nitrous booster in the rear can also fire a yellow nitrous missile. This feature is more for robot mode seeming his nitrous booster becomes his cannon in robot mode.

His transformation can be a little messy especially the first time but he is not the hardest to transform

You need to fiddle around with him for about half an hour to transform him but overall he is OK to manipulate.

A potential problem that I have noticed is that he has these two clips that attach his torso to his waist. After his first transformation he already had stress marks. Annoying but I don't think it will get any worse. I don't think he is one to play with but to display.

In robot mode he looks far more movie accurate than the Deluxe with his skinny proportions compared to the other which had far more kibble.

His chain saw weapon for robot mode stores on a peg underneath his car mode but the problem with this is that it raised the wheel near to it off the ground so it does not roll properly. I store mine in the passenger seat.

There is an annoying problem in robot mode that pretty much what you do to pose him he will slump[ forward. This problem caused a lot of problems for me to take pictures as his base ball cap kept going over his face.

Just like Human alliance jazz and Human alliance Leadfoot he has a visor gimmick where there is a lever on his head which will flip his visor down. This looks like sunglasses. He also looks like he has dreadlocks.

The human alliance gimmicks where the robot  and human interacts  can be a little silly. Not as silly as Jazz where his human sits on his leg armour. Sgt Recon does not really sit anywhere very securely even in the car.

I like the way his chest in robot mode looks like his engine.

People complained about his waist being skinny but it is not that bad and that he does not have upper thigh swivel but he does rotate above the knee. he had decent articulation.

He is worth getting and make sure you get him at a good price so shop around. If you like the other human alliance figures then you are really going to like Roadbuster.

BIRTHDAY BLOG PART THREE-CYBERTRON CYRO SCOURGE

This is the third figure that I received for my Birthday from kind friends and relatives who know of my collection.

This figure is from 2006. He is a Decepticon but at first he was neutral joined the Decepticons then ended up as an Autobot.
He is the leader of the Beast/Jungle Planet.
I don't think there was any fiction as Cyro Scourge but he did appear in the Cybertron Cartoon as normal Scourge.
In the cartoon as normal Scourge he was apprenticed to Backstop along with Snarl. The Beast planet was in chaos because of civil war. Scourge wanted to fight and restore order to the beast planet but Backstop believing that Fighting would make things worse and cause more chaos and destruction did not want this. Scourge went ahead anyway and joined the battle. he defeated all that apposed him and became leader of the beast Planet. He became a tyrant. Snarl became one of Scourges body guards to keep an eye on him for backstop. Overhaul went to beast planet looking for the Cyber Planet Key. He asked Scourge for the key but he refused telling that only the leader has the key and if you want it you will have to take it by force. They fought and Overhaul lost. Snarl intervened and stopped Scourge from destroying Overhaul. Overhaul knew he had to defeat Scourge somehow so he trained and to survive Scourges fire attacks he trained in a volcano  so he could become resilient to the heat. he went back and fought scourge again. He was now more powerful and able to withstand the fire but Snarl was attacked but Megatron. He had been hanging around the Beast planet checking things out. Overhaul went to help Snarl but while he was distracted Scourge knocked Overhaul down. As he was about to finish him the cyber planet key reformatted Overhaul into Leobreaker. He grabbed Snarl and rescued him form Megatron. When Optimus prime turned up he had many fights over the Cyber Planet key with Scourge eventually Optimus managed to win. Optimus however let Scourge still be the leader but to stop being a tyrant.

BIO; Long exposure to the freezing waste of deep space has irreversibly mutated Scourge. No longer a flame-spewing monster consumed by his passions, he is now a creature of ice and cold. Calculating, cruel, and without mercy, he radiates a freezing aura that causes circuitry to short out, and renders Autobot alloys brittle and easily shattered. His breath, once a raging firestorm, is now a creeping cold that sneaks into joints and mechanisms, destroying them from within. The blade of is axe is a razor-sharp shard of supercooled hydrogen ice that leaves a deadly numbness wherever it strikes.

Robot mode

Robot Cyber key mode

Dragon mode front

Dragon mode side

Dragon cyber key mode front view

Dragon Cyber key mode side view

Beast Planet Cyber Key

He is a huge figure being Ultra class. The translucent plastic for his claws and axe bland is a nice touch. He has a really nice colour scheme. I think this is the best painted version of this mould.

He has a lights and sounds gimmick. His eyes, the inside of his mouth and brain light up when you press the button on his back.

When the Cyber key is not inserted he makes a roaring noise. When you use the key the extra dragon heads flip out and you get a transformation noise.

When you have the key in the slot and we press the button on the back it will make a laser firing noise.

Unfortunately the dragon head on my figure is prone to flipping up even when I don't use the key which can be annoying at times. The extra dragon heads have spring loaded jaws. the back of the heads have a lever which opens and shuts the mouth.

His tail becomes his axe in Robot mode. I don't have any problems with this axe other than size. The figure has no wrist articulation so is difficult to pose except down by his side.

In transformation his robot head can be hard to get out without long nails.

The wings are just for show as they are rather small and I can;'t remember him flying in the cartoon.

overall this is an excellent figure and if you like Dragon transformers then this is the figure to have. Just choose the version. This one or RID Bruticus which is garish colours

BIRTHDAY BLOG PART 2- BLOOD, THE DARK WARRIOR (BLUDGEON)

This is my second birthday figure

This figure came out in early 2010 as part of the Revenge of the fallen N.E.S.T global alliance line.
He is a Decepticon. The head robot Blood, The Dark Warrior upgrade kit makes Bludgeon a hundred times better than was.
In the Revenge of the Fallen comics, Bludgeon took command of the Decepticons after Megatron disappeared after the battle of the fallen. In his first appearance he fought the Autobot cadet Jolt. He cut off both of Jolts Electro Whips but Jolt still managed to electrocute Bludgeon by grabbing hold of his arm. Bludgeon was taken prisoner by the Autobots. He eventually manged to escape with the help of  Dr Scalpel, Bludgeon escaped with a load of other Decepticon prisoners including Reverb and Breakdown. The Autobots eventually managed to track him down in Russia? The Autobots were betrayed by the former Decepticon Wheelie who lured the Autobots into an ambush set by Bludgeon. Bludgeon killed the Autobot Slapdash by running him through with his sword from behind. he then killed Hubcap by throwing energy discs at him and cutting him to pieces. Megatron returned at that point and found that his Decepticons were being commanded by Bludgeon. He went to destroy Bludgeon and remove him from command. They fought but Bludgeon was no match for Megatron and soon Megatron had Bludgeon down to his knees. Megatron transformed to tank mode and blasted him to pieces with a single shot.

BIO;" Decepticon Bludgeon was nearly destroyed by a fight with the Metallikato master Autobot Whirl. Forced to retreat and hide he scanned a new vehicle mode and disappeared into the Southeast Asian Jungle. He is desperate to prove himself against an Autobot. However, so he has caused just enough chaos locally to attract the attention of Ironhide. Now he lies in wait for the Autobot ready to spring his trap and destroy his victim in an instant"

Strength 6, Intelligence 5, Speed 4, Endurance8, Rank 8, Courage 8, Fireblast 7, Skill 10

Robot mode

Robot mode with sword and dagger

Swords in scabbards

Skull face

Damaged face

Tank mode front view

Tank mode side view

Without the head robots Blood the dark Warrior upgrade kit Bludgeons original  sword is made from very cheap plastic it even effected by gravity and is basically terrible. his dagger is not much better.

I am glad they fixed these problems for the Banzaitron repaints.

The original head is not bad but people  have complained that it is too fat but I have always thought it suits banzaitron as it looks more like a Samurai mask than a skull.

The new head has a great looking skull face which reminds me of Skeletor from He-Man. If that was not enough they also give you the damaged face from the IDW comic.

In tank mode his sword was made from his tank barrel but the grey looks ugly on the green tank. His sword is also hard to fit into his hand. The upgrade one has a smaller handle and fits nicely into his hand and can also be the gun barrel.

The actual gun barrel itself is a separate piece which pegs onto the turret machine gun on his back while he is in robot mode.

On early releases on the upgrade kits his gun barrel fitted very loosely onto the gun barrel. This meant that it span round and could fall off.

I have a later release one and it is now tight and the problem is fixed.

I have always loved the way that the kibble forms the samurai armour. He has three different scabbards. If you don't want him to hold his main sword you can store it on his left hip but you have to rotate the turret to the left to do this . The swords are chrome which is a nice touch. This is a big improvement to the originals.

There is also a smaller scabbard on his hip for his dagger. I prefer not to put it here as he has the hidden one in the turret.

Something that is a bit weird is that his feet are at an angle and do not line up with the rest of his leg which is odd looking. His heel spur has to be at the right angle or he will stand at an angle which looks stupid. There was not problem with Banzitron in this respect.

When you are upgrading the figure you have to unscrew the old head which can be tricky as the screw is at an angle and is tiny.

It is worth it though

The Mechalive gimmick on this figure is great. it is simple but I like the rotating bones in his legs. His feet and hands are skeleton like but it would be nice if they were bone colour.

When transforming him transforming his head can be a problem as it is rather tight. I am hoping with time is will loosen.

The central bar section on his body is painted to look like his spine which I love.

When you are transforming him back to tank mode with his new head it can be tricky as his helmet can come off. You have to backtrack to rectify this.

he has rubber tracks which is nice on this mould as well.

He is still a great figure but the upgrade kit is a must because his original weapons are so bad.

BIRTHDAY BLOG PART ONE - (MP3G) MASTERPIECE GHOST STARSCREAM

I have just had my fourteenth Birthday and wanted to share with you the new Transformers that I got as gifts starting with Takara Tomy Masterpiece Ghost Starscream.

 Starscream was killed in Transformers the Movie. After Megatron was left badly damaged after his fight with Optimus Prime. Starscream walked up to Megatron and said "How do you feel mighty Megatron?" Then he kicks him. He then tells Astrotrain to transform to Space shuttle mode and get the Decepticons out of there. Starscream was going to leave Megatron but Soundwave being loyal to Megatron carried him aboard Astrotrain. On the way back to Cybertron Astrotrain requested that they lightened their load or they would not make it back. So they threw the wounded Decepticons off Astrotrain and into space . They threw Skywarp, Thundercracker and the Insecticons then Starscream threw Megatron out as well. When Megatron had gone all the other Decepticons argued who would be the next leader. Megatron and the others were floating through space by Unicron who reformatted them and Megatron into Galvatron. He went to Cybertron and interrupted Starscream's coronation. When Galvatron flew in Starscream said "Who interrupts my coronation?" Galvatron says " Carnation Starscream! This is bad comedy." Starscream says "Magatron is that you?" Galvatron says " Here's a hint" he transforms into space cannon mode and blasts Starscream to ashes in a single shot.
In series three of the cartoon. The Decepticon deserter Octane is hiding from Cyclonus, Scourge and the Sweeps. He hides in the Decepticon Crypt. He finds the ghost of Starscream who when Cyclonus enters the crypt he possesses him. After convincing them to take Octane prisoner rather than destroying him he goes back to  planet Char where the Decepticon base is located. Cyclous leads Galvatron into a staged ambush by the Autobots. He then goes back to Char to take over as leader of the Decepticons. Galvatron stumbled back injured and attempts to destroy Cyclonus and he thinks he has been betrayed by him. Galvatron blasts Cyclonus but Starscream leaves his body just in time. He hides out on Char.

Later on in the series Starscream ghost possesses Scourge and attacks the other Decepticons. He is not fully in control so Scourge stops him blasting Galvatron. Starscream takes Scourge to Unicron's head which floats in orbit off Cybertron. He reactivates Unicron and asks for his own body back. Unicron says he will do this if he completes three labours for him. The first was to go to Metroplex on earth and steel his eyes. They do this with Scourges help as he is still thought of as a traitor. Scourge drops one of the eyes and it smashes so they had to go to Char and steel one of Tripticons eyes to make up for their mistake.
Starscream possess Astrotrain and uses his extra cargo room to store the eyes. He then takes the eyes to Unicron. He then leaves Artotrain on Cybertron at the mercy of the Autobots. They install the eyes in Unicron.
The second task was to go to Trypticon and bring him to Unicron. They then go back to Char and Starscream possess Tripticon. He takes him pursued by Galvatron and the Decepticons to Unicron and Unicron tells Starscream to install Trypticons transformation cog within him.
The third task was to connect Unicrons head to Cybertron which would become Unicrons new body and he would return. Scourge learning of this warns the Autobots. As The connection is happening the Decepticons go inside trypticon and disable him. Sarscream is unable to make the final connections. He asks for his body back so he can do this. Unicron gives him his body back. Starscream tells him to make the final connection himself and betrays him. At that moment the Autobots plant Energon Explosives just beneath Unicrons head and blow him and Starscream back into space. Starscream is left out of control.,
The next time the ghost of Starscream appears is in the middle of the first series of Beast Wars. When he possess Waspinator. and he declares allegiance to Beastwars Megatron and he tells Megatron that he knows how to defeat the Maximals. Black arachnea  says that Starscream was destroyed centuries ago. Starscream confirms this but says he was destroyed by Unicron when he was defending Galvatron. Black Arachnea knows this is a lie and confronts Starscream later. He then asks Black Arachnea why she did not expose his lie to Megatron. She says that she will help him overthrow Megatron and she wants to be leader. As the Maximals are repairing their base Starscream and the Predicons attack and badly damage Dinobot. The Maximals are forced to abandon the base. Dinobot tells Optimus Primal what he knows about Starscream and how treacherous he is. They make a plan and Dinobot pretends to be dying as Optimus and Maximals go to the base to surrender to Starscream.  They explain the Dinobot is dying and they need the CR chamber to save him. Starscream lets them and catches Optimus Primal and locks him in chains in the base. He then tells the other Maximals to attacks the Predicon base and if they don't he will kill Dinobot and Optimus primal. Optimus breaks three of his chains and frees Dinobot from the CR chamber. He attacks Starscream and Black Arachnea who flee to the Predacon base. The maximals are retreating. Starscream tells them to continue to attack but Megatron sees this on a monitor and  that he has been betrayed.
Optimus comes in and punches Starscream knocking him out of the sky. He lands on top of an Energon deposit causing him to overload with energon. He asks Black Arachnea for help but she betrays Starscream and fires at the energon blowing Starscream back into space and leaving waspinator in pieces.

Robot mode without stand

Robot mode with stand

Straight face

Smirking face

Missile pods

TFC Toys Phantom of Screamer- Coronation Add On Kit.

Jet Mode with Null Rays

Jet mode with cluster bombs

Jet mode showing radar dish

Jet mode with wing flaps up

Jet mode wing flaps down

Jet mode air brake

Jet mode with stand

Jet mode engines

Jet mode cockpit

Dr Arkeville figure and Megatron gun clip. Mint in packaging

Instructions, Sticker sheet and Bio card front

Bio card back

Box front

Box back

His jet mode is huge probably Leader class size. It has a ton of gimmicks to make it as realistic as possible to the F15 jet. 

It is hard to know that he is a robot in disguise as his jet mode is so clean of kibble and panel lines. 

he comes with a Dr Aerkiville figure who is translucent so maybe he is dead too. I have kept him in the box so as not to loose him as he is tiny as is the Megatron clip. I also don't have Masterpiece Optimus Pime at the moment. 

he also comes with a nice Figure stand which has a nice purple chrome Decepticon insignia on it.

There is a sticker sheet included with American Air Force Stars as well as stickers with Kremzic on it. I don't add these as it will ruin the ghost look of it. There are also Decepticon insignia's which are pointless as his are painted on

His robot mode is very nice and the figure is raised off the ground which makes him even more ghost like. 

He has some nice gimmicks like the face changing. 

His arms are translucent blue but his hands are white which is a shame but does not bug me too much.

I got the TFC Toys Phantom Screamer Add On Kit. which is the translucent version of the original coronation add on kit. Even his cape is light purple and slightly translucent compared to the original. The lit is great as he actually died during his coronation so it makes sense that he is wearing it as a ghost. 

Overall this is a really nice figure and worth getting but is very expensive and will cost you at least £100 but really worth the money.