OT: 10,000 Pt XLIII - The Ultimate Raw Deal (or LS's House of the Dead)

[slocal]

I love this thing. Graphics are great for being 40 years old.

 

[The Nemesis]

That's really cool. Shame that they fell into the trap of making Godzilla green, but everyone else was doing it so I guess it was bound to happen.

There's a newer game out there called "Godzilla: Tokyo Clash" that looks complicated as all get out but it's still Godzilla so I'm intrigued.

Spoiler: huge image warning

Curious choice of Megalon for the 4th monster in the cast though.

 

[WTFetus]

Recently ordered a bunch of the Beast Wars from the Transformers Generations War for Cybertron (Optimus, Megatron, Dinobot, Cheetor, and Blackarachnia). Have the original first 3 somewhere in storage, but figured why not since they look nicer, especially Dinobot.

 

[The Nemesis]

Recently ordered a bunch of the Beast Wars from the Transformers Generations War for Cybertron (Optimus, Megatron, Dinobot, Cheetor, and Blackarachnia). Have the original first 3 somewhere in storage, but figured why not since they look nicer, especially Dinobot.

Uh oh. You've opened the forbidden door. You should've known better than to make such a comment when I'm around


If you intend to transform them at all be super careful with Cheetor and Blackarachnia. They have little tabs on some parts that shear off really easily with even the tiniest amount of excessive force or if force is applied in the wrong direction. I snapped a tab on the back of Cheetor's cat head first time out of the box because pulling it off his bot-mode chest can cause it to clip where his robot neck is and then it'll just clip right off and there's nothing you can do to fix it. Thankfully it's not wholly necessary because there should be enough friction in the accompanying hinge to keep the cat head in place in beast mode even without it. The sides of his cat neck/shoulders are also made out of really thin plastic that might bend/chip with pressure as well.

Blackarachnia I haven't had issue with but I know a lot of people broke the tab that holds her bot mode chest in place and allows it to flip up to hide during transformation. It also isn't apparently strictly necessary, but I've seen more than enough reports of breaking it to know that it's a widespread issue. Her spider legs or robot pincer-hands can also crack and snap at the tips because they're so thin and delicate.


Still, they're all great figures and are a nice balance of being a solid transformer and very evocative of the character models from the show. Especially Blackarachnia, who's original toy was just a recolored Tarantulas and thus didn't look anything like her actually feminine-looking show model. The non Beast Wars ones are definitely kid-suitable because they're big and chunky and pretty sturdy feeling, but I'd be worried about giving a kid the Beast Wars ones.

If you end up happy with these ones there are other Beast Wars characters in the line too Rattrap and Airazor are available now, while Rhinox and Scorponok are coming in the next batch.

Also apparently Walmart is putting out a "classic" line of re-releases of the actual original toys from the 90s. I've never seen them, but that's not all that surprising because distribution in Canada suuuuuuuuuuucks (still haven't found a Dinobot yet)

(crappy picture because I don't have time to set up to do a proper one )

 

[WTFetus]

I was really tempted to buy Airazor, but I held off for now. Also bought Rattrap and Rhinox when they were re-released 5 or so years ago, so figure I shouldn't buy them again this soon.

The old Tigatron figure was essentially just a clone of Cheetor right? I remember bringing that for show-and-tell in Kindergarten. I lost the water gun that you stick onto his belly though.

And holy crap, I've been calling it Tigertron for decades until I just googled it now.

 

[The Nemesis]

I was really tempted to buy Airazor, but I held off for now. Also bought Rattrap and Rhinox when they were re-released 5 or so years ago, so figure I shouldn't buy them again this soon.

The old Tigatron figure was essentially just a clone of Cheetor right? I remember bringing that for show-and-tell in Kindergarten. I lost the water gun that you stick onto his belly though.

And holy crap, I've been calling it Tigertron for decades until I just googled it now.

Yeah, Tigatron was just a re-use of the Cheetor figure with a different paint job, different cat head and modified robot face. Hasbro loves the "cost-effectiveness" of being able to re-use the same mold a ton of times over. It's why there's an entire army of bots that are just Starscream in a different color, because then they just have to switch out the plastic colors and paint job. In the line from 2 years ago they did Starscream as the sort of Battlestar Galactica Viper-esque starfighter he was during the pilot episode of the original cartoon (for all of about 45 seconds) and then proceeded to re-release that same mold 8 more times as different characters with nothing more than different colors and 1 modification to the face (swapping out a generic scowl for a cocky sneer).

Airrazor is nice, but I'm not a huge fan of the ball-jointed ankles. They tend to be unsteady and prone to giving out and making the figure flop over if not balanced right (or supported by something like a stand). The beast mode is also kind of a disappointment with a lot of very obvious robot parts just hanging off the bottom of the bird. I got it cheap so I wasn't going to complain too much because I like the character but there are issues.

Still, the Beast Wars stuff has been secondary for me because as much as I love the show (arguably some of the best writing in any Transformers series once they were freed from the watchful eye of Fox Kids' standards department) I'm doing much the same thing as you and recapturing my younger childhood. In this case the cast of the original movie:

Just waiting on Galvatron (well, that and the fact that I wasn't going to spend $900 for the massive crowdfunded Unicron )


and as a minor aside to what I mentioned above, the entire Beast Wars series is free to watch on Tubi TV.

Beast Wars

I can't recommend it enough. Yes, the mid 90s CGI is a big janky (but still capable of surprising quality in things like how expressive the characters are) but the writing and acting are top notch once you get to the latter half of season 1 and beyond.

Tubi actually has pretty much every western released Transformers series available to watch from the 1980s original through Beast Wars and the less impressive Beast Machines, the Unicron Trilogy anime series and the late 2000s Animated. The only things missing from that time frame are the original movie and 2001's dubbed anime series Robots in Disguise (which Hasbro likes to pretend never happened and I believe has its rights tied up with Disney of all companies thanks to how the licensing was done)

 

[tiburon12]

I just got back to America for the summer as the pandemic is just getting bad in Thailand for the first time. feel like i cheated the whole pandemic lol

 

[tiburon12]

got some time on my hands and going to take an intro course for Python.

Looking at CodeAcademy, but anyone have recs for a different course provider?

 

[Mafoofoo]

got some time on my hands and going to take an intro course for Python.

Looking at CodeAcademy, but anyone have recs for a different course provider?

I've heard good things about coursera

 

[OffSydes]

got some time on my hands and going to take an intro course for Python.

Looking at CodeAcademy, but anyone have recs for a different course provider?

Have not used for Python but W3schools is really good

Python Tutorial

 

[The Nemesis]

Picked up the Godzilla: Tokyo Clash board game from Walmart because it was on the clearance shelf for $25 (almost half off).

haven't gotten anyone to play a game yet because, y'know, still social distancing and whatnot until the full wave of 2nd shots comes through. But it looks nice. Monster minis are nice and big and chunky. Could probably stand to be painted but I don't have the time or dexterity for that. the modular hex-grid board is a cool feature to regulate the game based on the # of players, and the action cards are gorgeously made.

Still a shame that the 4th monster was Megalon though. Maybe they're planning expansions? Because honestly any of Gigan, Anguirus, Mechagodzilla, Rodan, or even weirder randos like King Ceasar or Jet Jaguar would've been more interesting than the beetle made of a half-rotting burlap sack and big pointy cone hands.

 

[LadyStanley]

It. Is. Hot.

80-year temp record broken.

115

 

[Mafoofoo]

It. Is. Hot.

80-year temp record broken.

115

Gotta come live by the Ocean. Much cooler temps.

 

[The Nemesis]

I know I've been on a board game kick and that's included posting list videos and whatnot from a particular games-related channel. This is another video from that channel and yes, it's about board games. But it's not a list and is instead an incredibly fascinating piece of history (also I just enjoy the humor of the presentation)



Seriously, if you've got 15 minutes and enjoy stories of WWII spycraft (no, that is not a misrepresentation. It's about WWII spycraft and Monopoly), this is a great watch.

 

[drunksage]

It's been so nice to roam the Bay Area without a mask this weekend.

(I'm around 145 days if I'm mathing right.)

 

[The Nemesis]

man, I thought I lived in Canada, land of perpetual winter and polite people offering up free two-fours of Molson and boxes of Timbits on every street corner while we watch the great moose migration.

So why the hell is it like 43-49 degrees C this weekend? (that's like 110 to 120 for all you fahrenheit heathens ) All with balmy nighttime lows still in the 20s.

I'm dying. Usual summer weather here is being "lucky" to see it break 30 for maybe a week.

Can we blame this on COVID somehow?

 

[slocal]

 

[WTFetus]

It's been so nice to roam the Bay Area without a mask this weekend.

(I'm around 145 days if I'm mathing right.)

Still have to wear it at work, but I caved and walked into a restaurant and around a small grocery store without one today.
Don't think I'm at the level of going to an indoor shopping mall or Costco without one yet tho.

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

man, I thought I lived in Canada, land of perpetual winter and polite people offering up free two-fours of Molson and boxes of Timbits on every street corner while we watch the great moose migration.

So why the hell is it like 43-49 degrees C this weekend? (that's like 110 to 120 for all you fahrenheit heathens ) All with balmy nighttime lows still in the 20s.

I'm dying. Usual summer weather here is being "lucky" to see it break 30 for maybe a week.

Can we blame this on COVID somehow?

Heat bubble up north. A type of weather pattern that hardly ever happens. They say it’s a result of man-made waste.

 

[LadyStanley]

Las Vegas had its first monsoon rain last week in about 20+ months. Got temps down to 80.

Average temps are low 100s (~41C). We got up to nearly 120F last week (126F = 52C in Death Valley).

 

[Mafoofoo]

Las Vegas had its first monsoon rain last week in about 20+ months. Got temps down to 80.

Average temps are low 100s (~41C). We got up to nearly 120F last week (126F = 52C in Death Valley).

That sounds like nightmare

 

[bluefunnel]

Well, Bay Area sports teams aren't winning anything now but at least we still have Joey Chestnut.

 

[Lebanezer]

Well, Bay Area sports teams aren't winning anything now but at least we still have Joey Chestnut.

The Giants are pretty good and the Niners have a chance to be very good again this year. Hopefully the Warriors bounce back with everyone healthy. The Sharks, no comment.

 

[Mafoofoo]

Happy 4th friends

 

[WTFetus]

Well, Bay Area sports teams aren't winning anything now but at least we still have Joey Chestnut.

More of a Stonie fan tbh.