Reviewing The Gunblaster Zoid

I built it. I (tried to) sticker it. Not it’s time to review it. The box is using one word so that’s what I’m going with, even though as indicated in the sticker article, most online sources make it two. Then again, my history with my screenname, ShadowWing Tronix, tells me not to always trust the fan spellings.

This wasn’t necessarily my introduction to Zoids. I saw ads for the original model kits in the 1980s, when Tomy first brought them to America. At the time the Japanese company had made a push into the US and this was included. It didn’t go over well, but it didn’t look as cool as they did when they tried again in 2000s. Actually the third show in the series, Zoids: New Century/Zero, it was the version that aired on Toonami, following the days when Zoid battles were more for sport than war. (We would see the war later on with Zoids: Chaotic Century, a merger of the first two Zoids anime as they shared a cast and time period. I liked it but something about the competition interested me more than the war stories.) It’s still my favorite version because I just really liked the characters that made up the Blitz Team and even some of their rivals. They were fun to watch and cheer on in their quest to become champions. Later shows that also took place in Zoid competition rather than war were okay, but nothing has matched the Blitz Team characters thus far.

Ask me what my two favorite Zoids are and, depending on my current mood, it will either be Shadow Fox or Lightning Saix, and I do have both of those model kits. I also picked up a few other ones that looked cool or just fun to build. That last one is what caused me to pick up a Gun Blaster Zoid cheap as Kay Bee Toy Works was closing down in 2009, which tells you how long it took for me to finish this thing. At the time it really looked like a fun piece.

As I chronicled in the building article, I got as far as the body, then never had the chance to finish it, then forgot about it outside of rare occasions of spotting it, and this month I finally built the rest of it. Then I put on the stickers. Now it’s time to finally give my overall thoughts on the Gunblaster. It never appeared on the shows I’ve seen, and one commenter in the earlier articles indicated it didn’t appear in the ones I missed, either. Still it looked cool, it was cheap (from $69.99 down to $6.99, and still not the best deal I’ve gotten for a discounted toy…Omega Sentinel from Transformers Energon is still the winner), and it looked fun to build. I already went over the building. Let’s see if it was worth it.

Stickering The Gun Blaster Zoid

Apparently it’s two words, not one. My mistake.

Last week I wasn’t able to review my Gun Blaster Zoid because I was sick and didn’t get to go over it. This week I wanted to sticker it, but was trying to get back into things with a messed up life schedule. So for this week’s project I decided to put the stickers on the Zoid and review it next week.

I made a mistake.

I like stickers. As a kid the larger toys had stickers, like vehicles and larger Transformers, that you put on yourself. Nowadays, with advances in computer mold making and tampographing, you can easily make all the controls and warning labels put on and save the trouble. Stickers are not always easy to put on and get right if you’re a kid or a clumsy adult. Being one of the latter, this was not an easy project for me. Then again, it’s not like Hasbro and Tomy made it easy for me. Remember when I mentioned how good the instructions were when it came to assembling the model into a toy? That did not include the stickers.

Building The Gunblaster Zoid

Last week I mentioned finding the mostly unfinished Gunblaster Zoid model kit and hoping to finally finish it. With my planned project put on the back burner this week, I decided to go ahead and do that. The thing’s been sitting in the box for over a decade with only the body constructed, so it’s long overdue to finally be built.

This was the original Zoids models. Not much, are they? It may be why it got buried by the likes of Transformers and Robotix. However, thanks to an anime airing on the afternoon version of Cartoon Network’s “Toonami” block they made a huge comeback with a better design.

Between a much cooler animal look, advances in engineering, and a better promotional campaign I’ll get more into in the final review of the model itself, this new incarnation of the Zoids lasted longer than the previous two attempts and have a decent cult following in the toy collecting world. These motorized model kids could actually walk on their own, some requiring batteries while the smaller ones had a wind-up motor that allowed them to walk and move other parts. That’s half the fun of building them.

If you’ve been reading this site long enough you may have seen other Zoids in my collection sitting on part of my comic collection because I don’t have anywhere else to put them. This is one of the reasons I stopped buying Zoids kits, but at a closing Kay Bee Toy Works I came across the Gunblaster Zoid and it looked like fun to build. I got as far as the base body and then never had a chance to return to it. This week it was time to correct that and finally build this baby. I will say that forcing myself through as part of a project isn’t as fun as doing it casually, but it was the principle of the thing when it came to completing this task. I’m going to take more time with the Mega Man model kit and try to fully enjoy the building experience, but this one has waited long enough. Let’s get building!

Talking Transformer Toy Terminology

Okay, this week’s project is continuing the video projects drive, but I’m using the same general tips from the previous backup drive reorganizing so why go over that again? So I thought maybe this week I’d use another video.

As part of my decluttering I have reviewed numerous Transformers figures as well as other action figures. So far all I’ve managed to sell through the “clutter for sale” section are the MegaMan NT Warrior figures, though I did get a couple of offers for one of the e-dexes…which I’m not planning to sell at this time. I want to move the stuff I know I want to get rid of before I reconsider stuff I’m on the fence about. I’m sure I’m not the only one looking to declutter a toy collection but some of you out there may not be up on all the action figure terminology, especially when it comes to Transformers, when it comes to buying or selling toys for your collection or perhaps someone who passed away and left a lot of these plastic-and-occasionally-metal transforming robot toys.

So for fun and to have an article worth posting this week, I found a video by the YouTube channel TF Collector going over all the terms used by Transformers fans, collectors, and sellers both official an unofficial that you should be aware of not only for Transformers but many of these terms also apply to other action figure lines. Here’s your 101 on toy terminology.

Transformer Collecting For The Declutterer

While failing to get caught up on my YouTube backlog I came upon a video by toy and media reviewer TJ Omega that got me thinking about collecting Transformers when space is an issue, given the current overflow of new Transformers toys. My current collection is probably only eclipsed by my comic and home video library…and I’m not even sure about the home videos. Being unemployed means I really haven’t had the chance to get more in years, and given the current space (or lack thereof) that may be for the best.

If you go to the store or a site like Amazon (there aren’t a lot of toy store options in the US and the toy section in regular department and clearance stores are disappearing faster than the department store) you’ll find not only mainline Transformers figures from Hasbro, already made up of multiple lines targeting kids and/or adult collectors, but licensed merchandise, home video releases of the show, collections of the comics, various types of prose books, and it seems the variations just keep on coming. Watch the video for yourself and see how far you get in all the different lines both transforming and statue that are coming out. Then return to reading as I have what I think is some good advice about how to balance collecting with de-cluttering while bringing up a few things not in the video.

Book Report: The Unofficial Guide To Transformers (1980s-1990s)

In this time of the internet I can easily go to a website like TFU.info and look up pictures of Transformers figures, with a list of all accessories, remolds, repaints, redecos, all official alternate modes, and name reuses. Back in 1999 this was not the case. The internet was just getting started in the public sector, storage and bandwidth were smaller, and the web site design software was still rather privative compared to today.

So Transformers fan J.E. Alvarez got together with some fellow collectors to create The Unofficial Guide to Transformers: 1980s Through 1990s, a collection of photos and trivia published by Schiffer Publishing. Alvarez had previously worked with them on a similar book on action figures. The book goes through the history of this toyline that managed to stick with adults as well as find a home with the new children that took their place. During the previous project I stumbled upon it and thought this might be a good book to review.

Toy Report: Final Faction’s Churro and Air Assault accessory pack

Yes, I know this site and the project that spawned it is supposed to be about having less junk than more but here me out. I’ve had a terrible few weeks. I’m not even going into all of it because I seem to be coming out the other end of a bad time, I’m hopefully almost done with doctors and tests after tomorrow (I wonder if I should call this “doctor visit season”?), and I’m ready to get back to work. The last two weeks have been videos of someone else cleaning. Trying to snag the photos for this was a larger chore than it should have been. Point is I’m not having a good time and something needs to make me happy. This was still cheaper than a “pity Transformer”, something I had my eye on for a while waiting to come out, and it doesn’t take up a lot of space. It’s not something I’m going to do a lot of and it’s time for projects that may lead to more removal so I’m giving myself a pass on this.

If that’s not enough: chiwawa in a flying mech suit with guns. Argument over.

Final Faction is kind of a throwback to 1980s action figures like G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. It’s exclusive to Dollar Tree, a former dollar store that just went $1.25 on my last trip out there earlier this week because (or so I heard) some influential and greedy boardroom member doesn’t understand what a dollar store is for, especially as the economy gets worse with the idiots in charge of said economy. Then again I’m not sure how an extra quarter is going to boost their revenue. There are two episodes of a CG cartoon that shows either this is meant as a humorous homage or someone doesn’t know how the 1980s worked as it’s kind of goofy. I first heard about the line from an episode of the YouTube channel Retroblasting (here’s the video if you want to know more about the line) and it sounded neat but not something I was interested in. Then I saw the first episode of the promo cartoon.

Still not interested in most of the line so I probably won’t get anything else from this series but one thing stood out immediately: chiwawa in a mech suit that’s also a dog that it uses to fight alien invaders. I’m too much of a geek to say no to that, especially given what I’ve been through as of late. Sadly fans of this idea would have to wait until wave 2, which just recently came out around here. (Connecticut is notoriously slow for getting new toys, which really used to annoy me when I could collect Transformers.) So for under three bucks I have this silly thing and the accessories seen in the episode. I’ll explain that as we move into the review.

Reorganizing The Bumblebee Shelf

My latest addition and the review I did last week highlighted a problem with the infamous Bumblebee Shelf beyond not having the paint I want to redecorate it. I’m running out of space for it and it’s not a very exciting display. They’re just standing there like their having their driver’s license photo taken and I’m not sure you need a driver’s license when you are the car. This week, as I have the okay to start doing more I wanted to dust off and reorganize my Bumblebees to make room and to have a little bit of life to it…at least the ones with any decent form of articulation.

And yes, Scooter of the GoBots is there as well. I didn’t have anywhere else to put him as he kept falling over on my computer desk and I like to pretend Scooter and Bumblebee are best buddies. In this space the Autobots and Guardians get along.

So take a trip with me through the Bumblebees, including the ones I haven’t reviewed on this site before.

Transformers Report: Buzzworthy Bumblebee Origin

In the first episode of the original Transformers cartoon, we get to see Cybertron, including some of the Transformers in Cybertronian mode. However, not all of them were so rather than design new robot modes that looked like they turned into Cybertronian rather than Earth vehicles (not that the show’s designs really matched the toys that well in the first place) they just used the same old robot character models. This includes Bumblebee above. Dreamwave comics and a fan convention toy did attempt to give Bumblebee a design based on his Cybertronian mode, but no toy tried to make his Cybertronian vehicle turn into his Earth robot design. Until now.

Target stores in the US have released an exclusive line called Buzzworthy Bumblebee, a set of new and remolded/redecoed toys based on the greatest Autobot of them all! Granted, longtime readers know I’m so heavily biased that I have a shelf dedicated to Bumblebee, so your mileage may vary. With still no income and recent purchase needs draining my stimulus checks (at least they came at the right time for me…just wish I could replace some of those funds (he said while pointing to the Clutter For Sale section)) I’m not making an effort to get as much from that collection as I would like, but with all the medical issues this year, including the surgery and later kidney stone that caused the latest hiatus, I think I earned both a pity Transformer and finally getting to see Transformers: The Movie on the big screen after 35 years. So both have occurred. The movie I’ve seen so many times that it was more a bucket list since some of the excitement is gone. Still enjoyed it.

Meanwhile, one of the original molds for Buzzworthy Bumblebee is an attempt to reconcile his cartoon model’s robot and Cybertronian vehicle modes. It’s not perfect and I’d be surprised if it would have come out clean, but it’s still not a bad job.

GoBots Toy Review: Crasher

Well, I didn’t get a chance to pick up what I wanted to. For some reason I was tired all week and one night I didn’t sleep well. We’ll see what happens in the next week or two but for now I said I would review something so review something I shall. I’ve noticed that there are really long stretches between reviews of my GoBots (while my Transformers get reviewed in batches) and that I haven’t reviewed any of the bad guy GoBots (also I’ve only reviewed two GoBots) so this time I broke out Crasher, one of Cy-Kill’s top agents.

The backstory of the GoBots is that they are humans turned into robots to save themselves from a major catastrophe or in the original promo booklet just to replace “worn out parts of their body” but I like the cartoon version better. The cartoon, Challenge Of The GoBots, took the opportunity to add female characters to the heroes, which as a race of former humans made sense whatever your opinion of Transformers having genders are. Since Crasher wasn’t in the promo booklet there was no assigned gender so she became a she. Others would appear in the pilot miniseries like Pathfinder, and would later include more on both sides, but that may not have been the intention for the original Machine Robo figure or what Tonka was thinking, since this was a toyline for boys. So give Hanna-Barbera credit for that.