September 2005

New SD Gundam toys have been sighted in North America.

According to a post on the Ultra Action Toys messageboard, the final round of SD Gundam Force toys, previously thought to have been cancelled outright, have appeared at a grocery store in British Columbia. Pictured in the thread are Tallgeese with Griffon and the massive GunPanzer, and sighted were the Bakunetsumaru with Entengo and Heavy Weapons Captain Gundam sets. For reference, all of these except GunPanzer should be in boxes the same size as the Burning Gundam/Master Gundam Hyper Mode sets.

For US collectors, I advise visits to discount food store chains, as this is what I'd assume "Save On Food" to be. Also, it might be worth a visit to your local KB toys, as this is where the last two US-released MSiA premiered direct-to-clearance.

If you do find these somewhere in the USA, please let us know, as we'd love to get our hands on them. Happy Hunting!

...and goes to KidsWB. Starting Monday, September 19th Transformers: Cybertron will be added to the KidsWB weekday block.

Although KidsWB is still controlled by the same parent company as Cartoon Network, the show should be free from the questionable decisions being made by the current head of programming at CN. With the new GI Joe cartoon airing on the 4KidsTV block, it begins to appear that Hasbro is trying to move its properties away from Cartoon Network. Likely a wise decision, as Transformers: Energon, aside from a few weeks in prime time, spent its entire run at 5:00am, completely unadvertised. If you kept up with the toys, I'm sure you saw or maybe even own a figure whose packaging had a sticker trying to spread word about when the show was on.

Oh, yeah. It also kinda expands the show's potential audience since one need not necessarily have cable to watch it anymore. Overall, it should be a good move for the franchise. It may be a little difficult for some viewers with poor reception of their WB affiliate, but most cable and satellite subscibers get local channels as part of their service. If not, there's always BitTorrent. Episodes are usually made available shortly after they air in Canada.

So, be sure to check your local schedule next week to find the exact time Cybertron will show in your area.

...today's review is Landmine, who I presume is an update of the Cybertron character of the same name. Either way, he's worth a look, because his Cyber Planet Key feature is the most compelling use of the gimmick I've seen so far. Granted, the only part of the Attack Mode you technically need the Key for are the sort-of-silly buzzsaw blades, but even so a third mode is more than the key is implied to do for Hot Shot or Vector Prime- unless you count Hot Shot's spoilers as a new mode, and I can't see why you would.

Landmine is actually the fifth Cybertron release I've picked up, and so far I'm really enjoying the line. Hopefully now that the animated series is in (hopefully) better hands, Cybertron will enjoy the kind of popularity its quality deserves. Time will tell, I suppose.

Hopefully, not as much time will pass before we have new reviews coming- there's plenty more Cybertron, and Gundam is looking to have a strong Fall as well. Stay Tuned!

To mark the end of Cybertron's first week on the greener pastures of Kid's WB, we have Red Alert, who is really pretty neat. It may seem like a small thing, but I find the fact that his allegiance isn't readily detectable in Vehicle Mode (and hidden by the tint of his windshield, at that!) very appealing. Consider the new KB-exclusive repaint of Energon's Downshift: take a gander at the Autobot insignia- nearly as large as a Mini-Con- and ask yourself if this could really be considered a Robot in Disguise. Red Alert can be, and that's nice to see from time to time.

I've also made a small update to my two previous Cybertron reviews, and all three reviews now identify which Cyber Planet Key is included with each figure at the top, where all the useful statistics and measurements are posted. I really should've done that from the start, but at least I'm doing it now.

That's two Cybertron reviews in a row- I think one more would probably count as an inadvertent theme. Will it happen? Maybe, maybe not- check back soon and see!

...or, if you prefer, "What, no DRAGOONs?"

Just in time for Gundam SEED: Destiny to come to a close, today's review is of course the MSiA Strike Freedom Gundam, which I really expected more from. But even apart from lacking its most definining weapon, the issues brought on by the golden undercarriage are something of a dealbreaker too. I'm used to some slight variance in colors between painted and molded parts, but the two colors here are barely related. Add in my other scattering of complaints, and you have a toy that was not all it should have been.

It is nice to see that Bandai finally elected to make the wings of hard plastic- I had expected them to do so for the original Freedom (For those wishing to compare the two I heartily recommend ExVee's review of that figure) and I was surprised and disappointed that they wouldn't do this, this simple thing which was apparent to me, a layman. I've never seen Bandai make any changes this important to a reissue, but I'd dearly love to see it happen.

What's next for us? Your guess is as good as mine. Check back with us soon and find out!