UPCOMING RELEASES # 01: EHOBBY Alternity A-01 Ultra Magnus feat. Nissan GTR!

10:24 AM in Alternity, e-hobby, Exclusive Repaint, Ultra Magnus

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS:

This is yet another uber-cool release THAT IS MOST LIKELY, IF NOT BORDERING ON THE OBSESSION fan the perpetual "flames" of those hard-core-collector's. Nothing on the details, except that this will once again be another ehobby exclusive. As to when the official release date of this beautiful white repaint of the popular (and crazily sought after) Alternity A01- Convoy, there are unconfirmed reports from several sources such as www.Seibertron.com that fans of this mold can see a premature release sometime as early as July of 2010; whilst other places are expecting a mid-to late August 2010 release.

 

 DO WE REALLY NEED ANOTHER CONVOY REPAINT?!! 

In my humble opinion, the decision from those hobby toy companies are just using this so-called release to gain a few extra bucks, but at the same time (obviously) cater to the fussy collectors like yours truly. The one minor gripe that still bugs me is that the toy makers, in this case the usually ever reliable "ehobby" folks, seem to have decided to take the "lazy" approach by NOT releasing this uber-cool "Ultra Magnus" GTR incarnation in the more "traditional" and "view friendly" windowless style packaging. BLASPHEMY! >:-/

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Pretty tempting, I must admit. Although, the thought of owning another awesome and high quality Alternity toy, aside from the lame reason that he is a straight up white repaint, this beautiful A01 Ultra Magnus WILL be eventually added to my growing "army" of Alternity Convoys. You can bet on that! A++

Alternity : Copyright 2010 and courtesy of Takaratomy and ehobby japan

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First post for 2010! A-03 ALTERNITY BUMBLEBEE FEAT. SUZUKI SPORT (CHAMPION YELLOW)!!

9:22 PM in Alternity, Bumblebee, DIECAST, Suzuki Swift

HELLO guys and gals! Wing Saber X is back to bring another fast and comprehensive blog-view for the first month of the New Year 2010! This release had tongues wagging since the resin prototype appeared on the internet forums sometime in the middle of 2009. The initial response, as with the majority of the ever fickle and insatiable Transfans was one of discordance and trepidation. Their main gripe was the size of Bumblebee, and aside from the uber-spot on head-sculpt which screamed "G1 Homage1", he had a rather unique transformation scheme-- the car roof became the pudgy and unsightly "beer-belly".


Oh how things have changed, and after the official release of this incarnation of Bumblebee a few months ago in November 2009, he, along with fellow "Mnibot" partner in crime, Cliffjumper, were released simultaneously to the gratuitous praise and oohs-ahhs from purring Transfans worldwide. Not to least mention that the initial pricing of these mini-marvels and kickass homages came at a ridiculous amounts. Read: RM180! With one of the least amount of Die-cast for both figures, I could not fathom and justify paying for them considering the size class as well. But, luckily for me, I managed to snag them under RM150 per figure form a reliable source in KL. I have always been a big fan of realistic, real world cars which have the ability to transform into uber-super robots. The crazy and super ramped up tech specs are courtesy of chuckcjc from the popular fansite TFW2005.com!


I wont go into detail about the transformation process, as there is always Peaugh's Youtube reviews--which are highly detailed, and the fact that he makes transforming transformers toys look dapper and cool while holding a camcorder! LOL. This video review can be seen here:Peaugh reviews A-03 Alternity Bumblebee!


Also, as I have gotten some unwanted and let some unfortunate posters put a damper on my postings last year by discrediting, flaming and saying my blog is blasphemous, therefore, the following detailed pics of A-03 Alternity Bumblebee , is courtesy of the uber cool Japanese blogger Hinjaku. I swear by this...and is 100% totally convinced that the Japanese toy collectors are the only ones who can take super cool pictures of the toys/collection which they are reviewing/kit-bashing. From now on, my blog will be watermarked, and only pictures of the toy MINT SEALED IN BOX will be featured. This is to avoid all the negative posters from defacing my credibility. A slight rant, if you will for people out there who are judgmental and unfair/childish/ trolling...etc. Ahem. Anyway, i really cant be bothered at all, and they can say nasty unfriendly words, accusations BUT... my blog will COME BACK FROM THE DEAD : BIGGER, BETTER AND MOST DEFINETLETY STRONGER!!




FINAL THOUGHTS: ROBOT MODE

Smallish in size, and no bigger than a Deluxe Class Classics/Henkei Bumblebee. But fret not, the head sculpt and homage factor alone is worth paying money for, PLUS, he is the prefect~update both in terms of style/playability and aesthetics for any fan of the tiny Yellow Beetle Volkswagen .

CAR MODE:

Cute, compact and as expected: highly detailed representation of the real Suzuki Swift Sport. Perfect for displaying with your fleet of die-cast cars or your ever present growing collection!
Neat, innovative and value for money!
My next mini blog will be about his Autobot brother in arms : Alternity Cliffjumper!

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WAY OF THE DARK SAMURAI: A-02 ALTERNITY MEGATRON DIAMOND BLACK VER.

6:20 PM in Alternity, Diamond Black, Katana, Megatron, Nissan Fairlady 370Z, Samurai, Sleek, Warlord

Alternity Diamond Black Megatron: Samurai Overlord!

Hello there, fellow readers! Once again, [Wing_Saber-X] is proud to bring you another quick-fire mini-review featuring the Destron/ Decepticon Emperor of Destruction in his latest incarnation! Yes, ladies and gentleman, the sinister character here under the spot-light is none other than: Alternity A02 Megatron Diamond Black. Ver. !

Sexy in Black!

This is the latest release in the series of Japanese Super sports cars i.e. after Alternity convoy feat. Nissan GTR, Megatron is once again reincarnated into the Nissan Fairlady 370Z, only this time, he gets the "super Black" treatment ala Super Black convoy feat the Nissan GTR. This paint scheme, like Alternity Convoy, is already in its third release, after a silver and blue colour release. So far, I have scoured the internet in order to get Diamond Black Megatron's bio, but there have been none which has been translated from any of the vast Transformers forums, websites and message boards. Thus, I'll have to take a "rain-cheque", and offer my sincere apologies for not linking his bio, guys and girls. :-P

Looking Good!

Got him off hand at a slightly decent price than what we can obtain from the internet, and of course as usual, he comes in the compact but stylishly packaged Alternity packaging. To me, anything to do with "Black" repaints always goes well with my system, and this black beauty is no exception. What marvels me the most is that the Takara toy engineers were able to produce a stunning miniature car model only 1:32 scale in size, no less, with a detailed articulation, hood, and car engine, PLUS not to mention a detailed interior! which folds neatly and functionally when conversion into robot mode takes place! Okay, enough of pointless ramblings, guys, and lets quickly shift our attentions and begin the mini-review, shall we?!

Compact and neat packaging!

Car Mode

His car mode is pretty to look at, albeit also suffering from the same kind of "line" panels break, which is unavoidable, unfortunately, as it is required in his design in order to transform into his robot mode. The black sheen on the care looks awesome, and is just like looking straight at a "real-world" shrunken-down Fairlady 370Z! The added extras which consists of all four sporty-silver-tyre rims, translucent headlights, red tail lights, and the Nissan Fairlady Z logo embossed on the back and front of the care mode just adds a level of wonderful detailing on an already flawless car mode. Love it! 5 ***** stars / over 5 ***** stars!

Car Mode: Back and Front View

Both his side doors open fully, and so does his hood, revealing a highly detailed looking engine!

The interior shows the standard seats, a dashboard, as well as a steering wheel and gear box. The coll thing about this feature, is that once folded in robot mode, the interior detailing is hidden from view.

Okay, guys, if you thought that the car mode looked pretty awesome, then now we shall move on and take a closer look at what everyones keen to see: Megatron's Black Ver. Robot Mode! Although he is similar in design as his silver and blue counterpart, to me, this Black Ver. Diamond Megarton just has an overall feel and looks miles ahead. There is no denying that the red, gold and black colour combination lends to an air of "Shogun Warrior" even more so. Underneath the car mode, you can get an idea of how his robot mode details are laid out when you transform him to robot mode. For weapons, Megatron carries duel two-handed gold coloured Katana's. Also you can see the Samurai Armour influence to the right side diagram. He has a plated Kusazuri/ or Tassets (guards) which fold at the bottom of his car mode. Also, the Old school Megatron "bucket" head design is more streamlined here, this time with the Japanese Helmet or Samurai "Kabuto" reference which even more Japanese Samurai Battle-Armour Influence shown here.

Robot Mode

His robot mode is pretty much the same height as the rest of the Alternity's which have been released thus far. His car doors are folded to the sides, and compact-- the designers are once again taking the Samurai element as when folded up, the car doors do vaguely resemble a pair of "Sode"-- or Shoulder Armor. The kibble-car back portion is evident here, but to me it doesn't hinder/ limit his overall robot mode appearance. If anything, it give the impression that he is carrying some sort of "back-armor"!

In robot mode, the Kusazuri forms into Megatron's upper leg/ waist Armour, revealing the Destron/ Decepticon emblem.... which I suppose, also represents his "Meadate" or Samurai Crest/ which usually adorns the Kabuto/Samurai helmet. Subtle touches like these only adds to the coolness/ kakkoii factor of the overall design! Megarton has a huge level of articulation as seen from the following gratuitous shots! As usual, the Die-cast content is pretty much 40-60 -- meaning only certain parts of the robot mode are die-cast, which include: the waist, thighs, lower legs, and front bonnet of the car has some amount of die-cast

Overall, this is one sleek car and robot mode which gets better each time it is seen, with this kickass combination of black, gold and red. I would highly recommend Alternity Diamond Black Megatron, especially for those who are Japanese car enthusiasts, and also those who are casual die-cast car collectors. The pictures don't really do any justice to the high level of toy-engineering, detail, paint apps, ans overall quality of the toy in question! Also, added to the fact that he is painted in glossy, car-illuminating BLACK paint, he already gets a big thumbs up in my hard to please book! On that note, so ends the mini-review of Alternity A02-Diamond Black Megatron! He most deservedly gets a high scoring review of 5 ***** stars / over 5 ***** stars! My most favorite of the Alernity Megatron's thus far!

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