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As you may have noticed, CHS has been largely devoid of news about the supposed new series that has been called “Armada”. While I can’t speak for the rest of the site, I will at least give the reasons why I have not reported any of the ‘news’ that is out there.
First, let me say that, in my opinion, CHS has always been about reporting news that is confirmed and reliable. If we speculate, we report it as such. Granted, CHS has no grand connections or inside information from Hasbro. We have, however, built a good repor with some of the people connected to Mainframe. From whom, we have gotten no conformation of any of the information presented about the series. That said, let’s go through some of the information that has been proved about ‘Armada’.
The first report about Armada that I saw was from Transfandom.com, giving a report from ‘The 2005 Message Board’ that outlines the details of a number of characters and events in a new series of the same name. As I read through some of the details, I became quite surprised and disturbed by some of the things that I read. While I won’t completely recreate all of the points made, I will go through some of the more interesting ones and critique them appropriately.
- Optimus Prime, of some sort, is returning, whether it be the RID Prime or the G1 Prime is unknown, since the story does involve taking characters from different “series” and bringing them together. Okay, first point of argument here. Let’s briefly (and realistically) discuss the nature of Hasbro, and what they do. Hasbro is a toy company, a struggling one at that. They are in the business of selling toys. Let me say that one more time “They Sell Toys”. If they fund a series, it is to sell toys, in particular, new toys, or at least toys on the shelf. Now, Hasbro being such that it is, will want to create a series that extenuates the “New” toys that is it sell. I know this may come as a shock to some people, but Transformers isn’t a series that happens to have toys designed around it. “Transformers” is a toy line that usually has some sort of cartoon series as a vehicle for selling more toys. My point in all this? Bring back a bunch of characters for a new line of toys would be quite costly, and honestly not very business savvy.
- The story doesn’t take place before Beast Wars. It doesn’t take place between G1 and Beast Wars. The series itself takes place around this time, in an alternate universe, so to speak (unfortunately, a story can be changed in the stroke of the “delete” key, so this may change as time goes on). If this is the case, why is any of this being stated? Ugh, let’s move on.
- As I stated days before the AllSpark post (shameless self plug, bwahaha), Mainframe is doing the work. Again, who do you think did the CGI for the RID Optimus Prime intro on the toy commercial? Okay, when I read this, I knew this whole mess had a fishy smell to it. Recap of what Mainframe does…Mainframe creates really cool CGI animates series. The upside to this is that the graphics are way, way, way cool. The down side? They take time to build and program and render. Even if this series does include all the characters that are claimed to be involved in the series, there is no way Mainframe could produce the series affordably. Yes, they could do the work, but the time involved would be great and the work, enormous. This translates into expensive; meaning money out of Hasbro’s pocket. This in mind, it doesn’t seem like a smart move for Hasbro. If anything, this series would simply have to be cell animation, just to have the number of characters.
- Guns. Lots of guns. This is just silly, especially considering current events in America
- Key characters. Up in the air at the moment are Cheetor, Rattrap, Prowl (G1/RID), Starscream (the one and only), Shockwave, Hot Rod, Tarantulas, and more. Okay. Let’s make another important point here. Silverbolt was in Beast Wars. Now, it wasn’t the G1 Silverbolt, but low and behold, they had the same name? How can that be? Well, Hasbro reused a name that it already had, and in the process, made a nice reference to the original series, which, you guessed it, helped sell toys. Now, jump ahead to RiD, let’s consider that Hasbro wants to ride this train that is has started with throwing around old names and creating interest (and market share) in its product. Hmm, they might want to keep doing that.
Something else to keep in mind. Even if they do make a new series with the supposed ‘original’ Starscream, what of that character still exists? Well, first, the new series would have new writers and a new story line, so the likely hood that Starscream would be exactly as we remember him, and be loved for the reasons that we did, is unlikely. Also, being an actor, I would like to think that some of that is Characterization, and seeing as Chris Latta is dead, it wouldn’t be “The one and only” since that character is (literally and figuratively) dead.
- New figures galore. Not as many repaints as seen in RID. My problem with this is the term “Galore”. Year to year, there haven’t been Transformers released in the “Galore” range, well, ever. The most may be 20 new figures, that including repaints from Takara, or very basic design changes to create a basically new toy( i.e. combiners).
Now, since all these nuggets of information have been ‘broken’, we have learned that Mainframe has no clue about a new series, and other voice actors (at least our connections) haven’t heard a thing about it. Now, this doesn’t mean that nobody is working on a series, just that it is very, very, very unlikely that Mainframe is creating this series. If that is true, it throws in to doubt this entire, supposedly reliable information about the new ‘series’.
Okay, so what do we know for sure? Well, we know that there are indeed, some form of chase assortments that are currently being listed by Hasbro with some vague name references, including something saying that they are called “Transformers: Armada”… That’s it. That is what we know. That is what is definitely known about Armada. You may have heard this or that, but what proof have you been given? Have you seen pictures of the toys? Have you seen ads from Hasbro? Have you read confirmed letters from reliable and noted sources (ones who confirm their information with connections to Hasbro etc.?). I would doubt that you have.
I don’t know what is going to happen with Armada. I don’t claim to. If you read all this in the hopes that you would learn something new about the series, sorry. I have done little but to burst the bubble of those of you who thought that these bits of information were unquestionable forms of ‘news’. Now, I may be wrong, and all these things may come to pass, but I find it unlikely. If you gain nothing else from this essay, I hope that it is a bit of criticism for the information that you are presented with. Heed the old adage; “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is”
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BBTS
Winter Clearance Sale! Over 1500 items on sale, some as much as 90% off.
Best Buy
Xbox360 Elite with $50 Gift Card
Target
$1 Game Reservation Cards – Reserve copies of upcoming titles including Bioshock 2 and God of War III and get a $5 target gift card when you redeem your card for the title. In Store Only
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2 pack Bludgeon and Jungle Attack Ironhide $47.99
Best Buy
Blu-rays $10 to $14.99 on sale including Dark Knight and Fight Club
Toys R US
Buy 1 Get 1 Half off on All Blu-Ray Movies including Star Trek and Transformers: RotF (in store only)
]]>Save 15% on All Older Toys & Graphic Novels Until 2010
‘New’ & ‘PreOrder’ Items Not Included - Everything Else On Sale
Choose Your Favorite Menu & Start Saving - Sale Ends January 1
Best Buy
Xbox 360 - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen $19.99
Nintendo Wii - New Super Mario Bros. $39.99
Target
50% of select clearance games (in store only)
Toys R Us
Buy 1 Get 1 Half off on all PS3, Xbox360, Wii Games, DS games and DVD’s priced $19.99 or less (in store only)
]]>I’m a closet ad shopper. I love nothing more than digging through the weekly ads of various retailers to find the best deals, even if I don’t partake of the deals myself. So I though, why not pass all this research on to our listeners and readers. So here we go, the first edition of the weekly guide.
Bigbadtoystory.com
Last Minute Holiday Savings Sale
Best Buy
$5 Gift Card on Select DVD’s or $10 Gift Card on Select Blu-Ray Discs When you buy two.
2 for $40 on select Blu-Rays including Revenge of the Fallen, GI Joe, Star Trek and more.
Toys R Us
Buy 1 get 1 $20 off on select Wii Titles
Buy 1 get 1 50% off on select Video Game titles for all systems
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In the beginning, there was darkness and chaos. Then came the Great Creation, and the entire Universe was formed. In that universe, there was a single spark of energy. The spark traveled around the universe, gathering power and knowledge. And behold the power became conscious and alive, and it called itself Vector Sigma.
But in the entire universe, Vector Sigma was all that was conscious. And so, Vector Sigma took a spark of its being, and placed it in a dead world, and behold the world became alive, and Vector Sigma was please, and he called the world Unicron. But Unicron was different from Vector Sigma and he felt alone. He was only a world, a sphere in shape, he could not move, or see, or touch, or create.
Vector Sigma felt the pain of his son, and so he decided to create another. He took a world and molded a head that it could see and speak. He molded arms that he could build. He molded legs that he could move, and he gave him a spark of his energy that he would live. And so a new son was born, and Vector Sigma was well pleased and he called his son Primus. And with his son Unicron, he gave him a special gift. He gave him a form like that of Primus, and the ability to change from world to being and being to world.
Vector Sigma called to Primus and Unicron saying, “My sons, go forth in the universe, search high and low, until your heart is content. Learn all that you can, and return to me with what you have found. So, Primus and Unicron set out into the universe to learn all that they could. They searched in galaxies and black holes, through stars and nebula. When they learned all that they could, which took a billion years, they returned to Vector Sigma.
Vector Sigma spoke to Unicorn saying, “My son, I fashioned you out of a dead world, I gave you form and gave you life of my life and sent you to learn all that you could of this universe. Tell me that which you have learned. Unicron spoke saying, “Father, who fashioned me out of a dead world, who gave me form and gave me life of your life and sent me to learn all that I could of this universe. I have learned this; we are stronger and more powerful than anything that exists. We should use this power to dominate and control everything in the universe.
Then Vector Sigma spoke to Primus saying, “My son, I fashioned you out of a dead world, I gave you form and gave you life of my life and sent you to learn all that you could of this universe. Tell me that which you have learn. Primus spoke saying, “Father, who fashioned me out of a dead world, who gave me form and gave me life of your life and sent me to learn all that I could of this universe. I have learned this; we are stronger and more powerful than anything that exists. We should use this power to protect the weak and for the greater good.
Vector Sigma spoke to both of his son’s saying, “My children, with whom I am well pleased, you have traveled the universe and learned all that you could. Unicron, you are correct, we are more powerful than anything in the universe. Primus, you have found the truth of existence. We should use our power to protect the weak and for the greater good. Unicorn, you will learn that dominance is not the correct path, for freedom is the right of all sentient beings. My son Primus, with whom I am well please, I appoint you protector of the universe, and all who inhabit it.
Unicron heard all this and was angry. “I am the elder and the stronger of Primus. I should be rewarded.” And hate was born and grew inside Unicron. He altered his form to that of a planet and waited for Primus. When Primus came near, he did not know that the planet was his brother in disguise. Unicron surprised Primus and attacked and killed him. Vector Sigma felt his son’s death, for Primus’s life was of Vector Sigma.
Vector Sigma called out to Unicron saying, “My son, you have killed your brother in hate. For this crime, you will be banished to a dead world, you will have no form, and you will have to eat to survive, for you will no longer exist of my life energy. And so Vector Sigma removed his life energy from Unicron, placed his consciousness in a formless planet, and banished him to the farthest extent of the universe.
Vector Sigma then took his son’s lifeless form, renewed its energy, and hid it in a lifeless world. He called the world Cybertron, then he spoke to Primus saying, “My son, here you will be hidden from you brother’s evil, on this world I will create beings to protect you and care for you. They will not be given my energy, for I am too powerful. They will take the power of Unicron, which is less than mine and will give them the ability to change form. Then Vector Sigma took the energy from Unicron and created the Matrix of Creation, which was used to create all the beings of Cybertron, and to which all Cybertronians return when they die. He then took some of his own wisdom, encased it in a crystal, and locked it in a Matrix saying, “This matrix is the only thing which can fight hate. If Unicron should return, this will be the only thing that could stop him. It will be the task of all Cybertronians to guard it, and keep it safe, for the Matrix also brings wisdom and understanding to its possessor. Let it be known as the Matrix of Leadership. Vector Sigma then took a peace of his being and placed in on Cybertron, that all who wished could share in is wisdom. And so there was peace on Cybertron. This was the Golden Age of Cybertron, which reigned on Cybertron for a billion years, until the time of the Great War.
]]>The best of the three though was Titans. This series featured the most separation between the issues, as far as content is concerned. In the case of Superman and Batman, I would challenge the first-time reader to jumble up the issues and figure out what order they go in, since the same stuff happens in each issue. In Titans, on the other hand, the story seems to actually build in a particular direction and some interesting things actually happen to the characters along the way.
WARNING: Beyond this point, Spoilers will be found!!!
Overall, I was intrigued with the story revolving around Dove. While it’s not a huge surprise that white light will cancel out the Black Lantern’s power, it is interesting since it gives a character that isn’t directly related to a corps the ability to fight the Black Lantern hordes.
However, I found the story related to Donna’s dead baby and husband rather gratuitous. I was especially put off by Donna crushing the head of her own dead baby; messed up. I felt that much of this was done to shock the reader. I’m not sure if this story will actually impact future events, but since Donna has been “bitten” there is a possibility.
SPOILERS END
Overall, it’s not great, but “Blackest Night: Titans” is definitely the best of the worst of the series. If you want to read any of the material not directly related to the main story, this would be my recommendation.
]]>Later, individuals like the Lukis brothers came up with the concept of the add-on set. Their first sets, made back in the early 2000’s, involved stands and weapons for various Beast Machines figures. It was only recently that this market started to really take off. With the introduction of companies like FansProject and iGear, we are starting to see full on, production upgrade and add-on kits designed to enhance the existing figures.
One such popular item as been the “City Commander” set from FansProject. This is an armor set, originally designed for the Classics Ultra Mangus, in order to give him a more show like appearance. This item was so popular that is has been reissued in several different colors and is even now seeing additional changes from FansProject and released in the original Ultra Magnus colors.
But now, in an interesting marketing move, iGear has come out with an upgrade for the upgrade. That is to say, iGear is offering an alternate head mold designed to replace the existing one on the City Commander set. Personally, I don’t know that I like this actual head mold, but just the brilliance of trying to profit off of a popular product of one of your seeming competitors is sheer genius. So far, this field is unregulated; Hasbro has seemingly turned a blind eye to these products. Does FansProject have enough of an ownership of this product that it might want to try to keep iGear out of its toy line or do neither of these companies really have the right to do what they are doing?
Personally, I’m all for the free market and letting these companies compete openly with each other. Maybe FansProject doesn’t care and hopefully they don’t. The last thing the upgrade market needs is a nasty legal battle that will mostly likely see the end of all of these products. But what do you think? Are these products a waste of money? Are they an infringement on Hasbro’s IP? Or are they just another way for collectors to enjoy their products with no real harm to anybody?
]]>This week, everything changed. As several news sources have pointed out, Netflix compatibility will be coming to the PS3. That’s right; you will be able to use the same feature on the PS3 for $9 a month that XBox360 users are paying $9 + $60 annually to use.
To fully understand the impact of this, one has to understand that the war between the consoles is heated. PS3 users, like me, cling to the systems’ ‘bang for the buck’. It has Blu-Ray, DVD up-convert, wi-fi, and full access to the Playstation Network (PSN) without the need for an annual subscription. This also includes standard wireless controllers and full USB and Bluetooth compatibility. Xbox360 does have many of these features, but most of them require the purchase of additional accessories or subscriptions. And to be fair, the XBox360 online feature, as far as connectivity and the social connections, is still ahead of the PSN.
But when talking to XBox360 owners, many would run for the hills and mention the Netflix capability. In the face of all the other added costs, they would cling to this one feature as the shining example of the XBox360’s now and forever superiority over the PS3. How the mighty do fall.
So I’m waiting for it now. What excuse will the XBox360 owners come up with now to explain why a system that is the same price as the PS3, but has half the features out of the box, deserves our hard earned dollars?
Let’s hear it…
]]>I’m a massive consumer of information. When I find a topic that I’m interest in, I become a ravenous beast and start to dig for everything I can find on the topic. So way back in 1998, I became armed with the internet for the first time and I realized there was an entire internet presence for Transformers. So I picked apart everything I could find. I dug through Benson Yee’s site and DVD’s site. I found the comic archive and just started reading issue after issue and I started to get caught up on the then current Beast Wars series.
What I realized was that there were many different eras of Transformers, sometimes with conflicting histories. I decided I wanted to make a web presence based around reconciling this issue. I chose the name for my site and called it “Ages of Cybertron”. While the site didn’t last, the title has always stuck with me. I feel it’s even more fitting now that there are many distinct eras and continuities. So a part of this blog is going to be trying to do what the original site was supposed to do. That is, dig into the different ages and find out what defines them, what makes them similar and what just doesn’t make sense.
While this will make up a good deal of the content, it will not be all that you see. I plan to delve into many different areas of fiction. Another favorite show of mine when I was growing up was Connections with James Burke. In the series, our host would show the linking paths between two seemingly disconnected objects, people or events. That’s another way I see this blog. Digging behind the stories and finding the links between them.
Now, don’t hold me to that; sometimes it’s just going to be reviews. But my hope is to make this blog thoughtful and interesting and hopefully, (though not likely) funny at times.
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