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

BBTS

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

PS3 – Arkham Asylum $39.99 

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

ROTF Deluxes $8.99

Buy 1 get 1 $20 off on select Wii Titles

Buy 1 get 1 50% off on select Video Game titles for all systems

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.