Robots In Disguise 2015 (Part 11) - Minicons Wave 1

Next up in my detailed look at the Hasbro Robots In Disguise 2015 toy line, cartoon and related media are the first wave of Minicons. These little one-step wonders are intended to interact with the newly-released Deployers, Drift and Fracture. Having appeared relatively early on in the first season of RID, we've had to wait some time for toys of Slipstream, Jetstorm, Divebomb and Airazor. However, wave 1 consists of two extra Minicons too that have not been featured in the show, those are Dragonus (Decepticon) and Sawback (Autobot). Also, Airazor and Jetstorm are so far only available with the Deployers themselves.

Transformers Adventure (TAV-18) Drift

I actually had no intention of collecting the Takara Tomy Transformers Adventure (TAV) versions of the Hasbro Robots In Disguise 2015 toys. I was going to buy the locally available Hasbro versions of RID 2015 because that was a wonderful novelty in the UK, and I was going to watch the cartoon with my daughter and wear the cheap-ish toys down into the ground with our playtimes. A destiny every toy dreams of , surely. However, after my Hasbro RID Bumblebee became broken and I sprung for the show accurate TAV-01, together with the images of TAV Drift and how much better his deco was than Hasbro's, the die was cast. TAV-18 Drift arrived this week - amid news of TAV Drift:Origin, a piece of news that lit my Twitter feed up like a Christmas tree when I shared it.

Robots In Disguise 2015 (Part 5) - Warrior Class Optimus Prime

After multiple Argos "customer views" and the promise of finding the last currently available RID 2015 Warrior Class figure in the UK - Optimus Prime - a random trip to a local Sainsbury's resulted in a lucky find. Apparently Sainsbury's now have the wave 2 Warrior Class Drift and Optimus in stock, making it the best store to start a RID collection from. I've now got every Legion and Warrior Class figure from RID 2015 (Grimlock and Sideswipe Legion en route), all Legions were great and the Warriors on the whole have been really good fun, if not the best feeling figures in Hasbro's illustrious history and requiring some adjustment time to appreciate. So how does Prime compare?

Robots In Disguise 2015 (Part 3) - Mobile App

So you've just bought 5 new for 2015 Transformers Robots In Disguise figures and you have to admit they're extremely simplified versions of what used to pass for a deluxe. The show looks good but the toys are more money for less toy, the mobile/tablet app is clearly for children and those of us who are more collector than people who play with toys will continue to plum for Generations, Masterpiece, Combiner Wars and 3rd Party for a fix of new toys. Wrong, that RID crap grows on you, man. These new Transformers are fun, they become more enjoyable with every day and that damn app is actually created to appeal to those who crave organisation, completion and purpose in their collecting. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. So here I am, desperate to buy and experience more RID 2015, playing the app on my iPhone regularly over the last 2 days, continuously scanning in my Warrior class figures. Oops. Anyway, here's a quick look at the app, and I mean quick.

Robots In Disguise 2015 (Part 2) - Warrior Class Wave 1

Yesterday, I wrote the first part of my look at the new Hasbro Transformers toy line for 2015, "Robots In Disguise". Despite dodgy first impressions of Warrior Class Drift and Bumblebee, the very next day I had gone to Sainsbury's and bought Warrior Class Strongarm and Grimlock, both of which are ever so slightly more interesting than the typical heroic fancy car-bots.

Robots In Disguise 2015 (Part 1) - Warrior and Legion Class Wave 1

2015 sees the launch of a new Transformers cartoon and mainstream toy line. Robots In Disguise seems to pick up where Transformers prime left off, with Bumblebee leading a small group of Autobots on Earth against a horde of escaped Decepticon prisoners. The toys appear very reminiscent of Transformers Animated, as does the series, but overall the aesthetic and engineering of the figures appears considerably simplified. I haven't been able to resist picking up Transformers that are actually sold in the UK somewhere other than TRU and the show appeals to me, so here we are. Let's have a look at Warrior class Bumblebee and Autobot Drift, as well as Legion class Bumblebee.

Generations Drift

Here's the dedicated Generations Drift post I promised. Drift as a character was first introduced by Shane McCarthy in IDW's All Hail Megatron #6 in 2008, drawn by celebrated TF artist Guido Guidi, and as you would expect of anything 'new' in the Transformers universe among the sea of established characters and relationships, it was met with mixed reactions. McCarthy makes no secret of the fact that Drift was modeled after ancient Samurai warriors and uses a "cool" Japanese drift car. His inception was due to McCarthy feeling that there was a gap in the Autobot lineup for rehabilitated Decepticons or bad guys who had seen the error of their ways, or simply switched sides. He felt that the IDW approach to Transformers meant that more grey areas existed between good and evil, and the creation of Drift was that perspective on Autobots vs Decepticons personified.

New Arrivals - Mid-September 2014 (Part 1)

After buying every comic-related appearance of Shane McCarthy's brand new IDW Transformers character "Drift" in almost every cover variant available, it was about time I bought the toy! But that's for a different dedicated post, I also came into possession of my seemingly favourite thing in the world, more repaints.

ROTF Lockdown

Just yesterday I posted about acquiring the 2010 Revenge of the Fallen Lockdown from a friend, and here's a quick post dedicated to this outstanding figure. Released in the Western world first as a TF Animated character, the bounty hunter received multiple decos in that line including "Blazing Lockdown", "Stealth Lockdown" and an Activators release plus repaint called "Bandit Lockdown". This excellent original creation found his way into the ROTF toy line as a quite extraordinary deluxe as well, one that is starting to demand interesting money. An appearance as a Bot Shots character aside, his biggest role is now in the 2014 summer blockbuster Transformers 4: Age of Extinction as the main villain. It is the Age of Lockdown. In the spirit of Lockdown, if you have the Age of Extinction soundtrack, stick on "Your Creators Want You Back" and (hopefully) enjoy this short non-article.

IDW Drift #4 C4 Exclusive with Alex Milne Sketch

Since I already split up my planned "IDW Comic Treasures" post by sharing the Dark Cybertron #1 sketch cover by Andrew Griffith, I may as well dedicate a very short post to this treasure as well. This is the Central Canada Comic Con (C4) Pop Culture Expo exclusive cover for IDW's Drift #4 (of 4) mini series from October 2010. What makes it extra special, apart from being a very tricky exclusive cover, is that it contains a personalised sketch from Drift and More Than Meets The Eye artist Alex Milne.