Toysday: In the Dark of Night

     Happy Halloween, everyone. I hope everyone is having a good day and month. I hope if you want to be in the spirit, you are. And I hope the spirit and spirits of the season are with you.

     So what to post that is dark and spooky? that I haven't ever posted before?

     After All, I posted Zombie Cliffjumper back in the day

     I have no place in my collection for a Nemesis Prime. I don't much care for the concept, just like I am not that interested in a Bizarro Superman(or as Bizarro would put it: Me am totally interested in Bizarro!) The best enemy for a hero is not his complete opposite from a dramatic standpoint. In my opinion, it's just an excuse for a lazy black repaint.

     So that being said, I pulled the trigger on Striker Noir, when I never bit on Striker Manus. Striker Manus is an excellent figure, but his alt-mode doesn't quite say Optimus to me. And then I saw Noir, and his freaking arsenal.

Mega-Sword and windvane gun. 

Curved blades

Star-Saber and Prime blaster

Lightsaber!!

SMGs

Axes

Axes combined

Axe extender

And Alt-mode

     I like Prime to have either a full earth mode or a non-earth mode. this is between. This guy actually gives me a good snake eyes vibe. In my headcanon, he's a commando, maybe a mercenary, but tending toward the autobot cause. A silent lone commando. A Dark Knight, if you will.

Monday Media Musings: Geomovie

     Sam and I caught Geostorm yesterday, and it was surprisingly enjoyable.

No, not this Geo Storm.

This Geostorm

     This was a very calculated movie. I say calculated in the sense that you could see where they planned to hit all the appropriate feels. And I don't mean that as a negative. they hit those feels. Even down to the boy reuniting with his dog after the tornadoes. Because who doesn't love a dog(except me...I am kind of indifferent if there's no feathers.)? The movie has clear opinions- it clearly believes in human caused environmental change. It takes a poke or two at the current political leadership

     The title comes from the theory that if there are a certain number of extreme weather events, it will cascade into a "Geostorm" and it will cover and destroy the world. While this may or may not be true, what was certainly proven is that if you put enough pieces of other movies into one film, it will cascade and become pieces of all other films you never intended- I saw bits of Armageddon, Gravity, Iron Man 2... and a lot of the music sounds like transformers 2. Just to name a few.

     What I learned from watching this film...(with possible spoilers...WATCH OUT!)

• If you are led to believe that the democratic sitting president is the bad guy, bet that the conservative secretary of state is actually the villain. 
• The pretty blonde secret service agent is badass.
• Satellites can be piloted from within. they make great escape pods.
• The modern space suit is highly durable and will not tear or rupture even as it's wearer smashes across what appears to be 30 miles of random space station parts and barely catches himself on the last pipe on the very edge before flying off into infinite space. 
• We now know what "hot enough to fry an egg on the pavement" actually looks like. 
• The international space station is surprisingly roomy inside. they make weather satellites there.
• while extreme weather can kill cats and seagulls, the dog survives because that's what we want to see. 
• As much as we might want him to, Gerard Butler Can't say "Madness? THIS IS SPARTA!!!" in every movie. 
• At the end of the day, when the hero and heroine are in danger, count on a Mexican to save them. Seriously. 

     Would I recommend it? it was a good watch, and worth bargain-priced entry. My Roommate is a connoisseur of disaster flicks and her criteria for this one was that she enjoyed it for that price and she would buy the DVD when it hits Walmart's $5 bin. 

     All I know for sure is that I can picture a room full of hollywood typed and probably losts of quinoa salad and someone saying..."well, what if we put in a scene with a dog? that'll hook'em"

Toysday: The Last Titan

     Today I am featuring three titans return decepticon seekers, all using the original Triggerhappy mold.

Three Titan Masters...

That makes this post...

A TRIPLE HEADER!

     Triggerhappy with Blowpipe came first- Blowpipe as a titan master gives Triggerhappy's guns a concussion blast. I love the vehicle mode

     Then we got Misfire and Aimless- Aimless gives Misfire an ion Particle blast, but does not improve his shooting one Iota. Alt-mode is even better here, and much more magenta

     And they gave rise to the final retail figure of the line, making us wait all the more impatiently for the power of the primes line. 

     Slugslinger and Caliburst- Caliburst gives the ability of ultra-high speed shooting to his partner, Slugslinger. I love th double-cockpit ship, was very pleased to acquire him. 

Cappy sat in on this. 

Monday Media Musings: Accidental Activism

     So I am taking a little departure from my traditional format to talk about how I accidentally became a social activist this week.


     I was watching one of my T.V shows and a commercial came on for PayPal. Understand I have no issue with PayPal, I think it's a wonderful service. It's just that in this case, in my considered opinion, someone in their marketing department didn't review a commercial closely enough, possibly because he was looking at it through his belt-buckle.(draw your own conclusions about where that places his head at).

     So the Commercial in question opens on a woman entering a kitchen. there is a note there, that says "Welcome Janice. please feed Skipper". We see that Skipper is a Jenday Conure (I Believe) in a less-than suitable cage(a round canary type cage)

Jenday Conure

     So Janice, apparently a house-guest, made responsible for the bird, opens the cage to feed Skipper right in front of the open kitchen window. And Skipper is true to his/her name, and skips. Straight out the window. Janice calls Skipper back...once... and goes to PayPal. And we hear "need a new Skipper before anyone notices?"

     Yes. Janice furtively replaces Skipper, via Paypal, with this:

Cinnamon Green Cheeked Conure

     So we have a bevy of bad messages, from Bird neglect to one bird is just like another. If you're a dog person, and you had someone watching your golden retriever, and then presented you with a cocker spaniel, and tried to pass it off as your baby... you would be as taken aback or more than I was at seeing this commercial.

     Folks, you know me and birds. I stared at the scree for about 30 seconds going "what the hell did I just...I couldn't have seen...what the HELL???"

     There were a lot of ways that commercial could have been done with or without a bird, to not make it offensive. And yep, I know it was an attempt to be humorous, and I can take a joke, but you can tell a joke or make a funny commercial without treading on the loss of a treasured family member, or the fear of that loss. For more of my thoughts in a similar vein... check here. People are weird about birds as pets.

     So I posted on PayPal's general feedback forum, called their customer service, and finally went to my bird groups on Facebook. I got a lot of responses there, but was also asked...

"WHERE'S THE PETITION??"

     So I created a petition. I'm including it here if you feel this was a wrong message to send, if your conscience leads you to sign, sign.  I am going to include a link to a video someone put up of the commercial, but it's on Facebook, so I am not sure it will work if you are not. 

The Video: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ParrotPoop/permalink/1461158353980108/

The petition: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/paypal-remove-the-offensive-Parrot-Commercial

     Usually I don't let stuff like this bug me that much...but My birds are a soft spot, and I am not alone in that. 

 Hashtag social bird justice warrior. 

Toysday: Upgrades

     I've mentioned before here, that I love Dr Wu products. So when I saw that he was coming out with a set for the already excellent TLK Voyager Optimus...I had to. And it does not disappoint, not one bit. Introducing Dr. Wu M08 Judgement!

     Bigger and more detailed than the shield and sword that came with him, they store in the same places and fit great.

     The shield expands and the gun barrels flip out. 

The Sword looks great, and stands up beautifully against Megatron's sword

     If you have this figure, the upgrade is highly recommended. 

Monday Media Musings: Heroic Origins

     Every good hero has a good origin story- Swearing vengeance for the deaths of your parents, or taking responsibility for the life you failed. Hurled from your dying world as it's last son, or given a power ring and made into a green space cop.

     What I am contemplating today is the story behind the story. When Siegel and Schuster created the Superman, they were inspired by other fantastic heroes of the day (I found a nice Bio on them, here). Martin Nodell created the Golden Age Green Lantern from an image of a trainman waving a lantern on dark track, plus elements of Wagner's Ring cycle.

     Yesterday I saw Professor Marston and the Wonder Women



     It was a good film, well acted, and respectfully handled. The subtle nods to things that inspired different aspects of the character were just that- not thrown into your face, just placed there for those in the know to catch. The Movie is R, for language and sexual content, so this is not one for your kids. William Moulton Marston  had a very unconventional relationship with two different women, both of whom he loved deeply, and who loved each other in turn. Their relationship was incredibly brave by modern standards, and damn near foolhardy brave by the standards of the times (the twenties, thirties and forties).

     Marstons granddaughter has come out saying the story is made up, and doesn't reflect the family accurately. She said the family was not consulted.

     The truth?  Who really knows? No one now was there to tell the tale. I liked the movie, and it seemed to have some truth to it. Go see it, form your own opinions. It's a good story, and a good story can make a pretty enjoyable couple of hours in a theater.

     So I leave this post with a quote from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Ransom Stoddard: You're not going to use the story, Mr. Scott?
Maxwell Scott: No, sir. This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.

Toysday: Jump Start (or Tow Me Away)

     Way back in the day, when Hasbro was trying all kinds of stuff with their original transformers line, there were two experiments called Jumpstarters. They were pull-back-motorized toys that would roll forward, jump into the air and snap to a standing position. Crazy, right? Their transform was essentially a sharp waist-bend, when the catch uncatched, they would unfold and spring into the air. They were super-common toys back in the day, I had Topspin, but ended up giving him away during a purge.

     There was a little bit of later self-kicking, so I was really glad to see that the Titans Return line was giving them an update. It's a really good update. They don't transform with a jump any more, but the new toys have the blocky, bulky look of the originals, and are Titan Masters, also. The transformations are highly innovative, and despite the retool status of TwinTwist, there is a lot of differentiation between the two.

      They cam with the same pair of weapons, that can be used separately or plugged together. to make them look a little more different I display them differently

And to the title of this post, I go to Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull, to the album Crest of a Knave

Monday Media Musings: A Sparrow's Flight

     Today(And the release of POTC5) has me contemplating the curious journeys of Captain Jack Sparrow. I'm going to Omit anything here that is not POTC Movie Cannon(intentional). I am also far less concerned with his sea voyages than I am with his journey as a character.

     When we meet him in The Curse of the Black Pearl, he is a genius of improvisational tactics, able to lie like Loki himself, and is seeking the ship that was stolen from him. He has a cutlass, a pistol with one shot, a compass that points to what he most desires, and a list of enemies dead and alive that is staggering. He loves the Sea, The Black Pearl, and Rum. In pretty much that order.

     Bold, Fearless, Obnoxious. He is a classic trickster, carrying the seeds of his success in one hand and the seeds of his own downfall in the other, and juggling...

     When we meet up with him again in Dead Man's Chest, he is being , pursued by the supernatural Entity Davy Jones,

Not him.

Him.

and considerably more fearful. Jones intends to take Jack's life or the Black Pearl, as part of a bargain they made. Sparrow runs from his fate as long as he can, but when he can run no more, he faces his end with style and boldness, running straight into the teeth of the Kraken.

     When we find him in the Locker in At World's End, he seems to have gone somewhat mad, and fragmented into personalities to keep himself occupied-not necessarily multiple personalities, more like highly focused versions of himself. When extracted from the Locker and returned from the land of the dead, he is wrapped in his endgame with Jones and Cutler Beckett, but also wrangling for position with Hector Barbossa. At the end, he is free of that bargain, and while he loses the Pearl and his crew, he has a map in his possession of wonders galore that he can exploit.

     On Stranger Tides finds him athwart the most feared Pirate of them all, Edward Teach, AKA Blackbeard, seeking the fountain of youth. Not a captain now, but a conscripted sailor on Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge. From this spot, he attempts mutiny, and is left alive only because Blackbeard and his daughter need the knowledge Jack has.

     Dead Men Tell No Tales is a curious turn. We Find Jack Sparrow, drunken, broken, still brilliant, but even more self- sabotaging. I think it's here that we truly start to see the shape of this character. There are two personae, the public and the private. And the public Persona has all the good stuff. Jack is a bit like me. I have been described as being always on stage(and not always as a compliment). And when he starts to Dazzle with Dexterity and Baffle with Bullshit, even his most bloodthirsty foes, whom he has delivered the gravest insults to, wind up watching in fascination. Alone, he creates an audience to perform for- he entertains himself, as it were. On stage, if he feels he is losing the confidence of his audience, he will resort to even more extreme behavior until he has their attention back. And I think it comes down to one seminal event, told in flashback in Dead Men Tell No Tales

     When he saves his ship and defeats Salazar, he is given tribute from the crew. It is in this event that Jack the Sparrow is truly born, and set on a path to remain a captain, on stage for his crew to observe his brilliance. When their confidence slips, so does his mask, and we see the lonely child behind the legend...

     This might be why the Rum is always gone.

Friday Funnies: Nushooz

So I found these at Walmart. Are they Crocs, or just something to wear while dragon your feet?

Toysday: The Lost LIght

     I semi-follow the comic, love the character designs, and MMC seems to have taken up a vow to do these characters comic-accurate. I love MMC, too- they produced my first third-party figure purchase, my first Arcee figure, and they continue to put out excellent designs.

     There have been a lot of opinions, pro and "'con" on the decision to write Megatron into an autobot. For my dollar, the storyline made it make sense, and matched up with Megatron's decision at the end of Transformers Prime to disavow the decepticons.

     And now as penance for his millions of years of war crimes...he is co-captain aboard the lost light with Rodimus

     Also aboard are Ultra Magnus, Nautica, and Skids

     Cyclonus and Tailgate

it's incredibly important to know that Cyclonus is not a decepticon...

     Swerve and Whirl(who may be the angriest autobot in the world)

     Perceptor, Brainstorm, and Drift

     Chromedome and Rewind

And many others as well, which I will be adding or updating in other posts...Stay tuned!