Tag: Transformers
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 241 – Unicron toy is practically planet-sized
Today I added one of the biggest Transformers ever made to my collection. The new Amazon-exclusive Unicron 25th anniversary Transformers movie edition arrived in a huge box and despite the fact that Unicron eats planets, I for some reason wasn’t expecting the toy version to be quite this big. The photo below shows the figure, still in the box, next to a G1 Soundwave reissue. Unicron stands around 15-16″ tall, with the box adding another couple inches. It’s HUGE. I haven’t taken it out of the box yet, but I will soon. And I will transform him into a planet, naturally.
Surprisingly, this is not the biggest Transformer toy ever produced. That honor goes to Fortress Maximus. But this one sure is close. The colors match his appearance in the animated Transformers movie fairly well and apparently he makes sounds and his eyes and fist light up as well, once I put some batteries in there. This character was one of Orson Welles’ last roles before he died, so that makes the toy extra special.
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 170 – Hasbro takes on LEGO with Transformers KRE-O
While wandering through Toys R Us today (as I do quite regularly), my attention was quickly grabbed by what appeared to be Transformers LEGO sets, something that had never been released before. But upon closer look I realized they weren’t LEGO sets after all, but rather KRE-O, a new brand of building blocks from Hasbro that’s taking on LEGO head-to-head. It even says in a shiny sticker on the boxes that it works with “other” building block systems. That’s right, the pieces are nearly identical to LEGO blocks.
I’m not sure how Hasbro can stay clear of a LEGO law suit for patent infringement as they’re so similar. The good news about Hasbro not using LEGO for their kits is that they’re less expensive this way. A KRE-O Bumblebee 335 piece kit was only $25, where as a similar specialty, movie-licensed LEGO kit would likely be $40-50. Likewise the massive 542 piece Optimus Prime KRE-O kit from Hasbro is only $59.99 – likely to have been $70-100 if it were LEGO branded. So, naturally, I bought several of the kits and will happily build them soon!
Check em out on Amazon here.
MONDAY MUSIC: My Grammy Awards Performance Highlights
For me, the Grammy awards are never about the awards themselves (many of the artists/songs are either incorrectly categorized or nominated alongside incomparable acts). The unique performances are the real reason to watch the broadcast. This year, I felt like the performances were more miss than hit, but amongst the barrage of hip hop nonsense there were a few notable acts, so now I bring you…
My Grammy Awards Performance Highlights
I’m certainly not the only one putting my favorite 2009 Grammy performance moments online, but my list will likely be considerably shorter than most, as I only truly enjoyed four out of the twenty-something performances throughout the show. First…
The Not-So-Great Moments
I’ll probably get some flack for not being a U2 or Coldplay fan, but I don’t deny that I’m somewhat of a music snob. If I don’t like it, I’d rather it not exist. While I didn’t particularly mind either of those groups, I really could have done without Katy Perry, the Jonas Brothers (even with Stevie Wonder), Kid Rock, and the terrible foursome of Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, and T.I. The only good part about that performance was their supporting use of M.I.A. and I could have done without her bizarre “show the world I’m pregnant” shirt. I will admit that Kanye’s afro-mullet was rather amusing and the silver, sparkly outfits that he and Estelle were wearing as a duo went perfectly with their disco-influenced tune.
I really, really hate country music so Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, and Sugarland were all mute-worthy for me. I had never even heard of Adele before last night and didn’t really pay much attention to her (though I’m pretty sure she’s not a country singer). Taylor Swift was the least country of the country bunch and I might have enjoyed her performance if it wasn’t ruined by Miley Cyrus’ gritty really-close-but-not-quite-in-tune vocals. I’ll give Swift credit for being an actual musician and not just a corporate creation.
Flying under the radar were Justin Timberlake, Neil Diamond, and the twosome of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Timberlake seems like a likable and talented guy, but I lost interest as soon as T.I. began his endless and breathless stream of words that I’m pretty sure at one point included the phrase “fried chicken.” Timberlake’s earlier performance with Al Green, Keith Urban, and Boyz II Men was better, but still not something I particularly enjoyed.
Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” seemed to bore anyone under the age of 50, including me, though every time I see him I can’t help but laugh when thinking of Donald Faison’s excellent Diamond-inspired rendition of the Transformers theme song. Despite the facts that I do enjoy the occasional Led Zeppelin track and that Plant and Krauss won several major Grammys last night, I wasn’t thrilled by their performance either.
It was great that Jennifer Hudson could belt out the notes that she did after living through some terrible family tragedies last year, so I won’t say anything bad about her performance. That type of music just wasn’t made for me.
So what did I actually enjoy about the performances on the 2009 Grammys?
Paul McCartney with Dave Grohl
YES. The Beatles meets Nirvana/Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl returns to the drum kit and pounds the life out of it to an ordinarily calm Beatles classic. Is there anything more fulfilling? Relive it here:
Disclaimer: I’m a huge Nirvana fan, so seeing Grohl drum is always a treat for me. I attended a Foo Fighters concert in Atlanta, GA several years ago and was pleasantly surprised when he played the drums for a song or two. I never had the chance to see Nirvana live in concert, so it was the next best thing for me.
Anyway, just prior to this performance coming on, I had commented to my wife that there wasn’t nearly enough MUSIC being featured on the show. There were plenty of vocalists, rappers, and some backing bands, but it wasn’t until McCartney and Grohl got out there that we could finally enjoy some simple guitar/bass/drums rock and roll.
Radiohead featuring the USC Marching Band
I’m not a huge Radiohead fan, though I do enjoy most of their music, but this performance was excellent. I am supremely jealous of those college kids. Here it is:
That was an excellent use of a marching band, as it didn’t sound like a football game for one second. Instead, the song was well arranged and you could tell that each of those kids was having a blast performing it. Giving the snare players hi-hats was a good move, as it definitely decreased the typical snare-driven marching band sound. The horn section really rocked their parts.
The Four Tops with Ne-Yo and Jamie Foxx
I’m a sucker for oldies. I grew up listening to them with my father and love to see some of the originals still in action decades later. Ne-Yo and Jamie Foxx filled in nicely alongside the two remaining members of The Four Tops. In case you missed it:
The songs have certainly been played to death over the years, but nothing beats hearing some of the original singers belt it out.
Tribute to Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley was one of the greats and while I’m not sure I would have included John Mayer or Keith Urban in this tribute, it still worked. Buddy guy was good but B.B. King was the one that gave the tribute some authenticity, as he had actually played with Bo Diddley. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a video of this tribute online (yet), so here’s some classic Bo Diddley instead:
From the sound of those screaming girls, you’d think the Jonas Brothers were performing. How times change.
What were your favorite moments and performances from the 2009 Grammy Awards? Comment!
TweetFirst Look at Soundwave from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
There’s another Transformers live-action movie called Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen coming out on June 26. While I enjoyed the first Michael Bay-directed Transformers film, it did have many flaws, not the least of which was the gnarly look of the Transformers themselves in their robot forms.
While I sort of got used to the fact that Optimus Prime had lips and that Bumblebee was a Camaro instead of a Volkswagen Beetle, the look of Megatron never worked for me as he didn’t even remotely resemble any previous incarnation of the character.
Now, another fan-favorite character, Soundwave, looks like it will be butchered courtesy of Bay. Soundwave was famous for his monotone voice and ability to transform into a cassette player (complete with transforming Decepticon “tapes”). You probably remember him looking like this:
Now take a look at what Hasbro has lined up for the product line for the new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen film:
What… is… THAT?! No, seriously. Soundwave? What? More proof:
And instead of transforming into this:
He’s going to transform into this:
HUH? Why even bother calling him Soundwave?
It’s the same nonsense Michael Bay pulled with Megatron. Yes, I realize that he wanted everything to “make sense” by only transforming into items that didn’t violate physics. So Megatron turning into a small gun or Soundwave turning into a cassette player wouldn’t make sense. But we are talking about robots from another planet traveling through space and landing on Earth. Would it be such a stretch to say they could not only transform their shape but also their size? Not much of a leap, in my opinion.
Michael Bay – Why must you torture us so?
Pictures from Action-Figure.com and Transformers Classics.
TweetFRIDAY FLASHBACK: ’80s Cartoon Logo Wallpaper
When it comes to computer desktop wallpaper, I like to keep mine fairly simple, but still feature something interesting to look at. Recently, I was looking for a new image online that met that description but couldn’t find anything that appealed to me, so I decided to create my own modern versions of…
’80s Cartoon Logos
You can click any of the images below to enlarge & save them or download a Photoshop PSD (80sLogos.PSD, 26.4MB) containing all of these wallpapers and graphics, organized into layers. You can also jump to the end of this post for text links to each individual wallpaper.
Inspector Gadget
My hunt for wallpaper initially began with the idea that I wanted the MAD symbol from Inspector Gadget, which is one of my favorite cartoons of all time. I could not find the MAD logo anywhere, so I screen-captured it from a DVD and created these:
Every time the MAD logo was drawn throughout the Inspector Gadget series, it looked a little bit different and was never quite clear, so it took a lot of work to create a version that looked just right.
Those two images are great for centering on a black background for use as desktop wallpaper, but I though all the black around them was a little dull, so I placed the image onto a dark wood texture:
But now that I had the MAD symbol, I couldn’t stop there, so I drew Dr. Claw’s chair:
