Transformers: Titans Return Seaspray is Something That Exists

Its a given that in an ensemble action/toy franchise, one big enough to have it's cast in the dozens, they will be a dude whose job it is to have the seaborne adventures. It makes sense, there's entire genres of fiction exploring such things. The thing is that this often a gimmick, and an isolating one. If you have a dude whose whole thing is that he's tishman or summat, logically he's not gonna be great on land, and if people join him in the sea, you run the risk making somebody else look naff. TV Tropes calls this phenomenon "This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman", and it's Seaspray's fate. Appearing in season 2 of the Sunbow show, Seaspray was one of the "suddenly there" characters, one with a distinctive manner of speech, and a couple of highlight episodes, but not much else. But I had that toy as a kid, and do so today actually, so here we are. I do occasionally have my irrational favourites.

This isn't the first time I've written about Seaspray, actually. I did so a worryingly long time ago as part of my "Radical Regenerations" format. That toy was made during a period when Hasbro was much more willing to totally rework a character, something much less common these days, barring the recent Wheeljack hoo-hah. That toy made Seaspray a much bigger chap, not unreasonably as hovercraft are actually pretty massive, but still kept his fundamental dorkiness by giving him flippers & scuba gear. Today's subject is somewhat closer to the source material, but isn't anywhere near as slavish as the modern crop of deluxe minibots, which Seaspray will no doubt join eventually. Titans Return brought plenty of G1 characters back, but modernised, remixed, and made to fit the line-wide gimmicks. This Seaspray is therefore a logical progression, drawing from both animation and toy sources, while doing stuff he explicitly didn’t do before in the name of play value. 

 

This is most evident in his vehicle mode, which is obviously more detailed than the original toy, but also more angular. Even allowing for the rarity of hovercraft, it's obvious who it is, but they've added a touch of white up front, and tampographs like the old toy stickers. The use of yellow meanwhile is slightly more prominent, with black merely being paint, rather than a shadowy hollow. What seems to have been a passenger area on the original has been reimagined as a missile launcher, and is is the first of several removable oddities. The launcher is secured by three small tabs and like TR Brawn, the larger one, needs to be removed for transformation but also has detail underneath so it's no biggy if it goes missing. The blue propellers and rear underside are also removable for no obvious reason. While the above are basically harmless curiosities, what is less forgivable is the exposed head. While I suppose you could argue that this is a nod to the original toy, the actual reason is that is Seaspray dedicates a lot of internal space to a Titan master compartment, and I am 1000% sure that they could have had the head fold away without that. The hands are also hanging out in the back there, and there's no castor wheels, which are downers but not actually deal breakers by the standards of the time. Overall its quite a charming little vehicle mode, especially if you pair him with a solo titanmaster. This is an area where the TakaraTomy version possibly has the edge, as ole TT didn't do solo Titanmasters, and remixed their parts into other releases. Thus the Japan release of Seaspray comes with some deco differences and a little headmaster-type dude called Lione, whom invites a lengthy tangent I've cut from this article.(Short version: TakaraTomy got weird and broke the play pattern, thus undermining a love letter to their past work.) If you can get that version, it's probably quite nice, but it's not the clear winner that some Japanese versions are.

In robot mode, positive trends continue, although relatively few new visual elements are revealed. The main difference is the reveal of his yellow legs, as the transformation has similar-if-remixed beats to the original toy. Overall appearance and proportions suggest a dorky awkwardness, with each foot almost being as big as his torso, which, TBH, was the brief. The missile rack gives you some options here, leave it on for Sunbow chubbiness, or take it off the for 80's toy look. This leads us to, in possibly the least likely sentence I will ever write, Sea Spray's interesting forearms. The missile rack doesn't use a 5mm peg, instead it uses one of the tabs to connect near the elbow. 5mm fist-holes remain for compatibility, but it's an honestly clever idea. Both forearms also feature a coded reference to Alana, his one time love interest. It seems he got her name tattooed on him, as befits a sailor, although spelt wrong. Possibly he was drunk, again befitting a Sailor, and many tattoos start that way. So, it's a toy with character, then, where's the downside? Well, articulation is adequate rather than great. Those feet don't really have much in the ankle. 

 

 

My point? Only that Titans Return Seaspray is something that exists. He's probably not the best in his line, but is he fun. 

 

Warhammer 40K: First Impressions of 10th Edition, by an Ork Player

OK, let’s do this. A reactions article to the big pile of rules that have been dropped. I’m kinda obligated to do so as an Ork fan. But, first, I must make a disclaimer. I played precisely zero games of 9th edition, or any games of 10th, so there's gonna be better takes than mine out there. That said, 10th edition is a hard reset of the game, and at time of writing this introduction has been playable for mere hours. We've had several weeks of the rules being drip-fed to us, only to become playable at the very end with release of the points costs. This is something conducive to hype, and sudden disappointment, rather than considered opinions. It's gonna be a few weeks before things have settled down and people have got a handle on the game. In such an environment however, I'm sure my observations are as good as any.

The Big Picture

10th edition is a root and branch reform of the game, and as such there are too many changes for me to usefully address here. However, the biggest change is the one they saved for last, the points costs found in the Munitorium Field Manual pdf. Continuing a design trend we've been seeing for a while, units are costed and composed based on the contents of their model kit. The number of models is fixed, and what equipment options they have have been subsumed into a single points cost. Returning players should immediately recognise this as an evolution of the Power Level system of earlier editions, something that gives me cause for concern. The reason why a lot of people didn't like Power Levels was because it lacked granularity and seemed to be easily abused. People liked fine-tuning thief army lists, and Power Levels were simply not suited, nor intended for, competitive play. The new way of doing things is very much the same thing by another name, so I really hope the GW did some serious play-testing. Assuming this works as intended, army building should be a dramatically faster experience, especially for those armies with a lot of moving parts like T’au, but decidedly less important to actual play. Whatever happens, I expect a transitional period where everyone with an existing army adjusts their squad sizes to be a multiple of 10 or 5, with units like Battlewagon suddenly having new guns glued to them, and people homing in on the one optimal load-out for each unit. Then again, Age of Sigmar has been working like this for years, maybe it's fine. Another significant change, and one I think more welcome, is a general attempt to remove redundancy. Each seems to have been granted a unique party trick to help it stand out and be valid for reasons other than cost. Some armies do this better than others, Space Marines remain bloated in the extreme for example, but it's something I like. The net effect is that the game seems more characterful, the general simplicity of things allowing for two sentence concepts to make big differences. I will say from a general presentation and readability angle, GW has done a fine job.

The Boyz

So, how might Orks work in this edition? Well, let's consider the humble Ork Boy. The bread and butter of the faction. At first, Boyz seem to be rather a lot like they were in 8th & 9th, just the terminology has changed, and things maybe look better? Shootas get Rapid Fire 1 rather than Dakka 2/3 for example, Rokkit Launchas aren't Heavy but still get Blast, and the lads get a 5+ save now. What they don't get is a native bonus to charge rolls any more, that sort of thing now the domain of Stratagems, unit synergy, and the Waaaaggghh. This not to suggest that Orks are any less choppy, the Waaaaggghh effects everything, and often triggers unit specific abilities, while the "army composition" bonus is exploding 6s in melee. You will likely be recognising that as the Goff trait, but the orky clans are not currently present in the rules. I'm disappointed, but not surprised. Boyz notably max out at 20, but their special thing is that they can be joined by two leader models, one of which has to be a Warboss which are being pushed a bit in the Ork Index. Warbosses are pretty hardcore, so that's not really a problem, and it seems to forestall some potential game-breakers. A few interesting effects come out of this, like the Big Mek adding a re-roll-1s shooting bonus, and the Painboy inflicting mortal wounds, which again, is quite characterful. The potential for a 22 model unit is also reflected in the Battlewagons troop capacity, though the Trukk seems fated to have a spare seat. What discourse I’ve seen tends towards mechanisation as the way to go with Orks, as Trukks are notably cheap, although I wonder if people are sleeping on the assorted leaders and their effects. While squad sizes of 30 are a thing of the past, you can certainly pull off a Green Tide.

Meganobz, the Anti-Tank Role & Combi-Weapons

These guys are interesting from a game mechanics perspective. These are a rare unit with multiple squad sizes do to a quirk of the kit, an example of how the new style combi-weapons work, and an example of how vehicles seem to work now. Starting with the vehicle angle, most now have a Toughness of 10, making them much harder for the tried & true Power Klaw to take out. Killsaws do better, but you don’t get many attacks out of them. Orks having difficulties with the anti-tank role isn’t exactly new, but the general theme here is S8/9 and D2/3, so a rethink is probably required. Now, you’d think the clever thing to do here would be to look at Tankbustas, but GW’s “only what’s in the box” policy kinda screws them over, as you can only have 5 of them in a mob, and only 3 have Rokkit Launchas. Yay. Presumably, this is where Beast Snaggers come in, whom come at that problem from a different direction, getting rerolls and fixed wound rolls on stuff. So, going back to the Meganobz, anti-tank is something they can do, but their weapons seem to a favour an anti-infantry role. That’s where the Kombi-Weapons come in, having the Anti-Infantry and Devastating Wounds rules. This makes them quite capable of killing dudes, but also means my favoured tactic of rocking up and setting fire to things isn’t possible any more. Given that exactly the same thing has happened to Space Marines, I wonder if this might be GW applying some common sense. Previously, these weapons were essentially a rifle plus a much better gun, say a Meltagun for humies. Being able to spam weapons like that is exactly the sort of scenario I’m worried about with respects to points costs above, so its good GW closed it off. Also of note: a Big Mek in Mega-Armour can resurrect the dead of its squad. Unexpectedly.

Giant Stompy Robots

Well, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t touch on this. As often happens, there’s been a bit of shift in relationship between Killa Kans and Deff Dreads, with the kans being more immediately appealing. You get three Kans to one Dread, offering more dakka and arguably better melee for the same price. Kans also win on personality, now having a rule that makes their attacks ignore cover, if occasionally shooting that one bastard whom picked on them, aka the nearest ork unit. They also get an improved version of the Big Shoota, thus making that option useful. Where the Kans suffer is in durability and speed. While both get a native invulnerable save, Deff Dreads are tougher and move 10 inches, which is Battlewagon pace, and cause Battleshock as bonus. ‘Orkanauts meanwhile continue being big tough bastards, and have gained a transport capacity of 12, thus meaning they can actually carry units of note. The Morkanaut oddly lacks a Kustom Forcefield though…

Oddments and things That Aren’t a Parargraph by Themselves

Something that affects a lot of units of the Speed Freek variety is the change of Twin-Linked from being two guns nailed together into a reroll-to-wound. This means slightly less dakka overall, the weapons generally have been rebalanced, so.. swings and roundabouts? Do you like Grots? Well, its time to go looking in your bitz box, because Runtherds are mandatory now. They can generate CP though. Do you want to really annoy a shooty army? Well, Kommandos can’t be targeted by Overwatch.

MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Wrapping things up

I’m fairly sure that within weeks, somebody will have found a way to break the game. Its just how statistics and the average wargamer tend to work. I’m also sure that the rules bloat problem will come to haunt this game as much as it did 8^th and 9^th edition. At this precise moment however, its hard to complain when everything is in a free PDF, and GW seems to be actively maintaining its games these days. <Cautious thumbs up>

Kitbash: Deathskull Ork Trukk (Warhammer 40k)

 

As I write this, Warhammer 40k 10th edition is an unspecified, but short, time in the future. The free rules are up, the preorders go this weekend, with the army lists being drip-fed into the community. And people I know want to play it. And so I have unavoidably been drawn back in. I have Orks to paint. Or in this case, repaint. My army spans many editions, and many relapses, so I have stuff I can modernise. My official Trukks where one such example. These were done in red as hadn't chosen a clan, it wasn't a rules thing at the time, and we're a touch beaten up. So into the dettol they went. Today, I briefly talk about the first to be resurrected.

 

My initial plan was to simply do them in blue, and replace the rokkits with a big shoota. I actually made these so long ago, that you could have rokkits launchas on them, thus giving the Trukks a borderline useful thing to do. I.e. harass tanks, if they managed to deliver their Boyz somewhere. The default, and recently only, gun for a Trukk is the Big Shoota, a cucumber sandwich of a thing. Typically, its hard to get those in in sufficient density to make a difference, so bar something unexpected, I fully expect this weapon to be “present” rather than “desired”.

 

Anyways, enough talk of games mechanics in a kitbashing article. Breaking down the first trukk however required some mental adjustment. I’d forgotten that GW had gotten creative with the design of the vehicle and its crew. As these kits go, there’s a pleasing amount of gubbins like a distinct engine block and drive shaft, but I can’t think for the life of me why they opted against a steering wheel and whatever is going on with the gunner’s pose. This is also something I dislike about the “orktober buggies” too; the crew are too distinctive for something you want multiples of. However, it seems past me was a light touch with the glue, and had painted in sub assemblies, so breaking this down was simple. As a result, I decided to replace the gunner with a Grot Turret I'd built for another project, adding new panels in the manner of my many-many scratchbuilds. I also painted it in pretty much the same way as my orky Gaslands cars, the techniques scaling up very well. Remembering how to paint Ork skin & teeth was more of an issue, especially with paint residue being a thing.

 

End result? Pretty good. I’m happy with it.

 

Transformers: Legacy Robots in Disguise 2000 Universe Scourge is Something That Exists

 That's a bloody long title. Moving on...

 

 The 2002 Robots in Disguise Scourge toy

Exactly how uneven can a Transformers toyline be, and yet still be an all-round success? The answer is "Exactly as uneven as the circa 2001 Robots in Disguise line.". This started out as a purely Japanese endeavour, with a similar modus operandi to their Beast Wars spin-offs Neo and Second. As such, Car Robots, it wasn’t Robots in Disguise yet, featured a very small number of newly designed toys versus a huge number of repaints, plus a few previously unreleased toys from Generation 2. However two things ran in its favour. The first was it doing realistic vehicle modes with benefit of Beast Wars engineering, after a prolonged absence of such things. This, combined with the mystique attached to Japanese exclusives, was like chocolate covered crack cocaine to collectors. The second thing was that Beast Machines had failed, so Hasbro imported the line as a stop-gap, adding a few more recycled moulds to the ranks. It was a big success, but parents complained that those new moulds that were so prized by collectors were too hard to transform by actual children, and that's how Armada happened. What does this mean for Scourge? Well, Scourge is emblematic of RIDs repaint habit, also the Nemesis Prime concept, although he's technically a separate thing, and indeed black repaints in general. He started out as a repaint of the G2 era Laser Rod Optimus Prime. It was very much in that G2 sweet-spot where things had meaningful articulation and light-piping, and is still highly regarded today. Scourge, or Black Convoy as he was originally called in Japan, was for most intents and purposes an evil counterpart for that show’s Optimus with no ties to Unicron, and the obvious inspiration for that new chap in the new movie whom does. Unlike many such characters though, his creation was more accidental than anything else. Sure, Megatron was trying to reprogram an Autobot Protoform into a useful slave through use of his own spark energy, but Optimus Prime and a certain recurring comedic character were scanned accidentally too when seeking an altmode. Which I suppose means that Scourge has a mummy and two daddies, whatever you’d count the truck as, plus any parentage he had before. It takes a village to raise a child? Anyways, the concept of an evil Optimus Prime whom was a legitimate threat with a good toy got a lot of traction, prompting Hasbro to make a totally new Spychanger mould of him. I’ve put it in one of the pictures. Its adorable. Can I tell you what's so hysterical about that toy though? It was is only the second unique and purpose-made baddy mould in the entirety of the RID line. The line was that uneven.

Jump forward, what? 20 odd years? Fuck me, and we have today's toy. While there’s been several other toys in the interim, this is the first the really make to the mass market, if as part of the Velocitron Speedia 500 Collection. The base mould is, of course, the Legacy leader class Laser Optimus Prime, which prompted me to chant the words “paint it black” from the first moment I saw it. I never bothered with the original version because A) its not hard to get an Optimus toy, and B) that mould shares more than a few parts with the Earthrise and Siege versions. An expensive toy that recycles bits and is an obvious forerunner to a much more compelling release? Hard Pass. So I waited until Scourge was announced. And then waited for the price to be right. Eventually, I got this for 25 quid on sale, which may be affecting my response to it.

The truck mode is rather self-explanatory. Honestly, I can struggle a bit when it comes to talking about mundane vehicle modes. As long as it rolls and has no obnoxious bleed through from the other modes I'm happy. This toy pulls that off pretty well, and I'd be lying if I said the colours weren't making the best of it. Black tends to conceal many a sin, and there aren't that many here. The back-end and hitch area is where things go a little bit off the boil, but accessories tend to hide the gaps. What's possibly most interesting is that is that you've got storage for the melee weapons on both the cab and in the trailer, a welcome bit of flexibility. Speaking of the trailer, it and it's resulting base mode are perhaps a touch more engaging on their own merits, at least in comparison to the Earthrise version. It's also less involved than the toy that inspired it, which puts it in an awkward kinda place where you can see that they tried but didn't quite nail it. Visually there's no shortage of detail, a fair few ports, and it's hitch becomes a stand for the thing. Weapon integration is pretty good, with a double-barrelled gun worked in as a top hatch, and you can stick both of the melee weapons in there via dedicated slots. The base mode is OK, more adequate than anything else. It folds open with more complexity than the Earthrise version, and more visual interest. It is however mainly unpainted plastic, and is screaming out for an additional play feature. This either needs more guns, or some little chaps to stand there. It's not bad by the standards of modern leaders, and certainly not unwelcome here, but one does wonder if the budget was allocated to the wrong things.

On that subject: engineering. Transformation of the cab to robot mode and back is an oddly complex business, and the reason why it's dishonest to call this simply a retool. The legs are definitely familiar, and don't do that much in the process, but the torso turns itself inside out. It's mad. They clearly weren't trying to modernise the original here, not that there's anything wrong that. It's why both the truck and robot modes turned out so well, but it is noteworthy. At some point, you have to wonder if the presumable savings from doing this are being cancelled out by the changes you end up making to make it all work. Either that, or somebody designed the legs last, and ended up kitbashing an Earthrise Prime.

 

 

Now, let's be honest here, this robot is style personified. It's the contrast of black and magenta, with touches of teal and grey. The presence is immense, with the head sculpt and shoulder pylons being highlights. This is a guy whom could go straight from a night club to a funeral then a society wedding without changing clothes. Admittedly, perhaps to burn down that night club, while the funeral was something he had a hand in, and the wedding had Rupert Murdock on the guest list, but yes. Stylish evil is the order of the day, and just a quick car wash is all he needs, just to remove the blood stains. It's something of a prestige piece, as befits an exclusive repaint, with a lot of the basics done right, with a few nice touches. The thing is, depending on how ya count, there's 17(!) other toys sharing parts with this, before we get into different pricepoints and the movie lines, so a certain degree of nitpicking becomes unavoidable. Colour choices are a little off; Scourge traditionally has more grey in the mix and chest details that suggest windows. This new mould takes it a step further with faux kibble windows which store a removable matrix, so he's closer to the Nemesis Prime concept here. Proportionally, he's a touch long in the leg, something inherent to the mould, but as the thighs are entirely grey it's more noticeable. Posability is Legacy standard, so better than the G2 toy, although the upper arms end up a touch limited due the transformation and pylons, looking skinny with an offset swivel. The accessories have that same "OK, they tried" feel as the trailer meanwhile. The sword and decorative missile silos are fine, possibly in need of paint, but entirely within the Legacy vibe, and if you're basing a toy off Laser Prime, the usage of translucent plastic makes sense in the absence of electronics. The axe however is just unfortunate. I know what they were aiming for, and the combination with the sword is inoffensive, but the colour choices make it look like a lollipop. He probably needed a better firearm too. These are all nitpicks, mind you. It is a good robot mode.

 

My point? Only that Legacy Scourge is something that exists. And that choosing between optimus toys can get a bit like choosing between flavours of potato crisps. There are simply too many made too often. Scourge definitely has his own flavour though, and is based on a pretty good mould. Not an excellent mould, and an occasionally an odd one, but definitely one I don't regret buying.

Resin: Iron Brothers (Ramshackle Games)

 

While Orks remain my main interest in the wargaming scene, that doesn't mean I haven't dabbled in other armies over the years. I have, at various times, fielded Dark Angels, Chaos Marines and Necrons. Some days, you want to actually have an armour save, you know? One WH40k faction I was always tempted by was the Astra Militarium, or the Imperial Guard as they were classically known. These were an army of underdogs and WWII tribute acts, but with one thing or the other, I never pulled the trigger on them. Part of the reason was skin tones; I always found that intimidating, and went out of my way to avoid fleshy bits on models. Ork green is a totally different matter. That technically doesn't exist, so have room for your own take. Human skin is something you see every day, so you can tell when it's wrong. But you know what? I'm better at painting these days, I'm sure I can figure that one out. Some day. Eventually. These Iron Brothers however have full head helmets and are quite inexpensive, so I can work out a colour scheme while I'm figuring how how to do skin. 

 

The Iron Brothers are from Ramshackle Games' military range, a source of Imperial Guard proxies sold on their low price and head variations. I used the default helmet style for these. After a couple of false starts, I decided to follow an old speed-painting guide from Midwinter Minis, see here, to paint 5 of them. In 40k terms, this would be half an Infantry Squad, or a heavy infantry unit in Xenos Rampant. The basic idea is to spraypaint the main colour, then pick out fabrics and detailing with appropriate colours, and then wash it with Agrax Earthshade. Once that's dry, tidy it up with a bit of highlighting and drybrushing, and it's done. I don't normally paint like this, and I'm very set in my ways when it comes to undercoating. That said, I can't argue with the results. I had an issue with my black paint, but these do pass muster as the rank & file. I even added in black boots and brown gloves for variety. It's a quick process too, you could easily do these of an evening and let them dry overnight. Here I used Color Forge Desert Sand Spray, Citadel Zandri Dust, and Death Guard Green for the major colours, with Vallejo leather and Dark Gunmetal for detailing.

I probably spent just as much time prepping and basing these models though. Part of that's just me being me, but its also the fundamentally "one dude in a workshop" nature of Ramshackle Games' product. Aside from a certain degree of flash and brittleness inherent to the resin, these come pre-moulded on little bases of limited use. the Killbots had these too, although I neglected to mention it then as they had plastic bases with them, so it didn't matter. Consider these tobe side effects of the casting process, because it's what they are, and that's fine. I used 32mm bases here with gap filler on top, which are possibly a hair too big, prompting some additional gubbins to fill the space. As models go, they are smaller than Orks and rough around the edges, but not in a bad way. Lessons learned, with a new bottle of Vallejo Black in hand, I took a swing at another 5. These had the benefit of experience, but also different poses. Generally I was happy with the process, and worked more brown into the mix for pouches. By completion however, I was thinking that black wasn't ideal for the guns so I tried something else for the next group.

 

The final l painted for this little project were a group of flamethrower troops with different heads, the "chem" variant to be specific. These heads had a face mask and goggles look which I felt matched the weapons. The bodies and guns meanwhile are clearly based off the chaps above, but with added bulk. I'd go so far to say the flamers are too big for the bodies, but I liked them more than the alternatives, and they match the backpack pretty well. I added some scrap plastic and EVA foam to improve the look and I tweaked the colour scheme a bit too, adding green, gunmetal and Soulstone technical to the head. The guns were done with Vallejo Sombre Dark Gray, while the business end of the flamers got an attempted burnt effect with copper craft paint. I probably shouldn't have bothered with that one black headband, but the overall effect came out pretty great. I'd use these as a Support Infantry unit in Xenos Rampant, with Close Quarters Doctrine and Engulfing to represent the burnyness, although I don't think there's a direct equivalent in 40k just now. I'd probably reshuffle these guys into other squads.

Much later: I realised that these had a "Bob the Hydra Agent" thing going on. Unexpected. But I think I have this method nailed down. I’m quite happy with the results.

 

Overall, I'd say these models are fine for what they are, but I had to keep reminding myself of the price angle. Depending which set you get, these work out to about 78p a model before postage, which is pretty damn cheap. Sufficiently cheap that any prep work you need to do, or additional basing material you need, seems churlish to complain about. Then again, Stargrave and Death Fields are a thing these days, whose models have a similar price bracket, look more professional if we're honest, and have all the advantages of being plastic. So, while I won't say that these models are for everyone, they definitely are a valid choice if the look of them appeals.

Transformers: Legacy Predacon Inferno is Something That Exists

Here's the thing, while I've written in-depth about the Siege and Earthrise toylines, I don't expect to ever write in the same way about Kingdom. The reason? Basically because Beast Wars exists outside of my nostalgia window, and thus I missed out on a lot of it. I've got a lot of respect for Beast Wars, don't get me wrong, but when you have limited resources and a bit of a sulk on about Transformers in general, sometimes you pass on a line. Perhaps I didn't miss that much, it's pretty obvious they didn't commit to Beast Wars fully, and went G1 again because of reasons. Possibly the single most depressing example of that was when the name "Inferno" appeared in stock listings and people got their hopes up. It was, of course, the G1 fire engine guy. Not the Beast Wars era fire ant. And this was a shame, because the ant guy is pretty amazing.

The 1997 Beast Wars Inferno toy

Inferno was a great example of how good the Beast Wars cartoon was. Inferno was completely bonkers. He was totally convinced that he was an ant, and that his status pod was his colony. He was actually a Maximal by birth, but it seems the ant mode he was forced to adopt overwhelmed everything. Or he was just insane in the first place, who knows? When Inferno officially joined the Predacons, this ant mentality led him to refer to Megatron as "his queen", which went down exactly as well as you'd think. He was also a cackling pyromaniac, whom flew around on a blender-butt contraption, burning things. Compared to that, the original Inferno is a cardboard cut-out, and this is me saying this as the son of a fireman with a baked-in love of the Fire Service. Like I mentioned, I'm not a Beast Wars guy, but a literal fire ant appeals to my perverse sense of humour. Inferno's history in toys meanwhile is a touch messy. He was originally supposed to be a new body for Megatron, and later on there was Transmetal ant called Scavenger, whom just seems to be Inferno renamed. There's also few convention exclusives and other trivia, but Legacy Inferno is the first modern retail release. Apparently because, despite of his undeniable charms, his original toy shelf-warmed something fierce.

The ant form is fairly typical of the recent Generations output, and also a demonstration of the fundamental issues there are with an insect mode. It aims for a realistic take as opposed to the original toy, and doesn't try to be as overtly monstrous. This means that this toy isn't trying to copy the transformation scheme of that toy either, resulting in a generally better looking thing with no balance issues. The downside to that is that it's basically a statue with moving mandibles and a port to mount his gun on top. You see, most insects have very small limbs versus their body, and they have a great many of them. Doing that as a toy with movable limbs, let alone one that transforms, is kinda tricky. You're looking at a lot of parts just to stand there, and they have to be thick enough so a child won't stick them up their nose or summat, so you compromise on something. Legacy Inferno's ant form is a compromise favouring visuals, which is fine given the end result, but there's a shortage of play features and 5mm ports. And maybe you don’t want to look at the underside. The mandibles move though. That's something. 

 

Inferno's robot mode however does one thing very well, with everything else being on the good side of adequate. That one thing is the head, his general vibe on point anyway, but it's the head that truly elevates this toy. Its got an opening jaw, and so he can very easily look like he's laughing manically. This is something they didn't have to do, but it really does sell the whole thing. There is this wonderful insane energy to the toy, one that turns the insect kibble from a negative to a reinforcement of the theme. That's another common problem arising from the leg issue mentioned above, its hard to integrate bug legs into a robot, so they just end up, well, there. Inferno manages to carry it off though, it only adds to the insanity. Plus you can do the blender-butt thing. Factor in the typical Legacy articulation, and you're in for a good time. But a realisation hit me, one that made me reconsider my whole stance on Beast Wars. 

 

Now, I known a few robots in my time. A lot of Japanese ones, transforming ones, and western takes. And Inferno doesn't strike me as a robot. I know he is, but the visual language doesn't say that to me. And that's for several reasons. The realistic ant mode obviously isn't a machine, that's the point, but the colour choices and detailing of the robot bits don't say machine either. The original toy has a similar look to my eyes. The Beast Wars era animation models didn't necessarily say robot either, which was both a technical and budgetary issue, so they often leant into the whole "90's shiny CG" look. And that's why I generally haven't gone in for the toys in the time since, visual design. It's not a thing that's bad. It's just an observation of my own tastes, and probably a big part of why I passed on Kingdom. So Inferno doesn't immediately register as a robot to me, but what he does look like is some cackling demonic alien wearing an ant carcass like a mardi-gras costume, and that has an appeal.

My point? Only that Legacy Inferno is something that exists. And they did a pretty good job of it.

Resin: Killbotz (Ramshackle Games)

A little while ago, I apologised for a certain Gaslands fixation. That's not so much stopped as pushed to the background as I work on a project I can't share yet. One thing that has however come out of that is my re-acquaintance with Ramshackle Games, a small provider of resin models based in Nottingham. I've had several dealings with Mr Fell's products over the years, as my interests ebbed and flowed. It's cheap and cheerful stuff, and a boon to kitbashers. So after I did my Orky cars, I put an order for some stuff, and here we are.

The Killbots are spin-off of Ramshackle's line of robot models, a mix and match selection of approximately 28mm scale. These feature new bodies that resemble nothing so much as artillery shells with orky faces on, or something from Enter The Gungeon. The idea of an Orkish robot is both old and obscure, these being a thing in first edition, but were dropped in favour of the Dreadnought Concept. You are encouraged to be free form with their build, RG being in the habit of providing more bits than you are likely to use in one go. What I ended up doing was roughly approximating Meganobs, with a top-heavy humanoid look, with one melee arm and a twin machine gun arm. I did get pretty creative with a couple though, creating a mecha-squig, and with one wearing the lid off some super glue as a hat. I call him Mr Pointy. With respects to Xenos Rampant, I see these as some form of Elite Infantry with Mechanoid, Super Heavy Armour, and maybe Unstable plus a weapons upgrade. Elite robo-infantry do sidestep downside of Unstable, so I'm not sure how balanced that it is, but I can see this unit being in real trouble if forced to do actual activation tests. I must remember to run the numbers...

There's a few things I want to mention here. First off, a completely resin model is a slightly different matter from just using one of their bitz kitz. You need to pin connections with a bit if paperclip, which requires a small drill bit. That isn't ideal, as you don't want to breath that dust in. You'll also need to take a bit of time to prepare parts and use a filler or two when things don't line up. None of this is remotely insurmountable, but it's worth mentioning given the extent to which I post about Gunpla and Plamo. Don't go thinking this is gonna be as straightforward as those, it's a different skill set, and closer to my scratchbuilding. In fact, hot glue and bicarbonate of soda returned to help things stick. The matter of painting is probably a bit over familiar to the 3ish people whom read these, it's almost exactly the same as recent Gaslands projects. I just used “Blood for the Blood God” technical paint in places. It works though, and the pictures speak for themselves.

Job's a good 'un.