State of the Blog Post Winter 2025

Well, its that time of year again, time for a few words on the blog, my status, and how Chrimbo will affect output.

 

In the grand scheme of things, I am level and self-managing, but somewhat flat and directionless. I’ve been trying to address the whole career/life/social issue, to very limited success. Despite trying Meetup, Facebook, and assorted gaming venues, I’ve yet to find a regular in-person social group. My usual 40K sparring partner has moved onto other things, so I made the point of trying new stuff, and nothing has stuck. My Autism is continually on my mind with respects to this, but also a desire not to punish myself for not connecting with people. I try, and I keep trying, but it remains difficult and imposing. Workwise, I’ve decided to completely rework my approach, and try to find something specific to aim for, rather than merely trawling job listings for ideas. I’ve been seeking advice, and done a personality quiz for neurodivergent people, but this continues to be a problem. And by no means a new one. But maybe I have an idea now, and maybe I can accept it if I don’t. On the plus side, as I have felt better about things, and know myself better, I’ve got more energy to at least address the problem. Also, what social avenues I do have seem to be holding. My RPG group is great, TFN is a plus, I see my niece on occasion, and I’m supposed to be Gamesmastering again soon.

 

Creatively, this year has seen a return to Orks, which had all but vanished with my Guard fixation.  Playing games with the greenies was a shot in the arm, giving motivation to modernise and finish my ancient horde. That way I can play in a GW store. Its relatively cheap to do so too, and while I haven’t lost interest in Guard, I think I’ve taken them as far as I can for now. My interest in Transformers, Gunpla and such remains, but I need to have a clear-out. Also, if I am running an online RPG, I probably need to think about that. With respects to blog posts, these trends and those in the paragraph above lead to me having blog ideas, but less of a buffer than I would usually have. The blog will continue, at least for now, but some change in either content or regularity seems possible.


So, after all that waffle nobody is likely to read, what is the Chrimbo update schedule? 

Regular updates will cease on December 14th.
An Astra Militarum themed special will go up on New Years Day.
Regular posting will resume on January 11th.

Happy Holidays, and Merry Christmas!

My Time at TFN: Mini-Con Reading 2025

 Well, I went to the TFN Reading Mini-con. There I worked on the Toy-Fu stall and attempted to socialise. And, yeah, it was nice time on all fronts.

 

My experience started at about 10am Friday, I started my long journey to Reading. By chance, I ran into an ex-coworker, and took the opportunity to catch up on the bus. Nice to see her. I was running 30 minutes or so ahead of schedule, and the trains were tolerable. I had to use the London Underground once, but that was as bad as it got. My only real difficulty was getting a bit lost on the way to the hotel. Said hotel was old, but decent. I got a fridge and microwave in my room for some reason, with both a quality chipshop and the venue in easy walking distance. The initial plan was to set up the table that afternoon, which would have been a massive relief, but this was not to be. Unfortunately, I didn't find that out until I got to the hall at 3PM. Which was somewhat annoying. Friday was then spent in the pleasantly quiet hotel bar, chatting and talking nerd shit. Such conversations were the highlight of this weekend, although outside of transactions I didn't get to chat much otherwise.

The actual convention followed the next morning, although I was a touch late to set-up. I'd prepaid for breakfast, and that overlapped with the hall opening. I didn't dawdle, but if I pay for brekkie, I'm fucking having it. As it turned out, I wouldn't get a proper lunch anyway. Working on the stall was  a bit of a blur, as it usual, although things weren't that hectic. We shifted a non-trivial amount of plastic, including some stuff I'd donated, with a notable second wind in the afternoon, as we put out some Japanese exclusives. I didn't really get to attend any panels, but as we were all in the same hall, you could hear them. Kinda. Audio issues plagued the events, the Blokees panels being a notable sufferer. I should maybe have brought my ear plugs. Then followed the close, the packing up, and more time in the hotel bar. I called it just before 10, only for some other guests to wake me at 4. I didn't really get back to sleep after that, and obviously no-one else was about, so I opted for an earlier train. That worked out OK, but St Pancras Station was one long queue and a riot-in-waiting. I got back to Nottingham about lunchtime, grabbed a sarnie, some groceries on the way back, and then home.

 

So, the toys. I didn't really get much this time,  actually under budget, although this isn't unusual for me these days, especially so late in the year. I dunno if any of these are blog material, but there are:

Retro Brawn: The only really new thing I got, a fairly nice little mould. I dunno why I keep buying this guy, but it seems to workout for me.

Pathfinder: I never picked up that new Speeedia Cosmos, and there's a history with this repaint. Not bad, but very hollow.  Also a girl, and a Gobot, if either factor is of interest.

A knock-off not-Devastator set: I always want to buy something from Toy-Fu, and this caught my eye. It's an upscaled version of the DX9 Hulkie set. No, making an unauthorised reproduction of an unlicensed Transformer does not produce the real thing.  Nor is it actually that great. But for a tenner I've paid a lot more to get a lot less.

And finally, two mini-figures gifted by a kind friend.


All in all? A good time, what went wrong wasn’t a crisis, and I'm happy with the socialising I did. I still need to interact more though.

Plamo: The 30 Minutes Missions Roundnova I

Righty, it seems that I might back on that 30MM bullshit.

 

Some context first. This was another Brum Toyfair purchase, there always being at least a couple of mecha stalls there. As a project, this was completed in-between drying stages of my Kommandos, the claim of 30 minutes completion time being plausible even if I wasn't rushing. While 30MM kits can get very samey, this one is very recent, and is doing something new: fabric effect parts.

The Roundnova is, shockingly, round. Its got a domed head and rounded body, and might easily be called friend shaped. This, and it's heavy backpack might lead you to think it's small going by the box alone, but no it's a fairly big lad.  In terms of construction, it's nothing revolutionary despite it's looks. There’s a 2019 joint sprue in there, but most of it goes unused, the hips and shoulders being new pieces of the same style, which omit shoulder amour. The hands are an unusual three fingered claw, although you get closed versions to hold weapons. It feels a touch light for it's size, not badly so, but it's a noticeably hollow robot. The Roy Roy is a little charmer, with a translucent piece for it's sensor, and a build that says champion hugger. The missile backpack, like everything else, is modular. And finally, there's a selection of Liefield-style pouches, cast in a beige with a fabric effect.

 

While good as 30MM kits often are, this one does have a few aspects I dislike. The gun for example seems to be screaming for an actual barrel, it's just got an exposed connector, and the shield has more of a sensor dish vibe.  Going by stock photos, the Roundnova II variant combines these two to great effect, but OK. You can swap guns, it's no issue, and half the fun. Unfortunately, the knee joints are cast in the same colour as the fabric, which prompted me to break out the paint. I also picked out the missiles and tarted up the gun. I weathered the robot in my usual way, but I used different washes on the metal and fabric bits. I dunno if it worked that well, but it worked OK.

 

Overall? A good time.

 

Transformers: Titans Return Shuffler is Something that Exists

 

 The 1987 Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers Shuffler toy

 

One thing I enjoyed immensely, but has basically vanished from modern Transformers, is the idea of a pocket money toy. Maybe its inflation, maybe its the focus on collectors, maybe its Hasbro treating everything outside of Generations to be shovelware, maybe it's all three. But we don't really get fun for a fiver any more, the closest thing lately being those targetmasters Rise of the Beasts had. The best example of the concept was, perhaps paradoxically, in Generations, as part of of Titans Return, with what are known as the "solo Titanmasters". These started out life as a concession to reality. Titans Return was a modernised spin on the Headmaster concept, where little dudes became the heads of bigger dudes and drove their altmodes. This tends to offer much play value, but you have problems if you loose the head, hence the solo releases. Spare heads on a blister card, basically. The designers however things pushed further by adding an accessory vehicle in the pack, allowing the little guy to be more than just a head, and providing another weapon for larger figures. This was, almost without exception, a joy. Its also the main difference between Hasbro and TakaraTomy on the toyline. TT just didn't sell Titanmasters by themselves, instead splitting up those components for use in other price points. They were trying make the toys better fit their market and their version of Headmasters fiction. Umm, OK, sure, if that's what you have to do. But you did the solo release thing in the 80’s, so why not? The TT versions are undeniably nice. But it gets weird when Hasbro does a Japanese tribute toy and TT doesn't release it. Shuffler is one such example, and honestly the lack of a Japanese release for him seems contrarian. Guys seriously, all you had to change was nuffin.

So who, or possibly whom, is Shuffler anyway? Its not an unreasonable question to ask, and answering it helps with the word count with respects to a rather simple toy.  He has almost no fictional presence, but he and his kin are noted for being the black-market-human-organs sort of expensive to obtain, as a Japanese G1 exclusive. Part of the Autobot Master Warriors, Shuffler is the elephant one, and presumably his titanmaster power is that he never forgets. As a titanmaster, Shuffler now operates a touch differently from the original toy, with the elephantine bits refocused onto the accessory vehicle. 

The actual robot/head bit is typical of its kind. Shuffler’s robot mode features a balljointed neck that becomes the neck joint of his head mode, balljointed shoulders, and conjoined legs that move at the hip and knee. This is upgraded articulation versus the original headmasters, and in a smaller size. Its not spectacular posability, but it is pragmatic possibility; Shuffler is at that sorta size where designers have to think seriously about choking hazards and breakages. Shuffler features two pegholes on the underside of his feet, plus an angled tab/heel-spur, allowing for a rock solid connection onto other toys, so he's disinclined fall off base modes and such. The robot mode has a unique headsculpt, not a given with these, but it and the robot mode in general lacks paint. This is an area where TakaraTomy consistently is better than Hasbro, and the most obvious sign that this is a budget release. Granted, the head is a point of friction, so you don’t want that much paint on it, but something for the eyes or chest would have been nice. 

The head mode is, once again, typical of the Titanmaster. You ball up the robot mode and the head holds together via friction. This scheme is common to all titanmasters, the main variation being the faceplate that personifies the head, which can have a rather different design aesthetic from the rest of the sculpt. As these plates were only screwed in, there was/is a cottage industry in 3rd party faces, which is outside of my remit today, but I just wanted to mention it. Shuffler's head form is proportioned to fit deluxe bodies, and features three different colours of paint app. Its a good noggin.

 

If we bring the accessory vehicle into things we get three more modes, although in two of them Shuffler is an optional extra as he just stows unobtrusively in head mode rather than doing anything structural. The elephant mode, aka the main event, is a simple affair with little useful articulation, but has a neck and trunk joint thanks to the transformation. Its simply but nicely presented too, with paint around the shoulders and painted eyes. Shuffler just kinda goes in the belly, and remains there for the weapon mode. While not so much an elephant gun as a handheld missile pod, its quite convincing and top three for the price point. I just which there was paint picking out those missiles. The tank mode meanwhile ends up with a rotating turret, with Shuffler plugging into the back tracks, so he's slightly more involved there, if still somewhat optional. You have to grade for the price, but there's no bad mode here.

 

Shuffler is both an excellent case study of the solo titanmaster play pattern, and a great toy on his own terms. However, as a late wave release he's hard to obtain, and TakaraTomy just had to be weird about it. All they had to release it as is, maybe with a few more paint apps, and they would have had a winner. But no, they had to break the whole play pattern, an unforced error. Shuffler is not just something that exists, he's a rare, and totally unambiguous, example of Hasbro beating TakaraTomy at their own game.

And Alchemist Prime isn't bad either.

Plamo: The 30 Minutes Missions Bug Fingy

 

Well, actually its the “Extended Armament Vehicle (MULTIPLE LEGS MECHA VER.)”. But that’s far too unwieldy to be useful.

I’ve got a bit of a lightweight article for you today. At the time of writing, I’m at of a loose end, and feel this is probably worth talking about, however briefly, and I may not feel like writing later. A buffer article, if you will. Of course, there’s only so much for me to say about 30MM at this point. While it does have lore these days, I don’t really get to soapbox about anything as I would with a gunpla or 40K project. 30MM is for all intents and purposes setting-agnostic, an exercise purely in the model itself, and customisation thereof. I’ve done a fair few of these for good reason, but I can’t offer many fresh insights here. Plus I mainly produce my robots in the same way these days, I.e. basic weathering techniques with lore filibuster. However, 30MM is very much the experimental side of Bandai’s output, or its cutting edge, so if something vibes with you, the odds are that its a good/interesting time. 

Bug Fingy, as I choose to call it, is definitely experimental, its an insectile drone, with one plastic colour, a shiny sticker for the eye, and some guns that put me in mind of a Ball. Its a simple affair, as these smaller 30MM kits tend to be, and arguably lacks a bit in customising potential. Its got 3mm port functions, and you can turn it into a centipede with multiple kits, but as its non-humanoid there’s only so much re-purposing you could do. What it does have, however, is ideal articulation for the body plan. Each limb has four joints in it, joining the body with a balljoint, said body segments are also balljointed, and the claws open. The posability is comprehensive and honestly I don’t see how you’d do better at this size and price. Its even got a little earwig scissor tail thing going on. If this had more plastic colours, I wouldn’t hesitate to call it a must-buy, so watch out for future variants.

I did my usual weathering on this. I tried to paint the dish a glossy black, but it didn’t take. Otherwise this was a pleasant project done on either side of a shift at work. Consider it recommended.

Random: The 1/72 Scale C.L.O.D. from Xyber 9 New Dawn

I picked this up at the Brum Toyfair in complete ignorance of what it was. All I knew was that it looked cool, and it was a tenner. As it turns out,  I've made far worse buying decisions, with far more information.

So what's this actually from then? Well, the C.L.O.D. (Combat Land Operator Defender) is from a very obscure Saban series circa 1999. While it obviously had a toyline, it seems the whole affair was very short lived, with its tie-in cartoon being shelved. The overall vibe seems been a lost technology on a regressed feudal space colony sort of affair. Something Star Wars adjacent in concept, with a lot of 80's action figure DNA. The series is viewable on YouTube, and sees Tim Curry cast as the villain, and so may be worth a punt. The C.L.O.D. is but one vehicle among a selection thereof, but seems to have been important enough to appear in two size classes. I'm not gonna say anything too definite here, I restate my ignorance, but I'm pretty sure that this series would have floated my proverbial boat had I heard about it at the time.

The C.L.O.D. is an immediately compelling mecha with a gorillas' proportions, tracks in its feet, and coloured in blues and metallic tones. Its a chunky toy, putting me in mind of a Pacific Rim action figure, as well as a company attempting the G.I Joe vehicle thing at a different scale.  In modern Transformers terms its splitting the difference between voyager and leader pricepoints in terms of size, but this was contemporary to Beast Wars, so maybe look to that for a comparison. The overall presentation is of almost dieselpunk details built around a super robot frame. It's towards the Tetsujin 28 end of the big robot spectrum, and would not have looked out of place in The Big O. It's not too heavy on the technical detail but what is there suggests a military industrial product rather than super science, perhaps with a battleship influence given those shoulder turrets. This enhanced by the opening cockpit and tiny figures that can sit there. It adds sense of scale and verisimilitude. I'm also fond of the basic but effective weathering techniques used here. You can tell that this guy is an actual knuckle-dragger with the beige paint apps to suggest dirt on its feet and tracks being repeated on its claws. The exposed screws are less appealing, but it happens.

 

So, what does this do? A few things. Basic posability is there, but not in the humanoid sense. It's a lot of big ratchets, with little outwards motion or modern innovations like ankle tilts. I'd imagine this moving and walking like a wind-up toy, but that doesn’t hurt the vibe. The claws do open though, and the shoulder turrets have two axis of motion.  It also features four concealed weapons of varying complexity. Most obvious are the shoulder pylons that flip to reveal a missile pod and blaster(?), closely followed by a rising faceplate that reveals laser eyes. The one I didn't immediately recognise is how the torso splits and extends to unveil two cannons and an actual waist joint. 

So, is this worth tracking down? Uhhhh, yeah? I’m predisposed to like giant robots anyway but this is a nice one. I dunno if I’d get more, but I wouldn’t rule it out.

 

Transformers: Age of the Primes Megatronus The Fallen

 Happy Halloween!

The Fallen’s first appearance, Transformers: War Within: The Dark Ages #1

The Transformers brand has a pantheon. It's a complex topic that sort of congealed from disparate sources over decades. Transformers are people after all, and people have religion. And given that this is pop sci-fi, it's very easy for your average Cybertronian to eventually meet one of their gods, given that a lifespan of a million years plus is not uncommon. Thus, we have The Thirteen Primes, a mélange of Hellenistic, Norse, and obviously Christian influences applied to giant robots. Megatronus The Fallen is one such demigod, and if you have a command of the English language, you probably don't need me to explicitly say that he's a fallen angel. My interest in The Fallen is an entirely superficial one. I've not really engaged with any of his wildly divergent fictional appearances, and I find the whole Thirteen thing to be something in need of a champion. It's a concept that Hasbro and lore nerds seem to want to make happen, rather than actual creative types. That said, The Fallen as originally depicted is an idea so pitch perfect stupid, so juvenile, so edgelord, so heavy metal album cover, that it loops back around to awesome again. He's an evil satanic furnace robot that is perpetually on fire, and is also the inspiration for the Decepticon badge. He's what Tarn so desperately wishes he was, and could easily have been. Bludgeon tells him to tone it down. Unicron considered a restraining order, before making him a herald. I can't help but love that, and it is so nice that the designers prioritised that version. Not exclusively so, as the accessories evoke other iterations, but it's been a few waves since since we've had something purpose built to be a comic-first character.

Let's talk about the tank mode. It was, after all, the main point of discussion here, but more for what it could be than what it was. People thought that it foreshadowed a leader class Megatron, Fallen here having a transformation scheme obviously inspired by the Siege Megatron toy. As it would turn out this was not the case, The Fallen reportedly having been designed without concessions for future remoulding. Which is unusual, and I expect some form of reuse somehow. Anyway, Fallen does have issues in this mode, such as Visible Head Syndrome and a general gappy-ness of construction. I can't say its a good tank for those reasons. That said, it kinda works as a vehicle mode for a mythological demi-god in dark tones, and it does have its positives. This has a presence, even without the gorgeous flame effect bits. It is not nice. It is the stuff of nightmares, electric guitars, and vehicular homicide. The turret turns without looking odd. Good, too many toys get that wrong, although the gun is feeling in need of another securing tab. There's a secondary missile pod and smoke dischargers on there too. Good, a nice little detail. There's a lot of 5mm port functionality too, the flame effect parts plug in that way. Good, although the spear just kinda straps to one side like he is moving house. And while it is indeed based of the Siege Megatron transformation scheme, it's been refined and expanded for a leader class pricepoint. Good, it's nice hand candy, although the chest plate likes to detach. Is it a great tank mode? No, that's not something you honestly claim, but it's definitely in the realm of good enough for something that absolutely is not trying to be a disguise. Or making a rod for its own back, SS86 Megs, I'm looking at you.

Putting it into robot mode reveals an almost perfect translation/interpretation of Dreamwave era comic art.  Which, of course, I love in a deeply superficial way. There's some oddities and nitpicks though. The feet for example are oddly hollow for transformation purposes, so it's like he's on tiptoe. There is also the use of rubbery plastic for his spear, and I'm honestly not as into it as I want to be. It's stupid, and functional, but not quite stupid enough to be amazing. What greatly excused these complaints however, was posability. Now, with articulation having been standardised and generally pretty good since Siege, you might wonder what it takes for something to be noticeably posable? Especially when the robot in question is already built like a brick shithouse?  The answer turns out to be butterfly joints in the shoulders, opening hands, and solid fundamentals. It makes the toy surprisingly expressive, and my first attempt to pose the toy is what made it all click for me. Above and beyond the significant edgelord vibes, it was finding a sassy striding super villain pose almost immediately. Like Skeletor if he was on fire and also a robot. The Fallen would probably do well in that franchise, now I think if it. So he moves about as good as he looks, and looks good. No new colours appear, but he remains so striking in that juvenile-fan-art-original-character-do-not-steal sense. The head is perfect, with a sneering faceplate, atop a powerful looking body. Elements of the tank mode are there, but rather downplayed as more of the tracks end up concealed in the chest than with other tankformers. As robot modes go, there's much to like.

Megatronus The Fallen is very much the perfect version of what it's trying to be. What is, is fairly stupid, but it commits. The robot form was clearly the focus of efforts here, but when they have done so well with it, it's very hard to begrudge. The tank mode may be a bit of a hot mess, but it's a long way from being a dumpster fire. If you like the look, congratulations. 

Here's some more glamour shots.