Long Weekend Revealed

My tragic Shakespearean flaw.

So, the weekend. Not that it turned out to be anything, you know, too groundbreaking, but since I've been building the damn thing up for the past week I might as well break it out.

Friday night was pretty uneventful. Had dinner with Jenn, checked out some condo buildings, dropped books at a closed library, and bought shampoo. Yippee.

Saturday I got together with my friend Kelly from Fiddler. It was a might-be-a-date-but-turned-out-to-not-be-a-date get together. Enough hyphens? Sweeeeet. It was fun, though, we hung out for about 10 hours, ate, played video games, talked a LOT. I asked her out on a real date, and she said sure, but also said that she prefers being friends with a guy first. Which I'm all for, but we shall see what happens, because my history kinda shows that when this happens someone tends to find someone else in the between-time.

And this is potentially the most personal thing I will EVER write on this blog, so I shall move on.

Sunday I WAS going to be helping my friend Aaron film his movie. I left my apartment at quarter to 12 so I could get there by 1 with a stop at TRU in Minnetonka in the middle. Then I get to his apartment and he says "you didnt' get my message? I called around noon, we're not doing it today."

So the rest of the weekend involved Wild Arms and a little bit of cleaning. Oh, and the scout figures are now out, so I picked up two of them, both with definite pros and cons.

First off is Ransack, one of the three figures I wanted to buy in my first run. But since the scouts weren't out in the first release two weeks ago then Sunday was the day. I like him, but compared to scout figures from Energon they're looking kinda flimsy so far.

His vehicle mode is a motorcycle. A nice-looking one, red, sleek. His weapon attaches to the back to form part of the bike, and is also involved in his Planet Key feature. Two laser barrels flip out of the back of the bike. Not the greatest feature in the world, but, then again, its a scout.

His robot mode is really nice for a 7-dollar fig, and even better when compared to previous motorcycles. Cycles are the toughest Transformers to make, Simply because there's not a lot to them. Past cycles have ranged from average (Energon Arcee, G1 Afterburner and Override) to downright crappy (Armada Sideways, Mini-Cons Highwire and Nightbeat, and Energon Highwire). Even the upcoming Cybertron cycle RoadStorm is looking questionable at best. So its nice to see Ransack have a more realistic-looking robot form, nothing too skinny and nothing too bulky. For some reason, though, he reminds me of the old GoBot CyKill, but I don't really know why. His Planet Key feature makes more sense in robot mode, holding the weapon that flips out the duel lasers.

So, yeah, overall I really like the figure. One thing I have noticed, though, between this one and the other figure I bought, is that the 7-dollar class feels a lot smaller and flimsier than their Energon counterparts. Ah, well, maybe there'll be some improvement down the line. The only other problem I had with this figure is that its Planet Key isn't fully painted. I thought it was just an issue with all the scouts, but it seems to be with Ransack exclusively.

The other figure I picked up is Overhaul, my first 'Bot from the Jungle Planet. Most of the figures that will be arriving from this planet will be animals, but Overhaul is the rare vehicle alt from this series.

His vehicle does make sense for the planet, though, an off-road SUV. Its nice, albeit kinda small. Also, he's the first Cybertron figure I've seen so far that has no Planet Key feature in vehicle mode, although the slot for the key is out in the open, causing some confusion.

I'm mixed on his robot mode. In theory he's a good figure, with an interesting transformation from vehicle to robot, reminiscent of the Alternator figures. And between his claws and face he has a Wolverine-like quality to him, giving him even more reason to be a part of the Jungle Planet.

However, the design has a LOT of flaws. The arms are in a bent position, allowing for little articulation. And the Planet Key feature, which causes a missile to shoot out of his chest, has a needlessly-long missile, which results in a long red thing sticking out of his back. Also, because the arms are bent, they get in the way of the chest, so the missile has issues firing.

So, yeah, decent figure, with a few problems. A good idea, poorly executed.

Random, non-toy thoughts: Hurricane Dennis is now history, so can newscasters please STOP with the "Dennis the Menace" headlines? It was cute, but after the first 5000 uses it got a little tiring.

Oh, and That Yellow Bastard, Nick Stahl, is in line to play Angel in X3, which is going to start filming this month. I think I can handle this choice, if for no other reason than Angel doesn't have any distinctive characteristics beyond "Billionaire Playboy".

And, finally, in honor of the upcoming release of Half-Blood Prince, I will be putting out one prediction for the upcoming novel every day until the release. We'll see what I get right, what I get wrong.

Today's prediction, based on the cover of the English Adult version of HBP: The new Defense against the Dark Arts professor will be Severus Snape, opening up for a new Potions teacher, which Harry will take in book six in order to become an Auror.