Mastermind Creations R08D Azalea Stealth Assassin - Pictorial Review

Mastermind Creations Azalea (Not-Arcee) was first teased back in 2013 when PlanetSteelExpress released her render along with Parapax Zinnia and later displayed at Captured Prey Third Party at Botcon 2013.

Pic Credit : MMC/TFWiki

Azalea is the 4rd version of 3rd Party release homaging G1 Arcee in Cybertronian Car mode, the first 3 being Rabid Squirrels's A.R.C, Impossible Toys' Valkyrie and iGear's Delicate Warrior. Other iteration of Arcee includes Perfect Effect's RC.

Before releasing Azalea, Mastermind Creations releases a dark color version of Azalea, dubbed R08D Azalea Stealth Assassin as Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention (STGCC) 2014 Exclusive, distributed by The Falcon Hangar limited to only 500 pieces worldwide.

Thanks to my friend Nik Khairul Amir for helping me out.

Reviews of her variants can be found below

•  Azalea
• Azalea Asterisk Mode
• Zinnia
• Eupatorium
• Salvia Prominon

Warbotron WB01C Sly Strike - Pictorial Review

This review is courtesy of X2OToys

http://x2otoys.com/goods.php?id=391

Combiner, Combiner, Combiner! Yet again, this is a review of a Combiner member, the 3rd so far for his line, Warbotron WB01C-C Sly Strike (Not-Swindle).

Pic Credit : Web

One might remember this particular member of the Combaticons as being a great tactician, fearless combatant and many more...that ain't true. He's in short, a con-man. That's it. If that term never existed before, it would be created for him.

During the episode B.O.T, Bruticus (Combaticons combined) was defeated by Defensor with Swindle being the sole survivor. What he did after that was, he proceeded to sell the parts of his comrades to various buyer in which, even for Megatron that is wicked and evil, is consider wrong. Hence, a bomb was planted inside his head and given 15 hours to rebuild his fellow Combaticons

Age Of Extinction Evolution 2-pack Classics Optimus Prime - Pictorial Review

It's been 1 year and 8 months since I started this review blog and with all the support from you guys, Black-Plastic-Life finally went past 100,000 views mark with more than 14,000 views monthly. Thank you so much.

It's ironic that the first review that I posted was of Classics Optimus Prime (Voyager) back in January 2013 and my first review after the 100K achievement will be a variant of that mold, AoE Evolution 2-Pack Classics Optimus Prime.

Pic Credit : Web

Just like AoE Rollbar, I only bought the Classics version of Optimus Prime, not the set itself. This mold has been released quite a lot of time already (as Optimus Prime, Nemesis Prime and Ultra Magnus). The [official] variants  are :

- Classics Optimus Prime
- Henkei Convoy
- Henkei Crystal Convoy,
- Cloud Optimus Prime
- AoE Evolution 2-Pack

- Classics Ultra Magnus
- United Ultra Magnus

- Universe 2.0 Nemesis Prime
- United Black Optimus Prime

- Botcon 2008 Shattered Glass Optimus Prime
- Botcon 2014 Ginrai

With this new arrival, I'm close to completing this mold [yet again], just waiting for a friend to help me hunt for Transformers Cloud TF-A01 Optimus Prime.

Mastermind Creations R-02 Talon - Pictorial Review

Seems that recently, everything is about combiners, even I feel more excited whenever a combiner team member arrive. Now, for something that's been long overdue, Mastermind Creations Talon (Not-Divebomb).

G1 Divebomb's Box Art
Pic Credit : TFWiki

Along with the other Predacons, Divebomb was created in 2006, given by the Quintessons as a symbol of the alliance between them and Galvatron. Forming Predaking's left arm, Divebomb is one of the deadliest predator in the sky that enjoys nothing other than destruction.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

G1 Divebomb (and the rest of the Predacons) was released in 1986 in individual pack (D-75) and also in gift set (D-78) .

Generations IDW Deluxe Crosscut - Pictorial Review

Now, a release from the same wave as Windblade, Generations Crosscut. Crosscut is one of the new "original G1 characters" in Transformers universe, an ambassador to almost every world known especially earth.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

In IDW Dark Cybertron Chapter #7 The Dead Are Not Enough, Crosscut can be seen battling the Ammonites with the help of Swerve...who he confused with Rung...

Pic Credit : TFWiki

G1 Crosscut was released on 2002 as e-Hobby Exclusive and sold togather in set with Road Rage. G1 Crosscut is a retool of G1 Skids and comes with a different head and hood.

Transformers Lost Age TRU Japan Exclusive Rusty Evasion Mode Optimus Prime

It's been 4 months since the launch of Age Of Extinction Toyline, but unlike the previous movie lines, I feel that AoE has a very limited offering in terms of their figures. Since May, we've seen a lot of repaints being done for these 2, Voyager Evasion Mode Optimus Prime and The Dinobots, ranging from regular Hasbro and Takara releases to Convention Exclusives.

Fans were disappointed when the first picture of Leader Class Optimus Prime for AoE surfaced, given that usually he's the best figure in the line. I was quite surprised to find out that compared to him, Voyager Evasion Mode Optimus Prime stands out more and comes out way better than the rest of the AoE figures.

Best of the bunch
Pic Credit : Seibertron.com

Up until now, there are quite a lot of of variants for this figure starting from Hasbro Version, Takara Version, Platinum Edition (With Voyager Grimlock), Evolution 2-pack, Breakout Battle 3-pack, Autobots United 5-pack, Nemesis Prime and also, Rusty Version.

Rusty Version Optimus Prime was released as Toys "R" Us Japan Exclusive.

Age Of Extinction Platinum Edition Breakout Battle Rollbar - Pictorial Review

It's not uncommon to have a figure from a toyline to be released under different ones. Even in Transformers The Movie (TFTM) toyline, there are a lot of figures from the Unicron Trilogy being repainted and parked under that banner.

Even Universe 2.0 have a lot of non-original CHURG molds released under it. However, only Allspark Power Decepticon Fracture (Classics Mirage) and Classics Bumblebee of The Legacy of Bumblebee are the only characters that use CHURG's original mold to be released under non-CHURG toylines.

The Legacy Of Bumblebee
Pic Credit : Web

Allspark Power Decepticon Fracture
Pic Credit : Web

This year, we see another 2 sets that include CHURG's original molds. One would be AoE Evolution 2-Pack : Optimus Prime; and the other is AoE Platinum Edition Breakout Battle.

Evolution 2-Pack
Pic Credit : Web

Platinum Edition Breakout Battle
Pic Credit : Web

Just like The Legacy of Bumblebee set, I would only hunt the specific character, rather than getting the whole set. Hence for Breakout Battle, I hunt for Rollbar (and the same with Classics Optimus Prime from the 2-pack).