Gimme Monday... no wait... don't

Good morning Zone Base readers and welcome back for another week of robots, monsters, and misadventure! I've got a fun week ahead, but before that, let's talk about the past weekend. I hope yours was well, mine was busy. After a visit to Walmart with the Mrs and enjoying some pizza while watching Five Nights at Freddy's 2, I got to work assembling a new pantry for her. Our old one was a basic cabinet bought after we moved in and now that we've decided to stay for a little longer, it's time to upgrade some of our stuff. 

The new pantry is very nice, but with nice comes a lot of work taking 7 hours. I took an break around 3am to enjoy some Fruit Riot and wacth the TFCON West cosplay contest on YouTube with the Mrs before finally finishing the new pantry. It's in place and she's happy which in turn makes all the work worth it. Sunday, I slept in. After waking and enjoying some breakfast, I disassembled the old pantry and threw it away. Apparently we did it just in time as I was discovering all sorts of structural damage while doing so. Good grief. After a few more tasks, I started work on building some Blokees kits before dinner.

The Mrs made some excellent beef noodle and mashed potatoes. Mom came over and we watched Japanese camper van videos, a recent addiction of mine. I'm not an outdoorsman like my brother, but these are fascinating. Admittedly because I like the gadgets, but still. After dinner I finished the kits while watching paranormal videos with the Mrs. Went went to bed with her falling asleep before me. I watched the newest episode of Kamen Rider Zeztz which was very good as usual and also a little relieving. I was pretty concerned about the ongoing plot (no spoilers). I also updated my Evercade EXP-R as they finally resumed the Highlight of the Month program after a lengthy absence.

This months game is Biomenace Remastered, which as the name suggests is a remastered version of the game Biomenace. Biomenace is a old PC game I'd frankly never heard of before and was admittedly not excited about going in. I was pleasantly surprised to really like it and enjoy the first few levels I got in before calling it a night. I plan to play it a lot more before the Highlight resets next month. However next weekend Pragmata comes out and that's going to take up a lot of gaming time for the next few weeks.

As for toys I got this weekend, boy did I get a good haul. Walmart had a nice selection of Blokees. I got Transformers One related kits. From Galaxy Version series 7 wave 2, I got 2 blind boxes which resulted in Orion Pax (miner) and Soundwave! I also got a Classic Class Shockwave that I look forward to building. Last week I was happy to see that Walmart was now carrying Blokees Marvel kits, but this week noticed they also started carrying Jurrasic World Blokees! I grabbed a blind box egg which turned out to be the Indominus Rex!

Not all were models, Walmart finally had Masters of The Universe Mighty Masters! A new line of pleasantly vintage mini figures that I've been chomping at the bit for. I grabbed He-Man and Skeletor. Man-at-Arms and Beastman are left to find to complete the series, hopefully leading to more waves. Last, but not least is my first experimentation with Armorsaurs. Armorsaurs is a new figure line with a show on Disney +. It's a western adaption of the South Korean show Armored Saurus in the vein of Power Rangers. I haven't watched the show yet, but the toys have been a popular subject in Microfans latley. Considering the new Microman and Micronauts toys out, it's worth noting that something adjacent would gather so much attention.

Armorsaurs features armored heroes with dinosaur themed powers and mecha. The figures have snap on armor as well as dinosaurs available to use them with. The smaller dinos are mecha that the figures can ride that convert from dino to vehicles. There's larger armored dinosaurs also for the figures to ride as well. Right now I'm keeping it small as I dip my toes into the pool. I picked up Liam, who is the series Red Ranger equivalent.

I also got some chrome sticker paper to accompany the colored sheets I've been using for Zone Base stickers. They look cool and I can't wait to print off a batch. I'll be attending Rangerstop this May, so be sure to get one if you're there. Brett, the organizer of Toylanta has taken it over and invited myself to operate Transformers content there! It's been way too long since I've attended Rangerstop and helped it grow is something I'm excited to do!

Well, it's time to get this week started. I've got some site pics to take and stuff around the house to do before work this evening. Thank you all for reading Zone Base. Last Friday was the 10th anniversary of the sites first post and I'm really proud of it. It's super neat to watch it grow over the past decade and very flattering to see all of you come out and support it. Thank you so much. Please share the site with your friends and be excellent to each other.

38 Years of Masterforce

April 12 1988

10 Years Later…

10 years ago, I made the first post here on Zone Base.

I say “first post” because I actually started building the site back in 2014. Then it just… sat there for a while, waiting for me to get over the self-doubt and just do it.

So I took baby steps. At first, I focused only on Transformers before eventually branching out into other things.

I was nervous.

Unsure of myself.

That probably sounds silly now, but it’s the truth. I knew what I wanted to make—I just wasn’t entirely sure how to make it. So I took my time.

That first Halloween, it was just “spooky” Transformers content—mostly bios. The first year of Zone Base was a lot of experimenting, mixed with the occasional post that did surprisingly well.

In 2017, I started using the slogan “Transformers and Other Strangeness,” inspired by a copy of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness role playing game I’ve had since I was a kid. Not long after that, the “robots / monsters / misadventure ハロウィン” idea clicked into place and became the permanent identity of the site. 

Somehow, this little podunk site became the most stubborn thing I’ve ever done. And I’ve kept it going for 10 years now.

In a way, it’s me firmly flipping the bird to the world.

10 years—and millions of views—later… I’m still flipping that bird.

And a lot of you are flipping it with me.

Thank you.

Windcharger [Studio Series 86 / Deluxe Class]

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about traditional Transformers toys here, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been buying them. Quite the opposite—if you read the Monday updates, you already know. It’s more that I like posts to fit the vibe here on Zone Base, and Windcharger definitely fits in.

I recently received his newest Transformers Studio Series release as part of my birthday presents from the Mrs, and it is excellent. As part of the Studio Series ‘86 line, he’s meant to represent his appearance in The Transformers: The Movie. That movie is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and as someone who was there opening weekend, it’s getting a ton of love from me. Windcharger’s role in the movie was brief—he’s taken out during the brutal opening battle of Autobot City—but before that he was a regular in the first two seasons of the original cartoon. This toy is a great representation of that animated look.

Windcharger is something of an oddity in the original Transformers line. His toy came from Microman’s Microchange series, but that design actually started life even earlier as part of the Mysterians. The Mysterians were Knickerbocker Toy Company’s attempt at a transforming robot toy line in 1983 that never fully materialized. The company was purchased by Hasbro in 1984, and Windcharger—along with Brawn, Huffer, and Gears—was originally intended for that line. The molds eventually made their way into Microchange before becoming Transformers. Just in case you ever wondered what the “M” on the original Windcharger’s belt stood for.

In the cartoon, Windcharger was given a different face than his toy, and that’s the look this version proudly uses. With a lot of these Minicar updates showing up in vintage-style packaging with toy-accurate heads and decos, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a version of that original Mysterian-inspired look pop up on shelves down the line.

The toy itself is great. As I always say, it looks like he walked right off my TV screen. Windcharger comes with his blaster and an effect piece meant to represent his magnetic abilities. The effect can attach to his chest or the hood in vehicle mode, and both it and the blaster can store on his back in robot mode.

In robot mode, he’s very well articulated, and combined with the sculpted face, he’s surprisingly expressive. He almost feels alive. Transformation is straightforward, though there are a few tight joints and clearance spots—take your time with him. Car mode is a solid approximation of a Pontiac Trans Am, and the blaster stores neatly behind a rear wheel for a clean look.

Overall, this is the slickest Windcharger has ever looked in toy form—and that’s saying something, because he’s had some pretty great releases over the years.