Transformers Generations: Titans Return – Autobot Shuffler

I mentioned in my 2017 Roundup that the Titans Return range was one of my favourite things of last year. So it seems fitting that for the first review of 2018, we take a look at one of the Titan Master figures.

Being a huge sucker for prehistoric creatures, it’s actually a wonder I hadn’t picked up the mammoth-shaped Autobot Shuffler sooner. Largely it’s down to his Autobot status; though I have picked up a number of Autobots from this range, I am increasingly loath to by Autobots product. They don’t tend to fit into the larger collection, and space is increasingly at a premium within my house. But I made an exception for this little guy. 

Shuffler has three modes – the aforementioned mammoth, a tank and a gun for larger figures to hold. Typically, the Titan Master-scale figures look good in one or two of their modes and totally crap in at least one. Not so the case here; all of them look pretty good!  

In bot mode, Shuffler is a bit plain. It’s been a running complaint that there isn’t enough paint on the Titan Masters, even at the top-end models, and the same applies here. Even some eyes would have done wonders. However, his face is a little interesting by virtue of having a “snout” where his nose would be. It’s a nice sculpted detail. 

Shuffler’s mammoth mode has the rare distinction of appearing “complete” even when his head isn’t inserted into it. In fact, when he is inserted into the base body, the tab that sits on the back of his legs kind of makes it look like he has a big ol’ robotic dong. Hilarious.

The tank mode hides the elephantine look of the head more effectively than you might have thought. Shuffler serves as pilot, but if you leave him off the vehicle still has a nice mecha-style look to it.

While the gun (not pictured) is definitely the weakest of the modes, it still gives off a nice missile launcher vibe. The designers are to be commended for not simply trying to make the whole thing look like a giant pistol, which is something that has plagued a lot of the other Titan Master accessories. 

In head mode, he gives the appearance of definitely being a Decepticon, with his masked face and red eyes. Still, it’s oddly friendly, and I find myself sort of wishing that he had a “real” body to attach to. In fact, the only real downside about Shuffler is that he’s an Autobot. I mean, why cast him in these colours and NOT have him as a Decepticon? 

"Curse your betrayal, Shuffler!" 

Brand history is one thing, but he’s hardly a major character in the mythos. Recast him in a different colour scheme and call him a new character for the Autobots; new characters aren’t going to hurt. But in my personal canon, he will be serving strictly as a warrior for Galvatron. Maybe some kind of undercover spy, lurking among the Autobots until the time is right. Maybe even hijacking Autobot bodies in the process…who could say?

Though I only picked him up quite recently, Shuffler has rapidly become of my favourite figures from the Titans Return line. He’s sturdy, yet easy to transform, offers multiple play patterns and is easy to carry around in your pocket. Well done Hasbro.   

The Lupine Book Club 2017 roundup

2017 has been a difficult year both personally and professionally, though not without a number of highlights. So inspired by Dinosaur Dracula’s end-of-year list, I thought I’d pull together a (shorter) list of some of my favourite things from the year gone by.

1. Horror Movies

I spent a lot of time watching horror movies (sorry, FIL-UMS) this year, and it was absolutely fantastic. New and old, I don’t think I’ve watched so many since I was back in my sharehouse days, the better part of a decade ago. Standouts included The Void, IT: Chapter One, The Devil Rides Out and Drag Me to Hell. Hopefully this tempo will be maintained well into 2018.

2. Transformers: Titans Return

Inspired by the old Headmasters line from the 1980s, Titans Return was my favourite Transformers sub-line since I started collecting them again a few years ago. Distribution in Australia has been a mixed bag (I want that Cosmos, dammit!), but for the most part I was able to get hold of the characters I wanted. My only real regret is that I didn’t make time to review more of the ones I purchased, though some of that may be addressed in the new year.  

3. SNES Classic Edition

The SNES is still my all-time favourite console. Though I didn’t own one as a kid, several of my friends did and so I have many hours of fond memories associated with it.

I missed out on the NES Classic in 2016, and so I pre-ordered the SNES Classic pretty much as soon as they became available. It was an essential purchase, as has brought me many more hours of joy since. Certainly there some additional games I would have liked to see included, but all-in-all I think Nintendo did an exceptional job with this one. Hopefully we’ll see some kind of expansion, or perhaps an N64 Classic further down the line.  

4. The Lupine Book Club’s 5^th birthday

Though it came and went with little fanfare on here, 2017 marked the 5th birthday of the blog. Back when the blog started, I was in a very different state of mind. I was emerging from what I would later realise was a nervous breakdown, and the Lupine Book Club was quite therapeutic in emerging from a particularly dark time of life. It has been a huge help; 2017 was the first year I really felt like “myself” again in quite some time, and the blog has certainly aided in this process.

I originally saw the Lupine Book Club as more nostalgia-focused, in a similar vein to Dinosaur Dracula, Branded in the 80s or The Surfing Pizza. This hasn’t quite happened; things have been very Funko-focused of late, but in 2018 I hope to see it regain some of the diversity I originally had when I was pulling it together. And who knows, there may even be a surprise or two on the cards!

5. I finished (the first draft of) my book!

Though I haven’t said much about it on here, I’ve been working on a horror novella for quite some time now. Well, I’ve finished the first draft and am now in the process of editing it. I hope to self-publish it early next year on Kindle.  More details to come soon, but keep your eye on here, and on my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more information.  

Most importantly, I must extend thanks to everyone who has visited over the years. 2017 was easily the biggest in terms of pageviews, in part due to a concerted effort on my part to write more – but also through the support of other blogs like The Robot’s Pajamas, who were kind enough to have me write the occasional guest post. I look forward to seeing you all again in the New Year!

POP! Games – Sub-Zero

Sub-Zero! Arguably my favourite character from the Mortal Kombat series. A ninja who could freeze people and who had one of the most brutal fatalities in the original game. What more could you really want from a fighting game character?

A couple of different people have worn the Sub-Zero mantle over the years. The Sub-Zero from the first game got killed off, eventually returning as Noob Saibot. The current holder of the title is the original Sub-Zero’s younger brother – why not, I guess?

But back in the day, before you could just look this stuff up on the internet, we mostly just knew Sub-Zero as the blue ninja with ice powers. You could kind of infer that he was a rival of Scorpion, given that they were different coloured ninjas, but let’s be honest here – no-one was playing that first game for the intricate story.

As one of the most popular characters in the series, Sub-Zero’s inclusion in the Mortal Kombat line was a foregone conclusion. He’s been designed to look like his Mortal Kombat X incarnation; it’s much more intricate than his first costume, but you can see there’s a common thread there. Personally, I think it’s a little over-detailed here, but Funko have been transitioning away from their plainer designs for quite some time now.

The paint isn’t going to blow you away, but it’s better than you might expect; the main areas you’ll want to watch out for are his hands. In classic Funko fashion, paintwork seems to be improving at a rate of two steps forward, one step back. The excess of detail certainly makes the painting process trickier, too.

There’s also a chase version of Sub-Zero available, at a 1/6 ratio. It’s the same sculpt, but his right hand is holding some kind of ice blob, cast in semi-transparent blue plastic. A good variation but not something worth paying scalper prices for.

Sub-Zero isn’t as good as the Scorpion I reviewed last month, but he is a fun figure nonetheless. Hopefully we’ll see some more additions to the line and/or repaints in the near future. Personally, I'm hoping for an MK/MK 2 Reptile.

POP! Movies – Masked Predator (Specialty Series)

Predator is one of my favourite movie monsters, up there with the Creature from the Black Lagoon. He’s a monster who crosses age and fandom barriers, proving a compelling presence even when the movie itself is less than stellar.

Funko have actually pumped out quite a few Predator products since 2013 – many more than I realised. I bought the unmasked version a while ago (maybe a couple of years?) and I assumed that I had written a review of it. But it turns out I haven’t, so I can’t just pillage from it the way I sometimes do when I’m reviewing two very similar figures.

As might be expected, the body is the same, though he gets an entirely new head. The body sculpt is a little softer and less-detailed than we would probably get from Funko these days, but I quite like it; to be honest, I think Funko over-details many of its newer figures, detracting from the relatively simplistic style that made them so appealing in the first place. The mask is a little tighter, but this still works as it’s fairly simple in its style.  

As might be expected, the paint is adequate. Better than the original, but still lots of room for work. It doesn’t do much to enhance the sculpt. The most egregious error is on the back of the head, around the dreadlocks – it’s been left plain black where it should be the predator’s beige-y skin colour.  

This POP is a good one, and it’s a long-overdue addition to the Predator line. To be honest, I’m surprised it was released as a Specialty Series figure. The unmasked and “cloaked” versions were released back in 2013, but they don’t seem to have been discontinued – certainly they’re easy enough to track down in Australia.

This new release also seems to have been selling quite well, so perhaps we may even see more Predators? Personally, I’d love to see a Predator 2 version. It wouldn’t need to be radically overhauled; a different mask and a new paint job, and there you have it. But in the meantime, this one will sit nicely on the shelf alongside his unmasked companions.