I know it's fashionable to hate every new entry into the Looney Tunes franchise because it's not immediately as perfect and timeless as "Duck Amuck" or "What's Opera, Doc" (forgetting that Looney Tunes is subject to Sturgeon's Law same as anything else), but despite this I think The Looney Tunes Show is pretty damn great.  It doesn't try to plagiarize famous moments from the past; instead it just takes a set of characters, puts them in a neighborhood, and lets them interact.  No one's exactly the way they were sixty years ago, despite being recognizably themselves, and that's for the best.  Stuff's gots to evolve, man, and not just exist in this living death of ad nauseum rehashery.

Plus, dude, I now live in a world where I legitimately enjoy Lola Bunny.  Possibly more than Daffy.  If you'd told me this was possible two years ago, I would have punched you in the face.

What I'm trying to say is that Space Jam is bad and it should feel bad.

Anyway, I'm a big enough fan of the show that I was super excited to learn there's some figurines!  The designs are based on the character models seen in the promotional material and resemble sort of how the characters look in the first season.  By season 2, everyone sorta got Chuck Joneserized, which is kind of annoying.  Do they always have to look the way they did in 1950?  It was nice seeing them evolve visually a little.  I think I may have touched upon this subject before.  

Toys"R"Us has an exclusive five-pack of Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Elmer, and Lola.  There's also two-packs, some of which have different characters, but the ones I found during my visit only had repeat guys from this set.  (There's Daffy/Marvin, Sylvester/Tweety, and potentially Coyote/Roadrunner sets out there.)  The figures are bigger than I'd guessed from the photographs, being about 2-3 inches high at my estimation.  Each figure's head turns, though Daffy's is a little restricted due to his sculpt.

I am not exactly why Elmer is in this set.  Well, okay, the answer is that he's a popular and recognizable character.  However, he's shown up for one Merry Melodies segment about having sex with a sandwich plus a cameo so far out of dozens of episodes, so he seems kinda back-burner.  And I don't think he's ever been seen in his classic hunters outfit.

What I want is a Tina, dammit.  Speedy wouldn't be bad either, but there's no way they'd make him to scale.

Anyway, I found these guys in TRU's plush animal aisle.  Yeah.  Glad I searched the store pretty thoroughly.

Never in all my collecting life have I heard a knock at the door, discovered it was UPS, been handed a box from Big Bad Toy Store, and not known what in the friggin' Hell it was.   Seriously, this was a first.  There was this real moment of anticipation as I cut open the package to see what was inside.  It was like Christmas.  But, you know, a good Christmas, back when I got toys instead of underwear.  (I have to admit this is mostly my own fault.  I would probably still get toys for Christmas if everyone I knew weren't aware that I've already bought everything I want.)

But it was Prime Thundercracker!  I didn't even realize he was out.  He's a Japanese exclusive of some sort.  So I guess whatever event he was attached to happened, and I didn't check my Hotmail account for a shipping notice during the few days that it took for the package to arrive here.

I don't know how keen I am on Skywarp and Thundercracker being exact duplicates of Starscream in the Primeverse.  Starscream's design is pretty individualized, unlike how it is in most other continuities.  But at least Starscream's "First Edition" Deluxe Class toy is pretty damn awesome, so that mitigates this unease somewhat.

Thundercracker has the same stickers as Skywarp, but in different colors.  Thundercracker's Mini-Con's stickers, however, are different.  Which is neat!  What isn't neat is that this chrome version of Balo is just an upgraded form of Bulo.  I kinda wish he were a second guy.  Instead, he just replaces a guy I already have.  I've probably whined about this phenomenon before.  Let me also whine about "Silver Metal" Balo's chrome plating.  It keeps mine from coming together well.  His legs like to pop off because the chrome adds just enough extra coating to keep his parts from meshing properly.  Bummer.

Now I'm excitedly waiting for Slipstream to arrive next year.  The Transformers Prime cartoon is pretty light on worldbuilding, so I have to depend on the toylines to make me feel like this is a massive universe.

Forget the rest of the imported Asian exclusives, Hot Spot is the one I really wanted!  I love Hot Spot.  He and his Protectobots were among the first Transformers I owned, and I had all of them.  (Incidentally, I am also pretty big on Defensor.)  Surprise, I am happy to have a new  Hot Spot!

Yeah, there've been a few other Hot Spots through the years, but none of them have been terribly satisfactory to me.  A Mini-Con was colored like him once.   Later, Legends of Cybertron Optimus Prime was redone as Hot Spot, as was Titanium RID Prime.   We would have gotten the best damn Hot Spot ever for OTFCC 2004, but OTFCC 2004 was kind of the Titanic and whatnot, so oops.

But this guy does it for me!  He's big and blocky and made from a toy I like.  (Yes, my Dinobot Syndrome is strong for this mold.  Once Artfire comes out, I'll take a picture of all five uses of it.  Though I still want a Hauler from it as well...)    And he's got a new head!  Hooray for new heads!

My only complaint is that his robot mode needs some red.  Well, more red.  The lights on the roof aren't nearly enough.  This is solved for me, thankfully, by Reprolabels!  (see below left) I already had Hot Spot's "upgrade" sticker sheet waiting around the house for me to find this toy, so they went on him pretty quickly.  The new red and silver hazard stripes not only call back to the original toy, but they add that red I so strongly desire.

He's pretty hard to find at the moment because he's one to a case and he's the guy folks seem to be after the most.  Hopefully he'll saturate!  Once I start spotting more of him, and after all my friends in town have gotten him, I wanna get an extra one to steal the head from.  Spark's Inferno head just won't do.

I could make excuses for buying Wheelie.  He had a new head and weapon!  He was orange!  ... that's about it!

But this G2-style Jazz version of the same toy, I dunno.  I mean, I like myself some G2, but I'm not generally in for same-character redecoes of the same toy unless it's Hot Shot or Dinobot.  But I had this tiny desire to have All The RTS Jazz Mold Uses, and so I got him.

He's nice.

I have no idea what I'm gonna do with him, but he's nice.

Wheelie opens up a lot of questions about the life-cycle of the Transformers species.  He's a child.  A young boy.  In some stories, he has parents.  (Dead, like Batman's.)  So we gotta ask ourselves.... is this typical?  Do Transformers have childhoods?  Generally we see them be built as adults, but Wheelie is an actual diminutive preteen orphan with a slingshot because he's a rhyming Dennis the Menace.  He hangs out with ten-year-old Daniel Witwicky because, hey, they're both kids.

Were Hot Rod and Springer tiny Transformers children at one point?  Did they have parents like Wheelie did?  Is Wheelie gonna stay that size, or is he gonna grow up to be tall like they are?  (And since Bumblebee's the same size, does that mean Bumblebee was a kid, too?)

(Seriously, if I may go off on a tangent here, what we see of Transformers life cycles is insanely depicted.  In Beast Wars, Rattrap whispered to Silverbolt about Transformer strip clubs in front of Cheetor, even though Silverbolt was one year old and Cheetor was about seventy.  But Cheetor is characterized as a teenager and Silverbolt was born characterized as an adult, so.... yyyyeah.)

However, if Wheelie does get to grow up, he might look like my new toy!   At least, I sure hope this toy doesn't represent Kid Wheelie.  RTS Jazz is a pretty tall Deluxe Class figure, and Kid Wheelie should probably not be taller than Generations Springer and Classics Hot Rod.  Hell, he's taller than Classics Grimlock, and Wheelie's generally remembered for being able to ride on top of Grimlock's head like a tiny hat.

Like Springer, I was pretty content to skip this Wheelie back when he was a shortpacked Chinese exclusive.  He's pretty damn skippable for sixty bucks.  But at domestic prices, he was much more tempting.  I didn't need a larger Wheelie.  It wasn't a desire I had.  The recent-ish Legends Class toy was sufficient for me, since Wheelie is a small child.  But, well, you know me and my orange redeco fetish.  Plus, hey, COMPLETE JAZZ POWER, Dinobot Syndrome, etc.  And he has a new head and a new slingshot.  And it's a really good toy, regardless of color.  He's exclusive to Toys"R"Us, so if you find him there, you could buy worse toys.

(Man, do I not currently own an original Wheelie?)

The original Masterpiece Optimus Prime is nearing a decade old, released in 2004 as "20th Anniversary Prime."  And since this is Optimus Prime, it's no surprise TakaraTomy's come back again after all this time to do it again.  .... but maybe a little smaller, yes?  The first MP Prime was... kind of huge.  He was clearly designed to be a stand-alone item, without thought to "oh hey i guess maybe we should do some other guys to go with him," forgetting, uh, maybe not everyone wants a range of folks-who-aren't-Optimus-Prime at that huge-ass scale.

So this new MP Prime is smaller, but not dinky by any rate.  He's got some die-cast in him, so he's got a good heft -- but not so much heft that he's constantly in danger of falling over, like the old one was.  The ankles on this guy don't have to support nearly as much.  And New MP Prime has a different transformation and some retooled proportions.  He makes the Old MP Prime look like My Buddy and/or Kid Sister.

(I really need to throw my old MP Prime up on eBay, but I can't find any accessories other than the Energon Axe.  No Matrix, no ion cannon, no nothin'.  Knew I shouldn't have let Zombie Tarantulas keep MP Prime's Matrix for eight years.  Dude totally ganked it.)

New MP Prime does some of the things the old one did, but not all.  His chest doors still open up to reveal the Matrix, of course, and you can still pry it out of there.  He doesn't have some of the smaller things, though.  There's no more wrist communicators in his arms, his mouthplate doesn't do the talky-talky thing, nor do the flaps on the fronts of his legs flare when he steps.  However, his transformation does make room for Spike Witwicky (who's included) to sit inside while Prime's in truck mode.  And, oh my lord,  his truck mode actually has side-view mirrors.  They managed a way to get those to exist.  It makes me happy.

I also like the new range of motion for his head.  It's articulated at the neck plus the neck itself can rotate back and forth, allowing Prime to look up into the air or into his own collarbone.  His fingers are articulated, with a joint at the knuckles for his pinky/ring/middle fingers and one at the knuckles and mid-finger for his index finger.  I do wish his elbows and knees were double-jointed so they could bend over on themselves.  He can't do the Kneeling Big Nooooooo!, which is a tragedy.

TakaraTomy also decided that his legs should awkwardly conceal his leg-wheels, since those disappeared during transformation in the cartoon.  Well, their execution looks dippy, and I like seeing his wheels there, so I've been leaving the concealing flap folded back against the rear of his legs.

Since this Prime is smaller, it's not nearly as incredible an ordeal to give him a trailer.   The Old MP Prime got a trailer (eventually) in Japan, and I bet that thing is stupidly huge.  This one is just small enough to survive the transition to American toy shelves.  Even so, the packaging is still pretty huge.  Grabbing it off the shelf and carrying it to the check-out counter is like toting a giant stereo boombox.  Also, hey, you're going to have to completely tear apart the packaging to get the instructions out.  They buried that sucker deep in the bowels of this thing.  Like the tell-tale heart, the instructions are hidden under the floorboards.

Generally I'm fine when Primes don't have trailers.  The original trailer is just a box.  A box that takes up space.  Looooots of space.  It's a waste of mass.  But I don't absolutely hate this trailer.  For one thing, it hides the back of Optimus Prime's truck mode, which is obviously a pair of robot legs and not the back of an actual truck.  It also does all of the things the original 1984 trailer did, like open into a battlestation or repair bay.  Roller is included, who can also tow the trailer himself if he wants to, while Spike drives.  Unlike the original trailer, this one has spots to stow all of Optimus Prime's extra stuff.  You can nestle his axe and gun in their intended spots.  (The gun also folds in half and stores in Optimus Prime's back as first seen in the Dreamwave comics.  Thanks, Pat Lee.)

If you like Optimus Prime, he's a pretty good thing to have.  He's exclusive to Toys"R"Us, though.  Hopefully his $100 price tag ('cuz of the huge trailer, you see) will mean he won't disappear off the shelves quicker-than-the-eye.

I have some additional photos on my Tumblr.

Maybe it's the nearly 20 years we went without a Unicron toy, but I just can't pass up a new Unicron toy.  I'm pretty sure I have all of them, save some redecoes.  There's this artificial (by now) feeling of Unicron toy scarcity that compels me to buy them.  Why am I buying this, my brain asks?  The answer is, obviously, because it's friggin' Unicron, my seven-year-old self  barks back at me.

There could be worse compulsions.  I like Unicron.  At least, I really like the Unicron that appeared in the later Marvel Comics and gave him a purpose beyond "random eating robot built by tiny dumb monkey alien."  Him being the cosmic Big Bad, the Transformers Satan,  just makes more sense.  That has been, thankfully, the Unicron that has marched forward since, even into the current permutation of the Transformers brand, Transformers Prime.  TFP can be pretty by-the-numbers at times, but I really like what they did with Unicron.  It's hard to make that guy fresh.  But Unicron's body is actually the Earth's core, and his essence can barf up onto land via volcanoes.  It's a pretty dark twist, putting the Ultimate Evil below our own feet.

Anyway, that's why this Unicron looks like he's a rock monster and why he transforms into his own face inside of a volcano.  Sure, the instructions tries to pass his alternate mode off as a spaceship, but that's no spaceship.  It's a volcano with Unicron's face embedded in it, with his skeletal wings doubling for a lightning storm.  It's a Face Volcano.  And it's why I love this toy.  Because Face Volcano.

Otherwise, it's just another toy of Unicron that also transforms into the most bullshittiest third mode "Capture Mode" ever.  Yeah, there's this other thing you do with him, besides the robot and the Face Volcano, that involves you splitting Unicron open, yanking him apart, and wrapping him around either Megatron or Optimus Prime.  It looks like it should be pretty simple if dorky-looking, but it is so aggravating to try to put into place that I've decided this third Capture Mode is a prank.  It's a lie.  It doesn't exist.   TakaraTomy's trying to pull one over on me.  The only other option is that they are not very great at making toys, and I think I prefer my toy companies evil rather than incompetent.   Seriously, it makes you break your toy to put it together according to the instructions. And even then nothing lines up properly, resulting in a sloppy mess.  If you are not bald or gray already, this Capture Mode will make you so.  Ignore it.

Unicron comes with a Mini-Con, like other Japanese TFPrime toys, and this one transforms from a mole-like creature into Unicron's left arm.  When the Mini-Con's on vacation, you can pull the halves of Unicron's big spikey club arm apart and they can be used for both of his arms.  This doesn't look too great, because the half-arms are obviously half-arms with no backs to them, so I think the Mini-Con's staying attached to his elbow.

Technically, this Unicron is an army builder, since there were buttloads of him in the season one finale, but I think I'll pass.  There was only one Face Volcano, after all.

Generally I take a few photos of my toys before slaughtering them with paint.  But not Ironhide, apparently.  He's had good photos of him up on TFWiki from another user for a while now, so half my impetus to photograph him was gone.  And, really, I got Ironhide for the express purpose of painting him.  It was why he was in my hands.  So he went on the kitchen table pretty damn quickly.

I wanted to paint him 'cuz we've seen Ken Christiansen's concept art of Ironhide and he's a mostly black guy with a splash of red, while the toy is mostly red with a splash of black.  And I know black paint goes on reeeeally easy, especially for a shaky-handed and impatient painting novice such as myself, so I became obsessed with getting this guy so I could "fix" him.

And I did!  His arms and legs are black now, as God and/or Christiansen intended.  Those guns he's sporting are Kup's, of course.  The Mini-Con that comes with Ironhide (and transforms into one of his cannons) is giving me trouble with assembly, so he's sitting around somewhere.  The purple crystal thing won't snap in.  It pops out.  It's annoying.  I have the plastic flash sanded and everything.  It's gone.  The piece just won't stay.  I hate it.

I have but one photo of Ironhide without paint or his stickers applied.  There it is on the right, with his buddy Unicron The Face Volcano.

Oh, and if Kup's review taught me anything, it's that I should mention that this is not the Cyberverse toy you can find in America.  It's a Deluxe and it's from Japan.  It's unknown whether he's ever coming over here at the moment.

Somehow I have all the Primax Springer toys.  I didn't intend to.  I have the four of them, and I only purposefully bought three.  Over a decade ago (probably 2001), I bought the original Springer 'cuz it was the only game in town, and I wanted the Wreckers' leader.  Then in 2007 BotCon gave us a second Springer, a redeco of Hot Shot.  Shortly after, we got another Springer at retail.  I considered my BotCon Springer sufficient for my requirements, but this New Retail Springer came packaged with a Ratbat I wanted, so.

And now this even newer Generations Springer.  I thought myself satisfied with the BotCon one.  It was a BotCon toy, after all!  And Generations Springer was originally a China-exclusive, which meant he was gonna be $30-$40.  I can pass on that, easy.

...but then Hasbro decided he was gonna get sold over here, too (as Toys"R"Us exclusives), and so now he was suddenly domestic prices.  Impulse-buyable.  And since around that time we were getting our first good photos of him, I started to realize he had things I desired.  I mean, I already knew he had a new head and a new sword.  Those were nice.  But I didn't realize he was going to be so gray-with-yellow-and-blue-hazard-stripes in helicopter mode.  His helicopter mode gives me Original Springer Toy Feels in a way the other new Springers have not.  So, yes, for $15, I would own that.

The new sword does complicate things a little.  It can peg into helicopter mode, but only if you unpeg one of his missile launchers.  His missile launchers do have several other ways to attach several other places, but I liked them best under the helicopter wings.  The sword also is grasped pretty loosely in his hand.  Good thing it's got a hilt guard (double powerlinx ports!), 'cuz that's what keeps it from just slipping down through his palm.

Folks say that the toy is too movie-y for Springer.  I disagree!  Springer's toy is pretty large in my mind when I think of Springer, and one of the things about Springer's toys are his stickers.  They are crazy.  The front of his legs have these stickers where the detail shows all these access panels falling open and hanging open by wiring.  G1 Springer's kind of a messy dude.  And so translating that into lots of crazy movie detailing really works for me.

(Besides that toy has already been another G1 guy, so technically it was a G1 aesthetic already.)

Have I mentioned how much I like those little yellow-and-blue hazard stripes on his gray wings?  I really, really do.