Maschinen Krieger S.A.F.S. Mercenary Corps

Back during the internet's infancy I discovered a little thing called Maschinen Krieger ZbV 3000(Ma.K.). Ma.K. was a bit of a mystery to me (it still sort of is, I guess) because there wasn't a whole lot of information to be found except for a lot of pictures and a lot of poorly translated information. Since there was a lack of information and resources, Ma.K. held my interest mainly because of the pictures I saw.

Ma.K. began life as SF3D, the creation of artist Kow Yokoyama as a kind of photo comic (sounds familiar, no?) back in the 1980's in the pages of HobbyJAPAN. SF3D's story was set about 900 years in the future...there was a nuclear war, Earth rendered uninhabitable, humanity moves to space, Earth restores itself...pretty standard fare. The story was enhanced by pictures of kit bashes by Kow, drawing inspiration from WWI and WWII German aircraft and armor. The result was something very different from the "super robot" stuff in vogue in Japan at the time.

There were some licensed Ma.K. model kits during the story's run but there was a dispute between Kow and HobbyJAPAN in the mid-80's, and as a result HobbyJAPAN ended up dropping SF3D. The dispute wasn't resolved until the 1990's, and this is when Kow began releasing products from his story reintroduced as Maschinen Krieger ZbV 3000. Since Ma.K. was not overly popular, there have been relatively few "affordable" options for collectors, at least until recently. As a result, while I have been a fan of Ma.K. for close to 15 years, it was just a few months ago I decided to add anything Ma.K. to my collection.

There are TONS of vehicles and armor and bits of weapons to admire from Ma.K., from hovercraft, to flying machines, to space-based weaponry, but for me it is the powered armor that is the biggest draw. My two favorite books, Heinlein's Starship Trooper and Joe Haldeman's Forever War are "hard sci-fi" stories that deal with powered armor wearing soldiers, and I think that's where I get my interest in Ma.K.'s Super Armored Fighting Suits. This is S.A.F.S set is a 1/35 scale set from Yellow Submarine.

Review Updates. Now with Pictures!

So, can you believe, when I first started this thing I posted reviews of toys and yet, didn't post pictures. Retarded, no?

Well, I'm going back and addressing some of these errors. First up, my review of Transformers Classics Optimus Prime.

UPDATE: added pictures to Classics Starscream

UPDATE 2: pictures for Transf Formers Classics: Battle for Autobot City added. Mmmmmm, Ultra Magnus-y and Skywarp-y goodness.

UPDATE 3: added pics for Classics Ramjet

THE UPDATES KEEP A-COMIN' or UPDATE 4: Added pictures to my Star Wars Transformers Crossover Millennium Falcon

Transformers Animated Jazz

Jazz is really snazzy. I think he's the most GEEWUN of the Animated figures, and that's just all right with me.

What can I say? This is a great figure. Probably my favorite Animated deluxe.

ENTER THE DRAGON!!!

"Vintage" Star Wars Figures

Star Wars toys represent a toy zenith of sorts from my childhood. Sure, I had other toys from my childhood that maybe got more play, and if you ask me "what is the best toy you ever had?" I might not pick a Star Wars toy at first (Cobra Rattler, in case you're wondering.) However, when I look back at all the toys I had when I was little, I get quite a bit nostalgic and maybe even a little euphoric when I think about Star Wars toys.

I didn't really have very many of the larger vehicles. No A-Wings, B-Wings, X- or Y-Wings. No Millennium Falcon, no Imperial Shuttle. I had Darth Vader's TIE Fighter and one Christmas I got my prized AT-AT and an AT-ST. But that was it as far as the more popular vehicles went. I also had a Bespin Cloud Car, but since it didn't really do much in the films I never really used it for much except maybe Princess Leia's personal ship (she let C-3PO ride shotgun.) I DID have quite a few of the Mini-Rig figures, like the CAP-2, MLC-3, INT-4 (which was my personal favorite because it looked like a flying AT-ST cockpit), MVT-7, and PDT-8, but they really gave off more of a Ralph McQuarrie vibe than a Star Wars vibe.

No, the figures where were it was at for me. I loved them. There was a period there for a year or so where I got a new figure every Friday from my dad. Sadly, most of my Star Wars toys (as well as most of my other stuff) didn't survive what I like to call "The Great Garage Sales Purges." But a few did make it, the examples pictured here.

I'm aware that there are endless possibilities for acquiring figures in better condition, replacement weapons and accessories, etc. but for some reason the idea never really appealed to me. I guess part of it is the fact that I can probably buy a better figure (one with elbows and knees and even ankles sometimes) for a cheaper price at retail, and part of it is that I'm not the same seven year old little boy that gleefully ripped open a Biker Scout in 1983 and felt like he'd just been given a million dollars. Yeah, maybe it would be nice to get some newer, cleaner figures that look like I just got them yesterday, but they wouldn't be MINE. They'd be some other kid's. Some jerkwad that kept all his toys in the package and wouldn't let his friends play with them when they came over. Oh, I've bought a couple more AT-AT Drivers to fill out my AT-AT's crew, but they're outranked by the one I got back in '81.

So, here are the last vestiges of my "vintage" Star Wars action figure collection. They live in a zip-loc bag in the cargo hold of my POTF2 Millennium Falcon when I'm not trying to get them to stand up for a picture.

Transformers Universe - Acid Storm, Galvatron

I've been sitting on these for a while. I love the Classics Seekers mold. I'm a big Starscream fan, but not so much the rest of the so-called "Seekers." I think its really funny that there is much rending of garments and gnashing of teeth amongst the fandom because the only way you can complete the original seekers by buying really ultra-expensive Botcon Exclusives or really ultra-expensive Japanese something-or-others. Me, I'd prefer Hasbro release these homages to bots that only appeared in a single frame in the original cartoon, if just to piss off the whiners.

But for those of you that just insist on whining, consider Acid Storm to be REALLY just an homage to Machine Wars Thundercracker. There ya go, camper, feel better?

You'll notice I haven't said anything about Galvatron. That's because I just don't care one way or the other for him. I bought it for two reasons. One, it was on sale for $7.77 at Wal-Mart and I'm a sucker for a good deal. Two, I wanted him to go with the Universe Cyclonus coming out. But now that pictures of the final product have been shown, I'm kind of disappointed in it, too. So, yeah. Galvatron. He was pretty cool in the movie, I guess.