Nendoroid Number 620; Zelda, The Wind Waker Version: Better then Funko Pops in every way?

I am not a fan of Funko Pops. Honestly, I hate them. I think they're quite bland, and either very generic or for those rare times when the standard mould can't be used, really creepy. It's why you'll never see a review of a Funko Pop on here that I bought for myself because I never will. I'm a huge Pokemon fan, not enough of one to look past the eldritch horror that the Funko Pop Pikachu is. There are other alternatives to it though, including a Japanese collectible line known as Nendoroids. At least when it comes to Australian releases, most never see the light of day here, but there are a few that do get a release here, including one that I picked up a few years ago, "Zelda, The Wind Waker Version", or as she'll be known as from here on out, Toon Zelda. Who's ready for a constant attack on Funko Pops?

Lego City 60191; Arctic Exploration Team: Perfect timing on my end!

Too late for Australian winter, too early for winter in the Northern Hemisphere, truly the best time to review a set themed around arctic exploration!

It might be because I've never actually been to the snow, but themes and locations based around snow, ice and the like always do intrigue me. I even tend to let Ice themed platformer levels slide just due to the theme, even if it means subjecting myself to Ice physics leading to awkward platforming challenges... Moving on, while the Lego City theme, one of the few original themes Lego does still prioritize to some degree, has a lot of sub-themes to it, a lot of it can be connected to either Firefighting, Police, or some form of rescue operations. There are some like trains that tend to remain in circulation for a long time, but rarely does the line branch out from the norm, most of it tends to be in "Lego City". However, every now and then, you get something new, such as a new sub-line themed around Arctic Exploration, and where we go to today because I rarely get interested in City themes, starting off with one of the smaller sets of the wave, the Arctic Exploration Team.

Transformers Generations Thrilling 30 Deluxe Class Chromia: Congrats on the new legs, they're better then the Unicycle look

While some might try to disagree, try to call it out as a form of forced inclusivity, it's hard to deny that Transformers is a toyline mostly aimed at boys, and for a while, female characters were a no-show. While female characters have existed since G1, it took until Beast Wars for the girls to be getting toys, with Blackarachnia's first toy being a repaint of Tarantulus, and the first toy to be made from the ground up to be a girl being Transmetal Airazor. "What about Arcee!" I hear you say, well, while she apparently had prototypes and sketches, her first toy was a retool of Transmetal 2 Blackarachnia, as a convention exclusive in 2001. her first toy was in the same wave as today's review, in 2014. And people wonder why we're getting at least one female Transformer each line now? Granted, that wasn't her first toy, as every time she's had appearances in a show of even the live action films, she's had a toy. The reason I say that is because Chromia here is a repaint of one of those toys, from Transformers Prime, something that is surprisingly common because, for all her appearances, she's never had a unique mould. How well does this look work for her? Well, one way to find out.

Transformers Power of the Primes Leader Class Orion Pax/Optimus Prime: Two toys for the price of one

Optimus Prime combining with his trailer to get stronger is not something new. Powermaster Prime did it (originally), I know off the top of my head that it's something that the Robots in Disguise 2001 toy did along with Armada and Cybertron. one of the toys for Dark of the Moon even did it (I couldn't tell you if he did in the film, other then it's implied that he did). However, there is something that the others haven't really done, and that was introduced Prime's identity before he became a Prime into this formula, Orion Pax. See, the gimmick of the Leader Class Power of the Primes toys was the ability to turn a toy that's roughly Deluxe sized into a Leader Class toy with some extra armour. For some characters, this worked out well. Others... not so much. Apologies Primal, this is one case where Truck is better then Monkey... oh you thought fans complaining about changes was something new in this Fandom? It's been going on longer then I've been alive. Anyway, how well does this hold up? Is this the superior Prime Wars trilogy Prime? Ok, that one I can answer now as yes because it looks the closest to what many fans consider Optimus Prime to look like, but that's beside the point.

Transformers Titans Return Leader Class Powermaster Optimus Prime: When the white one gets to be the original

Oh Titans Return, a line of strong potential, great figures with few duds, but alas, unable to capitalize on its full potential, with many believed shoe in faces never to get the light of day. Apeface and Snapdragon, a pair of triple changer headmasters in a line of triple changing headmasters? Nope. Star Saber and the other Brainmasters? Nope. Well known and well-loved headmasters in the community? Maybe as standalone Titan Masters. The first two waves even had teases of returning cassette bots and cons in the Legends class to connect to Leader class Blaster and Soundwave (yes I know the irony of not reviewing that figure still, even though I go by Blaster, in some form, online), yet neither Blaster or Soundwave got their full set of iconic cassettes. The line as a whole really felt like, at least to me, it had some more room to grow, especially in Japan where the figures eventually started getting Targetmaster companions to go alongside the figures that were originally Targetmasters in the Generation 1 toyline. What was also very annoying was the distribution from wave 3 onwards here, let alone the exclusives. "No Hasbro, absolutely no one here in Australia wanted those exclusives. No one wanted Nautica, or Tidal Wave, or Magnus Prime, or Brainstorm, or Quickswitch, or Arcee, or a full set of Monsterbots". (I'd love to give a review of those three, but the only one I have is Twinferno). Apparently they also really didn't want to make a Godbomber and left Takara to do him and a Powermaster Prime that can connect to it. What did we get at general retail? A repaint of Combiner Wars Ultra Magnus. Well seeing as Magnus isn't here to defend himself, let's see what this Prime's made of as we delve into a somewhat mini-marathon of Combining Primes, starting with the one who can't combine unless you get him from Japan!