I don’t usually cover toys here at the Spotlight and the only toys I review at The Clutter Reports are ones I already own, and this one only exists as a prototypes. However, this is a special occasion.
I know Greg “M. Sipher” Seplak from the alt.toys.transformers days and we converse now over Twitter. He is a great Transformers and Mega Man fan artist, which led to official Transformers work for the official collector club. We reconnected because he and another ATT alumnus, Trent Troop, co-produce a review series called The Isle Of Rangoon. Well they and one of their friends, Alex Androski, decided to create the ultimate “third-party” toyline, and it looks really good.
Third-party toys are nothing new. I had a two-headed dragon that was compatible with Masters Of The Universe toys. At first I was disappointed because it wasn’t Panthor (I did get Battle Cat for He-Man eventually), but my kid-brain soon realized that a large purple panther has nothing on a two-headed dragon, especially for Skeletor! Nowadays there aren’t as many of these toys that were made to interact with more well-known toylines. I like the idea, because some kid has a vehicle for his G.I. Joe figures that other kids don’t have. At best you find cheap knockoffs of Transformers or Transformer-type figures.
Online can be a different story, as some fans have gone to making third-party toys of figures they don’t think will come out officially or will not be as good as they feel their favorite character deserves. (Although they have to put a new name on there and make the figure just different enough for legal purposes, like when characters in licensed comics don’t quite resemble the actor fully.) Yet others make accessories or labels that interact with their favorite toyline. Greg and Trent’s figures, though, go beyond that…by being compatible with a whole bunch of toylines! Let me introduce you to the Bio-Mechanical Ordnance Gestalts!
Would “loaded for bear” be too obvious a pun?
I know I want a blue Ursenal. The official BMOG website has a list of the toys compatible with the BMOG figures, provided the toy uses 5MM pegs to hold their usual weapons and tools. Actually, that’s something BMOG should think about for later designs, and include mechs with tools or are just tools, like scanners or wrenches or something. That way the non-combatants or anyone needing repairs in the field have some extra help as well.
They’ve mentioned a possible online mini-comic on Twitter but until then there is no in-story origin for the BMOGs or what the history of the two factions, Augmentoids and Paraxxoids. Where do they come from? Do they travel the multiverse, explaining why they can operate with numerous unaligned groups who don’t share a continuity? What happens when two BMOGs combine into a new BMOG (which they can do, even with another version of themselves)? This is the kind of thing that as a writer, storytelling fan, and critic I think about.
Only two weapons? Villains love taking the easy way out, don’t they?
I’ll also be curious to see where Ursenal and Mantax fit into their respective teams. Are they the leaders? Do they have leaders? When they go into the Transformers universe will they get along with the Mini-Cons? And can they survive in a world where everyone needs to have poor spelling for their group names to be “kewl”? I may be as excited, if not more, for the stories of these guys as I am the figures. This is a great idea I hope to see realized. As of this morning, the Kickstarter is up to over $7,000 of its $19,000 goal with 30 days left. I can’t put any money towards it but hopefully some of you can and will. And hopefully I’ll have the funds to get my own by the time they’re ready. I think they have a winner here.
BW Media Spotlight 