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It had been 6 months since my last blog, and just after some anonymous stranger sent me a scan of the last Magmabot I've been missing fo...

Thursday, June 30, 2016

#foldabots10: Aninotron Full Review

#foldabots #foldabots10 #TheFoldabotsBlog #Aninotron

Usually I've been doing reviews with the photos separate from the review itself, but this time, I will be including photos on this review, and probably by December with our next set of Foldabots (I assume there won't be anymore of them, until I got the July issue lately which I'll reveal in a few weeks.) especially the good guys are lacking new gestalts at this point.

On this review, we'll be taking a close look on #Aninotron in full.

Introduction

As we close the former half of this year, we look back at Nu-Sho's new titan and its individual components. This gestalt in particular has a bit of Elementron vibe in it, and it's the first time we get something new for this set like convertibles, a patrol bike, a hearse, and a private helicopter.

As an addition, I will be writing their bios, features, and specs to make the review more informative.

ANINO

[INT: 4 / 5] [END: 3 / 5] [STR: 4 / 5] [SPD: 4 / 5] [SSK: 3 / 5]

"Anino is an ambitious Lutabot who claims he's stronger than Nu-Sho. Together with the Aninobots, he wreaks havoc on the planet by using photon absorbents to suck in light leaving a place in total darkness. He forms the left arm right leg of the gigantic combiner Aninotron."

Anino's vehicle mode is a convertible

Anino's robot mode with his dagger


Released in January, this is the first of the series created by Ian Maypa. I definitely love the way they got up with a cockpit details for the first time since convertibles like this one doesn't need to be just a flat design like I did once with an experimental figure. My first impression when this guy was released, is the possible color scheme of the gestalt would be all blue like Nu-Sho, but we'll get to that later in the review.

Anino is equipped with a dagger made of condensed toxic particles, apart from the usual Lutant life source. As a convertible, Anino has photon collectors on its headlights, as a bonus, he gets a protective cape which also acts as his invisibility cloak for stealthy back stabs.

SIN-DAKK

[INT: 2 / 5] [END: 3 / 5] [STR: 4 / 5] [SPD: 4 / 5] [SSK: 3 / 5]

"Sin-Dakk is an Aninobot whose bad temper is as despicable as the stench of the toxic gas that he emits. He is all brawn and no brains. His stealthy and powerful air attacks make him one of the toughest Lutabots to beat. Sin-Dakk forms Aninotron's right arm."

Sin-Dakk's vehicle mode is a deadly private helicopter

Sin-Dakk's robot mode, with shuriken in hand.


Released in February, the second member of the team was made by Eduard Vergara. This isn't the first time we had an aircraft-based Lutabot. Sigwa, Delubyo, Amihanator, you name it. But the good thing about Sin-Dakk is that he's the first helicopter Lutabot. My first impression on this guy, is he's something of a ninja which is nice.

Sin-Dakk can use his tail propellers as a lethal boomerang or rather a deadly shuriken, while he can emit toxic fumes from his claws. As a helicopter, Sin-Dakk has rotor blades with probably diamond tips in it so he can cut through metal like a hot knife through butter. He can also hide in the shadows like Anino, and he can turn ordinary air pollutants to poison gas.

DILIM

[INT: 3 / 5] [END: 3 / 5] [STR: 3 / 5] [SPD: 4 / 5] [SSK: 2 / 5]

"Like a shadow, Dilim is a developed follower of Aninobot. This extremely loyal and protective 'bot is silent but deadly and willing to sacrifice his toxic life energy for the greater cause of the Aninobots. Dilim does not care about personal glory and fame; he is contented to being just a useful ally in order for his team to win a battle. He forms the right arm left leg of Aninotron."

Dilim's vehicle mode is the same as Anino's, except he has a roof on.

Dilim's robot mode


Released in March, comes the third piece of the gestalt created by John Louise Capillo. My first impression on this guy was when this was released, I had no idea why would we have two right arms in the first place, which is odd. This guy doesn't have much accessories than a detachable canopy part. And if you've been paying attention, Aninotron has an Elementron feel to it, and probably Dilim and Anino is the equivalent of Alon and Agos.

Dilim is equipped with the said roof part which also acts as his shield, and he can make toxic blasts by grabbing air pollution with his bare hands. As another converter car, he almost has the same features as Anino's such as light-stealing photon collectors, and he can also go into tight spots. Dilim Gets You Going!

KADENA

[INT: 4 / 5] [END: 2 / 5] [STR: 3 / 5] [SPD: 5 / 5] [SSK: 4 / 5]

"Kadena is and iron-fisted law enforcer who punishes anyone who stands in his way of the Aninobots. He has a hi-tech tracking device that helps him hunt down their enemies. Kadena is such a skilled tracker, the Foldabots are extra cautious whenever he's on patrol. Kadena forms Aninotron's left arm."

Kadena's vehicle mode is an HTP patrol motorcycle

Kadena's robot mode sans the heft load of accessories which he'll need later on

Released in April, this tenacious fourth part of Aninotron is made by Nicolo Morales. My first impression when I saw this guy is the possible incompatibility to the gestalt, which I've thought whether he's connected one way or the other. This guy I suppose will have a lot of stuff even though we didn't get them on the issue where he came from.

Kadena is the most versatile of the team, partly because he can make a chain mace using his handcuffs and the flasher post, while his shield is the bulletproof visor on the bike handle. As a HTP 'Pat-bike' he can keep the 'Lutagen' and his arsenal safe in storage pods, as they would call them, while the sirens can damage robot circuits. Imagine if he uses them, would he be affected by the sound?

KARO

[INT: 1 / 5] [END: 2 / 5] [STR: 5 / 5] [SPD: 2 / 5] [SSK: 2 / 5]

"Karo is one of Anino's loyal minions. He follows his master's commands without hesitation. Should anyone think of messing around with Karo, he uses his photon blasters to send them running. Inside his trunk is their team's precious cargo--Aninotron's head! He forms the main body of Aninotron."

Karo's vehicle mode is a black funeral car with right side headlights missing

Karo's robot mode is as simple as Dilim

Released in May, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Foldabots, is the final component created by Frian Mark Del Valle. My first impression when he came out is he's rather huge for a hearse, and fatter than of Jeve Macabiog's OCs. On his own, he's very weak in vehicle mode especially the hood has no support either one way or the other, even with the tailgate added. But I do like the way they do with his legs in robot mode, very nice indeed.

Karo is very big in comparison to his comrades, which makes him the brawler, while he has a photon shooter on his left eye. As a hearse, despite the toy flaws, is the protective armor as tough as Tigastron, and like Dilim, he can shoot out toxic gas from his hands.

ANINOTRON

[INT: 4 / 5] [END: 3 / 5] [STR: 4 / 5] [SPD: 2 / 5] [SSK: 3 / 5]

"Aninotron is the ultimate form of all the Aninobots combined--Anino, Dilim, Karo, Sin-Dakk, and Kadena. The photon energy emanating from these Aninobots is the source of Aninotron's power. His logic circuits are strategically  located inside a storage pod on his head, which is surrounded by toxic flaming fumes."

Here are some of the stuff found on the pattern

And here are the other stuff included. Note Sin-Dakk's tail blades snug perfectly when placed on the tail

The head honcho with his mantle

Sin-Dakk with two shurikens

Kadena with the works

Released in June, the complementary parts of the mighty gestalt can be found here. This includes extra parts like Karo's tailgate, Anino's cape and canopy, and of course the gestalt head that still does no other purpose than being a head. You can also refer to the pictures for some good uses for that head like Karo's toxic gas ball.

Aninotron's Lutant splat is basically Karo's, point made. On the next few pictures I will show you how I mounted his photon cannon and how to utilize other parts like the shurikens on both hands and the spare visor to make the death claw more lethal. What I also did is to store the roof parts of Anino and Dilim inside the cockpit, secured with the windshield if you don't like hollowed parts.

The Aninobots with everything you see here including a toxic gas ball on Karo's arm

Them again, in their vehicle modes. Note Sin-Dakk has paperclips for support


On the next images before you are my techniques in building Aninotron.

Anino and Dilim: Tuck head and one arm inside while leaving the other arm and hood out

Sin-Dakk and Kadena: Place paperclips on the leg areas while forming the hands from the front parts of the two

Aninotron Complete! (I placed the shurikens on both hands, Kadena's shield on the unbent fender for better looking claws, and the shoulder cannon inserted on one tab on Karo.)

Size comparison with Transformers toys: Combiner Wars Protectobot Groove (Legends Class) on the right, and MP-29 Destron Laserwave (Decepticon Shockwave) on the left


Conclusion

Aninotron is just one of those gestalts whose design is rather clean and not messy if you followed the design like Zootron, which I don't like how it was built leading to design cons like Tindig's head is visible, and Gadya's arms were useless in comparison to my version which also includes Zootron holding Baluti.

Now I mentioned in the start of this blog, is the July K-Zone has a Foldabot (yay, good guys!) and the first part of a new gestalt (yay again!). (Unfortunately, K-Zone doesn't have Overwatch related stuff, at least on this month, since it's still relatively a new game and my brother's playing it. Or is it, kids find this game harder than Minecraft or other featured games on that issue. Please K-Zone PH, do an Overwatch issue in August!)

As for my upcoming new Foldabot Habol, he's good to go, and ready to be built soon along with my crossover design, which I will release soon. Until then, this has been The Foldabots Blog, we'll see you next month!

Monday, June 27, 2016

#foldabots10: Aninotron Review Teaser

#foldabots #foldabots10 #TheFoldabotsBlog #Aninotron

So I got this month's issue lately, and just as I expected, the extra parts for Aninotron. This includes accessories for everyone except Dilim. Anino gets an extra canopy part like Dilim's and his Lutant mantle which you can add on his back (Don't worry, Karo can carry most of the other stuff like Kadena's chain cuffs, the shield since it will not fit to the visor itself, and the sickle from its flasher post. Then there are Sin-Dakk's second shuriken, and of course Karo's tailgate. But the crowning feature of this month's pattern is that it finally has Aninotron's ethereal head, which is nothing like every other designs we saw, and the notion of trading up the head design makes it clear since Toxicus.

Now, since the set is complete, we can now hope for the latter half of 2016 will give us a Foldabot gestalt since no new good guys have been appearing lately, and the Lutabots still has more gestalts than the Foldabots (discounting OCs made by everyone, myself included). And of course Toy Book 9 with Magmatron, the first 6 Foldabots of 2013 (discounting the Asero, Tulos, Lakbay, and Elisiyo), and a possible Masterpiece Liyab, and also that special retool of Astig which we're in vain waiting for it to be released on card.

Oh, the reason why I called this a teaser is because I will be releasing the full review on Thursday (the same time as the Duterte administration makes its genesis.)

Until then, this has been the Foldabots Blog, we'll see you next time!

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

#foldabots10: Recalling Ideas

#foldabots #foldabots10 #TheFoldabotsBlog

While I don't have the current month's issue with Aninotron's gestalt parts, and the stuff I want to buy while I'm abroad, let's ponder some good ideas I came up, though this blog is still very bland up to this point.

Scramble System - Inspired by Transformers G1 and the recent Combiner Wars, this Foldabot combiner system lets you use four equally sized members to form any limb on any side, just as long as you have a universal part that serves as either a hand or foot. Detachable parts are OK too, just as long as you have at least four members with even Main Body heights,and a leader that can dock them properly by either mounting paperclips or using special connectors for it, especially when forming the arms.

Head System - Like the former, this one's also inspired by the Headmasters of Transformers, especially now we're excited for the upcoming Generations: Titans Return toy line to be based on the Headmaster system. I've though of this for quite a while, for a Foldabot to have its head as a separate component. The idea is to make the small humanoid unit to form the head, and the vehicle he drives forms his larger body. I have designed four characters using this tack, based on the first four Autobot Headmasters Chromedome, Hardhead, Highbrow, and Brainstorm. They were Kukote, Korona, Kabesa, and Utakon. I might do Lutabots too someday when this experiment caught on.

Dual-purpose parts - There are Foldabots who already has this tack like using a part of their alt modes as weapons and such. Assuming you've been paying attention, I've already covered this in an earlier blog by clicking here. And I also covered why for the record we still don't have a gestalt head that can be used as a part of an alt mode. I also made some experimental designs where the head is integrated with a certain part, rather than a separate and useless piece in the set.

Various Arm Connections - These days, we get to complete a Foldabot or mostly Lutabot combiner, we tend to use paperclips to mount two of the members into the leader's arms. But back in the pre-cardboard era, Foldabot combiners were connected by folding a part from like say Kapre or Ukay's arms to attach Manananggal, Siklab, or Tutubi as arms. The most recognizable connector system that was used in the earlier years of Foldabots, was the T-joints. Both versions of Aquatikron and Gubatron, along with the Toy Book versions of Higantechron and Elementron utilizes this tack, even Magmatron has it as well, thanks largely to Abominator's design. Komyutatron uses a different type of arm connection which is quite clever when it comes to stability, thanks to its shoulder sleeve. You can check out the link above as well since I already discussed this there.

The Foldabots Mini Series - I've also mention this too back then, so I won't go into deep details about it. But the good thing about this, is because of its simplicity and versatility in making a full gestalt. You can check out this photo gallery, where I featured these guys along with other of my creations, if you have no idea yet about Foldabots Mini and how they were different from the main series.

These are just some of my ideas I could share to you all for now, and while I'm still struggling to get something to review while I don't have the issue for Aninotron, and/or a pattern of two I made, most likely based on the said ideas I shared to you on this entry. Until then, this has been The Foldabots Blog, we'll see you next month.