#sadly not all of his torso is modeled but a decent amount is

[brodorokihousuke]

i had to undergo the trials of hercules to get this goddamn model extracted

but it was very. very worth it.

[my-hero-aaron]

Overloaded

It had been a while since Kailey first got her quirk. If she had to guess it had been about 2-3 months. And instead of trees blooming in the spring, the air in Musutafu was becoming warm and humid with the incoming of summer accompanied by the sound of cicadas. Around this time of year, Kailey already had a very rough time sleeping, as for her, the added heat, plus the excess amount of heat she produced in general made trying to get any sort of rest incredibly hard for her. On a decent amount of nights, she ended up wandering over to Aaron's room and either, sleeping next to him while he radiated cold or just slept on his floor, which as well was just cold due to the fact Aaron would train before bed on occasion. Regardless, of that fact, tonight had been different, a cooler breeze had kicked up in the night allowing Kailey to finally have a night to drift off peacefully into a dreamless sleep.

Suddenly she awoke to the feeling of pounding against her skull. ‘This can’t be a migraine’ she thought to herself as she slowly propped herself up on her elbows, her eyes screwed shut due to the searing pain behind her eyes and in the center of her of her brain. As the pain increased inside of Kailey’s head, she tried her hardest to ignore the jolts of static that were pulsing through her muscles along her torso to contract. Her fingers also occasionally spasming as well as she gripped the fabric of her oversized shirt in a desperate attempt to pull herself back to a calmer state. Kailey couldn't help but fight her own instinct to open her eyes, as she felt, that if she opened them, the faint images she could see on the back of her eyelids would become a reality.

Sadly, her eyes shot open at the sound of a glass shattering against the floor in the apartment above her and when they did all of the images became harsher and more prominent. Streams upon streams of information poured into her skull at a rate she could hardly process and it felt as if her brain was imploding. She was only just barely able to process the feeling of tears pouring down her cheeks due to the pain and she couldn't even parse the fact that her mouth seemed to have a mind of its own. Somehow through the torrential tsunami of information that, at least at first was leaving her immobilized, she was, in some way able to process the fact that she was walking over to Aaron's room over the ice bridge. As soon as she opened the slider, Aaron shot up out of sleep and, in a daze, looked at his best friend quizzically.

“K? What’s up? It’s like,... 2 am? Are you overheating again?” Aaron asked with a yawn.

“A-Aron please hel-” She choked out before the stream of information continued to pour from her mouth at Aaron before she blacked out.

“Aaron, please come down from there!” Kailey’s voice echoed as I tried my best to balance on the high beam of the swingset, arms swaying as they stretched out from my sides to aid me in my oddly foolhardy endeavor.

“Aw c’mon, K, I’ll be fi-” My dismission of her worry caught in my throat as my foot slipped from the side of the pole I was doing my best to balance on, and I felt the rush of the wind against me as the ground sped up toward my face. Closer and closer it came and the only thought in my mind was “This is gonna hu-”

I was roused from my sleep (moments before my fall, thankfully) by the ever familiar grumble of the sliding door that split my room from my balcony. This wasn’t much, it sometimes moved in the night, after all. However, once I heard the padding of feet, I shot up, still a bit dazed, and blinked heavily, trying to clear the sleep from my eyes. I felt my pulse quicken immediately as I parsed just who was walking into my room at this ungodly hour. Rolling out of bed, I felt a quizzical look paint my face as my ears finally began to figure out that Kailey was speaking. This wasn’t her ordinary speaking, though, it felt... hurried, unfocused, as though she was dumping information as fast as she possibly could like she couldn’t hold it all.

“The Dyson Sphere was found to be difficult if not impossible after further thought beyond the initial idea of encasing the star which a planet orbited around was applied to the concept as the motion of the star itself through the surrounding area would make the construction of the sphere itself nigh impossible, not to mention the exorbitant resource cost, though that would be inconsequential by the time a society would even consider the construction of-”

“K? What’s up? It’s like, ... 2 am? Are you overheating again?” I muttered, a yawn parting my lips. When the distortion of my hearing passed, I heard something from my best friend’s throat that made my fingers clench instinctively out of worry.

“A-Aron please hel-” “Instead the swarm was chosen as a viable alternative, and has a myriad of practical improvements over the classical sphere model, not the least of which being a much smaller cost in the way of resources and a greater tolerance for individual failures, as each small probe out of the large masses could be easily replaced. Additionally, the piecemeal nature of the structure of the swarm would allow for the transmission of power-power-power-power-power” A heaving gasp overtook Kailey, and her body shuddered with the effort of her body finally beginning to crumble under the sheer force of... whatever had taken her over.

“Kailey what-what the hell is going on? A-A-Are you okay? Pl-Please, speak to me!” I sputtered out, worry snapping down the temperature around me. Another heave overtook Kailey’s body, and I could practically hear her ribs creaking at the force of the sharp breath in. Twitchingly, haltingly, her hands made their way to her head, and gripped with such intensity I saw some hair come loose in her hands... and then, unable to take much more, her eyes first flicked back and forth so fast they almost blurred into colored bands, then fluttered shut as she pitched forward, the breath leaving her as though she’d been punched. Thankfully, I managed to react in time, bending at the knees as I caught her limp body... and almost grimaced at the heat she was putting off. Flicking on my thermal vision, I balked at the absurdly high temperature she was putting off. It was probably the brightest I’d seen a person glow like this, and seeing it come off my best friend was worrying me to no end. I knew she couldn’t handle something like this for much longer.

Hurriedly, I set her on my bed as gently as possible and took a deep breath. I was going to need to draw as much as my internal cold as I could to keep her stable, at least until whatever the heck was going on passed her by. I set off a low pulse into the mattress below her and focused on what she was saying. Even unconscious, the words began to flow from her mouth, unbidden and unbound by the fact that she couldn’t feel the world around her.

“Furthermore the states of ice are really only bound by their crystalline structure and while the exotic states of water ice are relatively rare outside the laboratories in which they were produced in and the states of high pressure such as those in the cores of Jovian planets in not just our solar system but galaxies beyond the ones we can see as well.”

“Shh, buddy... I know. It’s alright. I’m not quite sure what’s going on up there, but I’m going to do my best to keep it from burning you up, ok?” My own muttering was panicked and rushed, but unlike the word vomit cascading from the mouth of my compatriot, I knew what I was saying and meant every word. Redoubling my efforts, I drew one hand through her hair, carefully releasing cold to push back against the heat wafting off of her. The frost that was forming where I’d placed my hand was immediately steaming off, but I relented as Kailey’s breathing settled, if only slightly. It was seeming to pass... if not slow down.

“The origin of quirks is as of yet unknown but it is simply impossible to rank the strength of the greatest individual person’s quirk, or more accurately, individuals quirks, as the passage of One for All from user to user increases the effectiveness of the energy being channeled from an as of yet unknown source, the current holder or holders happen to be the popular hero known as All Might and his protege-” Kailey prattled on with almost greater force, and I had to restrain her from shooting into a seated position. It almost seemed as though whatever was doing this needed to prove to me that I was positively incorrect in my assumption of the fit slowing.

“K-Kailey, please, hang on for me-!” The temperature spiked even further down, and I felt the tears freezing on my cheeks as I gently put a hand to her face, trying to look her in the eyes that seemed to bounce about their sockets as though they were golf balls midflight, jerking and halting like a billiard ball struck with a glancing, spinning blow. “P-p-please, K, you can do this!” My head sunk to the bed before her, and I began to sob out of sheer fear for the life of my childhood friend. Suddenly, a voice that sounded somewhat like the Kailey I knew, but with some sort of odd difference sounded behind me, and I stiffened in my bowed posture.

“You’re right, you know. She- er... We, I suppose, can do it. But only if I show you what to do next.” The stranger’s voice intoned calmly, as though she’d seen this all before.

Ever so slowly, I began to turn around, and the stranger shouted out a hurried NO! Before continuing in that calm tone once again, “That is to say, you.. can’t see me, Popsicle. At least, not yet anyway... Just.. trust me, okay? I’m going to set a hand on your shoulder, and you need to open your mind for me.”

She let out a small chuckle as though she could hear my quirked eyebrow at her odd choice of phrasing, and I raised a hand in a thumbs up gesture, not trusting my voice after what was happening.. Then I felt it. A stream of images, like a half-forgotten dream, poured into my brain, unbidden by my own hand. I wasn’t quite sure what she was trying to show me, at least until the flow trickled to a stop. Then the puzzle pieces clicked together, and I saw the pattern of my hands, the push of the temperature, as though it was as obvious as the day I was born.

“Use that trick wisely, ok? I can’t save you like this very often, time would get pretty upset with me.” I could practically feel the upturned lips of her half smile through the tone of her voice, and I sat up, focus redoubled, to save my Kailey.

The grip I had on her head would have been absolutely foreign just moments before, but the curve of my hands seemed to suit it perfectly as my fingers splayed across her face. I reached out to the block of cold metal that formed the frame of my bed and found the cold I had originally intended to pump into her surroundings to keep her from overheating. Dah DOY, genius! Of course, the cold’s going to flow down to an area of lesser resistance! I thought to myself before snapping back to the moment I was in, pursing my lips to focus the air coming from my heavy breath out. Leavouring the cold into my body, I heard something that sounded like a slow drumbeat at a great distance, and let the cold go in time with it, almost seeing the points in which the cold was seeping into the folds of Kailey’s brain to keep it from overheating. She began to sputter a bit in the relentless tidal flow of information that came from her lips, and I forced myself to push harder, fighting the heat that seemed to come off of her in layers. I felt the internal stores of my cold begin to flow into her like the tightening of a muscle and knew I had to stop soon, but she hadn’t come down yet! I growled slightly as I gave one final pulse, and then my grip slipped from Kailey’s face as my world spluttered into blackness, my body slumping against her (now much calmer) own.

Kailey woke up later that morning, her head, although no longer hot, still felt as if someone was tearing apart her brain from the inside out. To her pleasant surprise, even though she was still getting a flood of information pouring into her head, she found that she could at least keep it internalized and her body was being cooperative and not upset as it had been earlier. When she turned to her side with a groan she saw Aaron laying there next to her, even while asleep looked more exhausted than when she had seen him yesterday evening once they got home from school but she needed to know why she was in his room, what had happened last night. So she gently shook her best friend, not being able to put as much force as she normally would.

“ A-Aaron,” she croaked, her voice hoarse from the immense strain her body had put on it the night before, “ Wake up, … please”. The boy stirred lightly, an incoherent mumble passing through his lips in protest of being roused from slumber in response. “P-please. I-I need you to… to tell me what happened last night. A-Aaron PLEASE.” She pressed putting as much effort and energy as she could into shaking him awake.

Soon Aaron, albeit with a few groans and grumbles in protest, rose from his comfortable position and rubbed the sleep tiredly from his eyes. Soon acknowledging the second half of Kailey’s request, telling her the events of the night before, how she came into his room at 2 in the morning, unable to withhold all the information that was pouring into her brain, how she went unconscious, but despite that her body still continued to spout information, his struggles to keep her at a cool enough temperature so her body wouldn’t shut down from overheating, how someone, who he could only assume was an older version of Kailey gave him the knowledge to be able to save her, the amount of energy it took him to do it. After hearing it all Kailey couldn’t help but almost cry, she couldn’t believe she made her best friend go through all of that.

“I’m so so sorry Aaron. I’m sorry I made you go through all of that, I don’t know why I even came over last night, I don’t even know WHY I came over here. I shouldn’t have put you through that. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” She rambled crumpling in on herself a bit.

“Hey, hey, hey. Shhh, shhh, shhh, shhh, shhh, it’s fine K, i-it’s fine, you’re fine, that’s what I’m here for. I’m glad you came over here, albeit even if it wasn’t an entirely conscious decision. Not to mention who knows what would’ve happened to you had you not. Please don’t be sorry. You’re fine. You’ve got nothing to be sorry about, c’mere.” Aaron stuttered before pulling Kailey over to his chest and holding her close, one hand finding its way into her tangled hair softly and stroking it while the other drew small swirl patterns over and between her shoulder blades.

“I-I’m in so much pain, Aaron. I-it feels like my mind is...is being ripped apart.” She sobbed.

“ I know Kailey, I know shhh, it’s okay, just let it out, you’re gonna be okay I promise. This will pass eventually just stay strong. I think it’s a good idea for both of us to just get some rest today if we can K.” Aaron sighed tiredly, continuing to hold his best friend close as he pulled them back down softly onto the pillows.

Soon enough, the pair finally drifted off to sleep, curled up against each other letting the rest of the day slip away.

For the next two weeks or so following that morning, Kailey was out of school, as every day for that period of time, she was still crippled by her brain processing all of the information pouring into it and getting used to her new way of perceiving life around her. Needless to say, Aaron, whenever he wasn’t at school himself, was attached to her hip, even more so than usual due to the worry of her overheating again.

Even after those first few weeks, on occasion, she would have what they both would call “Info attacks” where it would be similar, although not nearly as bad, sessions like the first night and Aaron would have to use the same tactic as before. Of course, though, it only would get easier for them as time flew by.

[optimusphillip]

OptimusPhillip Reviews 15: Transformers: Generations Hot Rod (Titans Return)

I’ve been covering a lot of Siege toys lately, and while it probably has earned that amount of coverage, being the current toyline, I figured it was time to take a break and look at something different, but that I feel is still relevant. So I opted to cover Titans Return Deluxe Hot Rod. Not Rodimus: Hot Rod.

Car Mode

Hot Rod transforms into a... well, hot rod. Right off the bat, this toy does a lot to set itself apart from the Classics Rodimus figure, who turned into a modified version of the real world Dome Zero car. Here, he’s without a dought the G1 car mode. The central arc, the two dips on either side, and of course the triple exhausts on either side, all scream the G1 cartoon. The biggest deviation mold-wise is probably the spoiler, which is much more like the G1 toy’s spoiler. It’s a bit odd, mixing the aesthetics like this, but I guess Hasbro wanted to make it look a little bit more realistic.

The thing that’s probably going to bug most purists, however, is the color scheme. Both the cartoon and toy versions of G1 Hot Rod depicted him as being a maroon color. The Titans Return figure, however, opts for a much richer red color. This may turn some people off, but honestly, I think it suits him. As for details, it’s rather sparse, but most everything that needs to be here is. Orange hood with yellow flames, of course, and for those concerned about the contrast, don’t be. The flames stand out really nicely against the orange hood. Orange headlights, black and gray on the grill, silver on the engine block, and an Autobot symbol on the hood round out most of the paint accents visible here. The rest of the paint goes to making the spoiler yellow, and trimming the clear blue canopy. There’s a bit of an oddity though: the canopy has window columns sculpted in to match his original version, but they’re left unpainted here. That’s it for paint apps, the rest all comes from molded plastics. It’s sparse, but like I said, the essentials are all here. If that doesn’t satisfy you, you may want to go for the Takara Legends release.

In terms of functionality, he rolls, of course, and his wheels are pinned in, so it moves very smoothly. In addition, you get a port on either side for his two guns, as well as a pair of grooves on the engine block. This is for his combined weapon to mount, a la his G1 weapons. We’ll talk about the guns more in robot mode. But of course, this being a Titans Return toy, the cockpit can open up, revealing a seat for the Titan Master.

Titan Master Firedrive

I’m gonna level with you: Firedrive is probably the weakest Titan Master in the whole series. He’s molded very nicely to match the G1 Targetmaster Firebolt, but he’s entirely cast in gray plastic, with no paint whatsoever. Without the face on his back, he’d look like a protoform. It’s obvious this was just a token addition to make Hot Rod fit in with the line-wide gimmick, with how little effort was put into him compared to the other Titan Masters. Even the ones that didn’t get paint at least had a differently colored torso or limbs.

Oh well, it’s not like you’re buying him for the Titan Master anyway. At least Firedrive is still posable like the others. Ball joints in the neck and shoulders, plus forward hips and knees. All in all, the kind of posability you expect from a figure that small.

Since he uses the universal Titan Master engineering, he can of course pilot Hot Rod, or any other vehicle mode figure, as well as the various Titan Master weapon pieces, such as Hot Rod’s combined weapon. All in all, Firedrive is kind of forgettable (I’ll actually sometimes forget to take him out of the cockpit during conversion), but at least he’s inoffensive.

Conversion

Hot Rod has the kind of transformation I like. Simple enough that I can pick up and mess around with, but not so simple that it becomes monotonous. His arms transform the way one would expect, forming the sides of the car mode, but the legs are where things get interesting, with the side chunks of the car folding inwards to fill out the gap left by his thighs, and to clean up the look of the legs a little bit. And of course, Firedrive simply folds in half to form Hot Rod’s head. Even the hood chest is given a slight variation with a collapsing bumper, though this is technically optional if you don’t mind leaving things untabbed.

Robot Mode

While not the spitting image of his cartoon self, Hot Rod manages to evoke his classic appearance decently enough, with some of its own clever tricks. I in particular like how the kneecaps form extra exhaust vents in car mode. The biggest deviation in his silhouette would probably be his shoulders, which are much taller than his G1 self. My best guess is that this is meant to evoke his Lost Light body, but that’s a bit of a stretch, considering he has practically nothing else in common with that design. Also, between this and the more subdued spoiler, it’s hard to see his iconic rear fin from certain angles. It’s unfortunate, but not a huge deal to me.

In terms of coloration, he more closely follows the G1 toy than his cartoon model, with red shins, orange hands, and unpainted wrists. I think it looks good, but cartoon purists will probably take issue with this. Again, I direct you to the Legends release, which not only casts him in more show-accurate colors, but remolds his chest to hide the engine block in robot mode.

Focusing in on the head, the face sculpt is undisputably Hot Rod. From the fin-like forehead crest to the round pieces on the sides of the head that even extend onto the Titan Master arms, everything captures the cartoon look really well. Sadly, however, the rest of his head is a gray block for the sake of the Titan Master gimmick. You could justify it as a call-back to the G1 toy having the engine block on the back of his head, but that’s a flimsy excuse for a simple shortcoming. Also, mine and other figures has a slight mold defect, where there are a couple of small bumps on the corner of Hot Rod’s mouth. I personally never noticed it until I saw someone mention the defect on TFWiki, so it’s obviously not a huge deal, but if you’re OCD like that, it may be a problem. For the rest of us... we’ll probably make a dirty joke or two, and move on.

Posability wise, he’s got all the essentials. Ball-jointed shoulders and hips, with extra transformation hinges to move the shoulders outward, bicep and thigh swivels, 90 degree elbows and knees, and a waist joint mean he can assume a wide variety of poses. Firedrive’s neck joint carries over into robot mode, but his collar kind of restricts it to rotation only. Also, my figure’s hips are a little loose. Not enough that it affects stability, but they do move a little too easily for my liking. Yours may not be like this, however. That’s just my luck.

In terms of accessories, Hot Rod comes with a pair of guns based on his G1 weapons. I really like how they turned out, especially with how the functional tabs end up mimicing the fins on the original toy’s guns. They’re symmetric with one another, which is inaccurate, and there’s also a big gap on the side, but it still gets the point across, and they still look really good in his hands. It helps that he’s so well articulated, and can get into some really good gunslinger poses. His guns can also combine to form a Titan Master-manned turret, which (as stated before) can be pegged onto his vehicle hood, or onto the various base-bots.

Final Thoughts

Titans Return Hot Rod is probably the best G1-style Hot Rod figure to date. As good as the Classics version was, it wasn’t nearly as accurate or posable as this figure. Some details may alienate the purists, but for me, it’s more than sufficient. Plus, between the high articulation and the fun accessories, it’s just a fun toy to mess around with. Firedrive, sadly, will go ignored, forever relegated to being hidden away, either as a head or inside the cockpit. I’d say he’s definitely worth your while to seek out, especially considering what just recently released in Siege.