Do I wait two weeks to open it for my birthday, or just open it now? Decisions, decisions...

I do have other robots coming...
I kind of needed a pick me up, as yesterday was a pretty bad brain day. Plus I've got the Dominus set arriving on the 9th
Ratchet's gun was a pain to get out.
Let's look at Optimus.
He is so delightfully devilish. His purple and dark blue work exceptionally well. I kind of prefer it over the original botcon toy, partially because I don't own that due it's price, partially due to the use of the
Earthrise mold to deliver a more G1SG Optimus. It very much feels like a counterpart to G1 Optimus, as opposed to the general opposite-ness we got with 2008 Shattered Glass. I enjoy that.

He comes with a matrix that looks like it glows, but it's due to only being painted on the
one side. I personally would've preferred it to be fully painted myself. It's not noticeable inside his chest, and I don't think I'll be taking it out much though, so it's not too big of a deal for me.
Optimus turns into a truck mode that doesn't have any doors for access to the cab. He doesn't seem to be the type who'd give people rides, but that's besides the point.
It looks nice, I love the smashed in window that the entire franchise is named after.
He does not have a trailer, but that's not really a big deal. This is the third Earthrise Optimus I've gotten next to Alternate Universe and the original release, and if I get Nemesis Prime, that's a third trailer. I don't mind the lack of one. Plus it still has pretty good
weapon storage without it. He don't need to be pulling a combat deck around. He's got worlds to conquer
Also in this set is Ratchet. I felt it was a bit of an odd choice, for a first SG set, but it's even stranger as he's got a brand new deco when compared to his original 2008 deco.
I personally don't mind this distancing from the 2008 botcon, as that felt very much like a proof of
concept that got milked because Star Trek Mirror Universe is a popular thing... I think. (I have no idea about this being true, if a Start Trek fan can tell me if this is the case, I would greatly appreciate it).

I love his new deco. It gives off hospital scrub vibes with the
minty green while staying true to the character of Ratchet. Our in this case the evil, mirrored character of Ratchet. Its all rather nice.

I love the purple in leiu of the usual red we get as well. Overall, he's nice. That's all I can say really. He's nice. Nothing else really.
He has a few accessories. A riot shield, a gun, and a lightbar. The light bar connects to the shield, and once I do so, I'll likely not take it off. I love the giant purple Autobot insignia. On Ratchet, the shield looks a bit cumbersome, but it was like that on the Galactic
Oddessy figure as well. I tend to keep it off him.

He converts in a similar fashion to Siege Ironhide, into an ambulance. Or what one from a mirror universe would look like. It hides away a lot of the minty green parts to give us a rather nice ambulance with feet sticking out
it's rear end. Something that stands out more on this then Earthrise Ironhide and Ratchet, as its a different colour to the test of the alt mode. I'm able to look past it on them as it color matches the rest of the body, but it doesn't really do that here.
So converting them both back into robot mode to take a photo of them together and do a summary, Ratchet's head just straight up split apart. This was due to tolerances in getting the neck to tab into the main body. Suffice to say, it's not really supposed to do that.
Overall, it's a rather ok set. I prefer Optimus more, although Ratchet is good. It's got its issues with the head and the feet. The feet are a different colour to the rest of the vehicle, it's harder to ignore then on GO Ratchet and ER Ironhide.

Optimus however is fantastic, and
I have no issues with. Ratchet, he's great in robot mode, but it's just something about him that I don't really vibe with. He looks nice, but with the head coming apart during his first conversion back into robot mode, it's hard to say he's good.
Can I recommend it? It's hard to say. They come up at £50, which is about right for a voyager and deluxe Selects two pack. I don't think the issues with Ratchet's head is common, as I've not heard anyone else saying anything about it. Optimus, like I say is perfect. The lack of a
trailer helps as otherwise it'd be the fourth one we'd be getting. And space is an issue, so the lack of one is fine. They've got great decos, and Ratchet is a bit weak in vehicle mode, but that's really the only issue.
I wouldn't say it's a must have, but for what it is, it's
good.
That's the bottom line really, it's good, it's worth it, but it's not a must have.

So how about those rumours of a Shattered Glass line? It'll be interesting to see how this turns out. I hope they don't give Rodimus that rubbish beard again though. It doesn't suit him.
I would like to thank IDW for creating Shattered Glass. Yes, they created it. Hasbro said so on the pulse website.

More from For later read

Ester Ranzen/ Childline/BBC/Saville/Mandelson 👀👇


1. 'MYSTERIOUS ESTHER RANTZEN' ..2017
https://t.co/aBsJL2Avqd


2. (Let's This Party Started) Keith Vaz and Ester Ranzen.


3. 'BBC'S ESTHER RANTZEN LINKED TO ELM GUEST HOUSE' https://t.co/a064KgW8LJ


4. Esther Rantzen is quizzed about Jimmy Savile - 2012
I’ve been frustrated by the tweets I’ve seen of this as a Canadian. Because the facts are being misrepresented.

We’re not under some sort of major persecution. That’s not what this is. A thread. 1/8


This church was fined for breaking health orders in Dec. They continued to break them. So the pastor was arrested and released on conditions of... you guessed it, not breaking health orders. And then they broke the health orders. 2/8

So then he was arrested and told he couldn’t hold church services in person if he was to be released. He refused. He’s still in custody.

Here is my frustration as a Christian in Canada:

1. They were able to gather, with some conditions. They didn’t like those. 3/8

2. He is not actually unable to preach. He is just unable to hold church services because they broke the conditions given by the public health office in Alberta. He says he can’t in good conscience do that, so they are keeping him in jail (because he will break the law). 4/8

3. This is the 1st article of The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: “guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.” 5/8
I’ve asked Byers to clarify, but as I read this tweet, it seems that Bret Stephens included an unredacted use of the n-word in his column this week to make a point, and the column got spiked—maybe as a result?


Four times. The column used the n-word (in the context of a quote) four times. https://t.co/14vPhQZktB


For context: In 2019, a Times reporter was reprimanded for several incidents of racial insensitivity on a trip with high school students, including one in which he used the n-word in a discussion of racial slurs.

That incident became public late last month, and late last week, after 150 Times employees complained about how it had been handled, the reporter in question resigned.

In the course of all that, the Times' executive editor said that the paper does not "tolerate racist language regardless of intent.” This was the quote that Bret Stephens was pushing back against in his column. (Which, again, was deep-sixed by the paper.)

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