Books are awesome! Nothing better than a good book!
I’ve always loved reading, as has my wife. We’ve been reading to our kids every day, as well as before bed, since they were born so they have developed a love of reading too. Our son has reached the age that he now reads to himself after we say goodnight and during the lockdownwe let him stay up late in bed to read his favourite books.
Our daughter however still much prefers to be read to than read herself, though her skills improve every day. Like all kids she’s got some particular favourites that she wants to have read to her again and again…
…and again.
I never thought I could get sick of Cat in the Hat but damn I’d like to grab that hat, pull it all the way down to his feet and then toss that trouble-making feline in a river! Our daughter loves books under the Dr. Seuss banner and night after night we work our way through her extensive library of them. Books beloved from my childhood have now become a chore to read, yet none so more than friggin Go, Dog. Go!
What a fucking pain in the arse this book is! Written by P.D Eastman under the Seuss banner it follows Dogs… er… doing things. Sitting on a house. Sitting under a house. Dogs going in. Dogs going out. You get the picture. And whilst I can appreciate that the book is good for beginning readers to read themselves, its gruelling to get through as an adult when you are reading it to your kid for the 50th time in a row.
And no one is more of a pain in the arse in the book than this fucking bird:
Annoying entitled little green bastard!
Let me set the scene. A bunch of dog are, naturally, driving their cars:
Hey dogs? Ever hear of leaving two car spaces between you and the car in front?
The dogs are approaching an intersection, going hell for leather. There isn’t a single other car on the road. There is however a prick of a bird walking down the center of the road for some damn reason instead of using the footpath:
Get off the fucking road!
Now the bird sets off the traffic light and stands there in the middle of the damn intersection, yelling at the dogs to stop! Nearly causes a multi-vehicle pile up in doing so! The sense of entitlement in this action is Karen-worthy!:
Surely this is an arrest-able offense?
Then the little fucking bastard, after causing all this hassle, walks off down the road, giving permission to the dogs to go again. Look at the expression on those dogs! You can tell they want to jump out of their cars and maul the bird to death and I wouldn’t blame them:
Oh you little turd you!
Not only should this bird not be walking down the middle of a road meant for cars, let alone standing in the middle of an intersection yelling instructions at the motorists, but why the fuck doesn’t he just fly?! He’s a goddamn bird!
I swear, if ever they invent a way for people to enter books I wont be going into a Harry Potter novel to do a ‘Voldermort’s got no nose, how does he smell?’ joke at the evil one, no. I’ll go into Go, Dog. Go! and wring that birds scrawny neck.
Just when everyone thought that Cyberverse was over, it’s managed to get in one last gasp of life. Dinobots Unite has just aired on Youtube – a special where Grimlock finally gets all of his Dino-buddies together – both on screen and in their combined mode – Volcanicus.
As such it means new toys to go with the associated media, and who doesn’t love getting more Dinobots eh? So I was very keen to pick up Swoop (with Bumblebee), Warrior-Class Snarl and Ultra-Class Sludge.
Snarl
Robot Mode
Me Snarl miss Tyrannitron
Without the large majestic split tail adorning his shoulders, which made the G1 Snarl my favourite Dinobot to have in robot mode, he very much resembles his G1 Action Master counterpart. Whilst this takes away from some of the majesty of his appearance, he still looks pretty good for a Warrior-class figure with decent proportions and a G1-inspired colour scheme. His head looks great and I’m a real fan of the spikes on his chest and legs. He has decent articulation with movement in the knees, hips, elbows and shoulders.
Like all Warrior-Class figures, Snarl comes with an attack gimmick – in this case a Power Slash. This is achieved by taking the detached… er…. Stegosaurus arse and putting it on a peg on Snarls back. By manipulation of this peg it can make Snarl’s sword arm swing.
Cybertronian Stegosaurus Mode
Looks really good with the yellow backplates and head, making him look more like the G1 cartoon than the G1 toy. Personally I would have liked to see less yellow on his flank but it is forgivable. He has limited movement in his legs and sadly none in his neck, tail and jaw.
A downside to Snarl is that the designers have taken a big shortcut by making the tail and arse of his dinosaur mode detachable where it serves little purpose other than peg manipulation for the robot’s gimmick, so there is no real sense of accomplishment when you convert him to dinosaur mode. However as an interesting side note, the dinosaurs head comes together in a way which is reminiscent of the Age of Extinction Snarl toy.
Sludge
Robot Mode
Very faithful to his G1 counterparts design as Cyberverse is want to do. His large shoulder fins are now at waist height but swing out of the way to prevent major irritation. Like Snarl I am a fan of the new spikes they have attached to the upper body and it is overall a well proportioned figure. He has decent but limited articulation.
For Sludge’s battle mode his detached tail can become a spear for him to wield and he can deploy Energon Armour which takes the form of translucent blue armour that flips out of his back to cover his head and torso. An interesting choice to make the helmet armour an analogue of his Brontosaurus head which my son thought was very cool.
Cybertronian Brontosaurus Mode
I think making Sludge Ultra-class was a very good call in this case, as in comics Sludge is often portrayed much bigger than the other Dinobots when transformed, and by giving him a bigger class size this works well with the likes of Cyberverse Grimlock and Snarl for scale. Like Snarl he has limited movement in his legs but at least comes with a jaw that can open and close. Whereas Snarl has a bit more colour in dinosaur mode than I’d care for, I think Sludge could have stood to have a bit more colour to break up the panels of grey. Overall however a very sweet looking dinosaur, made that bit more bad-ass by having big spikes coming out of the tops of his legs.
Swoop
Robot Mode
Very nicely coloured and proportioned, Swoop resembles his(her) G1 cartoon incarnation rather than the toy. The tail of the Pteradon mode becomes a weapon. Swoops arms wont bend forward which is a major disappointment and a detraction from the figure, making decent posing all but impossible.
Pteradon Mode
The Pteradon mode comes with a big black spot on its head for some reason which you take to be a cockpit until you see the eyes on the side of the head. It’s not a bad looking figure with a decent wingspan but has no articulation to speak of.
Bumblebee & Bumbleswoop
Swoop and Bumblebee can combine together to become Bumbleswoop, in much the same way some figures did in the RID(15) toyline. It looks OK and actually has better articulation that its separated characters (Bumblee is actually even worse than Swoop is!), though for me personally its not my kind of combiner at all.
Transformations
Snarl & Sludge: Given these toys are A: from Cyberverse and B: Warrior and Ultra classes, their transformations are exceedingly simple so easy for young kids to get the hang of and my son did both without any instructions. Like said previously, the detachable backside of Snarl is somewhat of a disappointment. Also both toys are stand alone, so neither are designed to combine into Volcanicus.
Swoop: Arrgh! Swoop transforms via a spring to his Bumbleswoop mode and then you need to reverse it to lock it in place for him to be in his normal modes. Guess what – after only two transformations the the arm clips came out on mine so he was permanently in Bumbeswoop mode! I was not impressed.
Wing and arm clips
Thankfully fellow Transformer Fan Michael Vella was able to figure out what you have to do. There are two clips on each arm, one at the shoulder and one at the bicep. All you have to do is reattach the clips at the bicep and he is good to go again. However it’s pretty crap this is happening on so many of this figure. This earns Swoop Big Angry Trev’s trophy for shittest toy of the year! Haven’t seen one this bad since Rescuebots Quickshadow.
Worth Getting?
Whilst neither Sludge not Snarl’s figures fall into the ‘cheap’ category, they aren’t overly expensive either and I felt I got my money’s worth for both my purchases. Like most Cyberverse characters and toys they are very heavily influenced by Generation 1 and both manage to adhere to this style extremely well. Recommended for younger fans, Cyberverse fans and, like me, Dinobot fans everywhere. Bumbleswoop – overpriced and the arms unclip too easily, I say avoid this pile of crap at all costs!
Got something to say about these two figures? Pop it in the comments section below!
Camping is awesome! Getting away from it all and setting up ya tents by a river out in the wilderness, just nature and some good friends and family.
And what makes camping even better? Good food! Fie I say on those who are content with just a couple of snags – Big Camper Trev don’t swing that way, no sir! Ya got’s to keep ya strength up in the wild and what better way than with Big Angry Trev’s Campfire Lamb Shanksrecipe!
Check out the video for an audio description of the recipe I use (some coarse language), then find the full list of ingredients below. All you need is a set of good hot coals, a cast-iron cooking pot, a few hours and then you are set!
Ingredients:
*4 Lamb Shanks
*2 Large Potatoes – peeled & quartered
*1 Large Onion – peeled & quartered
*2 Carrots – peeled & halved
*4 Garlic Cloves
*4 Fresh Bay Leaves
*1 Tin of Diced Tomatoes
*1 Tin of Water
*1 Vegetable Stock Cube
So get ya tent, head out bush and cook yourself us some excellent tucker! Enjoy!
