The Tale of Toby – from Phallus to Family Member

Many, many years ago I was trying my hand at stand-up comedy.  Though I had always found it easy to be the funniest guy in the room, I often had trouble transferring that skill to behind the mic.

In the late 90’s I tried a skit out – ‘Big Angry Trev the Feminist’.  In it I would berate the men in the audience at length in satirical ways, one of which was to physically attack them.  For this I used Toby.

BEHOLD MY MAGESTY!

Toby, procured at a sex shop for about sixty bucks, was a 1 foot long, huge rubber cock.  Where the name Toby came from I can’t remember, but I called it that once and the name stuck.  In my skit I would run out into the audience and hit men over the head with Toby, yelling random arguments about how men in society are always metaphorically beating women over the head with their phallus’s at any given moment, so now it was their turn.

Some comedians had advanced animatronic puppets -my budget was much lower

The humour was supposed to work via the men nervously laughing or getting embarrassed by my actions, which would then lead me into more tirades while the rest of the audience would laugh at my victim’s obvious discomfort.  It didn’t work.  I was playing to Uni crowds after all, and more often than not the guys I would attack Toby with would take Toby out of my hands with zero discomfort and pretend to fellate him (note by now Toby had become a ‘him’ rather than an ‘it’).  Between this and actual feminists in the audience being somewhat unimpressed by my portrayal of being one of their number, the act soon died and Toby was retired from showbiz after only half a dozen outings.

No autographs!

Retired from Showbiz?  Yes.  Retired from life?  Absolutely not!  Toby had become something of a mascot of the household and, given my propensity to constantly have mates over as well as throw a big party every few months, Toby gained something of a cult following amongst my frequent visitors.

Toby also came to live in the fridge, my thinking being that ‘who wants a big sweaty cock sitting around in the heat?’.  It was amazing just how many housemates over the years were perfectly fine with this!  So, unless busy with his social obligations entertaining guests, Toby always had a prime position on the top shelf of the fridge, which he inhabited for well over a decade.  This went on for so many years across so many share-houses that it became normalized practice.  If someone new to the social group expressed surprise or puzzlement about there being a giant rubber cock in the fridge, they would be treated by others with bemusement.  ‘That’s Toby’ they would be informed matter-of-factly, as if it was perfectly natural for a foot-long rubber dick to live in the fridge next to the cheese and margarine.

Rug up Toby – its a bit chilly, you wouldn’t want shrinkage now would you?

In 2003 I travelled overseas to do Stand Up Comedy and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland – a dream come true!  As I was staying on to backpack around Europe for an extra year after the festival concluded, all my worldly possessions here in Australia went into storage.  But a couple of friends volunteered to babysit Toby while I was away.  Toby enjoyed his time there, especially when they started making little costumes for him to wear and photoshopped albums of him!

Sadly Toby has since met his end.  When my fiancé and I got pets circa 2008, poor Toby was no longer the cute baby of the household and was carried around and coddled much less, though still got a bit of attention.

Napping with our cat on the couch.

When we had children of our own several years later I didn’t think appropriate to store Toby in the fridge next to our infants milk bottles, so he lost his longtime home and got stored in the farm shed instead.  A year after that when I randomly unearthed him, rats had obviously been at him and the rubber was gnawed in a dozen places up and down his shaft (ouch!).  Thus, after 15 years, Toby was put to his final rest.

“Goodbye my beloved child, I shall weep for thee”

But the legend of Toby lives on!  And it would be nice to think that there is, like his original purpose called for, a bit of Toby deep up inside each and every one of us.

 

Got something to say about this post?  Or perhaps you are a friend of Toby’s from the old days?  Pop it in the comments section below!

The greatest invention in the world happened – and nobody told you!

 

 

Video – Cooking a Tomahawk Steak

In these days of people becoming more health-conscious and turning to alternative eating styles such as veganism, it can be damn hard to find a restaurant to do you a decent sized steak (event he King’s Hotel doesn’t do their kilo steak anymore).  In fact it seems the very biggest you can usually find is about 400gm.  400 measly grams – why don’t I just eat a pink cupcake and wash it down with magical unicorn juice while wearing a tutu?!

So, to get a decent sized steak it seems one must cook it oneself.  Of course this means that you can cook the steak to your own liking and make sure it comes out perfect!

Be still my beating heart (no, not from a coronary!)

Today on Big Angry Trev’s Fine Dinin’ we are going to look at how to cook a 900gm Tomahawk SteakOh hells yes!  This recipe results in the steak being cooked just that bit  more than medium rare, so it is lightly browned the whole way through, so adjust your cooking times accordingly as to how you like your steak.

Meat Recipe #5 – Mum’s Oven-cooked T-Bone Steak & Onions with Mushroom Gravy

Watch the video below and then at the bottom of the page find a more detailed description of how to go about evenly cooking such a thick piece of meat.

 

Method

*Rub salt into the steak thoroughly on both sides at least 20 minutes before cooking.

*Preheat your BBQ and have the flame on its lowest possible setting

*Place the steak on the metal plate side of the BBQ.  Close the top and slowly cook for 30 minutes

*Open lid.  Flip steak.  Add onions and asparagus and close for another 20 minutes.

*Turn grill side of BBQ up to maximum.  Move steak over and sear on each side for 30 seconds each.

*Serve.  Eat.

“I’m sexy and I know it”

A big steak like that is a delight for the whole family!  Yes I ate it on my own but I let my daughter gnaw at it a little and our dog got the bone afterwards so everybody wins – enjoy!

So proud of my little girl!

 

Meat Review – The Kings Hotel part 2 – Steaky Goodness!

Meat Review – Rump & Ribs in Rylstone

 

 

Movie Review – Ghostbusters: Afterlife

Ghostbusters fans aren’t as hardcore as say those of Star Trek, Star Wars or even Transformers, but they are a loyal bunch.  The 80’s movies, along with the cartoon, are still much beloved and fondly remembered to this day.

Yes I am one of those fans

Many fans had hoped the franchise would be revitalized in 2016 with the new Ghostbusters Movie: Answer the Call.  Instead they got a box-office flop filled with toilet humor and forced jokes, tarnished further with constant social media bickering and cries of ‘misogyny’ whenever anyone dared to criticize the film, whatever their gender.

With this utter failure to revitalize the franchise, many Ghostbusters fans resigned themselves to the idea that Ghostbusters, much like the creatures they hunt, was dead.  But never underestimate the appeal of making more money to Hollywood, and thus in 2021 (a 2022 release here in Australia) we received Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

 

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Unlike Answer the Call, Afterlife is not another reboot attempt but a continuation of the original films universe.  In fact this movie, despite having predominantly an entire new cast, could be best summed up as a 2-hour  love letter to the original 1984 film.  Whilst new viewers will no doubt enjoy the movie, it is very much aimed at existing fans and those hardcore Ghostbusters nuts will spend their time picking up on a thousand Easter Eggs that reference the first Ghostbusters Movie – everything from stacked books to a collection of spores, molds and fungus.

The story center’s around Egon Spengler, one of the original Ghostbusters, who was played by Harold Ramis  and the only star of the first two movies to have passed on.  Egon has become a recluse in an old farmhouse and very early in the movie gets killed by a Hellhound in a way instantly recognizable to fans of the original flick.  Thus to all but the uninitiated one becomes immediately aware of who the main bad guy (or girl – its whatever it wants to be) is going to turn out to be.

From Ghostbuster to Dirt Farmer

Enter Egon’s estranged daughter and her two children.  Being broke and evicted from their home, they have come to sort through Egon’s possessions in the hopes of finding enough items of value to pay off their debts.  Phoebe, the 12 year old daughter, is the star of the show and instantly recognizable as Egon’s granddaughter with her round glasses and odd behavioral patterns.

Over the next hour of the movie we watch Phoebe, guided by whom she soon realises is her grandfather’s invisible ghost, discover her families past and learn the ways of busting, aided by her summer-school teacher and new school-friend Podcast.  Her older brother Trevor meanwhile resurrects Ecto-1 and the busting is back on!  This is a movie of likable characters, all of whom bring something to the story and help the humor and the plot move along nicely.

Nice to see kids actually get outdoors and play!

For those looking for a brand new Ghostbusters experience, they may be somewhat let down.  This movie is very much about the main character discovering her past and uncovering that once again Gozer is looking to conquer Earth.  She hunts ‘Muncher’, whom appears the be the metal-eating version of Slimer, all while uncovering more about her grandfather and how he has been holding Gozer at bay single-handed for many years.  Same equipment, same main bad guys – it is less a new take and more a trip down memory lane.  It is nice to see Ecto-1’s abilities showcased more, now displaying the gunners seat it had in the original 80’s cartoon.

How much would you pay to ride in that seat eh!

The movie culminates in the face off with Gozer, though apparently she forgot to grab herself a Destructor form this time around.  Just when things look lost who shows up – Ray, Peter and Winston!  And when they don’t prove enough Egon’s ghost finally makes a visual appearance and the four originals, along with Phoebe, take Gozer down for good.  Cap it off with an emotional scene with the living Ghostbusters and Egon’s family talking to their departed love one and that’s a wrap folks!

 

As stated at the start of this review, this is a very Egon-centric movie.  Given Harold Ramis is no longer with us the special-effects crew did an astounding job of creating a ghost version of Dr Spengler and it is a very emotional moment when he appears at the films climax.  Yes, I’ll put my hand up that I did have tears in my eyes, even my wife cried too and she’s not the rabid fan I am.  Seeing Venkhman, Zeddemore and Stanz firing their proton packs alongside a spectral Spengler really tugs at the nostalgic heartstrings and one can understand why so many fans have reported leaving the cinema with a lump in their throats.  The movie is not only a love letter to the 1984 Ghostbusters Movie but to Harold Ramis himself, and one could imagine that if ghosts really did exist, then Harold’s ghost would be very moved indeed.

 

Is this movie worth watching?  If you are a fan of the original movies then definitely – it pays homage to everything you loved, though perhaps is the first ever part of the Ghostbusters franchise to lack Slimer even having a cameo.  Whilst the pace of the first half could have been better and it would have been good to see a wider variety of ghosts near the end, this movie ticks all the nostalgic boxes.  If you are hoping for an all-new Ghostbusters experience then you will find this movie entertaining enough, but lacking the depth that hardcore fans will undoubtedly find within it.  If the 2016 movie was more your cup of tea then don’t bother with this film, with no new gimmicks and no subpar slapstick comedy, this movie about a 12-year old girl is probably too mature to entertain.

I give this movie 4 out of 5 proton packs.

Got something to say about this movie?  Pop it in the comments section below!

 

Movie Review: Star Trek Beyond

Movie Review – Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Movie Review – Bumblebee

 

 

Househusband Tales #11 – The most Annoying Bird in Literature!

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 lockdown we 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.

 

Fuck I hate that bird.

 

Related Articles: 

Househusband Tales #3 – The Library Playgroup

Househusband Tales #6 – The Power of the Platter!

Househusband Tales #8 – Star Charts

 

Toys Review – Cyberverse Dinobots

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!

 

Related Articles:

Toys Review – Cyberverse: Grimlock & Shockwave

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Video: Campfire Lamb Shanks Recipe

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 Shanks recipe!

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!

 

Related Articles:

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Toy Review – Nemesis Grimlock

Don’t ya love it when you come across an incredibly cool action figure that you didn’t even know existed?

It’s such a good feeling for the avid collector, but an increasingly rare one.  No longer do we only find out what Transformers are being released by perusing our local toy stores to see what’s on the shelf.  No sir, we do most of our shopping online and are well aware what toys are in the works, usually a good year before they actually get released.

Well, a really cool figure got past me years ago that I didn’t even know existed until a few weeks ago when I was on a Japanese site, looking for a Wipe-Out to go with my TR Trypticon, and came across this gem by accident.

So let’s take a look – from the Movie Advanced line – at the dark, the dangerous, the friggin awesome – Nemesis Grimlock!

 

First off – why haven’t you heard of Nemesis Grimlock?

I asked around a lot of my TF buddies and, like me, they had never heard of this toy.  And it’s easy to see why.  This redeco of the AOE Voyager Class Grimlock toy was an exclusive figure you could only obtain by attending a Transformers Expo that ran for 8 days in Yokohama, Japan back in 2014.  Thus if you don’t hail from Japan, this spot of news was easy to miss.

 

Robot Mode

Like all the other Nemesis characters (Prime, Hot Rod, Primal etc) Nemesis Grimlock has his colour scheme made up of blacks, purples and light blues.  And damn does it work!  So much cooler than the awful baby-poo brown and death-grey colour scheme of the original toy.  For the first time I find myself really liking a Movieverse Grimlock in his robot mode.

Fricken bitchin!

He has decent articulation and is able to be posed fairly well.  He scales quite well with other Nemesis characters and his weapon looks like it could deal a lot of damage.  Overall fantastic!

 

Robo-Dinosaur Mode

To be honest I don’t think they’ve made a good looking Movieverse Grimlock toy outside of the Studio Series one.  Every other one has got weird colour schemes and weirder features.  Proportions wise Nemesis Grimlock has the same flaws as his regular AOE counterpart.  But given that this is meant to be an evil version of Grimlock, the weird huge face and teeth with the psychotic eyes work for once – you could imagine that this is the criminally insane version of Grimlock that arose from the bowels of Unicron himself.

The hellishly insane version of Big Grim!

The club can be attached to the tail to make… err…. an extremely long tail, but is best left detached.  Nemesis Grimlock comes with a jaw chomping gimmick, some articulation and scales OK with Nemesis Primal, if not the other Nemesis robots.

 

Transformation

Not particularly hard or fiddly – you’ll pick it up fairly quick.

 

Worth Getting?

A Nemesis Grimlock figure?  Hells yes it is!  I don’t care that it hails from the Movieverse continuity rather than the Generations line, it’s still a cool concept.  Surprisingly this figure isn’t that hard to find online, probably because no one is actively searching for it, and isn’t ruinously expensive so if you fancy him you shouldn’t have too many headaches tracking one down.

 

Got something to say about this figure?  Pop it in the comments section below!

 

Related Articles:

Toys Review: POTP Dinobots – Wave 1

Toy Review – Titan Changer Grimlock

Toys Review – Cyberverse: Grimlock & Shockwave

Local newspaper covers The Big DJ Trev Show

As most of you would know by now, I have a weekly radio show.  The Big DJ Trev Show airs every Thursday night from 6 to 9pm on krrfm.org.au

Well Community Capersthe Rylstone-Kandos district newsletter – asked if they could write a short piece about me in my role as a ‘local radio personality’ for their publication.  And what a callous sod would I be to disappoint my adoring fans, so I readily agreed.

Enjoy the short article from Community Capers (Octoboer issue 2021, Volume 274), which talks about my Transformatorium almost as much as it talks about my show!

 

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Toy Review: Kingdom Tracks

I’ve always thought Tracks was a very underrated character.  Despite getting a couple of spotlight episodes in season 2 of the Generation One cartoon, he’s never really done a lot otherwise.  Has never been a stand-out in any of the comics and, with the exception of a cameo in Animated, has never cropped up in any other Transformer universes.  Very odd considering how interesting he is; a vain, posh speaking narcissist yet still a warrior who took has taken on the likes of Megatron and Starscream.  Add to that he had a very sexy alt-mode that could also become a flying car!  His toy was my absolute favorite out of the 84/85 cars and I still love it to this day.

Tracks being underrated has been reflected in the amount of figures he has gotten over the years – maybe because it’s hard to get more uses out of a figure that has a flying-automobile mode.  We haven’t had a Generations version since Reveal the Shield many, many years ago so he was well overdue.

Well Tracks has finally gotten another figure, in the Kingdom toyline, so let’s look at Deluxe Tracks.

 

Robot Mode

‘Indeed I am still most slim and pristine’

Probably the most show accurate Tracks figure we have had outside of the Masterpiece version.  He looks good with his signature red face & white helmet, backpack guns and slim form.  He certainly looks an improvement over the RTS version, though comparing the two you can see how much Hasbro has shrunken the Deluxe Class over the last decade.  He has decent articulation and overall is a good representation of the character.

 

Vehicle Mode

Very nice looking, though getting everything to stay tabbed together can be very irritating.  I would have liked to see some yellow in his hood flame rather than simply red like the cartoon.  He lacks that certain sexiness that the G1 and Masterpiece toys have and the flashiness of the RTS toy.  His weapons can be mounted on the back or the sides of the vehicle.

 

Flying Car Mode

Here is where the toy stands out – looks really good!  The little tailfins that pop up are a nice addition, though it would have been good to have them and the guns slightly different shades of white so they don’t blend together so much.  Cerainly better than the awful RTS version and even the MP version to my mind, coming in 2nd only to the original G1 toy itself.

 

Transformation

What a friggin pain in the arse this is!  There have been QC issues reported with his legs and it is very evident here.  Whilst you can transform him without making the necessary fixes, its very annoying to do and takes all the fun out of the conversion process.

 

Worth Getting?

This is a good rendition of Tracks, but it is not a stand out.  As yet, for me at any rate, they have not made a Tracks toy that is able to pull off all 3 modes as well as the original.  Whilst some of his modes are better than others, the whole toy is pulled down by the fiddly and annoying transformation sequence.  Recommended only if you are not happy with your current Tracks figures.

 

Related Articles:

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Meat Recipe #15 – Beef Jerky!

Jerky – oh that sweet chewy bounty of the heavens!

Real jerky is awesome!  Dehydrated meat, usually beef, cut into strips and flavoured to perfection.  Unfortunately most people have not tried proper jerky.  All they have tried is that awful rubbery crap you get in little packets at servo’s and bottle shops.

Well that jerky is the same to real jerky as powdered mashed potatoes is to real potatoes – a horrible aberration, a pale shade of what the good stuff really is.

When living in Melbourne there was a deli at the Vic Markets that did really good beef jerky and whenever I traveled to the big city I would buy up as much as possible.  But now living in NSW, Melbourne is a long way away, especially during the pandemic.

So I’ve been learning to make my own – and I’ve gotten damn good at it!  And because, like Rarity, I am the paragon of generosity I’m going to share that recipe with you now.

 

Ingredients

  • 1.5kg slab of Beef
  • 1/3 cup of Soy Sauce
  • 1/3 cup of Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1 tbsp of Minced Garlic
  • 1 tbsp of Brown Sugar
  • 1 tsp of Chilli Flakes
  • 1 tsp of Smoked Paprika
  • ½ tsp of Ground Black Pepper

 

Method

  • Trim all the fat from the beef, stick in the freezer for two hours
Easier to carve when slightly frozen
  • Remove beef from freezer, slice into strips 0.5cm thick
If too thick meat wont dehydrate inside properly
  • In a bowl mix the Soy Sauce, Worcestershire Sauce , Garlic, Brown Sugar, Chilli Flakes, Smoked Paprika and Black Pepper.
Ohhh that delicious smell!
  • Massage meat strips thoroughly through the mix. Cover with cling wrap and marinate overnight
Meat should have absorbed the mixture
  • Take marinated beef strips, put in food dehydrator set on high for 9 hours. If you don’t own a food dehydrator either go buy one (they are worth it!) or else stick in the oven on low for 6 hours.
Space evenly
Rotate racks if meat is not drying evenly
  • And now you have jerky!  EAT!

 

So damn good!

And that’s it – simple as!  Follow Big Angry Trev’s Jerky Recipe and you will get brilliant meat every time!

 

 

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Meat Recipe #6 – Chimichangas: the easy, healthy and family friendly way

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