Despite where I was last night in the scope of preparation, today has been a good day and the sermon is coming along. Here is the weekly Friday preview:
April 29th of this year is scheduled to be one of the biggest days in recent royal history as Prince William – second in line to the throne of England (and the entire British commonwealth including this fair country) is set to wed his long-time girlfriend Kate Middleton. This sort of buzz and excitement hasn’t been seen surrounding the monarchy since William’s father Prince Charles was wed to his mother Diana Spencer almost 30 years ago in July of 1981.
The Royal wedding is to be a celebration of unmatched proportions. Firstly, in the United Kingdom April 29th of this year has been declared a national holiday, and there is an expectation that many Britons with keep with traditions and use that day off to hold parties and celebrations commemorating the event. Worldwide viewership of the nuptials is expected to exceed 2 Billion people being reached through both television and internet streaming and you can’t turn on the TV these days without someone trying to sell you some commemorative merchandise connected to the wedding. The Royal Mint along with the national mints in both Australia and Canada are releasing special commemorative coins and Canada post will be releasing a commemorative stamp to mark the occasion.
All of this for a Prince who will one day (perhaps if the monarchy survives the reign of his father) be King. Well with all due respect to His Royal Highness Prince William and his bride to be, this is the time of year when as the church our attention should be focused on a different king. One who is not a King in the same sense at all that William will one day be – but one who is a wholly different sort of king; and a king who oversees not an earthly kingdom, but an eternal one. April 29th will in many ways mark the beginning of the serious work of becoming King for Prince William – having chosen his future Queen he now sits waiting for his shot at the throne – This Sundaay is about the announcement of another king a different kind of king – ushering in a different kind of kingdom.
They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
Mark 11:4-10 (TNIV)
And now for the Transformer:
Today's figure is Universe Tankor. Tankor like Astrotrain before him is a Triple Changer based on a figure from the Generation One continuity. Due to trademarking issues his name for this toy line was changed from the original "Octane" into something that Hasbro had registered and wanted to preserve (Octane apparently being too ambiguous and common to be trademarked) but to anyone familiar with Transformers this figure is Octane.Octane was one of the second wave off Triple changers released back in the 80s after Hasbro/Takara decided that the initial run of figures was successful and as such didn't factor into the lore of the cartoon as much as Astrotrain and Blitzwing (many collectors were disappointed that Tankor rather than Blitzwing was released in this series as he was a much more prominent character - but the rumor was that since Galvatron was being released in this wave of figures and was being re-imagined as a tank this time out that there wasn't room for another Decepticon tank in this line). One of the notable differences between this figure and Generation One Octane is the difference in vehicle modes. Octane changed from commercial jetliner to Oil Tanker truck to robot whereas Tankor changes from heavy lift cargo plane to something resembling a military missile truck with a covered back (supposedly a tanker truck) to a robot. This mold is an example of how in an effort to get it all right the engineers got it all wrong.
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| The original Octane toy |
Somewhere in the late nineties/early oughts though the focus switched from realistic vehicle modes to dynamic and poseable robot modes. With the exception of some very specific toy lines that were vehicle specific (i.e. Alternators, Binaltech and Alternity) alternate modes have been routinely sacrificed to get the best robot mode possible. Tankor is an example of when that approach goes horribly wrong.
Tankor has a decent enough robot mode, a clever use of kibble as a weapon and is a good homage to the character model (especially the face) of the animated G1 Octane, but his vehicle modes are terrible! Besides the expected kibble (read: visible extra parts from other modes) that usually goes along with having more than two modes the alternate forms suffer from a severe lack of solid surfaces (everything is gappy and broken up) poor colour consistency and in his plane mode (which is apparently modeled after a C-130 Hercules) an unbelievably short wingspan. The Tanker mode is just a mess and although is supposed to be based upon a military M978 Tanker Truck just looks like leftovers.
From a collectors standpoint Tankor is an important figure and I'll be saddened not to have either of the only two triple changers in my collection anymore (I said goodbye to Astrotrain last week) as an individual figure I was never that fond of this guy. Perhaps that makes it all the more important that I learn to let go of him.
Until tomorrow,
Chris
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