The Exodus will be blogged

I stumbled across this modern gem last night. I think it serves as a good reminder of why Jesus was coming into Jerusalem for this most hoy of weeks. Enjoy and don't be afraid to chuckle.




As for today's Transformer I present to you the beginning of the end of this journey with Revenge of the Fallen Lockdown.

Lockdown is an interesting case study in the crossing of universes - he was an original (and insanely popular) character from the Transformers Animated universe. A Decepticon by default and moral proximity - in reality he was a free-agent bounty hunter that would work for whomever for the right price. He had a habit of stripping other bots of their unique weapon systems and incorporating them into his own personal arsenal by way of "upgrades". To symbolize this Hasbro designed him to look like a hybrid of Frankenstein's Monster and a leather-studded Mad Max style waste-lander. His alt-mode was a tricked out muscle car full of many of the same design cues that bring his robot mode to life complete with skulls and studs and spikes and chains.    In his Animated incarnation Lockdown had a special history with Ratchet and Arcee but really came into his own as he developed a relationship with Prowl - on a couple of occasions partnering with the Autobot to track down a mutually sought after bounty.

There really was no place in the Revenge of the Fallen Universe for Lockdown - but Hasbro couldn't deny his popularity so they found a way to cross him over into the Movieverse. The result is the much loved and critically acclaimed movie Lockdown toy that I'm featuring today. He takes all the visual cues from his animated counterpart and makes him that much more visceral and grotesque by adding that realistic movie-aesthetic to him. The Transformation is different - but similar enough to remain familliar and tthe designers struck all the right notes - even keeping an interesting feature that is not included at all in his ROTF character bio - his Engine/EMP generator weapon is compatible with deluxe ROTF Ratchet (in the Animated continuity the EMP generator was stolen by Lockdown from Ratchet in their back story through flashbacks and the toys could share and swap that weapon through matching ports on their forearms).

Lockdown was one of those toys that although it didn't fit any of my collecting priorities was too good a toy to pass up and was one of the few Transformers in my home collection that wasn't just in storage but proudly on display. Soon I hope he will be proudly displayed in someone else's home. You can find his auction link here.

Until tomorrow,
Chris