[BW] Dave's BotCon Exclusive Rant: Vice Grip
Dave Van Domelen
Vice Grip
I finally got the Vice Grip Raksha picked up for me today (Raksha's
schedule's been a tad hectic). I didn't ask her to get me an Antagony, since
I didn't think I could afford the $50 toy (and based on my car's new
radiator, I was correct to think this).
CAPSULE:
The colors are okay, and it's not a bad figure to use as a base, but the
plastic used doesn't work well with the mold, and it falls apart too easily.
Not recommended unless you're just getting it for the rarity/resale/souvenir
value.
RANT:
PREDACON: Vice Grip
Function: Reconnaissance
Quote: "The search often begins within yourself."
Vice Grip is one of Megatron's most loyal and dependable troops. He
understands the value of a mission and does his utmost to complete it
successfully. This drive, coupled by [sic] his extraordinary tracking
abilities, is well received by the Predacon leader. His comrades have deep
respect for him and often look to him for guidance and advice. In insect
mode, his giant rear pincers can easily crush unsuspecting Maximals, and then
finish them off with a high-voltage electric surge. In robot mode, the
pincers convert to a hand-held pulse weapon that discharges an explosive ball
of electricity capable of shorting out all Maximals in a twenty meter
radius.
STR 8 INT 5 SPD 5 END 7 RNK 5 COUR 8 FRP 6 SKL 7 Avg 6.375
Nice art by Wildman for the card, but a bit dark and murky...a
background color other than purple would have helped. Odd that he has only a
5 INT if everyone comes to him for advice...I thought that sort of
discontinuity between note and techspec value was a Kenner thing, not a fan
thing. And if he can take out an entire group of Maximals at once, maybe he
needs a slightly higher FRP score.
As to the name, it looks like a pun that didn't follow through. The
term for a crushing/gripping tool is a *vise* grip. Now, if VG were second
in command (Vice-leader) or involved in shady dealings (vice squad), the
change in spelling might work as a pun. Unless it's supposed to be (ad)Vice
grip. But that's rather weak...I suspect there was simply a lack of
proofreading here (as evidenced by the "coupled by" and an extra comma or two
here and there).
For a discussion of the modes and transformation difficulty, check out
my review of Powerpinch, on the Beast Wars Classic page
(http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~dvandom/BW/beastold.html). Here I'll
just talk about some of the differences.
The main visible difference is, of course, the color scheme. Where
Powerpinch was translucent dark green, Vice Grip is slightly sparkly opaque
blue, the same color as Packrat's blue from last year. Where PP is orange,
VG is medium grey. VG also has silver accents on the mouth and lower robot
legs, plus lavender beast mode eyes. Good stealthy colors for a recon guy.
However, it feels like a knockoff when I transform it. Like the video
pack Airazor, the figure suffers from using molds designed for one type of
plastic on a different type of plastic. The back panel pops out ridiculously
easily, and the upper knee joint (the mold has a double knee so the legs can
fold completely in half) looks like it's already starting to degrade.
Fortunately, this problem doesn't seem to afflict any of the joints as far as
stiffness goes, so Vice Grip can stand up on his own.
Overall, Vice Grip is a minor disappointment across the board. There
were so many ways it could have been better than Powerpinch, but it turned
out to be worse. It looks and feels more like one of the better knockoff
toys than it does an official Kenner product.
Dave Van Domelen, pretty sure that the translucent plastic is more rigid
than the metallic flake plastic....
Tengu
dva...@pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu says...
> Overall, Vice Grip is a minor disappointment across the board. There
> were so many ways it could have been better than Powerpinch, but it turned
> out to be worse. It looks and feels more like one of the better knockoff
> toys than it does an official Kenner product.
>
That's funny- I completely disagree. My Vice Grip is pretty well
constructed, and he doesn't seem to be made of shabby plastic at all. I
like him quite a bit more than Powerpinch; his joints are a bit tighter
and his hard parts aren't so fragile.
> Dave Van Domelen, pretty sure that the translucent plastic is more rigid
> than the metallic flake plastic....
As far as rigidity alone is concerned, that's true. Translucent
(ABS) plastics are normally made from harder-grade ABS, while colored ABS
plastics tend to be a bit more flexible. Hard plastics aren't
necessarily better, though; they tend to be less flexible and fracture
more than softer plastics. (Glad I bought that discarded book about
plastics molding :)
Tengu:<>
Dave Van Domelen
Tengu <te...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>In article <6oiqqb$oai$1-...@pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu>,
>dva...@pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu says...
>> Overall, Vice Grip is a minor disappointment across the board. There
>> were so many ways it could have been better than Powerpinch, but it turned
>> out to be worse. It looks and feels more like one of the better knockoff
>> toys than it does an official Kenner product.
>>
>
> That's funny- I completely disagree. My Vice Grip is pretty well
>constructed, and he doesn't seem to be made of shabby plastic at all. I
>like him quite a bit more than Powerpinch; his joints are a bit tighter
>and his hard parts aren't so fragile.
Well, I've transformed mine four times now, and every single time the
back panel has flown off (and rolled under the desk, but I blame that on
Murphy, not the toy). Enough force to open the panel is more than enough to
unhinge it. This has never happened to my Powerpinch...in fact, I thought it
was a pin through that joint until VG flew apart.
Just a few microns here and there make a LOT of difference.
Dave Van Domelen, posting from Eyrie because his regular reader has
decided to stop taking alt.* groups and rec.toys.transformers.* for some
reason (and the guy in charge of fixing it is on vacation)....
The Hallits
> >> Overall, Vice Grip is a minor disappointment across the
board. There
> >> were so many ways it could have been better than Powerpinch, but it
turned
> >> out to be worse. It looks and feels more like one of the better
knockoff
> >> toys than it does an official Kenner product.
My apologies for responding without the full message in view, but I
wanted to
reply to some of Dave's comments about Vice Grip.
First, Tengu is correct in saying that metallic-flake plastic is more
compliable
than the transluscent plastic that Powerpinch was originally molded
with.
However, we weren't allowed to use the transluscent plastic, so we went
with the
solid color. This color was too dreary, so we added the metallic flakes
to make
it "sparkle".
Secondly, I feel Dave's comments on the bio are way off the mark. Maybe
I'm
taking this too personally (after all, I came up with the character),
however
I'm really trying to be neutral in my replies and correct some erroneous
interpretations.
I agree with the background colors for the card art. It should have
been
lighter, but in my defense the printed card came out darker than the
approval
sheets and this happens occasionally.
I gave Vice Grip an average intelligence, i.e. a 5 out of 10. You
don't have
to know how to repair a transwarp drive in order to give advice to those
that
need it. I feel his intelligence level is justified through this
comment. He
listens and he listens well - that is why everyone comes to him. He is
one of
the truly "good" Predacons.
As for Firepower, 20 meters is NOT that big of a radius, Dave. I
exercise
constraint when it comes to assigning values for this attribute because,
in my
opinion, EVERYONE tends to abuse it. "MY character is super powerful. No
one can
beat him. He's got swords and a tail. He has a 10+ firepower." Bullcrap.
'Nuff
said.
I do take offence to the " I thought that sort of discontinuity
between note
and techspec value was a Kenner thing, not a fan thing." Firstly, Kenner
is
trying really hard to please alot of fans with their specs and they're
getting
better with practice. That comment is a cheap shot. Secondly, I spent
alot of
time deriving this character and his bio (along with his color scheme)
and I
think it is unfair of you to judge the mismatch of attribute numbers, as
well as
imply " a lack of proofreading here". I reread the bio. The commas that
are
there are NOT extraneous and the "coupled by" line may be incorrect
grammar (I
still don't think it is), but to imply a lack of care is downright mean.
Lastly, his name. You are correct in saying the name came from "vise
grip"
pliers due to his pincher. My Webster dictionary states VICE means "an
evil or
wicked action, habit, or characteristic". Thus the name VICE Grip - not
second-in-command, not a lame ad-VICE giver, no shady dealings. Merely a
pun to
indicate he is a Predacon. That's it. No more.
Sorry to be so nitpicky, but after all if everyone else can be
microanalyzing
this stuff, why can't I?
Be careful, Dave, BotCon '99's exclusive will be a redeco of Injector
and I'll
call him Dave Van Domelen...... :-)
Later everyone.
Glen Hallit
3H Enterprises
BotCon dude
Dave Van Domelen
default to "post and mail," alongside AOL. Reminder to those of you with new
commercial accounts, they frequently have mail and news programs set so that
you automatically reply via email *and* post unless you go and change the
settings.
Fortunately, Gene's post had such a strong "addressing the public" tone
to it that I didn't waste time replying to the email before going to news.
In article <35AE3184.C...@earthlink.net>,
The Hallits <dgha...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> I gave Vice Grip an average intelligence, i.e. a 5 out of 10. You don't
> have to know how to repair a transwarp drive in order to give advice to
> those that need it. I feel his intelligence level is justified through
> this comment. He listens and he listens well - that is why everyone comes
> to him. He is one of the truly "good" Predacons.
Okay, I'll concede this point. I was ornery after chasing Vice Grip's
back plate under the desk for the fourth time.
> As for Firepower, 20 meters is NOT that big of a radius, Dave. I exercise
> constraint when it comes to assigning values for this attribute because,
> in my opinion, EVERYONE tends to abuse it. "MY character is super
> powerful. No one can beat him. He's got swords and a tail. He has a 10+
> firepower."
I'm not complaining that he wasn't munchkiny (a gaming term for
overpowered characters), but that in Beast Wars, 20 meters IS a big radius.
A 20 meter radius would cover at least the front half of the Axalon
entirely. A significant number of battles on the show take place with all of
the Maximals within 20m of a single point, whether the Axalon or something/
someone they're defending. And since Vice Grip's weapon is "capable of
shorting out all Maximals" (possibly by means of an Energon overload stasis
lock mechanism), it's a real fight-ender. Any time one shot can take out the
entire opposing side when they're defending something...that's more than a
Firepower of 6.
Now, 20m is piddly for G1 scale...you might get two minibots in the same
shot...two regular sized ones if they're fighting back to back. But most of
the Beast Wars characters are about human size...you can play a full game of
basketball inside a 20m radius, and have room for some bleachers.
> The commas that are there are NOT extraneous and the "coupled by" line
> may be incorrect grammar (I still don't think it is), but to imply a lack
> of care is downright mean.
There's one extraneous comma ("...unsuspecting Maximals, and then
finish...") and it should be "coupled with." While it's possible to use
"coupled by," that requires at least two things to be coupled by the object
of the preposition. And that wouldn't really make sense in this case
anyway, since the object is "tracking sense." The drive is coupled with the
tracking sense in forming an overall package that Megatron likes. A proton
and an electron are coupled by a virtual photon.
> Lastly, his name. You are correct in saying the name came from "vise grip"
> pliers due to his pincher. My Webster dictionary states VICE means "an evil
> or wicked action, habit, or characteristic". Thus the name VICE Grip - not
> second-in-command, not a lame ad-VICE giver, no shady dealings. Merely a
> pun to indicate he is a Predacon. That's it. No more.
Except...he's not wicked. He's loyal, dependable, well-liked, helps his
comrades and takes his job seriously. There's no other indication, other
than fighting against Maximals, that he's at all an unpleasant fellow. He
doesn't seem to be evil at all. Heck, he's a better guy than Dinobot, aside
from possible poor judgement in following Megarex.
Also, you have to be careful with dictionary definitions, they often
omit the connotations of a word. Vice has long been associated with not just
wickedness, but the seamy side of crime. Drugs, prostitution, gambling, that
sort of thing. Which are also within the realm of the connotations of
"wicked."
> Be careful, Dave, BotCon '99's exclusive will be a redeco of Injector and
> I'll call him Dave Van Domelen...... :-)
Nah, there's already a transformation scheme out there for me, and a
techspec, for that matter. Besides, a recolor of Injector would more
appropriately be called Bill Mumy, if you're going to use a real person's
name.
Dave Van Domelen, actually thinks it might be the grey plastic causing
the problem with the back panel, not the blue plastic....
Keldroc
>The commas that
are
>there are NOT extraneous and the "coupled by" line may be incorrect
>grammar (I
>still don't think it is), but to imply a lack of care is downright mean.
Well, it is indeed incorrect grammar, as Dave says. Something cannot be
"coupled by" something. It can be coupled *with*, but to say "coupled by" is
to say that the second item in the coupling is the only thing doing the
coupling, which, by the very definition of the word "coupling", is an
impossibility.
I give you full credit on the "Vice Grip" name origin, though. That's how I
took it when I heard the name at the kickoff party, and thought it was rather
clever. I still like "Antagony" better, but VG is a good one.
~Keldroc
_________
Never make a promise or plan
Take a little love where you can
Nobody's on nobody's side
Never stay too long in your bed
Never lose your heart or your head
Nobody's on nobody's side
-- "Chess"
Doug Dlin
On July 16, 1998, Dave Van Domelen wrote:
>
> In article <35AE3184.C...@earthlink.net>,
> The Hallits <dgha...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>> Be careful, Dave, BotCon '99's exclusive will be a redeco of
>> Injector and I'll call him Dave Van Domelen...... :-)
>
> Nah, there's already a transformation scheme out there for me, and a
> techspec, for that matter. Besides, a recolor of Injector would more
> appropriately be called Bill Mumy, if you're going to use a real
> person's name.
>
like that...
Doug Dlin
ap...@hotmail.com