come from the Net. From systems, to people, and cities, to this place. Mainframe. My format: Guardian. To mend and defend. With these words, Guardian Bob swears to protect the people of Mainframe, a computer system somewhere on the Net populated by sprites and binomes, where time is measured in nanoseconds. Bob is
constantly busy defending his newfound friends, not only from the mythical User, who inputs games seemingly at random, but from any number of computer viruses who threaten the computer they live in, including the chaotic but powerful Hexadecimal and her brother, the megalomaniacal Megabyte, bent on bringing Mainframe under his control in order that he may find a gateway to the Net.
When Reboot hit the airwaves in 1994, it was way ahead of its time as the first fully computer-rendered TV series. Obviously intended for children at first, Reboot began as a fun show pitting good against evil in fairly simplistic themes. By the end of Season one, the series showed a promise of something better. And as Season two ended in a spectacular four-part story arc, and Season three aired, it delivered, with some of the finest eight hours of TV programming ever produced.
Megabyte ejects Bob from Mainframe, leaving little Enzo in charge of guarding the system. Soon he and AndrAIa are overwhelmed, and are lost in a game, forced to survive going from game to game.
Little Enzo is now "Matrix," a bitter and angry, much bulkier and older sprite, and AndrAIa is now a bombshell of a girl, still loyal to her love. After roaming random systems for long enough, Matrix decides to find Bob and set things right.
With Season four now airing, Irwin Toy has introduced a new series of action figures based on characters from Mainframe. In the same way the characters improved in look over the years, so too have Irwin's Reboot figures. Early figures looked very cartoonlike, but still accurately resembled their namesakes. The most recent figures reflect the much more sophisticated art direction and rendering given to Reboot in Season three. And the result is visually impressive.
The first wave of the new line includes Glitch Bob, Commander Dot, Matrix, AndrAIa and Megabyte, as well as the "Bucket O' Binomes," four of Mainframe's robot-like denizens. Each figure comes with one or more accessories.
Excellent detail, poor articulation
Matrix comes with Gun (his weapon), a Zip board (a hover skateboard) and Glitch, his Guardian Key Tool. Strangely, he has another Glitch attached to the back of his belt. AndrAIa comes with a gun, a Zip board and her amazing Trident weapon. Commander Dot comes with a gun and a Zip board. Glitch Bob comes with a tiny Glitch Key Tool, which is a bit unusual, as in this new form he has merged with his Key Tool and no longer possesses it as an object. Megabyte comes with his sceptre.
Irwin makes the claim that this new line is "fully articulated" and "highly detailed." The second part is indeed true. The detail in these new figures is wonderful and depicts well the sophisticated rendering shaders used on the new characters. However, the claim "fully articulated" is quite an exaggeration by today's action figure standards. The shoulders are nicely articulated, but there are no elbow or wrist rotations. Heads are often restricted by hairstyles, and hips and knees are simple joints, allowing for only a few standable positions.
AndrAIa doesn't fit on her Zip board. The holes in her angled soles just don't grip the board's pegs. Bob doesn't have the customary holes in his feet, so he can't even ride his friends' Zip boards. AndrAIa can barely hold her gun and her trident, and Commander Dot has the same problem. The Glitch Key Tools that come with Bob and Matrix are so small they can easily be lost.
Megabyte's hips are much more flexible, and his wrists move. However, unlike previous versions, his jaw isn't hinged for movement.
The star of this line is the Bucket O' Binomes. This pack includes Specky, the Old Prospector, Cyrus and Lieutenant Chauncy. The coolest thing about these is that they each come apart in three pieces, and they can all be fitted back together in any order, making for fun new binome combinations.
In detail, this line has it all, nicely representing its characters, but in the little things like articulation that's actually useful, and in accessories that are appropriate and meaningful, the line disappoints.
