mikeszekely

It's kind of weird that the Leaders, Voyagers, and Cores for wave 4 of Legacy United hit two weeks ago, then Optimus showed up, but the other Deluxes are from this wave are still MIA. Instead I'm getting more Studio Series figures, so today we'll have a look at Deluxe-class Transformers One Megatron. The thing about Megatron is, IIRC, his appearance is the one that changes the most throughout the film, so it's going to be nearly impossible for a single figure to nail a particular look. Near as I can tell, the angled red vents on his chest, the more angular shoulder pads, and especially the helmet suggest it's his final look in the film, and from the front this figure does a rather good job capturing it, though he could use a symbol on his chest. I guess there's no way to do it in a movie-accurate fashion without spoilers, though. My biggest gripes with the figure are that his hands are pretty visibly treads, as well as the backs of his arms. Maybe with a Voyager budget they could have found a better way to hide the tread in bot mode? He's also super barren and light gray from behind. In the film his calves should be the same color as his shins and feet, but *spoilers* making his calves black would negatively impact his alt mode. Megatron comes with a few accessories. There's a backpack, a fusion cannon, two smaller guns, and another thing that, if you squint, is like a block with another small gun barrel. And here's where things are getting a little dicey. The fusion cannon is not the one that his final form uses, it's the one his second form uses. That form has more rounded shoulders, a flatter chest, and a helmet that's sort of an intermediate step between cogless D-16 and his final Megatron form. Also, based on his various character models in the film, the small guns and the block with the small barrel are serving the same purpose. Megatron's head is on a ball joint for swiveling, but he doesn't have much upward or sideways tilt. A transformation hinge allows him to look down, though, burying his face in the top of his chest. His shoulders are ball joints that swivel and are cut to give him 90 degrees of lateral movement... most of the time. His biceps swivel, and his elbows are double jointed and curl 180 degrees. His wrists swivel. His waist swivels. His hips go 90 degrees forward and backward, and nearly 90 degrees laterally if his waist isn't swiveled. If his waist is swiveled, though, it can overhang his hip and block most of it's lateral movement. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend slightly over 90 degrees. His feet can't really tilt up, but they can tilt downward for transformation, and he has limited but present ankle pivots. Megatron has 5mm ports on both forearms. You're almost certainly going to want to put the fusion cannon on his right forearm. You have options for his left, though. You can use the 5mm port with to plug in one of the smaller guns. The sculpt of those guns is accurate to a smaller gun he had mounted to his left arm in the film, except it should be about half the length of the fusion cannon whereas here it's closer to 80%. Alternatively, you can use a tab on the silver block to attach it to his forearm instead. The barrel is thicker and the silver block shouldn't be present, but it's a more accurate length. This is probably my preference, for a reason I'll get to in a minute. The small guns can also be held in Megatron's hands. As for the backpack, a peg on the hollow inside fits into a hinged peg hole on Megatron's back, and near as I can tell he's actually more movie-accurate with the backpack attached. The backpack has another role, though. It's storage for all of his accessories. The instructions will tell you that you can plug the small guns into the ports the sides, and the silver block can use a tab to fit into the inside of the backpack, with just the barrel poking out of the bottom. There's a tab on the inside that can hold the fusion cannon, though, and the silver slot for the silver block runs through to the outside of the backpack, allowing you to technically store all of his weapons at once. It's probably not apparent when I'm comparing Megatron with Orion Pax/Optimus Prime, but he's fairly tall for a Deluxe, no more than half a head shorter than Earthrise Starscream. Bigger Deluxes usually mean less-complicated engineering, and that's definitely the case here. First remove all his accessories except his backpack. Then does a split, then hinges in his thighs swivel most of his legs back down in a shorter, wider stance (like G1 Onslaught turning into Bruticus). His thighs rotate 180 degrees, and his calves double hinge up and out. This allows you to fold his feet down and spin them into his leg, which spins the front of his treads out to take their place. His chest double-hinges down over his crotch, and his head folds into his chest. His fists turn to align the treads on the back of his hands with the treads on the backs of his arms, then his forearms turn 180 degrees, which allows his elbows to curl up so his forearms can tab inot the backs of shoulders. His backpack untabs from his back and spins 180 degrees on its peg (assuming it stays on the peg). His backpack and the top of his torso, including the shoulders, kind of fold over so his backpack is on his front, covering his head inside his chest. Lock everything into place; calves over his toes, then into the sides of his chest, and shoulders swiveled so the treads are on the ground and tabs on the insides of the calves slot into his elbows to lock his arms in place. Finish it off by plugging the fusion cannon onto the tab on the inside of the backpack, then plugging the barrel on the silver block into the barrel of the fusion cannon. Megatron's tank mode is probably the best you're going to get on a Deluxe budget without compromising the robot mode more. The broad strokes are there... turret on top, black treads in the front and back with a gap between them, mostly silver/gray top of the tank with his chest making up the front. Proportions and details are a bit off, though. Like, his shins should be facing up, not down, and the gap between the front treads and rear should be a totally empty gap, not occupied by his thighs. The rear treads should stick back farther, making the turret more centered on top. The turret should be much longer, and the barrel trapezoidal the entire length, not just the wider segment at the end. The turret can still elevate and swivel (though doing so will reveal his head). And the tank's barrel is obviously the combination of the fusion cannon and silver block gun, which is why I prefer to use that one on his forearm; you can't lose it, you need it for alt mode. What you don't need are the long, thin guns. They're not on the tank in the film, and honestly I'll probably just toss them in a box with Pax's faux bumper with the extra guns on it. If you want to keep them around, though, you can either leave them on the backpack as extra turret guns, or (as the instructions suggest) you can plug them into 5mm ports on the sides of the tank. Pax Prime, our first of the TFOne figures in the Studio Series line, was a figure with some flaws. I think that, like Pax, Megatron might have benefitted from a higher parts count and a bit more engineering that might have come with a bump up to Voyager-class. However, even as he is he's a much better figure than Pax- better colors, better articulation, better transformation, better accessories. I dare say this is the best Megatron has ever been in the Deluxe scale. Whether you're a fan of the film or just like this Megatron design, this a figure worth checking out.

I never heard of Vifam, but it looks like someone repaired a GM with Zaku parts.

My wife and I watched it over the weekend. It was... fine. As others have noted it's nowhere near as good as the original, but it was better than a lot of the crap Hollywood's been shoveling out lately. Keaton and O'Hara were great, and I hope my wife looks as good at 52 as Wynona Rider does .💕

MPG-14 Godbomber is now available to preorder on Pulse.

OK, so that's not all that they did. See, Optimus Prime sells, so the bean counters more or less want him at every price point. But instead of shoveling out yet another cartoon-style G1 Optimus, they went in the other direction. So while Studio Series 86 Optimus goes about accurately capturing the cartoon that made us fans 40 years later, Legacy United Deluxe-class Optimus is an homage to the toy from 40 years ago. While it's fun to have both of this year's mainline G1 Primes together, for a lot of people the more obvious comparison is going to be the G1 toy that United Optimus homages, or more relevantly Missing Link Convoy, Takara's own 2024 40th anniversary G1-toy-but-articulated offering. But right away there are some obvious differences, the most immediate of which is size. The G1 toy is obviously from a time when size classes (or, technically, Transformers themselves) were a thing, but it's closer to a modern Voyager than our new little Deluxe friend, who's roughly the same height as Siege Prowl or Sideswipe. The lower budget also means giving up chrome on the smokestacks and thighs, which are just gray plastic, as well as the grill, bumper, and fuel tanks which got silver paint instead. United Optimus has the molded details on his forearms, knees, and toes to replicate the stickers of the G1 toy, but not the paint that Missing Link Convoy got on its own molded sticker details. Light-piped eyes and gray elbow joints further highlight that this is a cheaper Deluxe-class toy, nor a toy from 40 years ago or a premium collectible for the adults who were kids 40 years ago. But there are more subtle differences than simply "smaller and cheaper." United Optimus is actually more proportional. His shoulders, forearms, thighs, and shins are slightly wider relative to his torso, and aside from his shins, wider than the original/Missing Link toy's. His arms are proportionally shorter, too, with only a partial cutout for a wheel well on the back of his forearm. From the back, you can't stare straight through his torso. Instead of having a large portion of the back of the cab hanging off his shoulder he now has a backpack. Plus his calves have some additional molded details. United Optimus doesn't have quite the sheer volume of accessories that Missing Link C-01 did... there's no trailer here. But you do get an axe, a Matrix, and not one but two rifles. That's one rifle more than the animation-style C-02 version of Missing Link Convoy that still ran nearly triple United Optimus' price tag. The thicker rifle is modeled after the one that the earliest pre-rubsign, silver Roller versions of Optimus Prime came with, while the thinner one is based on the post-rubsign, blue Roller version of the G1 toy. How does United Optimus' articulation compare with Missing Link? Fairly well, actually. His head is on a ball joint, so it can swivel but it also has some up/down/sideways tilt Missing Link Convoy lacks. Shoulders rotate and can move 90 degrees laterally (same). His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees (same). No wrist swivels or articulated fingers, though, and no ab crunch. His front bumper is actually a single-piece hinged hip skirt, and the wheels on his hips are also on skirts that can hinge out of the way. This gives him a full 360 degree waist swivel (much better), plus 90 degrees forward (better), backward (same), and laterally (slightly better) at the hips. His thighs swivel (same) and his knees bend 90 degrees (slightly worse). His toes can tilt downward due to transformation (same), and his ankles can pivot 90 degrees (I'll call this one a win for United- the front of ML Convoy's feet can rotate 360 degrees to give him over 90 degrees of faux ankle tilt, but United Optimus actually has a dedicated hinge to move his entire foot). Finally, United Optimus has ankle swivels. The 5mm ports on either rifle can slide into either of Prime's fists. The axe works in basically the same way, with a hollow bubble that fits over Prime's hand that has a 5mm peg inside. The extra rifle can be stored in a 5mm port on Prime's back. The bubble around the peg on the axe, though, means that the peg can't reach the 5mm port on his back, nor the ones on his calves or under his toes. Oh, and I forgot to do it for the review, but yes, his smokestacks can swivel like '86 Prime's. As for the Matrix, Prime's chest opens up in exactly the same manner as the G1 toy. There's a little peg and clips inside that the Matrix can plug into. Although the size and sculpt are similar to the Matrix that comes with SS86 Prime/Earthrise Prime/Rodimus/Galvatron, etc, it might actually be a new sculpt. 86 Prime's Matrix was too loose to clip into United Prime's chest, and United Prime's Matrix is too tight/small to fit over the clips. If you've ever transformed the G1 toy, you should have a strong idea of what you're doing here. The head still folds back into the torso, but now you have to open his backpack up first and close it once the head is tucked in. Instead of removing his fists, you fold the back of his forearm down, then rotate the fist 180 degrees to spin it inside his forearm while turning the headlights out. The elbows bend, the shoulders fold back, and the arms tuck into the sides, but hold off on tucking them fully in until you've bent down his toes, tabbed his legs together, and folded them backward 90 degrees at the hips like the G1 toy. When you finally finish tucking the arms in tabs near the insides of his elbows will actually lock into slots on his thighs. The result is a small but pretty good truck. It's got the molded rivets, marker lights, door, ladder, intake, wipers, etc as the G1 toy. It's even got molded lines where the hinge was on the G1 toy at the shoulder. The tires are still rubber. They're "Cybertron Radial" instead of Desert Dog, and I think the rest of the text is the size (though my aging eyes can't quite make it out, even with the reading glasses my optometrist made me start wearing this year). The back of the cab isn't gappy like even the SS86 version, and as I mentioned there's even more molded detail than the smooth G1 toy. My only real complaints are that, while the front of the bumper got silver paint, the edges of the bumper did not. Also, the larger shoulder hinge and altered arm proportions break up the silver cab stripe and leave more of a cab behind the windows. Some of the extra molded detail are the 5mm ports on his calves, which can be used to store his rifles in this mode. He still has a bump for the trailer, and indeed, he can pull the G1 trailer. However, the bump has a 5mm port carved into the middle of it, which the axe can use to for storage. However, that port has another use. If you're retiring Earthrise Prime for the new SS86 version, hang on to your Earthrise trailer! Not only can United Prime pull it, but it's actually a lot more proportional with United's smaller size than it was on Earthrise Prime himself. I think the first question a lot of fans had, given that this is the same year that Takara released Missing Link Convoy, essentially retooling the original G1 toy with additional articulation, is why would Hasbro also release a toy based on the G1 toy but with more articulation? I think that's kind of missing the point, though. Missing Link Convoy was a $120 attempt to literally be the G1 toy, but with better articulation. United Optimus is a $25 Deluxe that wonders, "what if the G1 toys exist in a separate universe than the G1 cartoon when we mash them all together in Legacy?" Despite taking the form of a 40 year old kid's toy, Missing Link Convoy is a premium collectible, United Optimus is a toy that a modern kid (or adult) can play with, that fits in with your other Legacy figures. The simple transformation and articulation lend itself well to the kind of figure you want to keep at your desk because you keep messing with it. Of course, 86 Prime is still going to be the "main" Optimus for most Generations/Legacy/Studio Series displays, and as a one-off premium display piece Missing Link Convoy is going to look better on shelf or in a Detolf than United Optimus. But the reason the sole new mold in this wave of United gets a recommend from me still is because he's just a fun $25 Optimus toy.

This is kind of where I'm at. I want to play it, what with me being a huge Transformers nerd, even I don't think it's a $40 game. When it goes down to $20, maybe.

40th Anniversary Voltron. I mean, I had Voltron toys as a kid, so I see the appeal. But I was never as into Voltron as much as Transformers or even GoBots, so I feel like my SoC GoLion is probably enough for my collection.

In order of preference- 1. 1989 movie Batmobile 2. Batman: TAS Batmobile 3. 1955 Futura Batmobile 4. 1984 Kenner Batmobile While I could keep ranking Batmobiles, anything beyond that wouldn't cut it for the crossover. Of course, that's assuming it is a Batmobile. I wouldn't say no to either the '89 Batwing or the TAS Batwing... I mean, yes, you could argue that $5 is too much for a toy you don't really like. But that's what Deluxes go for these days. Gears and Smallfoot are alright with me, but where's my Swerve, Hasbro? Yeah, it's been mentioned. There's some speculation that the retro figure isn't actually trying to match the original G1 figure, but rather the semi-recent (like a couple of years ago) Walmart reissue that has a more cartoon-ish head. ...which of course would leave Hasbro open to doing their own Gen Selects version of Bumblebee with all-black arms and a toy head on the Studio Series toy.

Gonna be a looooong wait. No one has made a definite statement, but the unofficial word is that Reactivate is dead.

I was just wondering if you had gotten them yet. I just ordered them myself yesterday.

As I was saying on a certain other message board, I think I'll try to grab that Gears. But between the Netflix release and the SS86 one I'm probably good on Bumblebees. I did the retro card-style packaging, though. EDIT: Preorders are live at Walmart.com Bumblebee Gears

The Naruto Crossover is available to preorder at Pulse, but I'm going to pass on this one.

Decided to re-watch Seed and Destiny first, since I never saw the remasters. Really wish Seed Freedom suits were in Gundam Breaker 4. Rising Freedom's arms and Might Strike Freedom's head would go better on my Frankenfreedom than Destiny and ZZ, respectively. Since I started watching Weed and playing GB4 I started building Gunpla again for the first time since my kid was born. HG Freedom, Strike Freedom, and Rising Freedom are done, currently working on Mighty Strike Freedom. (Yeah. UC is my favorite Gundam universe, but Freedom is my favorite MS.)

What? Per my source:

Yeah. I think as a truck 86 Prime looks better with 86 Magnus and Legacy Motor master than Earthrise Prime, but again, I'm not an expert on trucks or anything. I didn't put them together as bots, but given Magnus was already pretty big I think 86 Prime works better there, too. 86 Prime's extra height means he's going to be a head taller than Motormaster now, but that doesn't bother me, either. As a kid I thought it was kind of cool that a bad guy turned into a truck like Optimus, but I never saw them as direct rivals that absolute need to be the same height. Megatron, Shockwave, Soundwave, and the Seekers need bigger molds, though (and RiD Scourge/Laser Optimus... I'd actually love for a Commander-class Scourge with a similar trailer glow-up to go with Haslab Fire Convoy.

Rathalos Prime is available to preorder on Pulse. @Tking22

Oh, and an addendum to my review... I was so busy comparing SS86 Prime to Earthrise Prime to show much much of an improvement he is, but I neglected to show how a larger Prime compares to other Legacy trucks. Well, here's the thing. I don't know a ton about trucks (maybe @David Hingtgen can chime in), but I do know that Bayverse Prime was a Peterbilt 379, and I think G1 Prime is a Freightliner FL86, which means that in truck mode 86 Prime is way bigger relative to the various Bayverse SS Primes. Assuming that Laser Prime/Scourge are also bigger trucks, they're also out of scale with Prime... which means the smaller Earthrise trailer and the tanker trailers, while still too small, should be smaller than 86 Prime's trailer. Well, the movies exist outside of the main G1/G2 continuity, so it doesn't bother me too much that Bayverse Prime and 86 Prime don't scale well in alt mode, but it does make me wish for a bigger (and color accurate this time) Scourge. Maybe he'll get a Commander-class glow up, with a Gen Selects Laser Prime to follow. A guy can dream. I think the bigger concern a lot of people are going to have is "how does 86 Prime look with other G1 COE trucks?" This is especially concerning if Motormaster was built to scale with Earthrise Prime. But honestly... not as bad as I feared. (Forgive the poor lighting, I didn't take these pictures in my usual space.) Magnus is actually wider than Prime still, and his vertical height is only shorter because he's got rectangular windows instead of squares. Magnus is also a bit shorter horizontally. Motormaster, meanwhile, manages to remain taller than Prime even without counting the extra height from the sleeper. Motormaster is a similar length with Prime, but a bit narrower. Prime's trailer is the longest, but Magnus' is taller and wider. Motormaster's is also taller and wider, but comically shorter without any upgrade kits. Frankly, Motormaster's stock trailer didn't look good next to Earthrise, either. With the DNA upgrade kit, which I have on here, Motormaster's trailer is maybe half an inch shorter than Prime's. All-in-all, I think Earthrise Prime might actually scale better with these guys than Earthrise did.

Try Target. They might have some at your local store, and they have VERY few available for shipping. Plus there's a Target Circle deal this week. $20 off $75 on toys. DCPI is 087-26-4645.

You were expecting a hover truck?

Nearly five years ago, I said I was "blown away" by Earthrise Leader-class Optimus Prime. I acknowledged the toy's flaws, but also talked about how excited I was to have that much accuracy in a mainline Optimus Prime toy, the first mainline G1 Optimus to come with a trailer and repair drone (even if it was missing Roller). Despite my praise for the figure, I started buying accessories to improve the figure. Stickers added the missing yellow to the crotch, the lackluster paint on trailer stripes, and added color to the repair drone's cockpit. Multiple kits replaced his rifle with a more proportional one, replaced the weird shield door on the trailer with a more G1-accurate one, added Roller, added the supports for the command deck, etc. Meanwhile, other issues, like the gray plastic on the insides of Prime's legs, the visible wheels, and the lack of fuel tanks on his legs were left unaddressed. Now... what if, instead of buying a $50 figure and then dumping a ton more money into upgrades... we simply had bought a Prime with a higher initial price tag that benefitted from a larger development in the first place? I supposed the result would be Studio Series 86 Commander-class Optimus Prime. Wow... just, wow. OK, given that accuracy to the '86 movie is the objective, I'll note that he's got white pants and more of a flat gray for the stripe around his ribs, on his face and forehead, and on his toes rather than silver, and the vents on his shins are more like molded details than actual vents. These things might not be my personal preferences for an ideal Prime, but they're still an A for this assignment. The proportions are less svelte than the Earthrise toy, bringing that cartoon chunk. The molded triangles and lines on his forearms are spot on, and he's even got the little triangles on his shins... so it kind of pains me to point out that the molded details on his thighs are actually not accurate. There's also a tiny bit of red poking out from behind his shins. To be fair, you can probably use a little alcohol to remove a line of paint from the part behind his shin without affecting anything. Whereas all six of Earthrise Prime's wheels were visible, none of them are showing on SS86. The backs of his legs have that sloped shape the cartoon did, plus he's got his missing fuel tanks. The blue on his crotch wraps the entire way under and around to his butt. His smokestacks are taller, and not marred by peg holes. I'd say the elephant in the room is probably his backpack, which is giving me MP-44 flashbacks. It's a little large, yes, and gappy in ways that are definitely not cartoon accurate, but I think it's still better than the wheels on the back of Earthrise Prime. Actually, scratch that. The backpack's not too bad, the real elephant is Prime's size. We've been told since Siege that Hasbro has been paying attention to scale, but suddenly Siege/Earthrise Prime are too short? Too be fair... yeah, kind of? I think SS86 actually does scale better with most of the Autobots released in the last five years, and SS86 Prime is now about the same size as Galvatron. However, this does mean that Prime is taller than Siege/Earthrise Megatron, which is not ideal. Thankfully we're supposedly getting a Leader-class SS86 Megatron next year, which I'm sure will address the height difference with Prime... while simultaneously making Megatron too big for Soundwave, Shockwave, and the Seekers. I guess it's a good thing that Soundwave and all six Seekers also appeared in the '86 movie. I have a feeling that upgrades are inevitable. We're not here to talk about potential SS86 Seekers, though, we're here to talk about Prime. The bump to Commander didn't just make for a slightly taller, more accurate Optimus. Some of that budget went to accessories. Prime's got his trailer/command deck, which is much larger and has a proper ramp door but is as disappointingly barren inside as the Earthrise trailer. Where are the blue consoles? We again have Prime's ion rifle, with much better proportions and a nice coat of gunmetal paint. We've got a Matrix of Leadership, and... actually I think it's the exact same one that Earthrise Optimus came with. We've got a repair drone. It's larger than the Earthrise one, accurately done this time with both blue and gray plastic instead of all gray, with a translucent cockpit door, just one arm, and an antenna, making it more accurate to the G1 toy than the Earthrise one. Then, going beyond the Earthrise toy, we've got an Energon axe and some orange effects parts, plus we've got Roller. While I prefer a blue Roller, silver does better match the maybe two episodes it appeared in the cartoon. Roller is larger and less hollow than the one that came with the Centurion Drone. The trailer has landing gear for staying upright without a cab, but also the side underride guards that were missing from the Earthrise trailer. Like the MP and G1 toys, the underride guards can swing out to help support the sides of the trailer when it's in command deck mode. Unlike the MP version, there's no mechanism that automatically lowers the feet as you swing the guards out, instead you have to twist the ends 90 degrees. Side note, while we're looking at it... yes, I prefer the blue stripes on the trailer. But the trailer is more screen accurate without the blue, so I can't actually criticize the choice. I'd already shown that the trailer does in fact open up into the command deck, but I'll mention that you can still stand it up, and the drone does still attach to the end oppose the trailer door. When the trailer is up like this the repair drone can do, well, repairs on Prime. Or you can lie it back down and the drone is an AA gun. The cockpit on the drone opens, and it can plug into Roller to drive around outside the trailer. There's three hinges in the stem of the drone, a swivel for the antenna to fold down (but no swivel for it to spin around), a swivel for the arm's "shoulder" and "bicep", a hinged elbow, and a hinge in one of the claws so it can open and shut. The spots where the missiles would go on the G1 toy have little nubs that are compatible with some of the effects parts. Roller can also roll around without the drone. You could instead plug in Prime's rifle, which is also compatible with the blast effects. If you still have some, Roller's seats can accommodate four Titan Masters, though the ones that sit in the back have to face backwards. Roller's 5mm ports aren't just for attaching Prime's gun or the repair drone. You can also use one as a hitch so Roller can pull Prime's trailer. All of Prime's accessories can be stored in the trailer. The drone plugs in near the front, as I already mentioned, and folds up. Roller has to notches under it's front end that grab onto two tabs on the front of the drone's base. There are nubs with clips below them on either side. The ones closest to the front are for the axe, while the ones next to roller are for the laser beam effects. There's also tabs near the axe clips that can plug into slots on the sides of Prime's rifle, allowing you to lock it in place as well. Meanwhile, fold the bumper down and you'll unlock the rear wheels. You'll find a space between them where you can toss the rest of Prime's effect parts. Accessories are good and all, but you guys are probably more curious about Prime himself. So, Prime's head is on a ball joint. He doesn't have a ton of up/down tilt, but it swivels and he's got decent sideways tilt. His antenna are separate parts now, and can swivel, though that's really more for transformation. His shoulders swivel and can technically move 90 degrees laterally, though clearances with his smokestacks and backpack can limit the lateral movement when his arms are raised. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. His wrists swivel. In what I believe is a first for a mainline toy, not only are his fingers hinged at the base, but they have a second knuckle as well, plus his index finger is separate from the other three for pointing or to pose as a trigger finger. His waist swivels. His hip skirts hinge up to give him 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally on his hips. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend about 120 degrees. His feet can't tilt up, but his toes can tilt downward, and he's got 90 degrees of ankle pivot. Really, the only things I could wish for are deeper elbow bends and an ab crunch*. Despite having articulated fingers, Prime's hands are still compatible with 5mm accessories, which is how he holds his rifle. To use Prime's axe, you have to fold his fists into his forearms like you're going into truck mode, which will leave a peg on Prime's wrist. You can then plug the axe onto the peg. While you're playing with gummy translucent orange parts, Prime's smokestacks swivel for no reason except that you might want to pretend that they're guns. The tips of his smokestacks are even compatible with the beam effect parts (just don't leave them on there, as I've heard that prolonged exposure to the rubbery effect parts can damage the paint). Most of Prime's accessories will have to go in the trailer when he's not using them. He can, however, carry his rifle on his backpack. There are tabs on either side that fit into the same slot that the rifle uses to secure itself into the trailer. This being a Studio Series release instead of a Legacy one means that Prime doesn't have the abundance of 5mm ports for Weaponizers, Fossilizers, Armorizers, etc. Aside from his fists, the only ones he has are under his toes. As for the Matrix, just like Earthrise Prime, you can open the chest on SS86 Prime and wedge the Matrix handles around some tabs you'll find in there. Unlike Earthrise Prime, SS86 Prime has an additional door that folds down over the Matrix before you close up his chest, similar to what was seen in the movie, though less detailed. The Matrix is pretty tiny in Prime's hands, but you can take advantage of that finger articulation to pinch his index fingers around the handles. Plus, Prime's got butterfly joints in his shoulders that serve no transformation purpose. They're just there so Prime can get his hands close enough together to hold the Matrix. *You probably thought, "what about butterfly joints?" when I said the only extra articulation I'd wish for was deeper elbow bends and an ab crunch, but Prime had butterfly joints all along. I was just saving their mention for this part. Clearly, it's not just that Prime's bigger or has more paint. There's definitely a higher parts count going on here to help justify the price difference between a Leader and a Commander. There's even little bits like this, where you have a this extra armor part that fits around the hip joints. Prime's transformation into truck mode is definitely a more elaborate affair. If you didn't appreciate the aesthetic improvements a Commander-budget brought, you'll definitely notice it here. His fists fold into his arms, which then rotate 180 degrees at the bicep and bend backward at the elbow. The blue part of his butt detaches and folds between his thighs. The top of his backpack folds up, freeing his backpack to fold away from his back. He rotates 180 degrees at the waist, then panels on his sides fold up so his chest can rotate 180 degrees back. Prime's head folds into his back, then another panel that was underneath his head double hinges outward. His bot-mode grill folds up to hide his face, and his lats double-hinge into the space his grill just vacated. The flaps on his sides go back down, then his arms do the classic Prime transformation to tuck in. Meanwhile, back on the front side, the back of his backpack unfolds to the sides so you can fold the backpack further down, revealing the bottom half of the cab. The grill opens so you can fold out the rest of the grill, then the whole thing hinges up under his chest to fully complete the front of the cab. Panels on the sides open then fold up to fill in the sides of the cab. His shins wrap around to the insides of his legs, similar to MP-10's, and a tab swings out from between his left heel and toes while a matching slot folds out from his right foot, allowing you to tab the legs together. The toes fold down, and you lift the skirts on his butt up, then his hips and crotch detach from the front of his pelvis and swing backward. The top of the backpack can fold into the space his crotch and hips left, tabbing in between the front wheels. His calves fold up, plugging into the back of the cab as well as plugging into and covering his thighs, which also frees his heels to fold down. Finally, the sides of his legs swivel at the fuel tanks, with the part running down his leg below the tank spinning 180 degrees to fill in the bottom of the cab under his arms between the front wheels and the fuel tank, then his rear wheels fold out from the insides of his legs. I might again decry the lack of a silver stripe on the cab, or point out the molded but unpainted windshield wipers, but there's that pesky cartoon accuracy. It's not all cartoon accuracy, though. Whereas, even in the '86 movie, Prime's truck mode is largely devoid of detail, the designers of this toy seemed to look at MP-44 for inspiration. There are the aforementioned molded windshield wipers, plus a number of rivets and the intake vent, orange paint on the marker lights on the roof, silver wing mirrors, and the rectangular double-square headlights. There are steps on the sides of the cab, and molded doors and handrails. More steps are behind the rear wheels, and taillights molded into Prime's heels. It's still not totally accurate to a real truck, but the rear doesn't just look like robot legs chilling out. Instead we've got a fairly cohesive (and far cleaner than MP-44) area with a molded hitch. My only real gripes are that the fuel tanks stick out a bit while the real wheels don't, and the back of the cab is still a bit gappy and unfinished. The molded hitch has a peg hole that you can plug the trailer into. The bigger cab means that, even though the trailer is bigger, it's still a tad undersized. However, I think it's far more proportional than Earthrise Prime, where the entire truck and trailer can fit on SS86's trailer alone. And for those curious, although I didn't take a picture, I did compare it to the G1 trailer. SS86's trailer is a smidge shorter vertically, but a bit longer horizontally, and almost the same width. Prime and his trailer roll, and there's enough clearance for Prime to make tight turns with the trailer... which I'm realizing that I'm only now giving you a proper look at the rear of. As you can see, more accurate molded doors, painted taillights, and a proper bumper. The doors don't open like a real truck (or MP-10's), they just fold down like the G1 toy's, which is fine. The interior of the trailer is wide enough for most Deluxe cars to fit into- I had no issues with Earthrise Sideswipe and Prowl or SS86 Jazz, but be aware that a few like Armada Hot Shot here are a bit too wide. In case you were wondering, yes, SS86 Prime can pull the Earthrise trailer, and vice versa. The 86 trailer doesn't look too bad with the Earthrise cab, if it would only sit back a bit further. SS86 Prime looks ridiculous with the Earthrise trailer, but that's not the point. The real point is that other figures like Kingdom Huffer that could pull the Earthrise trailer can still pull the SS86 one. There's nowhere on Prime's trailer to stow any of his accessories, so again, it's fortunate that we have the trailer for that. However, there are some effect parts that are meant just for alt mode; the one that store in the cubby under the trailer rather than in it. You combine them to make two bits with flat bases and tabs on the top. The tabs fit into these slots next to the front wheels, so Prime can recreate that scene from the movie where, after mowing down a few Decepticons, he jets into the air to transform and gun down a few more before landing. There's one last thing that needs mentioning. As far as I know, every copy of SS86 Prime is misassembled. Basically, his heels are swapped. It's almost not noticeable in robot mode, and barely even then in truck mode. You could probably ignore it, but it's the kind of thing that once you know it's there it might bug you. Fixing it isn't supposed to be too difficult, but it will require removing two pins to take the heels off, turn flip them over, and then swap them to the other feet. Oh, one final thing... over then months ago, when the existence of this figure leaked but we didn't know anything about it except it was a Commander, I said: Aside from the upper body transformation being like MP-10's (not that it's like ER's either), boy, did I nail that or what? Anyway... 40 years after The Transformers debuted Takara celebrated by giving us the toy from 40 years ago, but with better articulation. Meanwhile, Hasbro celebrated by giving us the most cartoon-accurate Optimus Prime toy to ever hit a regular retail line. No, it's not perfect, and I did point out a few nitpicky flaws. And, yes, a Commander-class toy is significantly mor expensive than a Leader-class one, which is going to rub some people the wrong way. That being said, SS86 Prime is a brilliant figure that addresses the flaws I had with the Earthrise figure that I already loved, as well as some more flaws that I didn't know I had. Given Hasbro's propensity to keep the money-making characters in rotation I'm hesitant to say that this is the definitive mainline G1 Optimus toy, but this is the first one that makes me feel like I don't need for there to be a newer, better one down the road, and I don't need to shop for some kind of upgrade kit to address my quibbles. If you're a fan of G1 Transformers, buy this toy. Simple as that.

I was gonna say it's on Amazon for $130, but then I saw you're in Canada, and the only listing I saw on Amazon Canada is 254 loonies.

But so many stores quit selling them. ...plus, then I'd have to get up, put the disc in, go back to the couch, watch the disc, get up, change the disc... Seriously, though, trying to keep track of which streaming service has which show I want to watch is getting to be a hassle. I'm *this* close to cancelling all 8 or 9 of 'em and signing up for cable.

I didn't preorder, but I keep thinking about buying the set. They're weird... they're too big to be CHUG, but the aesthetic doesn't jive with Masterpiece, but they look sturdy and fun to mess with.

Yeah, he's reasonably close, considering he's re-using some parts. But as a Transfomers fan first, I just wish he looked more like Senior's work on TF UK. The Infinite series is 3 3/4", right? I was thinking the Marvel Legends figure is a tad taller than I'd like, but I was thinking a good fit for Transformers would be maybe a half an inch shorter or so. Infinite is too small, I think.

The other day I was talking about characters that first appeared in the Marvel G1 comics, and specifically made note of Simon Furman and Marvel UK's contributions. I don't think it's right to bring up Furman and Marvel UK without mentioning one character in particular. However, that character wouldn't be a Transformer at all, so I had to step outside my usual collecting and pick up Marvel Legends Death's Head. The packaging lists Death's Head's first appearance as the UK comic Dragon's Claws, specifically issue #5, a series that came from the Transformers UK team of Simon Furman and Geoff Senior. However, Dragon's Claws started it's print run in the summer of 1988, and Death's Head's own solo series (written by Simon Furman and drawn by Bryan Hitch) wouldn't start until winter of '88. Now, here's where things get dicey. Death's Head first appeared in Transformers UK #113, in the spring of 1987, well before Dragon's Claws. Also prior to Dragon's Claws Marvel ran a one-page story "High Noon Tex" featuring Death's Head in several Marvel UK comics. I've heard people say that "High Noon Tex" came out first, and that's why Marvel not Hasbro owns the rights to Death's Head, however, the original prints of "High Noon Tex" clearly depict Hitch's signature in the corner of the last panel with an '88 after it, and no one can seem to point to an specific comic book printed before 1988 that had "High Noon Tex" in it. So, while I'm not outright saying that this is definitely what happened, it seems probable that Furman and Senior created Death's Head and used him in Transformers, Death's Head turned out to be popular with readers, so Marvel worked quickly to establish Death's Head as a Marvel character, not a Transformers character, to secure their ownership before Hasbro could. Regardless of what did or did not happen or who own's what, to me Death's Head is a Transformers character, so here he is. And he is... well, not super accurate to his Transformers appearance, where he he wore big brown gloves, green shoulder pads and hip skirts, and red loin cloth, plus he had more rectangular robotic green legs with orange knee pads. Perhaps, in an effort to distance Death's Head from his earlier Transformers appearances, he got a new look when his solo series began in 1988 that's much closer to what we see here. The main thing that seems to be off is his hands, which I assume were recolored from another Marvel Legends figure that had long finger nails, something Death's Head shouldn't. In the comics he's actually drawn with silver robotic hands wearing spiked fingerless gloves. His yellow shirt is also depicted here as more of a yellow stripe up the front of his torso with some lines in it that it doesn't need. Again, I believe that this is because of Hasbro re-using parts from other Marvel Legends figures, specifically Colossus. Still, if you're a fan of Death's Heads' solo run in '88-'89, or perhaps picked up his 2014 limited series, these are likely minor discrepancies. As a Transformers fan, I'm more bothered by the fact that they went with his solo series look instead of the original green, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. Death's Head comes with a shield, an axe, a mace, a rocket, and two alternate closed fists. I'm not sure what Marvel Legends budgets are typically, but for $40 I'd have really liked if they'd have included a gun like the one he shot Bumblebee with in Transformers UK #114. Death's Head's head is on a hinged ball joint, so he can swivel it and look up and down with a fairly natural range, but sideways tilt is pretty non-existent. His shoulders swivel, and they're hinged to move laterally 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. His wrists swivel, as they're just pegged into his wrist sockets. The splayed right hand and both closed fists have hinges on their pegs that allow them to bend in/out, while the left grippy hand is hinged to bend up/down. His waist swivels, and he's got an ab crunch in the middle of his torso. I can't quite tell what kind of joints his hips use, but they go about 90 degrees forward, but only a little backward due to his butt sculpt, and about 60 degrees laterally due to the rubbery hip skirts. His thighs swivel, and his double-jointed knees bend nearly 180 degrees. He's got another swivel at the top of his boot, and hinged ball joints at the ankles that give him some up/down foot tilt and about 45 degrees of ankle pivot. On my copy, the hinge is a tad looser than I'd like, and he's prone to leaning or even falling over if you don't pose him with his feet turned out a bit. To use most of the accessories, including the alternate hands, you grab the hands that are already installed and just yank them off, then peg the weapon or alternate hand into the stump. His stock left hand is a rubbery sort of grabby hand, and you can also work the shafts of his weapons into it and he holds them mostly ok (the axe blade is a bit close to his fingers). His shield has a horizontal and a vertical 5mm port on it, and he should be able to hold the shield in his left hand, too. Unfortunately, he holds it much worse than his weapons. Thing is, in my admittedly limited experience with Death's Head, I don't recall him ever actually using the shield. It, and the various hand attachments he's not currently using, resided on his back. And sure enough, there are a trio of clips on the back of the shield, allowing you to attach all three of his weapons. Then the horizontal peg plugs into a port on Death's Head's back. And, well, since Death's Head doesn't transform or have an alt mode... I guess I'm already at the end of this review. Well, Marvel/Marvel Legends fans might likely have different standards to judge Death's Head by. From a Transformer collector's POV, I think he should be slightly smaller, I really wish he had his gun, and I really wish he had the green armor, brown gloves, and green boots from his original Transformers appearance instead of his later solo series appearance. I also don't know if I feel like I'm getting $40 worth of figure here, though to be fair he seems to have a lot more paint and more solid plastic than a similar-sized Transformer. Ultimately, I think if you're primarily into Transformers collecting because of the G1 cartoon, then Death's Head probably isn't up your alley unless you also happen to be into Marvel Legends and Death's Head's other non-Transformers Marvel appearances. However, if you're like me, and you've got your Jhiaxus, your Cybertron Troopers, your Straxus, your Ferak, your Flame, and your Emirate Xaaron, then Death's Head is very likely a significant gap in your Marvel G1 collection, and this is likely the best you're going to get to fill that gap.