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mikeszekely

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  1. mikeszekely
    That'd work... If my desk wasn't actually an IKEA table without any drawers.
  2. mikeszekely
    Mind you, that was after I removed a whole box of stuff to make room for the new monitor. Mostly Transformers.... I had all for Studio Series Dinobots on there, just waiting for Swoop, among others I'd been fiddling with.
  3. mikeszekely
    I think, if I have to go mad looking at all those Springer toys, I'm going to share that madness with you guys. But what about all those official Springers that came before the current Siege one? Well, there are four of them, but I'll spare you guys a little and do this in two parts. The first two Springers we got we repaints of Cybertron toys. In 2007, Cybertron Defense Hot Shot was repainted and sold as part of a souvenir two-pack at BotCon. A year later, Evac was repainted and sold in a Universe Target two-pack. Now, the thing is, I don't actually have BotCon Springer, and I couldn't bring myself to spend over $100 on what was very likely a $10 toy when it was Hot Shot. Nor do I have Hot Shot. But I do have Universe Roadbuster, who was also sold in a Target two-pack and also uses the Cybertron Defense Hot Shot mold. From a sculpt point of view, I guess I can see how Hot Shot's head is a little like Springer's. But, even with all the brown plastic done in gray, with green thighs, green forearms, and a some green on the head and chest (along with black and, surprisingly, some blue), I don't know that I'd say there's anything about him that's particularly Springery. By and large, that's true for Universe Springer, too. Evac's helmet does have a similar shape to Springers, and the green and gray deco (this time accented with yellow) is suggestive of Springer, but the sculpt from the neck down lacks details that make you go, "oh, Springer!" As far as accessories go, BotCon Springer would have come with a knife like this one, but with a bit more green paint on the blade. Speaking of blades, we have these permanently-connected, definitely not a sword ones for Universe Springer. As repaints of Cybertron toys both would come with red Cyber Planet Keys like the one here. Universe Springer also came with a pair of gray missiles, but after two moves since getting the figure and never being big on missile firing gimmicks in the first place, I couldn't find them. Overlapping as it did with the start of the Classics line, there's a part of me that lumps Cybertron with everything between Classics and Siege as semi-modern, but I should point out that Cybertron did just come right after Energon and Armada, which weren't exactly pioneers in engineering and articulation. In the case of BotCon Springer/Hot Shot, his head swivels, no tilt. His shoulders rotate, but they only get about 45 degrees laterally and then only when his arms are straight down at his sides; he's got Hot Rod shoulders. He's got no bicep swivel, no wrist swivel, and his elbows only bend about 60 degrees. He's got no waist swivel. His hips can go 90 degrees backward, but less than that forward and only about 45 degrees laterally. There's no thigh swivel. His knees bend 90 degrees. His feet can kind of tilt up, due to his transformation, but they don't tilt down or have ankle pivots. His knife has a 5mm handle, and he can hold it in either hand. However, both of his arms have another 5mm port on the front of his fists, and you can put the knife there like an arm blade. When not in use, the knife can store in a clip on the slide of his left leg. His backpack has a hinge so it can lift up, pointing the guns over his shoulders. Each gun has it's own up/down swivel. There's also a slot for the Cyber Planet Key, which causes the guns to pop open to reveal a barrage of missiles inside. Further missiles can be exposed by open flaps on his shoulders and spinning some panels on this thighs. Finally, though they don't activate any gimmicks, he's got a port on each of his forearms for Armada Minicons. Universe Springer/Evac fared a little better. His head swivels, no tilt. His shoulders rotate on ratchets, and move laterally 180 degrees on more ratchets. He does have a bicep swivel this time, and his elbows bend 90 degrees on ratchets. No wrist swivel, but his wait can... on ratchets. Hips go 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally... all ratcheted. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees on ratchets. His toes point down, but no upward tilt, and no ankle pivots. The blades plug into the engine housing permanently attached to his left arm, where they kind of just get in the way. Under his right arm he has a big hook with a gimmick; you can pull the rope out on a hook, and pressing a button will cause it to reel back up. It's kind of cool. The Cyber Planet Key isn't super useful in this mode, as it just causes some thruster on his backpack to flip around to fire missiles... straight into the air. The tail boom on his back has swivels that you're supposed to swing out like wings for his "attack mode," but you have to do that manually. A downside to just repainting random figures is that only one of these guys has a "car" mode, and it's BotCon Springer/Roadbuster/Hot Shot. Transformation is pretty simple; his head flips up, his arms collapse into his shoulders, and the shoulders fold up over his head. His hips bend forward as his pelvis actually folds back, then they collapse over his thighs. You finish it off by doubling-hinging his backpack backward and tucking his feet into his shins. The result is an APC, and it's pretty cool. It looks even better in the mostly-gray with green trim used on the BotCon toy. My only complaint would be that the heels are still sticking straight out the back, though since Cybertron used CGI based more closely on the toys than G1 ever was one could argue that it's accurate for Hot Shot. Except, I don't associate Hot Shot with APCs, even when he briefly was one. Sports car or GTFO. As for Springer... it's a more realistic ground-based military vehicle than his G1 car. But then again, it's not his G1 car, so... The backpack-turned-turret can swivel, and again each barrel can swivel up/down independently. The Cyber Planet Key still pops the guns open to reveal the missiles, but the front bumper also pops open with still more missiles molded inside. The knife can fit into the same clip as bot mode, but it's actually designed to fit into a groove on the inside of his legs, sandwiching inside them with just a bit of the 5mm port poking out the back. Universe Springer is also cursed to have a solitary alt mode, but instead of the ground vehicle he goes for the helicopter mode. His waist rotates, then double hinges forward to form the cockpit and nose, and his arms unclip from his sides then fold in front of his chest to make most of the rest of the fuselage and engine. His backpack comes up to form the rest of the engine and nacelles, and the tail simply folds back behind it all. Is it Springer's Cybertronian/futuristic helicopter? No. As the mold began life as Evac, what we get is actually a fairly realistic helicopter that borrows heavily from AĆ©rospatiale/Airbus's Eurocopter line. And, I'll remind you, at the time Classics/Universe figures were often more reimagining than copying G1, so a realistic helicopter wasn't necessarily out of place. Excellent helicopter, then, no notes, save for a passing mention that in the same year Universe Springer came out this figure was also used for Universe Blades, but Blades had an even better Coast Guard deco. Universe Springer has landing gear that can fold out from under the nose, or tuck in if you prefer. The hip skirts make the rear landing gear, and it folds up if you prefer a more in-the-air look. The winch can rotate and the hook can still be pulled out, then retracted at the press of a button. Speaking of buttons, there's one on the side of the engine that causes the rotor to spin, which is cool. The Cyber Planet Key plugs in behind the engine, and the nacelles swing forward to fire missiles. It makes a lot more sense in helicopter mode, where they actually point forward. That was basically it for Springer until 2012. I think that gave collectors with the cash and inclination real incentive to pick up Fans Project's Warbot Defender. For me, though, Universe Springer served as my Classics/Universe/Generations Springer. Unless you were actually at BotCon in 2007, BotCon Springer is too expensive and extremely dated, so I wouldn't recommend him. As for Universe Springer, well, his robot mode enjoys more articulation and his alt mode is actually a very cool helicopter toy. And I think, for me anyway, I associate Springer more with his helicopter mode than his car mode, so if you can only keep one alt mode helicopter would be it. That said, there are better Springers in modern times, and if you really want to experience this mold the Blades version not only has a better deco, it seems to be cheaper on the secondary market. Go for that one instead.
  4. mikeszekely
    That's what I figured. Not the end of the world, especially since they included a cable in the box (not always a given these days). Nah. If I wanted to do that, I'd have definitely gone with a taller 21:9 display. The idea was maximum immersion in gaming. (and for simple web browsing I can just size a centered Chrome window to approximate my old 27" display anyway). I switched from left-aligned to centered icons on the taskbar. If I wanted to get serious work done, I can always use a different computer (I set my old monitor up as a display for my M1 Macbook). Also, if I wanted to get serious work done, I'd probably have attempted to so by now.
  5. mikeszekely
    I went with the G9 OLED (yes, my desk is a mess). In the store, they had it displayed right next to an LG Ultra Gear OLED that was 21:9. I admit that, in the store, I was kind of into the extra height. But I had to remind myself that the monitor I had was already the same height, and that height was pretty ideal at my actual desk at the actual distance I sit from it. Samsung's QD-OLED panels are supposed to be better than LG's, too, and I still liked the idea of running one monitor that was basically the same as two 16:9 27"-ers. Got it setup, and was kind of freaking out because the display was glitching. I notice that it was only glitching when it was displaying my PC, though; the menus and junk were all fine. I replaced the nice braided Display Port cable I'd been using with the one that came with the G9, and the glitching stopped. So far, I've noticed that even at max brightness it's not as bright as the IPS display I was using, but that's expected with OLED, and it's a fair trade off for the better contrast and deeper blacks. Going in I was a little worried about text fringing; Windows does or didn't support ClearType, but it looks totally fine to me. I can see why, even with the extra space, this monitor is a tad too big for productivity. I have to turn my head to focus on the edges. But I think filling my periphery will make for much more immersive gaming.
  6. mikeszekely
    Slipstream is exactly what I expected. I'm not sure what to make of Quake. It's a more extensive remold of Skullgrin than I thought, but despite that it's still kind of an awkward tank and the bot mode has some wrong colors.
  7. mikeszekely
    BMac posted on Instagram that they'll be doing some kind of reveals all week long, including the "final wave of Legacy United this year." (My sources tell me there is one more wave, but it's technically scheduled for early 2025 while the first part of the new post-Legacy trilogy will be condensed to three waves, sort of like the transition from Kingdom to Legacy). I don't know if that means press releases, Instagram stuff, or if there will be a stream/streams on Pulse's Youtube channel, but the important thing to know is that preorders will open Thursday at 1:00pm EST.
  8. mikeszekely
    Did you think we were done with Springer now that we've covered the MPs and Legends? I'm afraid we still have one more unlicensed third-party Springer, though this one may be one of the most important 3P figures ever to be released. This one is Fansproject's Warbot Defender. Defender is an old figure, from the long ago days of 2010. I think the dated engineering on him would leave him out-of-place in a modern collection even if he weren't so stylized, and boy howdy is Defender stylized. Details we've come to accept as "iconic" elements of Springer's design like his shoulder pads are missing, while new elements like the busy shins and the yellow cannisters on his hips and forearms are Fansproject originals. And yet, I do think the design is recognizably Springer. Sure, maybe the predominantly gray arms, yellow chest, and green thighs hearken a bit more to the G1 toy than the Sunbow art, but that's fine. There's the square chest, and the hint of what could be his tummy vent. The helmet is more aggressively angular, but has the general shape you'd expect. His backpack is still mostly his cockpit and roof, and while they're black and stylized he's even got the engine nacelles. His calves flare out and curve in slightly, but the impression is very akin to the fins on the backs of Sunbow Springer's legs. And, again, it's important to remember the the era this was released in- in 2010, Hasbro was just transitioning from from Universe to Generations, and most of what we got that year was either from Animated, Revenge of the Fallen, or the then-current War for Cybertron game. The stuff that wasn't, like Reveal the Shield Jazz, Darkmount/Straxus, and Blurr was at least as stylized from their G1 incarnations as Defender is from Springer. So, accessories. I had to double check this one, but Defender comes with a sword and two pistols. The definitely-used copy I was able to pick up also came with these little translucent bits. I thought that they might be adapters for a flight stand- the instructions even mention using one. But no, I don't have any flight stand adapters and I can't find any reviews from back then that talk about them. What they actually seem to be are 3D-printed heels that plug onto tabs on the backs of his feet. So, I'd say that if you were to track down a copy of Defender today you shouldn't expect to have them with yours, but you might want to look at getting some if you're going to display him in bot mode, as he is a tad back heavy. With the extra heel support, Defender's head is on a ball joint that doesn't have a ton of room to look down, but he can look up a decent amount and can tilt his head sideways more than you'd really need. His shoulders rotate. They can move laterally 90 degrees, but they're a bit weird. They move out on what feels like friction to 45 degrees, then they click through three detents on the way from 45 to 90. His biceps rotate on soft ratches, then he bends his elbows 90 degrees on ball joints. His wrists swivel. His waist swivels, but due to his backpack we're talking a bit under 45 degrees either way. His hips go forward or backward 90 degrees on very soft ratchets, then laterally 90 degrees on tighter ones. He's got ratcheted thigh swivels, and soft-ratcheted knees that bend over 90 degrees. His feet can tilt up on more ratchets, largely due to his transformation, but nothing really down, and he lacks ankle pivots. A chunk of his lower leg (from the yellow details down) is hinged to provide him with a too-slight ankle pivot. The pistols fit snuggly in either of Defender's hands. Despite being ridiculously thin, he holds his sword well, too. Three weapons for two hands leaves at least one as the odd one out, but Fansproject considered that. There are cavities just to the side of Defender's knees where his pistols can slide into, like a holster. Meanwhile, a pin coming off one side of the sword's hilt can fit into a small hole on the right side of Defender's backpack. The transformation to car mode isn't particularly difficult. Honestly, I think it's probably easier than Siege Springer. A flap on his chest opens so his head can pass through as you lift it up. His shoulders use a double hinge mechanism to line up properly with the front of the car, his shoulders turn in so the wheels face down, and his arms tuck into the void his chest left. His sides open, his waist turns 180 degrees, his feet fold up to his shins, and his legs fold back over his thighs. Some of the backpack double hinges to fill in the rear, and little flaps near his ankles fill in a gap between his feet legs and shoulders. I actually really dig Defender's car mode. The sides of his legs have a flow to them that blends nicely with his roof in such a way that it looks very purposely like some kind of ground vehicle, and not a helicopter cosplay as a car. The extra wheels in the back combine with the cockpit to suggest more of an armored military-type vehicle than a literal car. Heck, paint it black and I could buy it as a post-Nolan Batmobile (and Defender's release puts him right between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises). My only complaint would be the visible fists on the sides. That complaint, mind you, is mitigated somewhat by the intended weapon storage. See, Fansproject tells you to attach the pistols to the car by simply plugging them into his fists. The sword can stow on the car, too, or rather, under it. There's a slot on what is actually Defender's butt, and gaps between his knees and tucked-up arms. The hilt, pin and all, jam between his knees, so that the blade runs through Defender's butt crack and into the gap between his arms. Going to helicopter is a bit more frustrating than the car mode. To be clear, I don't think it's that much more complicated; the shoulders shift on the double-hinged mechanism so they're behind the nose of the vehicle, his arms stuff into his torso in different configuration, the backpack folds up and a flap folds off of it over the cockpit, his hips shift a bit and the sides of his legs swing around to form the tail. The catch is folding the arms up. Things need to be angled a certain way, and even when you kind of got it the instructions make things look more flush than you can actually achieve due to molded details on his arms pushing them out slightly. The helicopter mode is the weaker mode, I think. His feet and forearms leave some gaps that the car had filled better, and there's pretty obvious tires sticking out of his wings, one of which on my copy is a little droopy due to the joint tolerance getting a little loose in the last 14 years. His tail's a little thigh, and a little short, and the flowing lines that worked so well for the robot mode don't really come across as effectively as horizontal or vertical stabilizers, to say nothing of the fact that there's not even any molded detail that suggests a tail rotor. I'll tell you what, though, I love how the backpack gives the top of the helicopter a different shape than the top of the car, and how it changes the look of the cockpit. In all the years and all the Springers since, I think only Open and Play's Big Spring made the effort to make the car cockpit and the helicopter cockpit visually distinct from each other. In copter mode, Defender's sword splits entirely in half and one half swivels on the pin (oh, so that's where MechFansToys got the idea), then the pin plugs into the top of the helicopter to form the main rotor. The guns plug into ports that are revealed when you swing the wheels out to become the wings. The ports angle the guns, and I suppose they're trying to pass the guns off as the landing skids. I'm not sure it works for me. In 2024, I don't think anyone would actually recommend Defender over Siege Springer (or the upcoming Studio Series version) for your Generations/WFC/Legacy collection. The ratchets are a bit wonky, the materials feel a tad brittle, the engineering and articulation are dated, and the aesthetics are too far removed from Sunbow G1. However, Defender is an extremely important figure whose legacy can't be understated. Prior to Defender, the unlicensed 3rd-party market was almost entirely upgrade kits. Fansproject themselves had cut their teeth on a trailer for Classics Optimus that was pretty much just a stylized version of the G1 toy's, a trailer for Classics Hot Rod that armored him up into Rodimus Prime, and a trailer for Classics Ultra Magnus that armored him up into something more akin to the character we saw in the cartoon and not simply a white Optimus. Defender, while not actually the first entire 3P figure, was the first major one, the release that really cemented the idea that these companies could get away with selling unlicensed original designs of Hasbro's characters. You might considering owning Defender for the history he represents. At the very least, Defender deserves respect.
  9. mikeszekely
    I don't know how to feel about Xbox right now. I mean, I'm primarily a PC gamer, but I subscribed to Game Pass because I can use it on PC, but bought an Xbox to get the most out of my Game Pass subscription. And I do like how seamlessly Xbox Cloud saves work between PC and console. Stuff like the new Doom, Indiana Jones, Perfect Dark, and even the Starfield expansion have my attention. On the other hand, it sure seems like Microsoft wants to make PlayStation games, which kind of makes me wonder why anyone would want to buy another Microsoft console in the future. Not to mention that they recently closed a bunch of studios.
  10. mikeszekely
    Ugh, I didn't notice the ports on the G8. That might be the deciding factor right there; the G9 at least has a regular HDMI and Display Port. If I did my math right (not guaranteed), 32:9 @ 1440p is nearly a million pixels less than I'm currently driving on a 16:9 4k screen, so I'm not super worried about that. Right now I'm playing Ghost of Tsushima, and with DLSS and frame gen I'm still getting 100-ish fps on 4k High.
  11. mikeszekely
    So... a few years back I bought an LG monitor. Thought I might do more creative-type stuff, so I bought a 27UK850... 27", 4K IPS LCD, nice metal frame, great color accuracy, only 60hz refresh rate. And... yeah, I don't really do anything more creative than write Transfomer reviews here. I browse the web some, but I've got laptops for that, too. Mostly I use my desktop for gaming, and I've come to realize a few things: -60hz is fine... but faster would be better. I should have got a display with a higher refresh rate. -Well, assuming I can go faster. Turns out driving a hair over eight and a quarter million pixels is hard, even for an RTX 4070. I'd have been better off with a 1440p. -While 27" does seem to be the ideal vertical height for a display you're sitting around two and a half to three feet from, it leaves plenty of space in your peripheral vision that isn't monitor, and ultrawides are becoming more popular for that reason. -I think IPS is ideal for doing work-stuff on a PC, but how awesome would games like Cyberpunk and Ghost of Tsushima look in OLED? Long story short, I'm 99% sure I want to replace my monitor with an ultrawide OLED. The question though, and what I'd like you guys' input on, is whether I should go 12:9 or 32:9? I'm specifically looking at Samsung's Odyssey OLED G8 and Odyssey OLED G9. Both display have an 1800R curve. I measured, I should have just enough room for the G9. I feel like the the 32:9 display on the G9 will better fill my field of view, and therefore make for more immersive gaming, and on the occasions when I am using my computer for other stuff I like that a 49" 32:9 display is basically the same as a pair of 27: 16:9 screens. The G8 is cheaper, and 21:9 seems more widely supported in games than 32:9 right now, though. But a 34" 21:9 display doesn't feel like as big of an upgrade/change.
  12. mikeszekely
    Ok, three seasons down, one to go, and it might be the best show I've seen since in years. Dang, I might actually want to check out Dune: Prophecy, but I already decided that I'm canceling Max. EDIT: I know it's said that the Butlerian Jihad is about 10,000 years before Dune, and they're advertising Prophecy as also about 10,000 years before Dune, but if Prophecy is about the founding of the Bene Geserit it should be roughly a decade after the end of the Butlerian Jihad.
  13. mikeszekely
    Meh. Street Fighter is fine, but Kunitsu-Gami, Power Rangers, and Civ VII are what caught my attention.
  14. mikeszekely
    It's a shame that four good-to-great figures is all we're likely to get out of Transformers: Reactivate. Word on the street is that it's been canceled. Honestly, I'm not surprised. I mentioned months ago that they said they were scrapping what they had and starting over with a new engine. From what I know of the game industry, "canceled" comes after "started over with a new engine" way more often than "released to universal acclaim."
  15. mikeszekely
    Surprise! They did! This time we've got Falcon, the 29th release in their Mech Soul line that began with Samurai, though I think this one was worked on by Mechanic Studio, who have also collaborated with Dr. Wu. In any case, what we have here is a robot that's roughly the same size as Samurai, but significantly more cartoon accurate. The gray on his legs is a bit bluer, and (from the front) free of kibble. The face, hands, and thighs that were white the first time have that greenish tinge now. His shoulder pads, with their yellow fronts, wrap around his shoulders as you'd expect. The yellow chest vent is more than just a small cutout. And though the face sculpt is a little mushy (forgivable at this scale), the shapes and proportions are tweaked to be that much more Sunbow. The sides of his legs have the wheel well seen on the Sunbow art, and his backpack has the little engince nacelles the previous version omitted. You may also note that the backpack sits a bit higher and doesn't hang down over his butt. His calves aren't hollow. My only real complaint is the folded fins on his calves, but it's a minor complaint on what is clearly a huge improvement on Springer's robot mode. Falcon doesn't have as many accessories as Samurai, but he's got what he needs without stuffing the box with Diaclone knock-offs. You've got a sword, and this one is more solidly built and works more traditionally than Samurai's. You've got a rifle that's similar in sculpt to the G1 toy's. You've got the catapult missile, because apparently it's very important to include that thing from the movie even though there's no real way for the toy to interact with it, and you've got a flight stand adapter. Note that the gun and missile are silver paint over green plastic. The silver coat is a bit thin, so the green plastic winds up giving the silver paint a bit of a gold tint. In person it is NOT as bad as my camera's processor is making it out to be. I'm happy to report that aesthetics are not the only improvement here. Falcon's head is on a ball joint that has ok-ish up/down/sideways tilt in addition to swiveling. His shoulders are ball joints that swivel and move 90 degrees laterally- no Hot Rod shoulders this time. His biceps swivel, and his double-jointed elbows could bend 180 degrees if his shoulderp ads weren't in the way. No wrist swivels, though. His waist can swivel, and this time it's unobstructed- he can swivel his waist a full 360 degrees. His hips are ball joints, and they can go about 90 degrees forward and backward, though the lateral movement is limited to about 60 degrees. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend a little short of 90 degrees. His feet can't really tilt up, but they can tilt nearly 90 degrees downward, and his ankles can pivot over 90 degrees, plus he has ankle swivels. He can hold his sword and gun just fine by sliding the handles into his static fists. He doesn't appear to have any storage for them aside from holding them, though. Falcon's transformation is a bit more involved than Samurai, but still simpler than any of the MP options or even the Siege toy. Begin by pulling the entire front of his torso away and opening up his backpack. That will allow you to free a little sliver of the cockpit window, tuck his head into his torso cavity, and lift his chest up to become the front of the vehicle. His shoulder pads unfold, then the front wheels fold out from his chest and tab into the underside of the shoulder pads. The sides of his legs open up, allowing you to slide them up over his thighs as well as folding out the rear wheels before closing them back up. The smaller fins near the tops of his legs remain folded flat, but the large ones angle outward, and his feet spin around and fold onto the backs of his legs. Once his legs are set and tabbed together, the backpack can hinge down and back, sliding over some tabs on this thighs to lock into place, then his arms simply peg into the backpack to finish it all off. Falcon's car mode is pretty solid, and fairly Sunbow accurate. My biggest complaints are that the fenders don't really reach in front of the nose the way they should for this mode, and that the fins on the back are pointing in the wrong direction. I'll also note that the back is a bit messy, but that's almost par for the course on Springers, even for the big MP-style ones, and that I'm not a fan of his visible fists, but if Hasbro can't manage that on a $50 Leader why should I expect MFT to do it on a much smaller $30 figure? The wheels roll, but on this size we're not getting gimmicks like headlights or a cockpit that can open. Honestly, I'm not even sure if the car mode has intentional weapon storage. That said, both of his fists are still accessible so you can plug his weapons in there... although the sword will look kind of stupid, as it's sticking straight up. Like with Samurai, the gist of the helicopter mode is to unfurl the tail boom from his legs, curl his arms up alongside the fenders, and split the sword to make the rotor. In practice, there's a bit more going on this time. The wheels tuck back under the nose, which leaves space for the shoulder pads to fold up a bit, shortening them to sit well behind the nose. While his arm curls up, the inside of it folds back out, and futher allows you to fold out the landing skids. While unfurling the tail boom, you have to rotate his waist and then rotate his thighs 180 degrees, which brings them close together so they can tab in properly. Finally, in a step I missed for these photos, his feet do swivel around and still tab into each other. Falcon's helicopter mode is a definitely improvement over Samurai's- better colors, engine nacelles on the top, landing skids that don't require partsforming, horizontal stabs on the tail, and they did work in a way to change the geometry of the fenders/wings. However, I think it's probably his weakest mode. We've still got the visible fists. There's a little gap in the fuselage, where his chest vacated his torso that's not being hidden by his arms anymore. There's a larger gap on the back of the tail (and under it), and the entire tail boom seems a bit too large for the fuselage. My biggest gripe is one that actual returns from Samurai, and that's that there's nothing locking the fenders/wings in place; they can rotate and move freely on the shoulder ball joints. While we can trust the sword to form a nice rotor, again there doesn't seem to be any deliberate storage for his gun. Of course, there's still the visible fists, if you don't mind the asymmetry. As for the flight stand, it plugs into a screw hole on Falcon's butt, currently on the underside of the helicopter. Like I said yesterday, Iron Factory, Magic Square, and NewAge haven't done a Springer. So, by virtue of being better than Samurai, Falcon is the Springer I'd recommend for your Legends collection. And for your money you'll be getting an excellent robot mode, a decent car mode, and an adequate helicopter mode, as well as the knowledge that if Iron Factory ever gets around to doing a Springer it'll certainly be too stylized for a Sunbow G1 Legends collection anyway. The real threats will be Magic Square and NewAge, who I imagine will almost certainly do a better Springer, but at the cost of being more complex and more expensive.
  16. mikeszekely
    And Tomahawk, from the 2010 Hunt for the Decepticons movie line, was done as Springer as part of the GDO line for Asian markets. Who also only had a single alt. Yeah... I might have been looking at Botcon Springer because, by this point, Botcon Springer might be the only Springer toy I don't have. Period. (And, even though I don't have Botcon Springer, I do have Roadbuster from the Autobot Ambush pack that was being sold at Targets around the same time as the pack that gave us Evac Springer.) BTW, please excuse the less-good lighting for awhile. Like I said, I usually do my photography in the guest room, but my wife's parents are visiting from China... until September. šŸ˜© Of course, I'm still buying stuff, so I needed to do something. I wound up buying smaller, cheap folding table at Walmart, with the same posterboard I normally use for the background. But I only have half the lamps with this setup, and I'm working out of my bedroom which has worse lighting to begin with.
  17. mikeszekely
    Oh, you have no idea how far down the rabbit hole I've gone now. Let's just say I was pricing Botcon Springer a little bit ago...
  18. mikeszekely
    Well, @M'Kyuun requested it, so even though I reviewed all the MP-style options for Springer, I guess we're breaking into Legends. But none of the big three (Iron Factory, NewAge, & Magic Square) have done a Springer that I'm aware of. Instead, we're looking at MechFansToys, who have done a few 3P Legends-class triple changers by now. But this one would be their first, a figure that many stores have labeled as Samurai. For the record, I don't know where the name "Samurai" comes from. Nowhere on the box does it say "Samurai." Rather, it says things like "Mech Soul," "Lost Planet," and "Assault Soldiers." As near as I can tell, "Mech Soul" is a designer or sub-brand of MFT, and "Lost Planet" or "Assault Soldiers" (or both!) refer to the product line/universe. Either way, here he is with two other MFT figures for scale. Aesthetically, I'm not sure what Mech Soul was going for. His fenders are his entire shoulders, rather than moveable shoulder pads, so they're always straight up. They can't angle forward OX-style, nor do they wrap around Sunbow-style. There's no yellow on them, either. For that matter, while the vents in his chest are painted yellow, there's not quite enough as it's surrounded by green. His legs have quite a bit of kibble on them. You expect that there's going to be helicopter parts jammed up on most takes on Springer, but here it's a bit low-effort, hanging off the sides of his legs while his calves are pretty hollow. I'll also note that his backpack, while somewhat typical at first glance, does hang down past his butt. It's going to be a factor later. Samurai comes with a ton of accessories... but they're mostly not his. There are two swords that are for him, though the second is pretty superfluous. The two guns at the bottom of the picture of for him. But the rest of the accessories- a container, a little mecha, two claws, two shoulder guns, and a hand gun- speak to what MFT was really doing at the time. They were KO-ing Takara's Diaclone reboot toys. I couldn't tell you which Diaclone toy specifically MFT is KO-ing here... MFT may have even made some original parts for it, but it's definitely based on the Power Suit designs that were sprinkled between larger releases. The shoulder guns mount onto holes on it's back, the claws can either be held or plugged onto its legs, and it can hold its hand gun. The front opens and you can stuff a Dianaut in there. And his pelvis can slide up its back along a track, allowing you to scrunch up its legs and fold its arms back so you can stuff it inside the container. But enough about Diaclone, we're here to talk about Springers. So, Samuari's head is on a ball joint. It swivels, it can look up, and it can tilt decently sideways, but there's not a lot of clearance for tilting downward unless you push the top of his chest in, as you would for transformation. His shoulders rotate, and they can move laterally about 60 degrees before his shoulders hit his head. They are, unfortunately, "Hot Rod" shoulders that can't move up and laterally at the same time. He's got a ball joint for a bicep swivel, and it pairs with a hinge to give him double-jointed elbow that bend a full 180 degrees. His wrists swivel. His waist swivels, but it's limited by the fact that his backpack hangs down over his butt. It gets caught on his hips. Speaking of hips, they're ball joints. Because his hip skirts don't move, they get a bit short of 90 degrees forward and about 75 degrees laterally. His backpack is once again a hinderance, as there's little room for any backward movement on the hips. He's got thigh swivels, and his knees bend nearly 180 degrees. His feet are on hinged ball joints, which give him good up/down tilt but a pretty limited ankle pivot. He can hold his swords or guns in either hand. He doesn't have storage for the extras on his body, though. Samurai has pretty simple engineering. The top of his chest collapses inward to create a gap for his head to fit through as you fold the rest of the chest up and over it. His biceps rotate 45 degrees so the fronts of his forearms are facing outward, then his hands rotate back so that the green backs of his hands are still facing outward. You can push his arms in so that they're a little closer to his body, but the problem is that they don't tab or lock into place at all. You line them up with his sides and just trust friction to keep them there. Hinges fold his feet out of the way, then you tab his legs together and fold them over his thighs. Clips on the backpack will grab his shins, locking them into lace. His feet, meanwhile, sort of rotate so the toes are pointing forward, but again they don't actually lock into place. The car mode is a mixed bag. There's that distinct lack of yellow we talked about in robot mode. The fenders do not come up in front of the nose. The fins on the rear are green and angled the wrong way. They kind of draw your attention such that, if you follow that line down the edge of the fin and imagine that's where the rear ended you might think the car mode looks pretty good. But a more careful examination reminds you that there's a ton of stuff hanging out back there, well past his rear wheels. In car mode, Samurai isn't meant to work with any of his own accessories, which is kind of a bummer. However, if you rotate his forearms back to their robot mode positions, you can take the Diaclone shoulder guns and push their pegs into slots on the backs of his arms. I guess, if you wanted an armed car mode, that's one way to do it, but it's just weird that you have to use KO Diaclone accessories to do it and not the actual guns made for him. If you have Samurai in car mode, you're already close to having him in helicopter mode. Turn his wrists so that the green part is facing up, then curl his elbows. Slots on his arms will lock into tabs on his shoulders. Take the fins and fold them away from his legs, then use the double hinges to line them up and form his tail boom. Take one of the swords and, rather than pull them apart and splay the blade open, realize that the sword actually two parts pinned together and scissor them apart. Jam the end of the pin into Samurai's back to make the main rotor. Samurai's copter mode has a lot of the same issues. While his arms do lock into his shoulders, there's nothing locking his shoulders so they can still rotate freely- but they're really in the same position as they were for car mode. His tail is still green instead of gray, and he lacks horizontal stabilizers. There's not enough yellow on the front, and his feet are just sort of flopping against his sides. Still, with the tail boom folded out the rear seems more purposeful, and the shoulders were in more of what you'd think of as the helicopter position already, so I think I prefer this mode to his car mode. Since it forms the main rotor, Samurai is using one of his swords in helicopter mode. You can also use both of his guns in this mode. They have tabs on one side, and those tabs fit into slots on his arms, essentially forming gray (still not yellow) landing skids. My recommendation is that you don't buy Samurai. I don't want to judge him too harshly- this figure is around seven years old, and one of MechFansToys' early releases. But I have to be honest, it's not very good. The aesthetics are just off, and while I suppose his bot mode might be passable the engineering is a little too basic, even by 2017 standards. There's no excuse for not securing his arms better. His helicopter mode looks OK, but the car mode feels unfinished. And the thing is, I've reviewed MFT's Astrotrain, their Blitzwing, and their Octane. All three are figures I've held up as examples for what Hasbro should be doing, and are figures I've wished would get upsized to Voyagers. I know MFT can do a much better figure than this. Maybe if they took another crack at it..?šŸ˜‰
  19. mikeszekely
    Oof. Not loving the Autobot Dramatic Capture set. If there's a difference between that Jazz and the regular SS86 release it's so minimal that I'm not seeing it- it even still has "14" instead of "4" on the side. Prime looks good, arguably what he should have looked like in the first place... except we're supposedly getting an even better Commander-class SS86 Optimus this year. And Mainframe is definitely colored a lot closer the original Action Master toy... but who gives a crap about Mainframe? Maybe if they ditched Mainframe for a Prowl with the paint and mold tweaks they used on the dead one, but made him not dead and actually fixed Jazz's number, but as it stands I'll pass.
  20. mikeszekely
    Both Autobots, you're in the clear.
  21. mikeszekely
    For those that don't read katakana, it lists the following: Ginrai - 10m Super Ginrai - 15m God Ginrai - 20m King Poseidon (Piranacon) - 20m Overlord - 20m Black Zarak - 25m Lightfoot (Getaway) - 10m Ranger (Hotwire) - 10m Roadking (Lube) - 10m Hydra (Darkwing) - 10m Buster (Dreadwind) - 10m
  22. mikeszekely
    Yeah, those big-budget Hollywood films look sooo much better. I mean, just look at these films that were also released in 2023... (No, I'm not actually suggesting these movies looked better than Godzilla Minus One. I'm being sarcastic.)
  23. mikeszekely
    I'll watch it. Let There Be Carnage wasn't as good as the first one, but I enjoy the interplay between Tom Hardy and the symbiote.
  24. mikeszekely
    Why? Sony has been gunning for their own super hero cinematic universe since The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Venom has been their only even moderately successful attempt. So... the first one is, given that they were constrained to make an origin story for Venom that didn't have anything to do with Spider-Man, is probably about a good as it could have been. That is, it's not great, but Tom Hardy is pretty good in it, and the interplay between him and the symbiote is a pretty good time and makes the film a guilty pleasure of mine. Tom and the Symbiote are still the highlights of Let There Be Carnage, but on the whole I thought it to be a weaker film.
  25. mikeszekely
    Looks like a straight reissue of the Playmates '84 Voltron that came out near the end of the Netflix show's run a few years back, yep.
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