mikeszekely

Yeah... but remember, aside from what they have planned for Transformers One and a few store-exclusives, I had word for everything through the end of 2025. No Jetfire... in fact, the only other Armada release in the works that I'm aware of (after Galvatron and Tidal Wave) is a Voyager-class Red Alert. Energon is getting no love aside from a Galvatron repaint of the Core-class Megatron. Nothing else is in the queue for Cybertron. A big chunk of 2025 is going to be Aerialbots and members of the 13 Primes.

I started collecting again when Hasbro launched the Classics line, which happened to launch in the late middle of Cybertron. I picked up a few Cybertron figures, and they were pretty much on parity with those Classics figures. Sure, those figures are coming up on 20 years old already, and the engineering of modern post-Siege figures has improved in the last two decades, but I don't think those older figures are all that bad. Now, it's no secret I collect Optimus Primes. And recently, after the Haslab Omega Prime got funded, I went on a bit of a kick buying up some of the older Primes I didn't have. I managed to snag a sealed boxed Armada Optimus Prime, and holy cow. I think the engineering improved more in the four years between Armada and Cybertron than in the 13 years between Cybertron and Siege. Prime's Super Mode legs are immobile flaps for the front and outer edges (and basically nonexistent on the backs and insides), plus the pegs that are meant to hold the flaps together have a tendency to not do their job. My kid and I have been watching Transformers before school in the morning, and we got a bit over halfway through Armada before the school year ended. It was enough to remind that in Armada Jetfire was really a glorified pants for Prime. I decided to buy a used on on ebay... $50, in good shape, only missing the missiles and instructions. Jetfire kind of surprised me... was he secretly one of the best figures in the line? His articulation is a far cry from modern figures, sure, but a huge improvement over Prime and Hot Shot (the only other Armada figure I have). He even has ankle pivots! And yeah, with his more solid legs and working ankles he makes for much better pants than Prime's own trailer. I guess all of this is a roundabout way of saying I really hope Hasbro makes a Legacy Armada Jetfire.

You had me running around comparing my Star Convoy to different figures. Looks like Super Ginrai will be pretty close to Commander Jetfire, the original Armada Optimus in Super mode, and the original Omega Prime. He'll be a little taller than Haslab Deathsaurus or Victory Saber, and significantly taller than Legends Super Ginrai. He should actually be a slightly shorter than Haslab Super Optimus Prime and at least a head shorter than Haslab Omega Prime. The top of MP-44's head (or whatever your flavor of 3P Prime) should fairly even with the bottom of the cab windows on Super Ginrai's chest, maybe a little higher. He'll be a bit shorter than Fans Hobby's Power Baser (and way shorter than KFC's Grand Raijin). Ginrai himself is definitely far too small to scale with previous MPs, and should be perfect for Generations/WfC/Legacy. Super Ginrai will be a little too tall for Generations/WfC/Legacy, but way less too-big than Haslab Omega Prime (or Super Prime, or Optimus Prime), and still closer to Generations/WfC/Legacy scale than old MP.

I think that's fairly accurate. MP/MPG Ginrai should be a little bigger than the original in robot mode, and much smaller than MP-44, KFC's Raijin, Fans Hobby's Power Baser core robot. I guess that confirms that MPG is NOT using the regular MP scale; pretty sure Ginrai is supposed to be bigger than Optimus. I'm not sure an official size exists for G1 Optimus, but TFWiki says 6m. Then again, TFWiki says 8m for Ginrai, but the official scale charts for Masterforce clearly say 10m. I'm more curious how big Super Ginrai will be. Ginrai looks like he has pretty similar proportions (but better articulation) than the original toy but Super Ginrai's body seems bigger proportionally to the cab, and he's definitely got longer limbs than the G1 toy.

Re-using Ironhide for the Diaclone repaint of Ironhide makes a whole lot more sense than dumping MP for MPG. I mean, MP made sense... these toys are the high-end, definitive (until version 2... or 3...) "masterpiece" ones for these characters. And when MPG came out, sure, the marketing said the "G" could be "great" or "giant," but it was understood that it was really "gattai." Raiden was a combiner. Ginrai isn't a combiner in the Raiden sense, but the human Godmaster combines with the cab, and the cab combines with the trailer. And eventually Super Ginrai will combine with Godbomber, so it still makes sense. You know what doesn't make sense? MPG Guard. That mold doesn't combine with anything, it's not giant, and by now it's not particularly great.

I have to get more? Because Virtus is in that picture, between Saltus and the G1 toy. *sigh* OK, MFT Springer on the way. In the meantime, here's X-Transbots Virtus. By showing up last, XTB definitely found themselves in an interesting position. As I'd covered in my previous reviews, despite numerous options all of the Springers we looked at had some flaws... Spanner and Allen weren't Sunbow enough, Big Spring was cheaply made and had an ugly face, Apache had a PITA transformation and poor articulation, and Saltus had some interpretative takes on Springer's alt modes (including probably the worst helicopter of the bunch). But at the same time, this is X-Transbots we're talking about. Could a company with their spotty track record really unseat offerings from fan-favorites like MMC and Fans Toys? Well, out of the box I'd say that Virtus is a tad skinnier than I picture in my head when I think of Springer, and the gray used for his legs is a tad light, but he definitely makes a strong showing. Green elbow joints, a more proportional head, and better molding on his yellow belly button are technically improvements compared to Saltus (left), and the shape of his chest (although a tad too narrow) has more Sunbow-esque proportions. And, while I don't often talk about stuff like paint and diecast because I don't think it's the be-all-end-all the way some collectors do, I feel compelled to point out that XTB almost seems to be deliberately 1-uping Fans Toys. Almost every surface is painted, and he's borderline overloaded on diecast to the extent that Virtus appears to weight more than Apache or Saltus. Virtus has what's probably the largest backpack among the Springers, but I don't think it's all that terrible. And, XTB's still going to XTB, as one of the quirks that you can see in this side view is a small gap in his torso. It's like somehow XTB just didn't get the parts that they designed to line up right, and it's somewhat compounded by the fact that the front of his torso doesn't actually lock in. Rather, there are flaps that overlap to make his collar, and Virtus sort of relies on the tension of the overlapped panels to hold everything in place. Still, I think we can agree that aesthetically Virtus is a very good Springer. Personally, I think Saltus looks just a tad better, but Virtus definitely beats out Apache and the rest. One area XTB was determined not to lose on is accessories, because Virtus has a ton. You get not one but two guns, each with slightly different sculpts and very different paint jobs. I am too lazy to dig through Season 3 to see if either gun is cartoon-accurate. He's got the missile from the '86 movie, and his sword. He's got a pair of blast effect parts, an entirely alternate IDW-style head, five alternate faces for his Sunbow head, a flight stand, a reasonably well-painted but totally un-articulated human figure from that one episode with Cobra Commander, a round translucent part, and eight (only three pictured) trapezoidal clear parts. About those faces... I'm not a huge fan of the default face. There's something that's just off about his Mona Lisa smile. But, as noted, options. You have an IDW face for the G1 head, a more neutral face with a narrow jaw, a slightly different neutral face that's a bit fatter, a happy face, and a... I dunno, disgusted? face. I think the fatter neutral face might be the most Sunbow, but the face is a bit fat for Virtus' leaner frame, so I'm personally going with neutral face with narrow jaw, and I think that works pretty well for me. As for the entire IDW head, the face on it doesn't appear to be swappable. It's nice that XTB is giving us options, but without the IDW body to match it just kind of looks out of place. Anyway... Virtus' articulation is pretty good. The neck is double-hinged, so he can look up and down a good bit and crane his neck forward, but there's no sideways tilt. His shoulders rotate and move laterally 90 degrees. He technically has butterfly joints, too, but you have to untab the shoulders from his sides to use them as they're actually transformation hinges. His biceps swivel, and his double-jointed elbows curl until his hands touch his shoulder pads. His wrists swivel, and his hands are fully articulated. Each finger is pinned at all three knuckles, while the thumb has two pinned knuckles but is connected to the palm via a ball joint. His waist swivels, and he's got a ratcheted 45 degree ab crunch. His hip skirts open on the front and sides, so the hips can ratchet about 60 degrees forward, 45 degrees backward, and over 90 degrees laterally. A note here, I've heard a lot of complaints that the spaces between the teeth on the lateral ratchets are too big. So, those complaints aren't wrong, but what those complaints tend to leave out is the fact that there's enough friction between the clicks that I haven't actually found it to be a problem. You're choices aren't stock straight or click out to a wide A-stance; the friction between clicks will get you a nice, natural A-stance. Anyway, the thighs swivel, and the knees bend 90 degrees on ratchets. The feet don't tilt down, but they can tilt up a good 90 degrees, and they have around 45 degrees of ankle pivot both inward and outward. All-in-all not quite as good as Saltus' articulation, but on par or better than every other Springer. As far as his accessories go, he can cradle the missile, but that's about it. I don't know what you'd even want to do with the human slug. They're both going back in the box. The guns and the sword work, in theory, using the standard MP-style tabs on the handles into slots on his palms. In practice, the pale gun with the green trim doesn't seem to fit too well. I'm not too bothered; if he's holding his sword he only has one hand free for a gun anyway, and I prefer the gray one. I don't have any trouble with him holding those. The blast effects can be plugged into the guns' barrels. And everything else isn't for bot mode. Oh, but one feature he's got that doesn't require any accessories? He's got the little arm blaster from the '86 movie. For those keeping score at home, that's a feature that only Saltus has had so far. XTB's transformations aren't usually as straight-up bad as Fans Toys, but they're rarely good and often full of questionable design choices and bits that wind up flopping around on too-delicate armatures. So it's with some surprise that I'm saying that Virtus' transformation is actually pretty good. As you'd expect, his chest lifts up and his head tucks into it to form the nose, and the backpack unclips and hinges out, but you'll find that the inside of his torso is actually hollow. Instead of turning his arms into his wings and landing skids, they scrunch up and fold into the hollow space in his torso- that scrunching of the arms is probably the least intuitive part of the transformation, as it involves collapsing his biceps into his shoulders, bending his elbow the wrong way, disconnecting his wrist, spinning it around, and plugging it into the inside of the elbow, then using his actual elbow joint to bend the arm around so his fists are now resting under his biceps, and there's not a ton of clearance for stuffing his arms into his torso. Once you get it, though, it's pretty smooth sailing. His legs open up to extend the tail boom, then wrap back over his thighs; be mindful of these little bits that fold out of the boom and tab in behind his knees. With the boom in place, the rest is simply sliding the wings out of the backpack and unfurling the landing skids, tabbing the top of the helicopter in place, then using a pair of hooks to secure the fuselage to the tail boom. Minus the arms, it's all fairly easy and intuitive, though there are a few of those XTB-style quirks. The obvious ones I already touched on, the hooks that hold the fuselage to the tail boom, and the lack of clearance for stuffing his arms into his torso, but another one that kind of bugs me are the landing skids. They're on sliders, and kind of scoot out these crevasses under the wings. I don't get why XTB though sliders were were a better idea than simply pinning the skid and having it unfold from the crevasse like a knife. Minor engineering quirks aside, it's hard to argue with the results. I might again point out that the Sunbow art actually uses green for most of the boom and the horizontal stabilizers, but almost nobody does it because then the robot would have green legs. Green for the rotor might have been nice too, but I can live without it. If I'm being very picky I might suggest the wings are a tad small, and I wish those flaps that are just laying on the wings found a way to fold out of the way. On the whole, though, I'd say it edges out Allen and Apache as the most Sunbow-accurate helicopter mode. And XTB is bringing the gimmicks, too. Of course, the sword splits in half to form the rotor. The cockpit opens, and rather than nothing or a hint of molded detail Virtus has a cockpit with tons of molded details and a pair of seats with steering yokes... though it's too small for his slug (which couldn't sit anyway) or the human figures that came with MP-44 or anything like that. Like Saltus and Big Spring, Virtus does have the flip up headlights, and in a step up from those two Virtus' lights actually light up. Each light takes a pair of AG-0/LR521/SR521 batteries, and there's a little button on the side that turns them on or off. Of course, I couldn't test that feature because, despite years of accumulating different-sized button cell batteries for my toys, the manufacturers keep finding sizes I don't have. Anyway, one last gimmick that Virtus uses to stand apart from the pack is that he has actual landing gear with little rolling wheels. One is in his chest, under the nose of the helicopter. The others are his robot heels.' You might have noticed a little rectangle on Virtus' crotch. It has a spring to push back out, but the rectangle does slide in to make a slot. That slot allows you to mount Virtus to the included flight stand, which is a fairly elaborate piece of kit. There's a sliding bit to lift the main arm up and down, with a tab that locks it into place. Meanwhile, a pair of flaps on the sides open and close to lock/unlock a hinge near the tip so you can angle the helicopter according to your desires. Aside from the stand, the blast effect parts can be plugged into his engines. And, in a kind of neat gimmick, instead of using the sword to form the rotor you can assemble the eight trapezoidal clear bits around the circular one, and plug that into the top of the helicopter instead. The idea is that this now-massive disc creates the illusion of rapidly-spinning rotors without actually spinning the rotor. But wait a second... if you use this massive disc, where do you put the sword? Or his guns, for that matter? XTB does actually have that covered. Under the stand, there's slots that fit into tabs on the sword's handle and the sides of the guns, plus a pair of clips for the blast effects, allowing you to store it under the the stand. Too bad there's no storage for the missile or the extra faces, though. Oh, and if you'd rather leave all the accessories but one gun and sword in the box, that's fine too. I found that you can stick the barrel (of the gray rifle, anyway) into a gap under his chest with the handle fitting between Virtus' fists, under the helicopter. It's not super secure, which is why I don't think it's intentional, but it's secure enough that I gave him a little shake and it didn't fall out. Transforming Virtus into his car mode is 75% the same transformation as helicopter. The chest is still flipping up, the arms are still stuffing into the torso, and the fender are still coming out of the backpack. The simply use the sliders they're on to move up further, extending past the nose, and you leave the rest of the wings stored inside the fenders, deploying his front wheels instead. With the fenders slid forward you have room to fold the flaps that were laying on top of them in helicopter mode onto the sides. Most of the difference is in the rear. You still have to open the legs up and wrap them around the the thighs, but you have to turn the thighs 180 degrees. You kind of start to unfurl the tail boom, but you wind up turning the rear rotors around and then collapsing them back up against the legs. While you have the legs open, you'll want to fold out the rear wheels, and use them to tab his legs together. The roof should just clear his feet, and tabs on it will grab into slots on the legs. Now, Springer's car mode has always been kind of stupid. I'm not sure whether the toy came first, or Floro Dery's design, or maybe if we even started with Dery's design, made the G1 toy from it, then refined the design before animating the movie, but across the board it's sort of like they designed a robot that would turn into a futuristic helicopter, decided after the fact that they wanted a triple changer, so they added wheels, scrunched his legs back up, shifted his arms a bit, pulled the rotor off, and said, "space car?" And I did praise Saltus for trying something a bit different to look like it was more purposefully designed as a ground vehicle and not a smushed helicopter on wheels. The fact remains, though, that Saltus' car mode is not Sunbow-accurate. But Virtus? Well, technically the rims on the wheels should be green, and his rear is a touch gappy, but Virtus has far and away the most accurate car mode. I mean, I really don't have much else to say about it, because it nails the colors and proportions so well that the color of the rims and the gappy rear end are really they only deviations from the Sunbow art to even remark on. You can plug a gun into the rotor hole on the roof; the rotor's rotation is actually on the sword itself, so the gun won't spin or anything. It can also be stored in the back of the car by sticking slots on the sides of the rear of the gun into tabs near Virtus' toes. The instructions also tell you that you can store the sword underneath the car. I assume that was part of the plan at some point, and one I wish they would have included in the final product, because there's a loose sheet that tells you, "hey, ignore that bit in the instruction book because you can't store the sword under the car after all. And hey, I wasn't about to let a piece of paper boss me around. I really tried to get the sword in. It looks like the handle was supposed to go into a gap in his chest (the same gap I stuffed his gun's barrel into in helicopter mode), then the blade would run along the bottom and between the rear wheels. But, it seems like XTB had to add that page because there simply isn't room to do that. Trying to get the blade between the wheels will just push them apart and start untabbing his legs. On very final thing to note. You might have noticed in my pics that the faux fenders on Virtus' shoulders are entirely yellow, which isn't accurate- they should be yellow in the front, but mostly green. What's more, they're solid diecast chunks painted yellow, and basically everyone winds up chipping the paint trying to get his arms in and out of his torso during transformation. That's no good! But XTB picked up on the issue right away and began manufacturing replacement parts, which my retailer included with my order without me even having to ask. The replacement shoulders aren't diecast, they're green plastic, with just the fronts painted. So in addition to (hopefully) not suffering from chipped paint, they're the correct colors! Swapping the parts is easy, just pull the fake headlight covers off and you'll find a screw. Remove it, and the front and back halves just slide right off. Slide the new parts on, screw them in, and then shove the replacement fake headlight screw covers into place and you're good to go. And now, the moment of truth... with all the Springers in hand, did XTB pull it off? Is Virtus the new best Springer? Do I recommend this figure? Actually, yes! But technically, more like a "yes, but". See, I think that Virtus is the best all-around version of Springer. In a rare win for XTB, I have no complaints about the build quality or QC (after replacing the shoulder pads). The materials are solid, the joints are solid, the paint is excellent. If you didn't know any better you could almost mistake the paint and materials for something Fans Toys put out. You get tons of accessories, decent articulation, and the transformation isn't bad at all. The robot mode looks great, if a little thin, and if you care about cartoon accuracy Virtus pulls off both alt modes better than anyone else. I think, if you're not sure which Springer is the one to get, that Virtus is probably the safest/best choice for most people. Now here's the but... as good as Virtus is, with a better head sculpt, a proper stocky body, and better articulation, I feel that Saltus is still edges out Virtus in robot mode. And that's kind of the rub- I've often said that if you have to make some concessions, you make concessions to the alt mode for the better robot mode. If you're not transforming your figures much or at all, and you really just want the best-looking, most posable robot to put into a cool action pose on your display shelf then you might still be better off with Saltus. But no matter what, it's Saltus or Virtus. If you've been thinking about picking up Apache, don't, and if you already did consider upgrading.

I dunno... he might be in the queue...

Yesterday, when talking about Apache, I mentioned a few times that at the time of its release Saltus and Virtus weren't out, that the only real competition was Big Spring and Allen. Of course, I'd reviewed Big Spring and included him in the photos with Apache. But I still felt like we were missing some context, so silly me, I went and got a copy of Unique Toys Allen. I think you can't talk about Allen without first talking about Unique Toys. They were one of early names in the 3rd party scene, breaking into the market with a collection of Predacons that kind of fit with what Hasbro was doing at the time, but was also not as good as what MMC was doing with their own Predacons. They put out a few more Generations-style figures like the well-regarded Mania King and their Terrorcons, but the market was already changing. Fans Toys had released Quakewave the same year that Unique Toys put out their Predacons, and by the time they completed their Terrorcons Fans Toys had done Bombshell, Perceptor, and several Dinobots, KFC had done their Blaster, MMC put out their first Ocular Max release, X-Transbots had put out Wheelie, Huffer, Scourge, and Megatron, and Badcube had put out their Huffer, Brawn, Warpath, Sunstreaker, and had started on their Insecticons. The market was clearly shifting toward more MP-style releases, and Unique Toys was kind of already dipping their toes into that water under their sister company, DX9, as they'd released a Mirage, Rodimus Prime, Galvatron, Astrotrain, and Blitzwing. Those last two are really where I want to focus, because they, along with Unique Toys' versions of Octane and Sandstorm, set the template for Allen. They're all big figures, clearly meant to fit scale with other Masterpiece and MP-style 3P figures, but they're also from an era when the ultra-Sunbow aesthetic hadn't been fully established yet, and Unique Toys/DX9 were offering more stylized designs as in afraid of risking Hasbro or Takara's ire. And we definitely see that in Allen. He's a very bright green, with spots that would be G1 Springer's darker olive coming across as barely a different tone. There are extra flourishes, like yellow stripes on his shoulders, some gunmetal accents added to his abs, shoulders, and forearms, molded vents on his shins that aren't present on the Sunbow sheet, and a bright, clean white used on his thighs, hands, and neck. He also has some weirdly puffy proportions. The thing that's the most out-of-place for me, though, are his bright yellow feet. Looking around his body there are some other things that I'm going to talk about more when we do his alt modes, and some more more gunmetal accents. I want to draw special attention to the piston details on his elbows, though. It's a detail not not on the Sunbow model, but one that UT added that actually serves a purpose beyond simply looking neat. Anyway, like Apache Allen is a little light on accessories. He's just got two, a gun and a sword. The gun as a sculpt that definitely seems Springer-esque, but I'm not sure about it being entirely green save for the white handle. The sword is a bit more stylized than we've seen on other Springers, with a thick blade, round hilt, and prominent pommel. It, at least, has some painted bits and does look pretty cool. Allen's head can look up slightly, but not down, on the hinge in his head, but his neck is on a double joint for transformation that you can also employ to kind of stretch his neck up and forward, improving his upward tilt and giving him actually good downward tilt as well. His shoulders rotate on ratchets, and move laterally a little over 90 degrees on ratchets (no Hot Rod shoulders, either). His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. His wrists swivel. His thumb is fixed, and his middle, ring, and pinky fingers are molded as a single curled piece with a hinge at the base. His index finger is separate from the other, hinged at the base and an addition middle knuckle. His waist swivels. His hip skirts do NOT move, which unfortunately limits his ratcheted hips to about 45 degrees forward and just under 90 degrees backward and laterally. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees on ratchets. His feet can tilt up but not down, and a set of double hinges for transformation gives him about 90 degrees of ankle pivot. So, a bit lacking in the hips, but if I'm being fair the hips still have enough range for some dynamic poses and honestly cost him less than Apache's abysmal shoulders. Allen can hold his gun and sword in either hand, using the time-honored method of plugging tabs on their handles into slots on his palms. The large peg on the middle of the sword's hilt can also be plugged into Allen's back, allowing him to store his sword in robot mode. I can't find any storage for the gun, though. Here's where things get fun, and you can see shades of the "turn it inside out" engineering that UT would later use to great effect on their Bayverse figures. You see, the front end and grill? That's not his chest. His chest is under the vehicle, and when it folded down it provided the clearance to pull a whole second version out from the inside of his torso that covered over it and his head. His backpack pulls away, then instead of forming the fenders his arms fold straight out behind his back and the backpack tabs into them to form the top half of the vehicle. The entire top of his body rocks back, then his legs turn inside out. some of it winds up turning, but otherwise staying mostly in place to form the rear with the wheels and fins. But the front of his legs spin around and stretch out, filling in the bottom of the vehicle but also carrying his feet up to the front of the car where they form the fenders and front wheels. It can be a little daunting the first time you do it until you figure out what goes where, but once you learn it it's honestly one of the easier and most fun transformations I've encountered on a Springer toy. And, trust me, by now I've done a lot of Springers. Now, going into this I was aware of the liberties Unique Toys had taken with their Octane. Their Sandstorm traded a dune buggy mode for an enclosed-cabin that was referred to by some as "the Wienermobile". And, given the liberties taken with Allen's robot mode, I think I kind of dismissed him at the time as being too stylized for my collection and just assumed that applied to his alt modes, too. But, actually having Allen in hand, I'm a bit surprised to note that his car mode is fairly Sunbow accurate. I mean, yeah, they added some gunmetal accents to the engines on top, and for whatever reason they cast his fins in green plastic and added some yellow accents when they'd traditionally be as gray as the part they're attached too. But the colors are pretty good, otherwise, and the proportions are more correct than Apache or Big Spring. With the caveat that I like the liberties that MMC took with Saltus, one could argue that Allen's actually the best car mode we've seen so far when it comes to capturing the Sunbow art. Like most of the other MP Springers, Allen's got rolling rubber tires and a cockpit that can open. There's not much to look at in there but the molded suggestion of a seat back, though. The handle on his gun can fold it to reveal a tab, and that tab fits nicely into a slot on either side of the vehicle. As for his sword, you can either plug it into the top of the roof, or the peg on the hilt happens to fit into the rotors outside the rear wheels. Sadly, just like Apache, there's no flip-out headlights. Getting to helicopter mode isn't terribly different than going to car mode. Much of the difference is simply turning his legs further inside out, stretching them into the tail boom, then you twist the bits with the translucent plastic around so that they can tab into the boom instead of the folded stabilizers that were on top of the boom. The fenders slide back into their helicopter position by sliding the shins that they're attached to backward. The front wheels fold down and allow for the wings to fold out from under the fenders. The only trick to remember is that there are bits on sliders that fold out from Allen's robot sides to fill in the gap vacated by the wings under the fenders to keep everything nice and solid. One again, the helicopter is honestly more Sunbow accurate than I gave it credit for. There's some gray on the sides where his shin panel forms the body of the helicopter that's really green on the Sunbow art, but better than then green shins in bot mode, eh? The landing skids don't have quite the right shape, but they're appropriately yellow (with a touch of that gunmetal accent). We could bemoan the fact that the rudder is green instead of gray again, but that's kind of offset by the fact that the entire tail boom and the horizontal stabilizers are green. This is the only Springer I've looked at that that doesn't have some gray on the boom, and that doesn't have gray stabs. Indeed, you've probably seen so many Springer toys with gray on the boom and gray stabs that you might think that's correct, but look at that Sunbow model sheet again. Green is Sunbow accurate! Aside from green on the rudder and a few yellow and gunmetal accents, it's the propellor that has the most liberties taken simply because it's angular, thick, and gray instead of basic thin green rectangular blades. About that, of course the sword forms the rotor, but the transformation is more unique than I'm used to. Rather than splay the blade out and use the handle as the connection, the entire sword splits in half, then one half turns over and you push it back together. This allows you to use the big peg from the hilt as the connection point. Allen's cockpit still opens if that's your thing, and you can still plug the rifle into the side. But Allen's got one more thing to talk about, something none of of the other Springers have had thus far. Actual fold out landing skids! That's right, he's not just resting on his tummy and tail. Green skids are part of the stuff that unfolds with the wings from out of the foot fenders, and a white one is stored under the tail rotor. I have to be honest... I'm not entirely sure what motivated me to buy Apache and Allen. I just sort of realize that I wasn't super familiar with them, despite owning a few other Springer toys, when we were talking about the upcoming Studio Series version. I figured I'd play with them a bit, get that experience, take a few pics and write about them, then sell them off again. I mean, with Apache's articulation issues and Allen's unique aesthetic neither were really a threat to Saltus in my MP display, right? Right. Kinda. I mean, yeah, I told you flat out yesterday that I don't recommend Apache, that Saltus is the better MP Springer. And I will indeed be listing him for sale soon. And yeah, Allen's bot mode is definitely far enough removed from Sunbow G1 to disqualify him from most people's MP displays. Indeed, as a display piece, Apache is a more accurate robot, and it does sort of help to see why so many people jumped on that train at the time. I'm not going to give Allen a recommend. But, I've decided against selling Allen, and that's because Allen brings something to the table that even Siege Springer didn't... Allen is a really fun toy. He's chunky and sturdy. It feels good to move his joints and pose him, and he's actually fun to transform. Saltus gets to stay in my display, but Allen gets to stay on my desk where I can play with him.

So if you also follow the official Transformers thread you might have noticed some discussion about Studio Series 86 Springer, and how he's still missing the horizontal stabilizers on his tail, and how all the 3P Springers pulled it off. And you might have caught the part where I randomly decided to increase my collection of 3P Springers. Now, for the record, I already owned Open & Play's Big Spring, MMC's Saltus, and even Toyworld's Spanner. Feel free to read (or re-read) up on those... and then immediately forget about Spanner, because as much as I really do like that figure he's most definitely not a cartoon-accurate, MP-style figure. Now... is Saltus safe on my shelf? Tonight's competition comes from Fans Toys, and the brand alone is enough to make up the minds of a lot of collectors. This, then, is Apache. I mean, the first impression isn't a bad one, especially given that at the time of Apache's release only Unique Toys' Allen and Big Spring were on the market yet. And right away we do see Fans Toys playing to their strengths. The sculpt is solidly G1 cartoon, but with the slightly more heroic proportions Fans Toys was using at the time before everyone started going a little too hard after those Sunbow three-quarter control drawings. And the materials are solid, with sturdy plastic, lots of diecast, and plenty of paint. I can't find my postage scale, but I'd guess that Apache weighs at least as much as Saltus, and double Big Spring. And if you give him a gentle shake none of his joints even budge. Things get a little messier when you start looking around the sides and back, though. The yellow on the front of his shoulder pads is doubled, because reasons. Tires are prominent on the backs of his forearms. His backpack is fairly accurate, as long as you ignore the butt flap. Likewise, the legs are pretty accurate, and even have details like the fins on the backs of his legs and the rotor and vents at his ankles, but you have to overlook some wheels poking out of his shins and some flaps (his horizontal stabs in copter mode) just chilling against the sides of his legs, not even locked in place. And that's just the gray part! His calves are absolutely dominated by some helicopter bits that certainly aren't present on the animation mode... or Saltus or Big Spring. Let's be honest, though... most of us do pose our figures with their backs to the wall. A butt flap, arm wheels, and some messy calves can be overlooked. Apache, perhaps, offers value elsewhere. Elsewhere probably isn't accessories, though. What we've got here is pretty basic... a rifle, painted silver, and two swords. The swords are nearly identical; the only difference is that one has the blade painted silver, as that seems to be the "standard" way to do Springer's sword, while the other is painted entirely green to better match the green rotors on Sunbow's control art. Seems a bit skimpy... Saltus and Big Spring both came with the catapult missile thing, plus Saltus came with a lance and two alternate heads. That said, I guess a gun and a sword are really all you need. Articulation is a more serious issue. Head's a hinged swivel, which can look up/down about 30 degrees, no sideways tilt. His shoulders rotate. They can also ratchet out about 90 degrees laterally, but here's the kicker- he's got "Hot Rod shoulders." That is, the joint for lateral movement is in his chest, on the wrong side of the rotational joint, so he can't raise his arm and move it laterally at the same time. I get annoyed enough to see that on a Hasbro Voyager, but on a MP-style figure it's pretty inexcusable. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend slightly over 90 degrees. While that's what I consider to be the minimum "standard," it's worth pointing out that Saltus and Big Spring both have double-jointed elbows. His wrists swivel, and each finger is individually articulated with a hinged ball joint at the base of the thumb and each finger having a hinged knuckle at the base and middle- better than Big Spring, and slightly more finger articulation than Saltus, though he lacks Saltus' tilting wrists. For whatever reason, he's got a ratcheted waist swivel, but not Saltus' ab crunch. The front of his hip skirts fold up so his hips can ratchet 90 degrees forward, but only a single click backward. Laterally, they get a little under 90 degrees. For those keeping score, that's a bit worse than Big Spring and significantly worse than Saltus. Thighs swivel, and knees bend 90 degrees on ratchets (same range as Big Spring, worse than Saltus. His feet tilt down a bit, arguably slightly up (similar to Big Spring, worse than Saltus). The front of his foot swivels, giving him 90 degrees of faux ankle pivot. That's technically more than Big Spring or Saltus, but (a) their whole feet pivot, not just the toes, and (b), to get the clearance to swivel his feet have to be angled slightly downward. Apache does a good job of holding his weapons, using the standard MP-style handle tabs and palm slots. Maybe the transformation is better? Wait... you guys did remember that this is Fans Toys, right? They're not exactly known for their smooth engineering. Now, to be fair, by Fans Toys' standard this one wasn't too bad. Some of it, like making the tail boom out of most of his legs and collapsing the arms is fairly intuitive. Where everything goes horribly wrong, though, is transforming his torso. At first it seems like it should be easy enough... you lift his chest up, and there's a hatch so that it can get up over his head... but there's no enough clearance. Then you realize the chest is on sliders, and they are insanely tight. I wound up using a silicone lubricant to even get them to budge, and even then I was sure I was going to break it. Ok, I finally get the chest up over his head. Smooth sailing from there, right? Nope. His sides collapse toward his spine, and guess what? Those sliders are also way too tight. After manhandling the thing, afraid of breaking it the entire time, I finally have the torso done. Then I realize I'm connecting the arms to his sides by plugging them into flimsy flaps, swinging his shins and feet around to the underside of the helicopter where some armatures loosely tab into the underside of his arms then wrap around so the "wings" with the landing skids can tab even more loosely into the sides of his arms. At least I can say that the effort was probably worth it, because once you get it there I can't complain about that helicopter mode. Between Apache, Saltus, and Big Spring Apache is the clear winner. The proportions are better than Big Spring with half-sized tail, or Saltus with his just plain wrong tail. The wings with the yellow ends (not just the spike of the landing skid) is correctly yellow, and a good portion of the tail boom is green like the animation. The wings are even angled a bit, the way the cartoon was drawn. Apache's got bigger horizontal stabs than Big Spring or Saltus, and more prominent engines than Saltus. My only real nitpicks are that the back of the engines are entirely yellow, instead of yellow-striped gray, and the vents on the backs of his wings are also yellow instead of green. As is typically the case, the main rotor is Apache's sword, split and splayed down the middle and plugged into a socket to form the main rotor. Once installed, the rotor will spin. As for his gun, you can store in on the helicopter by folding then handle in to reveal a tab that plugs into a slot on the helicopter's chin. Other than that, there's not much to talk about. The canopy does open, but all it reveals is a screw. No seat like Saltus or Big Spring. And Apache is completely lacking the flip-out headlights Saltus and Big Spring have. Transforming Apache to car mode is honestly worse than the helicopter mode. I mean, you still have to deal with the too-stiff sliders in the torso, but then rather than shift the shoulders the way pretty much every other Springer does to slide the fenders up past the nose, Fans Toys thought it'd be better to rotate the arms 180 degrees, then open a flap to turn the 180 degrees the short way around the shoulder joint before closing a similar flap on the other side. Clever, except that there really isn't enough clearance, making that maneuver decidedly uncomfortable. Oh, but that's the easy part! Despite the fact that his legs are mostly just in their robot-mode configuration, you do have to open the sides of his legs to shift some things around to shorten his thighs. But as you're extending the wheels in his shins and folding up his feet, you realize that said feet have to lined up just right so that a tiny peg can fit into a tiny hole. You got that part? Cool, now take the helicopter wing kibble and make sure it's also lined up just right, so it'll lock into the fins. If you finally managed that without popping the feet back out, you then get to tab the legs together at both the inside of the lower legs and the helicopter wing kibble, this time without popping out the feet or the kibble. Once you finally do that (and it'll take you more than one try, trust me) then you can lock the whole thing together by tabbing the butt flap into the backs of his thighs, all the while praying that that doesn't cause the kibble or feet to come undone. Unlike the helicopter mode, it's not even worth it! I mean, it's technically a bit more cartoon accurate than Big Spring's car mode, and a lot more accurate than Saltus', but it's way too stretched out, thick at the front and thin at the back. And it's loaded with out-of-place kibble between the fins. Big Spring's car mode was a bit unfinished at the back. Saltus' car mode wasn't accurate, but in way that was like "the Sunbow car looks kind of dumb, what if we changed it up a bit to make it look more purposefully like a land vehicle?" Fans Toys looks like they were trying to make a Sunbow-accurate car but failed in ways that just emphasize what was bad about the Sunbow car in the first place. Apache's sword has a small peg on one side of the hilt. This peg plugs into a hole under the front of the car, so they blade runs along the length of the bottom. Good storage in theory. In practice, the weight of the figure will cause the rear wheels to slide back into his shins, causing the sword to scrape along the ground and potentially scratch the paint on the blade. Storing the gun is worse. There are long, thin tabs just above the handle. You can use those tabs to sandwich the gun between the yellow helicopter kibble on the back of the car... but to do that, you need to undo the butt flap and spread his legs apart, which you most definitely NOT doing without undoing the copter kibble and and feet. The cockpit still opens, but despite flipping the arms around the headlights don't open on that side, either. There's a part of me that wants to say again that, at the original time of Apache's release, the only other cartoon MP Springers on the market were Unique Toys' Allen and Open and Play's Big Spring. I can't comment on Allen (yet), but I can see why someone would prefer Apache over Big Spring. The head sculpt is far better, and the paint and materials are far better. The helicopter mode is still one of the best. If all you were looking for was a figure that looks excellent in a stoic robot pose for your MP shelf, Apache does that better than Big Spring. However, Big Spring is more poseable and far more fun to transform and play with. But also, it's not like Apache happened in a vacuum. Apache's articulation is pretty sub-par, period. And while they wouldn't come until later, MMC and X-Transbots had both announced their Springers and shown prototypes. Fans Toys could have delayed Apache, maybe try to rework some of the design, to get better articulation and a car mode that wasn't trash. Instead, they rushed to be first and banked on their brand, ultimately delivering a figure that feels very phoned in from a company with their reputation. Do I, in 2024, recommend Apache? Frankly, no. Because today the competition isn't just Big Spring. Today we also have Saltus, and objectively Saltus has equally good paint and materials, better articulation, better transformations, and more accessories. I'd add that I subjectively think Saltus has a better car mode, and quite frankly a better bot mode that more accurately captures the stocky build of the Sunbow art, so even if you just want a good-looking robot and don't care about accessories/articulation/transformation/alt modes Saltus is still king. The only point I can give Apache over Saltus is the helicopter mode; as much as I love Saltus, his helicopter mode is kind of trash while Apache pretty much nailed it. I think that, short of buying multiple figures to display in multiple modes, most collectors care more about the robot than the helicopter, though. So today, my official recommendation is to pass on Apache, go with Saltus. Tomorrow, though...

I'd rather fast food change in response to consumer demand than a wave of bad publicity from a guy trying to pass off his liver damage on McDonald's instead of his serious issues with alcohol, but that's just me. That said, 53 is pretty young, and cancer isn't something I'd wish on much worse people. My condolences to his family and loved ones.

Usually I like to have a few more figures to write about before I do a Repaint Roundup, but my in-laws are coming for the summer next week and the guest room is where I do my photography. Needless to say, I don't know when or how often I'll be writing this summer. For now, here's Legacy Evolution Powerlinx Hot Shot. Truthfully, I wasn't super interested in this repaint. I mean, it's basically the same not-great-but-mostly-ok Hot Shot we already got, just in a color scheme he only used for like the last seven or so episodes and with a few extra accessories. But recently Hasbro had an outlet sale and Powerlinx Hot Shot was down to a more acceptable price, plus the only original Armada toy I own (until buying Prime) was Powerlinx Hot Shot, so I caved. Deco-wise, it's very much what you'd expect... the colors are updated to better reflect the original Powerlinx Hot Shot's deco, but just like the standard release he's lacking painted detail in the shins and in the faux car parts on his arms. On the topic of new accessories, Hot Shot retains his engine gun, but he gets two new rifles. The colors are simply gray plastic, which is a tad unfortunate, but they are designed to look like the rifles Hot Shot used in the episode "Dash." You also get a pair of (yet more) three-sectioned effects parts, and most notably, the Minicon Jolt. Jolt's coptor mode, as seen in the previous picture, is a bit stumpier than the original. This seems to be because the designers prioritized the robot mode really capturing the look of the cartoon. Which means that, instead of being primarily yellow like the Jolt that came with the original Powerlinx Hot Shot, he's primarily orange. He's got no head articulation, ball joints for shoulders that swivel and move laterally 90 degrees, no bicep or wrist swivels, elbows that bend 90 degrees, no waist articulation, ball-jointed hips that can go 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally, no thigh swivels, knees that bend over 90 degrees, and no feet. Unlike the original toy and counter to his cartoon appearance, he cannot connect to Hot Shot's engine gun. Hot Shot's new rifles are meant to store on his back, as they did in "Dash." You move his axle out of the way, then you're supposed to use little tabs on them to connect them to cutouts near the hinge on his backpack before moving the axle back into place. The catch is, at least on my copy, one of the rifles fits perfectly, the other will not stay plugged in and pops back off the second you let it go. Meanwhile, Jolt has a 5mm peg that folds out from underneath, so you can plug him onto Hot Shot's back, shoulders, etc... basically anywhere you can find a 5mm port. The exception is the 5mm port that's on his back behind the axle, so he can't attach to Hot Shot's back while he's doing his "Axlezooka." Hot Shot's car mode is, again, pretty much what you'd expect. I have to admit, the primary red color, yellow spoiler, and the yellow flames on the hood are very evocative of G1 Hot Shot, which was surely the intention going all the way back to the original toy. As was the case with the regular Hot Shot release, they painted the grill (correctly) then painted the part of the hood right above the grill (incorrectly) instead of the engine cutout. Attaching Jolt or the engine gun don't activate any spring-loaded gimmicks or anything as they would on the original toy. But I'll note that the engine gun storage is still there, and the bumper can be manually opened. There's room on the spoiler for the new guns, and Jolt actually has a third transformation just so that his nose can plug into the peg between the wings of Hot Shot's spoiler but angle the rest of his body so the propellor faces backward, as in the cartoon. And since there's no actual molded difference between the Hot Shots, you can use Jolt with the regular yellow Hot Shot. Is Powerlinx Hot Shot worth picking up? I mean, most of the geewunners here aren't into Armada in the first place, so a deco that appeared in just seven episodes probably isn't super appealing. At the reduced price I do kind of dig having an updated version of the only deco I actually had of the original, though, and the extra accessories are pretty cool. Jolt is an especially welcome addition; the size and engineering on Jolt (and for that matter, the Whisper Minicon that came with Shattered Glass Sideswipe) aren't quite Core-class figures, but they're a step up from the Siege Micromasters. Instead of constant repaints, though, I think it'd be cool if Hasbro maybe did a few Minicon three-packs... say one with Sparkplug, Leader-1, and Swindle (Prime, Megatron, and Starscream's Minicons), one with the three components of the Star Saber, one with the Skyboom Shield, one with the Requiem Blaster, etc. Or maybe just one big Minicon set akin to the some of the store-exclusive Micromaster sets released during Siege/Earthrise.

I guess, before the flood of Springers I ordered for some reason arrives, I should get this out of the way. Dr Wu has released new versions of Destroy Emperor, his version of Galvatron. Now, I have the original version of Destroy Emperor, as seen on the right. I opted to get the new release in toy/Marvel colors, but it's also available in a lighter Season 3 purple color and a clear purple scanning version. All three versions feature a new a new improved head sculpt, and the first batch is going out with a replacement head for the original release, which I've already installed here. The robot mode is fair enough, but the alt mode was always a bit iffy on this figure. It's hard to hold it against Dr. Wu, though, giving that this was one of the first Extreme Warfare releases, it's tiny, and it's relatively inexpensive. I mean, inexpensive enough that I didn't mind picking up the toy/Marvel colors. Now, it's worth pointing out that the original release of Destroy Emperor came with Dr. Wu's Soundblaster. This time, regardless of the color, you're not getting Soundblaster. Instead, you're getting Destroy Planet. Destroy Planet is Grand Galvatron, a character that never actually existed. In The Headmasters anime, Galvatron came up with a scheme to use the energy the Decepticons had been gathering to turn the entire Earth into a new Unicron-sized body for himself. When Sixshot realized that Galvatron planned to incorporate his lieutenants into that body he left Galvatron alone to fight the Autobots, and Galvatron wound up defeated and buried in ice. Despite never realizing his dream, an image of Grand Galvatron did appear in the series, and I dig having a toy representation of it. The toy itself uses the head, arms, and legs of Destroy Emperor, but attaches them to a new spherical body. Purchasing the toy or translucent versions of Destroy Emperor gets you a Destroy Planet that matches the colors of the original Galvatron release. If you skipped that one and want to get the anime-colored Destroy Emperor don't worry, the purple on that Destroy Planet matches the toy it's packed with. In robot mode, Destroy Planet's articulation is similar to Destroy Emperor's due to using the same limbs. The real difference is the transformation. Actually, the limbs transform fairly similarly, with the arms curling up and the legs folding over the thighs and tabbing into each other. The trick is getting the limbs stuffed inside the new spherical body. The arms are simple enough to fold it, but the legs are attached to a swiveling base that has to be turned just right to get the legs to line up inside the ball. There's also technically no official storage for his cannon, but if you have everything lined up right you have just enough room to toss loose inside Destroy Planet's body. I don't recall that Grand Galvatron had an alt mode... just the one shot of his spherical, Unicron-esque body with his head and limbs dangling off of it. But the Dr. reasonably assumed that if Unicron had a planet mode, so would Grand Galvatron. And, yeah, it's just the spherical body with the limbs and head folded inside, but what else would it be? I dig it, anyway. So, should you pick up Destroy Planet? If you don't have Destroy Emperor, then I'd say yes, I strongly advise picking up the anime-colored version of Emperor and Planet. If you do already have Destroy Emperor, though, Destroy Planet is more of a novelty, and you've also got to be in for either the toy or translucent repaints of Destroy Emperor. For me, I really enjoy the novelty of Destroy Planet, and I'm a sucker for Galvatron in his Megatron-esque toy colors, and at just around $25 this set was an easy purchase for me.

I actually had one ready to check out, but I was very on the fence. I kept getting an error, decided it was a sign, and gave up.

Originally not due for another month or so, this guy showed up over the weekend. It's Legacy United Commander-class Magmatron. Coming off of Beast Wars II, where the villains were decidedly robots very much at home in the Transformers franchise (the fact that many were, in fact, reused Generation 2 and Machine Wars molds might have had something to do with it), Magmatron has a unique look for a Transformer. He almost looks like he's in the wrong anime... I'd go so far as to suggest the ear wings, the fanged mouth, and the way his upper body is lighter and more robotic (that is, "normal") while his legs are a darker color, muscular and bestial with a tail and clawed feet... he kind of reminds me of Devilman. There's some cool mechanical details on the backs of his legs and heels, with little blades poking up between his toes, a dinosaur head on one shoulder, another in his chest, and a third curling around from his back over his other shoulder. It's all pretty accurate, too, although his backpack's a tad big. The one part I'm not super keen on is his waist, though. In the cartoon he's got something of a mechanical belt, and original toy (which actually did release in the States as part of the Beast Machines line, even if Beast Wars Neo never made it over here) did have smallish purple flaps. But here we've got pretty substantial hip skirts that don't even sit all that flush due to the dino arms bumping into his hips- dino arms that were tucked into his torso on the original. For all the backpack, dino heads, and kibble flaps that are on the robot, a surprising amount of his mass isn't. We've got a shield that's clearly like half a dinosaur, and weapon with a lot of purple flaps that you can probably identify as dinosaur "skin". Additionally, a rubbery black blade and two smaller red ones, plus you can't be a Commander-class toy without another run of effect parts. Magmatron's head swivels, but with his huge wings on his ears and dinosaur heads on his shoulders it can be tough to actually find the clearance for that swivel. No tilt. His shoulders rotate on ratchets, and move laterally 90 degrees also on ratchets. His biceps swivel. His elbows are double jointed and can curl about 180 degree on softer ratchets. His wrists swivel, and they can also bend outward (more for alt mode). His thumb swivels (again, more for alt mode), and while his fingers are a single part permanently curled they are hinged at the base so he can open his hands. His waist swivels, and using a joint that's really for transformation you can even get a bit of ab crunch. His hips ratchet forward 90 degrees and, theoretically, 90 degrees backward, but his tail gets in the way. His hips friction laterally 90 degrees. His thighs swivel. His ratcheted knees bend a little over 90 degrees. His feet don't tilt (unless you untab his mechanical heel, then the front of his foot can tilt upward), but his ankles can pivot 90 degrees. All-in-all pretty solid, when he's not getting in his own way. Magmatron's hands have 5mm ports built into them , so he can hold the red blades in either hand. The purple-skinned weapon has a handle on one end and a 5mm port on the other. You can plug the black blade into the 5mm port, then he can hold the handle to make a sword. The original toy actually had two handles, and the blade was a firing missile. While the blade here doesn't actually fire, the handle is hinged so he could hold the weapon like a blaster, and you can use the included effect parts to make it look like the blade is being fired. As for the shield, it has a clip that wraps around his forearm, and a 5mm peg that plugs into a port on said forearm. This is fine! What I don't like about it, though, is that the 5mm port is on the back of his arm, not the side. The shield wind up on the back of his arm, which makes posing him holding the shield in front of his body kind of awkward. Some of his accessories can be stored in robot mode. Not the blast effects, but honestly at this point I've started putting all my blast effects together in a box and couldn't even tell you which ones came with which figures anymore, so that's not a big deal. The two shorter red blades have holes on them that fit into pegs on his wing ears. The longer black blade, meanwhile, tucks into the underside of his tail. Unfortunately, there's no place to put his shield or his weapon, though. Magmatron's unique design necessitates a bit of partsforming to get him into alt mode. His entire back and arms pull off first. Then his head, along with the inside of his torso, collar, and some of his chest, come off, leaving one shoulder pad, some of the front of his torso, and everything below the waist. Rearrange the claws, stretch out the head that was on his chest, and fold the inside of his robot torso up over his face and you've got yourself Skysaurus, a Quetzalcoatlus. Skysaurus has less mass, but is nearly as big as Deluxe-class Terrorsaur. Skysaur's mouth can open. He's got a ball-joint at the top of his neck that allows his head to swivel, look straight up, or look down a bit. A transformation hinge can help him look straight down. His wings have hinges for a flapping motion and hinges near the claws that tuck the wings in or spread them out, but they don't fold. His wing claws are on ball joints, but they don't do much more than swivel. His hips are ball joints for swiveling and some lateral motion, plus he's got hinged knees, a digitigrade ankle hinge, and a hinge at the claws, making Skysaur surprisingly posable. There's no peg in his mouth, though, so he can't use the blast effects. The red swords can stay attached in this mode. Magmatron's lower half transforms into Landsaurus, a Giganotosaurus. Huh... Beast Wars Megatron and Terrorsaur were a purple theropod and red pterosaur, respectively, and two thirds of Magmatron are also a purple theropod and red pterosaur. A lot of the "work" in transforming Landsaurus is tucking the blades on his feet under, folding in his heels, and undoing the mechancial bits ont he backs of his legs and stuffing them into his calves and thighs. Beyond that, you fold his chest down and then twist each side so the front becoems the sides. Undo his waist and shift it forward, lift a panel from his side so that most of the stuff above the waist can swivel 90 degrees, then fold his hip skirts up over his sides. Now, here's where things get a bit different from the original toy. On the original, his robot chest was simply the green belly of Landsaurus, and his weapon plugged into a gap between his head and chest to form most of his neck. Here, he already has a neck filler that unfolds from the base of his jaw. Here, you take the weapon and unfurl it. The handle plugs into a 5mm port at the base of his tail, then wraps over his robot chest and around his sides to form his crotch and belly. Landsaurus can open his mouth, but what you see here is the maximum. His head can tilt up a bit, but doing so will break the sculpt, and can even turn about 45 degrees to either side. His stumpy arms have ball-jointed shoulders for rotation and lateral movement, but that's it. As with his robot mode, he's got the ratcheted hips for rotation and spread, ratcheted knees, and his ankle pivots, but now without the robot heels locking them in place he also enjoyed digitigrade ankles that bend upward. His tail has a hinge near the base that can swing it 45 degrees to either side, and his tail still stores his black blade. I'd say that, overall, Landsaurus is my favorite of Magmatron's component dinosaur modes, but it's because it's my favorite that I'm going to judge its flaws a bit harder. Like Skysaurus, you can't use the blast effects in his mouth, and that's on top of his mouth should really have been able to open wider. I'm also not sure about how his weapon wraps around his undercarriage like that. On the one hand, from the front I think it makes his dinosaur mode seem more cohesive, if less accurate. But from the side, while you can try to hide it with his dino thighs, more dynamic poses will invariably reveal the folded up robot chest and hollow gaps that run right through his body. The Elasmosaurus known as, you guessed it, Seasaurus, is probably my least favorite of the three. Part of that is because, well, what's Seasaurus supposed to do if the battle isn't near some body of water? And maybe part of it is because Seasaurus doesn't have an original Beast Wars analog the way Skysaurus and Landsaurus do (too bad Rampage was a crab instead of a Plesiosaur). But part of that is because of just how much partsforming is involved. Magmatron's shield forms the entire bottom, both limbs, some of the sides, and most of the butt and tail of Seasaurus. Once you have the shield ready, you curl up Magmatron's arm and use a sliding swivel to tuck them into the now-unfurled backpack, mate the top of Seasaurus with the shield, then lock the base of the neck in place. Seasaurus' body doesn't do much. His back flippers and sort of wiggle forward/backward. His front flippers also have that wiggle, but they also have ball joints so they can swivel and flap. That's about it. What he lacks in body articulation he makes up for in the head and neck, though. There are four large round hinges, each capable of about 180 degrees of bend. The thing is, there are swivels on both sides of those hinges, so eight total. On their own, the hinges would give Seasaurus some incredible up/down neck bend, but the swivels allow you to turn some of those neck joints into sideways bends. We cap it all off with one more swivel at the base of the head and jaws that can open (but still can't use the effect parts). The extensive articulation in the neck actually highlights Seasaurus' biggest problem- massive, hollow gaps on one side of each of the three large neck segments. Not super noticeable in robot mode. Not super noticeable if you have his neck straight out in front of him. Super in your face is most dynamic poses, though. I'm already ready for some kind of third-party gap filler for this guy. So, I've never actually watched Beast Wars Neo, but it's my understanding that no model sheets were created for Skysaurus, Landsaurus, and Seasaurus because Magmatron never transforms into them. Magmatron's sole alt mode was the Magmasaurus, a hideous fusion of all three dinosaurs. To get to Magmasaurus mode you have to open Seasaurus up and fold his arms back out. Swivel his biceps, wrists, and thumbs and bend his wrist, fingers, and elbows to make them sort of look like rear legs. Dedicated hooks lock the body at an angle, then you use some dedicated clips that grab onto Landsaurus' tail. With the rest of Seasaurus fully in shield mode, it'll plug over the top of Landsaurus' tail, using two of the large tabs and slots that hold the halves of Seasurus together but also using the shield clip and peg to lock into the top of Landsaurus' tail. Skysaurus doesn't contribute as much. His wings swivel over, then a tab on his tail fits into a slot on Landsauru's back and a peg on Landsaurus' back fits into a screw hole on Skysaurus' back. The flap that normally covers that part of Landsaurus back clips onto a tab on Skysaurus' crotch. Skysaurus' neck runs through a groove in the base of Seasaurus' tail, and for maximum accuracy you can leave Skysaurus' head resting against Seasaurus' belly- there's even a space for it that it can click into. There's enough neck articulation that Skysaurus can still lift his head and look around, if he needs to. In all seriousness, though, who came up with this idea? I don't mean on the Legacy version, I mean on the original toy, as such a part of the original character that it became his sole alt mode in the anime? With four clawed limbs, a long "tail", a big head with carnivorous jaws, and membranous wings you might charitably suggest that Magmasaurus is evocative of a dragon, but I think the best description I can come up with for Magmasaurus is to say he transforms into a dinosaur orgy. At least, with the exception of the blast effects I really don't care about, Magmasaurus is a mode that stores all of his accessories and keeps all three dinosaurus together. Magmasaurus is a good mode for the storage bin. Ultimately, I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about Magmatron. I'm not familiar with Beast Wars Neo, so I have no attachment to the character, but he is an update of a toy that was actually released in the States. It's not impossible that kids in the late '90s/early aughts had the original toy and are nostalgic for an updated one. Objectively it's a solid robot that turns into three pretty good dinosaur toys, but subjectively it's a robot with huge ears and an aesthetic that doesn't fit super well with Transformers even by Beast Wars standards. And to top it all off, he's a Commander-class. Now, I'm definitely NOT saying that a modern Magmatron could have been executed properly in anything less than a Commander, and I think fans are getting their money's worth here. But $90 is still a significant chunk of change for most people. That's a price that us Geewunners are willing to pay for fan-favorite characters like Sky Lynx and Jetfire, or the central part of a combiner like Motormaster. It's worth it for Armada fans to get the Optimus Prime they grew up with as a kid. But how well is it going to go over for a character from a show that, to this day, isn't available isn't actually available in outside of Japan (though unofficially you can find fansubs on Youtube)? I guess I'd ultimately conclude that it's a pretty neat toy, and if you think you're interested in it then you'll probably like it. But if you're the kind of collector that needs some fiction to go with it, or even more restrictive, G1-only, then Magmatron might not be for you.

No joke, when I saw him I was thinking "who the heck is this clown that thinks he can just walk in here and play all these Chris Latta parts?" And I was iffy on his Wheeljack, though I could tell he was trying. But he won me over with his Starscream. Arif Kinchen also did Scatman Crothers proud as Jazz. The highlight for me was Frank Welker, though. Actors voices change as they age, and we're talking about these guys reprising roles from 40 years ago. I've often thought when listening to Peter Cullen do Optimus Prime in the Bayverse films and Transformers Prime that he sounds a bit older, and bit more... I dunno, tired (though I thought he sounded just like he did 40 years ago at the table read). I'm thinking, especially with the sheer range of characters he does, that there's no way Welker would be up for all those voices. But, oh man, did he nail it. Now, the table read was fun, and I was super glad to be a part of the 40th anniversary celebration. I can't overstate the impact Transformers has had on me; Transformers, TMNT, and NES pretty much sums up the bulk of my childhood that I can recall. That said... I don't think I enjoyed it as much as the screening of the '86 movie on its anniversary. And what it really boils down to is that the '86 movie is a tightly-paced story that still holds up today, but (while some episodes are better than others) the original cartoon kind of hasn't. Don't get me wrong, the cartoon introduced this colorful cast of characters that sparked my young imagination and are still near and dear to me me, but there's too much that's just hokey watching as an adult. Like when Sparkplug and Bumblebee volunteer to plant the bomb in the mine, Bumblebee transforms and Sparkplug gets in and they drive all of five feet to the mine entrance before switching back to walking. Or how Megatron comes up with this convoluted plan to lure the Autobots into a cave, then traps himself and the Decepticons inside with him, only to easily blast his way back out when he needs to get back to the space bridge. He then re-collapses the entrance, and he's so sure that there's no way the Autobots can get out, even though he literally just blast his own way out. And what happens? The Autobots immediately blaster their way out. My friend that went with me suggested that maybe they should have only done the first three episodes, instead of the first four, since they were a three-parter while "Transport to Oblivion just seemed kind of tacked on." I think he was right. It was a bit much for one sitting. I'm thinking I might continue re-watching G1 Transformers with my DVDs at home, but probably one episode at a time, definitely not four.

I'm going today, too, but I've got the same "Rolling Out for 40 Years" shirt Evan was wearing in the last Pulse stream. EDIT: my local theater didn't get the cup & bucket.😕 I found I could order them online, though.

It's one of those details that I never paid much attention to, because the control art happens to have the main rotor directly over the horizontal stabs. Then I was like, "yeah, but that's a detail that even most of the 3Ps get wrong." But I'm curious, because I have a few 3P Springers. So I grab Open & Play's Big Spring, put him in chopper mode, and no, he's got little ones. MMC Saltus? Small and a bit triangular, but present. Toyworld Spanner? He's got the biggest of the three (similar proportionally to the G1 toy). I started googling the ones I don't have. Unique Toys Allen? Big ones, and green like the animation. Fans Toys Apache? Smaller than Allen's, but bigger than Saltus or Big Spring. XTB Virtus? Gray, but the most cartoon-accurate size and shape. So now I'm wondering how Hasbro not only got away with the missing stabs, but how they gaslighted me into thinking that nobody else else gave their Springer stabs when they everyone but Hasbro included them. Side note, somehow, while researching this topic, I wound up ordering copies of Apache and Virtus, despite owning Saltus, Big Spring, and Spanner already. Think I might hunt for Allen, too, and then do a "which Springer is the definitive one" sort of review in the 3P thread.

Actually, in the cartoon (much like the G1 toy) there's some molded detail (suggestive of the tail rotor?) but only the very bottom of the tire is actually visible. In other words, I agree that I'd have liked his legs remolded a bit to hide them, but they wouldn't even have to rotate to do so. Probably would have been better use of the plastic than the missile or the hammer. (Note the green hubcaps on the front wheels and green rotor blades... cartoon accurate on SS86 Springer). Agree, but at least on SS86 you can swivel the shoulder pads to cover them and look more cartoon accurate in the process.

Yeah, ditto for Cliffjumper. And I do like the brighter yellow on 86 Bee vs. the borderline orange on Netflix Bee. And I think it's worth remembering that Netflix Bee was a store exclusive, and there was a Bumblebee in the Target multipack, but this is technically the first mainline G1-esque Bumblebee since Titans Return. I just have three nitpicks with Bee- 1. The front end is too angular, kind of reminds me of Bumper as much as it does Bumblebee. 2. I wish the tires folded under his feet the way Netflix Bee does. 3. The dark windows. I just have this funny feeling that another version will come in a year or two, maybe as another store-exclusive, with blue windows. Guess you don't want to wait until I have one in-hand and do a review, since I don't have those Vietnamese factory connections. But I'll still hook ya up.

Missing Link Bumblebee and Cliffjumper are available on Hasbro Pulse if you didn't already order them from your importer of choice. $40 each... which is lower than the price for the original G1 toys on the secondary market, so...

Here's an Amazon link for Springer, who's also sold out on Pulse now. And here's one for Steeljaw. Sorry, I got nothing for Skywarp or Generic Decepticon Dude, but I get the feeling you guys can probably do without those.

I get the sentiment, especially with the price increase from Voyager to Leader. But I'm the guy that bought SS86 Blaster and Buzzworthy Cliffjumper that were literally the same figures with slightly more cartoon-accurate decos. And not only does 86 Springer have a more cartoon-accurate deco, they ditched the rotor that was two swords plugged into a useless middle part for one that transforms, and they articulated the shoulder pads so you can have them wrapped around the shoulders like the animation model instead of stuck on top. Mostly minor things, I guess, but that's literally my two biggest gripes with the Siege toy. Toss in a toy-accurate rifle, a handful of other accessories, and more accurate thrusters on his back/roof and I'm honestly pretty content with how it came out, even if it is still 90% Siege again. My only real complaints are that I wish they'd covered the wheels in helicopter mode better and that they did something with his arms to make the helicopter "wings" more accurate.

Dunno what's the thinking behind not putting SS86 Bee on Pulse, but here's the Amazon link. The rest of the reveals are on Pulse, but Steeljaw already sold out. I managed to preorder everything except for the generic Decepticon Soldier.

So how'd you guys like the stream today? I haven't been super interested in the comic book line so far, because I'm not a fan of the weird cel-shaded look, but I did grow up on the comics and I'm actually pretty stoked for Straxus. I had hoped for a bit more from Springer, but I think they changed just enough that I'm in for him, as well as Steeljaw and Bumblebee. I hated Gamer Edition Barricade, though, so a generic Decepticon based on that figure is a huge pass. I'll get BB Skywarp just to complete the BB Seekers. Which kind of segues into the pipeline reveals. Of course, I told you that most of that stuff was coming already so it's not that surprising, but I can't help thinking about how Legacy just keeps going downhill. I bought every mainline release during WFC. I think I even did through Legacy and Evolution, but I just can do it anymore. I've already skipped Legacy Chromia, and I'm telling you now that even with the G1-ifying that goes on in Legacy the Animated aesthetic has never worked for me. Bad enough I bought Prime, Motormaster's a no-go for me. I was disappointed with Core Megatron and lukewarm on Bouldercrash, so I'll be skipping both wave 4 Cores. Soundwave's cool for those that missed the Netflix one, but I didn't so I'm good there (unless he comes with Buzzsaw, then he's a $50 core-class purchase). A new deco isn't going to sell me on another Metalhawk. I'm ambivalent on Armada Galvatron, but I do think I'll end up with him. I wish Slipstream would have been a bit more heavily retooled, but I'm in for her. Am I supposed to be excited for Quake just because he's G1? I think I'm reaching a point where I want the "main" casts completed from other shows before I want late G1 figures that weren't in the cartoon, like say Red Alert, Demolisher, or Cyclonus to round out the initial Armada cast, or X-Brawn or Prowl to go with Sideburn. I'm surprisingly curious about this new Deluxe-class Optimus. Since I first heard about it I was wondering why I'd want a Deluxe-class G1 Optimus when I know SS86 is coming, but the fact that it's based on the G1 toy instead of Sunbow is an interesting spin.

Springer? Although I'm hearing it's a heavy retool of the Siege toy.