Fit For Natalie

The hull is most likely not painted, so you can probably use some paint thinner to wipe it off or something. Seems to be a test shot, as those ball joints on his hips are cast red plastic. On hand-painted prototypes they usually avoid painting the joint areas.

S250 has confirmed it is a legit Hasbro release. He's one of the chinese guys who regularly post test shot/proto news.

Comparing a $220AU collector Yamato toy to a $40AU Transformer kids toy is kinda well... not a very useful comparison. If there's one thing the Transformers are guaranteed to do, they're built tough according to Hasbro's standards are unlikely to suffer failure as much as the Yamatos seem to. Reason I ask is because the Pentagon (not the film makers) made a big deal about the fact this is the film debut of the real Raptor, so I had assumed it would be seen flying somewhere.

Looks like they're keeping the afterburners blue. I assume that's the real MH-53 they used in shooting, but fake CGI Raptors. I wonder in which scenes (aside from the bits of pilots running to their fighters) we'll see the actual planes. Are those drop tanks on their wings?

You should get one of those magnetic fishing sets and give him the pole.

Realism and official licensing is both the strength and downfall of Alternators/Binaltech, because basically they needed to design the robot in a way to keep the manufacturers happy, and that likely means hood chests, since its a prominent way to show what car it is. Thing is, most of the toys in the line look like that, and it starts to become 'generic car robot line'. Alternators has limited mass-market appeal, too, and are way too complicated for kids and casual fans to transform. Transformer toys should be fun and intuitive to transform, not frustrating. I would prefer some new snap on pipe blasters. Fishing pole is abit too 'anime cute', even if he was fishing with a completely different person in the non-sexual American continuity.

So its a transforming car. So the movie TF bots are terrible in that they don't look like their vehicle modes transformed, how?

I don't quite understand - is the robot supposed to be the SUV transformed, or it doesn't actually have anything to do with it other than being silver and having curving, smooth lines?

Deluxes have been officially released (according to Hasbro, though some stores are refusing to put them on pegs), others have to wait until June, but Hasbro doesn't really care, so it depends on if a store doesn't care either and they've run out of Classics. I saw the entire wave 1 at a Target today.

He does not! You on the otherhand look like a pile of crap next to MP Prime. Seriously though, I've never been a fan of 'collector toys' like Alternators, Masterpiece stuff or reissues. Technically impressive, but too dull and lacking in creativity. He ruins himself?

I bought Leader class Prime.

Might as well wait for the official launch date. Some stores are refusing to budge even though Hasbro doesn't really care anymore. No need to waste your petrol driving around then.

I don't think Megatron was ever meant to have an Earth mode, since he's frozen/imprisoned, later breaks out and goes on a rampage during the climax. Megatron seems to have some kind of super cannon thingy fashioned out of both his arms joining together. I recall the 25 minute preview reports said Blackout fired lasers during the military base attack.

In my opinion (of the ones we've seen) Initial waves Jazz (Deluxe) Bonecrusher (Deluxe) Ironhide (Voyager) Blackout (Voyager) Optimus Prime (Leader) Later waves Optimus Prime (Voyager) Robovision Optimus Prime (Voyager toy with lots of silver paint) Megatron (Leader) 2008 Bumblebee (Deluxe) There are also the Real Gear toys that are transforming electronic devices (non-functional). They're the most traditionally styled TFs in the movie line, but aren't in the actual movie. There will be a Leader class Brawl later on (apparently), but we've not seen him yet. The Autobots drove all the way to Antartica to dig him up so he could fly them to South America. Think about the logic of that.

The second trailer is UP! I'm like... WHOA.

The second trailer is UP! I'm like... WHOA.

According to the latest TV spot, Starscream's afterburners are still blue. Barricade is a Ford, and is a Dcon As I understand, GM was the only company willing to market TF to this extent (rather than just 'using' the cars in the movie). Their support offsets the costs of what is essentially an old-fashioned movie using practical effects along with what ILM considers to be their finest hour in CGI (yet).

According to the latest TV spot, Starscream's afterburners are still blue. I was kidding mate - Takara is FAR more experienced and is nowhere near as poo a toy company as Yamato. I don't care how detailed or accurate Yamato's products are - if I can't even play with them without the shoulder joint disintergrating or something snapping, at the price you pay, then the product is a piece of overpriced crap. It's just that MP Starscream is considerably more fragile that what we are used to for Transformers, probably because it wasn't intended for Hasbro's markets. The day that Takara becomes as bad as Yamato is the day to give up Transformers, I say

That's what I try to suggest that people do. But judging from forum posts on some sites, most self-professed haters are more than willing to declare holy war on the movie that they haven't seen, and everybody involved in its production. Probably while firing an AK-47 wildly into the air.

That was abit harsh. Bunch of official renders of Jazz, updated model, for some Pontiac promo. In other news, the new trailer will be up on Yahoo tommorrow, probably earlier depending on which timezone and country you live in.

Methinks Hasbro will eventually repaint most of them in G1-inspired schemes if they haven't already done so and think the toy will sell. You mean 2008 Camaro Concept Bumblebee? He rocks. There is a Leader class version of Megsy, and that one has no ice. What about Jazz? He actually looks pretty good and could pass as a Deluxe from any other modern TF line. What about Ironhide? Can't make him any larger without being pointless, and so far he's the one of the best Voyager class toys. I think black suits the vehicle better than red. Movie version is a Raptor, but the main toy (at the moment) is a piece of crap, they're gonna eventually release it in G1-style markings. But either way, his robot mode doesn't look anything like the original Starscream (or later Starscreams) anyway, so any toy of him will be dissapointing if you are looking for something like G1 SS. There is no Starscream toy by Yamato, since Takara owns the rights to make transforming Transformer toys in Japan. What you're thinking of is Masterpiece Starscream, but given its design was supervised by Mr Macross himself, it has the similar quality control problems and engineering not really suited for toys that you can touch

What's funny is, their God Primus pretty set it all up for them to evolve. He created the Transformers to defeat Unicron. So while aethist TFs like Jetfire believed they evolved from naturally occuring gears and pulleys, it was Primus who set things in motion and gave them life. Hasbro officially considers Primus and Unicron to exist somewhere in every single TF continuity as the same characters fighting an eternal war.

What do you guys think of these movie renders? http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=132947 Differently posed renders

Peter Cullen can get away with it! (referring to the little driver figurine)

Some new movie publicity pics. That appears to be Starscream's holographic avatar for his F-22 mode