M'Kyuun

That's impressive recollection. I struggle to remember what I bought let alone where I bought it a week ago. My memory was always terrible, but when you accumulate as much crap as I have, it kinda gets lost in the fog of time. Regarding G2, I can't say I feel a sense of FOMO. I far, far prefer the color schemes of the G1 toys- I never was a fan of gaudy color schemes- pastels and such. Yuck!😄 I applaud Takara, and Hasbro by extension, for doing something different. That said, I'm just not moved by the Timelines stuff. However, I wouldn't mind a Grimlock that turns into a Mark V tank (actually, I'd rather it was its own character without having to conform to Grimlock in any way shape or form, but it's already a thing). That said, I'm sure these will find an audience, especially among Japanese collectors whose history they embody. For those fans who complain that all Hasbro does is rehash G1, this is something new and different and definitely not G1, and that's a good thing, IMHO, even if it doesn't strike a personal chord.

Rodriguez, Cameron, and Co. should have been gearing up for the sequel immediately following the original. It stands, IMHO, as one of the best anime adaptations in a very short list thereof, and with all that a film of this nature requires, it would have been awesome had they actually been shooting scenes in anticipation of a sequel. I'm glad to hear that it hasn't been shelved or forgotten, but there doesn't really seem to be any real momentum either. That said, I loved the first film and I hope there's a second to give some sense of completion to the story. As to Alita's eyes, I thought they looked a bit much in early photos, but in the film, I thought they worked for the character. I thought her overall design was excellent- visible joints, the overlarge eyes- it sells the point that she's not exactly human but looks human enough to be acceptable in human society. And in her world, she looks downright normal, if boringly so, next to some of the other cyborg monstrosities running about. To, it's a nod to her animated look. Anyway, at least there's some hope for a sequel now. At the rate they were going, I was afraid it'd be more like the Star Wars sequels where all the main actors are in their 60s or 70s.

Regarding playability, IMHO, it's superior to the old Yamato. The Yammie's strength is its gorgeous and extremely accurate fighter mode; beyond that it's not a very good toy to handle, especially its battroid with the too-skinny legs, loose ball-jointed hips, and tiny feet, all which contribute to making it rather unstable and difficult to pose. Contrarily, what the DX sacrifices in accuracy and concessions, it makes up in tight joints throughout making pose ability not only possible, but fun to experiment with. I display my valks in battroid mode, so this was a welcome figure for my display since retiring my Yamato to its box years ago. Anyway, congrats on the acquisition and I hope you enjoy it!

The very interesting thing about a 40+ year old franchise is the varied points of entry into fandom and collecting. I consider myself fortunate to have been there at the beginning- just the amazement of experiencing this whole concept of realistic vehicles and things turning into nifty looking robots, as well as the story being told through the animation, not to mention through the bios included with the package art. It was such a well-done roll-out for the toys, as all that info made them feel like characters and I think that was the real brilliance to Transformers in those early years and why it maintained longevity. Prowl was my entry toy, and he's still one of my absolute favorite TF designs. I'm ever grateful to Hasui-san for the gorgeous MP figure, a dream come true for me. I also consider myself fortunate to have experienced Saturday cartoons. There was just something cool about it, as there was so much choice, even with the limited channels back then. I was always checking out the TV Guide to determine what shows I could watch (pre-VCR days), as I had to channel hop back and forth between the three or four networks we had to catch my shows. It was a different time, but I look back upon it fondly. I still remember a lot of the G1 commercials, and a lot of them have been preserved via YouTube and such, but I was out of the loop, I guess, when it came to G2, as I have no recollections of the commercials from that time. Likewise, I only vaguely remember the toys. I still had my G1 stuff, but as I've mentioned over the years, my interest in G1 pretty much started and ended with first season, as I felt that the show became much sillier in S2, losing the more focused and mature storyline of the first. I had pretty much lost all interest in the show come seasons three and four, and to this day, I've not watched either in their entirety, nor do I wish to. First season is where I live and breathe when it comes to G1 Transformers, with a little S2 bleed over when it comes to the toys. After that, Beast Wars, Animated, and Prime remain my favorite entries in the franchise, both shows and toys. Transformers: Robots in Disguise, which directly followed Prime, was also pretty good, so I guess I can include that, too. Bad voice acting choices made the WFC series unenjoyable for me, and while I tried to get into Earthspark, it just didn't grab me like previous series. I need to sit down and start it from the beginning and watch it straight through, I think. I'm still pretty peeved that deluxe Earthspark Soundwave, arguably one of the best toys in that line, never released in my area, and he goes for way too much on eBay and the like. Grrr

I kinda dropped out of TF collecting during the G2 era, and while I was back in the US for the latter part of G2, I didn't really become interested again until some of the small ball-jointed jets started appearing (the Cyberjets). I bought the orange-tiger-striped F-14ish one, but I've always wished I could have gotten the black F-117. Anyway, Beast Wars was what pulled me back into TF collecting- just a different direction, something new, and the level of articulation astounded me (bots with hip and knee joints!!!!). I laugh now in hindsight, as they were still pretty limited, but frame of reference is everything. While my druthers would be for vehicle/inanimate object alt modes, or robotic animals like the Dinobots, the show sucked me in and I became a fan. All this is to say that G2 doesn't really register on my radar as my interest had waned and, yeah, so far as I can remember, the toys at the time didn't appeal to me all that much. I honestly have very little recollection of the early 90s so far as Transformers goes. Those little jets are the things that stick out to me more than anything. Imagine that.😉

Ugh, the gaudy color schemes are the biggest turn off for me concerning G2. I'm happy with my G1 versions. Cool for those who like G2, though.

I actually own a G1 Jetfire that I bought at a second-hand toy store in Pittsburgh nigh twenty years ago before vintage Transformers really became sought after. I believe I paid $120 for it, still with its original box with styrofoam insert and all accessories. Unfortunately, the stickers were not well placed and in attempting to remove one of them from the inner leg, to my extreme horror and dismay, the paint came off with it. I had a set of Reprolabels that I was going to apply, but after that paint came off, I just put it back in its box and it's been in storage ever since. I also, roughly 20 years ago, bought an actual 1/55 rerelease VF-1A, IIRC. So, to answer your question, I like the Chunky Monkey; it's an anachronistic toy now, but when I bought the aforementioned toys, we still didn't have many good VF-1 options, and to Takatoku's credit, it was a solid toy with decent articulation even at that time, let alone in the 80s. Heck, I still treasure my G1 Soundwave and his cassettes, and I kept him with my CHUG collection until I bought Netflix Soundwave just a few years ago. I still keep my G1 cassettes on display, as I think they're still superior to the WFC/Legacy/SS86 cassettes. They may be flat, but they make for more convincing cassettes and the animal modes still have better articulation than the modern HasTak versions, not to mention looking the parts better, IMHO. I LOVE the cassette minions, be they Autobot or Decepticon, and IMHO, the new shrunken versions represent glaring failures among the otherwise overall well-done modern official G1 updates. I pin my hopes on Dr. Wu to hopefully remedy that situation. To clarify my stance, I don't hate the G1 toys; they were a new, cool idea, and the execution was a bit primitive. With Diaclone, it seems to me that the vehicle modes were the primary focus (making them look like real-world vehicles) and the robot modes, being the gimmick, were done as well as they felt they needed to be to get the point across. I doubt they thought we'd still be talking about them and collecting them 40+ years on. They were made for kids, and most toys have a pretty short shelf life in kids' attention span. It just so happens that we got hooked by the story that Marvel cooked up for them and the rest is history. I was thirteen when Transformers debuted, so already a little older than the target audience, but still in range. But I loved robots and sci-fi. the transformation concept was earth-shattering to me- robots were already the coolest thing on Earth, but robots that could change seamlessly into realistic looking vehicles and stuff like the Walkman and its cassettes, which also could transform!- I was enrapt from the get-go. Likewise with Gobots, but I found the cheesiness of the toon coupled with the lesser complex toys less appealing than the TF toys and more mature toned toon. (speaking of first season). However, even at thirteen and on into my later teens and early twenties, I was disenchanted with most TF toys due to their limited articulation, primarily, and simplicity. Like most TF fans today, I wanted my bots to look, mostly, like they did on tv, albeit in my case, with a little more surface and mechanical details carried over with or from the alt mode. Articulation has always been my sticking point, and while they're getting better, I'd still like to see stuff like wrist rotation, ankles that pitch fore and aft, and opening hands (like they did with SS86 prime and Megs) become standard points among all size classes. Doubt it'll happen, but I can hope. In the meantime, I'm pretty happy with where we're at right now with the Hasbro mainline toys including SS86. We need better cassettes (can't foot stomp that enough), a new improved Astrotrain with complete and realistic looking alt modes, as well as a new Blitzwing that manages the kibble better for better tank and jet modes, especially the latter. Takara is notorious for making crappy jet modes, so that's a big ask and I hope eventually they'll actually come through.

As a Geewunner who was less than impressed with these toys back when they were new, I'm always at a loss to understand their appeal when we now have vastly improved versions of them at virtually every scale. I guess nostalgia is a primary driver, but from my POV, I'd rather have a modern version with full articulation over the old 80s bricks. Except for the cassettes, which remain pretty cool, for the most part. I haven't been too impressed with the WFC Siege/Kingdom, Legacy, SS86 scaled versions, except, ironically, Eject, the best of the smaller scaled cassettes. I keep hoping Dr. Wu will eventually produce improved versions of all the main character cassettes, as Takara's takes have been less than lackluster. Well, SS86 Rumble/Frenzy was almost excellent except for the lack of elbows- how hard would it have been to split the arm and give one half a ball joint and the other a socket? So close to good, but not. SS86 Steeljaw looks like a Pomeranian, Ravage is severely compromised, the WFC Condors are ok except for the oddly shaped weapon packs, all three of the SS86 Soundwave cassettes look like steps backward in design. If you're a cassette fan like me, there's much to be desired with Has/Tak's modern takes.

Yeah, the thing is shaky from the very start and the techs are hovering very closely to it, so yes, it does appear that they were expecting failure more than success. Given the brutal and face-saving nature of the Soviet govt, I do feel concern for the folks who worked on this, as it's a very public embarrassment, and they likely will pay heavy penalties for it. And while we've seen the maturation of this technology from Japan, China, and US companies, it's ultimately not easy and they are likely working with small budgets, stolen hardware/software, minimal resources, and lots of unwelcome oversight and pressure. That said, it was pretty funny on first viewing. I just showed it to my wife, but with these thoughts in mind, it was a bit more sobering.

The Boston Dynamics guys are all wiping huge beads of sweat from their foreheads-NOT! I like how the robot was still shambling after its faceplant- like an old wind-up toy. The sheet of shame came a bit too late. 🤣 Nice of the Russian censors to allow this bit of failure to go out unto the world.

Oh, totally agree. I'm neither a fan of partsforming nor faux parts for the sake of matching some idealized artistic rendition rife with liberties taken. For me, that was the main charm of the Gobots cartoon; however cheesy and kiddified, I loved the fact that the transformations mirrored the actual toys, and of course, the toys, as simple as they were, by and large utilized the alt mode bits to a great extent in informing the bot modes. Diaclone, and Transformers thereafter, did so to, to a large extent, although there were characters like Prowl and Jazz whose arms were simply tucked away and had no part of the alt mode. But I love that old simple approach of using what the alt mode gives you to inform the robot mode and the transformation. I think that principle, too, is what endears the Macross designs to me, as well as the vast majority of the designs being very realistic looking fighters. It's a winning twofer! In the right hands, with talent, passion for the old toys, and a desire to expand, I think it would be a fantastic line of toys with endless possibilities and also a great source of nostalgia. Additionally, as I mentioned, a nice coffee table book full of well-curated unused transforming robot/mecha concepts over the decades starting at least with the late 70s onwards would be the bee's knees and perhaps provide fuel for a fledgling Convertors II line as well. I can dream.

I've known about the Beetras art for some time now, but seeing it again always fills me with wonder at how much transforming robot art is really out there, as I'm sure, especially during the genre's heights in the 80s, there must have been numerous concepts with only a fraction of them ever leaving the sketchpad, easel, etc to be made into toys or models. All that unknown, unused art would make for a great book. More than Transformers, I love the very concept of transforming robots, especially when the alt modes are highly relatable in their realism (of course, I happily set aside this preference for such as the Dinobots, the Insecticons, or something like Skyfire). The dreamer in me would love to see so many of those unknown concepts come to light, and for some enterprising company(ies) to make toys or models out of them. The Convertors line was cool in that regard, as they took transforming robot designs from numerous sources, scaled them all to match, and made a fairly decent range of inexpensive toys. With the cost of everything now, replicating that would be far more challenging, but I'd happily welcome a Convertors II line that essentially updated all their old toys while adding new ones. That said, I can't say we're not spoiled for choice right now, especially with all the third party and independent companies churning out transforming robots at a good clip. I just think it'd be neat to see what could have been back in the day.

Not Silverbolt, but certainly empathetic to his cause. I was, in fact, thinking of Blackarachnia, although her alt is an arachnid, not an insect. Guess I'll amend my post to say "robo-arthropod" as a catch-all for our multilegged friends.

Hey now, labels are hurtful! Who's to say a bot who just so happens to have a robo-arthropod alt mode wouldn't or couldn't be good?

I'd love to see the whole lot get updates. Since they essentially copied the Takatoku Cicada design with nary a fuss from Bandai, I don't see what's keeping them from creating new molds of at least the other three Deluxe Insecticons, although I wouldn't complain if they went beyond that and made some new Deluxe Insecticons based on these designs including that ladybug. I'd be in for all of them.