M'Kyuun

Due to release in March. Preorders up on the LEGO Shop. Interesting note: Joe Kyde, who designed LEGO Optimus Prime, designed this set. Compared to the previous excellent Tallneck, this set is geared for younger builders and yet still retains enough detail to make the machines easily recognizable. Looks like fun! Parts hounds and MOC builders like me will likely be excited for this new clip piece. I've been wanting something like this for a very long time, so I'm excited. I POed two copies just to have the second set for its lovely new parts.

FWIW, I tried a number of finger/thumb configurations and nothing was working. Every time I tried closing the panel with the rotating bit, it would push the hand such that it blocked the panel from closing. I know the hands were tucked in there when I first transformed it, so obviously they fit somehow, but I just wasn't having any luck, so I just removed them both and everything went together as advertised. I didn't plan on keeping it in fighter; I just wanted to go through the exercise of transforming it. I definitely wish they'd done some things differently, as the YF-21 doesn't really have that complicated a setup. Bandai needlessly complicated the backpack with that repositionable grey panel, the blue chunk of aircraft spine that needs to tuck through, the lack of natural stops or soft locking points for the shelf/intakes, and of course the need for an external brace to bear the weight of all that backpack in lieu of good engineering. I sound salty, and perhaps I am a little--disappointed more so. However, I do like the look of both modes, but especially battroid. I just never liked the look of Yamato's battroid with those skinny legs, so, despite its numerous warts, I'm satisfied with how the DX looks and the fact that it's stable. That said, I'd still love to see, in light of Bandai's release, what Arcadia would do with a new take. Given their demonstrable passion for Macross, and the lessons learned from the 1/60 and now Bandai's DX, I think it's safe to assume it would be an impressive release.

I wasn't aware of that; if anything, I always thought Europe and the UK would benefit from their proximity to Denmark, not to mention personal and professional ties to the Kirk Christiansen family in Billund. I know there were a number of airplane sets exclusive to European countries in the 80s and 90s, and I always just assumed that our neighbors across the pond enjoyed not only the range of sets available here in the Western Hemisphere, but additional sets as well in both themes and as exclusives. I'm sorry to have been so wrong and puzzled that the opposite seems to be the case. Anyway, I hope the rumor proves true and we get a minty fresh version of the Renegade to display next to our 10497 Galaxy Explorers, and it's available globally.

I very much appreciate the compliment. I have thoughts about doing a small excavator at some point.

Supposedly, there's another Blacktron set coming as well. Speculation is that it might be an update of the Renegade. That'd be fine, but if I had my druthers, I'd prefer an updated Blacktron II Aerial Intruder or Spectral Starguider. However, since we already got an updated Invader, oddly renamed to 'Cruiser', as a GWP, having the larger flagship from Blacktron would make for nice continuity. It would be most excellent to have that upsized to 1.5 times the original's size with design stylings mirroring those of the 10497 Galaxy Explorer. I'm not sure where I'd put it, but it would be a must-have regardless. If the rumors are true, I hope Mike Psiaki, 10497's designer, has a hand in designing it, too. Mike's an absolutely brilliant builder.

Whoa, first I've seen this. Looks great! Space is and has always been my favorite LEGO theme and I'm excited to see the transition of City Space from grounded semi-realistic stuff like shuttles and rockets to this more futuristic sci-fi direction. Apparently the 2024 Space sets must have hit home with fans to see a continuation of the theme in 2025. I'm all in.

Considering this guy is also a deluxe, that Devastation Prime is alarmingly poor. My only gripe with Legacy United G1 deluxe Prime is the lack of paint apps to pick out his OG toy's sticker details, which at least are nicely molded in. One of these days I'll have to remedy that omission. Perhaps I'll do the same for my SS86.

Even more good news for me, as most of my valks see GERWALK only once during their inaugural transformation. After that, I'll on rare occasions go from battroid to fighter and back, but most of the time, my valks are dust collectors in the truest sense. I don't mess with them much, but I sure do love looking at them. GERWALK is my least favorite mode (I consider it a mid-transformation step more than an actual mode, but it's a Kawamori/Macross thing). I remember commentary about the DX YF-19's heels being different, and not in a good way. At the time, I was glad I'd bought the Advance, as the only other difference was the dual opening cockpits, which I could live without. When Bandai announced their YF-19, and I saw how similar they were, I remained content with the Advance as my YF-19 placeholder. Lovely beastie, she is.

I decided to transform mine to fighter and back today, and gotta say, @PointBlankSniper, yours and others' critiques aren't wrong on many counts. The gear is a huge question mark. Of all the issues this thing has, that was the easiest one to fix, as they absolutely had to know that there was no ground clearance with guns or packs installed and with a few design changes, they could have both given the struts enough length for ground clearance regardless of FAST pack configuration/gun installation and proper canon stowage with the wheels facing down. Too, those transformable gunpods are pretty big and I almost wonder if a separate team from the core toy team designed them and, after doing no crosschecking for compatibility, discovered that they prevented the gear from proper ground contact too late into production to make any meaningful changes. Or they knew and just didn't care enough to try. I'm using the molded gun holding hand for my copy's gunpod , so I removed it and flattened the fingers out on the left hand. However, no matter how I moved the left hand, I couldn't get the surrounding panels to secure- the hand was always in the way. So I removed it, and the panels all closed and secured nicely. Not sure why I couldn't get the panels to close with the hand attached as that's how it arrived and the panels were secured just fine out of the box. And yeah, I rotated the little blue bit inside the panel first, but it still wouldn't close. Fishing that blue spine block through is a bit of a pain, but I finally got it. Finally, I had trouble getting the forward pointy bits of the engine nacelles to slide up into their battroid position. After consulting Anymoon's transformation vid, I was able to get it to slide north into place, although I'm still not quite sure what was blocking it from moving initially. Anyway, while it's far from the worst or most difficult thing I've ever transformed, it's not really fun, either. It's a bit finnicky, somewhat unpleasantly so in some places, but not so bad in others. I still love the foot stowage solution and those big bulbous lower legs. I still think it looks pretty good in battroid, even if I feel a pang of disdain over the need for the external brace to keep its saggy backside in place. Regardless, I doubt I'll be transforming it again anytime soon. I have plenty of toys that are much more enjoyable to transform, and I generally don't mess with my larger figs anyway, mostly out of fear that I'll ham-handedly break something. For now, the DX does a respectable job of filling the void next to my DX VF-19 Advance in my Detolf, completing my Macross Plus display. And yeah, I know the Advance was technically in the Macross Frontier movie Sayonara no Tsubasa, but its resemblance to the YF-19 is close enough to function as my YF-19 stand-in in my Bandai valk collection.

Man, I always miss sales. TBF, however, like the previous '89 Batmobile, this was high on my LEGO Batman want list. and I did not hesitate to get it ASAP. I'd love to see them do the Arkham Knight Batmobile with all the functions intact. Like the Tumbler, it's one of the Dark Knight's more notably unique rides. I'd love to see the Speed Champions Team tackle some of these Batmobile designs with a greater eye towards scale and accuracy. That, I think, would be a pretty impressive collection. On the subject of Speed Champions, I'd also love to see them branch into sci-fi and anime designs like the Spinner or the Mach 5. It'd make for an eclectic but great looking collection of vehicles from various media. I recently finished a MOC and thought I'd share a few pics. Apologies in advance for my poor photo skills. The cab has limited articulated steering and the bed can, of course, tilt up to nearly 90 degrees. Transformation is fluid without parts-forming, and the mecha is fully articulated including a waist swivel which is not readily apparent in these pics. Sharp-eyed folks will notice the proton pack detail behind the cab; I bought a few of those printed tiles and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to use one for detail. In total, this represents about a month's worth of work designing, accruing parts, and finally building the model. I'm rather enamored with it, and I dig the mecha's unusual proportions. For some reason apropos of nothing, Cruel Angel's Thesis often played in my head while I was working out the final bugs of the design. It doesn't look at all like an Eva, but there was some subconscious inspiration regardless. Hope you enjoy.

Yeah, but ya know, having grown up watching the show, it's close enough to fool me if you told me otherwise. Whoever they tapped to do it, he's pretty close to the mark. I wish the messages were more like "Michael, I'm sensing danger ahead" or ,"turbo boost engaged" followed by the turbo boost sound effect. The screeching tires effect is ok, but the turbo boost was really the draw. "Thank you, sir" is really apropos of nothing and a bit lame, as phrases go, considering his capabilities and the references that could be made instead. Despite my criticism, however, he's one less crossover wishful realized, and the fact that he has lights and sounds for the first time (it would've been cool to have the siren for Ecto-1) in a crossover figure opens the door for future releases to receive similar features. At the end of the day, I get to hear KITT say a few lines, hear and see his scanner cycle, and get to turn him into a pretty decent looking robot, all things considered. Too, they did a far better job with weapon storage than most releases, so I'll give them props for that as well. So, my hood panel indeed snaps decisively flush into place without the need for excessive force. Sounds like tolerances are a bit here or there for this fig. The back shoulder hinges indeed "thoop" into place as well. The shoulder fender hinges also "thoop". Despite all these requisites being met, there is still some form of resistance to the hood plate going down flush into its alcove to lock on that grey tab. I have to press very hard to get it to want to go down to where it's flush and the grey tab overlaps the slot in the hood plate, but once I release said pressure, it pops right back up to where you see it in my picture. Perhaps something is pinned just a hair off and it's causing the resistance; I don't know. What I do know is that it doesn't function exactly as advertised, but I've at least got it to a point where it's holding together whilst moving the shoulders, which is an improvement over my initial transformation results. I can also remedy the problem by holding the hood section with one hand while moving the arms with the other insuring that any torsion from moving the arms is negated thus preventing that tenuous abdomen tab from loosening any further. I chock it up to some assembly error where a pin was drilled off from the mark by a mm or two or some similar scenario that created a tolerance issue. It's inconvenient and annoying, sure, but not so egregious that it ruins the figure for me. I keep working that hood tab into place with every subsequent transformation so hopefully whatever the source of resistance, it wears over time without breaking the figure. I plan, as I do with the vast majority of my figs, to keep him in his bot mode, so hopefully time and the environment will help it to hold together. I can move the arms now without the hood coming undone, so even though the tab is somewhat tenuous, it's doing its job now and that's progress. 👍

Addressing your left arm issue, mine was also popping off yesterday when I transformed it the first couple of times trying to move the arm to clear the fender to swivel it out. I think the issue was due in part to the tightness of the rotating fender piece. I transformed it today and managed to do so without popping the arm off for the first time after about three transformations total. It's progress. Well scratch that. I just tried transforming the upper body to prove the point and that left arm popped off twice on me. It's definitely not on there as tight as my right shoulder, which has yet to pop off once. I can manage to stow the arm without popping if I keep my index finger on the wheel and my thumb on the shoulder and move it carefully into position. If I try to do it by just grabbing the arm, it pops, at least the left one. The right shoulder seems more forgiving. I'm thinking it's probably a slight mold issue between the ball and the socket. Anyway, once attached, the shoulder seems snug, which I can live with. Knowing that it's sensitive to how and where it's handled, I'm hoping to avoid popping it off too many more times to prevent undue wear. I generally don't handle my toys much, anyway, so I think it'll be ok for the long run. I put batteries in it today and played through its various sounds and messages with the wife, who also grew up in the 80s, although she was only about three when Knight Rider first premiered in '82. It brought smiles for both of us, although I think the nostalgia runs deeper for me, as I was about eleven years old when KR first turbo boosted into American living rooms and brought us along for the ride. Like most 80s kids, I ate up shows where some sort of souped-up vehicle was the primary draw, and KITT was no exception. Never was crazy about the "buddy' stuff or The Hoff, really. It was always about the car and the tech. Bonnie the lovely technician was rather pleasant, too. 😁 I've since been able to get it to 'lock' in, but it's not the definitive 'snap' that one would wish for on such a crucial tab. As you can see in the pic, the grey tab is somewhat slotted into the black hood piece, if only barely, and it will neither stay all the way down flush nor center without great force applied from above. I don't know what's acting upon it to prevent it from going down nice and flush and wanting to stay that way, but at least this is better than what I was able to achieve after my first transformation. Thus far, it seems to be holding together to where I can move the arms without the hood section just flipping up from the shoulder friction. It's tenuous at best, but so far effective.

Got my copy of Agent Knight today (earlier than projected, thank you very much, Amazon Prime) and I cannot get the central bit of his hood, which folds inwards similar to the ER Datsun design, to snap into place within the grey part of his abdomen. The back hinges softly snap into place, but without that front one anchoring it all together, any arm movement just flips his chest up a bit (the shoulders' ball joints, thankfully, are quite tight), but without his abdomen snapping securely, I have to hold down the front of his hood while making any arm movements. It's a bit of a bummer but there certainly could have been worse issues. I haven't had the opportunity to get batteries for him yet, and while I generally abstain from doing so with electronics in my toys, my nostalgia runneth over and I just want to see and hear that sensor and hear KITT's voice, whether it be William Daniels or a voice actor doing a decent imitation. So far as his transformation schema goes, @JB0 gives it too much credit even as a low budget Alternator or Binaltech, of which I own quite a few from back in the day. Those toys were more complex, featured at least partial vehicle interiors with apropos details, opening hoods or bonnets with engines (generally the folded weapons), steerable front wheels or all wheel suspension in the Jeep Wrangler's case, and in most cases opening trunks or boots. Alas, as a line of licensed vehicles, the bot modes oft suffered, especially in articulation and poseability, but they had a complexity of design that predated and was characteristic of early Hasui-era Masterpiece. Agent Knight is much more in line with current mainline Transformer carbots: his upper body transforms similarly to the Earthrise Datsuns' and the lower half like the WFC or ER Sideswipe's mold. It's a very straightforward transformation, especially if you've handled either of the aforementioned figures. I don't ding it for its simplicity, as it fits with the other crossovers thus far, at least the ones I own. It's a niche collectible sort of thing that taps into 80s nostalgia, and I'm happy that Hasbro has pursued the line, even if some, like the X-Men's Blackbird, left a little to be desired. I hope we eventually get an '89 Batmobile and Airwolf in this line. I'd take Blue Thunder, too. And though it's a more recent design, a Tumbler would be really cool, too.

I know Mr. Todd's work, or I thought I did, primarily by his eponymous role in Candyman. I never realized how much of a presence he had in Star Trek, and I know that I've seen his performances in at least a couple of the series from the 90's into the millennium. He was also Dreadwing in Transformers: Prime, one of my favorite TF series, and yet I didn't remember his performances in anything except Candyman. Realizing the scope of his talent and influence throughout media that I've enjoyed immensely in my life, I tip my hat to Mr. Todd with gratefulness for his many contributions, and by all accounts, for just being a humble and pleasant human being. Gone too soon. RIP.

Glad I checked in- I recently switched banks, and although I changed my info on Amazon to reflect, they still cancelled my Agent Knight due to incomplete payment. After checking, sure enough, my card info is there and correct. Go figure. Anyway, reordered it as a "Buy now" option and it went through without a hitch. Should be here next week.

Although I pointed out a number of issues with which I take a certain bit of umbrage, I watched progress, or the lack thereof, on this toy over the span of about 5 years, as it was first revealed in 2019 and the criticisms on this board came hard and fast. As the years passed and the DX YF-21 looked like it was going to become vaporware, suddenly Bandai started showing it off again and announced it'd be going up for sale at such and such time. Once again, folks here piled on with their varied nitpicks and niggles. The backpack requiring an external brace was a later revelation which also sparked ire (for good reason). Anyway, By the time the PO window came around, I think most of us knew what we were getting, as little had changed over the intervening years, and stuff like the backpack brace and heavily partsforming delimiter mode only added fuel to the fire. Still, many of us preordered our copies. The bent head lasers and other reported breakages only added more fuel to the fire for those who got bad copies. But as far as the core toy went, we knew what we were getting. As such, I'm not as 'triggered' by its numerous faults. I'm not happy about them, and I vehemently wish Bandai had fixed a few things before going into production, but I knew and I bought it anyway. Fortunately, my copy arrived with a straight head laser and no breakages. I'm one of the lucky ones. In hand, I found the transformation to be fairly accommodating (sliding the backpack bits was a sticky affair initially, but with persistence, I got it), and overall, I rather like the look of the battroid. Don't get me wrong; I absolutely despise the use of an external brace to hold up all that backpack, and that big gap between back and pack beggars how it ever got beyond the drawing board, but proportionately, including the length of the thighs, it looks fine to me. Note that in Kawamori's art, the thighs are bent forward slightly and that angle could serve to foreshorten the thigh somewhat. That art, too, compared to two practical models of the YF-21 illustrates just how much license is at play. Some variance in the practical models is to be expected, especially the length of the forward fuselage forming the torso, and we definitely see that in comparison. We have similar issues in the Transformers world, where the old G1 Sunbow show leaves much to be desired in terms of toys based off of such inconsistent and variously (dis)proportionate animation. If the YF-21's thighs bother you, Transformers will give you apoplexy! 😄 Anyway, there's no doubt it's a mixed bag and various things about it resonate differently with each of us, probably more towards the negative inclination; however, from my perspective, I wanted a YF-21 that looked proportionate in battroid, at least better than the old Yamato, and that enjoyed some stability while standing. Bandai delivered that and I'm happy to have it in my display. It's certainly not perfect and one hopes Arcadia is still with us and have designs for a new improved YF-21, but their silence has been dismayingly deafening. Whatever your ideas, share them in the best way you can muster. One need not be an engineer or a designer to create. For my part, I always thought an interesting idea for compacting the legs sideways would be to have the outer calf bulges be separate hinged panels that fold into the fighter's interior when the legs are stowed. Even shaving 4 or 5 mm from the width of the legs in such manner would help thin them out a bit for a shallower fighter profile. I will add, however, that I always thought it a monumental waste of space to have those nacelles above the legs and not use them for leg storage. I like that solution, even if it did increase the width of the nacelles on the DX thus making the gap between them shallower, which is inaccurate to the line art. I can live with it; I prefer the practical solution, as well as Bandai's using the calves to hide the feet- pretty brilliant innovation, that. Good luck getting your copy into delimiter mode. I have zero interest in doing so, in fact I only made a half-hearted attempt to attach the FAST packs. Mine went from fighter to battroid and right into the Detolf next to my DX VF-19 Advance, also sans FAST packs. I generally prefer my valks unadorned. Again, good luck and I look forward to your thoughts.

@PointBlankSniper Looks like you're a relatively new here, so welcome to MacrossWorld! ( just in case no one else bid you a proper greeting.🙂) Do yourself a favor and take the time to watch Macross Plus. I prefer the OVA, but the movie's really good, too. It was my proper gateway into anime and Macross in general, and I consider it still one of the best anime I've ever watched. You've dissected this toy with the eye of a designer or perhaps an engineer, perhaps with a background in aviation. Your use of "longitudinal" perked my ears. I'm a retired Air Force aircraft mechanic, so I know a term or two. I like the toy ok, but you're certainly not wrong regarding your critiques; this thing could and should have been better, especially for the asking price. Bandai definitely put more thought and effort into their VF/YF-19 toys, but Guld's ride seems like a first pass and then done; as you say, enough to be functional, but little beyond. It's a shame because it's a cool design; however, I think it's always going to be a difficult one to bring to fruition as Kawamori san was quite liberal with his use of "anime magic", to borrow an oft used phrase, to adjust the proportions of various aspects of the design to fit each mode. The result is a nigh impossible thing to recreate in three dimensions without concessions and fudging. I'm not excusing Bandai; there are plenty of poor or questionable decisions in the DX YF-21's design, but my point is that any toy maker is somewhat hamstrung at the offset by Kawamori's art and its liberal use of artistic license. As I mentioned previously, despite its shortcomings, I still like the DX, as it presents well, IMHO (perhaps my bias overrides my better judgement), and it fixed the primary issues I had with the old Yamato: the too-skinny legs and wobbly hip joints. It has much improved stability over the old toy and the legs look so much better, more proportionately "right" relative to the whole. Battroid is my preferred mode for display, but as an aviation fan, the veracity of the jet mode matters. In the case of the YF-21, I can excuse a foreshortened forward fuselage to better accentuate the proportions of the battroid so long as the concession is reasonable. Yamato had a better solution which Bandai chose not to mimic. However, I think the DX's nose looks ok; not everyone shares that assessment, and if you're more of a fighter mode fan, as most Macross fans are, you're entitled to disagree. I think the compromise works for both modes without detrimentally affecting either. Again, Kawamori drew the nose far too small in battroid and drew the limbs quite large by comparison necessitating compromise on the part of the toy designers. On any YF-21 toy that eschews partsforming to achieve 'perfect' accuracy to the line art, the nose is always going to be too large in battroid if it is made to be reasonably proportional to the rest of the aircraft. In the case of the DX, it may be slightly undersized to benefit the battroid, but the fact remains that it will nigh invariably be larger than drawn. Concerning your observations about the back and neck, specifically the pegs and tabs thereof, I haven't handled my copy since receiving it, and my memory fails. I do remember that the backpack is massive as well as the so-called "shelf" ('collar plate' in your words) which attaches it to the battroid's back to form the shoulder plane. The inexplicable enormity of the shelf also causes the large gap between back and backpack, one of a number of issues with this toy in that area. The weak joints that cause the backpack to droop are another issue, and Bandai's terrible decision to use a partsforming bracket to shore the thing up was most egregious; for the price and for the pedigree of Bandai's capabilities, this thing should not have had any partsforming whatsoever-the very idea should have been absolutely verboten. Alas, decisions like this that ended up in the final product manifest Bandai's lack of caring. They knew it would sell regardless and simply rested on their laurels. Concerning your observation that the shoulder plane inclines too steeply; according to the line art, it should angle downward slightly from back to front. IIRC, the Yamato 1/60's intakes inclined as well. That's actually one of the design features I like about the YF-21's battroid. The design aspect I absolutely hate is the method of storing the legs in a shell-forming manner rather than utilizing them as the primary or even secondary powerplant as with the vast majority of Kawamori's valks. A lot of grief and concessions could have been avoided had he simply designed the legs to, like the Legioss from Mospeada, rotate and lie flat forming the vast majority of the fuselage behind the intake section minus the accursed belly plates. Ah, perchance to dream. Anyway, it sounds as if you have a project in mind to address all these issues. It's my hope that you'll share your progress or at least the fruits of your ruminations and labor with us. The YF-21 is an interesting and unique beastie amongst the menagerie of valks, and to see different solutions to the various challenges it presents is always fascinating and enjoyable. If indeed you're working on something, I wish you every success. Cheers! Credit to anymoon.com for the pic. Credit to macross2.net for pic

Perfectly fair. The reports of Fioravanti's challenging nature are not exaggerated. I messed with him for the first time since getting him tonight to do my review and managed to break one of his seats (they're on little sliders and my one seat wouldn't budge so I applied a little more force to it and the little plastic loop that let it slide broke). Also, one of the retractable headlights covers came off, so I'm going to have to reglue it back on. Breakages aside, it's not a fun or easy transformation, especially the legs, and handling it, you find yourself wondering why on Earth they made it that way when there are certainly easier ways that accomplish the same thing. Anyway, Yaguchi is quite a bit simpler to transform. I'm hoping their Camshaft will be as well. Oh, I'm all in for mainline versions. Evan Brooks mentioned wanting to do them in a stream, so I'm hoping he gets his wish. I'm guessing Hasui san would probably want to get in on that too. They're way overdue some official toys and Legacy is the ideal venue. Digits crossed. I've got my eyes on them purely from a curiosity position. I dig that they're doing something different with such established characters. However, I haven't the space for much of anything anymore, let alone another MP scaled Devastator. I still have ToyWorld's Constructor, and while it's a bit dated, it's fine. I'm wondering where I'm going to put SS86 Devastator, and potentially Superion depending on how the jet modes turn out (little faith, I'm afraid). Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing how Mech Invasion's take on Devy pans out and any future combiner projects they feel like putting their stamp on.

It's interesting to see such a different take on a character, or rather characters, as iconic and popular as the Constructicons and their gestalt form, Devastator. Curious, like most, to see how Scavenger and Bonecrusher turn out as well as their alt modes and the final combined mode. So, I've been a vocal fan of the Omnibots and the need for updates for years. For those unaware, the Omnibots originated as mail-order promotions for three additional Autobot reinforcements from Cybertron named Camshaft, Downshift, and Overdrive, each sold separately for $5 and four Robot Points, the latter of which adorned every package of Transformers toys. Good ole 80s. The toys themselves were, like all the first season Autobots, Diaclone toys, however, much like Tracks, these three also featured tertiary "battle/flight" modes in their vehicle modes. While the Transformers Wiki informs us that Takara planned a Downshift update from the old Generations Wheeljack/Tracks mold, it lost out in a popular vote and neither he nor his Omnibot compatriots ever got new toys, more's the pity. Thus, to wit, in the forty years of Transformers toylines, nary a single updated toy of these three characters has been released until third party XTransbots took up the challenge. Thus far they've made Overdrive and Downshift, with Camshaft yet to release. I've had my copy of Fioravanti (Overdrive) for about a year now, and I just received Yaguchi (Downshift) on Saturday. I'm not sure if @mikeszekely, our resident review Meister is getting these guys, so I'll make a poor attempt. I'm only going to review Downshift (I'm just going to use the actual TF names rather than the pseudonyms from here onwards) in any depth, although I'll include a few pics with Overdrive for comparison. Downshift's alt mode is a Toyota Celica, or Celica XX in Japan. I'm not a car guy, but it looks pretty good to my untrained eye. The paint apps are well applied, the exhaust and rims are chromed, the doors can open (normally) and the retractable headlights can be raised and lowered. The white paint has a subtle metal fleck appearance that looks nice, to me anyway. Unlike XTransbots' take on Overdrive, Downshift lacks any realistic cabin interior details, sadly, but understandably due to the waist taking up all that space in car mode. Additionally, although I didn't apply a faction symbol, there's a rotating panel in the left side of the hood (from interior POV) that will allow either plain white or faction symbol to be shown to match the G1 toy. Battle mode: Unfortunately, I couldn't locate my G1 copy's weapons, so I posted a pic from the internet for reference. I appreciate that XTransbots made the doors open conventionally as well as their downward gullwing configuration. His magnetic guided rocket launchers situated on the doors and his rust rifle (more like a pistol, but semantics) mounted in the overhead cabin hatch match the G1 toy. The rocket launchers, nicely chromed like his rifle, extend a little for deployment. Unlike the G1 toy, the rockets are permanently mounted to the doors. The rust rifle has two pivot points built in allowing it to fold 180 alongside the handle and allowing the barrel to also fold so that it can be stored in its battle mode mount and then retracted with a bit of finagling. It's a bit of a tight fit, but it'll go. G1 Downshift in Battle Mode. With XTransbot's Overdrive Bot mode: Undoubtedly, he looks like G1 Downshift, down to the G1 toy's decal-esque paint on the forearms, inner elbows and waist. Full disclosure, Downshift is the only G1 Omnibot I own, and I've always had a soft spot for his design and aesthetic. IMHO, XTransbots nailed it, at least from the front. From the side he's quite hollow due to the lion's share of his cabin space occupied by his waist and upper thighs in car mode. To try and ameliorate the gap, XTransbots built in a couple small flaps into the lower door rails that extend into the body cavity, but they do a poor job of filling in all that gap. Even the centimeter or two of faux side windows don't fill enough space to eliminate the area vacated by the waist. However, due to the liberal use of die-cast, he has surprising heft. The four folding panels comprising each of his heels, his thighs, and the center portion of his waist/crotch are all die cast making him a deceptively thin but heavy fellow. At least the die cast is low on the body which helps for stabilization. Too, it's in places that won't stress the plastic or joints around it, so points for judicious use of alloy. To alleviate the need for partsforming his rocket launchers as the G1 toy did, XTransbots elected to use two permanently mounted sets, one on his doors, which can be readily seen in bot mode, and a pair properly mounted to his back windshield hoody. The hoody launchers, like the doors', can extend a bit in bot mode and need to be retracted for alt mode. Should anyone choose to get a copy themselves, take care as the forward part of the rocket launcher is only attached by a small thin plastic rod and can be pulled off if you try to extend the launcher by pulling the front piece (learn from my mistake). It's advisable to only push from the rear to extend them and then push the front to retract them for car mode. Articulation: Downshift's hoody launchers are on mushroom pegs allowing them to rotate up and down as well as swivel up and down relative to the shoulder. His head is on a swivel joint allowing for very minimal up or down movement (really wish he had more of both) and a neck swivel allowing for 360 rotation. It's a pretty tight joint on my copy, and the close quarters hoody and its support struts make turning it all the more difficult. There are butterfly joints at the body which impart about 20 degrees of arc. However, the back wings (i.e. doors) hinder backward movement a little, and the shape of the shoulder block prevents any forward butterfly when the arm is extended forward, as it hits the faux side window. It's a shame they didn't make a cutout in the faux window to allow use of that butterfly more fully. Shoulders can rotate 360. There's a bicep swivel for 360, although the aft fender panels attached to the upper arm may impede. The fenders can be detached and adjusted a little on their transformation linkages. There's a double elbow allowing for 180 degrees of bend (for transformation, but when it helps bot mode, it's a plus). The hands can swivel at the wrist, They can also bend outwards about 5 degrees, but no bend inwards, at least on my copy. The thumb can rotate on a single joint at the base, the index finger can rotate independently, and the other three fingers are molded together and also rotate on a single pin at the base. He has slightly curved "piano" fingers which work well enough. Both palms are slotted to admit the tab on his rust rifle's handle, and he holds his gun just fine. He doesn't have forward ab crunch, but due to its also being the waist folding joint for transformation, it can bend back a few degrees before hitting the lower door rails on his back. The waist can swivel 360. The hips are mounted to the interior crotch bit, like Earthrise Prime, allowing him to high kick a few degrees past 90 both fore and aft. The hips can abduct a touch past 90 degrees. I forgot to mention it earlier, but the shoulders can also abduct a little past 90. The knees are double jointed, but only bend a couple degrees past 90. The ankles are on a set of double hinges allowing for about 5 degrees inward tilt and about 10 degrees fore and aft. His door wings can rotate a few degrees but they're intended to essentially remain in place due to the hoody tabbing into them with a couple very small tabs. The door rocket launchers are mounted on swivels allowing them to rotate up and down a few degrees. It kinda would have been cool had they been on armatures allowing them to be aimed straight ahead under the bot arms, but in keeping with the G1 toy, they only have minimal movement for Battle Mode. Overall, Downshift's articulation is above standard, making for a fun poseable fig. I wish his head had greater up and down range for more dynamic posing, but I'm pretty pleased with what XTransbots have done. Transformation isn't nearly as painful as their Overdrive's, and fairly follows the G1 toy's albeit with a little more complexity and a whole lot more moving parts. The decision to have the waist and upper thighs fold into the body is a departure and hurt the bot mode due to the resulting hollowness. While I generally don't like faux parts, when they're used judiciously, as it is here, the faux windshield and side windows in bot mode complement the body shape better than had they used the actual windshield, which ends up as an extra bit of kibble on his hoody, basically a sunroof for his noggin. The heels are large and boxy and not the most aesthetically pleasing but they're filled in and provide stability. Overall, I'm pretty happy with this guy. I'd love to see other companies tackle the Omnis, especially Has-Tak for the mainline and even the MPG line. I wouldn't mind seeing some legends takes as well from Magic Square and Newage. Until then, I'm grateful to XTransbots for taking a gamble on a trio of forgotten toys and giving them new life. They're not perfect, but at least they exist and that's preferable to the alternative. I hope this is an enlightening and enjoyable look at XTransbot's Yaguchi (Downshift). Little gappy.

I'm hoping Arcadia will seize on the opportunity to produce a superior YF-21 toy that addresses all of the DX's weaknesses and looks damned good doing it.

I'd have to do a deeper dive to truly appreciate the scope of his work, but there's no doubt that iconic Star Wars poster must be one of his most well-known pieces. Out of the examples posted, it's the only one I know. That said, Mr. Hildebrandt had some serious talent, as he could paint in various styles, as the posted examples also testify, and from my limited experience, that's uncommon. Again, we remember another lost talent who touched the world with their art. RIP Greg Hildebrandt and thanks for adding beauty to the world.

Not the most elegant nor the most complimentary of storage options, but at least it's there. I wish integrated storage was the standard, from inception to production, an intentional hidden or integrated storage of bot weapons.

I'm embarrassed to say that, despite even the namesake, I was completely oblivious to the possibility that Megatron would be a retool of Megatronus. It would have to be a very heavy retool, but after you mention it, it seems rather obvious. I'm facepalming. From what I've seen, folks like BMac and Emily are often sharing the limelight a fair bit with the designers. Emily, in particular, stands out for her enthusiasm and her onscreen charisma; I miss her when she's not available to do the streams. While it's the designers I really want to hear from concerning the toys and their development journey, I find the marketers often contribute interesting BTS info as well as just infusing enthusiasm into the conversation. Sometimes the requisite marketing talking points can be a bit obvious and awkward, but for the most part, I still think these things would be diminished without their presence, personalities, and their nudging to keep things rolling along. That said, I think it'd be great to have just a round table with Mark and Evan and maybe a designer or two from TT (Hasui would be on my list for sure) just talking about dream toys and some tidbits on development, perhaps personal art (b/c all these cats can draw), or even showing us their collections. In short, it'd be neat to see them in a venue as fans doing what fans do. But yeah, circling back to the original topic, I don't wish to sell the marketing team short, as I've been impressed by their segue from just doing their 9-5 to media stars in their own rights, along with the designers, none of which probably ever thought live-streaming would become a regular part of the job. We may not agree that the Execs at Hasbro make the best decisions all the time (I still think they're reeling from Brian Goldner's passing), but making the marketers and designers the relatable faces of Hasbro as enthusiastic fans themselves was a brilliant idea. That those folks have been up to the task and have become celebrities of a sort to Hasbro's fans is a win for both sides. Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that LEGO started this trend a bout a decade ago and it made celebrities of their designers, two of whom have risen to tv stardom on LEGO Masters.

As always, thanks Mike, for wading through the quagmire of vitriol, entitlement, and gross disenchantment that seems to pervade the TFW boards and bringing us the pertinent news, reviews, prescient prognostications for what to expect in the coming months and years, and just for sharing your knowledge, support, and enthusiasm for Transformers. This thread would be greatly diminished without your constant inputs and I salute you for your efforts and presence, and for just being an all-around decent flesh creature. 😉 Happy to say Scrapper and Bonecrusher are preordered. I'm not into the lore as much as most TF fans, so the whole upcoming focus on the Primes isn't really grabbing me. The toys have always been the prime appeal of Transformers for me, pun oh so intended, so I'll wait and see how these figs turn out before mustering anything north of curiosity. TBH, with diminishing space in my house for my ever-growing toy collections (yes, plural), I kinda hope they look like crap to me 😄and I can pass on them without regret, but already Megatronus (The Fallen) isn't looking half bad. He has a better tank mode than most of the previous Megatron figs (SS86 Megatron's tank mode remains to be seen). Initially, I thought he was a partial of Tarn, but after looking at my copy and comparing to screenshots of Megatronus, it appears he'll be a completely new mold. I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I've been really enjoying Hasbro's livestreams and broadcasts to bring news to the fandom. It's rare to have that kind of engagement with a corporation, so the effort and ultimately the personalities of the various marketers and designers who host these things brings a whole new dimension of enjoyment to the hobby. I especially love the BTS development exposition and their constant deference to the brilliant folks over at Takara-Tomy who originally developed the concept and have since kept this toy line going for four decades now. While I'm guilty of complaining about this or that, for the most part I try to never lose sight of how fortunate we are that this franchise, my favorite out of all the various toy lines from the 80s, and there were many, continues to thrive giving us constant new updates and new characters to build out our collections, as well as new lore and media. It's easy to take it for granted b/c we're eating well, but it's obvious that Hasbro is facing challenges to keep this line going at an affordable level, so I remain grateful and hopeful that it will continue, hopefully long after I'm one with the Matrix.

😄 Haven't been to the site which shall not be named since before the stream, and it appears that I made a sound decision. I complained about the size, but honestly, as you mentioned, Scrapper is about Ironhide's size, so a large deluxe to be sure, and that's good. Articulation looks to be much improved with these figs, and they indeed come with guns. I don't get the fandom sometimes, a most fickle and difficult group to please. Thus far, I see little to complain about and much to rejoice over, especially regarding the previous CW entry which left much to be desired. I even passed on the slightly improved Japanese version; no matter how you polish a turd, in the end it's still crap. Well, let them whine and throw their tantrums; as you said, they're all bellyaching now but they'll be waiting anxiously to get their POs in tomorrow. 🙄 Thanks for that reference pic, Mike. I just so happen to have my Dinobots (in bot modes) standing right in front of Menasor, so I was able to get a rough idea how Devy would scale. Seeing Sludge there in comparison to a leg gives a good approximation, and yeah, compared to the animation, that's about right. Hopefully Devy will have opening hands that allow him to be posed holding Sludge over his head to toss him like he did in the Movie.