M'Kyuun

10 hours ago, Jasonc said:

This is by far the most fun Mospeada toy I've ever had. And I mean by far.

This and all the reviews thus far are really shining a positive light on this toy, and I'm really looking forward to the arrival of my copy. Moreover, in light of all the positivity and seemingly great sales, I'm hoping they continue to do interesting things with it. This is, AFAIK, the only time that creative liberties of this nature have ever happened with the Legioss design, and who knew that it could prove to be so versatile with just a few changes here and there. I hope they continue to explore the possibilities including, as @Black Valkyriementioned, some potential Transformers crossover action. After all, Transformers could do with some decent jetformers, and the Legioss design is ripe for crossover potential. 

4 hours ago, AbdnAllHope said:

I've found the legs are much easier to deal with if you open things up a bit. Pivoting the smaller nose wing part first allows you to pivot the chest, wings, and arms up out of the way. 

'Preciate the info. Seems a fairly straightforward toy to transform, although it does have some locks, like the crotch vent, that necessitate a certain order of operations so as not to break it. That said, hints like this are helpful.

1 hour ago, Black Valkyrie said:

It would be cool if they produce it in the Seeker colour scheme. 

 

I hadn't even considered that possibility but now that you mention it, I'd love a version in Skywarp's theme.

17 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

I don't properly remember how diver mode generally works, but I did take a good spread of fighter and bot mode pics.  

Honestly, these are so close in fighter that's hilarious.

Sentinel is 8.5 inches long with a 6.4 inch wingspan.  The Tomy is 8.4 inches long, with a 6.1 inch wingspan, though you could say the Tomy cheats on the length a little by not collapsing the feet quite as far.  Either way, they're just really close.

Height-wise, the Sentinel grows more, so it comes out about an inch taller overall, closer to 7 inches than the Tomy's roughly 6 inch height.

Overall?  The comparison I was expecting was something like a DX to an HMR.. but I think that's actually underselling both of them in a couple of ways.  The Sentinel feels incredibly over-engineered, but it pulls off the design amazingly, in ways no one had tried before.  The Tomy version just feels like someone decided to take more creative liscence with the transformation, and then asked "How can we do this for half the price?"

And I do not mean the Tomy feels cheap by that.  It's obviously simpler, but compared with the complexity of the Sentinel, it's also a lot more fun to mess with.  The Sentinel feels like a (very small) high-end collectible.  The Tomy just feels like someone wanted something fun to mess with in the same scale, and at a much more reasonable price.

I'd say they succeeded in that.  It's really enjoyable to transform, I just yanked it out of the package without even looking at the instructions, and was posing it in a couple of minutes.  It just feels like it could use a little paint on things like the landing gear (which do give the chest ground clearance, by the way).

Sadly one of my copies also came missing the yellow end-cap on the right arm, so I'm going to have to try and navigate HLJ's customer service about that one.  It's not a complex part, so maybe something I could also scratch up a copy of, but if these get released stateside, I might try service on that end.

Honestly, I'm kind of tempted to pick up more of these guys, they're just very fun.  I went and ordered a second copy of the back one when the reviews started hitting, but the green was sold out.

 

I haven't gotten mine yet (still in Japan when I checked tracking yesterday), but your description is quite apt compared to the several vid reviews I've seen thus far. Toyrise was going for a simplified, playable approach to the Legioss while still producing a faithful rendition of it and in that they succeeded. My main niggle remains the limited arc of motion for the font part of the feet, and the open forearms to a lesser degree. I figure some of these TF third parties might be able to address that as they do with so many TF toys. Small shame that all the little doors don't open on the legs to show the rockets, but it's a small sacrifice. The Sentinel does it brilliantly, and the Pose+ will, too, so I'm content with my high-end toys featuring all the bells and whistles while the Toyrise does what it was meant to do: be a fun toy first and foremost. I'm looking forward to getting my copy and I'm glad I decided to get the Omega, as the design appeals to me, I like the colors, and it'll be great to have a Legioss that's easier to transform and handle than the more complex and fragile-feeling Sentinel.

20 hours ago, Black Valkyrie said:

Maybe Takara-Tomy will do a TF-Mospeada crossover. 

The Toyrise is about the size of a leader class Transformer, so technically, since these first three Toyrise versions are non-canon, one could incorporate them into their Transformers collection if they so desired. Slap a faction symbol on there and make up your own head-canon.

7 hours ago, Scyla said:

"Childlike innocence creates the future…

 

 

 

 

 

…with guns!"

Only in 'Merica.

Hopefully for the crew the noted smell is as innocuous as an off-gassing of some material. I suppose different materials react to low or zero-G differently depending on their molecular makeup, and I hope that's the case here without detriment. They have enough to worry about without their space crapper causing issues. Digits crossed they have a smooth, uneventful flight going forward. Hopefully they'll get some great photos of the south pole and dark side, with some Floyd playing in the background for ambience.

6 hours ago, TangledThorns said:

 

Yeah, military flights sucks and probably why its good experience for astronauts. Never been in a KC-135 but did fly from Kodiak to Attu island in Alaska in a Coast Guard C-130 with some island hopping in between yet somehow I still feel like flying economy overseas is worse, lol. 

I liked flying on the old Hercy-birds. They could be a little cramped when fully loaded, however. The worst part of flying on 130s was the noise- you have to shout to be heard, even when sitting next to somebody. Just really loud. I always get a chuckle when they show people on Hercs in movies and they're all speaking in normal conversational tones in a nice quiet environment- definitely not the reality.

All of my flights overseas have been on military aircraft, although the quality of the ride depends on the airframe. KC-10, L-1011, and C-5 I'd rank as best- nice and smooth, very comparable to civilian flights. C-10 wasn't too bad either, although we were in seat pallets in the cargo bay. C-130 was ok- just loud with a lot of vibration, and the KC-135 has the aforementioned hot/cold issues that can make for a very uncomfortable flight. The 135 isn't too bad, however, if you can climb up on bins or baggage pallets above floor level where it's nice and toasty, perfect for a nice nap.

As to Integrity and her toilet issue, it's an unfortunate issue, but the description of the smell is one of electrical burning. That's perhaps not as unpleasant as a urine or feces smell, but it's worrying as there could be a more serious underlying problem, like a short somewhere, which could develop into a fire hazard, not to mention incapacitating the toilet. One hopes they're prepared for such an unsavory eventuality. Christina Koch is an electrical engineer, so it's extremely fortuitous for the crew that she's there, as she has the expertise to troubleshoot and hopefully repair whatever is causing the burning odor. That's my hope without further issues, at least from the toilet. This is one of those cases where simplicity may be preferable to an overly sophisticated piece of hardware that can break down spectacularly and irrevocably without the resources necessary to affect a proper repair. 

While they can vent their urine overboard (apparently the vent froze up and they had to rotate towards the sun to defrost it), apparently their poop makes the round trip with them. That seems odd to me, as exposure to space would desiccate it and they could just eject it overboard, too. Perhaps they want to limit the number of avenues for decompression, but I'd still think ejecting the fecal matter would be preferable to keeping it in a storage bin that could potentially develop a leak thus contaminating the interior of the capsule. 

Anyway, once they sort out the toilet, one hopes it'll maintain its, ahem, integrity. I'll see myself out.😁

Or a fully loaded KC-135 headed for deployment. Bonus, no floor heat, so if you're unlucky enough to be stuck in the jump seats, your lower legs and feet freeze while you overheat from the waist up. A water bottle left on the floor for a long-duration trip will freeze, so it's not the most comfortable flight. I guess the Integrity crew were getting cold in the capsule and they were working on bumping up their heat. That'll be a long ten days if the heater breaks. Jim Lovell and his crew survived with their heat very low to off, so one assumes it's survivable, but with everything else they need to do during the mission, I'd rather they be warm and cozy while doing it.

Let's be honest; these are all type A individuals, very intelligent, driven, and highly accomplished. Knowing that, I admire the modesty expressed by Christina concerning what they're about to accomplish relative to future missions and the graciousness they expressed towards the ground crews and unsung folks whose efforts contribute to making such an audacious feat possible. You can feel their excitement and their camaraderie is real, easy, and unforced, true professionals. Glad they're representing Earth and I hope theirs is a safe and exceedingly successful journey to the moon and back home.

8 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Take the copy you got from Pulse to the Walmart where you found Wheelie.  Tell them you don't have a receipt, but yours is missing a part and you just want to do an even exchange.  Having worked for far too many years in retail, I can tell you that Walmart will just send it back to Hasbro, so Walmart doesn't gain or lose anything on it.

I appreciate the advice, and I'm all too aware of Walmart's lenient returns policies having worked there myself a short while after I retired from the military. However, while the slingshot is a lamentable omission, I can live without it as long as the eventual Movie version comes with it. While I don't lay awake at night worrying for the Walton family (I think they'll get by), the amount of theft and abuse of the returns policies that I saw working there were appalling and I doubt that things have gotten much better, especially post-Covid. The Walmarts in my area have all hired full-time security, and we regularly have police officers inside or hanging out in their vehicles between the exits, Moreover, those in high-crime areas (like my old store) have taken to ensconcing most or all of their LEGO product s (and other high-theft items) behind locked glass doors, often still with Spiderwire. The necessity for such measures is sickening, and after only seven months of working there, my view of humanity darkened considerably. Given the world situation, I still find myself thinking we're a bit overdue an extinction event, one that just targets us and leaves everything else alone. Cynical, but an earned cynicism.

This isn't the first fig I've received from Pulse that was missing something; my copy of CW Seaspray, which I'd also seen on the pegs at retail beforehand, came missing a propeller. Maybe that's just my luck. Most of the time, however, my figs show up complete, so it's more of an annoyance than a serious issue.

Harkening back to your review of Devastation Bumblebee, I got my copy about a week or so ago, and yeah, he's quite an impressive little figure. The transformation kicked my butt for a minute, but I eventually sorted it out. I'd love it if they just remolded the toes to look more VWish, as everything is nigh perfect for a G1 Bee.

I made a Wally run early this morning and they had a peg full of Outbacks so I picked one up. They had one copy of Wheelie as well, but I've been waiting on the one I POed with Pulse and, sure enough, my copy showed up on my doorstep later in the day, so I have both now. While I'm not a big fan of Wheelie's character per se, I like his design, and I think this is a well-done figure in both modes. They really nailed the car mode, The bot mode, of course, looks like his toon incarnation instead of the fugly G1 toy's bot mode, a saving grace IMHO. Hasbro simply left various bits unpainted, like the knees, so I'll be picking up the SS86 version when it releases. My copy apparently came sans slingshot; I didn't pay particularly close attention to whether it was in the package before I opened it, but once I had it opened and extricated Wheelie, I noticed the absence of the slingshot, which was nowhere to be found after a search around the general area. Not the first time something was missing from a fig I bought from Pulse. Little frustrating, especially given the price of these things and Hasbro's odd insistence of addressing broken or missing items by sending random toys that decidedly are not the ones with which customers are having issues. So, I'm gonna hold out for the SS86 version, perhaps at retail, to ensure I get at least one copy with a slingshot.

Outback turned out really well. This is my first and only toy of that character, but the Brawn mold was done so well that I felt this was a worthy double-dip. I really like the mocha color they chose for him.

5 hours ago, RavenHawk said:

I've had a soft spot for those for as long as I can remember. I can still CLEARLY remember the moment I watched the first episode of Genesis Climber MOSPEADA (ok, it was Robotech:' New Gen).

Restricting my collecting to variable/transforming bikes fit a niche that brings me joy, and saved me space (and money).

Now, years later, I'm finding myself restricting limited space even more, basically to "ride armor" type of designs.

That said, yes, TFP Arcee and TFA Prowl are fantastic and just *chef's kiss*.

I still look forward to new things coming out, and Shinji Aramaki-related designs, MOSPEADA and BGC related items, and Aramaki-adjacent things (which is where I pigeon hole Zillion) still get my shelf space/wallet tears.

It would be so much more wallet (and space) friendly if I could narrow my transforming robot obsession to just a certain type, but I'm pretty equal opportunity in that regard. 😄 Glad for you that you found your niche and that, while not as prolific as other types of transforming toys, it's still fairly well-served across any number of anime and other themes/genres.

I didn't see RT growing up; that said, the Ride Armor never appealed to me and still doesn't. Case in point, when I bought the Monogram "Leader One" Legioss kit back in the 80s, they were also selling a Ride Armor kit decoed and marketed as "Cy-Kill". It just didn't strike a chord, and those kits, IIRC, were my introduction to Mospeada designs, although I didn't then know what Mospeada even was. I did, however, have the wherewithal to recognize that they were something other than Gobots designs. That said, the lovely "Leader One" went home with me and all those "Cy-Kill" models remained on the shelf. I will say if the "Cy-kill" model was even halfway as well-done as the "Leader One" kit, then I'm going to assume that it was a cool kit with some impressive features and articulation, especially for the time.

For reference: All transformers that were MOTORCYCLES | TFW2005 - The 2005 Boards

Some other notable Transformers bikes are TFA Oil Slick, an amazing figure with a lot of character; Combiner Wars Groove (a superior repaint of Takara's TAV-26 Override); 2009 Knock-Out whose bike mode is excellent while the bot mode sports a bit of annoying kibble, especially on the legs; 2014 Generations Chromia, a retool of the regular deluxe Prime Arcee mold; the excellent First Edition Prime Arcee; 2010's Hunt for the Decepticons Brimstone, whose classic bike mode is fantastic at the expense of his gangly, awkward looking bot mode; Energon Arcee, who was the very first official Arcee toy made by Hasbro and whose bike mode presents very well again at the expense of her bot mode; 2011 DotM Tailpipe, whose bike mode is interesting for its secondary flying attack mode. Again, the bot mode suffers a little but given the core-class size of many of these older transforming bike figs, the execution of the bot modes is often forgivable for how well the bike modes are. Wish the same could be said for their jetformers. Other notable bike dudes are the 2011 Reveal the Shield Wreck-Gar whose dirt bike alt mode is gorgeous, one of the most realistic and unique bike modes Takara/Hasbro have ever released. The bot mode was pretty good, too, although on my copy, the rivet on the right handlebar assembly was so tight that it broke the entire mount off and I had to superglue it back on. I don't think I've transformed it since. Love the look of it in both modes, though. And finally, SS86 Wreck-Gar and his Junkion repaint/retools, whose stylized bike modes and abilities to be ridden by their fellow Junkions (and other TFs), as seen in the '86 Movie, make them fun, cool, and interesting toys. The bike modes are pretty solid, too, which is always a good thing.

5 hours ago, Bobby said:

Great topic ... along these lines of bi-axial bliss I became partial to the Transformers Unite Warriors Afterburner (from the red Computron set),  Diaclone Tryverse Trirambler (in red), and MM03 Otomo from Unrustables (in red) all as homage to the Garland and Kaneda's bike – mods sorry off topic but we'd have to wait a 'zillion' years for more news on a tri-charger.

We've definitely veered off topic, and perhaps general transforming bikes are due their own thread. Anyway, I thought the Unrrustables were interesting designs although I never bought any. I prefer the G1 design for Afterburner over the Unite Warriors toy (I dig that funky 'futuristic' look to the OG's bike mode), and that Diaclone Tri-Rambler gives me huge Cy-kill/ Bike Robo vibes.

Concerning the Ride Armor, I think my biggest beef with it is that it's more of a folding bike whose various bits form some armor for the rider. It's not a mecha in the truest sense, not like the Motoslave, which can function autonomously without the rider, or the Garland variants which are true mecha designs.  That distinction, plus the fact that it's not really a great looking motorcycle, just turn me off to it. Now if it was more like the Motoslave, a complete armor sans driver, I'd be more receptive. That said, for those who like it, I'm glad they're being served with modern versions. 

back on topic, as to transforming trikes, honestly, I wasn't really aware of any until this thread. The Tri-Charger is interesting, if only for its rarity amidst the transforming bike genre, but I'm finding its overall execution to be much less refined than designs like the lovely Garland. I'm glad that Pose+ is making it for fans of Zillion, but it's an easy pass for me.

15 hours ago, Dangard Ace said:

Did Howard Wolowitz build that toilet?

 

11 hours ago, Big s said:

They had the budget to either get a rocket up or get a torpedo down.

😄

10 hours ago, JB0 said:

They got the toilet fixed. After turning it off and on again.
...
And then had problems connecting their tablets to Wi-Fi. 

"I have two Outlooks and neither one works." is now a sentence that was uttered across the gulf of space, as is "We're going to power-cycle the toilet."  The future is dumb. 
Possibly the most mundane problems in the history of space exploration, which I guess is a good thing.


Hopefully the working toilet means the number of times official mission transcripts include the phrase "there's a turd floating through the air" remains one. 

Amazing how much stuff can be fixed by recycling power. It worked on airplanes, too, a common "fix" for avionics and other electronic systems. I worked hydraulics, so a leak or some other related malfunction generally meant we were getting dirty. I imagine it's not so different for the space plumbers who actually have to tear into the toilet. I imagine they make a good salary but, ugh, not a job I'd wanna do. 🤢

Although it's far more spacious than the Apollo era capsules, it's still pretty tight confines for four people over ten days, and perhaps a little awkward for the solo female aboard. I suspect one of the normalcies of space flight is the shedding of modesty and shame, at least to a fair degree, when it comes to bathroom use and overall hygiene.  I feel for the astronauts who have to live in that environment for the duration of their trip, and for the poor folks on clean-up duty when they land, as I believe these new capsules are reusable. If not, it's going to a museum, so either way, it'll be in need of a serious wipe down. To paraphrase Alien, "In space, everyone can smell your crap".

I believe it was John Young who made the "floating turd" comment. I can only imagine the grimaces on the faces of NASA's PR people when that gem came across for all to hear. That was space reality, though, and it's awkward, funny, and poignant to have it memorialized in a transmission. Probably wasn't so funny when it was happening, though. Yuck!

I vehemently hope for a successful, uneventful launch. Far too much time has passed since we dared attempt this adventure, and while we're not yet putting boots in the regolith, a manned orbit is an exciting necessary step towards landings. Godspeed Artemis II!

I think this should be the standard method for fold-away hands across the board. It closes the arm up nicely and allows for wrist rotation at minimum. It should be THE WAY.

FWIW, I've never had any interest in MOTU, but this doesn't look bad to me, based on my anemic knowledge of the OG show. It's not something I'd go to theaters for, but I'd give it a watch on streaming.

 Got the shipping notification for my Omega about thirty minutes ago.  Seems like it's a pretty good figure and I'll be happy to have it in hand. Folks do seem to be enjoying it, along with all the possibilities it offers.

21 hours ago, m0n5t3r said:

Nobody trying to mod the unusually high-arched feet yet? 

Apparently not, which is my main beef with it. I also hope the gear offer at least a little bit of ground clearance for the chest.

5 hours ago, Froy said:

There goes the "it is not a toy" thing.

Yeah, that's such an antithetical statement, it's laughable on its face. Obviously, it's a toy, and people seem to be having fun toying around with it, as they should.

Thus far, I'm liking virtually everything about it, minus the hollow forearms, as Shawn pointed out, but especially those high arched feet. If they'd imparted another 20-30 degrees of forward arc to the feet, it would have looked so much better, especially in Diver, as you could really splay them. It's kinda hard to tell from the angle, but I hope the gear are long enough to maintain a minimal clearance from the ground; it sucks when the chest does the job instead. Transformation wise, the ease at which everything moves, lines up, and locks seems very well thought out, very much like some of the better leader or commander class Transformers figures. It looks great across all three modes. I like the use of the cockpit-adjacent leading-edge panels housing the shoulder guns; unlike the original Legioss with the fold-away shoulder cannon, these have the option to move so that they're not obstructing the head movement. Too, due to their being mounted on what appear to be ball joints, there should be a limited ability to make said guns track with the head rotation, which is pretty nifty. Finally, the modular aspect of the weapon accessories, and perhaps even with the chest bits, should prove interesting as one collects more of these, as it allows for all sorts of combinations between them.

I preordered my copy through Japan Figure, who I've never used before. Just waiting for the shipping notification. Kinda excited to get this thing in-hand as it actually looks like a fun toy to handle and transform, neither of which can be said about a great number of transforming toys these days.  And then in May, I believe, the Pose+ Legioss should be releasing, and that thing just looks amazing. 😍 So much Mospeada love all of a sudden- glad I'm here for it.

On 1/23/2026 at 11:29 PM, Chronocidal said:

At this point I'm just waiting for Bandai's separate lines to duke it out, and watch with popcorn as they put out a typical Mini-Yamato release for an HMR VF-17 that completely obliterates the sales of this abomination.

+1

I like the VF-171, but that toy had issues and it departs quite a bit from the VF-171, especially in bulk and proportions. I'm content with my Yammie VF-17 for now. I hope they'll do an HMR VF-17, and if they do, as you said, it'll very likely be a scaled down version of the Yamato just like their VF-4.

We really need another toy company dedicated to getting Macross right, as Arcadia is all but dead at this point, and while not everything they made was perfect, at least there was passion behind their products. We need a toy company with that kind of dedication again, as well as the finances to take chances on obscure designs along with the more popular ones. Bandai has the finances, but obviously, Macross is an afterthought.

I must confess, I was never a big Chuck Norris fan. In fact, The Way of the Dragon and Dodgeball: An Underdog Story (where he made a cameo appearance that I don't remember) are the only two films of his that I've seen. I saw the first Expendables film, but I don't recall seeing the second where he played a role (perfect genre for him, though). Anyway, while the world remembers him for his martial arts prowess and funny memes about his legendary toughness, I'm reminded of his military service in the USAF as an enlisted Air Policeman (Security Forces in today's parlance), serving two years at Osan Air Base,  Korea, where he discovered and earned his black belt in Tang Soo Do and proficiency in judo. After his tour in Korea was completed, he served out his remaining two years at March AFB, CA within the same specialty. He served from 1958-62 as a military policeman, separating as an Airman First Class (A1C). I appreciate his service to the country beyond anything he did on the screen, big or small.

On 3/18/2026 at 8:39 PM, Negotiator said:

I photoshoped the torso. I think the purple is really screwing up the squarish shape he's supposed to have. Curious, if some of you guys who swore off it would consider it if it looked more like this.

I had it POed, but canxed it after watching PvP's in-hand review. I was already set to pass on it and only POed it out of FOMO, the fear part being that this may be the last G1 Astrotrain we get for a long time as Hasbro moves on to other corners of the TF Universe to mine toy ideas. The G1 Astrotrain toy is the only official version I own. I passed on all the rest b/c none came close to what I wanted in a modern toy. I have the Fans Toys version, which is, IMHO, the best version of him out there in any scale, just a remarkable figure. Second place goes to Mech Fans Toys' Iron Sky, which at legends scale, also did a remarkable job of capturing and modernizing the OG toy with some toon likeness thrown in, a really good amalgamation of the two that's satisfying and good-looking in all three modes, a difficult task for triple changers. That this toy exists and did it so well (I own a KO of it) and could have served as an excellent blueprint for Takara to design from without fear of legal retribution, it's a shame they created this thing instead, which just sings of egregious compromise. TBF, though, SS86 Astrotrain's train mode looks alright, damn the other two modes. I tend to think along the lines of many other fans in that they should have just done an extensive retool on the Siege figure to address the shortcomings of its terrible train and shuttle modes. Siege Astrotrain's bot mode already looked great, and significant improvements to the alts would have been an upgrade worthy of purchase, IMHO. Anyway, I figure my cancellation is $60 saved with the hopes and many crossed digits that some third party will eventually release a CHUGL scaled figure that's a vast improvement over the lackluster SS86 figure.

Sorry, no amount of red paint on the abdomen is going to fix what ails this figure- it's just proportionally wrong with the leg kibble poorly engineered and unappealingly obvious on the legs. The chest, even properly transformed, doesn't look good or correct to either his toy or toon likenesses, the arms are too thin and he appears lanky rather than stocky. The Siege toy cuts a far more fitting look in bot mode; it's a shame that his alts fell so short with too many compromises.

13 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

As I've been telling you guys, the three Dr. Wu Insecticons are sold separately from each other, but each one comes packed with a different character.  And we're going to cover all three (and @M'Kyuun will want to tune in for this one), because they're the three Datsun brothers- Patrol Man (Prowl), Silver Lightning (Bluestreak), and Smoke Dust (Smokescreen).

For the most part, these guys came out pretty much how you'd expect.  Dr Wu prioritized Prowl/Bluestreak, so while Smokescreen does have a remolded chest and head he's got tires on the backs of his shoulders instead of the tops and otherwise retains the same proportions.  While I think they mostly look fine (Dr. Wu's figures have always had a bit of chibi proportions), I am a little disappointed in the overall fit of these guys.  The chest and backpack kind of just sit there.  They don't lock in, so it's easy to move them around when you don't really want to while handling them.  I don't know if the scale is too small for reliably sturdy locking tabs or what, but it leaves them feeling a bit half-done.

You may have noticed that Silver Lightning and Smoke Dust are equipped with their cartoon-accurate shoulder weapons.  It's most cartoon-accurate for Patrol Man to not have any shoulder weapons, but he does come with a set of toy-accurate ones.  Also, all three Datsuns come with the same rifle.

Articulation will be the same on all three figures.  Their heads swivel.  Their shoulders swivel and move laterally almost 90 degrees.  They have hinged elbows, not ball joints, so while their elbows bend 90 degrees they have no bicep swivels.  Nor do they have wrist swivels.  They do have waist swivels, though.  Their hips can move about 90 degrees forward and backward, and about 60 degrees laterally.  No thigh swivels.  Their knees bend 90 degrees.  Due to their transformations they have some up/down foot tilt, but no ankle pivots.

The rifles and shoulder weapons alike have tiny pegs on them.  These pegs can plug into holes near the shoulders, or in their fists.

Transformation follows a lot of the usual rules... the waists rotate, and the feet fold down and line up with the shins.  The roofs rock back and into place.  The chests lift up over their heads, and a flap folds over the gap the head passed through.  The arms tuck under the hood, and the doors close.  There is some novelty here, though.  The arms don't simply tuck up under; the backs of the forearms form part of the side of the car.  Flaps on the doors have to fold in to make space for the arms, but rather than fold flat they kind of sandwich around the heels.  You really have to make sure everything's lined up right before you squeeze them together.

All three feature painted windows and lights.  I think Patrol Man came out the best here; he's only really missing the badge on his roof.  Smoke Dust is mostly fine.  The "38" on his sides is too small, but that's so they could keep it on the doors and not the back of his forearms.  I personally would have liked some black or dark gray paint in the cutouts on his bumper, too.  Silver Lightning is caught between a rock and a hard place, though.  Dr. Wu opted to keep his legs an animation-accurate silver/light gray, but the side effect of that is that the the black that should run across the entire top stops just past the roof and side windows.  To be fair, that's how the Earthrise and MP toys did it, too, but for some reason the contrast seems more noticeable on Silver Lightning.

These guys can't store all three of their weapons, but the shoulder ports are still available on the hood of the car.  And it turns out that the pegs on the shoulder weapons are the same size as the pegs that make up the handles one the rifles.

My usual caveats about Dr. Wu's stuff is applicable here... they're not perfect, but I'm more inclined to forgive minor issues and subpar articulation on two-inch figures that come two to a pack for under $30.  They're still adorably tiny, relatively simple bots you can play with and pose with Titans or combiners to make them seem extra huge, and they still do so better than Hasbro's defunct Core-class.  That said, the lack of bicep swivels hurts more than the lack of thigh swivels or ankles, and the fact that the chest and backpack don't really lock into place is frustrating and makes them seem like they could have used a little more time to cook.  They're not the worst figures Dr. Wu has put out, but after some bangers like Magnus or the Fusos they're not the best, either.  Here's hoping the upcoming Lambos are a little more polished.

Indeed, my interest is piqued. My copies of Prowl and Kickback are on their way and should be here any day, but I appreciate the advanced review with all the pros and cons. I wonder why, on such a tiny fig, Wu didn't just give this mold ball jointed elbows. The non-locking chest is a bummer, too, harkening to the barely-there connecting tabs keeping his takes on Graphy and Noise combined. But, as you said, on such tiny bots, some forgiveness is in order along with acknowledgement of what he got right. I'm looking forward to getting these little guys in hand. I doubt I'll get any more, as I'm far more interested in Wu's cassettes, but these will be some nice novelty figs in my collection. Cheers for the review and the shout out, Mike!

Saw Big Convoy at my local Wally awhile back but I left it. I like BW and all, and while a Prime that turns into a mammoth should appeal, having had seen a review, it just wasn't grabbing me. Hope it brings more joy and fulfillment to you than it would've to me.

17 minutes ago, Hikuro said:

You know what I thought was better than this trailer? Steven Speilberg's TAKEN mini series. 

Yes. A very young Dakota Fanning turned in an impressive performance for her age. I haven't seen it since the original airing in 2002, but I remember enjoying it at the time. My memory is sieve, not bucket, so I remember little of it, but Dakota left an impression. Funny that Elle's making more of a splash these days than her older sister, as I always thought Dakota had the stuff to be an A-lister.

Disclosure day is filling me with a remarkable sense of "Meh" despite the caliber of actors and director involved. @Seto Kaiba's comments ring oh so true, especially his observations regarding the alien language and its relative similarity to the gurgles. I imagine it's challenging for sound people to come up with something that truly sounds alien, but perhaps this should have gotten the thumbs down (unless this was the best of numerous previous attempts and they finally just got tired of listening to clicks and pops). Funny how aliens' abilities always have to comport to human sensibilities. What if the aliens communicate in a frequency outside of human hearing, making them essentially silent to us? That, to me, is far scarier than snap, crackle, pop. Anyway, I agree that Spielberg hit his high note with Close Encounters of the Third Kind regarding alien stories.

Unless they introduce something else more intriguing in subsequent trailers, without giving the whole movie away, I'm thinking this is one for streaming.

5 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Agree to disagree.  To be fair, though, I'm not sure how well the finish on the green and purple parts is coming through on my photos.  As I said in my review, it's not the plain, flat green plastic that MMC used for their Constructicons, but it's not the in-your-face polished metallic that Fans Toys uses either.  It's just suggestive enough of metal to make it look like it could be a green construction turned into a robot, and not a plastic toy of a construction vehicle that turns into a robot.

Speaking of plastic toys of construction vehicles that turn into robots, when I picked up Gravedigger as part of a trade deal I also got X-Transbots' Razor, their version of Bonecrusher, too.

For a lot of people Bonecrusher is probably their choice for the least visually interesting Constructicon, because cartoon accuracy demands an almost entirely green dude, save for the head, hands, and some minor details on his chest.  And, for better or worse, that's what XTB delivered.  Minus a point on cartoon accuracy, though, for using silver of the rectangles between the red details on his chest instead of purple.

XTB also opted for a whitish paint on the round details on the sides of the legs.  Why?  In the cartoon they're green.

So I guess XTB decided to copy the most boring aspects of Bonecrusher's extremely boring cartoon design, but they didn't get it totally right?  To be clear, I find it odd, but I actually like Razor overall.  It's very minor deviations we're talking about on a robot that honestly does a pretty good job overall of capturing the cartoon look.  What's more, like Ground Bite and Gravedigger I think XTB really nailed the proportions.  This isn't always easy; we've seen a ton of 3P's skip actually putting the shovel on their Bonecrusher's chest, and when companies have go for a more traditional G1 design we've ended up with some really wonky proportions, like ToyWorld's version here or the official Studio Series toy.  What's more, not only did XTB do a pretty good job of doing a cartoon-accurate Bonecrusher with good proportions, they did it with one of the smallest backpacks I've seen on the character.

Razor comes with a couple of accessories.  As Devastator's other arm, he's got a chunk of that arm and a green connector part, just like Gravedigger.  He's got his expected gun and trumpet.  But he also comes with an extra head and some extra faces.  There's a cartoon yelling face, and a cartoon blowing face that go on his stock head, replacing his neutral expression.  Then there's a neutral face on a green head, and a replacement smiling face for the green head.  If I'm not mistaken, the blue faces with the yellow eyes are a Marvel somics thing.  I guess it's cool that they included the Marvel head, but in the Marvel comics Bonecrusher also had blue and white arms, blue hands and a blue pelvis, so you're not going to get a totally Marvel-accurate look (though, ironically, the silver rectangles on his chest is closer to Marvel-accurate than cartoon-accurate).

Once again, XTB is delivering on the articulation.  Razor's head is on a hinged swivel that doesn't have a ton of upward range, but his more downward range than Gravedigger.  His shoulders swivel and move a bit over 90 degrees laterally.  His shoulders also have a joint for transformation that, if you untab the shoulder from the body, you can use as a butterfly joint.  His biceps swivel, his double-jointed elbows bend 180 degrees, and his hands are identical to Gravedigger's (his wrists swivel, and they can fold back into a "stop!" pose, his thumbs have a hinge that moves the thumb across the palm with two other hinges for bending the thumb's knuckle's, and his fingers have hinges at the base with one additional knuckle hinge- the index finger is separate so it can point, but the other three fingers are molded together).  His waist swivels, and he's got an ab crunch that's just short of 90 degrees.  From the waist down he's basically the same as Gravedigger... his front hip skirts are hinged so his hips can ratchet 90 degrees forward, but the rear is fixed so his hips only get about 45 degrees backward.  They also fall a little shy of 90 degrees laterally.  His thighs swivel, and his double-jointed knees ratchet a little short of 180 degrees.  His feet can tilt up and down, and his ankles pivot about 90 degrees.

Also like Gravdigger, his pistol has a tab on either side of the handle that lets you plug it into either hand, but the trumpet on has a tab on one side and must be held in his right hand.

In broad strokes, Razor transforms like a lot of Bonecrusher toys.  The pelvis has to split and spread so the legs can become the treads.  The shovel has to get out in front, his head has to tuck in, and his backpack forms the roof of the cab.  And his arms have to shift into the space between his torso and shovel to form the bulk of the vehicle.  Where things get a big different is in just how much of his torso shifts outward with the shovel, so his arms are more like the top of most of the vehicle plus the grill.  I like how the shovel also expands, allowing for the more humanoid Sunbow proportions in robot mode but with an appropriately wide shovel for alt mode.

The end result is not quite as effective as Gravedigger, though.  The treads, shovel, and the top of the vehicle are mostly fine, but the bottom leaves us with visible gaps, leftover shoulder hinges, and the faux shovel hinges from the torso.  Plus, unless I'm doing something wrong, the torso bits don't seem to want to stay tabbed in, causing the back of the vehicle to pop loose.  Dark gray spot where the head was on the G1 toy is a nice touch, though.

Razor rolls, and the shovel has a little bit of articulation.  There's no steering column or controls, but there is a seat under the roof.  As with Gravedigger, there doesn't seem to be any way to store Razor's pistol in his alt mode.

In theory, the transformation to arm mode is a lot like Gravedigger's.  You have to open up the legs a little to work the partsforming shoulder joint between Razor's legs and around his feet.  Then, you take the other partsforming part part and slide it into the gap you made in Razor's pelvis when you spread it out for alt mode.  In practice, I have some concerns here.  On Gravedigger, the partsforming green joint and the rest of the arm actually connect together, and both are connected to Gravedigger, so the combined arm mode feels nice and solid.  Here, the partsforming green joint and the rest of the arm do not touch.  The result is that, while the green part seems very secure and I'm not worried about Razor falling off of the combined mode robot, the rest of the arm doesn't feel as solid.  I'd be worried that if you have this arm holding anything that the weight could cause the arm to slide out of Razor's pelvis, but I suppose time will tell on that.

Oh, and once again the arm part has the little storage cubby.  Interestingly, there's a small rectangular port on the inside of the flap that I don't recall on the arm that comes with Gravedigger (I suppose I'll have to double check that).  Turns out that the port is exactly the side of the bottom of the handle on Razor's pistol.  And note how it's kind of angled?  It seems deliberately designed so that you can plug the pistol in and have the right clearances to close the flap, locking the pistol inside.

Of the three XTB Constructicons I now own, Razor is my least-favorite.  Which, I supposed, kind of works since Bonecrusher is generally my least-favorite Constructicon.  His alt mode feels a little less polished and doesn't hold together as well, and since his combined mode basically is his alt mode all that carries over with the added worry that the forearm connection isn't going to be solid enough.  However, I've already indicated that I'm doing MMC for combined mode, and combined modes are always a separate review.  As standalone MP Bonecrusher, Razor's alt mode flaws are disappointing, but also completely outweighed by how good the robot mode is.  Especially when I think about how MMC is going to have to cram all the connecting joints and the entire gestalt forearm into their Bonecrusher... don't get me wrong, MMC's engineering is pretty amazing, but there have been little concessions to the all-built-in gimmick across both their Bruticus and their Defensor, so it's reasonable to assume their Devastator will have some as well.  I'm going with MMC because I'm banking on them being the best overall across all three modes, but I think there's a very good chance that Razor will wind up being the best individual Bonecrusher.  So I guess, based on my suspicion that MMC will be the best across all three modes, or even that FT will have a better Devastator mode and that's what most people will care about, you might be better off selecting a different set.  But if you're the type of collector that wants one set for combined mode and one set for the individuals, then I'd strongly urge you to consider Razor for your Bonecrusher. 

Showing the old ToyWorld figures next to the toony-smooth clean XTB Constructicons really shows how much liberty TW took with the designs. The TW figs were my first full set of Constructicons, and I was pretty impressed with them when I first got them. I remember their being one of the more popular options during the first 3P Constructicon wars, so in that respect, I'm in good company. I'm digging very much, vicariously, XTB's and MMC's takes on these guys and all that they're bringing to the table now. They're all so very impressive, and I feel you win regardless of which set you go with. Maybe not the Fans Toys as much if you favor the independent Constructicons over keeping them forever combined. There's definitely a part of me that'd love to go in on a modern set, but I don't have room for yet another MP scaled set of Constructicons and there are still things I prefer that ToyWorld did, like the moving treads on Bonecrusher and Scavenger. So, I'm content to stick with my old TW figs, but I'll continue to watch these new figs get highlighted for all the advances they represent.