M'Kyuun

Replying a bit late, but I got mine back when they originally released. For a long, long time, it was my Megazone 23 grail, and I remain quite pleased with it. It's a bit lamentable that the pilot figs for this new generation of MZ23 toys are truncated to fit in the Slave mode, but the toy is pretty well executed in all other regards in my humble estimation. Granted, I've not handled it much since I bought it- It primarily functions, as do the majority of my crazy expensive transforming toys, as a pricey but beautiful dust collector. But I have transformed it, and nothing broke. As I recall, the old Yammies were prone to shoulder breakage, but AFAIK, the Arcadia's have improved in that area. Both of mine's arms are still attached, and hopefully will remain so.

Picked up Volvo Prime. Kinda disappointed that many of the other figs discussed on Tuesday weren't listed today, especially Bombshell. I'm guessing they'll just drop randomly with naught but an email to let me know; I often miss those when they're relevant and only discover them after everything's sold out on Pulse.

Thanks for all the pointed replies, Mike. Good info, insofar as Target's potential machinations concerning their releases. I continue to be bummed by the dearth of releases yesterday, as I have to take my mother-in-law to an appointment tomorrow morning and it's a fair bet I'm going to miss the initial drops on Pulse; I wish they adjusted those releases for all time zones; if they released at 1 PM here, no worries, but they don't so the drops happen at 10 AM which usually coincide with her appointments. I don't own a cell phone, so that's not an option. Hopefully by the time I get back the figs I want will still be in stock, as Pulse has a terrible trend of carrying limited supplies and never restocking, at least not the popular items it seems. There's a reason I pay my $50 membership, and I wish occasional restocks of high-demand items was a part of that.

I think it's cool that the train bots exist; in fact, I saw at least one of the original toys at a Japanese hobby shop on Okinawa back in '90 or '91 although I didn't buy it. However, it was a total revelation, as I didn't realize there were Transformers toys beyond the ones we had in America. I was pretty naive at 19. Anyway, I haven't been able to sum up much enthusiasm for these, even at MP levels of quality. However, if Hasbro was to release them in the Generations line, perhaps at voyager scale, I'd be more interested and inclined to pick one or two up, if not the entire team, depending on how well they were executed.

So, I was all set to order Bombshell, Dreadwing, Strongarm, and Shadowstriker, but the only new figs they added to Pulse for PO were the core class Bee & Prime, SS leader Optimus Primal , and SS Mirage from RotB, none of which hold any interest for me. Guess the others go up on Thursday with Volvo Prime. Bummer. Quite irksome that they're releasing a color variant of Earth mode Hound, but no Hound himself. Grrrr! Still kick myself that I didn't pick up more of the 2015 RiD figs, including Strongarm, when they were out. Some of them were rather ingenious and unique either in the bot modes, the vehicle modes, or both. Steeljaw's another one I skipped to my regret. Hopefully he'll get a good updated fig, too. @mikeszekely I feel your sentiment pertaining to garbage truck alts; to wit, Animated Wreck-Gar was the only one until Trashmaster. I'm not really into the Junkion figs beyond SS86 Wreck-Gar and his mold mate (I forget his name), but given the exceptional nature of his alt, I may end up getting him if I happen to spot him at Wally.

The thought of a leader class Soundwave fills me with hope that along with his upscaling, so too will the cassettes be upscaled to their original real-world mini-cassette scale. I doubt it, but I can hope. I dislike the smaller scale Hasbro went with for the cassettes since Siege and would love to see a return to their original scale, along with better articulation and complexity, although I realize this is Has/Tak we're talking about here. I think the Hasbro side of that relationship is the real barrier to better products, but unfortunately, they exercise a tight stranglehold on the property, giving Takara little freedom, as they used to enjoy, to make better versions of the toys for the Japanese market, and thus the secondary market for us poor eager schmucks. Still, an upscaled Soundwave is interesting, especially if it is indeed the G1 version, as the previous mold left somewhat to be desired. The original Strongarm fig was pretty chunky in her own right, so a translation to G1ification will likely not be as starkly compromised as say Animated or Prime designs. Leader class Springer is an odd choice; I think the voyager Siege version is nigh perfect. Mike's so right about their lackluster track record with leader class triple-changers. Well, if it's a hot mess, at least we have the Siege fig. As to the og toys, I'm personally not interested; I was highly critical of them as a teenager in the 80s due to their almost complete lack of articulation, so the modern toys are what I want in a Transformers toy. That said, I get that nostalgia drives a lot of the fandom so if indeed other companies get to have their will and way with the old designs, that's great for those fans who crave them. Now, if a company somehow managed to add full articulation to the old toys, keeping them very close to how they looked, I might be in for a few.

Transformers One is set in the Bayverse? Well, there goes any hope I had of it's even being tolerable. 😒

I appreciate their, and your, kind words. The kid-meter can be a tough gauge, especially these days when there are just so many cool things out there, so to be considered among them is an honor. Humble thanks.

Agree, and lament it. The 21, at least in fighter mode, is a beautiful design. I can see where people might have reservations about the battroid, as even to my eye, it's not as nice looking as the YF-19's. I'll concede that I like the 19's fighter mode better, as well, but I think both have beautiful fighter modes worthy of display. I appreciate, however, the Quedluun Rau homage in the YF-21's battroid mode given Guld's Zentraedi heritage. The issue I take with it is that Kawamori fudged the dimensions from mode to mode to optimize each without much thought to how that would affect the feasibility of transforming models and toys, which leaves us with the Yammie 1/60 with its compromised legs to optimize the fighter mode. Unless a really innovative solution is found to drastically change the leg shape, either one mode or the other is going to suffer on every transformable iteration of that valk, and that speaks to poor design. Sorry Kawamori-san, but it's true in this instance.

Danth, you're too kind, man. Much appreciated. I wish I had both better photography skills and any skill at all with photo editing for better presentation. I've seen some really awesome CS builds, including M-Tron, that looked like the OG box art, which really helps to sell it. Anyway, I'm glad you like it. I'm looking forward to showing it off at BrickCon in September. Cheers for the kind words! I showed your CS transforming ships to my wife; she thought they were cool, too.

Honestly, so would I, though I shudder at the thought of the impending price tag. That said, the Yamato 1/60 was nigh perfect; the disproportionate legs were it's only major failing, IMHO. If they were to fix that, likely at the cost of the thin tail section of the fighter, I'd be all-in. Hopefully, too, they'd install a more robust non-ball-jointed hip joint, as my Yammie YF-21 is pretty loose at the hips. Bandai seems uninterested, which beggars the question of why tease a proto only to not move forward? Anyway, I think Arcadia can improve on Yamato's design; most of the work is already done for them. Proportionate legs in battroid would be fantastic, as that's how I display my valks. For those who prefer fighter, Arcadia could simply rerelease the unmodified Yamato version, appeasing both camps and making a buttload of cash in the process.

They're actually gumetal, IIRC- been awhile since I painted those. His biceps and the lower portion of his waist are the same. I have the OG toy (he was my first TF back in '84) and I tried to match the color and placement of my paint apps. There's a slight metallic sheen to it, but the lighting in my house is poor (very yellowish) and my camera, a little point & shoot, is extremely finicky about light and vibration, so my pics often suffer. In hand, I think it compares pretty well to my G1 Prowl. I also painted the interior and exterior portions of his lower legs that were cast in trans blue. I was hoping that Toyhax would include a sticker in their set that mimicked the interior leg greebles like the G1 Prowl box art, but sadly they didn't. I've always loved the look of leg greebles under glass that appeared on a number of the G1 toys' box art; I just find it an extremely appealing part of the look, and I wish it carried forward more on modern toys. Anyway, Prowl is probably my favorite character from a design and appearance standpoint. His appearances in the show were limited and he never really had much character development, but I just love how he looks and the box art for the OG toy went a long way towards cementing that in my mind. That said, I've spent a fair bit of time and money on this fig in painting, stickering, and procuring third party weapons for him to try and complete his G1 toy look, w/ a splash of toon in there as well. I'm still probably not done with him. This is the mainline Prowl I waited nigh 40 years for, and I love him. It's probably also why this upcoming 'Dying Prowl' is a bit unsavory to me- he, like the other Autobots on the shuttle, had such a cheap lackluster death and I just don't want that memorialized in a figure.

Actually, I'm surprised they retooled the hood at all. A new head mold makes sense, and they could have made a clear orange effects piece that fits in the mouth to represent the orange smoke. All things considered, although they're just chunks of plastic, it's still a bit morbid to collect figs in the act of dying. I prefer my figs alive and ready for action with as much detail as they'll give me- not pale and ghastly. Different strokes, I guess. Personally, I love the first season bots and I still feel a little bitter about how they went about dispatching them with so much careless ease for the sake of introducing new toys. These characters mattered to me and to many others, so it was a bit jarring, even as a 15- or 16-year-old, to see them done away with so flippantly. Even in my 50s, it still rankles. They could have been seriously wounded and later shown in a quick scene being taken in for medical care- out of action but not dead. Alas, that's not the way it went down, more's the pity. This was a good opportunity to rerelease ER Prowl albeit with a different head sculpt for those who missed out on him the first time. Although I have my copy, I'm hoping the regular version will get a rerelease eventually. Here's my copy, alive and ready to kick Decepti-chops! (after a bit of strategic analysis and planning, of course).

A fellow AFOL and good friend of mine who builds very large MOCs mentioned to me a month or so ago that he was contemplating building an M-Tron layout and asked whether I would consider building a mecha for it. Unbeknownst to him, I accepted the challenge. Unbeknownst to me, in the intervening weeks, he changed his mind and began working on a Space Police 3 themed MOC instead. 😄 Anyway, I was already well along with my design which was based on an earlier, simpler MOC I'd built back in 2014-15 and have since thought of improving. My friend's request was the motivation I needed to actually put in the work. I finished it yesterday and overall, I'm fairly pleased with it. The back wheels can castor 180 degrees, allowing it to circumscribe a fairly tight turn. However, although I mounted them on Technic friction pins, the friction imparted is nigh negligible making anything but very short reverse maneuvers impossible due to the wheels going in opposite directions. Not my initial preference, but design considerations drove the choice. Those familiar with the venerable and still awesome 6989 Mega (or Multi) Core Magnetizer (also known as Mobile Recovery Center) released in 1990 will remember the two cargo pods with their distinctively printed angular side panels which could be raised up to access the features within. For my rover, I decided to build my own, giving it a bit of a 21st century upgrade, as it were. As such, I envisioned it as an A.I. imbued drone with an array of handheld power tools, a generator with power cable, a toolbox with several handtools/extensions for power tools, and an extendable, multijointed neck which doubles as a standing platform for our intrepid astrofig to affect repairs at various heights. Too, as can be seen in the pic below, the resting spars can extend independently and are tipped with small wheels to allow the drone some mobility. When collapsed, they are compatible with the MCM's original pods. Of course, as is my wont, this rover, like the majority of my MOCs, is "more than meets the eye'. 😜 I tried to stay true to the original red, light gray, and black color scheme for the most part; however, I did sprinkle some silver bits here and there throughout the build for a little additional flavor, as well as the few odd white bits, which occurred, too, in the original M-Tron sets. The only real deviation is a dark bley Technic liftarm with ball joint which I used for the waist/crotch piece. Oh, and a few blue Technic friction half-pin, half-axle pieces. The resulting mecha is fully articulated, including the thumb and two fingers per gripper. It can also carry the pod on its back (I neglected to take a pic, sorry). Take my word for it (the boosters on his heels are double jointed and can extend about a brick's height allowing for walking poses with the pod attached as well as just providing stabilization in general). Yet another photo op I missed. So, full disclosure, in 1990, I was entering the military, and while I owned one of the smaller M-Tron sets, the theme on the whole didn't really grab me. I thought the MCM was cool, but I never pursued it, even after entering active duty when I had the funds to buy it. Dumb, dumb me. Thirty-some years hence, I finally scored a copy and it's such a magnificent model, definitely a standout when weighed against the whole of the Classic Space and post-CS eras. My friend, the one who originally engaged my interest in building a mecha for his then proposed M-Tron layout, is a huge M-tron fan, and I was intrigued to venture into this theme to which I had never really given much thought. I love the utility, practicality, and playability of this theme, and the magnet gimmick just adds that extra bit of fun to the mix. My mecha build had its challenges along the way, but ultimately, I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out. I hope it appeals to some of you out there, and moreso, I hope it inspires. Cheers and play well! Edit: It's literally a dark and stormy night, so what better way to pass the time than to take a few more pics.

I knew licensing was split between various entities, mostly between Bandai's owning the toys and Hasbro's owning the names, which kinda does them little good. While they've pasted a few Gobots characters' names on regular TF figs with approximate paint schemes, it's just not quite the same as having dedicated molds to represent the old toys/characters. As I said, it'd be cool if they struck a deal with Bandai to use the MR toy likenesses for a line of Gobots, although my skepticism is barely reigned when it comes to the jetformers among them.

I feel ya, especially concerning new molds for extremely obscure or made-up characters, and lazy approaches to main or far more established ones. Third parties are taking up some of the slack, but stuff like Breakdown or Astrotrain can only be fixed by a whole new toy purposely designed to get everything as right as possible. It boggles my mind that no third party has stepped up to produce toys in CHUG scale when the official ones are lackluster or just downright terrible, or in the case of G1 Megatron, make a fig to fill a void that Hasbro won't touch. We have two great legends makers, one of which has made two excellent Optimus Primes in MP scale; how much more difficult would it be to upscale some of their figs to CHUG scale as another option? I'm guessing the threat of legal action is very real, so they just avoid it altogether, but man, I wish they'd at least test the waters. At the very least, Magic Square's Doomsday (Megatron) would be a welcome fig in both CHUG and MP scales. I don't think Rock Lords is a line that too many fans are clamoring for. I don't believe they sold well back in the 80s when all things transformable were the rage. It'd be far better if Has/Tak entered into an agreement with Bandai to produce Gobots figs under the Transformers banner. However, Action Toys did their Machine Robo line, and now Megahouse is producing MR figs as well. Both companies are restricted to characters from Revenge of Cronos, which may be the only MR property Bandai holds. Anyway, I doubt Has/Tak could produce figs much better than the Action Toys figs, but if they could secure the license, I'd give them the benefit of the doubt. At any rate, I'd take a Leader-1 or a Cy-kill over Boulder or Magmar from Hasbro any day, although given Has/Tak's history with jetformers, I can only imagine the travesty that would be Leader-1.

Glad they caught him, although I doubt the penalty will be that severe and he'll be free to continue stealing. They need to raid this guy's house, as there's probably enough stolen merch in there to warrant grand theft charges, but they probably won't. Because it's toys he's stealing, it won't be taken as seriously. Alas, crime pays. This guy's worse than scalpers, who generally at least pay for the stuff they resell at exorbitant prices. In instances like this, I think the Middle Eastern culture has the right idea so far as punitive measures.

Honestly, I'm not bothered that they reused Shrapnel's legs, as I was a bit concerned, given how closely they've been modeling these after the G1 toys, that the shins would be hollow. While it may not be the most ideal solution from a fan's perspective, it makes sense for Hasbro to make him a partial retool, and it doesn't look bad to me. The upper body and head are clearly Bombshell, and I'm fine with it. Is it lazy? Yep. Is it unexpected? Nope. Just Hasbro Hasbroing the sh!t out of it.

Well, reading it again, if Company B is indeed Bandai and they have no plan to release their YF-21, then it makes sense that the Yammie is the only 1/60 option. FWIW, I'd take that Bandai toy as-is if only b/c it has better battroid proportions than the Yammie. If this guy's statement is true, then I lament what could have been from Bandai and hope that Arcadia will give consideration to making some much-needed improvements to the Yamato toy's legs and the joints thereof (the hips are quite loose on mine although it has barely been handled) and release it. It'll be crazy expensive, but worth it if the improvement is significant.

So is Company B a subsidiary of Arcadia? This is the first I've heard of it, and to my knowledge, Mr. K. worked for Arcadia. Anyway, I would have loved to see them improve the leg proportions on the Yamato YF-21 design. It was otherwise a nigh perfect YF-21, but the disproportionally skinny legs just threw off the look of it in battroid, which is my favored mode for display. I will happily accept a fighter with a thicker backend as a concession; Kawamori-san applied liberal use of artistic license to the design in his original lineart, such that it was always going to be challenging for a toy company to realize an ideal 3D representation that transforms.

Sure, but there are better ways to go about it, like Animated Bulkhead or G1 Trailbreaker, which give the illusion of chubbiness without looking terrible. Nedrybot just looks like lazy engineering.

Pretty awkward placement of the wheels in bot mode on that JP Jeep fig. The Gallimimus is on par with the majority of BW figs, so not too bad. Not terribly interested, though. OTOH, I dig that Prime but not enough to crowdfund. The effort, however, is laudable.

RIP to a true warrior; she overcame the adversity of an abusive marriage and through her indomitable energy, positivity, and talent, became a superstar. Cheers to the Queen!

Funny, I was just looking at these in the LEGO Shop. I'm so glad to see LEGO putting out a regular set of the '89 Batmobile for folks who couldn't get the GWP set that was released with the UCS '89 Batmobile, or who don't want or can't afford the upcoming $400 Batcave Shadowbox set. This Batmobile model is very similar to the one in the Shadowbox; the big intakes on the sides are accomplished differently, but otherwise, they look remarkably similar, down to the extendable machine gun feature. It's also nice to finally get the '89 Batwing in minifig scale. Very long time coming for both, as these are the Batman sets I've been waiting for since they first obtained the license in 2006. Both of these and the Shadowbox shall be welcome additions to my ever-growing LEGO Batman collection. I hope at some point they do B:TAS sets, as I'd love to have an official Batmobile set. I'd also love to have a Batman: Arkham Knight Batmobile set, either UCS (with all those awesome functions and features) or a simplified version at minifig scale. Sure, I could MOC it, and I've seen some great MOCs, but as a fan who loves building and collecting sets, I want that experience as well as the model(s). Anyway, with every new revelation, 2023 looks to be one of the most exciting, if expensive and space-unfriendly years to date. So, so many great looking sets coming and we're not even halfway through!

I must say, it's nice to see Keaton in the Batsuit again, and they've captured the ambiance from the Burton films really well. I've never been crazy about Ezra Miller's Barry Allen portrayal, and that dislike carries over to this film. However, I'm still willing to go see this in the theater when it releases- movies like this are meant for the big screen, and I so do enjoy going to the theater from time to time. At the very least, I hope Batman is given a significant amount of screentime as that will be worth the ticket price, especially with all his wonderful toys on display.