M'Kyuun

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.

Bonecrusher, Scrapper, and ultimately Devastator, do not disappoint, especially following the lackluster Combiner Wars version. Evan and Hasui-san did a great job on these figs. I'll admit that I wish the limb bots were voyager scaled so that their construction vehicle alts looked more proportionate next to a car or a regular truck, but also so that Devastator would have greater stature next to the Dinobots. I wish they'd thrown in a Dinobot for comparison, as obviously that's who he faced off against in the '86 film. Next to Menasor, the Dinobots come up to his waist, and Devy looks to be about a head taller than Menasor, so the size is a bit small compared to how he was depicted in the Movie and the toon. Disappointed that they didn't show all six Constructicons, but I guess it keeps excitement piqued by doing revelations over time. I'm glad they didn't go fully toon, as Scrapper still had his wheels on his shoulders like the G1 toy instead of the silly simplified green wheel bumps from the animation. I prefer this approach- good mix of toon, especially for overall look and proportions, but bringing over a bit of the toy's design and details as well. I like seeing bits of the alt mode in bot mode, just like the OG toys and most TFs since. I'm really pleased with what I'm seeing so far and will definitely be getting these guys. Looking at that big combiner joint on Bonecrusher's back, it does look like they're incorporating some of the CW design into these guys. I just hope those joints ultimately prove sturdier than the wobbly old CW joints. Relying greatly on partsforming, I'm curious to see how the rest of the bots come along and how those combiner-specific accessories are integrated or otherwise realized. Evan gave a little hint with his Hasui anecdote concerning turning some part into a trailer, so that should be interesting to see. Third parties have taken similar approaches in the past, and I'm all for more transforming stuff with my Transformers, but also practical uses of accessories, esp with combiners, to make them make better sense with or otherwise complement the alt modes. Kudos to the marketing dude for addressing the availability issues with past figs. I was able to get all my Stunticons through Pulse, but for those who missed the PO windows and had to deal with store exclusivity, short-packing, and other factors making these things hard to acquire, it's reassuring that Marketing took note of that and are actively trying to prevent future occurrences. It sucks for regular figs, but for any team, it's especially disheartening to fall short a fig b/c of marketing decisions leading to extreme scarcity.

That's an extremely crappy situation. With prices what they are for stuff, one wonders how they're not staying well above water financially and keeping their folks employed. Warden has been with them for years and has worked in a number of departments, so there's a guy with breadth of experience that one would think would keep him safe as well. I guess nobody's safe except the executives, who will probably get bonuses. 😒

Phenomenal suggestion; ordered one for myself, given I've got years of TF and other toy collecting ahead and there are sure to be times when disassembling a toy will be necessary. Thanks, Mike. As to Prime, I guess I'm in an odd place as a fan, as I don't adhere to a singular version of the character, but as I mentioned, I like an amalgamation of details from various sources: I like the toy's silver, or chrome, waist and thighs. I like his G1 trailer's blue-bordered stripe. I prefer his toony blue eyes over his OG toy's yellow. I like the yellow stripes and arrows on his forearms (which may have originated with MP-01). I prefer his vents are both molded to look like louvres and painted silver, which may have also started with MP-01. I'm not too plussed about a lot of the G1 toy's trailer's interior decals (many of which, IMHO, just look cheap and cheesy and do little to enhance a more sophisticated modern toy). That last bit sounds ridiculous after reading it for myself, but collectors will understand. I think having those details be molded and painted are far preferable. We already mentioned the round fuel tanks vs the square ones; personally, I'd rather the truck have the round ones and by virtue of good engineering, they become the squarish nubs that appear in his animated bot mode. I'd prefer his repair drone be blue and Roller to be silver. TBH, as little as I engage with any of my OP's trailers, I generally focus more of my efforts on getting Prime himself how I want him. Thus far, Earthrise is the only OP toy where I expended a bit of time and effort on the trailer and I didn't even go as far as you did, Mike. However, I'm satisfied with the changes I made. I'm not sure yet what all I'm going to do with SS86's trailer. Toyhax has their sticker set out already, but most of the time, I only want or use a fraction of the stickers, and they're not exactly cheap. Not sure I want to start painting my Prime, either, b/c as soon as I do, Hasbro will announce a version with most or all the apps I want, only applied much better than my hand painting can accomplish. I'd love a variant like that without the trailer at like $55 (leader pricepoint). That'd be downright cool.

Valid point about those tanks just pushing in easily. They need a "thoop" as EmGo would say, to keep them secured in place. I just try not to touch them when I put him in truck mode. I don't blame HasTak for SS86's tanks, as like you said, that's how they appear in the show and they're just capturing that look for the fig. Too bad they couldn't engineer round tanks for truck and the square ones for bot. Pretty good figure, overall, certainly the most toon-accurate version we've ever gotten in the main line. I wish his elbows had more bend, his backpack was reduced to what we see in the toon/Movie, and that his ankles had some fore and aft rotation, but the engineering is solid, the truck mode impressive, especially the rear chassis, and with all the additional accessories, especially the requisite properly scaled trailer, SS86 is one fine Optimus Prime. I'll admit, though, I still have a huge soft spot for Earthrise Prime who deservedly held the Autobot leader's top spot in my CHUG+ collection for a few years now. Additionally, I put in a lot of time painting him and trying to bring him closer to the "ideal" version of OP in my head, so I'm sure that colors my bias a bit. Boiled down to the essentials, though, I just think he's a damned good OP figure regardless of his warts and I doubt I'll ever relinquish my attachment. With SS86 finally in hand, my biggest (first world) worry now is whether or not HasTak will release a toy-colored and comic-rendered amalgamation where the cab has its stripe, the trailer has its blue borders on the stripe, his legs and pelvis are silver, his forearms have the yellow stripes and arrows, his shin vents are silver, and his heels are properly assembled. This is the ideal OP toy I want, although with time, paint, and some help from Toyhax, I could achieve most of these wants with my current SS86. I attempted to swap the heels on my copy; I only tried one foot, and I could only get the pin to pop out about a millimeter or two. It's in a somewhat inaccessible spot with that exterior leg panel blocking access, so the ankle needs to be bent a fair bit to get to it. Anyway, I pounded on that sucker for a while and a couple mms is all I could get it to budge; alas, I just resignedly beat it back into place. I don't have a vice or even a workbench, so it doesn't help that I have no way of securing the foot while I try to pound out the pin. It'll continue to bug me b/c I know its's wrong. As misassemblages go, though, it could've been far worse.

I prefer round tanks, too, and it's one of a couple nitpicks I have with SS86 Prime. Earthrise Prime tucks his round tanks into the backs of his thighs and it's a perfect kibble-less solution for the bot mode while giving the truck proper looking tanks that don't jut way out and look weird, or like some odd form of intake like SS86's. I can't understand, either, why on a commander class budget they couldn't give him double-jointed elbows or single-jointed that still allow an elbow bend beyond 90 degrees. IMHO, that should, along with opening hands, be requisite standards of articulation on anything at least leader class and above. SS86 at least has the poseable hands, as he should. I'm also not the biggest fan of MP-44's wrapping-the-cab-around-the-robot approach to transformation, but I think it was actually done more effectively on SS86, which has a better proportioned bot mode (with a big inaccurate backpack as a result) and a much cleaner, more realistic looking truck mode, weird fuel tanks notwithstanding. The new Legacy United deluxe Prime is pretty much Hasbro's bargain version of Missing Link, but I'm not complaining, as I prefer its slightly tweaked proportions, i.e. beefier, over the original toy's. Too, ML is pricey and this way I get a similar toy for a much lower pricetag without yet another trailer to have to stash away. It's a win-win solution, methinks, and I wonder if Hasbro is going to take a similar approach with other ML figs. Of course, with Prime being a deluxe, scale is already skewed. Never was much of a fan of G1 Omega Supreme's design, but when Hasbro first revealed this fig, I was impressed. That said, I've chosen to enjoy it vicariously through vids and such as I just don't really have the room for another titan fig (Unless they do a spot-on Animated Omega Supreme-- I'll find a way for that particular grail!). I still think Has/Tak did a bang-up job on OS- all the details, the features, colors, everything; in every way except motorization/electronics, it's a right proper update of the OG toy and I think it'll be one of those stand-out toys that we'll still be talking about in our graying years (some of us may already be getting there).😉

@mikeszekely, I enjoyed your reviews of these figs, and after years of buying figs that have varied in complexity, often to the detriment of enjoyment of transformation and thus the toy on the whole, it's refreshing to see a company take a step back in that area to simplify things to a more enjoyable level. A decade or two ago, I wished for more complexity and judged toys my that metric, but I find as I'm getting older, my frustration level with some of these things grows due to what often seems over-complexity for its own sake. Anyway, I appreciate a transforming toy that's actually fun to transform and I agree that that's an ingredient that has been increasingly missing over the years with a lot of these toys, even, admittedly, my own LEGO designs. I also give props to Mecha Invasion (or whoever they really are) for taking a leap and doing their own thing with such iconic characters. They could've played it safe and kept to the G1 likenesses, transformations, and Devy makeup, but they took a great deal of creative license and put their own stamp on these characters. In this age of heightened "Sunbow accuracy", the epitome of oxymoron, taking this design direction is certainly a far greater gamble than it would have been a couple decades ago, but I hope they find an audience. For my part, I have ToyWorld's Devy as my MP stand-in, and with little room for more toys of that scale, I'm content. I do, however, have a couple of Dream Star Toys' Aerialbots (Slingshot and Skydive) which are also departures from the slavish G1 direction allowing for more accurate jet modes, and while they're not the most fun things to transform, I laud the decision to be creative while still embracing the essence of the characters. As Mecha Invasion continues to release these revised Constructicons, I look forward to your reviews. Hopefully, the entire line of figs is consistently creative and enjoyable, as well as their take on Devastator. Also, kudos are always a must for any company attempting to do integrated non-parts-forming combiners, so my hat's off to MI for going that extra mile. Always a plus in my opinion.

Coming to the party just a little late, but fortunately, I didn't really miss out on anything I really wanted. The Mandalorian N-1 is interesting, although, as much as I adore the N-1's design, execution here leaves a little to be desired. To be fair, however, it's a very sleek and slim ship with not much available fuselage from which to craft a robot. I wish they'd chosen either clear or a nigh opaque dark transparent plastic for the windscreens and I'm not feeling the red accents on his legs; silver or gunmetal would have been more apropos and would have complemented the ship mode better as well. Odd choices. I'm kinda surprised they made him a leader class fig, but then, they're all over the place with scale for these exclusives. I missed the PO on Pulse, as usual, and with this being a lukewarm want for now, I'll probably just wait to see if it shows up at my local Wally in a few months. I still remember Hasbro's Star Wars crossover figs from nigh twenty years ago, and for the most part, the majority were a bit lackluster utilizing a lot of shellforming to achieve the ship modes. The ship modes, however, were obviously the focus, and admittedly, were pretty well-done. The bot modes suffered the majority of concessions, but at the time, it was something fairly unique in Transformers and I still have a number of them tucked away in storage. However, unlike the new Mando's N-1, the original crossover toys all had working features like moving s-foils, rotating wings, retractable landing gear, etc. and all featured an opening cockpit that could accommodate a small pilot fig, generally well-painted, that came with the toy. Kinda sucks that they didn't include a Mando and Grogu figs to pilot the N-1. In retrospect, back in 2006ish we were paying about $10 for a deluxe, and I think I paid about $50 for the Millenium Falcon which broke into two halves that became a Han-bot and a Chewy-bot. That thing was pretty good-sized, about what we'd consider commander class today (it was considered a Mega vehicle back then 😄). Additionally, it came with little Han and Chewy pilot figs that could fit in the Falcon's cockpit as well as in each of their respective mechs, had spring-loaded projectiles and featured lights and sounds. My, how things have changed.

I hadn't thought much past the '89 or Tumbler Batmobiles, but I wouldn't mind The Animated Series or the 1966 Batman Futura Batmobiles as Transformers. Despite growing up in the 70s and 80s, I wasn't familiar with the Kenner Batmobile (beyond the '66 show, I wasn't a very big Batman fan as a kid). It reminds me a little of the Mach 5 from Speed Racer (Mach GoGoGo) of which I'd love to have a crossover fig. I'd take one of the '97 Mach 5 design as well, especially if they could integrate most or all of its gadgets. I wouldn't mind a Future GPX Cyber Formula Asurada crossover, either, if they're going to do manga/anime related crossovers. I have Wonderful Trans' beautiful take on Drift which becomes an Asurada though the transformation isn't the most fun hence my desire for an official easier-to-transform figure. I'd still like Airwolf and Blue Thunder Transformers, too, while we're wishing. I also wouldn't mind some fictional planes like the MiG-31 from Firefox or the Testor's F-19 Stealth Jet concept created by the late John Andrews.

That would be cool. I'd take a Tumbler, too. Love the retro packaging, but I already own both figs and don't feel the need to double dip just for a cardboard backing. Kinda wish they'd go back to packaging like this for the smaller bots, though. Funny they gave Gears his toy face but not Bee. bee's also missing the old toy's sticker detail, which one would expect as a nice tampo. Anyone know if optional retro stickers are coming with these? Well, if not, Toyhax will likely fill void. So, was this actually in one of the comics or just a stand-alone piece for commentary? As much as I want my mainline Megs to turn into a pistol, I really, really hope they don't kludge something like this out of SS86 Megs. It's just weird. If he's going to be a tank, I hope at least that he's a believable tank unlike the most recent Megatron figs where the fusion cannon, which looks obviously like a scope, bifurcates the turret. If they end up making SS86 Megatron a commander class fig, it better have rolling treads and a pretty damned realistic tank mode for $90, as they can put all that budget into engineering in lieu of SS86 Prime's trailer and accessories. Just don't waste effort and money giving him a half-tank-half-pistol hybrid mode.🤢 Anyway, for now, Newage has me covered on the G1 Megatron with pistol alt mode front. I vehemently hope that Magic Square will seize on the opportunity and upscale their excellent legends class Megatron to actual SS86 scale (I imagine Newage thought SS86 would scale with Earthrise, but HasTak kinda thwarted them with a slightly larger figure). That would be awesome. What would be moreso is if they also upscaled their legends class Optimus (Light of Victory) to SS86 scale, as it's, IMHO, superior to SS86 Prime. IMHO, their MP scaled fig of that design, Light of Peace, is currently the pinnacle of OP toys- just an absolutely brilliant figure that every TF fan should own. IMHO. Dammit, don't jinx us, David!!!! 😄

It boggles the mind that with their zeal for tampo, Bandai didn't tampo that control console. On an aircraft, landing gear are kinda important and should figure into the totality of the design (Unless you're Hasbro/Takara, then pretty much everything that defines good aircraft design goes out the window). Yamato and Arcadia understand that and have done a pretty decent job with their various valks over the years. TBH, I haven't had too many issues with my Bandai valks, but the YF-21 is a unique beast within the managerie, mostly due to its shellformery design as opposed to Kawamori's general use of the legs to form the entire powerplant from intake to exhaust, making up a fair portion of the jet's fuselage. It's one of the things I love about Kawamori's designs as opposed to just about every other company's takes on jetformers. Special mention to Touch Toys who've taken a different approach to creating a streamlined and realistic jet mode while still managing to forge a good bot mode out of it. I digress. Taking into account the requisite ground clearance with packs and guns affixed and designing gear that literally fall short of their purpose is just pure negligence on Bandai's part. Too, I concur with the critique of their misunderstanding of how those gear are intended to be stored. Yamato got it, but as @Chronocidal pointed out, Bandai just doesn't care. They do it their way regardless of whether it's right, proper, or acceptable which is a shame b/c they definitely have the talent and resources to make an exquisite toy. The DX YF-21 is a mixed bag of good and bad; I love it for it's better proportioned battroid mode, my preferred mode for display. I don't think the fighter is too bad considering the concessions to battroid, but stuff like the too-short gear, lack of printed controls, partsforming seat (was it really that hard to put a pivot on that thing? Yamato already showed it could be done), need for two different gun molds that still don't fix the ground clearance issue, huge gap between battroid's back and the backpack, and the necessity for a partsforming bracket to keep it in place lest the whole thing droop all constitute poor design decisions that Bandai should have fixed before this thing ever went to production. It looks nice and makes for a nice placeholder, but it really does make one wonder what an updated Arcadia YF-21 would bring to the table in terms of improvements. They've already got a pretty good foundation to build on that still in many ways rises superior to the DX.

Not familiar. What is this this guy from? Looks like a D&D crossover to me.

Very comprehensive and enjoyable review, Mike. As to your prognostication skills, pretty much right on the money with this guy. I love the Earthrise fig, and while I didn't invest as much in decoing my copy, I did apply some paint and an upgrade to the trailer to bring it a tad closer to true and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. That said, as close as this is to an ideal mainline Prime (def the best G1 incarnation since, well, G1), it's not quite perfect. And thanks to SS86, no longer the most accurate. That said, there are still things it does that I like better than SS86- the silver painted and molded shin vents, the painted wipers, I prefer the way its feet taper down in truck mode (purely subjective, but I think it looks better), the cab's silver stripe, and the bot's smaller backpack minus the butt wheels. Despite my nitpicks, SS86 is absolutely a leap forward, and honestly, a bit of paint or some stickers will remedy most. I do wish they would have condensed the backpack down to the size and shape we see in the movie and toon. Magic Square did it perfectly with both their recent legends and MP scaled Primes, both of which I consider the pinnacles of Optimus Prime toys in their respective size classes. As you said, I don't think Hasbro or Takara want to create an absolute perfect representation as that will preclude the need for future toys, so a few flaws are acceptable. In my mind, the 90- degree limited elbow bend at this scale and price point as well as his chonky backpack bring this down from a perfect 10 to a solid 9, but in all other considerations this is certainly the most well-designed and accurate G1 toon-inspired official Optimus Prime toy outside of MP-44. How I wish the technology and mindset had been present forty years ago to put this on shelves instead of the Diaclone toys we got. Outside of the core fig, I'm glad to see as much attention given to the trailer, as it's an intrinsic part of his alt mode, even if it will eventually be chucked aside as a dust collector along with ER Prime's, Volvo Prime's and Rodimus' trailers. My biggest fear is that after dropping $90 on this version Hasbro will release a toy version with all the apropos paint, stickers, and perhaps retooled shins with molded vents. I really don't want to drop another $90 on a fig I already have, but to have it with all those additional details would be sorely tempting, as that's really the version I crave. I guess we'll see. I'm still waiting on BBTS to get their shipment in- I think they exist in a slower timestream than the rest of us, so excruciatingly slow is their receipt of items to fill orders. My anticipation is pretty high for this guy so I hope it ships soon.