M'Kyuun

While I don't presume to speak for other fans, personally I'll take a modern articulated homage to a G1 toy over an original G1 toy. The only two classic G1 toys I have bought in reissue are Prime and Soundwave. Both of them are still MISB, and i'm one of those guys who's compelled to emancipate his toys from their plastic and cardboard prison and transform them at least once. Fortunately, I own an original soundwave, and I've had plenty of opportunities to transform G1 Prime, so both of these guys are packed up. That said, I have a majority of the Universe Classics line, and most of the TFA line, and consider these to probably be my favorite lines, followed by Binaltech, and a select few movie toys. Well designed bots that become licensed vehicles are amazing to me..it's what I envisioned as a kid, finally realized 20 years later. I'd love to get a peek at Transformers toys 20 years down the road, given that the franchise is still around.

I agree; most typical American shows aimed for a young audience eschew blatant violent death scenes. From the movie, I gathered this show was going to be poorly written with a lot of uber-cheesy "Skyguy" and "Snips" back and forth, no grit, and very simple plots. While the plots are still simple enough for kids to follow, I'm glad to see it is a darker toned show with politics, diplomacy, betrayal, and yes, murder, shown. After all, the Separatists are evil, and they're shown as such. Someone mentioned Battle of the Planets; I knew it as G-Force, and it was one of my favorite shows when I was 4 or 5 years old; perhaps I'm twisted, but I loved the fact that people died, and died badly in some cases; it felt more real to me, and to this day, after watching a lot of f##ked up stuff , I've yet to have a nightmare. But people are different, so I can understand the concern. I have no kids, so I don't tend to think as a parent. I am glad, however, that CW is not the new G.I. Joe, where everything is wrapped up neatly, everyone parachutes out, or otherwise escapes to fight another day; that's not how war is, and I'm glad the producers have taken the approach they have. To be fair, there is a parental warning on Cartoon Network, esp for the eps with harsher scenes of violence or death. A similarly themed show concerning smugglers might actually be interesting, with the occasional interaction of a Jedi (maybe hunting down our anti-hero protagonist). It'd be a welcome change to have good guy with a lot less scruples than the sqeaky clean Jedi.

I still find the first movie disappointing; a Transformers movie should focus on the title characters. I wanted to like the first one, but I disliked more than I liked. If the entire movie had maintained the same tone as the beginning, with the attack on SOCCENT, eliminated the hacker and Sector 7 elements, eliminated the many lame and sophmoric attempts at humor, eliminated Frenzy, and eliminated Sam altogether, the movie may have been better. Too, Prime and the Autobots speak English through monitoring the web; how did Megs speak it upon awakening?; more poignantly, why would he, since he has naught but disdain for humans? Overall, the movie was terrible, IMHO. Nothing about it, beyond Peter Cullen's voice, made it feel like Transformers to me. Having said this, the new trailer looks to deliver more of the same from the same team. I was hoping some stuff would change due to feedback, but they've established this as the new look and feel of the franchise with Hasbro's blessing and support. I still think they could have used an aesthetic closer to Binaltech, with minor design changes to allow for more poseability; at least they'd look like Transformers. I think the movie would have been better served if it had started on Cybertron, like the original series, with some background and character building, prior to arriving on Earth and continuing the battle, with an older more mature human character as a guide and friend to the bots, and a wary human govt as well as the Decepticons as rivals. The human govt's trust could be earned; the Decepticons defeated, but not destroyed, could retreat strategically, allowing perhaps, a glimpse of new Decepticons arriving, or being built, ala the Constructicons, as a lead in to the second film. For those of you who think the first movie rocked, cool. I hope you like the second one ttoo. I'll give it a watch, b/c I'm a glutton for punishment that way, but any enthusiasm I had for the first is, sadly, gone. I love the whole transforming concept, and while i'm not crazy about the designs, there's still something appealing to see these things rendered in a live action film. ROTF could serve the fans , too, with an R rating and a gratuitous, no plot value whatsoever nude to semi-nude shot of Megan Fox. Just saying.

Great job! Really gives the 51 a more authentic Russian look.

lol...that's too funny. No disrespect meant towards you, Yellow; I just like the image. I still need to watch "You Are Not Alone". I thought NGE was a pretty good series up until the end; while I get the overall metaphysical hokum, the village idiot in me would rather see more smash and bash by the EVAs. I prefer the "Death and Rebirth" and "End of Evangelion". Asuka has some shining moments.

Dude, small world. I grew up in Elk County, PA..very much "Pennsyltucky" up there. I'm stationed out here in Spokane at Fairchild AFB. It's better than the PA podunk. That Defensor is Amazing. And I'm not really a big fan of gestalts. Great work from a damned talented guy.

You're from Spokane too? JK We're pretty hick, but not that bad. On topic, I've been to 2 Walmarts and Toys-R-us, who usually get stuff before Wally and Target, and they're all still carrying the last wave of T-Formers, both Universe and Animated. Third world countries get new stuff before Spokane. I've been eyeballing Henkei Cyclonus; to me it looks much better than the domestic version, and I've yet to own a Henkei. Suggestions on stores?

The Classics/Universe is really an answered prayer for me, for the most part. I picked up some Armada and Energon figs, but ultimately I've been waiting and hoping for a release of G1 toys with modern poseability, and that's essentially what we've got. And, at $10 a pop, they're cheaper than most of the originals, which retailed around $13 in the 80's. I have nearly all the Classics, except the triple changers and Jetfire, the designs of which i didn't care for, and I'm pretty happy with them overall. I've never bought any of the Henkei versions; they seem hit or miss, but I'm happy enough with Hasbro's versions. I wish they were all more like Kubalski's Mirage, which was about as perfect IMHO as you can get in both modes. I'm looking very much forward to Hound/Ravage (which looks better to me all around than even the BT Hound, which itself is a damn nice version, despite the poor shoulder poseability), and Cyclonus. I had mixed feelings about Animated in the beginning, like alot of people, but I picked a few up, liked them alot, and just continued. I'm pretty happy with most of them, although like anything, there are a few that I wish were better. I just remember what bricks transformers were in the 80's and it makes these new toys seem much better. If Hasbro/Takara-Tomy did rerelease a Universe Unicron, I'd like to see a new toy that transformed closer to the animation, has a completely round planet mode, about the size of Primus, or DS Vader. Even better, Unicron's a character that would make a good MP; if it was engineered to transform as closely to the animation as possible, had great poseability, some neat features, and matched the animation aesthetic in both modes, then that would truly be a masterpiece worthy of the series, worthy of the name, and maybe worthy of the hefty price tag that came along with it. And btw, i do have Armada Unicron and found him to be, I dunno, subpar. I thought about getting Primus, but didn't. Alot of things i want more.

My 1/72 non-fast pack VF-11's leg came off on first transformation. A small screw and some super glue fixed it. A small piece of my YF-19's right arm cracked and broke off (around the hinge pin where it attaches to the shoulder), so that only one of the 2 halves forming the inner arm were holding it on. I glued both halves together better(they were spreading apart out of the box) and glued the small broken off piece back. The arm held poses better afterwards and held together very well, even around the hinge pin. I have a first edition VF-0S and , knock on wood, have had no breakages. My 1/48 VF-1S backpack hinge has held up well, although I only kept it posed with fast packs for a month or two before packing them away. Overall, comparatively, I've had good luck with my Yammies. I don't really play with them, but leave them posed for a couple weeks then repose.

Haven't posted much on this, but now that pics are up, I'll chime in. First, based on the pics, the prototype actually looks longer in the torso area to me, making it look leaner and closer to the lineart than the final (probably perspective). In neither pic is the crotch angled as much as the lineart, which changes the look and profile of the thing noticeably, as well as the much pointed out too-high attachment point for the legs. The ankles are a tad bit longer than in the art, but it's quite negligible to me. The main gear doors' hinges do look terrible...I'm surprised no one mentioned it earlier, as they stuck out to me immediately, along with the shamefully lazy landing gear. The low position of the legs in fighter is very noticeable, too; it breaks up the smoothness of the upper fuselage too much and just looks less than good. I think Bandai made some definite tradeoffs to make a more durable toy than Yamato makes. I'm not sure what the pricepoint of the VF-25 is expected to be (same as typical Yammies, i.e. abt $200 USD, or a little lower, catering to a larger younger, poorer fanbase?) I think this is a good toy to sell around $70-80; it's a good toy, by which I mean a high end toy but still something you could buy for your 13 year old cousin to play with. Graham, you're more in the know than I, but that's my feeling about this as I imagine Bandai wants to test the waters and they're hoping this will be on toy shelves at Toys-R-Us (at least in Japan) to reach a larger consumer base. That seems like good business to me rather than making a much more intricate, nearly model-quality collector's toy that only fans with a little too much disposable income, such as myself, can afford. I don't doubt that Bandai can or could make something on par with Yamato; I just don't think that's their business goal. Then again, I just ate a big dinner so in a couple hours I really will be full of sh!t. To be fair, I'm not as enamored with the VF-25 as I am with Kawamori's other designs. The VF-27, although very similar, looks better to me as well as the VF-171. I don't like the crotch design, and I think the lower legs are too curvy, making them look more like folded robot legs in fighter mode than most of the other valks. I think the legs look fine in bot mode, but I don't like the way they look viewed from underneath in fighter. I guess the same could be said about the SV-51, but there's just something so awesome about that design..it's prob my favorite valk, followed by the Zero and the 19. It's so ugly it's beautiful, and very unique. As for the VF-25, I'll hold out for reviews before I commit, but I'll be more excited when Bandai announces they'll be making a VF-171.

Been away from this thread for a few days, so I was pretty excited to see the new pics...until I actually saw them. Yeesh. The shots on pg 15 look really good..I'd be happy with a toy like that. The Tamashii pics on pg 1, if they're an indication of what we're really getting for a 1/60 scale, then, like alot of you guys, I'm pretty disappointed in Bandai. It looks to be of lesser quality than most Deluxe Transformers. Hopefully this isn't the real deal. If so, I'll wait a few years until Yamato finally gets the license.

Right there with ya...I discovered this place 2 years ago when I took my wife to Waikiki. I actually went to MechaHawaii first, run by Sean Akita, which was a pretty awesome store in it's own right, and he was very cool. But Toys 'N Joys was just crammed from wall to wall with Japanese toy goodness. There was so much stuff that boxes of Japanese Transformers were stacked on the floor as well as the shelves and pegs. My wife was suffering from strept throat, bless her heart, but went along with me and suffered the whole time I was gawking at all the stuff I wanted but couldn't possibly afford, let alone afford to ship back to Spokane. I bought Binaltech Prowl and a few of the Microman Aliens/Predator and Batman figs from Sean. If ever in Oahu, these two stores should be on your must-see list.

Saw the new pics of the '09 lineup. There's some nice stuff coming out. Hound looks even better than his BT/Alt counterpart, and I can't wait to see final pics of the newly designed Ravage. Blurr looks amazing in both modes. Cyclonus is an amazing homage...he does look bumpier than his sleeker original, but the overall figure captures the look and feel of the character so very well that I don't mind. He looks to be a better toy than Galvatron, at least. Inferno is an enigma..his alt mode is very realistic and looks great; his bot mode manifests G1 blockiness, as well as a passing resemblance to G1 Prime, that makes him a good Classics toy. However, for some reason that I can't quite put a finger on, he just doesn't grab me like alot of the other toys in this line. On a different note, I forget who mentioned it in another post, but I fully agree that Robot Masters Starscream was a great toy, and was much sleeker and more faithful to the G1 toy. I wish they had used that design, with the inclusion of knees, to create the Classics seekers. Aside from MP: SS, it would have been the best looking jet TF in alt mode, and his bot mode would have been pretty much spot-on without the samurai-style stab mounts hanging off his hips. Hope Hasbro/Takara keep this line alive for quite awhile longer.

I'm still on the second chapter (Raxus Prime, which sounds more akin to Transformers than SW, but I digress) and I think it's a fair game. There's nothing really new beyond the amplification of certain force abilities. I.E., push, grip, and lightning are amplified ridiculously, but he can't force jump for sh!t. The camera is a pain at times. Only certain things can be gripped and manipulated, although other objects, such as the detritus laying about on the junk world, move if your character walks over them; you just can't move them with the force. Too, if you're standing too close to a grippable object, the blue force-ueable mark disappears. The target lock does not work well, at least for me, so I just do my best to hurl stuff and hope I hit what I'm trying to aim for. The biggest complaint I have is that your character cannot move while using force grip...due to the "concentration" required. Asinine, if you ask me, since he can push objects while moving. Anyways, using grip exposes you to enemy fire; I think the creators would have made the game more enjoyable if your character at least took a defensive posture with the lightsaber to deflect some of the enemies' fire. After all, manipulating your environment with the force was one of the top selling points of the game; they didn't tell you it's suicide unless you use it behind cover when facing a a large number of enemies. Though I've been playing games like these for years, I have no skilz, so I'm not too plussed about the length, as all these games take a long time for me. I have a goldfish memory, so remembering all the confounded combos is a challenge all its own. Some of the moves are pretty cool, however. The writing seems decent so far; it's better already than the Clone Wars movie, although I realize CW is for kids while FU is more mature in tone. The voice acting is decent as well as the dialog. It's not too hammy, and already there is good use of the graphics and pauses to show "conflict" in your character during the cinematics. I'm enjoying the game, but I'm looking even more forward to seeing how the story draws out. I was going to read the novelization, but I decided to hold off until I played it through. I've read that there are two possible endings, which usually always involves choices in the game and makes it a bit more replayable. Personally, I think they should make a jedi game along the same lines as Deus Ex, where one has a group of choices through out the game in various situations..light-up the ole lightsaber, or massage the enemy's will. T'would be a fun game, methinks. In the end, your conduct in the game will determine your affinity, allegiance, and path in the game.

I can relate to backwoods redneck PA...I'm from Ridgway, in Elk County. It's a cultural black hole if ever there was one. Now I live in Spokane, Wa, which is damned near the same...we don't get stuff here until weeks or months after everyone has already been there, bought that. It's pretty hick here, too, despite being the second largest city in Washington. Anyway, although there's nothing too noteable about TFA Jazz's transforming sequence, I think HasTak nailed it for looks...he's stylin in both modes, and quite articulated, which is a big deal to me as well. It'd be great if Classics Mirage was the new standard for articulation, but I guess you can't have everything. I just hope Alex Kubalsky has a lot of involvement in designing the Animated and Universe lines. Universe Prowl is prob one of my favorite T-formers this year, if not all time. He is unmistakably a G1 homage to that character, very poseable, although I wish he had double jointed elbows to match his knees and a ball jointed head. I also wish the windows on his legs were translucent with mechanical detail showing through like the original. But these are my only gripes. Prowl was the first TF I owned as a kid, and I'm pretty happy with his upgrade. I was diappointed with the Prowl in the BT line, as his transformation scheme was completely different. The Mazda RX-8 mold would have suited the character beautifully.

Read that...guess mom and sis must be his biggest critics. seriously, if it's true, I hope he gets a little justice, as Hollywood types always seem to slide right out of these situations without any repercussions. I hope it doesn't hurt the film, as it was excellent. I didn't really care for any of the 80's and 90's Batman movies, esp Schumacher's neon, campy tragedies. Unlike most, i didn't care for Nicholson..while he played the "crazy" ok in some parts ( you are a vicious bastard, Anton, and I'm glad you're dead ), ultimately his performance felt like a performance to me. Furthermore, Jack's chubby and the prosthetics used to make his smile just looked terrible. Batman Returns' script was, to me, inappropriately ribald and inappropriate for a PG movie. Some of the lines, esp Penguin's, just made me cringe. I liked Pfeifer's take on Catwoman and her interaction with Keaton, but again, I think the script was the weakest part of what could have been a far better movie. However, I'm glad Tim Burton renewed the franchise with a darker take on the franchise, as all most kids my age knew of Batman was the ridiculously camp 60's series and the Superfriends, where he lost his utility belt in nearly every episode rendering him useless. I hated Carrey's riddler...i don't even think they gave him a script, but gave him free reign to say or do whatever he felt like doing. Jones did a terrible Two-Face, seeming, to me, only to compete with Carrey for laughs. If not for the campy script and neon, I think Arnold could have played a better Freeze. I'm glad the Nolans are helming the new darker, more realistic take on Batman. These are good movies, not just good superhero movies.

Well,it is a Japanese take on Batman, and the bishi-type character is popular in anime now. I need only point to Princess Alto.

Absolutely would buy. Love the look in all forms. If they make it, I hope the shoulders rotate at the wings like TFA Lugnut. One of Kawamori's coolest designs, IMHO.

I voted YF-19 b/c , to me, it looks better between all three modes, while the 21 looks great in fighter, but it's battroid and gerwalk just don't look as good. Plus, i like how the cockpit section is integrated and hidden in battroid on the 19, instead of out front where it can take all the direct hits. The cockpit-out-front-of-the-bot look has become a transforming jet cliche of sorts, so designs like the YF-19, SV-51, VF-25, VF-4, VF-5000, and VF-25 are appealing b/c the cockpit has a more functional use in the transformation as well as being protected by parts of the battroid. If the 19 and 21 were non-transforming jets, however, I'd have to go with the 21..it's gorgeous, and very reminiscent of its YF-23 inspiration.

I have mixed feelings about using the YF-23 as inspiration: I love the plane; IMHO, it was the rightful winner of the competition and should be the symbol of the Air Force, should be the plane featured in Hollywood's blockbusters, and most certainly wins the beauty contest between itself and the 22, which is a fugly pregnant, diamond-shaped F-15 ripoff. In short, I've never been partial to the F-22, and was mollified when it won against the YF-23, which was, by nearly all accounts I've read, the superior performer. So, on one hand, I'd be pleased to see it in the limelight; on the other, I'm concerned by the bastardization that would undoubtedly be visited upon it by Hollywood's special effects people, and even moreso by the thought of Toynami's subpar toys driving it even further into obscurity and shame. The YF-23 was an achievment in engineering; it was revolutionary and unconventional, and our AF officials didn't like that so they sided with the more conventional, less stealthy, ugly F-22, despite the fact that stealth and speed were the dominant pre-requisites in the competition. By most accounts, the 23 was faster, had greater range, and was stealthy in both IR and radar. The YF-22 was radar stealthy, but not IR due to its vectored thrust. As the conflicts over the last 15 years have demonstrated, stealth is a much greater strategic factor in modern warfare than the ability to do a "serpent manuever", which is so much fighter jockey, airshow fodder with little relevance to actual modern combat. Dogfighting is a combat rarity today because we destroy the enemy's ability to generate airpower before they can get a plane in the air, and if the enemy succeeds in such an endeavour, our fighters, due to the technologies employed, enjoy first look- first kill capability. Ok, rant over. Hope the Robotech production folks leave the YF-23 alone and just design their own Veritech creation. YF-23, RIP! You are <snif,snif> remembered.

Does size really matter? Actually, T-formers have never been very accurate to scale, so a size-down on the new Alternity line doesn't bother me; in fact, a smaller toy with similar engineering and die-cast means slightly lower prices and more win for the dollar. As for size differences, the Animated line is a prime (no pun intended) example: Lockdown is about an inch taller than Grimlock, all the deluxes are taller than Voyager Lugnut, who should at least rival Bulkhead in size, and on and on. The sizes of the toys don't match the sizes depicted in the toon. Still think they're nifty toys, though... personality pours out of these things. I'm with Eriku, however, when it comes to automorph...less is better, none is better still, but I don't see an end to it any time soon, or ever. Laziness is progress, I suppose; I'd rather manhandle them from one form to another, as figuring out and admiring the ingenuity of the transformation scheme is a huge part of the hobby for me. Automorph takes some of that away, and makes it, I imagine, more difficult for the designers, as they have to figure out gear ratios and such. It bugs me when I accidentally 'grind' the gears and then have to realign everything; I'm just waiting for little plastic gear teeth to fall out someday, leaving a nice floppy-former.

I spent about 30-40 minutes putting the infernal things on (mind, I don't open the instruction packets on my Yammies, so I look at box pics and employ my wits to finger it out). As big a pain as putting them on was, I thought for sure I was going to snap off a stab when removing the pods, and the belly armor took some work to get off,too.

No prob. I'd say the majority of people think of lumbering construction equipment and low riders when hydraulics is mentioned. The sophistication of modern hydraulic systems and materials is pretty impressive, and all the rapid movements and acrobatics of modern fighters is accomplished by computer controlled hydraulic systems. Slow fliers, like the C-17, also employ state of the art hydraulic systems for exceptional stability and handling, as do commercial aircraft. Manufacturing robots also employ the same technologies used in aircraft, albeit programmed for a vast array of motions and speeds, forces, etc. Now, there are electrically operated actuators, valves, etc, that can generate a decent amount of force, but they are usually employed for secondary functions, at least on aircraft, i.e. trim tabs and such. "Chemical muscles", while cool in theory, to my knowledge, have no factual basis. I know that there are artificial materials that react to electrical stimulus, but the degree to which these are functional, and indeed employable, I am not educated enough to say. I'll concede that materials like this will most likely find limited use in the future, but I doubt that hydraulic systems will fall out of use within the next hundred years. And, those chromed cylinders just look so damned cool on a mech...sorry, i had to say it.

Don't sell hydraulics short..it's my specialty. Computer controlled servo-actuators have amazing response times and aren't herky-jerky like a piece of construction equipment. There are all sorts of snubbers and regulators built in, as well as computer controlled metering valves that control the speed and range of motion precisely. And, some servos are designed to move very fast, esp those attached to stability surfaces, such as the SMCS vanes on the B-1 bomber's nose...they move so fast they're just a blur. Any near future large machane is relegated to the use of hydraulics because, to date, there's nothing else more efficient, economical, or physically feasible to produce the forces required to move a large mass with fluidity and precision. Trust me, I'll be happy when a cleaner alternative comes along...I've been soaked in f**king hydro more times than I'd care to remember..it's nasty, smells bad, and it's a known carcinogen.