M'Kyuun

The new Samurai X Mech (71775) has knees, as did Zane's Titan Mech (71738) released last year. The knee function is limited, but at least it's there. But in general, LEGO eschews knees due to instability, or so they claim. In point of fact, the majority of their joints lack the requisite strength to keep from buckling under any appreciable weight, so they just omit them to avoid the issue rather than introduce improved joints up to the task. Anyway that Grendizer looks really good. It's not my cuppa, but for those who dig super-robots, it'd make for a cool shelf piece if produced.

I wish you every success in tracking them down, and at reasonable prices.

I thought some of the latter ones you mentioned were part of the Walmart reissues a few years back. I remember seeing some G1 Mini-bots, but as I don't collect G1 toys except cassettes, I didn't pick any of them up. Anyway, best wishes in your continuing search to complete your collection.

That last sentence. 😆 Yeah, lots of Technic pins, but the final ship, ahem, is a brick. Seriously, though, it's very sturdy. And I love both how the edges look and the technique used to achieve it. Good stuff. Although I found the set impressive, it didn't strike me as complicated as you found it. Then again, I build transforming mecha, so my gauge is a bit different. But I thought building in that incline was a brilliant technique that gave the ship a lovely rake and sense of aerodynamics that it really doesn't need in space. But, one can infer that these ships can operate in atmosphere, and the shaping helps. That's my view. Regardless, it's a beautiful update to an already lovely design, and I'm still beyond thrilled that TLG released it as part of the 90th anniversary promotion/celebration. It's far more fitting, IMHO, than Bionicle, which itself just had a birthday. LEGOLand Town, Castle, and Space were the first themes to introduce the new minifigure in 1979, and really launched LEGO to great success. Town has since become City and has remained evergreen, but Castle and Space have both waned over the last decade, so I think it was appropriate to homage those two early themes so critical to LEGO's early success in grand style. They didn't disappoint on either front.

Didn't know that either. I remember her most from "Six Days, Seven Nights" with Harrison Ford. I remember her speaking about Ford's physical stamina and barely being able to keep up with him despite his being nearly 30 years older as they climbed hills and such during the shoot. Funny- I don't remember much about the film, but I've always remembered this particular comment from an interview with her. Sad loss. Even sadder is that she was only two years older than I, far too young. RIP

Nope- it's your set; do with it what you will. You're not wrong; trans-clear parts weren't really used in those early space sets. In the case of the buggy in question, the original didn't have a light at all, but a grey airtank piece. In 10497 we get a spare black airtank instead of a proper light bley one, and instead of mounting on the front of the little rover, it's stored in one of the light bley cargo boxes built into the sides of the ship. So, in point of fact, LEGO themselves deviated from making a 1:1 representation, and that's overlooking the omission of baseplates and the little comm station. In short, make your mod and be happy about it!

Good review and commentary, Mike. Agree heartily with both. They did a great job with Cosmos, nitpicks aside. Unfortunately, most of us fans are left enjoying him vicariously for want of stock at Wally & Pulse. Very poor marketing decision for all the reasons you enumerated.

Or Powershot. 😉

Yeah, but since Dead End is engineered to be an arm bot, with all the corresponding pegs and tab for body separation that Wildrider likely doesn't share, Wildrider will be the obvious retool/repaint. I'm not sure if they made these guys all swappable as limbs, since they just tab on to a frame- seems like something they'd normally do, but in the interest of serving the toon faithfully, I'm not certain. Got my Motormaster today, and in his combined mode, he's a beastly fig, although 2/3 of his huge commander class box was just air due to the cardboard filler. For space-saving purposes, I wish they'd just tailor the box to fit the fig, regardless of the size class. Anyway, he's a pretty satisfying take on the character, and while I'd prefer the limb-bots actually formed the limbs, knowing the concessions of that design direction from Combiner Wars, and in the interest of producing a sturdier combiner, this works well. Dragstrip is the only other Stunticon I own so far, and the tab-on separation gimmick when he attaches to the arm works really well (and it's pretty satisfying in its own right). Compared to his ungainly and stooped CW counterpart, the stability, joint strength, and posture of Legacy Menasor is far superior. Very solid- no movement of the joints, even with his arm extended with Dragstrip attached, gun in hand, and a bit of light shaking. Definitely an improvement. Looks great and rather imposing, as a Decepticon of his stature should. As is the case with combiners, now I'm anticipating with greater zeal the eventual arrival of the other three limb-bots.

Meh, I'm not really down with parts-forming. I say that, but I just got the upgrade kit for The Ark that fills in his sides. Alas, I prove my own hypocrisy. Anyway, I'll take Deadend as-is and just grumble about the terrible feet design. 😊 I think the rest of him looks decent though, and his car mode is pretty spot-on.

I didn't even pick up on the retool aspect. So far, Dragstrip is turning out to be the best of the Stunticons, followed by Motormaster (who's due on my doorstep today). I intend to keep Wildrider's hood together when I get my copy. I don't understand why they bothered making it expand; it's not faithful to the original toy or toon, but just a 'feature' they added for no good reason that does little for the fig, IMHO. As you say, breakdown will likely be another retool, but hopefully without the pointless expanding hood. I wish we'd hear something from Hasbro addressing the egregious and short-sighted shortage of Cosmos figs. Out of all the Velocitrons, they had to know that Cosmos was undoubtedly going to be the most highly desired fig in an assortment of otherwise repaints, as would any update of a G1 minibot be. I hope they don't rinse and repeat if they ever decide to finally give Gears, Brawn, and Windcharger their own deluxe updates. I don't see how they benefit from the rabid exorbitant scalping on the secondary market, so I'm going to give Hasbro the benefit of the doubt and call it myopic oversight. If the former, it's downright evil. Either way, it blows for us fans who just want the damned toy for our collections without sacrificing organs. I really feel for the kids, and parents of those kids, trying to find these things in stores; the adult collecting market has made buying toys a nightmare for us in the know of all the various avenues to procure them. Most parents, grandparents, etc are not that invested or knowledgeable, and it has to be heartbreaking for them when they can't find this or that fig for their kids. It shouldn't be this hard to find retail toys in stores, but this is our reality. Greedy people suck.

I like gadget-formers, but that Canon-bot just ain't doing it for me. That said, I think the Reflektor repaint works better than the Prime, but honestly, Reflektor is a traditional character whose camera mode is comprised of three bots, and I think this would have been better served as its own unique character. I get why- recognition sells. But, if all Hasbro ever did throughout TF history was rename every single new character after an existing character, it'd be a much smaller universe. Anyway, it's another left-field Transformer toy, like the tennis shoe and the baseball hat figs, and to me it looks like a camera with arms and legs tacked on Mr. Potatohead-style. I know it transforms, and I want to like it, but it looks wonky to me. Alas, if you like it, and you can get your hands on a copy, then that's fantastic. I hope it proves a fun and unique addition to your collection. What the heck is up with his feet? Not a bad looking fig otherwise. His car mode looks great. I wish Aerialbots fared so well.😢

You should buy yourself some plastic crack every now and again. I promise, it's not addictive. 😈 Mwaahahahahahahaha!

I'm down for SS86 Ironhide and the eventual Ratchet. I dig the engineering, the much-improved alt mode, and the all-inclusive transformation. I don't dig the huge protruding hinges (double hinges would've been an improvement), the mismatched color blocking between red plastic and red painted translucent plastic, the overuse of silver around the bumper (part of the front is supposed to be red), the crappy hands and single piece loin-plate (C'mon, Hasbro, what gives?- voyager budget and still these shortcuts?), the omission of his back cannon (although there's really nowhere to plug it in if it did come with), his somewhat lackluster articulation, and the lack of his yellow stripe. Having seen what they're able to do with a voyager budget for other deluxe figs, the bar was a bit higher. This had the potential to be a knockout fig. I guess the cost of plastic, and perhaps molds, is still nigh prohibitively expensive. There does seem to be a high number of moving parts/pin hinges, so I guess that's where the majority of the budget went. I wish they could've painted the entire fig so the red was uniform. I may just have to do that myself, as well as give him his yellow stripe. Swung by Wally today and saw Velocitrons Burn Out, Road Rocket, and Blurr. Of course, no Cosmos or Clampdown, the two I'm interested in. Not sure what Hasbro was thinking when they short-packed Cosmos- he's going to be scalper-bait from here on out unless Hasbro rectifies the situation. Grrrr!!!!

Enjoy, and thanks for the kind words. Leg godt!

You're most welcome. Happy building!

At the risk of bogarting this entire thread, I have another review for you. as I mentioned in my 10497 review, I had designs on using my second copy of the set to build one of the semi-official alternate builds, also based on 1979 Space sets, and also designed by Mike Psiaki. I followed through, spending the lion's share of my yesterday well into the late evening toiling away on not only the ship, but a few side MOCs. The design I chose to do was 10497_01 which is intended to be an update to set #924 Space Transporter as it was known in Europe, or set #487 Space Cruiser as it was known in the US. I don't own a copy of the Space Cruiser, so I'm afraid stock photos will have to do. Group shot with (L-R) 10497_01, 497, and 10497, or maybe less confusing, Space Cruiser 2.0, Galaxy Explorer, Galaxy Explorer 2.0 (GE2). For the remainder of the review, I'll use these terms. As you can see, the Space Cruiser is about the same size as the original Galaxy Explorer. It follows many of the same design cues as the GE2, as the original Cruiser shared similar cues to the Galaxy Explorer. I love the slightly elevated position of the copilot, as well as the inclined fuselage/canopy. To me it just looks very sleek and aerodynamic. While I'm not the biggest fan of stickers, in this instance I wish LEGO had included a set of stickers for "LL924" and "LL918" to correspond with the alternate models. Both alternates use the printed LL928 bricks prominently, but I'd like to have a proper LL924 on this ship, which I intend to keep permanently. Note the carryover of the brick-built white downward arrow from the GE2. Such a great detail. being a much smaller ship, Space Cruiser doesn't have a living quarters, and those double windows serve a purely aesthetic function. The Space Cruiser also shares the same retracting landing gear design as GE2. I like the asymmetrical antennae on this model. The original had a single antenna, replicated here by a 6-stud long bar w/stop inserted into a 1x1 round brick. The fit of that bar is rather loose; it doesn't fall out, having more friction at the very end than where it sits flush with the stop, but there is a little slop so that it can move side to side a little bit. They really should have put a few light bley 1x1 round plates with open studs in the set to give it a firmer base. Alas, no. This bit of nondescript cargo differs from the white cargo box that came with the original Space Cruiser. In my mind, it's some sort of generator utilizing similar tech to the engines, but honestly, imagination prevails and aside from the two light bley containers w/flip-down doors, the function and purpose of the remainder is up to the builder. If Mr. Psiaki has offered an explanation, I'm blissfully unaware. Another notable omission from this update is a forklift to facilitate handling of the cargo. Having a plethora of leftover parts after completing the Space Cruiser, I embraced the challenge of building one using only the leftover parts. Due to the four-stud wide design of the original cargo build, I had to modify it so that my forklift, whose forks are spaced 6-studs wide, could pick it up, as seen in the previous pics. I replaced the half cylinder piece with some angled bricks to try and maintain the rounded look of the container while putting some 1x1 red and white cylinders within to simulate tanks of some sort. I put a tap in there too, as a way of interacting with it and providing a hint of functionality. I also added some side runners to provide a lifting surface for the forklift. Fortunately, the cargo bay is 6-studs wide, and the modified cargo fits perfectly. Incidentally, that grey and blue bit sticking up is the locking mechanism for the cargo doors. It needs to be lowered to near horizontal prior to closing the cargo doors so they can pass under the large tail stabilizers. Once the doors are in closed position, you simply press the lock down and all is secured. After finishing my forklift, I still had a lot of parts left over, so I decided to try and replicate, still using only parts from the set, something akin to the white cargo box from the original set. With a goodly collection of parts left over still, I built a little depot for storing cargo. In summary, by not having the numbered bags to go by, but having to pick the parts out of a rather large pile brought back the nostalgic feel of the pre-millennial sets before part call-outs on every step. It made for a longer build time (I don't organize or sort my parts out - I just dump and build), but enjoyable all the same. Forging into MOC territory with the forklift, cargo, and depot builds well into the evening was fun and freeing, if that's the right word. I've long been a MOC builder and tying myself purely to the parts available in the set put a fun constraint on realizing these additional builds. I hope they prove inspirational to anyone else attempting the same. As to the updated Space Cruiser itself, if you like the design direction of 10497, and desire an updated 487/924 for your collection, as I do, this is definitely a beautiful and complimentary model. IMHO it makes a great companion piece for the GE2, and if nothing else, provides for a fun build experience beyond the primary model. Cheers and keep clicking those bricks!

Thanks F-ZeroOne, I appreciate it greatly. Of course, I can't recommend it highly enough, but so far as space is concerned, I feel ya. Even so, I wasn't going to let this set slip by after it's pretty much topping my wish list for decades. Gonna build the Galaxy Cruiser update with my second copy, and I'll probably get a third copy just to do whatever with. Fortunately, I put up some shelves earlier this year, and I'm going to get creative with some display possibilities to try and fit all this blue and grey loveliness. I hope you end up getting a copy, but if not, there are plenty of sites that do good reviews and real-time build-ups so you can enjoy it vicariously. It's never quite the same as building it yourself, but I find it a relaxing and rewarding way to enjoy sets I likely won't buy. Whatever you decide, I wish you well.

I'm only just catching up w/ all the Batgirl hoopla, mostly thanks to its trending on Twitter. I never really had any expectations built up for this, so I'm a bit neutral about its being shelved. However, if they decided to do a Batgirl tv series, I'd love to see them cast Sadie Sink from Stanger Things as the eponymous heroine. The girl has chops, and bonus, she's a natural red head, perfect for a young Barbara Gordan learning the ropes as a burgeoning crimefighter. Hire Dina Meyer, who played Barbara Gordon in 2002's Bird's of Prey to play her mom, and with whom she shares a believable likeness, unlike so many other odd parent-child castings. Cast an 18 year-old Dick Grayson and a Batman in his thirties as mentors and friends. With good writing and prod values. I think it'd make for a good show.

10497_01_BI_AltDig.pdf10497_02_BI_AltDig.pdf Here they are. _01 builds an update of set #924 Space Cruiser. _02 builds an update of set #918 Space Transport (One Man Spaceship). Only one model can be built at a time with a single copy of 10497 Galaxy Explorer. Hope this helps. Happy Building!

NP. I actually wasn't planning on doing so in-depth a review, but after I posted the pic of it just sitting on my kitchen table, I realized there was a lot I wanted to share about it. This is a dream set, one I didn't think was going to happen when Castle won the poll, and Bionicle was looking very likely to win at one point as well. The announcement of this set was a huge sigh of relief followed by a huge wave of anticipation. I'm also happy that I have the original to do a comparison, and I thought was the best way to do a presentation. I hope it was enjoyable. And yeah, Fed Ex's tracking is unreliable at best. They got me this time, as usually they're late by a day or two, and this time they were a day early. Totally unexpected, and dismaying when I found they'd been out on my porch for an extended period in very hot weather. I love that they did the old computer graphic, too. It's always been one of my favorite decos. If you look at the copilot's panel, it's reminiscent of the old Asteroids game, but the silhouette of the ship is the Galaxy Explorer. LEGO humor at its finest. 😊 Thank you most kindly. Futuron had one of the finest looking aesthetics of all the Space themes, IMHO, and some great sets. I only had two sets from that theme as a kid: 6848 Strategic Persuer, and the gloriously beautiful 6932 Stardefender 200 😍. I wouldn't balk in the least if LEGO decided to do an update of the Stardefender. Space Police was a cool theme, too. I wouldn't mind homages to the sets you mentioned, either. I'd also favor some Blacktron or Blacktron 2 updates. So many good sets and creative themes from that era.

It does look nice (many of their models do). Unlike LEGO, it benefits from many more customized parts to approximate the realistic look of the actual aircraft, but it does have nice shelf presence. Congrats on finally getting a copy. Sounds like it makes you happy, and that's awesome. So my two copies of 10497 were delivered on Sunday, a day early, and they sat on my porch in 100 degree heat for a day and through a round of sprinklers the next morning (Monday) before I discovered them. Really wish Fed-Ex would knock on the door when they deliver stuff. Fortunately, they weren't pirated, and though the boxes both suffered a bit of wear, the contents seem to be fine. I've been into LEGO since I was about 6, and Classic Space definitely appealed to me more than any of LEGO's other themes. That said, I never had any of the old blue and grey ships from '79. I remember getting smaller sets and looking at the pics of the Galaxy Explorer and the Galaxy Cruiser in the foldouts and catalog booklets that used to accompany sets back then. I miss those. I didn't get a copy of the 497/928 Galaxy Explorer until my forties, and the first set I bought was incomplete, at which point I bought a second used copy which gave me the parts to finally complete the set. It sits on my shelf as I type. Like most CS fans (I use the term broadly, encompassing LEGO space themes into the 90s), I've a great deal of nostalgia for the old Space themes, but there has always been a certain allure for those original blue and grey ships- they were majestic in their use of colors, in the shaping, in the realistic features, in the playability. Jens Nygaard Knudsen (Jan 1942- Feb 2020) is not a household name, but it should be for the many millions of children's lives he has touched through his work at LEGO. Jens designed the minifigure. He also designed the entire first wave of the early Space sets, including the venerable Galaxy Explorer. He chose the blue color, from a then very limited palette, because it seemed to him "more technical". One may be inclined to think an obscure film called Star Wars influenced the wedge-shaped ship designs, but Mr. Knudsen finalized the Space sets in '76, a year prior to Star Wars' release, and three years prior to the US release of LEGOLand Space. The launch of Castle, Town, and Space brought immediate success for LEGO and a much-earned promotion to Chief Designer for Jens. In total, Jens worked for LEGO for 32 years before retiring in 2000, designing elements and sets that would become iconic, revered, and still much sought-after to this day. I can't adequately put into words my immense gratitude for the influence and joy Jen's work has brought me throughout my life. In reviewing this new Galaxy Explorer design, I thought it altogether fitting and proper to first pay tribute to the creator of Classic Space and the minifigure who breathed life into LEGO themes. I consider him one of my personal heroes, so great has his work's impact been on my life. Tak. 10497 Galaxy Explorer came about as the result of a poll LEGO submitted to the public to gauge interest in what themes LEGO fans would like to see in a 90th anniversary set. The race was close between several themes, and ultimately Castle and Classic Space were chosen to receive updates homaging the classic sets. The designer for the updated Galaxy Explorer is a talented AFOL-cum-designer named Michael Psiaki, whose work with LEGO I followed for years prior to his employment with LEGO. I was very pleased when I found out he had secured a job as a designer; he has since proved his prowess with the brick, designing sets like the Expert Creator Mustang, F40 Ferrari, Harley-Davidson Fatboy, 007 Aston-Martin DB5, as well as 3-1 sets like the beautiful Blue Power Jet. and the incredible Ideas Saturn V. Some quick history; In Europe, the Galaxy Explorer was released under set number 928, whereas in America, it was set 497. Apparently differing set numbers based upon region was more common back in the late 70s, early 80s. Set 10497 pays homage to both iterations through both the set number and the printed LL928 on the side of the ship itself. The LL stands for LEGOLand in case you're not familiar. So, let's start with the original set. This was the flagship set of the first wave of LEGOLand Space in 1979, and oh what a beautiful set it is. Big, eyecatching color scheme, awesome spaceship, a cool printed baseplate for it to land on, a cool baseplate with crater detail to explore, a little buggy, a communications tower, and four of the then all-new astronaut minifigs, two red and two white, to play out space adventures. In my mind, the appeal of this set has not diminished one iota since its initial release. Old vs new. Obviously, this is not a 1:1 set, but more of a stylistic and minimized homage of the original. Unlike 497 with its spread of baseplates and comm center, 10497 concentrates solely on the main ship, giving it a modern feel while doubling its size from the original. The basic silhouette is still the same looking down, but from the side the fuselage rakes at a steeper angle in lieu of the stepped shape of the original's cockpit section for a sleeker side profile. It also uses the UCS X-Wing canopies in trans-yellow to cover both the crew compartment and a newly added living quarters behind it. Looking at the grey wingplan, 10497 eschews the multi-layered sandwich of plates of 497 for a thicker wing plan that uses SNOT techniques to give the outer edges a nice bevel topped by tiles. The entire ship is built upon a Technic frame covered in plates and wedges, and is very sturdy. Crew compartment: 497 10497 Instrument panel: While 497 had printed slopes , 10497 has printed tiles. I'm particularly enamored of the ship status panel in the center; it's a cool RW touch. While I'm mentioning printed tiles, I'm pleased to say that there are no stickers in this set; all graphics are printed so as to more faithfully replicate the building experience of the original set. 497 10497 Crew quarters 10497 An added bonus to getting an update to an old design is that new features can be added. In this case, a small living quarters is located behind the crew compartment. In this first pic, you're treated to a couple printed tiles and a view of the beds, each with an alcove built in so the astrofigs can sleep with their air tanks on. Cargo compartment: 497 10497 Although similar to 497's cargo functions, there's one additional change: an extendable ramp. The white plates with grey Technic pins serve to hold the buggy in place allowing the wheels to spin freely while the ramp is pulled out. Once fully extended, it simply inclines due to gravity, and the buggy rolls out. Although this robot comes with 10497, it wasn't part of the original 497 set. It was part of set 6809 XT-5 and Droid from 1987. This is an exact copy of that droid, a personal addition by the designer. Airlock: This, too, is a feature not found on the original 497. It allows passage from the crew quarters to the cargo compartment via a sliding door. It's a clever SNOT build that works very well. The door slides so effortlessly that I wish they'd incorporated some sort of mechanism by which to secure the door in the closed position. External details/features: 497 10497 A couple notes: While the downward arrow was a printed brick on 497, it is completely brick-built on 10497 using a specialized tile developed for Nexo Knights. The grey door on 497 was merely a detail, as it simply opened into the cargo compartment but served no other purpose. On 10497, the doors are replaced by specialized box elements which originally showed up in M-Tron sets in 1990. Making use of the boxes, the right one contains a black air tank (wish it was light bley to match the tank in 497) and the left box contains a couple taps with trans-red and trans-green studs which I interpret to be marshalling wands). One other observation I want to point out is the omission of the printed grill detail found on 497. A new brick with that printed grill for this set, or even having it brick-built using the grill tiles would have been cool. Finally, while the wing mounted engines on 497 were a stationary detail, on 10497 they can unsnap from their moorings, and by flipping them over and adjusting the little levers, they can become rocket sleds of a sort. It's silly, and my least favorite of the set's features, but it's not out of the realm of whimsy and fun that LEGO's known for in other themes. Notes and final thoughts: The box art for 10497 is lovingly reminiscent of the space sets of the late 70s and 80s. I wish they'd gone full-bore and produced an old-school box with a plastic insert to highlight specialized parts/figs with a lid style flap. I loved the packaging from that era, and to have had it reproduced for this set would have been just one more checked box towards total nostalgia fulfillment. Alas, they didn't. The instruction booklet, much like many of their other specialized sets, have snippets of info interspersed throughout, which always brings an added bit of enjoyment to a building project, especially when said project has personal meaning, as this set does for me. Set 10497 contains 1254 pieces and retails for $99.99 USD, which going by the antiquated 10 cents/pc methodology, is a great buy. But beyond the financials, this set represents a long-wished-for dream come true for LEGO Space fans all around the world, including the designer himself, who wanted to do an update of 497 since he joined LEGO in 2012. Classic Space represents something intangibly cool to so many people, many of whom I've met or interacted with via conventions and online. These folks keep CS alive through their passion for LEGO and their amazing MOCs, and other paraphernalia. The appeal of CS remains strong, and I'm one of many who would love to see it and many of the other Space themes revisited. 10497 whets the appetite for more sets done in this fashion, and I hope LEGO will surprise us in the future. For now, aside from Benny's Spaceship in 2014, LEGO Space has gone silent since their last original Space theme , Galaxy Squad, debuted in 2013. My hope is that 10497 will prove enormously successful, providing impetus to LEGO that there's room on shelves for more than one Space theme. Cheers, and play well.

I wish they'd borrow more ideas from third party, but at least this demonstrates a willingness on their part. Regarding your Silverbolt aircraft carrier idea, if Has/TT were more competent when designing jet alt modes I'd be all for it. But, with only a single alt mode to deal with, their attempts to make jetformers are overburdened with concessions. The Aerialbots were hindered further by their need to form limbs hence the blocky bots-wearing-jet-carcasses approach to their G1 toys. Unfortunately, that egregiously compromised aesthetic has followed us into the 21st century with unshakeable tenacity such that even the majority of third party attempts, most at MP scale no less, have copied it. Dreamstar Toys are one of the few to move away from the G1 aesthetic to produce more realistic looking jets, although their take on the bot modes is very stylized, more akin to Bayformers than G1. Additionally, much to my disappointment, as well as they did on the limb-bots' jet modes, their Silverbolt shares the same block-o-bot undercarriage that seems to plague all instances of the character in toy form. I keep waiting for someone to make a more integrated Silverbolt that actually looks like a proper Concorde, but that seems to be an insurmountable challenge, or nobody cares enough to try. @mikeszekely and I have had this conversation, and though we differ in our opinions, I still think it's wholly do-able. Even with a titan budget, I'm not sure they'd be able to pull it off. I look at The Ark, and there are so many things that could have, and one would expect would have, been done better on a titan class fig. The hands suck, the little cannons that dot his carcass are molded detail instead of being separate rotating features, the enormous gaps in his legs that should have been covered by hinged clamshell panels, the gap at his elbow that similarly should have had a folding cover, the lack of a fifth engine bell (which should have been engineered in even if it had to separate and fold away to form the feet), etc. I like it, but I'm not blind to its many concessions. While I'd love all-in-one combiners from Hasbro, I just don't think it's financially feasible, and I think the engineering required would be too complex for their age market. I remember back in the mid-2000s when Bayformer toys were becoming very complex, and parents were complaining b/c little Johnny or Susie couldn't figure them out (and I suspect, neither could the hapless parents when they tried to help). Admittedly, I had trouble figuring some of them out, and the instructions weren't always the clearest (thank Primus for all the video reviewers). So, I make the argument that even with a larger budget, I think the all-in-one approach is impractical.

I think you make a good argument for the direction Has/Tak chose. I posited my opinion in a previous post, but essentially, given the bevy of restraints under which they must labor to produce a safe and functional toy within tight budgetary limits, I think they went the best route to give purpose and function to all parts of the figure while striving to maintain the G1 toon look of Menasor. Are there concessions? Yep, but I think they were judiciously acceptable concessions relative to the ultimate aim of making a toon accurate Menasor/Stunticon team. The designers at Hasbro & Takara-Tomy are fans of this stuff; they know they can't do everything they'd like to do to make the 'perfect' fig within their imposed limitations. I don't always agree w/ their choices, but thanks to their behind-the-scenes revelations on Instagram, I'm developing a whole new respect for the hurdles and hindrances they face when designing these things, and an appreciation for just how well most turn out in retrospect. I would absolutely love it if Hasbro/TT could follow MMC's example as it pertains to combiners. All-in-one is the ultimate engineering approach, IMHO. It's hard to do, and unfeasible for mass-retail toys aimed at 8 year-olds. Reality sucks sometimes. But, at least it exists within the MP level of collecting, and that's something to be celebrated.

Great review, Mike! I'm not the biggest fan of the frame w/ ornamental cars to form a combined bot, BUT, this is a case where I'll make an exception. I don't know that they'd have been able to pull off an all-in-one Motormaster at even a commander class budget. It's a tall order, and I don't think the final result would have been as faithful as this approach. The engineering is still pretty amazing when you consider the puzzle aspect of the trailer with all the different parts, which also have varying levels of transformation individually, plus the cab section, all of which has to create a base mode (It's not great, but points for trying- they don't have to, but it's a little extra playability that costs you nothing more than time) and merge together to form the torso and limb frames, all of which needs to be sturdy enough to bear the weight of those additional deluxe carbots. And it all has to meet strict safety laws and such, plus be easy enough to be manipulated by an 8 year-old, yet still appeal to us old 40-50 year olds who grew up with it, b/c ya know, although we're not technically the target audience, we're the ones with the nostalgia and the passion for G1 and the disposable income to have rooms full of this stuff. Not that I would know anything about that. 😉 So, my copy of Studio Series '86 Sludge came today, and I'm rather quite pleased with him. I complained about Takara's, specifically Hasui-san's, reinventing the wheel with some of these SS86 Dinobot transformations, but honestly, I was pretty impressed with the design. I think moving his chest back to let his arms form the back legs was a really clever move. His dino butt is way too chunky, and I so wish they had the budget and inclination to give him a longer and slightly articulated tail which would be useful and apropos on an Apatosaur. Moreover, Sludge often used his tail in the toon in combat, and it'd be great if this figure could pull it off, too. Alas, no. Wish they'd worked out a better neck joint- it totally breaks sculpt and looks weird when his neck is bent down. The hip and knee ratchets on mine seem pretty solid thus far. Like Mike, I wish his legs pegged together a little more solidly, but I can live with the slight gap. now onto the main reason for my post. Not content to suffer the stock figure's toe udder in dino mode, I bought BDT Studio's upgrade kit to replace the stationary toes with a set that can rotate into the tummy void that seems to have been made for just that purpose. My thoughts on the kit (BDT-35C) are as follows: Ok, so on the left is the stock toe as it comes on the fig and on the right is the corresponding BDT upgrade. here you can see the variations in size, sculpt, and color. the grey is a slightly darker shade than Sludge's plastic, but the gold is a much deeper bronze than the paint used on the fig. Of course, you can always try to do a better color match yourself if you choose to get the kit. It doesn't bother me. The toe and the base are simply held together by friction; no screws. There's a short length of black plastic tubing somehow embedded in the base and for now it provides enough friction to allow the toe to hold a position, although it wouldn't really be enough to bear the weight of the whole fig. Also, note that the stock toe base has a center piece at the top whereas the BDT base does not. These bases are only held onto a double hinge linkage by two very small protrusions on the inner walls. The center piece helps keep pressure on that connection on the Hasbro base, whereas the BDT is a much weaker connection without it. Not sure why they didn't engineer that into their design, as it would have greatly improved the strength of that joint. As is, it holds ok on mine, but care must be taken when manipulating the joint, as it'll come off very easily. Big oversight on BDT's part. Hasbro toe on the left, BDT on right. Note the center plate on the Hasbro toe base that maintains pressure on the joint. The BDT would have greatly benefitted from having it too. The following show the range of toe up and down respectively. Here Sludge is showing off his brassy new toes. I like that the grills in the front are actual grills and not just molded detail. I wish they'd painted the insides of the toes black or dark grey though. The base color of the 3d printing material is white, and you can see it when looking through his toe grills. Finally, the reason for getting this kit in the first place. Behold, Sludge with a mostly flat tummy! Sludge is ready to pummel Decepticons now without worrying about getting hung up on a speed bump; the downside to the upgrade is there's no place to put his hand cannon except pegging it onto his hind hips, and that's if you don't have his former feet-cum-rocket packs installed. I really wish they'd made his gun collapse enough to store within his big dino butt under those folding panels with the faux G1 toy's toes on his back. Alas it's too big, and with the BDT toes installed, the belly storage option is gone. (Didn't like it anyway). Maybe a third party will make a collapsible gun, or one that separates into two bits that'll fit in his booty. Then he'll truly have junk in his trunk, so to speak. Look at that svelte undercarriage! Those stock toes were udder nonsense. I can't stop myself. It's a marked improvement over the golden mammary formed by the stock toes. I imagine they just didn't have enough room in the molds or the budget to squeeze out two additional parts to allow for the toes to bend organically. For now, the BDT kit suffices, as it's the only folding toe option that I'm aware of. Fortunately, at $17 bucks, it doesn't set you back too much, and I think the improvement to the dino mode is worth it. The tenuous connection is its greatest flaw, but with care, it works. While the moveable toes are almost certainly the main draw of this kit, there are two additional bits that come with it that allow you to make use of the old toe pieces you removed. Admittedly, it's not the best, but it's an option if you choose to use them. I'm not too plussed about the rocket packs, but I guess it's nice that they gave you that option, and it offers something to make the castoff official toes useful. I appreciate the thought more than the execution. In summary, this kit fixes my main gripe with the stock figure. However, the kit could certainly use some refinement, especially the base where it has a tenuous connection. I was really surprised when I was able to easily pull the toe piece off revealing a less than cleanly cut bit of black plastic tubing affixed to the base providing the only means of friction. It's obvious that these were designed quickly and cheaply , but as the only option I'm aware of currently to give him a much-needed breast reduction for a reasonable price, I give the kit a soft recommendation.