M'Kyuun

Great review, Mike. I can accept the tank mode compromise, as there's really no other good option for Hasbro unless they just release a non-transforming cartoon accurate Megatron figure, and I'm glad they chose compromise. My gripe is that it looks like two different teams worked on it, their A-team on the lower half and their C-team on the turret. Perhaps they should have just upgraded him to commander class and improved the engineering on the turret. However, whether he's a gun or a tank, my guess is that most fans, including me, will display Megatron in all his robot glory. That was obviously the primary focus of the design and in that they delivered. I'm with you on the mace- I understand the reference, but like Prime's axe, it's an accessory I'll never use, and as you pointed out, there's little doubt third party will provide options. My own hope is for fusion cannon options that have some transformation elements to make it look less like a gun scope sandwiched between arms and more like an actual tank turret. I think including the Megs-as-a-figure-scaled-pistol was the better accessory, as far more scenes from the tv show and Movie can be played out where someone, usually Starscream, wielded him in gun mode. I POed mine from Pulse, so as usual, I'll likely get my copy later than everyone else, b/c membership has its privileges. Snark aside, at least I'm guaranteed to get it eventually, as finding stuff in stores, while better now than say five years ago, is still not reliable, especially for a fig of this status. In the interim, I need to address my lack of display space so he'll have a home when he arrives. I'm due to get my Long Haul-Hook set today, and I'm not sure where to put them yet, so I need to find a solution. First world issues, I'll tell ya.

Madness. 😄 Y'know, I've often wondered why they completely eschewed real world scale, but apparently the trend stared with the original Diaclone and only got progressively worse from there. Once we got to the combiner teams, all bets were off, Bruticus being a major example of just how wonky scale is in the Transformers Universe. However, scale discrepancies were only amplified by the Sunbow animation and '86 Movie. astrotrain is a glaring example, alongside Soundwave, his cassettes, Reflector, and good ole Megatron himself. I 've also often wondered how Transformers would have turned out had Budiansky changed up the roster and kept Soundwave, his minions, Megatron, and Reflector all at their real world, human hand-sized scale and perhaps made them all spies or something. It would have been a completely different show, but I think it'd make for a neat alternate universe story completely devoid of mass shifting. Of course, the toys wouldn't be able to do that so there'd be obvious concessions there. However, it would be neat to have at least one line where the toys were all in relatively r/w scale to each other. See, that would have been logical. Too, I've always wondered why they chose a Concorde for Silverbolt's alt when the B-1B would have been far more apropos amongst a group of American fighters. Weird decisions. Well, in a toyline where they can make cassettes, motorcycles, dune buggies, and other relatively thin alt modes transform with no bot kibble hanging out, a jet fighter seems, to me, to be a far less challenging prospect. Moreover, I design transforming mecha from LEGO, my own designs as well as Macross. I've been doing it decently well for over a decade and from experience, it's difficult to see how you can start with a robot and design it into a vehicle or object, as so much of the alt mode generally informs the robot mode. Honestly, there's a lot of back and forth, so I have some understanding of the challenges Takara faces when designing Transformers toys. Designing with LEGO poses its own unique challenges, as I'm constrained by the palette, the dimensions of LEGO parts, and my inability to craft a custom part where it would serve better than what exists or what I can cobble together. It definitely pushes my creativity and innovation to overcome challenges. Anyway, Due to his general habit of making the entire powerplant become the legs, I'll concede the point- especially on valks like the YF-19 or the VF-17. And yeah, his latest designs have become thinner and lankier. I don't mind. Floro Dery's blocky designs in some ways improved the looks of the bots compared to their toys, but that blockiness seems to have had a reverse inspiration on the toys that would follow, unfortunately. Concerning the Diaclone JetRobo F-15 initially released in '83, it seems a step backwards in design philosophy since it likely succeeds Kawamori's far more elegant and realistic VF-1. The transformation involves partsforming the lower arms/hands which seems contrary to the majority of Kawamori's valks over the years, although, technically, the VF-1's, and VF-0's by extension, legs partsform from fighter to battroid. It has always seemed odd to me that they didn't just make the area for the arms a little wider and hinge the lower arms into that space to fill out the inner fuselage. I so wish they'd done that with the SS86 toy, but it looks like they followed the Classics/ Earthrise / MP solution of just recessing them into the sides of the plane. I'm not complaining; at least they integrate and aren't just hanging out there in the breeze like so many pf their other TF jetformers. You know my answer b/c they do it routinely with any other alt mode except jets, and they even managed to do it with Maverick, Legacy Prime Dreadwing/Skyquake, and Needlenose, and with Generations Scourge (an innovative blended wing design likely inspired by NASA's Boeing X-48), IMHO one of the all-time best aviation alt modes both by subject and execution. Fantastic figure. I'll throw the Classics fig in there too, whose only real disappointments were the too-shallow forward fuselage and the giant hole between the intakes that should have been filled by forward fuselage. My point is, there are precedents for doing good to decent jetformers; the question is, why are they the exceptions and not the rule? I don't think it's always necessarily about budgets, retailers' needs, or toy safety laws but more of an internal trend of relying on an old tried-but-true simple approach that gets the job done minus nuance, innovation, or adherence to what real jets look like. insofar as combining, again, they can manage to make just about any other alt mode, even construction machinery, look credible, but jets? Same old story: blocks with nosecones, wings, and tails thrown on. Even the G1 toys succeeded with conveying what aircraft they were supposed to be with slightly more accuracy than the Legacy versions. Step backwards. Frustrating both b/c they've proven they can do better, other companies have done it better, and b/c they seem locked into a formula that they seem to have no desire to amend or improve upon. After forty years, they should be able to take those blocky cartoon models and transform them into reasonably believable aircraft- it's kinda what they do, except when they don't. First point, yeah, no excuse for not taking a different approach. However, in Takara's defense, they didn't design the robot modes for Bayformers; a bunch of CG artists chopping up pics of vehicles and pasting those bent, twisted, and otherwise distorted shards of vehicles onto robot frames created the designs. Hence the reason they are impossible to develop as three dimensional toys without a buttload of cheating. I wish they'd let Takara develop the bot modes, although I have a feeling Starscream would've turned out little better b/c Takara's gonna Takara. I think all the ground vehicles would have had more logical bot modes based on actual transformation mechanics, and that would have informed the screen captures as well. Alas, we got Bay's shardbots and history is set. Second point, no, more like a single seat wide cabin area that looks like the Countach's windshield and surrounding windows in the middle of an otherwise normally scaled Countach. That's how I visualize the truncated forward fuselages on jetformers as it would translate to Sideswipe, for example. Apply the same formula to the rest, except Mirage who's already just a single seater. Throw his arms on the outside of the doors and completely close up his aft wheel wells to represent the general omission of aft landing gear. Now take that approach to nearly every carbot and see how the fans react. Guessing it wouldn't go over well. Third point: I checked it out! Appreciate the review. I got them myself last week after waiting what seemed an eternity for them to finally release. Agree on all points. Unfortunately, as you mentioned, the cassette alt mode seems like more of a loose suggestion, if that, on these smaller scaled cassettebots. They should just call them wafers at this point. As someone who really digs the cassettebots, it's a bit disappointing, but I do like what Wu's doing with them for the most part. These two were really well done, IMHO, and I agree that it's likely b/c they didn't have to make compromises for a combination gimmick. I hope he'll eventually do all the major character cassettes, as they'll at least benefit, I hope, from better articulation. If there's a Studio Series '86 Soundwave coming, hopefully at minimum, we'll get a better Ravage.

Part of the problem is that Takara & Hasbro shrink the jets so that the robot modes will all be roughly compatible. However, most jets are much larger than cars. The F-15 is over 63 feet long, roughly 5.5 to 6 feet tall from the bottom of the forward fuselage to the top of the canopy, 18 feet tall from the ground on extended gear to the tops of the vertical stabs, the fuselage from intake to intake is about 9 feet wide, it's nearly 43 feet from wingtip to wingtip, and the C series, likely the inspiration for the Seeker, weighs 27,000 lbs empty. It is a big machine, much larger than the average car. If they scaled TFs with fighter modes appropriately, most would need to be leader scale relative to deluxe and voyager scaled cars. Larger planes, like Silverbolt's Concorde mode, would have to be upscaled tremendously (and, I realize, unrealistically) to scale properly with the average car bot. Scaling definitely makes a difference, but I must point out that Takara rarely uses the forward fuselage to form any part of the bot and it usually just hangs off the bot's back as so much kibble. Same with Concordes or SR-71s- all that lovely long fuselage which could be made to encapsulate arms and part of a torso, but they never use it as such. Considering all of Kawamori's valk designs which approximate real world aircraft, and all of his variations in planform and transformation schemas, I think the problem lies with Takara's exceptionally narrow approach to designing transformable jets and less with their proportions. They can make very small cars and motorcycles transform with well-integrated robot parts in the alt modes, so jets should offer far more real-estate, and thus creative options, to utilize towards realizing a robot mode. Too, look what Touch Toys is accomplishing. I realize we're well beyond the scope of what Takara and Hasbro can produce at their budgets and other limitations, but still, they're pulling off some impressive engineering. On the other end of the scale, I think Newage came up with a brilliant schema for their Seekers. I love how they used the chest intake bits to form part of the lower forward fuselage, thus eliminating that bit of kibble for a more accurate F-15. It's still not perfect, as the legs don't have the proper taper to the augmenters, the intake ramps aren't quite the right shape, and parts of the arms protrude from the belly. However, unlike pretty much every official Seeker except MP-03 and variants, the bottom of the forward fuselage reaches to nearly the base of the inlets, which is accurate to the real jet. I hate it when they put a foreshortened forward fuselage on their jetformers- it's analogous to making the entire cabin section of a car only half of its normal width.

Yep, the chorus sums it up nicely. Haven't heard that song in a long time so I appreciate the reminder.

That's a fine line to tread, as opinions and tastes differ. What might seem awesome to you or me may absolutely rankle with another group of fans. Pleasing everyone is a difficult to nigh impossible chore, and for the most part, over the years, I think Takara, and Hasbro by extension, have done a decent, not perfect, job of it. However, I stand completely by criticism of Takara's approach to aircraft alts- there's nowhere even close to an equality there between ground vehicles and flying ones in terms of trying to capture realism and accuracy- aircraft, from the Diaclone toys onward, have gotten short shrift by way of engineering and care. Until they make a sea change in their approach, I will continue to call out poor aviation alt modes for the travesties that they are. However, in deference to Lechuck and other fans, I'll try to keep my criticism purely to the products and not the people who buy them. That said, do I agree that widespread fan acceptance of poor alt modes gives Takara license to continue in their approach? There's certainly an argument to be made there. I'll just leave it at that. As an addendum, purely from my own experience watching and reading reviews/comments on forums, I've noticed that many TF fans share only a very basic knowledge of aircraft and aircraft nomenclature, and admittedly, had I not worked around them for twenty years, I would likely be in the same boat. Macross fans seem far more inclined to know aviation terms and more specific workings of aircraft, especially military fighters, whereas TF fans are likely more knowledgeable of ground vehicles, hence their easier acceptance of highly inaccurate, disproportional jet modes. That knowledge gap may play a part in Takara's longstanding deviation from accuracy in their aviation alt modes, as I doubt they receive much negative feedback. Too, I've noticed that TF fans tend to care more about the look of the robot modes, especially their likeness to media, be it G1, Bayverse, etc than the alt modes, especially jets, compared to the majority of Macross fans, many of whom prefer to keep their Macross toys in fighter modes and are far more critical of said fighter modes. These are my observations after decades of fandom in both IPs. FWIW, I keep both my TFs and my Macross valks in bot/battroid modes, although I am enamored with the majority of the many valks' aircraft modes. Kawamori designs a beautiful jet. I'll finish with a shout out to @mikeszekely, our own Transformers reviewer extraordinaire, for his diligence in using proper aircraft terminology in his reviews. I greatly appreciate the effort, as I'm sure do our other resident aircraft afficionados as well. I wish more TF reviewers followed your lead. I don't understand that level of personal effrontery over a product, but then again, for most of my life, especially life before the internet, I bought what I liked in isolation without knowing or caring what anyone else thought about it. I did, however, admittedly, keep my toy buying on the downlow in my twenties out of fear of peer condemnation. I think that, and extreme frugality on my part, kept me from buying more, to my current regret. Oh, how I wish I could go back and pick up a lot more Space LEGO sets, but I digress. I'm glad you caught the guy who was harassing you and hopefully they were ejected from the premises with a stoic boot to the behind.

I don't intend to get this set, but as a casual Star Trek fan for whom Next Generation remains my favorite of the various series, I hope this is executed well. Having a large set like the first Death Star playset, which was executed very well IMHO, I imagine this is going to follow a similar play pattern where the interiors of the saucer and main body are sectioned off to provide various settings from the show (Ten-Forward, the bridge and Captain's ready room, Holodeck, transporter room, and engineering at minimal), as well as including a very miniaturized shuttle, much like the DS included a chibi Vader's TIE. (FWIW, I'd love a line of chibi ships- bigger than the micro-fighters, but generally capable of holding a single minifig and designed to look like the actual ships). I guess time will tell, but at this point, I think the Death Star playsets are the best example of what to expect. Shame Tasha Yar's not included in that lineup- she had the makings of an interesting character, but according to Denise Crosby herself, the producers weren't interested in doing much with Tasha and Denise decided to quit the show. We got to see her in person during a convention here in Spokane years ago and she shared a funny story about her and Whil Wheaton sneaking onto the set of a movie being shot near the Star Trek set. In full uniforms, they joined in a dance scene for some teen movie back in the 90s. I can't remember the name of the film, but the way she told it had the crowd laughing. She came across as very sweet and personable, and Spokane is special to her b/c her grandfather, Bing Crosby, grew up here and attended Gonzaga University. The house he grew up in remains on the college's campus as a museum.

I mention no names! 😄

We're good, Lechuck, and your tone came through clearly. Appreciate the wink. I am indeed passionate about aircraft and that particular day, my cantankerous side was enflamed. As to my generalization of fans just accepting poor aviation alts, it's not without precedent, as I watch any number of reviews and I'm often struck by the praise given to these alt modes regardless of how poorly they're done. I can only imagine the ire, the pure umbrage that the fandom would have if Takara suddenly took the same design approach to cars, let's say perhaps Sideswipe, where his windshield and cabin were only half their normal width, the arms were outside of the doors just tabbed in, and the back wheel wells are completely enclosed with no wheels to speak of. That's my general reality with jet-moded Transformers- extreme inaccuracies that receive praise from both fans (on this and other notable TF forums) and by both reviewers and commentators on those reviews. Thus was the impetus for my generalized critique of the fandom at large. Perhaps I was a bit brusque about it, for which I tender my apology; it was meant in jest, but there's certainly a large element of my frustration coloring the tone of my little missive. Again, I meant no personal affront to anyone in particular (except a poke at Takara), and I'll try to be more mindful to avoid generalities when next I feel a charged rant ready to explode all over the page. Thanks for your comment, Lechuck. Again, I hope the new Predaking turns out to be a satisfying set of figures- always a great feeling.

Thanks Tking22. I appreciate your view on the situation. First, I'm flattered that you embraced my oxymoronic phrase, and also by the spirit in which you used it. 😄👍Second, I'll not judge anyone for liking what they like, and whether or not this new Predaking is "deliciously terrible" or not will be entirely up to you. You seem enthusiastic about it, and I hope it exceeds expectations. It doesn't interest me personally, so I have no opinion. However, toys exist to bring joy, and as an owner of many, many toys, I've been pleasantly surprised by some and disappointed by others for all sorts of reasons. My hope for you is that this is one of the good ones- pleasantly surprising, fun, aesthetically pleasing, enjoyable to handle. Finally, thanks for sharing this here, as there may be other members to whom it appeals that may otherwise have gone unaware. It's one of the things I enjoy about this forum, whether sharing the info or benefitting from shared info. (I'm generally on the latter side). I hope you didn't take my colorful critique of Takara and their approach to aircraft alt-moded Transformers personally, as I meant no affront to anyone, except perhaps, Takara themselves, and even that in a light-hearted manner. If I offended, I apologize. I stand by my critique, however, but it's just one insignificant guy's opinion and at the end of the day, it is of no import. As a Transformers fan since it began in 1984, Takara's work is a very important part of my life and I generally applaud and support what they do, though I do have my niggles from time to time. 😉 Cheers!

Wow, that's pretty impressive if those are actual pics of the set. It'll look even better with all the livery, no doubt a lot of stickers. I wonder if it comes with a little shuttle for away missions? Good fig selection. Price is steep, but not unexpectedly so. I imagine both sections can open up for access, so playability looks good, especially with that separable saucer section.

Thanks, man, and an advanced happy birthday to you! I didn't get the large '66 Batmobile, but for sure, I was eyeballing it for parts and I definitely noticed those windshields. I'm not sure what use I'd have for them, though, but they are cool nonetheless. I have soooo many different canopies that I've collected over the years that it'd take probably take me another fifty to use them all. but options are nice. agree with you regarding Bumblebee- just wasn't up to Optimus's level (different designers, and to be fair, Joe Kyde, the designer of LEGO OP used to work for Hasbro designing...you guessed it: Transformers, including a few OP toys, so he had a leg up, so to speak). Sam Johnson, who designed Bumblebee, also designed LEGO Voltron, but his Bee was a little weak coming after Prime. Soundwave, by all appearances, seems to restore faith. I've a ton of Insiders points, so I threw some on an order of Soundwave and the new Speed Champions Lamborghini two-pack. Love the SC sets- little masterpieces in their own rights. Hopefully, I'll be building Soundwave this weekend. I wish you every success on your Shuttle/Carrier redesigns. That set aesthetically just doesn't live up to the Icons Shuttle Discovery set or the Ideas Saturn V Rocket, a masterclass in design.

Yeah, that fin is huge! I like the solution that Mark divined for it, as it's two parts connected by a single clip and bar. But it looks good, And it utilizes two of the new 1x6 curved slopes, a part that's been desperately lacking in the palette for, well, ever. 😄 2025 is shaping up to be a really good year for new parts that have been notable omissions thus far. Still many more they need to do, but at least they're moving in the right direction. Aw, thanks, man. So very kind of you to say!

My birthday falls in July, but I told my wife I'd hold out until August for my b-day gift since a spate of new sets were releasing, chief among them the new Soundwave. Off we went Saturday to Barnes and Noble where we have a membership that chips a bit off the price. Sadly B&N didn't have Soundwave (though they did have Optimus, still, and I've seen Bumblebee there too). So we went to the nearby Target and, alas, same story- both had a number of the new August releases, but not Soundwave. Target did, however, have the new Batmobile from Batman Forever, and while I'm not a fan of the film or its Batmobile, just from a building POV, it looks amazing and captures the look of the movie design really well. Plus, I like Batmobiles in general, so I had my wife get me that and the new V-19 Torrent Star Wars set in lieu of Soundwave. After building the Batmobile, I have to say my gut was right: it provided a very enjoyable build and I very much liked some of the solutions that Mark Stafford, the set's designer, came up with to realize some of the more challenging parts of the design. However, if you're hoping for some internal lighting to give it that movie glow, there's no light brick in the set. Moreover, unlike the previous System Batmobiles over the last few years, this one wasn't built to minifig scale, although a minifig of Val Kilmer's Batman in his silver Batsuit (which ironically he wore after his Batmobile was destroyed) with a soft rubber cape is included. The set comes with a new 8x8 canopy piece in trans-black and the front cowl is a printed 4x6 windshield that can lift up to reveal weapons in the front of the car. the ribbing along the sides which define the look of the car are only held on by one stud apiece, and yet the model can be handled without their falling off. It's a sturdy model overall and IMHO, it really captures its subject well. Unfortunately, it's not in scale with the previous Batmobile sets, being on the larger side and that kinda sucks for continuity. However, from a builder's POV, I found it to be a fun build with some interesting solutions and a fantastic end result, even if it's far from my favorite Batmobile design.

Regardless, that's rather steep. I have that figure, BTW, as I bought the Japanese CW Bruticus specifically to get Blast Off with a proper space shuttle mode instead of a jet. Like Hikuro, I didn't recognize that it was the Combiner Wars fig, thinking it was the new Legacy version.

Yeah, that's total BS. $100 for a $35 toy that hasn't even released yet. I hope no one buys it.

Honestly, I wouldn't doubt Hasbro will do package refreshes on some of the more popular characters like the Dinobots eventually. It'd be great if they announced these things to alleviate FOMO and give fans who may have missed the first release some peace of mind, but they don't, alas. Anyway, the fact that people, especially other fans, will shamelessly fleece other fans for stuff (across all fandoms, not just Transformers) speaks poorly of this era. I doubt it'll get better in time, and likely will worsen, but that doesn't mean history won't look back and recognize greed and generally screwing each other over as a positive. We're totally lost when it does. Cons are the worst excuse for greed-driven mark-ups and gouging. We've come to accept it as part of the experience, but why? I imagine at one time many years ago they were the places to find good deals, but over time people saw an opportunity to separate their fellow fans from their money and the trend has just escalated to the point that a lot of stuff, especially retired items, are so highly priced that they're beyond the reach of many of us. It really pisses me off when I see something that's currently out on the market, I know the MSRP, I know where I can get it for that price, but for the sake of the convention, there's a substantial markup, sometimes nigh to or over twice the MSRP and I have to wonder if it's really necessary to screw over your fellow fans that way? But, generally, they're targeting the more casual fan who may not be heavy into collecting, sees a toy that reminds him or her of their childhood, and is unaware that the toy in question is currently out there at retail for far less money. I don't agree with it, but I see it happen. Incidentally, while I've never been to a Transformers convention (yet!), I've been going to LEGO conventions for about a decade, and the same trend happens there. I've splurged, within reason, on retired sets (Classic Space!), I've seen the going prices for retired or rare Transformers on ebay, Amazon, etc, and it's definitely deflating. I mean, it's a toy, and in many cases, it's a toy that once cost $50 or less MSRP and now the price can run ten times that or well more. When prices are exorbitant like that, I figure I've lived without it this long and I can continue to do so. Paying my bills and having a comfortable, not extravagant, lifestyle is more important to me than the toy that got away.

Prowl's one of my favorite TF designs so I'm also hoping the Fairlady Zs will get the Missing Link treatment. I pretty much destroyed my original Prowl toy trying to give him some leg movement when I was a kid. I had no modding skills and I failed miserably. Anyway, the G1 TF toys don't interest me as-is, but the Missing Link treatment imbues them with the articulation I so wished they had when I was a kid and I'm definitely down for Prowl at the least. As to prices, greed and price gouging have made collecting a lot less fun, for sure.

That had the Touch and the Power- very cool.

The HoS line doesn't interest me, but I'd like this as an alternative Grimlock figure: That Mark V inspired tank mode is lovely.

Seems I hit the nail on the head. If you like what Takara's dishing out and subpar aircraft alt modes don't bother you, you win. Takara, and Hasbro by extension, are there for you. FWIW, I own my share of Transformers with egregious jet modes as well; however, I'm neither shy nor apologetic about calling out their fallacies. Moreover, I make no assertions as to what constitutes a "good Transformers toy", as, like beauty, it's in the eye of the beholder. My complaint is nearly always with aircraft or spacecraft alt modes, the inaccuracies thereof and my wish that Takara would exercise greater discipline in capturing said alt modes more faithfully. I like aircraft, I spent my military career working on and around them, my standards and expectations are high accordingly, and I would like to see them executed with greater fidelity so as to make one of my favorite hobbies more enjoyable for me and other aircraft fans. I'm not asking for any more or less consideration than they give to the vast majority of their ground alt-moded bots, which are generally far closer to their RW counterparts aesthetically than those with aircraft alts. In the meantime, thank goodness for Macross and for companies like Touch Toys who fill the void with realistic-looking transforming aircraft. All things being equal, my bias isn't just aircraft related; I also enjoy construction vehicles and one of my greatest peeves with most TFs toys with said alts is that the alt modes in question do not enjoy the full functionality of their RW inspirations. Nonfunctional treads, while a bit of a bummer, is an acceptable concession. However, with new Constructicons on the forefront, the limitations of their vehicle modes is a little disheartening: Long Haul's dumper bed can't dump without taking his back wheels for the ride; while Scrapper's shovel has articulation at the base, the actual bucket is molded in place and cannot rotate; Mixmaster's drum can't rotate (part of Devastator's transformation); While Bonecrusher's shovel technically can tip up, it doesn't articulate realistically, but it's better than nothing; Scavenger's cab/boom section doesn't appear to be able to rotate, a capability the G1 toy has; Hook's boom section cannot rotate, a capability his G1 toy has. I think there's a dimension of playability lost when Transformers, or any transforming toy with a utilitarian alt mode, doesn't enjoy the functionality whereof, treads notwithstanding, although functional treads is the rare treat that completes those toys. I bought the Toyworld Constructicons specifically b/c their Bonecrusher and Scavenger had rolling treads when no other option did. Sadly, their Long Haul disappointed by connecting the back wheels to the dumper. Can't win 'em all. Shrug.

Takara 101: When designing craft that fly or go into space, there will be zero regard for accuracy or faithfulness to the actual design, or general design, of said craft. Moreover, we at Takara believe it is an imperative, a hallmark of our approach if you will, to egregiously ignore actual design traits, to pile as much robot kibble onto the underside of the craft (you know, the part that everyone on the ground actually sees when it's flying), to avoid integrating arms if at all possible (b/c TF fans LOVE jets with arms hanging off the sides), and in general put forth the minimum effort to integrate bot parts seamlessly within the confines of said craft's fuselage. Additionally, whenever possible, we will strive to have minimal to no functional landing gear, as TF fans seem very pleased when only the merest suggestion or better! no suggestion of anything recognizable as landing gear exists on our flying alt modes. Indeed, history indicates that the further we travel from accuracy regarding flying craft alts, the more praise our fans heap on them. Look no further than our magnum opus, MP-52 Starscream for its many blatant departures from accuracy in F-15 mode. It's deliciously terrible which means the fans will embrace it all the more. Or any Silverbolt figure we've ever made (we'll throw in SR-71s too), as the amount of bot that we throw on the bottom seems directly proportional to the adulation of the fandom. We must certainly be doing it right! Regarding the art, indeed, why would the engines be firing when the hand is right there in the blast zone? I guess the artist felt it made for a more dramatic look, b/c physics doesn't matter. Rule of cool, I guess.

Regarding TF1 Optimus, the OG toy was a pretty impressive bit of toy engineering especially for a company that had basically been making simple blocky bots up to that point. One huge positive that came out of the live action films was the paradigm shift in Takara's approach to designing TF toys. While I haven't messed about with my copy of leader TF1 OP in many years, I still recall the complexity and brilliance of that figure's design. I likely won't buy the next version, but I'm definitely curious to see how and if Takara can improve on that original toy.

I've never been a toy car collector, so my familiarity with most Hot Wheels and Matchbox is minimal, but I still have my copy of the M-8 Rescue Vehicle and I wouldn't mind a TF version of that. They've both done any number of beautiful sports and concept-like cars over the decades and some of those would be cool as well. The two current HW crossovers don't really do much for me (not into hot rods, and while the blue guy is better, it still doesn't grab me like some other car designs would). Prowl's one of my all-time favorite TF designs- I love the way he looks. He was also my first TF toy, so there's some nostalgia there as well. That said, I passed on "Dead Prowl", all the dead SS characters for that matter, as that's not how I want to see or remember them. If they do a slight retool of the ER, if for no other reason than to give him accurate spoiler-less feet, I'll likely pick that up. I 'm rather skeptical of a situation where a retail Unicron, done as a titan or perhaps a new larger size/budget class, could or would turn out better in any way than the Haslab, which itself is just a huge shell-former, virtually devoid of any noteworthy engineering. However, if Takara ever wants to make a hatching-egg toy, they've already laid the groundwork. I wish, for the price, that it had been closer to what Studio Cell did with their take, and given the choice again, I think I'd have passed on the Haslab in lieu of the Studio Cell. At this point, I don't think there's even a question of whether the designers like Mark and Evan are devoted fans; it comes through loud and clear, and it's one of the major reasons why I think putting them front and center in these fanstreams is such good PR for Hasbro. Moreover, it makes them feel approachable and also softens the blow a little when the toys aren't quite up to fans' expectations. At least we get a little explanation of why and how various decisions were made, how the budget affected those choices, and other background regarding the process of making a toy. I'd love to hear the metrics, as I'm curious how much of an impact doing these streams has had on sales. At the very least, I very much doubt it's hurt them. Anyway, I too respect that they're trying to put out what fans want, that they listen to the fans, and that they labor under limitations that most of us are unaware of to try and bring those wants and desires to the fandom (and the three kids below twenty who know that G1 exists and buy the toys). Product exclusivity sucks. I get why, but it sucks nonetheless.

That's interesting considering that both Menasor, which I have, and Superion, which I don't, both utilize the somewhat controversial frame system, the purpose whereof is to impart greater stability over combining the limb bots directly a la Combiner Wars. I have CW Menasor and Bruticus, and there's no argument that they suffered stability issues, whereas my copy of Legacy Menasor is far more solid and stable. So, the frame system is proven; however, by all accounts, thus far, Legacy Devastator, which combines by attaching the limb bots directly is also quite solid, rendering the necessity of the frame in doubt. Personally, I wish they'd rely less on it, if not determining a way to discard it altogether in preference of direct limb bot attachments, which is true to the OG toys. To the point then, I find it most interesting that, having handled the framed combiners and the new Devy, you feel that Devy is the more solid of the bunch. I'm curious if the rest of the fandom will share your assessment, and whether that assessment, if largely in agreement, will influence how Takara/Hasbro design any future combiners beyond those that are likely already designed for 2026.

Honestly, I didn't really notice Hook's head's black void until you guys pointed it out. I think it would have helped had his purple chest accoutrement been adjusted to sit a centimeter higher. Why they didn't do that or just make the purple thing a little larger to cover it is anybody's guess. I honestly don't think it's out of a lack of care on either Takara's or Hasbro's parts. I think they're invested (except when it comes to designing a good jet, then they're all out on smoke breaks) in doing a good job, but I'm thinking there are an abundance of factors that determine why things are done the way they are. As for the offset leg bots, Takara's not the first to do so, and while it does look a little off, I get the logic behind it. The only other option would have been to give him birthing hips with a wider thigh gap to line up the legs midway, but I'm sure that decision would have gone over like so much steaming slag. With that in mind, I think they chose the right option. Moreover, chances are there will be at least one add-on kit that addresses it and other complaints from the fandom, and beyond.