M'Kyuun

It's definitely a very heavy remold. If it wasn't for the bot's wings and the large panels floating behind his head, I'd have thought it was an original mold. It's also cleaner in jet mode by some measure. There's bot stuff obtrusively hanging off the bottom of the jet from nose to tail that completely ruins Jetfire's profile, whereas X-Spanse presents a clean, albeit shallow, forward fuselage until the point where it mates to the main fuselage where the chunky bot kibble adds some thickness to the jet. The X-Men chest symbol is pretty obvious as well, but apparently it still has an iota of ground clearance. I would have preferred the main gears retract into the body somehow, but in true Hasbro fashion, no effort was made to do so, so they hang off the sides of his belt like a pair of Batman's gadgets. Don't get me wrong; I'm glad he has all three gear. I just wish the implementation had been better executed for accuracy's sake. ( I kinda wish Lockheed had been as draconian in their demands for accuracy as Lamborghini or Ferrari- really make HasTak try for a change). Engineering-wise, there are myriad differences between the structures and look of the limbs and head, which I'm sure will also affect differences in the transformation. It's practically a new toy, and while it's not as accurate in jet mode as I would like, it's a much better effort than HasTak's usual aircraft offerings. As a stylish take on the SR-71, and done fairly well for Hasbro, I got a PO with Target. As they continue to do these crossovers, I'd love to see them take a crack at doing the '89 Batmobile, the Tumbler, and Airwolf as a few possibilities. I know Knight Rider's in there, too, and I'm not opposed to that either. Heck, if they wanted too, they could repaint ER prime to be Goliath. But please Hasbro, for the love of all that's right in the universe, don't reuse the sh!tty ER Ironhide mold for BA's van.

I got the original Diagon Alley set for my wife years ago, and we still have it displayed, as I've long thought it looked amazing. Then this. I'm awestruck by what an incredibly large and detailed model the designers created here. A grandiose set of this size and detail would have only been possible with a MOC when the original came out. It has 5544 pieces for $400- excellent value. Finding an adequate spot to display it would be the most challenging aspect, as this set definitely commands a shelf.

I checked out X-Spanse (can they get any cornier?) on Pulse and to my surprise, he's a licensed Lockheed product. I was thinking they avoided licensing by making so many stylistic changes to it, but nope. Apparently, Lockheed's not as demanding with the final look of the toy as most car companies. Anyway, he's a pricey fellow, coming in at $65 for what, if past toys are any indication, is a leader class toy at 8.5". Guess that license wasn't cheap. I'm curious what's going on with the nose of the plane, as it plays no part in the transformation, and yet it appears to have some moving function. Maybe it opens to allow one of the slug figs to awkwardly fit in there? If it's weapon effect storage, that would be much better. I'm also curious if this is coming with a special sticker sheet, as the description on Pulse mentions Lockheed markings and such on the toy being registered TMs, but when I look at the pics, I don't see any Lockheed specific markings- just the big red X-Men symbols on the wings. I'm still a bit torn on it. I love that it's an SR-71, and considering their past attempts, this is better in my eyes. It's still not great, and looks to have a fair amount of panel-forming going on. Jet mode has an obvious ro-block. It's about $15 more than a standard leader class fig. The bot mode is junked up with a bit of panel-foolery that detracts rather than enhances. And yet, despite all these detractors, I'm somehow drawn to it. Sigh.

Those vignettes are pretty neat. The way they fold into a faux book makes for great presentation.

I have mixed feelings about it as well. From just a transforming toy perspective, I like how how the legs form the engines, and though it does have a big block'o robot hanging underneath, somehow it doesn't look as bad to me as the vast majority of Silverbolts, and certainly not as bad as every Bayformer Jetfire thus far. The ro-block is there, it's noticeable, but appears to me to be a little slimmer and more streamlined with the rest of the aircraft so as not to be as obnoxiously obtrusive as Silverbolt's ro-blocks usually are. Action Toy's Blackbird Robo is still done better, IMO, and still stands as the best transforming toy representation of the SR-71, albeit with its own imperfections. I was hoping that the arms would form the forward fuselage, but upon closer inspection, it looks like it's, as usual, relegated to back kibble. grrr What a waste. Lots of panel-forming going on, too. I have a feeling this thing's a mess from the back view. I wish they'd employed more Macross influence and borrowed, with Kawamori's blessing, the transformation mechanics of the VF-14. It would have been a lot cleaner. I, too, would have liked the alt mode to resemble the X-Men's highly stylized Blackbird rather than a slightly stylized but nigh accurate SR-71 as a crossover. I've always loved the look of that reinterpretation, and this was the opportunity to produce it. Don't get me wrong, I love the SR-71, and welcome a decent transforming representation, but as an X-Men specific figure, I think they missed the mark here. More's the pity. Bit of false advertising, too, as the 80s X-Men version is depicted on the boxart. I guess giving this fig the Cyclops visor is fitting, as he was the leader of the X-Men , at least in the 80s cartoon, which was my first exposure to the X-Men. I never read the comics, so pretty much everything I know about Marvel characters came from toons. That said, I was never really a big fan of Scott's. Logan was much cooler, but then so was Storm. I wish they'd just leave the slug figures out; they're way too big to scale with the Blackbird mode, and are basically useless. Wish they'd used that that bit of budget to make the main toy better. If you look at the box, the wings flare forward, unlike the stock toy photo. My guess is that they rotate at the wing root. Or, they're misassembled as you infer.

I've bought the majority of previous Harry Potter releases over the years, but skipped these, albeit somewhat regrettably, as they look amazing, and due to any number of new elements, like proper candles and candle flame, the overall appearance of these sets is superior to their predecessors. But, they're expensive and voluminous, and in the interest of trying to scale back my LEGO purchases, I've passed on them. Gotta say, seeing them connected and arranged, they look great together. I'll likely kick myself years from now for not buying them. Enjoy, Sketchley, and thanks for sharing!

Cody does an exceptional job with his military models. What's more, he seems very knowledgeable of his subjects, and doesn't bring an ego to the table when he talks about his models in his demo vids. Brickmania is where most of his stuff is sold as kits, but be warned, they're not cheap. People complain about LEGO's pricing, but these will set you back a bit. I was watching a Beyond the Brick vid of a guy at Bricks by the Bay, a LEGO convention in San Francisco, and he was displaying a mini-base chock full of Brickmania models, many of them modded with working lights- just guesstimating, but he probably had about $5K or more tied up in his display. Too rich for this poor AFOL. It's cool that some folks can afford to take the hobby to that extent, though, and always a treat to see it in person if you can attend a convention where they're exhibiting.

Very impressive set; unfortunately, I don't have the space for such a behemoth. Heck, my UCS Millennium Falcon , which I bought several years ago, is still sitting unbuilt in my bedroom b/c I have nowhere to build it, let alone display it. Someday, hopefully. But yeah, the Colosseum is lovely.

Gotta admit, Dino has me intrigued. I like the look of both modes. Ironically, Dark of the Moon is the only Bay film I ever watched in the theatre; I barely remember it, and don't remember Dino at all, but the Hasbro folks said that's what film he's from so I believe them. I'm not into it enough to PO, but my local Wally tends to get a good rotation of SS figs in, so chances are good I'll see him on a peg when he releases. I saw BB Movie Cliffy today at Walmart- same mold as the upcoming Bee. It looked ok to me, but I left it in the store. Unless they do a really good aircraft, I've been skipping SS for the most part. Dino's the exception; I may just pick him up. I've been stoked to see my local Wally carrying deluxe and voyager ER figs of late; for years now, all they were carrying for the main line was deluxes, and sparsely at that. Months would go by with empty pegs where the Generations figs should be. My fingers are crossed that this becomes the norm for their stocking practices, as I'll likely be able to score Soundwave when he releases. Speaking of Generations, I got my Autobot clones yesterday. @mikeszekely did a good review a few pages back,. The Clones have been something of a mini-grail set of figs for me for awhile, and I missed out on them during the Titans Return line. So when they announced a rerelease, and this time with the Autobot and Decepticon clones packaged together, respectively, as they always should have been, I was really pleased and made sure I got a PO in on both. So now I have both sets and I'm pretty happy with them. They are a bit simplistic, but so were the G1 figs, and these guys are pretty faithful (maybe too faithful, with Fastlane's spoiler attached to an armature coming out of the back of his head. Not too bad on a fig with no head articulation, but on a modern fig- awkward and impractical). I like them for what they are- fun updates to a unique set of 80's figs with a cool gimmick. That said, I can't help myself for wondering how a set by NewAge or Magic Square would turn out. I also got ER Trailbreaker today (so glad they got the trademark for his name again). It's a nice marriage of the OG toy and toon model, and this mold was most obviously intended to be Trailbreaker with Hoist a secondary retool, even though he came out first. I wish Hasbro would have slapped a little paint onto his back weapons, as I think they would have looked much better, certainly closer to the source. It's a shame they don't chrome anything anymore- it made those old 80's toys pop. The truck flank panels, which contain the shoulder joint, can rotate fore and aft, but not laterally, and due to their size and permanent position behind the arms, look a bit awkward, especially when you bend the arm at the elbow and then bend the entire arm forward. It would have been more practical to have the shoulder rotate independently of the flank panel, but that's not how they rolled. It's true to the OG toy, but faithfulness to those old oft poorly designed figs doesn't necessarily benefit a modern fig with much greater ranges of articulation. Overall, though, he's a pretty darned good Trailbreaker. With an apropos color scheme and deco, a decent sculpt that captures G1 Trailbreaker's unmistakable silhouette, fully integrated back weapons and no partsforming necessary, modern standards of articulation, and a slightly stylized but otherwise close representation of the OG toy's Toyota Hi-Lux alt mode, he's the G1 update that I've been craving all these years. He's not without his warts, but they're minor and easily remedied, and I'm glad to have him, and Hoist by extension, in my collection. Tomorrow, I believe Sunstreaker is due on my porch, and I'm very much looking forward to finally having a fairly G1 accurate Sunstreaker in my Generations collection. The old Classics toy just never did it for me, but from all the reviews and pics I've seen, the ER version gets it right.

I think the idea of robot siblings is something that sounds cool to you as a kid, but after a few years and a bit of worldly wisdom, indeed sounds absurd. It's even more so when you had characters in the original show mentioning the day they rolled off the assembly line. In that context, as a manufactured being, the idea of siblings becomes even further removed from practicality. I always just accepted it without too much questioning; it's sci-fi, and honestly, I don't care; it's been a part of the lore since the beginning and I never spent much time trying to reason it out in a show chock full of far greater impracticalities.

Absolutely, the image of a model creates a much stronger and more immediate impression upon the viewer than an abstract story ever will. The adage , "A picture is worth a thousand words' is a truism with merit. Stories require an investment of time and need to have coherence and something to hook the reader to keep them engaged. Cuusoo, and its evolution into IDEAS makes complete sense for a toy company, as it showcases their core product and offers a platform to do stuff outside of their usual purview. A good model will catch the eye regardless of whether or not there's a story attached. Often the fun is in creating the story ourselves. So, giving a platform to the storytellers is, in my mind, a bit of a gamble unless a story worthy of co-opting into a product line and potentially a show comes about. I'm assuming that if such a story is adopted, LEGO will recompense the author(s) a percentage similar to IDEAS. I won't discount it as a waste of LEGO's time out of hand, but it seems like a much longer shot to finding success than Cuusoo or IDEAS ever was. Then again, some fan may just create the next Bionicle or Ninjago. Who knows?

I was going to reply in my former post and forgot. Anyway, if MP-51 appeals to you, then that's great; opinions and impressions are highly subjective, and what works for you or me may not work for everyone else. If we all thought the same way, it'd be a boring world devoid of change or diversity. To that end, I hope you're able to score a copy, that she lives up to your expectations, and graces your shelf proudly. I agree about your comment about Azalea's lower legs; it's probably my least favorite thing about that figure, and there's really no functional reason for not giving her more rounded natural looking legs while still having the hinged feature for transformation. I think the aim was to make her more robotic looking, but the abrupt stepped look is indeed stilt-like and diminishes the fig a bit. The other issues you pointed out don't bother me. Your mileage obviously differs, and that's your prerogative. As I'm fond of saying, it's great to have options, and we're currently spoiled for them in this hobby. Enjoy it as you will, regardless of dissent, or else what's the point?

+1 for Sunstreaker's poor paint apps. I too would think a multi-billion dollar earning company could do better paint matching than this. For $20 a fig, we should at least get the paint quality of their Black series stuff. I'm expecting mine either tomorrow or Saturday, and paint notwithstanding, I'm looking forward to getting him. As retools go, he's rather extensive, and I think they did an awesome job on his car mode. The bot mode is also appropriately evocative of the original, albeit with some liberties taken in the shoulders. Honestly, I don't mind the lack of red on his shoulders, as I never cared for how it looked on the OG toy. The black shoulders of the toon model look better to me, but even those are missing here due to their use of the air intakes forming the upper arms. I think a black or dark grey wash to pick out the detail of those intakes would look nice, though. I hate it when Hasbro goes ultra cheap and uses a non-weapon accessory as a weapon without at least giving it some sort of transformation to more closely approximate such. I too hope that either Hasbro themselves or a third party will give us a decent weapon for him, as using his engine accessory is exceptionally poor. The lack of a spoiler on Sideswipe and Sunstreaker is puzzling, and yet we get one on Prowl and Bluestreak b/c they wouldn't make a proper retool of the foot parts sans spoiler, even though they retooled the front of the car. Given my druthers, I'd rather the front received the change, but as a huge fan of the Datsun bros design, there's always that desire for it to be as close to 'perfect' as possible. As for the Countach siblings, it was indeed mentioned in the original toy bios that Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were bros, and it was also mentioned in a couple eps of first season as well. That's canon from the get-go, likely courtesy of Bob Budiansky, who wrote the majority of the bios for G1. Looking at these in hindsight is pretty interesting; Bob was pulling these out of the aether, often based on his impressions of the toys, and it's neat to see what stuck and what didn't over the years. http://botchthecrab.com/archive/techspecs/autobot/1984/ts_sideswipe.jpg http://botchthecrab.com/archive/techspecs/autobot/1984/ts_sunstreaker.jpg

I concur with Azalea 's being the best option. I thought FT's Rouge looked pretty good at the beginning, but as time wore on and reviews started coming in, the less it appealed to me. Azalea's not perfect, but close enough for me. I think it'll be a long time before we see another MP Arcee. This figure feels rushed, and as I said, in spite of there being two third party figs out there who did it better (Toyworld's would have been a third had they not just given up on the car mode- their bot mode looks good, though), it doesn't seem like Takara took advantage of the opportunities to perhaps borrow some cues to improve their own figure. Takara has their loyalists and completists to buoy them, and heck, some people will get it b/c they honestly like it, as not everything about it is bad, after all. The articulation, for one positive, is beyond the pale, and I will never fault Takara for their efforts in this area; indeed, improvements in articulation with regards to Transformer figs has been at the top of my wish list since my thirteen year old self opened G1 Prowl on the way home from the store with the greatest of anticipation only to discover he was essentially a statue from the waist down. I can still remember the disappointment. That said, in MP Arcee's case, the quest for greater articulation, IMHO, is the reason for her oddly shaped chest, as had her upper torso been designed to approximate the art, much as all my above examples, there likely would have been no way to give her a forward butterfly joint without breaking the sculpt with an awkward armature or some such device, or eschewing it altogether. So, they changed the shape of her chest to accommodate a more natural joint, but IMHO, that sacrifice of form is detrimental to her aesthetic. It's a shame they couldn't have found a way to fill out the area between shoulder and bosom with a flexible material that keeps her shape normally, but gives way for butterfly movements. Alas, it's so much water under the proverbial bridge now. Of course the elephant in the room is that backpack, for which, again, there are examples preceding Takara's offering that did it better, none so well, IMHO, as MMC/Ocular Max. Of all the G1 Arcee figs that have been released, I think they alone struck the best balance, and Azalea's bot mode is the closest to how she was depicted in the '86 Movie and onwards. IMO, going forward, Azalea's the toy to beat if you're a company looking to make a G1 Arcee. Given the challenges involved, I think it'll be some time before that happens.

Considering that Azalea's been out for awhile, one would think Takara would have looked at this figure, looked at theirs, and went back to the drawing board to try streamlining that atrocious backpack. In every way that matters, MMC did it better. I do wish Azalea had posable hands, but as small and delicate as they are, swappable hands is an acceptable concession. Azalea's car mode isn't as accurate, lacking the grey panels on the sides, and she has a rather messy looking cockpit compared to MP Arcee, whose car mode is more screen accurate and has a clean cockpit. All things being equal, I'll take that messy cockpit to get that lithe bot mode with the compact backpack. The only articulation I think Azalea lacks regarding the official is butterfly joints, which I believe is the reason the MP's chest looks off. The butterfly joint is one I can live without if it means my Arcee has a nicer form to her upper body.

I also eschewed MP Arcee, not without some sadness, in favor of MMC's Azalea, which, IMHO, is a superior Arcee figure by nearly all considerations. Azalea's car mode isn't as toon accurate, but it's quite close, and the way MMC were able to compact her backpack into a much tighter, more compact, form is a worthy concession. Nicee's an exception to the chest rule, given her stylish, if ample, anthropomorphic design. Hers is a special case, and I knew what I was buying when I got her, with nary a regret; she's a very good fig. Too, and this may be splitting a very fine hair, technically she's not Arcee with the current head mold, despite the obvious aesthetic nods. As for MP Arcee, I have the same basic disagreements with her design as everyone else; the long face doesn't look right, and while I don't think her chest looks too low (anatomically, it's correct to human proportionality), the shaping of it is off-putting, a concession I assume is for likely butterfly joints. The issue I take with it is that the angle on the top of her bosom is too shallow, owing to what many are calling her saggy boob look (God I can't believe I'm talking about this in a Transformers forum). There should be a nice slight outwardly curving line from her shoulder to the summit of her chesticle, and her white collar should be smaller. Here are a number of examples done far more aesthetically pleasing than MP Arcee, so far as the sculpting /illustration of the chest area. It's noteworthy to point out that three of these are HasTak figures, and the statue, I believe, is licensed, so there's precedent for their having done it better.

I consider myself as being fairly abreast of the various goings-on in the LEGO realm, but I'm not familiar with World Builder. For those who enjoy writing fanfic, or just doing world-building on their own for their own enjoyment, I can see LEGO as being a ready medium to give form to the ideas, and it's cool that such a thing exists. It's not really my thing, but I won't begrudge those who use it. As for LEGO's own world building via themes and such, those of us LEGO fans who grew up in the late 70's, 80's, and 90's have fond memories of Space, Castle, Pirates, Town (now City), Adventurers, & Alpha Team. I'm probably missing a few, but the gist is that LEGO invested heavily in those earlier days in homegrown themes with little to no set storyline to guide the action, except perhaps the box art, which generally delineated the good guys from the bad. The sets of that era stood on their own merits because they had to, fueled by a neat set and a lot of imagination, not to mention the wonderful ability to mix parts from one theme with those of any other. Although LEGO lacked the sophistication and utility that it possesses today, with its plethora of specialized elements, it was a really fun toy to grow up with. Nearly fifty years old, I'm among the few that never stopped growing up with it. There was a long period where I didn't do much MOC building, but I never stopped buying and building sets; LEGO's had its plastic claws in me since I was about six, and I consider my life the better for it. As the volume of my collection grows inexorably, my wife my beg to differ.

B/c it's a good Grimlock fig for $50. Hopefully the tail and dino arms will be painted on the final, but I'm not holding my breath.

Yeah, Cliffy is a pretty solid figure. I still wish they'd put an armature on the backpack to eliminate the partsforming necessity, but at least it's not as bad as the ER van bros or the Arcee mold. I'm still a bit surprised that they didn't make a slightly remolded Sideswipe fig for ER, but the Siege fig was so close to the Earth mode already that I guess they figured good 'nuff. Speaking of Lamborghinis, I should be getting ER Sunstreaker on Friday, along with Trailbreaker on Thursday, and Runamuck on Monday, according to the Fed-Ex notices I've received. For whatever reason, Pulse sent them all out individually instead of just putting them all in one big box and sending them. I'm also expecting the Autobot clones sometime this week from Amazon, so it's shaping up to be a fun week for Transformers.

I guess I'm in good company, then. Thank you, fellas. I also concur that Yamato's YF-21 will likely never be outdone for its fighter mode. It's a thing of beauty, but of course, the legs paid a heavy penalty for that thin sleek fighter mode. I'm also of the opinion that a few mm of additional girth to give it thicker legs would have helped the look of B and G modes. Alas, it wasn't to be. But the -21 has a second chance with Bandai, and I hope that it stays fairly close to the proto we've seen, at least so far as the basic proportionality of the Battroid mode. Hopefully, too, it'll have nice tight joints throughout so that it 's solid when posing.

Thank you, sir. I guess we're a minority of two. That still beats being the one lonely dissenting voice amidst the cacophony of voices crying, "fighter's too thick!"

The belly plates are the worst design feature of the YF-21, IMHO. I think I'm in a minority of one, but I liked the truncated versions of Bandai's prototype, as they'll likely be less in the way and they look better to me aesthetically than Yamato's. I don't like them at all, but since they have to be there, I'd rather they were designed to favor each mode- long in fighter, shortened in Battroid and GERWALK so they're not tripping over the damn things. And I agree with you @Mog; the proto's fighter mode, while a little thicker than the Yammie, still was reasonably sleek considering the improved proportionality of the legs. I would happily take the proto as-is, as it strikes a good balance across modes without egregiously compromising the fighter mode. That said, I'm not opposed to further improvements, as long as they're not to the detriment of the Battroid mode like the Yamato. It's a tough nut for a toy company, as Kawamori employed copious amounts of animation magic to optimize each mode's proportions to an impractical level. Turning that lineart into a functioning three-dimensional form that stays completely true to the art is nigh impossible, so a little compromise across modes is forgivable for this valk. I'd rather a slightly thicker fighter for a much improved Battroid. If you like the thin sleek fighter better, and don't care about a Battroid on stilts, that's already been done. This go round, I'm hoping for more balance in the favor of the Battroid mode.

That's a fair and well argued point, and from the energon POV, which I hadn't considered, practical. My personal bias stands, but there's wiggle room. Too, I suppose if any characters within the TF Universe were going to use melee weapons, the Dinobots would be top listers, given their brutish natures. I was taking a look at SS Blurr a day or so ago, and I really wish they'd made the front fender parts that fold under his forearms overlap the forearm instead to reduce the chunkiness, since those fender bits are hollow anyway. It would have streamlined his arm, which would be in keeping with the character's essence. As they are, they do the opposite and do no justice to the figure. Another of those lazy engineering/opportunity-missed moments that would have added significant improvement with minor changes. Gah, Hasbro. So frustrating! After I posted, I decided to go look at some stock photos of the SS figs on Pulse, and I noticed that Grimlock's internal tail and T-Rex arms are both painted accordingly, grey and silver, respectively, with silver on the external tail.. I realize that the renders are oft maximized for visual appeal and the final toys omit paint apps, but I'm holding out hope that PvP's sample isn't the complete final. I know it's empty hope, but I'm gonna cling to it like a drowning man hangs on to a bit of flotsam in the middle of a tumultuous sea. Save me from your own mediocrity, Hasbro! Paint that sucker!

Another icon lost to us. RIP, good sir.

Oh, I think that's a certainty. I wouldn't doubt a few of the more well known third party folks will come to the rescue, at least with a sword, as so many fans seem to want a sword with their Dinobots. As for myself, I've never really been a fan of melee weapons for my big transforming robots. Given my druthers, if I have to choose between a shooting weapon or melee, I'll choose the shooter every time. Pragmatically speaking, it seems irrational for a seriously advanced sentient mechanical lifeform with the ability to have all sorts of projectile and beam weapons, as well as energy shielding, incorporated into his body as well as handheld to resort to bashing away at an opponent. But, like all our entertainment forms, anthropomorphism is at the heart of selling characters in our storytelling, if not in body, at least in human characteristics, including our baser instincts. So swords, clubs, and the like are a thing, just not my thing. Digressing quite a bit there, sorry. MP-08 should have a premium look and feel, as he's still part of the premium line. Given the updates to Prime, Bee, and Starscream, I'm surprised that there's not a new MP Grimlock announced sharing the modern toon-centric aesthetic, as he's always a sure-seller. Give it time. The head waggle. Geez, I'd forgotten about that bit of lackluster gimmickry- probably repressed memory. And yeah, the shoulders sat oddly high. But, at the time, it was a damned impressive figure, and the magic they'd worked with the tail subsuming into the leg was brilliant, and oft copied thereafter, happily so with '86 SS Grimlock. I agree that MP-08 doesn't really fit in with WfC due to the differences in aesthetics and size, as they're made at significantly different price points, and reflect that in the finished products. However, the SS exceeds my expectations for what I figured we'd get, especially after the much concession laden PotP Grimlock. I'm happy to see the improved articulation, although I wish they'd given him hinged fingers, as I like being able to give my figs an open hand look from time to time, and "piano fingers" don't really bother me, especially on a retail fig. If some third party made such hands along with a sword and likely a head with a red visor, I think it'd be a winning set, although I'd have little use for the latter two items. I'd buy it just for the hands. Anyway, I think SS Grimlock was an unexpected surprise due to the apparent jump in overall design and quality of the figure, and I hope we see those improvements carry forward.