The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[sh9000]

A bit clearer pic of UW Bruticus.

Edited January 20, 2016 by sh9000

[M'Kyuun]

Blast Off does look good; the pic is so small, it's hard to tell if he's a recycled mold or new. Either way, I'm glad he's coming in this set. The 4 bladed prop doesn't bother me; regardless of the number of blades, it's in a less than optimal position when bending the elbow. At least now it's more accurate to the original. I don't own a copy of that mold yet, since I was waiting for Bruticus; can it be repositioned in arm mode for better accessibility?

Those tiny uni-feet look terrible, esp given how wide both legs are. Really wish they'd found a better solution. Once I get my UW Bruticus, I may have to get a PE set for a more appealing gestalt.

[mikeszekely]

I preordered a UW Bruticus and GCIToys Bruticus upgrade.

M'Kyuun, I have more of the helicopter mold than I care to, and I can tell you that the rotors aren't in the way in arm mode. They're on a pivoting panel and stay on the same side as the tail on the outside of the arm. You're more likely to find Vortex's arms in the way, since they peg onto the sides of his waist.

[peter]

did some fixing on the arms

I just bought one of these from Walmart.ca for $90 CAD/pesos, which works out to something like $50 USD.

[JET7]

devy or poor effect pc-06 kit?

[Dangard Ace]

Devy. I posted a link for that price a few posts back.

Oh yeah. My PE06 supplier says his supplier is shipping replacement parts for some "loose" parts in that set. Here's crossing my fingers I get new purple hands for free.

[sh9000]

I'll wait for Amiami or HLJ to put up UW Bruticus before I decide where to preorder it.

[M'Kyuun]

I was considering Robot Kingdom, at $114.90, but having ordered from them before, they get you on shipping. I'm hoping HLJ will carry it as well...I've done more business with them than any other online Japanese toy retailer, and only ever had one issue with an item. They resolved the issue immediately without question.

I wasn't aware of GCI Toys, just PE. I'll have to scope them out and see how their Bruticus upgrade set compares.

Edit: Nice new pics of MP Ratchet over on TFW2005: http://news.tfw2005.com/2016/01/20/masterpiece-ratchet-new-image-308081

I hadn't noticed before, but his waist and his thighs are different from Ironhide's, and he comes with a few additional accessories. Nice.

Also, is it me, or does it look like his light bar recesses to allow him to fit in Prime's trailer?

Edited January 21, 2016 by M'Kyuun

[mikeszekely]

I wasn't aware of GCI Toys, just PE. I'll have to scope them out and see how their Bruticus upgrade set compares.

Yeah, BBTS doesn't always seem like the cheapest, but RK is in Hong Kong, right? So like you said, you add in shipping and it's pretty much a wash.

AFAIK, GCI Toys is the group Dr. Killenger is affiliated with. I was only aware of them because of Dr Killenger's old Feral Rex upgrades. It seems like David would know more about their quality, and it looks like their stuff is still in the CGI render stage. But I figure it's worth rolling the dice; the PE kits are $30 for hands and feet, GCI is $20 for the early bird pricing for feet, a new head for Blast Off, and new back cannons (things I care about a lot more than hands).

From their renders, the feet look sort of flatish and wider. Sort of G1-ish. They might not have ankle tilts, though.

[M'Kyuun]

Yeah, BBTS doesn't always seem like the cheapest, but RK is in Hong Kong, right? So like you said, you add in shipping and it's pretty much a wash.

AFAIK, GCI Toys is the group Dr. Killenger is affiliated with. I was only aware of them because of Dr Killenger's old Feral Rex upgrades. It seems like David would know more about their quality, and it looks like their stuff is still in the CGI render stage. But I figure it's worth rolling the dice; the PE kits are $30 for hands and feet, GCI is $20 for the early bird pricing for feet, a new head for Blast Off, and new back cannons (things I care about a lot more than hands).

From their renders, the feet look sort of flatish and wider. Sort of G1-ish. They might not have ankle tilts, though.

After doing a bit of searching, I finally found GCIToys. Looking at the feet, at first I didn't think they had ankle tilts either, but upon closer inspection, I believe the peg itself is attached to a ball joint recessed into the foot. Hopefully it's sturdy plastic. Bruticus will likely have a little more heft to him given the slightly larger size of his component bots. If he were to become unbalanced and take a tumble, I could see those things sheering right off. Although CGIToys have a better price, I'll likely go with PE's set.

As for the back cannons, I'd wait to see if the UW version comes with more cartoon accurate ones. TT are sticklers for keeping things close to the animation, and for generally providing a better product than Hasbro. I'm anticipating pics of the final toy, just to see how many changes they've made.

Just had to go back and look at those MP Ratchet pics again. I'm really impressed by how expressive this figure is. On a down note, I wish they'd given him and Ironhide double jointed elbows...a 90 deg bend is too limited. Double joints should be the standard with today's tech, esp in anything bearing the name 'Masterpiece'. My $.02

Edited January 21, 2016 by M'Kyuun

[Dangard Ace]

Another pic of Blastoff.

....now excuse me while I open up not Sunstreaker.

[M'Kyuun]

Um, it looked better in the small picture. From a company that's been designing these toys for 30+ years, I was kinda expecting better. While I appreciate the effort, neither mode looks very good to me. Those engine bells for toes...Ugh. No OHMS pods, and the old, lazy 'just-lay-the-arms-along-the side' transformation. Disappointing, but I still intend to get the UW Bruticus set, b/c a sh!tty shuttle is better than no shuttle at all. Incidentally, there was an early test shot somewhere of a retconned Vortex heavily reworked into a shuttle that kinda looked better.

[David Hingtgen]

Re: ratchets.

Rarely do elbows bug me, but "outwards hip motion" often does. Good example is Leo Dux. (and thus, Feral Rex). Legs together--too close, calves nearly touching, looks odd. But put each leg one click out--extreme A-stance, almost doing the splits. Also looks odd! Really needs a "one-half click out" possibility.

[UN Spacy]

I told my self NO non G1 Masterpiece figures...but Optimus Primal is looking great.

I might have to break that rule....yesssssssssssssssssss.

[Scyla]

After doing a bit of searching, I finally found GCIToys. Looking at the feet, at first I didn't think they had ankle tilts either, but upon closer inspection, I believe the peg itself is attached to a ball joint recessed into the foot. Hopefully it's sturdy plastic. Bruticus will likely have a little more heft to him given the slightly larger size of his component bots. If he were to become unbalanced and take a tumble, I could see those things sheering right off. Although CGIToys have a better price, I'll likely go with PE's set.

As for the back cannons, I'd wait to see if the UW version comes with more cartoon accurate ones. TT are sticklers for keeping things close to the animation, and for generally providing a better product than Hasbro. I'm anticipating pics of the final toy, just to see how many changes they've made.

Just had to go back and look at those MP Ratchet pics again. I'm really impressed by how expressive this figure is. On a down note, I wish they'd given him and Ironhide double jointed elbows...a 90 deg bend is too limited. Double joints should be the standard with today's tech, esp in anything bearing the name 'Masterpiece'. My $.02

I agree with your views on the MP side. They are not really that good when it comes to collectible transforming robots. I collect them because of nostalgia because the look like the images I had in my mind when I was a kid but they have many shortcomings. I can post my page long rant about MP Star Saber here if you want to. They are lacking in articulation, engineering, fit and finish, used material, qc, details, transformation and design. I think MMCs Sphinx is way better in all these points. Is he perfect? No but he sure has a more collectible feel than the ones from Takara. The next official bot after Sphinx would probably be MP Bumble or Streak but they have both issues.

On other news. I love the Takara Blast Off. It is a brand new mold with the correct head. UW Bruticus will be the only official combiner I will own.

[Dangard Ace]

MP Bumble Bee has shown up in TRU computers for........$65USD. Bwahahahahaha Next question: How big of a box are they going to use this time?

[Scyla]

MP Bumble Bee has shown up in TRU computers for........$65USD. Bwahahahahaha Next question: How big of a box are they going to use this time?

Since it probably won't come with the Exosuite I assume a MP Prowl box will suffice.

[M'Kyuun]

Re: ratchets.

Rarely do elbows bug me, but "outwards hip motion" often does. Good example is Leo Dux. (and thus, Feral Rex). Legs together--too close, calves nearly touching, looks odd. But put each leg one click out--extreme A-stance, almost doing the splits. Also looks odd! Really needs a "one-half click out" possibility.

So very true. I also hate it when a figure is either at the military position of attention or extreme A-stance due to the ratchet indents being too large or too far spaced to achieve a natural standing pose. How this passes QC by people who design these things for a living, and who arguably like action figures, is beyond me. This is especially true for the third party folks, for whom these toys are labors of love.

I told my self NO non G1 Masterpiece figures...but Optimus Primal is looking great.

I might have to break that rule....yesssssssssssssssssss.

He does look good, yes. But, I'm also struck by the similarities to the original Primal toy. For its time, it was an extremely well done figure. Concerning MP Primal, I have to admit a small bit of disappointment that Takara couldn't or wouldn't find a way to give him a furry hide. I suppose it's impractical, esp if they won't even put rubber tires on the MP cars, but part of me hoped they'd do something cool and surprising like that to make the animal modes more realistic. Ah, well, Primal still looks pretty sweet, and I'll be happy to give him a home.

I agree with your views on the MP side. They are not really that good when it comes to collectible transforming robots. I collect them because of nostalgia because the look like the images I had in my mind when I was a kid but they have many shortcomings. I can post my page long rant about MP Star Saber here if you want to. They are lacking in articulation, engineering, fit and finish, used material, qc, details, transformation and design. I think MMCs Sphinx is way better in all these points. Is he perfect? No but he sure has a more collectible feel than the ones from Takara. The next official bot after Sphinx would probably be MP Bumble or Streak but they have both issues.

On other news. I love the Takara Blast Off. It is a brand new mold with the correct head. UW Bruticus will be the only official combiner I will own.

It's sad and disheartening when the toys you've dreamed of for 20-30 years are finally made, and so many shortcuts are taken. Those faults are only magnified when a third party comes along and makes a superior product comparatively. On that note, there's a Huge part of me that wants to just go ahead and get Sphinx and Willy, since in many ways, they exceed the quality of the current official MP toys, and I can expect no more from the eventual official Mirage and Hound. But, there's some part of me that really wants that officialdom, and I don't really feel the need to have two each of these guys, nor spend the funds which could go towards something new. First world conundrum.

That said, I did break down and buy Apollyon, since a new G1 MP version seems uncertain. I do hope for an official version, and hope it will be a better design than Apollyon, but for now he does the job.

Can't get behind you on that new Blast Off...too many things about it don't look right. But...I'm still going to get the UW version, as it'll likely have other improvements over the CW version. I also wouldn't be surprised if Dr. Wu, or some other third party, make their own shuttle fig that has a more realistic shuttle mode, not to mention a better bot mode. Those feet ...barf. (What ever happened to our vomiting emoticon? That thing was useful.)

MP Bumble Bee has shown up in TRU computers for........$65USD. Bwahahahahaha Next question: How big of a box are they going to use this time?

TRU...Price gouging -R-Us. I like that they exist, but man, their pricing shenanigans often deter me. They do get some cool exclusives sometimes, though.

[sh9000]

What a ripoff. That Toys R Us exclusive sticker on the packages must be made out of real silver.

[dizman]

It's sad and disheartening when the toys you've dreamed of for 20-30 years are finally made, and so many shortcuts are taken. Those faults are only magnified when a third party comes along and makes a superior product comparatively. On that note, there's a Huge part of me that wants to just go ahead and get Sphinx and Willy, since in many ways, they exceed the quality of the current official MP toys, and I can expect no more from the eventual official Mirage and Hound. But, there's some part of me that really wants that officialdom, and I don't really feel the need to have two each of these guys, nor spend the funds which could go towards something new. First world conundrum.

I can recommend sphinx, though he isn't exactly perfect. He is a bit floppy because of the diecast being too heavy for the friction joints and I've noticed a few little plastic stress marks already. I also don't like how the shoulders slide up but don't seem to lock (maybe I'm doing something wrong, dunno). I do hope they end up bringing out a red or black version so I can have one in each mode, considering the success of the standard blue they probably will make em.

[Dangard Ace]

It's sad and disheartening when the toys you've dreamed of for 20-30 years are finally made, and so many shortcuts are taken. Those faults are only magnified when a third party comes along and makes a superior product comparatively. On that note, there's a Huge part of me that wants to just go ahead and get Sphinx and Willy, since in many ways, they exceed the quality of the current official MP toys, and I can expect no more from the eventual official Mirage and Hound. But, there's some part of me that really wants that officialdom, and I don't really feel the need to have two each of these guys, nor spend the funds which could go towards something new. First world conundrum.

I'm doing the same-ish. If there's no rumour of MP and if I like the 3rd Party offering I'll get it. So far no rumour of Mirage so I got Sphinx(love it). Haven't heard of a rumour for Sunstreaker so I picked up Sunsurge(totally worth it). I don't believe that HasTak will ever do the dinobots so I'm getting the Gigapower ones since I prefer their asthetics to FanToys. Getting the FT Not Insecticons and Not Reflector.

MP Hound though a silhouette of MP Hound did come out so there's a rumour that he's coming out soon. I would wait on purchasing 3P Willy or Gun Dog.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

Wow bumblebee price is insane. I bought the Gold bee MP-21G for under $40, $65 is ridicuous.

[mikeszekely]

Regarding Blast Off, I think he's about as good as can be expected for another figure based around the CW joint. I actually dig the booster feet, and while he's stuck with the same "stick the arms to the sides" as the jets and helicopter, I like that Takara molded boosters onto his fists too to try to make it a little more reasonable. The head is spot-on, I dig the gun they made for him, and I appreciate that the foot/hand is new. My biggest gripes are how big the shuttle nose looks on his chest, and the fact that moving the shuttle tail to his back looks like it might involve some parts-forming. Is he a perfect, MP-quality Blast Off in a 5" figure? Of course not. But neither are the other four CW/UW Combaticons, and UW Blast Off looks like a good fit with the other CW/UW Combaticons.

Sadly, preordering UW Bruticus almost has me wanting to buy UW Guardia, just for Groove.

Regarding MP Primal, I guess it's not really fair for me to say I have no interest, since I haven't bought an MP since Soundwave. I was a CHUG collector long before the MP line and still prefer my Transfomers to fit with that size. The fact that I was trying to buy domestically didn't help, what with MPs we've been getting lately being TRU-exclusives with crazy jacked-up prices. But, here's the thing, while I haven't been interested in the MP line I've at least looked. I've been curious. I think if the MP cars had received a wider US release with fair prices I'd have bought some, sure. But I have absolutely zero interest in a Optimus with a mouth hole in his face plate that turns into a realistic gorilla. I'd much rather have something like Perfect Effect's Leonidas.

So, regarding 3rd party stuff... I try to buy the real thing when I can. I bought Deluxe Galvatron before I bought Mania King. I bought several Deluxe Megatrons and one Voyager before I bought Hegemon, and after buying Hegemon I still bought Leader Megatron (and might buy Titans Return Galvatron, for that matter). My Combiner shelf is Hasbro CW Devy, Prime, Defensor, Superion, Bruticus, Menasor, and Cyclonus (who's waiting for me to repaint some limbs for him), along side members of MMC's not-Predacons, and I was actually thinking that I might try to get my hands on a few more 3rd party combiners, even replacing the ones I already have. I guess it's a little easier to justify buying 3rd party stuff when it's Deluxe or Voyager-sized, though. For one, it's a lot cheaper to buy the official toy then decide to replace it because it's "not good enough." And I think that a market of mass-produced $20 figures can coexist with a collector's market of premium figures. The problem is that MP's are supposed to be premium figures for collectors, so I feel like 3rd party products are competing more directly there. But since I don't really do MPs, I guess that's an ethical dilemma for someone else to work out.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

wow blastoff looks good, i'm just a mp and vintage/reissue g1 collector but may have to change my mind.

[M'Kyuun]

I'm kinda surprised how many folks here dig the new Blast Off, and I'm glad, even though I don't. For those of us who end up getting him, and I include myself, I hope he'll turn out to be a good figure. He may even grow on me once I have him in hand. I sincerely hope so, since my shelf space is limited currently, and all my combiners spend their time uncombined in robot mode, so I'll get to see those engine toes all the time. Alas, I still need to figure out where I'm going to get him. I'm holding out for HLJ, so I hope they get him in their preorder queue soon.

I watched a Sphinx (3P Mirage) review earlier today, and he seems like a really well done fig. In the review I watched, the fig's left sliding shoulder block was a little loose and had play, but the right one was solid. Overall, though, the reviewer, who calls himself 'Diecast', gave a good review of the fig and recommended him. The articulation, deco, transformation, and overall design are all excellent. Articulation is especially excellent, since both knees and elbows are double jointed. I really liked their solution to hollow arm syndrome, since they attached a small panel to the rotating wrist base which covers the hole in the arm, and also slides in a small groove to allow the wrist to flex up and down. Smart design. Take notes, Takara. MP Bumblebee could have benefited from this. I've been taking more note of the vast number of 3P offerings, and wow. It's kinda mind-blowing what's out there now for TF fans- so much stuff, much of which Takara will likely, and sadly, never produce. In the meantime, Takara has some serious competition out there. Sphinx is just one example of a company doing it better, IMHO.

Now that MP Primal's been announced, I wonder if they're going to just produce him alone to test the waters, or if they have plans to release a number of them concurrently. I'm not aware of any others being formally announced, although Megatron would be the next likely BW fig made, yes. I'd be happy with just those two as MP figs. I have the CHUG versions of Rhinox, Waspinator, and Ratrap, all of which were really well done...I'm not sure what improvements could be made, honestly. Maybe Dinobot...his CHUG fig left much to be desired, he was one of the best characters on the show, had a wonderfully noble end, and warrants a MP grade fig, IMO. I'd be happy to have him.

[JET7]

ill buying that CW Bruticus and combining it.. fixed for life mode.

i just hope has/tak releases a devy in this scale..an awesome photo op both bruticus and devy fighting.

[M'Kyuun]

ill buying that CW Bruticus and combining it.. fixed for life mode.

i just hope has/tak releases a devy in this scale..an awesome photo op both bruticus and devy fighting.

CW Devy is in the same scale as CW Bruticus. The difference in their comparative sizes lies in that all six Constructicons are voyager class, whereas Bruticus has a single voyager class fig for his torso/thighs, and the remaining four limbs are all deluxe class.

I'm curious: why do you want Bruticus to fight Devastator? They're both Decepticons.

[JET7]

great diorama scene. bruticus with starscream on his shoulders.. and devy with megs

Edited January 22, 2016 by JET7

[Mechapilot77]

CW Devy is in the same scale as CW Bruticus. The difference in their comparative sizes lies in that all six Constructicons are voyager class, whereas Bruticus has a single voyager class fig for his torso/thighs, and the remaining four limbs are all deluxe class.

I'm curious: why do you want Bruticus to fight Devastator? They're both Decepticons.

not a g1 fan huh? "bruticus devastate devastator" starscream's brigate eppies were among my fav as a kid!

[dizman]

Here ya go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PkqSl2o8h8

[VF5SS]

This isn't a Transformer per se, but it is in scale with Alternators figures so I figured I'd put it here. Feel free to move it somewhere else.

My review of GearTribe Hatsune Miku. Designed by Shoji Kawamori.

http://www.collectiondx.com/toy_review/2015/geartribe_hatsune_miku_gt_project_2014_ver

[M'Kyuun]

not a g1 fan huh? "bruticus devastate devastator" starscream's brigate eppies were among my fav as a kid!

Actually, I am a G1 fan, but I'd completely forgotten that episode. I love the first season for its slightly more serious tone. After that, the writers were given license to pretty much do whatever, and I lost interest, only catching an ep here or there. It became too ridiculous and cheesy. The first season and the Movie are the only G1 TF DVDs I own.

[mikeszekely]

Ordered up some stickers from Reprolabels. I figure Cyclonus can already go with Offroad, since he got orphaned when Hasbro released Wildrider after all. I picked up an extra Vortex already to repaint his head for use on CW Blast Off, so I'm thinking to find a head (probably Blast Off's original Slingshot head) for that extra Vortex and paint him as a Classics version of Blackout. I also picked up another CW Prowl and figure I'll make him a Classics version of Barricade. That just leaves one limb. Ideas? I honestly wish Air Raid or a remold of Air Raid were readily available.

[Scyla]

I wonder if Hasbro will release a Beast Wars MP Megatron as a follow-up to MP Optimus Primal. I would be totally down for it (the Megatron that is). On the other hand I'm in desperate need for a G1 MP Megatron. Sadly Apollyon doesn't cut it. XTransbots got the face right though.

That got me thinking. In a video review of Baltmatrix he shows the inlay of a G1 reissue:

The Optimus Prime and Bumblebee look suspiciously like MP Convoy and Bumble so I thought maybe an Takara G1 MP Megatron could look like the line art in this image. And that looks really good.

Oh well Maketoys is doing Despotron and they just reveled the line-art for that. I hope Takara announces G1 Megatron before Maketoys releases him.

[JB0]

This isn't a Transformer per se, but it is in scale with Alternators figures so I figured I'd put it here. Feel free to move it somewhere else.

My review of GearTribe Hatsune Miku. Designed by Shoji Kawamori.

http://www.collectiondx.com/toy_review/2015/geartribe_hatsune_miku_gt_project_2014_ver

I always thought that looked kinda neat. Shame the decorations get mangled so easily.

Also, I've always called the intermediate mode Basquash! mode. Speaking of Kawamori mecha designs.