The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[mikeszekely]

I've done most of the paint work for my Combiner Wars Barricade. Now, I don't have a fancy airbrush or anything; I'm basically working with brushes, and I'm not great at this, so I won't say he looks great. I'm happy with him, though. I started with CW Prowl and painted everything white on him black, as well as the combiner plug. I used a lavender paint for his horns and some little details on his body, and silver for those vent-looking ridges on his lower legs. In alt mode I repainted the lightbar with both red and a dark blue. I also added some silver to the lights on the grill and some red and blue flashers under the headlights. I'll still have to put white on the sides, but I want to see what decals I have first.

Less enthused with my CW Blackout, though. The base gray I used turned out to be almost identical to the gray on the Vortex I started with. Plus, while Prowl's head works pretty well for a Classics/G1-style Barricade, neither Vortex's nor Blast Off/Slingshot's heads really seem right for Blackout.

In any case, Offroad is the third limb. Any ideas for the fourth? I'd need a readily-available limb-bot to start, so no Aerialbots or Stunticons. Protectobots might be iffy. And I'd strongly prefer no more helicopters, and none of the Offroad/Ironhide/Trailbreaker mold.

[Vermillion One]

I've done most of the paint work for my Combiner Wars Barricade. Now, I don't have a fancy airbrush or anything; I'm basically working with brushes, and I'm not great at this, so I won't say he looks great. I'm happy with him, though. I started with CW Prowl and painted everything white on him black, as well as the combiner plug. I used a lavender paint for his horns and some little details on his body, and silver for those vent-looking ridges on his lower legs. In alt mode I repainted the lightbar with both red and a dark blue. I also added some silver to the lights on the grill and some red and blue flashers under the headlights. I'll still have to put white on the sides, but I want to see what decals I have first.

Less enthused with my CW Blackout, though. The base gray I used turned out to be almost identical to the gray on the Vortex I started with. Plus, while Prowl's head works pretty well for a Classics/G1-style Barricade, neither Vortex's nor Blast Off/Slingshot's heads really seem right for Blackout.

In any case, Offroad is the third limb. Any ideas for the fourth? I'd need a readily-available limb-bot to start, so no Aerialbots or Stunticons. Protectobots might be iffy. And I'd strongly prefer no more helicopters, and none of the Offroad/Ironhide/Trailbreaker mold.

Are you going for a 2007 movie combiner? Brawl could be too obvious, but what about Bonecrusher? Rook could be modified and painted to match.

[mikeszekely]

Are you going for a 2007 movie combiner? Brawl could be too obvious, but what about Bonecrusher? Rook could be modified and painted to match.

No. I only went with Blackout because I'd bought a second Vortex so I could swap his head onto Blast Off. As for Barricade, he was my favorite 2007 movie Decepticon but one without a clear G1 analog. I mean, there's the blue and red G1 Micromaster F1 car, but I don't think a lot of people remember that version. The War for Cybertron had a purple and white Barricade that turned into a sports car, and that version turned up in the IDW series as a Decepticon cop, but I still wanted a primarily black one, and I figured it'd be pretty easy to repaint Prowl. But I still think of my TFs as existing in a G1-ish universe, and I'm just looking for characters to go with a Cyclonus torso and the orphaned Offroad. Bonecrusher and Brawl are out because not only are there G1 versions, but Bonecrusher is in the Devastator and Brawl in the Bruticus that are on the same shelf.

[Vermillion One]

This is the bonecrusher I meant.

[anime52k8]

This is the bonecrusher I meant.

instead of bonecrusher he could be the guy from ROTF that's definitely NOT bonecrusher.

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Buffalo_MPV_Decepticon

Edited January 25, 2016 by anime52k8

[mikeszekely]

This is the bonecrusher I meant.

Oh, I knew which Bonecrusher you meant. But, even though Michael Bay or the TF Movie '07 staff probably just picked the name because it was cool, to me that Bonecrusher is the Bayverse version of the G1 bot who either turns into a bulldozer or Devastator's left arm, not another guy who happens to be named Bonecrusher. Same as Optimus Prime is Optimus Prime. So I'm gonna say that a second Bonecrusher is out.

I do like the idea of using Rook (or another Swindle or Hound), since that's one of the best molds in the line, but I'm thinking either G1 characters that aren't represented in CHUGs, or a prominent character from another TF fiction without a G1 counterpart.

And I'll say again, I wish the Aerialbots were more readily available still. Skydive and Air Raid are two molds that haven't been milked to death yet, and there are TONS of Decepticon jets.

On the subject of repainting, for Sky Reign I had no intention of buying Trailbreaker, since that's the worst mold in the CW line and Ironhide and Offroad are enough for me, thank you much. Luckily, I have the orphaned Alpha Bravo. But, I could live without Smokescreen, too (I wish they'd done Bluestreak instead). What do you guys think about repainting a second First Aid as Ratchet?

[Scyla]

I saw this mod for MP Tracks over at TFW (http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-news-rumors/1031676-masterpiece-tracks-630.html#post13291174)

It looks way better with the backpack collapsed:

There are two downsides. Firstly you have to cut some stuff away to allow this movement which might lead to instabilities in the other modes. Secondly it robs Tracks of his signature dome over his head. On the other hand with the official configuration there is not much of a resemblance to begin with and to me it looks much better.

I'm not too keen on cutting my Masterpiece toys but I was wondering why Takara purposefully molded in small nubs to prevent the backpack from collapsing. Maybe a third party company will do a replacement trunk for him. It would be a bit difficult to install due to all the pins but at least they're not the hollow type. Honestly I would prefer a totally new trunk that is able to transform into Tracks head dome but I'm not sure if they would be able to match the color perfectly. I think there could be a market for it because there is a company that did a small run for Maketoys Quantron (Computron) weird L-shaped strut in the back that folds up into a cleaner shape.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Scyla

[sh9000]

[Vermillion One]

Takara Blast Off reminds me of a GoBot in shuttle mode. I still want it, but I dont think I want it enough to drop $135 for the set.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Vermillion One

[JB0]

Takara Blast Off reminds me of a GoBot in shuttle mode. I still want it, but I dont think I want it enough to drop $135 for the set.

That's kinda funny since both versions of Spay-C were actually pretty good renditions of the STS orbiter, within their target toy complexities.

The larger one matches proportions and detail quite nicely, and even has opening cargo bay doors(I loved it as a child, and it still holds a special place in my heart, combining as it does two of my oldest loves).

The smaller one is defiantly chibi, and has some sci-fi bling on top, but it still hides the robot parts and gets the curves and tail fin in the right place.

Fortunately, Takara isn't offering a transforming STS Orbiter, they're offering a transforming Blast-Off robot.

Because dear Primus, that's a TERRIBLE space shuttle rendition. Or perhaps it's a cybertronic space shuttle.

[mikeszekely]

Now that I've seen hi-res pics, that tail fin is definitely doing some partsforming. On the pic of his back in bot mode, you can see a peg hole just above his ankle. I'm certain there's a second on obscured by the wing on his other leg, and it going from shuttle to bot that tail pops off and pops back onto similar peg holes on his back. Interestingly, it looks like his gun might be the shuttle's front landing gear.

Looking at included line art had me going back to look at the cartoon, and I gotta say, while not toy-accurate, those booster feet are animation-accurate.

I'm a little disappointed at the grayscale image of Bruticus on the next page, though. Looks like Takara isn't re-molding Onslaught/Bruticus' back cannons, and they still get lost in the shoulders of the "official" transformation (side note, if you transform Onslaught more like Hot Spot so his fists are on Bruticus' back instead of his shoulders, you can peg the guns into those fists, giving them more height). And sadly, it looks like they're keeping the darker "helmet" on Bruticus, which I don't get as it's neither toy nor animation accurate. Worse, it looks like they're not using matching colors for the Combiner hands and feet, but that might be because they're actually using the hands and feet from previous combiners for that test shot. They did add the extra rotors to Vortex, which might cause as many problems as it solves, but they didn't make any other modifications that would have been nice, like replacing the molded missiles on his arms with gatling guns or including a peg/slot to put his gun on the copter's nose. Oh well. Takara Bruticus would have been a better investment with more fixes, especially since I have a complete Hasbro one, but I'm still hoping for some paint differences, like an animation-style gray and dark blue Vortex and/or a greener Brawl.

[Scyla]

Yeah, no way that shuttle fin moves from its place to the combiner peg on the robot without partsforming.

I'm personally not a huge fan of partsforming but some fans seem to have no problem with it. Their argumentation is that it was there from the early days of the franchise. While this is true (G1 Seekers) I think this is not the preferred way of doing it. In the past partsforming had to be done due to limitations in engineering and missing expertise but today there should not be such an excuse with HasTak having 30 years of experience under their belt.

I also don't get why it is there in the first place. I would be totally fine with Blast Off having the fins on the back of the legs with a hinge so they could fold up. Same goes for the fins on cyclonus. I would have preferred it if they either remolded the arms so that they have the fins or at least mold some pegs into the outside of the arms to that they don't have to be stuck into his fists.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Scyla

[JB0]

Man, if that tail fin pegs in, there is NO excuse for it to ride that far forward in shuttle mode. 'S an unmitigated embarassment.

[Vermillion One]

That's kinda funny since both versions of Spay-C were actually pretty good renditions of the STS orbiter, within their target toy complexities.

You are right, Spay-C is a better shuttle. I will reserve final judgement on the UW Bruticus until we get actual color photos of the combined set and Blast-Off. I am kind of glad its a pass for now, I would prefer not to have any doubles. Blast-off as a jet isn't that bad, particularly in combined mode, were mine will stay.

[JB0]

*digs his old Super Spay-C out*

Ah, right. That's why he isn't on display somewhere. Because alone of all my games and toys, the yellowing demon has struck him HARD.

And huh, I remember the cargo bay doors being openable in shuttle mode, but it seems the wings interfere with those hinges...

...

Does anyone make replacement stickers for this guy, or would I have to scavenge from a tiny model/paint them by hand?

[mikeszekely]

Well, I know you guys were on the edge of your seat waiting to see who my 4th Galvatronus limb would be (or more likely, you forgot about it or didn't care in the first place). Well, I managed to get my hands on another Dead End, who I think makes a pretty good stand in for TF Prime/IDW Knock Out. Well, from the neck down, anyway. He's even in mostly the right colors. Looks like I'll be hitting up Shapeways for a new head...

I'm just about done painting my Barricade and Blackout, BTW. Just waiting for some stickers.

[mikeszekely]

Some pre-Toyfair leaks are showing a Deluxe Scourge and Mindwipe, along with a Voyager Alpha Trion in the Titans Return line. Scourge will have a more G1 alt mode than last time.

[M'Kyuun]

I much prefer CHUG Scourge's alt mode to his odd G1 space hovercraft mode, which never made sense to me, and was generally unappealing. CHUG Scourge has one of the best realized aircraft alt modes, plus it's loosely based on a NASA concept. To me, it's not only far more visually appealing, but more practical than his G1 alt mode. He's one of my favorite figures.

I would hope for a nice new Cyclonus mold, too, but I doubt we'll see that since he was just released as a remold of the terrible CW Silverbolt. The CHUG version is decent, having a far better bot mode than alt. I'm keeping my eye on a couple 3rd party releases that look really good.

I'm getting anxious, and a bit impatient, for MP Ironhide to release. I believe he's supposed to release this month, but Jan is almost over and I've seen nothing to indicate that release is imminent, other than a Chinese fellow's in-hand video of a near-production model. Not sure why I'm so antsy about getting him, but I am. I hope Hound is the next MP. I loved his G1 character's personality, and his Army Jeep Willys alt is fitting.

[JET7]

run devy!

(this will do for now while waiting for PE upgrade)

shoot to reset brutality

[RD Blade]

LOL! Well done

[M'Kyuun]

For those who preordered MP Ironhide through HLJ, my copy became available today, and I just had him shipped. When I checked around 10:40 PM Pacific, they were showing low stock, in case anyone's still planning on grabbing one.

Something cool to look forward to next week.

[Scyla]

Charles reviews MP Ironhide:

What a weird toy. This is clearly not on par with the Hasui MP cars.

[dizman]

I dunno seems pretty cleverly designed to me. A van that is shorter than Sideswipe turning into a robot that is just about as tall as Optimus is pretty neat. The chest compression and the way the arms explode extend and reform were impressive. All that said I'm not getting Ironhide but when Ratchet comes out I'll probably buy him.

[M'Kyuun]

I dunno seems pretty cleverly designed to me. The chest compression and the way the arms explode extend and reform were impressive.

I agree.. How the rear of the van and the frame of the windshield are similarly shaped to come together to form the chest manifests some clever engineering. By all appearances, he locks together very well in both modes. I like that at least his pistols can store in his vehicle mode, and I wish that were the case with all TF toys in this day and age. I will forever lament that his large cannon isn't permanently mounted and deployable in both modes like in the cartoon ( esp since the upper portion of the rear of the van is hollow, and the toes are the only things creating any kind of interference. With just a little more clever engineering, they probably could have pulled it off, but I digress. My only other gripe would be with the 90 degree limit on the elbow, esp since there's a double joint employed there to effect transformation.

But having watched the earlier Chinese pre-release video, and now Charlie's, so far Ironhide is stacking up to be a solid entry in this series, esp since the 80's toy and the animation were very different. I had 80's Ratchet, and there was a lot of WTF? going on with that toy, esp if you watched the show. I'm looking forward to his arrival at my door, I'm keeping my pre-order for Ratchet, and I'm happy that two more gaps are officially filled in the '84 roster.

I will add, however, that I hope Shogo Hasui returns to the MP design team, as his previous designs, esp Prowl , are really well done, and the application of his talents and passion can only strengthen the quality of the MP line for future releases.

[Scyla]

Didn't you see the gaps in the torso, the odd hip flaps that don't move anywhere, the windows on the arms that are a tad to long and are now elbow spikes and don't forget the weird shoulder ratchets that love to break on MP-09. They also should have given some threads to the tray if it can't be attached to the car.

[Tking22]

Charles reviews MP Ironhide:

What a weird toy. This is clearly not on par with the Hasui MP cars.

I disagree wholeheartedly, he looks amazing, and seeing a finished, painted version of him gets me even more excited. This is the MP I said I'd wait on while I bought all the other cars and releases for no real reason.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Tking22

[abbadon]

I'm going to wait for my other preorders including the VF-4G before I ship MP-27 Ironhide from HLJ. He looks good! Can't wait to add him to my display.

[dizman]

Didn't you see the gaps in the torso, the odd hip flaps that don't move anywhere, the windows on the arms that are a tad to long and are now elbow spikes and don't forget the weird shoulder ratchets that love to break on MP-09. They also should have given some threads to the tray if it can't be attached to the car.

Not everything can be perfect because he has to transform into a real vehicle. It's the same thing with every transforming toy. Sideswipe has gaps in his legs and his chest is a hair too big but that's ok because the Countach he transforms into is kinda hard to pull off at that scale. Same thing with Tracks fitting all those robot parts into the slender Vette C3. Do I wish that they found a better place for the hip armor, sure why not but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the whole thing. I do agree that the part tray should have had some tank treads like G1 but I wouldn't be surprised if a 3rd party picks up the slack.

[M'Kyuun]

It would have been nice if the tray had treads, but honestly, that tray will likely stay in the box when I get my copy. It serves no other purpose but to display his accessories, and I'll just take what I want and leave the rest in the box. My display area is very small, and nearly to capacity as it is, so even if the tray did have toy-accurate treads, it'd likely still remain in the box. I need to invest in a proper display cabinet soon.

As for the toy itself, I agree with Dizman. None of the MP toys are 100% perfect, and that really goes for most TF toys. Concessions generally have to be made. I don't care for the hip panels either, and wish they'd found a better solution, but looking at the figure as a whole, how well the overall character is captured, plus additional kudos for a rather inventive transformation, I'm pretty happy with what Takara have delivered. I also like that rather than doing a straight repaint of Ironhide, they made changes to the crotch area and thigh detail on Ratchet to match the animation. They didn't have to, and people would still have bought Ratchet.

Sorry he doesn't do it for you, Scyla. There are still some third party offerings that you might find more appealing, but in the meantime, I hope you have an opportunity to get the official version in hand to make a definitive judgment. Pics don't always do a toy justice...and sometimes the fun factor mitigates any number of critical observations. Of course, mileage varies.

[Scyla]

I have to say that he looks better in Charles review than on any of the preview images. And I already payed for mine. I don't think he is a bad toy but since we are able to compare him to Hasui MP carbots it leaves me wondering how it could be different than what we've got.

The main problem with the toys since MP-22 (Ultra Magnus) was that they don't feel finished. With the Hasui cars you transform them and you where done. Sure they are not perfect but I hadn't the feeling that the toy need to do anything more. With MP-22 you have the weird butt-flap and the hollow shins. With Tracks the backpack just sits there and does nothing. Ironhide has the weird panels that just hangs there. And compared with my the other collector oriented toy lines I have the TF Masterpieces feel lacking in general. Of course no other line has to pull of the same stunt that the Transformers do: converting from a real life vehicle into a robot without any predefined scheme. On the other hand having MMCs Sphinx (and the Hasui cars) in hand I can see what is possible.

Basically it comes to this. I feel the Masterpiece line could be 10 times better if the toys would have a few more design iterations and a higher budget.

Edited January 30, 2016 by Scyla

[Vermillion One]

*digs his old Super Spay-C out*

Ah, right. That's why he isn't on display somewhere. Because alone of all my games and toys, the yellowing demon has struck him HARD.

And huh, I remember the cargo bay doors being openable in shuttle mode, but it seems the wings interfere with those hinges...

...

Does anyone make replacement stickers for this guy, or would I have to scavenge from a tiny model/paint them by hand?

*digs his old Super Spay-C out*

Ah, right. That's why he isn't on display somewhere. Because alone of all my games and toys, the yellowing demon has struck him HARD.

And huh, I remember the cargo bay doors being openable in shuttle mode, but it seems the wings interfere with those hinges...

...

Does anyone make replacement stickers for this guy, or would I have to scavenge from a tiny model/paint them by hand?

The previous post has a scan of the Spay-C Decal set. Please let me know if you need an update. Sorry for not using messenger but thats giving me fits from work.

Spay C.pdf

[M'Kyuun]

I have to say that he looks better in Charles review than on any of the preview images. And I already payed for mine. I don't think he is a bad toy but since we are able to compare him to Hasui MP carbots it leaves me wondering how it could be different than what we've got.

The main problem with the toys since MP-22 (Ultra Magnus) was that they don't feel finished. With the Hasui cars you transform them and you where done. Sure they are not perfect but I hadn't the feeling that the toy need to do anything more. With MP-22 you have the weird butt-flap and the hollow shins. With Tracks the backpack just sits there and does nothing. Ironhide has the weird panels that just hangs there. And compared with my the other collector oriented toy lines I have the TF Masterpieces feel lacking in general. Of course no other line has to pull of the same stunt that the Transformers do: converting from a real life vehicle into a robot without any predefined scheme. On the other hand having MMCs Sphinx (and the Hasui cars) in hand I can see what is possible.

Basically it comes to this. I feel the Masterpiece line could be 10 times better if the toys would have a few more design iterations and a higher budget.

Your points are valid. When I consider my Binaltechs compared to the current MP toys, there's a gulf in quality there, despite some of the articulation limits in the BT/Alternators. Some of those limitations are due to tech limitations, and also the fact that steering, opening hoods, trunks, & doors, integrated weapons, and interior cabins were all featured in these toys, which oft hindered the bot modes to some degree. The current MP line doesn't suffer from these limitations, but benefits from strides in technology and experience on the part of the designers.

I also agree that the third parties are producing toys that exceed Takara's, much closer to what we should expect from a 'Masterpiece' line.

[Dangard Ace]

I also agree that the third parties are producing toys that exceed Takara's, much closer to what we should expect from a 'Masterpiece' line.

Some of them are but the price point of 3P's are much higher then the official stuff. For instance using TFSource, MP Ratchet is ~$90usd while Voodoo Salus is $120usd. HLJ = ~$66 for MP Ratchet. For a $30=$$54 difference it better be better, you can almost buy another Takara MP for that, but alot of the time they deviate just enough that it is not the perfect MP is should be.

[Dangard Ace]

NY has both MP Tracks and MP Road Rage on sale right now. About $10 cheaper than normal.

[Scyla]

Your points are valid. When I consider my Binaltechs compared to the current MP toys, there's a gulf in quality there, despite some of the articulation limits in the BT/Alternators. Some of those limitations are due to tech limitations, and also the fact that steering, opening hoods, trunks, & doors, integrated weapons, and interior cabins were all featured in these toys, which oft hindered the bot modes to some degree. The current MP line doesn't suffer from these limitations, but benefits from strides in technology and experience on the part of the designers.

I also agree that the third parties are producing toys that exceed Takara's, much closer to what we should expect from a 'Masterpiece' line.

The thing is, I can deal with a bad toy but I can hardly deal with a disappointing one. The VF-2SS for example doesn't seem to be a good toy but I can deal with that because when I buy it I have a different mindset. I try to find the good parts in the toy. The Masterpiece toys have the potential to be great and they pulled it off with a few releases (the Datsuns and MP Bumble in particular) but they just manage to stumble right before the goal. MP Star Saber looks awesome in all the pictures of the prototype. Having him in hand is disappointing.

I think I build them up in my head and than nitpick them to death because they don't cater to that image. I probably should abandon the line but I'm deeply invested now. All the toys have redeeming qualities. At the moment MP Road Rage is on my desk and I transformed her and the leg transformation is amazing but then I pose her and all the nitpicks add up to an unpleasant appearance. I stare at the hollow backpack and thing man why can't you fold down.