The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[sh9000]

I think the most recent Hallmark G1 ornament releases are not too difficult to find online for regular price.  They can be found on ebay and often at Kohls.  The Hallmark store usually discounts them after Christmas.  Jazz was last year's ornament and it was marked down to $4.99.

[mikeszekely]

On 1/10/2021 at 12:15 AM, mikeszekely said:

Mirage and Sideswipe are getting Earth modes.  However, they're both set to be part of Amazon exclusive two-packs.  Sideswipe will come with a redeco or remold of Airazor as Skywarp, and Mirage will come with a Dinobot repaint as Grimlock.

I was told about, and then told you guys about this in mid-January, but at least some of this rumor seems to be coming to fruition as the Mirage/Grimlock set has (or had?) a listing on Amazon UK.  Still unsure about the Earth-mode, as Deep Cover was rumored to be based on Earth-mode Sideswipe yet was clearly the Siege mold (both times!), but it's worth noting that the listing reports "the G1-inspired Autobot Mirage figure can be transformed from robot into a racing car in 20 steps," while Siege Mirage reads "Deluxe Class WFC-S43 Autobot Mirage toy features classic conversion between robot and Cybertronian vehicle modes in 19 steps," so apparently there's at least one extra step.

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

I was told about, and then told you guys about this in mid-January, but at least some of this rumor seems to be coming to fruition as the Mirage/Grimlock set has (or had?) a listing on Amazon UK.  Still unsure about the Earth-mode, as Deep Cover was rumored to be based on Earth-mode Sideswipe yet was clearly the Siege mold (both times!), but it's worth noting that the listing reports "the G1-inspired Autobot Mirage figure can be transformed from robot into a racing car in 20 steps," while Siege Mirage reads "Deluxe Class WFC-S43 Autobot Mirage toy features classic conversion between robot and Cybertronian vehicle modes in 19 steps," so apparently there's at least one extra step.

Hasbro are some shady SOBs for this. I suspect they figure that a repaint of their so-so Dinobot wouldn't sell well, so to get their money's worth from the mold, they're packaging it with a more G1 faithful Mirage (b/c the Siege version left somewhat to be desired, especially in car mode), as they know all of us G1 completists are going to want a proper G1 Mirage to fill out the roster. It's good business, I guess, but that doesn't mean I like it. The worst thing about this situation is that there's no guarantee that a separate single release of Mirage will happen, at least not in his Mirage colors and deco, so I feel like I'll have to suck it up and pay extra for a fig I don't want to get the one I do.  Where fans come first...yeah right.

[tekering]

5 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I'll have to suck it up and pay extra for a fig I don't want to get the one I do.  

Hasbro occasionally puts both Star Wars and Transformers collectors in this position.

It's a MUCH bigger problem if you collect Marvel Legends, however. 

[JB0]

4 minutes ago, tekering said:

Hasbro occasionally puts both Star Wars and Transformers collectors in this position.

It's a MUCH bigger problem if you collect Marvel Legends, however. 

Don't remind them or they'll figure out how to make "collect a figure" work for Transformers.

 

[mikeszekely]

3 hours ago, JB0 said:

Don't remind them or they'll figure out how to make "collect a figure" work for Transformers.

 

*ahem*

[JB0]

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

[M'Kyuun]

17 minutes ago, JB0 said:

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

[sh9000]

https://hasbropulse.com/products/transformers-generations-shattered-glass-collection-megatron-idw-s-shattered-glass-megatron-exclusive-hasbro-pulse-variant-cover

[mikeszekely]

I pre-ordered that Megatron.

It's also worth pointing out that they seem to have the Netflix Deluxes in stock. I ordered Deeseus Drone and the rusty Barricade.

[Mechapilot77]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

I pre-ordered that Megatron.

It's also worth pointing out that they seem to have the Netflix Deluxes in stock. I ordered Deeseus Drone and the rusty Barricade.

thanks for the tip on the desseus drone.  finally got a couple of those.  (only ever had the earthrise version of that mold which is an unconvincing earth van).  if they had gone with the ER barricade mold i might have got a rusty sparkless bot too but not a huge fan of the siege datsunbros mold

[mantisfists]

On 4/25/2021 at 7:15 PM, mikeszekely said:

*ahem*

Ugh.....my 9 y/o daughter wants to complete this guy so bad.

[ErikElvis]

Still haven’t heard anything about my unicron shipping. 

[sh9000]

[mikeszekely]

Ooooh. Seems we were getting excited for the wrong MP Jetfire.

[technoblue]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Ooooh. Seems we were getting excited for the wrong MP Jetfire.

Huh. I like what Three-Zero is doing, but I'm not collecting their Transformers.

Anyway, if all that setup was for this particular Jetfire release, then all I can say is, "Well played."

[Scyla]

1 hour ago, technoblue said:

Huh. I like what Three-Zero is doing, but I'm not collecting their Transformers.

Anyway, if all that setup was for this particular Jetfire release, then all I can say is, "Well played."

There were rumors floating around that Takara will do an MP Jetfire and everyone assumed it was the G1 version of the character.

[technoblue]

3 hours ago, Scyla said:

There were rumors floating around that Takara will do an MP Jetfire and everyone assumed it was the G1 version of the character.

Yeah. It was fun while it lasted.  But who knows, maybe Takara has another Jetfire/Skyfire design in the works? That wouldn't surprise me either. 

[mikeszekely]

18 minutes ago, technoblue said:

Yeah. It was fun while it lasted.  But who knows, maybe Takara has another Jetfire/Skyfire design in the works? That wouldn't surprise me either. 

Plus, I didn't catch the ThreeZero thing this morning when I saw it.  It seems unlikely that Takara contracted ThreeZero to do an MP figure (I'm guessing now that this Jetfire doesn't even transform).  If Takara really is thinking about an MP Jetfire it doesn't rule out an MP G1 Jetfire.  Actually, now that I think about it, the Figure King article about the upcoming MPs mentioned Skyfire (スカイファイア), but it seems that the Bayverse one is called Jetfire (ジェットファイア).  Probably due to Hasbro's toy-first push we in the West have gotten used to using Jetfire interchangeably with Skyfire (the Valkyrie toy we got was Jetfire, the new Commander-class figure was Jetfire, he's Jetfire in the Netflix cartoon, etc), but in Japan this would seem to be an important distinction between the G1 cartoon character and the Bayverse character.

@tekering do you know off hand, this guy, Siege Commander-class Jetfire

Was he released in Japan?  As Skyfire or Jetfire?

[tekering]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Was he released in Japan?  As Skyfire or Jetfire?

SG-26 was "Jetfire."

https://tf.takaratomy.co.jp/products-lineup/tf_sg/sg-26

[David Hingtgen]

Well, my Kingdom Come Blackarachnia broke on her second (third?) transformation.  Same spot everyone else's does----the tab that (literally) holds her bust in place.  Snapped off.  Gluing tonight, will see if I can find the right mix of "widening slot to reduce friction, while still usefully pegging in"----assuming the glue can hold the tab back on decently strong enough to work at all. 

[mikeszekely]

3 hours ago, tekering said:

SG-26 was "Jetfire."

https://tf.takaratomy.co.jp/products-lineup/tf_sg/sg-26

Interesting.  Although, that might have to do with Hasbro's push for more brand unification, and/or the Netflix series.  I assume it's available on Japanese Netflix?  Is he Jetfire or Skyfire in it?  Regardless, the MP line is all Takara, and there's nothing for Hasbro to force them to align with, so I'm still forced to conclude that references to an MP "Skyfire" would almost certainly have to be the one in the G1 cartoon, not an MPM Jetfire.

[M'Kyuun]

On 4/27/2021 at 11:44 PM, ErikElvis said:

Still haven’t heard anything about my unicron shipping. 

Woah, those shipped some time ago. I've had mine for a month now. If you got it directly from Hasbro Pulse, that seems like an ominous oversight, or a lost in transit sort of issue. He's in a big box, so kinda hard to misplace him. Anyway, I think Hasbro would be easier to deal with than one of the third party sellers , and certainly better than Scalper-bay or Scalpazon. I wish you every success.

12 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Interesting.  Although, that might have to do with Hasbro's push for more brand unification, and/or the Netflix series.  I assume it's available on Japanese Netflix?  Is he Jetfire or Skyfire in it?  Regardless, the MP line is all Takara, and there's nothing for Hasbro to force them to align with, so I'm still forced to conclude that references to an MP "Skyfire" would almost certainly have to be the one in the G1 cartoon, not an MPM Jetfire.

Honestly, if I didn't already have Fans Toys Phoenix, which is already a really nice take on Skyfire (I too wish they'd bring back the Skyfire name to designate the toon likeness from the VF-1 Jetfire toy), I'd be pretty bummed at this news. At this point, an official MP Skyfire would be cool, but I also fear it would be plagued with all the layers of folding panels and such that, IMHO, mar the looks of the most recent spate of MP figures, not to mention a complete lack of detail to match the toon. I'm pretty happy with the WFC toy- it's big, beefy, detailed, more accurate to the toon in bot mode than Phoenix, and brings enough articulation and accessories to the table to make him one of the standout toys in the line. I'm also glad he's part of the mainline, as the bulk of my TF collection is mainline, and he's a dream toy that I never thought we'd get officially.

[ErikElvis]

On 4/29/2021 at 12:56 PM, M'Kyuun said:

Woah, those shipped some time ago. I've had mine for a month now. If you got it directly from Hasbro Pulse, that seems like an ominous oversight, or a lost in transit sort of issue. He's in a big box, so kinda hard to misplace him. Anyway, I think Hasbro would be easier to deal with than one of the third party sellers , and certainly better than Scalper-bay or Scalpazon. I wish you every success.

 

Online chatted them today. Seems they are waiting for the next batch from the factory and will get the rest out. 

Edited April 30, 2021 by ErikElvis

[mikeszekely]

Repaint roundup.

Got this pair via FedEx today.  The one on the left is Deseeus Army Drone, and the one on the left is Sparkless Bot.  Both are Deluxe-class figures from the (mostly) Walmart-exclusive Netflix War for Cybertron line.

The Deseeus Army Drone is a repaint of Siege Ironhide, and comes with the same missile launcher/hammer accessory.  Multiple identical copies of the drone appeared in the Earthrise portion of the Netflix series, and yeah, this is about what they looked like in the show.  I'm not sure how he works into my CHUG shelf, since I've been using the WFC Trilogy (and SS 86) to more or less be CHUG G1, and the whole Deseeus thing is, as far as I'm concerned, not canon.  I mostly grabbed him because I figured I could use more bad guys.  Kind of wish there was less silver and more black and maybe some red, go for the Diaclone homage.

Transformation is the same, alt mode is the same, which is to say it's fine.  The feet on the back are more forgivable on this mold than the Earthrise version, since it's supposed to be a Cybertronian vehicle.  I don't have fillers for him like I do for Ironhide and Ratchet, though.

Sparkless Bot is a repaint of Siege Barricade.  Again, not concerned with repping the Netflix show and I don't really need zombie corpses, but Sparkless Bot is easier to work into my collection.  Despite the lack of faction emblems (the Deseeus Army Drone has a Quintesson symbol), in my canon this guy is a Decepticon named Rustbucket.  And he's basically the Transformers equivalent of Pigpen from The Peanuts, which is why he looks so gross.

Sparkless Bot/Rustbucket comes with the same pistols/shoulder cannons that can combine into one double-barreled blaster that Barricade and Smokescreen came with.  He also has Barricade's lightbar, in translucent brown, but not the rifle that Barricade, Prowl, Smokescreen, and Bluestreak came with.  Which, y'know, is kind of weak.  I mean, I'd rather have that than the lightbar; I don't really see this guy as a police/rescue vehicle, especially not with brown lights.

Credit where credit is due, this guy is covered in a digital paint job that looks kind of disgusting.  And hey, I'm always down for building the ranks of the Decepticons, and the Siege Datsun mold is pretty good (although at this point I'd have preferred the Earthrise Datsun mold).

I think if you look "superfluous" up in the dictionary you'll see a picture of these figures.  One is supposed to be part of a drone army for a Quintesson that only exists in a bad Netflix show, and the other is literally supposed to be a random dead body.  Both are repaints of figures you might already have with no new tooling.  You don't need either of them.  If you leave them on the shelf your collection won't suffer for it.  That said, the Ironhide mold was ok, and I like the Barricade mold.  If I've got room for like six copies of the Siege Sideswipe mold, I can make room for a few more repaints.

[tekering]

3 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

If I've got room for like six copies of the Siege Sideswipe mold, I can make room for a few more repaints.

See, guys?  Mike doesn't need our help.  He's perfectly capable of enabling himself. 

[mikeszekely]

8 minutes ago, tekering said:

See, guys?  Mike doesn't need our help.  He's perfectly capable of enabling himself. 

Just wait until I get my hands on the Sparkless Seeker. That'll be my 9th copy of the Siege Seeker mold...

[Sgt Nate V]

On 4/29/2021 at 12:42 AM, mikeszekely said:

Is he Jetfire or Skyfire in it?

He's been Jetfire ever since the Legends manga or so

[mikeszekely]

So... rumors from sources that have usually turned out to be credible are telling me we're getting a Kingdom Road Rage from the Tracks mold, and it'll be a Target-exclusive.  I'm also hearing that Skids will probably come out next year, in whatever the post-WFC trilogy is called.

I'm also hearing that in 2022 the Bumblebee movie could feature heavily in the Studio Series line.  What's interesting here is that we're not talking about something like a reissue of Prime but with a trailer, a more movie-accurate Bumblebee, or a redo on Shatter or Dropkick.  Apparently, we're talking about the G1-inspired cast of the Cybertron battle.  As of now, this is apparently the entire first 2022 wave:

Deluxe

Brawn (BB)
Ratchet (BB)
Wheeljack (BB)
Perceptor (86)

Voyager

Soundwave (BB)
Junkyard (86) (Retool of Wreck-Gar)

Leader

King Starscream (86)

There's another leaker or leakers that's active right now, but here's the thing with this one- I can't vouch for this one.  Most of what they're claiming is stuff that's already leaked far and wide, but it's sprinkled with stuff that other leakers are saying is misinformation that was put out to discredit them, and a tiny bit of it is stuff that no one else has reported.  So take this with a healthier than normal dose of skepticism, but I'm mentioning these anyway because I think the demand is there (all Studio Series)

Que (DotM)
Bumblebee ('67 Camaro) (DotM)
Megatron (TLK)
Hound (unspecified)
Optimus (Evasion mode) (AoE)
Kickback (86)
Bombshell (86)
Shrapnel (86)

[uzernaem]

Has anyone seen the MP-52 seekers transformation sequence yet?

[M'Kyuun]

On 4/28/2021 at 9:38 PM, David Hingtgen said:

Well, my Kingdom Come Blackarachnia broke on her second (third?) transformation.  Same spot everyone else's does----the tab that (literally) holds her bust in place.  Snapped off.  Gluing tonight, will see if I can find the right mix of "widening slot to reduce friction, while still usefully pegging in"----assuming the glue can hold the tab back on decently strong enough to work at all. 

I was messing with my copy over the weekend and realized to my dismay that the same tab was broken on my copy, too. The peg is broken off flush, and her chest stays in position ok, so I'm just going to leave it alone for now, but it seems to be an oversight in the design with so many breaking. Mine was probably broken before I realized it, but I remembered reading about it here, and checked mine-sure enough, broken. 

Interesting bit of rumor. I wish Brawn was 86 instead of SS- kinda over the live action designs, at least as they exist right now with their heavy Bayformer influence. Strascream is interesting, although I have a feeling instead of a better designed figure, it's just going to be voyager ER Screamer with a cape, crown, and pauldrons to justify the leader price point. If so, no thanks. I hope the 86 Insecticon rumor's true, especially if they're done at deluxe scale. I like the legends versions a lot, and Primus knows we waited a long time for them, but it'd be nice to have them in an upscaled form to match the rest of the WFC minibots. Honestly, at this point, they could pretty much abandon the legends scale for all but stuff like the cassettes, and I wouldn't be too upset about it.

[mikeszekely]

Ok, from the more credible source this time...

Remember I said we're probably getting Blaster?  Apparently there's something floating around Hasbro under the name Project Jam, and it's going to be a repaint of said new Blaster in a collaboration with a band.

Leader-class Blitzwing will be making an appearance.  I'm not ruling out SS86, but I'm hearing that it's probably in the next mainline trilogy.

Hasbro is almost definitely taking a page from Newage's playbook and releasing a Galvatron retool as Straxus.  It'll probably carry the old Darkmount name, though.

The Insecticons are real, and will be late 2022 early 2023.

There are Target DCPIs for a new Leader-class Optimus and a new Leader-class Megatron, but nothing more than that.

[M'Kyuun]

Those Insecticons give me something to look forward to.  I thought TR Blaster was a decent take, except that regular cassette figs can't fit in his chest. Whatever 'Project Jam' turns out to be (funny if it was a collab with the Cybertronic Spree), I hope there's a regular G1 Blaster in there somewhere with his Autobot cassettes. Honestly, though, I'm not sure why I care, as I'm not too impressed with the latest spate of cassettes. I wish they'd kept them the original real-world micro-cassette size instead of making them smaller and given them a little more complexity/articulation than the original toys. The Magic Square cassettes are much smaller than Hasbro's latest versions, but have much better articulation. It just seems like they could have tried a little harder.

Blitzwing is my favorite Triple Changer, and I was really happy to get a copy of the TR version, courtesy of @mikeszekely's help, IIRC. To have yet another version coming so soon is unexpected, but not unwelcome. I thought the TR fig was done well, but certainly not perfect. Hopefully, the new fig will fix the issues and give us the best Blitzwing yet. Hopefully, it's not another ER Astrotrain.

[technoblue]

23 hours ago, uzernaem said:

Has anyone seen the MP-52 seekers transformation sequence yet?

Not yet, although I am looking forward to seeing how it all works. Just trying to be patient until Starscream's release.

[tekering]

3 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

It just seems like they could have tried a little harder.

That defines Hasbro so succinctly, it ought to be on all their corporate branding.