The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[jenius]

I was probably just catching some daylight glare on the monitor.

[sh9000]

I might end up getting Kickback and the eventual Bombshell and Shrapnel.  At first I thought Kickback's shoulders looked too wide but they don't look too bad in the most recent pic.

[M'Kyuun]

4 hours ago, sh9000 said:

I might end up getting Kickback and the eventual Bombshell and Shrapnel.  At first I thought Kickback's shoulders looked too wide but they don't look too bad in the most recent pic.

They are a tad bit wide, but I think that was due to the thickness of the ring that attaches the wings to the shoulder. It's translucent plastic, so they probably wanted to make that ring a little more robust. Too, the outside parts of the shoulder extend out past the biceps by several mms, which also makes the shoulders look wider. 

Honestly, I wish they'd just molded the wings in opaque plastic and painted them silver to replicate the original toy's chrome wings.  The clear wings are nice for realism, but nothing else about Kickback's locust mode ever looked realistic, so the clear wings on a clearly very robotic locust is moot. too, I wish they'd put the wings on joints to allow them to splay for flight- I realize they're going all out G1 with this, but a concession here and there would be nice. 

[pengbuzz]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

They are a tad bit wide, but I think that was due to the thickness of the ring that attaches the wings to the shoulder. It's translucent plastic, so they probably wanted to make that ring a little more robust. Too, the outside parts of the shoulder extend out past the biceps by several mms, which also makes the shoulders look wider. 

Honestly, I wish they'd just molded the wings in opaque plastic and painted them silver to replicate the original toy's chrome wings.  The clear wings are nice for realism, but nothing else about Kickback's locust mode ever looked realistic, so the clear wings on a clearly very robotic locust is moot. too, I wish they'd put the wings on joints to allow them to splay for flight- I realize they're going all out G1 with this, but a concession here and there would be nice. 

Some foil tape would fix those wings in an instant.

[Scyla]

14 hours ago, Kuma Style said:

Kuma, are you planning to do a full review on the Victory Leo? I’m curious what you think about it.

Love the Kuro Kara Kuro pictures. I’ve got my SG Prime this week and other than the choice painting parts of the figure black I can’t find any flaws. A dark gray would have looked so much better imho.

[Scyla]

[edit:] Double post. Please delete/ignore 

Edited January 12, 2022 by Scyla

[lechuck]

Official images of MPG Trainbot Getsuei

https://www.taghobby.com/archives/593001

 

[mikeszekely]

Chest sticks out a bit, but bot mode doesn't look too bad. Train mode looks great (I assume), if you're into realistic trains. But, I dunno, it looks kind of too realistic to me. I'm not loving the kibble on the combined calf.

[Scyla]

1 hour ago, lechuck said:

Official images of MPG Trainbot Getsuei

https://www.taghobby.com/archives/593001

*snip*

 

Without anything to compare it to the detailing on the train makes it looks ginormous. I know it will be tiny but still…

Also is the roof of the train just dangling on the back of the leg?

Edited January 12, 2022 by Scyla

[Dynaman]

I'm not a Transformers guy so I don't pop into this thread often so if this has already been posted or doesn't actually fit or isn't officially licensed (if it is isn't it is certainly skirting IP ownership laws.).  A transforming Optimus Prime toy that goes at a pretty decent clip.  

 

https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=688999332265938

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, Dynaman said:

I'm not a Transformers guy so I don't pop into this thread often so if this has already been posted or doesn't actually fit or isn't officially licensed (if it is isn't it is certainly skirting IP ownership laws.).  A transforming Optimus Prime toy that goes at a pretty decent clip.  

 

https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=688999332265938

This is a licensed product, and a pretty cool one, at that. It'll set you back something like $500, but it's a self-transforming Optimus Prime that walks, talks, and is drivable all by RC/voice command. I don't have a copy myself, but that doesn't stop me from marveling over the tech that's involved and just how well it turned out.😍

[Kuma Style]

14 hours ago, Scyla said:

Kuma, are you planning to do a full review on the Victory Leo? I’m curious what you think about it.

 

Yep! Goes live in the morning:

[Kuma Style]

 

[sh9000]

If Hasbro made updated G1 Deluxe Insecticons I'd probably buy all 4.

[M'Kyuun]

4 hours ago, sh9000 said:

If Hasbro made updated G1 Deluxe Insecticons I'd probably buy all 4.

If they do, they'll likely just be repaints of the Legacy figs; Bandai holds the rights to the original Armored Insect Battalion Beetras figs, originally created by Takatoku, who went bankrupt and were subsequently bought by Bandai.  With Takara and Bandai being competitors, the likelihood of Hasbro getting the rights to those old toys again is dubious. Shame really, as the Deluxe Insecticons had more realistic alt modes, and there were four of them.

The Beetras designs were also part of the Convertors toyline; I still have a blue version of Barrage from that line.  Neat toy.

 

[JB0]

I mean, they've made updated Jetfire, Whirl, and Roadbuster before. Bandai owning the original molds doesn't stop them. 

[pengbuzz]

Or pray Bandai and TakaraTomy merge.

 

[M'Kyuun]

49 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

Or pray Bandai and TakaraTomy merge.

 

First, that'd be a mouthful, and second, I have a feeling TT would be subsumed as a lower division within the whole corporation.  I'd be concerned how much freedom TT would be afforded to continue doing Transformers without interference from Bandai. Of course, having Bandai's financial clout wouldn't hurt, unless they had no interest in keeping Transformers relevant and withdrew all backing. 

I think we're better off having them separate and doing their own things.

1 hour ago, JB0 said:

I mean, they've made updated Jetfire, Whirl, and Roadbuster before. Bandai owning the original molds doesn't stop them. 

 

Um, well,

Commander Jetfire was based on the Skyfire design, which was reimagined from the Takatoku VF-1 due to licensing issues.  Generations leader Jetfire also shares the Sunbow Skyfire bot design, while assuming an alt mode that's part F-22 and part F-14, and entirely fictional.  As such, there's no infringement upon Bandai, who bought Takatoku years ago, 

G1 Whirl is a repurposed Ovelon Gazette, also created by Takatoku, from the Dorvack anime. The Generations voyager fig hewed close to the G1 toy's likeness in helo mode and in the method of transformation, but the bot mode was inspired by the IDW comics which looks significantly different from the G1 toy's bot mode.. I suppose Bandai could have made a case based on the similarities in the helo modes, but AFAIK, they didn't.

As for G1 Roadbuster, a repurposed Mugen Calibur from Dorvack, no other Has/Tak Roadbuster toy since has come close to resembling the Calibur in either mode, color palette notwithstanding.  I wish we would get an updated Calibur in Transformers, as I've always had a soft spot for that design.

So, really, with exception of the alt mode similarities between the Gazette and Generations Whirl, Has/Tak have taken plenty of liberties with these characters' designs to avoid IP entanglements with Bandai. If Bandai was amenable to allow Takara and Hasbro to use those designs to make updated toys, I'd be all in favor, but given the liberties in evidence, I doubt that sort of sharing is taking place.

[JB0]

41 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Um, well,

Commander Jetfire was based on the Skyfire design, which was reimagined from the Takatoku VF-1 due to licensing issues.  Generations leader Jetfire also shares the Sunbow Skyfire bot design, while assuming an alt mode that's part F-22 and part F-14, and entirely fictional.  As such, there's no infringement upon Bandai, who bought Takatoku years ago, 

G1 Whirl is a repurposed Ovelon Gazette, also created by Takatoku, from the Dorvack anime. The Generations voyager fig hewed close to the G1 toy's likeness in helo mode and in the method of transformation, but the bot mode was inspired by the IDW comics which looks significantly different from the G1 toy's bot mode.. I suppose Bandai could have made a case based on the similarities in the helo modes, but AFAIK, they didn't.

As for G1 Roadbuster, a repurposed Mugen Calibur from Dorvack, no other Has/Tak Roadbuster toy since has come close to resembling the Calibur in either mode, color palette notwithstanding.  I wish we would get an updated Calibur in Transformers, as I've always had a soft spot for that design.

So, really, with exception of the alt mode similarities between the Gazette and Generations Whirl, Has/Tak have taken plenty of liberties with these characters' designs to avoid IP entanglements with Bandai. If Bandai was amenable to allow Takara and Hasbro to use those designs to make updated toys, I'd be all in favor, but given the liberties in evidence, I doubt that sort of sharing is taking place.

Copyright is not as broad as all that. They can't use the specific molds of those toys without a license. Nothing stops them from making their own similar toy, as long as it isn't a direct 1:1 copy. The liberties taken with Roadbuster and Whirl were in the name of making them more resemble fictional depictions of the original toys. Were the original toy concepts anywhere close to as legally protected as you allege, the modern versions would not be changed enough to avoid issue.

 

Classics Jetfire is a special case for several reasons. The Classics line was very much about not being slavishly accurate to the toon or original toy, but creating updated and modernized versions of the concepts.  For a more slavish homage, they had the GI Joe Skystriker remold. (Harmony Gold DID file suit over that one, which isn't a surprise but also isn't strong evidence of anything.)

The VF-1 design might be trademarked, which would gain it a much stronger level of legal protection. But it is the only one of the above designs that would have an active trademark(and frankly, the only one that would've ever been trademarked in the first place).

 

Coincidentally, the VF-1 is also the only one that has any relevance to Bandai today. Odds they remember owning the Deluxe Insecticon molds are slim. Odds that they would notice a vigorous homage are even slimmer. Odds they could do anything about it if they did notice are very close to zero.

...
And odds that they WOULD do anything about it if Hasbro steamed ahead without them are exactly zero. I'd actually forgotten until I was poking around just now, but they HAVE remade one of the deluxe insecticons twice(the first time as a ridiculous targetmaster partner, the second time as a surprisingly effective repaint of Shrapnel).

http://tfu.info/1985/Decepticon/ChopShop/chopshop.htm

http://tfu.info/2013/Decepticon/GenLegChopShop/chopshop.htm

http://tfu.info/2016/Decepticon/CWChopShop/chopshop.htm
 

[Kuma Style]

[M'Kyuun]

12 hours ago, JB0 said:

Copyright is not as broad as all that. They can't use the specific molds of those toys without a license. Nothing stops them from making their own similar toy, as long as it isn't a direct 1:1 copy. The liberties taken with Roadbuster and Whirl were in the name of making them more resemble fictional depictions of the original toys. Were the original toy concepts anywhere close to as legally protected as you allege, the modern versions would not be changed enough to avoid issue.

 

Classics Jetfire is a special case for several reasons. The Classics line was very much about not being slavishly accurate to the toon or original toy, but creating updated and modernized versions of the concepts.  For a more slavish homage, they had the GI Joe Skystriker remold. (Harmony Gold DID file suit over that one, which isn't a surprise but also isn't strong evidence of anything.)

The VF-1 design might be trademarked, which would gain it a much stronger level of legal protection. But it is the only one of the above designs that would have an active trademark(and frankly, the only one that would've ever been trademarked in the first place).

 

Coincidentally, the VF-1 is also the only one that has any relevance to Bandai today. Odds they remember owning the Deluxe Insecticon molds are slim. Odds that they would notice a vigorous homage are even slimmer. Odds they could do anything about it if they did notice are very close to zero.

...
And odds that they WOULD do anything about it if Hasbro steamed ahead without them are exactly zero. I'd actually forgotten until I was poking around just now, but they HAVE remade one of the deluxe insecticons twice(the first time as a ridiculous targetmaster partner, the second time as a surprisingly effective repaint of Shrapnel).

http://tfu.info/1985/Decepticon/ChopShop/chopshop.htm

http://tfu.info/2013/Decepticon/GenLegChopShop/chopshop.htm

http://tfu.info/2016/Decepticon/CWChopShop/chopshop.htm
 

Good points, especially of Bandai's likely indifference to a modern toy based on a lesser-known older toy's likeness like the Deluxe Insecticons.  And yeah, the ChopShop repaint of legends Shrapnel turned out very well. IF Hasbro was to go ahead and make close facsimiles of the original Deluxe Insecticons, you'd broker no argument from me: Bring 'em on. It'd be nice to see those old figs homaged in Legacy, and hopefully, Bandai wouldn't bat an eye for lack of care.

The VF-1 Jetfire design is of course the one design that will meet with modern contestation, both from Bandai and our old litigious friends, Harmony Gold. Personally, I prefer the Skyfire toy we got with WfC- it's what we saw in the cartoon, and I've always wanted an official version in the main line, so I was extremely pleased when that figure was announced, and even moreso when, having him in hand, I realized just how well-done a figure he truly is. He'll be one of those figs we're still talking about in a decade or so.

As to the old Dorvack designs, Generations Whirl came very close to source, and I remain quite pleased with that fig. I do, however, wish they'd take a stab at making a more faithful Calibur inspired toy for Roadbuster. I dunno why, but I just really like that design, and a modern toy that takes strong cues from the original design would be most welcome. Not sure how Bandai would feel about that, though, as there have been Dorvack Calibur toys made in the last decade, so that design still gets trotted out from time to time.

[JB0]

4 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

The VF-1 Jetfire design is of course the one design that will meet with modern contestation, both from Bandai and our old litigious friends, Harmony Gold. Personally, I prefer the Skyfire toy we got with WfC- it's what we saw in the cartoon, and I've always wanted an official version in the main line, so I was extremely pleased when that figure was announced, and even moreso when, having him in hand, I realized just how well-done a figure he truly is. He'll be one of those figs we're still talking about in a decade or so.

I'm really glad there's a toon-accurate Skyfire toy out there. Always thought Skyfire looked really cool. 

I'd also really like to see a modern VF-1 toy painted in Jetfire colors released in the crossover line, but there's pretty much zero chance of that.

[M'Kyuun]

24 minutes ago, JB0 said:

I'd also really like to see a modern VF-1 toy painted in Jetfire colors released in the crossover line, but there's pretty much zero chance of that.

Too true. The only way we'd get it is if Bandai, Hasbro, and Takara struck a deal to release their 1/48 in Jetfire livery, or Hasbro and Takara struck a deal with Arcadia to produce a 1/60 scale version. In either case, the scale would be a little too big, or a little too small compared to the 1/55 Takatoku VF-1.  Personally, I'd go with the Bandai, with its better articulation and smaller price tag.   It would be more in scale with the Generations stuff than MP, but with MP levels of engineering. 

Hasbro needs to start negotiating!

[JB0]

30 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Too true. The only way we'd get it is if Bandai, Hasbro, and Takara struck a deal to release their 1/48 in Jetfire livery, or Hasbro and Takara struck a deal with Arcadia to produce a 1/60 scale version. In either case, the scale would be a little too big, or a little too small compared to the 1/55 Takatoku VF-1.  Personally, I'd go with the Bandai, with its better articulation and smaller price tag.   It would be more in scale with the Generations stuff than MP, but with MP levels of engineering. 

Hasbro needs to start negotiating!

Given Hasbro's focus on price, I'd expect they would want a license to make their own VF-1. Which I'd be fine with, as long as they didn't try to tech up the skin with widgets like they did with Siege.

I think they'd have to go through Harmony Gold. Far as I know, HG still has exclusive SDFM and DYRL merchandising rights outside Japan.

 

This DEFINITELY won't sit well with Takara, no matter who they get the license from. Generations Jetfire is probably the closest we'll ever get. Le sigh.

[Kuma Style]

 

[mikeszekely]

Well, here's one I wanted to get done right after Blaster, but the one I got from Pulse was misassembled and I had to buy another one because Pulse never replied to the request for service.  It's Kingdom Deluxe-class Slammer.

It's hard to say what Slammer is supposed to look like, since the G1 toy didn't have a robot mode, like Brunt.  Slammer was a little tank that came packaged with Metroplex, and by removing his turret, folding an antenna from the underside, and pegging his back onto one of Metroplex's fist holes in city mode he became the top of a tower.  Unlike Brunt, who's robot mode was inspired by the Centurion drone in the IDW comics (that would later get a toy that was a repaint of Siege Brunt), I'm not sure what the inspiration of Slammer's robot mode is.  All I can say for sure is that he's like 90% a new mold, but weirdly he uses the same hips and thighs as Ironworks.

Regardless, I think he looks pretty decent.  I mean, I like him better than his fellow Metroplex-pack-in-turned-Weaponizer Sixgun.  But having both of them in decently-articulated Deluxes really makes me want a new and better Scamper.

As I just alluded to, Slammer is a Weaponizer, meaning he doesn't come with accessories so much as he comes apart into a pile of accessories.  This is all the parts I can break him down into.

Back in his robot mode, his head is on a ball joint with a very slight up/down/sideways tilt.  You can get him to look up a bit more by using the transformation hinge.  His shoulders rotate and move laterally over 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  No wrist articulation.  His waist swivels, and he's actually got a few joints in his torso than can be used as a back bend or an ab crunch.  His hips can move forward, backward, and laterally 90 degrees (although his backpack can get in the way a bit).  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend nearly 180 degrees (they actually can bend 180 degrees when they're not attached to his hips, as tucking his thighs into his calves is part of his transformation).  No foot tilt, but he's got 90 degrees of ankle pivot.

For weapons, you can pop the cannon off his back and plug it onto the peg in front of either fist.  You can also pop the part the cannon was connected to off the backpack, pop the treads off, then use the little connector part to turn the treads into a chainsaw that you can mount into the 5mm port on the outside of his forearm.  

Transformation involves mostly disassembling and reassembling him.  The biggest frustration comes from the fact that his forearms form the turret, but they don't lock into each other in any way.  Instead, the little part the cannon connects to has two holes on the other side, one for each fist peg.  It's just that one part that's supposed to hold the turret together then, but it's so loose that there's basically no friction at all keeping it on.  It will fall off, and it will fall off constantly.  I thought maybe it was just a bad copy, but the second one I got is just as bad.  That really puts a damper on him.

Aesthetically, Hasbro more or less nailed the shape of the G1 toy.  My gripe is the colors.  The white turret and the light gray used for the bulk of the main body is fine, but the black on the barrel and near the back of the tank is totally out of place.  I'll almost certainly repaint, at the very least, the barrel of the tank to be a nice, proper white.

Slammer doesn't do a ton in tank mode.  His elbow hinges allow you to elevate the cannon barrel by elevating the entire turret.  The turret does not swivel, though.

And as a Weaponizer, part of the play pattern is turning him to weapons that can combine with other figures.  You're really limited only by your imagination and the spots where you can find holes to plug them into, but above you can see the "official" suggestion that comes in his instructions, modeled here on Kingdom Sideswipe.

As a transforming robot, Slammer is mostly ok, although a issue that made my first one unable to transform and the super loose connector part soured me a bit.  He's a decent enough robot, with an accurately shaped, inaccurately colored tank mode that you have to partsform to get to.  He is beyond unessential; although Slammer did appear in the cartoon he's more or less been a simple tank drone until now (in fact, official Takara materials suggested that the fold out arm cannon in Legends/Generations Metroplex was supposed to be Slammer).  On his own, as a standalone toy, I'd probably give him a pass.

That said, I've been saying that my love for the Weaponizers is entirely because they're modern versions of the super basic figures that came with the G1 citybots.  And, as far as I know, with Scamper, Full Tilt, and Cerebros coming with their respective Titans and Cog, Sixgun, Brunt, and Fasttrack as previous Weaponizers, Slammer was the last such bot we needed (excluding Japan-only repaints like the Grand Maximus version of Cog, or the drones that came with Metrotitan).  To top it off, Scamper came with Metroplex almost nine years ago, with Sixgun turning up in the second wave of Siege three years ago, and fans of Metroplex have been waiting those three years for that one last drone to truly complete him.  Hasbro knew it, too, which is why (although it's not in the instructions) Slammer has a semi official tower mode.  They have you put it where Sixgun would go on the G1 toy (or where one of the shoulder guns is supposed to go if you have the Takara version, like I do), but if you're creative you can find places to put Slammer as well as all of Sixgun's bits.

Note that no indication was given for where to put Slammer's turret/arms.  I have them dangling from a 5mm peg on the back.  Regardless, while I may desire a better, more G1-accurate Metroplex with a better, Deluxe-class Scamper, Slammer completes this set for me.  If you, like me, have Titan Metroplex, and you already picked up Sixgun, and you've had a Slammer-sized hole in your heart ever since, then and only then will I recommend picking up Slammer.

[mikeszekely]

Repaint roundup, COVID quarantine* edition!  Today we're going to finish off the Pulse-exclusive Shattered Glass collection.

First up we have Voyager-class Starscream.  The heroic Decepticon sports a color scheme based on the G1 Jetfire toy, and white with a little red and black never doesn't look cool.  I've got a ton of this mold (I think this is my 10th), but this is handily one of the best versions, aestehtically-speaking.  Aside from colors, there's no changes in the mold for the bot himself, or for his null rays.

What is new, though, is his sword.  It's pretty cool!  You'll note that it has one long handle, with a shorter handle in front of it.  It can be held as one big broad sword using the long handle, or split in half to make two thinner swords.  Additionally, there's a pair of 5mm pegs on the cross piece.  This allows you to mount the swords onto his forearms.  The original Timelines SG Starscream used the Cybertron Voyager Starscream mold, and putting the swords on his arms simulates the blades that popped out when you put the cyber planet key into his back.

Alt mode.  You can store the swords on the alt mode by leaving them on his arms.  Again, nothing new, exactly, but the mostly-white with red and black accents still really works for me.  Plus the Siege Seeker mold is trying to emulate the tetrajet design from the G1 cartoon, and Cybertron Starscream was also an homage to the tetrajet.  So of all the SG figures, including the Prime and Ratchet that came out before the Pulse miniseries, Starscream comes across as the most well-executed and the least "let's take one of the SG characters that appeared in Timelines back in the day, take one of the current figures we've been selling, and redeco it to look like the SG one!"  It helps, too, that I honestly do like this mold a lot.  You can probably still pass if SG's not your thing, but if you're going to get any SG figure Starscream is the one to get.

Last but not least, we have Commander-class Jetfire.  Given the relationship between Starscream and Jet/Skyfire, in both the G1 cartoon and the SG comics that came with these figures, and given that SG Starscream's running around in G1 Jetfire colors, you'd think that SG Jetfire would use G1 Starscream colors.  And man, would I have preferred that.  Where Starscream's SG deco is sharp and inspired, Jetfire's is the epitome of lazy.  For one, this deco didn't originate with Shattered Glass.  Instead, Takara had a line called "Gentei! Gentei!" that was a collection of limited-edition repaints of the normal "Henkei! Henkei" stuff.  Most of the line was remolds of the regular Henkei releases of Starscream and Ramjet to complete the Seeker teams, and there was the odd but interested choice to repaint Henkei Hot Rod into Wildrider.  And then there was "Dark Jetfire," an uninspired deco based on the uninspired idea that if Nemesis Prime sells, Nemesis Your Other Favorite Autobots might, too.  And I swear the colors came down to them asking "what's the evil opposites of white and red?" and getting black and purple for an answer.  Then when Hasbro was figuring to maximize their money off the Siege Jetfire mold by stuffing Jetfire into their Shattered Glass miniseries, instead of really thinking about what Shattered Glass Jetfire might be and look like they said, "oh, Takara already did an evil Jetfire?  Just use that."

There's nothing new about SG Jetfire.  He's still got the faction-swapping gimmick.

And all the accessories they crammed in with Siege Jetfire.  While I didn't really care for it on Siege Jetfire (I get the toy homage, but it really seemed more like them trying to justify the price tag that necessary bits), I don't mind them so much on SG Jetfire.  Why wouldn't the evil version be more heavily-armed than the G1 scientist?  Plus it adds some visual distinctiveness.  

Alt mode.  Pretty much what you'd expect.  I assume, given the red hinges and red backpack on Siege Jetfire, that the wing hinges are molded onto the same sprues.  On Siege Jetfire this works, because he has a red stripe over his wing for it to blend into.  No so much with SG Jetfire, who ends up with a purple hinge in the middle of a silver stripe.

As with the Siege version, the armor and weapons can all combine into a little drone that can be carried on Jetfire's back.  Don't really care for it, but I don't care so much for the armor anyway.  With a little creativity you can find other, better places for his weapons without the armor.  Oh, and he also comes with the same blast effects as Siege Jetfire, just in a cooler translucent blue.

Shattered Glass began as a well to sell convention-exclusive repaints at Botcon back in the day.  It's always been an unoriginal, unnecessary idea.  However, it's a part of the fandom and fiction now, and unoriginal and unnecessary doesn't have to uninteresting.  As Starscream has shown, you can get some really cool repaints out of it.  I believe there's interesting stories in exploring, for example, how a few seemingly small changes can lead to Prime becoming a scared tyrant instead of a compassionate leader, or how Megatron's desire for a change in the way Cybetron is governed makes him a true freedom fighter instead of a despotic conqueror.  And, maybe that's enough to check out some of these SG repaints when your dropping $20-$30 for a Deluxe or a Voyager.  Unfortunately, Jetfire brings none of that.  It's a lazy, boring design and the comics he's shoved into are equally uninspired.  And that's a lot harder to forgive in a $90 Commander-class.  Unless you're really committed to the line, I wouldn't recommend Jetfire.  He's not the worst of the line, but it's simply too much for such an unnecessary figure in an unnecessary line.  If Hasbro continues to go back to the SG well, which I'm not necessarily suggesting, I hope they stick to smaller figures with better designs.  And maybe more Decepticons.  I wouldn't say no to an SG Soundwave...

[Wolf-1]

While there is certainly no arguing over the comics that come packaged with these Pulse exclusives; I would argue that the Jetfire mold is perhaps the best bang for the buck out of the sub-line. Granted I only purchased half of them, including Ratchet and Prime; Ratchet was purchased for a "Place holder" since being late to the game I wasn't getting both the Medic's pack and Prowl/Ironhide set, SG Ratchet all by himself couldn't be passed on.  Goldbug is a decent reuse of the Bumblebee/Cliffjumper mold but being one of the smaller figures in the overall line and still costing roughly as much as Starscream, leaves one feeling a bit cheapened. At least with Jetfire, we get a "Big Boy" with armor, that I agree makes far more sense on this version of the mold, minus the chest piece (too bulky), and more blast effects.  Plus it's nice no longer thinking of Jetfire as a truly "one off" Bot anymore, I mean we know Omega was a Guardian, I just don't know what set him apart, aside from the whole Crystal City incident.   Since SG has been used by me to mainly just grow the ranks of my army for Nemesis/Scourge's group, Jetfire was a must.  Personally, I think the paint scheme works really well, though after your remarks, I see your SS scheme and raise you a Thundercracker instead; blue/black VS. white/red.

 

Great reviews as always!

[obakesan]

Loving the MP seekers managed to get a full squad and my first time having all 3 

[obakesan]

Hikaru decided he had enough of VFs and took Thundercracker for a spin.

[mark-1s]

5 minutes ago, obakesan said:

Hikaru decided he had enough of VFs and took Thundercracker for a spin.

"Where the hell is the switch for Gerwalk?!"

[lechuck]

On 1/19/2022 at 2:10 PM, obakesan said:

Loving the MP seekers managed to get a full squad and my first time having all 3 

Congrats! Definitely a great set of Seekers to own.

How did you get your Skywarp so quickly? I'm still waiting for my pre-order to be fulfilled.

[obakesan]

4 minutes ago, lechuck said:

Congrats! Definitely a great set of Seekers to own.

How did you get your Skywarp so quickly? I'm still waiting for my pre-order to be fulfilled.

I managed to snag one from Mandarake after release. I'm based in UK and shipping is pretty quick from there for me. I missed out on pre-orders so paid a bit more for it. I wanted to how Starscream turned out before jumping. Hope yours come soon.

Edited January 20, 2022 by obakesan

[David Hingtgen]

Made by Tomy, so official?  But the insignias are 3P, so...

I'm now up to 2/3 of my "MP action-master" Team Bullet Train!

(Rapid Run is used and missing an antenna, but I got him really cheap, and I should be able to get a replacement with my pending shipment to get parts to build Midnight Express)

(I'm not buying entire trainsets brand-new only for one car!)

It would be neat to have them run together, but it's basically impossible due to the real things being unable to couple together, and unable to run without the rest of their cars----and the models reflect those aspects accurately.   (they do light up though, if powered on)

[mikeszekely]

Well, I preordered with Amazon as soon as preorders went up (technically before, as I did the ol' add to a wishlist then use the wishlist to cart it trick), but Amazon canceled my preorder.  And by the time they did, Pulse had already sold out.  But after weeks of checking various online and physical stores I was finally able to get one- and from Amazon, no less.  It's Kingdom Voyager-class Tigatron!

I wasn't into Beast Wars back when it was on, and I'm not super familiar with the original toys, but I think Tigatron was originally a repaint of Cheetor, just with a remolded beast head.  Needless to say, Tigatron's Kingdom toy was always going to be similar to Cheetor's, and while it's not quite as simple as they took Cheetor and made him bigger, a lot of the good and bad of that mold carriers over here.  On the one hand, it's a figure good proportion and an immediate, definite likeness to the cartoon, but at the same time I think his legs, especially around his ankles and knees, need more of that minty blue-green.  Speaking of, I'm also a bit disappointed to note that the blue-green on his shins and face has a nice metallic sheen to it because it's painted, but the blue-green plastic used in his pelvis, elbow joint are lacking that sheen because they're unpainted.  On the whole, though, I'm not one to complain.  While I don't consider Tigatron one of the "main" Maximal cast (that'd be Primal, Rattrap, Cheetor, Rhinox, and Dinobot) he's one of my favorites.  I mean, tigers are cool, and white tigers are the coolest tigers.  And minty blue-green goes great with white, giving Tigatron just an awesome color scheme.

Like Cheetor, Tigatron's tail is an accessory that partsforms, but it lacks the bladed tip that made it a deliberate weapon.  I know that he doesn't really use it in the show, but I wish they'd put the effort into making his tail a gun like the original toy.  While the whip gets a pass on Cheetor, since Deluxes have a lower budget and the tail is kind of an homage to his Transmetal form, it just seems like a lazy move here.  Unlike Cheetor, Tigatron comes with the gut gun, at least.

Tigatron's head might be on a ball joint, but it's hard to say.  There's the faintest of wiggles, but really his only articulation is the swivel.  His shoulders rotate and can extend beyond 90 degrees laterally.  HIs biceps swivel.  His elbows are double jointed and can curl basically 180 degrees.  His wrists and waist swivel.  His hips can go about 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally.  There's a flap on his butt that's tabbed down, but you can pull it out and hinge it up so that it doesn't hinder the backwards hip range.  His thighs swivel.  His knees bend 90 degrees.  His feet have a lot of up/down tilt, due to the way they move for transformation, plus a little over 90 degrees of ankle pivot. 

Tigatron can hold either of his accessories in his 5mm fists.  And while the Beast Wars characters that have come out in Kingdom haven't had the sheer number of ports that their G1 counterparts have had in the War for Cybertron Trilogy, he does have 5mm ports on his heels and under his forearms.

Transformation is where we're going to start noticing differences between Tigatron and Cheetor.  The panels on his sides have to be forced around the larger shoulder wings.  Instead of hiding behind the cat's neck, the back of Tigatron's head forms part of the neck.  And it turns out that his larger shoulder wings and side flaps are shaped the way they are because his robot arms don't stretch out under him, rather they curl up and give him a thicker torso.  The leg transformation is much more similar, except Tigatron has flaps inside his legs that fold forward to fill in the front of his cat thighs.

And, I mean, it's fine, for the most part.  Tigatron definitely has more of a tiger shape than the slimmer Cheetor, which is good, and he's bigger, which tigers should be.

Thing is, he doesn't do much in tiger mode.  Making his robot thighs part of the tiger's body limits the forward articulation of his rear legs.  Likewise, while his knees can bend forward due how they transform a real tiger bending that way would have a broken leg.  There's almost no backward bend, though.  His front legs have better articulation, able to swivel and move over 90 degrees laterally at the shoulder, elbows that bend almost 90 degrees, and hinged ball joints at the wrists, you're kind of limited in posing him by the need to keep him balanced with the nearly-static rear legs.  His jaws can open, but he's got no other articulation in his head/neck.  And there's no tail articulation.  It just hangs limply from his butt. 

Since Tigatron's engineering is based so heavily on Cheetor's which didn't have a gut gun, the gut gun Tigatron comes with doesn't integrate into his tiger body.  Rather, the 5mm ports that were under his forearms are on the tiger's chest/tummy, and the instructions suggest you plug it into one of those.

Tigatron is... ok.  If you liked Cheetor, you'll be fine with Tigatron, and if you hated Cheetor nothing the changes to that mold are unlikely to sway you.  I don't consider him to be as essential as the main Axalon crew, but I'd say he and Airazor are at least more desirable than some later characters like Depth Charge.  Plus, if you already got Airazor their relationship practically makes Tigatron a necessity.  So I'll say if you've been collecting the WfC and SS86 stuff for solely the G1 characters then Tigatron's probably not on your radar and wouldn't be the Beast Wars character to start with.  But if you have been collecting the Beast Wars characters in Kingdom then I'd recommend picking up Tigatron, too.  Doubly so if you have Airazor.