The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[mikeszekely]

I'd picked up Tarantulas and Elita-1 on a Target run last week.  Then, because I actually needed stuff, I went back on Friday to see if they had the other two.  No luck.  On Saturday I thought I'd take a drive and check another Target a bit farther out.  No luck.  Today I needed to go to the post office, which is sort of halfway between me and my local Target.  I was feeling lazy, and I didn't really expect that they'd restocked anything, especially with the holiday yesterday, so I almost went straight home.  But I was halfway there, and I figured if nothing else a lap around the store is like exercise, so I went.  Good thing I did, because they had restocked!  Still no Studio Series Wheelie or Ratchet (if anyone wants to grab one for me, I'll pay cost+shipping), but I got Legacy Deluxe-class Knock Out!

Knock Out follows the same pattern as Bulkhead and Arcee- take the Prime character and geewunify him until he's an aesthetic fit with the other Legacy and War for Cybertron figures.  Unlike those two, however, Knock Out doesn't actually get a new mold.  Instead, he's a retool of Studio Series Jazz, and if you look you can see that they share the same shoulders, biceps, fists, abdomen, pelvis, hips, and shins.  He does sport a new head, forearms, chest, thighs, and feet, though.  I think the result is a somewhat mixed bag.  The colors are pretty on-point (although I think the feet should probably have been silver), and the head is definitely Prime Knock Out's helmet on a G1 face.  The new chest and feet do a pretty good job of not making the retool immediately apparent, but the parts that are re-used from Jazz are parts that probably could have done with some retooling, namely, his shoulders and knees could have used some spikes.

Y'know, something I hear in the fandom from time to time is how much bigger older Transformers figures were, or how hollowed-out and cheaply made the ones today are.  However, as you can see Legacy Knock Out is only very slightly shorter than the decade-old Prime Deluxe, and he's actually a tad more substantial at 74g while the Prime figure is a mere 60g.  Part of this is because he's got thicker shoulders, biceps, and thighs with universal joints instead of ball joints, part of this is because he's got actual forearms instead of folding part of the roof over an elbow joint at the back of the door and calling it a forearm.  But part of it is because Prime Knock Out has his own plastic-saving, hollowed spots, mostly in his thighs, under his feet, on his heels, and basically his whole back.  In other words, I'd argue that Legacy Knock Out is less cheaply made.  This isn't to say that I'm giving Hasbro a pass on some of their thriftier habits, mind you.  I'm simply countering the narrative that Transformers of 10-15 years ago were that much bigger/better, usually with a figure like Generations Springer as evidence even though he was noted for being an exceptionally tall Voyager even at release.  But I digress.

Knock Out comes with two accessories.  There's a smokey translucent blade with some nice metallic teal.  It's open on the base, and you'd figure the other accessory is a handle and so you can make his signature Energon prod.

And, indeed, that is the case!  Well... kind of.  Unlike the Prime figure, Legacy Knock Out's hands aren't actually open, so you can't c-clip the prod in like you used to.  The smart thing would have been to make the entire shaft 5mm thick, and to have it split some where in the middle so you could slide one end into his fist and plug the other end back in after.  Hasbro instead opted to put a 5mm handle on it instead.  So, while he can technically wield his prod like that, it looks kind of stupid like that.

Fortunately, both the shaft and the blade have other 5mm pegs and ports, so you're not married to the prod-with-a-handle look.  I'd argue that you're much better off plugging the 5mm peg on the blade into the port on either forearm, then using a different peg on the shaft to have him hold it as a rifle.  If you squint a little and use some imagination the handle even passes for a scope.  If you'd rather store his weapons on him, or arm him up with a Weaponizer, Knock Out also has a 5mm port on his back, on the car kibble on the sides of his lower legs, and under each toe.

His articulation should be about the same as Jazz's, but if you need a refresher his head's on a ball joint, slight upward tilt, nothing really down, plenty of sideways tilt.  His shoulders rotate and move laterally 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  No wrist swivel.  His waist swivels, though, (which beats the Prime version).  His hips go 90 degrees forward, and just a little short of that laterally and backward.  His thigs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  His toes bend downward due to transformation, nothing upward.  His ankles can pivot 90 degrees.

It's not really clear from this picture, but Legacy Knock Out is slightly longer than Prime Knock Out.  Despite the shared transformation, he actually seems slightly longer than Jazz, too.  This may be because, despite sharing some internals, robot parts, and engineering the only car parts that carried over from Jazz are the wheels.  Everything else you see in alt mode are new parts.

On the plus side, the new parts mean that he's very visually distinct from Jazz.  There's plenty of homages to Prime Knock Out, including the shape of the grill, the vents on the hood, and the ducts on the doors.  Legacy Knock Out even has his rims painted yellow, something the Prime toy missed, but while they had the yellow paint out it would have been snice to seem them outline the ducts in the doors and the vents in the hood.  Legacy Knock Out has some details like a vinyl wrap along eth sides that starts silver and fades to a sort of salmon color, but he's missing the darker band over the hood and roof.  He also loses some of the roundness of the Prime design, with sharper lines on the hood, nose, and tail.

You can mount the combined prod weapon to car using the 5mm port on the roof.  If you prefer to keep them separate, though, there's a port on either side of the car just behind the rear wheels.

Knock Out was a fan favorite in Transformers Prime, so I'm definitely not sorry to see him get G1-esque makeover.  I'm not even mad that he's a retool of Jazz; Jazz was already a good mold, and Hasbro did enough to make him distinct from Jazz.  I'd go so far as to say that I think Knock Out is a better Deluxe release than wave mates Elita-1 and Tarantulas.  I definitely recommend him.  However, I can't help but point out again that Knock Out was one of the major characters in IDW's recent Wreckers: Tread and Circuits miniseries.  In fact, the artist likely had access to the design for this very toy, because this is how he appears in that miniseries.  This would be the same miniseries that had the Speedia 500 on Velocitron has a central plot element, that mentioned Blurr as a previous Speedia winner, and that had Road Hauler, Clampdown, Burn Out, Road Rocket, and Override as participants.  A series that did not have any hint of Cosmos in it.  And so I really feel compelled to point out again that while I do like this figure a lot, this should be the Walmart-exclusive Velocitron Speedia 500 Knock Out, Cosmos should have had this slot in Legacy, and someone at Hasbro should be fired for not getting that right.

[Scyla]

6 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I'd picked up Tarantulas and Elita-1 on a Target run last week.  Then, because I actually needed stuff, I went back on Friday to see if they had the other two.  No luck.  On Saturday I thought I'd take a drive and check another Target a bit farther out.  No luck.  Today I needed to go to the post office, which is sort of halfway between me and my local Target.  I was feeling lazy, and I didn't really expect that they'd restocked anything, especially with the holiday yesterday, so I almost went straight home.  But I was halfway there, and I figured if nothing else a lap around the store is like exercise, so I went.  Good thing I did, because they had restocked!  Still no Studio Series Wheelie or Ratchet (if anyone wants to grab one for me, I'll pay cost+shipping), but I got Legacy Deluxe-class Knock Out!

Knock Out follows the same pattern as Bulkhead and Arcee- take the Prime character and geewunify him until he's an aesthetic fit with the other Legacy and War for Cybertron figures.  Unlike those two, however, Knock Out doesn't actually get a new mold.  Instead, he's a retool of Studio Series Jazz, and if you look you can see that they share the same shoulders, biceps, fists, abdomen, pelvis, hips, and shins.  He does sport a new head, forearms, chest, thighs, and feet, though.  I think the result is a somewhat mixed bag.  The colors are pretty on-point (although I think the feet should probably have been silver), and the head is definitely Prime Knock Out's helmet on a G1 face.  The new chest and feet do a pretty good job of not making the retool immediately apparent, but the parts that are re-used from Jazz are parts that probably could have done with some retooling, namely, his shoulders and knees could have used some spikes.

Y'know, something I hear in the fandom from time to time is how much bigger older Transformers figures were, or how hollowed-out and cheaply made the ones today are.  However, as you can see Legacy Knock Out is only very slightly shorter than the decade-old Prime Deluxe, and he's actually a tad more substantial at 74g while the Prime figure is a mere 60g.  Part of this is because he's got thicker shoulders, biceps, and thighs with universal joints instead of ball joints, part of this is because he's got actual forearms instead of folding part of the roof over an elbow joint at the back of the door and calling it a forearm.  But part of it is because Prime Knock Out has his own plastic-saving, hollowed spots, mostly in his thighs, under his feet, on his heels, and basically his whole back.  In other words, I'd argue that Legacy Knock Out is less cheaply made.  This isn't to say that I'm giving Hasbro a pass on some of their thriftier habits, mind you.  I'm simply countering the narrative that Transformers of 10-15 years ago were that much bigger/better, usually with a figure like Generations Springer as evidence even though he was noted for being an exceptionally tall Voyager even at release.  But I digress.

Knock Out comes with two accessories.  There's a smokey translucent blade with some nice metallic teal.  It's open on the base, and you'd figure the other accessory is a handle and so you can make his signature Energon prod.

And, indeed, that is the case!  Well... kind of.  Unlike the Prime figure, Legacy Knock Out's hands aren't actually open, so you can't c-clip the prod in like you used to.  The smart thing would have been to make the entire shaft 5mm thick, and to have it split some where in the middle so you could slide one end into his fist and plug the other end back in after.  Hasbro instead opted to put a 5mm handle on it instead.  So, while he can technically wield his prod like that, it looks kind of stupid like that.

Fortunately, both the shaft and the blade have other 5mm pegs and ports, so you're not married to the prod-with-a-handle look.  I'd argue that you're much better off plugging the 5mm peg on the blade into the port on either forearm, then using a different peg on the shaft to have him hold it as a rifle.  If you squint a little and use some imagination the handle even passes for a scope.  If you'd rather store his weapons on him, or arm him up with a Weaponizer, Knock Out also has a 5mm port on his back, on the car kibble on the sides of his lower legs, and under each toe.

His articulation should be about the same as Jazz's, but if you need a refresher his head's on a ball joint, slight upward tilt, nothing really down, plenty of sideways tilt.  His shoulders rotate and move laterally 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  No wrist swivel.  His waist swivels, though, (which beats the Prime version).  His hips go 90 degrees forward, and just a little short of that laterally and backward.  His thigs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  His toes bend downward due to transformation, nothing upward.  His ankles can pivot 90 degrees.

It's not really clear from this picture, but Legacy Knock Out is slightly longer than Prime Knock Out.  Despite the shared transformation, he actually seems slightly longer than Jazz, too.  This may be because, despite sharing some internals, robot parts, and engineering the only car parts that carried over from Jazz are the wheels.  Everything else you see in alt mode are new parts.

On the plus side, the new parts mean that he's very visually distinct from Jazz.  There's plenty of homages to Prime Knock Out, including the shape of the grill, the vents on the hood, and the ducts on the doors.  Legacy Knock Out even has his rims painted yellow, something the Prime toy missed, but while they had the yellow paint out it would have been snice to seem them outline the ducts in the doors and the vents in the hood.  Legacy Knock Out has some details like a vinyl wrap along eth sides that starts silver and fades to a sort of salmon color, but he's missing the darker band over the hood and roof.  He also loses some of the roundness of the Prime design, with sharper lines on the hood, nose, and tail.

You can mount the combined prod weapon to car using the 5mm port on the roof.  If you prefer to keep them separate, though, there's a port on either side of the car just behind the rear wheels.

Knock Out was a fan favorite in Transformers Prime, so I'm definitely not sorry to see him get G1-esque makeover.  I'm not even mad that he's a retool of Jazz; Jazz was already a good mold, and Hasbro did enough to make him distinct from Jazz.  I'd go so far as to say that I think Knock Out is a better Deluxe release than wave mates Elita-1 and Tarantulas.  I definitely recommend him.  However, I can't help but point out again that Knock Out was one of the major characters in IDW's recent Wreckers: Tread and Circuits miniseries.  In fact, the artist likely had access to the design for this very toy, because this is how he appears in that miniseries.  This would be the same miniseries that had the Speedia 500 on Velocitron has a central plot element, that mentioned Blurr as a previous Speedia winner, and that had Road Hauler, Clampdown, Burn Out, Road Rocket, and Override as participants.  A series that did not have any hint of Cosmos in it.  And so I really feel compelled to point out again that while I do like this figure a lot, this should be the Walmart-exclusive Velocitron Speedia 500 Knock Out, Cosmos should have had this slot in Legacy, and someone at Hasbro should be fired for not getting that right.

I think a lot of odd choices being made by the Hasbro Transformers team at the moment. 
Stuff like Scourge sporting the wrong deco, the Cosmos/Knock Out allotment, the return of a obtrusive line wide gimmick with the Energone weapons (and from my limited experience the lesser build quality of some Legacy toys compared to the WfC releases).

From what I gathered there has been a changing of the guard in the design team, the upper management as well as the economic environment. 
These changes could accumulate to a pretty drastic change in how Transformers are designed and produced in the near future.

[mikeszekely]

7 hours ago, Scyla said:

I think a lot of odd choices being made by the Hasbro Transformers team at the moment. 
Stuff like Scourge sporting the wrong deco, the Cosmos/Knock Out allotment, the return of a obtrusive line wide gimmick with the Energone weapons (and from my limited experience the lesser build quality of some Legacy toys compared to the WfC releases).

From what I gathered there has been a changing of the guard in the design team, the upper management as well as the economic environment. 
These changes could accumulate to a pretty drastic change in how Transformers are designed and produced in the near future.

The actual design and engineering of the figures themselves, I think, has still been pretty good, although I've noticed that joint tolerances have gone downhill, there's way too much translucent plastic being used, and some figures suffer more than others from being retools instead of new figures.  The bigger issue I'm having is more marketing and distribuition- which characters are being made, which ones are going in the mainline, which ones are store exclusives, which characters are being derived from retools of other characters, etc.  Oh well.  I guess we'll see what the future holds, and maybe sooner than you might expect as I'm hearing rumblings that the sequel to Legacy or part two of whatever this trilogy is will be announced at Pulsecon.

But let's bring things back to the present for a bit, as I can finally wrap up our look at the second wave of Legacy with the figure that's undoubtedly the most-anticipated release of the wave- Deluxe-class Wildrider.

My initial impression is that, finally, Hasbro's done right by Wildrider as, believe it or not, this is the first figure he's had since G1 that isn't a repaint of another figure, as even Unite Warriors/Combiner Wars was just Dead End with a new head.  And Hasbro definitely got a lot right here, like the red arms, the Sunbow head with the ears, the vented abs, the octagons on his thighs, and the bump outs on his knees.  He's even got some molded detail on his shins that's like the cartoon, just with extra molded lines, and his chest has the uncolored and blue blocks.  When you really look at the details, though, you'll start to notice the deviations from the Sunbow character model.  The aforementioned chest blocks lack the asymmetry of the cartoon, and even if we agree that the chest is silver like the toy and not white it should fully encircle a square of dark gray/black rather than make an H.  There's also no wheels on his shoulders, even though I'd argue that there's no real reason that they couldn't have been there.

They are, isntead, on his backpack, which is kind of a thing unto itself.  Basically, the front of the car folds over onto his back, but large chunks of it split off on armatures and are meant to kind of hang off the sides, like a weird cape.  From straight on, as in the first picture, it's not super noticeable, but if you look at Wildrider at almost any angle it comes across as super kibbly.

Fortunately, while you will have to split the hood to get enough clearance to transform him, nothing's actually stopping you from tabbing it all back together again and just having the solid front of the car on his back.  Indeed, it's actually accurate to the G1 toy like this, and I do prefer it this way.  The only side effect is that his backpack is forced to sit ever so slightly higher on his back.  This is because his windshield simple can't fold back farther than 90 degrees straight off his back, and the sides of the hood touch the windshield sooner than the middle.  It's not the end of the world, though, and looking carefully at the figure it might even be possible to mod the inside of the torso to get more clearance so the windshield can fold back further.

Anyway... moving along, Wildrider comes with a pair of guns.  Like Dragstrip, they're paint on black plastic, and also like Dragstrip, they're identical instead of mirrored.  So, while there is a peg on one side and a peg hole on the other and you can stick them together the gun he holds in his right hand will always have the peg pointed in toward him and the one in his left will always be peg pointed out away from him.

Wildrider's head is on a swivel, no tilt at all.  His shoulders rotate and extend laterally 90 degrees, although his backpack kind of gets in the way of you rotate then extend.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  No wrist swivel, which is something I feel like I'm writing a bit often lately.  His waist does swivel, though.  His hips can go 90 degrees forward and backward, and even more than that laterally for that epic high kick.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  Due to transformation his feet tilt up to 90 degrees up, nothing really down, and he's got almost 90 degrees of ankle pivot.

If you're into weapon storage, or you want to arm him up with Weaponizer parts, you're kind of out of luck.  In a somewhat unusual move for a mainline figure, Wildrider's got a distinct lack of 5mm ports, with none at all on his arms, shoulders, back, or toes.  There is one on either knee, which will be important for combined mode, and one on the back of either leg, and that's it.

Wildrider's transformation is very obvious and straightforward, but it's a bit more finnicky than Dragstrip.  This is largely because his shins open so his lower legs can fold over his thighs, but only about 45 degrees.  This forces you to be very mindful of how things are positioned to get the clearance you need.  In fact, although the instructions will indicate that you should transform the front of the car and do the legs last, I actually recommend you do it backward, transforming his legs first, getting the arms into position, and then doing the front and windshield.

I really don't have a lot of negatives about the alt mode.  Yeah, he's got an extra vent behind the front wheels, and yes, the layout of the taillights is completely different with a weird Batmobile-esque exhaust that's too small for effect parts, but the overall shape with the vented engine cover, door handle divots, tail, nose, molded pop-up headlights, and vents on the hood, make it abundantly clear that Hasbro got as close to making Wildrider a Ferrari 308 as they could without getting a license, and ultimately the worst I can say about him is that I wish they used a brighter red paint for the stripes on the sides.

I'm a bit curious as to why Hasbro bothered to make Wildrider's guns (or Dragstrip's for that matter) able to plug into each other at all.  It just leaves a peg awkwardly jutting out of one side, and for what?  In bot mode he can carry one in each hand, and in alt mode?  Well, there's two 5mm ports just behind the roof on the engine cover, meaning they can both be plugged directly onto the car without the need for them to be plugged into each other.

To attach Wildrider to Menasor, you want to prep him by lifting the windshield and bending back the front of the car.  On the leg part that's made from Motormaster's trailer you'll find two tabs (blue arrows) that fit into slots on Wildrider's shoulders.  Two pegs (green arrows) plug into the peg holes that were on his knees.  And, if you go back and look again at his bot mode pictures, you'll notice that those peg holes have something like a raised, sideways T-shaped bit sticking off of them.  Those protrusions will push in a large purple part on the Menasor leg (orange circle).

That purple bit is basically a big button, and pushing it in will cause flaps to automatically fold out and fill in the center of Mensor's shins.  And, yeah, I guess a straight gray shin with some linework drawn on is cartoon-accurate, but I find myself hoping that maybe Toyhax will release some stickers give it some of the color G1 Wildrider's underside gave to the original toy Menasor's shin.  Meanwhile, while cars hanging nose-down from his calves is cartoon accurate, Wildrider winds up sitting a little low, I guess to give the knee some extra clearance since it's built into this part of the leg instead of the thigh.  So, instead of pointing straight down Wildrider's nose winds up forming something more like Menasor's heel.  Ultimately, maybe not the most Sunbow-accurate look, but I think it should be fine.  It'll give him a slightly more transformed-into-Menasor look vs Menasor-wearing-cars look.

After two waves, Legacy's had some ups and downs and I might go so far as to suggest that it's been a bit more inconsistent, or a bit less impressive than War for Cybertron.  Wildrider, though, does not disappoint and is definitely the highlight of this wave for me, as I really feel that Hasbro did an even better job with him than they did with Dragstrip (which is good news for me, as Breakdown is my favorite Stunticon and the Deluxe Stunticon that Hasbro did the worst on in Combiner Wars, and I expect Legacy Breakdown will be a retool of Wildrider much the same way Legacy Dead End will be a retool of Dragstrip).  I highly recommend him.  Indeed, I've heard some people suggest that they'd just buy Motormaster and use the Combiner Wars cars for legs to save money, but I can't fathom why you wouldn't just spend the extra money to get Legacy Wildrider when he's such a huge improvement over the Combiner Wars version.

[sh9000]

Cool.  I also picked up Legacy Wildrider at Target today.  Looking forward to Dead End and Breakdown.  Your G1 Wildrider is in excellent condition.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

Your G1 Wildrider is in excellent condition.

Thanks.  I was lucky to find a complete G1 Menasor in good condition at Transformerland.  I had to get Reprolabels to replace the original stickers, though.  My Terrorcons and Combaticons are in pretty good shape, too; I just have a cracked neck on Vortex.  My Devastator is a relatively recent reissue.  I have a G1 Superion, but it's pretty beat with worn stickers, scratched paint, and significant chrome wear.  Still want to get the other G1 combiners, but I'm having trouble finding them at reasonable prices.

[mikeszekely]

Now that Hasbro's got Velocitron and wave 2 of Legacy out the door they're finally ready to start shipping Shattered Glass II.  And, right out of the gate, we're hit with the back-to-back releases of the first two of five within a week.

Voyager-class Blaster, who comes with the Shattered Glass version of Eject, technically released second (though, again, by maybe a week), but we'll talk about him first as he's kind of the least interesting of the two.  I mean, he's a straight repaint of Kingdom/Legacy Blaster, with no new or remolded parts.  Which is a bit of a shame, as the original Fun Publications design used the Marvel Comics head, and it would have been nice for this release to have a new head reflective of that.  He's also missing the tribal pattern on his shoulders, something the original E-Hobby SG Blaster at least had stickers for.

Despite there being nothing new beyond the colors, Blaster was one of the better releases Hasbro's put out.  And, while I'm not real sure about the blurple, I actually love the combination of light gray and teal.  Ultimately, this might not be the most necessary release for most people's collections, especially with a rumored Twincast coming in Legacy's fourth wave, but I can't actually say it's a bad release.  I'm content with it.

The more interesting release is the first one, Leader-class Ultra Magnus.  Unlike Blaster, Magnus actually has a new head, based on the new head created for Botcon SG Magnus (which used the Reveal the Shield Laser Optimus mold).  Some backstory behind the skeletal visage... in 2003 Hasbro released a white version of Super-Con Optimus under the Universe label as Ultra Magnus.  Fun Publications retroactively decided that Universe Ultra Magnus was Shattered Glass Ultra Magnus, and wrote into his backstory that he was once one of Optimus' most trusted lieutenants until he rebelled.  Optimus punished Magnus by ripping off his face and tossing him in prison (and he got the upgraded RTS body after he escaped, because Optimus also got a new body as the RTS Optimus mold was also released in SG Optimus colors that same Botcon).

SG Magnus comes with the expected rifle and shoulder missiles, but he comes with a few other accessories.  One is is an alternate head, using the original Kingdom Magnus sculpt.  The other three are an axe, a sword, and a Matrix that you might recall from Legacy Laser Optimus/Velocitron Scourge.  And, well, some of these accessories are better than others.

The head, for starters, is one of my favorite accessories.  See, when figuring out the best colors to use for SG Magnus Fun Pub decided to use the Diaclone Powered Convoy colors, since it wasn't really being used in Transformers at the time.  However, just as Sideswipe, Bluestreak, Wheeljack, and Tracks all got Diaclone-repainted MPs in the form of Tigertrack, Clampdown, Blue Bluestreak, Exhaust, and Road Rage, four years after SG Magnus Takara released the Powered Convoy-inspired MP Delta Magnus.  So, if Shattered Glass isn't really your thing but Diaclone repaints are, you can carefully pop the SG Magnus head off the ball joint and carefully attach the other, and now you've got a War For Cybertron Delta Magnus, which is how I'll be using him going forward.

Of course, Delta's shoulder missiles plug into his shoulders and he holds his rifle with no issue.  But, aside from the fact that SG Magnus had a sword in the old Fun Pub comics, I'm not really sure why Hasbro felt the need to pack in Laser Prime/Scourge's accessories, too.  For one, there's no place for the Matrix*.  For two, while he can hold the axe or the goofy-looking combined sword-axe, he can't actually hold just the sword.  There is a small tab near the base of the handle for reasons I can't recall.  It doesn't affect Prime or Scourge's ability to hold it because they're molded with c-shaped, open hands.  Magnus isn't, so that tab prevents the handle from sliding into his fists.

*Technically.

I'm not going to lie, my main impetus for picking up SG Magnus isn't SG Magnus or Delta Magnus, but the inner blue Optimus.  If it were up to me, every release of Optimus Prime wouldn't just get the usual black and white repaints, you'd also get blue (Diaclone) and yellow (Shining Magnus).  So, even though this is far from the best Optimus mold (I'd rather my rainbow of Optimuses come from the Earthrise mold), blue ones are few and far between and I had to have it.  Which is where the "technically" comes in.  While there's obvious place to actually plug the included Matrix in, there's plenty of room inside blue Prime's chest to just toss it in, as long as you don't mind it rattling around in there.

Oh, one more thing.  You might have noticed that only one of blue Prime's smokestacks is painted.  I'm not sure if that's just my copy or if it's a widespread issue.  I've checked with the folks over at TFW2005, but they're all too busy playing with the combined SG/Delta Magnus.

Truck mode is pretty unremarkable, due to Ultra and Delta Magnus sharing a lot of blue and red.  In a way, it really underscores how remolding Siege Magnus, a fine toy on its own, failed at being G1/Earth-mode Ultra Magnus, because both Ultra and Delta Magnus wind up with mostly blue trailers with some red on the roof where a more G1-accurate trailer would have had more red on the bottom and more blue and white on the top for Ultra and a more contrasting gray on the bottom, red and black on the top for Delta.

Truck mode runs into more oddities with the accessories.  While the rifle can plug into either hole on the roof, officially Hasbro would like you to use the more forward one.  This gives you room to fold the handle of the combined sword-axe 90 degrees so you can very awkwardly plug it into the rear roof hole, leaving the whole thing still sticking up in a way that just looks stupid.  Also officially, Hasbro has the shoulder missiles in the middle on the sides of the trailer.  Personally, I think they look better near the front, though.  Whichever you use, take caution (and this part probably goes for the shoulder armor, too).  While one of the shoulder missiles was fine, the peg was too large on the other other.  You can see the stress marks caused by my first attempt to plug it in.  I had to file it down, and it's still a pretty tight fit.

Personally, I'd love for Hasbro to go back and design a more G1-accurate armor that works with a white Earthrise Optimus (lightly remolded, if necessary), perhaps released under the Studio Series 86 line.  Heck, I'd even be willing to pay a Commander price if that's what it takes.  But until that day, Earthrise is still the only official Ultra Magnus with a white Prime inside.  So if you got him, and you're down with the Diaclone repaints or the Shattered Glass stuff, SG Magnus is at least an adequate buy.  (And yes, I would buy this mold one more time if Hasbro wants to do the Shining Ultra Magnus deco... it'd even give them an excuse to use the translucent plastic they're obsessed with lately.)

[sh9000]

I also have the backpack/hood put together in robot mode.  The windshield on mine can fold back more than 90 degrees.  If the windshield was designed to fold in on itself I think the backpack could've went down or in a little bit more.  I'm going to see if I can take apart the chest and remove the windshield piece for robot mode later.  I'm liking Wildrider in both modes though.

[Wolf-1]

My copy of Delta Magnus has two painted smoke stacks; bummer your's doesn't.

[mikeszekely]

4 hours ago, sh9000 said:

I also have the backpack/hood put together in robot mode.  The windshield on mine can fold back more than 90 degrees.

Since the windshield is translucent plastic I stopped pushing when the amount of force I was applying started making me uncomfortable.  After seeing your post I pushed a bit harder, and sure enough it went to the position you have it.  So... yeah, my point stands.  You don't have to pull the hood apart for his backpack, and it looks fine/G1 toy accurate that way.

Speaking of Stunticons, one of my biggest complaints with Motormaster is that he only comes with the turret gun and the one sword.  It seems a lot of upgrade makers, from DNA to the various Chinese 3D printers, are making upgrades for Menasor, but not really Motormaster.  Well, if you're looking for a rifle for Motormaster, turns out the best upgrade you can get is the rifle from a G1 Motormaster...

2 hours ago, Wolf-1 said:

My copy of Delta Magnus has two painted smoke stacks; bummer your's doesn't.

Yeah, that's kind of a bummer.  But, since I'm going for the Delta look instead of SG, I don't need the more muted "evil" colors, so I might just do like I did with Ultra Magnus and go over both of the smokestacks with a Molotow chrome pen.

And on the topic of Magnus... I amend my review.  There actually is a place for the Matrix.  See, the axe has a tab on it that's supposed to go into the handle when you fold it up for storage... except on Mangus, you're only folding the handle 90 degrees and never plugging the tab into anything.  But it turns out that the tab is 5mm long, so you can stuff it into a 5mm port- like the one on the back of the Matrix.

[sh9000]

Very cool idea about the G1 Motormaster gun for Legacy Motormaster.  I plan on doing the same. I've even used it on Combiner Wars Motormaster and Menasor a while back.

Just to check it out, I removed the 4 screws on Legacy Wildrider's torso to take out the windshield in robot mode.  The backpack goes in a little bit more.

I also wanted to see how the 2 car halves would look if it was arm for Menasor.  I haven't transformed Motormaster but I doubt that Wildrider can attach as an arm.

In any case I put Wildrider back together for now.

[Scyla]

I got my copy of MPG Shouki in the mail.

It is a mixed bag.

The ivory and dark blue paint looks as stunning in person as it does in pictures. Very classy.

Train Mode: probably the best of the three modes. My main criticisms are the translucent windows were you can see the innards of the robot. I don’t understand why Takara opted for that solution because if you look at the real Shinkansen from a distance you don’t see much of the inside. Same goes for the headlights which would look much better painted yellow and the cockpit windows. Other bummer is the inability of the train bogies to turn. Not a biggie since the wheels of the carbots won’t turn either.

Robot-mode is where the issues start to arise. First the good things. The robot looks stunning (from the front) good likeness, excellent head sculpt. I’m not too fussed about the back kibble since it is somewhat accurate.

The articulation is adequate for a member of the combiner team and to get there is fairly straightforward even if it is not as refined as other Takara transformations.

The problems start with the use of clear plastic for the sides. Which looks absolutely atrocious since you are staring at clear plastic edges where the parts of the outer shell separate. To me it looks super odd and making them out of opaque plastic with dark translucent inlets (like on MMC Volatus) or just painting the windows in a glossy paint would have looked a lot better.

You also stare at the clear plastic inlets for the cockpit windows and head lights which looks super cheap and toy like.

I think the designer tried to minimize the need to interact with the clear plastic panels but you still have the occasional clear pieces tabbing into each other and clear hinges and rotation joints.
Maybe that is why the legs look so unfinished. They look bad from any angle other straight on and really pull  this toy down a notch. I don’t understand why the designer couldn’t figure out a way to transform them more since they don’t do anything in combined mode.

Oh and the transformation results in Shouki standing on the painted sides of the rear train which is just begging for paint scratches. Don’t move the toy around on its feet or place it on a nice soft piece of cloth. Super disappointing MP toy from the knees down.

Which brings me to the torso mode. Sigh, it is terrible. I know that this could change when it is combined with Kaen (the lower torso) but as of now it is super janky and unstable.

I assume that Kaen will not only form the hips and waist (given that the leg bots also contain the thighs) but also provide  the head on a strut that runs through Shoukis backpack. Maybe this will make the torso more stable. 
Shouki‘s legs  form a backpack which again looks super unfinished and gappy Super unimaginative engineering and a real letdown from Takara.

I also think that Shouki will provide the shoulder ratchets for Raiden since the armatures his arms attach to can rotate but they feel pretty weak so I doubt Raiden will be able to hold his arms up. Also rotating the combiner shoulders will rub on the outer shell of the train that is attached to Shouki‘s forearms. Not a good design choice.

I wrote somewhere that I buy the Trainbots out of morbid curiosity for how Takaras first MP combiner will turn out. With one bot in my possession it feels like a disaster in the making. If anyone is buying this for the combined mode I would be super worried.

On the other hand it is a good robot and an excellent train but for the ¥18k MSRP you could probably get a nicer Shinkansen Type 0 for your train set that can actually drive around the tracks.

Could Takara be building a good Raiden? Possibly, but you won’t know until Kaen is out which will be conveniently released last. So you will have to buy them all to find out.

[sh9000]

9/30.

[M'Kyuun]

8 hours ago, sh9000 said:

9/30.

Gonna be juggling my time judiciously that weekend as I'm also going to be in Seattle at a LEGO convention. But, if they have anything new releasing from Legacy, especially G1 stuff, then I want to be checking in for POs, as well as general news. Wish they'd had this a week earlier or later, but that's how these things go.

[mikeszekely]

I don't have big expectations for Pulsecon, because I'm not totally sure what they'd even announce.  We already know that the Pulsecon set is going to be Alpha Trion and Orion Pax, and they just revealed the third wave of Legacy just a few weeks ago, along with a few Studio Series figures.  It doesn't leave a lot left to reveal.  Maybe a Gen Selects or two, or the last Shattered Glass II figure (who, I'm told, will be Soundwave, and it'll be based on the Netflix mold)?  Maybe some new details about that new (and kind of crappy-looking, IMO) new show?  Maybe something for Rise of the Beasts?  Or some mention of Evolutions (which my sources are saying is the line that will take over for Legacy)?

I'm not expecting it to be mentioned at Pulsecon, but apparently there will be a second wave of Walmart's Velocitron line.  I don't have a ton of details yet, but you might have seen yet another repaint of Mirage going around as the Gobot Crasher? 

Yeah, she'll be in wave 2 of Velocitron.  (And I'm not thrilled about this one; Crasher isn't a Formula 1 racer, Mirage wasn't one of their better molds, and so this repaint doesn't really work for me... ironically, the one time they did use Crasher's alt mode on a Transformer, Power of the Primes Jazz, they didn't do the Crasher repaint.  Sigh.)

The other two figures that have leaked are Shadow Striker Shadowstrip and Hot Rod.  Shadow Striker will almost certainly be based on the Cyberverse character, and will almost certainly be a retool of some existing Deluxe-class figure, but as to which figure your guess is as good as mine (my guess is Knockout).  So, while a Cyberverse Shadow Striker may or may not end up being a thing, the I'm now being told that Velocitron Shadow Striker is is actually Shadowstrip.  I'm not sure why the name change, because G2 Universe Shadowstrip is just G2 Dragstrip. 

Hot Rod will be the Voyager-class SS86 release in G1 toy colors.

And the new wave of Velocitron might be announced at Pulsecon after all, because apparently Crasher and Shadowstrip are already turning up at retail in New Zealand.

Edited September 14, 2022 by mikeszekely

[sh9000]

Cool.  I might buy the G2 Stunticons.

[mikeszekely]

Been hearing a lot of rumors lately.  While my sources have been fairly accurate through the first wave or two of Legacy, some of the rumors I've been hearing lately haven't exactly panned out, or they worked out a little differently than initially expected, or maybe Hasbro's just shuffling their plans.  I don't know.  So take this with a grain of salt, but here's some stuff I'm hearing will be in Evolutions (the line after Legacy):

-Deluxe-class Detritus. This seems like an oddball choice, as the character was created for a 2004 recolor of the original G1 Hound toy, and he's somehow both a Junkion and a bad guy.  But hey, pretool for an Earth-mode Hound?  I can live with that.

-Deluxe-class Beachcomber.  One of my least favorite minibots- I'd rather see Gears or Windcharger first*.  But I'm glad Hasbro's still doing Deluxe minibots.

-Deluxe-class Bombshell and Deluxe-class Shrapnel.  They were probably inevitable after Kickback.

-Deluxe-class Devcon.  Yeah, that guy from that one episode.

*Why not include Brawn on that short list?  Well, in addition to the no-brainer mentions of SS86 Voyager Ratchet, Core Ironhide, and Core Frenzy, I'm told we can expect a Deluxe-class SS86 Brawn in 2023.

[M'Kyuun]

12 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Been hearing a lot of rumors lately.  While my sources have been fairly accurate through the first wave or two of Legacy, some of the rumors I've been hearing lately haven't exactly panned out, or they worked out a little differently than initially expected, or maybe Hasbro's just shuffling their plans.  I don't know.  So take this with a grain of salt, but here's some stuff I'm hearing will be in Evolutions (the line after Legacy):

I figured Legacy was going to be the long-term branding since it essentially encapsulates all-things Transformers from all previous continuities. Guess I guessed wrong.  

12 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

-Deluxe-class Detritus. This seems like an oddball choice, as the character was created for a 2004 recolor of the original G1 Hound toy, and he's somehow both a Junkion and a bad guy.  But hey, pretool for an Earth-mode Hound?  I can live with that.

I never heard of this character, but I do agree that an earth-mode Hound is overdue in the current line. For my money, though, Universe (Classics) Hound remains the toy to beat, and I just don't see that happening. Absolutely love that fig- one of my all-time top favorite TF toys.

12 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

-Deluxe-class Beachcomber.  One of my least favorite minibots- I'd rather see Gears or Windcharger first*.  But I'm glad Hasbro's still doing Deluxe minibots.

Same boat. Give the first season minibots their toys and then move on to lesser characters like Beachcomber. At least we're getting Brawn. 

12 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

-Deluxe-class Bombshell and Deluxe-class Shrapnel.  They were probably inevitable after Kickback.

Inevitable and most welcome.

12 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

-Deluxe-class Devcon.  Yeah, that guy from that one episode.

No recollection of this character. Since they're doing obscure characters, I wish they'd do the Omnibots. I've been wanting them for my CHUG collection since Classics kicked off in '07.

If Shattered Glass is the big reveal at PulseCon, then I'm not missing anything if I happen to miss the panel while I'm attending another convention in-person. I just don't want to miss anything Legacy or '86 SS related, especially if first season characters, Powerglide, or the Autobot cassettes are being revealed.

[mikeszekely]

6 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I figured Legacy was going to be the long-term branding since it essentially encapsulates all-things Transformers from all previous continuities. Guess I guessed wrong.  

This is where things get a little fuzzy. Like before we knew Prime Wars and War for Cybertron were trilogies and each chapter had a distinct name. That's not the case this time. Legacy as we're getting right now can be thought of as Legacy Part 1: Legacy. And it may or may not be a trilogy, but Part 2 is fully titled Legacy Evolutions.

6 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

No recollection of this character.

Last I checked Hasbro's YouTube channel has the entire run of the original cartoon. Look for an episode called "The Gambler".

[M'Kyuun]

5 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

This is where things get a little fuzzy. Like before we knew Prime Wars and War for Cybertron were trilogies and each chapter had a distinct name. That's not the case this time. Legacy as we're getting right now can be thought of as Legacy Part 1: Legacy. And it may or may not be a trilogy, but Part 2 is fully titled Legacy Evolutions.

Ah...a continuation then.

5 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Last I checked Hasbro's YouTube channel has the entire run of the original cartoon. Look for an episode called "The Gambler".

That ep title sounded familiar- confirmed it was the one I was thinking of.  Typical post-first season dreck that diminished my interest in the show even as a kid.

That a purely throwaway character like Devcon would get a fig ahead of Gears or Windcharger is undeniably wrong.

[Scyla]

Thanks to Mike I got my hands on a Velocitron Scourge. A few thoughts:

The trailer is trash please don’t make any more Hasbro. Only exception when it turns into armor.

The translucent accessories are meh. I would love to get a larger sword a gun and/or a proper shield. The translucent plastic feels dense and a tad softer than the one Hasbro usually uses so I’m not worried about breakages.

The figure itself is pretty great. I like the deco since it looks like Nemesis Prime, which I prefer.

Some odd design decisions where made for the figure. For one he has 5mm ports in his forearms but due to the positioning you can see light shining through them if you look at the elbows from the front. Which makes the toy look cheaper than it actually is.

The legs are reused from the Earthrise Prime which where reused from the Siege one and they changed the pieces that make up the legs a whole lot since the legs don’t transform on Scourge. Yet they still have the trailer hitch that sits on the outside of the legs from the Siege toy. At this point they should have really come up with a new design and new parts.

One odd part I found is a panel that flips out of the trailer cab to close the gaps the arms leave in bot-mode. While this closes a big gap you only see it when you stare from bellow at the back of the figure. The budget could have been used to give the toy new lower legs for example.

I also really like the way they came up with a new transformation for RiD Scourge that is not the original toy. On the other hand I would really love to see a transformation that not splits the front truck to form the shoulders and leave the whole trailer cap sitting on his back. That way the shoulders and backpack always look too big and unfinished (even if accurate to the source material). 
Maybe make it so that the arms are stored in the shoulders or the cap turns inside out to form the torso. I probably need to wait till New Age reaches RiD for that to happen though.

Overall I feel that I overpaid  for the figure. But that is the lot of the toy collector’s life. I would preferred if it was sold at a Voyager price point without the trailer.

[mikeszekely]

On 9/17/2022 at 3:07 PM, M'Kyuun said:

That a purely throwaway character like Devcon would get a fig ahead of Gears or Windcharger is undeniably wrong.

I think it actually says a lot about the people running the brand at Hasbro right now.  Mark especially seems to have a thing for more obscure characters, and I know he's been campaigning for new versions of Machine Wars characters, and it doesn't get much more obscure than American Kay-Bee-exclusive redecoes of old G1 toys that only released in Europe, Canada, and Australia and canceled G2 toys (although, given Hasbro's predilection for repaints, Machine Wars would give them lots of options... one single mold could probably be used for G1 Mirage, Machine Wars Mirage, and Machine Wars Prowl).

@Scyla I'm just glad that Scourge made it across the pond safely, and surprisingly quickly.

Anyway... with all the buzz about Legacy and Studio Series 86, it's easy to overlook the fact that Hasbro's still putting out movie figures in the regular Studio Series line.  But here's a new one with Deluxe-class Sideways.

Despite my overall dislike of the Bayverse aesthetic, I was weirdly fond of Sideways.  I suppose it's because I thought Barricade was probably the best thing in the first movie, and Sideways borrows a lot of design cues from Barricade, like the the little wings, the spikey feet, the car chest, and the gorilla arms with tires in the wrists.  And, well, you can see that this new Studio Series figure does capture a lot of those elements, yet at the same time isn't super movie accurate.  Like, his wings shouldn't be made from the windows; on the CGI model, they're actually made from the panels behind the doors- you can even see the gas cap on the right one.  The sides of the car with the headlights shouldn't angle downward, with the lights lower than the grill, as they do on this figure.  They should shift upward, living them over the grill.  He's also missing some other spikes and random bits of metal sticking out, and none of the red glow on the CGI model is present.  He winds up coming across a bit monotone... indeed, as near as I can tell every part of him is molded in either clear translucent or gray plastic, broken up by some silver paint, which leads to further oddities like his tires being the same color as his claws.

Do note that he's packed in bot mode, which I assumed was correct.  I didn't realize until after I'd taken my pictures that he's actually slightly mistransformed.  It's not a huge deal, but you can flip out some panels on his biceps for some extra jagged metal look, although I'm not sure it's actually any more accurate.  You can also swing out the edges of the grill, giving it a more screen-accurate scrunched-in look.

Back and side views.  Sadly, I don't have the original ROTF Sideways to compare to anymore, as one of his wings broke when I moved a few years ago.

One thing you can't really see in the above pictures, but you'll see better in my action pose in a bit, is that Hasbro went seriously overboard hollowing out his legs.  The inside edges of both his thighs and his lower legs, heck, even his knee spikes, are so hollowed out it almost looks like someone was assembling a model kit like a Gundam, put half the leg armor around the joint, but forgot to put the other half of the leg armor on.

Sideways comes with this gun.  It's a bit bland, and, come to think of it... did he even have a weapon in the movie?  I haven't watched it in years, but I mostly remember him trying to run away until Sideswipe murdered him.  I find it curious that there's a 5mm peg on the side, but there are no 5mm ports on Sideways.  Not even his claws can make a 5mm por the way Studio Series Barricade's do.

Well... his head is on a ball joint, and he can look up and swivel but he doesn't have any real downward or sideways tilt.  Shoulders are also ball joints, allowing him a swivel but only 45-ish degrees of lateral movement (and even that might be generous).  There's no dedicated bicep swivel, even though there's no mechanical reason he couldn't have had one.  You'll have to get your swivel from his ball-jointed elbows, which bend 90 degrees.  No wrist articulation, but his claws are pinned at the base so they can open and close.  He does have a waist swivel, a surprising rarity on these Bayverse figures.  His hips are ball joints that can go 90 degrees forward, 90 degrees backward, and a bit under 90 degrees laterally.   His knees can bend a bit forward, if you want to try to give him a more digitigrade appearance, and up to 90 degrees backward.  His ankles are yet more ball joints.  They give him a slight upward tilt, tons of downward tilt, and a swivel, but disappointingly no ankle pivot.  Worse, the ball joints on mine were extremely loose, and Sideways is a pretty top-heavy figure, making it extremely difficult to get him to stand without falling over.

His gun attaches in a sort of interesting way.  You have to open his thumb as wide as you can, then slip his fingers into the hollow rear of the gun.  There's a tab that will go under his thumb into his wrist, then his thumb folds over and a notch in it will grab onto a ridge on the side of the gun.

Sidways' transformation is a bit different.  Like, sure, his arms and wings make up the sides of the car from the front wheels to the back.  But the rest is lifting his chest up over his head, unfurling his backpack, and more or less turning that into the rest of the car.  His legs go up over his head, his face gets tucked between his feet, and all of that is basically stuffed under his the car.

And about that car... well, Hasbro didn't bother to get the license from Audi for the R8.  There are some elements, like the shape of the headlights and the grill, that are keeping with the spirit of the R8, but he's totally missing the louvers over the front and rear vents, he's got added vents on top of the front fenders, the shape of the taillights is wrong, the exhaust placement is wrong, and really the whole tail is too tall.  It almost looks like he wants to be a hatchback.

The monochrome colors make a bit more sense in this mode, as the car in the film was silver and black, but then you also have to acknowledge that that the gray plastic and paint that Hasbro used isn't actually dark enough (it's much lighter in person than in Hasbro's own promotional photos).

There is a way for Sideways to carry his weapon in alt mode, but again it doesn't use the 5mm peg.  Instead, there are two tabs on the other side of the gun.  These tabs plug into slots flanking the exhaust on the rear of the car.  This same storage can technically be used in robot mode as well.

Over in the mainline and in the Studio Series 86 collection, Hasbro's had a few misses.  They've hollowed out some parts to save a buck on plastic.  And they love to milk each mold for repaints, sure.  But, on the whole, I think most fans would agree that the overall design, engineering, and articulation has improved in those lines since Siege debuted a few years ago.  Those improvements have allowed us to accept the price creep on those figures as the cost of things like ankle articulation.  The trouble is, those same increases in cost are being applied to the Studio Series line, along with those same cost-cutting hollows, but the improvements aren't there.  Studio Series Sideways has fairly limited articulation, especially in the shoulders, and has no ankle pivots.  Almost all of his major joints are ball joints.  His robot mode is only a bit more screen-accurate than the 2009 Deluxe, and his alt mode is arguably worse because Hasbro can't or won't get the license from Audi.  Ultimately, the whole package just screams "CHEAP!"  When I compare this to recent Deluxes like Elita-1, Wildrider, Tarantulas, heck, even Cosmos, Sideways feels like Hasbro gave him half the manufacturing budget but charges the same price.  I know a lot of Bayverse fans (yes, they're out there... remember that kids who were 6 when they saw Transformers 2007 in theaters are 21 today) are lamenting the Studio Series line's shifting to stuff like the '86 movie, and, if the rumors are true, video games, but frankly, it might be for the best if stuff like Sideways is still the best they can do with Bayverse designs.  While not the worst Studio Series figure I've looked at, he is a figure that totally fails to justify the price tag.  This is a figure for Bayverse completionists only- more casual Bayverse fans would be better served focusing on characters with a bit more screen time.

[lechuck]

MGP-02 Getsuei is just around the corner, Takara made some videos for it.

Short CGI intro

Transformation

[M'Kyuun]

Got a nice haul of Legacy yesterday from Pulse (Tarantulas, Knock Out, SS86 Arcee, and Wildrider). Considering a lot of folks have already got theirs at local retail, I'm little late to the party.  I was stoked when they revealed Tarantulas, and compared to Blackarachnia and worse, Scorponok, the concessions aren't nearly as noticeable or affecting. I love him- his spider mode, purple shade aside, is quite realistic and suitably creepy. I have a love-hate relationship with spiders; I find them endlessly fascinating, but at a comfortable distance, for the most part. But I absolutely love toys, particularly robot toys, of them, and Tarantulas was well-executed in both modes, but especially that tarantula mode.

As Mike mentioned in his review, Knock Out is a really nice retool of SS86 Jazz. As G1-ifications go, this one isn't too bad, although die-hard fans of Prime likely won't be impressed as there's a marked difference between the smooth-yet-spiky Prime aesthetic and the chunkier, somewhat blockier G1 aesthetic. I don't mind the G1-ification if it successfully carries over enough of the character to make them recognizable, and I think they've done that here, as well as with Bulkhead and Arcee. FWIW, compared to many of the other well-done figs in the Prime line, Knock Out got the short end of the stick engineering-wise.  This toy, aesthetics notwithstanding, is better executed.

Until now, T30 was not only the first, but the best G1 Arcee in the mainline. I think the decision to use a hybrid of T30 along with some extensive retooling to update the former toy's articulation shortcomings was a smart way to go. I wish they'd chosen a similar method to MMC's Azalea for minimizing her backpack, but overall, I think they did a pretty good job. Hasbro did well with joint tolerances; unlike ER Arcee, her leg joints are all nice and tight and can handle any pose. Last note: under-car weapon storage! Internal or under vehicle storage should be the standard at this point, not the occasional happy exception. 😒

Wildrider feels very G1 in-hand. His transformation is straightforward, his shoulders remain close to the body with his arms just going straight to form the sides of the car, the entire hood just flips back to become a backpack, and his legs just do the old 180 degree rotation, albeit on a separate transformation joint (that has some nice car detailing to boot). Shoutout to @sh9000 for sharing that the windshield can indeed push down lower than 90 degrees- lets the backpack sit lower, which looks better. The only beef I really have with him is nigh zero ground clearance due to his low hanging feet in car mode. I wish they'd done his feet like Sideswipe's- fold them into the car instead of on the bottom. He could have stood a second hinge at the top of the windshield, too, so that it could lay flat against his back, but ya can't have everything. 

[mikeszekely]

I don't think I'll review every G1 toy I manage to add to my collection, but when I did run through the '86 movie characters and compared them with the modern SS86 and Kingdom figures that seemed to go over pretty well.  Well, I happened to nab a figure, finally, that's been a big hole in my fledgling collection of G1 figures, and I did want to share it.  So today, let's talk about the 1984 G1 leaders, and compare them with their modern Earthrise counterparts.

We're going to start with Optimus Prime, because frankly I don't think there's a toy more instantly recognizable and associated with the brand to this day than G1 Optimus.  Despite the iffy proportions, pretty much everything recognizable in the Sunbow cartoon is here... red torso with the silver stripe, blue hands and head, silver mask, blue hands and lower legs, windows on his chest, grill on his tummy, smokestacks on his shoulders, etc.  Even stuff like his pelvis in the cartoon is just the front bumper given a more humanoid shape.  Plus, the G1 toy has a detail that's often forgotten on modern versions, the fuel tanks on his legs.

There's no denying, though, that while Earthrise Optimus might not be 100% Sunbow accurate he's closer than the original toy.  He also beats it in articulation.  As was often the case in the early days of Transformers, the G1 toy has very little in the way of articulation.  He can kind of look up, if you move the whole flap his head is on, but that's more for transformation.  Likewise, he technically has butterfly joints, his hips can go 90 degrees backward, and his toes can tilt down, but that's all necessary for transformation.  Other than that, his shoulders rotate, his elbows bend 90 degrees, and his wrists swivel*.  Oh, also, his knees can bend.  That itself was pretty uncommon at the time, and even figures released later like Rodimus Prime and Star Convoy lacked knees.

*His wrists swivel because they're just pegged into his headlights.  Hands that had to be removed for transformation were, unfortunately, just one more thing you occasionally had to deal with back then.

Prime, of course, came with his gun.  Depending on exactly when you go got him, his rifle may have had a skinnier barrel, like mine above, or one with a thicker barrel.  Some reissues included both.  Whether you got the thick or the thin, I think I prefer it to Earthrise's, which looks like they couldn't decide if they were making Prime's ion rifle or Megatron's fusion cannon.  While never part of a G1 Optimus (or G2 for that matter), some reissues from the early aughts also came with an Energon axe, that worked by plugging into a fist hole.

G1 Prime's truck mode is just *chef's kiss*.  The legs, unbeholden to the shapes of the Sunbow robot, work simply and effectively.  There's diecast at the front, around the windows.  We have real, rubber tires, something you don't see outside of MP Transformers anymore.  And, of course, we have the silver stripe around the cab- a stripe that's always drawn on the truck in the cartoon, just often colored the same red as the rest of the cab.

It's common knowledge these days that a lot of the early Transformers came from Takara's Diaclone line, where the toy that became Optimus was known as Battle Convoy.  Unlike the Transformers, Diaclone was meant to mecha controlled by little pilot figures called Dianauts.  A holdover from that means that's Prime's chest can open to reveal two seats where for Dianauts.  However, as the Transformers didn't come with Dianauts, nor were they ever sold in America to my knowledge.  That didn't mean that the seats were useless, though.  While I didn't realize that they were meant for pilots, I did realize even as a kid that this space was perfect for storing Prime's fists.

Prime also came with a trailer, and one of the most immediately striking things about it is how much larger it is than the one that came with Earthrise Prime (pictured here is the one that came with Alternate Universe Prime, since I heavily modified my original Earthrise one), despite both cabs being similar in size.  The result is that the G1 truck looks far more proportional, and I have to question Hasbro's decision to make ER's so small.  Presumably, it's a cost thing that wasn't an issue in the early '80s.

The larger size of the trailer, and the smaller of size of the Autobot cars/Diaclone Car Robots then compared to the Deluxe-classes of today meant that you can open the trailer door like a ramp and have an Autobot car drive up the ramp and into the trailer.  This is a gimmick that's be replicated in the MP line, but most modern Deluxe-class Autobots are too big to fit in ER Prime's trailer.

The G1 trailer lacks the more realistic landing gear found on the Earthrise trailer, but the Earthrise trailer is missing a gimmick on the G1 trailer where there's blue feet can swing out from the sides.

Those blue feet act as supports for the sides of the trailer, which can split and open.  Once again, it's striking how much more is going on in the G1 trailer than the ER Trailer.  The ER trailer is mostly empty, aside from a little drone with two 5mm ports and two non-articulated arms on ball joints, plus a variety of 5mm ports to store accessories that don't come with the toy.  Meanwhile, the original toy has more details and stickers, a much more detailed drone, and a little Roller car with a gas can.

Once again, there are gimmicks here that were likely overlooked by kids playing with Optimus Prime back in the day that make a lot more sense once you know about Battle Convoy and the Diaclone history behind Transformers.  Roller has seats for Dianauts, and there are two consoles with seats for Dianauts as well (plus a port in the corner where you could store Prime's rifle).  A cool thing about Roller is that there's two pegs on the back that fit into holes on a black part in front of the drone.  A button just behind the drone causes a spring to launch Roller forward.  As for the drone, it too has a Dianaut set under it's cockpit.  There's one arm on it with two points of articulation plus a claw that can open and close.  A dial lets you make the radar dish spin, and flanking the cockpit are two missile launchers with firing action.  Alas, I don't have the missiles for it.

While the whole thing can lay down as a Roller-launching battle platform, you can stand the trailer up and make it a sort of repair center for Prime.  Or, even in truck mode, there are squares on the top and front of the trailer that allow the trailer to close around the black armature the drone sits on.  I was thinking it'd be kind of cool to have the drone peaking out the front, with Roller towing the trailer like the MP versions can.  Alas, G1 Roller doesn't have any way to attach the trailer, short of just half-heartedly jamming the connector into the rear seat.

As a modern, articulated, cartoon-proportioned Optimus there's little doubt that Earthrise Optimus is a huge step up from the original toy.  However, there's a play pattern here that ER failed to capture with its undersized, anemically-equipped trailer.  I'm not sure what Hasbro could have done differently, though.  A bigger trailer with all the bells and whistles likely would have made ER Optimus a Commander-class instead of a Leader... would you guys have gone for that?  I think I might have... after all, by the time I was done investing in upgrades for ER Prime I probably spent more than a Commander costs.  But on the other hand, ER Optimus was a mainline product on shelves at places like Walmart, and one of Hasbro's more bankable characters.  An argument could be made that if collectors want a modern cartoon Optimus with all the gimmicks of the G1 toy that there's an MP line for that.  Ultimately, I love both figures for very different reasons.

Megatron is a bit of a different story.  The original toy is just awkward.  There are certainly some details that made it from the toy to the Sunbow model, like the black, vaguely grip-shaped outsides of Megatron's legs, the black hands, the shape of the chest, and the vents and mechanical sticker details on his abdomen.  Heck, you can even see Megatron's Sunbow helmet as a sort of amalgamation of the toy's head with the gun kibble around it.  The gun kibble makes Megatron's head look bigger than it really is, though, which isn't helped by his thin limbs.  The awkwardness of the legs is further compounded by absence of the black pelvis the Sunbow cartoon would get.  Instead, we've got an unfortunately phallic trigger crotch with thin metal struts keeping the legs attached.  The gun barrel, seen on Megatron's back in the cartoon, can't actually bend that way on the G1 toy.  Instead, in protrudes from his right side.  There's even a bit of a cutout in his abs for it.  Speaking of that back cannon, it's really a shame that Hasbro couldn't figure out a way to make Earthrise Megatron's tank barrel sit on his back.  Aside from that, and the tank kibble on his back and calves, Earthrise is a much more decently Sunbow Megatron.

And as with Optimus, the old G1 figure gets killed in the articulation department.  You can kind of use the transformation hinges in Megatron's hips to angle his legs as if he had thigh swivels, and his shoulders can swivel... but that's about it.

In Western countries where Megatron was sold he did come with his iconic Fusion Cannon.  Except Hasbro's decision to call the gun scope a fusion cannon and pretend it's an arm-mounted weapon seems to be more of a happy accident than deliberate feature of the original toy, as the attachment point happens to be on what becomes his right forearm.  You can actually transform Megatron without removing it.

You see, like Optimus Prime was born when Hasbro licensed Takara's Battle Convoy toy, the toy that would become Megatron was also a Takara import, this time from their Micro Change line.  Micro Change actually featured at least three Gun Robos; a Browning M1910, a 44 Magnun, and a Walther P38, and each of those was released in multiple variants.  The Walther P38 was released in an un-chromed gray, a black, and then the chromed version with the extra parts for the stock, suppressor, and scope modeled after the "U.N.C.L.E. Special" modified P38 used in the 1960's spy show The Man From U.N.C.L.E.  Hasbro would ultimately bring the U.N.C.L.E. version to the west for Megatron, but the original Megatron toy in Japan was the standard gray P38 Gun Robo.  Not only did the first Takara Megatron not have the suppressor and stock, then, but it didn't have the scope, or even the attachment point for the scope.  Ergo, Megatron didn't original have a fusion cannon in Japan.  He instead came with a sword, the shape of which seems to have been an influence on Siege Megatron's cannon sword but, sadly, has not be reproduced for any of the MP Megatrons.  Although it wasn't released with the Western version of Megatron, the sword does come with the various Takara reissues over the years.  The other accessory the original Takara Megatron came with is a very late '70s/early '80s sci-fi gun.  Unlike the sword, the gun did come with the Hasbro release of Megatron.  Later Takara releases would come with the scope but not the suppressor or the stock, and in the unchromed gray plastic, and it wouldn't be until a 2001 reissue that Takara would release the chrome Megatron with all the parts the Hasbro release did, plus the gun.  A subsequent 2002 reissue, the one I got my hands on, had everything from the 2001 reissue plus an Energon mace. 

Where G1 and Earthrise really depart is the alt mode.  The Micro Change Gun Robos were created and Megatron imported by Hasbro under what I assume were vastly less strict laws regulating toy guns.  While I'm not apprised of Japan's laws pertaining to this, I do know that American regulations are strict enough that the G1 Megatron toy has never been reissued here, Hasbro has never sold MP-05 or MP-36, and that Hasbro isn't even comfortable doing another neon green and purple Nerf gun like the '06 Classics Megatron.  One of Hasbro's design team has even gone on record as saying that while a Studio Series Megatron is a possibility he would probably still turn into a tank.  Between you and me, I'd be cool if they made a robot that's as clean, well-articulated, and Sunbow-accurate while keeping the WfC/Legacy aesthetic as possible, then having in fold up into a "spaceship" ala Siege/Legacy Soundwave.

But enough about Earthrise and tanks... Megatron turns into a detailed replica of a Walther P38.  Now, I'm not a gun guy, but as near as I can tell Megatron is maybe around 30% smaller than an actual P38; probably a good size for the kids that were Takara's target audience for Micro Change and young Transformers fans back in the day, but as an adult you'll find the grip is too small to really fit in your hand.  The hammer is fixed in place, but the trigger can be pulled, and on the Takara versions at least it does so with a satisfying click.  Indeed, most (all?) of the Takara versions came with one other accessory- two sprues, each with 10 plastic bullets.  You'll find a hole in the top of Megatron where you can insert the bullet, and pulling the trigger will cause a spring mechanism to actually fire the bullet.  I believe this feature was removed from the Hasbro release of Megatron, but I'm not totally sure why.  I mean, I'm sure it's a safety thing, and the small size of the bullets would make them a choking hazard, but I definitely owned toys that fired projectiles with more force than Megatron here.

As I mentioned before, while Takara original got the plain gray Gun Robo for Megatron, Hasbro imported the U.N.C.L.E. version, and subsequent Takara reissues were based on the Hasbro version.  Hasbro Megatron came with a scope that slides into a mounting rail on top of the gun, a two-piece stock that slides onto a mounting point on the handle, and a two-piece suppressor that slides right over Megatron's barrel.  This is the gun mode we actually remember from the cartoon, the one that Megatron would transform into so Starscream could kill some Autobots on their way from a moon base to Autobot City.  Really, Megatron without the stock and suppressor just doesn't look like Megatron, so it's a shame that MP-05, Maketoys Despotron, and DX9's Mightron didn't come with them.  At least MP-36 and both Magic Square and NewAge's Legends versions do, although the scope looks comically tiny in gun mode due to emulating the Sunbow proportions in robot mode too closely.

The grip being too small for an adult hand is exacerbated with the stock taking up some of the little space you have.  That said, there's something that just feels cool about bracing the stock against your shoulder, peering through the scope, and pretending to snipe a baddie with Megatron's gun mode.

All those extra parts do have some uses in robot mode.  The more common one is to separate the stock into two halves and pull the back off of the suppressor.  A peg folds down from the larger part of the suppressor, and plugs into back half of the stock.  Parts of the stock slide down and fan out to make a tripod, and the scope slides onto the suppressor.  you finish it off by plugging the back end of the front half of the stock into the back of the larger piece of the suppressor, so the rails for clipping it onto the handle are pointing in the opposite direction as the suppressor's barrel.  The little part you pulled off the suppressor just plugs in under that part of the stock, and you can fold two handles out.  Since Megatron's fist holes are on the sides of his hands, they can clamp around these handles and you've got yourself a turret.  I'll even note that the part of the stock with handles for Megatron to hold also has a hole for inserting a bullet, and a sliding mechanism on the side allows you to fire them.  Fun fact, as Micro Change was part of Takara's Microman line of 3.75" figures, the scope itself has little handles that fold out and a 3.75" figure like Microman or a G.I. Joe could sit on the turret just above Megatron's handles, using the smaller handles in the scope to hold on.

While the turret is probably my preferred way to store the stock and suppressor when Megatron's in robot mode, there is one more configuration you can use.  Swing Megatron's gun barrel so it's pointing out his back, then cover it with the small piece of the suppressor.  You can then plug the larger part of the suppressor, along with the stock part with the handles for Megatron, into the smaller suppressor part so the barrel is over Megatron's shoulder.  Rails on the side of the barrel allow you slide the scope on sideways, over Megatron's face, giving him a gun face that I wonder could have been the inspiration for Lockdown's gun face in Age of Extinction.  The downside is that there's nowhere to store that last tripod bit of the stock in this mode.  Still, it would have blown my mind if Megatron actually used this mode in the cartoon.

G1 Megatron is an undeniably janky robot with an alt mode that just wouldn't fly on a modern toy.  And it's a shame, really, because despite the robot's jankiness I do love the gun mode, and the play patterns you get from turning the stock, scope, and suppressor into a turret or a gun face.  Handling G1 Megatron with the Earthrise one really reminds me of how disappointing that toy really is, a half-hearted retool of the Siege toy that relies on some truly egregious partsforming to look slightly more like an Earth tank.  And, I get it.  Hasbro can't make a gun Megatron.  But as I said before, I'd rather made a really good robot with a truly lame "spaceship" mode.  Or, if they're going to go tank, go all in on a modern G2 Megatron (instead of repainting Earthrise in camo).  Of course, I'd still love a modern gun-mode Megatron, so it's my most fervent wish that someone would KO Newage or Magic Square's Megatron and make him Voyager-sized.  Alas, such things aren't meant to be, I guess.

[Scyla]

Takara is attending an expo in Japan and is showing the block prototype of MPG Raiden.

Since this is a block prototype the final sculpting is not there yet (which is why it looks under detailed), however I’m expecting that the toy will largely have the same engineering as the prototype when it comes to combination, articulation and so on.

It looks hilariously bad. If you were in the fence about this thing I would say now is the time to abort the toy before you have bought more than one toy.

I hope my fears don’t come true since I’m still in but boy it looks rough.

 

More images here: https://news.tfw2005.com/2022/09/23/takara-tomy-hobby-expo-transformers-masterpiece-mpg-raiden-prototype-first-look-465823

Shout out to Gamerlingual over at TFW2005 who is at the expo and providing us with news and images.

[mikeszekely]

I guess, since Raiden is the first official combiner in an MP (sub) line, he's big news, but I've been out since they first started showing Shouki.  It was apparent from the get-go that Takara's priority was the train mode.  And, I mean, they nailed the train, but maybe the priority for a combiner should be combined mode.

For me, at least, two other stories have been the bigger news.

First, there's Victory Saber.  Given that us backers paid for the thing like a year ago and we've seen colored samples for awhile now, VS himself is hardly news.  What's interesting, though, is that the marketing at VS's stand indicates a release date (at least in Japan) of December.  Combined with reports I'm hearing that VS is actually hitting US ports now, and hopefully we'll have him in hand by the end of the year.

The other news is that there's a display with Legacy Menasor... a complete Legacy Menasor.  Which means our first look at Breakdown.  And... it's kind of disappointing.

Obviously, we can't see his robot parts while he's in leg mode, but as near as I can tell he's got new legs that aren't super Lamborghini-ish, and no spoiler.  But, most egregiously, from where the legs tab into the arms/doors and roof he's strictly a Wildrider repaint.  Now, I think we all knew Hasbro wasn't going to license the Countach, and that Breakdown was going to be a retool of Wildrider, and as a retool of Wildrider he was going to be proportionally longer/thinner than Earthrise Sunstreaker and repaints or Earth-mode Sideswipe and repaints.  But for as much effort as the design team has put into getting this set of Stunticons right it's extremely disheartening to see Hasbro drop the ball in the home stretch by making Breakdown a white and blue Wildrider instead of giving him a more extensive retool.  And, look, I know Hasbro's real big on maximizing their returns on each mold... I mean, by this point I think every WFC mold was released at least twice except Omega Supreme, and with Shadowstrip coming soon in Walmart's Velocitron line so has the whole first wave of Legacy already.  But do they really mean to tell me that they can find the budget for an all-new Deluxe-class Skullgrin mold but they have to repaint Wildrider to make Breakdown?  Seriously?  I mean, between G2 (which is already happening, assuming Shadowstrip isn't a one-off) and toy-style repaints there wasn't already enough potential repaints?  It's stupid decisions like this, like the rumors of several new Junkions in the Legacy Evolutions line while guys like Gears and Windcharger are still getting passed over for Deluxe-class updates, and stuff like putting the retooled Prime Universe Knock Out in the mainline and the brand new Cosmos mold as a shortpacked store-exclusive that's really killing a lot of the goodwill Hasbro got for the brand with War For Cybertron.  I've said this before, and I'll say it again- someone in charge there needs to be moved to a different brand or fired.

[Scyla]

Raiden bends his knee to no one (aka Wotafas review of Getsuei):

It is good to see that Takara opted to use clear plastic inlays for (most) of the windows. It is scary that one front of the train is clear plastic on a thin clear plastic rail that slides back ab forth.

Takara really sacrificed everything for the train mode.

PS: Apparently you can get more knee bend if you (mis-)transform the leg differently.

[mikeszekely]

I am so disappointed.  It looks like they remolded the chest, head, guns, the car parts on the back of the legs, added a spoiler, and that's it.  The spoiler doesn't even split, so it has to be removed for robot mode.  The car doesn't look like a Countach, and too many robot details are leftover from Wildrider.  His feet aren't even the right color!  Figures Hasbro would nail 4/5 then drop the ball on my favorite one.

[pengbuzz]

36 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

I am so disappointed.  It looks like they remolded the chest, head, guns, the car parts on the back of the legs, added a spoiler, and that's it.  The spoiler doesn't even split, so it has to be removed for robot mode.  The car doesn't look like a Countach, and too many robot details are leftover from Wildrider.  His feet aren't even the right color!  Figures Hasbro would nail 4/5 then drop the ball on my favorite one.

Well... you could always split the spoiler with a well-placed cut.

[Wolf-1]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I am so disappointed.  It looks like they remolded the chest, head, guns, the car parts on the back of the legs, added a spoiler, and that's it.  The spoiler doesn't even split, so it has to be removed for robot mode.  The car doesn't look like a Countach, and too many robot details are leftover from Wildrider.  His feet aren't even the right color!  Figures Hasbro would nail 4/5 then drop the ball on my favorite one.

While I'm dissapointed that Breakdown is not a good Lamborghini at all; I actually don't mind how this figure has turned out.  He's still very much an Italian car and not even a Ferrari, instead he is now a Maserati, not really but like the MC12 if one squints hard enough you can still see the Enzo.  At least they got the gun(s) right and I doubt the aftermarket will allow the wing to remain a single piece option only.

[sh9000]

Breakdown had more potential but I'm still buying it.

[M'Kyuun]

On 9/28/2022 at 7:40 PM, sh9000 said:

Breakdown had more potential but I'm still buying it.

In lieu of what option? If you want to complete Menasor, there's not really an alternative unless 3P steps up and makes a proper Breakdown w/ his Countach mode. Given 3P's reluctance over the past near decade to dip their toes in Hasbro's sacrosanct Generations line, Hasbro knows they've got at least that market cornered, which kinda gives them license to do what they did w/ Breakdown despite their knowing it's not accurate to source. Sucks, but that's the reality of the situation.

I'm still buying it too.

[mikeszekely]

Pulsecon time.

Legacy Evolution reveal. 

Core-class Dinobots.  The goal is to release all dinobots in one year.  They showed Slag and Sludge, Slag looks pretty decent, Sludge looks a little wonky.  There will be SIX Dinobots (they didn't say who the sixth is, but my money is on Paddles), and they will combine.

Core-class Soundblaster.  It's a retool of Core-class Soundwave.  I though Soundwave was a good Core, but eh.

Breakdown.  They're talking him up, but they're getting savaged in the comments.  The evolution is apparently that you can plug the spoiler into his gun and turn it into an axe... like Siege Red Alert?

Deluxe-class Scraphook.  It's a new Junkion character and new mold.  Junkions are going to be the Weaponizer/Fossilizer gimmick, where you can can pull parts off of one and mix and match with other Junkions.  Which is cool, I guess... but again I'm kind of PO'ed that Hasbro's finding the budget for this but not the money to retool Breakdown's hood.

Deluxe-class Armada Hot Shot.  I can't begrudge Hasbro for catering to later fans.  I actually don't mind collecting the core cast from Armada.  Hot Shot looks pretty good.

Deluxe-class Needlenose.  @M'Kyuun's not going to love the fact that he's a lot of kibble under a jet/robot with a jet on his back.

Voyager-class Leo Prime.  Looks great.  Japanese Beast Wars is maybe a little obscure, but I've always thought Lio Convoy was was a great design.  Yes, there's still some G1 that needs doing, but I'm not mad at this at all.

Voyager-class Tarn.  Looks amazing.  If you're not a fan of IDW you might not care, but the story Tarn is from is probably my favorite Transformers fiction.  Maybe Hasbro will do the whole DJD.

No Leader in wave 1.  They expect they'll keep TM2 Megatron on the shelf.

The poster has some other stuff.  More Junkions, Bombshell, Shrapnel, Armada Prime, and Getaway that I can see.

Transformers is getting added to Magic the Gathering.  I don't know how I really feel about Optimus being a card in a fantasy-themed card game, but I also don't play Magic, so... 

A Hero is Born 2-pack.  We've seen it already, but when it was announced it was announced as a Pulsecon exclusive, so it's more like goes on sale today (5:00pm EST for Pulse Plus members, 6:00 for everyone else).

Lugnut wins the favorite Animated character in the Hall of Fame poll, FOR THE GLORY OF MEGATRON!  Motormaster wins the Legacy toy of the Year.  Bmac said something about Motormaster being an example of what they can do with Combiners in the future.  PLEASE DO MORE COMBINERS IN THE FUTURE!  Start with Bruticus.

Transformers Lite Brite.

Transformers Earthspark.  The new Transformers show, we've heard about it plenty already.  I guess I should actually watch the show before I judge, but it's giving me RID vibes.  Which isn't good.  Outright Games (never heard of them) will be making an Earthspark video game.  More news in a week or so at NY Comic Con.

Interview clip with Nick Roche.  Haven't read The Last Bot Standing.

Shattered Glass Soundwave.  Bmac is the reason Soundwave was the last reveal.  As I promised, it's based on the Netflix mold, and he comes with Ravage and Laserbeak.

Edited September 30, 2022 by mikeszekely

[Scyla]

4 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Pulsecon time.

Legacy Evolution reveal. 

Core-class Dinobots.  The goal is to release all dinobots in one year.  They showed Slag and Sludge, Slag looks pretty decent, Sludge looks a little wonky.  There will be SIX Dinobots (they didn't say who the sixth is, but my money is on Paddles), and they will combine.

Core-class Soundblaster.  It's a retool of Core-class Soundwave.  I though Soundwave was a good Core, but eh.

Breakdown.  They're talking him up, but they're getting savaged in the comments.  The evolution is apparently that you can plug the spoiler into his gun and turn it into an axe... like Siege Red Alert?

Deluxe-class Scraphook.  It's a new Junkion character and new mold.  Junkions are going to be the Weaponizer/Fossilizer gimmick, where you can can pull parts off of one and mix and match with other Junkions.  Which is cool, I guess... but again I'm kind of PO'ed that Hasbro's finding the budget for this but not the money to retool Breakdown's hood.

Deluxe-class Armada Hot Shot.  I can't begrudge Hasbro for catering to later fans.  I actually don't mind collecting the core cast from Armada.  Hot Shot looks pretty good.

Deluxe-class Needlenose.  @M'Kyuun's not going to love the fact that he's a lot of kibble under a jet/robot with a jet on his back.

Voyager-class Leo Prime.  Looks great.  Japanese Beast Wars is maybe a little obscure, but I've always thought Lio Convoy was was a great design.  Yes, there's still some G1 that needs doing, but I'm not mad at this at all.

Voyager-class Tarn.  Looks amazing.  If you're not a fan of IDW you might not care, but the story Tarn is from is probably my favorite Transformers fiction.  Maybe Hasbro will do the whole DJD.

No Leader in wave 1.  They expect they'll keep TM2 Megatron on the shelf.

The poster has some other stuff.  More Junkions, Bombshell, Shrapnel, Armada Prime, and Getaway that I can see.

Transformers is getting added to Magic the Gathering.  I don't know how I really feel about Optimus being a card in a fantasy-themed card game, but I also don't play Magic, so... 

A Hero is Born 2-pack.  We've seen it already, but when it was announced it was announced as a Pulsecon exclusive, so it's more like goes on sale today (5:00pm EST for Pulse Plus members, 6:00 for everyone else).

Lugnut wins the favorite Animated character in the Hall of Fame poll, FOR THE GLORY OF MEGATRON!  Motormaster wins the Legacy toy of the Year.  Bmac said something about Motormaster being an example of what they can do with Combiners in the future.  PLEASE DO MORE COMBINERS IN THE FUTURE!  Start with Bruticus.

Transformers Lite Brite.

Transformers Earthspark.  The new Transformers show, we've heard about it plenty already.  I guess I should actually watch the show before I judge, but it's giving me RID vibes.  Which isn't good.  Outright Games (never heard of them) will be making an Earthspark video game.  More news in a week or so at NY Comic Con.

Interview clip with Nick Roche.  Haven't read The Last Bot Standing.

Shattered Glass Soundwave.  Bmac is the reason Soundwave was the last reveal.  As I promised, it's based on the Netflix mold, and he comes with Ravage and Laserbeak.

Are there pictures available? I would be interested in a Black Lio Convoy (obviously) and the Tarn.

[mikeszekely]

Just now, Scyla said:

Are there pictures available? I would be interested in a Black Lio Convoy (obviously) and the Tarn.

I'm waiting for Hasbro to release the official images, when they do I'll update the post.

BTW, I know Black Lio Prime has an MP version coming up.  I haven't heard if LE Leo Prime is going to get the redeco, but I'm thinking the odds are very high.