The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[mikeszekely]

The last of the Transformers One Prime Changers (for now) is Orion Pax/Optimus Prime.

Out of the gate, Pax might be fighting an uphill battle in that he's kind of small.  I mean, sure, he's no shorter than Bee... but his head's a good 30% smaller and he's much thinner, because he's supposed to be taller than Bee.  He's a reasonably facsimile for what you see in the movie, though; they even tried to paint some of the mechanical details in his shoulders, but not his forearms.  His shin vents are kind of wrong, too, but that feels like something you'd have to work to notice.

Aside from his butt, Pax is relatively solid and fairly clean.  Aesthetically, my biggest gripe might be that the gray wheels in his shoulders kind of stand out.

Pax's smokestacks are removable (at this point, I don't remember if they were attached in the package or if they came as accessories.  He comes with a blue-painted energon axe.  An interesting thing about the axe is that the unpainted part near the bottom looks like Pax's fingers.  Finally, he comes with a Matrix, but the bottom of the handles are clipped off.  That's how it's supposed to come, though; mine isn't defective.  I do recall that the Matrix is not packed with the accessories.  You'll find it inside Pax's chest.

Here's where things start going downhill.  Pax has some issues with articulation.  His head is on a ball joint that can look 90 degrees straight up and swivel, but there's no downward or sideways tilt.  His shoulders are also ball joints and swivel with no issue, but due to the the clutter around the joints they can only move a bit under 45 degrees laterally, and then only if his arms are at his sides.   There is a hinge that comes into play for transformation that you can use to get his lateral range to just under 90 degrees, but again, it's on the wrong side of the swivel.  Dude's got Hot Rod shoulders... and that's still assuming you don't accidentally pop his arm off the ball joint.  I've only had his arms pop off posing him once or twice, but... well, more on that in a bit.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend a little over 90 degrees.  His wrists fold in for transformation, but they don't swivel.  His waist does.  His hips are on ball joints that go 90 degrees forward, backward, and laterally.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  What really sucks, though, is he doesn't have any ankles.  Honestly, he doesn't have any feet.  They're just molded lumps at the ends of his shins, not even separate parts like Bee.

Pax's axe uses a 5mm peg inside the base to fit over one of his fists.  If you look at the fingers on it, it properly goes on his right hand, though.  It sort of creates the illusion that the axe is coming out of his palm.  If you'd prefer Pax have a gun, well, all you can do is pull off one of his smokestacks and have him hold it by the 5mm port.

The axe has a slot on the top that can fit over a tab on his back.

As for the Matrix, the reason the bottoms are cut out are so that the handles, which are actually 5mm compatible, can slide into his fist holes.  For storage, you have to first lift up his chest, then fold the rest of the truck's front end out from behind his chest.  The Matrix snaps in behind the alt mode grill.

While you're doing that, you might as well tilt his head back 90 degrees, then shove the entire panel his neck is on into his chest.  Double hinge his arms out and down.  Lift his backpack a little, spin it 180 degrees, then close it over the top of his cab.  Bend him backward from the mid torso, and you'll have room to finish tucking his arms in, tabbing them into the bumper.  Spin the forearms and the smokestacks, fold his hands in, then tab his arms into the back of his cab.  Open his calves, then fold his lower legs over his thighs, close them back up, and tab his feet into his arms.  It's simple enough, but also frustrating because that arm ball joint that doesn't really pop off when I'm posing him pops off literally ever time I transform him.  Likewise, I've yet to get through a transformation without his roof popping off.  It's frustrating!

And for what?  The truck mode looks kind of ok... minus the tabs on the grill and visible hinges for a bumper.  Or the fact that his arms are just there, stuck to the back of his cab in a most non-accurate way.  His fists are at least folded into his arms, but why did they bother?  They're still facing outward as super obvious blue lumps.  And the back of the truck is hollow.  It feels very low effort, but I have to remind myself that this is a sub-Deluxe toy.  I probably shouldn't expect too much from it.

It rolls, at least, and you can swivel the smokestacks around to be forward-firing guns, I guess (assuming that's a thing that'll happen in the movie).  And he can store his axe by splitting his legs a bit, plugging the 5mm peg into a port on his butt, then closing him back up so that the pegs that hold his legs together go through the hole in the axe's blade.

I can't help but be a little disappointed in Pax.  The limited shoulder articulation and lack of ankles (or rather, feet) feel like such a letdown when the other three Prime Changers were pretty good, and his alt mode feels a bit phoned in.  Like, sure, Alpha Trion is a super simple figure, but at least he doesn't have articulation issues and his alt mode looks cohesive.  And while the movie is likely to indicate that Trion and Sentinel Prime are also too small next to Bee, it's really noticeable with Pax.  I'm inclined to tell you to wait for the Studio Series toy... which is conveniently also hitting shelves, so you won't have to wait long to find out if it's any better...

[mikeszekely]

Amazon isn't done with the Mayhem stuff.  In addition to a revealed Bludgeon & Ruckus pack, they're planning on a Spinister vs Twintwist pack and an Ironfist vs Carnivac pack.  If Spinister and Twintwist are more of the ones we already got, I'm out, but Ironfist and Carnivac you say...?🤔

Walmart's next capsule after the Star Raiders (which I might have mentioned before) will be based on Cybertron/Galaxy Force.

Haslab Omega Prime will come with a Titan Master Cerbros as a nice little bonus.

You can check out a lot of what's at Hasbros SDCC booth now, but not everything.  A little birdie told me that the GI Joe X Transformers Kup and the Knight Rider collab will be revealed in the next 48 hours.

[sh9000]

I'll be preordering that Transformers KITT at SPM speed.

[Black Valkyrie]

 

https://news.tfw2005.com/2024/07/24/san-diego-comic-con-2024-hasbro-booth-preview-night-studio-series-86-commander-optimus-prime-more-516268 

 

[Radioguy]

8 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

...the Knight Rider collab will be revealed in the next 48 hours.

Larson estate was said to have shot that down previously. Was it just more money that made the difference?

[mikeszekely]

4 hours ago, Radioguy said:

Larson estate was said to have shot that down previously. Was it just more money that made the difference?

No idea, I'm not really up on the Knight Rider side of things. But after two years (three if what he's told me about 2025 pans out) of accurate Transformers leaks I trust my source.

[mikeszekely]

On 7/24/2024 at 9:35 PM, mikeszekely said:

A little birdie told me that the GI Joe X Transformers Kup and the Knight Rider collab will be revealed in the next 48 hours.

And courtesy of TFormers.com...

Just waiting on the Knight Rider crossover now.

 

[mikeszekely]

On 7/24/2024 at 9:04 PM, mikeszekely said:

I'm inclined to tell you to wait for the Studio Series toy... which is conveniently also hitting shelves, so you won't have to wait long to find out if it's any better...

And here it is now, Studio Series Deluxe-class Transformers One Optimus Prime.

Well, it's a bigger figure, which in my book is already giving it a leg up.  There's a bit more detail in the molding, and based on my limited viewing of the trailers a couple of times is a bit more accurate for it, though it's still missing some details and paint apps.

Given that both toys are depictions of the same characters it might sound a bit obvious to say that they are pretty similar, overall.  But I mean, they have details like wheels on their biceps that are necessary for their alt modes but not screen accurate, and they have the same roof backpack.  You get a sense that they weren't merely doing the same character, but actually working from the same design to the limits of their budget.

One thing I will note is the weird gray they chose for a lot of Prime's parts.  It's almost like a yellowed SNES, though not nearly as bad as my camera as making it out to be. 

Anyway, Prime comes with basically the same stuff as his Prime Changers counterpart.  You get an axe, this time in translucent blue, you get a Matrix with the handles intact, and you get his smokestacks which, again, are just pegged into his arms.  The only extra bit is a flat bit with two thin gun barrels poking out.

Prime's head is on a ball joint that swivels and can look up 90 degrees.  He has some sideways tilt this time, but still nothing downward.  His shoulders swivel, and he can move them 90 degrees laterally, but again the lateral movement is on the wrong side of the rotation, so he can't raise his arms and move them laterally at the same time.  Same issue I had with the Prime Changers one.  SS Prime has butterfly joints, though, and a transformation hinge in each shoulder you can use to fudge a bit more articulation out of.  His biceps swivel, his elbows bend 90 degrees, and his wrists swivel.  He doesn't swivel at the waist exactly, but sort of under his his chest.  His crotch and hip skirts are all one piece that can hinge upward, giving Prime's ball-jointed hips the clearance to go a little over 90 degrees forward, a little less than 90 degrees backward, and just about 90 degrees laterally.  His thigs swivel, and his knees bend a little over 90 degrees.  His toes bend downward, mostly for transformation, and he's got 90 degrees of ankle pivot.

Prime's axe can fit over either hand by sticking the 5mm peg inside into one of his fist holes.  Just like with the Prime Changers toy, if you want him shooting a gun you'll have to pull off one of his smokestacks.

Prime's axe has tabs on the part that goes over his hand, and you can store the axe on his back by plugging one of those tabs into one of the slots on his backpack.  As for the thing with the gun barrels, there are notches on one side that, in theory, grab onto tabs on the inside of his backpack, so the gun barrels sit against Prime's back. In practice, their grip on the tab is super tenuous.

Prime's chest opens, and there's a shallow peg that the Matrix can plug into.  If you want Prime to hold it, there are tabs on the sides of the handles that fit into grooves on Prime's knuckles. 

The first half of Prime's transformation is very similar to the Prime Changers toy.  You stuff his head into his chest, spin the backpack 180 degrees, and it'll eventually cover over to form the roof.  His chest opens up and the front bumper and grill fold out from behind it.  His shoulders hinge downward, though on a much more complicated mechanism, to form the sides.  But the legs don't flip over, instead his waist turns 180 degrees, he bends at the hips like he's going to sit down, and his torso folds back in toward his chest.  The faux wheels swing from the insides of his legs around the back to the outside, and his toes fold down.  Rather than fold his arms against the back of the cab, they just kind of stick to his thighs, hoping that the gray will camouflage with the gray and his blue fists will blend into the blue on his legs.  At least no parts came off while handling him.

Alt mode has that same phoned-in, not-quite-done look that the Prime Changers toy does.  It's better in some ways; the details are a little sharper, the grill and bumper look more complete, and he's got taillights.  In some ways, they have similar problems with robot parts that don't really make an effort to hide, and hollow spots at the rear (this time because Prime has hollow heels).  In some ways I think SS Prime looks worse, visible shoulder hinges and more prominent gaps in the back of the cab and around the arms.

Something to note, the Prime Changers toy makes rotating the smokestacks a step in the transformation.  SS Prime does not.  Because the 5mm peg is on a slightly different spot on the smokestack, even if you do rotate it the bottom sticks out too far, and it hardly makes a difference.

Prime's axe stores on the back in a way that's visually pretty similar, but instead of plugging into his butt the tabs we used for bot mode sandwich into slots on the insides of Prime's knees.  As for the flat bit with the gun barrels, you'll notice that the flat bit looks like Prime's bumper.  And there are tabs on it that fit into slots on Prime's actual bumper.  It just adds guns to the front of the cab, guns I think he does have at one point in the trailer.  I'm not really a fan of how they partsform, though, and their loose robot storage.

So, there's a debate in certain corners of the internet where one side is arguing that the Prime Changers toy is actually the better one.  Too be fair, SS Prime has some issues here like the partsforming bumper guns, ugly alt mode with super visible robot arms, and issues with the shoulder articulation.  They're issues that are disappointing to see on a Studio Series figure, even if only a Deluxe.  To be clear, the Prime Changers toy also has kind of a crappy alt mode with visible robot arms, and limited shoulder articulation, though.  Prime Changers Prime/Pax has demonstrably worse articulation all around, too, especially the total lack of feet.  So, no, I don't think the Studio Series toy is actually worse than the Prime Changers one.  What I think is that people had higher expectations for a Studio Series toy and felt let down, then got the Prime Changers toy and realized it was surprisingly similar to the SS figure despite being a cheaper figure and were therefore less disappointed, giving rise to a logical fallacy that the less disappointing figure must be the better one.  No, if you want the best Optimus Prime from the Transformers One movie it's definitely the Studio Series, if only by a little bit.  But the SS figure is a disappointment in its own right, and it might be a good time to be a G1er and pass on a TF One Prime entirely.

[sh9000]

Dinoking.

[mikeszekely]

12 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Dinoking.

Hey, he has feet this time.  I dunno, I thought the Dinobots weren't super hot, and I have to be at tad frugal since some jerk ran a stop sign and plowed into my wife's car we had for barely 14 months.  I'll probably save my pennies and try to get the Supercop Pax set instead.

Speaking of Transformers, I have a minute between picking up my wife's new car and running back out to get my daughter from the sitter, so I'll give you the review I was planning on doing later today... Studio Series 86 Leader-class Springer.

This one's a bit controversial, due to the reuse of parts and engineering from the Voyager-class Siege toy.  I even went back and forth on whether to stick him with more Star Raiders  or something in a Repaint Roundup instead of giving him his own review, but I think he's worth talking about, from "how did he get to be a Leader now?" to "just what, exactly is new here, and why should I upgrade or not?"

I think the most immediate thing that's going to jump out at you is the changes in the deco.  Every shade on the new figure is somewhat different than the original.  But it's more than just color tweaks.  There's paint around the rim of 86's feet, his hands are now the same color as his thighs, and his biceps are a different color than his forearms (forearms that now match his waist in color).  The somewhat visible hinges in his torso that move his arms for transformation are now the same colors as his torso, instead of blue-gray.  And yeah, some of those colors are because Hasbro used more paint on 86 than Siege (it's actually why his forearms look noticeably two-toned in my photos, whereas in hand the difference is extremely subtle... it's because most of his forearm actually is using the same color of plastic as his biceps, but they painted it darker).  All of these deco differences might not seem like a big deal.  Most people are probably looked as Siege Springer and thought, "yeah, that looks like Springer to me."  But the deco is, for the most part, more cartoon accurate on the newer figure.

But 86 Springer isn't merely a more-accurate deco and done.  So much of this figure is using a new mold... probably more than you'd first realize!  He's got a new head that's less generic and very spot-on to the cartoon.  He's got new shoulders and biceps, with new wheels, and (save for the rear two flaps) new shoulder pads.  These pads are on a hinge, so they can angle outward in a more cartoon-accurate fashion.  His forearms mostly carried over, but he's got new hands.  His entire upper torso accept for his back (with the cockpit) and the parts that connect his shoulders to the transformation armatures is brand new.  His backpack is new.  His crotch and hips carried over, but he's got new hip skirts and new thighs.  Then, with the except of new wheels, 86 Springer reuses Siege Springer's legs from the knees down.  At some point you have to wonder why they didn't just remold everything.

He's got a lot of new accessories, too.  He has the two guns that can combine to make one long gun that Siege Springer had, but he also has another painted rifle that is, if not more cartoon accurate (I don't really remember Springer's gun in the cartoon), is certainly very similar to the G1 toy's rifle.  One of my peeves with the Siege toy is the pair of swords that needed that extra bit to form the rotor for his helicopter mode.  It's been replaced with one green sword that transforms into the rotor, no extra parts required, but you can still have him dual-wielding swords with the inclusion of a second sword, sculpted and decoed to look like the one he used while fighting the Junkions in the movie.  Speaking of stuff from the movie, you get the bomb/missile, which could have used some gold accents but it at least has a 5mm port on the back for effects parts.  Lastly, just because they had some leftover budget, he comes with a basic sort of Wreckers hammer.

Articulation shouldn't be too different, but I'll go over it again.  His head seems to be on a ball joint.  He can swivel it and look down, but he doesn't really have any upward or sideways tilt.  His shoulders rotate, and can go about 90 degrees laterally if his arms are at his sides, or about 60 degrees if he raises his arms first.  His shoulder pads, as mentioned, have a swivel so they can be angled like the cartoon or you can put them right over his shoulders like the Siege toy.  His biceps swivel, his elbows bend a little over 90 degrees, his wrists swivel, and this time his fingers are a separate part, hinged at the base, so his hands can open.  His waist swivels.  His hips can go laterally 90 degrees, backward a little less than that, and forward even more than that.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend about 120 degrees.  His feet can tilt up a little, down a little less, and pivot 90 degrees.

Springer's fists can accommodate anything with a 5mm peg, so he can hold all of his accessories except the bomb, which just cradles in his hands.  He also has 5mm ports on his forearms, on the outsides of his legs just below the knee, and one on his backpack that can be used for storage (plus one under each foot).  His new rifle, swords, and bomb also have tabs.  These tabs can fit into slots just above the 5mm port on his backpack, or on either thruster on his backpack.

Springer has one more gimmick.  To copy a scene in the movie, you can flip a tiny gun out of his right (and only his right) forearm.  You may recall, though, that I said his forearms were pretty much the same as before, and that's where he runs into some problems.  To deploy the gun, you have to first open and rotate a panel that's meant for helicopter mode.  Then, the gun is built into the hollow underside of his forearm, which means you have to rotate his forearm 180 degrees, then rotate his wrist to pretend the back of his arm is the front.  I mean, it's nice that they tried, but personally I'd have been cool if they'd used this bit of the budget for something else... like new lower legs.

Which brings us to his transformation.  Going to car mode is almost exactly the same as the Siege toy.  The only differences are that his head folds into his chest a little differently, and that the shoulder pads have to swivel into place and slide between the tires and his biceps.

For the most part, the car mode is fine.  The biggest change is the backpack roof, which is again much more cartoon accurate.  The changes to the chest and shoulder pads make for more subtle but still present differences; the hood isn't flush with the fenders, for example.  And his more accurately-colored fists and thighs sort of work against him now, as they're visible on the sides of the car.  I don't really have a problem with the new wheels, either, except to question why the front rims are a different color than the rear wheels.  Like, yes, grim rims are accurate to the control art Toei produced for the film, but the rear wheels are actually covered in alt mode.  Maybe they colored the rear rims to try to match the legs, as if they were covered?

In car mode, Springer has the same 5mm ports on the just behind each of his four wheels that the Siege toy does.  He looses the ports on top of his fender/shoulder pads and roof, though there are still the slots for the new accessories on his roof and thrusters.

Going from bot to copter requires the bit of extra steps as bot to car, but going from car to copter is pretty much the same as the Siege figure.  There's only two differences.  First, the thrusters on his back are hinged, and you have to push them down so they're along the sides rather than angled or or top, to give the rotor enough clearance to spin.  Second is the rotor itself.  The blade of the green sword splits in half, and one side folds down against the handle.  Then it uses a 5mm peg on one side to plug into the port on top of the copter.

One thing I like that Hasbro did here is to paint the inside of the leg panels green, so only the tail boom is gray.  And the green rotors are actually cartoon accurate as well.  But he's got the same kind of dinky landing skids as the Siege figure, without any yellow paint even to make it look more accurate.  There's also the visible wheels in the tail boom.  If I'm being honest, rather than the arm gun from the movie, or the hammer, or even the bomb, I'd rather they spent that extra budget to retool the legs a bit more to be more movie-accurate.

Again, you've got fewer 5mm ports for accessories, but you've got some extra tabs on the thrusters, so he can still carry most of his accessories.

So, 86 Springer is a tough call.  To be fair to Hasbro, they really did remold so much of him, focusing on making the sculpt and paint more cartoon accurate, that I think his new Leader price tag is justified.  And he really does look better.  If you don't have a Springer, this is definitely the one to get.

Where things get murkier, though, is if you do have Siege Springer.  Like, yeah, he's mostly new parts, and yeah, he's more accurate... but they still amount to relatively minor deco changes and almost no new engineering over the Siege toy.  I think a lot of people that have Siege Springer might look at him and think, "yeah, good enough."  That being said, the one thing that definitely makes me happy to have 86 Springer is the new rotor sword.  I hated the partsforming one so much!  So get 86 Springer if you don't have one, or if you just hate partsforming.

[sh9000]

 

[mikeszekely]

Told ya.

Includes lights and sounds.  Can't friggin' wait.

[mikeszekely]

Nothing too exciting at the panel.  Basically they announced most of the final waves of United and 2024 Studio Series.  They say they're saving stuff for "the panel," I assume they mean Pulsecon (September 13th)?  They specifically mention big news in the 2025 Studio Series, I'd have to assume they mean either Leader-class SS86 Megatron or the SS86 Constructicons.

[sh9000]

Yep.  Definite purchase.

[mikeszekely]

21 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

Yep.  Definite purchase.

The only thing I'm not liking on "Agent Knight" is the chunk under the Trans Am's nose.  But I assume it's for the electronics, and as much as I want a proper Trans Am, I think I want the red swooshy lights more.

EDIT: My source says the 2025 SS Commander class is a package deal with Long Haul and Hook.  He seemed to suggest that the SS news at Pulsecon is that SS86 Devastator will be entirely out by the end of the year, which make sense if you pair the Commander pack with Deluxe Bonecrusher, Deluxe Scavenger, Voyager Mixmaster, and Voyager Scrapper I told you guys about awhile ago.

They haven't mentioned it, but I've heard elsewhere that the mainline Commander will be Silverbolt, so we'll be completing Devastator and Superion.

EDIT 2: Preorders for KITT and the new Studio Series stuff announced at the SDCC stream will start July 30th at 1:00pm ET.

Edited July 27 by mikeszekely

[Negotiator]

Does that include cosmos?

[mikeszekely]

24 minutes ago, Negotiator said:

Does that include cosmos?

I don't think so, Cosmos and the Wave 5 United stuff were pipeline reveals, and aren't due until later.  I'd expect full reveals and preorders around Pulsecon in September.

The preorders on Tuesday should be KITT, the Studio Series reveals (TFone Megatron, Core Frenzy & Starscream, GE Ratchet, and Reactivate Bumblebee), the ROTF anniversary pack, and the Bludgeon/Ruckus Mayhem pack.  Maybe the Fractured Friendship (Gladiator Megatron & Supercop Pax) if they don't put that up sooner.

[M'Kyuun]

On vacay in PA visiting fam and just checked in. Some interesting news and rumors; def down for KITT. KITT goes up for PO the same day I'm leaving to go back to WA but hopefully I'll have the opportunity to get my PO in. Very surprised that light and sound are included, and while the weird hump under his bumper isn't the best, I'm also willing to overlook it for the electronic features even if I'm generally not a fan of electronics in my toys. In this case, it completes the character.

At this point, I take it on good faith that the SS86 Constructicon rumor is true and I hope they're done well. I passed on CW Devy due to its many flaws, so I'm hoping Studio Series offers a far, far better set of Constructicons.  I'm cautiously curious about Silverbolt, as so little of his plane mode is generally integrated to help form his bot mode- the entire bot is a giant block carried under an undersized Concorde and I vehemently hate that. Concorde is a large plane and it'd be nice to see more of the plane form the bot and vice versa, y'know, like a proper Transformer. Guess we'll see, but I have a feeling Silverbolt may be the first commander class fig I skip.

[mikeszekely]

2 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

On vacay in PA visiting fam

What part of PA?  You're kind of in my area now.

3 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

At this point, I take it on good faith that the SS86 Constructicon rumor is true

It's true.  Just like I promised you guys a Knight Rider collab.😉

[tekering]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

The only thing I'm not liking on "Agent Knight" is the chunk under the Trans Am's nose.

It's a total dealbreaker for me.

X-Transbots did it better eight years ago!

 

[mikeszekely]

14 minutes ago, tekering said:

X-Transbots did it better eight years ago!

To be fair, XTB's doesn't have lights and sounds, cost double what KITT's gonna (and that's without adjusting for inflation), and kind of sucked to transform.

But yeah, it's a definite eyesore.  

[sh9000]

To me it seems that Agent Knight is like KITT and Michael Knight combined.

[JB0]

2 hours ago, sh9000 said:

To me it seems that Agent Knight is like KITT and Michael Knight combined.

THAT'S why they spent the money to give him blue "pants"! Thanks!

 

I think Hasbro's missed an opportunity here. Laser Optimus in black with gold trim, a G1-style trailer in black with gold trim, a chess piece where the trailer's autobot logo goes... We need the truck too!

 

 

But I'm down for this. 

[M'Kyuun]

6 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

What part of PA?  You're kind of in my area now.

It's true.  Just like I promised you guys a Knight Rider collab.😉

I'm staying with my sister in Falls Creek near Dubois in Clearfield County. I know you're over on the eastern side a bit NW of Philly and a little SE of Allentown. We're about 2 hours NE of Pittsburgh. I grew up in Ridgway, Elk County- very, very hick in this whole region, not my cuppa. Gimme the city and some culture any day.

Kudos to you and your source. Nice to know what's coming.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

I know you're over on the eastern side a bit NW of Philly and a little SE of Allentown

Actually, I'm on the West side of the state, just far enough East of Pittsburgh to be over the line into Westmoreland county. As you said, about two hours. 

I think Elk County is a bit more rural than I prefer, but I'm not exactly a city boy, either. Outside of hockey games I rarely venture into Pittsburgh proper. I'm into suburban life... less crowds and traffic, but I still have neighbors and a Target.

Anyway... the reveals have turned into something of a crap show in other parts of the Internet, with Bayverse fans literally trying to wish G1 out of existence because Hasbro used the SS Commander slot on a popular character with a memorable scene from the 86 movie instead of a Cloverfield monster-looking robot that has less than 30 seconds of screen time in Dark of the Moon.

[lechuck]

On 7/16/2024 at 10:17 PM, treatment said:

Awww!  Don't you be ruining the dream for some now!

 

Haha, it does read like one of those Debbie Downer postings. 😄

But in my defence, it wasn't so much criticism towards the actual SS86 Optimus, but rather an allergic reaction to the notion that Hasbro lead toys are anywhere near on par with Takara MPs (or at least the later half of them when they upped the ante on engineering).

I get why a comment like that can come about, because it's the same subject matter and has similarities in look with a previous toy, but that doesn't make it a Masterpiece or high-end toy – there needs to be a differentiation. The inflationary usage of this MP comparison with every second Hasbro Transformer nowadays kind of irritates me with the thought being that it generates a false perception that you can essentially can get "the same" but much cheaper, which is most never the case.

Hasbro's entire modus operandi on how they perceive and approach toy making basically counteracts the idea of their stuff being premium toy equivalent.

[mikeszekely]

9 hours ago, JB0 said:

I think Hasbro's missed an opportunity here. Laser Optimus in black with gold trim, a G1-style trailer in black with gold trim, a chess piece where the trailer's autobot logo goes... We need the truck too!

Might as well do Goliath and KARR while we're at it.

[JB0]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Might as well do Goliath and KARR while we're at it.

Heck yeah. I am down for a complete set.

[sh9000]

First season KARR would be so easy to make and get Peter Cullen's permission for the phrases.  Goliath would be awesome.  I'll use Legacy Motormaster for now.

[mikeszekely]

While SDCC is giving us glimpses as to what's coming, I still have one review left for what's current.  Thought about waiting until after the weekend, but I know this is one of the more anticipated figures this year... it's Studio Series 86 Leader-class Swoop.

Well, I definitely think Hasbro just about nailed the robot mode.  It's got exactly the sort of the cartoon accuracy you'd want, from the shape of the missiles to the caveman brow on his face to the quartet of rectangles on his pelvis, combined with the extra greebles endemic to the post War for Cybertron soft relaunch of the brand.  Many of those extra greebles, like the L-shaped cutouts on his lats, the cuffs around his wrists, and the segments in the alt mode legs on the front of his thighs.

That's not to say that I don't have any nitpicks.  I think the crest on top of his head is a bit too vertical, coming almost straight up at the back of his head.  His feet seem a bit too tall.  And it's kind of weird that they painted the red stripe on his leg, but only until the break for the ankles, and not the entire stripe.

It's a bit disappointing that Hasbro hollowed out the rocket launchers on Swoops wings (though to be fair, if you don't remove them, you'd never notice).  Those launchers are some of his accessories, and, and they feature removable missiles (with 5mm pegs that plug into the 5mm ports in the the barrels).  He also comes with a pair of red swords that feature distinctly different sculpts.

Swoop's head swivels on a ball joint with a little bit of sideways tilt, some upward tilt, and a little downward tilt.  His head happens to be on a panel for transformation that you can use to fudge more downward tilt, should you desire.  His wings are hinged at the base and can fold backward to give his shoulders the clearance they need to rotate a full 360 degrees, and move laterally just over 90.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  His wrists swivel.  His beak hinders his waist swivel, but he can still get around 45 degrees to either the right or the left.  His hips go 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend up to 180 degrees.  His feet can tilt down, but not up, and his ankles pivot 90 degrees.

Swoop can, of course, hold his swords in either hand.  His rocket launchers peg onto 5mm ports on the corners of his wings, and if you like he can use those pegs to hold his launchers in his hands.

Additionally, Swoop has 5mm ports on the back corners of his wings, in the middle of his back, on the outsides of his shoulders, on the outsides of his ankles, under each foot, and under each heel.  His swords happen to have 5mm pegs on one side of the hilt, so you can easily store them in one of those ports, especially his back or wings in bot mode.  However, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that only one of those swords is really Swoop's.  The other, if you look at it, is really Grimlock's.  Which is great, except for two things- Swoop and Grimlock's swords don't match Snarl's, and it it still leaves Slag and Sludge in the lurch (unless you go 3P).  Apparently, to get official swords for those two (also red, so Snarl's still doesn't match) you had to buy the Pulse-exclusive (and totally sold out) comic book edition of Grimlock.  Sigh.

Oh, and now that I have Swoop and Grimlock together, you can see that Swoop is actually a little shorter than the other Dinobots.  I'm a tad lazy to look much further than the copy of The Ark I have laying around for a scale chart, but I think that might actually be correct.

Swoop's transformation is, at times, both clever and puzzling.  I think it's clever that there's a locking mechanism to keep his alt face attached to his robot head, and several hinges and flaps that'll be a factor in a minute.  I think it's clever the way the tips of his wings sit one way in robot mode to maintain a cartoon-accurate silhouette but then flip around to a more accurate alt mode position.  Then there's some expected stuff, like his feet folding in, his torso double-hinging inward to fill the gap left by his alt mode face, his fists folding in, and his legs wrapping around onto his back.  The part I find puzzling is his arms.  Rather than tuck in and lock against his sides, like you'd expect, the backs of his arms actually tab onto his wings.

So, yeah, dino mode isn't as strong as his bot mode.  While his wings might be clever, they seem a little short and too angular.  His arms definitely should have tucked against his sides instead of his wings, and it probably would have been better if his biceps collapsed so they'd be a shorter.  His lower jaw is too short, and the verticality of his head crest looks more off in this mode.  And maybe I'm nitpicking, but he's a tad chunky in alt mode.  If they could have made his torso, legs, and arms maybe a half a centimeter thinner he'd look so much better.  He also lacks any kind of tail, which is odd because the G1 toy had a tail, and the animation model has a tail.

In alt mode his robot arms prevent him from folding his wings downward at the base, and even if you untab them from his arms his legs kind of get in the way of bending them very far upward (though, if you do leave his arms tabbed to his wings, he's got special butterfly joints to get at least a little upward bend).  Mid-wing he's got a double-hinge that can fold up or down until his wing starts banging into stuff.  His stubby alt feet have hinges so they can bend upward and let him stand upright, or fold down for a flying pose (and he does have one of those little 3mm holes just above his crotch for a flight stand).  His jaws open, and there is a blast effect peg inside.

Ok, about those clever neck hinges and flaps... in alt mode, Swoop's head can bend far enough that he's looking upward even while in a flight pose, and down until his chin touches his chest.  The clever part is that there's a flap that serves no other purpose except to hide the hinges and fill in his neck in through most of that range.

While in alt mode, you can leave his rocket launchers pegged into the corners of what's now the underside of his wings, and that's cartoon accurate.  The pegs that were on the backs of his wings are now also on the undersides a little farther out.  You still have the ones on his robot shoulders, provided whatever you're plugging in there fits between his shoulders and the rocket launchers.  The ones on his ankles, now the sides of his back, are probably your best bet for storing his sword(s).  Between his robot feet/legs and his head, the one in the middle of his back lacks the clearance to be useful in dinosaur mode.

With his relatively simple engineering and smaller size, Swoop is arguably the least impressive of the Studio Series Dinobots.  His missteps, like the chunkier pterosaur mode, lack of tail, missing red paint on his ankles, shorter beak, and inability to shorten his arms and collapse them tighter against his sides tend to stand out a bit more, as you might expect the smaller size and simpler engineering would have left more budget to fix those issues.  There's a temptation to look at what other third party companies like Gigapower, Fans Toys, or Newage did when they made a Swoop, see what they did right, and think, "why couldn't Hasbro do that?"  I'll remind you, though, that even the cheapest of those 3P options is at least $10 more (and a fraction of the size).  I'm not saying that Hasbro couldn't have done better.  But I am saying that Swoop has an excellent robot mode, and a pretty good if flawed alt mode.  After a little over three years, I'm honestly just happy to finally have a compete set of Dinobots.  Swoop might not be the best figure Hasbro's released this year (or will release this year), but he's a solid B+ and worth picking up.

[mikeszekely]

Bad pic with crappy lighting and in their temporary (crowded) home.

Pro tip, that stand I used for Swoop is a Simple Stand from Good Smile.  For a very reasonable $15 on Amazon you get a pack of three complete stands (three bases, three arms, each arm has three hinges), including a set of three tips with the 3mm pegs for Transformers and the like as well as a set of 3 of those pinchy claws that grab the waists of stuff like Marvel Legends or G.I. Joes.  My only complaint is that the hinges aren't ratcheted (which you wouldn't expect at that price), and I had to tighten the screws to make the hinges tight enough to support Swoop's weight.

[M'Kyuun]

13 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Actually, I'm on the West side of the state, just far enough East of Pittsburgh to be over the line into Westmoreland county. As you said, about two hours. 

I think Elk County is a bit more rural than I prefer, but I'm not exactly a city boy, either. Outside of hockey games I rarely venture into Pittsburgh proper. I'm into suburban life... less crowds and traffic, but I still have neighbors and a Target.

Anyway... the reveals have turned into something of a crap show in other parts of the Internet, with Bayverse fans literally trying to wish G1 out of existence because Hasbro used the SS Commander slot on a popular character with a memorable scene from the 86 movie instead of a Cloverfield monster-looking robot that has less than 30 seconds of screen time in Dark of the Moon.

Pensburgh must be a pretty obscure suburban area as not even the mighty Google can find it; I'm consistently taken to Pennsburg which is the reason for my earlier supposition of your location. But yeah, you're not far from where I am. Indeed, it's a small world. 

I'm assuming the G1 naysayers are congregated on a certain well-known TF fan site infamous for vitriolic discussions, to put it politely. As my own view towards Bayverse is somewhat opposed, said naysayers can kindly "suck it" in the vulgar parlance they best understand. I'll take all the G1 Has/TT can dish out, thank you very much, especially at the level they've been achieving with both Legacy and Studio Series. Not perfect toys by any means, but still pretty darn good, and in most cases meeting or exceeding expectations for G1-faithful retail toys. I feel that qualifier is requisite as the designers are working under constraints both budgetary and safety related and likely numerous others of which we fans are blissfully unaware. And, to bookend my point, there'd be no Bayverse or any other TF continuity without the initial success and popularity of G1, so again I reiterate, the G1-haters can "suck it" whatever "it" may entail.

Good review on Swoop. I echo your observation concerning his alt mode and the omissions that made his G1 toy superior so far as his alt mode's appearance is concerned. I do think his bot mode looks great but given how much (over)engineering was put into the other Dinobots, SS Swoop is a surprisingly and disappointingly lazy effort by comparison. Still, as you say, it'll be nice to have him to complete the team. Not sure that there's really much third-party add-ons can do for him either; I guess they can make his longer curvier wings, but the lack of foreshortening arms that retract into the body and a tail are precluded by virtue of the design. I wish Takara was still making improved versions of these figs for their home market as that would also give us Western fans a chance to own them too.

 

[mikeszekely]

3 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Pensburgh

Pensburgh... as in Pittsburgh, home of the the Penguins (hockey team).  If you want to find me on Google Maps, I'm actually in North Huntingdon.

9 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

I'm assuming the G1 naysayers are congregated on a certain well-known TF fan site infamous for vitriolic discussions, to put it politely.

Yup.

I actually have some sympathy for the Bayverse fans.  Studio Series started as pretty much nothing but Bayverse figures, but for the last two or three years it's been kind of overrun by 86, Gamer Edition, the Cybertronian designs from Bumblebee, Rise of the Beasts, and now Transformers One.  In 2021 only five of the eighteen Studio Series releases were from Bay films, 2022 was six out of twenty, and 2023 was zero out of seventeen (not counting core classes, package refreshes, and store exclusives).  So far there's been zero this year, too.  With Hook & Long Haul in 2025, every Commander-class release in Studio Series is 86.  And with Revenge of the Fallen celebrating it's 15th anniversary this year, the reality is that there's a whole group of fans with no connection to G1, for whom the Bayverse is their G1, and it's gotta suck feeling like a line made for you is suddenly going to the G1 crowd.  But I also think the number of Bayverse characters to put in Studio Series is dwindling (hence the expansion into 86 and Gamer Edition), and some of those characters are extremely obscure.  Some people just don't seem to get that just because there are Bayverse characters big enough to need a Commander Class that Devastator, who appeared in a very memorable scene during the attack on Autobot City in the 86 movie, will move twenty times more units than a guy like Devcon, a guy who had about 17 seconds of screen time in Dark of the Moon, none of which were in alt mode, and whom all but the most ardent fans will have to look up on TFWiki.  So, yeah, every time I hear, "aw, G1 again, screw that, they should Devcon!" I lose some of that sympathy.

I will say, though (and not for the first time) that with the volume of characters that could benefit from the extra budget, Hasbro should really consider doing more Commanders a year.  Heck, if Silverbolt and Long Haul/Hook turn out as good as Motormaster, then Onslaught, Hot Spot, Scattershot, Hun-Grrr, and Razorclaw alone could take the rest of the decade, and that's still only G1.

[Scyla]

12 hours ago, lechuck said:

Haha, it does read like one of those Debbie Downer postings. 😄

But in my defence, it wasn't so much criticism towards the actual SS86 Optimus, but rather an allergic reaction to the notion that Hasbro lead toys are anywhere near on par with Takara MPs (or at least the later half of them when they upped the ante on engineering).

I get why a comment like that can come about, because it's the same subject matter and has similarities in look with a previous toy, but that doesn't make it a Masterpiece or high-end toy – there needs to be a differentiation. The inflationary usage of this MP comparison with every second Hasbro Transformer nowadays kind of irritates me with the thought being that it generates a false perception that you can essentially can get "the same" but much cheaper, which is most never the case.

Hasbro's entire modus operandi on how they perceive and approach toy making basically counteracts the idea of their stuff being premium toy equivalent.

I don’t know. I own a lot of Masterpiece toys and they frequently populate the bottom of my least favorite toys list in my collection.

MP-24 Star Saber is probably the worst toy I own. Other notable toys are MP-48+ Dark Amber Leoprime, MP-49 Black Convoy or MP-11 Lambor.

They are so bad that I stopped buying Masterpiece toys after Raiden (another contender) altogether.

The main line Hasbro toys are at least cheaper and mostly more fun to play with. There is a good chance that Studio Series 86 Optimus turns out better than MP-44.

If I didn’t collect MP I probably be much happier with collecting the main line. As a bonus you actually get the characters you want.

Takara just can’t deliver a consistent baseline on their collector Transformers line. And I find it funny that the MP line is not part of the new T-Spark branding that ought to be the equivalent to Tamashii Nations.

 

[sh9000]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSH152ZH

I think this is the Amazon listing for Agent Knight.