The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[sh9000]

Target Exclusive Wingtail and Blue Booster.

New pics.

Edited December 7 by sh9000

[M'Kyuun]

Amazing how all three Aerialbots are inaccurate misshapen messes in alt modes but this Sonic biplane, though somewhat cartoony, is fairly accurate and smooth betraying little of its transformative nature. It looks great, one of their better plane alts. I'm not into Sonic or I'd consider getting it.

However, Wingtail's bot mode suffers the indignity of having the empennage halves just hanging awkwardly off his back.

Is it just me, or does the car mode give off a Fisher Price Batmobile vibe? I wish it was Batman instead of Sonic as I'd likely get a copy.

Blue Rooster looks like he fared better in bot mode than Wingtail. I'm trying to imagine that fig with a Batman head. 😄 The whole set is just begging for a Batman recolor with Joker replacing Wingtail. If you're reading this Hasbro, repaint potential all over this set with only minor retooling!

 

 

Someone forgot to close Silverbolt's shin panels, or at least I'm assuming so.

[mikeszekely]

On 12/6/2024 at 6:49 PM, M'Kyuun said:

Someone forgot to close Silverbolt's shin panels, or at least I'm assuming so.

Like Menasor, they're spring loaded and close when a bot is plugged into the calves. 

Unlike Menasor, it sounds like any of the four Deluxes can go on any of Superion's limbs. 

I haven't confirmed it but I think wave 1 preorders are coming  Tuesday in the States.

EDIT: Oh, BTW, the plane kibble on Wingtail's butt is likely supposed to be his fox tails, of which Tails has two.

Edited December 8 by mikeszekely

[sh9000]

Yes preorders go up on 12/10.

[JB0]

9 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Is it just me, or does the car mode give off a Fisher Price Batmobile vibe? I wish it was Batman instead of Sonic as I'd likely get a copy.

The car is based heavily on the one Sonic drives in the Sonic & All-Stars racing game trilogy.

 

 

Miles "Tails" Prowers' airplane prop should stick out his butt. I'm just sayin'.

[M'Kyuun]

Just perused the Cybertron Con pics over on TFW2005 and I realized that the pic with the opened shins was the Superion combiner frame and not Silverbolt. I think it's a shame that they resorted to another frame system instead of figuring out a way to just let the bots themselves form the limbs. Perhaps they couldn't stabilize them hence the wobbly instability issues inherent of the Combiner Wars gestalts. Granted, Menasor proved a frame system is effective, but I reiterate my constant mantra that this company has forty years' experience designing these things and finding a solution to solidify a bunch of bots connecting together to form a solid larger bot should not be beyond their capabilities. Looking through the pics, I realized there was very little on display that interested me. I'm curious to see what the new Rescue Bots crossovers look like in toy form, as I thought they did a great job with Chase. I like Animated, but I'm not sure if I'll pick up a copy of Wasp or not. Who am I kidding, I probably will. I don't own a copy of Wasp from the original line so this would fill that void. I still really, really wish they'd made a way to rotate his feet so that the actual front sections of his car formed his toes. 

As to Wingtail and his tails, I know extremely little about the Sonic Universe as I never played the games and have no interest in the character or associated media. I realize I'm likely in the minority of people my age who grew up with it, but I didn't and so I never formed associations with it. To that end, this is the first time I ever heard of Wingtail or Blue Rooster, so I didn't know what Wingtail looked like until @mikeszekely posted the above pic. Regarding the figure, you can't even squint and imagine that those empennage sections look like fox tails, as it seems they didn't incorporate any plastic origami to attempt to make them look somewhat fox-like. I suppose it's enough that they split in two. For me, it's moot as I don't intend to get the set. I still think Blue Rooster needs a retool/repaint into a Batmobile/Batman mech; I'd be down for that.

[mikeszekely]

21 hours ago, JB0 said:

Miles "Tails" Prowers' airplane prop should stick out his butt. I'm just sayin'.

 

[Scyla]

I think the white plastic on the Arialbots looks horrible. It looks like they are cheap knockoffs. The details look so soft they almost look like Legends scale toys.

I also think that Menasor was a better looking combiner but maybe I need to take a closer look at it again.

I‘m also disappointed that they couldn’t come up with a better transformation scheme than a box under a plane for Silverbolt, especially when they outsourced all the combiner bits to Superions’s frame.

If I get Megatronus I somehow have to remove the paint from the faceplate radiator. The way the "vents" are shaped it looks like a mouth instead of a faceplate. Plus the paint is much too bright.

He looks like Emperor Zurg:

Edited December 9 by Scyla

[Hikuro]

Aerialbots will be a buy, even if I'm not exactly happy with the design, they ARE in a sense G1 accurate I suppose which is kind of odd to me.

I'm still debating if I even want Star Convoy....I don't really have room for ANOTHER Titan class figure, and I don't exactly like the way he looks. To me, Stellarus looks a lot better than this.

 

 

[sh9000]

Age of the Primes.

Edited December 10 by sh9000

[mikeszekely]

Age of the Primes is live now on Pulse.  I grabbed all three Aerialbots, Megatronus, Prima, Solus, Star Convoy, and Red Alert for now.  I skipped Wasp, same as I skipped Animated Motormaster, because I'm just not that into the Animated designs.  I'm on the fence about Grimlock, since I already have the much more interesting tiger striped G2 version, but if they're going to do other G2 Dinobots then Bluelock might match better.

I'm also not preordering the Sonic crossover.  I'm not really a fan of the cartoony aesthetic; I think they'll look too out-of-place with the other crossovers.  And I'm not really into Sonic.  But if I see them in the store I might still bite.

[Dangard Ace]

Got the Aerialbots and Waspinator off Pulse.  Skipped everything else.  

[sh9000]

Ordered the Aerialbots at Entertainment Earth.  That $20 off coupon they sent from their promo came in handy.

[Radioguy]

12 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I'm on the fence about Grimlock, since I already have the much more interesting tiger striped G2 version, but if they're going to do other G2 Dinobots then Bluelock might match better.

I also have G1 and G2, but haven't gotten the Godzilla one yet or feel like jumping on this yet either. I would like to own more color variants of that mold in general, as I like it enough, but not at MSRP each time. Considering the distribution of the Toho collabs, it would seem I'll never find that Grimlock at the deal I got G2 for.

[Hikuro]

Amazon has them available for pre-order, Aerialbots, & G2 Grimlock are locked in, at least they're spread out by a month since it's a good 200 bucks. But I'll skip on Star Optimus, I was kind of setting myself up at some point to get Super Megatron and since those two are apart of the same storyline if I remember right, I would rather get Stellarus in the next few months then Super Megatron to be a good pair. There's something about this TItan class version that doesn't set well with me, I know he's supposed to be a big robot now at this point, it's maybe the vehicle mode looking so stiff, or how terribly hollow and bland his base mode is or how chunky he looks in robot mode, I dunno maybe all three. But I just can't do it! 

[pengbuzz]

Just pre-ordered Missing Link Sunstreaker on BBTS (birthday gift,  and they just had a price drop to $84.99!):

https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/299837?o=1

[sh9000]

Managed to order a second set of 4 SS TFTM Dinobots brand new from different stores for around $35 each.  I now only need Grimlock and I read that he might be reissued in 2025 so I think I'll just wait because aftermarket prices for him are crazy.

[sh9000]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/TRANFORMERS-GEN-RETRO-3/6403109485

$39.35.

[mikeszekely]

10 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/TRANFORMERS-GEN-RETRO-3/6403109485

$39.35.

Pass.  I'm sure someone's into it, but personally I don't get the desire for a figure that's the G1 toy, but colored like the cartoon.  If I want G1 toy, I have the G1 toy (and Missing Link).  If I want cartoon accuracy, I have SS86,

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Pass.  I'm sure someone's into it, but personally I don't get the desire for a figure that's the G1 toy, but colored like the cartoon.  If I want G1 toy, I have the G1 toy (and Missing Link).  If I want cartoon accuracy, I have SS86,

Likewise. I have a reissue of G1 OP (I don't think I ever opened it. It's tucked away somewhere in storage), I have the deluxe Legacy United OP, which makes some improvements over the Missing Link at a fraction of the cost (I can live without chrome and die cast), and I have both Earthrise and SS86 Optimus Primes, either of which can fill the void in my mainline collection. SS86 is great, but I still love the Earthrise fig.

IMHO, with Missing Link a reality, I'm not sure why one would want the original toy. Well yeah, nostalgia. Nostalgia only carries me so far. At least the Missing Link toys offer a close facsimile to the OG toy while delivering much improved articulation and other features. Even as a kid collecting the odd G1 bot, due to their many limitations my disenchantment with those toys grew with every acquisition (except the cassettes, which are still pretty cool and far superior to the crappy cassettes in Legacy). I would much prefer modern takes with all the articulation and complexity they offer. However, to each their own.

[mikeszekely]

20 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

I'm not sure why one would want the original toy. Well yeah, nostalgia. Nostalgia only carries me so far.

Because it is the toy I had as a kid.  Don't get me wrong, I love Missing Link, I think it's neat how Takara added so much articulation to the original toy, but once they did that it's not really the original toy anymore.

[M'Kyuun]

4 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Because it is the toy I had as a kid.  Don't get me wrong, I love Missing Link, I think it's neat how Takara added so much articulation to the original toy, but once they did that it's not really the original toy anymore.

😄 For me, that's the point. The original toys sucked.

Edit. After thinking about it for a minute, let me amend that. I think the OG toys, many of them anyway, like Jazz, Prowl, Sideswipe, etc, presented very well. I liked the way they looked but deeply lamented their lack of pose ability which greatly reduced their value and enjoyment as a toy. They were more knick-knack than toy due to those limitations. While I'm not collecting them (yet), I think Takara struck gold with the Missing Link line. Had they done this ten, fifteen years ago I'd have been over the moon and likely would have bought them all without hesitation. But, IMHO, better toys exist, and have existed for some time now, which capture a good marriage of both toon and toy aesthetics along with a goodly range of articulation, all the things the OG toys lacked. I think they should have released this line years ago before alternatives existed. That said, seeing as how they're moving into the carbots with Sunstreaker, I'm hoping for Prowl to receive the ML treatment. He was my first G1 toy and I ruined my copy trying to jimmy-rig some articulation into the hips when I was a kid. Still regret it, and if I have the opportunity to get an improved version, I will.

Edited December 14 by M'Kyuun

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

😄 For me, that's the point. The original toys sucked.

Sure, but if you're going to start making improvements to articulation, why not make more improvements? Replace stickers with paint. Fix the wonky proportions. Tweak the decos to make them more cartoon accurate. 

...whoops, I've made Generations. Or Masterpiece.

And that's kind of where I've landed. I love the G1 toys because they're what I played with as a kid, warts and all. And if I want improved versions, I've got lots of options for truly improved versions and not simply G1 toys with better articulation.

Maybe age is a factor here? I was four when I got Sideswipe, my first TF. I was too young to be bothered with the limitations of the toys back then, my little mind was simply blown by the fact that I could have a cool car that turned into a cool robot.

[treatment]

fwiw...

The Hasbro-40th OP totally sucks in deco and articulation and stuff.

However, at least it does have a working spring-launcher for Roller.

At the clearance pricing of $35 or so right now at wally's-dot-com with the free quick-shipping at this time of the year, it's kinda highly competitive against the $50+ HK bootlegs at ebay right now.

 

 

[sh9000]

4 hours ago, sh9000 said:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/TRANFORMERS-GEN-RETRO-3/6403109485

$39.35.

Price dropped to $35.24.

 

I've got the Hot Wheels Optimus Prime so I'll get the Ultra Magnus.

[M'Kyuun]

11 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Sure, but if you're going to start making improvements to articulation, why not make more improvements? Replace stickers with paint. Fix the wonky proportions. Tweak the decos to make them more cartoon accurate. 

...whoops, I've made Generations. Or Masterpiece.

And that's kind of where I've landed. I love the G1 toys because they're what I played with as a kid, warts and all. And if I want improved versions, I've got lots of options for truly improved versions and not simply G1 toys with better articulation.

Maybe age is a factor here? I was four when I got Sideswipe, my first TF. I was too young to be bothered with the limitations of the toys back then, my little mind was simply blown by the fact that I could have a cool car that turned into a cool robot.

Age is potentially a factor; I was thirteen when Transformers came out, so a very different outlook and set of expectations. Compared with Gobots, and many other cartoons, I appreciated the more mature tone and story of the first season. Alas, they round filed that direction and devolved into silliness and whimsy for the remainder of the series and I pretty much stopped watching it with any regularity during second season. To this day, the first season is the only one I own and the only one I've seen in its entirety. So far as the toys were concerned, after picking up Prowl, I really wanted that fig in the box to look like that box art so my disappointment was profound from the very beginning. MP Prowl was the realization of what I wanted in a Prowl toy; I only had to wait about thirty years for it. I also love the WFC and Earthrise Datsun bros toys, especially Prowl (I just love his overall livery and look) and Newage's Harry. I missed the boat on Magic Square's version as I was just starting to dip my toes into the legends stuff and didn't want to get sucked in. Shoulda known that was an effort born in futility. 😄

So far as articulation, that was always my greatest source of disappointment with the og toys, so that's a personally subjective focus for my criticism. I liked the deco of the G1 toys, stickers didn't really bother me, nor the sometimes-wonky proportions as there was nothing else better to compare with at the time, at least known to me. Had the OG toys been what Missing Link is, I'd have had a completely different view of those toys and a far deeper appreciation for them. But, by and large, they were pretty statues and I found them too limited to be much fun, especially with the really well-articulated GI Joe figures and even better articulated Microman figures existing concurrently with Transformers. I constantly questioned why the Transformers toys couldn't have the same levels of articulation. That was my constant complaint about the toys until the 90s when ball joints started to be introduced and figures finally started to be fully poseable, with limitations of course. But it was a step in the right direction, and I was happy to see improvements in that area, as well as sculpting, paint apps, and complexity as the years, and new toylines, came and went. Complexity was another area I was hawkish about until Bayformers took it to the far extreme. As I get older, I find I'm more easily frustrated by really complex transformations and I tend to be more heavy-handed as well which doesn't always bode well. Patience was never an easy virtue for me. But back in the early 2000s, I welcomed increased complexity with gusto. Just shows how our perspectives can change over time.

I can't say that age is really a primary factor for appreciating G1. There are fans who were born after the millennium who are discovering G1 and have a passion for it- everything from the toys, the show, the comics, and they pursue collecting those things the same as the folks who grew up with G1. Like anything, it comes down to personal tastes and biases, personalities, and influences. At the end of the day, we like what we like for whatever reasons and so be it. I don't know why big robots that turn into other things (with lots of articulation!) ignites a passion within me; it just does and I suspect it's the same for other fans of whatever they're fans of. 

[Radioguy]

Some slick discounts on Walmart-exclusives this weekend. For instance, Ferak is like $10. Nice for those who never got a Kingdom Cyclonus.

[pengbuzz]

20 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Price dropped to $35.24.

When it gets to $5.00, I might spring for it. Otherwise, I'm good.

[JB0]

On 12/14/2024 at 4:05 PM, mikeszekely said:

Sure, but if you're going to start making improvements to articulation, why not make more improvements? Replace stickers with paint. Fix the wonky proportions. Tweak the decos to make them more cartoon accurate. 

They actually did replace stickers with paint and molded detail.

 

Of course, the proportions and deco being the same as the original toys is the whole point. I feel like the concept pitch could be "the toys you thought you had as a kid". They could make them look puffy and unpainted toon-accurate. But then they'd just be yet another way to do the same thing as the MP line and Studio Series.

I know they DID the toon-color Missing Link, and also the toon-color G1 reissue, but... I don't understand them. 

[mikeszekely]

6 hours ago, JB0 said:

They actually did replace stickers with paint and molded detail.

 

Of course, the proportions and deco being the same as the original toys is the whole point. I feel like the concept pitch could be "the toys you thought you had as a kid". They could make them look puffy and unpainted toon-accurate. But then they'd just be yet another way to do the same thing as the MP line and Studio Series.

I know they DID the toon-color Missing Link, and also the toon-color G1 reissue, but... I don't understand them. 

Yeah, I'm not opposed to Missing Link. I just personally feel like once you start improving the original toys then they're very clearly NOT the original toys, so you might as well keep making improvements until you get to the modern toys. 

I'll say this much, though... adding articulation makes a lot more sense to me than keeping the limits of the original toys but changing the deco line Walmart's retro line. It's equally NOT the original toys but lacking any meaningful improvement.

[treatment]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Yeah, I'm not opposed to Missing Link. I just personally feel like once you start improving the original toys then they're very clearly NOT the original toys, so you might as well keep making improvements until you get to the modern toys. 

I'll say this much, though... adding articulation makes a lot more sense to me than keeping the limits of the original toys but changing the deco line Walmart's retro line. It's equally NOT the original toys but lacking any meaningful improvement.

 

Hasbro apathy or laziness, or most likely, both...

🤷‍♂️

[sh9000]

Retro G1 Optimus Prime currently sold out at $35.24 and sold out at Hasbro Pulse for $74.99.

[Big s]

5 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Retro G1 Optimus Prime currently sold out at $35.24 and sold out at Hasbro Pulse for $74.99.

Sounds like they scalped their own product 

[sh9000]

Hasbro Pulse sold out of Retro G1 Optimus Prime way before Walmart had their clearance sale.

Looks like there will be a Hot Wheels release without the trailer.

[Radioguy]

2 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

Hasbro Pulse sold out of Retro G1 Optimus Prime way before Walmart had their clearance sale.

Looks like there will be a Hot Wheels release without the trailer.

They really ought to re-release the transformable one. That would print a lot more money.