The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[Scyla]

41 minutes ago, JB0 said:

Good, super-toon-accurate is a hideous-looking trend that has produced the least-interesting toys in the line's history!

 

I don't think you're wrong, but I think it is a fool's errand with Transformers. The brand's had precious little consistency over the ages, often failing to remain consistent even within a single year's lineup.

 

That said, I really don't understand the difference between MP and MPG. Maybe they just thought the series numbers were getting too big and wanted to reset the counter.

I don’t understand the need to switch from MP to MPG either. The only thing I can think off is that Takara wanted a new designation for their Tamashii Nations knock off (i.e. T-Spark) and thus didn’t want to continue the MP line. 
Nothing about it makes any sense to me.

[davidwhangchoi]

What is MPG?  getting better milage? 

we have 4 optimus primes for master piece. pretty good milage out of a character.

Can we get one Galvatron since we have a rodimus?

 

Edited Wednesday at 09:56 PM by davidwhangchoi

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said:

What is MPG?  getting better milage? 

we have 4 optimus primes for master piece. pretty good milage out of a character.

Can we get one Galvatron since we have a rodimus?

 

Since Raiden was the first MPG (or, technically, like the first several MPGs) it was assumed that the "G" was for "gattai."  Then Takara decided it's for gattai, but also giant and great, then they stuffed Ginrai into it (but only Super Ginrai, because Ginrai by himself is still just regular MP), canceled the regular MP line, then started sticking whatever into it with no sense of scale or unified aesthetics.  So I'm pretty sure MPG stands for "My Primus God-these-Transformers-fans-will-buy-whatever-we-shovel-at-them!"

[sh9000]

Void Rivals.

[mikeszekely]

I'm going hold off on more Studio Series Voyagers for now, and jump straight to the Leader... Age of Extinction Optimus Prime.

Given that he's actually slightly smaller than the Voyager-class figure from The Last Knight, we're back to "Leader" really meaning "Voyager Plus."  And next to my copy of the TLK Voyager, it's a tad hard to see where the plus is even coming from.  But it's important to remember that I repainted a lot of that figure, with Toyhax stickers for a lot of the flame details.  So I went and found a photo of how the TLK figure originally looked, and ok, there's definitely some improvements.  Rather than use an ugly darker gray plastic with bits of silver paint, the new SS figure uses a lighter gray for Prime's silver parts, with just some silver on his shins.  He's got some of the gold accents on his tummy and knees (but not the ones in his chest or the rest of his shins).  He's got the red on top of his feet, blue hip skirts and blue on the backs of his hands, plus the proper flame deco and silver vents on his boobs.  There's no blue on parts that aren't supposed to be blue but were on the older figure, like his collar and most of his head.

At the end of the day, though, this is still a mainline figure.  The budget ran out before the deco was totally screen accurate, and he's not pulling off Unique Toys black magic engineering.  He's still missing some blue on his shoulders, some red on his collar, and some flames on his shoulder pads and legs.  His legs still have kibble, like the smokestacks for his truck mode and parts of his roof, and he's still got quite a backpack.  While pretty noticeable from the sides and back, I would argue that his silhouette is overall improved from the front, as he doesn't have doors poking out like wings and fenders and wheels on his ankles.

A Leader budget also comes with more accessories.  You get a sword, a shield, an arm blade, and a little connector piece.  The sword and shield are bigger than the ones that came with the TLK toy.  Like the figure itself, they're technically more accurate (no orange blade, no weird blue shield); the red and silver on the sword are fine, but the pommel is left uncolored and it's missing a few blue accents.  And the silver and red on the shield are mostly fine, but some of the red and gold accents are missing, as is the blue on the rather large bit at the top.

Prime's head is a ball joint with a fairly limited up/down tilt, but surprisingly adequate sideways tilt and swivel.  His shoulders rotate and move slightly over 90 degrees laterally; the shoulder pads are both double-hinged and on a swivel, so they can easily get out of the way.  His biceps swivel, and his double-jointed elbows curl a full 180 degrees.  His wrists swivel and can bend inward, and his fingers are hinged so his hands can open.  His waist swivels, though his hip skirts are connected to his upper body so you'll have to lift them to clear his hips.  Speaking of hips, they can move 90 degrees forward or laterally, but only about 75 degrees backward (which is honestly plenty) due to his backpack.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  The front half of his foot can tilt downward, nothing up, and he's got 90 degrees of ankle pivot.

The entire handle comes off of the sword, so you can feed it up through the bottom of a fist then reattach the blade, though with his opening hands you can kind of just snap them into his hands.  He can hold the arm blade in his other hand, but with his wrists bent forward you can also plug them into slots on his forearms.  The shield plugs into the 5mm port on either forearm.  It can open up to show the gun built into it, but opening it actually requires pulling off the sides, which are simply plugged into 5mm ports on the base of the shield, and reattaching them to different 5mm ports.

Prime has storage for all his gear, but it's a bit annoying.  You need the connector piece, which the sword slides into.  But to find a 5mm port on Prime's back, you have to life part of the truck kibble, which makes it visible from the front.  Once it's attached, you can plug the shield into the 5mm port on the connector part.  The arm blade has a slot on one side.  It can either plug into the side of the door kibble on the edge of his backpack, or a tab under the gun on the underside of the shield.

Prime's a bit shellformery, with a large portion of the cab coming from his backpack and almost he entire rest of what you see in alt mode coming from his legs as his head, arms, and upper torso tuck away inside the backpack cab.  I think the transformation is generally more interesting and a bit smoother than the TLK Voyager, though.  Speaking of, they're now nearly identical in size, and while my customized TLK definitely looks better in truck mode, it's worth noting again how that figure looked before I customized it.

Details like the vents on the hood, the flames on the rear fenders, and the blue that should run along the bottom are all missing.  Guess that paint budget didn't hold up.  On the whole, though, it's a pretty good sculpt, and the missing paint details are par for the course with Bayverse Studio Series figures.

Prime hauls his gear by plugging the connector part into the 5mm port on the hitch.  That allows the sword to slide through it, with the point moving through a cutout on the back of the cab.  There's just enough space for the shield to plug into the 5mm port on the connector.  The arm blade doesn't fit on the shield in this mode, but the slot on the side of the blade can fit over a tab between the rear wheels on either side.

Or, another option is to attach a trailer.  SS86 Prime's trailer fits pretty well (I'm becoming tempted to buy a second SS86 Optimus for a spare trailer for other Primes, while the robot himself could be permanently turned into Skybound Optimus with that upcoming DNA kit...).

Reviewing Studio Series figures on the heels of Age of the Primes can be a bit hard.  Hasbro tends to do a better job with G1 characters, as the busy designs of the Bayverse just don't lend themselves to transforming toys on a budget.  Coming off of some bangers like SS86 Optimus, the IDW remold of Gamer Edition Optimus, and Reactivate Optimus it's tempting to see the flaws in SS AoE Optimus and think it's not that much better than the old Voyager, that it's kind of just an OK figure.  And maybe that's not wrong, but the fact is that while this version of Optimus Prime has been done better, it hasn't been done by Hasbro, and not at this price.  Even the Leader toys from the Age of Extinction and The Last Knight lines were pretty kibble-tastic, and the deco, silhouette, and engineering beat out any unmodified Voyagers while we're at it.  To be perfectly honest, this is also probably the best Studio Series figures Bayverse Optimus has gotten, period, beating out SS-05 and it's remolded and repainted Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon iterations (would love to see that design get a Commander-class glow-up).  So, no, he's not my favorite figure this year (though, with some notable figures from this wave still MIA, he might be my favorite SS figure so far this year), I do like him.  If you've got a shelf or two going for the Bayverse, this figure is worth picking up.  But as if often the case, if you're not into the movie designs this isn't going to be the figure that makes you change your mind.

[sh9000]

Robosen Bumblebee.

[derex3592]

That's INSANE😲

[davidwhangchoi]

17 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Since Raiden was the first MPG (or, technically, like the first several MPGs) it was assumed that the "G" was for "gattai."  Then Takara decided it's for gattai, but also giant and great, then they stuffed Ginrai into it (but only Super Ginrai, because Ginrai by himself is still just regular MP), canceled the regular MP line, then started sticking whatever into it with no sense of scale or unified aesthetics.  So I'm pretty sure MPG stands for "My Primus God-these-Transformers-fans-will-buy-whatever-we-shovel-at-them!"

thanks for sharing where the "G" came from in the MP line.  Since i seen arcee in the missing link line, I figure nothing is consistent with Takara and just putting anything anywhere.

I hope the price point isn't as high as MP-44, with the looose/broken knees, i skipped it. 

 

[sh9000]

Looking forward to the Grimlock reissue to get a second one.

[anime52k8]

2 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said:

Since i seen arcee in the missing link line, I figure nothing is consistent with Takara and just putting anything anywhere.

 

Arcee still fits the missing link line since it's a modernization of an 80s toy design.  It's just the original toy never got mass produced. 

[davidwhangchoi]

3 hours ago, anime52k8 said:

Arcee still fits the missing link line since it's a modernization of an 80s toy design.  It's just the original toy never got mass produced. 

was that part of the diaclone line? (obviously we didn't see it in the U.S. as a transformer.) i thought it looked like wheelie.

i understand hot rod, rodimus prime were toys made specific for the movie vs. redeco a toy line for the original line up.  

[anime52k8]

On 3/27/2025 at 5:08 PM, davidwhangchoi said:

was that part of the diaclone line? (obviously we didn't see it in the U.S. as a transformer.) i thought it looked like wheelie.

i understand hot rod, rodimus prime were toys made specific for the movie vs. redeco a toy line for the original line up.  

No, Arcee was planed as one of the movie original toys but got scrapped at the prototype phase. the the Missing link figure is a 'what if they actually finish this design?' as well as a 'what if G1 toys had articulation?'

[sh9000]

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Another MP Optimus, how nostalgic.

[26662]

On 3/27/2025 at 10:24 AM, sh9000 said:

Robosen Bumblebee.

The rear-wheels transformation is beautiful. 

[anime52k8]

MPG Prime is interesting, but I don't know how I feel about seeing exposed wheels on his legs again after all these years.

I really like the head sculpt so at least there's that.

Edited Saturday at 05:13 AM by anime52k8

[26662]

2 hours ago, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

Another MP Optimus, how nostalgic.

I'm an OG G1 die-hard...but I feel like it's time to move on and establish a newer, richer cast of multi-faceted characters and an internally-consistent universe.  And for the love of God, make it a universe that doesn't revolve around kids!  I give every TF series an honest chance, but I keep returning to G1 simply because none of the follow-up series released thus far has captured my imagination in any compelling or lasting way.

Edited Saturday at 06:32 AM by 26662

[26662]

8 minutes ago, anime52k8 said:

MPG Prime is interesting, but I don't know how I feel about seeing exposed wheels on his legs again after all these years.

I really like the head sculpt so at least there's that.

The head sculpt channels Gundam a bit too much for my tastes. 

[anime52k8]

see, I like Gundam.

[26662]

Just now, anime52k8 said:

see, I like Gundam.

I gave Gundam a chance.  I watched a couple different series (I think the original, Char's revenge, and a third one) but gave up on the IP when it seemed like they were all rehashing the same plot with similar/related characters.

But back to aesthetics.  Gundams don't make any sense to me (see attached pic).  If I'm designing mecha, am I going to waste time, materials, manpower, money, etc. making every other facet pointlessly pointy?  No.  There's nothing elegant about a Gundam's design, and that's their fatal flaw for me. 

[mikeszekely]

On 3/27/2025 at 8:08 PM, davidwhangchoi said:

was that part of the diaclone line? (obviously we didn't see it in the U.S. as a transformer.) i thought it looked like wheelie.

i understand hot rod, rodimus prime were toys made specific for the movie vs. redeco a toy line for the original line up.

Arcee's toy?  No, it was designed at the same time the other 86 movie toys were, and like those toys it was based on Floro Dery's earlier designs and not the finalized designs seen in the movie, hence the weird fender shoulders and pink-and-orange color scheme.  It apparently never got past the resin prototype stage, though.  The prevailing theory was boys playing with Transformers wouldn't want a toy of a girl one.  The Missing Link toy is based on the resin prototype.

Anyhoo... just one more toy to review for now, but by my count I'm still waiting on two figures from Age of the Primes and three from the current Studio Series wave.  Hopefully I find them soon (I even went out for a drive to a more distant but bigger Walmart this morning, but they didn't have anything but Transformers One leftovers and empty pegs).  But for now, he's Studio Series Deluxe-class Wheeljack (Que).

Fun fact, this is actually Que's first release in the US.  A toy was created for him during the Dark of the Moon toyline, released in Asian markets as "Wheeljack" and Japan as "Autobot Que," but Hasbro canceled the US release at the 11th hour.  Needless to say, the Bayverse fans (yes, that's a thing... remember, we just a little shy of the '07 movie turning 20, so there's a whole generation of young adults for whom this was their G1) are pretty giddy.  Should they be?  He looks pretty bland, to me.  Sure, in the film Que is primarily blue and silver, but the Studio Series toy has a lot of gray plastic that really ought to have some blue paint (including a second, lighter shade that Hasbro applied to his eyes and hair and nowhere else).  There's some gold paint on his mustache and his belt buckle, but again that's leaving a ton of details that should have gold accents unpainted.

He's also got quite a lot of kibble.  This is arguably true for many of the Bayformers in the Studio Series line up.  Like I said yesterday, the overly busy, alien designs used in the movies never really lent themselves well to transforming toys, resulting in a lot of shellformers.  And look, I'm prepared to forgive some forearm and calf kibble.  I can overlook a bit of a backpack.  What's driving me crazy, though, are the two panels running from his shoulder pads all the way down to his knees.  They're not screen accurate, and they're constantly in the way.

Then there's his accessories.  He's got a little gun-looking thing, and a... stick.

Que's articulation is pretty much trash.  His head swivels and looks down, but no upward or sideways tilt.  His shoulders are ball joints with a swivel heavily restricted by his shoulder pads, and lateral movement under 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his ball-jointed elbows bend 90 degrees.  No wrist or waist articulation.  His ball-jointed hips can go 90 degrees forward, a bit less than 90 laterally, but almost nothing backward due to his backpack kibble.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  Due to his transformation his feet have a little up/down tilt, but no pivot.

He can hold his gun without much issue, but the stick?  The 5mm ports in his hands don't go all the way through, so he can hold it by sticking the very end into a hand, far from where you'd hold it as a spear or staff, or you can plug the 5mm peg on it into his hand like an oversized billy club.  Honestly, I think the best thing you can do with it is to stick the weird-shaped tab into a spot on his back above his alt mode grill, then use a 3mm port to plug his gun into the stick.  This weird stick kibble is actually present on Que's back in the movie, so... yay accuracy?

Lift Que's entire backpack, including his shoulder pads, up and away from his body.  Untab the sides and line them up with the wheels on his shoulder pads, and unfold his windshield.  Tuck his shoulders close to his body, then use his elbow, bicep swivel, and a transformation hinge in his forearm to kind of turn his arms around behind his back so his fingers point at his head and the kibble on his forearms meet to form the roof.  The back of his calves will swivel so that his feet turn inward.  Stop at about 90 degrees, fold in his heel and tuck the foot in, then continue to swivel another 90 degrees to line up the back of the car.  From there, it's just a matter of using some hinges and swivels to swing the shoulder pads and the sides of the car into place without adequate clearance to do so.

Credit where it's due, Hasbro got a license from Mercedes-Benz, and Que turns into a decent (if you ignore the transformation seems) E550 (W212, pre-facelift).  The headlights, taillights, foglights, and most of the grill are accurate to the real car, as well as the chrome strip across the back, the MB badge on the trunk, and the E550 in the rear corner.  If nothing else, at least the Studio Series line has given us some nice, licensed cars.

Well, nice until you try to figure out what to do with his gear.  Essentially, there's a cutout near the bottom of the door, under the wing mirror.  You plug the gun into the stick, like you would for his backpack, then plug the stick into that cutout.  Because, yeah, I've totally seen people driving a Benz with a giant weird stick hanging off the side.

Look, I know that there are Bayverse fans out there, many of whom have been frustrated that so much of Studio Series has been taken over by Gamer Edition, 86, and Rise of the Beasts in the last few years.  They want to complete their movie casts.  They will lap this up while insisting that Habro also make some other blink-and-you'll-miss-him guy you have to look up on the TF Wiki to realize even had a name.  Good for them, I guess, but for everyone else Que's kind of trash.  His robot mode is bland, kibble-covered mess with below-average articulation and accessories I kind of hate, even if they are movie-accurate.  Really the only nice thing I have to say about him is that he's got a nice car mode and he ticks a box toward completing the Dark of the Moon cast.  I think the majority of you should avoid this figure.

[M'Kyuun]

11 minutes ago, 26662 said:

I gave Gundam a chance.  I watched a couple different series (I think the original, Char's revenge, and a third one) but gave up on the IP when it seemed like they were all rehashing the same plot with similar/related characters.

But back to aesthetics.  Gundams don't make any sense to me (see attached pic).  If I'm designing mecha, am I going to waste time, materials, manpower, money, etc. making every other facet pointlessly pointy?  No.  There's nothing elegant about a Gundam's design, and that's their fatal flaw for me. 

The Barbatos is a pretty elegant design. I'm also partial to the Delta Plus, which has a pretty snazzy looking Waverider mode.

 

OT, MPG Prime appeals to me as an upgrade to MP-10. I never liked the rear wheel bump outs on MP-10's legs, and the arms were disproportionate. This design has far better proportions in bot mode, and I like how they were able to incorporate tandem dual wheels in the rear, an extreme rarity for tractor trailer Transformers. It's a shame they couldn't hide the faux small fuel tank in truck mode, as it looks odd next to the large tank that should actually be there, and the huge chunks at the end of the hitch bed, likely his folded-up feet, look a bit awkward on an otherwise realistic truck mode. I don't mind seeing the wheels on Prime's legs; I'm not a subscriber to the Sunbow aesthetic and I like seeing elements of the vehicle mode inform the bot mode. I have enough Prime figs, especially at MP scale, so I'll likely pass on this, but not without some small measure of regret.

[davidwhangchoi]

1 hour ago, 26662 said:

The head sculpt channels Gundam a bit too much for my tastes. 

1 hour ago, anime52k8 said:

see, I like Gundam.

 

(studio trigger prime)

MPG Prime does look very anime. 

 

[Alex GS]

11 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Definitely getting this, can't have enough of more Optimus Primes ,  even thou is not Optimus but  Ginrai  left a bit of disappointment by the size of it, I mean is almost the size of the a G1 toy in car mode. 

[mikeszekely]

I'm not sure what the logic behind MPG Prime is. It's giving me more OX/manga vibes, very different from the hardcore Sunbow look of MP-44. By itself that's fine, but they supposedly killed the regular MP line for MPG, and I wonder what that means for the characters that never had an MP release yet.

[lechuck]

"Style Gen." is just a new sub-line within MPG (think MG Ver.Ka or MGEX) that this incarnation of Optimus Prime is kicking off, the whole thing absolutely has no bearing on characters that don't have a MP yet, those will be released when Takara deems them ready. MP was consolidated into MPG for easier management as part of Takara's toy line rebranding/restructuring, it is still the dedicated high-end line for Transformers toys. I really don't understand why everyone seems to think there is some deeper hidden truth to MPG, it's no different than Audi merging previously labelled A4 cars into the A5 line for the current generation.

https://www.taghobby.com/archives/843719

It's essentially MP-10 ver. 2.0 – I am intrigued but from what I have seen so far, it is definitely nowhere near the class and sophistication of MP-44. Once again the hybrid design approach – which tends to invite the designers to oversimplify and under-engineer – holistically leads to sub-par results for the toy in sculpt, proportions and functionality.

Edited Saturday at 11:06 PM by lechuck

[lechuck]

False posting, pressed the wrong button...

Edited Saturday at 11:06 PM by lechuck

[sh9000]

I'll get another Legacy Menasor just for the Japanese giftset packaging.

[mikeszekely]

Some 2026 leaks

Deluxes:

-Blast Off
-Quickstrike
-Smokescreen (doesn't say which one, could be a PR of Earthrise, a new G1 mold, Armada, Prime, etc...)
-Powerglide
-Swerve
-Animated Ratchet
-Prime Cliffjumper
-Quintus Prime
-Sureshot

Voyagers:

-Amalgamous Prime
-Brawl
-Animated Wreck-Gar
-Armada Sideways
-Nexus Prime

Leader:

-Big Convoy
-Universe Razorclaw (Tigerhawk repaint, not the Razorclaw we actually want)

Commander:

-Onslaught

Hmm... no mention of Swindle.  I guess he's coming in 2025 now?  I mean, he was originally, but I'd heard he got swapped with Vortex, who originally wasn't on the 2025 schedule.  

Oh, and Studio Series too.

Deluxe:

-Devastation Bumblebee
-TFOne Orion Pax
-TLK Barricade (yay!)
-86 Windcharger (that'll wrap up Season 1)
-86 Sunstreaker (new mold, or ER?)
-86 Kranix
-86 Cliffjumper (ER, or a retool of 86 Bee?)
-TFOne Thundercracker
-TFOne Airachnid

Voyagers:

-86 Skywarp
-86 Thundercracker (probably the ER mold again)
-86 Shockwave
-TFOne Alpha Trion

Leader:
-86 Soundwave (PR, or new mold?)
-86 Astrotrain (Dear Primus please let it be a new mold that doesn't suck)
-86 Snarl (definitely a PR)
-TLK Nemesis Prime (a repaint of the one I just reviewed

I'm hearing that there will also be a retailer-exclusive line (thought which one, I don't know) celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 86 movie.  Expect it to have a Deluxe-class Hound, Voyager-class Scourge, Voyager-class Hot Rod, and a Leader-class Optimus Prime.  I'd be willing to bet that it's the Earth-mode hound from the multipack, the Scourge and Hot Rod we already got (maybe redecoed in toy colors, since Veloctitron was already supposed to have a toy-colored Hot Rod?), and Commander Optimus sans trailer and all his accessories save his rifle.

 

Is it weird that I kind of want to buy the JP Menasor set (or rather, regret not buying the Hasbro one) just because I want Breakdown and Wildrider?  I'd probably sell the other three.

Edited yesterday at 02:33 AM by mikeszekely

[davidwhangchoi]

3 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Some 2026 leaks

Deluxes:

-Blast Off
-Quickstrike
-Smokescreen (doesn't say which one, could be a PR of Earthrise, a new G1 mold, Armada, Prime, etc...)
-Powerglide
-Swerve
-Animated Ratchet
-Prime Cliffjumper
-Quintus Prime
-Sureshot

Voyagers:

-Amalgamous Prime
-Brawl
-Animated Wreck-Gar
-Armada Sideways
-Nexus Prime

Leader:

-Big Convoy
-Universe Razorclaw (Tigerhawk repaint, not the Razorclaw we actually want)

Commander:

-Onslaught

Hmm... no mention of Swindle.  I guess he's coming in 2025 now?  I mean, he was originally, but I'd heard he got swapped with Vortex, who originally wasn't on the 2025 schedule.  

Oh, and Studio Series too.

Deluxe:

-Devastation Bumblebee
-TFOne Orion Pax
-TLK Barricade (yay!)
-86 Windcharger (that'll wrap up Season 1)
-86 Sunstreaker (new mold, or ER?)
-86 Kranix
-86 Cliffjumper (ER, or a retool of 86 Bee?)
-TFOne Thundercracker
-TFOne Airachnid

Voyagers:

-86 Skywarp
-86 Thundercracker (probably the ER mold again)
-86 Shockwave
-TFOne Alpha Trion

Leader:
-86 Soundwave (PR, or new mold?)
-86 Astrotrain (Dear Primus please let it be a new mold that doesn't suck)
-86 Snarl (definitely a PR)
-TLK Nemesis Prime (a repaint of the one I just reviewed

I'm hearing that there will also be a retailer-exclusive line (thought which one, I don't know) celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 86 movie.  Expect it to have a Deluxe-class Hound, Voyager-class Scourge, Voyager-class Hot Rod, and a Leader-class Optimus Prime.  I'd be willing to bet that it's the Earth-mode hound from the multipack, the Scourge and Hot Rod we already got (maybe redecoed in toy colors, since Veloctitron was already supposed to have a toy-colored Hot Rod?), and Commander Optimus sans trailer and all his accessories save his rifle.

 

Is it weird that I kind of want to buy the JP Menasor set (or rather, regret not buying the Hasbro one) just because I want Breakdown and Wildrider?  I'd probably sell the other three.

i need MP or MPG Galvatron!!!! 

 

[mikeszekely]

4 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

i need MP or MPG Galvatron!!!! 

 

Sorry, I only have info from Hasbro, and the MP/MPG stuff is all Takara.

[M'Kyuun]

5 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Some 2026 leaks

Deluxes:

-Blast Off
-Quickstrike
-Smokescreen (doesn't say which one, could be a PR of Earthrise, a new G1 mold, Armada, Prime, etc...)
-Powerglide
-Swerve
-Animated Ratchet
-Prime Cliffjumper
-Quintus Prime
-Sureshot

Voyagers:

-Amalgamous Prime
-Brawl
-Animated Wreck-Gar
-Armada Sideways
-Nexus Prime

Leader:

-Big Convoy
-Universe Razorclaw (Tigerhawk repaint, not the Razorclaw we actually want)

Commander:

-Onslaught

Hmm... no mention of Swindle.  I guess he's coming in 2025 now?  I mean, he was originally, but I'd heard he got swapped with Vortex, who originally wasn't on the 2025 schedule.  

Oh, and Studio Series too.

Deluxe:

-Devastation Bumblebee
-TFOne Orion Pax
-TLK Barricade (yay!)
-86 Windcharger (that'll wrap up Season 1)
-86 Sunstreaker (new mold, or ER?)
-86 Kranix
-86 Cliffjumper (ER, or a retool of 86 Bee?)
-TFOne Thundercracker
-TFOne Airachnid

Voyagers:

-86 Skywarp
-86 Thundercracker (probably the ER mold again)
-86 Shockwave
-TFOne Alpha Trion

Leader:
-86 Soundwave (PR, or new mold?)
-86 Astrotrain (Dear Primus please let it be a new mold that doesn't suck)
-86 Snarl (definitely a PR)
-TLK Nemesis Prime (a repaint of the one I just reviewed

I'm hearing that there will also be a retailer-exclusive line (thought which one, I don't know) celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 86 movie.  Expect it to have a Deluxe-class Hound, Voyager-class Scourge, Voyager-class Hot Rod, and a Leader-class Optimus Prime.  I'd be willing to bet that it's the Earth-mode hound from the multipack, the Scourge and Hot Rod we already got (maybe redecoed in toy colors, since Veloctitron was already supposed to have a toy-colored Hot Rod?), and Commander Optimus sans trailer and all his accessories save his rifle.

 

Is it weird that I kind of want to buy the JP Menasor set (or rather, regret not buying the Hasbro one) just because I want Breakdown and Wildrider?  I'd probably sell the other three.

First, thanks for posting the news, Mike. Much appreciated!

Some interesting stuff coming, far more that personally interests me than this year. Def looking forward to Windcharger to finish first season as well as the Combaticons. Powerglide and the Animated stuff interests me as well. I hope the 86 Seekers, Shockwave, Soundwave, and Astrotrain are all new and greatly improved molds; their previous releases left much to be desired. I'm curious about 86 Sunstreaker, as I thought the ER mold was purdy darn good. Kranix wasn't a Cybertronian and didn't transform; however, I'm guessing they're going to try to cook up some sort of transformation for him and it'll likely be highly questionable. 😬  Glad to see TFOne's Airachnid on the list, as I thought she was an interesting character in the film and I hope they give her a decent toy.

[Scyla]

6 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Some 2026 leaks

Deluxes:

-Blast Off
-Quickstrike
-Smokescreen (doesn't say which one, could be a PR of Earthrise, a new G1 mold, Armada, Prime, etc...)
-Powerglide
-Swerve
-Animated Ratchet
-Prime Cliffjumper
-Quintus Prime
-Sureshot

Voyagers:

-Amalgamous Prime
-Brawl
-Animated Wreck-Gar
-Armada Sideways
-Nexus Prime

Leader:

-Big Convoy
-Universe Razorclaw (Tigerhawk repaint, not the Razorclaw we actually want)

Commander:

-Onslaught

Hmm... no mention of Swindle.  I guess he's coming in 2025 now?  I mean, he was originally, but I'd heard he got swapped with Vortex, who originally wasn't on the 2025 schedule.  

Oh, and Studio Series too.

Deluxe:

-Devastation Bumblebee
-TFOne Orion Pax
-TLK Barricade (yay!)
-86 Windcharger (that'll wrap up Season 1)
-86 Sunstreaker (new mold, or ER?)
-86 Kranix
-86 Cliffjumper (ER, or a retool of 86 Bee?)
-TFOne Thundercracker
-TFOne Airachnid

Voyagers:

-86 Skywarp
-86 Thundercracker (probably the ER mold again)
-86 Shockwave
-TFOne Alpha Trion

Leader:
-86 Soundwave (PR, or new mold?)
-86 Astrotrain (Dear Primus please let it be a new mold that doesn't suck)
-86 Snarl (definitely a PR)
-TLK Nemesis Prime (a repaint of the one I just reviewed

I'm hearing that there will also be a retailer-exclusive line (thought which one, I don't know) celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 86 movie.  Expect it to have a Deluxe-class Hound, Voyager-class Scourge, Voyager-class Hot Rod, and a Leader-class Optimus Prime.  I'd be willing to bet that it's the Earth-mode hound from the multipack, the Scourge and Hot Rod we already got (maybe redecoed in toy colors, since Veloctitron was already supposed to have a toy-colored Hot Rod?), and Commander Optimus sans trailer and all his accessories save his rifle.

 

Is it weird that I kind of want to buy the JP Menasor set (or rather, regret not buying the Hasbro one) just because I want Breakdown and Wildrider?  I'd probably sell the other three.

I hope the Studio Series 86 Seeker is a new mold. I don’t want to be overly negative but the Earthrise one is trash.

[mikeszekely]

30 minutes ago, Scyla said:

I hope the Studio Series 86 Seeker is a new mold. I don’t want to be overly negative but the Earthrise one is trash.

I wouldn't go that far (trash would be the Siege Astrotrain mold)... I think it looks passably fine in both modes.  But I otherwise agree; it's a tad blocky and lacking it articulation, and a bit disappointing that they basically recycled and upscaled the then 15-ish year old Classics mold.  We've seen enough companies do better Seekers and both the MP and Legends scales, Starscream deserves a new an improved mold (that they can then milk anywhere between 5 and 20 more times.

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

Shockwave

Aside from lacking a bigger handle and the scope, what was wrong with Shockwave?  I thought, for a guy that turns into a gun that can't turn into a gun anymore, he came out pretty good.  Better than Sunstreaker's too-wide, no-spoiler ER toy.

Worth pointing out that the previous version was a Leader, and the 86 version is listed as a Voyager...

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

Kranix wasn't a Cybertronian and didn't transform; however, I'm guessing they're going to try to cook up some sort of transformation for him and it'll likely be highly questionable.

While Kranix wasn't a Cybertronian (until/unless Lithone is retconned to be a Cybertronian colony), he actually did have an alt mode, and it appeared in the Marvel Comics adaptation of the movie.  Just don't ask me how they're going to pull it off without some new alt mode kibble on the robot and/or robot parts on the alt mode...

[JB0]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Aside from lacking a bigger handle and the scope, what was wrong with Shockwave?  I thought, for a guy that turns into a gun that can't turn into a gun anymore, he came out pretty good.  Better than Sunstreaker's too-wide, no-spoiler ER toy.

Worth pointing out that the previous version was a Leader, and the 86 version is listed as a Voyager...

Siege Shockwave was actually really good. But as a Studio 86 design he's got far too much molded detail.