The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[Scyla]

I would be interested in a ML Grimlock. But that means I would want the rest of the G1 Dinobots too and I don’t think this will happen.

[JB0]

Personally, I'd like a Missing Link Tracks, as he's one of my few childhood Transformers that didn't survive and also one that turns into an awesome flying car.

[Black Valkyrie]

 

Just waiting if they ever produce the ML Seekers. 

 

[M'Kyuun]

6 hours ago, Black Valkyrie said:

 

Just waiting if they ever produce the ML Seekers. 

 

The ML Seeker would pose a little challenge, as the arms were a bit short and the hands were separate bits that had to be "partsformed". I love the transformation of the arms, though, and the only other Seeker toy to fold the arms into the F-15's spine was part of the Robot Masters line. albeit done much better. If Takara simply followed that toy's solution with a ML design, I think it'd work well. Honestly, I wish every Seeker toy followed that design, as well as more jetformers in general to reduce the number of jets with robot arms just hanging off their sides.

[Black Valkyrie]

 

@M'Kyuun You might be right about the arms, if it happens the arms would be very little, especially for the fists.  

 

[pengbuzz]

3 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

The ML Seeker would pose a little challenge, as the arms were a bit short and the hands were separate bits that had to be "partsformed". I love the transformation of the arms, though, and the only other Seeker toy to fold the arms into the F-15's spine was part of the Robot Masters line. albeit done much better. If Takara simply followed that toy's solution with a ML design, I think it'd work well. Honestly, I wish every Seeker toy followed that design, as well as more jetformers in general to reduce the number of jets with robot arms just hanging off their sides.

I imagine they would have to modify the main body to "take" some material from it to make up for the forearms. As for the knees: that's a bit more simple.

[M'Kyuun]

17 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

I imagine they would have to modify the main body to "take" some material from it to make up for the forearms. As for the knees: that's a bit more simple.

The issue, since the goal is to approximate the OG toy, warts and all, would be to reproduce the added fist without partsforming, meaning they'll have to figure a point to insert elbows and then figure a way to create that oversized fist and make each fold into a wafer the same width as the upper arm to fill in the belly of the jet as unobtrusively as possible since the OG toy didn't have anything in that space. Much like slavish devotion to toon accuracy has affected certain figs, the most recent MP Starscream's ghastly alt mode comes to mind, the Missing Link's slavish devotion to preserving the look of the original toys, many of which suffered poor proportions and other shortcomings, will prove to be the line's Achille's Heel, IMHO. The OG Seeker design hasn't aged well and most toys now emulate a cross between toon and toy or straight toon, which benefitted from some of the toy's proportions being adjusted to look better, especially the arms and legs. Unfortunately, Takara can't incorporate any toon magic to spruce up the look of these figs, so for a number of them those poor proportions and partsforming bits are going challenge the designers while also somewhat hindering the toys themselves. The old adage, "You can't polish a turd' comes to mind, and while that may sound harsh and disrespectful, that's not the spirit in which I mention it; I mean it more from a practical design perspective. Theses shape-shifting toys represented an interesting new play pattern with a lot of thought and craftsmanship put into them (the prototypes were often carved out of wood!); however, ultimately so much more focus was placed on the puzzle aspect and creating realistic believable alt modes while the robot modes remained secondary considerations, which is generally where we see the greatest weaknesses of the Diaclone and Micochange and hence G1 toys. Those weaknesses are going to carry over by dint of preserving the look of the toys in both modes and many are going to fare poorer than others. If indeed they do the Seeker, or Megatron, both are going to suffer from carrying over the minuses of those early toys. That said, I'd still pick up a Missing Link Megatron having never owned the OG toy but still finding it pretty darn cool in its own way.

To that end, I favor what Has/Tak did with the Legacy United deluxe class Optimus Prime where they closely approximated the look of the G1 toy, but made little improvements i.e. different shaped, better proportioned forearms with integrated fists and a nicely hinged cover for his back (no gaping hole like the OG). I think a furtherance of this line would be interesting, as, lacking that imperative to mirror the OG toy exactingly, they could introduce more "fixes" to correct the odd proportion or hindrance of the OG toy while still skewing very closely towards how it looked. I like that approach, and it would make for an interesting third option for folks like me who aren't really all-in on the Missing Link line and who aren't interested in collecting the G1 toys, either, due to their shortcomings. My feeling is that LU deluxe Prime is probably a one-and-done sort of figure, but I wouldn't object to more characters getting the treatment, especially at the more affordable price range compared to ML.

Edited April 21 by M'Kyuun

[JB0]

Yeah, I don't see Starscream et al getting the Missing Link treatment, because as much as they'd love to(one mold with six color schemes is WAY more profitable than six molds) it just doesn't seem possible to do the arms.

But I've been wrong before, and TT has a financial interest in making it work.

[Scyla]

I wonder if the ML Ultra Magnus will be a white repaint of ML Prime, without the car carrier.

[mikeszekely]

45 minutes ago, Scyla said:

I wonder if the ML Ultra Magnus will be a white repaint of ML Prime, without the car carrier.

That, unfortunately, is an exceedingly likely possibility. 

On the plus side for you, if that turns out to be the case an ML Nemesis Prime would pretty much be a guarantee after that.

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, Scyla said:

I wonder if the ML Ultra Magnus will be a white repaint of ML Prime, without the car carrier.

 

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

That, unfortunately, is an exceedingly likely possibility. 

I hope not; I hope Takara's more committed than that. While they've pushed some white Optimi toys as UM over the decades, G1 UM is synonymous with his armored look and I would hope that if they indeed choose to do him as a Missing Link entry, they go all-in and figure out a way to make the trailer work as his armor, even if it means a bit of partsforming to achieve the trailer and the armor. I think that'd be more acceptable in most fans' eyes than just a naked white Optimus clone. I believe they're up to the challenge; after 40+ years of making these things, they certainly should be.

Edited April 21 by M'Kyuun

[Scyla]

16 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

 

I hope not; I hope Takara's more committed than that. While they've pushed some white Optimi toys as UM over the decades, G1 UM is synonymous with his armored look and I would hope that if they indeed choose to do him as a Missing Link entry, they go all-in and figure out a way to make the trailer work as his armor, even if it means a bit of partsforming to achieve the trailer and the armor. I think that'd be more acceptable in most fans' eyes than just a naked white Optimus clone. I believe they're up to the challenge; after 40+ years of making these things, they certainly should be.

I think the challenge is in the placement of the white Prime in the G1 toy:

The waist of Ultra Magnus is not where the waist of the Prime is. Likewise, the knees of Prime are at the waist of Ultra Magnus.

I don’t think those are insurmountable odds but I feel they would have to change ML Convoy to give Ultra Magnus more articulation.

I think they could skip the waist joint but I don’t see them skipping knee. I also think as a fan of the Missing Link line you would like Takara to stay as close to the original as possible. 

That cloud potentially look very weird so my train of thought was just a white Convoy would be much more likely. And Takara already released a repaint of ML Convoy with Sentinel Prime.

[M'Kyuun]

Well, I didn't say it'd be easy! 😄 The OG definitely presents some challenges. Ultimately, they may just opt to fold prime up into a cube and keep him isolated in the top half while trying to work in the cuts and articulation of the armor without having to work around the core bot. However, as you say, that moves away from toy accuracy by a fair amount. In the end, a white Optimus may be all fans get. In cases like this, where the OG toy was nigh impossible to translate to a workable standard, either fans should be prepared for shortcuts, bad takes, or Takara should just leave them be.

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

 

I hope not; I hope Takara's more committed than that. While they've pushed some white Optimi toys as UM over the decades, G1 UM is synonymous with his armored look and I would hope that if they indeed choose to do him as a Missing Link entry, they go all-in and figure out a way to make the trailer work as his armor, even if it means a bit of partsforming to achieve the trailer and the armor. I think that'd be more acceptable in most fans' eyes than just a naked white Optimus clone. I believe they're up to the challenge; after 40+ years of making these things, they certainly should be.

It's not that I disagree, I just don't know how much faith I have in them not to go for the easy cash grab.

And it's not just the fact that the joints for Magnus don't line up with the cab. The cab used the fist holes to connect, and ML Convoy doesn't have those fist holes. I think it's probably pretty trivial to find a way to transform Magnus' fists, but what about the chest, waist, and head? How many changes do we tolerate before it's less G1 toy with articulation and more new toy? I'm just feeling a bit pessimistic about this one. 

Fortunately Grimlock should be much  easier for Takara to pull off.

[JB0]

18 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Ultimately, they may just opt to fold prime up into a cube and keep him isolated in the top half while trying to work in the cuts and articulation of the armor without having to work around the core bot. However, as you say, that moves away from toy accuracy by a fair amount. In the end, a white Optimus may be all fans get.

I feel like making Magnus work more like Powermaster Prime, with a truck-lump core, is a better compromise than just throwing an Albino Prime out there because engineering is hard and repaints are cheap. Minimus Ambus isn't Ultra Magnus.

I guess we'll see how TakaraTomy feels about it.

[mikeszekely]

Got a notice from FedEx that I have an 11 pound package coming from Hasbro, but no emails from Hasbro. Based on part experiences that means Omega Prime is shipping.

[davidwhangchoi]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Got a notice from FedEx that I have an 11 pound package coming from Hasbro, but no emails from Hasbro. Based on part experiences that means Omega Prime is shipping.

will you do a review once it comes in?

[mikeszekely]

29 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

will you do a review once it comes in?

That's the plan!

[J.T. Silversmith]

I got my Email from Hasbro Pulse as well, mine is on its way!

[J.T. Silversmith]

Mine arrived about three hours ago!

[mikeszekely]

42 minutes ago, J.T. Silversmith said:

Mine arrived about three hours ago!

Dang, that's fast!  Mine was originally saying it should arrive Saturday, but last I checked FedEx is now saying Tuesday.

[26662]

49 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Dang, that's fast!  Mine was originally saying it should arrive Saturday, but last I checked FedEx is now saying Tuesday.

I'm jealous.  I ordered two (in the same order) within milliseconds of the preorder option going live.  I'm wondering now if ordering more than one somehow puts you at the tail end of the queue. 

[mikeszekely]

On 4/24/2025 at 11:17 PM, 26662 said:

I'm jealous.  I ordered two (in the same order) within milliseconds of the preorder option going live.  I'm wondering now if ordering more than one somehow puts you at the tail end of the queue. 

Yeah, I got in on Prime right away, too.

Did you do Deathsaurus (I meant) Liokaiser?  I eventually backed it, but not until Deathcobra was funded.  I guess we'll see if it takes me longer to get him next year than all the early backers, or if there's some other method to their madness.

Edited Saturday at 06:28 AM by mikeszekely

[26662]

14 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Did you do Deathsaurus?  I eventually backed it, but not until Deathcobra was funded.  I guess we'll see if it takes me longer to get him next year than all the early backers, or if there's some other method to their madness.

Got my shipping notice from Hasbro: Both are scheduled to arrive Wednesday. 

I wasn't/am not all that familiar with Deathsaurus so I didn't bother ordering.  The figure looked fine and the price wasn't terrible given everything included.  Just didn't have a connection to the character.

[mikeszekely]

Well well... FedEx's delivery date went from Saturday to Tuesday then back to Saturday.  So unless they screw something up (which is still a possibility, FedEx SUCKS in my area) I should have Omega Prime in hand this weekend, and hopefully have reviews up early next week for people to read at work.

Thinking I'm going to break this one up... I'll review Optimus/Super Optimus, then I'll review Magnus, Bluebolts, and Omega Prime after.

[mikeszekely]

HasLab's here!  Inside the shipping box was a brown box, and inside the brown box was the actual box, which had a few smaller boxes in it.  Hasbro hates trees, I guess.  Today we're going to get into just two of the boxes, as we look at Optimus Prime (RiD 2001).

My initial thought is that the newer figure is maybe two steps forward, one step back.  On the plus side, his sculpt is by-and-large better defined than the original toy.  His fists are separated from the armor on his forearms, allowing you to slide it back so his hands aren't always buried (though I think they should have added a hinge to the arm kibble so it could fold up a bit).  I think the new head is on-point, and the removal of the batteries and speaker means his backpack is greatly reduced.  Plus he has heels now, making him more stable.  I think I actually prefer that the red on his chest isn't chromed.

The sort of corkscrew shape between his window pecs is an indent now, though.  His abs, which are silver paint instead of chrome now, don't have quite the right shape.  The lightbars on his his back have hollowed divots that make them look almost like Lego parts, a fact which isn't helped at all when you realize that they're just pegged on (and a tad loose at that).  It's harder to notice, but the backs of his hands are also hollowed.  I get hollowing a toy that you're trying to cram into a retail budget, but c'mon, on a made-to-order project that you can charge whatever you want for?  Maybe they should make "no hollow gaps" one of the funding tiers. 😒

My biggest gripe, though, is really the size.  Hasbro's made a big deal about how the mainline toys since Siege are supposed to better reflect their scale, yet Prime's even bigger than the original toy.  This makes him a little over a head taller than the Commander-class SS86 Optimus, who was already pulling up taller than most other recent Optimus figures.  Proportionally he's wider than the original toy, too.  Too be fair, that's not the end of the world, but I feel like Hasbro had a chance to approach this design fresh and it would have been cool to see some clever engineering that could have widened him for Super Mode.  As it is he kind of reminds me of that Kanye video for "I Love It" where him and Lil Pump are wearing those wide, blocky costumes.

As far as accessories in the box with Prime goes, we've got his pistol, an Energon Matrix, and a Titan Master of Cerebros.

Cebreros is a repaint of Legends Fortress (who was released as Emissary with the SDCC version of Titans Returns Fortress Maximus, but NOT the retail version).  Transformation's the same, and you can plug him into any Titans Return body.

You also get all these pieces.  I mean, he's actually packaged in alt mode, but I almost always start with bot mode, so...  bits.

In the second box we're covering today you get these- two stands, two bases, two adapters, and two thingies.  Yes, that's the technical name.

Alright, so Prime's head is on a ball joint, but the shape means he's got a fairly limited up/down/sideways tilt.  Note that his head is actually on a slider so you can move it forward so his chin clears the lip around his neck for swiveling.  His shoulders swivel, and they ratchet 90 degrees from inside the shoulder armor.  There is also a friction hinge in his chest, and it'll probably engage before the ratchet does, but it's for transformation and using it for articulation gives him Hot Rod Shoulders.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  His wrists swivel.  His waist swivels, though his backpack kind of gets in the way.  His hips can go forward just under 90 degrees and backward about 45 on an extremely tough ratchet.  A slightly less tough ratchet gives him 90 degrees of spread.  His thighs swivel, and his ratcheted knees bend a little short of 90 degrees.  There's another swivel below the knee for transformation, then his feet are on ball joints so they can swivel, tilt up/down slightly, and pivot a bit under 45 degrees.

Prime holds his pistol in either hand via a standard 5mm arrangement.  He also has a 5mm port on his backpack between the lightbars, one on each shin, and one on each calf.

If you open Prime's back (rather than his chest) you'll find a small molded compartment.  That's one of the places where you can store his Matrix.

The stands slide into the grooves on the bases; either direction is fine.  You don't need the adapter parts for Prime, just the stand and base.  I chose to position him this way to give him a more airborne pose, but if you want his feet on the base you'd turn the stand around and use the lower peg on the other side into the same spot on Prime's butt.

You may have noticed the pegs on Prime's shoulders.  They're so you can take these specific parts from the bits and plug them onto his shoulders as missile launchers.

You may also, as was the case with the original toy, arrange the parts into a sort of defense platform.  But my personal favorite use for them is to turn them into the back of Prime's alt mode.

An alt mode which is, of course, a fire truck.  The transformation to truck mode is almost identical, though there are a few more connection points for the bits to form the trailer, which makes it feel more secure.  The main differences are that the part of the trailer with the super forearms comes off with the cab rather than staying on the trailer, Prime's pec windows swivel with his arms, and for some reason the mechanical bits over the wheels on his shins are separate pieces that have to be swiveled into place rather than just being the back of the wheels.

The new version is about the same length, but slightly bigger and taller (and, as mentioned, a bit sturdier).  C-001 is tampoed onto his front and rear license plates, an animation detail that was missing from at least the original American version.  The rubber tires, a point of failure for the original toys, have been replaced with plastic.  The cab has a slightly more exaggerated shape, there's more mechanical details on the sides, and the ladder and stairs are a bit more detailed.

Prime's pistol still plugs onto the back of the front bumper, between Prime's knees.  And the seat on the other side of the ladder has been widened to accommodate Cerebros or another Titan Master.

The ladder can swivel and extend.  It has sort of has the missiles of the original toys... they're folded out manually and do not fire.  In fact, they're molded right onto the red parts of the launchers.  They have nubs on the ends that make them compatible with post-Siege blast effects, though.  The removal of the firing gimmick means that a button was no longer necessary, and it's been replaced with more mechanical details.  The gun/hose barrels still fold out of the end of the ladder, but they're now on ball joints for some reason which gives them some wiggle.

Note that when the end of the ladder is folded down there's a space on it that Cerebros can stand in.

For displaying Prime in his vehicle mode you can set the stands and adapters aside, and connect both bases together using the thingies (again, technical term).  This makes a road-like platform that's modeled after a segment of the Autobots Global Space Bridge seen in the cartoon.

In what was already becoming the standard after Ultra Magnus and Powermaster Optimus/Super Ginrai, the reason there's so much truck left after Optimus turns into a robot is because once it's split into bits it becomes an armored power-up.  Again, the combination is nearly identical.  Some minor changes include the torso piece not only plugging into the top and front of Prime's torso, but onto his backpack as well for added stability, and the shoulder parts are now identical (vs the pipe only being on one side) so it no longer matters which shoulder you put them on.  He's also tall enough now that you don't have to fold the end of the ladder.

The biggest change, though, is a new part of the backpack (which I didn't realize I'd missed in the above photos, sorry).  Those of you with the original toy may recall that Prime's torso has two levels of expansion, one fully extended so he can transform, and that's sort of halfway for Super Mode.  A hinge swings to bits at the bottom of his backpack around the sides of the exposed transformation hinge, better locking the torso in place.  This makes the new toy feel much more solid than the original, which I'd describe as "rickety."

Here's another quick size comparison.  In Super Mode he's coming in slightly taller than Commander-class Armada Prime's Super Mode.  And I can't help but note that the thickening of the base robot I complained about actually makes for a less skinny, more proportional Super Mode than the original RID toy.

Prime's new head seems to be on a ball joint, but I'm not totally sure.  He can look up about 45 degrees if you collapse his neck back in, and down about 45 degrees if his neck is out all the way.  It also swivels and has a decent amount of sideways tilt, but that sideways tilt only works if his head is turned a bit.  His shoulders, biceps, and elbows are the same joints as before, though the pegs on his elbows limit the outward range slightly.  With his shoulders expanded he's also go a slight forward and excellent backward butterfly joint.  His hands are basically the same as the original toy's; they swivel, and his wrists can bend inward, a hinge folds his thumbs down over his palms, and his fingers are permanently curled with a hinge at the base.   His pelvis armor just hangs over his normal pelvis and doesn't plug in, so if you lift it he's still got his waist swivel.  It's actually slightly better, due to the bottom of the backpack being folded into his waist.  Hips, thighs, and knees are the same.  A hinge on the platform his feet plug into provides him with a solid 45 degrees of ankle pivot.

The ladder can still fold over his shoulder.  The guns on his forearms swivel, plus the barrels are hinged.

Because the hands are basically the same as the original toy he doesn't have any way to hold his pistol in this mode, something I would have liked even if this way is truer to the original toy.  There are a few other 5mm ports, though; two on top of each shoulder, one on the front and one on the back of each shoulder, two on the back of each hand, one under each foot, and two on the side of each leg, in addition to the one on his backpack, one on the side of his legs, and one on his calves that are still available in Super Mode.  What he's lacking, though, is the port the original had to the side of his head for adding the pistol as a shoulder weapon.  Instead, there are 3mm pegs on the sides of his backpack that plug into ports on the pistol.

The section of his bandolier with the Autobot insignia flips open, revealing another spot (and my preferred spot) to store his Matrix.

Prime can use the stand by plugging it into his butt, same as before, except this time you have to use the the taller port on the other side of the stand (refer to the earlier picture).  Aside from holding him up taller for a natural standing pose, the taller peg has space in front of it to rest his crotch on.  That will keep him from tipping to the side, like so.

HasLab RID Super Optimus gives me a lot of mixed feelings.  On one hand, RID Optimus has been one of my favorite non-G1 Optimus designs, combining signature details like the head with the mask and ears, the primary red color, and the chest with pec windows and silver abs with excellent Japanese super robot anime vibes.  The original toy is, like I said, a tad rickety now, and a sturdier modern version with improved engineering and articulation has been extremely high on my wish list since I started collecting.

But, while I think Hasbro delivered on a lot of my wishlist there, I'm not convinced they lived up to the "improved engineering" part.  Yes, they did make some changes that result in a figure that's sturdier across all his modes, but that's kind of where they stopped.  The design, especially in the transformation, remains extremely similar to the original toy.  This means the passed on some improvements I might have made, like folding up the arm kibble on the core robot better, but also has the effect of making him seem not quite compatible with modern Generations figures.

So is he worth it?  I guess you'll have to tune in for part 2 to find out.