The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[mikeszekely]

Haha same, I just put a pre order in for TT Devy.

Not me, I'm super impatient. It's why I'm going TRU tomorrow even though I already have Devy preordered.

Ok... that's not entirely true. I'm going to TRU to buy stuff for the baby we didn't get at the shower last week. But if Devy's there...

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

So Blaster is a...battle station now? Titan sized no less. Weird.

[mikeszekely]

So Blaster is a...battle station now? Titan sized no less. Weird.

I don't think he'll actually be Titan-class, just part of the Titan Wars line that's replacing Combiner Wars next year.

BTW, I found Devy today. Playing with him now; updates later.

[mikeszekely]

So, Devastator. Well, each of the Constructicon's alt modes are pretty solid. If I had to make some complaints, it's that Hook's crane boom doesn't extend, and that Mixmaster seems to be based on something like an Oshhosh S-series front discharge mixer, so that little "cab" that make's Devy's foot (that people are complaining about) is actually the rear of the mixer (I think this is confused a bit by th efact that the pair of shutters on the rear are painted purple like they're windows). Naturally, Perfect Effect is making upgrade parts that address both of those (and Scavenger's shovel, which I honestly didn't think was a problem).

As far as individual bot modes go, they have a nice size, especially Long Haul, who's bordering on a short Leader class. Elbow's aside, they all have good articulation and are good representations of their animated counterparts, aside from Long Haul, whose bed doesn't form his legs anymore. This gives him a squatter, but bulkier appearance that's in line with the IDW version. As far as complexity, they're in line with the other Combiner Wars Voyagers, but probably slightly less complex than some of the Voyagers in recent Generations waves.

And yes, each and every one of the Constructicons is compromised in some way, be it weird (or no) elbows, fat crotches, or what have you. Despite the lack of elbows, I'd rank Scrapper as the best (perfect aside from no elbows), and Boncrusher the worst (crotch doesn't peg well, and his shovel chest is a little ill-fitting). Will the Takara version fix some of the compromises? Yes, mainly the elbows. But no, it doesn't look like it'll fix all of them, and the thing is most of the compromises exist entirely for the combined mode.

So how is the combined mode? Well, the sheer size of it can make fitting all the pieces together a little fiddly. But unlike the Scramble City CW guys, Devastator doesn't use large jointed pegs on the limbs and ports on the torso. Instead, each piece is designed to go in only one spot (you can probably swap which arm is which, and you might be able to swap the legs around, but that's about it). And since he's designed that way, there are actually five points of connection between Hook and Long Haul, two for each arm (one on Hook, and one on Long Haul) and three for each leg. Although there's a secure five-point connection between Hook and Long Haul, there's a gap between them due to Long Haul's back being higher than his chest. This gap is covered by his chest plate, though, which seems to have four points of connection, two on Hook and one on each arm's treads.

Between the numerous points of connection and the aforementioned compromises on the individual bots, what you end up with is a very solid, very articulated Devastator. Knees bend, his hips can move his legs forward and backward as well as out to the side, this thighs turn, and his lower legs bend a little in the middle to give him a degree of ankle tilt. His shoulders can rotate as well as swing out from his body his elbows bend, his wrist turns and his fingers open and close, his forearms rotate, his waist rotates, and his head rotates. Honestly, the only way to improve his articulation would be if each finger was independently articulated (which the Perfect Effect add-ons address) and if his head were ball-jointed. Oh, and one other thing I might have done would have been to put a joint in Hook's crane boom so that it could fold down onto his back.

And he's so satisfyingly huge! As has been pointed out elsewhere, not as tall as Titan-class Metroplex, but as you can see almost twice as tall as the other CW Combiners.

Now, to address the usual complaints... could he have been better? Well, it's no use comparing him to a 3P... a 3P would almost certainly have had better individual bots, but if Giant and Hercules are anything to go by they'd be half the size and the full Devastator would be 3-4 times more expensive. As for the Takara version, like I said, it addresses some things, and it's surprisingly close in price if you overlook the shipping costs. When making my purchasing decisions, though, I personally can't overlook the shipping costs. What's more, my wife opened a TRU credit card and got 15% off, which actually brought Devy down to $127.49, further increasing the price difference between the Hasbro version and the Takara version. With that in mind, if you plan on displaying the individual Constructicons then yeah, maybe the Takara version is worth it, but if you're planning on keeping him mostly in Devastator mode (as I am) the added expense of the Takara version is harder to justify, and personally, the minor upgrades just aren't worth it, but YMMV. I also can't tell you if you'll think Hasbro Devy is worth $150; all I can say is that I think he is, and even more so if you can snag him for $128.

Be advised, though. TRU's already pulling their "raise the price because it's in demand" shenanigans. The shelf sticker when I picked him up was $149.99, but the cashier had to mark him down because he was ringing up $159.99.

[Gakken85]

From Yuki's twitter

[VF-2SS-BloodPhoenix]

I watched some youtube video reviews of this titan class Devastator, and my old grumpy self is not liking it one bit.

I know Hasbro/Takara have the best designers, and they could... should, have made a better Devastator that looked good in all modes.

There are some neat transformation gimmicks they employed in this new Devastator, but the lack of details and lackluster designs just turns me away.

I was rather disappointed that the Hasbro Devastator only has one bio card for Devastator.

You know that Takara will have bio cards for each robot and Devastator.

i don't know if Hasbor's special edition of Devastator will have individual cards for each robot. It's just a nice little piece to have..

The 3P Generation Toy Gravity Builder looks incredible, but I still prefer the Hercules combined mode over Green Giant, Gravity Builder, and Hasbro's latest offering.

[mikeszekely]

Fun fact: the Constructicons do all have individual weapons.

Whether or not they're ideal, if the Takara individual guns make the Takara Devy worth importing, or whether you want the guns that'll come with Perfect Effect's PC-07 set, well, that's all debatable. But it's definitely possible to give each Constructicon their own weapon, although it's not in the instructions.

-Devastator's forearm parts fold into missile launchers (sort of like the one's the RX-79[G] Gundam Ground Type uses). I leave them with Scavenger and Bonecrusher, whom they connect in Devy mode.

-Devastator's gun breaks into two smaller guns. I gave the back half to Long Haul, and the front half to Scrapper.

-The wings come off of Devastator's chest plate. The center part looks like it could be a double-barreled gun, if a fat, flat one. I gave it to Mixmaster.

-The pegs that fit the wings into the center part of the chest plate fit into some of the Construction's fists, and I guess pass for a melee weapon. If you squint. I had Hook dual-wield them.

One other thing I noticed playing with the Constructicons this evening is that all six of them have ankle tilt. It's kind of frustrating that the Constructions are actually pretty well articulated, aside from the elbows. And yeah, maybe they couldn't have elbows as articulated as MP-10's, but I really don't see how adding elbows to Scrapper and would have affected either alt mode or leg mode (the stability thing could have been overcome by putting interlocking tabs on both ends of his arms). I can sort of see why they did Long Haul's elbows the way they did, but bicep and wrist swivels would have overcome his elbow problem.

Still, I'm willing to forgive the flaws on account of how fun a toy Devastator turned out to be.

[anime52k8]

From Yuki's twitter

not sure what this is, but it actually looks kind of nice.

[calubin_175]

Need some help.

I have a Titan Class Metroplex and I need some legends figures to fit inside. I was wondering whether deluxe class(Superion or Defensor) vehicles would fit inside as well?

I am planning to get Six Sigma Sixgun to arm it up as well.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Need some help.

I have a Titan Class Metroplex and I need some legends figures to fit inside. I was wondering whether deluxe class(Superion or Defensor) vehicles would fit inside as well?

I am planning to get Six Sigma Sixgun to arm it up as well.

My gut says Deluxe figures might be too big for your Metroplex. Have you looked into getting World Smallest Transformers? WSTs are not too hard to find and KO's of them are cheap. KO's of the mini G1 combiners are easy to find too.

I finally opened my Generations Jetfire. First thing I did was cut trim off the goofy rear stabilzers, those things looked real dumb imo. Alt mode makes a real jaunty looking jet, and I liked the aggressive profile the fast packs give. I don't like the rear landing gear; leader class needs more than just casters on his shins. I like bot made as well, despite the hollow spaces a lot of fans have pointed out. It's just the lack of wrist articulation that hurts the most. I could forgive that with Generations Roadbuster with it being a voyager but with a leader class Jetfire? Another gripe I have is with the ankles: instead of permanently having slanted ankles, how about just giving full ankle rockers? The production cost-cutting is quite prevalent with Jetfire, but I still don't regret getting one.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

This came today. Very cool

[M'Kyuun]

Congrats on the haul, David. Personally, I doubt I'll ever spend money on a G1 toy again (except maybe cassette releases), as articulation trumps nostalgia for me.

If those old designs were modified to resemble that excellent box art, then I'd be interested. As it is, I prefer my old Classics Seekers to the G1 toys. Personal preference. But as a collector, I sincerely hope that they are full of awesome to you.

Edit: Just read the post above last concerning Leader Jetfire, and I have to agree with your criticisms. The way moving parts are molded to just snap into a swivel slot would have been optimal for creating separate fists and a two-axis swivel piece for each foot to allow for foot rotation and ankle tilt, necessitating only four additional parts and a modification to the foot linkage and foot. Kinda surprised a third party hasn't addressed these already. As for the main gear...inexcusable design laziness and cheapness, not to mention it looks terrible. The packs are so-so; I think they could have done better. Lastly, I wish they could have nixed the horizontal stabs altogether, but I get they were going for an F-22 look, plus they needed something for the arms to tab onto, so it's grudgingly forgivable. Really, really makes me wish the YF-23 had won the fighter competition, though; it's such a beautiful aircraft, and it makes me sad when I see all the fugly F-22 toys when we could have had lovely F-23 toys everywhere instead, including Jetfire's alt mode. Somewhere in a parallel universe, where greater minds prevail, happy humans coexist in a world at peace with F-23's patrolling the azure skies, glorious F-23 toys are produced in abundance, and the F-22 is but a faded memory in the annals of aviation, as it should have been. But I digress...

Other than the aforementioned gripes, Jetfire's a pretty fantastic figure, and definitely one of the best aircraft TF designs, IMHO. I absolutely love the G1 Skyfire likeness. It's pure goodness.

Edited July 16, 2015 by M'Kyuun

[Gakken85]

[jenius]

Tracks is looking guhd.

[abbadon]

Yeah, he looks amazing! Lots of gimmicks too!

[Vermillion One]

I am pretty excited for Tracks. I hadn't realized how much taller he is than Sideswipe and Prowl. It will be good to have some height variation on the shelf rather than just Prime and Magnus towering above the group. This is making me rethink not ordering Road Rage.

Edited July 16, 2015 by Vermillion One

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

Congrats on the haul, David. Personally, I doubt I'll ever spend money on a G1 toy again (except maybe cassette releases), as articulation trumps nostalgia for me.

If those old designs were modified to resemble that excellent box art, then I'd be interested. As it is, I prefer my old Classics Seekers to the G1 toys. Personal preference. But as a collector, I sincerely hope that they are full of awesome to you.

thanks, it's definitely more of the character i couldn't buy as a kid. i always wanted thrust but didn't have enough money to buy him and shockwave at the same time so i got shockwave.

Edited July 16, 2015 by davidwhangchoi

[Mechapilot77]

image.jpgimage.jpg

This came today. Very cool

nice...there is just somethign about g1 toys. i love em but won't collect them...i just have a few reissues. i might pick that p though. hmmm

[JB0]

thanks, it's definitely more of the character i couldn't buy as a kid. i always wanted thrust but didn't have enough money to buy him and shockwave at the same time so i got shockwave.

You chose wisely. Thrust is awesome, but he's no Shockwave.

[Gakken85]

Masterpiece Ironhide, who was shown off in a presentation at the Transformers Expo Taipei.

Edited July 17, 2015 by Gakken85

[Tking22]

Masterpiece Ironhide, who was shown off in a presentation at the Transformers Expo Taipei.

I really, really can't wait. I need him, then I need Ratchet, badly.

[technoblue]

There's something about the new pictures that make Ironhide look better. For me, I think it is the perspective, since we see someone holding the van in their hands. TFW2005 also has some additional photos, with one showing Ironhide standing next to Optimus and Bee and that also looks very good.

[Golden Arms]

He's going to look really nice alongside the other masterpieces.

[M'Kyuun]

That side profile really captures the look of the animation. Looking forward to getting both him and Ratchet.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

I wonder if there's any truth to the rumor about the hip kibble being able to slide around to the rear.

[mikeszekely]

I wonder if there's any truth to the rumor about the hip kibble being able to slide around to the rear.

Yeah, that'd be great to cover his butt-wheels.

Also, is it just me, or do his forearms look super hollow? I swear, if this was a Hasbro toy you guys would be savaging it.

[Scyla]

Yeah, that'd be great to cover his butt-wheels.

Also, is it just me, or do his forearms look super hollow? I swear, if this was a Hasbro toy you guys would be savaging it.

I think what is hallow are the forearm guards. I hope that the hole doesn't got through all the way where the fists store. I still don't understand why Bumblebee has hallow forearms. If the played a bit with the dimensions he could've easily had hands and wrists that rotate 90 degrees like the one from MP Starscream. No flimsy panel doors or easily breaking parts but still filled out forearms.

[vlenhoff]

Has anyone noticed the "Raul" figure is way too small?

Which doesn't matter.... just saying...

Edited July 17, 2015 by vlenhoff

[Tking22]

So I popped over to TFW2005 to check out the other photos a few other people mentioned, and wow, I was immidiately turned off of that site's entire community. I never visited TFW2005, or Seibertron, I only just recently got into MP Transformers, so I went in blind, I didn't know what to expect. I scrolled to the last page of the MP Ironhide thread, then decided to work my way back, I just wanted to see what the mainly Transformers fans thought, and once again, wow. I looked over three pages, within three pages I noted 7 people who all said, "He looks like crap, and not worth the money, I'll be waiting for the KO". Like really? Really? That's such a shitty attitude, what a bunch of children. I get people buy KO Masterpiece figures, some just can't afford all the Takara releases, and Hasbro seems to have issues bringing certain things to the states, KOs can often be the main alternative to those who have a hard time getting Takara releases, and once again, pricing for Takara products can get absurd for some people in certain countries. But this? This was people with lots of posts, and big collections, Hasbro MPs, Takara MPs, third party MPs, lots of money spent on official products, many were located in the US. And yet, they essentially admitted that they are into the figure and mold but are too cheap, lazy, or some backwards combination of the two to give Takara the support they deserve. If you aren't interested in the figure, fine, if it's just not doing it for you or tickling your fancy, fine, if you want to hold out for a third party, once again, fine. But most of these "fans" seem damn childish, they're willing to give money to a-holes who buy up official releases, then as quickly and cheaply as possible reverse-engineer their own version. Once again I get that a lot of people can't/don't have the ability to get all official Takara/hasbro products, but this most certainly didn't seem the case. It seemed like a lot of douche bags, I use this site for pretty much all my toy needs, it seems there's a thread or discussion for everything, and there's lots of different collectors on here with lots of different tastes, never again with another site, I'll just stick to MW...

[calubin_175]

They just need Jazz now.

Has anyone been collecting through the knock off route? They only have all the variations of Prowl, Lambor and Wheeljack. Bumblebee still needs to be legit.

i heard that the knock off Masterpiece MP-10 red Optimus with no trailer is superior to Takara's, except for the gappy forearms. The colour variations are better in all respects.

I was thinking of getting Ultra Magnus(with trailer) as I like the price, weight (950g) and size(as tall as SOC Gaogaigar), but I was afraid of the arm hinge breaking. Definitely the largest Japanese high end collectable of transformers.

[mikeszekely]

So I popped over to TFW2005 to check out the other photos a few other people mentioned, and wow, I was immidiately turned off of that site's entire community. I never visited TFW2005, or Seibertron, I only just recently got into MP Transformers, so I went in blind, I didn't know what to expect. I scrolled to the last page of the MP Ironhide thread, then decided to work my way back, I just wanted to see what the mainly Transformers fans thought, and once again, wow. I looked over three pages, within three pages I noted 7 people who all said, "He looks like crap, and not worth the money, I'll be waiting for the KO". Like really? Really? That's such a shitty attitude, what a bunch of children. I get people buy KO Masterpiece figures, some just can't afford all the Takara releases, and Hasbro seems to have issues bringing certain things to the states, KOs can often be the main alternative to those who have a hard time getting Takara releases, and once again, pricing for Takara products can get absurd for some people in certain countries. But this? This was people with lots of posts, and big collections, Hasbro MPs, Takara MPs, third party MPs, lots of money spent on official products, many were located in the US. And yet, they essentially admitted that they are into the figure and mold but are too cheap, lazy, or some backwards combination of the two to give Takara the support they deserve. If you aren't interested in the figure, fine, if it's just not doing it for you or tickling your fancy, fine, if you want to hold out for a third party, once again, fine. But most of these "fans" seem damn childish, they're willing to give money to a-holes who buy up official releases, then as quickly and cheaply as possible reverse-engineer their own version. Once again I get that a lot of people can't/don't have the ability to get all official Takara/hasbro products, but this most certainly didn't seem the case. It seemed like a lot of douche bags, I use this site for pretty much all my toy needs, it seems there's a thread or discussion for everything, and there's lots of different collectors on here with lots of different tastes, never again with another site, I'll just stick to MW...

Yeah, you won't get too much "it's crap, buy KO" here at MW. What you will get is some "Hasbro sucks, you should buy Takara" with with occasional "I bought a Legends/Deluxe figure and can't believe how crappy it is compared to an MP even though I could buy 10 of them for an MP price!" Which, you know, is cool if you're into collecting the Takara versions of MP toys (which you might as well be, since the US releases end up TRU exclusives that TRU marked up so much that the Takara version is actually cheaper to import). Sadly, not too many people interested in discussing Generations anymore.

[technoblue]

+3^ I only lurk on TFW2005. I get more from the news feeds and the pictures than I do from the forums. I don't know, but I do not envy the mods on that site their job, because it seems that Transformers is often cursed by its own popularity.

[M'Kyuun]

I'm all about Generations, at least the "Classics" releases that homage G1. Unfortunately, Combiner Wars seems to be Hasbro's focus in the line, and I'm lukewarm about it, since the figures are designed to be simple in transformation with the idea of mold-milking ad nauseum. They feel like very cheaply made toys to me. I'll be happy when they return to making the regular figures, although by now, the majority of G1-based characters have already been produced. However, I've found a number of the IDW based figs to be pretty solid. The B-2 Bomber-ish Megatron comes to mind. I was hoping that Legends, or Legion, class Kickback would be revealed. They did a great job translating Bombshell and Shrapnel, so I'm looking forward to having all three Insecticons.

The TFW2005 boards are indeed unpleasant, often puerile and profane. In the infrequent times I've perused their boards to parse out a shred of constructive opinion or info, I've felt mired in comments that seem to originate from people with unchecked psychological and behavioral issues, with neither the means nor the desire to moderate their discourse in a controlled, mature, or intelligent manner. Of course we've had our share of heated posts here over the years, but comparably, MW is a far more refined environment. However, TFW2005 is still a great resource for TF news, and I'm glad to see more pics of MP Ironhide. Personally, I think TT did a stellar job on him, esp considering the disparity between his original toy and the animation model. They didn't have to include the little tray with all his add-ons (Sonadar sensor and his back missile are great), but they did as a nostalgic nod, and it really completes the character. All he needs now are,"leakin' lubricants" to make him truly complete.

Edited July 18, 2015 by M'Kyuun

[treatment]

Alright!

Charles got his Takara MP-21G Bumblebee-G2 review up:

https://youtu.be/O_D-Uo_pKhc

[vlenhoff]

I am planing to sell all of my chugs... I wonder if i should...

and there are more than meets the eye...

Edited July 19, 2015 by vlenhoff