The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[JB0]

Very nice!

[M'Kyuun]

Nice custom, David.

I've been following the NY Toy Fair coverage, and there's some interesting stuff coming. I never cared for Seaspray's character, but that figure looks really good. The clones (Pounce and Fastlane, so far) are cool, although both are destined to be retailer boxset exclusives. Not a fan of exclusivity- prices tend to go up, and exclusives by their nature become harder to obtain. I hope these will eventually get individual releases, but I'm not holding my breath. The Octane and Blitzwing repaints look much better to me than do their OP and Megs figs, which makes sense as that's what these were intended to be. I'm glad they changed the nose and wings on Octane's jet mode- much more suitable, IMHO, although those truck cab halves still look lazy. Twin Twist, as well as Top Spin, are, IMO, some of the best updated figures I've seen- can't wait to get both of them. The new TR Windblade looks ok, although I really wish they'd find a way to integrate her arms into the transformation- as with most of their recent jet TF figs, both TR and RiD, the arms just peg in along the body and look like arms. I love some of the comic book cover art I've seen, and wish they'd make a figure faithful to how she's drawn. Despite my gripes, I'm still going to get her TR incarnation. I know absolutely nothing about Sky Shadow or Overlord (both are duo-cons sharing the same mold with some retooling), but the jet modes of both appeal to me, and the unique 2-part transformation also appeals. Just have to figure out which I like best (prob Sky Shadow for his color scheme).

Anyway, I'm surprised no one else has brought up Titans Return news with NY Toy fair having just occurred this weekend. Admittedly, I didn't see a lot on display that had a 'wow' factor. I thought the clones were cool, but their boxset exclusivity means I won't be getting them. I'm not into the huge figures, so I doubt I'll get Trypticon (although I do find him mildly interesting, and IMHO, they did a great job with his update). As a Beast Wars fan, I'm happy about the MP Dinobot announcement from Wonderfest, although I'll hold any excitement or anticipation in check until proper pics are revealed. He's not an easy figure to translate from his bot to dino modes without a bit of compromise, as all previous toy attempts have shown.

[David Hingtgen]

12 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I love it!  How'd you get him looking so good?

I have seen some people totally repaint Rewind green for this, but this plastic doesn't take paint well.  Plus---scraping.  Also---vending machines are mostly black.  Only the "ad space on the front" is colored.  So I just added a bit of green on shoulders and treads to remove some red  and make it more Dew-colored.  

Head needed a lot though, to not look like Rewind. Carved off his little head-camera, too   

 

[Scyla]

Well it seems like HLJ forgot my order of Masterpiece Grapple. I'm super bummed about that. Oh well, I've sent a message to their customer support but since Grapple shows up as discontinued I don't have much hope. It seems like the next cheapest available Grapple is about $35 more expensive than the one form HLJ. 

[M'Kyuun]

Sorry to hear that, Scyla. Robot Kingdom may have it cheaper, but with a caveat: they also tend to overcharge for shipping. Hope you find one close to the HLJ asking price. Good luck!

I had a bit  of good luck in that MP Cheetor released just a day or so before my PW deadline was up for Takara's Legends Ginrai, and I managed to ship them together. I was hoping it would go down that way, but figured Cheetor would issue the day after Ginrai shipped, as that's how my luck usually tends to go. Fate smiled this time.

[Scyla]

Random thoughts: I just had the realization that Takara Masterpiece devision is the Ikea of toy manufactures: their stuff is ingeniously designed but something is just not right if you look at them closely. 

[treatment]

http://imgur.com/40QpsY7

 

[sh9000]

 

[vlenhoff]

 ^ ^ ^ ^ Cheetor looks like he is watching the part where Darth says: " Luke i am your Father!" ^ ^ ^ ^ 

Edited February 28, 2017 by vlenhoff

[Scyla]

On 2/27/2017 at 8:39 AM, M'Kyuun said:

Sorry to hear that, Scyla. Robot Kingdom may have it cheaper, but with a caveat: they also tend to overcharge for shipping. Hope you find one close to the HLJ asking price. Good luck!

I had a bit  of good luck in that MP Cheetor released just a day or so before my PW deadline was up for Takara's Legends Ginrai, and I managed to ship them together. I was hoping it would go down that way, but figured Cheetor would issue the day after Ginrai shipped, as that's how my luck usually tends to go. Fate smiled this time.

FYI: I've got a response from HLJ and they said that they got an initial shipment that was smaller than expected. They also said that they are expecting a second shipment in the next week but they will keep the orders closed as long as customers still waiting for theirs.

[Silverstreak]

13 hours ago, Scyla said:

FYI: I've got a response from HLJ and they said that they got an initial shipment that was smaller than expected. They also said that they are expecting a second shipment in the next week but they will keep the orders closed as long as customers still waiting for theirs.

 

The same thing happened to me with Cheetor. I emailed them but have yet to receive a reply it hopefully it's the same as you. 

[M'Kyuun]

20 hours ago, Scyla said:

FYI: I've got a response from HLJ and they said that they got an initial shipment that was smaller than expected. They also said that they are expecting a second shipment in the next week but they will keep the orders closed as long as customers still waiting for theirs.

I hope they come through for you, Scyla, and you too, Silverstreak.

 

Guess I got lucky, as my MP Cheetor showed up yesterday.  I had high expectations for this figure; after hours of handling him, and accomplishing a transformation to robot and back to cheetah, my thoughts are that this is a better display piece than a toy. Going from cat to bot, all was smooth sailing until I got to the point of locking the torso with the little blue part by his collar. I spent hours unfolding and refolding the torso bits to try and get it to lock, but it seemed like the cat head was too big and wouldn't let the torso compress enough for it to lock. ( it would lock just fine if I removed the cheetah head) Moreover, it's a very tight fit in the body cavity, so the cat whiskers get mashed and bent all out of shape (stiff wiry plastic). I wish they'd made them from a softer, more hair-like material that can take being mashed and spring back. Anyway, I finally got the head to fit in and the body to lock. After all that fuss, I was rue to transform him back, but I wanted my wife, who's also a BW fan, to see him in his cat mode. So, reluctantly, I began the frustrating journey back to cheetah. The sore spot for me on this fig is that there are no clear detentes to let you know you've got the arms positioned correctly- all joints in the arms, including the tiny mushroom joints that hold them on to the body, are friction joints. I likely spent over an hour configuring and re-configuring the arms to try and hit that 'sweet spot' where they come together without interfering with each other or rubbing against the bot head, and getting all the tabs to mate. This last was an exercise in frustration- trying to get them to tab into the cheetah's collar- it's enough to piss off the Dali Lama. Also, there is no discernible way to lock the cat's back, so when you pick him up the forward and aft halves of the cat sag a little. There's a sort of friction detente between two of the cat's lower body parts that is meant to hold the body in position, but it's simply not up to the task, esp after a number of transformations where those parts are folded and unfolded repeatedly. The final results, though, are rewarding, mostly. Bot mode, if you can get the torso to lock, is the more solid of the two modes, and looks like he stepped out of the animation. His articulation is fantastic. For some reason, when Takara designed his two weapons, they only gave one of them tabs on the handle to ensure a solid grip. The one without, which forms the entire lower back and tail of cheetah mode, is pretty ungainly and awkward due to its bulk, and without  a tab to keep it firmly gripped, just sags in his hand. Disappointing. In his cheetah mode, there are gaps here and there that betray his bot parts, and of course they're pretty obvious on the back legs, but honestly, it's not an enviable or easy task to make a perfectly organic looking animal from a robot, and I think Takara did a great job making him look as good as he does. Articulation in cheetah mode is excellent- esp the front legs; even the toes have ankle tilt as well as fore and aft.  The neck joint extends and allows the head limited up, down, left, and right, as well as rotation for a cocked-head look. Between the extra faces/heads, swappable eyes(cheetah), and the pose-ability, this is a very emotive figure. While not the most fun to transform, once achieved, Cheetor is a great display piece esp given all the options to change his look.  One other negative, at least on my copy, is that the extending neck in cheetah mode weakened after only a little bit of head movement, and just barely holds the head up (there's a small sweet spot that still has friction), so I'll likely have to apply some glue to try and tighten that up a little- kinda crappy, though, for a high end figure only hours out of the box.

I just so happen to have TR Wolfwire sitting on my desk while typing this, and he's such a solid figure with a great transformation- makes me wish they could have achieved this kind of simplicity and solidarity with Cheetor.

[Scyla]

So HLJ came through with my Grapple preorder. thats gonna be a hell of a box once I need to ship my PW the next time.

[edit:] After seeing a review of MP Grapple I'm not sure that I made the wrong call going with MMCs Backdraft and MP Grapple instead of the other way round. While I think that the crane boom transformation is pretty ingenious and maybe even more impressive than on MP Inferno I think that Inferno had a smoother transformation overall.

Now I have the nagging feeling that I missed out on MP Inferno.

On the other hand I think that MP Grapple will fit better in my Masterpiece collection with the additional details on the legs and feet. 

Edited March 4, 2017 by Scyla

[treatment]

So my TR Fort Max was recently captured...

http://imgur.com/CbeS7IY

 

[sh9000]

Preordered Trypticon at Nippon-Yasan.

[treatment]

from TFW forums earlier.

MP-36 in-hand, in wtf sideways view...

https://youtu.be/rarq2lZ0TiA

 

[Tking22]

God I hate that grey so, so, so much. If TT releases an X or silver version I'd bite, but I'm still out on this regular release.

[derex3592]

Looks fantastic to me, can't wait! He'll be my first premium Megs! 

[M'Kyuun]

For a teaser vid, it didn't really work for me; I'd rather see more of Megs and less of his accessories.

As for the color, I'm not bothered by it; I have Apollyon, who makes up for a number of things this figure lacks (silver color, better proportions, transformation faithful to G1 toy) and I'm thinking the same will be true for this figure in regards to Apollyon (starting with those shoulder ratchets). Neither is a perfect Megatron toy, but both have their good points from what's been shown thus far. I'm looking forward to his release.

[sh9000]

Agreed.

[Tking22]

I love that TT was essentially pressured into doing more with accessories thanks to third party, but man, that asking price is absurd. I'm definitely loving the accessories, but I'm just not seeing them plus the figure itself justifying the asking price. Plus, I just can't settle for the grey "toon" accurate color, it looks like it wants to be a premium figure but the paint job is where they gave up. I really need to see him next to Mightron, my current MP Megs, I'm not expecting much, but I'd still like to see the comparison.

[M'Kyuun]

While I get the appeal accessories may have, esp those specific to a memorable scene, I rarely have any use for them. For me, it's all about the core figure- that's what I'm paying for ultimately, and that's where I want the focus to be by the manufacturer ( Has/Tak and 3P). Case in point, I actually thought the different Cheetor heads with their varying expressions were a brilliant addition- I have yet to pull them out and try them on my figure. I've just never been much into accessories ( FAST Packs in the Macross universe, however, are an exception- there's just something cool about playing dress-up with a bot that can become a fighter)

Agree on the price for Megs 2.0- a little extravagant. I hope he turns out to a good figure, and not a floppy mess- those pics , esp gun, make me think Origamitron. Really wish they'd stuck with the G1 transformation- I've always been a fan of that, and it very much informs the look of the robot mode. This Megs has a number of cheats to give him his iconic look due to his unconventional transformation. I don't mind innovation, but I wish they'd stuck a little closer to the original, as that would make him truly MP in my opinion. YMMV.

[M'Kyuun]

http://news.tfw2005.com/2017/03/23/mp-36-masterpiece-megatron-hand-images-modes-336129

New pics of MP Megatron over at TFW2005. The flatness of his upper torso (where it should be curved) and origami pistol mode really make me wish they'd stuck to the G1 transformation for the torso and arms to preserve all the shapes inherent to his pistol mode, as well as eliminating all those panel lines where he breaks apart.  Liking Apollyon a little more for that reason. Too many cheats on Megs 2.0      Still getting him, though.

[mikeszekely]

The nicest thing I can say about MP-36 is that it's a big improvement from MP-05. I'm really not a fan of Takara's slavish devotion to the Sunbow character models, though, so I still think there are three better options that are all cheaper to boot.

[Tking22]

Man I never noticed how awful that Con symbol on him looks, that's frakking terrible. I get it, once again, animation accurate, but damn, that just looks so, so, so awful. What options would anyone have for covering it up? White backed Repro Con label at best? That's such a terrible decision in my opinion, god damn you Takara, you really don't want any of my money anymore do you?

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Yeah, if a silver repaint is made down the road, I might pick him up.

[sh9000]

MP Megatron for cartoon MP, Apollyon for toy MP.

[Scyla]

I have the MP-36 on preoder but on the other hand I had the chance to open my MakeToys Despotron today and I don't know if I need an official MP Megatron anymore. Despotron is just so nice and as a bonus he has a fun transformation for an Megatron that turns into an accurate gun. Love the lateral thinking of the MakeToys designer he put into this piece. 

[treatment]

from TFW2005 video-review: http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/posts/14453593/

MP-36 Megatron video review:

https://youtu.be/_pkifHgdwEw

 

[JB0]

So Megatron gets sound but no light, Shockwave gets light but no sound... who is next and do they get the full set?

[mikeszekely]

3 minutes ago, JB0 said:

So Megatron gets sound but no light, Shockwave gets light but no sound... who is next and do they get the full set?

Autobot Spike, and yes. 

[JB0]

You know what? I'm okay with that!

[Scyla]

10 hours ago, treatment said:

from TFW2005 video-review: http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/posts/14453593/

MP-36 Megatron video review:

https://youtu.be/_pkifHgdwEw

 

That transformation... looks like Kobayashi madness. Worse than MP-9 Rodimus Convoy. On the one hand I'm intrigued by the engineering and all the moving bits but it doesn't look like fun to play with Megatron at all. 

The Hasui run of MP Transformers where such enjoyable toys and this is such a departure from that line that I don't know what to think about it. 

It also looks like he is very prone to scratches. Maybe this was a factory reject that is why the review is available before the release of the toy but I could make out several areas of the toy where you can already see scratches.

Minor rant: can someone at Takara please interfere when the mold designer thinks it is a good idea to have gate marks on highly visible areas of the toy. The Megatron has two big gate marks on the front of the chest where you can see the bare die cast of the pieces. It is even worse than MP-22 Ultra Magnus. 

 

[sh9000]

Welker's voice with that Megatron would be epic.

[M'Kyuun]

I wonder if Hasbro's going to release a version with Frank Welker doing the lines, at an even more extravagant price point? If so, probably TRU exclusive, as usual.  It would have been nice of Takara to release this guy with two sound cards; one for English and one for Japanese. I think I'd rather have that than most of his accessories.