tekering Posted December 12, 2017 Posted December 12, 2017 Why the hell would they ship you the head separately...? Quote
Kuma Style Posted December 12, 2017 Posted December 12, 2017 24 minutes ago, Dangard Ace said: "Alas poor Optimus. I knew him well..." LMAO! 8 minutes ago, tekering said: Why the hell would they ship you the head separately...? Haha; Sorry for not better clarifying - This is a replacement/upgrade head. By default, ComiCave is the Age of Extinction Optimus and this turns it into the "TLK" version since the only difference was the nemesis head. Quote
Ignacio Ocamica Posted December 13, 2017 Posted December 13, 2017 Cool Prime collection Kuma!!! I picked YesModel Starscream from the post office today. I know, very late to the party, Maketoys Howling Meteor is the hot item right know. But I like takaras mold, Howling Meteor is too toon accurate (just personal preference). I'm satisfied with this purchase, I'm not a TF collector, I only have Fans Toys Sovereign, MP 36 Megatron and now this Starscream. Quote
M'Kyuun Posted December 14, 2017 Posted December 14, 2017 On 12/13/2017 at 8:05 AM, Kuma Style said: Well that's just Prime! 'Tis the season for miracles, as I found PotP Slash, Windcharger, Beachcomber, and Shrapnel at my local Wally today in one of those island setups with many bins for small toys. To say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement, as I liken finding new TFs there to finding an oasis in the Atacama. Anyway, just wanted to pass it on to folks who may be looking for these figs. Good luck! Quote
Scyla Posted December 14, 2017 Posted December 14, 2017 (edited) So Flame Toys showed off some new prototypes for their Tarn and Star Saber (IDW). And I need those: http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/flame-toys-idw-tarn.1110765/page-6 http://news.tfw2005.com/2017/12/14/flame-toys-03-star-saber-prototype-355371 I think I'm gonna buy Drift too. I just need to find a shop in Europe that sells these. Otherwise I'm stuck with BBTS. Maybe I can just buy Star Saber and but him next to my Reformatted bots but he would probably look out of place. Edited December 14, 2017 by Scyla Quote
mikeszekely Posted December 15, 2017 Author Posted December 15, 2017 Man, if only they could transform. I'm seriously running out of space here, and as I've shifted gears to a more Masterpiece-style collection I've been debating on putting my Function-X and Reformatted stuff up for sale. I love my DJD, but I'm afraid I'm going to wind up with them as the only figures at that scale. Quote
Scyla Posted December 18, 2017 Posted December 18, 2017 Has anyone followed the release of MP-12+ the more cartoon faithful Lambor release? If so is the paint for the car applied more evenly or is it comparable to the regular MP-12 release? I looked at a few galleries but it is hard to tell from the images found online. Quote
JB0 Posted December 19, 2017 Posted December 19, 2017 So to add to the recent dinobots... I saw the new member, Slash, for sale today. Aesthetically, she LOOKS like a dinobot in both modes. They did a good job keeping to the GI aesthetic. If you told me she was based on an 80s dinobot, I'd believe you. Her deinonychus* claws hang under her arms in robot mode, but I'm okay with it. They kind of look like tonfas, and that is how I'm selling it in my head. Her dinosaur arms hang off her butt, and this is something I'm less okay with. Her dinosaur mode cleans up rather nicely, though the dinosaur torso is a bit plump, and has a gap where robo-abs don't meet robo-legs. I probably would have slung her robot legs OVER her torso instead of under it, so they looked like a backpack(a la Swoop). But dinosaur mode is already top-heavy, that could easily make it worse. Pretty decent engineering for such a small toy, honestly. Only thing I can directly fault them for is that the dino arms are on 1-axis swivels instead of ball joints. The headmaster saddle, surprisingly, doesn't compromise the dinosaur mode much at all. It exists in the nook her dinosaur head disappears to in robot mode, and consequently has a trapdoor that closes over it when not in use. I'd like to see her rebuilt in a larger toy(though it is highly unlikely to happen). It wouldn't be hard for the dinosaur arms to stash away instead of hanging off her butt, and it would greatly improve her robot mode. Also, a larger toy would allow for the fists and claws to be hidden in their respective modes(or the claws to convert to look more like robot weapons) *Yes, deinonychus. I'm fighting the velociraptor hegemony. One of these is among the most important dinosaurs of the twentieth century, the other is a movie star. And Jurassic Park's raptors were deinonychus in all but name anyways. Quote
mikeszekely Posted December 19, 2017 Author Posted December 19, 2017 11 minutes ago, JB0 said: *Yes, deinonychus. I'm fighting the velociraptor hegemony. One of these is among the most important dinosaurs of the twentieth century, the other is a movie star. And Jurassic Park's raptors were deinonychus in all but name anyways. Yes! The raptors in Jurassic Park were even roughly Deinonychus-sized, and real Velociraptors were maybe half as big. Quote
M'Kyuun Posted December 19, 2017 Posted December 19, 2017 I think they did a good job with Slash, too. I picked up Windcharger and Beachcomber at the same time, and was surprised at the size difference between the latter two and Slash. Slash is tiny. If they'd upscaled her slightly, they could have possibly improved her transformation to remove the large gap between her legs and chest in deino mode. (I'm feelin' ya, JBO). Alas, still a fun new addition to the Dino team, and despite being a femme-bot, she's not overtly designed to be humanly curvaceous. In fact, if they didn't tell me she was a she, I wouldn't have known. While I like all the G1 homages in the Prime Trilogy toy line, I like surprises like Slash to keep things fresh, somewhat. Hope they continue. Quote
JB0 Posted December 19, 2017 Posted December 19, 2017 1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said: I picked up Windcharger and Beachcomber at the same time, and was surprised at the size difference between the latter two and Slash. Slash is tiny. If they'd upscaled her slightly, they could have possibly improved her transformation to remove the large gap between her legs and chest in deino mode. Honestly, I think her smaller size is largely because of the engineering. There's a lot of parts in there I don't expect to see at this size, like collapsing toes. And half of an entire second torso installed in the saddle area, for ... some reason. 1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said: Alas, still a fun new addition to the Dino team, and despite being a femme-bot, she's not overtly designed to be humanly curvaceous. In fact, if they didn't tell me she was a she, I wouldn't have known. While I like all the G1 homages in the Prime Trilogy toy line, I like surprises like Slash to keep things fresh, somewhat. Hope they continue. What I like about her is she both is and isn't a G1 homage at the same time. She's new and fresh, while still feeling like she came to me from the 80s(aside from the small size and lack of metal). I feel like, by dinobot standards, she IS a feminine design. Slender legs and a narrow waist. She isn't designed like a hulking mass of raw strength, even moreso than Swoop. Quote
mikeszekely Posted December 19, 2017 Author Posted December 19, 2017 So I've been trying to explain how Christmas works to my two year old. For over a month I'd ask her what she wants for Christmas and she'd either say, "Uh... I don't know," or "Presents!" Out of the blue the other day she's looking at an ABC book. She gets to "Y" and she suddenly gets up and brings the book over to me. "This is a yo-yo," she informed me, pointing to the picture in the book. "I want a yo-yo to throw on the ground. A red one. For Crimmas." Needless to say, while my wife took her to see Santa, I found myself braving the crowds at TRU to see if they had any red yo-yos. I didn't find any at TRU (although I did find her one elsewhere, don't worry!), but I didn't want to go home empty-handed. So I bought myself MPM-3 Bumblebee. In some ways, I question designs are even possible to translate into truly screen-accurate toys that still transform (although Unique Toys is possibly doing the best job of it). And while I don't know if this is the most-accurate Bumblebee toy ever, mostly because there were like a thousand of them and I stopped caring after the second film, I think HasTak made a pretty solid effort here. Obvious details like the shape of his shins, the toes, his head, etc, are all correct, but they went the extra mile vs stuff like Battle Ops Bee here by hiding the tires in his feet, bending panels around to give him his second set of door wings, giving him his little collar antenna, etc. If you look at the GCI model, he's even got yellow details in basically the right spots on his arms and abdomen. He's even got a tiny Autobot symbol on his forehead. If I have one complaint with his aesthetic, it's that the yellow plastic is a little light. Not that it's showing up that way in pictures. If I have two, it's that they were kind of sloppy with the paint. MPM-3 is roughly Voyager-sized, so bigger than G1 (ok, 2) Bee, and way smaller than surprisingly still good Battle Ops Be. If you're wondering how he stacks up with non-Bumblebee figures, he's roughly as tall as an MP car (official or 3P), and comes up to about the lights on MPM-4's abs. I think that's pretty accurate. Bee's sole accessory is his Stinger blaster. I mean, I guess it's ok. It's got silver paint with some sloppy yellowish paint in the barrel. I appreciate that they gave you a way to store in out of the way on Bee's back when you're not using it. Bee's head is on a swivel at the base of his neck so his head can turn, but because the base is at an angle turning his head also sort of tilts it. A hinge at the base of his "skull" lets him look up and down with pretty decent range. I like that when he looks up more of the sculpted neck is exposed instead of a gap or a plain post. His shoulders rotate on super soft ratchets, and can move laterally 90 degrees on a friction hinge. An additional transformation hinge gets you a little extra lateral motion. His biceps swivel, and he's got friction elbows good for 90 degrees. His wrists can swivel. His thumb is hinged at the base and at the mid-kuckle, but the lack of a swivel at the base means that he can never put it into anything like a relaxed pose; it's either tucked in for a fist or giving a thumbs up. The rest of his fingers are similarlly pinned at the base and the mid-knuckle. His index finger is separate from the other two, which are molded together. His waist can swivel. His hips can ratchet forward and backward over 90 degrees, and laterally (also on ratchets) a little under 90 degrees due to the yellow panels on his hips getting in the way. His thighs swivel. His ratcheted knees bend 90 degrees. His feet can end up and down a little, and inward a little under 45 degrees, all above the tire in his foot. Additionally, the front of his foot (that is, the yellow toe and the diecast protrusion from the top of his foot) can also tilt inward or outward, and his toes can bend up and down. His heel spur can also bend up and down. The only problem is that he's a little back-heavy, and despite the length of his heel spurs the friction joints in his ankles are a little weak. It's not impossible to keep him standing, but his inclination toward leaning backward is a little annoying. His Stinger can only fit on his right arm. Simply open the yellow forearm panel, fold in the fits, then fit the Stinger over the wrist by lining up the two holes on the side with the holes on his wrist. Then, when you close his forearm panel, the tabs that usually go into his wrist will go into the holes on the Stinger. And, although I think that's pretty common on Bumblebee toys these days, you can lift his forehead and fold his battle mask down over his face on a double-hinge. Camaro mode. I mean, yeah, that looks like a Camaro to me. The alt-mode scale doesn't quite work with G1 MP Bee, but I think that's G1 Bee's fault. There's some details, like the brake vents, the front bumper, and the fog lights that are different than on Battle Ops Bee, but I think that might be due to running changes between the Camaro used in the first movie vs the Camaros used in the sequels. More size comparisons. Car gurus might nitpick, but I think he looks fairly correct with other MP cars. He's definitely too big compared to MPM-4, or MPM-4 is too small whichever. Bee should be a little less than half Prime's length. Again, I think this alt mode is pretty accurate to the movie. Unlike a lot of Bumblebee toys that either go for silver rims or unpainted black rims, the rims here are painted a nice gunmetal. The tops of Bumblebee's feet are kind of showing in the back, but it's mostly forgiveable. Again, my big complaint is how sloppy the paint is. The Chevy logo in the rear is a muddy mess, and the "Camaro" on the sides looked worn off out of the box. The tires are plastic. If you look at the underside, I think that looks pretty good too. I mean, if you know what you're looking at, that's obviously Bee's arms, hips, crotch, and shins, but if you're not super familiar with how Bee looks they come across as random mechanical bits that aren't immediately recognizable as body parts. Bee's Stinger can also be stored in this mode by splitting it down the middle and tabbing it into the correct notches. He still has the clearance to roll with it pegged in, and I prefer this method of out-of-sight storage to MPM-4's method of pegging everything into his hitch. Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of the Bayverse aesthetic. After 10 years, though, the Bayverse Bumblebee and Optimus are are part of our cultural zeitgeist, arguably more so than their G1 counterparts. To that end, if you want a version of this Bumblebee in your collection that qualifies as a Masterpiece I'd say this version will do fine. The paint could be better, and tolerances in his friction joints could be better (and for all I know the Takara-box version does have better paint and joints), but this toy looks the part in both modes, has reasonable levels of articulation, and has a fairly intuitive transformation to boot. His $80 price tag also seems pretty reasonable for what you get. Quote
Kuma Style Posted December 21, 2017 Posted December 21, 2017 FlameToys Drift has officially shipped and will actually get here prior to the year's end, so that's pretty hype. Quote
M'Kyuun Posted December 25, 2017 Posted December 25, 2017 I've been watching my email like a hawk in anticipation of Anime Export's MP Sunstreaker shipping notification. I've watched a couple of the vids out there, and he looks like a pretty interesting figure. The articulation is really impressive. (Really glad to see Takara honoring their stated desire to imbue these guys with increased ranges of articulation). The most obvious concession is his backpack, which is rather substantial on an otherwise svelte bot, but, honestly, it doesn't bother me, esp after seeing how much stuff is crammed in there, and how compact and well secured it is. He does have a small yet unobtrusive butt flap ( the center part of his car hood), which will likely earn some ire- again, doesn't bother me. His chest is a bit of a cheat, and though I'm usually not a fan of cheats, I can't argue with the look of the final bot. The full windshield wouldn't have served the aesthetics, and he would have looked like he was chugging a little too much motor oil, a la TFA's Constructicons. I appreciate that Takara put in the extra effort to give the car both its realistic look and also the ability to give it the G1 toy look, as far as the chromed engine intakes and the rear light area. They didn't have to, but they did, and that's pretty cool. Sunstreaker has never really been on my radar as a character so much, but everything about this figure is interesting to me as a fan of transformable mecha- it just looks like a fun figure to pose and explore with all of the features and functions built in. The evolution in design over the last five years is remarkably apparent when seeing him next to MP Sideswipe, the first MP car-bot for those who don't know. Anyway, I'm getting excited to get this figure, and just wanted to share it. Looking forward to hearing others' impressions once these start shipping. Quote
mikeszekely Posted December 25, 2017 Author Posted December 25, 2017 13 hours ago, M'Kyuun said: I've been watching my email like a hawk in anticipation of Anime Export's MP Sunstreaker shipping notification. I've watched a couple of the vids out there, and he looks like a pretty interesting figure. The articulation is really impressive. (Really glad to see Takara honoring their stated desire to imbue these guys with increased ranges of articulation). The most obvious concession is his backpack, which is rather substantial on an otherwise svelte bot, but, honestly, it doesn't bother me, esp after seeing how much stuff is crammed in there, and how compact and well secured it is. He does have a small yet unobtrusive butt flap ( the center part of his car hood), which will likely earn some ire- again, doesn't bother me. His chest is a bit of a cheat, and though I'm usually not a fan of cheats, I can't argue with the look of the final bot. The full windshield wouldn't have served the aesthetics, and he would have looked like he was chugging a little too much motor oil, a la TFA's Constructicons. I appreciate that Takara put in the extra effort to give the car both its realistic look and also the ability to give it the G1 toy look, as far as the chromed engine intakes and the rear light area. They didn't have to, but they did, and that's pretty cool. Sunstreaker has never really been on my radar as a character so much, but everything about this figure is interesting to me as a fan of transformable mecha- it just looks like a fun figure to pose and explore with all of the features and functions built in. The evolution in design over the last five years is remarkably apparent when seeing him next to MP Sideswipe, the first MP car-bot for those who don't know. Anyway, I'm getting excited to get this figure, and just wanted to share it. Looking forward to hearing others' impressions once these start shipping. I've watched a few reviews for MP-39, and while they all speak pretty highly of it (Andrew at The Chosen Prime suggested that it's not just the best choice for an MP Sunstreaker, it's his favorite MP from Takara so far), they basically convinced me to buy a cheap Sunsurge. As always, it's just my opinion and YMMV, but I cannot get over his backpack. It's like, yes, Sunsurge has a backpack (the real roof has to go somewhere, eh?), and it's kind of messy-looking, but MP-39's is large and leaves the halves of the spoiler hanging down over a prominent buttflap made from a chunk of the hood. A part of me wants to say "who looks at the back anyway?" but it's such an eyesore to me, I really can't get over it. Quote
M'Kyuun Posted December 26, 2017 Posted December 26, 2017 16 hours ago, mikeszekely said: I've watched a few reviews for MP-39, and while they all speak pretty highly of it (Andrew at The Chosen Prime suggested that it's not just the best choice for an MP Sunstreaker, it's his favorite MP from Takara so far), they basically convinced me to buy a cheap Sunsurge. As always, it's just my opinion and YMMV, but I cannot get over his backpack. It's like, yes, Sunsurge has a backpack (the real roof has to go somewhere, eh?), and it's kind of messy-looking, but MP-39's is large and leaves the halves of the spoiler hanging down over a prominent buttflap made from a chunk of the hood. A part of me wants to say "who looks at the back anyway?" but it's such an eyesore to me, I really can't get over it. I can respect that; I thought BC's Sunsurge and Omnigonix's Spinout, which I personally favor for its lack of cheating with the windshield and overall aesthetic, were both well done versions of the character. Spinout has issues, from what I've read, but again, from an aesthetics POV, I still like it better. That said, for reasons I can't understand myself, I typically favor official products, flaws and all. The general impression I've gotten from the pics and review I watched (not Chosen Prime's, but I might look at his, too) of Takara's version is that it's a good figure employing some neat engineering, and overall pays respectable homage to G1 Sunstreaker, combining elements of both toon and toy, more toon of course. Butt flaps and backpacks have become commonplace with a number of TF toys, both official and third party, and unless they are so disproportionately large or encumbering to the rest of the figure, I'm generally not bothered by them. Mileage varies, of course, and I don't fault anyone for not liking either of these things. Thank goodness for options. As for me, I'm still anxious for MP Sunstreaker. Quote
dizman Posted December 26, 2017 Posted December 26, 2017 I can easily overlook the backpack and butt flap for that transformation and poseability, too bad I'm going to wait until the Sentinel Mospeada comes out next month to ship everything. Guess I'll have to enjoy Sunstreaker through you guys for a bit Quote
Tking22 Posted December 26, 2017 Posted December 26, 2017 On 12/25/2017 at 12:59 AM, M'Kyuun said: I appreciate that Takara put in the extra effort to give the car both its realistic look and also the ability to give it the G1 toy look, as far as the chromed engine intakes and the rear light area. They didn't have to, but they did, and that's pretty cool. They did have to though, Lambo demanded it. In order to get the licensing agreement Takara had to implement a way to have Sunstreaker have a "realistic" Lambo car mode added in on top of the obviously fan demanded toon/toy giant fictional intake look. That was the tricky part with this guy, with the push for toon accuracy or death Takara more or less had to fit in two alt modes, the real Lambo mode and the cartoon accurate look, it wasn't just the toy that had the giant inatakes, he looked that way in the toon too and was not a regular yellow Lambo like how his brother was a regular red Lambo. I definitely appreciate the engineering that went in, Takara worked some real magic getting all of that in to one figure, but I gotta agree on the butt flap and backpack, it's huge and terrible looking. I remember idiots giving Sunsurge tons of crap for his backpack, and that there was NO WAY an official Takara version would use a fake chest, or have a butt flap or backpack of any kind, and yet here we are. I just can't get into the thought process of when Takara gets to it, it will be perfect. They did pretty damn good, but it's not perfect, and that face sculpt is, by a mile, there worst work yet. I'm still getting one, but Sunsurge is going nowhere, his alt mode is superior to the official in every way in my opinion, but Takara did nail that bot mode pretty hard, except for the face... Quote
treatment Posted December 28, 2017 Posted December 28, 2017 (edited) just received MP-10B reissue today and could not resist taking it out... https://imgur.com/vqQPooG Yeah. The Weijiang-OKO's dull matte-finish is just quite completely meh next to the Takara's MP-10B's rather nice glossy finish... Edited December 28, 2017 by treatment Quote
jenius Posted December 28, 2017 Posted December 28, 2017 Always loved my 10B and that glossy finish. Quote
ArchieNov Posted December 28, 2017 Posted December 28, 2017 I got my MP Sunstreaker. It is GLORIOUS!!! Quote
mikeszekely Posted December 28, 2017 Author Posted December 28, 2017 10 hours ago, ArchieNov said: I got my MP Sunstreaker. It is GLORIOUS!!! Oh. The same day I got the Sunsurge I ordered because I was so disgusted with MP-39's back. Quote
nhyone Posted December 29, 2017 Posted December 29, 2017 MP-39 Sunstreaker is the last MP that I give HasTak a pass. The car-bots were nice when they were relatively cheap, but at this price, I prefer to go for more iconic characters. The backpack doesn't help. It is visible once you get past a certain angle, so it's not just viewing the figure from the back (which is rare). Quote
treatment Posted December 30, 2017 Posted December 30, 2017 MP-39 Sunstreaker... headlamps down headlamps up Bro 'Bots... Quote
Golden Arms Posted December 30, 2017 Posted December 30, 2017 (edited) Very Nice T!! I cant' wait to retire sunsurge. Sunstreakers proportions look great. Edited December 30, 2017 by Golden Arms Quote
treatment Posted December 30, 2017 Posted December 30, 2017 moar mp-39 stuff: clearer pic-instruction to take care of the inner shin/heel panel gap: http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/mp-39-masterpiece-sunstreaker.1109135/page-285#post-15354474 Wotafa review (he missed the step above) (japanese): tman's review (english): Quote
Valkyrie Hunter D Posted December 30, 2017 Posted December 30, 2017 Despite the fake windshield, MP Sunstreaker looks great, and backpack looks fine. He certainly didn't skip leg day not unlike Sunsurge. And he probably has better build quality than my current MP Sunstreaker stand-in, Spinout (yeah, that's not saying much). I just might have to pick one up. Quote
Valkyrie Hunter D Posted December 30, 2017 Posted December 30, 2017 1 hour ago, Kuma Style said: Wow, Peg never looked so good. Quote
mikeszekely Posted December 30, 2017 Author Posted December 30, 2017 1 hour ago, Kuma Style said: Who or what is peg? Years ago, when the Hasbro Drift was in stores, there was some discussion of Drift shelfwarming. Someone said something about there being pegs full of him, and another board member, in a moment of confusion, thought we were saying that Drift's name was Peg. I gleefully latched onto that, swearing that Drift would be known as Peg forever more at Macrossworld. And thanks to a few people like JB0 who seemed as amused as I was, the name's stuck. Quote
Kuma Style Posted December 31, 2017 Posted December 31, 2017 That's unfortunate as Drift was a real highlight of the classics line for me. I appreciate the explanation, though. -------- Going back and forth about Sunstreaker... looks nice, great feedback, but something is keeping me from jumping that I can't put a finger on. Quote
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