The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[Ignacio Ocamica]

Every new picture you post is better than the last one Kuma!!!

Awesome as usual.

[M'Kyuun]

14 hours ago, Kuma Style said:

So are the Takara versions of POTP actually different? I'd read that they were 1 for 1 same.

Lovely pic. Def digging Drift over that Prime (something about those tires on his hips bugs me, even though it's G1 toy accurate).

As for PotP figures, from what I've read on TFW2005, it sounds like the toys are going to be the same without changes for the two markets. Not sure why. I'm sure that's got a lot of folks bummed. I've bought some Takara versions myself, when either paint jobs or mold differences appealed over the Hasbro version, so I can understand the thinking. I guess we'll see how well that goes as we chug along into 2018.

Change of topic; I ordered MP-39 Sunstreaker through Anime Export, and have yet to receive any notification for shipping due. Curious if anyone else here used them and whether they've received any word from them. I do know that they just came off of a New Year's holiday, so they've only just been reopened for business since yesterday, but seeing all the reviews and pics being posted, I want my Sunstreaker, dammit!   Any word one way or the other is appreciated (misery loves company, as they say). Thanks.

[no3Ljm]

20 hours ago, Kuma Style said:

So are the Takara versions of POTP actually different? I'd read that they were 1 for 1 same.

5 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

As for PotP figures, from what I've read on TFW2005, it sounds like the toys are going to be the same without changes for the two markets. Not sure why. I'm sure that's got a lot of folks bummed. I've bought some Takara versions myself, when either paint jobs or mold differences appealed over the Hasbro version, so I can understand the thinking. I guess we'll see how well that goes as we chug along into 2018.

Oh. I didn't know about this. Were there any official statement that it is the same? Was hoping that Takara is different for its paint and mold as what M'Kyuun mentioned. If it were the same then I rather get the Hasbro ones and save $20 somehow.

[Kuma Style]

11 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Lovely pic. Def digging Drift over that Prime (something about those tires on his hips bugs me, even though it's G1 toy accurate).

As for PotP figures, from what I've read on TFW2005, it sounds like the toys are going to be the same without changes for the two markets. Not sure why. I'm sure that's got a lot of folks bummed. I've bought some Takara versions myself, when either paint jobs or mold differences appealed over the Hasbro version, so I can understand the thinking. I guess we'll see how well that goes as we chug along into 2018.

Change of topic; I ordered MP-39 Sunstreaker through Anime Export, and have yet to receive any notification for shipping due. Curious if anyone else here used them and whether they've received any word from them. I do know that they just came off of a New Year's holiday, so they've only just been reopened for business since yesterday, but seeing all the reviews and pics being posted, I want my Sunstreaker, dammit!   Any word one way or the other is appreciated (misery loves company, as they say). Thanks.

I like the Drift quite a bit more than Prime too but they're in too different leagues. They're both non-transforming, diecast pieces but the Optimus (It's the Ori Toy "Hero of Steel" licensed piece) is heavily focused on artistic interpretation in its design (And that's why it has the super robot proportions) where Drift is more accurate and the focus is just on high-end materials and detailing from head-to-toe. There's like a 200 buck price difference between them as well.

Honestly, I'm sort of glad HasTak are doing universal CHUG stuff for once because it's no longer an "F.U." to a pretty significant consumer base for this stuff. You should be able to buy the "best" version regardless of where you live since the stuff is all being manufactured overseas anyways and I don't believe in shortchanging a region on a figure's design or manufacturing "because." It's a crappy practice.

I haven't used Anime-Export in some time. They're great when everything is smooth but are radio silent with the least bit of customer service until paypal and whatnot is involved.

13 hours ago, Ignacio Ocamica said:

Every new picture you post is better than the last one Kuma!!!

Awesome as usual.

Thanks so much, man. This puiece is my spirit animal and I can't stop taking pics of it.

5 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

Oh. I didn't know about this. Were there any official statement that it is the same? Was hoping that Takara is different for its paint and mold as what M'Kyuun mentioned. If it were the same then I rather get the Hasbro ones and save $20 somehow.

I can understand the hope and I think it's a pretty fair thing to assume since throughout the years Takara has really done some significantly BETTER things with their CHUG offerings but even looking at that video compared to in-hand U.S. pics, the Rodimus is exactly the same. Retail CHUG isn't my niche anymore though so I may not have the eye for it I did but I'd take a good look yourself because you may honestly be able to save a good amount of $$ and get them now rather than wait.

[mikeszekely]

I think you're safe buying the US releases, @no3Ljm. There was an article in Figure King magazine mentioning that the US and Takara releases of the Power of the Primes stuff being much more similar than previous stuff like Titans Returns, and apparently it's part of a push to unify the Transformers brand worldwide.

[JB0]

1 minute ago, mikeszekely said:

I think you're safe buying the US releases, @no3Ljm. There was an article in Figure King magazine mentioning that the US and Takara releases of the Power of the Primes stuff being much more similar than previous stuff like Titans Returns, and apparently it's part of a push to unify the Transformers brand worldwide.

Did they say if this is from Hasbro raising quality or TakaraTomy lowering it? Because let's be honest here, that is the part that's got americans paying to import  toys available at their local supermarket.  And I'd like to see Hasbro doing more paint apps and less gaps.

[Kuma Style]

1 hour ago, JB0 said:

Did they say if this is from Hasbro raising quality or TakaraTomy lowering it? Because let's be honest here, that is the part that's got americans paying to import  toys available at their local supermarket.  And I'd like to see Hasbro doing more paint apps and less gaps.

I guess it depends on what you consider indicative of quality. For me it's more of a q.c. thing and outside of that recent devastator I can't think of any instances where Takara has had actual, different molding varations. For me , colors were kind of 60/40 Takara vs. the parties that thought all things Takara colored were just better. I don't think Takara would ever say that they've outright chosen to give things l lowered paint applications and whatnot but looking at them I see these as more of what I'd expect from Hasbro CHUG toys in things like the insane amount of gray on Prime's robot mode where I feel Takara would've normally done some things to make that more appealing.

[JB0]

1 hour ago, Kuma Style said:

. For me it's more of a q.c. thing and outside of that recent devastator I can't think of any instances where Takara has had actual, different molding varations.

Powermaster Prime/Super Ginrai was the one that sprang to mind here. Most notably that they completely redid his arms so they didn't look like they were made of ladders(though they also rebuilt his chest to make him look more like the original).

 

1 hour ago, Kuma Style said:

I don't think Takara would ever say that they've outright chosen to give things l lowered paint applications and whatnot but looking at them I see these as more of what I'd expect from Hasbro CHUG toys in things like the insane amount of gray on Prime's robot mode where I feel Takara would've normally done some things to make that more appealing.

Awww. What I expected, but I was certainly hoping it meant Hasbro was stepping up their game.

[Scyla]

It would be a shame if the Takara releases where identical. I had high hopes for a Takara PotP Nemesis Prime repaint without those dreaded stickers on the toy. 

[mikeszekely]

15 hours ago, JB0 said:

Did they say if this is from Hasbro raising quality or TakaraTomy lowering it? Because let's be honest here, that is the part that's got americans paying to import  toys available at their local supermarket.  And I'd like to see Hasbro doing more paint apps and less gaps.

Dunno, I only heard about it second hand.  But I have a feeling it'll be bringing Takara down to Hasbro's level.  The Hasbro stuff we get in the USA is basically the same everywhere except Japan, so safe money is that Hasbro is bringing Japan in line with the rest of us.  Especially with the toys showing up in mobile games like Forged to Fight.

That does still probably leave room for Takara to do special "premium" editions, but I'd guess they'd be smaller runs and even more expensive.

[M'Kyuun]

IMHO, keeping the Japanese releases in line with Hasbro is a lowering of quality, for the most part. There are some figures where I prefer the Hasbro, but when you consider the addition of an entirely new figure, such as Blast-off or a deluxe sized Groove, or remolded arms and completely different articulated feet for Ginrai (PMP), or articulation for the Constructicons whose Hasbro counterparts were pretty limited, then quality goes beyond mere cosmetics. If decisions like these are stymied, then all collectors suffer, since a better official option is off the table. I think it's shrewd and slimy to tell the company who ultimately designs and produces your product that they can't make a superior version for their own market, as it both shines a light on their inferior product and woos a lot of Western collectors away from buying domestic. Instead of the Hasbro version, why not go for the Japanese versions instead? I know- money. I read years ago the difference between American marketing and Japanese is that America sets a price-point and keeps development within that box, regardless of end quality, and the Japanese develop the best product, within reason, and then settle on a price-point. I believe it. 

Alas, short of the new Dinos, not much of PotP is really appealing to me thus far. I wanted to like the Leader OP and Rodimus, but having watched reviews for both, I'm not really too crazy about either. I love what they were going for, but execution could have been better. Ah well, I'm sure they'll try it again someday, hopefully with better designs. Shrug.

[Kuma Style]

I can't say one thing or another because I stopped buying retail CHUG years ago. I think it all went to hell quite a bit ago on both sides of the pond regardless of Candy paint. Just cheap, hollow nonsense made around gimmicks that don't even make sense (EVERYONE is a combiner. EVERYONE is a headmaster. Etc. etc..) with ever-increasing prices.

@jb0 great call on PMOP! I completely forgot about the structural differences there!

Last Peg spam for the forseeable future:

 

[M'Kyuun]

Sweet pic. Man, it'd be nice to have a figure of that detail that does  transform. Really makes me want to peek into the future maybe a decade or two and see where toy tech is compared to today, b/c unless there are new revolutionary materials brought to bear to allow extreme bending, twisting, folding, etc  I can't imagine how it can really get much better than the engineering we see now. But, I'd still love to see an evolution akin to the 80's-to-present twenty years on.

[Kuma Style]

20 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Sweet pic. Man, it'd be nice to have a figure of that detail that does  transform. Really makes me want to peek into the future maybe a decade or two and see where toy tech is compared to today, b/c unless there are new revolutionary materials brought to bear to allow extreme bending, twisting, folding, etc  I can't imagine how it can really get much better than the engineering we see now. But, I'd still love to see an evolution akin to the 80's-to-present twenty years on.

PErsonally, I think we're at the pinnacle of transforming toys and don't see anything transforming have this degree of aesthetic cohesiveness or articulation any time ever. It would be GREAT but I'm thinking about even the innards of this piece and how I don't see it being possible on a transforming piece.
 

 

[mikeszekely]

6 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I wanted to like the Leader OP and Rodimus, but having watched reviews for both, I'm not really too crazy about either.

Leader OP was a huge missed opportunity to do a proper Power Master Optimus instead of the Magnus repaint without a smaller cab robot.  Really no interest in an Orion Pax figure that turns into a truck cab that turns into MP-10 with less articulation and a bunch of gray panels everywhere.

I like the Rodimus better, but the weird shoulders get me.  Plus DX9's Carry is probably my favorite toy in my collection, so I'm kind of set on space Winnebagos.

[no3Ljm]

On 1/6/2018 at 8:37 PM, mikeszekely said:

I think you're safe buying the US releases, @no3Ljm. There was an article in Figure King magazine mentioning that the US and Takara releases of the Power of the Primes stuff being much more similar than previous stuff like Titans Returns, and apparently it's part of a push to unify the Transformers brand worldwide.

Hey Mike and everyone. Thanks for replying on my concern with the POTP Rodimus.

But since Mike mentioned that the POTP releases might be similar with the Titans Returns release that both Takara and Hasbro releases are somehow similar. However, I do remember both my Titan Return Rodimus from both companies vary from one another. In which I prefer more the Takara one. And to make it clear this is the first time I owned 2 same figures from the two companies. And I have to say that I really like the Takara one even though there's some changes done in Hasbro that I also like that I really wish Takara used it too. This is the front part of the car that folds and somehow becomes a filler in the chest. This is obvious with the Takara version because its chest is hollow. You can see this on the figure side profile. But overall, Takara is better due to paint applications and added details.

So I'm kinda torn if I should wait for the Takara one and see if there's some differences or rely on what's being announced that they're the same now and just get the Hasbro version. But seeing the differences in front of my eye with my Titans Return Rodimus somehow tells me that Takara is kind of lowering down the quality and make it more in line with Hasbro. 

I'm putting a YouTube video here of the Titans Return comparison for Rodimus.

 

 

[altermodes]

Mpm06 is ironhide

http://news.tfw2005.com/2018/01/09/mpm-06-masterpiece-movie-ironhide-revealed-356433

[Kuma Style]

7 hours ago, altermodes said:

Mpm06 is ironhide

http://news.tfw2005.com/2018/01/09/mpm-06-masterpiece-movie-ironhide-revealed-356433

Really wishing that his truck mode didn't look as "toy'ish" as it does  but it's overall great.

[Scyla]

34 minutes ago, Kuma Style said:

Really wishing that his truck mode didn't look as "toy'ish" as it does  but it's overall great.

I don't know the panels on the arm kills it somewhat for me. From an engineering standpoint I loved what they where able to achieve with the MPM Optimus Prime. Barricade and now Ironhide look like a massive step back. 

[mikeszekely]

I got Prime and Bee because they're somewhat iconic now, but I don't think I like the Bayverse designs enough to bother with Ironhide.

[M'Kyuun]

First time seeing anything about Bayverse MP Ironhide. His was one of the few designs I liked, mostly b/c of that split hood that sells it as a Transformer more than most of the other designs. I like the chunky proportions, but there's something up with those front wheels that doesn't look right. I still have my old voyager from 2007, and I like that. The leader class they did a year or two later was pretty well done, too (didn't get it, but I took a look at it at Wally, and watched the obligatory reviews). I agree with the above statement that this looks a step backwards, esp with all his toes hanging out under the back bumper. Not looking too masterpiece-y to me.

Struck the Transformer lottery tonight at Target, where they had almost all of the PotP figures. I know I criticized Rodimus and OP, but in my hands, the need to have them overcame any reservations. I also got Swoop and Grimlock, both must-buys. I vacillated on Dreadwing, but left him on the peg- pretty much a CW jet in funky colors. They also had Starscream, but even in hand, it just didn't really appeal- man he's got a small head given the chunkiness of the rest of him. They didn't have Slug, but as luck would have it, I ordered him and Grotusque through TRU a couple days ago, and should have them next week. I initially balked at paying $25 for a deluxe, but I have the original Grotusque and my nostalgia runneth over. They did a really good job on him, and we'll probably never see another official G1 version of him again, so I bit.  Thanks to my wife and her odd mid-week craving for Olive Garden, which sits across the parking lot from Target, I was able to snag the toys I didn't think I'd manage to get for another three or four months (b/c TF distribution here in Spokane is sparse at best). Enough typing- got some transforming to do! 

[mikeszekely]

47 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Thanks to my wife and her odd mid-week craving for Olive Garden, which sits across the parking lot from Target, I was able to snag the toys I didn't think I'd manage to get for another three or four months (b/c TF distribution here in Spokane is sparse at best).

Hmm.  I'm going to take my dad to Olive Garden tomorrow.  No Targets there, but there is a TRU down the road.  I wouldn't mind finding Grimlock (and the classic Voltron Blue Lion, while I'm at it), but that's about it.

And yeah, Transformers distribution pretty much sucks across the board.  I don't know if it's a store thing, or a Hasbro thing, or what.  I was at a Walmart the other day in the middle of nowhere that I don't often go to (only when I visit a friend who lives out that way), and they had a ton of Voyager Megatrons from The Last Knight.  Wasn't really interested, but given that it's like six months after the movie came out and most stores around here are still clogged with Grimlocks I actually thought I'd never see it at retail.

[M'Kyuun]

I've been seeing quite a few TLK Megatrons, too. Voyager class. No interest. But the Generations pegs are usually empty or have a few of the TR wave 5 figs. Oh, and Wally has one of those huge center aisle multi-compartment displays with all manner of small toys, including the PotP legends class figs, for which I'm thankful, as I was able to get Windcharger, Beachcomber, and Slash much sooner than I thought I would. I've since seen them at other stores on pegs, too, so at least they're seeing some distribution. Still, none of the stores I go to are clogged with PotP figs. At Target last night, they had one Swoop, two Dreadwings, one Grimlock, two Starscreams, and one each of Rodimus and OP. So, my timing was just right, or I'd have likely missed them.

Having transformed Rodimus into his various forms, I wish they'd taken a little more time with his design. The fact that his arms need to be removed and stowed is kinda backwards from what we've come to expect in modern TF design. Moreover, using Hot Rod's shins to form the upper part of Rodimus' arms limits the articulation capable. He does have presence, though, just being that large, and can still manage a decent pose despite the limited shoulder/upper arm limitation. Unfortunately, Hot Rod also suffers from limited poseability in his arms due to how close they are to his body and by the substantial amount of back kibble he sports. In a leader class toy costing $45, it underwhelms.

I haven't transformed OP yet (just unboxed him this morning, and managed to insert his matrix). Poseability is great with this guy, except his head which can only turn, but can't look up and down. A ball joint would have worked great here, but whatever. Despite the grey panels everywhere, he's still undoubtedly Optimus, and at $45, a great alternative for folks who can't afford MP-10. So, just removed Orion Pax and gave him a once over- excellent poseability in this figure, with a ball jointed head. He can even kneel or do an Iron Man pose. Seeing this guy and what they accomplished with the final figures, it makes me wonder how Takara went so right with OP and so wrong with Rodimus/Hot Rod.  Ok, so having fully transformed both figs, it seems the primary focus with OP was his two bot modes, and with HR/Rodimus, his Winnebago mode. Just the impression I get having handled them for a short period. they did a decent job of panel-forming his OP body suit into a reasonable facsimile of his G1 trailer- far better than Orion's cab transformation. With a little more engineering, they probably could have shaped his arms to better form the back of his cab to make it all seamless. 

My takeaway is that both figs look nice for display, but OP is by far the superior toy. Both have flaws galore, but OP received the greater love, and Rodimus the greater degree of half measures.

[mikeszekely]

They didn't have squat at TRU, but I stopped at my local Target on the way home. Target was in the middle of a major reset. Tons of PotP stuff; I just nabbed Grimlock. I had to ask them to check the back, but I got my blue lion, too. They had several of the black lion, too. Kinda tempered to buy one, since the one I ordered from BBTS hasn't come yet.

[mikeszekely]

Ok, I think PotP Grimlock is probably the second-smallest Grimlock I own, after the original Classics version.

Aesthetically, much like his fellow Dinobots, he's not too bad here in robot mode.  His chest is maybe a a bit too barrel-ish and his shoudlers a bit too large, so his wings are a bit obscured, but it's definitely a very G1 Grimlock.  In robot mode the underside of his forearms are a tad large, he's got square-shaped gaps on the sides of his feet, the ends of his dino tail are on the back of his legs instead of the sides (or folded inside), and his butt is clearly the combined mode pelvis, but those are the only obvious signs he's doing the combiner thing.  Honestly, I think my biggest complaint is that a lot of the detail on him isn't paint, it's stickers.  Now, on a $25 Hasbro toy I don't mind stickers, but I do mind that they're shoddily applied and destined to peel off.

Head is on a ball joint, he can look up a bit, slight sideways tilt, nothing to speak of in the way of looking down.  Shoulders rotate on ratchets and can extend laterally 90 degrees (which I feel like is actually kind of good for Grimlock).  Biceps swivel, and he's got double-jointed elbows good for nearly 180 degree curls.  No wrist or hand articulation.  Waist can swivel, and it's actually ratcheted.  Hips go forward 90 degrees on soft ratchets, but only 45 backward due to his butt kibble, but that's fair.  Lateral motion is also ratcheted and can do well over 90 degrees.  His thighs don't swivel, but he does have a swivel just above his knees, which are ratcheted and good for 90 degrees.  No foot or ankle articulation.

The only accessories Grimlock comes with are the combined mode feet and the "Dinobot Enigma," which is basically a Titan's Return Titanmaster that can't unfold.  The Enigma can fit into ports on the feet or the hands that came with Slag and Swoop, but it's kind of dumb that you only have one.  You either have one filled and three empty, four empty for symmetry, or you buy those stupid figures that look like Pretenders and come with little Titanmasters sans faces to fill the other three.  Or, I guess you could fill them with Titan Masters from Titans Return.  I kind of like the idea of running around with extra faces stuffed into the hands and feet of Volcanicus.

As stupid as the Enigma is, the stupidest thing is that Grimlock doesn't come with any gun or sword.  What kind of grimlock doesn't come with a gun or a sword?  Or any kind of weapon for combined mode?  Even as Hasbro is raising the prices on Transfomers they're finding new ways to cheap out on us.  If you want to arm Grimlock with something, you can attach the feet to his forearms.  Of course, they don't look like weapons or armor, they just look like Grimlock's got giant feet on his arms.

Grimlock's dino mode is, again, not too bad, especially from some angles.  Sure, his back's a little messy, with extra chunky calves and a lump on the bottom of his tail where his feet are, since they don't fold over the way the G1 toy's did.  And his dino toes are too small.  But from the front he's as G1 Grimlock as you can get without going and getting yourself a G1 Grimlock.

As far as dino articulation goes, he can look up and down a good bit but he can't swivel his head.  His jaws open extremly wide.  His dino arms are on ball joints for some lateral movement and rotation, but the cut of the socket is a factor and he's got no elbow, wrist, or claw articulation.  His hips can rotate on ratchets and he can spread his legs pretty wide since they're his robot shoulders.  He's got two knee joints; the upper one can bend backward 45 degrees or forward 90 degrees.  The lower joint just bends forward 90 degrees.  You can combine them to give him a sort of digitgrade look.  No foot articulation.  The base of his tail is actually his ratcheted knees, so you can bend it up and down a few clicks.

And this is the Volcanicus combined mode so far.  Honestly... I'm not hating it.  Despite having the angled thighs for hips and sideways-turned lower legs for thighs that Combiner Wars Optimus/Motormaster he seems to stand pretty straight and stable.  He's probably going to look a bit gorilla-armed when he's complete, but most of the Hasbro combiners do, and with no obvious locked position for the hips you can add some height by making Grimlock's legs as long as you can before his leg bots start touching.  Oh, and if you think his torso is looking a little broad across the chest and narrow at the waist, I do believe that Snarl and Sludge are coming with an additional set of combiner hands.  I didn't take a picture of it, and I'm not sure that I like the way it looks, but there's a pair of peg holes on the sides of his torso, just in front of his shoulder joints (you can kind of see on in my first picture).  Looks like you're supposed to angle the wrist peg down 90 degrees, so it's pointing toward the palm, then plug the wrist of the second set of hands into those holes before wrapping the weird dual thumbs around his front.  It bulks him up, but it also looks weird and gappy.

My two cents; there's definitely better Dinobots out there, but he's not bad for the money and I'm a sucker for Dinobots that combine.  Looking forward to the last two.

[Scyla]

I think the idea with the Enigma of Combination is to place it in the dino head when combined and use the Prime Masters in hands and feet to power up the bot.

Starscream also comes with an enigma that can be placed in his chest in torso mode.

[Ivan]

On ‎1‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 6:31 PM, altermodes said:

Mpm06 is ironhide

http://news.tfw2005.com/2018/01/09/mpm-06-masterpiece-movie-ironhide-revealed-356433

Doesn't matter whether they call this a masterpiece or some other name.  To me, the movie designs still look like a bunch of scrap metal squished together.  Ironhide's black and silver color scheme only make things worse.  In fact, movie bots look like the love child of Xenomorphs and the machines from The Matrix.   G1 masterpiece all the way for me, haha 

[M'Kyuun]

G1 and Beast Wars for me.

Speaking of which, I got my Sunstreaker yesterday, and I'm really impressed with the articulation. He does have a sizeable backpack, which everyone wishes was smaller, but it's not, and honestly, it doesn't get in the way of anything so....  As for his butt plate- it's actually pretty small and the shape of it is at least complementary- again, it's unobtrusive. Having fun changing up his poses. Putting him alongside his brother showcases the evolution in articulation, and makes me hope for a MP Sideswipe Mk II in the future. At the end of the day, I'm glad I waited for Takara's, as I think he's a damn good figure, upstaging both third party offerings.

[Kuma Style]

Third time is finally a charm for owning this grail that came in today.

[davidwhangchoi]

[M'Kyuun]

I hope wave 2 starts showing up soon, as I'm looking forward to completing my Dinobot team. I really, really wish Takara had invested more time and engineering on Volcanicus' hips, rather than just using Grimlock's hips, or knees, if Grimlock's legs are splayed to widen V's stance. The knees make more sense to me, as their position in combined mode looks more appropriately proportional to me, but then you face the issue of the gestalt's hips rotating at an angle. It just seems like it could have, and should have, been better executed.

Looking forward to getting Moonracer, another nice new fembot who looks entirely unique, albeit a little shellformery. Both of the deluxe jets look like CW holdovers-meh. 

Black Cheetor looks cool, but I'm gonna pass. There were some issues with that figure that could have been done better. Glad they made him, and I do think he looks amazing, but I'm not crazy about some of the tolerances and how his cat whiskers are smashed out of shape in robot mode due to the small cavity the cheetah head fits into in bot mode.

Edit  http://news.tfw2005.com/2018/01/25/takara-legends-lg-58-clone-bot-set-lg-59-blitzwing-lg-60-overlord-package-images-357253

Takara is selling the Autobot and Decepticon clones in nice little boxsets; I wonder if Hasbro will eventually release these here. I know they've sold one of each at Walgreens, but what's the point of that? So, I've been holding out hoping that they'll see an eventual stateside release, hopefully together as they should be, as their original G1 toys were. Hasbro's marketing and distribution just make me crazy, and it doesn't help that they're keeping their early Toyfair displays unreleased to the public. Hopefully, it'll be a different story at the NY Toy Fair. Anyway, as much as I'm tempted to pay double US prices for a couple Legends class figures, I'm going to exercise restraint, as it seems that all these Takara exclusive figs eventually get a US release- thinking deluxe Groove from CW, and now the upcoming US release of Blast Off. 

Not sure if anyone remembers them, but with all the G1 homages, I'd love to see the Omnibots (three mail order Autobots, Downshift, Camshaft, and Overdrive, with flip out weapon gimmicks) get some modern toys. I only had Downshift, so to be able to have all three with modern engineering would be fantastic. 

Edited January 26, 2018 by M'Kyuun

[dizman]

Finally got MP Sunstreaker in my hands, I can see where the extra money went. It really is an impressive figure though it may be a bit over engineered. Now I just have to hold out hope that Takara finally gets the Porsche license (I think I say that after every MP carbot release).

[M'Kyuun]

I don't think Sunstreaker was overengineered, per se. If you mean the backpack, it was requisite to getting the Lamborghini license to make him look like a normal Countach. Takara had to design that additional feature in, which actually adds to the play value of the toy, with the concession of having a voluminous backpack. If you mean the rest of the figure, his top half is similar to Wheeljack, and his lower section just involves a bit of folding. On the complexity scale, I didn't think he was that complicated. Alas, everyone's different. regardless, I hope you enjoy him- as an action figure, I think Takara did a superlative job- that he can transform into a real world car is icing on the cake.

I imagine just about everyone wants MP Jazz. He was a great character with an iconic look, and definitely a must for a proper G1 MP collection. I hope they're negotiating hard w/ Porsche. I imagine it'll happen sooner or later; I've abstained from any third party options (Toy World's Coolsville had my interest) in anticipation of an official release. Til then, I enjoy my Generations Reveal the Shield Jazz as the best official version of the character thus released, even though his alt mode is a fudge. 

[Tking22]

11 hours ago, dizman said:

Finally got MP Sunstreaker in my hands, I can see where the extra money went. It really is an impressive figure though it may be a bit over engineered. Now I just have to hold out hope that Takara finally gets the Porsche license (I think I say that after every MP carbot release).

Agreed on the over-engineered part, I felt the same with MP-36. For me, it mostly comes down to how many little random panels and bits must perfectly come together to roughly get yourself into a cohesive shape, but when I look at it standing there, like with MP-36, I just see so many little bits folded up and wrapped around each other, it's a bit of a mess. Like a mess that happens to almost cleanly come together into something cohesive, but like I said, it's still just a jumble of little parts and bits. Solid engineering, Takara always manages to make every little random bit come together, I just don't think the finished product ends up looking quite as neat and clean as I would like.

Porsche is a finicky bitch, the rumor for years has been that Porsche really doesn't want their brand associated with "war" toys, even Transformers. There's also a rumor that Takara has had a prototype ready for years, but they can't move forward because of the licensing. An official MP Jazz would be cool I guess, I feel I'm too pro third party to be fair here, I love my MakeToys Downbeat WAY too much, so much so that I probably wouldn't bother with an official, and I'm confident it would be more toon accurate then I would like, that's the direction Takara is going with for MP G1 now. I would expect zero livery, no G1 toy related bits like the shoulder cannon, and more then likely another huge, G1 toon accurate Autobot logo.

[dizman]

The over engineered parts to me would be the legs, they could have gone with the same leg extension that MP Wheeljack had. Instead they went for the panels folding on panels approach and while it works, it just seems a bit busy. They probably felt that using the same transformation again would be boring and wanted to keep things interesting. I still like Sunstreaker and the transformation is fun, it's just something I would have done different which is something I usually don't have to say with an MP release. Backpack wise I'm fine with it, it's smaller than MP Hot Rod's and I was cool with that too.