The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[M'Kyuun]

Interesting, although it sounds like its written at the same level as Robots in Disguise, i.e. aimed at the younger crowd. However, if they can do for this what they did for Animated, I'm already a fan. I like the mix of G1 with newer characters, or at least newer interpretations. (looking at Shockwave and his personality carryover from Prime).

I didn't watch RID, but I own about a dozen of the toys, as some were quite innovative and interesting, especially Bisk, Thunderhoof, and Scorponok. They're fun figures.

Edit: Just found a few images of Cyberverse toys. Yeesh, the warrior class look very simplified, moreso than even the RID figures. I may give the show a look, but I hope its not as dumbed down as the corresponding figures. Not feeling the Force with these.

Edited July 4, 2018 by M'Kyuun

[David Hingtgen]

We haven't had the toys match the quality of the show since Animated.  And it's on a downward trend.  

[M'Kyuun]

I agree, however, I must admit I like quite a few of the TR and some of the PotP figures, most specifically the deluxes. But in terms of overall quality, build, design, Animated , and perhaps a few of the Prime figures, were the last of Hasbro's higher quality mass retail offerings. From Combiner Wars and Robots in Disguise onward, things got simplified and overall quality took a depressing downward turn.

[sh9000]

I wish that there were more G1 reissues through their Encore line.

[M'Kyuun]

Beyond nostalgia, I really don't get the desire to own those old bricks, especially for the price. I solely prefer a modern interpretation, generalized in Generations, or in a more complex and high-end form like MP, as long as it has a decent range of articulation. One of the main reasons why I didn't buy a lot of TFs as a kid was the lack of articulation in most of the toys- I didn't want a collection of statues; I wanted something that could be posed and played with.

And speaking of Generations, I stopped by Wally today to see if they had the rest of the PotP Terrorcons, and much to my delight, they did. So, having messed about with them for about an hour, and forming the obligatory Abominus, or as close to it as I could get without visual reference, I'm pretty happy with them. They all individually have the standard deluxe articulation. My Cutthroat's beast mode head comes off of its pegs very easily, as well as his lower jaw. I'm thinking maybe the head was being pressed upon in the package, thus widening it a little so that it comes off so easily. Or it's a shite design. Anyway, something to be aware of if any of you pick these guys up. Overall, though, my copies all seemed to have pretty tight joints overall, and everything holds together well in gestalt mode. The Combiner feet are really small, but they do have ratcheted ankle tilts, so some decent poses are possible with Abominus. Using Hun-Gurrr's arms as Combiner legs, and imbuing them with strong ratchets was a smart choice, and it works well. I generally don't consult instructions for my TF toys, however, I wasn't sure who went where on Abominus, so I sought some form of reference. Hasbro delivers, but it's not a reference of the toy you have in your hands, but a stylized G1 version of him where Hun-Gurrr's legs formed the gestalt's legs as well, and the hands and feet are different and much more proportionally correct. Go figure. Anyway, Hasbro was good enough to label each of the Terrorcons in that bit of art, so that's how I put mine together. Having waited for these guys awhile, and being content with the current standards of build and design in the TR/PotP line (not like it's going to improve any time soon), I'm happy with them. They do what they're intended to do pretty well, they're nice updates to the original toys (I wish they gave the creature modes more articulation, but they're all better than the upcoming Predacons, so I'll take what I can get in mass retail figs), Hun-Gurrr is arguably the best core figure of any of the combiners to date, and they succeed as fun transforming toys intended for kids in the neighborhood of ten years old. They're far and away better than the Transformers I had at 13, so I'm just glad that they're done as well, and with as much homaging of the originals as they are.

[sh9000]

 

[mikeszekely]

Well, like @M'Kyuun I had occasion to pop into a WalMart (not even my local one), and I also managed to pick up the remaining Terrorcons (if there's more to wave 3 of PotP, in any size class, I didn't see them).

Of the three, none are 100% cartoon or toy accurate.  Sinnertwin is the closest to being toy accurate, only with a cartoon silver face and yellow eyes that are wrong either way.  Due to his animation model being the closest to his original toy, Cutthroat could go either way, except his silver face should be yellow, and Hasbro has recolored some other parts that should be yellow as purple.  Blot is probably the most interesting of the three.  The G1 toy basically had the robot head flip up and sit above the monster head, which did nothing to transform.  The animation model simply had a solid blue-purple torso with some lines that may have been indicative of the monster head folding in somehow (like Unique Toys' version).  Although the silver and yellow paint recalls stickers on the G1 toy, the rest of PotP Blot's torso is dominated by the combiner peg.  Blot's actual monster head and chest are folded up onto his back.  I think the lack of obvious monster stuff on his torso, red visor, and silver face make him more cartoony than toy accurate.

Articulation is pretty much what you'd expect from a Hasbro deluxe; head swivels, ball joints at the shoulders and hips, ball joints on Blot's elbows but dedicated bicep swivels and hinged elbows on the other two, hinged knees, and no foot articulation.  Each one comes with a single gun and the usual Prime Armor that's a super obvious double-thumbed hand with a removable cover that can be used as a pistol, revealing a gap inside that you can put a Prime Master/Matrix/Titan Master into.  And each figure has extra peg holes on their bodies besides their fists where you can plug their weapons/Prime armor into.  Blot, like Rippersnapper, has a little flap on his chest that folds down to reveal such a peg hole.

For the record Blot seems to be a totally unique mold, but Cutthroat and Sinnertwin are retoolings of PotP Swoop and Snarl, respectively.

Monster modes.  Aside from giving him purple horns instead of yellow and front legs that are on the largish side Sinnertwin is pretty much exactly what you'd expect.  His front legs are basically his arms with all the same articulation, but his rear legs have no articulation except hip rotation.  The base of his beast necks tab into his toros, but there's a hinge that lets them move up and down.  Although they're basically hollow there are some molded parts inside that hide some of the hollowness and make his neck look solid up to a point.  The beast heads are on ball joints, and both jaws can open and close.  His tails are essentially non-articulated; there's a hinge, but it's just for transformation and using it at all will break the sculp.  Cutthroat is similarly lacking in surprises; aside from how his legs collapse the transformation is even pretty close to the G1 toy.  The main differences are that he's got a bit of a tail, like the cartoon, but it's green instead of purple (I wonder if the cartoon's tail was derrived from pegging the G1 toy's gun onto his back backwards?).  Speaking of purple, you can also see that his crest, neck, and lower jaw are all purple instead of yellow.  The head can look down a little, but that's as far up as it goes.  The jaw can open and close, and like @M'Kyuun my copy's jaw comes off super easy, so I'm betting it's not an individual thing and it'll be like that on every copy.  The wings have a hinge where they connect to his back to rotate them up a little, a hinge that will let you flap the wings 90 degrees up or 90 degrees down, and another hinge at the claw to spread or retract the rest of the wing.  His hips can rotate, and there's a hinge in his knee.

Once again, Blot's probably the most interesting, because he's the least like the G1 toy in ways that make him more cartoony.  One of the claws on his wrist folds around with his hands to make the thumb claw for his monster mode.  Instead of scrunching between his monster legs his robot legs fold up and around to his back, while his backpack folds up and over his head to make the monster head and chest.  Then he's got this purple chunk that just sticks up over his head.  The only purpose it serves is to provide a place to plug in his gun while in monster mode.  This seems to be a cartoon accurate feature, and although it's not removable on this Blot it seems likely that the original cartoon got it from a part you could plug onto the G1 toy's monster back.  Personally I think it looks rather out-of-place, but cartoon purists may enjoy it.  As far as beast articulation goes his monster arms are basically his robot arms, his monster hips can rotate, and his monster knees can bend.  He has no monster head articulation; his mouth doesn't even open.

Quick group photo.  I think I covered it enough when I talked about him before, but Hun-Grrr definitely came out the worst.  A large part of that is definitely the concessions to torso mode, especially the way Hasbro forced him to integrate Abominus' chest plate in all three modes.  But I think it's also because the Scramble City combiner limbs were pretty small, simple figures in the G1 days, and the G1 Terrorcons especially had nowhere to go but up.

Of course, as combiners the Terrorcons also have their combined modes.  Here are the arms.  Couple things to note here, the most obvious being that the hands are all different colors.  I don't know why Volcanicus got all black hands and feet, but Abominus gets his traditional magenta feet and not one matching hand, but that might be my single biggest gripe with this set.  Another thing is that Blot's instructions seem to suggest that you collapse the monster head and chest onto his back for arm (and leg) mode the same way you do for robot mode, but that doesn't seem to be correct.  If you do you'll inhibit Abominus' lateral shoulder movement.  Instead, you have to bend the hinge outward instead of inward, and if you look on the inside of the monster chest there are two pairs of holes.  The inner pair hook over two tiny pegs on his collar for robot mode, but you want to use the outer pair for limb mode.  This does make the monster kibble stick out a bit more, but won't hinder any articulation.  Finally, the wrist port on Sinnertwin is basically a spoon on a hinge, folded up in the other modes but folded down for the wrist to peg into.  This makes him probably the worst choice for an arm.

And leg mode.  Cutthroat's wrist/ankle peghole is a little loose, but nothing a little floor polish won't fix.  Although the instructions leave Sinnertwin's beast heads upside-down, I like to turn them around so they're rightside-up.  And Cutthroat's instructions have you position the head just as pictured, looking straight foward.  You can position it so it's pointing downward, though.  As for Blot, his monster kibble sticks out as much here as it does in arm mode, so I think he's probably the worst all-around limb.  The weapon-holding looks even more out of place in his limb modes than it did in his monster mode.

The combined Abominus with the only other Abominus I have to compare him with, Ordin, a third party version from Unique Toys.  I'd actually taken pictures of each individual Terrorcon to compare with this version, but to be honest I decided it wasn't really a fair comparison.  Yes, the engineering for most of the individual members feels a little dated (they don't even have wrist swivels, which I think is a basic 3P requirement these days), and even at the time everyone but their Blot and Hun-Grrr took some flak for being a little underwhelming, but frankly they still blow the Hasbro Terrorcons out of the water, and the combined mode doubly so.  While trying to fold up the dragon heads into the shape of his chest shield was a clever way to keep Hun-Grrr from having to integrate too much kibble, the resulting largely white chest and gray thighs just don't feel right.  No matter what hands you go with they don't match, as I've already said, but I think the hands that came with Rippersnapper and Blot are probably the most alike.  Nothing matches the feet, though.  And somehow the visor that's seemingly made of two triangles side-by-side looks more like something you'd see on the G1 toy than the actual G1 toy.  Speaking of looking like the toy, I'm sure a lot of fans would have preferred a more cartoon-colored Abominus in general, with the magenta all replaced with purple, the purple and white inverted on his head, and the visor painted red.

Here's the combined Abominus, in his G1 cartoon configuration.  While I couldn't recommend replacing Ordin with PotP Abominus he actually doesn't fare all that bad against other Combiner Wars/Power of the Primes combiners.  Hun-Grrr borrows a lot of engineering from Silverbolt, and like Silverbolt turns upside down with his legs forming the chest and his arms forming the hips and thighs.  The result is a similarly stable and well-proportioned combiner and a big improvement over the disappointing Volcanicus.

In fact, if being similar to Superion makes Abominus one of the better Hasbro combiners, the ankle tilts built into his feet might just push him up above Superion and make him the best stock Hasbro combiner.  You can even pop the extra thumbs out of their ball joints if you want more normal hands.

Speaking of hands, while Volcanicus integrated the extra two hands into his torso Abominus doesn't have any tricks like that.  What I wound up doing is pegging them into the backs of his feet, to give him bigger heels.  The peg holes in the thumbs even give you a place to store some of the individual Terrorcon weapons.  Still wish they call could have been a matching magenta.

There is a flap on Abominus' chest for you to reveal his Enigma of Combination.  If you don't want to reveal it, just don't open it.  Unlike Volcanicus Abominus' Enigma can hide store without showing.  Alas, Abominus doesn't have any weapons.

Not a lot left to say about these guys.  I feel like Hasbro botched Hun-Grrr pretty badly, but the other four Terrocons came out fine, for Hasbro Deluxes.  And the combined mode is definitely one of Hasbro's best combiners.  If you've enjoyed Hasbro's Combiner Wars stuff and were bummed that they ended the line before doing Abominus, then by all means collect this set because you'll probably enjoy this one, too.  But if you long ago lost interest in Hasbro's main line Transformers because MP and 3P give you more of the articulation/engineering/size/cartoon-accuracy that you've come to crave then nothing here is going to win you back.

[M'Kyuun]

Nice review, Mike. I'm too lazy/disinterested to do my homework so far as cartoon accuracy and such are concerned. I take them at face value, and I pretty much know what to expect from a modern deluxe, so there were really no surprises, other than maybe a transformation bit I haven't seen before, which is always nice. For what they are, they're a fun set, do what they're intended to do, and the gestalt, as Mike and I both observed, is arguably one of the best combiners Has/Tak have done since Combiner Wars started. I still don't understand why they put the spikes on the combiner hands vertical instead of pointing straight ahead, which makes more sense and is toon accurate, and I still wish they'd make the combiner feet a bit wider, both to match the girth of the bots forming the legs and for stability (these things are pretty top heavy, after all, so bigger feet would help). IMHO, had they designed Hun-Grrr's hands/beast feet to swivel the opposite direction, they would both cover the combiner pegs and serve as spikey kneecaps, improving the figure.

Toy and toon inaccuracies aside, as a toy, it succeeds. The individual Terrorcons are interesting, and personally, I like the little gun-holding armature behind Blot's head, as it allows the gun to point over his shoulder in beast mode, which is better than pointing at the sky if it was back mounted. I admit though, it doesn't look so good in combined mode, but these things are generally full of tradeoffs. I'm already over it. While I think Hun-Grrr's beast mode suffers the worst, the concession at least made for a solid torso in combined mode, which is far better than Volcanicus, sadly. Like many, I've waited 30+ years for modern official Dinos, and was pretty excited to get those guys. To hear that not only were they coming, but that they were going to combine was the proverbial icing- an idea that has swirled for years, seen fan made art and kitbashes, and now finally!  official toys. Alas, Volcanicus is a letdown- Grimlock's design  made for a weak torso, especially the hips. If they'd designed Grim's thighs to collapse into his lower legs, I think he may have been a decent torso, but they didn't do that, and the result is awkward, gangly, unstable, and fugly. Too, I wish they'd made the whole team in voyager scale- they're dinosaurs, after all, but I guess they went that route for cost savings and for better proportionality of the combiner. After seeing the final result, I wish they'd just scrapped the combiner idea and just given us an updated well articulated team of voyager scaled dinobots.

[JB0]

5 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Alas, Volcanicus is a letdown- Grimlock's design  made for a weak torso, especially the hips.

Yeah, Grimlock is the only Power Dinobot I didn't buy. He was crap in all three modes.

But on the other hand, I'm quite happy with Dino-Soar. If Grimlock had been decent, I never would've used Sky Lynx's torso mode.

 

I also would've liked all the dinobots in a larger scale, but I understand  why they didn't(it would've been a tough sale at mass-market).  Though really, if we have to have one large and four small dinos(plus Slash, I really like the little deinonychus), I'd rather see Sludge as the torso and Grimlock as a limb.  Becuse brontosauruses are SUPPOSED to be bigger!

[M'Kyuun]

I can get behind that idea. Moreover, Sludge was the only G1 Dinobot I owned, so soft spot. But yeah, if they'd actually scaled the dinos according to paleontological finds, Sludge, an unspecified sauropod, most likely intended to be an Apatosaurus, would have dwarfed the rest.

[anime52k8]

Does this make it worth almost $300? maybe.

[JB0]

Oh hey, my local Target actually refilled the pegs today. I now own Blackwing, who can combine with Dreadwind to make an awesome superjet! Let's try this out right now!

...

Ayup, that looks exactly like it did in the 80s. Two planes rammed together mid-flight. I don't know why I expected anything else.

 

 

Also acquired, Moonracer. Very simple transformation into a space-hotrod/stretch-limo(the simple transformation results in a rather long car), with one really nice thing that is also super-frustrating. There is JUST enough room on the back to fold the armorfist down on its mounting peg, which makes the back of the car not look like robot arms and a combiner peg, and the engine detailing makes it look like a Powermaster engine. It becomes something that BELONGS THERE.

So why frustrating? Because in robot mode, she has a hollow backpack. Completely hollow, big flippin' U-shaped piece of plastic with the open part facing out. And there's a peghole in it for a combiner ankle. And it is just ever-so-slightly too narrow to fit the powermaster engine! IF THE DAMN CAR WERE AN EIGHTH OF AN INCH WIDER, IT WOULD BE PERFECT.

...

Actually, speaking of almost-there features. The wrist connector is on her front bumper in car mode. It is angled slightly downward. If it rotated up just a couple of degrees, you could insert the peg on the back of her pistol into it and she'd have a bumpergun.

 

 

Given that the hood and fenders don't line up(I don't consider this a flaw because it looks really cool in an agular sci-fi car way), and there's an ankle swivel that does nothing(there is zero clearance to wiggle it), I am pretty sure  the transformation was intended to be more complex, and then they had to rework it  to meet the price point. Which also explains the stretch-limo hotrod design. I mean, it isn't Classics Galvatron levels of obvious, but it is still very clear this was scaled back from the intent.

 

For those in need, she looks like she'll make a pretty good combiner arm or leg.

Edited July 10, 2018 by JB0
Added pix

[Scyla]

I‘m of the opinion that a Dinobot combiner would be perfect for a Titan Class box set.

Sludge could be gigantic and forming the legs and lower abdomen. Grimlock is the torso, Slag and Snarl the arms and Swoop the winged backpack.

No one cares if the Predacons are all one size anyway.  

[JB0]

3 minutes ago, Scyla said:

I‘m of the opinion that a Dinobot combiner would be perfect for a Titan Class box set.

Sludge could be gigantic and forming the legs and lower abdomen. Grimlock is the torso, Slag and Snarl the arms and Swoop the winged backpack.

No one cares if the Predacons are all one size anyway.  

That makes a lot of sense, too.

...

Or Swoop could turn into the sword!

[Tking22]

Went ahead and nabbed mp MP-43 at HLJ, $263.36. Still pricey, but it's not $320 like BBTS. THIS is the Megatron I grew up with, not G1, regardless of price, I was getting this guy guaranteed. MP-36 is okay, MP-43 looks like the real Megatron :). Oddly enough, I had a hard time paying for MP-36 at retail, I still feel that thing is too expensive for what I got, but as I said, G1 Megatron was just never anything special to me, my bias for Beast Wars Megatron puts him above anything else TF related for me right now.

[technoblue]

 And here I am having sold off my MP BW collection. I knew I should have held on to Primal, at least. If I cave and pick up Dino Megs then I'll have to pick up the monkey again.

Good thing Primal is getting a reissue.  

[mikeszekely]

I didn't watch Beast Wars until I was an adult, years after it originally aired. I'm not going to deny any young'uns their nostalgia (I mean, I've spent thousands on toys representing the Transformers I watched when I was five), but I wasn't buying BW Megs even before we knew how ludicrous the price would be.

But on the topic of G1 nostalgia, like David I've been kind of digging the Cyberverse designs. It's almost like the people doing the new RiD cartoon decided to go G1. But the reviews are starting to come in for the first wave of toys, and good grief they're bad. They're somewhere between RiD and Rescue Bots in terms of engineering at PotP prices. I really hope this is some kind of evergreen product to take RiD's place on shelves and not replacing Generations.

[technoblue]

Beast Wars was on television when I was an undergrad. Sometimes I'd try to catch the show between afternoon classes. Initially, I didn't warm up to it because of how far afield it was from other Transformers series. The organic look was uncanny, and the dated CG didn't help me overcome my initial distaste. Still, I went back to it later and gave it another chance. The story is what hooked me the second time, as it tends to do when things are well written (and when I can survive filler episodes). Now I rank BW fairly high like Animated and Prime.

With MP-43, sure the MSRP is a shocker, but there are plenty of shops with 30% plus discounts available meaning that fans don't have to worry so much about the price if this is on their "to buy" list. If not, then it's $220 to $320 saved depending on who you buy from. I'm looking at Amazon Japan or AmiAmi, myself--need to make that go/no go decision tonight. 

As an aside, it would be cool to see more than just the G1, Movie, and BW MPs. Maybe some day. 

[mikeszekely]

19 minutes ago, technoblue said:

As an aside, it would be cool to see more than just the G1, Movie, and BW MPs. Maybe some day. 

While RiD/Car Robots was terrible as a show I'd love an MP Fire Convoy/Optimus.

[Tking22]

Everyone hated Armada, but within Armada, there are several MPs I would go crazy for if they were ever made.

[MILKAUTICO]

On 19/4/2018 at 3:17 PM, mikeszekely said:

Alright, I've left you hanging long enough.  We'll do the other more-anticipated figure in the Studio Series line, Leader-class Blackout.

For a Leader-class figure Blackout is decidedly short.  He's not much taller than the original Voyager-class Blackout from the first movie, and to the head he's actually a smidge shorter than the movie 1 Voyager Optimus Prime.  Such is the sacrifices we make to keep everyone relatively in-scale.

That said, for a character who had probably one the best scenes in the entire five (so far) film franchise, Blackout's been a pretty neglected character, one who's best toys have actually been repaints of that original crappy Voyager.  And this new Leader class, despite his shorter stature, is wonderfully screen accurate.  I'd have prefered more paint, with the gray parts being a darker gray and the silver parts being a more metallic (and maybe bluish-tinged) silver, but the biggest differences from his silver screen appearance are that he's got panels on the soles of his feet, and that his forearms are covered in helicopter kibble.  But the rest of it, from the spot-on head to the junk splitting the copter on his torso to the kibble behind his head to the skinny chicken legs to the knee armor poking up through the shins is all movie-accurate.  In fact, my only real complaints are his refueling probe and his hands.  For the probe, it's a question of why did they choose to have it sticking out so far with no way to retract it?  There's a hinge on it so you can point it down or try to tuck it under his chest, but it doesn't quite work and still seems in the way.  For the hands, well, they're technically accurate with two big fingers and one thumb arrange in a pinching manner, but aside from the transformation hinge they can't move, so unless his arms are slightly out turned and relaxed at his sides they look like they're oriented the wrong way.

Blackout comes with two accessories.  The first is the tail rotor for the helicopter... yes, SS Blackout has partsforming.  The other is a little Scorponok figure.  Scorponok doesn't have a lot of articulation; two hinges in the tail, and elbows that can swivel in and out.  That's more than the Scorponok that came with the original Voyager got, though.  Plus SS Scorponok has some silver, gold, and red paint and enough molded detail that he looks good, like a Studio Series Scorponok should, and not just like a cheap toss-in accessory.

So for articulation Blackout's head is on a hinged swivel.  Turning his head is slightly limited, but with all the kibble around it I'd say it's a fairly natural range, and he's got a little up/down movement.  His shoulders rotate, but again that's limted by his shoulder kibble to about 90 degrees forward or backward and maybe 60 degrees laterally.  As a bonus, though, the shoulder assembly can be untabbed at one spot (that doesn't really stay tabbed anyway) to get a little bit of a forward butterfly joint.  He's got bicep swivels, and his elbows can bend 90 degrees.  As previously mentioned there's no articulation in his hands, and he'd have really benefited from a wrist swivel and maybe a hinge for his fingers/thumb.  No waist swivel.  His hips are ratcheted and can get 90 degrees backward or laterally, no problem, but his hip skirts can only hinge so far forward so his hips are limited forward to about 60 degrees.  He has thigh swivels, and double-jointed digitgrade knees.  The upper knee can go from straight to 90 degrees backward.  The lower knee can go from straight to about 60 degrees forward.  And, happily, his feet can bend up and down a little and he has inward and outward ankle pivots about about 45 degrees.  All-in-all, his artuclation is a little limited, but on a bulky guy with Blackout's build I think it's alright.

As far as weapons, the tail rotor can peg into Blackout's arm.  Technically in the movie it looks like Blackout is using the round piece above his head, and it looks like it should be the main rotor with six blades, but you can clearly see him stalking down the street in Mission City using it while his copter blades are still on his back, so I guess this is the compromise.

Scorponok sits on a peg on Blackout's back, and you can orient him head up or head down; I think head up is movie-accurate.  If you want to store him in a more hidden way, well, you can stick him on the inside of Blackout's backpack, but you have to unfold it, and I don't really think it's worth it.

Blackout unfolds more than he folds to to transform, and the result is a pretty-accurate (to my fairly untrained eye) MH-53J Pave Low III helicopter.  There's a few places I wish things tabbed in a little better, but I've got no real complaints from most angles.

I will note, though, that he's pretty big in this mode.  Any doubts you had about calling him a Leader-class in robot mode are out the window in copter mode, as he's a bit larger than even an MP Seeker.

Even from the sides he looks good.  The rotors do spin, but not super freely, like you're swiveling them around more than they're spinning.  I could do without Blackout's name printed on the tail, but the red-outlined white stripe is accurate (if a little large), and he's also sporting a few other USAF markings, including the 4500X.

Blackout doesn't clean up quite so tidy underneath, but that's ultimately OK.  You can see how Scorponok tucks away inside the tail.

Ultimately, Leader-class Blackout definitely has some room for improvement, but the Studio Series isn't the MPM line.  He's not going to satifiy any desire you might have for an MPM Blackout.  He's a $50 mass retail figure, not a $100+.  And, I think in that light, he's a decent figure that makes for a pretty nice display piece, especially with other SS figures to display him with.  He's a major improvement from other toy versions of Blackout, and I think he's worth the price of admission.

I think it's also worth mentioning something else about the Studio Series toys... there's been a trend in recent years for Generations figures to be kind of cheap, hollow simple toys.  The Studio Series bucks this trend.  All four figures I've looked at so far have been detailed, fairly accurate, and have had more articulation than a lot of recent Generations toys.  They have transformations that sit comfortably between too easy and too hard.  They remind me, a lot, of when Generations was Classics or Universe, when the toys we were getting seemed like they were priced fairly, decently made, and fun to play with.

Could you take a picture with some valks with Blackout?

[M'Kyuun]

PO'd BW Megs through Anime Export at 24,500 yen, which came to $228 at today's rate. Of course, that doesn't cover shipping, but a decent price comparatively.

Man, I was hoping to curb my spending for the rest of the month, too, as I just forked out a little over $500 for the UCS Millennium Falcon (I had $275 saved up in VIP points) over the fourth weekend (double VIP points, including the UCS Falcon- a rare opportunity I didn't want to pass up.) And LEGO Ideas Voltron is coming out this month for VIP members, too. Might have to wait a bit on that now. 

Had I given it any thought at the time, I may have waited for an eventual G1 toy colored MP Megatron, but at the time I wasn't thinking about it, and I was just trying to get my order in before everyone was out of stock. Guess I needn't have worried. Anyway, I'm happy enough with toon colored Megs.

[sh9000]

https://www.nippon-yasan.com/figures/25536-transformers-masterpiece-mp43-megatron-beast-wars.html

[technoblue]

After waffling all day, I PO'd MP-43. 

I cannot abstain from a Megatron that transforms into a T-Rex and who promotes oral hygiene. I ended up going with Amazon Japan in the end.

 

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, MILKAUTICO said:

Could you take a picture with some valks with Blackout?

I, uh... I actually don't collect Macross toys. This probably sounds weird from the guy with a nearly $300 3P Omega Supreme, but Macross toys are kind of too expensive.

[MILKAUTICO]

4 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

I, uh... I actually don't collect Macross toys. This probably sounds weird from the guy with a nearly $300 3P Omega Supreme, but Macross toys are kind of too expensive.

Thank you as well! another question, I know I'm very questioned, I really like it. but with this I decide to buy it. What scale do you calculate that you have in helicopter mode?

[mikeszekely]

22 minutes ago, MILKAUTICO said:

Thank you as well! another question, I know I'm very questioned, I really like it. but with this I decide to buy it. What scale do you calculate that you have in helicopter mode?

Rough estimate, about 1/75. (Blackout is about 14", a Pave Low is listed as 88' or 1056", 1056 divided by 14 is 75.428.)

Also, thanks for reading!

[tekering]

3 hours ago, MILKAUTICO said:

Could you take a picture with some valks with Blackout?

Something like this?

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

This probably sounds weird from the guy with a nearly $300 3P Omega Supreme, but Macross toys are kind of too expensive.

Oh, they definitely are... and mostly just endless variations on a single design, as opposed to the myriad design concepts Transformers represent.

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Also, thanks for reading!

Thanks for writing!  

[derex3592]

I like that Blackout toy...I thought he was pretty epic at the opening of the 1st movie when I saw it in the theater...wonder if anyone will ever do a higher end MP style one?

[MILKAUTICO]

54 minutes ago, tekering said:

Something like this?

Oh, they definitely are... and mostly just endless variations on a single design, as opposed to the myriad design concepts Transformers represent.

Thanks for writing!  

Thanks!!!!!

[Scyla]

I want to get into the MP BW toys. But I don‘t have room and time for another collection.  

[M'Kyuun]

I have time, but neither the room nor the finances. After Dinobot and Megatron, I might have to call it quits on these BW MPs. Just getting too expensive, and I have no room for displaying them anymore.

[technoblue]

6 hours ago, Scyla said:

I want to get into the MP BW toys. But I don‘t have room and time for another collection.  

 

17 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

I have time, but neither the room nor the finances. After Dinobot and Megatron, I might have to call it quits on these BW MPs. Just getting too expensive, and I have no room for displaying them anymore.

I totally understand and empathize with this point.

I'm going to keep to the two leaders myself, although I could make an exception for an MP Blackarachnia (if she ever materializes) and then stick to the rule of three.

[M'Kyuun]

Aw man, you just had to mention Blackarachnia. Ok, so maybe room for one more, and then that's it. Until the next one.

[JB0]

On 7/9/2018 at 12:38 AM, mikeszekely said:

You can even pop the extra thumbs out of their ball joints if you want more normal hands.

I meant to post this at the time and forgot, but I folded the "bottom thumb" up parallel to the wrist on Dino-Soar. It becomes the "back" of the fist that way. I actually think it looks better that way than it does removed.

 

He still has ridiculous dainty ballerina feet, though. I am seriously considering buying some third-party feet and hands just because of that. But that's a lot of money for robot shoes, given I'm okay with the existing hands.

If it was hands, feet, and a weapon, I'd have already placed the order, but noooooooo.  I can get JUST hands and feet. OR I can get hands and feet and a whole bunch of add-on parts for a robot I don't own.

...

I am inordinately fond of my non-canon Sky Lynx/Dinobot mashup.