The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[mikeszekely]

I want Cordon to go with my Clampdown.  I just don't $140 want him.

[M'Kyuun]

10 hours ago, SMS007 said:

Kevin Liu is Taiwanese, not Chinese. 

Apologies for any offense. The folks at Seibertron.com said he was Chinese, and I assumed they knew better than I.

 

 

Edited November 2, 2018 by M'Kyuun

[M'Kyuun]

2 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

I want Cordon to go with my Clampdown.  I just don't $140 want him.

I 'd like him to go with my Prowl, but what you said. Too much other new stuff I want in lieu of a recolor, even a nice recolor of a well-made figure.

Plus Christmas is coming, and three of my family members have December birthdays, so my toy spending takes a backseat.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

Apologies for any offense. The folks at Seibertron.com said he was Chinese, and I assumed they knew better than I.

 

 

It's a geographical and political difference more than a cultural one. They speak Mandarin in Taiwan, and 95% of the population is ethnically Han (the majority ethnic group in mainland China, too).

[Mechapilot77]

so cordon if you ordered him from Amazon Japan (yes this item was able to ship to usa like most mp TF) it was around $95 shipped to the USA.  Still too much but "doable" too much (like say $90 was for maketoys downbeat) vs. "ummm....hell no too much" of $140 ish thru american retailer channels.  btw i'd encourage everyone to use amazon jp for  mp tf.  Its the only way I coudl justify this guys, sunstreaker, and previusly megatron because these prices on mp tf these days are nuts.  speaking of mp tf.  mp-10b is a steal right now on hlj for those that missed him.

re: taiwan vs. china and why its an issue for some......for anyone interested....its touchy.  you wouldn't call an ethnically chinese mandarin speaking person in say singapore, malaysia, or usa or canada chinese...unless you JUST were speaking to his or her ethnicity.  the majority of taiwanese are descended from chinese immigrants mostly from the fujian province (which is why taiwanese  aka minnan hua is so similar to hokken and teo cheow)... although there was obviously a mass migration from the rest of china fleeing the communists during the chinese civil war in the 30s and 40s, the majority of families are descended from people who have been there longer than the USA has even existed (yet you don't call english descended americans Englishmen)...since the 1600s-1700s and the history of who ruled there...is complicated and wikipedia can explain it to you  lol.  the CCP has never ruled there though despite what they say.    anyway in case anyone was interested...tahts why peopel get touchy about taiwan vs. china

Edited November 2, 2018 by Mechapilot77

[jenius]

So when buying from Amazon.co.jp, do you register for a brand new account unrelated to your US account? I assume you don't also get prime on that account? Are they linked somehow? I tried logging in once using my US info and, not surprisingly, got an error saying it didn't recognize the email address.

[SMS007]

5 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Apologies for any offense. The folks at Seibertron.com said he was Chinese, and I assumed they knew better than I.

Aha, I see. Well that's just shitty. Seibertron has dealt with plenty of Taiwanese sources before; they should be perfectly aware of Kevin Liu.

4 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

It's a geographical and political difference more than a cultural one. They speak Mandarin in Taiwan, and 95% of the population is ethnically Han (the majority ethnic group in mainland China, too).

I would know; my family is from Taiwan. For comparison is it not fair for Austrians to not be mislabeled as "Germans" or Canadians to not be mislabeled as "Americans"?

30 minutes ago, jenius said:

So when buying from Amazon.co.jp, do you register for a brand new account unrelated to your US account? I assume you don't also get prime on that account? Are they linked somehow? I tried logging in once using my US info and, not surprisingly, got an error saying it didn't recognize the email address.

Never personally used Amazon Japan, but I believe yes, I don't know, and no, just as you suspect. For the second one I would assume you have to sign up for Prime all over again with the Japanese account.

Edited November 2, 2018 by SMS007

[Mechapilot77]

43 minutes ago, jenius said:

So when buying from Amazon.co.jp, do you register for a brand new account unrelated to your US account? I assume you don't also get prime on that account? Are they linked somehow? I tried logging in once using my US info and, not surprisingly, got an error saying it didn't recognize the email address.

new account.  not linked so far as i know.   don't need a prime membership with amazon jp to ship here.

[mikeszekely]

43 minutes ago, SMS007 said:

For comparison is it not fair for Austrians to not be mislabeled as "Germans" or Canadians to not be mislabeled as "Americans"?

Not a great comparison, though.  My great great grandparents immigrated from Hungary.  I'm an American citizen, born and raised in the Pittsburgh area, but I also identify as ethnically Hungarian.  I think that's more similar.

And while many Taiwanese, especially younger generations, do see themselves as an independent Taiwanese people (not to be confused with indigenous Taiwanese, who only make up about 2% of the population), the official position of mainland China is that Taiwan is a rouge province that belongs to them.  Although many countries have unofficial relations with China the UN and most of its members, the US included, do not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign, independent country.

Of course, before a UN resolution in 1971 that declared the PRC as the sole Chinese UN representative, some countries viewed it as the other way around, that the KMT was China's government in exile and the Communists were upstart rebels.

My point is, the China/Taiwan situation is a complex issue.  Which is to say that despite what my wife and her family think (they're from Beijing), I do agree with you, there is a distinction between Taiwanese and (mainland) Chinese.  However, it's one that many Americans, who are often uneducated on the history and geography from that part of the world, simply aren't aware of.

[SMS007]

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make by going an extended speech about things I already know, but whatever. Further discussion would probably be too long and off-topic for a Transformers thread.

[SMS007]

Siege Prime and Megatron have been showing up at specialty shops and from private sellers in the U.S. this week. Now Baltmatrix has a video review of Optimus. 

 

[mikeszekely]

6 hours ago, SMS007 said:

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make by going an extended speech about things I already know, but whatever.

I apologize if I've offended you.  My point was simply that the Western-centric education that Americans get leaves many of the poorly equipped to identify the difference between Chinese and Taiwanese.  And yes, I'm sure that you know what I'm talking about, but I expect that other members who might be reading wouldn't.  Correcting someone when they mistake a Taiwanese person for Chinese will ensure that they'll remember that one person is Taiwanese, but my hope is that providing a little more background can help people be more aware of the difference and why it matters.

6 hours ago, SMS007 said:

Further discussion would probably be too long and off-topic for a Transformers thread.

Agreed.  I'll speak no more of it.

Getting back on topic, thanks for linking Baltmatrix' review.  Not sure about the weathered look or the truck mode, but the robot is the most G1 Voyager or smaller Optimus figure we've probably ever received.  It's crazy how much better this Prime is compared to the Combiner Wars version.  I don't really collect the mainline Hasbro stuff (besides Studio Series), but I might pick up the Siege Prime and Megatron.

[JB0]

If they tweak the truck to look better for the next iteration of the mold(C'mon, you know that mold's gonna be reused as an Earth truck), I'm in. As-is, that truck looks entirely too stupid.

 

I do note that his arms and legs are closed on all four sides, which is a nice improvement over recent toys. His gun looks pretty dodgy, though.

[mikeszekely]

30 minutes ago, JB0 said:

His gun looks pretty dodgy, though.

And yet, still better than the guns that came with Classics Voyager, Classics Deluxe, or Combiner Wars Prime.

[sh9000]

Got my Hallmark G1 Starscream ornament today.  So far they’ve made Optimus, Megatron, Grimlock, and Soundwave.  I hope they make more.

[M'Kyuun]

Gotta agree with Balt on a number of things he noted, that this is the best mainline Prime we've gotten in a long time (Classics was decent, but this figure has superior aesthetics and articulation) and that there's definitely a noticeable improvement in the overall quality and most notably, complexity, which is a welcome change, especially when compared to the mostly simple designs from Combiner Wars. While I'm not a fan of the battle damage paint, either, the paintwork itself is the best I've seen on a figure in some time. I plan on picking a few of the Siege figures up (probably not this Prime, though), but my sights are set on the Earth mode alt versions of these toys that will most likely follow. I'm glad to see the investment Hasbro has in this line, and I hope it does well. 

[JB0]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

And yet, still better than the guns that came with Classics Voyager, Classics Deluxe, or Combiner Wars Prime.

I liked the smokestack gun.  The rifle was pretty lame, though.

 

But seriously, I would rather one side of the gun be fully realized and the other side be a collection of voids and support ribs(LIKE A COMBINER WARS ARM, AMIRITE?!?!) than that "a bunch of details on top of a flat sheet" style.

...

But hey, Combiner Wars Jazz was support ribs and voids on BOTH sides of the gun. No gun details at all.

[Scyla]

I love everything about the War for Cybertron but I despise the weathering job. I much rather have more regular paint apps, higher parts count or more intricate engineering (like cleaning up the forearms a bit better on Prime).

None of my other Transformers toys has weathering, why these?

That said it seems like the Studio Series is a big success for Hasbro because to me this Siege line seems to be the counterpart to the Studio Series for the "Classics" collector. 

Sad to see that Takara isn't putting out their own mainline any longer because I'm sure theirs wouldn't come with a weathering job. Oh well, can't wait for Shockwave and Skywarp from this line. Hopefully the weathering is easy to remove. 

[Kuma Style]

7 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

And yet, still better than the guns that came with Classics Voyager, Classics Deluxe, or Combiner Wars Prime.

I dunno... the Classics Voyage smokestack was really good, IMO. Not his traditional blaster but a cool-looking, clean, and proportionate double-barreled blaster with a cool alt. most storage. The wind vane blaster was goofy but realistically I think most people used it as a backpack in bot mode more than anything. The siege blaster looks more like something I'd expect on a deluxe or legends than voyager scale. Love the axe.

[M'Kyuun]

+1 for Classics Prime's folding smokestack gun; it's one of the best examples of incorporating the weapon into alt mode. After 30+ years, obscured or incorporated weapon storage in alt modes should be a forgone conclusion, but unfortunately it isn't.  And yeah, Classics Prime's wind vane gun was doofy and indeed remains a backpack on mine to this day. Points for creativity, though- at least it did something.

Siege Prime looks like he suffers from external gun storage syndrome, too; I wish they'd have found a way to sandwich it between his legs or under his cab. Not much of a disguise when you've got a big gun attached to your roof or fender. 

Speaking of gun size ( ever bemusing Freudian topic), I hadn't really noticed Siege Prime's, as my focus is almost always on the figure itself, and I just register the basic shape, especially if it's  an iconic G1 weapon. Although I prefer guns to melee weapons in my robot toys, guns, real or imaginary, generally don't interest me. That said, I had to take another look, and yeah, I guess it does look small in the picture, but I also consider the angle at which the pic is taken in bot mode. In his truck mode, it looks properly large proportionally, to my eye, anyway. However, if one owns PoTP Prime, they can always steal his gun (it's almost as long as a deluxe is tall). A little overcompensation, but if it makes you feel Prime-ier. Shrug 

 

If, and when, this line does make Earth landfall a few waves down the road, I wonder if they'll make the trailer for Prime; as useless as I generally find Prime's trailer to be, a toy as G1 as this has promise to be would feel incomplete to me without it. With all the figures breaking up into armor parts for the other figures in Siege, I could definitely see that being an option for the trailer, or its becoming an exo-suit for Prime, which would be a much cooler use of the trailer than a towable repair station.

[mikeszekely]

8 hours ago, JB0 said:

I liked the smokestack gun.

 

2 hours ago, Kuma Style said:

I dunno... the Classics Voyage smokestack was really good, IMO.

 

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

+1 for Classics Prime's folding smokestack gun

See, the way I remember it you wound up with smokestacks that didn't really look like smokestacks that had to be removed to transform the truck (and came apart half the time when you tried to remove them) to get a gun that looked way to small for Optimus.  I actually prefer the wind vane gun because it integrates with the truck better and can be left on as a backpack in robot mode.  But neither is a substitute for Prime's rifle.  For most Transformers any gun will do, but Prime's rifle, Megatron and Galvatron's arm cannons, and the Seekers null rays are fairly iconic.

[SMS007]

On 11/3/2018 at 2:03 AM, mikeszekely said:

my hope is that providing a little more background can help people be more aware of the difference and why it matters.

Aha, okay. I was not initially sure if that was the goal you were going for. I do accept your point. 

Anyhow, to the subject at hand, Firedrive, Lionizer, and Blowpipe have now been sighted at Target in the U.S.

https://www.allspark.com/2018/11/siege-battle-masters-debut-at-retail/

[JB0]

16 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

See, the way I remember it you wound up with smokestacks that didn't really look like smokestacks that had to be removed to transform the truck (and came apart half the time when you tried to remove them) to get a gun that looked way to small for Optimus.  I actually prefer the wind vane gun because it integrates with the truck better and can be left on as a backpack in robot mode.  But neither is a substitute for Prime's rifle.  For most Transformers any gun will do, but Prime's rifle, Megatron and Galvatron's arm cannons, and the Seekers null rays are fairly iconic. 

On mine the smokestacks didn't actually fit well on the truck mode, so they WANTED to come off. And I cut them a lot of slack on gun styling, partially because it was such a radically different Optibotimus than the usual square truck.

Also, I was less invested in Prime's gun than I was in the idea that he was a truck again instead of an overgrown monkey. But there's worse things than Beast Wars, as Micheal Bay stepped up to teach us all.

 

(To be clear, I have no problems with Beast Wars as a show, but I couldn't get into it because I wanted my Transformers to be mighty robots that became mighty vehicles. Transformers: Furry Convention never meshed with me, aesthetically.)

[M'Kyuun]

It's been years since I last transformed Classics Prime, so in keeping with the topic, I felt compelled to reacquaint myself before posting. IMHO, it still stands as a pretty nice take on the character, albeit a little panel-formery. Still, it looks good in both modes, has good articulation, and both of his weapons transform along with the figure. Even if the smokestack gun does look a little odd (it would have looked much better for both modes had they made it round instead of square), it and the wind vane all come together to make a nice more streamlined cabover truck. I like it. I don't handle my toys all that often, so my copy still has tight joints all around, the smokestack pegs in firmly, and in both modes, everything is solid. It's a fun transformer toy, and shouldn't they all be.

Jumping ahead, Siege Prime gives me hope for a pretty definitive G1 homage in the Generations line when they produce Earth alt modes for them. As I said, I see this line becoming the poor man's MP.

Beast Wars was a shock for most of us TF fans, especially those of us who grew up with G1, and there was a lot of resistance and invective hurled at it. I was skeptical, and it took me awhile to really appreciate it. Moreover, I was in the military at the time, and went on any number of TDYs, and thus relied heavily on my VCR (yep, I'm old) to try and keep me caught up on the show. I often missed episodes, and so the story from my POV was a bit patchy. Years later, I bought the DVD sets nd was able to watch the show in its entirety, and I gained a newfound appreciation for it- it was such a well written, well voiced show that the alt modes didn't matter as much. They embraced the it in the story and in the writing to good effect, and it has since become one of my, and my wife's, favorite iterations of Transformers. 

[mikeszekely]

I don't see myself buying any, because as an adult I just don't see the value, but boy am I getting nostalgia vibes from the Siege Micromasters.  As a kid I had bunch, since they were easier for my parents to afford.  The Race Car Patrol and the Air Strike Patrol were easily my favorites (I actually used to pretend Tailwind was the plane from Tail Spin).  I'll look next time I'm at my parents, they might still have a few of my old ones.

[Kuma Style]

Full review for Flame Toys Tarn is up. Went as in-depth as I could with this one.

 

[Scyla]

I enjoyed your review quite a bit Kuma Style. I'm excited for mine but what I'm even more excited is their Star Saber. I cannot wait to get him after the first two came out that nicely.

The one criticism I have is that he should have come with additional fixed posed hands. Those ball-joints popping out is an annoyance and a point of potential breakage. Given the price of the figure and how many hands came with their Drift I feel that they are sorely missing with Tarn. 

Minor nitpick. For my likings the thighs are too bulbous and the lower legs too scrawny. With a chest and shoulders like that he really shouldn't have skipped leg day. :P However that might change once I have him in hand. 

After seeing the review I feel that MMCs Kultur is a better toy but Flame Toys Tarn is the better display piece which was my assessment for Drift/Stray as well.

Thanks for all the effort going into as much detail as you did.

[Mechapilot77]

personally i'm really hoping the siege line kicks in a whole new Neo G1 interest aside from MP.  mainline stuff thats G1 heavy in flavor has proven to be good for the brand i think so hopefully we're moving from being a "generations"  or classics type release to the mainline stuff actually going that way and i think thats pretty much whats happening now and the combiner warys thru power of the primes trilogy was a testbed for that.  Siege being a mainline again...takes it a step further being even closer to G1.  i mean look at shockwave minus the add on arm nonsense, look at prime, sideswipe...also a white cab magnus with armor (granted his alt mode is a mess)!  its very exciting...not sure how much i'll be partaking but if this neo g1 aesthetic stays around for a few years at least....it'd make me happy.

[M'Kyuun]

Makes me happy, too. I'd like to have a nice compliment of very G1 Generations figs, at least first season. The Prime Wars Triligy lines provided nearly all of the minibots, so a number of boxes already checked for me. However I'd still like a new Huffer that actually looks like Huffer, and a decent Cliffjumper.  And more cassettes- always more cassettes.

After they finish with this series, though, and they get all the G1 stuff done, I want them to do something completely new, completely divorced of anything that has already been done. All new characters with their own stories. The only thing I hope is that it's set on Earth, or if not, at least the alt modes are relatable, similar to how Animated was done.

[Kuma Style]

Re: Classic's Prime's Smokestack blaster - Browsed through the replies and honestly still love it just as much. It's a perfect size, mine didn't have any problems in terms of coming apart, and the implementation into alt. is just plain rad. I don't think I've seen a better weapon on a Classics Prime, TBH.

 

3 hours ago, Scyla said:

I enjoyed your review quite a bit Kuma Style. I'm excited for mine but what I'm even more excited is their Star Saber. I cannot wait to get him after the first two came out that nicely.

The one criticism I have is that he should have come with additional fixed posed hands. Those ball-joints popping out is an annoyance and a point of potential breakage. Given the price of the figure and how many hands came with their Drift I feel that they are sorely missing with Tarn. 

Minor nitpick. For my likings the thighs are too bulbous and the lower legs too scrawny. With a chest and shoulders like that he really shouldn't have skipped leg day. :P However that might change once I have him in hand. 

After seeing the review I feel that MMCs Kultur is a better toy but Flame Toys Tarn is the better display piece which was my assessment for Drift/Stray as well.

Thanks for all the effort going into as much detail as you did.

Thanks, man. I can't wait for Star Saber and V.L. either. THAT'S going to be a bad mama jamma, especially if it retains good articulation when combined.

The hands, I dunno'... even if he came with posed hands I don't think I'd use them in favor of these. They pop out so easily to actually avoid breakage (like how nascars are actually designed to exploded into a million pieces to avoid crushing and endangering the the driver further on impact.) The hands on Drift are "nice" but honestly feel pretty cheap after having Tarn's in-hand with the finished, painted plastic and full articulation. The more options the merrier though and I have to agree to an extrent that hands made to perfectly fit the weapons (in this case the canons used as batons) would really be a lot more fun than how he holds those in particular since they don't peg into the hands.

The thighs/calves (the calves are actually more thick than the thighs) are actually proportionate and wider than the chest: I think the big trades on the shoulders make his upper body look a lot more wide than it actually is but when you pop those off (They're just on a ball joint) his actual shoulders are much more narrow and akin to a muscular human than a beast amongst beasts (lol.)

I played with Kultur and I can agree but I just wish that Kultur for being such a simplistic "toy" had some more dynamic articulation to it. That would easily give me a reason to own it in conjunction with this but as is, the FlameToys plays so easily and smoothly that I don't feel like I need a whole other version of him just to toy with. 

I really appreciate you taking the time to watch and super appreciate the feedback. I'm looking forward to your thoughts when you get it in hand to see if they vary and how much!! Please follow up!

 

[tekering]

2 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I want them to do something completely new, completely divorced of anything that has already been done. All new characters with their own stories. The only thing I hope is that it's set on Earth, or if not, at least the alt modes are relatable, similar to how Animated was done.

Be careful what you wish for, buddy.

https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers:_BotBots

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

That reminds of this classic:

My girlfriend asked why I carry a gun around the house. I looked her dead in the eye and said, "the mother******* decepticons". She laughed, I laughed, the toaster laughed, I shot the toaster, it was a good time.

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, tekering said:

Be careful what you wish for, buddy.

https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers:_BotBots

Oh  lordy, I'm trying to ignore that right out of existence!  But, yeah, you're right. So, to clarify, I want something totally divorced from what's come before, but still retains enough of the classic look of Transformers to be recognized as such (and no shardy bots!). I don't mind if they change the look, as I enjoyed Animated very much, but keep it aimed for the 10 and up crowd. Did I cover all the bases?

[Kuma Style]

Edit: Screwed up links and pics.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Kuma Style

[SMS007]

https://www.allspark.com/2018/11/listings-appear-for-power-of-the-primes-ricochet-and-red-swoop/

Woah! Looks like we are indeed getting Power of the Primes incarnations of Ricochet and toy-colored Swoop!