The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[SMS007]

8 hours ago, magicsp00n said:

So have we talked yet about the possible timing for a US/Hasbro release of MP OP 3.0? MP-10 got a couple releases here, stands to reason 3.0 will as well, the departure of Toys R Us notwithstanding. I can see a more budget-priced version (perhaps with fewer extras, maybe even without trailer) showing up over here before too long.

I bet it would happen as with MP-43 - Hasbro makes some stock available via online U.S.-based retailers.

[jenius]

Entertainment Earth listed Hasbro V3 Optimus for $439.99 due out in November.

[slaginpit]

MP IronHide review

 

[captain america]

[slide]

42 minutes ago, captain america said:

oh, that just made my day!

[M'Kyuun]

4 hours ago, slide said:

oh, that just made my day!

LOL!   That's great! Convoy Kawamori- toransufomu!!!

So, I had reason to do my happy dance after a fruitful toy hunt today, scoring WFC Siege Sideswipe, Hound, and Skytread. I very nearly missed them, as they had the deluxes pegged in a small low area behind a non-Transformers endcap with a restocking cart parked in front of it. I looked at the regular area, and to their credit, they had a several pegs of PotP figs, both deluxe and smaller, and two pegs of the Siege minis, but nothing larger. So I went off to look at some other stuff, but returned, as I usually do, to the TF isle for one last scan, and I just happened to see them. Cue happy dance. Unfortunately, I didn't see any larger class figs anywhere, and honestly, the only other figs I may pick up are Soundwave and Shockwave. So, extricated from their plastic prisons, all three are pretty nice figs. All three have nice tight joints throughout, feature what has become standard articulation plus ankle tilts, with knees and elbows capable of 90 degree or better. I notice more joints, both articulation and transformation, are steel pinned, which is nice, including the hips on all three. One exception is a swing bar on Hound's legs that links the front fender to the rear  for transformation is steel pinned on one side but just snaps over two nubs on the other, and on one side of mine it pops off those nubs very easily no matter how gingerly I try to untab that front fender, which tabs in pretty securely. It goes back together easily, but I think another steel pin was warranted. Hound's arms kinda just hang out under his vehicle mode, too;  had they made the hood area just a tad bigger, there likely would have been enough room for them to fold in there out of sight, not to mention give his jeep mode better ground clearance, as there are only a few mm of clearance between the arms and the ground.  Lazy engineering. One final niggle is that Hound's cockpit area is open on the top and sides, yet has no cockpit detail. I still like the figure, as it brings a different look, but in every way, Classics Hound is still the figure to beat.  Sideswipe fares better in his car mode, although I had a devil of a time trying to get his legs to fold down flush in car mode. I finally managed it, massaging one side then the other until they both moved into position, but I still have no idea what they were hung up on. Alas, once in place, it makes for a lovely space-car with obvious shades of Lamborghini. I'll mention that the plastic used for Sideswipe's arms and thighs is a cream color, rather than stark white. Doesn't bother me, but some folks take issue with color differences. As always, mileage varies. Anyway, in his bot mode, this thing screams G1 Sideswipe, and that's enough for me, as the Classics toy left somewhat to be desired, especially the legs. One niggle: Sideswipe technically comes with two weapons; however, it's his shoulder cannon (black) and the pointy bit of his shoulder cannon (red), which can separate, but neither really looks right as his hand weapon. What's odd about this situation is that Hound comes with his G1-esque shoulder cannon (minus the pointy bit), his decidedly not-G1-esque rifle, and an additional ammo drum which can attach to said rifle or to the shoulder cannon (although it looks weird), and yet they shortchanged Sideswipe a traditional weapon. Anyway, on to Skytread, who as most of you know is a Duocon, comprised of two vehicles that transform into the upper and lower halves of a robot. I would have greatly preferred they'd given each individual bot modes like Battletrap, who's a marvelous little figure for all the engineering brought to bear, but they went traditional with him, which I guess is ok. Disappointing, but ok. Anyway, both halves have simple straightforward transformations, with decent alts. The tank half fares better than the jet, whose arms form the rather sizeable undercarriage, which has become pretty standard for TF jets. Unfortunately, the tank's main gun, one of the figure's two rifles, tabs into a hole attached to one half of the bot legs, and remains stationary. It would have been nice had they put an ounce more of engineering into it to at least give it that extra bit of functionality, but they didn't. And it would have been spectacular had they designed it so the whole turret rotated, but now I'm just going cra-cra. My final mention will be the battle damage, which seems to be a devisive feature for many a fan. On Skytread, there are only trace amounts splattered along the sideboards above the treads, painted in the same silver, which makes it look like overspray. Had they used a different color, like brown, I think it would have looked better. No BD on the jet, which otherwise has nice sharp paint apps on my copy. Moving on to Hound, there's no BD visible in jeep mode, as it's limited to the inside areas of his lower legs, painted in a gunmetal wash (it looks darker and not as shiny as the BD on Skytread). Hound is molded in a dark green, so the BD is difficult to see unless in really strong light. Sideswipe has the most BD, painted in the same gunmetally silver wash on the entirety of his shins and waist, both molded in black, which really make it stand out. Personally, I think the BD apps are done judiciously and look fine. It doesn't effect the vehicle modes for Sideswipe, Hound, or the jet half of Skytread, which IMHO was good thinking on Has/Tak's part. For those who don't like it, Q-tips, alcohol and a little patience stand between you and happiness. Before I sign off, I'll tender my apologies for not posting pics, as I figure there are plenty of in-hand pics and video reviews to be found out there on the interwebs. Plus, I'm lazy. Anyway, I've been anticipating these figs for some time, and I was really pleased to find them today, and thought I'd share some initial impressions. Best wishes to my fellow toy-hunters, and curses be upon ye scalping bastards who sully the hobby for the rest of us! Cheers.

[mikeszekely]

38 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

So, I had reason to do my happy dance after a fruitful toy hunt today,

Which store?  I was at my Walmart a week ago, a Walmart near a friend's house Sunday, and Target yesterday.  Tons of PotP Terrorcons (plus Dropkick and the repaints of Stinger, Ratchet, and Starscream in the Studio Series) but still not Siege.

[M'Kyuun]

Target. Specifically, South Hill Target, Spokane, WA. 

Granted we're a few states away, but from scanning the TF forums, it seems like Target is the retailer most likely to have them right now. I've been to another Target in my area, albeit one that sees more traffic, and they had nothing for Siege. Today I figured I'd try South Hill and got lucky. I live 5 min from a Super Walmart, but have yet to see any Siege stuff there. They did, however, have several copies of SS Dropkick earlier this week, so I grabbed one.

In related news, I believe it was on the Seibertron forums someone was saying they heard from an employee that Target was purposely keeping the Siege stuff off their online store site to encourage buying in-store. Grain of salt, but it does seem that Target is your best bet for Siege right now.

If you can't find them there, let me know which ones you want and I can go see if they still have any tomorrow. I didn't really take a close look at how many they had of each, but I do know they had a couple copies of Cog, another Skytread, and I think at least one more Hound. Prob another Sideswipe, but I just grabbed the outermost copy of him, and snapped up the other two without taking inventory of the rest. I did see a couple Cogs, though (the only one I didn't want.) They didn't have any voyagers, at least that I could see, and I reconned the area a little. Anyway, let me know.

Edit: Almost forgot, they had several of the Siege Micromasters as well- Race Car Patrol, Battle Patrol, Lionizer, and Air Strike Patrol. They may have had more, but that's all I remember.

Edited December 7, 2018 by M'Kyuun

[mikeszekely]

4 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Target. Specifically, South Hill Target, Spokane, WA. 

Granted we're a few states away, but from scanning the TF forums, it seems like Target is the retailer most likely to have them right now. I've been to another Target in my area, albeit one that sees more traffic, and they had nothing for Siege. Today I figured I'd try South Hill and got lucky. I live 5 min from a Super Walmart, but have yet to see any Siege stuff there. They did, however, have several copies of SS Dropkick earlier this week, so I grabbed one.

In related news, I believe it was on the Seibertron forums someone was saying they heard from an employee that Target was purposely keeping the Siege stuff off their online store site to encourage buying in-store. Grain of salt, but it does seem that Target is your best bet for Siege right now.

If you can't find them there, let me know which ones you want and I can go see if they still have any tomorrow. I didn't really take a close look at how many they had of each, but I do know they had a couple copies of Cog, another Skytread, and I think at least one more Hound. Prob another Sideswipe, but I just grabbed the outermost copy of him, and snapped up the other two without taking inventory of the rest. I did see a couple Cogs, though (the only one I didn't want.) They didn't have any voyagers, at least that I could see, and I reconned the area a little. Anyway, let me know.

I appreciate it, but you don't have to make a special trip tomorrow.  I'm taking my car to get serviced for a recall and there's a different over there that's actually on my way home anyway.

[M'Kyuun]

2 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

I appreciate it, but you don't have to make a special trip tomorrow.  I'm taking my car to get serviced for a recall and there's a different over there that's actually on my way home anyway.

No worries, Mike. Just returning the favor. Cheers, and good luck!

[Scyla]

He's gone mad with power:

[M'Kyuun]

On ‎12‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 7:23 AM, slaginpit said:

MP IronHide review

 

Gave Kevin's review a watch, and while I initially thought it looked pretty nice in the picture, seeing the thing being demonstrated makes me feel this is a step or two backwards, especially for a Masterpiece figure. In short, the truck mode has bot bits hanging down from its undercarriage, around the back wheels, four toes hanging down below the tailgate, and mechanical bits pressed against the side windows quite obviously. In bot mode, the legs look great, but the price is all the bot kibble visible in alt mode. Moreover, the hood halves don't appear to tab in very securely, untabbing and sagging with just a little handling. The shoulders connect behind and in line with the front fenders, which limits their poseability to nearly nil. They can swing out laterally, but there's little to no forward swing, which means the elbow offers the only joint allowing for fore and aft posing of the arms. I thought perhaps he had it transformed incorrectly and that the shoulders would swing out to sit outside the front tires, similar to the '07 voyager, but apparently not. IMHO, this is unacceptable in a MP figure. I daresay the voyager is a better toy (I have it and have vague memories of messing with him a decade or so ago.) I don't have the leader class toy from around the same period, so I can't comment on it. However, I do remember that the shoulders on the voyager could tab into the center of the tires, which offered a decent range. 

The sculpt is the best part of the MPM, IMHO, as Takara did a nice job of trying to capture all the random mechanical bits , especially on the legs and the feet. It has nice poseability from the waist down, including a decent ab crunch. The shoulder attachment point (it should actually attach where the round grey mechanical bit sits above the tire) and the weak connection of the hood halves bring down both the quality and the playability of the figure, and the vehicle mode is spoiled by all the low hanging bot bits. 

To be fair, I had no interest in acquiring this figure even before watching the video, but as I kinda like movie Ironhide's design, mostly for that splitting hood design, I thought I'd give the vid a look. I must admit to being disappointed; having designed several mainline Ironhide toys, I'd have though Takara would really nail a MP version of this. Moreover, I wanted it to be the definitive version, even if I wasn't going to pick it up. Alas, it looks nice as a shelf display.

[mark-1s]

TFW posted the transformation guide and other scans of MP-44. I'd say he's less of a shell former, than he is more of a kibble former

http://news.tfw2005.com/2018/12/10/transformers-generations-book-2019-masterpiece-mp-44-optimus-prime-ver-3-0-images-378565

 

[M'Kyuun]

Beat me to it- I was just getting ready to post this.  Anyway, I stand corrected for assuming it was a shellformer, and for incessantly beating that drum over a number of posts. I was wrong, and I apologize. That's a pretty complex transformation, and it's a shame that the backpack ended up so voluminous. I had assumed that most of the cab's panels were folded up in there, but it seems that it's mostly made up of the lower half of the front cab, and the windshield sections flip 180 degrees depending on mode. I've been trying to figure out how the back wheels reconfigure, but I can't make it out from the pics. Anyway, I have a heightened respect for the level of plastic origami brought to bear. 

That said, there are aesthetic niggles I still have with it, which ultimately persuaded me towards a third party option even before the price was announced. The price is a tough pill, in retrospect. That said, seeing the engineering of this thing laid out makes me want to try transforming it all the more. It's a perverse addiction, these Transformers. 

[Mechapilot77]

looks like a badcube transformation.  lol

[lechuck]

Beautiful - I get really pumped every time I see MP-44 in some iconic pose.

And finally we get an Optimus that does not require waist rotation for the transformation. I personally blame Gorilla-Prime for introducing that nonsense into G1 Primes!

[captain america]

It transforms like a Bayformer, but looks like Gee-Wun. I approve. 

[sh9000]

Pretty cool.

[Kuma Style]

On 12/8/2018 at 2:48 PM, Scyla said:

He's gone mad with power:

Glorious!

SG Drift coming in March, I'd **GUESS** Star Saber coming Summer, and MP-44 and MP-45? Hound coming in between 2019 is shaping up to be a really nice year on the licensed side.

[Scyla]

Hey Kuma are you getting the Shattered Glass Drift as well? I'm debating if I need that or not since I have the regular Drift. I like the added guns and prefer the red paint scheme. 

In other news Flame Toys is showing of the weapon gimmicks of Star Saber (

Love to see that. I like this on Drift as well and I feel like they could have implemented something similar in Tarns Guns (they are pretty looking hallow tubes). I know the melee weapons do something similar but I loved if you could extend the main guns and some panels or vents pop out.

I recognize that I'm getting greedy.

[Kuma Style]

4 hours ago, Scyla said:

Hey Kuma are you getting the Shattered Glass Drift as well? I'm debating if I need that or not since I have the regular Drift. I like the added guns and prefer the red paint scheme. 

Yea, I'm getting SG Drift. In fact, it was paid for in October and it's just going to be a random-assed shipping notice out of no where next year which will be a fun surprise. 

[Numbninja]

are you sure SG Drift will be released in March? i thought it was this month @@Kuma Style

[Kuma Style]

1 hour ago, Numbninja said:

are you sure SG Drift will be released in March? i thought it was this month @@Kuma Style

Unfortunately, yes. They made a statement on their Facebook page a week or so ago basically stating that they had just gotten enough orders to fulfill their requisite and were beginning production with March being the date to give them enough time for any quality issues that occur. It sucks because I paid for it early in a big part because of the fact that they said it'd be available so soon.

[Numbninja]

59 minutes ago, Kuma Style said:

Unfortunately, yes. They made a statement on their Facebook page a week or so ago basically stating that they had just gotten enough orders to fulfill their requisite and were beginning production with March being the date to give them enough time for any quality issues that occur. It sucks because I paid for it early in a big part because of the fact that they said it'd be available so soon.

Wow....it kinda works for me as i had spent alot this year on the hobby....but i kinda feel relief yet somewhat disappointment.

Thanx Sir

[nhyone]

On 12/11/2018 at 1:09 PM, sh9000 said:

Pretty cool.

Cool but not 50,000 yen MSRP cool.

The backpack is way too big (as noted by many people), but I find the lower legs too thick as well.

But the main reason I'm out is the price.

[sh9000]

1 hour ago, nhyone said:

Cool but not 50,000 yen MSRP cool.

The backpack is way too big (as noted by many people), but I find the lower legs too thick as well.

But the main reason I'm out is the price.

That’s why I found it at a discount.  It’s 34781 JPY shipped cool to me.

[Kuma Style]

10 hours ago, Numbninja said:

Wow....it kinda works for me as i had spent alot this year on the hobby....but i kinda feel relief yet somewhat disappointment.

Thanx Sir

Yea... I certainly would've put the funds elsewhere had I known but i can't complain too much bc it's still free shipping with all bonus parts included per the deal offered at TFCON.

[sh9000]

Just bought a Golden Lagoon MP Optimus for $93 shipped.

[mikeszekely]

Apparently Walmart's going to get a cab-only reissue of G1 Optimus.

This actually kind of works for me.  I still have the previous reissue.  I can use the trailer from it, let my daughter have the previous orangy short-stacked cab, and get the newer reissue which amazingly looks to have uncropped smokestacks.

[M'Kyuun]

The only G1 reissue I ever bought was Optimus; I have him boxed up somewhere around here, but I don't even remember there being a color difference or cropped stacks. Regardless, he's good enough as-is to satisfy my desire to have the original. I wish they'd reissued G1 Megs, but the whole gun thing, which is ridiculously ironic in this country, kinda put the brakes on that happening.

My hope now, having seen V3 all laid out, is that a cab only version with minimal accessories will get a stateside release at a much reduced price. All I want is Prime and his gun. Everything else just stays in the box, although I can understand folks wanting some of the other stuff, esp his energon axe, which has kinda become a necessity for Sherman Dam re-enactments. I just want the new figure for about $150 or so, with both the stripe on his cab and his leg vents painted silver. I require nothing more.

Edited December 15, 2018 by M'Kyuun

[JB0]

Honestly, at this point, G1 reissues generally don't do a lot for me.

Once I get past nostalgia, the toys just ... well, they usually feature anywhere from two to zero points of articulation, and that leaves more than a little to be desired. Learned that way back when Generation 2 was a thing. Got Prime and a couple of Constructicons, and then just went "Is that all they can do?"

...

And if the missile launcher isn't a choking hazard, there's no point!

 

THAT SAID, I'd buy a few reissues.  Shockwave, Sky Lynx, a nice set of Dinobots... maybe Blaster and Soundwave... assuming ANY OF THEM ever showed up within a hundred miles of me. The whole "Toys R Us exclusive" thing for the last set of reissues killed it for me, as they never hit my store and I wasn't interested in paying scalpers.

[M'Kyuun]

My interest in G1 toys was waning in the 80's with just about every toy I bought, for the exact reason you mentioned-lack of articulation throughout the vast majority of the toyline. The only reissues I'd be interested in are the cassettes, b/c they generally had some poseability plus they were just cool. Otherwise, I have to say the MP line, for the most part, has given me the toys I wish we'd gotten back then. I'm not too crazy about the overzealous toon-centric direction they've taken of late. I love my Prowl, Sideswipe, Soundwave, MP-10 Prime, Shockwave, and Wheeljack. I like Ratchet, Ironhide, Inferno, and MP-36 Megatron, but the lack of detail in their bot modes, plus the open sides of the torsos on the van bros leave somewhat to be desired. MP-36 is a fine toy, but TBH, I wish there wasn't so much origami involved in the chest, as it just doesn't look right to me. The legs are brilliant, though.

V3 has its pros and cons, but now that my shellformer theory has blown up in my face, I'm a bit intrigued. The MP Hound they revealed just didn't look right to me, either. I've since gone 3P for my Hound and I have a 3P MP Optimus PO'd. However, if Hasbro sells V3 without the trailer/extras at a markedly lower price, I'd be interested in getting a copy.

[jenius]

I kinda like the idea of having a "then and now" display so I may pick up G1 reissues of toys I have the MP of. I still have some of my childhood G1 toys but they don't really work as display pieces.

[M'Kyuun]

A set of pristine G1 toys to sit alongside their modern MP counterparts would make for a nice display. Definitely an elegant way to show the evolution of toy design these past 30+ years.

For those interested in V3, the designers did an interview for the 2019 Generations book. http://news.tfw2005.com/2018/12/15/transformers-generations-book-2019-mp-44-optimus-prime-ver-3-0-designer-team-interview-translation-378910

I always enjoy hearing what goes into the design process of these figures. I find it interesting how they considered MP-10 to be the definitive OP, so the challenge was how to make the new figure better.

[magicsp00n]

I wonder if the inclusion of the Starscream head accessory with OP 3.0 is a hint at another upcoming update...