The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[tekering]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

I consider the possibility that he may be mis-transformed--it wouldn't be the first time.

Have CGI renders been mis-transformed before?  

[JB0]

3 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Ectotron and Springer look cool.  If they made a Knight Rider KITT Transformer, I’d buy it.

I'd buy a KITTformer too!

[mikeszekely]

7 hours ago, JB0 said:

I'd buy a KITTformer too!

Oh, definitely.

And a Party Wagon (Turtle Van). TMNT is even another IDW license. Then again, TMNT isn't a Hasbro one...

[sh9000]

Pretty cool G1 packaging.

[lechuck]

That is cool package hommaging. Some of the others I would like to see Hasbro/Takara take a poke at:

• Magnum Ferrari 308 GTB
• BttF Delorean
• A-Team GMC Van
• Airwolf
• Aliens Dropship

[mikeszekely]

Amazon's got pre-orders for some of the new Siege stuff. I put orders in for Jetfire (scheduled for July) and Omega Supreme (August). My local stores are pretty good at stocking Deluxes and Voyagers, but I don't think I can count on them for bigger figured. I'd never seen a Titan anywhere but TRU, and they're gone.

[RavenHawk]

6 hours ago, lechuck said:

Aliens Dropship

THIS! Especially with a transforming Armored Personnel Carrier that can fit inside of it or, alternatively, combine with it.

[mikeszekely]

G2-style Siege Megatron.  Available now at Hasbro Pulse.

[M'Kyuun]

A transforming Aliens Dropship at leader scale with a transforming legends scaled APC would be fantastic. Actually, kind of a neat idea for a reimagined Soundwave.

Airwolf would be great, too. Maybe even Blue Thunder.

The idea of M.A.S.K. vehicles being reimagined as Transformers would be a fantastic marriage of those two brands, especially if they all retained their weaponized transformations in addition to bot transformations. Probably asking a little too much from the designers. Fun to dream, though!

Back in the real world, I might have to put in a PO on Amazon for Jetfire as well. MikeSzekely's right- I never see anything bigger than leader at any of the stores here (most of the time, I don't see anything bigger than deluxe), so POing seems the best bet.

[Black Valkyrie]

 

Super 7 TF action figures.

 

[M'Kyuun]

The new Hasbro Pulse site has the upcoming wave of Seige up for PO. I got Jetfire, Springer (who's description and pics only show him taking a heli mode, so this may not be a triple changing figure after all), and the cassettes. I was going to get Prowl and Ironhide, but they were already sold out. 

Anyway, thought I'd let folks know.

[Negotiator]

I hope Amazon pulls thru for jetfire and Springer.

Torn about BB movie Optimus.  I feel like a 3p company will make a better one.

[mikeszekely]

4 hours ago, Negotiator said:

Torn about BB movie Optimus.  I feel like a 3p company will make a better one.

Almost definitely, yes.  In fact, I think ToyWorld is making one.  But probably MP-sized, not Studio Series size.

Anyways, I don't know if it's all the Siege goodies or what, but lately I've been snatching up some Titans Return stuff that I'd skipped out on before because I swore I wasn't collecting Hasbro stuff anymore.  This is Deluxe-class Twinferno, better known as Monsterbot Doublecross.

There's a lot that's right here.  The face is pretty good, he's got the red shoulders and pelvis, and there's painted yellow triangles on his hips and red trapezoids with some tampoed lines on his chest where the original had stickers.  He's got his wings chilling behind him, and most of the molded detail on his chest is correct, if a little high.  His arms and torso are mostly gray and his thighs are mostly white.  His arms are dragon heads with horns where they should be.

There's some stuff that's not so right, though.  The dragon necks that make up his biceps are fully of hollow spaces.  The dragon horns are white instead of gray.  His lower legs and feet are mostly black instead of gray, including the tail kibble on the sides.  And his abs translucent plastic  that's so dark it's practically black.  Still, I think he's close enough that we're in the right ballpark.  And size-wise, he's just a little taller than the current crop of Siege Deluxes.

Twinferno comes with a pair of rifles.  And of course, this being from the Titans Return line, his head, which unfurls into a Titan Master, and the guns can tab together in a configuration that said Titan Master can sit in.  And about that Titan Master?  The packaging names him as Daburu, which is simple the phonetic spelling for the katakana you'd use to spell the English word "double," and Hasbro simply acts like they're so clever while totally ignoring the why he's got a cat face and clawed feet and an eyepatch.  But I'm happy to tell you that "Daburu" is actually White Leo, leader of the Autobot-aligned Beastformers in the Japanese The Headmasters cartoon.  And since Beastformers came to the US as Battle Beasts, that's actually White Pirate Lion.  30 years later, and we've got new Battle Beasts!

Twinferno's articulation is fair.  It's pretty much on par with most of what we were getting at the time, but definitely not as good as what we're getting with Siege.  His head's on the usual Titan Master ball joint for swiveling and minimal tilt.  His shoulders rotate and extend laterally 90 degrees.  His biceps can swivel, as long as the swivel isn't buried in his shoulder pads.  His elbows can bend 90 degrees.  But, he's got no wrist swivel, and that's where we kind of run into problems because it means that he's kind of stuck posing with his elbows bending outward.  His hands can open.  No waist swivel.  The red flap on his pelvis is hinged so his hips can bend 90 degrees forward, but it's the entire flap.  His hips can also bend 90 degrees backward and laterally.  His thighs can swivel, and his knees (which are a little loose on mine) bend over 90 degrees.  His feet can swivel, but there's no tilt or pivot.

With dragon heads for hands you might think it's hard for Twinferno to hold his guns.  But actually it's super easy, barely an inconvenience.  Both heads have 5mm peg holes molded around the hinge pin in their jaws, and the guns can peg into those.  Alternatively, there are slots just inside his shoulders that you can use with tabs on the guns to attach them to his shoulders.

Doublecross was always my favorite Monsterbot.  I mean, he's a two-headed dragon!  What's not to love?  And with an excellent color scheme to boot.  Again, I feel like we're in the ballpark with the little dragon arms and his dragon legs, complete with tampos in place of G1 stickers.  They did opt for black dragon thighs instead of the gray of the cartoon, but that's fair since this is a US release and in the US the toy was the only reference.  If you look carefully at his chest he's even got a spikey, wheel-shaped bit where the gear was for activating the spark gimmick on the G1 toy.

However, the black robot legs and tail bits make for a black tail instead of gray.  And the black translucent plastic actually extends up into black paint in the middle of the dragon's chest where it all should have been gray.

Twinferno's necks can swivel at the base, bend up and down at the robot elbow, and there's a hinge at the base of the dragon head that can look up and down or open the jaws.  Again, I wish he had a swivel at the wrist.  The dragon arms are on ball joints so they can rotate and extend laterally about 90 degrees, but they're solid molded pieces with no other articulation.  His hips can rotate, and separate hinges allow them to extend 90 degrees.  His knees range from about 45 degrees away from totally straight to nearly folded 180 degrees.  His heel claws are fixed, and the front of his feet can tilt down but not up, and he doesn't have ankle pivots.  The wings can flap on hinges, but that's the limit of their articulation.  Each wing has a peg hole at the top so you can plug his guns into his wings.  Meanwhile, the translucent bit on his tummy can open up and reveal a seat for a Titan Master to sit on inside.

I don't usually call out the little bumps on these toys that Titan Master feeties can plug onto, but I think it's worth mentioning that there's some on Twinferno's back for riding How to Train Your Dragon-style instead of in his belly.  Or, with the guns tabbed together in Titan Master seat mode, you can use the same tabs you used for robot shoulder mounting to stick the combined gun onto Twinferno's back like double-barreled saddle.

Twinferno is an ok figure.  He's definitely not up to Siege standards, or even one of the better examples of the Titan Returns line.  But he's not one of the worse examples either, and I think Titans Return was probably the strongest of the three Prime Wars Trilogy lines.  Plus he's a Monsterbot; I'm kind of impressed that Hasbro even went that far into the G1 catalog.  I'll give him a soft recommend.  He doesn't do anything special, I wish he had wrist swivels, a waist swivel, and ankle pivots, but he's not a half bad figure and his Titan Master is a Battle Beast.

[M'Kyuun]

I bought Twinferno after passing him up many times after I got the Grotusque exclusive. I had the original Grotusque toy, and they did such a nice job on the TR toy that I splurged the $24 for him. No regrets. Anyway, learning that the same basic body was used for Twinferno, I picked him up on impulse shortly thereafter. I thought both were done really well relative to the rest of the TR line, which I enjoyed thoroughly and agree with Mike that it was best of the Prime Wars trilogy line. the only real issue I have with the toy is trying to tab the leg bits into his torso in beast mode. On both Grotusque and Twinferno, they don't line up naturally and I have to use a bit of force to get them to do so and tab in. Beyond that, fun figures.

Edited February 18, 2019 by M'Kyuun

[spacemanspiff]

Brothers form another mother.  Prime Time 2019!

 

 

[mikeszekely]

Doublecross might be my favorite Monsterbot, but I don't think he's got that certain something that really lets him stand alone the way you can get a Grimlock toy without the other four Dinobots.  I need a menagerie of Monsterbots, so yep, I picked up Titans Return Grotusque (although, being some kind of special edition that sold out super quick I had to pay a bit more than @M'Kyuun on the aftermarket).

Grotusque is, from the chest down, really a repaint of Twinferno.  As such he's missing things like the shins made of beast tails or the beast legs on the sides of his shins.  He's got gray feet instead of no feet, and for some reason his hands are white.  It's kind of impressive what they managed with the new parts and careful use of paint.  His forearms are molded to have the same shape as the monster claws that rested on the G1 toy's arms, and gray lines on his pelvis are kind of evocative of how the G1 toy's thighs kind of ran up into his stomach.  His chest is predominantly blue, and a darker purple paint on his crotch and translucent purple plastic match the darker purple chunk in the middle of the G1 toy.

Since we did a Siege Deluxe yesterday, here he is with a Siege Voyager.

Grotusque comes with the same weapons as Twinferno, just cast in purple plastic and painted a light gray.  As I briefly mentioned, Grotusque was some kind of special edition.  I'm not sure if he was supposed to be an NYCC thing that went on sale at the Hasbro Toy Shop (as Comic-Con exclusives usually do) or what, but being a special edition means that his Titan Master, Fengul, has a lot more paint than your average Titan Master.  It also means he comes with a second Titan Master, Scorponok.  Scorponok is kind of interesting.  On one hand, his body is kind of a lazy repaint of Titan Master Fangry's- they didn't even bother making a new head that looks more like Zarak's.  But on the other hand, he does have a new Scorponok face on his back, he's painted fairly well, and his torso and Scorponok face are actually diecast.  So Scorponok is noticeably heavier than your standard Titan Master.

Oh, and Fengul?  No idea where Hasbro came up with that name, but yes, he's another Battle Beast.  That's Platinum Tiger in The Headmasters, or Sabresword Tiger to US Battle Beast fans.

Given that his head is still a Titan Master and from the chest down he's basically Twinferno you can probably guess that his articulation is 90% the same as Twinferno's.  So I'll let you re-read that if you want, and just talk about what's different, namely his arms.  His shoulders can swivel and they can move laterally almost 180 degrees due to flaps that hinge out of the way.  He has bicep swivels, and his elbows can bend 90 degrees.  No wrist swivels, but they can bend inward for transformation.  He actually holds his weapons in his hands, and he lacks the slots to tab them into his shoulders the way Twinferno can.  And like any good Titan Master you don't have to use Platinum Tiger for a head.  Scorponok's an option, too... but I really want a Titan-class Scorponok.  More than the Omega Supreme we're getting.

It's pretty easy to say that Doublecross turns into a two-headed dragon... what's Grotusque supposed to be?  A chimera?  A gargoyle?  Whatever he is, he's again mostly Twinferno with the same engineering and articulation, the same pros and cons (while it takes a bit of effort to line everything up and tab it in proper, I don't view the way the monster hips tab into the robot torso as a con, since it's quite secure).  That means his tail isn't white, and he's just got the one.  The front of his monster feet are white, and he's missing almost all of the blue that the G1 toy had on his back.

Again, though, he does a lot with his new parts.  I found the way his chest folds up to make the blue part of his neck and his purple lower jaw to be especially clever.  The jaws can open and close, although the head itself can't move.  His arms are still his arms, so they have the same articulation save for the claws, which are hinged so they can bend up.

Just like Twinferno, Grotusque has the peg holes on his wings for gun storage in beast mode.  The translucent part of his torso opens for a Titan Master to sit inside.  A Titan Master could also use the tiny pegs on Grotusque's back, or combine the guns and sit in them.  The combined guns can still be tabbed into his back.

One thing to note... the instructions tell you to rotate the robot shoulder 180 degrees, then bend it laterally nearly 180 degrees to make the monster arms.  I'm showing it that way, but I don't really get the purpose because no matter what you still have to rotate the arm at the bicep to get the monster claws on the front of the forearm.  And he's got the same basically the same articulation either way.

Grotusque was never my favorite Monsterbot, and being mostly Twinferno again should make him kind of boring.  But like I said, it's surprising how much he's able to do with his few new parts.  At standard Deluxe prices I'd definitely recommend him.  Heck, with the extra paint and second diecast Titan Master I'd say he's worth it at $25.  His current aftermarket prices are probably pushing it, though, so maybe don't do it unless you're a completionist (like me).

[mikeszekely]

Well, l'll say this for Hasbro Pulse, they're pretty fast! I made my order Friday night. Got my order confirmation, but not a peep Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. Which is fine; Saturday and Sunday aren't business days, and Monday was a holiday. I figured they'd ship today and I'd get my order later this week or next.

I woke up this morning to a text from FedEx letting me know that a signature is required for a delivery today. I'm thinking that I'm not expecting anything from FedEx, but I checked my email and saw a ship notification from Hasbro Pulse, and they used FedEx.

Now, I don't know when Hasbro actually packaged my order and handed it off to FedEx. But I got the ship notification email just before 8:00am, and FedEx was at my door by 11:15, just over three hours later.

My only complaint is that they required a signature. That's not exactly a bad thing in the era of porch pirates and it was a pretty big order. But when I know I'm getting a package that requires a signature I like to make arrangements to be home to receive it. Fortunately I was home today, but if I wasn't the notice was to short to make arrangements.

EDIT: And I got an email for my other order this evening.  FedEx isn't even in possession of it yet and it's scheduled for delivery tomorrow.

Edited February 20, 2019 by mikeszekely

[mikeszekely]

And we're wrapping up the Monsterbots tonight with Generations Select Prime Wars Trilogy Deluxe-class Repugnus.

HasTak went for the hattrick on the Twinferno mold, as once again Repugnus is borrowing some parts and engineering (although I can't help but notice little things like the fact that the shins are actually remolded and not straight up repainted).  But as with Grotusque it's a surprisingly effective remold that hits the sort of notes you'd expect in a Repugnus.  Of course, there are still some questionable choices.  His hip joints are brown instead of white, and he's got white hands instead of red.  The brown parts at the end of his shins could have been red.  There's no black on his arms (although that matches The Headmasters), and instead of a white block on his abs he's just got a little red nub.  Finally, he's missing some back kibble that the G1 toy had, but I'm by no means complaining about that.

One other, more subjective complaint would be his face.  He's too handsome.  It's actually pretty G1 toy accurate, but he looks so out of place with his buddies.

Surprisingly, Repugnus doesn't come with the same guns as the other Monsterbots.  Instead, he's got a pair of swords cast in translucent green with brown paint.  I guess the idea is that they're poisonous?  The swords do still connect together like the guns did, forming a sled-like conveyance for his Titan Master.  Once again, the Hasbro name is the fairly meaningless "Dastard," but it's really a third Battle Beast.  That's Hedgehog in The Headmasters, Prickly Porcupine in the West.  And this being from the same Generations Selects that gave us Prime Wars Trilogy Blast Off, Repugnus also comes with a Prime Master.  This one is Solus Prime.  I don't really have much to say about her.  Prime Masters that turn into symbols and get stuck in combiner feet aren't as cool as Titan Masters that turn into heads.

Another Twinferno remold, another figure with 80% the same articulation.  As with Grotusque, the only real difference is the arms.  Repugnus' shoulders can rotate and extend laterally just over 90 degrees.  His biceps can swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  No wrist swivels, but they can bend inward due to his transformation.

As far as his weapons go, he can definitely hold them by sliding the handles into his fists.  However, there are tabs near his wrists on his forearms.  Those tabs fit into slots on the swords so you can peg them together like the Titan Master sled mode and connect them to his arm at the same time, giving him a big claw weapon.

It's not as cool as a two-headed dragon, but I've always dug Repugnus' bug monster mode.  And it's pretty impressive how they pulled it off using a lot of the same engineering as Twinferno and Grotusque.  Presumably, this is why the robot had the red nub and no white on his torso; this toy doesn't do the same torso flip as the G1 toy, so they opted for a more beast-mode accurate torso.  Not sure about the translucent green on his chest, though.  His robot shoulders are kind of jutting out to the side, his beast hips are out a bit farther than the G1 version, and his robot legs are tucked under him like an insect abdomen, giving him a butt that the G1 toy never had.  But, he's got a great bug head, complete with a bump where the G1 toy's button was for the sparking gimmick, his feet have been remolded from the other two to be more Repugnus-accurate.  And his robot chest does still unfold into his scythe-like bug arms.

His bug mouth can open and close a little; sadly, the gray parts on the sides don't move.  The bug shoulders can move up and down a little or butterfly over the front of his body, but straight out is as far as they go away from his body.  His bug elbow are ball joints that let the red parts of his bug arms bend 90 degrees and swivel, plus the claws themselves can bend in.  The bug hips can rotate and extend laterally 90 degrees.  His bug knees can bend from almost straight all the way until the brown part is almost hidden in the red part.  And just like the other Monsterbots he's got a space inside his chest for a Titan Master to sit, or pegs on his back that a Titan Master can stick to.

He doesn't have the awkward kibble flap bug back that the G1 toy did.  However, instead of his weapons tabbing together and becoming a gun saddle for the Titan Master, they can stick to his back using the tabs on his robot forearms to create some of the same effect.  You can even unplug them, turn them 90 degrees, and plug them back in to create a sort of open-winged look.

Coming after the Titans Return line had finished, as a third use of the Twinferno mold, Repugnus almost seems like an afterthought.  You'd almost expect him to be a little crappy.  Somewhat surprisingly, though, I think he's my favorite of the three.  It's just a shame he's got such a pretty boy face.  If only he'd had something closer to the face he had in The Headmasters...

Oh, wait.  There's Titan Returns Titan Master Repugnus!  Like the other stand-alone Titan Masters, this Repugnus came with a little robot/vehicle that looks much like a smaller, underpainted Repgunus.  It doesn't have a ton of articulation.  The arms can swivel at the shoulders, and the legs can move at the hips, but the legs are connected so both legs move at the same time.  On my copy those hips are so loose he can't really stand, but that's nothing some floor polish shouldn't be able to fix.  In beast mode, the Titan Master makes the tummy.

The Titan Master himself is supposed to look like a similarly-underpainted Repugnus in robot mode.  Except when you put him in head mode... there we go!  That grimace of a frown!  Those bug-eyed squares for eyes!  That's the face I wanted for Repugnus!

That's not all, though.  Bend the bug's head up and turn him upside down, stick a Titan Master's feet to the pegs inside, and you've got yourself a vehicle.  I guess.  But even better, you can pull a 5mm peg out of his chin and flip the wings around.  Now Repugnus is wielding a weapon that looks like himself, and that's all kinds of awesome.  So while Titan Masters aren't really the best value in the first place, and their aftermarket prices seem to be on the rise, Titan Master Repugnus might actually be worth picking up if you're picking up the Deluxe-class Repugnus.

[Negotiator]

 

[mikeszekely]

Got my Combat Hero Megatron today.

I'm not going to write a full review, because 99% of him is the Siege Megatron we already looked at, just in a different color scheme.  That color scheme is based on 1995's unreleased G2 Combat Hero Megatron, which was an unreleased repaint of '94's Hero Megatron, which itself was basically a smaller, purple version of the original G2 Megatron toy with a new air-pump missile firing gimmick.  Which makes this deco sort of an odd choice.  Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad deco, but I wonder if it wouldn't have appealed to a wider audience if it hadn't been released in purple as regular Hero Megatron or Archforce, or in green as regular G2 Megatron or Megastorm, instead of an homage to a toy that never came out.

The one actual new part on this guy is his head.  Instead of the furrowed brow and deep scowl of regular Siege Megatron's decidedly G1 head, or even the slightly more detailed but basically the same head used on the original unreleased toy, this Megatron is sporting a very Alex Milne Megatron Origin sort of look.  Which begs the further question, why a deco of an unreleased G2 toy instead of doing a deco based on Megatron Origin?

Questions about the choice of deco aside, at the end of the day it's still Siege Megatron.  That means he's got the strengths of the original figure, like a strong Megatron sculpt, good articulation, and a very Megatrony fusion cannon.  He's got some of the same weaknesses, too, like the weird locking ankle pivots, hollow spaces, the lack of a locking point to keep the head from sinking into the chest, and (subjectively) the fact that his other weapon would be much better without the blades.  In fact, while I think that was true for the original version, it's doubly true for this version because Hero Megatron sported a pair of clips on his turret for missile storage.  Those clips were on his arms in robot mode, so the stored missiles almost looked like fusion cannons on both arms, so a cannon on both arms of this Megatron would be appropriate.

One thing this Megatron did improve from the original release, though, is the joint tolerances.  While Siege has definitely been better than previous Hasbro lines in that regard, Siege Megatron was something of a weak spot for me with floppy hips and loose heel spurs.  All that's been fixed on Combat Hero Megatron.  Everything is so nice and tight on this guy that I have half a mind to buy another one, repaint him in G1 colors, and toss my actual Siege Megatron.

Tank modes.  No further comment.

So yeah, I don't know that this deco will appeal to everybody, but if it appeals to you know that my original Siege Megatron review applies, but that the joint tolerances are greatly improved.

[M'Kyuun]

Perhaps the joint issue was endemic enough that Hasbro received complaints. At any rate, good to hear that they're fixing the issue. Gotta say, not at all crazy about the G2 color scheme. For me, that goes for just about everything G2, though- they went Crayola crazy with some of those schemes, and few, if any, that I've ever seen really appealed to me. Anyway, Megatron's tank mode is great until you get to those obvious feet hanging out. It's the only weak point on an otherwise good tank-alt Megatron. I very much like the G1 color scheme of Seige Megs, but it looks like they went overboard on the battle damage, like he's got mud splatter all over him, but the placement on his shins makes little sense in tank mode (if it was mud, but I know it's not).

I'm curious if they're going to do a straight reissue with him if, and when, they start doing Earth alt modes. I could see them changing the cannon to look more realistic, but otherwise, not much really needs to be done. Seige Prime will need a little more work, but the core bot should remain about the same, I'd say. 

That vid of Skyfire up there (I know they're still calling him Jetfire, but we all know what his name really is) is cool, but much too limited. I'd love to see some more transformation stuff going on. I'm glad they didn't copy FT's arm transformation, which is brilliant for how it becomes part of the fuselage, but found their own method of stashing the arms. It's not as efficient, but far and away better than their usual non-solution of just letting them hang off the sides. I've got this guy PO'd from Hasbro's Pulse site, and I can't wait get him. 

[M'Kyuun]

While I was at Wally today, I made the usual sojourn to the normally sparsely populated Transformers section. To my surprise, while they had one SS old Camaro Bee, and one copy of Skytread, they had a couple copies each of Megs and Optimus (they usually have nothing bigger than deluxe, so voyagers are a rare sight indeed). So after some hmming and hawing, I bought Megatron.  Not quite as nice as I thought it would be, but ok. Prime is certainly the better figure, judging from vids. I think Mike's pics up there seduced me to the Dark Side.

I will say that the joints on mine all feel tight; nothing flops when I pick it up and change its orientation. However, his right ankle becomes floppy loose once ankle tilt is used. For those who don't own the figure, the feet are attached to a pivot that has a molded panel which fills the inside leg. When the ankle tilt is engaged, the panel, which is held in place by a small raised nub, snaps into a hollow cavity behind it, providing a fairly ample amount of ankle tilt. Once engaged, the ankles are a little floppy, one worse than the other on my copy. 

I like transforming tanks, so I caved on this guy, although, IMHO, there are better tank figures. 

[mikeszekely]

47 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

they had one SS old Camaro Bee

Which one?  01, the first release?  Or 27, which is basically the same toy, just with some darker gray parts and some painted rust on the car?  And let's not forget that 18 was Volkswagen Bee, and 26 is WWII Bee.  Or that 15, 19, and 20 are special editions of either old Camaro or Volkswagen Bee.  6 out of 47 known SS releases are Bee, but none of them are the new Camaro Bee he used in half of the 07 movie, RotF, and with a few mods in DotM.

[M'Kyuun]

I have no idea; I didn't realize there were two variations of the same mold. I had no interest in it, so I gave it enough attention to see whether it was the VW version or other. I have no interest in the VW version either, TBH, but for some reason which I don't understand, I care enough to check. Anyway, sorry I couldn't be more specific. BTW, your knowledge of the numbers and variations of the Studio Series is a bit daunting. I have a vague awareness of all the characters made thus far, but of the entirety, I only own Dropkick. I'd own Blackout if it wasn't for those terrible hands; funny how a small detail like that can completely derail your interest, but it did.

Concerning Siege Megs, I find myself hoping that he'll receive a whole new mold when it comes time to bring the line to Earth, as I'm thinking they will eventually. It'd be fantastic if they actually gave him a gun mode, but I know that's a forgone conclusion. It's an irony not lost on me. Anyway, if they're dead set on making him a tank, I'd hope they'd make him something akin to an M-1 Abrams instead of the more sci-fi quad tank  he possesses as his Cybertronian alt. I also hope this hypothetical new mold has improved articulation. Just not feeling like I'm getting my $30 worth from Siege Megs.

[mikeszekely]

22 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Just not feeling like I'm getting my $30 worth from Siege Megs.

Well, I know we're only one wave in, but Megatron is possibly the worst of the bunch.

[M'Kyuun]

7 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Well, I know we're only one wave in, but Megatron is possibly the worst of the bunch.

You're not impressed with it, either, I take it. Ah well, it's not the worst figure I've bought over the years. I think with all the positives that have surrounded this line thus far, expectations have been raised. There's definitely a notable improvement since Combiner Wars, which was probably the cheapest looking mainline  I've seen. So, in that respect, Siege Megs is a step up, but it's tank mode is uninspired, and the figure's articulation is pretty much at the minimum standard of current expectation. I could sing its praises if they at least improved him in that aspect to make up for his lackluster alt.  I guess it can only get better from here. Fingers crossed.

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

You're not impressed with it, either, I take it.

Not exactly. As you noted it's still a better Voyager-class figure than anything Hasbro had released in years. It's just that compared to the other Siege figures it has more of the loose joints and hollow spaces that were endemic of the pre-Siege stuff, and he suffered from some questionable design choices like the lack of a locking point for the neck and the goofy gun sword that's necessary  for the alt mode.

Personally, I'd say the highlights are Prime, Sideswipe, and Shockwave (although you have to accept that the latter is really a Voyager with a bunch of accessories and not really a Leader).

[M'Kyuun]

I was running an errand on base yesterday, and it just so happens that the Base Exchange (like a department store on a military base. Fairchild's is rather small, as the size of the BX is determined by any number of factors, but I digress) had all their Transformers on markdown, a rarity. So, after about 15-20 minutes of picking it up and putting it down, I bought Studio Series Blackout for just under $40 (there's no sales tax at the BX, either. As Spokane sales tax is 8.8%, it's a nice savings). Anyway, I've been looking at pics of this thing since it came out, and I generally like the look of the overall sculpt, with exception of the hands, which I think was a common criticism. In hand, seeing all the other joints throughout, it boggles my mind that they didn't put the hands on a mushroom joint so they could both pivot for transformation and then rotate into a proper configuration. Moving on, I wasn't sure what to expect with articulation, but it's a lot more limited than I thought it would be. The thighs are impeded by a single-piece hip skirt, which can be moved out of the way a bit, but it still doesn't allow for much forward leg movement. The rest of the leg, however has a fair bit, especially with its digitigrade design. The knees are a little weak on my copy, however, and this is a pretty decent sized figure, so I'm not sure how its going to do over the long term. The shoulders are limited to fore and aft, like a LEGO minifig, due to its mounting within the pontoons. The small  plate to which the shoulder mounts, is on a hinge for transformation, and allows for an iota of lateral swing. More lateral movement can be achieved by untabbing the larger panel, which moves the arm from helicopter position to robot position. On mine this large panel untabs fine from one side, but the other does not and I was afraid I was going to snap the tabs off (they are sideways 'L' shaped tabs which grab and lock into their relative recesses. Nice for strength, but stress-inducing to get them to relinquish their hold).

Pressing on, I bought this guy primarily because he becomes a CH-53 Pave Low helicopter, an impressive aircraft I had the opportunity to see up close when I worked at Hurlburt Field many moons ago. Moreover, of the Bayverse designs, his was one of the better ones, IMHO. The '07 toy just never quite did the job, so when this was announced, I was all but ready to part with my cash. Then I saw the hands, and for some reason, that just killed my enthusiasm. Anyway, Blackout is in large part a panel-former, which I think can be excused given the shardy nature of Bayformers, and the size of the resulting helicopter. I was pretty impressed with the size of this thing- about 13 inches from the tip of its refueling probe to the upper aft surface of its vertical stab. Little more if you measure rotor overhang, both main and tail. And it looks very good from top and sides. Viewing from the rear, he has a gaping hole where his cargo ramp and door should be, and the entirety of the bottom reveals the robot inside. I wish they could have found a solution for the cargo door, but as the aft side fuselage panels become the soles of his feet, there really is no non-complex way, nor room, to add more substantially decent sized folding panels. It's a concession, much like the bottom of just about every Transformer alt ever made.  One issue that seems endemic to largely panel forming figures is fit, and mine has a couple issues here: the forward halves of the cowling above and directly behind the cockpit on mine do not tab firmly, leaving an omnipresent eighth inch gap, and the large panels to which the arms attach don't flush and tab on either side of the heli mode, which also leaves unsightly gaps. Otherwise, everything else seems to go together pretty smoothly, and the final result is a rather large, fairly accurate, and imposing Pave Low.

My final thought is that SS Blackout makes a better display piece, in either mode, than a playable toy. Short of swooshing, there's little playability to the helicopter mode. The main rotor hub has friction, ostensibly favoring the robot mode, so you can't free spin it. I think some sort of optional locking device would have been favorable here, but c'est la vie. The landing gear are permanently extended, which likely doesn't bother most; I would have preferred retractable gear. Purely subjective. The bot mode certainly has presence due both to his design and size. Posing him in any sort of dynamic pose will take a bit of creativity, and probably some untabbing. Overall, it's still a fairly 'faithful' depiction of '07 Blackout, and despite its flaws, quite literally stands above any previous official incarnation of the character. Somehow, though, I still think the little legends sized Blackout is the more fun toy- it's adorable, and far more posable- a fantastic little Mini-me for his Studio Series big brother.

That's all I've got. If anyone's on the fence, and you're just looking for a nice display piece at an affordable price, this is probably the toy for you. If you're looking for a better overall figure, especially in bot mode, Wei Jiang's Hide Shadow is, IMHO, the superior option. Cheers!

[sh9000]

https://gamestop.com/product/collectibles/toys/transformers-collaborative-ghostbusters-mash-up-ghostbusters-echo-1-ectotron-figure/172040

[mikeszekely]

$50 seems a little steep, since it's based on CW Onslaught/Hot Spot.

[M'Kyuun]

That's what I was thinking, too. It's a panel-forming CW toy, and while it's cool for becoming Ecto-1, not $50 cool.

[sh9000]

If Ectotron eventually gets discounted then I might buy it.

[David Hingtgen]

Slightly OT, but thought people might be interested---this is Sideswipe.  As in, the EXACT invididual unique car that Sideswipe is modeled after.  Have a look and listen:  (it's been in Japan for many years now) 

(actually, Red Alert and Breakdown are this car as well, they just didn't copy the paint job).  (and yes, if the G1 toy had a bigger deco/paint budget, it'd certainly have had black fender flares---the toy is inaccurate, not the 1:1 version) 

[M'Kyuun]

Even after all these years and numerous Lamborghinis later, the Countach is still, from stem to stern, one of the most beautiful cars ever made.

I'll give it to Takara; when they designed the Diaclone line, they definitely had good taste in the cars they chose for alts (well, maybe not Skids, or the vans), but the Lambos, the Fairlady bros, F1 Ligier, Lancia Stratos, etc. were all very eye-catching vehicles. That's one area where Bay did well- the man knows his nice cars; it's just a shame that the bot modes were so horrible.

[David Hingtgen]

Eh, a Solstice for Jazz?  That's more GM's choice than Bay's, I imagine.  Heck, BB/Camaro too...