The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[technoblue]

Siege is such a fun line. I'm in for all the figures in this wave--really happy to see so many Decepticons.

Read the news at tfw the other day, but thanks for posting the pics here @sh9000!

[sh9000]

No problem @technoblue.  

@mikeszekely Apeface looks to be a Headmaster.  I might have to get Snapdragon if he gets released just because I had the G1 version when I was a kid.  I’m sure Hasbro will make it look cool in all 3 modes.

[tekering]

[Dobber]

NICE!! I love forced perspective photo’s

Chris

[mikeszekely]

Finding the new Leader-class Optimus was kind of a happy accident, but I guess it means that the new wave of Siege figures is starting to trickle out.  I have Brunt and Springer on order and in stock but still waiting to ship from Hasbro Pulse, Red Alert and Thundercracker preordered with an arrival date of August 5th,, and a trio of Refraktors preordered at BBTS with a more nebulous date of "July".  And then there's this guy, who arrived today: Commander-class Jetfire.

If I'm being honest, with all of the Siege Leaders being much smaller than previous Leader-class toys (essentially Voyagers with some add-on bits), I was feeling a little cynical about the whole Commander class.  I kind of expected Jetfire would essentially be the old Leader size (plus some add-on bits).  I'm happy to report that's not the case.  Leader Megatron, who I believe is slightly taller than the Combiner Wars Leader-class Jetfire (whom I never bothered with), only comes up to about the badge on Jetfire's chest.  And he absolutely dwarfs the old Classics Voyager-class Jetfire.

Point of fact, you could make a case that he's actually too big, and perhaps should have been closer in size to the older Leader-class.  Voyager-class Siege Optimus comes up to this Jetfire's hip joints.  MP-10/MS-01-TE-01 come up above the waist of Fans Toys' Phoenix, which was supposedly scaled with MP-10 according to Sunbow's chart (and IIRC, Daca Toys' Kronos was a little smaller than Phoenix).  For Siege Jetfire and Siege Optimus to have the same relative scale as MP-10 and Phoenix then Jetfire would either have to be a head shorter (based on his head), or Prime would have to be two (of his own) heads taller.

Given his size, the scarcity (and perhaps price tag) of Phoenix, and the dearth of other alternatives, I've heard some people considering using the inaugural Commander-class as an MP stand-in.  And... maybe that'll work, if you squint.  I mean he is bigger than MP-10 and the various flavors of 3P MP-style Primes, and while Skyfire was always bigger than Prime I think you can find enough examples from episodes to say that he doesn't need to tower over Prime the way Phoenix does.

Jetfire is also pretty much free of the dirt paint that's been used on much of the Siege line, and he's definitely leaning hard into the cartoon aesthetically.  The sides of his chest are longer than Phoenix, which is actually more cartoon accurate.  He's got the red accents on his chest and hip armor, plus the red panels on the outsides of his legs.  His shoulders have the appropriate band-around-an-orb shape, and he's even got the bump outs just below his elbow on the front and back of his forearm.  The main thing working against him is that, like the rest of the Siege line, he's covered in molded greebles.  This makes him a fine aesthetic match with other Siege figures, but compared to the extremely smooth, flat look Takara's been going with I think Siege Jetfire is going to stand out on an MP shelf.

Jetfire does have some neat tricks, though.  Although the instructions don't mention it, the Autobot insignia is molded and painted onto a panel that can flip around to reveal a similarly molded and painted Decepticon symbol, which is the kind of "like that one time in that one episode" think you usually don't see outside of MP figures.  And his hands, while decidedly not very MP-ish, are pinned at the base of the fingers so they can open and close.  The neat thing here, though, is that closing his fingers causes a 5mm ring to slide out from inside his palm.  Opening the fingers causes it to retract.  While I'd prefer fully articulated fingers and the ol' handle-tab-into-palm-slot on an actual MP figure this size, the sliding ring preserves compatibility with other Siege weapons, including Battle Masters, Micromasters, and parts of Weaponizers.

Speaking of weapons, Jetfire comes with quite a few accessories.  You've got a pair of blast effect parts, each one capable of separating into three smaller segments.  You've got a chestplate called the "Skyshield Aerial Armor," which opens to allow storage for the Skyshield Battle Mask.  Then, from left to right, a pair of HP Jetboost Particle Beam Cannons, a pair of HS Photon Missiles, a pair of HS Photon Missile Sky Launchers, and a pair of double-barreled Radiograph Boosters.  Like all the extra parts that came with Shockwave, Jetfire's accessories can be combined into some kind of drone thing.  The handles on the Sky Launchers fold up, which folds out an offset handle on one of them, and they can combine together to make something more like the double-barreled rifle Skyfire had in the cartoon, also.

Jetfire's head is on a hinged swivel that can rotate and look up a fair amount, but nothing really down.  Interestingly, the panel that this neck is on also can tilt backward a bit, increasing Jetfire's ability to look up.  His shoulders rotate on ratchets, and can extend a little over 90 degrees on another set of ratchets.  His biceps swivel just above his elbows, which are also ratcheted.  They're double-jointed, but the second joint is really more for transformation, and he's still limited to a little over 90 degrees of bend.  His wrists swivel, and I've already talked about his hands.  He has a little waist swivel, but due to the shape of his torso, his hip armor, and his backpack he's limited to basically what you see in the above picture.  His hips can go forward or backward a little under 90 degrees on ratchets.  They can also extend laterally 90, but surprisingly that joint is just a friction joint.  His thighs rotate around the hip joints.  His knees are a single joint with a softer ratchet, capable of 90 degrees.  Although they're tabbed into place when you first take him out of the box, he does have up to 90 degrees of ankle pivot.

As I touched upon earlier, his weapons use 5mm pegs (or holes), and the rings in his palms allow Jetfire to hold them or any other weapon with a 5mm peg handle.  Additionally, he's got 5mm peg holes on the outside of each bicep, the outside of each forearm, on the red panels on his lower legs, in the middle of his back back, one on the back of each wing, and one in each heel, plus he's got fold out 5mm pegs on the front of his pelvis and at the hinges in his wings, and a pair of 5mm-long tabs on the sides of his backpack that a weapon with a 5mm peg hole can grip onto.

While Jetfire can hold the combined drone you made out of his accessories, you can split them up and place them on his body using the various holes, pegs, and tabs.  The official placement has the particle beam cannons tabbed onto the backpack, the photon missiles stuck to the faux wing tips using the fold out pegs, and the boosters on his forearms.  The mask, of course, covers his face, and tabs that unfold from his chest allow the armor to latch into place.  I guess the armor and mask are a neat little homage to the G1 toy, but they're really not doing anything for me, especially since the mask doesn't give him the VF-1S's head lasers.  Nor does the chest armor have the same symbol flip gimmick that Jetfire's own chest does.  I could take or leave the particle beam cannons and the missiles (although the missiles need to find a new home).  I dig the boosters, though.  They remind me of the FA-78-1 Full Armor Gundam.

Jetfire's alt mode is a lot like his robot mode.  In some ways, it's very cartoon accurate.  The thrusters are on the backpack, and his folded-up feat are thruster-less.  Like Fans Toys, HasTak elongated the thrusters in jet mode, albeit in a very different way with the rear half of the thrusters folding out of his calves.  He's got the little vertical stabilizers and the secondary cockpit on the backpack.  The actual cockpit is just behind the nose, with intakes on the sides, and, again like Fans Toys, HasTak worked the sides of Jetfire's chest around to the sides of the fuselage.  But once again the cartoon accuracy is marred somewhat by the abundance of Siege greebles.

He's also a little gappy from some angles, fortunately mostly from the bottom.  There is fold-out landing gear with rolling wheels.  Weirdly, there's also the pegs that slide out of his pelvis, and another set that come out of his wrists when you tuck in the hands.  The instructions tell you how they should fold out and be positioned for alt mode, but I'm really not sure why.  They serve no purpose that I can discern, nor do the instructions give one.

The main canopy does have a hinge and can open to reveal some details inside, although you have to fold down the nose to open the canopy.  The one on the backpack doesn't open.  For accessory storage in alt mode, the instructions basically have you build the drone and plug it on top of Jetfire's backpack.  Again, I'm not really loving it.

Fortunately, you have access to the backpack tabs, the peg hole on the backpack, the holes on the sides of his legs, the ones under the wings, plus the fold out pegs (which are now under the wings), and that gives you plenty of alternatives.  The pegs and holes under the wings in particular are a pretty natural place to stick weapons that look like missiles.  Unfortunately, the only way the chest armor stores in the jet mode is, at minimum, on the combined rifle and stuck on the backpack.  Oh well, looks like the chest and mask are going back into the box.

Oh, and a friendly reminder... those blast effect parts don't just make for cool muzzle flashes and less cool weapon hits.  In Jetfire's case, you can (and should) make sure the blast effects are fully assembled, then stick then into his thrusters for maximum "swooshing".

Jetfire's definitely a really cool figure with a lot to like, but he's got a few quirks.  And I do think he's a little too large for proper scaling with the other Siege figures, which is extra disappointing, because my other beef with this figure is the price.  Although not usually as big, $80 can buy you figures (usually MP-style) with higher quality, better materials, and stronger joints.  I like Jetfire, but I'm struggling to say that he's worth $80.  If HasTak would have made him closer to the previous Leader-class version in size and ditched most of the extra accessories then offered him for $50-$60 I'd say he's a must-buy toy.  If you can get past the sticker shock, though, Jetfire's a really fun toy that does a great job of actually looking like Skyfire in the cartoon.

[JB0]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

The main thing working against him is that, like the rest of the Siege line, he's covered in molded greebles.  This makes him a fine aesthetic match with other Siege figures, but compared to the extremely smooth, flat look Takara's been going with I think Siege Jetfire is going to stand out on an MP shelf.

When your children's toy line has more detail than your adult collectors' toy line, it is time to rethink your approach.

(I think Siege goes overboard on the "teched-up" look in places, but the current MPs are just... ugh.)

[mark-1s]

8 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Finding the new Leader-class Optimus was kind of a happy accident, but I guess it means that the new wave of Siege figures is starting to trickle out.  I have Brunt and Springer on order and in stock but still waiting to ship from Hasbro Pulse, Red Alert and Thundercracker preordered with an arrival date of August 5th,, and a trio of Refraktors preordered at BBTS with a more nebulous date of "July".  And then there's this guy, who arrived today: Commander-class Jetfire.

If I'm being honest, with all of the Siege Leaders being much smaller than previous Leader-class toys (essentially Voyagers with some add-on bits), I was feeling a little cynical about the whole Commander class.  I kind of expected Jetfire would essentially be the old Leader size (plus some add-on bits).  I'm happy to report that's not the case.  Leader Megatron, who I believe is slightly taller than the Combiner Wars Leader-class Jetfire (whom I never bothered with), only comes up to about the badge on Jetfire's chest.  And he absolutely dwarfs the old Classics Voyager-class Jetfire.

Point of fact, you could make a case that he's actually too big, and perhaps should have been closer in size to the older Leader-class.  Voyager-class Siege Optimus comes up to this Jetfire's hip joints.  MP-10/MS-01-TE-01 come up above the waist of Fans Toys' Phoenix, which was supposedly scaled with MP-10 according to Sunbow's chart (and IIRC, Daca Toys' Kronos was a little smaller than Phoenix).  For Siege Jetfire and Siege Optimus to have the same relative scale as MP-10 and Phoenix then Jetfire would either have to be a head shorter (based on his head), or Prime would have to be two (of his own) heads taller.

Given his size, the scarcity (and perhaps price tag) of Phoenix, and the dearth of other alternatives, I've heard some people considering using the inaugural Commander-class as an MP stand-in.  And... maybe that'll work, if you squint.  I mean he is bigger than MP-10 and the various flavors of 3P MP-style Primes, and while Skyfire was always bigger than Prime I think you can find enough examples from episodes to say that he doesn't need to tower over Prime the way Phoenix does.

Jetfire is also pretty much free of the dirt paint that's been used on much of the Siege line, and he's definitely leaning hard into the cartoon aesthetically.  The sides of his chest are longer than Phoenix, which is actually more cartoon accurate.  He's got the red accents on his chest and hip armor, plus the red panels on the outsides of his legs.  His shoulders have the appropriate band-around-an-orb shape, and he's even got the bump outs just below his elbow on the front and back of his forearm.  The main thing working against him is that, like the rest of the Siege line, he's covered in molded greebles.  This makes him a fine aesthetic match with other Siege figures, but compared to the extremely smooth, flat look Takara's been going with I think Siege Jetfire is going to stand out on an MP shelf.

Jetfire does have some neat tricks, though.  Although the instructions don't mention it, the Autobot insignia is molded and painted onto a panel that can flip around to reveal a similarly molded and painted Decepticon symbol, which is the kind of "like that one time in that one episode" think you usually don't see outside of MP figures.  And his hands, while decidedly not very MP-ish, are pinned at the base of the fingers so they can open and close.  The neat thing here, though, is that closing his fingers causes a 5mm ring to slide out from inside his palm.  Opening the fingers causes it to retract.  While I'd prefer fully articulated fingers and the ol' handle-tab-into-palm-slot on an actual MP figure this size, the sliding ring preserves compatibility with other Siege weapons, including Battle Masters, Micromasters, and parts of Weaponizers.

Speaking of weapons, Jetfire comes with quite a few accessories.  You've got a pair of blast effect parts, each one capable of separating into three smaller segments.  You've got a chestplate called the "Skyshield Aerial Armor," which opens to allow storage for the Skyshield Battle Mask.  Then, from left to right, a pair of HP Jetboost Particle Beam Cannons, a pair of HS Photon Missiles, a pair of HS Photon Missile Sky Launchers, and a pair of double-barreled Radiograph Boosters.  Like all the extra parts that came with Shockwave, Jetfire's accessories can be combined into some kind of drone thing.  The handles on the Sky Launchers fold up, which folds out an offset handle on one of them, and they can combine together to make something more like the double-barreled rifle Skyfire had in the cartoon, also.

Jetfire's head is on a hinged swivel that can rotate and look up a fair amount, but nothing really down.  Interestingly, the panel that this neck is on also can tilt backward a bit, increasing Jetfire's ability to look up.  His shoulders rotate on ratchets, and can extend a little over 90 degrees on another set of ratchets.  His biceps swivel just above his elbows, which are also ratcheted.  They're double-jointed, but the second joint is really more for transformation, and he's still limited to a little over 90 degrees of bend.  His wrists swivel, and I've already talked about his hands.  He has a little waist swivel, but due to the shape of his torso, his hip armor, and his backpack he's limited to basically what you see in the above picture.  His hips can go forward or backward a little under 90 degrees on ratchets.  They can also extend laterally 90, but surprisingly that joint is just a friction joint.  His thighs rotate around the hip joints.  His knees are a single joint with a softer ratchet, capable of 90 degrees.  Although they're tabbed into place when you first take him out of the box, he does have up to 90 degrees of ankle pivot.

As I touched upon earlier, his weapons use 5mm pegs (or holes), and the rings in his palms allow Jetfire to hold them or any other weapon with a 5mm peg handle.  Additionally, he's got 5mm peg holes on the outside of each bicep, the outside of each forearm, on the red panels on his lower legs, in the middle of his back back, one on the back of each wing, and one in each heel, plus he's got fold out 5mm pegs on the front of his pelvis and at the hinges in his wings, and a pair of 5mm-long tabs on the sides of his backpack that a weapon with a 5mm peg hole can grip onto.

While Jetfire can hold the combined drone you made out of his accessories, you can split them up and place them on his body using the various holes, pegs, and tabs.  The official placement has the particle beam cannons tabbed onto the backpack, the photon missiles stuck to the faux wing tips using the fold out pegs, and the boosters on his forearms.  The mask, of course, covers his face, and tabs that unfold from his chest allow the armor to latch into place.  I guess the armor and mask are a neat little homage to the G1 toy, but they're really not doing anything for me, especially since the mask doesn't give him the VF-1S's head lasers.  Nor does the chest armor have the same symbol flip gimmick that Jetfire's own chest does.  I could take or leave the particle beam cannons and the missiles (although the missiles need to find a new home).  I dig the boosters, though.  They remind me of the FA-78-1 Full Armor Gundam.

Jetfire's alt mode is a lot like his robot mode.  In some ways, it's very cartoon accurate.  The thrusters are on the backpack, and his folded-up feat are thruster-less.  Like Fans Toys, HasTak elongated the thrusters in jet mode, albeit in a very different way with the rear half of the thrusters folding out of his calves.  He's got the little vertical stabilizers and the secondary cockpit on the backpack.  The actual cockpit is just behind the nose, with intakes on the sides, and, again like Fans Toys, HasTak worked the sides of Jetfire's chest around to the sides of the fuselage.  But once again the cartoon accuracy is marred somewhat by the abundance of Siege greebles.

He's also a little gappy from some angles, fortunately mostly from the bottom.  There is fold-out landing gear with rolling wheels.  Weirdly, there's also the pegs that slide out of his pelvis, and another set that come out of his wrists when you tuck in the hands.  The instructions tell you how they should fold out and be positioned for alt mode, but I'm really not sure why.  They serve no purpose that I can discern, nor do the instructions give one.

The main canopy does have a hinge and can open to reveal some details inside, although you have to fold down the nose to open the canopy.  The one on the backpack doesn't open.  For accessory storage in alt mode, the instructions basically have you build the drone and plug it on top of Jetfire's backpack.  Again, I'm not really loving it.

Fortunately, you have access to the backpack tabs, the peg hole on the backpack, the holes on the sides of his legs, the ones under the wings, plus the fold out pegs (which are now under the wings), and that gives you plenty of alternatives.  The pegs and holes under the wings in particular are a pretty natural place to stick weapons that look like missiles.  Unfortunately, the only way the chest armor stores in the jet mode is, at minimum, on the combined rifle and stuck on the backpack.  Oh well, looks like the chest and mask are going back into the box.

Oh, and a friendly reminder... those blast effect parts don't just make for cool muzzle flashes and less cool weapon hits.  In Jetfire's case, you can (and should) make sure the blast effects are fully assembled, then stick then into his thrusters for maximum "swooshing".

Jetfire's definitely a really cool figure with a lot to like, but he's got a few quirks.  And I do think he's a little too large for proper scaling with the other Siege figures, which is extra disappointing, because my other beef with this figure is the price.  Although not usually as big, $80 can buy you figures (usually MP-style) with higher quality, better materials, and stronger joints.  I like Jetfire, but I'm struggling to say that he's worth $80.  If HasTak would have made him closer to the previous Leader-class version in size and ditched most of the extra accessories then offered him for $50-$60 I'd say he's a must-buy toy.  If you can get past the sticker shock, though, Jetfire's a really fun toy that does a great job of actually looking like Skyfire in the cartoon.

Those little red pegs are for "playability" if I'm not mistaken. There was a video (which I can no longer find) that shows them being used. Basically you can swoosh around Jetfire in plane mode with a couple of Autobots holding onto the pegs like they are about to attack some Decepticons from above.    

[technoblue]

1 hour ago, mark-1s said:

Those little red pegs are for "playability" if I'm not mistaken. There was a video (which I can no longer find) that shows them being used. Basically you can swoosh around Jetfire in plane mode with a couple of Autobots holding onto the pegs like they are about to attack some Decepticons from above.    

Yep! Hasbro showed off many of Jetfire’s play features during their Toyfair presentation earlier this year. You can see Cog attached to one of the “troop deployment” pegs in the video below.

 

[M'Kyuun]

Beat me to it, Technoblue, but yeah, those pegs allow you to carry up to four figs hanging on to the underside. I guess it's an ok play gimmick- it shows some imagination on Hasbro's part. Personally, I think it would have been cool to open his backpack flight deck and put stuff, or even legends class figs, in there. As for the chest armor, it would have served the figure better if it could tack on the belly of the plane to cover that whole mess. Though I complain, I'm actually quite pleased to see a fully realized Skyfire after some thirty years of variations that ranged from way off to vaguely similar. I was really surprised by CW Jetfire, and fully believed that was the closest we'd ever get to a Skyfire fig, even with the alt mode concession. It's a really nice figure in its own right, but still, not quite there. The Siege figure is what I, and I'm sure many other G1 fans who remember Skyfire fondly, have been waiting for all these years. My copy's in the mail as I type this, and it should reach me next Tuesday, along with Siege Springer, so I'm very much looking forward to having these guys in hand. The challenge before me then is where to display them, as my CHUG shelves are nearly to capacity. The never ending plight of collectors everywhere- so many toys, so little space.

As for the greebliness- I don't mind it at all, and I completely agree with the sentiment that something's obviously amiss when retail toys are more detailed at lower price points than collector grade toys. I much prefer the Hasui approach, but that, unfortunately, is mere history.

Concerning forthcoming releases, I'm looking forward to Siege Astrotrain, as I found the TR version to be more akin to, ahem, a trainwreck. It was straight up nasty, a perfect example of how Cybertronian alt modes can go so far off the rails as to be nigh unrecognizable as what they're intended to be. Siege is a mixed bag in that sense, as these guys are all supposed to be on Cybertron in this timeline, and yet there's a strange dichotomy in the alt modes, with some hitting close to the G1 earth alt, and some obviously Cybertronian. For my money, I'm happy with the strong similarities to earth modes, as it makes them relatable both as vehicles and as the characters. That said, I'm pleased to see Astrotrain, finally, taking many a cue from the G1 toy, even if the G1 toy was actually smoother in both of his alts with less gaps. One would think, after 30 years of design, that these things would be improving so far as blending hinges and eliminating gaps in alt modes, but such is disappointingly not the case. I'd love to jump ahead 50 years and see if there's any kind of design evolution, that is if the franchise is even still going at that point (I hope it is). Digression aside, I'm happy to see Apeface making an appearance, although I wish they'd made his jet mode closer to the original, with the close v-stabs, and the magenta nose tip rather than the entire forward fuselage. I hope Snapdragon isn't far behind, as I always found, and still find, his G1 toy to be really nice looking across all three modes, and, having never owned that toy, I'd be really happy with a faithful update.  I have no recollection of Spinister, but comparing the original to the Siege update (Thanks Bing), the thing that strikes me most is how both legs are a complete cockpit on the update, whereas the forward fuselage would have split down the center to form the calf sections, if they indeed could split on the original. Anyway, that observation portends an interesting transformation if one can overcome the multi-pastel color scheme. I'll take my chances. Finally, Crosshairs. So they repurposed the Ironhide mold for this character with no alterations to make his alt mode look more like the G1 toy, which looked more like an odd dune buggy than a van. I think if they'd remolded the bumper piece to give him the two bumper protrusions, along with larger tires, it would have given him more distinction and recognizability. As it is, I'll likely pass. 

Just got notification that my triad of Refraktor figs have shipped from Hasbro Pulse. From what I've read, Pulse only made them available to order on Monday the first, and one could only order two copies. I ordered mine yesterday, and the allowable number was three, so I was happy to just get all three without the hassle of trying to find them in the wild, which, as anyone who still shops retail for their toys knows, is a dicey proposition at best. Transformers are one of the least stocked toy lines at my local Walmart, with the pegs empty about 90 percent of the times I go there. So far, I've ordered a number of figs through Pulse, and they seem to be keeping it better maintained than the old Hasbro online shop. It's a positive trend, and I hope they keep it going, as it's rapidly becoming my go-to for retail TFs.

[mikeszekely]

I have mixed feelings regarding Jetfire's handholds, then. I guess it is kind of a neat play gimmick, and it really doesn't affect his pelvis as you can simply ignore them. I'd have happily ditched the ones in his forearms for a more traditional and secure wrist, though.

12 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Just got notification that my triad of Refraktor figs have shipped from Hasbro Pulse. From what I've read, Pulse only made them available to order on Monday the first, and one could only order two copies. I ordered mine yesterday, and the allowable number was three, so I was happy to just get all three without the hassle of trying to find them in the wild, which, as anyone who still shops retail for their toys knows, is a dicey proposition at best. 

Interesting. See, I'd checked earlier with Pulse when the limit was two, but when I looked yesterday they were sold out, otherwise I'd have bought them there instead of BBTS. Oh well, at least I have Brunt and Springer on the way.

[technoblue]

Mm. I like how HasbroPulse still uses boxes for shipping and adds those little air packet thingamajigs to protect the items inside during delivery.

Amazon US doesn't do much of that anymore, even if I'm lucky enough to get a shipping box to protect my items. I've had a lot of single items shipped using bubble mailers only. No damaged toys yet--thank goodness--but some dented retail boxes here and there.

In other news, yesterday Amazon said they delivered my copy of Brunt; however, what I found in the bubble mailer was Refraktor.  Between that mix up and my HasbroPulse order I ended up having four of the camera guys sitting at my doorstep but no Brunt. Oh well, at lease I can see the humor in it. 

Jetfire and Springer arrived today too. I don't have too much to say at the moment, but I'm glad I have a long weekend ahead of me to take a closer look and mess around with them. In the box, Springer is quite impressive with his color and G1 style. The whole presentation has me excited for Astrotrain and Apeface.

[Lexomatic]

One feature of Siege Jetfire I can't figure from pictures I've seen: There seem to be a pair of doors on the "underside" of the red backpack, behind his head, with helical springs. What's their purpose?

[mikeszekely]

Just now, Lexomatic said:

One feature of Siege Jetfire I can't figure from pictures I've seen: There seem to be a pair of doors on the "underside" of the red backpack, behind his head, with helical springs. What's their purpose?

When you transform him to jet mode his head goes in there.

[mikeszekely]

Possibly most-anticipated Siege figure after Jetfire and Omega Supreme, here we've got Voyager-class Springer.

As good as the previous Generations figure was (and as much as I love Nick Roche's art), this new Siege figure aims at being a much more cartoon-accurate toy.  And yeah, it's unmistakably cartoon Springer.  It's not as accurate as Jetfire, though.  I'll ignore the smooth, less detailed yellow rectangle on his too-narrow waist, and the visible transformation hinges running up his sides.  I'll even ignore the dirt paint, which is seriously overdone on his shoulders and chest.  My real aesthetic complaints come down the the shoulder pads, with their very visible tires and the fact that they can't be rotated to wrap around the shoulders instead of sitting over them, and the fact that his arms are basically the same shade of green all the way down.  At the least, his entire forearms should be the same color as the panels on the outside of his forearms, and his hands should match his thighs and face.  

And yes, he's shorter than Generations Springer.  But I think Generations Springer was a tall Voyager, and Siege Springer's height is fine.

Springer comes with quite a few accessories.  He's got two (badly warped) swords, two guns, and a... spinny thing.  I guess it's pretty obvious that the swords and spinny thing combine to make the rotor for the helicopter mode, but I'm a little puzzled why they didn't go for the much neater rotor that transforms into a single sword like the Generations version, or the G1 version.  Regardless, they're not all that's combining.  The guns can combine to form a larger rifle, and the swords and spinny thing can be attached to the rifle to form a super weapon.  That spins.

Springer's head is on a ball joint, but with only a little up/down tilt and even less sideways tilt.  His shoulders rotate, and they extend laterally a little under 90 degrees due to his shoulder pads getting in the way.  His biceps and wrists swivel, and his elbows bend a bit over 90 degrees.  His waist can swivel.  His hips can go forward and backward a little over 90 degrees, and 90 degrees to the side.  His thighs can swivel.  His knees bend over 90 degrees.  He's got over 90 degrees of ankle pivot, and his feet can tilt downward a little and up until his toes reach his shins.  Those up/down hinges are a little on the loose side, and they're supporting the entire weight of the figure, making him a little prone to tipping backward.

He of course holds his weapons fine, but if putting them in his hands isn't your thing (or, y'know, because he's got so many) there are also 5mm peg holes on the outsides of his forearms, on the outside of is lower legs near his knees, on top of each shoulder pad, under each foot, and three of them on his back.  Additionally, there are tabs on the sides of his backpack that the swords can grip onto.  All of his accessories, including the spinny thing, can be stored just on his backpack.

Springer's helicopter mode, much like his robot mode, is mostly on-point, but with a few things worth pointing out.  The landing skids are green instead of yellow, and he's missing the intakes and the horizontal stabilizers on the tail.  I'll give the visible wheels a pass, but there's kind of a gap under the nose that his shoulder pads aren't totally covering.  It's still the best helicopter mode for a Springer toy smaller than MP-scale, though.

The spinny thing and swords form the rotor, as previously mentioned, and it spins.  The instructions suggest plugging the guns into the holes above the landing skids.  You also have one on either side of the cockpit, and (excluding the one the rotor is plugged into) two on the top.  Technically the spinny thing itself has a hole on the top and a pair of pegs, and the tabs on the sides of the backpack are still accessible if you can find something else that fits on them.  Oh, and there's a largish peg hole underneath that's probably meant to work with some kind of flight stand.

Springer's car mode has never been great, but I think that Siege Springer pulls it off better than most.  It's solid, mostly cohesive, and compacts into something that is both fairly cartoon accurate and passable as a land vehicle of some Cybertronian variety.  I think it even holds up compared to some of the MP options.  It's not as gappy as Open & Play's, not as elongated (and stupid-looking) as Fans Toys', and while I'd concede that MMC's looks better, it's less cartoon accurate.  I dare say that I like Siege Springer's car mode better than his helicopter mode.

The instructions indicate that you should make the super combined weapon I talked about back with the accessories, then plug it into the top.  Aside from looking kind of goofy the whole thing spins too freely, a side effect of using the core of the rotor for the base.  For a more secure fit you could take the super weapon apart and tab the swords onto the backpack, then use the peg holes behind each of the four tires, above the front tires, or the trio on the top for plugging in the guns.  And, I guess, the spinny thing, because what else are you going to do with it?

Springer is one of the best figures in the Siege line so far.  I'd say he's hands-down better than Generations Springer, which was already highly-regarded.  He's another one of those figures that makes me think that if HasTak had been putting this much care into their designs years ago that I might never have bothered with third-party Transformers or the Masterpiece line.  Most of his issues are minor aesthetic issues.  I'd have preferred a transforming sword rotor to the dual-sword-spinny-thing combo, but a 5mm peg is a 5mm peg and I can always repurpose the sword/rotor from the older Generations toy.  The only thing that's really holding me back from liking him more is the looseness of his feet joints, and that may even be a "your mileage may vary" sort of thing, since even on my copy one is looser than the other.  He's a definite recommend from me.

[M'Kyuun]

Nice review, Mike. This is definitely the best effort Has/Tak have made towards producing a G1 faithful Springer since the original toy, which I still have. Mine should be arriving on Tuesday, along with Jetfire, so I'm looking forward to finally having two of the most anticipated and long-awaited figures since the 80s.

Looking at those side by sides, I'm once again reminded of how well Nick Roche reimagined Springer, and also by how well the subsequent toy turned out. IMHO, it's still one the best, if not the best, triple changer ever produced, and I feel both of the alt modes are far better than the original's. In the 80's, I was obsessed with helicopters, which made Springer desirable. I never thought much of his car mode, but I liked his heli mode, and I liked the character as portrayed in the movie. The G1 toy was pretty lackluster compared to the animation model, which makes this Siege figure, not to mention third party MP figs, pretty amazing for their accuracy(MMC's Saltus is also on its way to me). I'm surprised it took this long to get a toon faithful version, but since Generations has taken a far more G1 faithful design direction, I suppose it was inevitable, and quite frankly, I'm pleased about it. If Siege follows suit and becomes a trilogy of toy lines, then I'm expecting a lot more G1 stuff to come, and hopefully the last third will all be G1 earth mode stuff, so we get Soundwave as a cassette recorder (hopefully with mini-cassettes at their real size once again- can't understand why they shrunk em). I'd so love to have Megs as a pistol in this line, but with our ridiculous gun laws, it'll likely not happen. This is one of those rare instances where I wish Takara was still producing TF figs separately for the Japanese market. Anyway, although it took 30 years to get to this point, I'm glad they finally came around to giving us updated versions of the old toys in the retail mainline. MP is great, and I enjoy it, but it's nice to have these characters in a more playable form, where you're not working out intricate transformations for an hour, and watching YouTube reviews to try and figure out something you missed or just for precautions to be wary of when you get your expensive collector's toy. I think what they're doing now is what we were hoping for a decade ago when the Classics filler line was rolled out. I think its popularity surprised has/Tak, but I'm glad they decided to keep it going through all the CHUG iterations, as it feels like we're finally coming full circle with G1. I hope they make every damn thing they can for G1 and when they've pretty much exhausted the pantheon, I hope they do something completely new and unique like Animated, only moreso. I'd be happy to see a show built around an entirely new cast of characters- no Prime, no Bumblebee, no Megatron- a completely stand-alone story within the TF Universe but with all new characters, perhaps in a different timeline, and maybe on another planet- say Mars, perhaps 150 years after we've colonized it. I just think they need to give the franchise a fresh look with new faces after they're done with all the G1 love. 

[mikeszekely]

13 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I'm once again reminded of how well Nick Roche reimagined Springer, and also by how well the subsequent toy turned out. IMHO, it's still one the best, if not the best, triple changer ever produced, and I feel both of the alt modes are far better than the original's.

I was pretty impressed with it at the time, but not so much now.  I mean, you could make the argument that the reimagined alt modes are still better than the G1 cartoon's, but the new Siege figure's execution is better.  It just feels more solid, while little stuff bugs me on the older figure.  Stuff like how the butt flap never seems to sit flush on either alt mode, how both alt modes kind of feel like they want to pop apart, and especially how the arms just kind of curl around for the helicopter and leave noticeable gaps.

13 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

(MMC's Saltus is also on its way to me)

Let me know how you like it.  I thought about picking it up... it has, I think, the best car mode (even if it's not entirely cartoon accurate) and a good robot mode, but there's something about the helicopter that just doesn't look right to me.   I think it's the tail boom.  It looks kind of thin, and in my mind the bottom of the boom should extend from the belly, like an Apache, rather than the top of the boom extending from the spine like a Bell 206.  I still have Open & Play's Big Spring, and I think that's good enough for me to wait and see how X-Transbots' Virtus turns out.

[mikeszekely]

For most people this figure probably isn't as anticipated as Jetfire, Springer, or even Refraktor... but as someone who owned the G1 Trypticon as a kid and regarded it as one of his absolute favorite toys I was pretty excited to get my hands on something that was missing from the newer Titan Class Trypticon.  That something, of course, being Brunt.

Brunt has a robot mode, so... I guess that's not G1 accurate.  Of course, I don't mind that they gave him one (maybe do Slammer, too, so we can complete Metroplex).  My first thought was, with the claw hands, the mouth cover, and the cannon on his back, was that Brunt's robot mode might be an homage to Beast Machines Tankor.  After doing a little digging, though, Brunt's robot mode is actually based on Don Figueroa's designs for the Centurion droids in IDW's Stormbringer series.  And, colors aside, it's honestly pretty accurate, too, so who knows?  Maybe we'll get a repaint.  All I know is that I think Brunt looks pretty cool.  Unlike Cog and Sixgun it's not immediately apparent that he's a guy made of weapons.

Although I have it mounted on his back, which is what the instructions show, that cannon is actually just pegged on.  I'd count that as his accessory, then, since the other Weaponizers had guns.  The metallic orange tip is removable, revealing a 5mm peg hole on the gray part.

Brunt's head is on a swivel, so there's no tilt.  His shoulders can rotate and extend 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend a little under 90 degrees.  He doesn't have wrists to swivel, but his claws can open and close.  His waist can swivel.  His hips can go over 90 degrees forward and slightly over 90 to the side, but a little less than 90 backwards due to his backpack.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  His feet don't tilt up or down, but they do have 90 degrees of pivot.

Brunt's claws can't really hold anything.  But he's got two 5mm peg holes on his backpack, one near his elbow on each forearm, one on the front of each thigh, one on each calf, one on the outside of each leg near his ankle, and one under his right foot.  Additionally, he's got 5mm pegs under his left foot, on his right calf, in his belly, and on the insides of his forearms.

Considering that the G1 toy didn't transform and that this Brunt started with a robot that wasn't necessarily designed to turn into anything resembling G1 Brunt, I gotta hand it to HasTak and say that they've managed to take that robot and turn it into something that looks an awful lot like G1 Brunt.  Everything is quite a bit more textured than the smooth surfaces of the g1 toy, partly because that's the Siege aesthetic and partly because the main gun is made of legs.  With the orange tip and the lip under it I can kind of forgive the robot toes jutting out from the middle of the cannon.  His Cylon-esque head is even sort of evocative of the molded bump of a hatch on the G1 toy.  Really, I think my biggest complaint with the alt mode is that there's too much of that silver gray plastic and not enough purple, although I'm sure others will complain that his transformation is less transforming and more pulling him apart and putting him back together in a different configuration.

Brunt's got rolling wheels.  Plus, his cannon can turn a full 360 degrees as well as swivel from straight ahead up to about 60 degrees.  It's not a big deal, but be advised that Brunt's ankles do not lock into place, so there are two big friction hinges in the middle of the cannon.

With the orange tip forming the end of the cannon you'll have the gray part of his weapon left over.  His instruction suggest placing it into a 5mm peg hole on the right side of the cannon, wear the base.  There's also a peg hole on the other side, closer to the front, and on top of the cannon near the tip.  Technically there's one on the back of the cannon, too, but anything you put in there will hamper your ability to aim the cannon upward.  In addition the cannon, there's a pair of peg holes near the back of the cannon and one on each side of the front treads.

Of course, being a Weaponizer means that Brunt's not just a Deluxe-class, he's a Deluxe-class that comes apart to make accessories for other Siege toys.  Despite the lack of obvious gun-limbs that Cog and Sixgun have you can make some pretty cool guns just with Brunt's lower legs or by combining his torso (of all things) and his gun.

Of course, the instructions have their sort of "default" configurations, and one of them includes using parts as shoes again.  That mode, which uses the arms instead of the legs, is called the Demolition Loadout.  It also has the torso gun mounted on an arm, the backpack as a kind of shield, and the hips and thighs form a kind of backpack for turning the combined leg gun into a shoulder cannon.  The other configuration is the Serpentine Loadout.  Brunt's backpack is still a shield (I guess there's not much else you can do with it), and Brunt's weapon is passed along.  The rest of Brunt forms a pretty cool backpack with big grabby claws.

I know there are more popular characters in the line than a non-transforming pack-in, but I really like Brunt.  He's one of my favorite figures in the Siege line so far.  I like this toy enough that I actually do hope HasTak does the Centurion repaint, because I'd buy it in a heartbeat.  Highly recommended.

[M'Kyuun]

Of all the weaponizer figures in Siege, this is the only one that remotely interests me, as the execution of the bot mode is pretty well done. I'm not really a fan of partsforming, but given the nature of the figure, I can forgive it here. Kudos to Has/Tak for Taking what was an originally non-transforming character and giving him a decent bot mode. As for the weaponizing bit, it looks cheesy to me, so if I end up getting him, it'll be bot or vehicle modes only.

18 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I was pretty impressed with it at the time, but not so much now.  I mean, you could make the argument that the reimagined alt modes are still better than the G1 cartoon's, but the new Siege figure's execution is better.  It just feels more solid, while little stuff bugs me on the older figure.  Stuff like how the butt flap never seems to sit flush on either alt mode, how both alt modes kind of feel like they want to pop apart, and especially how the arms just kind of curl around for the helicopter and leave noticeable gaps.

I don't really handle my figures a great deal, and so, unless they're floppy out of the package, mine generally retain tight joints over a longer period. That said, it's been a while since I took Gen Springer down, but I likely will on Tuesday for the inevitable in-person comparison. However, just from a design perspective, I like what Mr. Roche did- aesthetically, the alt modes certainly look better to me than do the original's, especially the car mode, which I think most of us agree was G1 Springer's weakest mode, almost like an afterthought. Siege Springer has the advantage of time, translating to, I hope, improvements in materials and design. Moreover, it benefits from Has/Tak's recent move towards incorporating more articulation, to make them closer to true action figures, which pleases me greatly. Even as a kid, I held a rather low opinion of my TF toys due to their brick-like nature. When ball jointed figs started appearing in the 90's, I rejoiced.

18 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Let me know how you like it.  I thought about picking it up... it has, I think, the best car mode (even if it's not entirely cartoon accurate) and a good robot mode, but there's something about the helicopter that just doesn't look right to me.   I think it's the tail boom.  It looks kind of thin, and in my mind the bottom of the boom should extend from the belly, like an Apache, rather than the top of the boom extending from the spine like a Bell 206.  I still have Open & Play's Big Spring, and I think that's good enough for me to wait and see how X-Transbots' Virtus turns out.

Will do.  I've had my eye on MMC's take for some time, as I love what they did with the car mode relative to the canon design. It just makes the car look beefier and more realistic to me. It looks, for lack of a better word, proper. I think I prefer the elevated tail boom, even if it, too, is non-canon. The tail transformation is one of those stand-out designs that make me appreciate MMC's design work, and just Transformers on the whole. Moreover, I've developed a positive bias towards MMC's stuff, as the majority of my third party TFs are MMC designs. I think they do a good job, and they generally strike a good balance between aesthetics, articulation, and transformation mechanics. They make, for the most part, fun Transformers.  But, options are nice, and mileage varies over a wide range of preferences in this hobby, so in that vein, I'll throw a bone to XTB for their Virtus. From the promos I've seen, if you're a fan of the G1 design, I think they've done a great job across the board aesthetically. How it handles from a materials and mechanical state remains to be seen. I hope it turns out well.

Edited July 7, 2019 by M'Kyuun

[M'Kyuun]

Got my Jetfire and Springer in today. Both pretty solid figs. Only one of my swords with Springer is slightly curved, so that's, strangely, good. I found that if you mount his superweapon (everything combined) at the forward handgrip, it tends to remain a little more stable than if using the aft. Still, it's clunky, and I hope Has/Tak and 3P move towards weapon integration as the design philosophy continues to evolve. Even after watching vids and reading reviews, I still had to stop and check the box photos a few times to make sure I was getting things where they needed to go. It's not a hard transformation per se, but going into it without instructions, as I usually do, posed a little challenging to get things properly oriented going from car to heli. Besides his poor weapon storage, the only other nitpick I have is that I wish his back tires flipped 180 with some sort of a hub design to imply an internal rotor. The car wheels just don't look right to me. But, overall, it's a really good take on G1 Springer, and I'm glad they finally made him.

On Jetfire, the chest bits don't want to tab in at the sides very well- kinda tight tolerance and the plastic bits with the tabs is pretty bendy- something to watch for. Also, the arms have to be positioned just so for the pegs on his back to line up with the corresponding holes in his arms in jet mode. Those issues aside, I found the transformation to be pretty easy and satisfying. He is a bit gappy, allowing part of his face, unless you rotate the head 180, and a bit of his shoulders to peek through in jet mode, but I'm not complaining. We've waited for this figure for a long time, and for its few minor flaws, it does so much right. I would have been over the moon for this thing in the 80's , and at 48, I'm still rather quite tickled with it. The inclusion of the armor, all the weapons, and the flame effects are sweet frosting on an already delicious cake. 

It's a good week for Transformers; yesterday I got Jetfire and Springer, and today my three copies of Refraktor arrived from Pulse. I can't overstate how happy I am with Hasbro's new online service, as they tend to keep product in stock, and I like being able to purchase from the manufacturer without all the price markups of other e-tailers. On to the figs- all three have pretty tight joints throughout, have good paint apps on both figs and accessories, and the overall sculpt is unmistakable as one of the G1 Reflector bots. Personally, I find the 'spaceship' mode they created for the individual bots to be rather meh, and so I wasted no time going straight into camera mode. One caveat; there are no instructions for camera mode, despite the fact that most G1 fans who collect this line are going to buy three of this fig to form the camera. It's a puzzling omission, although it's not too difficult to figure out on your own, and there are any number of video reviews that show how it's done as well. The camera mode is decent, and does a good job of hiding blatant robot parts, unlike the G1 toy, whose arms and faces could be clearly seen from behind. Refraktor's transformation hides the arms within the legs, making for a much cleaner camera mode. Although Refraktor doesn't come with a flash bulb like the original, the guns combine to form an effective little tripod and the shields together form the lens. The whole thing comes together pretty well, and after waiting 30+ years for a proper update, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

It's interesting to note that while the toon incarnation of Reflector was based on the toy, the three bots were different in both design and colors, and only the bot who formed the center of the camera was animated to represent the whole team, thus their clone look. 

Edited July 10, 2019 by M'Kyuun

[M'Kyuun]

So, I took a trip to my local Wally today only to discover they'd restocked their Siege deluxes, including two new guys, Brunt and Red Alert, both of whom came home with me. Brunt is my first weaponizer (not sure what Hasbro's actual name is for these guys that separate into weapons), as despite his partsformery nature, both tank and bot modes look pretty decent.

I took a few pics of my recent additions- I forgot to put Springer in there, as he's currently standing guard on my printer in the mancave. 

 

 

I also wanted to add a pic of the arm configuration for Refraktor going to camera mode. Sorry it turned out blurry- I was struggling to get the camera to focus. Prior to placing the arms like this, the waist must be rotated 180, and then likewise each leg at the thigh rotation joint. Extend the landing gears 90 degrees, fold the elbows as seen, and then carefully work them into the hollow area in the legs until the legs are bent 90 degrees at the knee. There's a bit of a gap on top where a bit of the shoulders can be seen. Once all three figures are configured, the waist pegs will connect to the 5 mm ports near the knees of the adjoining bot, and there's a C-shaped half peg on the ankle that plugs into the adjoining bot's shoulder joint hole. Hope my little tutorial helps. Again, sorry so blurry. Kuma, I'm not.

 

Edited July 11, 2019 by M'Kyuun

[Sgt Nate V]

We're ready to believe you!

[mikeszekely]

9 hours ago, Sgt Nate V said:

We're ready to believe you!

I saw a nearby Gamestop was supposed to have Ectotron in stock, so I went to check it out.  At the store they said they only had them for preorders, but they could order one online for me.  Got the order confirmation email, but that was Wednesday, and as of Friday night there's no "it shipped" email.

So, yeah, I'm planning on reviewing it... assuming that Gamestop actually has stock to fill my order.  Not having stock, but sitting on my money, desperately hoping to find stock somewhere so they can keep my money, and only begrudgingly admitting that they can't and refunding me long after it's sold out and I can't look for it elsewhere seems like a very Gamestop thing to do.

[mikeszekely]

Shackwave!

I'm not sure I can swallow paying leader prices for Voyager figures again, but I'm still very tempted to get this.  As a kid I didn't have Shockwave, but my dad bought me a Galactic Man from the Radio Shack at our local mall.  It was awesome enough that I quickly got over the fact that it wasn't purple.

[M'Kyuun]

I really wish they'd given him his space gun alt mode.  That spaceship mode is craptastic, and I'm not a fan of the voyager fig with a bunch of add-ons at leader price shenanigans, either. The Siege line was kinda made for these figs with Cybertronian alts, and IMHO, it's a lost opportunity. 

For what it's worth, I think they nailed the bot mode, though. But that spaceship...  I'm aware you can flip his ship mode over and he's kinda close to his G1 gun mode, but it's more of a fudge than a dedicated and purposely designed alt mode. But then, I suppose they would have had to make his barrel orange. Our gun laws boggle the mind sometimes.

 

[anime52k8]

54 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

I really wish they'd given him his space gun alt mode.

just turn him up-side down without all the extra bits.

 

I've been committed to not buying any more transformers toys for a while now, especially retail stuff; but this Shockwave is strangely compelling to me. I actually really like the super spaceship and four armed robot.

Edited July 13, 2019 by anime52k8

[JB0]

I still wish the add-on bits clipped to the "bridge tower" so he had a proper pistol grip.

[sh9000]

I’d probably buy a MP Radio Shack Shockwave.

[technoblue]

Galactic Man...Now there's a deep strike on the nostalgia strings. I don't want to miss this repaint.

I guess I'm in the minority on the official alt mode, though, because I like the battle platform or whatever it is Shockwave is supposed to be. He and Soundwave look like alternate universe Macross support ships. The unofficial "G1" modes are sweet too, and it's very cool to know that these toys can still pull those off.

What surprises me is how Siege is holding my interest for Transformers right now. So much so that I've reevaluated and set a new focus for the rest. With third-party, I follow Planet-X and MMC, with an eye on the X-Transbots minibots and any new SXS releases. Masterpiece is a little more complicated, but I'm in for Hound, Optimus v3, and Bumblebee v2 at the minimum. Blackarachnia will probably complete my small MP Beast Wars collection. And that's about it for now. 

[M'Kyuun]

As far as upcoming MPs, I'm in the opposite camp, as  I have no plans to get V3, Hound, or the new Bee. After reviews, however, I may consider Hound- I want to see how secure that neck armature is and how well it snugs to the hood. If it ends up gappy, then no. I still wonder why that went that direction with the design when both FT and Maketoys were able to integrate the head normally under the bonnet, Anyway, I'm quite happy with MP Bee V1, Gundog, and MS01, as all three look good to me across the board. As far as Blackarachnia goes, I'm a little disappointed in her spider mode, but honestly, considering that her bot mode is the priority,  I guess it turned out about as well as can be expected given what they have to work with. Moreover, a LOT of license was taken with her and Tarantulas from the toy design to the toon design.  Her bot mode looks amazing, though, so I'll no doubt be getting her despite my initial reservations. I have the rest, so I may as well.

I'll echo JBO's wish that the add-ons with Siege Shockwave could attach to the 'bridge' to make a more proper handgrip. It would have been a nice bit of double utility, much like Refraktor's guns and shields. Anyway,  that bot mode looks so good- I may just cave and get him after all. I'm such a sucker for this stuff.  

As for Soundwave, I totally dislike that alt mode they cooked up for him. I hope he gets a second release later in the series with a proper dedicated cassette recorder mode.  I hope they make the mini-cassettes life sized again instead of these half-assed micro-microcassettes. This is one instance in the line where the original 80's toys were superior.  Shameful, Hasbro.

[tekering]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

I still wonder why that went that direction with the design when both FT and Maketoys were able to integrate the head normally under the bonnet.

Rumor has it Jeep wouldn't approve the alt. mode unless the hood was a single unbroken piece.

[M'Kyuun]

6 hours ago, tekering said:

Rumor has it Jeep wouldn't approve the alt. mode unless the hood was a single unbroken piece.

If true, that's a pretty ridiculous requirement.  Obviously, none of the Jeep people are TF fans or they'd know that robot heads popping out of hoods is pretty standard practice.

Man, if I ran a car company and I was approached to have a high end Transformer made of  one of my cars, I'd be ecstatic- no demands other than it be recognizable.  It's kinda like when Weird Al approaches you to make a parody of your song.  You know you've made something special, worthy of  the attention.

[JB0]

8 hours ago, tekering said:

Rumor has it Jeep wouldn't approve the alt. mode unless the hood was a single unbroken piece.

Sounds plausible. I know that was a persistent problem with Binaltech/Alternators. They felt that seams in the panels made the cars look "broken".

[M'Kyuun]

I recall that as well, but I think it was only an issue with American and some European car companies. I don't think they had issues with domestic car companies, as transforming robots were already part of Japanese culture, and they better understood the necessities involved in turning a car into a robot.

But, y'know, Transformers have been part of the American fabric for three decades now, so unless you've been living in total isolation, basic knowledge tells you that various parts of the car split, open, and otherwise fold and reshape to affect the transformation.  It seems odd to me that at least somebody at Jeep isn't a TF fan, or at least aware of some of the mechanical necessities involved. A small square panel in the hood allowing the head to rotate is a pretty small concession, IMHO.  This kinda reminds me of the head transformation for CHUG Prowl and Silverstreak, where the head was spring-loaded to flip into position, resulting in a head that floated on the hood and sat too high and looked awkward, unnatural, and let's be honest, ugly. I remember either Hasbro or Takara, not sure which, being proud of the head reveal on this figure. After getting Prowl, I wondered why. 

Edited July 14, 2019 by M'Kyuun

[Scyla]

On 7/13/2019 at 6:53 AM, sh9000 said:

I’d probably buy a MP Radio Shack Shockwave.

But the MP Laserwave mold is trash! 

 

[sh9000]

https://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/massive-haslab-unicron-toy-revealed/43589/