The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[anime52k8]

Herbie is basically bumblebee repainted as jazz.

[mikeszekely]

Yeah, I don't see anyone making a General Lee anytime soon, transforming or no.

But I'm in for KITT, a Batmobile, or the Party Wagon.

[Negotiator]

Kitt works perfectly. He already talks.

[David Hingtgen]

KARR works even better, he's voiced by Peter Cullen, and has a laser. 

[mikeszekely]

What's funny is that I didn't like X-Transbot's version of Windcharger enough to buy the Tailgate repaint, but if they'd done a black one with black rims I probably would have bought it.

[technoblue]

Buzz over at the tfw forum is that Takara is getting ready to announce the next MP seeker mold. I expect Starscream is first in line.

https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/masterpiece-v3-starscream-coming.1196303/

I let go of the last of my third-party seekers last year, and haven't owned any of the old official MPs in a while so I'm very much intrigued by the news.

[M'Kyuun]

 If it turns out well, I'll be in for Screamer and TC. I have Maketoys' Skycrow (Skywarp), and it's doing a fine job filling the role. I hope it turns out great. Aesthetically, I already know it's gonna be smooth as a baby's bottom, per the Sunbow look, but I hope the engineering is A-game level.  I'm cautiously excited for this. Not looking forward to the price though.

 

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, technoblue said:

Buzz over at the tfw forum is that Takara is getting ready to announce the next MP seeker mold. I expect Starscream is first in line.

Assuming the pic is legit...

My Japanese is a little rusty, but it's something like "After 15 years Starscream is revived in the Masterpiece series!"

I'm honestly having a hard time drudging up any interest in this, if true.  I haven't been impressed with the modern MP tendency to create robots that are too Sunbow-ish, or how many of the recent ones have had a large shell of alt mode parts that fold up into a giant backpack.  Or how a few have had QC issues.  And frankly, even if Takara were making good-looking robots with clever engineering and rock-solid QC the price creep on the MP line meant my first thought when I saw this was "I wonder if Starscream will be under $300?"  At $150-ish I think I'd give them a look, but any more than that and I'm pretty content with Meteor, Lightning, and Skycrow.

[technoblue]

Yeah, Takara pricing has become it own meme.  But IMO if the design is a solid step forward, then I'll be willing to pay $200 (maybe a little extra) for a fun MP jet Transformer. I guess quality is my biggest concern when considering this new mold, and I do hope Takara has its act together there.

Maketoys' seekers looked the part and I really enjoyed their articulation. Sadly, I had a few quirks with my copies that got in the way of enjoying them completely. I also think I was one of the few fans who were really bothered by the gappy open-back wings. The wing fillers I got didn't adhere all too well either.

[Firefox]

Not another remake again! They should concentrate on making Masterpiece Astrotrain, Blitzwing, Snaprdragon, etc. Price increase is 'inevitable', seeing Macross fans can simply throwing north of $300 to $400 a piece, they would tempted to try to increase the price each time. I like the earlier Masterpiece, they might not be whatever accurate, they are easy to transform. I don't need to study the manual, look up YouTube and spending half an hour to figure things out.

[tekering]

1 hour ago, Firefox said:

They should concentrate on making Masterpiece Astrotrain, Blitzwing, Snaprdragon, etc. 

I was honestly expecting to see Galvatron 1.0 before Starscream 3.0...  

[Dobber]

The silhouette is not encouraging to me as it seems to show a lot of rough edges on the bottom of the jet likely indicating a lot of bot kibble on the underside. 
 

Chris

[derex3592]

It'll be fun to see if they copied any of the Newage Seekers engineering or came up with something ridiculously over-engineered and super expensive...like they've been doing..

[sh9000]

I’d buy multiples of a KITT Transformer and both versions of a KARR Transformer.  These are cool.

[Dobber]

Love that Airwolf!

 Chris

[lechuck]

From what can be seen that Starscream looks promising to me, his wings finally flow into the mid section of his body.

I hope Takara continues to strive for that excellence or "best of breed" execution like with their latest releases and never goes back to cheap-priced simplistic and compromised robots.

 

[M'Kyuun]

  Finally got the Decepticon Clones at my local Target.!  They didn't have the Seekers, unfortunately, but  they had about five copies of the Clones.  Glad I checked the DPCI around noon- didn't expect there to be any, but was pleasantly surprised. It said they had three in stock, so I immediately ordered it, and promptly headed over to pick it up.  I just got home, and haven't even opened them yet, but I just wanted to put it out there to keep checking the DPCIs, as you might get lucky.

 

Ok, back to thoughts on MP Starscream 3.0.

[technoblue]

Congrats on the pick up, @M'Kyuun! The Seekers have been out of stock for a couple weeks out my way. I keep missing the on-line stock updates.  I haven't even begun to look for the Clones. I don't think they've made it out this far yet.

Anyway, at the rate I'm going, the local Targets will restock, and that's just a-okay.

[Scyla]

The silhouette already disappoints me since it looks like his chest is just hanging there in alt-mode. 

[Tking22]

7 hours ago, derex3592 said:

It'll be fun to see if they copied any of the Newage Seekers engineering or came up with something ridiculously over-engineered and super expensive...like they've been doing..

I'm sure they'll take some bits from all the recent G1 seeker figures, MP or otherwise. They'd be crazy not to, there's some fantastic engineering that goes into a lot of that stuff.

And unfortunately agreed, Hound wasn't too complex but was a QC disaster, MP44 and MP45 were over engineered, expensive, and quite ugly from many angles. Easy passes for me, but I'd take a Hound rerelease with fixes, I'd wait for in hand reviews before ordering of course.

MP 3.0 seekers seemed inevitable, they already made a new head with MP44 (what a dumb set of accessories that helped jack the price up), and the current seeker molds are terribly, terribly outdated. Easy pass for me though, my MakeToys seekers are pure gold, everything I want in MP seekers, the wing fillers, chest turbines, and leg vents helped break up the bland "toonness" for me. I was really, really hoping for MP Trailbreaker, that's one MP I have a third party figure for that is exceptionally meh, MMC Terraegis. Trailbreaker has been rumored for years too, that's seriously the one G1 MP replacement I would buy without hesitation.

[M'Kyuun]

15 minutes ago, technoblue said:

Congrats on the pick up, @M'Kyuun! The Seekers have been out of stock for a couple weeks out my way. I keep missing the on-line stock updates.  I haven't even begun to look for the Clones. I don't think they've made it out this far yet.

Anyway, at the rate I'm going, the local Targets will restock, and that's just a-okay.

Hey, thanks, man.  They also had Earthrise Prime, and I was feeling giddy at the register, figuring I'd just get it now and cancel my online PO. But, I was stymied by the almighty street date- Sept first, for those who don't know. I was crushed- it was in my hand, I could feel the waves of awesome radiating off it. I had the friggin TOUCH! 

And then the infernal warning popped up on her screen. A manager was called. Confirmation. Joy demolished. This hobby is full of highs and lows.

But, at least I got the Clones, so my griping will abate somewhat. Still not a fan of exclusives, or the fact that Target doesn't offer POs for these guys and the Seekers. But I'll be checking more often now that I know these are just kinda randomly restocked throughout the day. They had a placeholder for the Seekers, but the kind lady who was restocking toys at that moment most kindly checked to see if they had any, as well the the other Targets in my area, to the tune of negative on all fronts. The search goes on.

Best of luck to you, Technoblue, and the rest of my fellow MWers. 

[David Hingtgen]

10 hours ago, tekering said:

I was honestly expecting to see Galvatron 1.0 before Starscream 3.0...  

Are you sure you're not confusing wanting/hoping, with expecting?   I HOPE for and WANT new core movie/season 2 characters, but I EXPECT to see Sideswipe 2.0 and Soundwave 2.0 first...  :P

[sqidd]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

 But, I was stymied by the almighty street date- Sept first, for those who don't know. I was crushed- it was in my hand, I could feel the waves of awesome radiating off it. I had the friggin TOUCH! 

And then the infernal warning popped up on her screen. A manager was called. Confirmation. Joy demolished. This hobby is full of highs and lows.

 

Wait? What? You had it and were checking out with it and they said you couldn't buy it? That sounds crazy.

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, sqidd said:

Wait? What? You had it and were checking out with it and they said you couldn't buy it? That sounds crazy.

That's what happened. They had three or four copies of ER prime on the shelf, so I grabbed one. No-go at the register due to street date, so they stuck it under the cashier's little table. I let them know that there were more on the shelf, but while I was waiting to pick up my order, I circled back to the Transformers area several times, and the ER Primes were still there when I left. I was there for close to two hours; finally the fellow coordinating orders said he'd just cancel out my order (The Clones) and I could go back and pluck one off the shelf and checkout normally, which I did. He seemed more incredulous about the wait time than I was, and I appreciate what he did for me. Funny thing, though: there was a "your order is ready to pickup' email in my inbox when I got home, so I need to keep an eye on my account to make sure I'm reimbursed for the online order.

[mikeszekely]

4 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Finally got the Decepticon Clones at my local Target.!  They didn't have the Seekers, unfortunately, but  they had about five copies of the Clones.

Nice!  I get emails from Target that they're in stock online all the time, but they're never actually in stock when I click the links.  Closest I came was the page showing that they were, in fact, available, but a popup every time I click on them that they weren't actually in stock and they weren't added to my cart.  They didn't have any at my local Target last I was there, but I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and my local Target is close, so I'll swing by again tomorrow.

3 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

They also had Earthrise Prime, and I was feeling giddy at the register, figuring I'd just get it now and cancel my online PO. But, I was stymied by the almighty street date- Sept first, for those who don't know. I was crushed- it was in my hand, I could feel the waves of awesome radiating off it. I had the friggin TOUCH! 

Wait, what?  A street date of September 1st for a figure that's been out since like February?  I mean, I don't remember when I got mine exactly, but it was before COVID-19 shut everything down and it was at Target...

[tekering]

2 hours ago, David Hingtgen said:

Are you sure you're not confusing wanting/hoping, with expecting?

In this case, no.  I'm not wanting or hoping for an MP Galvatron, any more than I want a new Starscream.  Once "Thomas" is out, and my Menasor is complete, I'm done; I've got definitive third-party versions of every significant character now, and I like them better than what TakaraTomy has been producing of late.  There's no way they could top "Sovereign."

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

I was waiting to pick up my order, I circled back to the Transformers area several times, and the ER Primes were still there when I left. I was there for close to two hours; finally the fellow coordinating orders said he'd just cancel out my order (The Clones) and I could go back and pluck one off the shelf and checkout normally, which I did.

That's just stupid.  Their allocation system is fundamentally broken.  

49 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

A street date of September 1st for a figure that's been out since like February?

That's absurd.  Their distribution system is even more fundamentally broken.  

[M'Kyuun]

I thought it was odd, too, as he's been out for awhile now, and was previously sold at Target. I was unpleasantly surprised when it flagged at the register, but I immediately knew what it meant. I think the cashier girl was newish, as she seemed uncertain and called for a manager, who confirmed that it was in fact a street date and they couldn't sell it. I've been wanting this figure since it first released, this was the first time I've seen it in a store, and I was rather crestfallen that I was this close to getting him and something so arbitrary and nonsensical as a street date on a previously released figure prevented me from finally procuring a copy.  

Taking a look at that Starscream silhouette, there are some concerning uneven bits under the forward fuselage where it should be smooth.  Not the best in a likely $200+ toy that should have better engineering than what's come before. It may just be an artifact of some bad photo manipulation (I hope so), but their track record with jet alt modes is not the best. If those are actually part of the alt, I'll likely skip this release, too. Anymore, third parties are becoming my go-to for MP scaled figs, but I'd like to see them make a decent Seeker. In my mind, Maketoys set a high bar. Heck, Newage and, to a lesser degree, Magic Square are making beautiful nigh MP quality figs at legends scale, so it's really on Takara to step up their game in the MP line. There's a certain expectation, greatly informed by third party, for high end Transformer figs, and the last few releases, as well as their upcoming Arcee, have all sadly underwhelmed. I want this Seeker to be good, but right now, my excitement is tempered by experience.

[JB0]

I am just assuming this Starscream toy will be slavishly toon-accurate, omitting any detail that would be visually interesting...

And that it will nonetheless be based on his appearance in the most toy-accurate episode they can find, so his entire robot torso will just be hangin' out on the underside of the plane like the best toy engineering 1983 had to offer.

[mikeszekely]

According to Brickseek there isn't a store that has the clones within 50 miles of me.

[mikeszekely]

18 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

so I'll swing by again tomorrow.

Nope, no clones. 

@M'Kyuun I found an Earthrise Optimus there.  I tried to buy it for you, but I also got stymied by an extremely arbitrary release date on a figure that's already been released.

EDIT: I saw that Pulse has a preorder page up for ER Prime.  Weirdly enough it says "This preorder item will be available to ship on approx. 07.07.2020.  So... today?

Edited July 7, 2020 by mikeszekely

[obakesan]

On 7/6/2020 at 5:23 AM, technoblue said:

Buzz over at the tfw forum is that Takara is getting ready to announce the next MP seeker mold. I expect Starscream is first in line.

https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/masterpiece-v3-starscream-coming.1196303/

I let go of the last of my third-party seekers last year, and haven't owned any of the old official MPs in a while so I'm very much intrigued by the news.

I imagine it will be more toon accurate like the current aesthetic and maybe cool and all, but I wish TT would finish the G1 bots first before re-creating and re-releasing the same characters over again. I mean, 2 Megatrons, 3 Optimii (lol), a 3rd starscreamer (plus inevetible repaints). I just wish they would make:

Jazz
Trailbreaker
Mirage

To complete the '84 Autobots.

 

[obakesan]

PSA: Movie Masterpiece Ratches Pre-Order up on Amazon Japan if anyone interested: https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B08C5SXPRJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I'd be down for the BTTF Transformers, but the windshield is just odd, like it's alsmot mistransformed or something, seems so odd not to fill it in?

On the subject of Transformers Crossovers, I still don't get why Hasbro doesn't capitalise on their own classic proerties, Transformers & G.I Joe. They did it in comics, so I mean a Cobra Rattler transformers, H.I.S.S. Tank Transformers, etc, etc, Skystriker

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Nope, no clones. 

@M'Kyuun I found an Earthrise Optimus there.  I tried to buy it for you, but I also got stymied by an extremely arbitrary release date on a figure that's already been released.

EDIT: I saw that Pulse has a preorder page up for ER Prime.  Weirdly enough it says "This preorder item will be available to ship on approx. 07.07.2020.  So... today?

Dude, you're awesome. I appreciate the gesture. I've got one PO'd with Sure Thing Toys, as they were the only e-tailer I could find at the time that had it by itself for PO. Pulse was still sold out and hadn't renewed their PO status. The nice thing about Sure Things, who I'd never even heard of until I went searching for someone selling OP, is that there are no shipping fees, so I'm paying the MSRP and tax. Really can't beat that. There's no expected ship date on their site, so I have no idea when it's expected to ship. Guess I'll know when they invoice me.

Anyway, if there's a fig you're after, let me know and I'll keep an eye open around here for you. Kindness for a kindness.

Yeah, that ship date on Pulse had me thinking about canxing with Sure Things in order to get it quicker, but I decided to stay the course. I'm wondering how much of that ship date was pure hope rather than logistical reality.

1 hour ago, obakesan said:

On the subject of Transformers Crossovers, I still don't get why Hasbro doesn't capitalise on their own classic proerties, Transformers & G.I Joe. They did it in comics, so I mean a Cobra Rattler transformers, H.I.S.S. Tank Transformers, etc, etc, Skystriker

I wonder the same thing; seems like the ultimate no-brainer cross-over, and it wouldn't cost them a dime for licensing. 

[mikeszekely]

When I took Earthrise Prime to the register I knew there was a chance Target wasn't going to let me actually buy it, and I'd feel awkward if I went to the checkouts, tried to buy something, wasn't allowed, and then just left.  So, even though I didn't really plan on picking him up, I wound up taking Studio Series Roadbuster to the register, too, and when I couldn't buy Prime I did the, "Well, I guess I'll just take this one today," bit.

Before I continue, I have to ask... were these guys really that popular?  All three of the Dark of the Moon Wreckers got Cyberverse toys.  Roadbuster and Topspin got Deluxe-class releases and a second, repainted Deluxe-class later (Leadfoot actually also got a Deluxe-class figure, but only in Japan).  And on top of all that Roadbuster and Leadfoot got Human Alliance figures.  And yet I can barely remember these guys even being in the movie (Leadfoot a bit better than the other two, because of the Target branding).  I only picked up the original DotM Roadbuster and the repainted "Autobot Armor" Topspin because they were on clearance for $5 a piece at the time.  Based on a YouTube video called "Transformers Saga All Roadbuster scenes" I watched for this review he had less than three minutes of screen time.

And yet, now Roadbuster's part of the Studio Series.  Well, the new figure certainly looks a lot better than the old one, by virtue of not being 90% unpainted taupe plastic.  In a lot of ways the new figure is a lot more accurate, with better proportions, wheels on the sides of his knees instead of his hips, an improved head sculpt, no sides of the hanging off his arms, and more molded details like the netting on his shoulders or the canisters in his chest.  On the other hand, even ignoring the missing sponsor logos that Hasbro didn't want to license, his colors and paint are only really better than the originals in the sense that he has more colors and paint, but he's still not particularly screen-accurate there.  Hasbro used black plastic for his biceps, thighs, and feet, and that does provide some color breakup from the green, gray plastic, and silver paint, but none of those things are actually black (although his feet did have some black on them.  His thighs and feet should have green panels, sometimes with white from the stripes on the side, and his thighs had the green broken up with silver metallic bits behind them (much like his shins).  His biceps were silver metallic with black rods covered with a copper coil.  The white on his chest should follow the edges and curve up to his shoulders.  Basically, there should be a lot more green and white.

He's also got a big kibble backpack.

His sole accessory is this tiny black minigun.  No chainsaw, no shoulder gun, no waist guns, no guns for the tires on his knees.

Roadbuster's head is on a ball joint, and while it rotates fine he can only look up a little and down not at all.  Attempting to do so will pop his head off the ball joint.  His shoulders are also on ball joints with a transformation hinge in the chest.  The ball joint allows the shoulders to rotate and to extend only about 60 degrees laterally, while the hinge allows him to slump his shoulders a bit.  His biceps can swivel.  His elbows can bend a bit over 90 degrees.  He doesn't have wrist swivels or a waist swivel.  His hips are ball joints, and he can kick about 90 degrees forward or 90 degrees laterally, but backward movement is impeded by his back kibble.  His thighs swivel.  His knees can bend 90 degrees.  Due to transformation his feet can tilt up, but nothing really down and no ankle pivots.  Overall his articulation is kind of poor, and frankly if the Studio Series is supposed to be a line aimed at adult collectors I really think it's time Hasbro started incorporating some of the articulation improvements they brought to the War for Cybertron Trilogy lines.  Heck, even the Cyberverse Deluxes have ankle pivots!

Roadbuster's gun is meant to peg into the 5mm peg hole on either arm.  Nothing's stopping you from sticking it in his hands, which are molded into a 5mm peg hole shape, though.  He also has a 5mm peg hole to either side of his head if you prefer to use it as a shoulder gun.

Compared to some of the Studio Series figures with cars for alt modes Roadbuster's transformation is pretty easy.  Probably because nearly two thirds of what you're looking at here was the stuff that was folded up onto his back; only the rear fenders (his shoulders) and the nose of the car (his calves and heels) were robot parts.

I gotta be honest, I'm a fan of the "in disguise" part of "robots in disguise," and I greatly prefer the alt mode of the original Deluxe.  However, I watched that whole three-minute YouTube video, and the fact is Roadbuster (none of the Wreckers, actually) never appeared as a normal NASCAR Chevy Impala, only Mad Max version.  So again the Studio Series version is the more screen-accurate version.

Well, as with the robot mode, "more screen-accurate" doesn't exactly mean "totally screen accurate."  The bladed rims are unpainted instead of silver, and they say "Wreckers Ultra" instead of "Goodyear Eagle." It does have the "Impala" logo across the nose, but simply NASCAR's logo where the National Guard logo should be.  A lot of the mechanical details are a silvery plastic, which works for quite a bit of it but is missing some green paint, plus the panels jutting out from under the NASCAR launchers should be white with a Mountain Dew logo.  There are other silver panels that should be white or green and some details molded in green plastic that should be white.  Almost nothing should be black (except for some bits molded in silver that are maybe supposed to be the guns on the hood).  The big wing on the back should be green and black.

Now, I get this is a Deluxe-class toy, not an MP.  I get they don't have the budget to paint this thing totally accurately.  But frankly some of these issues would be less egregious if they'd molded some of the silver pieces, like the part with the wing and the rear bumper or the rotating panels on the sides of his legs that hold the tires, in green instead of silver plastic and then they added some silver paint for just the jet exhaust and some black paint on the wing.  You can't tell me they couldn't have afforded at least that much paint; it's not like his itty bitty gun is eating up a ton of his budget.

Speaking of guns, there's an oval hole in the nose of the alt mode.  You can peg the minigun into the front of the oval, then slide it back to the back of the oval so it's recessed a bit, giving him a movie-accurate minigun for his alt mode nose.

I guess I should say this... Roadbuster isn't the worst Studio Series figure.  He's not as bad as World War II Bumblebee, car-mode Shatter, or Stinger.  He does look OK in both modes, and it's possible Toyhax could do a Reprolabel set that fixes some of inaccuracies I cited.  He's easy enough to transform.  But, some tabs have trouble staying in, especially the large one in his back that's supposed to lock his backpack in place in robot mode or the ones on the rotating panels on the sides of his legs that are supposed to lock his legs in place in alt mode.  His articulation isn't all that great, and he's just got the one little accessory.  Couple that with the more subjective notion that Roadbuster is a blink-and-you'll-miss-him nobody of a character and I'm left wondering why we're stuck with him instead of Dino/Mirage, who had a slightly larger roll in the film (and a cooler alt mode), Sideways (who also had a cooler alt mode and a more memorable chase scene in the previous film), Skids and Mudflap (who sucked, but had way more screen time than the Wreckers), Crosshairs and Hound (main characters in both Age of Extinction and The Last Knight), Galvatron (I shouldn't have to explain that one), Lambo Hot Rod, or a proper TLK Barricade that turns into a Saleen Mustang instead of whatever the TLK Deluxe turned into.  So feel free to pass on Roadbuster, you really won't be missing out on anything special.

[mikeszekely]

@M'Kyuun In stock, 10 left, get it by Sunday-ish, no markup.

Earthrise Optimus Prime at Amazon