The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[M'Kyuun]

B/c I'm an articulation junkie. The more, the better, so long as the joints are good.

A couple quick shots I took.

 

 

[M'Kyuun]

Possible pics of Kingdom Cheetor, warpath, and Blackarachnia.

Since most of these leaks have proven true, I'm going to assume that this is the real deal. That said, that's a mighty fine looking Cheetor, certainly the best looking original version in the main line, including the original toy, which wasn't so good. There is a notable disparity between the group shot from above where each copy has two bluish nubs above the shoulders that don't appear in the stand-alone cheetah shot. Hopefully the stand-alone is what we're getting. BA is looking good, too, although one can only guess at her spider mode. There really aren't many ways to make such a small lithe bot transform, and I assume she'll take some cues from the MP, which isn't much bigger than this. The angle on Warpath isn't great, but he's looking pretty Geewunny to me.

[mikeszekely]

This Amazon exclusive set just popped up for preorder, featuring Earth-mode Ratchet and a turquoise Arcee repaint Lifeline.  Great for those of you who missed the Walgreen's-exclusive Siege Ratchet.

Note that the set is being referred to as the "Paradron Medics 2-pack," and it's being billed as the first of five "Galactic Odyssey" encounters packs.  I have no idea when the next four will be available, or if they'll be store-exclusives.  I do know that they'll be Botropolis, Biosfera, Dominus, and Micron, though.

 

[technoblue]

OOoo! These will be fantastic if those pictures are representative of the final product. Lifeline looks to have Arcee’s missing paint apps, even in alt mode (are those grey accents on the side of her backpack/hoverboard?).

Love the face detail on both and the clean ER look too.

[M'Kyuun]

I can't say that I'm all too impressed with the ER remold of Siege Ironhide/Ratchet.  Egregious partsforming aside,  I wonder why they didn't give these Vanette guys dark or blue tinted windshields and paint the rest of their windows to match.  It would have helped the look in van mode considerably.  Granted, they would have been prominent on the shins, so I guess I answered my own question. Bottom line, they should have just given these guys a dedicated mold which could address the peculiarities of the alt mode more judiciously.

As for Lifeline, I really don't want more than one copy of this Arcee mold, and I already have Arcee PO'd, despite my misgivings. As good as this line has been for most, I think these two figs represent the poorer efforts. Given the prominence of Ironhide's and Ratchet's characters to the original series, it's disheartening to see them relegated to bad remold fodder.

I gripe, but as Technoblue said, if these are representative of the final toys, the clean ER look is definitely appealing. Hasbro owns me.

Edit; Sigh, PO'd. Time for coffee and self-flagellation.

Edited August 28, 2020 by M'Kyuun

[technoblue]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

I can't say that I'm all too impressed with the ER remold of Siege Ironhide/Ratchet.  Egregious partsforming aside,  I wonder why they didn't give these Vanette guys dark or blue tinted windshields and paint the rest of their windows to match.  It would have helped the look in van mode considerably.  Granted, they would have been prominent on the shins, so I guess I answered my own question. Bottom line, they should have just given these guys a dedicated mold which could address the peculiarities of the alt mode more judiciously.

Tell me about it, right? I was trying my best to skip these, and I wasn't impressed with the Prowl/Ironhide pair at first. Now though, it looks like I'll be forking over another $40 for them too just to get an updated Ironhide to go with this Ratchet. Prowl will be the odd one out since I'm not really keen on the ER Datsuns. I prefer the Siege look and won't be getting the others. 

Yeah, Ironhide should have had window shading, even if it was a light blue shading like Ratchet. I get the G1 homages and all, but it looks better all the same. I wish the wheels and the feet were slightly remolded too. They have a good amount of parts hiding the fact that there is a lot of Siege in ER Ironhide and Ratchet, but those bits are dead giveaways.

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

As for Lifeline, I really don't want more than one copy of this Arcee mold, and I already have Arcee PO'd, despite my misgivings. As good as this line has been for most, I think these two figs represent the poorer efforts. Given the prominence of Ironhide's and Ratchet's characters to the original series, it's disheartening to see them relegated to bad remold fodder.

Arcee, Elita-1, and even Lifeline here I think work best in bot mode (even with the odd paint apps on Arcee and Elita-1). Yeah, it is kind of frustrating that more thought wasn't put into their alt mode configuration, especially to differentiate each of the vehicles. Since partsforming is a big deal in this line, it could have been easy to remold the fembot shells to make up new Cybertronian cars. Oh well. 

[danth]

I really like the bot modes for ER Ironhide/Ratchet. I almost think they're better looking than the MPs. However...

They're not even trying to hide those hideous feet in alt mode. The black shoulder blocks are pretty egregious too.

(Pic found on tfw2005)

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

1 hour ago, danth said:

I really like the bot modes for ER Ironhide/Ratchet. I almost think they're better looking than the MPs. However...

They're not even trying to hide those hideous feet in alt mode. The black shoulder blocks are pretty egregious too.

(Pic found on tfw2005)

Yikes, that is quite a sight.  Maybe Irohide turns into a leg for an unrevealed combiner mode 

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, technoblue said:

Tell me about it, right? I was trying my best to skip these, and I wasn't impressed with the Prowl/Ironhide pair at first. Now though, it looks like I'll be forking over another $40 for them too just to get an updated Ironhide to go with this Ratchet. Prowl will be the odd one out since I'm not really keen on the ER Datsuns. I prefer the Siege look and won't be getting the others. 

You, my friend, are in the minority opinion here, methinks. I like the Siege mold, too. It's close enough, and yet different enough, to his earth mode that I find it appealing. One of the reasons I usually detest Cybertronian alt modes is that they're lazy  (thinking Siege Soundwave), ugly, or just unrelatable. The Siege Datsun bros are sleek and relatable without being carbon copies of the earth modes, and I like that. I even like the slipper toes. I see a lot of guys on TFW already looking to chuck their Siege Datsuns in lieu of the ER figs. FWIW, I like both, but I'd be lying if I said I preferred the Cybertronian over the ER. The G1 Datsun design has been my all-time favorite Transformer since I first laid eyes on the toys. G1 Prowl was my first Transformer- I still remember opening it in the back seat on our way home from the store. I also acutely remember my disappointment when he had no articulation from the waist down. I fell in love with the box art for that figure, and it thrills me that we've finally reached a time when the actual toys are living up to that old box art. That said, even though I have MP Prowl and his bros (eternal thanks to Hasui-san) , and New Age's Prowl, which is a pint sized, yet glorious take on the character, and just a fun toy in its own right (and travel friendly, too-pop'em right in the pocket), I'm so looking forward to getting ER Prowl. Just like with Prime, we've been waiting 35+ years for accurate homages to these characters in the main line, and I'm stoked that we're finally getting them.

That said, it's dismaying when they forsake the opportunity to make a definitive take on a character in lieu of chintzing and going for the spectacularly terrible remold, complete with egregious parts-forming.  As for the feet on the van dudes, had they employed a method to spin the feet 180 at the ankle rocker so that the tops of the feet formed a nice rounded backside for the van, I think it would have been a fine solution that involved very little additional engineering. There still would have been a gap between the feet, but I think it would have looked better than what we got. How anybody in production looked at this and high-fived is beyond me. Most unseemly, Hasbro.

2 hours ago, technoblue said:

Arcee, Elita-1, and even Lifeline here I think work best in bot mode (even with the odd paint apps on Arcee and Elita-1). Yeah, it is kind of frustrating that more thought wasn't put into their alt mode configuration, especially to differentiate each of the vehicles. Since partsforming is a big deal in this line, it could have been easy to remold the fembot shells to make up new Cybertronian cars. Oh well. 

For real, man. Two-thirds of their car modes are detachable shells; the least they could have done to ameliorate the mediocrity of their design, or lack thereof, is to vary the shapes/details of the shells a little per release. We're not worth the effort, apparently. The girls work as nice action figures, but as Transformers, they fail abysmally. Wasted opportunity.

Once again, it's remarkable the design dichotomy in this line- some figs are very well executed, and some...aren't.  I lament the situation b/c I feel this is probably the most focus on G1 we'll see in the main line for a long time, and I wish that there was a constant standard of design quality across the board. This should be the definitive line of G1 updates, aside from MP, with the same level of care put into each figure. That's what I was hoping for, and while they've delivered on many, the lack of consistency is disheartening. 

Sure wish there was a third party willing to right the wrongs of this line, so to speak.

[mikeszekely]

ER Ironhide/Ratchet's feet look terrible on the back of the alt mode because they're unchanged from the Siege figure.

Fortunately, unless Hasbro decided to add a pin, their feet are attached on a friction clip hinge, and it'd be super easy to replace them with a 3rd party replacement. Maybe something with a bumper on the heels, and toes that rotate 180 degrees too make the rear window.

[mikeszekely]

So, that second Netflix Spoiler pack that was announced with Elita-1, Bumblebee, Soundwave, and the other stuff on that clustertruck of a Fan First Friday?  It's Nemesis Prime.  The figure itself will be based on the Siege mold and will come with the same rifle as Siege Optimus, but he'll also come with two new guns, a big ol' sword, a blast effect part, a repaint of the Slitherfang Battle Master, some Energon cubes, and the Earthrise trailer.

Siege Black Convoy was already released in Japan, and I gotta say the Hasbro version isn't looking as good.  It looks like both figures replaced the original's translucent blue plastic with translucent red, but Takara had the good sense to paint everything but the windows while Hasbro left it red.

The good news, if you didn't preorder it at Walmart back in the day, is that it's still available there, plus TFSource, BBTS, Dorkside Toys, and Entertainment Earth.

[technoblue]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

So, that second Netflix Spoiler pack that was announced with Elita-1, Bumblebee, Soundwave, and the other stuff on that clustertruck of a Fan First Friday?  It's Nemesis Prime.  The figure itself will be based on the Siege mold and will come with the same rifle as Siege Optimus, but he'll also come with two new guns, a big ol' sword, a blast effect part, a repaint of the Slitherfang Battle Master, some Energon cubes, and the Earthrise trailer.

Huh. What an odd choice. Since I already have Takara's Siege Nemesis/Black Convoy, this will be an easy pass for me.

2 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

You, my friend, are in the minority opinion here, methinks. I like the Siege mold, too. It's close enough, and yet different enough, to his earth mode that I find it appealing. One of the reasons I usually detest Cybertronian alt modes is that they're lazy  (thinking Siege Soundwave), ugly, or just unrelatable. The Siege Datsun bros are sleek and relatable without being carbon copies of the earth modes, and I like that. I even like the slipper toes. 

 Oh, I know I'm in the minority on the Datsuns but I thought the Cybertronian slipper alts were well done. I mean, given the constraints that Hasbro usually sets for the mainline toys. I guess ER Prowl will test my willpower once I get him in hand.  

[M'Kyuun]

17 minutes ago, technoblue said:

 Oh, I know I'm in the minority on the Datsuns but I thought the Cybertronian slipper alts were well done. I mean, given the constraints that Hasbro usually sets for the mainline toys. I guess ER Prowl will test my willpower once I get him in hand.  

Honestly, from the review I saw (PrimeVsPrime), it's very evocative of G1 Prowl. However, it's missing virtually all of Prowl's iconic markings in bot mode, so Hasbro cheaped out on paint apps that would have enhanced the look of this figure. Guess I'll be doing some custom work on him, or possibly getting the eventual Toyhax labels. He doesn't appear to come with any shoulder rockets, which should be standard accessories with these guys along with their gun. The other negative is that both he and Bluestreak have the spoiler that carries over from Smokescreen.  I wish that had been an exclusive add-on for Smokescreen instead of part of the mold proper. As niggles go, it's minor. I can live with it. Compared to every other Prowl that's been released in CHUG, this is by far the most faithful to the original, and that makes me happy.

PrimeVsPrime voices some of the same concerns we've been mentioning concerning ER Ironhide.  It's a rarity; he's usually very positive and rarely finds fault with the figures he reviews- affect your best British accent and say with enthusiasm, "they're really fantastic!"  

[danth]

6 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

The G1 Datsun design has been my all-time favorite Transformer since I first laid eyes on the toys.

Same! I got Smokescreen and Bluesteak (or possibly Prowl?) for Christmas way back in '85. To this day, no other Transformer evokes the same sense of wonder and nostalgia for me than those Fairlady Z's. Looking at the G1 toys always brings me right back to that Christmas. The stickers on the arms and legs under the rear windshields looked so futuristic! And the doors as wings looked so heroic. They were just so cool.

Smokescreen will always be my favorite Transformer for this reason.

[mikeszekely]

Is it just me, or is Earthrise turning into the shortest Transformers line ever?  We're already talking about Kingdom leaks, but the second wave of Earthrise is just starting to trickle out.  They got the big guys out of the way with Doubledealer, Scorponok, and Sky Lynx, and Snapdragon was a fairly recent delivery.  Still no Deluxes yet, but I do believe the rest of the Voyagers came in today.  So tonight we'll take a look at Earthrise Megatron.

Unlike Prime, who got a great new figure, Earthrise Megatron is a remold of Siege Megatron.  He does have a number of new parts; new head, new backpack, new chest, new midsection, new pelvis, new lower legs, and new fusion cannon.  The new head, torso, and fusion cannon parts are more cartoony than the Siege version.  His midsection is slightly longer, his pelvis slightly shorter and narrower, and while I don't think it totally fixes the Siege figure's kind of wonky proportions I do think it helps.  I also like that he's cleaner than the Siege version, but for whatever reason he's still got he mud splatter on his legs.

Although it doesn't have to be removed for transformation I suppose that his fusion cannon is still an accessory.  He also comes with a black hunk of kibble and what's clearly the front of the tank turret with a blade on the back.

Megatron's articulation hasn't changed much.  His head is on a ball joint and he can look up a good bit, very slight sideways tilt, swivel, but looking down's a no-go.  Shoulder's rotate and move laterally 90 degrees.  Biceps swivel, elbows bend very slightly over 90 degrees.  Wrists don't swivel, but due to transformation they can bend inward and I kind of prefer that for guys like Megatron with big cannons on their forearms.  His waist can swivel but his backpack does get a little caught up on his hips and you might have to un-tab it to get the clearance you need.  Hips can go forward and laterally 90 degrees, backward is again limited by the backpack but he's a warlord, not a ballerina, so it's fine.  His thighs swivel and his knees bend 90 degrees.  His feet bend down, mostly due to transformation, and his ankles pivot about 45 degrees.  Could be one of those your-mileage-may-vary things, but I'll note that the joints on ER Megatron are tolerances much better than on my Siege Megatron, and his head isn't always collapsing into his chest.

His fusion cannon (properly) sits in a peg hole on his right forearm.

He's another peg hole on his left forearm, the outside of each shoulder, the outside of each shin, one under each foot, and a pair on his backpack.  Unlike the Siege version, he doesn't have any on the top of his backpack.

There's a peg on the black kibble part that fits into a peg hole under the tank barrel on the other kibble part.  Another peg on that part allows you to store the entire thing on his back, or you can plug it into his other forearm.  Your choice; another arm cannon, or spin it around for an arm blade.  Either way it looks totally out of place (although Nonnef makes a thing that's basically a ring with a 5mm hole on a 5mm peg; you could stick one on the backpack, then plug the tank cannon into it so it's poking over Megatron's shoulder, and that look would probably work for that Generations Selects G2 Megatron repaint they're making).

ER Megatron's transformation is 99% identical to Siege's.  The only differences are that the front of the tank doesn't fold in, there's nothing to flip up on his shoulders before plugging in the tank barrel, his pegs tab into the front treads that were on his backpack instead of into his pelvis, and the kibble part gets stuffed between his legs to fill in the back of the tank.

Despite the near identical engineering ER's tank mode is much more Earth-like and less sci-fi (as long as you ignore the fusion cannon running down the middle out stick out the back of the turret).  It's just a shame that it requires such egregious partsforming, and a shame they spent the paint budget on dirt instead of picking out some of the details like the lights, radar, or flares molded onto him.

Megatron still rolls, and the turret can still spin.  There are no hinges on the front of the turret, though, so the barrel can't be raised or lowered.

Considering how fantastic ER Prime was I'd be lying if I said that ER Megatron being a warmed-over Siege Megatron wasn't disappointing.  The Earthrise version does fix some of Siege's flaws with better joints (especially that flap his head is on), a more G1-accurate robot mode, and a less sci-fi tank mode.  But one of my least-favorite things about Siege Megatron was the reliance on his accessories to make the complete tank, and ER doesn't just repeat that mistake it actually does it in a worse way, with parts that are even more out-of-place in robot mode than Siege Megatron's "sword."  Ultimately I do think it's an improvement over Siege, and I think it's the best Megatron figure Hasbro's made, and if you don't have a Megatron for your Classics/Universe/Generations/War for Cybertron collection yet then this is the one to get.  However, if you have Siege Megatron you might find the differences to be minimal enough that the "upgrade" isn't worth it.

[M'Kyuun]

Some in hand pics of ER Soundwave, courtesy of The Allspark.

Honestly, it strikes me that the G1 toy was designed better, articulation notwithstanding, and could accommodate realistically sized mini-cassettes that did a much better job passing as such. This version transforms with the legs inside out relative to the original, which looks weird with his knees sticking out on the sides. Moreover, shrinking the cassettes eliminated their use universally, and resulted in much more simplified robot modes and cassette modes that are barely passable as such and generally only from one side. I'm wondering where his weapons cum batteries go in cassette player mode. They definitely don't tuck into a nice compartment on his back like the original.

Compared to the original toy, other than the articulation, just about every other aspect feels like a step backwards. This Soundwave, not superior.

[mikeszekely]

18 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Some in hand pics of ER Soundwave, courtesy of The Allspark.

Honestly, it strikes me that the G1 toy was designed better, articulation notwithstanding, and could accommodate realistically sized mini-cassettes that did a much better job passing as such. This version transforms with the legs inside out relative to the original, which looks weird with his knees sticking out on the sides. Moreover, shrinking the cassettes eliminated their use universally, and resulted in much more simplified robot modes and cassette modes that are barely passable as such and generally only from one side. I'm wondering where his weapons cum batteries go in cassette player mode. They definitely don't tuck into a nice compartment on his back like the original.

Compared to the original toy, other than the articulation, just about every other aspect feels like a step backwards. This Soundwave, not superior.

Changing the size of the tapes doesn't bother me, really. Part of the design goal for WFC is that the figures are in-scale relative to each other. If getting Soundwave to scale properly with proportions more like the cartoon and less like the G1 toy means making the tapes smaller, so be it.

As for the rest, I'd say it's a direct result of retooling the Siege figure instead of designing an Earth-mode Soundwave from scratch.

[M'Kyuun]

I dunno; they went into this line with a plan, knowing that they were doing Earth modes, and my feeling is that the toys were likely designed with that in mind, if not opposite from the order they were released. In other words, the Earth versions were designed first, and then redesigned for the Cybertronian precursors. Or, designs like Soundwave and Megatron, which have few changes between Siege and ER models, were designed concurrently. IMHO, they labored under the suspicion that the Earth modes are going to be the most popular, b/c G1 is still highly desired by collectors. With that in mind, an easy way to double dip is to reuse any number of those molds, with mods, put the Cybertronian stuff out first to make an extra buck, and then segue into the Earth stuff. Just my opinion; no facts to back it up, but it makes business sense to me. 

[mikeszekely]

Well, the other Voyager-class in this wave, perhaps the last Voyager-class in the Earthrise line (that isn't some kind of store-exclusive or promo pack) is the Quintesson Judge. (Sorry for putting him on the left instead of the right!)

I mean, yeah, that loos like a Quintesson to me.  Maybe his base is a little short, or maybe the gray color could stand to be little bluer.  I wouldn't mind if he had some yellow speckles at his base.  But I don't have much else to complain about.

Is he the right size?  For some reason my impression of the Quintessons, formed when I was a kid, had them smaller.  But looking up pictures of them with Optimus in "The Return of Optimus Prime" suggests that, yes, this is the correct size.

The Judge comes with quite a few accessories, although some of them are almost more like vital parts of the figure.  You've got a clear plastic energy beam for him to sit on (indeed, he can't stay up without it).  I'm not a fan of the clear; in the cartoon they either had yellow or purple beams, and indeed earlier product photography suggested that the beam would be yellow.  Oh well.  You also get a chair or a throne.  I think it's passably similar to the one the Judge was sitting on in the '86 movie, although again I gotta wonder why it's green and not bluish gray.  You get what I at first thought was a gun (the Earthrise instructions don't name them like the Siege ones did), but while reading up on Quintessons I think it might actually be a tool used by one of the judges in "The Return of Optimus Prime."  And, lastly, you get a cage.  Note that the cage actually pegs into the top of the Judge's head and slides down inside it, and the top of said head doesn't secure in place without it.

Not exactly accessories, but two of the faces aren't attached out of the box.  The instructions aren't super clear about it, but I re-watched part of the '86 movie in slow-mo to confirm - the correct order is the spikey green face after the orange and blue one, then the angry red one next to it before the blue and green one with the big hat.

The Judge doesn't have a ton of articulation.  The tentacles either have a wire or are made of a bendable plastic that retains some of its shape like a wire.  The tentacles have two little pegs near the ends; the one closest to the end can peg into a hole on the back of the gun, while the other peg fits into holes a hole on the side of the Judge, allowing him to look like he's holding the gun up (because the tentacles alone can't support the weight of it).  The mouths on the death head, the angry red head, and (although limited) the blue and green one with the hat can open and close.  He can sit/stand on his chair; there's even a peg that can hold him in place by the glowing part.  Lastly, if you look back at the picture above, of the two faces that needed to be attached, you'll see a little lever.  Pushing that lever will make the faces spin around.

Should you not want the Judge to hold his gun/tool, the instructions tell you that you can plug it into one of two peg holes under the chair.  However, if you open the cage there's a peg hole inside of it.  I prefer to put the gun/tool there, and store the whole thing inside the Judge.

So, remove the glowing bit, pull the top of his head off, pull the cage out and set it aside, flip the faces up, fold the panels behind the faces down, stick the glowing bit into the top of the head, and balance the top of the head on his five chins.  Voila, Quintesson alt mode.  It's like a tower... it kind of reminds me of the solar collector that Grapple wanted to build.  It's nothing to get excited about, but it's hard to get mad since Quintessons didn't transform.  My main gripe is that the top of the head is literally balanced on the chins of the faces.  It doesn't lock or secure in any way.

Four of the panels behind the faces are making up the support legs for the tower.  The fifth actually has a doorway behind it.  The end of that flap has the War for Cybertron base-connector bits.  You can unfold and splay out his chair, then connect it to the ramp flap.  The chair has the base connectors on both sides, so you can expand it out further by connecting to Scorponok, Doubledealer, or one of the other figures that use that connector.  The instructions tell you to put the gun/tool on top of the cage, and there's really nowhere else I found that you can stick it.  The cage doesn't attach to anything; the peg holes on top could stick it to the pegs on the chair, but then it's technically upside-down and you're losing your spot to put the gun.  The cage does open, and you can stick a Titan Master, Micromaster, or some Battle Masters inside, but even a Legends-class figure is too big.

I have mixed feelings about the Judge.  Objectively-speaking, almost any other Voyager-class Transformer does more and is more fun.  The included accessories and transformation seem to be weak attempts to justify a Voyager-class price point on what will be, for most collectors, a statue.  On the other hand, Quintessons were a major part of G1 lore (even if most fictions have rejected the idea of the Quintessons as the Transformers creators), and the Judge does fill a niche (and a whole lot cheaper than XTB's, I might add).  So I'll put it this way- if you can live without Quintessons, you can live without the Judge.  But if you think the Quintessons should be represented in your collection this is a perfectly adequate figure that's a lot cheaper than some of the alternatives so by all means pick one up.

[mikeszekely]

[M'Kyuun]

Well that's interesting. I assume they're going to break the two days up into panels to address their various IPs.  Transformers is really the only one that interests me. They do a beautiful job on their Black Series Star Wars, and Classified GI Joe figs, though. 

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Well that's interesting. I assume they're going to break the two days up into panels to address their various IPs.  Transformers is really the only one that interests me. They do a beautiful job on their Black Series Star Wars, and Classified GI Joe figs, though. 

Hasbro's really come around on adult collectors.  Not just the SW Black series and the GI Joe Classified, but they've got the Power Rangers Lightning Collection and a recently-launched Ghostbusters Plasma series.  But like yourself I'm really just curious to hear about Transformers.  That date coincides with the reveal of the next Galactic Odyssey pack.

 

EDIT: TFW has a bit more info up.  Sounds like the Quintesson Pit of Judgement will be available that day.  I'm going to try to get one.

Edited September 1, 2020 by mikeszekely

[M'Kyuun]

I wish you every success in scoring a Quintesson set. It holds no interest for me, personally, but I figure I'm in the minority.

I'm kinda curious if the rumor about an Ark is going to prove true. it's part of the artwork on the ER packaging, and I wonder if it's not just there for context. If they do make it as a Titan,  and it's done well, I may consider getting a copy. If so, it'll be my first Titan TF.

I'd still rather have Omega Supreme/the Ark from Animated. Great design. I really hoped they'd trot something like that out on the tenth anniversary of Animated, but AFAIK, they did absolutely nothing to homage it. Shame- it's still one of my favorite TF shows, and toy lines.

Got my Target Seeker two-pack today (it was supposed to come on Saturday, but it got sent to the wrong Post Office and it took them a couple days to get it sorted). Anyway, it's nice to have a complete set standing next to each to other for the first time. I wish the mold was a little better, but whatever. Not crazy about the screaming face on Skywarp, but otherwise he and TC are looking pretty good. Now all I need is Thrust, and I'll have my original Seekers and Coneheads completed for ER. 

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

Got my Target Seeker two-pack today (it was supposed to come on Saturday, but it got sent to the wrong Post Office and it took them a couple days to get it sorted). Anyway, it's nice to have a complete set standing next to each to other for the first time. I wish the mold was a little better, but whatever. Not crazy about the screaming face on Skywarp, but otherwise he and TC are looking pretty good. Now all I need is Thrust, and I'll have my original Seekers and Coneheads completed for ER. 

Congrats!

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

I'm kinda curious if the rumor about an Ark is going to prove true. it's part of the artwork on the ER packaging, and I wonder if it's not just there for context. If they do make it as a Titan,  and it's done well, I may consider getting a copy. If so, it'll be my first Titan TF.

I'd still rather have Omega Supreme/the Ark from Animated. Great design.

Yeah, I'm definitely hoping for more news than just the Pit of Judgement.

If the Ark rumors turn out to be true, who's to say it won't borrow heavily from the Animated design, just WFC-ified?  Personally I'd prefer a Metroplex with ankle pivots and better proportions and a Fortress Maximus that actually turns into the correct alt modes.  Whatever it is, the rumored lanky proportions have me worried.

[M'Kyuun]

Yeah- lanky and Ark , or Fort Max, for that matter, don't really gel. Guess we'll wait and see what comes. 

[mikeszekely]

New Tuesday Generations Selects drop is a two pack of Spinout and Cordon, based on ER Sunstreaker. Not caring for Spinout, but if I gotta take him to get Cordon then oh well. Soaking of Cordon he's cool, they did add the lightbar, but he's lacking in actual police markings so I hope Reprolables gets on that.

Hmm. Now I want Clampdown.

[M'Kyuun]

21 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

New Tuesday Generations Selects drop is a two pack of Spinout and Cordon, based on ER Sunstreaker. Not caring for Spinout, but if I gotta take him to get Cordon then oh well. Soaking of Cordon he's cool, they did add the lightbar, but he's lacking in actual police markings so I hope Reprolables gets on that.

Hmm. Now I want Clampdown.

I found out about this last evening, so by the time I visited Pulse, it was already sold out. Most of the comments I've read, folks only really want Cordon, but are willing to take Spinout in the deal. Same boat here, but admittedly, Spinout looks good. They both benefit from what looks so far to be a good mold. Anyway, I'm not really willing to pay markups on these guys, so unless Pulse restocks it, I probably won't be getting them.

I got my copy of Snapdragon yesterday. I've liked his design since the old G1 days, and I was pretty excited when they announced him for ER, and more so after watching/reading reviews. In hand, I think he's pretty cool. He's definitely way better than the chunk that is Apeface. Anyway, I love his T-rexy dragon mode, his plane mode is good (it has its flaws, but at least it looks like something that would fly, unlike Apeface's winged cube mode), and his bot mode is decent. It's a good update within the standards of this line, and I'm glad that he was released as a part of it. 

[mikeszekely]

Got some stuff from Amazon today, so we're taking a look at Earthrise Deluxe-class Allicon.

My initial thought was that the robot looked a little bland.  Going back and looking at stills from the '86 movie, though, and he's really not too bad.  He could use a little more blue, on the silver bits on his torso and the base of his shoulders spikes.  Maybe white or light gray for the spikes on his arms, and perhaps a little more silver on his legs.  The green flap over his pelvis should be gray, and his biceps should be the same green as the rest of his arms.  I think I might prefer his eyes to be a bit bigger, too.  But really, the most egregious difference is the alt mode arms dangling off his elbows.

Allicon comes with a spear.  That seems fine.

Allicon's head is on a ball joint, and he's got pretty decent up/down tilt.  Turning his head is a little limited, due to how low his head sits in his torso.  His shoulders can rotate, but due to the big 5mm ports on them he can only move them about 60 degrees laterally.  His biceps and wrists swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  His waist can rotate, but you'll have to lift the green flap out of the way.  His hips can move forward, backward, or laterally 90 degrees.  His thighs swivel, and his knees can bend a little over 90 degrees.  His feet can tilt 90 degrees up, nothing down, and his ankles can pivot about 45 degrees.

His spear just slides into his fists.  It's just long enough that he can barely get both hands on it.  The spear can fit into other 5mm ports, but there's a small slot near the head that can fit onto one of a pair of tabs on his back.  That said, he does have a few 5mm ports- one on his back, one on the outside of each shoulder, one on the underside of each forearm, one on the outside of each leg near his ankles, and one under each foot.

He's got one more trick for robot mode.  You can lift the tip of his tail up, then pull it out.  You'll see that it's actually connected via a 5mm peg.

That peg allows him to hold his tail as a sword, which is cool.  On my copy it fits a little loosely in his right hand, but just fine in his left.

Allicon's transformation is very uncomplicated.  The resulting creature is a bit of a disappointment, to be honest.  It's missing the spikes on its snout, and the lack of that silver really stands out more on his feet now.  His monster arms, which should be green and purple, and molded in a light gray and left unpainted.  And he's not streamlined enough, due to the fact that his robot arms do absolutely nothing to hide in this mode, just tucking up against his his sides.  

His jaws can open and close, but he can't turn his head.  His legs have the same articulation as before.  His monster arms can swivel at the shoulder, but they can't move laterally and they don't have bicep swivels, elbow joints, or wrist swivels.

The monster hands can still hold the spear, or you can store it on his back as you did in robot mode.

I get that the Allicon had its share of anime magic in the movie, and that some sacrifices would have to be made to get a Sunbow-looking robot.  But in a line that's given us some cleverly-engineered toys the Allicon feels like an extremely lazy design that I might have given a pass to on a Legends-class figure.  But on a Deluxe?  There's zero excuse for not finding a way store one pair of arms inside his torso and invert them during transformation.  The robot mode is nearly passable but his alt mode is a travesty.  Get him if you're getting the Quintesson Judge and you want to build a little Quintesson force, otherwise the Allicon is a pass in my book.

[M'Kyuun]

It's a shame they put so little effort into this character's figure, as it probably won't see another official release for a long time, if ever, so this was the one shot to do it right and they failed epically. Thanks for the review, Mike. Unfortunately, you only vindicated my already low opinion of this figure.  Passing on it, but it's a bummer to do so.

 

[mikeszekely]

The other figure I got yesterday with the Allicon isn't an Earthrise figure (which, based on the emails I got from Amazon, have mostly been pushed back to next month), but rather another Studio Series figure.  It's Delxue-class Cliffjumper, as seen in the Bumblebee movie.

I think it's natural to want to see how he'd size with Bumblebee from the same movie, but my choice of Jeep Bumblebee is deliberate.  See, Cliffjumper is actually a retool of Jeep Bumblebee.  Yes, many parts have been remolded, and the lower legs and backpack kibble work differently, but the pelvis, thighs, and the entire arms are the same between the two figures.

Does it make for a screen-accurate Cliffjumper, though?  I think so.  I mean, as is often the case with the Studio Series some more painted details would certainly help.  I think the black parts should properly be a more metallic gunmetal color, similar to the paint on the Allicon's legs from yesterday's review.  He's got more kibble than the CGI model, especially on the legs.  And I really wish the translucent plastic had some tint to it, or perhaps even paint behind it, so it'd pop a bit more against the rest of him.  The headlights on his chest get lost in all the red because they're showing the red behind them.

Cliffjumper's sole accessory is am arm cannon.  It's the same mold as Jeep Bee's, but it's painted better.

Cliffjumper's head is on a hinge attached to a ball joint.  The ball joint is cut in such a way that it's really just a swivel, but the hinge allows Cliffjumper to look straight up (required for transformation), although it's not the prettiest due to the hinge being at the back of his head.  His ball-jointed shoulders rotate and move laterally 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows can bend just over 90 degrees.  No wrist or hand articulation.  His waist can swivel.  His hips are on ball joints, so they can move forward over 90 degrees, backward until his legs start getting caught up in his back kibble, and laterally about 75 degrees.  He's got thigh swivels, but they're tight and prone to simply popping off the ball joint instead.  His knees bend 90 degrees.  His feet are connected to a hinged ball joint, so they can shift forward/backward a bit, tilt up and down a little, and he's even got some ankle pivot.

His blaster is designed to slip over his right hand and look like it's blended in.  The instructions also suggest it can be stored in his back kibble, which is true in the sense that you can kind of stash it there, sure, but it doesn't tab or secure in anyway.

As I mentioned before, Cliffjumper is actually a remold of Jeep Bumblebee, so it's impressive how different they appear.  Cliffjumper's actually turned around; heels are the front bumper of his alt mode, while Bee's feet are at the back.  Some of the transformation is quite similar; the way the arms and tires rotate, the way the chest opens up to fold out a panel that covers the head (the grill on the jeep, but the back of Cliff), and the way the transformation ends with back kibble being pushed into place.  The biggest differences are in the legs.  I guess that it's fairly easy to make figures look more different than they are when their alt modes are mostly shells around a robot lying on it's face.

Cliff's alt mode is a very cool Cybertronian car.  Based on Bumblebee's Cybertronian alt mode and some concept art I judge the overall shape of Cliffjumper's alt to be accurate.  However, as with the robot mode, I feel like it could use some more painted details to make thing like the vents on the sides, the exposed engine details under the "wings", and the exhausts on the rear really stand out.  Likewise, my complaint that the translucent plastic should have been tinted or painted underneath still applies.

You can open the front of Cliffjumper (or just not finish closing down all the backpack).  There's no cockpit or anything inside, but there are a pair of slots on the roof.  You can tab his cannon into them, then close everything up.  I enjoy it when a figure's weapons can be stored in alt mode in a way that not just jamming it into a 5mm port on the roof.

When I reviewed Jeep Bee I thought it was one of the better SS Bumblebee figures.  That's mostly true for Cliffjumper, too.  My biggest complaints are the lack of color breakup, and the fact that the leg kibble doesn't stay tabbed into robot mode every well.  Well, that and the fact that most Siege/Earthrise figures in the same price bracket feel like better toys, but I'll chalk some of that up to the chunky G1 designs simply making for better transforming toys than the movieverse.  Cliffjumper gets a recommend from me, unless you'd rather wait for the inevitable yellow Bumblebee repaint.

[mikeszekely]

Courtesy of Ton Ton again, here's a sneak peak at Kingdom Deluxe-class Cheetor.

 

I mean, it's clearly not 100% screen accurate, but I think it might actually do some things (like the cat mode) better than the MP version and it's looking very acceptable for a Deluxe.  I have to admit I'm curious to see the rest of the Kingdom figures, even if I'm not the biggest Beast Wars fan.

[sh9000]

https://tfsource.com/hasbro-transformers/transformers-generations-collaborative-back-to-the-future-gigawatt/

$30 more than Walmart but Walmart doesn’t even have it available to preorder.  I’m going to pass at that price either way.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

https://tfsource.com/hasbro-transformers/transformers-generations-collaborative-back-to-the-future-gigawatt/

$30 more than Walmart but Walmart doesn’t even have it available to preorder.  I’m going to pass at that price either way.

Yeah, that seems a bit much, especially since the Walmart one was supposed to be limited but Hasbro said the figure would get a wider, non-LE release.  I'll wait and see if Pulse or Entertainment Earth gets lists it.

[mikeszekely]

Following up with the earlier leaks of Rattrap and Cheetor, here's a sneak peak at Kingdom Deluxe-class Black Arachnia, again courtesy of Ton Ton.

[mikeszekely]

Kingdom Deluxe-class Warpath