The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[mikeszekely]

Courtesy of Ton Ton, a sneak peak at Studio Series '86 Kup.

Bot mode looks ok.  There's something that looks a little off to me, maybe where his shoulders connect?  The backpack's not ideal, either, but could be worse.

Truck mode looks fine.

In addition to his gun, looks like he comes with his box of Energon Goodies.  And instead of mushroom pegs, it looks like his bicep and thigh swivels are just 5mm pegs, so his legs can pop off after crashing on Quintessa.

[M'Kyuun]

The shoulders sit a little low, but when this is your inspiration, it's not far from the concept. I accept it as being part of the character's design, and since they're going full G1 Movie look with these guys, it's to be expected. Honestly, I think it gets far more right than not. The head sculpt stands out to me particularly- the face is right on. The G1 toy was a very simple design, so I'm glad they added a little complexity to the engineering. The removable limbs may pose an issue down the line for folks that constantly take them on and off, or if there are any mold issues resulting in inherent looseness, but as a gimmick directly relating to a scene from the film in concert with Hot Rod's tool accessories, I think it's a really nice nod that we normally only see with MP figs. I'm liking where they're going with the SS line so far, as it relates to the '86 Movie. 

Again I lament that Arcee wasn't part of it. There are unused tabs and such in her car shell that lead me to believe that she may have had a more involved design at some point that was ultimately scrapped. If so, too bad.

I'm not a Bay fan at all, but complex and well done toys intrigue me. I watched TonTon's group review of the Bayformer MPM figs yesterday, and was struck by how clever much of the engineering that went into them is. The only fig that I didn't care for was Ironhide due to where his shoulders attach, but overall I thought it still looked better than the MP version in truck mode, as it manages to hide the robot stuff better. I never liked the obvious robo-toes hanging out by the back wheels on the MP version. Anyway, toy person that I am, I was impressed with them. In my estimation, they're easily some of the best deluxe and voyager scaled figs among the various Bayformer toy lines over the years.

[sh9000]

Edited September 23, 2020 by sh9000

[tekering]

Those guys are owed a public apology for War For Cybertron: Siege.  Choosing to employ non-union voice talent insulted their craft and betrayed their legacy.  

[M'Kyuun]

I wish they had the times for the various panels listed. I'm guessing they're just going to post separate vids for everything rather than just do a constant live stream. IDK. If anyone has clarity, help a brother out.

And yeah, it's a bit crappy to not use the voices for Op and Megs in your new show, but feature them in your con. Bit of a slap.

[sh9000]

https://hasbropulse.com/collections/pulsecon-exclusives

[mikeszekely]

I guess Pulsecon is officially the 26th, but stuff's starting.  I myself nabbed the Quintesson Pit of Judgement from the exclusives that @sh9000 linked (note that you have to be a Pulse Premium member to buy today, otherwise they're holding back stock for tomorrow).

Kingdom will be officially announced.  Promo material is coming out.  In addition to Rattrap and Cheetor we're getting our first looks at Megatron and Cyclonus.

Megatron's back is looking a little kibble heavy, but Cyclonus is looking good.  I have to say, though, I'm really not clear on how Hasbro's deciding on what goes in War for Cybertron/Kingdom and what goes in Studio Series '86.

Walmart's got listings for what we presume is the first wave, and it looks like the price of Deluxes is going up a bit to $23.  But we should be getting

Core-class

Rattrap

Deluxe-class

Cheetor
Black Arachnia
Warpath

Voyager-class

Optimus Primal
Cyclonus

Leader-class

Megatron

Lastly, if you're not interested in paying a small fortune for Earthrise Bluestreak, I have good news!  It's expected that he'll be available to (pre)order as soon as this weekend as an Amazon-exclusive.

[M'Kyuun]

Megatron and Cyclonus look amazing. There's something about Cyclonus' face that bugs me, though. Good lineup of figs coming; I just hope they're fairly easy to get at retail without paying markups.

[mikeszekely]

I finally got my copy of Earthrise Deluxe-class Smokescreen.  (Since the board upgrade it looks like my pictures look little in the post, but if you click on them they'll be the regular size.)

If you remember my review of Siege Prowl you'll know I really liked that mold (I better... I bought it four times).  The new Earthrise mold is similar, but also different.  And those differences are, mostly, for the best.

For starters, despite some overall similarities in the engineering and despite ostensibly being the same exact character I don't believe they share any parts.  I was impressed by this- I figured that the stuff you'd see in alt mode would be different, but stuff like the hands, shoulders, arms, hips, thighs, crotch, and head that could totally have been recycled between molds wasn't.  The Earthrise mold winds up with fewer greebles, thicker thighs and waist, slimmer arms, and a head that's set back a little further.  At a glance his thighs appear to be the same size, but you can see that his hips and pelvis actually sit a bit higher, so the Earthrise figure winds up with better proportions and more cartoon accuracy.  Maybe too much- Earthrise Smokescreen's face is white, versus silver on the Siege version.  His thighs are white, too (Siege actually had black thighs, but I painted them silver on my copy).  For a Deluxe-class I was surprised to find that he's even got panels that swivel around to cover the gaps on the inside of his feet, similar to he MP Datsuns, plus he's got all-new heel spurs.

If I have a complaint about this mold, it might be the accessories.  Don't get me wrong, the rifle is a good, geewunny sculpt that's an improvement over the Siege version.  The shoulder cannons, though... well, it's a bit obvious that they were sculpted for Bluestreak, not Smokescreen.  Siege Smokescreen's are much closer to the cartoon than ER Smokescreen's.  Also, why blue?  White would match the face and thighs of the figure better, and while I honestly don't care that the gun is blue it really makes the shoulder cannons look wrong.

Smokescreen's head is on a ball joint.  He can swivel it, and he can look up a bit, but due to the shape of his head he can't look down or tilt his head sideways (when I get my hands on ER Prowl or Bluestreak I'll report on whether or not it's the same).  His shoulders can rotate and, properly transformed, extend 90 degrees laterally.  I say "properly transformed because the top of his body doesn't lock in at the torso, like the Siege mold.  Instead it locks in at the shoulders.  If the shoulders are untabbed he can get closer to 140 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend over 90 degrees.  His wrists can swivel.  His waist can swivel.  His hips can go around 90 degrees forward and laterally, but they bump into his waist so he can only get around 30 degrees backward.  His thighs can swivel, and his knees bend almost 180 degrees.  His feet can tilt down, a little up, and his ankles can pivot nearly 90 degrees.

His gun pegs into either hand, and itself has a 5mm peg on either side.  His shoulder cannons have tabs to sit on his shoulders, and peg holes that allow it to attach to his gun if you prefer.  Additionally, he's got a 5mm peg hole on the outside of either shoulder, on the outside of either forearm, on the outside of either leg just below his knee, one under either heel, and one on his back.

Oh, and if you were curious, Siege Smokecreen's shoulder cannons do fit on ER Smokescreen.  They don't sit quite flush, but I think I might trim the tabs a bit and give them to ER Smokescreen permanently.

Again, I liked the Siege mold.  While ostensibly a Cybertronian vehicle it looks a lot like it could be a modern or near-future Nissan Z.  The Earthrise mold, though, is about as close as you can get to Datsun 280ZX without paying Nissan a licensing fee.  As I mentioned, much of the engineering is the same.  You still rotate the waist, fold the feet down, and scrunch up the waist.  You still lift the front end, fold the arms under, and close the doors.  The differences are that his abdomen doesn't move and fold under the front of the car, and the flap his head comes through folds behind his chest instead of behind his back.  There are a few differences in clearances, too, with the roof covering part of his lower legs.  Some of the new clearances and engineering make it a bit more difficult to get everything lined up just right.

Again, Smokescreen's alt mode looks really good.  He's got the rally bumper the G1 toy had, plus the blue sides and the red top separated by the white stripes.  I do have some notes, though.  They got the white on the front bumper, but not along the skirt.  There's no black bumper, and while the (not accurate) exhaust pipes might also be black I kind of think they'd look good in silver.  None of the taillights are painted (technically cartoon-accurate and also the way the MP+ Smokescreen is done), nor are his rims.  And, bizarrely, his 38 is now a big ol' 80.  Oh well, I'm sure Toyhax will get right on that.

Note that on my copy the paint is a little sloppy.  I have a chip just under the Autobot insignia on his hood, and some red got onto the white above the rear wheel on the (American) passenger side.

In alt mode Smokescreen really just has access to the one 5mm port, the one on his roof.  You can plug in his rifle there, and either leave his shoulder cannons on the hood (where they plug in on the robot mode), or use the pegs on the gun and the holes on the shoulder cannons to combine them.  If you're planning on using Siege Smokescreen's shoulder cannons instead they too can attach to ER Smokescreen's rifle or remain on the hood.

Smokescreen is my least favorite of the Datsuns, but I have to say that Hasbro took everything I liked about the Siege mold and made it better, and while I expect to like it even better as Prowl or Bluestreak for now Smokescreen is my second-favorite Earthrise release behind Prime.  And I like Prime and Smokescreen for basically the same reasons- reasonably-close G1 alt modes, simple and fun transformations, and cartoon-accurate robot modes with articulation I could only dream of as a kid.  My only complaints, which may be specific to Smokescreen, are the blue Bluestreak-style shoulder cannons, some details that could have used a little more paint, and the fact that he's sporting the wrong number.  Swiping a few of Siege Smokescreen's accessories fixes the first issue, and hopefully Toyhax will fix the other two.  Either way, this is a figure I can highly recommend.

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Smokescreen is my least favorite of the Datsuns, but I have to say that Hasbro took everything I liked about the Siege mold and made it better, and while I expect to like it even better as Prowl or Bluestreak for now Smokescreen is my second-favorite Earthrise release behind Prime.  And I like Prime and Smokescreen for basically the same reasons- reasonably-close G1 alt modes, simple and fun transformations, and cartoon-accurate robot modes with articulation I could only dream of as a kid.  My only complaints, which may be specific to Smokescreen, are the blue Bluestreak-style shoulder cannons, some details that could have used a little more paint, and the fact that he's sporting the wrong number.  Swiping a few of Siege Smokescreen's accessories fixes the first issue, and hopefully Toyhax will fix the other two.  Either way, this is a figure I can highly recommend.

Smokescreen is my least favorite of the Datsuns, as well, but the Datsun general design is my favorite among G1 TFs. Prowl was my first Transformer toy back in '84, and I remain enamored with that design to this day. I also liked the Siege design, which took some small liberties (the "slipper" feet, for example), but as a Cybertronian vehicle which skews very close to its Earth mode counterpart, I like it. I thought I had all the Siege Datsun dudes, too, but apparently I never picked up Silverstreak, an omission I fully intend to rectify with the ER figures- I'll have the full G1 complement. You noted a number of things I pointed out with my mini-review back on the 12th, especially the colorations of the weapons, the odd choice of using 80  instead of the traditional 38, and the lack of paint on his tail lights and exhausts. I was also pleasantly surprised that there were no carryover parts on the Earthrise figure; it's a completely new mold, which is nice, considering the heavy mold reusage among other figs, such as Megs and Soundwave. Having the Siege toy, I didn't even bother with ER Megatron; I vehemently despise the huge awkward cannon/sword they gave him, and the bit of retooling to connect his treads isn't enough reason for me to double dip on that mold. Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting the rest of the ER Datsun figs, as it's a really well done update, and you echo my sentiments perfectly with your apt description of  this figure's having the cartoon accuracy and articulation that we could only dream of as kids. I heartily second the recommendation.

[Negotiator]

smokescreen

[mikeszekely]

16 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Having the Siege toy, I didn't even bother with ER Megatron; I vehemently despise the huge awkward cannon/sword they gave him, and the bit of retooling to connect his treads isn't enough reason for me to double dip on that mold.

I hate the partsforming, too, but if you're going for mostly robot mode I'd still suggest picking him up.  The new head sculpt and torso look better and have improved proportions, the joints on mine were better, and the flap his head is on stops without sinking into his chest the way Siege's does.  Yeah, it's not my favorite Earthrise figure, and for a character like Megatron I wish it had the impact that Earthrise Optimus did, but I like it better than the Siege version.

Anyway... my Centurion Drone came today, somewhat unexpectedly as Pulse never sent me an email shipping notice.  Kind of makes me wonder if anything else I'd preordered there (Shattered Glass Prime and Ratchet, Studio Series Universal Park Megatron, Neflix War for Cybertron Spoiler Nemesis Prime, Cordon and Spinout, G2 Megatron, Bug Bite, Maverick, Tigertrack, Super Megatron, Sunstreaker, Trailbreaker, & the Quintesson Pit of Judgement) is on the way without my knowing.

Not much to say about the Drone itself, as it's a repaint of Brunt with nothing remolded.  I wish it were more visually distinct, but when they were designing Brunt they basically took the G1 toy and figured out how to take it apart and slap it back together into a robot that looked like the Centurion Drone seen in IDW's Stormbringer comic book, so changing the colors and selling it as the Centurion Drone was the best we could hope for.  Oh well.  Brunt's my favorite of the Weaponizers, so I'm not really complaining about another use of the mold.

Of course, for many the selling point wasn't the Drone, it was the extra accessory pack that came with it.  There's nothing in the included instructions that mention what each accessory is meant to be for, although there's a picture of each of them on inside of the box lid.

You get a cage.  Presumably Siege Ravage will fit in there; I can't find mine for some reason.  I did try the official MP one, it does NOT fit.  Weirdly, the cage seems to be made of a translucent plastic painted black, and the door on the cage doesn't open.  Instead the entire thing splits in half.

You get a pair of these Energon cubes.  One is designed to look full, the other half drained with the Energon sloshing around in it.  Both have neat little bubbles molded into the front face.  Unfortunately there is no back face, exposing the hollowness of the cubes.  Weirdly, their picture on the box suggests they were planned to have 5mm pegs, so you could have figures holding them, but instead there's just a tiny hole on the bottom corner.  This hold can fit on the little nubs that blast effects can go onto, presumably so you can peg them onto a base.

You get a jetpack.  It's molded as one piece with no paint, and it's hollow on the back side.  If we assume this is Sideswipe's, which Prime borrowed in "More Than Meets the Eye, Part 3" then you could probably get away with the exhaust bells being that color, but the jetpack should be red.  Alternatively, this color is fine for the jetpack but the engine bells should be black or gunmetal if it's one of the ones they grabbed from the wall in "Dinobot Island, Part 2".  Regardless, you'll see it has two pegs on the hollow side.

The lower peg fits into Sideswipe's back, no problems.  The upper peg fits into the hole on Earthrise Prime's back (if you don't have or remove the Go Better back filler).  The contours of the jetpack seems designed with these figures in mind, although there may be other figures it works with.  I can say that it won't work with Siege Prime, though, due to him having two off-center holes on his back.

Speaking of Prime, you get a little tiny figurine of him.  It's unpainted, and the sculpt is a little soft.  Not sure what its intended use is, aside from making your Titan-class figures look bigger.

Also included for Prime is a Roller.  It's very reminiscent of the G1 toy, which is to say that the sculpting is fine but there's no paint and Hasbro made it from as few parts as possible.  It's a bit of a step back from the ZXB Roller, but I prefer it to Nonnef's Roller.  Which is fine; the ZXB Roller can stay with my souped up Earthrise Prime's trailer, and I'll save the Hasbro on for Nemesis Prime's trailer.  Nonnef's can go with Dead Prime's trailer.

Flipping it over, you can see that Roller is also quite hollow, but there's a peg hole near the back.  There's actually a peg in front of the repair drone you can plug roller onto in Prime's trailer... or you could if you don't have the ZXB kit, which comes with a dock for their Roller that plugs in there.  Again, no biggie, since I'm using the ZXB Roller and ZXB kit on Earthrise Prime's trailer but I'm planning on sticking this Roller in Nemesis Prime's trailer.

Also for Prime, this kit includes a new ion rifle (top) with a more cartoon-accurate sculpt than Siege Prime's rifle (second) and better proportions than Earthrise Prime's rifle (third).  The question, though, is which Prime was it intended for?  It's noticeably larger than the other rifles, and larger than the Matrix Workshop rifle I'd been using.

Actually, here's Earthrise Prime with the new rifle (left) and the Matrix Workshop rifle (right), and I can safely say I'll be sticking with the Matrix Workshop one.  I almost wonder if a group was brainstorming ideas for this accessory pack and someone said, "how about a more cartoon-accurate rifle for Leader Prime," meaning Earthrise Prime, and the guy in charge of whipping up the CAD files forgot ER Prime is in the Leader-class and thought they were talking about the Power of the Primes Leader-class figure.

One last accessory for Prime, and one for Megatron.  You get an Energon Axe (left), compared with the ZXB version, and an Energon Mace.  Neither accessory has any articulation.

Prime's axe has a peg inside the ball at the base, so it just slips onto either fist and rotating said fist will change the angle of the blade.  Looks pretty good from some angles, but you can clearly see is fist on the one side.  Megatron's mace seems designed with the Earthrise mold in mind (the Siege version actually has different hands); you can see that the one side is open for the back of his hand, and the cut of the plastic around the handle matches the angle of his fingers.  That means that it only fits on his right hand, an the fit is very tight.  The peg might be a bit too thick, which isn't good on clear plastic.

And speaking of Megatron, you get a little replica of Megatron's gun mode.  You also get a replica of Shockwave's gun mode.  Megatron's has some black paint on the handle, scope, and silencer so it looks fairly good.  Shockwave's is unfortunately just cast in that light gray plastic, no paint at all, so it's hard to tell at a glance that it's supposed to be Shockwave.  Both guns have the little pegs at the tip for use with Siege blast effect parts.  Megatron's silencer can be removed, and guess what?  It pegs onto another blast effect peg, so you can still use the blast effects without the silencer.

Megatron and Shockwave both have handles designed to fit into 5mm peg holes, so they can be wielded by a trusted (or not-so-trusted) lieutenant.  Again, Shockwave really needed some color, but Megatron looks quite nice in Starscream's grip.

Speaking of tiny alt modes, you get a little Reflector camera and a little Soundwave tape deck.  Soundwave has some blue paint and almost looks good, he just needed a little yellow.  Reflector has no paint.  Both figures are hollow on the back.

Reflector has a 5mm peg on his base, so you can have a figure awkwardly hold him.  And I like that the sculpt looks a bit like the Siege camera set from last year, I just wish it had some paint and weren't so hollow.

Soundwave lacks such a peg, so he can't really be held so well.  He does have a little peg hole for a blast effect nub, like the Energon cubes, though.

Finally, there are these last four accessories, a satellite dish, two guns, and a drill.  Without instructions I had to double check, but the pistol is supposed to be a cartoon-style gun for Bumblebee.  Since he's not out yet I have Hubcap modeling it.  The drill is for Ironhide.  The other gun is Cliffjumper's glass-gas gun.  This is good stuff; I'm going to have four copies of this mold when all's said and done, and it's nice that they won't all have to have a bazooka.  Lastly, the satellite dish is supposed to be the one Trailbreaker used in "More Than Meets the Eye, Part 2."  Since I don't have Trailbreaker yet I have Sideswipe modeling it.  Indeed, as it just plugs into any 5mm port you could also use it to spruce up a Titan base.

If you got the Drone at the original preorder price of $20 then this set was a good value, as you're basically buying a repaint of Brunt at the regular Deluxe-class price and getting a whole bunch of extra stuff for free.  At the $30 price it went up to the value is a bit diminished.  Don't get me wrong, $20 for the figure means $10 for all the accessories, and that's actually still pretty inexpensive compared to Nonnef, Dr. Wu, DNA, or the Chinese 3D-printed stuff from groups like Go Better or Matrix Workshop.  But the hollow parts and lack of paint do come across as lower quality than those guys, and the ridiculously large ion rifle for Prime was a bad swing and a miss.  It becomes a case of "you get what you pay for," and if some of these upgrades were things you really cared about you were probably better off paying more for a 3rd party.  I do like the guns included in the set, though, and I rather wish that Hasbro would consider doing something like this again with more cartoon-style guns for other figures that either didn't come with a gun, like most of the Legends-class figures from the Prime Wars Trilogy, or figures that came with some strange and not-at-all cartoon-accurate weapons like Siege Ironhide or Earthrise Wheeljack.

[sh9000]

On 9/23/2020 at 7:47 AM, M'Kyuun said:

I wish they had the times for the various panels listed. I'm guessing they're just going to post separate vids for everything rather than just do a constant live stream. IDK. If anyone has clarity, help a brother out.

And yeah, it's a bit crappy to not use the voices for Op and Megs in your new show, but feature them in your con. Bit of a slap.

[M'Kyuun]

Thanks! After I posted, I discovered the sched for both days on the Pulse site. Looking forward to Zoids news and hopefully more TF reveals beyond the ones we already know about. I'm also curious about GI Joe, even though I don't collect it. The 80's toyline was fantastic, and many of those designs would hold up today IMHO.

Kinda sad that M.A.S.K. isn't part of the schedule; I was hoping it'd make a comeback. I'd love to see them do a more mature series like GI Joe: Resolute for an updated M.A.S.K. revival.

[obakesan]

Masterpiece Starsceam 2.0

More Masterpiece Starsceam 2.0 photos. Check out that Gerwalk mode. Haha.

Edited September 26, 2020 by obakesan

[mikeszekely]

Speaking of Starscreams, apparently MPM Starscream is already half-off on clearance at some Targets.  Looks like they're clearing the space to make room for MPM Ratchet.

[mikeszekely]

The second (actually the third, but the second is getting skipped for now) Galactic Encounters pack will be a re-issue of the Legends-class Autobot clones.  Amazon-exclusive, preorders start at 5:00pm EDT.

The Prime 10th anniversary reissues are also going up at 5:00, but they'll be on Pulse.

The Kingdom reveal officially happened.  Expect preorders to start around 5:00 as Hasbro and partners get them up.

Core-class

Optimus Prime

Vertebreak

Rattrap

Deluxe-class

Cheetor

Black Arachnia

Warpath

Paleotrex

Voyager-class

Cyclonus

Optimus Primal

Leader-class

Megatron

I'm not thinking I'm a big fan of the Core-class, so I'll probably skip everyone but Rattrap.  I do believe I'm in on the rest.

Still hoping for some Studio Series '86 news.  And to hear what's up with Thrust and Bluestreak.

Edited September 26, 2020 by mikeszekely

[mikeszekely]

Promo artwork for Kingdom.  Titan-class Ark confirmed, I'd say.  I also see more Fossilizers, more Beast Wars characters (Rhinox and Waspinator, plus a bird and another guy I'm not familiar with).  On the G1 side we've got Huffer, Gears, Galvatron, Inferno, and Tracks who I don't think I have been formally announced.  And while it could just be a stylistic choice, dare I hope for a new Earth-mode Ultra Magnus?

[Negotiator]

are any of these announced today exclusive to a store?

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Promo artwork for Kingdom.  Titan-class Ark confirmed, I'd say.  I also see more Fossilizers, more Beast Wars characters (Rhinox and Waspinator, plus a bird and another guy I'm not familiar with).  On the G1 side we've got Huffer, Gears, Galvatron, Inferno, and Tracks who I don't think I have been formally announced.  And while it could just be a stylistic choice, dare I hope for a new Earth-mode Ultra Magnus?

The falcon is most likely Airrazor, which is a nice female addition to the Maximal bunch. In the bottom left, they're doing Polar Claw! He was the first BW fig I bought. Having never featured in the show, I'm pleasantly surprised they're doing an update of him rather than some of the missing characters from this scene that featured prominently in the show- Scorponok, Tarantulas, Terrorsaur, Dinobot, Tigatron, and so many others.  Referring back to the poster, I wish they'd shown Huffer- I've been waiting for a proper update for 35 years, and I hope they do a nice job with his new toy. I have third party filling in for now, but I want an official fig for the CHUG collection. I'm also surprised they didn't roll out the Ark as their big outro from Transformers, although I enjoyed the panel with Peter Cullen and Frank Welker- true gentlemen. Huge congrats to Gregg Berger, the latest addition to the TF Hall of Fame. It wouldn't have been the same without him.

I'm thinking UM is an Earth mode version, which is good.

As for the reveals, I'm down for all except core class OP, and possibly Rattrap, as I like the design of the T30 better. But if I see it, I'll probably pick it up too. I want that Autobot Clone pack; I missed out them when they first released during TR, and I'm determined to get them this time. I just hope the scalpers don't swoop in and buy 'em up before the rest of us get a chance. I'm not sure where they're going to be sold, as Jackie mentioned Biosphera, but Google did me no favors. I hope they're on Pulse.

21 minutes ago, Negotiator said:

are any of these announced today exclusive to a store?

I believe so, but but I don't recall which ones to what stores. Walmart was mentioned, of course. Big surprise there.

 

Edited September 26, 2020 by M'Kyuun

[technoblue]

Sweet. First on my list to pre-order will be TF Prime Breakdown, since I foolishly sold off my Takara Legends version some time ago, and the extra flying Vehicon will be a cool bonus to add to my small Vehicon army. Kingdom looks like a cool mashup, but I'm not going to jump in the deep end this time around. I'll be sticking with the classic TV/Movie bots.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, Negotiator said:

are any of these announced today exclusive to a store?

Yes.  The TF Prime reissues are Pulse-exclusive, and the Autobot Clones are Amazon-exclusive.  The Kingdom stuff is all mainline stuff and should be available everywhere.

EDIT: Pulse is down, with a message saying they'll be back at 5:00.

Edited September 26, 2020 by mikeszekely

[mikeszekely]

Got my orders in for Breakdown/Vehicon and the Clones.

Here's the link for the Clones.

Here's the link for Breakdown and the Jet Vehicon.

Here's the link for Prime Megatron.

 

EDIT: The Kingdom stuff is live on Amazon and Pulse, didn't look anywhere else but I ordered all but Vertebreak and Core Prime.

Edited September 26, 2020 by mikeszekely

[technoblue]

Got my order in for the Breakdown/Vehicon set too at the top of the hour. I also picked up Cyclonus and Warpath. That will do it for me at the moment. 

[M'Kyuun]

Got the Clones, Breakdown & Vehicon, and most of the new Kingdoms/'86 SS stuff PO'd.  I'm breathing a huge sigh of relief that that's over. It's not quite the midnight madness of trying to score a new Valk, but with all the scalping that goes on, plus legit consumer demand by fans, I still have high anxiety until I get the order placed and confirmed. It was an expensive day, but worth it in the end.

I wish more of the characters from the poster were available for PO, but I guess it's just as well to spread the love a little. Too, it'd be a lot tougher on those suffering the financial difficulties imposed by the pandemic, so better to limit the numbers of new releases. I'm not sure if that figures into Hasbro's planning, but I hope it's a small mercy nonetheless.

 

Mine eyes are coveting the new Classified G.I. Joe figs, as well as some of the Black and Vintage SW figs. But I'm trying to keep my collecting from spiraling out of control. Still, as an 80's kid looking at the detail on these toys, especially the faces, I'm super impressed with what Hasbro is doing. I really enjoyed this morning's G.I. Joe panel; there's definitely passion and a lot of thought put into these figures, and it was cool to hear the designers themselves geeking out over these things. FWIW, I think they should be proud of what they're doing with the Joes and Star Wars.

Zoids was a bit disappointing. I expected Wild to be part of the new line, but I was hoping they'd reissue some of the old kits, or have some new kits aimed at an older audience in the vein of the old kits. I have a few Zoids: Wild kits already, and while they're fun and have their charm, ultimately they're intended for younger kids, and it would have been nice to have them in concert with a line aimed at the teen/adult market as well. Hopefully Wild will do well ushering in opportunities for a mature line to follow. It'd be wonderful, too, if they made a contract or got a license to distribute the Kotobukiya kits.

Edit- I'm glad I got my Po's in when I did; an hour and ten minutes after they went up for PO on Pulse, Kingdom Megatron  and Cyclonus are sold out. Crazy.

Edited September 26, 2020 by M'Kyuun

[mikeszekely]

Well, not to take away from the excitement of all the new stuff today, but we still gotta wrap up Earthrise.  And with that I give you Deluxe-class Airwave, the second (and apparently last) of the Modulators.

Airwave, like his Autobot counterpart Ironworks, is not a modern version of a G1 character.  They're both G1 Micromaster bases who were assigned the names of those bases pack-in Micromasters.  So this time, instead of being a burgundy Micromaster F-14, Airwave is is the airport that burgundy F-14 came with.

Of course that means that I don't have a lot to talk about concerning the robot mode aesthetic.  Ironworks at least made some effort to call back to the Micromaster version with his yellow arms ad the asymmetric use of red on his chest, but Airwave really has no connection to the Micromaster, and I have no insight into what the designers were going for.  I will say that I actually didn't realize until I had him in hand that he's a Decepticon (his badge is on his left arm).  The colors just struck me as Autobot, I guess.

Modulators share a gimmick with Weaponizers in that they don't really come with accessories, they are accessories.  This is how many pieces you can pull Airwave apart into (actually, there are panels on his lower legs that can come off, too, as they're just connected via the ramp connectors they started employing with Omega Supreme).  Was that what Hasbro thought we liked about Weaponizers?  That they came apart?

Anyway... Airwave's head looks like it might be on a ball joint, but due to the shape of his head it only swivels.  There is, however, a transformation hinge that you can use to get him to look up, though.  His shoulders rotate and can move laterally 90 degrees (if you move the black part from his shoulder right shoulder.  His biceps can swivel... as long as his elbows aren't bent, because they apparently get in the way of the swivel.  His elbows bend 90 degrees, by the way.  His left hand has no articulation.  His right hand is a gun formed by two parts that can be removed.  His waist can swivel.  His hips can move 90 degrees laterally and over 90 degrees forward or backward.  He has thigh swivels where the silver hips meet the blue on his thighs.  His knees bend 90 degrees, and they also swivel again just below the knee due to the way he's constructed.  His feet can't tilt up or down, but he does have 90 degrees of ankle pivot.

The instructions have his gun hand and the other gun-looking part plugged into his shoulder.  He also has a peg hole for a left hand, peg holes under each foot, peg holes on the backs of his ankles, peg holes on the backs of his thighs, and one on the back of his head.  He's got a peg on either side of his head, in his chest, on his right forearm, and one on each shin.  Plus, the two parts that make up his gun hand each have a peg, as does the gun-thing they suggest plugging into his shoulder.

Like Ironworks, you don't transform Airwave so much as you rip him apart and then put him back together in another configuration.  Wait... was that what Hasbro thought was cool about the Weaponizers?  Ripping them apart?  Is that why Hasbro thought we'd like their re-imagined Micromaster bases as much as guys that you can use as guns?  Anyway, what alt modes you come up with for Airwave are going to depend on how you stick him back together, but the instructions do suggest a few.  The first is a kind of tiny airport, with a single building and traffic control tower and a runway.  It's kind of similar to the G1 airport base in that it has a building with a tower and a runway.  The tower is round now, not rectangular, and black instead of orange.  The building is, I supposed, molded to look like it has windows, but they're not as obvious as the G1 toy's stickers, and he doesn't have the big orange hanger door.  The runway can't ramp down like the G1 toy, but it does end on both sides with the connectors that connect it to other bases.  This mode is pretty ok.

Rip the airport apart, stick it back together, and you get this, a sort of AA emplacement.  It's loosely a version of the G1 toy's other mode, in that it has a flat bottom and a hinged roof with two missile/guns on it.  It doesn't have the spot for the Micromaster Airwave to hide, though, because it's busy with the rest of ER Airwave's parts.  The gun/missiles are also black instead of orange, which is kind of weird because I think they were actually cast in orange plastic and painted black.  I'm really not a fan of this mode.  I get what they were going for, I just don't think they pulled it off.

Fortunately, he has one other official mode, and it's basically an aircraft carrier with tank treads.  This mode I actually dig.  Sure, the building section made from his upper torso is a bit bigger than you'd have on actual aircraft carrier but I think it still works.  The fact that this mode passes as a vehicle and not just a base like Ironworks elevates Airwave over him in my book as the top Modulator.

That being said, I'm not really a fan of the Modulators.  Giving me new versions of the robots that came packed with the G1 Citybots was cool.  Designing them to come apart to be used as weapons for other figures, cool.  But the Micromasters weren't really cool the first time around, and a pack of two for $10 hasn't been a great value proposition in modern times.  Frankly, Hasbro doubling-down on Micromasters by giving us their bases as Deluxe-class toys that retain the pull-apart gimmick of the Weaponizers but not the utility was a bad idea, which is probably why they only did four of them (two retail, two Gen Selects repaints) vs nine Weaponizers (four retail, five Gen Selects) out of four molds.  Airwave isn't terrible, but he's not necessary, either.  You can pass on him.  Hopefully the Fossilizers that are replacing Modulators in Kingdom will be more fun.

[mikeszekely]

8 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

The falcon is most likely Airrazor, which is a nice female addition to the Maximal bunch. In the bottom left, they're doing Polar Claw! He was the first BW fig I bought. Having never featured in the show, I'm pleasantly surprised they're doing an update of him rather than some of the missing characters from this scene that featured prominently in the show- Scorponok, Tarantulas, Terrorsaur, Dinobot, Tigatron, and so many others. 

Prepare for disappointment.  Now, this is technically just a rumor, but the word is that this poster was actually concept art they came up with to pitch the Kingdom line in the first place, and not every character should be taken as a confirmed eventual Kingdom release.  As a matter of fact, the word is that Polar Claw and Gears are definitely not coming, as they were planned but cut.

8 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I'm thinking UM is an Earth mode version, which is good.

The same sources for the above are telling me that we are indeed getting an Earth-mode Ultra Magnus.  It'll have a new, more traditional cab but will largely be a retool of the Siege figure.

And while I'm at it, same source is telling me that the Ark's robot mode is based on The Last Autobot from the Marvel G1 continuity. It's going to come with a packed-in Deluxe-class figure.  That figure's alt mode will be Teletraan-1, and it's robot mode will look like the G1 Action Master Mainframe.

Finally, if there's anyone out that that still needs a Leader-class Optimus, the Earthrise figure is expected to get repackaged in a Kingdom box and sold in the first wave.

Edited September 27, 2020 by mikeszekely

[M'Kyuun]

Disappointment acknowledged.  I can understand not doing Polar Claw, although it would have been cool, but Gears was a main player in first season. I was holding out hope that all of the OG bots would get their updates in this line. The Generations toy is fine, although its head is really small and can't turn, but a more faithful G1 update would have been nice.

I hope they don't make kingdom UM a uni-truck like the Siege. I didn't like the Siege version's truck mode at all, but the bot mode was spot on. I figured an Earth mode version would come eventually, but I was hoping for it to be a new mold, or molds if they did the cab and trailer as two separate bits like the original toy. The ER mold turned out so well that I wouldn't mind having it in white to combine with his trailer, even if I generally prefer UM to be all-in-one like the CW version.  A two-piece UM combo would be a nice nod to the original toy and make OP collectors happy as well.

I have yet to buy a titan class figure ( not sure what class Unicron falls into- probably his own), but the idea of the Ark transforming has been appealing to me since Animated (I keep wishing for an Animated Ark/Omega Supreme), and I'm curious to see how this thing turns out. I had to look up The Last Autobot, and Mainframe, as I wasn't familiar with either. Gotta admit, I don't like the look of the bot modes for either based on the comic and toy respectively, but, it is cool that Mainframe , hypothetically, will become Teletraan-I.

[treatment]

from both TFW and TD:

https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/masterpiece-v2-starscream-coming.1196303/page-178#post-18359410

http://www.toysdaily.com/discuz/forum.php?mod=redirect&goto=findpost&ptid=464000&pid=8136030

upcoming new MP Starscream...

 

 

[technoblue]

Toon accuracy confirmed. I've made my peace with that and Takara's MPs. Here's hoping the quality is on point, because it'll be nice to have a seeker in the collection again. Screamer's Gerwalk mode is suitably boss and chunky. It's almost ironic, given MP-03's origins.

[kanedaestes]

I’m really enjoying the toon accuracy as that’s how I was introduced to the franchise. However it is going to suck the amount of money needed to replace all my seekers. As long as they are released at a decent pace I’m ok with it. Curious to see what the cone heads will look like 

[danth]

Wow. A lot I don't like about the new MP Starscream. The giant cover hanging down from the fuselage that exists only to hide the faux cockpit for one. I mean, that's what that is, right? Please tell me I'm wrong. And the fact that they need a faux fuselage, when not even the non-MP seekers have stooped to that.

The underside in alt mode just seems bad generally. The attachment arms for the null rays are an eyesore. And the ugly transition from the leg to the thrust nozzles with weird robot bits sticking out.

Also don't like how busy it looks between the wings from the top view. Looks like a lot of little pieces instead of a smooth airplane surface.

They definitely sacrificed alt mode for robot mode.

It seems like a lot of people don't like the existing MP Seekers. Why is that? Other than some QC issues, the ones I have (SS and Thrust) are amazing. They look awesome in both modes. I'd prefer QC-improved releases of those over this new Seeker design any day.

[mikeszekely]

It looks better than MP-11, but I'm good with Meteor.

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, danth said:

Wow. A lot I don't like about the new MP Starscream. The giant cover hanging down from the fuselage that exists only to hide the faux cockpit for one. I mean, that's what that is, right? Please tell me I'm wrong. And the fact that they need a faux fuselage, when not even the non-MP seekers have stooped to that.

The underside in alt mode just seems bad generally. The attachment arms for the null rays are an eyesore. And the ugly transition from the leg to the thrust nozzles with weird robot bits sticking out.

Also don't like how busy it looks between the wings from the top view. Looks like a lot of little pieces instead of a smooth airplane surface.

They definitely sacrificed alt mode for robot mode.

It seems like a lot of people don't like the existing MP Seekers. Why is that? Other than some QC issues, the ones I have (SS and Thrust) are amazing. They look awesome in both modes. I'd prefer QC-improved releases of those over this new Seeker design any day.

This. I think the first MP Seeker struck a better balance between modes, although I absolutely hated how the cockpit section sat above the shoulders. It just threw off the look in bot mode. But it had a more accurate and aesthetically pleasing F-15 mode. F-15 mode of this new design is a train wreck. Too, why do they need a faux cockpit? Surely they can engineer a better solution, as Maketoys did. The faux cockpit cover in fighter looks awful, too. The forward fuselage , from the angles we're given, looks too skinny from top to bottom, much like the Classics and the Earthrise toys. Not the best. The big hinges necessary to split the wings, another unnecessary bit of engineering, spoil the look of the leading edges. There was certainly a better way to hide the stabs in bot mode without turning the wings into pitas. The exhaust augmenter area looks unfinished and gappy- not very pleasing to these optic sensors. Like most TF jets over the years, they concentrated all their efforts on making the top of the jet look nice, but from every other angle, it's fallacies are clearly apparent for their ugliness and inaccuracies. I think I'll be sticking with Maketoys. Really disappointing, Takara.

[danth]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

although I absolutely hated how the cockpit section sat above the shoulders.

Admittedly, this is my main complaint too. Not a showstopper for me, just an imperfection.

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

turning the wings into pitas.

Lol!