mikeszekely Posted January 3, 2021 Author Posted January 3, 2021 3 hours ago, tekering said: I found G-Creations "Shuraking" Dinobots satisfied that itch for me (although their Swoop was significantly oversized, relative to the others)... Also, either Grimlock was too big or Slag, Sludge, and Snarl are too short. Yeah, I had that set and I wound up selling it off. Sometimes I think about buying them again, if I can find a good deal. They were close, but GCreation made a lot of weird design choices that made things a bit more complicated than they needed to be on a lot of them, especially Grimlock. Like, why was it so important that the combined-mode head store inside Grimlock, but then you needed a filler piece for his neck in dino mode? Well, I'll see how SS Grimlock and Slag turn out, and if they're the right size and Hasbro doesn't do them maybe I'll at least try to find copies of Sludge and Snarl. Speaking of combined mode, I think we had the opposite reaction. I did it once for a review then took him apart and said "never again." I digress... So Beast Wars was an interesting time. See, after kids got tired of Micromasters and Action Masters (even as a kid I thought Transformers that don't transform was a stupid idea) the brand went on hiatus in North America. Sales were still pretty good in Europe, where they got awesome stuff like Thunderclash, so Hasbro tried reviving the brand with Generation 2... which it failed to do. So Hasbro handed the Transformers brand (along with most of their "boys toys" brands) to newly-acquired subsidiary Kenner, and it was Kenner who came up with the idea of transforming organic beasts with the normal and mutant heads. Beast Wars sales were good, and the line is sometimes credited for saving the brand, although I'd point out that Beast Wars has a cartoon, while G2 only got a comic book, and that almost certainly generated more interest than G2 got. Regardless, it's certainly true that for a new generation of kids Beast Wars was their G1. And while G1 will probably always be the staple of Transformers, as we get into 2021 it makes sense that Beast Wars would start popping up again. After all, more time has passed from the premier of Beast Wars and the present (25 years) than from the premier of G1 and the first wave of Classics back in 2006 (22 years). So how about we look at Kingdom Deluxe-class Cheetor? On the one hand, this is probably the most screen-accurate Cheetor toy after the MP version. He doesn't have the weird proportions of the original or even the 2008 Universe figure. His chest is made from a cheetah head, his helmet has the right shape, with the tiny tampoed Maximal symbol on the crest. He's got the round blue shoulders, blue pelvis, and blue shins, and the shins are even properly studded (although the studs are blue instead of gold). He's got kibble flaps on his back, though they wrap around his shoulders instead of rising behind them, and cat legs cross over his back. He's missing a bit of blue on his forearms, but that's actually because this toy has less arm kibble than the MP toy and animation model. On the other hand, I'm not loving the colors. Rather than a deep metallic blue Hasbro seems to have used a periwinkle plastic for some of his parts then a blue paint that matched for his face, legs, and pelvis. Then the rest of him is basically the same yellow plastic, so there's no gold for his robot arms and helmet and no color difference between cheetah and metallic parts of his legs. It's not the worst thing ever, but it definitely could be better. Although in the Beast Wars cartoon the Maximals and Predacons were shown to be much smaller than the Autobots and Decepticons I guess Hasbro's abandoning that scale as impractical. Cheetor is basically the same height to the eyes as Siege Sideswipe. Put with the only other Maximals I have, Core-class Rattrap and 2014 Thrilling 30 Rhinox, and I dare say that looks pretty darn good. Maybe it'll look even better when Rhinox, who's a good figure but could use better joints, gets a rumored update in the third Kingdom wave. If not, though, these three plus Kingdom Primal and Dinobot and I'll be content to have the "core" Maximals. Moving along... Cheetor's sole weapon is this whip/axe made from his alt-mode tail and part of his butt. While not an accessory that came with the original Cheetor, it does seem to be based on a weapon that came with Transmetal Cheetor, so it's not like there isn't a precedent. That said, a potential upgrade kit idea would be the gut-gun used most frequently in the show (I'm cool without the tail gun, though). Cheetor's head is on a ball joint. He can't really look down or tilt his head sideways due to the way the ball socket is cut, but he can look up quite a bit. In fact, he needs to tilt his head up to turn his head father than 60 degrees (which is important to remember, because his head has to turn 180 for transformation). His shoulders rotate and extend laterally over 90 degrees, but his back kibble can get in the way. Due to transformation he's also got forward butterfly joints. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend about 120 degrees. His wrists can swivel, as can his waist. His hips fall a little shy of 90 degrees forward and laterally, and only move a little backwards. His thighs swivel just above the knees, which in turn bend a bit under 90 degrees. His feet can tilt up and down, though, and have a whole 90 degrees of ankle pivot. His tail plugs into his hand for him to hold it as a weapon. I'm not a fan of how it looks, though. The angle of the tail is curved so that his arm would have to be parallel to his body before the blade on it is far enough forward to hit anything in front of him. Again, I'd really love for an aftermarket gut-gun for him. Oh, and as I alluded to yesterday Cheetor does NOT have an abundance of 5mm ports like most of the Siege/Earthrise figure have had. He's really just got the hands and ports in his heels, that's it. Speaking of alt modes, Cheetor transforms into a cheetah. I know, it was a surprise to me, too! Now, I'm not the biggest Beast Wars fan. The show and toyline originally came out when I was in high school and tool cool for "baby toys," and besides if a robot is going to turn into an animal I prefer it to be non-organic. That said, I did watch the show as an adult and I admit it was good. And seeing these three together, yep, that looks right to me. Like I said, I just need Optimus and Dinobot and that's the core group of Maximals. Anything beyond that is a bonus. As with the robot mode, they really did a good job making a more proportional, CGI-accurate Cheetah. Aside from a little blue on his back legs, his robot toes sticking out the back of his cat thighs, and a bit of visible hands on his tummy his robot parts hide well. You also get a bit more paint, with some lighter-colored "fur" on his chest and black spots and facial markings. One thing they didn't put black on, though, is the pupils, which are orange instead of green. This is likely to maintain robot-mode CGI accuracy, where he has orange pupil-less eyes on his chest but turns into a cat with green pupiled eyes (fun fact, the original toy started with orange eyes then got green as a running change). I think I'm ok with orange eyes, I just wish they had pupils. Not that there's a bit of a seem in his chest. No matter how I try the panels seem to want to push back apart. They're a bit finnicky. Cheetor's jaws can open, but he unfortunately doesn't have any head/neck articulation. His cat shoulders are on swivels for rotation and ball joints for 90 degrees of lateral movement and a limited pseudo-bicep swivel. His elbows b end under 90 degrees, and his front paws are on ball joints for up/down tilt and pivoting. His hind legs have swivels at the hips that let you move them very far backward but not really forward. Combined with his knees, which can bend forward no problem but are limited on how far they bend in the anatomically-correct direction, plus the fact that his digitgrade ankle has no articulation (although the paws are, again, on ball joints) and it's hard to get his back legs into many poses that are still anatomically-correct. You're kind of limited to a standing pose and a both-legs-back running pose. I have to give the designers at Hasbro some credit, they've made a Cheetor toy that looks pretty good in both modes with some fairly simple engineering. My biggest complaints are that of color issues and somewhat limited cat-mode articulation, but I think Beast Wars fans will be pretty happy with him. That said, he doesn't feel as solid as the G1 characters in the War for Cybertron line have been. I noticed that with Rattrap, too, and at the time I just wrote it off because he's only a Core class, but with Cheetor now I'm wondering if it's just an inherent difficulty in trying to translate the old shellformer-y Kenner designs into something more modern and CGI accurate? I suppose we'll find out as the line goes on. For now, I think I'd recommend Cheetor to Beast Wars fans, but if you're a G1 purist this isn't the figure that's going to change your mind. Quote
mikeszekely Posted January 3, 2021 Author Posted January 3, 2021 Big leave from an inventory system. It seems to have the entire third wave of Core, Voyager, and Leader class figures for Kingdom plus the third and fourth waves of Deluxes, unless some of them wind up earmarked as store exclusives or Gen Selects. Core: Soundwave Dracodon Deluxe: Wheeljack Scorponok Wingfinger Tracks Pipes Shadow Panther Slammer Waspinator Voyager: Rhinox Tigatron Leader: Galvatron So, I welcome Tracks as he, Gears, and Blaster would about wrap up the Season 1 + 2 Autobots. Not so interested in the Core-class in general. Pipes is the inevitable Huffer repaint; I could take him or leave him. Wheeljack is probably, like Prime and Arcee, a reissue of the Earthrise figure. Slammer has been rumored to be a repaint of Warpath; you know me, I love me the citybot pack-ins, so my only complaint is that I need a better Deluxe-class Scamper. Shadow Panther will surely be a black Cheetor; no real interest there. I like Thrilling 30 Waspinator and Rhinox just fine, but I won't say no to new and improved ones. Scorponok helps fill out what I consider to be the "core" Predacons... now how about Tarantulas and Terrorsaur? Tigatron's a question mark for me, for now. The original toy was just a redeco of Cheetor, and if all Hasbro did was upscale the Kingdom Deluxe to Voyager I might pass. But if it's a new mold, like the MP was, I'll probably get him. Green and white is a good color scheme. But I'm most excited for Galvatron. Mania King is still about the best CHUG-style Galvatron, and as much as I like that toy it's feeling pretty dated. Plus, while I don't have him in hand yet, Studio Series Scourge looks fantastic, and Cyclonus... well, you'll find out what I think on Monday. Quote
M'Kyuun Posted January 3, 2021 Posted January 3, 2021 From the list, Tracks is a character I could take or leave, but since they're releasing him, I'll be getting him. I really wish they'd completed all the Season 1 Minibots, at minimum, as the figs we got for TR/PotP were decent, but it'd be nice to have versions that are even closer to the G1 look and have improved articulation. As for most of the repaints, I don't have much interest, either. Except Pipes- not b/c I have any familiarity with the character, which I don't, but b/c I generally like Huffer's design, and after waiting 37 years for it, I think they did a good job of capturing the essence of G1 Huffer in both modes. It's a nice bonus that he can also tow ER Prime's trailer, which, IIRC, only happened once, in the first season. Pipes will offer a slight remold and slightly different transformation as well as a nice blue color scheme, which looks nice IMHO. I'm also curious to see if Tigatron is a new mold. I have a feeling he will be, as there doesn't seem to be much upscaling of molds in this line. I'm also of the opinion that they should fill out the Predacon ranks with Terrorsaur and Tarantulas, who both featured prominently throughout the series. Not counting Transmetals, AFAIK neither has ever had an update to the original BW toy, so it'd be nice to see that for both. Given the animated size difference between him and Blackarachnia,, who originally shared a toy mold, I'd love to see Tarantulas done as a voyager, as that'd actually make his toy about the size of a real tarantula, which would be awesome. It would also allow for better engineering to try and hide his bot bits, as well as change it up from Blackarachnia's toy. I'd love to see them figure out a way to use his hands as pedipalps, which is what they were intended to represent on the original. Hopefully, one of the designers at Hasbro is a Macross fan, and reads this thread. I was never really a fan of Galvatron's alt mode, and although I liked Leonard Nimoy's personification of the character and voice in The Movie, I vehemently disliked how he was portrayed in both behavior and voice (sorry Frank) in the toon. I couldn't stand eps that he was in. I have the TR version of Galvy, and I like it alright, save for the crappy spring-loaded helmet gimmick and the stupid Headmaster gimmick, of which I've never been a fan. It's a foregone conclusion that the Kingdom version is up against third party precedents who've proven within a reasonable range of accepted standards that a decent G1 accurate Galvatron is possible at CHUG scale. The TR toy obviously had concessions to allow for a third mode, as well as some stylistic touches. Regardless, it does an ok job for my taste, as my feelings about the character are lukewarm to start with. However, I must confess some small curiosity to see just how well they pull him off in this Kingdom version. Cyclonus, OTOH, has always had my attention more for his design than his animated depiction. I've watched a number of reviews of his SS'86 toy, and he's certainly one of my most anticipated figures. I think he could have stood some more paint apps, especially in and around his engine exhausts, but the engineering and the final look of both bot and jet modes is outstanding. The only other niggle I have is that he looks a little too short to me in the legs, although the knees can be adjusted somewhat to add a couple mm of height. It's a completely subjective observation, and honestly, the figure is better than what I'd dared hope for. Can't wait for him. 12 minutes ago, ErikElvis said: Anyone here waiting on unicron? Yep. I still need to get the stuff to build a shelf that'll hold him. Twenty pounds is quite a lot for a single figure, not to mention the height and width. Although not even close to scale, he's still a big fig, and I scarcely have the real estate in my cave to accommodate him. My wife already gives me grief about the lack of room in our house due to my collections, so I can only imagine the level of incredulity when he arrives in his huge-ass box. Sigh. Quote
ErikElvis Posted January 3, 2021 Posted January 3, 2021 Yeah I have no idea what I’m going to do with him. I get the same grief for having toy islands all over the house. Quote
mikeszekely Posted January 3, 2021 Author Posted January 3, 2021 13 hours ago, M'Kyuun said: Hopefully, one of the designers at Hasbro is a Macross fan, and reads this thread. If you're out there, send review samples! Unless you're in HR, then feel free to take up @JB0's suggestion at the top of this page. Anyway, still haven't found a Warpath yet, but I still have my maybe-in-a-month preorder. For now, we're wrapping up the Kingdom Deluxes with Blackarachnia. If I recall correctly Blackarachnia joined the Maximals at some point, right? Well, she's packaged and marked as a Predacon, so her she is with my possibly-soon-to-be-obsolete Thrilling 30 Waspinator, and that works. She doesn't have the shiny gold color of the MP/CGI model, but the yellow-gold plastic and paint they used works well enough for my tastes. She's got the hourglass on her forehead, the Predacon symbol on her collar, the "eyes" on her pelvis, the stripes on her hands, and even the swirl pattern on her chest. While not entirely accurate, the metallic gold around her mouth and chin is different than the yellow-gold on her forehead and most of her face, and I rather like the color breakup. The most immediately noticeably departure from the CGI model is that her spider legs are black instead of gold. The upper segment is molded onto her biceps, so they're also black instead of gold. The insides of her thighs are yellow-gold instead of dark purple, and her feet are black instead of dark purple. The purple is so dark that it gets lost in the black on the CGI model, so black feet don't really bother me, but I do wish they'd done something with her inner thighs. She does have a little backpack, but it sits very flat and doesn't spoil her silhouette too much. Her lone accessory is a mostly-accurate crossbow gun thing. I know the MP version is a bit more detailed and sports a bit more color, but I think this is fine. Blackarachnia's head is on a ball joint at the base of the skull, which by itself provides a swivel and a decent up/down/sideways tilt, but the post is hinged at the base for additional up/down tilt. Her shoulders rotate and can move laterally well beyond 90 degrees. Her biceps swivel, both at the top and the bottom. Technically you'd want to use the swivel just above the elbow where yellow meets black, to keep the spider legs in place on the sides of her arm, but it's a tight joint and tends to pull the black part around with it. Her elbows bend a little over 90 degrees. She doesn't have wrist swivels or, unfortunately, a waist swivel. Her hips can go 90 degrees backward and over 90 degrees laterally, but due to the shape of her pelvis only about 45 degrees forward (a little more if you swing her hip out laterally at the same time). Her thighs swivel, and her knees bend nearly 180 degrees. Her feet can tilt down a little and up a lot, and she's got about 90 degrees of ankle pivot. Her feet are large enough that she's pretty stable, although I wish the up/down ankle hinges where a bit tighter. Really, my biggest grip overall with her robot mode is that her chest doesn't seem to lock in. Like, there's a little groove in her torso and a wedge-shaped tab on the back of her boobs, and I can feel it pushing it, but it immediately pops back out. Oh, and the back of her claws have a 5mm shape for holding her weapon. Like Cheetor she doesn't have a ton of other 5mm ports, but she does have one under each foot and on the back of each calf. So I'm starting to gather that a design goal for the Beast Wars characters in Kingdom is to make robots that are close to the CGI models in the cartoon, but to give them more realistic alt modes. I think that's why they gave Blackarachnia black spider legs instead of gold, and while they put some red markings on her abdomen they didn't put an hourglass on it- real black widows (or redbacks, to our Aussie friends) have the hourglass on their underside, and various species have other markings on the top. Kingdom Blackarachnia borrows a surprising amount of engineering from the MP version. In some ways she's simplfied, with a reduced parts count, but I kind of think that the simplification may have been to her ultimate benefit. Her abdomen doesn't stick up quite as much and isn't as shortened. And while she does still have some yellow-gold from her robot legs (and, to be fair, shoulders) showing it runs horizontally near the base of her abdomen instead of vertically up the sides, and it allows her knee spikes to tuck in a bit better. The tradeoff is that her shoulders aren't hidden as well, but I kind of don't mind it. While they don't stick out like the CGI model, they do remind me of pedipalps that are curled under the head. Her backside comes together fairly well, too, and while they don't make for the pedipalps of the original toy and CGI model I think they make passable spinnerets. While she doesn't have a ton of of articulation or gimmicks in this mode, her robot biceps can rotate between the shoulder and elbow to bring her legs up and in or splay them out, although it's an all-or-nothing deal since the legs themselves are molded to that part. Each leg does have on additional ball joint, though, and that gives you not just the ability for further curl and stretch the legs but also to swivel them back or forward. The joints are strong enough to lift and hold her body off the ground. All-in-all I think she pulls off the spider mode pretty well, but like Cheetor she has a bit of trouble staying together. Her backpack tabs loosely into her thighs to hold her abdomen together, and while her arms are supposed to tab together the tabs are too small and loose; mostly they stay in place by making her claw hands grab onto specially-shaped tabs under her robot feet, but due to the tightness of her bicep swivels moving her spider legs can cause her hands to let go of the tabs. Once you do get everything the way you want it, though, she's fine. Her weapon has a pair of tabs on the edges of the yellow part. These tabs fit into tabs just below her elbow, locking it to her underside like the original and MP versions. I really dig Blackarachnia. She's not a perfect toy by any stretch, but there's clearly an inherent challenge in trying to take the feminine form she had in the cartoon (and that the original toy most definitely did NOT) and turning into a spider that's more proportionally-accurate to the CGI or an actual spider than the original toy was. And while, yes, the MP has the more detailed and accurate robot mode I honestly think this toy pulls off a better spider. She makes for a pretty cool figure that I'd recommend even if you're not a big Beast Wars fan. Quote
M'Kyuun Posted January 3, 2021 Posted January 3, 2021 (edited) Good review, as always, Mike. Since I have the MP, and find it to be a so-so fig engineering-wise when compared to the rest of her BW MP figures, I think that this is ultimately a better attempt. There is, of course, the fact that the toon version was more stylized, but either way, as you mentioned, finding a way to get that toon accurate bot mode to form a fairly accurate representation of a black widow spider poses some serious challenges, and I give Takara-Tomy props for getting both of the Blackarachnia figs as good as they did. All things being equal, based on this review and vid reviews I've watched, this is the better toy, which is how it should be. I like that the legs on this version can actually support the weight of the spider, as it offers far more poseability than the MP, which, unfortunately, just sits on the ground. I'm glad they went the more realistic alt mode direction with these, as it offers some diversity for those of us collecting both MP and Generations. For those who can't afford the MP figs and wish that these were more toon accurate, my hope is that Hasbro will rerelease these guys with more toon accuracy at a later date, as they're well known for repaints and slight remolds, and from what I see, most of these guys just need different heads sculpted to reflect the toon. As for Kingdom Blackarachnia's spider mode, the shoulders , to me, are more reminiscent of way-oversized chelicerae, the appendages which house the venom glands and the fangs, and it would have helped her spider mode greatly had they been cast in black. But, that would have messed up the look of her bot mode, so it's a concession. It also would have been cool had they put little retractable fangs, or small molded fangs on the shoulders. I'm dreaming now. It's always fun to what-if on these things. The claw hands indeed do an alright job masquerading as large and odd shaped spinnerets, but they don't hold a candle to the even odder array of eyes staring at you from the business end of her abdomen. I almost wish they'd left those black, or hit them with a color with less contrast, but the bot mode was certainly the priority here, and in-hand, I'm sure it's not that big of a deal. Considering what an atrocity the original toy was, both as a tarantula and an even worse black widow, this is a well-done take on the character with the best beast mode any Blackarachnia fig has ever sported. She even displaces my beloved Animated Blackarachnia, although to be fair, she was a rather stylized spider to begin with. I'm looking forward to getting my copy whenever she finally ships from Pulse. I took a trip to my local Target today, inspired by reports of these figs popping up in my state, and was met with complete disappointment, as their TF section was pretty well picked over, especially their Generations stuff which was basically four copies of Ironworks, a copy of Doubledealer, and a hand full of two different micromasters, none of which was the shuttle guys, so I walked away dejected and bought an armload of 2021 LEGO sets instead. Ironically, they had two packages of the Decepticon Clones on clearance for $17 a piece. Never thought I'd see that. I didn't know if anyone here needed them at this point, so I left them for some other lucky fans to find. Hopefully fans and not scalpers will pick them up. According to tracking, my Gigawatt is scheduled to be delivered today, so I'm still waiting for it. I just watched Ready Player One a day or so ago, which used the car to pretty good effect, and I'm looking forward to having him in hand. I've always loved the idea of flying cars since I first saw the Shield Flying Car in the old Spiderman and His Amazing Friends cartoon, and later in a friend's comic book that had cut-aways of various Marvel devices including Iron Man's armor. The flight-capable version of the Delorean has always been my favorite, and I'm glad this toy can replicate it. The giant slab of hood as his chest is a bit unfortunate, but livable given the special nature of the fig. Hopefully, more tv nd movie vehicle homages will be forthcoming, as there's a nerdy but cool factor to them that's fun. Gigawatt update; a couple hours after I posted and no Gigawatt on my door, I rechecked my shipping notification for tracking, and now it shows pending with no scheduled delivery date. Bear in mind, I first received my shipping notification on Monday, so tomorrow will be a week, and it's coming from St Paul MN to Spokane, WA, not too far, even by ground. Not a good sign. Fingers crossed I don't receive a destroyed package that's been hastily taped together. Edited January 4, 2021 by M'Kyuun Quote
mikeszekely Posted January 4, 2021 Author Posted January 4, 2021 So, without a copy of Warpath I've gone through the Deluxes. Time to move onto the Kingdom Voyagers, of which I only have one (and it ain't a monkey). So now, I give you the review you've actually been waiting for, Kingdom Voyager-class Cyclonus. Cyclonus is absolutely my favorite of the movie/Season 3 Decepticons. He had a cool robot design, a cool space jet design, and a quiet, loyal, and almost honorable personality uncommon among the Decepticons. And yet, good Cyclonus toys have been rare. The two MP attempts, X-Transbots' Eligos and Fans Toys Quietus, both provided good takes on his robot mode, but Eligos had wonky jet proportions, Quietus had articulation issues, and both had difficult transformations. On the CHUG side things have been even worse. Hasbro gave us a fairly good robot, with good articulation (for the time) but one that's a bit too small, with an unconventional deco, and whose other issues will be more apparent in alt mode. KFC gave us Tempest, a figure that looked the part but was still too small and suffered from novice engineering and poor materials that were common with KFC's early releases. In more recent times Hasbro gave us Combiner Wars Cyclonus, a figure that was finally the right size but suffered immensely from being both a combiner torso and a poorly thought out retool of Silverbolt. It looks like this time, though, things might just be different. Kingdom Cyclonus comes off with a strong first impression, even getting small details right like the line work on his legs and biceps, the orange rectangle in addition to the orange hexagon on his torso, darker purple on his ears and toes, and a color on his hands, thighs, biceps, and face that I'd describe as silver with a hint of lavender. Spin him around and his back is as clean as his front. The complaints I have are mostly minor nitpicks; his lower legs are a little thicker than the animation model, and his head is a little longer. The animation model has the raised bits on the front of his forearms as a the darker purple on his toes and knees, and he sometimes appeared with a dark square painted on his chin like a goatee, but as near as I can tell neither of those details were present in the movie. Oh, and this might be more of a personal preference than an objective issue, but I think I'd have liked it if his colors were all just a bit a darker across the board. And size-wise... well, it kind of depends. See, the joints in his knees and the way they transform means that if you make them as straight as possible he's around a half a head taller than Earthrise Prime, but it'll leave his shins kind of jutting forward with a big gap in the front. If you rotate the lower joint so that his thighs sit more over the middle of his shin he'll lose a bit of height but look a little neater. Either way he should still be a little taller than Prime, as well as Unique Toys' Mania King (who's still probably the best CHUG Galvatron, but a toy that's definitely showing its age). Anyway, while he's not 100% perfect, I think he gets at least 95% for aesthetics. Cycolonus comes with just one accessory, a silver gun that's modeled closely after the gun he used in the animation. Some people might want a more G1 toy-style gun or Target Master partner, but the included gun works just fine for me. Like Blackarachnia, Cyclonus' head is on a ball joint at the base of the skull for a swivel and some up/down/sideways tilt, but a transformation hinge at the base of the post increases his up/down tilt. His shoulders rotate and move laterally 90 degrees (revealing some molded detail on the hinge in the process). His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. His wrists swivel, as does his waist (take that, Fans Toys!). His hips can go 90 degrees forward, backward, and laterally. His thighs swivels, and his knees can bend around 120 degrees. His feet can tilt up, but not down, and his ankles can pivot a little under 45 degrees. His gun can peg into either fist. He has additional 5mm ports on the outside of his shoulders, the outside of his legs, the backs of his forearms, two under each foot, and one on his back. You'd think Cyclonus' jet mode is hard to do. XTB was close, but the wings were a little long front to back and a little short fuselage to wingtip. Fans Toys got a bit closer, but neither had the silvery and darker purple markings on the nose right. Hasbro's first modern Cyclonus had serious gaps in the back where his legs folded up but didn't really connect to make the fuselage. KFC's fusleage was too long and is missing markings, plus the aforementioned amateur engineering and poor materials. And Combiner Wars is a brick with some vaguely Cyclonus-y bits attached. Kingdom Cyclonus is very close. The silvery and dark purple markings on the nose and wings are right. While I wish the wings were a tad longer to the tips they're fairly close to the animation model. Everything comes together tightly; there are some small gaps, but you have to have him at just the right angle to even notice them. From the top, my only real complaint is that his robot biceps are still plainly visible; it's a shame that some kind of fold-out panel couldn't have be devised to cover it. You can also see that some panels just under the cockpit don't sit flush, and his robot torso doesn't exactly blend in with the upper half of the jet. Another minor complaint is that I wish the thrusters on the rear were painted. On the whole, though, it's a very accurate jet mode. More impressively, the transformation is actually rather simple. I can't believe no one else came up with it before now. Cyclonus has landing gear, one under the nose and one on each shin. There's a 5mm port over the canopy that you can plug his gun into, as well as one under each wing on on the sides just behind the wings. Additionally, all four thrusters are 5mm ports, which makes them compatible with Siege effect parts. It's worth noting that he's got a small hole under his crotch that's compatible with flight stands like the one that comes with MP Tracks or Studio Series Soundwave. That works fine for him in robot mode, but in jet mode there really isn't enough space between his legs to fit him onto the stand, which is a bit of a bummer. So, I think I've pointed out enough minor flaws to demonstrate that Cyclonus isn't perfect so I don't oversell him... but now it's time I told you that this is my second-favorite figure in the entire War for Cybertron trilogy, after Earthrise Optimus. Yeah, he's not perfect in little ways that I might expect a Masterpiece figure to be, but for a $30 Voyager he's excellent. Most figures I get I mess with a little, review, and then put away due to a lack of display space but I've had Cyclonus on my desk since I got him because I can't stop playing with him. If they repaint Cyclonus in slightly different colors and sell him as the Armada I'll buy it. Studio Series Scourge has jumped to my most-wanted figure, and I'm really hoping that rumored Kingdom Galvatron pans out. But even if it doesn't, Kingdom Cyclonus is a figure I highly recommend. Quote
mikeszekely Posted January 5, 2021 Author Posted January 5, 2021 Hooray! Looks like I finally got a shipping notice for Thrust! Quote
obakesan Posted January 5, 2021 Posted January 5, 2021 Happy New Year, I don't post much but probably should do so , MP Arcee arrived, and thus couldn't resist a few photos with spike and hot rod. Come on Hot Rod, we have to get to the fight... Move it... Hey Arcee , race ya... Daniel wait... Initial thought seems nice car mode, I'm not a perfectionist as others so I'm happy, need transform her and just worried QC issues. Was bummed when changed MP hound and is rear door panel just fell off , didn't touch it, just had been broken from factory or something. Quote
M'Kyuun Posted January 5, 2021 Posted January 5, 2021 @mikeszekely Great review for Cyclonus, and you echo my sentiments all the way through. I normally don't go in for Cybertronian alt modes, but I absolutely fell in love with the G1 toy's jet mode, and while some of the curviness of the toy's nose was straightened and the design made slightly boxier for the Movie/toon animation, the changes were subtle and he still retained a beautiful jet alt mode that, while futuristic in 1986, wouldn't look so out of place in 2020 if the US or a foreign company produced its like. Too, Cyclonus has the distinction, crappy CW fig notwithstanding, of eschewing the typical boxy-bot-wearing-an-aircraft-shell routine that has been Has-Tak's go-to for the past three decades plus. For so prominent a character in the later seasons of the animation (and I, too, like the sense of nobility they gave him despite being a Decepticon in the toon- it was one of the few good things about the toon at that point), the dearth of Cyclonus toys was remarkable for a long time. Enter Jizai Toys, back in the mid aughts, who created a homemade transforming Cyclonus figure that was nigh perfect for the time, especially given the lack of alternatives. I remember being in awe of that fig, but unfortunately, Jizai's kits were only sold at one or two Japanese venues and in very limited numbers, so acquiring one on this side of the pond was nigh impossible. When KFC first announced their Cyclonus, I recognized it immediately as the Jizai model; I'm still not sure why I never picked one up, but I do remember that KFC was known for quality issues. Anyway, I never got a copy. It shows its age today, especially next to this new Kingdom fig, but there's still a certain charm to it, and for a homemade design, still has good presentation in both modes, so my hat's off to Jizai, whoever he is. The Generations Cyclonus was a bit of an odd duck; I'm assuming it was based on an IDW design, because it sure wasn't G1. Nevertheless, I found it to be an interesting take on the character and a pretty good fig to boot, and again, lacking alternatives, I welcomed him into my CHUG collection with open arms. I still like this figure quite a bit; even with the far more G1 accurate Kingdom version coming, there's still a place for him in my heart and on my shelf. I'm a sentimental old man-child when it comes to my toys. As for the Kingdom version, I can't think of too many other characters for whom I've pined so greatly for a good G1 representation with modern articulation standards. Along with Mike's nitpicks, the only other one I have is that I wish he had hands that could open like ER Prime's. I think that, along with rotating wrists, should be a standard for all these figs, as the old permanent closed fist with a hole in the center is a bit of an anachronism in definite need of a systemic update. However, I can't overstate how happy I am that Has-Tak have taken purposeful strides towards improving articulation and detail in the WFC lines, and though I feel the line has any number of misses, there are a lot of good figs that have come out of it too. Where Classics dangled the possibility of finally getting updated G1 figs as we remembered them, it took a different more stylistic direction, which was cool, but also tinged with a bit of disappointment. Thirteen years later, this G1 fan is finally, for the most part, getting what he's wanted all along, and I'm grateful. Quote
Scyla Posted January 5, 2021 Posted January 5, 2021 (edited) Comprehensive review as always Mike. After seeing how good the Earthrise toys are I’m looking forward to the Galvatron reveal. All other official Galvatron toys where underwhelming or too small (in concept i like the Universe tank version of Galvatron). Please don’t suck. The TR version was such a disappointment. Kapow should send out a payment request for Cyclonus any day now. I wonder if I will request their services in the future after all my preorders are completed since the Brexit is now official. Speaking of payment I hope BBTS will send out their requests for the Kuro Kara Kuri Black Star Saber out soon. They already canceled an order for a black repaint in the past so I hope this doesn’t happen to this one. Edited January 5, 2021 by Scyla Quote
JB0 Posted January 6, 2021 Posted January 6, 2021 On 1/3/2021 at 5:30 PM, M'Kyuun said: I took a trip to my local Target today, inspired by reports of these figs popping up in my state, and was met with complete disappointment, as their TF section was pretty well picked over, especially their Generations stuff which was basically four copies of Ironworks, a copy of Doubledealer, and a hand full of two different micromasters, none of which was the shuttle guys, so I walked away dejected My Target's Transformers section is "I Hope You Like Cyberverse, But We Also Have Siege Shockwave" Quote
mikeszekely Posted January 7, 2021 Author Posted January 7, 2021 Customs? Gen Selects? A third wave of Walmart Netflix toys? No idea. That's the darker blue and green eyes Kingdom Cheetor should have had in the first place. The black made me think Diaclone homage, but then we've got the silver instead of red. Looks like the Siege mold, not the newer Earthrise mold. It's not my favorite mold, but it looks kind of cool. I'd consider it. Megatron colors? Barney? PASS. The super rusty look makes me think Netflix; this mold (along with Sideswipe, Cog, and Refractor) got used a lot for generic filler characters. And, like Ironhide, it's the SIege mold, not the newer Earthrise one. That said, we're (maybe) getting this rusty repaint and not blue Bluestreak? C'mon! Quote
M'Kyuun Posted January 7, 2021 Posted January 7, 2021 If that Cheetor with the dark blue and green eyes is legit, then that's some cold slag Hasbro's tossing at us. That should have been the first release. Blue Bluestreak in both Siege and ER molds please. The rusty one , which I read somewhere is supposed to be dead Barricade, is interesting for the novelty factor, but not really very nice to look at. YMMV I'm about done with the Ironhide molds, both Siege and ER. I like the Siege version better, but ultimately, I feel it was one of the weaker molds in the line, and adding a convertible roof and a new windshield to give him an earthy makeover is like frosting a turd. Underneath, it's still sh!t. I really wish they had put in the effort to make a dedicated mold for the ER Vanette dudes. Maybe in another decade. Got my Gigawatt today after a bit of a shipping scare. He showed up in a pristine box, though, as well as the contents. He was worth waiting for, IMHO. First, he comes in a G1 styled box which really gets the nostalgia juices flowing. The paintwork and the tampo are great, and all the car's salient features from at least the first two films are there. My only complaint is that the Mr. Fusion accessory does not want to peg in on the car and pops off with the slightest provocation. It holds onto the stock of his rifle only slightly better, but again, the least bit of jarring causes it to fall off. I tried to mount it on top of his rifle where there are molded bits for it, but I had no luck getting it to stay on there at all. I'm not sure where the issue lies, but it's a bit of a bummer that it won't stay on very well. As a heavy retool of Siege Sideswipe, the transformation is similar with a additional steps to account for detail bits on his shoulders and to flip out the Flux Capacitor on his chest. Speaking of his chest, it's a big slab of Delorean hood, but in hand, it doesn't really bother me. As film crossovers go, I'm happy with both Gigawatt and Maverick (no interest in getting Ecto-1), and if Hasbro continues to do them this well, I hope there are more to come. Quote
mikeszekely Posted January 8, 2021 Author Posted January 8, 2021 (edited) While running some other errands today I swung by both my local Target and my local Walmart. Target had the new version of Ectotron (I dig the new head and the extra ghost is nice, but I prefer everything else about the first one I already have), some Cybeverse toys, a few Micromasters, and a handful of Deluxe and Voyager Studio Series (not 86) figures, and that's it. Walmart was even worse, just a big empty section with a few Netflix Wheejlacks and a lone Studio Series Soundwave. I gotta say, with just a month or two to go I can wait for the rest of the first-wave Kingdom figures. It's a bit longer of a wait, but I feel like I can hold out for the SS86 Deluxes and Grimlock. But it's taken nearly all of my willpower to not pay scalper prices on ebay for Scourge and Hot Rod. Don't be surprised if I start putting up reviews in a week or so because I cracked by the weekend. EDIT: Oh, does anyone need Earthrise Grapple? I forgot Walmart did have a few... in the clearance section, for $17. No idea what shipping will be to your area, but PM and I'll go back and grab one for you. Edited January 8, 2021 by mikeszekely Quote
mikeszekely Posted January 10, 2021 Author Posted January 10, 2021 (edited) Was digging through some old messages and I came across a lot of Transformers rumors. I wouldn't put a ton of stock in them, except that one thing he mentioned has come true- the Buzzworthy Bumblebee line at Target. So I figured I'd post a bit here from the same source, because some of this stuff is pretty juicy, but all of this should be taken with a hefty grain of salt. EDIT: Actually, these messages go back to late December, and he knew about Netflix Cheetor, Sparkless Barricade, and the black-and-silver Ironhide (it's supposed to be a Quintesson drone) before those pictures I posted leaked, too). Buzzworthy will see reissues of the old Camaro Bee and Barricade Studio Series figures. Other versions of Bumblebee may be included in the line. Animated was specifically mentioned. Starscream won't be the last of the Bumblebee movie Seekers, but it sounds like they're going to be store exclusives- Amazon for Thundercracker, Walmart for Skywarp, Target for Thrust. Possibly Redwing and BBTS and Sunstorm at Entertainment Earth. Hasbro's going to lean hard on Shattered Glass, and the SG figures will be Pulse-exclusive. Rumored SG Figures include Megatron (from the ER mold), Starscream, Goldbug, and Jetfire. Goldbug is unlikely to use Netflix Bumblebee's mold, as Volkswagen is apparently pretty strict with their licensing. Speaking of Netflix Bee, if you missed him there's a chance he could show up again later in Buzzworthy. Mirage and Sideswipe are getting Earth modes. However, they're both set to be part of Amazon exclusive two-packs. Sideswipe will come with a redeco or remold of Airazor as Skywarp, and Mirage will come with a Dinobot repaint as Grimlock. Red Alert will also get an Earth mode, and he'll be a Walgreen's exlcusive. The Netflix line will continue, and the next spoiler pack will actually be a major spoiler. Spoiler It'll be a retool of Siege Megatron, and that purple Paleotrex that we saw the other day is included. Too many store-exclusives got you down? Sorry, it sounds like that's the only way a lot of this stuff even gets done. If it helps, though, Hasbro is going to start holding back 5% of all store-exclusives to sell on Pulse. Studio Series 86 Wreck-Gar. Voyager Class. There is the potential for sets of Sweeps and Junkions. Tarantulas is coming, and he'll be a new mold, but probably not until 2022 and whatever comes after Kingdom. Inferno and Terrorsaur don't seem to be in the cards, though, at least not by 2022. It sounds like they weren't even going to bother with Tarantulas, but Kingdom is going over better than expected. I hope you like the Beast Wars Megatron mold. T-Wrecks (basically Megatron, but red and a Maximal) is going to turn up in the Generations Selects line. And, perhaps as a Jurassic Park X Transformers thing, expect one colored like the T-Rex in the first Jurassic Park (code name Rexy). A deal was reached with Mattel, who holds the JP license. Other Gen Selects will include some obvious ones- Road Rage from the rumored Tracks, Deep Cover from the Earth-mode Sideswipe mold, the rumored Leader Galvatron but in G1 toy colors, and Artfire (sans Targetmaster buddy). But also rumored to be coming is a Gen Selects Transmutate, from a retooled Paleotrex. Starscream with coronation gear will appear in Studio Series 86. It sounds like he might be based on the Earthrise mold, but he will have remolded parts (specifically mentioned are the shoulders and wings). Don't expect him until next year. Speaking of next year, the next trilogy might be more of a grab bag. It does sound like whatever comes post-Kingdom will be a "fill in the gaps" sort of line, with some G1 and Beast Wars stuff they didn't get to do in WFC, but other continuities are in play, too. The Unicron Trilogy was specifically mentioned as likely to see some figures. Aside from Bumblebee in Buzzworthy don't expect more Animated, though. Likewise, there's nothing planned for Prime, aside for the potential Bumblebee in Buzzworthy. Glyph and Tapout are possibly coming. (You may remember them from 2019's IDW Transformers Valentine's Special). Other Dinobots might be coming to Studio Series. Swoop was specifically mentioned and should be out this year, but the informant seemed to believe that Hasbro will do all five. While Grimlock and Slag are Leaders expect Swoop to be a Voyager. "Sparkless" Barricade and Quintesson drone Ironhide are a thing. Expect a Sparkless Seeker, too. Titans might go on hiatus after Kingdom. Apparently Hasbro they either don't or just barely break even on them. If Hasbro does stop making Titans expect two Commanders per year, with a higher budget and a price bump to $100. That Armada Prime that Takara showed way back with Gen Selects Star Convoy isn't dead yet. The rumored Commander-class Rodimus Prime will scale properly and justify it's budget with accessories like the trailer, which sounds like it'll detach and turn into a battle platform like the G1 toy. Scorponok will NOT get a Black Zarak repaint. For some reason Hasbro is adamant against doing a Studio Series Galvatron. They seem to think that it'd shelfwarm because the original AoE one did. If they get around to him, it won't be in the next two years. There will be another Studio Series Optimus this year, either evasion mode or knight. TLK Megatron maybe in 2022. Gears is still not happening. No Perceptor in SS86. Perceptor was considered, but ultimately passed on. Blaster may turn up in 2022, not sure which line. A Knight Rider crossover was considered, but ultimately nixed. Scooby Doo is also out. A Ninja Turtles crossover transforming Party Wagon was also considered. Discussions got far enough along that Nickelodeon okayed it, but the deal fell through because Hasbro and Playmates weren't getting along. Studio Series 86 is happening because Hasbro still wanted to do those characters but moved them out of War for Cybertron to make room for Beast Wars in Kingdom. That Cheetor with the better colors is a Netflix figure. Primal will also get a Netflix repaint. Don't expect a Delta Magnus repaint. Hasbro knows that Kingdom Magnus isn't very good. The design team wanted him to be a whole new mold but couldn't get the budget. Battle masters and Micromasters are out, Core Class is outperforming them. When the RotF version of Studio Series Sideswipe hits, pay attention to his bio. If it mentions Sideways, then Hasbro decided to do a SS Sideways. If not, then Hasbro canned it. Hasbro is apparently very proud of Kingdom Leader Galvatron. The rumored Metroplex 2.0 is a thing, but apparently a non-transforming one. Centurion did well, so Hasbro is planning on doing a another repaint + accessory pack. A Deluxe-class Hatchet is in the works. No details beyond that, but presumably that's the dog-like member of the dreads in Dark of the Moon. A Haslab Nemesis to go with the Ark was pitched, but Hasbro decided to do the Razor Crest from the Mandalorian instead. Unlike the Ark it wouldn't have a robot mode. It's not a sure thing, but Hasbro is considering a Ricochet/Stepper repaint of SS86 Jazz. We will NOT be getting a new Blitzwing anytime soon. It's apparently too difficult to do him to the WFC standards. Siege Astrotrain's shoes are specifically so he can stand even with Titans Return Blitzwing. The RED line is underperforming. Kingdom Tigatron will have a gut gun. Other Bayverse Dinobots will likely turn up in the Studio Series, but they'll be spread out. Edited January 11, 2021 by mikeszekely Quote
Scyla Posted January 10, 2021 Posted January 10, 2021 3 hours ago, mikeszekely said: *snip* The RED line is underperforming. *snip* Makes sense to me since the figures are crap; cheaply made with soft and simple sculpts and limited articulation. Especially compared with the high quality releases Hasbro is putting out in the main line. I‘m not against non transforming figures (Kuro Kara Kuri is my favorite toy line currently) but the WfC Transformers are better toy than the RED ones and they transform on top of that and for a comparable price. If you want to make the line a success you need to offer something that the mainline doesn’t have. Being lesser versions doesn’t cut it imho. Anyway thank you for summing up all the rumors @mikeszekely. If they do all the Dinobots in Studio Series 86 I think I’m in. I also would love more Commander Class releases like Overlord and God Ginrai. Quote
pengbuzz Posted January 10, 2021 Posted January 10, 2021 59 minutes ago, Scyla said: Makes sense to me since the figures are crap; cheaply made with soft and simple sculpts and limited articulation. Especially compared with the high quality releases Hasbro is putting out in the main line. I‘m not against non transforming figures (Kuro Kara Kuri is my favorite toy line currently) but the WfC Transformers are better toy than the RED ones and they transform on top of that and for a comparable price. If you want to make the line a success you need to offer something that the mainline doesn’t have. Being lesser versions doesn’t cut it imho. Anyway thank you for summing up all the rumors @mikeszekely. If they do all the Dinobots in Studio Series 86 I think I’m in. I also would love more Commander Class releases like Overlord and God Ginrai. I'd like to see a G1 Ark or even a model of Cybertron from the G1 cartoon. Quote
Scyla Posted January 10, 2021 Posted January 10, 2021 20 minutes ago, pengbuzz said: I'd like to see a G1 Ark or even a model of Cybertron from the G1 cartoon. It is my understanding that a transforming Ark will be coming in Kingdom as a Titan Class. Quote
M'Kyuun Posted January 10, 2021 Posted January 10, 2021 Nice breakdown of the rumors, Mike, and much appreciated. Shame they're not doing Gears- I have to wonder why, as it'd be great to get a WFC version of him to the same standard and scale. It'd also be nice to get Windcharger and Brawn to complete the 1984 Minibot lineup. Perceptor seems an odd omission as he was rather prominent in the '86 film and thereafter. Granted, his alt mode isn't the most exciting. Too, they gave us a pretty good version of him in TR, but a new version without the stupid headmaster gimmick would have been nice. Maybe upscale him to voyager as well; the original toy was larger than the car bots, so it would be fitting. Hasbro aren't wrong about Kingdom Ultra Magnus; but again, this is a prominent and much loved character; I'm sure the argument could be made for a two piece mold (bot and trailer) to homage the G1 toy. I think they should reach out to fans via the various fansites to gauge interest. I'd be down for a copy if it looked good. Repurposing ER Prime for Magnus' core bot mode and building his trailer armor around that would be leagues better than what we're getting with Kingdom. I PO'd one, but I'd be lying if I didn't say it looked like crap. Hoping the Dinobot news is on point. It's time, and I doubt a better opportunity will arise anytime soon to do it. Too, a well designed team of G1 Dinobots will sell; I don't think there's even a question. I'm down for @mikeszekely's idea to expand the Dinobot team; there will always and forever be something alluring about dinosaurs, and there's something equally captivating about robotic dinos, and even more so when they can transform. It's undeniably cool. Sad that they aren't pursuing a Knight Rider crossover; I think that would have been extremely popular. Too, I think they could have made additional money from that license by producing a villain two-pack of KARR and Goliath. Huge opportunity lost, for Hasbro and us. I would have bought all of it. I was never a Tutles fan, but that, too, has quite the fanbase, and it's a shame that it won't get made. I still think they should work out a deal with Mattel to do a transforming Batmobile. Given what a turd WFC Astrotrain turned out to be, I'm not as saddened by the 'no Blitzwing' news. TR Blitzwing is IMHO a really good version of the character, and he has better alt modes than WFC Astrotrain. He doesn't have waist swivel (due to transformation design) or ankle tilts, but otherwise, he's thus far the best G1 Blitzwing they've ever produced, and despite his few shortcomings, I love him. Bltzwing is my favorite of the G1 triple changers, so I waited a long time to have a version at least this good. Astrotrain probably ranks as my biggest disappointment in the WFC line; I was really excited when he was announced, especially after the travesty that was TR Astrotrain, but the poor design of his alt modes just put me off to the toy. His bot mode looks great, but the unfinished looking shuttle mode, and the misshapen loco with unaligned wheels ruined him for me. This could have been an excellent toy, should have been an excellent toy, so the fact that they fell so far short of the potential just leaves me disappointed and sad. I wish they'd just upscaled him to commander class, if only for the budget, to give him polished alt modes and a really excellent bot mode. Making him slightly bigger, given his large alts, wouldn't have been out of place IMO. I wish they'd gone that route. Blaster would be a nice addition, I guess. But I have a feeling he'll just be a Soundwave retool as well as his cassettes. I can see them making Steeljaw from the sh!tty Ravage mold. I continue to hate that they didn't keep the cassettes to real world mini-cassette scale to work with all the other versions. Boggles my mind why they wouldn't. WTF does Hasbro have against Animated? I realize it's not everyone's cup, but like Beast Wars, it was an experiment, and one that was popular and successful, and retains a following. Would it be so bad to throw the fans a bone and make something for the anniversary? In my mind the Unicron Trilogy was the most god-awful thing they've ever done, with equally crappy toons and toys, and yet they're making stuff for it. At the very least, an American release of Animated Blackout and Wing Blade Optimus Prime, both of which were Japan exclusives, like Prime's Flying Vehicon and Breakdown, would be welcomed. Blackout costs a small ransom these days on the secondary market, so the opportunity to get him at a decent price would be wonderful. Too, the thought of their repurposing the upcoming Kingdom Ark toy into Animated Omega Supreme, depending on how said toy actually turns out, is a happy one. Animated OS is a bit of a Grail toy. If this is all coming from a Hasbro insider, then it's nice to have a bit of insight and a forecast of what's coming down the pike. I enjoy, for better or worse, knowing the reasons behind why certain toys are made and some aren't. It doesn't do much to mitigate the disappointment when a much wished for toy isn't being made, but it's still nice to know why. Thanks for sharing the news, @mikeszekely. Quote
mikeszekely Posted January 10, 2021 Author Posted January 10, 2021 (edited) 8 hours ago, M'Kyuun said: WTF does Hasbro have against Animated? I realize it's not everyone's cup, but like Beast Wars, it was an experiment, and one that was popular and successful, and retains a following. Would it be so bad to throw the fans a bone and make something for the anniversary? In my mind the Unicron Trilogy was the most god-awful thing they've ever done, with equally crappy toons and toys, and yet they're making stuff for it. I won't presume to speak for everyone, but I'm of the opinion that Animated had a great story but I wasn't a fan of the exaggerated cartoon designs and I don't think they translate will into 3D toys. The Unicron Trilogy is so bad it's almost unwatchable, but some of the character designs are pretty cool. I really wouldn't mind updated versions of Armada Prime, Megatron, Tidal Wave and Starscream, Energon Prime, Megatron, Shockblast, Scorponok, and Rodimus, and... Well, I'm less knowledgeable about Cybertron. Also, line you said, the toys for the UT need an update. Can't speak for Animated, but Prime had some great figures. Sure, we never got a good Hardshell, and there were some bad ones like Airachnid and Knock Out, but others like FE Optimus are as good as anything in the WFC line. It might be a timing thing, too. T he UT is like 20 years old now, and kids who he up with it are adults with disposable income. Kids who grew up with Animated and Prime are in college. I think the time for both of them will come around again. 8 hours ago, M'Kyuun said: If this is all coming from a Hasbro insider, then it's nice to have a bit of insight and a forecast of what's coming down the pike. I enjoy, for better or worse, knowing the reasons behind why certain toys are made and some aren't. It doesn't do much to mitigate the disappointment when a much wished for toy isn't being made, but it's still nice to know why. Thanks for sharing the news, @mikeszekely. Ok, supposedly this comes from a Hasbro insider, but not to me directly. I'm hearing this from a guy who's friends with a guy who knows someone at Hasbro. Or maybe there's one more step removed, I'm not sure. And that's why, even though this info started coming out around the holidays I didn't mention any of it before. I was going to write it off as just rumors (as there's apparently A LOT of rumors that are made up, and supposedly even a few that are deliberate misinformation put out by Hasbro to distract from and discredit actual leaks). Like I said, though, Buzzworthy Bumblebee happened. And now we've seen pictures of Netflix Cheetor, Sparkless Barricade, and the Quintesson Drone repaint of Siege Ironhide, plus that purple Paleotrex that's supposed to be part of the third Netflix spoiler pack. Anyone who knows Grimlock and Slag are going to be in SS86 could guess that Hasbro will do the other three Dinobots then claim to have insider knowledge, but the Netflix stuff especially is just out there enough and the info I received on them was so accurate that I can't really dismiss this stuff out of hand. So I wouldn't call it news yet- It's possible this source did have some info and is making up the rest for attention. But it's also possible that there are so many links in the leak chain because Hasbro's cracking down harder on leaks after Kingdom and Studio Series '86 leaked well before their actual reveals and the insider needs more cover. Fingers crossed. Anyway, for me there's a ton of disappointing news. No Titan Metroplex 2.0, no Gears, no KITT, no Studio Series Galvatron, no Terrorsaur or BW Inferno. But there's a ton I'm excited for. I really hope that Galvatron's as good as they believe (I was told things like, "they said they nailed it," and "someone on the design team said he's so good that Scourge and Cyclonus are just accessories for Galvatron"), and I love that we're getting a toy-colored repaint. After the work I spent getting so many of the Siege Sideswipe mold (Sideswipe, Red Alert, Tigertrack, and a second Red Alert that I customized into Clampdown), buying new rifles and shoulder cannons for each of them, and then buying spoiler kits for each of them, I'm not totally thrilled that we're getting an Earth-mode for him and Red Alert, but on the other hand I'm thrilled that we're getting Deep Cover. I'm looking forward to Commander Class Rodimus and Studio Series Wreck Gar, and I'm down for troop-building Junkions and Sweeps. I'm glad to hear Swoop is coming after Slag, and extra glad that Sludge and Snarl are all but confirmed. It sounds like the next two years are going to great for fans, and you guys know I'll be here buying as much as I can and writing about it here. 19 hours ago, Scyla said: I also would love more Commander Class releases like Overlord and God Ginrai. Me too. Maybe a proper Star Saber or Deathsaurus. But I should stress that while anything is possible in the future Ginrai/Powermaster Op and Star Saber were both cited as NOT in the plan for this year or 2022. Edited January 11, 2021 by mikeszekely Quote
M'Kyuun Posted January 11, 2021 Posted January 11, 2021 Relating to Animated, I thought the show was great, but I was also impressed by how well Takara was able to take Derrick Wyatt's very exaggerated toon designs and turn them into functional toys that retained nuances, of varying degrees, mind you, of the characters' toon likenesses. As I said earlier, it wasn't for everybody, but it remains one of my favorite TF toy collections, and I keep them on permanent display on my desk. (I have a big desk) As for BW toys that didn't make the cut, it's indeed a shame that they're not making Terrorsaur, who's way overdue a good toy, and Inferno, who was one of the most entertaining characters on the show. I have both his BW organic and Metals toys, and, while they were cool for the time, it would have been nice to have an update for Kingdom, especially since we're getting Airazor and Tigatron to fill out the Maximal ranks. The Preds are suddenly seeming a little understaffed. I have little interest in UT stuff, but then again, it's been a long time since I've looked at any of that stuff, so there may be something that interests me coming out of it, should they make some new toys. My liking a toy has never had much connection with any related media, so if something looks cool, I'll probably get it. @mikeszekely I nearly forgot to say thanks for expounding on the 'insider' situation, as it were. Seems he/she has been right in the past, and the info sounds plausible. It's still early in the year, so Hasbro may change plans, as is their wont and right. It's still nice to know what's projected. Let's hope the good news comes to fruition. Cheers! Quote
Drad Posted January 11, 2021 Posted January 11, 2021 Don't have nearly the photography skills as some of our other esteemed members, but pretty stoked to have these guys... Quote
mikeszekely Posted January 11, 2021 Author Posted January 11, 2021 11 hours ago, M'Kyuun said: Relating to Animated, I thought the show was great, but I was also impressed by how well Takara was able to take Derrick Wyatt's very exaggerated toon designs and turn them into functional toys that retained nuances, of varying degrees, mind you, of the characters' toon likenesses. As I said earlier, it wasn't for everybody, but it remains one of my favorite TF toy collections, and I keep them on permanent display on my desk. (I have a big desk) I think I should stress that when I said, "I wasn't a fan of the exaggerated cartoon designs and I don't think they translate will into 3D toys" I don't mean that Takara didn't do a good job- I think the toys came about about as well as they could. I mean that the cartoon designs look better (to me) as flat drawings than as real-world three-dimensional objects. So I hope that HasTak or a 3P gives Animated some love again someday for the fans that want it, but I personally don't need it. Oh, one other thing I thought of about the UT designs (and this applies to Car Robots/RiD 2000, too). In a line that's more of a grab bag of various continuities, the UT stuff fits better with the G1/WfC Trilogy stuff. Like, you could put a hypothetical Armada Hotshot on a shelf with WfC Autobot cars and he wouldn't look out of place, but Animated, Prime, RiD 15, and even Cyberverse (as well as the live-action movies) have an aesthetic that doesn't integrate as well. Just my two cents, anyway. Oh, while I'm handing out opinions, how about a quick repaint roundup? Yes, friends, after four of five delays I've finally got my hands on Earthrise Thrust. Not a ton to say here. He's got the same retooled shins with the big knee pads and chest with the extra vents plus the obvious cone-shaped noggin that Ramjet and Dirge received. His deco is pretty cartoon-accurate, although he's got the same orange canopy that all the Seekers have had when, like Dirge and Ramjet, they were silver in the cartoon. And I'd have painted some of his pelvis details black, again to better match the cartoon. Speaking of paint, his box art shows the housing for the VTOL fans as black on this side. I was stressing about finding a paint that matches his maroon plastic, but the actual figure has the correct colors. Oh, on the topic of colors, he comes with the same Null Rays as the other ER Seekers, which is cartoon-accurate. I'm mostly ok with that, as I never cared for the larger bomb/fuel-tank weapons that toy-style Dirge and Ramjet carry. But Thrust's weapons were closer to the Sunbow Seeker weapons, just with some maroon on the barrels. I might have liked that. Speaking of Sunbow, the animation seemed to show his wings hanging low, almost as if they were on his hips or legs, with the front of the wings pointing downward. Although the official MP managed to capture that look most attempts are not so successful. ER Thrust can't get totally accurate either, but you can pick your poison- wings hanging low, but with the front of the wing pointed up (which seems to be the "official" transformation), or you can rotate them around like the old Generations toy (as well as the iGear and ToyWorld MP-style versions). Again, aside from the orange instead of silver on the canopy, Thrust's alt mode is very cartoon-accurate. In fact, it's arguably the most accurate of the three Coneheads, since he's the only one with the right amount of black on his fuselage. And unlike the old Generations toy, ER Thrust's VTOL parts are not separate parts that peg onto the wings, they're molded into the wings themselves. It looks to me like the wings are molded in the maroon color, then the black is painted onto the wings with gunmetal paint on the fan blades. That's not it for the Coneheads, though. We also have Sandstorm. Sandstorm was an unreleased G2 character and, essentially, a repaint of Ramjet who already had a G2 repaint that was actually released. Why Hasbro decided to go with Sandstorm instead of G2 Ramjet is unknown to me, but maybe it has something to do with releasing a character who could be a fourth Conehead instead of the same guy you already have in different colors, or maybe G2 Ramjet's colors are just more associated with Slipstream now. Either way, I can't decide now if I want a G2 Blackout or G2 Starscream more, now. To me, Seekers are like Pokemon, and I want to catch them all. I digress. As an unreleased figure without a Sunbow model it's hard to complain about what we see here, because the apparently hand-painted prototype might not have been the final deco. Still, a little of the camo patter on the underside of his wings would have been nice. Hasbro also used black for the shins and on his feet, while the prototype used a light gray. And while his cone head makes sense as a repaint of Ramjet I'd have personally preferred if they tried to differentiate him a bit by giving him the standard Starscream-style head, with the prototype's silver face and purple ears. Ironically, the black face they gave Sandstorm would be more accurate for Ramjet than his own silver face. I might double-check if the face is a separate part or molded onto the head, maybe I can swap them. Sandstorm's alt mode is, naturally, Ramjet's, but he trades the white and red for a desert camo pattern. On the prototype this consisted of brown and white splotches, sometimes with black accents. Here, Hasbro opted for more of a digital pattern. It looks fine, although they left the vertical stabilizers black. I do like that they retained the shark mouth deco on the nose, though. After an excellent new Cyclonus figure in Kingdom, and with some impressive-seeming figures coming in Studio Series 86, it's a little hard to get excited about yet more repaints and remolds of the Earthrise Seeker mold, which was already a bit of a letdown for borrowing heavily from the original Classics Seeker and for having less articulation than the Siege Seekers. Of the two, Thrust is more desirable for completing the Season 2 Conehead trio, while Sandstorm is a safer pass since he doesn't even represent an actual G2 release. Still, like I said before, I'm a sucker for Seekers. Hasbro could still release Red Wing, Hotlink, Nova Storm, Ion Storm, Acid Storm, Sunstorm, Nacelle, G2 Starscream, G2 Ramjet, and Blackout with the Earthrise mold and I'd buy them all. Quote
M'Kyuun Posted January 12, 2021 Posted January 12, 2021 Man, I'm still waiting for a ship notification for Thrust. Other than being saddled with the mediocre upscaled Classics inspired mold, he looks pretty good. The black definitely looks better than the brown on the old Classics toy. As he's my favorite of the Coneheads, I'll be happy to have him once Target decides to send him. However, I just got notification from Hasbro Pulse that they're shipping some items out earlier than expected, so I should be getting Kingdom Cyclonus, Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Blackarachnia, and Warpath sooner than anticipated. Out of all these, I'm most stoked for Cyclonus, followed by Warpath, whose previous Generations fig was pretty good in its own right, although not very G1. It does seem a glaring omission, however, when Warpath gets a new figure but not Gears, Brawn, or Windcharger. I'm a huge fan of the first season of G1 Transformers, so it vexes me somewhat when I see those characters ignored in favor of later season characters. Quote
mikeszekely Posted January 12, 2021 Author Posted January 12, 2021 14 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said: However, I just got notification from Hasbro Pulse that they're shipping some items out earlier than expected, so I should be getting Kingdom Cyclonus, Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Blackarachnia, and Warpath sooner than anticipated. Man, I'm still waiting on Primal and Warpath from Amazon. Hopefully they ship soon. 14 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said: It does seem a glaring omission, however, when Warpath gets a new figure but not Gears, Brawn, or Windcharger. I'm a huge fan of the first season of G1 Transformers, so it vexes me somewhat when I see those characters ignored in favor of later season characters. Gears is in dire need of an update, I agree. And with how well they've done the minibots as small Deluxes I would love for them to to do all of them plus the Insections as Deluxes. But, as far as Windcharger goes, he turned up in Titans Return and was pretty decent (with a Tailgate remold in Power of the Primes). Hasbro seems to think a lot of the characters that were done in the Prime Wars Trilogy were good enough for now, so I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on a newer Brawn, Outback, Seaspray, Windcharger, Powerglide, Cosmos, or Beachcomber. Still no excuse for Gears, though, who hasn't be updated since the 2014 Legends figure, and that figure was designed to be IDW Swerve first and Gears second. Actually, now that I think about it, while Cosmos was was reissued during Combiner Wars he and Shrapnel are actually from the same era as that Gears figure and could probably also use updates. But Windcharger, yeah, the Titans Return one will do fine. Quote
M'Kyuun Posted January 12, 2021 Posted January 12, 2021 I didn't realize it has been that long since Gears got an update, and yeah, that fig was just ok; an update is certainly due, and it would have been great to have him as a slightly undersized deluxe with improved articulation. While I think the TR version of Windcharger, and Tailgate by default, was a good fig, I would have liked to have had him, and Brawn as well, whose TR toy was also a marked improvement over previous versions, as small deluxes in the WFC line. Concur wholeheartedly with the Insecticons getting new versions in this line as deluxes. I love the legends Insecticons we've gotten, although the lack of consistency between them due to their being released years apart in different lines is an obvious concession. I'm glad we got the ones we did; Primus knows we waited long enough for them. Having just completed the team in the last big toy trilogy, I'm not at all surprised that they weren't revisited, but it would have been nice. While the Cosmos fig they've released and rereleased over the past 6 years is a really good fig, it's obviously not G1 Cosmos, and he's yet another character who was due an update that would have been nice to have as a small deluxe in WFC. Powerglide, too, even though the legends fig we got in Titans Return was really well done. At the end of the day, I think I'd prefer to have most of the smaller characters who've previously been done as legends class figs get the small deluxe treatment going forward, or Hasbro needs to upgrade the articulation standards for legends to reflect those of the deluxe class. Third party is well ahead of Hasbro in this area, and it'd be nice to see Hasbro step up their game. Speaking of third party legends, I'd love to see MS or NA take a stab at making improved cassettes for ER Soundwave; HasTak's are rather poor, and beggar something better. I think that's all I had to gripe about. In light of all the toylines from my childhood that have come and gone, I'm incredibly grateful that Transformers, my absolute favorite of all the 80's toons (that I got to watch in my area, which excludes both Robotech and Voltron), is still going strong, especially in the toy arena. We're spoiled, and I try not to forget it, even when I don't get everything I want. Quote
Lexomatic Posted January 13, 2021 Posted January 13, 2021 (edited) I haven't bought any of the WFC figures, but I like the color blocking on Seeker Sandstorm, he's a reasonable scale for my collection, and video reviews (for example, PrimeVsPrime) show good articulation, an interesting transformation, and an acceptable degree of vehicle-mode undercarriage kibble. I suppose I'll have to investigate one of the mail-order options? Which I haven't bothered with, before now; my one third-party fig I bought at TFCon Toronto, and the chronically terrible selection at my local Target (and before that, at TRU) has destroyed any holistic sense of the breadth of each annual line. If I opted to use a panel-lining pen to further improve Sandstorm's deco, how well does the ink stand up to handling, I wonder? Given that transforming figures entail more fiddling than a Gunpla. I notice that a double-hinge-with-cover-panel limb-collapsing technique is used on both the arms and legs. That's probably easiest to mold and assemble, but a telescoping joint would be more intuitive and faster to actuate (one movement instead of four). Edited January 13, 2021 by Lexomatic Quote
Wolf-1 Posted January 13, 2021 Posted January 13, 2021 14 minutes ago, Lexomatic said: If I opted to use a panel-lining pen to further improve Sandstorm's deco, how well does the ink stand up to handling, I wonder? Given that transforming figures entail more fiddling than a Gunpla. Having done this on Bumblebee with a Copic 0.03 in Warm Gray, its stayed on just like a gunpla with several handlings/transformations and no rubbing off, even on the vents on the engine cover/backpack. I tend not to topcoat so if it's going to disappear it will happen on mine. Quote
mikeszekely Posted January 14, 2021 Author Posted January 14, 2021 Some new stuff I learned, from the same take-with-a-grain-of-salt source as before. Blaster IS coming... in 2022. Studio Series Skids and Mudflap are NEVER going to happen. WFC repacks in the future are likely. The next Studio Series Optimus will be Evasion Prime. Quote
M'Kyuun Posted January 14, 2021 Posted January 14, 2021 I was thinking that the previous release of Evasion Prime was a Studio Series release. I didn't get him, although I was a little tempted, but my interest in Bayverse toys was already waning at the time. Since then SS leader class Blackout and SS deluxe Dropkick (helicopter) are the only Bayverse figs I've bought, IIRC. It just doesn't have the same appeal to me as other lines, especially the G1 stuff. A little enthused by a Kingdom version of Blaster; the TR version is a nice figure except for his crappy "cassette" and the angled storage method. I'll never understand why they didn't design his chest to accommodate both the crappy TR cassettes and the G1 cassettes, as his chest was big enough had they made the clearance. Anyway, I'm not a big fan of the WFC cassettes, although I own a slew of them; after seeing what New Age and Magic Square were able to accomplish with cassettes about half the size of the WFC cassettes, it's hard to feel anything but overwhelming disappointment in them. The thought of getting Autobot cassettes with Blaster would normally be an exciting prospect for me (I LOVE the cassettes), but the current spate of lackluster WFC cassettes leaves me feeling rather meh about it. Moreover, I have a feeling that Blaster's minions will just be recycled versions of the terrible Ravage mold and the better-but-still-lacking humanoid cassette dudes. Who knows if they'll even attempt Ramhorn? Although, they did do Ratbat, so I guess the possibility is there, but I don't hold out much hope of it's actually being that good. Speaking of cassettes, Dr. Wu has an ER Soundwave compatible Beastbox and Squawktalk set up for PO that features all the articulation and intricate design that the official cassettes should have had. Thinking about getting them, as I doubt Hasbro will do them, and I still have my G1 set around here somewhere. I've never bought anything from Dr. Wu- anything I should know? I will say, just from the promo shots, I wish he'd make versions of all the cassettes, especially my favorite, Ravage. As for MP Thundercracker, the paint looks nice. That's about the only compliment I have. For me, this toy is a swing and a miss. Quote
mikeszekely Posted January 14, 2021 Author Posted January 14, 2021 13 hours ago, M'Kyuun said: A little enthused by a Kingdom version of Blaster It won't be Kingdom. It'll be SS86 or whatever comes after Kingdom. 13 hours ago, M'Kyuun said: Speaking of cassettes, Dr. Wu has an ER Soundwave compatible Beastbox and Squawktalk set up for PO that features all the articulation and intricate design that the official cassettes should have had. Thinking about getting them, as I doubt Hasbro will do them, and I still have my G1 set around here somewhere. I've never bought anything from Dr. Wu- anything I should know? Dr Wu is mainly known for doing add-ons; the only Dr. Wu stuff I actually have is guns he did for the Legends Insecticons and Power of the Primes Battletrap (Battleslash and Roadtrap). They're fine, nothing amazing. IIRC he announced a full Mixmaster figure to replace the Combiner Wars one with something more G1-accurate, but it never materialized. I did preorder his tapes, though. MP Thundercracker is up for preorder on Pulse. At $242 that's a big ol' nope for me, I'm quite content with the Maketoys one, but if anyone else is interested and you live in the States, there you go. I finally, after watching Ebay and the BST thread at TFW2005 for what seems like years, got my hands on a Star Convoy. I think my retro Prime collection is complete now, unless I want to start tracking down RiD 2000 or UT Primes. Quote
M'Kyuun Posted January 14, 2021 Posted January 14, 2021 Congrats on scoring Star Convoy, Mike. Always nice to find that one elusive figure. For me, that's probably Animated Blackout. I keep hoping Hasbro will release him like they did the Flying Vehicon and Breakdown. Fingers crossed. I'm hoping Maketoys will rerelease their Thundercracker. I've got their Starscream PO'd, and I already have their Skywarp. Still waiting for their Coneheads to release- I've had a PO for their version of Thrust for a year or so. Hopefully, it's still coming. I wasn't sure what line the projected Blaster fig was going to belong; thanks for the clarification. I appreciate info on Dr. Wu. Think I'll go ahead and order their combiner cassette dudes. I always wanted a version of Beastbox that actually had articulation, and I passed on the KFC cassettes, as they just didn't look that great to me. I keep hoping MMC/Ocular Max will do the rest of the cassette figs for MP. Their Ravage and Rumble/Frenzy are amazing, and their condors decent, but not quite as good, IMHO, as the others. I'm chomping at the bit for them to release the Autobot cassettes that they showed off, what, over a year or so ago? Hope they're still coming. Quote
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