The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[technoblue]

4 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

 You read correctly: a lot of unneeded drama and unmoderated nonsense that I'd really not like to recount here (for many reasons).

As for the masterpieces: after MP Prime and Megatron (V1 versions), they got way too expensive for me.  I have those two, but really as icons of the series; I really prefer the G1 84 toys' look.

Oh, you don't have to tell me anything. I get what your saying.

As others have mentioned, MW members who hang out over there tend to keep to the Toyark and non-Transformers forums. I'll visit the site from time to time and browse around but I mostly stay in lurk mode these days.

Ha! You know, Masterpiece Convoy and Destron v1 do indeed have that upgraded G1 toy appeal. It's lamentable how these upgraded toy designs are few and far between at this scale. We've discussed it in this thread before, but it would be cool to see more Masterpiece figures that are inspired by the G1 toys and not just the G1 toon. I like both so seeing more of a balance from Takara would be nice. Imagine if MP Jetfire took a few more cues from the original "borrowed" Macross design without creating an IP disaster? Ah, if only! I do hope Skids isn't the outlier in this. It would be nice to see more MPs that lean into the spirit of the G1 toys. Anyway, I got into the Masterpiece line with MP-10 and missed all the v1 releases (although I did pay the late tax for Starscream and Grimlock back in the day). 

Speaking of G1, my G1 toy collection is one of two small collections that I had as a kid that have survived mostly intact over the years. Sure, I lost my Soundwave and I had to restore broken accessories on Starscream, Defensor, and Metroplex, but otherwise most of my G1 toys are in good shape and I'm happy I still have them. I've been buying the Japanese reissues to replace missing toys (like Soundwave) and add a few that I didn't have back in the day (like Soundblaster, Thundercracker, and Skywarp). I also have three incomplete G1 Combiners that I've been thinking of finally completing.

[pengbuzz]

34 minutes ago, technoblue said:

Oh, you don't have to tell me anything. I get what your saying.

As others have mentioned, MW members who hang out over there tend to keep to the Toyark and non-Transformers forums. I'll visit the site from time to time and browse around but I mostly stay in lurk mode these days.

Ha! You know, Masterpiece Convoy and Destron v1 do indeed have that upgraded G1 toy appeal. It's lamentable how these upgraded toy designs are few and far between at this scale. We've discussed it in this thread before, but it would be cool to see more Masterpiece figures that are inspired by the G1 toys and not just the G1 toon. I like both so seeing more of a balance from Takara would be nice. Imagine if MP Jetfire took a few more cues from the original "borrowed" Macross design without creating an IP disaster? Ah, if only! I do hope Skids isn't the outlier in this. It would be nice to see more MPs that lean into the spirit of the G1 toys. Anyway, I got into the Masterpiece line with MP-10 and missed all the v1 releases (although I did pay the late tax for Starscream and Grimlock back in the day). 

Speaking of G1, my G1 toy collection is one of two small collections that I had as a kid that have survived mostly intact over the years. Sure, I lost my Soundwave and I had to restore broken accessories on Starscream, Defensor, and Metroplex, but otherwise most of my G1 toys are in good shape and I'm happy I still have them. I've been buying the Japanese reissues to replace missing toys (like Soundwave) and add a few that I didn't have back in the day (like Soundblaster, Thundercracker, and Skywarp). I also have three incomplete G1 Combiners that I've been thinking of finally completing.

Yeah, I'd like to see a G1 toy Optimus that is larger and better articulated, with better proportions.

 

  

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Oh! I misunderstood, then.

I'm that case, I have an extra reissue Soundwave with Ravage and Laserbeak...

lol It's all good; I usually buy the older vintage ones missing their accessories and just scratch build the missing stuff. Cheaper that way.

Edited September 11, 2021 by pengbuzz

[Hikuro]

I just got the notice early this morning that my 2 Pack Sideswipe and Skywarp figures on amazon will arrive sometime tomorrow. Personally I think that's good, although I really just wanted Sideswipe. It sort of bums me out that I'll probably never get Ratchet, Ironhide and Prowl for the kingdom sets since eI really like where this line has gone in terms of designs, hell I Haven't come across any of the Walgreen Red Alerts, chances are I probably never will. 

[mikeszekely]

10 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

lol It's all good; I usually buy the older vintage ones missing their accessories and just scratch build the missing stuff. Cheaper that way.

Probably for the best, as it's the TRU reissue from several years back with the Soundblaster two-cassette chest door, so it's very obviously not an original.

2 hours ago, Hikuro said:

I just got the notice early this morning that my 2 Pack Sideswipe and Skywarp figures on amazon will arrive sometime tomorrow.

Same!  The tracking already has it in Pittsburgh.  The Ark is supposed to come, too, but that's FedEx, and event though it's close (it just left Grove City, next stop is the local hub) it's FedEx.  No way they deliver it on Sunday.

2 hours ago, Hikuro said:

It sort of bums me out that I'll probably never get Ratchet, Ironhide and Prowl for the kingdom sets since eI really like where this line has gone in terms of designs

Maybe SS86?  I'm still hearing rumors of a Voyager class Ratchet in that line.

2 hours ago, Hikuro said:

hell I Haven't come across any of the Walgreen Red Alerts, chances are I probably never will.

I don't think any of us have.  I got mine when it was briefly available on Pulse.

[M'Kyuun]

Wreck-Gar came yesterday, and today I bought a small tabletop tripod for my camera. Seeing that big motorcycle mode, I had an idea, and an opportunity to try out the tripod.

I thought Nicee had a little deeper bend in her knees, but I couldn't get her to sit properly with her butt actually sitting on the seat in these pics, so she's scooted a bit forward and kinda hovering. but the scale works pretty well regardless.  I haven't tried to sit any of my actual TF figs on Wreck-Gar, but I imagine the voyager figs might fit better than the deluxes, just due to narrower pelvis areas on deluxe figs. I'll have to try some other figs just to see who can ride and who can't.

Incidentally, WG's a pretty good fig. Nice and chonky in both bot and bike modes.  I love the use of his head as the instrument panel in bike mode; it's hidden in plain sight, and that's some cool engineering. My copy's joints are all over for tightness/looseness. None of them are floppy loose, but some, like his waist, have less friction than I would have liked. Too, his shoulders are on pin joints, and I think ratchets would have been a better choice for long term endurance. My copy's shoulders, again while not floppy and able to hold a pose without drooping, are not very tight, and I fear they will start drooping under their own weight with time. The hips are ratcheted laterally from the body, and the detentes are not as fine as I would have liked. It's not as egregious as I've seen on other figs, but smaller detentes would have offered finer posing. The hips swing forward and back on a standard friction joint (pin at the top of the thigh, mushroom peg at the crotch), and given the size of the fig, one would think the hips would preferably ratchet fore and aft rather than laterally, but that's not how they designed him. Mine has no issues standing or holding a pose thus far, so it works. The feet can actually pivot up and down a bit as well as rock inwards at the ankle, so better foot articulation than about 90% of TFs. His wrists also swivel, which again, better than most. That, and opening hands, should be the next standard upgrades to articulation in the main line. The old eternally closed fist is so 80s, and I wish they'd do better.  Overall, it's a good update for the fig, who really hasn't had many good figs in the long history of the franchise. This is certainly the most G1 accurate, and IMHO, they did a good job with him. Even the partsforming wheels element doesn't bother me; it's kinda necessary considering the original design.

I greeted my wife this morning with Wreck-Gar, with his chest guns pointed up; she said he should be called High-Beam. 😄

13 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Same!  The tracking already has it in Pittsburgh.  The Ark is supposed to come, too, but that's FedEx, and event though it's close (it just left Grove City, next stop is the local hub) it's FedEx.  No way they deliver it on Sunday.

My Sideswipe/Skywarp two-pack is due Friday or Saturday. My Ark, Galvatron, Tracks, and one or two other figs are inbound as well, more than likely delivered on Friday. This package requires a signature, a first for TF deliveries since I received Unicron. looking forward to the Ark, my first titan class fig.

Hoping that voyager Ratchet/Ironhide  in SS86 is truth. We really need something better than the crappy ER versions.

I got my Kingdom Red Alert on Pulse as well. I get the lion's share of my TFs there these days, as brick and mortar never have stock around here anymore. I was just at Target today, and they had no Generations figs at all, just Buzzworthy stuff (but not Origin Bee) and a few Cyberverse figs. My local Wally's entire Hasbro action fig section has been empty for weeks. There are definitely some issues. Better to wait for the slow but inevitable releases from Pulse than gamble on the retail void. I feel bad for little kids who want TFs; it's hard enough for us seasoned vets who know where to go online to find some of this stuff, especially exclusives, but for uninitiated parents trying to find this or that fig for their kid, it must be very deflating for both parent and child alike when these things are nowhere to be found. I'm sure it's a mix of factors, Covid being chief among them, but I hope the powers that be are able to to make the supply chain more efficient going forward. This disease is going to be with us for a long time, an it's just another obstacle in a long history of them for us to overcome.

[Hikuro]

I admit the biggest turn off on the Ratchet/Ironhide ER molds are the feet sticking out in vehicle mode....not sure how that didn't get picked at more by the design approvers.

Sideswipe/Skywarp came just an hour ago and while I'm not big on skywarp I'm happy to have him in the BW collection, but I honestly got this set so I could have a proper sideswipe. I still have my old Generations Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, but they're so off scale with the newer stuff that it would of driven me nuts having one and not both. 
The only nitpick I got is that damn cylinder peg on Sideswipe's shoulder rocket. It gets in the way of his head.....I'd really like to take that damn thing off one day.

Also received another notice yesterday that Rodimus has shipped out and will arrive tomorrow. Now this one does worry me just a tad bit, early reports are stating that his trailer doesn't lock up correctly in vehicle mode and has a tendency to leave a nasty open gap going down the seam line. I'm hopeful though that if it happens I can fix it.

Firetox who's a 3D designer also came out with some upgrade pieces for ER Ultra Magnus, makes him a little better in vehicle mode by adding a fuel tank cover to his arms in cab mode, and larger smoke stacks. It almost makes me want to get the figure but I'm not sure just yet. 

And come to think of it, I'm getting tempted on picking up some Toyhax sticker sets for Jazz, Sunstreaker, possibly more. They've got some really good looking upgrade stickers to help make those characters pop more than they do now. 

[pengbuzz]

1 hour ago, Hikuro said:

And come to think of it, I'm getting tempted on picking up some Toyhax sticker sets for Jazz, Sunstreaker, possibly more. They've got some really good looking upgrade stickers to help make those characters pop more than they do now. 

Toyhax ended up being a bit too expensive for me; I found a way to print the labels onto clear decal paper and then apply them to foil tape. Cheaper that way and they look pretty good as well!

Edited September 12, 2021 by pengbuzz

[sh9000]

 

[anime52k8]

god, rodimus looks so upset at his own existence.

[mikeszekely]

Stuff came today, so real quick we have...

...Deluxe-class Maximal Skywarp.  Yep, you can kind of see the Maximal insignia on his bicep.

Yeah, I don't know the story here.  I guess he's a character from the Beast Wars II anime?  I have his feet turned around like Airazor's, because that's how Airazor's feet work, but apparently the original BWII Skywarp wasn't a repaint of Airazor at all, and the clawed toes should actually point forward.  On that note, Skywarp has a new head based on the original toy, and Hasbro did a pretty good job color matching and such that a retooled Airazor does look like Skywarp... save for the super obvious eagle head in his torso.  Maybe BW fans are more bent of out shape about this than I, but honestly the thing bugging me the most is that this guy is supposed to be a Maximal named Skywarp.  I have to assume he's a guy who just happened to have the same name as the Decepticon, because I do not see the guy on the left joining the Maximals after the war and becoming a teacher.  Unless that's exactly what happens in the future, and present-day Skywarp just found out.  That'd explain the expression on his face...

Skywarp comes with the same missile/guns that Airazor did, just painted white.  I mean, as someone who didn't know diddly about the character I do like sticking them on his forearms like null rays, making that connection between Skywarps.  That said, it's another thing that's not really accurate, as the original toy just had brown missiles that could be loaded and fired from ports on his wings, and a sword that this Skywarp clearly doesn't have.

Transformation and alt mode weapon storage is the same as Airazor, and it has the same issues with barely-tucked robot arms and thighs and a gappy belly with a not-at-all-concealed back of the robot head in the middle.  But... Skywarp turns into a bald eagle.  As a red-blooded American, just looking at him makes me want to grab a beer, salute the flag, and toss some meat on the grill.

All-in-all, Skywarp probably isn't he reason you're buying this set, but I think I kind of like him better than Airazor.

No, the main event is the new earth-mode Sideswipe.  Now, I covered the extent of the retooling in more detail when I got Red Alert, and this Sideswipe is the same retool, just with a Sideswipe head and deco and no lightbar. 

Speaking on that deco, Hasbro seems to be going way harder for that cartoon deco.  The silver on his abs and feet is white.  The weird bone color of his arms and thighs is the same bright white.  White for the triangle on his pelvis, white for the squares on his shins.  Cartoon white... despite the fact that the cartoon actually did use slightly different tones for his thighs and abs vs his belly and feet.  I can't actually decide if I should leave him a lone, or if that's too much white and I should repaint at least his feet.

Also in keeping with the cartoon, the shoulder cannon and tip are all painted white, and unlike his Siege counterpart he actually gets a rifle, also painted (somewhat poorly) in white.  If you were hoping he could just take the Nonnef weapons you got for Sideswipe, well, you might want to order a new set.  It's just that if you matched the color with Siege Sideswipe, again, you got that bone color instead of the bright white that's going to match the earth-mode version.

And yeah, earth-mode.  How 'bout it?  Again, when I covered Red Alert I went into a bit of detail about how the mold was changed from the Siege version to make the car look a lot more like Sunstreaker and his repaints, like Spinout here.  Nice touches, for sure, but again I'm finding myself hoping that Nonnef or someone makes new spoilers for Sideswipe and Red Alert, since the Siege ones won't fit on the earth-mode cars.  Might be nice to get some Reprolabels, too, to cover up the unpaintable black hinge on the side and maybe add some black to the roof, doors, and vents where Spinout has some black.

So yeah.  I was a fan of this mold for Siege, and this version keeps the engineering I like but changes the exterior to match Sunstreaker, which I like.  To me, that makes this Sideswipe better than the Siege version, but not necessarily so much better that replacing the Siege version is an absolute must.

[Wolf-1]

JRC Design has the Kingdom Lambo spoilers available; two versions. 1) Looks just like the already produced Siege spoilers most of us have. 2) He has added some "Intake scoops" to the spoiler which would cover the non-painted vents on Sideswipe. 3) He has also designed leg-locks for Tracks in bot mode, for those who don't want tempt fate by breaking out the pliers and finishing the figures assembly.  

 

Lazy Eyebrow also has some cool print files available; 1) New headlights for Datsuns, ditches the lenses covers for the old sunken-in round ones.  This seems more like a thing for Prowl and Bluestreak, with Smokescreen, Barricade and hopefully Silverstreak being more of a race or customized Z with the racing front ends. 2)a 5mm peg adapter for Studio Series Optimus, which helps to better center the Earthrise trailer over the axles. These are available at Shapeways apparently as well.

 

Edit: Lazy Eyebrow, not JRC is the one who designed the spoiler with scoops, in his video the spoiler itself was loose on their pegs but this has supposedly been fixed.

Edited September 13, 2021 by Wolf-1

[Negotiator]

rodimus in stock at amazon right now.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TLQ26D5?psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&ref_=chk_typ_imgToDp

 

[mikeszekely]

40 minutes ago, Negotiator said:

rodimus in stock at amazon right now.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TLQ26D5?psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&ref_=chk_typ_imgToDp

 

Dang, even Amazon's getting in on scalper pricing. $30 markup!

[JB0]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Dang, even Amazon's getting in on scalper pricing. $30 markup!

It was 80 when I looked earlier. Guess The Algorithm™ decided it was too popular.

[mikeszekely]

Ok, no repaints tonight.  Tonight, we have a hotly anticipated brand new figure... Voyager-class Kingdom Mainframe!

Perhaps if Mainframe had appeared in the G1 cartoon he'd have been gray and pale orange, and they I could say that this was cartoon-accurate.  As it stands, though, this is an upgrade of a 1990 Action Master figure, who was primarily red and blue with some gray and orange accents:

Well, as you can see, if we overlook some of the kibble the sculpt is pretty good- spot-on head, same flat chest with with the central panel that has an Autobot insignia on one side and a concave circle on the other.  They both even have the ridges on the thighs.  But, yeah, the colors are entirely wrong.  I'll say that, from the knees down, his colors are determined by his alt mode, but from the knees up there's no reason he couldn't have been colored more like the G1 toy, just with orange kibble on his back and the backs of his arms.

Size-wise, he's a pretty big boy.  He's slightly shorter than Prime and Megatron, on par with Inferno, and a bit taller than Starscream.  Put another way, he's taller than Cerebros/Fortress and much taller than Zarak/Scorponok, which makes him the tallest figure to be packed in with a Titan yet.

Mainframe as a few accessories that I consider to be his.  First, you get a Sky Spy, which is accurately sculpted but again could have been colored differently.  You get a pair of golden disks, because Beast Wars.  And you get a translucent yellow ball.

Mainframe's head can swivel, but that's it.  His shoulders can rotate and extend laterally 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  No wrist swivels, but they can bend downward due to his transformation.  All of his arm articulation can be hindered by the huge panel on his back, as can his waist, which in theory rotates freely (it spins 180 degrees for transformation), but, in practice, you're limited to what you see above.  His hips can go 90 degrees forward, only very slightly backward (again due to that back kibble), and well over 90 degrees laterally.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  His feet don't tilt up or down, but they can swivel and his ankles can pivot 90 degrees.

Although we have a couple of accessories for him, Mainframe doesn't come with any weapons.  His hands are 5mm ports, though, and he's got one port on the back of each forearm and two under each foot, if you want to gear him up with a Battle Master, Weaponizer, or Fossilizer.

As far as the accessories he does have, though, Sky Spy stores inside his torso, and you can access it by opening his back like you would for transformation.  The translucent globe plugs into the 3mm port on his back.  The panel that the globe goes into is hinged, and if you open it up you'll find a spot where you can stick the golden discs.

Anyone who's watched the G1 cartoon should recognize Mainframe's first alt mode- Teletraan I, the Casey Kasem-voiced computer in the Autobots' headquarters aboard the Ark.  To get into this mode, Mainframe kind of expands, standing in a Titanic "king of the world" pose while panels unfold from his forearms, back, and legs to fill everything in.

Personally, I think Teletraan's looking a little small here.  I mean, Prime can totally see over the top of him and would have to scrunch down to check his e-mail.  Even Sideswipe seems a bit tall, but I guess they had to make him small enough for Bumblebee to use.  Either than or Hasbro just didn't want to sink any more of the budget into him.

If you spin around to the back, you can see that there's still a cubby for Sky Spy, still the spot for the golden disks, and still the spot for the translucent globe.  You can also see, if you look at the middle bottom where his robo-feet are hanging out, his super hollow calves.  Yeah, that hollowness is completely unnecessary.

Mainframe is actually a triple changer, did you know that.  Yeah, he also transforms into this... box.  You can probably see that Sky Spy, the globe, and even the golden disks are still stored in this mode.  But what is it?  Well, to get to that we'll have to look at a few more things in the box...

Starting with the Ark.  It's a fairly big toy, but maybe not as big as you'd think.  Here it is with Omega Supreme's rocket, but it's significantly shorter than Metroplex or Fortress Maximus in their ship modes.  Trypticon, too, is a bit bigger in ship mode.  If you line up the back of the Ark's thrusters with Trypticon's dino nose the Ark's nose extends to just a hair past Trypticon's toes.

From this angle, there's a few hollow spaces, and I'm not loving that big gray square in the middle.  The surface is dotted with turrets, but the turrets don't move at all.  Weirdly, they seem to be made from separate parts that are poke up through holes in the orange plastic, which in turn leaves more gaps.

Underside view.  Again, more turrets, and a minor gap where you can see some hips and pelvis poking through.  You can also see the three landing skids, which I've folded out.

Before we continue, I'll note a few more accessories.  There's two of these three-part blast effects, done in a blue plastic, and a tiny red slug of an itty-bitty Optimus Prime.

Getting back to Mainframe, if we open up the top of the Ark there's a large empty space just under the robot head.  Mainframe, in his box mode, plugs into this void, with the translucent globe facing up.  Now, on close examination, you can see that what we actually have here is the Ark's bridge.  There's little stations and little computers (that look a whole lot like Mainframe's Teletraan I mode), and the translucent globe makes sense now as some kind of holographic star map.  There are small rectangles cut into the floor of the bridge.  Prime can plug into them (although not as securely as I'd like).  Kind of weird that there's six stations but just the one slug, though.

From the front of the Ark you can sort of see the slug of Prime through the bridge window.

From the back, you can see the hollow backside of that tower (what is it... it's design looks like it should be the actual bridge, but if the slug Prime is in-scale then he'd be too big for it), and four well-painted thrusters.  Of course, from the cartoon we all know that the Ark should have five, but instead we've got this big yellow lump.  Somewhat frustratingly, I think the fifth thruster bell was possible, more on that in a bit.  There's a button on that yellow lump, and if you push it a ramp will come down.  We've seen Autobots roll out from this ramp plenty of times in the cartoon.  On this toy, though, don't expect anything bigger than a Micromaster to fit.  Even something like the Core-class Optimus is narrow enough to fit between the arms but too tall to actually sit on the ramp and fit under the ship.

You can plug the blast effects into the thrusters... but I'm scratching my head at the decision to only include two blast effects for four thrusters.  I mean, I'm sure you can grab some from Jetfire or Sky Lynx, but they're not going to match in color.

From the side, you can see my other problems with this toy- more gaps.  There's a small one I can ignore , but a much larger, emptier one on the "wings" where they should taper closed.  I don't think there's a lot that could be done about that, though.  His thighs have to pass through those gaps for transformation.  I know some Chinese 3P is making some 3D-printed fillers, but I'm figuring that they must be partsforming.

Another gap you might notice is right through the middle, on the top.  This seems to be a problem with the design.  That gray square I complained about earlier has tabs that are supposed to hook into the slots I've circled in green.  However, the weight of the front half of the Ark causes them to pop right out.

These days, you can't have an expensive "thing from that episode", even one as iconic as the Ark, without making it transform.  Brunt got a bot mode, Slammer's getting a bot mode, and sure enough the Ark gets a bot mode.  His name is Autobot Ark.  Man, how do they come up with these super creative names?  Anyway, Ark's head is based on the Last Autobot from the old Marvel G1 comics, which in turn was based on the Autobot insignia.  The rest of Ark doesn't really resemble anything except the Ark with large sections reconfigured into limbs.

Size-wise, he's around the same height as Omega Supreme, which makes him a little shorter than Scorponok and a lot shorter than Metroplex and Fortress Maximus.  Speaking of Metroplex and Max, he's got a similar solid-yet-hollowish feel to him.

As with Mainframe, Ark's head can swivel but lacks any sort of tilt, which is a lot more disappointing on a figure this size.  The shoulders rotate and extend laterally 90 degrees, both on very solid ratchets.  The biceps swivel, on lighter ratchets (but still, ratcheted swivels!).  His elbows bend a little over 90 degrees, his wrists swivel, and due to transformation they can bend downward, again all on ratchets.  Then hands themselves are a bit disappointing, though.  The fingers, all molded as one piece, can bend at the base knuckle.  Likewise, the thumbs are pinned at the base but have no additional articulation, so he can kind of open his hand like a "C" or close it flat, but he can't even make a fist.  His waist swivels on a ratchet.  Ratcheted hips allow him to move over 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally.  We again have ratcheted thigh swivels, and ratcheted knees that bend nearly 180 degrees.  His toes can bend down a little, and he's got some ankle pivot, but it's very limited.

A note on those toes.... they fold out from a hollow space behind the yellow lump on the back of the Ark.  Now, without any change to mold except replacing the toes with halves of a thruster bell, the fifth thruster could have easily gone there.  It'd just stick out a bit from the other four.  Fortunately, replacing the toes with exactly that would be a simple matter for a 3P like DNA, as the toes are just friction clipped in there in a manner similar to Scorponok's legs.

Like Mainframe, there's no weapons for Autobot Ark.  I guess the closest you can get is sticking the blast effects on one shin that he could then knee a Decepticon Titan in the face with.  You can store the disks, globe, and Sky Spy on Mainframe, and even though the instructions tell you to remove Mainframe for Ark's robot mode he still fits inside fine.  As for the Optimus slug, he'll probably fall out if you leave him plugged into Mainframe and Mainframe plugged inside Ark's chest.  I guess he's best for just sticking next to Ark or Metroplex for that sense of scale.

Ark's kind of a mixed bag.  As far as execution goes, he's better than Metroplex or Fortress Maximus, but the limited ankle articulation, lack of weapons, and compromises to alt mode are disappointing.  Those compromises are really doubly so, because I doubt many of us are buying this toy for the robot mode they just made up- we want the Ark, with five thrusters and without those ugly gaps on the side.  Plus, there are a few other minor issues with panels that pop off (on curved front of the ship, near the protruding nose, as well as on Mainframe's legs), and the Ark's robot mode having some gaps in his torso that you can see from some angles.  So as non-combiner Titans go, I still prefer Scorponok, Trypticon, and Omega Supreme.  All-in-all, pretty decent and probably worth picking up for the alt mode (flawed as it is) and Mainframe's Teletraan I mode, but simultaneously the least-necessary and most-skippable Titan so far, and I'd actually prefer they go back and re-do Metroplex and Fortress Maximus (as totally separate molds this time) before they try to make a robot out of the Nemesis, Revenge, Axalon, Darksyde, Lost Light, Autobot shuttle, Quintesson ship, etc.

[Hikuro]

Rodimus arrived an hour ago, huge box, big bag of blast effects and weapons, trainer comes disassembled for the most part with Rodi himself in vehicle mode so there were several things I needed to snip off in order to free him from his box.

I did encounter the issue with the seamline on the trailer and is very finicky to get closed. I was hoping that the majority of blast effects and gear could be stored in his trailer but alas, that did not seem to be the case as the pieces that take up the most space are the ones you'd probably end up using on the matrix.

I was able to get the cab module into his trailer by pushing it in a lot further by angling the cab downward making his rear stick a little further up, and hearing the spoiler snap into place. This did help quite a bit in getting him to look not only more secured in place, but tucking him further in helped complete the look. Although I still feel his cab is still to far out and could be better if it were to go inside by another 2 inches at the most.

Vehicle mode to robot was tricky, the spoiler/backpack did not want to lineup with his windshield at all and took a lot of effort to get in compared to other pieces. I'd also recommend caution when you're taking his rear wheel and tucking them thru his wheel well/quarter panel when becoming the legs. I feel like that's gonna stress plastic quite a bit over time.
While watching PrimevsPrime reviews of him, I feel like his chest piece sat a lot better of an angle than mine did resulting in a more level head posture so I might transform him again and see if I just screwed it up.

I will say the level of engineering on this has been by far one of the more complex of the lineup, and still somewhat retains the overall style between SS86 Hot Rod and Rodimus, if that makes sense. I guess you can say, their transformations are similar but done different, but still looks the same really.

The colors are great, I love the quality, I didn't have anything weird poking at me. And I would really like to see what Toyhax could come up with to really make the figure pop.

 

[M'Kyuun]

Thorough review of The Ark, Mike. As to all the discrepancies, they're unfortunate, most glaringly, the lack of the fifth bell, and those gaping holes on the sides where they should taper like the nose sections. How hard would it have been to put curved panels that clamshell closed there? I've seen at least one third party solution, but like you, I thought it was probably partsforming, and I'm willing to wait for a better non-partsforming solution. Unfortunately, as seems to be more frequently the case with add-ons, they'll likely be 3D printed, which always have that tell-tale rough and slightly striated texture to them. Paint helps a little, but with 3D printed stuff still being a relatively new technology, albeit getting better and better, I wonder how well this stuff will hold up over the years? I wouldn't be surprised if it degraded or started to crumble or separate as opposed to injection molded plastic parts. I've thus far avoided buying any 3D printed stuff, although I've been tempted on a couple occasions, but the unknowns and the textures always turn me off. Anyway, I'm expecting my copy of The Ark in a couple days, and I already know that I want a transformable solution to those huge gaps. I can live with four engine bells, but IMHO, this toy should have never made it to the production stage with those gaps. Hasbro should change their motto to, "Where half-assed is the pinnacle", with a picture of The Ark prominently showing off his huge gaps in the hull.  

I wonder, too, why the little turrets weren't made to rotate? Again, if they're already separate pieces, why not? It's more playability. Too, a BFG would have been a nice addition, but...Hasbro. The hands are odd looking, like he's wearing tight fitting rubber gloves instead of having some nice mechanical looking mitts, and with their limited articulation, there's a bit to be desired here as well. Again, third party will likely arrive at a solution. And the limited articulation of the head is disappointing, too. BUT, seeing as how this is probably the only time in my lifetime that we'll get an Ark toy, and better yet, an Ark that transforms (as nigh everything in the TF universe should) in the main line, just like Unicron, for all of its flaws, I couldn't let this opportunity pass by.  While the majority of folks who buy this will likely buy it for that Ark mode, I'm a robot mode guy at heart, and I very much like the bot mode they came up with for this guy. He'll be hanging out next to Unicron in my ever shrinking mancave. 

The flaws, on this fig are frustrating, as with a little more effort on Has/Tak's parts, they could have really put out a polished product here that left little to complain about- nitpicks rather than glaring flaws. But stuff like those huge gaps, the lack of that fifth engine bell on such an iconic ship- those are things that really should have been given more attention, a slightly higher budget- whatever it took to make this thing complete and accurate to the source. I'm pretty sure most of us would have paid more for this if it looked better than it does. Maybe this guy should have been a Haslab fig, just to achieve the necessary budget, but it strikes me as odd that a company making , on average, a billion dollars a year needs to crowdfund anything. But considering we could have gotten a better toy overall from that platform, it kinda makes me wish that's the manner in which this guy would have been produced. Alas, they didn't, and the result is before us. I'm still happy they made him, but it's more of a bittersweet feeling than the unmitigated joy at getting something truly excellent.

'Preciate the heads up about Rodimus, @Hikuro. Mine's not due out from Pulse for another month or so, but it's nice to have these reviews as a foresight of what to expect, both positive and negative. Overall, sounds like a good fig, and certainly the best looking official Rodimus in bot mode ever. Agree about the cab- sticks out too far for my liking, too, but I do like that he has a vehicle mode that's different, but still reminiscent of Hot Rod's. Def one of the stand-out figs in this line, methinks.

[Negotiator]

just received roadblock, ark, & galvatron from pulse.  Galvatron's arm is still backwards.  thanks hasbro!

[M'Kyuun]

25 minutes ago, Negotiator said:

just received roadblock, ark, & galvatron from pulse.  Galvatron's arm is still backwards.  thanks hasbro!

I'm expecting mine in a couple days. Hope mine's right, but I have a feeling I'll be Hasbroed, too.

[mikeszekely]

@Negotiator @M'Kyuun

Get a trim removal tool from an auto parts store. This one from Napa has three different ones for $6, and one of them is the perfect size. It's a little scary, but you can use it to pop the rivet out of his shoulder, then you have to flex the plastic to get the plastic core out of the joint to get the arm off. Once it's off you can turn the joint around, flex the arm back on, then use something with a 5mm peg to push the rivet back. Like I said, it's a bit scary with the force you need to get the rivet out and how much you have to flex the plastic on his arms, but I did it to mine and he's no worse for the wear.

I watched a video from Patriot Prime, if it helps.

https://youtu.be/m3GkdsWGYrI

 

Edited September 15, 2021 by mikeszekely

[M'Kyuun]

8 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

@Negotiator @M'Kyuun

Get a trim removal tool from an auto parts store. This one from Napa has three different ones for $6, and one of them is the perfect size. It's a little scary, but you can use it to pop the rivet out of his shoulder, then you have to flex the plastic to get the plastic core out of the joint to get the arm off. Once it's off you can turn the joint around, flex the arm back on, then use something with a 5mm peg to push the rivet back. Like I said, it's a bit scary with the force you need to get the rivet out and how much you have to flex the plastic on his arms, but I did it to mine and he's no worse for the wear.

I watched a video from Patriot Prime, if it helps.

https://youtu.be/m3GkdsWGYrI

Hope it won't come to making the fix, but just in case, thanks!

[Negotiator]

25 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

@Negotiator @M'Kyuun

Get a trim removal tool from an auto parts store. This one from Napa has three different ones for $6, and one of them is the perfect size. It's a little scary, but you can use it to pop the rivet out of his shoulder, then you have to flex the plastic to get the plastic core out of the joint to get the arm off. Once it's off you can turn the joint around, flex the arm back on, then use something with a 5mm peg to push the rivet back. Like I said, it's a bit scary with the force you need to get the rivet out and how much you have to flex the plastic on his arms, but I did it to mine and he's no worse for the wear.

I watched a video from Patriot Prime, if it helps.

https://youtu.be/m3GkdsWGYrI

thanks, I'll try the tools.  already put a small stress mark using a screw driver.

[JB0]

21 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

These days, you can't have an expensive "thing from that episode", even one as iconic as the Ark, without making it transform.  Brunt got a bot mode, Slammer's getting a bot mode, and sure enough the Ark gets a bot mode. 

Meanwhile, the TF:Animated fans are still wondering when they get THEIR ship that DOES transform.

...

It actually wouldn't surprise me if this toy was proposed as Animated Omega Supreme, and then reworked into the Ark.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, JB0 said:

Meanwhile, the TF:Animated fans are still wondering when they get THEIR ship that DOES transform.

...

It actually wouldn't surprise me if this toy was proposed as Animated Omega Supreme, and then reworked into the Ark.

I kind of doubt it.  I mean, for one, Hasbro's been hyper-focused on G1.  Two, we got Omega two years ago.  Three, I went back and looked at Animated Omega Supreme.  Frankly, I'm not even sure how he was supposed to transform, but however it works it's gotta be pretty different from how Ark does.  The impression I get is that they wanted a toy of the Ark, they decided it needed to transform if they were going to push it at the Titan-class, and they went straight to Marvel G1 for inspiration.

23 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Ok, no repaints tonight.

But now I'm back to repaints.  See, I had to get new tires on my car, and I stopped at a non-local Target by the dealer and I actually found the Buzzworthy Bumblebee Worlds Collide pack.

I'll just go right-to-left based on how they're packaged, since that's the usual English reading order.  So first up we have Nemesis Primal.  And... ugh.  I mean, I'm digging the silver and teal, to be sure, and I love the new head, but does every Optimus need a Nemesis repaint?  I mean, sure, by now you can't have Optimus Prime without a Nemesis Prime, but this is actually the first Nemesis Primal, and between him and Rodimus Unicronus from Power of the Primes this whole make-a-black-repaint-of-the-good-guy evil needs to stop.  Especially when black's already a prominent color.  Maybe just slap that head on a more saturated Primal and pass him off as Optimus Primal in his toy colors instead?

Nemesis Primal has the same accessories and gimmicks as Optimus, just, y'know, different colors.  I'll also note here that some of the joints, most noticeably the one that flips his chest around, are more loose on Nemesis than Optimus.

Ape mode.  Funny how the Beast Wars characters in Kingdom were getting sort of more realistic beast modes, but then Nemesis is purple.  Whatever.  Moving on...

Fangry might be the figure the most desired figure in the set, as he's the only figure that hasn't seen some other form of release.  Not just in WfC, I mean this is Fangry's first toy since G1, not counting the little Titan Master release in Titans Return (which I don't have; I'd have loved to compare it.

Fangry isn't a new mold, though.  He's a retool of Grotusque, who himself was a retool of Doublecross.  And, yeah, it kind of works here.  I mean, he's not as heavily retooled as some other recent figures have been, mostly just his thighs, hip skirt, beast head, some chest parts, his biceps, his shoulders, and his beast hands.  But the basic shape checks out, and aside from gray feet and black hands and translucent plastic that's a bit too dark on his tummy, the colors are right.  The beast head on his back might be a better storage option than on his butt.  There's no beast legs poking up over his shoulders, but I'm fine with that.  Unfortunately, his wings don't come off to be an accessory.

Actually, he doesn't really have any accessories at all, save his head.  Which turns into Brisko, a name I can't hear without thinking of the short-lived TV show The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.  The inability to turn his wings into his shield thing is bad enough, but no gun is just... ugh.  

I think this is also the part where I mention that Fangry is loose.  Like, I haven't had a figure this loose since the Prime Wars Trilogy, and even then he'd be one of the worst offenders, right up there with Skullcruncher.  His knees are particularly bad, to the point where I was having trouble getting him to stand.

Fangry's beast mode... kind of works.  The head sculpt is good, and I prefer the wings to be on his back than behind his head.  Maybe a bit too much pink, and a torso that's a bit too obviously his robot torso due to the differences in engineering between this and the G1 toy.  I'd have preferred the black part of his beast legs to be gray, but the shape is close enough.  The thing I like the least, though, are the arms.  Instead of the little black claws the G1 toy had, this Fangry uses his robot arms with no real transformation save to change from closed-fist bot mode hands to open-handed beast hands.

Bumblebee's looking pretty sharp in robot mode.  The head sculpt is the same one used by Bugbite and Netflix Bee, and I like the less Kraft singles yellow better than Netflix Bee.  Sure, the chest with the larger window is different than Netflix Bee, but the feet are probably the most obvious difference.  Still, both the G1 and the Netflix cartoon kind of changed the shape and made it less obviously the front-end of a Volkswagen anyway, so my biggest gripe with the bot mode might actually be the missing yellow on the pelvis.

I guess this is like my fifth copy of that modular bazooka.  What's new, though is that Bumblebee also comes with a translucent yellow D20.  Or, now that I've watched the Kingdom show on Netflix, I guess that's the Allspark.  The Allspark, much like the Energon rods packed with Origin Bee, doesn't seem designed to be held.  That said, there is a little hole on one side that fits over those little blast effect pimples, so there's at least that.  And, for what it's worth, Bee feels like the best-built of the four figures.

This is where Bumblebee runs into trouble, though.  I get how extremely difficult Volkswagen can be about licensing the Beetle to HasTak, and how controlling they can be about the presentation and releases.  But c'mon, Hasbro.  You have to make some changes to the alt mode, because if you don't then you don't have Bumblebee, you have Hubcap.  Or possibly Bumper; I know that Bumper is technically supposed to be a Mazda Familia and not a Porsche, but the Cliffjumper mold is deliberately neither, so maybe a little more black paint on the front bumper and a new head and I actually could convert this figure to Bumper...

Last up, we have Blackarachnia.  The premise here is pretty simple- the Kingdom toy was based on the cartoon, and this version is based on her original toy.  Which, you know, was quite different.  The gold spots on the originals chest have turned into a sort of leopard-print bra, and she could maybe have had purple thighs, but otherwise the colors are a match for the original toy, save for the green kneecaps, although the shape is more like the more feminine cartoon.  Her new head sculpt is based on the original toy's mutant mask.

As you'd expect, she has the same crossbow/gun as the Kingdom release, just in the purple of the original toy.  She also has the same issue where her chest doesn't really tab into her torso, despite the tiny tab and slot for it.  It's a bit worse on this version, though, because everything pretty much stays in place with friction on my Kingdom copy, but the hinge is looser on this version.  Her head is especially floppy.

Spider mode is what you'd expect.  It's got the more spidery shape of the Kingdom toy, with green eyes and gold legs.  Those green kneecaps turn up again, and makes me thing they should have either matched her shins (like the Kingdom version) or her thighs.  I also find it curious that the markings on her abdomen are purple.  I mean, the original toy had red.

Weirdly, the one tight tolerance on BA is her biceps, which makes transforming her into a spider kind of a pain.  Twisting them to get the spider legs posed will almost certainly cause her robot hands to pop off the tabs they're supposed to grip.

End of the day, there's no way I'd recommend this set.  Honestly, and this is coming from someone who's bought like nine copies of the Siege Seeker mold, six of Siege Sideswipe, four of ER Prime, five Siege Datsuns, four ER Datsuns, and three of just the Ramjet mold, this set feels like the biggest waste in the entire WfC line.  Like I said, there was no Nemesis Primal before now.  If you wanted a Blackarachnia you probably already bought and prefer the Kingdom version.  Fangry might fill a gap in some collections, but he as the worst QC of the bunch.  And the one with the best is Bumblebee, whom you might be thinking you want if you missed out on grabbing the more-accurate Netflix Bee.  Except this set costs $85, and the scalper prices on Netflix Bee are still less than that on ebay.  The only reasons I'm not totally unhappy I bought this set is the potential to convert Bumblebee into Bumper, and the fact that you could swap spider legs/biceps between this BA an the Kingdom version for an even more cartoon-accurate Kingdom version.

Nemesis Primal, seriously.  I ought to go to Hasbro's HQ and smack somebody for that.

[JB0]

For what it is worth, my Fangry wasn't loose.  Bad sign that your's was, though. And he shoulda come with a dang gun. I can't complain about the transformation being lazy, really. The original was every bit as lazy.

I really did pay eighty bucks just for a Fangry toy, though. And not even a great Fangry. *sigh*

 

Having already picked up this mold as Cliffhjumper, I didn't really care about Bumblejumper or Hubcap or whatever name this particular variant carries these days.

I didn't want Blackarachnia at all, and still don't care about this mold. (Odd, really. I usually like "sexy ladybot" designs.)

And... I passed on Monkey Prime when it was the cartoon design and this package actually makes me think that was a mistake. Nemesis Monkey is a pretty cool mold, though the chest plate is kinda slapdash and looks incomplete no matter what you do. I actually spent a while trying to find the step I missed there, but there was no step.

...

So in the end I paid eighty bucks for Fangry... and Optimus Primal after a bad day on the paintball range. I GUESS that's better?

[Wolf-1]

Missed opportunity with Nemesis Primal; we've had the J.P. tie-in, why not visit another Crichton property and make N.P. a white ape?  

[Negotiator]

On 9/14/2021 at 4:56 PM, mikeszekely said:

@Negotiator @M'Kyuun

Get a trim removal tool from an auto parts store. This one from Napa has three different ones for $6, and one of them is the perfect size. It's a little scary, but you can use it to pop the rivet out of his shoulder, then you have to flex the plastic to get the plastic core out of the joint to get the arm off. Once it's off you can turn the joint around, flex the arm back on, then use something with a 5mm peg to push the rivet back. Like I said, it's a bit scary with the force you need to get the rivet out and how much you have to flex the plastic on his arms, but I did it to mine and he's no worse for the wear.

I watched a video from Patriot Prime, if it helps.

https://youtu.be/m3GkdsWGYrI

 

Ordered similar trim tools from amazon.  (just worked out cheaper and received faster for me that way.)  The tools really helped alot.  After some prying and swear words, got both shoulders done in just a few minutes! Thanks for the tip.

[M'Kyuun]

On 9/14/2021 at 8:52 PM, mikeszekely said:

I kind of doubt it.  I mean, for one, Hasbro's been hyper-focused on G1.  Two, we got Omega two years ago.  Three, I went back and looked at Animated Omega Supreme.  Frankly, I'm not even sure how he was supposed to transform, but however it works it's gotta be pretty different from how Ark does.  The impression I get is that they wanted a toy of the Ark, they decided it needed to transform if they were going to push it at the Titan-class, and they went straight to Marvel G1 for inspiration.

I'm one of those Animated fans that's been clamoring for an Omega Supreme fig for years, but I don't think that particular Ark was in mind in any way when designing this guy. The Ark was G1 all the way, and the bot mode they came up with in no way resembles the Animated design.

This is a really well done scratch-built model from years ago, but it still looks amazing.

As you can see, the legs are formed from the front of the ship, and the shoulders and arms form the back and sides, respectively. Those are the engine bells on his shoulders. There's some unknown origami going on to form the chest and integrate the big red block on the front of the ship. A back view of the model would likely give some hints, but just from this front view, it looks incredible. If this can be scratch built, transform and still look this faithful to the toon model, why can't Has/Tak do at least the same? Moreover, why haven't they already?! This would have been a very welcome toy to celebrate the tenth anniversary back in 2018.  Instead, not so much as a mention to mark it, let alone a new figure.   Although there are those who don't care for the aesthetic, I think most fans who bothered to watch it can admit that, standing on its own merits, it was a well done show, certainly more watchable than the recent Netflix shows, IMHO. I thought the toys were very well done considering the challenges facing Takara in translating Derek Wyatt's very stylistic designs to three dimensional transforming toys. It's still one of my favorite TF toylines, and the majority of mine remain on permanent display in my mancave. maybe Animated will get some love for it's 15th anniversary, but given Hasbro's tendency thus far to completely ignore it as if it never existed, I'm not holding my breath.☹️

[Hikuro]

I'm hearing rumors that the BW Grimlock and Mirage 2 pack are releasing this weekend...So I checked my amazon account and sure enough I'm seeing a notification saying that this is due to release tomorrow. Now, I'm hoping they won't screw the pooch on me like they did with the original run on Ratchet & Medic which forced me to cancel (giving me a 4 months backorder before I just ended up canceling it.). 

[mikeszekely]

40 minutes ago, Hikuro said:

I'm hearing rumors that the BW Grimlock and Mirage 2 pack are releasing this weekend...So I checked my amazon account and sure enough I'm seeing a notification saying that this is due to release tomorrow. Now, I'm hoping they won't screw the pooch on me like they did with the original run on Ratchet & Medic which forced me to cancel (giving me a 4 months backorder before I just ended up canceling it.). 

Good luck! Pulse sent theirs out a week or two ago.

[Mechapilot77]

17 hours ago, Hikuro said:

I'm hearing rumors that the BW Grimlock and Mirage 2 pack are releasing this weekend...So I checked my amazon account and sure enough I'm seeing a notification saying that this is due to release tomorrow. Now, I'm hoping they won't screw the pooch on me like they did with the original run on Ratchet & Medic which forced me to cancel (giving me a 4 months backorder before I just ended up canceling it.). 

amazon told me it was due to arrive on 9/21 after originally not being due until november.  yeah i said i wouldn't support this release but i gave in.  really don't care for the beast component.  anyone want that for pretty cheap?  I guess i'll be getting my copy next week.

[Hikuro]

Mine is now set to arrive on Tuesday so it probably won’t ship till Sunday now.

[M'Kyuun]

Got my copies of Galvatron, Tracks, Scorponok yesterday, and The Ark today. My copy of Galvy has the same misassembled shoulder issue as the majority; I attempted to fix it, but after leaving a tiny stress mark, I just didn't feel it was worth the effort. I just turn the shoulders around so they're sitting at the right height, and I can live with the pin hole facing front. the only effect it has on alt mode is that the cannon supports sit slightly lower, which raises the cannon off the ground a little more. easily livable. As for the figure itself, I've never been a big Galvatron fan, but, shoulders aside, this thing is impressive. Lots of articulation, lots of paint, great presence, a good cannon mode, and a unique transformation sequence that's interesting without being over fiddly. I did have to shave a little plastic from inside his chest cavity to allow his head to swivel inside, but other than that and the shoulders, well done Hasbro/Takara.

Tracks- well, the issues with this fig are well known at this point. Y'know, they came this close🤏 to creating a really good fig. I like the complexity of the design.  The white pivot joints aren't too badly spaced from the fenders on my copy, and they would easily do the job, except for the pitifully little nub on the top of the shin plate that's supposed to act as a tab for the fenders to slot onto. I think that's the real root of the leg problem.  My copy's right hip was floppy right outta the box. Add to that the inability of the leg to hold itself together well, and you've a recipe for disaster. I put Gorilla Glue, which hardens in a rubbery consistency, in the hips and on those shin tabs to try and increase friction on both. It seems to be doing the trick for the hips at least. I have the opposite issue with the windshield bit tabbing into the legs in car mode; once that suckers snapped in, it 's frustratingly difficult to unsnap it. The collective issues of this fig make it the least enjoyable to handle. Shame, as it's a great looking fig in both car and bot modes. While it already has a fair amount of paint/tampo, it could have stood some red stripes on the wings and the red dashes and yellow triangle on the pelvis, which is already painted white. At the end of the day, for all it does right, the design oversights and poor assemblage of the legs will doom it as a crappy figure in the eyes of most collectors, and that's a shame.

Scorponok: This fig is hit and miss to me; they got the main aesthetic down ok, especially the head sculpt. It makes a more realistic looking scorpion, at least from certain angles, than Blackarachnia makes a  realistic looking spider. However, I think they did this guy a disservice by making him a deluxe. While I like the innovative approach to the transformation by inserting a leg into the tail, it hinders the scorpion's ability to pose the tail in an offensive/defensive posture over the head due to the leg's inability to match the tail's flexibility and the leg's tendency to want to fall out of the tail in any position other than resting. The cost of putting a leg into the tail meant that the legs had to be kept short and relatively thin. The result is a stubby looking figure that looks odd proportionally, especially with those huge claws that touch the ground if his arms are relaxed at his sides. Had they made him a voyager scaled fig, I think they might have been able to find a better solution, or just followed the original toy's design and have the legs pass through the body with the feet forming the scorpion's head. With all the innovative solutions they've been bringing to these BW figs, I was really looking forward to Scorponok, as he's usually more of a background character who doesn't get as much love as others, and I was hoping they'd really come out with an amazing figure for him in this line. Unfortunately, I think he's a little underwhelming.

The Ark is pretty cool overall. I detest everything about the hands, and hope third party will make a better set. Not sure if it's just my copy, but the chest doesn't lock very securely. I  never realized how far it stuck out from his waist- he's got a serious energon gut going on.  I was surprised, as he comes with some assembly required, i.e., the back quarter panels that go around the huge leg gaps and terminate in the round bits on either sides of the engines. I saw that and though to myself, it's almost as if Hasbro themselves designed it that way for third party to easily make a swappable add-on with some sort of folding panel to cover those big holes, knowing they didn't have it in the budget to do it themselves. Of course I doubt my little pet theory holds any water, but the fact that those bits do come off easily offers plenty of opportunity to intrepid parties looking for a better solution. 

Finishing up, I've been customizing my Kingdom Red Alert to more closely match his G1 toy. The blue on the intakes below the knees is a little darker than I thought it'd be; in hindsight, I wish I'd added a drop of white to it, but I'd already wiped off my first attempt, and with the second going on fairly smoothly by hand, I didn't want to go back for round three. I thought about trying to paint the tail lights to sorta match the Countach, but that would likely require masking, and I just didn't feel like getting that involved. I'm lazy.

 

Edited September 17, 2021 by M'Kyuun

[Wolf-1]

Red Alert is looking good, particularly the waist to me.  The addition of the yellow/gold works well, feet too.  I like the black shins over the gray but not sure it's something I would replicate. 

[M'Kyuun]

5 hours ago, Wolf-1 said:

Red Alert is looking good, particularly the waist to me.  The addition of the yellow/gold works well, feet too.  I like the black shins over the gray but not sure it's something I would replicate. 

Thanks for the nice comment. I vacillated on whether or not to paint him, but finally I just decided to do it, as I didn't really like the look of the stock grey shins and feet, especially when I had my G1 RA standing nearby to taunt me. My black paint didn't go on as smoothly as I'd hoped, but you can't really see the textures in this pic.  It's one of those things about hand painting- sometimes the paint is too thick or too thin and it doesn't spread well, or it pools, etc.  But I made the best of it, and it is what it is. It still looks better this way than it did stock; but one questions why they used that greyish plastic instead of black in the first place for the shins, and why they didn't paint the feet silver as they have on many of his mold-mates. Anyway, he looks better to me, and I can live with my shoddy paint work.

So a couple hours after I posted about receiving The Ark, my Kingdom Sideswipe/Skywarp Amazon exclusive two-pack showed up. At this point, I own more versions of the Sideswipe mold than I've ever owned of any Transformer fig, even the Datsuns, which I love.  I'm still not on the same level as @mikeszekely, but I'm gaining.  That said, if I had to choose a mold out of the WfC line to make umpteen different versions, Sideswipe would def be one of my top picks- just a really good figure. I'm still hoping blue Bluestreak will be available at some point- you can't have too many Datsun bros.😍

According to Pulse, I probably won't see any more figs from them until the first of November (Rodimus and Gnaw were delayed a month), so I'll be sitting back watching/reading reviews until my figs ship out. Oh and maybe playing with the few toys I have laying around here in the meantime. Tracks' all white wings are bugging me, so I may have to splash a bit of paint on him, too. I'm kinda curious why they didn't make the sculpted detail on Tracks' shins just under the knees match the G1 toon depiction. They did with MP Tracks. It's a simplification of the sticker on the G1 toy, and given how much they're drawing from the toon and toys for this line, it strikes me as an odd deviation from the trend.  I'd love it if the Hasbro designers did a Q&A on one of these upcoming Friday panels, or at PulseCon, where we could pose questions like this and why they couldn't close the gaps on The Ark's legs and hopefully get straight answers. Of the regularly featured designers, I think Evan would spill the most, as he seems more interested in being honest than spouting the usual rosy rhetoric.