The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[obakesan]

Transformers MPG-01 Shouki PO up on Amazon JP if anyone interested:

https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/dp/B09HQPF13X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=トランスフォーマーmpg-01&qid=1633549884&sr=8-1

 

 

Edited October 6, 2021 by obakesan

[tekering]

2 hours ago, obakesan said:

Transformers MPG-01 Shouki PO up on Amazon JP if anyone interested:

Awesome, thanks.

3 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I'm on the fence.

At 20,000 yen, so am I...!

[Jeremy007]

15,800y at amiami

 

https://www.amiami.com/eng/detail?gcode=FIGURE-132349

[Alex GS]

1 hour ago, Jeremy007 said:

15,800y at amiami

 

https://www.amiami.com/eng/detail?gcode=FIGURE-132349

got one thanks for the link , would it think twice if it were 20 K

[mikeszekely]

Have they said how big Shouki is?  Or how big the combined Raiden will be?

[Scyla]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Have they said how big Shouki is?  Or how big the combined Raiden will be?

I assume both will be tiny. 

If that is a 5mm port on the train tracks the toy in train mode is maybe 40mm wide.

For the price he could be MP Lambor size.

Edited October 7, 2021 by Scyla

[mikeszekely]

14 minutes ago, Scyla said:

I assume both will be tiny. 

If that is a 5mm port on the train tracks the toy in train mode is maybe 40mm wide.

For the price he could be MP Lambor size.

Hmm...

I mean, I kind of want Raiden to be a success.  It could mean that they're the first six of an MPG line that could go on to include other combiners.  And while the scale may not please those who wanted the MPG stuff to be in the same scale as regular MP, if they're small enough the MPG stuff could replace the less-than-stellar Combiner Wars figures in a CHUG collection.

But for the money maybe I'm better off seeing how Zeta/Moon Studio's Radiotron shakes out.  Color prototypes of the two leg bots have been shown, and they look good so far.  I wish their version of Shouki was further along, for a more direct comparison.

[mikeszekely]

This image is making the rounds.

I don't know about this csutton2@familydollar.com or how they came by this image.  I've talked to some sources who have proven to be reliable, though, and they're telling me that this is real- not just the render there of Titan Metroplex, or the fact that Cybertron Metroplex is the 2022 Titan, but that the price increase is real, that "Transformers Legacy" logo is real, and the purple/blue mechanical details around the edges are indicative of what Legacy's boxes will look like.

Hasbro's catered to G1 for a long time, and the Unicron Trilogy is nearly as old now as G1 was when the first wave of Classics came out.  As a fan of the franchise, I think it's nice that Hasbro's giving those fans their moment in the sun.  But they better put their money where their mouths are!  If Metroplex does poorly there's a chance Hasbro will stop making Titans.

And frankly, as a "geewunner" this is nothing but disappointment to me.  I mean, it's one thing for me to drop $20 on a character like Airazor that I don't have much attachment to, but there's no way I'm dropping $190 on this.  I was really hoping that the rumored leaks were misinformed, and the Legacy Metroplex was going to be a do-over of G1 Metroplex, because the original feels very dated with the Trypticon and beyond.  I really want a Metroplex with better proportions, better accessories, better G1 accuracy, ankle articulation, and a Deluxe-class Scamper.  Then I want a new Fortress Maximus that's not a retool of Metroplex, has his hip cannons, ankle articulation, and the correct base mode.  After those, if Hasbro really wants to move on from G1 (which makes sense, you can't keep rehashing the same 5-6 citybots) there's still stuff I'd rather see than Cybertron Metroplex, like Armada Tidal Wave.

[obakesan]

MPG-01 Shouki and other stuff now on AE https://anime-export.com/index.php?product=54133

I'ts quite iron I was talking about stands the other day  then they annouced those floating ones

[obakesan]

TT website updated with info and details of MPG-01 Shouki

https://tf.takaratomy.co.jp/tf_mpg/mpg-01/

Size wise is MP size to cars:

 

 

 

 

Edited October 7, 2021 by obakesan

[tekering]

4 hours ago, obakesan said:

Size wise is MP size to cars:

10 hours ago, Alex GS said:

would it think twice if it were 20 K

I'm thinking twice at ¥15,800.  I've never spent that much on a transformer that small, official or otherwise.

Sorry, TakaraTomy.  No sale.

[Alex GS]

not sure but I think it will be bigger from the size cars autobots, maybe it was intentionally image size incremented on this picture, even if the cars autobots put on the same perspective as Shouki the cars would be smaller, like 1 inch or 2 cm smaller imo, still who knows. 

[Mechapilot77]

so he is like ironhide size ish...does his height in bot mode scale correctly to the "holy" scale chart?  i'm guessing they picked it so that it would but made it a differet line becaue there is no way that combined mode will scale.  i'm thinking combined mode is 16 inches tops (smaller than CW devy) or maybe CW devy height MAX, which is out of scale with MP bots.  i'm guessing they picked this because if the combiner is in scale the bots modes won't be  and better to have 1 large bot out of scale than 5-6 figures out of scale.  that said, i don't give a crap about raiden so at roughly $200 once all is said and done with shipping etc....i gotta skip.  better value most likely than the TT MP Seekers but not by much.

[technoblue]

On tfw2005, the current guesstimate for the gestalt’s height is 35cm or around the same height as FansToys Phoenix.

What’s really tempting me is the possibility of having nicely detailed train modes…and the idea of displaying flying trains. Although it’s off topic for Transformers, having a display with different flying trains would remind me of the Galaxy Railways. 

[mikeszekely]

Waspinator and Tigatron went up on Pulse. I ordered Waspinator but Tigatron already sold out. Which is great, since Amazon cancelled my preorder...

With 2-ish days left, Victory Saber is just under 18,000 backers, unlocking the second tier reward (the stand). If the usual pattern holds of Haslab getting a big boost in the last 24 hours as the international orders come in, the third tier (shield and Micromasters) is looking like a real possibility.
 

[mikeszekely]

Finally!  Weeks after everyone else got theirs, I finally got the last figure I'd been combing stores for from the slowpokes at Amazon (just in time for me to wonder where everyone's suddenly getting Waspinator and Shadow Panther at...).  It's Studio Series 86 Deluxe-class Gnaw.

When I put SS Gnaw with the Cyberverse Warrior-class and the Titans Return Legends-class I can't help but think that Gnaw and the Sharticons haven't had the best luck getting toys over the years.  I can't say this is a fact, but to me it seems like Floro Dery's designs didn't translate well to actual animated Transformers, which is why most of them were refined before going on screen, but the Sharkticons we got in the movie were pretty close to what Dery came up with.  Regardless, out of the gate SS Gnaw is a huge improvement over pretty much everything that's come before him.  He's got better colors in the right places, he's got the little baby booty feet, and he's got better line work across his body.  He's lacking the wings around his shoulders, though, and his torso is kind of flat.  These are pretty forgivable gripes, mind you, when I don't even think a third party has come up with a Sharkticon this screen accurate.

He's not a very big guy, standing just a little taller than the Cyberverse Warrior.

And here he is with his other Quintesson buddies.  He's fairly close in height to the Alicon, but he's got less bulk.  Put with Hot Rod and Kup, Gnaw comes up to about mid-chest.  For some reason I remember the Sharkticons as being bigger, but this might just be how my 6 year old brain processed the idea of a monster that eats other Transformers.  While I don't think we ever got a good look at the robot mode side-by-side with the heroes, there's plenty of good scenes of them swarming at Kup in their beast modes, and Kup is definitely bigger than them.

As far as accessories go, you get the tail mace, naturally.  Despite the Sharkticons never having a gun in the cartoon, and despite the absences of their swords in the movie being the rational for excluding them with SS Slag and Grimlock, Gnaw does come with the rifle the G1 toy came with.  Finally, don't miss it, you get his fin.  Technically you get his entire back, but that's not really an accessory.  Just a final assembly step Hasbro wants you to do yourself.

Gnaw's head seems to be on a hinged ball joint.  He can turn his head, but he doesn't have much in the way of upward or sideways tilt.  He's good at looking down, though.  His shoulders rotate and extend laterally 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel and his elbows bend a little over 90 degrees on a single hinge.  His wrists can bend inward, due to transformation, but they don't swivel.  Neither does his waist.  His hips can move forward just under 90 degrees, but only about 45 degrees backward or laterally.  His thighs swivel.  His knees bend 90 degrees on a single hinge, but there's a transformation hinge at the top of his booties that you can use to fake a double-joint.  No up or down tilt on his feet, but his ankles can pivot 90 degrees.

On thing that really bugs me is that the beast jaw that forms his collar does NOT lock into place, and I found it constantly flapping up in front of his face when I was posing him.

Gnaw can hold his rifle or his tail by plugging the handles into his fists.  Weirdly, the rifle fits well in his right hand but is super loose in his left, meanwhile his tail fits snuggly in his left but the peg seems a tad too large for his right.

Although it came separately in the box, I didn't include his back as an accessory because it doesn't really do anything; you just install it and you're done.  The instructions have you install the shark fin, too, and then largely don't mention it again.  Because it uses a 5mm peg, though, it can hold it in his hand... kind of.  The shark toes around his wrists prevent you from plugging it in too far.  But yeah, it otherwise just goes in the 5mm port on his back.  Additionally, he has 5mm ports under his toes, and the holes in his beast shoulders where the rivet went through are also 5mm.

Gnaw's still a little guy in beast mode.  His body balls up, and the result is noticeably smaller than the Alicon and longer but not too much larger in the face than the previous Legends-class toy.  The transformation is surprisingly simple and mostly effective.  From some angles he looks positively great, and aside from the lack of antenna and a bit of blue on his sides very screen accurate.  The metallic green eyes are a definite highlight.

From other angles, though, problems start to creep in and he looks a bit weird.  Like maybe his body is too long?  Regardless, the shark hips seem way too far back, and rather than bow out they have to be bent forward to keep his feet under his center of mass.  His face seems too small.  It's really should run the entire height of his body, but the fact that it doesn't kind of accentuates the lack of expected roundness.  The beast shoulders also seem a bit high and forward of where they really ought to be be.  Turn him over, and you'll see how his fists turn into his heels, but the usual Hasbro method of just leaving a gap on the inside of the forearm means both feet are missing the inner toes.  His robot head is super visible under his chin, too.

Actually, it's super visible when he opens his mouth, which he can do in beast mode, period.  The beast shoulders rotate but they can't move laterally, which is a bummer.  There's no bicep swivel, the elbows bend over 90 degrees, and the wrists don't swivel.  That last bit is really unfortunate, because if they really had to cheap out and not give his hands any articulation I'd rather the wrists were turned 90 degrees.  Then you could at least pose one clawing another's face off, like in the movie.  His hips and knees are his robot shoulders and elbows, with the same articulation.  His feet and ankles don't have any articulation.  His tail, which plugs into a 5mm port on his butt, has a single hinge at the base.  For rifle storage there's a small peg on it that fits into a small hole on his left side.

I have mixed feelings about Gnaw.  He does a lot of things right, and he's definitely the best Sharkticon toy that's ever been released, official or otherwise.  There are a few really questionable decisions here, though, that drag him down.  I guess I'd recommend him; I still have a second one on preorder with Pulse, and I'd love it if Hasbro released a pack of slightly recolored ones for troop building.  I just can't shake the feeling that Gnaw was *this* close to being an amazing figure, but he came away just alright.

[Scyla]

Seems like Haslab Star Saber made all his stretch goals. Yay Go Shield!

Now the backers have to wait till the end of next year to get the toy.

 

[mikeszekely]

7 minutes ago, Scyla said:

Seems like Haslab Star Saber made all his stretch goals. Yay Go Shield!

Now the backers have to wait till the end of next year to get the toy.

 

I checked on it this morning while I was working on my Gnaw review, and there were just under 500 to go.  I took my family out to lunch and was happy to we made it to Tier 3.  The shield and Micromasters were the goals I was the least interested in, but if I'm paying $190 either way I'd rather get more for my money, eh?

[Dangard Ace]

8 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

For rifle storage there's a small peg on it that fits into a small hole on his left side.

 

All that really matters. 
 

Dr Evil:   Sharks with fricken lasers!!

[M'Kyuun]

 Brian Goldner, Hasbro CEO, Dies at 58 (msn.com)

Sad news.  While I may have taken the odd pot shot at Mr. Goldner over the years when expressing dissatisfaction with this or that in the world of Transformers, Hasbro prospered under his leadership, and that ultimately benefitted me and every other fan who still collects official TF toys. His passing leaves a huge void, and I can only hope that his replacement bears the same business acumen and passion for playthings that Mr. Goldner brought to bear. He died too young, and my heart goes out to his family, friends, and all the folks at Hasbro that knew him and relied on his leadership. RIP Brian, and thanks.

[Scyla]

On 10/7/2021 at 10:19 PM, technoblue said:

On tfw2005, the current guesstimate for the gestalt’s height is 35cm or around the same height as FansToys Phoenix.

What’s really tempting me is the possibility of having nicely detailed train modes…and the idea of displaying flying trains. Although it’s off topic for Transformers, having a display with different flying trains would remind me of the Galaxy Railways. 

A member of the TFW2005 board called the Takara customer service hotline and they apparently confirmed that Raidens height will be around 29cm (11.42“) which is about the size of a regular CW combiner.

This seems to be in line with the extrapolations of the size given the measurements of Shouki in train mode.

This has me intrigued because I don’t like big toys (i.e. bigger than 30cm/12“) but the price of the individual bots this seems rather steep. Especially since Raiden doesn’t seem to be an all-in-one combiner like MMCs Assaultus.

I preordered Shouki because I want to know what an official MP combiner is like and I dig the Shinkansen and his off-white and dark blue color scheme.

https://news.tfw2005.com/2021/10/13/rumor-possible-size-of-masterpiece-raiden-confirmed-442797

Edited October 15, 2021 by Scyla

[no3Ljm]

ThreeZero Action Figure MDLX Series OPTIMUS PRIME
Q2 2022
US$80

[technoblue]

49 minutes ago, Scyla said:

A member of the TFW2005 board called the Takara customer service hotline and they apparently confirmed that Raidens height will be around 29cm (11.42“) which is about the size of a regular CW combiner.

This seems to be in line with the extrapolations of the size given the measurements of Shouki in train mode.

Getting early confirmation on the height from Takara was pretty cool. It also shows how well customer service works for those living in Japan. 

1 hour ago, Scyla said:

This has me intrigued because I don’t like big toys (i.e. bigger than 30cm/12“) but the price of the individual bots this seems rather steep. Especially since Raiden doesn’t seem to be an all-in-one combiner like MMCs Assaultus.

Yeah. Now that I have some combiner teams in my collection, I can say I am one of those rare fans that prefers to display teams together in bot or vehicle mode. Rarely in combined mode and only if it is a smaller toy like you say. Having a scaled down MP Raiden doesn't bother me much at all. I actually like how we are getting detailed trains, bots that scale between MP Sideswipe and Ironhide, and a combined toy that is on the short side. The G1 combiners weren't huge gestalts either, so I wonder if this is just coincidence or if it is something that Takara is doing intentionally? Trying to tap into that G1 combiner toy nostalgia?

Anyway, let's pour one out for the scale purists.  

And for sure, that price definitely makes one stop to think---and that isn't a bad thing. If the other train team members are priced similar to Shouki, I figure more fans will jump ship for the 3P option. Or maybe some will pick and choose their favorite train bots and abandon the new combined mode altogether? I guess we'll see.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, Scyla said:

A member of the TFW2005 board called the Takara customer service hotline and they apparently confirmed that Raidens height will be around 29cm (11.42“) which is about the size of a regular CW combiner.

This seems to be in line with the extrapolations of the size given the measurements of Shouki in train mode.

I saw that, but I'm seriously confused by that.  They mean the combined Raiden will be under 12" tall?  When Shouki himself looks to be 7-8" tall?  That's some crazy engineering right there.

I'm with you and @technoblue, the scale game is fine for individual normal-sized robots but I've never felt the need for larger robots to be in the same scale; they simply get too unwieldy.  I'm fine with Fans Toys' or DX9's Stunticons in robot mode then Magic Square's Menasor on another shelf (and in the case of Devastators, both Newage's and Magic Square's look better than Constructor).  I think the fact that Fans Toys is doing a 4' tall Fortress Maximus is insanity.

That said, while there's no apples-to-apples comparisons until Takara shows their Yukikaze and Getsuei or until Moon Studios shows their Shouki, the fact is that so far Moon Studios' Trainbots are bigger and have less kibble for $70-$100 less than Takara's.  The only thing that Takara really seems to have in their favor at this point is that they're official and that Shouki's train mode seems to be more accurate with more realistic proportions.

[sh9000]

RIP Jack Angel.

[mikeszekely]

Hasbro is going to officially announce Transformers Legacy on Friday at Pulsecon.  I'm not sure how much of a look we're going to get, but expect at least two figures to be available for preorder on Friday.

First up we have Skids

Skids is looking pretty much par for the course- a well-articulated, solidly G1 design that's 90% what you want and the other 10% is missing when they hollowed out his legs.  I'm not loving the translucent blue axe-gun thing, but I can toss it in a drawer and be content with the rest of the figure.

We're also getting Bulkhead, and I'm thinking this figure is kind of interesting.  I mean, the rumors had already been saying that we were going to get characters outside of G1, but what we're seeing with Bulkhead isn't a new Transformers Prime Bulkhead, it's more of a "what if Bulkhead from Prime was in War for Cybertron?"  I feel like that's going to leave some people who were expecting actual Transformers Prime toys unhappy, but I'm all for taking the best characters from outside of G1 and retroactively stuffing them into G1 (much like WfC already did with Barricade), and I'll definitely be grabbing Legacy Bulkhead.

But the fact that we're getting a Bulkhead that's more G1 than Prime isn't the only thing interesting here.  For one, there's that translucent weapon again.  I wonder if that's going to be a gimmick for the line?  I really hope not, because as part of a line aimed at older fans I'd much prefer the gimmick to be "give me the best version of the character you can".  That said, I don't hate it here the way I do with Skids.  Second, what's up with his wheels?  The ones on his legs look like the rear wheels, but the ones on his shoulders look like they're just decorative- you can see them on the back of the cab.  And the ones behind his head are his actual front wheels, I'm thinking.  So... what about wheels on his shoulders are so iconic to Bulkhead's design that he needed fake ones?  Third, what does Bulkhead's body remind you of?  Ditch the shield cover, paint the cab red, paint the legs blue, and give him a new head... it's Optimus, isn't it?  However, Bulkhead should be solicited as a Voyager Class, and the only rumored Optimus Prime I know of is a Leader-class and supposedly Laser Optimus, which this definitely does NOT resemble.

[Scyla]

I wonder if MMC is brave enough to use that design to give us a Masterpiece scale G1 Bulkhead in their IF line.

[sh9000]

LEK at 50%.

[technoblue]

Hasbro's re-spin of Bulkhead looks all right for what it is. I am surprised with the cab transformation in bot mode, though. I would have thought there would be more to it. As it is, it seems very blocky and reminiscent of G1 truck transformers with how those hands and arms fold out.

In my collection, I have a copy of FE Bulkhead (with add-on cannons) and that MMC repaint/remold of Dicamus which came out a couple of years back. I would be okay sticking with these two but the one release that I'm still keeping tabs on is the KO of Bulkhead from APC Toys. That looks interesting and I hope they're actually able to make it. 

[mikeszekely]

19 minutes ago, technoblue said:

but the one release that I'm still keeping tabs on is the KO of Bulkhead from APC Toys. That looks interesting and I hope they're actually able to make it. 

Yes!

I mean, I'm in for Legacy Bulkhead as a Bulkhead that can hang with the other G1 WfC/SS86 figures. But I missed FE Bulkhead, which was so much better than the RiD version. Plus I have APC's Prime and Megatron, and they're great. The metallic repaint of Prime could pass for an MP if it were taller. You, me, and everyone else wants their Bulkhead... it's weird they keep pushing it back.

[JB0]

6 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Third, what does Bulkhead's body remind you of?  Ditch the shield cover, paint the cab red, paint the legs blue, and give him a new head... it's Optimus, isn't it?  However, Bulkhead should be solicited as a Voyager Class, and the only rumored Optimus Prime I know of is a Leader-class and supposedly Laser Optimus, which this definitely does NOT resemble.

They're gonna give us the Overload repaint we deserve, mark my words!

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, JB0 said:

They're gonna give us the Overload repaint we deserve, mark my words!

In all seriousness, I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

[JB0]

3 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

In all seriousness, I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

If they include the jetplane trailer, I'll buy it in half a heartbeat.
...

Man, how ironic would it be to see a Micromaster homage as a friggin' Leader class?

 

I wouldn't expect them to ever touch him again, but... they've done some pretty deep cuts recently that have surprised me. I mean, we got Top Spin and Twin Twist, the Monsterbots, and Fangry all as actual retail-release toys*. I didn't expect them to ever touch any of these characters again. Galaxy Optimus Prime was a surprise too, but as an Optibotimus it was less of one. I'm less skeptical of seeing characters like Octopunch and Waverider and Erector revisited these days.

*Well, one of the monsterbots was retail, anyways...

[mikeszekely]

My kid's school is doing "red ribbon week", which is some kind of anti-drugs thing I guess.  That entails wearing different outfits each day, most of which were no problem, but there's a "drugs can't find me" day where they're supposed to wear camo.  So I was off find something camo for her to wear, as camo isn't something six year old girls just have lying around, and naturally if I'm out shopping I figured I'd might as well look for Transformers, too.  Target was a bust all-around, so I went to Walmart figuring that if anyone has camo clothes for people of all ages and genders it'd be Walmart.  And sure enough, I found a camo dress she can wear, but I was shocked to find that they'd also stocked some new Kingdom Deluxes.  I passed on Shadow Panther; he seems like the flimsiest excuse to sell a black repaint of Cheetor, whom I'd already bought in both standard and Netflix colors, plus I'm going to try to get Ravage tomorrow from Pulsecon.  But I did bring home Waspinator.

Look, a lot of the Kingdom line has been hotly anticipated.  Rounding out the G1 cast we've been building since Siege with stuff like Huffer, Tracks, and possibly the best Cyclonus figure to date?  Yes please!  Modern updates of Beast Wars faves like Primal, Black Arachnia, and Megatron?  Even a "Truck Not Monkey" guy like me really appreciated them.  Three figures seemed to get a little more scrutiny than the rest, though-  Rattrap, to see how the inaugural Core-class fared against the excellent Thrilling 30 Deluxe (neat for the size, but probably too small based on BW scale guides and lacking detail so the older figure is still king). Rhinox, to see how a modern Voyager could improve on his T30 Voyager (better articulation, better joints, and better transformation make the Kingdom version better overall, but sort of a minor upgrade that made skipping it if you already had T30 Rhinox a viable choice).  But the third, Waspinator, was the one that got the most buzz (pun intended), for two reasons.  One, T30 Waspinator was a pretty great figure, arguably better than his T30 Beast Wars mates, so it wasn't obvious how Hasbro could improve on it.  Two, early pictures seemed to show a figure that was extremely similar to the T30, so maybe Hasbro didn't even try.

In-hand, side-by-side, there's definitely some changes, though.  The green is darker, and the color breakup different in a way that's more show-accurate.  Likewise, he's got some differences in his paint apps like the yellow circles on his shoulders, yellow teeth, purple eyes, and stripes on his robot antenna that are more show-accurate (and help give a little more life to his face).  He's also got more yellow on his shins and purple wings, changes that are again more show-accurate.  Finally, he's a tad shorter, which I guess helps with scaling?

One change is actually less accurate, though, and that's his insect legs.  The original toy had two legs on his arms, and his robot legs became the rear legs.  The CGI model took some liberties by giving him six brown legs of similar proportions, something you weren't going to get using the thicker green robot legs to make the back legs.  T30 got around this as best it could by keeping two legs on his arms, then having the rear legs dangling off his robot legs.  Kingdom Waspinator does something similar, except now just one leg is on each arm, and two legs are sprouting from his robot legs.  Although the legs can swivel where they're attached, they lack the articulation to really fold up tight and as such they always seem to be in the way.

Another downgrade from T30 Waspinator is his sole accessory.  It's a gun/stinger, like T30's, except it doesn't transform so there isn't a barrel or anything to really indicate that it's supposed to be a gun.  It's disappointing, because the T30 toy has a flip-out barrel/stinger, and the cartoon had a harpoon-like barrel.  Oh well.

Before we had the crown to T30 Waspinator prematurely, I must stress that the articulation is much better on Kingdom Waspinator.  His head is on a ball joint into the torso- he can't look up as much as T30 and his downward range and swivel are similar, but he's got much better sideways tilt.  His shoulders rotate and have 90 degrees of lateral range, which is about the same as T30 but Kingdom uses a universal joint instead of a ball joint.  Likewise, Kingdom's got bicep swivels and 90 degrees of elbow bend, but they're a separate mushroom swivel and elbow hinge instead of a ball joint.  Both have wrist swivels, but only Kingdom has a waist swivel.  Their hips have similar ranges, roughly 90 degrees forward, backward, and laterally, but once again Kingdom upgrades to universal joints from the T30's ball joints.  Both have cut thighs swivels and hinged knees.  Kingdom can bend his knees a full 90 degrees, though, where T30 gets maybe 45 (and that's being generous).  Their feet have similar up/down tilts, mostly due to transformation, but only Kingdom has ankle pivots (of which get gets over 45 degrees).  You're also free to pose the wings on Kingdom Waspinator without the flapping gimmick working against you.

Waspinator can hold his weapon in either of his fists.  He can also store it on his butt, same as he does in beast mode.  I'm not sure if they're for accessories or just so Hasbro could save on plastic, but he's also got a 5mm port on the back of each forearm, on the back of each calf, and under each foot.

As you could tell from the a lot of the early pics that leaked for Waspinator, the transformation on the Kingdom version is very similar to the T30 version.  His body stretches out, the wasp head folds up, the arms tuck in, the pelvis rotates 180 degrees, his thighs fill out the insect abdomen, his knees bend backward and his feet wind up on his chest.

I'm guessing that Hasbro was continuing the Kingdom MO of having more realistic alt modes.  I mean, as realistic as you can get with a green wasp (those actually exist) that has a stripey abdomen (not that I'm aware of, it's either one or the other).  That divot in his eyes isn't something from the cartoon's CGI model or the original toy, but it's actually something you can see on real life murder hornets.

Despite the similarities, when viewed from a number of angles I think the Kingdom version is actually the better bee.  His head is smaller, which actually looks more proportional.  His back is more organic and lacking the gimmicky flapping mechanism.  His abdomen has a more realistic contour, with the weapon sitting flush in it.  Although his hands are still visible, his arms and hands are tucked into his thorax more instead of just lying along the side.  As with the robot mode, you have more freedom on the wings' ball joints to pose them without the flapping gimmick fighting you.

Surprisingly, the wings aren't the only articulation.  The front legs rotate where they're attached.  The back legs rotate, too, but they're molded onto the same part so two legs move together.  His antenna can swivel.  But, perhaps best of all his head can tilt up and down, and his mandibles can open and close.

I gotta say, Kingdom Waspinator really surprised me.  Pictures made it look like it wasn't a huge change from the admittedly good but older-than-my-kid T30 toy, which was a bit disappointing given how different Rattrap and Rhinox actually were.  And yet, for all the similarities, Kingdom Waspinator is improved in some very significant ways with better robot articulation, better hardware in the joints, better bot-mode screen accuracy, better beast mode articulation, and (subjectively) better beast aesthetics.  The only things I think T30 really does better is the beast leg placement (a minor thing), the weapon (honestly the biggest knock against the Kingdom toy), and the fact that his waist comes untabbed fairly easily (although it could be a "your mileage may vary" sort of thing).  If you've been collecting the Beast Wars characters in Kingdom and you don't have a Waspinator then you don't want to miss this one.  If you already have Thrilling 30 Waspinator I'll say that you probably don't have to upgrade, as T30 Waspinator is still pretty good and not too far off aesthetically speaking, but the improvements, while sometimes subtle, do I think justify the upgrade.

[68whiskey]

Anyone get that DLX Shattered Glass Soundwave? If so can you please share some pics ?