The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[mikeszekely]

Core class. Expected around April.

[tekering]

7 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Core class. Expected around April.

Well, that explains why Slug's slug got shafted so hard.

Talk about phoning it in!

 

[M'Kyuun]

8 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Core class. Expected around April.

I may be in the minority, but I never cared for the exo-suits that Daniel and Spike wore. I guess it's cool that they 'transformed', but it just looked like a folded up exo-suit to me.  Why the heck is Spike laying on his side in wheeled thing mode when Daniel was shown laying on his belly?  The toy just looks odder for the weird sideways configuration.  Great for those who like it, but easy pass for me.  

Since they're doing stuff like this, I hope we get a new Brawn and Gears to round out the first season cast.

Edited January 4, 2022 by M'Kyuun

[Wolf-1]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

 

Since they're doing stuff like this, I hope we get a new Brawn and Gears to round out the first season cast.

Still missing Windcharger as well.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

Why the heck is Spike laying on his side in wheeled thing mode when Daniel was shown laying on his belly?  The toy just looks odder for the weird sideways configuration.

I don't think he is.  If you look at the difference in the plastic colors between the front and back half of the figure and the paint on his hair he's laying down.  I think that maybe just the helmet that rotates, so the white parts flanking the bubble shift to the top and bottom just like your picture there.

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the exo-suits either, but knowing me I'll still get one.

[davidwhangchoi]

On 12/12/2021 at 4:17 PM, lechuck said:

So having had MP-53 Skids for a little over a week now and here are my observations and thoughts...

The transformation is simple and boring - arms are very fiddly to pull out or tuck in when transforming, not an ideal implementation. Generally transformation has no intricacy, sense of engagement or achievement in the process, hardly anything to really to marvel about, maybe the split thighs as a novelty. Also don't forget to shift the thighs outward to have proper spacing between the legs.

A bit ironic that hybrid approach and emphasis on a accurate looking car still has Skid's end up with an additional fake car hatch part for the robot calves. Not sure why they didn't just split the actual car hatch in half and use them for the legs instead of hiding the whole part in Skid's back. Those robot calves by the way don't lock or tab in at all, which is annoying because it comes apart when you try to move the lower leg as the hinge above the shin has a weaker resistance compared to actual knee joint.

Accessories... a sad sight when you open the box, more could have been done here. Chrome fire weapons always looks tacky to me, Skids will not change that.

Alt-mode looks nice, plenty of paint used. To spite TF fans, I think Honda/Takara should have insisted on using the European Jazz model name and plastering it everywhere

Skids can also pull off his show room mode to avoid Decepticon detection.

From the feet to the the waist/abdomen area the robot proportions and silhouette look very good, everything seems to have the right size and ratio. It is the upper part of the robot where it falls apart. The fore-arms are far too thin giving the overall arm the appearance of a twig and this is unfortunately emphasized by the fact that the shoulders are not sitting close enough to the body thanks to some in-between alt-mode part (looks like car suspension to me). So the shoulder line is very wide giving the arms a very clumsy "tacked on" afterthought look. Hollow backpack design, hollow bits around the knees and visible mushroom peg hands don't provide and sense of premium toy feel either. I also wish the head would sit a little more on top of the bonnet, it looks to floaty where it is now.

Articulation is lacklustre, there is no ab-crunch, knees only bend 90 degrees and the feet only really pivot with minimal up movement. Outward leg movement can't go all the way as it is eventually blocked by the hip skirt and the legs can't go backwards either, both of these don't really impede on articulation, but it is a limitation nonetheless. On a positive, the hips work with nice clicky ratchets. Not sure why such a small and light robot needs that, but there you go.
Once again the shoulders become a contention point, no forward pivoting and they are only single jointed at the wheel-pauldron meaning lateral arm upward movement is away from the body looking very weird as the shoulder stays static. Implementing a (second) shoulder joint at the main body would have done wonders. There is also the unfortunate placement of the shoulder rotation point to contend with as it is offset, if you raise his arms up-forward the whole part suddenly sits to low and the shoulder line suddenly looks disjointed.

Overall toy engineering is too basic with some questionable implementation. Much talk was made about it being this new hybrid design approach, but honestly Takara should have done more to celebrate this. Higher engineering could have allowed for optional parts between animation and toy design - like head, thigh or even a front facia that could be swapped out to achieve a different aesthetic or some clever mechanism to change shoulder-wheel orientation. To me this is a missed opportunity. Likewise going backwards with articulation is not acceptable, not for something called Masterpiece in 2021. For some it might be great to have a sub-100 Euro MP, but personally I would have preferred paying more if it meant I get a higher premium feeling toy that provides more entertaining options.

MP-53 is in essence an expensive oversized CHUG Transformer, not really a Masterpiece in a premium toy sense. I hope Shouki fares better and more importantly MP Skyfire doesn't turn out this way.

awesome review on mp skids. 

On 12/20/2021 at 3:33 PM, mikeszekely said:

Yeah, this thread is for anything from Hasbro, Takara, or anything with an official license, which I believe the Yolopark Prime does.  The other thread is for toys from companies that are original designs from small companies produced without their actual names and branding because they don't have a license.

Anyway, I'm going to pick up where I left off yesterday with some Decepticons (and some guys who are technically neither).

Up first, we have Cyclonus.  My initial reaction was to kind of hate him.  The big head, think legs, long arms, and slumpy torso are pretty close to Floro Dery's original design, but a far cry from the more heroic proportions he had in the movie.  And that's kind of the thing, he was easily my favorite new Decepticon in the movie, and the '86 toy didn't really do him justice.  I mean, look at those hands!  They're practically drawn on!  And he's got like the entire nose of his alt mode just dangling from the back of his immobile head!  Plus, like Springer, he was depicted as one of the taller characters in the animation, but his toy is actually on the short side (taller than the Autobots we looked at yesterday, but his eye level is below Scourge and up to around Galvatron's belt).  In hindsight, though, Cyclonus is actually one of the best of the '86 toys.  He's actually got a fair amount of articulation, able to swivel at the shoulders, bend at the elbows, bend at the hips, and bend at the knees.

2021's Kingdom Cyclonus has something in common with his '86 ancestor- they're both representative of the best of their line.  Indeed, I don't just think Cyclonus was the best Kingdom figure this year, or the best official Transformer this year, but quite possibly my favorite toy of 2021 period.  His colors are good (he just needs some of that darker purple on his forearms), the sculpt is great (although his face is a little long), his articulation is good, and he cleans up so well with the nose of his alt mode cleverly collapsed into his torso.

G1 Cyclonus has a cool jet mode, for sure... but one that wasn't really screen accurate.  One thing that I find kind of interesting is that you can remove his wings (which means his entire arms).  There's no real point it doing so, and it's not necessary for transformation.  It just seems like a callback to the old Seeker mold (because Cyclonus was Skywarp, don't listen to anyone who tells you he was Bombshell!).

SS86 Cyclonus is more screen accurate, and with a pretty clever transformation to boot.  My only complaints are that he looses some of his sleekness viewed from the underside, and I wish something could have folded out of his shoulders to cover his biceps.

Like Cyclonus, the original 1986 Scourge is a pretty good toy!  Also like Cyclonus, though, he's based on Dery's original design rather than the finalized one that appeared in the movie, leaving him with a big head, thin limbs, a dad bod torso, and smaller wings that wrap around his body more. 

But he's got some knee articulation, swivels in the shoulders, and elbow bends.  The engine on his head is also removable, but it's not clear why.  I mean, it uses a 5mm peg to attach to his head.  When the Targetmaster version was released the following year his his hand holes were made larger, as the Targetmaster partners used 5mm pegs and that version could use the engine on his forehead as a gun, but the '86 version used smaller holes and a smaller peg for the rifle.

Scourge was released early in 2021 as part of the Studio Series '86 line (right).  His wings have a bit of kibble on them, but generally speaking he's much more screen accurate with a darker beard, better proportions, bigger collar, and even the pink fingernails.  The same toy was released near the end of the year in a less purple shade of blue as Sweep, one of the generic Scourge clones seen in the movie (left).

I know some people hate it, but I've always kind of loved Scourge's alt mode.  It's long and sleek, and there's something that seemed vaguely futuristic about a the lack of wings.  The '86 toy has a bit more white than the animation model, and his head with the third engine is almost the whole way back.  The Studio Series toy tweaks the colors and moves the head forward a bit, consistent with the animation.  The transformation is a bit on the simple side, as his wings fold around a mostly unchanged robot.

While I believe Wreck-Gar was marketed as an Autobot in 1986, and the Junkions did ally with the Autobots by the end of the movie, technically they're a separate faction.  I think the 1986 toy tried to copy Dery's design.  It's what leads to the chrome engine dominating his torso, the round arms with small shoulders and shock absorber coils running up his forearms, the exhaust on his right leg, and the seat hanging down past his butt.  But the proportions kind of wound up weird, with his small face tucked into a huge head.  One wheel is permanently attached to his left knee, but the other is removable.  Dery's art seems to suggest that it was meant to be a shield, and indeed he can hold the tire in one of his hands.  However, he also came with a gun (that he didn't actually use in the movie), and if your arm him with his axe in one hand and his gun in the other he can't really hold the other wheel.  I just stuck it in one of the screw holes on the back of his leg.  As goofy looking as Wreck-Gar is (and I wasn't totally a fan when I was a kid), he has a lot of arm articulation with elbow bends and ball joints at the shoulders.

Studio Series Wreck Gar fixes pretty much all the issues you'd have with the original toy.  Better colors, better proportions, better articulation, better screen accuracy.  His wheels can be mounted on either knee or forearm (left side for both is screen accurate).  He only comes with his axe, though.  To get him a gun like the G1 toy I had to get a 3D-printed one.

The original toy is close to Derry's art, down to the visible hands holding the front tire.  The Studio Series toy tries to clean it up for greater screen accuracy, but what's really impressive is that they managed to borrow ideas from Dery's original design but only very implied by the finalized art, like his head becoming the front of the bike, but pulling the front of the bike out of his torso but stuffing his head into it, so the bike's gauges are still on the back of his head.

Much like the Sweep, it's expected that Wreck-Gar will get at least one Junkion retool in the Studio Series line next year, with Junkyard being named (but I'd be down for Scrapheap, too).

We'll wrap up the day with a character marketed as a Decepticon (and still has a very prominent Decepticon badge on his tummy) but isn't actually a Decepticon, and that's Gnaw.  Gnaw was named on his original toy's packaging, but he's one of many identical unnamed Sharkticons.  You could say that, like many of the other 1986 toys, he's based more on Dery's art than the finalized animation model, but aside from the goofy face and a bit more dangly back kibble what Dery drew and what we got wasn't that different.  That said, the Studio Series Gnaw does try to be a bit closer to the what we saw on screen... except the SS86 toy doesn't have the little wings.  Disappointing, I know.

Gnaw didn't have a ton of articulation back in the day.  The new Studio Series toy does.  And unlike Wreck-Gar, Gnaw comes with the gun the G1 toy did even though it wasn't in the movie.  Actually, despite Gnaw himself being smaller than the G1 toy, his rifle is bigger.

The original Gnaw toy didn't have to do a lot to transform, what with his very round body.  The Studio Series toy has to do a bit more work.  It winds up more screen accurate, although neither have the spikey antennae seen in the movie.  I think the arm placement is a little weird on the Studio Series toy.  And you know what would have fixed it?  If it were a little lower and slightly farther back... which could have totally be accomplished if they were on a hinged panel connected to his back instead of the sides of the "shark" face.  Y'know, the way the G1 toy did it.  Which would have given him his missing wings.

At this point in time, I don't know of any repaints for Gnaw.  For the sake of troop building, I do kind of hope for a generic Sharkticon repaint in slightly altered colors.

And that's it for today.  We'll wrap up tomorrow with a look at the bigger "leader" figures.

Nice Mike, all these comparisons brings me back to my childhood g1's and ones that i missed on. I never got any of the enemy movie g1's (scourge and cyclonus bot modes looked  weird when i was a kid so i skipped em)   so it's nice to see them in the comparisons

 

[Scyla]

9 hours ago, tekering said:

Well, that explains why Slug's slug got shafted so hard.

Talk about phoning it in!

 

I think this and Wheely where just pack ins to make the box big enough for the leader price point both in the perceived value and box size department.

I would have preferred if they had included a sword instead of this useless box padding.

At first glance The Exo Suit looks very similar to the one that came with MP Bumblebee V1.

[M'Kyuun]

12 hours ago, Wolf-1 said:

Still missing Windcharger as well.

Yep, him too. Thanks!

12 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I don't think he is.  If you look at the difference in the plastic colors between the front and back half of the figure and the paint on his hair he's laying down.  I think that maybe just the helmet that rotates, so the white parts flanking the bubble shift to the top and bottom just like your picture there.

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the exo-suits either, but knowing me I'll still get one.

I stand corrected. I should have looked a little harder at the screenshot, but all I was focused on was Daniel's orientation.  But yeah, the toy's accurate so far as the orientation of the access bubble and the white half cones that flank it. So, I wonder if there's a little rotation mechanism that let's Spike's head orient correctly depending on mode.

Even so, my interest is pretty low for this fig. Again, it's cool they made it, but it's just not really doing much for me.

[mikeszekely]

Get 'em at Pulse while they're hot!

Kingdom Pipes

Kingdom Slammer

Kingdom Blaster

[Wolf-1]

Pipes showed up for me yesterday along with the Seeker dou and Rainmakers, finally. Hopefully Blaster hits the loot pile this evening or tomorrow. Slammer is an easy pass since I have no Metroplex and the upcoming version isn't tripping the trigger. 

[mikeszekely]

I have Pipes on the way, should be here tomorrow, because I had him preordered at Amazon.  Nice of them to fulfill that preorder, unlike Tigatron (whom I preordered as soon as possible, still had my order canceled because they claimed they wouldn't get enough stock, but then a bunch of 3rd party listings popped up asking $50-$60😒).  But I was glad to get an order in for Blaster and Slammer.  Even better, it seems like they're in-stock, not preorders.  Hopefully I'll have them by the end of the week or early next week.

[M'Kyuun]

Well, crap, I missed out on Blaster. I've been checking Pulse periodically to see if they had him available, but they never have. Figures I miss out when they do.  I don't go to Target very often, and on my last trip, they were pretty much cleaned out from Christmas. I don't feel like paying a markup for this guy, but at the same time, I want him. Hopefully Pulse will restock, as I at least get free shipping. 

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

Well, crap, I missed out on Blaster. I've been checking Pulse periodically to see if they had him available, but they never have. Figures I miss out when they do.  I don't go to Target very often, and on my last trip, they were pretty much cleaned out from Christmas. I don't feel like paying a markup for this guy, but at the same time, I want him. Hopefully Pulse will restock, as I at least get free shipping. 

I'm at Target at least once a week. If I can snag another Blaster there I'll let you know.

[mikeszekely]

New year, and stuff's starting to ship again.  It's all repaints and remolds so far, though.

First up, we've got Kingdom Pipes.  He is, of course, a remold of Huffer, but the thing is we've seen a lot of his tricks and remolded bits already because Puffer got them, and Puffer came a few weeks ago, so we already know about the twisting cab and remolded chest and most of his head.  He's actually got eyes and a bit of nose compared to Puffer's visor.  Pipes goes heavy on the Sunbow animation mode, so he's got arms with his namesake Pipes as accessories that are best plugged into his forearms and the white panel with the Autobot insignia on his cab backpack.  If you were hoping for his arms to actually be his pipes, toy style, sorry, you're outta luck.  Well, maybe you could get a few extra of Earthrise Hoist's gun thingy and fake it.

Still, I have to say it's been a pretty versatile mold.  Just changing the way the backpack hangs can help make Pipes a bit more distinct from Puffer.  I wish they'd included the same rotation joint on Road Ranger.

Transformation and alt mode don't leave any surprises, either.  I wish there was a better way to use his pipes as smokestacks.

Also arriving this week is Gen Selects Artfire.  He's a lot less of a remold, indeed, he's Inferno with blue ears, white toes, black thighs, and a white cab tummy.  He comes with the same accessories: the gun, the gun hand, the leg hoses, and the little nozzle that fits onto his head box.  But he also comes with Nightstick, which is really just another slight recolor of Siege Firedrive.  I can't count how many of these guys I have now, but I swear that they're all based on two bodies with maybe three different gun barrels.  He also comes with four blue blast effects.

Artfire has the same alt mode as Inferno, just with some extra white (and a little black).  I'll note that the white from his feet carried over to the rear fenders, which are black or dark gray on the MP and G1 toy.  He's also missing the gold stripe and Japanese kanji on the red cab stripe.  Plus with no mold changes, there's no way to peg Nightstick onto the ladder.

I guess I don't have a ton to say about either of these guys.  They're both based on pretty good molds.  If you're trying to get a complete cartoon cast then there's no reason for me not to recommend Pipes.  Artfire's a bit less necessary, being a repaint based on a late Japanese G1 toy that didn't appear in any cartoon, but again he's not bad.  He kind of makes me wish Grapple had gotten a Hauler repaint, though.

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I'm at Target at least once a week. If I can snag another Blaster there I'll let you know.

Thanks, Mike.

[Kuma Style]

[sh9000]

On 1/3/2022 at 11:26 AM, mikeszekely said:

Core class. Expected around April.

Cool.  I’ll be ordering one.

On 1/5/2022 at 10:44 AM, M'Kyuun said:

Well, crap, I missed out on Blaster. I've been checking Pulse periodically to see if they had him available, but they never have. Figures I miss out when they do.  I don't go to Target very often, and on my last trip, they were pretty much cleaned out from Christmas. I don't feel like paying a markup for this guy, but at the same time, I want him. Hopefully Pulse will restock, as I at least get free shipping. 

Blaster is available to order at Dorkside if you want to get it there.

https://dorksidetoys.com/products/transformers-generations-wfc-kingdom-blaster-voyager-class-action-figure-pre-order

[mikeszekely]

I think this figure's pretty hotly anticipated, so I wanted to get this review up fast.  It's Kingdom Voyager-class Blaster!

Out of the gate, Kingdom Blaster's a noticeable improvement over my previous stand-in, Unique Toys' Soundmixer.  The head's got a more cartoony shape with a metallic dark silver paint on his face, metallic blue eyes, and a metallic pearl for his forehead.  He's got properly black biceps and thighs, and Hasbro managed to give him the blocky hips with the red stripes.  That said, there are a few details I kind of question.  Like, if we're going for super cartoon accuracy, his toes should actually be the same gray as his hips and shins, although that one doesn't really bother me.  What does bother me are the black rectangles with the raised lip around them.  Where did Hasbro come up with that one?  I think it's a reference to some stickers that the the G1 toy has, but (1) those stickers only face forward if you turn the entire arm 90 degrees, something the G1 instructions do tell you to do but I never did because it means turning the whole arm, so that his fists are turned to hold his gun sideways and the sliders for the fists are facing front, and (2) it's not a cartoon detail at all.  Meanwhile, a sticker detail that actually is on the animation model, the two red dots above each foot, are molded onto the Kingdom toy but left unpainted.  *sigh*  Can't win 'em all, I guess.

Another thing I don't love is how he scales with Soundwave, which is to say he's a good head taller than his nemesis.  Actually, Blaster is the same height as Optimus Prime and Megatron, while Soundwave is a head shorter than those and very close in height to Starscream.  Now, I say I don't love it because in my head they're the same size, and I'm pretty sure they're the same size in The Headmasters.  However, as near as I can tell based on official scale guides used by the animators, you might be able to make a case that Soundwave is a hair too short or Blaster a hair too tall, but Blaster really is bigger than Soundwave.  And honestly, this shouldn't be too surprising; while the animators rarely maintained the level of size discrepancy, they really did seem to base a lot of "who's taller than who" based on who had the bigger toys, and G1 Blaster's a big boy (just slightly shorter than Galvatron and Magnus, and much taller than Soundwave or even Optimus Prime).

Moving along... Blaster comes with a rifle that's a bit more stylized but ultimately very similar to the G1 toy's, which makes it pretty cartoon accurate as well.  He also comes with Eject.  In "tape" mode, Eject is the same size as the Siege Micromasters like Rumble here, and will fit into Soundwave or Doubledealer's chests.

In bot mode, Eject does scale well with the Siege Micromasters.  However, if you're subbing in some other versions like Titans Return Rewind, Perfect Effect Warrior, or the MP cassettes you might find him a bit short.

Despite his short stature, though, I'm pleased to say that Eject's a small improvement over the FRumble mold.  His head can swivel, his shoulders can swivel and move laterally 90 degrees, his hips can go forward/backward/laterally 90 degrees, and his knees can bend (slightly over) 90 degrees.  He's got no wrist or ankle articulation, and no waist swivel.  In that sense, he's like FRumble.  But where he wins is that he's got ball jointed elbows, giving him the ability to bend 90 degrees at the elbow and move like he's got a bicep swivel, whereas FRumble has no articulation below the shoulder.  I'd prefer they hadn't used translucent plastic, but he's still decent enough that I find myself hoping that we a matching Rewind, Steeljaw, and Ramhorn (and that Steeljaw doesn't suck the way Ravage did).

As far as Blaster himself goes, his head is on a ball joint that can tilt a little up, down, and sideways in addition to swiveling.  His shoulders rotate and can move laterally just a hair short of 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend sightly over 90 degrees.  His wrists don't swivel, but his right hand is molded with the index finger extended a bit, allowing you to pose him like he's pushing his eject button.  His waist swivels.  His hips can move forward and laterally 90 degrees, and just a bit less than that as long as you move his butt flap out of the way.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  Due to his transformation his toes can tilt up, but not down, plus his ankles can pivot around 60-70 degrees.

All the buttons on his torso are actually a single molded piece, so you can't push play like you can on the G1 toy.  Pushing them does open the door on his chest, which allows you to store Eject inside.  However, the buttons do not push down, as the G1 toy's did, as a real tape deck would, and as you'd expect his to.  Rather, the whole thing pushes inward, into his torso.  It's a very minor quibble, just worth noting because it's odd.  At first I thought the door on his chest was stuck because I kept pushing down and nothing was happening.  He holds his rifle just fine in either hand.  He's also got the usual WfC array of 5mm ports, in this case one on the outside of each shoulder, on on the back of each shoulder, one on the outside of each forearm, on on the outside of each leg (in the black handle part), one under each toe, and three on his back.

While the G1 Blaster toy had a super-simple transformation, it seems like modern efforts that attempt to better capture the proportions of the animation model necessitate more complex solutions.  Which isn't to say that Blaster's transformation is complicated, because it's still pretty simple.  But there's some stuff going on that's kind of interesting, like how his wrists fold out instead of the usual fold in so that the entire forearm can fold over the bicep instead, and how the front of his shins actually end up on the sides and the alt mode speakers were actually the insides of his legs, just so they could have the knee bend in just the one direction.  The backs of his calves fold out to help fill in the front and make it smooth, but as with other attempts (including 3rd party ones) it does leave the back of the tape deck a bit gappy.

And once again I kind of find myself questioning some of the deco choices.  The tape door looks a tad small, but I think that's because the red runs straight down the whole way where both the G1 toy and the animation model had gray on the bottom where his hips are.  I find that a tad frustrating, too, because they could have painted part of the butt flap and part of the fold out flap gray, no problems.  In fact, they did put paint on those parts, but instead of making him more accurate they just added a bunch of black lines that no other version of Blaster had.  The extra black detailing spills over to some lines and extra knobs flanking the door (to be fair the cartoon did have one knob, but not four).  It makes him look busy.  The black part of his handle is also much longer than the G1 toy or animation model.

Probably less useful than the robot mode comparisons, but here's how he scales with Soundwave.

Blaster doesn't do a lot in alt mode, but I suppose you don't really need him to.  You can still open and close the door on his chest, and still stow Eject or one of the other Siege Micromaster tapes inside.  He's got a number of 5mm ports handy, including one on either side, two on the handle on two, and five on the back.  Should you need it, there's also a pair of 5mm pegs on the back side.  Despite this plethora of options, and despite his gun having a 5mm port on either side, he's got an entirely different method of storing his gun on the back of the tape deck.  Instead, there's a thin tab on his back, just under the center 5mm port.  This fits into corresponding slot on the gun's handle.

Let me be clear... Blaster is a very good figure.  If I seem a bit overly critical, especially on the aesthetics, it's because those flaws stand out to me more because of how excellent he is in basically every other regard.  Minor aesthetic quibbles aside, he's pretty much exactly what you want; a modern Blaster figure with standard WfC articulation, WfC scale, and cartoon good looks.  It's a shame that he's getting such a low-key, late Kingdom release because he's a well-done figure that's going to be in high demand (if you miss the Kingdom release, don't worry too much, I have it on authority that he'll be repackaged and carried over into Legacy).  If you have the chance, take it, because I highly recommend him.

[JB0]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

his right hand is molded with the index finger extended a bit, allowing you to pose him like he's pushing his eject button. 

The most important feature!

 

I actually like the extra lines and knobs in his boombox mode. They make him look more like a real boombox.

[mikeszekely]

Heads up, I was planning on doing Scamper tomorrow, but the copy I got from Pulse was assembled with two left thighs.  As a result his right leg is basically stuck in a slightly bent position; it doesn't have the clearances to either straighten or bend further.😡

[M'Kyuun]

12 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I think this figure's pretty hotly anticipated, so I wanted to get this review up fast.  It's Kingdom Voyager-class Blaster!

Out of the gate, Kingdom Blaster's a noticeable improvement over my previous stand-in, Unique Toys' Soundmixer.  The head's got a more cartoony shape with a metallic dark silver paint on his face, metallic blue eyes, and a metallic pearl for his forehead.  He's got properly black biceps and thighs, and Hasbro managed to give him the blocky hips with the red stripes.  That said, there are a few details I kind of question.  Like, if we're going for super cartoon accuracy, his toes should actually be the same gray as his hips and shins, although that one doesn't really bother me.  What does bother me are the black rectangles with the raised lip around them.  Where did Hasbro come up with that one?  I think it's a reference to some stickers that the the G1 toy has, but (1) those stickers only face forward if you turn the entire arm 90 degrees, something the G1 instructions do tell you to do but I never did because it means turning the whole arm, so that his fists are turned to hold his gun sideways and the sliders for the fists are facing front, and (2) it's not a cartoon detail at all.  Meanwhile, a sticker detail that actually is on the animation model, the two red dots above each foot, are molded onto the Kingdom toy but left unpainted.  *sigh*  Can't win 'em all, I guess.

Another thing I don't love is how he scales with Soundwave, which is to say he's a good head taller than his nemesis.  Actually, Blaster is the same height as Optimus Prime and Megatron, while Soundwave is a head shorter than those and very close in height to Starscream.  Now, I say I don't love it because in my head they're the same size, and I'm pretty sure they're the same size in The Headmasters.  However, as near as I can tell based on official scale guides used by the animators, you might be able to make a case that Soundwave is a hair too short or Blaster a hair too tall, but Blaster really is bigger than Soundwave.  And honestly, this shouldn't be too surprising; while the animators rarely maintained the level of size discrepancy, they really did seem to base a lot of "who's taller than who" based on who had the bigger toys, and G1 Blaster's a big boy (just slightly shorter than Galvatron and Magnus, and much taller than Soundwave or even Optimus Prime).

Moving along... Blaster comes with a rifle that's a bit more stylized but ultimately very similar to the G1 toy's, which makes it pretty cartoon accurate as well.  He also comes with Eject.  In "tape" mode, Eject is the same size as the Siege Micromasters like Rumble here, and will fit into Soundwave or Doubledealer's chests.

In bot mode, Eject does scale well with the Siege Micromasters.  However, if you're subbing in some other versions like Titans Return Rewind, Perfect Effect Warrior, or the MP cassettes you might find him a bit short.

Despite his short stature, though, I'm pleased to say that Eject's a small improvement over the FRumble mold.  His head can swivel, his shoulders can swivel and move laterally 90 degrees, his hips can go forward/backward/laterally 90 degrees, and his knees can bend (slightly over) 90 degrees.  He's got no wrist or ankle articulation, and no waist swivel.  In that sense, he's like FRumble.  But where he wins is that he's got ball jointed elbows, giving him the ability to bend 90 degrees at the elbow and move like he's got a bicep swivel, whereas FRumble has no articulation below the shoulder.  I'd prefer they hadn't used translucent plastic, but he's still decent enough that I find myself hoping that we a matching Rewind, Steeljaw, and Ramhorn (and that Steeljaw doesn't suck the way Ravage did).

As far as Blaster himself goes, his head is on a ball joint that can tilt a little up, down, and sideways in addition to swiveling.  His shoulders rotate and can move laterally just a hair short of 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend sightly over 90 degrees.  His wrists don't swivel, but his right hand is molded with the index finger extended a bit, allowing you to pose him like he's pushing his eject button.  His waist swivels.  His hips can move forward and laterally 90 degrees, and just a bit less than that as long as you move his butt flap out of the way.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  Due to his transformation his toes can tilt up, but not down, plus his ankles can pivot around 60-70 degrees.

All the buttons on his torso are actually a single molded piece, so you can't push play like you can on the G1 toy.  Pushing them does open the door on his chest, which allows you to store Eject inside.  However, the buttons do not push down, as the G1 toy's did, as a real tape deck would, and as you'd expect his to.  Rather, the whole thing pushes inward, into his torso.  It's a very minor quibble, just worth noting because it's odd.  At first I thought the door on his chest was stuck because I kept pushing down and nothing was happening.  He holds his rifle just fine in either hand.  He's also got the usual WfC array of 5mm ports, in this case one on the outside of each shoulder, on on the back of each shoulder, one on the outside of each forearm, on on the outside of each leg (in the black handle part), one under each toe, and three on his back.

While the G1 Blaster toy had a super-simple transformation, it seems like modern efforts that attempt to better capture the proportions of the animation model necessitate more complex solutions.  Which isn't to say that Blaster's transformation is complicated, because it's still pretty simple.  But there's some stuff going on that's kind of interesting, like how his wrists fold out instead of the usual fold in so that the entire forearm can fold over the bicep instead, and how the front of his shins actually end up on the sides and the alt mode speakers were actually the insides of his legs, just so they could have the knee bend in just the one direction.  The backs of his calves fold out to help fill in the front and make it smooth, but as with other attempts (including 3rd party ones) it does leave the back of the tape deck a bit gappy.

And once again I kind of find myself questioning some of the deco choices.  The tape door looks a tad small, but I think that's because the red runs straight down the whole way where both the G1 toy and the animation model had gray on the bottom where his hips are.  I find that a tad frustrating, too, because they could have painted part of the butt flap and part of the fold out flap gray, no problems.  In fact, they did put paint on those parts, but instead of making him more accurate they just added a bunch of black lines that no other version of Blaster had.  The extra black detailing spills over to some lines and extra knobs flanking the door (to be fair the cartoon did have one knob, but not four).  It makes him look busy.  The black part of his handle is also much longer than the G1 toy or animation model.

Probably less useful than the robot mode comparisons, but here's how he scales with Soundwave.

Blaster doesn't do a lot in alt mode, but I suppose you don't really need him to.  You can still open and close the door on his chest, and still stow Eject or one of the other Siege Micromaster tapes inside.  He's got a number of 5mm ports handy, including one on either side, two on the handle on two, and five on the back.  Should you need it, there's also a pair of 5mm pegs on the back side.  Despite this plethora of options, and despite his gun having a 5mm port on either side, he's got an entirely different method of storing his gun on the back of the tape deck.  Instead, there's a thin tab on his back, just under the center 5mm port.  This fits into corresponding slot on the gun's handle.

Let me be clear... Blaster is a very good figure.  If I seem a bit overly critical, especially on the aesthetics, it's because those flaws stand out to me more because of how excellent he is in basically every other regard.  Minor aesthetic quibbles aside, he's pretty much exactly what you want; a modern Blaster figure with standard WfC articulation, WfC scale, and cartoon good looks.  It's a shame that he's getting such a low-key, late Kingdom release because he's a well-done figure that's going to be in high demand (if you miss the Kingdom release, don't worry too much, I have it on authority that he'll be repackaged and carried over into Legacy).  If you have the chance, take it, because I highly recommend him.

Good review, Mike.  The only other official Blaster that I think they did a good job on was the leader class Titans Return toy, which, IMHO, got the base aesthetics right, and was just a big, fun, and imposing toy. The big drag for me with that fig was that he wasn't designed to accommodate the regular micro-cassettes, although his chest hatch was certainly large enough to do so. So, this guy is more appropriately scaled for the rest of his WfC/Legacy brthren. I'm not bothered by his greater height compared to Soundwave, for example; I think it stems back to G1 where his OG toy was huge compared to the others, and that size difference between the toys has always colored my view of how he sizes up. I remember him from the '86 Movie, of course, but honestly, he makes so few appearances after the attack on Autobot City that I don't really recall getting a clear view of his standing next to other bots for comparison. So, in my mind, he suffers from a bit of gigantism.   Of course, the other prevalent feature is his ability to carry the Autobot cassettes, and though Has/Tak haven't done the most commendable job with them looking at the Decepticon roster, Eject is a nice improvement for having better articulation. Still, when compared to what third parties are bringing to the table in terms of articulation first and foremost, followed by complexity and detail at small scales, the Micromaster scaled toys seem an anachronism ten to twenty years removed. Def room for improvement, Hasbro. Alas, I hope Dr. Wu will seize the opportunity to make improved versions of all the cassettes at the WfC scale. I'm not at all happy that Hasbro ditched the realistic scale of the micro-cassettes, but they did, damn them, and so this is what we're apparently stuck with going forward.  And because I'm a sucker for the cassettes, my hope is that A) Hasbro will make the rest of the Autobot cassettes and they turn out at least as well as Eject articulation wise, as well as in opaque plastic going forward, thank you very much, or B) third party remedies the shortcomings of the official offerings with improved offerings of their own. 

As for Blaster himself, the lack of individual and pressable little buttons, not to mention the odd method of opening his chest hatch, is lamentable for the little bit of playability they would have provided. But at least he can hold his cassettes.  The additional knob detail doesn't bother me, either, as JBO mentioned, it adds a little realistic detail to his alt mode. It would be cool if those knobs could turn, but I imagine, like the Ark's plethora of hull cannons, they're just molded detail, signifying yet more lost opportunity for playability. I'll give that to the 80s toys; what they lacked in articulation they made up in working details like this. All things being equal, however, I'd rather have the articulation. 

His weapon storage is terrible. Such a large fig and they couldn't somehow figure out a way to integrate it somewhere into the alt mode? Sigh. If the gun separated into two parts, each half could probably fit into those big gaps next to each arm in alt mode. It wouldn't be the prettiest solution, but better than just tacking it so obviously onto the back of his boombox mode.  Half-measures like this are just so frustrating, especially when they get so many other things right. 

I might sound embittered, but honestly, like Mike, it's the fact that they come this [ ] close to delivering a nigh perfect toy, but the little things niggle and lessen it. Although I've never been a big Blaster fan (it's a shame he wasn't included as part of that first wave of toys to be a counterpoint to Soundwave in both toy and toon form- imagine had the Autobots been able to send their own cassette spies out to report on Megs and the Decepticons from the beginning), I still think he's a neat character and I love the scenes with him in the '86 Movie, especially when he unleashes his own minions to do battle in the comm tower. 😍  To that end, I'm hoping to get a copy to round out my G1 Autobot forces. Hopefully, too, 2022 will see an Autobot cassette pack with Steeljaw, Ramhorn, and Rewind. Because, we always need more TF cassettes in our lives. 😉

[Scyla]

Since the War for Cybertron line is the first (complete and) unified G1 cast in toy form that comes from one source with one design language/principle and behind it I think you can make the argument that this is the correct scale that these characters should have compared to one another.

Especially since this is what the creators of the Transformers had in mind for the characters and the models are represented not only in toy form but also in official media.

Maybe it is time to abandon the holy scale chart and create a better one from the WfC toys.

[Kuma Style]

[Kuma Style]

 

[Kuma Style]

Edited January 10, 2022 by Kuma Style

[M'Kyuun]

Transformers Legacy Deluxe Kickback In-Hand Images - Transformers News - TFW2005

Kickback was my first Insecticon (I only owned him and Shrapnel, and my Shrapnel disappeared once I reclaimed my old toys after returning from Okinawa many years ago), and I've had a soft spot for him ever since. This fig definitely channels the G1 toy- strong nostalgia looking at it.  My only niggle is that I wish they'd collapsed the thighs into the forelegs, as it would have looked better, IMHO, and prevented the knees from bending awkwardly in alt mode. And ditch the useless purple energon weapons.

While I really enjoy the legends versions of these guys, especially the way the arms form the grasshopper's abdomen on that Kickback, Legacy Kickback looks more like a modified version of the G1 toy than a new fig. I dig it. I'm curious to see how the other two fare if they maintain this direction.

[Wolf-1]

Was never a big fan of the Insecticons; that said, with the upcoming release of Kickback and hopefully the others, I'm thinking the previous smaller releases would make great stand-in "clones".  

[M'Kyuun]

11 minutes ago, Wolf-1 said:

Was never a big fan of the Insecticons; that said, with the upcoming release of Kickback and hopefully the others, I'm thinking the previous smaller releases would make great stand-in "clones".  

I've seen the same train of thought over on the TFW boards. It's an apropos way of keeping those figs relevant in your collection. 

Love the Insecticons, more from a design POV than character, but I still loved the way they were portrayed in the old toon and '86 Movie.  Of all creatures, arthropods lend themselves exceptionally well to being rendered as robotic entities, and I've always been a big fan of that treatment. Zoids, TFs, and some of the latest from 52Toys pluck my heartstrings due to their wonderfully creative versions of insects, arachnids, and crustaceans.  It would be great to get an updated set of the Deluxe Insecticons, but their license holder is Bandai, and since they and Takara are competitors, I doubt we'll see that come to fruition, more's the pity.

[mikeszekely]

I love the Insecticons, at least the basic trio.  They're some of the few pre-86 Transformers I actually had, and I had the whole trio to boot.  I still have G1 Insecticons, although they're more recent reissue.

[M'Kyuun]

19 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

I love the Insecticons, at least the basic trio.  They're some of the few pre-86 Transformers I actually had, and I had the whole trio to boot.  I still have G1 Insecticons, although they're more recent reissue.

Given your attachment to the originals, what are your initial thoughts of Legacy Kickback?

I wish the thighs collapsed into the lower leg, but otherwise, I'm digging it. I have to confess, however, that the legends fig has a better grasshopper mode. but I think Hasbro was really going for maximum G1 callback with this Legacy fig, and as such, they succeeded.

[Kuma Style]

[jenius]

Kuma, I feel like the last few photos are getting a little washed out... almost like the white background is illuminated. Might just be my monitor...

[JB0]

My insecticon wvs Shrapnel, but I think Kickback was the coolest-looking. And that one sure tickles my interest.

[Kuma Style]

3 hours ago, jenius said:

Kuma, I feel like the last few photos are getting a little washed out... almost like the white background is illuminated. Might just be my monitor...

They honestly look fine on mine as well as my phone so I dunno. I have a three monitor setup and the one I use for photo editing normally pics up on that pretty well? Lmk if it's a universal thing if you look on different equipment.

[mikeszekely]

4 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Given your attachment to the originals, what are your initial thoughts of Legacy Kickback?

Ha ha, I'm trying not to have too many initial thoughts!  I like to go into my own reviews as fresh as possible.  That said, I'm not a fan of the purple swords but it's easy enough to dump them in a drawer; he has his gun and that's all that matters), but on the whole I'm thinking he looks really good.  He's got the right balance of cartoon and toy.  I just hope that there's some way to lock his knees (collapsing the lower leg over the thigh was an idea, but to be fair not collapsing them looks more G1), and that the chest can open.

21 minutes ago, Kuma Style said:

Lmk if it's a universal thing if you look on different equipment.

The background does look extremely bright, but it doesn't look washed out to me.  The rear legs are a little out of focus, but I assume that's a deliberate, artistic choice.  I actually dig how it came out, the way the the light is reflecting off his guns and wings almost looks like CGI artwork.  For what it's worth, I'm using a calibrated LG IPS display rated for 99% sRGB, and I tried looking at your Victory Leo pic both with HDR on and HDR off.