The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[M'Kyuun]

Nice review, Mike.  I was glad the gut gun was included, but rather dismayed that, unlike the original toy, it didn't integrate into the beast mode.  In a lot of ways, the original toys had better engineering, but the sculpts were a little wonky, as they generally favored the robot modes and looked disproportionate or oddly shaped in beast mode. Most of those wonky proportions got cleaned up by the animation, which like G1, cheated a lot to make the beast modes look natural.  Hasbro's trying to strike a better balance, but they still favor the bot mode over the beast in pretty much every case; I appreciate their making the characters look more like their onscreen incarnations, but it still sucks when a beast mode is shortchanged, especially in articulation, to benefit the bot mode.  

Still, I am glad that, like with MP, Hasbro chose to make Tigatron, rightly, a larger figure. Being a voyager, there are some improvements over the similar Cheetor mold, especially the way the tiger's legs fold up flush in bot mode, better bot feet, the little flap in the calves, and fully hidden hands in beast mode. I also wish they'd found a better solution for the tail, and I really wish they'd found a way to integrate that gut gun into the tiger mode instead of pegging it on to his stomach like a giant tumor.  It's a nice fig, but as usual with Hasbro's stuff, there's room for improvement.

[mikeszekely]

Pulse is taking orders for Deluxe-class Guard.  It's Earthrise Ironhide in Diaclone colors.

No word yet on some of the other repaints that have been leaking, like Nightprowler (white Cheetor), Sandstorm (Deluxe Scorponok in a dusty brown color), Blue Bluestreak, or Buzzsaw (yellow Waspinator with a new head).

[M'Kyuun]

Blue Bluestreak is the only fig of this assortment that interests me.  I already have Earthrise Ironhide and Ratchet, and I feel no compunction to own any more copies of that lackluster mold.  I hope we get a completely new and improved design through '86 Studio Series at some point.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

I hope we get a completely new and improved design through '86 Studio Series at some point.

I mean, so do I.  But I'm kind of addicted to getting the Diaclone variants, so I preordered Guard and I already ordered some black Nonnef feet for him.  And yeah, I really want Blue Bluestreak, but I'm less interested in the Beast Wars repaints.

[M'Kyuun]

12 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I mean, so do I.  But I'm kind of addicted to getting the Diaclone variants, so I preordered Guard and I already ordered some black Nonnef feet for him.  And yeah, I really want Blue Bluestreak, but I'm less interested in the Beast Wars repaints.

Well, I'm a big fan of the Datsun design, and next to Prowl, my fave of the bunch, blue Bluestreak has the most striking presentation, IMHO. You already know how I feel about the Earth mode vanette bros, and while I think the new Cheetor and Waspinator molds are ok, I don't feel a need for more of either. 

I know you had a lesser opinion, but I really like the Airazor mold, and I already have her and the Eagle repaint (forget his name), with the splendid looking Terrorsaur remold/repaint POed. Regardless of how you feel about the mold, it's still the best looking official Terrorsaur figure released. Among the BW cast, he doesn't get much love, so I'm glad he turned out pretty well in this line.

I'll just throw in a little aside: I've been noticing my local Wally carrying more Generations figs, both deluxes and voyagers, of late, which makes me pretty happy. Of course, I already have the figs I've been finding there, but I sincerely hope the trend of stocking these things continues as we look forward to Legacy hitting shelves soon.👍

[mikeszekely]

On 1/27/2022 at 1:40 PM, M'Kyuun said:

I know you had a lesser opinion, but I really like the Airazor mold, and I already have her and the Eagle repaint (forget his name), with the splendid looking Terrorsaur remold/repaint POed.

To be fair, I think a lot of my lesser opinion has to do with a complete lack of attachment to the character and a more ambivalent attitude toward beastformers than the Transformers that turn into cars and jets and stuff.  But I still got her and Skywarp (aka the Eagle repaint), and I actually have Terrorsaur POed at both Amazon and Pulse.  Unless someone else needs it, I planned on cancelling whichever one doesn't ship first.

On 1/27/2022 at 1:40 PM, M'Kyuun said:

I'll just throw in a little aside: I've been noticing my local Wally carrying more Generations figs, both deluxes and voyagers, of late, which makes me pretty happy.

Unless you're looking for SS86 Blurr or Kingdom Tracks and Wingfinger neither my local Targets nor Walmarts have much.  That said, I was a bit surprised to see a less-local Walmart had a pretty big stock of Cyberverse Deluxes, though.  Now, after Cheetor I was kind of feeling like I might be over Cyberverse.  I really only watched the first season of the show, the Decepticons are hugely underrepresented, my Starscream actually busted on me, and despite being "Deluxes" they're inferior in quality to the Generations stuff.  I was all set to keep walking, except I noticed that Walmart has them marked down to $13.  OK, at that price I could have a look.  Mostly it was stuff from the original BAF wave, just in the newer all-cardboard packaging.  But then I noticed this guy, and well, I'm a sucker for Dinobots.  It's Cyberverse Deluxe-class Slug.

Like the best of Cyberverse, Slug is essentially the G1 character reworked the the Cyberverse aesthetic.  It works great for the cartoon, from what I can tell... the problem is that, perhaps more than most of the other Cyberverse Deluxes I've looked at (save maybe Thunderhowl), Slug is not particularly cartoon-accurate.  His torso has blue squares that aren't in the cartoon, with far less silver on his chest.  The silver (or light gray) he does have comes down over his abs, which they shouldn't, and have a weird stony texture that he doesn't have in the cartoon.  The black on his lats is missing, and his thighs are gray instead of black.  He's missing some red on his hands and elbows, and some gold on his wrists.  Meanwhile, his shoulder and biceps are gold, when they should be silver and black (respectively with just little gold accents on the outside of his shoulders.  He's got no red on his knees, and his shins are mostly gold when they should be silver with just a bit of gold, mostly around his ankles.

He's also pretty small, like half the size of the Studio Series toy and smaller even than the PotP Deluxe.

That said, he doesn't look too terribly out-of-place next to Cyberverse Grimlock.  I'd prefer them both bigger- to me, the Dinobots are just supposed to be bigger than the rank-and-file guys.  Then again, I haven't watched a ton of Cyberverse, and from what I did watch I guess everyone was sort of a similar size, so maybe it's fine.

As with some of the more recent Cyberverse Deluxes, Slug benefits from not having to spend some of his budget on a BAF.  This means that, unlike Grimlock (who just came with a blast effect you could kind of pass off as a flaming sword), Slug's got some proper accessories.  Namely, he's got a double-barreled gun and a black axe with some translucent red bits.  And he still gets a blast effect!

Slug's articulation is kind of par for the Cyberverse course, which is to say it's better than the Warrior-class figures in the line but a disappointment to anyone who's picked up a WfC Trilogy Deluxe.  His head is on a ball joint with a little up/down tilt, miniscule sideways tilt, and a difficult swivel with his dino head in the way.  His shoulders are on ball joints for rotating and moving a bit under 90 degrees laterally.  His elbows bend 90 degrees, but he lacks a bicep swivel (which is a big no-no for me).  At least he kind of has a wrist swivel... I say kind of because it's not really his wrist that swivels, it's his whole forearm (it's for transformation).  But it's below the elbow, so it's more akin to a wrist swivel than a bicep swivel.  Speaking of swivels, his waist swivels.  His hips are on ball joints that can go forward 90 degrees, laterally almost 90 degrees, but not a lot backward due to the shape of his pelvis.  He's got cut thigh swivels, and knees that bend almost 180 degrees.  His feet tilt up but kibble blocks them from tilting down.  His ankles can technically pivot 180 degrees (it's a transformation step), but practically they're limited to about 45 degrees.  Going beyond that will expose a hinge and prevent him from standing with his feet flat.

Slug holds both of his accessories just fine using his 5mm fist holes.  There's also a pair of 5mm ports on his back that can be used for weapon storage.  The blast effect fits over the tiny pegs on the gun's barrel; there's nowhere else to store it.

Half of Slug's transformation is pretty much what you'd expect; turn the arms into his forelegs, fold his lower legs over his thighs while folding the tail out to make his rear half, etc.  Half of it seems kind of unnecessary.  One of the steps has you pull out and drop his shoulders, pull his head away from his body, then rotate the outside of his torso 180 degrees... which has the effect putting his shoulders right back where they were in the first place.  And I'm not totally sold on the results.  The angles of his big horns and face shape plus the miniscule nose horn kind of make him look like a bull with a hat more than a triceratops.  And as with the robot mode the colors are just way off.  No black on the biceps and thighs, no black on the spikes above his hips, no gold toes, no red on his knees and elbows, shoulders should be silver, and his back should be silver.  That weird stony pattern on his torso shows up on his crest, and it's just as incorrect here.  Plus his crest is missing the spikes.

As with the robot mode, he's pretty small in dino mode.  But, again, the size seems work better when paired with Cyberverse Grimlock.

There's not a ton of articulation to speak of in dino mode.  He does have a jaw flap.  Technically you can rotate his shoulders and hips, and bend his elbows and knees.  However, the shape of the parts lends themselves best to one particular position, and that position is actually reinforced by tabs that act as stopping points.

There's a peg on the back of the axe that allows it to plug into a port on the top of his gun.  Then the whole thing can plug into a port on Slug's back.

So... what do you want me to say here?  Objectively, this isn't a great figure (although I do prefer it to the PotP version).  It's not very accurate to the cartoon, and the quality is just well below what you'd get in a Deluxe from the Generations or Studio Series lines.  Although I think Slug's a better figure than Cyberverse Grimlock, I can't really recommend him.  But, maybe you're like me, and you'll buy it anyway because Dinobots.  And on that note, even as this purchase kind of reinforces my earlier notion that I should stop buying the Cyberverse figures, I also really hope they'll do Snarl, Sludge, and Swoop in the Deluxes classes.

[pengbuzz]

I'll still take the original G1 Slag myself.

[tekering]

On 1/30/2022 at 7:27 PM, pengbuzz said:

I'll still take the original G1 Slag myself.

Seriously?

[mikeszekely]

I mean, if I could get my hands on a decently-priced G1 Slag in good condition I probably would. But for the money the Studio Series one is the way to go. Either that or spend on Gigapower's Grassor.

[JB0]

6 hours ago, tekering said:

Seriously?

You can't deny that's a sexy beastbot.

[mikeszekely]

Side note, pretty much the entire first wave of Legacy has been previewed, and apparently there are sightings of Bulkhead and Blaster with Legacy packaging in Europe.  Hopefully the original July release date had some built-in padding for manufacturing issues from COVID, and they'll actually start getting into people's hands a bit sooner.  I really want that Laser Optimus.

[pengbuzz]

8 hours ago, tekering said:

Seriously?

Yup... THAT is what I call a "G1 Transformer"!!

[M'Kyuun]

9 hours ago, tekering said:

Seriously?

Despite being an unapologetic GeeWunner, I'm not a huge fan of the old toys due to their limitations, especially in the articulation department. But, even today, many of the old toys still have presentation value, at the least, to me, and some are just downright cool for their uniqueness, like G1 Soundwave or the Dinobots.  There's still an inherent beauty to many of the old toys that I think transcends time, similar to the appeal of most vintage things. They represent something special in a moment of time, and there's an appeal there that's difficult to define. But it's the reason why people collect, and why we have museums dedicated to old things that are obsolete practically, but still have value in one area or another. While I understand and empathize with your objection, @tekering, I also understand the appreciation others have for these toys in the light of newer, ostensibly better, ones. I still feel that tug of nostalgia even if my preference is for something more modern.

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Side note, pretty much the entire first wave of Legacy has been previewed, and apparently there are sightings of Bulkhead and Blaster with Legacy packaging in Europe.  Hopefully the original July release date had some built-in padding for manufacturing issues from COVID, and they'll actually start getting into people's hands a bit sooner.  I really want that Laser Optimus.

That's good, especially since my local Wally has been carrying more Generations TFs over the last year or so. I generally PO everything these days, but somehow, there's still a thrill to be had in finding something you like/want in the store- instant gratification, I guess. But it's still fun to pick them up and check them out in their box in the store; it brings back good memories from childhood when that was the norm, especially for kids. 

[JB0]

4 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Despite being an unapologetic GeeWunner, I'm not a huge fan of the old toys due to their limitations, especially in the articulation department.

Same. But I love their look. In general, I really want toys that look like the originals but bend like the new ones.

[M'Kyuun]

33 minutes ago, JB0 said:

Same. But I love their look. In general, I really want toys that look like the originals but bend like the new ones.

Kinda like what Mattel is doing with their MotU line. I could get behind a line like that, although I think it'd work better for some than others, especially Ratchet/Ironhide.  I don't think the Vannette Bros would translate well, even if you managed to give them some sort of leg articulation, they'd look unfinished and awkward. However, However, I'd be down for most of the '84/85 carbots, Seekers, OP, Megs, Soundwave/cassettes & Dinos.  The upcoming Legacy Kickback should be right up your alley, as it looks like an upgraded G1 Kickback. Makes me curious if that'll be the aesthetic direction for the other two Insecticons and other G1 bots to come. 

Not so sure I'd want a lot of the exceptionally blocky bots like the Aerialbots that slavish to their original toys. I thought they sucked back when they were new, and time hasn't diminished my opinion. A lot of the combiners were such blocky toys that simply would not translate well in the minimal modernizing regard. They've never held any appeal for me, and maintaining that aesthetic, even with articulation, would continue to have no appeal to me. YMMV, however.  My opinion is just that, and given the extraordinary nostalgia surrounding this franchise, I think Hasbro would be wise to try it, at least on a limited basis. Start with the obvious G1 OP and Megs and see how they sell.  If they do well, move on into the carbots and Seekers, so on and so-forth. If ever they could dip into the deep well of nostalgia, now is the time, and I think they'd probably have a surprise (to them) success.

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, JB0 said:

Same. But I love their look. In general, I really want toys that look like the originals but bend like the new ones.

So... GCreation Hammer?

[Hikuro]

Recently got my hands on the Prowl/Ironhide 2 pack that's been so elusive from Amazon, still marked up from their original MSRP but I can live with it. What I'm curious over are upgrades for Ironhide and Prowl if available somewhere. Ironhide and Ratchets feet sticking out as the "back" of their respected vehicle modes was certainly a downer and Prowl missing his two cannons was a bit sad for me as well. So I'm wondering if there are any upgrades I can sink my teeth into?

[mikeszekely]

4 minutes ago, Hikuro said:

Recently got my hands on the Prowl/Ironhide 2 pack that's been so elusive from Amazon, still marked up from their original MSRP but I can live with it. What I'm curious over are upgrades for Ironhide and Prowl if available somewhere. Ironhide and Ratchets feet sticking out as the "back" of their respected vehicle modes was certainly a downer and Prowl missing his two cannons was a bit sad for me as well. So I'm wondering if there are any upgrades I can sink my teeth into?

Shoulder cannons (and a new gun) for Prowl.

New feet for Ironhide.

I didn't get the cannons for Prowl; I get the appeal, what with them being a toy thing, but he didn't have them in the cartoon so I didn't bother.  I got the feet, though, and I wrote a bit about them (and some other kits for the vans) awhile back.  Long story short, the fit and color match isn't perfect, but they're injection-molded, they don't require partsforming, and they're a heck of a lot closer to looking like the back of a van than the stock feet.

[Wolf-1]

1 hour ago, Hikuro said:

Recently got my hands on the Prowl/Ironhide 2 pack that's been so elusive from Amazon, still marked up from their original MSRP but I can live with it. What I'm curious over are upgrades for Ironhide and Prowl if available somewhere. Ironhide and Ratchets feet sticking out as the "back" of their respected vehicle modes was certainly a downer and Prowl missing his two cannons was a bit sad for me as well. So I'm wondering if there are any upgrades I can sink my teeth into?

 The Prowl upgrade kit from ZX Studios can still be found on Ebay, might still be available at TFSafari as well, I know their stuff typically sells out quickly there.  The kit does cost a little bit more but you'll be getting far more as well.  It's all 3D printed and painted, mostly.  Shoulder cannons that move like the Nonnef, a chest piece to help fill some gap, center caps for the wheels, and a toon accurate rifle.  While I don't have the Prowl kit myself, I do have their Bluestreak and Barricade kits; managed to piece together the chest piece, weapon and center caps separately for Prowl. 

[JB0]

3 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

So... GCreation Hammer?

That does look quite lovely, gray tail aside. 

 

I wound up with Gigapower's Grassor, and with the in-box smoked plastic bits it scratches my Slag itch, aside from not having ports to mount the missile launcher on his shoulder or a hinged bib. 

For a full set of dinobots, GCreation looks like my road. You need a LOT of space for a full set of Gigapower dinos, and I don't love the team THAT much.

 

Really, there's multiple good options for Dinobots.

[tekering]

8 hours ago, JB0 said:

For a full set of dinobots, GCreation looks like my road.

They definitely hew closest to the G1 toy aesthetic, but their Swoop is too big for my liking...

The limbs had to be equal in size, see.

I'd say it was worth the trade-off, though.

It's not the most stable of combiners, but (thanks to all that translucent plastic and shiny chrome G1 goodness) it's the most drop-dead gorgeous.

[no3Ljm]

That's one mean Dino-King. Looks gorgeous.  

 

[sh9000]

[mikeszekely]

Happy Year of the Tiger!

[mikeszekely]

On 1/31/2022 at 5:15 PM, M'Kyuun said:

That's good, especially since my local Wally has been carrying more Generations TFs over the last year or so.

My Walmart's almost always a bust, but I had to run some errands today and I stopped at both Target and Walmart.  I was pleased to see Kingdom Blaster and Tigatron at Target, even though I'd already gotten both already.  Walmart seems to be stuck a wave behind and limited to Deluxes for Kingdom, but I did find something in the Studio Series stuff... Voyager-class Soundwave!

This Soundwave is based on his brief appearance in the Bumblebee movie, and honestly, the robot mode is pretty spot-on.  Sure, maybe a little bit of panel lining to give some separation on his thighs, which are solid white chunks that, in the movie, were more like a couple of armored plates covering an inner frame, but I'm not going to complain that a $30 toy doesn't look as good as a $250 non-transforming ThreeZero piece.  Indeed, Hasbro actually did use a fair bit of paint accents, including some silver on the face, waist, elbows, and shoulder cannon, red on the shoulder cannon, wrists, pelvis, chest, and eyes, white on the pelvis, and gold on the chest and shins.  The result is a figure that's largely more screen-accurate than the Studio Series Optimus from the same movie.

I'm surprised at how big he is.  He's taller than the Siege and Netflix Voyagers (roughly the same size as Prime), and he'll tower over the previous Studio Series Deluxes.

Soundwave comes with just two accessories.  You get his shoulder cannon, which feels G1-inspired, and a his rifle, which definitely does not feel G1-inspired, but does seem fairly movie accurate.

Soundwave's head is on a ball joint that can look up a fair bit but can't really look down and only has a little sideways tilt.  His shoulders rotate, and they can move laterally 90 degres using a transformation hinge as long as his arm is straight at his side.  Because the hinge is in his chest instead of the actual shoulder if you rotate his arm it can't really move laterally anymore.  His biceps swivel, and his double-jointed elbows bend maybe 120 degrees.  No wrist swivel.  He does have a waist swivel, but it's under his pelvis flap so you have to lift it first.  You'll also have to move that flap to get his hips 90 degrees forward; they can also go 90 degrees backward and a little under 90 laterally.  His thighs swivel.  His double-jointed knees bend a little over 90 degrees.  His feet have a slight upward tilt, plenty of downward tilt, and ankles that both pivot up to 90 degrees and swivel.

Soundwave's rifle can peg into either hand.  Those hands are not molded in a way and his arms really lack the articulation for him to push the button on edge of his chest, but it's there.  Pressing it will pop open a door on his chest, but so far nothing really goes in there.  The Siege tapes are too big.  That said, his instructions indicate that the upcoming Core-class Ravage will fit in there.

As for the shoulder cannon, it doesn't actually attach to his shoulder.  Rather, it sits on a hinged armature that plugs into one of the ports on his back (his right is screen-accurate, but nothing's stopping you from putting it on his left).  The hinge allows the cannon to be go as low as the barrel resting atop Soundwave's body or nearly straight up in the air.

While we're looking at his back, notice how clean it is.  The red on his calves should be gold, there should be a little gunmetal on the back of his thighs and the vents in the middle of his back, and his butt should be white, but the molded details and overall shape are screen-accurate.

Soundwave's alt mode is... well, it's a thing.  To be fair to it, I don't think it's actually any worse than Siege Soundwave's "spaceship," and, although there's definite issues, it's closer to the concept art than you might think.  Soundwave's mostly suffering from gaps were his legs and a folding panel from his back don't really cover his butt all the way, exposed knee and ankle joints, feet that kind of stick out instead of blending in, and side windows that were molded but not painted.  But there's still some design choices going on that I question.

The biggest one I have is that the concept art implies that his alt mode's cockpit is his chest.  But rather than work with that, you actually turn him over, open his back, spin it around, and then there's a second chest window.  Meanwhile, panels fold out from his shoulders that barely hide his head.  I dunno, I just think they really phoned this in.

The armature on Soundwave's cannon tucks into the barrel, and you can use a second peg to plug it into the back of one his arms.  His rifle goes in the other one, and... that's actually accurate to the concept art.  Soundwave's supposed to be some kind of hover car, I think.  That said, I think they missed an opportunity.  Like, if you leave his back in the robot-mode position, you can plug the cannon on top and he looks more like a hover tank.  Indeed, there are 3D-printed kits popping up on Ebay to give him even better tank modes.

I'm not really sure where I stand on Soundwave.  On the one hand, his robot mode is very screen-accurate.  On the other, his alt mode kind of sucks.  On one hand, the Bumblebee movie designs hit a nice balance between organic shapes and lots of mechanical details but recognizable G1-influeced robots.  On the other hand, so far Bumblebee has been a one-off without the same cultural impact that the Bay designs, love 'em or hate 'em, have had, and the characters in the battle on Cybertron has such a minor role that they don't feel like a necessity for a collection.  Still, I think if you're a fan of the movie or the design I'll recommend him.  The bot mode is worth it.

[mikeszekely]

After the somewhat underwhelming Puffer & Road Ranger, Jackpot & Sights (who should have been Stepper/Ricochet and Nebulon), and Golden Tigatron (whom I didn't really talk about, but I posted pictures of yesterday and is the same as the regular Tigatron I did review but in orange and with a mutant mask head), the Golden Disk Collection finally delivers the figure we all really wanted... Deluxe Class Terrorsaur!

Like the other Golden Disk figures Terrorsaur isn't really a new mold.  However, compared to the new heads and paint jobs the others got Terrorsaur is a pretty extensive remold, with new thighs, shoulders & upper biceps, head, beast head, pelvis, chest, back, feet, wings, and at least parts of his torso.  For taking one figure and remolding it into another when the originals were not based on each other, Hasbro did a pretty fine job, delivering a robot that's honestly a better screen likeness than his original toy.  He's not without his aesthetic faults, though.  His shoulders and biceps should be silver, as should his thighs and the spikes/claws on his feet, and the silver they did paint onto his knees doesn't belong.  The result is definitely a figure that's instantly recognizable as Terrorsaur, but one that feels a bit drab and too red.  I may take a little paint to him, myself.  Also, due to having (I assume) very different engineering from the original, Terrorsaur's wings aren't inverted.  I don't think there was any way a Deluxe-class figure was going to shrink them the way they seem to in the cartoon, anyway, so I'm fine simply overlooking that detail.

Terrorsaur comes with a eponymous Golden Disk; I guess one of the sets had to!  I think that's good, maybe, for someone who's been into Kingdom largely for the Beast Wars characters and wanted a Golden Disk but didn't shell out for the Ark, but it's a little redundant for me.  You also get a gun; I feel like we've seen this gun before, but I can't place it.  It's not particularly similar to the original toy's or the animation model's.  Finally, you get these two little spikes.  Don't miss them!  They come taped inside the box, wrapped in tissue paper.  I almost threw them out until some part of my brain said, "hey, wait, they probably stuck that in there for a reason!"

Terrorsaur's head is on a swivel.  That means he's got no downward or sideways tilt, but a transformation hinge can be used to get him to look up a little.  Shoulders rotate and move laterally over 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  No wrist swivel.  His waist does swivel, but you have to unlock it but untabbing his butt flap.  His pelvis also has a hinged flap, but the purpose of it eludes me as it doesn't interfere with his hips, which go 90 degrees forward, backward, and laterally.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend well beyond 90 degrees.  His ankles are ball joints, so his feet can swivel, tilt up and down, and his ankles can pivot.  That said, the ball joints on Terrorsaur are much looser than Airazor.

Terrorsaur holds his gun just fine in either hand.  There are also 5mm ports on his arms, but that's technically where the spikes go.  They're just to make his arms look a little more cartoon-accurate.  There are also ports on the backs of his legs, just above his ankles, but I'm not really sure what you'd use them for in robot mode.

I mean, he's got weapon storage already.  There are tabs on the sides of his gun, and they can either plug into slots on his backpack or onto the side of his thighs.  What he can't do, though, is interact with the golden disk, since he's got the same closed 5mm port hands as Airazor.

Although the robot mode looks fairly different, Terrorsaur's engineering is nearly identical.  The big difference is that there's a piece covering the chest that doesn't rotate when you tuck his robot head into his back, and instead his beast head is on a hinge on his back flap.  The rest is the same, and... well, I guess it'll do, in a pinch.  I mean, the robot chest is supposed to be the pteranodon's back, so he winds up with mottled spots where he should have a vertical row of yellowish scales running from neck to pelvis.  Speaking of his neck, it doesn't quite look like it fits on his body, which is made up of a lot of robot arm and leg kibble.  For his flaws, though, he's still an improvement over the original toy.

You don't have a ton of articulation in alt mode.  His head can tilt up and down, and his jaws can open.  There's a neck swivel, too.  His wings have hinges at the base that let them flap up, and disc hinges near his "hands" that let him stretch his wings out.  On my copy, the right wing pops off that hinge with the slightest touch.  There's another hinge that can be used the flap his wings down, but they actually have tabs and are meant to be locked in place.  There are hinges mid-shin that let him bend his little dino legs forward, and he still has the ball joints in his ankles.  That's about it.

For weapon storage you can still use the slots on his backpack, now the underside of his wing, or his robot thigh.  The spikes on his arms can stay in place, but I kind of like to pull them off of his arms and plug them into the backs of his legs.

Terrorsaur might be a tricky character to truly do right, as his animation model is a bit different than his original toy was.  Could this version have been better?  Sure, especially with better paint to make his colors more accurate.  And perhaps a dedicated mold would have allowed his robot chest to be his pteranodon back and inverted his wings for robot mode.  But, to be honest, the original Terrorsaur toy was a mess underneath.  I don't see us getting a screen-accurate transforming pteranodon in a Deluxe-class toy, at least not any time soon.  Even with his flaws, this toy is a huge improvement over the original, and one of the last remaining "main cast" Beast Wars characters missing from Kingdom (Tarantulas, being the other, and heavily rumored to be appearing in Legacy).  I say get him if you can, this one's got a recommend from me.

[mikeszekely]

My kid had a snow day, which these days isn't a day off, it's a "Dad is the teacher" day.  So I missed half the live stream.  Fortunately (or not) those guys talk too much, so I didn't miss the whole thing.  Anyway, to recap.

-New Transformers VR game at the end of March.  Could be cool.  Looks like a rail shooter.  It's listed for PSVR and Steam.  I'll probably check it out on Steam, but I wish it ran on the Quest.

-More TF crossovers in crappy mobile games, and the last issue of the King Grimlock mini series.  Meh.  New IDW series "War's End."  Well, they gotta wrap things up, they're losing the license.

-Calm, a company that makes sleep/meditation apps, is releasing a Transformers story where Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) tells you about the history of the Transfomers.  Meh.

-New Studio Series reveals.  BB Arcee and Ironhide, 86 Junkyard, Sludge, and Spike.

-Walmart-exclusive Beast repaints Sandstorm (Scorponok), Nightprowler (Cheetor), and Buzzsaw (Waspinator).

-Walmart-exclusive Beast Wars vintage reissues Scorponok and Tigatron.

-Walmart-exclusive RED Knockout and Ultra Magnus.

-Target-exclusive SS repaints in Buzzworthy Bumblebee that we've really already seen  B-127, but with the Jeep Bee's head instead of the battle mask, and the repaints of Kup and Cliffjumper.

Not sure when preorders are going live, except the RED stuff will be on Pulse at 1:00pm EST.

I'm gonna eat now, I'll try to find some pictures later.

[sh9000]

[M'Kyuun]

Down for most of the Studio series stuff.  Bee Movie Arcee looks good- kinda reminds me of Prime Arcee's design, especially the wheels at the ankles, but there are plenty of differences too, which make her distinct. Hasbro essentially had carte blanche to create the alt modes for most of these Bee Movie G1 characters who only appear in bot mode, and I think they've done a great job of designing fitting alts for the characters. I think a cycle alt works really well for her.

Loving Sludge. I was pleasantly surprised to see that neck articulation, pretty much a first in an official toy. The front legs of his Apatosaurus mode don't appear to have knees, though. Kind of a bummer if not, given the articulation of Grimlocks's and Slag's dino modes. Like Slag, his transformation appears to be a bit different from the G1 toy, as his arms are forming the back legs rather than the traditional front.  Usually I can work out the transformation from a couple pics, but this one has me scratching my head as to what goes where. 

 

I'm kinda indifferent towards the Junkions, but I like the Wreck-Gar mold, and they introduced enough changes to Junkyard to make him appealing. 

Considering getting the rerelease & slight recolor of Vintage Scorponok. Honestly, I think it was a superior figure compared to the Kingdom release. I don't think I owned the original toy, as I bought very few of the original BW cast, mostly b/c a lot of them had wonky proportions in beast modes. Seeing the old Scorpy toy, it looks pretty cool even by today's standards.

I was hoping for a few new Legacy reveals, especially a Brawn, or Gears, or Windcharger, but they didn't really go into Legacy. Too, a sneak peak of SS86 Blitzwing would have been much appreciated; looking forward to it and I sincerely hope it turns out really well. Blitzwing deserves a good toy. So does Astrotrain, and I hope he gets an improved do-over in SS as well.

Edited February 4, 2022 by M'Kyuun

[mikeszekely]

52 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

I'm gonna eat now, I'll try to find some pictures later.

Or I could just let @sh9000take care of it. 😉

7 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Down for most of the Studio series stuff.  Bee Movie Arcee looks good- kinda reminds me of Prime Arcee's design, especially the wheels at the ankles, but there are plenty of differences too, which make her distinct. Hasbro essentially had carte blanche to create the alt modes for most of these Bee Movie G1 characters who only appear in bot mode, and I think they've done a great job of designing fitting alts for the characters. I think a cycle alt works really well for her.

Loving Sludge. I was pleasantly surprised to see that neck articulation, pretty much a first in an official toy. The front legs of his Apatosaurus mode don't appear to have knees, though. Kind of a bummer if not, given the articulation of Grimlocks's and Slag's dino modes. Like Slag, his transformation appears to be a bit different from the G1 toy, as his arms are forming the back legs rather than the traditional front.  Usually I can work out the transformation from a couple pics, but this one has me scratching my head as to what goes where. 

 

I'm kinda indifferent towards the Junkions, but I like the Wreck-Gar mold, and they introduced enough changes to Junkyard to make him appealing. 

Considering getting the rerelease & slight recolor of Vintage Scorponok. Honestly, I think it was a superior figure compared to the Kingdom release. I don't think I owned the original toy, as I bought very few of the original BW cast, mostly b/c a lot of them had wonky proportions in beast modes. Seeing the old Scorpy toy, it looks pretty cool even by today's standards.

I was hoping for a few new Legacy reveals, especially a Brawn, or Gears, or Windcharger, but they didn't really go into Legacy. Too, a sneak peak of SS86 Blitzwing would have been much appreciated; looking forward to it and I sincerely hope it turns out really well. Blitzwing deserves a good toy. So does Astrotrain, and I hope he gets an improved do-over in SS as well.

I'm definitely in for Ironhide and Arcee- I already reviewed Soundwave, I have Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Brawn PO'd, and Pulse just put up orders for Ravage so I got that ordered.

At KFC prices I got Wreck Gar and stopped.  At Voyager prices I'm not just down for Junkyard, I'll take a retool for every unique Junkion model in the movie.

Heck yes I'm in for Sludge!  Swoop hasn't been announced, but he's been heavily rumored as a Voyager-class for later this year.  Just need Snarl!

I kind of don't care about any of the Walmart stuff.  I don't buy Transformers that don't transform; more power to the people that do, but RED isn't for me.  I was in high school when Beast Wars was on and I have no attachment to the vintage toys the way I do vintage G1.  And for some reason, while I lap up every Diaclone-themed Gen Selects repaint of a G1 character I'm just not into the Beast Wars cast to go for figures that weren't in the cartoon.  It might be one of those things were, if I'm at Walmart and I see them and there's nothing else grabbing me I might pick one up, but I'm not going out of my way and if I miss them I miss them.

The Target stuff, though.  Pass on B-127, I have the regular release and an unmasked head isn't doing anything for me (if it were RotF Bee, maybe).  But Kup and Cliffjumper, yeah.  I usually prefer translucent windows- I'd actually prefer them on Cliffjumper, still.  But Kup looks better with the solid window, with the little bit of wear he had in the animation.  And Cliffjumper's just a lot more screen accurate with the gray limbs.  I'll probably wind up grabbing both.

[Hikuro]

I received my Terrorsaur on Wednesday with a somewhat loose right wing, keeps coming off the plug. But I gotta double check the box cause I didn't see the little side arm blades, that was odd. 
I also got my Ironhide/Prowl 2 pack, really happy with them...I'm still undecided what I want to do with those upgrades cause it's a significant wait from TFSafari products and I got no clue on Nonnef. Think maybe I'm gonna sit on it for a bit and wait it out I dunno. 

[sh9000]

7 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Or I could just let @sh9000take care of it. 😉

I'm definitely in for Ironhide and Arcee- I already reviewed Soundwave, I have Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Brawn PO'd, and Pulse just put up orders for Ravage so I got that ordered.

At KFC prices I got Wreck Gar and stopped.  At Voyager prices I'm not just down for Junkyard, I'll take a retool for every unique Junkion model in the movie.

Heck yes I'm in for Sludge!  Swoop hasn't been announced, but he's been heavily rumored as a Voyager-class for later this year.  Just need Snarl!

I kind of don't care about any of the Walmart stuff.  I don't buy Transformers that don't transform; more power to the people that do, but RED isn't for me.  I was in high school when Beast Wars was on and I have no attachment to the vintage toys the way I do vintage G1.  And for some reason, while I lap up every Diaclone-themed Gen Selects repaint of a G1 character I'm just not into the Beast Wars cast to go for figures that weren't in the cartoon.  It might be one of those things were, if I'm at Walmart and I see them and there's nothing else grabbing me I might pick one up, but I'm not going out of my way and if I miss them I miss them.

The Target stuff, though.  Pass on B-127, I have the regular release and an unmasked head isn't doing anything for me (if it were RotF Bee, maybe).  But Kup and Cliffjumper, yeah.  I usually prefer translucent windows- I'd actually prefer them on Cliffjumper, still.  But Kup looks better with the solid window, with the little bit of wear he had in the animation.  And Cliffjumper's just a lot more screen accurate with the gray limbs.  I'll probably wind up grabbing both.

No problem.  

I’m definitely getting Sludge and Junkyard and maybe Cliffjumper.

For the Beast Wars reissues I only got Optimus and Megatron since they were on sale.  I’m fine with only owning those two Beast Wars reissues.

[M'Kyuun]

So, last Monday, my copy of Terrorsaur shipped from Amazon and was scheduled to be here between Friday and today. I checked tracking; it was in Ohio over the weekend, and it's in Illinois currently. I live in WA state. It's coming by UPS.  I know post has been affected by Covid and lack of drivers, but man, at this rate I likely won't see it until next week. You guys having the same experience?

[mikeszekely]

3 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

So, last Monday, my copy of Terrorsaur shipped from Amazon and was scheduled to be here between Friday and today. I checked tracking; it was in Ohio over the weekend, and it's in Illinois currently. I live in WA state. It's coming by UPS.  I know post has been affected by Covid and lack of drivers, but man, at this rate I likely won't see it until next week. You guys having the same experience?

Nope, mine came like a week ago.  But I think Hasbro ships from Savannah, IIRC, and I'm on the East Coast.  I know there was some bad weather in parts of the country late last week, including here (my friend's a part-time nurse who works one or two 16-hour shifts a week, and the joke is that it'll be nice all week and six inches of snow the one day she works).  If it helps, though, I had an order at BBTS, and I paid extra to have it by my birthday last week (via FedEx).  Didn't arrive until today.  Spent four days driving 30 miles from one end of Minneapolis to the other.

[M'Kyuun]

23 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Nope, mine came like a week ago.  But I think Hasbro ships from Savannah, IIRC, and I'm on the East Coast.  I know there was some bad weather in parts of the country late last week, including here (my friend's a part-time nurse who works one or two 16-hour shifts a week, and the joke is that it'll be nice all week and six inches of snow the one day she works).  If it helps, though, I had an order at BBTS, and I paid extra to have it by my birthday last week (via FedEx).  Didn't arrive until today.  Spent four days driving 30 miles from one end of Minneapolis to the other.

Ah, that sucks. FWIW, happy birthday, and though it was late, I hope you enjoy your stuff.

Misery loves company, so apparently I'm not alone is this new world of delayed logistics. Sigh.