The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[mikeszekely]

Brawn's held up for whatever reason, but today we can do Studio Series Deluxe-class Ratchet.

See, this time I was smart and I shot him with both another Bumblebee Deluxe and his Siege counterpart.  And as we can see, while Ratchet's a good bit taller than Wheeljack (and that much taller than B-127 and Cliffjumper), he's still shorter than Siege Ratchet.  So I guess the internal sense of scale is maintained, and I get that these are movie characters and not G1, but it's a bit weird to me that Prime is the same exact size while Bee, Cliffjumper, and Soundwave are bigger and Ratchet and Wheeljack are smaller than their WfC versions.  I digress.

As is becoming the norm with these BB guys, Ratchet's sculpt is spot on to the film.  That said, he could have done with a touch more paint; he's missing some red around his knees, and while Hasbro did use some black/gunmetal paint/parts around his waist and biceps, he could have done with some around his knees and collar as well.  The biggest thing, though, is his hands, which were clearly read in the movie, but gray here.

Like Wheeljack, Ratchet's very clean from pretty much any angle, but his calves are extremely hollow due to his transformation.  Speaking of hollow, there are some hollow "waffles" on the insides of his thighs.

You'd be forgiven for looking at Ratchet's rifle and wondering if it's the same thing as Wheeljack's, as they're similar sizes, shapes, and the same unpainted gray plastic.  A close inspection will show them to have different sculpts, they're just very much sharing a design language.  Which is fine; you'd think armies would have standard issue stuff anyway.

Ratchet's head is on a ball joint with the ball in his collar, not his head.  He can tilt his head sideways and look down a good bit, but up is a tad restricted.  His shoulders rotate and extend laterally about 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his single-jointed elbows bend 90 degrees.  No wrist swivels, although they do bend inward due to transformation.  His waist swivels.  His thighs can move forward, backward, or laterally 90 degrees, and while they thankfully aren't ball joints they are at tad on the loose side.  His thighs swivel.  His knees bend 90 degrees.  His feet can't tilt up, but they can tilt down due to transformation.  He does have an ankle pivot, but it's very slight.

Ratchet can hold his gun in either hand.  A tab on one side allows him to store it on his back via a slot on one corner.

Like Wheeljack, Ratchet scrunches up pretty small in his alt mode, going from a little shorter than Siege Ratchet in bot mode to a vehicle maybe 60% the size.  Unlike Wheeljack, though, Ratchet's transformation is one of the more interesting ones I've seen in an official figure for awhile.  His head and part of his torso are at the back of the car, his back is the panels on the sides, his legs make up most of the front of the vehicle, but his chest forms the windshield and his collar the roof.  For his arms and legs that's the usual sort of folding and tucking, but his torso nearly turns inside out and twists around to spread out over the whole length of the car.

The car is a neat little thing, with little obvious robot kibble anywhere.  Plus, unlike Wheeljack, there's no gaping, unfinished rear.  As near as I can tell, the sculpt is again faithful to the concept art, but lacking in paint.  Most of the gray on the roof should be red or white, and some of the sculpted detail like the arrow on the side and the arcs on the hubcaps should be red.  Presumably, the lights on the rear could use some paint, too.

Ratchet rolls just fine, and a peg hole on his roof allows you to mount his rifle.

I gotta say, I rather like this figure.  Where Soundwave and Wheeljack were sort of just ok figures that looked enough like their on-screen versions to collect if you're into the designs but otherwise unremarkable, Ratchet's a more fun figure with an interesting transformation.  While I do still wish more of the "standard" articulation from the WfC/SS86 stuff would make it to the regular Studio Series line, I'd give Ratchet a recommend as he's easily the best of the current wave of BB figures (so far) and probably my favorite BB release in the entire Studio Series line after Prime.

[mikeszekely]

So he's a little behind, but today we finally have Studio Series Deluxe-class Brawn to look at.

Love it or hate it (I like that it's recognizably Brawn, but I'm not a fan of the "hoodie" and I think the helmet's a bit too stylized), Brawn's pretty close to the CGI.  His colors are, for the most part, in the right place, with some nice paint on the inside of his thighs, middle of his shoulders, middle of his chest, and bottom of his boots to maintain the movie's color separation.  I might complain and say that his hand should be the same color as his face based on ILM's models, but it's hard to see that in the film so I can give it a pass.  I'll also note the wheels on his hips, which aren't on the CGI model, but hey, unlike the CGI model this guy has to transform.

Size-wise, he's about where you'd expect him; short than Wheeljack, who himself is a bit shorter than Ratchet.

Spinning him around, Brawn retains a clean silhouette.  A minor complaint is the gaps on the backs of his thighs and heels, but again, this guy has to actually transform.

Unlike his wave mates, Brawn comes with two accessories.  You get another rifle that technically has a unique sculpt but you'd swear you'd seen it before and wouldn't be able to pick it out of a lineup with Ratchet's and Wheeljack's, which is still fine.  You also get a sort of drill thing.

I can't be certain of what type of joint Hasbro used for Brawn's neck, but between the shape of his helmet and his hoodie he's got no tilt and can only turn his head maybe 45 degrees to either side.  His shoulders are ball joints, and they can rotate and extend a little under 90 degrees laterally.  His biceps swivel, but it's the green armor moving around the gunmetal inner shoulder, so it's a bit limited.  His elbows are double jointed and bend a little under 180 degrees.  His wrists and waist have swivels.  His hips can bend 90 degrees forward, but only about 45 degrees backward (which, I think, is enough for a stocky fellow like Brawn).  His tires limit him to 45 degrees laterally, too, but you can kind of fake it by rotating the hip forward, then 90 degrees laterally, and then utilizing the thigh swivel to turn the foot forward again (so, yeah, he's got thigh swivels just above his knees).  His knees bend a little over 90 degrees.  The yellow part of his feet can tilt down and very slightly up, and he's got about 30 degrees of ankle pivot.

His gun can be held in either hand.  His drill, too, but the peg is on the back so its like some kind of dagger, which I'm not loving.  I kind of wish Brawn had at least one fist like Combiner Wars Rook or Kingdom Slammer, so he could have a Devastator-style drill fist.  As with his wave mates, you can store his weapons on his back.  There's a little nub, like a Titan Master or Siege blast effect nub, on the back of his hoodie.  It can plug into a small hole on the side of his rifle.  The rifle itself has a similar nub on the top, and the drill has its own small hole, allowing it to be plugged into the top of his rifle (or alone on his back when he's holding his rifle).

If you don't want the drill in his hand or on his back when he's carrying his rifle, you can leave the drill on top.  Or, you can plug the 5mm port on the back directly into the barrel of the rifle, turning it into a larger drill weapon.  I kind of wish they'd put a little hole under the barrel, though, so the drill could have been mounted lay a bayonet.

Brawn's transformation is somewhere in the middle.  It's a little more obvious and not as interesting as Ratchet, but still a bit more clever than Wheeljack.  I mean, his chest is the rear of the vehicle, and the wheels on his hips are the rear wheels... but that's his knees tabbed into the front wheels.

Brawn's alt mode is OK, but compared to Ratchet and Wheeljack it definitely suffers from the prioritization of the robot mode.  It's really not as sleek.  Instead of smooth fenders it's obvious robot leg, with a big foot in the middle and totally exposed rear wheels (with green rims instead of yellow).  The main body of the vehicle is two distinct sections, instead of a continuous dome.  The front's not too bad, but the rear is broken by arm kibble, lacks any sort of slope at the rear, and there's a big hole in the roof that's definitely not present in the concept art.  I don't hate it, though.  The hole in the back and the separate segments make him look sort of like a pickup truck, where the CGI is something more like a car.  That said, if they'd put the panel with his head on a swivel so the whole thing flipped 180 degrees it could have provided some sort of roof/bed instead of just a hole with his head visible inside.

He rolls fine, and his weapons can be stored in alt mode.  For the rifle, there's a second hole under the barrel that fits onto the same small peg you used to stow it in bot mode.  And while the drill can certainly stay on the gun, his front grill actually folds up to reveal a 5mm peg you can plug it into, turning him into some kind of drilling vehicle.

And hey, if you don't mind that it's held more by friction than tabs, you've even got a totally unofficial toilet mode!  Brawn might not have the coolest car mode, but I guarantee he'll be everyone's best friend after the Autobots hit the Iacon Chipotle. 

So yeah, bathroom humor aside, Brawn's not too bad.  If you're into the Bumblebee designs, I'd put him at a little worse than Ratchet, but better than Soundwave or Wheeljack.  That's enough to get a recommend from me.

[mikeszekely]

Silverstreak, aka the blue and silver Diaclone repaint of Earthrise Bluestreak, will be part of the Target-exclusive Buzzworthy Bumblebee line.  While I'm hoping to see him at local stores, if/when a link goes up on Hasbro Pulse I'll post it here.

Meanwhile, Walmart's going to have a "Collector-Con 2022" even March 24th and 25th.  I'm expecting that they're going to announce an exclusive Transformers Velocitron subline.  The previously revealed Deluxes Sandstorm (brown Beast Wars Scorponok), Buzzsaw (yellow Waspinator), and Nightprowler (gray Cheetor) will be part of the line, but now I'm hearing that we're also going to see Voyager Road Hauler (Grapple in Constructicon Green) and Override will also be part of the line.  I could give or take the Beasts, but I'm definitely down for Road Hauler.  I'm really curious about Override, though.  One assumes, especially with the Velocitron name, that they're talking about Cybertron Override/Galaxy Force Nitron Convoy.  Could it be a new mold?  I can't really think of a recent Voyager, or even a Deluxe with a bunch of packed-in accessories, that would readily pass for Override.

Edited March 15, 2022 by mikeszekely

[pengbuzz]

On 3/15/2022 at 12:57 AM, mikeszekely said:

Silverstreak, aka the blue and silver Diaclone repaint of Earthrise Bluestreak, will be part of the Target-exclusive Buzzworthy Bumblebee line.  While I'm hoping to see him at local stores, if/when a link goes up on Hasbro Pulse I'll post it here.

Meanwhile, Walmart's going to have a "Collector-Con 2022" even March 24th and 25th.  I'm expecting that they're going to announce an exclusive Transformers Velocitron subline.  The previously revealed Deluxes Sandstorm (brown Beast Wars Scorponok), Buzzsaw (yellow Waspinator), and Nightprowler (gray Cheetor) will be part of the line, but now I'm hearing that we're also going to see Voyager Road Hauler (Grapple in Constructicon Green) and Override will also be part of the line.  I could give or take the Beasts, but I'm definitely down for Road Hauler.  I'm really curious about Override, though.  One assumes, especially with the Velocitron name, that they're talking about Cybertron Override/Galaxy Force Nitron Convoy.  Could it be a new mold?  I can't really think of a recent Voyager, or even a Deluxe with a bunch of packed-in accessories, that would readily pass for Override.

So, Bluestreak is silver and red, Silverstreak is Blue and silver, Rumble is blue and Frenzy is red?

or is Rumble red and Frenzy blue? Is Arcee Pink, or blue, or..

*brain blows last ram chip*

 

...I like ice cream cake...

[Wolf-1]

Figures; with the closest Target to me, being an hour+ drive, and it's not known for stocking well on toys.  Scalpers are going to get me on this one; thanks Hasbro!

[pengbuzz]

4 hours ago, Wolf-1 said:

Figures; with the closest Target to me, being an hour+ drive, and it's not known for stocking well on toys.  Scalpers are going to get me on this one; thanks Hasbro!

Except for the long drive, mine is about the same way. I wish TRU hadn't have jumped the shark: they used to have some good transformers exclusives!

[JB0]

2 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Except for the long drive, mine is about the same way. I wish TRU hadn't have jumped the shark: they used to have some good transformers exclusives!

My Toys R Us never had crap in plastic robots. A TRU exclusive just meant it wasn't shipping here.

[mikeszekely]

Yeah, plus from my house there's three Targets that are closer to me than either of the "local" TRUs. They were mostly a place you'd go if you wanted to pay more.

Like I said, though, I'm going to keep checking my local Target, but I'm keeping an eye on Pulse, too. Pulse usually keeps a couple store exclusives to sell direct- if they didn't I'd have never gotten ER Red Alert, because none of the Walgreens around here got any.

[JB0]

3 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Yeah, plus from my house there's three Targets that are closer to me than either of the "local" TRUs. They were mostly a place you'd go if you wanted to pay more.

I mean, my Targets never had crap either. But Target had less chain-exclusive robots.

[M'Kyuun]

On 3/14/2022 at 9:57 PM, mikeszekely said:

Silverstreak, aka the blue and silver Diaclone repaint of Earthrise Bluestreak, will be part of the Target-exclusive Buzzworthy Bumblebee line.  While I'm hoping to see him at local stores, if/when a link goes up on Hasbro Pulse I'll post it here.

Meanwhile, Walmart's going to have a "Collector-Con 2022" even March 24th and 25th.  I'm expecting that they're going to announce an exclusive Transformers Velocitron subline.  The previously revealed Deluxes Sandstorm (brown Beast Wars Scorponok), Buzzsaw (yellow Waspinator), and Nightprowler (gray Cheetor) will be part of the line, but now I'm hearing that we're also going to see Voyager Road Hauler (Grapple in Constructicon Green) and Override will also be part of the line.  I could give or take the Beasts, but I'm definitely down for Road Hauler.  I'm really curious about Override, though.  One assumes, especially with the Velocitron name, that they're talking about Cybertron Override/Galaxy Force Nitron Convoy.  Could it be a new mold?  I can't really think of a recent Voyager, or even a Deluxe with a bunch of packed-in accessories, that would readily pass for Override.

So this is a definite 'want' on my list; sucks that it's another damnable exclusive.  My hope, as usual with these things, is to catch it on Pulse before they sell out. Guess I'll be keeping tabs- I missed out on Kingdom Blaster and haven't seen him in stores on the rare occasions that I pop into Target. Hopefully I'll snag him in Legacy packaging.

Edit: Got my copy of Kingdom Perceptor today (Friday), and I'm a bit underwhelmed. He looks like the G1 toon in bot mode, but his legs don't tab into anything to stabilize his microscope mode (ratchets at the hip would have helped), his scope is a bit too small, the secondary transformation joints in his thighs are a bit loose and lack even a detent to soft lock them in the proper position, his back has a gaping hole where his head goes in alt mode- in just about every way, a step down from the TR version. Bit disappointing.

Edited March 19, 2022 by M'Kyuun

[mikeszekely]

Hmm... this Walmart Velocitron thing is getting interesting.  EAN numbers leaked today for a couple of Deluxes, including Velocitron Deluxe Assorted, Road Rocket (the pack-in with Action Master Powerflash? I could maybe see you getting one out of Fasttrack), Burnout (I'd guess a black Diaclone repaint of Skids), Clampdown (police repaint of Sideswipe, hopefully the Earth-mode version), Cosmos (I can't think of a recent release that could be retooled into G1 Cosmos, but I don't think there was another major Cosmos in Transfomers, so...?), and Blurr (the obvious answer is some kind of repaint of Studio Series Blurr, but who knows for sure).

[sh9000]

Legacy Arcee, Dragstip, Kickback, and Skids are showing up at Target.  They come in packaging where the figure is exposed with no package window.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

Legacy Arcee, Dragstip, Kickback, and Skids are showing up at Target.  They come in packaging where the figure is exposed with no package window.

Bulkhead, too, by some reports (figures, the one I want most is Laser Prime and that's the one that hasn't been sighted anywhere yet), and there's been at least one American sighting of Buzzworthy Silverstreak, too.

Well, I was just at my local Target yesterday.  Even though I highly doubt they'll have anything I might head over to the other one that's semi-nearby.

[M'Kyuun]

My Bumblebee Movie trio of figs showed up yesterday from Pulse, but I didn't discover them on my porch until this afternoon. Anyway, all three proved pretty cool in hand. Wheeljack suffers the most from loose hip joints, but all three were of a satisfying complexity so far as transformation. It's usually a personal point of pride that I can transform most TF toys without instructions, but I think I consulted with all three. Anyway, Has/Tak did a great job in capturing their onscreen likenesses, and I love the vehicle modes they cooked up for all three. I'm looking forward to getting Arcee as well.  Makes me sad that Soundwave and Ravage weren't better executed.

Went to one of the Targets here in Spokane today to see if they had either Blaster or any of the new Legacy figs, but they didn't.  I have most of the Legacy figs POed through Pulse, but I missed the window for Kingdom Blaster, and I'm hoping to snag the Legacy reissue. Def down for Buzzworthy Silverstreak as well.

Couldn't help myself and watched a vid of Legacy Sludge; interesting transformation, although I wish the robot toes hinged forward so they filled the gap on his dino belly. Those robot mode toes sticking straight down kinda ruin the look of the dino mode from any angle where they're visible. Two more hinges would have made a big difference. Seems a small thing compared to the relative complexity of the figure- the most complex of the three.

 

[mikeszekely]

Legacy Blitzwing...

[Scyla]

33 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Legacy Blitzwing...

Well, it is a…

…thing

Where is Berserk FansToys? I hope they don’t use this „encouragement“ to redesign him to have a toon accurate tank mode

 

[JB0]

I like it!

Blitzwing having bits of the other modes hanging off in every mode is one of those signature things where I don't want a cleaner vehicle. And this looks designed to have them hang in vaguely useful places.

[sh9000]

I'll buy that Blitzwing.

Looking forward to seeing how the rest of the Stunticons look.

[mikeszekely]

I think the jet nose sticks out a little too far on the tank, and the tank kibble is a bit too much under the jet wings... but that's kind of part of his design.  I know, I'm weird about wanting some alt modes to be realistic, but others to have the foibles of the original toys/Sunbow model, but Blitzwing was never really a realistic MiG-25, he was always some kind of funky jet biplane to me.  I know it's possible to do a better one- Mech Fans Toys/Mechanic Studio already did.  But at the WfC-scale, this is a darn sight better than the Titans Return version.

I'm kind of depressed, though, that Siege Astrotrain and Titans Return Octone is still the best Astrotrain and Octane we have at that scale, now.  Someone really needs to make WfC-sized KOs of the MFT Legends...

2 hours ago, Scyla said:

Where is Berserk FansToys? I hope they don’t use this „encouragement“ to redesign him to have a toon accurate tank mode

FT delayed it to redesign it, and they possibly delayed it to redesign it some more, but there's some rumblings that it might actually happen this year.

Last I saw of the tank it was in sort of a middle ground between a realistic Type-74 tank and the Sunbow model.  I mean, the front of the tank didn't just end abruptly with some of the jet nose sticking out.  It had the sloped front you'd see on the real thing, with a bulge where the driver's viewport would be, but the details were all muted.  There wasn't any windows on the viewport, no lights, etc.

I'd originally heard that the jet mode would be able to do both a realistic MiG-25 and the animation model, but I'm not sure if they scrapped those plans or not.  The last I saw was, again, kind of a weird hybrid.  It had the stubby cockpit and sloped intakes and short fuselage/wings that nearly reach the tail, but there was less kibble under the wings, the vertical stabs were slightly aft of the wings, and it actually had horizontal stabs.  

[M'Kyuun]

So, like Astrotrain, the bot mode looks incredible, but the alt modes take a nosedive.  The jet's nose does stick out too far, otherwise tank mode is pretty acceptable. That jet, though- gah! How did that POS design get a thumbs up? It would have been far better had they used the tank kibble for wings instead of putting it all on the bottom. Heck, even if they'd found a way to fold it inwards to cover the turret, it would have been a very slight improvement. But the way it is, it looks like it's riding on some miniature form of the NASA Crawler Transport. Exceedingly poor design.

Sigh. Blitzwing is my fave of the triple changers, and I was really hoping this would turn out at least as good as Springer.  While the TR toy has its flaws, overall, its alt modes are better than this, leaving only Legacy's bot mode as the improvement we were all hoping for.  Improvement should cover all the bases as a point of progress in design, and this Legacy toy falls sadly and woefully short. I want to like it, but my eyes are drawn inexorably to all that horribly obvious kibble on the jet mode. As with the abysmal WfC Astrotrain, it appears I'll be passing and continuing to wait for better. So very frustratingly disappointing.

Edit: After posting last night, I took TR Blitzwing down from the shelf for the first time in a while and spent some time reacquainting myself with the fig. In all honesty, he's still a pretty good fig. Aesthetically, I think Legacy's bot mode looks nicer, but in terms of functionality, I give full props to TR.  In bot mode, his shoulders are unhindered and can rotate a full 360. The shoulder joints are a little unsightly, but that's the cost of the transformation linkage to which they're attached. In all other regards, he's unmistakably Blitzwing. Other than the lack of ankle tilts and a waist joint, he's on par with Legacy regarding articulation. I kinda tie them out in tank mode- Legacy's tank is brandishing his jet cockpit like some sort of phallus, and TR's tank has those heels poking up, the treads are widely spaced with jet engine exhausts facing forward, and wings draped over the rear. Between the two tanks, I still like the TR better though. Legacy's jet has all that kibble on the bottom to try and represent the same look of the G1 toy, but it's not an appealing look and the kibble lacks even the matching leading edge angle of the main wing that the G1 toy had. As I said, it looks like it has its own mini-carrier permanently attached to its belly. The TR packs all of its tank kibble close to the sides of the fuselage under the wings and presents a sleeker profile. Bonus, TR's cockpit can open and seat a Titan Master. Not my favorite gimmick, but at least it was pulled off well here. Both jets suffer from the tank turret hanging off their bellies, and I wish just one of the designers at Takara would have thought to himself, "What if these toys really strike a chord, and nearly forty years from now, they're still making interpretations of them for millions of nerdy men and women around the world?", and proceeds to design the original Diaclone toy with an eye towards greater accuracy and refinement and full articulation, for Pete's sake!  Imagine if the turret on the original folded into the jet mode leaving it clean and streamlined. I can and do, and then I cry bitterly inside. The  poorly executed G1 toy has thus become Bltzy's curse for all time, I fear, for though articulation has improved and actual feet have been imparted, that damnable turret, that 'double wing', and more often than not, the exposed jet cockpit in tank mode continue to haunt most modern toy incarnations of the character.

Looking again at pics of Legacy's tank mode, there looks to be a fair bit of hollow area behind the robot's head, and I can't help but wonder if PvP mistransformed it and that cockpit does indeed tuck in farther. About a half inch or so would make a difference, at least leaving it about flush with the treads. If the tank kibble on the bottom could rotate 180 placing the angle of the treads forward, I think that'd make a slight improvement to jet mode as well, so far as emulating the look of the G1 toy. Alas, the empty nature of wishing.

Edited March 24, 2022 by M'Kyuun

[mikeszekely]

Sandstorm, Night Prowler, and Buzzsaw are available to preorder at Pulse. I dunno, I'll buy every color of all the G1 cast, but I'm not feeling these Beast Wars repaints.

[M'Kyuun]

5 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Sandstorm, Night Prowler, and Buzzsaw are available to preorder at Pulse. I dunno, I'll buy every color of all the G1 cast, but I'm not feeling these Beast Wars repaints.

Yeah, none of those interest me, either. Hours later, they're still available for PO, so they don't have the allure of the Generations/SS G1 stuff, which generally sells out within an hour or two of being posted.

[sh9000]

Buzzworthy Bumblebee SS TFTM Kup was on the pegs again at Target so I ended up buying it this time.  Thanks to @mikeszekely for the comparison of the two versions.

[pengbuzz]

18 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

So, like Astrotrain, the bot mode looks incredible, but the alt modes take a nosedive.  The jet's nose does stick out too far, otherwise tank mode is pretty acceptable. That jet, though- gah! How did that POS design get a thumbs up? It would have been far better had they used the tank kibble for wings instead of putting it all on the bottom. Heck, even if they'd found a way to fold it inwards to cover the turret, it would have been a very slight improvement. But the way it is, it looks like it's riding on some miniature form of the NASA Crawler Transport. Exceedingly poor design.

Sigh. Blitzwing is my fave of the triple changers, and I was really hoping this would turn out at least as good as Springer.  While the TR toy has its flaws, overall, its alt modes are better than this, leaving only Legacy's bot mode as the improvement we were all hoping for.  Improvement should cover all the bases as a point of progress in design, and this Legacy toy falls sadly and woefully short. I want to like it, but my eyes are drawn inexorably to all that horribly obvious kibble on the jet mode. As with the abysmal WfC Astrotrain, it appears I'll be passing and continuing to wait for better. So very frustratingly disappointing.

Edit: After posting last night, I took TR Blitzwing down from the shelf for the first time in a while and spent some time reacquainting myself with the fig. In all honesty, he's still a pretty good fig. Aesthetically, I think Legacy's bot mode looks nicer, but in terms of functionality, I give full props to TR.  In bot mode, his shoulders are unhindered and can rotate a full 360. The shoulder joints are a little unsightly, but that's the cost of the transformation linkage to which they're attached. In all other regards, he's unmistakably Blitzwing. Other than the lack of ankle tilts and a waist joint, he's on par with Legacy regarding articulation. I kinda tie them out in tank mode- Legacy's tank is brandishing his jet cockpit like some sort of phallus, and TR's tank has those heels poking up, the treads are widely spaced with jet engine exhausts facing forward, and wings draped over the rear. Between the two tanks, I still like the TR better though. Legacy's jet has all that kibble on the bottom to try and represent the same look of the G1 toy, but it's not an appealing look and the kibble lacks even the matching leading edge angle of the main wing that the G1 toy had. As I said, it looks like it has its own mini-carrier permanently attached to its belly. The TR packs all of its tank kibble close to the sides of the fuselage under the wings and presents a sleeker profile. Bonus, TR's cockpit can open and seat a Titan Master. Not my favorite gimmick, but at least it was pulled off well here. Both jets suffer from the tank turret hanging off their bellies, and I wish just one of the designers at Takara would have thought to himself, "What if these toys really strike a chord, and nearly forty years from now, they're still making interpretations of them for millions of nerdy men and women around the world?", and proceeds to design the original Diaclone toy with an eye towards greater accuracy and refinement and full articulation, for Pete's sake!  Imagine if the turret on the original folded into the jet mode leaving it clean and streamlined. I can and do, and then I cry bitterly inside. The  poorly executed G1 toy has thus become Bltzy's curse for all time, I fear, for though articulation has improved and actual feet have been imparted, that damnable turret, that 'double wing', and more often than not, the exposed jet cockpit in tank mode continue to haunt most modern toy incarnations of the character.

Looking again at pics of Legacy's tank mode, there looks to be a fair bit of hollow area behind the robot's head, and I can't help but wonder if PvP mistransformed it and that cockpit does indeed tuck in farther. About a half inch or so would make a difference, at least leaving it about flush with the treads. If the tank kibble on the bottom could rotate 180 placing the angle of the treads forward, I think that'd make a slight improvement to jet mode as well, so far as emulating the look of the G1 toy. Alas, the empty nature of wishing.

I think they'll have filler kits out for that soon; and yeah, ultimately something's going to suffer on a transformer just due to the complexity.

[M'Kyuun]

On 3/24/2022 at 7:04 PM, pengbuzz said:

I think they'll have filler kits out for that soon; and yeah, ultimately something's going to suffer on a transformer just due to the complexity.

Thing is, it's already been done better: 

At legends scale and without faux parts. Apart from the single piece loincloth and lack of engine intakes, this is pretty close to perfection in a transformable Blitzwing toy.  It's not a matter of if, but how much effort is expended in the engineering.  Their Astrotrain is a similar story; very well executed alts and a good looking bot mode, absolutely superior to the terrible Siege toy. Sometimes, in cases such as this and Astrotrain, I wish Hasbro & Takara would just contract out their engineering and let companies like this do the designs. Even if it elevated the price tag, the cost would be worth it to at least get a well done version of the figure rather than some of the lackluster efforts Hasbro peddles.

[mikeszekely]

Well, apparently the wave 1 Legacy Leaders have been spotted in the wild now, meaning the whole wave is theoretically available. Theoretically, because there's nothing on my local shelves but Kingdom Tracks and Tigatron.😒

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Well, apparently the wave 1 Legacy Leaders have been spotted in the wild now, meaning the whole wave is theoretically available. Theoretically, because there's nothing on my local shelves but Kingdom Tracks and Tigatron.😒

Just came back from one of our local Targets, and the only Legacy fig they had was a single copy of Bulkhead. I thought about picking it up, but since I already have it POed, I left it, hopefully, for a kid to take home. They had a number of Kingdom voyager figs, several leader BW Megs, one or two copies of Coronation Starscream, a few Buzzworthy BBM Bee and Origin Bee figs, as well as a handful of Cyberverse figs. actually a pretty good assortment of figs, more than I'm used to seeing in store.  I was hoping there'd be a Kingdom or Legacy Blaster in there, but nope. I'm patient, though. If nothing else, I'm guessing he'll show up on Pulse and I'll get him then.

[mikeszekely]

Amazon sent Arcee and Skids, they'll be here early next week. But I REALLY want Laser Prime...

[mikeszekely]

On 3/26/2022 at 7:34 PM, mikeszekely said:

Amazon sent Arcee and Skids, they'll be here early next week.

Speak of the devil, one of them actually arrived today.  It's Legacy Deluxe-class Arcee.

I'm a Geewunner at heart.  G1 was the Transformers I grew up with, I'm not sorry that War for Cybertron by and large catered to G1 fans, and I'm glad that G1 is spilling over into the Studio Series.  But I won't deny that there's been some worthwhile additions to the franchise in the 21st century.  Barricade and Blackout from the 2007 movie are more definitive than the G1 Micromasters.  Animated gave us great characters like Bulkhead, Lockdown, and Lugnut, while Prime introduced us to Knockout and Airachnid.  Generally speaking, I'm a fan of taking fan favorites and backporting them into G1.  Taking Prowl but coloring him in black and purple and calling him Barricade?  I wish he was a little more original, but works for me.  Taking Bulkhead and replacing his round body and short legs with something more traditionally G1-boxy?  I'm down for it.  But Prime Arcee?  It seems like kind of an odd choice when G1 already has an Arcee...

It doesn't help that her psuedo-G1 redesign is kind of... meh.  Ok, sure, the big-eyed, noseless Prime face had to go, and while her new face doesn't jump out and scream "Arcee!" at me I think it's ok.  I think the real problems are from the neck down.  Her torso and arms are thicker, and her thighs shorter.  Her lower legs and feet have a sort of generic shape that doesn't capture the boot-cut bellbottoms looks of Prime Arcee, and the combination lacks the sexy badass feel that Arcee had in Prime.  Not to mention that the sharper edges on her forearms and knees have been squared off, and her wheel kibble is now hanging off the sides of her legs instead of tucking neatly into her calves.

Legacy Arcee is carrying a backpack, but it's debatably smaller than Prime RiD Arcee's.  Continuing with the elimination of curves and sharp edges she's also missing the bike kibble on her butt.

Arcee's lacking a bit in accessories.  She's got her front tire, complete with spokes, and a translucent disc.

Arcee's head is on a ball joint.  Not much sideways tilt, but she can look down alright and she's got excellent upward range.  Her shoulders swivel and extend laterally 90 degrees.  Her biceps swivel, and her elbows bend 90 degrees.  Her wrists swivel.  Her waist swivels, but it gets caught a bit on her pelvis.  She can lean backward, too, due to a transformation joint.  Her hips move forward, backward, or laterally 90 degrees, and her thighs swivel.  Her knees bend 90 degrees.  The front part of her feet can bend down due to her transformation, and her ankles can pivot almost 90 degrees.

Arcee's front wheel splits in half and folds at the spokes.  You can plug the same 5mm port that it uses to attach to the bike into one of her hands and... I guess that's a weapon?  The disc, meanwhile, can plug into the 5mm port on either of her forearms and it's a shield, I suppose.  Note that the shield has another peg on the "front" side, as well as two peg holes.  Presumably this is so it can interact with the translucent accessories of other figures in the Legacy line.  Translucent weapons that combined with other translucent weapons is the Legacy gimmick.

Alternatively, there's a peg hole on her back, just at the base of her neck, and you can plug the wheel into it like wings.  The disc can split in half, and each half has another peg.  You can use those with the peg holes on her forearms to somewhat mimic the arm blades she used in Prime.

Or, there's a peg hole under her backpack.  It's actually the peg hole that the wheel plugs into for bike mode, and you can just leave the wheel plugged into her back.  Not only is it Prime-accurate, it eliminates the partsforming from her transformation.  Meanwhile, there's a peg hole on either side of her backpack.  I guess you can stick her translucent blades into them.  Still, I'm finding myself hoping that someone will make some new accessories for her.  I'm fine leaving the wheel in her back and ditching the translucent bits entirely for just a regular pistol.

Arcee's transformation does have some similarities to her Prime counterpart, but it's surprisingly more involved.  I like the part where her waist turns 180 degrees, she does the splits, and then wraps her legs over her own shoulders.

The resulting bike is a lot like her robot mode.  Its blue and black, and it has elements of a Japanese sports bike, so it's easily recognizable as Arcee.  But again, the sharper edges on the Prime version have been squared off and blunted.  The cowling on the sides doesn't extend as far and no longer comes to a point.  The back of the bike also ends in a flat edge instead of coming to a point.  The nose of the bike is more rounded, with two round exposed headlights.  While I do seem to recall that she had two headlights in Prime, they were behind an angled transparent panel.

Arcee's wheels roll, and the front tire can rotate in its 5mm port to look like the bike is being steered.  One side of the bike has a kick stand, the other and exhaust pipe.  The peg holes on her forearms are still exposed on the back of the bike, and two new ones are revealed on the armatures that connect the halves of the back wheel to her legs.  You can use any of those peg holes to store the translucent weapons.

I'm not thinking that Arcee is going to make too many fans happy.  G1 purists aren't going to see the need for a blue bike when they already have a pink space car, and Prime fans are going to be disappointed to see so much of Prime Arcee's personality drained into a pretty generic fembot.  Her accessories are pretty lackluster.  Still, I'd probably still recommend her just for being a fembot with decent articulation, an interesting transformation, and less backpack than Earthrise Arcee or Siege Chromia.  However, at least on my copy, there's a pretty major flaw.  As I mentioned, there's a hinge in her back that lets her lean backward.  It's necessary for transformation.  On my copy, it doesn't "let" her lean backward so much as it prevents her from standing straight because it's extremely loose.  And, even though her backpack isn't the worst, it's enough that the weight of constantly pulls her torso backward.

So yeah, while I'm still looking forward to Legacy Bulkhead and I could list several other characters I'd love to see with a G1 aesthetic, Arcee's going to stand as a textbook example of how NOT to bring newer characters into a pseudo-G1 continuity.  I'd suggest passing on this one.

EDIT: Not that it changes my ultimate feelings on this one, but her hands aren't actually as visible in bike mode as they are in my pictures.  I missed an early step in the instructions where are forearm armor actually slides down over most of her hands.

Edited March 28, 2022 by mikeszekely

[spacemanspiff]

On 3/26/2022 at 12:19 PM, M'Kyuun said:

Thing is, it's already been done better: 

At legends scale and without faux parts. Apart from the single piece loincloth and lack of engine intakes, this is pretty close to perfection in a transformable Blitzwing toy.  It's not a matter of if, but how much effort is expended in the engineering.  Their Astrotrain is a similar story; very well executed alts and a good looking bot mode, absolutely superior to the terrible Siege toy. Sometimes, in cases such as this and Astrotrain, I wish Hasbro & Takara would just contract out their engineering and let companies like this do the designs. Even if it elevated the price tag, the cost would be worth it to at least get a well done version of the figure rather than some of the lackluster efforts Hasbro peddles.

 

Completely agree. This figure is very well done.  One of the best Blitzwings IMO.  Still looking forward to the new Hasbro offering, but this little guy is very impressive in his own right.

[mikeszekely]

Skids is an interesting fellow.  I think he appeared in all of two episodes of the G1 cartoon, and for many fans he's better known for his more-developed arc in the old Marvel comics.  But, perhaps due to his minimal presence in the cartoon (which may have had something to do with him being shortpacked in early '85, making an original G1 toy a bit more rare), Skids sort of faded into obscurity, and the name really only popped back into the Transformers zeitgeist when it was given to one of the Bayverse characters so awful Hasbro has reportedly refused to include him in the Studio Series line.  A trio of reissues and a Binaltech/Alternators release in the '00s (plus a two pack reissue in Bayverse green and blue) got him enough to make him a main character in IDW's More Than Meets the Eye, which in turn lead to his Generations release, only for him to be to quickly forgotten again.  At least, forgotten until very recently when Hasbro/Takara hit us with a one-two punch, first with a Masterpiece release, and now with Legacy Deluxe-class Skids.

I think the sculpt on Skids is pretty great; the G1 details like the door wings, big red feet, hood chest, car chunks on his lower legs, and just a bit of windshield peaking up behind his head nail the look of the character without the goofy shoulders of the G1 toy/cartoon.  My only complaing with the sculpt is that the inside of his thighs and lower legs are pretty hollow.  His head and the yellow headlights on his chest are similar to his cartoon appearance, but unlike many other recent Transformers releases Legacy Skids sticks more with his toy appearance than the Sunbow model.  His shoulder tires point forward.  He's got a black bumper, black shins, and black on his pelvis (albeit not the yellow and red from the stickers).  The blue used on him is darker like the toy than the lighter color used on the animation model.  I wish his biceps were blue and his fists red; the black color they used here isn't accurate to toy or cartoon.  I also wish he had some blue on his knees.  While I think, for the most part, Skids looks fine I find myself thinking it'd be nice if Toyhax does a set to give him some of his G1 sticker details, or alternately if Hasbro would do a Generations Selects version in cartoon colors.

A quick peak as his side and back.  No real surprises, it's exactly as Skids-y as you'd expect it to be.

Skids comes with a trio of accessories.  He's got one single-barreled blaster and one double-barreled; their silver paint is reminiscent of the original toy's chrome, but the sculpt is more Sunbow.  You also get a translucent blue weapon.

The single-barreled has a 5mm port on both the top and bottom, allowing you to plug the double-barreled gun into either the top or bottom to make a kind of triple-barreled gun that he can hold in either hand.  The translucent weapon, meanwhile, has a peg on one end and a barrel on the other so he can hold it like a rifle.  But there's another peg coming off the barrel, and he can use that to hold it as an axe.  The translucent weapon also has peg holes on the sides of the axe blade... they don't really do much to interact with his silver weapons, but I suspect that down the line, when the whole first wave is out, they might be useful in combining his weapon with the translucent weapons of the other Legacy figures.

But, and this is my preference, you can ditch the translucent weapon entirely.  Then, you can plug the two silver blasters into ports on top of his forearm instead of his fists, better mimicking both the G1 toy and his cartoon appearance.

And, should you need them, there are also 5mm ports on the outsides of his legs, under his feet, and on his back.

Oh, yeah... articulation.  His head is on a ball joint; he can look up a little and tilt his head sideways a tiny bit, but nothing really downward.  His shoulders rotate and can move 90 degrees laterally.  A second transformation hinge can actually allow him to move his shoulders laterally only upward to 180 degrees.  His biceps swivel, his elbows bend 180 degrees, and his wrists swivel.  His waist swivels  His hips can move slightly over 90 degrees forward and backward, and slightly less than 90 degrees laterally.  His thighs swivel and his knees bend 90 degrees.  His feet don't tilt up or down, but his ankles pivot 90 degrees.

Skids' transformation is very straightforward- you can probably work it out just by looking at him.  His chest flips up, his arms tuck in so the wheels are in the right spot, and his knees bend backward to make up the rear of the car.  The trickiest part is lining up his roof and windshield, because it and his hood chest have to be lined up just right for it to snap into place.

Like the robot mode, the car is a pretty good Skids, getting as close to his Honda City alt mode as they reasonably can without paying Honda for the license.  My complaints are fairly minimal; I wish his rims were painted.  I'd prefer a darker translucent plastic for his windows, which would better match the cartoon/G1 toy/his own moonroof.  They painted the front bumper black like the G1 toy, but not the rear bumper.  His rear could actually use a lot more painted detail on the lights, too.  And while they molded a shade on the rear window to kind of justify why it'd be solid blue, I wish it and the rear side windows were black.  But that's about it.

Skids rolls just fine.  Due to his transformation his doors can open, although you're not going to see much more than his forearms and hips.  You can combine all of his weapons, including the translucent one, and mount the entire thing into a 5mm port on his roof.  The ports on the sides his legs are also available on the sides of the car, near the back.

Arcee was a disappointing way to start Legacy; they took a Prime character that already existed in G1 and made her design less cool and more generic before packaging her with some disappointing translucent accessories.  She dampened some of my enthusiasm for the line.  Skids, though, is a total 180 from that.  He's a solid figure that does a good job of capturing the original toy, representing a character that's been under represented in the mainline.  And while they did have to include the Legacy translucent weapon gimmick, it can be largely ignored as it's in addition to his more traditional weapons rather than in place of.  Skids is a definite recommend from me, and I sincerely hope that future Legacy releases are more like him and less like Arcee.  I'm really looking forward to the rest of this wave again.

EDIT: I just figured out, it's possible to orient his shoulders so the tires are on the back.  You'll see the pins, but there's molded detail on the other side similar to the MP's.  I just have to decide if I want to paint those details myself or wait and see if Toyhax does stickers...

Edited March 29, 2022 by mikeszekely

[hkj711]

On 3/26/2022 at 4:24 PM, M'Kyuun said:

Just came back from one of our local Targets, and the only Legacy fig they had was a single copy of Bulkhead. I thought about picking it up, but since I already have it POed, I left it, hopefully, for a kid to take home. They had a number of Kingdom voyager figs, several leader BW Megs, one or two copies of Coronation Starscream, a few Buzzworthy BBM Bee and Origin Bee figs, as well as a handful of Cyberverse figs. actually a pretty good assortment of figs, more than I'm used to seeing in store.  I was hoping there'd be a Kingdom or Legacy Blaster in there, but nope. I'm patient, though. If nothing else, I'm guessing he'll show up on Pulse and I'll get him then.

Amazon has the Legacy Blaster if you are still looking for it.

https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-TRA-Legacy-Voyager-Blaster/dp/B09H1G7XH1/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2NH5EIXYFY4YM&keywords=transformers+blaster&qid=1648511915&s=toys-and-games&sprefix=transformers+blaste%2Ctoys-and-games%2C251&sr=1-1

[M'Kyuun]

20 hours ago, hkj711 said:

Amazon has the Legacy Blaster if you are still looking for it.

https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-TRA-Legacy-Voyager-Blaster/dp/B09H1G7XH1/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2NH5EIXYFY4YM&keywords=transformers+blaster&qid=1648511915&s=toys-and-games&sprefix=transformers+blaste%2Ctoys-and-games%2C251&sr=1-1

Thanks. I was going to stubbornly hold out for Pulse to restock, but heck with it. Ordered! 

Guessing you're new around here, hkj711. Appreciate the link. Welcome to Macrossworld.

23 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Skids is an interesting fellow.  I think he appeared in all of two episodes of the G1 cartoon, and for many fans he's better known for his more-developed arc in the old Marvel comics.  But, perhaps due to his minimal presence in the cartoon (which may have had something to do with him being shortpacked in early '85, making an original G1 toy a bit more rare), Skids sort of faded into obscurity, and the name really only popped back into the Transformers zeitgeist when it was given to one of the Bayverse characters so awful Hasbro has reportedly refused to include him in the Studio Series line.  A trio of reissues and a Binaltech/Alternators release in the '00s (plus a two pack reissue in Bayverse green and blue) got him enough to make him a main character in IDW's More Than Meets the Eye, which in turn lead to his Generations release, only for him to be to quickly forgotten again.  At least, forgotten until very recently when Hasbro/Takara hit us with a one-two punch, first with a Masterpiece release, and now with Legacy Deluxe-class Skids.

I think the sculpt on Skids is pretty great; the G1 details like the door wings, big red feet, hood chest, car chunks on his lower legs, and just a bit of windshield peaking up behind his head nail the look of the character without the goofy shoulders of the G1 toy/cartoon.  My only complaing with the sculpt is that the inside of his thighs and lower legs are pretty hollow.  His head and the yellow headlights on his chest are similar to his cartoon appearance, but unlike many other recent Transformers releases Legacy Skids sticks more with his toy appearance than the Sunbow model.  His shoulder tires point forward.  He's got a black bumper, black shins, and black on his pelvis (albeit not the yellow and red from the stickers).  The blue used on him is darker like the toy than the lighter color used on the animation model.  I wish his biceps were blue and his fists red; the black color they used here isn't accurate to toy or cartoon.  I also wish he had some blue on his knees.  While I think, for the most part, Skids looks fine I find myself thinking it'd be nice if Toyhax does a set to give him some of his G1 sticker details, or alternately if Hasbro would do a Generations Selects version in cartoon colors.

A quick peak as his side and back.  No real surprises, it's exactly as Skids-y as you'd expect it to be.

Skids comes with a trio of accessories.  He's got one single-barreled blaster and one double-barreled; their silver paint is reminiscent of the original toy's chrome, but the sculpt is more Sunbow.  You also get a translucent blue weapon.

The single-barreled has a 5mm port on both the top and bottom, allowing you to plug the double-barreled gun into either the top or bottom to make a kind of triple-barreled gun that he can hold in either hand.  The translucent weapon, meanwhile, has a peg on one end and a barrel on the other so he can hold it like a rifle.  But there's another peg coming off the barrel, and he can use that to hold it as an axe.  The translucent weapon also has peg holes on the sides of the axe blade... they don't really do much to interact with his silver weapons, but I suspect that down the line, when the whole first wave is out, they might be useful in combining his weapon with the translucent weapons of the other Legacy figures.

But, and this is my preference, you can ditch the translucent weapon entirely.  Then, you can plug the two silver blasters into ports on top of his forearm instead of his fists, better mimicking both the G1 toy and his cartoon appearance.

And, should you need them, there are also 5mm ports on the outsides of his legs, under his feet, and on his back.

Oh, yeah... articulation.  His head is on a ball joint; he can look up a little and tilt his head sideways a tiny bit, but nothing really downward.  His shoulders rotate and can move 90 degrees laterally.  A second transformation hinge can actually allow him to move his shoulders laterally only upward to 180 degrees.  His biceps swivel, his elbows bend 180 degrees, and his wrists swivel.  His waist swivels  His hips can move slightly over 90 degrees forward and backward, and slightly less than 90 degrees laterally.  His thighs swivel and his knees bend 90 degrees.  His feet don't tilt up or down, but his ankles pivot 90 degrees.

Skids' transformation is very straightforward- you can probably work it out just by looking at him.  His chest flips up, his arms tuck in so the wheels are in the right spot, and his knees bend backward to make up the rear of the car.  The trickiest part is lining up his roof and windshield, because it and his hood chest have to be lined up just right for it to snap into place.

Like the robot mode, the car is a pretty good Skids, getting as close to his Honda City alt mode as they reasonably can without paying Honda for the license.  My complaints are fairly minimal; I wish his rims were painted.  I'd prefer a darker translucent plastic for his windows, which would better match the cartoon/G1 toy/his own moonroof.  They painted the front bumper black like the G1 toy, but not the rear bumper.  His rear could actually use a lot more painted detail on the lights, too.  And while they molded a shade on the rear window to kind of justify why it'd be solid blue, I wish it and the rear side windows were black.  But that's about it.

Skids rolls just fine.  Due to his transformation his doors can open, although you're not going to see much more than his forearms and hips.  You can combine all of his weapons, including the translucent one, and mount the entire thing into a 5mm port on his roof.  The ports on the sides his legs are also available on the sides of the car, near the back.

Arcee was a disappointing way to start Legacy; they took a Prime character that already existed in G1 and made her design less cool and more generic before packaging her with some disappointing translucent accessories.  She dampened some of my enthusiasm for the line.  Skids, though, is a total 180 from that.  He's a solid figure that does a good job of capturing the original toy, representing a character that's been under represented in the mainline.  And while they did have to include the Legacy translucent weapon gimmick, it can be largely ignored as it's in addition to his more traditional weapons rather than in place of.  Skids is a definite recommend from me, and I sincerely hope that future Legacy releases are more like him and less like Arcee.  I'm really looking forward to the rest of this wave again.

EDIT: I just figured out, it's possible to orient his shoulders so the tires are on the back.  You'll see the pins, but there's molded detail on the other side similar to the MP's.  I just have to decide if I want to paint those details myself or wait and see if Toyhax does stickers...

Enjoyed the review, Mike. I never realized how rare the G1 toy was; I remember looking at it in the store when I was a kid and putting him back. I loved the alt mode ( until recently, I always thought it was a Renault Le Car), but I didn't like his arms' shoulder placement or lack of elbows. I loved, and still love, his box art, and wish this fig took more inspiration from how the legs were depicted. 

I don't know why, but I adore the look of windows in Transformers' legs. Just looks awesome to me., especially when the mechanical bits are visible through them. Anyway, I don't recall ever seeing Skids in the toon, but I'd mostly stopped watching it by mid-season 2- it just got too hokey for me. First season pretty much encapsulates everything I loved about G1 Transformers. Limited view, perhaps, but that's how it is. Like most robot toys, however, it's the toy or a favorable artistic rendition of a toy that piques my interest; no other media required. If it looks cool, I'm down, and such has always been my interest in Skids. He's a unique looking carbot with a very eye-catching deco and that beautiful box art bot mode. I'm happy that Skids is getting a double-helping of toy goodness this year; again, I wish one or the other took inspiration from the box art's depiction of the legs, but niggle notwithstanding, I'm pretty keen on having both the Legacy and MP versions of this guy. I do wish, however, that they'd been more generous with paint on the Legacy toy, at least the bumper and tail lights. Too, red fists to match the original toy. Overall, a nice update. Glad, too, that they gave him both of his silver weapons along with the trans-blue thing (which shall evermore remain in the box) instead of shortchanging him one or the other in lieu of the trans-blue. They've already shortchanged plenty of figs the weapons that came with their G1 toy selves, so it's nice to see Skids wasn't a casualty.

Regarding stickers, I'm curious to see if Toyhax will try to replicate the 'window detail' on his legs from the art. If so, depending on how well it's done (be even cooler if it came with a separate bit of acetate to replicate the window itself), i may have to consider a set.  Or just paint the thing myself.

[hkj711]

@M'Kyuun I'm glad you got your order in for Blaster.  I've been around for a while just haven't had a chance to post recently, but thanks for the welcome!

[Wolf-1]

I had always been under the impression that Skids was one of the "Mail In" figures, along with various points from other purchases.  Never did get my "custom" G.I. Joe as a kid, and it wasn't for lack of bugging the Mailman.  While it's nice to finally be able to get Skids, as a Honda nut, he's not complete w/o the minibike in the trunk, granted it would be too small for either the Wheelie or Daniel pack-in to sit on.