The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[Scyla]

Testshot of HasLab Star Saber:

Source: https://news.tfw2005.com/2022/05/13/transformers-haslab-victory-saber-first-look-video-456012

Those are large chunks of (white) plastic. On the upside this means he will have a lot more paint applications than MP Stat Saber. That makes me happy.

[mikeszekely]

The last Wrecker reveal is up, and it's the Diaclone Twin Twist that leaked earlier.  Funnily enough, I was just messing some of my Titans Return figures, including the Jumpstarters.  And, while I think it's not the worst of the reveals, I'm going to pass.  The only figures that really interested me in the line were the toy-colored Springer and Leadfoot, but since I don't want any more Fossilizers I guess I'm just getting Springer.

EDIT: And if you missed it, Maverick is getting a reissue. Preorders are going to be available at Walmart in late July.

Edited May 13, 2022 by mikeszekely

[sh9000]

Cool.  I skipped Maverick the first time but I'll probably order it from Walmart in July.

[mikeszekely]

When it comes to ordering figures online I'm *slightly* more selective.  I can look at a figure and say, no, I don't really need/want that one.  But when I walk into a store and see a Transformer I don't have my brain wants that hit of dopamine, and that's how I walked out of my local Walmart with the three Walmart-exclusive Beast Wars repaints.

First up, we have Buzzsaw.  He's Waspinator from the neck down, just with his colors reshuffled so there's more yellow, less green, and the blacks and purples are shuffled around.  He does have a new head, though, based on the unmasked, non-mutant head from the original Beast Wars Waspinator/Buzz Saw toy.  None of the issues with Waspinator's mold have been fixed.  There's still nothing keeping the beast head on his chest open, and the connection between his upper body and his pelvis is still too loose.

In beast mode the only thing separating Buzzsaw and Waspinator is color.  I think Buzzsaw is colored more like a typical yellow jacket, and probably looks more "realistic" to many of us (despite the green cuckoo wasp being a real thing).  Honestly, I think that the biggest draw for me is that we never got a Siege G1-style Buzzsaw.  Especially with Ravage already making a Beast Wars appearance, my head canon tells me that this Buzzsaw is the same one that hung out with Soundwave during G1.

Sandstorm is a repaint of Scorponok.  Like his wave mate Buzzsaw, he's sporting a new head, but this time it was Scorpnok who had the normal head and Sandstorm who got the head based on the mutant mask.  And, just like Scorponok doesn't really resemble his original toy's colors, Sandstorm's are a bit off, too.  Most of his body is a sandy tan color, where the original toy was more gray.  His shoulders, claws, and lower legs are a bright orange instead of the original's golden brown, and the beast legs curled on his back are a bright purple instead of the much darker purple of the original.  But, y'know, it's fine, I guess.

I mean, purple legs and orange claws aside, a sandy brown color does sort of seem like the kind of color you'd find on a real scorpion.  But yeah, it's mostly the same toy, so it's really up to you if you think you needed another of the mold (or potentially a third, since Scorponok himself will be getting a toy-colored repaint, just like Terrorsaur).

Oh, and I do think it's a bit nuts that we've gotten two Sandstorm figures in the last two years, but not the G1 triplechanger.  At the rate we're going Hasbro will give us a new Bruticus ala their new Menasor and we'll get a repainted Brawl as the Battle Gaia version of Sandstorm.

Finally, we have Nightprowler.  I'll be honest, I very nearly left this one on the shelf, as there are a number of reasons why Nightprowler is the least-interesting of the three.  For one, unlike his wave mates, Nightprowler is strictly a repaint of Cheetor, as the retooled mutant head was already used for Shadow Panther.  And, while Buzzsaw and Sandstorm are retools of Kingdom Scorponok and Waspinator, the idea to repaint those two came in the '90s and the newer figures are actually based on older figures that really existed.  Nightprowler, on the other hand, is based on a Walmart-exclusive Universe early aughts repaint that never released.

Oh, and Buzzsaw and Sandstorm are, so far, only the second use of those molds, but there are A LOT of cats already.  Add in Netflix Cheetor and this is the fourth release of this mold.  Count Ravage, Tigatron, and Golden Disk Tigatron who are closer to being new figures but still use a lot of the same engineering and I'm a bit catted out.

It's not to say that there's nothing interesting about Nightprowler, though.  I mean, Buzzsaw and Sandstorm are both Predacons, but Nightprowler is neither a Predacon nor a Maximal.  Look at the symbol on his forehead, and you'll see he's actually an Autobot.  

And to be totally fair, I kind of dig the snow leopard colors on his beast mode.  It gives him a touch of individuality.  Really, of all the cats I think I'd suggest getting him over Shadow Panther, who's panther alt mode is already covered by the much more interesting Ravage (I also don't recommend getting two Cheetors, and I can safely say that I'd have never picked up the regular Kingdom version if I knew that the Netflix one was going to have the better blues).

At the end of the day, none of these figures are really necessary, and as a geewunner I'm not in the best position to say how nostalgic a given repaint of Beast Wars characters are or aren't.  To me, the most interesting thing about them is that there's nothing to indicate that they're Walmart-exclusives.  They come in standard Legacy packaging... well, that's not quite true.  Unlike the regular wave 1 Legacy figures, the packaging for these guys has one major change that I hope carries over to all future Legacy  figures- the boxes are no longer open with the figures exposed.  There's a plastic window on them.  I'm all for Hasbro making their packages more environmentally-friendly, minimizing plastic in favor of cardboard and what not.  But as long as the window is made from a recyclable plastic I'll happily tear it from the cardboard before tossing the whole mess into my recycle bin if it means my new toys won't be exposed to scratches, damage, or strangers poking them before I get them home.

[mikeszekely]

Still not officially announced, and still supposedly going to be a Walmart-exclusive, but we have a leaked look at Legacy Override.  And, surprise, it's a brand-new mold.

[M'Kyuun]

9 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Still not officially announced, and still supposedly going to be a Walmart-exclusive, but we have a leaked look at Legacy Override.  And, surprise, it's a brand-new mold.

I've said before that I'm not a big fan of Armada, but I really dug OG Override's car mode. Her bot mode suffered the worst of the concessions. I feel like this toy reverses that, with a far improved bot mode, but an iffy car mode.  I wish they'd somehow managed to keep the wider rear fenders in car mode, while using some clever engineering to pull them in to make her bot torso narrower. They didn't, and so the car tapers to a narrower profile at the rear instead of flaring wider than the front as the original car mode did. Alas, of all the Armada figs, Override was the one I was hoping would receive an update, and here she is. As updates go and my reservations aside, the one thing that I'm glad they adhered to is her bulbous angled front fenders formed by her legs and feet.  For me, that's an essential part of the car's look, and I'm quite pleased to see it carried over from the OG. Override may be the only Armada update I end up getting; I'm glad she turned out as well as she did.

Edit: I was corrected on Twitter that Override was actually a Cybertron character, not Armada as I had assumed. Alas my ignorance concerning the UT is manifest.

Edited May 18, 2022 by M'Kyuun

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

On 5/17/2022 at 1:13 PM, mikeszekely said:

Still not officially announced, and still supposedly going to be a Walmart-exclusive, but we have a leaked look at Legacy Override.  And, surprise, it's a brand-new mold.

That look like a fine update for nitro convoy.  Too bad about the force chip.

Edited May 20, 2022 by Hikaru Ichijo SL

[M'Kyuun]

I wonder why they didn't paint the recessed areas of the feet gold to match the OG toy. That's the thing that really grabbed your attention, and it seems a pretty big omission on this toy. Even more curious when this has a voyager budget.

[tekering]

Never in a million years would I have imagined I'd see Blaster in a Disney film...! 😮

[M'Kyuun]

This guy looks amazing. The elbows sit a little too low in bot mode (more like a combo wrist/elbow), but otherwise he looks pretty darned faithful to his toon incarnation. This is one of the best beast modes of any of the Legacy/Kingdom figs thus far. I hope they do a real-world inspired striped-knee paint job. As far as anatomical accuracy goes, the cephalothorax is bit too humped at the front end, with the primary eyes a little too wide-set, and the chelicerae are woefully too small. The pedipalps are ok; it would have been nice if the small claw part could swivel to blend with the large part to present a more unified and realistic palp. Tarantulas have two large movable spinnerets at the tail end of their abdomens, and the bot mode's knee pads seem to fill that role, although they're mostly obscured by the storage of his gun's anchor-like projectile hanging out back there. Overall, though, it's well executed (love how the leg mount area blends nigh seamlessly with the carapace- beautiful sculpt work) and I daresay, a bit creepy in its uncanny realism, purple coloration notwithstanding.  I've always had a fascination, and a wee bit of reluctant fear, of spiders, most arthropods really. I love to observe them, from a relatively safe distance. I can never bring myself to handle them, though, despite my rational brain whispering that I'm neither prey nor predator to them, and pose little threat warranting aggression. So, figs like this and other arthropod toys provide me that 'safe' option to handle these wonderful and amazing leggy, flying, crawling, biting, stinging critters that comprise the majority of our world's inhabitants. 

I thought this fig would be a voyager based on the size of that tarantula mode, but he's deluxe. Too, it would have been the path of least resistance and maximum savings for Has/Tak to recycle Blackarachnia's mold and retool it to try and emulate a tarantula, the reverse of the original toys, but they didn't and I'm glad. Kingdom BA's spider mode is ok, but it definitely has its concessions, especially her very noticeable bot shoulders under the cephalothorax. Moreover, the two spider species have very different shapes to their bodies, and subsequently, not even a major retool of BA's mold would have really produced a believable tarantula. I'm really glad they didn't chintz out. 

Pics shamelessly borrowed from TFW2005 of Prime vs Prime's review

[mikeszekely]

Accidentally posted this in the wrong TF thread, so I'll post again here.

Good news!  The Scourge we all knew was coming from Laser Optimus is real!

Bad news.  He's part of that Walmart-exclusive Velocitron collection that's giving us Override.

Worse news.  They kind of F-ed up his colors, with a lot of unnecessary translucent pink parts.

Almost all the black on his torso- around his windows, his lats, half his shoulders, and his crotch- should be gray.  The grill, which they painted silver here, is what should actually be black.  The teal "=" on his knees doesn't quite match the pattern his knees are supposed to have, and there's no teal on his pelvis where it should be.  There's gray panels in his forearms where he didn't need them, and there should be no red/pink showing in bot mode except his eyes.  It's wrong on his chest windows, but really ugly on his shoulder pylons.

Truck mode is a bit better.  Looks like used a nice silver metallic paint on the trailer, bumper, and grill, and the translucent pink for the truck windows and lights is actually correct here.  My one complaint would be that the teal patterns on the cab aren't correct.

Oh, and for a clear picture of why this is wrong and what would look correct, here's a mockup I found on the TFW2005 boards.

Gimme the one on the left, and I'll happily fork over the cash.  I'm thinking I'll probably skip the one on the right, though.  I mean, it's not Scourge, it's Laser Op in standard Nemesis Prime colors (yes, I know in Japan Scourge and every subsequent release of a Nemesis Prime is called Black Convoy, but still).

[Scyla]

45 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Accidentally posted this in the wrong TF thread, so I'll post again here.

Good news!  The Scourge we all knew was coming from Laser Optimus is real!

Bad news.  He's part of that Walmart-exclusive Velocitron collection that's giving us Override.

Worse news.  They kind of F-ed up his colors, with a lot of unnecessary translucent pink parts.

Almost all the black on his torso- around his windows, his lats, half his shoulders, and his crotch- should be gray.  The grill, which they painted silver here, is what should actually be black.  The teal "=" on his knees doesn't quite match the pattern his knees are supposed to have, and there's no teal on his pelvis where it should be.  There's gray panels in his forearms where he didn't need them, and there should be no red/pink showing in bot mode except his eyes.  It's wrong on his chest windows, but really ugly on his shoulder pylons.

Truck mode is a bit better.  Looks like used a nice silver metallic paint on the trailer, bumper, and grill, and the translucent pink for the truck windows and lights is actually correct here.  My one complaint would be that the teal patterns on the cab aren't correct.

Oh, and for a clear picture of why this is wrong and what would look correct, here's a mockup I found on the TFW2005 boards.

Gimme the one on the left, and I'll happily fork over the cash.  I'm thinking I'll probably skip the one on the right, though.  I mean, it's not Scourge, it's Laser Op in standard Nemesis Prime colors (yes, I know in Japan Scourge and every subsequent release of a Nemesis Prime is called Black Convoy, but still).

Looks terrible as Scourge not feeling the red (the red tint is not strong enough; looks too pale/pink in the pictures) on the shoulders for Nemesis Prime. Maybe they will a properly colored one in the Selects line.

I wonder if this will be available through Pulse since we don’t have Walmarts in my country.

Edited May 21, 2022 by Scyla

[mikeszekely]

7 hours ago, Scyla said:

I wonder if this will be available through Pulse since we don’t have Walmarts in my country.

Hope so. The Walmart beasts were.

[sh9000]

I still have my Robots In Disguise Scourge so I think that will be my Scourge.

[tekering]

10 hours ago, sh9000 said:

I still have my Robots In Disguise Scourge so I think that will be my Scourge.

My Scourge is a repainted MakeToys "Battle Tanker."

[mikeszekely]

Studio Series Galvatron, Sideways, DotM Bumblebee, Thundercracker, and SS86 Arcee are available to preorder on Pulse.

[sh9000]

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Still available to preorder from Pulse. I meant to post about it earlier, but I was trying to order mine with spotty cell reception at the Pittsburgh Zoo this afternoon.

[M'Kyuun]

TBH, I like the colors of this much better than the original Blaster colors. I've never been a fan of yellow or red. This looks sharp, but I have no association with SG, nor the room really for all these repaints. It does look spiffy, though.

[sh9000]

I'd like to see a Twincast.

[mikeszekely]

4 hours ago, sh9000 said:

I'd like to see a Twincast.

Supposedly he'll be in the regular retail wave 4 for Legacy.

[sh9000]

4 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Supposedly he'll be in the regular retail wave 4 for Legacy.

Cool.  I hope someday Hasbro reissues the correct Soundwave and then make a Soundblaster out of it too.

[M'Kyuun]

Normally, I'd be thrilled by this, but I've had Fans Toys' Phoenix for years now, and I'm pretty satisfied with that fig.  Given his size, this is going to be a very spendy fig, and I'm not sure it'll do enough beyond what Phoenix offers to justify it.  I think TT are a day late and a dollar short, as they've been with a number of their recent MP releases where comparable and oft cheaper third-party versions have already been released. For a large part of the fandom, one of those options suffices, esp in light of the TT pricing and uber-toon slavish aesthetic, which doesn't appeal to everyone.

[mikeszekely]

46 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Normally, I'd be thrilled by this, but I've had Fans Toys' Phoenix for years now, and I'm pretty satisfied with that fig.  Given his size, this is going to be a very spendy fig, and I'm not sure it'll do enough beyond what Phoenix offers to justify it.  I think TT are a day late and a dollar short, as they've been with a number of their recent MP releases where comparable and oft cheaper third-party versions have already been released. For a large part of the fandom, one of those options suffices, esp in light of the TT pricing and uber-toon slavish aesthetic, which doesn't appeal to everyone.

I'm in pretty much the same boat.  Phoenix is on a display behind my desk, and I keep swiveling to alternate my gaze between the photo of MP Skyfire and Phoenix.  I guess options are good, and I'll watch to see how Skyfire shakes out, but I don't think I need this.

[technoblue]

Well, I can't say I'm overjoyed to find out that MP Skyfire is a TT Mall exclusive.

Finding a good price, or a store where I can use points/rebates, could be tricky unless this also gets a Hasbro Asia release.

Edited June 2, 2022 by technoblue

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, technoblue said:

Well, I can't say I'm overjoyed to find out that MP Skyfire is a TT Mall exclusive.

Finding a good price, or a store where I can use points/rebates, could be tricky unless this also gets a Hasbro Asia release.

I can't see Hasbro sitting this release out; eventually it'll be on Pulse, but it's going to be crazy expensive.  You know Hasbro wants a piece of that pie.

Like Mike, I'm curious to see how the final turns out, and what sort of goodies they build into him. He's already more toon accurate than FT's Phoenix, big shock to nobody, but I want to see if they're able to improve the articulation, which has kinda been their thing for the last six years or so. Tall order on a fig this size- lots of ratchet-y goodness. FT's transformation is pretty brilliant, and the jet mode is virtually seamless top and bottom; I love how they used the arms to form a goodly chunk of the front section of the plane. I'm very curious to see how TT approaches their toy's transformation. We've seen commander class Jetfire, which is a great toy, but def not to MP standards with the huge gap on the bottom. Then again, if MP-52 is any indication, the bottom of the plane is insignificant to even a MP plane-former. 

[technoblue]

2 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

I can't see Hasbro sitting this release out; eventually it'll be on Pulse, but it's going to be crazy expensive.  You know Hasbro wants a piece of that pie.

Like Mike, I'm curious to see how the final turns out, and what sort of goodies they build into him. He's already more toon accurate than FT's Phoenix, big shock to nobody, but I want to see if they're able to improve the articulation, which has kinda been their thing for the last six years or so. Tall order on a fig this size- lots of ratchet-y goodness. FT's transformation is pretty brilliant, and the jet mode is virtually seamless top and bottom; I love how they used the arms to form a goodly chunk of the front section of the plane. I'm very curious to see how TT approaches their toy's transformation. We've seen commander class Jetfire, which is a great toy, but def not to MP standards with the huge gap on the bottom. Then again, if MP-52 is any indication, the bottom of the plane is insignificant to even a MP plane-former. 

Good points. I'm also quite keen to find out more about the transformation.

Speaking about Siege Commander Jetfire, I did like the fun 'armor-up' parts that came with that toy. These look to be missing from the photo showing MP Skyfire's accessories. So there won't be a full hybrid look for the MP that gives a nod to the Bandai/Takatoku VF-1? Just a face swap? That's too bad. 

[lechuck]

Just caught up on the news, didn't expect this but very much welcomed. Bummer about it being TT mall exclusive, hopefully I can find some place to source it.

Only a darkened image, but it looks like it provides the options to be a fun MP to mess around with. You can already see pivoting shoulders, hips that allow the legs to go higher than 90 degrees, separate jointed knees that seem like they can do a deep bend and from the small image proper foot articulation shouldn't be a problem. So in this regard I am perfectly fine with Takara being late, if it means I don't have to pay 250+ Euro for a big brick toy.

[sh9000]

MP Skyfire looks good.  If I can't secure one then I'll settle with my FT Phoenix. 

Unfortunately I don't own Siege Jetfire for my Generations collection because Dorkside screwed up my order.  I'll get one someday.

[Tking22]

MP Skyfire? Easy pass, FT Phoenix is easily one of my favorite third party figures ever, and definitely one of my favorite MP figures in my entire collection. Looks pretty much like Phoenix, with more articulation, more accessories to stay in the box forever, and I'm sure, a hefty price tag.

[mikeszekely]

38,500 yen works out to around $300 US, but I see BBTS is already taking preorders at $269.  Considering how expensive stuff like MP-44 was that's surprisingly reasonable.

[technoblue]

The domestic shops are listing this one quickly… So I went with TCP and put some points toward a gift certificate, but yeah I’m back in. MP Skyfire looks spiffy.

Edited June 3, 2022 by technoblue

[sh9000]

Cool.  I’ll see which store to order it from.  Additional pics.

[M'Kyuun]

So, now that we have a variety of clear pics to look at, I've been comparing it to Fans Toy's Phoenix. 

The similarities are quite striking, and honestly, if you missed out on Phoenix, the official is shaping up to be a rather fine-looking toy in both modes, a compliment I rarely get to hand out to jet-formers. That said, aesthetically, I still prefer Phoenix. I like his chunkier multi-angular sculpted thighs and the overall proportions, even the minimized waist, which, though not animation accurate, looks better to my eye than the animation design. That's a very subjective thing, and I imagine when FT were designing him, they purposely molded that waist to look similar to MP-10's. I could be wrong, but that similarity has always struck me. Too, Phoenix' s more 'heroic' styled chest looks better to me than the longer chest panels from the animation. I also prefer the blockier shaping of Phoenix's forearms over the official's tapered forearms.  In jet mode, they are surprisingly similar, although Phoenix's gullet is shallower, and his red thruster pack is neither as long nor as tall as the official, for good reason: difference in transformation. Looking through the pics, I'm reasonably certain that Skyfire's arms tuck away into the backpack in jet mode, whereas Phoenix's forearms form a goodly chunk of his fuselage just behind the cockpit section. Both are good solutions for tucking away those huge arms and odd rounded shoulders, but the engineer-wannabe in me absolutely adores Fans Toys' solution of integrating them into the plane itself. It's one of my favorite things about Phoenix.  Props to Takara for the far better-looking and more realistic main landing gear with multi-wheeled bogies even! 😍That's just lovely, and far more comely than FT's oddly backward angled mains with just a single forked wheel each. 🤮

The way Takara fold the feet in jet mode looks a bit odd to me; I prefer Phoenix's slightly recessed feet that fold completely within the legs. Too, Phoenix's are closer to the animation, if this still is any measure of accuracy.

I realize I'm gushing all over Phoenix, which just solidifies in my mind that I already have the MP Skyfire for me. Slavish toon accuracy isn't as important to me as detail, and I find the many stylistic touches that FT brought to their version of Skyfire appeal to me greatly. However, I stand by my original statement; whichever of these two toys you end up with, as a fan of Skyfire's design, either toy is going to deliver a big cool looking bot that converts into an equally cool Cybertronian jet with no bot kibble to mar its profile. 

[Scyla]

I think Phoenix is my preferred take on Skyfire. The MP just has too much wonky animation proportions going on.

Though in all fairness it doesn’t look bad (could look a lot worse) and the price seems fair (compared to MP-44) for a toy that has almost zero repaint potential.

Does it come with a Jazz mini figure? Is it time for baseless assumptions about an MP Jazz finally being released?