The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[sh9000]

https://anime-export.com/index.php?product=71013

https://anime-export.com/index.php?product=71012

It would be nice if Missing Link Convoy comes in G1 style packaging.

[treatment]

hoping against hope that Takara's photographers just totally forgot to install and totally forgot to photograph Roller's launcher from C-01's trailer.

otherwise, it'll be _THE_ actual "Missing Link" in this Missing Link lineup...
 

 

[mikeszekely]

I want to get in preorders for Missing Link Convoy and JAXA Prime, but I wish I knew if some domestic stores were going to carry them.  How's shipping with Amiami?

[sh9000]

TFSource and The Chosen Prime currently have Missing Link Convoy and JAXA Prime for preorder.

[mikeszekely]

16 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

TFSource and The Chosen Prime currently have Missing Link Convoy and JAXA Prime for preorder.

Thanks, they didn't have them last time I checked, but I just preordered both at TCP.

[Drad]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

I want to get in preorders for Missing Link Convoy and JAXA Prime, but I wish I knew if some domestic stores were going to carry them.  How's shipping with Amiami?

I would guess you'll prolly end up paying about $40-$50 for the pair of Missing Link Optimus Primes. I believe DHL has gotten rid of their emergency circumstances surcharge too. Might save some money actually.

[mikeszekely]

With eight figures in yesterday's Repaint Roundup you'd think I'd be done for awhile.  But then I went to Walmart (more than once, actually...).  So today you get another Repaint Roundup, this time for Walmart's exclusive G2 Toxitron collection.

We'll start with the Deluxes, and we'll start with the one everyone wants the most, G2 Dead End.  He doesn't get a new name, like how G2 Dragstrip became "Shadowstrip" in the Velocitron line.  The figure isn't remolded at all, which is a bit of a bummer (but if they didn't remold them for the toy deco Menasor there was no way they were going to remold him for a store-exclusive G2 line), but the colors seem pretty on-target compared to the original G2 toy.  I think if it were my call I might have gone with black biceps and shoulders, but they're probably on the same sprue as his other blue parts, so it is what it is.  He's got the same accessories as before, just different paint.

I always thought it was a bit weird that the other Stunticons got such different colors, but Dead was still basically "the red one."  Well, he's at least got some really nice tampos replicating sticker details that were meant for the original toy.  And since he's a straight repaint, he does of course still split in half and you can use him as Menasor's arm.  I think he's worth picking up, especially if you grabbed Shadowstrip.  I just hope Hasbro finds a way to get the other G2 Stunticons out- I need me a bright yellow Wildrider.

The other popular one seems to be Sideswipe.  Now, you might be thinking "wasn't G2 Sideswipe basically G1 Sideswipe with the red and black switched?"  And yes, that was the toy that was released during G2.  But, you know that the G2 Stunticons were never actually mass released, right?  And this Sideswipe was, similarly, a prototype that appeared but never went into production.  In fact, it's not at all certain that this character was definitely going to be named Sideswipe, but it seems likely.

Sideswipe does technically come with the same accessories as his G1 Earthrise counterpart, but on the G1 toy I'd replaced them with a Nonnef kit, which is why they don't match in the above picture.

The bot mode is ok, but the alt mode is where it's at.  The mostly yellow car that fades to blue reminds me so much of those Hot Wheels that changed colors when you dipped them in warm/cold water that were popular around then.  But I'm going to need to figure out what to do for his spoiler...

Anyway, this is a mold you probably have a couple of (or a lot, if we count the Siege version).  But this one is pretty enough that it belongs in your collection.

Like Sideswipe, Jazz had a regular G2 release that was basically his G1 colors but with different racing livery.  You could make that version of G2 Jazz by buying the regular Studio Series 86 Jazz and buying a set of Toyhax labels that replicate the G2 deco.  Instead of that, we got a Jazz based on art created for the packaging.  Yeah, unlike Sideswipe, no prototype is known to exist for this deco.  And, again, it's not even know if this toy was going to be named Jazz or not for 100% sure.

One interesting thing to note is that Doritos Jazz does come with the same gun as the Studio Series toy, but he's picked up a pair of new guns as well.

I wonder if it's because the packing was depicted with the shoulder cannon that the G1 toy (but not he cartoon or the Studio Series toy) had?  It's kind of crooked, but you can plug the one gun into his back at an angle, then plug the handle for the missile launcher into the barrel of that gun to get it over his shoulder.  But what's really interesting is that while this is the first figure released with those accessories they are being repurposed from another release.  They're the accessories that will come with Detritus and (eventually) Earth-mode Hound.

It is kind of neat how all the accessories can still combine and still fit into the peg on the roof in alt mode, though.  Well, it's a little nuts that we're getting this reuse out of the mold but still not Stepper/Ricochet.  Not sure where I land on this figure, it's a good mold and I like the new accessories but the light-to-dark orange isn't as interesting as Sideswipe's yellow/blue mix, nor is it broken up as well.  I think I'd like him more if the Doritos thing was explicit, not inferred.

Continuing the stream of figures that were designed but never produced, we have Laser Cycle.  But here's the thing... even though the name on the box is "Laser Cycle," the toy this was based on wasn't named Laser Cycle.  Laser Cycle was a thing... Road Rocket was a Laser Cycle, and her Decepticon rival Road Pig was also a Laser Cycle.  Road Pig was going to get a redeco as Laser Cycle Soundwave, but although solicited in catalogs it was never mass produced.  And Soundwave's rival, a white, green, and yellow repaint of Road Rocket, was going to be Jazz.  That's right, Laser Cycle is actually the second unproduced Jazz figure to get a toy in this line.

There's no mold changes from Velocitron Road Rocket, no new accessories, just a new paint job that I kind of dig... actually better than Road Rocket.  Yeah, I was planning on not getting Laser Cycle/Jazz, but I'm actually glad I did.  It's kind of weird now that Arcee was the only mainline release of this mold, but she wound up being my least favorite.  I say pick this one up.

The final Deluxe of this line is Mirage, who like the all the other Deluxes was based on an unproduced G2 design.  Unlike Sideswipe and Jazz, though, the packaging art did clearly identify the figure as Mirage.  Mirage came with the same accessories as the other uses of this mold, of which I have too many, but without some third party add-ons he can't have the missile launcher on his shoulder.

Mirage winds up being my least favorite of this Toxitron line.  For one, I'm really not a fan of the pink and green deco (though the alligator tampos are kind of cool).  But the kicker is that, unlike Jazz, who is at least an ugly deco on a great figure, the Earth version of Mirage wasn't a great figure in the first place, being a retool of a questionable Cybertronian design that didn't even use the chest for the front of the car.  So not only do I want to tell you to pass on G2 Mirage, I also want to suggest that Hasbro really ought to release a proper Mirage figure.  I guess they can't do a Studio Series toy, though, since Mirage wasn't actually in the movie.

Cloudcover is the only Voyager in the line, and he's based on yet another unreleased prototype.  Like many of the others it wasn't clear if the prototype was supposed to be Ramjet, or if it was supposed to be a new character.  Where Hasbro erred on the side of "it's that guy" for Sideswipe and Jazz, I guess they decided this time it's a new guy, probably because they already released a G2 Ramjet.

Curiously, while this is now the forth use of this exact mold, this is the only one that uses Dirge's open-mouthed head.

Like I said, this is the fourth repaint we've gotten of Ramjet, but it might very well be my favorite.  I'm loving the digital sky camo.  Makes me wish they'd release a toy of the unreleased black and green Starscream prototype.  Recommend!

Now we're jumping from Voyager to Leader with Grimlock.  You're probably sensing a pattern here, but there was an actual G2 Grimlock in blue, but this guy is based on artwork for an unreleased version.  Like the Studio Series toy he's based on, he's got a gun but no sword.  Unlike the SS86 toy, he does NOT come with a Wheelie slug.

G2 Grimlock's neck doesn't have any paint, revealing some mechanical details inside that are presumably present but unseen on the SS86 or Shattered Glass releases of the mold (dear Primus, please let Hasbro be prepping for toy deco versions after Swoop comes out).  He's also sporting the same basic yellow and teal combo that Sideswipe was, but it looks even better here, if you ask me.  I just have to hope that DNA re-releases their upgrade kit so I can fill in the gaps on his teeth and give him articulated dino arms.  Strong recommend!

And we finish off the line with the eponymous Toxitron himself.  Like everyone else in the line, Toxitron is based on an unreleased toy, but not a G2 toy.  Toxitron was a planned recolor of the Laser Prime toy for the early 2000's Universe line.  And unlike most of the other figures on this list, this is not the first time Toxitron has been done in toy form, as Combiner Wars Menasor was redecoed as Toxitron for Fun Publications' Figure Subscription Service.  But, since the original toy was based on Laser Optimus, and Legacy gave us a new Laser Optimus, Toxitron as a repaint of Laser Optimus has come full circle.

Toxitron comes with the same accessories as Laser Optimus, including a trailer, axe, sword, and Matrix.  Curiously unlike his mold mates Toxitron uses three different translucent plastic colors.

Honestly, between Shattered Glass, Nemesis Prime, and RID '01 Scourge I kind of think we had enough evil Optimus Primes that I'm not into Toxitron as a concept.  In actual execution, I have to admit that the neon green plastic actually looks really nice in person.  I just wish he had black wheels instead of purple, green on the front and back of the trailer like the original prototype, and the big "Toxitron" text on the sides of the trailer.  Actually, I'm kind of miffed that they managed to get this Toxitron so close to the Universe prototype but they screwed up so badly on Scourge last year.

[sh9000]

JAXA Prime and the Missing Link Convoys are now up on Hasbro Pulse.  The Anime Edition there is priced much higher than other stores for some reason though.

[Chronocidal]

17 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Like I said, this is the fourth repaint we've gotten of Ramjet, but it might very well be my favorite.  I'm loving the digital sky camo.  Makes me wish they'd release a toy of the unreleased black and green Starscream prototype.  Recommend!

 

I would love to see this scheme on an MP Ramjet.  That's a beauty, and just makes me think of the splinter-schemed Sv-51 Dobber did back in the day.  

[no3Ljm]

TakaraTomy C-01 CONVOY displayed at Yodobashi, Akihabara.

[M'Kyuun]

I wonder if LEGO's 10302 Optimus Prime, which was directly based on the G1 toy but with some minor additional articulation, was the inspiration for Takara to do this? As both a LEGO and Transformers fan, I think that'd be a great full-circle story. 

Given that Takara is unfettered by our draconian toy gun laws, I hope they give G1 Megs the same treatment. I've never owned a G1 Megs, but the prospect of owning a fully articulated version of that toy is honestly more appealing to me than Missing Link Prime. I definitely hope they move into doing the carbots and the Seeker jets, as I'd love to have G1 Prowl fully articulated as well as at least one of the jets with the same transformation minus the parts-forming fists. My interest in the G1 toys waned during the G1 period due to their lack of articulation, but this line sparks a bit of interest for me if only b/c I used to daydream about what it'd be like if those toys had at least minimal articulation in the legs. Curious to see where it goes.

[JB0]

"SECRET EMBLEM"

Holy crap, he even has a rubsign!

[derex3592]

God, I always HAAAAAAATED those stupid rubsign things! 

[danth]

I've already preordered this puppy.

You know the great thing about this is that the original alt modes really can't be beat. Other than maybe the Masterpiece line, the new TFs make all kinds of concessions for bot mode to look more cartoony and we get garbage like feet being completely visible on the back of cars...But the G1 TFs heavily favored alt mode.

I say bring more Missing Links. Like say, Smokescreen with separate, posable legs!

[Hikuro]

Rub signs were kind of the point back then.

I was out and about Wednesday at some retro game joints and wanted to go to a different location further down the road. When I got there I actually saw they had a fair amount of Transformer related merch. At first all I noticed were reissues of old G1 toys, hoist, redalert, all the seekers, some of the mini-bots etc. But as I got further down their aisle I saw some of the original waves of the classics lineup, Optimus, Nerf Gun Megatron, Bee, Grimlock, Mirage which surprised me. When I finally looked down I saw Titan's Return Trypticon who had been rather elusive to me as he never showed up in any of the toy shelves even when ToysRUs was still around....the only Titan scale out there I came across was Fort Max and that I had to grab back then. 
Prices on this guy were not cheap online when I looked for him....I should had grabbed him when he was on amazon for 130 bucks about a year or two ago when it dropped. 
I was a bit hesitant to look at the price sticker on this guy seeing how he was claimed to be mint in box. The only thing that suggested he was opened was a lack of tape on one of the flaps, so when I picked him up I saw he was listed for 199.99 thought "Nah something ain't right...." I looked around and pulled him out of the box and he not only was complete but he was still in his original tied down straps!
So of course yeah I'm gonna get him and I took him home and spent 3 days applying his stickers....man that was really tough! The instructions were wrong in a few areas and very vague on his placement. 
I was happy I got him, but now I kind of regret it. My other cat, he's slowly dying of chronic Kidney Disease, treatment cost me a lot more than what I really had so now I gotta come up with the funds to pay it off along with finding the money to have him put down if he doesn't improve. 

[sh9000]

Studio Series available to preorder.

[mikeszekely]

6 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Studio Series available to preorder.

Things have been hectic here... my wife's company decided they HAD to send her on a trip out-of-state the day before my daughter started 3rd grade.  I didn't get a chance to post this (but I did get preorders at Amazon for everything and an extra one for Magnus at Pulse).  I also have toys sitting on my desk that need reviews.

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I also have toys sitting on my desk that need reviews.

One of those would be the Pulse-exclusive Legacy Evolution Core-class Bumblebee and Optimus set.

We'll start with Bumblebee.  This figure is a redeco of the inaugural Buzzworthy Bumblebee figure that was exclusive to Target, so I guess for peeps that don't have a Target nearby this is a new chance to experience that mold.  Should you, though?  I think I skipped this guy for a reason... he's not the worst small Bumblebee figure, but he's not the best.  He's smaller than the Titans Returns toy, which is good, and has better articulation than the 2008 Universe toy, which is also good, but he's got some weird proportions and awkward kibble on his back.  He's definitely not as good as the Deluxes, though you can make the argument that the Deluxe Bees are meant to scale with your regular Deluxes/Voyagers/Leaders, and this guy is meant to scale with Core-class figures.

Does he really, though?  He's only a head shorter than Core-class Prime, and his mammoth feet and big head certainly give the appearance of being a different scale.  Maybe it's not a totally fair comparison, but something like Newage's Flipper works a lot better.

I never bought the original, so I suppose I ought to cover articulation.  His head swivels, and he can kind of tilt it up and down though really it's the entire gray part his neck is attached to that's moving.  His shoulders are ball joints that allow him to swivel and move laterally a bit under 90 degrees.  Elbows are also ball joints, pulling double-duty as bicep swivels and bending almost 90 degrees.  Nothing at the wrists or waist.  Hips are yet more ball joints, allowing 90 degrees of motion (or close enough to it) forward, backward, and laterally.  He's got cut thigh swivels, and knees that bend 90 degrees.  His feet can tilt downward, mostly due to transformation, but he lacks ankle pivots.

Bumblebee retains the cartoon-style blaster that the original release came with, but ditches the little Exo-Suit Spike figure.  And as near as I can tell, the only other real difference between this release and the original is that all the black plastic used on the original is gray here.  I guess to give him a more cartoony look?  They also replaced the black paint on the bumper with gray, to match the plastic, and while the original release also had black paint on the grill they decided to skip it here.

His alt mode is kind of curious.  The Beetle has a pretty distinct look, and with Volkswagen unwilling to license it to Hasbro for so long he's often been sort of generic hatchbacks since Classics Bee came out in 2006.  And that was definitely the case with the 2008 Universe toy, and the Titans Return toy.  So what grabbed my attention right away was the hard angles on the front of the car.  It's a very late '70s/early '80s compact design, and it struck me as vaguely familiar.  Then it hit me- that's not Bumblebee's alt mode, it's Bumper's!  Now, I'm sure most of you know by now that most of the early Autobot mini cars came from Takara's Microman Micro Change line, and that Cliffjumper and Bumblebee used the same engineering and same chibi Choro-Q aesthetic for their alt modes, despite being different cars.  What you may not be aware of is that the Micro Change toys used three cars with that engineering.  In addition to Bee's Beetle and Cliffjumper's Porsche 924, there was also a Mazda Familia.  And although details are fuzzy, apparently in 1984 some of the packaging intended for Cliffjumper got stuffed with yellow Mazda's instead.  The yellow Mazda wouldn't be officially acknowledged until Bumper appeared in Dreamwave's Transformers comic in 2004.  But once you recognize it, the angled front end, the shape of the headlights with the grill between them, and the bumper underlining it all, that's 100% Bumper.

Bumblebee or Bumper, he does have some storage for his little pistol under the car.

Prime is also a re-release, having appeared both as regular Optimus Prime (left) and Nemesis Prime.  There's no changes to the mold, but there are some deco differences.  For one, the red plastic they used is more vibrant.  And, to better match the cartoon, they opted for white plastic instead of silvery gray.  They also chose not to paint the vents on his shins they way they did originally, which I guess freed up some budget to put some yellow paint on the sides of his pelvis.  However, they didn't paint the yellow on his crotch, nor the blue on his... undercarriage.  What's more, while they swapped the silver plastic for white they did not swap any silver paint, which leaves his crotch white but the sides of his pelvis silver.

Prime comes with the same rifle as before, and a yellow version of the axe that Nemesis Prime got but Optimus didn't.  While I think I prefer the brighter deco on the new newer version overall and the inclusion of an axe is nice, I wouldn't say it's really enough of a reason on its own to upgrade.  The real star of the package, though, is what's totally new for this release.  You get a pistol with a design similar to the one that came with MP-21 Bumblebee, a shield, Roller, and a trailer with a more G1-accurate drone.  The trailer has storage for all of the accessories except Bumblebee's cartoon pistol (which is fine, since that stores with him).

Articulation is the same as the original release (which I did cover), and he holds his rifle by plugging the 3mm peg into his fist.  To use the shield or axe, though, you fold his fist in like you're going to alt mode and plug the shield/axe into his wrist stump.

As I mentioned, there's specific spots for storing the axe, Prime's rifle, and the pistol.  The shield even has tabs on it that attach it to the floor of the trailer.  The drone has a total of three hinges, plus the antenna is hinged at the base and the drone arm is hinged at the base and the "elbow".

Like the Earthrise trailer this little trailer has fold out feet to prop it up in trailer or base mode, and it lacks the struts of the G1 toy or the various MP trailers.  It can kind of due the Diaclone thing where the drone is outside the trailer, but rather than peek through a cutout in the top of trailer you have to open the trailer, fold the drone entirely out, then close the trailer back up.

Like MP-44, the drone is removeable.  First, the entire thing is connected to the a hinge on the trailer via a 5mm peg.  But, the blue top part is connected to the black via another 4mm peg.  And since Roller has a 5mm port, this allows him to carry the drone, either entirely or just the blue part.  Alas, Prime doesn't have any 5mm ports, so you can't attach the drone to him.

Speaking of Roller, the back of the trailer folds down so he can drive out of it.  He fits neatly inside, even with the shield, but there's no spring gimmick and he doesn't lock in place, he just rattles around in there.  As mentioned, Roller has a 5mm port on his back.  Conveniently, while Prime's rifle has a 3mm peg to plug into Prime's fist, the 3mm peg is on a 5mm peg, so Roller can carry the rifle around no problem.  As for the trailer, it's connection is smaller than 5mm.  It's the right height so that you can set the trailer on Roller and Roller can pull it, but there's no friction holding them together so if you pick up the trailer Roller's staying on the table.

Of course, the real point of the trailer is to go with Prime's cab mode.  We can see some minor deco changes here, too.  Mostly, they took the paint from the cab stripe on the original and pained his rims instead.  It looks OK, but the problem again comes from the switch to white plastic.  Sure, there's the big unpainted slab on the side of the cab, but that was there on the original.  No, the problem is that they painted the headlights, most of the bumper, and the part of the grill that's on the red plastic silver, but a chunk of the grill and bumper that were silver plastic and blended ok on the original release stand out now that they're white plastic.

On his own without the trailer, Prime has a 3mm port between his shins that you can plug his rifle into, and some notches in his axe let you wedge it between his shoulders.  This is simply the originally-intended storage for the original Optimus and Nemesis Prime releases.

Before we use the trailer, though, this is where the shield really comes into play.  His toes go through the peep hole, and the other end clamps over some of Prime's leg details.  Honestly, I kind of like what the shield is bringing... Prime toys tend to take flack for having obvious robot legs, but without folding the feet up the Core-class wasn't even trying.  The shield, though, covers it all up with skid plating, a 5th wheel, and even some molded fuel tanks and taillights.  But most of all, it gives Prime a 5mm port that the trailer can plug into.  Again, though, the trailer's peg isn't actually 5mm, it's smaller.  So the same caveats as will Roller- it's the right height, Prime can pull it and turn, but it's not a secure connection and if you pick him up by the trailer all you're going to have is the trailer.

And how does he look with the trailer?  I distinctly remember Evan saying in a livestream that they were kind of aware that Earthrise Prime's trailer is proportionally too small, and that the Core-class trailer would have better proportions.  And on that note... well, they fixed the height, sure.  But it's still kind of short.  To compare with another official product, Hybrid Style Optimus Prime has a similar-sized (though much worse-looking) cab, and a trailer that's nearly as long on it's own as Core-class Prime combined with his.  You'll get the same results with Magic Square's original Legends-class Prime, and presumably their second release or Newage's version.  And why go to the trouble of painting the rims on Prime's tires if you're going to skip painting them on the trailer?

And you can pretty much forget about putting other Core-class cars into Prime's trailer.  It's tall and wide enough for the included Bumblebee (as long as the shield isn't in the trailer), but not long enough.  Bee's nose sticks out enough that you can't fold up and close the door.  Larger figures like the Core-class Ironhide and Ratchet are even too tall.

I'm not sure it's fair to compare Hasbro's offering to Magic Square or Newage, though.  I mean, yes, they're objectively better, but the best deals I've seen on them are around $80.  They're definitely great choices if you're invested in a high-quality, 3P Legends-style collection, but that's not what Hasbro's Core-class is.  This is a toy that's half that price with the Bumblebee figure, a mainline offering you can pose with Titan-class figures to make them look better.  And he does a decent enough job of that.  But the elephant in the room would have to Dr. Wu's Extreme Warfare line.  I mean, despite being an unlicensed 3rd party toy it's a little cheaper than Hasbro's offering, although it lacks the trailer drone and Bumblebee figure that the official toy gives you.  On the other hand, the trailer has better proportions and better details, and the Prime figure looks better with better paint, and if a tiny figure to make a Titan looks big is your goal it's like half the size.  Now, if you're like me, the more Prime toys the merrier.  Core-class Prime has a bit of butt kibble in bot mode and some issues with the white and silver not meshing, but he's still a decent little toy that replicates most of the play pattern of the G1 toy in a small, relatively inexpensive package.  But a serious Legends collector will definitely want to spend more money on Magic Square or Newage's offerings, while those of you just wanting a tiny transformable Prime to go with your Titans will be better off with Dr. Wu's.

[tekering]

For a busy dad with parental obligations to manage, you really knocked that review out of the park!  

Thanks for throwing the spotlight on more Transformers toys I never even knew existed. 

[sh9000]

15 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Things have been hectic here... my wife's company decided they HAD to send her on a trip out-of-state the day before my daughter started 3rd grade.  I didn't get a chance to post this (but I did get preorders at Amazon for everything and an extra one for Magnus at Pulse).  I also have toys sitting on my desk that need reviews.

I ended up ordering Frenzy, Ratchet, and Ultra Magnus at The Chosen Prime since they came out cheaper and Hasbro Pulse sold out of some of them when I was at work yesterday.

[connor99]

Finally got my hands on this mini Autobot. All I need now is a Windcharger figure.

[M'Kyuun]

My copy of Origins Jazz finally came yesterday. I was starting to think maybe Target cancelled yet another of my orders ( still irritated that they canxed my ER Thrust order- I didn't see the renewal email until it was too late). Anyway, he's a bit more shellformery than I thought he'd be, but still a neat addition to the collection. Bring on Wheeljack; hopefully they make him a voyager or even a leader and somehow figure out a way to put Origin Bee in the back to reenact those opening scenes to More than Meets the Eye Pt 1. Otherwise, what's the point?

Was late to the PO party on Pulse, though I did manage to get Magnus. I went to TFSource for SS86 Ratchet and Frenzy, but at least I got 'em POed. Peace of mind.

[tekering]

On 4/4/2023 at 5:09 AM, mikeszekely said:

After a gap of over a month, the last of the Studio Series figures from Rise of the Beasts I had preordered finally showed up.  This one is Leader-class Scourge.

"Finally," he said, five months ago... 😅

Well, SS-101 was just released in Japan last Saturday, so now I can join the party.  The film's already available online (following its lackluster theatrical performance), so we now know exactly how poorly Scourge matches his onscreen counterpart... at least, in robot mode.

Still, there are minor ways to improve him:

Forcing the shoulders up as far as they can go prevents them from sticking out so far, and ruining the silhouette...

Similarly, folding the sides of the cab outward reduces that massive block of kibble that forms his backpack.

Most importantly, that ridiculously long neck has to go.  I cut the top and bottom ball sockets off the neck piece, and just glued them together to make a much shorter neck.  I also trimmed the rubber cowl around it to fit.

Finally, some drybrushed silver detailing brought out the various faction symbols visible behind his grill, and a little red paint in his eye sockets results in a much more menacing appearance. ☺️

Edited August 28, 2023 by tekering

[M'Kyuun]

RotB is probably the first TF film or show where I didn't buy a single figure. The designs just didn't grab me, and I had very low enthusiasm for the film leading up to release. I wish Travis Knight had made a sequel to Bumblebee; of the three directors who've now done live-action, he's the only one who's come closest to capturing the essence of what Transformers means to me, although I think the film was hindered by its attachment to the Bay films. I'll be happy when that attachment is permanently severed, although I have apprehension about where the live-action franchise may go thereafter. As much as I hate to think it, it can always get worse, although Bay did a fine job of making it downright abysmal already. Full disclosure, I've not seen RotB; I'm judging it on trailers and snippets I've seen, which frankly didn't inspire much desire to see more. Additionally, I'm a fan of neither Anthony Ramos nor Pete Davidson, and knowing that a fair chunk of the beginning of the film revolves around Ramos' character development and that the main TF sidekick character, Mirage, is voiced by Davidson leaves me cold. If it comes to Netflix, Prime, or Hulu, I may give it a watch out of morbid curiosity, but I'll definitely go in with expectations off-scale low and a likely desire to stop watching before I get too far in. Paraphrasing Han Solo, I just have a bad feeling about it.

[mikeszekely]

On 8/25/2023 at 2:38 AM, tekering said:

For a busy dad with parental obligations to manage, you really knocked that review out of the park!  

Thanks for throwing the spotlight on more Transformers toys I never even knew existed. 

Glad you enjoyed it!  Curious, which Transformers toys weren't you aware of?  The core set I reviewed, G1 Bumper, or the Dr. Wu stuff?  If it's that third one, I've got some Dr. Wu stuff I'm hoping to cover early this week in the unlicensed thread.

On 8/26/2023 at 4:47 AM, connor99 said:

All I need now is a Windcharger figure.

Gears?

6 hours ago, tekering said:

Well, SS-101 was just released in Japan last Saturday, so now I can join the party.  The film's already available online (following its lackluster theatrical performance), so we now know exactly how poorly Scourge matches his onscreen counterpart... at least, in robot mode.

Still, there are minor ways to improve him:

Better, but I have to confess that aside from the '86 stuff Studio Series seems like it's going downhill.  They rushed the ROTB designs out before they were done, and a lot of them (including the new Gamer Edition subline) are missing basic articulation that's become standard in the WfC/Legacy lines.

...actually, I have beefs with Legacy being a big step down from WfC, too, but that's more about the content than the quality.

51 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

RotB is probably the first TF film or show where I didn't buy a single figure. The designs just didn't grab me, and I had very low enthusiasm for the film leading up to release. I wish Travis Knight had made a sequel to Bumblebee; of the three directors who've now done live-action, he's the only one who's come closest to capturing the essence of what Transformers means to me, although I think the film was hindered by its attachment to the Bay films. I'll be happy when that attachment is permanently severed, although I have apprehension about where the live-action franchise may go thereafter. As much as I hate to think it, it can always get worse, although Bay did a fine job of making it downright abysmal already. Full disclosure, I've not seen RotB; I'm judging it on trailers and snippets I've seen, which frankly didn't inspire much desire to see more. Additionally, I'm a fan of neither Anthony Ramos nor Pete Davidson, and knowing that a fair chunk of the beginning of the film revolves around Ramos' character development and that the main TF sidekick character, Mirage, is voiced by Davidson leaves me cold. If it comes to Netflix, Prime, or Hulu, I may give it a watch out of morbid curiosity, but I'll definitely go in with expectations off-scale low and a likely desire to stop watching before I get too far in. Paraphrasing Han Solo, I just have a bad feeling about it.

RotB was decidedly OK.  Not nearly as good as BumblebeE. T., but better than the Bay sequels.  I have nothing against Anthony Ramos; I think Godzilla: King of the Monsters is the only other thing I've seen him in, and that was such a minor role.  I really dislike Pete Davidson... he's not a good actor, being most believable as a scuzzy stoner burnout, which for him isn't really acting.  And yet, I dare say I actually enjoyed him as Mirage... just treat him as a new character who happens to be named Mirage, and don't mistake him for an analog of G1 Mirage or G1 Jazz.

[M'Kyuun]

Yeah, I'm familiar with the Mirage/Jazz debate, but I consider pretty much everything live-action to be apart from any of the animation given the amount of license taken with all aspects of the bots. Respectively, the same can pretty much be said for each animated show as well, although there seems to be a bit more G1 carryover amidst the animated shows. Anyway, that aspect doesn't bother me. The similarities of RotB from the trailers to Bay's films, OTOH, just turn my stomach. 

[Radioguy]

On 8/28/2023 at 4:56 PM, mikeszekely said:

Better, but I have to confess that aside from the '86 stuff Studio Series seems like it's going downhill.  They rushed the ROTB designs out before they were done, and a lot of them (including the new Gamer Edition subline) are missing basic articulation that's become standard in the WfC/Legacy lines.

Have to agree. SS's rep is tarnished now. I feel like their expanding the Core line came with cutting corners elsewhere. They shouldn't have ever touched SS, but it's feeling like they have.

 

[sh9000]

There's also a Perceptor coming out but I don't plan on getting any more of these releases.

[mikeszekely]

37 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

There's also a Perceptor coming out but I don't plan on getting any more of these releases.

I'm not interested in any of them. I mean, I get that the G1 toys often looked pretty different than the animation, but modern toys are filling that need pretty well with better engineering and proportions to boot. To me, any interest in a reissued G1 toy is for it to be as close to the original release as possible. 

The Insecticon reissues don't evoke any real reaction from me, since I have the G1 toys. But I was pretty frustrated Hound got released in cartoon colors when I actually really need a straight G1 reissue.

[mikeszekely]

Ok, time to get the rest of this stuff off my desk (it's hard to play Baldur's Gate with all these Transformers in the way).  We're closing out the week with a quick Repaint Roundup.

Up first we have Nacelle, from the same Amazon-exclusive comic book inspired series that brought us Senator Ratbat with Megatron and Senator Shockwave with Orion Pax.  I don't actually have a ton of background for you on Nacelle.  The original Nacelle toy was Transformers Collector's Club Figure Subscription Service repaint of the Deluxe-class Thrust toy (but not the one Takara Gentei one or the Generations repaint, rather, the even older Botcon "Games of Deception" version).  The colors were apparently inspired by an old Takara catalog that featured early prototypes of Thrust, Ramjet, and Dirge cobbled together by sticking the new wing parts on Thundercracker, Skywarp, and Starscream, respectively.  His first real appearance in fiction was late in IDW's post-Siege relaunched Transformers comics.

As those comics took place entirely on Cybertron and were the contemporary toy designs, Nacelle ditched Thrust's VTOL F-15 alt mode for the standard Siege Seeker alt.  I know some people seem really bothered by that, but honestly I'm cool with it.  I suppose that's because my brain decided a long time ago that it wanted every repaint of this mold, and unlike Senator Shockwave Nacelle is back to being a straight repaint with no mold changes.  Not counting Shockwave due to the aforementioned remolded bits, I think that makes Nacelle my eleventh version of this mold.  Me personally, I'd be in for two more still (Sunstorm and Bitstream), but your mileage may vary.

Also from Amazon's comic-inspired line we've got the Deadeye Duel two-pack.  This pack comes with Javelin, an Autobot Senate guard, and Kaskade, an Ascenticon (in IDW's rebooted series the Ascenticons were the precursors to the Decepticons) who belonged to the radical group known as The Rise.

The idea in this set is that they're both snipers, I suppose.  Javelin's sniper rifle seems to be comic-accurate, and although it comes apart into 3 pieces the scope and barrel don't really have anywhere to go go but on the rifle.  Kaskade, meanwhile, has a new two-part barrel for her rifle, but the scope and rear section come from Siege Chromia.  Kaskade also comes with Chromia's grenades.  Combining the grenades with the back of the rifle and using the new parts as a separate gun allows Kaskade to dual-wield two smaller guns.

On that note, Kaskade shares accessories with Siege Chromia because she's a repaint of Siege Chromia.  Aside from the new barrel to make Chromia's gun a sniper rifle, the only remolded part on Kaskade is her head, which is pretty comic book accurate.  Kaskade was a pretty minor character overall, though, appearing in only a handful of panels, drawn inconsistently, and never with a clear view of her whole body or in alt mode.  So while I'm pretty sure she wasn't supposed to look so much like Chromia, without knowing exactly what she was supposed to look like Chromia is as good a guess as any, especially since Chromia sports a Cybertronian alt mode.

Even so, I think Chromia is still an unfortunate choice to remold.  Fact is, Siege Chromia wasn't a great toy in the first place.  Her alt mode is weirdly long and skinny, as the bulk of her transformation is unfolding her backpack over her entire lower body.  Which means she's very much a shellformer, with like 80% of her alt mode on her back in bot mode.  I might suggest that Kaskade would have been worth picking up anyway, due to a lack of female Transformers, but even that's changing as one of Hasbro's designers mentioned that they're consciously trying to release more females (hence why Prime Arcee, Elita-1, Axlegrease, Shadowstriker, Strongarm, and Nemesis were all mainline releases but we're still waiting for a good Gears).

No, the real reason to pick up Kaskade is because she comes packaged with Javelin.  Unlike Kaskade, Javelin isn't totally new to the rebooted IDW continuity- her origins go back to their previous continuity where she had a minor role in the popular More Than Meets the Eye series (even appearing on the cover of issue 41).  That said, I feel comfortable telling you that this Javelin is meant to be the one in the rebooted comics, where she was notably hit in the head by sniper fire from Kaskade.

Like Kaskade, Javelin is a retool, but I was a bit surprised to see that rather than reuse a War for Cybertron or Legacy figure they actually started with Studio Series Bumblebee Arcee for the base.  Well, Arcee was a cool figure, so I can roll with that.  Her arms and her body from the waist down are Arcee, and her wide hips and weird toes are hardly a match for Alex Milne's design.  However, her head, torso, and backpack are retooled and significantly more accurate

Like her bot mode, her alt mode winds up being a mix of accurate and not.  The two wheels in the front are right, but in the comics they're spaced apart.  The cockpit is accurate, and in the comics her rifle really does perch on top like that, but she's a little long and messy behind the cockpit.  The engines with the pink fins on the sides are right but the arms poking out the back and the visible torso not so much.  What she should have back there, but doesn't, is a third wheel.  Still, this is one of those case where the character is pretty minor and we're lucky to get even this much remolded.  I do wonder, though, why Hasbro felt it necessary to push out Javelin and Kaskade to boost the number of female Transformers, but fan favorites like Slipstream and Nautica are still no-shows.  (I wouldn't mind new versions of Firestar, Moonracer, Greenlight, and Lancer, either).

We're concluding the night with one more multipack, this one a Pulse-exclusive Shattered Glass set with Rodimus, Sideswipe, and Whisper.

Rodimus is a very minimal repaint of Studio Series 86 Hot Rod.  While Rodimus did appear in the IDW Shattered Glass comics I'll note that he's actually one of the first characters to get the Shattered Glass treatment, as Classics Rodimus was redecoed in one of the original Botcon 2008 box sets.  As far as I know, Shattered Glass Rodimus sports a goatee because Mirror Universe Spock did, and the Star Trek Mirror Universe was the primary inspiration for Shattered Glass.  As for the color scheme, while I want to deride him for doing the Nemesis Prime thing and swapping his standard colors for black, gray, and red with purple or teal accents, Fun Publications wasn't actually being that lazy when they came up with the deco.  Rather, Shattered Glass Rodimus is based on Titanium Series Menasor, an SDCC redeco of Titanium Rodimus Prime.

Rodimus has all the accessories and gimmicks Hot Rod does... two guns, a buzzsaw, a built-in welding torch, a Matrix that doesn't store anywhere, a trio of effects parts, and the flip-out visor.  Like I said, aside from deco the only change is he bearded head.

I kind of don't know how I feel about this one.  By and large, Shattered Glass has been a way for Hasbro to sell us the exact same figures with minimal retooling, and despite buying this set I think the novelty of the Shattered Glass line had worn off well before now.  But it's hard to deny that Hot Rod looks pretty good in black and gray.

Hot Rod comes packaged with Sideswipe, and Sideswipe's got a bit more retooling with a new head, new chest, and new clubs.  These are all details from the original Shattered Glass Sideswipe toy, also from a Botcon '08 set.  Like that original toy, the damaged Autobot insignia is molded into the his chest, with a raised spot for the smaller Decepticon emblem.  These features come from the fact that the original Shattered Glass Sideswipe was a redeco of Armada Wheeljack, and knowing that Hasbro sunk money into that hood, those clubs, and that head I wouldn't be surprised if we see this figure again as Wheeljack soon.

The Countach-esque elements of the non-remolded parts aren't an exact match for the Armada Wheeljack mold, but Hasbro did a very good job copying the deco from the original Shattered Glass toy.  Oh, and there is one other minor remolded detail besides the hood in this mode.  The door flaps on the sides now have slots cut into them, and this allows you to plug the clubs onto them.  Not quite as tidy as the original toy, but it's not the worst thing I've seen and it does make the figure a bit more distinct from the standard Sideswipe mold.  Actually, while the original toy's clubs did store in the sides they were a firing missile gimmick then, but here they almost remind me of the way the lower part of the sides of the car form ROTF/DOTM Studio Series Sideswipe's blades.

Whisper is the third figure in the set, and in a way the most impressive.  I'm told that he does share a few parts with Visper, the Siege Micromaster based on G1 Whisper, but he's mostly a brand new figure meant to be the original Shattered Glass Whisper, which itself was a repaint of the Armada Minicon Wind Sheer.  There are some differences... the wings on his backpack stick up instead of laying over his shoulders, more blue is showing on his thighs, the blue on his feet is on his heels instead of his toes, and his shoulders are blue instead of gray while his forearms are gray instead of blue.  In jet mode the yellow on his nose goes a bit further back, and with no wing parts on his shoulders there's a bit of a break in the delta shape, but for the most part it's still pretty close to the original.  What's more, I think his articulation is a bit better than the previous Siege Micromasters.  His shoulders are ball joints that rotate and move laterally 90 degrees, and he actually has elbows that bend 90 degrees.  His hips are also ball joints that move 90 degrees laterally and over 90 degrees forward and backward, and his knees bend 90 degrees.

While Whisper is in his alt mode, you can flip his legs back around to lie on top of his at mode instead of under it.  This gives you access to a 5mm peg on his underside, which in turn allows you to plug him into any available 5mm port on a larger figure (though he is meant to be Sideswipe's Minicon partner).

Between the Siege version and the Earth version we've seen this mold an awful lot (by my count, something like five times for Siege, four for the Earth version, plus this one based on the Earth version).  It remains a very solid mold, though, and Whisper is definitely the best Micromaster/Minicon Hasbro's done since Siege.  I don't know that I'd actually recommend this set if you're not really into Shattered Glass, but I'm preemptively saying that when we see this mold again as Armada Wheeljack you should probably pick him up.

[mikeszekely]

I dunno, guys.  Not sure I'm feeling it.

This would be a second Universal Monsters crossover, the Frankenstein-themed Frankentron.  On the one hand, Impactor's a better base mold than Mindwipe was.  On the other hand, Mindwipe was more extensively remolded to make Draculus- Frank here looks like he's got a new head and he's trading Impactor's gun and blade hand for a new Tesla coil-ish thing and a blast effect, and that's about it.  Plus, it seemed pretty thematically appropriate to take the Transformer who turns into a bat and make him into the movie monster that turns into a bat, but why is Frankenstein a tank?  Why not wrap some bandages around some of those unsold Crosscuts and pass it off as a Mummy crossover?

[sh9000]

I prefer more Transformers Collaboratives that are TV or movie vehicles.

[M'Kyuun]

17 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

I prefer more Transformers Collaboratives that are TV or movie vehicles.

Likewise. I want K.I.T.T. , Airwolf, and Blue Thunder. Maybe a Viper from BSG, or a small shuttle from V. 

[Scyla]

@mikeszekely I think it works quite well, especially the paint job on the chest gives it a stitched together look. I don’t know what else they could have done with Frankenstein's Monster. Maybe lean more into the asymmetrical look of Autobot Spike?

On this note I would have preferred it if they named the toy Frankentron's Monster and never reveal who Frankentron is. 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Scyla

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

Likewise. I want K.I.T.T. , Airwolf, and Blue Thunder. Maybe a Viper from BSG, or a small shuttle from V. 

I also want K.I.T.T, but I'd say that the Turtle's Party Wagon would be high on my want list, too.  Maybe the Thundercats' Thundertank, Scooby Doo's Mystery Machine, the Mach 5, or the Gadgetmobile.