The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[M'Kyuun]

Honestly, none of these is really grabbing me, except Prime to a small extent, and I'm not really sure why a cabover truck needs a cowcatcher. Starscream suffers from the usual arms-at-the-side-of-the-plane syndrome, like they can't even be bothered to try and integrate them into the plane mode. Soundwave's 4x4 Jeepish truck mode is ok, but I think the bot mode is a bit too thin-limbed- I'm just not feeling it. Not seeing any minions for this guy, but if he has them, what exactly would they turn into? - parts of an engine block?  I wish they'd find a more suitable alt for him where, like his original cassette player mode, both his alt and his minions are relevant on their own and to each other. That was the appeal of Soundwave and his minions in G1, and I wish they could find a modern equivalent. Bee's alt is ok, but it's not really grabbing me either. Overall, pass on all of these. If they end up selling Prime on his own, I may pick up a copy, but if not, more money for future G1 and Animated Legacy figs.

[mikeszekely]

33 minutes ago, JB0 said:

It is really weird that Optimus doesn't have a bunch of random black pieces. He looks like he's from another line.

Soundwave at least looks pretty uniform in his use of black.  Look at Bumblebee's knees, there's a chunk of yellow in the black.  And in his alt mode, his one side near the headlights has a black panel that's missing from the other.  Meanwhile, Starscream is super asymmetrical with black all over his left forearm, shoulder, thigh, and wing.  I guess they're supposed to look damaged?  I'm not totally clear on what the plot of Reactivate is supposed to be.

Actually, looking closer, Prime does seem to have some battle damage, too... except his is all light gray.  You can see the light gray on his forearms is different, and I wonder if some of the light gray you see on the truck won't be red on the other side.

Oh well.  That's the most G1-looking gun a Prime has come with yet, and that's worth the price of admission.  I see he's the first non-MP Prime in a long time to have the fuel tanks on his legs, too.  I wonder if this mold could get retooled into a SS86 Optimus...?

[mikeszekely]

Arriving a bit too late for what I'd consider to be a more optimal release, we've got Frankenstein X Transfomers Frankentron today.

Frankentron is a retool of Siege Impactor (who I actually no longer own, as I sort of feel that the Wreckers collection Impactor better represents Marvel G1 and the Fan-Vote three-pack with translucent Mirage and Powerdasher Aragon with a Go Better upgrade kit better represents IDW Impactor).  So, as near as I can tell he's got new asymmetric thighs, a new head, a new chest, new hands, and that's about it.  The deco is, naturally, meant to evoke the Boris Karloff's turn as Frankenstein Monster from 1931 Universal film.  The new head is a pretty obvious Frankenstein head, sure.  Beyond that the deco is primarily black and green, which I guess is like Frank's black clothes and green skin, though the deco uses green in places that Frank had clothes, plus there's random silver elements.  The asymmetric thighs and the chest that's sculpted to look like it's two different chests stitched together do lend a certain piecemeal element to the sculpt.

Frankentron has different accessories from Impactor, though.  Instead of a rifle, he's got a Tesla coil-ish machine, and instead of a knife hand he's got some purple lightning effects for said Tesla coil.

Frankentron has the same articulation as Impactor, but there's something worth noting here.  Like Impactor, Frankentron doesn't have wrist swivels.  However, his new hands are sculpted so that they're turned 45 degrees.  This is good for stereotypical arms forward, hands out with palms down walking pose, but it makes holding his accessories awkward.  The instructions suggest plugging the tesla coil into a shoulder, although I prefer his back, with the effect part attached over the ball.  Here, I have it attached to a bolt that's angled to the ball, which makes the lightning look like it's coming down at an angle.  I'll note, though that there's a tab on Frankentron's left forearm that you can use to attach the coil there, and an angled peg on the effect part that you can plug into a hand to sort of make it look like he's shooting lightning from his hand.

Frankentron turns into a tank, same as Impactor.  The only real difference is that the new hand parts lack the 5mm ports that the originals did, and that he uses the Tesla coil in place of a rifle for the tank's barrel.  In this mode, we can see that Frankentron is a Decepticon, due to the huge faction symbols tampoed onto the sides of the tank, but really the alt mode feels a bit random.

It is kind of cool, though, to attach the blast effects.  Instead of shooting shells or lasers, Frankentron is a tank that shoots lightning!

Objectively, Impactor is a better base figure than Titans Return Mindwipe.  Thing is, as a humanoid figure that turns into a bat a Dracula retool of Mindwipe made a certain amount of sense as a retool, even if the nearly century old Universal monsters pictures don't have the same nostalgic value for the Transformers core audience that '80s sci-fi franchises like Ghostbusters and Back to the Future do.  And while I do see the value in Hasbro and Universal collaborating on more monster crossovers, turning Impactor into Frakenstein feels a lot more random.  I can't help but feel like Hasbro is missing opportunities, here.  First, by not retaining Mindwipe's headmaster gimmick and retooling Vorath into a little Dracula that became the head for Draculus.  Second, for not using other Titans Return figures to make the other monsters, also retooling their head/Titanmasters into little versions of the monsters they represent.  I mean, instead of Impactor, why not Chromedome?  Or even one of the non-traditional Headmasters... heck, Titans Return Perceptor with his microscope AND weapon retooled into Tesla coils could almost pass for turning into the machinery in Dr. Frankenstein's lab.  Third, because I think a Universal monster that might have made a bit more sense would have been the Wolfman from Weirdwolf.  Long story short, I think Frankentron is ok, but a bit more random than Draculus, and less appealing for it.  

Edited November 16, 2023 by mikeszekely

[Hikuro]

Hasbro Pulse unveiled the Deathsaurus Unboxing the end of the video they very briefly and vaguely revealed that he's officially in production and there are hopes to have him out before christmas. I'm sure seeing how mine is coming from TFsource I won't be seeing him until the start of 2024. 

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, Hikuro said:

Hasbro Pulse unveiled the Deathsaurus Unboxing the end of the video they very briefly and vaguely revealed that he's officially in production and there are hopes to have him out before christmas. I'm sure seeing how mine is coming from TFsource I won't be seeing him until the start of 2024. 

Dug through this thread to refresh my memory on the details.  Last year, Hasbro Pulse sent the emails that said we had until the 28th of November to update our details, and I posted a review of Victory Saber on the 11th of December.  This year I've already received three emails reminding me to make sure my shipping info is correct by the 24th.  Assuming it takes roughly the same amount of time to ship Deathsaurus after the last day to change your shipping address as it did Victory Saber, then people should start getting Deathsaurus around the second week of December.  I'm hoping that, just as Victory Saber was my last review in 2022, that I'll have a Deathsaurus review for you guys to wrap up 2023.

Oh, BTW @M'Kyuun, while digging through old posts I saw that you missed getting Minerva from Pulse.  Did you still want/need her?  I think I actually saw one in the wild at Walgreens the other day.  I'll be out tomorrow, I could check again.

[M'Kyuun]

12 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Dug through this thread to refresh my memory on the details.  Last year, Hasbro Pulse sent the emails that said we had until the 28th of November to update our details, and I posted a review of Victory Saber on the 11th of December.  This year I've already received three emails reminding me to make sure my shipping info is correct by the 24th.  Assuming it takes roughly the same amount of time to ship Deathsaurus after the last day to change your shipping address as it did Victory Saber, then people should start getting Deathsaurus around the second week of December.  I'm hoping that, just as Victory Saber was my last review in 2022, that I'll have a Deathsaurus review for you guys to wrap up 2023.

Oh, BTW @M'Kyuun, while digging through old posts I saw that you missed getting Minerva from Pulse.  Did you still want/need her?  I think I actually saw one in the wild at Walgreens the other day.  I'll be out tomorrow, I could check again.

I didn't go in on Deathsauraus, but I look forward to your review.

Thanks for the offer, Mike. I got a copy quite a while back. Apparently I forgot to post it and forgot that I'd even made any comments to the effect of having missed her on Pulse. It's been several months, but I believe I ended up ordering her from Walgreens' website. I currently have Elita-1, Minerva, and Strongarm together on one of my TF shelves. It's neat to see the similarities and differences among the shared molds.

I was at Target recently, and I caved to a purchase of WfC Game Edition Optimus Prime. Quite a beefy fig for a voyager. I'm still not as fond of him as I am of FoC Prime (the overall design in both modes) but in-hand, he's a pretty cool fig. I do, however, dislike that he can't just simply hold his gun in his hand; having to remove the forearm and peg it on his butt is a terrible solution. I know they simply transformed their arms into weapons in the game and that this fig homages that feature rather faithfully, but I'm just not a fan of it. My takeaway from the last fanstream is that I'm not alone in that sentiment and the designers are aware and may put some sort of handle on these GE guns going forward. A folding handle would be optimal to preserve the current arm-off-gun on feature, but allow the gun to also be pegged into the hand while keeping the guns streamlined. The only other complaint I have is the lack of panels to cover his hands in truck mode- even the 2010 WfC fig had the rear end filled in with taillight details, and it was merely a deluxe. It also had many more paint apps, but with budgets seemingly stretched much further these days, IIWII. I absolutely love my little deluxe FoC OP, and I'm cautiously excited for an upscaled version, hopefully next year.

[sh9000]

I don't have any of these 3 figures so I think I'll buy the set.  If it goes on sale then even better.

[Hikuro]

If you don't have any of the many Megatron variants out there, I'd say go for it. Shockwave was a pretty solid figure to start the lineup, and I absolutely loved the earth mode soundwave figure over his cybertronian variant. 

[M'Kyuun]

On 11/18/2023 at 2:30 PM, Hikuro said:

If you don't have any of the many Megatron variants out there, I'd say go for it. Shockwave was a pretty solid figure to start the lineup, and I absolutely loved the earth mode soundwave figure over his cybertronian variant. 

All three have really good bot modes that capture their G1 looks well. The alt modes are where they take the hits. Since Megatron can no longer be a gun due to our asinine laws, a tank mode has become the accepted alt mode, and FWIW, scale wise it makes far more sense. I'd still love to have a CHUG scaled Megs that turns into a Walther P38, but since that seems unlikely and no third parties are jumping at what seems a primo opportunity, tank it shall remain. Shockwave was a complete copout- I doubt his original extremely sci-fi gun mode would fall under the same scrutiny under the law as Megs' Walther, and yet they made him into some really crappy spaceship that needs help from a bunch of add-on bits that only raised his price. As to Soundwave, for whatever reason that makes no logical sense, they decided to make his lower legs transform backwards leaving his specifically shaped knees, which corresponded with his waist shape on the G1 toy to fill in the front of his recorder mode, hanging out. The original toy had a simple but elegant and effective transformation that even allowed for his weapons to be stored as batteries. It was perfect, and why few to no Soundwave figs since have copied that feature is questionable. It's not the best recorder alt mode, and I hope they redo him in the SS86 line with an improved mold that borrows more liberally from the G1 toy, but I'll concede that his recorder mode is a far cry better than the whatever-he's-supposed-to-be alt mode from Siege.

[mikeszekely]

Boy, I thought for sure I was pretty much done reviewing Transformers for the year.  I mean, maybe Deathsaurus, if he arrives in time for me to put him through the paces, but it seems like Hasbro is having fun sending me stuff that wasn't due until 2024.  Today, that means we're looking at the newest G.I. Joe X Transformers collaborative, Soundwave Dreadnok Thunder Machine.

After the awful mess that was Bumblebee, Soundwave hews closer to Megatron in that he's mostly G1 but with a few extra bits of kibble here and there.  Heck, from the knees up your brain almost discards the tires and kibble on Soundwave's arms and tells you that it is simply G1 Soundwave.  But even where it's not, it's not so bad.  The grills on his shins aren't terrible, and I honestly kind of dig his red feet for some reason.

Honestly, compared to the other two, even the kibble isn't so bad.  He's got tires in his calves, but that's fairly common even among regular Transformers.  He's got a backpack, but it's not as big as Megatron's or as finnicky with loose bits of roll cage dangling everywhere.  The worst kibble really is the bits of car on the outsides of his forearms and the tires on his biceps.  Well, that and the antenna, but technically you can remove the antenna.  I mean, it's not even attached in the box.

That said, being better than Megatron and Bumblebee isn't a huge win.  After all, like the other G.I. Joe collabs Soundwave is too big to scale with anything but other G.I. Joe collabs, and made from a pretty light, cheap-feeling plastic.

He does come with quite a few accessories, though.  You've got a double-barreled machine gun, some kind of large cannon, a knife, a chain, and a mini-cassette.

He also comes with some of Hasbro's retro 3.75" G.I. Joe figures.  This time, we get two instead of just one, Zartan and Zarana.  Just like Stalker and the Baroness before them, they come packaged in blister packs on retro-styled cards that could pass for retail packaging if they weren't missing UPC codes.  They both come with a stand, a weapon (rifle with a buzzsaw for Zarana, pistol for Zartan), and a backpack (so Stalker is the only one without a backpack?).  In a first for me, Zartan's backpack does more than simply plug into his back.  It opens up to reveal a storage space for an included mask.  The mask is designed so that the edges of the mask tuck into the space between Zartan's face and his hood, so Zartan can disguise himself.  Or maybe get ready to go to a Star Wars convention cosplaying as Qui-Gon Jinn.

Anyway, like Bumblebee and Megatron before him, Soundwave's articulation is pretty poor for his price tag.  His head is on a ball joint and can tilt up and down slightly, and sideways even slighter.  His shoulders rotate and can move laterally 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, although the wheels on them can get caught on his shoulders, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  No wrist swivel, and no waist swivel.  His hips can ratchet forward 90 degrees and backward a little less than that, and they move laterally 90 degrees on softer ratchets.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees on another soft ratchet.  No foot or ankle articulation.

Technically, the machine gun, cannon, and knife all have 5mm pegs, and even though his hands are larger they've still just got 5mm ports in them, so he can hold any of those accessories.  However, he also has ports just behind and to either side of his head, and it seems obvious that the cannon is mean to go on his shoulder, G1 style.  Note that you can pull the ammo belt on the machine gun to one side, and the molded bullets will push on little gears that make the barrels spin (which reminds me, the barrels are just tabbed in, and like the antenna are not attached in the box).

His backpack has a flap you can fold down to reveal some small pegs.  These pegs go into the feet of any 3.75" G.I. Joe figure, giving them a place to ride on Soundwave's robot form.

If you'd like Soundwave to have both hands free, the knife has tabs on the hilt.  These tabs fit into slots on the outside of Soundwave's lower legs, and the knife can stay there through transformation and into alt mode.  Which just leaves the mini-cassette and chain.  Well, there's a button on top of Soundwave's chest, and pushing it causes the door on his chest to spring open.  The mini-cassette fits neatly inside... as should the Takara MP mini-cassettes, or G1 mini-cassettes.

As it turns out, the mini-cassette is actually a redeco of MP Ravage.  Which, y'know, is the best of the MP tapes, but I guess it's better than the G1 tape or, worse, the Siege version.  And Ravage is where the chain comes in.  It's made of a rubbery material, and one end fits over Ravage's head and snuggly around his neck.  The other fits into a G.I. Joe's fist.  While product photography on the back of the box has Zartan holding the chain, it's pretty obvious that it's actually meant to go with the Baroness that came with Megatron, as A.) the Baroness did this exact chain-on-Ravage thing in issue #3 of the Devil's Due Publishing G.I. Joe vs The Transformers, and was apparently iconic enough that an SDCC box set in 2013 had a Baroness figure and a non-transforming Ravage on a chain.  At some point, First 4 Figures was also working on a diorama-style statue of the Baroness and Ravage, but it wound up canceled.

I am curious, though... why is Ravage blue?  My first thought was maybe this was an homage to the old Marvel comics, where blue was often used as a substitute for black... but the Barnoness chain thing is from a relatively more modern series.  Maybe it's his Cobra uniform?  I don't know.

Anyway, the point of the G.I. Joe collabs is that they turn into G.I. Joe vehicles.  Not like regular transformers turn into a representation of a vehicle, like how Studio Series Mirage is a 1:30-something-ish Porsche.  I mean that in 1986 you could buy a Thunder Machine vehicle for your G.I. Joe figures to drive, and this Soundwave turns into a roughly 1:1 copy of that toy... which actually makes him a bit bigger than Bee or even Megatron.  Soundwave's machine gun and cannon are vital to this mode, and I have to say it's actually pretty clever how they used the cannon to make the Thunder Machine's engine.  His accessories aren't the only partsforming; the grills on his shins have to removed, tabbed together, then they attach to the nose of the vehicle.

I think Soundwave is a tad less accurate than Bee or Megatron.  Don't get me wrong, they got a ton right, from the Firebird nose to the various tampoed decals like the stars and RU0169 (with a backward R) on the sides.  But Soundwave's blue plastic is a little brighter, and he's got light gray in place of dark gray/black for the guns and engine.  The red running boards are broken up by a chunk of blue that Hasbro couldn't be arsed to paint.  I guess they spent the paint on headlights, marker lights, and light bar instead.  Typically, I do prefer paint to stickers, but I think you loose some of the sticker's details, especially in the red spots on the light bar.

You kind of have to undo the back of the cabin and swivel it up to get it out of the way, but you can of course fit 3.75" Joes into either of Soundwave's seats.  There's even some molded dashboard details and a steering wheel that turns.  The running boards also have more of those little pegs for Joes' feet, so Soundwave can carry up to six Joes in this mode.

Honestly, I don't know why I keep doing this to myself.  While I watched the occasional episode of G.I. Joe as a kid, I was never super into it.  I didn't have any G.I. Joe toys as a kid.  And I already know that these G.I. Joe X Transformers collaborations don't scale with my other Transformers toys.  Plus, compared directly to my other Transformers toys, they feel kind of crappy, have poor articulation, and extra kibble in service to their alt modes.  So, just like Megatron, just like Bumblebee, no, I don't actually recommend buying Soundwave.  There are cheaper, better Soundwave toys you can buy.  These collabs sacrifice too much in the name of a gimmick, that gimmick being that they turn into vintage G.I. Joe toys that you can play with your vintage G.I. Joes.  And the desire for such appears to be so niche that not only are both Bee and Megatron still readily available on Amazon, they've both been discounted (with Bee sitting at $48 and Megatron at $55).  I have no room for these in their mediocre bot modes, let alone as part of a G.I. Joe collection.  And yet, after posing them all together I found myself poking around eBay to see if I could find a couple retro figures of a few G.I. Joe characters I remember liking (mainly Cobra Commander, Destro, Duke, Snake Eyes, Serpentor, and Stormshadow, possibly Scarlett, Shipwreck, Roadblock, Flint, and Lady Jaye).  Well, maybe I'll get those Joes yet, because Hasbro seems keen on continuing the line; next year we're apparently getting Sgt. Slaugher and a Triple T that turns into Kup.  And, knowing full well I won't actually like it and have no room for it, I'll probably buy it anyway.

[mikeszekely]

9 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Well, maybe I'll get those Joes yet, because Hasbro seems keen on continuing the line

Killer W.H.A.L.E. Seaspray with Shipwreck, Hasbro.  That one's a freebie.

[JB0]

That's a remarkably patriotic color scheme for a Cobra vehicle.

 

I wish they hadn't used the HISS Tank on Megatron already, since it would make a better Shockwave(and has before!). 

[David Hingtgen]

I'm surprised the Thunder Machine even has the Pontiac logo molded in.  

[sh9000]

I still collect GI Joe and Transformers so I'm in on this line.  @mikeszekely That Seaspray idea would be great.  I'd buy a Skystriker as Skyfire/Jetfire too.

[mikeszekely]

Last year Hasbro was shipping Victory Saber faster than it was sending it shipping emails. I think I got my notice from Hasbro a couple days after I already had him in hand. However, Hasbro almost always uses FedEx, so the trick was to sign up for FedEx's informed delivery. If you got an email from FedEx about a package coming from Pulse but nothing from Hasbro you could bet it was Victory Saber.

Well, today I got an email from FedEx, and I was pretty excited! Friday was the cutoff to change your info, so Deathsaurus should be shipping very soon!

... But then I saw I did get an email from Hasbro. And it's not Deathsaurus.

[mikeszekely]

I don't buy a lot of Toyhax labels, because their MO these days seems to be to make sticker sets that cost nearly as much as the figure they go on packed with way more stickers than you actually need to add details no one asked for.  That said, I did recently pick up two sets.

The first set is for Studio Series 86 Ratchet.  And frankly, most of what I just said applies here- it's $15, and comes with stickers that kind of mimic the G1 toy's to add details to his biceps, pelvis, knees, and the insides of his legs, plus options for red or yellow eyes and a red crest... which might be ok, except the G1 Vanette toys are rarely the go-to designs that you want referenced, and quite frankly on a toy meant to represent Ratchet's appearance in the 86 movie they just look busy and out-of-place.  However, I think it's still kind of an essential set for three reasons.

1.) It gives him cartoon-accurate crosses for his shoulders (although you'll need to take a little rubbing alcohol to the "please don't sue us Red Cross!" designs tampoed on his shoulders already, if you don't want the corners peaking out from behind the sticker).

2.) Most importantly, it gives you red stripes down the sides of the ambulance mode.

3.) It also gives you cartoon accurate crosses for the sides under the stripes.

Beyond that, I also went ahead and used the cross for the roof; I think it's a sometimes there, sometimes not detail in the cartoon but it's one of the few toy touches I don't mind.  I also used some of the decals for the back of the ambulance- chrome for the bumper, a license plate, a red stripe, taillights, some extra lights near the top, the rear window, and the word "AMBULANCE" in black print.  They're real-world ambulance details that, as they're on the back, don't stand out too much in alt mode, and are hidden under his feet in robot mode.  I avoided any other ambulance stickers that would be seen in bot mode, even if only on the sides of his feet.

The other set I got was for the Core Optimus and Bumblebee set.  I wouldn't say it's necessary, but it's relatively inexpensive.  For Prime's bot mode, there's the arrows for his forearms, yellow triangles and a yellow rectangle for his pelvis (which is good, because only the triangles were painted by Hasbro), a blue sticker for his crotch (which is molded but unpainted on the figure), some stickers for his toes and knees that are sort of toy-ish so I didn't use them, and blue stickers for his windows.  Normally I don't use the window stickers, but in this case Prime's windows are painted, not translucent.  The stickers are a similar shade of blue, but they have a sheen to them, plus there's windows for the sides of the cab, too.  As for Bee, there's window stickers, a black triangle for his crotch, new headlights and tail lights, and some extra details for his rear.  I didn't even bother with Bee's stickers.

What actually makes the set worth it is actually the stickers for the inside of the trailer.  There's a ton, and they help highlight molded details.  For instance, I didn't realize that the two diaclone consoles are actually molded into the sides of the trailer.  As a result, it's one of the few sets that (Bumblebee stickers aside) I really did use almost the whole set.

[mikeszekely]

On 11/28/2023 at 6:31 PM, mikeszekely said:

... But then I saw I did get an email from Hasbro. And it's not Deathsaurus.

It was Stranger Things X Transformers Code Red, BTW.

So yeah, with his window chest, blocky feet, and folded leg panels Code Red was sort of giving off Earth-mode War for Cybertron Trilogy Ironhide/Ratchet vibes.  However, side-by-side with both that mold and the newer Studio Series 86 mold, you can see that Code Red shares no parts with either mold.  The resulting figure is much taller than the other two, but with kind of weird proportions.  His shoulders sit lower on his body, and they're actually shorter than either of the Vannette molds.  His pelvis is also pretty thin, which gives Code Red a super narrow waist that's actually worse than it looks, as the kibble on his back makes his midsection look thicker than it actually is.

He's got a bit more kibble on his back, mostly because he keeps his roof attached unlike the WFC Vannettes, but he doesn't have the more clever engineering of the Studio Series mold.  I'll also note a bit of hollowing on his legs, which is disappointing to see on a collaborative figure that isn't bound to specific price point the way mainline figures are.

Aesthetically, aside from Ironhide/Ratchet (or maybe ROTB Pablo) vibes, I'm not really sure what to say.  Outside of the van kibble that makes up his torso, there's nothing really that ties him to Surfer Boy Pizza or Argyle.  My first thought was that the ridges on his helmet were maybe meant to be like Eleven's electrode cap when she was in the sensory depravation tank, but it's not really a match for the one she wore when she was being used by the government, and she didn't wear one at all when she was at Surfer Boy Pizza.  It also wouldn't explain the microphone boom on the right side of his head.  The mic boom could be a reference to one that Dustin wore when trying to call the gang on his radio, especially given that Dustin kept announcing that that had a code red and this guy's name is Code Red.

Anyway, Code Red comes with a few accessories.  We've got a spiked club and an axe; I'm not sure if they're just random, or if it's supposed to be a callback to the gang's affinity for Dungeons & Dragons.  We also have an effect part, a small block that one assumes is supposed to be a pizza box (but it doesn't open), and the Surfer Boy Pizza roof sign.

Code Read's head is on a ball joint with adequate if unspectacular up/down/sideways tilt.  His shoulders rotate and can move laterally 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend slightly more than 90 degrees.  His wrists are actually ball joints, so they can swivel and fold inward (for transformation).  His waist does swivel, but only about 45 degrees to either side before his backpack gets caught on his hips.  Speaking of hips, they can go a little under 90 degree backward, but a little over 90 degrees forward and laterally.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  Due to how his feet transform they have no up/down tilt, but nearly 180 degrees of ankle pivot.

Code Red's fist holes are your standard 5mm ports, so he can hold his weapons (or most Transformers accessories) in either hand.

Code Red's axe has a 3mm peg on the top and a 3mm port in the bottom, and the club has 3mm pegs on both ends.  This allows you to combine them in Code Red's hand to make a single larger weapon, as well as attach the effect part.  What's more, both the axe an the club have tabs on them.  The tabs allow you to plug them onto Code Red's "wings" for storage.  They also allow you to connect the pizza box, which is fortunate as there's no way for Code Red to hold the box directly.  The axe also has slots on it, and if you're feeling saucy (pun intended) you can use the slot on the club to attach it to the axe at a right angle.

As for the Surfer Boy Pizza sign, you can pull out the front, then flip the top over to reveal a gun.  What's more, the entire pizza box can slot into the top of the sign, filling in the gap created by the flipped-out gun barrel.

The gun also as a 3mm port on the tip, which makes it compatible with his effect part.  While I think Hasbro might have intended it to be fire, I like to imagine Code Red is loading pizzas into it because it's firing molten cheese at his enemies.  As with his other accessories, you can store his gun/sign on his back by plugging the 5mm peg handle into the 5mm port on his back.

While technically a new mold that doesn't use parts from WFC Ironhide or Ratchet, they actually do share quite a bit of engineering.  You still have to open up his chest window a bit and fold his head into his chest.  His arms still fold behind his torso, and he still rotates 180 degrees at the waist.  His shins still open up , and the sides of his legs still unfold to form much of the side of the van.  The biggest differences here are that his feet bend 180 degrees at the ankles to sit inside the van instead of forming the back of it, and and most of the roof and the side windows are formed from a non-removable backpack.

The Volkswagen Group must be softening its stance on licensing due to the popularity of Transformers these days.  Not only have they licensed the Beetle for Hasbro to make two G1 MP Bumblebees, one Walmart-exclusive WFC Trilogy Bumblebee, an MPM Bumblebee, and a Studio Series Bumblebee, they also licensed the Lamborghini Aventador and Centenario for Studio Series Lockdown and Hot Rod, respectively, and more recently Studio Series Mirage got a licensed Porsche 911 toy (next year's Studio Series Wheeljack is also a licensed Volkswagen Type 2).  To retain accuracy with Argyle's Surfer Boy Pizza van seen in the Stranger Things show, Hasbro again obtained a license from Volkswagen to make Code Red a Volkswagen Vanagon.  Code Red looks really good from the front.  From the sides, I appreciate that they included details like the vents at the rear, side mirrors, and marker lights near the rear bumper.  However, while the "Surfer Boy" and "Delivered hot to your door" are fine, the "Pizza" should be much bigger and closer to the front, and he's missing the telephone number entirely.  Plus there's the large hinges bulging from the sides, the hinges that cut into the rear windows, and the unsightly gray hinges above the middle windows.  From the back, again I like that they tried to capture real details like the taillights, the raised strip above the taillights, the VW logo in the middle, the "Volkswagon" on the left, and the "Vanagon" on the right, but the gray hinges break up the area where the license plate and keyhole would be, and I'm no clear why they couldn't have molded the sides of his feet so that when the swung around they lined up better with his shin panels to form the window instead of leaving those huge gaps.  Also, in the show the Surfer Boy Pizza logo was painted on the window, with "delivered hot to your door" just under the window, and that's all missing here.  He could probably have used a little silver paint on his rims, too.

The sign gun plugs into the top to be the surfboard sign, and it's fine.  To store his other weapons, you use the tabs that attached them to his backpack to plug them into slots on the hinges on the sides of the van, with the effect part and pizza box attached to them.  And... it'll do, I guess.  I don't exactly recall Argyle rolling up with a club, an axe, and a pizza strapped to the sides of the van, though.

If you're like me, you might be inclined to ditch the club and the axe entirely; Code Red's sign that turns into a gun seems adequate enough.  Although, I do like that the pizza can go into the gun.  Fortunately, you can still stow the pizza inside the van.  As you transform Code Red, with his head tucked in and his arms in place just under the roof, you'll notice there's a little space in his chest still.  You can stick the pizza in there, then fold his waist to bring is legs up and finish transforming the van.  The pizza is technically rattling loose in the van's cabin, but there's enough room that it doesn't actually interfere with your ability to transform him, and once he's fully transformed his waist will trap the pizza inside and prevent it from falling out.

I don't really know where I'm landing on Code Red.  On the one hand, Code Red is a very adequate figure with good articulation, good accessories, a simple transformation, and a mostly-accurate alt mode.  And, as an homage to the '80s, Stranger Things and Transformers are, on paper, a good match.  That said, the appeal of Ectotron and Gigawatt (and, to a lesser extent, maybe Ultimate X-Panse and the Jurassic Park collabs) is they are directly tying into other things from our childhoods that we might be nostalgic for.  And while Stranger Things itself might tap into my nostalgia for the '80s, at no point while I was watching it did I think, "wouldn't it be cool if Hasbro made a Transformer version of Argyle's pizza van?" the way I genuine crave a Knight Rider X Transformers KITT, a TMNT X Transformers Party Wagon, an Airwolf X Transformers Bell 222, or an A-Team X Transformers GMC Vandura.  It's not nostalgia, it's present-day pop culture.  That's not necessarily a bad thing; I myself have all the Letterkenny Funkos on my mantle.  If you're into both Transformers and Stranger Things then, just as a toy, Code Red's actually one of the more solid figures Hasbro's released in the Collaboratives.  Solid or not, though, he's not really giving me the same endorphins as a guy like Ectotron did, and I'd really love it if Hasbro stopped collaborating with whatever and whomever (Volvo X Transformers, anyone?) and refocus on combining Transformers with other staples of my youth.

[M'Kyuun]

I got my copy of Code Red yesterday, and overall, I like him. I was surprised by the marked height difference in bot mode alongside the other voyager-scaled van bots. The long legs make his short arms look shorter, but I still dig him. As mike said in his review, this wasn't an obvious or expected crossover; it never entered my mind when watching the show. However, as crossovers go, I think it's cool, although Hopper's '89 Blazer probably would have been more significant. However, there's something to be said about the entire., ahem, 'package' with this guy. 

IMHO, the package designers at Hasbro earned their just keep with this bit of boxing. It's apropos and humorous and far more elaborate than it needed to be, but I appreciate the effort. Although I didn't take a photo, Code Red comes wrapped in a sheet of paper with kid-like drawings on it depicting Eleven, Hawkins, and a few other places. It's been some time since I watched the fourth season and my long-term memory is nigh nonexistent, but I'm assuming at some point the kids drew something similar. Anyway, I thought it worth mentioning as an additional meaningful element of the packaging that wasn't necessary, but I'm glad it's in there.

@mikeszekely's review is quite comprehensive, however there's one additional feature of note: the pizza sign gun's handle also has tabs on the sides which allows the gun to be attached to either shoulder. It's not at all elegant or flattering to the figure, but it's something than can be done and it's actually how it's presented in the packaging art. Initially, I thought it was supposed to tab into the backpack using the same slots as the axe and the mace attachments, but there wasn't clearance over the shoulder. I totally disregarded the slots on his shoulders in my attempts to connect to his backpack and was only able to reach proper resolution after consulting the instructions. You'd think after nearly 40 years of messing with these things I'd pick up on all these nuances, but sometimes I space on the most obvious things. Anyway, I just wanted point out this additional option for mounting the sign gun. Kudos to Mike for figuring out how to stash the pizza box accessory in his van mode; that'll be my solution henceforth.  One further thought: the mace and axe make no sense for this fig, but perhaps, as Mike suggested, they're intended to reference D&D, which we've seen the Hawkins' kids play on numerous occasions. Given the subject matter, I'm really surprised they didn't lean into the pizza theme and give him an oversized pizza-cutter as a weapon.  Missed opportunity.

As to future crossovers, I'd also love an Airwolf and K.I.T.T., and maybe even a Blue Thunder. What a shame we don't have any shows like these anymore.

[mikeszekely]

OK, the last one might have just been Code Red, but this one is definitely Deathsaurus. 😁

[mikeszekely]

Courtesy of a very reliable source, 2024 will see a Commander-class Studio Series 86 Optimus Prime.😮

[Negotiator]

3 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Courtesy of a very reliable source, 2024 will see a Commander-class Studio Series 86 Optimus Prime.😮

this prime will interesting. sure it will come with trailer and roller, but how different will prime be from earthrise?  think theyre going to hide the leg wheels in bot mode?  

[sh9000]

That's great news for me since I don't have an updated CHUG Optimus and this one will be SS TFTM.

[mikeszekely]

9 hours ago, Negotiator said:

this prime will interesting. sure it will come with trailer and roller, but how different will prime be from earthrise?  think theyre going to hide the leg wheels in bot mode?  

I expect that it'll be a new mold- no more reusing Siege Prime's legs.  I expect they'll hide the wheels, both in leg mode and the ones on his butt (comparing with Earthrise), likely with an upper body transformation closer to MP-10 than ER Prime.  I also expect they'll give him the little fuel tanks that were also missing from the Earthrise design, and better smokestacks that don't have 5mm ports.  I'd expect vents on his legs to be blue, not silver, and all the geometric details on his pelvis will be painted instead of just some.  I think the truck mode will lack a white stripe on the cab.  I expect the trailer will be closer in size to the G1 trailer, with, with the fold out supports for base mode, a bumper on the rear, doors that either fold down like the G1 toy or open with an extendable ramp like the MPs, and it'll look like a truck trailer door and not whatever Earthrise's was supposed to be.  The trailer itself will likely not have the blue stripes.  Inside, I think you'll get the repair drone and Roller, and the repair drone will be more accurately painted than ER with a proper claw and antenna.  It'll probably be removable, with either wheels of it's own or an ability to combine with Roller.  Finally, I expect it'll come with a more-accurate, better proportioned ion rifle, a Matrix of Leadership, an energon axe, and some effect parts.

Mind you, that's what I expect, not what I know.  The only leak I got was that it's real, the product code is F8514, and the EAN is 5010996211835.

[mikeszekely]

Way back Hasbro put out a three pack of Rise of the Beasts Deluxes in Target's Buzzworthy Bumblebee line, with Cheetor, Nightbird, and Wheeljack.  It was mildly interesting, since the Cheetor it came with was closer to Kingdom Cheetor than the much-more-accurate Studio Series toy that released around the same time, and also because as of writing it's the only way to get Pablo (though the Studio Series version of Pablo is hitting early in 2024).  Somehow I missed out of the fact that Hasbro actually released a second Buzzworthy Bumblebee 3-pack.  Unlike the first, which kind of shelfwarmed for a time, I never saw the other pack in stores.  After some searching, I was able to find a set without too much of a markup (actually below retail, since I had some store credit).  As the Rise of the Beasts line is set to continue in 2024 (not just in Studio Series), I figured I'd put up a quick review in case these guys ever show up individually at retail.

First up we have Bumblebee.  Unlike most of the mainline toys, which wound up being smaller than their Studio Series counterparts, this Deluxe-class Bumblebee is a bit bigger.  The sculpt is pretty good, but he's sorely lacking in paint.  It's especially egregious on his arms, where his left forearm is made of yellow plastic and his hand is a separate black part but his right arm has some yellow plastic, but the entire inside of his forearm is a separate black part with the hand attached.

This Bumblebee's backpack doesn't fold up as nice as the Studio Series toy, but credit where it's due, this one doesn't copy the same engineering Bee's been using in the Studio Series for years now, and correctly folds the front wheels onto his back behind his shoulders instead of in front of his door wings.

Bee's accessories are a bit weird.  He's got two knife/sai things, and what is clearly the bars and lights that cover the windshield in alt mode.

Bee's head is on a ball joint with minimal up, down, or sideways tilt, although it swivels fine.  His shoulders are also ball joints that rotate and move laterally a little under 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, his elbows bend 90 degrees, and his left wrist can swivel.  His right wrist doesn't swivel, but the black part of his arm pulls out slightly, then flips 180 degrees before sliding back in to form his arm cannon.  His waist swivels, though his back kibble gets in the way.  His ball-jointed hips go forward over 90 degrees, but much less backward due to his back kibble, and a little under 90 degrees laterally.  His thighs swivel, but again have some clearance issues.  His knees bend 90 degrees.  His feet have really good upward tilt.  They can tilt downward, too, but doing so will tuck them into his calves for alt mode so you're limited on how much you can use that joint and still get a natural-looking pose.  He's also got nearly 90 degrees of ankle pivot.

The windshield armor uses a tab to plug into Bee's left arm, and he can hold his knives in either hand.

Bee's transformation is fairly straightforward.  Honestly, aside from less folding of the roof, wheels that end up on his back, and a less-complicated leg transformation it's not that different than the Studio Series toy after all.  The Studio Series toy looks a bit better, but the mainline Deluxe isn't too far off, aside from the missing rally gear.

It's not even actually missing.  You can probably guess that the armor we plugged into Bee's left arm attaches over the windshield.  Meanwhile, his knives actually hook together, then use some notches on one side to grab onto a pair of tabs on Bee's bumper.

Overall, the articulation on this figure is fine, and I really like the more accurate wheel placement in bot mode and the way his right arm transforms into an arm cannon.  It's almost enough for me to overlook the lack of paint.  What does it in for me, though, is how poorly Bee's chest tabs into place, and how the panel with his head not only doesn't lock into place but wants to pop up, so his collar floats above his actual chest.  Meanwhile, the Studio Series figure was one of the better Bumblebee toys in the line.  You should probably stick to that one instead.

Studio Series Airazor was one of the first ROTB figures I picked up from either the Studio Series or main ROTB line.  While not a bad figure by any means, I was a bit disappointed that she reused Kingdom Airazor's engineering.  Meanwhile, leaks were being shown of a different Deluxe-class Airazor, and this is it.  Both figures do feature quite a few similarities, as you'd expect from them being the same character, but quite a few differences too.  The regular Deluxe lacks the molded feathers on her thighs, has a totally different sculpt for the pelvis, has shoulder pads that can turn up like the Kingdom toy, and a different, more feminine head sculpt that lacks the mask the Studio Series toy has over her eyes.  She also has more orange and darker browns, and none of the greens seen on the Studio Series toy.  What's more, while there's likely concept art out there, Airazor never appeared in bot mode in the film, and I can't say which is more accurate.

Quick look at the back and sides.  Her wings are smaller than the Studio Series toy, and it actually reminds me of how Airazor's wings were so small in robot mode in the Beast Wars cartoon.  I kind of wonder if the engineering for this toy was taken from a design originally being worked on for Kingdom or earlier.

Anyway, Airazor comes with these shortswords.  Are they more or less accurate than the Kingdom-esque blasters the Studio Series toy used?  Who knows?

What I do know is that her head is on a ball joint.  She still doesn't have great up/down tilt, but better than Bumblebee's.  No sideways tilt, though.  Shoulders are ball joints for rotation and a little under 90 degrees of lateral movement, though a transformation hinge in the chest will allow you to push it a bit further.  Biceps swivel, and her elbow bends 90 degrees forward AND backward.  No wrist or waist swivel.  Her hips can go over 90 degrees forward or laterally, but they have almost no backward movement.  Her thighs swivel, and her knees bend 90 degrees.  Her feet have excellent forward and backward tilts, but no ankle pivots.  Her wings have swivels for spreading and hinges for flapping.

Airazor can hold her swords in either hand via the 5mm handles, no issues there.  If you only half peg a sword into her hand, then peg the other sword into the bottom of the same hand, her curved swords give the impression of a bow, which is kind of neat.

Airazor's transformation is totally different than the Studio Series (or Kingdom) toys.  Rather than try to find a place to stuff her robot arms, her arms become her bird legs.  Meanwhile, her robot legs splay out, with the feet tucked in and the feathers on her calves extended, then they combine with her robot wings to form larger bird wings.  Her robot head still folds into her chest, but her entire torso rocks away from her bird head, which swivels 180 degrees and stays connected to the top of her pelvis.  Her wings and tail feathers flip up, and her pelvis and bird head rock back to lay in the newly vacated spot at the small of her back.  I failed to do so for my pictures, but her shoulders should actually shift up over her collar, which makes her a bit less awkward than she appears here.

Her swords have tabs on them and they plug into the underside of her wings.  And... well, I can see why they didn't use this design for Kingdom or Studio Series.  Don't get me wrong, sticking her legs into her wings shifts a lot of mass out of her bird torso, and in some poses the Deluxe toy actually looks better for it.  However, using her legs in her wings also severely limits her wings' ability to articulate.  Basically, she can flap her wings up and down, and that's it.  She has no ability to fold her wings into a roosting pose the way the other modern Airazor's can.  What's more, she lacks any head articulation, either.  This limits her to looking straightforward, wings outstretched in flight... but her legs don't fold up enough to get into a flight pose.  Her beak doesn't even open.  So whether you're talking bot mode or bird mode, the Studio Series toy has better articulation.  I'll also mention, though it could just be my copy, but the elbows are super lose.  They'll droop backward holding weapons in robot mode, and struggle to support her weight in bird mode.  Long story short, I like this Airazor more than the Bumblebee figure in the pack, but not enough to recommend her over the Studio Series toy.  But hey, at least now I can say I've reviewed all four Maximals in both Studio Series and mainline ROTB forms.  For the Autobots we're still missing a mainline Arcee, a Studio Series Pablo, and both for Stratosphere, and Nightbird is the only Terrorcon to recieve a mainline release.

No, I didn't forget about a mainline Deluxe Mirage... he's the third figure in this set!  My initial impression was a bit underwhelming, as he's almost entirely two shades of gray plastic broken up by a smattering of blue.  And the colors aren't even in the right spots half the time... he should only have a little blue on his shins, not the whole thing.  Most of his thighs should be silver, with a little blue on his hips.  The mechanical details on his lower torso should be the darker plastic instead.  And a little extra paint to pick out the lights on his chest and hips might be nice.  And that's not even counting the very different head sculpt that is either based on an earlier design, or a battle mask he never used in the film.

But then I took a deeper look at him.  The molded details on his body are actually pretty movie-accurate, and he better captures the lanky proportions seen in the film than the Studio Series toy.

And, ok, he's got some car kibble on his calves (and fake tires behind actual tires), shoulders, and the backs of his forearms, plus a bit of a backpack.  There are tires on his shoulder kibble instead of behind his back.  But realistically, that's less kibble, and more importantly less obtrusive kibble, than the Studio Series toy.

Judging by his instructions, Mirage is supposed to come with a blaster not unlike the one that the Studio Series toy does.  I can't confirm this, though, as my copy came with a second set of Airazor's swords.

But anyway, Mirage's head is, you guessed it, a ball joint with very limited upward tilt and basically no sideways or downward tilt.  His shoulders rotate and move about 90 degrees laterally.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend slightly over 90 degrees.  No wrist swivels, but his waist can swivel.  His hips, which are ball joints, can go 90 degrees forward, almost 90 degrees backward, but only about 45 degrees laterally.  His knees bend 90 degrees.  He lacks any kind of foot tilt or ankle pivots.

With the paint and the licensed alt mode, Studio Series Mirage is the clear winner in alt mode.  And what's up with the wheels on the mainline figure?  They molded them out of the silver-gray plastic, then painted the rims black when they should be silver, but left the tires gray when they should be black.  I'll give credit where credit is due, though.  Mainline Mirage isn't the pain-in-the-rear to transform that the Studio Series figure is.

Again, I'm missing the blaster that Mirage is supposed to come with.  But if I had it, it would have a pair of 3mm posts that fit into those ports on his bumper.

I have to wonder... what was going on at Hasbro?  I think this figure might be better than the Studio Series toy.  If he had a more accurate deco, a licensed alt mode, and ankle pivots he'd definitely be better than the Studio Series figure.  Why didn't Hasbro use this engineering on the Studio Series figure, then?  Well, it's my understanding that Porsche had some weird rules for using the licensed 911.  Like one of them was that the doors had to be one unbroken piece, which lead to them kind of dangling off the toy's hips, whereas here some of the door folds behind the rest into his backpack, while a good chunk of the door remains with the front wheels on his shoulders.  I dunno.  As a fan of Porsches, the Studio Series toy is worth it in my mind for the gorgeous alt mode, but this Deluxe might actually be worth checking out as the superior robot, especially if you're a customizer who can give him a more accurate robot deco.  I myself am half tempted to grab a second Studio Series Mirage to see if I can't transplant the wheels and head onto this figure.

[JB0]

On 11/30/2023 at 11:32 PM, mikeszekely said:

While I think Hasbro might have intended it to be fire, I like to imagine Code Red is loading pizzas into it because it's firing molten cheese at his enemies.

Headcanon accepted.

 

The odd proportions kinda make me wonder if this might not have begun life as an (admittedly ill-guided) attempt at making a new Ratchet/Ironhide mold that had more of the original toy in it.

[Black Valkyrie]

 

https://news.tfw2005.com/2023/12/01/2024-studio-series-commander-listing-found-86-optimus-prime-496603

 

[M'Kyuun]

On 12/2/2023 at 12:36 PM, mikeszekely said:

I expect that it'll be a new mold- no more reusing Siege Prime's legs.  I expect they'll hide the wheels, both in leg mode and the ones on his butt (comparing with Earthrise), likely with an upper body transformation closer to MP-10 than ER Prime.  I also expect they'll give him the little fuel tanks that were also missing from the Earthrise design, and better smokestacks that don't have 5mm ports.  I'd expect vents on his legs to be blue, not silver, and all the geometric details on his pelvis will be painted instead of just some.  I think the truck mode will lack a white stripe on the cab.  I expect the trailer will be closer in size to the G1 trailer, with, with the fold out supports for base mode, a bumper on the rear, doors that either fold down like the G1 toy or open with an extendable ramp like the MPs, and it'll look like a truck trailer door and not whatever Earthrise's was supposed to be.  The trailer itself will likely not have the blue stripes.  Inside, I think you'll get the repair drone and Roller, and the repair drone will be more accurately painted than ER with a proper claw and antenna.  It'll probably be removable, with either wheels of it's own or an ability to combine with Roller.  Finally, I expect it'll come with a more-accurate, better proportioned ion rifle, a Matrix of Leadership, an energon axe, and some effect parts.

Mind you, that's what I expect, not what I know.  The only leak I got was that it's real, the product code is F8514, and the EAN is 5010996211835.

As much as I adore ER Prime, a CHUG version that borrows from MP-10, MP-44, or even from the last two Magic Square Prime designs to capture his toon look is definitely worthy of anticipation. I admit I'd prefer a hybrid of toy and toon details- I want the stripe on his cab, the yellow arrows on his wrists, the silver vents on his shins, at least his front tires to be absorbed into the bot (the back tires on his legs don't really bother me, but being SS86, his bot mode shouldn't have any visible). However, as a Studio Series fig, toon accuracy will be the focus, and that's fine. Toyhax will probably provide a decal set to provide the other details.

I'd love for them to do a commander class Soundwave as well in SS86 where they restore his cassettes to their original RW micro-cassette scale and include all the cassette minions featured in the film. Some improved engineering for those cassettes, especially Ravage, would also be appreciated.

I'd really love it if Takara acted on their own and produced either a leader or commander class SS86 Megatron. To finally have a proper G1 Megatron to cap off my collection of all these Legacy & WfC G1 figs would be absolutely wonderful. The only possible way we'll get a proper Megatron is if Takara does it independently, and I hope they choose to do so. I think it'd make a lot of fans very happy. Seeing Takara cash in probably won't make Hasbro happy, but opting out would be their choice.

After that, SS86 versions of Blitzwing and Astrotrain that fix all the flaws with the WfC/Legacy figs would be most welcome, as well as a SS86 all-new and improved Seeker mold with a far more accurate F-15 mode than the WfC voyager Seekers.

Edited December 4, 2023 by M'Kyuun

[mikeszekely]

Apparently the Reactivate two-packs are shipping from GameStop. Ironically, it was also announced that the game is getting until sometime next year (at least) so that the devs can dump their current engine and use Unreal Engine 5. Now, I suppose it's possible that if they were using UE4 that maybe the switch to UE5 won't be that bad, but in my experience switching engines mid-development is unlikely to be completed in a single year, and very often get games canned for being way late and easy over budget. There's a real chance that we're going to end up with figures as a tie-in for a video game that never happens.

[M'Kyuun]

6 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Apparently the Reactivate two-packs are shipping from GameStop. Ironically, it was also announced that the game is getting until sometime next year (at least) so that the devs can dump their current engine and use Unreal Engine 5. Now, I suppose it's possible that if they were using UE4 that maybe the switch to UE5 won't be that bad, but in my experience switching engines mid-development is unlikely to be completed in a single year, and very often get games canned for being way late and easy over budget. There's a real chance that we're going to end up with figures as a tie-in for a video game that never happens.

Either way, Hasbro wins if the figs sell well enough. They're still available on Pulse. I'd get Prime if they sold him individually, but I'm not crazy about that Soundwave. I honestly haven't had much interest in the game, but it seems there's some anticipation for it based on a vid I watched on YT/ reading some of the comments. For the sake of the fans who want it, I hope the developers are able to get it released, hopefully with minimal issues.

[mikeszekely]

As I sit here waiting patient-ish* for Deathsaurus, whom I expected to be the last figure I reviewed in 2023, Hasbro had the audacity to start sending me 2024's figures.  Of course, instead of sending me a nice big box with all the figures from one class it's coming in scattershot, so I'll go in the order I'm receiving them.  So pretend we've already rung in the new year as we check out Legacy United Voyager-class Animated Optimus Prime.

Compared to Prowl, Animated Optimus' G1-ification is a bit more subtle.  His head sculpt is lacking the chin of the cartoon, but Prime's chin wasn't as huge in the first place.  His thighs, knees, and feet could be narrower, but the overall shapes of the limbs are pretty good, with the tapered boxes that Derek Wyatt might have drawn.  Although they molded in G1-ish arrows on his forearms and vents on his shins that the cartoon never had they resisted the urge to paint those details (of course, they also didn't bother to paint the yellow bits on his helmet, feet, or marker lights, or the black treads on the bottoms of his feet.  I think the one thing that I really don't care for would be the torso, though.  There's a double hinge where the grill sits, recessed on his abdomen, while the chest portion itself sticks out and hangs down, replacing the cartoon's T-shape with a body that looks like he drank a few too many oils with the Constructicons.

And what you see on the front is pretty much what you see on the back, too.  Hasbro managed to get the wheels on both sides of his ankles, but a bit high.  We can see that again he's missing some yellow, this time on the backs of his hands.  He does have his light bar on his back, but otherwise he's fairly clean- no unnecessary smokestacks on his forearms, no bumper kibble on his legs.

Optimus comes with his signature axe.  It's kind of cool that it does the extending handle that the cartoon did, but it leads like 40 of the shaft being weirdly thick.  Frankly, I'd have trade the expanding handle for a static, one-piece axe and some extra paint on the main figure.

Optimus's head is on a hinged ball joint, so he can look up and down a bit and swivel no problem, but he doesn't really have any sideways tilt.  His shoulders swivel and can move laterally 90 degrees.  His elbows are double-jointed and can curl a combined 180 degrees, plus his wrists swivel.  His waist, too.  His hips can go almost 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally, and his thighs swivel.  His knees, although just a single hinge, can bend something like 160 degrees.  His feet have a slight up/down tilt, but they're also on a double-hinge for transformation.  Using the double hinge will quickly break the sculpt, but you kind of use it to get poses with more up/down feet tilt.  Oh, and the ankles pivot around 75 degrees; they could in theory go 90, but the wheels are in the way.

Optimus can easily hold his axe by sliding the 5mm shaft into one of his fists.  There are 5mm pegs on the sides of the fat part of the shaft, too, and you can just barely manipulate his arms to get him holding the axe with his second hand on one of those pegs... shame they didn't give him butterfly joints.  The axe also has a 5mm port in the thruster on the back.  It's cool that you can use a blast effect (not included) to get that look from the cartoon.  When not in use, you can use one of the 5mm pegs on the sides to attach the axe into a 5mm port on the lightbar on his back.  Speaking of ports, Optimus also has one on the outside of each shoulder, on the outside of each forearm, under each foot, on the outside of each leg just below the knee, and in the middle of the wheels on both sides of his ankles.  Plus, if you really want more, you can pull the lightbar off.  Underneath, you'll find a whole trio of 5mm ports.

From the waist up, Optimus' engineering is just a bit like the original Animated Deluxe-class toy.  The sides of his torso fold down and out to bring out the bumper and front wheels, his arms curl up around his head to make the sides of the cab, and the lightbar hinges up over the top.  His legs enjoy more complex engineering, with the lower legs splitting in half and wrapping back around over the thighs.  One really nice touch, something they definitely didn't have to do, is on the inside of his chest.  There's a little molded steering wheel and dashboard details in there.

The truck itself seems to have undergone a more drastic makeover to get it to fit more with Legacy than with OG Animated.  The cab has less exaggerated proportions.  There seems to be more armor around the bumper (although the gap in front of the grill is accurate).  The reason seems to be hide the front wheels, giving him the illusion of two wheels close together on each side like he was drawn in the cartoon, instead of the six he actually has.  Kudos for getting one blue light and one red on the lightbar, something the original toys never managed, and some molded taillights.  But minus kudos for the way his feet stick up on the back, and a lack of paint on those taillights.

When it comes to stowing Optimus's axe in alt mode, you've got a lot of options.  There's the 5mm port on the roof (or again, three if you remove the lightbar), two on either side of the cab, in in the middle of each of his four rear wheels, and two where you're looking at the bottom of his feet.  And while just about any of those holes will accommodate the pegs on the shaft of the axe, you'll note that one side of the axe itself also has a peg.  I like to use that peg into the hole on one foot (with the peg on the shaft tucking into the hollow underside of the other foot).  It kind of centers the axe on the back of the truck where a hitch might be... if Optimus had a trailer.  Or was compatible with the trailer from another Optimus.

How do I judge this figure?  In a vacuum, as a transforming robot toy, it's fine.  Decent articulation, sturdier joints than the old toys, and no dumb automorphing gimmicks.  As Animated Optimus?  I'm beating a dead horse, I know, but I have to say it again- if Hasbro wants to take characters from other series without a real G1 counterpart and give them a G1 makeover, like Bulkhead and Knockout, I'm into that.  But if you're taking a character that does have a G1 counterpart, like Optimus Prime here, why G1-ify him?  I mean, side-by-side with Earthrise Prime, was his makeover enough that these two look like they belong on the same shelf?  Not to me they don't, and even if they did, G1 already has an Optimus.  As for Animated fans, the bit of G1-ification that Hasbro did do is just enough for them to (rightly) complain that it's not really accurate.  Frankly, Hasbro should tried to make a better cartoon-accurate toy than to adapt Wyatt's unique style into something slightly more WFC/Legacy-ish.  At the end of the day, and I say this as someone who didn't actually like the original Animated toys all that much, you're better off with the original Animated Voyager Optimus Prime if you still have him.

[sh9000]

Titan Class Tidal Wave and Origin Wheeljack.

[mikeszekely]

I thought we were done with repaints this year, but Hasbro went and shoved one more out.  So let me get this out of the way first- Legacy Deluxe-class Medix.

Medix's packaging doesn't refer to any universe and is, ostensibly, simply G1.  But Medix as a G1 character is a reference to figure you could make out of Combiner Wars First Aid in a Botcon customization class, which itself was an homage to a Rescue Bots toy released well before a character named Medix appeared in Rescue Bots Academy, and the Medix that did appear in Rescue Bots Academy ultimately didn't look anything like the older toy or, by extension, this.  This, of course, being a Legacy Evolution Crosscut's head on Legacy Crankcase's body, in a mostly white and gray body with black, green, and red accents.  I suppose the Crosscut head is the closest to Combiner Wars First Aid's masked face, but I think it might have been a good opportunity to revisit the original Rescue Bots toy that they were using as a reference, maybe put a little more green on the arms and replace all the black with white.  As far as accessories go, Medix has the same grill-gun and translucent pistol carried over from Skids that Crankcase has, but he's also got the lightbar and both translucent guns that fellow Walgreen's-exclusive Minerva came with (guns that were themselves originally from Legacy Elita-1).

The Crosscut head sits a little differently in the hood than Crankcase's, plus he's got the lightbar, but otherwise it's the same modified Skids alt mode.  Again, could have used more green on the sides, but for the most part I think it looks better than Crankcase.  With the actual cartoon Medix being predominantly red-and-white and turning into car closer to a GT-R than an ambulance, Legacy Medix sort of gives me "what if we G1-ified Bayverse Ratchet?" vibes.  Long story short, he's a decent deco of a so-so mold based around a rare homage of a Rescue Bots toy that didn't actually look like the Rescue Bots cartoon.  Not exactly a must-have figure you should start hitting Walgreens for if you can't get him on Pulse, but also a nice deco on a not-awful mold.

With that out of the way, how about a real review?  Because we're also looking at Legacy United Deluxe-class Magneous.

I'll be honest, I've read the comments from the design team, and I'm still not sure what's going on with Hasbro here.  Mark says he wants to do a Rock Lords reference, but then he mentions the Headmasters episode "My Friend Sixshot" where they encountered rock creatures on the planet Daira who were not Rock Lords (who, like their Go-Bots cousins, came from Bandai's Machine Robo line).  Magneous' name doesn't match any of the Rock Lords.  It's closest to Magmar, but Magneous doesn't doesn't resemble Magmar, or any of the Rock Lords, good or bad.  I could let it go at that, but Hasbro had to go and say that Magneous is from the "Infernac Universe."  Infernac isn't a Rock Lords thing, or a Daira thing.  No, Hasbro's dragging in a whole different reference- Infernac is the name of the realm in Earth's core where the Inhumanoids came from.  So is Magneous an Inhumanoids reference now?  I don't know, because as was the case with the Rock Lords, Magneous isn't the name of any Inhumanoid, and he doesn't resemble any Inhumanoid.

Actually, I think he looks a bit like someone tried to make Optimus Prime out of stone.  They've got the same wide, flat chest- just imagine the wheels inside are like windows.  Same squarish shoulders, same rectangular legs, same masked face.  I don't remember Prime having such hollow calves, though.

Magneous comes with a few... parts.  I'm hesitant to call everything you see- a pick axe, what's clearly the top of his alt mode, and a pair of spikey panels- here an accessory.

Magneous' head swivels, but on its own it has no tilt.  It sits on a flap that folds his head into his chest for transformation, though- the little bit of play you have on that flap while everything else is locked into place is all the up/down tilt you'll get.  His shoulders rotate, and move laterally 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  He does have both wrist swivels and a waist swivel.  His hips go about 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend basically 180 degrees.  His feet can tilt down a little, and his ankles pivot a little under 45 degrees.  If you want some upward foot tilt you can kind of fake it, as the foot does shift up over his shin for transformation.

He can hold his pickaxe, no issues there.  The instructions suggest that his roof is supposed to be a shield.

There's a peg on one side of the pickaxe that you can use to make Magneous hold it like a gun instead of a pickaxe.  The 5mm peg he uses as a pickaxe handle is too big for a blast effect, though.  I wounder why Hasbro didn't put a 3mm peg on the bottom of the 5mm one?  Meanwhile, if you're not a fan of the roof shield you can plug it onto his back.  This is where it needs to be for alt mode anyway, and it can stay on for transformation.

Which brings us to the spiked panels.  If you don't want any partsforming when you transform him, you can plug them into the 5mm ports on the backs of his forearms.  Looks a bit cluttered, though, if you ask me.  However, if you're ok with a bit of partsforming, you can instead find slots on them that fit over tabs on the backs of his legs.  This allows the panels to be stored there, which helps fill in their hollowness.  The only downside is that they have to be removed to transform him, and you'll reduce the range of his knee bends to 90 degrees.

Speaking of transformation, it's pretty basic.  Unclip the arms from his sides, and you can lift his chest and head up and out.  Open his wheels, tuck his head in, twist and bend his wrists, then fold his arms into his sides.  Tab his legs together, fold his feet up onto his shins, then bend his knees 180 degrees.

I'm back to being confused.  See, the Inhumanoids didn't transform.  The rock creatures from Daira, as far as I know, didn't transform.  and the Rock Lords transformed into, well, rocks.  But a Transformer that doesn't Transform is apparently a no-no, hence the Quintesson Judge's half-hearted base mode, and I guess Hasbro thinks turning into a rock is too boring.  So Magneous turns into a truck that looks like it's made from rocks, except for parts of roof and the bumper and grill.  Or maybe a truck that got covered in lava except on the very front and the wheels, and the lava cooled, so they just dug out the windows and kept driving it.  It's an odd choice, even more so than the Fossilizers.

There's a bit of a gap on the sides, but remember I told you that you could leave the spiked panels on the backs of his forearms?  If you do, they'll wind up filling that gap quite nicely.  Meanwhile, his pickaxe has tabs on one side that fit into slots under his feet on the back of the truck for storage.  Or, there's a 5mm port over the grill in his bumper, so he can use the pickaxe like some kind of a battering ram.

The rock guys in the United line are technically called Armorizers, and they're meant to replace the Junkions (who replaced the Fossilizers, who replaced the Modulators, who replaced the Weaponizers) as the gimmicky guys that come apart and become accessories for other figures.  *sigh*  Who asked for this?  The Weaponizers at least were giving us actual G1 characters by providing the G1 citybot pack-ins that the Titan citybots lacked, and the Modulators were at least a reference to the original G1 Micromaster bases.  The Fossilizers were kind of a dumb idea, but in a line with transforming dinosaurs transforming dinosaur skeletons wasn't too out there.  I was already complaining about the invented Junkions taking up Deluxe slots (and a Voyager) that could have been used for established character in Evolution (especially after Legacy lacked any gimmick like this).  But now we've got more newly-created characters eating up slots that are supposed to be a Rock Lords reference without looking like or being named after Rock Lords that turn into vehicles made out of rocks instead of just rocks.  Hasbro, if you're reading this:

I mean, is this even executed all that well?  Not really.  In the example from the instructions, Prime ends up with the spikey plates on his arms and the roof on one shoulder, plus obvious arms dangling off the sides of his legs.  Magneous' feet and shins do combine to turn his pickaxe into a fairly cool hammer... but that's it!  Magneous' head, torso, and most of his legs don't come apart and lack any pegs to attach anywhere to most figures.  And even though the instructions show that you can remove the wheel parts from the sides of Magneous' legs, there's nowhere really for them to go on Prime, either, so why remove them at all?

Magneous fails as a Rock Lords reference for not even having the name of a Rock Lord and for failing to turn into a Rock, and a truck made out of rock instead of metal is kind of stupid.  He fails as an Inhumanoid reference, because the only reference is the word "Infernac" in "Infernac Universe".  The gimmick of pulling a figure apart and using the bits as accessories for other figures wore out its welcome a long time ago, and Magneous doesn't even do that very well anyway.  I'm saying, in the strongest terms possible, that Hasbro needs to stop wasting slots and original tooling on gimmicks and original characters.  You should probably skip Magneous.

However... if you ignore everything I just said in the previous paragraph, Magneous is actually kind of cool.  He's got decent articulation, a straightforward transformation, and a vibe that's basically "what if Optimus Prime had a love child with a Rock Lord that grew up to be a bad guy?".  So while you probably should skip him, if you don't you might find that you actually like him.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

Titan Class Tidal Wave and Origin Wheeljack.

Regarding Tidal Wave, I've really run out of room for Titans and wish they'd retire the class in favor of one or two more Commanders a year, but I'm going to pick this one up.  He looks good, and as someone who enjoyed the PS2 game well before ever seeing (and not actually liking) the Armada anime, I dig him as a Titan.  My only complaint is that he had the original toy colors, like he did in the game, instead of the cartoon colors.  If Hasbro is planning a toy-colored Gen Selects version I wish I would know before buying this one.  But A) I doubt I'll have that knowledge, and B) if they do a repaint I think Energon seems more likely.

Regarding Wheeljack, he looks OK.  A bit shellformery, like the other two, but not as clean and smooth in alt mode.  The spinning blades on the bumper are a real deep cut.  I'll definitely be looking to get my hands on him.

EDIT: Some extra details on Wheeljack.  He's a Voyager, not a Deluxe like the other two.  In alt mode his entire back opens up, and Origins Bumblebee can fit inside.  He's also coming with the blast shield as an accessory. 

Edited December 9, 2023 by mikeszekely

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Regarding Tidal Wave, I've really run out of room for Titans and wish they'd retire the class in favor of one or two more Commanders a year, but I'm going to pick this one up.  He looks good, and as someone who enjoyed the PS2 game well before ever seeing (and not actually liking) the Armada anime, I dig him as a Titan.  My only complaint is that he had the original toy colors, like he did in the game, instead of the cartoon colors.  If Hasbro is planning a toy-colored Gen Selects version I wish I would know before buying this one.  But A) I doubt I'll have that knowledge, and B) if they do a repaint I think Energon seems more likely.

Regarding Wheeljack, he looks OK.  A bit shellformery, like the other two, but not as clean and smooth in alt mode.  The spinning blades on the bumper are a real deep cut.  I'll definitely be looking to get my hands on him.

EDIT: Some extra details on Wheeljack.  He's a Voyager, not a Deluxe like the other two.  In alt mode his entire back opens up, and Origins Bumblebee can fit inside.  He's also coming with the blast shield as an accessory. 

Regarding Origin Wheeljack, it sounds like this fig achieves everything I wanted, especially the ability to but Bee in the back, a feature I 99% believed wouldn't happen. Sometimes, though, Hasbro surprises us. Looking forward to this fig. Any news on when he'll be available?

[mikeszekely]

28 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Regarding Origin Wheeljack, it sounds like this fig achieves everything I wanted, especially the ability to but Bee in the back, a feature I 99% believed wouldn't happen. Sometimes, though, Hasbro surprises us. Looking forward to this fig. Any news on when he'll be available?

Dunno yet. I'd guess 1st quarter 2024 but it's just a guess.