The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

I'm interested in that Devastator.

Yep- pretty much the only figs in that lineup that I'll be buying.  I wish the Deluxe Insecticons were getting their own distinctive molds at least reminiscent of the 80s Beetras figs, but I'm guessing they can't or just aren't interested in pursuing the licenses from Bandai. I wish they were doing a voyager game edition Fall of Cyberton Optimus; I loved that design, and it'd be nice to see the old adorable deluxe toy get an upgrade.

[JB0]

4 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Yep- pretty much the only figs in that lineup that I'll be buying.  I wish the Deluxe Insecticons were getting their own distinctive molds at least reminiscent of the 80s Beetras figs, but I'm guessing they can't or just aren't interested in pursuing the licenses from Bandai. I wish they were doing a voyager game edition Fall of Cyberton Optimus; I loved that design, and it'd be nice to see the old adorable deluxe toy get an upgrade.

I don't think they actually need a Beetras license unless they intend to sell them as Beetras figures or reissue the original toys. We got Whirl and Roadbuster a few years back, after all. No Bandai copyright on those packages. TakaraTomy even released 'em in Japan(just to tweak Bandai's nose? Who can say.).
But the Deluxe Insecticons aren't just obscure characters, they're toy-only characters. That's not impossible, but always a long shot. And they LOVE vaguely-appropriate-but-still-wrong repaints.


But in fairness... I never expected to see a modern Top Spin and Twin Twist. Anything is possible, and Hasbro IS generally more willing to dug deep these days.

[M'Kyuun]

5 hours ago, JB0 said:

I don't think they actually need a Beetras license unless they intend to sell them as Beetras figures or reissue the original toys. We got Whirl and Roadbuster a few years back, after all. No Bandai copyright on those packages. TakaraTomy even released 'em in Japan(just to tweak Bandai's nose? Who can say.).
But the Deluxe Insecticons aren't just obscure characters, they're toy-only characters. That's not impossible, but always a long shot. And they LOVE vaguely-appropriate-but-still-wrong repaints.


But in fairness... I never expected to see a modern Top Spin and Twin Twist. Anything is possible, and Hasbro IS generally more willing to dug deep these days.

Well, they wouldn't need a Beetras license if they veered so far off design as they did with the aforementioned Roadbuster; they actually got pretty close to the mark with Whirl, although his overall design, IIRC, was based in part on the IDW design (primarily the legs). I remember that Whirl released prior to Roadbuster; the closeness of his design to the OG got me excited for Roadbuster, as I really like the Mugen Calibur from Dorvack and I was stoked for an update. The toy we got wasn't at all what I hoped for, so far did it depart from the Calibur's design. That same extreme difference in design is what I fear if Hasbro decided to actually make Deluxe Insecticons that aren't regular Insecticon repaints. Maybe they'd be cool, but then again...    But then again, too, sometimes Takara surprises. It's always a toss-up.

Hasbro, and Takara by extension, have indeed been digging deep and wide these days, so not much can be ruled out. I was pretty excited when Evan mentioned Omnibots in one of their streams awhile back. I've long felt that those were some of the most ignored yet update deserving toys in the roster. They're G1, and they should have at least had a cameo appearance in an episode to appease all the kids (like me) who sent in their $5 and 2 Robot Points to get one or more of them by mail order. Had they just that one appearance, we probably would have had any number of Omnibot toys by now, at least by third parties who've tended to dig deep far longer than Hasbro. Thus far, only XTransbots have produced updates to those old toys, and I'm all in for them. But mainline is my primary collection, the one in which I'm most invested, and I'd absolutely love to have some official Generations Omnis to fill out the collection.

[M'Kyuun]

10 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Yep- pretty much the only figs in that lineup that I'll be buying.  

Oops, I forgot about the upcoming leader class Optimus- that'll also be a definite buy. Curious to see how it turns out: are they going to take major cues from MP-44, or do something different? I'm rather enamored of ER Prime; it's such a good design- the wheels on his back are the only real detractors, but I can overlook them for the all the good. I'm sure it'll be the most accurate G1 OP we've ever had in the mainline; the only negative is that there won't be a corresponding G1 Megatron with a proper pistol alt. 

[JB0]

6 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Hasbro, and Takara by extension, have indeed been digging deep and wide these days, so not much can be ruled out. I was pretty excited when Evan mentioned Omnibots in one of their streams awhile back. I've long felt that those were some of the most ignored yet update deserving toys in the roster.

Heck yeah. I never had the Omnibots, but I remember seeing them in the little mail-away flyer. They stuck with me, because they were so darn cool.

[mikeszekely]

22 hours ago, sh9000 said:

I'm interested in that Devastator.

Me too.  But, although I don't have the wave assortments, I'll remind you that that list is for the entire year of 2025, and it doesn't even mention Hook or Long Haul.  We're looking at two-ish years before Devy's done.

21 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Yep- pretty much the only figs in that lineup that I'll be buying.  

I, unfortunately, am probably in for everything but the package refreshes.

10 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Oops, I forgot about the upcoming leader class Optimus- that'll also be a definite buy.

I assume you mean the SS86 Commander-class one, right?  That's this year, though.  I'm really hoping that Hook and Long Haul, or at the very least Long Haul, is the 2025 Commander, with partsforming bits to make Devastator.  I know, I know... I prefer a transformation that doesn't need partsforming and I'm all-in on any combiners MMC wants to do for that very reason, but I also know what Hasbro can and can't do with their budget and I prefer partsforming to a Long Haul that looks like this...

Anyway, I have some bad news.  The source that gave me this info (the same trustworthy source that got me the leaks for all of this years' stuff nearly a year ago) is, unfortunately, retiring from the scene.  Hopefully I can find and vet a new one.  He may have a few more beans to spill this week, though... starting with two items that were left off the last list.

Studio Series 86 Leader-class Galvatron

Keep in mind, I'm just getting the listings (and product codes, in this case G0481).  I have no idea how, if at all, this will be different than the Kingdom or Legacy releases (the latter of which is still on shelves at my local Target).  I'm a bit surprised that they're doing him again so soon, but it's not like there isn't precedent.  SS86 is replacing Earthrise Optimus and Siege Springer this year, and has also replaced relatively recent releases of Ironhide, Ratchet, and Arcee.

Oh, right.  I did say two, didn't I?

Studio Series 86 Leader-class Megatron.

I told you guys it was happening.😉

[treatment]

Missing Link C01 and C02 pics are out in the wild now.

My current fave shot (web-translated):

 

https://twitter.com/wa_bu_ki_dia/status/1760618103833305441

 

TFW has links to other user shots starting from this forum-posting:

https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/missing-link-c-01-and-c-02-g1-convoy-optimus-prime-revealed.1251563/page-220#post-22104863

 

also, some initial video from bilibili (hk?):

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1m2421F7bY/

 

 

 

[M'Kyuun]

20 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Me too.  But, although I don't have the wave assortments, I'll remind you that that list is for the entire year of 2025, and it doesn't even mention Hook or Long Haul.  We're looking at two-ish years before Devy's done.

I, unfortunately, am probably in for everything but the package refreshes.

I assume you mean the SS86 Commander-class one, right?  That's this year, though.  I'm really hoping that Hook and Long Haul, or at the very least Long Haul, is the 2025 Commander, with partsforming bits to make Devastator.  I know, I know... I prefer a transformation that doesn't need partsforming and I'm all-in on any combiners MMC wants to do for that very reason, but I also know what Hasbro can and can't do with their budget and I prefer partsforming to a Long Haul that looks like this...

Anyway, I have some bad news.  The source that gave me this info (the same trustworthy source that got me the leaks for all of this years' stuff nearly a year ago) is, unfortunately, retiring from the scene.  Hopefully I can find and vet a new one.  He may have a few more beans to spill this week, though... starting with two items that were left off the last list.

Studio Series 86 Leader-class Galvatron

Keep in mind, I'm just getting the listings (and product codes, in this case G0481).  I have no idea how, if at all, this will be different than the Kingdom or Legacy releases (the latter of which is still on shelves at my local Target).  I'm a bit surprised that they're doing him again so soon, but it's not like there isn't precedent.  SS86 is replacing Earthrise Optimus and Siege Springer this year, and has also replaced relatively recent releases of Ironhide, Ratchet, and Arcee.

Oh, right.  I did say two, didn't I?

Studio Series 86 Leader-class Megatron.

I told you guys it was happening.😉

Agree with you concerning Long Haul. It would be my druthers if they could do what MMC's doing with their combiners, but I'm a realist, and I just don't see Hasbro/Takara getting that technical, especially at voyager scale. It's going to be a partsformer; the question is, is it just going to have a pelvis and thigh bits and arm/hands like Toyworld's Constructor, or are they going to go the Menasor route with a skeletal gestalt that the Constructicons just snap onto? I'd prefer the former solution. And like Mike, I hope the individual Constructicons are far better realized in their bot modes with all the articulation we've come to expect from the Studio Series and Legacy lines. 

Man, I want to be excited by an SS86 Megatron, but I just know his alt is going to be anything except the pistol he should be, and that erodes a lot of my enthusiasm. It's a shame, really, that Megs didn't start out as a tank from the beginning; it's an altogether fitting alt for his character and there never would have been an issue so far as legislation is concerned; however, he was based on a real-world pistol and for a die-hard like me, that's what I want him to change into. Of course, there's no way Hasbro could have foreseen how the regulations on toy weapons would change within the span of a decade or they might have chosen a different toy to use as the leader of the Decepticons. Alas, we can fall into fun conjecture on that point all day, but the reality remains that Microchange MC-12 Gun Robo Walther P-38 was chosen, and the rest is ludicrous mass-shifting history. FYI Sec 4 of the Federal Energy Management Improvement Act of 1988 essentially makes it illegal to manufacture or import a realistic looking firearm unless said item has some form of marking indicating approval by the Sec of Commerce  15 U.S.C.  I wonder if that approval marking comes with a fee and that constitutes the major detractor for Hasbro?

[mikeszekely]

So I still don't know what next year's line will be.  Hasbro is apparently debating whether to launch a new trilogy, or to have another year of Legacy with a new subtitle.  While they figure it out, they're going to squeeze in a fifth wave of United, either late this year or early next year.  Before you guys get too excited, there's only two new molds in the wave, and they're both figures that were dropped from the second wave that's due to be officially revealed in March.  Everything else is either a package refresh, or a (mostly expected) repaint.

Core-class BW Dinobot
Deluxe-class G1 Sureshot
Deluxe-class G2 Breakdown
Deluxe-class Cosmos (PR)
Deluxe-class Armada Wheeljack
Voyager-class Voyager Ramjet (PR)
Voyager-class Tarn (PR)
Leader-class Galaxy Shuttle (PR)
Leader-class G1 Overcharge

I'll save you guys a trip to the TF Wiki, Overcharge is a Diaclone repaint of Blitzwing.

So... yeah, I'm happy that people who missed stuff like Ramjet, Cosmos, and Galaxy Shuttle will have another crack at them.  This wave is the first thing that's leaked that's actually going to save me money, as I'm only definitely in for Sureshot, Breakdown, and Wheeljack, with a possibility that I'll grab Overcharge.

[treatment]

not Wotafa's, but more than good and lengthy enough. Very informative!

 

 

Articulations galore!

He's got a Classic and a Pepsi Convoy to compare this new C-01 with. 

[sh9000]

I'll get G2 Breakdown.  I want to complete the G2 Stunticons.

[mikeszekely]

So... are you guys ready to know what's coming in the mainline in 2025?  I'm not sure what the full name will be, but the shorthand in the system is "Tra Gen Prime".  Note that, just going by the number of figures, that this might not be all of it.  And while we've got a smattering of characters across TF universes, it looks the 13 Primes are going to be a major feature.  And maybe more Combiner Wars replacements.

Deluxes

Solus Prime
Air Raid
Fireflight
Animated Universe Wasp
Alchemist Prime
Crasher (PR)
Swindle
Micronus
Slingshot
Skydive
Venom

Voyagers

Prima
Armada Universe Red Alert
Rescue Bots Heatwave
RID '01 Skybyte
Alpha Trion
Flatline (presumably IDW)

Leaders

The Fallen
G2 Grimlock (this one's not listed as a package refresh, could be the blue one)
Onyx Prime

Once again, no Commanders or Titans, but based on the fact that Swindle is the only Combaticon I see, but we've got three out of four Aerialbot limbs, but I'd have to guess that Silverbolt will be the 2025 mainline Commander, and 2026 will feature more Combaticons including a Commander-class Onslaught.

Edited February 24 by mikeszekely

[sh9000]

Awesome.  I was about to ask earlier today if there were plans of new Aerialbots and Combaticons.

[mikeszekely]

8 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

Awesome.  I was about to ask earlier today if there were plans of new Aerialbots and Combaticons.

Odds are looking pretty good that by the end of 2026 we could have a new Superion, Bruticus, and Devastator to go with Legacy Menasor.  Too bad none of the other combiners were in the 86 movie, because there's no way I don't want a new Defensor, Computron, Abominus, and Predaking, too.  Minimum.

[JB0]

30 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Animated Universe Wasp

Yes, this is everybody's favorite character and we all definitely want the lime Bumblebee.

[mikeszekely]

31 minutes ago, JB0 said:

Yes, this is everybody's favorite character and we all definitely want the lime Bumblebee.

If I buy Wasp, I'm going to get a spare Cliffjumper head and turn him into Tap-Out.

EDIT:  It was called to my attention that I missed two Deluxes... Skydive and Venom.  So, Aerialbots will be complete (as long as Silverbolt's the Commander) and so will the Deluxe Insecticons if you buy all the two packs.

Edited February 24 by mikeszekely

[Alex GS]

the whole package looks beautiful, so glad I got this on Preorder , this and alongside my already fully paid MP-44s waiting to be shipped from HLJ. 

[Scyla]

For me all those Transformers leaks are pretty boring. I probably will buy a Gamer Edition Skywarp but what I really want is Armada Nemesis Prime.

I'm slightly interested in the 86 Galvatron but the Kingdom mold was pretty disappointing. 

[mikeszekely]

 Given how much better Legacy Menasor was over the Combiner Wars one I'm definitely up for Swindle and the Aerialbots.  Venom, too, if I buy all the two packs, but the fact that the other Deluxe Insecticons are likely to be minimal retools of Shrapnel and Bombshell and they'll be packaged with figures I want a lot less, we'll see.  Armada Red Alert will finish off what I consider to be the main Armada Autobots, so that's cool, and with Haslab Omega Prime coming and the fact that I'm watching RID '01 with my daughter means I'm all about Skybyte.  I'll reserve judgement until I see them, but I'm probably interested in the Primes, too.  So for the mainline, it's stuff like Wasp and Heatwave that are the least interesting to me.  If I'm being honest, though, I'll probably wind up buying everything that isn't a package refresh, from both the mainline and Studio Series.

5 hours ago, Scyla said:

but what I really want is Armada Nemesis Prime.

Fans Hobby?

 

[David Hingtgen]

19 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Deluxes
Air Raid
Fireflight
Slingshot
Skydive

but we've got three out of four Aerialbot limbs, but I'd have to guess that Silverbolt will be the 2025 mainline Commander, 

I see 4 of 4 limbs?   

Anyways, I am curious how these will work compared to Devastator----Mixmaster and Scavenger (legs) are Voyagers with the thought being their increased mass is logical to form legs (vs Scrapper/Bonecrusher as Deluxe arms)----yet we have no Voyager Aerialbots, and Swindle (leg) is also a Deluxe.   

[mikeszekely]

16 minutes ago, David Hingtgen said:

I see 4 of 4 limbs?

Yeah, I went back and edited my original list, which originally omitted Skydive and Venom.

17 minutes ago, David Hingtgen said:

Anyways, I am curious how these will work compared to Devastator----Mixmaster and Scavenger (legs) are Voyagers with the thought being their increased mass is logical to form legs (vs Scrapper/Bonecrusher as Deluxe arms)----yet we have no Voyager Aerialbots, and Swindle (leg) is also a Deluxe.

Just spitballing, but maybe because of how their mass gets distributed?  On Legacy Menasor the cars sit fairly low on his calves, if I rememeber right, and the cars are pretty thin.  I expect they'd do something similar with Superion (and maybe Bruticus), so the knee still has the clearance to bend.  Plus, those three have actual feet.  Mixmaster especially needs to have enough mass to form the entire leg plus have the cab bent forward to form the foot.  But yeah, I'm real curious to see what they cooked up for these guys.

[Scyla]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

 Given how much better Legacy Menasor was over the Combiner Wars one I'm definitely up for Swindle and the Aerialbots.  Venom, too, if I buy all the two packs, but the fact that the other Deluxe Insecticons are likely to be minimal retools of Shrapnel and Bombshell and they'll be packaged with figures I want a lot less, we'll see.  Armada Red Alert will finish off what I consider to be the main Armada Autobots, so that's cool, and with Haslab Omega Prime coming and the fact that I'm watching RID '01 with my daughter means I'm all about Skybyte.  I'll reserve judgement until I see them, but I'm probably interested in the Primes, too.  So for the mainline, it's stuff like Wasp and Heatwave that are the least interesting to me.  If I'm being honest, though, I'll probably wind up buying everything that isn't a package refresh, from both the mainline and Studio Series.

Fans Hobby?

 

Oh neat, is that new? I guess BBB hasn’t updated their shop recently because of Chinese New Year.

I will be definitely getting this, even if I'm highly critical of all Fans Hobby releaes.

Just got their Darkwing in and after a stellar Dreadwind it is back to dissapointment. Need to look into an Naval Commander review now.

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, Scyla said:

Oh neat, is that new?

Yes, Fans Hobby just started teasing him maybe two weeks ago.  They don't even have a preorder on their own site yet (but ShowZ does).

3 hours ago, Scyla said:

Just got their Darkwing in and after a stellar Dreadwind it is back to dissapointment. Need to look into an Naval Commander review now.

I happen to have a review right here, but spoilers, I didn't recommend him.  The original release had some serious QC issues with the plastic, and even though Fans Hobby eventually sent me like half of the entire core robot in replacement parts I still have hairline cracks on the super mode hands and I'm still afraid to transform the trailer again.  Aside from that, I think the super mode looks pretty good.  The core bot's a little thin, though, and his chest transformation is kind of finnicky.

A lack of competition in the 3P space and improvements from Hasbro's official stuff post-Siege have me cutting back on 3P stuff in general.  I don't think I've bought any Fans Hobby stuff since their Armada Megatron (which was pretty great).  I never even got around to finishing the Headmaster Jrs (I've got Minerva and GoShooter, no Cab), and I didn't buy either of the Decepticon Power/Godmasters.  One of these days I should pick up Energy Commander, though.  I really like what Fans Hobby did with Energon Optimus' design.

[M'Kyuun]

4 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Yeah, I went back and edited my original list, which originally omitted Skydive and Venom.

Just spitballing, but maybe because of how their mass gets distributed?  On Legacy Menasor the cars sit fairly low on his calves, if I rememeber right, and the cars are pretty thin.  I expect they'd do something similar with Superion (and maybe Bruticus), so the knee still has the clearance to bend.  Plus, those three have actual feet.  Mixmaster especially needs to have enough mass to form the entire leg plus have the cab bent forward to form the foot.  But yeah, I'm real curious to see what they cooked up for these guys.

Disappointing that the Aerialbot limb bots will be deluxe scaled, as that makes for some very small jets compared to car bots. Like the ER Seekers, they should at least be voyager scaled, which itself is underscaled relative to car bots. Scale aside, I've never had much enthusiasm for Aerialbots as, due to the blocky nature of the OG toys and subsequent animation models, the jets lose any sleekness that they should possess and end up being cubes with wings. Unfortunately, this same tendency has been mirrored not only by Has/Tak, but also most third parties. As an aviation fan, Superion, the combiner that should be most appealing generally lacks any appeal for how egregiously inaccurate and compromised the jet modes turn out. Maybe they'll be better executed this time, but scale is already questionable, and given precedents, I have my doubts.

As to how Superion and Bruticus will be realized, I have a feeling they'll attempt the robot-frame-with-bots-tacked-on approach since it worked for Menasor. Admittedly, it made for a more stable combiner than the previous CW gestalts, but lost is the true combining factor where the limb bots actually form the limbs; instead, they're reduced to accoutrement. I wish they'd take an MMC approach, but that level of complexity and involved engineering is well beyond the scope of mass retail toys, and well, beyond Hasbro's care factor. I could see Takara making a more involved combiner, but with Hasbro pushing their version of toys for all markets, the good old days of Takara's improved toys are all but gone, a loss for fans.

Pertaining to the 2025 lineup, there's not much there of interest for me. The G1 stuff is winding down, with most of the roster having received toys already and the outliers continue to be realized. I hope the Omnibots get the honor of toys eventually too- I was hoping they'd get them, or start to, in 2025 after Evan's having mentioned them in a stream awhile back, but the wait goes on. The fact that a Hasbro toy designer wants toys of them continues to give me hope. I'm actually a little disappointed that more of the Rescue Bots didn't get the Generations update; I thought Chase turned out well, better than I would have expected, and there are a number of RBs, especially ones with aircraft alts, that I'd like to see realized. It's odd that a line for which I've only ever had the most peripheral of interest suddenly elicits so much interest, but if Chase is the sign of things to come, I welcome it. However, for fans of the comics, UT, and RID, I hope the upcoming toys are well done and welcome additions to their collections. It's such a sprawling franchise with such a rich history in toons, comics, and various toylines, and I firmly hope that fans of all stripes will eventually get the toys for which they've pined; transitioning from Legacy to Prime, it seems Hasbro is committed to digging deep, to borrow a phrase, to bring characters from all corners into fans' hands as toys. From an official toy POV, it continues to be a great time to be a Transformers fan.

Edited February 25 by M'Kyuun

[mikeszekely]

14 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Disappointing that the Aerialbot limb bots will be deluxe scaled, as that makes for some very small jets compared to car bots. Like the ER Seekers, they should at least be voyager scaled, which itself is underscaled relative to car bots.

Unfortunately, G1 and alt mode scale are just flat-out incompatible.  Sure, it sucks that Air Raid is going to be smaller than Starscream despite being the same plane... but hey, maybe Fireflight will scale ok with the Seekers.  Could be worse, you could be trying to reconcile Swindle's Jeep mode with Blast-Off's (likely inevitable) Deluxe-class space shuttle.

18 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

As to how Superion and Bruticus will be realized, I have a feeling they'll attempt the robot-frame-with-bots-tacked-on approach since it worked for Menasor. Admittedly, it made for a more stable combiner than the previous CW gestalts, but lost is the true combining factor where the limb bots actually form the limbs; instead, they're reduced to accoutrement. I wish they'd take an MMC approach, but that level of complexity and involved engineering is well beyond the scope of mass retail toys, and well, beyond Hasbro's care factor.

This is more or less what I've been saying on the other board-that-shan't-be-named.  I have big love for MMC's combiners, I just don't trust Hasbro to get anything like that with the constraints they work under.  Combiner Wars wasn't just hamstrung by the Voyager-class torsos and the hand-foot-guns, but ball joints where they needed ratchets, a baked in Scramble City gimmick, and a huge chunk of each Deluxe figure's budget going to the combiner joint in the chest.

Some are suggesting that just bumping Silverbolt up to a Leader would be enough, but I don't think so.  Besides, AFAIK this is it for 2025- one bonus wave of Legacy United, and three waves of Prime (much like Kingdom had one extra wave and Legacy was one short, IIRC).  We know all the Voyagers and Leaders and Silverbolt isn't one of them.  We don't know the Commander, and Motormaster was a Commander.  It's pretty easy to put two and two together.

Which reminds me, there are some people suggesting that the lack of Combaticons besides Swindle could mean that Swindle is Animated Swindle.  I wouldn't bank on that, either.  It's far more likely that Brawl, Vortex, and Blast-Off are in 2026 with a Commander-class Onslaught.  (I just hope Hasbro figures out a way to make Brawl a Voyager that folds in half for combined mode).

27 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

I'm actually a little disappointed that more of the Rescue Bots didn't get the Generations update; I thought Chase turned out well, better than I would have expected, and there are a number of RBs, especially ones with aircraft alts, that I'd like to see realized. It's odd that a line for which I've only ever had the most peripheral of interest suddenly elicits so much interest, but if Chase is the sign of things to come, I welcome it. However, for fans of the comics, UT, and RID, I hope the upcoming toys are well done and welcome additions to their collections. It's such a sprawling franchise with such a rich history in toons, comics, and various toylines, and I firmly hope that fans of all stripes will eventually get the toys for which they've pined; transitioning from Legacy to Prime, it seems Hasbro is committed to digging deep, to borrow a phrase, to bring characters from all corners into fans' hands as toys.

Actually, between the Aerialbots, Swindle, Venom, and the Primes 2025 is pretty light on characters from other universes.  Like, we've got Haslab Omega Prime and now Skybite joining this year's Sideburn (and the badly-decoed Velocitron Scourge), but that's it for RID 2001.  No Megatron/Gigatron, none of the other Predacons, no Spychangers, no Rail Racer, neither of the other two Autobot Brothers, etc.  We've got the Galvatron repaint of Megatron and Tidal Wave to look forward to this year, plus Red Alert next year, but no Demolisher or Cyclonus, and no Jetfire to combine with Legacy Optimus.  No Big Convoy to battle this year's Magmatron.  Hot Shot and Starscream are repping Cybertron this year, but that's it, and Energon just has the little Core-class Megatron.  Believe me, while the G1 crowd is mostly pretty stoked about getting some new combiners, there are plenty of people who are already bemoaning how Prime seems to not be living up to Legacy's "across all universes" approach.

[Black Valkyrie]

 

With Missing Link Convoy out now, maybe Bandai will consider to produce a full articulated Chunky Monkey, who knows. 

 

[M'Kyuun]

11 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Unfortunately, G1 and alt mode scale are just flat-out incompatible.  Sure, it sucks that Air Raid is going to be smaller than Starscream despite being the same plane... but hey, maybe Fireflight will scale ok with the Seekers.  Could be worse, you could be trying to reconcile Swindle's Jeep mode with Blast-Off's (likely inevitable) Deluxe-class space shuttle.

Yeah, the gross scale incompatibilities between bot modes, alt modes, and alt mode-relativity to real world scales are some of the most lamentable occurrences of G1 that continue to carry over to modern day toy interpretations. As you say, it's bad enough that the jets are underscaled, but Blast-Off's shuttle is ludicrously so, not to mention a poor alt choice in a group of military vehicles. Alas, it's all history now with naught to be done but accept it, if grudgingly. Speaking personally, Bruticus is my favorite combiner with Devy coming in second, and I really want a new version to be done well. Given the nature of the Combaticons' alt modes, they really should all be voyagers with a commander class Onslaught to form the body and provide the partsforming bits for Bruticus. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case if Swindle, a leg bot, is only a deluxe. I still keep my CW Bruticus combined on the shelf and I have a feeling he's going to dwarf this new version, if not in height, then in bulk.

Deluxe limbs worked for Menasor b/c the limbs are cars, and that fits scale wise. It doesn't fit with military vehicles or aircraft. It's a bit awkward-looking when scales are so poorly matched.

12 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

This is more or less what I've been saying on the other board-that-shan't-be-named.  I have big love for MMC's combiners, I just don't trust Hasbro to get anything like that with the constraints they work under.  Combiner Wars wasn't just hamstrung by the Voyager-class torsos and the hand-foot-guns, but ball joints where they needed ratchets, a baked in Scramble City gimmick, and a huge chunk of each Deluxe figure's budget going to the combiner joint in the chest.

Some are suggesting that just bumping Silverbolt up to a Leader would be enough, but I don't think so.  Besides, AFAIK this is it for 2025- one bonus wave of Legacy United, and three waves of Prime (much like Kingdom had one extra wave and Legacy was one short, IIRC).  We know all the Voyagers and Leaders and Silverbolt isn't one of them.  We don't know the Commander, and Motormaster was a Commander.  It's pretty easy to put two and two together.

Which reminds me, there are some people suggesting that the lack of Combaticons besides Swindle could mean that Swindle is Animated Swindle.  I wouldn't bank on that, either.  It's far more likely that Brawl, Vortex, and Blast-Off are in 2026 with a Commander-class Onslaught.  (I just hope Hasbro figures out a way to make Brawl a Voyager that folds in half for combined mode).

I haven't bought any of MMC's combiners, but believe me when I say I was HUGELY tempted to go in on their Bruticus, my favorite combiner team. However, with dwindling space and a spendy tag, I reluctantly passed on them. But I watched reviews and such, and yeah, I think they did a really great job with it. I'd love it if Hasbro was that committed, but I do think that level of engineering is beyond the scope of mass retail, and after taking major losses last year, the level of complexity is only going to decrease as they try to recoup. I'd be happy if they approached each of the combiners as a Haslab; they're guaranteed to get their funding before committing to production, the production values are higher, and the level of engineering complexity greater than what's possible at retail. 

Making the torso bots commander class for the upcoming combiners makes sense, as it accounts for the larger figure and the necessary partsforming bits required to form the gestalt. They've already established a working pattern of deluxe limb bots and a commander class torso, so I don't understand why people think they'd deviate from it. Scale, of course, is shot to hell, but Hasbro gives no credence to scale.

As to Swindle, they've been making the distinction between lines with the characters, so I'm sure he would have been delineated as Animated. Moreover, he was a side character from a couple eps, so I think it'd make more sense to release characters like Lugnut, Blitzwing, Starscream, and Megatron who had a far greater presence in the series. 

As to Bruticus, I also hope Hasbro, and by Hasbro I mean Takara (who actually do the engineering heavy-lifting for Transformers) figures out how to use the limb bots as actual limbs instead of continuing to rely on the frame w/ tack-on bots approach. 

12 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Actually, between the Aerialbots, Swindle, Venom, and the Primes 2025 is pretty light on characters from other universes.  Like, we've got Haslab Omega Prime and now Skybite joining this year's Sideburn (and the badly-decoed Velocitron Scourge), but that's it for RID 2001.  No Megatron/Gigatron, none of the other Predacons, no Spychangers, no Rail Racer, neither of the other two Autobot Brothers, etc.  We've got the Galvatron repaint of Megatron and Tidal Wave to look forward to this year, plus Red Alert next year, but no Demolisher or Cyclonus, and no Jetfire to combine with Legacy Optimus.  No Big Convoy to battle this year's Magmatron.  Hot Shot and Starscream are repping Cybertron this year, but that's it, and Energon just has the little Core-class Megatron.  Believe me, while the G1 crowd is mostly pretty stoked about getting some new combiners, there are plenty of people who are already bemoaning how Prime seems to not be living up to Legacy's "across all universes" approach.

You, my friend, are far more informed than I concerning the extent of the franchise. It seemed to me like they were really branching with 2025, but after this litany of potential characters/lines, several I've never heard of, I humbly admit my ignorance. It just shows the extraordinary potential of this franchise to keep Hasbro in business producing toys from across a wide swath of continuities for years to come even after G1 is completely exhausted. However, as long as us 80s kids are still kicking and willing to part with our money for these fiddly bits of ABS, they'll continue to mine the deep well of G1 nostalgia.

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, Black Valkyrie said:

 

With Missing Link Convoy out now, maybe Bandai will consider to produce a full articulated Chunky Monkey, who knows. 

 

I'd rather they collabed with Takara to make their 1/48 VF-1 in Jetfire livery. However, given the popularity of the vintage G1 figs and the Missing Link approach to imbuing them with modern articulation, I can understand the desire for a fully articulated Chunky Monkey. If Bandai did agree to it, though, it would only be available through Asian stores; Harmony Gold would be all over it if any attempt was made to sell them in US stores. So wish their Macross license hadn't been renewed.

[mikeszekely]

20 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Given the nature of the Combaticons' alt modes, they really should all be voyagers with a commander class Onslaught to form the body and provide the partsforming bits for Bruticus. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case if Swindle, a leg bot, is only a deluxe. I still keep my CW Bruticus combined on the shelf and I have a feeling he's going to dwarf this new version, if not in height, then in bulk.

Deluxe limbs worked for Menasor b/c the limbs are cars, and that fits scale wise. It doesn't fit with military vehicles or aircraft. It's a bit awkward-looking when scales are so poorly matched.

The thing is, it's not really about their vehicle modes.  It's about their limb modes.  Deluxe limbs worked for Menasor because that's how big they needed to be to combine with the frame and be proportional (although I think Legacy Menasor looks even better with the longer thighs from the DNA upgrade kit).

That being said, aside from Swindle I think Voyagers could still work for Bruticus.  A bigger tank with the front folded over winds up the same length for a leg as a jeep that's not bent in half.  And Blast Off's nose and Vortex's tail stretch farther above Bruticus' head than front ends of Dragstrip and Dead End do over Menasor's.  Of course, just because I think it could work, I highly doubt Hasbro will do it that way.  Especially since we know the Aerialbots are all Deluxes.

26 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

You, my friend, are far more informed than I concerning the extent of the franchise.

Ha, to a point, I guess.  There's still plenty I was never able to power through, like Victory, Cybertron, and RID '15.

27 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

but after this litany of potential characters/lines, several I've never heard of, I humbly admit my ignorance.

Those ones just stand out to me for the reason you felt that Animated Swindle is unlikely without Lugnut, Blitzwing, or Megatron first.  While many Transformers series have been presented as each faction having many members, and the cast of a particular episode is just which of those members we're focusing on this week, some series have had what I'd consider to be a more defined core cast in (nearly) every episode supplemented by occasional guests.  Animated is a good example you're familiar with- Prime, Prowl, Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee were the "main" Autobots, with Megatron, Starscream, Blitzwing, and Lugnut serving as the "main" Decepticons.  The Dinobots, Blackarachnia, Jazz, Shockwave, etc were supplemental cast.

On that note, it's the omissions from Armada that stand out the most to me.  Red Alert will finish what I consider to the be the "main" Autobot cast of he, Prime, and Hot Shot.  Jetfire is another highly-demanded character largely due to the fact that he transformed into pants that Optimus could connect to instead of his trailer.  As for the Decepticons, we've got Megatron and Starscream, which we're getting, and Tidal Wave is popular due to his size (and being a boss/level in the PS2 game), but you need Cyclonus and Demolisher to complete the main Decepticons.  Or with RID '01, even if you're not trying to do the entire main cast, Sideburn was one of three Autobot Brothers.  It's kind of weird that Hasbro put so much effort into making Sideburn that "Cyberverse" Shadowstriker was an obvious pretool of Sideburn that was more a callback to her origin as a convention-exclusive repaint of Sideburn than an honest attempt at her actual Cyberverse character, only to go the next year or so without also doing Prowl and/or X-Brawn.  I guess what I'm getting at is that, while I'm very excited to get new and almost certainly better G1 combiners, I can see where fans of later shows would be frustrated that Legacy started these teams from stuff like the Unicron Trilogy then left them hanging.

At least the Beast Wars crowd can't complain too much.  I'm sure that there are still some more minor fan-favorites like Quickstrike, Depth Charge, or Rampage that could be done, and maybe some BW fans want to seem some Transmetals.  And I do think Big Convoy is a notable omission since we're getting Magmatron.  But really, I'd argue the "main" BW cast was complete when Tarantulas came out at the beginning of Legacy.

[treatment]

another unboxing/review of Missing Link C-01 Convoy/Optimus Prime in english this time by an american in tokyo

 

add/edit:

Another unboxing/review in english:

 

Edited February 26 by treatment
add

[danth]

I wonder if a third party will make bigger thighs to pop on to Missing Link Prime.

[danth]

On 2/25/2024 at 9:18 AM, M'Kyuun said:

I'd rather they collabed with Takara to make their 1/48 VF-1 in Jetfire livery. However, given the popularity of the vintage G1 figs and the Missing Link approach to imbuing them with modern articulation, I can understand the desire for a fully articulated Chunky Monkey. If Bandai did agree to it, though, it would only be available through Asian stores; Harmony Gold would be all over it if any attempt was made to sell them in US stores. So wish their Macross license hadn't been renewed.

I am so down for this!

[CollectorCanine]

My Missing Link Convoy is on the way... I can't wait for it to arrive! I got the toy colors version.

[treatment]

My Missing Link C-01 was delivered today.

pictarz....

usual sucky amz-jp packing

 

Underside to check for crotch tabbing issue some owners have been reporting recently:

 

C-01 vs MP-01:

 

C01 vs HM-R JetFire:

 

C-01 vs UW-04 Devy:

 

Other notes:

I had to loosen up the thigh-screws as they were way bit tight when trying to rotate the thighs the first time.

Other than that, no issues found so far.

Despite Takara nerfing the Trailer by removing the spring-launcher for Roller, this C-01 is a pretty awesome release!

 

 

 

 

 

[mikeszekely]

I ordered ML Convoy and the JAXA one through Hasbro Pulse, so I'm at the mercy of whenever they get those in. But I have a feeling ML Convoy will probably hit around mid-March. Y'know, so I get hit for it and the Haslab at around the same time and my wife throws a fit at the credit card bill.