The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[mikeszekely]

By and large, I ran out of display space years ago.  Older purchases get organized into boxes.  Newer purchases live on my desk where I can mess with them for awhile before ultimately boxing them.  And if there's one thing I'm more out of space for, one class that I kind of wish Hasbro would just kill off, it's the Titans.  Right now, I have a display with Metroplex, the other Metroplex, Scorponok, Fortress Maximus, Omega Supreme, Trypticon, Nemesis, and the Ark, and that space is full.  Black Zarak lives off to the side, and that's pretty much only because I thought that Scorponok mold was the best Titan and Black Zarak had gone on deep clearance.  Really, there's not a lot of characters Hasbro left that Hasbro could do in the Titan Class that could get me to open my wallet anymore.  Fortunately for Hasbro (less so for my wallet and my display), Hasbro found one- Legacy United Titan Class Tidal Wave.

Tidal Wave is sort of a weird one.  There seems to be a vocal group who think that Titan is too big for Tidal Wave; they grew up with the original Armada toys and they want a Tidal Wave that works like those toys did.  But I'll be honest, I didn't watch Armada until later in life.  What I did do, though, was play a certain Transformers game on PlayStation 2, one that was based on Armada without me really knowing it at the time.  One where you play through a level infiltrating a Decepticon warship and culminating in the entire level transforming into one of the most epic boss fights in a video game.  That level, and that boss, were of course Tidal Wave, so for me Titan is the only class I'd ever want for him.

So, yeah, right out of the gate, I guess I should note that he doesn't actually look like the Tidal Wave from the game.  The game was based on the American toy; green hands, green head, green boats in his chest, brown shins, purple face, etc.  The new Titan figure is based on the cartoon, which in turn was based on the Japanese version of the toy.  And on that note, Tidal Wave is quite accurate- purple feet, thighs, head, hands, and chest boats, mostly a mix of dark and light gray everywhere else, with a few pink and yellow accents here and there.  The one thing I can point to and say isn't cartoon accurate is the orange windows on his chest boats and the orange accents on his knees, but those are still details from the Japanese toy that the cartoon was based on.

All-in-all, he's pretty accurate, and clean from the sides and back.  Though, his back's full of what appears to be a tiny version of his own torso.

Sorry, with my usual setup unavailable I wasn't able to grab a picture of Tidal Wave with another Titan, just Legacy Armada Megatron.  But you should probably be aware that he's one of the shorter Titans.  Indeed, only Devastator and Predaking are shorter*.  He's maybe a header shorter than the Ark or the Nemesis.  Honestly, I don't actually mind this, at least logistically.  Being slightly smaller makes him easier to play with, and allows him to take up slightly less space.  That said, there is still the "if he's smaller, why does he cost the same" argument.

*I can't say definitely whether or not Trypticon is shorter, since his legs and tail allow him to stand at varying heights.

Tidal Wave comes with a few turrets loose in the box, but he doesn't actually have any accessories.  Not even blast effects, which is a tad unusual at this class/price point.  Instead, much like the Weaponizers/Fossilizers/Armorizers/Junkions Tidal Wave breaks apart into an array of pieces.  This is because, unlike the original toy, pretty much everything you do with Legacy Tidal Wave involves partfsorming.

Before we get to that, though, let's talk articulation.  Aside from size, it's the one area that I assume is an improvement over the original toy.  His head swivels; no tilt.  His shoulders rotate on ratchets, and they can extend over 90 degrees laterally on more ratchets.  He's even got a single click of backwards butterfly due to his transformation.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend a little over 90 degrees.  His hands a kind of weird.  His fingers are all molded together, with a hinge at the base and a hinge in the first knuckles.  He can't bend his fingers too much, though, due to the guns in his palms.  His fingers are attached to the kibble that overhangs his hands, also, so while he does have a wrist swivel his fingers don't swivel with the rest of his hand.  His super thick thumbs do, though, but they have their own swivels, as well as a single hinge.  Moving on from his hands, he does have a waist swivel, but you have to make sure his butt flap is untabbed, and even then on my copy it's super tight.  Speaking of flaps, his butt flap can hinge up out of the way to allow his hips to bend backward over 90 degrees on a ratchet.  His front hip skirt is a single unit, and the boat kibble on his crotch pokes into his belly so it can only fold up so far.  That limits his forward hip range to roughly 75 degrees.  But hey, he's got over 90 degrees of ratcheted lateral movement.  His thighs swivel on ratchets, and his knees bend 90 degrees on more ratchets.  The earliest reviews for this guy (likely stolen factory samples) were having issues with the knee ratchets breaking.  All I can say is that doesn't seem like it'll be an issue on my copy; while I wouldn't call his knee ratchets weak, they're not as tight as the ones in his shoulders or elbows, and then bend without me ever feeling like I'm forcing them or they're going to break.  Anyway, his toes and heels can bend downward, due to transformation, but not upward, and his ankles pivot around 60 degrees on ratchets.

Although Tidal Wave doesn't come with accessories and doesn't really have traditional fists, he's got 5mm ports on the fronts of his biceps, on the outsides of his lower arms near the elbows, on his knees, on the backs of his legs near the edges, in the barrels of the guns in his hands, and in the guns on the four double-barreled turrets on his torso.  You can use those ports to attach other accessories or blast effect parts.  On the subject of turrets, all four of them can rotate and the barrels are hinged.

If you watched the cartoon or played the game, this is the alt mode you're probably most familiar with, as it's the only one that appeared in either of those.  I think that, although often depicted landing and floating in the water, that it's actually supposed to be a spaceship.  It's my understanding that the original toy was able to transform into this mode without partsforming.  That's not the case for the Titan, though.  First you pull his arms off, tuck the connector pegs in, turn the biceps so the deck lines up, open his forearms and spin the fingers around, attach the arms together, and fold up a little chunk of deck on one side and a bridge tower on the other to make a little aircraft carrier.  Then remove his legs by sliding the thighs off the hips.  Open the shins and fold the thighs inside, fold down his toes and heels, and fold out the wings.  There are also connectors tucked in near his ankles; fold those out.  On the torso section, bend his hips so that the connectors are tucked against his body, then pull the entire front of his torso up and spin it 180 degrees.  Take the aircraft carrier and find a groove on the back that slides over the crest on Tidal Wave's head.  Then, untab the boat kibble from his sides and use the double hinges to swing them around so they lock into the sides of the aircraft carrier.  Once that's done, you can bring the front of his torso back down to help lock everything into place.  Finally, reattach his legs by lining up a point on his toe with a groove in the back of the chest boat kibble, a tab sticking off of the thigh connector with a slot on the inside of the foot, the connector peg you flipped out earlier with a slot on the hip/upper thigh, and a peg hole with a peg near the turrets that make up the robot chest.

Aesthetically, I really dig this mode.  With the guns poking out of the bow, the rotating double-barreled turrets, CIWS launchers, a flight deck, engine pods, and catapult doors this ship wouldn't look out of place in a Gundam series.  If I'm being totally honest, I personally think it looks cooler than the Ark or Nemesis' alt modes.  It's pretty screen-accurate, too, aside from the aforementioned touches that came from the Japanese toy.

In this mode, Tidal Wave can roll on a dozen small wheels on his underside.  You can also rotate and aim the turrets.  I think this is one of those times when the Core-class toys come in handy (or better yet, the even smaller Dr. Wu toys).  You could pose some Seekers on the flight deck, for instance.

Tidal Wave doesn't just have the one spacehship mode.  He actually turns into three different boats, a gimmick I understand carried over from the original Armada toy.  To get to this mode, you'll want pull the legs off, then tuck their connector pegs in, plug the legs, and fold up the wings together to make a landing craft.  Use the double-hinges in the double boat hulls to bring them closer in to Tidal Wave's heads, then put the front of his torso back down to lock it in place and form a weird soft of battleship.  As for the arms, well, you don't need to do anything.  They're already an aircraft carrier.

The so-called "Dark Fleet" mode is pretty cool, and I know the original toy could do it, but I don't think it really appeared in the cartoon outside of a few stock transformation scenes.  It's kind of weird, though, that the aircraft carrier is the smallest ship.  It has it's wheels and it can roll, but it doesn't do much else.  I guess it's a shame he doesn't come with a Minicon jet like the original toy.  You can lift the flaps on the landing craft to pretend like it's opening, but there's nothing in there.  I think it'd have been cool of he at least had ramps that opened on his toes.  As for the battleship it still rolls and you can still rotate and aim the turrets. 

So, you know I just said that we really only saw the Dark Fleet mode during stock transformation scenes?  And, you remember how I said that there's a group that thinks Tidal Wave is too big?  A gimmick of the original toy is that the old Armada Megatron/Galvatron toy could combine with Tidal Wave.  That gimmick made it into the cartoon; despite being depicted first as huge battleship, then less huge but still big battle ship that required Hot Shot and Blurr to team up to tip, somehow the Dark Fleet shrank enough to combine with Megatron.  But clearly there's no way that Legacy Megatron is going to combine with boats bigger than he is, right?  But Hasbro thought of that.  Remember, in Tidal Wave's back, there's a thing that looks like a miniature version of his torso in there?  It pulls out.  The flaps you lifted to spin his fingers around on his forearms?  Yank 'em out.  The wings on his legs?  They slide backward with chunks of his calves.  Lastly, open his shins, but instead of folding his thighs inside take a peak at the inside of the shin flap, and you'll find little platform shoes.

Now, swing the take turret around from Megatron's back to his front.  Flip up the gun with the double barrels (too bad we don't have Leader-1 to plug into the tank turret).  Attach the platform shoes to the bottom of Megatron's feet.  Take the back part, swing the double-hulls down, and fold a peg out from the bottom.  That'll allow you to plug it into the 5mm port on one of Megatron's shoulders.  Take the bits you yanked out of his forearms, then transform his fingers and tab them together like they're in ship mode.  You'll find a 5mm peg on a hinge that you can use to plug it into his other shoulder.  Lastly, take the bits you pulled out of his legs.  They have connectors you'll fold out and tab together.  This combined connector has a peg that plugs into Megatron's back, while the parts that they folded out of have asymmetric pegs that fit into the asymmetric ports on the backs of Megatron's shoulder kibble.  And, there you go, Burning Megatron.  So, OK, it's the combination from the show.  That box is checked.  But to be honest, Megatron's joints have trouble supporting even that much weight.  Plus the parts that attach to his arms are attached to his shoulders, not his forearms.  So it's kind of inaccurate.  It'd have been better if, knowing that they were going to do make Tidal Wave, they'd simply given Megatron some ratchet joints, moved the pegs on the arm bits, and allowed them to plug into ports on Megatron's forearms instead.

There's one other cool thing about these smaller bits for Burning Megatron mode.  You can turn them into a miniature Dark Fleet!  I mean, the arm stuff is already basically a miniature aircraft carrier (it's even got a little molded bridge on it), and the back part is the a miniature version of the battleship.  You can plug the shoes on top of the leg parts, then the leg parts combine and you've kind of got yourself a mini landing ship.

Once again, the aircraft carrier doesn't do much.  But the "feet" on the mini landing ship still open up, and although the forward pair of turrets are molded onto the battle ship the two toward the rear are pegged in place and can swivel.  One cool thing about the mini battleship is that, since it just fills a void in his back 99% of the time and isn't really visible in his other modes, you can actually feel free to use all the time.  Make it a 4th, smaller ship in the regular Dark Fleet.  Use the peg that attaches it to Megatron's arm to attach it to Tidal Wave's own arm.  If you don't mind gaps on the sides of the big landing craft, you can put the little landing craft in the Dark Fleet, too.  Taking the little aircraft carrier out of the arms leaves a big, gaping hole in the big aircraft carrier, though.

But that's not all!  Apparently the designers felt kind of bad that Tidal Wave has to partsform into his spaceship mode when the original toy didn't have to, so they wanted to give Tidal Wave a mode that didn't require partsforming.  They came up with a base mode... and they also kind of failed at that "without partsforming" thing.  See, it's true that you don't have to pull his arms and legs off; turn his head 180 degrees and lay him down on his back, lift up the front of his torso, spin it 180 degrees, then fold down the hip flap.  There's a peg built into it near his crotch that'll plug into the back of his head.  Turn his biceps so that his elbows bend backward, then rotate his shoulders 180 degrees.  Fold his feet up as you would for ship mode, make him do a split, then use special joints just for this mode to bend his lower legs back down.  It's a base mode.  But, to really finish it off properly, you have to pull the miniature battle ship out of his back, and use a peg hole to plug it into a peg that was at the top of his chest, turning it into a sort of tower.  Pull the miniature aircraft carrier out of his arms.  One side will use use a peg to plug into a hole under his thigh.  The other plugs into a hole in what's left of his arm to form another tower.  Now pull the winged parts out of his legs, and plug them into the sides of his arms  Finally, remove all four turrets from his torso.  Place two of them in the peg holes on his knees, and the other two on the backs of his shoulders.  So, yeah, it's a base mode, and a pretty decent one at that, but it definitely still takes some partsforming.  I can't be mad at it, though.  It is, at the end of the day, a bonus mode.  You can totally ignore it and still trust that Tidal Wave will still have the basic functionality (if not all the gimmicks) of the original toy.

And speaking as someone who didn't have the original toy and doesn't mind the partsforming on this one, I think its possible that Tidal Wave might actually be my favorite.  I mean, sure, the G1er in me would prefer to say that Scorponok or Trypticon are better, and I might subjectively prefer them, but objectively Tidal Wave has good articulation and balance, a cartoon-accurate bot mode, and cartoon-accurate alt modes.  His base mode is on par with any other base Titan base mode, and his spaceship mode is subjectively probably the best one.  He's big like I prefer, but he comes with smaller parts so he can still do the thing with Megatron.  My copy, at least, doesn't have any QC issues.  There's really not much here to complain about.  That said, if I had to come up with some negatives, I'd say my biggest one is that without any blast effects or other accessories it does seem like you're getting a little less for your money than with previous Titans.  I'd have loved if the parts that attach to Megatron didn't simply exist for that or to make a miniature Dark Fleet.  It'd have been cool of they could actually have combined into mini bot and spaceship modes, too.  Failing that, he probably should have come with Ramjet, his Minicon, and possibly Megatron's Leader-1 since I doubt Galvatron will.  Finally, it's not really a complaint, but I'm concerned about repaints.  We know that Has/Tak is willing to repaint Titans, Fortress Maximus, Scorponok, and Omega Supreme had one each.  I could definitely see Tidal Wave being repainted in toy/game colors, as well as his Energon colors.  Even though I best remember Tidal Wave from the game, I think I'm happier with the cartoon colors than the American toy colors, but if they do Energon colors I might seriously go from "I'm done with Titans" to buying two versions of this mold.

Anyway, if you're strictly G1 then I suppose you'll probably skip Tidal Wave no matter how good he is.  But personally, I think you should get him.  He's simple, but extremely well-done in my opinion.  Metroplex and Fortress Maximus are really starting to feel dated, now...

[lechuck]

New promo for AMT-01 Rodimus, going to be an interesting experience having more diecast metal in a high-end Transformer line from Takara. If this is to compete directly with Bandai's Metal Build line, then Takara has already beaten them by sheer fact that pre-orders are in abundance and prices are low!

https://www.taghobby.com/archives/789277?doing_wp_cron=1720447131.4147160053253173828125

Edited July 8 by lechuck

[tekering]

45 minutes ago, lechuck said:

prices are low!

Compared to Bandai's Metal Build line, perhaps... and maybe the weak yen means ¥30,000 isn't as much as it used to be, but... it's still ¥30,000. 🤨

Plus, it's too big to scale with any other IDW figures (official or otherwise). 😒

[lechuck]

2 hours ago, tekering said:

Compared to Bandai's Metal Build line, perhaps... and maybe the weak yen means ¥30,000 isn't as much as it used to be, but... it's still ¥30,000. 🤨

The 30k JPY is just Takara's MSRP, most pre-orders a going for under 25k at the moment.

2 hours ago, tekering said:

Plus, it's too big to scale with any other IDW figures (official or otherwise). 😒

I think AMT Rodimus is supposed to be 24 cm in height. Even though the design language does not match, that's a preferable size/scale for me with regards to the many MPs I have.

[mikeszekely]

With Wave 3 and the Titan for Legacy United out of the way, it seems like Studio Series is starting to slowly trickle out, too.  Hoping to have more soon, but so far I've just got Deluxe-class Studio Series 86 Bumblebee.

Bumblebee's an interesting release.  On the one hand, this is the fourth Deluxe-class G1-style Bumblebee we've gotten in the post-Siege soft reboot.  However, Origins Bumblebee and World's Collide Bumblebee (aka yellow Cliffjumper with a new head) were both Target exclusives, and Netflix Bumblebee (the guy on the right) was a Walmart exclusive.  That means that SS86 Bumblebee is actually the first G1-style Bumblebee to see a mainstream release, which is instantly a boon to people who weren't able to get the store exclusives.

That said, a lot of serious collectors like myself tried to get their hands on the Netflix release.  Is SS86 an upgrade?  Well, as the brand pushes for more and more cartoon accuracy SS86 Bee does have some advantages.  While a bit bigger than the control art, I think the boxier torso with the visible window on the tummy better matches a lot of scenes from the cartoon (including the scene in the '86 movie where he's at the computer with Spike).  I also prefer the bigger face and eyes.  SS86 Bee also has a better pelvis, with the curved V-shape on the crotch, and the shorter thighs are more proportional.  I think think, from the front, that the flatter feet on Netflix Bee is more accurate (though the bumper looks better on SS86 Bee), but...

From the side, I prefer that SS86's feet are shorter.  Actually, while not totally cartoon accurate his the proportions of his feet really remind me of the G1 toy.  Once again, I prefer the protruding chest.  And I like that his rear wheels aren't visible.  He still has a backpack, but it tucks in tighter, is less visible from the front, and doesn't partsform.

There is one thing that bugs me on SS86, though, and it's the visible wheels on the sides of his feet.  Ever since toys like ToyWorld Bii and MP-21 folded the feet into his heels I've really preferred that.  Though, again, I supposed visible wheels is a callback to the G1 toy.

Instead of folded the wheels under his feet, he's got these panels that fold out from under his toes and the inside of his doors/heels that interlock and lift him up enough that he's not standing directly on his wheels.  Again, personal preference, I still would have preferred if the wheels folded under his feet.

No more Cliffjumper bazooka holdovers, SS86 Bumblebee comes with a pistol.  The details mark it as the same sort of generic Autobot pistol that guys like SS86 Ironhide have.  Actually, it's rather like the pistol that came with the Centurion Drone set that was meant for Bumblebee in the first place.

So here's the thing... Bee's articulation is perfectly adequate.  His head is on a ball joint that looks up, down, tilts sideways, and swivels.  His shoulders are ball joints that swivel and move 90 degrees laterally.  His biceps swivel, his elbows bend 90 degrees, and his wrists swivel.  His waist swivels.  His hips can go forward nearly 90 degrees, and 90 degrees laterally and backward no problem.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  His feet can't tilt up, but they can tilt down slightly and he's got 45 degrees of ankle pivot.  Like I said, perfectly adequate.  The catch, though, is that Netflix Bee can do all of that except the slight downward foot tilt, but he's got more lateral shoulder movement, shoulders that aren't ball joints, a full 90 degrees forward on the hips, and 90 degrees of ankle pivot, giving him a slight edge over SS86 in articulation.

There's also the play pattern to consider.  SS86 Bee can hold his pistol in either hand, or he can carry it on his back using a small tab on one side of the gun and a slot on his backpack.  There are no 5mm ports for other accessories.  Netflix Bee has 5mm ports on his forearms, on the sides of his legs above his ankles, and under his feet, plus technically the one his backpack is plugged into.  World's Collide Bee goes a step further by adding a 5mm port to the backpack itself.

SS86 Bee's transformation has some similarities to Netflix Bee's.  The doors fold off of his heels.  He has to bend backward at the waist.  His arms are bent 90 degrees at the elbows, with his fists pointing toward the back and covered by his backpack.  As I noted, though, he doesn't have to hold onto his backpack with his fists, it's attached to his back via an armature.  His head folds into his torso.  His sides fold out and spin around to reveal the rear wheels, then fold back in to tuck up his arms.  His feet fold down, then keep wrapping around so that his heels enclose his thighs.  I don't think it's the most clever or innovative engineering I've ever seen on a Bumblebee, but I'll say that there's less minor clearance issues and no partsforming, and I overall prefer the transformation to Netflix Bumblebee.

SS86 Bee's car mode is what I think will ultimately make or break this figure for a lot of people.  For Netflix Bee, Hasbro got a license from Volkswagen and the result is a very accurate yellow VW Beetle.  SS86 Bee does not have a license, and skirts that gray area where they change just enough for the Hasbro legal team to argue that it's not a VW Beetle.  I've heard some people suggest, with the flat roof and more angular rear, that it actually resembles the small Buzzworthy figure that had the alt mode that was clearly modeled after Bumper (aka the Mazda Familia minibot).  While I do agree that SS86 Bee could have been a tad rounder, he's actually quite accurate to what we see in the cartoon.  He's still got the round lights, flared fender, and swooshing frunk.  The thicker front bumper with the cross pieces less real VW Beetle and more a mix of cartoon and G1 toy.  He's got the simple silver circles for rims, and his rear tires are bigger than the front, just like the cartoon.  At the back we've got the thicker bumper, the plain red rectangles for taillights, and instead of the realistic engine cover we've got the molded bump-out from the cartoon modeled after the back of Bumblebee's head.  In other words, Netflix Bee is a more realistic car, and you might prefer that.  But objectively speaking, SS86 Bee is a more cartoon-accurate car.  If I'm being honest, I kind of prefer that.

Bee doesn't do too much in car mode.  He rolls great.  As with the bot mode, the pistol can be stored on his backpack, now the rear of the car.  That's an upgrade over Netflix Bee, since the VW license didn't leave him with any 5mm ports in car mode to store any accessories.

So then... do I recommend SS86 Bumblebee?  For those that didn't manage to get any of those store exclusives, definitely yes.  He doesn't do anything special, but he doesn't have to.  He's just a solid all-around G1 Bumblebee figure.  If you've got World's Collide Bumblebee, I'd also say he's an easy upgrade.  He's just more accurate all around than a yellow Earthrise Cliffjumper with a new head.

The harder question is whether you should upgrade if you have Netflix Bumblebee.  As I've noted throughout the review, I think SS86 Bee is more cartoon-accurate, in both modes, he's got a better transformation that doesn't involve partsforming, and I like that he comes with a pistol instead of a Cliffjumper bazooka.  Netflix Bee has slightly better articulation, though, and for some people the more realistic licensed alt mode is better even if it's not entirely cartoon accurate.  If you think you might be in that latter group upgrading might not be necessary.  All I can say, though, is that now that I have both in hand I do slightly prefer SS86 Bumblebee.  What's more, I have the Goldbug version of the Netflix Bee mold from the Target-exclusive Creatures Collide pack, so it's not like I'm giving up on the Netflix mold entirely.  Switching to SS86 Bumblebee simply helps make him and Goldbug be a bit more visually distinct.

(SS86 Bumblebee does NOT come with a Matrix.  The one in the photo is from Legacy Laser Optimus.  The handles are barely gripping the tabs that hold his chest closed, so his chest wouldn't close if I left the Matrix there.  That said, there is enough room inside his chest to toss a Matrix loose in there.)

[Scyla]

On 7/8/2024 at 4:09 PM, lechuck said:

New promo for AMT-01 Rodimus, going to be an interesting experience having more diecast metal in a high-end Transformer line from Takara. If this is to compete directly with Bandai's Metal Build line, then Takara has already beaten them by sheer fact that pre-orders are in abundance and prices are low!

https://www.taghobby.com/archives/789277?doing_wp_cron=1720447131.4147160053253173828125

Few observations:

It is not so far removed from the Metal Build pricing. The last retail Metal Build Gundam was the Exia Devise for ¥22000. The latest release (as far as I can tell) was the Ryuoumaru at ¥33000 and the Lancelot Albion at ¥42800.

But the Metal Builds come with a lot of accessories: hands, a stand, different weapon layouts, effect parts, etc. Rodimus comes with 3.5

Also from seeing the prototype in person and from the pictures I would assume that the toy is not build the same way as the MBs. You can see exposed screws in the arms and parts like the shoulders are quite hollow and the toy could be not fun to handle.

Also some of the deco and details on Rodimus is quite a bit simpler compared to the Metal Builds (and especially the K^3 Rodimus).

So I would say it is a good prices (personally I‘m shocked the toy is not ¥45000 or more) it is not that big of a gap to the Metal Build line.

[sh9000]

I like it.

[tekering]

Would've been nice if his closing credit sequence included some actual credits.  Like, who was the third-party stand-in for Megatron?

[Radioguy]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

I like it.

I love it! Hope they do more!

[mikeszekely]

In order of appearance, near as I can tell:

WFC/Legacy Core-Class Seekers.

The recent multipack redeco of Earthrise Wheeljack, a G1 Mirage, and Newage Flipper/KBB Hornets (the latter two magically turn into Battle Across Time Mirage and Origins Bumblebee).

Earthrise Optimus Prime

Newage Agamemnon (that's the Megatron) and what appears to be Netflix Soundwave with SS86 Rumble inside.  If it wasn't clear when some toys were magically turning into different ones, they're using some editing to make the smaller toys seem bigger, because Agamemnon should be like 60% of the size of that Soundwave.

SS86 Ratchet (fighting a Core-class Thundercracker)

SS86 Jazz (and Core Skywarp)

Netflix Soundwave (with Netflix or Siege Laserbeak), who magically spits out G1 Laserbeak and G1 Ravage.

Siege Sideswipe

Siege Prowl

I can't tell who's flying into the mountain at the end of the theme song.  Multiple core-class Seekers on the Decepticon side.

01 Studio Seed (Cybertron)

The aforementioned redeco Earthrise Wheeljack magically transforms into Origins Wheeljack.  Origins Bee has some kibble removed.

Looks like they switched to Earthrise Voyager Starscream.  Took me a minute, but the other two are DX9 Bluebolt and Skyshaker, from their War in Pocket line.

Origins Bee turned into Origins Bee.  Skywarp and Thundercracker are back to being the Core-class toys... until they transform into the Siege Skywarp and Siege Ion Storm.  Ion Storm is later replaced with Siege Thundercracker.

Despite Siege Soundwave having an easter egg mode meant to mimic that light pole, it's still Netflix Soundwave.  And Siege/Netflix Laserbeak still turns into the G1 toy.

The multipack redeco of Earthrise Trailbreaker joins Siege Prowl and Earthrise Optimus on the elevator.

Origins Jazz.

Siege Shockwave

The first couple of scenes in the credits are toys that we already saw.  First new ones are Earthrise Cliffjumper and the multipack Hound.

SS86 Rumble makes his first appearance in bot mode, along with Netflix/Siege Laserbeak (no G1 toy this time) and Siege Rumble (who's Frenzy, since he's black and red)

That's MP Sideswipe with Hound there.

Earthrise Huffer, SS86 Brawn, and Legacy United Gears

And it ends on a mistransformed Flipper/Hornets (not counting the like & subscribe bit).

All in all, I'd have liked a bit more consistency when using models for the bots, but still very impressive work.

[Dangard Ace]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CSGS2KQZ

 

Amazon UK has leaked SS86 Prime images.

 

I like the jump jets.  Think I'm gonna steal those for Missing Link Convoy.

 

[pengbuzz]

2 minutes ago, Dangard Ace said:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CSGS2KQZ

 

Amazon UK has leaked SS86 Prime images.

 

I like the jump jets.  Think I'm gonna steal those for Missing Link Convoy.

 

That... actually looks pretty good!!

I may actually want that for Christmas or something!

[mikeszekely]

Dang, @Dangard Ace ace just beat me to it.

Anyway, he doesn't look as overstuffed with effects parts and accessories as Rodimus was.  Looks like most of his budget is because he's basically a mini MP-44.  I think he looks fantastic, and I can't wait to get my hands on him.  It's a shame that Hasbro hasn't really done a lot of Commander-class repaints, because I will absolutely buy a second copy with silver pelvis and thighs, stripe on the cab, and blue stripes on the trailer, and a third copy if they do a Nemesis Prime out of the mold.

[pengbuzz]

1 minute ago, mikeszekely said:

Dang, @Dangard Ace ace just beat me to it.

Anyway, he doesn't look as overstuffed with effects parts and accessories as Rodimus was.  Looks like most of his budget is because he's basically a mini MP-44.  I think he looks fantastic, and I can't wait to get my hands on him.  It's a shame that Hasbro hasn't really done a lot of Commander-class repaints, because I will absolutely buy a second copy with silver pelvis and thighs, stripe on the cab, and blue stripes on the trailer, and a third copy if they do a Nemesis Prime out of the mold.

Same! I winder what the price point is for this (if not already mentioned in this thread!).

[mikeszekely]

38 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

Same! I winder what the price point is for this (if not already mentioned in this thread!).

Unless Hasbro changed the price since Magmatron, Commanders retail for $89.99.

[pengbuzz]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Unless Hasbro changed the price since Magmatron, Commanders retail for $89.99.

OUCH.

At that price, they can keep it.

[lechuck]

4 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Dang, @Dangard Ace ace just beat me to it.

Anyway, he doesn't look as overstuffed with effects parts and accessories as Rodimus was.  Looks like most of his budget is because he's basically a mini MP-44.  I think he looks fantastic, and I can't wait to get my hands on him.  It's a shame that Hasbro hasn't really done a lot of Commander-class repaints, because I will absolutely buy a second copy with silver pelvis and thighs, stripe on the cab, and blue stripes on the trailer, and a third copy if they do a Nemesis Prime out of the mold.

It's nowhere near being a Masterpiece in mini let alone MP-44.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

I think Prime looks good. But that head really bugs me for some reason.  Will I buy him, maybe. 

[Negotiator]

No big square head lights! Not movie accurate!

[mikeszekely]

Preorders are set to go live in about 10 minutes...

 

EDIT: Amazon link

BBTS

Pulse, fixed the link, but if it starts acting up again, try searching "Optimus" and clicking on the cart icon next to the preview in the search to add it to your cart.

Entertainment Earth, but it's listed as backordered.

Edited July 16 by mikeszekely

[Tking22]

It's a cool looking Prime, seems like something that would be fun to have as a desk-bot at work, and agreed, definitely seeing and feeling the MP-44 vibes, but with greebles and a better backpack...

[mikeszekely]

SS86 is bigger than ER Prime.

The trailer is tons bigger.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

MP-44 Lite? Sure, I'll bite.  This will be the first TF purchase I've made in loong time.  And thanks for the links, Mike.

[treatment]

3 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

 

Preorders are set to go live in about 10 minutes...

 

EDIT: Amazon link

BBTS

Pulse, fixed the link, but if it starts acting up again, try searching "Optimus" and clicking on the cart icon next to the preview in the search to add it to your cart.

Entertainment Earth, but it's listed as backordered.

 

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

SS86 is bigger than ER Prime.

The trailer is tons bigger.

 

No blue-stripes on trailer and no spring-launcher for Roller.

Oh, and tiny matrix.

Preorder cancelled!

/s

 

On 7/15/2024 at 12:24 PM, lechuck said:

It's nowhere near being a Masterpiece in mini let alone MP-44.

 

Awww!  Don't you be ruining the dream for some now!

 

 

 

 

[Negotiator]

Ugh so late to the party on this one. Got a PO in at entertainment earth, but when I first clicked that Amazon link it said would not ship to my country which didn’t make sense.  I’m in California. After a couple tries it now says unavailable.  Did the Amazon link really work yet or I missed it on Amazon.

[Tking22]

I went ahead and grabbed one on BBTS, MP-44-lite sounds like a good little desk-bot. 

[mikeszekely]

3 hours ago, Negotiator said:

Ugh so late to the party on this one. Got a PO in at entertainment earth, but when I first clicked that Amazon link it said would not ship to my country which didn’t make sense.  I’m in California. After a couple tries it now says unavailable.  Did the Amazon link really work yet or I missed it on Amazon.

Sold out on Amazon.

EDIT: But, if anyone else is coming late to the party, The Chosen Prime just put up their preorders.

Edited July 17 by mikeszekely

[mikeszekely]

I'd have thought that SS86 Prime would have been generating more buzz here.  Maybe you'd rather talk about toys for the upcoming Transformers One movie?  The street date for TFOne toys was apparently this past Tuesday.  Although my local stores seem to think that there's a market for leftover Legacy Crosscuts, Optimus Primal masks, and a smattering of leftover Earthspark toys I was able to get my hands on the new Prime Changers Alpha Trion.

"Prime Changer" might sound like a new thing, but it's more like Hasbro quietly admitting that the "Deluxes" from Cyberverse, Earthspark, and the main Rise of the Beasts line were never actually up to the same standard as the Deluxes in the WFC, Legacy, and Studio Series lines.  While I think this was obvious in the past, when the only direct comparisons for Cyberverse and Earthspark were the Warrior class toys of the same characters, of which the Deluxes were superior, Hasbro could always argue that no, these really were Deluxe-class toys.  It became harder for Hasbro to gaslight the fandom, though, when you could have a Rise of the Beasts Deluxe-class Bumblebee and a Rise of the Beasts Studio Series Deluxe-class Bumblebee side by side and see that one was clearly the inferior.  So, yeah, for TFOne we're getting Prime Changers, which are Deluxe-sized figures that are better than a Warrior-class but not quite up to WFC/Legacy/SS Deluxe-class.

As for the figure itself, outside of the trailer I don't think we've seen much of TFOne's Alpha Trion.  Mostly just enough that I can say that the shape of this figure is largely on-point, but there's some discrepancies in color that are probably due to the choices of plastics and a lack of budget for paint.  For instance, most of that whitish plastic should be purple, and he should have purple on his ankles.

From what I can tell from the trailer, it also looks like Trion has a cloth cape.  The Prime Changer toy does have a cape, but it's made from alt mode kibble and fixed in place.  On the whole, I'm sure a Studio Series figure might look better, but I'm unaware of any Studio Series figure in the the works for Trion, and I think the Prime Changer toy works reasonably well enough.

Alpha Trion comes with two accessories.  They seem to be a beam saber and beam dagger, with the blue-painted blades meant to illustrate that they're made of energy.

Trion's head is on a ball joint.  His ability to turn his head is hampered a little by his long face and he can't look down at all, but he can tilt his head sideways a bit and he has a lot of upward tilt.  His shoulders are also ball joints, and they can swivel and move laterally almost 90 degrees.  His elbows bend 90 degrees.  He doesn't actually have bicep swivels, rather, there's a swivel joint in the forearm below the elbow.  I guess that works more like a wrist swivel?  His actual hands are molded directly into his forearms and don't move.  He has a waist swivel, though.  His hips are ball joints that are capable of moving a little over 90 degrees forward and backward, and a little under it laterally, though his cape might limit how far you can practically move those joints.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  No up/down tilt at the feet, but he does have 90 degrees of ankle pivot.  All-in-all, the extensive use of ball joints and the basic ranges of those joints is very much what you'd expect from the a Cyberverse/Earthspark/ROTB Deluxe- better than a Warrior class, not as good as a WFC/Legacy/Studio Series Deluxe.  I'm happy enough that he has ankle pivots.

Trion has storage for his weapons in bot mode.  If you lift his cape, on one side you'll find a slot that fits at tab on the handle of his beam saber.  On the opposite side in a similar location you'll find a tiny peg that fits into a hole on the beam dagger.  The dagger is pretty inconspicuous tucked away there, but the beam saber looks like it'd be a tripping hazard.

Transformation is pretty simple.  You rotate the forarms and fold out the claws.  His shins shift up over his thighs, allowing you to make use of a digitigrade ankle.  His cape folds together and flips over his head.  You just need to make sure you sandwich the beam dagger in there correctly to form his horn.  Then you finish it up by folding up his heels and plugging his beam saber onto his butt to form his tail.

G1 Alpha Trion never transformed.  At some point the Official Transformers Collectors Club were planning to use either Beast Machines Snarl or possible Lio Convoy as a base to repaint/retool into Alpha Trion for one of their comics.  Although that toy never got past the planning phase, the idea of Alpha Trion as a leonine creature has apparently stuck, as he was made a lion in Titans Returns, and now we have this beast mode for TFOne.  I might suggest, though, that this is not, in fact, a lion.  Rather, it strikes me as a xiezhi (獬豸, or kaichi in Japanese).  Xiezhi is a creature from Chinese mythology that's kind of a mix of a lion, a unicorn, and a goat, and is said to possess an innate ability to discern right from wrong and guilt from innocence.  According to legend, it used it's horn to ram guilty parties in disputes and it would eat corrupt officials.  Xiezhi are seen as symbols of justice.  All of that seems appropriate for a character like Alpha Trion.

As far as movie accuracy goes, aside from a picture on his box (which matches this toy fairly well) I don't think we've really seen Trion's alt mode.  Aside from the visible fists on his front legs, this seems ok to me.

Alas, Trion doesn't do much in this mode.  He's got no head articulation; he can't even open his jaws.  In fact, his entire body minus his limbs is an immobile hunk of plastic.  Worse, Hasbro has this weird insistence on tabbing beast mode legs in place, which would further limit his beast legs, but you can just untab them.  That leaves him with forlimb articulation that's basically the same has his arms.  His rear legs still have the hips and knees, but shifting shin over the thigh blocks the thigh swivels.  As I mentioned, though, he gains a digitigrade ankle bend.

Prime Changers Alpha Trion is a decent figure that seems like it's aimed more toward the kids who will want toys after seeing Transformers One in theaters than adult collectors (which is fine!).  He's fairly small and simple, but looks decent enough and he's reasonably articulated in bot mode.  And at $20, the price sits nicely between the old Warrior class and the WFC/Legacy/SS Deluxes, which seems fair.  If he looks like something you'd be interested in he's worth checking out, but more serious collectors might want to wait for a hypothetical Studio Series version.

[sh9000]

Preordered Studio Series TFTM Optimus Prime at Entertainment Earth.

Episode 1 continued.

[Hikuro]

Well, I've pre-ordered the 86 Optimus for now....I'm not sure if I'll actually get it in the long run but who knows. 

[mikeszekely]

Following up on yesterday's look at Transformers One Alpha Trion, here's the only other one I've found so far- Transformers One Prime Changers Sentinel Prime

Is it a spoiler to say that Transformers One has Sentinel Prime in it?  I mean, the early press and trailer do suggest that it's kind of an Orion Pax origin story, and most Transformers continuities have Sentinel Prime as the Prime before Optimus, so...

Anyway, as another Prime Changer Sentinel is another Deluxe-sized figure that's just a bit below your average WFC/Legacy/Studio Series Deluxe in all things budget-related.  Again, I don't know that we've had a clear look at Sentinel in the movie yet, but from what I can tell the sculpt is fine, and discrepancies in color are likely a mix of questionable lighting in his brief trailer scenes paired with the figure's limited budget.

With objective notes out the way... subjectively, Sentinel's giving off Seeker vibes.  Of course he's got the wings, but the gold outlines on his chest sort mark off where he might have intakes, the dark band down the middle is analogous to a cockpit, and he's even got tiny shoulder intakes.

Sentinel Prime comes with a few more accessories than Alpha Trion did.  We've got a shield.  We've got a pair of smaller, double barreled guns.  And we've got two longer... are those null rays?

Sentinel's head is on a ball joint that can look up a little, but has no real sideways or downward tilt.  His shoulders rotate and can move laterally 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  Like Alpha Trion, he lacks any hand articulation as they're simply painted bits molded into the ends of his forearms.  His waist swivels, limited slightly by his backpack.  His hips are ball joints that go over 90 degrees forward and backward, but only around 45 degrees laterally.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  No up/down tilt on his feet, but his ankles pivot about 45 degrees.

Sentinel's smaller guns have 5mm pegs that he can hold in his hands.  His shield a 5mm peg, too, that's meant to go into a port on his left arm only; his right arm does not have a 5mm port.  As for the longer, null ray-looking guns... well, they don't have pegs.  They have ports, and they're meant to go onto the pegs on top of his shoulders.  To be fair, this is where they go in alt mode, and placing them their means you don't really have to remove them for transformation.  Still, I think the designers missed a beat by not including ports on both arms, by not putting ports instead of pegs on his shoulders, and by not putting pegs on the long guns.  It'd really reinforce the Seeker imagery if he could wear the long guns on his forearms, sure, but I think even if he didn't they'd have made better hand weapons than the smaller guns.

If you don't want Sentinel walking around carrying his guns, or with big guns on his shoulders, they can be stored on his wings.  The small guns point upward by plugging them into peg holes, while the longer guns plug onto pegs near the bottom of his wings.  Unfortunately, there's nowhere for Sentinel to carry his shield except on his arm.  It'd have been nice to have a spot on his back or something, though I guess it'd get in the way of his wings.

As a Prime Changer, Sentinel's transformation is pretty simple.  His backpack hinges away so that you can tuck his head into his back, lifting part of his chest up as you do.  His forearms turn 90 degrees and covers fold from the backs of his forearms over his hands, then his arms rotate at the shoulders and shift up over his head.  His arms come together with that bit of chest.  Covers on open on the backs of his legs, his feet fold in, then you turn his legs inward 90 degrees then fold them over his thighs.  Then you just have to close up his backpack, lock the wings down, and fold out the tips.

It's simple, sure, but honestly pretty effective.  His arms form the front half of the fuselage and cockpit, which helps free him from the usual robot-hiding-under-a-jet thing. It might have been further improved if his legs could have collapsed in a bit more, or gave more of an impression of being intakes, or had something more than hexagonal cutouts on his thighs to suggest exhausts at the rear, but still, for a sub-Deluxe I think this is pretty darn good.

What it may or may not be, though, is movie accurate.  This is because I don't know what Sentinel's alt mode looks like in the actual film, yet.  However, there's an image on the box the toy came in...

The jet on the box is definitely not the same as what the toy turns into.  Rather, the jet looks an awful lot like the Bumblebee Seekers.  Is that a connection?  Is Transformers One a Bumblebee prequel?

Regardless, you can arm up Sentinel's jet mode with his accessories.  As previously mentioned, the long guns can stay on the pegs on his shoulders through the transformation to wind up on the sides of his fuselage.  The small guns plug into the same spot on his wings we used for bot mode storage, now under his wings with just the barrels peaking out.  The covers on the backs of his legs made a 5mm port near the back of the jet, between the vertical stabilizers, where you can plug in his shield.

Between the two Prime Changers so far, I actually prefer Sentinel Prime.  It's a neat design with a little bit better engineering and a better alt mode with a transformation that feels more clever simply for using his arms as the bulk of the fuselage.  Unlike Alpha Trion, though, I believe we do have a leaked listing for a Voyager-class TFOne Sentinel Prime in 2025, so unless you just want a neat little bot to fiddle with you're probably better off waiting for the Studio Series version.

[mikeszekely]

Lots of repaints coming, what with the various store-exclusive lines and all.  I think I'll start with the Target's exclusive 4-pack.

So up first we have Voyager-class Cyberverse Tarn, who's a repaint of Legacy Evolution Tarn.  Now, here's the thing... this mold was clearly molded after Roberts' and Milne's Tarn from the IDW More Than Meets the Eye, and while far from perfect I thought it came out pretty good for a mainline Hasbro Voyager.  But the problem is, while they recolored Tarn, they didn't actually remold anything, so some colors like the purple on his feet and his red biceps look really out of place to me, despite being colored like that in the Cyberverse cartoon.  But there's some weird deco choices here, too, like the fact that he's primarily a dark blue instead of gray, or that to recreate the glowing effect on the Cyberverse cartoon they cast a bunch of his parts in translucent orange when they should be pink.  Round it all off with a thick painted line across his mask where there was no molding for it, in another attempt to recreate the glow of the cartoon model, and it looks like someone drew a Joker smile on him with lipstick.

Everything I said about the bot mode applies to the tank mode, too- the blue is wrong, the orange is wrong, and the red and purple clash with the blue.  The only nice thing I can think of to say is that he got an unpainted purple version of the sword they added when they remolded Tarn into Bludgeon.  So what I'm saying is, don't buy this set for Tarn.  If you really want Tarn in your collection and missed the Legacy Evolution release just wait a few months until he's included as a package refresh in Wave 5 of Legacy United.

After Tarn we have Deluxe-class Tarantulas.  Tarantulas is, at least, a slight remold, sporing the "normal" head from the original toy, though he's otherwise the same down to the accessories.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, as the Tarantulas mold was pretty decent.  Plus, with his name spelled "Tyrantulas" in the instructions, his new head, and his new deco (based on the colors of the original toy's prototype), you can kind of pretend that he's a new character.  After all, pretty much every other Predacon (and Cheetor) got a couple of repaints, why not Tarantulas, too?

I guess the reason I'm a little cooler on him is because, aside from a new head, he doesn't bring anything new to the table.  I mean, that's true for a lot of repaints, but I guess because I've never been as into Beast Wars as I am G1 a Beast Wars redeco based on a prototype doesn't grab me the same way a G1 redeco based on Diaclone does.  I'd rate Tarantulas as still not worth buying this entire pack over, but less likely to be sold off or given away than Tarn.

With Deluxe-class Squeezeplay we starting to cook.  I mean, for starters he's not only G1, but a G1 character where the only prior toy I had was the lone Titan Master.  For two, he pairs well with fellow Decepticon Headmaster Junior Fangry.  And three, in a definite nod to his Masterforce counterpart Cancer, he comes with a pistol that's clearly sculpted to be Browning. 

You can hardly tell by looking at him, but Squeezeplay is actually an extensive retool of Titans Return Mindwipe.  He's got a new head, accessories, legs, kibble, forearms, and parts of his chest and pack.  He shares Mindwipe's shoulders and biceps, the inner parts of his torso, his hands, his pelvis, and some hinges.  That's about it.  Articulation winds up being mostly the same as Mindwipe, but recall that Titans Return is before the soft reboot that came with War for Cybertron and ankles became standard.  So it's a huge relief to see that Squeezeplay has ankles.  That said, the mold is showing it's age a bit with thing legs and ball joints in the shoulders which are super loose on my copy.  Well, Fangry as super loose knees, so I guess they match at least.

It's interesting that while Mindwipe and Squeezeplay don't look like they'd be all that similar at first glance, the transformation is mostly the same- remove the Titan Master, rotate the biceps, and fold up the arms to make the beast mode legs, hinge some kibble around from the robot back to the beast back, and lift the beast head off the robot back and peg it into the crotch, then plug the gun into the shield and the shield into the beast's back to make a tail.  The big difference is the robot legs.  In both cases they do a split, sure, but where Mindwipe's unfold into wings Squeezeplay's legs just become beast arms, with his feet and heels closing up to make claws.

Squeezeplay's Titan Master (named Lokos in this set, like the G1 toy) is not a redeco of the previous Titan Master based on Squeezeplay (named Crashbash).  Despite the black torso, he's actually molded and colored similarly to Cancer's appearance in Masterforce, right down to the motorcycle helmet-style face shield.

Squeezeplay's tummy opens up the way Mindwipe's does, revealing a seat for the Titan Master inside.

Squeezeplay might be worth picking this set up for.  He's got his problems, sure, and a lot of them kind of stem from retooling such an old mold.  But it's really impressive that they managed to get Squeezeplay out of that mold at all, and Mark really put the love in with the Masterforce references.  As I mentioned, he's a great pair with Fangry.  Here's hoping Hasbro can find a way to deliver us a Horri-Bull to complete the trio of Decepticon Headmaster Juniors... or at least one with a body/Transtector (that's a Horri-Bull Titan Master with Brisko and Lokos in the above image).

Finally, we have Deluxe-class Prime Universe Cliffjumper, who's a minor retool of Legacy Chase.  On paper, that's not necessarily something you might get too excited over.  Previous Prime characters brought over to Legacy like Arcee, Bulkhead, Knockout, and Breakdown have been pretty G1-ified and not really a replacement/upgrade for the original Transformers Prime toys.  And Cliffjumper died in the like the first episode, anyway.

And, sure enough, Cliffjumper's definitely a bit G1-ified here, losing a lot of his more rounded, organic shapes and trading his Prime red thighs for more G1-ish dark gray.  But... the Chase mold looks really good in dark gray and red.  Hasbro can call it Prime Universe, but I think he works as well as if G1 Cliffjumper got promoted from minibot to regular carbot (actually, if I can find a second one at a decent price, I have a spare Earthrise Cliffjumper who's head I can steal...).

My only gripe is the accessories.  They're the same ones that came with Chase.  For Chase, that's fine- the two small bits are elements that are on the arms/doors of the Rescue Bots character model, and the claw is a tool used by most of the Rescue Bots Chase toys (and, presumably, in the cartoon).  Now, the base of the claw (sans the actual claws) can, if you squint, kind of pass as a dual-barreled version of the triple barreled guns Cliffjumper used in the Prime cartoon, but what to do with the rest of the bits?  They're just random elements that have nothing to do with Cliffjumper.  Here's hoping DNA or Go Better or something makes some better blasters for him.

When I first saw Chase's alt mode I sort of thought it'd make a decent mold for Barricade, but with the exhaust pipes peaking out from behind the doors I can see how it works for Cliffjumper, too, if Cliffjumper went from a '70s muscle car to a more modern one in the process of getting G1-ified.  Actually, the exhaust pipes strongly suggest that Chase was planned as a pretool for Cliffjumper from the start, though some of the roof parts are remolded without the lightbar and the hood parts are remolded with Cliffjumper's signature horns.

While the hardcore G1ers are probably more interested in Squeezeplay, Cliffjumper's honestly the start of this set for me.  Aside from the accessories, the only complaints I have are the Hot Rod shoulders with limited lateral articulation and the fact that the panels with the exhaust pipes wind up as little kibble wings on his back that can kind of get in the way, both issues I had with Chase.  The positives, though, like the interesting transformation, good-looking bot mode, and cool car also carry over from Chase, though, and again look even better in black and red.  This set's worth picking up for Cliffjumper, especially if you slept on Chase and haven't experienced the mold yet.

 

Edited July 22 by mikeszekely

[mikeszekely]

Couple more repaints.  We're opening today with the Pulse (and friends, I guess?)-exclusive Gobots set.

First up we have Small Foot.  She's a repaint of Legacy United Gears, and she's actually got a new face with goggles and a chin strap that call back to her Hanna-Barbera design.  Despite the new face, she is by and large the same figure, just with a new paint job.

While there are a few minor deco differences, like the yellow on her chest or the slightly different placement of the Autobot insignias, by and large the biggest difference is just that the blue plastic on Gears has been replaced with a yellowy-orange plastic.  But... in the cartoon, Small Foot was mostly red save for her silver face and thighs, and her blue torso.  The thing is, I can't really fault Hasbro.  All the figures in this set homage a 2004 eHobby set that reimagined a couple of G1 mini bots as Gobots- Hasbro is slavishly copying that eHobby set.  I guess the real question is why Takara used such random decos, but it sounds like they were so worried about catching flak from Bandai, despite Bandai only owning the original Machine Robo designs and nothing related to the Gobots names or fiction, that they even dropped the character names from the final product.  So...

...moving along, we have Pathfinder, who's a simple repaint of Velocitron Cosmos.  Interesting, because Cosmos was so shortpacked in the US that Pathfinder might be some people's first experience with the mold.  Anyway, nothing's been retooled here.  The green plastic's been swapped with blue, the dark green paint as been replaced with dark blue, and the paint on the chest is a little different.

As part of the Velocitron line, Cosmos' gun was molded such that he could hold the barrel and a checkered flag could be plugged into it.  It wouldn't make sense to give Pathfinder a checkered flag, but it wouldn't make sense to toss the part, either.  So Hasbro gave her a flag with the Guardians' symbol.

That's right, Pathfinder's also a girl!  It's interesting, looking back, how much more progressive Gobots was at the time.  Transformers went over 50 episodes before briefly introducing some female characters, didn't have a female as part of the main cast until 1986, and didn't have girl toy until Beast Wars in the west (or Masterforce in Japan, I think).  Meanwhile, Tonka dumps a pile of Gobots on someone's desk at Hanna-Barbera and says, "come up with a cartoon to sell these," and right from go that person randomly decides that some of them are girls.

But I digress.  Next up with have Treds, and Treds is all kinds of confusing.  So, in the cartoon Treds is a Guardian, one of the good guys, right?  But the original Treds toy back in the day was one of the very few Gobots that had anything like a faction symbol stickered on.  And that inverted triangle with a lightning bolt indicated that he was a Renegade.  When they did the eHobby set 20 years ago (holy crap am I old), Takara kind of ran with that and put a Decepticon sticker on him.  And that sticker carried over to a tampoed Decepticon badge on this repaint of Kingdom Warpath, despite his instructions labeling him as an Autobot.  I guess the official fiction is that when the Gobots came to the Transformers' dimension Treds joined up with the Decepticons because he figured the others were already gathering intel from the Autobots.

Anyway, Treds is purely a repaint; any other physical differences between Treds and Warpath are due to the fact that I replaced Warpath's doofy shield with a Go Better kit.  But a partsforming shield bothers me way less.

As repaints go, Treds is really the only Gobot in the eHobby set that is actually colored like his Gobots toy.

I have mixed feelings about the Gobots set.  On the one hand, all three are made from pretty solid base molds.  And, if you already picked up the Amazon-exclusive Golden Disc Road Ranger and Generations Selects Bugbite like I did this set is a nice complement that brings you that much closer to updated versions of the entire eHobby crew.  On the other hand... we don't have the entire eHobby Gobots crew.  We're still missing Bad Boy, who would be a repaint of Powerglide, which would likely necessitate a new updated Deluxe-class Powerglide in the first place (and while I'm at it, I wouldn't mind a newer Bugbite from the SS86 Bumblebee mold).  And while I am strongly pro-Gobot, I'd kind of like to see more stuff like Crasher that directly reference the designs of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon rather than an obscure set of G1 repaints colored seemingly randomly.  Ultimately I don't know if I should recommend it or not.  It's an homage of an homage, and kind of niche, but like I said they're three pretty solid base molds.

Not a Gobot, but I'm closing out today with Ferak, the first of Walmart's exclusive Star Raiders line.  Ferak is actually a G1 character, but a super obscure one.  In issue #17 of the Marvel G1 comic (the first appearance of Straxus, BTW), the first page features a trio of jets that look like this:

One of those jets utters the line, "There's nowhwere you can hide from the power of Ferak!"  Blaster shoots Ferak, who never transforms, Ferak crashes, and that's the last we hear of him for years... at least in the US.  In the UK, issue #114 opened with a scene of Decepticon jets (none of which looked like Ferak) attacking the Autobots.  One of them transformed into this unnamed robot:

Are you following me so far?  Now fast forward all the way to 2010.  James Roberts is writing Last Stand of the Wreckers at IDW, and he decides that Ferak is part of Squadron X.  Roberts also decided that the unnamed Decepticon from the Marvel UK story was also Ferak.  Using that Decepticon as a template artist Nick Roche drew this panel:

And although the horns are curved like the Marvel UK story and you can see the suggestion of a cockpit chest, someone else looked at that panel and though Ferak looked a bit like Cyclonus, and in 2014 Universe Cyclonus was repainted into Ferak for that year's Botcon set, the theme of which was Pirates vs Knights*.  And Walmart's Star Raiders are supposed to be pirates, so...

...Star Raider Ferak is a retool of Kingdom Cyclonus.  Interestingly, he does have a number of retooled parts, including his wings, face, shoulders, and chest, but rather than add details like the cockpit in Roche's Last Stand of the Wreckers art everything but the wings looks retooled to better resemble Cyclonus' G1 toy.  

Ferak comes with the same gun that Cyclonus did, but he also comes with two new accessories.  These new guns can tab onto the ends of Ferak's wings, or they can be held in his hands.

In alt mode, we can see that Ferak's nose is also retooled, to be shorter and to end in a rectangular nozzle.  This nozzle is meant to be the nose gun Ferak is seen firing in his very first Marvel appearance.  Likewise, the guns that plug into the ends of his wings and the little intakes or verniers on the leading edges of the wings are callbacks to that original Marvel art.

I don't know about the rest of the Star Raiders line... Ferak is the only one that's shipped so far, though I have preorders for almost the entire line.  Time will tell for the others, then, but Ferak seems like a safe recommend.  I mean, Kingdom Cyclonus is just a really excellent mold, and it looks pretty striking in a mix of grays with bits of red to help it pop.  Plus, even though he's a super obscure character, he is technically a G1 character.

*Another Pirate in the 2014 Botcon Set was Cannonball, whom we'll eventually be seeing again.

[mikeszekely]

Repaints out of the way, we're going to finish up the week with more Transformers One toys since my Target actually decided to stock some.  We'll pick up where we left off on the Prime Changers with Bumblebee/B-127.

I threw the recent Gamer Edition Figure in there to give a broader sense of Bee's size, but I can definitely see a certain design lineage that goes from TFOne B-127 to Bumblebee B-127.  I guess that's the idea, right, that Transformers One is a prequel to Bumblebee and Rise of the Beasts, which may or may not be prequels themselves to the Bayverse, despite massive continuity issues?  Anyway, aside from a few minor quibbles (like, I think Bee's crotch is supposed to be gold) he looks like what I remember from the trailer.

Mostly where the sub-Deluxe budget hit's Bee is just how hollow he is.  The backs of his arms and his butt are clearly visible as waffled out, but less visible from these angles is the insides of his legs.  They're totally hollow from the inside edge, but there's also a gap between his shin and knee that gets bigger when he bends his knee.  Knowing full well that this isn't a Studio Series and in a group below (and cheaper than) a Deluxe, I don't think it's necessarily a dealbreaker, but it's something to be aware of.

Bee comes with two accessories.  One is a pretty standard movieverse-style arm cannon.  The other is his "knife hand" as seen in the trailer.

Bee's head is on a ball joint that can swivel, look up, tilt sideways, but can't look down.  His shoulders are on ball joints that swivel and move a little under 90 degrees laterally.  His bicep swivels are also ball joints, due to how he transforms.  His elbows bend 90 degrees.  No wrist articulation.  His waist swivels.  His hips are ball joints that can go a little over 90 degrees forward, about 90 degrees backward, and a bit under 90 degrees laterally.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  Due to his transformation, his feet can tilt up, but not down.  He also lacks ankle pivots, which is super frustrating because his feet are actually attached to a mushroom peg that lets his feet pivot to line up properly for alt mode, but with his feet folded out the swivel doesn't have the clearance to provide a pivot in bot mode.

Bee's blaster fits over his left fist via a 5mm peg into his fist hole.  His knife has slots in the underside, one of which fits over a tab that exists on his right forearm.

The blaster itself also has tabs that fit into the knife's slots, allowing you to attach them to each other.  When combined, both can be stored on Bee's back using tabs on the blaster and slots on his backpack.

Bee has one other gimmick, and that's that his chest can be removed.  Actually, it's not attached in the box, and packed with his accessories.  Under his chest plate you'll find a painted T-cog, which will likely be significant after I've seen the movie.

Transformation's pretty simple.  His backpack opens so you can fold in his head, then his chest lifts up.  His shoulders double hinge into the cavity left by his chest, rotating the forearms so they meet at an angle and tab together.  His waist rotates 180 degrees, then his legs double hinge out sideways and back up over his thighs and arms.  His feet fold up, and the middle of the roof unfolds from his back.

While not exactly the same, again, I can see the design lineage between this and his Bumblebee alt mode.  And as near as I remember, it's accurate to what we see in the trailer, right down to the long, swooshy back end.

Just like bot mode, Bee's weapons tab together first, then plug into his roof for alt mode storage.  

So, here's the thing... this is Bumblebee we're talking about here.  A guy who's literally like out of every 5 or 6 Studio series releases.  You have to figure that sooner or later Hasbro's going to do a better Studio Series version that addresses the complaints that I have, mainly the hollowness and the lack of proper ankles.  On the other hand, my only real complaints here are hollowness and a lack of proper ankles, which should tell you that this is a pretty darn good figure for the price.  Maybe not as good as Prime Changers Sentinel Prime, but also more of a main character than Sentinel Prime, I'd assume.  He's worth checking out.

[no3Ljm]

Unix Sqaure (Kids Logic x Sentinel) Combot Series 'Transformers' OPTIMUS PRIME