The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[sh9000]

Target limits Party Wallop to 2 per transaction but with the 30% off sale price and the $10 off $40 offer, each come out to $23.50.

[M'Kyuun]

On 10/8/2024 at 10:10 AM, mikeszekely said:

Rathalos Prime is available to preorder on Pulse. 

@Tking22

Not familiar. What is this this guy from? Looks like a D&D crossover to me.

[Wolf-1]

3 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Not familiar. What is this this guy from? Looks like a D&D crossover to me.

Monster Hunter, the video game series or the movie should you choose that reference instead.

[mikeszekely]

What?

Per my source:

Quote

This, star wars, Sonic, Batman, Hot Wheels, MOTU and NFL. A good 12 months for collabs. Keep them coming.

 

[Black Valkyrie]

 

Still waiting for the TF-Mac 7 Collab.  

 

[mikeszekely]

The Naruto Crossover is available to preorder at Pulse, but I'm going to pass on this one. 

[sh9000]

I hope the Batman Collab is the 1989 Batmobile.

[sh9000]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/TRA-GEN-RETRO-INSPIRED-1/8812974813

https://www.walmart.com/ip/TRA-GEN-RETRO-INSPIRED-2/8788611526

[mikeszekely]

As I was saying on a certain other message board, I think I'll try to grab that Gears.  But between the Netflix release and the SS86 one I'm probably good on Bumblebees.

I did the retro card-style packaging, though.

EDIT: Preorders are live at Walmart.com

Bumblebee

Gears

 

Edited October 11 by mikeszekely

[Hikuro]

I guess the next missing link toy to come out is going to be Sunstreaker.....I'm gonna guess $100 bucks. 

[shazam]

 

[Old_Nash_II]

The "new form" of SS 86 Megatron XD

Pistol-tank

[David Hingtgen]

I was very interested in retro Gears until I saw it was $25, and also remembered that mold's alt-mode.  $25 is a lot for a minibot that I don't like what it turns into.  (despite being a moderately big Gears fan).   Still, cheaper than 3P...

[David Hingtgen]

On 10/10/2024 at 2:36 PM, sh9000 said:

I hope the Batman Collab is the 1989 Batmobile.

It'll be the Batman Forever one just to mess with people.  

[M'Kyuun]

On 10/10/2024 at 12:36 PM, sh9000 said:

I hope the Batman Collab is the 1989 Batmobile.

That would be cool. I'd take a Tumbler, too.

On 10/10/2024 at 6:51 PM, sh9000 said:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/TRA-GEN-RETRO-INSPIRED-1/8812974813

https://www.walmart.com/ip/TRA-GEN-RETRO-INSPIRED-2/8788611526

Love the retro packaging, but I already own both figs and don't feel the need to double dip just for a cardboard backing. Kinda wish they'd go back to packaging like this for the smaller bots, though. Funny they gave Gears his toy face but not Bee. bee's also missing the old toy's sticker detail, which one would expect as a nice tampo. Anyone know if optional retro stickers are coming with these? Well, if not, Toyhax will likely fill void.

1 hour ago, Old_Nash_II said:

The "new form" of SS 86 Megatron XD

Pistol-tank

So, was this actually in one of the comics or just a stand-alone piece for commentary? As much as I want my mainline Megs to turn into a pistol, I really, really hope they don't kludge something like this out of SS86 Megs. It's just weird. If he's going to be a tank, I hope at least that he's a believable tank unlike the most recent Megatron figs where the fusion cannon, which looks obviously like a scope, bifurcates the turret. If they end up making SS86 Megatron a commander class fig, it better have rolling treads and a pretty damned realistic tank mode for $90, as they can put all that budget into engineering in lieu of SS86 Prime's trailer and accessories. Just don't waste effort and money giving him a half-tank-half-pistol hybrid mode.🤢

Anyway, for now, Newage has me covered on the G1 Megatron with pistol alt mode front. I vehemently hope that Magic Square will seize on the opportunity and upscale their excellent legends class Megatron to actual SS86 scale (I imagine Newage thought SS86 would scale with Earthrise, but HasTak kinda thwarted them with a slightly larger figure). That would be awesome. What would be moreso is if they also upscaled their legends class Optimus (Light of Victory) to SS86 scale, as it's, IMHO, superior to SS86 Prime. IMHO, their MP scaled fig of that design, Light of Peace, is currently the pinnacle of OP toys- just an absolutely brilliant figure that every TF fan should own. IMHO.  

17 minutes ago, David Hingtgen said:

It'll be the Batman Forever one just to mess with people.  

Dammit, don't jinx us, David!!!! 😄

Edited Monday at 02:32 AM by M'Kyuun

[mikeszekely]

On 10/10/2024 at 3:36 PM, sh9000 said:

I hope the Batman Collab is the 1989 Batmobile.

In order of preference-

1. 1989 movie Batmobile
2. Batman: TAS Batmobile
3. 1955 Futura Batmobile
4. 1984 Kenner Batmobile

While I could keep ranking Batmobiles, anything beyond that wouldn't cut it for the crossover.  Of course, that's assuming it is a Batmobile.  I wouldn't say no to either the '89 Batwing or the TAS Batwing...

3 hours ago, David Hingtgen said:

I was very interested in retro Gears until I saw it was $25, and also remembered that mold's alt-mode.  $25 is a lot for a minibot that I don't like what it turns into.  (despite being a moderately big Gears fan).   Still, cheaper than 3P...

I mean, yes, you could argue that $5 is too much for a toy you don't really like.  But that's what Deluxes go for these days.  Gears and Smallfoot are alright with me, but where's my Swerve, Hasbro?

3 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Funny they gave Gears his toy face but not Bee.

Yeah, it's been mentioned.  There's some speculation that the retro figure isn't actually trying to match the original G1 figure, but rather the semi-recent (like a couple of years ago) Walmart reissue that has a more cartoon-ish head.

...which of course would leave Hasbro open to doing their own Gen Selects version of Bumblebee with all-black arms and a toy head on the Studio Series toy.

[M'Kyuun]

I hadn't thought much past the '89 or Tumbler Batmobiles, but I wouldn't mind The Animated Series or the 1966 Batman Futura Batmobiles as Transformers. Despite growing up in the 70s and 80s, I wasn't familiar with the Kenner Batmobile (beyond the '66 show, I wasn't a very big Batman fan as a kid). It reminds me a little of the Mach 5 from Speed Racer (Mach GoGoGo) of which I'd love to have a crossover fig. I'd take one of the '97 Mach 5 design as well, especially if they could integrate most or all of its gadgets. I wouldn't mind a Future GPX Cyber Formula Asurada crossover, either, if they're going to do manga/anime related crossovers. I have Wonderful Trans' beautiful take on Drift which becomes an Asurada though the transformation isn't the most fun hence my desire for an official easier-to-transform figure. I'd still like Airwolf and Blue Thunder Transformers, too, while we're wishing. I also wouldn't mind some fictional planes like the MiG-31 from Firefox or the Testor's F-19 Stealth Jet concept created by the late John Andrews.

[Chronocidal]

I'm not sure thy could pull off an 89 Batwing without some massive weirdness to use the wings, but that old F-19 concept would make a solid platform for a transformer, just because it's such a solid brick of a plane with not much wing to get in the way.  

Granted, it might wind up needing some Sv-262 style plastic origami to transform into a chunky robot of any sort, but I am surprised we've never really seen that one.

On the other hand, I'm actually disappointed we didn't see them pull out an X-30 Conquest crossover during all of the GI Joe releases.  All they really had to do was repaint this one.

 

Edited Monday at 07:58 PM by Chronocidal

[Old_Nash_II]

22 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

I'm not sure thy could pull off an 89 Batwing without some massive weirdness to use the wings, but that old F-19 concept would make a solid platform for a transformer, just because it's such a solid brick of a plane with not much wing to get in the way.  

Granted, it might wind up needing some Sv-262 style plastic origami to transform into a chunky robot of any sort, but I am surprised we've never really seen that one.

On the other hand, I'm actually disappointed we didn't see them pull out an X-30 Conquest crossover during all of the GI Joe releases.  All they really had to do was repaint this one.

 

Or a Legacy Animated Starscream XD

Or Whril Dragonfly

[sh9000]

Here's my list of favorite Batmobiles.  I still feel the 1989 Batmobile is most iconic/memorable though.

1989 Batmobile

Batman TAS Batmobile

The New Adventures of Batman Batmobile

Tumbler

Arkham Knight Batmobile

Batman Beyond Batmobile

Batman The Brave and the Bold Batmobile

Superfriends Batmobile

1966 Batmobile

[mikeszekely]

On 10/7/2024 at 2:10 AM, mikeszekely said:

40 years after The Transformers debuted... Hasbro celebrated by giving us the most cartoon-accurate Optimus Prime toy to ever hit a regular retail line.

OK, so that's not all that they did.  See, Optimus Prime sells, so the bean counters more or less want him at every price point.  But instead of shoveling out yet another cartoon-style G1 Optimus, they went in the other direction.  So while Studio Series 86 Optimus goes about accurately capturing the cartoon that made us fans 40 years later, Legacy United Deluxe-class Optimus is an homage to the toy from 40 years ago.

While it's fun to have both of this year's mainline G1 Primes together, for a lot of people the more obvious comparison is going to be the G1 toy that United Optimus homages, or more relevantly Missing Link Convoy, Takara's own 2024 40th anniversary G1-toy-but-articulated offering.  But right away there are some obvious differences, the most immediate of which is size.  The G1 toy is obviously from a time when size classes (or, technically, Transformers themselves) were a thing, but it's closer to a modern Voyager than our new little Deluxe friend, who's roughly the same height as Siege Prowl or Sideswipe.  The lower budget also means giving up chrome on the smokestacks and thighs, which are just gray plastic, as well as the grill, bumper, and fuel tanks which got silver paint instead.  United Optimus has the molded details on his forearms, knees, and toes to replicate the stickers of the G1 toy, but not the paint that Missing Link Convoy got on its own molded sticker details.  Light-piped eyes and gray elbow joints further highlight that this is a cheaper Deluxe-class toy, nor a toy from 40 years ago or a premium collectible for the adults who were kids 40 years ago.

But there are more subtle differences than simply "smaller and cheaper."  United Optimus is actually more proportional.  His shoulders, forearms, thighs, and shins are slightly wider relative to his torso, and aside from his shins, wider than the original/Missing Link toy's.  His arms are proportionally shorter, too, with only a partial cutout for a wheel well on the back of his forearm.  From the back, you can't stare straight through his torso.  Instead of having a large portion of the back of the cab hanging off his shoulder he now has a backpack.  Plus his calves have some additional molded details.

United Optimus doesn't have quite the sheer volume of accessories that Missing Link C-01 did... there's no trailer here.  But you do get an axe, a Matrix, and not one but two rifles.  That's one rifle more than the animation-style C-02 version of Missing Link Convoy that still ran nearly triple United Optimus' price tag.  The thicker rifle is modeled after the one that the earliest pre-rubsign, silver Roller versions of Optimus Prime came with, while the thinner one is based on the post-rubsign, blue Roller version of the G1 toy.

How does United Optimus' articulation compare with Missing Link?  Fairly well, actually.  His head is on a ball joint, so it can swivel but it also has some up/down/sideways tilt Missing Link Convoy lacks.  Shoulders rotate and can move 90 degrees laterally (same).  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees (same).  No wrist swivels or articulated fingers, though, and no ab crunch.  His front bumper is actually a single-piece hinged hip skirt, and the wheels on his hips are also on skirts that can hinge out of the way.  This gives him a full 360 degree waist swivel (much better), plus 90 degrees forward (better), backward (same), and laterally (slightly better) at the hips.  His thighs swivel (same) and his knees bend 90 degrees (slightly worse).  His toes can tilt downward due to transformation (same), and his ankles can pivot 90 degrees (I'll call this one a win for United- the front of ML Convoy's feet can rotate 360 degrees to give him over 90 degrees of faux ankle tilt, but United Optimus actually has a dedicated hinge to move his entire foot).  Finally, United Optimus has ankle swivels.

The 5mm ports on either rifle can slide into either of Prime's fists.  The axe works in basically the same way, with a hollow bubble that fits over Prime's hand that has a 5mm peg inside.

The extra rifle can be stored in a 5mm port on Prime's back.  The bubble around the peg on the axe, though, means that the peg can't reach the 5mm port on his back, nor the ones on his calves or under his toes.  Oh, and I forgot to do it for the review, but yes, his smokestacks can swivel like '86 Prime's.

As for the Matrix, Prime's chest opens up in exactly the same manner as the G1 toy.  There's a little peg and clips inside that the Matrix can plug into.  Although the size and sculpt are similar to the Matrix that comes with SS86 Prime/Earthrise Prime/Rodimus/Galvatron, etc, it might actually be a new sculpt.  86 Prime's Matrix was too loose to clip into United Prime's chest, and United Prime's Matrix is too tight/small to fit over the clips.

If you've ever transformed the G1 toy, you should have a strong idea of what you're doing here.  The head still folds back into the torso, but now you have to open his backpack up first and close it once the head is tucked in.  Instead of removing his fists, you fold the back of his forearm down, then rotate the fist 180 degrees to spin it inside his forearm while turning the headlights out.  The elbows bend, the shoulders fold back, and the arms tuck into the sides, but hold off on tucking them fully in until you've bent down his toes, tabbed his legs together, and folded them backward 90 degrees at the hips like the G1 toy.  When you finally finish tucking the arms in tabs near the insides of his elbows will actually lock into slots on his thighs.

The result is a small but pretty good truck.  It's got the molded rivets, marker lights, door, ladder, intake, wipers, etc as the G1 toy.  It's even got molded lines where the hinge was on the G1 toy at the shoulder.  The tires are still rubber.  They're "Cybertron Radial" instead of Desert Dog, and I think the rest of the text is the size (though my aging eyes can't quite make it out, even with the reading glasses my optometrist made me start wearing this year).  The back of the cab isn't gappy like even the SS86 version, and as I mentioned there's even more molded detail than the smooth G1 toy.  My only real complaints are that, while the front of the bumper got silver paint, the edges of the bumper did not.  Also, the larger shoulder hinge and altered arm proportions break up the silver cab stripe and leave more of a cab behind the windows.

Some of the extra molded detail are the 5mm ports on his calves, which can be used to store his rifles in this mode.  He still has a bump for the trailer, and indeed, he can pull the G1 trailer.  However, the bump has a 5mm port carved into the middle of it, which the axe can use to for storage.

However, that port has another use.  If you're retiring Earthrise Prime for the new SS86 version, hang on to your Earthrise trailer!  Not only can United Prime pull it, but it's actually a lot more proportional with United's smaller size than it was on Earthrise Prime himself.

I think the first question a lot of fans had, given that this is the same year that Takara released Missing Link Convoy, essentially retooling the original G1 toy with additional articulation, is why would Hasbro also release a toy based on the G1 toy but with more articulation?  I think that's kind of missing the point, though.  Missing Link Convoy was a $120 attempt to literally be the G1 toy, but with better articulation.  United Optimus is a $25 Deluxe that wonders, "what if the G1 toys exist in a separate universe than the G1 cartoon when we mash them all together in Legacy?"  Despite taking the form of a 40 year old kid's toy, Missing Link Convoy is a premium collectible, United Optimus is a toy that a modern kid (or adult) can play with, that fits in with your other Legacy figures.  The simple transformation and articulation lend itself well to the kind of figure you want to keep at your desk because you keep messing with it.  Of course, 86 Prime is still going to be the "main" Optimus for most Generations/Legacy/Studio Series displays, and as a one-off premium display piece Missing Link Convoy is going to look better on shelf or in a Detolf than United Optimus.  But the reason the sole new mold in this wave of United gets a recommend from me still is because he's just a fun $25 Optimus toy.

[mark-1s]

19 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

I'm not sure thy could pull off an 89 Batwing without some massive weirdness to use the wings, but that old F-19 concept would make a solid platform for a transformer, just because it's such a solid brick of a plane with not much wing to get in the way.  

Granted, it might wind up needing some Sv-262 style plastic origami to transform into a chunky robot of any sort, but I am surprised we've never really seen that one.

On the other hand, I'm actually disappointed we didn't see them pull out an X-30 Conquest crossover during all of the GI Joe releases.  All they really had to do was repaint this one.

 

I have the yellow repaint Terrordive and he’s such an under appreciated figure IMO - great bot mode with really good articulation for the time, and a plane mode that doesn’t have arms hanging off the side.

[mikeszekely]

MPG-14 Godbomber is now available to preorder on Pulse.

[Old_Nash_II]

Back the "Hate wars"!

 

[mikeszekely]

It's kind of weird that the Leaders, Voyagers, and Cores for wave 4 of Legacy United hit two weeks ago, then Optimus showed up, but the other Deluxes are from this wave are still MIA.  Instead I'm getting more Studio Series figures, so today we'll have a look at Deluxe-class Transformers One Megatron.

The thing about Megatron is, IIRC, his appearance is the one that changes the most throughout the film, so it's going to be nearly impossible for a single figure to nail a particular look.  Near as I can tell, the angled red vents on his chest, the more angular shoulder pads, and especially the helmet suggest it's his final look in the film, and from the front this figure does a rather good job capturing it, though he could use a symbol on his chest.  I guess there's no way to do it in a movie-accurate fashion without spoilers, though.

My biggest gripes with the figure are that his hands are pretty visibly treads, as well as the backs of his arms.  Maybe with a Voyager budget they could have found a better way to hide the tread in bot mode?  He's also super barren and light gray from behind.  In the film his calves should be the same color as his shins and feet, but *spoilers* making his calves black would negatively impact his alt mode.

Megatron comes with a few accessories.  There's a backpack, a fusion cannon, two smaller guns, and another thing that, if you squint, is like a block with another small gun barrel.  And here's where things are getting a little dicey.  The fusion cannon is not the one that his final form uses, it's the one his second form uses.  That form has more rounded shoulders, a flatter chest, and a helmet that's sort of an intermediate step between cogless D-16 and his final Megatron form.  Also, based on his various character models in the film, the small guns and the block with the small barrel are serving the same purpose.

Megatron's head is on a ball joint for swiveling, but he doesn't have much upward or sideways tilt.  A transformation hinge allows him to look down, though, burying his face in the top of his chest.  His shoulders are ball joints that swivel and are cut to give him 90 degrees of lateral movement... most of the time.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows are double jointed and curl 180 degrees.  His wrists swivel.  His waist swivels.  His hips go 90 degrees forward and backward, and nearly 90 degrees laterally if his waist isn't swiveled.  If his waist is swiveled, though, it can overhang his hip and block most of it's lateral movement.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend slightly over 90 degrees.  His feet can't really tilt up, but they can tilt downward for transformation, and he has limited but present ankle pivots.

Megatron has 5mm ports on both forearms.  You're almost certainly going to want to put the fusion cannon on his right forearm.  You have options for his left, though.  You can use the 5mm port with to plug in one of the smaller guns.  The sculpt of those guns is accurate to a smaller gun he had mounted to his left arm in the film, except it should be about half the length of the fusion cannon whereas here it's closer to 80%.  Alternatively, you can use a tab on the silver block to attach it to his forearm instead.  The barrel is thicker and the silver block shouldn't be present, but it's a more accurate length.  This is probably my preference, for a reason I'll get to in a minute.  The small guns can also be held in Megatron's hands.

As for the backpack, a peg on the hollow inside fits into a hinged peg hole on Megatron's back, and near as I can tell he's actually more movie-accurate with the backpack attached.  The backpack has another role, though.  It's storage for all of his accessories.  The instructions will tell you that you can plug the small guns into the ports the sides, and the silver block can use a tab to fit into the inside of the backpack, with just the barrel poking out of the bottom.  There's a tab on the inside that can hold the fusion cannon, though, and the silver slot for the silver block runs through to the outside of the backpack, allowing you to technically store all of his weapons at once.

It's probably not apparent when I'm comparing Megatron with Orion Pax/Optimus Prime, but he's fairly tall for a Deluxe, no more than half a head shorter than Earthrise Starscream.  Bigger Deluxes usually mean less-complicated engineering, and that's definitely the case here.  First remove all his accessories except his backpack.  Then does a split, then hinges in his thighs swivel most of his legs back down in a shorter, wider stance (like G1 Onslaught turning into Bruticus).  His thighs rotate 180 degrees, and his calves double hinge up and out.  This allows you to fold his feet down and spin them into his leg, which spins the front of his treads out to take their place.  His chest double-hinges down over his crotch, and his head folds into his chest.  His fists turn to align the treads on the back of his hands with the treads on the backs of his arms, then his forearms turn 180 degrees, which allows his elbows to curl up so his forearms can tab inot the backs of shoulders.  His backpack untabs from his back and spins 180 degrees on its peg (assuming it stays on the peg).  His backpack and the top of his torso, including the shoulders, kind of fold over so his backpack is on his front, covering his head inside his chest.  Lock everything into place; calves over his toes, then into the sides of his chest, and shoulders swiveled so the treads are on the ground and tabs on the insides of the calves slot into his elbows to lock his arms in place.  Finish it off by plugging the fusion cannon onto the tab on the inside of the backpack, then plugging the barrel on the silver block into the barrel of the fusion cannon.

Megatron's tank mode is probably the best you're going to get on a Deluxe budget without compromising the robot mode more.  The broad strokes are there... turret on top, black treads in the front and back with a gap between them, mostly silver/gray top of the tank with his chest making up the front.  Proportions and details are a bit off, though.  Like, his shins should be facing up, not down, and the gap between the front treads and rear should be a totally empty gap, not occupied by his thighs.  The rear treads should stick back farther, making the turret more centered on top.  The turret should be much longer, and the barrel trapezoidal the entire length, not just the wider segment at the end.

The turret can still elevate and swivel (though doing so will reveal his head).  And the tank's barrel is obviously the combination of the fusion cannon and silver block gun, which is why I prefer to use that one on his forearm; you can't lose it, you need it for alt mode.  What you don't need are the long, thin guns.  They're not on the tank in the film, and honestly I'll probably just toss them in a box with Pax's faux bumper with the extra guns on it.  If you want to keep them around, though, you can either leave them on the backpack as extra turret guns, or (as the instructions suggest) you can plug them into 5mm ports on the sides of the tank.

Pax Prime, our first of the TFOne figures in the Studio Series line, was a figure with some flaws.  I think that, like Pax, Megatron might have benefitted from a higher parts count and a bit more engineering that might have come with a bump up to Voyager-class.   However, even as he is he's a much better figure than Pax- better colors, better articulation, better transformation, better accessories.  I dare say this is the best Megatron has ever been in the Deluxe scale.  Whether you're a fan of the film or just like this Megatron design, this a figure worth checking out.

[mikeszekely]

When it comes to Gamer Edition, Hasbro's kept mostly to the War for Cybertron designs while Planet X has been more focused on Fall of Cybertron, which hasn't left a lot of room for overlap.  Before now it's just been Starscream, who fared reasonably well and even had the better robot mode but was definitely not the better-looking robot.  However, I think Planet X's Starscream was pretty good, and Gamer Edition has been pretty below average even by Hasbro's limited-budget standards.  I didn't expect it to beat Planet X, I was just happy I liked it at all.

Ratchet was a different story, though.  Planet X's Vejovis had a pain-in-the-rear transformation, worse plastic quality than a lot of their previous releases, and a number of inaccuracies in both modes.  When I reviewed him and their Ironhide I called them the worst releases Planet X had done to that point.  Could Studio Series Gamer Edition Voyager-class Ratchet actually be better than a 3rd party figure?

At first glance, you might not think so.  Subjectively-speaking, Ratchet smaller, has less paint, and looks cheaper... which is to be fair, has a lot to do with the fact that he is cheaper.  But then I managed to dig up some art from High Moon's office, and the liberties that Planet X took are a bit more apparent.  Black biceps, hip joints, and feet on Vejovis are all white on Ratchet, gray hands on Vejovis are red on Ratchet, gray on Vejovis' pelvis and thighs are white on Ratchet, plus Ratchet has red knee joints, and in every one of those cases Ratchet is correct and Vejovis is wrong.  Ratchet has visible wheels on his legs instead fenders, differently-shaped shoulder pads, and the red details on the tops of his shins are more trapezoidal and surround a white area, and again, in each case it's Ratchet that's more accurate.

You can barely make out a cross shape on the side of Ratchet's shoulder pads.  That too, is a game-accurate detail that Vejovis lacks, though it should have been painted red.  Aesthetically, I think the only thing Vejovis really has going for him is a smaller backpack and calves that aren't a bunch of folded-up red panels.

Ratchet comes with two accessories.  One is an axe that I don't recall him using in the game, buy it looks like the one that came with Mars, Planet X's Ironhide.  Pretool, I'm guessing.  He also comes with a pronged blaster.  I do believe that it's the Energon Repair Ray used by the scientist class in War For Cybertron's multiplayer mode, so think of it not as a gun for shooting Decepticons, but rather a gun that heals Ratchet's friends when he shoots them with it.

Articulation on Vejovis was another sore spot for me, as he had very lateral movement in the shoulders and hips and knees that could only bend 45 degrees.  Articulation has also been a sore spot for Gamer Edition, but happily Ratchet fares alright in this category.  His head's on a ball joint that can't look down or tilt sideways much, but it swivels and he has decent upward tilt.  His shoulder pads are on hinged ball joints, not actually the shoulders themselves, which allows them to get entirely out of the way so his shoulders can swivel and extend laterally over 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, his elbows bend 90 degrees, and his wrists swivel.  His waist swivels, and his hips can go forward, backward, or laterally 90 degrees.  His thighs swivel just above his knees, which bend 90 degrees.  His toes can tilt up and down, and he's got about 75 degrees of ankle pivot.

Ratchet's repair ray has a 5mm peg on it that allows it to plug into either of his fists.  As for the axe, the handle detaches from the head, then you slide it up through the bottom of his fist and plug the head back on.

There's a tab on Ratchet's backpack that allows you to attach either his repair ray or his ax to his back.  Intentional or not, there are also tabs on the ray that come into play in alt mode that you can wedge into some of the hollow spots on the axe if you want to store both on his back.

Hasbro hasn't actually abandoned the Gamer Edition gimmick, though.  You can still remove his right forearm, leaving behind a 5mm peg that can plug into the back of the repair ray.  It fits rotated 90 degrees from how he'd hold it in his hand, but the white part of the ray is on a mushroom peg and swivels so that you can maintain the orientation you like for the prongs.  While Ratchet's wearing his weapon, you can open up his backpack and you'll find a slot on his back.  His arm has a corresponding tab, and once his arm is attached you can close the backpack back up over the arm, stored safely but out-of-sight.

Transforming Ratchet isn't hard, though the instructions are difficult to follow and it's not immediately obvious how you're supposed to move his shoulder pads.  The gist is that his head scrunches down and the entire front of his torso (including his arms swing upward.  His shoulder pads tuck behind his head so that as you flip his torso up the front of the shoulder pads winds up facing toward the red armature and wrapping around the black inner part of his torso.  His shoulders tuck up under his chest, but transformation hinges fold most of his arms back down against his sides, and his backpack unfolds to finish the cockpit and front fenders and bumper.  His waist spins 180 degrees, then his thighs spin back around 180 degrees.  His shins flip up, unlocking his calves, which unfurl into the rear of his alt mode.  Then his legs fold around to cover over his thighs and everything locks into place.  My favorite part is that the Autobot insignia on his chest folds in so that only the large on from his backpack is showing.  All-in-all, it's not my favorite figure to transform, but it's a whole lot better than Vejovis, and once everything's tabbed in the alt mode is rock solid.

Again, Ratchet looks cheaper than Vejovis.  Vejovis has slick use of translucent plastic and paint, while Ratchet looks like he's missing taillights because the "glow" paint he has is lost in the red plastic.  Same goes for the lights on his roof.  Once again, though, Ratchet is far more accurate than Vejovis.  He doesn't have the random silver bits that Vejovis does, plus he's got black rims with red "glow" lines, red fenders, and more red on the the roof.

A pair of tabs on Ratchet's roof, just behind the red details, fit into slots on the axe, allowing you to mount it on his roof.  Meanwhile, there are two slots on his rear that correspond to a pair of tabs on the side of the Energon repair ray.  Not the prettiest storage, I know, but largely in-line with the other Gamer Edition figures, and no worse than Planet X's method of simply plugging stuff into 5mm ports on the sides.

I think, compared to the other figures I've looked at since SS86 Optimus hit, that Ratchet's just ok.  He's not bad, but he doesn't really wow me, either.  But, compared to strictly the other Gamer Edition figures, he's one of the best offerings so far, right up there with Prime and surpassing Starscream and Megatron.  And frankly, he's a better in most ways than Planet X's version.  Even if you've avoided the lackluster Gamer Edition figures so far, you might want to check out Ratchet in case Hasbro starts doing Fall of Cybertron in Gamer Edition, because he should work there, too.

[Dangard Ace]

Star Wars X Transformers

Mandalorian N-1 Starfighter

 

From HasbroPulse website.

 

 

If this was the RazorCrest, maybe.  N-1 is an easy pass for me.

[mikeszekely]

Here's the link for Walmart preorders. It's apparently an exclusive.

[Chronocidal]

Huh.. not something I'd probably pick up, but I will absolutely give them credit for probably the most creative use of effect parts I've seen so far for a transformer.. or really, any figure.  Snapping them all together to make a display stand is a great way to keep track of them.

[Wolf-1]

The crossover is working better than I anticipated it would; this clearly gives off the Bounty Hunter vibes more than anything Devcon has ever done, this bot could side either way. Still just going to hold out for an official Devcon.

[sh9000]

I just want an official G1 toy version reissue Optimus Prime in G1 packaging.

SS TFTM Devastator.

[mikeszekely]

Hmm... I looked again at my notes.  Unless some Studio Series stuff schedule for January comes out early, I think we might actually be done with new molds outside of collabs for the remainder of the year.  Scratch that, there could be a new Core-class mold or two, but I'm not buying too many of those anymore.  That said, I do have one new Core-class figure to talk about... or more accurately, six Core-class remolds, because it's the Pulsecon Dinoking boxset.

This boxset wasn't much of a surprise.  I expected that the Core-class Dinobots could get retooled from the moment they said that Volcanicus would be six members instead of five, and that Slag was going to be the head and chest.  I was positive the minute they announced the new sixth member would be an ankylosaurus. On a superficial level it made sense; Dinoforce used the same five dinosaurs as the Dinobots, plus an additional ankylosaurus.  But then you think about it, and you remember that Dinoforce were Pretenders, and that the dinosaurs were their Pretender shells, not their actual alt modes.  Their actual alt modes were more abstract monsters, the same abstract monsters that Hasbro stuffed into alien monster Pretender shells instead to make the Pretender Monsters.  Could Hasbro really get away with repainting and putting new heads on their Core-class Dinobots?

It probably helps that the set comes with a ton of new accessories.  To be clear, the set still comes with the little Snarl sword, Grimlock tail, Slag tail (with Gestalt head stored inside), and Scarr's tail (though heavily retooled).  Gone are the two Swoop missiles that turned into a hand.  But in it's place we've got  a pair of missile pods, a scythe, two guns, a connector part, an axe blade, a club, and a new hand on a large blue box.

I'm going to start at the bottom and work my way up, which I think is fine because Goryu (literally "strong dragon" or "strong dinosaur") is the leader of Dinoforce.  Again, he's really just Grimlock with a new head and paint.  The club is meant for him, as he's often seen riding his Pretender shell and waving it around in the Victory cartoon.  While the Grimlock-style molded details aren't exactly a match for Goryu, the colors and head do a fairly good job of selling it.  Some of the molding is even painted white to mimic the Zaku-style tubes on Goryu's torso, and the dino toes on his forearms can almost be mistaken for Goyru's clawed fingers.  One change I might have suggested, though, is to have made his lower legs white isntead of silver, and his hips, thighs, and pelvis green.

Rather than turn into a monster robot with a separate T-Rex Pretender shell, Goryu goes the modern Hasbro route where the Pretender shell is sort of baked into the figure itself.  It kind of works for Goyru.  We can see now that the silver on his robot legs, along with the silver on top of his dino head, and mostly-green body sort of mimics the silver armor and green skin of the Pretender shell.  Goryu can store is club in this mode by flipping the combiner peg out of his back and plugging it into a port on the side of the club.

The other leg is Doryu ("earth dragon").  If you just looked the JG1 toy you might be inclined to think that a blue-and-white Snarl doesn't look all that much like Doryu.  To be fair, the colors Hasbro used don't match the JG1 toy, but they are closer to the Victory cartoon.  The things that are really working against Doryu here are that he had a pretty generic character model in the cartoon, there's nowhere really to hide Snarl's tail, and the face isn't a great likeness.

The new scythe accessory belongs with Doryu.

Another area where Doyru suffers is that for both robot and combined mode it's necessary to use the inner robot's colors, but the inner robot turned into a weird bipedal wolf-faced monster.  The Stegosaurus that was the Pretender shell was, like Goryu, green with gold and silver armor on its back.  So the only accurate thing we can say about a blue-and-white Snarl is that it's a Stegosaurus.

Like Snarl, the sword can store underneath him Doryu dino mode.

As for the scythe, the blade can tilt upward, and the shaft can plug onto a tab on Doyru's back.

Rairyu ("thunder dragon") has the misfortune of being a retool of the worst of the Core-class dinobots.  But hey, at least he gets weapons, unlike poor Sludge.  The missile launchers plug into the sides of Rairyu's arms.  I'm not sure it's fair to say that this mess of a figure looks particularly like either Rairyu or Sludge, but aside from the black on his pelvis the colors are pretty accurate.

Rairyu's Pretender shell actually had gray skin instead of green, with gold, silver, and black armor, so like Goryu painting Sludge's Brotosaurus mode makes for a semi-passable alt mode for Rairyu.  And he can carry his new missile launchers by using angled pegs on the sides and plugging them into peg holes on his hips.

Kakuryu ("horn dragon") is the guy who looks like least like his JG1 toy, which was almost entirely black and white in robot mode.  However, this is due to the animators of Victory wanting Kakuryu to look more like Dinoking's chest.  His hands, head, upper arms, crotch and toes remained black, his legs remained white, but his torso and forearms were changed to gold.  I guess it would have been nice if this toy's thighs were also changed to white, but otherwise it's not too bad.  The biggest difference is really the dino head behind his robot head.

According to the instructions, Kakuryu gets the large gun.  The smaller double-barreled gun has a 5mm peg instead of a smaller one, so none of Dinoforce can hold it by itself.  Instead, you're supposed to plug it into the top of the connector piece, and the axe blade into one side, to make an axe for Kakuryu.  You can store the tail with the gestalt head on Kakuryu's back.

Kakuryu has the same problem as Doyru in that his dinosaur Pretender shell was green with silver armor but that doesn't work with his robot and combined modes.  Also like Doryu, his inner robot's alt mode is also a bipedal monster, but because his colors are changed to match the animation Kakuryu's triceratops mode isn't even colored like his JG1 alt mode.  All the gold and white with hints of blue and red is giving me G2 vibes.

To stow all his gear in alt mode, turn the axe blade and small gun 90 degrees, then open Kakuryu's back to reveal a peg hole.  Plug the connector in, then use a peg on the side of larger gun to plug it into the other side of the connector.

Yokuryu ("wing dragon") didn't have a crest, and he could use a little more blue on his torso and pelvis, but superficial similarities to Swoop like wings on his back and his alt mode's face on his chest work in his favor here.  As mentioned, he swaps the gun/missiles that become a hand for a larger hand with a block of forearm on it.  It has a peg so he can hold it like a cannon.  It's kind of stupid-looking as a weapon, but we'll forgive it later.

Yokuryu's Pretender shell was brown-skinned with gold and silver armor.  However, his inner robot, while not exactly a pterosaur, has white wings, white limbs, a white head, and a blue body, so he deviates less in his alt mode than some of the other guys in this set do.

To use his accessory, you turn it over and plug the combiner peg on his chest into a 5mm port behind the peg he held in bot mode.  You could say that he's carrying a cannon, but I'm content to simply call it a flight stand and leave it at that.

Last up we have Gairyu ("armor dragon").  Gairyu is green on his torso, pelvis, and forearms where he's supposed to be.  His green thighs match his JG1 toy, but not the cartoon.  Meanwhile, his black shoulders, biceps, hands, and lower legs, his green forearms, and the white stripe on his belly match the cartoon, but not the JG1 toy.  The head itself, with the spikey ears, is also a match for the cartoon, but without his wings and the hood made from his alt mode head you could almost mistake him for Goyru.  And, the other five guys had to be five better-known Dinobots first, so they have an excuse for being less-than-accurate.  Scarr, on the other hand, exists entirely so the set could be redone as the Dinoforce, and should have been designed with Gairyu in mind from the get go, and therefore probably should have been a bit more accurate in the first place.

Gairyu's Pretender shell is brown with white spikes and silver and gold armor on his back.  His inner robot's alt mode is almost entirely green with white limbs and a white tail.  So dark gray with green limbs and a green head isn't really correct for either.

Goryu and Doryu transform exactly the same way as Grimlock and Snarl.  However, once you've got them  in their alt mode configuration you plug their crotches onto these I-shaped tabs to give them actually feet in leg mode now.  Also, don't plug the Snarl sword onto Doryu.

Rairyu and Kakuryu transform identically to Slag and Sludge, including partsforming the triceratops tail onto the brotosaurus guy.  Yokuryu and and Gairyu transform mostly like Swoop and Scarr, but the retooled ankylosaurus tail and the Yokuryu's new cannon fill in the forearms of the their arm modes far better than the accessories that came with Swoop and Scarr.

On paper, you wouldn't expect a combination that is 99% still Volcanicus to be all that improved.  However, simply adding a little height via the feet and some more bulk to the forearms does make Dinoking seem more proportional than Volcanicus.  His waist is a bit too skinny, still.  The gold chest and the red paint on the triceratops frill, the white waist, black pelvis, and white thighs are all Dinoking accurate.  The most-green bicep and mostly-black forearm and hand on the left works pretty well.  The right arm suffers again from not enough blue on Yokuryu's torso, but it's not that far off.  The exposed white robot-mode shoulders of Doryu and Goryu leave white stripes across Dinoking's shins that shouldn't be there.

We can arm Dinoking up by combining his accessories.  The small gun has a port on the top that allows it to plug onto the bottom of the larger gun's barrel to become a pistol seen in at least one episode of Victory.  It's also basically the weapon the JG1 toy had.  However, more often than not Dinoking fought with a massive axe in the cartoon.   You can make the axe by plugging the bottom of Doryu's scythe into the top of Goryu's club.  Kakuryu's axe plugs into the top of the scythe, minus the small gun.  Instead of the small gun, plug Doryu's sword into the top.

Dinoking's new parts have some benefits not just to his proportions, but to his articulation as well.  Both of his hands now have wrist swivels.  On his left arm Gairyu's robot arms don't leave any clearance so he still doesn't have a bicep swivel and can only bend his elbow inward, but you do have the clearance to turn Yokuryu's waist, giving Dinoking's right arm a bicep swivel, and you can use Yokuryu's hips and his knees as a double elbow joint, good for just over 90 degrees.  Finally, his new feet have built-in ankle pivots.

Dinoking's hands are 5mm compatible and you can plug is weapons into either hand.  For storage, you can plug the 5mm ports on the club part of his axe onto a 5mm peg on his back.  The instructions suggest pluggin his gun into Gairyu's hand on the back of Dinoking's left arm, but I don't see any reason why you can't use the 5mm peg on the bottom of the small gun to plug it into the axe handle in the 5mm port on the opposite side as the one you used to attach the axe to his back in the first place.

While the extra parts do make Dinoking somewhat improved over Volcanicus, the key word is still "somewhat."  The individual Dinoforce figures are still severely hampered by the realities of the Core-class budget, especially Rairyu.  Dinoforce also suffers in ways the Dinobots didn't, simply because these molds were made to look like the Dinobots, not like Dinoforce.  And as group of Core-class figures, Dinoking is pretty small, roughly the same height as Earthrise Optimus or Megatron and eye-to-crotch with Deathsaurus or Victory Saber (or, for that matter, Legacy Menasor or the Combiner Wars gestalts).  It's cool to get another Japanese G1 character, and Dinoking is the best use of these molds, so I'd recommend picking this set up rather than the invidual Dinobot releases.  That said, if Hasbro ever gets around to a proper Monstructor I hope they do something less like Dinoking and more like Mensaor.