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mikeszekely

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  1. mikeszekely
    You mean it's not vaporware? In all seriousness I'm kind of interested. I dig that it's actually a mini PC and not some Raspberry Pi thing, but I'm waiting for reviews on Atari OS, the default games, whatever game store they decide to use, if it's easy to mod and expand the storage, etc before I drop $400 on it.
  2. mikeszekely
    And now the last (but hopefully just for now) of the Cyberverse Deluxes... Prowl. On initial inspection, Cyberverse Prowl is a pretty G1 Prowl. Then I looked at the animation model, which is even more G1, and I started to notice the issues. His chest is a bit broad. No black around the stars on his shoulders. No painted details on his hip armor. Lots of blue markings that should be black (or at least dark gray). No painted lights on his toes. Actually, his whole feet. See, rather than give him the sort of engineering that'd make the rear of the car his feet, like the G1, MP, or Earthrise toys, Cyberverse Prowl's legs simply unfold, with the actual rear of the car around his knees and his feet are fake car parts. Also, only the front of his crest is painted, leaving a lot of white visible from other angles. Still, these seem like fairly minor complaints on what's otherwise a very solid Prowl. From the back he doesn't even appear too hollow. I mean, his forearms do, but unlike the other recent Cyberverse Deluxes he's got flaps that cover over his calves. Prowl comes with relatively few accessories. He's got a gun that, while a bit shorter, has a very G1 aesthetic. He's also got a pair of weirdly asymmetric blast effects. Prowl's head is on a swivel, so it rotates but there's no tilt. His shoulders are ball joints for rotation and a little over 90 degrees of lateral movement. Biceps swivel, elbows bend, and his wrists swivel. His waist swivels. HIs hips are ball joints that can go about 75 degrees forward, a little more than that backward, but only about 45 degrees laterally. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend just shy of 90 degrees. His feet can tilt down a little, very slightly up, and pivot around 45 degrees. He, of course, holds his gun in either hand. The blast effects can fit on either his gun or the built-in shoulder cannons. Prowl turns into a fairly generic-looking police car. Here he is with Cyberverse Bumblebee. Is it accurate to the animation model? I don't know. I had a hard time finding an image of Prowl's alt mode. Presumably the blue could be black at least, and the unpainted knee joints could be white/striped to match the rest of the car. I also have a feeling that those cutouts over the rear fenders are just to cut back on plastic. Overall, though, it's a reasonably effective if a little generic design. Prowl has a 5mm port on his light bar where you can plug in his gun (it's a shame that they couldn't fit it into an empty space that exists under the hood). While you can, of course, still use the blast effects on his gun there are little nubs on the rear of the car. Despite the use of blue instead of black for his police markings and slightly limited leg articulation Prowl might just be my favorite figure of the entire Cyberverse line. He's got a simple, effective transformation and a solid build that gives him a commanding presence. It's funny because while I've been looking forward to getting my hands on Earthrise Barricade I've always sort of thought that a Prowl/Smokescreen repaint is a bit lazy (even if it goes back to Guido Guidi's artwork). I can't help but think that a Barricade repaint of this Prowl would actually be a better, more visually distinct Generations/War for Cybertron Barricade. And if they retooled a few parts, used the same engineering but made the car a Mustang, well that'd be perfect. But I digress. My point is that this is an excellent Cyberverse figure and a remarkably solid figure all around. Fans of Prowl or transforming police cars might want to check him out, even if they're not into Cyberverse. He's a strong recommend from me.
  3. mikeszekely
    I have a few Kingdom figures that should arrive before the end of 2020 (although not as many as Emgo and Peaugh; no idea where those dudes are getting theirs). I don't expect to have reviews up until late this week or early next, though. EDIT: By the end of the week or early next I'll only need one Deluxe, one Voyager, and the Leader from the first wave.
  4. mikeszekely
    See, that's not what bothered me, and if there was more of that maybe I would have liked it better. My problem is that the hour or so between when she was in the mall as Wonder Woman and the highway scene as Wonder Woman was a lot of Diana being boring. Well, that and the fact that I don't buy Kristen Wiig in serious roles, the final fight between Cheetah and Wonder Woman was a mess of bad CGI and jump shots, they were more interested in making Donald Trump Max Lord the villain than Cheetah, and that comic book Max Lord is a much more interesting character than he was written for the film. It's a shame, because I do really like Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, and Pedro Pascal as actors, but maybe Patty Jenkins isn't all that Hollywood is marketing her as (although to be fair Geoff Johns and David Callaham are also credited as screenwriters for WW84).
  5. mikeszekely
    Continuing with my Target haul, here's the other new Cyberverse Deluxe-class Decepticon, Soundwave. Like Starscream, Soundwave's design feels influenced by Robots in Disguise as much as G1. Out of the box I thought his proportions look fine, but compared to the animation his torso is pretty thin. And, as is all-too-common with Cyberverse toys, he's a bit lacking in paint. It's not too bad compared to some of the others, mostly the blue around the dish on his left shoulder and a few red accents here and there, but I think he's really hurt by the lack of gold on his pelvis "buttons." It's like a signature Soundwave thing, but even though their molded and raised above the rest of his pelvis is the blue is lost on the blue. Fortunately I have some Sharpie metallic paint pens, and the gold is almost a perfect match. Soundwave does have some kibble. He's toting a pretty substantial backpack, and his animation model doesn't have the tires and fenders on the sides of his legs. Soundwave also suffers from some serious hollowness in the forearms and legs. Granted, his feet and hands fold into those voids, but the forearms didn't have to be quite so egregious. Meanwhile, if the fenders and tires folded onto his calves it'd cover the gap and be more animation accurate. Oh well. Soundwave comes with three accessories. You get a weapon, a "sonic blast" effect part, and a little Laserbeak. Well, I assume it's Laserbeak. The packaging and instructions don't say for sure, and the colors are off, but who else would it be? He actually should have a little less red on his mostly-white wings, his head should be black, and he doesn't have the backpack or the yellow toes... I guess they figured that's good enough for an accessory? Soundwave's head is on a swivel, so he can rotate it but there's no up/down/sideways tilt. HIs shoulders swivel, and they move laterally 90 degrees on a detented (but not truly ratcheted) joint). His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees on the same sort of detented-but-not-ratcheted hinge. His wrists are actually ball joints, so they can rotate and bend downward. His waist swivels. His hips are ball joints that go forward 90 degrees and nearly that laterally, but backward is totally blocked by his backpack kibble. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend over 90 degrees. His feet can tilt down due to transformation but not up; in fact, they stop a little short of where I'd like them to be to balance that backpack, making him prone to tipping backward. He does sport slight ankle pivots, but the shape of his legs prevents you from getting a ton of range. His weapon has a slot that matches a tab on his shoulder to become his signature shoulder cannon. It also has a 5mm peg, so he can hold it as a hand-held weapon. Unfortunately, he can't do both at the same time (maybe I have an old Deluxe-class from the War for Cybertron game I can steal a weapon from laying around). The effect part can fit onto either his weapon or the dish on his other shoulder. As for Laserbeak, Soundawve has a Siege-style nub on the front and outside of each forearm as well as on top of his shoulders, and Laserbeak can plug onto them using little holes on his feet. Of course, Lasterbeak can turn into a tape that's even smaller than the Siege Micromaster version, and the tape does fit into Soundwave's chest (although there's no button; you just pull it open). While I think us older fans are fine (and even desirous) of Soundwave turning into a tape deck Hasbro seems to feel that such an alt mode isn't really relevant any more for an evergreen design. So, instead of a tape deck Soundwave turns into a military-style truck that's somewhere between his alt mode in the 2014 IDW story "Earthfall" and the truck mode from the 2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon. Generally-speaking, I think a truck mode works fine for Soundave, but I feel like they could do better. The grill is low on the front, with a large gray hinge visible underneath. The back, where his arms pole through the backpack and where the backpack fails to quite reach his feet, is a bit gappy. And his chest on the hood doesn't work as well as the chest as a window (IDW) or as the grill (RiD). As far as accuracy goes... I don't know. I actually couldn't find an image of Soundwave in alt mode from the cartoon to compare it to. I assume it needs more paint, though. Soundwave's weapon tabs onto the same spot you use to shoulder mount it in robot mode, so like Starscream removal isn't even necessary for transformation. The blast effect again can be used on either the weapon or the dish. Laserbeak can still store inside or be deployed while Soundwave's in truck mode, but there's really nowhere for him to perch on the truck. Technically nubs on his forearms are exposed on the back of the roof, but they're so close to the hinge for his shoulder weapons that there simply isn't enough room for Laserbeak's feet to get on the peg. Soundwave's a nice, middle-of-the-pack sort of figure. He's got a few issues, sure, and those issues keep him from being as good as figures like Bumblebee or Prime, but at the same time I'd argue he's still a better figure than Hot Rod, Grimlock, Arcee, or Thunderhowl. As a major character (at least in G1) and one of the few Decepticons in the line I say get him if you're collecting the Cyberverse Deluxes.
  6. mikeszekely
    OK, so you guys know that obnoxious partsforming tank barrel that comes with Earthrise Megatron (and Gen Selects G2 Megatron)? So here's something I just figured out. On the underside is a screw- remove it. Next, find the seem between the the top of the turret/tank barrel and the bottom of the turret/blade. Get a Q-tip and some rubbing alcohol and carefully seep some alcohol into the seam on the side that faces inside the tank. Wait a few minutes, then use a hobby knife and a spudger to carefully pry them apart. Now you'll still have an obnoxious partforming tank barrel you'll probably set off to the side, but it's a little less obnoxious, while the other part is now a pretty functional G1 toy-style sword. The little pegs will hold them together without the screw for tank mode, although you'll probably need the spudger to separate them again. With all this in mind, although I have no talent for it, I might see if I can model and print some adapters. Maybe get the tank barrel onto Earthrise Megatron's back the way the gun barrel sits there on G1/MP Megatron. For G2 Megatron, something to put the barrel up over his shoulder like actual G2 Megatron.
  7. mikeszekely
    Thanks, but I'm holding out to see if the rumors of a localized version pan out.
  8. mikeszekely
    I'm still not a fan of her chest, but your pics make her look better than the official ones.
  9. mikeszekely
    Went to Target today to get paper plates and one of those smaller cordless Dyson vacuums to help with spot cleaning. They were sold out of paper plates and didn't have the model of vacuum I wanted. But they did have toys... including Cyberverse Deluxe-class Starscream. Seems like not that long ago I picked up Thunderhowl and completed the collection of eight figures (plus the ninth build-a-figure). And one of my biggest complaints about the line as a whole was that they were in fact shoveling out nobodies like Thunderhowl while Megatron and Shockwave were the only two Decepticons. Seems Hasbro heard my complaint, because they abruptly announced three more Deluxes, and two of them are Decepticons. One of them being Starscream. In robot mode Starscream's looking pretty good. The Cyberverse design is a nice blend of G1 with the evergreen Cyberverse style and just a hint of Robots in Disguise. While he still showed flashes of incompetence in the episodes I watched (just the first season) he looks tough enough to actually be Megatron's second-in-command. And, for a change with this line, I almost don't even have to complain about the lack of paint, because aside from some red on his wing stripes and the fact that his forearms should be blue he's pretty accurate to the source material. I don't even think the white forearms look bad on him, but I guess that's a detail I'm going to have to paint. Unfortunately, like many of the Cyberverse figures, he's got some hollow spots. In his legs it's actually for his transformation, as his thighs tuck in there. His arms are just Hasbro being cheap. Unlike the previous eight figures, the new crop of Cyberverse Deluxes doesn't do the BAF thing. So, Starscream just comes with his null rays and some blast effects, one of which has three red missiles and is possibly my favorite blast effect across both Cyberverse and the War for Cybertron Trilogy. Starscream's head is on a ball joint for rotation with a slight downward tilt, good sideways tilt, and excellent upward tilt. His shoulders are also ball joints for rotation and up to 90 degrees of lateral movement, and his wings are hinged to stay clear of his arms. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend just a touch over 90 degrees. His wrists swivel. His waist swivels His hips are ball joints that can go 90 degrees forward, maybe 75 degrees laterally, but only about 45 degrees backward due to his back kibble. His thighs swivel, and due to transformation his knees can bend nearly 180 degrees. His feet can't tilt up, but if you don't mind unhooking his heels his feet can tilt down, plus he's got about 60 degrees of ankle pivot. The null rays are meant to plug into holes on his forearms, although they're just 5mm pegs and they could be held as a gun in your average Transformer's fists. The blast effects plug onto the ends of the null rays. As for the missiles, I'm not sure where they're supposed to be firing from but Starscream's got those little Siege bumps under his pec intakes, and the effect part can plug into either of them. It actually looks pretty cool, although it makes me wish he were compatible with something like the flight stand that came with Studio Series Soundwave Starscream's transformation is one of the more complex ones in the Cyberverse line. And the result is... well... let's just say it doesn't strike me as particularly sleek. Or aerodynamic. And yet, as near as I can tell, it's not totally inaccurate to the source material. Those big boxy intakes aft of the cockpit? Accurate. The slightly elevated vent between them? It's red in the cartoon (and on the box) instead of gray, but otherwise accurate. The shape of the wings, the long nose and little canards? Accurate. His stabs are a little small, but really the biggest departure from the cartoon, like most Transformers toys, is the junk he's carrying on his underside. Namely, a bit of his shins and his totally-not-hiding-at-all arms. Let's say I'm not a huge fan of this jet mode, but it's like 30% the underside kibble and 70% I'm not really into his Cyberverse alt mode in the first place and they're just being accurate to it. Starscream's null rays peek out from under his wings, which is accurate to to the cartoon, by staying in the same ports as they used in robot mode, so you don't have to remove them for transformation. The blast effects again just plug into the tips of the null rays. For the missiles there's a Siege nub under the nose, and I'm still a fan of that one. I'd say Cyberverse Deluxe-class Starscream is a pretty good figure. Unlike a lot of the previous figures I won't have to do a ton of touch-up painting, and I think his robot mode is pretty great. I'm less enthusiastic about his alt mode, but again a lot of my gripes with it are accurate to the cartoon so I can't really fault them for it. I do still wish they'd use a little more paint and swap some of those ball joints for universals (they can stop with the blast effects and re-direct that budget into figure itself), but I'd say overall he's one of the better figures in the Cyberverse Deluxe line. So, if you're collecting from the Cyberverse line he's a recommend as a good figure and a much-needed Decepticon addition. Frankly, I'd be interested in a few repaints to help fill out the Decepticon ranks, especially if one of them is Slipstream.
  10. mikeszekely
    It's not just that- if there was some sign that they were checking off a list, however slowly, I could see an argument for waiting. But during that 17 year stretch that they weren't doing Gears, Brawn, Wincharger, Cliffjumper, Jazz, Trailbreaker, Slag, Sludge, Snarl, Mirage, Jetfire, Reflector, or the Insecticons they've managed to release Optimus three times, Bumblebee twice, Megatron twice, and they're coming up on a third Starscream. They just want to do the big money characters. Maybe Brawn has enough screen time to warrant a Takara figure from them a decade from now after they do Soundave 2.0, Prowl 2.0, and Bumblebee 3.0, but I'd bet some anniversary comes up and you see MPs of the big names from the Unicron Trilogy or Prime before then. Speaking of Prime... awhile back a company called APC Toys released a slightly improved KO of First Edition Voyager-class Optimus Prime, which while I'm not super keen on KOs I thought was a decent way for Prime fans to get their hands on a figure that didn't see a wide release (despite being better than the more-common RiD Voyager-class toy). Well, APC did stop there, and now they've released Dark Master, the Megatron to go with that Prime. While Prime was basically a 1:1 KO with a few extra accessories (that themselves seemed to be KOs of Dr Wu's stuff) a bit more work went into Dark Master. Rather than starting with RiD Megatron (right, custom-painted with some aftermarket parts), basically the only Voyager mold from Takara Tomy (others like Sharticon Megatron were remolds of RiD), APC Toys decided to start with the mold many fans considered to be the superior one- the Deluxe-class First Edition version (left). This left APC with a little more work to do. For starters, they had to make it bigger. In fact, Dark Master is significantly bigger than both of the official Megatrons. They also made a few changes to the mold. Ball joints on the hips and shoulders of the original toy have been replaced with universal joints, and pivots have been added to the ankles. Plus, the backpack has been modified, with the sides collapsing in on double hinges and the part that Megatron peeks through in alt mode rotates and lies neatly on top instead of only half attempting to tuck behind. One more quick size comparison with APC/FE Prime, who himself is slightly taller than RiD Prime, and then we'll talk about the other big difference- paint. Like I said, Prime was pretty much a 1:1 KO, with a little extra silver paint on the midriff but mostly using the same brownish-gunmetal on the biceps, knees, and hands and same unpainted plastic as FE Prime. Dark Master comes in two versions, and both favor paint over the gray plastic of the official FE toy. The difference is in how they're painted. The regular version is a bright silver. The version I got is the "Battle Damage" version, which uses a wash to replicate the scratched-up look of the animation model but at the expense of making him a bit darker overall. So, you'll have to decide if you want a more accurate color and less-accurate cleanliness or a less-accurate silver with more realistic weathering. All I can say is that I don't regret going with this version, but I think I'd have been happy with the other other version. Unlike Prime, who was re-released with a more premium, cartoon-accurate paintjob (which I'll have in-hand in a month or two). Dark Master comes with his fusion cannon, but like Prime he comes with a few bonus accessories (which again may or may not be copies of Dr Wu stuff). You get a pair of arm blades, that have the same wash and just a hint of purple at the base. You get the Dark Star Saber. And you get a holder for said Dark Star Saber. Oh, and unlike the FE toy, Dark Master's fusion cannon has a small switch on one side, and with some batteries it'll light up. The instructions, which are entirely in Chinese, weren't helpful in figuring out what batteries to use, but our friends at ShowZ Store tell me that LR41/AG3 is the way to go. Unfortunately, despite having a plethora of button cell batteries I've picked up for any number of transforming toys over the years that's one size I don't have. Dark Master's head is on a ball joint that can look down a little and tilt sideways a bit, but he can't really look up due to the shape of his helmet. His shoulders rotate and can move 90 degrees laterally (although his backpack gets in the way if you're rotating and moving laterally). His biceps swivel, and his double-jointed elbows can curl all the way up. His wrists can swivel, but unfortunately he lacks a waist swivel (but both the FE and RiD official figures don't have waist swivels either). His hips can move forward a little under 90 degrees, backward about 60 degrees, and laterally 90 degrees. His thighs swivel just above his knees, which bend 90 degrees. His feet can tilt down a little, mostly due to transformation, but as previously mentioned APC added a slight ankle pivot. Nothing great, but enough to keep his feet flat in a moderate A-stance. Dark Master's cannon works the same as the FE toys, which is to say that there's a small rectangular tab on it that fits into a small rectangular hole on his right arm only (with a groove behind it to accommodate the alt-mode tabs), but it also has a fold-out 5mm handle for other figures to hold. The arm blades have pegs that fit into holes on either forearm, just above his wrists. To get him to hold the Dark Star Saber you have to pop off the pommel, then slide the weapon into his hand before replacing the pommel. He doesn't have to hold the sword, though. The remaining accessory fits into the head-hole on his backpack, oval-end first, with two tabs securing it. The outside has a clip that fits around the blade of the sword, and that clip is on a swivel so you can have him wear it at whatever angle suits you. While there's a few extra steps in transforming the backpack the transformation and alt mode is basically the same as the First Edition toy, which is mostly a good thing. While fairly similar to the RiD version I've always thought it to be slightly easier and cleaner. While I do think it's better than the RiD toy, it's not exactly screen accurate, and it doesn't really lie flat. Neither of those issues are exactly APC's fault, though, since they're just copying what HasTak did with the FE figure. And, to be fair, Megatron seemed to require a lot of anime magic to get to alt mode in the cartoon. It would be cool to see if a 3P could come up with a more original design that does a better job with the alt mode while maintaining at least this level of robot mode, sure, especially if said toy were more MP-ish. Still, this is the best transforming Prime Megatron I think you can buy, and for a very reasonable $50-ish no less. With the anniversary of Prime hitting and Hasbro themselves re-issuing some Japan-only figures you might be finding yourself (like me) dusting off your old Prime collection. If you are, Dark Master is a definite upgrade over RiD Megatron, and the larger size help him scale better with figures like FE Prime and RiD Starscream, and I recommend him. Sure, I'd prefer if a company would offer more original designs, but honestly I'm happy that someone is giving Prime some love, and I'd greatly appreciate improved versions of Knock Out and Airachnid. And any in-scale version of Hardshell. Alas, their next project seems to be a KO of FE Arcee, which I don't really need. They've also teased a KO of FE Bulkhead which I am absolutely in for.
  11. mikeszekely
    I want it!
  12. mikeszekely
    I just watched it. I thought the special effects were pretty bad, the fight at the end was pretty bad, the movie was way too long, and Hollywood needs to stop trying to sell me on Kristen Wiig. I still like Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, the mall scene was pretty cool, and I liked the scene where Steve was trying to figure out '80s fashion. I'd give it a C-. EDIT: Oh, the mid-credits scene was fantastic.
  13. mikeszekely
    I don't know if it is or isn't fan made, but it seems official enough to have been used as the basis for RED and Super 7 Soundave. That said, you're absolutely right, he was animated with silver (or white) shins. At least in the '86 movie, which is about the best animation G1 got.
  14. mikeszekely
    Ugh. Thrust is delayed again. On the plus side Kingdom is starting to trickle out. Heard BBTS got all the Deluxes in. I didn't bother to cancel any of my preorders, but Paleotrex turned up from Amazon this morning. Reviews will have to wait until after Christmas, though, since I use the desk in the guest room for pictures and my parents are staying overnight on Christmas Eve. Huh. Stuff's coming out early, but I just got an email from Amazon saying that Cheetor's delayed until April. Maybe I'll cancel and order from BBTS after all (although they're out of Warpath now).
  15. mikeszekely
    I've been fence-sitting myself. I'm not interested in the helicopter, but I might get the jets.
  16. mikeszekely
    Try bababobo0712. He's an eBay seller that recently opened a web store. He's got it for a little more than ShowZ, but it looks like he offers free epacket to France.
  17. mikeszekely
    Almost forgot, no prototype or anything yet, but here's artwork for the J-15 (the KO Flanker). Apparently these are all from some Chinese manga called "No Sky 2035."
  18. mikeszekely
    No idea. But it's in stock at ShowZ Store. They're reliable; I've bought a ton from them. They ship to many countries from China.
  19. mikeszekely
    Heads up, fans of that J-20 figure. TFC is apparently going to continue the line. The next one will be based on China's Z-10 helicopter, and artwork show suggests they could be doing a Chinese Flanker after that. Not going to guess what the silhouetted ones are, as I'm not an expert on Chinese military craft, although I'd suggest the first one that looks like an F-35 is probably the J-31, which was allegedly developed after PLA-sponsered hackers got into Lockheed and stole terrabytes worth of data on the F-35.
  20. mikeszekely
    Presumably you mean the black band with the yellow and red squares on his knees, and the squares on the silver part of his shoulder? Maybe some red for the rectangle above the silver? All details that are on the G1 toy's stickers. If G1 toy is your reference, though, you might ask why the red bits with the yellow triangles on his knees weren't painted, too (because they're molded onto Netflix Soundwave). Well, if you look at the MP, the details are all molded on (like they are with Netflix Soundwave), but only the little red bit is colored. And if you refer back to the Sunbow art he's got silver patches on his knees, but with no silver on his shins, no silver on his shoulders, and none of the molded detail. So I can't really fault Hasbro for walking a line between toy and cartoon on that. But, you'll notice that G1 toy, MP toy, and Sunbow all have the red stripes on his weapons and forearms. Omitting a detail that's on every version is just cheap and lazy. Fortunately it was a pretty easy fix. For the weapons I just swapped with Siege Soundwave. With his yellow eyes, backpack, different molded details, and Cybertronian alt mode I don't need Siege to be as G1-accurate, and as pods on his engine nacelles they kind of look better without stripes anyway, so he won't miss his original accessories. Then for the arm stripes I carefully (but, on close inspection, perhaps not carefully enough) went over the molded band with the fine point of an alcohol-based Ohuhu 15 Red marker. (Mind the photo, I'm taking down my usual photo space in the guest bedroom since my parents are staying with us for the holiday, so I just grabbed a quick pic at my messy and sub-optimally lit computer desk.)
  21. mikeszekely
    Netflix Soundwave came today! Netflix Soundwave is a very heavy retool of Siege Soundwave. Most of his body is actually new; only his feet, hip skirts, the back of his head, the door on his chest and the button, and his arms from the biceps down are re-used. The result takes a Soundwave that already had a strong G1 aesthetic and fixes a lot of the complaints I had by ditching the backpack, swapping the yellow eyes for red, and replacing the dull gold on his chest with a brighter yellow. Unfortunately, it introduced a few new complaints, mostly the lack of red stripes on the accessories and around his wrists. A look at the back shows again how extensive this remold was, but also starts to raise some questions for me. Like, if almost every part in his body was new, why not give him new arms, too? The Siege landing skids on the backs of his arms are a head-scratcher. Speaking of reused stuff from Siege, he comes with the same accessories. That his shoulder cannon, his rifle, and a pistol that isn't really associated with the character. Of course, for the extra $10 premium over the Siege figure he also comes with two "tapes," Laserbeak and Ravage. It's a fair deal, since they were originally sold on their own as a Micromaster two-pack $10, and unlike Prime's Battlemasters you probably want Soundwave's tapes. From one side the new versions of the tapes are identical to the old ones. From the other, though, you can see that they're decoed a bit more like the G1 toys (left) than the previous versions (right). In beast mode I think the older Laserbeak has more cartoon-accurate wings, but he's got that goofy head inspired by the War for Cybertron videogame. This new figure has a new head that's more G1-accurate. As for Ravage, he too has a new head, and... it's kind of derpy. I mean, the old one wasn't anything to write home about, but the new one... yeesh. Otherwise it boils down to the old one looking more cartoony, the new one looking more G1 toy, and neither being particularly good. Still, it's tapes for your Soundwave! And they do, of course, work with Soundwave. You can only store one at time, but his chest does open up by pushing the button on his shoulder. It's a carry over from the Siege toy, but it bears repeating that his left hand his molded so his index finger is extended a bit in a button-pressing fashion. I'll also remind you that the extra pistol unfolds, allowing you to link his shoulder cannon and his rifle into a long... thing. Or, you know, you could always give it to a bot who needs a gun, like Sunstreaker/Cordon/Spinout/Wheeljack/Exhaust. (Even with the extensive remold his articulation is basically the same as Siege's, BTW.) All the remolded parts allow Netflix Soundwave to do what people have been trying to fan-mode onto Siege- turn into a tape deck. From the front it's quite passable, with the REC/BATT (although the light is just a rivet), the speakers with the R and L, etc. The only the thing really seems off is some of the details on the side, due to his shins facing out instead of in, and the fact that the bottom has a bit of a lip. The button still opens the door, and a tape can still fit inside. Best of all, it's not a goofy-looking spaceship. The back, unfortunately, didn't come out so well, with molded details jutting out from the sides and his arms just kind of chilling back there. With the numerous peg holes back there you can plug in his accessories so that you don't lose them, but they're even worse at blending in. I can't help but wonder if some of this could have been avoided if they'd just started from scratch on an Earth-mode Soundwave instead of retooling the Siege toy. When the dust settles, while I do wish his alt mode could have been a bit tidier and I really miss the red stripes on his arms (for the accessories I just swapped with Siege's), for the most part this is still an improvement over the Siege toy and much more in-line with what collectors have really wanted since Hasbro started rolling out Classics back in 2006: a Voyager-class, very G1 Soundwave that turns into a tape deck. The fact that he comes with some tapes is that much sweeter, and if you can get your hands on him I recommend you do so.
  22. mikeszekely
    If you can cancel, Spinout and Cordon are back in stock today at Pulse. As is Sandstorm (which I put in an order for).
  23. mikeszekely
    In anticipation of (someday) getting a PS5 I replaced my own TV with a 75" 4K LG Nanocell, and it's still got a component video hookup. A company called HD Retrovision makes a component video cable for the SNES, and I think the Gamecube had an official one. If you have other older consoles you want to use, though, you might be better off investing in a good composite/S-Video/component to HDMI converter. Just make sure it has a decent upscaler; modern TVs can't really handle the native resolutions of stuff like the NES.
  24. mikeszekely
    I don't have the game and can't comment on it specifically, but your TV is almost certainly too small for that distance. A rule of thumb is that the optimum distance is between 1.5 and 2.5 times the diagonal screen distance. For 9' away, you should have at least a 43" TV (which seems like a weird size, but apparently Samsung does make them), and you could go all the way up to 70". Rtings.com has a more advanced way of calculating the optimal screen size based on the TV screen filling up about 30 degrees of your field of view (for mixed usage), and a 65" TV would be the sweet spot for sitting 9' away.
  25. mikeszekely
    I'm on the western side, too, just outside Pittsburgh. And yeah, it turned out to be a big one, 9.2". Fortunately I'd stocked up on groceries before the storm, and we're all working/schooling at home already due to COVID. So aside from killing my back clearing the driveway we're all safe and sound (although I have no idea when Soundwave's actually coming). Spinout and Cordon did show up today, though. These guys are very basic repaints. All the black parts are still black, and all the yellow plastic was replaced with red for Spinout and white for Cordon (except for Cordon's hips and the armature his chest is on, which are black for some reason and probably would have looked better if they were white). Spinout retains the translucent blue plastic with a layer of paint underneath that Sunstreaker has, but Cordon's translucent plastic is clear with no paint, and it looks a bit shabby as a result. However, he's at least partially remolded. Unlike the Siege Lambos and the Datsuns, Cordon's lightbar isn't pegged into a pre-existing 5mm port- it's actually molded onto his chest. Spinout has the same yellow on his ears that Sunstreaker does, but he has yellow eyes instead of blue, which matches the Diaclone toy that the deco is based on. Cordon has his ears painted red, which likewise matched the old Diaclone toy Cordon is based on as well as the MP toy. However, instead of the red eyes that were used on both of those toys Gen Selects Cordon has blue eyes. Sadly, just like Sunstreaker, their only accessory is their engine backpack. So again, Spinout is basically red Sunstreaker, although they did add a touch more black paint onto the vents over the rear wheels. That's fine; since that's basically what he's supposed to look like. I can't help but be a bit disappointed with Cordon, though. Again, there's the fact that the unpainted, un-tinted windows are a bit shabby, but aside from the lightbar on top there's really nothing to indicate that he's a police vehicle. There's very little black on the nose, and it doesn't swoop in from the sides to a point and he's lacking the chrysanthemum badge. From the side you can see that the recess on the sides is painted black on Spinout and Cordon, and I belatedly wish they'd done it on Sunstreaker, too (but I guess that's not cartoon accurate). Cordon has the bottom edges painted black between the wheels, but not the sides of the nose. And, again, nothing to indicate that he's a police car. No "POLICE" or even 警視庁 written on the side. Hopefully Reprolabels can fix it. The worst bit, though, is the lack of paint on the tails. The plastic used to for the forearms, and therefore most of the rear, is black on all three, but Hasbro painted Sunstreaker yellow on the sides most visible in alt mode (even if they didn't do a great job matching that paint to the yellow plastic). Cordon and Spinout don't get that courtesy. Cordon almost gets a pass, what with his colors already being black and white, but honestly I think it looks bad on both of them. So here's where I'm at... I could live without Spinout, same as I could have lived without Tigertrack. But I'm a sucker for police cars, so Cordon was a must-have for me. Spinout's just along for the ride. It helps that this is a good mold, though. I just wish they had guns and spoilers (but word on the street is Nonnef will be cooking something up). And just for fun... the red and yellow Lambo brothers meet the red and yellow Lambo brothers. Oh scrap... it's the cops! Kind of wish they'd do a proper Gen Selects Clampdown I could use to replace my customized Siege Red Alert. And while we're doing Gen Selects Diaclone colors, can I also get the Siege Sideswipe mold as Deep Cover Also, I'd love Earthrise Bluestreak in Diaclone blue. You and me both, but it seems unlikely. X-Men and Ghostbusters are already in Hasbro's portfolio, and the IP holders for Back to the Future and Top Gun seem a bit more open with their licensing deals. DC and Mattel are tight, though, so I don't see DC licensing anything Batman to Mattel's biggest rival. That said, perusing Hasbro's portfolio suggests some interesting possibilities. Power Rangers X Transformers? Hmm, perhaps they're already a bit too similar. Maybe more Marvel stuff? Man, a Spider-Man X Transformers comic book about the Spider-Mobile (already something of a joke in the comics) being a Transformer would be great. But maybe they're missing the most obvious crossover (because it's been done several times already, albeit without toys to go with it): G. I. Joe.
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