mikeszekely

If they do a Dreamcast mini I hope it's closer to the Genesis/Mega Drive mini than their Game Gear minis.

It's been pointed out that MP-52 probably doesn't have a waist swivel. Who do they think they are, Fans Toys? No, seriously, I think for robot mode it's still an upgrade from MP-11, but that really cements my decision to stick with Meteor. Maybe I'll still get a chance to look at it and if not review it at least give some impressions like I did with MP-44, but I'm definitely not buying one.

They turn into the animation model. Well, as much as I'm enjoying the debate over whether MP-52 is good or trash (spoilers- it's both, depending on how you look at it), I didn't just see that they discounted MPM-10 Starscream. For the sheer novelty of walking into a store and walking out with a Masterpiece Transformer, I went home with MPM-11 Ratchet. Although the passing 13 years have caused me to begrudgingly accept their place in the Transformers canon I'm not a fan of the Bayverse designs, and of all the character designs in the 2007 movie I think Ratchet might have been my least favorite of the Autobots. Prime, Bee, and Jazz at least took some design cues from the G1 designs. Ironhide decidedly less so, but if Ironhide isn't a vanette then a pickup seems like the next logical choice, and black was at least the color of the Diaclone vanette. But changing the Autobot's medic to a nuclear tennis ball-colored Hummer was a bridge too far. I guess the question is less about whether or not I like the design, though, and more "is MPM-11 movie-accurate?" It's mostly accurate, I suppose. The wheels behind his shoulders could stand to sit a little further apart and a little lower, along with his neck. Some of the silver details, both the painted stuff and the unpainted gray plastic, should actually be gunmetal or silver on gunmetal. He's missing some red markings on his shoulders and forearms, and where the movie model had "FIRE" in the inside of his lower legs this guy just has some folded-up kibble panels (side note, the kibble pops off the right leg on my copy because someone forgot to put a screw in at the factory). Speaking of kibble, a few things like the doors on the backs of his shoulders and the fenders don't actually lock into place so I'm kind of guessing if I have them right based on the photo on the front of the box and the tiny, hard to follow instructions. Based on screenshots and the Prime 1 statue maybe the doors on the backs of his shoulders could be rotated differently, and the fenders on his chest should really be part of his shoulders. I've seen photos of the fenders positioned more like the movie model, but they are very much in the way positioned as in the above photo, and moving them more off his chest and toward his shoulders actually makes it worse. You know, despite the bad (IMO) designs and the slew of bad sequels, at the time I actually really did enjoy the 2007 movie, and I collected a lot of the toys from the first movie line. Despite not really liking his on-screen design I remember thinking the original Voyager-class toy was pretty good at the time. Today it seems so chunky, simple, and not particularly screen accurate, but I was rather surprised to note that it's actually slightly bigger than MPM-11. Oh, and if you're wondering or it gives you a better idea of the size, MPM-11 is about half a head shorter than MP-30 Ratchet. A quick look at the sides and back. MPM-11 folds up a bit more stuff and tries to tuck it away better than the smaller Studio Series figure, but ultimately they're both stowing part of the the sides on their legs and shoulders and carrying the roof and rear on their backs. MPM-11 does come with a few more accessories than the Studio Series toy, though. He does come with the sawblade, but he also goes with a pair of tiny missile racks and a... y'know, I don't remember him using it in the films, so is that a weapon or a tool? Either way he's got it. Ratchet's articulation is... awkward. His head is on a hinged swivel, so he can look up a little but not down. His mouth can open, like MPM Starscream's. His shoulders rotate and even have a bit of a butterfly joint due to transformation, but you have to watch that the doors on the backs of his shoulders don't get caught on his wheels plus (as noted) the fenders in front of his shoulders/on his chest are going to get in the way. A ratchet joint will let you move his shoulders 90 degrees laterally. His biceps swivel. His elbows are a single-jointed ratchet, good for 90 degrees. His wrists swivel. His hands can bend downward, due to transformation. His three fingers are molded together, but they are pinned at the base and at the middle knuckle. Meanwhile, his two thumbs are hinged at the base and can move independently. His waist does swivel, but not very far before his backpack gets caught up on the wheels that dominate his hips. Speaking of hips, they ratchet forward 90 degrees and backward about 60 degrees before his backpack gets in the way. They can also move about 90 degrees laterally on a ratchet. His thighs swivel. His knees can bend 90 degrees on a single ratchet. His feet can't tilt up, but due to his transformation they can tilt down 90 degrees on a ratchet. He does have a little ankle pivot, but it's pretty limited due the sculpt of his foot and the sculpt of his shin not giving him a ton of clearance. The little missiles have tabs that fit into slots on Ratchet's left arm. In between them you'll see a bigger slot, and a similar slot on his right arm. Those larger slots are for tabs on his gun/tool and sawblade. I tested both in both arms and they do fit, but the gun/tool does seem designed for his right arm. Oh, and note that the sawblade can be deployed while his hand is out, but you'll have to fold it under is forearm to attach the gun/tool. Transforming Ratchet isn't hard, but it can be a little annoying. Part of it is trying to line up his arms just right, part of it is having his unfurled backpack flopping around until you get his legs in place, and part of it is clearances. The section with his arms, wheels, and head spins 180 degrees like the Studio Series toy, but while the Studio Series toy allowed you to rotate the entire front end then rotate the very front with the grill back you can only rotate the part with the head/arms/wheels. Oh, and the the fenders are on that rotating part, so you have to be careful to not get the wheels, shoulders, and doors caught on his backpack while also making sure the fenders clear his chest. Then, just to irritate me more, the windshield keeps popping off. When all your hard work is done you get a Hummer that is, again, much larger than the Studio Series Deluxe but slightly smaller than the original '07 Voyager-class. If there is one thing that truly sets MPM-11 apart from the original or the Studio Series toys it's the details. While I complained that the robot was missing some markings MPM-11 does a much better job picking out the details. Of course it has the large red stripe along the side, but they also painted the vents and hood latches black, they but caution marks along the door's runner, it's got the Autobot insignia'd Search and Rescue badge on the door. The door handles and and the fuel cap are painted. The lights on the sides and rear are painted. The tools on the top are painted, although the skid plating behind them isn't. They really only missed the latch on the storage compartment on the sides and the H2 logo on the door. I suppose the yellow Fire Department markings could have been painted to stand out more; I don't know if it's the shade of yellow they used or if the color used for Ratchet's plastic is too yellow. A little robot kibble can been seen underneath from most angles, but c'est la vie. All of Ratchets accessories can store on his alt mode, but like MPM Starscream it's not always pretty. The missiles tab on to the inside of the front wheels, and that's fine. His gun/tool plugs into the spare tire on the roof. It's super obvious there, but at least the tire can tilt so the gun is level. Finally, the sawblade can clip onto his rear bumper. It looks a little ridiculous to me, there, bringing to mind some kind of murderous streetsweeper. I've maintained for years that much of the reason why I don't care for the Bayverse designs is because they look like random shards of metal assembled into a humanoid shape that often bears little resemblance to the G1 character. Spending time with MPM-11 makes me realize that it's also because they don't actually transform. The designers had the alt modes and they designed robots with some features of those alt modes, sure, but they didn't actually work out how to get from vehicle to robot or vice versa. Nor did the animators, who moved around thousands of "parts" as they anime magicked their way through a transformation. HasTak's solution has largely been to make much of the alt modes a shell that folds into a backpack over more screen-accurate limbs, a solution which is acceptable enough of a $20 Deluxe-class figure. But as he joins the MPM line the engineering advances Ratchet enjoys seem largely focused on folding up the shell into a tidier backpack. Is this, then, the best and most screen-accurate Ratchet toy? Yes. But it's not a particularly great toy, either, especially compared to what companies like Unique Toys had been doing with movie designs. For me, it kind of begs the question- do you need MP versions of the movie characters, or is the Studio Series good enough? I'm kind of thinking the Studio Series is good enough, and I wouldn't have bought Ratchet (or Starscream) if it weren't for the fact that it was sitting on a shelf in front of me during a Target run. However, if you've been collecting the MPM line and you've been satisfied with figures like Starscream or Barricade then Ratchet's roughly on part with them. As for me, well, I'm 3 out of 5 on MPM Autobots now. Plus digging out that old Ratchet figure made me recall how satisfied I was to have the characters from the first movie together, even if those toys were pretty bad. Even though I'm going to have to look beyond Target I have a feeling I'm going to have to track down at least Jazz and Ironhide. Probably Megatron, too; if they announce and MPM Blackout, Brawl, or Bonecrusher I'll assume we're getting all the '07 characters.

Didn't the MP-11 mold have them, too?

Seconded. I actually did buy a few Legends figures... MS Prime, Blaster, and Sideswipe, New Age Bumblebee, and Iron Factory's Bruticus and Tarn. But I don't have the space to display them (most of the Siege/Earthrise/Studio Series stuff I buy actually gets reviewed here then goes into boxes in my closet), and I'm already spending a ton of money on MP-scaled stuff. Maybe someday (especially if 3Ps quit doing combiners, I'm a sucker of those).

I'm not digging Starscream's jet mode from any angles but above. And on a board dedicated to an anime about transforming jets I'm certainly not going to argue with anyone who thinks that jet mode is a deal breaker. That being said... in all but a few cases (like, say, the Dinobots) I prefer sacrifices to the alt mode for a better robot mode, and that's what Takara did. The robot looks light years better than MP-11. Now, could you still have a good-looking robot without sacrificing so much of the alt mode? Probably, but this is what's available. If you have MP-11 and can stomach the price then MP-52 looks like a upgrade. I don't think it's a huge difference over Maketoys, though, and since I have all their Season 1 Seekers I'm passing on MP-52. Speaking of MP Starscreams, you might want to check if your local Targets have any of the MPM left. Sure, the jet mode is worse than the Studio Series, but the bot mode is pretty great (as Bayformers go), and it seems they've dropped the clearance price to around $45. Kicking myself for paying full price a month ago, but it's not like there's any left at my Target. Stopped at a mostly-local Walmart (not my usual one, but one that's only 15 minutes further). Found six of the G1 reissue Blasters. This, despite my preorder from all the way back in June still showing as "Delayed, check back soon" on their website. I've got several of the next set of Netflix figures preordered, and Walmart better not screw me out of them because they keep sending stock to stores instead of filling preorders.

See, I don't really collect anything besides Transformers, so maybe that affects my perception of value. When you're used to buying expensive Japanese figures then sure, I guess a $400 Optimus Prime doesn't seem so out there. And I'll gladly allow that MP-44, with its paint and higher parts count, should cost more than Magic Square or TE's Primes. But I also see what $200 or $300 can get you among the 3Ps. I remember what official MPs used to cost. And I wind up thinking that MP-44 for $200, sure. $250, maybe. $440? That's just expensive for the sake of Takara marketing it as premium collectible, and why I never bought up. Getting a chance to handle one only reinforced that notion. There are things about MP-44 that justify a higher price, but even if MS-01 or TE-01 had been made with better materials and paint or MP-44 sold in a $100 cab-and-rifle-only box I'd still have the opinion that MP-44 is the worst of the three (but better than MP-10). EDIT: I think maybe my posts are coming off a little hasher than intended. I'm emphatically not saying MP-44 is bad. But I am saying that I find some of the choices made with it disappointing.

I know he's old news by now, but I had a chance to mess with MP-44 today. I'm not really a fan. Subjectively, the figure is way too cartoony. I'm not looking for a 3D representation of an (often poorly drawn) animation cell, I like my MP figures to be representations of the "real" robot that the animation was trying to capture (sort of along the lines of some high-end Gundam kits). I will say, though, that the backpack doesn't seem as bad in hand as it looks in pictures. Objectively, the engineering on this thing is a mess. Some of it might be Takara trying to cram in more articulation than is actually needed (seriously, whoever designed those knees should be fired), some of it might be Takara trying to make a robot with extremely cartoony (and dare I say goofy) proportions- thin arms, short upper torso, big diaper pelvis, rounded edges, and still have it transform. There are at least two alternatives that are significantly better than MP-44, IMHO, and I feel sorry for anyone who paid over $200 for him.

I didn't like any of the Mustangs from 79-'04. I'd be happiest if someone took either the Mustang he had in the '07 film or the newer one he had in The Last Knight, but gave him a G1-ish robot mode using the Datsun's basic transformation. Speaking of, I'd really like it if Barricade and Bluestreak would go up already.

My dad's really bummed. He was a musician, self-taught on the guitar, bass, and piano. He cites Eddie Van Halen and Ritchie Blackmore as his two biggest influences. Needless to say, I heard a lot of Van Halen and Deep Purple growing up. I'm not a huge fan of either, although I appreciate the undeniable talent of both groups. Ah, 2020. You just can't stop sucking, can you?

I'm so there for that.

Mine's with TCP. The preorder page even says in red "Price not final" so I'm not holding my my breath.

I have a pre-order for him at $145, figuring even if I don't really care for him I can sell him for at least what I paid. If the price goes up before then I'll probably cancel. I already have Ditka, and while the quality could be better he looks fine, posing with his football.

He came faster than I thought. It's Thomas, Fans Toys' MP Astrotrain. Astrotrain is my favorite triplechanger and one of my favorite Decepticons. Although brief, his appearances in the 1986 Transformers: The Movie were integral, first as the scene where Starscream dumped Megatron into space, and later as the guy putting the crown on Starscream's head. And yet, despite his popularity with fans, the poor guy's never really been done justice. I mean, the Classics version was kind of ok for it's time as a modernized take on the the G1 toy, but the Titans Return version was just... yuck. The Siege version had promise, but ultimately let us down with a gappy, messy shuttle and a train with bizarre proportions. Things haven't been much better in the realm of unlicensed third parties. I understand we've had a pretty decent Legends version with Mechanic Studio/Mech Fans Toys, but for years if we wanted something to display with MP figures it's been DX9's Chigurh, ToyWorld/Zeta's Devil Star/Spacetron, and Fancy Cell's Transportation Captain. Personally, I'd written off DX9 and ToyWorld/Zeta for being too stylized, and for the last few years I've had the Captain sitting in my MP display. But the Captain had his own problems- too small, iffy plastic, still not quite as cartoony as I'd like. I'm saying all that to emphasize that an Astrotrain that looks this good from a company with a reputation (deserved or not) like Fans Toys is a big deal. And yeah, out of the box Fans Toys came out swinging. White face, purple helmet with a yellow crest, check. Not-quite-cube shoulders with a circle on the front? Check. His torso is properly sectioned, with the purple-outlined red panels on his tummy. His pelvis has the inverted trapezoid on the crotch and the rectangles flanking it. His forearms and biceps have the line running down the middle, and his forearms have the overhanging bit over his hands (but not the markings on the outside). His shins have all the right linework (and a little more) on them. He's even got purple lumps of fake wheels flanking his head. His wings are mostly gray with a purple outline. In the movie his wings were mostly purple, but gray with a purple outline is how they appeared in the episode "Triple Takeover," and is still cartoon-accurate. About the worst I can say is that he has actual feet, and he's got a bit of kibble on the sides of his legs instead of wheels (although the kibble does put cartoon-accurate purple on the sides of his legs, so...). Ok, sure, he's a tad messier from behind, but honestly not really any worse than the Captain. His backpack might even be smaller, the exposed thrusters at an angle that might be more useful for the robot mode, and the tail on his back is even cartoon-accurate. Before I continue, though, I have to point out a serious QC flaw. Above, you're looking at the inside of Thomas' right leg (toes pointed toward your left). Now, Thomas' knees are ratcheted. Position "A" is as straight as it goes, and you can see his knee is slightly bent. However, pushing it just one click forward results in position "B." As of this writing, it seems to be a fairly widespread issue caused by the fact that parts were designed so as not to be interchangeable. That is, the right knee needs the ratchet parts specific for that knee, and the left needs parts just for that knee. Using the wrong ratchet in the wrong knee (which is apparently what a lot of factory workers did) results in this misalignment. Well, QC issues aren't all you get with Thomas. He also comes with a gun, similar to the cartoon but much more detailed, a second angry pooping face, a toy-style chest piece, and a section of train tracks. Thomas's head is on a hinged swivel, and he can look up around 45 degrees but only a little bit down. His shoulders can rotate on ratchets, but you're not going to get the full 160 degrees because his wings don't hinge backward. They can move laterally maybe 75 degrees as well. His biceps swivel, and his elbows are double-jointed and bend maybe 150 degrees. His wrists swivel. His thumb is on a ball joint at the base for folding over his palm and swiveling, with one additional hinge. Each finger is individually-articulated with pins at the base and mid-knuckle. His waist swivels (not a guarantee with FT), and on a ratchet no less. It's limited to three clicks, or about 45 degrees, in either direction. Hip skirts on the front and sides can hinge out of the way, allowing his hip to move almost 90 degrees forward on a ratchet and almost 90 degrees laterally on a friction joint. Due to butt kibble, you only get about one click back, though. His thighs swivel. His knees are double-jointed, ratcheted and can bend over 90 degrees, but the lower joint is extremely tight on my copy. His feet have a very slight up/down tilt, a slight upward toe bend, and a little over 45 degrees of ankle pivot. On my copy the left ankle moves with no trouble, but again on the right its so stiff I almost thought he didn't have ankle pivots. The gun has tabs on the handle that fit into slots on his palms, typical MP-style. The toy-style chest is a bit of partsforming, and simply plugs into the front of his chest. You'll have to remove it to transform him, but I expect most people will leave it off anyway. He doesn't really interact with the tracks in this mode. Speaking of transformations, there's quite a few steps and a few minor clearance issues, but honestly transforming Thomas really isn't all that bad, especially for a Fans Toys figure. Something I find interesting his how the transformation actually shifts his mass; figures like The Captain and Siege Astrotrain simply wound up with a short, thick locomotive, and while ToyWorld/Zeta had a pretty good locomotive mode it seemed to come at the expense of a weirdly thin robot. But Thomas went from a fairly burly robot to a locomotive that looks very proportionate to my non-expert eye. Thomas' locomotive mode mode is kind of a mixed bag. While Fans Toys did include a number of real-world details, including a coupling rod that moves as the wheels turn, and some cartoon details like the yellow windows and the thrusters on the back, the front of the train is rather bland, lacking details that were even on the animation model. And the sides are a bit kibbly, especially near the engineer's compartment, with several gray panels and hinges peeking through. Speaking of gray, the roof over the engineer's compartment is gray instead of purple due to his transformation. Oh, and I'm sure that you'll notice that the top of the train, just ahead of the middle, isn't tabbed together particularly well. As near as I can determine this is a direct result of his legs' inability to line up perfectly due to the ratchet issue on his knee. Overall, it's a huge improvement over most Astrotrain figures before it, but it's probably the weakest of his three modes. In locomotive mode his gun can be stored on the underside. The top of the gun has some detail that acts like a hook, grabbing the top of his robot shins. And now's probably a good time to get those tracks out. There doesn't seem to be a place to store the toy-chest, though. Astrotrain's shuttle mode is my preferred of the two alt modes. Again, I can't help but point out the great proportions. The Captain's chunky train had a certain cartoon charm, but his shuttle mode looks like someone taped a cockpit and wings to a refrigerator. Thomas, though, is appropriately long and sleek. And again, pretty cartoon accurate. Purple nose with blue windows, mostly gray but with a line of purple running from the yellow and red "door" to the rear, the G1 sticker markings behind the door, and the red bits on the top in front of the tail, all cartoon-accurate. I know that some shuttle fans might be disappointed that it's not a bit cleaner, retaining the "collar" around the cockpit it and nose, but to me the uncircumcised look is part of Astrotrain's G1 appearance, both toy and toon. From the top you can again see that, despite the collar, the overall proportions are still quite good, with hinged elevons on the wings even. The underside is a bit messy, especially under the wings, but I think it's fair to expect some concessions to the fact that this shuttle has to turn into both a robot and a locomotive. My only real complaint would be the landing gear. There's one that folds out from the nose, no issues, but there is no rear landing gear. Instead, there's tiny wheels on some of that under-wing kibble, and the whole thing sits lower to the ground than I'd like all that purple paint to be. Thankfully, he doesn't have to sit on this wheels, as the train tracks actually have a use in this mode as well. Unfold some bits, bend some sections, and voilà, you have a flight stand. The stand clips into two small slots on the shuttle's belly/top of the locomotive, and the stand itself has two positions, one for level flight and one angled upward. His gun has tabs on the side that plug into slots on either side of the fuselage, just before the tail section. I'd have preferred some under belly, more hidden storage, but you take what you get. Thomas is a good figure, no doubt. But, I have to point out that Fans Toys' prices have been creeping up. Thomas cost $60 more than FT's last triplechanger, their Springer. He's smaller than their Motormaster, despite being less complex and I'm sure using less parts (even allowing for his accessories), but cost $40 more. At $220, I do believe he cost around the same as FT's much larger Skyfire. That's a lot of money for a figure this size, honestly more than I'd normally pay except for the fact that Astrotrain is such an important character to me. At $220, being "good" isn't good enough, Thomas really needed to be perfect. And yet, for all the things FT did right, even stuff I don't normally associate with their stuff like a mostly-painless transformation, Thomas is not perfect. It might be a your-mileage-may-vary sort of thing, but as far as I'm concerned the knee ratchets are a serious QC issue that simply should not be on a figure that's at least $40-90 more than most people would pay if it didn't say "Fans Toys" on the box. And it seems like this is the latest in a long line of Fans Toys figures with some sort of QC issue that would get any other company crucified. So yes, Thomas is the best Astrotrain you can buy. And yes, with no serious alternatives I do grudgingly recommend it. But I can't help but feel taken advantage of, and FT's high prices, inability to meet demand and fueling an ridiculous scalper's market, and shoddy QC has left me little desire to replace my Maketoys Jazz, MMC Cliffjumper, KFC Blaster, or Takara Soundwave with announced Fans Toys versions.. Taken with what I just wrote, yeah, if MMC announced a Superion I'd immediately sell my Fans Toys ones. They're not very good. I do still really like FT's Stunticons, though. If there's one figure they've nailed this year it was their Wildrider.

Interesting. I wonder if ShowZ has changed shipping methods again, as I'm still waiting for an order that shipped on August 11th. I'd be contacting ShowZ or Paypal soon, except there's actually been recently activity in California on the tracking.

Yeah, I can't believe it's coming in under $300.

No word on what accessories he's going to come with, but it sounds like MP Starscream will retail for around $275.

So earlier this week Amazon emails me to tell me a few of my TF preorders go moved up and would be delivered by today. Then today I wake up to emails asking me to approve delays right back into the original dates. @M'Kyuun you'll have to let me know if you get your Ratchet and Lifeline. That's also delayed for me.

Walmart is, unquestionably, the worst when it comes to preorders and I sincerely hope that Hasbro never gives them another exclusive. For the record, Walmart has never fulfilled any of my preorders. Never. When the first wave of Netflix preorders went up I ordered Hotlink and Decepticon Mirage. The date moved from whatever it was at the time to June, then to "delayed". By July I'd found both Hotlink and Mirage in stores so I bought them and there and canceled my preorders. I preordered G1 reissue Blaster the day they put the preorders up, June 26th. I think it was supposed to come out in August. Currently my order says, "Delayed, check back later for status update." The day they were announced I managed to get preorders for Netflix Prime, Chromia, Soundwave, and Bumblebee. Walmart canceled my order for Chromia, then relisted her. I didn't reorder her; all the figures together got me free shipping, but a new order for Chromia alone would hit me with an $8 shipping fee. I'll look for her in stores. In the meantime, Prime and Bee are supposed to be out in around two weeks, and Soundwave a few days later. We'll see if Walmart actually gets me any of those three.

I'll second getting a Target card, either their credit card or their debit card. It's not just good for the free shipping, it's 5% off everything you buy there, in store or online. I'm in Target probably at least once a week buying stuff. The Quintesson Pit of Judgement arrived today, and again I didn't get an email from Pulse that it shipped (although they kindly sent one later to let me know it was delivered). Not going to go in to a ton of detail, since nothing in the box is exactly new. The new Judge (left) is the same exact mold as the standalone one (right). While I like the lighter gray for the body I'm not a fan of the green tentacles. I do like the blue energy beam it's standing on better than the clear, but pink would actually be the more accurate color. As you might have noticed from the Death face the colors of the new Judge's faces are a bit different and a bit less cartoon accurate. He comes with the exact same accessories, just molded in different colors of plastics. The tools and cages don't make a big difference to me, but I prefer the light gray throne, as it's the more movie-accurate color. The Bailiff is a remold of the Alicon, and based on what I recall that's actually pretty accurate. He's got a new head, new shoulder pads with bigger spikes, and some of his torso is remolded. He's also got a new weapon that you put into his hands by splitting in the middle and feeding each half through an end of his fist. The Bailiff's colors are an odd choice; most of his appearances are closer in color to the default Alicon. However, he did appear in colors like this in at least one episode, so I'll give it a pass. My main complaint with the Bailiff is the same I had with the Alicon- it's just a lazy design with beast arms hanging obnoxiously off the robot elbows and robot arms that do nothing to tuck away in beast mode. You get a Sharkticon. The Sharkticon is a repaint of the Legends-class Titans Return Gnaw. I don't own the original and so I never reviewed it. It's... OK, I guess. For a Legends-class. The big difference between this one and the original is blue. The blue biceps, tail, beast arms, and fin are all lighter. The silver teeth on the original are a darker blue, The purple abs and pink stripes on the thighs are blue. The gray plastic originally used on the head, forearms, and legs is blue. The parts at that aren't blue are the metallic pink lips (originally purple on the top and pink on the bottom), the browning-gray robot face and torso (originally just gray), and the yellow robot eyes (originally red). You get a small Prosecuter and Kranix, the last survivor of Lithone. The Prosecutor's head (which is really just pegged on and prone to popping off) can swivel, and you can remove the energy base (again, just pegged on) but that's it. Kranix has no articulation at all, but he does have the same little holes on his feet that Titan Masters do. And he fits into the Judge's cage. I guess the final accessory is the box. Well, maybe not the outer box, I tossed that, but the inner box (which you will beat up trying to clear tape and get the plastic inserts out of) is designed to look like the Quintesson court from the movie. It's a little small; the Judges throne had a lot more stairs (with landings) between it and the pit, and it's missing an Executioner, but I'll admit it looks pretty cool. Although, having them all together does raise one big issue for me... scale. I can't find a scale chart with the Quintessons on it. But here's an Alicon, a Sharkticon, the Prosecutor, a Judge, and Kranix with Earthrise Optimus, Titans Return Kup, and Titans Return Hot Rod. I know that Titans Return was before Hasbro said they were trying to keep figures in-scale, but based on Hot Rod and Prime that looks pretty good. Now, based on this picture, my gut reaction is that the Alicon and Judge look OK, but the Sharkticon, Prosecutor, and Kranix are too small. Without a scale guide, the only thing I can check my gut against is the cartoon. The Judge might actually be too small. While there's a scene in one episode where Galvatron grabs one by the tentacles and it's maybe half his size, in that same episode Galvatron is hanging with them later and they're at least as tall as he is. Likewise, in the Five Faces of Darkness it's hovering with the top of its dome above Ultra Magnus. Even if we assume Magnus mass-shifts to Prime's size the Judge should still be bigger than what we got. Note the Bailiff in the same scene with Magnus. About waist high to Magnus, yeah? So the Bailiff checks out. In the '86 movie the Alicons are a bit shorter than Kup and Hot Rod when they're getting the Energon goodies. And the Alicon figure is a bit shorter than TR Kup and Hot Rod. This too checks out. This one surprised me. When the Sharkticon jumps on Kup in the '86 movie it seems smaller than I remember. It's definitely smaller than Kup, and I'd have guessed the other way around. Still, I don't think it's a small as the Legends-class figure. Probably something along the lines of the Alicon's size. Oh well, if the rumors are to be believed Gnaw is going to get a Studio Series release, hopefully something bigger with better engineering. Although, if you can't wait Hasbro released a Cyberverse Warrior-class Gnaw that has nearly identical engineering but should be closer to the correct size. I prefer to use the movie for a reference, since the animation was usually a bit better than the regular episodes and for a lot of fans it's had the bigger impact. Now, it's hard to say because the Judge is closer to the "camera" than the Prosecutor, but I think if the Judge moved forward or the Prosecutor moved back they'd be fairly close in size. This is borne out in the third season of the show, during a flashback scene to the Quintesson's inspecting a Transfomer assembly line. There's a Judge and a Prosecutor in the hovercar and they're the same size, so the one included in this set is around a quarter of the size he should be. The angles aren't the best again, but while Kranix is definitely shorter than Kup or Hot Rod he looks to be somewhere between waist-high and chest-high on them. So, just like the Prosecutor, Hasbro's Kranix is maybe a quarter of the size he should be. Anyway... the regular retail release of the Judge is more accurately-colored, the Prosecutor and Kranix are way too small, and the $70 price tag is a big much. Unless you really wan that Bailiff or you're interested in troop building you can pass on this set. Oh? Amazon emailed me a few days ago to say the delivery date moved up from December to tomorrow. But as of yet they haven't shipped mine. As it's nearly midnight here a delivery tomorrow seems highly unlikely.

Caught some of the pictures coming out of Asia of Gigawatt. I'm 100% sure he's a remold of Siege Sideswipe, now. Not a bad thing; that's a better mold to start with than Combiner Wars Hot Spot. It's been busy my way today so I just checking in with you guys, but I guess I was online early enough that I did get a preorder on him at Pulse.

I saw it, and they have Dinobot as one of those Buffalo trucks Bonecrusher turned into in the first Bayverse film. I'm not really into Beast Wars, so they're neat-but-pass for me. That said, theamazingspino did a design for Prowl and Barricade. If Barricade gets made I'm there. He was my favorite Bayverse Deception and I love G1-ish versions (that aren't the actual G1 Micromaster).

So I'm the last one to get really hyped about a Fans Toys product... but Thomas arrived at my retailer, and I should have him in hand early next week. Can't wait to see how he fares against The Captain.

It depends a lot on what you're going for. It boils down to cheaper, general-use stuff, super thin, high-end laptops with powerful CPUs but still using integrated GPUs, gaming laptops with some sacrifices to stay thin and light, and behemoth gaming laptops with the same GPU chipsets at desktop cards. I fall into the third group- the RTX 2060 Max-Q is clocked lower than the desktop 2060 for thermal reasons so they can stuff it into a 14" laptop that's just a tad thicker and heavier than a MacBook. But, since I do most of my gaming on a desktop and just need something to play on when I travel that's a fair sacrifice. I would say that anyone shopping for a laptop should look at ones with Ryzen. The Ryzen 9 4900HS in my laptop scored better on most benchmarks than the i7-9700K in my desktop.

I can't keep track of all the names... Haswell was 4th-gen, and Ivy Bridge was 3rd-gen, right? All I know is that until January my main computer was a 3rd-gen i7 and a GTX 970 to a 9th-gen i7 and an RTX 2080. If I'd held off a few more months then sure, I'd have probably gone with a Ryzen 9 3900 and an RTX 3080, but in my experience there's always something better around the corner and I don't really regret it. I'll probably stick with CPU for a few years, and the GPU until there's an RTX 4080. I retired my laptop this year, too. At home I strongly prefer my desktop, but we have family abroad and prior to COVID I had to travel often enough that I like to keep a thin-and-light gaming laptop. My old one was a Razer Blade with a 4th-gen i7 and a GTX 970m. My new laptop is an Asus Zephyrus with a Ryzen 9 4900HS and an RTX 2060 Max-Q. I find that it compliments my desktop setup pretty well; I have a 4K display for my desktop, and I've found that if I can get close enough to 60fps at 4K with given settings in a game on my desktop then I'll be able to get the same or better framerate with the same settings at 1080p (the laptop's display resolution). Although, I wonder how that laptop handles ray tracing? I just started playing Control, and it's the first game I've tried that supports it. Seems to run fairly well on my desktop, but I haven't tried it on my laptop. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.