mikeszekely

Are you going to pick this one up? I recall that you have the MMC one, and I'd love to see them side-by-side. I'm debating on whether or not to track MMC's down myself. That and their Springer.

I think this has sort of become MMC's goal. Even their more complicated figures are still far more intuitive and fun than the stuff Fans Toys or XTB has been putting out. I think the figures DX9 has been making lately have also been pretty fun, but MMC's materials are usually better. It's also worth noting that the split on Vortex is lower on the leg, too, so it looks a bit more natural. You mean those jigsaw things? I haven't made up my mind about them. They seem like they could hold more strongly against forces in one direction while being easier to disengage when the force comes from a different direction. I think that has the potential to actually make them sturdier, but I'm no expert. Fair enough. I can't really say it bothers me that much, but I do think it would have looked better painted. It doesn't bother me. I just think putting fake landing gear extremely close to the real ones and in a spot where they'd have worked if they were functional was an odd design choice. I dunno, I think I agree that the top of his head looks a little long on the default head, but I think the animation error head is 100% spot-on. I just prefer the regular head. But whichever head you use, they're both much more cartoon-accurate than pretty much any other Blast Off released so far, official or otherwise. At first I was confused, because Blast Off's cockpit is in his chest not his shoulders, but then I figured you mean when Blast Off's in arm mode the cockpit is above the shoulder connection, pointing in toward Bruticus' head. In that case, yeah, I guess it seems a little backward but that's how the G1 toy, cartoon, and Studio OX versions all did it. That technically means MMC, Zeta, and Iron Factory all did it "correct" and Combiner Wars/Unite Warriors, Warbotron, and Unique Toys are the outliers. I think Onslaught's build quality is fine and his transformation is just as easy and fun, but he definitely suffers the most in design and proportions from carrying the all-in-one gimmick. I've come to realize that while I do think the pantsforming of the Zeta combiners is a bit extreme (I can actually forgive the Menasors because the parts have a purpose as a trailer), and I do think MMC's engineering is impressive, I actually don't mind partsforming hands, feet, and chest plates. But yeah, for the most part I'm quite satisfied with this set specifically and with the last several MMC/OX figures I've bought in general. I'm looking forward to completing the set, which should be sooner than you might expect. An MMC rep said the design for Brawl's been finalized since February or so and he's just been waiting for his turn at the factory. He's going into production soon and could be released from the factory by the end of the month.

Fixed. A part of me kind of wants the MMC one, but it's pretty much sold out and aftermarket prices are over $300, and I don't want him that badly. That's more than I paid for Unicron.

So, Earthrise Commander-class Sky Lynx... Sky Lynx has always been a bit of an odd duck. He wasn't a Takara toy (and, IIRC, wasn't released with the Transformers branding in Japan until a fairly recent reissue), and it kind of seemed like the cartoon's writers (and I think Marvel's, too) were a bit unsure what his deal was. This new toy copies in the original in that it's very clearly some kind of bird and some kind of two-tailed cat-thing that combined into a larger robot. Yet I can't recall that the uncombined bird ever appeared in fiction, and the lynx was often treated as an alternate transformation of the larger combined mode. So, here they are. The bird has less shuttle kibble on his neck, which seems to be mostly cartoon-accurate, and he's got gold paint where the original toy had stickers. The biggest change is probably in the wings. While they don't flip over the way MMC or the Combiner wars versions do, they are hinged to lift up and away in a manner the original's didn't, and he's got an extra fold out blue section. The lynx, meanwhile, sports some additional dark silver painted details, including most of his back, and trades the gold chrome on his head for paint. His feet don't quite have the toes the original toy did, and he's sporting some new cannons or thrusters on his collar. Aesthetically they're very good updates of the G1 design. As mentioned, the bird and the lynx can combine into what I think is best described as a dragon mode. Note the little white tab sticking out from where the lynx' head is tucked away. That's actually a button that you use the lock and unlock the bird, so it holds together well enough that you can pick the dragon up by the bird section and the lynx won't come off. For a size comparison here's Alternate Universe Optimus Prime. I don't have any other Sky Lynx to compare him with, but as near as I can tell he's significantly bigger than the Combiner Wars version, a little bigger than the G1 toy, and maybe about the same as MMC's. The original toy didn't come with any accessories, but I guess Hasbro felt they needed to do something to justify an $80 price tag. So, you get two of these weapon-things... I guess they're some kind of double-barreled guns? You also get two small blast effects and one larger one. The larger one can break down into five parts. If there's one area that this new figure improves on over the G1 toy it's articulation. The bird's jaw is hinged so it can open, and inside you'll find a gun molded onto a tongue that's it's own separate piece. The head itself is on a ball joint that gives him some up/down/sideways tilt and rotation. The ball joint is connected to a red neck segment, and that segment connects to second one via a friction hinge, which connects to a third via a friction hinge, which connects to a forth on a ratcheted hinge, which connects to the body via a ratcheted hinge. None of the hinges have a ton of range on their own, but combined you'll be able to get some dynamic poses out of his neck. The wings are connected to the body on a ratcheted swivel, which has a hinge that moves them out away from his body, another hinge that tilts them up and down, and a mushroom swivel. Aside from the ratcheted swivel the wing joints are all friction and a little looser than I'd like, plus the wings have a tendency to pop off the mushroom swivels. The legs have ratcheted hips for both forward/backward and lateral movement, ratcheted knees, and ratcheted up/down tilt on his feet. However, he's got friction swivels at the thighs and just below the knees, plus friction ankle pivots. Those fiction joints are the weak link that make his legs prone to bowing out and not supporting his weight unless you're also using the tail as a third contact point. Speaking of the tail, it's got a friction hinge at the base, a double hinge between each red segment, a hinge between the red and the gray, and then the tail fin can fold to either side. Oh, and his toes (including the dewclaw on the back of his foot) are hinged. If you're looking for places to stow his accessories he's got a 5mm port on either side of his neck, and one on either side of his tail near the base of the fin. There's one inside the shuttle bay doors, too. More on that in a bit. You'll also find plenty of spots where you can use the blast effects. The lynx can also open his jaws, and he also has a gun-tongue. His neck is technically on a ball joint attached to a hinge, but practically speaking those blue panels alongside his head prevent him from doing much more than looking up and down. His front legs have a bit of a backward butterfly joint, then all four of his hips can rotate 360 degrees and extend laterally 90 degrees, all on ratchets. He's got mushroom thigh swivels, ratcheted double-jointed knees, ratcheted up/down foot tilt, and friction ankle pivots on all four legs. His twin tails are hinged at the base. He's got a 5mm port on each of his four hips and one on his chest, plus the two cannon/thrusters on his collar are 5mm ports. The combined mode is really where it's at, though. After all, it's how he's most often appeared in fiction. You get the benefits of the bird's neck but with four sturdier legs to better support it. The duo can stay combined in alt mode. Indeed, that's how he usually appeared in fiction and it's the only alt mode the Combiner Wars toy had. Again, I wish I had another Sky Lynx toy to compare it with, but you'll have to settle for AU Optimus. The bird and the lynx can still separate into individual components, though. The shuttle's pretty good. As @JB0 noted it's missing the six thrusters on top of the nose, but it does have the three on the sides of the nose. As for the top, where the maneuvering thrusters would be there are a pair of longer ones, almost like nostrils. Perhaps that was what they were going for? In keeping with the Siege/Earthrise motif there's a lot more sculpted detail than a real shuttle would have, but the overall proportions are good, and I love the '80s NASA logo on the side. Oh, and unlike MMC's Blast Off yesterday Sky Lynx has all three main engines and the two bells for the orbital maneuvering thrusters (but not the smaller verniers). The shuttle is also sporting landing gear, and the cargo bay doors open to reveal some gold-painted details, much as the G1 toy did. There's a 5mm peg hole in the middle of those gold details. Since the ones on the bird neck and tail are kind of covered in this mode that port is the only place you can really stick the accessories. The flame effects look really good in the main engines. It's less clear what the lynx is even supposed to be on his own. The way he was carried in the cartoon would suggest some sort of under slung cargo container, but the faux treads on his feet and the fact that his other half is a space shuttle orbiter sort of suggest he's a crawler-transporter, like the kind NASA used to carry the shuttles and the mobile launcher platforms. If that's the case, though, he's missing any sort of windows or crew areas, and he's much too small. Also, new to this figure, are smaller molded treads on the top of the vehicle. There's not a ton that you can do with this mode. It does roll, though, and the 5mm ports on the hips are still available for mounting accessories. On the back side is a hatch. I like to imagine that's where Autobots would enter/exit from Sky Lynx, since he was used primarily as the Autobots transport in Season 3. Perhaps understanding how unexciting the lynx's alt mode is Hasbro did work in a third mode. The lynx can also turn into a base. 5mm peg holes on the upraised feet give you places to plug in the accessories- this configuration is how the instructions tell you to to do it, but there's no reason you can't have both pointed up or both pointed forward. If you look near the top of the back you'll see some pegs and a peg hole, arranged to match the main engine bells on the shuttle. To fit the shuttle on, you'll need to life the gray ramp. That ramp then can rest on a ledge inside the shuttle's open cargo bay doors, and what you end up with is a fairly competent-looking launch platform (for a fictional Cybertronian space shuttle that doesn't need a massive LOx tank and a pair of solid-fuel boosters to take off). The ramps all end in the Siege/Earthrise connectors, allowing you to connect Prime's trailer, Omega Supreme, Ironworks, etc. Again, though, there's a little problem with tolerances. While the ratchets in the lynx's hips are certainly strong enough there's too much play between detents, so the legs sticking up as towers always seem to be leaning one way or the other. Plus the holes in the shuttle's main engines are slightly too small, so the shuttle keeps popping off the launch pad. After pushing and pushing to get it to stay on for this picture I can see a stress mark in one of the bells. I get that Sky Lynx is still part of Earthrise and not an MP-level figure, but for $80 you'd think Hasbro could work out the tolerances correctly. All-in-all, though, I think Earthrise Sky Lynx does what Hasbro set out to do- offer up an appropriately large G1-but-improved version of Sky Lynx. If that sounds appealing to you then you should definitely get it, especially as most of the tolerances issues aren't a big factor in dragon mode. But if Sky Lynx was never your favorite character then I don't think the Earthrise version is going to change your mind.

Guess what came a day early? And by weird coincidence, is similarly-sized to the MMC Blast Off I just reviewed in the 3P thread? I'm messing with him tonight, full review tomorrow.

Awhile back I was picking up Unique Toys' Combaticons. They started off strong, with nice cartoon versions of Swindle and Brawl at a time when your other choices were Warbotron or Zeta's "let's make Swindle a Hummer!" But Onslaught was decidedly less cartoony, and their Blast Off and Vortex wound up feeling rushed, with a design that was cartoonish but stylized and numerous QC and quality issues. While many collectors settled on Zeta's Bruticus for their combined mode, I think one of the big draws for MMC's recent Ocular Max Combaticons was the chance to have individual characters that were more cartoon-accurate than either UT or Zeta's, especially for Blast Off and Vortex. MMC came out swinging with a Vortex that I really liked last year, a Swindle I liked but faced stiffer competition from UT on, and an Onslaught that was good but perhaps more compromised due to MMC's all-in-one gimmick than the other two. Now MMC's finally given us Volatus, their Blast Off. Right up front, there's a few negatives I want to get out of the way. He's a little on the skinny side, especially in the arms. He's got a little kibble around his elbow that isn't the prettiest, plus it makes his forearms look like they're offset or missing a chunk (even though the inner edge is actually in-line with his biceps). I kind of wish the kibble were on a riveted swivel, so you could move it away from his bicep and fill in the forearm, but it is what it is. If I'm being picky I might also say that his bib is a little rounded and dominates a torso that's a little longish. With that out of the way, though, MMC definitely made the most cartoon-accurate Blast Off. His torso is mostly black, unlike the toy-inspired Zeta one and the oddly gray UT version, with molded horizontal lines and a brown stripe through his crotch. He's got the booster toes, and fake gray landing gear on his shins. He's much cleaner from the back and sides. No backpack. No weird shoulder pads. No excessive kibble on the sides of his legs or the backs of his arms. What you will find is a small faux tail fin on his back between his shoulders. MMC could have left it out; it has no impact on any other mode and omitting it would have simplified a panel on his back and lowered the overall parts count, and I really doubt anyone would have complained that it wasn't there. However, it's a detail Blast Off had in the cartoon, and Volatus' designers found a way to incorporate it. I appreciate that level of attention to detail. As for accessories, he comes with a pistol, and mine cane with a second head. It's unclear if everyone is going to get the second head, or if it's just for the first run of the figure. The idea here is that Blast Off's line art meant for him to have two eyes, but for some reason the animators took them to be cheeks or something, colored them the same gray as his mouth plate, then colored part of his forehead purple like some kind of visor. Volatus' default head is how Blast Off's head was intended to look (and you can see that's how it's colored on both the Combiner Wars and Generations Selects Blast Off figures, as well as Unique Toys and Warbotron versions (and, to a lesser extent, Iron Factory and Zeta's). However, many people consider the animation error to be canonical now (it's how Takara decoed the Unite Warrors version of Blast Off), so it's nice that MMC included that head for the people who prefer it. I'm sticking with the default, though. Volatus' head seems to be on a ball joint, with some up/down/sideways tilt in addition to rotation. His shoulders rotate and extend laterally 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, but be aware that they're kind of tight. If you hold the bicep you'll be ok, but if you try twisting his arm at the forearm you're more likely to engage a transformation swivel in said forearm. His elbows are weirdly double-jointed, so he can curl them forward maybe 140-ish degrees but they can also bend the wrong way a little over 90 degrees. His wrists can swivel. His fingers are molded into a curl, but they are individual parts pinned at the base, while his thumb has a ball joint at the base instead. His waist swivels, and he's got about 60 degrees of ab crunch. Due to the design of his hip skirts you can easily get his hips to ratchet 90 degrees forward, but you'll have to play around with them to get the clearance to move them backward, and at most he'll be under 90 degrees. Lateral movement is just friction, but he can do better than 90 degrees. His knees have a friction hinge that lets them move 90 degrees, but there's also a ratchet that bends them 90 degrees forward. Presumably the ratchet is the arm mode's elbow. His thighs swivel. All that is so far, so good, right? But here's the disappointing part... the purple booster feet can tilt down, but not up, and he's got no ankle pivots at all. There is a joint for transformation that bends his entire leg inward a little below the knee, and you can kind of use it to cheat a little. I've also heard it suggested that because the boosters are sort of rounded he doesn't really need an ankle pivot, and there may be some merit to that. But the simple fact is that he doesn't have an ankle pivot, and he absolutely could have had one if he wasn't hiding half a combiner fist in each leg. Now many people enjoy the all-in-one nature of MMC's combiner, and it is indeed impressively engineered, but when detractors and pantsforming advocates say that the all-in-one nature forces compromises on the individual figures they're not wrong, and this is a clear example. I wondered if the all-in-one thing would also force many compromises on the alt mode, but the shuttle mode is actually quite good. The transformation is surprisingly simple, and the result has more realistic details than UT. And while it has less than Zeta's the proportions are better with slimmer/longer fuselage. The colors are also the most cartoon-accurate. The only fault I could find was that the animation model didn't have any of the lighter brown on the nose. Sunbow purists will also note that cartoon Blast Off's windshield was one solid purple band, but I like that MMC broke it into six windows like an actual shuttle. The bottom is even very clean, with no obvious robot kibble besides the fake landing gear. There are a few more breaks than Zeta's, though, that give away the fact that this is still a transforming toy. My one real complaint with the shuttle mode is that it's missing the third main engine bell. Instead, the orbital maneuvering engines have been enlarged. I have to stress, though, that while I don't like it because it's not real-world accurate it is, in fact, cartoon accurate. There's a scene in one episode where he chases Slingshot through a canyon and into a cave, and you can clearly see four lit engines on him. In shuttle mode Volatus does have landing gear. The front landing gear is under the cockpit, and the rear landing gear are on panels that fold out, just a bit further forward than the fake landing gear. It kind of makes me wonder why MMC went with fake landing gear at all. Had they just made them functional they'd be no less cartoon-accurate in robot mode, and they're in a position to function in shuttle mode. However, the flaps are actually more real-world accurate, as is the fact that the nose sits a little lower than the rear. Overall it's a curious mix of real-world and cartoon details, but I forgive that design decision because MMC more than made up with it for the alt mode weapon storage. Instead of plugging his gun into the spine or under a wing you fold the barrel up and fold the handle in, revealing a little peg. Now, if you open the two panels that on the back of the shuttle (that were the backs of his calves in robot mode) you'll see a little peg hole you can plug the gun into. Then you can close everything up. You're not losing the gun, and the shuttle mode is still a disguise. I normally wait to show off combined mode, but as with their Vortex I think a quick look is warranted due to the all-in-one nature of the transformation. It works for me! The bicep swivel is functional, and he'll have 90 degrees of elbow bend. Plus, although the instructions tell you to remove it when you transform the shuttle into an arm, you actually can still store his pistol in the same spot. Volatus isn't a perfect figure. I really appreciate the engineering that MMC is putting into this all-in-one thing but it's definitely causing some compromises for robot mode, and that leaves the door open for someone like Fans Toys, X-Transbots, or DX9 to swoop in and deliver a definitive Masterpiece Blast Off. However, Volatus is the best Blast Off figure available today from any company at any scale, and one thing the all-in-one gimmick isn't compromising is MMC's ability to make a figure that's well-built, well-toleranced, and fun to transform and mess with. For now Zeta's is going back into arm mode and their Bruticus is still my Bruticus, but UT's is going into storage and Volatus is taking his place as my MP Blast Off. This is a definite recommend from me.

So yeah... while Siege was sort of a soft reboot of Hasbro's main Transformers line, right from the first wave they were kind of picking up where the Power of the Primes Trilogy left off and delivering Skytread (aka Flywheels), complimenting the previously-released Duocon Battletrap. Later they inched closer to completing the Headmasters with the release of Siege Apeface. And no sooner was Apeface revealed than the fandom started asking, "Where's Snapdragon?" Well, here's Voyager-class Earthrise Snapdragon. With none of the Siege dirt splatter, Snapdragon is quite a bit cleaner than his fellow Horrorcon. He's sporting Decepticon badges on both sides of his chest, which seems to be accurate to The Headmasters anime, although they're lacking the white backgrounds. He's got lots of purple and black, which is accurate, but he's missing any teal details from his legs. Instead, he's got some white and yellow on the sides of his legs that aren't on either the G1 cartoon or toy. I'll also note that he's got molded details, especially on his shins and hips, that call back to the G1 toy's stickers, but they're not painted. The overall effect is that he looks a little bland. I'll say this, though. Aside from some G1-accurate kibble on his arms he's got a very clean body, lacking Apeface's huge backpack and belying the fact that he's a triple-changer. He doesn't have have the cockpit dangling from his back; this is because much of the fuselage is actually formed from his legs. Snapdragon comes with two identical purple rifles, which is G1-accurate. And he comes with his head/Titan master. It's been some time since I watched either "The Rebirth" or The Headmasters, so I can't comment on how cartoon-accurate he is. The G1 toy had the red color on his thighs, not just his shins and legs, and his body was purple, not black. His head was also fully purple, with no white... but I do like the red-painted visor. Most of Snapdragon's articulation is pretty standard Siege/Earthrise stuff. The ball joint on the TItan Master neck means he can turn his head and he's got a little bit of up/down/sideways tilt. His shoulders can rotate and extend laterally 90 degrees. His waist swivels. His hips can move forward and backward 90 degrees and laterally slightly over that. His thighs swivel where the purple meets the black on his hips. His knees bend 90 degrees. His feet can't tilt down, but they do tilt up and his ankles can pivot nearly 90 degrees. Where he runs into trouble, though, are his arms, and it's entirely due to his kibble. Like, his biceps can swivel, but if his elbows are bent they'll almost totally block the swivel. His elbows can only bend about 45 degrees when his biceps are straight, but if they're turned to the outside that bit of wing kibble on his upper arm will stop all but the slightest of bends. And he's got no wrist articulation. He holds his rifles just fine. He's got an additional 5mm port on his back, two on his chest, on the wing that's on the inside of each forearm, in a screw hole on the outside of each forearm, on the outside of each shoulder, on the outside of each leg just below the knee, and under each foot. Snapdragon's first alt mode is a jet, much like Apeface. Except, unlike Apeface, he's much sleeker, he tabs together more solidly, and the transformation is much easier. The jet mode looks pretty G1, and even has a painted teal spot where the G1 toy had a hinge. The fuselage does flare out a bit more, though, and he's got translucent yellow both where the G1 toy had gold paint and where the G1 toy had a large black section. I don't mind it. What I do mind is that the back looks a bit unfinished. While the G1 toy was solid white the whole way back here we have exposed elbows, some exposed black and teal, and a gap between the engine nacelles and those exposed black and teal bits. I find myself wishing the arms could have collapsed, like Titans Return Overlord's, and/or that there could have been one more folding flap to cover over the back of the jet a bit more. Oh, and the exposed hands breaking up the exhausts are just lazy. The jet mode does have a fold out landing gear in the nose, but the rear just rests on his robot mode chest. The larger translucent yellow section can open up, and the titan master can sit inside. There's even some teal-painted cockpit details. The instructions indicate that the purple guns should go into the 5mm ports under his wings. There's also one port on either side of the nose, two just behind the titan master cockpit, one behind the teal pain on the spine, one on the side of either engine nacelle near the intakes, his visible fists under the jet, and two on the bottom where his robot chest is (although anything you stick in those last two will interfere with the jet's ability to sit on the ground). As previously mentioned Snapdragon is a triple-changer, and his third mode is... well, it was called the "reptile" mode. Could be an anatomically-inaccurate T-Rex, or a dragon, or maybe a kaiju. Whatever it is, it's once again saddled with less kibble from its other modes than ol' Apeface. And T-Rex/dragons/kaiju are cooler than apes anyway (sorry, Kong, you know I'm rooting for the big G in the upcoming Godzilla vs Kong movie). The transformation is, again, rather simple but extremely effective. The basic design is very G1- mostly black tail and body, legs made from the jet's nacelles, purple neck, white head with red jaws, little teal arms. The proportions are much better than the original toy, though, with wider hips and a narrower chest, no kibble dangling from the underside of said chest, and the dino arms are connected to dino biceps and shoulders instead of dangling off scrunched-up, poorly disguised robot legs. As was the case with Siege Apeface his monster head isn't just his half-unfolded robot head like the G1 toys. The top half of his monster head is part of the alt mode, so you don't have the robot face staring up from the top of his head. Instead there's a titan master port on the roof of his mouth, and you jam the titan master up inside so his legs are the lower jaw. His arms don't make the red on the upper jaw; that's just painted detail molded onto the rest of the monster head. But what's interesting is that the eyes are just empty sockets. There are fins on the titan master's arms, and when you plug him in you bend his arms up so the fins fit into slots. The fins fill in the sockets and give the monster mode his red eyes. His monster legs benefit from his robot arm articulation. They also suffer for it, but the hindrances bother me less in this mode. Although his tail doesn't have a ton of articulation there is the hinge near the tip that the G1 toy has. He can't tilt his head sideways or rotate it at all, but he's got hinges where the purple meets the black and where the white meets the purple, which is helpful, and his titan master's hips and knees become joints in his lower jaws. My only real complaint here is the dino arms. The shoulders, which are riveted, can rotate but they can't move laterally at all. And the dino elbows are ball joints, which does give them a bicep swivel but he can't straighten them. The ball has 90 degrees of range, but that's from a 90 degree bend to a 180 degree bend. The instructions suggest using the two pegs holes on his back (what was his robot chest) to store his guns. You also have one on each side of his tail, near the hinge, two on the underside of his tail near his pelvis, one on his crotch, one on the outside of each hip, one on the outside of each lower leg on the wing kibble, on on the inside of each lower leg near the ankle, and one in each heel where his robot fists are stored. When Apeface came out I thought it was cool that Hasbro was finishing up the Headmasters, but the figure was pretty disappointing. I'm pleased to say that Snapdragon, while not perfect, is pretty great. If you can look past a few arm articulation issues in robot and monster mode and the slightly unfinished rear of the jet mode the I think you'll be quite happy with what I feel is the second-best triple-changer Hasbro's released after Springer.

Not in animated form.

That assumes I was planning on buying 4-5 tickets. I did want to see this in the theater, but it was just going to be me and my wife, and the afternoon matinee is around $5.50. And that was back in March... I've waited this long, I can wait a little longer for the Blu-ray. Then at least I'll own it.

Same-ish. Mine won't get here until Friday. Meanwhile Amazon said Snapdragon isn't coming until September, but I just picked one up at Walmart.

This, this, 1000x this. I mean, you could technically read all of pre-reboot IDW Transformers. Not all of it is great, but I wouldn't say any of it is bad. Or, if you do want to skip a bit so you can start reading More Than Meets the Eye you might actually want to start with the one-shot "The Death of Optimus Prime," which is sort of a post-Chaos soft-reboot (Chaos ended the current ongoing stories, but everything that followed was still set in the same continuity until the actual reboot years later). You might also want to read Transformers: Robots in Disguise (which kept the numbering but dropped the "robots in disguise" part after the new cartoon started). It's not as good as MTMTE, but it runs concurrently with with it and you'll be less confused during stories like Dark Cybertron and Combiner Wars that served as crossovers between the ongoing Transformers series. But yeah, if you read nothing else read MTMTE. It's probably the best Transformers fiction in existence, Alex Milne is definitely one of my favorite artists at IDW, and Roberts' take on several characters have become the definitive versions of those characters. EDIT: BTW @Convectuoso, if you go all in on IDW PM me. I organized the entire pre-reboot run of IDW Transformers comics in chronological order instead of order of release, and I can send you that reading order.

I need a VPN (well, I'm constantly hearing people these days telling me everyone needs a VPN, but yeah). The three most important things to me are, in order of importance, 1) if it works in China, 2) how good it is at unblocking geo-locked content on Netflix/Hulu/etc, as well as blacked-out hockey games on NHL TV, and 3) overall speed. After digging around it sounds like the best options are ExpressVPN and NordVPN*. I actually signed up for ExpressVPN's free trial last time I went to China, and it worked 95% of the time (it wasn't super fast, but that seems less like an issue with ExpressVPN and more that internet in China is kind of slow). There's a part of me that wants to go with NordVPN because it's cheaper, around $125 for three years vs $100 every year. But from what I've read, while NordVPN checks all the boxes ExpressVPN is a little better at the those three things that matter most to me. Any Nord users out there, or better yet, anyone that's tried them both? Is ExpressVPN worth the extra money? *I've read about other VPNs that are just as fast, good at unblocking content, secure, etc, and even cheaper. However, because of that #1 concern that it work when I'm in China, right now I'm only considering NordVPN and ExpressVPN.

$30 seems a bit much, and only through a service I'm already paying a subscription fee for? No thanks. Let me know when it's $20 on Movies Anywhere.

To be fair I doubt Netflix had much input. Rooster Teeth made the show, and Hasbro commissioned it, so I'd say either Hasbro didn't want to pay for it, or Rooster Teeth was hiring from their circle of web content creators (you may, in fact, know the voice of Prime as the Honest Trailers guy).

So awhile back @Kuma Style was putting up pictures of his Perfect Effect bikes and was talking about how he liked PE's older stuff better than their newer stuff. Around that same time I'd picked up the Generations Selects Soundwave Spy Patrol, which let me complete the duo of Siege Rumble and Frenzy. I was happy about that, but I also wondered if there was a better option for those two as the Siege mold doesn't have a ton of articulation, has kind of weird proportions, and is totally missing the back guns (which I consider to be a signature part of their look). And I did seem to recall Perfect Effect taking on the characters. So I went back- ten years back- and picked up what I believe is some of Perfect Effect's very first releases... Warrior Type-F and Warrior Type-R. It seems Perfect Effect had been following the "X is blue, Y is red" debate and took the colors to heart. Type-F (who is clearly Rumble) is mostly two shades of blue, with none of the cartoon's purple, and Type-R (is is definitely Frenzy) is primarily red with black accents instead of black with red accents. I like where Perfect Effect was going with them, for the most part. They're a little taller and definitely have better proportions than the Siege versions, but they're not so much larger that they won't fit in a Siege collection. They've got molded and painted tape details on their chests and some of the cartoon's pelvis details on their stomachs. Although their shins are dominated by hollow spaces necessary for transformation the shape and painted outline is at least evocative of the toy/cartoon's shin details. Unfortunately, while the design was pretty solid, the execution is a bit rough. The mold is a little mushy in places, especially their heads and chests, and the paint is very uneven. Rumble's also got a very noticeable sprue mark on his neck. They come with a fair amount of accessories. Happily, you do get their signature back guns, although they're blue/blue and black/red instead of silver. They also each get a small pistol, and a pair of units that could be pile drivers or gatling guns, depending on how you look at them. They open up, and the back guns can fit inside them). Their heads can swivel. Due to transformation they can kind of look up and down, but looking up will actually lift the head away from the body and down will start stuffing the head into the torso. Shoulders are ball joints for rotation and cut for about 90 degrees of lateral movement. Elbows are also ball joints, providing just over 90 degrees of bend and doubling as a bicep swivel. Their waists can swivel; they're technically on a ball joint, but there's no cut for an ab crunch. Hips are ball joints for 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally. Knees are ball joints and can bend 90 degrees. They can technically swivel at that ball joint, too, but not when their knees are bent, so I'll say that they don't really have a thigh swivel. Due to transformation they can bend their feet up, but not really down and they don't have ankle pivots. All-in-all not the best, but better than the Siege version. I must say, though, tolerances are an issue on both figures. Instead of moving smoothly on the ball joints there's a lot of odd resistance in spots and other spots where they want to settle in place. Like if you move their hips outward a little they'll pop back into a straight position, but they're ok once you move them out to about 45 degrees. Meanwhile Frenzy always kind of want to lean forward on his hips, while Rumble's torso is always turned slightly. The back guns have pegs on them. These pegs can fit into holes on their backs for that signature look, or they can fit into their hands if you prefer that look. The pistols have two rectangular tabs. The longer one is a handle that fits into their hands. The shorter one fits into a groove on the outside of their legs for storage. The big pile driver/gatling guns have rectangular tabs on one side and a round peg on the other. The pegs allow them to be stored on their backs, either with or without the back guns inside. And, like the back guns, the same peg can fit into their hands. The rectangular tab fits into the back of their forearms. In this way they could be under slung gatling guns, or you can bend their arms out for the pile driver look. You'll need the pile driver/gatling guns for transformation, otherwise they just curl up into boxes. The back guns, which again just store in the pile driver/gatling guns, are kind of optional. In Siege fashion I suppose you could argue that they're "spaceships." But they're definitely guns. If you look at the underside you'll find a short 5mm peg. In theory, that alone will allow you to attach them to many of the 5mm ports that cover most of the Siege figures. You might find you need a little more clearance around the forearms if you want them to be handheld guns, though, and that's where their little pistols come in. The back is supposed to fit over the peg, allowing the barrel to serve as a longer handle. If you're questioning my use of phrases like "in theory" and "supposed to" it's because tolerances are, again, an issue. While transforming them the front of their torsos kept separating from the back. The legs would peg into the shoulders like they were supposed to, and they'd tab into each other like they're supposed to, but not at the same time. Their arms are supposed to curl up and little tabs on their forearms are supposed to fit into notches in their legs, but their arms are slightly too long. Trying to fit the arms in place will force the legs to untab from the shoulders. Out of the box the little peg was too big to fit into any of Soundwave's 5mm ports or the back of the pistols. I filed the pegs a bit and was able to get the pistols attached, but they still wouldn't fit into any of Soundwave's ports. And even though I got the pistols to eventually fit they pegs are so shallow that it's easy for them to fall back off. At least the pistol barrel handles fit into Soundwave's fists just fine. I think it's safe to say I have some mixed feelings about these guys. On one hand, I think they're pretty great on paper. They were doing the Battle Master thing years before Hasbro was putting out Battle Masters, and weapons for Soundwave was a good idea even if there wasn't a good Soundwave to use them with at the time. Actually, PE's instructions show them being used with Fans Project's Shadow Commander armor for Classics Nemesis Prime, and indeed the Rumble/Frenzy colors are a repaint of a black and teal version. No, the design is fine; all my problems come down to execution. Maybe it was partly Perfect Effect's inexperience. Maybe it's not totally fair to compare decade-old toys, especially 3P, against more modern figures. The fact remains that the sloppy paint and muddy sculpt are worse than even a lot of the 3D printed stuff coming out these days, and tolerances are so poor that basic features simply don't work like they should. These things originally retailed for around $40-50 each, and had I paid anywhere near that I think I'd be angry. I actually got them for a little under $20 each, though. I still wouldn't recommend them, but at that price they're at least ok enough in robot mode that I don't feel ripped off.

Those names are Peg-level great! Dunno about Japan, but yeah, Skywarp was only available in an Amazon-exclusive set with some Battlemasters and retailed for something like $40-$50. Redwing's price wasn't bad, but to get him you had to buy him from Target.com (not in stores), and even then only if you paid with their store debit or credit card. I don't recall having a particularly difficult time getting either of them, though, but by now they're only being sold on the aftermarket. They're a very monochrome set, and it does sort of make them look like less-detailed KOs. But it's also screen-accurate: A part of me does think that Sunstorm's orange creamsicle and white and the design they used for MP Acid Storm with two tones of green, some black, and digital camo on the wings would be more visually interesting, sure. In hand, though, I kind of love the bright yellow and neon green they used for Nova Storm and Acid Storm. I'm not a huge fan of Ion Storm's Thundercracker sans silver and black, but the set of three retailed for $20 less than three Voyagers normally cost, so ultimately I'm glad to have them in my little fleet. I just really want one Sunstorm in this mold. Now that I think about it, maybe Nacelle, too. Then I could have them flying in a wedge- V V V V V V V V V V Not so far, anyway.

Actually I think I meant forgettable. Don't know why I tacked "un" on the front, but yeah, we're basically on the same page regarding the voice quality. The perils of using characters for the Siege show that weren't in the toyline (instead of the numerous Siege toys that didn't make it into the show). Although your point about the models in the show looking like the toys reminded me of another complaint I had. For a show called "Transformers" there wasn't a lot of transforming. Cog did the weaponizer thing twice, Prime, Jetfire, and a few Seekers transformed a few times, the Autobots that went to the Sea of Rust did at least once, and that was kind of it. Magnus walked to Megatron's house, the Autobots walked into the trap, and Bee, Arcee, and Cog walked to Soundblaster's (and stole a truck to drive home). Nice Seeker pic, by the way. Were they some of the newer purchases? Or some of the other Siege Seekers? I've got eight of that mold now, and I'm still secretly hoping for one more release as Sunstorm.

Just finished it tonight. I fell asleep yesterday watching the fourth episode, and again today on the last one. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, eh? Actually, it was pretty ok. The action scenes and the animation were good, and it had a decent plot. The guy who did Optimus' voice was... ok. He's no Peter Cullen, but he did alright. I thought the voices for Ratchet, Elita-1, Starscream, and Bumblebee were fine, and I actually really liked that Megatron. Jetfire's VA did a good job, I'm just not sure he was the right choice. Soundwave, Shockwave, and Omega Supreme were really off, though. The rest of the cast was pretty unforgettable. On the whole it was enjoyable and a big improvement over the Prime Wars Trilogy, but there's been better TF fiction. Yes to both of those. And while I'm really not a fan of robots turning into organic animals and therefore am not particularly into Beast Wars toys or characters I'll happily admit the show was well-written and well-acted. I've only see the first season of it, but what I've seen of Cyberverse started off pretty slow but picked up steam and I was thoroughly enjoying it by the end. But Siege is definitely better than RiD (either one), the Unicron Trilogy, or the Prime Wars Trilogy. While he's based on the Siege toy in the Siege show (of course), I was recommending this one at full price and now it's almost $100 off at BBTS.

No worries! My secret is that my wife and daughter go to bed around the same time, 9:00-10:00, but I don't. Any time between them going to bed and myself going to bed (after 2:00) is my personal time. If I'm not super into a game I might play for an hour or two, then do something else like surf the net, read, or watch TV, but if I'm really into a game I'll play for the entire stretch.

3 days? I picked up the game at launch two weeks ago. For an open-world game it's not particularly long. Where a lot of games would pad the length with tons of collectibles there aren't a ton here, save for the foxes.

Finished Ghost of Tsushima tonight. It's one of only five games in two console generations I bothered to get the Platinum trophy on. Definitely a fitting swan song for the PS4.

XTB originally said pics in July. They just made it... It's a very proportional trailer. I'm curious to see how it all turns into Menasor's frame. Notice the flat spot on the upper left for placing a Decepticon insignia. It's apparently just a pre-production sample, so despite having all five of their Stunticons out there's a very real possibility that DX9 will actually be the first to complete Menasor. Hopefully XTB can at least get this trailer out before Fans Toys finishes theirs...

I've seen pretty much ever DC Animated Feature. I'm sure I'll see this one, too.

I mean, Starscream looks fine, as a drawing. I'm sure I'll have a stronger opinion when I see a prototype, and a stronger opinion still when I see it painted and know the price. Takara does have a strong record of cartoon likeness and articulation these days... but they also have a reputation for fake parts, cramming a lot of the real alt mode into a backpack, QC issues (knees seem to be their weakness), and high prices. Given what the old Seeker molds were going for by the time the last Conehead was released I feel like I can reasonably expect that Takara will deliver something that'll be better than Maketoys, but not so much better and carrying a price tag that all but guarantees I won't upgrade.

I'd love to start studying iaido or some form of kenjutsu, but I can't find a teacher. You can't throw a rock around here without hitting a Shotokan, Taekwondo, or "karate"* school, but the closest iaido school is around 160 miles away in Virginia. *Although we say we're in the Pittsburgh area, where I live is actually far enough east into the Appalachian foothills that the population is largely white people who don't know the difference between Chinese/Japanese/Korean/etc, so if you see a school with "karate" in the name you have a 50/50 shot of it being Shotokan or Taekwondo.