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mikeszekely

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  1. mikeszekely
    I'd like whichever BB Prime is the closest to MP-10 in size. I don't understand ToyWorld (or Zeta's, with Pioneer) thinking behind scaling them with ThreeA's non-transformable figures (especially when ThreeA did both Bee and BB Prime) instead of the established scale for transforming figures.
  2. mikeszekely
    I still don't know when I'll actually have hands on Capone, but as a wise old Jedi once said, "There is another." It's X-Transbot's Gravestone, their MP Motormaster in the great Stunticon Wars of 2019-2020. So, yeah, even though I own and have reviewed FT's Roadking, and that would be the logical thing to compare Gravestone with, I'm just going to wait until Capone gets here (whenever that may be) to compare them all at once. So for now Capone's just going up against Transformission's IDW-style Motormaster (who also appeared in the Roadking review). It's hard to express my thoughts on Gravestone's aesthetics. It's like the things they got right they got really right, but the things that bug me really bug me. I like the simplified look to the fake-cab feet, but I hate that tab sticking off of his right toe. I like the molded detail on his thighs, but I don't like the MP-10-esque angles. I like the translucent plastic on his chest and his shins, but the paint on the fake cab doesn't match it (and the third purple spot on each shin is left black). His arms look good, save for the random chunk of black on the back of each forearm. The front of his torso looks excellent, but when you start to see him from other angles his sides have some smashed up panels and his back is kind of mess. The top of his torso is basically the entire real front of his alt mode, but the roof windows end up in the small of his back. And he kind of looks a little frumpy in a straight-on stoic stance like this (although that seems to match the character model). This will be clearer, I think, when I review Capone, but Gravestone is still taller than GT's Motormaster/MP-10/MP-44/MS-01/TE-01, but he's actually a little shorter than Roadking or the Zeta torsos. Gravestone comes with the exact same accessories as Roadking; a rifle, a sword, and a yelling face. All of his accessories are painted, and yes, the sword is entirely painted metallic black. That seems to be a deliberate choice to match the character model, which has a black sword. However, this is one instance where the character model didn't match the animation, where the blade of the sword was silver. I don't imagine it'd be too hard to paint it yourself if it really bothers you. Gravestone may look frumpy in a stoic pose, but I think he really shines in more dynamic poses. While there are probably a few areas where things could have been improved Gravestone's articulation is quite good. His head is actually on a ball joint, but due to the shape of the box it just swivels. But his face is on a hinge, so it can tilt up and down inside the box. His shoulders rotate on ratchets, and move laterally 90 degrees on more ratchets. Plus he's got dedicated butterfly joints. His biceps swivel, and although his elbows are a single hinge they bend around 120 degrees. His wrists can swivel. His thumbs are on ball joints at the base, with one addition pinned hinge knuckle. The rest of his fingers are all individually articulated, with pins at the base knuckle, mid-knuckle, and upper-knuckle. Plus there's an additional hinge between the base and mid-knuckles that allows the fingers to splay out. His waist swivels, and he has over 90 degrees of ab crunch (although the hinge is at the front of his waist and using the ab crunch leaves a gap between his upper and lower body). Hinges move his hip skirts out of the way so that they can move forward and backward nearly 90 degrees on a ratchet, and laterally 90 degrees on a slightly softer ratchet. His thighs should swivel around his hips, but the joints are very tight on my copy and they don't seem to have a ton of range. His knees are a single ratcheted hinge, and can bend a bit over 90 degrees. His feet have just the slightest downward tilt, but a dedicated ratcheted hinge that lets them bend up 90 degrees. Finally, a friction hinge gives him about 60 degrees of ankle pivot. He holds his gun in the standard MP fashion, with a tab on the handle that fits into a slot on his palm. The fit is pretty snug, too. He holds his sword the same as his gun, with a tab on the handle. Although the handle isn't really long enough for him to hold with two hands, the butterfly joints in his shoulders do allow him to pose as if he is holding the sword with two hands. And if you don't want him holding a weapon there are a pair of hinged pegs on his back, in what becomes the real bumper on the real cab. These pegs fit into little holes on the weapons. You can fit both on his back at the same time, but in my experience it works best with just one weapon on his back at a time. While Roadking is the only Motormaster that's incorporated the entire trailer into the robot, XTB is taking the opposite approach and making the only Motormaster (that isn't a repaint of Optimus) that's only the cab. Fansproject, Transformission, and DX9 all use a portion of the trailer in their Motormasters. And the engineering XTB used is similar to Unique Toys' movie bots, as Gravestone sort of turns himself inside out and doesn't have much in the way of obvious robot parts in truck mode. However, it's not as impressive as UT's, which hide the alt mode parts better in robot mode. It's not as complicated as Roadking's engineering, but again I think Roadking's engineering feels a little more clever, like how FT used enough of the actual cab to make his feet but still ultimately had an MP-10-sized cab, or how Roadking incorporates an entire trailer into his robot. The truck is very solid, aside from a loose smoke stack on mine. This is in contrast to the robot mode, where part of his collar or his calves like to come untabbed. The engineering might not be as impressive, but the aesthetics certainly are. XTB seems to be using a style that will appeal to a lot of older MP collectors, with a cartoony robot but a very realistic truck mode. The designer was definitely looking at a real Kenworth K100, and he seems to have copied a lot of little details down to a little vent over the air intake for the turbo (thanks, David) that's on one side of the grill and only one side of the grill. The only obvious robot kibble is the fake wheels from the sides of his feet, but even those could sort of pass for custom reflectors. One thing I do find a little curious... the G1 toy and cartoon did have Motormaster with purple fuel tanks, and I suppose a lot of the other purple accents fit the theme. But neither the cartoon nor the toy had a purple grill or bumper. I'm not saying that it necessarily looks bad, mind you, but it's a weirdly inaccurate choice. Gravestone has rubber tires and rolls just fine. Due to part of his transformation, the front wheels can even turn. And while he might not come with his own trailer he does have slots for you to connect MP-10's trailer to him. About his trailer... apparently it'll be sold separately, and the trailer will turn into the bulk of Menasor. We have no idea right now what XTB is planning on charging for it, so it's something to watch out for if you're into this for combined mode. I've heard some people suggest that it's a rip off, but frankly I don't see much difference between selling the trailer separately as XTB is doing and packing the combiner parts with the last car, as FT is doing. If the price is reasonable XTB's Stunticons could still wind up being the cheapest. There is the possibility of gouging, though. The decision to recommend Gravestone or not isn't an easy one. On the one hand, if you've only been collecting the XTB Stunticons and you want to complete the set I think you'll be very happy with Gravestone, as he's easily the best of the five and one of XTB's best releases overall. Or, if this were the only MP-style Motormaster I think I could definitely recommend it and I think most people would be satisfied. There's also the fact that a lot of people will buy whichever set gives them the best Menasor, and despite releasing all five of their Stunticons we still don't have a completed Menasor. On the other hand, Gravestone has been released into a world that already has Roadking in it. Now, Roadking isn't perfect. And there's a lot I really like about Gravestone. But if I'm being totally honest I think Roadking is the better figure overall. So while I do think Gravestone is quite good, and that the people who buy him will be content with him, if I'm only going to recommend one figure to people who simply want the best MP Motormaster then my recommendation still goes to Fans Toys'.
  3. mikeszekely
    All I know is that I've been building my own PCs since the Core 2 Duo was the new hotness, and for the first time yesterday I ordered a pre-built Asus ROG Strix desktop. Sometime in the last few years along it got cheaper to buy than build, and with a 4 year old always needing to be run somewhere I don't have the time anyway. But yes, Comet Lake will use a new socket (LGA 1200). But it isn't expected to be widely available for desktops until late this year or even next year. I wound up spending an extra $150 and bought a 27UK850-W instead.
  4. mikeszekely
    Hmmm. Wonder if I should sell Alpha Pack and pick up General Grant? May be moot, as I anhiliated my TF budget for January. And MMC's Onslaught looks to be coming before CNY... I'm hoping I can work it into February's budget. Oh, and it's official- Gravestone made it to me before Capone. With CNY hitting next week I think I'll contact ShowZ and ask him to resend.
  5. mikeszekely
    This thread's been quiet. Well, my love of old Gobots is no secret. Not to you guys, and not to my brother, who found the Loco figure we had as kids and he gave it to me for Christmas. Which prompted me to order Action Toys Steam Robo. Eh... I think aesthetically he's kind of a mixed bag. The basics are there; the silver with red dots on his shins, his yellow belt with two black dots and a red hexagon, the plate with "D-5147" on his chest, his red shades, the head that's designed to look like he's wearing a conductor's hat. But the red sticker on the original toy's tummy has been replaced with some mashed up hinges that they couldn't even bother to color red, his belt has two little squares cut out of it, his face is a simple, bland frown like you might have found on one of the older 3P Transfomers, and his head looks rather incomplete without the front engine on top. And that's before I even bring up that the insides of his forearms are as hollow as a Hasbro Deluxe, despite costing more than double. I'm not sure what's going on with Action Toys and scale, either. I don't have many of their Machine Robo figures, really just Steam Robo and Bike Robo (plus Bike Robo DX), and I can tell you that Steam Robo is over a head taller than Bike Robo. The original toys are the same size, they Loco and Cy-Kill looked to be the same size in the cartoon, and Bike Robo and Steam Robo looked to be the same size in the anime, so I don't really understand the size discrepancy. I guess you could say that a steam engine is bigger than a motorcycle, but with that logic Steam Robo should be a lot more than a head taller. Steam Robo's accessories are pretty basic. He comes with the parts to make the stand that all their non-DX Machine Robo figures come with. I'm not going to get into detail on them; you can scroll up a bit to read my Bike Robo review if you need to know more. Other than the stand Steam Robo comes with a stand adapter that plugs into his butt and a pistol. I think Steam Robo's articulation is better than Bike Robo's, but nothing amazing. His head is on a ball joint that can swivel as well as look up and down, but I couldn't get any tilt out of him. His shoulders are ball joints for rotation, a slight butterfly, and about 75 degrees of lateral motion. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. His fists can fold in for transformation, but they don't swivel. His waist does swivel. His hips are ball joints that can go forward and backward a little over 90 degrees, or laterally 90 degrees. His thighs can swivel. His knees bend 90 degrees on a soft ratchet or some other detented joint. The front of his foot is on a ball joint so it can tilt up or down, or rotate on the ball for a faux ankle pivot. The handle of the pistol plugs into either fist. You guys know that I'm not the biggest fan of ball joints. I call Hasbro out when they don't use universal joints for the hips on a $20 Deluxe, you better believe I think Action Toys should be using some better hardware on a $50 toy. Ditch the elaborate stand, if they have to. The use of ball joints by itself would be bad enough, but this figure is poorly toleranced. His hips are a little looser than I'd like. His toes and the hinges that fold his hands in are looser than anyone will like, and the toes are a bit of a problem because his feet don't sit flat. He's got heels that extend beyond the bottom of his feet, so his toes kind of have to point down to keep his legs straight. And worst of all, the poor tolerances aren't limited to the joints. His lower legs split in half and unfold for transformation. There are two tabs that are supposed to hold the halves of his legs together, but the slots are too large for the tabs. There's zero friction holding them in, so simply picking him up is enough to have his legs start flopping apart. The transformation for the original toy is, like most Gobots, super simple. Push the arms into the torso, and fold him over. Steam Robo, on the other hand, has a surprisingly complex transformation that turns his upper body inside out, shifting mass from a top-to-bottom configuration to a front-to-back one, then his legs split apart and unfurl to become the bottom of the engine. I'm no expert on trains, but it seems to me that Action Robo's goal was a more realistic and realistically proportioned steam engine than the original toy. Everything fits together solidly here, making this mode the stronger of the two modes. Again, I'm no expert, but I think this is supposed to be a Japanese D-51 steam engine. I'm not going to go into great detail about what they got right and what they didn't, because I'm sure that David's got stronger opinions and a better eye than I do for what's right and what's wrong here. All I'll note is that the D-51 did have some kind of rounded element in front of the smokestack, and I think it's kind of clever of Action Toys to use that element to disguise a hinge (minus points for the itty bitty headlight, though). Oh, and there's no tender. You better believe I'm not forgetting about tenders after the crash course I got when I reviewed Siege Astrotrain. I looked, but I couldn't find a place to store Steam Robo's pistol in steam engine mode. The obvious (to me) spot would have been in the smokestack, but unlike the original toy it's not hollowed out. There is a coupler on the front of the engine (which does look to be something a real D-51 had there), but the handle of the gun steams too big to fit in it. Despite my love of Gobots Action Toys' Machine Robo line hasn't really caught on with me, and Steam Robo is really hammering home why. Bike Robo DX was an amazing figure and I would literally be willing to pay $100-$120 a pop for them to do almost any Gobot in that exact same size, even without many accessories, as long as they kept the quality and included at least one Hanna-Barbera face. I'm sure I'm not the only one, as Bike Robo DX was fairly well-received by reviewers and seems to have sold pretty well. Yet, despite promises that they were working on more Machine Robo DX figures, Action Toys seemed to double down on their regular Machine Robo line. It's probably not fair to judge that entire line by the two figures that I have from it, but both of mine are little floppy, don't stay tabbed together all that well, come with accessories I don't want or need, and simply aren't up to the level of quality I expect in a $40-$50 toy. And again I think I'm not the only one who felt that way, as many of the figures in the line took a lot longer to sell out (if they ever did). Steam Robo is simply not that good, and I don't recommend him. While I liked Bike Robo better, I didn't recommend him either. My advice to you, as consumers, is don't buy them. My advice to Action Toys, as toy makers, is to stop wasting time and money turning what seems like early Fansproject designs into overpriced toys of mediocre quality and give fans the Eagle Robo DX we've been wanting to buy for almost two years now.
  6. mikeszekely
    BBTS is selling Warbotron's Computron set for $149.99. I bought this set years ago, and while it's probably not going to be anyone's idea of a proper MP Computron the individual Technobots might work on an MP shelf, and it's really not a bad set for the price.
  7. mikeszekely
    Good to know, I guess. In any case, like I said the tracking clearly states that it left Beijing by airplane, so it's 99% for sure in the States. And another TFWer said he talked to the post office, and their response was basically "we have no record of your package entering the country." Despite being on US soil, something doesn't officially enter the country until it clears customs, and that's pretty much the smoking gun that tells me that the hold up is US customs.
  8. mikeszekely
    It might if ShowZ just slapped a shipping label right on Capone's box, but he typically fits styrofoam around whatever he's shipping and then covers the whole thing in tape.
  9. mikeszekely
    Well, I didn't care for the Studio Series Deluxe WWII Bumblebee, and I thought Hot Rod was pretty terrible in The Last Knight, so it's safe to say I'm skipping the WWII Hot Rod repaint. So it looks like this will be my last review for the current wave of Studio Series figures... Deluxe-class Soundwave. Before sitting down to write I looked at the CGI model, I looked at the previous Deluxe-class and Human Alliance toys, and yeah, this one's more accurate. The tires on his back are sitting a little too high, and he's got door kibble on the inside of his forearms. His chest, mainly the grill, doesn't compact. He's got some car kibble around the tires on his calves. But this is a Deluxe-class toy, not an MPM, and I expect concessions to be made. And on the other hand, the faux car panels on his thighs, the discs on his forearms, in the gaps in his chest, and (not that you can easily see them) on the linkage between his shoulders and his torso are all spot on. His head sculpt is good. That is what his feet look like, and the car kibble does at least put the tires correctly in his heels. For a Deluxe-class, I think the sculpt is pretty good overall, and I like that he's painted silver and not simply made of swirly silver plastic. But, paint might actually be my main gripe with the aesthetics, because he winds up being very monochromatic, but the CGI model has red in its abs and blue in the chest and shoulders. All things considered, though, this is one of the better-looking Studio Series releases. Soundwave's only accessory is this tiny Laserbeak. The sculpt here is ok, but unlike Soundwave it's not painted (aside from the red eyes). The only articulation is at its hips. I guess as long as Hasbro is trying to keep things in scale for the Studio Series line the only way we're going to get characters like Laserbeak is as pack-in accessories. But then again, Barricade didn't come with Frenzy, we don't have Ravage, and I'd have been quite content without Brains, Wheelie, Igor, and the baby Dinobots. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'd have rather Soundwave came with a weapon. Soundwave's articulation is a little on the poor side. His head is on a ball joint. He can look up and has ok sideways tilt, but he can't look down and his collar impedes rotation. His shoulders rotate and extend nearly 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. No wrist or waist articulation. His hips are (a little loose) ball joints, and can go 90 degrees forward, about 60 degrees backward before his backpack is just too in the way, and only about 45 degrees laterally due to the shape of the faux car kibble causing it to dig into his waist. He has extremely minimal thigh rotation. His knees bend 90 degrees. With everything tabbed in properly he has no foot articulation. Sure, you can untab the front of his foot so it can tilt up, but that doesn't get you a pivot. There's a rail on the edge of either forearm, and Laserbeak's feet have a shape that's basically a c-clip, allowing him to clip onto those rails and perch on Soundwave's arm. And... that's about it. As he did in Dark of the Moon, Soundwave turns into a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, which is a pretty big car for only being a two-seater (probably due to Mercedes-Benz building a supercar that could hang with the Ferraris and Lamborghinis of the era, but deciding to go with a front-engine setup instead of a mid-engine one). As big as the SLS AMG was, though, a Saleen Mustang was still bigger. Since Soundwave's bigger than Barricade in their alt modes this is another example of how having robots in scale usually means having alt modes that aren't. The engineering with Soundwave is, for the most part, quite straightforward. There is one bit that I found to be a bit of a hangup, and that's how his pelvis sits. Your instinct (or at least mine) is to bend him 90 degrees at the hips. And while everything will seem like it's in the right spot, and most of the car will start to line up, but there won't be enough room for his arms to tuck in and form the sides of the car. What you really need is to is give his pelvis an extra push, so the hinges tuck into a corner and his pelvis is sitting at an angle (as shown above). Soundwave's alt mode has a lot of the problems the other Studio Series cars do- at this size, with this engineering, it's nearly impossible to get everything to line up and tab in just right. No matter what I do I get at least some gaps, most prominently where the rear window and trunk tab into the rear of the car made from his legs. He doesn't roll so well, and I think that's at least in part because his ears hang down well below the front end of the car. And, at least on my copy, I've got some paint blemishes on the rear. I also think the car would have looked better if Hasbro used that black paint they have on the grill on all the other vents. Despite these issues the sculpt is pretty great, with lots of detail in the molding like the turn signals on the mirrors, the "SLS" and "AMG" marks on the rear, the "6.3" and the low door handle on the gullwing doors, and the Mercedes-Benz insignia on the rims. Laserbeak can come along for the ride in this mode. There's a small slot on the back of the roof. When you bend Laserbeak's legs backward you'll find a tab between his knees that plugs neatly into that slot. I'd still rather have a weapon, though. And there you have it, folks, a somewhat mixed-bag wave ends on a fairly high note. Soundwave is lacking in accessories and articulation, but his strong sculpt and copious silver paint still gives him a strong visual presence, and his straightforward engineering lets you flip between those modes with minimal hassle. That makes Soundwave one of the better Deluxes in the Studio Series line, and a recommend from me.
  10. mikeszekely
    I can't speak for every Capone (in fact, I know @Dangard Ace got his from China to Canada), but it seems that several of us in the US that ordered from some popular Chinese sellers (in my case ShowZ) had them ship in early December and are still waiting. I paid my invoice in late November, ShowZ shipped it on December 3rd, and the last two status updates are that it was loaded on a plane in Beijing on December 6th and that the plane took off. Having flown from Beijing to the States more than a few times I can safely say that unless that plane crashed or got diverted it would have landed in the US on the 6th, so yeah, it seems like customs is the hold up. What they're doing, whether the shipments are getting flagged (someone suggested that the shape of the box could make it look like it's got a gun in it), or if they're just slow from the holidays, I don't know. If it doesn't come in a few more days I'll ask ShowZ about it.
  11. mikeszekely
    I told them to ship mine already. And it looks like I'll have Gravestone before Capone, despite Capone shipping over a month ago.
  12. mikeszekely
    I'm super satisfied with my toy-colored Gundog and was never going to pick up MP Hound, but it's still a shame to hear about yet another Takara MP release with QC issues.
  13. mikeszekely
    No intro today, we're just going to dive right into Studio Series Deluxe-Class Arcee, Elita-One, and Chromia. When they say "Deluxe-class" they don't mean each sister is a Deluxe, they mean the three sisters are sold together as one Deluxe-class. Needless to say, they're pretty small. Not as a small as the baby Dinobots that came with Drift, or as small as Igor that came with Megatron. Certainly not as small as Wheelie and Brains. But much smaller than any singular Deluxe-class, and smaller than a Titans Return Legends-class. Now, I don't mind the size, if that's the proper scale for these characters. But whether their small size makes them difficult to detail, or spreading the cost of a Deluxe over three figures simply doesn't leave the budget for it, they come across as really bland. Not counting the black tires, each sister is molded in just two shades of plastic, with the sparest of silver and black painted accents. That means none of the sisters have any white, they don't have their blue accents, and they don't have any black that isn't seats or tires. Arcee's gun arm isn't very accurate, Chromia's isn't even in the ballpark of accuracy, and Elita-1's tire hand doesn't have fingers. The shape and joints on their bodies seem to be off, and perhaps made worse because they share parts that they really shouldn't. But then, when you're most ready to rip into Hasbro for how lazy these figures are, you'll notice some detail that's on the CGI model, and I start to realize that someone really did put effort into these sculpts, but again were completely hamstrung do to some combination of their small size and Hasbro's budget for a Deluxe-class toy. They do come with a few accessories. You get a trio of stands- each one is unique and fits just one sister. They're necessary if you want to keep them from falling over in robot mode. The other accessories are less so. There's a large, unpainted pink gun arm for Arcee, an unpainted blue blade for Chromia, and a blue chunk of... something with some silver paint. The blue matches Chromia, but the instructions say it's for Arcee. Any way you slice it, Elita-1 gets robbed. Each sister has basically the same articulation, and as noted they actually share a lot of parts like their heads, chests, upper arms, and middles. Their heads are ball-jointed and can look up and swivel but they have minimal downward or sideways tilt. Their shoulders are ball joints for rotation and 90 degrees of lateral extension. Their elbows are ball joints, bending 90 degrees and serving as bicep swivels. Their upper torso that gives them some backward lean, a little waist swivel. The ball socket in the middle is itself on a mushroom swivel that leans their upper bodies left and right. Below that their lower bodies move to a hinge that moves their bodies backward and forward, and everything below the hinge is pretty much fixed. Arcee's arm gun mounts over her right arm. I guess it's more movie-accurate than the arm that's always kind of a gun. The blade plugs into the Chromia's gun arm. The extra piece fits over either Arcee or Chromia's left bicep and shoulder. Transforming the sisters into their bike modes is kind of a pain, because they're kind of fiddly and they feel a little fragile. It's slightly easier going back to robot, though. Going to bike mode involves scrunching them up, arranging their limbs and bodies in just the right ways so that everything tabs together, but going to robot is more untabbing and stretching them back out. The sisters suffer from the same problem as their robot modes; only two colors of plastic (excluding tires) and minimal paint. Elita-1 is missing a lot of the white that was on her bike mode, she and Arcee are both missing fenders, Elita-1's headlights (which are actually in the middle) are unpainted and she's got inaccurate lightning bolts painted around the headlights instead. From what I can gather, Arcee should be a Ducati 848, Elita-1 should be an MV Agusta F4, and Chromia should be a Suzuki B-King, but there are so many inaccuracies that I wonder if Hasbro did them on purpose to avoid having to pay licensing fees. I mean, they're not even symmetrical. And sure, I don't know a ton about motorcycles. Maybe they're not exactly symmetrical. But I do know enough to know that Arcee's missing most of her fairing, and that not only is her front fork (or lack thereof) totally inaccurate it's also totally impractical since the front wheel can't turn. The icing on the cake? All those accessories they come with, accessories I would have gladly traded for more paint or better sculpts, don't seem to be compatible with the bikes. Oh, before I forget, I'm hearing stuff about a combined mode for these sisters. And, yeah, there seem to be bits on their stands that fit into bits on the girls that serve no other purpose. But, I'm not going to get into that in this review, because A.) there is no mention of combined mode in the instructions, so even if it's intentional it's still not really official, and B.) it's a hot mess. They don't look like they combine so much as Chromia and Elita-1 twist together into a giant backpack for Arcee. So... yeah. If it's not clear from my tone, the Arcee sisters aren't very good. They look and feel cheap, and they're not particularly screen-accurate. But, they come across as pretty much what you'd expect you'd get from Hasbro spreading the budget of one Deluxe-class figure over three Legends-ish ones. So while they're not good, I actually don't think they're as bad as Shatter or WWII Bumblebee. That being said, unless you're a big fan of the characters or a completionist collector I really don't recommend them.
  14. mikeszekely
    It's kind of funny how, despite being a major character in the current IDW ongoing, there hasn't been a Bumblebee released or even announced in the War for Cybertron trilogy. Meanwhile, Bumblebee makes up something like 10% of all the Studio Series releases. Including this new Deluxe-class Bumblebee. The packaging implies that this Bee is from the first movie. In my mind he's RotF Bee to keep him straight with the '70s Camaro Bee (although there are some minor differences). As possibly the most iconic of Bee's movie designs, this was a figure I was really looking forward to, and I was pleasantly surprised that it's not a remold with the same engineering as the first Studio Series Bee and the sometimes Studio Series Age of Extinction Bee. He's still got a ton of car folded up onto his back, sure, and no, he's not as screen-accurate as the MPM Bee or anything like that, but I do think the molded detail has improved a bit over previous Deluxe-sized Bees. They're unpainted and just molded into his collar and don't move, but he's even got those little neck antenna. I do have a pretty big complaint, though. They gave Bee is battle-masked face. Unlike the Studio Series Bumblebee Bee, it's not removable. If it had his normal face this could have been the definitive SS Bee, but as it stands I'm waiting to see if Hasbro doesn't do an actual RotF Bee with the normal head and modified stripes. I mean, we're getting Jeep Bee from Bumblebee, Hasbro might as well give us all the Bees. Which after Jeep Bee and RotF Bee leaves the Dark of the Moon Bee (mostly this, but with different stripes, a spoiler, and ground effects on the Camaro, '60s Camaro Bee (which would actually be pretty cool), and then Age of Extinction Bee, I think. This SS Bee's sole accessory is his arm blaster. It looks a little drab, IMHO. Bee's head is on a ball joint. He can swivel and look up and down a little, but doesn't seem to have any sideways tilt. His shoulders are ball joints and can rotate, although they get caught up on his wings, as well as extend laterally 90 degrees. Speaking of his wings, while they look like the original SS Bee and AoE Bee's wings only the part with the door can fold back. The part with the wheels is as far back as it goes, so his wings can't really get out of the way of his shoulders. He doesn't have a dedicated bicep swivel, but his elbow is yet another ball joint so it can swivel there and bend 90 degrees. No wrist articulation. He does have a waist swivel, though. His hips are on ball joints that can go forward and backward 90 degrees but laterally only about 60 degrees. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees. His foot can bend down. And although the engineering of Bee's legs is similar to the older SS figure it's kind of backward, so everything bends the opposite way. As a result this Bee actually has ankle pivots. Another change over the earlier SS Bees is that you don't have to remove his right forearm to attach his blaster. The underside is hollowed out and has a 5mm peg in it, so you simply plug it into his hand. If you don't want him to have it on his arm there's a smaller tip at the base of the 5mm peg. That tip fits into a hole on his back. Alternatively, that hole can be used with a stand. I'll be the first to admit that I have a hard time telling if older cars and newer ones scale correctly. I didn't think that '70s Camaro Bee looked too off with AoE Bee. But the new Bee is noticeably smaller than AoE Bee. Should I hope that Hasbro does a new version of AoE Bee, too? Size aside, while this new figure isn't the same as the other two Bees the engineering feels very similar. The biggest changes are a few extra steps to transform the legs, and as I already noted the result was an improvement for robot mode. The other big change is how his shoulders, wings, and chest move. These changes don't really affect the robot mode, but they make it a little easier to transform since you don't feel like you're forcing the section of the car's nose that's on his backpack between the real lights on his otherwise faux-car chest. The car mode looks fairly good, although like a lot of other SS cars there's some gaps where things just don't want to line up and tab properly. It's in car mode, too, where you can really see that this is the concept Camaro from the first film and not the production Camaro from RotF (it actually was the same car, but it was modified to look like a production-model), which had some differences to the front bumper and fog lights. I'd have liked to see a little more paint on the rear, around the bumper and exhaust. There are two tabs on Bee's blaster. Those tabs fit into slots between his exhaust pipes, so he can carry his blaster while he's in car mode. I don't have the same expectations for a $20 deluxe that I do for an $80 MP(M) figure, so while this Studio Series Bumblebee doesn't have the same level of detail as MPM-03 I didn't and wouldn't expect it too. But in terms of sculpt, engineering, and articulation it does feel like an improvement over the first SS Bee, WWII Bee, and Bumblebee Bee. Between that and the fact that this is arguably his most iconic movie design I reluctantly recommend it. But I do mean reluctantly, because as I said with a permanent battle mask instead of his regular face this is not the definitive Bee I'd hoped for. And maybe I'm a bit cynical, but I could absolutely see a slight remold/repaint of this figure released as Revenge of the Fallen Bumblebee with the head we actually want, because Hasbro knows a lot of us will absolutely shell out for that remold to get the one with the head we want. If you're a gambler, feel free to pass on this one and see if I'm right, because if I am this figure will be as obsolete as SS RotF Optimus was after the Leader-class DotM version came out.
  15. mikeszekely
    This is mostly true, for the Studio Series version. The upper wheel is just stuck in the middle. The tracks are actually part of the lower wheel, which is mostly lying flat on the underside of the vehicle. On the old Voyager-class toy, though, one strut on each wheel detaches and folds up, but the wheels are permanently connected to the other strut. Both wheels rotate to the outside of the strut, the upper strut and wheel swings around so both are on the bottom, then the wheels stretch to form the tracks. The look isn't as screen-accurate, since the wheels lack whatever movie magic made them solid on screen, but it does make the design make a lot more sense.
  16. mikeszekely
    More Earthrise leaks... now I'm hearing Deluxes for Smokescreen, Airwave, Arcee, and Alicon. If they're all true, and none of them are Generations Selects or store exclusives, every figure for 2020 must have been leaked by now. And between you and me, I kind of hope Smokescreen is wrong. I mean, yeah, Siege Smokescreen was a Generations Select figure, but I'm not really interested in re-buying a ton of Siege figures already when there are plenty of other characters that could use an update more. But anyway, if we can go back to Studio Series for a minute, here's one that's sure to generate some buzz: Leader-class Scavenger. While a lot of Leader-class figures in both the Siege and Studio Series lines have been glorified Voyagers with some extra accessories, Scavenger is clearly a big figure. As big as he is, though, he looks a little bland. There's not a ton of paint on him, and what paint there is seems sloppily sprayed on his arms. His main body has about the right shape, and his head's not too bad. His arms are missing a lot of gray, all of the lettering, and weirdly the vehicle bits that should cover his shoulders are all folded up flat. Fun fact, Demolisher is the red excavator that shows up at the end of Revenge of the Fallen. Although he shares the same design, he is not the white excavator that Prime brutally murders in Shanghai at the beginning of the film. That one is Demolisher. With rumors that Rampage is going to get a yellow repaint, I wonder if we'll see this figure repainted as Demolisher? Scavenger doesn't come with any accessories, so we'll skip to articulation. His head is on a ball joint with a hinge at the base, and so he can look up plenty, but not really down. His head can also swivel on the ball, but that doesn't allow him to look left and right so much as it just turns his face upside down. The shoulders are soft ratchets for rotation, with a stronger ratchet that allows his arms to move a bit under 90 degrees laterally. His biceps swivel. There's also a ratcheted swivel for transformation you might find useful. His elbows are double-jointed and allow him to curl his arms almost the whole way up, and they can even bend backward. His wrists don't swivel, but there is a hinge that bends them up and down. Also, his pinky fingers are hinged so they can spread in and out. You could say that he has a waist swivel, I suppose, although the swivel is where the struts on his lower wheel connect to his body, and it's limited by the fact that both connection points have to turn together. The bottom wheel does rotate, but there's nothing on it that stops it from rotating or balances him on it. So however you pose him you're going to need him touching the ground with at least one arm just to keep him standing. Scavenger's transformation isn't as complicated as you might expect. The biggest difficulty comes from rotating the struts connected to the upper wheel. They need to move together, but they tend to pull other parts with them that you don't want to rotate. The resulting excavator is suitably large and chunky. It can roll, and the shovel has four hinges for some digging poses. I noticed that a lot of the promotional photos look a lot like the picture on the above left, with the shovel close to the vehicle. There's a reason for that. Move that shovel out of the way and you'll see basically the whole upper wheel stuffed in there. And if you spin him around and look from the top or the back, you'll see more of that wheel and some poorly-concealed kibble. Ultimately, the alt mode is a shovel and some side panels that look like an excavator surrounding a big ball of kibble set on some tracks. Frankly, I think the old Voyager-class Demolisher pulled off this alt mode better, but to be totally fair that figure didn't have a combined mode. Speaking of combined mode, this is it. Scavenger forms the shoulders and upper torso of Devastator. On his own, it's not much to look at. But you can see little bars that Mixmaster clips onto (marked in green) and slots where the arms connect (marked in blue). We're still missing two Constructicons before we're done, and one of them (Overload) forms the lower torso and thighs, so we can't connect the legs yet. But we do have enough to attach the head and left arm (Scrapper, the last one, is the right arm). It's enough that we're starting to see where this set is going, though, and enough that I can estimate that the finished Devastator will be taller than the bulk of the Combiner Wars gestalts, but shorter than Titan Devy or Predaking. I really don't know how many of the issues I have with Scavenger are due to sacrifices made for the combined mode, and how much is just due to him being a goofy design in the first place. But in what's becoming something of a theme for the Studio Series Constructicons Scavenger isn't a very good figure on his own. As a transforming toy of a robot that turns into an excavator I wouldn't recommend him. But I'm sure most of us are in it for the combined mode, and if you want a Studio Series Devastator you're stuck buying a Studio Series Scavenger.
  17. mikeszekely
    Well, I do believe I'll follow up my Shockwave review with another Shockwave review. This time, though, it's Studio Series Leader-class Shockwave. It's been something of a trend in recent years for Hasbro to stuff what's essentially a Voyager-class toy with some extra paint or some extra accessories into a bigger box and call it a Leader-class. While Shockwave is guilty of that to some degree (more on that in a bit), I don't think he's the worst example of it. I mean, from head to toe he's bigger than the Dark of the Moon Voyager-class. And his gun arm is gigantic compared to the older toy's. And he's definitely looking a lot better than the older toy. The colors, the proportions, and the molded details are far more movie-accurate. Honestly, this is the part of the review where I usually nitpick minute inaccuracies, but there's not much to comment on. The only things I can really point out is that his backpack sits a little too high on his back, and the molded details on his hips are wrong (because he's actually reusing the hips from Revenge of the Fallen Megatron). Combine that with the fact that Hasbro actually molded him in dark gray plastic, and all the shiny silver and purple you see on him looks like it was dry-brushed on, and Shockwave might be one of the best-looking figures to come out of the Studio Series line. Hasbro was definitely worried about safety on Shockwave, though. His left hand, the spikes on top of his feet, and the hose connecting his gun arm to his back are all rubbery plastic. But, just in case you weren't sure if he warranted Leader-class money, Hasbro threw in a few goodies. You've got his arm blade, which is made of more of that rubbery black plastic with some of that dry-brush effect on it. You've got a NEST paratrooper, with no articulation and who's too heavy for the parachute to actually slow. and an extremely tiny Wheelie and Brains. Good luck not losing them! Shockwave's head is on a ball joint, and due to his transformation he can look straight up as well as tilt his head sideways a bit and rotate it. For reasons that don't seem to have anything to do with his transformation, that ball peg is hinged at the base, and it's connected to a second hinged panel. That allows him to look straight down, too. His shoulders rotate, and can extend laterally 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. His left hand has a hinge in the wrist, so it can bend inward a little, but not swivel. His gun arm has a little hinged thumb that can wiggle. He doesn't have any waist swivel. His hips can move forward and backward over 90 degrees, and 90 degrees laterally. His thighs have swivels. His knees bend a little over 90 degrees. His feet can tilt up and down, and his ankles can pivot nearly 90 degrees. Unlike the older Voyager toy this Shockwave's gun arm is not removable. You can remove the hose, but the connection at the arm is extremely tight. It's not necessary for his transformation, so I don't recommend it. As for the arm blade, officially it goes on the back of his left arm. That being said, he does have a second 5mm port on the side of forearm, and on his gun arm a little behind where the hose is plugged in. Plus, he's got a 5mm peg grip carved into his left hand. And if we spin him around, we see he's pretty movie-accurate even from behind. The trio of thrusters on his back have hinges, so the two upper ones can aim left and right while the lower one can aim up and down. An eagle-eyed observer might also notice that the tank treads in his calves are borrowed from Revenge of the Fallen Megatron's toes. Shockwave turns into... a tank, I guess? I really can't say if it's accurate or not, because Shockwave didn't transform in the movie. He didn't transform in the PS3/Xbox 360 game. And despite an hour of Googling, I can't even find any concept art of Shockwave's alt mode. What I can say is that the Studio Series toy looks like a jumbled mess. The older Voyager-class toy looks like a more coherent vehicle. And, not that it necessary counts for anything, both the Voyager and the Cyberverse Shockwave toys from the older Dark of the Moon line were similarly longer with the little wheels in front, so SS Shockwave is a departure from previous movie Shockwave toys. It's not all bad, though. I mean, both toys basically have his arms on top, so one side is a gun and the other is a big blade. I like that SS Shockwave has his toe spikes up front, and that he's sporting a visible head alá Megatron. His backpack makes for thrusters on the rear. And he does have little wheels he can roll on. And there you have it, folks. Much like his Cyberverse counterpart Studio Series Shockwave is an excellent robot with a mediocre alt-mode that seems designed around messing with that robot mode as little as possible. I actually like him a lot. I'm not so keen on his packed-in extras, and I'm sure that (despite being significantly larger than the Siege Leader-class Shockwave or the older Voyager-class DotM Shockwave) that some people are going to balk at his Leader-class price tag. Value is subjective, so I'll leave it to you to decide if you think he's worth it or not. All I can say is that I think he's one of the better figures released under the Studio Series banner, so I'm giving him a recommend.
  18. mikeszekely
    Some wholesaler leaks are showing Studio Series Voyagers Blitzwing from the Bumblebee movie, and Skipjack from Revenge of the Fallen. "Who's Skipjack?" you're probably asking. Apparently he's Rampage, but yellow. It's been suggested that the bulldozer that makes Devastator's leg is supposed to be yellow, and therefore Skipjack. Rampage wasn't the best of toys, though, so I'll probably stick with red. In Earthrise news, apparently we're getting a Voyager Megatron. We don't know if it's a new mold with a more Earthican tank, or if it'll be some retool/repaint of Siege Megatron.
  19. mikeszekely
    I don't collect a lot that isn't Transformers (licensed or unlicensed), so my list is probably a little boring. 25. Power Rangers Lightning Collection White Ranger 24. Power Rangers Lightning Collection SDCC-exclusive Gold Ranger and Red Ranger 23. Power Rangers Lightning Collection Green Ranger and Putty 22. Star Wars Black Series Darth Vader helmet 21. Fans Hobby Archenemy 20. Gigapower Gaudentor 19. Gigapower Superator 18. Fans Hobby Power Baser 17. Gigapower Grassor 16. Gigapower Guttur 15. Gigapower Graviter 14. Cloud 9 Quakeblast 13. Unique Toys Challenger 12. MP-13 Soundwave 11. Hasbro/Takara Titans Return Trypticon 10. Maketoys Utopia 9. Planet X Vulcan 8. Fans Hobby Double Evil 7. Fans Toys Phoenix 6. DX9 Gabriel 5. DX9 Carry 4. SoC Dairugger/Voltron 3. MP-10 Masterpiece Optimus Prime (yes, there are better versions now, but they feel like they're bringing Prime to a more modern standard, while MP-10 blew everything away that came before it) 2. Action Toys Bike Robo DX 1. SOC Golion/Voltron
  20. mikeszekely
    So, you'll recall that I'd bought the Cyberverse Deluxes by way of the defunct (or so we thought?) Hasbro Toy Shop as a third-party seller on Walmart.com. So I'm saying that this is the last one that was available, but I don't know if that's it for the first wave or if these four just got out early. But anyway, here's Deluxe-class Shockwave. Shockwave came a little later than the other three, and I kind of forgot that I'd been shooting these guys with their Siege counterparts... but I don't think it's really necessary. Cyberverse Shockwave is the same size as the other Cyberverse Deluxes, which is fairly in-keeping with the Cyberverse cartoon. We don't really need Siege Shockwave hanging around for me to point out that Siege is bigger, right? Aesthetically, Cyberverse Shockwave is the most G1 of a very G1-inspired line. I mean, ditch the little secondary eye on the top of his head, loose the purple glow lines, and swap out the Cyberverse proportions for more traditional shapes and he really is G1 Shockwave. He's got the protruding, hexagonal chest the gun arm, the backpack, and the hose connecting them. He's got the ears, the thinner thighs, the vent under his chest, the segmented abs, and the lumps of feet. If Siege hadn't come alone this would probably be a better CHUG Shockwave than the Combiner Wars Legends-class or the old Fall of Cybertron Deluxe. I'm pleased to say that of the Cyberverse Deluxes released so far Shockwave is probably the least in need of paint. Hasbro did a pretty good job painting all the light purple glow lines and the silver vent in his chest. They did miss a spot on his belt, though, and where he'd have the purple glow on his feet he just has holes cut into the plastic. His gun arm has the purple glow lines, but the details are different in the cartoon, and the barrel is lacking some of the molded shape. His face is expressionless, which I (as a fan of the old Marvel G1 Shockwave) like, but that does mean he's missing the eyelid he has in the Cyberverse cartoon. Finally, the hose that runs from his back to his gun arm is translucent pink instead of gray or silver, and it runs into the back of his arm instead of the front. That last bit is actually fixable, though. The hose is tabbed in, and you can simply pull it out, then push the tab into the 5mm port on the front of his forearm. Actually, the other end of the hose can be detached from his backpack. And the gun forearm actually fits over his actual arm, with a 5mm peg that goes into a normal left hand. Aside from his gun arm, Shockwave comes with a rifle, blast effect parts, and Maccadam's left leg. So it's pretty irritating if this is it for the first wave, and we have to wait who-knows-how-long for a second wave to complete Maccadam. I mean, the parts that came with Bee, Megatron, and Shockwave at least fit together, but without any biceps the forearm that came with Prime is just begging to be lost. Anyway, I suspect that Shockwave's head is probably on a ball joint, but the design is such that his head can only swivel. No tilt. His shoulders are ball joints that rotate and are cut to allow 90 degrees of lateral extension. His biceps swivel, and for a change his elbows are hinges instead of ball joints and they can bend 90 degrees. His wrists can swivel, as can his waist. His hips are universal joints instead of ball joints, and they can move 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally. His thighs swivel just above his knees, which are hinges that bend around 120 degrees. His feet can tilt slightly up, an ok amount down, and pivot around 45 degrees. Not for nothing, the hardware for the joints is better and tighter than the ball joints on the other three, and he winds up with better articulation. He can hold the rifle, and the blast can attach to the end of the barrel. The instructions indicate that the blast effect is really meant for his gun arm, though, so he can do his "Shock Blast." Alternatively, Shockwave's eye happens to be the same size as the little pegs the blast effects plug into. So it could also be used as an eye beam. Meanwhile, Shockwave's rifle can plug into a hole on his backpack for storage. I don't recall seeing Shockwave's alt mode in the first season of Cyberverse, although this is presumably accurate based on the fact that this is what previous Cyberverse Shockwave toys have turned into. He also has little drones that kind of look like this. I have kind of mixed feelings about his alt mode. The transformation is super basic, as you're basically spinning his arms and waist 180 degrees then propping him up on all fours with his chest pulled up over his head, his backpack flipped down, and his gun arm plugged into the backpack. On the other hand, you just know that they weren't going to have Shockwave turn into a "spaceship" that's even remotely similar to the G1 gun like Siege did. As phoned-in as this walking tank mode is I can at least say that it doesn't have any bits or gimmicks that spoil the G1-but-Cyberverse aesthetic of the robot mode. The tank legs have some articulation, since they're using the robot's hips, shoulders, knees, and elbows. In theory, the turret can turn, but in practice the hose is pretty stiff and tends to pull at the cannon. The rifle can be plugged into the side of backpack, where it stores in robot mode, or into the 5mm port on the gun arm. For this mode, I prefer to put the hose back into the tab on the underside of the gun arm, as it gets in the way more if you leave it plugged into the 5mm port on top. Since the tank's barrel is Shockwave's gun hand it can, of course, still pose with the blast effects. Shockwave was the figure I was the least interested in. I wanted Bee because I like Bee as a full-sized carbot, and thought about using him as a Siege Bee. I decided to get Prime and Megatron because I almost always get Prime and Megatron (especially when Megatron looks as good as he does in Cyberverse). But I could have stopped there. The decision to get Shockwave was less because I'm loving this line or loving the show and more because I started wanting to finish building Maccadam*. I'm actually really glad that I did pick up Shockwave, though. Lazy alt mode aside, he's got the best joints, best articulation, and he's missing the least paint. His robot mode is a pretty awesome Shockwave. Objectively, Shockwave might be the best of the four Cyberverse Deluxes- at the very least, he's the only one not making me say "he feels kind of cheap compared to the Siege Deluxes." And, yeah, I did finish the first season, Shockwave turned out to be a major villain, so there's that. So whether you're a Shockwave fan or a Cyberverse fan, this one's worth picking up. *About that... as I said, the others aren't available yet, and I don't know if they're still part of the first wave or if they're considered the second wave of Cyberverse Deluxes, but we do know that the missing pieces will come with Grimlock, Hot Rod, Arcee, and Thunderhowl. Grimlock I totally get, but the other three seem like odd choices. I mean, maybe they have bigger roles in the second season, but in the first season the only Autobots outside of Bee's flashbacks until close to the end are Bee and Windblade, so where's my Deluxe Windblade (that would hopefully be way better than the Titans Return or Thrilling 30 ones)? Likewise, I've never even heard of Thunderhowl. The (presumed) Decepticon doesn't even have a page at the TFWiki. Why not Slipstream, one of the first seasons main villains? Why not Starscream, who was set up as a major future baddie, or Soundwave, who had that awesome dance scene in the first season (and seems to be a bigger villain in season 2)? I guess I have to hope that there will be future waves of Deluxe-class Cyberverse figures, and that they're at least as good as these four. I won't complain if they trade the build-a-figure gimmick for more paint in the future, though.
  21. mikeszekely
    Is this a sequel or a remake? Wasn't Voltes V the middle part of a trilogy?
  22. mikeszekely
    I've interacted with him through social media, but I don't know him personally. In this particular case we're talking about how fortunate he is that people loan him things to review (at least Transformer-wise, I don't really watch his other reviews). Seriously, especially in more recent times, watch a couple of his videos and see how many times he introduces a figure with "This is on loan to me". I'm not pointing that out to be critical, mind you. I'm just lamenting that I myself don't have a network of like-minded collectors willing to loan me stuff. My reviews are limited to just what I buy. That doesn't just limit my output; since I'm only buying things I expect to like it can create the impression that I'm overly positive and not critical enough.
  23. mikeszekely
    I definitely agree with you on this point. It's why, despite having a set of Gigapower MP-style Dinobots, two 3P CHUG-style sets of Dinobots, and the actual Hasbro PotP Dinobots I have, adore, and display on its own Planet X's Grimlock (even though I don't have any of the other Planet X dinos). It simply has the best dinosaur mode of any Dinobot figure I own. But I guess I'm just not that into Arcee. I have the Takara version of the older Generations Arcee for my CHUGs, MMC's for my MPs, and that's all I really need. I think Nicee looks, well, nice, and the paint looks fantastic. But nothing about it really grabs me. Windblade, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have a good representation at all. I have the Titans Return version, and it's kind of meh. There's some things that the Thrilling 30 figure did better, but it still seems pretty meh. There isn't anything even remotely MP-ish. And aesthetically what Big Fire Bird is doing with Windblade (albeit we're only going off of lineart so far) seems more interesting to me. So I'm definitely not judging anyone who's picking up Nicee, and I hope I didn't come across that way. I don't have anything against sexy robots or the people who love them. If I had friends like Skullface who loan him figures all the time I'd gladly take a look and give a fair and objective review. I'm just not into her enough that I want to own one.
  24. mikeszekely
    Originally I was going to post once a day but I didn't want to be in the middle of a ton of MP Hound discussion. But Hound doesn't seem to be generating much buzz, at least not here, and I've got a few more Studio Series figures on the way, so I might as well wrap these up. This guy is Cyberverse Adventures Deluxe-class Megatron. Nothing new to add about the size. Deluxe-class Megatron is the same size as the other Cyberverse Deluxes, and thus smaller than Siege Megatron. But you know what? I think I kind of like the aesthetic of Cyberverse Megatron better. He's got plenty of G1 cues- he's mostly gray, with a darker gunmetal color on his shins, some tech detail on his abdomen surrounded by red highlights, a rectangular slab of chest, his bucket helmet, of his fusion cannon. But the stylized design and proportions give him an almost athletic look that I really dig. It's a bit of a running theme with this line, but he is missing some paint details. In the cartoon he has red biceps, black on the front of his pelvis with two red spots, and some additional red and gray details on his fusion cannon. But, perhaps due to the paint he does have turning up in the middle of his torso, he doesn't seem as bland as Bee and Prime. Megatron comes with his fusion cannon (of course), two little missile launchers with some red and black paint, two blast effect parts, and Maccadam's chest. Megatron's head is on a ball joint. He can't really look up, but he can look down a bit (which seems more appropriate for Megatron) in addition to some sideways tilt and swivel. His shoulders are ball joints that allow for rotation and 90 degrees of lateral extension. His elbow is also a ball joint, doubling as a bicep swivel and a slightly over 90 degrees of elbow bend. His wrist and waist can swivel. His hips are ball joints that can go almost 90 degrees back or forward, and about 75 degrees laterally. His thighs swivel, and his knees can bend 90 degrees. His feet can tilt down a bit and up ever so slightly, and his ankles can pivot a little over 45 degrees. I think that's enough range to get some decent poses, but the hips, shoulders, and knees are a little too loose. Megatron's fusion cannon is properly pegged into his forearm, and the missile launchers go into his legs if you're after cartoon accuracy. The fusion cannon has two additional pegs on the sides, angled slightly forward. This is so he can hold the cannon in a two-handed grip to do his "fusion mega shot." Since all the pegs and holes are 5mm you would also have him hold the fusion cannon like a gun, or plug the missile launchers into his arms. As a certain Youtube personality likes to say, "options are good." Of course, with all of his weapons normally attached to his body he doesn't really have the storage that Bee and Prime do. That said, there is a 3mm peg on his backpack you can store his blast effect on. Megatron folds up into a little tank, which is what Megatrons do since they can't turn into guns anymore. What not difficult at all compared to a lot of the 3P figures I collect I found Megatron's transformation to be the one I have to think about the most of the Cyberverse Deluxes. I'm honestly not sure how cartoon-accurate this tank mode is. I've only watched the first season, since it's available on Netflix, and I don't recall seeing Megatron turn into a tank in it. I can say that the tank mode has its flaws. It's necessary to remove the fusion cannon to transform him, and while the launchers can stay on his legs it seems you're meant to remove them and place them on the sides of the turret, which doesn't rotate. If you're looking from the front there's a view of his thighs and crotch, and if you're looking at him from the back you're going to see his hollow forearms and his fists trying to cover his head. From most angles, though, I really dig this tank. The angles seems appropriate for a sci-fi tank, and the gunmetal on light gray gives it an almost Star Wars Imperial vibe. The fusion cannon forms the barrel of the tank, but since it's just a 5mm peg into a hole the barrel can't raise or lower. Combined with the the fixed turret it doesn't make for the most articulated tank. But who knows, maybe space tanks don't have rotating turrets or barrels that can be aimed. You can still use the blast effect to make the tank look like it's firing, or put it on the storage peg for a rocket-propelled tank. And with that, I once again don't really have anything else to say that hasn't been said before. Loose joints, excessive ball joints, and a lack of paint again make this feel a little cheap compared to a Siege Deluxe, but it's also a fun figure that's currently the best representation of Cyberverse Megatron on the market. So pass if you're not interested in Cyberverse, but if you are it might be worth checking out.
  25. mikeszekely
    I don't really have a spot for Nicee in my collection, but if their Windblade turns out well as this I'll probably pick that up.
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