mikeszekely

I'm super down for Cyclonus. Yes, the Universe figure was good for it's day, but with it's smaller size and somewhat gappy alt mode it's not the Cyclonus I wanted. The Combiner Wars version was terrible. I picked up KFC's Tempest to try to get closer to what I actually wanted, but it's still too small and still has some issues (I'd have been mad if I bought it for full price back in the day, but I got it for pretty cheap well after). That Cyclonus on that watermelon pattern, though? Time will tell, but it certainly looks like it could be the one.

A Weibo account called TFClub put up some interesting pictures. It's been suggested that these would have been SDCC reveals, prior to SDCC being canceled. This appears to to be an Earthrise Cyclonus. Judging by Megatron's feet in the corner I'd guess it's a Voyager. An Earthrise Thrust. The remolded wings have the fans molded in instead of being a pegged-on part, and they don't look to have the hinges that fold the wings around in robot mode, leaving them to dangle down like the G1 toy and Sunbow character model. Looks like Transformers is doing another crossover with an '80s movie. Given that Ectotron was an extensive remold and not a totally new toy I'm curious to see more of Maverick's robot mode than the box art. I can't say I'm totally in for Maverick, but I'm down with the general idea of Transformers X other '80s franchises. Gimme a Transformers X Knight Rider Kitt or a Transformers X TMNT Party Wagon. TFCLub Weibo also showed a picture of Earthrise Megatron in package, a bagged Cyberverse Thunderhowl, and a Soundwave. The Soundwave figure did appear to have a new deco, with bright yellow instead of gold on the tape deck door and none of Siege's dirt. From the angle of the photo you can't see his back kibble, but from what you can see it looks like the same parts as Siege. If it's an Earthrise version with a tape deck alt mode it's a minor retool and not a new mold (which I guess technically describes Megatron, too).

Well, the Studio Series '86 plot thickens, as a new Walmart listing popped up for an '86 Deluxe-class Gnaw.

Glad to help!

Well, then you really only have two options. There's the official MP-28 (re-released in slightly modified colors with his Targetmaster buddy as MP-40). It's... ok. I think his arms are a little long and/or his shoulders too broad, and his torso is too flat, but his articulation is decent and the transformation isn't difficult. I think the car mode is pretty good. The alternative is Fans Toys Hoodlum. Personally, I think Hoodlum looks a little better in robot mode, but the transformation is more of a pain and several people reported scratches in the paint on its chest. Ultimately I think I would have bought Hoodlum if I needed a Hot Rod, but I didn't think it was enough of an upgrade over MP-28 that I was willing to shell out for a replacement. Also, for whatever reason, Fans Toys stuff has been selling out super quick and short of them reissuing Hoodlum you might have a hard time finding one at a reasonable price (the original retail was a little over $100, I want to say). Between the two, I think Hoodlum is a little taller, but they're both shorter than MP Ironhide and taller than the other MP cars. Now, if Hot Rod is your jam you might also consider MMC's Calidus, which is based on his IDW appearance and of similar size as MP-28 despite not being a part of their MP line. There's also DX9's Ancestrod, which is based on a doujinshi called "T-Beasts" that reimagined a lot of G1 characters (and some Beast Wars ones) with robotic beast modes. He's around a head and a half taller than MP-28. You have a few options for Rodimus Prime, too. For starters, there's the official MP-09 Technically I guess he counts as a Hot Rod, too. See, he has two faces, one younger and one older, and on his own he can transform into a car. He's as tall as MP-10, though, and transforms into a very big car, so he's not exactly in-scale as Hot Rod. He comes with at trailer, though, so he can also turn into a space winnebago, and he's in scale as Rodimus Prime. There's also DX9's Carry. Carry takes some flack in some circles because he's based on Studio OX and not Sunbow, but I like that he looks like an older, tougher character capable of leading the Autobots instead of being a taller, angstier Hot Rod with added lines on his face. He also takes some flack because his alt mode is much smaller than MP-09's, but that's because he doesn't have a trailer. This robot turns into the entire space winnebago, and its pretty clever and fun how it works. If you can find one I recommend it; Carry's still one of my all-time favorite figures.

Hey, I'm right there with you. I'd love to be wrong. The PotP Dinobots missed the mark for me (PotP seemed like a big step backward from Titans Return, let alone the current Siege and Earthrise stuff), and bigger, better Dinobots with a G1-style would be great. It's why I bought both the Fansproject and the Planet X Dinos, but something more like DX9's Legends-class Dinobots made larger would be better.

While I suppose they could lump the '86 movie in with the others for the Studio Series line, given how G1-accurate the WFC Trilogy figures already are and the fact that we already got Ultra Magnus, Springer, and Arcee (plus a pretty good Blurr, Hot Rod, Kup, Scourge, and Wheelie in Titans Return, especially if you got the Takara versions) I'm skeptical that that's what's actually going on here. I'll be shocked if an '86 movie accurate G1-style Leader-Class Grimlock actually shows up on stores. I'd love to be wrong, but my money's on a repaint of the existing Studio Series Grimlock in G1 colors as some kind of Walmart exclusive.

All Sega needed to do make a Game Gear in the same size case or slightly smaller, with a better screen, rechargeable battery, and emulation software by M3 with maybe 30-40 games (and enough storage for hackers to add more later). Maybe thrown in an HDMI out on the top and some USB ports to use the Genesis mini's controllers and play on the TV. Instead we get overpriced novelties.

So far we've looked at two of the 3 Mighty Warriors, one that was good but not good enough to replace what I already had, and one that was just ok and still not good enough to replace what I had. But the Warrior I was most interested in was War Machine, Final Victory's Warpath. So did I waste my money, or will War Machine be the one to redeem my purchase? Well, let me start off right away by not only comparing him with BadCube's version, but the Hasbro Generations Deluxe version. He's a head, maybe slightly more, shorter than BadCube's, and roughly the same size as the other Mighty Warriors. When I reviewed BadCube's I mentioned that I couldn't find an official scale chart with Warpath, but he was often shown to be around the same size as the Autobot cars, but I've heard it argued that as a minibot toy he should be the same size as the other minibots. If you prefer a slightly smaller Warpath, then War Machine fits that bill for an MP shelf. However, you'll also notice that he's just a little taller than Generations Warpath. When I wrote about finding minibots for use with Siege/Earthrise I used the same "Warpath was often the size of an Autobot car" argument to suggest that Generations Warpath fit with Siege. Well, if you can accept Warpath a little taller still, maybe Ironhide-sized (a head shorter than Siege/Earthrise Optimus) then a case can also be made that War Machine could also be your Siege/ER Warpath. Aesthetically I think he looks really good, too. He's a nice, glossy red, with silver paint on his treads, around his eyes, and on some smaller details. Weirdly, FV didn't paint his nose, but that's a petty easy fix. The overall sculpt and proportions are much more similar to the cartoon than BadCube's version, which I like. My biggest complaints are the lack of silver on his lats and the fact that his hands are black instead of red. Even the shin flaps don't really bother me. You might also point out that the animation model had some silver on the shoulders. War Machine actually does, too, but they're hidden behind covers. The hinges on the covers weren't molded properly, I think, so they resist opening. Fortunately there's no pin, so the covers can be popped right off. I'll note that the cannon on War Machine's chest can collapse like the Generations toy, which I'm a big fan of, and he has a much cleaner back than Badcube's. After seeing what it takes to get Wardog from robot to tank and back you'd almost expect sorcery to be involved for War Machine to come out so clean. Well, War Machine doesn't come with sorcery, but he does come with this gun, two screw hole covers, and a plug for his cannon barrel. War Machine's head is on a ball joint. He can look up a little, down a little less, and tilt his head sideways more than you'd ever need. His shoulders can rotate, and they can hinge out about 60 degrees laterally before his shoulders start banging into his head. Unfortunately, the hinge is inside the rotation joint like a lot of Warbotron stuff was, so he can rotate his shoulders or move them laterally but not really both. His biceps swivel. His elbows bend around 120 degrees on a single hinge. Due to his transformation his wrists don't swivel, but they can bend inward. His waist can swivel. His hips can move forward a little under 90 degrees and backward 45 degrees on a soft ratchet. They can also move laterally 90 degrees. There are points where I can hear a clicking, but if there's a ratchet there it's extremely soft and he's relying more on the perfectly adequate friction. His thighs swivel around his hips, and his knees bend a little under 90 degrees an another soft ratchet. His feet can bend up slightly, down 90 degrees, plus a hinge allows his ankles to pivot 90 degrees. As with the other Warriors War Machine's hands are molded in the shape of a 5mm port, and his gun uses a 5mm peg for a handle. For the rest of his accessories, the screw hole covers fit into the sides of his feet. And the barrel plug fits into the end of the cannon barrel on his chest. I think it looks slightly more cartoon accurate without it, but the barrel can retract so far into his chest that you have to open up his back to push it back out. the plug effectively stops the barrel from retracting too far. Wardog's transformation was fairly complex and made him somehow get bigger, becoming a more realistic Sherman tank. War Machine is the total opposite. His transformation is actually very simple, and he shrinks up in the process. All things considered, though, I like this tank mode. The more bulbous turret isn't real-world accurate, but it's kind of cartoon accurate. I think he's got enough molded detail to pass for the cartoon tank, too. He's just missing the view port on the front, between the lights. Oh, and the silver section on the rear of the tank is red here. The part that would be silver is basically a flap on a pinned hinge, and the pin is easily removed. If you want it silver it should be easy enough to paint it, then. The turret, which is mostly diecast, can rotate, and the barrel can be aimed up or down. There's a 5mm peg on one side that you can plug his gun into. Were they going for something like a machine gun? I mean, I've seen them on tanks, but it seems out-of-scale here. I almost think it'd look better with their Brawn, so maybe I'll switch their weapons. Unlike Wardog, War Machine does have little wheels under his treads that allow him to roll, and again you can lift those little covers up to reveal the silver details on the rear. So I actually like War Machine a lot, and I'm pretty satisfied with him as my MP Warpath. Sure, BadCube's tank is bigger and far more realistic, but Final Victory's seems more cartoony in both modes. And sure, Fans Toys' probably looks the best, but I can transform War Machine without worrying that his legs are going to fall apart at the knees. And then there's the matter of price. I bought the set of three figures for $90. If I throw Brawn and Huffer in the trash and consider the entire price to be for War Machine he's still cheaper than Fans Toys' and his joint tolerances are better than BadCube's, and I'd give him a recommend. But if you're interested in the other figures, you can find someone else who wants the other figures, or you can find a seller offering just War Machine he becomes even cheaper, making him a bargain to use for MP, CHUG, customizing, or just to fiddle with, and my recommend is that much stronger.

G1, or something else? MP, CHUG, or Legends?

Why not just add to the one you have?

Ugh. So apparently it's not one device with multiple games that's available in for colors, each color has four different games. And with that I think I'm out.

No idea what games it has, and yeah, it looks really tiny. But I want one.

So Reckless Combat surprised me by faring surprisingly well against the BadCube version that I'm totally satisfied with. Y'know what I'm not totally satisfied with? BadCube's Brawn, which has kind of stumpy legs and whose torso comes apart too easily when your manipulating the arms. Might Final Victory have another winner on their hands with their version of Brawn, Hummer? My initial impressions weren't too bad. He's a little taller, perhaps too tall for a Brawn. His legs are a bit less stumpy, which is good, but his torso is a bit more heroic, which is less good. Instead of the silvery plastic BadCube used Hummer's arms are that same bluish plastic that FV used on their Huffer. Visible windows sit on his toes and shins, which isn't at all cartoon accurate, but honestly none of that stuff is a deal breaker to me. The most noticeably thing that I'm really not digging is that helmet, which is also using the light blue plastic. Presumably FV is using light blue for silver, and silver might work for the old Marvel comics and the G1 toy, but his helmet was definitely darker in the cartoon. BadCube has that right. While we're on his head, it's fine, but I'm not really a fan of yelling faces. Lucky for me Hummer has the same face-change gimmick as their Huffer. Pull the helmet off and spin the head around 180 degrees and now he's got a more neutral expression. Bonus, if I can find a metallic gray paint I like it should be easy to paint the helmet. I posted an image of FT's upcoming Brawn a few days ago, pointing out how large its backpack is. BadCube's Brawny is also ready for school with his own backpack. Hummer, though, is surprisingly flat back there. There's some downsides to that, though. The main flap is relying on the friction in its hinges to stay in place, as it doesn't tab down. And it's not really doing the best job of hiding how hollow his torso is behind that backpack. It's here that he's starting to lose me. I can tolerate some backpack, if it's neat. While Hummer's is flatter it looks sort of unfinished. If if one my my big gripes about Branwy is that his torso comes apart, well, at least it's tabbed in. Again, going by pictures on the box to decide which of the packed-in accessories are meant for Hummer, I think it's the following: a dark gray pistol, plus a drill and a blowtorch in that light blue plastic. Hummer's head can swivel, but it doesn't seem to have any up/down tilt. There is a transformation joint that could, in theory, give him some upward tilt but the back of his helmet is right up against the hood behind it. His shoulders rotate on soft ratchets, hinge out 90 degrees, and due to transformation he's got a little forward and backward butterfly joint. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees on extremely soft ratchets. His wrists swivel. His waist swivels. His hips can go 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally, all on ratchets. His thighs swivel around the hip joints. His knees bend 90 degrees on friction hinges. Most of his foot can't move, but the front part of his foot is on a swivel that gives him faux ankle pivots of around 60 degrees. As was the case with their Huffer, Brawny's hands are molded into 5mm ports, and the gun handle is a 5mm peg. I know a lot of people prefer articulated hands, but on a bot this size static hands don't really bother me, and the added compatibility with other 5mm accessories is a bonus. As for the drill and blowtorch, when you collapse Hummer's fists into his forearms you'll see two notches at the end. A pair of small tabs on either accessory fit into those notches. Hummer's transformation is a bit different. You might have noticed that he has two wheels in each calf. Where Brawny's torso turned inside out to form the front of the vehicle and used his lower legs to make the rear Hummer uses his hood to make the, well, hood, as well as the grill and headlights, but his legs actually unfurl to make up most of the rear, sides, and front, including making the windshield out of his toes. For the most part I think it's a bit easier than Brawny, who wasn't that difficult in the first place. I have mixed feelings about the vehicle mode. On the one hand, I think I've actually seen a model of Jeep that looks like this, so maybe it's a bit more realistic than Brawny. While still kind of minimal compared to the cartoon, G1 toy, and what Fans Toys seems to be doing, Hummer does seem to to have the fender flares that Brawny was missing. On the other hand, Hummer's missing the roof rack, spare tire, yellow bumper, and roof rails that the cartoon, toy, FT, and BC versions have. The grill is gunmetal instead of silver, protruding instead of recessed, and fills a large space on the vehicles nose. The headlights flank the grill on the green portions of the nose instead of sitting in the silver part. For most people, myself included, it's just not cartoon-accurate enough, and that's before I point out that I could never get the panels that make up the rear to sit flat. He does, at least, sport rubber tires, with diecast metal rims. The rear ones are even on shock absorber-like springs, which is kind of neat. The drill (and technically the blowtorch) can be used in vehicle mode. You won't find dedicated slots for it, but the tabs fit snugly between the slats on the grill. There's a 5mm peg hole on the roof, and you can plug his gun into it if you like. I can't help but notice that the peg hole ends up on his back in robot mode. I think FV could have made the spare roof tire with a 5mm peg and it could have plugged into that hole. I can't help but be a little disappointed with Hummer. While their Huffer wasn't quite good enough to overtake BadCube's it was still a strong showing and a reasonable alternative if you still needed a Huffer and can't find the BadCube one. BadCube's Brawn, on the other hand, is more in need of a replacement than their Huffer, but Hummer fails to step up. He's not a bad figure by any means, but he's definitely a placeholder. As much as I hate to say it, if you're in the market for an MP Brawn you're probably better off waiting for Fans Toys at this point. The only real advantage Hummer has is his price.

I'll get a "someone liked one of your posts" pop up and a red mark on that globe on the toolbar at the top of the page, and if I click it it'll take me to whatever post was liked. It's usually one of my reviews, and not just a generic good post or anything. It doesn't tell me who did it, or even if more than one person did it, though.

Expect a review soon. Can't speak for everyone, but I'm making a point of liking your pictures.

I think its not as bad in person as it looks in pictures, like his forehead is adding some extra shading or something. But yes, they're smallish.

I think it's a mix of the age of these boards, the smaller size of the community, and the average age of said community. These boards have been around forever; I joined probably around twenty years ago and there were guys who were considered long-time veterans even then. The number of active members is smaller than a lot of other boards I've visited, so there's kind of a sense that we know each other and we don't have a problem just saying if we like something or not. Plus I think we're a little older than some other communities, and kind of set in our ways. The like/kudos feature is actually pretty new and came with a board update maybe two or three years ago, and I think a lot members who were used to not having it are content to ignore it now.

Speaking of Fans Toys, early reports of QC issues held me back from buying their Warpath and it seems that it sold out anyway. I picked up BadCube's version recently, but while there's stuff I liked about it and I don't think the transformation was as bad as I people were making it out to be I'd be lying if I said I was totally satisfied. So I decided to explore one other option, but that option came in a pack with three other guys. Guys I had figures of that I actually was pretty satisfied with. Was my lack of interest justified? Let's consider the one I was the least interested in, Final Victory's Reckless Combat, an MP-scale take on Huffer that comes in a set called the Mighty Warriors. My initial impressions out of the box weren't exactly favorable. It's partly because he has three flaws that immediately jumped out at me- an ugly head sculpt, arms that are the same light blue as his thighs instead of a silver color, and a lack of that light blue on his chest. It's partly because I have BadCube's Huff (the second version, not the original Cubex one), and it's just about perfect (in my opinion) in robot mode. Other issues that have been brought up are the visible tires on his legs and the non-articulated hands. While I'll concede that hidden tires and articulated hands on BadCube's are better I can't honestly say that either of those are a big deal for me. The head I guess I can get over, the arms can probably be painted. The biggest deal for me is the chest. What were they thinking? Did they watch the cartoon, or were they just going off of the first image at TFWiki? I can't quit tell, but it looks like the part that should be light blue might be a separate piece, so perhaps I can take it apart and paint it. But let's not just focus on the negatives. Head aside aside, I think the overall sculpt is pretty good. I like the bigger feet and more detailed shins. His backpack is no worse than any other Huffer's. He's actually got a little diecast, and you can kind of see it in shins that don't quite match the yellow of the rest of his legs. While the robot mode isn't as good in my eyes as BadCube's I do think it's better than X-Transbot's old Krank figure. Really, a little more paint, a better face, and some new hands and I wouldn't have had to listen to usual "it's not MP" snobbery from certain segments of the fandom. Oh, and about that head. You can actually pull his Magneto helmet off, and turning his helmet-less head around will reveal a second face. Thing is, with a slight (and uncharacteristic) smile and eyes that aren't painted as neatly the second face might actually be worse. Since Reckless Combat comes in a set with some other characters there seems to be some confusion about what accessories belong to him and what accessories belong to the others. Going off of the pictures on the box I'm pretty sure that the accessories intended for this guy are just these two pistols. They're molded in the same color plastic as his arms/thighs with no paint (and some sprue marks on the one handle). I think the sculpt is pretty good, though. Another area where Reckless Combat shines is articulation. His head is on a ball joint at the base of the neck, which gives him plenty of foreward/backward/sideways tilt and rotation. His shoulders can rotate and hinge outward 90 degrees. His biceps can swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. His wrist swivels, as does his waist. Interestingly enough the upper part of his torso is connected to the lighter part by a ball joint in his back, so he not only has a good ab crunch that doesn't break his sculpt but he can also lean to either side. His hip skirts hinge out of the way so his hips can ratchet forward 90 degrees, backward about 45 degrees, and laterally 90 degrees. His thighs swivel around the hip joint, and his knees bend just a tiny bit under 90 degrees on a soft ratchet. His feet can tilt up and down a bit, plus a double-hinge where his foot connects gives him some deep ankle pivots. His joints are tight, even the friction ones, if a little squeaky like an older Fans Toys figure. The handles on his guns, despite the little slots in them, are really 5mm pegs. And they fit snugly into his hands, which are shaped like 5mm ports. Reckless Combat has a transformation that's pretty simple. What I find interesting here is that BadCube used panels to cover the thighs and keep an overall shape that seems more like a realistic truck. He winds up longer, to the point that he doesn't even bother to hide his head. Meanwhile, Reckless Combat leaned heavily into the G1 toy's Choro-Q influence and shrinks down into a compact chibi truck. Sure, the truck could have used the covers for the top of the arms that BadCube's has, and maybe some more paint for the taillights and behind the transparent headlights. Unlike BadCube, Reckless Combat does at least sport rubber tires, and I prefer the angle of the front windshield on the cab. I actually think it's both more toy and more cartoon-accurate than BadCube's in truck mode, and I kind of prefer it. There are a some hinged parts on the back of Reckless Combat's truck. If they're folded up you'll see they have hollow slots in them. Those slots allow him to pull MP-10's trailer. What he doesn't have, though, is any way to store his guns in this mode. I like BadCube's Huff a lot, and no, Reckless Combat isn't going to replace him on my shelf. However, where I initially thought I might try to sell off or bin Reckless Combat I'm finding that I'd rather leave him on my desk because he's just fun to mess with, and not nearly as bad as I thought he'd be. Given that BadCube's is hard to come by these days I actually think that Reckless Combat is a solid alternative, especially if you've got some talent for customizing your figures and can paint the arms and chest. His low price and 5mm-compatible weapons/hands make him an attractive buy for customizers in general, really. Just keep in mind that Fans Toys also has a Huffer coming, if you're into more paint and diecast.

@Kuma Style Fans Toys has been pretty prolific lately, and a lot of the discussion seems to be focused on them lately. Seems like they're releasing stuff with more QC or design issues, prices are creeping up on their stuff faster than other 3Ps, their stuff is selling out super quick, scalpers are having their cake and eating it too, and their fans are defending all of it. It's been sucking the joy out of this hobby for me lately. But you've been posting these pics of some older stuff, especially Maketoys, Fansproject, and MMC. It reminds me of when these things were fun toys and not necessarily premium collectibles, when we were excited to get a character (or version of a character) Hasbro neglected and weren't obsessing about how much paint or diecast was on it. Thanks, buddy, for reminding me what got me into 3P in the first place.

It's time for me to bring up a figure that's a bit polarizing over at that message board that shall not be named: Fans Toys' Iceman, their MP-style Air Raid. So, first impressions, and holy cow does Iceman look good. Not just good, he looks right. I mean, people have insisted that Zeta's was based more on the toy, but let's be clear, the toy didn't have translucent panels on his chest and hips, he had red and yellow stickers. He didn't have silver thighs, free, or on the middle of his chest, he had white. What Zeta actually gave us looked like a generic body that could have been Fireflight's as much as Air Raid's. And it felt kind of cheap (to be fair it was pretty cheap, retailing for around half of Iceman's price), with sides that liked to collapse, ball joints for ankles, and those weedy ToyWorld/Zeta hands. Iceman is none of those things. He looks just about perfect, hitting that sweet spot where he's got just enough details to look like a real robot but enough attention to those details to look extremely cartoon accurate as well. All the red you see is a bright metallic red paint. Almost all the white you see is paint with a pearlescent, satin sheen. Translucent panels on his chest reveal some interesting mechanical detail. And it feels good, too, with the usual Fans Toys' heft, plastic that feels sturdier, tighter joints, and a more solidly-connected backpack. Speaking of backpacks, it was something of an (minor) issue that the previous guy, their Skydive, had a pretty massive backpack. Fans Toys did a much better job cleaning up the backpack on Iceman, although in doing so they seem to have brought a few new issues to the table. Now, I think it's only fair that I point out that there have been a number of reported QC issues with this guy. The most common issues seem to be stuck finger joints and loose knees due to short screws that don't hold everything together properly. Slightly less common issues, but ones that are still being reported, are legs sheering off where they connect to the pelvis and arms breaking at the shoulder. Well, 31 must have been doing his or her job the day my copy was coming down the line, because I have none of that. My complaints about Iceman will all be related to the design, starting with something you might have already noticed- Iceman is big! When Zeta was doing their Aerialbots everyone insisted that the Aerialbots should be Seeker-sized. When the Stunticons started coming out people debated whether XTB was right to go with Autobot car-sized robots since they also turned into cars, or if DX9 was right to make them Seeker-sized since their rivals, the Aerialbots, are Seeker-sized. Well, Iceman is not Seeker-sized. As you can see with Zeta's Air Raid and the similar-sized Maketoys Starscream Iceman is about a head taller than them. Iceman is, in fact, a little taller than Fans Toys' own Skydive, coming eyes-to-nose with most MP-styles of Optimus Prime (like TE-01 here). I'm sorry, you guys, but Iceman is too big. And I hear a lot of people arguing, "well, maybe it's a little too big in robot mode, but that's the size it needs to be to get the right height for combined mode." OK, but- 1. I'm not buying them for combined mode. Zeta's totally scratches my itch for Superion. I'm picking these guys up for robot mode because I think that's where Zeta really dropped the ball. And speaking of Zeta, 2. ToyWorld's Constructor is still considered the standard for a properly-sized MP combiner to scale correctly with MP-10 (and all the MPs that came after, even MP-44, are still using that scale). Zeta's Superion is already the same size as Constructor. If Zeta's Superion is already the "correct" size, and they did with an Air Raid that's a head shorter than Iceman, then I'm not sure that "Iceman needs to be bigger for combined mode" is an argument that necessarily holds water, although I suppose I'll have to give them the benefit of the doubt until we can actually build FT's Superion and see. Anyway, moving along. Iceman comes with a replacement, yelling face, cool for those that want it. He also comes with a pair of pistols. The last guy came with a pair of pistols, too, and you know what, I think they only used one gun each in the cartoon and the G1 toys only came with one gun. I guess it must be for symmetry in alt mode. The guns themselves are painted and have decent enough molded detail. The handles can fold back to reveal a little peg that'll be used for alt mode. I think the shape of the guns is a little weird, but it seems to be cartoon-accurate. Before I really get into Iceman's articulation I'd better tackle the elephant in the room... when Iceman is properly transformed for his robot mode he does NOT have a waist swivel. And I've seen all sorts of excuses by the FT fans to try to justify it, the most common ones being that it was maybe omitted for combined-mode stability, a waist swivel isn't important on a toy that most people are going to leave in combined mode, that waist swivels really aren't that important and we all pose our toys without them, or it was too difficult to engineer a functioning waist swivel with half a plan on his back. In fairness to that second argument it is his backpack that's the problem. The rear of the plane that makes the bottom of his backpack is on a diecast armature that's hinged at the base of his spine, but in robot mode properly sits in a groove right down his butt, locking his waist in place. And if you start pulling his backpack out of place you'll find that without the armature running down his butt he not only has a waist swivel, that waist swivel is ratcheted. But whatever the argument, my counterpoints are that in 2020 things like a waist swivel should be a given (especially on a $130 figure), that Zeta figured out how to build an Air Raid with a working waist swivel two years ago, that Fans Toys has a track record of making robots that look great on a shelf but often have problematic engineering and/or articulation issues, and they get away with it because people will buy whatever crap they put out and make excuses for them later. As for the rest of his articulation, Iceman's head is on a hinged swivel without a lot of up/down tilt and no sideways tilt. His shoulders rotate on ratchets, but the joint's got this weird thing going on where the joint is actually in front of the shoulder so instead of the shoulder rotating on the joint it rotates around the joint. The shoulders can hinge out to 90 degrees. He's got bicep swivels, and single-jointed elbows good for just 90 degrees. His wrists swivel. His thumb is on a ball joint at the base, and each of his fingers is individually-articulated with hinges at the base and two additional knuckles. His hips rotate forward on ratchets a little over 90 degrees, and although backward is a bit more limited just due to his backpack kibble. They move laterally 90 degrees on friction hinges. That's usually what I prefer, but I should point out that Iceman's legs are a bit heavy. On my copy he'll hold a kicking pose, but just a little shake and the leg will start to come back down. His thighs rotate around the hip joints. His knees bend 90 degrees on a single ratcheted hinge. His feet don't bend up, but his toes can bend down for transformation. His ankles can pivot up to 90 degrees, so no issues there. He holds his guns nice and tightly using the bog-standard tabs on the handles and slots in the palms. Iceman's transformation starts off fairly easy, especially if you've handled the previous one. I wasn't even using the instructions, and at no point was I even really unsure about what it was I needed to do. Near the end, though, it gets frustrating due to a number of clearance issues (his hip skirts have to tuck into his his shins, the armature that the bottom of the backpack his on needs to be sandwiched between and ultimately under panels on the backs of his legs, and thankfully his wings are on c-clips because they're going to get in the way so often that you're going to pop them off). And, honestly, I think I have some issues with the jet mode, too. For starters, I gave Zeta more of a pass because if their robot mode wasn't super 'toon or toy accurate then why should their jet mode, but since Iceman was super cartoon accurate in robot mode I have to point out that it's just not in jet mode. I mean, his horizontal and vertical stabilizers are left plain black, with none of the toy's sticker details, which is fine. But then his wings have silver edges with thin red and yellow stripes. It's somewhat similar to what Zeta did, and closer to the toy than the single white stripe seen in the cartoon. I can't help but be disappointed; I prefer the cartoon's cleaner look. Likewise, Fans Toys used a dark translucent plastic, nearly opaque, for the canopy. The cartoon, taking its cues directly from the G1 toy, had a silver canopy. The size is a little off, too, but not as badly as the robot mode. You can see that the proportions are similar to Zeta's, but it has a much longer nose. And compared with an official MP Skywarp Iceman seems to have a thicker fuselage and nose, but similarly-sized wings and stabilizers. The fuselage lines up with the official pretty well from the intakes through the wings, but as we go beyond the wings Iceman winds up being just a little longer. Looking at him from the sides and he's not a ton different than Zeta's version. I know the boxy robot under a plane thing is a peeve of @M'Kyuun, but I'll allow it here. You can make a case that it's G1 accurate for the Aerialbots, and Air Raid in particular probably needs a certain level of brickishness to make for a solid leg. Taking a quick peek at the bottom of the jet. You can see that he's got landing gear that folds out from the plane's nose and from the colored detail on his robot knees. There's also a tiny peg hole on the underside of either wing. The little pegs you revealed when you flipped back the handles fit into those holes for alt mode storage, one on each wing. Hence my remark about alt mode symmetry. Iceman's canopy can also open, revealing a molded seat and controls inside. Credit where credit is due, the details on the controls are sharp, and FT even painted some of them with red, blue, and yellow paint. It's the kind of thing that nobody would have noticed or said anything if they'd left unpainted, but they did and it looks fantastic. If you're like me you might be satisfied with Zeta's Superion as your MP Superion, but their Aerialbots aren't cutting it for MP Aerialbots. Iceman, on the other hand, looks exactly like what I wanted for robot mode, with a good but seemingly more toy-inspired jet mode. That said, if you like to handle your toys you may find the transformation a bit frustrating. But the biggest disappointment for me has to be his articulation. While I'm not a big fan of what Takara's been doing lately they're arguably FT's closest rival, more than any other 3P, and I understand a big part of Takara's "stuff the whole alt mode into a backpack" approach is to maximize articulation. Ab crunches, double-jointed knees and elbows, and butterfly joints at the shoulders are becoming increasingly common on 3P figures and pretty much standard on Takara's. 90 degree single-hinge elbows and knees used to be the absolute minimum, but these days they feel like too little. And the lack of a functional waist swivel (even if it meant turning the waist over 180 degrees in one direction) is totally inexcusable. Iceman always looks kind of stiff in any pose but a stoic, slight A-stance. For now, Iceman is unquestionably the best MP-style Air Raid you can get. However, if X-Transbots, DX9, or MMC were to try their hand at the Aerialbots I think they'd come up with something that isn't a pain to transform, isn't too big, and has better articulation. If I absolutely knew one of them were working on Aerialbots I'd tell you to pass on Iceman, sell the other two if you already have them, and just wait. Unfortunately scalpers and FOMO seem to be hitting FT's products hard lately, and they're selling out quickly, so you might be better off buying Iceman now. Just hang onto the box so you can sell him later.

What's it say about me that you have stacks of awesome-looking games but the one I zeroed in on is Knight Rider?

I usually don't do more than one of these posts a day, even if I have more stuff to look at, but I want to get this off my desk. With all six Seacons in hand we can combine them to form King Poseidon (or Piranacon if the old Marvel comics were more your thing than Masterforce). So here he is, with the guy who's around 60% the same thing. As a Scramble City-style combiner you can, of course, use any of the Deluxes as any limb (or even borrow pretty much any other Power of the Primes or Combiner Wars Deluxe), but I tend to go for the "official" combination (that is, the configuration most-commonly used in media depicting the character). On the boxart for the G1 King Poseidon gift set and in the Masterforce anime he was shown with Kraken as his left arm, Lobclaw as his right arm, Gulf as his right leg, and Tentakil as his left leg. You eagle-eyed readers might notice, then, that I have his arms reversed. It's easy to do, because one of my favorite features about King Poseidon is that he's color coordinated. Gulf and Tentakil, both as legs, are mostly blue, magenta, and pink. Kraken and Lobclaw are green, gray, and black arms Turtler has the green from the arms and the magenta from the legs. Overbite matches Turtler's green and magenta but trades Turtler's pink for purple. Despite being a "new" combiner, Generations Select's King Poseidon is definitely part of the older Combiner Wars/Power of the Primes "G1, but updated" design (as opposed to Earthrise's "G1, but with modern engineering"). Even at a glance it's unmistakably King Poseidon, but the configuration of the limbs (Gulf and Tentakil's beast heads on the front of the legs, Kraken and Lobclaw's heads being the shoulders instead of the forearms, no tail sticking off his Kraken-arm shoulder or claws on his Lobclaw-arm forearm, no spikes on the backs of his hands, etc) is quite a bit different. As far as accessories go, as you might have guessed the melee weapons that came with each of the six Seacons combine to form a sword for King Poseidon. You start by sticking Overbite's and Gulf's swords onto the top of Turtler's. Then take the axe-things that came with Tentakil and Kraken and plug them onto the pegs that Overbite's and Gulf's added to the sides. Now, before you add Lobclaw's axe you need to plug what you've already built into the 5mm port built into the thumb on one of the hands. The handle is long enough to go all the way through and stick out the other side. Technically you could stop there (which is good, because I do believe that Beast Wars II God Neptune only has five members, and there was no repaint of Lobclaw/Nautilator). But that protruding bit of handle fits into a peg hole on top of Lobclaw's axe, giving it a secondary blade on the handle. As for the guns, well, despite all the extra pegs and peg holes there is no official combination for them. Assuming Overbite goes to gun mode when the others combine, and assuming his rifle is necessary for that gun mode, this is the best I could come up with for the rest. With Lobclaw's and Gulf's tales tabbed pegged onto their limb modes that should cover all their individual accessories except the extra hands. Well, the feet have peg holes on the backs, and the instructions tell you to use two of the hands as heels. That fifth hand, though? Toss it in a drawer, I guess. Articulation... Well, his head is on a swivel, but there's no tilt. His arms can rotate on the ratcheted combiner pegs, and move laterally (also ratcheted) a little over 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, and if you have the arms turned right Kraken and Lobclaw's hips and knees give King Poseidon double-jointed elbows with enough articulation to bump this forearms into his shoulders. The wrists are, of course, just pegged on, and can rotate on their pegs. The peg is also hinged with the kind of hinge that has detents but isn't a true ratchet, and that allows him to bend his fists in and out. The thumb is hinged, with 90 degrees of motion, and the fingers are individually-articulated, molded into curl with a hinge at the base. Unlike the Combiner Wars hands, which had one thumb in the middle of the palm, or the the Power of the Primes hands, which had a ball-jointed thumb on both sides of the hand, the thumb is tabbed into place on one side of the hand. Untabbing it will free a second hinge to flip the entire thumb over the palm to the other side, so any of the five hands can be either a left or right hand without looking anatomically-weird or sporting extra digits. King Poseidon doesn't have a waist swivel. His hips are ratcheted and can go forward or backward over 90 degrees, and 90 degrees laterally. His knees use the ratcheted combiner pegs to bend 90 degrees. His feet do not tilt up or down, but they have the same detented-but-not-really-ratcheted hinges on the pegs that the wrists do, so he does sport some ankle pivots. As mentioned before, the thumbs have 5mm peg holes molded into their curls. He can use them to hold his sword, a combined gun, an uncombined-gun, or really almost any weapon with a 5mm peg for a handle. I touched upon this briefly when I reviewed Gulf, but I'll go over it again. King Poseidon is designed to hold weapons with 5mm pegs for handles. Overbite and the other Seacons do not come with anything to give their gun modes a 5mm peg handle. Instead, what you're supposed to do is remove the back from one of King Poseidon's hands, very much like you could with the old Power of the Primes-style hands. Except this time, instead of jamming a Prime Master or Enigma (or even a Titan Master) into the cavity you jam the combiner peg from the gun-mode Seacon of your choice into it. At this point you might be thinking to yourself that with double-jointed elbows, ratcheted hips and knees, and detented ankle pivots that King Poseidon actually has pretty decent articulation, but I've now posted three pictures of this guy in super static poses. And this is the part where I tell you that you're probably not going to actually get this guy into any dynamic poses, and there's a number of reasons for it. For starters, the friction hinge knees and ball joint hips on whatever your decide to use for arms are not strong enough to support a lot of weight... like, say, the weight of a Deluxe-class figure turned into a gun. His combined-mode hips go from stock straight to a very wide A-stance on just one click, the feet don't have any kind of non-slip tread, and the weight of the figure pushing down on the joints will continue to force his hips into the splits. You can try to lighten the load and have him stand stock straight. Leave the gun-mode guy off. Give him his sword, and maybe just Turtler's gun. You can store Gulf and Tentakil's guns in their usual alt mode spots (just be careful not to push Gulf's in all the way, as one of them will be sharing a peg hole with his tail). Kraken's can plug into his tail on King Poseidon's forearm. Lobclaw already has his tail-gun attached to his head on King Poseidon's shoulder. And unless you're planning on using them for gun mode you're probably safe putting the other rifles that came with Kraken and Lobclaw in that drawer with the fifth hand; Kraken's already got dual pistols and Lobclaw's tail-gun is perfectly adequate. But after all that, you're still probably going to have issues. See, it's not just his hip ratchets that could stand to be tighter. The ratchets in the combiner pegs that form his knees could be a little tighter, and there's too much play in all those ratchets between clicks. The actual connection between those pegs and the ports on Turtler is too loose. His thigh swivels are loose. With all this going on he wants to lean. And if you're like me and insist on using Tentakil for a leg the issues I detailed with his leg mode in his review are going to make matters worse. Even after you lighten the load, even after you accept a static pose, and honestly even if you swap Tentakil out for Overbite you still might have some stability issues. Like I said, he wants to lean. And remember that articulated foot? That's where the real problem is. See, that joint that gives him ankle pivots? The peg and hinge are set into a cavity that is quite a bit bigger than the hinge, leaving a lot of empty space around the peg. And, even though it's not supposed to tilt forward or backward the assembly isn't tight enough. Play in the connection between parts means that the peg will lean forward, on a bot that's already starting to lean forward, on joints that simply aren't tight enough, and you get the picture. The best solution I could come up with for keeping him upright while holding his sword and Turtler's rifle was to take the covers off the backs of the hands that are plugged into his heels, then wedge them into the gaps in front of the pegs on the feet before plugging the legs into them. Those covers will then prop up the front edge of the legs and help them stay straight, so the only lean is from the play in the hips and knees. It's not pretty, it's not super solid, but it'll do until someone like DNA Design, Perfect Effect, or Transform Dreamwave comes up with some kind of upgrade kit for this combiner (while they're at it maybe they can throw in some new arms and tentacle tails for Tentakil to fix him like I described). So... yeah. After paying Takara import prices to get six characters shoehorned onto five existing molds that already felt dated compared to more recent Siege and Earthrise figures it's safe to say that King Poseidon is pretty disappointing. If an upgrade kit comes out for it I might look into it, and hopefully salvage things a bit. Otherwise, though, it's one good figure, four ok ones, and one bad one, all overpriced, that combine into a robot that can't hold his Targetmaster gun (so you really only need five) and can barely stand even when he's not. I do not recommend this set.

Last Seacon up would be Tentakil. Tentakil is another retool of Blot... ok, just kidding. Unlike the rest of his teammates Tentakil isn't a retool of any of the Terrorcons, he's a retool of the Power of the Primes Novastar/Moonracer mold. The resulting figure has thin biceps and a tapering waist that gives him a rather feminine appearance, and this is almost certainly because Takara was planning for the God Neptune repaint even as they were designing the Seacons (for those that are unaware, the Seacons were repainted and sold as part of the Beast Wars II line in Japan, and in the accompanying anime Tentakil's repaint, Scylla, is a girl). Frankly, I think Tentakil came out the least-accurate of the set. For starters, the outside of his lower legs, his feet, his crotch, and the tentacles on his back split the difference between the cartoon (white) and the G1 toy (lavender) and wind up kind of a light pink. But, suppose for a minute that we just accept the light pink. Then his whole lower legs should be that pink. That magenta color doesn't belong there. It does belong on his torso, though. In fact, it should be magenta where that blue "belt" is, and his pink crotch should be magenta. The blue is fine for his biceps, thighs, and hands (although the thighs were technically more of a blue-green that was definitely different than the blue on the rest of the figure). So fine, in fact, that they should only be blue. None of that magenta should show on his forearms. There's a tiny bit of blue in the middle of his chest, that seems to be the only concession to the large vertical blue combiner peg that ran down the G1 toy's chest. The abs and lats on the newer figure have molded angular segments that weren't on the G1 toy or on Scylla's animation model, so they're kind of baffling. There are more silver-painted segments in the middle of his shins that could maybe be the molded vent-like details on the G1 figure's shins, and just a splash of blue paint that is maybe meant to represent the stickers from the G1 toy, but they're not very similar. There's a ton of kibble visible behind his head. At least that head is pretty good, although I could do without the magenta part coming in under his eyes. You can't really see it from this angle, but Tentakil has the most obnoxious backpack of the set, too, with a large chunk already containing the combiner peg and tentacles, but also with his beast legs dangling off of them, part of the beast head sticking up and forming that hood, and the rest of it folded around and sticking even farther off his back. Tentakil comes with a fifth hand for King Poseidon, and an "axe" that's identical to Kraken/Seawing's. They shouldn't be much of a surprise. You also get a pair of pistols that seem a bit G1-inspired. Since I don't own and haven't covered the Novastar/Moonracer mold I guess Tentakil's articulation might be new. His head is on a ball joint with a slight up/down and sideways tilt. The other end of the peg is hinged, though, and that hinge is set into a hinged collar, and with the extra hinges you can get quite a bit more up/down tilt. Shoulders are on ball joints for rotation and under 90 degrees of lateral movement. Elbows are also ball joints for 90 degrees of bend and pulling double-duty as bicep swivels. No wrist swivel, but they bend inward for no discernible reason. His waist can swivel. His hips are on ball joints, and they get significantly under 90 degrees forward, backward, and laterally. His thighs can swivel. He's got double-jointed knees, with about 90 degrees of bend at either joint and roughly 180 degrees of bend total. His feet can tilt up and down, and he's got a very slight ankle pivot. He has no trouble holding his accessories. For extra storage there are five 5mm ports on his back, two on the front of his hood, one on the outside of each shin, and one each on his two largest tentacles. Tentakil's transformation was a bit different than I expected, but ultimately pretty simple. I like that Takara painted the lips and teeth red and silver, which matches the Masterforce anime, instead of just leaving them blue like the original toy, but I wish that they could have painted a little more black between his eyes. Otherwise, I think he looks fine from the beast face up. Going down, though, his body is too long. The anime (and to a lesser extent) had a blue body, which this version seems to, but with just a little magenta pelvis, which is a bit less that what we have here. The G1 toy also had two magenta tentacles that came off the back of the beast pelvis like tails. This version doesn't. Instead, pink covers double-hinge over his hands and I guess we're supposed to pretend that they're those tentacles. Then thin beast legs reach around from from beast hips that are set back way too far and wind up looking much to short. Frankly, I think they should have just designed the robot arms to turn into the beast legs, and put the magenta tentacle-tails on the hinges that the actual beast legs are on. Not only would it have likely given him better beast proportions and set the beast hips in the right spot it could have made the tentacles a more-correct all-magenta and the robot arms a more-correct all-blue. Tentakil doesn't have a ton of articulation in this mode. The mouth doesn't move. The beast legs can only rotate at the hip; there's no lateral movement, no thigh swivel, no knee, and no foot articulation. His tentacles, which sit a bit far behind his face, are molded as a solid piece on each side hinged only at the base. Only his robot arms retain any real articulation, especially if you ignore when the instructions tell you to tab his biceps to his sides. He can attach his guns to the sides of his head, like the G1 toy did. He also has the 5mm port on top of his head the two in his large tentacles, and technically his fists are still usable under those tentacle covers. Tentakil's arm mode is a bit awkward compared to the others. The waist that becomes his bicep swivel is set kind of far forward, and his thinner legs make for a thinner forearm. Meanwhile, the beast face just kind of dangles down from the bicep. The instructions tell you to put Tentakil's guns on the flap with the beast mouth, but I think that just draws attention to it hanging out behind the forearm. It's fine if Tentakil isn't the best arm, because he's supposed to be a leg. But he's kind of the worst at being a leg, too. For one, because his legs don't do the usual Combiner Wars-style collapsing that traps the waist joint while part of the beast face shifts back, preventing the mouth section from tabbing in, Tentakil can still partially swivel at the waist in this mode. But much worse than that is the fact that that same Combiner Wars leg collapse usually locks the hips and knees while in leg mode. Tentakil's calves do tab into the backs of his thighs, which locks the knees, but the hips can still move. Plus the port for King Posiedon's foot is on the beast face, which is hinged at the base and doesn't actually tab into anything in this mode. Yes, the actual port is hinged, and there's notches on the bottom. The notches fit over the base of Tentakil's knee pads, but they don't lock into place. So, if Tentakil's hips or the hinge with his beast face shifts King Poseidon's whole leg can bend mid-shin at best or come apart at worst. Tentakil's gun mode is the leg mode, turned on it's back with his guns stuck together and plugged in instead of the foot. It has the same stability issues that the leg mode does. Again, I don't have Novastar, Moonracer, Lancer, or Signal Flare. I don't know if they have the same issues that Tentakil does or not. All I can say is that he's an ok (if inaccurate) robot with a horrid backpack that turns into a so-so squid monster that could have been better just by having his arms turn into his beast legs instead of tentacles. And he's the worst at being an arm, the worst at being a leg, and the worst at being a gun for King Poseidon. I've been coy with recommending the others, acknowledging their higher price tag and their deficiencies when compared with the current crop of Siege and Earthrise figures while nevertheless stating my enjoyment of them anyway. But Tentakil is easily the worst of the set. Unless you really can't live without all six Seacons or you're a stickler for the "official" combination (and/or the color symmetry it brings) then pass on Tentakil. Build King Poseidon with Overbite as one of the limbs and forget about a sixth Seacon Targetmaster.

The fandom: "That's the most obnoxiously huge backpack ever!" Fans Toys: "Hold my beer..."