mikeszekely

That's a start. Belatedly I realized that Siege Prowl also has black thighs, and that his thighs should also be silver. But I don't know, I kind of dig black on Prowl.

I did a proper review for Gabriel here, but the short version is that I think it's the best Omega Supreme on the market today. I don't have a full review for you guys tonight, but I'm doing another mini repaint review. Over the weekend I got Siege Deluxe-class Bluestreak, Smokescreen, and Barricade. They're all repaint/slight remolds of Siege Prowl, and you can get my full thoughts on the mold by reading my review of that figure here. Alright, so of the three Barricade is the only one that is (or will be) available at regular retail everywhere. His aesthetic is based on a drawing Guido Guidi did of Barricade as a Prowl repaint in the old G1 Marvel comics style down to the purple windows and gold face, and this is how Barricade appears in the current IDW ongoing series. I don't hate it; black and purple are appropriate colors for Barricade, although I could do without the gray stripe on the hood and feet, and earlier prototype pics had him with black forearms and more black on his waist. But I do think it's super lazy to say, "Barricade is a cop, so let's repaint Prowl." Aside from a new deco Barricade sports a remolded head, so he's not totally the same as Prowl. Bluestreak, who is a Walmart-exclusive, is a straight-up repaint of Prowl. I've got no beef with that, though; that's accurate. Smokescreen is part of the Generations Selects line, which traditionally has meant Hasbro Pulse-exclusive (although I hear Entertainment Earth is supposed to start officially carrying them, and officially or not I've seen Generations Selects pop up on BBTS, TFSource, Amazon, etc). Since he's got Barricade's head, I guess he's technically a repaint of Barricade, not Prowl. And yeah, that head is more G1 cartoon-accurate for Smokescreen. He looks kind of weird without some racing livery, though, and I feel like he suffers more that the others do for not having the red on his shins frame the windows instead of just sitting at the bottom. He's also the only one that strikes me as having the wrong deco; his thighs should be silver, and his biceps should be blue. Finally, I think it's a shame they couldn't do a little more remolding. I'd have liked if his tires could have been on top of his shoulders, and if they could have given him the racing bumper and rear spoiler that set him apart from the other Datsuns. They have slightly different accessories, too. Barricade doesn't get the rifle that Prowl comes with, trading it for a pair of smaller guns. I'm not a fan of Hasbro using translucent purple for the light bar; there's red paint on the underside, but it comes across as kind of pink if you can see it at all. Since Bluestreak and Smokescreen aren't cops they keep Prowl's rifle and trade the lightbar in for Barricades's smaller guns. There are large tabs on the smaller guns fit into the grooves on the hood, and their shape makes them seem pretty obviously Smokescreen's shoulder guns. Presumably Bluestreak's too, but they're just not cartoon-accurate or toy-accurate enough for my tastes. However, there are smaller tabs and slots on the tops and half-pegs on the sides. When you fit the tabs and slots together you'll get one whole peg, making a sort of double-barreled pistol. This is how Barricade's instructions suggest arming him. While it's not a perfect fit, the large tabs fit fairly securely into their fists if you'd rather have them dual-wielding single-barreled pistols. And of course you have the other 5mm peg holes on their bodies, and compatibility with Micromasters, Battlemasters, and Weaponizers. Personally I'm permanently giving Barricade Micromaster Stakeout, I just need to find a Decepticon sticker small enough to cover the tapoed Autobot emblem on his hood. All three have Prowl's alt mode. Like Prowl, they all have translucent tires with painted rims, but the darker translucent used for Bluestreak and Smokescreen looks reasonably like tires. Not a huge fan of Barricade's purple tires, and as previously mentioned I don't care for the gray stripe or the translucent purple used on his lightbar. Again, Smokescreen needs some racing livery, or at least a big ol' "38" on his doors and hood. I guess that's what the little Cybertronian is supposed to say? Speaking of Cybertronian, you'll note that Barricade's is the same as Prowl's. I dig that consistency, but in all honesty I ordered the reprolabels for Prowl with the English "Highway Patrol". Here's hoping they do a set with racing livery for Smokescreen and an English "Police" deco based on the Mustang's deco in the Bayverse films. Smokescreen and Bluestreak don't seem to have any of the Siege "dirt" paint, which is nice. Barricade has faux scratches on his front fenders. The hood grooves are still available for the small guns in alt mode, but the second peg hole on the roof and the peg hole on the rifle give you other options. Essentially you can have all four versions of this mold armed up slightly different, and that helps them from seeming too samey. So, moment of truth, do I recommend these guys? Well, as I noted in my Prowl review, some minor proportion issues aside I like this mold. Whether or not you skip any really boils down to things like how much you like a given deco, how much you like a given character, or if you feel like you need a War for Cybertron version of these characters. Honestly, I'm happy to have all of them, but if I were going to prioritize them I'd say Prowl, Barricade, Bluestreak, and Smokescreen. Prowl's a major G1 character, so you have to have him. I went with Barricade second because we need more Decepticons, Barricade is my favorite Bayverse Decepticon, and I 100% support making a retroactive G1 character out of him. Bluestreak third because he was a less important G1 character than Prowl, but this is a good version of him. Smokescreen last, partly because he was always my least favorite of the Datsun trio, and partly because I feel like I'm going to need to paint his thighs and get some Reprolabels before I'm satisfied with him.

Fair enough. And if I don't find it (or you don't want to wait until the next time I'm out that way), BBTS has him for $70+ their $4 flat rate shipping.

If you don't mind paying shipping I'll look if there's any left next time I'm out that way.

I really wanted to back Unicron, but there was no chance I'd get my wife on board with that.

Ok, here's one I think a lot of you have been waiting for. This time we're looking at Siege Titan-class Omega Supreme. Let's get this out of the way first... Omega is not as big as Metroplex or Fortress Maximus. Which, I think, is fine. If we're going by the Sunbow scale chart (I know, I know), Omega isn't supposed to be as tall as a citybot, he's supposed to be a little taller than Devastator. And (without actually digging it out to compare) this Omega is a little taller than that Hasbro's Devastator. Although, I suppose that does bring up the little point that Combiner Wars was before Hasbro decided to keep everything in scale, and you could fairly point out that both Devastator and Omega are arguably too large compared to the other Siege figures. And it's not just height, BTW. Siege Omega weighs about 87 ounces (or about 2.47kg). Metroplex, despite having largely hollow lower legs and a large hollow space on one side of his chest, is 98 ounces (2.78kg). Trypticon, who also has a large hollow spaces in his torso and tail, is 96 ounces (2.74kg) without Full Tilt. Given Omega's size, I think the comparison most people want to see is it and one of the MP-esque third party versions. Could Titan Omega be a cheaper stand-in for an MP shelf? Well, here he is with the only one I have, DX9's Gabriel. And I think my answer is going to have to be no. I can't speak for Fans Toys' or Wei Jiang's versions, but Gabriel's bigger, has better proportions, and is much more cartoon-accurate. And, although this is super subjective, the translucent claw and light-piped eyes on the Hasbro version come across as cheap-looking to me. Well, Omega does come with a few accessories. You get three rubbery blast effect parts, the larger of which breaks down into five chunks. You also get a Micromaster, Countdown. But... well, Metroplex retailed for, what, $100? And he came with a Legends-class figure. I think Fortress Maximus and Trypticon retailed for $150 (although as recently as maybe a month ago I could still find Trypticon for $40 at Burlington), and Max came with a short Voyager and Trypticon came with a tall Deluxe. I guess it's cool to see Countdown get a modern release, since I had the original as a kid, but I can't shake the feeling that at Omega's $160 price tag I'm paying more for less. Countdown is very similar to his G1 counterpart. The arms and lower legs have nearly identical molded details. The newer version eschews the silver body of the original, opting to keep the white of the thighs, has a smaller, more proportional head, swaps the blue face for silver, and trades an Autobot insignia for a fold-out peg. Gotta work in that Siege gimmick after all! Articulation-wise, it's pretty poor. His shoulders are on ball joints, but they don't have the clearance for much lateral movement. He has no neck, waist, elbow, or wrist articulation. His hips are on ball joints and can move forward and backward about 90 degrees, and laterally about 45 degrees. His hinged knees can bend well over 90 degrees. He's got no foot or ankle articulation. In vehicle mode, Countdown is again very similar to the G1 version, except the seats aren't gray and instead of molded lines there's hollow gaps in them. The radio dish is at least still hinged. Fortunately, Omega himself has pretty decent articulation. His head can swivel, and there's actually a double-hinge in the neck that lets him look up and down a little. His shoulders rotate on ratchets, and extend laterally 90 degrees on a softer ratchet. His biceps swivel just above his elbows, which are ratcheted and can bend 90 degrees. The barrel of the gun hand can spin for whatever reason, as well as retract a bit. The claw hand can spin, and each claw has a ratcheted joint at the base and a second friction hinge and the "knuckle". His waist is on a ratcheted swivel. His hips can go backward or laterally 90 degrees, and forward just a little short of 90. His thighs swivel on ratchets. His knees bend 90 degrees on a ratchet, and reveal some molded detail in the process. And finally his feet have ratcheted ankle pivots that are good for about 45 degrees. Although Omega doesn't come with any weapons, the blast effect parts can easily plug onto his gun hand, the center of his claw hand, or the little guns on his chest for some blasting action. You can also lift the yellow chest panels to reveal some molded missiles. And I like that they're asymmetric; eight little ones on his right, and four larger ones on his left. Aside from that, it wouldn't be a Siege toy without a ton of 5mm ports to plug weapons into. Omega has one on top of each shoulder, one on the front of each forearm, one on the back of each forearm, on on each shin, two on the outside of each leg, two on his backpack, and one on his butt (and technically the barrel of his gun arm and the center of his claw are 5mm ports, too). The instructions suggest that you can use the peg on Countdown to stick him onto Omega's shoulder. However, both of his shins open up, revealing cavities you can store him or another Micromaster in. Or, in my case, the effects parts when you're not using them. As you'd expect from Omega Supreme he comes apart to transform into his various components. What's interesting, though, is that his arms don't come off at the forearm in two separate pieces. Instead, his entire arm comes along with part of his back and backpack as one discreet chunk. The backpack spreads out, wrapping around his shoulders and partially-collapsed forearms and elbows and linking with the chunk of his back to form a very tall rocket, standing significantly taller than DX9's. And, sure, I guess the longer, thinner silhouette is closer to an actual rocket's proportions, but again it's less G1-accurate. There's a hatch at the top that you can stick Countdown (or any other Micromaster) into. You can also, in theory, use the blast effect parts to look like exhaust from the rocket, but there's no stand or anything to pose the rocket in flight. Hasbro might have a big rocket, but the tank is noticeably smaller. And again, not as cartoon-accurate. The barrels on the side guns should be yellow, the sides where the guns come out should be white, and there shouldn't be any yellow on the tank turret. Basically, DX9 got it right. And a weird thing about it is that Omega's head is only part of the turret. The cannon on back of his head is only for robot mode. It folds down, and Omega stuffs his face into a half a turret with a new barrel that folds out of his tummy. I guess that does make it seem a bit more proportional. However, it means that his turret can't rotate. The barrel does move up and down, though. The side guns can go up, too. Unlike DX9's, though, it's not just the barrels, it's the whole side of the tank. The front of the tank can open to reveal a little space for Countdown. In theory he can roll down the front like a ramp, but it is a bit bumpy. In this mode you can make good use of the effect parts by sticking them in the three gun barrels the tank sports. And, as always, what's left of Omega's body and wings turns into a base with a track. Frankly, this part feels a little uninspired. Most of the center gantry is dominated by a large, empty space. It looks like, after ditching the stuff that makes the rocket and tank, his upper body does nothing to transform, because that's exactly the case. And unlike even the G1 version the legs don't split; all you're doing is spreading the hips 90 degrees, bending the knees 90 degrees, and rotating the thigh swivel until his feet are pointed in the right direction. That means they don't make for a gentle slope, so the wings have a trio of supports underneath to hold the track up so they can connect and form the rest of the track. Ramps unwrap from his thighs to kind of mimic the ones normally formed from the yellow pieces on his shins, although being so close to the legs makes them sort of blend in and get lost. You'll also note that there are small black flaps near his feet on either side. The ends of the ramps and those black flaps are the base connections you'll find on the Titans Returns Leader and Titan Classes, so you can connect more bases to Omega if you like. Technically the tracks connect to the legs using similar connections, which might make for even more interesting designs if I had the space and weren't too lazy to try it. If you found yourself thinking, "well, yeah, but it's not that bad, it's not like Omega's base mode was ever all that," then you might not like this last comparison picture. Here we have the base, rocket, and tank set up next to DX9's, and the difference is striking. The torso and legs on DX9 actually look like they transformed instead of just sitting down, because they did. The result is a huge, oval track and an overall appearance that's actually pretty close to the G1 toy and cartoon. Meanwhile, Siege Omega makes a tiny "O" with barely enough room to set the rocket inside. Now, I think I probably came across as kind of hard on Omega in this review. So let me clear up a few things. For starters, Omega isn't really a bad toy. I think, based on overall aesthetic and articulation that he's actually better than Metroplex and Fort Max, although Trypticon is still my favorite Titan. I think he's a perfectly acceptable toy to go with your other Siege/Generations figures (definitely a step up from the Platinum Edition repaint of Energon Omega Supreme). The thing is, for something like $50 more you can get Wei Jiang's version, which to my taste is still a bit stylized for an MP Omega but a lot closer than this one, plus it comes with a stand to pose the rocket in flight and a motorized tank that actually drives around the track. $100 more will get you Gabriel, who is bigger and just looks and feels so much better in both modes and obliterates the Hasbro version in shelf presence. So while Titan-class Omega is fine for a Siege collection, you get what you pay for and I'd highly recommend springing for Gabriel for an MP collection.

Of all the early Classics molds the Seeker mold was arguably the most G1-ish. Would it have been nice if they'd borrowed more liberally from the MP molds? Maybe. But let's be real, they could do a lot worse than taking the Classics version, improving the articulation, giving it more accurate null rays, and actually scaling it properly with the other figures in the line. In any case, you guys do you. Me, I preordered Prime already and I definitely plan on getting all the newly-announced Deluxes and Voyagers, too, except Ironworks. I'm just not that interested in Micromasters.

There's still aliens in it, and iirc the suits do use alien technology.

They're obliging you at NYCC. First up, another look at Leader-class Optimus. Looks like he's going to have pinned knuckles! Also, the more I look at him, the less I think he's going to be based on the previous Siege Voyager and the more he actually reminds me of Studio Series Bumblebee Prime. Then we've got some reveals for Deluxe Wheeljack Deluxe Cliffjumper Deluxe (I think) Hoist and Voyager Starscream in his Earth mode. And as much as I'm complaining after already buying 9 Cybertron-mode Seekers, yes, I do want Thundercracker and Skywarp Earth-mode repaints... Also, I can't recall if we already knew the next Titan after Omega Supreme would be Scorponok (although by process of elimination we're running out of huge characters to make Titans out of). But what is definitely new is a look at the prototype for Zarak. Interestingly enough, he's going to be a double Headmaster like Fortress Maximus. EDIT: excluding Scorponok, the new reveals are available to preorder at Hasbro Pulse now.

As far back as "The Prototype Missions" demo, it seems like opinions have been pretty divided over Daemon X Machina. I kind of liked that first demo, and although I skipped the second demo I decided to pick the game up. Well, the game definitely has some flaws. For starters, the game does a really poor job of teaching you how to play it. You'll quickly learn the basic controls, like that the ZL and ZR buttons fire or swing whatever you've got equipped in your left and right hands. But they leave it to you to read the game's manual from the Pause screen to figure out things like weapons having optimal distances where they're most effective, or that pressing up or down on the d-pad moves the sparkly red "femto" particles the resting position on your mech's shoulders to other spots in a way that works like a temporary power up, something I didn't figure out until the very last story mission. Speaking of stories, it's the kind of anime story that doesn't make a ton of sense if you think about it too hard and is super vague about what's going on until late in the game. The missions themselves tend to be fairly repetitive, as they're mostly "shoot everything, sometimes fight another mech" or "fight a giant boss." And there's one mission where you have to defend a train that flat out sucks. Despite the game's flaws, I loved it. Even though most of the story is told by cutscenes of people standing around chatting or through text boxes I found that the revolving cast of characters were really starting to grow on me. The controls take some getting used to, but once you've got the hang of them it's fun to zip around in your mech, switching weapons on the fly and blowing stuff up. The mecha customization isn't as hardcore as, say, Armored Core, but you can change your mech's head, arms, legs, torso, and processor, plus you can equip a weapon in each hand, a weapon on left and right pylons that you can swap out with the weapons in your hands, a shoulder weapon, and an auxiliary system. And while, yes, some weapons and parts are just flat out better than others, the difference isn't huge and most of the variety comes down to the kind of playstyle you favor. For example, some parts will make you slower but more heavily armored, but others are more lightly armored but allow you to move faster and boost longer. Some parts are optimized for long-range sniping, others for melee combat. The variety of weapons runs from rifles to lasers to swords and more. You can even save different loadouts for different situations. As for the game's repetitive nature, it's the fun kind, like Ace Combat or Koei's Warriors games. Yes, you're mostly flying around blowing stuff up, but for different reasons on different maps with different characters cycling in and out, and for me it just never stopped being fun. I was actually dreading beating it, because I'm not really ready to be done with it. Fortunately, despite playing what I thought were all the Free missions and all the story missions, finishing the game unlocked more Free missions, plus I learned that you can actually do the co-op missions solo with AI partners, so I can still do that. So yeah, there's definitely room for improvement with Daemon X Machina. No question about it. And yet, for all its flaws, it might very well be my favorite game that I've played this year.

Well, looks like part two of The War For Cybertron will be "Earthrise." Nothing on that rumored Starscream (although I'm going to be mad if I have to buy all those Seekers again...), but here's a look at Leader-class Optimus Prime. Looks like exactly what a lot of people here wanted... a heavy retool of the Voyager-class Siege Prime with a more Earthy alt mode. Looks like he'll still have some of Siege Prime's backpack, but less arm kibble. Interestingly, his pelvis is less G1 cartoon than Siege's, and his head looks like it's colored more like the G1 toy. Oh, and he comes with the trailer, and it looks like it'll do some of the G1 trailer things. Here's hoping for a Micromaster Roller. Grapple (Voyager-class) is looking pretty great, too. Can't wait for the Inferno repaint!

True. But unless @TehPW is thinking of a a recent manga that's probably what they were remembering.

You mean War of the Worlds: Goliath?

Not sure. It's been a long time since I shopped seriously for computer parts, and even then I wound up buying some of them from Amazon because their return policy was better.

I loved the '50s movie and the '80s show! Something about the design of the ships really captured my imagination as a kid. The Cruise movie was... adequate. It had some issues, definitely, but it had some pretty good scenes, too. And I thought it retained the spirit of the original novel, despite the change in setting and time period. As for this, well... I feel like a faithful, turn-of-the-century London adaptation was done direct-to-video around the time the Cruise film came out. And it wasn't very good. If I'm being totally honest, while I think Wells' novel was extremely influential and has earned its place in history I think it's a bit of a slog and hasn't aged well. So while I'm interested in checking it out, I'm feeling a bit pessimistic about how much I'll actually like it.

I mean, the cartoons were terrible, sure. But RiD Prime/Fire Convoy and Armada Prime are two of my favorite non-G1 Primes. Regarding the former I've been telling people for years that I'd love an MP version. Regarding the latter, I'm crossing my fingers and hoping Fans Hobby delivers. Actually, speaking of Armada Prime, I wonder if the Leader-class Prime with Trailer from the rumor I mentioned earlier is something new, or maybe this guy?

There's also nothing from RiD (either one) or the Unicron Trilogy. It's almost like we went straight from G1 and Beast Wars to Cyberverse and the Bayverse (with a little Fall of Cybertron on the way).

Caught this on my flight back to the States from China. It was kind of predictable, but it was entertaining enough.

A leak/rumor going around is claiming to list some War for Cybertron figures (it's not clear if they're Siege, or whatever part two will be). Deluxe Hoist, Deluxe Wheeljack, Voyager Grapple, all well and good. Leader Optimus with trailer. Curious. But the biggest revelation is actually "Voyager Starscream (Earth)". Looks like confirmation that the War for Cybertron is coming to Earth.

Yeah, I'm not super impressed with FT's Wildrider. I ordered their Breakdown, though.

Still a bit behind, but marveling at the Soul of Chogokin Voltron for a few days put Transformers on the back burner (especially when all I have left is mainstream retail Deluxes). Figured I should get these out of the way before the new wave of Siege figures hit. So we'll begin with Studio Series Hightower. Well... he's a weird boy. This robot never appeared in any films, so film-accuracy may be moot. Only one other toy Hightower even Transformed, and that was a Legends-class toy from 10 years ago. The design is based on a design created for the film that went unused, which itself was based on concept art by Steve Jung. This figure is close to the unused, presumably finalized design that the Legends toy was, with the tiny T-Rex arms, but the yellow and silver face is from Jung's art. Interestingly, both the concept art and the final design feature Hightower's head full enclosed by the black scaffolding, and the treads that make up his feet are flat. These (and the black head of the finalized design) are details that the older Legends toy got correct, but for whatever reason this figure doesn't. Hightower's got weird articulation to go with his weird body. His head is hinged at the base of the skull, with a second hinge at the base of the neck (and a third hinge for transformation that you can use to stick his neck out a little further). This gives him tremendous up/down range, but his head doesn't swivel and he can't look to the sides. His little T-Rex arms are on swivels for rotation, but the cage around his chest gets in the way a bit, as does the fact that he can't move his shoulders laterally or bend his elbows. His hips can swivel, and a hinge allows them to splay out nearly 90 degrees. He's got a thigh swivel, then swivels on the inside of his thighs that are, I guess, knees. Then there's a hinge either end of the the part positioned over the treads, which gives him ankle pivots, and the treads themselves are connected to another swivel for up/down tilt. The boom on his back can tilt up and down, and the little claw at the end can tilt up and down as well. He doesn't have any accessories, although the claw is removable. So, I guess Hightower turns into some kind of crawler crane. Although, there's no hook on it, just the claw. And I think in the the movie (and Jung's concept art) he's actually supposed to be a wrecking ball. The scale seems to fit pretty well with Scrapmetal's excavator mode, which is nice, but I'm not sure how well they're going to scale with the others as they're clearly depicted as very large vehicles yet these guys are the only Deluxe-class Studio Series Constructicons. He rolls in vehicle mode, and you've got some of the articulation on the boom and claw that the robot mode did. It's a shame that Hasbro didn't go that extra mile and make a wrecking ball that opened into a claw instead of a mostly-static molded claw, because it doesn't look very construction-y. I think the alt mode also looks kind of weird without the cables that would run between the boom, the gantry, and the winch (which is comically oversized, but I guess they gotta hide combiner parts somewhere). Speaking of combined mode, this is it. On it's own, it's kind of hard to picture as part of Devastator's left arm. However, he and Scrapmetal combine directly, so we can stick them together and... well, I guess it's still pretty funky-looking. But I guess I'm starting to see a hand. Scrapmetal is an interesting design made into a less-interesting toy. On his own I wouldn't recommend him, but chances are if you're buying him you're planning on buying the rest of the Studio Series Constructicons and combining them. And on that note, we're halfway there, as we've still got two more Voyager-class and two more Leader-class Constructicons to go.

Godzilla vs King Ghidorah (1991) is still my favorite Godzilla film. Was KotM formulaic? Sure... it followed the formula of maybe a dozen other Godzilla films. The Godzilla formula if you will. I'll give the Edwards film credit for trying something different. And it did a better job of showing the scale of the monsters. But almost every time Godzilla did something in the movie The camera cut away, leaving the movie focused on a human story that wasn't all that great (after Bryan Cranston died).

The best Rambo was in 1986.

While I'm very much looking forward to SoC Vehicle Voltron/Dairugger, what I'd really love is an SoC Legendary Defender Voltron. Does anyone know if LD was well-received in Japan? I'm pretty sure it was on Japanese Netflix.

Offhand, the Playmates '84 and the Toynami Ultimate EX for transforming Voltrons, the Titan Power King of Beasts if you don't mind one that doesn't turn into lions. There's also the Toynami Masterpiece 30th anniversary and the Mad Toys/Icarus Voltrons, but AFAIK they're about the same size as the SoC. Of all of those, all I personally own are the SoC and Playmates.