mikeszekely

While I would love to review FT's dinos and compare them with Giga's that's not likely to happen short of someone letting me take a look at their FT dinos. So I grabbed you a few screen grabs from some YouTube videos other people (Ben's Collectables, Bobby Skullface, and Old Painless Reviews) made. Biggest differences in dino mode are the paint and chrome, the size, the shape of the head, the front legs, and the joints in the neck. First one is Giga's chrome version, the others are metallic. The big differences I'm noticing are the shape of the head and the greater level of detail on Gutter. Someone suggested that FT's looks more like the cartoon while Gigapower has more toy detail, and I think that's fair. Oh, and again, Gigapower's is bigger.

Fans Toys did Grinder in G2 colors. But given how hard it is to find one at a reasonable price (and recalling that you were pretty handy with the paints) I'd have to think it'd be easier to buy almost any Grimlock and repaint it yourself.

Anyone have any thoughts on DNA's Susanoo? Preorders have gone up for a new run with a weathered look, and it seems quite a bit cheaper than the original run at only $80. I have no attachment to the G1 toy, and I like how Susanoo (and previously Hasbro) used the skeleton samurai motif of his Pretender shell for his actual robot mode (something IDW eventually did as well). Aesthetically it's the closest thing I think I'm going to get to my notion of an MP Bludgeon, but I've heard the build quality is a little so-so.

For some reason, I love it when a character pops up in both the Siege line and the Studio Series line. While the Decepticons haven't been doing so hot there, with just Megatron and Starscream so far (with Thundercracker and Barricade coming), the Autobots are faring much better. Assuming I can get my hands on the Walgreens-exclusive Ratchet then Grimlock, Jazz, and Bumblebee are the only Studio Series figures that don't have Siege counterparts. Of course, we can look beyond Siege. Previous Generations lines have covered most of the pantheon of G1 characters by now. The Decepticons are still pretty messy, mind you- that's what happens when you pick G1 names out of a hat. You wind up naming your bulldozer after a tiger, because you gave the G1 bulldozer's name to a minesweeper. For the Autobots, though, I think the recent Titans Return Bumblebee, while not an amazing toy, is a reasonable fit in terms of scale and aesthetics. As for Jazz, RTS Jazz is still one of the better Transformers toys to come out of Hasbro pre-Siege. If you're looking for something with a more Cybertronian vibe there's the Fall of Cybertron Deluxe Jazz, who isn't as good but scales perfectly. And if you missed out on both of those you can still find Power of the Primes Jazz relatively easily, and although I think the alt mode doesn't exactly scream Jazz (how has it not been repainted as Crasher?) I do think it kind of fits with the Siege aesthetic. That just leaves Grimlock. Now, over the years, Hasbro's give us a few Grimlocks in a few different lines. Can any of them serve as a Siege Grimlock? Let's take a look at three official options: Deluxe-class Classics Grimlock (2006), Voyager-class Fall of Cybertron Grimlock (2012), and Voyager-class Power of the Primes Grimlock (2017). Each figure brings something different to the table, aesthetically. Now, regardless of their "spaceship" alt modes the aesthetics of the Siege line have skewed heavily toward the G1 cartoon, so the obvious first choice seems like it would be Power of the Primes Grimlock. And in robot mode it's a bit barrel-chested, and he's got some extra kibble on his butt, but it does seem like it pulls off the robot mode fairly well. I'd contrast that with the Classics toy. The original Classics line often tried reinventing the wheel, and while there were definite hits like Prime, Mirage, and Hot Rod there were plenty of misses, and I'd argue that Grimlock was one of them. Even if I ignore the kibble on his forearms and back I just don't feel like he looks enough like Grimlock to me, with a lack of red in the torso and most of the black on his thighs covered by the dinosaur torso that comprises his legs. Don't get me wrong, I think it's an interesting design and a fairly well-executed figure (for the time), but it's just not Grimlock enough. Speaking of missing red on the torso and black on the thighs, there's the Fall of Cybertron toy. The missing colors on that figure are head-scratching at first, since the Fall of Cybertron design actually calls for a large portion of the torso to be red and the thighs to be black or gunmetal, but this toy came at a time when Hasbro was desperate to cut costs. Color isn't the only way this figure suffered from the budget crunch. Much of his torso and lower legs are totally hollow, although this does give him spaces to tuck in his dinosaur head and the tips of his tail. And the sculpt is pretty game-accurate, so rather than focus on how the toy suffers I appreciate what they were able to do despite the budget crunch. It's a decent enough robot that I think it stays in the running with PotP Grimlock. We should also consider articulation and accessories, of course. And of course, I couldn't find one and didn't bother to photograph any of the accessories. To sum them up, though, Classics has a missile-firing rifle with a large bayonet, and a whip that's made from his entire dino tail. I'm not a fan of dino tail whips, and the rifle looks odd without the missile inserted. FoC Grimlock comes with the sword and shield he uses in the game, and no gun at all. PotP Grimlock comes with combiner feet. I guess we're supposed to use our imaginations and pretend that they're some sort of weapons. I'd say that FoC wins the accessory round, although none of them have Grimlock's signature rifle. And for what it's worth they all have 5mm peg holes for fists, so you can pair any of them with Siege Micromasters, Battle Masters, or chunks of Weaponizers, as well as anything you might choose to pick up from Shapeways. Regarding articulation, they're all fairly close. Their shoulders, elbows, thighs, knees, and hips all have similar range, except PotP Grimlock has double-jointed elbows for a tighter curl. PotP is also the only one with a waist swivel, although Classics swivels under the chest due to transformation. None of them have wrist swivels or ankle pivots. FoC Grimlock can tilt his fists down for transformation, though, which is useful for sword-wielding characters. He's also got a bit of butterfly motion in the shoulders. I'd say that technically PotP Grimlock wins for articulation, but FoC Grimlock looks less awkward posing due to better overall proportions. Given that we're exploring which figure to use with Siege, and the Siege figures are supposedly in-scale with each other, we should take a minute to consider their sizes. And when we do, Classics is too short, standing halfway between Red Alert and Optimus Prime. PotP is too short, standing eye-to-eye with Prime. FoC Grimlock is the only one taller than Prime, but even then it's maybe half a head. I'd say that's probably still too short, but the closest of the three to "correct" (scale being in the eye of the beholder, after all). Things get a bit more interesting in dinosaur mode. Once again, PotP Grimlock is clinging to G1 and going for the scientifically-outdated upright, lumbering look, while Classics and FoC are presenting somewhat more accurate dino modes, so which you prefer aesthetically might have a lot to do with whether you want Grimlock to look as geewunny as possible or whether you like a more updated design. I kind of like the updated look, but if I'm being honest PotP Grimmy isn't being helped by the fact that his alt mode more than his robot mode, is really suffering for combiner gimmick. Like he's fine from the waist up, but from the waist down he's got horribly tiny thighs and huge, chunky calves. His butt is still covered with the combiner pelvis. And instead of folding over like the G1 toy, which would have given the tail a nice taper, his overly large robot chest forms and overly large dino pelvis to cover the robot thigh, then his lower legs just stick out the back. His tail has basically no taper, just a bump for his robot feet followed by a tiny tip. FoC Grimlock is a little better. From his head to the base of his tail he's again pretty accurate to the game, if a little short. Like PotP, though, his lower legs form the tail with the knees at the base tapering to his feet sitting over the exposed tip. There's at least some taper, but it does make his tail look extremely thick. Also, remember how I mentioned his dino head filled up his mostly-hollow robot torso? With the dino head unfurled that hollow space is just an empty void. While it's mostly his underbelly now, it's still pretty noticeable from the front. Classics Grimlock has the best dinosaur mode. I'm not a fan of the pillar on his back for mounting his rifle, his feet are a little big, and his head looks more like a gator than a T-Rex to me, but his proportions on the whole are pretty good, and the kibble that was on his back helps fill in his dino torso, giving him an almost organic shape. Classics Grimlock also benefits from having his tail as a separate accessory, as he's the only one with tail articulation. That articulation is enough to curl it around into a half-circle, or to give him a nice S-bend. Speaking of dino articulation, Classics wins all around. All three of them have little ball-jointed arms with no dino elbow or wrist, and none of them can turn their heads or turn at the waist. Classics and PotP can look up and down or open their jaws, as well as spread their legs. All three use their robot bicep swivels as thigh swivels. FoC has the one knee bend; the ankle bend is sculpted into the figure and not a joint. The other two have two joints, plus Classics has a bend at the foot. While FoC can't bend at the neck or keep his mouth open, he does have a button on his neck that makes his mouth open and light up. So, minus points for limited dino articulation, but bonus points for having the chomping action. Despite their differences in robot size they're all pretty close in dino mode, although you can tell that Classics is carrying less mass. Still, I don't see Prime riding on any of these Grimlocks any time soon. So who's the winner, then? If you put a gun to my head and told me to pick one of these three figures to put with my Siege collection I think I'd go with Fall of Cybertron Grimlock. In robot mode he's got the best size, the best proportions, and the best accessories, I think. While Classics Grimmy definitely wins for alt mode his robot mode is just too far off. And PotP Grimmy suffers far too much from having the combiner gimmick shoehorned in. That said, all three figures have more than a few flaws, and when looked at in light of the improvements in aesthetics and articulation that Siege has brought to Hasbro's mainline figures I'm really not comfortable using any of them as a Siege stand-in. This does not mean, however, that all hope is lost. Keep an eye on the unofficial Transformers thread, where in the next couple of days I hope to explore a few other Grimlock alternatives.

Is there someone whose opinion you find more agreeable? 9.5 from Destructoid, 9.5 from Game Informer, 9 from Gamespot, a perfect score from GamesRadar. The only midling scores I've seen (a 7/10 and a 3/5) were from sites I'd never heard of. I don't care for strategy RPGs, and at this point even I'm half tempted to give FE a look.

I'd think licensing would be small potatoes. I didn't pick up Studio Series Shatter and can't double check the box, but she turned into a Plymouth GTX, and the second, upcoming SS Dropkick is an AMC Javelin. Plymouth was always a Chrysler brand, and AMC was bought out by Chrysler in 1990, and Dodge had been a Chrysler brand since basically forever.

Oh, ok. Yeah, I just saw the listing when I went to order something else, I didn't look at the details. But how's that supposed to work if Hasbro's limiting orders to 5? Yeah, now that I think about it, DC and Mattel are still a thing, so that's out. The party wagon, though... on the surface, sure, Playmates has a license for TMNT. But other toy companies like NECA and Bandai are also making TMNT toys, so I don't think Playmate's license automatically precludes something like this. Especially when Hasbro and IDW are tight, and IDW is doing the TMNT comics. Why not the General Lee, though? Just because of the Confederate flag on the roof? AFAIK companies making replicas of the General Lee just stopped putting the flag on the roof as far back as 2012.

I had to call Gamestop to see what was up after eight days and no shipping notice came, but I finally got my order. Now, due to the crossover nature of this figure and the emphasis on vehicle mode I'm going to do this review a little backward, but this is Ectotron, the original character designed for 2019's Transformers/Ghostbusters collaborative and the star of IDW's Transformers Ghostbusters miniseries. I don't usually bother by talking about the box, but lemme start by saying that I love the packaging. Like Walmart's G1 reissues it's a throwback to the old G1 packaging from the '80s, with the character art on the front of the window box packaging, the grid in the background, and the black at the top switching to red at the bottom. On the back you've got the classic painting of the Transformers fighting that graced so many of the toys back in the day behind the old-school tech specs, which are plainly readable (and sadly Ectotron doesn't come with one of those red strips you used to decode the specs on the old toys). Freed from it's nostalgic trappings, we're greeted with a pretty good-looking Ecto-1. Lots of details from the repurposed '59 Cadillac Miller-Meteor ambulance are here, inlcuding the whitewall tires, the trio of blue lights on the front (metallic paint), and the red tail lights on the fins (a mix of metallic paint and translucent plastic). The grill, front bumper, rear bumper, and Cadillac V on the front are all painted silver with clear plastic over the lights. The rear door has accurate molded details for the handle and the... I don't know, I guess it's a vent? But a little silver could have made the handle and the window trim pop, as well as some metallic red behind the larger lights on the rear bumper. Plus it's missing a no-ghost symbol on the door and the rear Ecto-1 license NY license plate. I'm also a little confused as to why they put the blue paint on the front lights, but not the two on the rear or of the roof. Arguably the biggest departure is the junk on the roof. I could pick out all the inaccuracies, but given what's going on here I think it I'd prefer to focus on what they did right. Like, Ecto-1 does indeed have a ladder and a hose on one side, although they're molded together as a single black piece here. It should have that gold cable running front the roof the car's antenna, although it'd have been nice if they'd made it a little longer. Ecto-1 does have the thick blue cable on the other side. Ectotron's roof also has a long canister on the ladder side, although it should properly be yellow. The pair of yellow compressed air tanks are present and painted on the other side, they're somewhat obscured large apparatus that doesn't appear on the actual car. The top does have the "sniffer", although here it's red and black instead of red and white, the modified marine radome antenna (although again the strut it sits on is black instead of white), and the translucent half-dome directional dish. Basically, aside from a few missing details, it's a very good, mostly accurate representation of Ecto-1. I just wish some of the seams fit together a little tighter in this mode. As far as scale goes, I know that the Miller-Meteor is a pretty large vehicle. I get the sense, though, that if you're going to display it with other Generations or Studio Series figures that it might be a little too big, but definitely too small to go with MPs. Of course, if all you wanted was a reasonably accurate Ecto-1 you could save a lot of money and just grab the 1/24 Jada (or spend a bit more and get the much more accurate 1/18 Autoworld one). We're interested in this one because it turns into Ectotronymous Diamatron, an Autobot who encounters the Ghostbusters while tracking a Cybertronian signal on earth (that turns out to be Starscream's ghost after Gozer destroyed Cybertron). As an original design he definitely captures the look of the comic book, or rather, the comic book accurately captures the toy. Take your pick. While there's lots of white in this mode, there's also plenty of tan on his chest, thighs, and biceps to mimic the Ghostbusters' uniforms. He's even got a name tag on his left breast, and some silver panels that look like a belt running through loops. Despite the box (and comics) stating that Ectotron's an Autobot there are no Autobot insignias on him. Size-wise, he's a bit taller than Siege Prime, which I don't hate, but he's technically too big per the comics. Ectotron is actually a heavy remold of Combiner Wars Hot Spot/Onslaught. That means he basically transforms the same way: by folding his head into his chest, shortening his legs, sticking his arms together over his head, and laying down. Apparently, how you get from Onslaught to Ecto-1 is mostly shelforming. Sure, he gets new lower legs, but much of the top of the car is just sitting on his back, with the sides folded up alongside, and the entire front end folding up into large shoulder pads. And yeah, about that "most of the roof" thing. Yep, there's a big gap in the middle of his back. This is kind of a neat bit, and it makes me forgive the little inaccuracies regarding the junk on the roof rack. See, the roof rack comes off, taking the gold and blue cables with them. Then the whole thing folds over itself, turning into a proton pack. The proton pack plugs right back onto Ectotron's back, and the thrower can even plug into the side for storage. While it's got tons of molded detail I kind of feel like Hasbro cheaped out on the paint here, especially on the thrower. There's just two silver circles here. None of the lights, wires, or warning labels are painted. As for the thrower, it's just cast in black plastic with no paint. Again, a little silver in spots and some color on the wires would have really made it pop. The thrower does have a handle sticking out the back, and it can fit into Ectotron's hands. However, due to a lack of wrist articulation, he can't really pose like he's using it that way. To compensate for it, the thrower has a second 5mm peg on the underside, allowing him to hold it like a regular gun. I can live with that, since to my mind it's not so much an actual proton pack and thrower as it is Cybertronian technology integrating his weapon and body and mimicking a proton pack and thrower. That said, like the toys that he's remolded from, Ectotron's articulation isn't great compared to more recent figures from the Siege line. His head seems to be on a ball joint, but the ball is almost totally enclosed so he can only look up slightly and turn his head. His shoulders can rotate, but only about 90 degrees forward because his shoulders don't clear the windshield on his back. He can also move his shoulders a bit over 90 degrees laterally on two joints. He's got a double-jointed elbow so he can curl almost 180 degrees, andhis bicep swivel is located between the elbow joints. As mentioned before, there's no wrist articulation, which is a shame. There's also no waist articulation. His hips can move a little over 90 degrees forward but only a little backward due to his back kibble. They can also move out laterally about 90 degrees on a very soft ratchet. His thighs swivel, and he can bend his knees 90 degrees. I think the knees are a little on the loose side, but it should be noted that they're not as problematic as Onslaught and Hot Spot's. His toes can tilt up for transformation, but he's not no ankle pivot. Aside from his roof rack/proton pack, Ectotron comes with this little translucent rubbery green Slimer. Slimer has a little hole in his butt that can sit on a peg on the thrower when it's on the roof, and that's about all Slimer can do. I'm going to put him back in the box and lament that he didn't come with a PKE meter or ghost trap instead. And there you have it, folks. Ectotron is an idea that sounds amazing on paper and does do a good job of being an Ecto-1, which is perhaps the main draw of this figure. But the decision to remold a Combiner Wars figure with lousy articulation instead of coming up with some original engineering is a bit disappointing. I especially feel like, when they're charging $50 for a remold of a $25 toy they could have done more to fix the original toy's problems by adding basic essentials like ankle pivots and wrist swivels. I also feel like some of the details on the proton pack should have been painted at this price. So for $50 I think you're getting a great Ecto-1 but a pretty mediocre Transformer. Like I said earlier, you can get a 1/32 Jada Ecto-1 for around $20, and a part of me wants to tell you that's a better buy if you're a Ghostbusters fan. If I'm being honest, though, if they remold the roof rack, maybe toss in that PKE meter and trap I wanted, and repaint Ectotron in Ecto-1A colors I'd probably buy it. And on a hypothetical level I love the concept of taking iconic vehicles and turning them into Transformers. It's the kind of obvious move you wonder why Hasbro didn't think of it sooner when they were instead doing Marvel and Star Wars Transformers. If Hasbro were to continue with these Transfomer X crossovers I'd love transforming versions of KITT, the A-Team's van, the Back to the Future Delorean, Herbie, and the General Lee. I'd maybe go for Airwolf, the Coyote X, the TMNT Party Wagon, the Mystery Machine, and some version of the Batmobile.

TFSource is taking preorders for Hasbro's Unicron... at the low, low price of $780. I guess that's what's happening if the crowdfunding fails. Anyway, regarding the old Classics... yeah, they were reimagining, for sure. But a generic yellow hatchback still worked for Bumblebee, and he still looked like Bumblebee with his car roof belly and his car front feet, even with the hoodie. Tossing a wing on the back of a Dome Zero gets your a car that's actually not too far off from Hot Rod. But Grimlock, I dunno, I wasn't feeling it. The big red orb on his chest and the large chunk of dinosaur making up his feet and lower legs don't exactly say Grimlock to me. Maybe it would have helped it if were red instead below his chest through his pelvis, if his hips were black instead of gray, or if more of his black thighs were showing. His head is a great Grimlock head, but put almost any other head on there and he could have been a long-lost sixth dinobot (or eight, if we're counting Slash and Paddles). Which... kind of isn't a bad idea.

Not to derail the Unicron discussion, but I was digging through some boxes and I found my copy of Classics Grimlock. What a weird little figure that was! The robot had some interesting ideas that, presumably due to the engineering at the time and the fact that it's only a Deluxe, didn't play out so great. It's ultimately too small, and not very Grimlock-esque. But the dino mode is actually pretty great!

Unless they're making it the side of an apartment building it's not going to scale accurately with anything, so all you get out of that size is a toy that's too unwieldy to pose and transform and too big to fit on a shelf. As long as the engineering and aesthetics are spot on I don't need a Unicron bigger than, say, Utopia.

From what I gather they only teased the head, but there will be a while Unicron and it's been in the works since as far back as 2016. It's also rumored to be around 40”, which IMHO is way too big (maybe something got lost in translation and it's closer to 40cm).

The only Walgreens exclusive I've ever picked up was Titans Return Brainstorm, and I got it at my local store. I don't think I've ever even been to Walgreens.com. I don't shop there super often, but there's enough around and they're open at weird hours that I'll stop when I need something they carry and don't feel like running into a bigger store like Target.

Apparently Siege Ratchet has been spotted in Hong Kong stores. Also, it's apparently super common for Walgreens exclusives to turn up in Asian stores in July, then American Walgreens in October. So, I guess we wait patiently until October... or start trolling ebay.

I already put in a pre-order for the toy set on Hasbro Pulse. But even though it might be more camera-colored three of the retail version is more cartoon-accurate. Like yourself, though, I've spent a but on Transformers lately (with a lot more to come, looking at my preorders...). So I might cut back to just one of the retail.

Everything connecting the top to the bottom was pins, so I couldn't figure a way to safely get them apart. I'll shoot you a PM. I think it's pretty great. On par with Takara's MP cars. Much more cartoon accurate than DX9's, with very nice paint, and its backpack collapses much tighter than their Breakdown. The only issues you might run into is that there's not a ton of clearance under the car for it to roll smoothly, and/or the panels with the red trim don't seem to tab in neatly. Both issues are apparently related to some parts in the ankles being a little too thick. A few minutes with a file can fix that. Time will tell how Fans Toys' version will measure up, but for now I'd say it's there best version of the character.

I hear you! I pre-ordered the Skywarp pack, but I decided I don't need the repaints in the other two packs. But I pre-ordered Spinister, Astrotrain, and Apeface at Amazon, the toy-style Refraktor at Hasbro Pulse, and Bluestreak at Walmart (where I guess he's an exclusive?). Add that to preorders I already have for Thundercracker, Red Alert, and Omega Supreme at Amazon, Smokescreen at Hasbro Pulse, the fact that I bought Galactic Man outright, and the fact that I'm in for Barricade, Mirage, and Impactor, Siege is eating up a ton of my toy budget. EDIT: Almost forgot. Don't know when, but Walgreens is getting an exclusive Siege Ratchet.

I was at Target the other day and saw one Refraktor and one Red Alert. I didn't buy them because I was out with the wife, and didn't feel like having her complain about me buying toys again. Went back today and there was nothing but wave 2 stuff. So I saw this go up on Hasbro Pulse and decided to preorder. Sucked it up and ordered Galactic Man Shockwave, too, except he's actually available right now. Preorders are also up now for Spinister, Astrotrain, and Apeface, but I'm holding off of them I preordered them with Amazon. Now I have to decide if I want just one of the regular Refraktor, or if I still want three...

Hot take here, but I actually haven't cared for most of his works that I've read, including The Killing Joke, Watchmen, and V for Vendetta, and his run in WildC.A.T.s was so bad it basically ruined the series. So no biggie, I guess.

So I was looking over my Siege figures the other day. Getting Springer kind of put me in a movie mode, so I put Siege Magnus and Springer with Titans Return Hot Rod, Kup, and Blurr. And then I wanted some baddies. I've got Titans Return Scourge (actually two of them, because Sweeps), and Mania King for Galvatron. But what about my favorite '86 Decepticon, Cyclonus? Hasbro's given us a Deluxe that was pretty good at the time, but he's a tad small, lanky, and his alt mode isn't very good. Hasbro's also given us a Voyager-class version in Combiner Wars. The alt mode was less gappy, but he was a retool of Silverbolt and it showed in all the wrong ways. I'm not satisfied with either option. So I decided to pick up this blast from the past- KFC's Tempest, a CHUG-style Cyclonus. Aesthetically Tempest pretty much nails the look of the '86 movie. I mean, for some reason my camera is convinced that he's blue with a silver face and light lavender biceps, fists, and thighs, but in hand he's slightly more purple than Fans Toys' MP version. If I'm being picky I'd prefer the lavender to be a little lighter (closer to how it photographs than how it looks in hand), or if he had a few more painted details, or if the lavender bits on his arms were a darker purple. But for the most part it's exactly what you'd expect Cyclonus to look like, which is a big point in its favor over the Hasbro versions. Of course, with the figures in the Siege line supposedly being in-scale with each other size is also a concern. Although thicker, Tempest isn't much taller than the old Deluxe, and a bit shorter than CW Cyclonus. Compared to another Siege figure like Starscream, though, and that's not too bad. Granted, Cyclonus was a bit bigger than Galvatron, and assuming that Galvatron is the same size as Megatron and taller than Starscream here then it'd be better if Tempest were a head taller, sure. But he's close enough to pass, in my eyes, and a little taller than Titans Return Scourge. He comes with a fair amount of accessories. You've got his smaller, cartoon-style gun and his larger, toy-style rifle, both molded in gray plastic with no paint. He's also got his Targetmaster buddy. The Targetmaster is only a little bigger than the one that comes with Deluxe Cyclonus, and pretty close in size to a Siege Battle Master. He's got much better articulation than either of those, though. His head can swivel. His shoulders are ball joints that rotate and extend 90 degrees. His elbows can bend 90 degrees. His hips are ball joints that can move forward and backward 90 degrees, laterally 45 degrees, and give him a little thigh swivel. His knees can bend 90 degrees. And his feet are on ball joints, so they can tilt up and down a little, swivel a little, and pivot over 45 degrees. Unfortunately, Tempest's own articulation isn't so hot. His head is on a ball joint that can look up a fair bit and tilt his head sideways, but he can only look down a little. His shoulders are on hinged ball joints so they can rotate 360 degrees and extend 90 degrees, but only if his arms are down. Because the hinge side is in the torso he can't both raise his arms and spread them. His biceps swivel. He's got single-hinged elbows, but they're limited to only about 45 degrees. His wrists can't swivel, but due to transformation they can bend down. If you have his back pegged in properly he can't swivel at the waist, but if you unpeg it to give his back a little extra clearance around the hips he can. His hips are universal joints and can go about 90 degrees forward, a little over 45 degrees laterally, and not much at all backward due to his back flaps. His thighs swivel around the joint, which limits them a little but what you get feels like a fairly natural range. His knees bend 90 degrees. His whole foot doesn't move, just the purple front. It's on a ball joint that can move up and down a little and swivel to give him a little faux ankle pivot. It's not the best, especially with pretty much all Siege figures having ankle pivots, but it's better than Titans Return. His guns fit into his fists via 5mm pegs. He holds both gray guns fine, but his grip on his Targetmaster is pretty poor. One other thing I found to be quite curious is that if you open the cockpit section of his back you'll find a slotted piece inside. It's pegged in place, so you can actually pull it out and move it to the outside. It looks like it's meant to be a way to store a sword onto Tempest's back (although I'm pretty sure Tempest predates Cyclonus getting a sword in IDW's More Than Meets the Eye). He doesn't come with a sword, though, and although I checked around I couldn't find one that fits. Transforming Tempest is pretty simple in the way you kind of expect non-MP figures to be. And the resulting space-jet might lack some of the sleekness of the cartoon model (or, arguably, the Fans Toys' version), but it's far more accurate than either of the Hasbro versions. There isn't a big block of robot hanging off of the underside like CW Cyclonus, and he's not suffering from an abundance of gaps at the rear where his arms, legs, and wings don't sit flush like the old Deluxe. My biggest aesthetic complaint is that there's not enough paint. He's missing the white/lavender section of the nose, and it'd have been nice if the needle tip were silver. The cartoon-style gun can clip under the nose nice and snugly, and the Targetmaster can fit into a peg hole at the rear, although it's a tad loose. I couldn't find a place to store the other gun, though (my copy didn't come with instructions). It doesn't have the tabs to fit under the nose, and the bit in front of the peg handle sits so low that you can't plug it in where the Targetmaster goes. While that's a little disappointing, I prefer to give him just the cartoon gun anyway. If you take a quick peek at the underside, you'll see that he does have fold-out landing gear, but the wheels are just molded on and left unpainted. Now, so far I've mainly talked about aesthetics (very good) and articulation (not so good). But I feel like I need to talk about something I rarely do anymore, and that's materials and fit & finish. These days, especially on MP figures, you kind of take for granted that you're going to be getting decent plastic, maybe some diecast, and probably some paint. You expect everything to fit together properly. And that's kind of not the case here. Tempest's plastic is... I guess not exactly bad, but it definitely feels cheaper than what I'm used to. He's got very little paint. And some things that should fit together just don't. Namely, in robot mode, his head is on a flap that lays over his torso, but doesn't actually tab in at all. His fists, likewise, are attached to hinged bars in the backs of his arms, not his wrists. Both of those things use friction to stay in place, and the friction isn't totally adequate when you're posing him to look up or putting weapons in his hands. The lavender bits on the front of his forearms spin, but don't lock into place. In jet mode his chest folds down over his thighs and the jet's nose folds out, and again none of that locks into place. I've had both the nose and the chest droop on me. His arms stay in place in jet mode by folding out flaps on his legs with tabs that are supposed to fit into slots on the fins. On my copy that works on one side, but the tab seems a little too big for the slot on the other side. These little issues ultimately make Tempest a Cyclonus that looks good and has some good ideas in the engineering but falls short of the execution. I think the original $80 or so retail price would have been too much. Even five years or so ago when it first came out companies like Fansproject, Maketoys, and MMC were making better CHUG-style figures in this price range. However, over time the price dropped to as low as $30, and even now you can find used copies for $20-$40. When you compare Tempest to Hasbro figures in that price range, especially ones from that era, that's not as bad. I still wouldn't say I recommend Tempest, but until/unless Hasbro delivers a better Cyclonus in Siege I think Tempest is probably the best CHUG option for Cyclonus. If, like me, you're craving a Cyclonus to go with your Siege figures and you can find one on the cheap then maybe Tempest will scratch that itch.

Heads up, the G1 reissue Optimus at Walmart is on clearance. $35.00 at both your local store and Walmart.com. Still a little pricey for what you get, but close enough that I bought one to have a less orange G1 Optimus with actual smokestacks. Gave my older reissue, sans Roller and trailer, to my 4 year old daughter.

Yeah, I think I read somewhere that the tooling for the Titan-class Metroplex was around $300,000. That's before you account for plastic and actually paying the factory to make and assemble the parts. I'd guess Power Punch and Direct Hit. Because I don't have $600 to spend right now, not because I think it's unreasonable.

Speaking as someone without a strong opinion on crowdfunding but who has worked in risk assessment and analysis, just because a company can afford to take a risk doesn't mean that they will (or even should). Yes, Hasbro could choose to put Unicron into production and come away with big profits for the fiscal year even if they actual lose money on Unicron, but no company beholden to it's shareholders settles for big profits when all you have to do for bigger profits is not throw money on a high-risk, low-reward product. Somebody, probably a team of somebodies, at Hasbro looked at Unicron and figured out how much it would cost to produce at a few likely production numbers, how much they'd have to charge to get enough benefit (not just pure profit, but consumer goodwill, brand engagement, etc), and how many sales were likely at that price, and they determined that the risk outweighs the benefit. By crowdfunding, Hasbro isn't just reducing risk by getting consumers to front the cost, they're giving consumers a chance to provide the benefit by paying more than they could probably charge through normal mass-market retail, bypassing the retailers, and increasing engagement with a core audience that's passionate about the brand.

Insanely cool, but no way do I have $600 by the end of August.

Shackwave! I'm not sure I can swallow paying leader prices for Voyager figures again, but I'm still very tempted to get this. As a kid I didn't have Shockwave, but my dad bought me a Galactic Man from the Radio Shack at our local mall. It was awesome enough that I quickly got over the fact that it wasn't purple.