mikeszekely

I think I've said this before, but as a kid I loved Motormaster.  It wasn't that he was a compelling character or anything, but he was a Decepticon, and he was black tractor trailer, which made him kind of like an evil counterpart to Optimus Prime years before RiD Scourge/Car Robots Black Convoy and long before Nemesis Prime became a regular thing.  So despite having already gone two in on X-Transbots' Stunticons I was still paying attention to what Fans Toys and DX9 were working on.  And despite some misgivings I've had with Fans Toys lately I ultimately decided to pick up Roadking, their MP Motormaster.

Road King is certainly a big boy, standing a head taller than TFM's IDW Motormaster (and, by extension, MP-10/MS-01/TE-01 Optimus), but that makes him comfortably similar to Zeta's Silverbolt.  I put this same picture up on TFW2005 and right away there was a comment about how Roadking makes Zeta's Silverbolt look kind of cheap.  I can't really argue with that, FT definitely used quality materials to create a solid, hefty bot.

For all my complaints about FT, one thing they almost always get right is the aesthetics of the character, and that's definitely the case here.  Motormaster presents something of an extra challenge, because people want a cartoon-accurate robot with truck cab feet, but they also want that truck to scale with MP-10's.  FT handled the challenge somewhat cleverly by making Roadking's feet out of only the upper front quarter of the cab.  However, they included little round faux lights, tiny fake wheels (plastic, but they do spin), some silver paint where the bumper was on the Sunbow model, and just enough of the grill to evoke said grill.  His arms, thighs, and torso all have molded detail appropriate for the linework on the Sunbow design, and translucent purple windows cover most of his shins.  His head is appropriately boxy, and metallic paint on his face has just a touch of purple.  Really, the only thing I can complain about aesthetically is that the entirety of his shins aren't black, but I suppose some concessions have to be made for his alt mode.  

Even his backpack, which a bit of fuss has been made over, really isn't that bad.  While bigger than what you'd see in the cartoon FT did take pains to make the paneling look like the animation.  Heck, they even put extra fake wheels on a panel just so he'd have the three-wheels-to-a-foot look of the cartoon.

Roadking comes with a very G1-cartoon sword and gun, plus a second yelling face.  The sword and gun are definitely accessories you'd expect a Motormaster to have... but what he doesn't come with is equally interesting.  He doesn't come with any parts for combined mode.  The instructions don't mention his combined mode.  The only hint of it that I can find are what appears to be Roadking's forearms peeking up next to Menasor's head in the renders and some diecast bits on what look like hinges in his waist.

Roadking's articulation is... alright.  I feel like, as a side effect of going for that perfect robot aesthetic or their often questionable engineering, articulation is often lacking in FT figures.  While I think that's still true if you compare Roadking to contemporary MP-style figures from rival companies I also think that Roadking isn't as bad as something like Apache or Lupus.  His head is on a hinged swivel.  He can look up a little and he can't really look down at all, but I think that's kind of forgivable what with his box head.  His shoulders rotate on a soft ratchet and extend laterally just over 90 degrees on a harder ratchet.  Due to his transformation you can pull out the shoulders and give him a butterfly, but it doesn't look great as it's not intentional.  His biceps swivel, but weirdly at the bottom of the bicep, just above the elbow.  Which leaves the elbow only enough room for a single hinge, good for about 120 degrees.  His wrists swivel.  Each finger is individually articulated, with a pin at the base knuckles and an additional pinned hinge at the mid-knuckles.  The thumb has a ball joint at the base for turning and folding over the palm, and pinned hinge just above that.  His waist can swivel, but only about 30 degrees in either direction.  He's got an ab crunch with two fixed stopping points.  It's not a huge crunch, but unlike a lot of other figures there's plastic that doesn't move behind the plastic that does, so he can crunch away without the sculpt suffering.  Hinges on his hip skirts allow them to move out the way so his hips can ratchet forward over 90 degrees and backward about 45.  His hips can move laterally slightly over 90 as well, but that joint is just friction.  While it doesn't feel loose when you manipulate it it's really not strong enough to support the weight of his legs.  They're not going to give out while his feet are planted or anything, but Roadking's not going to be doing any side kicks.  His thighs cans swivel about 30 degrees around the hip joints, which is a little limited.  His knees are double-jointed, both ratcheted, and combined allow you to bend his knees until his calves start banging into his thighs.  Just be advised, the upper joint is much tighter than the lower, but it's there.  It's actually the one you need for transformation.  He's got a second swivel below the knee, which I'm not really a fan of.  And then, despite being blocks of truck, his feet actually have a little bit of up/down tilt and about 45 degrees of ankle tilt.

He holds his weapons fine, using the fairly standard method of fitting tabs on the handles into slots on his palms.  There doesn't seem to be any storage for them in robot mode, which is kind of a shame.  You'd think they could have worked a peg hole or two onto his backpack somewhere.

So Fans Toys has done what no one else has done at any scale since the G1 toy... Roadking turns into the cab and the entire trailer.  I'm not sure what DX9's plans are, but apparently XTB's will be just the cab, the Combiner Wars toy was just the cab, and TFM's was the cab and like a third of the trailer.  FansProject used half the trailer, although they let you put doors on that half for a sort of complete truck.  Even Bold Forms, who made a Leader-class-sized Motormaster that turned into a truck that might work with Legends-class figures still only used most of the trailer.  But here we go, a cab that's very close to TFM's in size, with a complete trailer.

Impressively, the trailer is actually longer than TFM's, although slightly shorter and narrower.  And it's a bit smaller than MP-10's, but I don't think it looks bad.

Now, if Fans Toys has had one major flaw, something I've taken them to task for time and again, it's their engineering.  Their worst stuff has been nightmare-inducing, and even their "easier" figures like their Mindwipe feel over-engineered and aren't particularly fun to transform.  Roadking is definitely a step up from that.  Most of it is fairly easy, some of it is really clever, none of it feels like you're doing more than you have to, and can almost always figure out what you're supposed to do intuitively and without the so-so instructions.  It's not entirely sunshine and roses, though.  Transforming his legs does involve basically exploding them and then collapsing them back up in a different way than they were, so at times you've got big chunks of filleted robot dangling in your way.  And while you always seem to know how the panels that make up much of the trailer are supposed to unfold and move getting everything lined up and tabbed in just right can be a little frustrating going into truck mode.  It's the kind of scenario where you finally get one thing lined up and tabbed in and something you already had done pops back out of place.  There are two other issues at play that don't help matters.  One is something I've come to expect from FT- tolerances.  Some fittings are just too tight.  There are a few spots where, no matter how hard I push, some tabs and pegs just don't seem to want to go in the whole way.  Or going the other way, there are a few spots that, once they're tabbed/pegged in, they're afraid-you're-going-to-break-something tight.  The worst might be these tabs on these diecast pistons near the trailer hitch.  They were so tight I broke a nylon spudger, so I had to use a metal one meant for cell phone repair to force that tab back out (fortunately, while the tab itself is plastic, the tab is on the end of a diecast part and the slot is on a diecast part).  The other issue is one I've encountered plenty of times, but never on a FT figure- mold flash.  It only seemed to be on the gray trailer pieces, but it'd always be in spots near hinges where you have to fold a panel over and it'd make folding that panel harder than it needed to be.  In fact, I wound up with stress marks near the hinge on one of the smaller panels, and I could only get the panel to finally move all the way after I filed down the the flashing.

A few hiccups aside, I really can't complain about the truck mode.  The fake wheels and fake headlights fold up and away, and what you're left with is a fairly toy/real-life accurate Kentworth K100 Aerodyne cab, with translucent purple windows, translucent red marker lights, chrome on (most of) the bumper and grill, and diecast horns.  The tires are rubber with silver-painted rims, they roll well, and there's actually eighteen of them (most of the COE truck Transformers I have only have six wheels on the cab... GT's IDW Optimus is the only one I can think of off hand that has ten on the cab, but he only works with MP-10's trailer, and that only has four wheels instead of eight).  The trailer is a little panel-y, which I can forgive, and the stripe is broke up by those panels, but that was true for the G1 toy and a detail that carried over into the cartoon, so I'll let it slide.  Much like the TFM Motormaster, Roadking's got silver-painted smokestacks and fuel tanks.  This might be a problem for some, since in both the cartoon and the toy G1 Motormaster had no smokestacks and purple fuel tanks.  Frankly, I'm totally fine with Roadking's as they are.  I appreciate the more realistic detail.  Really, I think my only real complaints with the alt mode are unpainted gray plastic hinges in the front bumper don't match the chrome FT used for the bulk of it, and that the rear bumper on the trailer is white and doesn't aesthetically match any of the rest of the truck.  That rear bumper should have been silver.  As for the front, well, those are hinges.  I get why FT did it that way.  Still, I might run over those hinges with a Molotow chrome pen and see how that goes.

The truck mode does have storage on the underside for Roadking's weapons.  Each one has a peg that fits into a hole on Roadking's butt.  The sword is totally hidden under the trailer.  The gun does stick out a little, but not as bad as you might think.  The rear of the trailer can open up and fold down, although you have to lift the top of the trailer a bit to free the tabs on the door.  And I'm not sure what you'd stick in there.  There's not a ton of room, so you can't fit a car in there or anything.  All you can really do is peak at Roadking's head.

I'm going to come out and say this right away... while Roadking does have a few minor flaws, overall I think this is the best figure FansToys has released since Phoenix.  He feels like the kind of figure that earned FT all those rabid fans in the first place.  And while I know that there are some people out there (like Bobby "Ham Hands" Skullface) who seem to think that making a Motormaster out of just the cab the way XTB is doing is the better way to go, I personally love that Fans Toys built a Motormaster that goes from an MP-10-sized cab and slightly smaller trailer to a robot only a head or so taller than MP-10 without losing any of that trailer.  As a standalone MP Motormaster this is a fantastic figure, and one I'd highly recommend.

However, the thing with combiners is that a lot of you might not be interested in a standalone Motormaster.  You might be planning on buying just once set of Stunticons, and you need them to work in combined mode as well as robot and alt mode.  Ironically, the sturdy construction and diecast heft that makes Roadking feel like a premium figure on his own actually makes me more concerned about how well FT will pull off the combined mode.  FT seems to be going in a Zeta-ish direction, with much of the torso being a separate piece, and Roadking's heft becoming a backpack is going to make for a combined mode with a lot of weight in the torso, and if the hips, knees, and ankles aren't extremely strong the combined mode could be unstable.  So while I definitely recommend Roadking as a fantastic Motormaster figure I'm afraid we still have to wait and see which Menasor is the one to get.

I picked up and reviewed Maketoys' Striker Manus a few years back (which I reviewed here), and although I liked it I sold it because I was moving away from smaller figures and going all-in on MP stuff.  And now that I have a display of just Primes I figured I'd buy him back for that display.  Happily, Maketoys announced around that time that they were going to do a new "premium" version with metallic paint.  This version also comes with the runner of build-a-weapons that Striker Noir came with, so even more bonus.  I'm not going to do another review, but I do want to highlight some differences.

So the good?  Obviously, I appreciate the extra weapons.  And yeah, that metallic paint looks gorgeous.  Pictures don't do it justice.

But unfortunately, there's bad news too.  I don't know if it's mold fatigue or what, but his wrist and bicep swivels are a bit on the loose side, and he holds his accessories a bit more loosely.  Which would bug me, but they're not necessarily deal breakers.  Unfortunately, the ball joints in his shoulders and neck are even worse, and they very well could be.  I'll see if I can get some floor polish in there, but for now I'll say if you already have the original run your figure might not be as shiny, but it's probably got better QC.  As for mine, I'll toss him in my Prime display and if I feel like messing with the mold I have Noir on my desk.

When Hasbro announced the Power Rangers Lightning Collection it was kind of in one ear, out the other for me.  I was aware that it was a thing that was coming but as someone who's limited his collecting (mostly) to Transformers I didn't really pay it much mind.  I mean, as an adult I'm much more into, say, Marvel Comics, but I don't collect Marvel Legends.  And yet, Power Rangers occupies a weird spot in my head.  It debuted when I was 13, which I think was too old for it to make the kind of lasting impression the cartoons of my youth (like Transformers) did, but I was still young enough to be enthralled by a live-action karate Voltron and I did watch all the way through Power Rangers Zeo before drifting away from the franchise.

Well, the first wave of the Lightning Collection started to hit stores within the past month, I guess.  Or, at least three figures have (Lord Zedd is apparently in Wave 1, but good luck with that).  Two of them mean absolutely nothing to me (apparently, they're the Shadow Ranger from Power Rangers SPD and the Red Ranger from Power Rangers Dino Charge).  But that third one... even though this line shouldn't be anything I'm interested in, I found myself compelled to pick it up...

It's the White Ranger, from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (season 2).

So the Lightning Collection is a line of slightly more expensive 1/6-scale figures aimed at the adult collector's market.  Although I don't collect them, they're priced the same and seem similar to the Star Wars Black Collection or Marvel Legends, if that gives you an idea.  And like those other lines, what I think sets the Lightning Collection apart from both the cheaper mainline toys and the more expensive stuff like the SHFiguarts is that the sculpt here is more realistically detailed.  Instead of smooth plastic and fake muscles there's a texture here that includes folds and wrinkles in the suit.  The belt, though snug, is a separate piece made from a more rubbery plastic, as is his vest.  Combined with a fair amount of gold, silver, and black paint it's evident that the Lightning Collection is intent less on being toys mean for play and more being toys that look nice is a display.  Which, weirdly, I'm fine with, despite demanding a level of playability with my Transformers.  I think this looks more appealing to me than, say, the SHFiguarts White Ranger, even if the SHFiguarts has better articulation, because it looks like a real person and not an anime version of that person.  And that's good enough for me.

You might have noticed that his right hand is a claw for gripping, and the left is kind of a straight chopping hand.  The White Ranger also comes with a right and left closed fist, a translucent blue effect part, his trusty sword, Saba, and an unhelmeted Tommy Oliver head, complete with rubbery ponytail.  Saba has a nice amount of paint on him, although his tiny eyes lack the red you might find on a pricier figure, and can store in a holster on the White Ranger's belt.  The hands are pegged in, and can be swapped by simply pulling them out and putting in the other, while ridges at the base of the peg keep the installed fist snug.  As for the Tommy head... I mean, I guess it looks nice enough, and pretty in-keeping with the kind of sculpt and paint you see on the aforementioned Star Wars Black Edition or Marvel Legends lines... but I know I'm never going to display him with that head, so I'm not going to risk stressing anything by pulling the helmet head off.

Articulation is... well, it's funny, because I think it's better than a lot of the action figures I had as a kid, but I understand that it's probably a little lacking compared to something like the SHFiguarts version.  Anyway, his head is on a ball joint inside the helmet, but the ball joint has a hinge at the base so he can look up and down about 45 degrees either way in addition to turning his head and a slight sideways tilt.  His shoulders something that might be more familiar to 1/6 humanoid figure collectors, but I've never seen anything like it with transformers.  The rotation and lateral movement is something like a disk hinge, but the socket it's set it is also hinged to give him a bit of forward/backward butterfly as well, and in a way that moves the textures around so it still looks like cloth.  So he can move his shoulder in a way that seems pretty natural with most of the range you'd want, except for one minor thing... he can't really bring his arms too close to his body in a relaxed pose.  That first picture?  That's about as relaxed as they get.

Moving along, he's got bicep swivels just below the shoulder, and double-jointed elbows that allow his arm to curl all the way up (with a separate elbow piece that fills the gap between the joints).  His wrists can swivel, plus there's a hinge in his hands that lets them bend palm-up or palm-down.  That's great for the karate hand, but I wish the sword hand bent on the other axis.  His upper torso is on a ball joint in the chest, which gives him a swivel plus some forward/backward/sideways lean, while a hinge in his abdomen gives him a little more arching back/ab crunch.  His hips are ball joints that get a little less than 90 degrees forward, about 60 degrees laterally, and basically nothing backward due to the sculpt.  There's a cut thigh swivel at the top of his thigh, and another swivel below the knee at the top of his boots.  The knees, like the elbows, are double-jointed and can bend until his calves reach the backs of his thighs, with the kneecaps being separate parts.  His feet can tilt up a little and down to a very realistic just short of 90 degrees.  His ankles can also pivot both left and right around 45-ish degrees.

The gripping hand has kind of rubbery fingers.  It takes some doing, but you can work Saba into it.

He can even hold Saba upside down for a Saba talking or firing eyebeams pose.  As for the effect part, there's a notch in one spot that the tip of Saba's blade fits into.  I'm really not a fan.  The effect part seems a little too heavy for the White Ranger's butterfly hinge in his shoulder.  It's too large to look like the spark of a deflected attack, and two round and explodey to look like an attack from the Ranger.

There are a ton of Power Rangers/Super Sentai toys out there, most of which I'm probably not familiar with.  I don't think I'm qualified to say if the Lightning Collection White Ranger is the definitive White Ranger figure.  Even with what little I am familiar with I can say that there are, at least, ones with better articulation.  I do think that this is a good-looking figure with a fair amount of realistic sculpted detail.  This is definitely a figure that's worth the $20 price tag.  I can't promise that I'd buy more (of the ones released and announced I might buy Zedd, Goldar, and the Mighty Morphin' Pink Ranger, but I won't feel put out of I miss them), but if they get around to my other favorites (the Mighty Morphin' Green Ranger and the Zeo Gold Ranger) I'd be interested.

10 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

Man, what to do? What to do? As much as I love Superhero movies, I hate horror. 

I feel embarrassed to say this, but I think I'll just wait until they release a PG-13 version. 

 

Heh, I feel your pain.  Personally I think I'm going to watch this, but I'll probably wait for the Blu Ray.

17 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Can't believe none of the major reviewers have a review of this guy up yet

Peaugh says he should have one up this weekend.

7 hours ago, Scyla said:

I wish FT would reissue the Insecticons instead. 

A lot of people do, but based on my experience with FT's, BadCube's, and MMC's the FT ones just aren't worth it. 

17 minutes ago, Sildani said:

Is it an SDCC exclusive?

Short some elaborate hoax, yes.  Leaks show a partially-cropped Comicon logo and a street date that coincides with the first day of SDCC (July 18th).  Previous exclusives have turned up on HasbroToyShop; I myself got the Nemesis Prime repaint of Classics Optimus and the G1 remold Pepsi Optimus (they were both some kind of exclusives, don't remember if they were SDCC or not).  I'd say there's a fair chance that some will turn up on Hasbro Pulse.

Heads up, it looks like a reissue of Fans Toys' Phoenix is coming.  Most of the US etailers have preorders up now.  If you missed out before, now's your chance.  Feel free to read up on my review here if you'd like, but here I'll just say that I still think Phoenix is my favorite thing Fans Toys has ever done.

44 minutes ago, tekering said:

I can't imagine that... my figure has very tight ankles, and "Apache's" shoulders are clearly inferior.  

It's anecdotal. I haven't had a chance to personally handle Saltus. He (and maybe FT's Dinobots) makes me wish I hung with Bobby Skullface's crowd. I swear more than half of his reviews come from stuff people loan him. Me, if I reviewed it I bought it myself, and even if I did decide I want Saltus I can't swing it this month.

59 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Tekering, what are your impressions of Saltus? I held off on getting a PO for this guy until reviews came out, and as of this writing, I can't find any. Anyway, this has been my choice for a MP Springer for some time; if it's solid, I'm getting him. Be interested in hearing your initial impressions.

From what I'm hearing, unless you're like me and holding off to see how XTB's Virtus turns out, you should definitely get him.  I'm hearing fantastic articulation, great sculpt, excellent materials, and an intuitive transformation.  The worst I'm hearing is that you might want to take a screwdriver and tighten his ankles, or a few people saying they still like Apache's robot mode better.

I love the deco, I love the Roller-Trap, but with MS-01 and TE-01 both in my collection now I can't see myself spending any money on the MP-10 mold anymore.

11 hours ago, tekering said:

Welcome, Saltus.

Saltus is a figure that's been on my radar, but I'm not sure that I'm ready to pull the trigger.  The sculpt and materials are certainly better than Big Spring, but some of Saltus' other advantages over the other Springers are the same advantages Big Spring already delivered, like an intuitive transformation and a car mode that actually looks like... well, not really a car, but at least some kind of ground vehicle and not a half-transformed helicopter.  Actually, speaking of helicopters, I kind of like Big Spring's copter mode better.  Saltus' tail looks too thin and small.

I guess the real question that's holding me back is how XTB's Virtus is going to turn out.  Car mode's kind of iffy there, although fairly cartoon accurate, the bot mode looks strong, and the copter could be my favorite.  If the engineering and QC are up to snuff I might like it better than Saltus.  So, yeah, I'd like to replace Big Spring, but I don't want to replace the replacement.

Ironically, while I'm not sure I want to spend $130 to upgrade a $60 figure, I can say that if I'd gone with Apache I'd definitely be listing him on TFW's B/S/T board.  Saltus looks in pretty much every mode, has better articulation, and isn't a PITA to transform.

Why Hulu and not the streaming service they're planning on launching?

Oh well, I guess it's no big deal. They kind of killed my interest when they decided to go with Robbie Reyes instead of Johnny Blaze.

1 hour ago, kajnrig said:

Apparently MK11 has REALLY gone down the microtransaction/free-to-play route. Heard this on a podcast, they're doing everything from premium currencies to loot boxes, with the old standby strategy of snail's pace drip-feeding rewards for grinding through the game's challenge modes to encourage the player to spend on those in-game currencies. Then when everyone's mad, step back juuuust enough to be "tolerable."

Oh, bother. For a moment there I'd forgotten that WB was publishing this...

Anyway, the recent patch, in case you're interested:

 

MK 11 is a sloggy grindfest, which had led to the understandable assumption that it's to encourage players to spend real money to speed up progression. Apparently, though, a lot of the unlockable content can't be purchased that way and it really is just an insufferable grind.

https://kotaku.com/you-cant-actually-buy-your-way-out-of-mortal-kombat-11s-1834311465

51 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

While I'm not in the market for these guys, I am pretty impressed by the engineering brought to bear to make this figure an all-in-one transformation, which is something I adore in a tractor-trailer transformation.

I adore it in a Motormaster, at least.  I've been picking up XTB's Stunticons so far, and they'll probably end up being my combined-mode Menasor, but I've hated from day one how Gravestone (their Motormaster) is just the cab (same goes for CW Motormaster, and even pretty much every other Motormaster like Fansproject or TFM is the cab plus a portion of the trailer at best).  I've been intrigued with Roadking since FT first showed off a robot a head taller than MP-10 that turns into an MP-10-sized truck and the entire trailer.  Of course, given FT's track record of late, I was also expecting it to be a nightmare to transform.  Based on the reviews I'm seeing, though, lining up the trailer panels isn't exactly fun but it's otherwise fairly straightforward.  As a fan of Motormaster since my youth (he was like an evil counterpart to Optimus before Nemesis Prime was a thing), I caved today and ordered Roadking from ShowZstore.  I can't say that I'm interested in the other four, as I'm pretty happy with XTB's, but Roadking looks more like what I'd want in an MP Motormaster than Gravestone (and who even knows what's going on with DX9's at this point).

So expect a review here soon (ish... ShowZ is good, but it's still coming from China).

1 hour ago, Negotiator said:

I got the first batch te-01 and batteries were already in the gun.  Don't know how many ppl got it that way.  Also got the 3p arm cannon for Megatron with English voice chip, batteries included too. Both from tf-direct.  Maybe I just got lucky??

My TE-01 came with batteries, too. Opening it up and looking at the batteries was how I figured out the answer. It's possible that someone forgot to put the batteries in a few at the factory, or people got duds.

2 hours ago, derex3592 said:

@mikeszekely can you tell me what size batteries I need for TE-01's gun? I can't seem to find anything that says....

Yes, they're listed as LR41, and you'll need two.  According to my chart, they may also be listed as AG3, 192, GP92A, 392, or SR41W.

40 minutes ago, derex3592 said:

Boom! Cell shaded window decals on!

Are those jream's?

8 hours ago, Dobber said:

I must admit I am kind of paralyzed by the descision. I still can’t make up my mind between the 2 and fear that while I’m stuck in indecision, I’ll miss out on both. 

Look at the first picture of my review.  Going with your gut, which one looks better to you?  You're probably fine going with that one.  The only two caveats I'd throw in are that MS-01 might be a little better if you have an aversion to complicated transformations, although TE-01 is certainly not the worst I've dealt with, and the other would be that if you're digging MS-01 you should be aware that Magic Square is releasing an MS-01X that has a metallic paint job.

Oh, and if you guys kind of want to experience both figures without owning two red and blue Optimus Primes, you can always get TE-01 in the traditional colors, while MS-01 is (or will be) available in Ultra Magnus and Nemesis Prime colors.

10 hours ago, derex3592 said:

LOOK what finally arrived while I was out of town!!!

Twinsies!

(That's Transform Element's TE-01 Op Leader, an MP-44 alternative apparently designed by the same guy who did DX9's Mightron, for anyone who wasn't sure.)

Back when it came out, MP-10 blew me away with how much more dynamic it was over MP-01, but I think even before the Prime Wars of 2019 most of us were longing for something that was a bit more cartoon-accurate.  Magic Square already did that with their MS-01.  MS-01 has better proportions than MP-10, he's got less surface greebles, straighter thighs, and he doesn't have the bump outs on the sides of his legs for wheels.  But Magic Square didn't exactly throw out the baby with the bathwater, and some of MP-10's style did carry over.  He's still got the beveled shin vents, even if they are blue now.  He's still got the yellow paint on his wrist markings.  He's still got indents on the tops of his feet, and visible windshield wipers on his chest.  His thighs and pelvis are still a light gray.  He's still got a seam on his lats where they flare back out before reaching his pelvis.  And even with the simpler details, the head sculpt is still similar to MP-10's.

That's a lot of talk about MS-01 in a TE-01 review, but the point I'm trying to make is that MS-01 is, aesthetically, a very refined take on MP-10, which is going to be very appealing to some people, but still not cartoon accurate enough for others.  For those others, TE-01 definitely skews closer to the upcoming MP-44 than MP-10.  His chest is taller, with windows that are more squares than rectangles.  His pelvis is taller, too, leaving his midriff significantly shorter.  His arms are thinner, with smaller shoulders and longer biceps.  His hands are more rounded, and the markings on his wrists are left red.  His pelvis and thighs are pearl white.  His legs, like his arms, are thinner.  And there's basically no greebles on him that aren't on the animation model.  Even the vents are his shins are just molded lines.

The gray plastic on the hinges at the top of and sides of his pelvis are a little unsightly, but they bother me less in hand than they did in photos.

I don't usually talk about the backs of figures, because I don't think a little kibble in the backpack is necessarily the worst thing in the world (although MP-44 does look like he's all set for a week of camping with his).  I didn't have a problem with MP-10's, and MS-01's slightly smaller backpack is also fine.  But holy cow, that's some sorcery Transform Element did to clean up TE-01's back.  It's impressively cartoon-accurate, right down to the way his legs just run all the way to the ground with no heel spurs sticking out the back.

Another thing that I personally don't think should matter, but for some people it does seem to, is that TE-01 is noticeably heavier than the others.  TE-01's got some diecast in him.  If empirical data is more your thing, MS-01 clocks in around 13.7 ounces (390 grams), MP-10 at 14.5 ounces (412 grams), while TE-01 weighs a hefty 18.7 ounces (528 grams).  It's not a huge difference... similar-sized figure from Fans Toys like Sovereign or Dracula are even heavier, but the difference is unmistakable nevertheless, and gives TE-01 a sort of brickish solidness.

And yet, for all the praise I'd been hearing about about TE-01, it's not like TE-01 is sporting a ton more paint than MS-01.  I've also noticed a ton of sprue marks on him.  It's a solid, well-made toy, don't get me wrong, but in the way a lot of 3P figures are these days, not in the 2016/2017 Fans Toys worship kind of way you might think if you've been hanging out at TFW2005.

Oh, and I think the head is trash.

Fortunately, my copy (and pretty much any copy you'd buy going forward) is a slightly revised version that comes with an alternate head and screwdriver to install it with.  Moment of truth time, I still prefer MS-01's head, but this new head is a vast improvement over the other with an aesthetic that's very close to the '86 movie.  It's going on my copy before the next photo.

Whether you wind up with a revised TE-01 or one from the original batch, you'll get a Matrix of Leadership, an energon axe, a fifth wheel, and Prime's signature ion rifle.  All of these things also look fine, especially the axe.  It's done in a more solid, more translucent plastic than MP-10's, and it's looking sharp.  But it's a shame Transform Element cast the rifle in a dark gray plastic and left it unpainted.  Oh, and you'll probably get a small strip of Autobot insignia stickers.  I say probably because mine were actually inside the figure's box, not just tossed in the shipping box, so it seems like something TE is doing at the factory, but I've heard some people saying that they didn't get any. 

Something that comes up in some discussions is that TE-01's articulation is inferior to MS-01's.  This is technically true, but I think the challenge in getting him to look dynamic in poses is more to do with his cartoonish proportions than a fault of his articulation, which beats MP-10's.  His head is on a hinged swivel with good up range but a more limited downward tilt (especially if you're using the newer head).  His shoulders rotate on ratchets and can extend 90 degrees laterally.  His biceps swivel.  He's got a single-hinged elbow, but it's still good for around 140-150 degrees of curl.  His wrists swivel.  His hands are a little weird.  The index finger is separate from the others, with a hinge at the base and a hinge at the middle knuckle.  The other three are hinged at the same spots, but molded together.  And his thumb is also hinged at the base and middle knuckles, but it's molded so that the hinge folds it over the palm at an angle.  His waist can swivel.  His hip skirts are a little unusual, with the ones in the front on hinges that move them forward, the ones on the sides on swivels that kind of move them out and up a bit, and the back not moving at all.  That gives him enough clearance to move his hips 90 degrees forward in five ratcheted clicks, 60-ish degrees backward in three clicks, and 90 degrees laterally on a friction hinge.  His thighs, due to the way this figure is engineered, don't really swivel, but his lower legs can swivel just above the knee.  It doesn't look as pretty, but it gets the job done.  The knees themselves can bend about 120 degrees on a ratcheted hinge.  His feet can bend down, but the toes can at least bend upward, and he's got about 45 degrees of ankle pivot.

His rifle plugs into his hand just fine using the now-standard method of plugging tabs on the handle into slots on his palms.  Unlike the other Primes I have, TE-01's rifle has an LED in the barrel, and refreshingly enough the batteries are already installed.  As for the axe, you have to fold his hand into his forearm like you would for transformation.  The other side has a rounded bit, and you attach the axe using what's essentially an oversized c-clip.

When you try to remove the axe, the translucent part is going to slide right off the gray c-clip part.  I personally didn't have much trouble getting the clip back off, but some people have, and at least one person wound up with stress marks on the clip.  If you're really worried about it, MP-10's axe does fit over TE-01's right hand.  Or you could use both if you want him dual-wielding axes.

The Matrix is diecast, hard to remove even with a spudger, and similar is sculpt and size to MP-10's.  It's a little thinner, though, so while MP-10's seems like it might fit you won't be able to close things up.  And speaking of closing things up, it seems like most of TE-01's paint budget went to what is very likely the most '86-movie accurate inside of Prime's chest ever done on a toy.  While the Matrix can be hard to remove from it's compartment, the cover has two little notches near the bottom you can use to pull it up and open.

A lot of modern Optimus Prime toys, from the ancient Classics Deluxe-class to MP-10 to MS-01 have all had engineering that's somewhat similar to MP-01.  Now, while I think a lot of refinement has gone into making a good-looking cab, they all seem to have the same issue with the rear of the truck still being kind of obvious robot legs (and sometimes pelvis) that don't really look like a truck.  TE tried something very different, and it's kind of a double-edged sword.  Basically he sits down, his lower legs turn inside out, his torso turns inside out with various sections spinning around 180 degrees and his arms tucking in halfway through the process, then his pelvis splits in half rolls up 180 degrees.  Sometimes it comes across as absolutely brilliant.  I love the way his lower legs work.  I love the way his pelvis splits- the blue chunk under his crotch turns out to be the wheel wells for his front tires, and that's genius.  However, at other times it can be a bit frustrating as it's not always clear what you're supposed to be moving, and even when you do know what you're supposed to be doing limited clearance (especially for lining up the bumper at the end) can make it more of a chore than I'd like.  Plus, while everything is extremely solid once you're entirely in robot or truck mode, when you're halfway through with his torso exploded some of the parts can be a little floppy, forcing you to check and re-check that everything is lined up right before pushing tabs in.

The results do kind of speak for themselves, though.  TE-01 transforms from a clean, nearly backpack-less robot to a truck whose transformative ability isn't quite as obvious as some of his competitors.  His feet are still kind of just chilling back there and the back isn't as bare-bones machinery as a real truck would be, but it's flatter than MS-01 and lower than both MS-01 and MP-10.  He's got some molded truck details, movable windshield wipers, and rubbery tires.

That said, the details are a little flatter and less refined than MS-01 or even MP-10.  Combined with the more squarish windows TE-01's cab has a more cartoonish appearance.  While that's arguably what they're going for, I find it to be a tad drab, especially without the stripe* that pretty much every other toy of Optimus has ever had and the animators always drew but for whatever reason colored the same red as the rest of the cab most of the time in the cartoon.  I find myself kind of preferring MS-01, even with it's trash rear.  Oh, if only I could have a prime with MS-01's cab and TE-01's rear. 

*I'm debating on whether or not to try to paint the stripe myself.  It'd put a little silver on the backs of his arms, same as MS-01, but most of it would actually be hidden in robot mode.  I guess I'm just worried that my ability to paint isn't so hot, and that I'll either screw it up or it won't look good.

Well, TE-01 does have one big advantage over MS-01.  Remember that fifth wheel piece back when we were talking about the accessories.  It plugs into the rear of the truck, and just that by itself makes things a little more convincing as a truck.  But it's not just cosmetic- it allows you to attach MP-10's trailer.  Now, I think most of us are displaying our Primes in robot mode.  For most MP-10 owners that trailer is probably sitting in a closet.  I'm glad that MS-01 and TE-01 don't come with trailers and a ton of other accessories I'll never use that'd probably jack the price up to some obscene number in the $400+ range.  But the fact remains, a lot of people who buy MS-01 or TE-01 are likely doing so to replace MP-10, and already have that trailer.  Even if the only time I ever use it is for this photo, I still think compatibility with that trailer is a smart move on TE-01's part.

So, having purchased and reviewed both MS-01 and TE-01 I feel qualified to say that both are excellent figures that really make MP-10 look and feel like a relic.  If MP-10 is current Masterpiece Optimus Prime then either figure is a huge upgrade that I'd strongly recommend picking up.  Even MP-44 would have to do something pretty special to get me interested in it at even half the price at this point.  I can tell you right now I have no plans to pick one up.  YMMV, but based on looks alone I think MS-01 and TE-01 look like better choices.

Still, I get the feeling that people aren't really interested in comparing TE-01 and MS-01 to MP-10 (who most people will find to be inferior) or MP-44 (which people are alternately either writing off as too expensive or biting the bullet on because it's an official Takara toy).  People want a winner crowned just between TE-01 and MS-01, but that's a lot tougher to do.  MS-01 has better articulation and is easier to transform, TE-01 has more diecast and works with MP-10's trailer.  But none of that really overshadows the aesthetic differences between them, and that's why  I don't think either is definitively better than the other.  Just look at them, and buy whichever you think looks better.  Do you want an Optimus Prime that looks just like he stepped off the screen?  TE-01 is what you want.  Do you prefer a more refined aesthetic that looks like the real robot the often-poor animation was trying to emulate?  Pick yourself up an MS-01.  You really can't lose either way.

...that said, while I can't say one is definitively better, my personal preference is for MS-01.  I like his cab better, and that's the more important part of the truck.  I like his robot proportions and details better.  And I prefer Prime to have gray/silver thighs and hips.  To my mind the only reason they were white in the cartoon was because white was often used for shiny metal in old cartoons... same reason the grill, smokestacks, fuel tanks, and bumper were white in the cartoon, too.  I still (obviously) like TE-01 a lot, and I plan on keeping him.  MS-01 is going to go in my main display with my other MP Autobots, while TE-01 is going to represent G1 cartoon Prime in my smaller display of various Optimuses.  (And maybe, with his whiter face, I can paint the blue eyes yellow on the other head and display the head alone as G1 Marvel Prime.)  So, yeah, I guess my ultimate recommendation is to buy both MS-01 and TE-01 if you can afford it.

I'm aware of Ultraman and the cultural phenomenon he is in Japan, but this show was my first experience consuming any Ultraman content.  And while, as others have noted, the CGI animation is awful, I really enjoyed the show overall.  I gather this is based on a manga that's still ongoing, so hopefully we get another season.

2 hours ago, ScrambledValkyrie said:

You almost nailed it:

https://www.polygon.com/2019/4/18/18484715/castlevania-anniversary-collection-release-date-games

Just trade Legends for Kid Dracula, which I didn’t think actually counted as a Castlevania game.

And then trade the GB games for the GBA games.

5 hours ago, Big s said:

Are they gonna keep doing the alternate dream stories. I’m getting tired of them and want to get back to the real story.

I don't think there's a real story to get back to. Pretty sure they said this is the last season.

1 hour ago, nhyone said:

Still milking the MP-10 mold?

I thought MP-44 would be out by then. Repaints are inevitable.

This. As much as I love MP-10 is 2019. There are better MP Primes.

4 minutes ago, JB0 said:

I'm usually a dirty toy supremacist, but I kinda like Swoop being diffrent-colored. He already doesn't match the other four because of his thin lanky build in a team of bulky, brutish brawlers. (That and not turning into a dinosaur. :P )

I tend to think of Grimlock as primarily gold, not red, too.  That helps, because I don't really see him as matching the other three.

2 hours ago, kajnrig said:

But this comes with the all-important stick, and I'm not being facetious when I say that.

If you're into sticks, yeah.  Where I grew up, though, arcades didn't hang around long.  I remember playing a TMNT as a kid, a little bit of Street Fighter II at Kennywood (a local amusement park), and then suddenly they were all gone outside of Dave & Busters, which seems to have naught but racing games and light gun shooters.  I'm more at home with a controller.  Maybe I'm not the target audience.

2 hours ago, kajnrig said:

Now I just hope the price isn't too high and the emulation is good. Even better if it turns out to be using MAME or some other open-source emulator.

Their website says they're using Sanwa JLF-TP-8YT sticks, original dumps of the CPS1 and CPS2 roms, and Final Burn Alpha for the emulator.

I'd hoped to have this one up sooner, but my package was held up in customs for two weeks.  This is Gigapower's Gaudenter, their MP Swoop.

Yeah, that's a good-looking Swoop.  What's interesting here is that, although his arms and shins are darker than his face and thighs, the difference is probably more subtle than the cartoon, plus he has black hands instead of hands that match his arms.  And the interesting thing is that Fans Toys did basically the exact same thing.

Gaudenter does have the sort of details you'd expect, though.  The chrome is as bling as ever.  Blue torso, red on his chest, gold on his thighs, red on the outside of his lower legs, black details on his shins.  Surprisingly, the blue isn't uniform, either.  His upper torso and hip skirts are lighter than his midriff and the elevated portion of his chest.  But there's the usual Gigapower touches, too... painted detail on his knees ala the G1 toy's stickers, silver trim on the red on his chest, some extra gold details on his chest, red spots on his hip skirts, and blue on his shoulders.  Giga also opted to put the black between the silver face and red helmet.  This isn't cartoon accurate, but I've thought that the cartoon had kind of a caveman brow.  Gaudenter doesn't have the best face sculpt, but the black trim elevates it above Fans Toys' in my opinion.

Oh, and if you're one of those people who preferred the toy, the UK Marvel run, or just think all the Dinobots should match, Gaudenter is also available with red chrome.  The red version is mostly the same, just red instead of blue, but he does have black shoulders and biceps with red details instead of blue.  Unfortunately it doesn't have red chrome dino feet, otherwise I might have considered picking that one up, too.

And yes, Gaudenter is a big fellow.  You can see how much taller he is than the ToyWorld version, and the TW version is about a head taller than an MP car.  Gaudenter is a little shorter than the other Gigasaurs, but he's taller than MP-10, and he's taller than FT's Swoop.

Every copy of Gaudenter comes with these accessories.  There's a base stand, a flight stand, two adapters (one for robot mode, one for dino mode), two swords, two missile launchers, some red eye stickers, a clip for storing the swords, a replacement neck piece, and an alternate head.  The alternate head has an angry robot face with red eyes, and a dinosaur head that's got the toy-style smoked translucent beak over a thin gold piece.  The robot head is on a ball joint, so you can pop it off and swap it if you want the smoked beak but the stoic face.  You can't swap just the eyes, though.  The swords light up, but I don't have the batteries.  The missiles don't fire, but they can be removed, and apparently the metallic paint version will come with blast effects.  Both his launchers and his swords can be stored on the base stand.  As for the flight stand, it's got an extending arm and several strong ratchets, with a lock for the upper-most joint.  The pre-installed adapter is for robot mode.  You have to remove a screw to swap them.  I put the dino adapter on, because I'll definitely use it for dino mode but probably never for robot mode.  Oh, and I do dig the "GP" on the flight stand.

I might be in the minority, and I probably wouldn't have used it anyway, but I kind of wish that Giga had included a toy-style face with a visor.

Early orders also include a pair of these lights with a remote.  There are six spots for them on the stand, though.  Maybe Gigapower will sell them separately later?  The lights have a number of hinges so you can aim them how you like, but again, no batteries, so I can't test the remote.

Unfortunately, some signs of trouble start to crop up with the articulation.  As previously mentioned, his head is on a ball joint with adequate sideways tilt, but he can only look up a little.  Downward tilt is even more limited, but you can move the entire flap his neck is on to fake it.  His shoulders rotate on ratchets, and they can move laterally a little under 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his double-jointed elbows (ratcheted at the bottom) get about 120 degrees of curl.  His wrists swivel.  His fingers are fully and individually articulated, with a pin at the base and middle knuckles on the fingers and a ball-joint at the base with two additional hinges on the thumbs.  His waist actually can swivel, although you'll have to move the beak to clear his hips.  The hips themselves can go just under 90 degrees forward or backward, and over 90 degrees laterally.  What's interesting is that the forward/backward hip joint is ratcheted, but it's a very soft, quiet ratchet.  Despite this, the joint requires almost too much effort to move it, like the friction would have been good enough.  Anyway, his thighs swivel.  His knees bend 90 degrees on a ratchet, and doing so reveals some nice piston inside.  And then we come to his feet.  For starters, his feet bend up and down, but only on a friction joint that's too loose to really support his weight.  In my experience he stands ok in a static pose, but has a tendency to tip backward in more dynamic poses.  Then, you see that little metallic bit at the top of his foot?  That's where the foot is actually connected to the joint.  There's a little empty space around it.  Gaudenter's ankle pivot is limited to how much the metallic bit can move before it runs out of space, which is to say his ankle pivot is almost nonexistent.  There's no excuse for his ankle articulation being this poor in 2019.  The feet are just poorly designed.  Gigapower should have redesigned them instead of rushing to get Gaudenter out before Chinese New Year (and failing at that, anyway).

In any case, Gaudenter can hold his swords using the usual MP method of mating tabs on the handle of the swords with slots on his palms.  Or, you can plug the enclosed clip into a peg hole on his back, then clip the swords into it for storage.  Likewise, his missile launchers can fit into peg holes on his wings for the standard Swoop look, but they do have flip-out handles with the tabs that allow him to hold them in his hands.

I never owned Swoop as a kid, but from what I can gather Gaudenter's transformation is basically G1.  The beak comes up and plugs onto the face, the lower legs flip around and lie on his back, and his arms and torso collapse inward.  For the most part everything moves smoothly and locks solidly into place.  The only area that you might get a little hung up on is collapsing the chest.  You need to fold the wings back to get access to clips on either side on his back.  Unclip them, them squeeze the arms in and everything should collapse.  Then hold it in place until you can close the clips.  Going back to robot mode there's a button on Gaudenter's back that you need to press.  His sides are spring-loaded and will pop back out.

And the dino mode looks pretty much the way you'd expect it should.  My biggest complaint is that, like Guttur, the dino eyes are left unpainted.  The theory is that it's because the paint might not stick so well to the chrome, hence the included stickers.  Which, ok, fine, but why only include red stickers, then?  I might have to see if I can find a blue I like that'll stick to the chrome.

As far as dino articulation goes, his dino legs have their own thigh swivels, and the can partially bend forward a little.  His neck has three different hinges for up/down movement, plus a swivel so he can turn his head.  His wings have a swivel near his shoulder to move the wings forward, two hinges near is back for up/down flapping, a double hinge near the middle of the wing, and another double hinge near the wing tips.

His mouth can open and close, and there's a little gun inside with its own hinge.  He's got wing claws.  The claws can swivel at the base, and each claw can wiggle up/down independently on a hinge.  They're actually just pegged on, too, and can be removed.  He's got a little tail.  His toes all have a hinge and can bend down individually, including a dewclaw that folds out from inside his thighs.  The flaps on the backs of his thighs keep you from folding the dewclaws up, though, so he can't stand flat-footed in dino mode unless you leave the backs of his thighs open.

It's not pictured, but you can of course also leave the missile launchers plugged onto his wings.  With his legs on his back, though, there's not enough room for the sword clip.

Of course, there's always the stand for storing his weapons.  As you can see, the stand is taller than even a big boy like  Fans Toys' Phoenix, so Gaudenter will have no trouble soaring above the other Gigasaurs.  And doesn't he just look majestic up there?  His full wingspan is significantly longer than MP-10 with his trailer in truck mode.

I'm not going to beat around the bush... Gaudenter looks fantastic, but his feet are so poorly do that this is the first Gigasaur that had me wondering if I'd made a mistake going with them over the Fans Toys Dibots.  And I think, ultimately, the answer is no, I haven't.  Even just as a head-to-head, Swoop vs Swoop, I still prefer Gaudenter to FT's, and Gaudenter still feels like a premium figure.  He just feels like a step backward after how great Graviter was.  So yes, I do recommend Gaudenter.  Just know that he's not the best Gigasaur, and I hope Gigapower ends on a higher note with Superator (their Grimlock).