mikeszekely

Nearly five years ago, I said I was "blown away" by Earthrise Leader-class Optimus Prime. I acknowledged the toy's flaws, but also talked about how excited I was to have that much accuracy in a mainline Optimus Prime toy, the first mainline G1 Optimus to come with a trailer and repair drone (even if it was missing Roller). Despite my praise for the figure, I started buying accessories to improve the figure. Stickers added the missing yellow to the crotch, the lackluster paint on trailer stripes, and added color to the repair drone's cockpit. Multiple kits replaced his rifle with a more proportional one, replaced the weird shield door on the trailer with a more G1-accurate one, added Roller, added the supports for the command deck, etc. Meanwhile, other issues, like the gray plastic on the insides of Prime's legs, the visible wheels, and the lack of fuel tanks on his legs were left unaddressed. Now... what if, instead of buying a $50 figure and then dumping a ton more money into upgrades... we simply had bought a Prime with a higher initial price tag that benefitted from a larger development in the first place? I supposed the result would be Studio Series 86 Commander-class Optimus Prime. Wow... just, wow. OK, given that accuracy to the '86 movie is the objective, I'll note that he's got white pants and more of a flat gray for the stripe around his ribs, on his face and forehead, and on his toes rather than silver, and the vents on his shins are more like molded details than actual vents. These things might not be my personal preferences for an ideal Prime, but they're still an A for this assignment. The proportions are less svelte than the Earthrise toy, bringing that cartoon chunk. The molded triangles and lines on his forearms are spot on, and he's even got the little triangles on his shins... so it kind of pains me to point out that the molded details on his thighs are actually not accurate. There's also a tiny bit of red poking out from behind his shins. To be fair, you can probably use a little alcohol to remove a line of paint from the part behind his shin without affecting anything. Whereas all six of Earthrise Prime's wheels were visible, none of them are showing on SS86. The backs of his legs have that sloped shape the cartoon did, plus he's got his missing fuel tanks. The blue on his crotch wraps the entire way under and around to his butt. His smokestacks are taller, and not marred by peg holes. I'd say the elephant in the room is probably his backpack, which is giving me MP-44 flashbacks. It's a little large, yes, and gappy in ways that are definitely not cartoon accurate, but I think it's still better than the wheels on the back of Earthrise Prime. Actually, scratch that. The backpack's not too bad, the real elephant is Prime's size. We've been told since Siege that Hasbro has been paying attention to scale, but suddenly Siege/Earthrise Prime are too short? Too be fair... yeah, kind of? I think SS86 actually does scale better with most of the Autobots released in the last five years, and SS86 Prime is now about the same size as Galvatron. However, this does mean that Prime is taller than Siege/Earthrise Megatron, which is not ideal. Thankfully we're supposedly getting a Leader-class SS86 Megatron next year, which I'm sure will address the height difference with Prime... while simultaneously making Megatron too big for Soundwave, Shockwave, and the Seekers. I guess it's a good thing that Soundwave and all six Seekers also appeared in the '86 movie. I have a feeling that upgrades are inevitable. We're not here to talk about potential SS86 Seekers, though, we're here to talk about Prime. The bump to Commander didn't just make for a slightly taller, more accurate Optimus. Some of that budget went to accessories. Prime's got his trailer/command deck, which is much larger and has a proper ramp door but is as disappointingly barren inside as the Earthrise trailer. Where are the blue consoles? We again have Prime's ion rifle, with much better proportions and a nice coat of gunmetal paint. We've got a Matrix of Leadership, and... actually I think it's the exact same one that Earthrise Optimus came with. We've got a repair drone. It's larger than the Earthrise one, accurately done this time with both blue and gray plastic instead of all gray, with a translucent cockpit door, just one arm, and an antenna, making it more accurate to the G1 toy than the Earthrise one. Then, going beyond the Earthrise toy, we've got an Energon axe and some orange effects parts, plus we've got Roller. While I prefer a blue Roller, silver does better match the maybe two episodes it appeared in the cartoon. Roller is larger and less hollow than the one that came with the Centurion Drone. The trailer has landing gear for staying upright without a cab, but also the side underride guards that were missing from the Earthrise trailer. Like the MP and G1 toys, the underride guards can swing out to help support the sides of the trailer when it's in command deck mode. Unlike the MP version, there's no mechanism that automatically lowers the feet as you swing the guards out, instead you have to twist the ends 90 degrees. Side note, while we're looking at it... yes, I prefer the blue stripes on the trailer. But the trailer is more screen accurate without the blue, so I can't actually criticize the choice. I'd already shown that the trailer does in fact open up into the command deck, but I'll mention that you can still stand it up, and the drone does still attach to the end oppose the trailer door. When the trailer is up like this the repair drone can do, well, repairs on Prime. Or you can lie it back down and the drone is an AA gun. The cockpit on the drone opens, and it can plug into Roller to drive around outside the trailer. There's three hinges in the stem of the drone, a swivel for the antenna to fold down (but no swivel for it to spin around), a swivel for the arm's "shoulder" and "bicep", a hinged elbow, and a hinge in one of the claws so it can open and shut. The spots where the missiles would go on the G1 toy have little nubs that are compatible with some of the effects parts. Roller can also roll around without the drone. You could instead plug in Prime's rifle, which is also compatible with the blast effects. If you still have some, Roller's seats can accommodate four Titan Masters, though the ones that sit in the back have to face backwards. Roller's 5mm ports aren't just for attaching Prime's gun or the repair drone. You can also use one as a hitch so Roller can pull Prime's trailer. All of Prime's accessories can be stored in the trailer. The drone plugs in near the front, as I already mentioned, and folds up. Roller has to notches under it's front end that grab onto two tabs on the front of the drone's base. There are nubs with clips below them on either side. The ones closest to the front are for the axe, while the ones next to roller are for the laser beam effects. There's also tabs near the axe clips that can plug into slots on the sides of Prime's rifle, allowing you to lock it in place as well. Meanwhile, fold the bumper down and you'll unlock the rear wheels. You'll find a space between them where you can toss the rest of Prime's effect parts. Accessories are good and all, but you guys are probably more curious about Prime himself. So, Prime's head is on a ball joint. He doesn't have a ton of up/down tilt, but it swivels and he's got decent sideways tilt. His antenna are separate parts now, and can swivel, though that's really more for transformation. His shoulders swivel and can technically move 90 degrees laterally, though clearances with his smokestacks and backpack can limit the lateral movement when his arms are raised. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. His wrists swivel. In what I believe is a first for a mainline toy, not only are his fingers hinged at the base, but they have a second knuckle as well, plus his index finger is separate from the other three for pointing or to pose as a trigger finger. His waist swivels. His hip skirts hinge up to give him 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally on his hips. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend about 120 degrees. His feet can't tilt up, but his toes can tilt downward, and he's got 90 degrees of ankle pivot. Really, the only things I could wish for are deeper elbow bends and an ab crunch*. Despite having articulated fingers, Prime's hands are still compatible with 5mm accessories, which is how he holds his rifle. To use Prime's axe, you have to fold his fists into his forearms like you're going into truck mode, which will leave a peg on Prime's wrist. You can then plug the axe onto the peg. While you're playing with gummy translucent orange parts, Prime's smokestacks swivel for no reason except that you might want to pretend that they're guns. The tips of his smokestacks are even compatible with the beam effect parts (just don't leave them on there, as I've heard that prolonged exposure to the rubbery effect parts can damage the paint). Most of Prime's accessories will have to go in the trailer when he's not using them. He can, however, carry his rifle on his backpack. There are tabs on either side that fit into the same slot that the rifle uses to secure itself into the trailer. This being a Studio Series release instead of a Legacy one means that Prime doesn't have the abundance of 5mm ports for Weaponizers, Fossilizers, Armorizers, etc. Aside from his fists, the only ones he has are under his toes. As for the Matrix, just like Earthrise Prime, you can open the chest on SS86 Prime and wedge the Matrix handles around some tabs you'll find in there. Unlike Earthrise Prime, SS86 Prime has an additional door that folds down over the Matrix before you close up his chest, similar to what was seen in the movie, though less detailed. The Matrix is pretty tiny in Prime's hands, but you can take advantage of that finger articulation to pinch his index fingers around the handles. Plus, Prime's got butterfly joints in his shoulders that serve no transformation purpose. They're just there so Prime can get his hands close enough together to hold the Matrix. *You probably thought, "what about butterfly joints?" when I said the only extra articulation I'd wish for was deeper elbow bends and an ab crunch, but Prime had butterfly joints all along. I was just saving their mention for this part. Clearly, it's not just that Prime's bigger or has more paint. There's definitely a higher parts count going on here to help justify the price difference between a Leader and a Commander. There's even little bits like this, where you have a this extra armor part that fits around the hip joints. Prime's transformation into truck mode is definitely a more elaborate affair. If you didn't appreciate the aesthetic improvements a Commander-budget brought, you'll definitely notice it here. His fists fold into his arms, which then rotate 180 degrees at the bicep and bend backward at the elbow. The blue part of his butt detaches and folds between his thighs. The top of his backpack folds up, freeing his backpack to fold away from his back. He rotates 180 degrees at the waist, then panels on his sides fold up so his chest can rotate 180 degrees back. Prime's head folds into his back, then another panel that was underneath his head double hinges outward. His bot-mode grill folds up to hide his face, and his lats double-hinge into the space his grill just vacated. The flaps on his sides go back down, then his arms do the classic Prime transformation to tuck in. Meanwhile, back on the front side, the back of his backpack unfolds to the sides so you can fold the backpack further down, revealing the bottom half of the cab. The grill opens so you can fold out the rest of the grill, then the whole thing hinges up under his chest to fully complete the front of the cab. Panels on the sides open then fold up to fill in the sides of the cab. His shins wrap around to the insides of his legs, similar to MP-10's, and a tab swings out from between his left heel and toes while a matching slot folds out from his right foot, allowing you to tab the legs together. The toes fold down, and you lift the skirts on his butt up, then his hips and crotch detach from the front of his pelvis and swing backward. The top of the backpack can fold into the space his crotch and hips left, tabbing in between the front wheels. His calves fold up, plugging into the back of the cab as well as plugging into and covering his thighs, which also frees his heels to fold down. Finally, the sides of his legs swivel at the fuel tanks, with the part running down his leg below the tank spinning 180 degrees to fill in the bottom of the cab under his arms between the front wheels and the fuel tank, then his rear wheels fold out from the insides of his legs. I might again decry the lack of a silver stripe on the cab, or point out the molded but unpainted windshield wipers, but there's that pesky cartoon accuracy. It's not all cartoon accuracy, though. Whereas, even in the '86 movie, Prime's truck mode is largely devoid of detail, the designers of this toy seemed to look at MP-44 for inspiration. There are the aforementioned molded windshield wipers, plus a number of rivets and the intake vent, orange paint on the marker lights on the roof, silver wing mirrors, and the rectangular double-square headlights. There are steps on the sides of the cab, and molded doors and handrails. More steps are behind the rear wheels, and taillights molded into Prime's heels. It's still not totally accurate to a real truck, but the rear doesn't just look like robot legs chilling out. Instead we've got a fairly cohesive (and far cleaner than MP-44) area with a molded hitch. My only real gripes are that the fuel tanks stick out a bit while the real wheels don't, and the back of the cab is still a bit gappy and unfinished. The molded hitch has a peg hole that you can plug the trailer into. The bigger cab means that, even though the trailer is bigger, it's still a tad undersized. However, I think it's far more proportional than Earthrise Prime, where the entire truck and trailer can fit on SS86's trailer alone. And for those curious, although I didn't take a picture, I did compare it to the G1 trailer. SS86's trailer is a smidge shorter vertically, but a bit longer horizontally, and almost the same width. Prime and his trailer roll, and there's enough clearance for Prime to make tight turns with the trailer... which I'm realizing that I'm only now giving you a proper look at the rear of. As you can see, more accurate molded doors, painted taillights, and a proper bumper. The doors don't open like a real truck (or MP-10's), they just fold down like the G1 toy's, which is fine. The interior of the trailer is wide enough for most Deluxe cars to fit into- I had no issues with Earthrise Sideswipe and Prowl or SS86 Jazz, but be aware that a few like Armada Hot Shot here are a bit too wide. In case you were wondering, yes, SS86 Prime can pull the Earthrise trailer, and vice versa. The 86 trailer doesn't look too bad with the Earthrise cab, if it would only sit back a bit further. SS86 Prime looks ridiculous with the Earthrise trailer, but that's not the point. The real point is that other figures like Kingdom Huffer that could pull the Earthrise trailer can still pull the SS86 one. There's nowhere on Prime's trailer to stow any of his accessories, so again, it's fortunate that we have the trailer for that. However, there are some effect parts that are meant just for alt mode; the one that store in the cubby under the trailer rather than in it. You combine them to make two bits with flat bases and tabs on the top. The tabs fit into these slots next to the front wheels, so Prime can recreate that scene from the movie where, after mowing down a few Decepticons, he jets into the air to transform and gun down a few more before landing. There's one last thing that needs mentioning. As far as I know, every copy of SS86 Prime is misassembled. Basically, his heels are swapped. It's almost not noticeable in robot mode, and barely even then in truck mode. You could probably ignore it, but it's the kind of thing that once you know it's there it might bug you. Fixing it isn't supposed to be too difficult, but it will require removing two pins to take the heels off, turn flip them over, and then swap them to the other feet. Oh, one final thing... over then months ago, when the existence of this figure leaked but we didn't know anything about it except it was a Commander, I said: Aside from the upper body transformation being like MP-10's (not that it's like ER's either), boy, did I nail that or what? Anyway... 40 years after The Transformers debuted Takara celebrated by giving us the toy from 40 years ago, but with better articulation. Meanwhile, Hasbro celebrated by giving us the most cartoon-accurate Optimus Prime toy to ever hit a regular retail line. No, it's not perfect, and I did point out a few nitpicky flaws. And, yes, a Commander-class toy is significantly mor expensive than a Leader-class one, which is going to rub some people the wrong way. That being said, SS86 Prime is a brilliant figure that addresses the flaws I had with the Earthrise figure that I already loved, as well as some more flaws that I didn't know I had. Given Hasbro's propensity to keep the money-making characters in rotation I'm hesitant to say that this is the definitive mainline G1 Optimus toy, but this is the first one that makes me feel like I don't need for there to be a newer, better one down the road, and I don't need to shop for some kind of upgrade kit to address my quibbles. If you're a fan of G1 Transformers, buy this toy. Simple as that.

I was gonna say it's on Amazon for $130, but then I saw you're in Canada, and the only listing I saw on Amazon Canada is 254 loonies.

But so many stores quit selling them. ...plus, then I'd have to get up, put the disc in, go back to the couch, watch the disc, get up, change the disc... Seriously, though, trying to keep track of which streaming service has which show I want to watch is getting to be a hassle. I'm *this* close to cancelling all 8 or 9 of 'em and signing up for cable.

I didn't preorder, but I keep thinking about buying the set. They're weird... they're too big to be CHUG, but the aesthetic doesn't jive with Masterpiece, but they look sturdy and fun to mess with.

Yeah, he's reasonably close, considering he's re-using some parts. But as a Transfomers fan first, I just wish he looked more like Senior's work on TF UK. The Infinite series is 3 3/4", right? I was thinking the Marvel Legends figure is a tad taller than I'd like, but I was thinking a good fit for Transformers would be maybe a half an inch shorter or so. Infinite is too small, I think.

The other day I was talking about characters that first appeared in the Marvel G1 comics, and specifically made note of Simon Furman and Marvel UK's contributions. I don't think it's right to bring up Furman and Marvel UK without mentioning one character in particular. However, that character wouldn't be a Transformer at all, so I had to step outside my usual collecting and pick up Marvel Legends Death's Head. The packaging lists Death's Head's first appearance as the UK comic Dragon's Claws, specifically issue #5, a series that came from the Transformers UK team of Simon Furman and Geoff Senior. However, Dragon's Claws started it's print run in the summer of 1988, and Death's Head's own solo series (written by Simon Furman and drawn by Bryan Hitch) wouldn't start until winter of '88. Now, here's where things get dicey. Death's Head first appeared in Transformers UK #113, in the spring of 1987, well before Dragon's Claws. Also prior to Dragon's Claws Marvel ran a one-page story "High Noon Tex" featuring Death's Head in several Marvel UK comics. I've heard people say that "High Noon Tex" came out first, and that's why Marvel not Hasbro owns the rights to Death's Head, however, the original prints of "High Noon Tex" clearly depict Hitch's signature in the corner of the last panel with an '88 after it, and no one can seem to point to an specific comic book printed before 1988 that had "High Noon Tex" in it. So, while I'm not outright saying that this is definitely what happened, it seems probable that Furman and Senior created Death's Head and used him in Transformers, Death's Head turned out to be popular with readers, so Marvel worked quickly to establish Death's Head as a Marvel character, not a Transformers character, to secure their ownership before Hasbro could. Regardless of what did or did not happen or who own's what, to me Death's Head is a Transformers character, so here he is. And he is... well, not super accurate to his Transformers appearance, where he he wore big brown gloves, green shoulder pads and hip skirts, and red loin cloth, plus he had more rectangular robotic green legs with orange knee pads. Perhaps, in an effort to distance Death's Head from his earlier Transformers appearances, he got a new look when his solo series began in 1988 that's much closer to what we see here. The main thing that seems to be off is his hands, which I assume were recolored from another Marvel Legends figure that had long finger nails, something Death's Head shouldn't. In the comics he's actually drawn with silver robotic hands wearing spiked fingerless gloves. His yellow shirt is also depicted here as more of a yellow stripe up the front of his torso with some lines in it that it doesn't need. Again, I believe that this is because of Hasbro re-using parts from other Marvel Legends figures, specifically Colossus. Still, if you're a fan of Death's Heads' solo run in '88-'89, or perhaps picked up his 2014 limited series, these are likely minor discrepancies. As a Transformers fan, I'm more bothered by the fact that they went with his solo series look instead of the original green, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. Death's Head comes with a shield, an axe, a mace, a rocket, and two alternate closed fists. I'm not sure what Marvel Legends budgets are typically, but for $40 I'd have really liked if they'd have included a gun like the one he shot Bumblebee with in Transformers UK #114. Death's Head's head is on a hinged ball joint, so he can swivel it and look up and down with a fairly natural range, but sideways tilt is pretty non-existent. His shoulders swivel, and they're hinged to move laterally 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. His wrists swivel, as they're just pegged into his wrist sockets. The splayed right hand and both closed fists have hinges on their pegs that allow them to bend in/out, while the left grippy hand is hinged to bend up/down. His waist swivels, and he's got an ab crunch in the middle of his torso. I can't quite tell what kind of joints his hips use, but they go about 90 degrees forward, but only a little backward due to his butt sculpt, and about 60 degrees laterally due to the rubbery hip skirts. His thighs swivel, and his double-jointed knees bend nearly 180 degrees. He's got another swivel at the top of his boot, and hinged ball joints at the ankles that give him some up/down foot tilt and about 45 degrees of ankle pivot. On my copy, the hinge is a tad looser than I'd like, and he's prone to leaning or even falling over if you don't pose him with his feet turned out a bit. To use most of the accessories, including the alternate hands, you grab the hands that are already installed and just yank them off, then peg the weapon or alternate hand into the stump. His stock left hand is a rubbery sort of grabby hand, and you can also work the shafts of his weapons into it and he holds them mostly ok (the axe blade is a bit close to his fingers). His shield has a horizontal and a vertical 5mm port on it, and he should be able to hold the shield in his left hand, too. Unfortunately, he holds it much worse than his weapons. Thing is, in my admittedly limited experience with Death's Head, I don't recall him ever actually using the shield. It, and the various hand attachments he's not currently using, resided on his back. And sure enough, there are a trio of clips on the back of the shield, allowing you to attach all three of his weapons. Then the horizontal peg plugs into a port on Death's Head's back. And, well, since Death's Head doesn't transform or have an alt mode... I guess I'm already at the end of this review. Well, Marvel/Marvel Legends fans might likely have different standards to judge Death's Head by. From a Transformer collector's POV, I think he should be slightly smaller, I really wish he had his gun, and I really wish he had the green armor, brown gloves, and green boots from his original Transformers appearance instead of his later solo series appearance. I also don't know if I feel like I'm getting $40 worth of figure here, though to be fair he seems to have a lot more paint and more solid plastic than a similar-sized Transformer. Ultimately, I think if you're primarily into Transformers collecting because of the G1 cartoon, then Death's Head probably isn't up your alley unless you also happen to be into Marvel Legends and Death's Head's other non-Transformers Marvel appearances. However, if you're like me, and you've got your Jhiaxus, your Cybertron Troopers, your Straxus, your Ferak, your Flame, and your Emirate Xaaron, then Death's Head is very likely a significant gap in your Marvel G1 collection, and this is likely the best you're going to get to fill that gap.

Japanese G1, he was the leader of the Autobot Pretenders in Transformers: Chōjin Masterforce, and a toy we never got in the West. He was sort of like the main Autobot leader until Ginrai and the other Powermasters started turning up and the Pretenders were relegated to background characters. He's available for preorder at Entertainment Earth, with a January release date.

With the store exclusives out of the way, we're coming into the beginnings of the fourth wave of Legacy United. And so far they're all repaints/retools, so we can get them out of the way fast. Let's begin with the Leader-class toys, starting with Armada Galvatron. If you'll permit me a tangent, Megatron changing his name to Galvatron when all he did was change colors, despite Hot Shot, Starscream, Demolisher, and Red Alert also changing colors without changing their names, then going back to being Megatron when he actually gets revived in a new body in Energon, only to change colors and change his name to Galvatron again, is beyond stupid. The Japanese version did it better... he was Megatron, then Super Megatron, then was revived as Galvatron, then Galvatron General. So, yeah, to me this is just Megatron in a different colors. But, Hasbro did retool the head, and it's not just a new face. The horns are no longer removable, which is fine by me. I know Mark posed Megatron (regular Megatron) using the horns like daggers, but in my personal experience they come loose from his head too easy, and Super Megatron fixes that issue. The head is the only change, though, so the engineering and articulation is the same, the tip of his cannon can still be removed and used as a hand cannon, and he can still combine with bits of Titan-Class Tidal Wave to do the Burning Megatron thing. The colors seem to be accurate to the original toy/show. If you're an Armada fan and you liked Legacy Evolution Armada Megatron, this is basically the same thing in the colors he worn in the last few episodes of the show. Frankly, I think regular Megatron is probably enough, and knowing my G1-leaning audience here you're probably skipping both. Speaking of G1... The other Leader-class figure in this wave is Buzzsaw. Buzzsaw is a repaint of Laserbeak, specifically the one with the "normal" head that came with Netflix Soundwave. The red plastic was swapped for a mustard yellow, they painted the beak yellow, they replaced the gray plastic for the neck and feet with black, and they swapped the silver on the wings for gold. That's it. Frankly, we've gotten a ton of Micromaster tapes, and they've even started expanding into Core-class. I've got two Laserbeaks plus an SG one, plenty of Ravages, a Ratbat that's had a trio of retools, and both Micromaster and Core-class versions of Rumble and Frenzy, but it's taken us (checks math) FIVE YEARS to finally get the one tape G1 Soundwave originally came with. And, as far as the Micromaster tapes go, Laserbeak's mold was fairly decent, which helps a lot. But still... what makes a Micromaster balloon to Leader-class? Well, for starters, he comes with an entire Voyager-class figure, that being Soundwave. In fact, the packaging seems to suggest that this release is actually for Soundwave, and Buzzsaw is just a pack-in, but that can't be right. Anyway, unlike the still fairly-recent Legacy Soundwave, which really a package refresh of the Siege toy, Buzzsaw's Soundwave uses the previously Walmart-exclusive Netflix remold. The differences from the Netflix release are fairly minor. Silver paint details on his buttons, legs, shoulders, and face have been replaced with a light gray. The stripes on his gun and shoulder cannon use a thicker, more vibrant red, and that same red was applied to his forearms (so you don't have to do it yourself, like I did). Finally, the yellow paint on his chest door was replaced with a darker gold that better matches the gold on his knees and the blue part of his chest. Honestly... I kind of like the silver on the Netflix release, though I must confess that the gray better matches the unpainted parts, while the red paint and the better-matching gold are net gains for Soundwave. Buzzsaw does, of course, fit in Soundwave's chest, and in case you needed a reminder, you can fold his legs in and unfold a peg from under his body. That peg allows him to perch on Soundwave's (or Megatron's) arm. A Voyager and a Micromaster still isn't quite Leader yet, so we also have Ravage. As with Buzzsaw, Ravage uses the Netflix version of the mold, which has a doofier-looking snarling face. The silver deco and yellow eyes are carried over, but they put silver paint on his teeth, and like Buzzsaw the gray plastic used for the legs and 5mm peg have been swapped with black. Man... paint the forelimbs silver instead of the fangs, and swap the Netflix head with the Siege head, and this would probably be the best version of this mold... not that this mold was particularly good in the first place. From one side, this Ravage and Netflix Ravage are nearly identical, with just some hinges and a little bit of foot poking out to to indicate which is which. Flip him over, though, and swapping the gray plastic for more black leaves this new version an entirely black slab. Let's see now... Micromasters were originally two in a pack for $10, and a Voyager is $35, so we're only at $45. We need $10 more to hit that Leader mark... I think Hasbro could have packed in the Micromaster versions of Rumble and Frenzy, made you feel like you were getting all four Season 1-2 tapes. But I think they also knew that'd be a hard sell when we've got superior Core-class versions, and at $10 a pop for Core-class that meant they could only include Rumble. Deco-wise, Rumble is basically the same as the regular Studio Series release, but with darker blues and purples. These colors remind me of the original Japanese MP release. I feel like, if you only have the Micromaster version or no Rumble at all, that this one will do. However, the regular Core-class release strikes me as more cartoon-accurate. Rumble comes with all the accessories of the regular Core-class release- two non-functioning piledrivers I'd have gladly traded for elbow articulation, and two back lasers that can also be mounted to his forearms but not held in his hands. One last cassette-mode comparison picture. So, yeah. I think a lot of people missed out on Netflix Soundwave, and if you're one of those people I think this is a no-brainer easy recommendation to get a good Soundwave that turns into a tape deck plus Buzzsaw, even if you already have Rumble and Ravage. If you have Netflix Soundwave, though, then you definitely already have basically the same Ravage, and it's a lot harder to suggest paying a Leader price for just for Buzzsaw (especially when you can buy a better Rumble deco separately). That didn't exactly stop me from paying the Leader price just for Buzzsaw, though. Alright, after Leaders the next size down is Voyager. And... I'm not buying any Voyagers in this wave. One of them would be Animated Motormaster. I'm already not a fan of the Animated aesthetic, and Motormaster never appeared in the cartoon (the original Animated Motormaster toy was a Botcon thing). Motormaster gets a new head, and he swaps Prime's red, silver, and blue for black, purple, and more purple, as well as the yellow-painted lights for a neon green. But otherwise, he's the exact same toy as Legacy United Animated Optimus Prime, and once for that mold was enough for me. You guys do what you will. The other Voyager in this wave is Metalhawk, and he's got even fewer changes. I can't quite call him a package refresh, since they did tweak the colors from his previous Legacy Evolution release, but not a ton. Bascially, the blue is a little lighter, while the gold and silver is a little darker. The idea seems to be that Evolution Metalhawk is colored like the Masterforce animation, while the United version is colored like the original toy, except that the United version still uses the simple red bits on the chest and cartoon-placement for the Autobot insignia, and leaves the wings totally bare. If they were going for a truly toy deco they should have lowered the Autobot insignia to his abs and used more elaborate tampoes on his chest and wings to better mimic the stickers on the G1 toy. As it stands, if you missed Evolution Metalhawk then I would suggest picking up the United version. The Cyclonus mold is a really good one, and Evan did a really impressive job retooling it into a decent representation of Metalhawk. However, if (like me) you already have the Evolution toy, I can't see any reason to buy the United version. The differences are just too minor. I don't have any of the Deluxes, so let's skip to the only Core-class from the wave that I bought- Geocron. Geocron is a retool of Bouldercrash. He's got a new, uglier head, and sandier brown color, and he swaps some of Bouldercrash's red for purple. That's about it. Transformation is exactly the same. You may recall that I wasn't super into this mold the first time around. This is still true, plus on a purely subjective note I think that Geocron is the less-interesting deco. Most people should probably skip Geocron. I, however, wound up invested in my Infernac headcanon and just had to get that one extra minion for Queen Shard. And, if you must know, the other Core-class in this wave is Energon Galvatron, a straight repaint of an Energon Megatron that I didn't really like, so I'm not wasting money on the repaint. Give me Voyager or Leader versions, then we'll talk.

I skipped over the first two comic packs Hasbro released. The boxes with the classic Marvel covers were cool, and I did kind of want that Prime head that came with Shockwave, but I've already bought the Grimlock mold three times (regular, Shattered Glass, and yellow G2), I already have Siege Shockwave and the Shackwave repaint, and I'm really not a fan of the black scribbles. When Hasbro stopped putting the popular characters in the packs and started using them for obscure Marvel G1 characters, though, I was in. So up first we have Voyager-class Flame. Flame is extra-obscure, as he only appeared in the UK Marvel G1 run. The gist of it is that he was an Autobot scientist that wanted to build giant engines to turn the whole of Cybertron into a spaceship. Emirate Xaaron shot down the idea on the grounds that the reactors to power the engines were too unstable, so Flame went underground and spent a few million years developing the reactors, nursing a grudge against Xaaron, and turning dead Cybertronians into a zombie army. And the end of the brief arc where he's introduced he's killed, and that'd be that for him if not for some minor appearances in IDW's Transformers run. Anyway, Flame was made by retooling Studio Series Gamer Edition Megatron. He got a brand new head, most of his torso, pelvis, and thighs that are indeed quite Marvel-accurate The rest of him is straight carried over from Megatron, though. I think that's fine for his lower legs... sure, they're more angular and have some visible treads, but the colors are right and most panels didn't have his legs in them anyway. I wish a bit more could have been done with his arms, though. His shoulders have the asymmetric blocky shapes and the left shoulder kibble carried over from Megatron. That kibble doesn't even show in the alt mode, and could have been omitted. His forearms are similarly blocky, lacking the sharp elbows and layered orange-and-yellow fire detailing around his wrists, plus his hands are gray instead of red. In the comics Flame didn't use a weapon in bot mode, but he's got Megatron's cannon. The instructions would have you plug it into his arm, Megatron-style. Alternatively, he retains the gimmick where you can remove his forearm and plug the cannon directly into his elbow. However, I kind of like having him just carry it like a flamethrower. Flame's articulation is identical to Megatron's. He even has the unfortunate protrusions on the backs of his legs that severely hamper his knee articulation. As with Megatron, the protrusions serve no purpose and can be removed to improve his knee articulation. Flame's alt mode winds up looking like a Megatron's, but in mostly red and orange, due to the fact that the remolded parts are largely covered by the parts that weren't remolded. On the one hand, Flame's alt mode was a tank, and there's only so much you can do with a remold. On the other hand... it's not particularly accurate to the comics. As I alluded to, Flame had a grudge against Emirate Xaaron, another character Simon Furman invented for Marvel UK. Unlike Flame, though, Xaaron Furman carried Xaaron over to the US comics when Marvel tapped him to replace Bob Budiansky. So while it made sense for Habsro to package Xaaron with Flame, Xaaron was the figure I really wanted. On that note, Xaaron is a retool of Siege Refraktor. All Hasbro really retooled was the the front of the torso on the hinge and his head, and yet for a character who was actually modeled after Megatron in the comics it works extremely well. Frankly, that has a lot to do with the Xaaron's simple, blocky form in the comics; give him some rectangles for limbs and the head and chest are really doing all the heavy lifting. The head has Xaaron's Megatron-brown helmet and Ironman mouth, and the flat chest has a little scar on the bottom left. Those plus the vent on his abs and his gold color were really his only defining characteristics in the comics. It's actually the colors that I think let me down a bit... they copy the Marvel UK colors, which did give him silver thighs and a slightly darker gold for his pelvis. But his biceps really should have been gold. Xaaron never transformed in the comics. It actually became something of a running joke. Xaaron was also a politician, not a fighter. To that end, I feel like Hasbro could have included no accessories and made no reference to an alt mode for him. It would have been accurate, and if it really bothered you there would still be the option to fold him up into most of Refraktor's bullcrap "spaceship" mode. However, Hasbro made a whole new set of accessories or Xaaron. Instead of a shutter, a gun that becomes 1/3rd of a tripod, and a shield that becomes 1/3rd of a telephoto lens, you get an entirely different gun and shield, plus two treads. The shield can be worn on Xaaron's arm or carried on his back (though it limits his waist articulation a bit there). The treads can plug into the 5mm ports on the outsides of his lower legs. The instructions have him carrying the gun like a rifle, but I kind of like plugging it into his forearm. Yeah, for the guy that's a Megatron retool I want to disassociate him with Megatron as much as possible, but for the guy that's a retool of Refraktor I want to hammer home that Megatron connection. This all works fine, but I can't help but think Hasbro missed a beat by not devising a way for accessories to connect together and turn into a little drone that could follow Xaaron around. Articulation is identical to Refraktor. Well, like I said, Xaaron doesn't transform in the comics, but when even the Quintessons have to have some half-hearted transformations Hasbro went and made Xaaron another tank. Transforming Xaaron himself works identically to Refraktor- toes down, legs turn sideways with skids that fold out before tabbing together, waist rotates 180 degrees, head folds into his back, fists fold into the foreams, arms fold behind the back so the tabs on the forearms fit into slots on his butt, and his chest unfolds to reveal a little cockpit that locks into his legs. The rest of Xaaron's transformation uses partsforming with his accessories. The treads have both a hole and a peg; the hole fits onto the pegs sticking out of his waist, while the pegs fit into the holes on his forearms. The shield plugs into a 5mm port behind the chest panel, forming a turret, and the cannon plugs into the shield to form the barrel. It's the most awkward-looking tank I've ever seen, but it kind of fits with the notion that Xaaron is a guy who hasn't transformed in millions of years and needs help doing it now. As a side note, due to how little is actually remolded on him, you can use Xaaron with two Refraktor's (or a Refraktor and a Scrapface) to make Refraktor's camera mode. However, without a regular Refraktor's shield and gun you can't finish the telephoto lens or tripod, so you'd realistically still need three Refraktors (or two and a Scrapface), and wouldn't need Xaaron to complete the camera anyway. Voyager-class Straxus comes in a pack all by himself. Taking a page from NewAge's book, Straxus is a retool of Galvatron, however, I feel like Hasbro actually put more effort into their retool. He got a new head, new forearms, new treads on his forearms, new front of the torso, new pelvis flap, minor retooling around his knees on his shins... ...and a new backpack. The middle section of his torso, his sides, his shoulders and biceps, the pylons on his shoulders, and most of everything from the waist down is carried over from Galvatron. For the most part, this works fine, as I'd already thought NewAge had done a pretty good job with this assignment. He's arguably a bit more svelte than the chonker we see in the comics, and I do wish they'd at least painted red triangles on his thighs, but the colors are otherwise accurate (at least to issue #17... in #18, his shoulders and forearms were blue, his biceps silver, and the large red section in the middle of his torso was yellow, for some reason). As with Xaaron, Straxus replaces the original accessories that came with Galvatron with new ones. This time, we get a small cannon and Straxus' trademark pickaxe. The cannon doesn't really work as an arm cannon. You can plug it into his bicep, but it's too short. And his new forearms lack the 5mm port that Galvatron's have, so he can't mount it to his forearm. The instructions suggest simply having him hold it like a gun, or a blow dryer. Honestly, I prefer to simply plug the cannon into a 5mm port on Straxus' back and imagine it's like some kind of booster. If you lift the bit on the top of his backpack you'll also find a slot. This slow allows you to store the pickaxe on Straxus' back, however, doing so covers the 5mm port. In other words, you can store one or the other on his back, but not both weapons at the same time. Straxus transforms the same way Galvatron does, for the most part. The accessories even get parceled out the same way, with the cannon barrel plugging into the front and another part sitting on the back, though in Straxus' case you're not removing the back of the cannon. The other accessory is his pickaxe. The pickaxe serves a purpose, though, giving Straxus the fins seen in the comic book. The new cannon, forearms, and forearm treads also make for a good deal of comic-accuracy. It's not exact, but I think it's pretty impressive how close they got it (again, closer than NewAge with their retool). Then again, it's kind of weird how much Straxus' alt mode already resembled Galvatron's despite his first appearance being printed five to six months before Transformers: The Movie hit theaters. Perhaps the staff at Marvel had seen some early production material and were inspired by Galvatron in the first place? All-in-all, while not retooled as extensively as Ruckus, I think all three of these figures are certainly retooled well-enough and do a pretty solid job representing a slice of G1 that's often overlooked in favor of the cartoon. The value in these sets will likely come down to how much of an impact the Marvel G1 comics had on you. UK fans will likely feel more strongly about Flame than I do, since he didn't appear in the US run and I had to read up on him on the TF Wiki. However, I was into the original Marvel run, and I absolutely do remember Emirate Xaaron and Straxus. I think Straxus is a safe recommend; he appeared earlier in the US run (although he was a more important character in the UK), he had minor appearances in both the original and rebooted IDW continuities, and if you want him you only have to buy him. The other two are a bit more iffy. Like I said, UK fans might feel differently, but to me the biggest appeal of Flame is that he looks kind of cool. I have no attachment to the character. I bought the set more for Xaaron, and I think it's a harder sell to buy a Voyager and Deluxe two-pack when your primary want is the Deluxe. That said, I'm personally thrilled to have him, and frankly, I'd love to see Hasbro continue using this line to give us obscure comic characters. These new additions go great with Wreck N' Rule Impactor, Jhiaxus, Ferak, and the G2 Cybertronian Troopers. I'd love to see them do Rack 'N' Ruin, Spanner, Scrounge, Tusks, Fang, and especially Big Red.

Dang, I should have waited before I bought 4 of them.

The Mayhem Attack Squad... anyone remember that was the Amazon-exclusive line this year? Everyone was excited for Deluxe Insections, though perhaps not as enthusiastic for Breakdown and Windsweeper, when they all hit way back in June. Now I'm getting my Halloween decorations out and Hasbro's suddenly remembering, "Oh yeah, we're supposed to have one more two-pack in that line!" While ostensibly a retool of Legacy Evolution Beachcomber, Deluxe-class Ruckus is pretty much worth a review all by himself. Yes, they share some parts... they have the same thighs, hips, pelvis, the same hands, shoulders, and biceps, and the same wheels. That's basically it, though. New forearms, a new head and torso, a new lower legs with some crazy long feet practically make him a brand new figure. OK, so technically he has the same calf flaps, too. But really, if you saw these guys standing on a shelf and didn't know better, would you realize that Ruckus is a retool? Sure, it's pretty obvious that the engineering is going to be pretty similar, but that'd apply nearly as well to Titans Return Full Tilt. Just a few nitpicks, I promise. Hasbro put some incredible molded and painted details on his shins and forearms, as well as part of his backpack. These details are clearly meant to represent the stickers on the G1 toy, but they're a little off. The blue-and-silver details on his backpack and the outsides of his arms are fine, but the blue/silver/purple details on his forearms should actually be on his hips/pelvis. Not enough room, I guess, but it also suggests that Mark or the Takara team may have been working from an image that, as near as I can tell, was on the TFWiki until July of this year that had the stickers incorrectly places on his forearms. That doesn't explain, though, why the springs on his shins seem to be upside down vs the G1 stickers. The G1 toy also had spring stickers on his shoulders, but I supposed that wasn't an option when they recycled Beachcomber's. Alright, last time, I swear... Ruckus does come with the gun that Beachcomber comes with... but no birds of paradise! Instead, he comes with a pair of brand new guns. Ruckus' head is on a ball joint and can swivel, but up/down/sideways tilt is fairly limited. His shoulders rotate and can move about 75 degrees laterally when his arms are at his side, or significantly less if he raises his arm first. The fact is, Ruckus has a bit more bulk around his collar and backpack that the tires on his shoulders just can't clear. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend slightly over 90 degrees. His wrists swivel, as does his waist. His hips can go 90 degrees forward and slightly over that backwards or laterally. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees (more, if you open the flaps on his calves, but the flaps will be visible depending on the angle). There was some fear that the new feet wouldn't have ankle articulation, and while it's true he lacks any up/down tilt, he actually does have 90 degrees of ankle pivot. It's just that the pivot is right below the springs at the top of the windows, giving him the appearance of wearing high-heel boots. Ruckus can hold the two new guns via 5mm pegs on them... ...but they also have 5mm ports on their backs. These plug into the 5mm pegs on little swiveling blocks on his backpack, giving you shoulder cannons that can flip behind him and tuck away in the backpack, just like the G1 toy. Well, not exactly like the G1 toy... they're not spring-loaded, you have to flip them out manually. But as a tradeoff they can fold out to be a lot closer to straight ahead than the G1 toy. As for the Beachcomber one, that's the gun that Ruckus should hold in his 5mm port hands. He's also go 5mm ports on the outsides of his forearms, the backs of his shoulders, and one in the center of his backpack that happens to be a great place for him to store his Beachcomber gun when he's not carrying it. He's lacking 5mm ports below the waist, which is unusual for a Legacy toy, plus the ones on his shoulders are effectively vestigial ports from Beachcomber rendered useless on Ruckus due to his large backpack covering them from most angles. Transformation is mostly similar to Beachcomber. You're still essentially laying him on his tummy, opening the flaps on his calves, folding his heels toward his toes, and folding his legs over his thighs. The pistol still plugs into the front to act as a grill for the buggy. Ruckus doesn't have the extending torso, though; you just turn his head 180 degrees and hope his backpack kind of hides it. His new legs don't really flare out the way Beachcomber's do, but instead have little protrusions that act like pockets to cover his hands. It's a bit of a pain to open his calves and fold his legs over enough to work the hands into the pockets without locking his legs entirely into alt mode, which doesn't leave you with enough clearance to get the hands into the pockets. I know they're both dune buggies, but it's impressive how faithful Ruckus is to his G1 toy despite being a retool of Beachcomber. A lot of this is because, in alt mode, aside from the tires you're basically looking at new parts. Well, the gun-grill is the same, but G1 Ruckus didn't have a grill, so you could really toss it and be even more accurate. Maybe his front end is a little too wide, and the vents beside the cockpit a little thin, but that's really about it. The new flip-out guns can even sit a bit more flush into the sides if I hadn't put them on upside down while taking pictures and not realized it until editing said pictures... Again, no actual trigger mechanism, but the guns do still flip out in dune buggy mode. If you really want, you could remove the grill and plug it into the ports on his sides (forearms) or roof (backpack). No bones about it, for a C-list late G1 character like Ruckus this is a very good toy that barely counts as a retool. It's so good that I'm retroactively disappointed that his fellow Triggercons Crankcase and Windsweeper got significantly less extensive retools that omitted their flip-out gun-gimmick entirely. If Ruckus were being sold on his own I'd definitely tell you to buy him, but to get him you also have to get... ...Voyager-class Bludgeon, a figure we kind of already got last year in Legacy Evolution. And even then, as a retool of Tarn based on Alex Milne's rendition of Bludgeon in later IDW issues, it was kind of a stretch. Like the colors were mostly in the right spots (in bot mode), but they didn't retool anything but his head so the sculpt was pretty far off. But at least Tarn was another Milne design. The new chest, crotch, and jawless head as well as the more green-and-yellow, less orange-and-red colors indicate that this is supposed to be Bludgeon's much earlier IDW Stormbringer design by Don Figueroa, which bears even less resemblance to Tarn than Milne's design. They messed up the colors, even, painting his face silver and wires yellow instead of the other way around, giving Bludgeon the unfortunate appearance of being in the middle of slurping up some noodles. Transformation is the same, and all the accessories are the same, which again just goes to make a tank mode that's straight up Tarn's and not any version of Bludgeon's. And this is where our decision becomes a lot tougher. Ruckus as a solo $25 Deluxe is a definite buy, but $60 for Ruckus plus another version of a Bludgeon retool that wasn't very good in the first place? If you don't have any version of Bludgeon, I suppose you can use this one as a placeholder and enjoy Ruckus. But the Legacy Evolution release, despite not being remolded nearly enough, is probably closer to what you have in mind when you think of Bludgeon, and still not as good as the old Revenge of the Fallen toy. I know that Bludgeon wasn't in the G1 cartoon, but he was a fairly major villain in both the Marvel and IDW comics and even made an animated appearance in Transformers Cyberverse. Bludgeon deserves a better toy. We deserve a better toy.

I guess people are buying them, and more power to them, but I don't see the appeal of the G1 toys in cartoon colors. Personally, I want G1 toy reissues to be as close as possible to the original releases, and when I want cartoon accuracy I'll buy newer Transfomers.

So, I'm pretty sure I already listed leaks for basically the entire Age of Primes line (though I'm not entirely sure what's going in what waves anymore)... at least in the Deluxe, Voyager, and Leader categories (it's possible I didn't get all the Leaders). I got word today that the Commander-class is definitely Silverbolt. That's probably not surprising anyone, given that four of the Deluxes were Aerialbots. But I also got word today that the Titan-class is Star Convoy, and that's a huge surprise. I thought for sure it'd be something like Animated Omega Supreme or something. At some point in 2025 we're going to get some G2 Dinobots through Pulse. It's one product number (G1375). My source says he's not sure if it's Leaders or Cores, but given that G2 Grimlock is already a mainline retail listing for Age of Primes and I really don't see Hasbro releasing a $275 five-Leader boxset the safe money is on Cores, maybe with some of the extra accessories in the Dinoking set. Walmart will have exclusive "retro-inspired" Deluxes, Brawn and Seaspray. Given that they're actually listed as Deluxes I don't think they're part of the same retro line that's been shoving out G1 reissues in cartoon colors. I'm guessing Brawn is probably the SS86 toy with a new toy-style head, but Seaspray? Hopefully it's a new mold, and hopefully it doesn't turn out to be a shortpacked nightmare to get like Cosmos was. As for Target's exclusives, they're going to fall under the Studio Series banner. SSGE WFC Optimus and Megatron are going to be part of the line, but they have the word "variant" in the listing. It's not clear what that means, if it's just variant packaging, if they're repaints, or retools. The other two are listed as Devastation Sideswipe and Devastation Wheeljack. Again, it's not clear if these are new molds (we know a Deluxe-class Devastation Optimus is also coming, but in the regular retail lineup), or if they're be repaints/retools of the Siege/Earthrise toys.

I think the Classics mold was pretty great for a Deluxe in 2006, and simply making it bigger and adding ankle articulation made for a figure that's not as bad off as some of Hasbro's more obvious modern missteps... like the Deception triple changers he's being packed with, who look ok in bot mode but drop the ball in their alt modes. But yeah, in the years since Classics we've had enough examples of what can be done with a Seeker mold, especially with a buffer budget, that I'd have to imagine they're on the short list for an SS86 do-over.

You must not have binged far enough for Emerald Force to have shown up. 😁 Add the VF-19F/S and I'm right there with you.

Sorry, I think I originally meant to post on Monday but I wound up getting super busy this week. But yeah, the last Hi-Metal R figure I got (for now) is the VF-4G Lightning III. In my personal opinion, the VF-4 is by far one of Kawamori's most interesting designs, because it's so thoroughly unconventional. So many of Kawamori's designs follow a similar plan... make the legs engines, stuff the arms between them, use part of the fuselage for the back, and leave the cockpit somewhere in the chest. The VF-11's big innovation over the VF-1 seems to have been using a shield instead of a folding backpack and having the arms swing over the wings instead of under. Even the YF-19/VF-19, with it's aggressive forward-swept wing design, still has the same leg engines, arms between the legs, and cockpit-goes-in-the-chest design. While the VF-4 does use (most of) its legs to form (part of) the engine nacelle, and the cockpit is in the Battroid's chest, roughly 60% of the Fighter mode is still basically in Fighter mode, and oriented exactly the same as it'd be in flight. Some have suggested that it's a bit fugly. To be fair, the VF-4 is certainly both top-heavy and back-heavy, with a good chunk of the engine nacelles covering its shoulders, which are set back from the centerline of the torso, barely-folded wings and stabs, proportionally short thighs and long shins, and quite a bit of kibble on the forearms. I'd argue, though, that all of that gives the VF-4 a very distinctive silhouette (which is certainly more than I can say for the VF-25/VF-27/YF-29/YF-30/VF-31). The HMR VF-4G comes with three pairs of replacement hands (left and right open hands, left and right closed fists, and left and right trigger hands), landing gear, open and closed intakes, a gunpod, a gunpod handle, an adapter for carrying the gunpod in Fighter mode, two leg covers, a stand, two stand adapters, and a pilot figure. Not pictured, because I already installed them (but you can see spots in the tray for them between the pilot and gunpod), are fin antenna that goes on the Battroid's head (which the non-G VF-4 lacks), and the ventral fin that sits on the Fighter's chin directly under the cockpit. Well... the VF-4's design doesn't lend itself to a ton of articulation. The head is on a ball joint that has a little upward and sideways tilt in addition to swiveling, and a hinge will allow you to make the VF-4 look down if you don't mind breaking the sculpt a bit. The nacelles on the shoulders limit the shoulder swivel to about 90 degrees, with only about 60 degrees of lateral movment. The biceps swivel, and the elbows bend a little over 90 degrees. The wrists are ball joints for swiveling and some in/out tilt, but they don't have much room for up/down tilt. No waist swivel. The hips can swivel over 90 degrees forward, about 90 degrees backward (due to wearing most of the fuselage as a backpack), but only about 60 degrees laterally. You have some play around the ball to use as thigh swivels, but no dedicated swivel about the knee like the VF-1 and VF-0. The knees themselves are double jointed, with the lower joint behind the shin. They'll basically combine to give you a full 180 degrees of knee bend. The ankles are ball joints, and like the VF-1 they're on sliders to give you extra clearance for the up/down tilt you'll need more for Gerwalk mode, and they do provide some swivel, but ankle pivot is still minimal at best. The tiny stock hands of the VF-4 do not have a cutout for holding a weapon, and while the gunpod is the same GU-11 that comes with the VF-1, it lacks the smaller handle. So, if you it wielding the gunpod, you have to swap the hands by yanking them off the ball joints and swapping different ones on. Truthfully, this bothers me less than on the VF-0, though, because the VF-4's main weapon is supposed to be the beam cannons in the forearms; one could simply ignore the gunpod and you'd have a perfect transformation... almost*. As for the stand, it's similar to the one that came with the VF-0, except it's clear and doesn't have any text. It has just the one arm segment, without the extension tube. To use it with the Battroid, you need the adapter that wraps around the VF-4's butt with hooks that wrap over the hip joints. Obligatory Gerwalk pic. Yeah, it's kind of just the Fighter with 70% of it's nacelles turned into arms and legs, but aside from the hips being set further back than most Gerwalks I think it mostly works. It doesn't have the gaps in the rear that craft like the VF-11 and VF-19 do. Most of the transformation from Battroid to Gerwalk is shifting the bulk of the fuselage and wings off cockpit and neck, straightening the nose, and swinging the hips and part of the belly back. The stand for Gerwalk has clips that fit into notches in front of the hips and over the gaps where the legs come out. From Gerwalk we just fold in the hands, slide the forearms into the kibble, line them up with the top of the nacelles, then bend the hips and knees to align the bulk of the legs with the undersides of the nacelles. Say what you will about the Battroid, the VF-4 still has one of the most gorgeous Fighter modes. It's a shame, then, that it's fictional appearances have been so dull. The super red and super blue of M30, the gray-on-gray from VF-X (which Yamato/Arcadia used on their VF-4G), and the white-and-khaki briefly seen in Flashback 2012 (which Yamato/Arcadia and Bandai both used for the non-G VF-4). That's why I'm thrilled that Bandai used this "what if" deco inspired by the fact that Hikaru flew Roy's VF-1S in the TV series. Like the VF-1, you have to remove panels from the underside to plug in the landing gear. I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't prefer internal storage (even if it meant simpler, less detailed landing gear), but it bothers me less a flight stand is included. Likewise, the canopy still has to be removed to insert the pilot rather than opening, but leaving the pilot inside means you never have to remove the canopy since it doesn't have to be parts-swap with a heatshield the way the VF-1 does. *So what, ultimately, spoils my perfect transformation? The intakes. Swapping them is easy enough... pull the leg portion of the nacelle down, and you cans slide the intakes in and out of grooves near the knee. But whichever you choose, you'll have to remove it for Gerwalk or Battroid mode because the knee has to go through that space. Bummer. Well, as long as we're partsforming, even though I don't think the Battroids thighs look too bad in the belly of the plane you can cover them up with the including covers to give the belly a smoother, more continuous look. And while you're down there, you might notice some slots. between the (chest) intakes. This allows you to attach an adapter that has a little notch on it. The notch allows the gunpod to tab in and sit under the VF-4's belly. Also while you're down there, you can attach the same stand adapter you used for Gerwalk mode. You'll notice that the clips have a u-shape down to the peg hole; this leaves enough space for the gunpod to poke through so it can stay on while the Fighter sits on the stand. When I got the HMR VF-1s I was honestly surprised by how much I liked them. They made me feel good about my decision to go in on this line. The VF-0, on the other hand, was a bit frustrating and was giving me second thoughts. Happily, though, the VF-4 puts me back in the "I love HMR" camp. Bandai did a great job capturing one of Kawamori's most unconventional designs, and they get big bonus points from me for serving it up in a deco I like far better than the the standard Flashback 2012 version (though that deco is also available in HMR, with a reissue due out soon). My only real complaint is that the intakes have to be removed to transform the legs; they were so close to a perfect transformation if not for that. The VF-4 itself might not be for everyone, but if you're a fan of the design like I am the HMR is an easy recommend.

Ah, three of the WfC/Legacy molds most in need of a Studio Series do-over in one pack.

Ghost of Yotei, a sequel to Ghost of Tsushima, was announced today. On the one hand, yay, GoT was one of my favorite PlayStation games and I'm excited for it to get a sequel. In the other hand, I wish Sony did simultaneous PC releases instead of making me wait two or more years after. I haven't touched my PS5 in probably a year, and I don't know that I'll dust it off for one game.

Took my daughter to see it this morning. It's definitely no '86 movie (which honestly still holds up), but it's definitely the best Transformers movie since then, and probably the best Transformers animation product since Prime (though I agree with @tekering that Transformers peaked with Roberts' run at IDW). That said, I hope there's a Transformers Two, because

Maybe? I mean, it comes out of the box in Battroid mode. I tried to jam the chest down, but didn't try the nose. Ultimately they're all staying in Fighter mode, so...

I tried. All that happened was that the entire chest came off.

Yeah, I mean, the art (box?) says Liolaeus Prime, but I believe Liolaeus is the Japanese name for Rathalos. Like I said, I don't really know much about Monster Hunter as I could never get into the games, but it's my understanding that Rathalos/Liolaeus is the iconic monster from the games, like the slime is to Dragon Quest. ...dang it, now I kind of want a Dragon Quest crossover that turns into a slime.

Excuse the crappy quality of the pics, but this is all I got so far. I don't know jack about Monster Hunter, but this looks like an extensive retool of Airazor to me. The general consensus is that this is already much better than the Godzilla collab.

Yeah, I kind of wonder if having spent the last nearly two decades collecting Transformers of the retail, Masterpiece, and unlicensed 3P varieties have colored my notions of toy engineering and expectations vs some of you guys who have been collecting Macross toys for that long (or longer!). At the very least, I hope my perspective makes for an interesting read for you guys, because I do have another Hi-Metal R for you tonight... Roy's VF-0S. Watching Macross Zero back in the day left me with the impression that the VF-0 was kind of like a rough-draft VF-1 (despite it having the pointed toes that came on almost every variable fighter after the VF-1)... same basic transformation, a little less refined, and traditional engines instead of reaction engines. I don't think I ever appreciated just how much bigger the VF-0 actually is until I had them side-by-side. Aesthetically, the VF-0 is similar to the VF-1, and I don't mean that in the sense that they're both sporting the Jolly Rodger. I mean that one again Bandai applied paint cleanly and effectively to bring out the appropriate details on an excellently-sculped figure that looks good from all angles... almost. From the side, the chest seems to stick out a bit, and you can see a bit of the cockpit's canopy poking out. It's almost like the inside of the heatshield isn't quite the right shape to cover the cockpit. Something else to note, where the backpack thrusters are just there on the VF-1, they retract up into the backpack on the VF-0. To properly deploy them, you need to move the tailhook to find a notch. You need to work a tool into the notch and push the thrusters out. Fortunately, Roy's VF-0S comes with a small tool for exactly that. You also get a gunpod, some leg armor, a second set of head lasers, two alternate sets of wings, four racks of missiles, landing gear, alternate intakes, a little pilot, two long pitot tubes (which are identical, one is just in case you break or lose the other), one small pitot tube, four sets of replacement hands (right and left closed fists, gun hands, splayed-finger hands, and relaxed hands), a stand, and stand adapters for all three modes. For the most part, the VF-0 has similar articulation to the VF-1. The head can swivel, and the swivel is on a flap, which is all necessary for transformation but the flap can be used to help the VF-0 look down. A ball joint where the head connects to the neck also gives the VF-0 some up/down/sideways tilt. The main issue here is that the neck kind of scrunches into the head for transformation, and to get the most out of the articulation you have to pull the head back up... which more often than not caused the entire head to pop off the flap. Moving on, the shoulders are ball joints that can swivel and move laterally 90 degrees, and hinges give them some forward butterfly as well. The biceps swivel, and the double-jointed metal elbows combine for 180 degrees of bend. The hands are connected via ball joints, which give you some up/down/in/out tilt in addition to swivels. No waist swivel. The ball jointed hips have limited forward/backward range due to the wings, but they again provide for about 45 degrees of lateral movement, while the Gerwalk hinge gives you 90 degrees of forward him movement. You can use the ball joints in the hips for some thigh swivel, but there's a dedicated swivel above the knees. Speaking of knees, they bend a little under 90 degrees. If there's one thing that's improved it's the ankles. They can slide out a little further than the VF-1, which doesn't really do much for the upward tilt of the feet, but it does give them better range tilting downward, a little more ankle swivel, and best of all at least some ankle pivot. Unlike the VF-1, the stock hands cannot hold the gunpod, so you have to swap hands if you want to use it. It's a bit of a bummer, since the VF-0's chest covers the cockpit without removing the canopy or replacing it with a heat shield made the VF-0 potentially closer to a perfect transformation. As long as we're partsforming, though, like the VF-1 you can pull the wings off and replacement them with smaller, fused wings for Battroid mode. The smaller pitot tube is also technically for Battroid mode... I guess so you can say it's there without actually seeing it (though, honestly, I'd just leave it off at that point). The leg armor uses a pair of tabs to plug into slots on the sides of the legs. And since the VF-0 comes with a stand, I can talk about it this time. For Battroid mode, you'll use this part to sit behind the nose, with the hooks wrapping under and cradling the swing bar. This is the only stand part that has a peg instead of a hole, so you'll have to use the long tube on the stand arm to change the stand's peg into a hole. Obligatory Gerwalk picture. Looks good once you get there. Gerwalk mode has it's own stand adapter. This one has a slot that fits over the tab on the swing bar (the one that plugs into the underside of the nose), while the rest of the adapter wraps around the metal part. This adapter has a hole, so you either don't need the tube, or you need to put the topper on the tube so it ends in a peg instead of a hole. Transforming the VF-0 is pretty similar to the VF-01... the nose unclips from the swing bar, a hatch opens on the back for the head to pass through, the chest rocks back to link to the back, intakes plug into the underside of the chest, the arms slide down, double-hinge in so they touch, then slide back up, backpack folds back, and the legs plug into the back, legs, and backpack. The thing is, subtle differences in clearance seem to conspire against you. The head lasers don't quite through the gap in the back, even after you swap them with the other pair, and my manipulations caused the head to pop off. The shoulders rub against the backs of the legs, and I popped an arm off from the slider. Rocking the chest back, I wound up popping it off, too. The vertical stabilizers also rub against each other in a way that feels like I'm forcing them past each other. They seem to slide out a bit to mitigate that, but I wound up sliding one completely off. All the parts that popped off go right back on, but after the mostly-pleasant transformation of the VF-1 the fact that any parts popped off, let alone that many, left me feeling frustrated. Worth it, though? Once you get it there and get everything plugged in, the VF-0S is certainly a good-looking Fighter. Again, nicely-painted details, sharp sculpt, etc. The painted exhaust fans inside the feet are a nice touch. Rather than removable panels like the VF-1, the VF-0 actually has flaps that open for the landing gear... but you still have to dig the landing gear out and plug them into the sockets. Ditching the removable panels feels like a step in the right direction, I just wish they would have gone the rest of the way and put hinged landing gear permanently inside. While we're under there, the tailhook moves, and the gunpod can mount to the fighter's belly. It works more like the Yamato/Arcadia- the handle doesn't come off, it slides up into the barrel and the barrel collapses. The bit that's left sticking out has a slot that sandwiches between recessed tabs on the VF-0's arms. Despite not needing to remove it for transformation, the canopy still has to be removed rather than hinging opened. You can sit your little Roy in the seat, and again I'm impressed with the paint and detail on such a tiny figure. The normal "closed" intakes can slide off, just like the VF-1, to be replaced with open intakes for atmospheric flight... which is the only kind the VF-0 was meant for, what with the traditional engines. (So... why does the VF-0 still have vernier nozzles on the nose, chest, and near the elbows?) The longer pitot tube is meant for Fighter mode, and you can attach it by plugging a tiny peg into a little hole under the nose. The leg armor can still be used in Fighter (and Gerwalk mode). It's not even necessary to remove it to transform. And again, like the VF-1, the "standard" wings are smooth underneath. You can pop them off and replace them with wings that are identical save for the raised peg holes on the underside that allow you to plug in the missile racks. The largest stand adapter has tabs that fit into slots on the sides of the intakes, cradling the legs but leaving a gap that the gunpod can fit through. As with the Gerwalk adapter, the bottom is a hole so you don't need the extra tube. Ultimately, I'm not sorry I got the VF-0S. It looks great in all three modes, and is going to make a nice display with my other HMR figures. However, I'm definitely glad the VF-0S wasn't my first HMR, because I might have assumed the frustration I felt with parts popping off during transformation was typical for the HMR line and just quit right there. As it stands, the VF-0 is my least-favorite HMR so far, but that's kind of ok, because the VF-0 is one of my least-favorite Valkyries anyway (the VF-5000 and VF-11 are more interesting takes on the basic VF-1 transformation, IMHO). I have stronger feelings for the VF-4, so as long as it's better...

Thanks for the love! Unfortunately I don't have too many left to review, especially since I don't plan on doing new VF-1 reviews every time I pick up another paint job. I'm saving for a VF-2SS, and crossing my fingers that Bandai retools their new VF-19 Kai into a VF-19F/S. Then I just gotta cross my fingers and hope that a VF-11, YF-19, YF-21/VF-22, and VF-17 are in the cards soon. To be clear, it's not like I'm saying the Fugu is terrible or anything (and I've got no experience with the Valkyrie Factory one, unless Fugu and Valkyrie Factory are actually the same people). But the plastic just (subjectively) doesn't feel as good as the plastic Bandai used on the HMRs, and the joint tolerances on the Fugu range from "I think I'm going to break this" tight in the shoulders to leaning over backward with FAST packs loose in the spaces between the ratchet detents in the feet. I also feel like Fugu uses thinner parts, or at least proportionally thinner parts. As an example, the post with the ball joints going into the hips on the HMRs are about the same size as the the ones on the Fugu, despite the HMR's only coming to the top of the Fugu's intakes, plus the entire swing bar is plastic on the Fugu while the HMR's use metal for the vertical part and have it more reinforced where it connects to the plastic horizontal part. If they weren't so expensive I'd like to try a Bandai DX VF-1 someday. The impression I get is that a lot of people here prefer the Arcadias, but I have a feeling I'd like the DX.