mikeszekely

I might pick up the tapes, because Rumble and Frenzy, but I still have Soundwave from the last time he got reissued at TRU. I'm not really interested in the minibots, but if they reissue Powerglide I'll bite.

Dr Wu, right? I did a quick search and it seems stock of it has long since dried up. I dunno. Now that I did my write up, I'm thinking I might sell Protector with Classics Hot Rod.

So yesterday I tackled the question of "which Hot Rod is the best for CHUG?". And while I did answer it, I also put forth another question: what do you do if you want Rodimus Prime, not Hot Rod. And it turns out your options are a bit more limited. Really, to have options, plural, we're going to have to bring in a third party... So these are really your two candidates. On the left we have have good old Classics Rodimus from 2006, and on the right we have 2017's Power of the Primes Leader-class Rodimus Prime. What's interesting here is that both toys are taking the same approach- start with Hot Rod, add a trailer. The difference is that PotP Rodimus was designed from the start for this and comes with his trailer, but the trailer we're going to use with Classics Rodimus is Fansproject's Protector, a piece from the nascent days of the third party scene. Both trailers work in a similar fashion. You open the sides up, tuck the car in, and close the sides back up with the cars' spoilers peaking out. What I find truly amazing here is how a nine year old third party upgrade attached to a thirteen year old toy pulls it off Rodimus so much better than a two that's not even two. PotP has a weirdly elongated cab section, big gaps where the spoiler pokes through the trailer, wheels so cheap they'd look bad on a Legends-class toy, super obvious robot feet hanging off the back, and the flames on the sides are undersized stickers of dubious quality. Classics + Protector's cab is also pretty long, but it's partly helped by the new spoiler on the trailer that sits over the car's roof. It's also easier to forgive, since we're technically talking about a car that was never meant to be a trailer cab. The fit of the trailer is actually pretty snug, and the color of Fansproject's plastic is a pretty good match, if a bit less glossy, than Classics Rodimus'. I especially dig how the flames on the trailer are actually molded into the trailer, and molded to look like they're coming out of the exhaust pipes on the side. PotP Rodimus also has super visible robot hands on the front of the trailer. At least the space Winnebago mode has peg holes on top for the guns, since the car alone couldn't accommodate them. Protector, meanwhile, managed to integrate Classics Rodimus' gun the same way the car did, as a Batmobile exhaust. You can even still use the flame accessory. Moving out of vehicle mode, Rodimus Prime's arms come off the top of the trailer, Hot Rod transforms into Rodimus' shoulders, head, and the front of his torso, while the entire rest of the trailer transforms into the back of the torso, pelvis, and legs. Since he came as part of the PotP line, he does have a little Matrix. The center of the Matrix is a solid piece, but molded like the Enigmas that came with the Combiner torsos in this line. You can pop the center of the Matrix out and plug in a Prime Master or a Titan Master. I personally enjoy putting Titans Returns Hot Rod's head in there, for a little Rodception. Protector does things a little differently. There's not really a lot of transformation going on with Classics Hot Rod, for starters. You just fold his feet and hands in, then bend his elbow as much as it goes and rotate his shoulders 90 degrees. It's not strictly necessary, but I think it helps if you widen his hips, like you're starting to go back to car mode but stop after only a third of the way. Then you take the upgrade parts off of the trailer, but unlike PotP Rodimus we don't use the whole trailer for this. The robot results are a bit of a mixed bag. PotP Rodimus looks the part, at a glance. But then you look a little closer, and you'll see large chunks of kibble on the backs of his forearms, a large section of the trailer just dangling off of his back, a big gap between the red and the orange in his neck, and Hot Rod's robot arms visible just behind Rodimus' chest from any angle except dead on. But worst of all, you'll see Hot Rod's thighs sticking out from behind Rodimus' head and acting as his shoulders. Classics Rodimus + Proctor has his own issues, though, and they're largely due to being parts added to another figure. His hands and forearms are a bit big for his arms, especially his skinny biceps. His waist is too narrow. His thighs look super thin and short, while his lower legs are too long. Like PotP Rodimus, Hot Rod's forearms are still visible as kibble on the backs of Protector's arms (though at least the hands are folded away). And if I'm being honest I'm not a fan of the face sculpt. I do like the spoiler, though, and the 3D flames on Protector's chest. As I mentioned before, with Siege seemingly taking a more serious approach to scale, it makes sense to consider the size of these guys. Classics Rodimus is maybe half a head shorter than Siege Optimus when he's wearing his Protector gear, which is a good size for Rodimus Prime. PotP Rodimus is too huge, though. We can also consider articulation. Classics Rodimus is largely limited by his original joints. Even with the Protector armor on he's still using the original neck swivel, shoulders, waist (or lack thereof), hips, thigh swivels, and knees, which are now weirdly high on his legs. The new arms do add bicep and wrist swivels, and the elbows can bend 90 degrees. The new feet have ankle pivots as well. In some ways, PotP Rodimus has better articulation, but it's awkward and compromised by loose knees and ankles and the fact that his shoulders are thighs. Basically, his head can swivel, his shoulder can rotate, but what lateral motion you get on the shoulder comes from Hot Rod's hips, behind Rodimus' head, moving the entire thigh. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend just over 90 degrees, and his wrists can swivel, although his waist still can't. His hip skirt, which is one solid piece, does hinge up to allow his hips to move forward 90 degrees and backward just two clicks on a weak ratchet. The skirts on the sides do not move, limiting his hips to about 60 degrees of lateral movement. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees... backwards or forwards. His feet have some up/down tilt, and can pivot about 45 degrees. Both of PotP's black guns combine to form a more traditional Rodimus Prime rifle. Meanwhile... ...Protector comes with a few options. For one, inside the remaining trailer is a rifle part. It can be held alone, but it's designed to fit into the barrel of Classics' Rodimus' gun. Protector also comes with Sidearm, a little homage to Firebolt. Meanwhile, the trailer itself can transform into a double-barreled tank-like vehicle, complete with a little seat for Sidearm. Or, the tank-like vehicle can open up into a weapon platform similar to the G1 Rodimus Prime trailer. There's even fold-out handles that Protector-wearing Rodimus can grab onto. Even better, transforming the trailer like this releases a small Roller-style drone car. The drone has a rotating piece on top with a 5mm peg hole on one side and a 4mm peg hole on the other, allowing it to tote a variety of weapons that Rodimus may not be using while he's manning the big guns. And the best part is that it has a hole on the rear that works with Rodimus' flame accessory. It's also worth noting that Protector comes with alternate gold chrome spoilers in case you're using it with a Henkei Hot Rodimus, and a special piece that fits over both Protector's fist and Classics Optimus' fist so that it looks like they're shaking hands. Gun to my head, Classics Rodimus with Protector beats PotP Rodimus Prime. The Protector set is really well-made and comes with a lot of options to increase your play value. However, while they've come down a lot you can still expect a Protector set to run you $60-$80 on the second hand market, plus you'd need to track down a Classics or Henkei Rodimus to put it on (you can use other repaints of the Classics mold, like the "Challenge at Cybertron" or the "Battle in Space" version, but Protector is color matched best with the original Classics or Henkei version). PotP Rodimus is definitely a cheaper option. I'm seeing him in stock at Amazon, BBTS, or TFSource for around $50-$55, and I happened to find him in the clearance at Target for under $30. I think if you're going to go that route, though, you might be better off using him G1-style. That is, use the smaller robot as your Rodimus Prime, and use the trailer as something you attach just for alt mode. Waiting for something better is always an option, too. However, while I could see Hot Rod turning up in Siege sooner rather than later who knows when we'll see another space Winnebago.

Still technically working through my PotP clearance, but we're going to try something a little different, and we're going to do this in two parts (with part 2 coming maybe tomorrow in the 3P thread). Instead of reviewing one figure, we're going to look at three times Hot Rod has appeared in the Classics/Generations line, and I'm going to tell you which one I think is the best. So here are our candidates, in the order of their release, with G1 Hot Rod and MP-28 for the sake of comparison. We've got Classics Rodimus (Deluxe, 2006), Titans Return Hot Rod (Deluxe, 2016) and Power of the Primes Evolution Rodimus Prime (Leader, 2017). Out of the gate, any of the figures is instantly recognizable as Hot Rod. Based on looks alone, though, PotP Hot Rod comes out swinging with a strong mix of cartoon and toy visuals. The shape of the chest is great, better than MP-28's. His shins and boots are black like the cartoon, but he's got stickers on his shins and shoulders that are very in keeping with the G1 toy. And, because it matters, his spoiler is the most visible behind his shoulders. Classics Hot Rod gets an A for effort, but there's something about him that's kind of off, in that "we're like G1 but not G1" way the old Classics were. And Titans Return Hot Rod is just a weird beast, with a bright red instead of the usual maroon, silver accents, and a strange cut out for his abs. It's like it's trying to walk a line that's kind of G1, but kind of IDW since More than Meets the Eye was very popular at the time TR Hot Rod was released. Both Classics and TR lose points for the engine on the chest. Only PotP gave Hot Rod is popped collar. Do note, though, that the Takara Legends version of TR Hot Rod was colored more traditionally maroon with black shins and feet, and the chest was remolded so that engine flipped away, he has the popped collar, and he doesn't have the ab cut. Appearance is important, but with Studio Series and Siege kind of establishing that the mainline stuff can exist in relative scale then size could be a factor as well. Classics Rodimus is pretty short, really. Titans Return Hot Rod is just a little taller than Siege Sideswipe, and that feels like a good height for Hot Rod. PotP Hot Rod is pretty tall, maybe half a head shorter than Optimus and much taller than Sideswipe. If scale matters, PotP Hot Rod might be a better stand in as Rodimus Prime than Hot Rod. TR Hot Rod is probably your best bet, but there's always a good chance we'll get a new Siege version of him. We must also consider engineering, articulation, and accessories. It's here that Classics Rodimus is really starting to show his age. No waist swivel, no bicep swivel, no ankle tilts, less than 90 degrees of knee bend, hips hindered by his back kibble, miniscule lateral movement at the shoulders, and a gun that looks like a hair dryer. Due to his gimmicks, PotP Hot Rod Isn't exactly pulling his weight, either. He's got more lateral shoulder movement, and a ball joint doubles as a bicep swivel and elbow joint. A second transformation joint effectively gives him a double-jointed elbow, too. But he doesn't have a waist swivel, his hips are nearly as restricted by back kibble as Classics Hot Rod, his hips can only go about 45 degrees forward even with the hinge to move the entire front of his pelvis up, his knees can only bend 60 degrees, and he still doesn't have ankle pivots. His guns look ok, if a little big for him. TR Hot Rod is the winner here, though. Hinges in his shoulders let him get nearly 90 degrees of lateral movement. His elbows bend 90 degrees, and he's the only one of the three with a waist swivel. His ball jointed hips are a little looser than I'd prefer, but he can 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally, and he's got a cut thigh swivel. His knees can normally bend about 90 degrees, but if you open the back you get access to another hinge if you want to push it farther. He, too, lacks ankle pivots, but his feet are slightly angled to give him a natural A stance. Of the three, he's also the most stable. His guns look pretty good, aside from the cutouts for the Titan Master to sit in. When it comes to alt modes, Classics Rodimus is again doing the Classics thing of being similar to G1, but definitely not G1. In fact, it's been reported that Classics Rodimus is actually based on the real Dome Zero car. And while it works as Hot Rod, it's definitely the least Hot Rod. PotP Hot Rod initially looked pretty strong, as it's the only one with the cartoon-style spoiler. The angles are quite a bit harder, though. The exhaust pipes on the sides don't really travel the length of the car, and leave an unsightly red hinge on the sides of the car. And of all the Hot Rods, it's the only one without the exposed engine. Personally, I think that TR Hot Rod looks pretty great, though. The spoiler is between G1 and Classics. Of the three, it's got the most G1-style exhaust pipes. The proportions are somewhat exaggerated, with the sides of the car being a little wider and curvier, but the overall shape is fairly G1 as well. Even if the makes a kind of stupid-looking gun, I do love how it becomes the exhaust in car mode. TR Hot Rod can't hide his guns, but they can peg onto the sides behind the front wheels. And while TR Hot Rod isn't a Targetmaster, he is a Titan Master. That means that he's the only one out of the three who's cockpit can open, and the head robot can ride inside. Alternatively, if you want something a little closer to Targetmaster good times, the two guns can fit together to create one double-barreled gun that uses a pair of tabs to fit into the engine. There's space in the gun for the Titan Master to ride there, manning the gun instead of driving the car. As for PotP Hot Rod, he doesn't really do much of anything in car mode. I couldn't find a place to store his guns. So, based on the facts, I think Titans Return Hot Rod is the way to go. Honestly, I don't remember Classics Hot Rod as being one of the better Classics figures at the time, and he really hasn't aged gracefully. PotP Hot Rod looks the best in robot mode, but the engineering is a bit clunky, the car mode isn't the best, and he's a little too tall. Titans Return Hot Rod has the best articulation and the best car mode, and he's the best size for CHUG-style Hot Rod. His robot aesthetic is a little off, but you can get around that by picking up the Takara Legends version instead. While I do enjoy the figure, though, he's definitely a product of the old Prime Wars-style engineering. If you're like me and kind of got away from CHUG and are only really getting back into the mainline stuff because of Siege, well, you might as well just wait for a Siege Hot Rod. But what if it's not Hot Rod you're after? What if you're craving a Rodimus Prime? We're going to explore that, too, so be on the lookout for part 2 over in the 3P thread.

This. Bioware was one of my favorite developers, but EA has left them a broken shell of what they used to be.

Ugh, that kind of makes me want to pick up the repaint, but I've got nearly $1000 in preorders between now and the end of March already.

I have the original release and it's one of my three favorite Primes (along with MS-01 and TFC's Stoomander). When I reviewed it I recommended it, and I still do. Curious, though, how are the joints on this repaint? My only complaint about the original was that some of the joints, especially the hips, could have been a little tighter.

Finished the AC5 campaign with both of the A-routes. Started a new SP campaign to do the B-routes. 12B still sucks, but not as bad as I remember. I just used and F/A-18, used afterburners until the LASM could get a lock, then fired when Edge got to 5 on the countdown. Also started AC6 on the Xbox One. Nowhere near as bad as Assault Horizon, but I'm starting to remember what I didn't like about it. Definitely the worst of the proper numbered games in the series.

I kind of glossed over the Prime Armor in general, because I'd covered it when I reviewed the Dinobots and Terrorcons. I kind of thought it was understood that you could plug them in to one of the available 5mm peg holes on their alt modes. I missed the homage to their Powermaster engines, though. I kind of wrote the Prime Armor off as the less spikey but otherwise the same as the ones we'd got with the Dinobots and Terrorcons.

What was the third? Ace Combat 7? Well, the RE2 remake is definitely on my short list. I played the demo on PS4 and was surprised by how well the developers managed to make things familiar enough to give me nostalgia (RE2 was actually my first RE game), yet new enough that it really felt fresh. Tried the demo again on PC, and yeah, mouse and keyboard looks like the way to go. Which is pretty much the only reason I didn't buy it yet; my PC is getting old and at this stage in life playing on console is a little more convenient. As for Kingdom Hearts III, I'd managed to ignore the series so far, but now that I have a kid I thought it might be fun to play with her. I decided I'd better get caught up on the series first, though, and I noticed that Squeenix released a "The Story So Far" compilation on PS4. At least, they released physical copies, with a retail price of $39.99. And that's where things get weird. Even though it just came out, it seems like it's sold out at most places. Places like Amazon, Walmart, and ebay all have sellers listing it for $95+, so I thought I'd grab a digital copy. But the digital options are 1.5 + 2.5 Remix for $50, and 2.8 Final Chapter sold separately for $60. No wonder the physical copies are going for so much! Luckily I managed to find a single Gamestop within 15 miles that had one last physical copy, so , yeah. I'll play it. If I like it then I'll worry about KH3.

I know that the bulk of us are playing on PS4, but did anyone happen to grab Ace Combat 7 for Xbox One? I'm curious, because it looks like Ace Combat 5 is actually port for PS4 and not simple PS2 emulation. But I saw that since AC7 came out that AC6 popped up in the Xbox One's backwards compatibility list, which works for me since I a.) bought an Xbox One X on a whim during the holiday season, and b.) still have my AC6 disc. I'm curious, though, if the version of AC6 you get with the XB1 version of AC7 is just the BC store download or if it's actually a port like AC5. Side note, after playing AC5 I really want Bamco to give AC4 and AC0 the same treatment.

Working through my backlog of clearanced Power of the Primes stuff, here's Deluxe-class Darkwing Blackwing and Dreadwind. It's kind of disappointing that, as much as they milked the Combiner Wars molds during the actual Combiner Wars line, what we're seeing here are basically remolds of Combiner Wars Skydive and Air Raid. All four figures have the same hips, thighs, and shins. Dreadwind has the same biceps as the Aerialbots, and his forearms are nearly the same as Skydive's. Darkwing at least gets new biceps, but he's got Air Raid's forearms with no modifications. From behind you can see that the cockpit and nose on Dreadwind is the same as Skydive's. The back of his legs are the same, just with and additional hinged piece for the wings. The actually wings on those hinges are the same as Skydive's, as well as his back. Darkwing fairs a little better. He's got the same back of the legs and wings as Air Raid, but that seems to be all. Due to being retooled Aerialbots Dreadwind really gets the short end of the stick. His wings are on his legs instead of his back; ironically, they'd have been more accurate if they'd just copied Skydive instead of putting them on the hinges. But the most obvious difference is that the cockpit is on his back instead of his chest. His new shoulders are at least pretty accurate, he's got a strong head sculpt, and at least the colors are accurate... assuming you're cool with Dreadwind and didn't actually want Buster. Things work better for Darkwing, perhaps due to the fact that Darkwing is supposed to have the cockpit on his back. The silver trapezoid with his Decepticon emblem was on the original toy, and the big Aerialbot knee pads are more easily passed off as G1 sticker details. He's just missing the engines peaking from behind his head and a better way to fold up his wings. Dreadwind comes with a gun, similar to his G1 toy except solo instead of paired and teal instead of gray. Darkwing's actually got two gray guns, but they're proportionally smaller. Both figures come with with the ridiculous "Prime Armor" combiner hands. Aside from mentioning that both figures have flip-down spots on their chests to reveal a peg for them, I'm not going to waste any more time talking about the Prime Armors. I think we all know how they work now. If you've got any CW Aerialbots you should know exactly what to expect from these guys in terms of articulation. If you need a refresher, though, ball-jointed heads with minimal tilt (except Darkwing is really good at looking up due to his transformation), ball-jointed shoulders on Darkwing that can swivel and move laterally over 90 degrees, universal shoulders on Dreadwind that swivel and extend laterally 90 degrees, mushroom bicep swivels, elbows that bend 90 degrees, no wrist articulation, waist swivels a little below their actual waists, ball-jointed hips that can go 90 degrees forward and backward and only 60 degrees laterally, mushroom thigh swivels, knees that bend 90 degrees, and nothing at the feet and ankles. They can, of course, hold their guns just fine. They also both have 5mm peg holes on the outside of their forearms. In jet mode, we can see again just how much they borrowed from the Combiner Wars molds. Dreadwind is entirely Skydive, just with extra swing-hinged parts between the fuselage and the wings, different colors, and different robot kibble on the underside. Darkwing has the same wings and tail as Air Raid, but he at least gets a new fuselage, cockpit, nose, and wing roots. Both jets have a peg hole on top, ostensibly for the Prime armor although I like to use Dreadwind's for his gun to maintain symmetry. They both also have the holes on their robot arms accessible, which works best for storing Darkwing's guns. Dreadwind has the same 5mm peg holes under his wings that Skydive had, but the bottom of Darkwing's wings have been remolded from Air Raids, and he lost his wing holes in the process. In an homage to the original toys, the jets can combine to form Dreadwing. It's actually not that far off, either. Darkwing's nose folds back the same way, although his wings flip over to get close enough to Dreadwind's and in doing so hide the details that were on top. As for Dreadwind, instead of his tail folding up on to his back his wings hinge backward to meet with Darkwing's, that way the same peg hole you'd use for combiner hands and feet can be used as the connection point for Darkwing. Personally, this mode didn't do anything for me in G1, so it's not really doing anything for me now. It doesn't help that the connection is pretty loose between them. But it's still a thing you can do with them that you could do in G1, so I guess they had to include it. Given that they're remolded Aerialbots, and given PotP's proclivity for bringing back the combiner gimmick from Combiner Wars, Darkwing and Dreadwind can be used as combiner limbs. Dreadwind works pretty much just like Skydive, they just had to come up with something slightly different to do with his slightly different wings. and a slightly different way for his arms to sit in arm mode. Things aren't quite as good for Darkwing, but his problems seem to be caused by following the official instructions. I mean, for arm mode they want his wings flipped at the ball joint from robot mode, but still angled so they're pointed up, then the arms pegged onto the wings and the nose folded down on the back. It's awkward because it makes him much wider as a shoulder from front to back than pretty much any other combiner limb. You can instead arrange him as I did at the far left, and slots on his forearms that are actually a relic of Air Raid's can still lock onto tabs on his engine intakes. Meanwhile, the official transformation for leg mode has his wings sticking pretty far off the gestalt shin. This is easily remedied, though, by rotating the wings at the ball joints so the painted sides face toward each other instead of away. In this position they can fold in more tightly against shin. All of that assumes, of course, that you actually plan to use them as combiner limbs, but I don't really recommend that. Honestly, I don't really recommend them at all. They're floppy in the way Hasbro Transformers were before Siege, they've got the plastic-saving hollow spaces, the Dreadwing mode is too loose and as dumb now as it was in 1988, the reuse of Skydive's mold doesn't work particularly well for Dreadwind, and even though it works better for Darkwing there's still the fact that Hasbro was still milking Combiner Wars molds in the first place. It doesn't really help that I don't have a strong attachment to the characters, knowing them better as Buster and Hydra (where they had red instead of teal). They're examples of all the stuff Hasbro was doing that the fandom hated.

MPM-8 is Megatron (from the 2007 film), and MPM-9 is Jazz. Jazz will apparently split at the waist and have a robo-spine accessory for recreating that moment where Megatron rips him in half.

Well, considering that G1 Full-Tilt came with Trypticon, I guess it's no surprise that Titans Return Full-Tilt comes with Titans Return Titan-Class Trypticon. While I didn't get a lot of Season 1 and 2 Transformers as a kid, my dad started a new job and we could afford more toys from the movie on. So for my birthday in... probably 1987, I'd guess, I got Trypticon. And he instantly became one of my favorite toys... seriously, I dragged that thing around the way other kids carried stuffed animals. So, about a week out from my 2019 birthday, I'm kind of jazzed to get another Trypticon. And he's a big one! Depending on how you position him he can be almost twice as tall as the original. Some of the nostalgia might very well be because this Trypticon is the same size relative to adult me as the original one was to seven-year-old me. Hasbro really didn't mess as much with Trypticon as it looks like they did with their other Titan citybots. He's got a lot more molded detail, silver paint instead of chrome, and some of the teal on him is translucent plastic, but for the most part everything is as it should be. He's even got the purple bits on the inside of his feet. If I have one complaint, it might be that he looks a little bland compared to my memory of the G1 toy. But, I probably put the stickers on my G1 toy. And guess what? TR Trypticon comes with stickers! There's over 150 of the little buggers. Although I didn't sticker him before taking the photos, I finished stickering him before sitting to write this, and it took hours. Two complaints I have about the stickers: first, the instructions are terrible at indicating where they actually go, and second, they're kind of cheap. They're a light foil material, prone to tearing where they weren't cut well on the sheet. They do give me those G1 nostalgic feels, though. Aside from stickers, he just comes with Full-Tilt, Necro, and Full-Tilt's guns. You don't get any of the little buildings you could use to make Brunt, although I'm not really mad at that since Brunt is coming in Siege, and you don't get the little radar dishes or weapon emplacements that came with G1 Trypticon. One thing TR Trypticon does much better than the G1 toy is articulation. His head has a 90 degree range of tilt, from parallel with his body to perpendicular. He can swivel it, too, but you have to raise the cannons on his back as the entire assembly turns. His mouth can open and close, although his mouth is always slightly open. His shoulders can rotate 360 degrees, and a hinge inside lets him move his shoulders laterally nearly 90 degrees. His elbows have just under 90 degrees of bend. Although there's no bicep or wrist swivels, his wrists can bend 90 degrees up and nearly 90 degrees down. His upper claws are molded as one piece, and they're hinged to open. His thumb is a separate piece, also hinged. His hips are ratcheted for rotation, and another ratchet lets him move his hips laterally about 30 degrees. His knees are ratcheted and can bend forward a little as well as a little under 90 degrees backward. No waist or thigh swivels. His feet don't tilt up or down, although the silver toes can bend 90 degrees down, but he does have a ratchet for 45 degrees of ankle pivot. There's also a sliding joint in his tail, so the whole thing can be bent up and down. This allows you to have his tail dragging whether you decide to pose him with his legs and posture straight or with his knees bend and his body leaning forward. Alas, he doesn't have wheels on his tail, which is a bummer. Full-Tilt can, of course, attach to his chest. The cannons on his back can still be flipped around over his shoulders. And he still has a double-barreled gun in his mouth for a tongue. They did away with the G1 toy's motorized walking gimmick. I don't know if that'll disappoint some of you. Personally I think it's a fair trade for better articulation and not having his arms physically connected to his hips. Now, Trypticon was released under the Titans Return banner. And you'd think making Full-Tilt and Headmaster would be enough to cover that. But, Hasbro actually made a spot for Necro to plug into Trypticon's head, between the purple bits at the back. Plugging Necro in will cause the translucent bit on top of Trypticon's head to pop open and reveal his forehead gun. Thing is, you don't need Necro to do it. The attachment point is basically a button your can press yourself. You can also manually open the translucent bit. I gotta say, I like this. It helps Necro feel more integral, especially when Full Tilt is on Trypticon's chest, but at the same time it doesn't feel like this extra bit of inclusion is shoehorned in or otherwise detrimental to the experience. One other Titan Master gimmick Hasbro included that, again, doesn't detract from the experience, is that they put a hole in the back of Trypticon's throat. The hole is big enough so that he can "eat" Titan Masters. To retrieve them you just open the translucent panel behind Full Tilt's connection point to reveal a hollow space within. Weirdly, the hollow space has two shelves. It looks to me that Titan Masters should only land on the top shelf. I guess you could store others on the lower shelf. You can also use it as a space for storing Full-Tilt's gun if you don't like how it looks on Trypticon's chest (although, I think the cartoon drew him with the gun attached, but silver... maybe I'll paint this one). Trypticon's city mode pretty darn close to the G1 version. His back cannons still make a pair of towers at the back, and Full-Tilt's connection point swings up to almost make up for Brunt's absence. He's missing the other buildings made from Brunt, although his pelvis swings open and makes a pair of platforms where two of them would be. Those platforms even have peg holes on them; too bad there's no radar dishes for them. He's still got flip out purple panels where the G1 toy had helipads, and his legs still split in half and can be splayed out however you like. The instructions kind of have you line up his feet with the purple panels, though. He's still got fold out ramps, and Full-Tilt can still drive down the main one (although there's no launching gimmick anymore). The small purple flaps at the ends of his dino hips allow you to connect a Leader-class base mode, like Soundwave or Overlord's, the way G1 Trypticon could connect to G1 Motormaster or Onslaught. The hollow spaces inside his dinosaur toes are pretty unfortunate, though. I have him pictured with Full-Tilt and Legends-class Blackjack. I gotta say, I think this Trypticon would work amazingly well with a Legends collection, so there's that. G1 Trypticon's base mode wasn't the best... it was just something halfway between dinosaur and city modes. And you can totally recreate that look if you want by doing exactly that. However, the designers opted to make his official third mode a spaceship. Flaps move his arms behind him, and a double hinge moves his legs up and tucks the bulk of them under his sides. The ramps fold in, save for the panels that were helipads on the G1 toy- they're little wings now. I have to say, the result isn't aerodynamic. It still looks like a lot of dinosaur kibble. But, I honestly think it works better than the G1 base mode. I dig it. He's got wheels on the underside so he can roll. What's more, due to much of the volume in his torso and tail being empty space, he's light enough that you can pick him up and swoosh him around. I don't know if that's a plus (playability!) or a minus (dude's pretty light for his size), though. In both city and spaceship mode Trypticon's arms are simply chilling on the back, curled up on panels. His head is also super obvious, although they molded some bits onto his collar to try to hide his eyes. I don't think it's a problem for city mode since it's facing away from you, and it's certainly no worse than the G1 toy. For spaceship mode, though, it's a little harder to ignore. I guess pretending his head is an engine is a bit of a stretch. I do dig that the front end of the ship kind of looks like a second head, though. He's even got translucent bits (let's call them windows) that look like eyes. And the "mouth" can open! As I alluded to, the space inside is pretty much empty. It's a little small for a Deluxe; I tried with Full-Tilt and Siege Sideswipe both in alt mode, and they were both a little too long to close inside. Again, though, he works great with Legends-class toys. Titans Return Trypticon is ultimately still a Hasbro figure. I could see someone like Maketoys (if they ever go back to their Citybot line) making a Trypticon that might be better than this one. But, the thing is, they haven't. And while TR Trypticon lacks that premium heft and paint you might get from an MP or 3P figure, he's still a huge, largely G1-accurate figure with better articulation to boot. He improves on the G1 toy without straying too far from the G1 design. And while you're unlikely to walk into Ollie's and find him for $49, he's still relatively easy to find (in the US) for $70-$80, which still feels like a steal. Plus you get Full-Tilt! If you've got the space for him, I highly recommend him.

On a character who is honestly a pack-in accessory, based on a G1 toy that was entirely purple save for the wheels? Not particularly. Now, if I were a billionaire and could hire out a Chinese factory to build me an MP Full-Tilt I might be a little pickier. Paint the whole outside of the vehicle, parts of his chest, and his mouth plate with that metal fleck paint FT used in their Bombshell or Galvatron, use a slightly lighter purple plastic for most of the rest of him (and a color-matched paint for his diecast thighs). Give him rubber tires with dark gunmetal rims. Then maybe do some accents with paint under translucent plastic for lights on the front and rear of the vehicle mode, and maybe pick out some of the engine details on the rear with silver or that dark gunmetal. It's important not to go overboard, though since he's still Trypticon's purple chest. (And as far as getting some of those details on this Full-Tilt goes I went ahead and ordered the Reprolabels for him.)

I told you guys, I'm loving the updates of the little pack-in guys that came with G1 city bots. I love them so much I started tracking down more! This is Titans Return Full-Tilt, aka the purple car on Trypticon's chest. This is such a good update aesthetically, you guys. What detail the G1 toy had is mostly carried over... raised bumps on the knees, wheels on the shoulders and legs, the face with a visor and mouth plate, the molded vents in the chest. He's even got a circular bump where the G1 toy had a screw hole. A lot of the differences he has from the G1 toy have to do with color, since the TR version uses red on the visor and silver on the vents and head crest to break up all the purple. And the rest of the differences are down to actually having some details, like molded forearm detail, actual hands, and actual thighs. His head is also a distinct piece instead of simply being a face molded onto a block. Speaking of heads, coming as he did during Titans Return, Full-Tilt is a Head Titan Master. So his head comes off and turns into this little fellow, whom they decided to call Necro. Necro is your typical Titan Master, with molded detail and little to no paint. He's able to rotate at the shoulders, bend at the hips, and bend at the knees (although the lower legs are one solid piece). His tiny neck is also a ball joint, for rotation and limited up/down/sideways tilt. Smaller than a Fansproject Function X or a G1 Headmaster. The unpainted purple works fine for a guy who is basically a mini Full-Tilt, but I'd have liked the visor painted, and I'm not sure why they went with black for his head instead of purple. Full-Tilt's neck is actually Necro's, so he too can swivel and enjoy some up/down/sideways tilt. His shoulders are on ball pegs for rotation and a little bit of forward/backward butterfly. The other end of the ball peg is hinged in his torso and allows for 90 degrees of lateral movement. He has a bicep swivel, and his elbows can bend 90 degrees. No wrist swivel, and (sadly) no waist swivel. His hips are universal joints and he can move them 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally. His thighs can swivel. His knees can bend a little under 90 degrees. And he has no feet, let alone foot articulation. Full-Tilt doesn't actually come with accessories... he is one. But there is a black gun meant for him. Aside from being black instead of silver it's very close to his G1 weapon. Although, instead of pegging onto the outside of his forearm he can actually hold it in his hands. And like the rest of the Titans Return line, Full-Tilt is compatible with other Titan Masters, or Necro can be stuck on other character's bodies. Like I said at the beginning, G1 Full-Tilt turns into the purple car on Trypticon's chest, and TR Full Tilt turns into a very similar purple car. He's still got the two-pronged front end with the raised bits for lights. He's still got the armored dome look, with the line going up the middle and the golf-tee shapes on the sides. He's still got the molded engine at the rear. He's just got some extra molded vents and panels, some of them in place of stickers on the G1 toy. I've got not complaints here. The rear half of the dome opens, revealing more molded detail and a place for Necro to sit inside. And like the G1 toy, you can peg the gun onto the roof. The plastic tires roll fine. Given how basic the original Full-Tilt was, the TR version is a huge and welcome upgrade for me. He's still not perfect, though. On my copy the joints in the shoulders and bicep swivels are kind of loose. Plus, especially after enjoying so many Siege figures lately, the lack of a waist swivel and ankle pivots is a definite bummer. Despite his flaws, I love him to death. If it were possible to buy Full-Tilt as a stand-alone Deluxe with Necro and his little gun I would totally recommend him. But, like I said, he comes with another figure, and owning Full-Tilt or not likely comes down to weather or not you want his partner...

Well, there's something that's just wrong about a solo Duocon, so I went ahead and picked me up a Power of the Primes Battletrap. There's something a bit off about Battletrap. I mean, he's white on top, blue on the bottom. His head is blue with silver goggles, and his feet have the proper yellow headlights and red windshield. His chest is decorated with the helicopter cockpit. All that checks out. So... maybe it's the blue hands? The blue helicopter canopy? The extra details on the legs? No, I think my big issues is his proportions. He's got long, thin arms. His torso tapers in to a too-narrow waist. And you can't quite tell where his thighs end and his shins begin. Although he's of similar height as Skytread you can see that Skytread's proportions are much more natural. As JB0 and M'Kyuun were alluding to, this is because Battletrap isn't sold as a single Deluxe-class figure like Skytread. He's actually sold as a pair of smaller Legends guys. The white upper half is Battleslash, and the blue lower part is Roadtrap. Now, I kind of dig Battleslash from the waist up. The chest kind of reminds me of Leader-1, and the rotor on his arm could conceivably be used as a weapon. His hips, though, are ridiculously wide for his body. They're wider than Skytread's, despite being a smaller size class. Roadtrap pulls it off a little bit better, I think. He's more proportional, and the colors sort of remind me of RiD Rumble. Battleslash's head can swivel, and his shoulders are on ball joints. Unlike pretty much every other figure with ball joints for shoulders, though, the peg is actually comes out of his back, not the sides of his torso. So, he can raise his arm only about 90 degrees in front of him and can't really swing his arm behind him, but he can extend his arm laterally over 180 degrees. A ball joint doubles as a bicep swivel and a 90 degree elbow bend. No wrist or waist articulation. Hips are ball joints that can go 90 degrees forward, 90 degrees backward if you work around his kibble, and about 90 degrees laterally, plus he's got a little thigh swivel around the balls. His knees are also ball joints for an extra swivel plus 90 degrees of bend. No foot articulation. Roadtrap's head is also a swivel. His shoulders are more traditional ball joints, though hindered a bit by clearance issues. He can't really swing his arm back, but he can at least go 180 degrees forward with it, and slightly over 90 degrees laterally. A ball joint at the elbow gives him a little over 90 degrees of bend and acts as his bicep swivel. No wrist or waist articulation. Hips are ball joints that can go a little over 90 degrees in any direction and provide a little swivel. Ball joints at the knee can also swivel, plus give him 90 degrees of bend. Due to his transformation he can also tilt his feet up a little and down 90 degrees. He doesn't have an ankle pivot, but you can bow his legs out a bit at the knee. Neither figure comes with any accessories. And they both have issues when viewed from behind. Battleslash has visible hands on his heels and a large chunk of kibble hanging off his butt, and Roadtrap's back is open, revealing Battletrap's combined pelvis and thighs inside. Combined, Battletrap's head can swivel. His shoulders are ball joints that can rotate 360 degrees and extend laterally 90 degrees. His elbows can bend 90 degrees and do double duty as his bicep swivels. No wrist articulation, but he does have a waist swivel. His hips are ball joints that can go just over 90 degrees forward and backward and 90 degrees laterally. He's got mushroom thigh swivels. His knees are ball joints that can bend a little under 90 degrees before things start to come untabbed. The ball joints that made Roadtrap's knees are Battletrap's ankles. He's got a slight pivot there, plus the ball joint at his own knee can bend. Since it's doing so behind the shin the balls work together for something like 30 degrees of ankle pivot. Plus he can still use the transformation hinge to bend his feet down. Something I'd like to note is that the joint tolerances, which are honestly pretty much what you'd expect from a pre-Siege Hasbro Legends-class toy, are kind of loose. Since he doesn't have any accessories I thought I'd pose him with Battle Master Blowpipe and the Micromaster Air Strike Patrol in sword mode. The sword was too heavy for him to hold up, and the helicopter kibble around his hands kept Blowpipe from being able to peg in. When you're a Duocon it doesn't matter if you're one Deluxe robot or two Legends dudes that combine into one Deluxe robot, you've still got two Legends-class alt modes. Battleslash becomes a white helicopter, and Roadtrap a blue truck. I think Roadtrap is pretty close to the G1 toy. They've both got the yellow headlights, the red windows, and the molded winch on the front. The most obvious difference is that instead of a neat bed cover you've got a mess of robot torso on the back. Battleslash again gets the worst of it. The basic shape is sort of there, but his tail boom is far too thick due to being both arms and legs. The black joints stand out on the sides, and don't really try to blend or hide or pretend to be anything besides joints. There are unsightly gaps, and the nose is a big empty space where the connection joint is. And while Roadtrap was kind of pulling things off, minus the bed cover, the illusion totally falls apart when viewed from behind. The entire rear of the truck is robot leg and pelvis kibble. I know I gave Skytread a hard time for being a character I don't care about and for having just passable alt modes. Thing is, Skytread is leaps and bounds better than Battletrap, and that's because he doesn't try to be anything but an improved version of the G1 toy. The decision to sell Battletrap as two Legends figures instead of one Deluxe mean shoehorning in extra robot modes for each half. It's a cool idea in theory, but one that ultimately compromises their robot modes, their alt modes, and the combined robot mode. Plus he comes with zero accessories, so he doesn't have his G1 shoulder gun (or a place to put it). The only reason to get PotP Battletrap is because you have or are planning to get Skytread and want both Duocons, even if one of them isn't very good. And if you're not planning on picking up Skytread then Battletrap is just a waste of money.

No issues with mine. But I've been hearing about random QC issues all across the Siege line. Remember, my first Optimus came with two left hands. Fortunately I was able to get a replacement. Is now a good time to mention that I picked up some clearanced and discounted Power of the Primes stuff, and that Skytread won't be the only Duocon I review?

I know I said I wasn't going to do it, but with all the other Deluxe, Voyager, and Leaders in hand and the Autobots badly outnumbering the Decepticons (a problem that looks like it'll plague this line for awhile) I caved and picked up Deluxe-class Skytread, aka Flywheels. It should be noted here that I have zero attachment to the Duocons. Didn't have them as a kid, don't recall them in the US G1 cartoon. But after a quick look at his appearance in The Headmasters, in the IDW More Than Meets the Eye series, and of course the G1 toy, Skytread is definitely hitting the right notes. He's got oversized tank feet, although not as ridiculously bad as the G1 toy, with simple brown legs and brown arms. His torso is maroon with the jet cockpit prominently visible, and the rest of the jet is folded onto his back. I dig the molded guns on the back of his hands, but there's really not much else I can say about his appearance except that his robot mode is very much in line with the other Siege Deluxes. He comes with two guns, a longer one and a shorter one. Both are fairly "meh" sculpts with the usual Hasbro hollow spaces, but they do have some paint. The G1 toy had basically zero articulation, but that's not the case here. He's actually got average articulation for a Siege figure, which puts him slightly ahead of pretty much the last 13 years of CHUG. His head is on a swivel; no tilt. His shoulders can rotate and extend laterally a bit over 90 degrees. He has bicep swivels, and his elbows bend over 90 degrees. His hands can bend inward due to his transformation, but he doesn't have a wrist swivel. He does have a waist swivel, which is surprising given his gimmick, but it's pretty easy for the waist to get caught up on his hips, and even if it doesn't the tail of the plane can't get around the the hips. Speaking of hips, his can go 90 degrees forward, 90 degrees backward as long as you move them around the plane tail, and something like 120 degrees laterally. His thighs can swivel and his knees can bend 90 degrees. His fit can tilt up a tiny bit, down about 45 degrees, and pivot 45 degrees. In addition to his fists, Skytread has one 5mm peg on his spine, one on the underside of each wing on his back, one on the outside of each shoulder, one on the outside of each forearm, one on the outside of each lower leg, one on the bottom of each foot, and one on the inside edge of his left foot. His guns can plug into any of those holes. The smaller gun can also plug into the back of the larger one to form an even bigger gun, and he's even got enough articulation to actually hold it in two hands. Being a Duocon, Skytread splits in half and each half has an alt mode. The top becomes a jet, and the bottom becomes a tank. Due to only being half a robot, these alt modes are significantly smaller than a Siege Deluxe, falling more in line with a Legends-class figure. Of the two alt modes the tank is the weaker one, requiring the larger gun to serve as a cannon barrel and panels unfolding from his legs to halfheartedly cover his hips in a fairly unconvincing turret. On my copy the panels don't stay tabbed closed very well, the turret doesn't rotate, and the cannon barrel doesn't move up or down. The instructions tell you to put the other gun into one of the other two peg holes on top of the tank. It looks pretty asymetrical to me, but I guess that's how the G1 toy worked, too. You also have a peg hole on either side of the tank. One other thing I'm told is a common issue with this mold is that the ridges on top of the waist connection are a little too long, so the gun that forms the tanks cannon doesn't sit quite right and is constantly pointing downward. The jet looks a little better, similar to the G1 toy's somewhat stylized F-4. At least, it does from the top. Unlike the G1 toy, though, the robot arms are part of the plane, not the tank, and they sit as an unmistakeable kibble chunk on the underside. It's worse than Universe Silverbolt, because you're essentially hiding Deluxe-sized parts on a Legends-sized vehicle. It's a shame, though, because aside from the arm kibble this half has more interesting engineering that fits and works better than the other half. Although you kind of need to give the tank half at least one gun, you have 5mm peg holes on the spine of the plane, one under each wing, two on the bottom where his robot shoulders are, and one under the nose. I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with Skytread. He's a perfectly reasonable modern Flywheels toy, and decently articulated for a Deluxe class. His alt modes are a little weak, but they're fairly accurate and not horrible. Arguably better than Cog's, anyway. And yet, excluding Micromasters and Battle Masters, he's probably my least favorite figure of the entire Siege line. Personally, I wouldn't recommend him, but YMMV.

Brand is New Age, and yes, it's Legends. It does look really good, but scale doesn't seem as unified among 3P Legends as it is with 3P MP. Since I'm going in on Magic Square's stuff I need to see how this Megatron scales with their Optimus... once they're both actually released.

Target, both by my house and the one a little further away, are still sold out of Siege Deluxes. But I was able to find some at Walmart, both near me and near my friend's house. This means I can finally look at a Weaponizer! This is the one from the first wave, Deluxe-class Cog. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure who Cog was at first, but (spoiler) the Weaponizer in Wave 2 is going to be Sixgun, who remember was a guy made from all the guns that came with Metroplex (who I had as a kid). So I did a check to see if he came with another city bot, and yep, Cog was a little dude who came with Fortress Maximus (whom I didn't have). And once I knew who I was looking at I can totally see it. He's got the basic shape, with the mouthplate and visor, two peg holes on his pecs (pec-holes?) where the original had them, molded detail that looks like a car stereo on his chest where the original had a sticker, big collar pylons with wheels hanging off of them, and shoulders with guns growing out of the top. Colors are mostly there, too, with silver subbing for gray, although he's sporting some black and red that the original toy didn't have. The black doesn't really bother me, since most of it is either on a gun barrel, wheels that were originally blue, and tank treads that were originally stickers. Not sure how I feel about the red, though. On the one hand, yes, it does help break up all the silver and blue, but on the other hand it looks wrong. Maybe if they'd used silver for the red on his legs and black for the shoulder guns it'd still have that breakup, but more less in-you-face and more in keeping with the G1 toy. The G1 toy also had a gray head and his torso was entirely gray above the waist. I think I'm ok with a blue head that lets his silver visor pop, but I do wish they'd painted the blue tummy silver. I just have to do that myself. The only other minor departure from the G1 toy is the additional armor sporting more guns at his wrist and near his elbows, but I'm not going to say no to more guns. He comes with a pair of these guns. These look very similar to guns that came with the original Fortress Maximus and may or may not have been intended as Cog's. Considering how little articulation the original toy had, and considering Siege Cog's gimmicks (more on that in a bit), his articulation is fairly good for a Habsro Deluxe. His head is on a swivel. You can kind of cheat a little upward tilt by starting his transformation. His shoulders can rotate. A hinge inside the shoulder allows it to extend laterally, and another hinge near his wrist lets the armor swing out away from the elbow, giving you enough clearance to extend his shoulders 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, and his elbows are single hinges that get over 90 degrees of bend. Nothing at the wrist, but he does have a waist swivel that I wouldn't have expected. His hips are universals that can kick just a little backward due to butt kibble but over 90 degrees forward or laterally. His thighs swivel. His knees bend nearly 180 degrees, and although his feet don't tilt up or down he's got hinges for up to 90 degrees of ankle pivot. To do the usual Siege thing, he got one 5mm peg on each pec, two on the small of his back, one on the outside of each forearm, one on the inside of each forearm, one on the outside bottom of each shin, and one on the bottom of each foot. He's got one 5mm peg on each knee, one on the outside of each leg on his tank treads, a fold out peg on his tummy, and a fold out peg on his back, plus the molded wrist guns double as 5mm pegs. One complaint here is that the tolerances on all these peg holes are slightly different. As an example, one rifle sits snug in one of the peg holes on his back, fit ok on his forearm, shin, or left hand, but be pretty loose in his right hand. His transformation is pretty simple, only slightly more involved than the G1 toy. Although he's got several peg holes, the instruction suggest that the rifles sit in the peg holes on his shins. I have him as one vehicle because he has a tab and slot just for that, but G1 Cog was actually meant to split into two vehicles... ...called Grommet (left) and Gasket (right). Again, both are pretty similar to their G1 counterparts. As with the G1 toy, Cog's arms are physically removed from his sides and pegged into his pecs for Gasket. The big difference here is that Cog's head folds under the vehicle, so there's no seat for Spike or any other Headmaster/Titan Master/Prime Master. Gasket can roll on his wheels, the arm guns can swivel in their peg holes, and the forearm armor is hinged so the extra guns can be aimed upward. As for Grommet, Cog's legs rotate up 180 degrees and lock into place, hiding the thighs and providing some molded detail that could be two cockpit windows. He's still got big robot feet and the gap between his lower legs, so it's still pretty obvious that they're robot legs, but it's better than having his lower half simply lie down. The wheels on Cog's thighs roll, and there are small wheels under the tank treads so Grommet can roll. And if you put the rifles on him somewhere they can swivel in their peg holes. By now you might be getting that his top half separates from his lower half and his arms come off for transformation... but why stop there? His legs can also come off at the thigh, and the designer engineered extra ways the legs and the upper torso can fold up. And this is where the Weaponizer gimmick kicks in. All those pegs and peg holes, not just on Cog but across the Siege line... ...allow you to take a Weaponizer apart and use recombine his parts with other Siege figures to power them up. You can take it a little further by adding other weapons, Battle Masters, or Micromasters. The configurations I'm showing with Sideswipe and Hound are suggested in Cog's instructions. However, you're really only limited by the placement of the pegs and holes and your imagination. Speaking of imagination, I had more fun trying to come up with different ways of putting Cog's parts together than putting Cog on other Siege figures. I'm strongly inclined to get Sixgun and Brunt (the Weaponizer from Wave 3, based on a tank that came with Trypticon) just to see what kind of crazy concoctions I can come up with when I have more parts. Being based on a personality-less drone that came with Fortress Maximus, Cog is probably lacking that, "oh yeah, I loved that guy, I'm definitely going to get the new one" factor that the other Siege figures probably have, and his default alt mode(s) probably aren't doing him any favors. Cog is still a decent figure on his own, though, and the Weaponizer gimmick is pretty fun. He loses some of his value if he's your only Siege figure, but as long as you're collecting other figures in the line I'd recommend him. Plus, if I'm being totally honest, I kind of dig the super simple, borderline throwaway drones that came with citybots getting their moment in the spotlight. I know Generations Metroplex and Titans Return Trypticon came with Scamper and Full Tilt, and now Siege is giving us Cog, Sixgun, and Brunt... I kind of hope we get Fasttrack in Siege, too.

Finished the campaign tonight. The vast majority of the credits you get from the campaign are actually from your first-time bonus, so expect to either do multiplayer or grind through the campaign a lot because you're not going to get nearly as many on the replays. For the record, I did replay a handful of missions... the game says I sortied in the campaign 30 times. I also did 20 sorties in Battle Royale. That gave me enough credits that I was able to go: F-16 > MiG-26 > Su-33 > Su-34 > Su-47 > Su-57 and then F-16 > F-2 > F-15J > F-15E > F-22 Plus I want to say I bought the 4AAM for the MiG-29, the EML for the Su-33, 4AGM for the Su-34, QAAM for the Su-47, and both the XSBD and the 8AAM for the F-22. When the campaign was over I had around 1,400,000 credits, which means I can afford the YF-23 but I probably won't buy it right now. I'll probably bounce between replaying the campaign and doing more multiplayer until I get buy the X-02 and both of its weapons. Side note, for anyone who hasn't started yet: don't make the mistake I did; skip the Russian plane branch. It doesn't matter if you go with JDF/USAF route, the US Navy Route, or the European route (although if you take the JDF/USAF route you can also buy the YF-23), they all link back up and end with the F-22, and I'd suggest trying to get it as soon as you can. All three "best" planes have special weapons available for both air and ground targets, but the F-22's are probably the most well-rounded. For ground missions both the F-22's XSBD and the Su-57's GPB are easier for average players to use than the YF-23's UGBs. For air missions, all three have a weapon that you can use on swarms (or bosses with multiple target points): 4AAM for YF-23 and Su-57, 8AAM for F-22. The kicker is the third weapon. YF-23 has HVAA, which is fine if you want to hit a target from really far off, but is less useful when you're in the thick of it. The Su-57 has PLSL, which can be effective against both air and ground targets but functions like a stronger machine gun and requires a similar amount of skill. But the F-22 has QAAMs, which are great against late-game boss aces.

Against my better judgement, I picked up another Siege Micromaster set, the Air Strike Patrol I know I had a lot of Micromasters as a kid, but the Race Car Patrol and the Air Strike Patrol were definitely my two favorite sets. I have really fond memories of pretending that Tailwind was the Sea Duck from Tailspin, and if I looked at my parents house I might even still have some of them they way I still had my original Roadhandler and Swindler. But I digress. Whisper, now named Visper, looks like a pretty good homage of the original. His color scheme is still black and purple, although the original had purple thighs, he's still got the shoulder protrusions with the circles, and his torso still has the same basic shape. He's even got a molded hexagon where the original had a screw hole. The only big changes are a lack of wheels on his arms and some new silver and red accents. Storm Cloud got the short end of the stick. He lost his tapered legs with the canards on his ankles. His shoulders and biceps are black now instead of purple. And his hands are completely gone, replaced with some silver nubbins. Size-wise, they are a little thicker but similar in height to the Race Car Patrol, as well as the G1 Micromasters. Visper's articulation is roughly what you'd expect from a Micromaster. Due to his transformation his head can actually look up and down a little. His shoulders are ball joints that can extend 90 degrees as well as rotate. He's got no bicep, elbow, wrist, or waist articulation. His hips are ball joints that can go forward 90 degrees, laterally 90 degrees, and backward just a little. His thighs can swivel a very small amount on the ball joint as well. His knees can bend a little over 90 degrees, and due to transformation his toes can bend down. Due to his transformation, Storm Cloud has pretty good articulation for a Micromaster. No head articulation. His shoulders can rotate and extend 90 degrees laterally on ball joints. He actually has elbows, too, that bend 90 degrees. No bicep or waist swivels. His hips are ball joints that work identically to Visper's. His knees bend just under 90 degrees. No foot articulation. Note that while these guys have backpacks that they have decent heel spurs, so they're not as prone to falling over as the Race Car Patrol. These guys don't come with any accessories, but if you have fire effect parts from someone like Firedrive you can plug them onto Storm Cloud's wrist nubbins. Unlike the race car patrol, transforming these guys is actually pretty different than transforming their G1 counterparts. Visper is probably the more similar of the two, as the biggest difference is that the cockpit double hinges up onto his back instead of rolling back onto his heels. His alt mode is also pretty close to the original, with harder angles and some extra red trim but the same basic design. Storm Cloud also folds his cockpit up onto his back, but instead of keeping his legs straight and his arms against his body his legs curl up and around his torso, and his arms reach up and bend backward at the elbow to form engine nacelles. He's still a delta-winged jet with canards, but not really recognizable as a Rafale anymore. Instead, he's a squat sort of jet with a large, visible block of robot kibble underneath. The fire effect parts from the Battle Masters come in handy again for the jet modes, as Visper has one spot and Storm Cloud actually has five places that you can stick them so that they look like exhaust jets. The tips of the molded guns on the edges of Storm Cloud's wings are too small for them, though. Just like the Race Car Patrol, the Air Strike Patrol does have a combining gimmick that makes a weapon mode... only this time they actually kind of pull it off. For one, the combined mode looks less like some weird robot coitus and something that reminds me more of Darkwing and Dreadwind combine into Dreadwing. That would have been decently cool enough, but folding up Storm Cloud's canopy reveals a 5mm peg. The combined duo are actually meant to be a sword. It's not the prettiest sword, sure, but it's more convincing than Roadhandler and Swindler's "gun" mode. It actually reminds me a lot of the Star Saber from Transformers Armada. So there you have it folks. It terms of overall fun and utility with other Siege figures the Air Strike Patrol is definitely a step up from the Race Car Patrol (although, like the Race Car Patrol, I wish we weren't missing half the team). That said, I still don't feel like two Micromasters are worth $10. If you just have to have at least once set of Micromasters to try out then these would be the guys to grab, but you're still probably better off leaving them on the shelf.

Ok, fine, it's not impossible. Just highly improbable. I had the misfortune of seeing the 2016 film, and it had absolutely no redeeming qualities. It was worse than Dragon Ball Evolution. Even if the new Ghostbusters was gutter trash there's a good chance Dan Aykroyd will be in it, and that will be at least one redeeming quality.