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mikeszekely

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  1. mikeszekely
    I got the first two DNA sets for the Studio Series Constructicons, might as well get the third. This is DK-72, for Scavenger and Mixmaster. This set contains four new arms, a bumper, some shoes, and (of course) the final two bugles. Starting with Scavenger, Just pull his entire stock arms off the ball joints in his shoulders. The new arms pop right onto the ball joint. The new arms don't function any differently, really, than the stock arms. The big difference is that they've got built in filler parts on the inside of the biceps and a new flap over the hand-hole. There is one other minor difference, but we'll get to that in a bit. The shoes are for Scavenger as well, and they work exactly like Bonecrusher's. Fold his toes down, slide them into the gaps in the shoes, and plug the pegs on the shoes into the ports on the bottoms of his heels. As was the case with Bonecrusher, I do appreciate that they give Scavenger more cartoon-accurate feet. It kind of irks me that the new Studio Series Constructicons are supposed to be more '86 movie accurate, but instead of actually copying the Sunbow designs (or, in Scavenger's case, even the G1 toy) they (that is, Takara, I think) basically said, "our Generations Constructicons were pretty good, let's just do those in a different scale." Scavenger's feet were never supposed to just be the ends of his treads. Unfortunately, while Bonecrusher's new arms and shoes fixed his proportions, Scavenger's biggest proportional issue is his massive pelvis. Which DNA didn't fix. Scavenger's bugle is the sort that has a gap in the handle that c-clips around his fist. Since Scavenger's new arms have flaps, you have to open them up, fold the fists in, and then close the flap instead if simply folding the fists in. Transformation is otherwise the same, except you have the shoes to partsform. The new arms, which form most of the back of the alt mode, have little tabs on them. The tabs plug into the bottom of the shoes, so the shoes sit on the back of the excavator. It's not particularly elegant... I think it's less-well integrated than Bonecrusher's... but it's something. But the real rub is that they don't have anywhere else to go in combined mode, either. Keeping them around means giving Devastator a big purple tumor on his right shoulder. The other set of arms in this set are for Mixmaster. You don't have to replace his entire arm. Just slide everything from the bicep swivel down off of the mushroom peg, then slide the new arms into place. At first glance, there isn't a ton of difference between the new arms and the stock ones, save for a little less detail on the forearm. Next up, we have the new bumper. Split it in half, and each half pegs int the stock bumper on the back of Mixmaster's leg. Which... really does nothing for robot mode. So what, then, was the point? The new arms have two advantages, though only one makes a difference in robot mode. His elbows are now double-jointed, increasing their range from a mere 90 degree bend to a full 180 degrees. There's his bugle... which looks more like the fart gun from Despicable Me than a bugle. What was DNA thinking here? They went to all the trouble to make six unique molds for the bugles, but Scrapper's was the only cartoon-accurate one. Why not just do Scrapper's six times? Anyway, there's a 5mm post on the bottom of Mixmaster's bugle, so he can hold it like an actual gun, or there's a 5mm post on the rear so he can hold it more like a bugle. As is often the case with the new DNA arms, he now possesses a flap that opens for his hand to fold in when transforming. It doesn't do a ton for his truck mode. In fact, leaving his fist partially out gives him a place to plug in his bugle. Meanwhile, the new bumper looks ok. It's a bit more "heavy duty" than the stock bumper. But it's also not cartoon accurate, so I'm not sure what's the point here. The best thing about this kit, specifically the new arms for Mixmaster, comes in his combined mode. The new bumper gives Devastator a toe, which actually is something he had in the cartoon. I almost wish DNA had leaned harder into it; instead of giving him a bigger bumper meant to stay on in all modes, they could have given a green panel that covered the entire grill with a big green toe on it, make the foot look even more like the (bad) Sunbow art. It's the arms that really shine. The stock arms just kind of hung off the back of Devastator's legs, with the fists showing (another unfortunately holdover from the Generations toy). On the new arms, not only do the fists fold away, but since the new elbows are double-jointed they can curl all the way up where they actually tab in place, which cleans up the leg mode quite a bit. When I started reviewing my latest batch of DNA kits a few weeks ago I told you that DNA can be very hit or miss. So it was almost inevitable that after two Constructicon kits I do recommend we'd wind up with one more that I don't. I'm just not sure there's enough value here. Scavenger's new arms are basically the old ones with some gap fillers and tabs for the shoes, and while the shoes are more cartoon-accurate than his stock feet they make his alt mode and combined mode worse. Meanwhile, the kit does not address Scavenger's pelvis, which was his real issue. Mixmaster's new bumper isn't cartoon accurate in any mode, and is kind of pointless. The only reasons to get this kit at all are to complete DNA's set of not-at-all-accurate bugles, and Mixmaster's new arms. They actually do help clean up his leg mode in a meaningful way. Is it meaningful enough, though, to justify the entire kit? Although that was my main reason for buying the kit (and the fact that I needed to hit the threshold for free shipping, otherwise my shipping costs would have been nearly as much as this kit), I think the answer is probably no.
  2. mikeszekely
    Looks like Geekbench results were leaked for the MacBook Neo. Multicore performance looks like a small bump over the M1 Air, but lags behind the M2 (but it's roughly 3x the score of the Intel N100 you see in a lot of those extra cheap Windows laptops you find at Walmart that are supposed to compete with Chromebooks). Single core performance isn't too shabby, though, sitting about halfway between an M3 iMac and an M4 Air. Obviously an M4 or M5 Air will be a better choice for people who need the extra power, but for people who do most of their stuff in a browser the MacBook Neo is looking like a pretty good deal. If I have some free time later I might see if I can find a $600 Windows laptop and see what kind of benchmarks its putting up. I know, I know, synthetic benchmarks aren't as good as real world tests.
  3. mikeszekely
    More Constructicons, more kits. This one is DK-71 for Hook and Long Haul. I lined up all the parts for a shot but forgot to actually take the picture. Whoops. Here's DNA's stock photo, which shows a new lower torso and hips, some leg panels, a big thing, a little thing, and two more bugles. There's also going to be another pin and another pin pusher. Starting with the easy stuff, Hook gets a bugle... and that's it! It works like Scrappers; there's a gap in it that c-clips onto Hook's fist. On to Long Haul... There isn't much easy for him. So we'll start by sliding his legs off of their mushroom pegs. It's not necessary for the next step, but it will be before we're done and it just makes it easier to do it now. Find and remove these two screws from the inside of Long Haul's legs. That will allow you to slide the panel with the rear tires off of the outside of the leg. Replace that panel with the corresponding DNA parts and screw them back in. The idea here is that the wheels are on tabbed hinges. You can untab them from their normal position (which we'll still use in alt mode), and then swing them down to tuck in closer near his ankle. Not necessary, I guess, but it kind of cleans him up a little. Before we put his legs back on, lift up his chest and remove these four screws. That will allow you to remove his chest, arms, and backpack from his head and lower torso. Now we need to knock out this pin. I did it by lining up the pin pusher DNA included and whacking it with a hammer. It can be a little daunting if you're not used to removing pins, but honestly it was easier than the one we had to remove for Bonecrusher. Anyway, keep the top part with his head, and ditch the lower part. Slide the DNA torso bit in, and used the included pin to connect it to the part with the the head. Then reattach his chest/arms/backpack and his legs. The most immediate benefit we're going to see in robot mode is that the DNA parts have a waist swivel that the stock parts did not. I also like that they don't have any of the stock purple parts. More cartoon-accurate, I think, but YMMV. Long Haul's bugle works like Bonecrusher's. Slide it through his hand, and a thicker part will provide the friction needed to keep it in his fist. Long Haul's new parts don't affect his transformation, but you probably noticed with have two things leftover. A big thing, and a little thing. These parts have nothing to do with either bot in their robot modes, and only relate to Long Haul tangentially in alt mode. What we're actually going to do is is get the trailer made from the extra Devastator parts. Take the little thing and it'll latch onto some gaps on the front of the trailer. Then the big thing uses a tab to plug into the little thing, allowing it to sit on top of the trailer. To me, the best part about these things is that they add more ports to the trailer. It never bothered me to have the Constructicons carry their own guns in alt mode, but I never liked that Hasbro was like, "well, Scrapper comes with Devastator's gun, so it's his problem." So, yeah, the DNA parts add some 5mm ports that you can use to store Long Haul and Hook's guns on the trailer. But what really makes me happy is that you can store Devastator's gun on the trailer, so all on Devastator's bits go on it. To be clear, though, I don't think DNA added parts just so Devy's gun could ride on the trailer. See, one of the complaints that some people had is that they don't like how Devastator's back looks. I get it, the area behind Hook seems a little messy and empty, then Long Haul's legs/bed is just chilling kind of low on his back. It doesn't really bother me, I think it's cartoon, accurate, but it definitely bothers some people. So here's what DNA came up with. First, clip the big thing onto the area behind Devastator's head. Then, you can disconnect Long Haul's legs from their normal position, and bend them up higher onto Devastator's back. The panels in Long Haul's heels that lock them in their stock place will instead clip onto the back of the big thing we stuck on Devastator's back. We further secure his back by taking the little thing and clipping it onto his butt flap. The smaller end will grab onto a tab on Long Haul's butt. And, yeah. This essentially shift's his dumper bed backpack up higher on his back. Some people may find that look more balanced, others might not like that you can see it peaking over the top of his back from the front. But the thing to remember here is that it's optional; even with the new waist/pelvis/hips Long Haul can do the stock transformation. One final benefit DNA points out in their instructions is that it adds a 5mm peg beside and just behind Devastator's head. I think the idea is that you can plug Long Haul's gun into it and it looks a bit like the green missile/gun that plugged into the side of Devastator's head on the G1 toy. I think this kit is a bit like the previous one in that it doesn't really cause any problems and includes a lot more nice-to-haves than necessities. The main thing here is that it cleans up Long Haul and improves his articulation a bit. That (and the extra storage for the trailer) was enough to make me go in on the kit, but if I'm being honest I think Bonecrusher needed the help more, which in turn makes this kit feel a bit less necessary. That said, if you're one of the people who didn't like Devastator's stock backpack, you might find that aspect of this kit is worth the price of admission. Overall I'd give the kit a recommend, but a softer one that the previous kit.
  4. mikeszekely
    What are you talking about? He's more magenta now! In all seriousness, I'm honestly with you on all that. It's why I've resolved not to just buy one online. If I happen to see it in a store, then I can say I bought it on a whim, but buying online feels too intentional.
  5. mikeszekely
    XTB is doing toy decos. I already reviewed their toon Scrapper and I rather liked it.
  6. mikeszekely
    Genuinely appreciate the offer. But, since I have the original release, I resolved not to buy the new one unless I saw it in a store. The reports of QC issues are making me glad I went that route instead of buying one online.
  7. mikeszekely
    Swung by Target. Lots of One Shall Stand Optimuses, a lone Hound, and that's it. No Hot Rod.
  8. mikeszekely
    Given the stronger G1 cartoon emphasis on these boards, I suspect that the last two kit reviews I did were probably viewed like, "that's neat what they did, but I didn't buy that figure in the first place." But I feel pretty confident that a lot of you did go in on the Studio Series 86 Constructicons, yeah? So maybe you're more interested to see what DNA cooked up for them? So we'll go in order, starting with DK-70, their kit for Scrapper and Bonecrusher. While this kit does contain a lot of pieces, roughly half of it is filler parts for Scrapper. Beyond that, we have a pair of bugles, some new forearms and shoes for Bonecrusher, a new shovel joint for Bonecrusher, and a pin and pin removal tool we're going to need for that joint. As always, I like to start with the easy stuff. We've got filler parts that simply slot into the hollow cavity on the inside of his biceps, into his forearms near his wrists, into his calves, and under his feet. So you can see the difference, the right side of the above image has the DNA parts, the left side does not. These parts are purely cosmetic and no not affect Scrapper's articulation or transformation. The only other thing we have for Scrapper is a bugle. The one for him has a gap in the bottom that c-clips onto his fist. DNA makes a point of showing that if you leave the fist out when you transform him he can even carry the bugle in alt mode. For Bonecrusher, we can start by popping his forearms off of the ball joints that are his elbows. Then, the new DNA forearm pops right back onto the ball joint. And the most immediate difference you can see (aside from the green plastic not totally matching) is that the forearm (his right, your left) alone is as long as the entire stock forearm and hand. This brings his new hand more in-line with his hips than his waist, which goes a long way toward correcting his awful proportions. Another thing that alters his proportions are the shoes. You can install them by folding his toes down and sliding them into the cutout on the top of the shoe. The peg on the shoe will fit into the peg hole on his heels. The last bit is the most difficult. You need to remove this pin from the hinge that connects the shovel to Bonecrusher's body. Personally, I had to heat the plastic up with a hair dryer, then hammer the included pin pusher to knock the pin out. Once you've got it off, pull the smaller segment off the replacement joint. Line it up so that the the rounded side of the hinge is facing down, and push the replacement pin through it to secure it to Bonecrusher. Pull the shovel off of the original joint; it's just friction clipped on. Connect it to the remaining segment of the replacement joint, then fold in the arms. Use the tab on the joint to plug the shovel into Bonecrusher's tummy. So what did we accomplish? As noted, the new forearms and shoes adjusted Bonecrusher's proportions. It's still not perfect, but he doesn't look like a short fat guy with T-Rex arms anymore. And technically, the shoes give his feet a more cartoon-accurate shape. As for the shovel, the separated the actual shovel from the joint on his crotch. By not linking his crotch to his chest, we've freed up a waist swivel. My only concern here is that the shovel is simply tabbed into the torso now. It seems secure enough to me, but I worry that the tab could loosen over time. As for his included bugle, just slide it through his fist. There's a wider section that stops in the fist so the fit is secure. Bonecrusher does have a few changes to his transformation with this kit. First, you have to remove the shoes. Ugh, partsforming, I know. For the new arms, there's a flap on the forearm that opens up, and the hands tuck inside, so the arm still fits where it's supposed to. Lastly, fold the arms on the shovel out, and swing the crotch hinge up. Little tabs on the hinge will slide into notches on the arms, connecting the joints, so you can unplug the shovel from the torso and everything is still connected. Before you tab his leg-treads in place, find these gaps on the inside of Bonecrusher's heels. The shoes have pegs on the inside of their heels that are shaped like those gaps. This allows you to plug the shoes into them, so they can chill on the back of the vehicle. The shoe connection is a little looser than I'd like, but they honestly don't look too out-of-place on the back of the bulldozer. And the new forearms have 5mm ports, so you can still plug his gun into the top (there doesn't appear to be any place for the bugle, though). One downside, though, is that both arms have 5mm ports. While that technically lets you plug in more accessories, it removes the smokestack that was on the stock arm. Bonecrusher's new parts do not affect his combined mode at all, but his shoes don't stay with him. Instead, you can tab the two shoes together, and notches on the bottoms will fit over tabs on Scrapper's arms (the ones that secured his forearms to his sides in alt mode). In theory, this gives Devastator a bigger heel and potentially a bit more stability. In practice, the fit is super loose and provide no benefit to the combined mode whatsoever, it's just a place to stash them. Scrapper's fillers and both bugles strike me as things that are nice to have, but not exactly necessary. They don't cause any issues, but the problems they fix are minor enough that you might not care to spend the money. Bonecrusher's parts, on the other hand, make a big difference. The arms and shoes go a long way toward fixing his proportions. The new shovel joints increase his robot articulation, but be advised that the installation is a bit challenging, and you might not want to use those parts if you're not comfortable hammering out pins. That said, I think fixing Bonecrusher's proportions with the added bonus of filling in some hollow spots on Scrapper probably justifies this kit even if you don't use the shovel hinge, so I'm going to give this kit a recommend.
  9. mikeszekely
    Took a break took cover some official figures, but I still have a couple more kits to look at. Today we'll be looking at two, but they're basically the same... DNA's DK-57M kit for Armada Megatron and Tidal Wave, and DK-57G for Armada Galvatron. As I was saying, both kits are essentially the same thing. You get new horns, forearm fillers, and new shoulder parts for Megatron/Galvatron. The only real difference is that the Megatron kit also comes with a few parts for Titan-class Tidal Wave as well, so let's talk about those real quick. The first part is this simple brick. If you have Tidal Wave, you may notice that when you have him in his Dark Fleet mode the boat you make from his legs doesn't hold together super well, due to the fairly shallow clips. This brick wedges into the space above the ankle joint and provides a deeper connection that helps hold the boat together better. Of course, if you want functional ankles you'll have to remove it for robot mode. You can store it when it's not in use by wedging it into one of his hollow heels. My personal copy has been good, but apparently some people where having an issue with the knee ratchets on theirs. DNA included a fix. So, we'll need to remove these three screws, then open the shin and the side will come off. Be mindful not to loose the little purple wheel on the back of the leg! Remove the spring, remove the top part of the ratchet, and then remove the bottom part. Out of the box, the bottom of the ratchet has little slots that fit onto these small tabs (circled) on the leg to hold it in place. As you might imagine, those tabs are kind of small for such a heavy duty joint. People were basically sheering them off, turning the knees into friction joints. DNA included four of these bits (middle), two for each knee. In addition to providing a more solid surface for the ratchet to sit on, they have raised bits that fit into hollows under the ratchet. The gives the ratchet a much sturdier connection. Once you've put the DNA parts in, reverse everything to reassemble the legs. Lastly, Tidal Wave's back was really just an open space with a mini Tidal Wave stuffed inside. The mini Tidal Wave filled the hollow space, but it's not the prettiest. So, DNA built a cover that fits over the gap, whether the mini Tidal Wave is inside or not. You might have notice the asymmetric peg holes on it. You can remove the parts from Tidal Wave's legs that can be attached to Megatron/Galvatron. Fold out the pegs (circled), attach them together, and you can give Tidal Wave a winged backpack. It's not something I'm personally interested in, but it's an option. For the rest of this review, I'll be installing the kit on Megatron, but unless I say differently this applies to Galvatron, too. And I like to start with the easy stuff, so we'll start with the horns. DNA's are slightly taller and a bit more angular. I thought the stock ones looked fine, but the rubbery material often left them a bit bent. DNA's are a a harder plastic. To install on Megatron we simply pop the old ones out and pop the new ones in. Galvatron is a different story, though. Despite showing off how the horns could be removed and held as weapons when they revealed Megatron, for whatever reason Hasbro decided to glue Galvatron's horns in. This makes it difficult if not impossible to remove them without damaging them, and if the tiny glued-in pegs broke off they'd still keep you from inserting the new ones unless you drilled them out. Long story short, I used the DNA horns on Megatron, but I left Galvatron with his stock horns. To install the arm fillers, remove the screw on the inside of the elbow, then pull the inner arm bit off. Note that, like Galvatron's horns, there is a peg that's glued on, and it'll probably break off in the process. The peg is largely unnecessary, though. Take the new DNA part, line it up, and screw it back in place. The screw and the shape of the arm do all the work to keep in in place. Now for the real work- the shoulders. Begin by opening the chest flap and removing these two screws. Turn him over, and remove the two screws from his back, then pull the back cover off. Behind it you'll find two more screws near the top of his back you'll have to remove. Then you'll remove a total of four screws from the back of his mid section. It's a little tricky, trying to work around the turret. With all those screws removed, you can pull the figure apart like so. Set aside the legs, back, back cover, waist, and turret. We'll need those later. Focus on the upper body. Remove this screw from the stock shoulder joint. This will allow you to pull the back off the joint, pull the black transforming bit off, pull the arm off, then remove the front of the joint. Keep the arm, but you can ditch the stock joint and transforming bit. Take the front half of the DNA shoulder joint and set it in place. Slide on the new DNA transforming bit. Sandwich the DNA arm connector's mushroom peg into it, then put the back of the joint on. Take the arm and slide it onto the arm connector, then put the other side of the connector on and screw it into place. Alternatively, you might find it easier to attach the arm to the arm connector, screw on the other half, then sandwich the whole thing into the joint before you put the back cover on. Either way, once you have all the parts in place, carefully re-assemble the figure by reversing the previous steps. So what was the point of all this? Basically, we were replacing the stock single-piece shoulder joint with one that has a mushroom swivel. See, one of the complaints that a lot of people had with these figures was that shoulder rotation wasn't actually rotation at all, it was a hinge connecting the forearm to the bottom of the tank treads. You had to lift a flap, then the arm could hinge 90 degrees forward, and that was it. The mushroom swivel allows the entire arm, including the tank treads, to swivel 360 degrees. While we're at it, the new forearm pieces have a flap on them. In bot mode this flap hides the hollow space in the forearm that the hands fold into. To transform the hands, simply open the flap, fold in the hand like normal, then fold the flap closed. I was concerned that the new shoulders might not line up right for transformation, as other 3D-printed kits that set out to do the same thing seemed to have that problem. But, maybe because DNA also replaced those transforming blocks in the chest, I'm happy to report that there are no such issues here. The shoulders still move up all the way (and the new horns are angled so they just fit between the treads), the blocks swivel and lock into the treads, and the legs still tab into the sides of the blocks. I feel like I can give these kits a recommend. For Tidal Wave, the little brick and the back cover are more nice-to-haves than necessities, but if you're having ratchet issues those knee parts could be a lifesaver. For Megatron/Galvatron, the horns are forearm fillers are also more nice-to-haves than necessities, but the new shoulder joints, despite the work that goes into installing them, are a major improvement. The kind I wish someone would have done for the Legacy Laser Optimus mold. Just as importantly (but never a guarantee with DNA), the kit doesn't introduce or cause any new problems. There are no downsides to these kits, it's just taking a flawed shoulder design and correcting it to what it should have been in the first place.
  10. mikeszekely
    Debating it. I really like the color, and although it's not a real Apples-to-Apples (pun totally intended) until they benchmark the Neo, synthetic CPU benchmarks of the A18 in an iPhone suggest that it is an improvement over the M1. I could spend extra and get an Air M4, if the prices go down when the M5 hits, but since the M5 has a price increase over the M4 I think there's less pressure to do so. Right now an M4 looks to be around $900 still, which is half again the price of the Neo. I mean, so do I, which is why I have a 2025 Zephyrus G14. I take that with me when I travel, and I'll bust it out if I want to do some real work but don't feel like going upstairs and getting on my desktop (which is where I do 99% of my gaming). I mostly use my M1 Air when I'm couch surfing but need a real keyboard, because it's lighter and has better battery life than Zephyrus. I also have a stand by my desk so that if I need to look at the internet or something while I'm playing a game on my desktop I don't have to alt-tab out of it. Yeah, that's my real point. A MacBook Neo isn't a high-end computer for gaming or professionals, but if you're in either of those categories you're already budgeting for more. But I think the majority of people are doing most of their computing in a web browser, be it streaming video, surfing the web, checking email, doing schoolwork, etc. Those sorts of people don't want to spend a ton on more power that they don't need, and I really don't think there's a better sub-$600 option right now. When I bought my new G14 my dad was freaking out because his laptop had Windows 10, Microsoft was ending support for it, and it was so old he couldn't upgrade to 11. I wound up just giving him my old G14, but if he asked me today what he should get I'd tell him MacBook Neo. I'm less enthusiastic about the iPhone 17e. I mean, it is probably a good deal, and I expect I'll be buying one in the near future for my daughter, but I personally don't like iOS.
  11. mikeszekely
    Are we expecting either of them to be interesting? Cliffjumper could be a retool of SS86 Bumblebee, and depending on how much they retooled I might consider that an upgrade over the previous 86 Cliffjumper (which was just a repaint of the Earthrise toy). I'm like 99% certain that Cyclonus is a repaint of the Kingdom toy, though. It's a fantastic figure if you don't own it, but I think the original deco is fine, not sure how they'd improve it. Speaking of missing figures, a reissued Commander-class Armada Optimus will go up for preorder tomorrow (March 5th). Commander-class Armada Jetfire will not go up for preorder this month, but we expect Hasbro to reveal it soon. On March 10th preorders will go up for Studio Series Titan-class Grimlock, and Monstructor goes up on the 17th.
  12. mikeszekely
    You mean the MacBook Neo? Just 8GB. Not ideal, but like I said, I have an M1 Air with 8GB, and MacOS is optimized enough that it still feels adequate for basic tasks. Better than a Windows device with that little RAM, anyway. EDIT: To be clear, no, I don't think the MacBook Neo is going to be enough for professionals... but I don't think the vast majority of laptops under $600 cut it for professionals. And gamers are almost stuck with Windows (and, again, probably need to spend more than $600). The MacBook Neo is definitely not suitable for everyone. But, I feel pretty confident saying it's the best laptop under $600, and a solid choice for people who do most of their work in a web broswer.
  13. mikeszekely
    So, it's not for power users and certainly not the answer to @David Hingtgen's quest... but Apple just dropped a bomb with the MacBook Neo. Now, I'm saying this as someone who thinks Windows 11 is that bad once you de-clutter it... but the fact that you have to de-clutter it at all is telling. The AI push is adding bloat that no one wants and no one asked for, and yet every time they get called out on it they've doubled down. I think the only thing that's kept me suggesting Windows laptops to my family is that they don't do a ton with their computers, so they just want something cheap. They're just not willing to spend $900+ on a base model MacBook Air. I think the $600 MacBook Neo completely changes that conversation. Yeah, as a primarily PC gamer I'm still going to be running a Windows desktop, and if I'm going on a trip my Zephyrus G14 is going with me. But the next time my wife or dad want a new laptop, I'll point them at the Neo. When my daughter gets far enough along to graduate from an iPad to a laptop for school, Neo. Heck, I have an perfectly good M1 MacBook Air I use for couch surfing (so I know MacOS runs OK even with just 8GB of RAM), and even I'm thinking about replacing it with a Neo because I really dig that green one.
  14. mikeszekely
    A-Level is supposed to be Hasbro's plan to have certain figures regularly in circulation by releasing them outside the usual waves, meaning they can be ordered and re-ordered by retailers outside the usual case assortments. In theory, that means that a potentially high-demand figure like SS86 Bumblebee would be readily available for collectors. In practice, it's been nothing but Optimus and Bee, and outside of SS86 Bee they've been shelfwarmers. Just the other day, in fact, I was at my local Walmart and found several Devastation Optimuses on clearance. So while I 've been curious to check out the new A-Level figures, I wasn't too worried when no one was taking preorders and they just randomly started showing up. If you want them, just keep checking your favorite local or online retailers. That is, if you actually want them. As I noted yesterday, Transformers One Orion Pax isn't all that great. Maybe the Bee to this year's Prime will be better... this is Studio Series Deluxe-class Devastation Bumblebee. Out of the gate I'm getting pretty good vibes from this figure. The bot mode is like 90% G1 Bumblebee, with noticeably better proportions than either SS86 Bee or Retro/Netflix Bee. But the panels on his shins and the shape of his feet give me '06 Classics Bumblebee vibes, and I don't hate that. To be fair, those aesthetic choices were really the choices of the team at PlatinumGames; Hasbro simply did a good job of taking the in-game design and rendering it in plastic. Bee does sport a bit of a backpack... but that's really par for the course with the character. The backpack he's carrying isn't any more egregious than the ones on SS86 or Retro/Netflix Bumblebee, and it's largely accurate to the in-game model as well. Are the accessories? Moment of truth here, guys, I don't think I ever bothered playing as Bumblebee outside of scripted parts of the game where you were forced to. That actually goes for anyone not named "Optimus Prime." What I can tell you is that the two pistols are pretty similar to the generic pistol that a lot of guys used in the cartoon, a pistol that's been included with several other Bumblebee toys over the years. As for the bigger gun... *shrugs*. But hey, more is better than less, right? At least as long as the figure itself is good. Bee's head is on a hinged ball joint, so depending on how you manipulated it he's got pretty good sideways and downward tilt, and he can look 90 degrees straight up. His ball-jointed shoulders have the usual swivel and 90 degrees of lateral movement. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. No wrist swivel, but his waist swivels (you might need to move the flap with the taillights on his back). His hips can go forward and laterally 90 degrees, and only a little shy of that backward due to his backpack getting in the way. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees. His feet have a little downward tilt, nothing up, and his ankles pivot about 45 degrees. All three of his guns have 5mm peg handles that fit into his 5mm port fists. There's also a 5mm port on his back for you to store the extra gun. I don't think he was designed to stow all three in bot mode, but technically the pistols have tabs that fit into slots on his heels. Transformation is a bit wild. The backpack hinges out and away, allowing the rear tires to fold out. His head folds over into his back, then his chest swivels up and over to cover his head on what's actually his back, but the entire torso hinges forward to keep the chest on the roof. The doors on his heels open, the tires fold out, and his feet fold down, with the shin panels rocking down fill in the hood, but then multiple joints around the knees allow the thighs to collapse into the shins, and his hip joints swing the legs up to meet the roof. His arms fold back and tab together, with the backpack coming down to (mostly) cover them and fill in the rear. From most angles, the car looks pretty good. It's game-accurate, which is to say that Platinum didn't want to pay for the Volkswagen license so they more or less took the car mode of Classics Bumblebee, squished it a little, and ditched the extra white paint. The only gripe I have is the largely missing rear bumper. The space has be coopted by his forearms, which stick awkwardly out the rear. But the car does roll. The pistols use their tabs to plug into the doors (which were his heels in bot mode). The larger gun plugs into the 5mm port on the roof. I really like this Bumblebee a lot. It's game-accurate, which is to say it's not technically as G1-accurate as SS86 Bumblebee or Netflix Bee, but the more heroic proportions make him look more dynamic. Likewise, the alt mode is more Classics than G1, but I don't hate that. I mean, Classics is nearly as old today as G1 was when Classics first hit shelves, and Classics is when I started getting into collecting Transformers as an adult, so I'm weirdly nostalgic for it. Nostalgia aside, this is a good-looking, adequately-articulated, well-equipped, mostly G1-ish Bumblebee figure with a pretty interesting transformation. I'd say he's definitely worth picking up.
  15. mikeszekely
    Gonna take a break from DNA kits to talk about some A-Level stuff... Studio Series Deluxe-class Transformers One Orion Pax. This is an interesting release, to me, because we already had Optimus, and they're the same guy, right? Except that's not exactly true. There was Orion Pax before he got a T-Cog, then there was Orion Pax after he got his T-Cog, and those two versions got the bulk of the screen time. Pax doesn't become Optimus Prime until he gets the Matrix right before the big final battle. There is, correctly, the obvious height difference between Pax and Prime, but if you look at concept art for the film there are other small details that are different between Pax and Prime's models. The most obvious is that Pax has no faceplate and smaller ear-tenna, sure, but Pax also has smaller smokestacks and a narrower chest window, all of which the new figure accurate depicts. It's less obvious, but the two models had different shoulders, and you could chalk the extra painted mechanical details on Pax's shoulders to that. While Hasbro did manage to get the differences differences right, I think I have more of an issue with the similarities not quite being similar enough. For one, I'm pretty sure Pax and Prime are supposed to be the same color (differences in screenshots are differences in lighting, not the actual color). Pax has much more saturated red and blue colors, with gray plastic that isn't pre-yellowed. I think a lot of people are going to see Pax and say, "Dang, why didn't they make Prime those colors in the first place?" There's also some painted mechanical details on Pax's forearms. These details exist on Prime's character model and are molded onto the toy but weren't painted. So there's a temptation to say that Pax at least looks better than Prime. It's been a minute since I watched Transformers One, but regardless of what he used when in the movies it makes a certain amount of sense to not just regurgitate the same energon axe accessory for Pax that came with Prime. Also, as a smaller, simpler figure than Prime, it makes sense that more of Pax's budget would go to his accessories. So he comes with two. First you have the map he, Elita-1, D-16, and Badassatron used to find the cave. You also have the big digger tool used by the miners. Pax's head is on a ball joint with a fairly good up/down/sideways tilt, in addition to the expected swivel. His shoulders swivel and move laterally 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, and his elbows are double jointed, though you're looking at closer to 120 degrees of bend than 180. His wrists swivel and bend inward. He technically has a waist swivel, but it's in his backpack farther out than his butt, so it looks extremely awkward if you use it for more than a slight turn. His hips are ball joints, and his hip skirts do move, though it's a single piece tabbed into his pelvis, so you can expect about 90 degrees of movement forward, backward and laterally. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees. His toes have some downward tilt due to transformation; if you try to tilt them up they'll pop off. His ankles can pivot about 90 degrees. Pax can hold the mining tool with both hands. The blades on the tool spin. The map can plug into a small peg on either of Pax's forearms. All of his accessories can be stored on his back. The tool uses too tabs that plug into slots on the backpack, while the map fits onto one of two small pegs on the bottom of it. Pax is not simply a downsized version of Prime. Although their transformations do share some similarities, there are some pretty big differences, and it winds up being just a bit more awkward for it. Like, yes, the entire lower body folds back so you can fold out the grill and tuck in the forearms, but then you have to fold it back, spin the waist, and move the legs like he's sitting down. The arms, in theory, stay in place by plugging on to a thin flap you fold out from under his chest, then ridges on the forearms are supposed to slide into a slot on his butt. In practice it's very difficult to line everything up just right, and on my copy things keep popping out. Frankly, I'm not even sure the end result is worth it. I mean, it's kind of cool that they tried to tuck Pax's arms up into the cab instead of leaving the most of his arms just lying along the side, but Prime's shoulder shift at least made for a pretty intact cab. There are massive gaps on the sides through which you can clearly see his fists. The back of the cab is a small improvement in that it's mostly red, but there's still deeply recessed and a part of Pax's forehead is showing. At least Pax can tow his gear. The mining too uses tabs that go into the bottom of Pax's shins to ride on the back of the truck. Alternatively, you can use the same tabs as his bot mode storage to plonk the whole thing on the roof. The map uses the same small pegs it did in robot mode to sort of hang off the back of the cab. Hasbro seems determined to milk Transformers One for all it's worth. I don't necessarily mind it, as I did like the film quite a bit. I suppose that an Orion Pax who's slightly different than Optimus Prime was inevitable, then. I guess we should expect D-16 in the future (and maybe he'll come with Megatron's cannon, since Megatron came with D-16's). But it's a bit frustrating that, to maintain some semblance of scale, Pax wound up with a design that's worse than the already very mediocre Optimus Prime. If not for the fact that I think Hasbro wanted all the main characters to be Deluxes to make them easier to push on kids who saw the movie instead of adult collectors, I think Hasbro would have been much better off making Pax (and D-16) better Deluxes while making Prime and Megatron Voyagers. As it stands, Pax isn't a great toy, and you should probably skip him.
  16. mikeszekely
    DNA clearly has a hit on their hands with their kit for Godzilla Megatron. Can they keep the streak going? The next kit we're going to look at is DK-75, their upgrade kit for Age of the Primes Prima. This kit comes with a new head, a cape, a shield, a sword, and some bits that plug onto the shield. Full disclosure, the new head is what sold me on the kit. It always struck me as a bit incongruent that, from the neck down, Prima seemed to be a G1-ified take on the Covenant of Primus' knight-like design, but they gave him a head with goofy ears based on the gladiator robot from "The Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4" that was retroactively determined to be Prima. Just my personal option, but I find this decision to be extra unfortunate, as that's the episode that establishes the Quintesson origin for the Transformers, an origin that's been largely rejected in favor of Marvel's Primus origin. This new DNA head has wings instead of ears and a face/helmet that's a little bit Covenant, but also a little bit Optimus. I rather like how it looks. To swap the heads, you have to pop the stock head off the ball joint, and then just pop the new one on. As for the cape, lift the top of Prima's backpack (the alt mode bumper) and you'll see a hole between the two blue orbs. On the plastic parts at the top of the cape you'll find a cutout with a tab that's rounded at one end. This tab, in theory, goes into the hole on the backpack, with the sides of the part kind of clip around the sides of the bumper. In practice, the tab doesn't really do much of anything, and it's the friction from the sides clipping on that holds the cape on. The cape itself is made of cloth, with a wire sewn into the edges so you can pose it. On the back of the shield you'll find a pair of H-shaped sockets. All those little bits have S-shaped tabs on them. For the most part, you'll want to take the bit with the handle on it and plug it into the socket near the top of the shield, and the bit that's smooth on the other sides and plug it into the bottom of the shield. The sword, which is bigger and has a Matrix designed sculpted into it rather than being compatible with Prima's Matrix, still has a 5mm handle and he can hold it just fine. The handled bit we put on the shield allows him to hold it in his other hand. If you prefer, though, the handle is hinged and can fold over. Folding the handle in causes a 5mm peg to fold out, and that peg allows the shield to be plugged into the 5mm ports on Prima's forearms. As an added gimmick, you can slide the sword point-first through the smooth connector on the bottom of the shield up through the handled connector at the top. the translucent blue edges of the shield have hinges and can extend outward a bit. By holding the sword's handle, the combined sword/shield becomes a battle axe. Up to this point the kit seems pretty good, right? Bigger sword, cool shield, nice cape, and (IMHO) a better head sculpt. Unfortunately, the rest of this review is going to be how things start falling apart. Prima's stock sword had a peg on it that allowed it to plug into 5mm ports on the sides of the bumper on top of his backpack. But, the cape is covering those ports, and the new sword doesn't have any peg on it anyway. So how's Prima supposed to store his gear when he's not using it? Well, for starters, you have to take the shield bit with the handle off, then replace it with either of the other two bits (they're identical) that has the H-shaped tab on both sides. That'll allow you to plug it into the H-shaped socket on the back of the cap part. Which... OK, I'm cool with storing the shield on his back, but why didn't DNA simply use a 5mm port on the cape part instead of the H-shaped socket? Then you could have stored the shield with the same 5mm peg that mounts the shield to his arm, and no extra partsforming step to swap the connectors would have been neccessary. But then there's the matter of storing the sword itself. On paper, it seems like you'd want to just slide the sword through the bits on the back of the shield, just like you did for axe mode, except reversed so that the point of the blade goes down through the top first. But again we've got a little problem. The blade flares out where those silver edges are on the sides. This prevents the blade from sliding all the way into the connectors, leaving it sticking way too high on his back. OK, but a lot of Transformers toys don't bother with bot-mode accessory storage anyway. So maybe we just make Prima hold his gear. But a Transformer still needs to transform, right? Well, for the most part, you transform Prima exactly the same way. But once you set him down, you run into your next issue... ground clearance. As you can see, Prima's new face is touching the ground, but his front wheels are not. Seems DNA made a cool new head that should have been a bit flatter. Robot mode accessory storage isn't always a thing, but I feel like we've gotten to a point where alt mode storage definitely is. So how do we store his new accessories? Well, the plastic part of the cape splits into two pieces. This allows you to remove the cloth cape. Now, move the shoulders out of the way a bit, and plug the big tab into hole on the front of Prima's bumper. Just like in bot mode, the sides kind clip over the the edges of the bumper, and that's what really holds it in place. But that means that the shoulders do NOT tuck all the way back in. As for the other plastic part, it plugs onto the two little pegs to form sort of a new grill and bumper, which looks ok, I suppose. Meanwhile, the sword slides into the shield like you do when you store the whole thing on Prima's back... except we're back to using the handled connector. Because the 5mm peg on that connector plugs into the 5mm port on the side of the vehicle that's made from Prima's forearm. And that's it! There's nowhere to store the extra shield connector, and there's nowhere to store the actual cape. This seems to be a case of solidly landing in the middle. I think the new head and cape do very much improve the robot mode, and sword and shield aren't bad. But robot mode storage doesn't feel like it was thought out all the way. Accessory storage in alt mode is worse, as it leaves off the cape. In that case, you might as well leave off the entire cape, not just the cloth part. But you probably shouldn't use alt mode at all with this kit since the new head doesn't have enough clearance under the vehicle, anyway. So, if you like the bot mode improvements and plan to leave Prima in a permanent bot-mode display you might find some value here. But otherwise I can't recommend this kit.
  17. mikeszekely

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    mikeszekely replied to mikeszekely's topic in Test forum

  18. mikeszekely
    Yeah. I just ebayed a pair of 8GB crucial ballistic modules. I know this Ideacentre I found was a budget computer from five years ago, but it's still got a 1TB hard drive and it's relatively small. Could use it as a file server, a media center box, etc.
  19. mikeszekely
    Hot Rod is the only one I really want. It's showing limited stock not available for pickup at my store, and out of stock at other stores in the area. I'll swing by on my way to game night with my friends, if not I'll try and order online.
  20. mikeszekely

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    mikeszekely posted a topic in Test forum

    Is there a reason why images can be uploaded in forum posts but not DMs?
  21. mikeszekely
    Good gravy does the RAMpocalypse suck. My wife has been wanting to get into the property rental business. She found a property for sale that was owned by some guy who went into hospice or something. The estate didn't want to deal with all the crap in his house, so they sold it with a provision that not only was my wife buying the house, she was buying everything in it. Well, I found a fairly modern Lenovo Ideacentre PC that likely shipped with Windows 10 but was upgraded to 11 (in addition to a much older machine with a Vista sticker). Figured I'd give it a rehab, could always use it as a living room media box or something. But, it's only got 8GB of RAM. No biggie, I think. I know RAM prices are bad right now, but that's for DDR5, right? Nope. A 16GB kit (2x8GB) of DDR4 is sitting somewhere between $100-$150
  22. mikeszekely
    Everyone's picking on Astrotrain for the mass-shifting and the fact that his interior works like a Tardis... I'm telling you, though, the worst offender is Omega Supreme. Dude transforms into an entire rocket base, and just his arms for the rocket, right? Then the Autobots would fly off in the rocket, and when they get there, somehow the rocket can turn back into Omega Supreme even though they left most of him behind.
  23. mikeszekely
    Six, actually. In their combined mode.
  24. mikeszekely
    Takara, left to their own devices, has done or is doing some wild stuff, like a sorta Prime that turns into the Fire Valkyrie from Macross 7, but also a (kind of) a truck. So it was kind of disappointing that, to celebrate Godzilla's 70th birthday, Takara took Studio Series Grimlock, swapped his robot head with Sludge's, painted him black, labeled him Megatron Type Godzilla, and then called it a day. While Takara's unwillingness to actually remold any parts made the figure difficult to recommend to any but the most hardcore Godzilla fans, it left a huge opportunity for frequent upgrade kit maker DNA to step up and "fix" the figure. And what they ultimately delivered was DK-67 Monster King. This kit includes a new robot head, new beast mode toes, new beast mode arms, a new beast mode head, robot feet fillers, robot forearm fillers, a beast back part, a beast tail part, a beast tail extender, and a connector part. It should also come with a pair of screws, but mine didn't. 😒 So we'll start in beast mode. Remove these three screws on the stock head. It'll pull part into all these pieces... which you can put back together and toss in a bag or drawer or something. The DNA head also needs to come apart, but there's no screws involved. Line the cutout in the bottom of the neck with the mushroom peg, and fit the rest of the head back together. Be careful to make sure that this post sticks into his mouth. To swap the arms, push the stock arms back until the ball joints pop out of their sockets. Take the new arms and just push them into the sockets. For the new toes, remove these three screws from the inside of the beast leg. Pull the inner half off, and you can wiggle the dino toes off the screw post. Pop the new toes on, then replace the inside of the leg and start screwing him back together, except for the screw through the dewclaw. If you're going to use the robot arm filler, line up the screw hole on the hinge with the screw hole on the dewclaw. Instead of using the stock screw, use the longer screws DNA provided. In theory, the hinge allows this part to open like a flap so you can fold the wrist out, then fold it back over to cover the gap. In practice, it doesn't lock in place or even sit flush, and it protrudes a bit from the rest of the limb. If you're mostly going to keep him in beast mode, where the back of his robot fist fills that gap, I think this part kind of makes it look worse. I wouldn't bother even if I wasn't missing the screws. Anyway, now we've just got to do the back and tail parts. Get used to these steps, because removing and replacing them is going to become a necessary partsforming step. For the small back part, you'll note that there are hinges between the rows of spines. You need to fold the outer rows so that they're sticking out at about a 45 degree angle, then line the part up (so the small peg is pointing down into his tail). Once it's lined up, straighten the spines, and tabs on the sides will kind of slide and grab into hollow spots on the hinges on his back. Grab this little connector part, and it can store on the underside of this piece as indicated. Then this piece will sit over the stock tail, with these hinged bits using pegs to grab into peg holes that will lock it into place. Finally, the tail extender has a 5mm port on it. It just plugs into the 5mm peg on the end of the part you just attached to the stock tail. Godzilla mode complete! And, like @Dangard Ace said, this is what Takara should have done in the first place. Just a few remolded pieces was all it took to take Grimlock in Godzilla colors and actually make a robot that looks like Godzilla. As a bonus, the new parts add some articulation. The new toes aren't just hinged like the stock ones, they're on ball joints so they can swivel into faux ankle pivots. The new arms have actual working elbows, bicep swivels, and wrist swivels. The tail extension has a few ball joints that allow it to bend and curl. As happy as I am with the greatly improved Godzilla mode, this is still a transformer, so lets go to bot mode. Transformation works mostly the same, except for two things. First, as I already mentioned, you have to remove all the new back and tail parts. Second, rather than simply flipping the beast head back, you need to rotate it 180 degrees, then slide it back before you flip it over so that it has the room to sit on the robot's back. The we have the robot mode parts. Remove this screw on the back of the stock head, then gently pull it apart and pop the back off of the ball joint. Open the DNA head the same way, push the back of the head onto the ball joint, fit the front on, and screw it together. I'll be honest, I didn't mind the Sludge head... it actually did have a sort of IDW-ish Milne-esque Megatron look to it. But the new head has a more traditionally G1 Megatron face, and a helmet that looks more like Godzilla opened his mouth and Megatron's face was just in there, like how Voltron's face pops out of the Black Lion. The feet fillers are pretty self explanatory. Line them up with the cutouts for the hinges and the 5mm ports, then just push them in. The question now is what to do with all the leftover back bits. One of the simplest things you can do is take the part where we stashed the little connector part and to move it into the 5mm port, so that a 5mm peg is kind of sticking out. Then you can take the entire tail and plug it onto an arm, fusion cannon style. This is Megatron, after all. Doing that doesn't really leave any place for the smaller back part, though. So, take the extender off the tail. Fold the long handle out of the back part, and again angle the outer spines out at about 45 degrees. The tail can then plug onto the back part to create a handheld weapon. And, again, we fold the clips under the other tail part and arrange the connector part into the 5mm port with a 5mm peg sticking out. I'm not sure what you'd call the weapon... a sword? A lance? Regardless, he can hold it in one hand, while the rest of the tail can use the connector to plug into a forearm and become a shield. This is my preferred robot configuration. But you still have options. Arrange the connector so that it sticks out a bit further, with the 5mm peg pointing down instead out straight back, and you've got a handle on the shield that he can hold in his free hand. Or, turn the connector upside down and you'll have enough clearance to plug it into the 5mm port on his back, on the beast mode neck. DNA can be a very hit-or-miss sort of company. Their worst upgrade kits can fail to address issues I have with figures while introducing a host of new problems, like the ones they did for Siege Magnus and Galaxy Upgrade Optimus. Their best kits can fix the biggest complaints I have with a figure, like the simple kit they did for SS '07 Megatron that replaced the ROTF chest with one that was '07 movie accurate. Most of their kits fall somewhere in the middle. But this kit? My friends, this is one of their rare kits that not only fixes my complaints with a figure, it does so in such a thorough and complete fashion that it elevates a figure I wouldn't actually recommend in the first place into a figure I'd happily recommend. The only downside is the price. This kit costs nearly as much as the figure, which was already a premium over the standard Leader-class price. But if you already bought this figure, then this kit is a must-buy delivering night-and-day results. And if you're into Godzilla and Transformers but wasn't happy with Takara's feeble stock attempt at a crossover, the upgraded results are honestly good enough to made you reconsider buying this toy.
  25. mikeszekely
    No worries, we're cool.
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