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mikeszekely

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  1. mikeszekely
    Not sure how spoilery stuff we'll likely figure from the first five minutes (assuming you miss all the promos and trailers) is, but I'll roll with it. Very mixed opinions.
  2. mikeszekely
    Nothing particularly exciting. Actually, I'm pretty disappointed that the RG line is dipping into BF when there are a TON of MS I'd rather see. Even if I exclude UC, since everyone knows I'm a UC purist, I'm still waiting for the other four hero Gundam from Wing, any Gundam from 00 besides Setsuna's, Infinite Justice, Turn A, Gundam X, etc...
  3. mikeszekely
    Finally! I'd ordered this guy from a reputable Chinese seller (whom I got the others from) like a month ago, but apparently Chinese customs is backed up or something. But at last, we're taking a look at Hypnos, TFC's version of Drillhorn. Hypnos is a retool of Thanatos, so a quick glance might have you think he's aesthetically a purple Thanatos. I even have the treads on his shoulders arranged like Thanatos, which looks more Killbison than Drillhorn. You can arrange the treads to run along the side of his bicep, but the tread will get in the way of his articulation. Hypnos is also more noticeably purple than at least the cartoon, but I actually prefer that. It helps make him look more distinct from Minos/Hellbat. His face is a little too dark, though. In a lot of ways, he follows the trend set my the rest of the set; blending toy and 'toon details, using a chest design that is less like either the toy or the 'toon with color on either side of a white panel vaguely recalling his look with his breast partner even though said breast partner isn't there. It's not entirely accurate, but definitely recognizable (as a character I had to look up on the Transformers wiki). Instead of throwing in the usual stuff for size comparisons (I think by now you know about how big these guys are), I wanted to compare him directly to Thanatos. Because, while Hypnos is a remold with the same engineering and basic transformation, when you look closely you can see how many parts are actually different molds. Even stuff TFC could probably have gotten away with, like the forearm panels, thighs, or abdomen, are actually different parts. It's a nice touch, but one that unfortunately isn't very effective at preventing them from having nearly identical silhouettes. Hypnos comes with his breast partner, a little unnamed rhino that looks as much like Hornbreast as the rest of the TFC breast partners look like the Breastforce's breast partners... which is to say not very. The white body was a good start, but purple legs instead of black and a purple head instead of white throw things off. Hypnos also comes with a weapon for combined mode. It's supposed to be Liokaiser's electromagnetic nunchuck. It's tough to say how accurate it is... I don't think the original Liokaiser had such a weapon, and it's very inconsistently drawn in the cartoon. As you can see here, though, it's black with some silver detailing, has surprisingly sharp spear points at the ends, and is made of three segments attached by a chain. The segments can fit together to be used like a spear. I'll point out now, a lot of the reviews I've seen for Hypnos that talk about the weapon seem like they break it on camera, so one segment or the other will come off with the chain. I'm going to tell you now, it's NOT broken, and if you find yourself messing with it and end up in the same situation 9 chances out of 10 you pulled it apart wrong. If you look carefully at the spear, you'll notice most of the greebly lines run around the circumference of the weapon. There's a thicker part, though, that has lines running lenghtwise. That's where you're supposed to grab and pull away from the middle. However, the connection is pretty tight, and it might pull the piece it's attached to with it. When that happens, the chain will come out. The fix is simple- pull that part off of the spear tip end and stick it back on the center piece. Getting back to the breast partner, as expected he turns into a breastplate for Hypnos. And, as with the other four, it's not cartoon or toy accurate, and for the most part he looks better without it. Of course, you could always use him as a gun for Hypnos. This is the point in the review where I'd talk about articulation, but it's identical to Thanatos'. Their heads even have the same restriction because they both transform on a hinged armature. Hypnos turns into a drill tank, naturally. Black treads instead of purple and white, which is fine. Likewise, red cockpit instead of white, which is also fine. The drill is in the right spot, and TFC even copied molded detail like the little guns on the back, which stand out more from the original toy because TFC painted them. While the rear of the tank does have the vented section with the tail fins, the whole thing is much thinner than the original toy, so the cockpit doesn't flow into them the way the original did. But again, I'd like to take a moment to point out how very little Hypnos and Thanatos share in the way of parts. As with Thanatos, Hypnos doesn't have any wheels or anything in his treads, so he doesn't roll. Nor does his drill spin. The cockpit sort of opens... you can lift the assembly, but it's really for transformation. The red canopy isn't hinged but it does come off, revealing a nice place for a Decepticon emblem inside. And, of course, you can plug his breast partner on in vehicle mode. I think it fits pretty well. Wrapping up my thoughts on Hypnos is a little tough. While Thanatos was pleasantly surprising, I expected Hypnos to pretty much be a purple Thanatos. And while TFC took great pains to mold new parts, the truth is they're still so similar that I pretty much got a purple Thanatos. Actually, my disappointment goes a little further than that, because everything closed up nice on Thanatos' backpack, and the guns on Thanatos were articulated to flip over his shoulders. No matter what, you're pretty much stuck folding the drill onto Hypnos' back and closing the cockpit around it, and the cockpit doesn't actually fit, so it just rests around it. It doesn't even tab in anywhere. That being said, he looks pretty sharp in both modes. And, if you're a fan of Drillhorn, it's not like you have an abundance of options. You might want to wait and see how Mech Idea's Pestilence turns out, but if you're in it for Hades chance are you've already started collecting these guys. And there's nothing particularly bad about Hypnos. So, I guess I'll put it this way... do I recommend him as a really cool transforming toy on his own, if you never head of the Breastforce? Probably not. But if you're a Transformers Victory fan and you want Drillhorn or the Breastforce in your collection, I think you'll be happy with Hypnos.
  4. mikeszekely
    The MT/FP Combiners are what they are, I suppose. They've got a fantastic aesthetic, but their engineering just isn't on par with what others are doing these days. As for Giant, no, TF-Direct is based in China. My order shipped, and in theory could arrive later this week, but I'd guess late next week. I'm very much looking forward to reviewing him.
  5. mikeszekely
  6. mikeszekely
    Fun fact... I never liked Metroid or Metroid II! And Super Metroid, which many talk about as the greatest game ever? Never finished it. Fast forward a number of years to the GBA. I loved both Fusion and Zero Mission! I finished both of them twice. So I was pretty jazzed about AMR2, and I grabbed it before the takedown. Fun fact 2: few things screw with your brain like a 1-year old. As I was downloading AMR2, I was seriously thinking how cool it'd be if someone made a Zero Mission-style remake of the original Metroid for some time before remembering that Zero Mission is a Zero Mission-style remake of the original Metroid.
  7. mikeszekely
    For you, and anyone else who winds up getting Guardia... This pic has everything transformed and ready to go, I just need to plug the bumper into Guardia's torso. Notice the tab I've marked- it's cut. If your tab isn't cut, you'll notice that it has a little notch on it. Maketoys isn't coming out and admitting that it's supposed to be cut, but sources close to Maketoys say yes, it's supposed to be cut. So just trim it down so it looks like mine; you're life will be a lot easier. Some people have suggested that the notches I've cut off have a purpose, and you should instead cut into the red plastic on Guardia's torso. I, as well as Maketoys, tell you not to do that. Ok, so forming Guardia's back out of Vulcan's arms. Do the front bumper tabs first. Then, start with everything like this picture. Tab 1 goes into slot 1, 2 to 2, 3 to 3. Maketoys has been more mum on this than the bumper tabs, but myself and others advocate you trim the tab I've marked as "2." It will make fitting things together a tad easier, and you'll be less likely to stress those tabs when you change Vulcan back to robot or truck mode. You could probably take as much as half the tab off, but err on the side of caution and take maybe a quarter to a third off. Fold the flap down so that tab 1 goes into slot 1. Switching to the top view. Rotate the arm on the joint so that tab 2 goes into slot 2. Finally, sorry for the blurry pic, but once the flap is secured to at slot 1 and tab 2 and the arm is in the correct position, push the arm so that tab 3 fits into slot 3. Double-check that the bumper tabs are still secure. If you cut the tabs I told you to (without taking too much off), and you follow my instructions for transforming Vulcan's arms into Guardia's back, you should find that Guardia's torso fits much better and more securely with minimal headaches and frustration.
  8. mikeszekely
    Well, as someone who doesn't collect MPs, I'm hard up for a Megatron and Optimus that sizes well with my 3P collection. I have Hegemon, but he's a little short. So, while I'm not sold on the alt modes for either Cross Dimension figure, I've got Manus preordered and I'll get Rioter Despotron, too. If the AR view of them in the Maketoys app is accurate, they should be about the size I want, they look very articulate in bot mode, and I kind of dig the Cross Dimension's look. Unique, vaguely Cybertronian, but both characters are still instantly recognizable. Regarding Vulcan, Maketoys isn't coming out and saying they screwed up, but they're giving instructions for how and where to cut. So yeah, I cut the tabs, and yeah, I'd tell anyone with Vulcan to do the same. Contrary to some speculation, they don't lock the wheels in bot mode; cut or not, the wheels just rest against them, and cutting them is the difference between, "Why do they keep popping out?! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!" and everything fitting snug and secure the way it's meant to. Just make sure you're only cutting the thin part of the tab, not the whole tab. One other thing I did, and it's a little harder to describe because I don't have the toy in front of me right now, but remember how Vulcan's arms fold up and plug into his back? There's a blue panel that covers most of the forearm, and it it has a smaller hinged flap that covers the top? That flap has a slot on the underside, a tab on the edge, plus Vulcan's arm has to tab onto the back, and that's a little tricky. My advice is to pose the arm so the large blue panels are facing out to the sides, fold the smaller panels down onto the tabs on Vulcan's joint (elbow? Shoulder? I can't recall), then rotate the joint so that the tab on the edge of the panel and Vulcan's arm can both connect to the back. But, before you do, consider trimming those edge tabs on the smaller blue panel. They're probably twice as long as they need to be; I personally took off maybe a third of the tab. It'll make it a little easier to get everything tabbed together back there, but more importantly, it'll make it a lot easier to undo when you want to transform him back to robot or alt mode. If you have questions, let me know and I'll try to grab some pictures tonight.
  9. mikeszekely
    I believe this is care of Maketoys' Weibo page, but I found it on TFW. I'm a touch disappointed. G1 Megatron is a classic, but outside of that I'm not a fan of gun-mode alts.
  10. mikeszekely
    Or Prime Killer.
  11. mikeszekely
    Does anyone have any opinions on the iGear Con Air Raptor Squadron? Not the MP-ish ones they did, the ones that turned into F-22 (or F-22-ish, in the case of the Coneheads) planes? I've had my eye on them, and with iGear out-of-business I'm worried that they're going to become harder to find and more expensive over time, but for right now I have a line on all six for around $500, and I'm trying to decide whether or not to pull the trigger on that.
  12. mikeszekely
    Heads up, TFSource has Fansproject's Function-X6 Knight on sale for $50.
  13. mikeszekely
    I'm waiting to see how Maketoys' Despotron shakes out. And, I guess I could see cancelling Mightron if you already have Apollyon; I agree with Ben's review that Mightron isn't a huge upgrade. That said, I do think he's an upgrade. From the front, he looks better than Apollyon in every way possible. He's got a awful lot of kibble on the back, sure, but even then from the waist down he's looking better than Apollyon, and the kicker is that he's looking to be at least $35 less than Apollyon. In other 3P news, I finally got replacement parts for ToyWorld's Long Haul. I pulled Devastator apart, put everyone into bot mode, and did the surgery on Long Haul. While I was working, I was thinking... ToyWorld's Constructicons are probably the best-looking Constructicon toys (GT's Scrapper is pretty good, and their Long Haul might actually trump ToyWorld's, but I digress). They look great in robot and alt mode. But... the more I look at him, the more I think I don't like their combined Devastator. I'm not a fan of the Studio OX head, I'm not a fan of the silver Studio OX thighs, and his proportions are just plain goofy. So... I ordered GT's Scrapper. He's sitting in a pile, waiting for the last Hades guy to arrive before shipping. If I like him, I'll probably go all in on GT's Devastator. Oh, but that still wasn't enough for me! TF-Direct has a sale going on right now, and I ordered a KO Green Giant. Well, it's listed as KO, but there's a lot of rumors and speculation going around about this particular KO as it's supposed to be identical to the non-KO right down to the Maketoys gift box, and I haven't heard anything worse about the KO than a weak joint here and there (which actual Maketoys products aren't immune to, as us Guardia owners can tell you). I'll be sure to review everything as it comes in, and I'm looking forward to eventually doing a special series to compare Devastators (if anyone has a Hercules they'd be willing to loan out for that, PM me).
  14. mikeszekely
    I think I covered my thoughts pretty well when I reviewed him, but yeah. I love how Guardia looks, I hate how Guardia feels. Oh well. I'm either going to sell my M3, Guardia, and Quantron, or I'm going to get Giant and Pty the four of them in their own separate display. As I keep collecting combiners, the MT-sized ones are starting to look and feel too small. On the flip side, I'm thinking Constructor has gotta go, too, for the opposite reason. Too big.
  15. mikeszekely
    Not yet, but someone close to Maketoys claims he'll have a space gun alt.
  16. mikeszekely
    The neat thing about that second Megatron is that it's a triple changer and has a tank mode as well. Unfortunately, it's from Bold Forms, and their last product (LoneWolf) wasn't exactly what you'd call good...
  17. mikeszekely
    Badcube's Trailbreaker isn't so big that it's crazy, IMHO. I mean, I remember him having a chunk of a truck's front end for most of his torso, and both BC and MMC's fit the bill. Hoist, though, took more details for the animation model from the cartoon, and so he was more pot-bellied and he had the arm flaps. It looks like BC's Hoist has the arm flaps and the front of the truck sits lower on his torso, but it leaves a bit of a gap. I think I'd want to see MMC's Hoist, and ToyWorld could possibly be back in the running there. If MMC or ToyWorld have a better Hoist, then I'd say get that Hoist and the BC Trailbreaker. If BC's Hoist is the best, though, get that and MMC's Trailbreaker.
  18. mikeszekely
    According to TFClub, a Chinese group on Weibo, word from TFCon is that the Dinobots are being considered. At what scale, I don't know. Also, there's some suggestion that it might happen under the Titans Return banner, so while you might get your wish for Dinobots, they may or may not be Voyagers, and they may be Headmasters. Oh, and David...
  19. mikeszekely
    With those giant flaps hanging off his shoulders I doubt that ToyWorld's Trailbreaker is going to be in the running for too many people, unless you want a hardcore toy look. It's a tougher call between MMC and Badcube, though. There are things I like about both... I'd have to wait and see how the reviews go.
  20. mikeszekely
    Well, you could always wait and see how the Takara version turns out (I'm hoping they either color it more like Laser Convoy). Or use the head from the Takara God Ginrai. Agree on Prime/Octane, especially what with the cab of the truck split in half and just chilling out under the plane's wings. Regarding Kickback, I think it's the sad realities of the cheaper Legends-class engineering. And regarding Hot Rod (whose name looks like it's actually Hot Rod and not Rodimus this time), I think the length is right, I think his shoulders are too tall and stuck out too far from his torso. But maybe they're trying to go for a more top-heavy IDW look? I have the Blu-ray preordered already. As far as PM Prime/God Ginrai goes, I don't feel like it's as clear cut as Computron. I like that the Titan Master isn't just a little Prime head stuffed into a bigger Prime head, and I like the feet and hands on the Hasbro version. I'm not crazy about that chunk of red square on the Takara version's trailer, either. I could go either way on the junk that covers the cab in robot mode, although I do like the Takara cab and weapons better. Ultimately, though, especially for what importing the Takara version is likely to cost, I think I'm going to go with lechuck and wait for a proper MP God Ginrai, or a 3P version. I think Hexatron might be too big for my personal collection... but I think that's true for a Leader-class Sixshot, too. And something about him just looks doofy, so it's a pretty easy pass for me.
  21. mikeszekely
    Rex should. I'll check Ordin when I get home. EDIT: Yep, Ordin too.
  22. mikeszekely
    Pics coming in from Cybercon. We're getting a better look at that sort of Laser Optimus-ish Voyager, and if Megatron is going to be a Blitzwing repaint then it's looking like we'll get Octane out of Prime... We are getting a Legends-class Kickback after all! That leaked Hot Rod? He does look like he might be an improvement from the now-ancient Classics version, but he's still a Deluxe. And Leader-class Sixshot is confirmed, and he will have all six modes... robot, wolf, car, tank, jet, and submarine. Submarine? Yeah... as near as I can tell, "submarine" mode is basically gun mode upside-down, so maybe we don't need to bust out the pitchforks.
  23. mikeszekely
    Yeah, the bomber Megatron is from IDW. It was a nice design, but he's had like 3 designs since, so it feels a little late.
  24. mikeszekely
    There's been a lot of activity in the Bold Forms Megatron thread, too. Unfortunately for me, I'm not really interested in an MP-sized Megatron that turns into a gun (blasphemy, I know). Give me a More Than Meets the Eye tank Megatron that's about the same size as Leo Dux, though, and you can have my money.
  25. mikeszekely
    Went to Target for Diapers, came back with Titans Return Legend-class Rewind and Wheelie. So Rewind... his bot mode isn't too bad, and it includes nods to More Than Meets the Eye like a tiny molded camera on the side of his head, blue visor, red mouth plate, etc. I don't see anyone else lining up to give us a IDW Rewind, so there you go. As a Legend-class toy, you know he's going to be cheap and limited in articulation, so my only real complaint with his bot mode is that his arms are freaking huge. Seriously, his hands are the size of his head. His alt modes are less good. His first alt mode is a data slug, which is, I suppose, accurate to the comics, has decals that look like a smartphone screen with an audio cassette for a wallpaper, and has a slot on the one side for storing his gun. This is the better of his modes, since everything fits together pretty well, but admittedly it doesn't do much (especially if you don't have Blaster). You might as well tell people you bought a robot that turns into a brick. Guessing that kids might not be satisfied with that, he has a second tank alt. Basically, he's got little wheels on one side and you rotate his shoulders so that his arms are laying on the other side, then fold* them back over like they are in bot mode. While his arms do tab into the his sides, the halves of his forearms don't peg or tab together and rely on friction from the joint to stay in place. When his arms are situated, you can take the back of his gun and pinch it around gaps on the front of the "turret" and you kind of sort of have a tank. The turret doesn't move (although the barrel can wiggle up and down), his faux-treads only run down two thirds the tank's length, and there's a huge gap in the front, but I guess it counts. *The tolerances on the joint that closes the flap are way off. It's not as bad unfolding it, but when you fold it you'll notice that the edge of the joint is triangular, so that it follows the slope of the turret shape. When you fold it, you're basically digging the point of the triangle into his arm and pushing until it's forced to scrape the rest of the way into position. Then there's Wheelie. His bot mode is a little so-so. The whitish plastic could have been darker, and the dark canopy that makes up most of his torso might have been better off clear, to show more orange. He also could have done with more paint, and he comes with no accessories. Aside from the lack of accessories, it looks like the Takara version addresses my aesthetic issues, but I'll get to why he's not worth spending the extra money in a minute. His alt mode doesn't have quite the same '80s-future curves, but it's pretty spot-on otherwise, and one really nice feature he has is that his cockpit opens up and a Titan-Master can sit inside. What kills, really kills, Wheelie is that his alt mode is basically held together with wishes. His legs fold up and peg together to make the front ok, but his arms really don't. They try. There's a tab at the end of the arm that sits in a gap that's not really a slot behind the front wheel, and a slot on the side that grabs a tab under the silver part of his butt, but it'll slide off that tab if you so much as sneeze. I think it's a tolerance issue... the peg is a little wide for the slot, so the slot flexes around it and wants to push it back out. As the arms explode outward, they'll push apart the front end that you thought was neatly transformed. And there's no other places where the arm pegs or tabs in (aside from the ball-jointed shoulders). I can't help but think a little more supporting material under the car and getting him together might not be such a struggle. In any case, if he fit the way he was meant to I'd say that he's an ok figure, but with his extremely poor fit he's a shining example of the Hasbro trash that drives collectors to third parties. I didn't try any of the other Legends from Titans Return, but if Rewind and Wheelie are any indication they're a definite step down from guys like Bombshell, Powerglide, and Cosmos in previous waves, and the fact that they're priced at what Deluxes went for not that long ago is just criminal.
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