mikeszekely

Yeah, I haven't gotten around the VF-2SS, either. I think it and the VF-19 are the only variable molds I'm missing (I think they also did a an HMR Reguld and a few Destroids, but if it doesn't turn into a plane I don't want it); I've got a VF-4 (in Fokker's colors, not the Flashback one), a VF-0S, a VF-1J Hikaru, and a VF-1S Fokker. ...and when I put it that way, dang. Bandai needs to get cracking. I'd still really like, at minimum, a VF-11 (I prefer C), a VF-17 (I prefer D), more VF-19s (A and F, please), and a VF-22 (Gamlin colors). While they're at it, might as well give me an SV-51 gamma (Ivanov colors), a VF-25S, a VF-27, a VB-6 a VF-31F, and an SV-262. And heck, since they did the VF-2SS, might as well do the VF-2JA and the Metal Siren. And once all those TV valks are out of the way, a VF-3000, VF-5000 (VF-X2 colors), VF-4, VF-14, VA-3, VAB-2, Variable Glaug, and Pheyos. Then if they have time maybe some of the Protodeviln mecha.

I might not go for the YF-19, but I also hope they do it in HMR. Then they can redeco it blue as the VF-19A from VF-X2, and that I'd buy.

I skipped the Fire Valkyrie as I prefer my valks to not have faces, but I'm solidly in for this. Especially if the speaker pods are removable.

Feels like I'm starting to make some progress now, what with finding Slingshot earlier, and now Studio Series Voyager-class Scrapper has finally arrived. Well... the more things change, the more they stay the same, eh? 86 Scrapper is smaller, more tall Deluxe than a Voyager. The molded greebles are slightly different. 86 Scrapper's purple is a little less red, his green a little less yellow. The details on his chest are painted to look like the cartoon, where CW Scrapper's chest and abs are painted to look like the G1 toy. Yet, for a line dedicated to screen accuracy, 86 Scrapper has lost the gold and silver on his pelvis. His arms have gone from too short to a little too long. Yet those small changes seem to highlight the things that are the same... the head sculpts are nearly identical. Same wheels on the shoulders and legs. Same way his feet bulge out at the sides under the wheels. Maybe it's not super apparent in these phots, but the hollow spaces are in the insides of the forearms and the backs of the calves are hollow on both figures, and the shovels fold onto their backs in the same way. The accessories are similar, too... kinda. I mean, given that the CW Constructicons came as a set, who can really say what bits belonged to which Constructicons specifically? What I can say is that Scrapper comes with a trio of guns. One gun is based on the G1 cartoon and has no analog in the Combiner Wars set (though if you bought the Japanese Unite Warriors set instead you got a similar gun). The other two gun combine into Devastator's rifle... just like CW Devastator's rifle split into two parts. I'll note that the sculpt is very close to the CW version, too. I could write that off like, "well, they're both Devastator's gun, what else would they look like?" Except that the CW rifle is neither totally toy nor totally cartoon accurate, making it seem like Hasbro/Takara recycled their previous work instead of going back to the source and designing a cartoon-accurate weapon. But I digress. Scrapper's head swivels, with some up/down tilt (just like CW). His shoulders swivel and can move laterally 90 degrees, plus he's got a bit of forward/backward butterfly (improved from CW, who lacks the backward butterfly). His biceps swivel (same), and his elbows bend 90 degrees (improved, at least from the CW version, though the UW version did have working elbows). No wrist swivel or waist swivel (disappointingly same). His hips can go 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally (nearly the same). Thighs swivel, and knees bend 90 degrees (same). His feet can tilt upward (improved), nothing down (same), and his ankles pivot 90 degrees (improved). Scrapper can hold his gun using the 5mm ports in his fists. He can also hold the two halves of Devastator's gun. While he does, you may have noticed a small peg on the edge of his shovel. That happens to fit a small hole on his black gun, allowing for bot mode storage. Alas, there doesn't seem to be any bot mode storage for the Devastator gun. 86 Scrapper's transformation is extremely similar to the Combiner Wars toy. 86 Scrapper's chest opens so his head can fold inside instead of collapsing. His elbows bend backward 90 degrees before tabbing into his sides, but his arms still tab into his sides. His legs tab together, then his calves fold up and over his thighs, while his shins fold up over the fronts of his thighs and his feet fold flat against the insides of his shins, exactly like the CW toy. Again, it's weird how some details have been improved, like paint on the rims and a driver's cabin with a shape more like the G1 toy/cartoon... but how they also still copied details from from the Combiner Wars toy like the larger front tire and the enclosed driver's cabin that aren't G1 accurate. Scrapper rolls, and though there are technically two hinges on his shovel the one hinge is clipped down so only the one closer to the bucket works. There are tabs on the sides and slots on the back for weapon storage. The official configuration is to take the barrel of Devastator's gun and use a slot on the side to grab onto a tab, then a tab under the back of Devastator's gun to plug into one of the slots on the back of Scrapper. Scrapper's own rifle uses it's 5mm handle to plug into a port on the back of Devastator's gun. You have other options, though, if you want to get creative. It's worth pointing out that Scrapper's black gun also has a tab, and can plug onto the back of his alt mode while you can leave Devastator's gun off entirely. In a way, Scrapper reminds me of the time I had to write a research paper as part of a senior project in high school, then had to do a research paper with nearly identical requirements as part of a freshman project my first semester of college, so I made a few tweaks to the spots my high school teacher dinged me on but otherwise turned in the same paper again to my college professor. That's pretty much what Hasbro did... while there are a number of small improvements like better joint tolerances and elbows, the overall design and engineering are still so close to the Combiner Wars toy. A toy which, I remind you, was not particularly complicated and much larger, which makes the notion of Scrapper being a Voyager a tad questionable (even if his smaller size does mean he scales better). 86 Scrapper isn't a bad toy; in a world without the CW version I'd probably be talking about how good he is (how great he is, if he were a Deluxe). I can't help but be disappointed, though, that Scrapper is basically a decade-old design with minor improvements. If you're coming from Combiner Wars, the overall solidity, the tweaked colors, and elbows are probably still worth the upgrade. If you already have the Unite Warriors version, though, you might want to stick that one unless the size bothers you.

https://www.thegamer.com/mario-kart-world-price-physical-copy-90-80-dollars-fans-furious/ It's not $50 digital, it's $80 digital. It's only $50 if you buy the Switch 2 Mario Kart bundle. Nintendo hasn't come out and said that it's going to cost more in the States for a physical game card, but based on pricing in other regions they're going to charge more for a physical game card in the States. Who says Nintendo is worse? I'm not paying $80-$100 for GTA, either.

As a PC gamer I'm used to digital-only, you don't actually own anything software. It might be sad to say but it doesn't bother me anymore. What bothers me is the perceived value. $80 seems like too much for a Mario Kart game, even if it is an open world Forza Horizon type. I've already been resisting the jump to $70. Plus I have to wonder when the next $80 game is coming... it's one thing to charge $80 for a massive game I could spend hundreds of hours on, but what about something like the next 2D Mario? I mean, I remember liking Super Mario Wonder, but that's about all I remember because it was over super quick. There's no way I could justify $80 on a Super Mario Wonder 2, but I could see Nintendo charging that much just because it's Mario. And the console itself. I expected it to cost more, given that Nintendo hasn't dropped the price of the Switch 1 in eight years, but at $450 we're awfully close to the PS5's price without the PS5’s performance. So yeah... I was pretty excited for the Switch 2, but again as I do most of my gaming on PC I think I'm better off upgrading my desktop and maybe holding off a bit on the Switch 2, at least until there's a Switch 2 exclusive I want more than Mario Kart or Donkey Kong.

If MPG-17 had come out 10 years ago it'd have blown my mind. If it had come six or seven years ago I'd have thought, "hey they made an improved version of MP-10! I should buy it!” But today, in a world with MP-44, TE-01, and two great options from Magic Square? I just didn't know who the market for this is. *Looks at Detolf full of nothing but Primes* ...It's me, I'm buying it aren't I?

That's kind of what I mean. So many people seemed to complain about the first one, but I unironically thought it was pretty good. Hope it comes to PC. Switch 2 is coming in a little pricier than I expected, and that's before a bunch of new tariffs are set to go into place, plus Nintendo thinks at least some games should retail for $80. I'm thinking I might just splurge on new PC hardware instead.

Oof. $399 was pricey but doable, but $50 less than a PS5 for a console that might be as powerful as a PS4 is pushing it. EDIT: the $500 bundle with Mario Kart is looking like a better deal since Nintendo quietly announced that Mario Kart World will have an $80 price tag

Mario Forza Kart Horizon. Ah, so there will be a switch 2 version of Metroid Prime 4 after all. I may be the only person on earth looking forward to a new Daemon X Machina game. Yes to more Hyrule Warriors. I'm glad that the Switch 2 looks like it's going to have strong 3rd party support, it's just that most of it looks like games you could already buy on PS4/5/PC.

I get that, and fwiw I'd also rather have had Omnibots over Rescuebots, or for that matter fanfic rock guys, fanfic Junkions, fanfic dinosaur skeletons, and trying to mash Animated or Prime into a G1 style. All I'm saying is that Kranix is going in Studio Series, so he's like the one guy you can't replace with an Omnibots.

This better?

Most, for better or worse. Sadly, this means that Fireflight is likely going to wind up with his generic cartoon head, not the cooler masked toy one. To be fair, Omnibots aren't in the 86 movie so they can't wedge them into Studio Series. In AotP they're competing with all the other cartoons people younger than us claim get no love because Hasbro only likes G1.

I think that's fair. And I think, due to the way these things are designed, you can pretty much bet then that Skydive will be just as bad as Air Raid, and Fireflight will be just as good as Slingshot. Will today's review be as divisive? Maybe! It's Studio Series Deluxe-class Devastation Optimus Prime. The Optimus character model in Devastation was, arguably more than any of the other game models, pretty faithful to the G1 cartoon design. The only real difference was that the Devastation model was maybe a bit more athletic-looking. And that's really what we're getting here, a very G1 cartoony Optimus. Unlike the Earthrise toy, he's got all the yellow on his pelvis painted, as his the blue on his crotch, and the flaps on the sides of his legs are supposed to be his fuel tanks. His legs even have that tapered shape, and though they do peek out a bit at least some attempt was made to hide his wheels. His back has less backpack than SS86 Optimus or MP-44, though he does have some bumper and wheel kibble there. Prime comes with an unpainted Matrix of Leadership, and an energon axe with a molded "swoosh." Sadly, no gun. I get that the gameplay was more melee-focused, but I still would have traded the unpainted Matrix or even the axe for an ion rifle. Prime's articulation is decent enough. No real tilt on his head, but the flap it's on can be tilted up if you need to fake a little upward tilt. His shoulders swivel and move laterally 90 degrees, though they are sadly Hot Rod Shoulders™ again. I'll cut him a little slack for it, though, because the way he transforms means he's got a slight forward and plenty of backward butterfly. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. No wrist swivel, but due to his transformation his hands can bend inward. His waist swivels, though his wheel kibble can get in the way. His hips can go forward and laterally 90 degrees. They only go about 45 degrees backward, again due to the wheel kibble, but that's honestly enough for most poses. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees. His toes can bend down 90 degrees, no upward tilt, and his ankles pivot 90 degrees. His axe fits over his hand. Note that his smokestacks are pegged on, like the Legacy Deluxe, but they're smaller with a 3mm peg, so he can't really use them as accessories. His fists are, of course, standard 5mm fists. So, you know, maybe you happen to have another Deluxe-class Optimus that came with two rifles for some reason, and maybe Devastation Optimus can borrow one? As for his Matrix, his chest opens up, and the Matrix (which has a peg hole on the back) plugs into the peg inside. Since he's only a Deluxe his hands don't open, but there are grooves cut into his fingers and little tabs on the sides of the Matrix. You can slide those tabs up into the grooves in his fingers to get him to hold the Matrix. Barely. Prime's transformation is fairly G1, and for a change doesn't involve a fake grill. Instead, his lats fold back, as does his head. His hands turn inward, then his arms bend and tuck just like the G1 toy/cartoon. His waist rotates 180 degrees, though, and the wheels fold down to finish the front bumper. His heels and toes fold down, and a half of a hollow peg folds out from each of his shins before his legs kick up 90 degrees and peg together. The wheels fold down, and the fuel tanks on the sides of his legs fold up over his thighs, and that's it. You're done. The truck mode is... not the best. There's some seams on the front of the cap where his hands folded in, and a weird gap between the grill and bumper. The fuel tanks don't look as much like fuel tanks due to how Hasbro hollowed then out for some reason (and some red paint at the steps would have been nice). The back of the cab has a visible robot head, but ironically the same lats filling in the gap between the arms that the Commander-class toy does. And the back of the truck is still obviously robot legs, though I appreciate that they put molded taillights on the underside of Prime's feet. So yeah, not great, but I honestly don't hate it. I mean, aside from the Legacy one (which had an advantage of trying to mimic the G1 toy, not the cartoon), the last time we had a G1-ish Deluxe-class Optimus it had a far worse truck mode. There's a slot over one of Prime's knees. You might have noticed a red tab on the axe; that tab fits into this slot so he can carry it in truck mode. As for the fold-out peg, the hollow inside is a 5mm port. And the peg is at just the right height for Prime to work with the Earthrise trailer, which actually scales better with Devastation Optimus than it does Earthrise. When Devastation Optimus was first revealed, I think a lot of fans had a gut reaction along the lines of, "why does this exist, it looks so much worse than SS86 Optimus?" And, they're not wrong, but I don't think it's totally a fair comparison to make when SS86 Optimus cost almost as much as four of the Devastation one. He's a Deluxe, existing in a spectrum of Primes between the Core-class and the Voyager/Leader Earthrise one. He's clearly a much better figure than the Core-class one, and while there are things that the Earthrise mold does better there are, surprisingly enough, things that the Deluxe version does better. And, as I said, he's a lot better than the old Classics Deluxe. Really, he's not meant to be the definitive mainline Optimus, which is still SS86's role. He's overtly meant to be a smaller G1 Prime that can make the SS86 Devastator seem bigger (and I'm sure he'll scale nicely with the Deluxe-class Devastation Megatron when it comes, which I believe it should be later this year). And, less overtly, to get a(nother) proven product-moving character into the scale that sells the best and makes the most money. By and large, I think Hasbro was successful at what they set out to do. Devastation Prime isn't the best Prime, but he's a good Prime, one that's fun to just have on your desk and fiddle with. I can't quite call him a "must-buy" figure the way I did with SS86 Prime. If shelf space is limited and you're only looking for single, relatively in-scale representations of the cartoon cast for a display than Devastation Prime is not for you. But if Commander-class Optimus had too many steps in his transformation and you're looking for a simpler, fun Optimus to mess around with, Devastation Optimus delivers that in spades. I just wish he came with a gun.

I don't know that I agree with that, actually. I mean, yeah, they don't usually have their arms just dangling off the sides (though I'll refer you to Siege/Earthrise Ultra Magnus and his related molds, where the hands are very obviously sticking out the back), though I think the generally brick-ish shape of a car gives more places to hide the robot parts than a more tube-shaped plane (sans wings, which are too thin to hide anything). I disagree more with the the idea that cars always get more care. I mean, I've ranted many times about Breakdown not even being close to a Lamborghini. I could point out SS86 Jazz's visible feet, or worse, Earthrise Ironhide's. Maybe the fact that even Commander-class Optimus has a void on the back of his cab, or the fact that almost every Optimus's rear section is super obvious robot legs? But they kind of are, though, when they're not making even more changes like missing spoilers (the Lambros) or erasing curves (Wheeljack) or changing bumpers (the Datsuns) to avoid licensing. As a matter of fact, I happen to think some, like SS86 Bumblebee are better for it, as they look less like the real cars I was unaware of as a 5yo and more like the cartoon I watched as a 5yo. But then again... Whereas I had a poster of a Porsche 911 (930), and dreamed of owning a real Porsche someday (happy to say I bought a '23 Porsche Taycan😁). So I like aircraft, sure, but I'm actually going to look at cars with a more critical eye. And I've cut the cars some slack (except Breakdown). Because what Transformers fans demand, more than anything, is animation accuracy. And... And that's really the crux of it. The cartoon is based on the toys (which, in the Aerialbots case sacrificed even more than usual to the combining gimmick), and 40 years later Transformers fans want toys that look like the cartoon. Is it possible to make transforming jets with good alt modes? Heck no, Bandai/Tonka did it 40 years ago with Machine Robo/Go-Bots*. But is it possible for Hasbro, today, to make a toy that's slavish to the G1 Transformers cartoon while simultaneously making a realistic aircraft that's also got enough bulk to be a combiner limb, all on a $25 budget when some 3Ps can't manage in a toy with five times (or more!) the price tag? I'm afraid not. That's why, taken for what it is, I think Air Raid is flawed but better than Combiner Wars. And, taken for what it is, Slingshot is actually pretty good. *I still desperately want modern Go-Bots toys that scale with Generations.

I'd give that one to Karen Gillan.

Huh. I'd have never thought of it on my own, but I guess I could see her as Sayla.

Finally! I have a friend that does the book merchandising for several Walmart stores, so while the ones around me are still pretty barren he was able to find this guy for me at a store about an hour from here... Age of the Primes Deluxe-class Slingshot! This time the Age of the Primes figure destroys the Combiner Wars version. It's not even close. AotP Slingshot has the correct orange goggles, the line bisecting the top of his head, no unnecessary silver on his ribs or gold on his knees, his thighs are properly white, and his overall shape is much closer to the G1 cartoon. From the front, my only gripes are the tiny stripe of white in his tummy, and the fact that his black hips should probably be red. Viewed from the back his cockpit is folded in to a backpack and his wings are on his legs, as they should be. His tail doesn't connect to his backpack, though. Instead, they fold back into some pretty massive heels. It's not the worst thing in the world, though... I'm not sure how his tail could move to the backpack without partsforming anyway. Slingshot come with this pair of guns. They don't particularly match the G1 toy, but they seem to match the cartoon pretty well. Slingshot's head is on a ball joint. Not a ton of upward tilt and basically no sideways tilt, but he looks down surprisingly well. His shoulders, sadly, are Hot Rod Shoulders™, so they swivel with no issue and can technically move 90 degrees laterally, but because the swivel is on the wrong side of the hinge he can't do both at the same time. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 180 degrees. No wrist articulation. His waist swivels. His hips can go 90 degrees forward and backward, and over 90 degrees laterally. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend just a hair shy of 90 degrees. The front of his feet can tilt down, due to transformation, but no upward tilt. His ankles pivot 90 degrees. He can hold his guns pretty tightly via the standard 5mm pegs. He's also got 5mm ports on the outsides of his forearms, on his wings, and despite their squarish shape on his shins. Slingshot's transformation isn't complicated at all, mostly similar to the Combiner Wars toy/AotP Air Raid. However, there are two differences from Air Raid that make the engineering here much better. First, rather than turning his shin inside out and having his feet just dangle from the bottom, his feet and heels fold down to form the tail. Second, instead of just tabbing his arms against his sides, they actually curl up and tuck in to become part of the fuselage. Slingshot is not an accurate AV-8B Harrier, as he's a bit chunky and has only the merest suggestion of intakes. He's still mostly a jet with a block of robot on the underside. I really don't think he's that bad, though. As I said, the fact that his arms actually blend into the fuselage and his feet become part of the tail instead of just hanging out underneath make him much better than Air Raid. There's even a suggestion of the vertical thrust nozzles on the sides. And his blocky alt mode is, frankly, pretty cartoon-accurate, and overall thinner than the Combiner Wars toy. In alt mode, the guns plug into the 5mm ports under the wings. You can also see landing gear in the back of his head- yes, that landing gear does fold out. There's no landing gear on the wings (as a real Harrier would have), but some molded non-functioning wheels near the peg holes at the bottoms of his shins. That's not far off from the feet wheels of the G1 toy. Gonna be honest, this isn't a review I was looking forward to writing. Given MW's stronger-than-average love of military aircraft I'm expecting the bulk of the comments to be along the lines of "look at that big block of robot underneath, why can't Hasbro/Takara make decent jet transformers?" and "doesn't have an accurate FLIR blister on the nose, 0/10," as if a toy chasing cartoon accuracy without a licensed alt mode that also has to be a block of a combined limb was ever going to come close to being a realistic Harrier on a $25 budget. And here I am, trying to tell you that despite his flaws Slingshot is actually very good! Like, best wave 1 Deluxe good, and a major upgrade from Air Raid. I'm going to tell you that you should definitely pick him up, knowing full well that many of you won't because a Deluxe-class jet is automatically a non-starter. But reviews are ultimately opinions. You don't have to agree, but mine is still that Slingshot is very good and I'd recommend him.

They seem to have intentionally based it on MP-10.

I wouldn't go that far (trash would be the Siege Astrotrain mold)... I think it looks passably fine in both modes. But I otherwise agree; it's a tad blocky and lacking it articulation, and a bit disappointing that they basically recycled and upscaled the then 15-ish year old Classics mold. We've seen enough companies do better Seekers and both the MP and Legends scales, Starscream deserves a new an improved mold (that they can then milk anywhere between 5 and 20 more times. Aside from lacking a bigger handle and the scope, what was wrong with Shockwave? I thought, for a guy that turns into a gun that can't turn into a gun anymore, he came out pretty good. Better than Sunstreaker's too-wide, no-spoiler ER toy. Worth pointing out that the previous version was a Leader, and the 86 version is listed as a Voyager... While Kranix wasn't a Cybertronian (until/unless Lithone is retconned to be a Cybertronian colony), he actually did have an alt mode, and it appeared in the Marvel Comics adaptation of the movie. Just don't ask me how they're going to pull it off without some new alt mode kibble on the robot and/or robot parts on the alt mode...

Sorry, I only have info from Hasbro, and the MP/MPG stuff is all Takara.

Some 2026 leaks Deluxes: -Blast Off -Quickstrike -Smokescreen (doesn't say which one, could be a PR of Earthrise, a new G1 mold, Armada, Prime, etc...) -Powerglide -Swerve -Animated Ratchet -Prime Cliffjumper -Quintus Prime -Sureshot Voyagers: -Amalgamous Prime -Brawl -Animated Wreck-Gar -Armada Sideways -Nexus Prime Leader: -Big Convoy -Universe Razorclaw (Tigerhawk repaint, not the Razorclaw we actually want) Commander: -Onslaught Hmm... no mention of Swindle. I guess he's coming in 2025 now? I mean, he was originally, but I'd heard he got swapped with Vortex, who originally wasn't on the 2025 schedule. Oh, and Studio Series too. Deluxe: -Devastation Bumblebee -TFOne Orion Pax -TLK Barricade (yay!) -86 Windcharger (that'll wrap up Season 1) -86 Sunstreaker (new mold, or ER?) -86 Kranix -86 Cliffjumper (ER, or a retool of 86 Bee?) -TFOne Thundercracker -TFOne Airachnid Voyagers: -86 Skywarp -86 Thundercracker (probably the ER mold again) -86 Shockwave -TFOne Alpha Trion Leader: -86 Soundwave (PR, or new mold?) -86 Astrotrain (Dear Primus please let it be a new mold that doesn't suck) -86 Snarl (definitely a PR) -TLK Nemesis Prime (a repaint of the one I just reviewed I'm hearing that there will also be a retailer-exclusive line (thought which one, I don't know) celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 86 movie. Expect it to have a Deluxe-class Hound, Voyager-class Scourge, Voyager-class Hot Rod, and a Leader-class Optimus Prime. I'd be willing to bet that it's the Earth-mode hound from the multipack, the Scourge and Hot Rod we already got (maybe redecoed in toy colors, since Veloctitron was already supposed to have a toy-colored Hot Rod?), and Commander Optimus sans trailer and all his accessories save his rifle. Is it weird that I kind of want to buy the JP Menasor set (or rather, regret not buying the Hasbro one) just because I want Breakdown and Wildrider? I'd probably sell the other three.

I'm not sure what the logic behind MPG Prime is. It's giving me more OX/manga vibes, very different from the hardcore Sunbow look of MP-44. By itself that's fine, but they supposedly killed the regular MP line for MPG, and I wonder what that means for the characters that never had an MP release yet.

Arcee's toy? No, it was designed at the same time the other 86 movie toys were, and like those toys it was based on Floro Dery's earlier designs and not the finalized designs seen in the movie, hence the weird fender shoulders and pink-and-orange color scheme. It apparently never got past the resin prototype stage, though. The prevailing theory was boys playing with Transformers wouldn't want a toy of a girl one. The Missing Link toy is based on the resin prototype. Anyhoo... just one more toy to review for now, but by my count I'm still waiting on two figures from Age of the Primes and three from the current Studio Series wave. Hopefully I find them soon (I even went out for a drive to a more distant but bigger Walmart this morning, but they didn't have anything but Transformers One leftovers and empty pegs). But for now, he's Studio Series Deluxe-class Wheeljack (Que). Fun fact, this is actually Que's first release in the US. A toy was created for him during the Dark of the Moon toyline, released in Asian markets as "Wheeljack" and Japan as "Autobot Que," but Hasbro canceled the US release at the 11th hour. Needless to say, the Bayverse fans (yes, that's a thing... remember, we just a little shy of the '07 movie turning 20, so there's a whole generation of young adults for whom this was their G1) are pretty giddy. Should they be? He looks pretty bland, to me. Sure, in the film Que is primarily blue and silver, but the Studio Series toy has a lot of gray plastic that really ought to have some blue paint (including a second, lighter shade that Hasbro applied to his eyes and hair and nowhere else). There's some gold paint on his mustache and his belt buckle, but again that's leaving a ton of details that should have gold accents unpainted. He's also got quite a lot of kibble. This is arguably true for many of the Bayformers in the Studio Series line up. Like I said yesterday, the overly busy, alien designs used in the movies never really lent themselves well to transforming toys, resulting in a lot of shellformers. And look, I'm prepared to forgive some forearm and calf kibble. I can overlook a bit of a backpack. What's driving me crazy, though, are the two panels running from his shoulder pads all the way down to his knees. They're not screen accurate, and they're constantly in the way. Then there's his accessories. He's got a little gun-looking thing, and a... stick. Que's articulation is pretty much trash. His head swivels and looks down, but no upward or sideways tilt. His shoulders are ball joints with a swivel heavily restricted by his shoulder pads, and lateral movement under 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, and his ball-jointed elbows bend 90 degrees. No wrist or waist articulation. His ball-jointed hips can go 90 degrees forward, a bit less than 90 laterally, but almost nothing backward due to his backpack kibble. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees. Due to his transformation his feet have a little up/down tilt, but no pivot. He can hold his gun without much issue, but the stick? The 5mm ports in his hands don't go all the way through, so he can hold it by sticking the very end into a hand, far from where you'd hold it as a spear or staff, or you can plug the 5mm peg on it into his hand like an oversized billy club. Honestly, I think the best thing you can do with it is to stick the weird-shaped tab into a spot on his back above his alt mode grill, then use a 3mm port to plug his gun into the stick. This weird stick kibble is actually present on Que's back in the movie, so... yay accuracy? Lift Que's entire backpack, including his shoulder pads, up and away from his body. Untab the sides and line them up with the wheels on his shoulder pads, and unfold his windshield. Tuck his shoulders close to his body, then use his elbow, bicep swivel, and a transformation hinge in his forearm to kind of turn his arms around behind his back so his fingers point at his head and the kibble on his forearms meet to form the roof. The back of his calves will swivel so that his feet turn inward. Stop at about 90 degrees, fold in his heel and tuck the foot in, then continue to swivel another 90 degrees to line up the back of the car. From there, it's just a matter of using some hinges and swivels to swing the shoulder pads and the sides of the car into place without adequate clearance to do so. Credit where it's due, Hasbro got a license from Mercedes-Benz, and Que turns into a decent (if you ignore the transformation seems) E550 (W212, pre-facelift). The headlights, taillights, foglights, and most of the grill are accurate to the real car, as well as the chrome strip across the back, the MB badge on the trunk, and the E550 in the rear corner. If nothing else, at least the Studio Series line has given us some nice, licensed cars. Well, nice until you try to figure out what to do with his gear. Essentially, there's a cutout near the bottom of the door, under the wing mirror. You plug the gun into the stick, like you would for his backpack, then plug the stick into that cutout. Because, yeah, I've totally seen people driving a Benz with a giant weird stick hanging off the side. Look, I know that there are Bayverse fans out there, many of whom have been frustrated that so much of Studio Series has been taken over by Gamer Edition, 86, and Rise of the Beasts in the last few years. They want to complete their movie casts. They will lap this up while insisting that Habro also make some other blink-and-you'll-miss-him guy you have to look up on the TF Wiki to realize even had a name. Good for them, I guess, but for everyone else Que's kind of trash. His robot mode is bland, kibble-covered mess with below-average articulation and accessories I kind of hate, even if they are movie-accurate. Really the only nice thing I have to say about him is that he's got a nice car mode and he ticks a box toward completing the Dark of the Moon cast. I think the majority of you should avoid this figure.

I want to find the guy who pitched a dark sci-fi Metroidvania of Pac-Man and shake his hand. And maybe find out what he's smoking.