mikeszekely

I also want K.I.T.T, but I'd say that the Turtle's Party Wagon would be high on my want list, too. Maybe the Thundercats' Thundertank, Scooby Doo's Mystery Machine, the Mach 5, or the Gadgetmobile.

I dunno, guys. Not sure I'm feeling it. This would be a second Universal Monsters crossover, the Frankenstein-themed Frankentron. On the one hand, Impactor's a better base mold than Mindwipe was. On the other hand, Mindwipe was more extensively remolded to make Draculus- Frank here looks like he's got a new head and he's trading Impactor's gun and blade hand for a new Tesla coil-ish thing and a blast effect, and that's about it. Plus, it seemed pretty thematically appropriate to take the Transformer who turns into a bat and make him into the movie monster that turns into a bat, but why is Frankenstein a tank? Why not wrap some bandages around some of those unsold Crosscuts and pass it off as a Mummy crossover?

Ok, time to get the rest of this stuff off my desk (it's hard to play Baldur's Gate with all these Transformers in the way). We're closing out the week with a quick Repaint Roundup. Up first we have Nacelle, from the same Amazon-exclusive comic book inspired series that brought us Senator Ratbat with Megatron and Senator Shockwave with Orion Pax. I don't actually have a ton of background for you on Nacelle. The original Nacelle toy was Transformers Collector's Club Figure Subscription Service repaint of the Deluxe-class Thrust toy (but not the one Takara Gentei one or the Generations repaint, rather, the even older Botcon "Games of Deception" version). The colors were apparently inspired by an old Takara catalog that featured early prototypes of Thrust, Ramjet, and Dirge cobbled together by sticking the new wing parts on Thundercracker, Skywarp, and Starscream, respectively. His first real appearance in fiction was late in IDW's post-Siege relaunched Transformers comics. As those comics took place entirely on Cybertron and were the contemporary toy designs, Nacelle ditched Thrust's VTOL F-15 alt mode for the standard Siege Seeker alt. I know some people seem really bothered by that, but honestly I'm cool with it. I suppose that's because my brain decided a long time ago that it wanted every repaint of this mold, and unlike Senator Shockwave Nacelle is back to being a straight repaint with no mold changes. Not counting Shockwave due to the aforementioned remolded bits, I think that makes Nacelle my eleventh version of this mold. Me personally, I'd be in for two more still (Sunstorm and Bitstream), but your mileage may vary. Also from Amazon's comic-inspired line we've got the Deadeye Duel two-pack. This pack comes with Javelin, an Autobot Senate guard, and Kaskade, an Ascenticon (in IDW's rebooted series the Ascenticons were the precursors to the Decepticons) who belonged to the radical group known as The Rise. The idea in this set is that they're both snipers, I suppose. Javelin's sniper rifle seems to be comic-accurate, and although it comes apart into 3 pieces the scope and barrel don't really have anywhere to go go but on the rifle. Kaskade, meanwhile, has a new two-part barrel for her rifle, but the scope and rear section come from Siege Chromia. Kaskade also comes with Chromia's grenades. Combining the grenades with the back of the rifle and using the new parts as a separate gun allows Kaskade to dual-wield two smaller guns. On that note, Kaskade shares accessories with Siege Chromia because she's a repaint of Siege Chromia. Aside from the new barrel to make Chromia's gun a sniper rifle, the only remolded part on Kaskade is her head, which is pretty comic book accurate. Kaskade was a pretty minor character overall, though, appearing in only a handful of panels, drawn inconsistently, and never with a clear view of her whole body or in alt mode. So while I'm pretty sure she wasn't supposed to look so much like Chromia, without knowing exactly what she was supposed to look like Chromia is as good a guess as any, especially since Chromia sports a Cybertronian alt mode. Even so, I think Chromia is still an unfortunate choice to remold. Fact is, Siege Chromia wasn't a great toy in the first place. Her alt mode is weirdly long and skinny, as the bulk of her transformation is unfolding her backpack over her entire lower body. Which means she's very much a shellformer, with like 80% of her alt mode on her back in bot mode. I might suggest that Kaskade would have been worth picking up anyway, due to a lack of female Transformers, but even that's changing as one of Hasbro's designers mentioned that they're consciously trying to release more females (hence why Prime Arcee, Elita-1, Axlegrease, Shadowstriker, Strongarm, and Nemesis were all mainline releases but we're still waiting for a good Gears). No, the real reason to pick up Kaskade is because she comes packaged with Javelin. Unlike Kaskade, Javelin isn't totally new to the rebooted IDW continuity- her origins go back to their previous continuity where she had a minor role in the popular More Than Meets the Eye series (even appearing on the cover of issue 41). That said, I feel comfortable telling you that this Javelin is meant to be the one in the rebooted comics, where she was notably hit in the head by sniper fire from Kaskade. Like Kaskade, Javelin is a retool, but I was a bit surprised to see that rather than reuse a War for Cybertron or Legacy figure they actually started with Studio Series Bumblebee Arcee for the base. Well, Arcee was a cool figure, so I can roll with that. Her arms and her body from the waist down are Arcee, and her wide hips and weird toes are hardly a match for Alex Milne's design. However, her head, torso, and backpack are retooled and significantly more accurate Like her bot mode, her alt mode winds up being a mix of accurate and not. The two wheels in the front are right, but in the comics they're spaced apart. The cockpit is accurate, and in the comics her rifle really does perch on top like that, but she's a little long and messy behind the cockpit. The engines with the pink fins on the sides are right but the arms poking out the back and the visible torso not so much. What she should have back there, but doesn't, is a third wheel. Still, this is one of those case where the character is pretty minor and we're lucky to get even this much remolded. I do wonder, though, why Hasbro felt it necessary to push out Javelin and Kaskade to boost the number of female Transformers, but fan favorites like Slipstream and Nautica are still no-shows. (I wouldn't mind new versions of Firestar, Moonracer, Greenlight, and Lancer, either). We're concluding the night with one more multipack, this one a Pulse-exclusive Shattered Glass set with Rodimus, Sideswipe, and Whisper. Rodimus is a very minimal repaint of Studio Series 86 Hot Rod. While Rodimus did appear in the IDW Shattered Glass comics I'll note that he's actually one of the first characters to get the Shattered Glass treatment, as Classics Rodimus was redecoed in one of the original Botcon 2008 box sets. As far as I know, Shattered Glass Rodimus sports a goatee because Mirror Universe Spock did, and the Star Trek Mirror Universe was the primary inspiration for Shattered Glass. As for the color scheme, while I want to deride him for doing the Nemesis Prime thing and swapping his standard colors for black, gray, and red with purple or teal accents, Fun Publications wasn't actually being that lazy when they came up with the deco. Rather, Shattered Glass Rodimus is based on Titanium Series Menasor, an SDCC redeco of Titanium Rodimus Prime. Rodimus has all the accessories and gimmicks Hot Rod does... two guns, a buzzsaw, a built-in welding torch, a Matrix that doesn't store anywhere, a trio of effects parts, and the flip-out visor. Like I said, aside from deco the only change is he bearded head. I kind of don't know how I feel about this one. By and large, Shattered Glass has been a way for Hasbro to sell us the exact same figures with minimal retooling, and despite buying this set I think the novelty of the Shattered Glass line had worn off well before now. But it's hard to deny that Hot Rod looks pretty good in black and gray. Hot Rod comes packaged with Sideswipe, and Sideswipe's got a bit more retooling with a new head, new chest, and new clubs. These are all details from the original Shattered Glass Sideswipe toy, also from a Botcon '08 set. Like that original toy, the damaged Autobot insignia is molded into the his chest, with a raised spot for the smaller Decepticon emblem. These features come from the fact that the original Shattered Glass Sideswipe was a redeco of Armada Wheeljack, and knowing that Hasbro sunk money into that hood, those clubs, and that head I wouldn't be surprised if we see this figure again as Wheeljack soon. The Countach-esque elements of the non-remolded parts aren't an exact match for the Armada Wheeljack mold, but Hasbro did a very good job copying the deco from the original Shattered Glass toy. Oh, and there is one other minor remolded detail besides the hood in this mode. The door flaps on the sides now have slots cut into them, and this allows you to plug the clubs onto them. Not quite as tidy as the original toy, but it's not the worst thing I've seen and it does make the figure a bit more distinct from the standard Sideswipe mold. Actually, while the original toy's clubs did store in the sides they were a firing missile gimmick then, but here they almost remind me of the way the lower part of the sides of the car form ROTF/DOTM Studio Series Sideswipe's blades. Whisper is the third figure in the set, and in a way the most impressive. I'm told that he does share a few parts with Visper, the Siege Micromaster based on G1 Whisper, but he's mostly a brand new figure meant to be the original Shattered Glass Whisper, which itself was a repaint of the Armada Minicon Wind Sheer. There are some differences... the wings on his backpack stick up instead of laying over his shoulders, more blue is showing on his thighs, the blue on his feet is on his heels instead of his toes, and his shoulders are blue instead of gray while his forearms are gray instead of blue. In jet mode the yellow on his nose goes a bit further back, and with no wing parts on his shoulders there's a bit of a break in the delta shape, but for the most part it's still pretty close to the original. What's more, I think his articulation is a bit better than the previous Siege Micromasters. His shoulders are ball joints that rotate and move laterally 90 degrees, and he actually has elbows that bend 90 degrees. His hips are also ball joints that move 90 degrees laterally and over 90 degrees forward and backward, and his knees bend 90 degrees. While Whisper is in his alt mode, you can flip his legs back around to lie on top of his at mode instead of under it. This gives you access to a 5mm peg on his underside, which in turn allows you to plug him into any available 5mm port on a larger figure (though he is meant to be Sideswipe's Minicon partner). Between the Siege version and the Earth version we've seen this mold an awful lot (by my count, something like five times for Siege, four for the Earth version, plus this one based on the Earth version). It remains a very solid mold, though, and Whisper is definitely the best Micromaster/Minicon Hasbro's done since Siege. I don't know that I'd actually recommend this set if you're not really into Shattered Glass, but I'm preemptively saying that when we see this mold again as Armada Wheeljack you should probably pick him up.

I'm not interested in any of them. I mean, I get that the G1 toys often looked pretty different than the animation, but modern toys are filling that need pretty well with better engineering and proportions to boot. To me, any interest in a reissued G1 toy is for it to be as close to the original release as possible. The Insecticon reissues don't evoke any real reaction from me, since I have the G1 toys. But I was pretty frustrated Hound got released in cartoon colors when I actually really need a straight G1 reissue.

Something I've had to come to terms with is the fact that Legends are the new hotness when it comes to unlicensed 3P Transformers, but also that I just don't have it in me to supplement the MP collection (or, more drastically, liquidate it) and start over on a new scale. Every now and then, though, something catches my eye, and it in this case it's a figure labeled MK-06 T-Rex Dinosaur, that's either from a company called Mike or the figure's name is Mike. I'm not sure. So, yeah. It's a modified KO of Newage's Ymir, their Legends Grimlock, and Newage gets most of the credit for the aesthetics, which are very Sunbow. This means he's got yellow for his chest and dino claws, including the middle section, smallish wings, long arms, thin proportions, dark gray thighs, and minimal details. Surprisingly, Mike (I don't really care what the original intentions were, I'm calling him Mike) isn't any bigger or smaller than Ymir, but nor is he a straight up 1:1 KO. I had to do a little research to be sure what the changes even were, but as near as I can tell the major differences seem to be that the mechanical details on the red strips on his wings have been replaced with a smooth red stripe and similar details on his shoulders were replaced with a simple flat, circle, all in an effort to look even more Sunbow accurate. The other big difference is that they added covers to the insides of the lower legs so you don't see the folded-up tail. Regarding that, I do think it makes Mike look a little cleaner, but it adds a bit of extra headache during transformation. Regarding the other changes I'm not exactly in favor. There's such a thing as too Sunbow, but I seem to be a minority in thinking like that. Another change from Ymir seems to be the accessories. Mike comes with a flame accessory, a hilt accessory, swappable open hands, a fish, a toy-style missile launcher (molded as one piece, no detachable missile), and a rifle, which is what Ymir came with. But Mike also comes with a crown, a replacement translucent chest piece, a replacement translucent dino neck, a cloth apron with bowtie, a serving tray, a second hilt with a translucent blade, and a helmet, plug, and wire for Grimlock's intelligence transfer device. Most of that stuff is just going to wind up in a baggie, though. A lot of those accessories are for dino mode. The crown is ill-fitting. The wire is a little too thick to actually connect the helmet and plug. While I do like the actual sword blade, NewAge's intention was that the flame effect would go on a hilt and it'd look like his sword was on fire. His gun looks kind of awful, with simple shapes and basically no details, it's a shining example of something that's too Sunbow. That said, I do think I prefer the translucent chest. But I digress. Mike's articulation head is on a ball joint that can swivel, tilt down and sideways slightly, and look straight up 90 degrees. His shoulders rotate and can move laterally 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend just over 90 degrees. His wrists swivel. His waist swivels, and he's got 90 degrees of ab crunch. His hips can move forward, backward, and laterally just under 90 degrees. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees. His feet can tilt up but not down, and his ankles pivot 90 degrees. His wings can be angled upward, but the dino head on his back prevents them from folding any farther back. I presume this is the same as Ymir. His weapons fit into either closed fist, the swords (both hilts) slightly loose, the guns nice and snug. The hands are just pegged in, so swapping them is as easy as pulling them off and swapping the other hands in. Same goes for the chest. Broadly speaking, Mike's (and by extention Ymir's) transformation is your typical Grimlock; legs turn around and the insides come out to make the tail, his hands tuck away (if you kept the default closed fists on) and his arms become his legs, his backpack moves up and his wings close over his head to form the upper dino body. There's some new tricks, though. It's debatable whether or not these tricks paid off. The one that stands out to me the most is that, in an effort to take his relatively thinner forearms and bulk them up as dino legs, his forearm splays open and the interior rotates around so that when it closes back up it's stopped from closing as far. Looks fine from the outside, but from the inside it leaves some unsightly gaps. Aside from that, though, I don't have much to complain about. A bit overly-Sunbow, sure, but his proportions are pretty good. His tail is longer than a lot of Grimlock toys tend to be, which I approve of, and it's got a few hinges so it can waggle to the sides a little. Going beyond the tail, his neck swivels, but that's only good when he's standing upright. He can look down a little and look up about 90 degrees, so he can do more forward-leaning poses. His jaws open. His shoulders rotate and are hinged for lateral movement, with bicep swivels and 90 degree elbow bends. His wrists are ball joints for swiveling, limited upward tilt, and 90 degrees of downward tilt. Because his robot arms are now legs they can swivel at the hips and splay out 90 degrees laterally, and he's got thigh swivels. AFAIK, though, Ymir's only knee articulation was his elbow, which bends the wrong way for dino mode. The people that made Mike tried to fix that, and with the joint fully extended he can bend his knee slightly in the correct direction, but only slightly. His claws can move up and down, but he doesn't have any dino ankle tilt. There's a peg hole on his back that you're supposed to be able to plug one of his guns into; on my copy the hole is too tight. A post on a hinge allows you to attach the flame effect so it looks like he's breathing fire, but there doesn't seem to be anywhere to store the sword hilt. I can't figure out how to take his neck apart to swap for the translucent piece, and the instructions don't mention it. You can tie his apron on, and the apron has a little pocket for the fish. In the pictures I've seen of Ymir the fish is just stuck between his dino hands and relying on the tension of the joints to hold it in place, so maybe that's an improvement. Then again, all you can do with the serving tray is balance it on his claws. It doesn't lock in place. The helmet to the intelligence transfer device fits pretty snugly on his head. Speaking of his head, he has one more gimmick in dino mode. You can lift up the top of his head, and inside you'll find that his eyes are blue paint on a translucent part. The translucent part swivels so that you can display him with red-painted eyes instead. While I do think options are nice, if I'm being honest the robot mode didn't get the same options, and given how Sunbow this thing is, I think I'd have preferred they just stuck with blue eyes and probably fewer seems in his head. I have kind of mixed feelings about this figure. On the one hand, it's pretty clear that NewAge designed a figure with excellent robot articulation and a transformation that makes for a very solid dinosaur mode. On the other hand, gimmicks like the forearm transformation hurt more than they help, the lack of proper dino knees is a bummer, and the overall aesthetic leans a little too far into the cartoon for my tastes, especially his gun. The result is somehow both one of the best and also the most disappointing Grimlock figures I've experienced, and those issues are NewAge's, not the result of being a KO... the only issues that I can directly attribute to it being a KO are some joints that are a bit looser than I'd like (but still perfectly capable of holding poses). With Ymir retailing at over $100 at most US stores, for a figure smaller than most Hasbro Deluxes, I'd have a really hard time overlooking the figure's flaws (subjective though most of them are), and I'd probably tell you that I don't recommend him, I'd maybe wait and see what Magic Square will eventually come up with (not that anyone would listen, because Ymir seems to have sold out everywhere anyway. But, even though Mike is mostly Ymir, Mike's not actually Ymir, and I picked him up for for around $25 shipped. His flaws are a lot easier to overlook at that price, and the reality is that his articulation (if not his aesthetic) is so much better than the Mech Fans Toys Grimlock, and the I'd (again, subjectively) say the dino mode is better all-around. So what's a "no" at $100 is a pretty easy recommend at a quarter of that price.

Just one Dr. Wu figure to review today, but it's a doozy. It's Tactical Commander, the Extreme Warfare version of Ultra Magnus. Tactical Commander is, at heart, a repaint of Prime Commander, their Optimus Prime. Honestly, Dr. Wu's really milked this mold, as I believe it's also been released in Nemesis Prime, Toxitron, Evangelion, BAPE green, Sleep, Golden Lagoon, and Shattered Glass colors. Technically, this variant, now referred to as "toy color," has also been released as a cab-only figure under Prime Commander's model number (DW-E04W) but when I picked it up it was being released in limited quantities with a trailer with the new model number DW-E23T. As the name suggests, the colors are based on the G1 toy's blue-faced, all-white inner robot with blue on the pelvis as per other modern interpretations of white-repainted Optimus Primes. Two additional variants were released at the same time, another version of Magnus that appears to be the new base model DW-E23 that seems to be based on the old Generations toy, replacing the white lower legs and feet with blue, painting his hands darker, using silver for his face, and painting the details on the pelvis yellow. The other is DW-E23D, a Delta Magnus version. For the base figure, not much has changed since DW-E04. The mold itself is identical to Prime Commander, and as near as I can tell the colors are identical to DW-E04W. The second biggest difference is that E04 came with an ion rifle, all the E23 variants have an axe instead. Transformation is unchanged. In alt mode there's one additional difference in the cab between this version and the standard E-23 release, and that's that it has the cartoon-style red bumper. Now, I did say that the second biggest difference between DW-E04W and DW-E23T is that the newer release has an axe instead of a rifle. But the biggest difference is that E04W was only a cab, while all the variants of E23 come with a trailer. And not a simple redeco of Prime's trailer, but a whole new car carrier. At a glance, especially at this scale, it's perfectly fine, but if we're going to over-analyze I might note that there's no way to move the missiles to the front of the trailer, that the trailer is missing the red trim along the bottom, that the trailer's ramp doesn't open and you can't actually put any car in it, and that even if you could open the ramp there's some kibble in the way that'd still prevent you from putting any cars in. But the trailer connects to the cab the same way Prime's does, the cab can turn on the trailer, the whole thing roles, and there's a spot on the side where you can plug in a new Magnus-style rifle. Note that the Magnus rifle has a peg and not the clip that Prime's rifle does, so the white Optimus can't wield it, so the inner robot just has the axe. And the axe doesn't appear to have any storage on the alt mode; there is a small peg on the side, but it's too small for any of the holes on the trailer. But that's ok! Because this set is more than EW04W with a trailer to make him look more Magnus-y in alt mode. Pull the guns and missile launchers off, then the trailer breaks into four pieces. Fold the cab's head in like you're going to alt mode, then twist his arms around so that his shoulders are behind him like they'd be for alt mode, but turned upside down with his forearms across the top of the cab. The rear-most section of the trailer turns into boots that clip over the cab's lower legs. The middle section has a flap that folds down, then it has tabs that attach it to the cab's arms. The rest of the trailer clips over the cab's pelvis, then the sides swing around at lock into tabs that are on the the sides of the piece you just attached, while the top of the trailer folds in a few spots to form arms. And boom, now you've turned a white Optimus repaint into a proper Ultra Magnus. He's gained a bit of height, more proportionally than Kingdom Magnus over Earthrise Optimus, or MP-36 over MP-22, but I suspect the size difference is going to be similar to Combiner Wars Magnus or the upcoming Commander-class Magnus over Earthrise Optimus. While I'm mentioning the Commander-class and MP-22, I might suggest that Tactical Commander has better proportions than either of those, or at the very least better than MP-22, despite being an armored Prime instead of an all-in-one design. The differences between E23T and the standard E23 are less pronounced when he's armored up. As near as I can tell, the standard version of E23 uses a slightly lighter blue plastic and he lacks the red-painted details on the shins. Also, there's a cutout on the boots to allow for flaps on the sides of the inner robot's legs to fit into. Because the standard release has blue legs on the inner robot the armored robot will have solid blue lower legs, but since E23T's legs are white the armored robot winds up with white strips on the sides of his legs. I do suppose the back could be neater. The inner robot's head is pretty visible, although no worse than truck mode. Then again, at around $30 this is one of the cheapest Ultra Magnus figures on the market, cheaper than even Hasbro's releases, and it doesn't have a butt flap like MP-22. Considering that this figure is a smaller figure wearing his trailer at a very tiny scale, articulation isn't too bad. His head's on a ball joint that can swivel, tilt sideways slightly, look down slightly more, and look 90 degrees straight up. His ball-jointed shoulders can swivel, but only move laterally around 45 degrees. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. No wrist articulation, and no waist articulation, which isn't really surprising given that the base figure doesn't have waist articulation, either. His armor restricts his hips slightly, so he can get almost 90 degrees forward and backward on ball joints, and about 60 degrees laterally. Likewise, his knees are limited to about 45 degrees of bend with his boots on. No up/down tilt on his feet, but he's got 45 degrees of ankle pivot, which is certainly better than Hasbro would do at this size. And, just to remind you guys, this size is really small. Even with his armor on Tactical Commander is shorter than a Hasbro Core-class. The inner robot (or just regular Prime Commander) is smaller than Earthrise Prime's lower leg, with figures like Cosmos being tinier still. So, yes, Tactical Commander has his flaws. But despite his flaws he still executes the white Prime to cartoon Ultra Magnus extremely well. Fairly simple engineering makes him (and really all the Dr Wu figures) toys that you can have fun playing with, their small size makes it easy to find space for them (and is great for making your Titans seem big), and their relatively low prices make them borderline impulse purchases. While I'm not interested in purchasing every repaint under the sun, I'm looking forward to announced figures in the line like Wheeljack, Inferno, and Megatron, and expect that I'll happily snatch up whatever Season 1-3 figures Dr Wu chooses to do in this line. Regarding Tactical Commander, I'd say it's the most ambitious release in the Extreme Warfare line so far, and it's paid off as one of the best releases. It's honestly a bit nuts that Dr. Wu can release a 3.5" (9cm) Ultra Magnus for $30 that shows up a $50 Hasbro Leader-class, but there you go. Highly recommended.

Over in the official thread I reviewed a new set with a Core-class Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, and as I often do when reviewing Hasbro's Core stuff I brought up again how Dr. Wu is basically doing the same thing but better and smaller with his Extreme Warfare line. So I thought it's a good time to look a few more recent Extreme Warefare releases. Up first we have Elegy (left) and Propel (right), who come together in a pack. They're retools of Dr. Wu's previous Seeker mold, exemplified here with Starscream and covered here. There's not a ton to talk about... as is often the case, they get new cone-shaped heads and they put different wings on the hinges, and in this case Dr. Wu gave them new accessories to better match their toy-style weapons. But there was nothing remolded on the chests or knees, so they lack the cartoon-style extra chest intakes and taller knee pads. They're also lacking the cartoon's painted knee details, but they're otherwise fine, with the same sorts of pros and cons that the season 1 Seekers had. Of course, the season 2 Seekers aren't complete with Ramjet, and for that Dr Wu gives us Turbo. Once again, we have toy-style accessories, and we're missing cartoon details from the chest and knees, but it's a pretty good representation overall. I might nitpick that his hands should be black, but this is a detail that even the Legacy toy missed, and I prefer all-white to black forearms (ToyWorld/Zeta) or all-black arms (Maketoys). Likewise, while I've seen Ramjet's thighs portrayed as both black and white I think I prefer the black that Dr. Wu went with. But aside from new wings, heads, and accessories engineering and articulation is the same on Turbo as it is on Propel and Elegy, and the same as it is on the G1 Seekers. Which, yeah, isn't the most cartoon-accurate, the most articulate, or the most impressive engineering, but when they're this small and you're getting two Seekers for around $25* they're definitely good enough to recommend as tiny figures that you can display with your Titan-class toys to make them look bigger. *Not in Turbo's case, though. I suppose Dr. Wu could have included a Ramjet repaint, since Hasbro themselves have released theirs in three other colors. But, while Dr. Wu isn't above repaints, seems he'd rather give you a different G1 character you might want more than a G2 repaint. So Turbo comes packed with Space, an itty-bitty take on Cosmos! Which is a lot more respect than he got from Hasbro, who shortpacked him in a store-exclusive subline. As you'd expect from a figure this small with a low budget by 3P standards he's not 100% cartoon accurate. I can nitpick that the yellow paint on his arms doesn't cover the joints, or that his entire pelvis is green instead of just his crotch. He's got a little backpack. But really, I think he looks pretty good for a figure that could be twice his size and price. His articulation isn't the best. His head swivels, no tilt. His shoulders are ball joints, which swivel fine but don't have a lot of clearance for lateral movement. His elbows bend 90 degrees. His waist has a little swivel, but it's mostly blocked by a sliding mechanism used in his transformation. His hips are ball joints which can go 90 degrees forward and backward, and just a little shy of that laterally. What play you get moving the leg around the ball is also all the thigh swivel you get. His knees bend 90 degrees. His ankles are ball joints, so his feet can swivel and tilt down, and he gets about 30 degrees of ankle pivot. No accessories are included for Cosmos, which ultimately is fine. I mean, the G1 toy didn't have any, and he's got his built-in wrist guns/thrusters. Transformation is a piece of cake. His hips slide back so when he lifts his legs up his feet are where they should be, his arms swing down into place on some armatures, and his backpack spins around to fill in the back. His head simply slides into to the top, and you've got a cute little saucer. The reality of the way he transforms and the overall simple nature of the toy means he's missing the yellow stripes on the saucer (that were actually relics of the G1 toy's legs showing). Likewise, no silver spot with an Autobot insignia, and somewhat visible hands on the back. Still, the details you'd want are mostly there, and the proportions seem pretty decent. Also, the smaller something is the more forgiving I can be if some tiny details aren't perfect, or if the articulation isn't quite what I'd like, and I'll point out that in robot mode Space is only a little over an inch and a half tall (about 4cm). I actually think that Space is one of Dr. Wu's better releases so far, so I actually like the set of Space and Turbo better than Elegy and Propel, but they're both worth picking up.

Glad you enjoyed it! Curious, which Transformers toys weren't you aware of? The core set I reviewed, G1 Bumper, or the Dr. Wu stuff? If it's that third one, I've got some Dr. Wu stuff I'm hoping to cover early this week in the unlicensed thread. Gears? Better, but I have to confess that aside from the '86 stuff Studio Series seems like it's going downhill. They rushed the ROTB designs out before they were done, and a lot of them (including the new Gamer Edition subline) are missing basic articulation that's become standard in the WfC/Legacy lines. ...actually, I have beefs with Legacy being a big step down from WfC, too, but that's more about the content than the quality. RotB was decidedly OK. Not nearly as good as BumblebeE. T., but better than the Bay sequels. I have nothing against Anthony Ramos; I think Godzilla: King of the Monsters is the only other thing I've seen him in, and that was such a minor role. I really dislike Pete Davidson... he's not a good actor, being most believable as a scuzzy stoner burnout, which for him isn't really acting. And yet, I dare say I actually enjoyed him as Mirage... just treat him as a new character who happens to be named Mirage, and don't mistake him for an analog of G1 Mirage or G1 Jazz.

I used to be a big proponent of over-ear headphones, but even they're not as comfortable as the Sony Link Buds S earbuds I picked up for a business trip.

One of those would be the Pulse-exclusive Legacy Evolution Core-class Bumblebee and Optimus set. We'll start with Bumblebee. This figure is a redeco of the inaugural Buzzworthy Bumblebee figure that was exclusive to Target, so I guess for peeps that don't have a Target nearby this is a new chance to experience that mold. Should you, though? I think I skipped this guy for a reason... he's not the worst small Bumblebee figure, but he's not the best. He's smaller than the Titans Returns toy, which is good, and has better articulation than the 2008 Universe toy, which is also good, but he's got some weird proportions and awkward kibble on his back. He's definitely not as good as the Deluxes, though you can make the argument that the Deluxe Bees are meant to scale with your regular Deluxes/Voyagers/Leaders, and this guy is meant to scale with Core-class figures. Does he really, though? He's only a head shorter than Core-class Prime, and his mammoth feet and big head certainly give the appearance of being a different scale. Maybe it's not a totally fair comparison, but something like Newage's Flipper works a lot better. I never bought the original, so I suppose I ought to cover articulation. His head swivels, and he can kind of tilt it up and down though really it's the entire gray part his neck is attached to that's moving. His shoulders are ball joints that allow him to swivel and move laterally a bit under 90 degrees. Elbows are also ball joints, pulling double-duty as bicep swivels and bending almost 90 degrees. Nothing at the wrists or waist. Hips are yet more ball joints, allowing 90 degrees of motion (or close enough to it) forward, backward, and laterally. He's got cut thigh swivels, and knees that bend 90 degrees. His feet can tilt downward, mostly due to transformation, but he lacks ankle pivots. Bumblebee retains the cartoon-style blaster that the original release came with, but ditches the little Exo-Suit Spike figure. And as near as I can tell, the only other real difference between this release and the original is that all the black plastic used on the original is gray here. I guess to give him a more cartoony look? They also replaced the black paint on the bumper with gray, to match the plastic, and while the original release also had black paint on the grill they decided to skip it here. His alt mode is kind of curious. The Beetle has a pretty distinct look, and with Volkswagen unwilling to license it to Hasbro for so long he's often been sort of generic hatchbacks since Classics Bee came out in 2006. And that was definitely the case with the 2008 Universe toy, and the Titans Return toy. So what grabbed my attention right away was the hard angles on the front of the car. It's a very late '70s/early '80s compact design, and it struck me as vaguely familiar. Then it hit me- that's not Bumblebee's alt mode, it's Bumper's! Now, I'm sure most of you know by now that most of the early Autobot mini cars came from Takara's Microman Micro Change line, and that Cliffjumper and Bumblebee used the same engineering and same chibi Choro-Q aesthetic for their alt modes, despite being different cars. What you may not be aware of is that the Micro Change toys used three cars with that engineering. In addition to Bee's Beetle and Cliffjumper's Porsche 924, there was also a Mazda Familia. And although details are fuzzy, apparently in 1984 some of the packaging intended for Cliffjumper got stuffed with yellow Mazda's instead. The yellow Mazda wouldn't be officially acknowledged until Bumper appeared in Dreamwave's Transformers comic in 2004. But once you recognize it, the angled front end, the shape of the headlights with the grill between them, and the bumper underlining it all, that's 100% Bumper. Bumblebee or Bumper, he does have some storage for his little pistol under the car. Prime is also a re-release, having appeared both as regular Optimus Prime (left) and Nemesis Prime. There's no changes to the mold, but there are some deco differences. For one, the red plastic they used is more vibrant. And, to better match the cartoon, they opted for white plastic instead of silvery gray. They also chose not to paint the vents on his shins they way they did originally, which I guess freed up some budget to put some yellow paint on the sides of his pelvis. However, they didn't paint the yellow on his crotch, nor the blue on his... undercarriage. What's more, while they swapped the silver plastic for white they did not swap any silver paint, which leaves his crotch white but the sides of his pelvis silver. Prime comes with the same rifle as before, and a yellow version of the axe that Nemesis Prime got but Optimus didn't. While I think I prefer the brighter deco on the new newer version overall and the inclusion of an axe is nice, I wouldn't say it's really enough of a reason on its own to upgrade. The real star of the package, though, is what's totally new for this release. You get a pistol with a design similar to the one that came with MP-21 Bumblebee, a shield, Roller, and a trailer with a more G1-accurate drone. The trailer has storage for all of the accessories except Bumblebee's cartoon pistol (which is fine, since that stores with him). Articulation is the same as the original release (which I did cover), and he holds his rifle by plugging the 3mm peg into his fist. To use the shield or axe, though, you fold his fist in like you're going to alt mode and plug the shield/axe into his wrist stump. As I mentioned, there's specific spots for storing the axe, Prime's rifle, and the pistol. The shield even has tabs on it that attach it to the floor of the trailer. The drone has a total of three hinges, plus the antenna is hinged at the base and the drone arm is hinged at the base and the "elbow". Like the Earthrise trailer this little trailer has fold out feet to prop it up in trailer or base mode, and it lacks the struts of the G1 toy or the various MP trailers. It can kind of due the Diaclone thing where the drone is outside the trailer, but rather than peek through a cutout in the top of trailer you have to open the trailer, fold the drone entirely out, then close the trailer back up. Like MP-44, the drone is removeable. First, the entire thing is connected to the a hinge on the trailer via a 5mm peg. But, the blue top part is connected to the black via another 4mm peg. And since Roller has a 5mm port, this allows him to carry the drone, either entirely or just the blue part. Alas, Prime doesn't have any 5mm ports, so you can't attach the drone to him. Speaking of Roller, the back of the trailer folds down so he can drive out of it. He fits neatly inside, even with the shield, but there's no spring gimmick and he doesn't lock in place, he just rattles around in there. As mentioned, Roller has a 5mm port on his back. Conveniently, while Prime's rifle has a 3mm peg to plug into Prime's fist, the 3mm peg is on a 5mm peg, so Roller can carry the rifle around no problem. As for the trailer, it's connection is smaller than 5mm. It's the right height so that you can set the trailer on Roller and Roller can pull it, but there's no friction holding them together so if you pick up the trailer Roller's staying on the table. Of course, the real point of the trailer is to go with Prime's cab mode. We can see some minor deco changes here, too. Mostly, they took the paint from the cab stripe on the original and pained his rims instead. It looks OK, but the problem again comes from the switch to white plastic. Sure, there's the big unpainted slab on the side of the cab, but that was there on the original. No, the problem is that they painted the headlights, most of the bumper, and the part of the grill that's on the red plastic silver, but a chunk of the grill and bumper that were silver plastic and blended ok on the original release stand out now that they're white plastic. On his own without the trailer, Prime has a 3mm port between his shins that you can plug his rifle into, and some notches in his axe let you wedge it between his shoulders. This is simply the originally-intended storage for the original Optimus and Nemesis Prime releases. Before we use the trailer, though, this is where the shield really comes into play. His toes go through the peep hole, and the other end clamps over some of Prime's leg details. Honestly, I kind of like what the shield is bringing... Prime toys tend to take flack for having obvious robot legs, but without folding the feet up the Core-class wasn't even trying. The shield, though, covers it all up with skid plating, a 5th wheel, and even some molded fuel tanks and taillights. But most of all, it gives Prime a 5mm port that the trailer can plug into. Again, though, the trailer's peg isn't actually 5mm, it's smaller. So the same caveats as will Roller- it's the right height, Prime can pull it and turn, but it's not a secure connection and if you pick him up by the trailer all you're going to have is the trailer. And how does he look with the trailer? I distinctly remember Evan saying in a livestream that they were kind of aware that Earthrise Prime's trailer is proportionally too small, and that the Core-class trailer would have better proportions. And on that note... well, they fixed the height, sure. But it's still kind of short. To compare with another official product, Hybrid Style Optimus Prime has a similar-sized (though much worse-looking) cab, and a trailer that's nearly as long on it's own as Core-class Prime combined with his. You'll get the same results with Magic Square's original Legends-class Prime, and presumably their second release or Newage's version. And why go to the trouble of painting the rims on Prime's tires if you're going to skip painting them on the trailer? And you can pretty much forget about putting other Core-class cars into Prime's trailer. It's tall and wide enough for the included Bumblebee (as long as the shield isn't in the trailer), but not long enough. Bee's nose sticks out enough that you can't fold up and close the door. Larger figures like the Core-class Ironhide and Ratchet are even too tall. I'm not sure it's fair to compare Hasbro's offering to Magic Square or Newage, though. I mean, yes, they're objectively better, but the best deals I've seen on them are around $80. They're definitely great choices if you're invested in a high-quality, 3P Legends-style collection, but that's not what Hasbro's Core-class is. This is a toy that's half that price with the Bumblebee figure, a mainline offering you can pose with Titan-class figures to make them look better. And he does a decent enough job of that. But the elephant in the room would have to Dr. Wu's Extreme Warfare line. I mean, despite being an unlicensed 3rd party toy it's a little cheaper than Hasbro's offering, although it lacks the trailer drone and Bumblebee figure that the official toy gives you. On the other hand, the trailer has better proportions and better details, and the Prime figure looks better with better paint, and if a tiny figure to make a Titan looks big is your goal it's like half the size. Now, if you're like me, the more Prime toys the merrier. Core-class Prime has a bit of butt kibble in bot mode and some issues with the white and silver not meshing, but he's still a decent little toy that replicates most of the play pattern of the G1 toy in a small, relatively inexpensive package. But a serious Legends collector will definitely want to spend more money on Magic Square or Newage's offerings, while those of you just wanting a tiny transformable Prime to go with your Titans will be better off with Dr. Wu's.

Things have been hectic here... my wife's company decided they HAD to send her on a trip out-of-state the day before my daughter started 3rd grade. I didn't get a chance to post this (but I did get preorders at Amazon for everything and an extra one for Magnus at Pulse). I also have toys sitting on my desk that need reviews.

Figures it's on Apple TV. I've already got Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Disney+, Paramount+, Max, and Peacock, but sure, I'd love to sign up for an eighth streaming service.😒

Anyone playing Baldur's Gate 3? I mean, given the sales numbers, it seems like a statistical probability. I bought it at launch, but I'd been too busy to play it today. Only about three hours in, playing a warlock. Digging it so far.

Yeah, it's not as good as the Art Asylum or Aoshima ones. It also costs like a third or less.

With eight figures in yesterday's Repaint Roundup you'd think I'd be done for awhile. But then I went to Walmart (more than once, actually...). So today you get another Repaint Roundup, this time for Walmart's exclusive G2 Toxitron collection. We'll start with the Deluxes, and we'll start with the one everyone wants the most, G2 Dead End. He doesn't get a new name, like how G2 Dragstrip became "Shadowstrip" in the Velocitron line. The figure isn't remolded at all, which is a bit of a bummer (but if they didn't remold them for the toy deco Menasor there was no way they were going to remold him for a store-exclusive G2 line), but the colors seem pretty on-target compared to the original G2 toy. I think if it were my call I might have gone with black biceps and shoulders, but they're probably on the same sprue as his other blue parts, so it is what it is. He's got the same accessories as before, just different paint. I always thought it was a bit weird that the other Stunticons got such different colors, but Dead was still basically "the red one." Well, he's at least got some really nice tampos replicating sticker details that were meant for the original toy. And since he's a straight repaint, he does of course still split in half and you can use him as Menasor's arm. I think he's worth picking up, especially if you grabbed Shadowstrip. I just hope Hasbro finds a way to get the other G2 Stunticons out- I need me a bright yellow Wildrider. The other popular one seems to be Sideswipe. Now, you might be thinking "wasn't G2 Sideswipe basically G1 Sideswipe with the red and black switched?" And yes, that was the toy that was released during G2. But, you know that the G2 Stunticons were never actually mass released, right? And this Sideswipe was, similarly, a prototype that appeared but never went into production. In fact, it's not at all certain that this character was definitely going to be named Sideswipe, but it seems likely. Sideswipe does technically come with the same accessories as his G1 Earthrise counterpart, but on the G1 toy I'd replaced them with a Nonnef kit, which is why they don't match in the above picture. The bot mode is ok, but the alt mode is where it's at. The mostly yellow car that fades to blue reminds me so much of those Hot Wheels that changed colors when you dipped them in warm/cold water that were popular around then. But I'm going to need to figure out what to do for his spoiler... Anyway, this is a mold you probably have a couple of (or a lot, if we count the Siege version). But this one is pretty enough that it belongs in your collection. Like Sideswipe, Jazz had a regular G2 release that was basically his G1 colors but with different racing livery. You could make that version of G2 Jazz by buying the regular Studio Series 86 Jazz and buying a set of Toyhax labels that replicate the G2 deco. Instead of that, we got a Jazz based on art created for the packaging. Yeah, unlike Sideswipe, no prototype is known to exist for this deco. And, again, it's not even know if this toy was going to be named Jazz or not for 100% sure. One interesting thing to note is that Doritos Jazz does come with the same gun as the Studio Series toy, but he's picked up a pair of new guns as well. I wonder if it's because the packing was depicted with the shoulder cannon that the G1 toy (but not he cartoon or the Studio Series toy) had? It's kind of crooked, but you can plug the one gun into his back at an angle, then plug the handle for the missile launcher into the barrel of that gun to get it over his shoulder. But what's really interesting is that while this is the first figure released with those accessories they are being repurposed from another release. They're the accessories that will come with Detritus and (eventually) Earth-mode Hound. It is kind of neat how all the accessories can still combine and still fit into the peg on the roof in alt mode, though. Well, it's a little nuts that we're getting this reuse out of the mold but still not Stepper/Ricochet. Not sure where I land on this figure, it's a good mold and I like the new accessories but the light-to-dark orange isn't as interesting as Sideswipe's yellow/blue mix, nor is it broken up as well. I think I'd like him more if the Doritos thing was explicit, not inferred. Continuing the stream of figures that were designed but never produced, we have Laser Cycle. But here's the thing... even though the name on the box is "Laser Cycle," the toy this was based on wasn't named Laser Cycle. Laser Cycle was a thing... Road Rocket was a Laser Cycle, and her Decepticon rival Road Pig was also a Laser Cycle. Road Pig was going to get a redeco as Laser Cycle Soundwave, but although solicited in catalogs it was never mass produced. And Soundwave's rival, a white, green, and yellow repaint of Road Rocket, was going to be Jazz. That's right, Laser Cycle is actually the second unproduced Jazz figure to get a toy in this line. There's no mold changes from Velocitron Road Rocket, no new accessories, just a new paint job that I kind of dig... actually better than Road Rocket. Yeah, I was planning on not getting Laser Cycle/Jazz, but I'm actually glad I did. It's kind of weird now that Arcee was the only mainline release of this mold, but she wound up being my least favorite. I say pick this one up. The final Deluxe of this line is Mirage, who like the all the other Deluxes was based on an unproduced G2 design. Unlike Sideswipe and Jazz, though, the packaging art did clearly identify the figure as Mirage. Mirage came with the same accessories as the other uses of this mold, of which I have too many, but without some third party add-ons he can't have the missile launcher on his shoulder. Mirage winds up being my least favorite of this Toxitron line. For one, I'm really not a fan of the pink and green deco (though the alligator tampos are kind of cool). But the kicker is that, unlike Jazz, who is at least an ugly deco on a great figure, the Earth version of Mirage wasn't a great figure in the first place, being a retool of a questionable Cybertronian design that didn't even use the chest for the front of the car. So not only do I want to tell you to pass on G2 Mirage, I also want to suggest that Hasbro really ought to release a proper Mirage figure. I guess they can't do a Studio Series toy, though, since Mirage wasn't actually in the movie. Cloudcover is the only Voyager in the line, and he's based on yet another unreleased prototype. Like many of the others it wasn't clear if the prototype was supposed to be Ramjet, or if it was supposed to be a new character. Where Hasbro erred on the side of "it's that guy" for Sideswipe and Jazz, I guess they decided this time it's a new guy, probably because they already released a G2 Ramjet. Curiously, while this is now the forth use of this exact mold, this is the only one that uses Dirge's open-mouthed head. Like I said, this is the fourth repaint we've gotten of Ramjet, but it might very well be my favorite. I'm loving the digital sky camo. Makes me wish they'd release a toy of the unreleased black and green Starscream prototype. Recommend! Now we're jumping from Voyager to Leader with Grimlock. You're probably sensing a pattern here, but there was an actual G2 Grimlock in blue, but this guy is based on artwork for an unreleased version. Like the Studio Series toy he's based on, he's got a gun but no sword. Unlike the SS86 toy, he does NOT come with a Wheelie slug. G2 Grimlock's neck doesn't have any paint, revealing some mechanical details inside that are presumably present but unseen on the SS86 or Shattered Glass releases of the mold (dear Primus, please let Hasbro be prepping for toy deco versions after Swoop comes out). He's also sporting the same basic yellow and teal combo that Sideswipe was, but it looks even better here, if you ask me. I just have to hope that DNA re-releases their upgrade kit so I can fill in the gaps on his teeth and give him articulated dino arms. Strong recommend! And we finish off the line with the eponymous Toxitron himself. Like everyone else in the line, Toxitron is based on an unreleased toy, but not a G2 toy. Toxitron was a planned recolor of the Laser Prime toy for the early 2000's Universe line. And unlike most of the other figures on this list, this is not the first time Toxitron has been done in toy form, as Combiner Wars Menasor was redecoed as Toxitron for Fun Publications' Figure Subscription Service. But, since the original toy was based on Laser Optimus, and Legacy gave us a new Laser Optimus, Toxitron as a repaint of Laser Optimus has come full circle. Toxitron comes with the same accessories as Laser Optimus, including a trailer, axe, sword, and Matrix. Curiously unlike his mold mates Toxitron uses three different translucent plastic colors. Honestly, between Shattered Glass, Nemesis Prime, and RID '01 Scourge I kind of think we had enough evil Optimus Primes that I'm not into Toxitron as a concept. In actual execution, I have to admit that the neon green plastic actually looks really nice in person. I just wish he had black wheels instead of purple, green on the front and back of the trailer like the original prototype, and the big "Toxitron" text on the sides of the trailer. Actually, I'm kind of miffed that they managed to get this Toxitron so close to the Universe prototype but they screwed up so badly on Scourge last year.

Thanks, they didn't have them last time I checked, but I just preordered both at TCP.

I want to get in preorders for Missing Link Convoy and JAXA Prime, but I wish I knew if some domestic stores were going to carry them. How's shipping with Amiami?

Well, after a couple of new Studio Series figures, how about we wrap up with a big Repaint Roundup? Staying with Studio Series, up first we have Gamer Edition Deluxe-class Cliffjumper (and yes, I know I usually put the new figure on the left, I screwed up on a few, but I think you guys are smart enough to figure it out). Cliffjumper is the same figure as Bumblebee from the neck down, the only difference is that he has a new head. Now, GE Bee was a middling sort of figure, and there was some debate about whether or not it was really an upgrade over the original Deluxe. I suppose that's at least somewhat true for Cliffjumper, but I'll note that GE Cliffjumper has a more Transformers Prime style head, which is accurate to Fall of Cybertron game. The old WFC Bee was repainted as Cliffjumper, but that toy had a more G1-style head, so at least this figure is an upgrade on accuracy. Cliffjumper comes with the same sword and pair of guns with the same storage solutions as Bumblebee. And with the head tucked away, the only difference in alt modes is the color (although I do like red...). So, if you're all on in on the Gamer Edition and you liked Bee, you should be fine with Cliffjumper. But on the whole he's kind of mediocre, which is how I'd sum up the whole Gamer Edition subline at this point. Next up, we have a Target-exclusive two-pack of Ironhide and Prowl. Prowl is based on the Earthrise release that came in an Amazon-exclusive two-pack with Ironhide during Earthirse. Unlike that set, this set uses the Studio Series release of Ironhide instead of the Earthrise one. Both figures come with the same accessories as before (a rifle and lightbar for Prowl, and two pistols for Ironhide), as well as some additional blast effects. As I was saying, Ironhide is based on his Studio Series 86 Voyager-class release, but this time he's sporting a new head and chest. The head has an open mouth, and the chest has a shattered window revealing some mechanical detail underneath. The mechanical detail has a hole that turns out to be a 5mm port, allowing you to plug in the blast effect. It also necessitated that the "glass" on the window be painted rather than translucent, so basically all the parts that were translucent on the original release are red plastic with blue paint. And less red paint and more red plastic means that, for one, the reds are better color matched, and two, budget was freed up to paint the yellow stripe . No Reprolabels this time! Like Ironhide, Prowl has a remolded head and chest. I'm a bit surprised (and pleased) to see that Prowl's new head is more than just an open mouth- I dig the wider cheeks on the "helmet", and his chest doesn't simply have battle damage, they remolded the bumper and painted it gray to be more cartoon-accurate. Speaking of being more cartoon accurate, they replaced the "Highway Patrol Police" on his door wings with a blue Autobot star, added some gray lines and a red triangle on his pelvis, and gave him gray thighs and a gray midsection to make him more cartoon accurate. There's also the painted instead of translucent windows, mind you. While I do love the toy details (especially with Reprolables) on the earlier release, I really like the cartoon accuracy of this new release. If only it weren't battle damaged I'd probably use this as my main Prowl. Maybe Prowl will get a more widespread solo release... he does have a Studio Series number (86-20). Prowl's battle damage uses one of those tiny pegs instead of a 5mm port, but the idea is the same, so you can attach a blast effect. Too bad he doesn't have the orange smoke for his mouth. Anyway, Ironhide and Prowl are both great figures, but you're better off with the original releases as these guys are definitely dead. I really only recommend this set if it's you missed out on Prowl earlier, or if you want more dead Autobots to display with Alternate Universe Optimus Prime. Another Target Exclusive is Tow-Line, based on the character from Robots In Disguise 2001. Tow-Line is a repaint of Junkion Scraphook, with the same accessories and quibbles I had with that figure, just a new head and color scheme. The new head is bang on! The problem is that the rest of the figure is not. RID Tow-Line has a truck cab for a belly. I mean, if there's one detail you're going to notice about him, that'd be it. Things do not improve in alt mode, as Tow-Line retains the Mad Max-esque hot-rodded pickup with a tow hook alt mode from Scraphook, which aside from colors bears no real resemblance to RID Tow-Line's tractor cab and car-crusher trailer. With Hasbro's reluctance to actually revisit the RID 2001 universe this might be the only Tow-Line we get for awhile, but it's still pretty disappointing. I'd say pass on it. We're not done yet! We have another exclusive, and this one is the Pulse-exclusive from SDCC, War Dawn. War Dawn is named after the G1 episode "War Dawn," where the the Aerialbots are accidentally sent back in time. This episode is best remembered as the one where we meet Orion Pax, see him get badly wounded, and rebuilt by Alpha Trion as Optimus Prime, and in the inspiration for last year's "A Hero is Born" set. But fans of the episode might remember that Orion Pax wasn't the only character the Aerialbots met. There was also Dion, Pax's friend, and Aerial, his girlfriend (who herself would be rebuilt as Elita-1). Like Pax, Dion is a remold of Studio Series 86 Kup, and also like Pax he's got a new head, chest, forearms, shins, and some of his backpack. His robot mode comes across OK... I guess Floro Dery's Kup translates pretty well to the other likely Dery-designed generic Cybertronians that were never meant to have toys. The remolded chest is accurate, the head is a solid depiction of the animation, and the colors are mostly accurate. I mean, there are some scenes where his forearms are white/light gray, and his midriff definitely should be. He's missing the wheels shown in his shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees, though, and it would have been better if the new backpack parts angled outward. Speaking of his backpack parts, they're actually attached to his slightly-remolded backpack via 5mm ports. And while Dion comes with the rifle and pack of Energon goodies that Kup and Pax did, his backpack parts can come off and also have 5mm pegs so he can hold them, and little nubs that can be used to attach blast effects. Unfortunately, unlike Pax Dion actually had his alt mode animated, and Kup-ish it isn't. Still, for a one-off flashback character that was never meant to have a toy, a decently accurate robot with not-very-accurate alt mode is the best we're likely to get. Certainly a step up from his a original toy, a 2005 e-HOBBY repaint of G1 Wheelie. Ariel, or "Erial" for copyright reasons, is a retool of Legacy Arcee/Road Rocket/Flamewar. In bot mode, the only noticeable difference from most angles is the new head, new hands, and the colors, but part of her backpack is also remolded. To be fair, Ariel's animation model was a pretty generic fembot shape, and this mold more or less had that already. She's just sporting some bigger arm pads and wheel kibble, plus a backpack she didn't have in the animation. But she does have a new head with an animation-accurate ponytail. She still has the wheel accessory that the other versions of this mold do, but unlike those other versions the rest of the bike's front end is pinned and not removable, and she ditchest the crappy translucent shuriken/arm blades for a brand new pistol accessory. The pistol is molded after one Elita-1 used in a different episode. I mentioned that the front of the bike doesn't come off on Erial. This is due to those parts being remolded, and while they're not really noticeable they make a big difference in alt mode, giving her a speedier-looking sci-fi sort of bike mode. And pink, just in time for the Barbie movie. Kup and Arcee's molds aren't bad, but nor are they my favorites. If you have the A Hero is Born pack this set complements it nicely and you should consider picking it up. But I'd say that if you don't have Pax and Alpha Trion you probably don't need Dion and Erial. One last repaint... for now. This is Transformers X Volvo VNR Optimus Prime. This is the exact same figure as the Holiday Optimus Prime released before Christmas last year, just in more standard Prime colors, which is what I feel most people actually wanted. As I said at the time, it's a very good mold, but I do have some notes. For one, I'm glad they painted the yellow on Prime's hips, but why didn't they get the rectangle on his crotch? Two, maybe it's just they way the parts are arranged on the sprues, but Prime's biceps and forearms are gray, with red paint on the forearms. I'd have preferred they also made his biceps red, and I really wish when they were painting his forearms that they didn't miss the flaps that open on the back for folding his hands in. Like Holiday Optimus, VNR Optimus has a Matrix unique to the mold, but is otherwise paired with the accessories of Earthrise Optimus Prime- the too-thick rifle, the trailer with detachable shield, and the detachable drone inside. For whatever reason, the trailer's door is black on this release. I'll probably either buy the Nonnef upgrade kit I used on my Earthrise trailer, or, at the very lease, swap the black door with the gray one I replaced on the Earthrise trailer. As a Volvo-licensed and now full-on Volvo crossover toy, VNR Optimus isn't just a pretty good Optimus figure with an original, fun transformation. He turns into a licensed Volvo VNR 300 truck. It's a little longish, compared to the real truck, but it's got lots of details you'd see on the real vehicle like the extra mirrors on the nose, the singular smokestack, etc. More than that, it really goes out of its way to be the truck, so stuff like the back of the cab and the hitch aren't neglected. There's a real back on the cab, not a gap between tucked in arms, and a hitch with eight rear tires and a realistically angled fifth wheel. This was all true for the Holiday Prime, of course, but again this time we have a red cab with some blue, G1-style. And the trailer ditches the candy stripes for a more classic G1 look, and pulls it off better than Earthrise did (where the white part of the stripe wasn't in the budget, I guess). Being a holiday-themed figure probably limited the appeal and market for this mold the first time around, but this is a fantastic mold. Now that it's in traditional Prime colors and you can display it as an alternate or upgraded G1 Prime I'd strongly recommend checking this figure out.

Interesting. Looks like his hands stay on for transformation. I think I'm in for the toy-style version with the trailer. I'm just going to wait a few days to see if Pulse picks it up.

One last truly new Studio Series figure... it's Studio Series Gamer Edition Voyager-class Megatron. I don't know how much time you guys spend on certain other boards, or watch certain YouTube reviews, or what... but this guy is getting absolutely savaged by parts of the fandom. Now, this is the part where I usually talk about the aesthetics of the robot, but I'm feeling compelled to address some of the complaints I've heard. So, we'll start with one of the big ones I've heard- that the figure is based off concept art, not the in-game model. But, you know what I see the main differences between the concept art and the in-game model are? The concept art is a little lankier, the in-game model a little dirtier. The concept art has gray/silver on top of his left shoulder and a stripe breaking up the red on his forearm, the in-game model has black on top of his shoulder running with a stripe on the bicep and none on the forearm. That's honestly about it. And if we're talking about inaccuracies, I might also point out that the spikes on the toy's knees are black/dark gray instead of light gray, he's missing some black on some of the molded details on his right shoulder, and that the toy has some kibble on the sides of his legs that aren't on either the concept art or the in-game model. And while these are perhaps fair criticisms, they're often levied by people suggesting that the old Generations Deluxe-class toy is somehow superior. Are we simply going to ignore the less-accurate feet, less-accurate forearms, less accurate right shoulder, softer details, and massive shin cutouts? "Well, the Deluxe's back is more accurate!" Yeah, kudos to Hasbro for trying the replicate that detail, especially since you spend a lot of time looking at the backs of the characters you play as in the game. But... a more accurate back, for less accurate backs of the arms and hollow calves. We gotta pick and choose our battles, you know? Another complaint I'm hearing pretty often is about the size. "He's so small!" people say. How can a figure that's only a head taller than the older figure be a Voyager when that figure was a Deluxe? Again, I think there's some merit to this point, in that Gamer Edition Megatron is smaller than Siege or Earthrise Megatron. But the Studio Series figures don't necessarily have to be in scale with Siege or Earthrise, only other Gamer Edition figures. And it turns out that Megatron is, to the top of the head, very close, maybe even slightly taller, than Gamer Edition Optimus Prime. What's more, if you compare the older Deluxe Megatron to some contemporary Generations figures, you'll quickly realize that it was pretty tall for a Deluxe. And, as Hasbro likes to remind us, class isn't about size anymore, it's about parts count and complexity. Now, I'm not going to count every part in both figures, but I can weigh them to get a sense of how much plastic is in them. With all of their accessories, Gamer Edition Megatron is around 132g. The older Deluxe is 112g. I'm no math expert, but I think that's around a 23% increase. That being said, for those that are complaining that Megatron seems too thin when Prime is so yoked, yeah. Prime and his accessories clock in at 180g. The simple reality is that it's not really as simple as saying that a figure is a Voyager, so it gets X budget. It's more like you have X budget for Y figures, so maybe you cut a few corners on one to spend a little extra on another. I'm not saying this to defend this figure or Hasbro's business practices, I'm just saying that there's probably a reason Prime came out so good and in the first wave of Gamer Edition figures, but Megatron's a little anemic when he comes in late. Next complaint up to be addressed: the accessories. Megatron comes with his fusion cannon, as well as his mace. Well, I don't know that a lot of people are complaining too much about the mace- it's a weapon Megatron used in the game that the earlier figure didn't have. The complaints are mostly about the little, round fusion cannon. The original toy's cannon was so much bigger and more detailed! Except, well, the original toy's cannon isn't actually all that accurate. The new cannon is more appropriately-sized, and while it's missing a red plate and probably could have used a little purple paint to bring out some of the molded details. And, subjectively speaking, the older toy's cannon is probably more visually interesting. But objectively this one is close to what you actually see in the game. Speaking of the game, when you actually play it as Megatron his canon isn't on his arm, like the G1 cartoon. His arm transforms into the cannon, the same as the other characters' arms transform into their guns. So, like the other figures in the line, Megatron's right forearm comes off, and the cannon can plug into the 5mm port that is his stump. His mace can fit into either fist, although he can only grip it at the base. Megatron did wear his cannon on his arm during cutscenes, though, and a peg under the cannon does allow you to plug the cannon onto a 5mm port on his right forearm. Another 5mm port on his back allows you to store his mace. Hold on, I'm getting ahead of myself. We need to talk articulation! Megatron's head is on a ball joint, but the shape of his head doesn't allow for much tilt- but that's not worse than the original. His shoulders swivel and move laterally 90 degrees, which is a huge improvement over the 30-ish degrees the older Deluxe could manage. His biceps swivel (same), and his elbows are double-jointed and get about 180 degrees of bend (the older figure could bend his elbows, but the bend was above the bicep swivel). He's got wrist swivels and a waist swivel, both of which were omitted from the original. His hips can go forward and backward something like 160 degrees, similar to the original. They move laterally over 90 degrees, which is a little more than the original could do. Both figures have thigh swivels, a little up/down foot tilt, and small but present ankle pivots. So, in most areas the new figure has the same or better articulation than the old. Most... but not all, and it's time to address the number one single biggest flaw with Gamer Edition Megatron. He has almost no knee articulation. Basically, if you look at the backs of his knee joints, there's this hooked protrusion. Just a little bend causes it to collide with the material in his calves, hence the comically limited range. What's weird is that if you look at the instructions the drawings seem to show a much smaller protrusion that hooks in the opposite direction- perhaps somewhere between the design and cutting the steel molds something got messed up. Knowing Hasbro, they were probably even aware of the issue, but given their propensity to use pins when a screw would do were probably unwilling to investing in fixing it before production or making replacement parts. I'm questioning why that protrusion needs to be there at all, though. It doesn't seem to hook into anything or lock anything in place for alt mode. I've heard a few people report that they cut the protrusions off and it improved his knee articulation while leaving alt mode unaffected. Remember a few paragraphs back, I said one of the things that makes a Voyager, well, a not a Deluxe is the complexity of the figure? Yeah, the new figure is definitely more complex. The old figure sort of scrunched up with his cannon on his back and his legs bent over at the knees. A lot of the top of the tank is just the soles of his feet! The new figure feels like it's transforming- his chest moves, and his left arm curls up into the space it vacated while his right arm folds onto his back. His legs do still bend at the knees, but first his calves unfurl and the whole thing wraps around the sides, not the top. But which is actually more accurate? Well, this one's a bit closer. For one, neither has the spikes at the back quite right. The older figure has some red stripes that were seen in game, but not in the concept art. The older figure did a bit better recreating the way the light parts sloped up to the cannon, and the rear of the cannon is more accurate (at the expense of being less so in robot mode). The shape of the newer figure overall seems a bit better, and more cohesive- even back in the day it kind of bugged me how Megatron's back just folded over and laid there, not tabbed anything, on the old Deluxe toy. The Deluxe did have a gimmick where you could fold the arms out to the sides and they became tank treads... but he didn't have tank treads in the game. He hovered, and while you can leave the arms under and say that they're the hover jets the hover jets are sculpted at better angles and have visible nozzles. End of the day, I do think think Megatron's alt mode came out a little better on the Studio Series toy. Megatron doesn't do much in tank mode, though. His arm actually locks in place in two places, so his turret lacks the ability to rotate and the barrel cannot change its elevation. In fairness, though, this is true in the game as well. Megatron can at least carry his mace while he's in alt mode, but using the 5mm peg you plugged into his back for robot mode, but into the one on his arm/the back of the turret in tank mode. So there it is. I wonder if a lot of the people complaining even have the figure, or if they were just looking at pictures and remembering the old Deluxe more fondly than it deserves? Yeah, I wish the Studio Series version were a bit bigger- although height to the head is actually accurate compared to Prime he seems too skinny to actually fight him. Still bigger than the older figure. You might think that the Deluxe figure looks better, subjectively, but the new one is objectively more accurate. For the most part, the new figure has better articulation, and I'd argue a better transformation. The knees are the worst thing about the Studio Series figure, something that should have been corrected early in the design phase. But it seems like a fixable issue, if you don't mind cutting your figure (not that you should have to!). I'm not saying that Megatron is perfect, or even a great figure. Prime's been the best figure in what's turning out to be an honestly iffy sub-line, no doubt. But, and maybe this is an unpopular opinion, I think the Studio Series figure absolutely destroys the old Deluxe figure. If you want a figure of Megatron from the War for Cybertron game, this is the one to get. Recommend.

When Hasbro first revealed Studio Series Rhinox I was a bit skeptical. I mean, the mainline figure was pretty good, but to be fair, I hadn't actually seen Rhinox's robot mode yet. Now that I have, is the Studio Series toy an improvement? Well, I suppose the colors are more accurate. The film has him more like Dark of the Moon Megatron, a sort of dark silvery metal with smudges of tan dirt, where the mainline toyu when for tan with silver accents. The mainline toy has similar molded details in the legs, but they're more pronounced and have a more accurate shape on the Studio Series toy. They have similar shoulders, but only the mainline toy has molded chains. The layered look of the forearms is better on the Studio Series toy, and neither really got the right inner mechanical details. When the Studio Series figure really shines, though, is the torso. The mainline figure is disproportionately tiny. Studio Series Rhinox has a much more accurate torso, although his chest could stand to be a bit wider. The biggest difference, though, is seen from behind. The mainline figure goes for a Beast Wars/Kingdom approach and has the rhino head (and much of the back) hanging off him in a big backpack, and his calves are pretty much just folded up rhino butt and legs. The Studio Series toy impressively keeps his back and calves remarkably clean. I do, however, wish they'd found a wait to fold up his tail better. Maybe against his back, like the spine on the CGI model. And unlike the mainline toy, he's got the two spikes on his back behind his head. Studio Series Rhinox trades in the Beast Wars gatling gun for a hammer which... maybe he used in the movie? Did he even transform out of beast mode in the movie? I can't recall. OK, articulation, compared directly with the mainline toy... his head is on a ball joint, so in addition to swiveling he's got a small amount of up and sideways tilt (better). His shoulders rotate (same), and the shoulder pads move out of the way to get him 90 degrees of lateral movement (worse). His biceps swivel and his elbows bend 90 degrees (same), but this time he's also got a wrist swivel (better). His waist swivels (same). His hips got forward 120 degrees (better), backward 90 (same-ish), and laterally 90 (worse). His thighs swivel, but the range is a bit limited (worse), and his knees bend 90 degrees (same). His feet tilt down, but not really up (better), and have 90 degrees of ankle pivot (better). Rhinox's hammer slides into either fist, but the grip is loose until you get to a certain point about two thirds of the way up the shaft. For storage you can fold the handle back to reveal a 5mm peg, and that peg fits into a port on his back. One thing to note, due to the shape of the knuckle spikes on his hands vs. the mainline figure, Studio Series Rhinox cannot hold mainline Rhinox's guns. I don't really consider this to be a problem because A) I think most collectors probably just want one Rhinox or the other, B) Rhinox didn't use guns in the movie (that I recall), and C) Rhinox can wield Battlemaster Rhinox. A robot that turns into a rhino armed with a gatling gun that turns into a smaller version of the same rhino is all I ever needed. Mainline Rhinox has a pretty simple transformation, and the result is a fairly immobile rhino that can open its jaws, swivel and move laterally at the shoulders, and wiggle forward and backward at the rear knees. The resulting shape is a little rectangular, but I suppose it's fairly rhino-esque. Studio Series Rhinox has a much more involved transformation that, I think, attempts to give him a more rounded, organic shape. Again, the gray color seems to be more film accurate, as is the darker patches around his eyes on the sides of his face, and his back has more of the segmented plates that he had in the film. His back doesn't have quit the same flat rhino butt that the mainline toy has, though. And his underside is a bit weird. His robot chest shifts down to fill in his rhino tummy, which is fine, but... ...it leaves a weird void in the rhino's chest. I mean, if you look carefully, his rhino neck just sort of ends. I guess Hasbro figured that from a lot of angles his head and arms kind of hide the lack of chest, but it's disappointing nonetheless. His articulation isn't much improved, either. His rear legs still wiggle at the knees. He looses 90 percent of his shoulder rotation, but he still retains some lateral movement, plus his front knees can bend backward. His back feet are his robot feet, and retain their downward tilt and ankle pivots, plus his front paws are on ball joints with swivels and a little bit of up/down tilt and ankle pivot. His jaw still opens, but he's got a little neck articulation now. See, his head can tilt upward, revealing more mechanical detail in the neck. Plus his tail can bend up. You can store his hammer the same way you do in bot mode, by folding in the handle/folding out a 5mm peg and plugging it onto his back. It's too bad the handle couldn't fold up more, then the hammer could have store in/transformed into Rhinox's chest. So, yeah, I'd say all-in-all Studio Series Rhinox is a definitely improvement over the mainline ROTB figure. If you're doing a ROTB collection and haven't picked up a Rhinox, this is definitely the one to get. You might even say that I recommend him. Is he a necessary upgrade if you already picked up the previous figure? That's a bit more debatable. Maybe not, if you're just going to have him in rhino mode, especially with the Studio Series' gaping void of a chest. But the added neck articulation is a nice get, and the robot mode is definitely more accurate all-around, so for me the answer is still yes.

Sticking with Studio Series, but moving from '86 to Rise of the Beasts, we've got the Target-exclusive Optimus Prime. Well... he's taller than the mainline figure, which puts him back at roughly the same size as the other Studio Series Primes. That's a good start! But as is often the case with the movie Studio Series figures, he's got a few issues. He's a actually a very heavy retool of Bumblebee Optimus, but you can hardly tell. Almost every part is new, and at a glance I think his proportions, especially the more organic shape of the legs, is more movie-accurate than the mainline figure. But, as is all too often the case, the colors are off, mainly due to a lack of paint. They yellow on his pelvis should be black or gunmetal, and various mechanical details are molded onto his arms and the insides of his legs but left unpainted. He's got the boxes on hte sides of his knees the mainline figure was missing, but they should be silver-ish, not blue. They put some silver over his knees, but they didn't paint the circles inside. His toes should be silver. His smokestacks are pointed out to the sides instead of backward, and the flaps on them should be toward the front of his shoulders, not the back. He's got unnecessary flaps on top of his shoulders, a legacy from the previous toy that doesn't really apply here. His back is plain red, lacking some of the silver seen in the CGI, and there's a bit of kibble on the backs of his forearms, but it's actually an improvement from the Bumblebee toy. Minor gripes aside, I definitely think this Prime looks good. His accessories are kind of just... ok. He's got a sword, as seen in the film. The sculpt is fine, and it's painted, which is nice, although it's missing the orange edges. And he's got his blaster... well, he's got a little of his blaster. Prime's head is on a ball joint, with plenty of upward tilt and a bit of sideways tilt, but nothing really down. His shoulders rotate, but we have to put Prime in that growing pile of figures that have lateral movement on the wrong side of the rotation. His biceps swivel, and his elbows are double jointed so you can get 150-ish degrees of bend. His wrists swivel, as does his waist. And, unusually for a mainline figure, Prime's sporting an ab crunch. His hip skirts don't move, but his hip joints are designed so that the swivel point is actually in front of his leg, shifting it downward under the hip skirt as you rotate it. This gives him around 120 degrees of forward hip movement, but almost none backward. Laterally, his hip skirts do move and he can get about 75 degrees of lateral movement. His thighs swivel, but only about 45 degrees out. His knees bend a little over 90 degrees. Dedicated hinges give him nearly 90 degrees of ankle pivot, and the foot itself is actually on a ball joint, giving him ankle swivels and a small amount of up/down tilt. If you fold Prime's fists in as you would for transformation, the other side has a peg that you can plug his blaster into. It kind of replicates the arm cannon he had in the movies... except that more of his arm transformed, so this would just be the tip. And it's kind of small. As for the sword, there's a small peg on the handle that plugs into a hole near either wrist. Alternatively, he can hold the sword in either hand using the handle, or a 5mm peg on one side can plug into a 5mm port on the outside of his forearm. The same peg can be used to store the sword in one of the four 5mm ports on his back, while the blaster has a tab on one side that can also fit into a 5mm port. Prime's chest opens up, his backpack comes off on an armature, his upper torso spins 180 degrees, his arms tuck behind with the kibble on his arms becoming much of the sides of the cab, and the backpack folds over and comes back together to make up much of the front of the cab. That's about the end of the similarities between Bumblebee Prime and this guy. The cab's actually a bit smaller, but pretty screen accurate from the front. I wish the flaps that filled in the top of the cab were red. Things are much, much worse from behind, though. Kind of like Bumblebee Prime, SS ROTB Prime's shins fold toward the back of the cab and his feet tuck in between his legs. But see, on Bumblebee Prime bits from the inside of his legs transformed some kind of plating on the back of the cab, and his feet managed to produce a hitch. On ROTB Prime, though, his shins just look like kibble on the back of the cab, and the insides of his legs do nothing but stick out like eyesore, making the kibble even worse. You don't get a hitch either, making this one of the few modern Primes that can't pull a trailer. Oh, and those flaps on the smokestacks move around to give Prime's shins something to plug into, but that means that they're not on the sides of the cab where they actually belong. Prime can, for the most part, store his weapons. His sword plugs into a 5mm port on the inside of one of his thighs, and half fills in the gap between his legs half peeks awkwardly out from the kibble forest. Meanwhile, his blaster uses a tab to fit into a notch on the kibble. Now, am I the only one seeing a missed opportunity here? Like, why couldn't the blaster fit between his legs somehow? Then the blaster could have become the trailer hitch. Studio Series Rise of the Beasts Optimus Prime is a really mixed hand. I think he looks really good in robot mode, and if all you want was a good-looking robot to put on a shelf with other ROTB figures he's much better looking than the mainline figure. Some of the design decisions are "how did this get out of the design phase?!" bad, though. The shoulder articulation is frustrating, and the truck looks bad from any angle but the front, and it's mind-boggling because it would have been simpler and used fewer parts to simply not have the legs transform at all, just tab them together and have them stick straight out the back, and it actually would have looked better that way. Not a realistic or screen-accurate back of the truck, mind you, but not random shards of kibble half the size of the cab. End of the day, it's close, but I don't think I can actually recommend this figure.

If you missed him before, Sky Lynx is back in stock at Hasbro Pulse.

I might not have been having the best of luck at Walmart, but I've been getting packages like crazy this week from other retailers. Hot on the heels of Beachcomber we've got another G1 minibot-turned-Deluxe, Studio Series 86 Brawn! This being a Studio Series figure, Brawn's going for cartoon accuracy first and foremost... sorry, JB0, maybe Hasbro will make a Gen Selects version later with a toy-style visor, mouth plate, and claws. This guy's got the grumpy face with the Juggernaut helmet, the silver forearms (with hands), etc you'd expect, and even a bit of silver around the knees. The engineers at Hasbro even figured out how to do the Season 1 Sunbow thing where the animators would just ignore the fact that the toys have wheels when they were coming up with the animation models. I do have some gripes, though. The animation model had a design on his waist, based on the cartoon sticker, with a gray chevron under his his waist, also kind of based on the G1 toy. You can see how Power of the Primes Brawn tried to replicate that. But for some reason SS86 Brawn just leaves a hinge showing on his belt, figuring that's close enough to the sticker, and doesn't even bother replicating the chevron. I guess it's to be expected, but they also having him one heck of a honkin' backpack. I don't think backpacks are the end the world, especially on a Deluxe, but in Brawn's case it kind of looks like it should be able to collapse more than it actually can, which makes him look a little dumpy to me. Brawn comes with two accessories... except really one. He has a gun. Sure, he also has his spare tire, but the tire is already on his back out of the box, and it never actually needs to be removed for anything. Brawn's head can swivel, no tilt. His shoulders are ball joints, which aren't my favorite but he's got the full 360 degrees of rotation and 90 degrees of lateral movement no matter how his arm is positioned, which is becoming a luxury. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend around 160 degrees. No wrist swivels, but he does have a waist swivel. His hips go 90 degrees forward and a little over that laterally, but his backpack limits his backward movement to a little under 45 degrees. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend just a hair under 90 degrees. The front of his feet can tilt down, mostly due to transformation. You can sort of tilt them up, but you can see a ridge that's meant to prevent that and you'll probably pop his toes off the hinge. His ankles have a full 90 degrees of pivot. This being a Studio Series figure and not a mainline means that Brawn's not awash in 5mm ports. He can hold his gun in either hand, and as I mentioned his spare tire is plugged into one on his backpack. There's also one under each heel, and that's really it. There's nothing on his shoulders or forearms, he can't use his spare tire as a shield or anything. I've heard some people wonder just how aware Hasbro is of different unlicensed third-party toys. Well... Brawn's transformation is an awful lot like a simplified take on Fans Toy's Hunk, their MP-esque Brawn. There's less panels to unfold, but the backpack shifts off the same way. His arms are on armatures that shift them down before folding them back under his backpack, just like Hunk. And his lower legs split in half to form the sides of the truck, like Hunk. The only difference is that Hunk shifts his legs so his knees are at the sides, and the lower leg splits all the way through the foot and splays outward, whereas SS86 Brawn's legs spit more like Siege Hound, with his foot in the middle and the inside of his leg folding down around it. On the whole, I'd say the transformation is pretty effective. His grill is a little busier than the animation model, but it's got the silver color and basic shape, with the bit of yellow bumper. The silver on his knees is, unfortunately, on the front of his fenders, but the fenders themselves have the right shape and stick out appropriately from the body. He's got the Autobot insignia on the hood and the molded in market lights and roof racks His doors look like a pile of hinges, but hey, the rims are painted. As are the windows... except the back one. Without going back and watching the G1 cartoon, it could be that his rear window wasn't colored in the cartoon, but it could also be that Brawn ran out of budget for paint. In alt mode, the only 5mm port available is on the roof, and you probably left his spare tire there. But that's ok! The tire itself has a 5mm port (just like the G1 toy has a hole on the spare tire!), and you can nestle the gun into it (blast effect not included). I guess the turret look is ok, but I do wish they'd found a way to hide his gun in alt mode. There's a lot of space under and between his legs on the underside of the truck, for instance. As I've noted throughout, I do have some complaints with Brawn, but I'm also cognizant of the fact that this is a Deluxe-class toy, not a Masterpiece. I'm also cognizant of the fact that, despite being one of the more prominently-featured characters in the first season, we haven't exactly had a ton of options for Brawn. Unlike Beachcomber, whose PotP Legends-class figure was good enough that you almost don't need the new Legacy figure, Brawn's previous figure has a weirdly long torso, massive shoulder wheels, and fists so big you'd think he's wearing Hulk Hands. While not perfect, SS86 Brawn is a great upgrade that should please most of you old geewunners, and I'll give him a solid recommend. Now... looking at my shelf of G1 minibots, looks like we're down to Gears, Windcharger, Seaspray, Powerglide, Outback, Swerve, and Tailgate. And I can only assume that Outback from this mold is inevitable.

Maybe they'll fix it before release? I dunno, I bought the new TOS Enterprise and it was pretty good for the price.