mikeszekely

As someone who's grown up with Nintendo, has owned just about all of Nintendo's hardware (sorry, Virtual Boy), and to this day thinks Nintendo makes some of the best games, I think they're kind of terrible. The way they go after anyone who uses their IPs, even Fair Use, is so out-of-touch it's unreal. And they act like emulating an old NES game is a serious crime, but these are the same bozos that released a Super Mario 3D collection that a) didn't include Super Mario Galaxy 2, and b) they promised to stop selling after six months. Full disclosure, yeah, I've got Yuzu installed on both my desktop PC and my Steam Deck, and yes, I do own copies of all the Switch games I have roms for. But I also have roms for probably every game released on a home console in North America from around 1985 all the way through the launch of the Saturn, because it's the NES library not the Disney Vault.

Less buggy and I hope it didn't get it's ending cut, but yeah, I think that's a pretty good comparison. I bought Live a Live shortly after it came out, but never got around to even starting it. Guess I just wasn't in the mood for a JRPG.

So, a bunch of hours in and... yeah, TotK is good. But probably not 10/10 good. It's good, because it's still very much BotW, which was itself a great game. Combat is the same, same open world setup, same wander-around-looking-for-shrines to upgrade your health, same collect-crazy-amounts-of-junk to give the Great Fairies to upgrade your armor. There's still Koroks to be found, and shrines are still numerous mini-dungeons, mostly using a mechanic to solve a puzzle with the occasional combat trial thrown in. There's still characters to meet and sidequests to keep you busy. But, after six years, I kind of expected more. They reused a ton of BotW's assets. Most of the game is, in fact, in the same Hyrule you explored in BotW. Sure, there was an upheaval, and now there's floating islands in the sky and a big underground area, but when one character suggested stopping by the dye shop in Hateno Village I was thinking, "yeah, I know where that is." BotW lived up to the "wild" in its name- you felt like you were going into an unknown, mostly unpopulated frontier. That unlimited potential just isn't there in TotK. And, they didn't fix any of my complaints about BotW. I hated the weapon breaking mechanic then, and I hate it even more now. At least in BotW if something broke you just grabbed another. Now you also have to fuse that weapon to some monster part you were probably hoping to save for upgrading your armor for it to do more than tickle an enemy, knowing full well that after killing three or four baddies that weapon (with your monster part) is going to break. Doing stuff besides walking still requires stamina, which in and of itself I don't mind, but you still can't climb wet surfaces while it's raining (which it seems to do all the time). Nothing takes you out of a game quite like, "well, I really need to get up this cliff, so I guess I'll just sit here on my phone for 20 minutes real-time while I want for the rain to stop." Sure, there are new recipes and armor you can use to mitigate this, but that smacks of the developers realizing it was a problem but doing as little as possible to actually correct it. Finally, and maybe I'm just misremembering BotW, but TotK feels a lot more poorly balanced. See, the one thing they really changed in TotK is your powers. Gone are Magnesis, Stasis, Cryonis, and Remote Bombs. Instead you get Ultra Hand, Rewind, Ascend, and Fuse. Fuse is used to upgrade your weapons by sticking monster parts to them- that's it. Ascend and Rewind are useful, but very situational. Is there a ceiling overhead? Try Ascend. Did you see something move? Use Rewind to move it back. Ultra Hand is the ability that's getting all the attention. Like Magnesis, you can use it to pick up and manipulate objects. Unlike Magnesis, they don't have to be metal, and you can stick objects together. The game often provides things just for sticking... for instance, you can stick a flamethrower in a balloon, then attach the balloon to a platform to make a lift. You can attach big wheels and a steering device to a chunk of wall to make a car. You can stick some logs together to make a raft, then attach a fan to it to make the raft go in a direction you want. At first it's pretty neat, but after awhile you realize that almost every shrine is solved by figuring out how to "right" way to stick the assortment of junk laying around together. So, the shrines are much easier than BotW's. But the actual combat seems harder. Like I said, you need to fuse monster parts to your weapons to do enough damage to kill them, but you have to do enough damage to kill them to get their parts in the first place. Before you find the Great Faries you can expect to die in one or two hits, even after getting a few heart containers. Now that I've upgraded my shirt and pants twice and my hat three times I'm not quite so squishy, but if an enemy mob has more than one Black Bokoblin I'll try to avoid them instead. I've yet to successfully kill any stronger enemies like a Stone Talus or a Hinox, and the one time I saw a Lynel I yeeted out of there as fast as I could. So, yeah, like I said. It's a good game, but also kind of disappointing. Maybe an 8 or 8.5, not a 10. Not even as good as its predecessor.

It was a fun movie, easy for newbies to follow but with tons of easter eggs and in-jokes for people who do play the game. I'm not sure how the writers pulled it off without the usual Hollywood/studio meddling, but it was a well-written, well-acted movie made by people who genuinely care about the source material. And it's a shame we'll probably not get a sequel because Super Mario Bros took over the box office... D&D actually did better than expected the opening weekend, and it's had a ton of positive word of mouth, but everyone went to see SMB instead, I guess.

Yeah, he looks good. But (not that I'm complaining, Brawn was a major character in the first season) I'm curious why Gears and Windcharger don't seem to be getting done (actually, Gears was planned for Kingdom then canceled). You know how Hasbro loves their repaints, and thanks to the comics I'd expect Swerve and Tailgate to move more units than Outback. ...I'm totally gonna buy Outback, by the way. Yeah, it's Senator Shockwave. So, fun fact, Orion Pax's Senator friend was originally unnamed, kind of a "I see greatness in you" plot device. But as they went along, Roberts came up with the concepts of emurpata and shadowplay. The former was the practice of removing the head and/or hands of a Transformer, replacing them with faceless mono-eyes and claws as a sign that they are basically outcast from polite society. The second was basically state-sponsored reprogramming to ensure conformity, officially billed as "personality management." Roberts decided that, since Shockwave didn't have a ton of backstory besides "emotionless mad scientist" at that point that he could make the senator Shockwave, with the story being that he was something of a hot-tempered radical in the Senate. He rubbed some other senators the wrong way, so they had him captured and subject to both empurata and shadowplay, essentially creating the Shockwave we all know and love. Or at least something closer to it. See, IDW really went hard on the mad scientist thing. See, what started as a thing about Shockwave seeding planets with special ores that he hoped would create an alternative to Energon morphed into Shockwave seeding Cybertronian colony worlds with special ores that would give him superpowers at a later date. And when that later date came he decided, for some reason, to undo time. Not go back in time, mind you, like, remove the dimension of time from the universe entirely. It didn't go well, and he did wind up going back in time. So far back that he met the first primitive Cybertronians, gave himself the identity of Onyx Prime and established the rest of the original 13 Primes from among those primitives... essentially creating Cybertronian society and mythology in a causal loop. The 13 created tribes of Cybertronians underneath them, they fought, and eventually they all left Cybertron and created the colony worlds where Shockwave would seed his ores in the first place. In a the course of a run that ended the Autobot/Decepticon war, had Megatron switch sides to join the Autobots, and had Starscream become the democratically-elected leader of all Cybertronians Shockwave became more or less the ultimate villian of the entire IDW run.

My daughter qualified to be in the 2nd grade spelling bee, which happened to be today so I missed the livestream. I take it I didn't miss too much, though? Some Studio Series reveals I knew was coming (GE Cliffjumper and Megatron, 86 Brawn, ROTB Prime and Rhinox), and a tease of stuff I told you would be coming in wave 4 of Evolution like six months ago. I just want to know where the preorders at? That said, I was a bit surprised by the Amazon two packs. I mean, I knew Miner Megatron was coming, but Orion Pax, Ratbat, and Shockwave are total surprises. I preordered both sets. But speaking of preordering two packs... where's that Dion/Elita-1 pack that was being sold at Canadian Gamestops awhile back? I was hoping there'd be some mention of it going up on Pulse for a more reasonable price, because I'm a hair trigger away from paying TCP $100 for it. EDIT: BTW, I'm getting wind that those two Amazon two-packs are just the first Amazon-exclusive comic-universe figures planned. There's going to be another two-pack, figures unknown at this point (Skids and Nautica? Rodimus and Ultra Magnus? Cyclonus and Tailgate? Chromedome and Rewind? Vos and Kaon? Swerve and Whirl? Soundwave and Galvatron? Drift and Ratchet? There's so many good pairs to choose from, you guys.) We're also getting Voyager-class Nacelle (the real question here is whether it's the Earthrise Seeker mold or yet another use of Siege Seeker mold), and the one I'm most excited for, Leader-class Nova Prime.

Technically it's a potential problem for the Joycons, the Pro Controller, the Xbox One/Series controllers, and PS4/5 controllers*. They all work by using potentiometers- basically a metal ring that moves with the sticks rubs against pads of an electrically conductive material, and that rubbing can cause it to wear out over time. It's just that those pads are usually on the sides of the sticks, but due how thin the Joycons are they pads are under the sticks, making them extra prone to failure. This is still true for the current model of Switches, including the OLED. Personally my left Joycon is still good, but my right one went bad. I repaired it once myself, but it's starting to go bad again. Next time I'll probably replace the stick with one of Gulikit's Hall effect ones**. *Of all the controllers for all the consoles I've owned, the only other time stick drift was an issue for me was a PS5 controller. **Hall effect sensors use magnets to detect position by changes in the field. No rubbing, so they basically last forever. The sensors are more expensive, which is probably why penny-pinching execs decided not to use them (even though modern controllers are like $70 now). Fun fact, the Dreamcast used Hall effect sensors.

I'm not defending any of decisions that lead to the issues that got them in this mess in the first place, mind you, but they've gone on record as saying that stuff about the warranty is the usual boilerplate text they put on all their beta firmware and that they're still providing warranty coverage for any affected boards even if you do apply this firmware. I think the bigger issue is that the firmware is supposed to correct the issue by limiting the voltage on those pins to 1.3 volts, and testing has shown that the voltage can still get higher than 1.3 volts even after applying the firmware.

So Prime had to compete with an earlier release with a Voyager budget and turned out pretty great. Barricade had no competition and a Deluxe budget and wound up being one of the absolute worst Transformers figures in recent memory. And now here comes Studio Series Gamer Edition Bumblebee, a figure that does compete with an earlier version but is also straddled with Hasbro's penny-pinching Deluxe budget. Does he belong on a shelf next to Optimus, or in the trash with Barricade? We'll start with aesthetics, where I'd suggest that Hasbro has fixed some of the issues I had with the 2010 toy, but then introduced some new problems. The new figure doesn't have the overly long, thin limbs of the original, with forearm pads that much more closely resemble the CGI model. And if scale is important to you then you'll likely find the newer figure to be a better size, coming in taller than Earthrise Bumblebee but closer to a modern WFC/Legacy Deluxe than the 2010 toy. However, the newer figure puts a lot more mass in the front of the torso, giving him a beer gut that kind of hides his waist, and the older figure has legs that look a lot closer to the CGI. Despite the bulk, the new figure isn't left holding his arms slightly out to the sides like Randy in A Christmas Story. The older figure also has better paint apps on the forearms, although I'll note that neither got the feet right (they should be mostly yellow, like the SSGE figure, but but with the black toes of the Generations figure), and both left off some gold details on the hips. Both figures have pretty big backpacks, but maybe because more mass is shifted forward I do think that the SSGE figure's backpack tucks in a bit tighter. I also like how the bit of inner torso you see through the wheel wells has the game-accurate ribbed appearance. Not a fan of the hollow butt (more on that later), and again the lower legs are kind of a mess on the newer figure. They don't maintain that triangular shape from the game, they look more like a mass of kibble and hinges. Even with the actual wheels on the inside of the the ankles (where they're not actually visible on the CGI model) Hasbro felt the need to fill it out by sculpting fake wheels into the outside and back, but they couldn't be bothered to paint them. Well, forget that goofy little pistol the original toy had, SSGE Bumblebee definitely takes the cake here. He's got a sword that lacks the black-and-red glow but is sculpted pretty accurately. He's also got two guns. One is a chonkier gun I've seen in promo images and cutscenes. The other is the smaller pistol I remember actually having in the game. Bee's head is on a ball joint with adequate up/down/sideways tilt, no issues there. His shoulders are also ball joints that swivel but fall a little short 90 degrees laterally. His biceps swivel and his elbows bend 90 degrees. His wrists don't swivel, but his waist does. His hips are ball joints that don't quite get 90 degrees of range forward or laterally (although he's fine going backward), but I think he's close enough. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend slightly over 90 degrees. His feet, unfortunately, have no articulation. After making ankles standard since Siege, I guess Deluxe-class toys don't have enough budget for ankles anymore. Actually, that's not entirely true... due to transformation, his ankles do bend 90 degrees. They just bend outward. Continuing the gimmick for the line, Bumblebee's right (and only right) forearm can be removed, leaving a 5mm pegged stump. Either blast can be pegged onto that stump. However, since only the right arm comes off you have to pick one blaster or the other. Bumblebee can't dual-wield. Not guns, anyway... you're still free to plug the sword into his either fist, but you'll probably use his non-removable left fist for it. Bee at least manages to have storage for all his accessories. There are slots on his backpack, and all three of his accessories have tabs that fit into them. So, while one blaster is on his arm, the other can go on his back. As can his sword. Actually, you have have both guns on his back, and (intentional or not) the tab on the sword will fit into a cutout on either thigh. That said, for all his accessory storage he's got no place to put his forearm when he isn't using it. That is, I feel, a major issue. Bot mode accessory storage that isn't the fists is always nice, but worst-case scenario you lose a gun and give him a Battle Master or an extra weapon from another figure. Or maybe you buy some new 5mm accessories from a 3P, or these days if you have a 3D printer you can even print your own. But lets say you set that arm aside, and then lose it. Now you're just screwed. You need that arm for alt mode, buddy. Speaking of alt mode, while they have some necessarily similarities (chest becomes the front, backpack makes the roof and rear, etc) there's some pretty major differences. Instead of making the sides of the vehicle from the arms, this time they tuck underneath the front with just the forearm wheels peaking out. The legs, which fold in a much tidier manner this time, make up the sides of the car. Generally speaking, I think the engineering is improved over the original toy, but there's still some minor frustrations, like getting his shoulders enough clearance to fold in. Both figures look pretty good in alt mode, each with their ups and downs. SSGE Bee has the black on his grill, plus the smaller size. The stripes on the top are slightly more accurate as well. I think the extra molded geometry along the sides is, too, but I'm not totally certain on that point. The older figure's stripes aren't marred by a gray hinge, though, and correctly paints the rear "window" that the newer figure didn't. As for the "headlights" I'm a bit torn. The red lines in them aren't actually accurate in alt mode... but they are in bot mode. And generally I think you need to prioritize the bot mode mode, so... yay for red in the headlights, I guess. All of Bumblebee's accessories can be stored in alt mode. There's a slot on top that you can use to tab in any of his accessories. The four on his backpack are also available on the rear bumper (although for practical reasons only two can be used at a time). One more slot is revealed on the underside of the vehicle, allowing you to plug an accessory in between a space between his limbs. Note that only the smaller blaster or sword will fit there, though, if you actually want him to roll when you're done. Well, let's get this out of the way right now... Bumblebee is OK, bordering on good. He's not Barricade. He's got decent accessories, mostly adequate articulation, I'd go so far as to say that I do prefer this figure over the 2010 version. That said, I do feel like Hasbro's kind of hitting the bare minimums here. The transformation could be a bit smoother, and the QC is started to drop. I didn't mention it earlier, but if you go back and look at my pictures you'll probably notice some nasty sprue marks on the yellow plastic, and one spot on the rear where they got a little black paint on him. This, despite skipping the paint on the rear "window". The real killer for me is the lower legs. It's not just the lack of ankle articulation, mind you, but the fact that details on the inside of the leg are more accurate to the outside, while what you get on the outside of the leg is sort of a mess of hinges and junk. Hasbro could have made this figure significantly better, I think, if his legs were swapped then each rotated at the thigh for transformation instead of his whole lower body rotating at the waist. Unfortunately, that doesn't leave him with the clearance he needs for his backpack to cover his rear in alt mode, though. You can get close to seeing what I mean by not swapping his legs, then just spinning his waist 180 then spinning his thighs 180. Details like the wheels in his ankles are on the outside, where they belong, and his the transformation joints in his ankles become ankle pivots. Unfortunately, the hollow gaps in his butt then become his crotch. Oh well, maybe a 3P will make a gap filler that'll work. In any case, I'll give Bumblebee a tentative recommend. He's still pretty decent and I dig the accessories. But I don't know that he's an essential upgrade over the 2010 figure the way Prime was.

I pre-ordered from Amazon, who decided I'm at the end of their route (which is weird, because USPS, FedEx, and UPS are usually here by lunch). Then we had a function at my kid's school (but hey, she won a prize, so 👍). Needless to say I was up until 2:00am after the girls went to bed, and I still basically just started. Compared to a lot of games I've looked forward to Tears feels like an event. BotW was the only game I bought with my Switch at launch, and for six years has still been my pick for the best game on the system. A true sequel is a nice bookend for the Switch, because it's definitely time for some new hardware.

So, the ROG Ally... when I first heard about it I was thinking that it's nice that a bigger company like ASUS was entering a market that has belonged to companies like Aya Neo and GPD, but with their performance claims I fully expected it'd be over $1000 and I'd be perfectly content with my Steam Deck. Because, when Steam Deck is good it's great! I was concerned when only around a quarter of my Steam library had that coveted green "Verified" checkmark, but it turns out that most of my games have the yellow "i", which basically means, "also plays just fine." What's more, even a few with the "unsupported" badge actually will load and run. But more than supporting more games than I thought, what Valve really nailed was the OS. Yes, Steam OS is Linux, and yes, you can put it in desktop mode and use the Steam Deck like a little Linux PC. But in its normal operation Steam OS on the Steam Deck does an amazing job of behaving like a console OS. But yeah, the Ally. ASUS announced that it's coming in at $700, or $50 more than the Steam Deck with the same level of storage. Shots fired, that's pretty aggressive. The thing here is that Windows is going to be a double-edged sword for them. ASUS could improve their Armory Crate software to hide Windows behind a console-like front end, but from my experience with their Armory Crate software that runs the RGB on my desktop I wouldn't hold my breath... ASUS is a hardware company, not a software one. And from everything I've seen and read Windows is still gonna Windows, and until Microsoft does something about it at the base OS level you're just never going to have the same sort of fluid experience on a Windows handheld that you will on the Steam Deck. But at the same time, for all the accolades Valve deserves for bringing PC gaming to Linux, PC gaming is still ultimately the domain of Windows, and so the Ally's biggest weakness is also it's biggest strength. I mean, yes, Steam is my first choice for PC games, and as of this writing I've got around 500 games in my Steam library. But, when Ubisoft started requiring Uplay even for stuff you bought on Steam I started omitting that Steam middleman, that's 55 games that aren't in my Steam library. EA didn't just require Origin, they tried to cut out Steam on their end... that's another 57 games. Amazon buys Twitch, and as a Prime member I can start claiming free games. That adds up over time... to about 250-ish games in my Amazon Games library. The overload of launchers was starting to get to me so I actually held off on Epic Games for a long time, but eventually they had a freebie I couldn't resist, and now I'm up to around 50 there. And that's without mentioning GOG, or Microsoft's PC Game Pass. These are options that, at best, are a huge hassle to get working on the Steam Deck, and at worst simply don't work on the Steam Deck. Speaking of not working, there's that little fact that even though I can easily get an unverified game like the Mega Man X Collection running on the Steam Deck, there's still some that just won't work. Or games that, even running on 720p low, are still more than the Steam Deck can handle (yes, I want to play Jedi Survivor while waiting at my daughter's dance class, and yes, I know it's having trouble running on even well-equipped desktops, but last I checked there's been four patches and some improvement on desktops but is still falling under 20fps on Steam Deck). I dunno. I'd say I'm generally happy with my Steam Deck. I wasn't playing it thinking, "if only it had a little more power so it could run such-and-such" or "Valve needs to get cracking on a Steam Deck 2" or anything like that. And yet, ASUS basically rolled up, opened its coat, and said, "hey kid, more power and it'll run your non-Steam stuff, only $700." And I'm thinking, yeah, I might give them my money...

Hmm. If this were around $20 I'd say yeah, but I personally think the previous Drizzt figure looked better, and it came with a lot more accessories (including Guen!). It's still available, and for only around $12 more.

I've said before, but one of the few contributions brought by the Bayverse films I actually really liked was Barricade. So when Barricade was announced as one of the first Studio Series Gamer Edition figures I wasn't complaining. But maybe I should have been... let's take a look at this Deluxe-class figure. Barricade's inclusion in the War for Cybertron game almost seems like an afterthought, like someone at Hasbro wanted some names that would be recognizable to people who'd seem the then-recent Transformers film. So High Moon stuck him in the very first level of the Decepticon campaign... and that's it. The role of car-guy in the rest of the Decepticon campaign would go to Breakdown, and given the game's heavy G1 influences a Stunticon makes a lot more sense. I can't prove that Barricade's inclusion was just to appease Hasbro, but I think my theory holds water when you really look at High Moon's design for him. He's generic, mostly gray, and rather similar to the model used for Breakdown. There's not a lot about his design that recalls his Bayverse counterpart, and certainly none of the G1 blue-and-pink Micromaster. Still... it's a step up from painting Prowl black and purple and calling it a day. That said... I'm not sure Hasbro did such a great job capturing what we see in the game. The overall sculpt is decent, but crowded with kibble the game's model didn't have. The gray arms, shins, and pelvis are ok, as are the black thighs. His helmet and torso shouldn't be black, though, they should also be gray. If anything should be black, it's his gray feet. I wonder if Hasbro was working off of earlier High Moon art that depicted Barricade with more black than he actually had on him in the game? From the sides and back you can get a better sense of the kibble problem. Some of the backpack, with the boosters jutting out, is actually game-accurate, but it's lost in a huge chunk of his alt mode mode that isn't accurate. Likewise, his hips do have wheels in them in the game, but they're really in his hips, not on massive chunks of kibble that run along his thighs. Speaking of the wheels, again I wonder if Hasbro was looking at concept art instead of game files. In the game they had some gray but were mostly a glowing purple- Hasbro might have been better off using translucent purple plastic like they did for Siege Barricade. But High Moon's concept art does depict them as mostly black, with a Cyberverse-esque ring of purple light. Barricade's sole accessory is this gun. It does appear to be game accurate, but it's a bit of a bummer that he doesn't get any melee weapons the way Bee and Prime did. There's no way to sugarcoat this next bit... Barricade's articulation is atrocious. His head is on a ball joint, with an overly-tight swivel, limited up/down tilt, and no sideways tilt. That's not exactly true... he can tilt his head, but only when he swivels it. Actually, he can't not tilt his head when he swivels it. His shoulders are ball joints, and they swivel fine but only move laterally about 45 degrees. His biceps swivel, but with minimal clearance between the armor on his forearms and the armor on his shoulders, and his elbows only bend about 60 degrees. His wrists are ball joints, and they do swivel, as does his waist. Ball-jointed hips go 90 degrees backward, but only about 60 degrees forward and a bit under 45 degrees laterally. His thighs swivel, and his knees only bend 45 degrees. His feet tilt up, due to transformation... and you'll probably have to tilt them up a little bit, giving Barricade a kind of Michael Jackson Moonwalker lean, because he's a tad back heavy but has no heel spurs. So it's a shame to report that his foot tilts are probably the weakest joints on him, at least on my copy. Then the icing on the cake, no ankle pivots. I know, occasionally a movie figure will sneak into the Studio Series line without ankle pivots, but for the most part I thought those days were behind us. I guess Hasbro figured we were going to be made about the poor articulation anyway, so they might as well save a buck. Barricade, like Prime, has the gimmick where is right arm (and only his right arm) can be removed just elbow the elbow to reveal a 5mm post. That post plugs into his gun. And for the record, I checked, you can plug Barricade's gun onto Prime, but Barricade's shoulder has too much armor and Prime's gun has too much stuff on it for it to fit onto Barricade. When he's not using his gun, you can store it on Barricade's back by using a tab on one side into a slot on his backpack. Which I appreciate, since Prime lacked bot-mode weapon storage. Prime did have storage for his robot arm, though, and Barricade's got that too. You simple use a similar tab on the arm and the same slot on his backpack. And... yeah. I know that their forearms turned into guns in the game. And I get that it's a gimmick that the Studio Series Gamer Edition is set on capturing. But honestly, I think I'd prefer the hollow underside with a 5mm peg that fits over the forearm and into the fist. As it stands, what we're getting are weapons guaranteed to only work with this toys and run you the risk of losing the figure's actual arm in the process. I'm sure, with all that kibble, you're probably not surprised to know that Barricade is largely a shellformer. His feet fold up to his shins and do make the grill, and his lower legs make up most of the front of the vehicle. The rest of the front, with the wheels and headlights, is the kibble on the sides of his thighs swung into place on armatures. His forearms rotate 180 degrees, then his shoulders shrug downward to make the sides of the vehicle. But the top of the vehicle, its cockpit, is made from kibble that dangled off his calves, and the entire rear third of the vehicle is his backpack. Credit where it's due, though, Barricade winds up with a surprisingly large alt mode, given that he was roughly the same height to the top of the head as Siege Barricade but now he's something like 30% larger than the Siege toy. Unlike the robot mode, Barricade's alt mode is extremely accurate to the game. The sculpt is just about perfect. Event the rear of the vehicle is what you see when you're playing the game. And this time the balance of black and gray is mostly correct; I think they could have made the bumper black, but that's about it. My only real complaint is the lack of purple. Sure, they got some on the roof and the headlights, as well as a bit of purple lines in the cockpit. But he needs more along the side, in the wheels, and on the back. Barricade's weapon can mount onto the top of his vehicle mode. There's a squarish protrusion from the top of the gun. This protrusion plugs into a cutout in the purple glow area on top of the car. With Prime, Hasbro seemed to know they'd have to work to convince us to upgrade from the old Deluxe, especially given modern Voyager prices and the slightly shorter height of the new figure. But Hasbro mostly succeeded in my book by giving me a toy with better accessories, better articulation, better bot mode proportions, and a better transformation. Barricade is the polar opposite. It's as if Hasbro figured that with no prior War for Cybertron Barricade to compete with that we'd be happy to get any figure, then phoned this one in with lazy engineering that resulted in a kibble-covered robot that doesn't pose well due to totally inadequate articulation, the bare minimum in accessories, and colors that aren't even accurate to the game. The only redeeming quality this figure has is the alt mode, but that's simply not enough to excuse what is otherwise a massive step backward in Transformers designs. I don't recommend buying this. But, between this travesty of a figure and the fact that he completely botched the colors on Velocitron Scourge, I do recommend that Hasbro moves Sam Smith off Transformers and onto something like My Little Pony or NERF.

I sure have been talking about Optimus Primes a lot lately. Rise of the Beasts Voyager, ROTB Weaponizer, Studio Series Gamer Edition... and I know you guys know I have Armada Optimus preordered. I actually got pretty excited because I got an email from Pulse that I had a $90-some order shipping soon, and I got excited that Armada Op might be shipping early before I realized it was an order with a bunch of smaller stuff, including stuff I'd actually canceled already. Oh well, at least I'm not actually spending $90 right now. While we wait for Armada Optimus and any of the other figures I've got preordered, I do have yet another Optimus Prime we can look at... Deluxe-class Earthspark Optimus Prime. I like Optimus' Earthspark design, which strikes me (in bot mode) as more traditional than the evergreen Cyberverse version. I think this new Deluxe toy does a pretty good job capturing the cartoon. He could use a little silver or gray paint on his knees, and a little more red around the grill on his tummy. His pelvis isn't totally accurate, either, mostly because it's a recycled part from the Cyberverse toy, but they at least colored it correctly. Like I said, looks pretty good... from the front. Things are a little messier from the back and sides. For one, I'm not sure how Earthspark Prime is meant to transform in the cartoon, with the grill of the Prime-style truck suddenly flush with the windshield, but on a Deluxe-class toy Hasbro's solution is to give him a fake grill tummy in robot mode and then have the entire nose of the truck handing off his back. There's a bit of extra kibble on his forearms- I swear, one more hinge that could have folded it onto the back of his arm would have been divine, and the forearms are also missing the headlights seen in the cartoon. Lastly, there's the very hollow calves, very similar to the Cyberverse toy yet with new 5mm ports in them for some unfathomable reason. A pelvis isn't the only part that Earthspark Prime shares with the Cyberverse toy. Part of the back of his torso is also from the Cyberverse toy, and as you can see here they came with the same rifle. The only difference is that Earthspark Prime has a splash of blue on his. The rifle is fine, I guess, but a bit stumpy compared to the more G1-accurate rifle he has in the cartoon. You also get his axe, which is probably his more signature weapon in this incarnation. Props on Hasbro for painting the blades blue, since they do glow blue in the cartoon and the Warrior-class toy went yellow. But, less props for molding the axe in blue plastic, because the axe itself should be red. Finally, we get one of Mandroid's legs. I don't know why they're saving the torso for last, it's just that much more likely that I'll lose pieces before putting them together. Anyways... Prime's head is on a ball joint. It swivels, tilts sideways a bit, can't really tilt down, but it has a fantastic upward range. His shoulders are also ball joints that swivel, move laterally almost 90 degrees, and even provide a slight butterfly by moving over the ball joint. His biceps swivel and his elbows bend 90 degrees. For transformation his wrists are on ball joints so they can bend inward, but this also allows them to swivel. Alas, there's no waist swivel. His hips are ball joints that can go only about 45 degrees forward unless you also swing them outward to clear his pelvis, and a bit under 90 degrees backward. As far as swinging them outward goes, his hips move laterally 45-ish degrees. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend over 90 degrees. His feet can tilt down, but as this is part of his transformation that tucks his feet behind his calves you can't really tilt too far before messing up the sculpt. No upward tilt, but his ankles pivot about 45 degrees. Prime can hold either of his weapons in either of his hands, and the rifle is compatible with both Cyberverse and War for Cybertron blast effects. Prime can store his accessories in robot mode using a clip on his back, just below the backpack. A ridge on his rifle will fit into that clip, then the identical ridge on the other side of the rifle fits as matching clip on the axe. I suppose, if you wanted to, you could also stuff the rifle into the ports in his calves using the handle... but if you do, the barrel is long enough to interfere with knee articulation, so why would you? What's interesting is that Earthspark Prime doesn't share a ton of parts with the Cyberverse toy, and Earthspark transforms into a conventional truck like Prime Prime while Cyberverse Prime is the more traditional cab-over-engine tuck... but the engineering is almost identical. The main difference is that Cyberverse Prime rotates at the waist, with panels for the headlights flipping down from under his chest and the bumper unfolding from his arms, while Earthspark Prime rotates at the chest and has the nose of the truck on some hinges to fold down from his back to make up the entire front of the truck. It works, for the most part (and honestly about as well as you'd expect on a Deluxe-class toy). The front of the truck could maybe have had some marker lights painted, but is otherwise accurate. They painted the pipes in the nose, which is a nice touch, but neglected to paint the rims. Likewise, they painted the box-shape (fuel tank? tool box?) gray, but left the steps unpainted when they should also be gray/silver. There's also the small fact that that the sides get a little messy where you can see visible biceps and thighs, and the back of the cab is filled in with his rifle (which is actually necessary for transformation as it helps hold his legs in place). His legs are still pretty obviously legs, with no hitch for the trailer seen in the cartoon, and his folded-in feet just leave a gap instead of taillights. But, again, kind of par for the Deluxe course, especially in the Earthspark line where they seem to cut a few more corners. The rifle, as noted, is attached to the back of the cab as part of his transformation, but they didn't forget about his axe. It uses a clip to attach to the back of his legs under the truck, just behind the rifle's barrel, with the handle running between his feet. I gotta say, I was a little nervous going into this one, because while I did really like Bumblebee I was a lot cooler on Twitch and frankly I think Megatron was trash. Fortunately, maybe because they borrowed so liberally from the also-good Cyberverse toy, Earthspark Prime came out pretty good. He's not without his flaws, some of which could probably have been addressed if they'd made him a Voyager, but honestly I quite like him for what he is, and I'd suggest he's probably worth picking up. BONUS ROUND! Earthspark Prime shipped with Earthspark Shockwave. Where Earthspark Prime borrowed subtly from Cyberverse, Earthspark Shockwave is the Cyberverse toy. There are no changes to the mold, only the colors. Aside from the vibrant yellow replacing the purple glow, I prefer the colors on the Earthspark version. The blue purple and darker accents seem more geewunny. You'll note that Earthspark Shockwave comes with the same rifle and hosed arm gun that the Cyberverse toy did, but Earthspark eschews the blast effect that Cyberverse Shockwave had. He also ditches whatever part of Maccadam Cyberverse Shockwave came with in favor of another part for Mandroid. In this case, it's a left arm. We already have a human-style left arm, so again I kind of wish we got the torso. But there's a good reason, I think, for giving us another arm instead. See, as far as I know, Shockwave is the only one of the initial eight Deluxes that comes with a Mandroid part that's a total repaint. Other figures in the line (at least up through Grimlock, not sure about Nightshade yet) are either totally new figures or more extensive retools. That kind of makes Shockwave the least interesting figure, the one you're mostly likely to want to skip if you're collecting the Earthspark Deluxes. And, you can! You'll get enough parts with the other seven to make a Mandroid with a human left arm. You only need Shockwave if you (A) like the new colors, and (B) want Mandroid to have a robot left arm. Which is exactly where my recommendation lies... skip Shockwave if you already have the Cyberverse figure unless you prefer the new colors or really want that other Mandroid arm.

I can't speak for retail en mass, but I managed a GameStop during the PS2 era. If you wanted a really popular game on day one like, say, Smash Bros Melee, we definitely sold out... but would probably restock after a few days. The flip side was actually the very small releases like obscure Japanese RPGs. GameStop used preorders to decide how many copies to buy and allocate to each store. We might only get two or three copies ever, and if you didn't preorder you were SOL.

If I had to sum up my last two reviews, it'd probably be, "fine for kids, adult collectors should buy the Voyagers instead." So why, then, did I spend good money on the Weaponizers? Honestly? I did it for the little animal guys that they came with. After all, they've got standard 5mm pegs, so any old figure can use them. Why, I'd go so far as to suggest that they actually look better and not so oversized when paired with Voyager Prime and Primal instead of the Weaponizer Prime and Primal that they came with. Sure, as animals they have next to no articulation, but as far as I'm concerned Chainclaw and Arrowstripe are the real stars of the show. It's just a shame that I had to spend $16-$17-ish on each of them and get a figure I'll probably give to my seven year old after we go see the movie (sorry, Peanut, daddy's keeping the animals). Wouldn't it be great if you could buy these little animal weapons on their own, for a lot less...? Turns out you can... kind of. You can't actually buy Chainclaw and Arrowstripe solo, but for around $6-$7 each you can buy Battle Master Cheetor, Rhinox, and Skullcruncher. Wait, Cheetor and Rhinox? Now I'm kind of wondering why they didn't just call Arrowstripe Tigatron. Heck, even Chainclaw and Skullcruncher are existing G1 Transformers (although Chainclaw was a bear, so maybe they wolf should have been Carnivac?), so it seems odd to just make up a new name for the white tiger. But I digress. Like the other two, there's minal articulation here. Cheetor's legs swivel at the hips. Rhinox has ball joints where the brownish part meets the gray on his legs, but they're cut to allow swiveling and folding inward, not bending like knees. Skullcruncher wins the articulation lottery. All of his hips are ball joints, plus he can actually open his mouth. Cheetor turns into a blade of some kind. Not really a sword, since it points forward instead of up. On a figure with a 5mm port on the forearm I'd suggest mounting him like as an arm blade. Studio Series Cheetor doesn't have such a port, but my desire to have Cheetor wielding Cheetor won out. Rhinox is probably my second-favorite of the five. He splits down the middle and then each half folds back over on itself to make a gatling gun, but ultimately it's a little rhino with a gatling gun hidden in his butt, which gives me the giggles. Hey, if I were more mature would I be buying new versions of the toys I had as a kid? And then writing about it on the internet? And sure, I could have given Rhinox to Kingdom Rhinox, and little Rhinox is probably a better weapon than the ones Kingdom Rhinox came with, but I was too lazy to dig him out of the Beast Wars box and I already had Cheetor handy. If Rhinox is the second-best, Skullcruncher is the top dog... er, gator. He turns into a blaster, and if it weren't for the legs dangling off him I'd argue his alt mode looks the least like a deadly weapon poking out of an animal doing yoga and the most like a proper weapon on its own. So there you have it. Are these guys good enough that you should buy the Weaponizer two packs just for the animals? Probably not, but I did, so what do I know? But the individual Battle Masters? I'm always game for extra weapons... they come in handy when Hasbro does stuff like making Sunstreaker's engine is sole accessory, and in this economy they probably cost less than a coffee at Starbucks. I say go for it.

Preordering made sense when we were talking about a finite number of physical carts or discs, but when you can grab a digital copy whenever you please I always wait for a few reviews, maybe a patch or two, and probably a sale. Heck, I waited almost a year to buy Cyberpunk, bought it for $30, and was totally satisfied that I'd bought a totally playable game worth the money I'd spent.

I got it for Steam, which seems like the worst choice right now, but I can't complain since I got the key for free from a friend at EA. I installed it, but I haven't started it. I'll wait until after Tears of the Kingdom, maybe it'll be patched up by then.

And, just like we had Prime and Primal in the Voyagers, I'm following up Rise of the Beasts Weaponizer Optimus Prime with ROTB Weaponizer Optimus Primal. Like Prime, Primal is a Deluxe-sized toy with super simple engineering and paint. Like Prime he's sporting some paint, but this time it feels less minimal. That's partly because my unscientific eye test suggests that there's more... the darker grays on his shoulders, torso, and the sides of his calves, the silver on the outside of his forearms, and his blue eyes vs just the blue eyes and windows and silver sun visor, smokestacks, and pelvis on Prime... but perhaps also because Primal's "shades of gray" movie design is easier to emulate, even if it's not exactly the same as the Voyager. Speaking of not exactly the same, I'll note that much like Cheetor's mainline Deluxe is more similar to his OG Beast Wars design than the ROTB CGI or Studio Series toy, Weaponizer Primal has elements like the orb in his chest and a cutout in his mask for a visible mouth that are a bit more OG Optimus Primal than the final CGI/Voyager figure. I wonder if, at some point in development, the character models were closer to the original Beast Wars designs before some clown executive at Paramount was like, "they look too cartoony, make them look more like generic robots!" Anyway... as with Prime the gimmick here is that Primal trades his scimitars for a beast partner that turns into his weapon. This time we get a white tiger named Arrowstripe, who turns into a crossbow. For all his simplicity I thought Prime was decently articulated. Primal a bit less so. See, he's got no head articulation. Ball-jointed shoulders rotate and move laterally a bit under 90 degrees. Ball joints in his elbows allow for 90 degrees of bend and double as his bicep swivel. No wrist or waist swivel. Ball joints at the hips go forward and backward 90 degrees, but only about 45 degrees laterally. Also, the tiny amount of swiveling on the ball joint is the only thigh swivel you're going to get. His knees bend a meager 45-ish degrees. He's got no tilt or pivot in his ankles, but for transformation they do swivel. Arrowstripe fits neatly into either of Primal's fists. And, like Prime, he's got a few extra 5mm ports. There's one on the outside of each forearm, one on the outside of each calf, and on in the middle of his back. Where Prime had a transformation so simple I didn't bother with the instructions, Primal's is actually so simple I had to look at the instructions to confirm that that was really all there was. Basically, you fold the shoulder pads down, spin his feet around, use the double hinges in his knees to shift his lower legs forward and up a bit, then unfold the entire front of his torso (head included), spin it 180 degrees to swap the robot and gorilla sides, then fold it back up. That's it. And with so little changed from the back and sides I didn't even bother to do the front/side/back shots. You can pretty much tell what you've got by looking at the robot mode, and then looking at the newly-revealed gorilla torso and face. And... they look fine, I guess. Again, a bit more of a mechanical-greebly Beast Wars Primal, especially on the face, than the final CGI model, but also ultimately a "shades of gray" robot gorilla, and therefore passably Primal for the assumed demographic of younger kids who aren't getting the Voyager. I'll note that while the Voyager can't really do the bipedal posture Beast Wars Primal often used in the cartoon, Weaponizer Primal can't really pull off the quadrupedal stance of the Voyager toy. As you'd probably expect from the minimal changes between robot and ape, while in gorilla mode Primal can still hold Arrowstripe in his fists, and he still has access to the 5mm ports on his forearms, legs, and back. Well, I think Primal's aesthetics work better than Prime's, but Prime has a bit better articulation and a bit more effort to transform. Neither figure is particularly appealing to an adult collector, but their sub-Deluxe prices and relative simplicity should actually make them fairly appealing to their younger kids that I assume are the target audience for these figures.

It's like the Ark... I'm in it for the alt mode. Anyway, kind of a stupid review for you today, but I was bored and at Walmart and I picked up Rise of the Beasts Weaponizer Optimus Prime. The figures in this line are outside the usual Core/Deluxe/Voyager/Leader standard classes. What we have here is an Optimus Prime that's roughly the same size as a Deluxe, but with the simplicity of a Core-class (and maybe less paint). I'm not even sure where to begin with this thing, at least as far as aesthetics. It's recognizably ROTB Optimus. And given that it's a simpler, cheaper figure I don't even mind stuff like the hollow calves, the grill on his back, and the kibble wrapped around his fists. What I'm not loving, though, is the lack of paint. His entire arms and abdomen are red, and there's no painted details on his shins. I feel like just touching this guy up with a silver Sharpie paint marker would go a long way toward making him a decent cheaper Optimus. But do I need a decent cheaper Optimus? I already have a Voyager-class one, which is the one that would appeal to more adult collectors like myself. The obvious answer is that this isn't a Studio Series release or even a $30 dollar Voyager, it's priced around $16 and one might reasonably assume it's for younger kids, not adult collectors. But my personal answer would be the accessory. Weaponizer Optimus is not a "weaponizer" in the Siege sense. He doesn't come apart, and you can't turn his leg into a rifle for another figure to use. In this case, it means that he doesn't come with the usual rifle. Instead, he comes with this guy, the aptly-named Chainclaw. Chainclaw is basically a Battle Master (shown here with the Siege Battle Master Pteraxadon for scale). In one mode, he's a neat blue wolf with minimal articulation (his legs can swivel at the hips/shoulders, and that's it). But, he turns into a chainsaw weapon for Prime to use. On that note, Prime's head is on a swivel. His shoulders are hinged swivels that get 90 degrees of lateral motion, plus there are backward butterfly joints for transformation). His elbows are ball joints that bend 90 degrees and double as bicep swivels. He doesn't have an actual waist swivel, but due to his transformation he's got a mid-torso swivel. Hips are ball joints that go 90 degrees forward, almost nothing backward, and about 45 degrees laterally. Knees are also ball joints that bend 90 degrees and act as thigh swivels. No wrist or foot articulation. Prime can hold Chainclaw in either fist. And in a feature the larger Voyager toy lacked, this Prime has a few extra 5mm ports. You can mount Chainclaw to either forearm, the side of Prime's legs (on the higher wheel), or one of the two 5mm ports on his back. Transforming Prime is super simple, to the point that I didn't even look at the instructions. Tuck the head in, spin the upper torso 180, tuck the arms into the sides, fold in his heel spurs, tab his legs together, then bend his hips 90 degrees so that his elbows tab into his knees. Again, the truck is recognizably Optimus, with the usual simplifications you might see on a cheaper figure like a shorter cab with a visible gap (and head) in the back, a rear that's still obviously robot legs without even trying to hide the feet, and a lack of paint that does the molded headlights no favors. In truck mode, the 5mm ports on his arms are now on the sides of the cab, and are still available for weapon storage along with the ones on his wheels. Usually, this is the part where I recommend a toy or not, but I'm not really sure how to approach it on this one. I mean, the Voyager-class toy is clearly a superior toy and the one that most adult collectors should focus on. It's clear that Hasbro meant for this to be a cheaper alternative for the kiddos that see the movie and want an Optimus toy but whose parents don't feel like shelling out $35 or whatever on a Voyager-class toy they're likely going to break. Plus you get a cool wolf that turns into a chainsaw. So no, it's not a brilliant toy, but I get why it exists and believe there's a market for it.

Looks like Hasbro wants me to buy at least one more version of Siege Megatron. This one appears to be based on Alex Milne's miner Megatron.

Well, guess what showed up from Amazon today? It's Studio Series Gamer Edition Voyager-class Optimus Prime. Just when the confusion between the War for Cybertron video game from High Moon Studios and the War for Cybertron trilogy of G1-ish Transformers toys (and an accompanying Netflix series) was dying down, Hasbro decided to expand the Studio Series line into video games with a new Gamer Edition sub-brand. And one of the first figures they decided to make was Optimus Prime. Now, this exact version of Prime had already had a Deluxe-class figure released way back in 2010, and to be honest when I first saw the new one my initial impression was that it looked a bit cheap. In hand, though, side-by-side with the older figure, I don't think the new one looks bad at all. Indeed, the beefier proportions and cleaner shoulders are actually quite an improvement. The new figure isn't perfect... much of the alt mode's front end is hanging off his back, for instance, instead of the moving Autobot insignia you spend most of the game looking at. But, again, that's kind of true for the original, and in some ways things like the wheels on his back are improved. Plus, the new figure is a Voyager and a good head taller. That's better! I mean, he should scale better with other more modern Transformers, right? Well... that depends on how big you think Prime is supposed to be. The same size as G1 Optimus? SSGE Prime is a full head shorter than Siege/Earthrise/Legacy Optimus, roughly the same height as Rise of the Beasts Optimus. Personally, I think that's a little on the short side, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt... maybe Prime gets a little bigger between games. Maybe a SSGE Fall of Cybertron Optimus Prime (which I definitely do want) will be a little bigger. Prime's got a few accessories, and they're more game accurate than the folding gun that came with the 2010 figure. You've got a blaster, an axe that comes in three parts and the Matrix of Leadership. Prime's head is on a ball joint that swivels and looks up pretty good, looks down a little, and has a very limited sideways tilt. His shoulders rotate and extend laterally a little over 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend a bit over 90 degrees. His wrists and waist both swivel, which is an improvement over the original figure. His hips go 120 degrees forward, 90 degrees laterally, but only a tiny bit backward. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees. His feet tilt down slightly, nothing up, and his ankles pivot 45 degrees. All-in-all nothing spectacular, but still improved over the 2010 figure. The blade of Prime's axe can fold to be big on one end, small on the other or symmetrical on both ends. And the handle breaking apart into segments allows you to give him a long handle he can hold with both hands and an asymmetric axe head, like the game's cutscenes. Or you can give him a shorter-handled, symmetric-headed axe that you see him actually swinging in-game. As for the blaster, to again re-create that in-game appearance, Prime's right forearm can be removed to reveal a 5mm peg. that peg fits into a on the blaster. Don't worry about losing his arm, though. There's a small peg on it that allows you to plug it into a port on his butt. However, there's no storage for his axe or his blaster in robot mode. Despite the presence of a 5mm peg on the axe handle, there's no place to plug it into. There's a place for the Matrix, though... it's in his chest! It's nice to see that they painted the inside a gunmetal color. Do you remember how to transform the 2010 Deluxe figure? Well, forget it, because the new figure has a totally different and, in my opinion, easier transformation. There's just less fidgety panels and fewer parts that feel like they're getting in your way. I don't actually have a ton to say about Prime's alt mode. Aside from a few spots like in the bumper and on the exhaust pipes that could use a bit of that glow paint he's pretty accurate to the in-game model, but so was the first one. I like that he top of the back end looks more purposeful than just his folded-up thighs, but near as I can tell the gray of the folded-up thighs is more correct than the blue on this one. I'm also not a fan of the exposed hands on rear. Seems like it wouldn't have been too hard for Hasbro to have engineered some hinged flaps that could sit against his calves in robot mode and covered the fists with the in-game taillights, but what do I know? My copy also has a spot where the guy painting the red on the sides near the pipes went out of the lines a bit, but that might just be my copy. For the most part, though, it's accurate enough that it's fine, and that's all it really needs to be. Unlike his robot mode, Prime can store all his accessories in alt mode. Basically, with the axe in the symmetrical position, there's a notch on it that fits onto a tab on top of the gun. The gun itself has two tabs on the under side that fit into slots on the back of the truck. And that's really how it's intended, but I'll note again that there's a peg on the axe handle that hasn't been used yet. And where the robot mode lacked 5mm ports, the alt mode is actually sporting one on each side in front of the exhaust pipes, and two on the back near the slots the gun tabs into. So, y'know, options. Studio Series Gamer Edition Optimus Prime is by no means a revolutionary, must-have figure the way Earthrise Optimus was. But it is better than the 2010 figure in all the right ways- bigger, better proportions, better accessories, better articulation, and better transformation. If you're looking for a toy that represents this particular Optimus Prime, this is the one to get, and I don't regret upgrading from the 2010 toy. I just wish he were a little bigger, had some better accessory storage in robot mode, and covered up his fists in alt mode. I preordered the other Game Edition figures, which are also from War for Cybertron. Will Hasbro continue the Gamer Edition sub-brand? What other games could they cover? I don't know that I'm exactly champing at the bit for every design that appeared in the High Moon games- in fact, I don't know that I really care all that much about Bumblebee or Barricade. But I do rather like this figure, I hope WFC Megatron gets the same treatment, and then I hope we eventually see the Fall of Cybertron versions of Prime and Megs in Studio Series packaging before too long.

I haven't been to Hong Kong in awhile, but it looks like I have a reason to go back now, eh?

Y'know, I saw that at Target the other day and almost bought one, even though it looks really crappy. But if it was Megatron or Shockwave, yeah, I'd have definitely pulled the trigger. Pun intended. BTW, looks like preorders for the Titan Nemesis should go up May 2nd.

And following on the heels of last night's Voyager-class Optimus, today we've got the other Voyager from the first-wave Rise of the Beasts toys... who is also Optimus. OK, so this one's Primal, not Prime, but it's still kind of amusing to me that they're front-loading their Voyagers with bots named Optimus. Anyway... Primal here has definitely got that movie aesthetic that we saw on Studio Series Cheetor (but not so much the mainline Deluxe Cheetor). There are elements of the original Beast Wars character with the shoulder pads and Popeye forearms, and arguably even in the Optimus Prime-esque head, but the bright red, white, and blue robot bits on black gorilla fur have been replaced with a most monochromatic mixing of grays. Some of the "metal" parts could maybe have been a bit more coppery, but as near as I can tell it's accurate to the film. The proportions are a bit chunky compared to the CGI model, but there are the realities of turning a robot into a gorilla to contend with. Hence the butt flap, which kind of looks like his gorilla face turned upside down and only from the nose up. He comes with a pair of scimitars. They're fine, I guess. They could have used a little red paint on the handles, but they're otherwise accurate as well as character-appropriate. Primal's head is on a ball joint. He can look down a little and tilt his head sideways, but he can't really look up, and even the swivel is limited by his collar. His shoulders swivel and extend laterally 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, elbows bend 90 degrees, and his wrists swivel. His waist swivels, as long as you lift his butt flap so it can clear his hips... hips that go 90 degrees forward and laterally on big ball joints, but almost nothing backward. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend roughly 120-130 degrees on a double joint. His feet have no upward or downward tilt, and only the barest of ankle pivots. Primal can hold a scimitar in each hand. Alternatively, you can plug one into the top and one into the bottom of the same fist to give him the appearance of carrying a single double-bladed weapon. And when not carrying them, Primal can store his weapons on his back using tabs on the handles that fit into slots on his back. I'll note, though, that Kingdom Optimus Primal has shoulder cannons built into his backpack, and blasters that pop out of his wrists. ROTB Primal does not... he's just got his scimitars. Going from one primate mode to another never made much sense to me, and it never seemed to make for particularly involved transformations, what with his gorilla arms just being his robot arms with the shoulder pads down. In broad strokes, you're already familiar with this transformation- open the chest, rotate the bot head in and the gorilla head out, swap the robot chest for the gorilla chest, spin him at the waist. The main differences are small changes to the execution. Like, his robot feet don't simply fold up, his shins open up so they can tuck inside. And instead of flipping his robot chest around, the robot chest opens, to reveal the gorilla chest behind it. The gorilla chest splits open, which allows you to swap the heads, but also to allow the robot chest to slide in so the gorilla chest can close up over it. It's still very, very simple though. I dig the gorilla mode. I've long said that I prefer a more robotic animal mode to the purely organic alts of the original Beast Wars cast. But, weirdly, I also think that this figure has a more accurate gorilla mode. The robot thighs tuck into the gorilla hips giving him a curved tummy and an arched back of a mountain gorilla. Unfortunately, what the gorilla mode doesn't have a lot of is articulation. His gorilla head can look up, which is really forward with this quadrupedal stance. And it swivels, but again in this position is more like a tilt, which is especially true because his head lacks to clearance to swivel if you tilt his head down for a more bipedal stance. There's a second swivel that should let him look left/right when his head is tilted up/forward, but again it doesn't quite have the clearance around the hump at his collar. His arms have the same articulation as robot mode, which to be clear isn't really enough to get him in a chest-beating pose. With his robot thighs kind of tucked in under his butt plate his waist swivel is effectively locked and his knees are bent forward as far as they go. They can bend back on just one of the joints in his robot knee (the other being tucked under the butt plate) to an almost bipedal posture, but set weirdly far back. And with the front of his robot feet encapsulated in his thighs what little ankle articulation he had in robot mode is basically eliminated. Well, he can at least sill wield his weapons, or store them the same way he did in robot mode. My out-of-the-box, initial impressions of Primal were a bit more positive than they were with Prime. He seems like a decent match for what you see on screen in robot mode, and the gorilla mode is surprisingly striking. And yet, after handling them for awhile, it's clear that Prime is actually the better toy. Primal is lacking in articulation in both modes, and the result is that Prime just looks more dynamic, even when they're both just standing in a casual a-stance. That said, Primal's not a bad figure at all. If and until a better Studio Series figure is released ROTB Primal is a solid toy that should work fine in a movie collection.