mikeszekely

Preorders open tomorrow at 9:00am EDT, and I think they're another Target-exclusive.  I guess people are happy because a lot of them missed Tarn the first time for some reason?  I don't see a huge difference there.  Don't really need Tarantulas, either.  I guess the deco is based on some prototype.  That said, I guess I'll have to shell out for this set anyway to get Prime Cliffjumper (retooled from Legacy United Chase) and Squeezeplay (looks like a heavy retool of Titans Return Mindwipe).

EDIT: OMG, Squeezeplay's gun is molded to look like Browning from Masterforce.

Don't forget the Pulse stream at 11:00am, also.

I still plan on seeing it, too, but I really wish they'd stop mucking up Godzilla movies by putting Kong in them.

OK, last kit for now.  We're skipping DK-45, a kit for Legacy Armada Prime that IMHO makes the figure worse, and sticking with Rise of the Beasts.  This kit is DK-46, the DNA upgrade for Studio Series Scourge.

We've got quite a few parts here, and right away we can see what looks to be new arms.  So, yeah, hopefully you didn't put your screwdrivers away after installing the kit on Prime yesterday.  And we're just going to have to get right into it.

We'll begin by popping Scourge's head off the ball joint, pulling his backpack away from his body, and undoing these two screws.  Once they're out, you can slide his chest and wheels (really, most of his upper body) out and off.

If you swing the wheels out and you look at the chunk of torso you just removed you'll find one wheel connected directly to the chest, and that wheel has Scourge's collar on the other end on a post where the screw went through.  On the post for the other screw is the other wheel.  You need to remove that wheel, then remove the collar from the wheel that's attached to the chest.  Keep the wheels and chest, but you can ditch the collar (along with Scourge's original head).

Find the DNA replacement collar.  It has these spikey-looking rib bits.  Attach the lone wheel to the post, then fold it under the collar while spinning the ribs so that they're outside the wheel.  Note that the ribs rotate on sliders, so you can slide them out to get the clearance you need to get them over and around the wheel.  Once that's done, do the same for the wheel with the chest.  When you're done, it should look like the third picture.

Slide the chest piece back into place and replace the screws.  Pop the DNA head onto the ball joint.  Then you can put the mask onto the face.

Online, people have complained about DNA's head sculpt.  I get where they're coming from... but I don't think the original was particularly good in the first place.  Really, I don't think Scourge looks too bad with the complete DNA head, but the gimmick with it is that the mask is removable, like the end of the film.  And the face under the mask is a bit derpy.  But hey, the neck is more solid.  I do like that.

Moving along, next up we can replace Scourge's right arm.  Begin by removing the two screws on the inside of his forearm.  Pry the inside off, then slid the outside out of the elbow joint.  Replace it with the DNA arm, being sure to encapsulate the DNA hand as you do so, then replace the screws.

As for the left arm, well, you'll recall that it's actually pegged in and meant to be removed so you can plug his blaster in.  So replacing the stock left arm is as easy as pulling it off and plugging the DNA arm in instead.

Speaking of his blaster, DNA included a butt for Scourge.  You simply plug it into the slot and stand hole on his stock butt.  There's a notch in the DNA butt, and you can use the tabs on the blaster to store it on the DNA butt.

We're not just going to beef up Scourge's butt, though.  There are these pieces that attach to the outsides of his thighs by plugging them into the cutouts where the mushroom swivels peak through, just under the ports.

There are also parts that plug into the hollows on the insides of his thighs- one has a single big rectangular tab, the other has two smaller trapezoidal tabs, and that'll help you keep track of which goes into which thigh.  While they do fill the hollows and bulk out the inside a bit, they wrap around the front of the thigh.  I'll note that, on my copy at least, the filler for the left thigh is fine, but the one for the right keeps popping out.  Fortunately, it's the only part that pops off.

Which reminds me, we have one more part for Scourge's legs.  This part attaches to the tabs on his shins, bulking them up an bit and adding some ankle armor.

There's one other part that I didn't include in my first photograph, because it's so small I actually didn't notice it at first and when I realized it was supposed to be there it took me a hot minute to actually find it.  It's this little gray thing.  It fits (a bit loosely) into the wing joints on Studio Series Airazor, and I think it's supposed to be the thing that he shot at her to infect her.  Note the hole it the center; it can also fit onto a peg in the middle of the new claw hand.

And that just leaves the new arm blade.  Unlike the stock arm, this one isn't permanently attached.  It has a T-shaped peg that fits into a slot on the back of Scourges arm and then slides down to lock into place.  Well... I say lock, but I'm using the term loosely, pun intended.  I don't think it'll fall out, but there's plenty of wiggle.

So, why'd we do all that, aside from the already stated benefits of a giving Scourge a head with a removable mask and an arm blade that isn't permanently attached?  We've also added some filler to his sides and bulked up his butt and legs, which doesn't just make him seem less skinny it's actually more screen-accurate armor.  And while some metallic paint on the new parts might have been nice, as near as I can tell the more silvery color is also more accurate than the mostly-black of the stock parts.

Aside from aesthetics, Scourge gets a bit more articulation from the kit, too.  His right hand now has a wrist swivel, plus his thumb and each finger are now individually articulated as the base knuckles.  As for the left arm, the claws still open at the base, but they know have an additional hinge in the middle of each claw.  The claw can also swivel freely (and loosely)... I don't recall if that's because it spun around in the movie or not.  If you don't want it spinning so freely, there are two hooks at the base that can grab notches on his wrist to lock it into place.

Bot mode upgrades are only as good as they can still transform, so let's take a look at what's changed going into alt mode.  For starters, once you've untabbed the chest and moved the backpack out of the way, you'll need to swing his shoulders are far back as you can.  use the sliders on the new ribs to get them out of the way so you can work the wheels and chest out.  Once they're out, slide the ribs back to where they started.

The legs actually work pretty much exactly the same as before.  Spin the waist 180 degrees, then swivel at the thighs and pop the wheels out, tuck the feet in, and tab them together.  Everything still fits fin with the extra DNA parts on.  Really, the only extra thing here is to push the ankle armor down.

Continue transforming him like you normally would.  Just one thing to be aware of, if you want things to fit right, and that's that you should turn both of his arms at the bicep as you fold them in so that the front of his elbows and forearms are facing toward the outside.  Then it's just a matter of unfolding the backpack, settling into place, and tabbing the grill in.

Aesthetically, I don't feel like his truck mode was affected too much.  Sure, the rear where a trailer would hypothetically attach is much less flat, but arguably less messy.  And the extra armor back there kind of fits with the Mad Max vibes anyway.  However, we don't have a permanently attached arm blade stuffed into the gap between his legs now, and there's nowhere to tab in the unfolded (and messy, let's be honest) blaster.  So what are we going to do?

Well, it's not the most elegant solution, but for the blaster we don't unfold it at all.  Instead, we wedge it between his legs, with the barrel kind of jammed over his toes.  It's just friction; there's no tabs or anything securing it in place.  But, if I'm being honest, it's pretty secure there.

As for the arm blade, like the stock one it folds in half.  When you do, you'll notice that the hinge makes sort of a C-clip.  The clip grabs onto the base of Scourge's thumb, lying flat along the back of the truck (the instructions make it look like it's on it's edge, and I suppose it could be, if his hand were rotated 90 degrees, but there's reason to do it that way).

Ultimately, everything sits neat and tidy, or at least no messier than it was when it was stock.  The only thing worth mentioning is that the blaster wedged between his legs pushes his feet part just enough to create a little gap between them, but nothing severe.

All-in-all, this is a pretty good kit that's executed fairly well without much in the way of QC issues, and one that doesn't introduce new problems the way some overly-ambitious kits tend to.  It does improve Scourge aesthetically, I really like being able to remove the arm blade, and the added articulation in both the normal hand and the claw are most welcome.  That being said, if I were grading figures Scourge would have been maybe a B before, and this kit takes him to a B+, while at the same price DNA's kit for Optimus Prime to a C figure to an A... it just doesn't have the same impact.  So where Optimus' kit is practically a must-buy despite costing more than the base figure, and I do ultimately recommend Scourge's kit, I wouldn't say it's as necessary if you don't feel like dropping $45 on it.

35 minutes ago, Spark-O-Matic said:

Did anyone else have a crush on her back in the day? looking forward to seeing this one.

I was a bit to young for crushes when Beetlejuice came out.  I think my first movie crush was... Tia Carrera in Wayne's World.

After DK-43 comes DK-44, so... here's DK-44, the DNA upgrade kit for Studio Series Rise of the Beasts Optimus Prime.

I mentioned yesterday that the kit for Gamer Edition Optimus was mostly filler parts not replacement parts, and that was unusual for DNA.  Well, we're back to form with this kit.  Nothing is filler, really, and we're going to need our screwdrivers for this.  But before we go replacing parts, let's take a look at some of the stuff we don't need a screwdriver for.

Up first we have new swords and axes.  They're pretty close in design to the sword that came with Prime and the axe that came with Primal, but they have a nice coat of gunmetal paint with exposed translucent orange edges.  You also get two of each.  They don't feel super necessary, but they're nice to have if you wanted Prime dual-wielding, especially if you skipped Primal but still wanted Prime to have an axe (or two).  One thing to note, all four weapons don't have tabs.  Rather, they have a hole, and there are two long tabs that are separate pieces that can be used with either an axe or a sword.

The new weapons work pretty much exactly like the old ones.  Prime can hold the swords in his hands or use the small pegs on the bottoms to plug into his wrists.  The axes are only slightly different in that they have pommels on the bottom, and you have to remove them to slide the handle into Prime's hands.  The tabs that hold the pommels on aren't the same shape as the peg on the bottom of the Hasbro axe, so the DNA axes do not peg into Prime's wrists.  Using the included tab you can store the DNA weapons on Prime's back, either separately or by running the tab through the hole on two weapons at a time.

The replacement guns are a major upgrade over the dinky original (which was so small that I can't even find it right now).  Where the original was just the barrel and plugged into a peg on Prime's wrist, the DNA guns are molded more-accurately and cover over Prime's whole forearm.  They're not without faults, though.  If you looked carefully you might notice that they're not mirrored, there isn't a dedicated left arm cannon and right arm cannon.  There's simply two of the same cannon.  There are differences on the sides, and it really looks like it was designed for his right arm.  That said, I looked at the cannons for the ThreeZero DLX figure, and they're more symmetric.  Ultimately I think the DNA cannons are passable enough on either arm and you're unlikely to really notice unless he's dual wielding and you're really paying attention.  And the included blast effect parts fit into the barrels, although their small relative size and blue color makes it look like he's wearing squirt guns.

Like the melee weapons, the DNA cannon can be stored on Prime's back using a peg on the underside.  The thing is, even though Prime's back has two holes it can fit it the cannons are too big and the holes too close together for both cannons to fit on Prime's back at a time.

Alright, now it's time for surgery.  Begin by taking the flaps with the Autobot insignias and pulling them off Prime's shoulders.  Set them aside, you'll need them later.  Turn him over, remove the pair of screws on the back of the shoulders, and carefully pry them apart.

You're going to separate the arm into four parts- the front of the shoulder with the smokestack still attached, the back of the shoulder, the gray trapezoid, and the rest of the arm.  Keep the trapezoid and the rest of the arm, but you can ditch the front and back of the shoulder.

Open the DNA shoulders by removing the pair of screws on the back.  You'll find this red part in the front half; take it out and fit it onto the mushroom peg sticking out of Prime's torso as shown.

Now, you can fit the front half of the shoulder back over the red part.  Take Prime's arm and the gray trapezoid and fit it into the back half of the shoulder, then fit the two halves of the shoulder together and replace the screws.  Be sure to make sure the screws are nice and tight.  Take the flap with the Autobot insignia from the original shoulder and snap it into place on the front of the new shoulder.

Let's take a moment to figure out what we've accomplished here.  For starters, the new shoulders have painted smokestacks with rotating tips, so they can angle backwards like they do in the movie (although the rotation is a bit loose).  More importantly, though, we added a joint.  This gives Prime's shoulder lateral movement outside of the rotation, where the originals only had lateral movement inside of the rotation.  In other words, with the DNA shoulders Prime can now raise and spread his arms at the same time, addressing one of my biggest complaints with the figure.  DNA's red plastic is an excellent match for Hasbro's, and you'll notice that they used red plastic for the part on top of Prime's shoulder instead of gray, which is actually more movie accurate.

Moving down to the legs, lift Prime's shins so you have access to the blue calf parts.  Yank them off the pegs, and replace them with the DNA parts.

The immediate robot mode-benefit of doing this is pretty simple.  We replaced the stock tab and slot that hold his legs together for alt mode, because the original ones stuck out pretty far from the insides of his legs.  DNA's parts have hinges, allowing them to fold flat into the legs.  It's a minor aesthetic upgrade, and it does come at the cost of making his calves flat and taking away that more organic (and movie accurate) curve.  There's a reason for that, though, that we'll get to in a minute.

One last thing to replace here.  Pop his stock feet off the ball joints, and replace them with the feet in the kit.  The immediate benefit here is that instead of being a single solid part there are a pair of hinges in the DNA feet, allowing Prime to bend his toes up and down.  But there's an alt-mode reason for doing this.  It's probably worth noting here that unlike the GE Prime kit, this time the blue plastic is an excellent match for the stock plastic.

About that alt mode... from the front there's not a lot of difference.  The DNA shoulders transform basically the same as the stock ones.  The only differences is that you can swivel the tips of the smokestacks so that they're still correctly angled backward.  Plus, the red tops make for red roof.  Too bad we still have the stock gray flap Prime's head is on, eh?  The big difference is in the back.   Instead of folding Prime's shins up and leaving a huge honking mess stuffed against the back of the cab, DNA asks, "what if we just folded up his feet, like most other Prime toys?"  And so we tab his legs together using the new fold out tab and slot, we spin his feet around 180 degrees, and we use the double hinges to fold his toes flat against his heels.  And... yeah, the back of the truck is super obviously robot legs that don't look like the actual back of a truck... just like almost every other Optimus.  And it still looks a lot better than stock alt mode.  But this is also why the new calf parts are flat.  The stock ones spun around, but without moving Prime's shins there's no room for the DNA parts to rotate.  So they need to be flat to give him the clearance to still roll.

Now, you could simply stop there.  It's a bit gappy, but again no worse than the original.  But DNA did include a pair of these parts, which provide a few uses.  We can attach them by using the smaller inner slots and sticking them onto the tabs on Prime's shins.  Right away, it secures his legs a bit tighter and fills in the gap between his shins a bit.  But there's more!

This part provides storage for the DNA weapons in alt mode, using the tabs through a pair of weapons into the larger slots, and the peg on the cannon into the 5mm port closer to the cab.  The instructions even suggest that you can plug one cannon into the other, but I can't figure out how to do it securely.  But the fun doesn't stop there!

The other 5mm port on the blue part allows you to connect Prime to a trailer!  This is a feature that Earthrise, Volvo, Laser, and previous Studio Series Primes (including Bumblebee Optimus) had, but was sorely lacking from this figure as he came stock.  While you're technically free to use the Earthrise trailer, Laser Optimus' trailer, or Studio Series Dark of the Moon Prime's trailer, I'd argue he looks the most correct with an Earthrise trailer.  Besides, if you use the Earthrise trailer the use for the spare blue part comes into play.  You can attach it to a peg inside the trailer, allowing his new DNA weapons to ride inside.  With the upcoming Studio Series 86 Optimus potentially replacing Earthrise for a lot of people this could leave the old Earthrise trailer free to be reclaimed by ROTB Optimus anyway.

I guess there's one last part in the kit, but it's almost not worth mentioning.  There's a slug figure of Noah Diaz.  Sure, it's got more accurate proportions and better scale than the Studio Series Core-class figure, but it has zero articulation.  He's permanently stuck in the three-point Iron Man pose.  And for what?  You can stick one of the included effect parts into his back.  he can sort of ride on the back of Prime like that, but he doesn't actually lock into place anywhere.  Frankly, he's a waist of plastic.

I wouldn't say that this kit is perfect... like I said, Noah's a waste of plastic.  It'd have been nice if Prime's cannons were mirrored instead of duplicated.  Or, maybe just include one blaster, one axe, and one sword.  Ditch the blast effects.  Because this kit actually runs a bit more than the figure it upgrades.

That said, I'd highly recommend this kit anyway.  It addresses as best as could be the three main complaints I had with this figure.  The shoulders fix Prime's lateral articulation.  By moving the transformation from the shins to the feet they've cleaned up the absolute mess that was the stock alt mode.  And they made the figure compatible with trailers.  The fact that they also included a much better cannon, melee weapons with minor improvements (included an axe you had to buy a whole different figure to get stock), added toe articulation, and cleaned up the inner legs a bit is all icing on an already excellent cake.  Without the kit, ROTB Optimus was a good but seriously flawed figure.  With the kit, he's probably the best live-action movie Optimus Prime that Hasbro's released.

Addendum to my previous post:

I realized, belatedly, that I missed a part.  Actually, I was aware of it.  It's a gray part that looks like the ridged bit that connects the head of the axe to the shaft- you can see it between the red and blue parts in the lower middle of the first pic in the review  All day yesterday when I was messing with the figure I couldn't figure out why DNA included it, and the instructions don't mention it.  I wrote it off as maybe an extra part for the shaft or something.  But after writing the review I was thinking about the weapons came right out of their arms in the game, and how Hasbro included it for the guns but not the melee weapons, and then it hit me.

Pull the bottom of the axe's shaft off, and replace it with the part I missed.  Now you've got a shorter shaft that ends in a 5mm port that you can plug into the peg on Prime's arm- just like in the game.  It does make that little gray part that at first seemed superfluous actually pretty cool... but it ultimately doesn't change my review.  The fillers are still mostly good but not super necessary.  The gray part works as well on the stock axe as it does on DNA's own, so I still would have preferred that DNA replace Prime's gun than his axe.  And the parts that I really wanted from this kit the most are still the most frustrating parts of the kit.  Here's hoping the next kit I look at is a bit better.

Been awhile, but I got some unofficial DNA upgrades for a few official figures.  We'll start with DK-43, a kit for Studio Series Gamer Edition Optimus Prime.

This is a kit that has a lot of pieces in it, but in a move that's a bit unusual for DNA there aren't really any parts that replace any stock parts, aside from the axe.  No screwdrivers or pin pushers required.  This kit is actually mostly filler bits.

First thing's first, we'll take these gray parts.  They go into Prime's very hollow thighs, and they fit snugly.  I wasn't super put off by the hollow thighs in the first place, but DNA did a good job fixing the problem anyway.

Next up we have these filler pieces for Prime's toes.  Because the bottom of Prime's feet wind up on the roof of the vehicle his hollow toes bugged me more than the thighs.  The fit here is a bit weird... I didn't have any trouble getting them in and they're definitely not going to fall out, but they don't exactly sit flat and if you push down in one corner the opposite corner will come up.  I'll also note that DNA didn't do a great job color-matching the plastic.

The flaps on the outside of Prime's legs were another spot that bugged me.  It's like Hasbro thought they could get away with waffling that area because it's tucked inside the vehicle mode, but they forgot that it's super visible in robot mode.  DNA's parts cover most of the waffling and add some interesting mechanical details.  They attach using slots on the underside that grab onto the waffle lines on the leg.  The connection didn't feel that secure to me, but once I had them on I haven't had any issues with them coming off.  So they're fine.

The last two blue parts go on Prime's feet.  You need to lift his shins and tilt the feet forward so you can see the gaps on top of his heels.  The DNA parts have bits that wedge into the gap.  Then you fold the trio of hinges on them as shown to make a bigger heel for Prime.  In bot mode that's not much, but they'll come into play more in alt mode.  Unfortunately, the connection here is pretty loose, and manipulating the hinges almost always causes the parts to pop out.

With the leg fillers done we're moving on to filling gaps I didn't even notice.  First up is this part, which is really two parts on a sprue.  Cut them off the sprue, then they slide into the tops of Prime's shoulders like so.  It was a bit tricky to manipulate such tiny parts with my fat old fingers (and Prime's noggin in the way doesn't help), but once they're in they're pretty secure, and the red plastic is definitely a better match.

With those parts installed, we can then do these parts with the half-wheels.  A little prep work is required... they come in the box like the one on the right.  Rotate the wheel 90 degrees and fold in the hinge, so it looks like the one on the left.  The post on the hinged bit fits into a hollow just behind where we installed the first shoulder bits (you can see it between Prime's antenna on the left), then the half-wheel lines up with the actual wheels on his back.  And, well, I guess it works fine.  Hides some hollows that I didn't really notice and bulks up his wheels to, I guess, look more like the video game's CGI model.  Not sure they were totally necessary, though.

The last red part is this little rectangle.  You want the slot facing out, and then it goes in the indicated spot on Prime's back, behind the alt mode's nose, just over the mushroom peg.  The connection is borderline nonexistent, though.

The gist here is that, instead of using the little peg to plug Prime's arm into his butt when he's got his gun attached instead, you can use a tab on it to plug into the DNA part, then fold the alt mode nose down over it so it's hidden away a bit better.  As I noted, though, the connection is too loose.  The alt mode nose will kind of keep everything in place, but if you manipulate him you can expect it to fall off.  If you try to unplug the arm expect it to take that part with it.  And if you turn his waist, as you do for transformation, expect it to just pop off.  It might be the most useless bit in the whole kit...

Especially when you consider that DNA rightly understood that a lot of us don't want to pull arms off to plug in weapons.  And DNA included this bit for that reason...  slide it up through the hollow that normally goes under Prime's elbow.  There's a peg on it that you can fit into the peg hole where Prime's arm would plug in.

Basically, we added a 5mm port to Prime's gun so that he can just hold it in his hand... kind of.  The peg is hinged (for alt mode), and the his forearms are so big that they push against the bottom of the gun.  That gives the gun a sort of permanent droop.  It makes me wonder why DNA didn't just replace the gun entirely...

...especially since that's exactly what they did for his axe.  DNA's axe works pretty similarly to Hasbro's... the long shaft comes apart so you can slide it through Prime's fist before putting it back together, and the blade can go from a single edge to a double edge.  The spike at the top is pointier and the translucent plastic looks a bit more like an energon glow than the sandy paint on the official, sure, but I didn't really have a problem with the official in the first place.

With these sorts of kits we have to consider how they affect the alt mode.  And, for the most part, they don't here.  The filler pieces are, for the most part, not visible, and they don't interfere with any of the alt mode bits close and folding into place.  I do have to note that they add a few steps to the transformation, though.  To start, we have to rotate the wheel parts on the posts we used to attach them, fold the hinges away from the shoulders, and rotate the wheels 90 degrees so they look like they do on the left.  Then they'll just kind of chill on the underside of the alt mode.

The other thing is the new heel pieces.  They unfold and then refold on their hinges to cover up the gap on Prime's rear and adding some nice game-accurate metallic red details.  This, right here, is why I bought this kit.  It's attempting to fix my single biggest issue with the figure.

BTW, the 5mm peg handle we added to the rifle folds up so that the rifle can sit on top of Prime just as it normally does.  And with the DNA axe in double-edged mode, you'll find a gap between the blades on one side that fits over a tab that was already on Prime's gun, allowing him to carry his weapons in alt mode as he normally does.  (You can also see, above the exhaust pipe, how the toe filler looks in alt mode).

I can't help but feel a bit frustrated by this kit.  On the one hand, most of the filler bits work pretty well... especially the filler I didn't really care about in the first place.  But when it comes to the stuff I did care about, the gap in the rear of the vehicle and the lack of a weapon that he can simply hold in his hand, that's where DNA dropped the ball.  Adding a handle to the original gun that he can only hold at a droopy angle doesn't work as well as simply replacing the gun would have.  And while they did include some nice-looking filler for the rear of the vehicle it's practically impossible to keep them attached.  So I'll put it this way... if you were more bothered by his thin shoulder wheels and the hollows on the sides of his legs, thigh, and under his toes than this is probably a good kit for you.  If you don't mind gluing the heel parts in permanently, then I'd recommend this kit as it fixes the worst problem with the alt mode.  But if you're adverse to permanently modding a figure then their inability to stay put makes them too impractical a solution for me to recommend, and if you were looking for a better gun solution you'll have to look elsewhere.

Just now, M'Kyuun said:

I just got home from my appointment, and of course Gears is sold out already. I did get Silverbolt and Sandstorm though, so there's that. I'll get Gears elsewhere. Since I'll miss next week's fanstream, I kinda hope it is the TMNT crossover, as I have no interest in the Turtles and I won't miss yet another PO window for stuff I want. Cowabunga, dudes!

Holy moly, I just checked Amazon and I see that he's already sold out there, too!

Well, I have a habit of preordering at both Pulse and Amazon, then canceling one of them later.  If you don't find a Gears I'll send you my extra.

Live on Pulse.

I preordered everything except Chromia and Cheetor.  I'm not going outside of G1 for Core-class guys that should be bigger, and aside from the very nice head sculpt Chromia was done better in Siege and Thrilling 30.

Last week BMac suggested that the stream next week will have his favorite reveal.  At the time I speculated that it might be SS86 Optimus or Swoop, but BMac just clarified that it's not his favorite of the year, it's his favorite reveal ever.  And he used "radical" to describe it, with Mark adding "tubular."  So, it sounds like it's going to be a reveal of the rumored TMNT x Transformers crossover.

2 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

I hope they don't go up right after the stream, as I'll be at an appointment, and once again, I'll miss my opportunity to get my POs on Pulse. Between myself and my mother-in-law, our appointments unfortunately fell on Thursdays for the last three weeks of March. ☹️ This morning I'll likely get to see the full stream, but I need to leave for my appointment in about 20 minutes, and if POs go up right after, my chances of getting Gears on Pulse are nil. 

They go up around 1:00pm Easter/10:00am Pacific.

Livestream going on.  They said it's specifically for Legacy this week, and everything's been leaked already, so it's just a question of when the preorders go up.

Core

Beast Machines Cheetor

Deluxe

Infernac Universe Shard

G1 Gears (I think BMac just suggested that there might be a toy head version in the works?)

Cyberverse Chromia

Voyager

Cybertron Starscream

Beast Wars Silverbolt

Leader

G1 Sandstorm (another comment about an alternate animation head)

Bonus!

Another reveal for Origins Wheeljack (Voyager-class), who's long sold out at Pulse.

I'm looking forward to this.  I really liked the Beetlejuice cartoon as a kid, so I tried watching the movie and I just thought it was weird at the time.  However, a few years back I recently decided to watch it with my wife as an adult and loved everything about it- the dark comedy, Keaton's brilliant performance, the slick visuals, and the sheer originality.  It's a cliche to say that they don't make movies like that anymore, but that was really was my first thought after finishing it.

Origin Wheeljack goes live in a little under a half an hour.

https://www.target.com/c/collectors-toys/-/N-54vro?lnk=snav_rd_collectors_spot&redirect=true

Hasbro has announced, after a lot of feedback from adult collectors, that they'll be bringing back plastic windows on their six-inch figures.  G.I. Joe, Marvel Legends, and Star Wars seem pretty obvious, and they showed off the new packaging for those.  They said that the windowed packaging will apply to Transformers as well, but it's not as clear how since they're not really 6" figures and no new packaging was shown.  Regardless, the new packaging is supposed to go into effect in the fall of this year.

8 minutes ago, Scyla said:

While I'm happy for the success I was asking my self if the backer numbers should be significantly higher than both Star Saber and Deathsaurus. 

It is an Optimus Prime, the hero of a cartoon that ran on TV in the West. It should have sold gangbusters.

Honestly?  I think all three being over $200 puts them firmly in realm of more serious adult collectors... no one is funding Haslabs on a whim, the way someone might randomly buy a Transformer at Target.  Because of that, there's certainly overlap in the people who bought Star Saber and or Deathsaurus and Omega Prime (like me, for instance).  And I think Prime probably outsold Victory Saber and Deathsaurus because he is Prime, sure.  But, in a way, I think all three are targeting niches.  Victory Saber and Deathsaurus target the hardcore G1 fans who either grew up with Japanese G1 in the East or cared enough to learn about Japanese G1 in the West.  And Omega Prime targets the fans who grew up later with RiD being their G1.  And that's the thing, I don't think that group is particularly big.  Yes, in hindsight RiD marked the return of Autobots and Transformers turning into vehicles and an Optimus that wasn't Primal, but RiD hit before Dreamwave started publishing their Transformers comic book and the '80s revival boom began, and it was by and large overshadowed by the Unicron Trilogy.

49 minutes ago, Dangard Ace said:

HasLab God Fire Convoy has ended and currently 28,000+.  We'll see what the final numbers are in the next 48hrs if there's any international dumps left.

If I'm not mistaken, Victory Saber and Deathsaurus both ended around 27,000, making Omega Prone the most-successful Transformers Haslab so far.

Target Prime is up.

https://www.target.com/p/transformers-target-optimus-prime-and-autobot-bullseye-action-figure-set---2pk--target-exclusive-/-/A-89230384

Pulse also has the first four of Walmart's Star Riders, but Filch has already sold out.

EDIT: Gotta love the fan stream on Pulse that's for toys that why up for preorder an hour before the stream.😒 

At least they confirmed next week is Legacy United Wave 2- even though that's all been leaked it'll be nice to get preorders in. And in two weeks they'll be showing BMac's favorite figure of the year. 86 Swoop? 86 Commander Optimus? 

Darn, I shouldn't have spent so much time cropping and re-editing the promo pics.

So yeah... kind of weird that they're using the Legacy Laser Optimus figure instead of the Volvo one.  Maybe because, unlike Walmart or Amazon, Target doesn't own trucks, only trailers, so they don't care to get a license from Volvo.  Thing is, Legacy Op's sword and gun are part of his trailer, and Target Op uses the Earthrise trailer instead (decoed like an actual Target trailer).  And unlike the Volvo Op, they didn't bother to include the Earthrise gun, leaving Optimus with just Bullseye and the trailer drone for "weapons."  More than a gun, that box art has me wanting a red ball (like they have in front of the store) for Prime to throw for Bullseye.

All-in-all, it's a very niche sort of Optimus, but in my house we visit Target probably once a week as it's our preferred store for non-grocery stuff, so it might just be my sort of niche.

Side note, for as many uses as they wound up getting out of this mold it's really a shame that they used the crappy Siege legs on Laser Op.  And I'm extra peeved that if I do buy Target Op it's my fourth time with the mold and I still don't have a cartoon-accurate Scourge.

1 hour ago, Scyla said:

Had some time to fiddle with my Super7 Ultimates Tarn and I am puzzled for whom this line is for.

Everything of the figure us bad (paint, sculpt, articulation, sculpt, handling, materials, joint friction) and with $55 it is relatively expensive. Only the accessories are plentiful.

I could see that if you are a fan of a design that never gets any toys (like Banzaitron) but maybe I wouldn’t even buy it then. And Tarn got plenty of toys from official to high end variants.

Im utterly baffled how this is a thing. Maybe it is some kind of Transformers sub fandom or a variant of the Jumbo Machinder fandom but at a smaller scale?

 

Forget Transformers, I don't get Super7’s audience, period. It's like they make your for people who aren't just nostalgic for the IP, but also nostalgic for when toys had bad sculpts, bad paint, and bad articulation. The only toy I bought from them was the Unicron they did based on the G1 prototype toy, and I didn't even open it. I just bought a hook and hung it up on display.

Yeah, I took my kid to McDonald's a week or two ago and we noticed it. It has something to do with anime, I guess? I don't get it. 

5 hours ago, Scyla said:

What I found interesting is what FansToys didn’t show. No Berserk and no completed Menasor. For some reason I'm looking forward to their Menesor so it is sad not seeing a preview of it.

It's funny, MMC's preview of Scrapper and Mixmaster has people talking about XTB and FT's Constructicons. Some of the FT fans are attacking XTB for their QC, but I'm thinking that hey, at least they finished a combiner.

1 hour ago, JB0 said:

Warner be like: Can't lose at the Oscars if you cancel all your films before they release!

Minus One got a Blu-ray release date in Japan, too.  On May 1st they'll be enjoying a 4-disc set that includes Blu-ray and DVD copies of both the regular and Minus Color versions.  Still no word on a US date, though, but given how well it did here theatrically (roughly half of the film's total box office) I'd imagine we'll be hearing something soon.

This topic's gotten a little quiet... can't speak for the rest of you, but I know I've slowed down a lot due to a combination of factors... I've got MP-ish representations of most of the Sunbow cast, prices have gone up a lot since COVID (and, if I'm a bit cynical, since the bigger 3Ps saw what people were willing to pay for MP-44), fewer companies competing in the MP space, and Hasbro's mainline stuff doing a better job of giving me what I wanted for a lot less since Siege.  Still, there was a TFCon this weekend, and I did want to share a few things that I did find interesting.

First up, we have the prototypes for MMC's all-built-in Mixmaster and Scrapper.  Both are looking pretty good to me.  Maybe a little on the thin side, but MMC abandoned the OX look a long time ago for Sunbow, and the Constructions did have pretty thin (and sometimes just plain weird) animation models.  On looks alone I think you could make a pretty compelling case for any of the three Devastators being worked on right now, but I loved MMC's Bruticus, and I love their Protectobots.  I'm definitely in for these guys, and if I bother with XTB or FT's it's just because I've got most of the 3P Devastators so far.

At modes.

Oh, and speaking of Fans Toys, I try not to deal with them.  They're often more expensive than the competition, I frequently find them to have lifeless sculpts and transformations that make BadCube's look good, plus for all their vaunted reputation I've had enough QC issues with the FT figures I have bought to be be wary.  That said, I want to call attention to their Ultra Magnus...

As most 3Ps are leaning hard into that super-Sunbow aesthetic I think it's actually getting a bit harder to tell these figures apart from each other at a glance.  Like, if it weren't for the metallic paint if you'd told me that this was XTB's already-released Ultra Magnus I might believe you.

Actually, with the unsightly red hinges on the sides and the pretty visible torso on the trailer floor, Maybe FT's Magnus looks worse than XTB's in alt mode.  But, FT is doing on thing that could get me to upgrade from MP-22 that XTB couldn't...

The cab turns into a white Optimus Prime, and the trailer turns into armor that fits over the cab robot!

And yeah, there's an obvious question there, and the obvious question has an obvious answer.  Yes, FT is doing Optimus Prime.  I'm sure the plastic will be better, and he'll have diecast and weigh like 4x as much, but I'm not seeing anything here that really makes me think it looks any better than Magic Square's MS-02.  Of course, I have MS-02... and MS-01, and TE-01, and MP-10, and MP-44... it'd kind of be weird if I didn't get FT's.

Since XTB announced they're doing an MP Ironhide and Ratchet last fall, FT of course has to hurry up and announce theirs so you don't accidentally give your money to a competitor.  Normally, this wouldn't be a blip for me.  I just don't feel like chasing "upgrades" for the rest of my life.  I already have Voodoo Robots' Salus for Ratchet and MP-27 with the hip kit for Ironhide, and sure, XTB's looks more cartoony, but so what?

Fans Toys' looks to be even more cartoon accurate than XTB's, and look, they've even got working doors!  But still... so what?

Well, the "what" might be the sled.  "Wait a minute," you're thinking.  "MP-27 came with a sled.  Come to think of it, XTB's is, too!  What makes FT's so special?"  Glad you asked!  Did you notice how small it looks compared to the weapons on it?  OK, take a good look at the front tips of the rear treads.  Now, go back to the robot pictures.  Behind Ironhide's head, in the crouching pose, at his collar.  Do you see what appears to be that front tip of tread?  Looks to me that FT's Ironhide transforms completely from van to robot, like the MP and like XTB, but rather than have a separate sled accessory it looks like his backpack comes off to transform into the sled, and that's just clever engineering if you ask me.

Dang.  I mean, Dragon Ball, obviously, but how do you make another Dragon Quest game without his character designs?