mikeszekely

I have no doubt that the shareholders want maximum profit, and that has lead Hasbro to pressure pretty much every division in the company to cut costs, generate revenue, or both. As a fan on the Transformers side I've seen plenty of that in higher prices, fewer accessories, and plastic-saving cutouts in various parts. And we know that WOTC isn't exempt from that pressure- I don't play Magic: the Gathering, but even I'm aware of some of the blatant cash grabs that have gone on with the brand in just the last year. As far as it pertains to D&D, sure, it's not immune. One D&D seems less about the need for another rules revision and more about the fact that they've had a hard time selling books besides The Player's Handbook to anyone but DMs, so they want a new Player's Handbook out there. They're also pushing hard to expand the brand into other areas- the upcoming film, a newly-announced show on Paramount+, and just today I was at Target and saw action figures for both the new movie and the old '80s cartoon. I guess the real question is how much of the new OGL was due to that pressure? I guess the trendy thing is to jump on the anti-corporation bandwagon, and I'm sure that the revenue sharing was definitely motivated by trying to get money back off of companies like Paizo that have benefitted tremendously from the original OGL. But, like I said, I'm inclined to believe that the OGL draft was more poorly-worded than intentionally greedy.

So, WOTC released a statement on the backlash that the leaked OGL draft was generating. The TLDR version is that a new version of the OGL is coming, but they'll be walking some of it back. That said, some of the language they used is pretty telling. "When we initially conceived of revising the OGL, it was with three major goals in mind. First, we wanted the ability to prevent the use of D&D content from being included in hateful and discriminatory products" Some creators (I'm thinking specifically of the DnD Shorts guy) were concerned that the language of the new OGL would give WOTC the ability to just shut you down if they decided they didn't like you. Not a lawyer here- this may be technically true, and the wording of the OGL should be more clear, and you can't necessarily rely on a corporation's goodwill to protect you. That said, I'd be willing to bet that this was almost 100% about their lawsuit with Ernie Gygax and TSR LLC over the alleged racist content in the leaked playtest for Star Frontiers: New Genesis. "Second, we wanted to address those attempting to use D&D in web3, blockchain games, and NFTs by making clear that OGL content is limited to tabletop roleplaying content like campaigns, modules, and supplements." This statement is interesting if you look at it from the other side. Sure, they're saying that you can't use the OGL to make a NFTs and junk because the OGL only applies to TTRPG content... but if the OGL only applies to TTRPG content, then it (even the new version) doesn't apply to a ton of other content. Critical Role livestreaming their games, making comic books about their characters, making an anime, Youtube discussion channels, skits and parodies, all that sort of stuff would not have been affected. "And third, we wanted to ensure that the OGL is for the content creator, the homebrewer, the aspiring designer, our players, and the community—not major corporations to use for their own commercial and promotional purpose" Hence the provisions for paying royalties only if you made over $750,000, and only on the money you make over $750,000. I think this is the most telling part of WOTC's message, as it's more or less a confirmation of what I said earlier. WOTC doesn't really care about XP to Level 3's Quest-O-Nomicon. They're mad that Paizo used the old OGL to create D&D's biggest competitor in Pathfinder RPG. Ironically, Pathfinder 2e changed enough from "3.5e but slightly different" original edition, and used very deliberate language in the process, that WOTC would probably have an uphill battle proving Paizo owes/owed them anything. Apparently, Paizo only included published Pathfinder 2e with the OGL to make it easier for fans to create Pathfinder content. Regardless, it sounds like when the new OGL is finished and goes into effect it will NOT have any royalty structure in it. I didn't address it before, but another major concern people had was the license back provision. Creators were concerned that it more or less meant that if they made something for D&D using the OGL that WOTC would own it. WOTC's reasoning: "The license back language was intended to protect us and our partners from creators who incorrectly allege that we steal their work simply because of coincidental similarities." My opinion on this was sort of like my opinion on the objectionable content thing- I don't believe that WOTC actually intended the worst-case scenario, but if it allowed for the worst-case scenario then the language should have been more clear about what WOTC can and cannot do. Which seems to be their intention (at least now): "Under any new OGL, you will own the content you create. We won’t. Any language we put down will be crystal clear and unequivocal on that point." Ultimately, I'm back where I started. Was the leaked OGL bad? Yes, but arguably over unclear wording than greed or malice. Small-time content creators and fans were right to concerned, and I'm very glad to see WOTC address those concerns, but the reaction to those legitimate concerns seemed to me a bit overblown and, at times, suffering from hints of entitlement.

I've been to two different ones (and a Walmart) last weekend. Unless you wanted Coronation Starscream (or the Walmart-exclusive Kingdom repaints) they were pretty much empty of Transformers entirely. Hmm. I need some other stuff, perhaps I'll make a Target run tomorrow. I was meaning to check out some of the Earthspark Deluxes, and I hadn't been able to find those anywhere else yet. Even Pulse sold out surprisingly quickly. Well, local stores have been a bust, but seems like Amazon is going to send me stuff one figure at a time. Today, we can move up from the Cores with Legacy Evolution Deluxe-class Needlenose. Sometimes it's interesting what Hasbro can do when they're not beholden to a cartoon, eh? Evolution Needlenose has proportions that fit with other figures in the War For Cybertron/Legacy lines, and coupled with his newly-red eyes he looks like he could have been based on the cartoon, but he was never animated. Instead, Needlenose borrows a lot from his G1 toy. He's got the yellow face and the knight's helmet. His arms are purple like the toy, and have have similar molded details like the two horizontal lines above his thumbs, to vertical lines on bottom corner of his shoulders, and the raised rectangles on the top corner of his shoulders. His torso has the same shapes and gray colors as the G1 toy, including the raised collar. Blue pelvis with the indent on his crotch, that's a toy detail. His gray thighs lack the stickers of the G1 toy, but there's some molded lines that somewhat recall them. Likewise, molded turquoise vents on his shins are a simplified version of the stickers the G1 toy had. He's even got raised gray kneepads where the original toy's solid thighs and knees cut into the hinged blue lower legs, and we cap it all off with purple feet, ala the toy. Heck, Evolution Needlenose even has pegs on the corners of his wings where the original toy did! Like the G1 toy, Evolution Needlenose also carries his alt mode on his back in the same way. The biggest difference is that more of the fuselage folds over on his spine than just the blue nose. The result is something along the lines of "what if the G1 toy, but with better proportions and articulation?" And as someone who grew up with a lot of the post-movie toys this is something I find appealing. Size-wise, although Needlenose is a Deluxe he's fairly large, standing something like a head taller than the Autobot cars or the Stunticons but maybe a head shorter than Starscream. Considering that the original toy was fairly small, in lieu of a spot on an official scale chart I think he's an ok size- right about the same as his fellow Targetmaster Spinister. Speaking of Targetmasters, like the G1 toy he comes with two, Zigzag (the black one) and Sunbeam (the purple one). I have mixed feelings about these two. On the one hand, they're remarkably accurate to the originals, down to Sunbeam even having a molded rifle on his left hand. Zigzag's just missing his white pelvis (although he's covered in paint- he's actually molded from the same purple as Sunbeam- that black is paint). As with Pointblank's Peacemaker, I appreciate that they're not just recycling the same two Battlemasters over and over anymore, but in a way I feel like we're moving backward. I mean, Zigzag and Sunbeam have zero articulation in their robot modes- the only moving parts are flipping out their gun barrels. That's exactly how the G1 toys were back in the '80s. But, over a decade ago, Universe Cyclonus came with a Nightstick figure that has shoulder swivels, elbow bends, and hip swivels that could move independently of each other. I think I'd almost prefer if Hasbro did like Spinister and just gave Needlenose non-transforming guns that looked sort of like Zigzag and Sunbeam's gun modes. His Targetmaster buddies might not have articulation, but Needlenose himself sure does. His head is on a ball joint for swiveling, some downward and sideways tilt, but nothing really up due to the engine behind his head getting in the way. His shoulders rotate and extend laterally 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, and his elbows are double-jointed for a full 180 degrees of curl. His wrists swivel, as does his waist (although his backpack might have to be moved out of the way. His hips can go over 90 degrees forward, only a little bit backward due to his backpack getting in the way, and over 90 degrees laterally (his limit is really when his leg starts banging into his shoulder). His thighs swivel, and his knees bend around 150 degrees. His feet can tilt down 90 degrees, and his ankles can pivot around 60 degrees. Although you can have his wings flat against his back like the G1 toy, they can fold back away from his body about 45 degrees (more than that and they'll push his backpack out). Needlenose can hold his weapons in either hand. Additionally, he's got a 5mm port on either shoulder, on either forearm, on the side of each leg just below the knee, under each foot, and the exhaust nozzle behind his head is 5mm compatible as well. Additionally, there's the 5mm posts on his wing tips. Transforming Needlenose is more complicated than the G1 toy, but still surprisingly similar. His whole head folds down into his chest instead of just his helmet covering his face, and his arms fold up above his head instead of tucking into his sides, which in turn necessitates shifting his entire backpack and up and toward the rear of his alt mode. But his legs still wrap around his sides so his toes point toward the rear, and his nose still folds down off his back. Of course, the similarities to the G1 toy mean that, like the G1 toy, he's got a lot of folded-up robot on his underbelly, which is sure to displease some of you. Given the source material and the realities of a Deluxe-class budget, though, I'm not super bothered by that. Even his feet, which sit where the original's head was, comes together with to form a box with an hexagonal indent that looks oddly purposeful and not simply like robot feet. His red cockpit is present, and the blue and turquoise paint on his wings recalls a simplified version of the stickers on the original. I just wish he had some paint on his tail. Speaking of his tail... the original toy didn't have those horizontal stabs on it, nor did it have the diminutive canards that Evolution Needlenose does. While it could be as simple as making Needlenose less obviously an F-16XL to avoid paying Lockheed Martin for a license, there's been some speculation that Hasbro could slap new wings and a different head on this mold and make Windsweeper. Anyway... you have the 5mm port in the exhaust, in case you wanted to use an effects part, and the ports that were on his legs are technically accessible on the belly of the jet (although, with no landing gear, he's going to wind up sitting on them). However, like the original toy, Zigzag and Sunbeam have 5mm ports on the top sides of their gun modes. These ports allow them to mount onto the pegs on the underside of his wing tips. The ports also allow you to plug one into the other to make a single, larger gun. Sure, this was a gimmick the G1 toy had, and sure, he could use the super gun in bot mode like the G1 toy. However, Hasbro added a specific gimmick that requires Sunbeam to be placed into the more forward port on Zigzag. Then, you can undo the back of the plane just enough to open Needlenose's feet. A notched tab on Zigzag's heels will plug into slots under Needlenose's exhaust nozzle, with clearance behind the nozzle for Sunbeam's head. And... yeah, I mean, it's a thing you can do. Doesn't look much better than when Darkwing and Dreadwind become Dreadwing, but it's something. Gotta be honest, when they announced Needlenose I can't say I was super excited for him. Sure, he had a role in the IDW comics (as the brother of Tracks, no less), but I didn't have the original toy, he wasn't in the cartoon, and I was out of the Marvel comics by the time he showed up. I didn't dislike him, but a part of me was asking, "why this guy" for a new Deluxe mold, especially when Breakdown is getting shafted into a minimal retool of Wildrider. Early pictures, with the robot wearing a jet on his back and a jet carrying a folded-up robot on his belly, didn't exactly wow me, either. In hand, though, the ease of flipping him between modes and his solid articulation make him a very fun figure to mess around with, and I'm finding that I actually like this guy a lot. I'm going to go ahead and give him a a solid recommend from me.

More or less. Like I said, his dinosaur legs are connected to the sides of his robot hips and the outsides of his robot knees; that's the only way his robot legs are attached to his body. For combined mode his dinosaur legs rotate near the ankles, effectively turning his dino legs into Volcanicus' thighs but turning his robot legs to the outside as yet more kibble. I keep thinking that he'd have had the same amount of kibble but a much better bot and dino mode if they made the dino legs thinner, cartoon-accurate ones attached near his ankles (and not his hips at all), given him actual thighs that connected is lower legs to his body, and did the ol' splits at the hips, legs bend inward at the knees and used his robot legs for Volcanicus' thighs. But what do I know?

Legacy Evolution continues to trickle out... I haven't got any of the "main" ones you guys would be most interested in yet, but I do have Core-class Sludge to look at today. Well... I mean, where do I even start? Slag, despite having some toy-ish kibble on his legs, was clearly going for a cartoon aesthetic. But it's hard to tell what's even going on with Sludge. Right away, you eyes are drawn to the massive kibble hanging off of his hips. It's not his tail, hugging the sides of his lower legs like the cartoon. It's his dino legs, which I guess is more toy style, except the G1 toy (and the Combiner Wars version) had the legs attached near his robot ankles. At first you might think Evolution Sludge's dino legs are attached near his knees, and they are, and maybe you can just rotate them to be more out of the way, except the dino legs are also attached to his hips. Perhaps you're so distracted by that kibble that you almost don't notice that while his chest is painted red with a black panel, his midriff is bare gray plastic. Or that his pelvis flap and the bottom of the dino feet on his hips are black, but his "thighs" (such as they are) are gray. Or that his wings aren't attached to his back, but rather, are molded onto the outsides of his arms, which are set weirdly out from his chest. Ultimately, while I certainly had my issues with Slag, it's clear that Sludge's transition to Core-class turned out much worse, at least in bot mode. And, at around the same size as Slag, he's going to suffer from the same scale issues when placed with the other Core-class figures. But hey, at least they molded that gunsight pattern inside the 5mm port on his chest. Sludge's issues aren't just aesthetic. The way he's built is just bizarre, and it affects his articulation. His head can swivel, no tilt. His shoulders are ball joints, so they can swivel and move laterally about 60 degrees. He has no other arm articulation- no biceps, elbows, or wrists. He doesn't swivel at the waist, but he can swivel at the chest, so that's something at least. Ok, now his legs are were things get really weird. If you look under his hinged pelvis flap you'll find the black part of his "thighs" are actually part of said flap. Under the flap, you'll find some silver thighs, but they're not attached to his pelvis at all. Instead, they're molded onto the dinosaur legs. Where the dino feet are attached to his hips on a disc hinge is where his hips swivel forward and backward a little over 90 degrees in either direction, and they can move laterally about 45 degrees (but more than 30 degrees and you'll be able to see the gap between his silver "thighs" and the bottom of his pelvis flap). The dino legs have a swivel that kind of acts as a thigh swivel, but it's actually shifting his robot leg out and around, which again quickly breaks the illusion that his robot "thigh" is attached to anything. A ball joint connects the dino leg to the outside of his robot knees, allowing them to bend over 90 degrees. He has no foot or ankle articulation. Sludge doesn't come with any accessories, although his dino head is not attached in the package. Thing is, there's no way for him to hold it in his hand, and it doesn't partsform, so once you have it attached to his back there's no reason to remove it. That said, his fists do have the smaller holes that the other Core-class figures do, so he can at least hold their accessories. Transforming Sludge is pretty simple, but it's noteworthy for one reason- unlike the G1 toy, the Combiner Wars toy, and the Studio Series 86 toy, Evolution Sludge's robot arms do not become any of his alt mode's legs. But maybe they should have, because his alt mode is decidedly not great. His front legs have that sort of stubby look of the G1 toy and cartoon, but his rear legs don't have the shape of either. But what bugs me more is that SS86 Sludge, ostensibly cartoon-accurate and the model the Core-class should follow, has rear legs that bend backward. Instead of copying his larger sibling, though, Evolution Sludge has hips that are set back way too far, and knees that are permanently molded bending forward. Combine that with a hollow gap under his neck and the stumpiest of tails that's connected to his body higher than his neck and he's really not looking too hot (although he does sort of look like my cat when he's about to pounce). Adding insult to injury, Sludge does nothing in dinosaur mode. He has zero articulation- his jaws don't open, his neck doesn't bend. He has no elbow, knee, or ankle articulation. His hips and shoulders do not move. His limbs are frozen in place against his body. I mean, Slag's articulation wasn't the best, but at least his shoulders and hips swiveled, his shoulders had lateral movement, and he could open his mouth. How did Sludge get to be so bad? Well, I'll tell you... he was designed to be a half a torso first, and both of his other modes too a back seat to that. Of course, it may be hard to see when Sludge is in his combined mode without being connected to any other Dinobots... he looks like he simply raised his arms, turned his dino legs 180 degrees, then folded over his robot legs. Because that's pretty much it... and on that note, I'm finding it difficult to believe that his horrible robot mode design was the only way to get his robot and dinosaur legs into a configuration like this. Regardless... once he's in position, take the Volcanicus head out of Slag's tail, then plug the 5mm port on the gold side into the hole on Sludge's chest. With Slag's tail attached, you'll find that the two holes next to Sludge's head line up with two pegs on Slag's chest. The forward-most hole on Slag's tail lines up with a peg on his dino chin, and Sludge's head fits into the cavity in Slag's chest. If everything is lined up right, Slag's front toes will tuck into the dino legs on Sludge's back. Then, you can use holes on the inside of Sludge's forearms to lock them onto pegs on Slag's front legs. Everything should fit together nice and snug. The outside of Sludge's hands have peg holes that I expect the arms will plug into. Sludge's dino legs form Volcanicus' thighs and have 5mm peg holes on the bottom where the legs will plug in. Of course, the other Dinobots aren't available yet... AFAIK, we haven't even seen renders or prototypes. However, using 5mm ports for connections means we can get a little creative and make a complete robot by grabbing some parts from the War for Cybertron Weaponizers, Modulators, or Fossilizers. I used Slammer's shoulders to extend the thighs and turn the 5mm port into a peg, then attached Slammer's legs. I had a harder time finding shoulders with pegs instead of peg holes, But Ironworks would do. I thought they looked a little short on their own, though, so I removed the hook hand and plugged in the rest of Slammer's arm. To use Slammer's other arm on the other side I grabbed the hook arm from the Botropolis Ironworks. Well, now his arms are too long, but... you get the idea. Combined, Slag and Sludge make a decent, if little, torso. And yes, Sludge is a sauropod, Rairyu is a sauropod, Sludge forms the lower torso of this Volcanicus instead of his right leg, just like Rairyu forms Dinoking's lower torso. Honestly, I fully expect Hasbro to redeco/retool this set into Dinoking from Victory before they actually try to do Monstructor. But I digress. As a Sludge to go with your Core-class Transformers, Evolution Sludge is a failure. He's a terrible robot, with a bad dinosaur mode that can't even move, and he's too small to scale with guys like Core-class Ratchet let alone Core-class Prime. If that's what you want, you're better off looking into DX9's old Dinobots, or maybe hoping NewAge does the other four now that they've done Grimlock. The only reason to buy Evolution Sludge is if you're committing now to the Core-class Volcanicus, and on that note at least I can say that Slag and Sludge combined make a decent torso, but we'll see how the limbs turn out.

Nonnef put up a kit that replaces parts of Pointblank's biceps and elbows with ones that allow a proper bicep swivel and a double-jointed elbow bend. The only catch is that the new elbow is more flush with his bicep, so there's a bit of a gap where the grill of the car mode is more recessed. Kit also includes the engine/spoiler/shield thingy, but alas, not a toy/Headmasters head. I ordered myself a copy and I'll be reviewing it in the 3P thread later, but I wanted to post about it here because Nonnef says the default elbow parts that come with the kit are black, but he made a limited number of extra red (that match the car mode better and are the original elbow colors) and blue (that match the robot mode better). While stock lasts, if you put the full kit in your cart you can use a drop-down option on the product page to add an extra set of the other colors, and I figured maybe you guys might want to get on that.

I'm not a legal expert, but there's a ton of gloom-and-doom videos on YouTube right now about this. I suppose it's understandable that content creators whose livelihood revolves around D&D are going to focus on the potential worst-case-scenarios, although the crotchety gen x-er in me can't help but see a level of entitlement around the cries of "how dare Hasbro/WOTC want more control over how my business uses that thing they own!" Like, there didn't have to be an OGL in the first place. In any case, while I do the points behind some of their concerns, I think it might be a bit overblown. Like, it shouldn't affect D&D Online, Neverwinter, NWN, etc at all, because they weren't produced under the OGL, they were licensed D&D products. Likewise, I've heard more than one creator bring up the KOTOR games, but again in the 2000s WOTC was the publisher of the official Star Wars RPG, which used a d20 system similar to the then-current 3rd edition of D&D, so I don't think KOTOR is an OGL product. And the YouTubers? Skits like VivaLaDirtLeague and All for 1 have a lot of leeway, because a.) there's nothing uniquely D&D vs any generic RPG about them, and b.) parody is always fair use. I believe fair use is still going to apply, too, to discussions about the game (eg. "10 best Cantrips!" "Ranking each D&D Class" etc). Stuff like Critical Role, where they're more or less filming their actual D&D sessions, is maybe in a bit more trouble, but it's worth pointing out that Critical Role already has a relationship with WOTC, who have published two official 5e books based on Critical Role material (Explorer's Guide to Wildemount and Call of the Netherdeep). No, what WOTC is really after here isn't old video games or XP to Level 3's "Fireball" video. What they're really going after are the books and supplements being published under the OGL (and even then, only a percentage on earnings over $750,000 a year). See, at it's core, the new OGL is all about Paizo and Pathfinder. Sure, with the changes and what not Paizo made to Pathfinder 2e the game might be different enough now that Paizo could defend it as its own thing, but the fact is that Pathfinder 1e was very much a modified D&D 3.5e they made with the OGL that wound up becoming WOTC's biggest competition. There's also the small matter of the fact that the original OGL was written in such a way that if WOTC did change it that creators were free to stick to the old version. Again, not a lawyer, so I'm not sure how that works exactly - it might also mean sticking to an older version of the SRD, so maybe a creator couldn't make something for the upcoming One D&D under the old OGL, but maybe WOTC couldn't stop them for making something compatible with 3e or original 5e. Regardless, I think this is a topic that's going to generate a lot of noise for awhile. WOTC might even make a few amendments to the new OGL. But in the end One D&D's still going to sell, and YouTuber's are still going to make their videos, and you won't be hearing a peep about this a year from now.

Interesting, but realistically too big for my house and still too stylized (though better than the scrawny Thrilling 30 one).

I guess we're not totally done with Reformatted yet... at least, not with their Remix subline. Sadly, MMC decided to skip Ratbat, Slugfest, and Overkill and move on to Blaster's cassettes, starting with Tempo, their version of Steeljaw. We're going to work backward on this one, so like the other Remix releases Tempo turns into 1:1 scale cassette tape. I feel like I've probably touched on this when I reviewed other Remix releases, but going with 1:1 cassettes instead of microcassettes like the G1, official MP, and now Fans Toys versions means that there's simply no Blaster out there that Tempo will fit into. For some, that probably defeats the purpose of transforming in the first place. As an '80s kid, though, this is a powerfully nostalgic form factor, as I had probably a low-hundreds number of cassettes, mostly of hair metal bands that sort of faded away when grunge took over in the '90s. Tempo is pretty bland, though. To be fair, I suppose the other Remix cassettes are pretty bland by default, too, but I got the labels for Jaguar (I seem to recall MMC had some kind of deal with Toyhax at the time?). As is, Tempo has some obvious cassette features, like the thicker trapezoidal section at the bottom and the two spindle holes, but without the window for the reel and any sort of labels he looks more like a flat-packed machine than an obvious cassette. Fortunately, he has one accessory, and it mostly helps with that. Like the other Remix release, Tempo comes with a cassette case you can store him in. Unlike the other Remix releases, though, where the instructions came as liner notes that also fit into the cassette case, MMC seems to have messed up with Tempo's instructions. Yes, they're still designed with a cover and spine, and the instructions are meant to look like liner notes, but this time they do NOT fit into the case. Instead, they sort of wrap around the outside of the case when it's closed. If I'm totally honest, my Remix figures have been in their non-cassette modes pretty much 100% of the time I've owned them, and the cases for the previous ones are in a closet. And yes, once we get Tempo out of cassette mode he's not likely to go back, and his case will also go in the closet. But somehow, this design choice/issue really bugs me. Getting Tempo out of cassette mode has similarities to Jaguar, but with shorter limbs and a lot more building a box around his upper torso. It's not difficult, although there are a few areas you need to pay close attention to. Folding the halves of his body together can be a bit finnicky, though. At the very least, at least his body locks together solidly, whereas Jaguar's halves just kind of lay against each other, so Tempo feels a bit more solid. Or rather, solidly built... like Jaguar, most of the diecast in him is in his forelimbs, but since his forelimbs are smaller than Jaguar's, he weighs noticeably less. Aesthetically, I think MMC did a pretty good job. The molded linework on his mane and the slight upward bend at the end of his tail are both features seen in the cartoon. His face has a more defined, feline sculpt than the flat, mushy animation model. I think the biggest change on Tempo vs the animation are the gold wing guns. In the animation, the gun part is larger and covers a lot of his sides, and the whole thing sits lower so the round part of the wing is below his back. Tempo's design is meant to incorporate the wings into the transformation, no partsforming, without interfering with his articulation, though. So I'd say it's forgivable. Speaking of that articulation, he's got a good bit. His head is on a ball joint, that allows him to look up, look down, tilt his head sideways, and turn his head from side-to-side. His ears can wiggle, and his jaws open. The whole of his mane is hinged, allowing him to arch his back there, plus some hinges just behind where his wings are attached allows him to arch his back or ab crunch. Thing wings themselves are hinged, so they can fold outward a bit (there are clearance issues with the gun barrels and his shoulders). His shoulders have ball joints for rotation and a backwards butterfly, and hinges for 180 degrees of lateral motion. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. His paws are on hinged ball joints, so they can tilt up, down, and pivot. His hips are ball joints that swivel and move laterally 90 degrees. His "knees" bend forward around 90 degrees, and his rear paws use the same hinged ball joint setup as his front ones. Should you get Tempo? For me, the impetus for getting the Remix cassettes has been that, regardless of what Takara says the official scale is, the official MP cassettes seem too small to me. If you prefer the smaller scale, then you're probably fine with the official MPs, or the Fans Toys/Robot Paradise ones. And, hey, Fans Toys/Robot Paradise seems to be working on a Blaster and his cassettes, so maybe you're covered there. But if you're like me, and you prefer the larger scale for the MP cassettes, then Tempo is a fine addition to your collection, and I'm looking forward to MMC doing Ramhorn, Rewind, and Eject.

As far as aesthetics go, some of the people who work with MMC have commented on that. The idea for the Ocular Max line was that the designs would be based on Studio OX, however, it quickly became apparent that full-on Sunbow was what the majority of the market seemed to want. The more recent the design, the more Sunbow less OX/Hasui. Regarding materials, I don't think MMC is necessarily done with diecast (or even thinner panels... I'll be getting to that in my next review). I mean, what was their Ocular Max release before the Assaultus bots? I'm thinking it was Saltus, and he had diecast. I think the lack of diecast on their Combaticons and Protectobots is simply because they're combiners, and the extra weight is more of a detriment than an asset. All that being said, yeah, it definitely gives their combiners more of a Reformatted feel (if not aesthetic), and that's not really a bad thing. MMC's Reformatted releases (with the debatable exception of their Insecticons, who were originally supposed to be OX) have a pretty stellar track record, while some of their early Ocular Max stuff had a few issues. Sadly, the word going around is that MMC may be killing off the Reformatted line. One the one hand, that's a bummer... like I said, they've had some really great releases in that line. On the other hand, sales of Reformatted figures are down. Hasbro's mainline has been resurgent since Siege, and the Reformatted stuff was always sort of too big for Hasbro, too small for MP. Combined with the fact that we're getting farther and farther from IDW v1, where they were taking a lot of their design cues and... yeah.

But he did make it shortly thereafter. So, this is MMC Ocular Max Navigant, their MP-style Streetwise. I suppose I could have had him with Generation Toy, TFC, or Combiner Wars Streetwise- I know that when I reviewed Medicus I put him with the GT version. But, what's really the point of placing a figure like Navigant with such stylized figures? No, I figured the best figure to compare Navigant to was Medicus, so you can see how the team is shaping up so far. Because, like Medicus, Navigant definitely has that Sunbow aesthetic. He's got the truncated hood for abs, a chest dominated by a windshield, the pelvis with the molded square, the V-shapes on his thighs, even the lines on his wrists where the animators where maybe sort of drawing where the alt mode's headlights were. Navigant sports cartoon-accurate white toes (despite the toes being formed from the lightbar on the original toy), the correct number and placement of windows on his shins. He's got the extra red details on his head, and the sides of his forearms are formed from car panels so he's got wheels in all the right places. I'm not sure how cartoon accurate his back is, but there's some mechanical details on his calves that I definitely don't mind, and the large chunk of his actual hood on his back keeps things super tidy. I think the only thing I can really fault is that he doesn't have his stars on the outsides of his legs- they're actually on the insides, due to how he transforms. It's a small thing, though, and I can definitely live with it as-is. Oh, one more reason I compared Navigant with Medicus... Medicus is white. Navigant is gray. Maybe Navigant is a little more gray in-hand than I expected, but Streetwise is actually supposed to be light gray, not white (or the, I dunno, beige that X-Transbots went with). I feel like MMC is the only one to have gotten this right. Anyway... Navigant doesn't come with (or need) a lot of accessories, but he does have slightly more than Medicus did. For starters, you get his pistol. It's slightly larger than Medicus', but it's a similar style that doesn't have a ton of detail. You also get two alternate heads, one with a slight smile and the other a grimace. To swap the heads, you just yank the installed head off of the ball joint and pop another on. Options are good, but I'm fine with the the default stoic face. Although Navigant's neck sits on a ball joint, there's a hinge in his head necessary for transformation. So, he has a little bit of sideways tilt, not a ton down, but he can look 90 degrees straight up. It doesn't even really break the sculpt, because he's got a neck under it all. His shoulders rotate and extend laterally 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, and his double-jointed elbows bend maybe 120 degrees or so. His wrists swivel, plus they're hinged so they can bend outward slightly and inward almost 90 degrees. His thumb is on a ball joint that swivels and folds the thumb over the palm. Each finger is a separate piece with a hinge at the base, though they are sadly molded into a permanent curl. His waist swivels, and he does have around 90 degrees of ab crunch. His hip skirts are hinged, and with them out of the way his hips can go 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees. His toes can tilt up and down, and he's got just a bit under 45 degrees of ankle pivot. Like Medicus, Navigant bucks the usual MP trend of putting tabs on the sides of the gun's handle and instead puts one on the back. So, instead of tabbing into his palm just behind the finger hinges, it plugs in to the base of the palm, where it juts out for the thumb. There's a trend I've noticed with companies like Fans Toys, XTB, and even Takara to utilize overly-complicated transformations to take a robot from super Sunbow to a somewhat more detailed alt mode. Indeed, when XTB and MMC announced they were both doing Protectobots around the same time, I checked out the early reviews for XTB's version of Streetwise and noped right out of what looked like a frustrating mess. I'm very pleased to say that the wizards at MMC, though, have a reputation for crafting figures with more clever and, dare I say, fun transformations. That's certainly the case here, as going from robot to car was a piece of cake. Just remember to spin the lightbar around. Navigant turns into a fairly realistic Nissan 300 ZX (I mean, realistic enough that I'm pretty sure MMC was using the '84 50th Anniversary Edition as a reference), so you've got the accurate intake and hood scoop, accurate placement for the headlights, taillights, and marker lights, and a little silver bump where the Z badge should go. Cartoon accuracy means he's got a white nose and spoiler, plus yellow stars on his doors instead of black (although they lack the rounded tips), and the lightbar is the cartoon-style instead of the solid red of the toy. Yet, MMC decided to run a black stripe down each side that neither the G1 toy nor the Sunbow model had, and the side mirrors are also black. The mirrors don't bother me, but I might actually see if I can remove the stripe. I don't usually make a big deal about how the underside of an alt mode looks- to me, it's kind of ok if it's a bunch of obvious robot bits scrunched up under there, as long as I don't see a face. But, lo and behold, Navigant is pretty tidy under there. Only his arms are particularly visible, and even then you kind of have to know what you're looking for there. Navigant rolls on four rubber tires. His doors can open, as long as you ignore the fact that the window and frame stay behind, and there's no empty space for anyone to sit. That said, there is just enough space in there for you to stash his gun. Granted, it doesn't have a cutout that it can sit securely; once you close him up that gun will rattle around in there. But, I can't find any other way to store his gun, and it works for both car mode and combined mode. Speaking of combined mode... the feet, knees, and a structural part connecting the feet and knees of Defensor are going to come from MMC's Hotspot. I think, especially after the many Menasors that have been released, there's a temptation there to just stick a car onto that structure. Maybe mess with the hood to give a "transformed" look. I mean, that's what GT and Maketoys did with their Defensors. Even when Streetwise is the whole lower leg there isn't a lot of transformation, like Combiner Wars or TFC, and Streetwise can make sort of a thin leg. This is not going to be the case with Navigant. From the front, he's got the Sunbow car-with-a-shortened-hood look of the cartoon, but as you look around him you can see how MMC made Navigant actually transform, expanding and filling out his leg mode. Navigant is a very easy recommend from me, even if you just want a solid Streetwise and don't care about Defensor or the other Protectobots. Consider, Medicus was my pick for my favorite 3P figure of 2022, and I think that Navigant is even better than Medicus. His shoulders lock in better, his joint tolerances are better, his proportions are a little better, and his transformation is a bit more intuitive. Just a really solid, fun figure all around.

Yes. They sold through their initial stock very quickly, but I think they're expecting more by the end of the month. I'm in the same boat with a different figure with them.

Chalk it fewer MP-style 3P releases, the fact that I'm getting close to "completing" my MP collection, or some combination thereof, but 2022 wasn't the best year for me and 3P stuff. I reviewed 97 official releases in 2022, but (excluding reviews I wrote for older figures that I just happened to pick up and reviews for upgrade kits) I only wrote eight reviews for 3P figures. Over in the official thread I listed my top five of the year, and the challenge was whittling my list down to the best five. I'm having the opposite problem here- I think to get to five I might have to include some stuff that I'm not so gung-ho on. 5. X-Transbots Janssen - When I reviewed it, I had some issues with it, and apparently some other people had some QC problems. I concluded that it was a pretty significant upgrade over Fans Toys' original Tesla, and that it was a better value than their newer Tesla 2.0, so I gave it a recommend. Well, in the months since you could find some deals on Tesla 2.0 that brought it to around the same price, and at that point maybe go with Tesla 2.0 instead? 4. Magic Square Crane Master & Load Master - Magic Square packs some impressive engineering into their designs... but, between the small size and smushy nylon plastic they can also be a tad finnicky. Still, this was the set that completed their Devastator, which I think has better engineering and looks better than NewAge's... but yeah. Finnicky. I'd still love to see someone upscale this set to modern Hasbro Deluxes, maybe use less nylon in their plastic. 3. Fans Hobby Meg Tyranno - After a bit of a QC disaster with their Armada Optimus, Fans Hobby came back swinging with their Armada Megatron. Meg Tyranno has solid aesthetics, a solid if uninspired transformation, and lots of compartments and play patterns that remind me of their Overlord (one of my favorite Fans Hobby releases). This one might have scored higher, if I were more of an Armada fan. 2. Magic Square Light of Justice - Two things prevented this from figure from being my #1. First, the plastic, while sturdy, is thin and light, and there's no diecast and very little paint, giving the figure a "cheap" feel. Second, when it comes to aesthetics, I still prefer their earlier Light of Freedom. Once you overlook those two issues, though, what you're left with is a figure that looks cleaner and has a cartoon-accurate minimal backpack compared to MP-44 and has far better articulation and doesn't seem as lifeless as Transform Element's OP Leader. Pair that with a straightforward, pleasing transformation and compatibility with both MP-10 and MP-44's trailers, and you've got my second-favorite MP Optimus. 1. MMC Ocular Max Medicus - When it comes to 3P Transformers, in my book, MMC is the company to beat. Sure, they don't use as much diecast or paint as Fans Toys... they also don't charge as much as Fans Toys, and they still make figures that strike a good balance between realistic and Sunbow. But what really sets MMC apart from their competitors is that somehow consistently make figures that don't just look good, they're fun to handle. MMC releases figures that have some of the most clever engineering, and Medicus is no exception. Super clean, cartoon-accurate robot mode with solid articulation. Gorgeous alt mode that's 95% Sunbow but with some extra real-world details. An arm mode that features a bicep swivel, double-jointed elbow, and a fully-articulated hand that requires zero partsforming because the hand is actually built-in. And, somehow, a transformation between those modes that's clever, fun, and doesn't make you want to pull your hair out. This guy is the total package, and I can't wait to review Navigant (who technically released at the very end of last year, but didn't make it to me before the New Year).

Caught some benchmarks for the RTX 4070 Ti. And... I dunno. Performance seems similar to the 3090 Ti, and it costs about the same as a 3090 Ti. Seems to perform a little better than the 7900 XT, and it seems to cost a little more than the 7900 XT. So... it's fine? I guess? Although maybe the 7900 XTX is a better bang for your buck, assuming you're not super concerned with power draw or ray tracing (or melting GPU connectors). Or you could spend a little more and get an RTX 4080. But I think Linus over at LMG made a good point when he was comparing the price of the RTX 4070 Ti with the 3070 Ti. Like, this is the 70-level card- if you wanted to pay 3090 Ti prices for 3090 Ti performance, you probably already bought a 3090 Ti. Crypto crashed, the most popular GPU (according to Steam) is the GTX 1650, GPU sales are down to a 20-year low, and there's an argument to be had that GPU prices are simply too high across the board right now. And that's sort of where I'm landing... I think tech like DLSS/FidelityFX and ray tracing can make a big difference, but maybe we're not there yet. So, while I'm currently on an RTX 2080 and usually like to upgrade every other generation, I think I'm going to sit out an extra generation and maybe see what's cooking when we get to the RTX 5000/AMD 8000 series.

Well, new year, new Transformers branding. Sure, some Youtubers getting the backdoor specials or even a few paying a premium to get their stuff imported from Robot Kingdom just to get their videos out first have most of the wave done already, but I buy local... so I was kind of surprised when Evolution Core-class Slag Slug arrived today. Hmm. As I've said before, Hasbro's logic for releasing characters like this in the Core-class is to have smaller versions you can pair with Titans to make the Titans seem bigger. Which is fine... except that any semblance of scale at this class is now gone. I mean, previous Core-class figures like Optimus, Megatron, Shockwave, and Starscream are all similar in size, so having them all about the same size at the Core-scale is fine. But Slag shouldn't be the same size... it's almost like Slag is a pretool for another figure... But I think Slag properly scaled with the other Core-class figures would be more like a Deluxe. Oh, wait, we already have a Deluxe-class Slag. And a Leader. And little Core-class Slag is borrowing from both. I mean, he's got the cartoon colors with the red head and face with the blue eyes and the silver silver/gray thighs, but the engineering is much closer to the Deluxe, which like the Deluxe ditches the wings and leaves large dino leg kibble hanging off of his legs. Although, his back does split and fan out for another mode. It's not official, but I like to do it for his robot mode, too. It kind of gives him his wings. Slag's sole accessory is this rather odd-looking blaster. Even by Core-class standards, I'm not loving Slag's articulation. He can look up slightly, no down or sideways tilt, and he can swivel his head, but the entire dino head turns with his bot head. His shoulders rotate and can extend around 180 degrees on a ratcheted (or at least detented) hinge. He has no bicep swivel, though, and no elbow joint, and no wrist joint, though, so get what you can out of that shoulder. If you leave him "properly" transformed his backpack will stop his waist from swiveling, but the swivel is there- just open his back up like I prefer it. His hips are ball joints that can go 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally. His knees are also ball joints, so they have to double as thigh swivels in addition to bending almost 180 degrees. Using the smaller peg on the unpainted side of his gun you can insert it into either of his fists. Transforming Slag is very simple- his bib folds up over his face, and his legs tab together and fold over 180 degrees to form the dino butt. His arms need to move laterally 180 degrees, then swivel to get the dino toes facing forward, then it's just a matter of getting the back legs in place to have a tiny Triceratops on your desk. And he looks ok... from some angles. From too low on the sides you'll seem some spots on his front legs where Hasbro hollowed the plastic. Plus, he's looking sort of anemic with no wings to fill in his dino sides, and his tail is kind of stumpy and rides a little high. That is, of course, because his blaster turns into his tail. Well, that's partly why... I mean, you'd think even as a blaster he could have had a longer and more tail-like tail. It's almost like Slag's designed around something else. If you don't mind his robot face peeking out, you can open his dino mouth. His rear legs swivel, but they have no other joints. His front legs swivel and can move laterally, but he's got no other joints there. Now, if that's all Slag did I'd say he's one of the worst Core-class releases Hasbro's done so far and write him off. But there is actually a bit more to it. See, you can remove this black part from under the tail... it's a head! Move all four of Slag's legs back- his front legs will have tabs that plug into his sides. Open his backpack up- this is what it's actually for- and you'll find a 5mm port you can plug the head into. On the underside you'll note a gaping hole is Slag's chest plus three pegs (marked green), and two more pegs (yellow) on the side. Yep, Hasbro's doing the Dinobots as a combiner thing again. Here's Slag in his head and torso mode, where he's listed as part 1 of 6 to make Volcanicus. ...wait a minute. Previously, even when they released Slash as a sixth Dinobot, Power of the Primes Volcanicus only had five members. And Grimlock formed the head and torso. It's almost like Slag is a pretool for a different figure. Do we know of any other combining Triceratops? Who form the torso of their respective combiner? Yeah, this is an interesting case, because Hasbro's design team has shown a willingness to take the old G1 Pretenders and give them one mode based on their shell and one based on the inner figure. Sure, with Skullgrin, Bomb Burst, and Iguanus it's been robots based on the Pretender shells with the alt modes of their inner robots, and Kakuryu would have to be the opposite- a Triceratops based on his Pretender shell and a robot based on the inner bot. And sure, Hasbro would probably have to do some retooling to get a robot that looks more like Kakuryu, who didn't have a dino head for a hood. You might also point out that Kakuryu's western counterpart, Slog, had a weird alien-looking Pretender shell, not a dinosaur, and the inner robot for both had a bipedal monster for an alt mode more reminiscent of Blot than a Triceratops. Still, Kakuryu is definitely a sauratopsid, and he definitely turns into the chest of Dinoking. Oh, and some of Dinoking's other parts include Rairyu, a Brontosaurus (like Sludge), Goryu, a T-Rex (like Grimlock), Yokuryu, a Pteradactyl (like Swoop), and Doryu, a Stegosaurus (like Snarl). Just wait and see if Volcanicus' new 6th member is an Ankylosaurus, like Gairyu. Of course, on that note, I still don't really recommend Slag. As a solo figure, even a Core-class one, he's not that exciting. Nor am I jumping at the chance to have a Volcanicus made out of Core-class Dinobots. To me, the most interesting thing about Slag is his potential as a pretool for Kakuryu (or even Slog). A Dinoking/Monstructor, even if it's only Core-class, is definitely something I'd want. EDIT: Messing with Slag a bit more, I have to say that regardless of what the instructions and official product photography show, I'm like 99% sure his backpack is supposed to be open like wings for robot mode. Not only does it free up the waist swivel (a joint that isn't used in the other modes), but you'll note that there's a 5mm peg on top of his tail/gun. With his backpack open the same 5mm port that the Volcanicus head plugs into is exposed on his back, and you can use the 5mm peg on his tail to store the whole thing on his back in bot mode.

And a very Happy (belated) New Year to you and everyone else who puts up with my long-winded posts on the toys I bought as well! I went back and looked at all the review posts I made in 2022, and I have to say that while Legacy on the whole definitely wasn't as exciting as the War for Cybertron trilogy (for me, at least) there were still some very excellent releases from Hasbro last year. So, without further ado, my top five official Transformers releases of 2022. 5. Leader-class Transmetal II Megatron - while some loose joints gave me an initial negative impression, once I tightened him up with some floor polish and he could hold a pose he's been sitting on top of my PC tower. In an era where "Leader" has come to mean "Voyager with extra bits" it's a rarity for a sub-Commander to have this much presence. Megatron rounds out the package with decent articulation and a downright pleasant transformation. I'm not even a big Beast Wars fan, but this is the best figure Hasbro's released named "Megatron" in years. 4. Commander-class Motormaster - Speaking of "Voyager with extra bits," Commander-class Motormaster gave me something that Combiner Wars failed to do: a cartoon-accurate robot with the little truck feet that scales with Prime but isn't a repaint of him, that turns into a whole truck and trailer. And while there are those who would prefer more actual combining and less sticking cars onto a mostly-complete robot, turning Motormaster's trailer into most of Menasor's body works, at least for the Stunticons, giving us a Menasor that's far more stable and better proportioned than the Combiner Wars one. Just a few minor complaints held this release from being higher on my list, like the lack of G1-style rifles for Motormaster or Menasor, the bland shins on Menasor, and a few panels that don't lock into place well. 3. Leader-class Holiday Optimus Prime - Optimus Prime colored like he's wearing a Santa suit with a gun and trailer from the Earthrise release painted like a candy cane seems like a novelty, something you might break out as part of your Christmas decorations and forget about for the other 11 months of the year. But, with his licensed Volvo VNR alt mode, solid articulation, and just-right transformation Holiday Optimus Prime was one of the low-key best Optimus figures we've got, and I sincerely hope Hasbro finds a way to revisit the mold with a more everyday deco. 2. Voyager-class Studio Series 86 Ironhide - When I started collecting the "Classics" line over fifteen years ago, one of my wants quickly became collecting the main cast from the G1 cartoon I grew up watching. And for years, Hasbro's put out a series of successively better Ironhide figures that never quite hit the mark (such that YouTube personality Thew Adams did a video about this very topic). Universe Ironhide was a bit a of a mess, replace by Combiner Wars Ironhide that was somehow better despite not really looking like Ironhide from the neck down, followed by Siege who looked pretty good in bot mode but had that Cybertronian alt mode, and then the Amazon-exlcusive Earthrise one that retooled the Siege figure into a passable earth van with a massive partsforming roof, as long as you didn't mind upgrading the Siege feet with some aftermarket ones that looked more like the rear of a van. At that point I'm sure some of us, myself included, resigned ourselves to thinking that Earthrise Ironhide was as good as it'd get, at least for now. And then the design team at Hasbro applied a Voyager budget to Ironhide, and came up with a totally new mold that delivered a more cartoon-accurate van with no weird feet, no partsforming for the roof, and a robot mode that honestly looks better than MP-27 to me. If there was one retail-release you should have picked up in 2022, it was Studio Series 86 Ironhide. 1. HasLab Victory Saber - It had to be this one. I feel for everyone that had QC issues, the Taiwanese whose Victory Sabers were lost at sea, and our European friends who got screwed by Zavvi, because this one was so good. A decent Saber figure with the Brainmaster gimmick that combined with the V-Star to make an adequately-sized Star Saber probably would have sold me on its own, but to come packed (in a gorgeous box with a reversible slipcover that has American HasLab and Japanese Victory-style designs) with a pretty decent Victory Leo and a boatload of accessories, and to be sturdy and secure even when combined (unlike, say, Takara Legends God Ginrai) really put it over the top for me, even if Holi and Fire are kind of trash.

They had a prototype at one of the trade shows last fall. But other than that, no. Always take 3P release dates with a grain of salt, especially XTB. I'm guessing three more months, minimum.

The funny thing about Magnus is that I'm reading a ton of comments that are basically "ER Magnus sucks, but you can't justify a Commander price for Ultra Magnus." It's like... we've seen what a Leader budget gets us, and we agree, it sucks. If you don't want it to suck, you have to be willing to pay more money. Some of Hasbro's best recent figures (I love SS86 Ironhide so much) have been figures that are the "size" of one class (even though they've stressed a bunch of times that class is a budget, not a size) but utilize the extra parts an engineering from the next size up. I, for one, and willing to pay a bit more if a bit more is the difference between ER Ironhide and SS86 Ironhide. Anyway, just going off the budget, I do kind of wonder if it actually will be a retool of ER Prime and a trailer that armors him up. I don't necessarily need him to be ER Prime, but I do prefer UM to have an inner robot, since it was a big deal to me when I had the original toy as a kid. I even got the Perfect Effect figure for the Combiner Wars one.

So, there's been some Transformers leaks. Unfortunately, must of them just have listings like "Collab 2” or "Selects 3” with prices in Canadian dollars. That said... I'm hearing a few things that are a bit interesting. Like, confirmation that the Commander-class for 2023 is Armada Optimus, and the Titan is the Nemesis. But perhaps the most interesting thing I'm hearing, if you weren't happy with Earthrise Ultra Magnus, is that we should expect a Commander-class Magnus under the SS86 banner.

Seems sketchy to me that Hasbro couldn't cover the amount Zavvi ordered but they could send copies to YouTubers that didn't order one.

At least the Street Fighter crossover figures are there. My Target is nothing but Dinobots.

I'd have to go over it with a fine-toothed comb to spot the differences, but I have the individual releases of Magic Square's Stunticons. They're good! A bit simpler than their Devastator, but at that scale I don't think that's a bad thing.

I don't recall hearing anything yet, but it's probably not an impossibility. Ramjet and Dirge are rumored to be getting re-released. They gotta G1-ify it so it fits with the rest of Legacy, I guess. Seems reaction is pretty mixed, some people really like it, others feel like giving up Wyatt's style is like giving up the soul of the character and are lamenting that they're not getting actual new Animated figures. While odds are good that I pick up this Prowl, and bad that I'd pick up a cartoon-faithful Animated Prowl, I think my position really hasn't changed. That is, I love the idea of taking the best characters from outside G1 and retroactively G1-ing them into Legacy, but I'm decidedly less enthusiastic about G1-ing characters that already have popular G1 versions and would rather Hasbro gave those characters more animation-accurate upgrades. In other words, I think Bulkhead and Knockout worked for me, and I love how the upcoming Skyquake amalgamates Prime with G1, but, Arcee and Prowl are kind of redundant. I'd rather see G1-ish versions of Bayverse Blackout, Animated Lugnut and Lockdown, RiD '15 Strongarm, and Cyberverse Slipstream and Shadowstriker.

Another (Deluxe-class?) Junkion in Legacy Evolution... And a G1-ified Animated Prowl And... yeah. I mean, I guess they do look kind of cool. And I shouldn't be a G1 curmudgeon and I should let Prime and Animated fans enjoy some new figures. On a personal level, though, Legacy was definitely a lot less exciting for me than the WfC Trilogy, and while I'm pretty pumped for Tarn and Leo Prime Evolution isn't exactly wowing me. Thank Primus that I can still expect some good stuff in Studio Series 86.

In all seriousness, I didn't care that Holi and Fire came with Victory Saber. In hand they turned out to be kind of junk, but it didn't bother me because they were always kind of last-minute add-on crap I didn't need in the first place. But now that I know I'm getting Pipo and Boater, too, I'm suddenly excited about the prospect of having the whole team. I even started watching my Victory DVDs and dug TFC's Liokaiser out of storage to replace the joints with the ones TFC made for the reissue. I'm kicking myself for never completing their Road Caesar, and wondering if some enterprising 3P would make the Multiforce...