mikeszekely

The fandom: how about a Studio Series 86 Ratchet, since the Siege Retool wasn't the greatest and kind of hard to get? Hasbro's Monkey Paw: Granted- but Core class.

So I was at my local Target today shopping for my kid's birthday. I didn't expect to find anything new Transformers-wise, but I looked anyway. Silverstreak/Blue Bluestreak is on clearance now, and was going for around $11. Also, the Core-class Studio Series figures (no other Studio Series, and not Legacy Core-class) was on sale for around $5. Now, I'd already picked up Ravage to go with BB Soundwave and Spike to go with my other '86 figures, but I'd been passing on Shockwave. Frankly, a Voyager-class BB Shockwave would have gotten bought in a minute, but with a Core-class Shockwave being massively out-of-scale with every other BB movie figure in the line it always sort of struck me as a pointless waste to fill out a slot they needed to create for Ravage and Spike (that still would have been better filled by an '86 Rumble, Frenzy, or Wheelie, really). But after reviewing the Legacy Core-class Shockwave I'll admit that I was a little more curious about the Studio Series one, and the Big Mac my wife ate a little earlier cost more Shockwave's sale price, so... You know, for the small size and low budget, Hasbro did a fairly decent job here. The unpainted gray plastic might have been better in white, and some more of the mechanical detail in his joints and forearms could use a wash, plus he's got treads on his forearms that the CGI didn't, and sure, he's missing the hose, but for the most part the sculpt and colors are accurate. Plus, while there is some waffling on the backs of his forearms, he doesn't feel as needlessly hollow as his Legacy counterpart. Actually, you might notice that it's not just the hose missing, it's his whole gun hand! Or rather, he has two actual hands. Well, the gun's not missing, it's an accessory. There's a peg inside, and the whole thing fits over his forearm. The hose is still missing, though, and as with the figure itself it could probably use a wash for some of the mechanical details, but the sculpt is accurate enough. Shockwave's articulation is a tad poor. His head can swivel, no tilt. His ball-jointed shoulders can rotate but they can only move about 60 degrees laterally. He does have bicep swivels; unfortunately, for transformation he also has swivels below his elbows, and as those joints are looser they tend to turn and not his actual biceps. Speaking of elbows, they bend a little shy of 90 degrees. There's no wrist or waist swivels. His hips, again ball joints, only get about 60 degrees forward or laterally, and only 45 degrees backward. Plus, the limited range they have on the ball is the only thigh swivel he's got. His knees bend about 60 degrees. His feet have some upward tilt and over 90 degrees of downward tilt due to his transformation, but he doesn't have any ankle pivots. Shockwave turns into a tank. I mean, he didn't transform in the movie, but concept art shows him as a tank, and this toy turns into a tank, and that puts it ahead of that one 3P figure, eh? Transformation is fairly simply and does involve some partsforming, but the result's not too shabby. The tank's not as flat as the concept art, and the realities of limbs shaped like the CGI ones that can't magically make the smoother shapes of the concept art's alt mode means that he's perhaps not quite as cohesive as the concept art, but I don't mind it. Indeed, the whole thing gives me major Transformers Prime Shockwave vibes, and if you're not going to make Shockwave a giant space gun then Prime Shockwave's tank mode is a good runner up. That said, while I still wouldn't mind a Voyager-class figure of this Shockwave you can't just scale up this figure; the visible fists and obvious head peaking from the back won't fly at that scale/budget. At the Core-class, though, the head and partsforming is actually kind of clever. The peg that goes into his fist for bot mode actually folds so it's pointed out the back, and it plugs into the back of Shockwave's head. This means that Shockwave's neck swivel becomes a swivel for the turret, and the hinge that moves the peg from vertical to horizontal allows the barrel to tilt up and down. Ultimately, it's still hard to recommend Studio Series Core-class Shockwave, for the very reasons I'd passed on him in the first place- it scales with nothing. To scale with the other Bumblebee characters that have been released in the Studio Series line Shockwave should be a Voyager, and no other Voyager-sized bots from the film have been shrunk for the Core-class. What's more, Hasbro's reasoning for similar Core-class releases in War for Cybertron and Legacy, like my other recent Shockwave review, is that having bigger characters in a smaller size makes the Titans seem bigger. But so far there haven't been any Titan-class releases in the entire Studio Series line, let alone one from Bumblebee. There is no reason for this Shockwave to exist, especially in lieu of a Voyager one. That said, the simple fact is that if you can overlook the scale issues for a minute this Shockwave is a better toy than the Legacy one. It's got better color breakup and seems more detailed, it's less hollow, the transformation is more fun, and the alt mode is better. So here's the thing- you probably don't need either Core-class Shockwave in your life. But if you think that you do, go for the Studio Series one over the Legacy one.

Not for the Diaclone. But if Action Toys wants to make an easy $100-$150 from me they could re-release their DX Bike Robo in those colors...

I mean, if they actually made it in Cy-Kill colors then I'd buy it...

Well, no sooner do I write about the custom Junkion Rubbish I made with a spare Wreck-Gar and a kit from Nonnef, then what should turn up on my porch but Studio Series Voyager-class Junkheap. I suppose this is technically a repaint review, eh? From the abs down Junkheap is Wreck-Gar in different colors (ok, actually the tops of his feet are new). The armatures inside his torso are the same, and his hands and biceps are the same. So what's all changed? Well, he's got a new head and chest, and new shoulders (at least, the front of his shoulders are new). He's got some new panels on the outsides of his forearms- they're NOT removable. Initially I thought that'd be it, but there's actually a bit more. His forearms are actually different, and it's a bit of a shame that the panels outside cover up some interesting molded details (maybe we'll get a third with the new forearms but without the panels?). I was also a bit surprised to notice that his back is different. By back, I mean the gray backpack. Disappointingly, the backs of his shoulders do NOT match the fronts. Instead, they're from Wreck-Gar. You know what else is reused from Wreck-Gar? His accessories- two wheels, and one pinwheel of murder. I mean, they're not even differently-colored. Articulation is identical to Wreck-Gar. I mean, for the most part. I guess technically he doesn't have Wreck-Gar's nipple cannon articulation, because he doesn't have nipple cannons. His ears can move a little, though, mostly for transformation. Because of the new panels on his forearms Junkheap can't store his wheels on his arms the way Wreck-Gar can. That just leaves him with the outside of his knees. He does still have a small hole on his back for storing the pinwheel, though. There's two minor differences in the transformation from bot to bike you have to observe with Junkheap. First, his ears have to fold for his head to fit into the bike's nose. Second, the panels on his arms rotate back alongside the bottom of the bike. Remember I said the tops of his feet are new parts? They have little tabs on them, and those tabs fit into slots on the arm panels to lock them into place. In bike mode, we see another new part, and that's the bike's nose. It's a bit shorter and wider than Wreck-Gar's, with some different molded detail. While this has the benefit of making Junkheap a bit more visually distinct, I think the real reason is because it needs to be wider to accommodate Junkheap's larger head. In turn, Junkheap's backpack/fuel tank is also a bit larger to accommodate the larger nose folding inside of it for bot mode. Not much else to say, really. He's still got the stands that fold out of his calves, as his legs are carried over from Wreck-Gar. And his pinwheel still stores on the back, because his butt is also carried over from Wreck-Gar. Oh, I suppose this is important to mention. Yes, Wreck-Gar can sit on Junkheap (and vice versa). To be honest, their robot modes are a little big for the the bikes, and I wish their knees bent a little more, but it still works. In fact, there's a tab on the seat. That tab actually locks the seat into the pelvis for bot mode, but there is a slot under the crotch so they can sit on the seat without the tab interfering. It doesn't lock them onto the bike, though. The other Junkions, who took years to even get official names (and even then, Junkheap's name is actually meant to be Junkyard, but apparently Hasbro can't get a trademark for that one), and had a diminished role in season 3. If you're of limited shelf space then Junkheap is arguably less necessary than Wreck-Gar, sure. However, I already thought that Wreck-Gar was a very good mold, and that hasn't changed. Junkyard's worth picking up, and I honestly hope Hasbro makes one a few more Junkions out of this mold, even if they're a little less remolded or under the Generations Selects line. Scrapheap, at the very least.

So not too long ago a new Legacy Core-class Shockwave leaked. I was looking at it, figuring out how it transformed, and thinking that it wasn't really all that different than the old Combiner Wars Legends-class Shockwave, was it? Unlike so many other leaked toys that have been looked at that I'm dying to get my hands on (Motormaster and Sludge NOW please), Shockwave seems to have slipped right from leaking to retail, so today we can have a look and see what's changed since 2016. Well, while both figures share some aesthetic cues and even some engineering similarities, Core-class Shockwave is, in fact, a totally new mold. And where Combiner Wars was still doing the old Classics "G1 but updated" thing, the new Legacy figure is more in-line with the WfC Trilogy's "G1 with more greebles" aesthetic. The engineering of the figure makes him a little chunky, especially in the legs, and his hand/gun could probably have used a little paint, but on the whole it's a little more G1-accurate, a lot more tiny Siege, and on the whole is a better fit with my current collection, at least in robot mode. A quick pic to compare Legacy Shockwave with his larger self. You can see that, despite the obvious difference in proportions and a lack of color breakup on his hands that Hasbro was lifting some of the molded details, including the abs, the shin vents, the foot pistons, wrist panels, and belt buckle right from the Leader-class toy. The backpack is super different, though... Legacy Shockwave doesn't come with all the parts of the Leader toy, but he does come with one accessory. That's more than the CW toy, eh? It's this satellite dish thing, and there's a ton of paint on it (if a little sloppy). Shockwave's head is on a swivel, so he can turn his head but he can't look up or down. His shoulders are on ball joints for rotation and 90 degrees of lateral motion, plus there's a transformation hinge in the chest that can get you up to 180 degrees of lateral motion. No dedicated bicep swivels, but he can swivel at his ball-jointed elbows plus bend them 90 degrees. No wrist or wait swivels. His hips are on ball joints and can move forward, backward, or laterally 90 degrees. No dedicated thigh swivels, but they can swivel at the ball jointed knees- knees that bend 90 degrees at the ball joint. A transformation hinge will allow you to bend the knees further, to almost 180 degrees. No foot articulation. For those keeping score at home, that puts him nearly even, slightly worse than the Combiner Wars figure, which had some tilt on the the ball-jointed neck, dedicated mushroom swivels in the thighs, no ball joints in the knees but hinges that bend nearly 180 degrees, and no ankle pivots but upward foot tilt due to transformation. There's a small peg on the bottom of the satellite dish, and ostensibly you're meant to plug it into Shockwave's fist like it's some sort of gun. That said, there's some interesting stuff going on here. There's a second peg on the back of the dish, and a peg hole on the back of the purple part. And, like the larger Siege version, there's more holes on Shockwave than just his fist- there's one on each shoulder, and one on the outside of each leg near his knee. Plus, the hole on the accessory happens to fit perfectly on the tip of Shockwave's gun-hand, or the guns on his backpack, giving you options for accessory placement reminiscent of the old Siege play pattern but shrunk down for the Core-class scale. So yeah, the engineering in the legs is pretty similar to the older toy. There's nothing to transform with the feet, and instead of the hips shifting down his entire undercarriage shifts down and forward, but the gist of it is that the legs fold around so his thighs tuck into his hollow calves to form the "barrel" of the alt mode, his head tucks into his chest, and his arms stretch out the back. There are a few changes, though. On the newer you have to unfold the backpack over his arms to make up some of the vehicle's rear, instead of the arms themselves doing all the work. There's no G1-style scope, instead folding in Shockwave's head causes a little bridge tower to pop out of his back. Hasbro's leaning hard away from Shockwave-the-gun; indeed, the little Core-class figure's alt mode looks to mimic Siege Shockwave's spaceship mode with all the extra bits you had to buy. Sure, there's some differences. His wings and outermost nacelles have just the single barrels, vs the double-barreled attachments on the larger toy, while the inner single-barreled bits on the Siege toy are simply done away with. But the more squared-off barrel with the protruding sides is what you get after you put the attachments on the larger figure, and the little bridge is modeled after the larger toy down to the fins on the sides. There's even raised bits near the back with molded missiles, just like the backs of Shockwave's feet on the larger toy. Unfortunately, though, Shockwave's arms are very visible just sticking out the back. And unlike the Siege toy you can't leave off the extras, flip him over, and pretend he still has his G1 gun mode. Weird feet-fins aside, now Combiner Wars Shockwave looks a bit more G1 accurate and a bit more cohesive to boot. Legacy Shockwave does still have a flip-down 5mm peg, though, so he can still be used as a (very spaceship-shaped) gun for a larger figure, like CW Bruticus or even Siege Shockwave. So there's that, at least. And Legacy Shockwave does have a place for his accessory in alt mode- it plug into a port just behind the bridge tower. Which feels kind of odd... they seemed to put a lot of effort into mimicking Siege Shockwave's spaceship mode, but then they stuck on a comparatively mammoth dish on the back that Siege Shockwave didn't have. So here's where we stand... while Legacy Shockwave does offer some robot-mode aesthetic improvements over the older Combiner Wars figure it offers no improvements in articulation and an alt mode that is, in my opinion, a downgrade (but your mileage may vary, depending on how much you liked Siege Shockwave's spaceship mode). So who is this figure for? If you want a good G1 Legends-scale Shockwave Magic Square and NewAge both offer better than this, and I'd imagine that even most official-only collectors are more interested in the larger figures, like Siege Shockwave. That already limits the potential pool of customers to just the ones who were buying the Core-class figures as accessories that scale better with the Titans (something Dr. Wu is arguably doing better). But, sure, there's a market for that, right? That's the people who bought the Core-class Soundwave, Optimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream, Hot Rod, and Skywarp. However, while noticeably inferior to 3P offerings, those figures were clearly the best Hasbro had offered for those characters at that scale, whereas Shockwave seems like a lateral move from the Combiner Wars figure. So if you're not collecting larger characters in the Core-class you can pass. If you are collecting larger figures in the Core-class but you already have Combiner Wars Shockwave then you can pass. But if you are collecting larger characters in the Core-class AND you missed Combiner Wars Shockwave, then I guess Legacy Shockwave is for you.

This review for this kit, an upgrade kit for Studio Series Wreck-Gar from Nonnef, has been awhile in the making. Mostly because I felt strongly compelled to do a bit fiddling before I actually put the kit together. We'll start with the easy stuff on the larger gray sprue. While everything here comes with the kit I bought, the Rubbish set, you can buy just this gray sprue for a smaller price as the Wreck-Gar set. And right away, the most obvious part of this kit is a G1 toy-style rifle. The other parts are a bit less obvious. There's a pair of these small bits, and they're basically alternate nipple cannons. The originals are installed on ball joints, so swapping them is a matter of popping the old ones out and pushing the Nonnef ones in. Do people think the default ones are too big or look bad? I personally don't see the need to swap, but it's an option, I guess (although if you use the full Rubbish kit you won't use them anyway). There's also these... shock absorbers?... that you can plug into ports near his ankles. This replicates a detail from the G1 toy, but it's not necessary for a screen-accurate look. The rest of the sprue contains these bits. You have options for robot mode. The larger piece can use the slit in the middle to grab the little tabs on Wreck-Gar's shoulders that plug into his feet for bike mode. The smaller pipe bits can plug into Wreck-Gar's abdomen. Or, you can combine them and make something like a pistol. They're really more for bike mode, though. The pipe plugs into the larger part, and the larger part uses a tab to fit into a hollow piece on Wreck-Gar's seat, and the resulting contraption helps fill in the gap between his seat and his legs. This does require some partsforming, though. While we're in alt mode, I'll note that Nonnef included a small peg on the gun so that it can plug into the back of the bike, just like his pinwheel axe thingy can. I like that this kit gives you the option to fill in the bike mode, but the robot placement isn't ideal so I'm not inclined to use it on Wreck-Gar. I'm not a fan of the new nipple cannons, and while I appreciate that Nonnef was trying to replicate a toy detail the shock absorbers aren't necessary. However, at $6 this kit is one of the cheapest ways to give Wreck-Gar his rifle, which I consider to be an essential accessory. So it's probably worth buying a Wreck-Gar set just for that. But! If you have a second Wreck-Gar lying around, we can use the the larger Rubbish kit to make our custom version of this guy: OK, we'll start with the knee. Basically, you take these three gray parts and arrange them like so, with the red spike installed in the pentagonal-shaped bit. It's designed to plug into the outside of Wreck-Gar's leg, where his spikes are, and the pentagonal bit simply sits in front of his knee. The rest of the kit gets a bit more drastic. You take this red bit and fit it through what will be the front of the replacement head. The kit includes two different face options, but we're going with the one from the movie so we'll take the gray piece with the bit of nose and plug the brown mouth plate into it, then plug the whole thing onto the front of the head. Next, take one side of he head in install the gray faux handlebars so the larger peg is pointing toward the front of the head. Get the gray middle piece and attach it to that peg so that the opening in the ball socket it facing the back of the head. Things get a little tricky from here. You have to semi-attach the other side of the head while also attaching the front of the head to the hole in the gray piece but also the pegs on the sides of the head. Do your best, and squish everything together until it's tight. Once you've got the head complete, you just pop Wreck-Gar's off the ball joint and pop the new head on. Of course, one of the most noticeable features about that Junkion is that he's got a big ol' wheel in his chest, and that's what we're going to do next. First, find the red spikes and like them up properly in one half of the gray tire parts, then close it off with the other half. Get the red chest part and the two red hinges. You want to attach the hinges to the pegs in the chest, then the wheel into the other side, so that when everything is stretched out it looks like the above picture (flatter on the bottom, rounded at the ends on the top, with the ridge at the chest). No glue is necessary for this kit: included are two red panels with ball joints on them. Remove Wreck-Gar's nipple cannons, then you can fit the panels into the new chest so that he ball joints fit into the sockets the nipple guns vacated, holding everything in place. The hinges will fold up so the wheel sits in the middle of the chest. Now, a lot of people will stop there and call it a day. But I just kept thinking that colors were off. So I removed the limbs, took them apart, and got to painting. And here's the Junkion Rubbish I wound up with. No, Rubbish didn't have the shock absorbers in the movie, but I felt like using them here just to keep him more visually distinct from Wreck Gar. I also removed Wreck-Gar's spikes with a Dremel. I'm not sure I'm satified with the Nonnef knee spikes. The extra brown does add some color breakup, but it's not really accurate. I might drill small holes into the shins just below the knees and glue the spikes directly into them. Finally, I left the alt mode filler fully assembled and on his shoulders, because the animation model does have some kind of piping there. Aside from the bike filler, which we already talked about, there's no partsforming. The new Nonnef chest stays in place. The hinges we used to attach the faux tire to the chest allows it to fold down under the bike and out of the way. I'm not 100% satisfied with my custom Rubbish, though. I'd like to paint the front of the bike brown to match the new head, Rubbish's rims should be gray or silver, and while I'm not sure what the canonical color should be I'd like the fuel tank to be some other color, maybe that sandy color, just to make him more visually distinct from Wreck Gar. However, disassembly of Wreck-Gar's torso would involve some riveted pins that I just wasn't comfortable trying to remove, and I'm not even sure how to get the wheels apart. And my issues with less-than-100%-accuracy are really outside the scope of what Nonnef set out to do with this kit. The fact is that his kit sets out to take a second Wreck-Gar figure you might own (and if you don't check you're local Target where they might be shelfwarming) and modify it so you have another Junkion to troop build with. I'm not sure how many Junkions Hasbro is planning on doing, but I'd say the safe money was always Wreck-Gar plus one remold, when I think there's at least eight or nine different designs seen in the movie. This kit is a great way to get at least one of them, and for that I'd recommend it. Now, Nonnef has said that if this kit sells well he may design a few more, but he hasn't said if they'd be for Wreck-Gar or the upcoming official Junkheap. I'm not sure how many I'm in for. I mean, I'll buy every Junkion if they get an official release, but I'd really have to think on it before I put in the time, work, and money (not just for a kit but also the paint) before I do another custom. But when I display teams like this two never really seems like enough... two Alicons plus one Bailiff, three Sharkticons, two Sweeps plus Scourge, etc. So I wanted Wreck-Gar and at least two Junkions for display. Nonnef's kit and a little effort gave me Rubbish, the cool one with a wheel in his chest, and I'm pretty satisfied with that.

Some time in July.

OK, so I read over this list, and as I was reading I was thinking that this sounds super fake. But the list came from a very reliable source, so make of it what you will. Anyway... this Velocitron collection is shaping up to be less a one-and-done thing, like the retro Headmasters, and more like Walmart's answer to Target's Buzzworthy Bumblebee. And so the stuff I put up in the post above is just the first wave. At a later time you can expect the following: Deluxe-class Crasher. I'm really hoping it's a new mold, or if they're retooling something that they start with Power of the Primes Jazz. I don't want any more of this "Crasher is a race car, so let's repaint Mirage/Dragstrip" nonsense. The Porsche 956 wasn't an F1 car. Deluxe-class Shadow Striker. I'm guessing this will be a Legacy-ified toy of the Cyberverse character, and I'm there for that. I do wonder if she'll be a new mold or a retool. Voyager-class Hot Rod. This one actually tracks. Another source told me that they were thinking about retools when they designed the Studio Series toy, and that they came up with "something different." Now here's where things get a bit sketchier, because I thought that the planned waves for Legacy had been leaked already, and the announced second wave tracks with the previous leaks. And this new leak doesn't match anything I'd heard before, nor does it mention Breakdown or Dead End. But this stuff is supposedly hitting in early 2023. So... Core-class Soundwave. Like Prime, this is just a re-release of the previous WfC figure. Core-class Slug. Really? Core-class Sludge. Seriously? Deluxe-class Needlenose. Here's where I'm really getting suspicious. It's been a running joke in the community since he turned up in a fan vote, one I know Hasbro is aware of, that Needlenose will never get a Generations release. Because, apparently, G1 Needlenose was never released in Japan. Plus, I thought scale matters now. I'd expect him to be a Voyager. Deluxe-class Hot Shot. Given that Hot Shot's a pretty popular UT character, and given that Legacy is dabbling in the UT (a Voyager-class Armada Starscream was previously mentioned in leaks), this at least seems plausible. Deluxe-class Junkion. Is this another Arcee remold? I mean, I'm down for more Junkions.... based on the Voyager-class Studio Series mold. I'm having a hard time imagining that Hasbro would use a slot in Legacy for a third out-of-scale Junkion when there's still guys like Gears and Brawn that could use new Deluxe-class molds. Voyager-class Tarn. I know Tarn had a role in Cyberverse. And I know he was popular in IDW like four years ago. But I dunno... Voyager-class Leo Prime. Lio Convoy is my absolute favorite of the Japanese Beast Wars designs, and I'd love for one that's actually cartoon-accurate and not a repaint of another character that happens to have a big cat alt mode. But again, this one feels like a stretch. Speaking of stretches... Leader-class Prime Skyquake. Of everything on this list this is the entry I'm the least likely to believe. This is like the kind wishlist rumor someone who missed the original figure's release might start. Seriously, Leader-class? He'd either be way out of scale, or packing a crap load of accessories I don't think Skyquake would need. I'd have an easier time buying this if they said it was Voyager G1 Skyquake, retooled from Jhiaxus. But time will tell, I guess. Leader-class Armada Megatron. This one's pretty believable; I'd argue that Armada was the most iconic of the UT Megatron designs, and main characters like Megatron sell. But if we really do wind up with Megatron, Hot Shot, and Starscream then people are going to want Armada Optimus, too. And then people are going to start remembering that prototype from 2019 Wonderfest...

For some reason I thought Hasbro's livestream was today and I completely missed both the livestream and the fact that Slicer was revealed as part of the livestream. Oops. In addition to Slicer, which was oddly the only preorder that went up yesterday, we had the non-toy announcements (VR game), non-transforming announcements that I personally don't care about (R.E.D., some rubber ducks thing), then the transforming toy news, of which the only announcements were Slicer, a reissue of Maverick, and then the Walmart-exclusive Velocitron stuff. Deluxes: Blurr This one leaked a few days ago. It's based on the IDW version of Blurr and has some remolded parts. Unfortunately, the bot mode looks like G1 Blurr with an IDW head, and the alt mode looks like G1 Blurr with some missing pieces. I might still pick him up, though. Burn Out It's a black Diaclone Skids with a new head (a head that's a pretool for Crosscut, maybe?). Now I kind of want Reboost, too. G2 Road Rocket On the one hand, this was totally expected. I mean, half the reason Arcee's wheel split and comes off instead of laying on her back like the original Prime version was, I expect, because G2 Road Rocket's wheels sit like that. On the other hand I'm a little disappointed that they didn't remold Arcee's body a little more. I guess Road Rocket's a girl now? Clampdown Man. Now I want Earth-mode versions of Deep Cover and Tigertrack. Cosmos. Looks like a brand new mold, and hot dang he looks good. He's got some backpack kibble, but hey, so did XTB's Klaatu. The flag comes off the pole, and you can see a 5mm peg near the port that the flag plugs into? So you can use that peg to plug it into his hand and now the flag pole's a gun. I expect this is the figure that will be the most in-demand, which is possibly going to suck because, in my experience, Walmart is terrible at handling preorders. Hopefully Hasbro is keeping some stock to sell on Pulse. Voyagers: Road Hauler It's Grapple in Constructicon green with a new head, but I'm totally here for it. Override. It's another new mold that was revealed a couple months ago. I have no attachment to the character; Cybertron is the only part of the Unicron Trilogy I started but never finished. I'm still in for her, but I'm less enthused for her than, say, Clampdown and Roadhauler, let alone Cosmos. Leaders: Scourge This is another one that leaked awhile ago, and all I can say is that I hope Hasbro announces a proper Gen Selects Scourge with cartoon-accurate colors instead of this generic Nemesis Prime-colored abomination. I do NOT want the figure as-is, and repainting it will be a pain in the tuchus. All the Velocitron stuff is supposed to go up for preorder some time in July. This morning there's also some new preorders on Pulse that weren't mentioned in the livestream. For one, the Street Fighter Mash Ups are getting reissued. Ken and Chun-Li are one pack, Ryu and M. Bison are the other, and you'll recall that they're repaints of Titans Return Hot Rod, Thrilling 30 Arcee, Titans Return Optimus, and Titans Return Megatron, respectively. It's cool how they managed to get those molds looking like Street Fighter characters, but they're not the best molds in the first place (although I did like that Hot Rod) and frankly $75 is too much for two Deluxes and $113 is way too much for two Voyagers. The other is kind of interesting. It's a Transformers X Tonka Collaborative Tonkatron. What we have here is G1 Devastator done in yellow and black, with Autobot symbols and Tonka branding. I think it's kind of a neat idea, but at $105 I'm out. Lastly, not mentioned in the livestream and not listed yet, we have leaked images of a Target-exclusive Buzzworthy Creatures Collide pack, courtesy of In-Demand Toys on Facebook. Ransack was leaked just a few days ago; I think as a repaint of Legacy Kickback it works. Likewise, I'm pretty sure Scorponok (Legacy Scorponok in his toy colors) and Skywasp (Waspinator in Skywarp colors) also leaked awhile ago. Goldbug's a new reveal and not at all unwelcome. Instead of using the Cliffjumper mold, as the Shattered Glass toy did, Goldbug is using Netflix Bumblebee's body with the licensed VW alt mode. It's paired with SG Goldbug's head, though, and colored like the G1 toy/cartoon. While I actually do like Ransack and the Predacon repaints and definitely would want at least Rasnack anyway I'm definitely going after this set because I really want that Goldbug.

This is the exact same reissue that Walmart had two or three years back for $49.99. That they wound up putting on clearance for half that. My guess is BBTS bought up leftover stock from them, or from Hasbro directly. I actually bought one when Walmart clearanced them. It worked for me because I had that anniversary reissue with the weird salmonish color and shortened smokestacks. I gave that Prime to my kid but kept the trailer and accessories for the newer reissue. EDIT: Also, Legacy Minerva. Might be a Walgreen's exclusive. It's... OK-ish. The bot mode looks alright, the alt mode is just not a Porsche.

A SKU popped up in EB Games' POS system for "TRA GEN SDCC 1". The price is $109 Canadian. So it's looking like Gamestop will be carrying some kind of SDCC Transformers stuff, possibly a store-exclusive.

I have a Star Wars Black Series Darth Vader helmet (although I guess they're making a new and improved one now?). Not particularly rare, I suppose, but it's like the only Star Wars thing I have besides the Blu-rays.

Bobby Skull face, who usually reviews Transformers, has a review up. It was sort of mixed; he seemed to feel it was the best Voltron he's ever messed with but that it still has flaws that it shouldn't have at that price.

I still like the one on the left, but I'm glad people are enjoying either or both.

Dunno if it's regular or retro, but Shredder's Revenge comes out today/tomorrow (it's the 16th here on the East Coast, but 2:00am isn't the 16th enough, I guess). I may pick it up on PlayStation later for the trophies, but for now I'm grabbing the Switch version so I can play with my 6yo daughter. EDIT: I did buy the Switch version, but it's on Xbox Game Pass (PC and Console) if you already have a sub.

My wife was working from a home office in the basement during COVID, and her work laptop would sometimes drop it's internet connection. I wound up buying the Google Wifi (AC1200). It comes with the main base and two hubs and Google claims it's good for up to 4500 square feet. I put the base on our ground floor with the modem then put one hub in the basement near my wife's desk and one upstairs in the hall (you can buy these plastic kits on Amazon that allows you to stick the whole think to the power outlet). It was super easy to set up with the Google Home app on a smartphone, and we haven't had any issues since. I think think there's a newer AC2200 version under their Nest brand out, but you can still find the one I got on Amazon for around $170.

Cool, but maybe not $80 cool.

Oh, we're good, TB. I just happen to spend time on another certain Transformers-specific board where a difference of opinion is often taken as a personal attack. Things are generally much more civil here, but to be safe I just wanted to explain the issues I had with Ymir and reiterate that it was just a matter of my own personal preferences. I want this thread (and the official one) to remain a place where we can have frank an open discussions about these figures. As someone who has been a member of these boards a very long time and someone who posts frequently in these discussions, often with full reviews, I'm just being a bit cautious. While I know MW has a lot of the old Hasui-era holdouts, I also know from the other board that the Sunbow style is very popular and I just don't want my opinion to discourage people who might be reading these posts but disagree with me from joining the discussion.

I got three more sets of those little Dr Wu figures in! Due to how they're packaged and what not, I'm going to do this a little differently than I normally do. Ok, so first up we have Star Fear (Starscream), Blue (Thundercracker), and Dark (Skywarp). Each of the three sets I bought comes with one of these guys and one other figure, but since they're the exact same mold I'm going to cover them all together. So, yeah, they're tiny, but they certainly have enough detail with orange cockpits, gray faces, red eyes, some gunmetal on the toes, color-appropriate shin bumps, stripes across their midriffs that break up the solid color of their torsos, and wing stripes. Star Fear and Blue came out quite nicely, but I do have to complain that they paint used for Dark's wing stripes is more blue than purple. Likewise, probably because of how the parts are gang-molded, Dark winds up with black null rays instead of purple. Indeed, with the gunmetal on the toes, the colored shin bumpouts, stripes on the robot-forward side of the wings, actual null rays in the case of Dark, and a proper red pelvis with white midriff you can make a strong argument that the Dr Wu Seekers came out better than Hasbro's own Core-class Seekers, despite being roughly half the size. As far as articulation goes they're all the same. Their heads swivel. Their shoulders are ball joints for rotation, 90 degrees of lateral movement, and even a little butterfly. No dedicated bicep swivel, but they do swivel at the ball-jointed elbows, which also bend 90 degrees. No wrist or waist swivels. The hips are ball joints. Because their pelvis armor doesn't move, they're limited to about 60 degrees forward, 45 degrees backward, and just under 90 degrees laterally, but that's enough I think. Hinged knees bend about 90 degrees, and although they lack ankle pivots due to transformation they do have some up/down tilt at the feet. Each one comes with a pair of null rays that do not have to be removed for transformation, but they have a tendency to pop off anyway. Speaking of transformation, here they all are in jet mode. I think they look pretty good. I mean, they do have some hinges that are proportionally pretty large, but that's the price you pay for making toys this small, I guess. They also have visible hands in jet mode, but again, it's pretty easily forgiven given their size. I mean, the fists are kind of visible on Hasbro's Core-class Seekers, too. Meanwhile, I think Dr Wu's have slightly better proportions, they put some details on the vertical stabilizers, and I like that they painted the noses on Star Fear and Blue (even if it's not actually cartoon-accurate). Oh, and speaking of Hasbro's Core-class, I was struck by the similarities in engineering. While Hasbro's is slightly more complex, both more or less open the torso, then rotate the entire torso at the back to flip the wings and use the torso to cover over the thighs. Star Fear's pack-in buddy is Spray, who is possibly the most adorbs Sea Spray I own. Despite his diminutive size he has most of the detail you'd expect, including the circles on his shins. My complaints, again minor and forgivable at this scale, are that his propellors aren't black and that they're hinged through a hollow gap in the back of his head. Others may argue that he lacks the pudginess of the animation model, but with his chibi-ish limbs he's too cute for me to care. Boat mode. Again, bummer about the yellow propellors, and though you can't really see from this angle his face is actually fairly visible in this mode. Dark's pack-in is Sound Master, a Blaster that goes nicely with their earlier Soundwave. Sound Master has some nice touches, like painted speakers, paint fists, and painted biceps (without getting paint on the ball joints, nice!), plus some white on his forehead, white buttons on his torso, and a yellow chest door with metallic blue on the window. His feet are left gray, which is actually cartoon-accurate but I wish they'd have painted them and his thighs to match his hand/biceps/speakers. Note that the buttons don't push and his chest doesn't open, but that was the same with Soundwave and I think expected at this scale. I gotta say, there's something off about his face. I mean, I don't expect the most detailed faces at this scale; they're usually a little wonky. But his sunken eyes and half-open mouth make him look like he's either about to puke or just finished. From the front Sound Master's tape deck mode looks pretty good. Some extra flaps to cover his hips might have helped, and again I think his feet should have been darker, but it's ultimately fine. The back is a bit messier with his arms just hanging out there, but at the risk of sounding like a broken record it's fine for transforming figures this tiny. Do we need another reminder of how tiny? Blue's pack in is Sky, aka Powerglide, and here he is with the Combiner Wars Legends-class Powerglide. Sky is dwarfed by the Legends-class figure. Despite his tiny size he's certainly a cartoony Powerglide. The big issue this time is that Dr Wu's designer didn't seem to know what to do with the engine nacelles and tail. They fold up and back a bit, but they don't really lock in place and I found them constantly shifting toward the front of his shins when I was manipulating him. I dig his plane mode, though. It's less realistic A-10 and more the Sunbow canoe with wings and a tail. And it's so tiny, a G1 Micromaster is bigger. Spray's head can't move at all. His shoulders are on ball joints that rotate and move laterally 90 degrees, plus a transformation hinge gives him a backward butterfly. Ball jointed elbows double as bices swivels and give him 90 degrees of elbow bend. No wrist or waist swivel. Ball jointed hips go 60 degrees forward/backward and 90 degrees laterally, and they give him a very limited thigh swivel. Which is good, because he doesn't have any other. His knees bend 90 degrees, and his ankles are ball joins so they swivel plus give him some up/down tilt and a small ankle pivot. Sound Master's head is on a ball joint so it can swivel and he can look slightly down, up about 30 degrees before his head starts folding in, and tilt his head sideways a bit. His shoulders rotate and move about 90 degrees on universal joints. Once again, ball jointed elbows bend 90 degrees and double as bicep swivels, no wrist swivels. He does have a waist swivel, though. Hips are ball joints that move 90 degrees forward and backward, and about 60 degrees laterally. They also give him a slight thigh swivel, which is all he gets. His knees are hinges that bend 90 degrees, and his toes are on ball joints so they can tilt up but not down, and swivel to give him a small fake ankle pivot. Sky comes off the worst, I think. No head articulation. His shoulders are ball joints for rotation, 90 degrees of lateral movement, and a slight butterfly. No bicep swivel, not even at the elbow, because Sky has hinges instead of ball joints. They bend about 160 degrees, though. No wrist or waist swivels. Hips are ball joints for about 90 degrees forward, backward, and laterally. His knees are also ball joints, which act as thigh swivels. With his engine kibble folded back he can only bend at the knee about 45 degrees, but if you fold it over his shin you can get 90 degrees. His feet are on ball joints so they can swivel, pivot slightly, and tilt up and down a fair bit. None of these three come with any accessories. That's been kind of Dr Wu's MO, though; the only figure that got a gun that wasn't an arm or shoulder cannon worn on the body was their Optimus, and that seemed to be to help justify the price when he cost as much as the two-packs but instead came with just a gun and trailer. Speaking of price, again, these guys go for around $25-30 a pack, which seems pretty reasonable when you figure a pack costs around the same as a pair of Core-class figures with similar articulation and worse paint. Plus, they're meant to serve the same purpose- display them with your Combiners or your Titan-class toys to make those figures look larger, and at half the size they arguably do a better job of it. My only real complaint is that we're getting guys like Powerglide and Beachcomber when I'd really love to see some carbots like Jazz and Prowl at this scale. For what they are, I think these little dudes are pretty cool and definitely worth checking out. Here's hoping Dr. Wu pumps out a few more.

I want to get one of those chest pieces, but I can't justify spending $60+ on it when I already have Larkin's shoulder cannon (which I prefer, as it actually replaces the original tank barrel and fusion cannon). The chest is the only piece from that kit that I want. I'd like something to put on Earthrise Starscream so I'd have some excuse to have him and Coronation Starscream. And, bless them, the folks at Toyhax tried. They added the camo pattern and TAC to the wings, and they added toy-accurate stickers for the toes, knees, and intakes. They even included stickers to add some black and purple to the null rays, although they didn't totally get it right. But, to really be G2 accurate, his thighs have to be dark gray/black, and they don't give you and stickers for the thighs. His canopy should be purple, but there's no stickers for that. The tip of the nose should be black, there's no stickers for that. They included stickers that are too dark of a gray for the flaps and ailerons, but fail to provide the gray border for the rest of the wing. And, not that there's a lot that Toyhax could do about this one, but all of the blue parts need to be gray. Honestly, I'd rather wait and hold out hope that we might still get a Gen Selects G2 Starscream. I'll find something else to do with Earthrise. Yep! For robot mode, there's a lot of little bits that combine to give his shoulder pads a more G2 toy-accurate appearance, which I appreciate, and some much-needed red on his knees plus strips that run down the front of his thighs with drawings of the molded lines of the original toy. It helps a bit to make his legs less obviously re-used Earthrise parts. Some blue circles fill in the nozzles on his shoulders, and metallic stickers for his eyes help him to not look so lifeless (they also come in red and yellow, if you prefer). The translucent windows on his chest with the semi-visible Matrix was ok, as it kind of resembles the stickers on the Japanese reissue of Laser Optimus, but I was happy to get the original red-striped "Optimus Prime" chest. If you prefer it, though, the reissue Matrix window stickers are included, as well as solid blue. And if you flip open the shoulders there's tips for the molded missiles inside, as well as stickers that go under his knee pads to give him even more missiles. Unfortunately, it's sort of Toyhax' MO to cover every part with stickers, so you're paying for a lot you may or may not use. For robot mode, there's a chrome mouth plate, which seems superfluous to me. There's random blue bits to go on his forearms, the little bits on the front of his thighs above his knees, and the little triangles on his shins, as well as a black stripe for his crotch (inside the "U" shape). There's also some blue, red, and silver stickers for the sword. Toyhax imagines the pins on his lats as flamethrowers, and included not just yellow dots for them but artwork with pipes and tanks for his flanks. None of those details are present on the original toy, so I skipped them all. If there was one thing Legacy Prime was really missing, it's the images of Prime setting the world on fire on the sides of his trailer. Sure enough, Toyhax gave us that... but weirdly, the art is different for each side, and neither is actually 100% accurate (the top one is closer). Still, it's a lot better than nothing! Some chrome stickers for the skid plating on the steps and the toy-accurate "Optimus Prime" doors are also welcome additions. Other welcome additions include the "Lock" arrow and caution stripe on top of the trailer, an "OP 95" license plate (which the original toy has, but there are other plates if you prefer), and taillights for both the cab and trailer. But, once again, there's a lot of stickers I'm not going to use. They included chrome stickers for all the molded cross hatching on the rear and top of the trailer; you might like it, but there's no silver or chrome on the top/rear of the original G2 trailer, so it's a pass for me. There's chrome stickers for the grill, but the silver paint that's already there is fine. Likewise, there's yellow dots for the headlights and metallic blue for all the windows, but the headlights and windows on the original toy are translucent so I prefer to leave them alone. There's also chrome for the vents under the windshield and a silver "Western Star" to put on the sides of the nose, but again we're talking about details not on the original toy that I just don't care to add. The inside of the trailer sees a lot of improvement, too. There's caution stripes on the ramp, and a bunch of panels and screens for the inside. There's some stickers for "front", too, but I left them off. I'm on the fence about them. They do make the battle station mode look a bit cooler, but they'd be visible under the trailer in truck mode, which I'm not loving. There's also these red bits near the middle and these blue and black conduits along the inner wall. These are what @Hikuro is referring to as a pain in his butt, as there's 17 on each side, and Toyhax is NOT doing you any favors as their instructions will tell you to use something like "71" when 71 is actually a cluster of three different stickers. By and large, it's guesswork to figure out which stickers fit into the molded details on the trailer itself, and weirdly, not every molded space gets a sticker. That said, combined with the screens it really helps to make the trailer not just a boring unfolded piece of gray-and-black plastic. So, like most Toyhax sets these days, I think it's a bit overpriced and you're going to wind up with a bunch of stickers you're not actually going to use. But, the added color in battle station mode, the images of Prime burning the world around him on the outside of the trailer, the red needs, and the "Optimus Prime" chest stickers really do a lot to get Legacy Prime closer to G2 Laser Prime and I'd strongly suggest grabbing this set if you have a Legacy Prime.

Really? I feel the opposite. Granted, Bumblebee looks to have more actual transforming, but I think he's got weird proportions and gaps that recall to mind the old Marvel Crossovers. Like, it looks like a toy from 15 years ago. I preordered one anyway... On another topic... I don't know how/where guys like Chefatron are getting these figures before they're announced, but apparently this is a thing that will be popping up in Legacy (unsure if it's in Walmart's Velocitron line or not). Seems to be a retool of Studio Series Blurr into something more IDW-ish. Frankly, it's not great. It's kind of a mish-mash of G1 and IDW Blurr, and the result is less IDW Blurr and more G1 Blurr with weird colors and an IDW head/G1 Blurr missing parts from his front end. If/when it goes up for preorder I'll pass, although you guys know how I am about going into stores and being like, "oh, a Transformer I don't have!" so I can't say I'm definitely not getting it.

Yeah, I acknowledged as much, regarding the train modes (verdict is still out on the transformations). And I guess maybe there are people out there who are really in it for the train mode, I dunno. With a few exceptions, though (Dinobots, Insecticons, stuff like that) my collection is displayed in bot mode or, in the case of combiners, combined mode (or sometimes bot and combined mode, like how I have DX9's Menasor in combined mode and Fans Toys' Stunticons in bot mode). So, again, I don't really have a horse in this race as I'm not planning on getting either, but if I were I'd prioritize combined mode>bot mode>train mode, which seems to be the opposite of what Takara is doing. Maybe not. I do believe that I've read that Takara is treating MPG as a sub-line that's not necessarily in-scale with the regular MP or MPM lines, and that Raiden will only be 11.5"/29cm tall- more like Combiner Wars/Unite Warriors size.

To be clear, my gripes were really directed more at the regular version of Ymir. If I were to get one, I agree that the EX version looks a lot better with the gold chrome, smoked translucent plastic, and tampographs where the original had stickers. That said, there's still smoothness to Ymir that I'm not super into; no ridges on the dino belly, no pentagonal jaw hinge on the dino head, no ridges around the robot forearms/dino legs, no greebles on the outsides of the robot legs, etc. None of this should be taken as a slight by anyone who's really into the super-toon stylings of the regular version of Ymir; I know there's a big demand for that ultra-Sunbow look right now. It's just not my preference.

Sony mistook the memes for general interest in what is, ultimately, a very dull movie.