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I don't think that's it. The original has huge shoulders, too. I think his head is too small. But yeah, I'm hoping for a Scourge repaint, too. Anyway, I wound up preordering the whole batch again at Amazon. See, when I preorder at Amazon, Pulse gets them first and I'm stuck waiting. But when I preorder at Pulse, Amazon gets their stock first. So I figure I'd preorder at both, then cancel whoever comes in second. (Or cancel them both if I'm still waiting when I walk into a Target and see them on a shelf.)

As promised, I just preordered* everything except that Galvatron. And the release date for Laser Prime isn't until July.😭 *I guess Ravage is actually an order that'll likely ship next week, not a preorder. Anyway, like I was saying yesterday Ravage is the black panther I want in my Beast Wars collection. Shadow Panther can pound sand. I do still need to find a Tigatron, though, since the Pulse preorders sold out super quick and Amazon canceled the preorder I had from months ago. Guess they're making more money on the scalpers jacking him up to $50+... Actually, here's a question. Tigatron, Shadow Panther, and Waspinator are part of the last wave of Kingdom... but so are Slammer and Pipes. So where are they? I got a preorder on Pipes using the old Amazon wishlist route, and they have a product page up for Slammer with "Currently unavailable." Places like BBTS and TFSource have taken preorders. But AFAIK Hasbro hasn't officially mentioned them despite unveiling the line that comes after, and they don't have listings on Pulse, Target, or Walmart that I'm aware of.

I can't tell if they collapse, or if his legs are just straightened for the box art (like the promo pics I just posted). But, they don't always get it right. Look at Laser Prime. Those gas tanks on his thighs should still be able to flip out. The transformation that has me most curious, though, is Arcee. I mean, look at her! That's clearly her shins at the bottom of the bike, with her feet facing the front and the wheels folded from the outside of her legs to over silver knee spikes. But her thighs are at the top of the bike! Her knee joints are up by the handle bars! Two parts of her legs that are touching in bot mode wind up almost as far from each other as they could be.

The only figure they showed that I'm not in for is the Galvatron Unicron pack. But if I could put myself into suspended animation until that Laser Prime comes out I totally would. I'll update my Pulsecon post with pictures when Hasbro releases the official ones.

So far Pulsecon has been about the Rise of the Beasts movie and some mostly mobile games. I'll probably check out the Beyond Reality VR game (SteamVR, PlayStation VR), though. EDIT: Unveiling Legacy now. Dang it, "energon weapons" is a gimmick for Legacy. Deluxes. There's the Skids I posted two days ago. As I said then, he looks good if a bit hollow in spots. Basically what I'd expect these days Dragstrip's looking much better than the Combiner Wars version, but definitely not totally Sunbow. Transformation looks weird; like I'm not sure if the engine moves or if the cockpit around it moves. They're confirming that Dragstrip is one of five, and that the rest of the team is coming. Not that I didn't already tell you it was coming. Prime Arcee. Like Bulkhead, she's been G1-ified. I'm fine with it, just not sure how Prime Arcee fits into a G1 where there's already an Arcee. Kickback! And he's looking good. Really hope they get around to the other two Insecticons. Onto Voyagers. Bulkhead. I've said my piece. No other Voyagers right now? I think Blaster is supposed to be coming in wave 1, but maybe it's not? It's definitely coming at some point. Leader Laser Prime! Oh, it looks so good! He's got the trailer! This is instantly my most-anticipated figure. That said, I wish they'd have taken the time to make a totally new mold. The hips and thighs are Earthrise Prime's, and the lower legs and feet look like ER Prime with with a new part or slight remold to cover the vents. Looks like his arms forearms are going to sit on the back of the cab instead of tucking in, and instead of having the gas tanks on his forearms they're going to fold out from his thighs again. Oh, and I can already feel the Reprolabels team getting to work on labels of Prime burning down a forest for that trailer. I don't care if it's a later Legacy figure or a Generations Selects, but I'd better get a Scourge repaint! Pulsecon Ravage. Nothing new there, but it goes on sale at 4:00pm EDT. Props to Guido Guidi. He's definitely one of my top five (four?) favorite Transformers artists. Last reveal is the Galvatron Unicron pack. It's a clear purple "reformatting" Kingdom Galvatron with some extra ships and minifigures similar to the ones that came with Unicron. Between regular Galvatron and the toy version I'm good on Galvatrons, and I missed Unicron, so I don't need the extra pack-ins. On last reminder, all preorders go live on Pulse at 4:00pm EDT for Pulse Premium members, then at 5:00 for everyone. Other retails like Walmart, Target, Amazon, etc will also start at 5:00.

My kid's school is doing "red ribbon week", which is some kind of anti-drugs thing I guess. That entails wearing different outfits each day, most of which were no problem, but there's a "drugs can't find me" day where they're supposed to wear camo. So I was off find something camo for her to wear, as camo isn't something six year old girls just have lying around, and naturally if I'm out shopping I figured I'd might as well look for Transformers, too. Target was a bust all-around, so I went to Walmart figuring that if anyone has camo clothes for people of all ages and genders it'd be Walmart. And sure enough, I found a camo dress she can wear, but I was shocked to find that they'd also stocked some new Kingdom Deluxes. I passed on Shadow Panther; he seems like the flimsiest excuse to sell a black repaint of Cheetor, whom I'd already bought in both standard and Netflix colors, plus I'm going to try to get Ravage tomorrow from Pulsecon. But I did bring home Waspinator. Look, a lot of the Kingdom line has been hotly anticipated. Rounding out the G1 cast we've been building since Siege with stuff like Huffer, Tracks, and possibly the best Cyclonus figure to date? Yes please! Modern updates of Beast Wars faves like Primal, Black Arachnia, and Megatron? Even a "Truck Not Monkey" guy like me really appreciated them. Three figures seemed to get a little more scrutiny than the rest, though- Rattrap, to see how the inaugural Core-class fared against the excellent Thrilling 30 Deluxe (neat for the size, but probably too small based on BW scale guides and lacking detail so the older figure is still king). Rhinox, to see how a modern Voyager could improve on his T30 Voyager (better articulation, better joints, and better transformation make the Kingdom version better overall, but sort of a minor upgrade that made skipping it if you already had T30 Rhinox a viable choice). But the third, Waspinator, was the one that got the most buzz (pun intended), for two reasons. One, T30 Waspinator was a pretty great figure, arguably better than his T30 Beast Wars mates, so it wasn't obvious how Hasbro could improve on it. Two, early pictures seemed to show a figure that was extremely similar to the T30, so maybe Hasbro didn't even try. In-hand, side-by-side, there's definitely some changes, though. The green is darker, and the color breakup different in a way that's more show-accurate. Likewise, he's got some differences in his paint apps like the yellow circles on his shoulders, yellow teeth, purple eyes, and stripes on his robot antenna that are more show-accurate (and help give a little more life to his face). He's also got more yellow on his shins and purple wings, changes that are again more show-accurate. Finally, he's a tad shorter, which I guess helps with scaling? One change is actually less accurate, though, and that's his insect legs. The original toy had two legs on his arms, and his robot legs became the rear legs. The CGI model took some liberties by giving him six brown legs of similar proportions, something you weren't going to get using the thicker green robot legs to make the back legs. T30 got around this as best it could by keeping two legs on his arms, then having the rear legs dangling off his robot legs. Kingdom Waspinator does something similar, except now just one leg is on each arm, and two legs are sprouting from his robot legs. Although the legs can swivel where they're attached, they lack the articulation to really fold up tight and as such they always seem to be in the way. Another downgrade from T30 Waspinator is his sole accessory. It's a gun/stinger, like T30's, except it doesn't transform so there isn't a barrel or anything to really indicate that it's supposed to be a gun. It's disappointing, because the T30 toy has a flip-out barrel/stinger, and the cartoon had a harpoon-like barrel. Oh well. Before we had the crown to T30 Waspinator prematurely, I must stress that the articulation is much better on Kingdom Waspinator. His head is on a ball joint into the torso- he can't look up as much as T30 and his downward range and swivel are similar, but he's got much better sideways tilt. His shoulders rotate and have 90 degrees of lateral range, which is about the same as T30 but Kingdom uses a universal joint instead of a ball joint. Likewise, Kingdom's got bicep swivels and 90 degrees of elbow bend, but they're a separate mushroom swivel and elbow hinge instead of a ball joint. Both have wrist swivels, but only Kingdom has a waist swivel. Their hips have similar ranges, roughly 90 degrees forward, backward, and laterally, but once again Kingdom upgrades to universal joints from the T30's ball joints. Both have cut thighs swivels and hinged knees. Kingdom can bend his knees a full 90 degrees, though, where T30 gets maybe 45 (and that's being generous). Their feet have similar up/down tilts, mostly due to transformation, but only Kingdom has ankle pivots (of which get gets over 45 degrees). You're also free to pose the wings on Kingdom Waspinator without the flapping gimmick working against you. Waspinator can hold his weapon in either of his fists. He can also store it on his butt, same as he does in beast mode. I'm not sure if they're for accessories or just so Hasbro could save on plastic, but he's also got a 5mm port on the back of each forearm, on the back of each calf, and under each foot. As you could tell from the a lot of the early pics that leaked for Waspinator, the transformation on the Kingdom version is very similar to the T30 version. His body stretches out, the wasp head folds up, the arms tuck in, the pelvis rotates 180 degrees, his thighs fill out the insect abdomen, his knees bend backward and his feet wind up on his chest. I'm guessing that Hasbro was continuing the Kingdom MO of having more realistic alt modes. I mean, as realistic as you can get with a green wasp (those actually exist) that has a stripey abdomen (not that I'm aware of, it's either one or the other). That divot in his eyes isn't something from the cartoon's CGI model or the original toy, but it's actually something you can see on real life murder hornets. Despite the similarities, when viewed from a number of angles I think the Kingdom version is actually the better bee. His head is smaller, which actually looks more proportional. His back is more organic and lacking the gimmicky flapping mechanism. His abdomen has a more realistic contour, with the weapon sitting flush in it. Although his hands are still visible, his arms and hands are tucked into his thorax more instead of just lying along the side. As with the robot mode, you have more freedom on the wings' ball joints to pose them without the flapping gimmick fighting you. Surprisingly, the wings aren't the only articulation. The front legs rotate where they're attached. The back legs rotate, too, but they're molded onto the same part so two legs move together. His antenna can swivel. But, perhaps best of all his head can tilt up and down, and his mandibles can open and close. I gotta say, Kingdom Waspinator really surprised me. Pictures made it look like it wasn't a huge change from the admittedly good but older-than-my-kid T30 toy, which was a bit disappointing given how different Rattrap and Rhinox actually were. And yet, for all the similarities, Kingdom Waspinator is improved in some very significant ways with better robot articulation, better hardware in the joints, better bot-mode screen accuracy, better beast mode articulation, and (subjectively) better beast aesthetics. The only things I think T30 really does better is the beast leg placement (a minor thing), the weapon (honestly the biggest knock against the Kingdom toy), and the fact that his waist comes untabbed fairly easily (although it could be a "your mileage may vary" sort of thing). If you've been collecting the Beast Wars characters in Kingdom and you don't have a Waspinator then you don't want to miss this one. If you already have Thrilling 30 Waspinator I'll say that you probably don't have to upgrade, as T30 Waspinator is still pretty good and not too far off aesthetically speaking, but the improvements, while sometimes subtle, do I think justify the upgrade.

In all seriousness, I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

Yes! I mean, I'm in for Legacy Bulkhead as a Bulkhead that can hang with the other G1 WfC/SS86 figures. But I missed FE Bulkhead, which was so much better than the RiD version. Plus I have APC's Prime and Megatron, and they're great. The metallic repaint of Prime could pass for an MP if it were taller. You, me, and everyone else wants their Bulkhead... it's weird they keep pushing it back.

Hasbro is going to officially announce Transformers Legacy on Friday at Pulsecon. I'm not sure how much of a look we're going to get, but expect at least two figures to be available for preorder on Friday. First up we have Skids Skids is looking pretty much par for the course- a well-articulated, solidly G1 design that's 90% what you want and the other 10% is missing when they hollowed out his legs. I'm not loving the translucent blue axe-gun thing, but I can toss it in a drawer and be content with the rest of the figure. We're also getting Bulkhead, and I'm thinking this figure is kind of interesting. I mean, the rumors had already been saying that we were going to get characters outside of G1, but what we're seeing with Bulkhead isn't a new Transformers Prime Bulkhead, it's more of a "what if Bulkhead from Prime was in War for Cybertron?" I feel like that's going to leave some people who were expecting actual Transformers Prime toys unhappy, but I'm all for taking the best characters from outside of G1 and retroactively stuffing them into G1 (much like WfC already did with Barricade), and I'll definitely be grabbing Legacy Bulkhead. But the fact that we're getting a Bulkhead that's more G1 than Prime isn't the only thing interesting here. For one, there's that translucent weapon again. I wonder if that's going to be a gimmick for the line? I really hope not, because as part of a line aimed at older fans I'd much prefer the gimmick to be "give me the best version of the character you can". That said, I don't hate it here the way I do with Skids. Second, what's up with his wheels? The ones on his legs look like the rear wheels, but the ones on his shoulders look like they're just decorative- you can see them on the back of the cab. And the ones behind his head are his actual front wheels, I'm thinking. So... what about wheels on his shoulders are so iconic to Bulkhead's design that he needed fake ones? Third, what does Bulkhead's body remind you of? Ditch the shield cover, paint the cab red, paint the legs blue, and give him a new head... it's Optimus, isn't it? However, Bulkhead should be solicited as a Voyager Class, and the only rumored Optimus Prime I know of is a Leader-class and supposedly Laser Optimus, which this definitely does NOT resemble.

Eh. If I really want to play on a TV I picked up the NES and SNES Classics, which were very easy to mod and add games to. I bought the TG16 and Genesis Minis, too; the Genesis Mini can be hacked, but I'm waiting (for nearly two years now) for Project Lunar to hit 1.1 and add folder support before try adding games to the Genesis Mini. Supposedly the TG16 Mini runs a variant of the software on the Genesis Mini and should be relatively simple to mod, but no one seems to be working on it. That said, if it weren't for the chip shortage making doing so prohibitively expensive right now, I'd probably just buy or build a mini PC with enough horsepower to run up to Dreamcast/Saturn/Gamecube/Wii/PS2/PS3 and slap a stupidly large mechanical hard drive in it with complete (or nearly complete) US libraries for just about everything pre-PlayStation and curated selections post-PlayStation.

I'm not sure that there's been an official word, and AFAIK there hasn't been an update to either library since late July. However, gaming journalist Stephen Totilo reported asked a Nintendo rep about it, and was told that Nintendo is still planning on updating those libraries as part of the regular Nintendo Online tier, no expansion needed.

Yes. At least the ones that will be initially available, anyway. I'm sure Nintendo will add more (there's at least seven more N64 games planned), but probably as sporadically as they've built the NES and SNES libraries. Anyway, there's nine N64 games: Dr Mario 64 Mario Kart 64 Mario Tennis Sin & Punishment Star Fox 64 Super Mario 64 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Win Back: Covert Operations Yoshi's Story Seven more are coming, but I'm not sure when Banjo-Kazooie Pokemon Snap The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards Mario Golf Paper Mario F-Zero X There's 14 Genesis games Castlevania Bloodlines Contra: Hard Corps Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine Ecco the Dolphin Golden Axe Gunstar Heroes M.U.S.H.A. Phantasy Star 4 Ristar Shining Force Shinobi 3 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Streets of Rage 2 Strider Of those 14, Contra, Castlevania, Contra, Ecco, M.U.S.H.A., and Strider are the only ones that aren't on the Sega Genesis Collection. Even then, of the remaining five Castlevania is on the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, Contra's on the Contra Anniversary Collection, and Strider* is available in Capcom Arcade Stadium. That leaves a whopping two games you couldn't already play on the Switch in one format or another. *Ok, technically it's the arcade version in Capcom Arcade Stadium, but as far as I'm aware the Genesis version was a pretty faithful port hampered only by the technical limitations of the Genesis hardware. So like I originally said... online play, cloud saves, 58 NES games, and 49 SNES games for $20 a year. And $30 more gets you 9 N64 games with the promise of 7 more, and 14 Genesis games you could mostly already play on the Switch, plus some DLC for Animal Crossing you'll lose access to if you end your subscription and you could already buy outright for a one-time $25. I'm not sure how the accountants at Nintendo came up with that price, but I'm thinking it's probably too much for most people.

So... Nintendo revealed the pricing for the awkwardly-named Nintendo Online + Expansion Pack, and it's coming it at $50 a year. This is, apparently, not a bad deal if you're into Animal Crossing, since it includes the Animal Crossing DLC. If you're not into Animal Crossing, though, I can't see paying over double the base price just for a handful of N64 and Genesis games when the base price gets you over 100 NES and SNES games plus online play and cloud saves. Nintendo should have included Gameboy and GBA games for that price, and made sure that their entire first-party library is included. Then maybe it'd be worth it to play all the Metroids* on one console. *All the Metroids being Metroid/Zero Mission, Metroid II, Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, and Metroid Dread, not the Prime series. Not that I don't want the Prime games, I just expect them to show up in a Switch collection that gets a retail release. And, apparently, a Metroid Prime Trilogy for Switch has actually been completed, Nintendo's just sitting on it until Metroid Prime 4 is closer to being complete. Unless maybe it's just the first Metroid Prime game?

I saw that, but I'm seriously confused by that. They mean the combined Raiden will be under 12" tall? When Shouki himself looks to be 7-8" tall? That's some crazy engineering right there. I'm with you and @technoblue, the scale game is fine for individual normal-sized robots but I've never felt the need for larger robots to be in the same scale; they simply get too unwieldy. I'm fine with Fans Toys' or DX9's Stunticons in robot mode then Magic Square's Menasor on another shelf (and in the case of Devastators, both Newage's and Magic Square's look better than Constructor). I think the fact that Fans Toys is doing a 4' tall Fortress Maximus is insanity. That said, while there's no apples-to-apples comparisons until Takara shows their Yukikaze and Getsuei or until Moon Studios shows their Shouki, the fact is that so far Moon Studios' Trainbots are bigger and have less kibble for $70-$100 less than Takara's. The only thing that Takara really seems to have in their favor at this point is that they're official and that Shouki's train mode seems to be more accurate with more realistic proportions.

I watched the video, and the author touched on several of the points that @JB0 brought up. I think some complaints are a matter of personal preference. I haven't played it since it was my 12-hour-flight entertainment when I went to China a few weeks after it came out, but in Samus Returns isn't it a purple acid, not lava? And I thought the remake explained it as deliberately put there by the Chozo to seal in the Metroids. Regardless, lava/acid levels are just video game logic to me. You... might want to temper your hopes for Dread. One thing is abundantly clear to me now, though. While Mercury Steam retained the key plot point of Metroid 2- that Samus went to SR388 to exterminate the Metroids but wound up returning with a single hatchling after destroying the planet- it lacked the nuance of the original, and from the story perspective suffers greatly for it. @JB0 is spot on with his analysis; while a casual observer might write facets Metroid II off as being due to the technical limitations of the hardware, the cramped, claustrophobic screen and minimal music seems to be deliberate choices. And yes, the game deals with some surprisingly nuanced themes through its presentation- Samus is committing genocide and the Metroids, who have no way of their own off the planet, are a afraid of her, but the reduction of non-Metroid enemies as you get deeper into SR388 shows how dangerous the Metroids really are and why Samus and/or the Federation doesn't want them to fall into space pirate hands. That nuance must have been too subtle for Mercury Steam, as the game is packed full of non-Metroid enemies, even in areas that weren't in the original, apparently because Mercury Steam wanted the game to be more "action". However, a game can't just account for story. It's an interactive medium, and the mechanics of that interaction matter, perhaps more. I've played fun games with bad stories, but rarely will I sit through a bad game with a great story. Again, as with the original Metroid, I'm not saying that Metroid II was a bad game. With only the single NES/Famicom Metroid before it and the technical limitations of the Gameboy hardware Metroid II was a technical achievement that really emphasized the fact that there was a story behind the games. But I maintain that Super Metroid is the pivotal point where the true Metroidvania formula was solidified. What came before it feels kludgy and archaic, and what came after is one of my favorite genres. For all the damage done by Mercury Steam to the story, themes, and nuance of Metroid II, the fact is that they made a game that I personally find more fun to play than the original. Then again, I was never huge on the horror elements of Metroid. A lot of reviewers hyped up the fact that they thought Dread lives up to its title, but half the time instead of feeling fear or dread I'm just annoyed every time I have to go through an E.M.M.I. zone. Well, when I finish Dread I plan on going back and playing the main five in order. Perhaps I'll substitute AM2R for Metroid II/Samus Returns. While SR graphically and mechanically has it's lineage with Dread, AM2R might be a better fit between the other three sprite-based outings. I know I managed to grab it before Nintendo shut it down, I just have to find it.

I mean, I really want to stress that I don't think the original Metroid or Metroid 2 are bad games, because they're not. The original was pretty groundbreaking in 1986, but there's been a lot of quality-of-life gains since then... like not having to draw the map yourself. That's why I'm ok with Super Metroid and everything that came after, but I just can't do the original Metroid or Return of Samus anymore. Thanks. I'm supposed to be up in five-ish hours, so I think I'm going to bed, but I'm saving that to my watch list and I'll check it out tomorrow.

It's my understanding that Samus Returns was generally well-received? I've heard good things about AM2R (and about how Nintendo killed it when they decided to have Mercury Steam make Samus Returns), but I've never played it. I've played Return of Samus (I even have the VC version on the same 3DS I used to play Samus Returns), but I can't get into it. Likewise, I love Metroid Zero Mission but I just can't do the original NES Metroid. I'll look to see if I can still find a download for AM2R, but for now Samus Returns is still my preferred version. Curious what you didn't like about it. The same developer is responsible for Dread, and it's got a lot of the same mechanics (the L button for free aim, the X button being a melee counter movie, etc).

Can confirm. I saw the article on Kotaku. I have mixed feelings... I support emulation and a means of games preservation, something Nintendo seems especially bad at (I was thinking that I might want to go back and play the entire saga, and realized that I'd still need my 3DS to play Metroid II, remake or Gameboy, and I think the only legit way to play Fusion or Zero Mission is an actual GBA or the Wii U). But I'd rather that emulation not happen until the console's been replaced. Regardless, since I did buy the game I figured I'd at least see what the emulation fuss was about. I'll say that setting up the emulator isn't as easy as setting up one for the NES, SNES, GBA, etc, and maybe that's deliberate. The emulators require a file that the developers seem to expect you to pull from an actual Switch that you own... but the thing is, it has to be the old pre-Lite, pre-OLED, and pre-revision white box Switch, without the latest firmware, and you're supposed to run an exploit on the Switch to get the file. For at least the one emulator you also need a copy of the Switch firmware, in addition the game itself. Maybe that'll deter some people. Me, a little Google Fu and I had what I needed. I set it up to run at 4K with 16x anisotropic filtering in full screen and play with an Xbox Series X controller on my Core i7-9770k with 16GB of RAM and an RTX 2080. There's the occasional stutter, but it's definitely playable and there may be other settings I can tweak to eliminate the stutter. That said, I did it more because I can than because I want/need to play on PC. I just reached the fourth area on the Switch, and I'm not starting over. But it is nice to know that someday when I want to play through Zero Mission, Return of Samus, Super Metroid, Fusion, and Dread back-to-back in that order I'll be able to do it all with the same hardware.* *Probably. I know I can do at least four out of those five; I understand that the 3DS has been emulated, but I don't feel like jumping through hoops to set it up and test it right now.

Been playing it in between Far Cry sessions. Just beat After going out of my way to get the Morph Ball bombs first.

Not that particular repaint, no. But I have the original first run set.

Yeah, Overlord is a bit pricey, but like you said that price for Gravestone was just the tractor that turned into Motormaster, then the trailer that turned into Menasor was another $200. Overlord is both, so still way cheaper. Another way of looking at it is that I spent around $110-130 (I think) for Magic Square and Transform Element's MP-scale Primes. If $130 is reasonable for a transforming robot that size, well, MS's Menasor is a head taller than that, plus he comes with a tiny Motormaster, plus all the parts to switch between Sunbow and toy Menasor. So yeah, there's definitely a bit of price creep going on in the Legends game right now, but I think the value is still there. I don't think the complete set of MS Stunticons ran me too much more than Iron Factory's Bruticus, and Magic Square's figures are a lot more intricate and refined.

No. Like 90% of the time you won't even notice the difference, and the other 10% is mostly aesthetic tweaks. Rounded corners on Windows, transparencies, taskbar icons that are centered by default (but you can move them back to the right), and a start menu that replaces live tiles with pinned program icons.

I checked on it this morning while I was working on my Gnaw review, and there were just under 500 to go. I took my family out to lunch and was happy to we made it to Tier 3. The shield and Micromasters were the goals I was the least interested in, but if I'm paying $190 either way I'd rather get more for my money, eh?

Finally! Weeks after everyone else got theirs, I finally got the last figure I'd been combing stores for from the slowpokes at Amazon (just in time for me to wonder where everyone's suddenly getting Waspinator and Shadow Panther at...). It's Studio Series 86 Deluxe-class Gnaw. When I put SS Gnaw with the Cyberverse Warrior-class and the Titans Return Legends-class I can't help but think that Gnaw and the Sharticons haven't had the best luck getting toys over the years. I can't say this is a fact, but to me it seems like Floro Dery's designs didn't translate well to actual animated Transformers, which is why most of them were refined before going on screen, but the Sharkticons we got in the movie were pretty close to what Dery came up with. Regardless, out of the gate SS Gnaw is a huge improvement over pretty much everything that's come before him. He's got better colors in the right places, he's got the little baby booty feet, and he's got better line work across his body. He's lacking the wings around his shoulders, though, and his torso is kind of flat. These are pretty forgivable gripes, mind you, when I don't even think a third party has come up with a Sharkticon this screen accurate. He's not a very big guy, standing just a little taller than the Cyberverse Warrior. And here he is with his other Quintesson buddies. He's fairly close in height to the Alicon, but he's got less bulk. Put with Hot Rod and Kup, Gnaw comes up to about mid-chest. For some reason I remember the Sharkticons as being bigger, but this might just be how my 6 year old brain processed the idea of a monster that eats other Transformers. While I don't think we ever got a good look at the robot mode side-by-side with the heroes, there's plenty of good scenes of them swarming at Kup in their beast modes, and Kup is definitely bigger than them. As far as accessories go, you get the tail mace, naturally. Despite the Sharkticons never having a gun in the cartoon, and despite the absences of their swords in the movie being the rational for excluding them with SS Slag and Grimlock, Gnaw does come with the rifle the G1 toy came with. Finally, don't miss it, you get his fin. Technically you get his entire back, but that's not really an accessory. Just a final assembly step Hasbro wants you to do yourself. Gnaw's head seems to be on a hinged ball joint. He can turn his head, but he doesn't have much in the way of upward or sideways tilt. He's good at looking down, though. His shoulders rotate and extend laterally 90 degrees. His biceps swivel and his elbows bend a little over 90 degrees on a single hinge. His wrists can bend inward, due to transformation, but they don't swivel. Neither does his waist. His hips can move forward just under 90 degrees, but only about 45 degrees backward or laterally. His thighs swivel. His knees bend 90 degrees on a single hinge, but there's a transformation hinge at the top of his booties that you can use to fake a double-joint. No up or down tilt on his feet, but his ankles can pivot 90 degrees. On thing that really bugs me is that the beast jaw that forms his collar does NOT lock into place, and I found it constantly flapping up in front of his face when I was posing him. Gnaw can hold his rifle or his tail by plugging the handles into his fists. Weirdly, the rifle fits well in his right hand but is super loose in his left, meanwhile his tail fits snuggly in his left but the peg seems a tad too large for his right. Although it came separately in the box, I didn't include his back as an accessory because it doesn't really do anything; you just install it and you're done. The instructions have you install the shark fin, too, and then largely don't mention it again. Because it uses a 5mm peg, though, it can hold it in his hand... kind of. The shark toes around his wrists prevent you from plugging it in too far. But yeah, it otherwise just goes in the 5mm port on his back. Additionally, he has 5mm ports under his toes, and the holes in his beast shoulders where the rivet went through are also 5mm. Gnaw's still a little guy in beast mode. His body balls up, and the result is noticeably smaller than the Alicon and longer but not too much larger in the face than the previous Legends-class toy. The transformation is surprisingly simple and mostly effective. From some angles he looks positively great, and aside from the lack of antenna and a bit of blue on his sides very screen accurate. The metallic green eyes are a definite highlight. From other angles, though, problems start to creep in and he looks a bit weird. Like maybe his body is too long? Regardless, the shark hips seem way too far back, and rather than bow out they have to be bent forward to keep his feet under his center of mass. His face seems too small. It's really should run the entire height of his body, but the fact that it doesn't kind of accentuates the lack of expected roundness. The beast shoulders also seem a bit high and forward of where they really ought to be be. Turn him over, and you'll see how his fists turn into his heels, but the usual Hasbro method of just leaving a gap on the inside of the forearm means both feet are missing the inner toes. His robot head is super visible under his chin, too. Actually, it's super visible when he opens his mouth, which he can do in beast mode, period. The beast shoulders rotate but they can't move laterally, which is a bummer. There's no bicep swivel, the elbows bend over 90 degrees, and the wrists don't swivel. That last bit is really unfortunate, because if they really had to cheap out and not give his hands any articulation I'd rather the wrists were turned 90 degrees. Then you could at least pose one clawing another's face off, like in the movie. His hips and knees are his robot shoulders and elbows, with the same articulation. His feet and ankles don't have any articulation. His tail, which plugs into a 5mm port on his butt, has a single hinge at the base. For rifle storage there's a small peg on it that fits into a small hole on his left side. I have mixed feelings about Gnaw. He does a lot of things right, and he's definitely the best Sharkticon toy that's ever been released, official or otherwise. There are a few really questionable decisions here, though, that drag him down. I guess I'd recommend him; I still have a second one on preorder with Pulse, and I'd love it if Hasbro released a pack of slightly recolored ones for troop building. I just can't shake the feeling that Gnaw was *this* close to being an amazing figure, but he came away just alright.

While it's often been the case that multiple 3Ps will come out with or at least announce a character around the same time as another 3P, I don't think there's ever been a case of that as extreme as Springer. Unique Toys released their Allen, then all of the sudden heavy hitters Fans Toys, X-Transbots, and MMC/Ocular Max announced theirs, ToyWorld came up with a more Studio OX-inspired design, and the rumor goes that a few other players banded together and the "Open and Play" branding to release Big Spring just as a low-cost stab at Fans Toys. To be honest, my initial thought was that I'd go with X-Transbots. I already had issues with Allen and his yellow feet, ToyWorld's OX line was never going to cut it on a G1 MP shelf, and of the remainder XTB's seemed to be the most-accurate in all three modes (arguably still does). When it became clear that I had a wait ahead of me, I gave Big Spring a try, and I really liked him. It wasn't without it's flaws, though, and it was never meant to be my permanent MP Springer. As time passed, though, XTB's still hasn't come out (yet somehow preorders are running $200), and Fans Toys' is a poorly-articulated engineering nightmare that I honestly think would be universally reviled if it weren't for the Fans Toys Kool-Aid. MMC's seemed to be getting a lot of positive buzz, though. I missed the original release, but when MMC announced they were going to do a new version with tweaked colors I decided to jump on it. So tonight, we're taking a look at MMC/Ocular Max Saltus Alternative, my second MP Springer. So that's Saltus on the left, Big Spring on the right. While I don't think Big Spring looked too bad, face aside, Saltus definitely has an edge here. It's not just that the head is just the spitting image of the smiling Springer giving Daniel an exo-suit, but the fact that the proportions are all-around the thicker slab of a bot Springer was animated as compared to Big Spring's too-slender build. You'll note the area around is collar is cleaner, too. Of course, it's not just his proportions that are thicker. Despite carrying pretty much the same stuff, Saltus' backpack definitely sticks out a bit further. But Saltus does offer another advantage over Big Spring, and that's his shoulder pads. By default, they're wrapped around the sides of his shoulders, like Big Spring (and, as far as I know, Fans Toys, Unique Toys, and XTB, too). But MMC gives you options. You want them on top of his shoulders, like the Siege toy? You can do that. You want them on the back of his shoulders for an OX look, like ToyWorld or the G1 toy? You can do that. You can even angle them partly around the side and partly over the top, which is how I think the cartoon did it. I'll note too, although I never really had problems with Big Spring's plastic, MMC's plastic definitely feels better, plus he's got diecast in his chest, thighs, and feet and a ton more paint. This definitely gives him a more premium feel, but that's to be expected when he cost me more than double what I paid for Big Spring. Speaking of the cartoon, Saltus comes with a number of accessories, and some of them are definitely "that thing from that episode/movie". You of course get sword and a rifle. Nothing mind-blowing there; the rifle is gray plastic with a nice sculpt that recalls to me the original toy's, and the sword has silver paint the blade. You get the warhead they fired at Devastator in the movie. Big Spring did, too, but MMC's is painted so there's that. You get two alternative heads, and two black clips we'll get to in a bit. And finally, you get a spear-like weapon that you have to assemble yourself. This spear is the "magic lance" Springer and Razorclaw used to kill a dragon in the episode "Nightmare Planet," and it's notable because the entire shaft is metal. Saltus' articulation is quite good. His head is on a hinged swivel, and he can look up a good bit. His downward articulation is good but a bit more limited, however you can use a transformation joint to crane his whole neck forward a bit and fake plenty of downward tilt. His shoulders rotate, no issues, and extend laterally over 90 degrees, plus he's got a little forward and backward butterfly. His elbows are double-jointed and curl just about 180 degrees. His wrists swivel, plus then can bend downward a little. Each finger on his hand is individually articulated. His thumb has a ball joint into the palm with a pin at the base of the peg, and all of his fingers are pinned at the base. Three of his fingers are molded into curls and don't have any additional hinges, but his index finger does have not one but two additional knuckle hinges. His waist swivels, and he has an ab crunch. His hips are ratcheted all around, and can go 90 degrees laterally or backward and over 90 forward. His thighs swivel. His knees are double-jointed and can bend 180 degrees. His feet have all the up/down tilt you could want, and about 45 degrees of ankle pivot. The handles of his sword and gun have tabs on them that fit securely into his palms, in your typical MP fashion. They can store on his back if you use the included clips. One has a tab that fits into a small slot under the rifle's barrel, and adds a tab that fits into a slot on Saltus' back. The other wraps snuggly around the blade of Saltus' sword, and uses two tabs that fit into slots on the other side of Saltus' backpack. It's not official, but you can also kind of slide the sword into a gap in his backpack if you want it more on his back and stored without using the clip. Just take care that you don't scratch the paint on the blade. Saltus can interact with the other accessories, I suppose. I mean, I was able to get him to hold the lance and the warhead, but they're not really locked in like the gun or sword. It's just the tension in his finger joints holding the lance, and careful balancing of the warhead on his hands. And they don't have any method of storage, so... back in the box they go. They'll have company in the box with Saltus' extra heads. As I mentioned, the default head is kind of a happy smile. The other two are more stoic expressions. The difference between the two is that one is the same Sunbow-style sculpt that the happy face opts for, while the other has eyes closer to the top of his helmet, sharper lines on the helmet's contours, and a narrower face with a smaller chin. That head is supposed to be Studio OX-style. I kind of thought I'd prefer the OX-style head, but in-hand I definitely like the Sunbow ones. That said, I'm swapping happy Springer for neutral Springer. Swapping the heads is easy, it just requires you to undo the screw on the back, separate the halves of the head, then pop the new one in place so that it captures the neck hinge. Not an accessory, but one final "that thing from that movie" gimmick Saltus has is that panels on his forearms can open to reveal the little internal gun he fired at Starscream during the battle of Autobot City. One of the advantages Big Spring had, especially compared to Unique Toys' Allen and Fans Toys' Apache, is that the engineering was fairly simple. He didn't even come with instructions! Saltus definitely comes with instructions, but honestly I wound up not really using them because somehow Saltus' transformation is even more straightforward and easy. Indeed, there are some steps that look confusing in the instructions but once you know how the parts move it's kind of obvious where they go. Springer's car mode has always been sort of wonky. I have to give MMC credit for shaping Saltus into something that does look like it could be some kind of armored military vehicle of the future... but it's not at all accurate. Not to the cartoon, not to the G1 toy, and not to Studio OX's art. Now, I'm not necessary saying the lack of accuracy is a bad thing, given how wonky the animation model is, but between the two Big Spring is a lot closer to the mark. Now, the biggest thing I've though worked against Big Spring is the gap between his legs makes the rear of the car look sort of unfinished, but I can't really say that Saltus solved that problem with a similar gap between is rather visible robot thighs. Still, it's pretty cohesive, kind of low and sleek... I think I prefer Big Spring's, but I definitely like it better than the weirdly-stretched car on Apache. You can use the same clips you used to store the rifle and sword on Saltus' backpack to store them on the sides of the car. It's not ideal, since it requires you to keep extra clips around, although you can kind of just leave the one on the gun permanently on the gun, or leave the clips in place in all three modes. Personally, though, I'll put them back in the box with the lance, warhead, and extra heads and simply not stow the weapons on the vehicle. I do wonder, though, why the handle of the rifle folds in and what looks like a two-pronged peg folds out if it doesn't do anything, or why the sword couldn't be stowed under the car (which looks like what XTB will do). As far as other gimmicks, the tires are rubber. The headlights can fold out, just as they did on Big Spring and ToyWorld's, as depicted in Studio OX. The canopy also opens, revealing a little steering wheel. If going between robot and car is easy on Saltus, going between car and helicopter is almost effortless. You fold the boom out from the legs at the back of the car, turn the legs sideways, scrunch part of the back more to the top, make the front wheels and the forearms swap places, then rock the shoulder pads back and you've more or less got it. As is usually the case, the sword splits in half along the blade and plugs in to form the helicopter's rotor. The biggest strike against Saltus is, again, that the helicopter isn't cartoon accurate. To be fair, I don't think anyone's really pulled off the helicopter perfectly (although I begrudgingly admit that Fans Toys came the closest), and I don't really feel like nitpicking all the little things Saltus got wrong when almost everyone got the same things wrong and the ones that didn't got other things wrong. However, there's one thing that Saltus really got wrong, and that's the tail boom. Let me show you another picture to illustrate. In this photo, the helicopter at the top is an AH-64 Apache, and the one on the bottom is an OH-58 Kiowa. On the Apache, you can see that the boom projects roughly from the bottom of the helicopter, and the top is kind of like a hump that curves down to the boom. It's not clear from the Sunbow character model (indeed, it almost looks to be the opposite), but if you watch scenes of Springer in the movie and the cartoon and looked at the G1 toy that's how Springer's tail boom is supposed to be, it's how the Siege toy is, and it's how all the 3P MP-style Springers are except MMC's. Instead, Saltus' boom runs along the spine of the helicopter, with the belly curving up to meet it like the Kiowa. Maybe not a deal-breaker for many of you, but it is the single biggest flaw with Saltus in my opinion, and for all its own flaws it's why Big Spring still has a more accurate helicopter mode. If you like, the canopy still opens, the headlights still fold out, and you can still use the clip to store the gun on the side of the helicopter. So ultimately, where does that leave Saltus? I mean, it's a pretty great figure. The quality and engineering on the figure are top notch, and right out of the gate I'd handily recommend him over ToyWorld, Unique Toys, or even Fans Toys. For most collectors, I think bot mode is the priority and MMC really knocked that out of the park with a strong sculpt, premium materials, and excellent articulation. He's a joy to handle, and he'll be replacing Big Spring on my MP shelf. That said, while I like his car mode it's definitely not accurate, and the helicopter mode is just wrong. Open and Play's Big Spring beats Saltus in both of those modes, and it's only the fact that the robot mode and materials are so much better on Saltus that's keeping me from giving Big Spring the crown. Even then, you might still want to wait. XTB still hasn't released their Springer yet, but from the last test shots I've seen it is the most Sunbow-accurate in all three modes and should have excellent articulation and plenty of accessories. Then again, it's XTB, who lately has either had high prices, poor QC, complicated engineering, or all three (culminating in their Kup being so bad they're apparently reworking it and promising to replace the ones that were already sold). So for now, Saltus gets the recommend as the best of many MP-style Springers available as of October 2021. He's a fantastic robot with a better-than-accurate car and a so-inaccurate-it-bothers-me helicopter. But I'm not going to blame you if you want to wait and see how XTB's shakes out, because it certainly looks better if they can get their QC under control.