mikeszekely

Dracula X is a nice addition. Still leaves us wanting a DS collection, plus a few other orphaned games like Legends.

I'm not saying it won't happen at all, but I am saying it won't without a cartoon to back it up. And to be fair, it's been that way since Animated; Classics/Universe/Generations is for capitalizing on the nostalgia of older fans, and Animated/Prime/RiD/Cyberverse came with newer cartoons. While I think Cyberverse cartoon has ended, I haven't heard of anything in the works to replace it (although I could be wrong) and the Cyberverse toy line still seems to be going strong. Because, to be frank, the Combiner Wars ones sucked. I mean, after enjoying the improved engineering since Siege I could argue that all of the CW combiners need a do-over where they're not poorly-articulated ball-jointed messes, where they're not trying to make five or six characters out of one mold, where they're not replacing characters at random just to get those extra repaints, where they're not saddling us with those crappy hand/foot/guns, etc. But the Stunticons got it the worst, for sure. Breakdown was one of the worst Deluxe molds in that line, and Motormaster definitely was the worst torso. And that's just the engineering; Motormaster didn't look much like the G1 truck, the G1 robot, or the G1 Menasor torso. I'm thinking that by making Motormaster a Commander-class we'll wind up with a setup similar to Magic Square, XTB, or DX9's where Motormaster's trailer makes up a lot of Meansor's body, and hopefully we can have better G1-accuracy, better articulation, and better proportions across the board. And if it does well enough, maybe we'll get the other combiners, too (although a Leader Lazer Prime has me thinking Scourge repaint, and if we get a Scourge repaint then I kind of want a Leader or Commander RiD2001 Prime...) I'm envious. I've been scouring my local stores for him since I first heard sightings of him. Nothing so far.

Yeah, it just feels really weird. It'd be like having an actor who's definitely not in Rise of the Beasts to talk about whatever toys might come out for that film. I can't say I'm super bothered, though. I usually prefer subs, and I already have the Shout Factory Japanese Collection box set. I'm not in a rush to replace it. And I'm loving how Star Saber's turning out. Just under 2000 backers to go to get it funded- that livestream did give it a nice boost, as it picked up nearly 1000 backers since I last checked. I'm guessing when retailers put their orders in, which always happens right at the end, that'll easily cover it. Hopefully they can make some of the stretch goals, too. I know it's not the most exciting thing in the word, but I'd love the stand for V-Star mode.

So Hasbro did a livestream with Chris Sabat to promote the Victory Saber crowdfund. Sabat is a voice actor, arguably most famously known for his role as Vegeta in the various Dragon Ball shows, but one who had never worked on Transformers and who, by his own admission, wasn't even aware of the Japanese G1 stuff. So he seemed like a pretty odd choice, unless Hasbro was going to announce a dub of Victory with Sabat on the cast... ...nope. No such announcement. Turns out it was just a really random decision.

OK... same source, but this is apparently the Studio Series release schedule for next year. CORE CLASS Wave 1 TF6 Ravage x4 TF6 Shockwave x4 Wave 2 TF6 Ravage x2 TF6 Shockwave x2 86 Spike x4 Wave 3 86 Wheelie x4 86 Ratchet x4 Wave 4 86 Wheelie x2 TF3 Laserbeak x 3 86 Rumble x3 DELXUE CLASS Wave 1 86 Perceptor x2 TF6 Ratchet x2 TF6 Wheeljack x2 TF6 Brawn x2 Wave 2 TF6 Wheeljack x1 TF6 Ratchet x1 TF6 Arcee x3 TF6 Ironhide x3 Wave 3 86 Arcee x3 TF2 Sideways x3 TF3 Bumblebee x3 Wave 4 86 Perceptor x1 86 Arcee x1 TF5 Hot Rod x3 TF4 Crosshairs x3 VOYAGER CLASS Wave 1 TF6 Soundwave x2 86 Hot Rod Variant x1 Wave 2 TF6 Soundwave x1 86 Junkyard x1 Wave 3 TF6 Thundercracker x1 TF4 Galvatron LEADER CLASS Wave 1 86 King Starscream x2 Wave 2 86 Sludge x2 Wave 3 TF2 The Fallen x2 Again, some notes: 1. Just looking at the numbers in each case I'd say this list, if true, is incomplete. I've been told from a source I trust more that we should expect 86 Swoop, Ratchet, and Ironhide in the Voyager-class. 2. 86 Arcee? The Earthrise/Kingdom mold isn't that old... hopefully they're not just repackaging it and we could get a better one. 3. I guess Shrapnel and Bombshell aren't in 86. Perhaps they're with Breakdown in the missing Legacy wave? 4. They're going HARD on the Bumblebee movie. I'm honestly not sure how I feel about that. I mean, Bumblebee is distinct from G1 and possibly the first five TF movies... but they're kind of like Cybertronian G1. And I already bought a ton of Cybertronian G1 toys in Siege, that I already replaced with Earth modes. 5. TF3 Bumblebee. By my count, that leaves just the two designs from TF4 before we've gotten them all, unless they want to do a new TF5 Bee (the previous one was a repack of TLK Premiere Bee, and slightly taller than the rest) or 86 Bee. 6. Junkyard... I wonder how much Hasbro can milk Wreck-Gar's mold? Because, if I'm being honest, I can't bring myself to shell out for all the KFC remolds, but at $30 a pop I'd probably buy a small army of Junkions. 7. I wonder what a Hot Rod variant would be? 8. SLUDGE! 9. I hope the Fallen has a better transformation and alt mode than the original, especially at a Leader price. And for final good measure, here's what you can expect from Generations Selects Titan Black Zarak (not a surprise, as it's been up for preorder). Deluxe-class Clampdown (at last!) Voyager-class Cyclonus' Armada Deluxe-class Lift-Ticket (red Diaclone Hoist) Deluxe-class DK-3 (blue Diaclone Trailbreaker) Deluxe-class Guard (no idea, but if it's GS you can expect a repaint/remold of something from this list or WfC)

OK, I'm unfamiliar with the source, so take this with a huge grain of salt, but some of these do match what we've previously seen in Target's database (although others are completely out of the blue). But apparently this is the planned case assortment for most (all?) of the post-Kingdom series (which will apparently be called Legacy). *As near as I can tell, a listing with "Pr" at the end means it was previously released in a prior line, like Astrotrain was in Siege and Earthrise and Optimus, Arcee, and Wheeljack were in Earthrise and Kingdom. CORE CLASS Wave 1 Skywarp x2 Hot Rod x3 Iguanus x3 Wave 2 Iguanus x1 Optimus Prime Pr x1 G2 Megatron x2 Shockwave x2 Wave 3 Soundwave Pr x2 Energon Monster x3 Skullgrin x3 DELUXE CLASS Wave 1 Skids x2 Dragstrip x2 Prime Arcee x2 Kickback x2 Wave 2 Prime Knockout x2 Elita-1 x2 Tarantulas x2 Wildrider x2 Wave 3 Pointblack x2 Crankcase x2 Energon Monster x2 Deadend x2 VOYAGER CLASS Wave 1 Blaster x2 Bulkhead x2 Wave 2 Prime Soundwave x2 Jhiaxus x1 Wave 3 Armada Starscream x2 Beast Wars Inferno x1 LEADER CLASS Wave 1 Lazer Optimus Prime x2 Wave 2 Galvatron Pr x1 Blitzwing x1 Wave 3 Dragon Megatron x2 COMMANDER CLASS Motormaster TITAN CLASS Cybertron Metroplex A couple notes I have about this list- 1. Where's Bombshell and Shrapnel? I guess they could be coming in a fourth wave, or Hasbro could be weirdly splitting them up between Legacy and SS86 like they did with Season 3 characters and Kingdom. 2. Where's Breakdown? The leak actually puts him in a fourth wave, but I left him off the list because he's the only figure mentioned for a fourth wave. 3. Lazer Optimus Prime? HECK YES! Honestly, the original was a fantastic figure that's held up pretty well; Hasbro could use almost the same engineering and transformation, just add a few swivels and ankles that the original lacked. Reveal the Shield Optimus was ok but not quite there, and messing with TR Octone the other day reminded me that I really don't like that mold so the TR version of Laser Prime is out. 4. Crankcase is a new leak, I think. Cool if true; I'm down for completing the Scavengers. 5. I'd heard that Armada would be included in Legacy, but this is, I think, the first time I'm hearing Starscream. I'm not complaining, mind you. While the cartoon was pretty bad and I have no interest in collecting a whole line of Armada toys, I liked some of the character designs and I'd probably be interested in picking up the main cast (Optimus, Hot Shot, Red Alert, Megatron, Starscream, Cyclonus, and Demolisher). 6. I really hope that "Cybertron Metroplex" is a misunderstanding, and it's actually an updated G1 Metroplex. The original Titan Metroplex hasn't aged all that well, and frankly it always had these weird, stretched out proportions and stylized accessories. I'd totally throw money at a better-proportioned, more G1-accurate Metroplex with a Deluxe-class Scamper (that little Legends one sucks). But I really don't see myself dropping almost $200 on an updated version of this guy:

OK, the rest of that shipment was the two XTransbots Youth-version Stunticons, so I guess this is a Repaint Roundup. First up is Crackup, AKA Breakdown. The most immediate, obvious changes are of course that the Youth version has some tampos on his arms and shins that kind of mimic the G1 toy's stickers, and a more toy-style head... which could have used more work by the way. From the nose down he still has the cartoon face, but he's got shades instead of the bigger visor that the G1 toy was sporting. It's not just the head, though; there's a surprising amount of remolded parts for a repaint. His shins are actually different, lacking the vents on the regular version. His hip skirts lack the horizontal line and pentagon, going for a smooth crotch and the arcs on the hips. His thighs have different linework. His chest and abs are also different, again, to replace the cartoon details with molded shapes that are more toy accurate. And his chest is covered in silver paint where the original toy was unpainted diecast. His gun, though. That's totally the same. The differences are less obvious in car mode... I guess breakdown's animation model hewed closer to the toy than the other Stunticons. That I can see, the smaller painted details like the taillights are a bit sharper on the Youth version. The window frames are off-white instead of black. The leg flaps with the exhausts are off-white instead of blue. And all the tires are bigger on the Youth version. I guess XTB thought Crackup didn't roll well enough? Oh, and I'm not sure how well it's showing up in my pictures, but the off-white on the Youth version is definitely closer to the G1 toy than the kind of peachy color used on the original. As far as gimmicks go, the Youth version's gun stores on the back in car mode, just like the original. There's no extra faces or anything. Youth Overheat's kind of the opposite of Crackup. Crackup's most obvious changes were in bot mode, but Overheat's a bit more subtle. There is, of course, the new toy-style head, a new engine-tummy, and different thighs, but that's the extent of remolded parts. There's some tampoed stripes on his feet, and the yellow color used on the Youth version is more uniform and slightly darker or more orange than the original. I kind of wish they'd changed his knees, as those knee pads are still totally cartoon. For toy accuracy you can leave the wheels on his shoulders turned up, but it's literally just skipping a transformation step. The engineering and assembly is the same, so you can still rotate them down if you prefer. You get the same gun as the original version, but the purple paint is more reddish than the bluer purple the original got. And, unlike Crackup, the differences are more noticeable in car mode. Again, you don't have the multiple shades of yellow. You have the black section in front of the cockpit, no stripes on the front spoiler, and horizontal stripes on the rear spoiler and the sides of the car. And again, the engine's a bit different. I think the changes were more about accommodating the robot tummy, but there it is. I find myself wishing they'd painted the sides of the engine, under those little wings that the original didn't have, a yellow color. Those details were molded onto the original G1 toy, but weren't painted or stickered, so I think yellow would have been a better match. Overheat's gun can still store either under the car between his legs or on the engine. And Overhead does still come with the little driver, in black and white instead of yellow and orange. There's no extra face, though. Well, I've reviewed four out of five Stunticons across three different MP (and one Legends) sets. I've been pretty upfront about the fact that the XTB set is my least favorite- they have the best alt modes, hands down, but they're the least fun to transform and tended to have the most QC issues. I decided I wasn't even going to bother with the overpriced trailer of combiner bits, figuring that DX9 adequately covered my MP Menasor needs, and Fans Toys gave me the best individual Stunticons. But I though, hey, maybe I'd get the Youth trailer. Then XTB could at least give me a cool toy/OX-style Menasor, right? And unlike DX9, XTB used some paint on the skeleton's arms to match the cars, paint that isn't actually a match for the original Stunticons I already had. Going in on the Youth versions will at least give me better color matching if I do get the Youth trailer, or failing that it'll at least give me something different to display than another set of Sunbow Stunticons. For under $50 each, yeah, I'm glad I got these guys. I even got motivated enough to order a copy of Youth Wildrider from ShowZ for $67, and I might finish off the cars and grab a Youth Dead End next month. But the weird thing is, while I do like a toy-style Menasor, I still prefer cartoon Stunticons, and I can't bring myself to invest in a Youth Motormaster... Motormaster just isn't gray to me.

If Poison was in the largest box in my recent delivery, what, you ask, was in the smallest? That'd be Fans Hobby's Ace Hitter, their MP-ish Goshooter. I say Goshooter and not Siren, because like Minerva and Nightbeat what they got in Japan and what we got in the States wound up being different. In bot mode, the differences between Goshooter and Siren are less obvious; white instead of a light gray, black on his shins with "POLICE" deco instead of red with "FIRE DEPT". And as Goshooter, Fans Hobby did a pretty good job capturing the character. To be fair, I think Ace Hitter leans a little more toward the original Japanese toy, but the animation model for Goshooter was also a bit closer to the toy than a lot of Sunbow Transformers were. Indeed, where Minerva felt a bit stylized (as Fans Hobby is wont to do), with the front of the car forming her legs instead of her arms and vice versa, Ace Hitter is one of the more accurate figures Fans Hobby has done in general. The front of the car turning into his legs is correct this time, as is the kibble hanging off his arms. The blue torso, the white flap with the gray patch, black arms and hands, that all checks out. He's got molded detail on his shoulders where the G1 toy had screws, and some vents that were molded on the original toy but colored like the cartoon. The original toy had black thighs, the cartoon had light gray thighs, and Fans Hobby split the difference with dark gray. In my opinion, the biggest differences are the feet and head. The original toy didn't really have feet at all; Masterforce added some but they were black as far as I can tell. Fans Hobby opted for the same blue used on his torso, and I think it works fine. As for the head, the original toy used little black guns to make his ears, and the cartoon retained the black ears. Just like they did with Minerva, though, Ace Hitter has the Headmaster's white arms for most of the ear, with little white antenna on top of his head. Oh, there's also the red-painted eyes. That's actually accurate to the toy, but if you prefer the blue eyes of the Masterforce animation there are stickers included. Speaking of Headmasters, you get one and the cap needed to complete the head mode. You also get two black pistols that can fold up for storage, and an alternate happy face. The default face, which we'll see in a bit, is identical to the one that came on the Shooter figure that came with God Armor. Actually, the Shooter figure that came with Ace Hitter is identical all around, which, you know, aside from having white arms, white abs, and no yellow on his chest is cartoonish enough. I'll note, though, that the left hip on the one that came with Ace Hitter has a burr or something in the ball joint, so moving the leg makes it pop off. No biggie, I'll stuff that one in God Armor and use the God Armor one for Ace Hitter's head. Speaking of heads, Ace Hitter can swivel on Shooter's neck. Then, I can't tell if it's Shooter's neck joint or play in the socket, but Ace Hitter can also tilt his head forward, backwards, and sideways. His shoulders rotate, and the arm kibble is on hinged armatures connected to the back of his shoulders, allowing them to move enough that he can get his shoulders 90 degrees of lateral movement. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend over 90 degrees on a single hinge. HIs wrists swivel and can bend downward. His hands still have that sort of Gunpla feel that Minerva's do, but they're not as thin and fragile-feeling. His thumbs have a hinge at the base to open and close, and his fingers (which are all molded together) have a joint at the base and a joint mid-knuckle. His waist is a ball joint, so in addition to swiveling he can lean back, ab crunch forward, or tilt sideways for "I'm a Little Teapot." His hips move forward and laterally 90 degrees, and backward a little less. The hip joints are friction and a tad looser than I'd like, but not so loose that I have troubles getting him to stand and pose. His thighs swivel around the hips, and his knees bend slightly over 90 degrees on double joints; in theory they could bend more, but the door kibble on his calves gets in the way. His feet are also kind of weird. They can tilt up on a ball joint, and his toes can tilt down. His toes can also swivel for a faux ankle pivot, but it's kind of not necessary because that ball joint also allows for pivot. Not enough pivot, maybe, but the ball joint is connected to a double hinge that actually connects the foot to the outside of his leg, under the tires. They have a notch to keep you from bending the foot into his shin too far, but otherwise aren't secured. Ace Hitter can hold his guns by pressing the little tabs on the handles into either palm. Or, you can fold the gun up and use a slot on it to attach to a tab on either thigh for storage. In many ways, transforming Ace Hitter is going to feel familiar if you've transformed the previously-released Athena. The roof, rear window, and front windshield are going to unfold from his back kibble. The arms fold up into the back of the car, while the kibble on his shoulders joins with the window and encapsulates it. His lower legs open up and fold over his thighs to form the front of the car, and kibble on his calves unfurls and makes the doors. There are some changes, though, too, that make transforming Ace Hitter a more pleasant experience. It's easier to get his feet set properly. Less of his leg opens, meaning you don't have the same clearance issues folding them over the thighs. His arms collapse and tuck into the arm kibble, again making it easier to get everything lined up right. And his back kibble, which folds up better than Athena's, BTW, doesn't need to be removed. Aside from the lack of Autobot insignias, the police deco is G1 toy accurate. Same goes for the translucent blue windows. And it's a pretty nice representation of a second-gen Mazda RX-7, with translucent taillights, orange and yellow painted marker lights on the front, a painted grill, and pop-out translucent headlights. Would it have been nice to have some marker lights on the sides, maybe split the single translucent red taillights into separate orange/red/white? Sure. But it still remains a clean, largely accurate car mode and I dig it very much. As was the case with Athena and, I believe, the original toy, the roof and front windshield open to reveal a seat for the Headmaster. Unlike Athena, you don't have to pull the whole top of to find room to store the cap and guns. Instead, you turn him over and look at the underside. There's a gap between his arms, tabs on his shoulders. The slots on the guns are open on one end, so they can slide into place over those slots. That'll leave just enough space behind the license plate for two notches; those notches allow the cornetd of the cap to plug in securely. When I reviewed Athena I suggested that she was worth the price Fans Hobby was asking, but that the price was lower than other 3P toys of that size and that lower price was reflected in her overall quality, noting inferior plastic, tolerance issues, and a certain fiddlyness that made her feel a bit cheap. I'm pleased to say that, without actually being much more expensive (I paid $5 more for Ace Hitter than Athena) that Ace Hitter is more solid and less fiddly. He doesn't seem to have the tolerance issues I had with Athena, and while he's not swimming in paint and he's diecast free the plastic feels a bit better than what was used on Athena. While he's no Overlord, and I'm hoping for more improvements when they do Cab/Hosehead, Ace Hitter feels like a bit of a course correction for Fans Hobby. I think, in this hobby, Sunbow characters take priority over other G1 characters (unless you happened to have had a particular toy). I think that might make Goshooter less of a character you need an MP of, especially if you're holding out for a Siren deco, and if you weren't into the Headmaster Juniors then Ace Hitter isn't going to suddenly sell you on them. That said, if you were after the Juniors and were less than enthusiastic about Athena, take heart! Ace Hitter is definitely the better of the pair, and if you were interested in him I'd say that you won't be disappointed if you pick him up.

I got a few things in today, too, including some Youth Stunticons. But before I get to them, I want to talk about the biggest box in the shipment, which ironically contained the smallest figure. It's Mech Fans Toys Poison, their Legends-scale Octane. While I know that a lot of you guys have really embraced the Legends scale (and the admittedly awesome things Magic Square and New Age have been doing in that size) I've been reluctant to start a third Transformers collection at a smaller size. But you'll recall that I bought MFT's Astrotrain, and I liked it so much I bought both repaints. I knew at the time Octane and Blitzwing were coming, and I decided to jump in on at least the MFT Decepticon Triple Changers. Out of the box, I'm quite impressed with Poison's cartoon likeness. The sculpt and colors are pretty much exactly what you'd want them to be, although there are a few seams in his abdomen that I can overlook at this size/price point. MFT even managed to capture the way the sides of his shins extend along the sides of the knees and feet, per the animation model. Size-wise, he's a little smaller than Astrotrain. I mean, I guess that works for me. Poison doesn't come with a ton of accessories, but to be fair he doesn't need a ton. You've got an alternate head with a yelling face, and a purple rifle. Poison's head is on a ball joint, and it can look up and down or tilt sideways a reasonable amount in addition to rotating. His shoulders are also ball joints, and can rotate and extend a hair under 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. His wrists don't have articulation, which is a bit disappointing but again tolerable at this size. His waist can swivel. His entire front hip skirt moves as one piece, but only a little. To get the maximum range, his hips actually drop down a bit, then they can move about 60 degrees forward or laterally, and 90 degrees backward on a ball joint. His thighs swivel. His knees can bend 90 degrees, but weirdly there's these points where they click into place (although I'm pretty sure they're not ratcheted), and there's just three stopping points, so your choices become straight, bent 45 degrees, or bent 90 degrees, nothing in between. His feet are kind of weird. They're attached not at an actual ankle, but to hinges on the back of his calves. So they can bend down, but you won't really want to because it looks like his foot is falling off, and they can't bend up. Now, a large chunk of his foot is on a swivel, and that swivel gives him the most natural-looking ankle pivot. However, the swivel is tight, and a part attached to his calf swivels, too, taking the entire foot with it. It can sort of double as an ankle pivot, too, but honestly I'd prefer if MFT found a way to secure it a bit better. And that's going to be something of a running theme with this guy. Poison can hold his gun by sliding the peg-handle into either of his hole-shaped fists. Transformation from bot to truck is fairly straightforward, and the result isn't too bad. I dare say it cleans up a bit better than the Titans Return toy (which, frankly, I think is itself an improvement over the old Universe toy). OK, sure, the cab again has a few seams and some bulging hinges, but I'll give that a pass. There's not a ton of separation between the cab and the trailer, but that's pretty cartoon accurate, actually, and I'm cool with the not-so-rounded shape as it's similar to the G1 toy. There's no visible arm along the side, which may not be cartoon accurate but I think it's an improvement. What I'm not loving, though, is the lack of rear wheels for the cab, and the way that the wing along the side of the trailer starts a bit further back, with the gray stripe not turning up until halfway down the side of the trailer. I'm also not loving the way the back of the trailer looks, with the folded bits clearly from the plane mode. You might have noticed the ports in the gray stripes on the trailer. There's a peg on the side of Poison's gun, and it fits into the port on just the one side of the trailer. Good enough, I suppose. The truck rolls, but not super great. There's not a ton of clearance underneath. It's not helped, either, by the fact that the swiveling parts with the wheels lock into each other, but not to anything else so they can kind of still move in ways you don't really want. Transformation to plane mode is only slightly more complicated, and yet in some ways it's kind of similar to the G1 toy. It involves turning his lower legs around in a way that's similar to the G1 toy's, using his arms for engines, and using the inverted front of the truck as the rear fuselage with the sides folding around to make some of the tail and the horizontal stabilizers. Instead of partsforming, though, the vertical stabilizer also unfolds from the truck cab. I have to cut MFT some slack; Triple Changers are hard to do. It seems like there's always one mode that suffers are a bit more than the others. In Poison's case, though, I definitely think it's the plane. The windows don't run down the length of the fuselage, and the flaps that were on the sides of his knees don't make for a smooth cockpit area. It's lacking the cartoon swooshes (or the G1 sticker details that those swooshes simplified). It's also lacking any gray on the wings. While I certainly applaud their efforts to avoid partsforming, the result is a vertical stabilizer that's too small and doesn't cover the tires in the tail. I'm also a bit irked that, although there are tabs and slots near the edge, the cab-tail doesn't really lock into the rest of the fuselage, relying more on friction to stay in place. Posion's arm-engines are too close to the ports under his wings we used to store the guns in truck mode, which had me scouring the figure for alternatives (the instructions don't mention his gun at all). Now, the side of his gun has the one peg, plus some hollowed-out spaces that could be a slot and a peg hole. However, I couldn't find any tabs or pegs on the jet that correspond do them. Best I could do is kind of wedge the barrel between the wheels on the underside of the plane. It doesn't lock it at all, but the friction held surprisingly well. Ultimately, Poison's something of a paradox. On the one hand, it might be the best Octane figure yet, as it's more accurate that Unique Toys' Provider or Titans Return Octone, but it lacks the major QC issues I had with KFC's Stratotanker and Titans Return Octone. On the other hand, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed by Poison. He feels like a step back in joint and material quality from MFT's Astrotrain, and the overall design and engineering feels a bit less refined than their Astrotrain. I'd still recommend him for a Legends collection, and I'd still love for someone to upscale it to fit with the official War for Cybertron stuff, but unlike Astrotrain who I'd take pretty much as-is I'd hope that if someone upscaled Poison they'd take a little time to fix some of the issues I have with him.

I know some of you are still buzzing with the cool games announced at the PlayStation Showcase a week ago. And maybe some others (or even some sames!) are looking forward to the big holiday games, like Diablo II, Metroid Dread, Forza Horizon 5, Far Cry 6, or Guardians of the Galaxy. But 2022 is already shaping up to be a great year for games, since Inti Creates says that Luminous Avenger iX 2 will release in January, followed by Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 sometime in the summer. If you've never played the previous Gunvolt games (of which LA iX is a spinoff), you're missing out! They seem to be made by the team that did the Mega Man Zero games, and they feel more like Mega Man than the less-than-stellar Mighty No. 9 (amusingly, LA iX uses Mno9's dashing into enemies gimmick, but pulls it off 100x times better). They're available on Steam (as three separate games), PS4/5, and Switch (as a "Striker pack" with Gunvolt 1 and 2, and LA iX separate).

Good luck! Pulse sent theirs out a week or two ago.

Will do. I had TFSource send the two Youth versions I ordered, so when they get here I'll do some comparisons and decide if I really need both versions. I mean, Firage and El Cid weren't great. But I do want an MP DotM Megatron... I wonder if NA will wind up doing a second Jazz, like the did with Bumblebee. Because NA's Jazz looks fine for a Legends-size figure released a few years ago, but MS's really leaves it in the dust. Right? It'd be one thing if we were still hurting for a good Inferno/Grapple/Artfire, but we've already got three pretty great options, so you could already have bought one from each company, covered all three characters, and not have had to buy the same mold twice. So, I mean, good for anyone who looked at these six years ago and thought that somehow XTB nailed some little detail that bugged them on Maketoys/MMC/Takara's, but I'm good, thanks.

I kind of doubt it. I mean, for one, Hasbro's been hyper-focused on G1. Two, we got Omega two years ago. Three, I went back and looked at Animated Omega Supreme. Frankly, I'm not even sure how he was supposed to transform, but however it works it's gotta be pretty different from how Ark does. The impression I get is that they wanted a toy of the Ark, they decided it needed to transform if they were going to push it at the Titan-class, and they went straight to Marvel G1 for inspiration. But now I'm back to repaints. See, I had to get new tires on my car, and I stopped at a non-local Target by the dealer and I actually found the Buzzworthy Bumblebee Worlds Collide pack. I'll just go right-to-left based on how they're packaged, since that's the usual English reading order. So first up we have Nemesis Primal. And... ugh. I mean, I'm digging the silver and teal, to be sure, and I love the new head, but does every Optimus need a Nemesis repaint? I mean, sure, by now you can't have Optimus Prime without a Nemesis Prime, but this is actually the first Nemesis Primal, and between him and Rodimus Unicronus from Power of the Primes this whole make-a-black-repaint-of-the-good-guy evil needs to stop. Especially when black's already a prominent color. Maybe just slap that head on a more saturated Primal and pass him off as Optimus Primal in his toy colors instead? Nemesis Primal has the same accessories and gimmicks as Optimus, just, y'know, different colors. I'll also note here that some of the joints, most noticeably the one that flips his chest around, are more loose on Nemesis than Optimus. Ape mode. Funny how the Beast Wars characters in Kingdom were getting sort of more realistic beast modes, but then Nemesis is purple. Whatever. Moving on... Fangry might be the figure the most desired figure in the set, as he's the only figure that hasn't seen some other form of release. Not just in WfC, I mean this is Fangry's first toy since G1, not counting the little Titan Master release in Titans Return (which I don't have; I'd have loved to compare it. Fangry isn't a new mold, though. He's a retool of Grotusque, who himself was a retool of Doublecross. And, yeah, it kind of works here. I mean, he's not as heavily retooled as some other recent figures have been, mostly just his thighs, hip skirt, beast head, some chest parts, his biceps, his shoulders, and his beast hands. But the basic shape checks out, and aside from gray feet and black hands and translucent plastic that's a bit too dark on his tummy, the colors are right. The beast head on his back might be a better storage option than on his butt. There's no beast legs poking up over his shoulders, but I'm fine with that. Unfortunately, his wings don't come off to be an accessory. Actually, he doesn't really have any accessories at all, save his head. Which turns into Brisko, a name I can't hear without thinking of the short-lived TV show The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. The inability to turn his wings into his shield thing is bad enough, but no gun is just... ugh. I think this is also the part where I mention that Fangry is loose. Like, I haven't had a figure this loose since the Prime Wars Trilogy, and even then he'd be one of the worst offenders, right up there with Skullcruncher. His knees are particularly bad, to the point where I was having trouble getting him to stand. Fangry's beast mode... kind of works. The head sculpt is good, and I prefer the wings to be on his back than behind his head. Maybe a bit too much pink, and a torso that's a bit too obviously his robot torso due to the differences in engineering between this and the G1 toy. I'd have preferred the black part of his beast legs to be gray, but the shape is close enough. The thing I like the least, though, are the arms. Instead of the little black claws the G1 toy had, this Fangry uses his robot arms with no real transformation save to change from closed-fist bot mode hands to open-handed beast hands. Bumblebee's looking pretty sharp in robot mode. The head sculpt is the same one used by Bugbite and Netflix Bee, and I like the less Kraft singles yellow better than Netflix Bee. Sure, the chest with the larger window is different than Netflix Bee, but the feet are probably the most obvious difference. Still, both the G1 and the Netflix cartoon kind of changed the shape and made it less obviously the front-end of a Volkswagen anyway, so my biggest gripe with the bot mode might actually be the missing yellow on the pelvis. I guess this is like my fifth copy of that modular bazooka. What's new, though is that Bumblebee also comes with a translucent yellow D20. Or, now that I've watched the Kingdom show on Netflix, I guess that's the Allspark. The Allspark, much like the Energon rods packed with Origin Bee, doesn't seem designed to be held. That said, there is a little hole on one side that fits over those little blast effect pimples, so there's at least that. And, for what it's worth, Bee feels like the best-built of the four figures. This is where Bumblebee runs into trouble, though. I get how extremely difficult Volkswagen can be about licensing the Beetle to HasTak, and how controlling they can be about the presentation and releases. But c'mon, Hasbro. You have to make some changes to the alt mode, because if you don't then you don't have Bumblebee, you have Hubcap. Or possibly Bumper; I know that Bumper is technically supposed to be a Mazda Familia and not a Porsche, but the Cliffjumper mold is deliberately neither, so maybe a little more black paint on the front bumper and a new head and I actually could convert this figure to Bumper... Last up, we have Blackarachnia. The premise here is pretty simple- the Kingdom toy was based on the cartoon, and this version is based on her original toy. Which, you know, was quite different. The gold spots on the originals chest have turned into a sort of leopard-print bra, and she could maybe have had purple thighs, but otherwise the colors are a match for the original toy, save for the green kneecaps, although the shape is more like the more feminine cartoon. Her new head sculpt is based on the original toy's mutant mask. As you'd expect, she has the same crossbow/gun as the Kingdom release, just in the purple of the original toy. She also has the same issue where her chest doesn't really tab into her torso, despite the tiny tab and slot for it. It's a bit worse on this version, though, because everything pretty much stays in place with friction on my Kingdom copy, but the hinge is looser on this version. Her head is especially floppy. Spider mode is what you'd expect. It's got the more spidery shape of the Kingdom toy, with green eyes and gold legs. Those green kneecaps turn up again, and makes me thing they should have either matched her shins (like the Kingdom version) or her thighs. I also find it curious that the markings on her abdomen are purple. I mean, the original toy had red. Weirdly, the one tight tolerance on BA is her biceps, which makes transforming her into a spider kind of a pain. Twisting them to get the spider legs posed will almost certainly cause her robot hands to pop off the tabs they're supposed to grip. End of the day, there's no way I'd recommend this set. Honestly, and this is coming from someone who's bought like nine copies of the Siege Seeker mold, six of Siege Sideswipe, four of ER Prime, five Siege Datsuns, four ER Datsuns, and three of just the Ramjet mold, this set feels like the biggest waste in the entire WfC line. Like I said, there was no Nemesis Primal before now. If you wanted a Blackarachnia you probably already bought and prefer the Kingdom version. Fangry might fill a gap in some collections, but he as the worst QC of the bunch. And the one with the best is Bumblebee, whom you might be thinking you want if you missed out on grabbing the more-accurate Netflix Bee. Except this set costs $85, and the scalper prices on Netflix Bee are still less than that on ebay. The only reasons I'm not totally unhappy I bought this set is the potential to convert Bumblebee into Bumper, and the fact that you could swap spider legs/biceps between this BA an the Kingdom version for an even more cartoon-accurate Kingdom version. Nemesis Primal, seriously. I ought to go to Hasbro's HQ and smack somebody for that.

@Negotiator @M'Kyuun Get a trim removal tool from an auto parts store. This one from Napa has three different ones for $6, and one of them is the perfect size. It's a little scary, but you can use it to pop the rivet out of his shoulder, then you have to flex the plastic to get the plastic core out of the joint to get the arm off. Once it's off you can turn the joint around, flex the arm back on, then use something with a 5mm peg to push the rivet back. Like I said, it's a bit scary with the force you need to get the rivet out and how much you have to flex the plastic on his arms, but I did it to mine and he's no worse for the wear. I watched a video from Patriot Prime, if it helps. https://youtu.be/m3GkdsWGYrI

The world lost a legend today.

I just ordered the two that are on sale. I just paid for the Ark, Saltus Alternative is due any time now, and if it gets backed I'll have to pay for Star Saber soon, too, so I'm holding off on the others for now. There's a good chance that I'll get the other two Youth limbs and the trailer, but I honestly don't care for the Youth version of Gravestone. Hmm... I have the Fans Toys and DX9 Stunticons, too. Maybe I should sell off the four non-Youth XTB Stunticon cars...

Ok, no repaints tonight. Tonight, we have a hotly anticipated brand new figure... Voyager-class Kingdom Mainframe! Perhaps if Mainframe had appeared in the G1 cartoon he'd have been gray and pale orange, and they I could say that this was cartoon-accurate. As it stands, though, this is an upgrade of a 1990 Action Master figure, who was primarily red and blue with some gray and orange accents: Well, as you can see, if we overlook some of the kibble the sculpt is pretty good- spot-on head, same flat chest with with the central panel that has an Autobot insignia on one side and a concave circle on the other. They both even have the ridges on the thighs. But, yeah, the colors are entirely wrong. I'll say that, from the knees down, his colors are determined by his alt mode, but from the knees up there's no reason he couldn't have been colored more like the G1 toy, just with orange kibble on his back and the backs of his arms. Size-wise, he's a pretty big boy. He's slightly shorter than Prime and Megatron, on par with Inferno, and a bit taller than Starscream. Put another way, he's taller than Cerebros/Fortress and much taller than Zarak/Scorponok, which makes him the tallest figure to be packed in with a Titan yet. Mainframe as a few accessories that I consider to be his. First, you get a Sky Spy, which is accurately sculpted but again could have been colored differently. You get a pair of golden disks, because Beast Wars. And you get a translucent yellow ball. Mainframe's head can swivel, but that's it. His shoulders can rotate and extend laterally 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. No wrist swivels, but they can bend downward due to his transformation. All of his arm articulation can be hindered by the huge panel on his back, as can his waist, which in theory rotates freely (it spins 180 degrees for transformation), but, in practice, you're limited to what you see above. His hips can go 90 degrees forward, only very slightly backward (again due to that back kibble), and well over 90 degrees laterally. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees. His feet don't tilt up or down, but they can swivel and his ankles can pivot 90 degrees. Although we have a couple of accessories for him, Mainframe doesn't come with any weapons. His hands are 5mm ports, though, and he's got one port on the back of each forearm and two under each foot, if you want to gear him up with a Battle Master, Weaponizer, or Fossilizer. As far as the accessories he does have, though, Sky Spy stores inside his torso, and you can access it by opening his back like you would for transformation. The translucent globe plugs into the 3mm port on his back. The panel that the globe goes into is hinged, and if you open it up you'll find a spot where you can stick the golden discs. Anyone who's watched the G1 cartoon should recognize Mainframe's first alt mode- Teletraan I, the Casey Kasem-voiced computer in the Autobots' headquarters aboard the Ark. To get into this mode, Mainframe kind of expands, standing in a Titanic "king of the world" pose while panels unfold from his forearms, back, and legs to fill everything in. Personally, I think Teletraan's looking a little small here. I mean, Prime can totally see over the top of him and would have to scrunch down to check his e-mail. Even Sideswipe seems a bit tall, but I guess they had to make him small enough for Bumblebee to use. Either than or Hasbro just didn't want to sink any more of the budget into him. If you spin around to the back, you can see that there's still a cubby for Sky Spy, still the spot for the golden disks, and still the spot for the translucent globe. You can also see, if you look at the middle bottom where his robo-feet are hanging out, his super hollow calves. Yeah, that hollowness is completely unnecessary. Mainframe is actually a triple changer, did you know that. Yeah, he also transforms into this... box. You can probably see that Sky Spy, the globe, and even the golden disks are still stored in this mode. But what is it? Well, to get to that we'll have to look at a few more things in the box... Starting with the Ark. It's a fairly big toy, but maybe not as big as you'd think. Here it is with Omega Supreme's rocket, but it's significantly shorter than Metroplex or Fortress Maximus in their ship modes. Trypticon, too, is a bit bigger in ship mode. If you line up the back of the Ark's thrusters with Trypticon's dino nose the Ark's nose extends to just a hair past Trypticon's toes. From this angle, there's a few hollow spaces, and I'm not loving that big gray square in the middle. The surface is dotted with turrets, but the turrets don't move at all. Weirdly, they seem to be made from separate parts that are poke up through holes in the orange plastic, which in turn leaves more gaps. Underside view. Again, more turrets, and a minor gap where you can see some hips and pelvis poking through. You can also see the three landing skids, which I've folded out. Before we continue, I'll note a few more accessories. There's two of these three-part blast effects, done in a blue plastic, and a tiny red slug of an itty-bitty Optimus Prime. Getting back to Mainframe, if we open up the top of the Ark there's a large empty space just under the robot head. Mainframe, in his box mode, plugs into this void, with the translucent globe facing up. Now, on close examination, you can see that what we actually have here is the Ark's bridge. There's little stations and little computers (that look a whole lot like Mainframe's Teletraan I mode), and the translucent globe makes sense now as some kind of holographic star map. There are small rectangles cut into the floor of the bridge. Prime can plug into them (although not as securely as I'd like). Kind of weird that there's six stations but just the one slug, though. From the front of the Ark you can sort of see the slug of Prime through the bridge window. From the back, you can see the hollow backside of that tower (what is it... it's design looks like it should be the actual bridge, but if the slug Prime is in-scale then he'd be too big for it), and four well-painted thrusters. Of course, from the cartoon we all know that the Ark should have five, but instead we've got this big yellow lump. Somewhat frustratingly, I think the fifth thruster bell was possible, more on that in a bit. There's a button on that yellow lump, and if you push it a ramp will come down. We've seen Autobots roll out from this ramp plenty of times in the cartoon. On this toy, though, don't expect anything bigger than a Micromaster to fit. Even something like the Core-class Optimus is narrow enough to fit between the arms but too tall to actually sit on the ramp and fit under the ship. You can plug the blast effects into the thrusters... but I'm scratching my head at the decision to only include two blast effects for four thrusters. I mean, I'm sure you can grab some from Jetfire or Sky Lynx, but they're not going to match in color. From the side, you can see my other problems with this toy- more gaps. There's a small one I can ignore , but a much larger, emptier one on the "wings" where they should taper closed. I don't think there's a lot that could be done about that, though. His thighs have to pass through those gaps for transformation. I know some Chinese 3P is making some 3D-printed fillers, but I'm figuring that they must be partsforming. Another gap you might notice is right through the middle, on the top. This seems to be a problem with the design. That gray square I complained about earlier has tabs that are supposed to hook into the slots I've circled in green. However, the weight of the front half of the Ark causes them to pop right out. These days, you can't have an expensive "thing from that episode", even one as iconic as the Ark, without making it transform. Brunt got a bot mode, Slammer's getting a bot mode, and sure enough the Ark gets a bot mode. His name is Autobot Ark. Man, how do they come up with these super creative names? Anyway, Ark's head is based on the Last Autobot from the old Marvel G1 comics, which in turn was based on the Autobot insignia. The rest of Ark doesn't really resemble anything except the Ark with large sections reconfigured into limbs. Size-wise, he's around the same height as Omega Supreme, which makes him a little shorter than Scorponok and a lot shorter than Metroplex and Fortress Maximus. Speaking of Metroplex and Max, he's got a similar solid-yet-hollowish feel to him. As with Mainframe, Ark's head can swivel but lacks any sort of tilt, which is a lot more disappointing on a figure this size. The shoulders rotate and extend laterally 90 degrees, both on very solid ratchets. The biceps swivel, on lighter ratchets (but still, ratcheted swivels!). His elbows bend a little over 90 degrees, his wrists swivel, and due to transformation they can bend downward, again all on ratchets. Then hands themselves are a bit disappointing, though. The fingers, all molded as one piece, can bend at the base knuckle. Likewise, the thumbs are pinned at the base but have no additional articulation, so he can kind of open his hand like a "C" or close it flat, but he can't even make a fist. His waist swivels on a ratchet. Ratcheted hips allow him to move over 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally. We again have ratcheted thigh swivels, and ratcheted knees that bend nearly 180 degrees. His toes can bend down a little, and he's got some ankle pivot, but it's very limited. A note on those toes.... they fold out from a hollow space behind the yellow lump on the back of the Ark. Now, without any change to mold except replacing the toes with halves of a thruster bell, the fifth thruster could have easily gone there. It'd just stick out a bit from the other four. Fortunately, replacing the toes with exactly that would be a simple matter for a 3P like DNA, as the toes are just friction clipped in there in a manner similar to Scorponok's legs. Like Mainframe, there's no weapons for Autobot Ark. I guess the closest you can get is sticking the blast effects on one shin that he could then knee a Decepticon Titan in the face with. You can store the disks, globe, and Sky Spy on Mainframe, and even though the instructions tell you to remove Mainframe for Ark's robot mode he still fits inside fine. As for the Optimus slug, he'll probably fall out if you leave him plugged into Mainframe and Mainframe plugged inside Ark's chest. I guess he's best for just sticking next to Ark or Metroplex for that sense of scale. Ark's kind of a mixed bag. As far as execution goes, he's better than Metroplex or Fortress Maximus, but the limited ankle articulation, lack of weapons, and compromises to alt mode are disappointing. Those compromises are really doubly so, because I doubt many of us are buying this toy for the robot mode they just made up- we want the Ark, with five thrusters and without those ugly gaps on the side. Plus, there are a few other minor issues with panels that pop off (on curved front of the ship, near the protruding nose, as well as on Mainframe's legs), and the Ark's robot mode having some gaps in his torso that you can see from some angles. So as non-combiner Titans go, I still prefer Scorponok, Trypticon, and Omega Supreme. All-in-all, pretty decent and probably worth picking up for the alt mode (flawed as it is) and Mainframe's Teletraan I mode, but simultaneously the least-necessary and most-skippable Titan so far, and I'd actually prefer they go back and re-do Metroplex and Fortress Maximus (as totally separate molds this time) before they try to make a robot out of the Nemesis, Revenge, Axalon, Darksyde, Lost Light, Autobot shuttle, Quintesson ship, etc.

Dang, even Amazon's getting in on scalper pricing. $30 markup!

Stuff came today, so real quick we have... ...Deluxe-class Maximal Skywarp. Yep, you can kind of see the Maximal insignia on his bicep. Yeah, I don't know the story here. I guess he's a character from the Beast Wars II anime? I have his feet turned around like Airazor's, because that's how Airazor's feet work, but apparently the original BWII Skywarp wasn't a repaint of Airazor at all, and the clawed toes should actually point forward. On that note, Skywarp has a new head based on the original toy, and Hasbro did a pretty good job color matching and such that a retooled Airazor does look like Skywarp... save for the super obvious eagle head in his torso. Maybe BW fans are more bent of out shape about this than I, but honestly the thing bugging me the most is that this guy is supposed to be a Maximal named Skywarp. I have to assume he's a guy who just happened to have the same name as the Decepticon, because I do not see the guy on the left joining the Maximals after the war and becoming a teacher. Unless that's exactly what happens in the future, and present-day Skywarp just found out. That'd explain the expression on his face... Skywarp comes with the same missile/guns that Airazor did, just painted white. I mean, as someone who didn't know diddly about the character I do like sticking them on his forearms like null rays, making that connection between Skywarps. That said, it's another thing that's not really accurate, as the original toy just had brown missiles that could be loaded and fired from ports on his wings, and a sword that this Skywarp clearly doesn't have. Transformation and alt mode weapon storage is the same as Airazor, and it has the same issues with barely-tucked robot arms and thighs and a gappy belly with a not-at-all-concealed back of the robot head in the middle. But... Skywarp turns into a bald eagle. As a red-blooded American, just looking at him makes me want to grab a beer, salute the flag, and toss some meat on the grill. All-in-all, Skywarp probably isn't he reason you're buying this set, but I think I kind of like him better than Airazor. No, the main event is the new earth-mode Sideswipe. Now, I covered the extent of the retooling in more detail when I got Red Alert, and this Sideswipe is the same retool, just with a Sideswipe head and deco and no lightbar. Speaking on that deco, Hasbro seems to be going way harder for that cartoon deco. The silver on his abs and feet is white. The weird bone color of his arms and thighs is the same bright white. White for the triangle on his pelvis, white for the squares on his shins. Cartoon white... despite the fact that the cartoon actually did use slightly different tones for his thighs and abs vs his belly and feet. I can't actually decide if I should leave him a lone, or if that's too much white and I should repaint at least his feet. Also in keeping with the cartoon, the shoulder cannon and tip are all painted white, and unlike his Siege counterpart he actually gets a rifle, also painted (somewhat poorly) in white. If you were hoping he could just take the Nonnef weapons you got for Sideswipe, well, you might want to order a new set. It's just that if you matched the color with Siege Sideswipe, again, you got that bone color instead of the bright white that's going to match the earth-mode version. And yeah, earth-mode. How 'bout it? Again, when I covered Red Alert I went into a bit of detail about how the mold was changed from the Siege version to make the car look a lot more like Sunstreaker and his repaints, like Spinout here. Nice touches, for sure, but again I'm finding myself hoping that Nonnef or someone makes new spoilers for Sideswipe and Red Alert, since the Siege ones won't fit on the earth-mode cars. Might be nice to get some Reprolabels, too, to cover up the unpaintable black hinge on the side and maybe add some black to the roof, doors, and vents where Spinout has some black. So yeah. I was a fan of this mold for Siege, and this version keeps the engineering I like but changes the exterior to match Sunstreaker, which I like. To me, that makes this Sideswipe better than the Siege version, but not necessarily so much better that replacing the Siege version is an absolute must.

Probably for the best, as it's the TRU reissue from several years back with the Soundblaster two-cassette chest door, so it's very obviously not an original. Same! The tracking already has it in Pittsburgh. The Ark is supposed to come, too, but that's FedEx, and event though it's close (it just left Grove City, next stop is the local hub) it's FedEx. No way they deliver it on Sunday. Maybe SS86? I'm still hearing rumors of a Voyager class Ratchet in that line. I don't think any of us have. I got mine when it was briefly available on Pulse.

Oh! I misunderstood, then. I'm that case, I have an extra reissue Soundwave with Ravage and Laserbeak...

Huffer just came out not long ago. Heck, if you can't find him in your area I'm sure I saw a couple at Walgreens the other day. For Reflector (or Refraktor now, because trademarks) GameStop is taking preorders for the toy-colored 3-pack Hasbro released two years back. Soundwave will probably be a lot harder, though. The Siege version was ok, but the "spaceship" mode didn't really do it for me. I liked the Netflix version a lot better, but it seems like that one was pretty hard to get off you weren't lucky enough to get a preorder or find it in a local Walmart. Then, even if you found Soundwave you need the tapes, which were spread across multiple Micromaster packs and, frankly, kind of sucked. For my own display, even though I did get all the WfC tapes, I wound up getting a set of KO MP tapes. Although they don't fit in Soundwave I actually like the scale better for Rumble, Frenzy, and Ravage.

This is where I'm at. In fact, the only reason I started collecting MP seriously was because, at the time, Generations was pretty stylized, Hasbro had distribution issues that prevented entire waves of figures from turning up at retail around here (I never saw Thrilling 30 Arcee on the shelves here, and wound up getting the Takara version, and there were several figures that I never found at TRU, Target, or Walmart but later turned up at outlets like Ross, Marshalls, and Gabe's), scale was all over the place, and it seemed like the only way I was ever going to complete the G1 TV cast would be to embrace 3P MPs. I actually quit the official stuff after Combiner Wars, having bought most of the PotP and Titans Returns stuff I own after WfC started. Fast-forward to today and, sure, there have been some less-than-stellar releases from Hasbro, but on the whole I've been quite happy with WfC, and frankly I think I'm closer now to having the G1 TV cast done in that scale than MP. The price creep by Fans Toys and XTB, plus the death of competitors like Maketoys, DX9, and UT have cooled me on MP-scaled stuff, while the opposite is true for Hasbro- the relatively low cost has encouraged me to buy up a rainbow of repaints I'd never have been willing to drop MP prices on.

I wound up ordering both. Road Rage was a given; like @tekering I like it when the Diaclone versions become new characters (although the whole thing IDW's been doing where they add female characters in pairs and make one of them the bodyguard for the other is getting tired- they did it with Windblade and Chromia in v1, and in v2 they've done it with Greenlight and Arcee AND Nautica and Road Rage). Plus, I've enjoyed even the weaker WfC stuff like the Tracks mold more than most pre-WfC, and getting all the repaints is a lot cheaper in the mainline than MP. As for Draculus... even the best TR molds often lack modern amenities like ankle articulation, and like I said, I think Mindwipe is one of the weaker TR molds, so I'm not thrilled that they're going back to that well. That said, some of the beefs I have with the mold, like the lack of arm speakers on the sides of the bat or the too-organic head, don't really apply here. The concept is so ridiculous that I have to love it... Dracula putting on a mech suit and turning into the head of a robot styled to look like him, down to the paint looking like a tuxedo. And the giant Dracula robot turns into a giant bat robot that Dracula can sit inside and drive. I mean... how can you not want that? How about this, if you're still on the fence- he comes with a cape! Because giant tuxedo-wearing robot Dracula who's head is a regular Dracula in a mech suit needs a cape.

Ugh. Draculus is a bad repaint of one of the worst TR molds. But it's also a concept so ridiculous that I kind of have to have it.