mikeszekely

My local Walmart finally got the new wave of Netflix Deluxes (no voyagers, and not the spoiler pack, though). Of course, by now I'd already sourced copies of Deep Cover, Deseeus Guard, and the Sparkless repaint of Barricade, so that just left Cheetor. The most immediate, most obvious difference is that the baby blue on the Kingdom version has been largely replaced with a darker metallic blue, and it's much more original Beast Wars accurate for it. OK, sure, they didn't put the blue on his weapon or his shins, and the orange eyes are technically more accurate for robot mode, but it's such a night and day improvement over the Kingdom release that it's easy to overlook those minor issues. The joints feel a little tighter on the Netflix one, but it could just be because it's brand new while the Kingdom version's been sitting on my desk for a few months. Especially because they're not issues for beast mode. Here, the green eyes become the more accurate choice. It's a robot mode sacrifice that's worth making for the beast mode, short of a color-changing gimmick you'd find on the MP. Likewise, the missing blue shins translates to solid yellow cat legs in the rear. If I'm being honest, though, maybe the Kingdom version got that right. It's a sacrifice to the back of the rear legs in beast mode for more accurate colors in robot mode. The only other real difference is that the yellow, like the blue, is a bit darker on the Netflix version. By itself, I don't think it's a problem. The darker yellow seems like a better robot-mode choice, and is probably closer to the original toy. You could make a case that the cheetah in the cartoon was a bit lighter, but it's not a dramatic difference either way. That said, if you got the 3P, 3D-printed gut-gun I reviewed awhile back it's color-matched to the Kingdom release, and the difference with the Netflix version is pretty noticeable... in cat mode, at least. So I wouldn't store it on him, but I think he can still get away with using it in bot mode. Alright, while it's made collecting them a pain sometimes having Netflix-exclusive characters has allowed me to add stuff like Hotlink and Elita-1 to my collection. Meanwhile, when they've repainted characters already in the WfC lines like Optimus, Sideswipe, or Wheeljack they've been interesting alternate decos I haven't really needed but were probably good for people who missed the Siege/Earthrise releases. But Cheetor? I'm going to come out and say it, Kingdom Cheetor should have been painted like this in the first place, because if I'd know this version was coming I'd have skipped the Kingdom version entirely. The colors are so much better on the Netflix version that I felt like I needed the upgrade, making the Kingdom version a waste of money. Oh, one more thing. That tab on the cheetah neck that broke on seriously every copy of the Kingdom release? Hasn't been redesigned at all, and broke on the first transformation of the Netflix one. It's just a bad design, because you have to put pressure on it to unlock the cheetah head from the robot torso. Fortunately it doesn't seem necessary to hold the cheetah mode together.

I'm not saying any of this will turn up in tomorrow's Fan First Friday, but a reliable leaker put up some interesting EANs. Half of it is for that RED line... I don't care about it, but if you do you can expect G1 Shockwave and Galvatron, plus Prime Optimus and Megatron. Moving onto WfC and Studio Series, there's a listing for SDCC 1, as in some sort of San Diego Comic Con pack, Voyager-class Kingdom Blaster, a listing simply labeled "Studio Series 86 Voyager Hot Rod Variant", a Voyager-class Studio Series Movie 6 (aka the Bumblebee movie) Soundwave, and a Leader-class Studio Series 86 Starscream (before anyone gets to excited about that one I'm told it's probably the Earthrise Voyager packed with the extra coronation gear). There's also been some buzz about a Target-exclusive 4-pack. While it's going to have WfC remolds/retools I'm hearing that it's going under the Buzzworthy Bumblebee label, and that there's a good chance that one of the 4 figures will be some kind of Bumblebee.

Yeesh. I know Takara likes to hide the real alt mode parts and use fake ones for robot mode, but given their love of Sunbow accuracy they'd almost have to make Skyfire's chest from faux parts instead of the actual nose just to recreate that screenshot.

Well, we know pretty much everything left in Kingdom, and we've had a few leaks, so I'm guessing Studio Series Wreck-Gar, Slag, maybe the Sweep. The a few Gen Selects, store exclusives, or more of that Shattered Glass line.

To be fair, this one's on Takara, not Hasbro.

These days you can't throw a rock without hitting some kind of Chinese 3D-printed upgrade for a Hasbro Transformer. However, there's been a few groups with multiple kits under their belts that you can start to see some patterns. And one of those patterns has been that some of the best options are from Go Better. Here's two of their newer kits. First up we have this kit for Kingdom Inferno. It's mostly filler bits, but it does have some neat tricks. Now again, this is a 3D printed kit, but the quality of the print is very good. You have to look closely to see any lines, and all the parts are painted. I bought and was pretty pleased with their kit for Grapple (although it appears I never reviewed it?), so I was anticipating this one before I even had Inferno in hand. For starters, there's quite a bit of leg filler. There's a part for the front of the inside of the thigh, the back of the inside of the thigh, and the round bit for the inside of the thigh. There's also a part that fills in the hollows on the inside of his feet. The fit is very good, not difficult to get in but snug enough that they won't come back out. There's filler for the ladder. The smaller piece goes in first, and the bigger piece meets with where there's the support structure in the middle. There's filler for his arms. The bicep filler is pretty standard stuff, but the forearm filler is one of the reasons why I love Go Better so much more than other Chinese 3D printing groups or even some injection molded stuff like Nonnef. It actually has a hinge in it. The base is secured tightly near the rivet in his elbow, but the bulk of it opens like a flap so you can tuck his hand in during transformation. There's one more piece in this kit. It fits onto the outside of his forearm, by plugging into the 5mm port. So... kind of unfortunate if you like the 5mm ports, but it does fill that hollow bit around the pin, so I think I dig it. But, there's only one for his right arm, leaving him a tad asymmetric. The reason is that it's not really a filler part. Instead, there's a hinged flap that opens up, and voila, he's got his communicator from... that one episode. Yeah. The communicator, which honestly is pretty optional, does leave a little bump where the ladder is sitting. But otherwise none of the parts affect his transformation in the slightest. So... It's a bit odd that he doesn't have the belly piece that they put in the grapple kit. And I kind of wish they'd have given him a communicator for both arms, so his arms remained symmetrical. But on the whole it's a good kit if you really want something to fill the hollow gaps on him. It doesn't do much beyond that, but doesn't need to. I'd give it a recommend. My only real complaint is that I wish they'd mirrored the communicator piece. The other kit I got is this one, for Kingdom Optimus Primal. Primal was a pretty good figure, I thought, but he did have one glaring flaw that this kit attempts to address. Well, for starter you get these two screw hole covers... for the backs of his thighs. Not the hugely visible rivets in his shoulders. I mean, it's a solution to a problem I didn't really have, but it's fine, I guess. The big gray piece is a jetpack. This seems to be something Go Better included to replicate a feature seen in the cartoon and, I think, on the MP. There's a bit that fits over the hinge on his monkey butt flap, then the rest folds into the gap under his backpack. The thrusters on the jetpack are molded such that most blast effect parts from various War for Cybertron releases should fit in them, albeit a bit more loosely than I'd like because they're a bit shallow. There's a also a smaller hole between them for a flight stand. All-in-all a pretty need addition, but my issue with Primal wasn't his lack of jetpack. No, the real issue for me has always been the huge gap between the panel that flips between his robot and beast chest and the panel his neck is connected to. And fortunately, that is where the last piece comes into play. To install it, you'll have to pull his back open like you're transforming him. Then you'll find some notches on the Go Better part. They fit onto the lip of his neck panel, hinge side up, then fold the front down and tuck in the sides before closing him back up. I think this is a huge improvement. Granted, the hinges stick up a bit farther than I'd like, but I think that's a small price to pay to not have a gaping window into Primal's chest cavity. As you can probably tell from the hinges, the chest filler can stay on during transformation, allowing it to fold as necessary. It's still even acting a bit as filler around the ape collar. It doesn't fill in quite as well as it does in robot mode, but the gap wasn't as bad in the first place in ape mode, so I've got not real complaints. Likewise, the screw hole covers on the backs of his robot thighs can stay on, even if they're covered by his robot butt now. If there is one downside to this kit, though, it's that the jetpack cannot stay on for transformation. The parts it connects to in bot mode shift around in ways that make it impossible to stay connected in ape mode. Even if it could stay on it actually gets in the way of opening his back for transformation, so, yeah, it's the kind of part you have to take off and set to the side. Now, I'm not totally bothered- the jetpack wasn't something I needed, and it's pretty easy for me to just put it in a drawer and forget about it. That said, Go Better's kits aren't cheap. Maybe it'd have been better if they just left the jetpack out and charged a few bucks less. Honestly, I could have done without the screw hole covers, too. Still, I'm still super happy with this kit because it fills the gap in his robot chest, and that's what I really wanted it for. It's another recommend from me.

The bent smokestacks and cat ears are undoubtedly to give the bot mode details from the scenes on Cybertron. Other inaccuracies, like the grill and sunvisor, are inaccurate to the actual truck but they're consistent with the Studio Series toy, which makes me think they're working from an earlier design (perhaps the "evasion" truck from AoE).

Yeah, it came up awhile ago. Because it's a Target-exclusive here and I'm usually in Target at least once a week I'll probably end up checking it out, but like @Negotiator I'm not very impressed with what I'm seeing. I can actually live with the forearms, but the bent smokestacks aren't my first choice and the cat ears on the can are just lazy. 3Ps have done this better, even ones that put out OS modified versions of the Studio Series toy, and even if I get the MPM I'll likely still buy a 3P one when I find one I like that isn't taller than MP-10/44.

I still have the Maketoys one. I get that people love MP-36, but he looks goofy to me. Like Skyfire he's too Sunbow for my tastes. Agree on MMC. But especially after stuff like Hound and Bee 2.0 Takara's definitely a wait-and-see (and pass, more often than not) for me. I'm digging Tracks, though.

Still looks pretty dang good, though. Wish more shows used animation line this instead of that goofy CalArts style.

It looks full on Sunbow. And that's why I'm not a fan of full on Sunbow.

Which is why I'm a bit disappointed they didn't do a more extensive remold and design an entirely new mold. But the arms as an engine do work better on this remold- because of the way they sit now there's actually space under the rear spoiler.

@Negotiator beat me to it. That's what I get for trying to get into shape and working out before getting online. I do believe that this is one of the things my source leaked awhile back, yeah? It's pretty much what I expected. I preordered because I like the new head they made for Grimlock and I do like some of the tweaks they made for an Earth-mode Mirage. But even though I knew it'd just be a Siege remold I am a bit disappointed that we didn't get a straight up better mold for him. Now to see if the other one comes to fruition. I think it was an Earth-mode Sideswipe and a Skywarp repaint from Airazor.

Yeah, that was the explanation in the late '90s, anyway. More recent stories have mess with the origin of the symbiotes quite a bit, though, and not entirely for the better IMHO. Now, basically at the dawn of time a god named Knull created the symbiotes out of the void for... reasons. Then he did a bunch of bad stuff, destroying worlds and trying to kill the Celestials, until a bunch of symbiotes decided that Knull was a jerk and built a planet they called Klyntar to trap Knull forever. Those symbiotes called themselves the Agents of the Cosmos and were basically good guys, but they were so afraid of accidentally waking Knull that they kicked all the not-so-good symbiotes off the planet. Those feral symbiotes became predators feared throughout the universe. Venom was apparently born on Klyntar and was going to be an Agent of the Cosmos, but the Kree discovered Klyntar and harvested a couple symbiotes, including Venom, for use in a super soldier program. His time with the Kree and subsequent hosts corrupted him, and he eventually fell in with a group of feral symbiotes. Those were the symbiotes who decided he was insane and stuck him in a jar that was later opened by Spider-Man during the Secret War.

OK, so I kind of forgot about that one. I kind of dismissed it at the time because A.) despite it's immense popularity the Wii was my least-favorite Nintendo console (yes, moreso than the Wii U), and B.) I thought it was a more literal remake of Castlevania Adventure- same levels, layouts, enemies, and bosses as the Gameboy Game, just with slicker graphics. And, from what I remember, Castlevania Adventure was kind of bad. Well, having played through Castlevania 1-3 and Super Castlevania IV, Adventure is next in the collection. And yeah, if anything it's worse than I remember. But I also recall Jeremy Parish saying that Rebirth was good, so I installed Dolphin and fired it up. Holy cow, it's a totally different game, and it's really good! It absolutely deserves some kind of re-release on a not-dead platform.

Yes. Don't get me wrong, it has its share of issues, but (especially with Tom Harding absolutely selling the notion that he's infected with an alien parasite) it's mostly comic book nitpicking and the sort of problems you might expect trying to tell a Venom origin story without Spider-Man. It's still an ultimately very entertaining film

So... DNA did a pretty good job with the kits for Titans Return Optimal Optimus, but they weren't the only kits I picked up. While I was at it, I also grabbed DK-20, their kit for upgrading Studio Series Devastator. This is one of the more expensive kits DNA has released, but when you open it up you can see why, as there are a ton of parts, including a pair of tiny screws. Some of the parts we'll cover now, as they can sort of be used with the individual Constructicons, but some of them we'll get to when we're putting everything together. For starters, we'll start with Scavenger. While he's in vehicle mode, open the panels on his sides and find this gap molded into it. There are two small rectangular bits, and you'll want to plug one onto each side. Once they're installed they can stay there forever, although they'll probably come off if you don't glue them. Now, take the flaps with "D&K" printed on them. There's a gray bit on a hinge; find the side that's flat except for a small peg with a tiny hole on it. Next, grab the bits with the rubber hoses. One side has a hole on it, and you want to fit that hole over the peg on the D&K part, then use the included screws to lock them on. Pro tip: maybe don't screw them on. It's a huge pain to get them in place, with the hoses constantly getting in the way, when the fit of the hole over the peg is probably enough on its own. Now, take those gray bits you just screwed the hoses onto, and they'll connect to a black bit on the back of Scavenger. With the hoses on the bottom, two tabs should fit into the underside of the black bit, and the other arm of the gray part will run along the back with a small hook tab that'll grab into a hollow space on the top. The D&K flaps just lie along the back, and you just sort of wedge the hoses up behind the treads. To be honest, they don't really look like they belong on Scavenger's alt mode, but at the same time the mostly open back and top of his alt mode was pretty unfinished anyway, so it's not really any worse. The parts can stay on in robot mode. The end of the hoses you just had wedged up under his alt mode will use a small peg to plug into the rectangular pieces you added to those flaps earlier. It's not really movie accurate, and the flaps with the "D&K" just kind of jut out behind his armpits. You could always unclip them from the gray parts and take them off, if you prefer. Mixmaster gets a new part, and it may or may not be something that's only included in the first run of the kit. It uses a tab to plug into the back of Mixmaster's cab in truck mode, but it looks very out of place there. It's meant more for robot mode. You open the flap under the cab (that's part of Devastator's jaw) and use some pegs on the sides to wedge it in there, and it's supposed to replicate that scene where Mixmaster turned into artillery for a second in the movie. In fact, DNA suggests an artillery mode (bottom). No instructions on how to get there, but it seems like it's mostly posing his arms like he's doing a pushup and bending his knees the wrong way. For next bit, take the grinder thing off of Overload. There's a bit sticking off of one end that looks like part of a friction hinge. Well, take the flappy piece from the kit with the hinges and you'll find an end that looks ready to mate to that hinge, and jam the two parts together. The wrecking balls can lay in a gap behind the silver details on the trailer. The bit you just attached to the grinder folds in on itself, then the grinder plugs back on where it normally goes. The other flat part without hinges has a peg on it that fits into a hole just in front of the silver bits. Looks kind of messy, but he is supposed to be some kind of articulated dump truck. I guess it's reasonable for him to haul things, although they don't have a place to go in robot mode. Likewise, the biggest piece in the kit has a pair of pegs that can fit into Long Haul's hands, allowing him to haul it around, and the two thicker parts with some white on them can plug onto Scrapper, but they have no place to go in robot mode. But, much like the Studio Series Constructicons themselves, you probably bought all this stuff for the combined mode, so let's get to it. Start by flipping everyone to combined mode, and put everyone together except for Mixmaster. When you get to the part where you fold out Devastator's face stop for a moment. Attach the grinder like normal, then fold the sides down over the gray bits you flipped out of Mixmaster to fill out Devastator's cheeks. When you fold the face up it'll tab into the gray bits as usual, but another bit will actually tab onto the DNA part at the forehead. So far, we're off to a good start, yeah? Devastator's face looks a lot more complete with the cheeks and the ears, which are on hinges for some posability. The hoses on Scavenger are kind of connected to Devastator's shoulders. Run the length of the hoses over his back and plug them into the holes indicated above. The thicker parts with the bit of white paint have a trio of pegs on the back. Those pegs line up with screw holes on Devastator's biceps and help fill them out. There are four tabs on Devastator's back that lock into the treads on the opposite half to form a wheel on Scavenger's robot mode. These tabs will fit into four slots on the large piece. This fills out his back and adds the grinder's exit port. Now, find this part of Scavenger that looks like two cylinders with a narrow gap between them. There's a part in the kit that has a tube with a slot in it on a c-clip with a smaller c-clip inside. The smaller c-clip fits into the gap, the larger c-clip grabs the cylinders. Just make sure the slot is facing down with the tube pointing toward the front of Devastator. Thing start getting a little dicey here. Instead of connecting Mixmaster the usual way (using clips under Mixmaster's wrists to grab little tabs near those cylinders on Scavenger) we're going to unfold the spout from Mixmaster's mixing drum that's normally folded away for this mode, then we're going to plug the spout into the tube we just attached to Scavenger. Then we're going to try as best we can to rotate the tube up and over the cylinders and fold the whole thing back into Mixmaster's drum. Try and sort Mixmaster's hands and feet as best you can. Instead of putting Mixmaster's nose on the back of Mixmaster himself find the two small circular bits with tabs on them. They fit into the marked circular hollow on the inside of the arms that hold the wheel above Scavenger's head in robot mode; in Devastator mode they're just chilling on his back. Once installed (and they can stay there permanently) you can wedge the nose of Mixmaster's truck between them, lining things up so that the tabs fit into the gaps in the middle of the rims on the wheels. We're in the home stretch now. Fold Overload's head down from Devastator's tummy. On the back of his neck are some hollows; take the flat piece you stored on his alt mode and you'll find some tabs on one end that fit into those hollows. At the other end is a c-clip. In theory, you're going to fold Overload's head back up and the c-clip will grab onto the exposed sliding bar under Overload's cab, and this piece will fill out Devastator's abs. In practice the weight of all the parts above it are probably pushing things out of alignment and the clip will sit slightly above the bar. If you try to push everything into alignment you're more likely than not to pop the tabs out of the back of Overload's neck and knock the whole piece off than to get the c-clip onto the bar. And to finish things off, the wrecking balls are on a thin piece of plastic shaped just so to slide into a slot on Devastator's back side, leaving them dangling underneath his crotch. Meanwhile, the gun part included for Mixmaster doesn't really have a purpose for Devastator mode, but you can plug in onto his Scrapper arm in the same place you could stow the bicep fillers. And finally, we have the completed Devastator with DNA parts installed. Now, I went back and watched the Devastator scenes in ROTF (the sacrifices I make for you guys). As near as I can tell, the hoses were on concept art for Devastator (the same art that gave him the silver face the early ROTF toys all used), but they're not actually on the final movie model. The flaps are, though, and there's no question the added bits to his head and face are a big improvement. The bicep fillers and back filler work well enough, although they add some weight to joints that, at least on my copy, weren't holding up that well before the kit. The wrecking balls don't really interfere with anything, and the new abs look decent enough even if they're not fully locked into place on that bar. But at this point, you might be asking what's up with the new connection between Mixmaster and Scavenger. This is where things kind of fall apart for me. The idea here is that the new connection gives Devastator much better range in his neck articulation, allowing him to get on all fours like in the movie and still look forward. In practice, though, a mix of overburdened friction joints in his back where Scavenger kind of folds over on himself, ratchets in his hips and friction joints in his Long Haul ankle that can't quite handle all the weight that they're meant to support, and a ratchet in his left shoulder that had started to pull apart so the teeth don't meet even before I added any DNA parts make posing Devastator on all fours something of a chore. Then, even if you get him there, Mixmaster is simply too heavy for what's really a series of hinge joints in the base of the mixer's spout and where you connected the tube piece to Scavenger. Perhaps there's a way to arrange Mixmaster's arms and legs to help support him, but the instructions don't offer any guidance and I was left with Devastator's head dropping his face into the ground. I eventually settled on getting Devastator back into a standing pose- basically the same pose I had him in before I put DNA's kit on him, and left him feeling frustrated by the whole endeavor. I've since cooled off, and I can evaluate the kit a bit more rationally. So let's look at the facts. For starters, this is an expensive kit. At around $50 at most stores this kit costs as much as Overload and Scavenger did, and more than the any of the other six Constructicons. While all of the parts can be carried in some way by the vehicles modes, most of them have to be set off to the side in robot modes and added later to the combined mode. And if we're being honest, even a lot of the ones that can be carried on the vehicles are probably better left off, making this kit really more a bunch of parts you leave off to the side and then add on when you want to form Devastator. I'm not really mad at that, though; aside from Scrapper, Scrapmetal, and Long Haul the Constructicons were already suffering from compromises to one or both of their other modes and I wouldn't recommend them for anything other than combined mode. If combined mode is the only reason to collect the whole set then an add-on to improve the combined mode doesn't really have to have a purpose otherwise. So the question is ultimately this: does the kit improve the combined mode enough to be worth $50? If I'd written this review yesterday right after installing the kit I'd have flat out told you no, skip this kit, especially if you're main reason for going in on it is to get him on all fours. The tolerances simply aren't up to snuff (although to be fair that's at least partly Hasbro's fault, since the joints on my copy are were giving out before I added anything). The new neck connection between Mixmaster and Scavenger is especially a weak point. It's also frustrating that I can't get the c-clip on the ab piece onto the bar under Overload's cab. However, with a cooler head I have to admit that the back piece, the bicep fillers, the flaps on his back, and especially the extra pieces for his head do improve Devastator's appearance and add a bit more screen-accuracy. The ab piece even works without clipping in fully, and while I could live without the wrecking balls I'm sure there are people out there that are going to love them. It's really just the new neck connection that doesn't really work, and presumably you could simply not use it and connect Mixmaster the Hasbro-intended way even with the rest of the DNA kit installed. In other words, the kit works 90% as intended; compared to something like the DNA legs for Siege Ultra Magnus that were toleranced so poorly with the leg armor wouldn't stay on in robot mode and the clips would latch onto the trailer that they'd rip right out of the legs when you tried to remove the cab from the trailer that I wound up putting the stock legs back on that's actually pretty good. So actually, if you want something to give Devastator a bit more movie-accuracy, especially in the face, and to fill out and hide some screw holes, then this kit might indeed be worth picking up, as long as you understand that the new neck connections is probably going to cause more problems than it solves.

Well, I'll definitely be getting him once he arrives domestically, and I'll definitely be reviewing him here. I don't have any Star Sabers, though, so I'll be comparing him with the Gen Selects and G1 Star Convoys. The only concern I really have right now is the gray plastic thighs. They look a bit cheap, but apparently MMC did look into painting them and the paint kept rubbing.

No, I didn't order with PSX. International shipping to the US is still weird right now, so I'm waiting for a domestic seller like TCP or Toy Dojo to get him.

Skull face reviewed a pre-production sample of XTB's Streetwise. It looks good in both modes, and looks to have good articulation, but it has a ton of really questionable design decisions like tiny ball joints in the shoulders and hands on small flaps at the ends of his firearms. The transformation looks like a nightmare, too, with his arms, torso, and lower legs exploding into numerous armatures and flaps. When I saw the video was up I was thinking that if it's out soon I might buy it because I like police cars, but after watching it I'm committed to waiting for MMC.

Got a few DNA kits in (not Scorponok, because it hasn't come in yet). Today we'll look at two older ones, DK-08 and DK-08+ for Titans Return Optimal Optimus. OK, I'm kind of going a bit backward, but we're going to start with DK-08+. This kit consists of parts that replace ones already on Primal. You've got new shoulder armor/arm guards, new shoulder cannons, and new hands. The armor parts are a bit bigger than Hasbro's, and they have hinges so they can splay out. The shoulder cannons are a bit longer, and that's before you take into account that they're actually extendable. The hands are, I think , the real draw in this kit. While they retain the thumb flipping gimmick and the 5mm peg hole built into said thumb, they add a number of other joints. The fingers are now individually articulated, with the ability to splay and two knuckle joints per finger, the thumb has a knuckle hinge, and there's a hinge at the wrist. As was the case with the stock guns, the smaller Primal figure can use the shoulder cannons as rifles. The armor, though, can fit onto a tab on Primal's forearm that allows him to use it as a shield. Of course, the parts are really meant for Optimal Optimus. As mentioned, the shoulder cannons have extendable barrels, but they work the same as the stock ones otherwise. The holes in the thumbs on the new hands can still hold let Primal hold them as handheld weapons. The armor can properly fit with pegs that fit into holes on the top of his shoulders, just like the stock armor, and the larger size does seem more animation-accurate. Or, it can plug into the back of his forearms for gorilla mode, mostly like the stock armor. Due to the larger size, they do kind of come up over his elbows in a way the stock armor didn't. It's not really a problem for robot or gorilla mode, however, in jet mode the backs of his biceps kind of keep them from plugging in the whole way. And, although the joints on the left hand area little loose, the new hands are a big improvement over the stock ones. Meanwhile, there's the DK-08 (no plus) kit. While this kit does contain new wings to replace the ones on the stock figure this kit is mostly about new stuff. We've got two parts with a pair of wheels on them, two big turbines, a pair of scimitars, and a pair of rifles. As with the shoulder armor, the gist of the new wings is that they're bigger than the stock ones. The wings are attached using a pinless hinge, so it's a fairly simple matter to yank them off and stick the new ones on. As for the parts with the wheels, they simply plug into the 5mm ports on the outsides of his legs. DNA even thoughtfully put a new 5mm port on it. The scimitars have long 5mm pegs on them with tabs near the top. The 5mm peg can slide into the smaller Primal's hands, or the holes in the thumbs on the stock hands (or technically the new ones). The tabs near the top fit into slots behind the fingers of the DNA hands, though, and that looks a bit better. Likewise, the rifles have tabs on the handles that also fit into slots on the DNA hands, and that works great. But, they don't have 5mm pegs, so the smaller Primal can't use them. In fact, Optimal Optimus himself can't use them if you didn't get the DK-08+ kit because I don't believe they'll work with the stock hands. Ok, you might have noticed that I didn't mention those turbines. Well, that's where I ran into a problem. See, they work by opening the smaller Primal's chest and slotting into the hollow spaces there. If your Optimal Optimus is unmodified, that'll work just fine. However, you might recall that I separated the smaller Primal by removing a pin. I can't really find a way to attach those turbines without the smaller Primal (although I might just drill some new 5mm ports). Well, if you do have the smaller Primal attached, not only can you attach the turbines to him, you can use both Primal and the turbines to attach his weapons. The orange rifles have slots on them that fit into tabs on the smaller Primal's feet, with notches on the butts that slide over tabs on the turbines. The scimitars, meanwhile, have pegs on them that plug into the the middle of the turbine fans. Gorilla mode works pretty good with DK-08. The wheels on the legs don't really affect anything. The turbines plug into each other to form a big wheel, and the wheel fits into the huge hollow gap in the gorilla's back. Tabs on the wheels fit into notches to secure the whole thing, and the only downside is that it restricts how much Optimus can raise his head. Also, while it doesn't bother me, there's really no place to store the rifles or scimitars in this mode. Jet mode mostly works well with the new parts, too. The new wings definitely enhance the jet mode, and the turbines simply use fold-out pegs to plug into some of the peg holes the shoulder armor uses. Not the most accurate to the original thing, but you can always just leave them off if it bugs you. The rifles again can tab onto the smaller Primal's feet. Again, I don't think it looks bad like that. It kind of helps fill in the backpack. The scimitars can plug into peg holes on the guns, so all the new stuff can be stored in this mode. One thing I'm not crazy about are the wheels in this mode. Since the stabilizers on Optimus' legs weren't designed with them in mind they're very restricted with the wheels folded in. You can fold them out to free up the stabs, but they look kind of wrong folded down in jet mode. The big draw of the DK-08 kit for some will be that it's main purpose is to give Optimus back his truck/tank/whatever mode. You start with the jet mode, then flip the new DNA wheels down. Take the turbines in their combined big wheel mode, then use the bigger tabs to fit into hollow gaps on the chin of his cockpit. The pegs can fold outward, and fit into the holes on thumbs (DNA or, presumably, the stock ones). I think this works fairly well. Granted, Hasbro never intended it, so it doesn't sit up as well as the original and the smaller Primal doesn't really make for a moveable turret, plus he kind of looks like he's holding one of those exercise rollers instead of touching his fists in front of a wheel. But again, Hasbro never intended for TR Optimal Optimus to have this mode, so it's kind of to DNA's credit that we can even get this close. And since it is mostly just the jet mode the orange rifles and scimitars can still be stowed on the back. My biggest complaint here is that the armor on his forearms is barely hanging on because his biceps keep the armor from plugging in all the way. This can be avoided, though, by simply using the stock ones, or by turning the forearms 90 degrees so the armor plugs into the outside instead of the top. If you have Optimal Optimus, I recommend the DK-08+ kit. I could take or leave the armor and shoulder cannons, but they're probably a small improvement over the stock ones. The hands, though, are a major improvement and basically a necessity for the DK-08 kit. As for that kit, well.... it depends on how badly you want the truck/tank mode, or how badly you want the weapons. Again, the larger wings are nice but I could take them or leave them, and the scimitars are kind of nice to have for the smaller Primal but not worth buying a kit over. Personally, as I mentioned, the turbine wheels are a bit of a problem for me because I modded Optimus to not need Primal for robot mode, and I don't think I'd buy a kit just to give him his missing truck/tank mode. The rifles, though, feel kind of essential. I wish DNA had put the rifles in the DK-08+ kit, because that'd strengthen my recommendation and probably allow me to say "pass" on the DK-08 kit. But with the rifles in the non-plus kit you're probably better off just picking up both kits.

Gotta agree with Scyla here, this is coming from someone who usually prefer Magic Square. NA really nailed their Seekers, but something is just off about Magic Square's.

No, it's either SS86 or whatever the next trilogy is. I've been told that it's going to be a Voyager-class. But I do believe Fans Toys has a Blaster in the works.

Ok, from the more credible source this time... Remember I said we're probably getting Blaster? Apparently there's something floating around Hasbro under the name Project Jam, and it's going to be a repaint of said new Blaster in a collaboration with a band. Leader-class Blitzwing will be making an appearance. I'm not ruling out SS86, but I'm hearing that it's probably in the next mainline trilogy. Hasbro is almost definitely taking a page from Newage's playbook and releasing a Galvatron retool as Straxus. It'll probably carry the old Darkmount name, though. The Insecticons are real, and will be late 2022 early 2023. There are Target DCPIs for a new Leader-class Optimus and a new Leader-class Megatron, but nothing more than that.

I saw some of the people working on the new Nickelodeon show, and based on their resumes, it looks like it's going to get worse before it gets better. Why they don't just get someone to animate More Than Meets the Eye is beyond me...