mikeszekely

So my Walmart basically never has anything. Their Transformer section is half the size of any other Walmart's, and the other half is used for generic "Action Hero" boys' toys crap. But today I had to get my oil changed, so I visited the Walmart and Target over that way. The Target experience was comparable; some Studio Series 86 and Kingdom stuff I already have (but not Airazor), and some newer Studio Series and Buzzworthy Bumblebee stuff. The other Walmart was a revelation, though. None of the new Netflix stuff I wanted and they were out of Kingdom Deluxes save for a lone Arcee, but they had all the Kingdom Core-class figures, Optimus Primal, and both Leader Megatron and Ultra Magnus. Oh, and they also had the second wave of Retro Headmasters. Previously, I'd picked up Chromedome and Hardhead for their more Headmasters-style heads (vs IDW for Chromedome and the masked G1 toy for Hardhead during their original Titans Return runs). I passed on Brainstorm because I actually don't care for the mouthed Headmasters head, preferring the G1 toy/Sunbow masked face. I also passed on Mindwipe because I didn't think the differences in the faces were worth re-buying him (but I deeply regret it, so if any of you are out at Walmart and see one buy it for me! I'll reimburse the cost, tax, and shipping to PA!). This time, I bought the whole wave. While there are some differences to the head robot modes, like red paint on Weirdwolf*, painted eyes on Skullcruncher, and a darker torso and painted face on Highbrow, I'll be honest and say that 90% of the reason I bought Weirdwolf and Mindwipe was because of the much less stylized, more G1 big robot faces. I'd thought Highbrow's was pretty similar and actually bought him because one of the rotors broke during a move on my Titans Return copy, but in hand I can see that Highbrow has a less blocky head with less of a chin and a bigger visor. That's pretty much in keeping with Headmasters vs the US Sunbow animation. *I've never cared for the whole thing about Nebulons bonding with Cybertronians from both the US Season 4 and the Marvel comics, and never bothered learning the Nebulon's names. I prefer the Headmasters story where the heads are actually tiny Cybertronian-decendants and the bigger robots are non-sentient transtector bodies they built for themselves. Hence, as far as I'm concerned these heads are Weirdwolf, Skullcruncher, and Highbrow. Aside from the differences in the faces, Weirdwolf is pretty similar to the Titans Return version. The yellow is a very subtly-different shade, he's got yellow details on his thighs instead of silver, and he's missing some silver paint on his shoulders. The most obvious difference is the different shade of blue, which has a slightly more greenish tinge on the retro version. In wolf mode, the retro version doesn't have the sloppily-painted claws, has yellow flanks with tampoed details, has some red instead of silver where his tail plugs in, and there's no red on the tail itself. Also, the retro version has some silver paint on the cheeks and red-painted eyes. The Titans Return version was all translucent plastic. Head aside, Skullcruncher has a lot less difference between the retro and TR. The green might be slightly different (although I'm not sure if it's just a trick of the camera now that I'm typing this). The magenta parts aren't as red, and that seems to be more accurate to pretty much every G1 version. Otherwise, the markings are pretty much the same. I'll also note that this mold was notorious for having super loose joints. While more loose than I'd prefer, the retro version is better than the original on this case. In gator mode, Skullcruncher loses the paint on his rear feet, but I double-checked and sure enough a quick check shows pretty much all the G1 versions of Skullcruncher with all-green back legs but magenta forelimbs and white claws on the front legs. The tampos on his sides move from the green to the magneta parts, which is more G1 toy-accurate, and he gains some paint on his back (which was the robot chest on the G1 toy). His tail gets some silver and red paint near the end, where the G1 toy had stickers. Rounding out the toy accuracy, the eyes on the retro version are white. The red eyes on the TR version are cartoon accurate (either cartoon). Finally, he's got a black tongue now instead of gray. Highbrow's got a number of deco changes, although most of them are pretty subtle. The retro version has a lot more gray on his chest, which is more G1 accurate across both cartoons and the toy. Beyond that, both cartoons had plain gray arms and thighs with plain blue lower legs, so the fact that both Highbrows have gray hands is inaccurate to everything, Meanwhile the painted details on the arms look more like the G1 stickers on the TR version, while the painted details on the lower legs are more sticker-accurate on the retro version. The other difference is his guns. On the retro version they're painted the same color as his arms, which was the case for the G1 toy, while they're more of a gunmetal color on the TR version. Neither toy has three blades on each rotor, nor the angled wings (up for Sunbow, down for G1 toy and Headmasters). Aside from the red stripes and the white lines on the canopy the Titans Return toy is more Sunbow accurate, with blue from nose to tail. The retro version has the bit of gray in the middle that the G1 toy and Headmasters had. The unlined canopy, silver paint on the sides of the cockpit, blue lines on the wings, and the Autobot insignias on the intakes look to be replicating G1 toy stickers. They're out-of-scale, and mostly they're lacking articulation like waist swivels and ankle pivots that are more standard since War for Cybertron began. They're also not as super G1 as the post WFC toys have been, so they're a bit out of place. That said, who knows when Hasbro will get back to the Headmasters? It's worth having them to get at least a little closer to completing the G1 cast (Targetmasters when, Hasbro?). That said, do you really need the retro releases if you already have the Titans Return versions? That really comes down to how much you prefer the heads on the retro releases. If I'm being honest? Yes for Chromedome and Weirdwolf. Yes for Brainstorm if and only if you prefer the mouthed Headmasters face, otherwise no. Yes for Hardhead if you prefer the faced Headmasters and Sunbow face, no if you prefer the G1 toy look. Maybe for Skullcruncher; I like the more accurate purple, I like the different head, but the old head wasn't as off and I prefer the red eyes on the gator. They're pretty similar otherwise. Probably not for Mindwipe; there isn't as much difference in the heads, it mostly comes down to more G1 colors on the body. And, unless you have a broken rotor like I do, no for Highbrow. There's just not a huge difference there.

I'm thinking right after thrilling 30. Closed fists were back on Combiner Wars.

Isn't that true for most modern Transformers? Maybe it's more noticeable on Galvatron due to his size, but I've got a several TFs on my desk right now, and of those Dinobot, Arcee, and Scourge are the only ones without a closed fist with a 5mm port running through them. This is a fault of Galvatron's design (the character, not this toy). On the original toy the cannon clipped over his bicep. When Titans Return had it attach to the front of his bicep people complained that it got in the way of his arm articulation. And then we get to the cartoon. On the character model, looks like the front of his bicep, right? Unless it's on the side of his bicep... Notice how, whether the front or the side, the orange barrel starts at about his elbow, and the non-orange bits are in line with his bicep and shoulder? But sometimes it's on his forearm. The Kingdom toy can't magically shrink the cannon the way the cartoon does. But it looks like you can plug the cannon into his bicep instead of his forearm. The barrel will still be a bit long, but that'll start the orange at the elbow and keep the non-orange part in line with his bicep and shoulder. (That said, it won't do anything for the fact that his torso is a bit too wide, his shoulders to low, and/or his gorilla arms). A better solution would have been to do more like Fans Toys (and I think DX9) did- connect the cannon to his forearm, but put the connection point on the orange barrel, not the parts behind it.

Stopped at Target for peanut butter for my kid's lunches and Litter Genie refills for the cat. I was surprised to see some Studio Series stuff I wasn't expecting until July. SS74 is Revenge of the Fallen Bumblebee with Sam, but it's not in Studio Series packaging, it's Buzzworthy Bumblebee. Near as I can tell it's the same as SS49, just with lighter gray robot bits and the inclusion of a Sam slug. Bummer, I was really hoping that he'd get a new head without the battle mask. I saw B-127, too. I passed, because I already have the mold as Cliffjumper, but I'll probably stop on my way home from the mechanic tomorrow and grab one anyway, because I've got every other Studio Series Bumblebee mold and skipping one feels wrong. Don't see much point in doing a review today, since everyone's got the new preorders on their minds. I'll try to do one tomorrow, but Huffer's been granted a reprieve, as I was looking for something and came across a box with some stuff I meant to talk about awhile ago, so I'll do that first.

I don't really care for rap, but "X Gon' Give It to Ya" and "Party Up" weren't bad. And I really liked the movies he did with Jet Li, Romeo Must Die and Cradle 2 the Grave. I read about DMX a bit when I first heard he was in the hospital. Guy had a really rough childhood. I guess that provided some inspiration for his music, but it's a shame it all lead to substance abuse and a young death.

Nope. I just pay a 6% PA sales tax, which looks about the same as your basic state tax. One county over in Pittsburgh you'll pay an extra 1%, and in Philly an extra 2%, but that's it for PA. On the flip side, I think we pay a lot more for liquor since you can only get it from state-run stores here. EDIT: If Transformers is done, I'm done. Glad for the Power Rangers and GI Joe fans, but I've got other things to do.

To me the giveaway is the arms. NA uses a ball joint for the bicep swivel and elbow, MS has a dedicated bicep swivel and pin hinges in the elbows.

They're talking Power Rangers. Is Transformers done? Well, we've already seen the Ark, Rodimus, Scorponok, and Galvatron, so just focusing on the new stuff... Kingdom Voyager-class Rhinox Deluxe-class Wingfinger Deluxe-class Tracks ...who does have his flight mode. Shattered Glass Blurr Blast Effect pack with Deluxe Tricranius. Robosen Optimus Prime Preorders are up now if you're a Pulse Premium member, otherwise they go up at 5:00pm EDT. I'm passing on Tricranius because I don't care for Fossilizers or blast effects that much. Likewise, Blurr looks cool but I'm not sure I'm going in on Shattered Glass. I preordered Rhinox, Wingfinger, Tracks, Scorponok, the Ark, Galvatron, and Rodimus though. That said, I hope the 9/1/21 date is a placeholder and that a.) we don't actually have to wait that long, and b.) the classes are staggered and ship in separate orders. If I get one $400 order my "good wife" is going to murder me to death. As for Robosen Prime, it's a really cool programable robot you can control with a smartphone. It transforms on it's own. But... it's $700. Unless the US wants to give me another stimulus check I can't justify it. Not saying it's not worth it, just that I can't justify spending it. Oh, in non-reveal news a question was asked, "will we see the other Dinobots in the Studio Series?" The answer was simply to wait for a Fan Friday in May...

I recognized Harry, too. I mean, I forgot his name was Harry, but I knew it was NewAge. At this point, I think if you're doing Legends the only safe assumption is that if you stick to one company you're alright. The only problems with that are that sometimes Newage does something that's clearly better than Magic Square (like the Seekers) while sometimes Magic Square is the clear winner (Megatron), plus Iron Factory makes some very good not-G1 figures. However, Newage and Magic Square seem both prolific, with like half the G1 cast done already, and determined to release competing designs so if you do go all-in on one you don't have to worry that you're missing out on a character by passing on the other company. Now, I'm probably not the best person to be giving advice on the subject as I bought a handful and kind of stopped when I realized I don't want another full cast in a third scale (although given how many of you guys are buying them I'm half tempted to pick up more just to review something you're into). But, if I were going to jump in I'd probably go all Magic Square. I wish they used more paint and better materials, but I like that Magic Square's are slightly larger and use more hinges and swivels and less ball joints.

So I don't know when it's coming or if it's going to be a regular release or a store-exclusive, but I've got sources telling me Terrorsaur is coming. Sources are telling me that he's a retool of Airazor, and as such won't be totally cartoon-accurate. One specific example I was given is that his wings will but upside down compared to the cartoon in robot mode. At this point, with Scorponok's reveal and Rhinox and Waspinator heavily rumored to appear later in Kingdom I think we'll just need Tarantulas to complete what I consider the core Beast Wars cast, although at this point I wouldn't say no to Depth Charge, Quickstrike, Inferno, and Rampage.

I liked Delta, too. Heck, 7 was the weakest Macross series, but even that I enjoyed for what it was.

I peaked in on the today thing, but got bored. All I really care about is the preorders for new Transformers. Of which, as you guys probably guessed, I'm in for pretty much all of it, despite any misgivings I have. Scorponok, the Ark, Galvatron, Rodimus, all of it. My wife will take our kid to school tomorrow so I can virtually attend the main event.

It's probably going up tomorrow. The pictures have been taken, they're cropped and ready on the computer, and Huffer's sitting in front of my monitor waiting for his articulation test. I'm just unhappy that I paid extra to get Airazor here by Friday only for them to delay my package. It's like, if I didn't mind to wait until Tuesday I could have saved $4 for the cheaper shipping.

I'm down to the Kingdom Deluxes, and despite paying extra for 4-day shipping UPS immediately flagged my order with a delay and is now saying Tuesday (seven days after shipping), so Airazor is out. (Note to future self, just go for the cheapest shipping in the future.) Holding off on Huffer still, so I guess that leaves us with Ractonite. Like Paleotrex, Ractonite's got some issues with proportions. His legs are a bit short, especially from the knees down, and his arms are a bit long. That said, I don't think his issues are quite as bad. He's not actually reaching to the ground like Paleotrex, and he's not packing those thunder thighs. He's stocky, but that thickness combines with his helmet to give him an appearance akin to a knight in armor. The skull on his right shoulder is almost balanced by the pelvis on his left. That said, I really hate his lack of hands. Note that, per the instructions, the configuration in my first picture is his official robot mode. However, he actually came out of the box with the skull shoulder turned around and his arm coming out of the mouth. That's actually pretty cool. I'm not sure which way I prefer it. Also like Paleotrex, Ractonite has a mask that can fold down over part of his face, which in my opinion enhances that armored knight look. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be based on anything the way Paleotrex's was the original Primal toy's mace. Anyway, as a Fossilizer Ractonite doesn't have accessories, he's made of them. I pulled him into this many parts without realizing that the horn on the nose of the skull and the two big spikes on the frill come off. Speaking of the frill, mine comes off of the skull fairly easily. However, it connects with a large block tab that really only fits into the skull, so I haven't found any use for it that doesn't involve leaving it attached. Ractonite's head is on a ball joint with a little up/down tilt and minimal sideways tilt. His shoulders rotate, no problem, but lateral movement depends. His left arm can only get about 45 degrees at a hinge that's actually shoulder level, but there's a hinge at the top of his shoulder pad that can go nearly 180 degrees. In the "official" configuration his right arm can get about 75 degrees of lateral motion. He gets slightly better out of the alternate configuration, but still less than 90. His biceps swivel. His elbows are double-jointed and get almost 180 degrees of curl. The 5mm pegs at on the heels of his alt mode that pass for his hands can bend up. His waist swivels. His hips can go 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees. His ankles can pivot up to 90 degrees. As a robot you'll have a little piece of tail left that I suppose is Ractonite's weapon. It has a 5mm port on the base that fits onto the peg that passes for either hand. Ractonite's alt mode is a skeletal Styracosaurus. It looks pretty good, again, a bit more cohesive than Paleotrex. Transformation involves ripping the robot apart and piecing him back together until you've got a dinosaur. Ractonite doesn't have a ton of alt mode articulation. His head can tilt sideways by rotating it around where it's pegged in, and he can look up and down a little. His mouth opens. His front legs can swivel, move forward and backward, and bend at the knee, but there's no lateral movement or ankle articulation. He's got limited waist swivel. His back legs have quite a bit more articulation, as they can rotate and move laterally at the hips, swivel at the thighs, bend at the knee, and pivot at the ankles. His tail has two hinges that can move up and down. Of course, part of the Fossilizer gimmick is that after pulling Ractonite apart you can put his parts back together into various weapon-like arrays for other characters to carry. These lances, clubs, shields, and hammers are some of ones suggested in his instructions. I'll say this much, I like Ractonite better than Paleotrex. I think he works a little better in dino mode, and a lot better in robot mode. But, and I think I touched on this last time, brand new characters that make bone clubs for other characters do not have the same appeal as underused citybot companions that turn into guns. So, get him if you think you want him, I guess, but I see no real reason to recommend him.

I don't mind Junior. Was he cuter than he had to be, especially as he seemed to get cuter between Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla II and Godzilla vs Space Godzilla? Arguably yes. But it was already established that Godzillas reproduce; the entire Heisei era is a sequel to the original Godzilla and establishes from the beginning that Godzilla in Godzilla Returns isn't he same one Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer killed. Junior started as an egg, and while kid-friendly and cute he eventually grew to a regular Godzilla. That's more than we can say for Minilla. But hey, I already established myself as a Heisei fan. In all seriousness, while effects (both CGI and practical) have gotten a lot better since 1954, and yes, Hollywood has a slickness to it that Japanese cinema doesn't really match, I enjoy older films as a window into another time and I can find a lot to enjoy even in the early Showa Godzilla films. Given the choice, I'd rather watch any of the Heisei or Millennium Godzilla films, Shin Godzilla, or the other two Monsterverse Godzilla films before watching Godzilla vs Kong again. And even among Showa movies you have to get to Ebirah: Horror of the Deep before I'm thinking about siding with Godzilla vs Kong, and even after that I'd still prefer Godzilla vs Gigan, Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, and Terror of Mechagodizlla. Oh, IMHO the '98 Tristar movie is simply not a Godzilla film.

I can accept that some movies are better appreciated if you don't think about them to much. I... actually kinda liked The Rise of Skywalker. I liked Jurassic World, and I was entertained enough by King of the Monsters that I actually saw it with a buddy then took my mom to see it a week later. But sometimes a movie is just so dumb that even with your brain turned off, even with low expectations for a popcorn movie, it just does not make sense. I'm with you on Fallen Kingdom. Most of the Transformers movies were pretty bad, but The Last Knight had me shouting "That's not how science works!" in the movie theater. And you have to go back to the late '60s/early '70s to find a Godzilla film I liked less than Godzilla vs Kong.

In what way? The Hollow Earth? The fact that the humans couldn't get there despite being able to build a subway from Pensacola, Florida to Hong Kong? The fact that the Hollow Earth happens to have a Kong-sized throne powered by a picture of Godzilla? The fact that a guy who's claim to fame was writing about the Hollow Earth knew enough about the magic Apex hovercraft he just found out about to jury rig it into a Kong-sized defibrillator? The writers' assumption that such a defibrillator can magically heal you after you've been beaten to death? The ecoterrorists in King of the Monsters were dumb with a capital D, sure, especially the mom. But I could write them off as dumb characters, while everything in Godzilla Vs. Kong is dumb.

Hasbro production numbers and EAN numbers have supposedly be leaked for a number of Transformers. Some of them are stuff we know about by now, like Galvatron and the Ark, and rumored stuff I've talked about like Studio Series 86 Slag, but I figured I'd highlight a few I haven't mentioned here yet. F0485 Tra Gen Project Bat. Some people are telling me it is Batman-related but it's not a Batmobile, others are saying it's definitely not Batman. F1207 Tra Gen Prime Optimus Prime. No description, but it seems like it's a new figure and it'll be more expensive than the Leader-class. F1815 Tra Gen Selects Artfire. Now give me Hauler! F1618 Tra Gen Selects Galvatron & Unicron pack. Not sure what sort of Unicron is coming in this pack, but I'm hearing Galvatron might be a translucent reformatting sort of thing. F1208 Tra Gen WFC Sideswipe and Night Prowler. Could be the rumored Earth-mode Sideswipe. Night Prowler is apparently another repaint of Cheetor. F2822 Tra Gen WFC K Golden Deluxe Jackpot. Jackpot was an old G1 Action Master. It's been suggested that this could be a repaint of Studio Series 86 Jazz. F2817 Tra Gen WFC K Golden Voyager Tigatron. This will be a repaint of the previously-leaked Kingdom Tigatron. As for these, I actually have mentioned their rumored existence already, but this is looking like more confirmation, especially with a rumored IDW Shattered Glass miniseries to support it. F2705 Tra Gen SG Deluxe Blurr F2704 Tra Gen SG Deluxe Goldbug F2912 Tra Gen SG Voyager Megatron F3003 Tra Gen SG Commander Jetfire

Before I get too excited for the next wave, maybe I should finish up the second wave, eh? Today we're moving on to Kingdom Voyager-class Dinobot. Dinobot's a pretty big fella, slightly taller than wavemate Inferno and similar in height to Optimus Prime (about the same to the top of the head, but his eyes, shoulders, and pelvis are lower). I'm not super into Beast Wars, but a head or so shorter than Megatron and taller than Primal tracks with what I remember. Dinobot's definitely not without his flaws. His head looks fantastic, but he's missing the tawny stripes on his arms and torso, a ton of different colors on his feet, and although he's got some gold paint on his ribs and crotch he's got none of it on his shins. Plus, I hate to see the hollow cutouts in his forearms and the back of his biceps. That said... have you seen basically every Dinobot toy that isn't he MP version? Even with some missing paint apps Kingdom Dinobot is by far the most accurate mainline representation he's gotten, without the chunky dino head dominating his whole torso of the original toy. He's even got the more heroic, tapered torso and none of the weird color choices of the Universe version. Dinobot comes with two accessories that are fairly iconic for him. He's got his sword, and it's looking fine with an orange hilt and a purple blade. Then he's got his... gun? My first though was that it looks a bit unfinished, as the sides are the same brown plastic as the outside and it seems pretty hollow. The inside could have been painted pink, but after looking at the MP version I guess this is actually fairly accurate. Anyway, the handle of the sword can plug into the middle, and the ends close around it to become part of Dinobot's tail in alt mode. Dinobot's head is on a ball joint. His prominent chin keeps him from looking too far down, but his upward and sideways tilts are pretty good. Shoulders rotate and can extend over 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. His wrists swivel, plus then can bend in and out, and his weird fingers can open and close. His waist swivels. His hips can go 90 degrees forward and laterally, but they're limited due to the shape of his butt to just a little bit backward. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend slightly over 90 degrees. His ankles can tilt up slightly, down a good bit, and can pivot 90 degrees. Both of his palms have 5mm ports in them, so you can plug the sword or the "gun" into them. He's also got 5mm ports in his heels and on the outsides of his knees, plus one under his backpack. If you like, you can plug the sword into the "gun" while he's holding it. I think that's something the Universe toy did. Maybe you could do it to the original, too? Or, you can store the "gun" by closing it up and plugging it into his backpack, where it ends up in alt mode anyway. And here we have Dinobot's raptor mode. Tough to get a definite height comparison with Megatron here because Megatron's got so much more articulation. The transformation is pretty interesting, too, with parts of his dino thighs folding from his torso over his robot shoulders and biceps and his dino arms coming out of the sides of his torso while his lower legs split in half and everything tucks up underneath in a manner that's sort of similar to the original Dinobot toy, except backward. I think dino mode is a mixed bag. It's tough to say that the alt mode is more "realistic" like the other Beast Wars characters in Kingdom, because real velociraptors were more like mean turkeys with bigger claws and teeth, but I do think the proportions are a bit better than the cow-bodied, skinny-necked animation model that the MP is based on. From some angles he looks pretty good, with the outside of his robot thighs and knees dong their best to blend into his flanks, and the lighter tan color showing up a bit. That said, even though they're brown his robot feet still look like robot feet on his dino butt. He's got some pupil-less eyes on the back of his thighs, as well as some blue with the gold ribs from his robot mode. And from a couple angles you can see some of the orange robot parts peeking out from his chest, underbelly, and near his butt. Again, though, I'll refer you to the original Dinobot toy, with it's super prominent robot legs not-really-hiding underneath, or the Universe toy with the weirdly clawed chest, or even the extremely panely MP Dinobot that still had a bit of visible robot parts around the dino's pelvis and simply note that it must be very difficult to translate the Mainframe robot model to anything close to a dinosaur without anime magic. While I'm willing enough to forgive some alt-mode aesthetics that were sacrificed for robot mode there's definitely some areas that could have been improved. Dinobot can look up and down while in dino mode, and his mouth can open, but he's got no neck swivel. His dino arms have shoulders that rotate and move laterally plenty, elbows that bend 90 degrees, and ball joints in the wrists that allow them to swivel and fold against the forearm for transformation, but he doesn't have bicep swivels, and his hands are molded with that downward bend. While technically his hips can move laterally, doing so opens him up and exposes his mashed up robot-legs, and they don't have any foward/backward movement anyway. His knees, ankles, and the claws on his fee can bend, and his ankles can swivel. He's got no tail articulation, but raptor's used them more like a stiff rudder for balance anyway. Also, does Hasbro think dinosaurs get punched in the face a lot? Because this is the second dino after Grimlock that's missing his front teeth. Actually, maybe I should double check on Paleotrex and Megatron... Overall, Dinobot has his issues. I'm especially crossing my fingers and hoping some third party can make new dino hands with better articulation. However, they're mostly in dino mode, and I've often said that if sacrifices have to be made to one mode to get the other right it should be the alt mode that suffers. His robot mode is, after MP-41, the best representation of the character in toy form that's ever come down the line, and this one costs something like $160 less than MP-41. If you're a fan of the character, Dinobot's definitely worth picking up.

Yeah. The first robot pic in Jeremy's post is the Ark, the second robot is Teletraan. Galvatron was also officially revealed, as well as Scorponok. No, not the ER Titan. Kingdom Scorponok is the BW version. Preorders for all three are going this Friday (I expect some other stuff, like Kingdom Rodimus Prime, too). Pulse Premium members will have a five-hour head start on preorders at Pulse. I stopped at my Walmart to get some meat for picnic. The only Transformers they had at all were a few SS86 Blurrs and two Netflix Wheeljacks. And I actually want several of the new Netflix Deluxes (although by now I'm pretty much caught up on the rest). That does suck, but at least it's a mainline figure that you'll likely still be able to get. I know someone else who finally managed to get his hands on a Walgreen's-exclusive Earthrise Bluestreak only for it to have the same missing wheel problem.

It's my understanding that it came down to the cost of designing a new G1-style trailer that worked with the mold. That said, I think if they had to bump it up to Commander-class to get it to work most fans would have been perfectly OK with that. Yes! I mean, aside from the fact that I'd re-buy the other Siege Seekers (Hotlink, Red Wing, Ion Storm, Acid Storm, and Nova Storm) I'd probably just as happily shell out money for Nacelle, Sun Storm, and G2 Starscream. And on the topic of repaints and remolds... how about Voyager-class Kingdom Inferno? Inferno is, of course, a remold of Earthrise Grapple. He's got a new headsculpt, some of the parts around his head box are different, and he's got a ladder instead of a crane, but he's 90% the same figure. Which, you know, is fine because that's how G1 worked, and fine because Grapple was a pretty fine toy in his own right. Although I'll note that Grapple was one of the more hollowed figures Hasbro had released at the time, and that carries over to Inferno. Hopefully Go Better, who's filler kit I used on Grapple, will make one for Inferno. That said, there are a few things bugging me here. First there's his ear flaps. Now, I'm all for using silver/gray for parts that were colored white in the cartoon but were clearly meant to be silver/chrome as they were on the toy, like Prime's thighs. But G1 Inferno had chrome on his shoulders, his guns, his bumper and grill, and around his wrists, but the ear flaps were always white. So the gray plastic that matches his shoulders is just wrong. They're pinned, too, so removing them to paint yourself probably won't be easy. Assuming that gray isn't unpaintable plastic. Even though the shoulder bits were chrome on the original toy, I think a better option would have been to cast all the gray plastic parts in white (the ladder is also gray, and the ladder should also be white). The other part that's bugging me are the stabilizers on his legs. On Grapple they were painted, but on Inferno they're black. That looks all kinds of wrong, and I can't figure out any way to get them off to paint them. Ok, accessories. Inferno has the exact same gun and the exact same hand replacement gun as Grapple. Inferno trades Grapple's claw thingy, though, for the little gun that goes on his head and the hoses that go on his legs. The hoses are, once again, a part cast in that gray plastic that should have been white. Inferno's articulation is the same as Grapple's, which is to say his head can swivel inside its box, but he's got no tilt. His shoulders can rotate, and the pylons on his shoulders are set just right so that he can extend his shoulders 90 degrees and they'll lie flat on the top of his torso. His biceps swivel. His elbows can bend 90 degrees. His wrists can bend inward due to transformation, but there's no swivel there. His waist does swivel, though. His hips can go 90 degrees (or a little over) forward, backward, and laterally. His thighs can swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees. Collapsed properly for robot mode his feet don't have any up/down tilt, but they do have great ankle pivots. If you start to pull them out like you're going to transform them you can fake some up/down tilt. Inferno's gun and hand replacement gun work exactly the same as Grapple's. The gun that goes on his head box fits onto a peg on his left side, and the hoses plug into the 5mm ports on his legs. That leaves him with a port on each shoulder, one on each forearm near the elbow, one on the side of each foot, between the wheels, one under each foot, and one on each side of his backpack. Inferno's transformation is the same as Grapple's; simple, effect, and satisfying. I'll note that I'd heard that Hasbro modified the clips that hold the head box on top of the cab, as they were a point of failure on Grapple, but if there's a difference I'm not seeing it. It'd have been cool if he'd borrowed some of the MP's engineering to totally hide away the ladder in bot mode, but I guess that's a bit much to expect from a Voyager. Inferno's alt mode looks pretty spot on, what with the silver lights on top of the cab and the red paint on the rims. My biggest complaint again is all the gray plastic that really should have been white, and the black stabilizers. Oh, and he's got that gap in the back that Grapple had. The hoses and the head gun don't have to be removed for transformation. For the hoses, at least, that's pretty much where you'll want them in alt mode anyway. That said, there's a peg on one side near the tip of the ladder that you can attach it to- that seems to be where Hasbro intended for it to go. As for the hand gun, it has the slit in the side like Grapple's, and Inferno has the matching slot on his ladder. That's a missed opportunity, as he's got a bump on the end of the ladder. Hasbro could have put a hole in the 5mm peg that fit on that bump, so you could stick it to the end of the ladder. As for his rifle, there's 5mm pegs on the sides that can plug into one of two ports on either side near the back of the truck. A note on the ladder- a lot of promo pictures I've seen show it turned the other way, with the hollow end facing down. Based on the molded piston on one side, the fact that ladders usually have that open gap on the top, and the orientation for Grapple's crane boom I'm pretty sure those promo pictures have got it wrong, and the pictures I've taken here are correct. That said, it's your collection, do it however you like. And yes, that's the maximum extension on that ladder. It'd be cool if it could get longer, but it's good enough for to get the job done. Inferno's not without his flaws, which are in some ways slightly worse than Grapple's. On the whole, though, this is still a very good mold and I'd give Inferno a recommend. Heck, I'm wondering where's my Gen Selects Hauler and Artfire?

Ebay, and yes.

Well, I got a line on Airazor (and Netflix Deep Cover), and I paid a bit extra for 4-day shipping, so hopefully they'll be here by the end of the week. And since the 4th Wave 2 Deluxe is just Earthrise Arcee in a Kingdom box that should do it for the second wave, and that means I'm ready to get started on reviews. We'll go biggest to smallest, and that means we're starting with Leader-class Ultra Magnus. Kingdom Magnus is a retool of Siege Magnus, which is honestly disappointing for a number of reasons. Like, the designers have let slip that they wanted to do a white Earthrise Prime with an all-new trailer, which (on paper) sounds awesome, but Hasbro's bean counters apparently nixed that idea. And yet, Kingdom Magnus has quite a few new parts to make him more cartoon-accurate. He's got a new head with the thicker, square eyes (if you look closely he's got regular eyes behind the lenses, which is kind of neat). His shoulder armor is new and weirdly asymmetric. His left shoulder has some greebles, but his right shoulder is smooth. Looks like it should have had a tampoed Autobot insignia. The front of his torso armor is new. His "belt" is new. His shoulder missiles are new. His forearm armor is the same, and from the front it looks like his legs are the same but painted differently. From the sides and back you can see that the back (and collar) of his torso armor is the same, and the back of his legs are the same, but he's got new wheels, a new butt, and the sides of his legs are different, which we'll talk about more in vehicle mode. Kingdom Magnus comes with a pair of shoulder missiles and a rifle, but not the black guns Siege Magnus came with. As mentioned, the missiles are new and look a bit more G1. The rifle is the same mold, but painted a darker gunmetal color vs the silver of Siege's. I'm sure I covered the articulation when I reviewed Siege Magnus, but we can go over it again real quick. Head is on a ball joint with a little up, down, and sideways tilt. Shoulders rotate and move laterally 90 degrees, elbows bend 90, wrists swivel. Waist swivels. Hips ratchet forward 90, back only a bit due to his butt kibble, , and friction laterally just under 90. Thighs swivel, knees bend just under 90, ankles can pivot nearly 90 degrees. He holds his rifle no problem. Missiles plug into 5mm ports on the outside of his shoulders. Additional 5mm ports can be found on the outside of either forearm, on the outside of either leg, one on his back, two under each foot, and two around his collar. Magnus' inner robot is likewise a mix or reused parts and new. Most of the front of his torso is new, but his head, arms, and possibly his legs are the same (I have the DNA kit on my Siege version). Coming around to the sides and back, and you can see that Kingdom Magnus has a different backpack and a new butt flap. I'm not sure if how well it's actually showing up in the pictures, but Kingdom Magnus is also a brighter, cleaner white, which is nice. As the combined-mode uses most of the core robot's joints the articulation is basically the same. He can bend his knees a little bit more, his ankles pivot a little less. You'd think he might have a little more backward hip movement, but nope, still restricted. His fists are the same, so no issues holding his gun. He's got 5mm ports on the outside of his forearms, on the tops of his shoulders, near his ankles, and under his feet. Truck mode is the most obvious difference between the two. Siege, meant to be Magnus' Cybetronian mode, has the single window and translucent blue over the grill, with the big blue bumper inspired largely by 2001 Robots In Disguise Ultra Magnus. All that stuff has been retooled to give him an Earth truck mode more similar to the G1 toy, which is to say a white Optimus Prime. The new butt flap sits right behind the bumper and fills in the space behind the front wheel with the steps you'd find on an Earth truck, and the new tires are less greebly and look like real Earth tires (even if they're just plastic). However, because the legs and arms are unchanged Kingdom Magnus retains a lot of the problems that the Siege toy had- visible hands, arms sticking out from from the back of the cab, a greebly mess instead of a smoother, cab-shaped cab, obvious feet, and smokestacks in the wrong place. I think the most disappointing thing is that for all the improvements in G1 accuracy to the cab and the robot modes, the trailer didn't quite get the same benefit. The top of the trailer isn't Magnus' arms, it's the same red, flat surface as Siege. Some of the panels on the sides have been retooled to look more like the G1 trailer, but most of the middle is the same as Siege instead of being open. His shins don't open, and you can't drive a car onto the trailer. And one weird difference is that the shoulder parts and cab connect a bit differently. The shoulders do not plug into the back of the feet, they only clip around the cab's legs. Then, at about the spot where the side panels grabbed the big clips on the cab's legs, they fit onto tabs on the shoulder armor. The clips on the cab's legs connect to the trailer's sides closer to the front of the trailer. The result is that the cab sits a bit further forward, looking more like a cab pulling a trailer than something as integrated as the Siege truck. That causes it's own problems, though, as there's a bit of overhang on the trailer that was designed to sit on the cab, and Magnus can't count on the trailer to hide his fists anymore. Curiously, both sides of the remolded parts near the front of the trailer have a flat, raised shape that looks like the outline of an Autobot insignia. But, like the shoulder armor, there's no tampos there. It's nothing I can't fix myself with some Reprolabels, but still, you'd think a there'd be some money in that Leader-class budget for some tampoed Autobot insignias. Magnus retains the 5mm ports in the middle of the sides of the trailer from Siege, but with no guns doing an RID homage to plug into the front I'd suggest plugging the missiles in the front instead. It's more G1 to me, even if it's not as cartoon-accurate as having them on the actual front of the trailer. As for the rifle, he's still got a pair of 5mm ports on the top of the trailer, one near the front and one near the back. I think it's fair to say I have very mixed feelings about Kingdom Magnus. I'm a sucker for white Primes that armor up; Combiner Wars Magnus lost points for not having the transformable core robot and he's too big, and the earlier Classics Ultra Magnus was only a white Optimus. I was tickled that Siege Magnus not only had a white Optimus that armored up, he was even a unique mold! And the fact that Kingdom Magnus takes all of that and makes it more gee-wunny makes it a better figure than the Siege version almost by default. At the same time, the fact that they got him that much more gee-wunny in so many ways highlights the areas that they missed the mark that much more, namely the mess that is the back of the cab and the fact that the trailer really isn't G1-accurate. So it's kind of like it's a pretty good figure, better than the Siege version and probably the best official non-MP Magnus so far, and I guess I'd recommend it for that reason. But deep down you and I both know this isn't really the Magnus you want.

Since @M'Kyuun mentioned his Airazor is coming I checked Pulse a few times. Up to yesterday it was still showing as a preorder, and today it's just sold out. So I'm stuck checking my local stores between now and May when Amazon gets around to it. If you're a Target fan, here's Maximal T-Wrecks. He, along with an $80 "Worlds Collide" multipack, will be not just Target exclusive, but Red Card exclusive like Red Wing was. Not a big deal for me, since I have a Red Card because I shop at Target way too often, but might be a downer for others. T-Wrecks has a DPCI of 087-16-2849 if you want to keep an eye on Brickseek or something. The multipack is 087-16-8265. I have no idea what's in it.

There were good ideas there, and had they made it a Voyager (which it was designed to be) many of the engineering issues it had might have been alleviated.