Fit For Natalie

Haskara recycles transformation sequences fairly often. Eg, Crossovers Spider-Man transforms very much like Movie Arcee.

Any pics? I love late original SW toy vehicle molds.

Probably because unless you know your planes (and I don't), its hard to know what the hell he is, being a triple changer.

I recently won an POTF2 AT-AT on eBay for a good price by the standards down here. I hope it's as cool as it looks as I've always wanted one. Plus the new AT-AP and the upcoming AT-TE gave me a reason to get one: Massive Imperial mecha display, BWAHAHAHAHA! Ahem. Random question: Was the TAC TIE Bomber ever released in Australia? Really? It doesn't look too bad to me. In fact, I quite like the weathering deco on the light grey parts. However, I'm less than impressed with the almost monochromatic hull. The POTF2 version at least painted the conduits yellow. New A-Wing? There's no new A-Wing. They've been using the same A-Wing mold since 1984. The last release was a green EU redeco in 2004. If you mean the V-Wing from Revenge of the Sith, yeah, it looks ALOT like the A-Wing (crossed with the TIE fighter): V-Wing toy gallery As for Obi-Wan's Ep 2 Jedi Starfighter, that's officially known as the Delta-7 Aethersprite interceptor. As Stemp Fester said, they released it a whole bunch of times in various decos. Just a few months ago they re-released it with the Hyperdrive ring he used in Ep 2. Toys R Us's down here SHOULD still have them for $32-36 clearance, which is odd considering they only just released it: Obi-Wan Kenobi's Jedi Starfighter with Hyperspace Ring toy gallery

Anybody bought the V-Wing? Is it worth getting? I have a fair amount of Rebel pilots these days, so I was thinking of giving it to my Rebels, who absolutely dominate the skies in my Star Wars collection. I only have Vader's TIE fighter to counter them. I'm giving consideration into buying the 2007 TAC Y-Wing, even though I already have the perfectly good POTF2 Y-Wing. That toy is just really well made. I hope Hasbro makes a toy of the upcoming Clone Wars era Y-Wing. It's actually a repaint of a 2007 TAC shirtless, tatooed Anakin as he appeared in one of the Clone Wars cartoons, just to be absolutely accurate so nobody thinks he was part of the sub-par articulation era of 2003 Clone Wars

David, if and when you get the Japanese Optimus Prime Battle Mode toy, ya might be interested in this Reprolabels upgrade set to finish off the flame decals (that is, if you're not game in painting them yourself).

My wishlist: NEW, super articulated Rebel Troopers. Hasbro has run that POTJ-era Tantive IV trooper into the ground. All of the current Endor troopers are based upon that weirdly posed 2002 Saga Endor trooper (though the current ones actually have articulation). There hasn't been a Hoth trooper since 2004, and that mold sucks. Poor bastard Rebels have no money and evidently no good figures. Wish they would make some EU Rebel vehicles, too.

You know, the responses thus far all but guarantee that this movie (and Star Trek) will be successful and revive their respective franchises, because it's more or less the reaction to early pics of Transformers.

Probably because black looks cool.

What Qui-Gon? The Evolutions one is the most recent version, and he's super-articulated. They cheaped out on his lightsaber, though.

A good compromise would the Order 66 Anakin's upper torso with the TAC Vader's lower body, so you get an SA-torso with softgoods and an SA-lower body. Wonder if they can be kitbashed...

They've done that a few times already. In 2005 in the Anakin/Darth Vader Evolutions pack they had super-articulated figures of Ep II, III Anakin and Darth Vader. They recently retooled the Evolutions Ep III Anakin to give him ball-jointed hips and a cloth skirt. Gallery at Rebelscum.com An alternative is the recently-released Order 66 pack with Anakin and a super-articulated ARC Trooper. He doesn't have ball jointed hips, but his entire upper tunic is softgoods, and $10 for 2 figures is a good deal. Gallery at Rebelscum

Hasbro doesn't want the toys out now, partly because the first quarter of a year usually means slower sales. That's one reason why they're waiting until mid year to release them.

Wow, they're releasing the B-Wing again? I bought the first reissue in the POTJ line. As I recall, that release didn't sell particularly well, so here's hoping that if there is a new B-Wing reissue, it does well. As suggested by Galactic Hunter, I'd like to see Hasbro reissue the Rebel Transport. It's a neat toy, it has a toy feature (figure storage), and it looks pretty cool.

I really wish Hasbro would stop using that Speeder Bike mold, especially considering they made a superior-looking version for the Saga and Clone Wars lines. It didn't have the old 1983 T-bar and had proper handlebars.

So far, no. The closest one is a helmet that comes in the Mara Jade/Luke comic pack, but the blast shield isn't down. Actually they did release a figure with that helmet, 10 years ago. POTF2 Luke Skywalker with Blast Shield Helmet. I assume it's the same helmet they're using in that photo. The larger and more expensive something is, the more Hasbro would want to flog it at as many stores as possible to keep the price reasonable. Mail order/online exclusives don't sell that many units, especially as Hasbro would be selling it direct to consumer.

They let people from the press and corporate buyers handle the toys, which is why Sunstreaker is in his Sideswipe configuration, but Silverbolt's box was a mock up, so it was glued onto the display. I find it interesting that (if you count Blaster), the Autobots have four large fliers in this line now. I did? I mean yes, I did! FFN knows all...

They're reusing an established brand name because the Universe franchise allows Hasbro to do any sort of toy as circumstances require. For example, right now they're doing Classics toys with real-world based vehicle modes (as a carry-over from the Movie line) while the Animated line is the main line. If circumstances require it, they can then also do something else later simply to provide different product to whatever is in the mainline.

We've got an Ultra class Universe Silverbolt coming. Anybody recognise the vehicle mode? Weird that they're doing an Ultra class white Autobot jet immediately after a... ultra class white Autobot jet... which followed a previous Voyager class white Autobot jet....

(FFN assumes you are talking about the Leader class Movie Brawl redeco) That bright blue crap is jarring, though. And that mold's guns keep falling off.

Hey, today's episode of Animated featured homages to the Pretenders: Bomb-Burst (bat guy) and Submarauder (sea creature guy)! I bet you Hasbro will forget about this 'designer input' thing in a few months, like they forget the Q&A sessions on the Energon site after they forced Aaron Archer to stop posting on fan boards, and when they forgot about the Ask Vector Prime feature on the Cybertron site. I am the first to admit Hasbro will never do a website feature as impressive as TakaraTomy's 'The World of the Transformers'. That thing was awesome, it was. But to be fair to Hasbro, the US franchise has provided it's fans with that sort of officially-sanctioned information and materials for years. As I understand it, Japanese fans have never really had much to go on other than what was in the cartoons and mangas. The information in the World of The Transformers feature was apparently compiled by Hirofumi Ichikawa, a well-known Japanese fan/Takara freelancer who prefers the US continuities, so he basically condensed the information released over the years in the US cartoons, comics, profile books ect, so that (presumably) TakaraTomy could introduce the concepts of Transformers to the new audience it hoped to recieve with the 2007 Movie.

The Federation for me. Things to consider: - While the Federation Starfleet is typically smaller than that of their rivals (including the Klingons), they make up for it by generally being of a higher quality and are better defended to comparable class types. - The Federation's size and diverse membership means the people are (largely) united and patriotic. The Klingons, Cardassians, Romulans, Dominion ect rely on subjugated specifies to mine their resources and do work that's too good for them. - Vast resources: lots of colonized worlds and members means lots of resources to call upon in times of need. Lack of greed or want means groups aren't hoarding things out of self-interest. - Scientific superiority: While Starfleet my lag behind, say, the Dominion in weapons, even they had to respect Starfleet's resourcefulness. A republic built upon science and exploration means the Federation and Starfleet can quickly solve problems faster than their rivals can. - Unofficially, the Federation has what is arguably the greatest intelligence agency in the galaxy (they pwned the Founders). Ignoring the various continuity errors in Nemesis, Section 31 also effectively control the Romulan Tal'Shiar.

Hasbro's caring about Transformers beyond 'making money' is uneven. The Design team are (obviously) passionate about TFs and care, but corporates and other departments don't seem to care at all. Employee: Sir, we got the photos back. The guns are missing and somehow the photographer transformed the robot into lemur. Boss: What's wrong with that? Employee: It's supposed to turn into a fire engine. Boss: But the photos still show the toy, right? Employee: Yes, sir. Boss: Then it's off to the printers! I highly suspect that Hasbro, in a Big Corporate Great Idea, farms out their photography to an exclusive, high-priced studio solely due to image: They can greatly impress their shareholders or potential clients by showing off who they do business with. Just a theory on my part. But at the very least Hasbro's TF marketing department isn't at odds with the TF design team like how it was at TakaraTomy (this was actually revealed by one of the Takara designers).

They kind of went above and beyond the call of duty for Downshift/Big Daddy, with his unconventional vehicle mode design (he's the only classic car in a line full of cybertronic and current model cars) and the hidden Cyber Key slot.

Yeah, Hasbro's initial Starscream colour scheme was based off very old concept art where ILM decided he was to be tan, for some reason. Official pics of the Walmart-exclusive Cybertron/Movie redecos. Big Daddy! Looks like Hasbro will have a designer provide brief explanations with toy news from now on.