Fit For Natalie

Australia is cheap, always looking for the most cost-effective solution at-this-very-moment. Remember the Seasprite helicopter debarcle where we decided to go with refurbished airframes while New Zealand bought brand new ones? Last I hard, the entire Seasprite fleet had been grounded for years. Besides, you guys refused to sell the F-22 to us anyway, so its moot. I see the US selling the F-22 (or a stripped down version) to Japan or Isreal before Australia, simply because we are not watching any major US enemies.

I think the main problem is we can't afford to have a large airforce with several types of fighters, and for the lack of a better choice, we're stuck with the F-35 which can apparently fulfill several roles. Apparently.

RRP is $149.99USD. Most store computers are listing it as $160-180, depending on the store.

BE CAREFUL WITH THE GOGGLES!.

Big red boat? Moray Hydrofoil.

I was always amused that Han Solo was the drugs smuggler with a heart of gold. Hey, that's what 'spice' is.

Smuggling compartments (well there's only one, the other one is the repair bay from Empire Strikes back) are pretty famous, though.

Henkei Skyfire

Henkei Ramjet

I am amused Takara pretended that Jetfire/Skyfire had his secondary canopy by painting the airbrake blue. I am also amused that they faked making the main canopy smaller by... painting it white.

It's really a playset vehicle more than traditional vehicle, and they've done a good job of catering to the needs of both modes, as well as playability. Retailers are apparently ordering this BIG TIME, banking on it being the huge holiday seller, figuratively and literally.

I hope Clone Wars has a bunch of Replublic ground vehicles for Hasbro to make into toys. My Rebels need ground forces, darnit.

Do you have the AT-AP? I've not seen photos of that toy along side other vehicles yet.

Animated designs have such character in them.

I find it amusing that Shockwave is a significant homage to Armada Megatron, from the descriptions we heard (H-shaped tank with antlers).

The parcel post man just delivered my POTF2 AT-AT.

I'm glad I never paid full price for this thing, because it's abit cheap and cheesy for what you pay for, and technically the 1997 version was the best of them all in terms of features and deco.

Still, I mostly got it to display with the upcoming AT-TE (which now looks much more impressive).

Did anyone get the Classics Cliffjumper upgrade kit? Was it any good? I've heard it goes for a fair amount on eBay.

The UM upgrade armor is made by the same guys, right?

Just curious.

Yeah, the Magnus set is from the same guys. From what I've heard of their Starscream coronation set, the plastic used is about as good as what you get from normal toys.

yeah I know, I was just pointing out it *could* hold it

My one dissapointment is the lack of shoulder missile launchers.

Blood donation is a good samaritan thing, but plasma they pay for. Probably because it's not just removal, but also reinsertion (they pump saline back into you after they remove the plasma from the blood). *shudder*

Glad I got my Magnus preorder in so quickly... but I can't help but think that it would have cost closer to $50 if they'd included a gun he can actually hold instead of that silly thing...

I'm just wondering how the UM armor/trailer will look with Prime. I don't have Classics UM, nor do I plan to get one, but I'm tempted to get the UM armor for Prime.

And just a few weeks ago I recieved an email from Hasbro with detailed directions to all the local plasma donation clinics.

I think this just may be my favorite year so far for Transformers, wheras last year was one of the darkest for me (I liked some of the movie toys but overall it nearly killed my TF interest entirely). Sure, Alternaters and Classics were great, but the sheer amount of awesome TF toys looming on the horizon like a big tidal wave ready to wash out my bank account is almost awe-inspiring. It's like five years worth of good TF toys compressed into six months.

According to a fan who chatted to some of the Hasbro designers, they said that due to the orders from on high that Universe be a vehicles realism line (to continue on with the theme from the Movie), they have to slowly sneak in characters from Beast Wars for the 25th Anniversary. Beast Machines will be especially difficult because there's nothing remotely realistic in that series, so we might only see Jetstorm and/or Tankor.

There's going to be more stuff to be revealed at San Diego ComicCon, and the line will include stuff from RID and G2.

Local shops as well as online retailers will carry it. Ordering overseas will probably only save you a few bucks.

Hey Southpaw, have you bought the white repaint of the big wing TIE yet?

Hasbro loves our wallets, our bank accounts and our credit cards. They also love the loose change under the cushions of your sofa...

Hasbro designer notes and stock photos of Fracture, Breakaway and Crankcase.

As Hasbro hates foreigners, non-Americans will have a hard time accessing the main site and instead be redirected to their local national version of Transformers.com, which won't have this news page. Likely even if you got to the page, they won't let you look at the pics, either. Jerks.

Decepticon Fracture

Dedicated to MEGATRON and the DECEPTICON cause, DECEPTICON FRACTURE is a dangerous enemy. She is totally fearless, and probably a little bit crazy, as she dives directly into any battle, regardless of the odds. Although she carries a powerful negative energy blaster, she prefers to use the seismic energy dischargers on her feet to smash the surrounding earth to pieces. Any battlefield on which she walks shudders with the force of her steps.

DECEPTICON FRACTURE was inspired by the female Gobot Crasher, but the name was changed to DECEPTICON FRACTURE when Crasher was unavailable for use. This deco scheme was one of several ideas for the Classic Series MIRAGE mold, and emerged as the most popular with the team. Her vehicle mode deco is based on a real Russian F1 race car color scheme.

http://www.hasbro.com/common/images/news/t...racture_veh.jpg

http://www.hasbro.com/common/images/news/t...cture_robot.jpg

Breakaway

Escape-artist extraordinaire BREAKAWAY has never been held in captivity for more than a few hours. Even then, most of the times he's been captured have only been because he let it happen, so he could get inside a DECEPTICON base and blow it up. Every one of his joints is double, and secret compartments cover his body, hiding dozens of tools for use in escaping from any cell. He's as slippery as a Neutronian grease eel, and clever as a turbofox. DECEPTICON bounty hunters across the galaxy have an almost supernatural regard for his skill.

BREAKAWAY is based on the G1 Powermaster AUTOBOT escape artist Getaway. The name Getaway was unavailable, so the similar sounding Breakaway (which was already registered by Hasbro) was used instead

http://www.hasbro.com/common/images/news/t...Getaway_veh.jpg

http://www.hasbro.com/common/images/news/t...taway_Robot.jpg

Crankcase

CRANKCASE doesn't really care about MEGATRON; he just joined the DECEPTICONS because he was in a bad mood, and it's pretty much lasted. As far as he's concerned, everything is pointless and stupid. He sees no reason why anyone else should be enjoying things when he's so miserable. That's why he spends his time grumpily ruining things for AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS alike. He's not much of a warrior, so he specializes in just being inconvenient. His blaster arm causes metal to rust instantly.

CRANKCASE is based on the G1 Decepticon Triggercon of the same name. His flip out weaponry is extremely similar to the original toy, so using the TRANSFORMERS: CYBERTRON RED ALERT mold worked well. In his original expanded biography, CRANKCASE was once a janitor for fuel spills, so the design team decided to make his vehicle mode a car for a hazardous materials team.

http://www.hasbro.com/common/images/news/t...ankcase_veh.jpg

http://www.hasbro.com/common/images/news/t...kcase_Robot.jpg

Huh? What Australian one?

I think Hasbro does a good job of figure-scaling toys to keep them relatively affordable and practical. No kid could own an X-Wing if they were true 1:18 scale, and none of us could seriously afford (money and space) the Rebel fighter fleet.

Still, I have a really hard time fitting pilot figures inside the big X-Wing, such as the now-standard pilots based on the 2004 Saga gold leader body. Poor Jek Porkins will never fit in an X-Wing.

I never had too much issue with the plating on the Y-wing. If the ships do have deflector shields, the shields could be the main deterrent when it comes to space debris. The Falcon does have exposed parts as well, although granted, not nearly the entire ship like the Y-wing and the X-Wing has exposed stuff on the top of its main fuselage (presumably makes it easier for the astromech droid to perform in flight maintenance). When we got to see the overly sleek N-1s in TPM, I was one of those hoping that by the third movie we'd see early, fully plated Y-wings (or their direct ancestors). It's sort of a shame that we instead just got early X- and A-wings mixed with TIE parts.

Naw, but the chinese custom markers are making them for North American online shops only, though.

Funnily enough the JaAM grin was a misinterpretation by Takara of the concept art's grimace of determination.

Yeah, this line is like the 30th Anniversary Star Wars line: All series of Transformers are represented.

I just hope it's not a Walmart exclusive thing again. I WAS fortunate to find one but it was the only time I ever saw one at any of my 4 area Super-Walmarts!!! Yet it seems that other areas of the country were saturated with them. Freeking sucks!

Chris

Hasbro designer Q&A panel

The big surprise was 25th Anniversary Armada Hot Shot as an all-new sculpt. No axlezooka gimmick.

Now, before you guys get all upset, Hot Shot was the iconic character of Armada and was very popular amongst kids in what was a very successful toyline. Only fitting that he be one of the representatives of that era for the 25th Anniversary line.