M'Kyuun

I like cassettes, so I'm a little biased, but I dig these guys. I really like the cassette bots that actually look like cassettes, a fleeting reality these days since Hasbro introduced the smaller scale, so Brutality, AKA Slugfest, hits a certain sweet spot for me. His bot mode is adorable- I particularly love the way his legs store within the tape mode. He's simple by comparison with most of Wu's previous cassettes, all of which had to do double duty as combiners, but he has his charm. Slaughter, AKA Overkill, eschews any pretense of looking like a real cassette, but as Mike mentioned, he makes up for it in spades with an impressive amount of articulation in a very small package. I wish his head was on a ball joint for more expressive poses, but as he is, he's a fun little dino-bot. Speaking of little dino-bot cassettes, Wu's previous releases, Explosion, AKA Noizu and Supersonic, AKA Gurafi, did not make the most convincing of cassettes either, although their rectangular wafer modes aren't far off- neither have reel details which would've helped sell the notion. Where they fall apart, literally, is in their combination, which relies solely on Explosion's two hinged flaps, which do not have a much-needed "thoop" point for solidarity, closing over two small tabs on either side of Supersonic's robot torso. The connection is tenuous at best, relying on the merest friction and a prayer. It doesn't help that said un-thooped flaps host the hip/shoulder ball joints, which means you have to press in on the shoulders while manipulating the arms in combined mode (Impact Wave AKA Decibel). For something that should have been designed out of the gate to combine, of the three combining cassette teams that Wu has released, this one is the most poorly executed due to there being no other manner of solidifying the combination. It's disappointing, especially since the combined mode looks really good, has great articulation, nice paint apps, and convenient but wholly inaccurate weapon placements. And, with the merest breeze or vibration, it falls apart into robotic bits that become two pretty decent mini dino-bots (Supersonic's wings are a bit on the thicc side, but at this scale, it's ok). Handling it while typing this, I still can't believe Wu didn't create a stronger connection, especially when the combination was the big selling point. Unfortunately, it's nicer to look at than to play with, at least in combined mode.

Another sad loss of an Apollo era astronaut. It's a shame he never got the chance to walk on the moon. Granted, he got to see it in a way very few humans have, but it's not quite the same thing, is it? However, after an explosion and rapid O2 and power loss, he led his crew successfully by virtue of his intelligence, strength, courage, and optimism to keep themselves alive and their ships viable enough to return home, an extraordinary accomplishment for which he'll be forever remembered. RIP Commander Lovell

Connery's Egyptian-cum-Spaniard with the obvious Scottish accent asking his French costar playing a Scotsman about haggis was such tongue-in-cheek comedy gold. "How revolting!" I have to wonder what a laugh they had making that scene. As to a reboot- why? The original movie was unique and pretty well done for its time. It had some notable performances by the leads, cool music (Queen!), swordfights, immortals, and a neat story. MacLeod won the prize. No more needs to be said or done. I didn't even like the tv show. Highlander 2 doesn't exist. I wasn't aware of the third film. I may have seen it back in the day, but it left so little impression on me that I forgot it completely. I don't think I've seen Endgame or The Source. Why can't Hollywood create anything new? Unwanted, unneeded reboots suck. Just look at the RoboCop reboot. Forgot about it? Exactly. Oh, and James MacAvoy would make a good Highlander- he's actually Scottish, not a huge guy, and adept enough to learn swordplay if he hasn't already done so. Ewan MacGregor and Gerard Butler, also Scotsmen, would have made nice cameos as other Immortals, as both are no strangers to swordplay and both can carry a movie on their own.

The similarities aren't surprising since Hasui designed both sets of Constructicons. Shame he wasn't a little more innovative or based this new design on the OG toy instead of his lackluster CW toy. I had a bad feeling and you confirmed it. Man, I hate it when a utility vehicle gets short shrifted of its functionality. Even the G1 toy's deck could rotate. Little rollers on a treaded vehicle should be requisite, too, though the non-rotating deck is what irks me far more. Unfortunately, both arm bots seem to have absorbed more than their fair share of design shortcuts. If Takara's philosophy regarding combiners is that they can take more shortcuts b/c no one will care since they'll be combined all the time, they're mistaken. Looking forward to your review of complete Devastator once you have Mixmaster in hand. I get the sense, thus far, that unlike Bonecrusher and Scavenger, Devy, who I'm sure was the real focus, will not disappoint.

Agree. Has/Tak did good with these two. Ah, so. Ever new avenues to part us from our filthy lucre! Like a hungry fish, I keep biting. As I mentioned previously, I think ER Prime scales nicely with the rest of the Autobots, at least with all the first season bots. His truck mode is relatively small, but in bot mode I think he scales well. I hadn't actually given much thought to the whole resizing aspect beyond SS86 Megatron to match Prime, but yeah, I suppose any number of them will have to be upscaled slightly to fit the new SS86 scale. To that end, I wonder how much larger the new Seeker will be? I'm actually looking forward to it despite the fact that the nose section, as usual, is truncated vertically, it has no main landing gear at all, and the horizontal stabs need be parts-formed to the backs of the wings for cleaner legs instead of an engineering solution. They're touting it as a mini-masterpiece, but IMHO, it falls a bit short of th...wait, MP-52- nope, right on brand. As to varying size adjustments, I hadn't noticed them, but I trust your observations. The toys have been shrinking somewhat over the years, so maybe they're trying to reverse that trend. I really insist on G1 Megatron's having a gun mode, but I know it's a situation beyond Hasbro's control and as compromises go, this one is acceptable. It would have been cool if Romulus scaled to SS86 Prime, but just like the rest of us, they had no idea that Has/Tak were going to upscale him. I keep hoping that Magic Square will upscale their Doomsday, IMHO, the best G1 Megatron toy ever made. I think they'd make bank if they upscaled to both SS86 and MP scales with that figure. I'd be down for both. According to the TF Wiki, Octane is supposedly inspired by the Boeing 767, but it could be a 737 variant as well. At any rate, it's not a 747, so notably smaller than the shuttle. One of the greatest detriments of triple changers is the oft extreme disparities in sizes of the two alt modes, with Broadside being the worst offender by far, followed by Astrotrain, Octane, Blitzwing, Sandstorm, and finally Springer, whose Cybertronian modes offer more leeway than the aforementioned T-changers with Earth alts. Anyway, Octane would be better served if they chose a small air refueling plane; unfortunately, the smallest US tanker is the C-130 which is much larger than a tanker truck. The P-3 Orion Firefighter is much closer to tanker truck dimensions, even if it traffics in fire suppressant instead of jet fuel, but I'd accept it as a comparably sized plane alt for Octane.

I'm firmly not in the cartoon "accuracy" camp, so I'm all for mechanical details, but of course, mileage varies. And SS86 Prime does have a fair bit of surface detail: rivets and panel lines all over his arms, panel details all over the insides and outsides of his legs, vent details on his midsection, windshield wipers, brace detail on his fuel tanks- lots of surface detail. a lot of it just kinda gets washed away from a distance in the seas of red and blue, but they're there upon close inspection, and that's well within what we've seen in both the main line and SS86 throughout. I'm a fan. If you really want plain figs, go with MP or legends, as both seem to hew closer to the plain low-detail toon aesthetic than either of Hasbro's lines. On one hand, Romulus' scale is a shame, but on the other, he pairs nicely with Earthrise Prime, which, until SS86 came along, was undoubtedly the best official G1 Prime toy in the main line. I still hold it in high regard, as it's a fine figure, and there are some things I like better on it than the SS86, like the 3D molded shin vents. With both toys, we're doubly blessed with G1 OP goodness after decades of waiting. Honestly, I'm not sure why they felt they had to upscale SS86 Prime from his usual large voyager stature, as the ER was already taller than the rest of the Autobots, which scaled perfectly, IMHO.

Great review, Mike. I can accept the tank mode compromise, as there's really no other good option for Hasbro unless they just release a non-transforming cartoon accurate Megatron figure, and I'm glad they chose compromise. My gripe is that it looks like two different teams worked on it, their A-team on the lower half and their C-team on the turret. Perhaps they should have just upgraded him to commander class and improved the engineering on the turret. However, whether he's a gun or a tank, my guess is that most fans, including me, will display Megatron in all his robot glory. That was obviously the primary focus of the design and in that they delivered. I'm with you on the mace- I understand the reference, but like Prime's axe, it's an accessory I'll never use, and as you pointed out, there's little doubt third party will provide options. My own hope is for fusion cannon options that have some transformation elements to make it look less like a gun scope sandwiched between arms and more like an actual tank turret. I think including the Megs-as-a-figure-scaled-pistol was the better accessory, as far more scenes from the tv show and Movie can be played out where someone, usually Starscream, wielded him in gun mode. I POed mine from Pulse, so as usual, I'll likely get my copy later than everyone else, b/c membership has its privileges. Snark aside, at least I'm guaranteed to get it eventually, as finding stuff in stores, while better now than say five years ago, is still not reliable, especially for a fig of this status. In the interim, I need to address my lack of display space so he'll have a home when he arrives. I'm due to get my Long Haul-Hook set today, and I'm not sure where to put them yet, so I need to find a solution. First world issues, I'll tell ya.

Madness. 😄 Y'know, I've often wondered why they completely eschewed real world scale, but apparently the trend stared with the original Diaclone and only got progressively worse from there. Once we got to the combiner teams, all bets were off, Bruticus being a major example of just how wonky scale is in the Transformers Universe. However, scale discrepancies were only amplified by the Sunbow animation and '86 Movie. astrotrain is a glaring example, alongside Soundwave, his cassettes, Reflector, and good ole Megatron himself. I 've also often wondered how Transformers would have turned out had Budiansky changed up the roster and kept Soundwave, his minions, Megatron, and Reflector all at their real world, human hand-sized scale and perhaps made them all spies or something. It would have been a completely different show, but I think it'd make for a neat alternate universe story completely devoid of mass shifting. Of course, the toys wouldn't be able to do that so there'd be obvious concessions there. However, it would be neat to have at least one line where the toys were all in relatively r/w scale to each other. See, that would have been logical. Too, I've always wondered why they chose a Concorde for Silverbolt's alt when the B-1B would have been far more apropos amongst a group of American fighters. Weird decisions. Well, in a toyline where they can make cassettes, motorcycles, dune buggies, and other relatively thin alt modes transform with no bot kibble hanging out, a jet fighter seems, to me, to be a far less challenging prospect. Moreover, I design transforming mecha from LEGO, my own designs as well as Macross. I've been doing it decently well for over a decade and from experience, it's difficult to see how you can start with a robot and design it into a vehicle or object, as so much of the alt mode generally informs the robot mode. Honestly, there's a lot of back and forth, so I have some understanding of the challenges Takara faces when designing Transformers toys. Designing with LEGO poses its own unique challenges, as I'm constrained by the palette, the dimensions of LEGO parts, and my inability to craft a custom part where it would serve better than what exists or what I can cobble together. It definitely pushes my creativity and innovation to overcome challenges. Anyway, Due to his general habit of making the entire powerplant become the legs, I'll concede the point- especially on valks like the YF-19 or the VF-17. And yeah, his latest designs have become thinner and lankier. I don't mind. Floro Dery's blocky designs in some ways improved the looks of the bots compared to their toys, but that blockiness seems to have had a reverse inspiration on the toys that would follow, unfortunately. Concerning the Diaclone JetRobo F-15 initially released in '83, it seems a step backwards in design philosophy since it likely succeeds Kawamori's far more elegant and realistic VF-1. The transformation involves partsforming the lower arms/hands which seems contrary to the majority of Kawamori's valks over the years, although, technically, the VF-1's, and VF-0's by extension, legs partsform from fighter to battroid. It has always seemed odd to me that they didn't just make the area for the arms a little wider and hinge the lower arms into that space to fill out the inner fuselage. I so wish they'd done that with the SS86 toy, but it looks like they followed the Classics/ Earthrise / MP solution of just recessing them into the sides of the plane. I'm not complaining; at least they integrate and aren't just hanging out there in the breeze like so many pf their other TF jetformers. You know my answer b/c they do it routinely with any other alt mode except jets, and they even managed to do it with Maverick, Legacy Prime Dreadwing/Skyquake, and Needlenose, and with Generations Scourge (an innovative blended wing design likely inspired by NASA's Boeing X-48), IMHO one of the all-time best aviation alt modes both by subject and execution. Fantastic figure. I'll throw the Classics fig in there too, whose only real disappointments were the too-shallow forward fuselage and the giant hole between the intakes that should have been filled by forward fuselage. My point is, there are precedents for doing good to decent jetformers; the question is, why are they the exceptions and not the rule? I don't think it's always necessarily about budgets, retailers' needs, or toy safety laws but more of an internal trend of relying on an old tried-but-true simple approach that gets the job done minus nuance, innovation, or adherence to what real jets look like. insofar as combining, again, they can manage to make just about any other alt mode, even construction machinery, look credible, but jets? Same old story: blocks with nosecones, wings, and tails thrown on. Even the G1 toys succeeded with conveying what aircraft they were supposed to be with slightly more accuracy than the Legacy versions. Step backwards. Frustrating both b/c they've proven they can do better, other companies have done it better, and b/c they seem locked into a formula that they seem to have no desire to amend or improve upon. After forty years, they should be able to take those blocky cartoon models and transform them into reasonably believable aircraft- it's kinda what they do, except when they don't. First point, yeah, no excuse for not taking a different approach. However, in Takara's defense, they didn't design the robot modes for Bayformers; a bunch of CG artists chopping up pics of vehicles and pasting those bent, twisted, and otherwise distorted shards of vehicles onto robot frames created the designs. Hence the reason they are impossible to develop as three dimensional toys without a buttload of cheating. I wish they'd let Takara develop the bot modes, although I have a feeling Starscream would've turned out little better b/c Takara's gonna Takara. I think all the ground vehicles would have had more logical bot modes based on actual transformation mechanics, and that would have informed the screen captures as well. Alas, we got Bay's shardbots and history is set. Second point, no, more like a single seat wide cabin area that looks like the Countach's windshield and surrounding windows in the middle of an otherwise normally scaled Countach. That's how I visualize the truncated forward fuselages on jetformers as it would translate to Sideswipe, for example. Apply the same formula to the rest, except Mirage who's already just a single seater. Throw his arms on the outside of the doors and completely close up his aft wheel wells to represent the general omission of aft landing gear. Now take that approach to nearly every carbot and see how the fans react. Guessing it wouldn't go over well. Third point: I checked it out! Appreciate the review. I got them myself last week after waiting what seemed an eternity for them to finally release. Agree on all points. Unfortunately, as you mentioned, the cassette alt mode seems like more of a loose suggestion, if that, on these smaller scaled cassettebots. They should just call them wafers at this point. As someone who really digs the cassettebots, it's a bit disappointing, but I do like what Wu's doing with them for the most part. These two were really well done, IMHO, and I agree that it's likely b/c they didn't have to make compromises for a combination gimmick. I hope he'll eventually do all the major character cassettes, as they'll at least benefit, I hope, from better articulation. If there's a Studio Series '86 Soundwave coming, hopefully at minimum, we'll get a better Ravage.

Part of the problem is that Takara & Hasbro shrink the jets so that the robot modes will all be roughly compatible. However, most jets are much larger than cars. The F-15 is over 63 feet long, roughly 5.5 to 6 feet tall from the bottom of the forward fuselage to the top of the canopy, 18 feet tall from the ground on extended gear to the tops of the vertical stabs, the fuselage from intake to intake is about 9 feet wide, it's nearly 43 feet from wingtip to wingtip, and the C series, likely the inspiration for the Seeker, weighs 27,000 lbs empty. It is a big machine, much larger than the average car. If they scaled TFs with fighter modes appropriately, most would need to be leader scale relative to deluxe and voyager scaled cars. Larger planes, like Silverbolt's Concorde mode, would have to be upscaled tremendously (and, I realize, unrealistically) to scale properly with the average car bot. Scaling definitely makes a difference, but I must point out that Takara rarely uses the forward fuselage to form any part of the bot and it usually just hangs off the bot's back as so much kibble. Same with Concordes or SR-71s- all that lovely long fuselage which could be made to encapsulate arms and part of a torso, but they never use it as such. Considering all of Kawamori's valk designs which approximate real world aircraft, and all of his variations in planform and transformation schemas, I think the problem lies with Takara's exceptionally narrow approach to designing transformable jets and less with their proportions. They can make very small cars and motorcycles transform with well-integrated robot parts in the alt modes, so jets should offer far more real-estate, and thus creative options, to utilize towards realizing a robot mode. Too, look what Touch Toys is accomplishing. I realize we're well beyond the scope of what Takara and Hasbro can produce at their budgets and other limitations, but still, they're pulling off some impressive engineering. On the other end of the scale, I think Newage came up with a brilliant schema for their Seekers. I love how they used the chest intake bits to form part of the lower forward fuselage, thus eliminating that bit of kibble for a more accurate F-15. It's still not perfect, as the legs don't have the proper taper to the augmenters, the intake ramps aren't quite the right shape, and parts of the arms protrude from the belly. However, unlike pretty much every official Seeker except MP-03 and variants, the bottom of the forward fuselage reaches to nearly the base of the inlets, which is accurate to the real jet. I hate it when they put a foreshortened forward fuselage on their jetformers- it's analogous to making the entire cabin section of a car only half of its normal width.

Yep, the chorus sums it up nicely. Haven't heard that song in a long time so I appreciate the reminder.

That's a fine line to tread, as opinions and tastes differ. What might seem awesome to you or me may absolutely rankle with another group of fans. Pleasing everyone is a difficult to nigh impossible chore, and for the most part, over the years, I think Takara, and Hasbro by extension, have done a decent, not perfect, job of it. However, I stand completely by criticism of Takara's approach to aircraft alts- there's nowhere even close to an equality there between ground vehicles and flying ones in terms of trying to capture realism and accuracy- aircraft, from the Diaclone toys onward, have gotten short shrift by way of engineering and care. Until they make a sea change in their approach, I will continue to call out poor aviation alt modes for the travesties that they are. However, in deference to Lechuck and other fans, I'll try to keep my criticism purely to the products and not the people who buy them. That said, do I agree that widespread fan acceptance of poor alt modes gives Takara license to continue in their approach? There's certainly an argument to be made there. I'll just leave it at that. As an addendum, purely from my own experience watching and reading reviews/comments on forums, I've noticed that many TF fans share only a very basic knowledge of aircraft and aircraft nomenclature, and admittedly, had I not worked around them for twenty years, I would likely be in the same boat. Macross fans seem far more inclined to know aviation terms and more specific workings of aircraft, especially military fighters, whereas TF fans are likely more knowledgeable of ground vehicles, hence their easier acceptance of highly inaccurate, disproportional jet modes. That knowledge gap may play a part in Takara's longstanding deviation from accuracy in their aviation alt modes, as I doubt they receive much negative feedback. Too, I've noticed that TF fans tend to care more about the look of the robot modes, especially their likeness to media, be it G1, Bayverse, etc than the alt modes, especially jets, compared to the majority of Macross fans, many of whom prefer to keep their Macross toys in fighter modes and are far more critical of said fighter modes. These are my observations after decades of fandom in both IPs. FWIW, I keep both my TFs and my Macross valks in bot/battroid modes, although I am enamored with the majority of the many valks' aircraft modes. Kawamori designs a beautiful jet. I'll finish with a shout out to @mikeszekely, our own Transformers reviewer extraordinaire, for his diligence in using proper aircraft terminology in his reviews. I greatly appreciate the effort, as I'm sure do our other resident aircraft afficionados as well. I wish more TF reviewers followed your lead. I don't understand that level of personal effrontery over a product, but then again, for most of my life, especially life before the internet, I bought what I liked in isolation without knowing or caring what anyone else thought about it. I did, however, admittedly, keep my toy buying on the downlow in my twenties out of fear of peer condemnation. I think that, and extreme frugality on my part, kept me from buying more, to my current regret. Oh, how I wish I could go back and pick up a lot more Space LEGO sets, but I digress. I'm glad you caught the guy who was harassing you and hopefully they were ejected from the premises with a stoic boot to the behind.

I don't intend to get this set, but as a casual Star Trek fan for whom Next Generation remains my favorite of the various series, I hope this is executed well. Having a large set like the first Death Star playset, which was executed very well IMHO, I imagine this is going to follow a similar play pattern where the interiors of the saucer and main body are sectioned off to provide various settings from the show (Ten-Forward, the bridge and Captain's ready room, Holodeck, transporter room, and engineering at minimal), as well as including a very miniaturized shuttle, much like the DS included a chibi Vader's TIE. (FWIW, I'd love a line of chibi ships- bigger than the micro-fighters, but generally capable of holding a single minifig and designed to look like the actual ships). I guess time will tell, but at this point, I think the Death Star playsets are the best example of what to expect. Shame Tasha Yar's not included in that lineup- she had the makings of an interesting character, but according to Denise Crosby herself, the producers weren't interested in doing much with Tasha and Denise decided to quit the show. We got to see her in person during a convention here in Spokane years ago and she shared a funny story about her and Whil Wheaton sneaking onto the set of a movie being shot near the Star Trek set. In full uniforms, they joined in a dance scene for some teen movie back in the 90s. I can't remember the name of the film, but the way she told it had the crowd laughing. She came across as very sweet and personable, and Spokane is special to her b/c her grandfather, Bing Crosby, grew up here and attended Gonzaga University. The house he grew up in remains on the college's campus as a museum.

I mention no names! 😄

We're good, Lechuck, and your tone came through clearly. Appreciate the wink. I am indeed passionate about aircraft and that particular day, my cantankerous side was enflamed. As to my generalization of fans just accepting poor aviation alts, it's not without precedent, as I watch any number of reviews and I'm often struck by the praise given to these alt modes regardless of how poorly they're done. I can only imagine the ire, the pure umbrage that the fandom would have if Takara suddenly took the same design approach to cars, let's say perhaps Sideswipe, where his windshield and cabin were only half their normal width, the arms were outside of the doors just tabbed in, and the back wheel wells are completely enclosed with no wheels to speak of. That's my general reality with jet-moded Transformers- extreme inaccuracies that receive praise from both fans (on this and other notable TF forums) and by both reviewers and commentators on those reviews. Thus was the impetus for my generalized critique of the fandom at large. Perhaps I was a bit brusque about it, for which I tender my apology; it was meant in jest, but there's certainly a large element of my frustration coloring the tone of my little missive. Again, I meant no personal affront to anyone in particular (except a poke at Takara), and I'll try to be more mindful to avoid generalities when next I feel a charged rant ready to explode all over the page. Thanks for your comment, Lechuck. Again, I hope the new Predaking turns out to be a satisfying set of figures- always a great feeling.

Thanks Tking22. I appreciate your view on the situation. First, I'm flattered that you embraced my oxymoronic phrase, and also by the spirit in which you used it. 😄👍Second, I'll not judge anyone for liking what they like, and whether or not this new Predaking is "deliciously terrible" or not will be entirely up to you. You seem enthusiastic about it, and I hope it exceeds expectations. It doesn't interest me personally, so I have no opinion. However, toys exist to bring joy, and as an owner of many, many toys, I've been pleasantly surprised by some and disappointed by others for all sorts of reasons. My hope for you is that this is one of the good ones- pleasantly surprising, fun, aesthetically pleasing, enjoyable to handle. Finally, thanks for sharing this here, as there may be other members to whom it appeals that may otherwise have gone unaware. It's one of the things I enjoy about this forum, whether sharing the info or benefitting from shared info. (I'm generally on the latter side). I hope you didn't take my colorful critique of Takara and their approach to aircraft alt-moded Transformers personally, as I meant no affront to anyone, except perhaps, Takara themselves, and even that in a light-hearted manner. If I offended, I apologize. I stand by my critique, however, but it's just one insignificant guy's opinion and at the end of the day, it is of no import. As a Transformers fan since it began in 1984, Takara's work is a very important part of my life and I generally applaud and support what they do, though I do have my niggles from time to time. 😉 Cheers!