M'Kyuun

Alas, what could have (and probably should have) been. Until you mentioned it, I hadn't ever really noticed that the G1 toy didn't have feet. I was always so fixated on those ugly hollow legs that it escaped my notice. So again, Legacy fixes that, even if it's a compromise. I honestly don't mind that as much as the clearly visible bot head in beetle mode. Really wish they'd made some sort of moving covers to remedy that. Of the three, Bombshell, despite his extensive retooling, still got short shrift budgetarily and design-wise. 🙁

I haven't received my copy of Bombshell yet (Wednesday, per tracking), but having looked at the prod pics and a couple reviews, including yours, @mikeszekely, overall I'm happy with the fig. But as you pointed out, it's not without its flaws. I don't do as many color comparisons as you do, so I'm oft ignorant of those differences between original toy, toon, and the current iteration. Ignorance is bliss, I suppose. As to the yellow eyes, I think I prefer them painted fully yellow, as I think the black hinge truncating it was an artifact of not being able to paint hinged bits where the paint would scratch off. IMHO, Legacy Bombshell's eyes are how they were always meant to be. Referring to the legs, I too wish they'd had the budget to retool them to closer resemble the rounded legs of the original toy. However, that said, my greatest fear was that, in keeping with the close mimicry of the previous two Insecticons to their G1 counterparts, Bombshell would end up with open hollow shins, which is something I never liked about the OG toy. All they would have had to do is give the OG a waist swivel to turn those legs around for a better presentation. So, I prefer the retool direction they ended up taking, as Legacy Shrapnel's legs at least present well. My two biggest gripes with Bombshell are the noticeably visible bot head and tiny barely-there insect leg nub on his shoulder. While the Insecticons were never the most accurate of robo-bugs (those would likely be the Beetras toys that were later used both as Deluxe Insecticons and in the undersung Convertors toy line), even the G1 toy did a better job of representing all six legs. As to the head, if they could have squeezed a little more out of the budget to make those protrusions on his shoulders slide or double hinge to cover the head in beetle mode and then back to their current position for bot mode, that would have been fantastic. A slightly longer insect leg coming off his arm would have made him look more insectile and less like a box. Truth be told, now that all three Legacy Insecticons are out, I find I'm far fonder of the legends class trio that came out during the TR/PotP era for their more accurate insect modes. I kinda wish that those toys would have influenced these Legacy figs, similar to how a number of 3P figs ended up looking like their G1 counterparts only with actual insect legs. Alas, no. Despite my complaints, I'm glad they released the G1-esque Insecticons in this line; I guess like everyone else, my expectations were a bit too high, but it's still nice to have them as my CHUG collection slowly edges closer to having all the G1 characters represented well, well, for the most part anyway.

Maybe it's the angle, but the forward fuselage looks a little foreshortened between the back of the canopy to the intakes. The forearms look a bit too skinny as well. The elbow joints are still inaccurate and kinda ugly. Overall, though, the battroid is more proportionally appealing than the Yammie with its too-skinny legs. I'm thinking any hope of their having fixed any of these or other criticisms since 2019 is false hope at this point. It does a lot of things I like, but it still has its warts. All things considered, I'm still interested.

Too, they could rehash SS86 Ultra Magnus into Goliath- that'd make for a hell of a Gen Select pack- KITT, KARR, and Goliath. Super expensive, but for fans of both KR and TFs, worth it to have KITT and two of his most formidable foes. Yeah, that would've been good timing. If such a thing was actually in the works, even just KITT by himself, I'm sure something would've leaked by now. This fandom can't help itself. The sentient thing notwithstanding, a Pontiac Trans Am, the ubiquitous cool sports car of the 80s middle class, would make for a cool alt mode. If they could figure out a way to give him some semblance of an interior, i.e. his tricked-out "Darth Vader's bathroom" console, that would be really cool. Now a scale fig of a well-permed Hoff, I could live without. 😄 Knight Rider was always about the car for me. I watched Dukes as a kid, but I kinda lost interest after awhile. Even by 80s standards, it was full on melty cheddar. The General Lee was cool, especially the jump shots of which, similar to KR, there were usually two per episode, but in today's America, the associations with the Confederate flag are such that it would likely meet with protest. I think that one's better left to history. I'm thinking SS86 is the nominal platform in which to realize a new set of Constructicons; it seems to benefit from a better budget, and since Devy was prominent in the siege on Autobot City, and individual Constructicons in other Movie scenes, it makes sense. I'd prefer they were done in voyager scale, as deluxe would be a bit small for construction vehicles when compared to other deluxe car bots. Even at voyager, they'd probably be about the same size as Ironhide, so still kinda small for a construction vehicle, but about right when combined comparative to the Dinobots. Personally, I don't want teeny weeny construction vehicles, and I think Devy can be excused for being larger than the other combiners by the very nature of his constituent parts' alt modes. I think the same for Superion- jets are big, much larger than cars, and I'd love to see that reflected in any eventual toys. I'd love to be on that design team. I'd do everything humanly possible to deliver streamlined realistic jets, eschewing the unforgivable trend of just tacking plane bits on a boxy robot and calling it good. After 40 years, there should be some advancement in engineering and taste. Alas, any hope I have of Has/Tak's making such improvements is akin to pissing into a hurricane.

I appreciate the legwork concerning the artwork. I'm not familiar with Beast Wars Neo so I didn't make the connection. Searched it and I'm pleasantly surprised to see a Plesiosaur amidst the Magmatron trio. I'm down for that. So far as potential "Omega" figs go, you already know my wish. FWIW, whichever gets made this time around, I hope the other gets its toy as well. I looked up that Thundertron toy, too, out of curiosity. It's somewhat familiar, but honestly I don't remember it. Funny thing is, I may even own it and not remember buying it. Like I said, my memory sucks. Anyway, I like the Zoidish direction they took with the new fig, and I'm looking forward to getting him. Concerning Armada Starscream, I don't fault the toy, as the OG toy was like that and the toon mirrored it. I'm not a UT fan, but I think Has/Tak did a good job on the fig, and I actually think it's one of their better jetformers. Hmm, looking at the similarities between Tigerhawk and Silverbolt, it makes perfect sense to me to just do a remold/recolor. However, you and your source have a great track record, so I believe you. Just seems a waste of an already perfect mold to me. Interesting story about the lava-covered Mustang (what a lamentable fate for a nice car). It's fitting regarding the look of the Infernac figs. While I can understand your and other fans' desires to have no-kidding Rock Lords realized in a modern toy line, I think I prefer the direction they're taking. Bots that turn into rocks just don't have the same appeal, at least to me anyway. A light-hearted LOL at your acquiescence to FOMO. I hope they at least turn out to be fun figs and you end up enjoying them. I didn't get Bouldercrash, but I think Magneous looks pretty cool even though these weaponizer-type figs generally don't float my boat. I think I'm gonna dig him in hand. Yeah, the rocky critters cum vehicles is a new direction, and admittedly a bit odd, but like you say, if they want to stretch their legs and get creative, well, IMHO, they could do worse. Like Mike, I'd much prefer they finish the G1 characters, but you're not wrong that some characters have had their lion's share of figs over the years, and, like 'em or not, these Infernacs bring something fresh to the line. Along with Knight Rider, Airwolf, Blue Thunder, the '89 Batmobile, the Tumbler, and BA's van would also be nice crossovers.

I don't have kids, but I can sympathize. Glad you were able to score most of them on Pulse, anyway. I feel the same about both Tigerhawk and Powerlinx Hot Shot. IMHO, the original yellow version, which I have, should have come with Jolt like the original toy did. One decent representation of him is enough for me; I was never into the UT, so I'm cherrypicking the associated figs purely on the merits of the figs themselves. Thus far, I have yellow HotShot and Starscream, which also suffers from jet-with-arms syndrome, but at least his hands fold away unlike the new Windblade. If nothing else, I wish there were retractable covers on her thighs to cover her hands or her forearms extended similar to Animated Prowl or SS86 Ultra Magnus to cover them. Anyway, I like the bot mode for Magneus (vehicle is ok), but I'd rather have a vehicle over a rock as an alt, and I can get behind the idea of these figs being inorganic creatures who happen to transform. It's not my favorite gimmick, and like you, I'd rather that budget went towards finishing up the G1 crew, but since they're feeling creative, I'll evaluate each one and buy if they appeal. As for Tigerhawk, it's a certainty that it'll get remolded into Silverbolt at some point- that's all I could see looking at the fig. I really like BW, but I have no recollection of Tigertron and Airazor fusing. I guess it's time for a rewatch. I have an abysmal memory, so after a couple years, I tend to forget to a great extent even the stuff I enjoy. Well, another PulseCon behind us. I enjoyed some the SW stuff and quite a bit of the G.I. Joe stuff; I think they're absolutely knocking it out of the park in both themes, and I often feel like Transformers is drawing the short straw so far as paint and accessories, but I guess the engineering and higher part counts need to be taken into account. As always, I 'm just grateful that Transformers is still an existing toyline. I was surprised by Ejima-san's comments and the realization of how close the brand came to extinction in the late 80s, early 90s. Takio Ejima has my eternal thanks for keeping it going single-handedly and heartfelt congratulations for earning a much. much deserved spot in the Transformers Hall of Fame.

POs for new PulseCon merch is up for members. I got LU Animated Prime and Bee, Rescue Bots Chase, Windblade, Infernac Universe Magneus (Hasbro's answer to a modern Rock Lords, and the new Weaponizer class of figs ), and LU Thundertron. It's certainly the most eclectic group of TF figs I've ever bought at one time.

Well, BMac mentioned an "Omega type reveal" in lieu of a TF Haslab for next year, so I'm hoping it'll be Animated. Your observation about LU Animated Bee is correct, but I still think the body looks sufficiently similar to pass. With Animated having been all but ignored for the past 15 years, I'm just happy they're returning to it at all. Of course, if I had my druthers, they'd eschew the G1 influence and go full-on toon styling, but at this point, I'll take what I can get. LU Animated Prime is probably the closest we've come to copying the animation, and I hope they stick to a more toonish look going forward, especially if they do a Bulkhead, a Lugnut, or hopefully, a Blackout. I know that's not to your liking, but it definitely appeals to me. And I confess that I wasn't exactly crazy about the animation style initially, but it grew on me, and once I started buying the toys, I fell in love with them. Still one of my favorite TF toylines ever, and I have them on permanent display on my desk. They're literally one of the first things I see every day when I enter my mancave. As for today's reveals, not feeling the core class figs, as usual, nor the rock figs, although Bouldercrash isn't terrible- I may get him. I do, however, dig the Rescue Bot Chase fig, and I'm curious what they have planned for further Rescue Bots in the line. I think it was BMac who hinted at some gimmick, and I wonder if they're going to be combiners. I have no knowledge of Thundertron, but as a long-time Zoids fan (the toys and models , not the shows), this thing hits all the right notes with me. The bot mode, with that cool beard, looks pretty cool, too. I've always wondered what a transforming Zoids fig would look like, and now I know, and I'm happy about it. Windblade still has the arms hanging out in jet mode, so no real improvement there, but I'll still probably get her. I like the character; I just wish she got a better jet mode in toy form.

Animated Omega- god I hope so, and I hope it's legit Animated and not G1-hybridized.

Appreciate the review, Mike. The Junkions never really appealed to me, although I have to admit I have the old 2011 deluxe as well as the Studio Series fig and his mold mate, Junkheap. All three were pretty well-done figs, and I have an interest in well-done transforming motorcycles. That said, my interest waned with the newly created Legacy Junkions. Trashmaster initially had my attention for the same reason as you had; how many garbage truck alts have there been in the history of TF toys? To wit, Animated Wreck-Gar is the only other one I can think of, and he was remarkably better than poor Trashmaster. Alas, after reading your review, he's a solid pass. I wish he'd been better executed, and I'm in complete agreement with wanting a Waste Management type truck as an alt mode. Too, the Mad Max look isn't to my taste, either, although it does fit with the Junkion look. I guess these were a fun experiment for the Hasbro designers, especially Mark, and I'm sure they found an audience with any number of fans, but as you've mentioned before, I'd much rather they knocked out all the legit G1 figs, esp the first season characters, along with the rest of the minibots. I'd throw in the rest of the cassette bots, but I haven't been all that impressed with Has/Tak's cassettes in the new scale. Frankly, they suck, especially when Magic Square and New Age did them better at much smaller scales. I'm hoping Dr Wu will get around to doing all of them, as his combining cassette teams were both done well. I digress. Despite the leaks, I'm looking forward to PulseCon tomorrow. I'm glad they start it at 1100 on the east coast, as that gives me enough time to grab a quick Pop Tart before tuning in at 0800. Transformers is the first panel, so anything left to reveal will be shown within the first hour, and then it's just a matter of waiting until the POs open. I hope they have at least a few surprises that haven't been spoiled. Guess we'll see. Cheers!

I'm not; while they're not purely Animated, they're hewing closer than most of the other G1/non-G1 hybrids in Legacy thus far, including Prowl, who was still ok, but definitely had more G1 influence in the chunkiness and head sculpt departments. As an Animated fan, I'm enjoying these, compromises notwithstanding, as we went 15 years without so much as a whisper about Animated before they released Prowl. IMHO, Legacy Bulkhead has far more in common with the Animated design than the Prime design as well, but Hasbro says it's a Prime design. I say, 'whatever' with a skeptically raised eyebrow. Anyway, with the absolute dearth of Animated toys over the last decade and a half, I'm excited to get anything Animated at this point, even if the figs are hybridized. FWIW, though, Legacy United Prime looks really close to how he did in the show, as well as to the original toy. I think I'll still prefer the original voyager Prime over LU Prime, as it's a great fig, but I'm looking forward to adding this guy to my collection along with LU Bee, who apparently has been the cause of some ugliness amongst fans on Twitter and other TF fan sites. Imagine, toxicity among adults over toys; whodathunk it?!! 😉 So silly. As to other potential reveals on Friday, I'm curious but apprehensive over the new Windblade, as I have a feeling she's going to be yet another lazy design with arms just hanging out like every other version thus far. I wish she'd get at least one good toy with arms integrated into the jet mode. No interest in Tigerhawk; when they eventually remold/repaint it into Silverbolt, I may bite, as I loved that character but never had much interest in the Fuzors character designs. My interest in a new leader Prime fig will hinge on the design and whether or not it appeals to me. I'd love for it to be his FoC game design, as that's one of my favorite OP designs, but as they just released the WfC version at voyager scale, I'm guessing it'll be something different. I have zero recollection of Prime Thunderhawk- guess I'll wait and see how it turns out. Rock Lords didn't really grab me in the 80s, and I'm not sure modern TFs that turn into rocks and such are going to inspire a new appeal, but again, I guess we'll see. I'm with Mike in that I want to see the rest of the G1 minibots completed in deluxe scale for Legacy, as well as Omnibots, a brand new and improved mold for both Astrotrain and Blitzwing in the SS86 series (even if it means doing them both in commander class for the requisite budget- I just want damned good definitive CHUG scaled figs of these guys for my collection), a new set of voyager scaled Constructicons that are in every conceivable way an improvement over the awful Combiner Wars figs, an improved Arcee fig that results in a far more compact backpack (just copy MMC's Azalea- there's no shame in copying the best design out there), a new improved Seeker design in SS86 that gives us a pretty accurate F-15 akin to MP-03 only with better bot proportions than that fig. I know, I'm not asking for much. 😄 So, thus far, the figs I'm most anticipating on Friday have already been leaked, but I'm hopeful that there will still be a couple good surprises in the mix. I'm also hopeful that these Animated-ish figs will catch on and maybe lead to a spate of rereleases of old figs, especially the Japan-only figs, as I'd badly love to have a copy of Blackout. Meanwhile, I'll collect the new Animated hybrids in the hopes that they continue to improve, i.e. move ever closer to the cartoon aesthetic and perhaps spark new interest in both the toon and the toys it originally inspired.

I built this beauty last night, and what a great LEGO experience it offers. It's chock full of ingenious techniques and solutions that make the build all the more enjoyable, and the instructions often feature blurbs regarding said techniques or new parts (i.e. a new cone for the nose & tail and the sloped windscreen for the droop snoop, both created specifically for this model, but hopefully will see their ways into other sets). I can't remember ever building a set where so much behind-the-scenes info is given in the instructions, but I hope it becomes a regular practice. The landing gear functionality is smooth and bears the weight of the deceptively light model easily. This is not a small model, but with so many of its 2083 pieces allocated to that long thin fuselage and large thin delta wings, it feels lighter, albeit a bit awkward, to handle. However, the designers created a lovely stand that mirrors those used on many collector grade aircraft models down to a printed 4x8 inverted tile (83496) (first I'd seen this part) reflecting an official looking placard detailing some of the aircraft's history and performance characteristics. Beyond the placard, there are a number of printed elements in the set; no stickers to bog down the build. The total package looks professional, classy, and visually striking. The model itself features moving flaps and elevons, a double rudder, retractable gear, the famous droop snoop, and a 6 x 16 section of fuselage that's removable to expose some detailed interior featuring seats and a couple lavs. Even as a long-time builder of both MOCs and sets, I was struck by the many challenges imposed by trying to recreate this smooth, sleek, curvy aircraft into a LEGO replica, which itself is daunting before including the many working features, especially the mechanics involved in making the gear extend and retract with a single mechanism (rotating the tail cone). Kudos indeed to the design team for pulling it off so majestically. In every conceivable way, this set is a triumph, and I can't recommend it enough. I hope this set meets with great sales success and ushers in a wave of other notable aircraft. I'd personally love to see some X-Planes, like the Grumman X-29 or the Bell XV-15, or the Bell X-15 get sets. True, they were military, or military funded aircraft, but I think the distinction between research aircraft and combat aircraft is clear in these cases thus clearing them of LEGO's pesky, and somewhat murky, no-modern-warfare restrictions. If research and development aircraft can be realized as LEGO sets, the potential is there for many a great set celebrating historical achievements in aviation. Speaking on the two new parts, I'm guessing aircraft enthusiasts, especially those building jets, will welcome the new cone piece. It's 4 studs wide at the base, three bricks high, and tapers to a three-stud diameter. The second new piece is the windscreen for the Concorde's droop snoop. It has a 4 x 4 footprint and tapers from about a brick to two bricks high (rough measurement). The most outstanding feature of this part is that it is dual molded, a thin white plastic shell over an internal clear dark tinted windscreen. I wish this methodology found its way into more windscreens, as LEGO often opts to paint them, and the paint apps are often too thin and allow for notable bleed through of the base plastic. Fortunately, LEGO lived up to Ole Kirk's 'only the best is good enough' motto with the development of this piece. I'm not sure the windscreen will have as much utility outside of this set, such is its particular nature, but I'm glad they made it all the same, as it definitely makes the Concorde model look great.

Definitely my most anticipated film this year. I hope it's even better than the trailers lead one to believe. If so, more like this please, Hollywood. My wife and I watched this recently and we both enjoyed it. Crowe was excellent, def seemed like he was enjoying the role. Until viewing the film, I didn't know he was based on a real person; I imagine the events in the film were embellished, as stuff like this often is, but the character quirks of Crowe's Father Gabrielle Amorth were more entertaining, IMHO, than the overall subject of exorcism of which Friedkin's The Exorcist remains the reigning king of the genre.

Not a Turtles or Gadget fan, but yes for the rest, especially the Mach 5- I didn't even think of that but that would be awesome. Yeah, that'd be awesome, akin to the Omnibots that they continue to ignore. Alas, too true. Well, too, it was an acquired property by virtue of a rival company buyout, so there may be mixed feelings. Then again, they've had zero qualms with hocking Star Wars stuff ad infinitum, so I'm thinking there's just a general lack of interest on the part of Hasbro. It's a shame b/c M.A.S.K. was a really cool concept and the OG toys were exceptionally cool. Ramen Toys has us covered on that front, so we really don't need Hasbro to do it at this point, but the idea of combining M.A.S.K. and Transformers is one I could totally get behind; however, I fear Mike's all-too close to the truth regarding how such a marriage might end disastrously. I wouldn't mind seeing a third party attempt it, though. If they did, however, I would want them to all be original bots tailored to the alt modes and not wonky attempts to make them into established characters. Hasbro's desire to want to make every tie-in either Prime or Bumblebee (or another well-worn character) is, IMHO, the most limiting factor. I get wanting to have recognition, but for Pete's sake, there's room for new characters, and cutting those ties and allowing the various vehicles' designs and alternative weaponized forms inform the bot modes would be a far more practical approach as well as doing proper justice to the bot modes. And just keep the M.A.S.K. vehicle names for the characters- simple and apropos. I build transformery things with LEGO, but until this conversation, I'd never given thought to making my own M.A.S.K. -inspired bot. Sounds like an interesting challenge. 😉

Likewise. I want K.I.T.T. , Airwolf, and Blue Thunder. Maybe a Viper from BSG, or a small shuttle from V.