M'Kyuun

Handsome fella, indeed. Overdrive, IMHO, is arguably the best looking of the three Omnibots, with his lovely Ferrari 512 alt mode and appealing bot mode featuring the iconic hood-cum-chest similar to Jazz and the Nissan RX-7 Fairlady bros. Regardless of your opinion of Xtransbots, you can't argue that they put in the effort to give this fig the best-looking car mode possible. They even put in a little seat detail (well, half a seat anyway) and a steering wheel). While the headlight gimmick is appreciated, like Tekering's copy, mine has the same issue where one side goes down flush but the other doesn't, and it looks to me like it was assembled incorrectly, or they made too many right light covers and just tried to use them for the left side as well. However, I'm able to push it down so that it sits mostly flush; it's the shape of the cover itself that's noticeably off. The defining feature of the Omnibots, besides their non-retail, mail-in only with $5 and 4 Robot points procurability, was their ability to assume a battle mode in vehicle form (kinda like M.A.S.K., which premiered in 1985, same as the Omnibots). I wish they, like Tracks, whose armed flying car mode sets him apart as a potential fourth Omnibot, would have all been available at retail and included in the tv series to cement their popularity. Alas, no. I think it's funny how XTB even included little flip panels on the car's roof with little slopes painted to match the OG toy's decals to represent the OG toy's toes. It's a superfluous detail that they could have simply left out since the transformation differs in that regard from the OG toy, but I appreciate the effort. For the benefit of the car mode, I'm glad they tuck away to present a flush roof, though. Can't say enough how beautiful the car mode is. Here's the underside of the car for those curious: Note the light grey bits just below the head are his folding double-barreled pistol and single-barreled pistol based on the OG toy's weapons. A third gun was also included, which you can see tabbed into the top of the car in the battle mode pic. Unfortunately, the third weapon doesn't have any official stowage in car mode, although it may fit in the cabin. I haven't tried it to verify. Regardless, I'm glad his two main weapons have well-integrated stowage in vehicle mode; I wish this was the standard instead of the exception, and I give XTB due props. Bot mode. From front or rear, he's a good-lookin' bot. Kibble is well-managed and virtually nil, unless you count the wings folded over the car doors on his arms, but that's how the OG toy did it, and XTB followed suit. In hand it compresses nicely, although neither the doors nor the wings tab into anything, so they may move about when manipulating the arms, but it's no trouble reorienting them. This fig has some heft due to the use of die-cast in the thighs and toes and possibly some of the plates and linkages in the rear lower legs. It's hard to tell the extent of what's die-cast and what isn't, but my hope is that the thin linkages to which the feet are attached are, as they bear the weight for the whole thing as well as swing themselves on an upper hinge for transformation and have a lower hinge for ankle rocker. That's a lot of stress on a very thin linkage, the likeliest beaking point for the toy IMHO. I've transformed it through at least two full cycles thus far, and haven't noted any malleability in that linkage, so my guess is that it's metal, but all the same, it warrants a cautious bit of handling. Poseability. Fioravanti's neck swivels at the base, although the hood plate to which it mounts doesn't tab into anything and can rotate a bit, too, annoyingly. The head has in internal swivel which allows the chin to dip a little bit, but he can cock it back a full 90 degrees due to transformation. There's no side-to-side for quizzical or attitudinal posing, but what you get is more than adequate, IMHO. The shoulders are made up of a series of hinges which function both for poseability and transformation. He has a little butterfly motion fore and aft which circumscribes an arc of about 20 degrees or so. Shoulders can rotate full 360 degrees and can abduct a little past 90 degrees. He has double jointed elbows which get you about 120-30 degrees. His biceps swivel 360. The hands have wrist swivel as well as an integrated joint allowing for the palm to rotate a full 180 degrees. The thumb rotates on a base pin to allow for clasping, and the independent index finger and conjoined remaining fingers rotate on a base pin. The palms each have an indent to fit the little tabs on the weapons, which has become standard practice. On my copy, the guns enjoy a more secure fit in the right hand; they tend to be a little looser in the left, prompting occasional corrections. While the hands are functional and serve the fig pretty well, the retractable plate to which they're mounted free-float on mine and constantly retract when handling the hands, as they seemingly have no detent to keep them in place in bot mode. It's mildly annoying. Too, there's a notable gap in the forearm, which is where the hands lie in vehicle mode, that let you see into the forearm in bot mode. It's a shame they couldn't have made a folding panel there to both cover that gap and lock the retractable plate in place. The waist can swivel 360, and he has about 3 degrees of ab crunch- it's there, but extremely minimal. The hips can rotate a little fore and aft within the skirt assembly, but the skirts can rotate to about 120 fore or aft- pretty impressive range. they can also abduct a smidge past 90. The knees are double-jointed and also bend to about 120-30 degrees. Surprisingly, the ankle rocker is a rather shallow 10 degrees or so, although that skinny linkage which I mentioned earlier can be employed if desired to allow for a deeper A-stance. The feet can rotate toe-up about 3 degrees, toe-down about 80 degrees, and the toes can bend up almost 90. The heel bits can rotate a full 180 for transformation. They don't have the greatest friction on my copy, but they could still be useful in helping stabilize more ambitious poses. As a long-time proponent for Omnibots, I was pleased to see these figs from XTB. My only previous experience with their products is Apollyon, which I got when it seemed that we'd never get an official G1 Megs in MP again. Apollyon is a fiddly, involved transformation and not very much fun; as such, I've only attempted it maybe twice and he has remained in bot mode since I bought him. Fioravanti is a breath of fresh air by comparison. He's relatively intuitive, and while there are a handful of small moving panels/parts, overall they're not as bad or unforgiving as other figs I've handled, including FT's Jive, although a spudger is highly recommended. Presentation in both, or should I say all three, modes is beautiful. Poseability is overall above standard. He's virtually kibble free. Going to battle mode is uncomplicated, as it should be for a major feature. His two primary weapons stow easily in vehicle mode. He's well painted and features a goodly amount of tampo consistent with the OG toy's decals. Alas, he's not without his flaws: the freely retractable hands, the single small thin linkage connecting the feet to the body, variances in tightness on some joints and looseness in others, cramped space when transforming the legs. Overall, the good outweighs the bad by a fair margin in this fan's opinion. Having outlined the good and bad, I feel confident in recommending him to anyone fence-sitting. As a fan who's been waiting 38 years for Omnibots in any shape or form to come to fruition, I'm pleased with what XTB have done with this fig in hand, and judging by prod shots of the remaining two, I'm very much looking forward to having them in hand as well. I hope these figs sell well, indicating a desire to have Omnibots as part of collections, and we see them appear in other 3P and official releases. They're cool figs and they're long-deserving some modern updates. I hope it happens. Thanks for reading. Cheers!

I've mostly limited my toy purchases to Transformers and LEGO, but that doesn't stop me from admiring good toys on their merits. This looks amazing and if I were into creating a dino collection (apart from Dinobots), this and the other JP dinos from Mattel would be must-buys for the quality of their sculpts and presence. It's a shame they're not more poseable, though.

The MCP is trying to suppress and eradicate belief in the Users among programs, so in that sense, Tron, a security program designed by Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) to monitor comms between the MCP and the User world, is fighting the MCP and its oppression of programs b/c he believes in the Users. That's my take, anyway. In TRON: Uprising, Beck, with Tron's guidance, fights Clu's and Clu's minions' oppression against programs. I think Leto's playing the film's protagonist, and Beck's character will likely not be a part of Ares. That's true for me, too, in the original film; despite the title, Flynn's journey was more of the focus. However, Tron got some much-deserved spotlight and character development in Uprising, and that focused, hard-nosed soldier is how I think of him now. He's damaged, inside and out, but still wants to fight Clu's oppression. He's still a hero, although sometimes his ethics are malleable, which just makes him more interesting. TRON is very niche, but in the best way possible. Steve Lisberger established a cool iconic look for TRON that's instantly recognizable. The visuals were cutting edge at the time, were extremely laborious to produce, and remain singularly notable to this day. To wit, the idea of programmers having themselves mirrored in the digital realm by virtue of the programs they wrote, with said programs having lives of their own within the Grid, remains unique in sci-fi. Toss in some Syd Mead designs, especially the iconic Lightcycle and Lightcycle races w/ 90 degree turns and light trails; the towering, floating, reconfigurable Recognizers; the Light Tanks; and the Solar Sailer, not to mention the disc fights, and it really is a wonder to this sci-fi fan that TRON doesn't share greater popularity with the likes of Star Wars or Star Trek. There's a ton of cool stuff in that universe that beggars for more development in tv, film, and games.

Well, they had a premise for just such a handover in Uprising, with Tron's taking on Beck as a protege and eventual successor using his name more as a title than an actual name. In that vein, Tron could be a fighter for programs' rights and freedom for infinity, with various programs taking on the mantle when the previous Tron was too old, incapacitated, or derezzed. It's a shame that Disney cancelled the show before fully realizing such a premise, but the seed is there. Leto had the lead in Morbius, but the movie met with poor reviews. I thought it was ok, and FWIW I thought Leto played it well. Maybe the new Tron film will be his comeuppance.

Yeah, a Tron-less Tron film loses its primary element. I'm guessing Bruce Boxleitner will show up in there somewhere in a brief cameo role, but I haven't seen his name listed anywhere among the main cast. But we're getting Jared Leto! 🤩 Yeah, I know. 😩

I haven't seen the YT series; may have to take a look. As to the rest, yep, especially your last observation. Taking it back to its original cinematic roots emphasizing the horror aspect over the military folks w/ big guns blazing would serve it well. The mystique and fear that the Xenomorph elicits is all but neutered when they are clearly shown being mowed down in droves in a matter of seconds. Too, I hope they actually portray people in a frightened and desperate state instead of the usual glib smart-assed style that so permeates a lot of young adult shows. I'm not sure Alien is best served on regular cable, as it poses a lot of limitations, especially gore (then again, the OG film had little gore beyond Ash's robo-innards), but we'll see. FWIW, I hope it turns out to be a well-written and acted show w/ at least a modicum of creepiness to it and an engaging storyline.

Finally did a little reading about this film, and my enthusiasm is ebbing. This is no longer a sequel to Legacy, but a standalone film set in the Tron universe, which in itself doesn't bother me. I though Tron: Uprising was excellent, Disney's best animated show after Gargoyles, and cancelled far too soon. At the level of animation, storytelling, and voice acting they were accomplishing, I would have welcomed two or three more seasons, easily. Alas, Disney has a habit of killing the best of their IPs in lieu of mediocre or less shows and movies. as to Ares, with Tron creator/director Steve Lisberger merely taking on an "Obi-Wan -like role" in this film, and no sign of the eponymous Tron (Bruce Boxleitner), Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), or Quorra (Olivia Wilde) returning as of this post. Instead of the sequel to Legacy to tie up loose ends and finish that core story, we're getting Jared Leto producing and starring as the eponymous Ares character. I fear Mr. Leto's involvement does not inspire confidence. Maybe it'll be ok, at least watchable, but it's certainly not the direct follow-up to Legacy that I think the majority of us Tron fans would have preferred. I wish Joe Kosinsky had just gone ahead and made the sequel to Legacy concurrently or directly after its release. At least the story would have been completed with the actors all the same age and the same effects people working everything to keep it all copacetic. Alas, that didn't happen and production for this film has been a bit of a quagmire over the last decade or so. While I welcome more Tron, I'm struggling even for cautious optimism here. I sincerely hope I'm wrong for doubting and it turns out good. Jared Leto, though.

Um...wow.🤨 So this thing gets a number of additional accessories and a fair bit of paint/tampo, but Ironhide, a major character from G1, didn't have his iconic yellow stripe nor his back cannon, and the upcoming Ratchet doesn't have his red stripe nor the large red cross on his van mode, nor any sort of mechanical tools, like say a welding torch. It bugs me when main characters get shorted and these exclusives seem to enjoy far more budget. It should be the other way around.

Thanks, Mike. I set a reminder for PulseCon. I hope Gears or Windcharger, or both will be announced, although I strenuously doubt they'll exhaust their supply of G1 minibots that quickly. Hasbro enjoys the slow troll b/c they know these waters are biting. Damn them for exploiting my addiction. 😁 Fear not; I've neither the internal fortitude nor the sense of grandiose self-delusion to really become excited for anything Animated from Hasbro. In the same breath, I like Legacy Prowl, but calling a spade a spade, it's not really Animated, is it? Inspired, yes, but that's not the same thing when so much liberty is taken with the design to make it homogeneous with G1. I like the Animated aesthetic, and that's what I want in an update- improved versions of the original toys. I'm not sure why they feel the need to make both Prime and Animated designs look like G1; I'm a G1 fan, but I don't want or expect every TF theme to fall into that aesthetic; I enjoy the variety in design directions, and it boggles my mind that Hasbro doesn't want to celebrate that in Legacy, the perfect forum for all these other themes that have come and gone. But Armada still looks like Armada. Bayverse still looks like Bayverse. BW still looks like BW. The game toys still look like they did in the games. So why are only Prime and Animated getting the G1 makeover? I conjecture that the designs were too complex for them to execute at the current price points per size class, so the only solution they could come up with to still do them but in an affordable way was to simplify them within a shared G1 aesthetic. I'd love to know the real answer as well as if there are any plans at all to ever do pure Prime and Animated figures again. Given how Animated has been ignored since it's cancellation, I'm thinking not. What a shame. An even greater shame is that no third party seems to want to touch it, either. I'd love to see what NA or MS could do with those designs, even if it means they'd only be legends scaled. I digressed a bit there. Titan class, for the most part, has never really interested me, outside of the Ark and the Nemesis. As I mentioned, I fence-sat on Omega Supreme; I never really cared for his character or his toy design in the 80s, but I freely admit to being rather impressed by the titan class fig, even if is a parts-former. I just think it was done well for what it is, and for the first time, I gave serious thought to buying a titan fig. I didn't then, but when the Ark was announced, that had my attention and ultimately my buy-in. Likewise, the Nemesis. The only other titan class toy I want is Animated Omega Supreme, and possibly a Lugnut variant. That's a bit of a grail toy for me now. Such a huge missed opportunity back in 2009, and still so to the present, IMHO. Concerning the possible upcoming Animated Bee and Prime releases, I can only assume that they, too, will be amalgamations of their Animated selves and G1. Not what I want at all, but I'll see how they turn out, regardless. I love Animated Prime's toy design, and I really want them to stay true to it. Fortunately, I have my excellent voyager fig on my shelf, and he looks awesome. All I can wish for is an update with improved articulation, but alas, I fear that's not what we're going to get. Circling back to the titan class conversation, I know there are likely a great many fans who want Broadside to occupy one of those slots. Personally, I've always felt he had two of the most egregiously mismatched alts of any of the triple changers. There's no way around the absurd amount of mass-shifting involved and IMHO, it just wouldn't translate well at titan scale, as there's no plane as big as an aircraft carrier, even if the aircraft carrier at titan scale would still be way under scaled itself. Questionable design decisions, but I guess practicality wasn't always at the forefront when designing these things. Too, these were aimed at 8–12-year-olds at a time when toy lines came and went in a season or two, so I doubt any thought was spared at the time that these things would still be popular and being made into modern toys some forty years on. That said, I look at Broadside's alts and just shake my head with incredulity.

Enjoyed the review, Mike. As it happens, my copy arrived today, and yeah, she's a big girl. I like the style they went for, as well as the juxtaposition between the Ark's bulkiness and Nemesis' lankiness. The snap-on rotating cannons are the way to do business and I still lament that they didn't do the same for the Ark. My copy's elbows are also weak, but I was able to get a half-arsed pose, although the gun is drooping. Given her size, I'll have to put a smaller Autobot in the line of fire so it looks purposeful. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I can't get the top part of her mask to budge- it's stuck tight. I looked to see if there was some sort of release mechanism, but I don't see one and the instructions appear to have you just manually push it up. Edit: So, I'm dumb. I watched a vid review and realized my mistake; I was trying to push the center part of her crest up not realizing it was stationary and only the bits underneath moved. Another humbling moment served to me by a toy. So far as more titan class figs go, the Ark and Nemesis are the only two I own, although I'll admit I was tempted by Omega Supreme. Honestly though, the only other titan fig I want is Animated Omega Supreme. We're long, long overdue a toy for that character, who played a rather significant part in third season. But, I want it to be good, which kinda makes me want to see a third party tackle it. I find it extremely odd that, given all this time, not one has done it, and like Hasbro themselves, interest in Animated seems off-scale low. So, moving on to SDCC. I guess we can put to rest the conjecture over whether Ultra Magnus will be an all-in-one or a white Prime with armor. He's all-in-one since that's how he was shown in the film. He looks excellent, certainly worlds better than the god-awful Siege and Kingdom versions. My concern, however, is that it doesn't appear as if the cab can rotate independently of the trailer, a feat that they managed to accomplish with Combiner Wars Ultra Magnus. If such is the case, it's more regression in engineering, and a lamentable loss of playability in a tractor trailer alt mode. However, in this pic it appears to be turned ever so slightly, and man do I hope I'm wrong and it does turn. I'll happily eat my words. I hope Gears is the next minibot made deluxe. I'm definitely down for SS86 Ratchet, Frenzy (still wish those elbows bent), and UM. Wish they'd revealed SS86 Swoop in that mess, but ya can't have everything.

At 52, I'm also a bit older than the intended demographic; however, I liked it as well. I was pleasantly surprised that they had Jor-El speaking Kryptonian rather than English, as is so very often the case in American shows where people who should have no familiarity with English speak it fluently and unaccented. My biggest gripe is with the unfavorable time slot; why is it on at midnight when the majority of its intended audience is likely sleeping? I swear, Cartoon Network is the place where good toons, especially DC shows, go to die b/c they always seem to sabotage them with poorly-timed airings. I'll never understand why Warner Bros continues to do business with them when other networks, be they cable or streaming, would give them more favorable showtimes. Anyway, I'm curious to see what direction they take with this show. Even if they do nothing really ground-breaking, I still dig it as a snapshot of Clark getting his bearings while becoming Superman.

Really interesting design. I hope they find success and translate its features over to commercial passenger purposes. The US is lagging, and to be the only producers/ operators of a supersonic transport would be a huge boon to the economy, not to mention world prestige. How long do you think it'll take the Soviets and the CCP to steal the idea and make their own copies? Honestly, I would have thought a plane like this would have been developed decades ago, but perhaps it's simply a function of using materials that didn't exist back then.

Replying a bit late, but I got mine back when they originally released. For a long, long time, it was my Megazone 23 grail, and I remain quite pleased with it. It's a bit lamentable that the pilot figs for this new generation of MZ23 toys are truncated to fit in the Slave mode, but the toy is pretty well executed in all other regards in my humble estimation. Granted, I've not handled it much since I bought it- It primarily functions, as do the majority of my crazy expensive transforming toys, as a pricey but beautiful dust collector. But I have transformed it, and nothing broke. As I recall, the old Yammies were prone to shoulder breakage, but AFAIK, the Arcadia's have improved in that area. Both of mine's arms are still attached, and hopefully will remain so.

Picked up Volvo Prime. Kinda disappointed that many of the other figs discussed on Tuesday weren't listed today, especially Bombshell. I'm guessing they'll just drop randomly with naught but an email to let me know; I often miss those when they're relevant and only discover them after everything's sold out on Pulse.

Thanks for all the pointed replies, Mike. Good info, insofar as Target's potential machinations concerning their releases. I continue to be bummed by the dearth of releases yesterday, as I have to take my mother-in-law to an appointment tomorrow morning and it's a fair bet I'm going to miss the initial drops on Pulse; I wish they adjusted those releases for all time zones; if they released at 1 PM here, no worries, but they don't so the drops happen at 10 AM which usually coincide with her appointments. I don't own a cell phone, so that's not an option. Hopefully by the time I get back the figs I want will still be in stock, as Pulse has a terrible trend of carrying limited supplies and never restocking, at least not the popular items it seems. There's a reason I pay my $50 membership, and I wish occasional restocks of high-demand items was a part of that.

I think it's cool that the train bots exist; in fact, I saw at least one of the original toys at a Japanese hobby shop on Okinawa back in '90 or '91 although I didn't buy it. However, it was a total revelation, as I didn't realize there were Transformers toys beyond the ones we had in America. I was pretty naive at 19. Anyway, I haven't been able to sum up much enthusiasm for these, even at MP levels of quality. However, if Hasbro was to release them in the Generations line, perhaps at voyager scale, I'd be more interested and inclined to pick one or two up, if not the entire team, depending on how well they were executed.

So, I was all set to order Bombshell, Dreadwing, Strongarm, and Shadowstriker, but the only new figs they added to Pulse for PO were the core class Bee & Prime, SS leader Optimus Primal , and SS Mirage from RotB, none of which hold any interest for me. Guess the others go up on Thursday with Volvo Prime. Bummer. Quite irksome that they're releasing a color variant of Earth mode Hound, but no Hound himself. Grrrr! Still kick myself that I didn't pick up more of the 2015 RiD figs, including Strongarm, when they were out. Some of them were rather ingenious and unique either in the bot modes, the vehicle modes, or both. Steeljaw's another one I skipped to my regret. Hopefully he'll get a good updated fig, too. @mikeszekely I feel your sentiment pertaining to garbage truck alts; to wit, Animated Wreck-Gar was the only one until Trashmaster. I'm not really into the Junkion figs beyond SS86 Wreck-Gar and his mold mate (I forget his name), but given the exceptional nature of his alt, I may end up getting him if I happen to spot him at Wally.

The thought of a leader class Soundwave fills me with hope that along with his upscaling, so too will the cassettes be upscaled to their original real-world mini-cassette scale. I doubt it, but I can hope. I dislike the smaller scale Hasbro went with for the cassettes since Siege and would love to see a return to their original scale, along with better articulation and complexity, although I realize this is Has/Tak we're talking about here. I think the Hasbro side of that relationship is the real barrier to better products, but unfortunately, they exercise a tight stranglehold on the property, giving Takara little freedom, as they used to enjoy, to make better versions of the toys for the Japanese market, and thus the secondary market for us poor eager schmucks. Still, an upscaled Soundwave is interesting, especially if it is indeed the G1 version, as the previous mold left somewhat to be desired. The original Strongarm fig was pretty chunky in her own right, so a translation to G1ification will likely not be as starkly compromised as say Animated or Prime designs. Leader class Springer is an odd choice; I think the voyager Siege version is nigh perfect. Mike's so right about their lackluster track record with leader class triple-changers. Well, if it's a hot mess, at least we have the Siege fig. As to the og toys, I'm personally not interested; I was highly critical of them as a teenager in the 80s due to their almost complete lack of articulation, so the modern toys are what I want in a Transformers toy. That said, I get that nostalgia drives a lot of the fandom so if indeed other companies get to have their will and way with the old designs, that's great for those fans who crave them. Now, if a company somehow managed to add full articulation to the old toys, keeping them very close to how they looked, I might be in for a few.

Transformers One is set in the Bayverse? Well, there goes any hope I had of it's even being tolerable. 😒

I appreciate their, and your, kind words. The kid-meter can be a tough gauge, especially these days when there are just so many cool things out there, so to be considered among them is an honor. Humble thanks.

Agree, and lament it. The 21, at least in fighter mode, is a beautiful design. I can see where people might have reservations about the battroid, as even to my eye, it's not as nice looking as the YF-19's. I'll concede that I like the 19's fighter mode better, as well, but I think both have beautiful fighter modes worthy of display. I appreciate, however, the Quedluun Rau homage in the YF-21's battroid mode given Guld's Zentraedi heritage. The issue I take with it is that Kawamori fudged the dimensions from mode to mode to optimize each without much thought to how that would affect the feasibility of transforming models and toys, which leaves us with the Yammie 1/60 with its compromised legs to optimize the fighter mode. Unless a really innovative solution is found to drastically change the leg shape, either one mode or the other is going to suffer on every transformable iteration of that valk, and that speaks to poor design. Sorry Kawamori-san, but it's true in this instance.

Danth, you're too kind, man. Much appreciated. I wish I had both better photography skills and any skill at all with photo editing for better presentation. I've seen some really awesome CS builds, including M-Tron, that looked like the OG box art, which really helps to sell it. Anyway, I'm glad you like it. I'm looking forward to showing it off at BrickCon in September. Cheers for the kind words! I showed your CS transforming ships to my wife; she thought they were cool, too.

Honestly, so would I, though I shudder at the thought of the impending price tag. That said, the Yamato 1/60 was nigh perfect; the disproportionate legs were it's only major failing, IMHO. If they were to fix that, likely at the cost of the thin tail section of the fighter, I'd be all-in. Hopefully, too, they'd install a more robust non-ball-jointed hip joint, as my Yammie YF-21 is pretty loose at the hips. Bandai seems uninterested, which beggars the question of why tease a proto only to not move forward? Anyway, I think Arcadia can improve on Yamato's design; most of the work is already done for them. Proportionate legs in battroid would be fantastic, as that's how I display my valks. For those who prefer fighter, Arcadia could simply rerelease the unmodified Yamato version, appeasing both camps and making a buttload of cash in the process.

They're actually gumetal, IIRC- been awhile since I painted those. His biceps and the lower portion of his waist are the same. I have the OG toy (he was my first TF back in '84) and I tried to match the color and placement of my paint apps. There's a slight metallic sheen to it, but the lighting in my house is poor (very yellowish) and my camera, a little point & shoot, is extremely finicky about light and vibration, so my pics often suffer. In hand, I think it compares pretty well to my G1 Prowl. I also painted the interior and exterior portions of his lower legs that were cast in trans blue. I was hoping that Toyhax would include a sticker in their set that mimicked the interior leg greebles like the G1 Prowl box art, but sadly they didn't. I've always loved the look of leg greebles under glass that appeared on a number of the G1 toys' box art; I just find it an extremely appealing part of the look, and I wish it carried forward more on modern toys. Anyway, Prowl is probably my favorite character from a design and appearance standpoint. His appearances in the show were limited and he never really had much character development, but I just love how he looks and the box art for the OG toy went a long way towards cementing that in my mind. That said, I've spent a fair bit of time and money on this fig in painting, stickering, and procuring third party weapons for him to try and complete his G1 toy look, w/ a splash of toon in there as well. I'm still probably not done with him. This is the mainline Prowl I waited nigh 40 years for, and I love him. It's probably also why this upcoming 'Dying Prowl' is a bit unsavory to me- he, like the other Autobots on the shuttle, had such a cheap lackluster death and I just don't want that memorialized in a figure.

Actually, I'm surprised they retooled the hood at all. A new head mold makes sense, and they could have made a clear orange effects piece that fits in the mouth to represent the orange smoke. All things considered, although they're just chunks of plastic, it's still a bit morbid to collect figs in the act of dying. I prefer my figs alive and ready for action with as much detail as they'll give me- not pale and ghastly. Different strokes, I guess. Personally, I love the first season bots and I still feel a little bitter about how they went about dispatching them with so much careless ease for the sake of introducing new toys. These characters mattered to me and to many others, so it was a bit jarring, even as a 15- or 16-year-old, to see them done away with so flippantly. Even in my 50s, it still rankles. They could have been seriously wounded and later shown in a quick scene being taken in for medical care- out of action but not dead. Alas, that's not the way it went down, more's the pity. This was a good opportunity to rerelease ER Prowl albeit with a different head sculpt for those who missed out on him the first time. Although I have my copy, I'm hoping the regular version will get a rerelease eventually. Here's my copy, alive and ready to kick Decepti-chops! (after a bit of strategic analysis and planning, of course).