M'Kyuun

7 hours ago, Scyla said:

I’m planning to buy an USC Super Star Destroyer (10221) from the aftermarket.

Since it will be a pricey purchase I wonder what my best option would be?

Bricklink prices seems to be in the medium range and I assume that the buyer feedback is a good indication of the sellers reputation given it is smaller and more focused marketplace.

On ebay the prices seem to be on the high side but it offers additional protection through ebay itself. However, I heard some reports that scammers found some ways around the buyer protection.

On other platforms like Craigslist prices seems to be the lowest but I assume that the chances are much higher being scammed than on the other two platforms.

Does anyone on this board has any recommendations or experiences using these platforms when buying high priced items?

I would stick with a place like Bricklink where there's a level of accountability if there's something wrong with the set. Another avenue is second-hand mom & pop stores like Bricks & Minifigs. Prices are generally pretty high, but usually they're operated by LEGO fans who will work with you if there's something wrong with the set. Ebay and Craigslist are a huge gamble; I'd avoid them, especially on such a large set.

9 hours ago, Firefox21 said:

It's a very nice figure and surprise that no one attempted Omnibots until now. I've got mine but it has some QC issue, one of the feet is very loose. 

Sounds like QC is all over the place with this fig, which is unfortunate, being the only option at this point. I think Keith did a good job with presentation, but build quality is questionable at times, especially those thin linkages for the feet. Skullface broke one in his review; naturally he didn't have a positive view of the toy. However, if you go in knowing about it, you're at least forewarned before handling him, which hopefully will prevent more breakages.

While I like die-cast, I also like the judicious use of it, preferably when the figure's base is substantial enough to bear it without issue. I don't think that's the case here, which is further reason why care need be exercised when handling him. He's a relatively heavy fig for his size, and I kinda wish everything had been plastic except for those linkages just to reduce weight and stress.

I'm hoping the next two Omnis from XTB won't have similar issues, but KFC/ XTB don't exactly have a sterling record for quality. More's the pity.

Oooh, unexpected news indeed! Cautiously optimistic. Other than the ugly elbow joints and the arm guns sitting inaccurately in fighter, I didn't have too many gripes. At least the legs are proportional in battroid; that was always my beef with the Yamato.

1 minute ago, borgified said:

Bandai is going to screw this like the previous DX(es) with glitches and transformation errors. This has to be a outstanding release after the teases since 2018.  

Hope not. Hope so.

On 7/18/2023 at 5:28 PM, tekering said:

It is indeed... despite this awkwardly-prominent sticker. 😅

Some joints could be a little tighter, some joints are decidedly too tight, and the headlight gimmick is a little problematic:

One side doesn't fit as flush as the other...

...and yet the opposite side won't pop up completely, so neither functions perfectly. 🤨

Still, minor nitpicks for such a handsome dude. ☺️

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!

5 hours ago, tekering said:

Mattel's new "Hunt 'n Chomp" Tyrannosaurus Rex: 

Doesn't appeal to me, though. 😅

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.

11 hours ago, JB0 said:

Programs' rights? I thought Tron fought for the users?!

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.

11 hours ago, Dangard Ace said:

If they bring Beck back as Tron to fight Leto I'd be up for that.  

I think Leto's playing the film's protagonist, and Beck's character will likely not be a part of Ares.

16 hours ago, Dynaman said:

When I think "Tron" Bruce's character does not register at all.  It is the overall look and feel that matters.  I'd say that probably covers a lot of people but Tron is still a niche property.

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.

3 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

I wonder if Tron could be "upgraded", so that the character wouldn't be tied so much to BB.

No offense to Mr. Boxleitner, but I think someone else could do the role justice. Not to mention that should he pass, we would have to lean upon deepfake if we were to use him extensively for Tron.

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.

8 hours ago, Big s said:

Leto has been trying so hard to get a good role in a big franchise film. He sometimes gets a decent small role, but he just can’t get the big spot. 

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.

On 7/23/2023 at 6:02 PM, Dangard Ace said:

Interesting.  They brought a light cycle into the real world.  

 

But no Bruce Boxleitner means no Tron cause BB IS Tron.     I'll wait for more info but this isn't exciting yet.

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. 😩

20 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

I'm just completely thrown by how he looks less than half his actual age.  I've seen freshmen on the HS football team my brother coaches that look older than he does.

 

Yeah, I'd hope so... they did an OK series of shorts on YouTube a while back, but even those were more focused on spectacle than horror.

As long as they avoid trying to tie it into Prometheus and Alien: Covenant I think it'll be OK-ish.  My main suspicion is that, since Alien: Covenant ended up being a narrative dead end due to poor reception, they'll try and use that as a springboard for this story since that ended with David, a ship of colonists, and his xenomorph embryos on their way to colonize a new world and that would be a pretty easy jumping-off point.

I'd love to see more subtle, claustrophobic horror like Alien and Alien: Isolation.  I suspect what we'll get is another cliche outing of the Too Dumb To Live squad exercising every slasher movie cliche as they become WY-brand xenomorph chow.

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.

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Stranger Things X Transformers Code Red.  $45, available later this year.

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.

10 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I can't confirm any of this yet, but...

Pulsecon is September 22nd, and I'm expecting them to reveal the title and first wave of the third part of the Legacy trilogy.  That announcement should include Gears, for an early 2024 release.

I don't want to get your hopes up, because I haven't heard anything about 2024's Titan* (which, if it even exists, I really hope is the last one).  But Hasbro's definitely not done with Animated.  In fact, I'm being told that Animated Bumblebee will be joining Gears in that first wave of Deluxes, and Animated Prime will be one of the Voyagers in that wave.

*Nothing on the Titan, but supposedly Armada Tidal Wave will be the Commander-class for next year.

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.

On 7/19/2023 at 9:26 PM, mikeszekely said:

Commander is the only class with a once-a-year release.  Tonight we're looking at the other annual figure, Legacy Evolution Titan-class Nemesis.

We're going to do this review backward, because reasons.  The Ark was an interesting choice for Kingdom's Titan... they'd run out of the really big G1 characters, and the mainline hadn't really branched out from G1 yet.  But as the ship they crashed into a volcano and the Autobots used for their home for the first two seasons, the Ark was sort of a character in its own right.  Sure, it didn't transform in the cartoon, but why do robots that turn into vehicles need a larger vehicle?  And even if they do, Omega Supreme, Jetfire, and Sky Lynx already set a precedent for the Transformers transportation also transforming.  Who's to say that the Ark doesn't transform (although, with hindsight I might have argued that they could have done Animated-Universe Omega Supreme instead).

With the Ark now existing in Titan form, it does make a certain amount of sense to do the Nemesis, too, despite being less well-known.  Some background, I'm guessing most of you know that the Nemesis was the ship the Decepticons used to chase after the Ark.  It, too, crashed on Earth, and its discovery in South America kicks off the season 2 episode "Microbots."  It was also a plot element in the Beast Wars episodes "Nemesis" (parts 1 and 2), where Tarantulas actually discovers the Nemesis in the ocean and Megatron uses it to attack Mount Saint Hillary before Rhinox crashes a shuttle into it, presumably sending it crashing what would become South America.

Unlike the Ark, the Nemesis was never the Decepticon's base.  Rather, in the three-part "More Than Meets the Eye" series that kicked the cartoon off, the Decepticons were gathering materials to build a new ship to take them back to Cybertron.  That ship, retroactively named the Victory, was sabotaged by Mirage and crashed into the ocean.  It's the Victory that becomes part of the Decepticon's undersea home for most of the first two seasons.

One of the design features of the Nemesis is that four wings oriented around the rear of the ship.  Having them all here makes the toy accurate in that sense (and probably works fine in the void of space), but chances are you're going to want to sit this thing flat.  We can do this by splitting the bottom wing and splaying it out.

What I find interesting is how similar the designs of the Nemesis and the Victory were.  Both have the four winged arrangement, primary hulls that taper toward the nose, canards on the front, rounded sections on the bottom, and conning towers or bridges opposite the round parts.  That said, although it's a bit narrower and has a more hooked nose in the cartoon, the smoother hull, the rounded leading edge on the upper wing, the fins on the left and right wings, and the lack of engine pods above those wings definitely mark this ship as the Nemesis, not the Victory.  The only element that doesn't really match the cartoon is the rear, which is depicted in "Microbots" as as having two engine bells set a bit apart from each other and a pair of fins in between.  I can see why that element wouldn't really have worked here, though.

Aside from a little trouble getting some panels to stay tabbed in place, I really dig the ship mode.  Something about the shape in hand reminds me of a shark.

So, accessories.  Unlike the Ark, the Nemesis doesn't have a lot.  Most disappointingly there's no smaller robot included as there has been with most of other Titans, including the Ark.  But we shouldn't be surprised, last year's Legacy Metroplex also lacked a smaller robot despite the original coming with a Minicon.  Anyway, what you do get is a gray sprue, and the sprue contains a trio of squarish triple-barreled guns, a trio of round double-barreled guns, and a quartet of tiny Seekers.  To my knowledge, the Seekers are Thrust, Ramjet, Earthrise Starscream, and Siege Skywarp.

To install the guns, the round ones go in a trio of pegs on top of the ship.  Just behind them are two little cutouts for two of the square ones.  The third square one goes on top of the bridge tower; there's actually two ports up there.  The one in the front is for the guns, the one in the back is for the top of the tower, which isn't attached in the box.

On the sides of the ship, behind the canards, you'll find little doors that flip up to reveal retractable gray platforms.  The platforms have the Earthrise connectors we saw on stuff like Battlemasters, Prime's trailer, and various ramps on Omega Supreme, Scorponok, and Sky Lynx (but don't work with Trypticon, Fortress Maximus, or the Power of the Primes bases).  These platforms have little bumps on them that allow you to attach the tiny Seekers.  The platforms can be retracted while the Seekers are attached.

There's also a ramp on the back.  It also has the base connector, but it and the space inside are much smaller than the Ark's.  You can toss a loose Seeker slug in there, but you may find that even a Micromaster is a cramped in there.

Like the Ark before it, the Titan-class Nemesis was given a robot mode.  The designers meant for her to be a bit more monstrous than the Ark, drawing her with long, spindly limbs and kind of a hunched posture.  I'm not sure she needs to hunch.  In some ways, the design has kind of grown on me.  I dig the big, pointy shoulders, thin torso, and clawed hands.  As the Ark's face was meant to be that of the Last Autobot from the Marvel comics, and the Last Autobot's face was designed to basically be the Autobot symbol, the designers wanted the Nemesis' face to be a Decepticon symbol.  To avoid making her look like Tarn, though, they gave her face more of an armored design than a mask like Tarn's, with the middle of her brow being inspired by Starscream's crown from the '86 movie.

She's got a few issues, though, that I think are a lot less excusable on a $200 toy of this size than they are on a $20 Deluxe or even a $30 Voyager.  All of her wings when unfolded prove to be hollow on the inside/bottom.  It's not exactly the end of the world for the wings coming off her calves, or the one that makes up her backpack, but some of those waffles are plainly visible on her shins and the sides of the canards facing forward on her shoulders.  The kibble that folds back along her knees isn't the prettiest, but I can live with it.  Worse is the flaps dangling off her elbows.  $200 and the best they can do is have it rotate so it sweeps back a little?  They couldn't double hinge it to fold up against her shoulders or anything?

Nemesis' head is on a hinged swivel, with really good up/down range.  The base is at an angle, though, so turning her head simultaneously gives it a sideways tilt.  Her shoulders rotate on ratchets, nothing unusual there.  What's a bit more unusual is the lateral movement.  There's a ratchet inside the purple part, but it only moves a click or so laterally.  A second, also-ratcheted hinge just above her elbow allows it to move out at that point, too, but even combined we're talking about just 45 degrees or so of range.  If you want more, you can unlock the shoulders and use the transformation hinge to swivel the entire gray armature, but that joint is on the wrong side of the swivel.  Moving on, her biceps swivel.  Her elbows are double-jointed and bend 180 degrees combined, but both joints are friction joints.  Her wrists swivel.  The fingers and thumbs are hinged at the base, but they don't have any additional knuckles and all her fingers are one piece.  Her waist swivels on a ratchet.  Her hips ratchet forward about 90 degrees, backward a bit less than that due to kibble getting in the way, and laterally over 90 degrees if you can manage to get her arms out of the way.  Her thighs swivel on ratchets, and if you move some kibble out of the way her knees bend on ratchets a little over 90 degrees.  Her feet don't have any up/down tilt, but her ankles swivel on ratchets, and they have about 30-ish degrees of pivot.

If you were keeping score, that's ratchets in her waist swivel, thigh swivels, and ankle swivels where they probably weren't strictly needed, but none in her elbows.  Remember that.

While the Ark is just supposed to punch stuff, I guess, Nemesis can actually arm herself.  You can yank her canards off and wrap her fingers around them to give her comically tiny axes.  Alternatively, you can pull the wings off her shins.  One end has a barrel that flips out, and inside the edge there's a handle.  The handle has tabs that plug into her palms, allowing her to turn the shin armor/wings into guns.  But, remember those friction elbows?  They can't really support the weight on of the guns on my copy.  Her upper left elbow seems especially weak, even after I tried tightening the screw there.  Not using a ratchet in at least one of the two elbow joints on either side is a serious design flaw, and my single biggest issue with the figure.

As for the other accessories, they pretty much stay where they are.  The round guns just chill on her chest and tummy.  Two of the square guns wind up on the backs of her shoulders.  Somewhat amusingly, the third square gun winds up pointed at the back of her own head.  Maybe that's Megatron's failsafe for keeping her under control?  It'd have been nice to have spots to redeploy them to be more useful in robot mode, but I can't really find any.  As for the Seekers, they're in her forearms now.  You can still open the doors and slide the platforms out, and it actually works even better in robot mode because there's a little slider you can use to move the platforms in and out.

I think it safe to say I'm having somewhat mixed feelings about Nemesis.  On the one hand, she does look kind of cool in bot mode, and I think they did a really good job attempting to capture that weird (presumably Floro Dery) G1 animation design in a package that also transforms into a robot.  I'd go so far as to suggest that if you have the Ark you should probably go ahead and pick up the Nemesis as a companion piece.  But if you don't have the Ark you're probably better off skipping the Nemesis.  Like Metroplex, Nemesis has seen a price increase over the War for Cybertron Titans, including the Ark.  That in and of itself wouldn't necessarily be a problem, but that price increase seems to be buying less actual toy.  As noted, her wings are all hollowed inside, and aside from a few slugs she doesn't come with any accessories or smaller figures.  While not noticeably different from Metroplex or the Ark, the plastic does feel thinner and bendier than Scorponok or Omega Supreme, and the lack of ratchets in her elbows drops her robot mode from a solid B to a C-.

And it's at this point that I'll offer an opinion that's probably going to be a bit more well-received here than a certain Transformers message board I won't name- I think it's time for Hasbro to retire the Titan class.  Consider the following points:

1. Hasbro's struggled to make Titans profitable.  I don't know if they've admitted it openly, but I've heard as much from reliable inside sources.  This has forced Hasbro to raises prices on the class, doubling from $100 to $200 since Thrilling 30 Metroplex ten years ago.  That's way beyond impulse buy pricing, and while the success of the Masterpiece line has shown that adult collectors are willing to spend a lot on premium toys, "big" is not a synonym for "premium" and unfortunately the other way that Hasbro's tried to make Titans more profitable has been to reduce costs.  I don't care how big she is, Nemesis doesn't feel like a $200 toy, and that's going to make people even more hesitant to buy.  Anecdotally, I'll point out that you can still buy both of the previous Titans, the Ark and Metroplex, from sellers on Amazon for under $200.

2. Titans are kind of too big.  I mean, yeah, guys like Metroplex and Fortress Maximus are supposed to be huge (unless we're talking Marvel comics), but even with fairly simple engineering just picking them up off the shelf and transforming them is a chore that requires a good bit of room.  Speaking of room, not counting combiners like Predaking and Devastator, I've got nine Titans on display now, and they take up an enormous amount of space.  I Black Zarak in a difference spot, but the other eight are on a table and they take up basically enough surface area for me to display the entire Season 1 cast in a combination of Deluxe, Voyager, and Leader (including Dinobots), plus Jetfire.  On a shelf their vertical height would take up the same space as two shelves of smaller figures.

3. What really big characters are even left to make?  I know Tidal Wave from Armada is often suggested, but I've heard that Hasbro is planning on doing Tidal Wave as a Commander-class and retaining the original toy's ability to interact with Megatron.  If Hasbro wants to keep turning ships into robots I suppose you could do the Autobot shuttle, the Revenge, the Minnow, or the Quintesson ship from the '86 movie.  Maybe the Axalon and the Darksyde from Beast Wars.  I think as you go down the list of ships, though, interest in transforming Titan-class versions probably goes down (although I'd low-key love a toy of the Revenge).  Beyond that, maybe the aforementioned Animated-universe Omega Supreme, and that's about all I could come up with. 

What I think Hasbro could/should do instead of Titans is do more Commanders.  Again, there probably aren't a ton of robots big enough on their own to be a Commander (although, off the top of my head, Tidal Wave and Broadside).  But Hasbro has shown that the Commander-class is a good price point for the torsos of combiners that can come with whatever kibble they need for the gestalt, characters that combine with part of their alt mode for a super mode (which alone could be another four Optimus Primes- Power Master, RiD 2000, Energon, and Cybertron), etc.  Even if we start adding Commanders to Studio Series (as Hasbro is set to do when they announce Ultra Magnus this week) two a year seems like it'll take forever to cover every character that could benefit from the extra budget that the Commander-class affords.

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.

11 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Am I part of the younger crowd?  I'm only 43.

I dunno, you guys.  I watched both eps on Max and I kind of dig it.

I'm not familiar with Totally Spies, but a quick Google search doesn't seem to indicate any connections among the producers, production companies, animation studios, etc.  In fact, it seems like most of Totally Spies work was done in France.  I suppose it's possible that Warner Bros Animation/DC Studios hired former Zodiak Kids & Family Studios France writers.

The animation for Superman seems to coming from Studio Mir, the same people who animated the Netflix Voltron cartoon.

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.

On 5/30/2023 at 10:40 PM, MKT said:

Arcadia Proto-Garland re-issue for Sept release:

https://www.hlj.com/1-24-scale-megazone-23-part-ii-diecast-model-proto-garland-reissue-aca82136-3

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. 

18 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I don't know what's up with that, they really made it sound like everything before VNR Optimus would be today.  Well, usually the preorders seem to go up right after the previous wave starts going out, and while I've seen reviews popping up neither Pulse nor Amazon has shipped any of wave 3.  If I get a bunch of "shipped emails tonight/tomorrow I'll know the preorders will be Thursday.

All-in-all, it's a pretty unexciting wave for me, although I suppose it's marginally better than the third wave.  I intend to get the entire wave.  I also threw down preorders on Primal, Mirage, and the Prime/Bee set.  I mostly want it for the trailer, but I never bought that version of Bee, either.  I think Primal actually looks pretty cool.  Mirage, like so many movie bots, looks like a kibbly mess in bot mode but I love that alt mode.  I'm a Transformers fan, I'm a Porsche fan. When I was a kid I dreamed of owning the very 911 Turbo they used for Mirage in the movie, and today I'm saving up for a Taycan.  I'm probably the guy this is for:

The holdup is apparently on Target's end, and he's supposedly still coming.  But for some reason felt that gray repaints of movie Ratchet and Bonecrusher, Cybertronian Jazz, and now a pair of Legacy multipacks need priority, I guess.

Actually there's also Age of Extinction Junkheap.  But yes, if Mark insists on doing original characters then I think garbage trucks and buses are criminally underutilized alt modes. 

Thanks, I've been really busy lately getting caught up on all the work I didn't do while recovering from a knee injury.  But I still have a picture for you guys anyway, courtesy of the aforementioned Mark Maher:

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.

1 hour ago, lechuck said:

New Takara promo of Kaen with some additional shots of Raiden in action.

Not feeling combined mode – too much kibble and articulation seems average if you ask me.

 

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.

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Some rumors from a reliable source.  In 2024 we can expect-

-Deluxe-class Cybertron Hot Shot.  Presumably the sports car, known as Exillion in Japan, since they already did the Cybertron Defense version from Siege Hound.  (Also, is it weird that I think I'd have preferred the Energon version of Hot Shot?)

-Studio Series Core-class Steeljaw.  Yeah, as they look to fill those Core-class slots they're resorting to giving us Lockdown's dog from AoE.

-Deluxe Strongarm.  I feel like I've mentioned this one before.  

-Leader-class Soundwave.  Now, at this point a lot of people are gushing about the possibility of a new G1 Soundwave that isn't a retool of Siege and stuck in Walmart limbo.  And I do have to admit that it'd be pretty cool to have him hit a Leader budget by giving us a Voyager-sized toy and packing in a bunch of tapes.  That said, I have a feeling it's going to another Soundwave, most likely Cybertron (although I'd low-key love if they did a "comics universe" Soundwave with an APC alt mode).

-SS86 Leader-class Springer.  OK, this one might be the most interesting of all.  I mean, I dig Siege Springer a ton, and I'd have been happy if they re-released that figure with a more movie-accurate deco.  But Leader-class suggests this is a whole new mold, and SS86 means it has to be G1 Springer, not something like the unused Osprey from Revenge of the Fallen.  My only concern here is that Hasbro doesn't have a great track record with Leader-class triple changers...

Lastly, not a rumor but news with a ton of speculation.  2024 is the 40th anniversary of The Transformers, and Hasbro is apparently giving the 3D models of the original G1 toys to licensing partners to make toys with.  While, fingers crossed, I'm hoping we can see some straight G1 reissues I suspect that we're going to see more re-imagined stuff.  Y'know, like Optimus Prime pulling a Target trailer or something.

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.

On 6/13/2023 at 6:06 AM, tekering said:

Well, yeah... except with Peter Cullen, and not set in the Bayverse. 😅

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

On 6/10/2023 at 6:06 PM, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

Well, my kids thought your mech is cool and "cute", and I trust their judgement-well done!

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.

2 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Sadly, it's just not a popular design, judging from how much attention it usually gets, at least in comparison to the YF-19.  One of the first Hasegawa kits to get released in 1/48 was the YF-19.. but they never bothered even teasing a YF-21.  It makes me think they just didn't see the demand for it, which probably means Bandai doesn't either.

It would be interesting to see a revamp of the old Yamato mold, like Arcadia did with the VF-0, but I'm not holding my breath.  I think there's room to work bigger legs into it, but it would take a rebuild of the inside compartment, and probably make it look ugly.. which is fine, they need to ditch the removable legs anyhow.

Would be fun to see them add hardpoints to the wings though.  

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.

1 hour ago, danth said:

Amazing. I was expecting, because it's you, that the rover would transform somehow, but that mech looks way too good to have come from a transformation. The way the lower legs split is fantastic.

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.