M'Kyuun

I respectfully disagree. I'm not, nor have ever been, a fan of the Bayverse aesthetic. I've been fairly outspoken in my criticism of those designs over the years, as mechanically, they make no sense, and are pure CG fantasy. However, I'll make the argument all day and night that Bay's films put Transformers back into public consciousness in a very successful and lucrative fashion globally. Bayverse resuscitated a declining franchise, which paved the way for shows like Animated and Prime, and also inadvertently open the gateway for a spike in G1 popularity via the little pre-live action film toyline called Classics. If there had been no live-action film in '07, there wouldn't have been a need for a filler line, so Classics may not have happened without Bayverse. That'd be a great question to pose to Hasbro at a panel. I certainly don't think they ever intended Classics to blow up like it did, spawning the last 14 years of what we know as CHUG, or Generations as a collective term. As to the Bayverse toys, despite my adverse opinion of the aesthetic, I've bought many Bayverse toys over the years, and my impression of the majority has been that they were ingenious in their engineering, especially the toys between RotF and TF: Prime. I distinctly remember the complexity of the toys becoming a common complaint to Hasbro, which led to a subsequent over-simplification in the toys that lasted for a number of years until we started seeing an overall advancement in engineering with Titans Return. But during the Bay period, we got gems like RotF leader Prime, figs like Breacher, which at scout class (basically legends), is an incredibly complex fig for its size. There are a lot of examples of complex figs if you roam the toy galleries. Were they all amazing?- no. Every line has its turds, and there were plenty throughout the Bayverse period. But there were, in my experience, far more figs with some ingenuity behind them than not. As to the use of panels to effect some elements of transformation among the Bayverse figs, it's important to point out that panel-forming is prevalent among just about every TF line, and second, Takara were dealing for the first time with impossible transformations, working backwards from obviously mechanically unfeasible artistic confabulations, and there was no choice but to cheat many of the designs. How else were they going to do it? Honestly, for the most part, it's an incredible feat of creativity and ingenuity on Takara's part to take these nonsensical designs and translate them into a working toy that at least has some semblance to their onscreen likenesses. Obviously some were closer to home than others, but given their history creating very blocky robots, often designing the actual working protos from wood, to suddenly having these complex designs with thousands of parts strewn throughout, panels breaking up at odd and irregular angles, car parts appearing in incongruent and illogical places on the robot mode relative to their placement in vehicle mode, I think they did ok. The challenges posed by these designs led to Takara's really stretching their creative wings, and out of that we got the Animated and Prime toys which both departed greatly from the old blocky bot look of the 80s. Special mention to Alex Kubalsky, the only non-Japanese designer to ever work for Takara, whose design aesthetic had a tendency towards curved and non-blocky transforming models, helped steer the overall design approach at Takara when the Classics and '07 live action Transformers film toys were being developed. Although he hasn't worked at Takara for nearly a decade now, his influence continues to reverberate in the toys that have come since All this said, I think it's easy to generalize and denigrate the toys of the Bayverse era as one thing or another, but in doing so, I think a great disservice is done. I have mostly good memories of messing with the many toys I bought during that time. I also recall being incredibly frustrated with some of them, too, for their extreme complexity. I sometimes wondered, if I, an aircraft mechanic and lifelong fan of transforming toys, was having this much difficulty transforming this toy, how the hell was a kid in the target age range of 5- 14ish going to figure it out? RotF Blazemaster comes to mind as one of those PITA transformations. This got a bit long-winded, but I hope I at least gave you some food for thought, as it were. If you take the time to peruse the toy galleries or look at old toy reviews, you may come away with a different perspective. IMHO, there were some neat toys to come out during the Bay era and after and, though I vehemently abhor the films and the Bayformer aesthetic, I've no regrets adding many of those toys to my collection.

M.A.R.S. Converters- yep, that's them! If I had more space for odd stuff, I probably would have picked one or two of them up just because. They don't look like bad toys, but with all the other stuff I collect, esp LEGO, space is ever more at a premium and I have to be choosy. That's an incredible job converting the Converter into Leader-1- mad skilz! Keep hoping- as much as one would think the Transformers live action films would have been a catalyst for increasing interest in the transforming toy market among toy companies, oddly it just didn't happen. If ever there was going to be an 80s-like resurgence of transforming toys, I thought that'd be it, but sadly, no. I'm not sure any other similar franchise, except Gobots, would ever reach such a wide audience in the US. Unfortunately the rights to Gobots is owned by Hasbro, but they don't have the license to produce Machine Robo stuff, hence the lack of a Gobots line. I'm not sure they'd put out a Gobots line if they could, though, so protective and nurturing are they of Transformers. It was nice to have Voltron toys on the shelves for a few years, but I wish they'd contracted with a company that makes higher quality stuff. Too, it would have been lovely had Bandai USA decided to ride the wave of popularity in the West and release their DX Voltron in the Americas. Even LEGO put out a Voltron set! Didn't happen, though. To that end, I doubt that Macross, if it gains any sort of traction here in the US, will ever enjoy even a fraction of the popularity of Transformers, although I hope that it will gain enough to make Bandai believe there's a market for their Macross merch, fanning the flame for model companies to follow suit. Who knows, it may be the thing that inspires some young entrepreneur with a penchant for crafting to come up with some new transforming idea. Look at what 52Toys in China are doing with their Beast/MegaBox toys, or Big Firebird, or TFC toys with their Craft series of transforming real world Chinese military vehicles. We need that sort of spirit here in the US to put transforming toys back in the public consciousness, and on shelves, and in specialty stores. I hope it happens.

Which is why Bandai needs to recognize both the desire for more transforming bots and the void that all those beautiful Macross Valkyries could fill. A few years ago, Wally carried these large (approx leader or commander scaled) transforming cars. I never bought one, but they looked fairly poseable and the car modes looked good. They were a bit cheaper than their Transformer shelf mates, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious about them, having looked at one or two in the store before putting them back. I don't remember what they were called, but I believe they, like most stuff, were made in China. Doesn't really narrow things down much, I know. Beyond those toys, which I haven't seen on the shelves in probably a couple of years now, there really isn't anything comparable to Transformers. Thanks to Netflix, we had Voltron stuff a few years ago, although, admittedly, Playmates quality was just so-so. The only other domestic transforming stuff that I can think of is the Power Ranger stuff, which I've never been into. The 80s was a golden era of transforming robot bliss; it's just a shame that toy technology was so abysmally poor back then. Imagine if we'd had today's levels of engineering 37 years ago. Brings a tear. With all the resurgence of 80s stuff, it's a huge miss that transforming toys haven't ridden that wave here in the States. I am glad, however, that Japanese and Chinese companies are still pumping out updates to old 80s transforming stuff like the Garlands, the Legioss/Ride Armors, and Voltron, just to name a few. It'd be wonderful to see that stuff on shelves here as well as seeing a burgeoning domestic introduction of more transforming mecha IPs. I keep hoping.

Understandable, and commendable. For figs that I'm especially anticipating, I do the same, as I want the entire experience to be a surprise and uncolored by someone else's, even my own early, opinions. It's one thing to judge something from images on a screen, but sometimes the feel of the thing in your hands, or experiencing the transformation for the first time, makes a huge difference, good or bad, in one's final opinion. Where do these guys get their early copies, indeed? I'm inclined to think there's a fair bit of smuggling going on from the factories, and lots of palms greased to look the other way. I imagine it's a fairly common practice in a lot of places where wages are low, hours are long, the work tedious, and scruples are few in the face of a few extra bucks. Tracks has the lines in his wings, but it's not a natter of my being able to paint them as much as I shouldn't have to. The Firebird flame on the hood is only painted red, and looks off without the yellow outline. That would be a tad bit tougher to hand paint, especially with my lack of talent. I'm sure Toyhax will have a sticker sheet for this guy, but honestly, I'm not interested in spending any more on it. I'll probably paint the wings, but the rest will stay as-is.

Clever engineering and a very faithful likeness to his Movie look. All that's missing is Eric Idle. Maybe it's selective blindness, but I never really noticed the nipple guns before. They're hard to ignore on this guy, and Kremzeek draws attention to them several times. Not sure what Floro Dery was thinking, or how those things got past censors, but here we are. Realized this hadn't been posted yet. Kind of a mixed bag, this one. Nearly the entire car shell is made of translucent plastic, which often doesn't bode well for long term durability. Seems an odd choice when opaque plastic with painted windows would have offered more durability with an acceptable concession. Disappointingly, there's no paint on his wings, which is one of those eye-catching characteristics of Tracks- When good enough is too good...Hasbro. He also has a faux chest; not sure why they couldn't make the actual car roof work when they've done it for both the MP and the previous Reveal the Shield toys. Anyway, as a result of having both the car roof and aft fender section on his back, the backpack is notable. I wish they could have folded his cannons away like they do on the MP, but at least they managed to get the tail stabilizers to fold. He does have his flying car mode, which is kinda obligatory. I always wished his front tires would fold in at an angle to complete the look, as their staying straight always looked funny to me, but that's how the original toy was, and how he was subsequently drawn in the toon, so we're minus a feature that, IMHO, would have looked cool and apropos. The shin transforming mechanism is poor and barely pegs in, which will likely result in severe floppiness over time. The waist flap is a single piece, which I abhor, as it ruins the look of the figure if just one leg is posed at an extreme angle. The forearms are hollow. The feet peg onto ball joints jutting from the inside fender, and the bit of open space over the feet make the legs look like they're floating over the feet rather than having a firm attachment. The good: the car mode looks great, the flying car mode is effective, the face sculpt and paint looks great (on Kremzeek's copy, anyway), and in bot mode it captures the look of Tracks very well. It's a shame that the build quality seems to be lacking, as they've otherwise done a really good job of capturing the essential elements of G1 Tracks. Guess time will tell how well the actual fig holds up.

I'm glad that Miyatake-san is ok, but the loss of both his wife and home is profound. Along with the support of his many fans, I hope he has strong support from his family and friends. That's a lot of loss all at once. My heart goes out to him.

I also watched it. I thought it it was a good mix of quirky to thought-provoking. The last ep, Drowned Giant, was interesting- I could see things happening that way if such a thing actually occurred. If nothing else, it was more a study of human behavior with the subject a MacGuffin around which to build the storyteller's insights. Honestly, I think he let humanity off easy. Snow in the Desert was one of those that gives just enough info in an engaging way that makes you want more. They could build a cool series around this ep, I think. Combine it with the world of Lucky 13 from the first season, and maybe Life Hutch from second, and you'd have a good start on an interesting world in which to tell some cool stories. The most striking thing about this season is its brevity; the first season had 18 eps, and S2 only 8. S1 had more room to explore deeper and more dramatic ideas, with little bits of quirkiness in between. S2 had more quirk than profundity. Hopefully, there'll be a season three, and now that we're emerging from the pandemic, it'll get another 18 eps with more profound musings as in the first season. I could do with more stuff in the vein of Zima Blue, Beyond the Aquila Rift, Good Hunting, and Lucky 13. These are all closed stories, but the worlds they depict draw you in and make you want more.

IMHO, Highlander was a unique film that needs no reboot, and no further sequels. I didn't care for the series, either. Let it go. Do something original. What happened in Hollywood to virtually stifle all creativity and originality? It's sad when they're still mining 30+ year old properties for movies today instead of creating new properties for the next couple of generations to work off of. Likewise with The Crow. First film was great- everything after, meh.

Quite the collection. That BIG prime is like, Wow.

While a well done live action movie has the potential to do for Macross what the Bayverse did for Transformers, the quality of such a film depends on who they hire to write, direct, and star in it. If they go low on production, it likely won't do well. Even a well known lead actor won't save a movie; consider Ghost in the Shell. Too, as a Macross fan, I'm not crazy about the changes they made to the story, especially the nature of the Protoculture, nor the addition of Mospeada and Southern Cross. I'm just not, nor shall I ever be, a Robotech fan. Personally, if I was going to try to raise awareness of a property like Macross which has an established body of work, I'd get some good dubs made and introduce them on a far reaching streaming service, or services. Heck, if possible, I'd work out a deal with Cartoon Network to show Frontier over a period of several weekends at good time slots just to get one of the modern , and IMHO, better quality, series out there to generate attention and bait the hook, as it were, to create interest in the franchise as a whole. Along with that, maybe produce some in-between commentary showing off toys, talking about the music production, the process of creating some of the valk scenes- stuff that serves to further pique interest and make people want more. Judging by the enduring popularity of Transformers, there's certainly a market for transforming robots here in the Americas; you couldn't turn around without seeing some sort of transforming robot back in the 80's, but along the way, Hasbro locked it up and Transformers is the only domestic game in town today. From a marketing perspective, I'd want to foot-stomp the availability of these awesome Macross transforming jets in the American marketplace as much as possible. Furthermore, Transformers isn't exactly known for good transforming jets, so a series of realistic and kibble free transforming jets would encounter little competition from Hasbro, unless they really stepped up their game. I'm sure they wouldn't like having another transforming product on the market, but I don't know that they'd have any legal recourse to stop the marketing of Macross valks here in the Americas. Personally, along with Transformers and Macross valks, I'd love to see a resurgence of transforming robot popularity here in the US.

Yep. I think putting Timm in ultimate control is the best move they can make. He's more than proven he knows Batman inside and out, can craft a good story, and has an amazing eye for the details that make the world of Gotham feel real, gritty, and believable. To not give him lead would be an enormous waste of his experience.

I should concentrate my collection, or pare it down, but my attachment is such that I'd have a very difficult time deciding what goes and what stays. There'd be far more of the latter than the former. My pack-rat tendencies and sentimentality towards my toys make getting rid of anything nigh unthinkable. I've always been choosy about what toys I pick up, though, and I rarely feel like I need to get every repaint; generally, one copy of a mold is good enough, unless it's first season- then I want the full roster. Even with that I'm still choosy, though. My MP first season still has holes, but oddly, I don't feel as strong a need to complete it, so I continue to pick and choose figs that I like to slowly fill it out. CHUG is by far my largest TF collection, and at this point, my focal point, so I'm more apt to pick up figs as we go along. I'm hoping that the next line will offer the remaining first season minibots in deluxe scale to go along with WFC Cliffy, Bee, and Huffer. Oh yeah, and the rumored deluxe Insecticons. And, hopefully, a voyager scaled set of Constructicons that prove to be vast improvements on the lackluster (I'm being kind) CW versions. I think that would do nicely to round out the first season with all modern takes in proper scale. Since there are no third party CHUG scale takers, for better or worse, in Hasbro I trust.

Ha, funny you mention the t-shirts, as I was contemplating buying one, but I couldn't find the new ones they were touting in the vid this morning, so I just got Gnaw and Wreck-gar. But yeah, $45 is a bit too steep. That's like convention pricing, where you're paying experience tax for everything. If they were like $25, that'd be more reasonable-still high, but reasonable.

Amazon.com: Transformers Toys Studio Series 86-07 Leader Class The The Movie 1986 Dinobot Slug Action Figures, Ages 8 and Up, 8.5-inch: Toys & Games Got it thru Amazon- there's a 3 dollar markup, but free shipping.

I was putting in my order on Pulse, and it wasn't accepting the promo code "I still function" that they gave us in the vid. Well, in the time it took me to go back and look it up and then try several times, Slag sold out and he was removed from my cart. Grrrr! So, to put it in perspective, Slag sold out within about 17 minutes of availability on Pulse. Not quite Macross 'midnight madness', but pretty damned close for a mass retail fig. Crazy.

I've only seen a fraction of the Berserk anime out there, and none of the manga, but my wife and I both enjoyed the first season or so that we have seen. Miura-san was obviously a talented gentleman, and his loss hits me for how close in age we were- he was only five years older than me. Far too young to lose him, both as a human being and as an immensely creative artist. RIP, good sir.

Gnaw is also a Husui-san design. Nice to know he's still designing these things, and I'm especially glad to know that he appears to be behind the Dinobots. Sucks that they're reverting back to the politically correct Slug so as not to offend our British cousins. I get that the term 'slag' has a derogatory slang meaning towards women in Britain, but I assume its proper meaning is the same as it is here- the cast off by-product of smelting metal. Since we're predominantly English speakers, America no doubt carried the term over from our British forebears. It just seems overly fussy to assume the slang meaning when you're talking about a bunch of robots, but such is the sensitive world we live in. Gnaw was a nice surprise; it is nice to get those from time to time, and I'm glad the Hasbro folks got to spring it on us. Evan, the product designer who presented this morning, is definitely a TF fan, and I like his natural and generally uninhibited geeky discourse when they do these presentations- unlike a lot of the marketing presenters, he doesn't come across as just reading off a teleprompter. I appreciate these presentations, period; they don't have to, but it's a pleasant way to peddle their wares (b/c of course these are elaborate commercials), and we get some insight to the people behind the scenes, the processes (Evan's speaking about the challenges of trying to color match to TF: The Movie was interesting), and guest appearances like Matt Ferguson this morning. Seemed like a very modest fellow, but his talent is readily apparent when you consider the body of his work. I really wish they'd tell us whether or not G1 toy versions of the Dinobots are coming, but of course that would probably hurt sales of the current Movie inspired toys; I'd likely eschew the Movie versions in lieu of the toy versions, so I'm the guy they're trying to get to double dip, which I probably will if toy versions are released later on. They need to make a t-shirt with a bunch of multiples and repainted figs on it superimposed with the word, "SUCKER". That's me. I say it with a cheeky grin, though. I could be a meth head or a an alcoholic, but plastic toys are a much more fulfilling addiction, methinks. Healthier, too, or so I'm lead to believe. Just not very space efficient. So, yeah, I'm down for all the SS86 stuff they showed off this morning. I have neither familiarity nor interest in Shattered Glass, but I'm happy for the folks who are invested in that storyline. Even if they're just repaints, at least they're making the effort. More than we Animated fans have gotten.

Friendly reminder that this is happening today.

Glad to see Bruce Timm's name attached. Tim Burton's depiction of Batman changed my perspective 180 degrees, having grown up watching the Adam West series as a wee lad, and the Superfriends as I got older. While I enjoyed both, my impression of Batman as a character, having never read the comics, was of a cheesy guy in a cheesy looking suit who relies almost entirely on his utility belt to solve every challenge. In fact, until Burton's film, my nickname for Batman was Utility Belt Man, such was my low opinion of him. So, Batman happened, and then Batman: The Animated Series made its debut, and it was just so well done. Although Burton's film was the catalyst to put Batman back in the popular consciousness as a serious and dark crimefighter, B:TAS , IMHO, was a superior medium for telling his stories thanks to Bruce Timm and his team. We also have him and Paul Dini to thank for creating Harley Quinn, who's become one of the most notable villains in Batman's Rogue's Gallery, along with her Puddin'. The stamp of The Animated Series continues to reverberate and inform how we think Batman should be almost thirty years on. To create something that lasting and influential is a hell of a legacy. Honorable mentions to Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, and Arleen Sorkin who brought Bats, Joker, and Harley to life in such memorable fashion. It's still hard for me to hear any other voices coming from these characters. With the combined talents and experience of Timm, Abrams, and Reeves behind the scenes of this new show, I have faith that it'll be worth watching. If anything causes concern, putting it on Cartoon Network, who haven't been the best hosts for DC shows in the past, gives pause. I want the show to be on regular tv rather than subscription, but CN, with its erratic scheduling and seeming disdain for anything that isn't tactless and raunchy, as well as anything that actually has decent animation, I wonder that they wish to partner with them. There's not good history there, and I think they'd do better to put it on a different network. Guess we'll see.

I've had that box sitting under my table for a couple of years now- same issue, no room for it, but hopefully someday. I also have a similar looking cat. If you're short, bald, and a little paunchy about the midsection, I think we've got some parallel dimension stuff going on.

I may be biased , as Prowl's my favorite G1 Autobot design, but objectively, I think your observation is right on the money. Incidentally, Prowl is also Hasui's favorite character, and he personally designed the MP toy, so there's a a case to be made that Prowl benefited greatly from that personal attachment and Hasui's design philosophy of striking a good balance between the real world car details and the toon look. In Prowl's case, it's an impeccable marriage. I wish his approach had continued throughout the life of the line, as the plain Jane hyper-toon look and many of the subsequent concessions don't enthrall me. However, Skids is looking to mirror the old approach, with articulation regressing back to early 2K levels. I wish they could step up the articulation and maintain the early Hasui look, but if that's what it takes, so be it. Concerning WFC Jetfire's scale, I think they got it pretty close. https://reflector.tfw2005.com/wp-content/plugins/justified-image-grid/timthumb.php?src=https%3A%2F%2Freflector.tfw2005.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F14%2F2019%2F08%2FSiege-Jetfire-090.jpg&h=330&q=90&f=.jpg The toon's capricious scaling from scene to scene makes exact scaling nigh impossible, so there's wiggle room. To me, he scales well with the rest of the line. I'm also a fan of the mechanical detailing on the WFC figures, so I'm pretty happy with him. He's a 'dream' figure, one that I never thought would get an actual official toy, especially after thirty-plus years, so I remain grateful, and grateful that he turned out as well as he did.

It can be done with WFC Jetfire and FT Phoenix: Of course, the WFC fig doesn't have the ventral structures shown in the animation screenshot, and Phoenix approximates it, but without the blue window. Phoenix's landing gear are housed in that section where the blue window should be. I assume that Takara's MP will have the same bit of ventral detail, and very likely, the blue window. After all it's in the animation.

Are you being sarcastic? I think he means the semi-'GERWALK' form Starscream and Skyfire adopted in an ep or two, coming in for landing with their legs extended while the rest of their bodies remained in jet mode. I couldn't find a screenshot of Screamer landing like this, but I believe he did in at least one ep.

Never been a big Mad Max fan, or a fan of post-apoc vehicles modded to the nines with cow catchers, bars, spikes, etc, but if you're gonna make one and make it transform, then Frostlight's the way to do it. Looks awesome in both modes.