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M'Kyuun

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Everything posted by M'Kyuun

  1. Yet, there are precedents for it's having been done better: Maketoys' Meteor New Age's Leviathan (sorry so blurry- I took this freehand, and the camera is extremely sensitive to vibration)
  2. It's 0619 PST, and the Wally POs have yet to be posted. When they finally do get around to posting them, it'll probably be O'dark thirty in the AM and only scalper bots will end up getting them. All I want is Brainstorm, which I missed when TR was still running. I have all the rest, and don't feel the need to pick up repaints. Nice that Hasbro is reissuing these, but they picked a lousy marketing partner. At least Target and Amazon post their new products on time. @Negotiator, @mikeszekely, thanks for the links, guys. Thanks to you, I was able to get my figs. Now if Wally would just post theirs...
  3. She's a fun one to pose, eh Kuma. BFB did such a great job with sculpting, painting, and articulation that she looks good from just about any angle. Really glad I got her. Every time I see your pic of the two Jazzes, the one on the right always strikes me as playing air guitar. Not sure if that was your intention, but it's actually apropos to the character, and for me it adds levity to the shot.
  4. I'm still not seeing the Walmart exclusive Headmasters anywhere. If anyone has a link, I'd appreciate it. Edit: Apparently Walmart hasn't listed them yet, as the links aren't posted on TFW, either. Nice lineup of figs, but I was hoping they'd announce the Ark dude as a surprise reveal. Guess we'll have to keep waiting for it.
  5. Thanks for the links; they weren't coming up for me at all, even directly searching by name. Having the same issue on Walmart's site. None of the new figs are showing up on their TF page.
  6. My heart sank when they said "exclusive". I've come to despise that word. Fortunately, I have all but Brainstorm (missed that one), so I'm going to try to get him. Def want Thrust (my fave Conehead) and Runabout from Target. And all the "86 figs from Pulse.
  7. Aw, man, that sucks. The vast majority of my collection is on shelves, although I do keep a few on the coffee table for hand candy when I' watching a show. My cat, a Manx, is a bit of a chewer, more than my dog, rest her soul, ever was. She's eight now, and her proclivity was waned slightly, although she still likes to go after pointy bits from time to time. She has yet, knock on wood, to do any major damage to any of my figures. RtS Jazz remains one of my favorite CHUG figs, and until the '86 SS fig, was the most faithful rendition of the character. While I like the SS' bot mode for all it does right, it makes me wonder why they wouldn't go the extra mile to make those feet fold into the car mode. It'd be nice if a third party rectified that ill bit of engineering slackery. Your points are valid, especially if you want toon accuracy. The RtS is still a really good Jazz fig, but definitely has its liberties. And yeah, the leg are wonky. I still love it, though.
  8. Jazz is looking pretty good, except for the feet hanging out the back of his car mode. C'mon Hasbro, you've already done better: The "86 SS Jazz bot mode looks pretty good, though, hollow forearms notwithstanding. It has a good mix of toon and toy. Shame they cocked up the car mode, which could also do with some paint apps on the rear fenders to complete the look. Mixed bag, this one, but I'll still probably get it. I have Arcee, and car feet aside, this is still far better than that figure. Wonder why they changed his number on the doors? Seems a running trend with WFC. Hot Rod looks amazing. All things being equal, I'd rather Jazz was the amazing figure.
  9. I officially embodied the "ass' part of assume with my post. I looked up the Ocular Max , and yeah, it channels the OG toy rather well. I remember liking the look of their Inferno, but ultimately went with the MP version, which turned out to be a nice figure, although a bit drab for lack of detail in bot mode. I'd rather have the sculpted details of Girder or Wrestle. But then, I've always been a fan of detail, preferring more over less, especially with a robot toy. Ooh, I'm very curious to see close ups of Jazz and Grimlock. Grimlock looks a bit emaciated in that pic; I hope it's a product of distortion, but somehow I doubt it, as the others look proportionate. I hope they do the rest of the Dinobots, as the PotP figs left somewhat to be desired between their small scales and concessions for the combining gimmick. Hey, at least you got a PO. I missed it, and am now at the mercy of their crappy stocking and distro practices. If it's any consolation, I've received delay notices from Amazon and Pulse recently, so I think it's more an issue of the pandemic taking its toll than the actual retailers, although, in your defense, Wally's track record ain't the greatest. Hopefully they'll come through- for all of us who want these figures.
  10. I think Hasbro should do it themselves. Give HG two middle fingers with one figure. That said, I wonder if maybe there was some intent behind Maverick's design, a test as it were, to see how far they can push.
  11. Thanks for the pic, Tekering. Comparing the two, there's just so much more texture, detail, and chunkiness to the Ocular Max. Plus, it looks like it has lo-pros compared to the fuller tires on the Takara. I think both are good toys; they just do different things aesthetically. Having MP Inferno, I think the better choice for me would have been to go with Girder for those differences. Too, I'm a fan of MMC's toys, so there's a little bias in there as well. Chronocidal said, "I think what's the most hilarious is how utterly VF-1-esque the transformation appears to be." Uncanny, isn't it? Well, when you can't figure something out yourself, borrowing from something that works isn't out of the question. And who knows, maybe Kawamori had a hand in its design, or at least gave Takara his blessing.
  12. I agree. It takes a little effort to get her legs locked into place with her ankles pretty deep into the front wheel wells, without touching the tires, as well as getting her hands into a good position where they're not dragging, but that effort is pleasantly rewarded by a smooth rolling car mode. The car mode looks nice, too. I do like the official Arcee transformation with the front of the car forming her chest, but given the heavily anthropomorphic style of Nicee's design, the departure is easily overlooked. The extra utility of her shoulder pods as hip skirts or a stylized bow is also pretty cool. I appreciate the innovation, even if my preference is to leave them on her shoulders. I do lament the omission of the hip weapon storage as originally seen in the concept art; that's a Robocop inspired feature that I was really looking forward to, and it's sad that it didn't make it into the final product. Too, the omission of the Arcee inspired head was dismaying, but hopefully it'll be among the accessories with their Windblade release. The fit and form of this figure is really impressive, though, and it raises my interest in how their Windblade is going to turn out. I thought we might see a proto at Wonderfest this year, but AFAIK, it wasn't shown. I'm not sure what the next Asian Con or toy show is, but fingers crossed their Windblade will be among the exhibits (along with Bandai's long awaited YF-21). Anyway, I absolutely love the art style BFB went with; she's just a beautiful figure.
  13. Couple of blasts from the past there, Kuma. Looking good, as always. I only got MP Inferno, and the way they designed the ladder to fold and stow inside the body is really it's coolest selling point, so far as this particular character goes. None of the third party contenders came up with so elegant a solution, just letting the ladder dangle off the back. I do regret not picking up MMC's Grapple, as I liked their design, but wasn't interested enough in the character at the time to pick him up. Too, it would have been nice to have that difference in aesthetics.
  14. This is a nice bit of crossover action I saw on Twitter today. The upcoming Maverick in VF-0 livery. Pretty sharp. I'm tempted to do the same when I get mine. Gotta chime in, too, and say what a nice looking fighter mode this is, especially with all the fanfare for MP-Starscream V2 and his rather questionable fighter mode. I wish more jet-formers looked this good.
  15. I'll have to try and remember that for Friday. Def down for most of those figs. As for the next wave of figs coming from the Unicron trilogy, as much as it dismays me personally, you're probably right. If so, with the way MP has been going, and my general dislike of the UT, my TF collecting is going to slow to a crawl over the next few years. I'll keep my eye on third party to sustain me, as well as stuff like Nicee and hopefully a Tread for my Sentinel Legioss.
  16. https://www.seibertron.com/toys/index.php?f_series_id=11&f_subgroup=&f_name=Enter+Character+Name(s)&f_type=exact Seibertron is a great resource for TF pics down through the years, and I invite you to peruse the gallery and make up your own mind about the RiD toys. While his design never struck a chord with me, I think Fire Convoy's one of the best toys in the line. I have him, X-Brawn, Prowl, and Sideburn, the latter three being some of the first toys to come out, as I remember, and I was just excited about their vehicle modes. All three turned out to be largely shell-formers with a lot of kibble, and asymmetrical features, like X-Brawn's one arm being the entire front end of his vehicle while the other is just a standard robot arm. They were going for something, and admittedly it was inventive, but ultimately not very nice looking. The bots, however, had a lot of articulation, especially by the standards of the day. Looking through the gallery myself, I was surprised by how much Beast Wars/Beast Machine crossovers there were. I believe I bought Skybyte during that time. Check out the UT gallery as well. The big gimmick for most of that trilogy was the ability to combine two characters into a larger robot. More often than not, the combined mode was ungainly, awkward, compromised by lots of kibble, and just unsightly. But there were a few winners in there. We got our first official Arcee figure, with a motorcycle alt mode, and I still have a soft spot for Armorhide (little blue cabover) who's up on my CHUG shelves somewhere. I bought a number of toys from the three lines, especially the ones that reminded me of G1. My attachment to them faded pretty quickly, though, for most anyway. Ultimately, what I've always wanted in the mainline is what we're getting with the current WFC Trilogy, as well as all the G1 love we got with TR and PotP. I'm feeling pretty fulfilled with WFC, but it does make me curious what's next, when all the G1 is done. Whatever it is, I hope it's more groundbreaking stuff like Animated or Prime, with new characters, new setting, new story, and a new look. Out with the old, in with the new, as the old saying goes.
  17. We're on opposite sides of that preference; I'd take a MP Animated Prime over anything RiD or Unicron trilogy. I just wasn't a fan at all of the Japanese imported shows or their toys, although , admittedly, I own toys from all of it, including Fire Convoy, which I don't care for. I found most of the toys from that time period to be lackluster at best, and just this side of terrible in general. I welcomed RiD initially, b/c it was a return to vehicles as alt modes, but I quickly became disenchanted with it. My interest in collecting Transformers didn't rekindle again until '07 with the Classics line, and some of the Bayformer stuff. Even then, I didn't like the look of Bayformers, but the advances Takara was making in engineering and complexity with those toys was enthralling. I own a lot of them, especially from the earlier films. That said, My interest in Takara's making MP Animated anything is tepid at best. I don't have the room for it, I fear greatly for how the things would turn out, especially the vehicle modes, and I'm content, mostly, with the toys we already got. There are a few that I wouldn't mind seeing a third party taka a crack at to improve them over the originals at their original scales, but overall I'm good with what I've got. If nothing else, it was an interesting experiment on HasTak's part. I like what they did, for the most part, but I also realize it's not for everyone, and I'm cool with that.
  18. Oops, I stand corrected. For some reason, and in spite of owning the series, I always think of it as only having two seasons. The fourth season toys would have been great. Shame we never got either. True, the toys stand apart aesthetically. But the same argument can be made for both the Bayformer toys, and Prime by extension. All my Animated figs are displayed on my desk, and all the other lines are displayed on my CHUG shelves, but mostly grouped with each other according to series. These days, the shelves are so full that they're basically all crammed next to each other. So many toys, so little space. But I'll make room for more Animated toys. Honestly, Omega Supreme is the one I really want, along with Blackout, who's priced so ludicrously these days that, barring a Hasbro release, I've given up any chance of owning him. OS is the Holy Grail from that line for me. With John Warden moving on to Power Rangers and a new senior lead taking the reigns for Transformers, maybe there's some Animated nostalgia there that'll materialize in the form of some isolated releases. Fingers crossed. I just don't want it as another overpriced Haslab project.
  19. Preach! I agree 100% about the show not getting its deserved third season to wrap things up. I'd hoped that at the very least they'd do a graphic novel akin to what the Avatar creators did after the original series ended. Great books if you're an Avatar fan. The toys were innovative and cool, especially since that style of artwork had never before been translated to physical toys. Some are on the money, some aren't, but the vast majority are innovative in one way or another. Too, this line came out before Hasbro started going cheap with hollow areas all over, smaller sized figures, more exposed or simple joints, like mushroom pegs, etc. Most of the animated figs are solid, with better overall builds than many of the current toys. The figs you pointed out are among some of my favorites. I also think Blackarachnia was well done, as well as voyager Prime, Blurr (inspired by the unused Cheetor Transtech design, and issued as a Con exclusive in Cheetor deco. Full circle. ), Swindle, Rodimus Minor, Cybertronian Ratchet/ironhide, etc. I could keep going. I just love this toyline. I wish I'd been able to score a Blackout, but I missed out. It goes for insane prices now, so unless Hasbro does something similar for Animated and releases Blackout here as an exclusive, he'll be the one that got away. Well, he and Cybertronian Ironhide. I keep hoping that Hasbro will do something for Animated, but it seems like they just want to sweep it under the rug, as if it's something to be ashamed of. And yet they keep putting out Bayformer stuff. Now that's something to be ashamed of.
  20. "Get away from her, you B***h!" I really wish they made a Ripley figure, or at least a scaled humanoid figure, to go with this. For it's needing to fold into a box, it's rather well detailed, with nice mechanical features, like moving piston rods in the arms, crisp paint apps, lots of tampo markings all over, two sets of detachable hoses for additional detail, and plenty of articulation (ankle pivots and rocker; knees to about 60 degrees; hips on balljoints that go 90 deg forward, almost 90 back, and about 25 laterally; shoulders on a ball peg which can butterfly back a little at the body joint, and rotate 360 at the shoulder, as well as some play due to the ball joint; elbows that go a little past 90; a rotation joint mid forearm that rotates 90, another rotation joint at the fork that can go 360 without the hoses attached, and the forks can independently move on a slider with enough friction to maintain position. The canopy hinges upward on a double hinge for transformation, and it has the little welding torch attached on the driver's right side (I thought it was on the left in the film, but I'm not sure), which can rotate on a peg. Mine's very loose, along with the right forearm rotation joint. Otherwise, everything is appropriately tight. I also forgot to mention that the footpads can rotate up into the leg for a more streamlined look, but I think that's for transformation. Last nitpick, I love the hydraulic hose attachments, but they don't plug in very tight, and pop out very easily. They're designed to be removed, and need to be for transformation into cube mode, but , you know, loose stuff is always a bother. On the whole, my nitpicks are just so, and I think this is one of the coolest figures in their Megabox line. For such a small rendition and its cube-forming gimmick, it's really a great little representation that would make for a splendid desk toy. Recommended.
  21. I'm still peeved that they're doing BW and some limited Prime stuff, but they never did anything for Animated for it's anniversary. I know it wasn't for everyone, but it definitely had a following (the show was well done whether or not you liked the art style- it grew on me, but I thought the storytelling was great. It was a fun show), and quite a few cool toys to go along with the show. I was really hoping for Animated Omega Supreme/the Ark for the tenth, but all we got from Hasbro was the sound of silence. Looks like ER Bluestreak is going to be a Walgreens exclusive. https://news.tfw2005.com/2020/10/10/transformers-earthrise-bluestreak-out-at-us-retail-walgreens-exclusive-421815 What fun.
  22. Transformers Generations War for Cybertron Series-Inspired Soundwave Battle 3-Pack - Walmart.com - Walmart.com Good luck!
  23. Man, I totally empathize. I was able to get the Target Seekers by chance when they finally , and briefly, became available online. I don't recall who now (I have a goldfish memory on the best of days. Best days are fleeting and few), but somebody here pointed it out when they became available, so my fervent and sincere thanks. For the Decepticon Clones, I was checking Target's website sporadically, and just happened to hit it one evening when they were available; I drove over to the store the next day. I waited over an hour for the picker to deliver it up front, and finally when the manager with whom I'd spoken on arrival saw me still standing there empty-handed, he told me he'd cancel my online order and I could just go back and pick one up off the shelf, which I did. In the end, my online order wasn't cancelled, but I didn't go back for it, so it presumably went back to the shelf and I wasn't charged for it. In hindsight, I wish I'd grabbed two sets, as I could have helped a brother out here. Alas, regrets. I've been checking Walmart's site everyday (I have a direct link to the Soundwave page), and it's always out of stock. My brick and mortar store hasn't had it either, so I don't know if it's a distro issue, or availability, or what. But yeah, I'm sick and tired of all the exclusivity, as it makes an already hard to get product just that much harder (these are toys, for Pete's sake. You should be able to walk into any store that sells toys and find these things). Moreover, it just fuels the scalper market. Only Hasbro and scalpers benefit from these exclusivity deals. It certainly doesn't benefit children or us adult collectors. "Where fans come first" indeed. I remember how much fun it used to be to go toy hunting, right up until the turn of the millennium. Stuff was available; you needn't be rushing to secure a preorder to ensure the faintest chance of getting a toy. It's totally unfair to kids, as most will never see these things in their store. It's a shame that a few greedy adults, as well as poor market availability on the part of Hasbro, have conspired to limit widespread availability of toys. It's rather bizarre, if you think about it. And a little sad. As to Screamer2's waist rotation, or possible lack thereof, it seems an unlikely omission given their move towards greater articulation. The ab crunch is there (I really hate that term, but for the lack of any other, I use it). But, it's noticeably absent in every pic of this figure, and that canopy sits very close to his adult diaper, so maybe he doesn't have it. As I'm pushing 50, I can attest that my own waist rotation is rather minimal these days, so it's not that essential. And yeah, one more feather for Maketoys if indeed it can't turn at the waist.
  24. As much as I abhor the Bay films, and dislike the character designs, for the reasons Mike elucidated, I've admittedly bought a fair share of the toys over the years. The complexity of the figures, at the time, was really a serious advancement for Transformers, even if I didn't always care for the look of the bot mode, and I found that aspect very appealing. It was a positive direction. Eventually, they started getting maybe a little too complex, but that's an argument for another day. Anyway, I still have my '07 Ratchet, and although he's a chunky beast that looks very little like his CG model, the old school chunkiness made him feel like a "regular" Transformer to me. He's the only version of Bayverse Ratchet I own. Anyway, I appreciate the unintended trip down memory lane. Thirteen years- gah, where has the time gone? As for Starscream2's weapons, they're based off the animation which is based on the G1 toy, so even though they're not realistic, they are true to the source, so I can't fault them. I should have done my homework before complaining. Sumimasen.
  25. I still have MP-3 Screamer (Walmart exclusive), Greenscream, and, I think, MP-3 Skywarp. They're all boxed up somewhere around here. The only one I ever opened was Greenscream. I never picked up any of the MP-11 remolds, although I would have liked to have had one of them just b/c. Now I'm more interested in picking up Maketoy's Thundercracker and Starscream to complete my MP Seekers. I've been holding out in the event Takara made a new Seeker, and having that wish come to a most unsatisfactory fruition, I'm hoping I can pick up some Maketoys Seekers cheap.
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