SMS007

Official reveal of Ricochet (Stepper) and red Swoop in “Generations Selects”, the new apparent successor to May Mayhem. 

https://www.allspark.com/2018/11/preorders-up-for-transformers-generations-selects-ricochet-and-swoop/

“Elseworlds” is looking better and better!

Alas, none of my region’s Targets have had Siege thus far. Perhaps this week may bear fruit. 

7 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

I checked, and it's not a mistranslation... Roid really does say Heinz is a descendant of the legendary Star Singer.

That raises a series of awkward questions like:

1. Did Roid even know what a Star Singer actually is at that point?  The Sigur Berrentzs didn't spell it out for him until the end of episode 21.

It wasn’t the Sigur Berrentzs featured in episode 21; it was the Time Shrine underneath Derwent on Windermere that had the magic mural appear out of nowhere.

I seem to remember a different moment wherein Roid described the Star Singer as a priestess left on Windermere by the Protoculture, though I don’t remember which episode that was.

As to your main question, I’m not sure I can come up with a plausible answer given the absolute mess of Delta’s writing. Why would the Protoculture give one of their servitor species a means of direct control over one of their own members? (Well, I guess the stupid storytelling never specifies the exact species identification of Mikumo or her clone template, so that’s an assumption on my part.) That seems like handing over the Bird Human’s firepower over to the Zentraedi and trusting that they will use it for entirely good and just reasons.

By the way, the spelling of the demonym is “Windermerian”. 

On 11/27/2018 at 12:43 PM, captain america said:

Most likely Singapore Dollars. To price it at 50,000 yen would be to BEG third-party companies to knock them off with a better product at half the price.

...did you even read the article? The source of the price is the Hong Kong-based store Action Robo, who quoted a price of 50000 Japanese yen, which is indeed equivalent to ~440 U.S. dollars.

10 hours ago, JetJockey said:

Maybe it's just me. But when I was a kid, I always thought the Go Bots were very generic compared to the Transformers. Both in look and transforming complexities. The only one I own is Psycho because I like the car mode. I still don't like the robot mode.

I feel like this is a common criticism by fans when citing reasons that led to Transformers defeating GoBots in the Western market.

On 11/22/2018 at 5:35 AM, JB0 said:

2. Did they just completely change the Go-Bots origin story like it ain't nothin'? I get that with Hasbro owning both brands and IDW publishing both comics, there's a desire to differentiate them so they aren't both "multimode alien robots from a wrecked machine planet" stories. But they just wrote the Go-Bots as tools without free will. I think this was a concerted effort to see how annoyed they could make people in five pages, in which case MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Arguably, no. The 1980s European branch of GoBots, Robo Machines, had a tie-in comic using the backstory of GoBots as constructed artificial lifeforms.

As I understand the current situation, Bandai owns the original Machine Robo / GoBots toy designs, and since the Challenge of the GoBots cartoon used very toy-accurate animation models, Hasbro does not own those. However, Hasbro has built a closer relationship with Bandai as of late, as evidenced by Hasbro's acquisition of North American rights to Power Rangers. I suspect those closer ties are what has allowed Hasbro licensee IDW Publishing to use the original designs in one comic series.

1 hour ago, JB0 said:

Hasbro definitely DOESN'T own the cartoon Go-Bots. Those are Hanna-Barbara's, and their Facebook team actually got in trouble for using some Go-Bots cartoon screenshots at one point.

Do you have proof that licensee Fun Publications literally got in trouble with Hasbro over that?

The way I figured it, Fun Publications redid their GoBots illustrations to avoid advertising Bandai-owned IP per good business loyalty principles. Given Hasbro's actively non-interventionist policy with the proliferation of 3P figures, I seriously doubt they cared about one illustration on one obscure Facebook page. Said Facebook pages, Ask Vector Prime and Renegade Rhetoric, used plenty of Challenge of the GoBots screenshots not involving toy-based models.

I still can't believe Kawamori thought the ending of Sayonara no Tsubasa was clear and self-evident. When I watched the movie the first time around, I missed the moment the Vajra Queen escaped by fold because I blinked once.

Er, shouldn't a mod change the title of this thread to the actual "Mortal Engines"?

1 hour ago, RavenHawk said:

Professionally and ethically, I despise IP infringement... but then I see how gorgeous some of these "third party" toys are, and I just can't resist.

Indeed, that is essentially the sole reason I pay attention to "third party" figures.

I will probably soon get myself the Dino Force set from Black Mamba sheerly for the decoes.

17 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

The Sv-262 definitely has some design lineage to New UN Forces fighters... particularly the VF-9, given that the SV Works were once owned by General Galaxy.

13 hours ago, Master Dex said:

I had forgotten the General Galaxy connect to SV Works too. Another notch of the shady history of that company, heh.. well not SV Works in general.. but their ties through Epsilon who provided to Windermere knowing their plans is the shady bit. I can guess SV Works on it's own, as well as Epsilon in some respects, has at least initial legitimacy before this war. My point mainly being that it seems shady deals an individuals seem to often result from General Galaxy even when they aren't directly involved anymore.

Dont forget that the SV Works Sv-262 utilizes a holographic cockpit just as the Guld Works VF-27 (and probably the YF-27 as well) does with cybergrunts. In turn, the latter directly evolved that feature from the BDI-equipped cockpit of the YF-21 / VF-22 developed by the core worlds division of General Galaxy. 

Lol, as a minor believer in linguistic prescriptivism, I find it needlessly irritating that the fandom in general insists on the term “third party” for IP piracy in defiance of traditional clear-cut terminology.

Just watched the third episode. 

Damn! That is a hell of an origin story for Salem and Ozma. 

9 hours ago, Bolt said:

About the SV-262 Draken-

are there examples of it being used by the NUNS or any other governments aside from Windermere ?

45 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

None that we know of.

It seems very unlikely that the Sv-262 would be used by the New UN Forces, given that it's known by its manufacturer's internal designation for it rather than a NUNF Variable Fighter designation.

It's possible that some independent forces like PMCs or other paramilitary groups might use it, since Xaos immediately recognized it once the jamming hiding them from their gun cameras was no longer in operation.  That suggests the design did get disclosed properly as required by law and that Epsilon was probably actively marketing it as an alternative to the various military 5th Generation VF designs.

40 minutes ago, Master Dex said:

I hadn't considered that, but I took it as them just knowing Windermere had the fighter already.

I assume that SV Works under Epsilon ownership had already publicly marketed the Sv-262 somewhere else given its program goal of competing with Spacy fighters. After all, its predecessor the Sv-154 must have been public knowledge given its mass usage by Windermerian forces during the latter years of N.U.N.G. rule.

1 hour ago, Saruta said:

There was a scene in Delta series where a NUNS flotilla was immune to Var and kicked some Windbag ass, apparently, according to some sources. But I totally forgot it. Could anyone please share the episode number? (If it's true of course)

Delta episode 22, "Extreme Brave". Xaos and the N.U.N.S. attack Windermerian forces at Randall, and Captain Alberto Larrazábal leads his troops from Voldor for some payback. Back in episode 17, "Scatter on Stage", Arad and Kaname mention that some holdout Voldorian N.U.N.S. personnel had developed resistance to Vár Syndrome as a result of exposure to Walküre's singing.

1 hour ago, Saruta said:

Where wsa it mentioned that she is from Divide and that planet has a civil war? I missed that part.

Delta episode 21, "Yearning Secret". The one where ignorant fools 1, 2, and 3 are in prison.

On 11/13/2018 at 12:54 PM, Seto Kaiba said:

At this point, it seems safe to say that plans for a new Macross series have been preempted by plans for an all-original second Macross Delta movie... possibly titled Macross Delta II: the Search for More Money. 

I'll buy the yogurt.

I bet no sooner than 2020.

Y'know I would love to see a Macross AU featuring Sheryl as a New U.N. Spacy pilot flying a VF-27.

And now Baltmatrix gives us Hound:

https://www.allspark.com/2018/11/listings-appear-for-power-of-the-primes-ricochet-and-red-swoop/

Woah! Looks like we are indeed getting Power of the Primes incarnations of Ricochet and toy-colored Swoop!

On 11/3/2018 at 2:03 AM, mikeszekely said:

my hope is that providing a little more background can help people be more aware of the difference and why it matters.

Aha, okay. I was not initially sure if that was the goal you were going for. I do accept your point. 

Anyhow, to the subject at hand, Firedrive, Lionizer, and Blowpipe have now been sighted at Target in the U.S.

https://www.allspark.com/2018/11/siege-battle-masters-debut-at-retail/

Siege Prime and Megatron have been showing up at specialty shops and from private sellers in the U.S. this week. Now Baltmatrix has a video review of Optimus. 

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make by going an extended speech about things I already know, but whatever. Further discussion would probably be too long and off-topic for a Transformers thread.