Transformers Super Thread 5

[Phyrox]

Damn... they couldn't have made starscream somthing a little smaller? David, your the jet expert, can you make a scale chart of all the current fighters in service?

you don't have to be an expert to compile something like that,

go to fas.org, or some similar site for the orthographic views (should be very easy to find US fighters), and get the dimensions off fas.org, or wikipedia, or whatever.

you're asking david to do a fair amount of work with all the scanning/searching, calculating pixel:inches, resizing, and combining.

[konimon]

I hacked this together a little bit ago to show how friggin huge an F-22 is. These pics are to scale:

An F-22 is about twice as long as a Peterbilt 379, but sheer size is several times greater.

A leaderclass Blackout would also be nice, or maybe because he's so big he could be an ultimate class.

Wow, I had no idea how big SS is in the movie, but then how awesome would GI Joe sized SS and Blackout be??

Edited June 4, 2007 by konimon

[Matt Random]

I finally opened Leader Prime. It is a really fun toy. The gun gimmick is a lot of fun to play with. Slide a lever and part of the gun flips around and a couple more barrels slide out of the forearm. Prime will still be armed with the barrels even if you chose to remove the big missile launching part of the gun. I can't stop playing with the automorph gimmick in the chest. It is even better once you get him out of the box since the panel that covers the head is also involved in the gimmick.

The transformation is most complex I've seen for a mainline transformer. Lots of folding a twisting. The lg transformation is neat. The actual legs and feet go to the front of the truck and the kibble that hangs off the back of the legs goes to the back of the truck with everything staying connected together the whole time. There are plenty of pegs and notches. The automorph on the feet is a two-stage process that is nicely executed.

The truck mode is huge! Ironhide looks tiny beside it so I can't imagine how small a deluxe would look. The truck is full of details and looks to be quite accurate to the real thing. The paint job is very nicely done. I like the flame deco. Chrome or silver paint would've been nice.

[David Hingtgen]

It wouldn't help much---there's not really that much difference unless you go for very small, older planes. Here's a Su-37 and F-16 comparison---the largest and smallest modern fighters. If you truly want small, you could get an F-5. I added the F-5E real quick.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

I hacked this together a little bit ago to show how friggin huge an F-22 is. These pics are to scale:

An F-22 is about twice as long as a Peterbilt 379, but sheer size is several times greater.

Seeing comparisons like that make me wish the Ultimate Transformer was something that big, not Bumblebee.

Still there are 2 more movies in the pipeline. If movie Starscream becomes as popular in the movies as Starscream was in g1, I hope hasbro decides to make a huge Starscream toy like an Ultimate version. 1/24-1/32 scale. 1 of the 2. Automorph on that would be incredible. It would be an awesome toy. No kibble. Sleeker alt and robot modes. All around awesome. Oh and in grey too.

If hasbro makes one to scale like the one shown, they just have to make the wings detached in package to save space. Or just make a wide box but a bit thin with the vertical stabilizers folded down. I could see something like that going for $80, after all the wings, as wide as they are, wouldn't be the main source of production cost. It would be the fueselage itself since it contains all the body parts.

[GobotFool]

you don't have to be an expert to compile something like that,

go to fas.org, or some similar site for the orthographic views (should be very easy to find US fighters), and get the dimensions off fas.org, or wikipedia, or whatever.

you're asking david to do a fair amount of work with all the scanning/searching, calculating pixel:inches, resizing, and combining.

I did a google search before that and didn't get much. I mostly found some old wwII scale charts. I was just asking, I wasn't demanding. Didn't mean to sound pushy if I did.

[JB0]

The 2008 Bumblebee is Wave 3, I believe, with Arcee and Dreadwing. Might be late June or early July.

The Target I went to earlier had Arcee on the shelf already.

[GobotFool]

The Target I went to earlier had Arcee on the shelf already.

was it the deluxe or scout version? There are currently two arcee molds out.

[JB0]

was it the deluxe or scout version? There are currently two arcee molds out.

Ummmm... Good question.

I didn't realize there were two.

Shows how much attention I paid.

Repaint of Energon Arcee, whichever class she fell into.

...

How can I know that, and not whether it was 6 or 10 bucks? I'm really a special kind of special here.

*rummages at Hasbro's site*

Scout.

[GobotFool]

Ummmm... Good question.

I didn't realize there were two.

Shows how much attention I paid.

Repaint of Energon Arcee, whichever class she fell into.

...

How can I know that, and not whether it was 6 or 10 bucks? I'm really a special kind of special here.

*rummages at Hasbro's site*

Scout.

It'll say deluxe on the packaging. It should also be larger, and more complex, also it has a head sculpt that is in line with the general aesthetic of the movie designs.

[JB0]

It'll say deluxe on the packaging. It should also be larger, and more complex, also it has a head sculpt that is in line with the general aesthetic of the movie designs.

Yeah... Which would've useful if I remembered anything besides "Energon Arcee, only in blue"

Though the price classes they use amuse me.

Mainly because "Deluxe" is so close to bottom-end.

[buddhafabio]

pick of the longest Peterbilt 379 i can find.

Edited June 4, 2007 by buddhafabio

[GobotFool]

Yeah... Which would've useful if I remembered anything besides "Energon Arcee, only in blue"

Oh and Deluxe Arcee is purple.

Here is a snap of my tformer haul. Yes, I'm pathetically addicted to transformers and will probably die a very lonely man.

Edited June 4, 2007 by GobotFool

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Caved in a bought brawl and wreckage. Very happy with them despite the small sizes. Took me a while to get used to trying to lock brawl's shoulders into the holes properly. The trick is to ensure the back plate clicks into place.

The manual seems to have his back mistransformed so that the turret has the guns pointing downward, and the sides of the turret are not split away to fold to the sides.

Took me a while to even realise you could bend the knees. These joints are very stiff

Wreckage: I have issues with the way his face always looks downard which is similar to classics mirage. Looks like they want to force you to do the "thrusting his crotch forward" leg pose to get his eyes leveled if you want him to look straight ahead instead of down at an angle.

[Apollo Leader]

Yes, I'm pathetically addicted to transformers and will probably die a very lonely man.

Couldn't have said it better myself!

For those interested, Target has a lot of their Transformer movie stuff on sale this week. The Robovision Prime which is a Target exclusive is $19.99 with the $9.99 toys being down to $7.99. Everything else is like 10% off (think that includes non-movie toys).

Looks like a lot of us will be very lonely men this week!

[Hikuro]

I just picked up Blackout at FRY's, I was right though, they were gonna mark these babies up, 22.99 for Voyagers, 49.99 for Leaders, and 11.99 for Deluxe and 7.99 for scouts/Real tech

Blackout isn't bad, I do like the idea that Scorponok can be attatched to blackout along with the lil mini figure version.

I do like the rotating blade button location, it's much easier to use then EVAC was.

However I don't like how his arms connect to his torso, the slots are to long for the pegs so his sides kind of shift up and down...and how he's pretty bow legged if I did the transformation right.

Anyone noticing that these figures don't actually have weapons? like blasters and what not?

[Fit For Natalie]

Clip of Prime fighting Bonecrusher on the freeway, as seen on the MTV 'awards' (and I use the latter term loosely).

Its a more complete scene of the often-seen trailer segment where Bonecrusher smashes the bus and tackles Prime, but this time shows what happens before and immediately afterwards.

Okay quality on Youtube

File download for better visual quality clip

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

I just picked up Blackout at FRY's, I was right though, they were gonna mark these babies up, 22.99 for Voyagers, 49.99 for Leaders, and 11.99 for Deluxe and 7.99 for scouts/Real tech

Blackout isn't bad, I do like the idea that Scorponok can be attatched to blackout along with the lil mini figure version.

I do like the rotating blade button location, it's much easier to use then EVAC was.

However I don't like how his arms connect to his torso, the slots are to long for the pegs so his sides kind of shift up and down...and how he's pretty bow legged if I did the transformation right.

Anyone noticing that these figures don't actually have weapons? like blasters and what not?

Sounds like yours might have a misaligned automorph thing too. It seems that all Blackouts have easily dislodged gears/springs.

[Black Valkyrie]

Scorponok Attacks

[David Hingtgen]

Bought Ironhide. Instructions suffer heavily from Hasbro's patented "abbreviated" instructions. It shows before, and after, but makes no mention of how those 4 hinges fold to make it happen. This is especially bad with the roof---there's multiple z-fold hinges that can go either way---and the instructions don't even show what it's supposed to look like when you're done. I currently have it "the best-looking way I can figure out". Also, one of the missles was dirty. Almost as if it had dried black grease or mud caked in all the grooves.

Saw Leader Prime. Colors suck IMHO. It's the same orangey almost-flourescent orange-red that the cheaper uglier DVD MP Prime has. It's not red, it's reddish-orange and cheap looking. Especially bad is the main chest parts (with the windows)----it's molded in clear blue for the windows, but has a thin layer of flourescent orange paint over it, which easily shows the blue plastic underneath. Am definitely going to wait for a repaint. (I'll take anything--G1 red, Magnus white, Nemesis black)

Bumblebee looks pretty nice, but I plan to wait for the 2009 version.

Jazz sucks color-wise, he's GREY, not silver. Same problem as Prime--we know Hasbro can do more silvery-looking plastic, but the movie toys are 99% grey with 1% silver sparkle.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

Bought Ironhide. Instructions suffer heavily from Hasbro's patented "abbreviated" instructions. It shows before, and after, but makes no mention of how those 4 hinges fold to make it happen. This is especially bad with the roof---there's multiple z-fold hinges that can go either way---and the instructions don't even show what it's supposed to look like when you're done. I currently have it "the best-looking way I can figure out". Also, one of the missles was dirty. Almost as if it had dried black grease or mud caked in all the grooves.

Saw Leader Prime. Colors suck IMHO. It's the same orangey almost-flourescent orange-red that the cheaper uglier DVD MP Prime has. It's not red, it's reddish-orange and cheap looking. Especially bad is the main chest parts (with the windows)----it's molded in clear blue for the windows, but has a thin layer of flourescent orange paint over it, which easily shows the blue plastic underneath. Am definitely going to wait for a repaint. (I'll take anything--G1 red, Magnus white, Nemesis black)

Bumblebee looks pretty nice, but I plan to wait for the 2009 version.

Jazz sucks color-wise, he's GREY, not silver. Same problem as Prime--we know Hasbro can do more silvery-looking plastic, but the movie toys are 99% grey with 1% silver sparkle.

It puzzles me why they did not go for silver plastic like the kind used on Cybertron Galvatron. Especially with Jazz.....wow. Something tells me final battle jazz is just one in mettalic paint. It looks like it from the card shot I saw. Surprisingly, on the video reviews I have seen thus far, Jazz seems to be the worst one.

I have a question about Ironhide. For his automorph I've seen that lowering his feet basically activates the automorph and transforms the lower leg. Does anything lock into place or are the parts secure/not easily dislodged? Automorph looks similar to the Robovision Prime I recently got, but with robovision Prime(I finally figured this out), you basically fold down the knee cap as you arc the lower leg into position. Doing these 2 things activates the automorph with panels swiveling in and out and the foot being kicked into position as a panel shows up were it used to be. Pretty cool. There is a locking mechanism as well.

What do you think Ironhide? Do you like it a lot? Impressed by it/movie figures?

The movie figures impressed me with their intricacy and detail. The automorph is awesome, I honestly think this line has set a standard for how all future mainline cartoon/movie transformers are handled.

I hope for the next movies, hasbro chooses better colors to mold their plastic in and better paints to use. Better instructions would help too.

[eriku]

There ended up being a lot more movie toys that look appealing to me than I thought there would! I'm trying to space out my purchases rather than binge, but so far I've picked up:

Deluxe Brawl: Tank looks great, bot looks great and is nicely articulated but I can't get the shoulders to lock no matter what tricks or suggestions I try.

Deluxe Bumblebee: Fantastic car mode (although it sucks that Japan gets clear windows and we get painted - um, WHY??) and bot mode looks very cool, too. Lots of articulation and fun transformation with lots of 'automorph' going on, which I didn't think I'd care for but it's unobtrusive and pretty cool. Only complaint is that it's got two right hands, which is surprisingly the first toy I've ever bought with that problem.

Voyager/Robovision Prime: I L O V E this toy. I didn't like the colors very much online, but in person they looked great, especially the silver paint that defines this version from the regular version. Truck mode looks very real and just downright cool. Lots of detail. Bot mode is nicely proportioned, although there is a sort of backpack thing going on that some people don't like. Doesn't bother me at all because the bot is stable and I'd rather have a backpack than kibble. Articulation is about as good as it can get although the head's not ball-jointed and the ankled don't move side to side. Transformation has a lot of moving parts, like a Binaltech almost, but far, far more intuitive and easy to complete. I'm always amazed that they can engineer something with so many moving and hinged parts to lock together so tightly. The smokestack guns look really good and are a clever design. Prime is one of the few movie toys that actually has a hand-held weapon.

Real Gear Longview, SpyShot and PowerUp: All of these are winners, and I plan to get the rest of the Real Gear line as well. Sculpts and colors are very 'real world'. Some people think they're too small, but it's not really that much of a problem. Bot modes on all three are really dang cool looking and have a lot of articulation. I love the pinchers on SpyShot (they move, too!). The transformation on PowerUp is mostly automorph and simple, but it's still fun. Longview and especially SpyShot have some of the most clever and fun transformations I've ever seen. They're not that complex, just unique. I might try to mod Longview into a space cruiser since his alt-mode sculpt could very much pass for one.

Next on my list is the rest of the Real Gear line, Ratchet, and maybe even the Fast Action Battler Starscream because he looks like a little SD jet/robot/turtle combination.

[promethuem5]

That's always been my problem with main-line transformers nowadays... the sculpts are usually really nice, but Hasbro is the stingiest company with finishing and paint apps I've ever seen... and the movie toys are no exception.

[David Hingtgen]

Ironhide is amazingly "black". Everything's black, black, and more black. I don't really like the character or design, I bought him PURELY for transformation complexity.

Anyways--the automorph works very well and everything stays in place. The problem is getting it BACK. Folding the feet back up alone with just strip gears. Best method I found is to move the side leg panel back into place as far as you can, then grab the feet and side panel all together and move them.

I plan to paint the stacks silver. He has transparent blue foglights, FYI. And in a note of stupidity--his headlights are also transparent blue. But covered in silver paint on the outside. What's the point of molding clear parts separately, then covering them in opaque paint? Methinks the factory mis-interpreted the painting instructions.

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Scorponok doesn't look too bad though. Notice how they have put macross type markings on his body like "no step"? lol

I found that with wreckages chest piece, I had to push the chest down while forcing the automorph part that usually pushes it upward, so that the chest would move one 'step' or 'click' point closer to the chest cannon. I think it is one step/click off. So It might need you to 'automorph' the part that pushes the chest piece up, while you have your thumb locked down on the chest so that the teeth are aligned to a 'earlier' click.

Then once you do that, you automorph the chest as usual and it should be aligned properly where the chest sits flush on the chest cannon.

Edited June 4, 2007 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[Phyrox]

Scorponok doesn't look too bad though. Notice how they have put macross type markings on his body like "no step"? lol

macross type?

[mpchi]

That's always been my problem with main-line transformers nowadays... the sculpts are usually really nice, but Hasbro is the stingiest company with finishing and paint apps I've ever seen... and the movie toys are no exception.

Totally. Its such a waste on a well engineered toy, only to have very sloppy paint all over it. I guess Hasbro really care less, since kids don't care as much about paint job, nor the parents that pay for them. Its the adult collector crowd that gets bothered by it, yet they will shell out the money to buy them regardless.

I am really enjoying my Leader Prime. Wish the head is a bit more accurate and has longer antennae though. Again, tailored to the kids crowd.

[Ginrai]

Totally. Its such a waste on a well engineered toy, only to have very sloppy paint all over it. I guess Hasbro really care less, since kids don't care as much about paint job, nor the parents that pay for them. Its the adult collector crowd that gets bothered by it, yet they will shell out the money to buy them regardless.

I am really enjoying my Leader Prime. Wish the head is a bit more accurate and has longer antennae though. Again, tailored to the kids crowd.

Yeah, how dare they make toys for children.

[mpchi]

Yeah, how dare they make toys for children.

Haha. LOL

[gerwalk25]

I bought Real Gear/Microchange Spyshot 6 at KB's. I really like this figure and managed to fool a few people thinking it was the real deal. Since there on sale @ Tar-Jay I'll have to pick up Speedial tomorrow.

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Another thing about wreckage: you really have to push the shoulder swivel all the way up as hard as you can to make it as stiff enough so you don't accidentally autmorph the robot back into vehicle while posing the shoulders.

I found that at first every time I tried to move his shoulder for a pose I would accidentally swivel the automorph thing and cause the chest piece to fly back up. Now that I have it really tightly nudged up all the way so it is stiff, I have no issues with the chest piece flying up accidentally when posing the shoulders. There is no audible click to indicate you have it swivelled as high as you can go, so just use as much force as necessary to make sure it isn't loose. (you are not going to break anything)

Combine this with the other trick I mentioned about using your thumb to change the tooth that the automorph wheel is set to push the chest piece, (make it so that the automorph pushes the chest down on an earlier click, by using your thumb to push the chest plate down while forcing the swivel to push the chest plate up resulting in the chest reacting to a earlier *click so that the chest now sits flush on the chest cannon instead of bouncing up) and the toy isn't as bad as the reviewer on BWTF makes out. Once you do these two things it should be boosted to "highly recommended" status imo. (that is if you like eva type robots )

*you can actually see the teeth of the automorph thing when you look at the chest from above. You want to slide one tooth to make the chest go down early in the automorphing sequence. I had to do it since I found that the chest keeps popping up after transforming for the first time in robot mode which can be annoying.

Edited June 5, 2007 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[Hikuro]

hey has anyone been going thru youtube seeing those "exclusive" clips? I just saw one of Bonecrusher versus Prime 0_o and it was rather sweet.

[areaseven]

RadioShack has some toys for the movie; many of which are exclusive to the store chain:

Micro IR Cars - $14.99 each

Starscream RC Micro Flyer - $39.99

ZipZaps Micro RC Optimus Prime - $19.99

ZipZaps Micro RC Bumblebee - $19.99

ZipZaps Micro RC Barricade - $19.99

Cyber Stompin' Robot Action Figure (Optimus Prime or Bumblebee) - $24.99

Optimus Prime Voice Changing Helmet - $39.99

And since I work at RadioShack, I can get 10-30% off any of these toys.

[Fit For Natalie]

Saw Leader Prime. Colors suck IMHO. It's the same orangey almost-flourescent orange-red that the cheaper uglier DVD MP Prime has. It's not red, it's reddish-orange and cheap looking. Especially bad is the main chest parts (with the windows)----it's molded in clear blue for the windows, but has a thin layer of flourescent orange paint over it, which easily shows the blue plastic underneath. Am definitely going to wait for a repaint. (I'll take anything--G1 red, Magnus white, Nemesis black)

It ain't bloody flourescent orange-red. Its just a brighter red. Your eyes need fixing. I've owned the thing for two weeks and it doesn't look fluro orangey red.

From the Transformers wiki:

Unlike the real world, where the word means "fluorescent," neon is a term used by many in the Transformers online fandom to describe any color on a Transformers product that an individual merely finds ugly. This broad usage means practically any color imagineable can be marginalized as a hated "neon" color.

Link

Sorry to hear about Hasbro's crappy instructions (they seem to be outdoing themselves in crapness for the movie line) and the dirty missile.

[Hikuro]

So true, the instructions are really crappy in general. like they don't tell you about the feet on Barricade......or how the shoulders need to be rotated and angled.