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Transformers Super Thread 8


azrael

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Picked up Voyager Starscream today. It's a huge improvement over the first movie version, with better proportions and much less kibble in jet mode. I'm still not a fan of the robot mode, but this one is more tolerable. It's pretty much the best Voyager toy in the ROTF lineup, next to Megatron.

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There's supposed to be a Leader version of SS in the works right?

Hopefully there's a repaint sans the cybertronian markings... whatever happened to "robots in disguise"?

It's called "stupid amounts of confusion over which F-22 is Starscream from the first movie". That and Michael Bay's shooting style doesn't really make it easy on you to spot the 'con.

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Yup, saw the Peterbilt on Ebay last night. Blue's a bit too dark and it's missing the tool boxes, but it's very nice. (tool boxes could be added fairly easily--I'd swap out to smooth-sided battery boxes, too)

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Hmm both Target and Toys R Us had leaders for 40 bucks last week, but I dunno if that was a sale or not. The paint on the combined photo looks really good though, but I'm sure it's just Hasbro sprucing up the demo shots again. Still I'd consider buying this if I didn't already own half of it.

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But if they did that, we wouldn't have mistransformed test shots to criticize!

lol, I wouldn't mind if it were limited to test shots... but really, they should have mistransformed shots on their packaging, adverts, promotional materials, etc.

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I was trying to figure out why Silverbolt's knee joints didn't work so well when I found this:

Knee fix

It doesn't take long at all and Silverbolt/Storm Jet will be a better figure from it.

Speaking of Hasbro's incompetence...

(and Takara's, whoo!)

Honestly, I never got into worrying about his legs(beyond "why are the gold toes on the backside?).

I was more worried about the fact that his torso is a hollow shell that doesn't stay together. And then I was too caught up in making Superion not suck.

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I wish if they were gonna go all out with the paint, they'd fix some of the places that have no paint but should. For example his bicep area has a silver band that should be blue w/red flames (or visa versa). There are also two spots on his stomach area that are supposed to be blue but are just molded in silver. There's also a few little spots on his head that should be silver, but those are easier to remedy. Silver seems easier to match vs the Red and Blue.

Still chromed up would look mighty nice and the additional features makes it hard to pass up.

Edited by kaiotheforsaken
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E-hobby is apparently reporting that Buster Prime will have chrome. Don't know how much, but hopefully a lot.

Ha ha.

I knew Takara-Tomy would give us something better as usual.

But I'm still not getting it.

Poo doo to Transformers - except G1, Henkei and Masterpiece. Er- and Beast Wars.

Pete

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Well you are certainly keeping costs down by limiting which series to buy up. Still, ROTF Prime is one of the best Transformers I've owned, movie or otherwise and is easily the best figure of either movie line.

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Well you are certainly keeping costs down by limiting which series to buy up. Still, ROTF Prime is one of the best Transformers I've owned, movie or otherwise and is easily the best figure of either movie line.

LIES! Wreckage is the best figure of either line!

...

What? I love Wreckage.

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Well you are certainly keeping costs down by limiting which series to buy up. Still, ROTF Prime is one of the best Transformers I've owned, movie or otherwise and is easily the best figure of either movie line.

I do agree that the ROTF Prime looks like they put a substantial amount of effort into it - not enough effort to make it perfect or as good as it should be - but certainly enough effort to warrnat the retail price. It is a great piece at that price and a fine effort. So yes - just to show I'm not biased - I agree.

However, it also seems like all the R&D money went into developing leader Prime and then the plan is to get the R&D investment back by selling things like Supreme Devastator, which clearly was designed by somebody's 5 year old kid, drawn with a Crayon on some toilet paper and approved by a Hasbro exec AFTER he'd blown his nose in it by accident.

As to keeping costs down... yeah; I will admit I quit on Hasbro to keep costs down. Transformers were just not selling well and Hasbro was just not making it worth my while to carry them.

But this is probably because Transformers is pretty much the only major toy line carried in real-time non-internet retail outlets all over Poland...

If the economy were better, I'd still stock the crap as a loss leader just to get people to come, buy something from Hasblow, and maybe take something better while they're there.

But with the economy being crack and negotiating with a Hasbro rep being about as realistic as kissing the ass of an 80 year old woman after she'd taken a crap in some poison ivy ... yes - cutting costs is the way to go :)

But - if the Takara Tomy stuff actually ends up looking extremely good - as in like the FrenzyRumble customs that have been posted, I might just be game for them.

I do agree that a lot of what makes these toys look ugly is the paint job - or rather the lack of paint. It's like somebody (sometimes) took the time to sculpt details but then nobody cared enough to ...actually paint them.

On old G1 Transformers, there were no details. The sculpt was usually smooth. The details were all decals that you applied - often times imitating shapes with breadth and width even. The end result looked kind of cartoony, but that's part of the charm and..hey - it WAS a cartoon :)

But what's the point in these new sculpts where there is detail but no painting?

Pete

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While I really did not like RotF the second time I saw it, I have to give it credit for getting me out of my slump and back into working on my JP G1 collection :D I just won a loose Metrotitan body on YHJ in great condition with the stickers... it'll be a snap to repaint some Metroplex parts and have me a toy I never thought I'd get! Watchin a bunch of other stuff as well, including Micromaster Rabbicrater, the exclusive little guy who came with the original Zone VHS in Japan. A niche toy for sure!

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Well, saw jetfire today at target and picked him up... robot mode is kinda fun, just because he's hunched over and doesn't pose like traditional robots (you know, tall, chest out and uber heroic). Jet mode is kibbletastic. There's almost no way to pose him where there isn't some bit of arm or leg sticking out.

I maintain that if they had done away with the voice box and batteries they could have hid a great deal of him in the shell.

Have yet to try out the combiner mode.

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I maintain that if they had done away with the voice box and batteries they could have hid a great deal of him in the shell.

THat really is the thing that irks me about the Leader class figures. And that's not just collector side of me, I was never crazy about the lights and sound gimmick when I was a kid either.

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That's just horrible. It looks like a robot using a jet as a glider.

The hands sticking out from under the cockpit is just a really bad bad bad design - and it's the same problem that ROTF Starscream seems to have, albeit his hands stick out from under the afterburners (although I guess that's progress in the world of Transformers, since the Movie 07 version had the HEAD sticking out under the afterburners)...

EDIT:

It also doesn't seem to stick together as well. At least with cars and trucks and tanks they manage to make those look generally sleeker (although not always) - here it just seems to be wavey and wiggly all the way through - as if they couldn't get that nose to just be sleek and straight, and the wings have a wierd droop.

And the colors of the kibble are so horribly bland. It almost makes me cringe when thinking about transforming it to a form where those bland colors become the ....main colors :)

While I really did not like RotF the second time I saw it, I have to give it credit for getting me out of my slump and back into working on my JP G1 collection biggrin.gif I just won a loose Metrotitan body on YHJ in great condition with the stickers... it'll be a snap to repaint some Metroplex parts and have me a toy I never thought I'd get! Watchin a bunch of other stuff as well, including Micromaster Rabbicrater, the exclusive little guy who came with the original Zone VHS in Japan. A niche toy for sure!

Good for you.

I know that when I finally manage to secure my first JP G1 figure, it'll be easy to buy more.

I was aiming for Victory Greatshot at BBTS, but someone beat me to it.

Then I took aim at Victory Star Saber, but I can't seem to find one that WON'T cost me a thousand dollars when all is said and done (shipping, the inevitable taxes blah blah blah)...

Again - I tell myself it's the first one that always hurts the most - which is why I really want to start from a good figure like Star Saber or Great Shot or someone like that - then it'll be easier to follow through with the future ones.

Of course, Takara-Tomy could also solve my problem by starting to just reissue Victory...

Pete

Edited by VFTF1
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Good lord that Jetfire looks...sad from underneath. What's even more unfortunate is that since he is well...dead, we probably wont get ever get an upgraded version like they did for the new Prime.

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That's just horrible. It looks like a robot using a jet as a glider.

The hands sticking out from under the cockpit is just a really bad bad bad design - and it's the same problem that ROTF Starscream seems to have, albeit his hands stick out from under the afterburners (although I guess that's progress in the world of Transformers, since the Movie 07 version had the HEAD sticking out under the afterburners)...

EDIT:

It also doesn't seem to stick together as well. At least with cars and trucks and tanks they manage to make those look generally sleeker (although not always) - here it just seems to be wavey and wiggly all the way through - as if they couldn't get that nose to just be sleek and straight, and the wings have a wierd droop.

And the colors of the kibble are so horribly bland. It almost makes me cringe when thinking about transforming it to a form where those bland colors become the ....main colors :)

Pete

It actually *is* straight. It looks wavy because of the contours of the fuselage. The cockpit blisters up at the end so the curvature makes it look kinda wonky... Another poor design choice is that the very tip of the nose cone is actually soft rubber... so it's not going to match up at all unless you put sticky tack or some sh!t on it.

Some robot fun. I actually have come to like the bot mode. Could have used some more articulation in the neck and torso though.

And yeah... the colors suck.

_DSC5783.jpg

_DSC5782.jpg

Good lord that Jetfire looks...sad from underneath. What's even more unfortunate is that since he is well...dead, we probably wont get ever get an upgraded version like they did for the new Prime.

Yeah... There's actually a great deal of hollow areas in the toy that could have been used to stow the arms and without the voice box/battery box the torso could have been much flatter and with articulation and then the legs could have folded better.

Basically they really f@cked it up so it could have the sound and light gimmicks and then further to make it "combine" with Prime.

Edited by eugimon
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Good lord that Jetfire looks...sad from underneath. What's even more unfortunate is that since he is well...dead, we probably wont get ever get an upgraded version like they did for the new Prime.

Actually, I think he "survived". I looked at his spark chamber that he ripped out of his chest, and it's still clearly glowing in the scenes that it is visible on the ground (as Optimus is getting upgraded).

He might get a new body in the next movie.

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