The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[Scyla]

I would be interested in a ML Grimlock. But that means I would want the rest of the G1 Dinobots too and I don’t think this will happen.

[JB0]

Personally, I'd like a Missing Link Tracks, as he's one of my few childhood Transformers that didn't survive and also one that turns into an awesome flying car.

[Black Valkyrie]

 

Just waiting if they ever produce the ML Seekers. 

 

[M'Kyuun]

6 hours ago, Black Valkyrie said:

 

Just waiting if they ever produce the ML Seekers. 

 

The ML Seeker would pose a little challenge, as the arms were a bit short and the hands were separate bits that had to be "partsformed". I love the transformation of the arms, though, and the only other Seeker toy to fold the arms into the F-15's spine was part of the Robot Masters line. albeit done much better. If Takara simply followed that toy's solution with a ML design, I think it'd work well. Honestly, I wish every Seeker toy followed that design, as well as more jetformers in general to reduce the number of jets with robot arms just hanging off their sides.

[Black Valkyrie]

 

@M'Kyuun You might be right about the arms, if it happens the arms would be very little, especially for the fists.  

 

[pengbuzz]

3 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

The ML Seeker would pose a little challenge, as the arms were a bit short and the hands were separate bits that had to be "partsformed". I love the transformation of the arms, though, and the only other Seeker toy to fold the arms into the F-15's spine was part of the Robot Masters line. albeit done much better. If Takara simply followed that toy's solution with a ML design, I think it'd work well. Honestly, I wish every Seeker toy followed that design, as well as more jetformers in general to reduce the number of jets with robot arms just hanging off their sides.

I imagine they would have to modify the main body to "take" some material from it to make up for the forearms. As for the knees: that's a bit more simple.

[M'Kyuun]

17 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

I imagine they would have to modify the main body to "take" some material from it to make up for the forearms. As for the knees: that's a bit more simple.

The issue, since the goal is to approximate the OG toy, warts and all, would be to reproduce the added fist without partsforming, meaning they'll have to figure a point to insert elbows and then figure a way to create that oversized fist and make each fold into a wafer the same width as the upper arm to fill in the belly of the jet as unobtrusively as possible since the OG toy didn't have anything in that space. Much like slavish devotion to toon accuracy has affected certain figs, the most recent MP Starscream's ghastly alt mode comes to mind, the Missing Link's slavish devotion to preserving the look of the original toys, many of which suffered poor proportions and other shortcomings, will prove to be the line's Achille's Heel, IMHO. The OG Seeker design hasn't aged well and most toys now emulate a cross between toon and toy or straight toon, which benefitted from some of the toy's proportions being adjusted to look better, especially the arms and legs. Unfortunately, Takara can't incorporate any toon magic to spruce up the look of these figs, so for a number of them those poor proportions and partsforming bits are going challenge the designers while also somewhat hindering the toys themselves. The old adage, "You can't polish a turd' comes to mind, and while that may sound harsh and disrespectful, that's not the spirit in which I mention it; I mean it more from a practical design perspective. Theses shape-shifting toys represented an interesting new play pattern with a lot of thought and craftsmanship put into them (the prototypes were often carved out of wood!); however, ultimately so much more focus was placed on the puzzle aspect and creating realistic believable alt modes while the robot modes remained secondary considerations, which is generally where we see the greatest weaknesses of the Diaclone and Micochange and hence G1 toys. Those weaknesses are going to carry over by dint of preserving the look of the toys in both modes and many are going to fare poorer than others. If indeed they do the Seeker, or Megatron, both are going to suffer from carrying over the minuses of those early toys. That said, I'd still pick up a Missing Link Megatron having never owned the OG toy but still finding it pretty darn cool in its own way.

To that end, I favor what Has/Tak did with the Legacy United deluxe class Optimus Prime where they closely approximated the look of the G1 toy, but made little improvements i.e. different shaped, better proportioned forearms with integrated fists and a nicely hinged cover for his back (no gaping hole like the OG). I think a furtherance of this line would be interesting, as, lacking that imperative to mirror the OG toy exactingly, they could introduce more "fixes" to correct the odd proportion or hindrance of the OG toy while still skewing very closely towards how it looked. I like that approach, and it would make for an interesting third option for folks like me who aren't really all-in on the Missing Link line and who aren't interested in collecting the G1 toys, either, due to their shortcomings. My feeling is that LU deluxe Prime is probably a one-and-done sort of figure, but I wouldn't object to more characters getting the treatment, especially at the more affordable price range compared to ML.

Edited April 21 by M'Kyuun

[JB0]

Yeah, I don't see Starscream et al getting the Missing Link treatment, because as much as they'd love to(one mold with six color schemes is WAY more profitable than six molds) it just doesn't seem possible to do the arms.

But I've been wrong before, and TT has a financial interest in making it work.

[Scyla]

I wonder if the ML Ultra Magnus will be a white repaint of ML Prime, without the car carrier.

[mikeszekely]

45 minutes ago, Scyla said:

I wonder if the ML Ultra Magnus will be a white repaint of ML Prime, without the car carrier.

That, unfortunately, is an exceedingly likely possibility. 

On the plus side for you, if that turns out to be the case an ML Nemesis Prime would pretty much be a guarantee after that.

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, Scyla said:

I wonder if the ML Ultra Magnus will be a white repaint of ML Prime, without the car carrier.

 

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

That, unfortunately, is an exceedingly likely possibility. 

I hope not; I hope Takara's more committed than that. While they've pushed some white Optimi toys as UM over the decades, G1 UM is synonymous with his armored look and I would hope that if they indeed choose to do him as a Missing Link entry, they go all-in and figure out a way to make the trailer work as his armor, even if it means a bit of partsforming to achieve the trailer and the armor. I think that'd be more acceptable in most fans' eyes than just a naked white Optimus clone. I believe they're up to the challenge; after 40+ years of making these things, they certainly should be.

Edited April 21 by M'Kyuun

[Scyla]

16 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

 

I hope not; I hope Takara's more committed than that. While they've pushed some white Optimi toys as UM over the decades, G1 UM is synonymous with his armored look and I would hope that if they indeed choose to do him as a Missing Link entry, they go all-in and figure out a way to make the trailer work as his armor, even if it means a bit of partsforming to achieve the trailer and the armor. I think that'd be more acceptable in most fans' eyes than just a naked white Optimus clone. I believe they're up to the challenge; after 40+ years of making these things, they certainly should be.

I think the challenge is in the placement of the white Prime in the G1 toy:

The waist of Ultra Magnus is not where the waist of the Prime is. Likewise, the knees of Prime are at the waist of Ultra Magnus.

I don’t think those are insurmountable odds but I feel they would have to change ML Convoy to give Ultra Magnus more articulation.

I think they could skip the waist joint but I don’t see them skipping knee. I also think as a fan of the Missing Link line you would like Takara to stay as close to the original as possible. 

That cloud potentially look very weird so my train of thought was just a white Convoy would be much more likely. And Takara already released a repaint of ML Convoy with Sentinel Prime.

[M'Kyuun]

Well, I didn't say it'd be easy! 😄 The OG definitely presents some challenges. Ultimately, they may just opt to fold prime up into a cube and keep him isolated in the top half while trying to work in the cuts and articulation of the armor without having to work around the core bot. However, as you say, that moves away from toy accuracy by a fair amount. In the end, a white Optimus may be all fans get. In cases like this, where the OG toy was nigh impossible to translate to a workable standard, either fans should be prepared for shortcuts, bad takes, or Takara should just leave them be.

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

 

I hope not; I hope Takara's more committed than that. While they've pushed some white Optimi toys as UM over the decades, G1 UM is synonymous with his armored look and I would hope that if they indeed choose to do him as a Missing Link entry, they go all-in and figure out a way to make the trailer work as his armor, even if it means a bit of partsforming to achieve the trailer and the armor. I think that'd be more acceptable in most fans' eyes than just a naked white Optimus clone. I believe they're up to the challenge; after 40+ years of making these things, they certainly should be.

It's not that I disagree, I just don't know how much faith I have in them not to go for the easy cash grab.

And it's not just the fact that the joints for Magnus don't line up with the cab. The cab used the fist holes to connect, and ML Convoy doesn't have those fist holes. I think it's probably pretty trivial to find a way to transform Magnus' fists, but what about the chest, waist, and head? How many changes do we tolerate before it's less G1 toy with articulation and more new toy? I'm just feeling a bit pessimistic about this one. 

Fortunately Grimlock should be much  easier for Takara to pull off.

[JB0]

18 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Ultimately, they may just opt to fold prime up into a cube and keep him isolated in the top half while trying to work in the cuts and articulation of the armor without having to work around the core bot. However, as you say, that moves away from toy accuracy by a fair amount. In the end, a white Optimus may be all fans get.

I feel like making Magnus work more like Powermaster Prime, with a truck-lump core, is a better compromise than just throwing an Albino Prime out there because engineering is hard and repaints are cheap. Minimus Ambus isn't Ultra Magnus.

I guess we'll see how TakaraTomy feels about it.

[mikeszekely]

Got a notice from FedEx that I have an 11 pound package coming from Hasbro, but no emails from Hasbro. Based on part experiences that means Omega Prime is shipping.

[davidwhangchoi]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Got a notice from FedEx that I have an 11 pound package coming from Hasbro, but no emails from Hasbro. Based on part experiences that means Omega Prime is shipping.

will you do a review once it comes in?

[mikeszekely]

29 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

will you do a review once it comes in?

That's the plan!

[J.T. Silversmith]

I got my Email from Hasbro Pulse as well, mine is on its way!

[J.T. Silversmith]

Mine arrived about three hours ago!

[mikeszekely]

42 minutes ago, J.T. Silversmith said:

Mine arrived about three hours ago!

Dang, that's fast!  Mine was originally saying it should arrive Saturday, but last I checked FedEx is now saying Tuesday.

[26662]

49 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Dang, that's fast!  Mine was originally saying it should arrive Saturday, but last I checked FedEx is now saying Tuesday.

I'm jealous.  I ordered two (in the same order) within milliseconds of the preorder option going live.  I'm wondering now if ordering more than one somehow puts you at the tail end of the queue. 

[mikeszekely]

On 4/24/2025 at 11:17 PM, 26662 said:

I'm jealous.  I ordered two (in the same order) within milliseconds of the preorder option going live.  I'm wondering now if ordering more than one somehow puts you at the tail end of the queue. 

Yeah, I got in on Prime right away, too.

Did you do Deathsaurus (I meant) Liokaiser?  I eventually backed it, but not until Deathcobra was funded.  I guess we'll see if it takes me longer to get him next year than all the early backers, or if there's some other method to their madness.

Edited April 26 by mikeszekely

[26662]

14 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Did you do Deathsaurus?  I eventually backed it, but not until Deathcobra was funded.  I guess we'll see if it takes me longer to get him next year than all the early backers, or if there's some other method to their madness.

Got my shipping notice from Hasbro: Both are scheduled to arrive Wednesday. 

I wasn't/am not all that familiar with Deathsaurus so I didn't bother ordering.  The figure looked fine and the price wasn't terrible given everything included.  Just didn't have a connection to the character.

[mikeszekely]

Well well... FedEx's delivery date went from Saturday to Tuesday then back to Saturday.  So unless they screw something up (which is still a possibility, FedEx SUCKS in my area) I should have Omega Prime in hand this weekend, and hopefully have reviews up early next week for people to read at work.

Thinking I'm going to break this one up... I'll review Optimus/Super Optimus, then I'll review Magnus, Bluebolts, and Omega Prime after.

[mikeszekely]

HasLab's here!  Inside the shipping box was a brown box, and inside the brown box was the actual box, which had a few smaller boxes in it.  Hasbro hates trees, I guess.  Today we're going to get into just two of the boxes, as we look at Optimus Prime (RiD 2001).

My initial thought is that the newer figure is maybe two steps forward, one step back.  On the plus side, his sculpt is by-and-large better defined than the original toy.  His fists are separated from the armor on his forearms, allowing you to slide it back so his hands aren't always buried (though I think they should have added a hinge to the arm kibble so it could fold up a bit).  I think the new head is on-point, and the removal of the batteries and speaker means his backpack is greatly reduced.  Plus he has heels now, making him more stable.  I think I actually prefer that the red on his chest isn't chromed.

The sort of corkscrew shape between his window pecs is an indent now, though.  His abs, which are silver paint instead of chrome now, don't have quite the right shape.  The lightbars on his his back have hollowed divots that make them look almost like Lego parts, a fact which isn't helped at all when you realize that they're just pegged on (and a tad loose at that).  It's harder to notice, but the backs of his hands are also hollowed.  I get hollowing a toy that you're trying to cram into a retail budget, but c'mon, on a made-to-order project that you can charge whatever you want for?  Maybe they should make "no hollow gaps" one of the funding tiers. 😒

My biggest gripe, though, is really the size.  Hasbro's made a big deal about how the mainline toys since Siege are supposed to better reflect their scale, yet Prime's even bigger than the original toy.  This makes him a little over a head taller than the Commander-class SS86 Optimus, who was already pulling up taller than most other recent Optimus figures.  Proportionally he's wider than the original toy, too.  Too be fair, that's not the end of the world, but I feel like Hasbro had a chance to approach this design fresh and it would have been cool to see some clever engineering that could have widened him for Super Mode.  As it is he kind of reminds me of that Kanye video for "I Love It" where him and Lil Pump are wearing those wide, blocky costumes.

As far as accessories in the box with Prime goes, we've got his pistol, an Energon Matrix, and a Titan Master of Cerebros.

Cebreros is a repaint of Legends Fortress (who was released as Emissary with the SDCC version of Titans Returns Fortress Maximus, but NOT the retail version).  Transformation's the same, and you can plug him into any Titans Return body.

You also get all these pieces.  I mean, he's actually packaged in alt mode, but I almost always start with bot mode, so...  bits.

In the second box we're covering today you get these- two stands, two bases, two adapters, and two thingies.  Yes, that's the technical name.

Alright, so Prime's head is on a ball joint, but the shape means he's got a fairly limited up/down/sideways tilt.  Note that his head is actually on a slider so you can move it forward so his chin clears the lip around his neck for swiveling.  His shoulders swivel, and they ratchet 90 degrees from inside the shoulder armor.  There is also a friction hinge in his chest, and it'll probably engage before the ratchet does, but it's for transformation and using it for articulation gives him Hot Rod Shoulders.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  His wrists swivel.  His waist swivels, though his backpack kind of gets in the way.  His hips can go forward just under 90 degrees and backward about 45 on an extremely tough ratchet.  A slightly less tough ratchet gives him 90 degrees of spread.  His thighs swivel, and his ratcheted knees bend a little short of 90 degrees.  There's another swivel below the knee for transformation, then his feet are on ball joints so they can swivel, tilt up/down slightly, and pivot a bit under 45 degrees.

Prime holds his pistol in either hand via a standard 5mm arrangement.  He also has a 5mm port on his backpack between the lightbars, one on each shin, and one on each calf.

If you open Prime's back (rather than his chest) you'll find a small molded compartment.  That's one of the places where you can store his Matrix.

The stands slide into the grooves on the bases; either direction is fine.  You don't need the adapter parts for Prime, just the stand and base.  I chose to position him this way to give him a more airborne pose, but if you want his feet on the base you'd turn the stand around and use the lower peg on the other side into the same spot on Prime's butt.

You may have noticed the pegs on Prime's shoulders.  They're so you can take these specific parts from the bits and plug them onto his shoulders as missile launchers.

You may also, as was the case with the original toy, arrange the parts into a sort of defense platform.  But my personal favorite use for them is to turn them into the back of Prime's alt mode.

An alt mode which is, of course, a fire truck.  The transformation to truck mode is almost identical, though there are a few more connection points for the bits to form the trailer, which makes it feel more secure.  The main differences are that the part of the trailer with the super forearms comes off with the cab rather than staying on the trailer, Prime's pec windows swivel with his arms, and for some reason the mechanical bits over the wheels on his shins are separate pieces that have to be swiveled into place rather than just being the back of the wheels.

The new version is about the same length, but slightly bigger and taller (and, as mentioned, a bit sturdier).  C-001 is tampoed onto his front and rear license plates, an animation detail that was missing from at least the original American version.  The rubber tires, a point of failure for the original toys, have been replaced with plastic.  The cab has a slightly more exaggerated shape, there's more mechanical details on the sides, and the ladder and stairs are a bit more detailed.

Prime's pistol still plugs onto the back of the front bumper, between Prime's knees.  And the seat on the other side of the ladder has been widened to accommodate Cerebros or another Titan Master.

The ladder can swivel and extend.  It has sort of has the missiles of the original toys... they're folded out manually and do not fire.  In fact, they're molded right onto the red parts of the launchers.  They have nubs on the ends that make them compatible with post-Siege blast effects, though.  The removal of the firing gimmick means that a button was no longer necessary, and it's been replaced with more mechanical details.  The gun/hose barrels still fold out of the end of the ladder, but they're now on ball joints for some reason which gives them some wiggle.

Note that when the end of the ladder is folded down there's a space on it that Cerebros can stand in.

For displaying Prime in his vehicle mode you can set the stands and adapters aside, and connect both bases together using the thingies (again, technical term).  This makes a road-like platform that's modeled after a segment of the Autobots Global Space Bridge seen in the cartoon.

In what was already becoming the standard after Ultra Magnus and Powermaster Optimus/Super Ginrai, the reason there's so much truck left after Optimus turns into a robot is because once it's split into bits it becomes an armored power-up.  Again, the combination is nearly identical.  Some minor changes include the torso piece not only plugging into the top and front of Prime's torso, but onto his backpack as well for added stability, and the shoulder parts are now identical (vs the pipe only being on one side) so it no longer matters which shoulder you put them on.  He's also tall enough now that you don't have to fold the end of the ladder.

The biggest change, though, is a new part of the backpack (which I didn't realize I'd missed in the above photos, sorry).  Those of you with the original toy may recall that Prime's torso has two levels of expansion, one fully extended so he can transform, and that's sort of halfway for Super Mode.  A hinge swings to bits at the bottom of his backpack around the sides of the exposed transformation hinge, better locking the torso in place.  This makes the new toy feel much more solid than the original, which I'd describe as "rickety."

Here's another quick size comparison.  In Super Mode he's coming in slightly taller than Commander-class Armada Prime's Super Mode.  And I can't help but note that the thickening of the base robot I complained about actually makes for a less skinny, more proportional Super Mode than the original RID toy.

Prime's new head seems to be on a ball joint, but I'm not totally sure.  He can look up about 45 degrees if you collapse his neck back in, and down about 45 degrees if his neck is out all the way.  It also swivels and has a decent amount of sideways tilt, but that sideways tilt only works if his head is turned a bit.  His shoulders, biceps, and elbows are the same joints as before, though the pegs on his elbows limit the outward range slightly.  With his shoulders expanded he's also go a slight forward and excellent backward butterfly joint.  His hands are basically the same as the original toy's; they swivel, and his wrists can bend inward, a hinge folds his thumbs down over his palms, and his fingers are permanently curled with a hinge at the base.   His pelvis armor just hangs over his normal pelvis and doesn't plug in, so if you lift it he's still got his waist swivel.  It's actually slightly better, due to the bottom of the backpack being folded into his waist.  Hips, thighs, and knees are the same.  A hinge on the platform his feet plug into provides him with a solid 45 degrees of ankle pivot.

The ladder can still fold over his shoulder.  The guns on his forearms swivel, plus the barrels are hinged.

Because the hands are basically the same as the original toy he doesn't have any way to hold his pistol in this mode, something I would have liked even if this way is truer to the original toy.  There are a few other 5mm ports, though; two on top of each shoulder, one on the front and one on the back of each shoulder, two on the back of each hand, one under each foot, and two on the side of each leg, in addition to the one on his backpack, one on the side of his legs, and one on his calves that are still available in Super Mode.  What he's lacking, though, is the port the original had to the side of his head for adding the pistol as a shoulder weapon.  Instead, there are 3mm pegs on the sides of his backpack that plug into ports on the pistol.

The section of his bandolier with the Autobot insignia flips open, revealing another spot (and my preferred spot) to store his Matrix.

Prime can use the stand by plugging it into his butt, same as before, except this time you have to use the the taller port on the other side of the stand (refer to the earlier picture).  Aside from holding him up taller for a natural standing pose, the taller peg has space in front of it to rest his crotch on.  That will keep him from tipping to the side, like so.

HasLab RID Super Optimus gives me a lot of mixed feelings.  On one hand, RID Optimus has been one of my favorite non-G1 Optimus designs, combining signature details like the head with the mask and ears, the primary red color, and the chest with pec windows and silver abs with excellent Japanese super robot anime vibes.  The original toy is, like I said, a tad rickety now, and a sturdier modern version with improved engineering and articulation has been extremely high on my wish list since I started collecting.

But, while I think Hasbro delivered on a lot of my wishlist there, I'm not convinced they lived up to the "improved engineering" part.  Yes, they did make some changes that result in a figure that's sturdier across all his modes, but that's kind of where they stopped.  The design, especially in the transformation, remains extremely similar to the original toy.  This means the passed on some improvements I might have made, like folding up the arm kibble on the core robot better, but also has the effect of making him seem not quite compatible with modern Generations figures.

So is he worth it?  I guess you'll have to tune in for part 2 to find out.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

17 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

HasLab's here!  Inside the shipping box was a brown box, and inside the brown box was the actual box, which had a few smaller boxes in it.  Hasbro hates trees, I guess.  Today we're going to get into just two of the boxes, as we look at Optimus Prime (RiD 2001).

My initial thought is that the newer figure is maybe two steps forward, one step back.  On the plus side, his sculpt is by-and-large better defined than the original toy.  His fists are separated from the armor on his forearms, allowing you to slide it back so his hands aren't always buried (though I think they should have added a hinge to the arm kibble so it could fold up a bit).  I think the new head is on-point, and the removal of the batteries and speaker means his backpack is greatly reduced.  Plus he has heels now, making him more stable.  I think I actually prefer that the red on his chest isn't chromed.

The sort of corkscrew shape between his window pecs is an indent now, though.  His abs, which are silver paint instead of chrome now, don't have quite the right shape.  The lightbars on his his back have hollowed divots that make them look almost like Lego parts, a fact which isn't helped at all when you realize that they're just pegged on (and a tad loose at that).  It's harder to notice, but the backs of his hands are also hollowed.  I get hollowing a toy that you're trying to cram into a retail budget, but c'mon, on a made-to-order project that you can charge whatever you want for?  Maybe they should make "no hollow gaps" one of the funding tiers. 😒

My biggest gripe, though, is really the size.  Hasbro's made a big deal about how the mainline toys since Siege are supposed to better reflect their scale, yet Prime's even bigger than the original toy.  This makes him a little over a head taller than the Commander-class SS86 Optimus, who was already pulling up taller than most other recent Optimus figures.  Proportionally he's wider than the original toy, too.  Too be fair, that's not the end of the world, but I feel like Hasbro had a chance to approach this design fresh and it would have been cool to see some clever engineering that could have widened him for Super Mode.  As it is he kind of reminds me of that Kanye video for "I Love It" where him and Lil Pump are wearing those wide, blocky costumes.

As far as accessories in the box with Prime goes, we've got his pistol, an Energon Matrix, and a Titan Master of Cerebros.

Cebreros is a repaint of Legends Fortress (who was released as Emissary with the SDCC version of Titans Returns Fortress Maximus, but NOT the retail version).  Transformation's the same, and you can plug him into any Titans Return body.

You also get all these pieces.  I mean, he's actually packaged in alt mode, but I almost always start with bot mode, so...  bits.

In the second box we're covering today you get these- two stands, two bases, two adapters, and two thingies.  Yes, that's the technical name.

Alright, so Prime's head is on a ball joint, but the shape means he's got a fairly limited up/down/sideways tilt.  Note that his head is actually on a slider so you can move it forward so his chin clears the lip around his neck for swiveling.  His shoulders swivel, and they ratchet 90 degrees from inside the shoulder armor.  There is also a friction hinge in his chest, and it'll probably engage before the ratchet does, but it's for transformation and using it for articulation gives him Hot Rod Shoulders.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  His wrists swivel.  His waist swivels, though his backpack kind of gets in the way.  His hips can go forward just under 90 degrees and backward about 45 on an extremely tough ratchet.  A slightly less tough ratchet gives him 90 degrees of spread.  His thighs swivel, and his ratcheted knees bend a little short of 90 degrees.  There's another swivel below the knee for transformation, then his feet are on ball joints so they can swivel, tilt up/down slightly, and pivot a bit under 45 degrees.

Prime holds his pistol in either hand via a standard 5mm arrangement.  He also has a 5mm port on his backpack between the lightbars, one on each shin, and one on each calf.

If you open Prime's back (rather than his chest) you'll find a small molded compartment.  That's one of the places where you can store his Matrix.

The stands slide into the grooves on the bases; either direction is fine.  You don't need the adapter parts for Prime, just the stand and base.  I chose to position him this way to give him a more airborne pose, but if you want his feet on the base you'd turn the stand around and use the lower peg on the other side into the same spot on Prime's butt.

You may have noticed the pegs on Prime's shoulders.  They're so you can take these specific parts from the bits and plug them onto his shoulders as missile launchers.

You may also, as was the case with the original toy, arrange the parts into a sort of defense platform.  But my personal favorite use for them is to turn them into the back of Prime's alt mode.

An alt mode which is, of course, a fire truck.  The transformation to truck mode is almost identical, though there are a few more connection points for the bits to form the trailer, which makes it feel more secure.  The main differences are that the part of the trailer with the super forearms comes off with the cab rather than staying on the trailer, Prime's pec windows swivel with his arms, and for some reason the mechanical bits over the wheels on his shins are separate pieces that have to be swiveled into place rather than just being the back of the wheels.

The new version is about the same length, but slightly bigger and taller (and, as mentioned, a bit sturdier).  C-001 is tampoed onto his front and rear license plates, an animation detail that was missing from at least the original American version.  The rubber tires, a point of failure for the original toys, have been replaced with plastic.  The cab has a slightly more exaggerated shape, there's more mechanical details on the sides, and the ladder and stairs are a bit more detailed.

Prime's pistol still plugs onto the back of the front bumper, between Prime's knees.  And the seat on the other side of the ladder has been widened to accommodate Cerebros or another Titan Master.

The ladder can swivel and extend.  It has sort of has the missiles of the original toys... they're folded out manually and do not fire.  In fact, they're molded right onto the red parts of the launchers.  They have nubs on the ends that make them compatible with post-Siege blast effects, though.  The removal of the firing gimmick means that a button was no longer necessary, and it's been replaced with more mechanical details.  The gun/hose barrels still fold out of the end of the ladder, but they're now on ball joints for some reason which gives them some wiggle.

Note that when the end of the ladder is folded down there's a space on it that Cerebros can stand in.

For displaying Prime in his vehicle mode you can set the stands and adapters aside, and connect both bases together using the thingies (again, technical term).  This makes a road-like platform that's modeled after a segment of the Autobots Global Space Bridge seen in the cartoon.

In what was already becoming the standard after Ultra Magnus and Powermaster Optimus/Super Ginrai, the reason there's so much truck left after Optimus turns into a robot is because once it's split into bits it becomes an armored power-up.  Again, the combination is nearly identical.  Some minor changes include the torso piece not only plugging into the top and front of Prime's torso, but onto his backpack as well for added stability, and the shoulder parts are now identical (vs the pipe only being on one side) so it no longer matters which shoulder you put them on.  He's also tall enough now that you don't have to fold the end of the ladder.

The biggest change, though, is a new part of the backpack (which I didn't realize I'd missed in the above photos, sorry).  Those of you with the original toy may recall that Prime's torso has two levels of expansion, one fully extended so he can transform, and that's sort of halfway for Super Mode.  A hinge swings to bits at the bottom of his backpack around the sides of the exposed transformation hinge, better locking the torso in place.  This makes the new toy feel much more solid than the original, which I'd describe as "rickety."

Here's another quick size comparison.  In Super Mode he's coming in slightly taller than Commander-class Armada Prime's Super Mode.  And I can't help but note that the thickening of the base robot I complained about actually makes for a less skinny, more proportional Super Mode than the original RID toy.

Prime's new head seems to be on a ball joint, but I'm not totally sure.  He can look up about 45 degrees if you collapse his neck back in, and down about 45 degrees if his neck is out all the way.  It also swivels and has a decent amount of sideways tilt, but that sideways tilt only works if his head is turned a bit.  His shoulders, biceps, and elbows are the same joints as before, though the pegs on his elbows limit the outward range slightly.  With his shoulders expanded he's also go a slight forward and excellent backward butterfly joint.  His hands are basically the same as the original toy's; they swivel, and his wrists can bend inward, a hinge folds his thumbs down over his palms, and his fingers are permanently curled with a hinge at the base.   His pelvis armor just hangs over his normal pelvis and doesn't plug in, so if you lift it he's still got his waist swivel.  It's actually slightly better, due to the bottom of the backpack being folded into his waist.  Hips, thighs, and knees are the same.  A hinge on the platform his feet plug into provides him with a solid 45 degrees of ankle pivot.

The ladder can still fold over his shoulder.  The guns on his forearms swivel, plus the barrels are hinged.

Because the hands are basically the same as the original toy he doesn't have any way to hold his pistol in this mode, something I would have liked even if this way is truer to the original toy.  There are a few other 5mm ports, though; two on top of each shoulder, one on the front and one on the back of each shoulder, two on the back of each hand, one under each foot, and two on the side of each leg, in addition to the one on his backpack, one on the side of his legs, and one on his calves that are still available in Super Mode.  What he's lacking, though, is the port the original had to the side of his head for adding the pistol as a shoulder weapon.  Instead, there are 3mm pegs on the sides of his backpack that plug into ports on the pistol.

The section of his bandolier with the Autobot insignia flips open, revealing another spot (and my preferred spot) to store his Matrix.

Prime can use the stand by plugging it into his butt, same as before, except this time you have to use the the taller port on the other side of the stand (refer to the earlier picture).  Aside from holding him up taller for a natural standing pose, the taller peg has space in front of it to rest his crotch on.  That will keep him from tipping to the side, like so.

HasLab RID Super Optimus gives me a lot of mixed feelings.  On one hand, RID Optimus has been one of my favorite non-G1 Optimus designs, combining signature details like the head with the mask and ears, the primary red color, and the chest with pec windows and silver abs with excellent Japanese super robot anime vibes.  The original toy is, like I said, a tad rickety now, and a sturdier modern version with improved engineering and articulation has been extremely high on my wish list since I started collecting.

But, while I think Hasbro delivered on a lot of my wishlist there, I'm not convinced they lived up to the "improved engineering" part.  Yes, they did make some changes that result in a figure that's sturdier across all his modes, but that's kind of where they stopped.  The design, especially in the transformation, remains extremely similar to the original toy.  This means the passed on some improvements I might have made, like folding up the arm kibble on the core robot better, but also has the effect of making him seem not quite compatible with modern Generations figures.

So is he worth it?  I guess you'll have to tune in for part 2 to find out.

Did you have to sand down any parts. I think I still prefer the original. The base form too me looks far worse than the original.

[mikeszekely]

4 hours ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

Did you have to sand down any parts. I think I still prefer the original. The base form too me looks far worse than the original.

The first time I transformed him he seemed tight, but he's fine now and I haven't seen any cracking.  It would probably be a good idea for me to take him apart and take a look, but I'm too lazy right now.  Also, busy... because I still have to review the rest of the set!

It's no secret that the HasLab is Omega Prime, and to make Omega Prime you also need Ultra Magnus.  So... here's Ultra Magnus.

Magnus is, at the best of times, kind of an awkward, leggy dude, and at first glance there's not a ton of difference between the new and old figures (the big color difference is largely due to my Magnus coming from the Costco reissue during the run of Transfomers Cybertron).  Same ugly shoulder joints, same way-too-long legs.  His torso is a bit more filled out, though, and the head looks a lot better with an improved sculpt, white face, and colored forehead crest.

Like Prime, Magnus doesn't have the batteries and voicebox, so his backpack's smaller, and he's rocking massive heels for improved stability.  That said, it leaves his legs even emptier in the back than the original.

In Magnus' box, he just comes with his own Matrix.  You can open his super hollow chest and plug it in there.  Note that while Prime has one Matrix that he has to move between his core bot or his armored chest, Magnus gets a Matrix of his very own.

Magnus' other accessory is Bluebolts, and Bluebolts gets herown box.  Now, Bluebolts is interesting to me because the original always struck me as such an awkward weapon.  The new one, which has the missiles but not the firing gimmick, has some pretty drastic molded differences but she's picked up some new gimmicks.

For starters, he has a robot mode now!   As near as I can tell, her head (and gender) are based on the End of G1 Universe manga Takara created to help promote some of their MP redecos, starting with Dark Amber Leo Prime.  A blue version of Kingdom Skywarp (the Airazor retool) appeared in it, and they chose to name the character Bluebolt as a reference to Beast Wars Silverbolt and the whole Bluestreak/Silverstreak thing.  When writer Hayato Sakamoto realized the name previously went with RID Magnus' weapon, he came up with a backstory that essentially made the one in his manga an upgraded form of Magnus' weapon.  Note that while the manga hasn't officially gendered Bluebolts, the art often depicts the character in traditionally feminine poses, which has in turn caused Hasbro designer Evan Brooks to say that he's going to refer to Bluebolts as a "she" going forward.  Good enough for Evan, good enough for me.

Bluebolts' head is on a ball joint with fairly limited tilt forward/backward/sideways.  Her shoulders swivel and move laterally about 90 degrees.  Her biceps swivel, and her elbows bend over 90 degrees.  She doesn't really have hands, but the weapon barrels and the red bits at the ends of her arms both swivel.  Her waist swivels.  Her hips can go 90 degrees forward and backward, and well over 90 degrees laterally.  Her thighs swivel, and her knees bend nearly 180 degrees.  Her feet can tilt up due to transformation, but not down, and her ankles pivot under 45 degrees.

Ostensibly, the missiles use tabbed fins to plug into slots on Bluebolt's back, but they are basically a long 5mm tube and can plug into 5mm ports, including her own gun hands.  The tips have the smaller nubs for Siege effect parts.

As much as I do like Bluebolts, she's a Weaponizer, which makes her more accessory than separate character.  She breaks down into two arms, two legs, two missiles, and her torso.

Magnus' head is on a ball joint that can tilt up and sideways a bit, but lacks any downward tilt.  His shoulders swivel and move 90 degrees laterally.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend a little over 90 degrees.  Like Super Mode Optimus, his hands are basically identical to the original toy's, so they scan swivel and fold forward, with a curled 5mm peg on a hinge for a thumb and curled fingers on a hinge.  No waist articulation.  His hips can ratchet forward 90 degrees but can't really move backward at all.  They can ratchet over 90 degrees laterally.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend probably about 120 degrees.  His feet don't have any up/down tilt, but he does have about 45 degrees of ankle pivot.

Because Magnus doesn't have traditional hands with 5mm ports he can't hold most weapons.  IIRC, Bluebolts had transformations that put one barrel forward and the other plugged into the side of his forearm on the original toy.  With this version, only Blue Bolt's legs are needed, so Magnus can dual-wield.  Her shoulder pegs plug into 5mm ports on the front of Magnus' forearms, while the red bits swivel down to sit in his hands as if he were holding them.  As for the rest of Blue Bolts, if you transform her legs like you would for her normal alt mode but swivel her torso down 90 degrees, her torso fits into an empty spot in Magnus' backpack with her shoulder sockets locking into grooves.  This gives Magnus a kind of back cannon.

Magnus is also compatible with the stands, and this is where the adapters finally come in.  You slide it onto the taller peg, and you wind up with a pair of pegs pointed in one direction (toward the back of the stand.  These pegs will plug into a flap behind Magnus' butt.

Just like Prime has storage for his pistol on his backpack, Magnus has storage for Bluebolts.  You have to start by yanking her apart.  Then open Magnus' chest and lift up the flap with his head.  On the underside you'll find a 5mm peg.  This peg plugs into a spot on Bluebolts' back, with her butt facing up and toward the front.  Her torso helps fill in the emptiness that is inside Magnus.

Bend her knees, and they can plug into the side of Mangus' legs, while a peg on the inside of her leg goes into a port on the inside of Magnus'.  With the legs in place, pegs near the red part of Bluebolt's arms plug into ports on the sides of Magnus' legs so that Bluebolt's arms cover her own legs and fill in Magnus' calves.  The missiles, which were actually a later edition to the design, simply jam into a second 5mm port and point at each other on Magnus' calves.

In broad strokes Magnus' transformation is extremely similar to the original toy.  There's one significant change, though.  Instead of Magnus' legs disconnecting at the thighs, his abs and pelvis come off with his legs.  They then split in half, and his lower torso has to fold into his legs with his thighs.  In place of his pelvis and hips under the cab is mostly empty space, save for a brand new flap the original toy didn't have.

As with Prime, the result is a truck that is basically the same size as the original and trades problematic rubber tires of the original toy for plastic ones.  There's also some pretty significant differences in the molded details, but I'm not clear on why.  Like, what was their inspiration?  It's clearly not the original toy.  But the cartoon is even more simplified, where the HasLab version is just busier.

As with the original toy, Bluebolts can plug on top of Magnus' truck mode.  There are pegs near the front of the trailer that plug into ports on the bottom of Bluebolts.  Thing is, I kind of recall that Bluebolts sat on the back of Magnus's trailer in the cartoon, and I seem to recall that Bluebolts could ride on the front or back of the trailer on the original toy.  There are some sideways peg holes on the back of HasLab Magnus' trailer, but I'm not sure how you'd use them to secure Bluebolts without untabbing her arms.

Anyway, it was apparently a big deal for the Takara side of the HasLab team to make sure that Magnus' trailer can open up.  The ramp on top can fold down, and with it folded up there's just enough space for most Deluxe cars to tuck in and still have room to close he door.  This, right here... this is the gimmick that they felt was more important than scale.  Me?  I'd have 100% ditched the ability to cram the not-very-good Legacy Sideburn into Magnus' trailer and made Magnus smaller if it meant scaling Prime down so his non-super mode was no bigger than SS86 Optimus, but oh well.  It is what it is.

Much of the transformation to Omega Prime is pretty much the same as before.  Magnus' legs scrunch up into shoes in the same way, and Prime's feet connect to them in the same way save for an additional peg that secures the side of the shoe to Prime's leg.  The arms transform the same way, even going so far as to replicate the handshake gimmick where Magnus' thumb plugs into Prime's fist.  Then, of course, the rest of Magnus fits on top of Prime.  But that's where things get different.

For starters, Magnus' pelvis and hips aren't Omega Prime's abs, as they're now folded into the shoes with the rest of his legs.  Instead, there's a flap that hangs down from Magnus' cab to make Omega Prime's abs and pelvis, with Magnus' chest tucked up behind it rather than forming the pelvis.  Since it's just a flap, the sides of the cab open and the front of it double hinges up and backward, reducing how much his chest sticks out.  Magnus' backpack and wings sit a bit higher on Omega Prime's back, and there's some space in Prime's backpack for Magnus's biceps to tuck into.  Aside from tucking Magnus' arms into the backpack, there's slots under Omega Prime's head that grab tabs on top of Optimus' body, clips under the ab-flap that plug into Optimus' chest, and a tab on Magnus' backpack that plugs into Optimus' backpack.  So once again, the result is a better proportioned, significantly sturdier combined mode.

The Omega Prime head is on a ball joint and can tilt a little up, down, or sideways.  His shoulders, biceps, elbows, waist, hips, and knees are the same joints on Optimus and have the essentially the same range (though the Omega Prime shoulder and chest armor can interfere with his shoulder swivel).  Omega Prime's hands swivel.  There's a hinge that folds the thumb over the palm, and two hinges in the fingers (which are all molded together.  The front of Omega Prime's feet can fold down due to transformation (which breaks the sculpt), and his ankles pivot 45 degrees.

Just like the original toy, you can turn Bluebolts upside down and use pegs on her feet to plug into the top of Omega Prime's backpack.  He again doesn't have 5mm ports in is hands, but there's some on the backs of his hands and on all four sides of his forearms.  There are also pegs on the outside of his forearms and legs.  There's no mention of it in the instructions, but supposedly Omega Prime was designed with a deliberate fan mode in mind, and rumors suggest it involves sticking the leftover bits from Optimus' traileronto Omega Prime.

Omega Prime can use the stand, and he attaches exactly the same way Super Mode Optimus does.

And that finally brings us to the last box, Omega Prime's Matrix Blade.  I get that it's a thing from the cartoon.  I get that it was an accessory that came with Japanese "Special Clear God Fire Convoy" and Encore releases.  But, seriously, what are we supposed to do with it?  In theory, there are a trio of tabs in each of Omega Prime's palms that fit into the numerous notches on the handle.  In practice, the thing is too big and heavy.  Gravity pulls it off the tabs.  And remember, aside from the lateral shoulder movement, none of the joints in Prime's arms are ratcheted.  His elbow joints and shoulder swivels droop, and his wrist spins around as gravity inevitably pulls the heaviest part, the blade, back to the ground.  You're pretty much confined to posing him like I have, with one arm straight out and the hand holding the sword at just the right height for the pommel to touch the ground and help support the blade.

Like Optimus, Magnus is clearly improved over the original toy, but still copies so much from the original toy that I can't help but feel like they didn't improve enough.  Also like Optimus, he scales poorly with other Generations figures for the sake of a car carrying gimmick that I'd have gladly given up in favor of better scale and more improved engineering.  I love the new Bluebolts, though, and the Omega Prime mode seems to have the most changes for the better, resulting in a much sturdier, more stable, and better proportioned combined mode.

I have to confess, I'm simultaneously quite happy with Omega Prime while also being oddly dissatisfied.  On the one hand, HasLab Omega Prime fixes a lot of the problems the original toys had.  There are improvements to articulation, improvements to the joints, improvements to the transformation, and improvements to the connections that make the Super Mode and Omega Prime modes especially sturdier and better proportioned, and again I love the idea of making Bluebolts a Weaponizer.  Give that this set, with its improvements, with two stands, with Cerebros, and with a transforming Bluebolts cost a little less than the Encore reissue of the original Omega Prime it's a pretty good deal that gives you the best version of Omega Prime to date.  But on the other hand, while this feels like a great update of the original RID toys, for me it doesn't really scratch that itch I have for a true Generations version of RID Optimus or RID Magnus.  The scale is off, and the aesthetic just isn't there.  He's not really a Masterpiece, either, but I do find myself thinking maybe he'd go better with Fans Hobby's Scourge and MMC's Ruination than with Legacy Sideburn and Legacy Towline.

[J.T. Silversmith]

Mike I have been enjoying the reviews you post here on Macross world.

I an really enjoying this set, and I have had no QC issues with mine. I have appreciated the improved cartoon accuracy of the Haslab version as well as the improved stability and articulation in all modes. I have not found the Sword to be to be that awkward to play with. if you have him hold it two handed, I tabbed the sword handle in his right hand, and just have the left hand wrapped around the handle. He is holding it with his right elbow bent at 90 degrees, and the left arm pushing  down the handle to hold the sword at the angle I want.  He was easy to balance without using the stand, and easily held the pose for hours.  I am feeling the opposite, he handles his sword really well for how huge it is!

I am the least satisfied with Blue Bolts, I like the idea of it transforming to a robot, bit the execution of that idea falls short in my opinion.  You can re-arrange the parts to make different weapon configurations, but none of them are held together solidly enough to be fun to play with.  The most solid one is the the way it is mounted on Omega Prime, or the vehicle mode, but to put it on Ultra Magnus's robot mode you have to disconnect the two tabs that keep it stable.  Trying to tab the white shoulder hinge into the holes in his forearms is a pain to get it in the hole, the minute you put pressure on the gun part to attach it, the white hinge collapses into the blue shoulder part, because there is not solid stop to prevent it. the hinge piece is hard to get back out because the only grip you can get on it is the groove cut in the end of the post that i have to use my fingernail to get out.

I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the "Fan-mode" for using all of the fire truck parts as additional armor for Omega Prime.

[J.T. Silversmith]

By looking where the new toy differs from the original I can see what I think are some indications of what they were trying to do.  This is what I have come up with so far.

 

[26662]

8 hours ago, J.T. Silversmith said:

By looking where the new toy differs from the original I can see what I think are some indications of what they were trying to do.  This is what I have come up with so far.

 

Your best guess at a fanmode is righteous.  Well done!  I'm not familiar with the animation or the earlier mainline release of these figures so I can't really suggest any alternatives.

I feel bad for those folks whose bot(s) arrived broken or broke during transformation.  But I'm exceedingly thankful for the folks who got theirs before me and put out an alert on the potential QC issues.  I **rarely**  transform my bots - hardly ever handle them out of packaging because I don't have any room to display them - but at least now I know what to keep an eye on next time I pull them out of storage.

[Scyla]

I just had the idea that it would be funny if Hasbro would scale down Omega Prime to scale more accurately with the mainline and sell it as a Commander/Titan toy. 
 

It wouldn’t technically mean that Hasbro sells a Haslab product at retail and they could max out their investment.