The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[mikeszekely]

Regarding today's Takara reveals...

Hauler is cool.  I might pick one up, if he's not too expensive, since I went with MMC for my Inferno and Maketoys for Grapple.

Starscream looks cool enough.  He's got that pseudo-G1 TFOne look in bot mode, with the Cybertronian alt mode from Bumblebee.  Guess I get to look forward to buying at least three of those...

Elita is not much of a surprise, as we've seen her before.  She was supposed to be out in by May originally but she got shuffled.

No real interest in either the Reflector/Thundercracker set or the Missing Link repaints.  As far as Reflector goes, I have one of the retail and the toy-colored 3-pack with the camera bits (plus Scrapface) so I feel like I'm good there.  As for Thundercracker, well, I've heard we might be getting Leader-class SS86 Seekers next year.  The Missing Link repaints just don't get the point, or I don't get the point.  I like a retro release to copy the original as closely as possible, and to me the draw of Missing Link is the retro toy but with more modern articulation.  If I wanted a Bumblebee with modern articulation and a more cartoon-accurate deco I'd just buy SS86 Bumblebee (and yeah, SS86 Cliffjumper in 2026).

Can't help but notice that Megatron's legs are looking a lot less blue in the official Takara images.  Could be that they're renders/Photoshopped.  Could be that the leakers are using cellphones that overprocess the images they take and the toy in-hand isn't so blue.

Mixmaster's looking good, I think it's pretty smart to reduce the engineering and make the front of his cab the backs of his legs instead of his knees.  Scavenger, though... waist up, good if hollow, alt mode good.  But someone better change his diaper, that's one heck of a load he's got in there.

Devastator, much like the Constructicons themselves, looks a bit like they started with the Combiner Wars versions, changed the scale, and made some improvements rather than starting fresh on a real cartoon-accurate Devastator.  Which I guess is fine, since they did address my biggest complaints with the Combiner Wars set (Scrapper has elbows, Mixmaster has the right alt mode, Long Haul doesn't have absurd proportions, scales better with other combiners).  I'm sure DNA will do some upgrades, too.

I dunno, I'm not really feeling Liger Prime.  And this is coming from the guy who collects Primes.

[mikeszekely]

OK, so Earthspark.  Hashtag's wave mate is none other than Soundwave, and unlike Prime and Grimlock (who were mostly retooled from their Cyberverse toys), Shockwave and Starscream (who were just repainted from their Cyberverse toys), or Prowl (who would have been more accurate if he was repainted from his Cyberverse toy, because for some dumb reason he was repainted from Hot Rod's instead), Earthspark Soundwave is a brand new mold that has nothing do with his Cyberverse toy.

Don't ask me why, but I stuck the new toy on the right instead of the left.  So, he's littler than the Cyberverse toy, and I think details that are different on the Earthspark toy like gray hands, blue forearms, blue feet, gray pelvis with no "buttons," blue face mask, etc, pair with a less-blocky design that make him a less obvious homage to the G1 design than most other Soundwave designs.  I actually had to double check his Earthspark appearance to make sure that some of those differences weren't just to a lazy or inaccurate paint job, but honestly aside from a missing bit of red on his abdomen this is one of the most accurate decoes on an Earthspark toy.  In any case, the head that looks like the Decepticon badge, the predominantly blue colors, and the gold trim around his chest are clearly Soundwave enough.

Taking a peak around the sides and back, yes, he has wings.  And yes, that's cartoon-accurate.  I think it's safe to say that new takes on Soundwave will never be a tape deck again, because kids these days wouldn't even know what one is.  The standard seems to have become some kind of kind of truck or SUV where they can work the Soundwave chest into the grill or hood... they did it with the Cybertron games, they did it with Robots In Disguise 2019, they did it in IDW, and they did it in Cyberverse.  Heck, even if they're more like hovercars/tanks, it's basically what Bumblebee and Transformers One did, too.  But you might be getting the sense that Earthspark went in a different direction...

Soundwave's sole accessory is this gun.  It's got an interesting sculpt, and it's nicely detailed with red and silver paint, at least.

Soundwave's head is on a hinged ball joint.  He doesn't have much room to look up or tilt his head sideways, but because of the hinge (for transformation) he can look down quite a bit.  His shoulders are a bit complicated.  There's transformation hinges inside his body that can move his shoulders laterally, connected to a ball joint for swiveling.  The ball joint doesn't get much lateral movement, though, which would absolutely give him Hot Rod shoulders except that there's another hinge between his shoulder and bicep for transformation that gives him a little more lateral movement.  Effectively, that comes out to just shy of 90 degrees with his arms down, and about 45 degrees with his arms up.  His elbows bend 90 degrees, and they're hinges, not ball joints.  His wrists are ball joints, though, which give him a wrist swivel and some downward bend.  His waist swivels.  His hips are, surprise, NOT ball joints.  He can move them a little over 90 degrees forward, a little under 90 degrees backward, and well past 90 degrees laterally.  His thighs swivel just above his knees, which bend 90 degrees.  His feet are attached to his ankles via ball joints, which gives him swivels, some upward tilt, a lot of downward tilt, and a little pivot.  But there's a transformation joint in the ankle that you can engage for more pivot, giving him a respectable 45 degrees overall.  All-in-all, not bad for an Earthspark toy.

Soundwave's gun, like his Cyberverse counterpart, is the only one he gets, so it has a 5mm port he can hold but also a notch that clips onto a tab on his back to be his shoulder cannon.  

Soundwave's backpack rotates and shifts, his chest opens so his head can tuck inside, his shoulders come together above his head, his forearms tuck against his sides, his waist spins 180 degrees, then he does the splits and his legs unfold and spread into big wings.  It reminds me a little of Titans Return Mindwipe.  Although not the first time he's had a winged alt mode (Cybertron/Galaxy Force and Prime, anyone?) it still feels like a super fresh design.

Kinda curious to hear what @M'Kyuun is gonna say about this one.  From the top and most angles, aside from his feet, I think his jet mode looks pretty dang good.  It's thin enough, and it's cartoon accurate.  Maybe if they'd molded some exhaust ports into the hollow backs of his thighs it'd be even more convincing.  If you flip him over, though, the underside of the jet is still a lot of robot kibble, though.  I don't totally hate it; his lower legs are the wings and his upper arms are the nose, after all.  His thighs could have purpose if, like I said, they'd made ehxausts of them, maybe tightened them against his arms so you could imagine a path from the intakes on top of the wings through the arms and out the thighs.  And though it's obviously his torso, I'll buy his body as the fuselage.  I could imagine it opening up to deploy drones like Laserbeak while in the air.  It's just a shame they couldn't have done better with his feet, and folded his hands into his arms.

There's a 5mm port between the stabilizers on his rear.  You can plug his shoulder cannon into it.  Since it's just a peg it can swivel, and there's a hinge so it can be aimed upward a bit.  I just wish it didn't stick up so far; it's not very aerodynamic.  I feel like I'd have liked for it to flatten and mount on the underside... maybe on one wing, with an actual hand weapon on the other?

Regardless of the little flaws, overall I love this toy.  It's a neat design for Soundwave; I wouldn't mind seeing a Voyager-class version pop up one day when Earthspark is old enough for characters to get a mainline do-over.  But even as a Deluxe, even as a more limited and cheaper Earthspark Deluxe, it's a very solid toy with a simple but interesting transformation, adequate articulation, and better-than-average cartoon accuracy.  It is, by a wide margin, the best of the 13 (out of 14) Earthspark Deluxes I've looked at.  Et's a cool design for a cool character in a relatively cool and relatively inexpensive toy.  Even if you're not into the cartoon, I think it's ultimately a figure worth checking out.

[davidwhangchoi]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

OK, so Earthspark.  Hashtag's wave mate is none other than Soundwave, and unlike Prime and Grimlock (who were mostly retooled from their Cyberverse toys), Shockwave and Starscream (who were just repainted from their Cyberverse toys), or Prowl (who would have been more accurate if he was repainted from his Cyberverse toy, because for some dumb reason he was repainted from Hot Rod's instead), Earthspark Soundwave is a brand new mold that has nothing do with his Cyberverse toy.

Don't ask me why, but I stuck the new toy on the right instead of the left.  So, he's littler than the Cyberverse toy, and I think details that are different on the Earthspark toy like gray hands, blue forearms, blue feet, gray pelvis with no "buttons," blue face mask, etc, pair with a less-blocky design that make him a less obvious homage to the G1 design than most other Soundwave designs.  I actually had to double check his Earthspark appearance to make sure that some of those differences weren't just to a lazy or inaccurate paint job, but honestly aside from a missing bit of red on his abdomen this is one of the most accurate decoes on an Earthspark toy.  In any case, the head that looks like the Decepticon badge, the predominantly blue colors, and the gold trim around his chest are clearly Soundwave enough.

Taking a peak around the sides and back, yes, he has wings.  And yes, that's cartoon-accurate.  I think it's safe to say that new takes on Soundwave will never be a tape deck again, because kids these days wouldn't even know what one is.  The standard seems to have become some kind of kind of truck or SUV where they can work the Soundwave chest into the grill or hood... they did it with the Cybertron games, they did it with Robots In Disguise 2019, they did it in IDW, and they did it in Cyberverse.  Heck, even if they're more like hovercars/tanks, it's basically what Bumblebee and Transformers One did, too.  But you might be getting the sense that Earthspark went in a different direction...

Soundwave's sole accessory is this gun.  It's got an interesting sculpt, and it's nicely detailed with red and silver paint, at least.

Soundwave's head is on a hinged ball joint.  He doesn't have much room to look up or tilt his head sideways, but because of the hinge (for transformation) he can look down quite a bit.  His shoulders are a bit complicated.  There's transformation hinges inside his body that can move his shoulders laterally, connected to a ball joint for swiveling.  The ball joint doesn't get much lateral movement, though, which would absolutely give him Hot Rod shoulders except that there's another hinge between his shoulder and bicep for transformation that gives him a little more lateral movement.  Effectively, that comes out to just shy of 90 degrees with his arms down, and about 45 degrees with his arms up.  His elbows bend 90 degrees, and they're hinges, not ball joints.  His wrists are ball joints, though, which give him a wrist swivel and some downward bend.  His waist swivels.  His hips are, surprise, NOT ball joints.  He can move them a little over 90 degrees forward, a little under 90 degrees backward, and well past 90 degrees laterally.  His thighs swivel just above his knees, which bend 90 degrees.  His feet are attached to his ankles via ball joints, which gives him swivels, some upward tilt, a lot of downward tilt, and a little pivot.  But there's a transformation joint in the ankle that you can engage for more pivot, giving him a respectable 45 degrees overall.  All-in-all, not bad for an Earthspark toy.

Soundwave's gun, like his Cyberverse counterpart, is the only one he gets, so it has a 5mm port he can hold but also a notch that clips onto a tab on his back to be his shoulder cannon.  

Soundwave's backpack rotates and shifts, his chest opens so his head can tuck inside, his shoulders come together above his head, his forearms tuck against his sides, his waist spins 180 degrees, then he does the splits and his legs unfold and spread into big wings.  It reminds me a little of Titans Return Mindwipe.  Although not the first time he's had a winged alt mode (Cybertron/Galaxy Force and Prime, anyone?) it still feels like a super fresh design.

Kinda curious to hear what @M'Kyuun is gonna say about this one.  From the top and most angles, aside from his feet, I think his jet mode looks pretty dang good.  It's thin enough, and it's cartoon accurate.  Maybe if they'd molded some exhaust ports into the hollow backs of his thighs it'd be even more convincing.  If you flip him over, though, the underside of the jet is still a lot of robot kibble, though.  I don't totally hate it; his lower legs are the wings and his upper arms are the nose, after all.  His thighs could have purpose if, like I said, they'd made ehxausts of them, maybe tightened them against his arms so you could imagine a path from the intakes on top of the wings through the arms and out the thighs.  And though it's obviously his torso, I'll buy his body as the fuselage.  I could imagine it opening up to deploy drones like Laserbeak while in the air.  It's just a shame they couldn't have done better with his feet, and folded his hands into his arms.

There's a 5mm port between the stabilizers on his rear.  You can plug his shoulder cannon into it.  Since it's just a peg it can swivel, and there's a hinge so it can be aimed upward a bit.  I just wish it didn't stick up so far; it's not very aerodynamic.  I feel like I'd have liked for it to flatten and mount on the underside... maybe on one wing, with an actual hand weapon on the other?

Regardless of the little flaws, overall I love this toy.  It's a neat design for Soundwave; I wouldn't mind seeing a Voyager-class version pop up one day when Earthspark is old enough for characters to get a mainline do-over.  But even as a Deluxe, even as a more limited and cheaper Earthspark Deluxe, it's a very solid toy with a simple but interesting transformation, adequate articulation, and better-than-average cartoon accuracy.  It is, by a wide margin, the best of the 13 (out of 14) Earthspark Deluxes I've looked at.  Et's a cool design for a cool character in a relatively cool and relatively inexpensive toy.  Even if you're not into the cartoon, I think it's ultimately a figure worth checking out.

Wow Mike, do you have the entire collection of TF's, i keep seeing a review for the releases. 

You should do a youtube channel for reviews, they're really good write ups. 

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

OK, so Earthspark.  Hashtag's wave mate is none other than Soundwave, and unlike Prime and Grimlock (who were mostly retooled from their Cyberverse toys), Shockwave and Starscream (who were just repainted from their Cyberverse toys), or Prowl (who would have been more accurate if he was repainted from his Cyberverse toy, because for some dumb reason he was repainted from Hot Rod's instead), Earthspark Soundwave is a brand new mold that has nothing do with his Cyberverse toy.

Don't ask me why, but I stuck the new toy on the right instead of the left.  So, he's littler than the Cyberverse toy, and I think details that are different on the Earthspark toy like gray hands, blue forearms, blue feet, gray pelvis with no "buttons," blue face mask, etc, pair with a less-blocky design that make him a less obvious homage to the G1 design than most other Soundwave designs.  I actually had to double check his Earthspark appearance to make sure that some of those differences weren't just to a lazy or inaccurate paint job, but honestly aside from a missing bit of red on his abdomen this is one of the most accurate decoes on an Earthspark toy.  In any case, the head that looks like the Decepticon badge, the predominantly blue colors, and the gold trim around his chest are clearly Soundwave enough.

Taking a peak around the sides and back, yes, he has wings.  And yes, that's cartoon-accurate.  I think it's safe to say that new takes on Soundwave will never be a tape deck again, because kids these days wouldn't even know what one is.  The standard seems to have become some kind of kind of truck or SUV where they can work the Soundwave chest into the grill or hood... they did it with the Cybertron games, they did it with Robots In Disguise 2019, they did it in IDW, and they did it in Cyberverse.  Heck, even if they're more like hovercars/tanks, it's basically what Bumblebee and Transformers One did, too.  But you might be getting the sense that Earthspark went in a different direction...

Soundwave's sole accessory is this gun.  It's got an interesting sculpt, and it's nicely detailed with red and silver paint, at least.

Soundwave's head is on a hinged ball joint.  He doesn't have much room to look up or tilt his head sideways, but because of the hinge (for transformation) he can look down quite a bit.  His shoulders are a bit complicated.  There's transformation hinges inside his body that can move his shoulders laterally, connected to a ball joint for swiveling.  The ball joint doesn't get much lateral movement, though, which would absolutely give him Hot Rod shoulders except that there's another hinge between his shoulder and bicep for transformation that gives him a little more lateral movement.  Effectively, that comes out to just shy of 90 degrees with his arms down, and about 45 degrees with his arms up.  His elbows bend 90 degrees, and they're hinges, not ball joints.  His wrists are ball joints, though, which give him a wrist swivel and some downward bend.  His waist swivels.  His hips are, surprise, NOT ball joints.  He can move them a little over 90 degrees forward, a little under 90 degrees backward, and well past 90 degrees laterally.  His thighs swivel just above his knees, which bend 90 degrees.  His feet are attached to his ankles via ball joints, which gives him swivels, some upward tilt, a lot of downward tilt, and a little pivot.  But there's a transformation joint in the ankle that you can engage for more pivot, giving him a respectable 45 degrees overall.  All-in-all, not bad for an Earthspark toy.

Soundwave's gun, like his Cyberverse counterpart, is the only one he gets, so it has a 5mm port he can hold but also a notch that clips onto a tab on his back to be his shoulder cannon.  

Soundwave's backpack rotates and shifts, his chest opens so his head can tuck inside, his shoulders come together above his head, his forearms tuck against his sides, his waist spins 180 degrees, then he does the splits and his legs unfold and spread into big wings.  It reminds me a little of Titans Return Mindwipe.  Although not the first time he's had a winged alt mode (Cybertron/Galaxy Force and Prime, anyone?) it still feels like a super fresh design.

Kinda curious to hear what @M'Kyuun is gonna say about this one.  From the top and most angles, aside from his feet, I think his jet mode looks pretty dang good.  It's thin enough, and it's cartoon accurate.  Maybe if they'd molded some exhaust ports into the hollow backs of his thighs it'd be even more convincing.  If you flip him over, though, the underside of the jet is still a lot of robot kibble, though.  I don't totally hate it; his lower legs are the wings and his upper arms are the nose, after all.  His thighs could have purpose if, like I said, they'd made ehxausts of them, maybe tightened them against his arms so you could imagine a path from the intakes on top of the wings through the arms and out the thighs.  And though it's obviously his torso, I'll buy his body as the fuselage.  I could imagine it opening up to deploy drones like Laserbeak while in the air.  It's just a shame they couldn't have done better with his feet, and folded his hands into his arms.

There's a 5mm port between the stabilizers on his rear.  You can plug his shoulder cannon into it.  Since it's just a peg it can swivel, and there's a hinge so it can be aimed upward a bit.  I just wish it didn't stick up so far; it's not very aerodynamic.  I feel like I'd have liked for it to flatten and mount on the underside... maybe on one wing, with an actual hand weapon on the other?

Regardless of the little flaws, overall I love this toy.  It's a neat design for Soundwave; I wouldn't mind seeing a Voyager-class version pop up one day when Earthspark is old enough for characters to get a mainline do-over.  But even as a Deluxe, even as a more limited and cheaper Earthspark Deluxe, it's a very solid toy with a simple but interesting transformation, adequate articulation, and better-than-average cartoon accuracy.  It is, by a wide margin, the best of the 13 (out of 14) Earthspark Deluxes I've looked at.  Et's a cool design for a cool character in a relatively cool and relatively inexpensive toy.  Even if you're not into the cartoon, I think it's ultimately a figure worth checking out.

I've been lukewarm on the show and the toys, though I've got Twitch, Thrash, and Nightshade thus far, Nightshade being my favorite of the three. I was intrigued by this take on Soundwave from the initial revelation, and my interest has only piqued further thanks to your review. I'm hoping Pulse will get him soon for preordering. The only thing this guy is missing is some sort of chestborne minion, and given that his chest faces the ground in alt mode, optimal for payload delivery, the omission of said minion, perhaps a drone that turns into a bat, bird, jaguar, or little blue dude who likes to shake things up is notably disappointing and dismaying. I totally agree with your suggestion of exhaust vent details in the backs of the thighs, as that would have looked great for both modes. Perhaps there'll be an add-on kit that does just that.

While he's not the most svelte aircraft with all of that obvious bot kibble on his underside, he's still better than most and we don't get many flying wing alt-moded TFs. I wish he'd been larger and more refined with perhaps some retractable gear and the aforementioned chest minion, but as-is, he's a neat take on Soundwave, much like his Prime counterpart, within the annals of Transformers media. As you also mentioned, the placement of the feet, which would have looked better had they rotated 180 to let the tops of the feet form rounded shapes on the underwing, perhaps as conformal fuel tanks, and the inability to recess the hands are minuses against his alt mode, but he does still present a thin profile and I like that his shoulders form part of the plane as well as the unfurling of the legs into wings, a la Mindwipe, as you mentioned (one of my favorite transformation techniques in a flying alt mode in recent history).  Overall, he's a pretty solid entry, especially in the Earthspark line, and one of the more unique and fairly well executed aircraft alt-moded bots to come along in a while. IMHO, he's better than all five of the abysmal Aerialbots put together and I happily await my opportunity to get a copy.

Edited Thursday at 04:34 AM by M'Kyuun

[mikeszekely]

7 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said:

Wow Mike, do you have the entire collection of TF's, i keep seeing a review for the releases. 

Entire, no.  Way too many, yes.  I buy almost every mainline and Studio Series release; I've only skipped a few repaints/remolds if I think they were pretty poorly done, like Legacy Cyberverse Chromia being retooled from Legacy Animated Prowl.  I don't do much in the way of Masterpiece, though.  I think, prior to Ginrai and KOs of MP-44 and Megatron, I don't think I got an official MP since maybe Ironhide.  I also don't really dip into the lines marketed more for kids, with the exceptions being the Cyberverse and Earthspark Deluxes.

I haven't done the YouTube thing mainly because there's a lot of competition in an already niche market and the platform's algorithm heavily favors the established creators, so it's never felt worth it. I like writing, and I like you guys here 

7 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I've got Twitch, Thrash, and Nightshade thus far, Nightshade being my favorite of the three.

As per my review, you might want to pick up Hashtag, too.  I agree that Nightshade is probably the best of those three, but I think Hashtag's honestly better than Nightshade.

'Course, if you wound up getting four of the Maltos, then you're pretty much obligated to get Jawbreaker and complete the set.  I don't know how easy he is to find anymore, though.  He's on Amazon, but about $10 more than he should be.

7 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I'm hoping Pulse will get him soon for preordering.

I don't think Pulse carried any of the Earthspark stuff beyond the first wave or two.  Your best bet is to check your local Targets, that's where most people are reporting findings.  While mine's pretty barren otherwise that's where I found him.

Edited Thursday at 11:46 AM by mikeszekely

[lechuck]

[sh9000]

SDCC.

[mikeszekely]

Wow, the first SDCC set I can skip since PotP! Not that I think it's bad, but I'm fine with my Siege Jetfire and uninterested in Void Rivals.

[M'Kyuun]

9 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Entire, no.  Way too many, yes.  I buy almost every mainline and Studio Series release; I've only skipped a few repaints/remolds if I think they were pretty poorly done, like Legacy Cyberverse Chromia being retooled from Legacy Animated Prowl.  I don't do much in the way of Masterpiece, though.  I think, prior to Ginrai and KOs of MP-44 and Megatron, I don't think I got an official MP since maybe Ironhide.  I also don't really dip into the lines marketed more for kids, with the exceptions being the Cyberverse and Earthspark Deluxes.

I haven't done the YouTube thing mainly because there's a lot of competition in an already niche market and the platform's algorithm heavily favors the established creators, so it's never felt worth it. I like writing, and I like you guys here 

As per my review, you might want to pick up Hashtag, too.  I agree that Nightshade is probably the best of those three, but I think Hashtag's honestly better than Nightshade.

'Course, if you wound up getting four of the Maltos, then you're pretty much obligated to get Jawbreaker and complete the set.  I don't know how easy he is to find anymore, though.  He's on Amazon, but about $10 more than he should be.

I don't think Pulse carried any of the Earthspark stuff beyond the first wave or two.  Your best bet is to check your local Targets, that's where most people are reporting findings.  While mine's pretty barren otherwise that's where I found him.

I've been looking for Soundwave, but on my most recent visit to Target, they had no Earthspark stuff to speak of. There's another location I may have to try. The only other Earthspark fig I entertained a fancy to was Chaos, but again, I never saw him in the store. I can't remember seeing Jawbreaker, either, for which I had a mild interest. The Earthspark stuff isn't as interesting to me overall as the G1, Prime, or Animated figs, so if I miss out, I don't really feel like I missed out, if that makes sense.😄 That said, Soundwave is more interesting to me than these others, so I would like to track him down. Mayhaps I'll have to resort to using one of the e-tailers.

Edit: So I just returned from walking the pooch and decided to cast about on the interwebs for Soundwave. There are five stores within about a 60-mile radius listed on my Target page and not one of them has him. Perhaps we just haven't gotten stock on this side of the country yet. Ebay prices are typically exorbitant, TFSource doesn't carry him or Hashtag (or really much of anything Earthspark), so my guess is this really is pretty much Target exclusive and until my stores start stocking him, assuming they will, I'll just have to remain vigilant on their site.

Edited Thursday at 03:22 PM by M'Kyuun

[sh9000]

[mikeszekely]

I was just coming to post that.  Based on past history, I'd expect SS86 Megatron to go up for preorder around 1:00pm ET that day.

Also, Target's doing a Geek-Out 2025 on June 13th.  I've heard there will be a Netflix Optimus/Megatron pack (as if we needed more copies of the Siege molds), Devastation Sideswipe and Wheeljack (likely the Earthrise molds will cell shading), and a 4-pack of Deluxes Bumper (Earthrise or SS86 Bumblebee retool), Ultra Magnus (fairly sure it's a repaint of the toy-style Legacy Deluxe Optimus), and Horri-Bull (gotta finish those Headmaster Juniors!) vs Voyager Nemesis Prime (Earthrise, maybe?).

EDIT: Right on Bumper and Magnus, Horri-Bull looks like maybe a retool of Skullcruncher, and Nemesis Prime turns out to be Animated.🤨

EDIT 2: I was right on Wheeljack and Sideswipe, but Prime and Megatron are the game WFC, not the Netflix ones.  So the SSGE versions, but with a few paint tweaks.

Edited Friday at 04:20 AM by mikeszekely

[Scyla]

Oh great, another multi pack I only want one figure of…

[sh9000]

I think Megatron's legs will be these colors.

Devastation Sideswipe, Devastation Wheeljack, AOTP 4 Pack, WFC Optimus, and WFC Megatron preorders are up.

Edited Friday at 05:09 PM by sh9000

[mikeszekely]

7 hours ago, Scyla said:

Oh great, another multi pack I only want one figure of…

If it's Nemesis Prime we can work something out , because that's the one figure in the pack I don't want.

[Scyla]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

If it's Nemesis Prime we can work something out , because that's the one figure in the pack I don't want.

Of course it is Nemesis Prime. That would be awesome but first I need to figure out how to cancel an order with Hasbro Pulse.

[davidwhangchoi]

13 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I was just coming to post that.  Based on past history, I'd expect SS86 Megatron to go up for preorder around 1:00pm ET that day.

Also, Target's doing a Geek-Out 2025 on June 13th.  I've heard there will be a Netflix Optimus/Megatron pack (as if we needed more copies of the Siege molds), Devastation Sideswipe and Wheeljack (likely the Earthrise molds will cell shading), and a 4-pack of Deluxes Bumper (Earthrise or SS86 Bumblebee retool), Ultra Magnus (fairly sure it's a repaint of the toy-style Legacy Deluxe Optimus), and Horri-Bull (gotta finish those Headmaster Juniors!) vs Voyager Nemesis Prime (Earthrise, maybe?).

EDIT: Right on Bumper and Magnus, Horri-Bull looks like maybe a retool of Skullcruncher, and Nemesis Prime turns out to be Animated.🤨

EDIT 2: I was right on Wheeljack and Sideswipe, but Prime and Megatron are the game WFC, not the Netflix ones.  So the SSGE versions, but with a few paint tweaks.

Will the white cabby come with a trailer to carry cars? 

[danth]

On 6/5/2025 at 4:48 AM, mikeszekely said:

Wow, the first SDCC set I can skip since PotP! Not that I think it's bad, but I'm fine with my Siege Jetfire and uninterested in Void Rivals.

I want the Void Rivals, even though I know nothing about them. I just like retro o-ring figures. 

There's no way I'm going to SDCC though. Not sure how normal people acquire these kind of things besides eBay. 

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, davidwhangchoi said:

Will the white cabby come with a trailer to carry cars? 

Alas, no. Though, the can does detach from SS86 Magnus. Maybe I should check if Legacy Prime can pull it...

2 hours ago, Scyla said:

Of course it is Nemesis Prime. That would be awesome but first I need to figure out how to cancel an order with Hasbro Pulse.

You should be able to open the order from your history and cancel by item (so if you want to cancel the whole order, check all the items). If it won't let you, that means it's processing to ship imminently (at least, from my experience with the US version).

1 hour ago, danth said:

I want the Void Rivals, even though I know nothing about them. I just like retro o-ring figures. 

There's no way I'm going to SDCC though. Not sure how normal people acquire these kind of things besides eBay. 

Hasbro will sell it on Pulse. I've never been to California, let alone San Diego at Comic Con, but I've had very little trouble getting the SDCC exclusives over the years.

[M'Kyuun]

Man, it figures  that  the fanstream is on the 10th; I'm getting laser surgery on my eye at the time of the stream. Fortunately, i should be home by the time POs go up.

[sh9000]

Long Haul and Hook.

 

[mikeszekely]

Well... I haven't checked Pulse, since all their dates were already like November, but Amazon has been emailing me left and right moving around shipping dates for both Studio Series and wave 2 of Age of the Primes.  Looks like AotP is moving up from later in the fall to September, which is cool... except then this guy just randomly shows up today- Voyager Class Heatwave.

Heatwave is a retool of Legacy Bulkhead, and normally I'd wait to cover him in a repaint roundup, but 1.) the only other repaint is Crasher, from the Kingdom version of Mirage, but she's actually a package refresh from the previously Walmart exclusive Velocitron line, 2.) the rest of the wave seems to be new molds, and 3.) the rest of the wave is far enough off that I don't think there were even preorders for Onyx Prime yet.  So... we've got new fronts on his shoulders, a new torso cab, new head, new thighs, and new outside edges of his forearms...

...oh, and one new flap, since he doesn't have the wheels on his back that Bulkhead does.  But the rest, including the inside edges and backs of his shoulders, are the same.

For the most part, I think it works ok.  He's a bit fat, due to his cab sticking out so far and alt mode details normally formed by the Rescue Bots' hands being permanently present, but I've always thought details of the mold (especially the alt mode) seemed a bit off for both Animated and Prime Bulkhead.  At the time I wrote it off as "g1-ifiying" him, but now I wonder if they had Heatwave in mind all along.

Heatwave does get brand new accessories, namely a ladder, an axe, and a gun/sprayer nozzle.

Articulation is the same as Bulkhead's.  The sprayer nozzle fits over his hand, and he can hold the axe via the 5mm handle with the other.  The ladder can be plugged into his arm as a (very ineffective) shield, like Bulkhead's tarp, but you're better off plugging it onto his back.  That's where the Rescue Bots version of the character keeps his.  Plus, with the ladder on his back, tabs on the nozzle and axe allow you to plug them onto slots on the ladder for storage.

Transformation is 99% the same as before, except with Bulkhead you don't have to remove his tarp and you have to fold out the wheels on his back.  Heatwave's ladder doesn't stay plugged into the same spot.  Instead, you have to partsform it so that slots on one end fit into tabs on the backs of his thighs, and notches on the other end allow it to sit over his feet.  This leaves the ladder resting at an angle, higher at the back and lower near the cab, which is how the ladder sits on the Rescue Bots toy/cartoon.

The cab comes off pretty well, with the grill, windshield, and yellow flashers being quite close to the original design.  The back of the truck works less well.  He's got the fuel tanks from Bulkhead; not sure why they didn't remold those parts to better resemble the panels (presumably where the hoses would connect) that were on the original toy.  Likewise, there's the visible robot thighs and crotch kibble, and the "bed" of the truck that's gray instead of red and devoid of fire truck details.  There's also the flap that Bulkhead's tarp would sit on.  It does nothing but hang of the back of the cab as obvious kibble.

To me, it seems like it'd be a good place to mount the nozzle, so Heatwave could spray fires in alt mode.  But no, since the nozzle is designed to cover Heatwave's hand the 5mm peg can't reach the port on the kibble flap.  It might have worked if you flipped it upside down, but that peg-like protrusion on top is smaller than a 5mm peg (but, near as I can tell, bigger than the 3mm ones used for Core-class figures).  No, according to the instructions both his axe and his nozzle are meant to tab into the ladder again, like bot mode.  However, the slots on the ladder happen to be about the same size as the slots on the back of his legs, where Bulkhead's tarp would plug in, so you can technically plug them along size the ladder as well as on it.

Heatwave is, ultimately, and alright figure.  On some levels the mold almost feels like it was meant for Heatwave more than it was meant for Bulkhead, but in other ways it almost seems like they didn't remold enough and a few more minor tweaks would have really made a big difference.  It's kind of neat to see Rescue Bots original characters being brought into the G1-esque fold, but Heatwave doesn't seem to have gotten the extra sauce that Chase did.  And for the largely G1 crowd here, a remolded Voyager of a Rescue Bot is likely a harder sell than an original Deluxe.  Ultimately, I think it depends on how much you like seeing the Rescue Bots as members of the G1 team.  If that appeals to you, then Heatwave is a perfectly serviceable companion to Legacy Chase.  I wonder if they'll get around to Blades and Boulder to round out the main Rescue Bots cast?  To be honest, as someone who's been saying we need more garbage truck Transformers and who's always down for more fembots, Salvage and Quickshadow would be welcome, too.  Maybe more*.  But if Rescue Bots really aren't your thing, G1-ified or not, then I don't think you're missing too much if you just skip this guy.

*Titan-class High Tide?

[sh9000]

I'd probably buy Boulder as that character was voiced by a friend of mine.

[M'Kyuun]

I liked what they did with Chase, but I thought Heatwave missed the mark by too much, so I passed on him. I would've liked to have had the Prime Cliffjumper repaint of Chase, but he came in a pack with other figs I didn't want, so again, I passed. Hopefully that particular fig will get his own release in a year or so. As to the other Rescuebots, I consider each on its own merits at how well the update captures the original toy, but I've no burning need to have them in my collection. For me, they're more of a curiosity than anything. Thanks for the review, as always, Mike!

[mikeszekely]

Not so long ago, Hasbro took Armada Optimus Prime, a large toy but one notorious for poor articulation even by the standards at the time, and gave us a modern version.  That version was smaller and missing most of the gimmicks of the original toy, but it looked good and it definitely had better articulation.  This year Hasbro is again updating an old Optimus Prime toy with poor articulation, but this time they're doing it at the Titan scale.  This here is Age of the Primes Star Optimus Prime.

Since I first discovered it I've loved the design of Star Optimus (or Star Convoy, as it were).  He had enough of the traditional design beats- chest windows, tummy grill, red torso, blue helmet and lower legs, face mask, and antenna ears.  But he was amped up on '80s/'90s Japanese super robot anime energy.  He was bigger, with a little extra gold and black added to his normal color pallet, a maedate-style crest on his forehead akin to a Gundam, smokestacks swapped for double-barreled shoulder guns, leg wheels swapped for tank treads, and a prominent gold star on his chest.  I loved the design so much that I bought the 2005 reissue, and despite the toy's lack of articulation (it's seriously a solid brick with arms that swivel at the shoulders and bend at the elbows, that's it) I loved the gimmicks. 

With Hasbro running the brand more tightly in modern times my hopes for a modern version were dwindling.  In 2019, Takara retooled Power of the Primes Leader-class Optimus, replacing the Sunbow Orion Pax with a "normal" Optimus Prime, then retooling the combined mode into something slightly resembling Star Convoy.  If the "evolutions" intent with the regular release was to show Orion evolving into Optimus Prime, then this figure showed Convoy evolving into Star Convoy.  But the robot didn't have great proportions, the chest windows were wrong, the star wouldn't stay in place, and the alt mode was totally G1 Optimus, not Star Convoy.  Around the same time, MMC released Stellarus Convoy, an impressive unlicensed figure with good articulation that mostly captured the heroic proportions of the manga, but lacked the gimmicks of the original, suffered from QC issues, and it still had a less-than-accurate alt mode.

Fast forward to the present, and Hasbro's decided to crank out figures of the Thirteen Primes, aka the thirteen original Transformers created by Primus.  Knocking out characters like Prima and Solus, who pretty much only exist as lore, not a problem.  But what about the Thirteenth Prime?  Canonically, the Covenant of Primus made the Thirteenth Prime Optimus, who chose to be reborn as an ordinary Cybertronian in the Well of All Sparks, hence becoming Orion Pax.  It was not a popular take; I love Optimus as much as the next guy, but to me part of his story is that he's just a regular guy who becomes a leader because his courage, conviction, and compassion causes him to take a stand against against Megatron's tyranny.  He's special because he's not special (something that the Transformers One film did a good job conveying).  And we have a ton of new Optimus Prime toys.  Hasbro's solution to coming up with a toy, then, is to take an obscure Japanese manga-only version of Optimus, update and mass release it, and let you decide if it's literally an upgraded "ultimate" form of Optimus Prime or something else.

And aesthetically, man did they do a good job!  The new Titan hews very closely to the original toy, but tweaks the proportions to make them a bit more heroic, gives him better hands, and cleans up his solid, undetailed back.  My sole complaints are the bit of trailer panels on the sides of his legs, and the lack of gold on his pelvis.

His antenna are even hinged, and can range from nearly straight ala the original toy to more exaggerated, manga-esque positions.

As a Titan, Star Optimus is giving up far less than Armada Optimus did.  On the right, we have all of the original toy's accessories, minus some ramps.  And on the left, we can see that the new toy has them all- the crawler vehicle (that becomes Prime's calves), the black truck, a small Hot Rod, the little turret (which doesn't separate from the base like the original did), and his rifle.

But on top of all that, Titan Star Optimus also comes with six blast effect parts, the Zodiac orb, the Silver Matrix, and a bullet.  The two yellow ones are the multi-segmented ones that first came with Siege Jetfire.  The orange ones are the multi-segmented one with two extra tips that came first came with Siege Omega Supreme.  The blue one, though, I believe is new.

Obviously, one big improvement with this toy is articulation.  His head swivels, and he can tilt his head down but not up or sideways.  His shoulders rotate on ratchets, and more ratchets allow them to move a little short of 90 degrees laterally.  His biceps swivel, and his ratcheted elbows bend 90 degrees.  His wrists swivel.  His thumb is fixed and his finger are all molded together in a permanent curl, but they are pinned at the base so he can open his hands.  His waist has a ratcheted swivel.  His hips can go backward 90 degrees, laterally a little over 90 degrees, and forward just under 90 degrees due to interference from his hip skirts.  All that motion is ratcheted.  His thighs swivel.  His ratcheted knees bend just a little shy of 90 degrees.  His toes tilt downward, due to his transformation, and his ankles pivot about 60 degrees.

The base of the turret gun folds up so that Star Prime can hold it like a pistol via a 5mm peg. The Silver Matrix can be held like a hilt, with the blue effect part acting like an flame blade.  It's a neat idea, but it looks way too small for him.

Unlike the original toy his shoulder guns are not permanently affixed.  Rather, they are attached via 5mm pegs which means he can also hold those in his hands.  The barrels can move up and down.  His regular rifle can also be held in either hand, using both a short 5mm peg but also a tab that fits into a slot on his wrist to help lock it in place. The extra support is helpful because the Silver Matrix (a gimmick invented for the 2019 Generations Selects release, BTW) has a peg on it that allows it to plug into the barrel of his rifle.  The folded-up turret gun then uses a peg to plug into the hole on the Matrix.  This combined weapon is an homage to the Big Bang rifle, the name for when you took the rifle of the Generations Selects toy, split it in half, and mounted its Silver Matrix between the halves.

You may have noticed in the previous pic that the bullet fits into a groove in the rifle.  Once it's installed, I see no reason to ever remove it.  Likewise, if you open up Star Prime's chest there's a little pedestal with an round indent and a peg hole.  The Zodiac orb fits in there, and can stay there through transformation, so I see no reason to remove it.

When Titan Star Prime was first revealed, I know some people saw that Hot Rod and thought, "What, why is his wing on his legs?  That looks so bad it makes the Core-class version look better!"  I think what those people didn't know is that this Hot Rod, despite being roughly Core-class in size, is a direct homage to a Micromaster Hot Rod that came with the original toy.  It copies elements from the Micromaster, like the engine on the back of his head, the wings on his legs instead of his back, and basically the same transformation.  The big difference is that the exhaust pipes and engine are are painted silver, and the chest details are paint instead of a sticker.

Well, that and a bit more articulation.  His shoulders are ball joints so they can swivel but also move laterally about 30 degrees.  He's got elbows now, and they're ball joints, so they act as bicep swivels in addition to bending 90 degrees.  His hips are ball joints that can go 90 degrees forward and laterally, and about 60 degrees backward.  His hinged knees bend nearly 180 degrees.  Although this release doesn't come with any accessories specifically for him, he does have 3mm peg holes on his fists and he can hold Core-class accessories like the sword that came with that version of Hot Rod without issue.

Note that the instructions specifically say that Hot Rod can sit inside Star Prime's chest.  He doesn't lock in place, and his legs stick out and prevent his chest from closing back up, though.

In alt mode Hot Rod can fit into the trailer of the little black truck, same as the original toy.  However, the black truck does NOT have the spring-loaded launching gimmick anymore (and, oddly, swaps the orange door for a gray one).  It's not all bad, though.  The truck has picked up some new gimmicks.  For starters, there's two 5mm ports on the top and one on each side (plus a peg on each side), allowing you to mount weapons like the turret gun, his shoulder guns, or even his rifle.  Two, the cab (which has a 5mm peg on the roof now) comes off, and two gun barrels fold out from underneath.  This, too, can be plugged into one of the ports on the trailer or carried as a pistol by Star Prime.

The crawler rolls on wheels, now.  It no longer has working treads or a battery so it can roll on its own.  But, it does split in half now, so it can stay on Prime's calves without mucking with his articulation.

Transforming Star Prime is somewhat similar to the original.  In both cases the chest opens so the head can fold inside, the turrets swivel 180 degrees, the shoulders rotate forward 90 degrees and the elbows bend backward, the arms disconnect from his sides and fold up over his head, the waist swivels 180 degrees, and the toes fold down.  In both cases the backpack folds down to fill in part of the trailer.  The key differences are that the rear wheels fold out from inside the chest instead of behind the arms, the fists fold in with the grill on the other side instead of the grill being molded onto is fingers, his front hip skirt folds open to fill in part of the trailer, and the panels on the sides of the legs hinge up to fill in the rest.  Both still mount their rifle and turret onto the trailer, though the bottom of the turret stays folded onto it instead of attaching to the rifle.

In alt mode, the new Titan Star Prime is very faithful to the original, but there are some choices that could have been a bit better.  For one, because his legs are actually legs and he's missing the large butt flap that the original crawler docked into, some of the detail under the trailer is missing.  Two, the top of the trailer is a little gappier due to being made from his pelvis and not a big kibble backpack.  Three, his torso is totally red plastic, so there's a red section at the front of the trailer (just behind his shoulders and above the rear wheels) that should actually match the trailer's gray and include the blue stripe.  But perhaps worse of all, the trailer doors are a waffled mess, lacking the details of the original toy, including the silver stickers with the door numbers.

The doors do open, though, and they even have those bits on them to connect them to stuff like Siege Prime's trailer shield, the Earthrise modulators, or some of the other Titans.  Like the truck itself, Prime's leg/trailers lack the spring gimmick of the original toy.  Actually, you can't even drive the truck straight in!  The edges of the opening are too narrow, and there are squarish protrusions with peg holes on the floor.

To install the truck, you have to open the front of Prime's shins, then the truck plugs down into it, with the square bits fitting into notches on the bottom of the truck.  This locks it in place.  The Silver Matrix use a peg to plug into one of the peg holes in the other leg.  My first thought is that there's plenty of room in there, I can toss his blast effects and turret gun in there, too.  However, there's two issues with that.  One, the friction on the door, which is essentially his heel, isn't super strong, and the weight of the loose accessories can actually push it open, causing them to fall out when you're manipulating him in bot mode.  Two, even if you can find a way to tighten that up, pivoting his ankles creates small gaps that stuff can fall out of anyway.  If you plug the Silver Matrix into the lower port you can use it to kind of pin the turret gun and blue effect part in such that they can get down to the door/ankle gap.  As for the rest of his effect parts, I've got a box filled with just effect parts I've inadvertently collected since Siege, so the orange and yellow ones can just go in there.  It is a little disappointing, though, that with so much space in his legs they couldn't find a more effective way to store his accessories in them.

The original Star Convoy toy didn't stop at big robot and big truck.  Like so many big Transformers at the end of JG1, Star Convoy had a base mode.  It's not super complicated; you basically lifted his back butt flap and removed the crawler, then his legs and pelvis could swing up.  Turn the torso 90 degrees, open his chest, open up the legs, attach some ramps the crawler and hook it onto the other side.  The turret gun gets stuck on the crawler so Hot Rod can use it, but the rifle stays in his hand.

Like the truck mode, the new toy is very similar but also slightly different.  His hips move like he's sitting, but his pelvis doesn't move, leaving the torso a little higher and the chest unable to reach the ground.  It also means his legs don't stick out as far to the sides.  His heels leave archways that weren't present on the original toy.  There's no butt flap, so the crawler winds up closer to his body and doesn't stick out so far in the front.  This is exacerbated by smaller ramps on the crawler.  But, on the plus side, those ramps are actually on the crawler.  They're not separate parts that I had to dig out of the box in my closet.  Prime's head also hinges forward, sort of obscuring his face and making it slightly less (but still extremely) obvious that a chunk of the base is just robot torso.

While I do have a few minor gripes with Star Convoy (and maybe some of them, like the ugly trailer doors, could be fixed with a third-party upgrade from DNA or someone), this was one of my most anticipated releases for the year and he doesn't disappoint.  He looks amazingly good in bot mode, he's much closer than any other attempt in alt mode, and he actually has the base mode and gimmicks like the black truck, the Micromaster Hot Rod, and the detachable crawler that were so cool about the original toy.  His joints are solid, he's got actual articulation manga-esque proportions.  It's literally everything I love about the original toy but better, not a half-arsed attempt like the Generations Selects toy or a great robot but still lacking in other ways reimagining like Stellarus Prominon.  What's more, while he's a big boy (even bigger than Stellarus), his smaller size compared to other Titans actually makes him so much easier to handle.  I'd go so far to say that not only is Star Prime the best version of this character, he might very well be my favorite Titan-class release ever.  Now, I get that as a JG1 character he doesn't have the widespread appeal that a Sunbow character might, and that $150 is still a big ask even if it is cheaper than several previous Titans, but if you have any interest in this character at all this is the version to get.  Highly recommended.

[sh9000]

New pics.

[mikeszekely]

Was just about to post all the wave 3 stuff, but I got scooped.

Fireflight got screwed, looks like a new head and colors on an otherwise unchanged Slingshot.  Skydive is obviously a retool of Air Raid, but at least they remolded his wings and tail.

Venom looks cool.

Alpha Trion is interesting.  The face is the younger face from "War Dawn," which kind of makes sense if this is supposed to be Trion when the other Primes were kicking around. It rather compliments the SDCC Scourge retool, rather than replaces it.  The alt mode appears to be based on concept art for the IDW series Transformers: Ironhide.  

Do I want to buy another Slugslinger and Sandstorm just to get Sandstorm's cartoon face...?

 I looked to see if there's anything unexpected going to be announced for Studio Series tomorrow, but I think the Takara leak already covered it (Megatron, Scavenger, Elita One, Starscream, and Widowmaker.  Maybe Mixmaster, if we're lucky, since I think he's actually farther along than Scavenger.

[JB0]

5 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

The original Star Convoy toy didn't stop at big robot and big truck.  Like so many big Transformers at the end of JG1, Star Convoy had a base mode. 

I really like the new base mode's use of the silver matrix and blue blast as a water fountain. Gives it a little dash of charm.

[mikeszekely]

You guys want more G2 Dinobots?

[M'Kyuun]

11 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Was just about to post all the wave 3 stuff, but I got scooped.

Fireflight got screwed, looks like a new head and colors on an otherwise unchanged Slingshot.  Skydive is obviously a retool of Air Raid, but at least they remolded his wings and tail.

Venom looks cool.

Alpha Trion is interesting.  The face is the younger face from "War Dawn," which kind of makes sense if this is supposed to be Trion when the other Primes were kicking around. It rather compliments the SDCC Scourge retool, rather than replaces it.  The alt mode appears to be based on concept art for the IDW series Transformers: Ironhide.  

Do I want to buy another Slugslinger and Sandstorm just to get Sandstorm's cartoon face...?

 I looked to see if there's anything unexpected going to be announced for Studio Series tomorrow, but I think the Takara leak already covered it (Megatron, Scavenger, Elita One, Starscream, and Widowmaker.  Maybe Mixmaster, if we're lucky, since I think he's actually farther along than Scavenger.

I'm assuming the Studio Series stream will be on Hasbro Pulse's YT channel at 11 AM ET tomorrow morning. Please do correct me if I'm wrong. I don't wanna miss that one.

Like many, I was expecting SS86 Megatron to be officially revealed /go on PO today, but since I'm going to be at an appointment right when POs go up, I'm kinda glad it's another day. I do, however, want that Venom- he just looks fantastic!  I have all the other recent Deluxe Insecticon releases except Ransack, so not too bad. I'm hoping Ransack will get his own release at some point for those of us who didn't buy the multi-pack. Micronus Prime has my attention as well, as I dig motorcycle Transformers, and a monocycle (that works) is a pretty darn cool and unique alt mode. I also like the rider/bike- guy w/ armored suit thing that they did. All those things speak volumes of mecha coolness and I'm down for it.

Onyx Prime is a pretty cool looking fig as well, although I'm probably gonna pass on him.

I'm on the fence concerning Alpha Trion; I don't necessarily care for his alt mode, but it is based on concept art from way back, and I like that he comes with the Covenant of Primus, even if I have no real familiarity with it. I like that the book actually has a few pages with details. That's a cool, apropos accessory for the character, and we so rarely get accessories that aren't some sort of weaponry.

[sh9000]

There's a stream posted today.

Yeah the only way I'll buy Venom and the Chopshop and Barrage set is if they reissue Ransack individually.

Edited 6 hours ago by sh9000

[M'Kyuun]

15 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

There's a stream posted today.

Yeah the only way I'll buy Venom and the Chopshop and Barrage set is if they reissue Ransack individually.

I'd be even happier if they gave Ransack his own mold that was closer to the original toy's, as a Kickback repaint just doesn't quite capture the look. That said, they likely won't do that so at the very least, I'm hoping for the Kickback repaint rerelease to complete the roster.

And thanks for the YT info. I watched it, but they didn't cover SS86 Megs, which I think was the main draw for a lot of fans for today's stream. So I'm hoping the stream to adresss that, and subsequent POs, will be soon.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

I'm assuming the Studio Series stream will be on Hasbro Pulse's YT channel at 11 AM ET tomorrow morning. Please do correct me if I'm wrong. I don't wanna miss that one.

Not tomorrow.  I'm honestly not sure if Hasbro is planning another stream for later this month or just waiting for SDCC at this point, especially since I was told today's stream was for AotP and Studio Series, but by "Studio Series" they apparently meant one solitary Amazon multipack.  That said, some people are saying a clue on Entertainment Earth that reads "Classic! Or new? Maybe both. Sign up lest you get caught without cool action figures in the cold vacuum of space... or your home.  Your home needs new action figures." suggests that Megatron will go up for preorder on Monday.

EDIT: Well, I preordered everything on Amazon except the Dinobots, which I preordered on Pulse.  Usually I preorder everything on Pulse, too, but looking back over my last couple of orders I've canceled almost everything there because I get it somewhere else first.

Edited 5 hours ago by mikeszekely

[sh9000]

Preordered Skydive and Fireflight at Hasbro Pulse.  Target has been getting some items earlier than other stores so if I see those 2 at Target and with a cheaper price or one of their offers then I'll end up buying them there instead.