The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[sh9000]

Megatron packaging.

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Megatron packaging.

That's about 2/3 more box than necessary, but it looks nice. It's nice to have the plastic windows back, even if they're not the most environmentally friendly of options. I still think it sucks that we can't have a Megatron that turns into a gun and yet you can go buy a small arsenal at your local Walmart, including enough AR-15s to outfit a SWAT unit. I digress. I'm glad Newage took the plunge and gave us Romulus; I wish more third-party companies would follow suit giving us options for our CHUG collections to either fill voids like G1 Megs or give us better versions of characters than we've gotten officially. I wish Takara would make a proper G1 Megs for the non-US market; it's not fair to punish fans outside of the US for our laws regarding toy guns. Likewise for Shockwave. 

I'm planning on getting this guy, but I surely hope that there will be some nice third-party solutions to render his scope a far more believable part of his turret. As is, it almost seems an afterthought compared to the care taken to engineer his legs into the tank's base, which looks great, IMHO. That turret, however, dispels any illusion and that seems antithetical to what the Studio Series is supposed to be in terms of quality, alas. I hope there will be options to fix it.

Regarding the upcoming Venin (Venom) Deluxe Insecticon fig, I've never really looked at the original toy all that closely so I did some research and I'm thoroughly impressed at how well they captured the original toy. The fact that they could do unique tooling to create that character so faithfully and yet they resorted to retooling Shrapnel into inaccurate versions of Chop Shop and Barrage, and Kickback into an inaccurate version of Ransack rankles a bit. 

 

[mikeszekely]

14 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

That's about 2/3 more box than necessary,

Apparently it's to standardize the size of the boxes by class for retailers. So as a Leader class he goes into a box that has to be big enough to accommodate the Dinobots.

21 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

I'm planning on getting this guy, but I surely hope that there will be some nice third-party solutions to render his scope a far more believable part of his turret. As is, it almost seems an afterthought compared to the care taken to engineer his legs into the tank's base, which looks great, IMHO. That turret, however, dispels any illusion and that seems antithetical to what the Studio Series is supposed to be in terms of quality, alas. I hope there will be options to fix it.

To me, not only is G1 Megatron's alt mode really a gun and not a tank, to truly be cartoon accurate it has to shrink down to something Starscream can wield. And since they haven't invented mass-shifting yet, I was always of the opinion that all I really needed was a very cartoon-accurate robot- the barrel in his back, the split hammer on his shoulders, no visible tank kibble (especially not as a backpack like Combiner Wars/Siege/Earthrise)- packaged with his gun mode as an accessory. As long as they did that his tank mode could be as trash as the one on Bumblebee Megatron. So to me, rather than complain about SS86 Megatron's turret, I'm impressed that the tank mode looks as good as it does. He's checking my boxes and I can't wait to have him in my collection.

[Hikuro]

Man, looking at Titan class Star Convoy and it just isn't for me, espically at that price of 150 bucks. despite the flaws on it I still really like my MMC Stellarus. It has a much cleaner profile to it between modes.

I scored both Air Raid and Bonecrusher today....sort of spur of the moment purchases and t hey're not bad, not great, but not bad. I still laugh at poor Bonecrusher's limbs being so stubby  and short on his forearms while having long lack luster looking legs.
But I guess this means I'm committed now to buying the two sets. I still really like the Maketoys set I've had for forever but it's no longer to scale to what's out there, they come just a bit to short. 

[anime52k8]

On 6/10/2025 at 7:56 AM, mikeszekely said:

You guys want more G2 Dinobots?

it's just not the same without the smokey clear plastic dino heads. (also I never had snarl as a kid)

[davidwhangchoi]

3 hours ago, anime52k8 said:

it's just not the same without the smokey clear plastic dino heads. (also I never had snarl as a kid)

snarl was cool. i used to go over a friends home that had snarl and optimus and transform them both all the time

[M'Kyuun]

10 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Apparently it's to standardize the size of the boxes by class for retailers. So as a Leader class he goes into a box that has to be big enough to accommodate the Dinobots.

Makes sense. In Megatron's case, the box is excessively large for the figure and, being practical, I called it out.

10 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

To me, not only is G1 Megatron's alt mode really a gun and not a tank, to truly be cartoon accurate it has to shrink down to something Starscream can wield. And since they haven't invented mass-shifting yet, I was always of the opinion that all I really needed was a very cartoon-accurate robot- the barrel in his back, the split hammer on his shoulders, no visible tank kibble (especially not as a backpack like Combiner Wars/Siege/Earthrise)- packaged with his gun mode as an accessory. As long as they did that his tank mode could be as trash as the one on Bumblebee Megatron. So to me, rather than complain about SS86 Megatron's turret, I'm impressed that the tank mode looks as good as it does. He's checking my boxes and I can't wait to have him in my collection.

My criteria differs. My sole focus is always the core figure, how well each mode is executed. While there's no explicit promise of fidelity to realism, Studio Series is generally considered to be their premium retail product line, although they don't always deliver on that expectation. However, just like SS86 Prime, there's a heightened expectation for SS86 Megatron to be the 'definitive' version for lack of a more apropos descriptor. He fails that already by not turning into a pistol. I care not one whit about a small handheld version of him in gun mode when the figure itself should be the gun- it's a superfluous accessory that will remain in the box along with his energon mace and any effects parts. So, given that a gun is not an acceptable alt mode by din of US laws and child safety regs, a tank is a dismayingly acceptable substitute alt mode. The expectation then is that being Studio Series, we'll get a convincing tank with a bit more polish and refinement than the usual run-of-the-mill mainline figure with a similar alt. They did do a great job of crafting his bot mode to look like his G1 toon self without tank kibble ruining the effect. They also did a great job turning his legs and upper torso into a convincing tank base. They only needed to do something more with his scope to make it blend with the arms to affect a more convincing turret, one more bit of transformative origami but I'm guessing that's where either the budget or their supply of care simply ran out, perhaps a bit of both. To me it feels like they got to within 85% of excellence and just quit. The hard part of his design was already solved: achieving a kibble-less G1 Megatron bot mode that conceals the tank bits well. They solved the challenge of converting his gun-grip legs into tank treads convincingly. While the arms are quite a bit blockier than RW tank turrets, I think disbelief could have been better suspended if the obvious giant gun scope sandwiched between those giant grey blocks somehow transformed to blend with and compliment the rest of the turret. I'd rather the budget went to that particular bit of engineering/molding than to any accessories. Since his fusion cannon is an intrinsic part of his character, I don't consider it an accessory. I just wish they'd put forth that extra effort to make the scope form a convincing part of his turret. Hopefully, third parties will rise to the occasion with some interesting solutions. 

4 hours ago, anime52k8 said:

it's just not the same without the smokey clear plastic dino heads. (also I never had snarl as a kid)

I've still never really handled the G1 Snarl or Slag toys. I believe I saw Swoop somewhere and messed about with him. I bought Sludge as a kid, and I later received my wife's brother's G2 blue Grimlock when he gave it me. Not even sure how or why that came to be. Anyway, I now have a full set of FansToys Dibots ( my first full set of Dinobots-I was so happy!), all six Combiner Wars Dinobots, all five SS86 Dinobots, and all five toy-decoed Newage Dinobots complete with chrome paint, G1 decal tampos, and the lovely clear plastic bits- pure joy and what I wish we'd gotten with the SS86 Dinos.

[JB0]

17 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I still think it sucks that we can't have a Megatron that turns into a gun and yet you can go buy a small arsenal at your local Walmart, including enough AR-15s to outfit a SWAT unit.

I think the US toy gun laws suck too. Particularly as it's an inconsistent patchwork and no one wants to deal with every state being different. I gather that's the biggest issue, several states have restrictions beyond the federal ones and they aren't consistent with each other. Making a single toy gun sellable in all states is very difficult, and fans won't like the results. Folks were upset enough about Classics Megatron, and I don't believe he's CA- or NY-legal these days, so they'd have to go even farther.

 

I don't think Wal-Mart can outfit a SWAT team, though. SWAT gets the fun switch burst-fire and full-auto, and Wal-Mart can't sell that kind of rifle.

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, JB0 said:

I think the US toy gun laws suck too. Particularly as it's an inconsistent patchwork and no one wants to deal with every state being different. I gather that's the biggest issue, several states have restrictions beyond the federal ones and they aren't consistent with each other. Making a single toy gun sellable in all states is very difficult, and fans won't like the results. Folks were upset enough about Classics Megatron, and I don't believe he's CA- or NY-legal these days, so they'd have to go even farther.

 

I don't think Wal-Mart can outfit a SWAT team, though. SWAT gets the fun switch burst-fire and full-auto, and Wal-Mart can't sell that kind of rifle.

Concerning Wally supplying SWAT, I was being facetious, but you get the point; it's all a bit ludicrous in perspective. And while I think we definitely have a problem with guns in our country, somehow I think they've gone just a little overboard when it comes to regulating toy guns. At the very least, the collector's market should be something separate, as most people aren't going to go around brandishing something like MP-36 to commit their crimes. Doing so itself should be a crime in my book- awesome toy abuse- minimum 20-year sentence with hard labor- book 'em, Danno!

Toys are my life, so perhaps I'm a bit biased.

I never gave much thought to the variety and strictness of laws from state to state, but I can understand if places like Cali and NY have far more stringent laws as I assume they have, per capita, far more crimes committed with firearms within denser populations. Still, toys, man! Alas, I step down from my ineffectual soapbox.

 

[Scyla]

5 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Concerning Wally supplying SWAT, I was being facetious, but you get the point; it's all a bit ludicrous in perspective. And while I think we definitely have a problem with guns in our country, somehow I think they've gone just a little overboard when it comes to regulating toy guns. At the very least, the collector's market should be something separate, as most people aren't going to go around brandishing something like MP-36 to commit their crimes. Doing so itself should be a crime in my book- awesome toy abuse- minimum 20-year sentence with hard labor- book 'em, Danno!

Toys are my life, so perhaps I'm a bit biased.

I never gave much thought to the variety and strictness of laws from state to state, but I can understand if places like Cali and NY have far more stringent laws as I assume they have, per capita, far more crimes committed with firearms within denser populations. Still, toys, man! Alas, I step down from my ineffectual soapbox.

 

I always thought the "no realistic toy guns" legislation is in place so that the police can be certain that if a perpetrator is holding something that looks like a gun is actually in possession of a weapon that can hurt them (and is not an innocent kid playing coos and crooks with his pals).

[M'Kyuun]

3 minutes ago, Scyla said:

I always thought the "no realistic toy guns" legislation is in place so that the police can be certain that if a perpetrator is holding something that looks like a gun is actually in possession of a weapon that can hurt them (and is not an innocent kid playing coos and crooks with his pals).

I believe that is exactly the intent. I don't know if a real incident took place as impetus, or if it's just urban legend, but I recall such a story from when I was a kid and over the years repeated. I'm too lazy to employ Google Fu, but suffice it to say, I think the intent was good but the execution a little heavy handed compared to how relaxed the laws are regarding real weapons.

[mikeszekely]

Long ago, in the days of yore (before Siege, even), Hasbro launched the Studio Series line.  Around the same time Bumblebee was hitting theaters, and Hasbro made the decision not to do a movie-specific line.  Rather, toys for the new designs released directly in the fledgling Studio Series lineup.  Releasing as 18th overall was Bumblebee Bumblebee, and even at the time I didn't think he was very good and didn't recommend him.  Based on earlier concept art, his robot mode was somewhat inaccurate, his back kibble was a mess, and his alt mode is darn near impossible to get and keep tabbed together.

The designers at Hasbro seem aware of how bad that figure was.  And so, nearly 100 releases later (actually more, if you count the fact that 86 and Gamer Edition were using separate numbering, and that Studio Series has since abandoned numbered releases and that guys like Que and AoE Optimus weren't numbered), Hasbro's doing their first Studio Series do-over with Bumblebee Bumblebee (116).

My first impression is that the new figure is, indeed, better looking than the original.  The molded details on his thighs and abdomen are sharper, his head his more proportional with bigger eyes, his longer arms, thicker legs, and bigger feet are more in keeping with the film's proportions, and the armor on his hips and shoulders is more accurate.

He's still got some backpack kibble, but it tucks in tighter to his body.  Likewise, having the rear of the car on his heels isn't exactly screen accurate, but it wasn't accurate on his calves, either, and shifting that mass to his heels works better with the film's proportions.

And yet, for all the fixes, he still has the inaccurate door wings.  They're hinged this time, so you can swivel them up and down, but you can't totally fold them onto his back like he had them in the film.

His accessories are the same, but different.  For starers, he doesn't have the battle mask the original release did.  But he does have his arm blade and arm cannon, both of which are sporting new sculpts.  In the case of the knife, I think the angled instead of pointed blade is more accurate.  As for the gun, not only do I think it looks a lot better but it fixes a gripe I had with the original.  This one is hollow and fits over Bee's hand, so you don't have to yank his arm off to plug the gun into the stump.

Articulation is a bit mixed.  Bee's head is on a ball joint (same as the original), but he's got a bit more up/down/sideways tilt range this time.  His shoulders are ball joints that swivel (same) and move laterally over 90 degrees (better).  He doesn't have dedicated bicep swivels (worse), but he has ball jointed elbows that act like swivels in addition to bending 90 degrees (same).  No wrist swivels (same), no waist swivel (worse).  His hips are ball joints that go beyond 90 degrees forward (better), but less than 90 backward due to back kibble (same) and only about 60 degrees laterally (same).  His thighs swivel around hips hips, which can be a tad limited (same), and his knees bend a little under 90 degrees (worse).  No downward foot tilt (worse), but pretty good upward tilt (better), plus he's got maybe 30 degrees of ankle pivot (worse and an ankle swivel (better).  While the range on a few joints has improved, it's a bit of a missed opportunity to see that they didn't improve the ranges of the more limited ones, like his hips and thigh swivels, and it's downright frustrating to see a reduction in ankle pivot and a total loss of the waist swivel.

Similar to the original version, Bee's arm blade has a pair of tabs that fit into slots on either forearm (but not his gun this time).  As for his gun, as mentioned before it fits over his fist and part of his forearm but ultimately plugs into his fist, so you don't have to remove his forearm.  The cutout for his hand means he can only use the gun with his right hand, but A.) that's film accurate, and B.) that was also the case for the original figure.

Although the arm blade doesn't attach to the gun such that it looks like his gun hand is wielding it, it does have a tab on the yellow part that fits into a slot under the gun's barrel.  Then you can find a pair of clear tabs on Bee's back, one tab goes through the gap in the middle of the blade while the tabs that plug into Bee's arm sandwich around the other tab, allowing his weapons to be stored on his back.

Normally I separate the transformation and comparison with the deeper look at the alt mode, but this time I think it's better to put it together.  Because the transformation is pretty similar; in both cases the hood and roof from front windshield to rear windshield unfold from his back.  In both cases the section with the headlights unplugs from Bee's chest, swiveling up to meet the hood and simultaneously bringing swinging the doors down.  In both cases his shoulders tuck under the front fenders and his arms kind of lay against the bottom of the car.  The most major difference is that instead of his waist swiveling and his shins/feet shifting up toward his back, his hips swing back and his knees bend the wrong way to fill the same available space in a slightly different way.

And the result is... well, it's nearly identical.  This is because, while all the robot bits are new, almost the entire car "shell" has been reused.  The wheels, the entire backpack, same.  The rear of the car moved from his calves to his heels, but it's the same.  The door and the driver/passenger windows are the same.  However, the rear window piece is gone, and it and the back half the car and rear fender that folded behind the door has been replaced with a new rear window and chunk of the rear that folds behind the door.  The rear fender, though, is a separate new piece.  Speaking of fenders, the front tires and back half of the front fenders no longer fold to the front of his wings, they're new parts that are attached to his shoulders.

The main difference isn't visual, it's how it all fits together.  The original toy is an absolute mess.  I got to together pretty well for this review, and let me tell you that's the tightest I've had it in years.  It takes some fiddling to get everything lined up and tabbed together on the new version, but I'd rate it as more annoying, whereas the original was downright frustrating.

Like the original figure, alt mode weapon storage is achieved by getting the weapons in their combined configuration, then, sticking the two protrusions on the rear bumper through the opening in the middle of the blade.

Ultimately, with better proportions, a better sculpt, and an alt mode that tabs together marginally better, SS 116 is an improvement over SS 08, and if you took my advice almost seven years ago (sweet Primus am I getting old) then this is probably the figure that fills that gap you've had on your Bumblebee shelf all that time.  However, Hasbro really self-owned themselves here by re-using so much of SS 08 on the new version (gonna go out on a limb and assume the designers hands were tied by either Hasbro bean counters or the reportedly demanding Volkswagen Group).  Articulation could still be better and in some cases is downgraded, and even heavily modified the design simply doesn't allow for move-accurate storage of his door wings still.  I'll give this version a half-hearted recommend, simply because I don't see a better option coming any time soon.  Now excuse me while I figure out which version of live-action Bumblebee Hasbro has left to do (I think just four, the '67 widebody from Age of Extinction, the refreshed 5th gen Camaro from Age of Extinction, the 6th gen Camaro from The Last Knight, and the 2nd-gen '77 Camaro from the original film but with the robot from Bumblebee/Rise of the Beasts, but without the offroad gear from the end of the film that was seen on SS 100).

[tekering]

4 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

However, the rear window piece is gone, and it and the back half the car and rear fender that folded behind the door has been replaced with a new rear window

I was staring at your comparison pics and trying to see what was different about the rear window...

...and then I finally noticed the back windows on the sides are gone, replaced by opaque plastic painted grey. 🤨

Typical Hasbro, then; two steps forward, one step back (or, as you say, Hasbro "self-owned themselves") on the Bumblebee Bumblebee 2.0. 🙄