The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[sh9000]

https://tfsource.com/japanese-transformers/basara-prime-synergenex-series-transformers-x-macross-transformers-t-spark/

https://www.thechosenprime.com/ttsssmxtfbasaraprime

I'm not buying this but it looks like a Transformer that should have been priced at $89.99.

[M'Kyuun]

4 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I wasn't going to buy it anyway, but that price is mildly insane. 

Like I said earlier, if they turned it into a regular crossover release at a voyager or deluxe scale and pricepoint and just gave us the plane, I'd happily grab it up. But what they're asking for what you're getting (I wonder how much of that $200 is wrapped up in that stupid trailer?), hard no. I think they're going to price a lot of fans out.

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I wasn't going to buy it anyway, but that price is mildly insane. 

Like I said earlier, if they turned it into a regular crossover release at a voyager or deluxe scale and pricepoint and just gave us the plane, I'd happily grab it up. But what they're asking for what you're getting (I wonder how much of that $200 is wrapped up in that stupid trailer?), hard no. I think they're going to price a lot of fans out.

If you look at the Japanese prices he's closer to $120-130 in his home country (which was on the high end of doable for me). Prices in the States tended to be a little more; those importers have to pay for shipping from Japan before they ship it to us, after all, but this seems like a pretty hefty markup. I'm REALLY not trying to be political, but that's tariffs.

[M'Kyuun]

28 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

If you look at the Japanese prices he's closer to $120-130 in his home country (which was on the high end of doable for me). Prices in the States tended to be a little more; those importers have to pay for shipping from Japan before they ship it to us, after all, but this seems like a pretty hefty markup. I'm REALLY not trying to be political, but that's tariffs.

Well, you're not being political by stating a financial reality. And yeah, that is a significant markup. I'm happy to pass on it. I'm quite satisfied with my Yamato Blazer Valkyrie and YF-19, both gorgeous and uncompromised. If I want a Fire Valkyrie, I'll get the HMR.

[Hikuro]

While I was out getting gas at the local walmart early this morning I thought I'd just take a stroll and see what they had, it's not a walmart I usually go to I prefer going outside of town. They had Redalert, Jazz, Retro styling Bee and Gears, lots of Devestation edition Optimus, and TFOne Bumblebee. But also came across a Sharkbite which surprised me, and a SS Sentinel Prime which was some w hat tempting, but seeing how I haven't bought a single TFOne figure I kinda went meh. 
I kind of gave up, was sort of hoping for somethin G1ish i didn't own and my instincts kicked in and looked above the shelves and I saw 1 box kind of laying on its side and I got a better angle to look at what it was and WHAM, Scrapper. Easily snagged him up and grabbed a couple of the TFOne Blokees to give them a try I mean, they're 6 bucks a pop it's not a big deal.

Scrapper isn't bad, I think yeah he's a bit over priced and shouldn't be 35 bucks, I just don't understand why he's a voyager price point for something almost deluxe sized. The Blokees ended up being cogless Bee and Orion Pax, overall not bad of a haul for something kind of spontaneous. 

[Scyla]

Just saw that Basara Prime is €260 on the EU Hasbro Pulse site right now. I don’t know who would buy it for that price.

While I remember seeing an add for Macross 7 on VHS but I don’t think it was ever released over here.

I ordered mine from Anime Export for ¥18000 (about €106) even with shipping and import duties it will be under €150. 

With the recent insanity in Lego prices I feel like toy manufacturers are going crazy. Now true. The Yen is super weak at the moment, but still the Japanese price equal €136 buying power (€164 with tax). Where are the other €100?

[sh9000]

New Superion pics.

[M'Kyuun]

4 hours ago, sh9000 said:

New Superion pics.

What purpose do the leg bots even serve besides being snap-on calves? I guess they're just trying to mimic the fronts of the leg bots with the frame, but it's kinda crummy that you don't even need the actual bots to affect the same appearance. Shame that they didn't put the plane bits out front on the G1 toy and in the animation, but history is written and here we have it in plastic.

[Scyla]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

What purpose do the leg bots even serve besides being snap-on calves? I guess they're just trying to mimic the fronts of the leg bots with the frame, but it's kinda crummy that you don't even need the actual bots to affect the same appearance. Shame that they didn't put the plane bits out front on the G1 toy and in the animation, but history is written and here we have it in plastic.

They really should have found a way to inset the leg robots further into the frame but doing so might interfere with the knee joint. Or they probably starred by reusing the Menasor frame and couldn’t make it work in the allotted budget.

[Scyla]

On 7/18/2023 at 9:18 PM, sh9000 said:

This book.

 

On 7/18/2023 at 10:53 PM, mikeszekely said:

As @sh9000 mentioned there's Legacy: The Art of Transformers Packaging by Jim Sorenson and Bill Foster and published by IDW.  The catch is that it was released back in 2014 and it's out of print.  I was lucky to pick up a used hard cover a few years ago for around $25 USD, but a quick search today has the paperback going for $50-$60 and hard covers over $100.  If you can track down a reasonably-priced copy, though, it's probably what you want.

If you can read Japanese or just want to look at the pictures, there's also The Art of the Transformers.

Finally, it's not exclusively G1, and it's not limited to box art, but Jim Sorenson also released Transformers: A Visual History.  I can't really comment on those last two, though, as I don't own them.

I got The Art of the Transformers book from Japan. It contains everything I wanted with the exception of the Darkwing and Dreadwind box art and any of the Euro G1 exclusives but why would it since it is focused on the Japanese releases.

It is a bit sad that not every Transformer got a whole page for itself (some of the combiner teams fill half a page for 5 pieces of artwork), so if you are a fan of those you miss out.

Love the Overlord artwork (and all the Powermasters). I really want a G1 vintage MiB Powermaster collection l, since those were the toys on shelves when I was a kid (those and Euro G1).

I wonder if Legacy: The Art of Transformers Packaging contains the art for the Euro G1 toys (Predators and Turbomasters).

[M'Kyuun]

22 hours ago, Scyla said:

They really should have found a way to inset the leg robots further into the frame but doing so might interfere with the knee joint. Or they probably starred by reusing the Menasor frame and couldn’t make it work in the allotted budget.

Or, now bear with me, they could've taken the extremely radical step of making the leg bots actually become the legs by virtue of their collective forty-plus years of experience designing transforming toys.  I figure if they can pull it off with the Constructicons, they can pull it off with other combiners, too, especially if the knee joint is part of a large partsforming waist and thighs, at which point the knee just needs to slot into or otherwise enjoin with the leg bot.

[Scyla]

2 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Or, now bear with me, they could've taken the extremely radical step of making the leg bots actually become the legs by virtue of their collective forty-plus years of experience designing transforming toys.  I figure if they can pull it off with the Constructicons, they can pull it off with other combiners, too, especially if the knee joint is part of a large partsforming waist and thighs, at which point the knee just needs to slot into or otherwise enjoin with the leg bot.

Yes they could, but I think when they designed Superion they still had the mindset that you need to have a playable combiner if you just bought Silverbolt on its own (for $90!!!). You know for the kids that these are supposedly made for. 

I don’t know why that changed with Devastator but there were probably too many design constraints to make a full skeleton for him or the accepted that only people older than 40 are buying these toys.

This is one of the reasons why I like 3rd party Transformers, they don’t have to take so many shortcuts. And soon I will have a Superion and Menasor from FansToys without many shortcuts.

[mikeszekely]

21 hours ago, Scyla said:

I wonder if Legacy: The Art of Transformers Packaging contains the art for the Euro G1 toys (Predators and Turbomasters).

Sorry.  It covers all the US toy releases through Action Masters, then has a big section covering JG1 from Headmasters through Battlestars, before going into G2.  It finishes with an "oddities" section that includes a lot of various back-of-package, early concept art, Microchange and Diaclone art, unused G2 art (like Nacho Cheese Jazz, Watermelon Mirage, and Tiger Stripes Grimlock), etc.  They mention the UK in the oddities section, but only to show off UK artwork for Grimlock, Slag, Snarl, Blaze, Piranha, Blitz, and Sizzle, plus art of Galvatron that was used for a jigsaw puzzle.  That's it.  It's like Euro G1 (and Machine Wars) didn't happen).

Regarding Superion, well... I'll save it for when I do my final review.  I will say, though, that it does make me wonder what they're going to do with Bruticus, though.  I mean, I know they're doing the frames and the splitting alt modes for the arms (which I'd give a pass too, except it looks like Vortex will be upside down)*.  They could maybe get away with plugging Swindle into the back of a frame, too, given how the Sunbow leg is basically a yellow lump with a purple stripe and not very Jeep or Swindle-y.  But Brawl's turret is very obviously the shin, so... do they not do a frame?  Do they remove Brawl's turret and plug it on the front side of the frame?  Pass it through?  I guess time will tell.

*Nevermind.  While this image from Vortex's instructions leaked:

Mark put a photoshoot on Instagram with Vortex rightside-up on Superion's arm.

EDIT: Actually, now that I think about it, I think they'll do the frame for the legs but backward, so that Swindle and Brawl plug into the front.

 

Edited July 6 by mikeszekely

[sh9000]

I like it.  Looking forward to Bruticus, Defensor, and Computron.

[M'Kyuun]

8 hours ago, sh9000 said:

I like it.  Looking forward to Bruticus, Defensor, and Computron.

As am I, honestly, despite my criticism of the frame system. 

[pengbuzz]

On 7/6/2025 at 12:15 AM, M'Kyuun said:

Or, now bear with me, they could've taken the extremely radical step of making the leg bots actually become the legs by virtue of their collective forty-plus years of experience designing transforming toys.  I figure if they can pull it off with the Constructicons, they can pull it off with other combiners, too, especially if the knee joint is part of a large partsforming waist and thighs, at which point the knee just needs to slot into or otherwise enjoin with the leg bot.

That's basically what I did when I modified my G1 Devastator: made a waist, pelvis and articulated thighs w/ knee joints.

[mikeszekely]

Credit where it's due, two G1 combiners and the promise of getting some toys of deep lore figures like the Thirteen Primes has me more primed (pun intended) for the brand than the flagging waves of Legacy.  But boy are they stingy!  I had to check my notes, but wave 2 has no Leader-class figure (unless you count G2 Grimlock as wave 2 and not wave 1), only three Deluxes (one of which is a package refresh), all of which we're still waiting on, and two Voyagers.  One was Heatwave, who came out a month ago.  The other is just hitting stores now, and that'd be Sky-Byte.

While I don't know that Robots In Disguise is all that fondly remembered, as it was hastily thrown together to fill a gap between the cancelled sequel to Beast Machines and the more Hasbro-involved Armada, the show still holds a place in my heart because I was so excited to see that, after years of Maximal gorillas named "Primal," Optimus was a Autobot truck again.  It took a few episodes, but we got Decepticons, too, including Scourge, who'd go on to kick off an endless parade of evil black Optimus repaints in the West (even if Black Lio Convoy technically did it first).  But the Predacons weren't all bad, and I (and countless others) developed a fondness for a certain poetry loving try-hard fishing for praise (pun intended) even as his boss only had eyes for the new guys.  Indeed, Sky-Byte was popular enough to warrant a toy in Generations back in 2014, an appearance in the Cyberverse cartoon and a few toys in the accompanying toyline, and he's slated to appear in the new Cyberworld line.

As for as Age of the Primes goes, this is a pretty great rendition of the character.  He's got a lean, athletic build and aside from missing highlights on his shin details and a little blue on his inner biceps he's very cartoon accurate.  Speaking of accuracy, he retains the shellformery nature of the original toy, which gives him large shoulder pads and a large chunk of shark for a cape.  But it terms of both accuracy and overall design, I rather prefer it to the Generations toy's attempt to integrate the shark head into the chest details.

Side note, in the above picture you'll notice a large square hole in his forearm.  Please note that Sky-Byte's arm is actually turned around, and that square (necessary for his alt mode) should be on the inside of his forearm, not the outside.

Sky-Byte comes with a little missile launcher.  Unlike the original toy, it doesn't actually fire any missiles.  It's been awhile since I've seen the cartoon so I'm not sure if it's accurate or not, but I'd have appreciated some paint on the missile tips nevertheless.  As for the sprue, it contains his shark fins, but you have to cut them out yourself.

Sky-Byte's head appears to be on a ball joint that can swivel and look up, but lacks any real downward or sideways tilt.  His shoulder pads are hinged to wiggle up and down, and actually just pegged on so they can swivel to show more of the inside or more of the outside.  His shoulders swivel and move laterally, though a tad shy of 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees (forward and backward).  Both his normal wrist and his claw wrist swivel.  The blue and white fins on his claw can open and close, too.  His waist swivels, though you're a little limited by his kibble cape.  His hips can go 90 degrees forward and laterally, and close to 90 degrees backward (again, the kibble is a factor).  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend a little over 90 degrees.  His toes can bend downward due to his transformation, and he's got about 60 degrees of ankle pivot.

You can peg the missile launcher into Sky-Byte's normal hand.  When he's not using it, you can store it by tabbing it to the roof of the shark mouth on his cape.

As for his fins, they end in pegs and you can also put them into his normal hand to act like bladed weapons.  Otherwise, you just peg them into the kibble on his back; it's where they belong in alt mode anyway.

Speaking of alt mode, transformation is mostly straightforward with a few interesting bits.  His backpack lifts up to line up with his head, which pulls away from his body, and you're like 25% there already.  His shoulders detach from his chest and swivel up into the area where his head was, but they use sliders so that the arm with the normal hand is under the arm with the claw.  His feet fold down and tab together, then his shins fold back over his thighs, the backs of which lock into his back kibble.  His shoulder pads swivel around to cover his face and upper arms, while the panels with his pectoral fins spin and shift to fill in the shark's sides.  Finally, bring the shark's head down and lock it into place.

Again, AotP Sky-Byte is much closer to the cartoon than the Generations toy, though with a bit of the original toy mixed in.  Like you've got the cutouts in his dorsal and pectoral fins that were often colored as solid in the cartoon, and more emphasis on the mechanical details than the cartoon, but without all the colored circuits and wires of the original toy.  He's got cartoon-accurate eyes, not the weird bug eyes of the Generations toy, and (best of all, if you ask me), he's fairly straight, not permanently curved like a dolphin doing flips at SeaWorld.  

That's not to say that he isn't posable, though.  Having his arms stacked and his elbows bending both ways as the tail means that he's got a joint for bending his tail to either side.  His jaws open, and there's a dedicated joint that allows his head to bend down, with some molded detail to keep his body solid.

Speaking of jaws, he can store his missile launcher in his mouth.  While you can leave it in the roof of his mouth if you want to keep it stored but out of site, he's got slots to tab it into his bottom jaw like the original toy/cartoon.

There's not a lot to complaint out here.  Sky-Byte doesn't have a ton of accessories, but what he has is appropriate and stores well in both modes.  He looks good in both modes, solid and cartoon-accurate.  He's decently articulated in robot mode, and even has some head and tail articulation in shark mode.  What more could you want?  I think the only thing working against him, at least in these parts, is that he's from a lesser-loved Transformers show.  If you're G1 only, well, Sky-Byte's not it.  But if you're even casually a fan of RiD or the character/toy, this is a fantastic update that's sure to please, and a major upgrade over the old Generations toy.

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Credit where it's due, two G1 combiners and the promise of getting some toys of deep lore figures like the Thirteen Primes has me more primed (pun intended) for the brand than the flagging waves of Legacy.  But boy are they stingy!  I had to check my notes, but wave 2 has no Leader-class figure (unless you count G2 Grimlock as wave 2 and not wave 1), only three Deluxes (one of which is a package refresh), all of which we're still waiting on, and two Voyagers.  One was Heatwave, who came out a month ago.  The other is just hitting stores now, and that'd be Sky-Byte.

While I don't know that Robots In Disguise is all that fondly remembered, as it was hastily thrown together to fill a gap between the cancelled sequel to Beast Machines and the more Hasbro-involved Armada, the show still holds a place in my heart because I was so excited to see that, after years of Maximal gorillas named "Primal," Optimus was a Autobot truck again.  It took a few episodes, but we got Decepticons, too, including Scourge, who'd go on to kick off an endless parade of evil black Optimus repaints in the West (even if Black Lio Convoy technically did it first).  But the Predacons weren't all bad, and I (and countless others) developed a fondness for a certain poetry loving try-hard fishing for praise (pun intended) even as his boss only had eyes for the new guys.  Indeed, Sky-Byte was popular enough to warrant a toy in Generations back in 2014, an appearance in the Cyberverse cartoon and a few toys in the accompanying toyline, and he's slated to appear in the new Cyberworld line.

As for as Age of the Primes goes, this is a pretty great rendition of the character.  He's got a lean, athletic build and aside from missing highlights on his shin details and a little blue on his inner biceps he's very cartoon accurate.  Speaking of accuracy, he retains the shellformery nature of the original toy, which gives him large shoulder pads and a large chunk of shark for a cape.  But it terms of both accuracy and overall design, I rather prefer it to the Generations toy's attempt to integrate the shark head into the chest details.

Side note, in the above picture you'll notice a large square hole in his forearm.  Please note that Sky-Byte's arm is actually turned around, and that square (necessary for his alt mode) should be on the inside of his forearm, not the outside.

Sky-Byte comes with a little missile launcher.  Unlike the original toy, it doesn't actually fire any missiles.  It's been awhile since I've seen the cartoon so I'm not sure if it's accurate or not, but I'd have appreciated some paint on the missile tips nevertheless.  As for the sprue, it contains his shark fins, but you have to cut them out yourself.

Sky-Byte's head appears to be on a ball joint that can swivel and look up, but lacks any real downward or sideways tilt.  His shoulder pads are hinged to wiggle up and down, and actually just pegged on so they can swivel to show more of the inside or more of the outside.  His shoulders swivel and move laterally, though a tad shy of 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees (forward and backward).  Both his normal wrist and his claw wrist swivel.  The blue and white fins on his claw can open and close, too.  His waist swivels, though you're a little limited by his kibble cape.  His hips can go 90 degrees forward and laterally, and close to 90 degrees backward (again, the kibble is a factor).  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend a little over 90 degrees.  His toes can bend downward due to his transformation, and he's got about 60 degrees of ankle pivot.

You can peg the missile launcher into Sky-Byte's normal hand.  When he's not using it, you can store it by tabbing it to the roof of the shark mouth on his cape.

As for his fins, they end in pegs and you can also put them into his normal hand to act like bladed weapons.  Otherwise, you just peg them into the kibble on his back; it's where they belong in alt mode anyway.

Speaking of alt mode, transformation is mostly straightforward with a few interesting bits.  His backpack lifts up to line up with his head, which pulls away from his body, and you're like 25% there already.  His shoulders detach from his chest and swivel up into the area where his head was, but they use sliders so that the arm with the normal hand is under the arm with the claw.  His feet fold down and tab together, then his shins fold back over his thighs, the backs of which lock into his back kibble.  His shoulder pads swivel around to cover his face and upper arms, while the panels with his pectoral fins spin and shift to fill in the shark's sides.  Finally, bring the shark's head down and lock it into place.

Again, AotP Sky-Byte is much closer to the cartoon than the Generations toy, though with a bit of the original toy mixed in.  Like you've got the cutouts in his dorsal and pectoral fins that were often colored as solid in the cartoon, and more emphasis on the mechanical details than the cartoon, but without all the colored circuits and wires of the original toy.  He's got cartoon-accurate eyes, not the weird bug eyes of the Generations toy, and (best of all, if you ask me), he's fairly straight, not permanently curved like a dolphin doing flips at SeaWorld.  

That's not to say that he isn't posable, though.  Having his arms stacked and his elbows bending both ways as the tail means that he's got a joint for bending his tail to either side.  His jaws open, and there's a dedicated joint that allows his head to bend down, with some molded detail to keep his body solid.

Speaking of jaws, he can store his missile launcher in his mouth.  While you can leave it in the roof of his mouth if you want to keep it stored but out of site, he's got slots to tab it into his bottom jaw like the original toy/cartoon.

There's not a lot to complaint out here.  Sky-Byte doesn't have a ton of accessories, but what he has is appropriate and stores well in both modes.  He looks good in both modes, solid and cartoon-accurate.  He's decently articulated in robot mode, and even has some head and tail articulation in shark mode.  What more could you want?  I think the only thing working against him, at least in these parts, is that he's from a lesser-loved Transformers show.  If you're G1 only, well, Sky-Byte's not it.  But if you're even casually a fan of RiD or the character/toy, this is a fantastic update that's sure to please, and a major upgrade over the old Generations toy.

I have little interest in getting this fig, but Takara put some effort into it and it shows. 

[sh9000]

https://www.target.com/p/transformers-age-of-the-primes-action-figure-4-pack/-/A-93565510

Currently $10 off at Target.