The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[Old_Nash_II]

New Synergenex Series TF X Evangelion Prime Prototype from T-Spark live

 

Now, waiting for a Gundam crossover

Edited September 25 by Old_Nash_II

[Scyla]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

If SS86 Soundwave isn't for you, Takara announced MPG-19 will also be Soundwave.  Before you guys get too excited, though, it looks like a repaint of MP-13.

 

EDIT: If SS86 and MPG-19 aren't enough Soundwave for you, I'm also hearing that Missing Link Soundwave is coming next year as well.

MP-13 is still pretty great but those hips suck. They were trash 12 years ago and they are a big detriment to this repaint. I wished they would have redesigned them for this release for the people who want a toon style MP Soundwave. I’m happy with my Acoustic Wave though.

MOG continuous to be a hodgepodge of odd choices. I don’t know what Takara is thinking.

[sh9000]

More MPG teased.

[sh9000]

[Tking22]

Yeah I still have my Hasbro Asia Soundwave, and while it works for me, if I wanted a slavish toon Soundwave this wouldn't be it, I would've grabbed the FansToys which is an incredible figure. Gotta agree this is an odd, rather lazy repaint, I'm wondering how well this will sell, it's an old, heavily dated mold, but it's more toon accurate, will that be enough for some to buy in, or double dip?

Is the MP line slowing? Or at least the G1 line? I've got Rattrap on pre-order so Beast Wars is still coming, but what G1 stuff is announced or on pre-order right now? I can't really think of anything new, and that MP Cliffjumper that was leaked, what, a year ago, still hasn't seen the light of day right? Not even an official announcement? How odd. 

[mikeszekely]

13 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

FYI, Hasbro decided to quit Pulsecon, and I expect the Pulsecon exclusives like Armada Nemesis Prime will turn up here.

[mikeszekely]

51 minutes ago, Tking22 said:

Is the MP line slowing? Or at least the G1 line? I've got Rattrap on pre-order so Beast Wars is still coming, but what G1 stuff is announced or on pre-order right now?

Well, like I said, MPG-19 is Soundwave, but it's just a repaint of MP-13.  But I'm hearing that MPG-20 is a brand new mold for Hot Rod, and @sh9000 already mentioned that MPG-21 is Blaster.  Working back from 19, 18 is Roadhauler ( a green repaint of Inferno), 17 is Style-Gen Optimus Prime, and 16 is the black Nucleon Quest repaint of Super Ginrai, so that's all G1 or G1-adjacent.

The problem is, as @Scyla noted, the old MP line evolved a bit from more realistic robots to slavishly Sunbow, but that evolution was gradual and part of a pretty consistent design language and scale.  MPG is pretty much anything Takara thinks is a more high-end toy, giving it a more scattershot lineup where you have to pay attention and cherry pick what you actually want.

[anime52k8]

7 hours ago, Old_Nash_II said:

New Synergenex Series TF X Evangelion Prime Prototype from T-Spark live

 

Now, waiting for a Gundam crossover

I just don't think my brain has the capacity to comprehend what I'm looking at. 

[Chronocidal]

Something that makes the Fire Valk Optimus look absolutely sensible by comparison?  

Though to be fair to the design, I don't think it's going to work until it's painted.  The colors are really the only thing that will make that recognizable as anything remotely Evangelion-related.

[M'Kyuun]

Regarding MPG Soundwave, I'm surprised that they're only repainting MP-13. While I still consider it a good take and a good figure, it's a bit dated and a new figure is in order. That said, I continue to use my MP-13 in my display and I bought FT's Soundblaster repaint, mostly for their Ratbat, but the figure itself surprised me with just how excellent it is. I daresay it's the best Soundwave, color and name changes notwithsatanding, in my collection. Perhaps Takara just didn't feel like competing with it and leaned on the nostalgia instead, what with MP-13's heavy G1 toy styling.

I love Evangelion, but much like their VF-19 take, way too much is sacrificed to create an unholy amalgamation with Prime such that I'd just rather have non-crossover versions of the VF-19 or Eva Unit 01. I'm sure there's an audience for these crossovers, but I'm not part of it.

[Old_Nash_II]

MOTU X TF He-Man Prime

[26662]

On 9/26/2025 at 10:09 AM, Old_Nash_II said:

MOTU X TF He-Man Prime

Hate to admit this, but it looks like something you'd see at a Halloween party.

Edited Tuesday at 01:56 PM by 26662

[Old_Nash_II]

Scare Glow? Realy?
Why Not Beast Man of Trapjaw?

https://www.seibertron.com/transmissions/starscream-armor-scare-glow-revealed-and-up-for-preorder/48700/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

[anime52k8]

Because Scareglow is awesome. 

[davidwhangchoi]

What's with these collabs? 

Mattel isn't even Hasbro.  How bout JEM Arcee? 

[mikeszekely]

I'm happy for anyone that's into these He-Man crossovers, but He-Man looks like he's wearing a kid's Optimus costume he got at Walmart.  

[JB0]

3 hours ago, Old_Nash_II said:

Scare Glow? Realy?
Why Not Beast Man of Trapjaw?

Because Starscream's a ghost! Sometimes.

 

If this abomination of a line continues(and it shouldn't, it is a nightmarishly bad idea compounded by terrible execution), they can do Trapjaw as a sharkticon.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

I'm happy for anyone that's into these He-Man crossovers, but He-Man looks like he's wearing a kid's Optimus costume he got at Walmart.  

More like a yoked midget wearing a costume.

[26662]

59 minutes ago, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

More like a yoked midget wearing a costume.

 

3 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said:

What's with these collabs? 

Mattel isn't even Hasbro.  How bout JEM Arcee? 

...but only if we get a Misfits Airachnid to pose alongside.

[sh9000]

I'll get ML Soundwave.

[Hikuro]

Well I have absolutely zero interest in the MPG, Crossover stuff, or any of that. These collabs kind of suck in my opinion. 

[26662]

47 minutes ago, Hikuro said:

Well I have absolutely zero interest in the MPG, Crossover stuff, or any of that. These collabs kind of suck in my opinion. 

Same here, but only if we're talking about current products.  I want the crossovers to continue because I love their creativity and I hope that eventually Hastak will surprise me and produce a product that better aligns with my design sensibilities and interests.  

 

 

[lechuck]

https://www.taghobby.com/archives/881656

Maybe it's me, but the whole MPG line just feels below par these days. I miss that golden period with Kobayashi in charge where releases were more premium and sophisticated.

[mikeszekely]

Well, I picked up Missing Link Sunstreaker...

Unlike Bee and Optimus I never owed a G1 Sunstreaker, so the entire mold is new to me.  I was surprised to see that he's taller than Sideswipe.

Being that I'm not familiar with G1 toy, I can't really say how many changes Takara actually made.  I think it safe to say that he's got some paint and tampographs that were probably stickers on the G1 toy.  His forearms also open to reveal some flip-out fists... I think that's new?

He's also got some accessories that he original didn't have.  The fists, the yellow boosters, and the three rockets came with the original toy, but ML Sunstreaker also comes with a chromed rifle that is, best I can tell, a straight copy of the one that came with G1 Sideswipe, and a Dianaut.  The Dianaut has yellow legs and a khaki button shirt with a collar and pocket that makes me think they were going for something like Spike, but then why the silver head?

Sunstreaker's head can swivel.  His shoulders are a bit weird.  The entire arm hinge can move laterally about 45 degrees, and the hinge works like a forward/backward butterfly joint.  The arm behind the tire swivels laterally on a soft ratchet, which combined gives you 180 degrees of lateral movement.  However, his shoulders don't swivel forward/backward at all.*  His bicep swivels, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  His wrists swivel, and his fingers are hinged so he can open his hands.  No waist swivel.  His hips can go 90 degrees forward, and over 90 degrees laterally, but just a little bit backward.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  His feet can tilt downward on a ratchet, due to his transformation, but not upward.  He's got about 45 degrees of ankle pivot, with his heels on a separate pivot.

*Technically I guess you could hinge the shoulders forward on the transformation/butterfly joint and turn the biceps.  That'd make the lateral swivel a forward/backward swivel... but it'd look weird, and come at the cost of any lateral shoulder movement.

Sunstreaker's new articulated hands can hold his Sideswipe rifle, and the boosters plug into his shoulders same as they ever did.  If you want a more "classic" look, you can fold the new hands into the forearms to reveal a port on the other side.  You can plug the rockets in them, or even the shoulder boosters, as well as the larger G1-style fists.  The G1 fists didn't have holes, though, so neither do these, and cannot hold the Sideswipe rifle.

I imagine that the transformation is about the same as the G1 toy.  His head folds down into the engine.  The feet fold down, the legs collapse and tab together.  His chest opens and a bunch of hinges move his canopy down/forward and lift his engine up and into place, then a flap opens on his back and his arms kind of bend and tuck, one behind the other, underneath before closing his back flap back up.  For a simple G1 transformation it seems to make a bit of finagling to get everything lined up right, especially going back to bot mode.

What's not to like about Sunsteaker's design?  It's a fictional supercharged Countach with massive intakes on top of the engine.  Again, not really sure what's different here between this version and the original G1 toy, aside from some tampoed details (like on top of the intakes) that were probably stickers on the G1 toy, but otherwise I think it should be the same.

As most of us know by now much of the original Transformers line came from Takara's Diaclone line, so if you open Sunstreaker's canopy there is a seat in there for the Dianaut he comes with.  The boosters can stay in place on his shoulders, which are now on the back of the car.  But that's about it for storage.  No place for the rockets or the rifle, or the big fists.  I can't really complain; the G1 toys rarely had storage for accessories, either.  But that sort of leads into my conclusion...

I'm still not sure how I feel about Missing Link.  Like, yeah, I have nostalgia for the toys I grew up with.  And yeah, those toys had awful articulation.  I remember wanting more even at the time.  But something else I remember wanting more of at the time was cartoon accuracy.  And in that sense, Generations, Masterpiece, and a variety of third party lines are doing a great job of delivering cartoon-accurate toys with even more accuracy than Missing Link.  In a way, all Missing Link is doing is giving me the toys I had when I was a kid in a way that's clearly NOT the toys I had as a kid, which kind of makes me want an original G1 toy or even a straight G1 reissue instead, especially when the ML figures cost nearly as dang much.

Honestly, I bought Sunstreaker because I never had the original.  I think if I did, I'd have probably skipped this one.  I'm not sure how many more of these ML figures I'll buy.

[pengbuzz]

7 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Being that I'm not familiar with G1 toy, I can't really say how many changes Takara actually made.  I think it safe to say that he's got some paint and tampographs that were probably stickers on the G1 toy.  His forearms also open to reveal some flip-out fists... I think that's new?

It is; the original has fists that are like Prime's in that they need to be "plugged into" the forearms.

On that note, since I have both the original and the ML version, let me post some pics comparing differences in both:

Robot mode:

  

On the right is the original G1 version, while on the left is ML Sunstreaker. Noting differences between the two, the ML version weighs slightly more due to the inclusion of more diecast (the hip/ pelvis joints and shoulder sway hinged on the body). Also, the feet have hinged ankle tilts that allow Sunstreaker to stand while his legs are posed in an "action stance".

Transformation:

Transform is generally the same, although you now have the legs splitting apart which requires them being slotted back together when converting to vehicle mode:

Of particular interest, the feet now have a ratchet mechanism that "clicks" when they're flipped up or down. Also, the canopy/ windshield tabs into the main body to reinforce the vehicle and robot modes. Just be careful to remember to unplug it, or you can damage the tabs and even shear them off.

Vehicle mode:

Pretty much the same, no particular changes here. My G1 original is a slightly different shade of yellow as I rebuilt it from parts I got from 3 broken ones, and all of them were slightly differing shades of yellow!

Speaking of the fists, here's close-up of the new transformation for them:

They pivot back into the forearm, but can remain flipped around or even removed in favor of either the included original issue fists or one of three missiles (I opted to keep the flip-in fists and give the original-versions to my G1, although they do not stay well in the launcher arms).

One major change is the linkage for the head/ engine/ canopy unit; when converting to robot mode, it can be a royal pain to line it up properly in order to compact down and click into place:

 

The left pic (ML) shows it "open" from car mode, while the right shows it compacted and locked down. If you don't, the head/ engine unit won't line up properly and the canopy/ windshield won't tab in solidly. 

For comparison, here's the G1 original's version:

Both just "pop in" to the hinge, but I don'

t recommend removing and reattaching either repeatedly, as it can stress the plastic attachment points on the main body and loosen the joint as a whole. You also risk breakage with that as well.

One final note I have is the sculpt on both faces:

The mouths look slightly different between them; a good job resculpting the original nonetheless. The eyes (like on ML Optimus Prime) appear to be separate pieces of plastic slotted in from behind, as they appear much brighter than painted plastic and have a "seam" around them upon closer examination. I can't say I blame them, as this allows them to not have to paint the eyes and yet have a cleaner look to them.

Anyways, I hope this adds to your review Mike and helps out in some way!

Edited Wednesday at 03:33 AM by pengbuzz

[davidwhangchoi]

 

[pengbuzz]

On 9/5/2025 at 2:37 PM, M'Kyuun said:

Interesting, if simple, solution. As I surmised, the knees act as the armored form's hip joints. I wonder if the previous poses represent the limit of hip articulation forward or if the legs can kick higher. I don't have my reissue of G1 OP handy to see how much forward bend his knees have, but then the ML core's feet and calves have been modified so it's entirely possible the knees have as well to affect greater pose ability.

The armatures holding the core's thighs in place are concerning for the potential to scratch or rub off the chrome.

UPDATE:

TFWiki confirmed in their entry for ML Ultra Magnus that the knees bend forward:

Quote

"To commemorate the 10th release in the line, Missing Link Ultra Magnus is the largest figure yet, being a direct recreation of his Generation 1 toy, marking the 40th anniversary of its release. It harkens back to the inception of Missing Link by including a slight retool of Convoy as the inner robot,^[11] with modified knees that can bend forward and feet that can bend back to facilitate brand-new leg articulation in the combined mode, intended to emulate the toy's original package art pose.^[12] He also has rotation at the neck and shoulders, opening hands, outward leg movement and ankle tilts. "

This pic shows the lower leg on the cab bent forward (sadly, not the forward bend on the knee itself, but I think we can see on it that it would require that):

Link: https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Ultra_Magnus_(G1)/toys#Missing_Link

Edited Wednesday at 07:17 PM by pengbuzz

[M'Kyuun]

Well, honestly, the pic with the leg bent forward along with the white leg within also bent forward elucidated the 'how' of the thing. My question remains how far can it bend?  Can it go full 90 degrees relative to the waist, does the pic indicate the limit of movement, or is it somewhere in between?

I'm not getting the figure, but my general curiosity beggars an answer. To that end, if anyone here gets ML Magnus, I hope you'll share your thoughts and perhaps a pic or two showing off the engineering. For my part, I thought this G1 toy a particularly challenging one to imbue with the ML treatment; I remain impressed at the execution and the Takara designers' ingenuity.

[mikeszekely]

On 9/30/2025 at 9:19 AM, lechuck said:

Maybe it's me, but the whole MPG line just feels below par these days. I miss that golden period with Kobayashi in charge where releases were more premium and sophisticated.

I'm not going to judge the MPG line based on a repaint of a decade-plus old MP... I mean, with the old MP line dead where else does it go?  And with SS86 and Missing Link Soundwaves hitting in 2026 I don't blame Takara packing Soundwave into every line while he's fresh on people's minds.

I will, however, judge MPG based on their original molds.  Granted, so far the only one I've picked up was Super Ginrai, and he was rather underwhelming.  He was, in my opinion, a premium price for a toy that could have been in Generations if they dumped some of the accessories and chrome, and he suffered from a number of tolerance issues (the Super head liked to pop loose, the truck panels on the legs wouldn't stay tabbed in, too much wiggle in between ratchet clicks, etc).  But these days you haven't really Ginrai-ed until you God Ginrai, so now I also picked up MPG Godbomber.

My first impressions aren't too bad.  He's a lighter figure, but you kind of expect that on a figure with a largely hollow torso who breaks down into components that have to be supported by another toy's joints.  His joint tolerances seem better, too, and whether that's actually from Takara paying more attention and tightening him up or simply because the joints don't have to work as hard to support the weight, who can say.  The colors are pretty on-point (his pelvis could maybe stand to be a little darker).

Cartoon accuracy does seem to be a little less pressing in MPG than the original MP line, though.  His proportions are definitely a bit more heroic, with more of a tapered waist, higher wings, and massive forearms that put the fins closer to his shoulders than his elbows.  But perhaps the oddest choice is how is shoulder cannon sits.  There's a black part with a 5mm port attached to the top of his torso.  The instructions would have you fold it back, then the 5mm peg on the cannon is on an elaborate hinge system to angle the peg so it's pointing forward, allowing it to plug into the black piece.  There's even a support piece that folds out from the front of the cannon to help brace it.  But the thing is, there's a 5mm port on to the top of his back you could use without all the extra hinges on the cannon or the black part on his torso.

I guess that segues into accessories.  Well, you've got the aforementioned cannon, which is the only thing I think Godbomber really needs.  The missile can be removed, but it's not spring-loaded or anything.  Takara also gives you some more of the blast effect parts that came with Super Ginrai, little unarticulated slugs for the Headmaster Juniors, a trailer adapter, two stand adapters, and a big ol' sword because of that one time in that one episode.

At first I thought Godbomber's head might be a ball joint, because he can't look down much but he's got fantastic upward tilt and good sideways tilt in addition to swiveling, but closer inspection reveals a rivet swivel and separate hinges for sideways and upward tilt.  His shoulders swivel on a ratchet and they ratchet nearly 90 degrees laterally; make sure you're using the actual shoulder joint and not the transformation joint.  He's also got some butterfly hinges that bring his shoulders foreward 90 degrees.  He's got bicep swivels above his elbows, which bend just under 90 degrees, then another swivel below the elbow.  His wrists swivel, and his hands can bend backward.  His thumbs have a hinge at the base for pinching.  His other fingers are pinned at the base and mid-knuckle, with the index fingers being separate from the other fingers.  His waist can swivel 45 degrees to the left or right, but that's good enough for most poses.  His hip skirts move so his hips can ratchet about 90 degrees forward, just under 90 degrees laterally, and about 45 degrees backward.  His thighs swivel, and his knees ratchet a little more than 90 degrees.  No toe tilts, but his ankles pivot nearly 90 degrees on ratchets.

If you mount his shoulder cannon the official way, it can tilt down a bit or back so that it's straight up in the air, though you'll likely need to fold the support back in and you'll expose another handle if you bend it back too far.  If you just plugged it into the port on his back it can't tilt down, but it can still tilt up about 45 degrees.  The blast effects can plug into the guns on his forearms, as well as the blue details on the left side of his chest.  Godbomber can also hold the sword by plugging a tab on the handle into a slot on fingers.  His hands are too small to really close around the handle, though.

The transformation for Godbomber's not bad!  They didn't totally try to avoid partsforming like the Legends toy (which left it with needlessly complicated hinges to move the chest without disconnecting it, but they also didn't design him to totally come apart then get pieced back together like the G1 toy.  Instead, the front of his torso splits from the back half, taking his arms, head, and wings with it.  The crotch opens, allowing his hips to slide forward, then his legs come up and over his crotch and tab together.  Some flaps fold out of his back, and the unpainted, unchromed gray bits fold and tuck down so that tabs on them are pointing toward what will become the back of the vehicle.  Meanwhile, on the other part, the head folds in, the wings move out of the way, and the shoulders drop.  Things need to turn so that inside of the shoulder joint is now facing outside and the arms can swing and tab together.  Joints in the wings tuck into the spaces his shoulder joints were occupying, then they fold upward.  This bit uses some tabs to plug into his shins on the other part, then panels swing out from the sides of his legs to fill in the sides of the vehicle, tabbing into his bumper and the unpainted gray flaps.  The fins on the arms can tilt inward, giving you the clearance to plug the cannon into the black part.  For this mode, the cannon's peg is folded up so it goes straight down into the black part, but it seems like now would have been a better time to use those hinges to position the cannon so that the fins wouldn't have been in the way in the first place.

Aside from having to tilt the fins in to give the cannon room, I don't have any complaints about Godbomber's alt mode.  The mechanical detail on the inside of the shoulder joint is cartoon accurate, and a blue panel rotates up from the leg panels to help fill in the area around Godbomber's hands.  The proportions are about what you'd expect, and the whole thing holds together pretty solidly once everything is tabbed together right.

Godbomber's wings can fold down, and the boosters on them can rotate 180 degrees.  This allows you to plug the effect parts into them for a flying trailer mode.

Alt mode is also where most of the other accessories we haven't talked about come into play.  For example, the front opens to reveal and nicely-painted interior.  The Headmaster Junior slugs can sit inside, but here's where things get weird.  There are little slots at the bottom of the brown-painted seats, and tabs on the bases of the Juniors.  The tabs are on their front sides, so they can plug into the slots in the seats but they're facing backward.

Another alt mode accessory is the trailer adapter.  See, Godbomber's bumper but has a bit that flips out with a peg on the underside.  But there isn't clearance under Godbomber for Ginrai's legs, so you can plug the adapter into the trailer port on Ginrai and it adds a new port behind his feet, so he can tow Godbomber.

I'd expect that most people who bought Godbomber bought MPG Super Ginrai, not MP non-Super Ginrai, though.  Super Ginrai's trailer already has a port that can fold out from the rear, allowing Godbomer to attach without any adapter needed.

Of course, most people who bought Godbomber weren't doing it for the double trailer, they were doing it to form God Ginrai.  Sadly, this is where things kind of fall apart for me.  First, Godbomber needs to be disassembled, because this time he's back to totally partsforming.  In fact, my first complaint is that there are actually more parts than before.  See, you remember how I was just saying that Godbomber's forearms seemed to big?  Well, you have to open them up, and flip around Godbomber's hands to reveal another set of slightly larger hands.  Bigger forearms and bigger hands make God Ginrai's arms look a little small, so red parts are removed from inside Godbomber's waist to peg into his Ginrai's shoudlers, making them also look bigger... from some angles.  From other angles now they're horribly hollow, and to add insult to injury they don't stay pegged in particularly well.  The forearms don't fare much better, eschewing the Combiner Wars-style sliding connector on Godbomber for a 5mm peg into Ginrai's forearms.  Which brings me to my second big complaint, one of Godbomber's forearms was misassembled.  It had no bearing on Godbomber's robot or alt modes, but the flap with the peg was installed backward, so I had to take part the arm (five screws) and turn it around before I was able to connect it to Ginrai at all.  Godbomber's legs side off his hips, again, Combiner Wars-style.  The toe folds out, the thigh folds in, and the red detail on Godbomber's shins have to fold out, spin 180, and fold back in the reveal the connectors for Ginrai's feet.

The front of Godbomber's torso splits again, so the pelvis detatches, which seems kind of unnecessary since it reattaches to the same part, just by folding the hips back, lifting the hip skirts, and plugging the skirts into Godbomber's waist.  That whole contraption will fit, loosely, onto Ginrai's back, with tabs on the trailer hitch plugging into slots under Godbomber's neck to help secure it into place.  Finally, Godbomber's back and butt slide over Ginrai's cab and tab into two places on each side... IF you have Ginrai's cab seated exactly right.  If it's off even a little Godbomber won't fit over properly and can't tab into place.

Aside from the new fists (which are articulated exactly the same as the smaller Godbomber fists), all of God Ginrai's joints are the same as his Super Ginrai ones and he has the same articulation as before.  The cannon plugs into ports where the top sides of the trailer folded up onto his back, using the same folded-in configuration as Godbomber's alt mode.  You can also fold out a handle from the cannon and have God Ginrai hold it in his hands using a slots that plug into the fingers, just like the sword (which, despite being held in larger hands, is still too big to really close the fingers around).  And he does look pretty good... assuming you can keep him together.  Again, I had the head popping up from the cab, the shoulder armor popping off, and the truck panels not staying folded against his legs.  Plus, there are joints that extend Ginrai's shoulders to outward a bit for God Ginrai mode that help make him look proportional with all the extra kibble, but using those joints made his shoulders kind of droopy.

On it's own, I kind of like MPG Godbomber.  I think it's one of the better Godbomber toys around, with decent articulation and all-around solid robot and alt modes.  But again, most people want Godbomer to complete God Ginrai.  Putting together God Ginrai was frustrating, and keeping him together is nearly as frustrating.  To be fair, a lot of the issues are still issues with Super Ginrai; poor tolerances, and the need to have little Ginrai's knees bend just right to line up his legs just so to seat him properly in Super mode.  But some of it is still on Godbomber.  He commands a premium price because he comes with accessories I don't actually want or need, plus a few things like the hinges in his cannon mount and the fact that you have to open is over-sized forearms to fold in his hands and fold out slightly larger hands when one pair of hands for both Godbomber and God Ginrai would have sufficed are over-engineered in ways that do nothing except inflate the parts count and price.

I think, if for some reason Godbomber is like your favorite character and you really want a good toy of him and don't care about Ginrai or combinations, then yeah, MPG Godbomber is probably the best Godbomber toy ever released.  Go pick one up!  But I don't otherwise recommend him... as an accessory for Ginrai he's just ok, but the real issue is that Super Ginrai isn't good enough to recommend in the first place.  Which, I suppose, is a really long-winded way of saying I agree with @lechuck— MPG does feel subpar.

[J.T. Silversmith]

Mike, you can turn the Headmaster Junior figures the other way around, the rectangular tab on the front is for putting them in Ginrai's cab, they are meant to fit this way.

[J.T. Silversmith]

You said the shoulder joints looked a little droopy, Did you know there is a tiny sliding lock to hold the shoulder expansion joint at an exact angle, you might have missed in your transformation.

[J.T. Silversmith]

This is the position For GodGinrai mode

[J.T. Silversmith]

There is a sliding lock here.

[J.T. Silversmith]

This is the unlocked position on the other arm for Super Ginrai mode.

[26662]

My Nemesis Prime shipped today.  I was getting concerned that Mattel could/would possibly run into some issue and have to cancel my order.