The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[M'Kyuun]

I was just notified that my copy of Mixmaster shipped so by this time next week, I should be able to assemble my first official Devastator. Something to look forward to.

[davidwhangchoi]

On 10/1/2025 at 4:20 PM, mikeszekely said:

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.

@mikeszekely You know what really was disappointing with MP God Ginrai(Power Master Prime)?

 

They had an opportunity to make him as the artwork on the original box with the cab folded in the chest recessed to perfectly line up in the housing of the trailer. Instead, it's sticks out like the crappy g1 toy.

i want a power master prime! 

 

Edited October 3 by davidwhangchoi

[mikeszekely]

8 hours ago, J.T. Silversmith said:

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.

I saw that the instructions were indicating something, but the drawing for that step was not at all clear.  I'm happy to rescind my complaint about droopy shoulders, but everything else still stands- Godbomber is ok on his own, Super Ginrai has issues, combining the two into God Ginrai exacerbates those issues.

[J.T. Silversmith]

I am sorry that the Quality control is so bad on your copy of the trailer and Super Ginrai. I have not had the problems getting the panels on the leg to hold together.  My copy spends most of its time asSuper ginrai or God Ginrai and I enjoy the set quite a lot. I did have to tighten the pegs on the extra shoulder armor for god Ginrai with a clear top coat (Pledge with FUTURE Shine). That said the QC in my Cab robot makes me unhappy.  One of the little chrome tabs one one of my exhaust pipes was cracked out of the box and snapped off when I tried to transform it the first time.  The other tab is still fine.  I have not has as much trouble with the iegine popping off as some people.  I do really dislike the hip joints.  The hip dropping mechanism is always too loose, and the distance the legs spread going too the first detent on the hips spreads his legs too far to look good.

I do think there could have been a better way to tuck the arms in better on the trailer, and i ordered the DNA design set for super Ginrai to see if it improves things.

[pengbuzz]

19 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said:

@mikeszekely You know what really was disappointing with MP God Ginrai(Power Master Prime)?

 

They had an opportunity to make him as the artwork on the original box with the cab folded in the chest recessed to perfectly line up in the housing of the trailer. Instead, it's sticks out like the crappy g1 toy.

i want a power master prime! 

 

Wondering if someone could make an add-on kit for this that corrects the chest issue (extend the sides a bit so they line up with the cab)? Perhaps 3D printing could help with that; I'll have to check Yeggi and see if anyone has addressed this yet.

[sh9000]

Retro G1 Wheelie and Outback.

[mikeszekely]

As much as I don't like Wheelie, I kinda like that Wheelie.  I'm definitely in for Outback, been expecting him since they did Brawn.  Still waiting on Swerve...

[Hikuro]

Outback would be rather very much on the list of want since he's had some season 3 episodes. Wheelie though, he looks different. Maybe it's the neon colors throwing me off, but he doesn't even look like the Legacy mold. But I think unless I can view him in person I'll probably pass. I'm still really happy with my Titans Return variant. 

[Scyla]

I got Binaltech Laserwave to finish my Binaltech/Alternators collection (of two items, the other is Nemesis Prime).

The RX-8 is nicely painted (and super heavy due to all the die cast; almost to a detriment). I especially like how the transformation changes the seats and floor of the car to the, nicely tapered, lower torso. 

Of course on mine the hood pops up constantly during transformation. The fact that is made out of die-cast doesn’t help with that because it is so heavy.

There are some outdated solutions on the figures like not having a thigh swivel - which I hate because you cannot achieve natural looking poses - but overall I’m quite happy.

It is so nice to have something that is not G1 Shockwave. I’m super excited for the Shockwhale and the Kuro Kara Kuri SG Longarm that was revealed this week. Funny how Shockwave is a Jazz/Meister retool quite often now.

[Scyla]

The other item I got was Mattel Hot Wheels Nemesis Prime.

It is similar to Binaltech Laserwave in that he is made out of a lot of metal, a wheeled vehicle and probably the last piece of my Mattel Hot Wheels collection I need (). I can’t see how they could make more characters I want.

The only other Transformer I could think about would be Cliffjumper.

As for Nemesis Prime, as something that was  scheduled for November it arrived very early. 

Nemesis Prime is super tiny and as someone who never owned a G1 Optimus Prime he is kinda interesting and neat. However, with no nostalgia for either Hot Wheels nor Optimus I feel I’m missing out on the main appeal of the piece.

So he feels like an expensive novelty in the same way the Missing Link Transformers feel like an expensive novelty to me. 

Looking at the current aftermarket prices they don’t seem too outrageous to me and I don’t see them skyrocketing like Optimus did. So if you are interested to check it out, and missed the preorder, now might be a good time to buy one from the aftermarket. 

Edited October 4 by Scyla

[Hikuro]

I used to have a ton of the Alternator figures, think the only one I didn't own was Rumble since it was I think a comic con exclusive. If I recall correctly the only one I might have left is either Optimus or Nemesis. Sold all the other ones. 

[JB0]

On 10/4/2025 at 11:04 AM, Scyla said:

I got Binaltech Laserwave to finish my Binaltech/Alternators collection (of two items, the other is Nemesis Prime).

Aww heck yeah!

 

I believe Alternator Shockwave was my first Transformer as an adult. No longer was I too old for toy robots!

[M'Kyuun]

On 10/4/2025 at 2:42 PM, Hikuro said:

I used to have a ton of the Alternator figures, think the only one I didn't own was Rumble since it was I think a comic con exclusive. If I recall correctly the only one I might have left is either Optimus or Nemesis. Sold all the other ones. 

I still have all my Binaltech/Alternator figs. I didn't have a complete collection, but I had the majority of the main characters. Out of all of them, the Mazda RX8, Suburu Impreza, and Ford Mustang molds were, IMHO, the best, the Mazda being my favorite. In spite of liking it, I never did get the Shockwave version, and I do believe I had opportunities to pick it up. I was good with Jazz, so I didn't bother double dipping even though I did double dip on some of the other molds. The vast majority of my collection is packed away and I've not seen them in some time, but I remember their being some impressive toys for all the working features and details in their licensed car modes. The bot modes often suffered, however, from lackluster articulation and generally a fair bit of cumbersome kibble. Still, these things approached then MP levels of engineering and retailed for about $20 (for the all-plastic American Alternators) and about $50 IIRC, for the Japanese Binaltech versions which had a fair bit of die-cast, which gave them a heftier, more premium feel. Ah, the good old days when toys were reasonably priced and widely available, for the most part.

[sh9000]

New pics.

[mikeszekely]

I'm invested enough in the Primes that I'm glad Quintus is coming, and yeah, that's what his robot mode looks like and all, but that's some weaksauce transformation.

Windcharger, on the other hand, is looking very interesting  At first I thought he didn't have ankles, but then I realized they're going HARD on Sunbow.  He's got a white thigh, a knee, a very short white shin, and the rear of the car is big feet.  Well, it's not accurate to say "rear," is it?  Looks like the front bumper, hood, windshield, and roof all peel back, then curl up into his soles and heels.

Not sure why they changed how Sureshot's arms transform.  Now you've got visible spoiler kibble on the backs of his biceps and the colors inverted on the rear of the car mode.  Looks ok otherwise.

Quickstrike is... well, I guess that'll make the Beast Wars fans happy?  Personally I got enough of what I consider to be the "main" cast that I'd prefer they move on.  I'd also prefer they move on from their fanfic Junkions.

Even though Blast Off is a retool of Vortex, and I definitely had a few issues with Vortex, Blast Off is looking mighty fine.  Hopefully preorders go up soon.  I just wish they didn't go with the animation error face.

[pengbuzz]

9 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Not sure why they changed how Sureshot's arms transform.  Now you've got visible spoiler kibble on the backs of his biceps and the colors inverted on the rear of the car mode.  Looks ok otherwise.

I would say to give him articulation at the shoulder, as the original G1 version was pretty much shoulder-locked, if I had to hazard a guess.

 

[mikeszekely]

NYCC starts today, and the exclusives (including Armada Nemesis Prime with the Star Saber) are available to order now for Pulse Premium members.

For my European friends, if you can't order Nemesis Prime today don't worry.  He's also going to be an exclusive for the London Comic Con, and I expect you'll be able to get him on the 24th.

[sh9000]

Thundercracker.

 

[Scyla]

8 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

NYCC starts today, and the exclusives (including Armada Nemesis Prime with the Star Saber) are available to order now for Pulse Premium members.

For my European friends, if you can't order Nemesis Prime today don't worry.  He's also going to be an exclusive for the London Comic Con, and I expect you'll be able to get him on the 24th.

I preordered Armada Nemesis Prime from Anime Export already. I was unsure about paying €93 for it but seeing that the price was raised from $75 to $90 makes me much happier with my choice.

[mikeszekely]

Retro Outback and Retro Wheelie are up for preorder on Pulse, shipping in March.

Looks like wave 1 of AotP and SS for 2026 was shown off.  We already had preorders for half the SS wave, it sounds like Windcharger, Skywarp, and Grimlock might go up for preorder tomorrow.  Not sure when AotP will be available to preorder.

Also not sure when we can order some new stuff that got shown off, like Skybound Optimus

Oh, and remember the Hearts of Steel stuff?  They're calling that line Timelines, and I have good news and bad.  The bad is that they seem to be done with Hearts of Steel.  The good is that Timelines is continuing, and they're following the same format of roughly Deluxe-ish two packs starting with Optimus and Starscream.  And it turns out, Timelines isn't about a specific comic book or anything.  Turns out Timelines is Transformers throughout time... it just happened to be that Hearts of Steel worked for late 1800s.  This time they're going to feudal Japan.

[Negotiator]

When does thunder cracker and wind charger go up for PO?

[sh9000]

Preordered Outback and Wheelie from Walmart since they were a little cheaper there.  I might cancel my preorder for DK-59 and get Skybound Optimus.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, Negotiator said:

When does thunder cracker and wind charger go up for PO?

I *think* 1pm EST tomorrow.

[M'Kyuun]

4 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I *think* 1pm EST tomorrow.

I really wish they were purposely emphatic and unambiguous about announcing PO times; it would make life easier for everyone and give members, like me, some validation for purchasing said membership. I don't understand why, as in the past, they don't initiate POs for stuff shown that day, future product notwithstanding, following the stream instead of piecemealing the POs out over multiple days, which not only becomes confusing but also may pose a hindrance if you have plans. I rarely have plans, but it just so happens we're taking my mother-in-law out to lunch tomorrow and I'm hoping we'll be done eating before POs come up. Actually, I'm hoping to be home, as I hate trying to make purchases on my phone- much easier on my desktop.

Anyway, huge thanks for the info, Mike. You're awesome.

[M'Kyuun]

POs are up on Pulse!!!!

[mikeszekely]

Hmm, wish that Titan Grimlock and that neat Timelines set went up today, too (and we're still waiting for AotP '26 wave 1 for that matter), but I got an order in for Nemesis Prime and preorders for Skybound Optimus, Thundercracker, and Windcharger.

[M'Kyuun]

3 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Hmm, wish that Titan Grimlock and that neat Timelines set went up today, too (and we're still waiting for AotP '26 wave 1 for that matter), but I got an order in for Nemesis Prime and preorders for Skybound Optimus, Thundercracker, and Windcharger.

I've no interest in the Timelines stuff thus far, but for a second, I entertained the thought of getting Armada Nemesis Prime, primarily for the articulated minicons, but $90 is far too steep a price for what you're getting. The way prices are rising on these things, I'm not sure how much longer I'll continue collecting, at least at my current level, which has already tapered over the last couple of years. I'm in for SS86 Starscream and Skywarp and for figs like Mirage that are in need of a good G1 mainline or SS figure, and any remaining minibots, but thanks to the main lines over the last few years, I have a pretty solid G1 collection with only a few holes to fill.  Once those are filled, I may just reluctantly and regrettably retire from collecting. It's just getting too expensive.

Too, I'm out of room for these things, so I also need to find some more storage/display solutions. Funny, when we moved from our two BR apartment, which itself seemed large to us initially, into our house, it felt like we had so much room. Our house is about 1600 sq ft, not huge by any stretch, but not small either, relative to many of the houses here in town. It took less than 20 years to fill much of that space, a great deal of it with my toy collections. So much plastic.

[mikeszekely]

Got some repaints for you.

First up, we're actually finishing off the final 2025 wave of Age of the Primes with Flatline.  Flatline's something of an interesting character... he was actually created for the IDW Bayverse tie-in comics.  He was originally conceived as something of a mad scientist, the guy who created Devastator's gestalt from the Constructicons, but that scene never made it into the comics.  He later turned up experimenting on Arcee, as an attempt to explain how she went from the Deluxe-class toy from the original movie line to the Arcee sisters that appeared in Revenge of the Fallen.  I guess the IDW team liked their original character enough that he made it into the main G1-esque IDW line, where he was drawn as a potential repaint/retool of Thrilling 30 Trailcutter.  His character was a bit more fleshed out; he joined the Decepticons because he believed in Megatron's vision, but as a medic he'd treat anyone regardless of their badge. 

Here, he's obviously not a retool of Trailbreaker, but rather Armada Red Alert.  Broadly, I think it works.  T30 Trailcutter had the front of his alt mode as his chest, rather than folded all the way down like the G1 or Earthrise version, and the Red Alert mold still has wheels on the sides of the lower legs.  The only things they really had to change were the head (of course), and giving him an actual left hand.

On that note, Flatline comes with the same trio of left hand attachments, and he new hand does pop off and you can use those accessories just like you could on Red Alert.  They can still store in the fenders on his legs and under his backpack, like Red Alert.  However, Hasbro wants you to use the little holes on them to plug them into tiny pegs on his roof, just above the windshield.  This is so they can mimic the gun barrels seen on Flatline's back in IDW (which themselves mimicked the spikes on the Bayverse design).  I was kind of surprised (but not also not) to find that this is a feature that was always built into the mold, and Red Alert can do it too.

The instructions suggest that the weapons should stay on his roof for vehicle mode... perhaps a legacy of his design as a Trailcutter retool?  After all, that toy had a pair of guns permanently affixed to his roof.  But personally, I think I'm good tucking them away for a cleaner alt mode.

Speaking of tucking things away, you had to remove Red Alerts gun-hand to transform him, but I'm happy to say that Flatline's hand can stay attached.

So, yeah, I though Red Alert was a pretty decent toy originally.  But if you skipped him because you're not into Armada a pseudo-G1 Decepticon medic is a good excuse to take another look at this mold.

I also got the latest Target 4-pack in.  The 4-pack opens with Ultra Magnus, who's a straight repaint of AotP Deluxe Optimus.  Same accessories and everything.  And, I get it, as white Optimus repaints go this one probably makes the most sense, since the Optimus use of the mold was mean to mimic his G1 toy, and the G1 Magnus toy had a white Optimus repaint at it's core.

Frankly, if DNA does an upgrade trailer that can go with this figure to transform him into a full-on Ultra Magnus I'd consider using this guy on my main movie shelf instead of SS86 Magnus, but as it stands, he's just ok.

See, as Optimus toys goes, this one was one of my least-favorite modern molds.  Not that it's a bad toy, it's just that the G1 toy aesthetic doesn't really mesh so well with the rest of Siege/Earthrise/Kingdom/Legacy/Age of the Primes, and as a Deluxe he doesn't really scale all that well, either.  What I really wanted was the guy on the far right, but to get that I had to go 3P.

Speaking of least-favorite modern Optimus toys, they have Magnus fighting Nemesis Prime.  Which is a good choice!  Except it's Animated Nemesis Prime, and as I've said many times before, as much as I loved the cartoon I'm not a fan of the designs as three-dimensional toys.  Objectively, it's a pretty neat mold for the Animated design, but subjectively, Animated clashes so hard with with other G1/Armada/IDW/Cybertron/etc stuff in the post-Siege mainline.  Heck, even the Prime stuff fits better )though you could make the argument that's because those figures have been much more G1-ified than Prowl's chin reduction).  Besides, Legacy already gave us an evil repaint of Animated Optimus... it was Animated Motormaster.  So, yeah, I'm not opposed to Nemesis Prime appearing in this set, I just wish they'd have used a different Optimus toy.  Heck, I'd have been happier if they included a second repaint of the Legacy Deluxe, though the SS Devastation version would have worked, too.  

I'll at least say that Hasbro put some love into this Nemesis, though.  In addition to his new masked face, you'll note that Hasbro painted the little squares on his feet, and made his fingers a different color than the backs of his hands... things that should have been done on Animated Optimus in the first place.  They also painted his rims and marker lights, which they couldn't be bothered to do for the original release.  I guess, if you're down with the Animated aesthetic and you're into Nemesis Prime repaints, the figure's honestly a pretty decent toy.  But I personally wouldn't have bought this set over him.

I would, however, have considered buying the set for Bumper.  It's about time he got an official toy!  But Bumper is sort of a weird character... the G1 toy was released in super limited quantities on Cliffjumper cards in 1984.  The yellow robot in Cliffjumper packaging led to the unofficial designation "Bumblejumper," despite the actual toy being neither the Porsche 944 or the Volkswagen Type-1.  Rather, this was the Diaclone mini-car based on the Mazda Familia 1500 XG.  "Bumblejumper" was eventually shortened to "Bumper," which become his canonical name when he was finally acknowledged as his own character in the Dreamwave comics.

Retooling Bumper from Bumblebee makes sense, then, as all three used the same basic engineering as G1 toys.  That said, he's a bit low effort, as he's really SS86 Bumblebee with slightly brighter yellows, slightly blacker blacks, and a new head.  In an ideal world they'd have remolded his feet to be more blocky, like the Familia, instead of (sloppily) painting over the headlights.  Likewise, for robot mode, I wish they replaced the yellow pelvis and forearms with black.

Instead, all of the effort in this set really went into Horri-Bull.  Horri-Bull, who finally completes the Decepticon Headmaster Juniors, is an extensive retool of Titans Return Skullcruncher.  They share the same gray gun, biceps, elbows, thighs, and knees, but that's really it.  He's sporting a new torso, new pelvis, new hips, new shoulders, new hands, new forearms, new beast claws on his forearms, new lower legs, a new blue gun, and new lower legs.

The results work surprisingly well.  Where Skullcruncher was a floppy mess that could barely stand, Horri-Bull's joints are sturdy, and he's even got heels with ankle pivots to keep his feet firmly planted.

The Head/Titanmaster is a completely different mold than the one from Titans Return.  The sort of helmeted look is, to my mind, more evocative of his Japanese Bullhorn counterpart.  The body is the same as Skullcruncher's, but with a different head and a different face on his back.

Transformation is basically the same as Skullcruncher, but with the added step of folding his feet out and tabbing them into the sides of the torso.  And, like robot mode, it works pretty well.  His rear legs are blue instead of gray, and his back is a little less humped, but he's got the same basic shape and oddly-spined design of the G1 toy, with a beast face that has more cow-like proportions than the G1 toy, but the same sort of sharp teeth.  Because the beast head is actually just pegged on, it can swivel (which, in this position, works like a head tilt) and his jaws can open.  

Like the G1 toy, there's a hatch on his back for the Head/Titanmaster to ride in.  And the blue gun still plugs into his butt to form the beast tail, but there's an additional 5mm port under the barrels that lets you stow the gray gun back there too.

For me, Horri-Bull is the highlight of the set.  As I said, he completes the Decepticon Headmaster Juniors which started trickling out with Fangry all the way back in 2021.  The extensive retooling makes him (and Squeezeplay before him) much better figures than Fangry, though.

Like I said, Horri-Bull is really the main reason to buy this set.  It's hard to justify an entire set that retails for nearly $100 for just one Deluxe, though (which, you know, could have been a little cheaper if they'd used a Deluxe mold for Nemesis instead of the Voyager Animated one, just saying).  For me, I'm always down for a white Optimus repaint, and Bumper provides some much-needed (if lazy) love to an often overlooked G1 character.  Those three combined are enough to sell me on this set.  Nemesis Prime, a objectively good toy that I subjectively don't like, will be on his way to a new home shortly.

[mikeszekely]

After watching Legacy get progressively worse and worse over its three year run, I'm feeling like 2025's been a pretty great year for the brand.  Age of the Primes brought us Vortex and the Aerialbots, not to mention a number of the mythical Primes the line is named for, including a very excellent modern Star Convoy.  On the Studio Series side we got a whole new Devastator, a cool Deluxe-sized Optimus to fight him, and an impressively cartoon-accurate Megatron despite turning into a tank.  What more could we ask for?

Well, a new Deluxe Seapsray, for starters.

It's a little weird that third parties have dipped into the Seaspray well many times (iGear, Maketoys, ToyWorld, X-Transbots, Magic Square, NewAge, and Dr. Wu have all done a Seaspray, and Fans Toys has done him twice) but in the last 40 years we just had the original (and the G2 repaint) and Titans Returns (unless you count the Bayverse one).  Hasbro's finally giving our boy a proper Deluxe-class glow up... in a Walmart-exclusive line of decos based on the G1 toys.  *sigh* It's like Velocitron Cosmos all over again (though Cosmos did eventually get a re-release in Legacy, perhaps Seaspray will be more widely available later...).

The "retro" deco fortunately isn't all that far off from the cartoon, though.  I'd imagine a purely Sunbow deco would put an Autobot badge on his tummy while losing the painted "stickers" on the sides and the black windows.  Maybe use a slightly darker blue plastic.  And they'd likely do a different head without the vents and with blue eyes on gray instead of a blank black visor.  Those are the sorts of details that are just changed enough to get me to re-buy without making me feel like the retro deco isn't good enough for now.

Seaspray's sole accessory is a rather generic gun.  It's very hollowed out, but painted silver and does the job.

Seaspray's head is on a ball joint, though there's very little tilt available, and swiveling his head is awkward with the propellors in the way.  His shoulders swivel and move almost 90 degrees laterally.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend over 90 degrees.  His wrists can tilt up and down a little for some reason, but they don't swivel.  His waist does have a swivel, however, if you bend his hips it'll get caught on the white armor on his hips.  Speaking of hips, he can move them 90 degrees backward or laterally, but he's again limited to only about 45 degrees forward due to the collision of the white hip armor and his torso.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  Despite how you'd think he transforms, there's no up/down tilt on his feet, and his ankles only pivot about 30 degrees.

Seaspray holds his gun just fine in either hand.  He's also got 5mm ports on the outside of either forearm, on either bicep, under each foot, and on his back.  While these ports might work well with old Weaponizers or Junkions or whatever, the "magazine" on Seaspray's gun is longer than the 5mm peg, so in bot mode his gun can't really go anywhere but his hands.

Seaspray's transformation is weirdly complicated, sometimes unnecessarily so.  Like, ok, his spine has to bend backward to tuck his pelvis and shorten his legs, and parts of the floaty bits fold out from under his feet so that they're not too big in bot mode.  We're used to seeing stuff like that.  But, why do his arms have to swivel 180 degrees?  Why is all the yellow stuff around his head on multiple hinges that extend it out from his body before turning the propellors?

Regardless, the alt mode is mostly good.  His shins are properly visible on the top, and there's an Autobot badge where the G1 toy had a rubsign.  Things do get a little messy toward the rear, where the extended yellow bits don't even tuck his head in as well as the G1 toy did, stretching everything a bit too far behind the blue and capping it with a random white flap that half-heartedly covers his face.

Seaspray's propellors can spin.  He lacks any kind of wheels to roll on.  While Seaspray does have two 5mm ports on either side, again, the gun can't really plug into them.  Hasbro's solution is to put a small peg on one side of the propellors.  This mates with a port on the side of the gun.  Which is fine, but...

...there's a TON of empty space under his feet.  More than enough that his gun could have stored totally out of sight, if Hasbro had just has the presence of mind to design some way for it to have secured under there.  As I prefer hidden weapons to weapons randomly stuck to their Earth mode "disguises," this is a huge missed opportunity.

Seaspray is... well, if I'm being honest, a tad disappointing.  Don't get me wrong, he's the best Seaspray Hasbro's done (in a Sunbow style), and short a hypothetical but likely toonier repaint probably the one you want on your shelf.  But I can't shake the feeling that they tried to get a little too creative with the engineering while not leaving themselves enough time to polish it.  If they would have simplified a few things, refined a few other things, and made a way to store the gun under the feet, they would have been flirting with greatness here.  As it is, you'll have to make due with "pretty good."

[mikeszekely]

For those keeping score, I'm reasonably certain that Seaspray's release just leaves Windcharger, Powerglide, Outback, Swerve, and Tailgate remaining of the Autobot mini-vehicles.  Windcharger and Outback are already available for preorder in SS86 and Walmart's retro line, respectively.  And I'm fairly certain that Powerglide and Swerve are both schedule for release in AOTP in 2026, so that just leaves Tailgate.  Since Tailgate's a retool of Windcharger, and he's not out yet, it makes sense that we haven't heard anything yet.  But I'd also say he's an inevitability.

[M'Kyuun]

14 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

After watching Legacy get progressively worse and worse over its three year run, I'm feeling like 2025's been a pretty great year for the brand.  Age of the Primes brought us Vortex and the Aerialbots, not to mention a number of the mythical Primes the line is named for, including a very excellent modern Star Convoy.  On the Studio Series side we got a whole new Devastator, a cool Deluxe-sized Optimus to fight him, and an impressively cartoon-accurate Megatron despite turning into a tank.  What more could we ask for?

Well, a new Deluxe Seapsray, for starters.

It's a little weird that third parties have dipped into the Seaspray well many times (iGear, Maketoys, ToyWorld, X-Transbots, Magic Square, NewAge, and Dr. Wu have all done a Seaspray, and Fans Toys has done him twice) but in the last 40 years we just had the original (and the G2 repaint) and Titans Returns (unless you count the Bayverse one).  Hasbro's finally giving our boy a proper Deluxe-class glow up... in a Walmart-exclusive line of decos based on the G1 toys.  *sigh* It's like Velocitron Cosmos all over again (though Cosmos did eventually get a re-release in Legacy, perhaps Seaspray will be more widely available later...).

The "retro" deco fortunately isn't all that far off from the cartoon, though.  I'd imagine a purely Sunbow deco would put an Autobot badge on his tummy while losing the painted "stickers" on the sides and the black windows.  Maybe use a slightly darker blue plastic.  And they'd likely do a different head without the vents and with blue eyes on gray instead of a blank black visor.  Those are the sorts of details that are just changed enough to get me to re-buy without making me feel like the retro deco isn't good enough for now.

Seaspray's sole accessory is a rather generic gun.  It's very hollowed out, but painted silver and does the job.

Seaspray's head is on a ball joint, though there's very little tilt available, and swiveling his head is awkward with the propellors in the way.  His shoulders swivel and move almost 90 degrees laterally.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend over 90 degrees.  His wrists can tilt up and down a little for some reason, but they don't swivel.  His waist does have a swivel, however, if you bend his hips it'll get caught on the white armor on his hips.  Speaking of hips, he can move them 90 degrees backward or laterally, but he's again limited to only about 45 degrees forward due to the collision of the white hip armor and his torso.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  Despite how you'd think he transforms, there's no up/down tilt on his feet, and his ankles only pivot about 30 degrees.

Seaspray holds his gun just fine in either hand.  He's also got 5mm ports on the outside of either forearm, on either bicep, under each foot, and on his back.  While these ports might work well with old Weaponizers or Junkions or whatever, the "magazine" on Seaspray's gun is longer than the 5mm peg, so in bot mode his gun can't really go anywhere but his hands.

Seaspray's transformation is weirdly complicated, sometimes unnecessarily so.  Like, ok, his spine has to bend backward to tuck his pelvis and shorten his legs, and parts of the floaty bits fold out from under his feet so that they're not too big in bot mode.  We're used to seeing stuff like that.  But, why do his arms have to swivel 180 degrees?  Why is all the yellow stuff around his head on multiple hinges that extend it out from his body before turning the propellors?

Regardless, the alt mode is mostly good.  His shins are properly visible on the top, and there's an Autobot badge where the G1 toy had a rubsign.  Things do get a little messy toward the rear, where the extended yellow bits don't even tuck his head in as well as the G1 toy did, stretching everything a bit too far behind the blue and capping it with a random white flap that half-heartedly covers his face.

Seaspray's propellors can spin.  He lacks any kind of wheels to roll on.  While Seaspray does have two 5mm ports on either side, again, the gun can't really plug into them.  Hasbro's solution is to put a small peg on one side of the propellors.  This mates with a port on the side of the gun.  Which is fine, but...

...there's a TON of empty space under his feet.  More than enough that his gun could have stored totally out of sight, if Hasbro had just has the presence of mind to design some way for it to have secured under there.  As I prefer hidden weapons to weapons randomly stuck to their Earth mode "disguises," this is a huge missed opportunity.

Seaspray is... well, if I'm being honest, a tad disappointing.  Don't get me wrong, he's the best Seaspray Hasbro's done (in a Sunbow style), and short a hypothetical but likely toonier repaint probably the one you want on your shelf.  But I can't shake the feeling that they tried to get a little too creative with the engineering while not leaving themselves enough time to polish it.  If they would have simplified a few things, refined a few other things, and made a way to store the gun under the feet, they would have been flirting with greatness here.  As it is, you'll have to make due with "pretty good."

I agree with your assessments. My copy's on its way, for some reason shipping with DHL.  Yesterday my copies of TFOne Arcee and AotP Alpha Trion arrived by FedEx and USPS respectively. I'm digressing, but I find it odd that they're using so many delivery services seemingly all of a sudden when USPS has sufficed for years. Regardless, I'm just happy that they're coming. As to the fig, just based on your review, the first I've seen, I think they did a pretty good job overall, although I'm with you regarding the lackluster disguising of the head and the missed opportunity for hidden gun storage, one of my greatest pet peeves in this hobby. It's not often that the design as--is yields up a nice space to stow a weapon out of sight, so the fact that this one does and they still didn't use it just boggles the mind. I'm thinking the care isn't there, although I give Takara huge props for the elegant weapon storage on Studio Series Concept Widow. More of that please. I still fancy my TR version, as it had to look like the character and accommodate a Titanmaster, and Takara understood the assignment. My TR copy came from Pulse missing a prop, so I'm happy to see that this new update has them pinned on. Too, I like the minimalist toy deco, often with molded and painted details to homage the OG toys' decals, that they do on these toy-based figs. It's a nice touch. Kind of a shame that there aren't any small wheels for him to roll about on, but given the dearth of good placement options on the underside where they wouldn't somehow compromise the bot mode, I think they made the right choice. Anyway, another minibot down, with only a handful to go. I hope they maintain this standard. Windcharger's legs are looking a bit hollow and somewhat unsightly, but I'm sure there'll be upgrade kits to address the issue. Otherwise, I opine that they've been doing a splendid job with the upgraded Minibots overall. Looking forward to the rest.

[mikeszekely]

This is a new thing from Takara, Transformers Overgear.  No idea when or how much or what scale, but I can tell you 01 is Ironhide and 02 is Blackout.  I know @M'Kyuun loves a good helicopter...

[jenius]

They look... dope. 

[M'Kyuun]

9 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

This is a new thing from Takara, Transformers Overgear.  No idea when or how much or what scale, but I can tell you 01 is Ironhide and 02 is Blackout.  I know @M'Kyuun loves a good helicopter...

Indeed I do. The heli dude is reminiscent of a couple figs released in the past, although I forget their names. I have the toys, though. I'm curious if this is going to be its own line disconnected from existing lines or if there's going to be some sort of tie-in. The former offers more freedom for Takara to explore ideas without having to conform to preexisting designs, and I like that approach. I believe the Takara designers are a very imaginative and capable bunch and it'd be cool to see, in an experimental line, just what they could cook up untethered from any previous notions or expectations. I do wish, however, that they'd create new identities for them instead of leaning on preexisting character references. I look forward to seeing how this line develops, however, I check my expectations if they decide to do a jet, as I fear their usual lackluster approach will spoil any attempts. I'm jaded, but not without decades of poorly executed reasons.

[J.T. Silversmith]

Also we have official Confirmation of Missing Link Delta Magnus! Photo from TFW 2005.