The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[mikeszekely]

6 hours ago, rsvictor1976 said:

I don’t get the appeal of these neon colored transformers.

Sludge isn't my favorite... but he's not my favorite in G1 colors, either.

I unironically love blue-and-green Swoop. My second-favorite deco after yellow Grimlock.

[Chronocidal]

19 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I kinda dropped out of TF collecting during the G2 era, and while I was back in the US for the latter part of G2, I didn't really become interested again until some of the small ball-jointed jets started appearing (the Cyberjets). I bought the orange-tiger-striped F-14ish  one, but I've always wished I could have gotten the black F-117. Anyway, Beast Wars was what pulled me back into TF collecting- just a different direction, something new, and the level of articulation astounded me (bots with hip and knee joints!!!!). I laugh now in hindsight, as they were still pretty limited, but frame of reference is everything.  While my druthers would be for vehicle/inanimate object alt modes, or robotic animals like the Dinobots, the show sucked me in and I became a fan. All this is to say that G2 doesn't really register on my radar as my interest had waned and, yeah, so far as I can remember, the toys at the time didn't appeal to me all that much. I honestly have very little recollection of the early 90s so far as Transformers goes. Those little jets are the things that stick out to me more than anything. Imagine that.😉

I'm still a young'un with TF stuff, since I missed out on G1 entirely, and until G2 all I had was the deluxe Spay-C Gobot shuttle, and a Robotech-branded Bandai Joke Machine VF-1.

I fell down the rabbit hole when I saw the fancy G2 commercials though, and asked for a G2 Starscream for Christmas of 93.  He wasn't available, so I got a Ramjet instead.. which confused me for years, since he was essentially colored like Skywarp.  G2 is also why I thought Megaton was always a tank.  

My younger brother got pretty into Beast Wars, so he had a bunch of them, but I think the next actual TF I picked up was the Walmart MP Skywarp.

[M'Kyuun]

24 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

I'm still a young'un with TF stuff, since I missed out on G1 entirely, and until G2 all I had was the deluxe Spay-C Gobot shuttle, and a Robotech-branded Bandai Joke Machine VF-1.

I fell down the rabbit hole when I saw the fancy G2 commercials though, and asked for a G2 Starscream for Christmas of 93.  He wasn't available, so I got a Ramjet instead.. which confused me for years, since he was essentially colored like Skywarp.  G2 is also why I thought Megaton was always a tank.  

My younger brother got pretty into Beast Wars, so he had a bunch of them, but I think the next actual TF I picked up was the Walmart MP Skywarp.

The very interesting thing about a 40+ year old franchise is the varied points of entry into fandom and collecting. I consider myself fortunate to have been there at the beginning- just the amazement of experiencing this whole concept of realistic vehicles and things turning into nifty looking robots, as well as the story being told through the animation, not to mention through the bios included with the package art. It was such a well-done roll-out for the toys, as all that info made them feel like characters and I think that was the real brilliance to Transformers in those early years and why it maintained longevity. Prowl was my entry toy, and he's still one of my absolute favorite TF designs. I'm ever grateful to Hasui-san for the gorgeous MP figure, a dream come true for me.

I also consider myself fortunate to have experienced Saturday cartoons. There was just something cool about it, as there was so much choice, even with the limited channels back then. I was always checking out the TV Guide to determine what shows I could watch (pre-VCR days), as I had to channel hop back and forth between the three or four networks we had to catch my shows. It was a different time, but I look back upon it fondly.

I still remember a lot of the G1 commercials, and a lot of them have been preserved via YouTube and such, but I was out of the loop, I guess, when it came to G2, as I have no recollections of the commercials from that time. Likewise, I only vaguely remember the toys. I still had my G1 stuff, but as I've mentioned over the years, my interest in G1 pretty much started and ended with first season, as I felt that the show became much sillier in S2, losing the more focused and mature storyline of the first. I had pretty much lost all interest in the show come seasons three and four, and to this day, I've not watched either in their entirety, nor do I wish to. First season is where I live and breathe when it comes to G1 Transformers, with a little S2 bleed over when it comes to the toys. After that, Beast Wars, Animated, and Prime remain my favorite entries in the franchise, both shows and toys. Transformers: Robots in Disguise, which directly followed Prime, was also pretty good, so I guess I can include that, too. Bad voice acting choices made the WFC series unenjoyable for me, and while I tried to get into Earthspark, it just didn't grab me like previous series. I need to sit down and start it from the beginning and watch it straight through, I think. I'm still pretty peeved that deluxe Earthspark Soundwave, arguably one of the best toys in that line, never released in my area, and he goes for way too much on eBay and the like. Grrr

[sh9000]

The only G2 toys I had were G2 Optimus, Sideswipe, and a Cyberjet.  I used to see the G2 Dinobots in stores but skipped them.  Wasn't really a fan of their clear packaging.

[mikeszekely]

G2 Swoop & Sludge as well as Timelines samurai Optimus & Starscream are available to preorder on Pulse.

[Hikuro]

I still have G2 Optimus Prime, Megatron and Sideswipe. I used to have Starscream, Constructicons, some laserods and color changers when I was a kid.....most of the TF figures I had back in the day were G2. And the majority of them were bought at KB Toys except Megatron....I think I got him at a Bi-rite or a Big Lots.....it was somewhere rather random and just saw him at the top of a shelf with a few other toys and my mother bought it. Prime and Starscream I remember my dad buying me Optimus and Starscream at KB Toys. INFACT the day I got those figures was the same day Star Trek DS9 had first aired. 

[M'Kyuun]

21 minutes ago, Hikuro said:

I still have G2 Optimus Prime, Megatron and Sideswipe. I used to have Starscream, Constructicons, some laserods and color changers when I was a kid.....most of the TF figures I had back in the day were G2. And the majority of them were bought at KB Toys except Megatron....I think I got him at a Bi-rite or a Big Lots.....it was somewhere rather random and just saw him at the top of a shelf with a few other toys and my mother bought it. Prime and Starscream I remember my dad buying me Optimus and Starscream at KB Toys. INFACT the day I got those figures was the same day Star Trek DS9 had first aired. 

That's impressive recollection. I struggle to remember what I bought let alone where I bought it a week ago. My memory was always terrible, but when you accumulate as much crap as I have, it kinda gets lost in the fog of time.

Regarding G2, I can't say I feel a sense of FOMO. I far, far prefer the color schemes of the G1 toys- I never was a fan of gaudy color schemes- pastels and such. Yuck!😄

6 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

G2 Swoop & Sludge as well as Timelines samurai Optimus & Starscream are available to preorder on Pulse.

 I applaud Takara, and Hasbro by extension, for doing something different. That said, I'm just not moved by the Timelines stuff. However, I wouldn't mind a Grimlock that turns into a Mark V tank (actually, I'd rather it was its own character without having to conform to Grimlock in any way shape or form, but it's already a thing). That said, I'm sure these will find an audience, especially among Japanese collectors whose history they embody. For those fans who complain that all Hasbro does is rehash G1, this is something new and different and definitely not G1, and that's a good thing, IMHO, even if it doesn't strike a personal chord.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

That's impressive recollection. I struggle to remember what I bought let alone where I bought it a week ago. My memory was always terrible, but when you accumulate as much crap as I have, it kinda gets lost in the fog of time.

Regarding G2, I can't say I feel a sense of FOMO. I far, far prefer the color schemes of the G1 toys- I never was a fan of gaudy color schemes- pastels and such. Yuck!😄

 I applaud Takara, and Hasbro by extension, for doing something different. That said, I'm just not moved by the Timelines stuff. However, I wouldn't mind a Grimlock that turns into a Mark V tank (actually, I'd rather it was its own character without having to conform to Grimlock in any way shape or form, but it's already a thing). That said, I'm sure these will find an audience, especially among Japanese collectors whose history they embody. For those fans who complain that all Hasbro does is rehash G1, this is something new and different and definitely not G1, and that's a good thing, IMHO, even if it doesn't strike a personal chord.

I'd love to see Hasbro explore lots of designs for lots of characters, but they seem fixated on Timelines doing endless versions of Optimus vs Starscream and Bumblebee vs. Megatron.  And sadly, at a sort of "Deluxe+" price.  I'd personally love a version of the IDW stealth bomber Megatron that scales with the SS86 toy.

[sh9000]

The only Generations G2 releases I want are G2 Wildrider and Motormaster.

[M'Kyuun]

5 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I'd love to see Hasbro explore lots of designs for lots of characters, but they seem fixated on Timelines doing endless versions of Optimus vs Starscream and Bumblebee vs. Megatron.  And sadly, at a sort of "Deluxe+" price.  I'd personally love a version of the IDW stealth bomber Megatron that scales with the SS86 toy.

Yeah, I'm a bit fatigued with the same handful of characters getting iteration after iteration. however, when introducing a new line apart from others, it would be refreshing, IMHO, to introduce all new characters, but they just seem to want to stick to Prime, Megatron, Bumblebee, Starscream, and a few other main or popular characters. I get it, but I think we're well beyond time for some fresh characters with their own personalities and stories.

I still very much like the old deluxe IDW stealth bomber Megatron, which was well done, but I'd welcome one at the voyager or leader class scale/price point.

[JB0]

On 11/19/2025 at 2:21 AM, M'Kyuun said:

I still very much like the old deluxe IDW stealth bomber Megatron, which was well done, but I'd welcome one at the voyager or leader class scale/price point.

Oh yeah, that was really cool. Even if I have thematic gripes. 
I've said before I don't see Megatron as a STEALTH bomber. He wants you to know he's coming, and know there's not a dang thing you can do to stop him. Less B-2, more B-1.
...
I'd make him an XB-70, but that's reserved because I still want the Valkyrie to be Silverbolt some day. 

[tekering]

On 11/19/2025 at 5:21 PM, M'Kyuun said:

I'd welcome one at the voyager or leader class scale/price point.

Generation Toy's superlative "Tyrant" reissue is still available from some online retailers...

...but it goes for about three times Leader-class price (before tariffs, of course). 😅

[mikeszekely]

Tyrant's great, but I want one that scales with SS86 Megs, not MP-36 Megs.

[M'Kyuun]

8 hours ago, JB0 said:

I'd make him an XB-70, but that's reserved because I still want the Valkyrie to be Silverbolt some day. 

I've long advocated for Silverbolt to be a B-1. the XB-70 would be cool, too, but the B-1 has far more in common with the Concorde, is an active military aircraft (I used to work on them- no picnic for hydraulics techs), and has plenty enough real estate to easily hide a robot in disguise.

8 hours ago, JB0 said:

I've said before I don't see Megatron as a STEALTH bomber. He wants you to know he's coming, and know there's not a dang thing you can do to stop him. Less B-2, more B-1. 

We can agree to disagree. I dig the B-2ish alt mode that Don Figueroa cooked up for Megatron. I see where you're coming from with the B-1, but honestly, I'd rather that alt mode choice went to Silverbolt. Moreover, the B-2's not exactly quiet - granted it's no B-1 in full burner on takeoff- you can feel that in your chest from 2-300 yards away, but it makes some noise.

56 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Tyrant's great, but I want one that scales with SS86 Megs, not MP-36 Megs.

Likewise. I've just about quit on MP scale due to my severe lack of space. I'm running out of space for my mainline stuff, and there's still more coming that I want and will get, like the rest of the Combaticons (Bruticus is my favorite combiner). That said, if they start dipping once again into IDW designs and Megatron is on the table, as I mentioned, I wouldn't mind seeing his update upscaled to voyager or leader scale. I know those labels now refer more to budgets than actual sizes, but most of us have been in the game long enough to understand my meaning.

[davidwhangchoi]

Walmart has Transformers G1 Autobot Hot Rod Collectible on sale for $15.

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said:

Walmart has Transformers G1 Autobot Hot Rod Collectible on sale for $15.

I understand nostalgia, but why would you ever want the old one when the new one looks like this? There's just no comparison.

[Hikuro]

Well for one, the major price difference and two the availability. Not to mention, G1 Hot Rod was a pretty decent toy back then in comparison to some of the others of the line. But finding a SS86 for a decent price is H A R D. He's going nearly 200 dollars. Glad I got mine when he came out!

[sh9000]

SS 86 Hot Rod is cool.  I think the slightly pinker release coming out later will still be good too.  Hope they release a SS 86 Rodimus and give it a new mold.

[Hikuro]

12 hours ago, sh9000 said:

SS 86 Hot Rod is cool.  I think the slightly pinker release coming out later will still be good too.  Hope they release a SS 86 Rodimus and give it a new mold.

I think they did announce there was a SS86 Rodimus in the works. Though honestly if it's going to be like the SS86 Galvatron release, chances are it's just gonna be a repaint. I don't know what kind of mold tweaks they could do to it, and I would sure hate an entirely new mold on something that works pretty well as it is.
Though my only complaint about the Kingdom Rodimus was his atrocious vehicle mode outside of his trailer extension. I mean sure, they gotta come up with something as you don't want a repeat of 1986 going from a really neat sporty sedan to a half of a car with legs hanging out plugged with a trailer that transforms in 3 steps. 
But both POTP and Kingdom had very odd rather ugly looking vehicle modes without his trailer. 
They really really REALLY nailed his vehicle mode in the SS86, but it just isn't exactly there quite yet for Rodimus. The overpriced MP variant was pretty close for vehicle mode except that it was a shell over a mangled up hot rod mode. Okay I'm rambling....

[sh9000]

This whole area should be improved.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

This whole area should be improved.

I'd imagine it'd be a pretty easy fix, honestly. Ditch the effects parts, then replace the storage for them with more room under the trailer for the cab to sit deeper inside. If they insist on the cab having a separate car mode, make the wing part of the trailer so it comes down on the right spot on the car's roof.

[tekering]

3 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I'd imagine it'd be a pretty easy fix, honestly.

Honestly?  'Cause I see insurmountable proportional issues that demand a complete redesign.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, tekering said:

Honestly?  'Cause I see insurmountable proportional issues that demand a complete redesign.

Excuse my VERY poor photo manipulation skills.

Move the rear of the car part up, to partially cover the canopy and move the wing forward.  Ideally, by having hinges that move them forward on the car itself, but by making it part of the trailer instead like the MP version.

Then, like I said, ditch the effects parts and their storage cubby so the car can sit in deeper.

EDIT: To be totally clear, I'm not against a new Rodimus mold that's just better and more accurate all around.  I'm just saying that they were a few doable tweaks from getting a lot closer the first time.

Edited Monday at 03:46 AM by mikeszekely

[tekering]

Yeah, that would solve a lot of problems right there.

54 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

like I said, ditch the effects parts and their storage cubby

Were you referring to this eyesore?

'Cause that looks like the biggest offender to me. 🤨

[mikeszekely]

18 minutes ago, tekering said:

Yeah, that would solve a lot of problems right there.

Were you referring to this eyesore?

'Cause that looks like the biggest offender to me. 🤨

No, the protruding cab is definitely the biggest offender.  Mostly because your issue simply... isn't.  I dunno if that's a bad photoshop on the part of some poor Hasbro intern or just a really bad angle of the storage door partly open there, but properly closed that perceived bump just isn't there.

Properly closed, it looks like this (Kingdom in the middle):

 

[tekering]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

properly closed that perceived bump just isn't there

Sorry, I've only just learned of this toy's existence.  Is it even possible to mis-transform it that way? 🤨

You'd think after four decades at it, Hasbro would've figured out how to do promotional photography... 🙄

[mikeszekely]

12 hours ago, tekering said:

Is it even possible to mis-transform it that way? 🤨

It's been awhile since I messed with my copy, but I think so, if you you close the sides of the trailer before folding the front back over.  The Kingdom trailer explodes a bit more than the original.

 

[mikeszekely]

When Hasbro started doing these Transformers crossovers they started out with some pretty obvious ones, like the Delorean and Ecto-1, the gradually started to drift into some that were some head-scratchers, like the T-Rex from Jurassic Park.  But this crossover might be the most head-scratchiest of all... this is Steelsmash, part of Hasbro's Transformers Collaborative... with the NFL?

Now, Steelsmash is the only version I picked up, but for the most part everything here applies to Starblitz, KC-59, and Tundra Prime, the other three figures released in this line (so far).  They all have the same body, colored to look like the uniforms of the represented teams; the Pittsburgh Steelers for Steelsmash, Dallas Cowboys for Starblitz, Kansas City Chiefs for KC-59, and Green Bay Packers for Tundra Prime.  The only real differences are the heads.  Now, the yellow dome on top of Steelsmash did give me sort of steelworker helmet vibes and made me think of the Steeler's mascot, Steely McBeam.  But a quick check told me that Starblitz has the exact same head, and the other two have similar tops of their heads, they just swap the visor and mask look for eyes and a face.  Anyway, from the waist down Steelsmash and his roughly Deluxe-sized friends do have an athletic sort of look, but short arms and a fat gut kind of spoil it.

What really spoils it, though, is the copious kibble.  Sides of the legs, backs of the calves, forearms, shoulders, backpack, all kibble.  If it isn't obvious, these guys are super shellformers.

Oh, and not just shellformers.... partsformers, too!  Half of Steelsmash's accessories are just the chin strap and face guard for his alt mode.  The rest of his accessories are a little helmet and football.

Steelsmash's head is on a ball joint.  It swivels, but depending on the angle not much tilt.  Shoulders are ball joints that swivel and move laterally about 75 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  No wrist articulation.  His waist swivels, and due to the nature of his transformation, he's got a nice ab crunch.  His hips can go about 90 degrees backward, and slightly more than that forward and laterally.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  His feet have hinges for transformation that give him pretty good up/down tilt, but the feet themselves are attached on ball joints that give him ankle swivels and a little under 45 degrees of ankle pivot.

The little helmet splits and hinges open so you can wrap it over his head and close it.  As for the football, there's a small hole on it.  This hole corresponds to small pegs on the insides of his fists.  It doesn't look like he's holding the football so much as it's stuck to his hand.

For the rest of his partsforming accessories, you can plug the face guard onto the chin strap, which you'll eventually do for alt mode anyway, then use the tab on the inside of the chin strap to plug the combined mass onto his backpack.  Yay, more kibble!

Steelsmash's transformation isn't particularly complicated.  You pull out his backpack enough to fold his head in (and it fits with the helmet on), lift his tummy up and over to meet his backpack, bend his feet up to his shins, fold in his hand and bend him over at the waist, then kind of curl him up and start lining up the panels on his legs, arms, and shoulders with his tummy and backpack to get a a helmet shape.  For ease of effort, I recommend attaching the chin strap first by plugging in the four pegs into holes on the sides of helmet, and then plugging the face guard into the chin strap, lining it up the the parts that are already on the helmet and plugging it into the sides as well.

Aside from seems were various kibble panels line up, it's a pretty accurate representation of the Steelers' helmet.  The holes, vents, and contours are all a match, with the team logo tampoed onto the right side.  The white straps and black face guard match the real deal, and they even painted the white at the base of the helmet.  The only concession to being a Transformers product is the small Autobot badge on the white bit above the face guard.  My one gripe isn't that it's a bad representation of the real helmet, it's that the inside is full of folded-up robot, so you couldn't, say, make it look like Star Convoy is wearing a football helmet.  Or, conversely, that there's not enough robot in there.  Imagine if he had a robotic head inside the helmet, and you could plonk the football helmet head down in place of Cerebros or Zarak on Fortress Maximus or Scorponok.

Anyway... as mentioned, you can leave his little helmet on during transformation, and his partsforming bits, well, partsform.  That leaves the football.  Turns out, there's a little peg inside the chin strap, so you can store the football inside the helmet.  Convenient!

Now, I'm not particularly into football (American or soccer), but where I live I'm very much the outlier as pretty much everyone around here ranks Steelers football ahead of church for important Sunday things, so I did feel compelled to represent the home team.  But do I actually recommend Steelsmash or his brothers?  If you happen to be into the NFL, especially if your team is one of the four represented so far, then I suppose there's a bit of novelty in having a thing you like crossover with another thing you like, sure.  And if you're an NFL fan but your team isn't represented, don't fret, I've heard that Hasbro plans on doing all 32 teams eventually.  That being said, if you don't care about football, no, I don't recommend these guys at all.  Like, at least guys like Code Red, Ectotron, Maverick, etc have weapons and turn into vehicles.  How is a football player going to help the Autobots?  Catch the football next time Blitzwing shoots one?    And when Optimus orders the Autobots to transform and roll out, does Steelsmash just turn into a helmet and plunk onto the ground?  As NFL memorabilia, fine, but as actual Transfomers Steelsmash and friends are kind of dumb.

[Magnus]

16 hours ago, tekering said:

Sorry, I've only just learned of this toy's existence.  Is it even possible to mis-transform it that way? 🤨

You'd think after four decades at it, Hasbro would've figured out how to do promotional photography... 🙄

As one of the only people on the planet who likes Rodimus more than Optimus, my understanding is that the Kingdom version isn't meant to be a replica of the G1 figure but an interpretation of it (even though he didn't appear in the animated series). 

At the same time, while people hate the cab's vehicle mode, both it and the Hot Rod figure feature extensively more engineering than regular Voyagers/Commanders, which accounts for their smaller size.  I have a feeling a Commander Rodimus Prime will be the item that closes out the SS86 line, and if any remolds or changes are going to be made, it would likely be to the trailer just because of the complexity of engineering of the cab/robot.  Honestly i'd rather they go with a completely new mold, but I don't see them doing that due to cost-effective reasons.

So yeah.  Most likely we'll get the same cab with maybe a head remold, and a remolded or new trailer.  I hope. 

Edited Monday at 11:58 PM by Magnus

[Scyla]

10 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

When Hasbro started doing these Transformers crossovers they started out with some pretty obvious ones, like the Delorean and Ecto-1, the gradually started to drift into some that were some head-scratchers, like the T-Rex from Jurassic Park.  But this crossover might be the most head-scratchiest of all... this is Steelsmash, part of Hasbro's Transformers Collaborative... with the NFL?

Now, Steelsmash is the only version I picked up, but for the most part everything here applies to Starblitz, KC-59, and Tundra Prime, the other three figures released in this line (so far).  They all have the same body, colored to look like the uniforms of the represented teams; the Pittsburgh Steelers for Steelsmash, Dallas Cowboys for Starblitz, Kansas City Chiefs for KC-59, and Green Bay Packers for Tundra Prime.  The only real differences are the heads.  Now, the yellow dome on top of Steelsmash did give me sort of steelworker helmet vibes and made me think of the Steeler's mascot, Steely McBeam.  But a quick check told me that Starblitz has the exact same head, and the other two have similar tops of their heads, they just swap the visor and mask look for eyes and a face.  Anyway, from the waist down Steelsmash and his roughly Deluxe-sized friends do have an athletic sort of look, but short arms and a fat gut kind of spoil it.

What really spoils it, though, is the copious kibble.  Sides of the legs, backs of the calves, forearms, shoulders, backpack, all kibble.  If it isn't obvious, these guys are super shellformers.

Oh, and not just shellformers.... partsformers, too!  Half of Steelsmash's accessories are just the chin strap and face guard for his alt mode.  The rest of his accessories are a little helmet and football.

Steelsmash's head is on a ball joint.  It swivels, but depending on the angle not much tilt.  Shoulders are ball joints that swivel and move laterally about 75 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  No wrist articulation.  His waist swivels, and due to the nature of his transformation, he's got a nice ab crunch.  His hips can go about 90 degrees backward, and slightly more than that forward and laterally.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  His feet have hinges for transformation that give him pretty good up/down tilt, but the feet themselves are attached on ball joints that give him ankle swivels and a little under 45 degrees of ankle pivot.

The little helmet splits and hinges open so you can wrap it over his head and close it.  As for the football, there's a small hole on it.  This hole corresponds to small pegs on the insides of his fists.  It doesn't look like he's holding the football so much as it's stuck to his hand.

For the rest of his partsforming accessories, you can plug the face guard onto the chin strap, which you'll eventually do for alt mode anyway, then use the tab on the inside of the chin strap to plug the combined mass onto his backpack.  Yay, more kibble!

Steelsmash's transformation isn't particularly complicated.  You pull out his backpack enough to fold his head in (and it fits with the helmet on), lift his tummy up and over to meet his backpack, bend his feet up to his shins, fold in his hand and bend him over at the waist, then kind of curl him up and start lining up the panels on his legs, arms, and shoulders with his tummy and backpack to get a a helmet shape.  For ease of effort, I recommend attaching the chin strap first by plugging in the four pegs into holes on the sides of helmet, and then plugging the face guard into the chin strap, lining it up the the parts that are already on the helmet and plugging it into the sides as well.

Aside from seems were various kibble panels line up, it's a pretty accurate representation of the Steelers' helmet.  The holes, vents, and contours are all a match, with the team logo tampoed onto the right side.  The white straps and black face guard match the real deal, and they even painted the white at the base of the helmet.  The only concession to being a Transformers product is the small Autobot badge on the white bit above the face guard.  My one gripe isn't that it's a bad representation of the real helmet, it's that the inside is full of folded-up robot, so you couldn't, say, make it look like Star Convoy is wearing a football helmet.  Or, conversely, that there's not enough robot in there.  Imagine if he had a robotic head inside the helmet, and you could plonk the football helmet head down in place of Cerebros or Zarak on Fortress Maximus or Scorponok.

Anyway... as mentioned, you can leave his little helmet on during transformation, and his partsforming bits, well, partsform.  That leaves the football.  Turns out, there's a little peg inside the chin strap, so you can store the football inside the helmet.  Convenient!

Now, I'm not particularly into football (American or soccer), but where I live I'm very much the outlier as pretty much everyone around here ranks Steelers football ahead of church for important Sunday things, so I did feel compelled to represent the home team.  But do I actually recommend Steelsmash or his brothers?  If you happen to be into the NFL, especially if your team is one of the four represented so far, then I suppose there's a bit of novelty in having a thing you like crossover with another thing you like, sure.  And if you're an NFL fan but your team isn't represented, don't fret, I've heard that Hasbro plans on doing all 32 teams eventually.  That being said, if you don't care about football, no, I don't recommend these guys at all.  Like, at least guys like Code Red, Ectotron, Maverick, etc have weapons and turn into vehicles.  How is a football player going to help the Autobots?  Catch the football next time Blitzwing shoots one?    And when Optimus orders the Autobots to transform and roll out, does Steelsmash just turn into a helmet and plunk onto the ground?  As NFL memorabilia, fine, but as actual Transfomers Steelsmash and friends are kind of dumb.

I really want a Patriots and Bears helmet Transformers. However, it seems like it is impossible to buy them from Europe. I couldn’t find them on BBTS or the EU Hasbro Pulse site.

Where did you buy Steelsmash from?

 

 

[mikeszekely]

3 hours ago, Scyla said:

I really want a Patriots and Bears helmet Transformers. However, it seems like it is impossible to buy them from Europe. I couldn’t find them on BBTS or the EU Hasbro Pulse site.

Where did you buy Steelsmash from?

 

 

Amazon. And just to check, I went to Amazon.de and set my location to 70435 Stuttgart (Porsche HQ and their main factory😁). I found all four available to pre-order with a March 2026 release date.

[Scyla]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Amazon. And just to check, I went to Amazon.de and set my location to 70435 Stuttgart (Porsche HQ and their main factory😁). I found all four available to pre-order with a March 2026 release date.

Thanks, it didn’t even occur to me to check there since Transformers are somewhat rare in retail stores.

But I will keep that in mind, once they announce the "correct" teams. 

[davidwhangchoi]

Walmart has select 2-Pack Transformers Generations 5.5" Collectible Robot Action Figures (various characters) on sale for $15

[sh9000]