The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[sh9000]

Preordered Onslaught at The Chosen Prime.

[rsvictor1976]

I bought my first DNA Design upgrade kits for the Studio Series Galvatron and Transformers One Prime and Megatron. While upgrade kit for Prime and Megratron were great, I'm having some regrets getting the kit for Galvatron. The added leg extensions were nice, but I don't think the other upgrades and accessories for it were worth it. 

I did preorder that upgrade kit for Devastator after they announced the inclusion of a chest gap filler for Hook in combiner mode.   

[mikeszekely]

9 hours ago, rsvictor1976 said:

I bought my first DNA Design upgrade kits for the Studio Series Galvatron and Transformers One Prime and Megatron. While upgrade kit for Prime and Megratron were great, I'm having some regrets getting the kit for Galvatron. The added leg extensions were nice, but I don't think the other upgrades and accessories for it were worth it. 

Yeah... I can't comment on it (and didn't review it), but that's because I was so disinterested that I never bothered with it.

I do have the TFOne Prime/Megatron kit on order at TCP, but they've been getting their DNA stuff in WAY later than everyone else for some reason.  I can't be too bothered by it, though, because I usually have to wait for a few of them to pile up to get free shipping anyway.  I could order from ShowZ or something (like I do for most of my stuff), but (at least in the pre-tariff days) that was unusually the more expensive way to get DNA stuff.

But yeah, in addition to the TFone kit, I have the kits for Godzilla Megatron, Prima, Vector Prime, and Bonecrusher/Scrapper on order.  I *might* order the kit for Long Haul/Hook, since it gives Long Haul a waist swivel, but I'm not interested in moving around the back kibble in combined mode.  Likewise, I'm thinking about getting the Devastator kit for the forearm filler, Hook gap filler, articulated hands, etc, but I'm not really sure I want the shoulder bits.

Edited yesterday at 02:59 AM by mikeszekely

[mikeszekely]

Despite collecting the Studio Series figures since the line's inception, I'm actually not a huge fan of the films.  I mean, the first one was pretty good, but they went downhill fast as each the writers seemed to treat continuity, their audience, and even basic science with increasing contempt with each sequel.  A particular sore spot was the character designs, as it often seemed like they were pulling Transformers names out of a hat and slapping them on random robots that looked and acted less like their namesakes and more like someone ran a car through a shredder, arranged the output into something vaguely humanoid, and made the resulting mess angry.

All that said, I have gone on record as saying that the Bayverse gave use two good things; Blackout and Barricade, two characters who today are arguably more definitive than their original G1 Mircromasters.  And while Studio Series gave us the '07 versions pretty quickly, I wasn't going to be satisfied until we also got a version from The Last Knight.  And guess what we finally got?  A Studio Series Deluxe-class The Last Knight Barricade!

Well... my big want for a new SS version over the original TLK toy was for it to be more movie accurate.  But with the ever-constrained budget allowances that go into Deluxe-class figures, it's kind of a mixed bag.  The new head is definitely more screen accurate (as the original was based on concept art, not the final CGI model), with blue outer eyes, more silver on his face, and the light on his right temple.  He's missing some silver on top of his head, though.  More effort was spent in transforming the chest, so the push bar folds away this time and you can see his Decepticon emblem on his badge... but there's no side of the chain that holds the badge around his neck.  There's a hint of molded handcuffs on his crotch, but his pelvis is otherwise an indistinct lump.  The molded details are more accurate on his forearms than the original, but the lack of a darker gunmetal in that mechanical detail hurts.  It's a bit worse for his biceps; at least his hands are forearms are simply missing an accent color.  His biceps should also be blue with gunmetal accents.  His legs are a mixed bag.  The colors are sort of correct, with blue hips and silver/gray mechanical bits, but some of his thighs and knees should be white.  His feet, while correctly blue (but again missing some silver and gold details), look like he's standing on blocks of kibble.  Which he essentially is!  The original toy had feet shaped more like the CGI model's.

I'll cut SS Barricade a little slack on his back.  Like the majority of designs from this movie, the CGI had a very detailed back that fully handwaved the transformation and gave no thought to how it was supposed to work on a $20 (now $30) toy.  So, no, having the bulk of the roof isn't accurate, but the new toy does compact it down a bit better, and the angled light bar is kind of accurate.  Also worth pointing out that rear of the car, specifically the taillights and exhausts, turning into his calves is also CGI accurate.  Some details missing from the original toy, like the white panels with "POLICE" on his biceps, are still missing.  Disappointingly, the new toy is missing the knuckle dusters molded into the original toy's fists.

Barricade might not have enough paint, but they certainly didn't skimp on accessories.  He comes with a black part, two pieces that make up his arm cannon, and a pair of pistols.  I'll confess that I'm a tad disappointed that he didn't come with a nightstick like the original toy, but to be fair the nightstick was from Barricade's original concept art, and was never seen in the film.

Barricade's head is on a ball joint that can tilt up a little, not much down, and has a slight sideways tilt in addition to swiveling.  His shoulders are ball joints that swivel and move laterally about 90 degrees.  His elbows are also ball joints, giving him 90 degrees of bend and pulling double-duty for bicep swivels.  No wrist swivels, but he does have waist swivel.  His hips are ball joints that can go 90 degrees forward/backward and about 60 degrees laterally.  His thighs swivel where the gray plastic meets the silver-painted blue.  He has multiple knee joints; it seems like they were trying to give him a digitigrade stance like the '07-DOTM Barricade, even though he wasn't really digitigrade in TLK.  The uppermost joint bends about 45 degrees either way.  The lower joint bends a click forward, but not at all in the "normal" knee direction.  At the top of the lower gray part is his ankle, which bends upward and can pivot 90 degrees, plus he's got an ankle swivel at the bottom.

Barricade can hold his pistols in either hand.

The pistols also have tabs on the side that allow you to plug them into his hips for storage.  Meanwhile, the black part (which is missing some color) plugs into a slot that's only on his right arm.  That bit is definitely on his right arm on the CGI model; I can't tell if it's supposed to be on his left arm as well or not, because his left arm always has the cannon in the film.  The cannon installs by taking one part and plugging it into a tab that only exists under his left arm.  The other half wraps over the top of his forearm and plugs into the bottom half.  Now, there's two things bugging me here... one, the cannons block his left fist, so he can't hold a pistol in that hand unless you put the cannons somewhere else.  But there's no alternate storage for them that I can see.  Then, two, there's a little tab at the base of just that one pistol.  I thought maybe it's so you could plug it in somewhere else, like maybe make it a shoulder-mounted weapon or something, but nope.  The tab seems to serve no purpose at all.

Transformation is similar to, but a bit more complex, than the original toy.  The chest still has to come up over his head, but there's additional steps involved in folding the push bar out and shifting the corners of the bumper up.  His legs still scrunch up to make the rear of the car, but his waist swivels and the scrunching is a bit more convoluted as it's now the whole rear, including the rear spoiler and window.  His arms still kind of tuck in, but you don't have to flip them around first.  Then front windshield and a strip across the hood are separate from the backpack and go into place first, then the doors unfold and the backpack slides down to lock everything together.

As a bit of a car nut, the licensed alt mode on the new SS figure is a major step up from the "legally distinct" TLK toy.  I'm honesty a bit impressed with how accurate some of the details are.  White paint on the sides doesn't come all the way down to the trim?  Accurate.  Looks like the corners of the front bumper are missing?  Accurate.  Strakes on the spoiler?  Accurate.  Gaps cut into the rear under the taillights?  Accurate.  Again, the big letdown seems to be that they ran out of paint.  On the nose there's some silver in the headlights and four squares on the push bar, but the silver fog lights are left black, and the red and blue lights on the push bar are on painted.  The marker lights behind the rear tires are unpainted.  And on the rear there's red on the taillights and some black around them, but none on the rear diffuser.  Other little details are missing.  We've got the white on the doors and roof, and we've got the big "867" on the roof and "POLICE" on the doors, sure.  But there's no "867" on the front corners or the bottoms of the doors.  There's no "911" on the sides under the spotlights, or "14" on the spoiler.  There's no "To punish and enslave" over the left rear wheel, and no "Keep calm and Hail Megatron" over the right rear wheel.

As far as accessory storage goes, first we take the black arm part and plug it into the rear window.  The halves of the arm cannon can then plug into it, one using a slot to fit onto a tab on the black part, the other using a tab to fit into a slot on the black part.

The pistols use the same tabs they used for plugging into his hips, they just plug into cutouts above and slightly behind the rear wheels.

Barricade is very much a mixed bag.  I mean, yes, he's got a number of elements that make him the more accurate figure, especially in alt mode, than the original TLK toy.  I'd go so far as to say he's got better articulation than that toy, too.  But, compared to SS86/WfC/Legacy/AotP his articulation is still a bit limited, and the lack of paint is doing him no favors.  This is still not the Barricade I'd hoped for... maybe I need someone like Unique Toys to work their black magic on an MP-style toy?  I mean, ball joints, more limited articulation, and a lack of paint is pretty par for the course for Bayverse designs in Studio Series.  I'd say get him if you're a fan of the character, or you're trying to complete the film's cast.  Otherwise you can probably skip him.