The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[Scyla]

5 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Celebrate America's 250th birthday with... a lazy repaint of Airazor. 😒

I think Hasbro missed a major chance with Star Eagle. Why is the toy not called Star Eagle 47 or is colored orange?

Edited Sunday at 05:50 AM by Scyla

[mikeszekely]

38 minutes ago, Scyla said:

I think Hasbro missed a major chance with Star Eagle. Why is the toy not called Star Eagle 47 or is colored orange?

Oh, that'd have to be a Commander-class, I think.

"Nobody transforms better than me. Nobody. I go from luxury semi-truck — the best truck, by the way, tremendous torque — into a giant, beautiful robot. People see it and they say, ‘Wow. We’ve never seen hydraulics like that.’

The fake Cybertronian media? They said it couldn’t be done. They said, ‘He’s just a truck.’ Wrong. Total transformation. The best transformation. Maybe ever.

When I roll out onto the battlefield — chrome shining, engine roaring — the Decepticons? They scatter. They say, ‘Please, don’t rev the engine again.’ But I do. Because we’re bringing strength back to Cybertron. We’re making Cybertron great again.

Optimus? Nice guy. Very stiff. Very by-the-book. But does he have gold trim on his armor? I don’t think so.

Under my leadership, we’ll have the strongest Energon reserves. The best defense systems. No more bad trade deals with the Quintessons — terrible deals, folks.

We will transform like never before. Fast. Powerful. Winning."

In all seriousness, though, they should have picked some licensed muscle car... Studio Series Dropkick or Shatter, one of the myriad Camaro Bumblebees, etc, and just repainted it red, white, and blue with a bald eagle on the hood.

[tekering]

40 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

We will transform like never before. Fast. Powerful. Winning."

You captured his speech patterns so accurately I heard his voice in my head. 😯

42 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

they should have picked some licensed muscle car... and just repainted it red, white, and blue with a bald eagle on the hood.

[JB0]

13 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Celebrate America's 250th birthday with... a lazy repaint of Airazor. 😒

I don't understand. I thought we already HAD an America Transformer. He's red, white, and blue, fights for freedom for all people, and turns into a semi truck, the most american vehicle.

[Dangard Ace]

44 minutes ago, JB0 said:

I don't understand. I thought we already HAD an America Transformer. He's red, white, and blue, fights for freedom for all people, and turns into a semi truck, the most american vehicle.

Ultra Magnus is perfect!

[sh9000]

The Matrix is $125 and plays The Touch.

[JB0]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

The Matrix is $125 and plays The Touch.

Guess I'm not buyin' it. My MP3 player ALSO glows blue and plays The Touch... if I can get anything to talk to it long enough to put music on it.

[Hikuro]

I had a pretty good day of a light hunt. I took advantage of Target's 30% sale and got Blastoff and Quickstrike. Sadly that sale doesn't extend to the other figures like Twinmill and Bone....crusher....okay. no, this is Sizzle no way I'm gonna call this autobot and Autobot, this is such a Decepticon. 
Quickstrike is rather fun....the glittery blue on him is nice, and his transformation is rather fun for a hick soundin, roid fuelin knockoff of what should have been Scorpinok. Just always seemed odd to me when I was a kid, you kill off Scorpinok but then you get a similar looking character who's a fuzor/transmetal. Anywho, he's fun, his joints are stupid tight. 
Blastoff is the second encounter of the Comabticon's I've come across and I rather regret not buying Brawl when I had the chance and have only seen out in the wild ONE TIME. But he's rather nice looking and I think well done. Now I need to find Brawl and Vortex.....which be easier to find in one location rather than separate so that's a tough order.

 

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, JB0 said:

Guess I'm not buyin' it. My MP3 player ALSO glows blue and plays The Touch... if I can get anything to talk to it long enough to put music on it.

😄

58 minutes ago, Hikuro said:

I had a pretty good day of a light hunt. I took advantage of Target's 30% sale and got Blastoff and Quickstrike. Sadly that sale doesn't extend to the other figures like Twinmill and Bone....crusher....okay. no, this is Sizzle no way I'm gonna call this autobot and Autobot, this is such a Decepticon. 
Quickstrike is rather fun....the glittery blue on him is nice, and his transformation is rather fun for a hick soundin, roid fuelin knockoff of what should have been Scorpinok. Just always seemed odd to me when I was a kid, you kill off Scorpinok but then you get a similar looking character who's a fuzor/transmetal. Anywho, he's fun, his joints are stupid tight. 
Blastoff is the second encounter of the Comabticon's I've come across and I rather regret not buying Brawl when I had the chance and have only seen out in the wild ONE TIME. But he's rather nice looking and I think well done. Now I need to find Brawl and Vortex.....which be easier to find in one location rather than separate so that's a tough order.

 

Congrats. I've been finding any number of current figs since last year, so distribution must be improving, or my store's doing a better job of ordering. Anyway, I had Brawl on PO through Hasbro Pulse, but I found him twice at retail, passing the first time and grabbing him the second. Alas, I canxed my PO with Pulse otherwise I'd have gladly offered up the copy. I wish you every success in your hunt!

FWIW, I think Brawl is, thus far, the best of the Hasbro Combaticons. He may be unseated by Onslaught, which looks to be an excellent figure, even if they did fudge him to make the truck and trailer two separate parts so as to indulge in their beloved frame system. Still, the execution overall looks good to me. I do wish, however, that Vortex and Blast-Off actually formed the arms themselves instead of just being accoutrement on the frame arms. The frame just renders the figs as superfluous as combiners and I'm not really a fan of that approach. At least the leg bots on Bruticus are doing some partial duty despite having some framework there as well. but I look at both my Iron Factory KO Bruticus and my excellent legends scaled Magic Square Bruticus and wonder what could have been had Takara put in the effort.

[sh9000]

 

[Hikuro]

2 hours ago, sh9000 said:

 

Matrix needs a chain. That's an easy mod! I think it will probably be a preorder. Astrotrain looks better now that we see the PROPER Robot mode achieved with a neat little G1 figure touch, also adding those train linkages moving while the vehicle mode rolls....that's cool. Would I buy it? hm.........that's hard. It looks better now that we see it in all its light, but I still can't say 100% I'd want it.

Kranx....gosh, it's hard for me to justify with their current pricing to get 1 time shown characters. Like I never bought Alpha Trion in any of his releases and I dunno if I'd bother with Kranx. I think he's cool, it's great he gets an actual figure but the jet mode is such a cobbled together thing that I don't think I'm feeling it.

Of course, Wheeljack, Sunstreaker again, I already got them, I really don't see a point in getting any others. Not to mention WFC Wheeljack released forever ago still looks better in my opinion.  The SS86 and those before hand just are lacking in details for me. 

[M'Kyuun]

Astrotrain is such a disappointment. Of all the new reveals, he was the one I was most looking forward to, especially after the terrible Siege figure.  I was hoping for nice clean alt modes and a good looking bot mode, but this new fig is so encumbered by inelegant kibble as well as yet another poorly executed shuttle mode. How is it that Takara was able to deliver fairly clean alts and a nice-looking robot mode in 1985 and yet, with all the experience gained over the last 40 years, produce something this bad?  

[26662]

4 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Astrotrain is such a disappointment. Of all the new reveals, he was the one I was most looking forward to, especially after the terrible Siege figure.  I was hoping for nice clean alt modes and a good looking bot mode, but this new fig is so encumbered by inelegant kibble as well as yet another poorly executed shuttle mode. How is it that Takara was able to deliver fairly clean alts and a nice-looking robot mode in 1985 and yet, with all the experience gained over the last 40 years, produce something this bad?  

 

Put Astrotrain back in the oven because that thing is half-baked at best.  Hasbro either rushed the design team, hit their budget limit, or just stopped caring during development. How on God's green Earth is the 2026 Astrotrain so ridiculously inferior to - quite possibly - every mainline Astrotrain that came before?  And I say that as someone who couldn't care less about Astrotrain.

 

I saw a brief 2026 NY Toy Fair interview over the weekend between a YouTuber and Evan (of Hasbro).  The YouTuber started to raise fans' negative reactions to Astrotrain's design, but he basically folded on the spot when Evan pushed back and asked for specific qualms - as if the figure's deficiencies aren't self-evident already!  I understand why the YouTuber didn't press the issue further, but I really wish he had held his ground and punctuated his argument with specific examples.  That said, it seemed like there was a nonverbal understanding between all parties that the figure has flaws, but the design is set and there's no use crying over spilled milk now.

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, 26662 said:

 

Put Astrotrain back in the oven because that thing is half-baked at best.  Hasbro either rushed the design team, hit their budget limit, or just stopped caring during development. How on God's green Earth is the 2026 Astrotrain so ridiculously inferior to - quite possibly - every mainline Astrotrain that came before?  And I say that as someone who couldn't care less about Astrotrain.

 

I saw a brief 2026 NY Toy Fair interview over the weekend between a YouTuber and Evan (of Hasbro).  The YouTuber started to raise fans' negative reactions to Astrotrain's design, but he basically folded on the spot when Evan pushed back and asked for specific qualms - as if the figure's deficiencies aren't self-evident already!  I understand why the YouTuber didn't press the issue further, but I really wish he had held his ground and punctuated his argument with specific examples.  That said, it seemed like there was a nonverbal understanding between all parties that the figure has flaws, but the design is set and there's no use crying over spilled milk now.

Oh, Evan, Mark, and the others know when they've got a turd on their hands, but it's their job to sell it. Funny how they'll judiciously point out flaws in a previous fig years down the road when a new one is coming out, and of course they gush over the new one, even if it, too, has visible flaws that don't quite meet the hype. Naturally, they're going to downplay or outright quell any harsh criticism; they want to sell these things and project the Takara-Tomy designers, who actually do the heavy lifting design and engineering-wise, in the best light possible. But these guys are fans, too, and credit where due, they do a good job of masking their disappointment, b/c as fans, you know they feel it as well when TT puts out a stinker and they have to churn up hype for it. I'm officially nominating the Hasbro Transformers Team for the Academy Award for their performances. Best I've seen all year. 👿

[26662]

On 2/15/2026 at 1:17 AM, tekering said:

You captured his speech patterns so accurately I heard his voice in my head. 😯

Same, and it was purely reflexive.  Just beautiful.  I nominate @mikeszekely for the Nobel Peace prize.

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, 26662 said:

Same, and it was purely reflexive.  Just beautiful.  I nominate @mikeszekely for the Nobel Peace prize.

Yeah, but has he stopped eight or more unspecified wars that may or may not exist in this reality? 

OTOH, he does an impression of our wannabe despot "unlike anyone's ever  seen before!" Bigly!

[sh9000]

 

On 2/15/2026 at 4:48 PM, Hikuro said:

Astrotrain looks better now that we see the PROPER Robot mode achieved with a neat little G1 figure touch, also adding those train linkages moving while the vehicle mode rolls....that's cool. Would I buy it? hm.........that's hard. It looks better now that we see it in all its light, but I still can't say 100% I'd want it.

Kranx....gosh, it's hard for me to justify with their current pricing to get 1 time shown characters. Like I never bought Alpha Trion in any of his releases and I dunno if I'd bother with Kranx. I think he's cool, it's great he gets an actual figure but the jet mode is such a cobbled together thing that I don't think I'm feeling it.

Here's to hoping if they redo Blitzwing that it will still look good in all 3 modes.  So far the best triplechanger they've released in my opinion is Springer.

As far as Kranix's alt mode goes, it looks accurate.  I'll buy Arblus too if it gets released.

[M'Kyuun]

3 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Here's to hoping if they redo Blitzwing that it will still look good in all 3 modes.  So far the best triplechanger they've released in my opinion is Springer. 

 

IMHO, both T30 Springer and the WFC/ SS86 retool all represent best efforts towards realizing triple changers with a good balance of concessions. I also think the Generations and Titans Return versions of Blitzwing, both going for very different looks, managed the balance between modes and the concessions thereof far better than the Legacy figure, especially in jet mode. That thing's carrying half the tank on his undercarriage, and it looks terrible. Blitzwing's my favorite TC, and I passed on the Legacy toy initially until I found him on sale. I like Astrotrain quite a bit, too, but I've passed on every single toy of him since owning the G1, as they've all been terribly compromised. Unfortunately, the SS86 toy carries on the tradition. I also thought Legacy Sandstorm was done pretty well. It has compromises, but most triple changers do, and I thought they struck a decent balance with him between modes. I'm content with the design. Octane, like Astrotrain, is due a really good figure, as pretty much every iteration has sucked. I got the TR version, but it leaves a great deal to be desired. Broadside is one in which I've very low interest due to the ridiculous scales of his alts. Out of the bunch, his alts make the least sense, and he just never really registered with me. Nonetheless, he's likely never had a toy that did him much justice, either. The TR fig's jet mode (shockingly!) takes the hit between alts for awful compromise, and AFAIK, he's the only other official Broadside triple changing toy besides the original G1. In hindsight, Takara's track record with triple changers isn't very good.

I realize triple changers are inherently difficult to design. Nevertheless, there are some good examples of well-done triple changers between both official and, moreso, third party iterations. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'm compelled to point out Mech Fans Toys' versions of Blitzwing, Astrotrain, Sandstorm, Springer, and Octane, all of which, at legends scale no less, pull off what are arguably some of the best iterations of these characters with well-balanced alt modes and very 'toon accurate' bot modes. I'd love to have versions of each upscaled and improved to fit CHUGL, as I doubt Takara will ever rise to the level of execution MFT achieved with these toys.

Edited 13 hours ago by M'Kyuun

[mikeszekely]

Studio Series preorders are live.  I passed on the Matrix... $125 was already pushing it, but then Pulse wants $140 for some reason.  And it sold out anyway.

I already have Snarl, Wheeljack, and Sunstreaker, so... I guess good for those that need another shot at them, but that's like half the wave right there.  I preordered the rest.  Skywarp is the one I'm most looking forward to... While not perfect, I do think the 86 mold is an improvement over the Kingdom mold, and I'm looking forward to replacing (at minimum) the main three Seekers.  Shockwave was a bit iffier... I am very dissappointed that they remolded some parts but couldn't find a way to make him bigger, but the remolded parts (especially the head without Siege greebles) and color are an improvement over the Siege toy.  Kranix is one of those goofy characters with very little screen time that was never actually meant to have a toy... But that didn't stop me from buying guys like Devcon.  Astrotrain is the real elephant in the room.  I don't think anyone can argue that the Siege toy has a better robot mode, and for a lot of collectors that alone means the new toy is worse.  The thing is, I really dislike both of Siege Astrotrain's alt modes.  The shuttle has so many gaps and greebles at the rear that it looks unfinished.  And the train looks like a bigger train giving birth to a smaller one- the wheels on the front don't even line up with the ones on the sides.  The new shuttle mode is far from perfect, but I think it's at least a small improvement, and the train mode is significantly better.  Two out of three modes improved, that's enough that I at least want to review it myself.

*I agree that Springer is probably the best of Hasbro's triple changers.  But I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Sandstorm came out pretty good, too.

**Totally agree that MFT did the triple changers better for less on a smaller scale (at least the Decepticons).  Anyone that upscaled them to Generations size could make a killing.

***If I ever win the lottery I'm going to start a 3P Transformers company that focuses only on making Generations-scaled toys for the figures that HasTak whiffed on.

[Negotiator]

PO'd astro ($55), skywarp($35), and shockwave(35) at Walmart.  It's a little cheaper 

[M'Kyuun]

26 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Studio Series preorders are live.  I passed on the Matrix... $125 was already pushing it, but then Pulse wants $140 for some reason.  And it sold out anyway.

I already have Snarl, Wheeljack, and Sunstreaker, so... I guess good for those that need another shot at them, but that's like half the wave right there.  I preordered the rest.  Skywarp is the one I'm most looking forward to... While not perfect, I do think the 86 mold is an improvement over the Kingdom mold, and I'm looking forward to replacing (at minimum) the main three Seekers.  Shockwave was a bit iffier... I am very dissappointed that they remolded some parts but couldn't find a way to make him bigger, but the remolded parts (especially the head without Siege greebles) and color are an improvement over the Siege toy.  Kranix is one of those goofy characters with very little screen time that was never actually meant to have a toy... But that didn't stop me from buying guys like Devcon.  Astrotrain is the real elephant in the room.  I don't think anyone can argue that the Siege toy has a better robot mode, and for a lot of collectors that alone means the new toy is worse.  The thing is, I really dislike both of Siege Astrotrain's alt modes.  The shuttle has so many gaps and greebles at the rear that it looks unfinished.  And the train looks like a bigger train giving birth to a smaller one- the wheels on the front don't even line up with the ones on the sides.  The new shuttle mode is far from perfect, but I think it's at least a small improvement, and the train mode is significantly better.  Two out of three modes improved, that's enough that I at least want to review it myself.

*I agree that Springer is probably the best of Hasbro's triple changers.  But I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Sandstorm came out pretty good, too.

**Totally agree that MFT did the triple changers better for less on a smaller scale (at least the Decepticons).  Anyone that upscaled them to Generations size could make a killing.

***If I ever win the lottery I'm going to start a 3P Transformers company that focuses only on making Generations-scaled toys for the figures that HasTak whiffed on.

Got Skywarp right out of the gate; the F-15's far from perfect, but I thought Thundercracker was a decent enough figure. I spent some time looking at the correctly transformed pics of Astrotrain on Hasbro marketer Nate's Instagram before somewhat gudgingly preordering him, too. Unfortunately, the shuttle mode seems to be transformed correctly even in the terrible product shots, so that's disappointing. But, for all the reasons you elucidated, I pulled the trigger. The alts, even shuttle, are improved over the Siege, but the bot mode took a definite step backwards. It's a shame they designed it with so much obvious, untuckable kibble on the legs, which just ends up plastered along the sides on the shuttle's flanks. At the very least, they could have sculpted the grey linkage and some of the lower edge of the train cab in a subtly rounded manner to affect the suggestion of OMS pods instead of just leaving it squared and awful looking. Perhaps that'll be DNA's contribution to improving this guy. Pity they didn't paint his abs- I mean it's like, what, ten cents worth of paint? At least the train mode cleans up far, far better than the Siege's and the rolling wheels with functional connecting rods is a really nice touch. Too bad more of that consideration wasn't given to shuttle, my preferred alt mode, but at this point asking for Takara to make any sort of flying alt mode anywhere in the neighborhood of good is an effort in futility. I'm curious to see what sort of improvements by way of add-on kits do come, but honestly, at $60, I already feel like I've spent far too much on this fig for what it offers in contrast to my expectations. Perhaps had they jumped him to commander class, those deficiencies in bot and shuttle modes would've been addressed satisfactorily, but they didn't and they weren't. I'm not sure why the designer felt he had to reinvent the wheel; just stick to the traditional transformation schema of the G1 toy while improving the proportions and articulation, like MFT and Fans Toys did. Apparently, he felt the need to put his own spin, and well, look at the results. At the very least, I hope it's a fun fig to mess about with. 

If I ever win the lottery (I won't b/c I don't play and I've no rich relatives dying to give me their vast fortunes) or somehow come into money, as it were, I'll reach out to you, Mike, as I've been saying the same thing for probably two decades now. I've no skills along those lines, but I definitely have an eye towards what I want as ideal figs and I could give insights as well as help with transformation mechanics. I build my own transforming bots with LEGO, so I've some practical experience in that regard.

I can't understand the reluctance of third parties to jump into the CHUG space. I give props to Newage for Romulus, even if that scale difference, which was beyond their ability to foresee, may have thrown off some fans and perhaps Newage themselves from trying again. I wish more third parties would take up the challenge of making improved figs when the official figs prove subpar. In some cases, like Magic Square, Newage, and MFT, upscaling their existing designs would suffice. Again, if I had the resources to back such efforts, I would. There would also be a lot more Macross designs, especially those that never got toys before, in the works.

[M'Kyuun]

35 minutes ago, Negotiator said:

PO'd astro ($55), skywarp($35), and shockwave(35) at Walmart.  It's a little cheaper 

Congrats on both securing POs and the savings. I pay for a membership with Pulse, so I try to take as much advantage of that as I can- the prices may be a little higher, but all the shipping is free, so it balances out the more I order. Too, I've heard of Walmart spontaneously canceling orders, and with how difficult it remains to find certain figures in the wild, Pulse is a sure thing comparatively.