The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[M'Kyuun]

3 hours ago, Negotiator said:

I cancelled Astro too.  I'll just have to look for a 3rd party option that fits in.

Unfortunately, no third parties that I'm aware of are really doing main line styled G1 figures. Romulus was a one-off by Newage, and while I think it's a really good figure and I laud them for making it, b/c Has/Tak decided to increase the scale of SS86 OP, Romulus earned more than its fair share of criticism, which I felt was unfair, and likely put Newage, and likely Magic Square in turn, off to continuing making figs to fit Legacy. I'd love to see any number of legends scaled figs upscaled, but after Romulus, I suspect all bets are off and neither company is going to feel that the effort is worth the potential blowback. This fandom eats its own and f##ks itself out of potential opportunities.

3 hours ago, m0n5t3r said:

Toon-accurate Astrotrain should also be able to accommodate at least 5 Decepticons inside Shuttle or Train mode... PO canceled! 

There are expectations and then there are dreams; I think this qualifies as the latter. 😄 They'd have to make a new size class for that- like grand piano crate scale!

edit: Was thinking about this, and since Titan is a moon of Jupiter, the largest size class could be "Jovian"class.  

Edited February 28 by M'Kyuun

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, m0n5t3r said:

Toon-accurate Astrotrain should also be able to accommodate at least 5 Decepticons inside Shuttle or Train mode... PO canceled! 

Six, actually.  In their combined mode.

[sh9000]

Looking forward to Hound, Hot Rod, Scourge, and Outback the most for the month of March.

[tekering]

9 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Six, actually.  In their combined mode.

This disturbs me as deeply as it did when I was a chlid. 🤨

It continues to keep me up at night. 

[Froy]

And we think the Macross fighters sufer from anime magic. Lol.

[26662]

2 hours ago, tekering said:

This disturbs me as deeply as it did when I was a chlid. 🤨

It continues to keep me up at night. 

Now that it’s staring me in the face and widescreen, those thrusters can’t possibly thrust.

[JB0]

15 hours ago, m0n5t3r said:

Toon-accurate Astrotrain should also be able to accommodate at least 5 Decepticons inside Shuttle or Train mode... PO canceled! 

If Devastator doesn't fit inside, it's out-of-scale garbage. 

[Hikuro]

went to Target this morning, picked up Big Convoy and was surprised they had him....my target isn't exactly well known for carrying good stuff and it's just piled with Megatron and Optimus gamer editions like it's the style. 

Robot mode, neat looking, but a big space eater I feel. Beast Mode, cool looking but pretty much zero articulation. Damn shame they didn't make him a bigger class like Commander or something so he'd size up better with Magmatron, that's just wrong to me....it's like having ol' G1 Optimus Prime paired up with G2 tank Megatron, it just doesn't work. 

[Big s]

10 hours ago, 26662 said:

Now that it’s staring me in the face and widescreen, those thrusters can’t possibly thrust.

That’s only if you think about it being fueled by liquid fuel. These are powered by energon and the high amounts of cocaine the writers were snorting 

[m0n5t3r]

12 hours ago, tekering said:

 

 

22 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

 

8 hours ago, JB0 said:

If Devastator doesn't fit inside, it's out-of-scale garbage. 

Honestly, this scene (and others like it) is the only thing I remember about Astrotrain.  Even as a kid, I was probably bug-eyed and scratching my head.  I mean, Jetfire was already a stretch, Astrotrain is just ridiculous . 

[mikeszekely]

Everyone's picking on Astrotrain for the mass-shifting and the fact that his interior works like a Tardis... I'm telling you, though, the worst offender is Omega Supreme.  Dude transforms into an entire rocket base, and just his arms for the rocket, right?  Then the Autobots would fly off in the rocket, and when they get there, somehow the rocket can turn back into Omega Supreme even though they left most of him behind.

[sh9000]

Studio Series TFTM Hot Rod, Hound, Scourge, and Optimus are available for order pickup at Target.  Megatron is not available for order pickup in my area.

[M'Kyuun]

8 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

Studio Series TFTM Hot Rod, Hound, Scourge, and Optimus are available for order pickup at Target.  Megatron is not available for order pickup in my area.

Ordered my copy of Hound; should arrive in a few days.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

Studio Series TFTM Hot Rod, Hound, Scourge, and Optimus are available for order pickup at Target.  Megatron is not available for order pickup in my area.

Hot Rod is the only one I really want. It's showing limited stock not available for pickup at my store, and out of stock at other stores in the area. I'll swing by on my way to game night with my friends, if not I'll try and order online.

[JB0]

14 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Everyone's picking on Astrotrain for the mass-shifting and the fact that his interior works like a Tardis... I'm telling you, though, the worst offender is Omega Supreme.  Dude transforms into an entire rocket base, and just his arms for the rocket, right?  Then the Autobots would fly off in the rocket, and when they get there, somehow the rocket can turn back into Omega Supreme even though they left most of him behind.

Obviously the base is flying behind him just offscreen, like Optimus Prime's trailer.

[26662]

14 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Everyone's picking on Astrotrain for the mass-shifting and the fact that his interior works like a Tardis... I'm telling you, though, the worst offender is Omega Supreme.  Dude transforms into an entire rocket base, and just his arms for the rocket, right?  Then the Autobots would fly off in the rocket, and when they get there, somehow the rocket can turn back into Omega Supreme even though they left most of him behind.

I had the same confusion when I saw it the first time.  And from that moment on my little kid brain saw Omega Supreme as nonsensical.  [I still wanted the toy desperately, mind you!]

[sh9000]

Hot Rod is sold out and Optimus is no longer available for pickup in my area.

[rsvictor1976]

On 3/1/2026 at 2:09 PM, sh9000 said:

Hot Rod is sold out and Optimus is no longer available for pickup in my area.

I was able to pick up the new Hot Rod today and was so disappointed with it.  Compared to the original one, this one has a couple of QC issues. The right leg doesn't close together tightly in robot mode and left shoulder is a floppy mess. After seeing the two together though, I think I like the color of the original one better even though the new one is more accurate.

Edited March 3 by rsvictor1976

[Hikuro]

18 hours ago, rsvictor1976 said:

I was able to pick up the new Hot Rod today and was so disappointed with it.  Compared to the original one, this one has a couple of QC issues. The right leg doesn't close together tightly in robot mode and left shoulder is a floppy mess. After seeing the two together though, I think I like the color of the original one better even though the new one is more accurate.

I've been reading a slew of things wrong with this release from mismatched paint, broken legs, disintegrating tabs, loose joints, chipped/scraped paint, stress markings. 
There's been a lot of talk that Hasbro is really dropping the ball with their releases. 

[m0n5t3r]

37 minutes ago, Hikuro said:

I've been reading a slew of things wrong with this release from mismatched paint, broken legs, disintegrating tabs, loose joints, chipped/scraped paint, stress markings. 
There's been a lot of talk that Hasbro is really dropping the ball with their releases. 

Really?  If these are widespread issues, it might be prudent to cancel my preorder and wait for the Takara release 🤔. 

Edited March 3 by m0n5t3r

[m0n5t3r]

19 hours ago, rsvictor1976 said:

I was able to pick up the new Hot Rod today and was so disappointed with it.  Compared to the original one, this one has a couple of QC issues. The right leg doesn't close together tightly in robot mode and left shoulder is a floppy mess. After seeing the two together though, I think I like the color of the original one better even though the new one is more accurate.

Floppy left shoulder 1:43 mark - https://youtu.be/qyZlM2CgxJA?t=102&si=-ZmrsO1fikrh8swO

Edited March 3 by m0n5t3r

[sh9000]

19 hours ago, rsvictor1976 said:

I was able to pick up the new Hot Rod today and was so disappointed with it.  Compared to the original one, this one has a couple of QC issues. The right leg doesn't close together tightly in robot mode and left shoulder is a floppy mess. After seeing the two together though, I think I like the color of the original one better even though the new one is more accurate.

Idk.  Mine seems fine.

Just saw this pic get posted.  Hot Rod needs to convert to Rodimus so that he can store all his sh!t.

[rsvictor1976]

I ended up going back to Target during my lunch break today and got lucky with finding another Hot Rod. I took it home only discover QC issues with the arm covers/lasers popping off the second you touch them. I went surgical and just took apart both Hot Rods and Frankensteining together a Hot Rod with no defects. I'm just gonna return the one with all the QC issues.

Edited March 3 by rsvictor1976

[mikeszekely]

Gonna take a break from DNA kits to talk about some A-Level stuff... Studio Series Deluxe-class Transformers One Orion Pax.

This is an interesting release, to me, because we already had Optimus, and they're the same guy, right?  Except that's not exactly true.  There was Orion Pax before he got a T-Cog, then there was Orion Pax after he got his T-Cog, and those two versions got the bulk of the screen time.  Pax doesn't become Optimus Prime until he gets the Matrix right before the big final battle.  There is, correctly, the obvious height difference between Pax and Prime, but if you look at concept art for the film there are other small details that are different between Pax and Prime's models.  The most obvious is that Pax has no faceplate and smaller ear-tenna, sure, but Pax also has smaller smokestacks and a narrower chest window, all of which the new figure accurate depicts.  It's less obvious, but the two models had different shoulders, and you could chalk the extra painted mechanical details on Pax's shoulders to that.

While Hasbro did manage to get the differences differences right, I think I have more of an issue with the similarities not quite being similar enough.  For one, I'm pretty sure Pax and Prime are supposed to be the same color (differences in screenshots are differences in lighting, not the actual color).  Pax has much more saturated red and blue colors, with gray plastic that isn't pre-yellowed.  I think a lot of people are going to see Pax and say, "Dang, why didn't they make Prime those colors in the first place?"  There's also some painted mechanical details on Pax's forearms.  These details exist on Prime's character model and are molded onto the toy but weren't painted.  So there's a temptation to say that Pax at least looks better than Prime.

It's been a minute since I watched Transformers One, but regardless of what he used when in the movies it makes a certain amount of sense to not just regurgitate the same energon axe accessory for Pax that came with Prime.  Also, as a smaller, simpler figure than Prime, it makes sense that more of Pax's budget would go to his accessories.  So he comes with two.  First you have the map he, Elita-1, D-16, and Badassatron used to find the cave.  You also have the big digger tool used by the miners.

Pax's head is on a ball joint with a fairly good up/down/sideways tilt, in addition to the expected swivel.  His shoulders swivel and move laterally 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows are double jointed, though you're looking at closer to 120 degrees of bend than 180.  His wrists swivel and bend inward.  He technically has a waist swivel, but it's in his backpack farther out than his butt, so it looks extremely awkward if you use it for more than a slight turn.  His hips are ball joints, and his hip skirts do move, though it's a single piece tabbed into his pelvis, so you can expect about 90 degrees of movement forward, backward and laterally.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  His toes have some downward tilt due to transformation; if you try to tilt them up they'll pop off.  His ankles can pivot about 90 degrees.

Pax can hold the mining tool with both hands.  The blades on the tool spin.

The map can plug into a small peg on either of Pax's forearms.  All of his accessories can be stored on his back.  The tool uses too tabs that plug into slots on the backpack, while the map fits onto one of two small pegs on the bottom of it.

Pax is not simply a downsized version of Prime.  Although their transformations do share some similarities, there are some pretty big differences, and it winds up being just a bit more awkward for it.  Like, yes, the entire lower body folds back so you can fold out the grill and tuck in the forearms, but then you have to fold it back, spin the waist, and move the legs like he's sitting down.  The arms, in theory, stay in place by plugging on to a thin flap you fold out from under his chest, then ridges on the forearms are supposed to slide into a slot on his butt.  In practice it's very difficult to line everything up just right, and on my copy things keep popping out.

Frankly, I'm not even sure the end result is worth it.  I mean, it's kind of cool that they tried to tuck Pax's arms up into the cab instead of leaving the most of his arms just lying along the side, but Prime's shoulder shift at least made for a pretty intact cab.  There are massive gaps on the sides through which you can clearly see his fists.  The back of the cab is a small improvement in that it's mostly red, but there's still deeply recessed and a part of Pax's forehead is showing.

At least Pax can tow his gear.  The mining too uses tabs that go into the bottom of Pax's shins to ride on the back of the truck.  Alternatively, you can use the same tabs as his bot mode storage to plonk the whole thing on the roof.  The map uses the same small pegs it did in robot mode to sort of hang off the back of the cab.

Hasbro seems determined to milk Transformers One for all it's worth.  I don't necessarily mind it, as I did like the film quite a bit.  I suppose that an Orion Pax who's slightly different than Optimus Prime was inevitable, then.  I guess we should expect D-16 in the future (and maybe he'll come with Megatron's cannon, since Megatron came with D-16's).   But it's a bit frustrating that, to maintain some semblance of scale, Pax wound up with a design that's worse than the already very mediocre Optimus Prime.  If not for the fact that I think Hasbro wanted all the main characters to be Deluxes to make them easier to push on kids who saw the movie instead of adult collectors, I think Hasbro would have been much better off making Pax (and D-16) better Deluxes while making Prime and Megatron Voyagers.  As it stands, Pax isn't a great toy, and you should probably skip him.

[sh9000]

[mikeszekely]

A-Level is supposed to be Hasbro's plan to have certain figures regularly in circulation by releasing them outside the usual waves, meaning they can be ordered and re-ordered by retailers outside the usual case assortments.  In theory, that means that a potentially high-demand figure like SS86 Bumblebee would be readily available for collectors.  In practice, it's been nothing but Optimus and Bee, and outside of SS86 Bee they've been shelfwarmers.  Just the other day, in fact, I was at my local Walmart and found several Devastation Optimuses on clearance.  So while I 've been curious to check out the new A-Level figures, I wasn't too worried when no one was taking preorders and they just randomly started showing up.  If you want them, just keep checking your favorite local or online retailers.  That is, if you actually want them.  As I noted yesterday, Transformers One Orion Pax isn't all that great.  Maybe the Bee to this year's Prime will be better... this is Studio Series Deluxe-class Devastation Bumblebee.

Out of the gate I'm getting pretty good vibes from this figure.  The bot mode is like 90% G1 Bumblebee, with noticeably better proportions than either SS86 Bee or Retro/Netflix Bee.  But the panels on his shins and the shape of his feet give me '06 Classics Bumblebee vibes, and I don't hate that.  To be fair, those aesthetic choices were really the choices of the team at PlatinumGames; Hasbro simply did a good job of taking the in-game design and rendering it in plastic.

Bee does sport a bit of a backpack... but that's really par for the course with the character.  The backpack he's carrying isn't any more egregious than the ones on SS86 or Retro/Netflix Bumblebee, and it's largely accurate to the in-game model as well.

Are the accessories?  Moment of truth here, guys, I don't think I ever bothered playing as Bumblebee outside of scripted parts of the game where you were forced to.  That actually goes for anyone not named "Optimus Prime."  What I can tell you is that the two pistols are pretty similar to the generic pistol that a lot of guys used in the cartoon, a pistol that's been included with several other Bumblebee toys over the years.  As for the bigger gun... *shrugs*.  But hey, more is better than less, right?  At least as long as the figure itself is good.

Bee's head is on a hinged ball joint, so depending on how you manipulated it he's got pretty good sideways and downward tilt, and he can look 90 degrees straight up.  His ball-jointed shoulders have the usual swivel and 90 degrees of lateral movement.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  No wrist swivel, but his waist swivels (you might need to move the flap with the taillights on his back).  His hips can go forward and laterally 90 degrees, and only a little shy of that backward due to his backpack getting in the way.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  His feet have a little downward tilt, nothing up, and his ankles pivot about 45 degrees.

All three of his guns have 5mm peg handles that fit into his 5mm port fists.

There's also a 5mm port on his back for you to store the extra gun.  I don't think he was designed to stow all three in bot mode, but technically the pistols have tabs that fit into slots on his heels.

Transformation is a bit wild.  The backpack hinges out and away, allowing the rear tires to fold out.  His head folds over into his back, then his chest swivels up and over to cover his head on what's actually his back, but the entire torso hinges forward to keep the chest on the roof.  The doors on his heels open, the tires fold out, and his feet fold down, with the shin panels rocking down fill in the hood, but then multiple joints around the knees allow the thighs to collapse into the shins, and his hip joints swing the legs up to meet the roof.  His arms fold back and tab together, with the backpack coming down to (mostly) cover them and fill in the rear.

From most angles, the car looks pretty good.  It's game-accurate, which is to say that Platinum didn't want to pay for the Volkswagen license so they more or less took the car mode of Classics Bumblebee, squished it a little, and ditched the extra white paint.  The only gripe I have is the largely missing rear bumper.  The space has be coopted by his forearms, which stick awkwardly out the rear.

But the car does roll.  The pistols use their tabs to plug into the doors (which were his heels in bot mode).  The larger gun plugs into the 5mm port on the roof.

I really like this Bumblebee a lot.  It's game-accurate, which is to say it's not technically as G1-accurate as SS86 Bumblebee or Netflix Bee, but the more heroic proportions make him look more dynamic.  Likewise, the alt mode is more Classics than G1, but I don't hate that.  I mean, Classics is nearly as old today as G1 was when Classics first hit shelves, and Classics is when I started getting into collecting Transformers as an adult, so I'm weirdly nostalgic for it.  Nostalgia aside, this is a good-looking, adequately-articulated, well-equipped, mostly G1-ish Bumblebee figure with a pretty interesting transformation.  I'd say he's definitely worth picking up.

[m0n5t3r]

6 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Devastation Bumblebee.

Out of the gate I'm getting pretty good vibes from this figure.  The bot mode is like 90% G1 Bumblebee, with noticeably better proportions than either SS86 Bee or Retro/Netflix Bee.  But the panels on his shins and the shape of his feet give me '06 Classics Bumblebee vibes, and I don't hate that.

 

6 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I mean, Classics is nearly as old today as G1 was when Classics first hit shelves, and Classics is when I started getting into collecting Transformers as an adult,

Same here.  Although, I only have around 5 left.  Not really a big TF collector.  I probably only have 1% of the size of your collection . 

I've been recently intrigued and tempted to get this Devastation Bumblebee, even if I'm not familiar with the game, cuz it reminded me of Classics Bee.  I didn't get SS86 cuz of the head/face, feet/wheels and overall proportions, but this one does better in all those areas... plus those cell-shaded windows! I've been watching reviews and wondering if those yellow shins can be removed just like what I did with Classics Bee (also removed the doors on his forearms, effectively rendering him into a partsformer).  But based on your pictures, the lower legs are hollow and have holes where those shins slot in .  Still on the fence, but a very informative review nonetheless.

Edited Thursday at 12:30 AM by m0n5t3r

[sh9000]

Looking forward to Studio Series TFTM Cliffjumper and Cyclonus.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

Looking forward to Studio Series TFTM Cliffjumper and Cyclonus.

Are we expecting either of them to be interesting?  Cliffjumper could be a retool of SS86 Bumblebee, and depending on how much they retooled I might consider that an upgrade over the previous 86 Cliffjumper (which was just a repaint of the Earthrise toy).  I'm like 99% certain that Cyclonus is a repaint of the Kingdom toy, though.  It's a fantastic figure if you don't own it, but I think the original deco is fine, not sure how they'd improve it.

Speaking of missing figures, a reissued Commander-class Armada Optimus will go up for preorder tomorrow (March 5th).  Commander-class Armada Jetfire will not go up for preorder this month, but we expect Hasbro to reveal it soon.  On March 10th preorders will go up for Studio Series Titan-class Grimlock, and Monstructor goes up on the 17th.

[sh9000]

Yeah I already own these but I'm hoping for a retool of SS86 Bumblebee for Cliffjumper and a recolor of Cyclonus to fit in my collection better.

[mikeszekely]

Swung by Target. Lots of One Shall Stand Optimuses, a lone Hound, and that's it. No Hot Rod.

[sh9000]

3 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Swung by Target. Lots of One Shall Stand Optimuses, a lone Hound, and that's it. No Hot Rod.

I have a spare Target Hot Rod if you need one.

[mikeszekely]

3 hours ago, sh9000 said:

I have a spare Target Hot Rod if you need one.

Genuinely appreciate the offer.  But, since I have the original release, I resolved not to buy the new one unless I saw it in a store.  The reports of QC issues are making me glad I went that route instead of buying one online.

[David Hingtgen]

I basically cannot stomach paying that much just to "have that annoying yellow spot on the roof removed".   I see no other real improvements.  (and the exhaust pipes are LESS shiny/chromelike now, they're not even silver paint)   

Though my biggest irritiation, is that with all that much time+budget from the pricepoint increase, they still didn't fix the fact that the front bumper doesn't stay down in place at all. It still basically "hovers" above and between the fenders.  I spent hours carving/tweaking my copy, and while it's notably better, it's still not GOOD and will never really peg into place.  "A car that doesn't look like it was in an accident with the bumper crushed in and up" is more important than a fishing pole...  

[sh9000]

I got Hot Rod from Target for $34.99 before the price increase.  That's a reasonable price to me.  If it ever goes on clearance then even better.  It will be an easy return and repurchase.