The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[sh9000]

https://tfsource.com/japanese-transformers/basara-prime-synergenex-series-transformers-x-macross-transformers-t-spark/

https://www.thechosenprime.com/ttsssmxtfbasaraprime

I'm not buying this but it looks like a Transformer that should have been priced at $89.99.

[M'Kyuun]

4 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I wasn't going to buy it anyway, but that price is mildly insane. 

Like I said earlier, if they turned it into a regular crossover release at a voyager or deluxe scale and pricepoint and just gave us the plane, I'd happily grab it up. But what they're asking for what you're getting (I wonder how much of that $200 is wrapped up in that stupid trailer?), hard no. I think they're going to price a lot of fans out.

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I wasn't going to buy it anyway, but that price is mildly insane. 

Like I said earlier, if they turned it into a regular crossover release at a voyager or deluxe scale and pricepoint and just gave us the plane, I'd happily grab it up. But what they're asking for what you're getting (I wonder how much of that $200 is wrapped up in that stupid trailer?), hard no. I think they're going to price a lot of fans out.

If you look at the Japanese prices he's closer to $120-130 in his home country (which was on the high end of doable for me). Prices in the States tended to be a little more; those importers have to pay for shipping from Japan before they ship it to us, after all, but this seems like a pretty hefty markup. I'm REALLY not trying to be political, but that's tariffs.

[M'Kyuun]

28 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

If you look at the Japanese prices he's closer to $120-130 in his home country (which was on the high end of doable for me). Prices in the States tended to be a little more; those importers have to pay for shipping from Japan before they ship it to us, after all, but this seems like a pretty hefty markup. I'm REALLY not trying to be political, but that's tariffs.

Well, you're not being political by stating a financial reality. And yeah, that is a significant markup. I'm happy to pass on it. I'm quite satisfied with my Yamato Blazer Valkyrie and YF-19, both gorgeous and uncompromised. If I want a Fire Valkyrie, I'll get the HMR.

[Hikuro]

While I was out getting gas at the local walmart early this morning I thought I'd just take a stroll and see what they had, it's not a walmart I usually go to I prefer going outside of town. They had Redalert, Jazz, Retro styling Bee and Gears, lots of Devestation edition Optimus, and TFOne Bumblebee. But also came across a Sharkbite which surprised me, and a SS Sentinel Prime which was some w hat tempting, but seeing how I haven't bought a single TFOne figure I kinda went meh. 
I kind of gave up, was sort of hoping for somethin G1ish i didn't own and my instincts kicked in and looked above the shelves and I saw 1 box kind of laying on its side and I got a better angle to look at what it was and WHAM, Scrapper. Easily snagged him up and grabbed a couple of the TFOne Blokees to give them a try I mean, they're 6 bucks a pop it's not a big deal.

Scrapper isn't bad, I think yeah he's a bit over priced and shouldn't be 35 bucks, I just don't understand why he's a voyager price point for something almost deluxe sized. The Blokees ended up being cogless Bee and Orion Pax, overall not bad of a haul for something kind of spontaneous. 

[Scyla]

Just saw that Basara Prime is €260 on the EU Hasbro Pulse site right now. I don’t know who would buy it for that price.

While I remember seeing an add for Macross 7 on VHS but I don’t think it was ever released over here.

I ordered mine from Anime Export for ¥18000 (about €106) even with shipping and import duties it will be under €150. 

With the recent insanity in Lego prices I feel like toy manufacturers are going crazy. Now true. The Yen is super weak at the moment, but still the Japanese price equal €136 buying power (€164 with tax). Where are the other €100?

[sh9000]

New Superion pics.

[M'Kyuun]

4 hours ago, sh9000 said:

New Superion pics.

What purpose do the leg bots even serve besides being snap-on calves? I guess they're just trying to mimic the fronts of the leg bots with the frame, but it's kinda crummy that you don't even need the actual bots to affect the same appearance. Shame that they didn't put the plane bits out front on the G1 toy and in the animation, but history is written and here we have it in plastic.

[Scyla]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

What purpose do the leg bots even serve besides being snap-on calves? I guess they're just trying to mimic the fronts of the leg bots with the frame, but it's kinda crummy that you don't even need the actual bots to affect the same appearance. Shame that they didn't put the plane bits out front on the G1 toy and in the animation, but history is written and here we have it in plastic.

They really should have found a way to inset the leg robots further into the frame but doing so might interfere with the knee joint. Or they probably starred by reusing the Menasor frame and couldn’t make it work in the allotted budget.

[Scyla]

On 7/18/2023 at 9:18 PM, sh9000 said:

This book.

 

On 7/18/2023 at 10:53 PM, mikeszekely said:

As @sh9000 mentioned there's Legacy: The Art of Transformers Packaging by Jim Sorenson and Bill Foster and published by IDW.  The catch is that it was released back in 2014 and it's out of print.  I was lucky to pick up a used hard cover a few years ago for around $25 USD, but a quick search today has the paperback going for $50-$60 and hard covers over $100.  If you can track down a reasonably-priced copy, though, it's probably what you want.

If you can read Japanese or just want to look at the pictures, there's also The Art of the Transformers.

Finally, it's not exclusively G1, and it's not limited to box art, but Jim Sorenson also released Transformers: A Visual History.  I can't really comment on those last two, though, as I don't own them.

I got The Art of the Transformers book from Japan. It contains everything I wanted with the exception of the Darkwing and Dreadwind box art and any of the Euro G1 exclusives but why would it since it is focused on the Japanese releases.

It is a bit sad that not every Transformer got a whole page for itself (some of the combiner teams fill half a page for 5 pieces of artwork), so if you are a fan of those you miss out.

Love the Overlord artwork (and all the Powermasters). I really want a G1 vintage MiB Powermaster collection l, since those were the toys on shelves when I was a kid (those and Euro G1).

I wonder if Legacy: The Art of Transformers Packaging contains the art for the Euro G1 toys (Predators and Turbomasters).

[M'Kyuun]

22 hours ago, Scyla said:

They really should have found a way to inset the leg robots further into the frame but doing so might interfere with the knee joint. Or they probably starred by reusing the Menasor frame and couldn’t make it work in the allotted budget.

Or, now bear with me, they could've taken the extremely radical step of making the leg bots actually become the legs by virtue of their collective forty-plus years of experience designing transforming toys.  I figure if they can pull it off with the Constructicons, they can pull it off with other combiners, too, especially if the knee joint is part of a large partsforming waist and thighs, at which point the knee just needs to slot into or otherwise enjoin with the leg bot.

[Scyla]

2 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Or, now bear with me, they could've taken the extremely radical step of making the leg bots actually become the legs by virtue of their collective forty-plus years of experience designing transforming toys.  I figure if they can pull it off with the Constructicons, they can pull it off with other combiners, too, especially if the knee joint is part of a large partsforming waist and thighs, at which point the knee just needs to slot into or otherwise enjoin with the leg bot.

Yes they could, but I think when they designed Superion they still had the mindset that you need to have a playable combiner if you just bought Silverbolt on its own (for $90!!!). You know for the kids that these are supposedly made for. 

I don’t know why that changed with Devastator but there were probably too many design constraints to make a full skeleton for him or the accepted that only people older than 40 are buying these toys.

This is one of the reasons why I like 3rd party Transformers, they don’t have to take so many shortcuts. And soon I will have a Superion and Menasor from FansToys without many shortcuts.

[mikeszekely]

21 hours ago, Scyla said:

I wonder if Legacy: The Art of Transformers Packaging contains the art for the Euro G1 toys (Predators and Turbomasters).

Sorry.  It covers all the US toy releases through Action Masters, then has a big section covering JG1 from Headmasters through Battlestars, before going into G2.  It finishes with an "oddities" section that includes a lot of various back-of-package, early concept art, Microchange and Diaclone art, unused G2 art (like Nacho Cheese Jazz, Watermelon Mirage, and Tiger Stripes Grimlock), etc.  They mention the UK in the oddities section, but only to show off UK artwork for Grimlock, Slag, Snarl, Blaze, Piranha, Blitz, and Sizzle, plus art of Galvatron that was used for a jigsaw puzzle.  That's it.  It's like Euro G1 (and Machine Wars) didn't happen).

Regarding Superion, well... I'll save it for when I do my final review.  I will say, though, that it does make me wonder what they're going to do with Bruticus, though.  I mean, I know they're doing the frames and the splitting alt modes for the arms (which I'd give a pass too, except it looks like Vortex will be upside down)*.  They could maybe get away with plugging Swindle into the back of a frame, too, given how the Sunbow leg is basically a yellow lump with a purple stripe and not very Jeep or Swindle-y.  But Brawl's turret is very obviously the shin, so... do they not do a frame?  Do they remove Brawl's turret and plug it on the front side of the frame?  Pass it through?  I guess time will tell.

*Nevermind.  While this image from Vortex's instructions leaked:

Mark put a photoshoot on Instagram with Vortex rightside-up on Superion's arm.

EDIT: Actually, now that I think about it, I think they'll do the frame for the legs but backward, so that Swindle and Brawl plug into the front.

 

Edited July 6 by mikeszekely

[sh9000]

I like it.  Looking forward to Bruticus, Defensor, and Computron.

[M'Kyuun]

8 hours ago, sh9000 said:

I like it.  Looking forward to Bruticus, Defensor, and Computron.

As am I, honestly, despite my criticism of the frame system. 

[pengbuzz]

On 7/6/2025 at 12:15 AM, M'Kyuun said:

Or, now bear with me, they could've taken the extremely radical step of making the leg bots actually become the legs by virtue of their collective forty-plus years of experience designing transforming toys.  I figure if they can pull it off with the Constructicons, they can pull it off with other combiners, too, especially if the knee joint is part of a large partsforming waist and thighs, at which point the knee just needs to slot into or otherwise enjoin with the leg bot.

That's basically what I did when I modified my G1 Devastator: made a waist, pelvis and articulated thighs w/ knee joints.

[mikeszekely]

Credit where it's due, two G1 combiners and the promise of getting some toys of deep lore figures like the Thirteen Primes has me more primed (pun intended) for the brand than the flagging waves of Legacy.  But boy are they stingy!  I had to check my notes, but wave 2 has no Leader-class figure (unless you count G2 Grimlock as wave 2 and not wave 1), only three Deluxes (one of which is a package refresh), all of which we're still waiting on, and two Voyagers.  One was Heatwave, who came out a month ago.  The other is just hitting stores now, and that'd be Sky-Byte.

While I don't know that Robots In Disguise is all that fondly remembered, as it was hastily thrown together to fill a gap between the cancelled sequel to Beast Machines and the more Hasbro-involved Armada, the show still holds a place in my heart because I was so excited to see that, after years of Maximal gorillas named "Primal," Optimus was a Autobot truck again.  It took a few episodes, but we got Decepticons, too, including Scourge, who'd go on to kick off an endless parade of evil black Optimus repaints in the West (even if Black Lio Convoy technically did it first).  But the Predacons weren't all bad, and I (and countless others) developed a fondness for a certain poetry loving try-hard fishing for praise (pun intended) even as his boss only had eyes for the new guys.  Indeed, Sky-Byte was popular enough to warrant a toy in Generations back in 2014, an appearance in the Cyberverse cartoon and a few toys in the accompanying toyline, and he's slated to appear in the new Cyberworld line.

As for as Age of the Primes goes, this is a pretty great rendition of the character.  He's got a lean, athletic build and aside from missing highlights on his shin details and a little blue on his inner biceps he's very cartoon accurate.  Speaking of accuracy, he retains the shellformery nature of the original toy, which gives him large shoulder pads and a large chunk of shark for a cape.  But it terms of both accuracy and overall design, I rather prefer it to the Generations toy's attempt to integrate the shark head into the chest details.

Side note, in the above picture you'll notice a large square hole in his forearm.  Please note that Sky-Byte's arm is actually turned around, and that square (necessary for his alt mode) should be on the inside of his forearm, not the outside.

Sky-Byte comes with a little missile launcher.  Unlike the original toy, it doesn't actually fire any missiles.  It's been awhile since I've seen the cartoon so I'm not sure if it's accurate or not, but I'd have appreciated some paint on the missile tips nevertheless.  As for the sprue, it contains his shark fins, but you have to cut them out yourself.

Sky-Byte's head appears to be on a ball joint that can swivel and look up, but lacks any real downward or sideways tilt.  His shoulder pads are hinged to wiggle up and down, and actually just pegged on so they can swivel to show more of the inside or more of the outside.  His shoulders swivel and move laterally, though a tad shy of 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees (forward and backward).  Both his normal wrist and his claw wrist swivel.  The blue and white fins on his claw can open and close, too.  His waist swivels, though you're a little limited by his kibble cape.  His hips can go 90 degrees forward and laterally, and close to 90 degrees backward (again, the kibble is a factor).  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend a little over 90 degrees.  His toes can bend downward due to his transformation, and he's got about 60 degrees of ankle pivot.

You can peg the missile launcher into Sky-Byte's normal hand.  When he's not using it, you can store it by tabbing it to the roof of the shark mouth on his cape.

As for his fins, they end in pegs and you can also put them into his normal hand to act like bladed weapons.  Otherwise, you just peg them into the kibble on his back; it's where they belong in alt mode anyway.

Speaking of alt mode, transformation is mostly straightforward with a few interesting bits.  His backpack lifts up to line up with his head, which pulls away from his body, and you're like 25% there already.  His shoulders detach from his chest and swivel up into the area where his head was, but they use sliders so that the arm with the normal hand is under the arm with the claw.  His feet fold down and tab together, then his shins fold back over his thighs, the backs of which lock into his back kibble.  His shoulder pads swivel around to cover his face and upper arms, while the panels with his pectoral fins spin and shift to fill in the shark's sides.  Finally, bring the shark's head down and lock it into place.

Again, AotP Sky-Byte is much closer to the cartoon than the Generations toy, though with a bit of the original toy mixed in.  Like you've got the cutouts in his dorsal and pectoral fins that were often colored as solid in the cartoon, and more emphasis on the mechanical details than the cartoon, but without all the colored circuits and wires of the original toy.  He's got cartoon-accurate eyes, not the weird bug eyes of the Generations toy, and (best of all, if you ask me), he's fairly straight, not permanently curved like a dolphin doing flips at SeaWorld.  

That's not to say that he isn't posable, though.  Having his arms stacked and his elbows bending both ways as the tail means that he's got a joint for bending his tail to either side.  His jaws open, and there's a dedicated joint that allows his head to bend down, with some molded detail to keep his body solid.

Speaking of jaws, he can store his missile launcher in his mouth.  While you can leave it in the roof of his mouth if you want to keep it stored but out of site, he's got slots to tab it into his bottom jaw like the original toy/cartoon.

There's not a lot to complaint out here.  Sky-Byte doesn't have a ton of accessories, but what he has is appropriate and stores well in both modes.  He looks good in both modes, solid and cartoon-accurate.  He's decently articulated in robot mode, and even has some head and tail articulation in shark mode.  What more could you want?  I think the only thing working against him, at least in these parts, is that he's from a lesser-loved Transformers show.  If you're G1 only, well, Sky-Byte's not it.  But if you're even casually a fan of RiD or the character/toy, this is a fantastic update that's sure to please, and a major upgrade over the old Generations toy.

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Credit where it's due, two G1 combiners and the promise of getting some toys of deep lore figures like the Thirteen Primes has me more primed (pun intended) for the brand than the flagging waves of Legacy.  But boy are they stingy!  I had to check my notes, but wave 2 has no Leader-class figure (unless you count G2 Grimlock as wave 2 and not wave 1), only three Deluxes (one of which is a package refresh), all of which we're still waiting on, and two Voyagers.  One was Heatwave, who came out a month ago.  The other is just hitting stores now, and that'd be Sky-Byte.

While I don't know that Robots In Disguise is all that fondly remembered, as it was hastily thrown together to fill a gap between the cancelled sequel to Beast Machines and the more Hasbro-involved Armada, the show still holds a place in my heart because I was so excited to see that, after years of Maximal gorillas named "Primal," Optimus was a Autobot truck again.  It took a few episodes, but we got Decepticons, too, including Scourge, who'd go on to kick off an endless parade of evil black Optimus repaints in the West (even if Black Lio Convoy technically did it first).  But the Predacons weren't all bad, and I (and countless others) developed a fondness for a certain poetry loving try-hard fishing for praise (pun intended) even as his boss only had eyes for the new guys.  Indeed, Sky-Byte was popular enough to warrant a toy in Generations back in 2014, an appearance in the Cyberverse cartoon and a few toys in the accompanying toyline, and he's slated to appear in the new Cyberworld line.

As for as Age of the Primes goes, this is a pretty great rendition of the character.  He's got a lean, athletic build and aside from missing highlights on his shin details and a little blue on his inner biceps he's very cartoon accurate.  Speaking of accuracy, he retains the shellformery nature of the original toy, which gives him large shoulder pads and a large chunk of shark for a cape.  But it terms of both accuracy and overall design, I rather prefer it to the Generations toy's attempt to integrate the shark head into the chest details.

Side note, in the above picture you'll notice a large square hole in his forearm.  Please note that Sky-Byte's arm is actually turned around, and that square (necessary for his alt mode) should be on the inside of his forearm, not the outside.

Sky-Byte comes with a little missile launcher.  Unlike the original toy, it doesn't actually fire any missiles.  It's been awhile since I've seen the cartoon so I'm not sure if it's accurate or not, but I'd have appreciated some paint on the missile tips nevertheless.  As for the sprue, it contains his shark fins, but you have to cut them out yourself.

Sky-Byte's head appears to be on a ball joint that can swivel and look up, but lacks any real downward or sideways tilt.  His shoulder pads are hinged to wiggle up and down, and actually just pegged on so they can swivel to show more of the inside or more of the outside.  His shoulders swivel and move laterally, though a tad shy of 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees (forward and backward).  Both his normal wrist and his claw wrist swivel.  The blue and white fins on his claw can open and close, too.  His waist swivels, though you're a little limited by his kibble cape.  His hips can go 90 degrees forward and laterally, and close to 90 degrees backward (again, the kibble is a factor).  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend a little over 90 degrees.  His toes can bend downward due to his transformation, and he's got about 60 degrees of ankle pivot.

You can peg the missile launcher into Sky-Byte's normal hand.  When he's not using it, you can store it by tabbing it to the roof of the shark mouth on his cape.

As for his fins, they end in pegs and you can also put them into his normal hand to act like bladed weapons.  Otherwise, you just peg them into the kibble on his back; it's where they belong in alt mode anyway.

Speaking of alt mode, transformation is mostly straightforward with a few interesting bits.  His backpack lifts up to line up with his head, which pulls away from his body, and you're like 25% there already.  His shoulders detach from his chest and swivel up into the area where his head was, but they use sliders so that the arm with the normal hand is under the arm with the claw.  His feet fold down and tab together, then his shins fold back over his thighs, the backs of which lock into his back kibble.  His shoulder pads swivel around to cover his face and upper arms, while the panels with his pectoral fins spin and shift to fill in the shark's sides.  Finally, bring the shark's head down and lock it into place.

Again, AotP Sky-Byte is much closer to the cartoon than the Generations toy, though with a bit of the original toy mixed in.  Like you've got the cutouts in his dorsal and pectoral fins that were often colored as solid in the cartoon, and more emphasis on the mechanical details than the cartoon, but without all the colored circuits and wires of the original toy.  He's got cartoon-accurate eyes, not the weird bug eyes of the Generations toy, and (best of all, if you ask me), he's fairly straight, not permanently curved like a dolphin doing flips at SeaWorld.  

That's not to say that he isn't posable, though.  Having his arms stacked and his elbows bending both ways as the tail means that he's got a joint for bending his tail to either side.  His jaws open, and there's a dedicated joint that allows his head to bend down, with some molded detail to keep his body solid.

Speaking of jaws, he can store his missile launcher in his mouth.  While you can leave it in the roof of his mouth if you want to keep it stored but out of site, he's got slots to tab it into his bottom jaw like the original toy/cartoon.

There's not a lot to complaint out here.  Sky-Byte doesn't have a ton of accessories, but what he has is appropriate and stores well in both modes.  He looks good in both modes, solid and cartoon-accurate.  He's decently articulated in robot mode, and even has some head and tail articulation in shark mode.  What more could you want?  I think the only thing working against him, at least in these parts, is that he's from a lesser-loved Transformers show.  If you're G1 only, well, Sky-Byte's not it.  But if you're even casually a fan of RiD or the character/toy, this is a fantastic update that's sure to please, and a major upgrade over the old Generations toy.

I have little interest in getting this fig, but Takara put some effort into it and it shows. 

[sh9000]

https://www.target.com/p/transformers-age-of-the-primes-action-figure-4-pack/-/A-93565510

Currently $10 off at Target.

[sh9000]

Walmart G1 Retro Seaspray.

[mikeszekely]

A little hollow, but looks better than the old Titans Return one.  I'll preorder it when it goes up, but I hope they do a cartoon colored one eventually.

[sh9000]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/TRA-GEN-RETRO-INSPIR/14869551292

Seaspray link.

[M'Kyuun]

I'm thinking, other than perhaps a change in color tinting, there likely won't be much difference between the retro version and the standard release. Anyway, he doesn't look too shabby. I still like the TR version, but this looks to have some better proportions. If this is anything like retro Gears, he'll be warming pegs for a while.

I'm still trying to find Earthspark Soundwave. There are five Targets within 50 miles of my house, and the furthest one (38 miles) shows they have one copy tonight. I may call in the morning and see if they'll hold it for me. There's a Cracker Barrel in Coeur D'Alene and my wife and I like eating there- perfect excuse to make the drive and then make my way over to Target. I don't know what the deal is, but none of the Targets in my area, so far as I've seen, have carried it yet and you can't just go on a main Target website and order it and have it shipped, as it's all geared towards local stores. Hasbro Pulse doesn't carry the Earthspark toys, which is pure bovine excrement, so your only way to get it, without paying exorbitant scalper prices, is to try getting it from your local Target store. If they don't carry it, for whatever reason, then you're essentially out of reasonable options. Considering that this is a toy line geared for kids, it shouldn't be this difficult to find. 

[mikeszekely]

3 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

I'm thinking, other than perhaps a change in color tinting, there likely won't be much difference between the retro version and the standard release. Anyway, he doesn't look too shabby. I still like the TR version, but this looks to have some better proportions. If this is anything like retro Gears, he'll be warming pegs for a while.

He'd have to have a remolded head without the vents on the mask, rounder top, and a gray face with blue eyes instead of a black visor.

And I wouldn't bet on him shelfwarming.  Since no 'toon Seaspray has been announced, even if it's inevitable, people are going to buy the crap out of this one.  Think less Retro Gears, more Velocitron Cosmos.

Now, what will likely be shelfwarming is Retro Brawn...

[sh9000]

Speaking of Earthspark, here is Cosmos.

[mikeszekely]

3 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

Speaking of Earthspark, here is Cosmos.

I'm so into that.

Earthspark wasn't a great show, and way too many of the Deluxes were repaints and retools of Cyberverse toys, but somehow they keep sneaking in bangers like this and Soundwave.

[sh9000]

I'll probably get G1 Retro Brawn.  I never bought G1 Retro Gears so I'll probably get it too.

[Hikuro]

2 hours ago, sh9000 said:

I'll probably get G1 Retro Brawn.  I never bought G1 Retro Gears so I'll probably get it too.

I see Retro Gears all the time in my local walmart, he's kind of clogging up the pegs right now. 

 

[M'Kyuun]

So, the Coeur D'Alene Target didn't have Earthspark Soundwave. I called Target before going out there and they said they didn't have him, but I'd already gotten my wife's hopes up so we drove out to Cracker Barrel. And then we went to Target so I could look for myself. All they had were two copies of Twitch. Bummer.

So I drowned my sorrow by visiting a second-hand LEGO store, buying a vintage Blacktron set and then venturing down the street to a second-hand toy store and buying a brand-new factory-sealed copy of FansToys' Hunk. The owner acquired a tidy collection of third party and official Transformers toys from a lady whose forty-something year old son died from cancer. RIP to a fellow fan. I'll give his copy of Hunk a good home until it's my turn to become one with the Matrix.

4 hours ago, Hikuro said:

I see Retro Gears all the time in my local walmart, he's kind of clogging up the pegs right now. 

 

Likewise. I used to see a lot of Retro Bumblebees, too, but now I mostly see Gears. I have the regular release and feel no need to double dip for a different face and deco. I do think it's cool that Hasbro's providing that option, although Retro Bee was pretty much Retro in name only. IMHO, they should've used SS86 Bee for this release as he's much closer to the G1 toy.

[Hikuro]

39 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

So, the Coeur D'Alene Target didn't have Earthspark Soundwave. I called Target before going out there and they said they didn't have him, but I'd already gotten my wife's hopes up so we drove out to Cracker Barrel. And then we went to Target so I could look for myself. All they had were two copies of Twitch. Bummer.

So I drowned my sorrow by visiting a second-hand LEGO store, buying a vintage Blacktron set and then venturing down the street to a second-hand toy store and buying a brand-new factory-sealed copy of FansToys' Hunk. The owner acquired a tidy collection of third party and official Transformers toys from a lady whose forty-something year old son died from cancer. RIP to a fellow fan. I'll give his copy of Hunk a good home until it's my turn to become one with the Matrix.

Likewise. I used to see a lot of Retro Bumblebees, too, but now I mostly see Gears. I have the regular release and feel no need to double dip for a different face and deco. I do think it's cool that Hasbro's providing that option, although Retro Bee was pretty much Retro in name only. IMHO, they should've used SS86 Bee for this release as he's much closer to the G1 toy.

Man been forever since I've been around Coeur D'Alene, literally a hop, skip and a jump from Spokane. 

Currently the local walmarts are flowing with Retro Bee, Gears, older Earth Spark, AOTP Red Alerts and TFOne Bees both SS and Deluxe class. It's rather annoying. Target though out here in Texas has been getting stuffed with Bonecrushers.....that's rather funny in my opinion. Oh and really terrible SS Q's. 

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, Hikuro said:

Man been forever since I've been around Coeur D'Alene, literally a hop, skip and a jump from Spokane. 

Currently the local walmarts are flowing with Retro Bee, Gears, older Earth Spark, AOTP Red Alerts and TFOne Bees both SS and Deluxe class. It's rather annoying. Target though out here in Texas has been getting stuffed with Bonecrushers.....that's rather funny in my opinion. Oh and really terrible SS Q's. 

Yeah, Coeur D'Alene's not that far, but I don't really enjoy driving, so it's a bit of a haul for me, as I live in Airway Heights. I don't even like driving downtown, TBH, but I make the occasional trip for appointments and infrequent visits to shops and such. I tend to stick close to home and I walk lot.

Similar story for my Wally and Target today, minus the Bonecrushers. I saw them in stores briefly, but it doesn't seem like any stores here have been restocking them. But the TFOne Bees (both versions), Retro Gears, AotP Red Alert for a while but dwindling of late, the Transformers for really young kids that nobody seems to buy, and yeah, the terrible SS Q, of which there were two copies, all seem to be warming the pegs. I think if Hasbro abandoned all the kiddy Transformers toys and put those funds towards the mainline and Studio Series, y'know, the lines that us older fans are supporting with our disposable income, nostalgia, and considerable passion, we'd perhaps get some higher quality toys and stores would have far less stock that pretty much goes nigh entirely to clearance. Too, stuff like the Earthspark line could benefit as well. It doesn't have the prestige or funding of the aforementioned lines, but some interesting figs have come out of it, and I think it's good that Hasbro does lines like this just to add some variety. It'd be nice, however, if these lines weren't exclusive to a single retailer who may or may not stock the toys in a timely manner, if at all, in the case of both Earthspark Soundwave and Hashtag in my area. Out of five stores within 40 miles of my house, apparently only the Coeur D'Alene, ID store has had Soundwave, but not today. What's worse is that Hasbro Pulse doesn't have them either and their proprietary site should be the one exception to exclusivity, at the very least for members.

My rant won't change anything, but it feels good to vent. It's just a bit frustrating when these things aren't available and meanwhile scalpers are charging 4-5 times MSRP for them when I should be able to walk into any of the three Targets closest to me and just pick up a copy or order one for delivery. Sigh.

[sh9000]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/TRA-GEN-RETRO-INSPIR/14909118469

[mikeszekely]

Doesn't matter if you're talking Target or Walmart, all the stores around me are the same story- a buttload of unsold Transformers One, some Devastation Optimus Primes and SS Q, and if you're lucky maybe a Bonecrusher or two.

Amazon, fortunately, has come through with the rest of the current wave of Age of the Primes.  Minus package refreshes, that's just a pair of Deluxes for me, starting with the one you guys are most likely to be interested in- Vortex.

For me, Combiner Wars Vortex was kind of a dud.  I mean, I get that they were going for toy colors, but even then the purple instead of pink,, blue shoulders, gray combiner peg, and weird yellow missile arms didn't really capture that for me.  Age of the Primes Vortex, though, understood the assignment.  Cartoon colors?  Check.  Cartoon details like the weirdly round forearms, intakes on the shoulders, and mostly-black shins?  Check again.  Too bad some of that black didn't end up on his toes, though.

While I've seen some third parties do some impressive engineering to get to a cartoon-accurate Vortex, it's clear that was maybe a bridge too far for Hasbro in a Deluxe-class figure that taking some cues from Hasbro's recent stabs at the Aerialbots and Stunticons.  To that end, some compromises had to be made, mostly in his arms.  It looks like half his hand is missing, while the backs of his forearms are absolutely loaded with kibble.  I find the kibble a little extra annoying, simply because it doesn't really lock into any position and keeps getting in the way.

Vortex comes with a trio of guns, the designs of which are again pretty cartoon accurate.  The only note I'd make is that they should be mostly blue, with just the barrels of the smaller guns black.

Vortex's head is on a ball joint and can tilt up, down, and sideways a little in addition to swiveling.  His shoulders swivel and move 90 degrees laterally, his biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  No wrist articulation.  Depending on how you're posing him, you may find that the intakes or the tail kibble hampering your ability to pose his arm.  His waist swivels.  His hips can go forward and backward 90 degrees, and laterally over that.  His thighs swivel, his knees bend 90 degrees.  His feet have some slight upward bend, and his ankles pivot 90 degrees.

For cartoon accuracy the small guns should plug into ports on the outsides of his forearms, and he holds the larger gun in either hand.  All the guns use 5mm ports, though, as does his main rotor, so there's nothing stopping you from having him dual-wielding the smaller guns, sticking the main rotor onto his forearm like he's Bayverse Blackout, and stowing the larger gun on his back.

Transforming AotP Vortex's lower half should feel pretty familiar... fold the toes down, open the shins, fold the thighs into the lower legs, close the shins back up.  The upper body, though, takes cues from the G1 toy, where the arms fold up around his head to make the tail, with just a few added steps to line up the intakes.

The resulting helicopter is mostly good.  Cartoon accurate blue stripes on the nose, intake/exhaust nacelles, four main rotor blades, etc.  My main gripe is that while his legs, back, and arms do a pretty good job of being a helicopter, his head and the front of his torso do not.  His head and chest are just kind of an awkward block, which could almost be passable were it not for a gap between his legs and chest where his waist is tapered in.  I get why they did it (better-looking bot mode), but would it have killed them to stick a flap on him that could have folded out to fill that gap?

You have options for weapons storage.  The instructions suggest using tabs on the sides of the guns, and sticking the smaller ones into slots just below the shoulder hinges with the barrels pointing backward (though there's no reason they can't point forward), and using one of the similar tabs on the larger gun to plug it into either side of the nose.  It also seems like the small guns were actually meant to go on the helicopter's chin, though.  They're not identical; one has the tab on the left, the other on the right, and you can arrange them so that the 5mm pegs touch with the tabs facing upward, and they'll plug into matching slots under the chin.

For cartoon accuracy, though, the smaller guns should plug into the 5mm ports on the tail boom.  Then ideally you'd want the larger gun, or at least the barrel of it, on the helicopter's nose.  I guess the designers gave up here, though.  Using the tabs, you can plug it into one of the slots on the chin, or you could even plug the 5mm peg into one of the combiner ports on his shins, but both of those options leave the barrel off-center well below the nose, so low that it interferes with Vortex's ability to sit on his molded, non-functioning wheels.

AotP Vortex is a lot like the Aerialbots and Stunticons that came before him... much more cartoon-accurate and a major improvement over the Combiner Wars version, but still severely hampered by a limited budget for engineering.  I suspect, for a lot of collectors, being a little better than Combiner Wars Vortex will be enough, as long as the combined mode is better.  And while we're a ways off from next year's Commander-class Onslaught and seeing how Bruticus will work, based on their work on Menasor and Superion I feel comfortable telling you that you should get ready and pick Vortex up.

[lechuck]

Pre-orders for AMT Predaking going up in August. That combined mode look winner and there is also some good articulation to be had.
https://www.taghobby.com/archives/792414

[mikeszekely]

Closing out this wave of Age of the Primes with one of the titular Primes- Deluxe-class Alchemist Prime.

Alchemist has a bit of history that dates all the way back to Simon Furman's run on the original UK run of Marvel's Transformers, where we're introduced to Maccadam's Old Oil House and its mustachioed bartender.  Later, when Furman wrote DK's Transformers - The Ultimate Guide, he slipped in the additional lore that Maccadam was one of the original 13 Transformers, alongside artwork of the bartender (who was never explicitly stated to be Maccadam).  

Separately, Hasbro was developing the material that would become The Covenant of Primus, where we were first introduced to Alchemist Prime, the Prime with power of the elements.  Alchemist was depicted as a thicker fellow with glasses and a beard, and was said to be one of the only Primes to remain on Cybertron after the Age of the Primes.  But it was Transformers Cyberverse that eventually took the idea of a bartender rumored to be an ancient Prime and an actual Prime who somehow remained on Cybertron but is totally unknown and canonized that to mean that Maccadam and Alchemist Prime are the same guy.  Which means that, if you competed the build-a figure packed with the early waves of Cyberverse Deluxes, you already have an Alchemist Prime toy!

Unlike Cyberverse Maccadam, AotP Alchemist isn't specifically modeled on Youtuber Thew Adams, though there are elements like the knee pads, glasses, the tummy grill, and the circular details on the forearms that call back to that design.  They're blended with the greenish color of Alchemist as he appears in The Covenant of Primus and the mustachioed face of the G1 bartender.  While I've a fondness for Cyberverse Maccadam, this version of Alchemist is a suitably G1-adjacent blend of the various Alchemist/Maccadam designs in a fairly tidy package.

Alchemist's accessories are supposed to be his signature relic, the Lenses.  But... the Lenses are really supposed to be his glasses.  Despite being modeled on the glasses worn by Alchemist in The Covenant of Primus, these Lenses are too big to be worn by a Titan, let alone a Deluxe.

Alchemist's head is on a ball joint.  It can tilt up or sideways slightly, but a transformation hinge gives be pretty good downward tilt.  His shoulders rotate and move laterally 90 degrees, biceps swivel, elbows bend 90 degrees, no wrist swivels.  His waist swivels, hips can go forward and laterally 90 degrees, only slightly under 90 degrees backward.  Thighs swivel, knees bend 90 degrees.  No up/down tilt on the feet, but his ankles pivot about 75 degrees.

I guess the Lenses are his weapon?  There are bits on the ends that let him hold them like daggers...

Alternatively, there are 5mm pegs on them that let him hold them like a gun, mount to his forearms, or mount to his shoulders.

The "blade" of the left lens is set farther forward and hollow on the back, while the "blade" on the right is recessed and thinner, essentially allowing it to slot behind the one on the left and combine to make lenses he can hold and kinda look through.

Alchemist's transformation is pretty simple.  His head tucks into his chest, and his arms first pull away from his sides and then hinge backward, allowing them to join at the shoulders and forearms behind his back.  His waist swivels 180 degrees, his shins open, his feet tuck in, then his legs encapsulate his forearms.  Then you just rock the windshield into place.

The resulting vehicle is decidedly less Cybertronian that we've seen so far with the other Primes.  I don't dislike it, but it almost strikes me as Prime Bulkhead, or maybe Animated or Prime Ratchet.  And, huh, I think I've heard that Animated Ratchet is coming in 2026.  Well, Alchemist might not have the most Cybertronian alt mode we've seen, but it's a pretty competent Hummer-esque SUV.

In alt mode, the 5mm ports that were on Alchemist's shoulders wind up on his roof, so you simply plug the Lenses in there for storage and Bob's your uncle.

In the most objective sense, Alchemist is a perfectly competent Deluxe-class toy.  He's got acceptably normal articulation, an uncomplicated transformation, and a serviceable alt mode.  Frankly, this figure is executed much better than fellow Deluxe Solus.  As a character, Marvel UK and The Ultimate Guide don't have the same impact on me as Maccadam's prominent role in Cyberverse, so I kind of wish they'd drawn a little more from that version.  I guess his biggest flaw is just that he's the boring Prime.  He's not the first, he's not Optimus' mentor, he's not the Fallen or the girl or the trickster at the center of that fall, he's not the guy with the prominent role in Cybertron or the Centaur... he's the bartender.  Get him if you're in for all Thirteen, otherwise wait for the repaint.