POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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Tantrum
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Tantrum »

Clay wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 10:13 pmHad a fit of a time trying to get Mixmaster to connect securely. I guess that they'll both click into Overload to make the whole thing more sturdy.
I only connected them the 1 time when I first got them, but I remember Mixmaster connecting to Scavenger securely without any extra help. The instructions don't seem to show it, but that little inch long cylinder on the top of Scav's torso mode compresses slightly, then rests inside two of Mix's wheels. You can then rotate Mix along that axis, clicking the connections that are shown on the instructions into place. Hope this helps.


I got the snap together model kit of Bumblebee. It's a bit steep at $50, but looks great so far. The head sculpt is better than any Bee I've seen before. I've only seen photos of the MP, but this looks much better.

Either I misassembled something, or the copterpack blade doesn't spin freely. Also, I haven't been able to snap the windshield chest plate onto the torso. Both the peg on the chest plate and the socket in the torso rotate with far less force than it takes to plug the two together, so every time I try, at least one of them turns out of place.

I used part G1-6 instead of G2-6 in the torso. I didn't notice until I was assembling the left foot and was short a G1-6. I put the G2-6 in the foot, and it went together just like the right foot, which has a G1-6, so I think the two are identical. I really don't want to disassemble this thing to make the swap, just to find out that it doesn't matter.

Edit: I finally got the chest plate attached by attaching the joint to the torso, then attaching the chestplate to the joint instead of the suggested order of attaching the chestplate to the joint, and then that assembly to the torso.
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Warcry
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Warcry »

Earthrise Hot Rod Patrol

I had a long wait to catch a bus last night, so I popped into Toys'R'Us for a few minutes to get out of the cold. They happened to have a few of the smaller Earthrise figures, so I picked these guys up. They both use the same basic engineering as Siege Swindler and Blackjack, but their shoulders seem a bit less restricted, so they're more fun to play with and not as frustrating to transform. Hasbro also seem to have sorted something out with the hip engineering, because the legs don't want to fall off like so many Siege Micros.

Trip-Up has some flaws, though. He's harder to stand than any other Micro I own, and getting the back of his car to sit flush in alt-mode can be tough because his hips don't always want to sit straight when I transform him. That's pretty annoying because they both have really cool alt-modes, though Big Daddy's is definitely cooler,
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Skyquake87
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Skyquake87 »

I've bought some more Beast Hunters figures! Lets's give a faint cheer for some of the ugliest Transformers ever made, with the Prime Predacons!

Skystalker
Neat icy-themed recolour of the Sky Lynx mould. I thought this had loads of stress marks at first, but turns out it's some weird marbling effect. Okay then

Lazerback
Horrible red and yellow hunchback chicken-dragon thing that looks more like a boiled rhubarb and custard sweet come to life.

Sky Lynx
Nice royal-coloured Predacons Rising Tesco exclusive figure. I do like the colours. Robot and beast mode are weird.

Darksteel
Bulbous looking robot that turns into a chunky looking dragon. I wish he wasn't quite so blue and that a secondary colour had been added to liven him up a bit. Other than that bright orange, I mean.

Beast Fire Predaking
Huge great beast of a thing, that's really rather lovely done out in black, orange and yellow. Mine cost a fiver and I soon found out why. The peg on the tail is nearly snapped off, so connecting it as a tail to the dragon or as a sword to the robot mode is a bit of a hair-raising experience.

Beast Hunter Optimus Prime
Frankly bananas looking leader class figure with a massive disc thing on his back that rotates to shoot different kinds of missiles. Unwieldy, chunky and great big daft fun. I love it.
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Clay
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Clay »

Tantrum wrote: Sat Feb 29, 2020 4:18 am I only connected them the 1 time when I first got them, but I remember Mixmaster connecting to Scavenger securely without any extra help. The instructions don't seem to show it, but that little inch long cylinder on the top of Scav's torso mode compresses slightly, then rests inside two of Mix's wheels. You can then rotate Mix along that axis, clicking the connections that are shown on the instructions into place. Hope this helps.
Had another go at it this morning, and it did help, thank you! Not placing the wheels over that cylinder bit was probably causing the misalignment and popping off when I tried it before. You're right, the instructions could be clearer.
I got the snap together model kit of Bumblebee. It's a bit steep at $50, but looks great so far. The head sculpt is better than any Bee I've seen before. I've only seen photos of the MP, but this looks much better.
I have to ask, which Bumblebee?
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Tantrum
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Tantrum »

This Bumblebee. He doesn't transform, and comes with a helicopter backpack, so he's basically a larger than deluxe version of the G1 Actionmaster. There's a small piece that clips on the fender above the left shoulder that keeps popping off. I'll have to glue that, but he's otherwise great.

I've been building whatever interesting looking Gundams I can find cheap for a couple years now, and wanted to try one of the TFs. I picked Bee because he was the only one in stock whose design didn't emphasize the crotch. Every other figure had a disproportionally large pelvis that they insisted on thrusting towards the camera. They didn't have their hands on their hips, so they weren't doing the Time Warp. Maybe the Duckman? Does anyone else remember Duckman?


I saw the first wave of Earthrise at a comic shop. I'll probably pick up Hoist when I see him at regular retail; the $25 the comic shop wanted was too high. The others didn't impress me. Grapple was especially plain. I've heard WfC described as G1 with knees, but G1 also had chrome deco, rubber tires, and more color. Plus, the face sculpts on WfC are pretty bland. It's like even the toys are bored of the '84/'85 guys getting so much attention. I'm happier with my G1 Grapple reissue than I would be with this guy.

One of the wrist pegs on my Hoist G1 reissue broke off in the socket, and I can't get it out. I can't give him a right hand, because it's broken. I can't give him a missle hand, because the hole is blocked. If I transform him, the tiny stub of peg hits the panel that's supposed to cover the hole. Plus, Hoist doesn't have a facial expression to bum me out.
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Clay
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Clay »

Yeah, I remember the duckman. That's been a minute...
Tantrum wrote: One of the wrist pegs on my Hoist G1 reissue broke off in the socket, and I can't get it out. I can't give him a right hand, because it's broken. I can't give him a missle hand, because the hole is blocked. If I transform him, the tiny stub of peg hits the panel that's supposed to cover the hole. Plus, Hoist doesn't have a facial expression to bum me out.
I have a junker hoist around here somewhere. I'll see if I can work out how to open up the wrists for part removal.

My siege ratbat, rumble, direct hit, and power punch came yesterday. I regret to say that... well, they're actually pretty nice, which leaves me unable to recomend anyone to pass over them without complication given their after market prices. They're a tad too big to fit in soundwave's chest though, if that helps.

Rumble is a cute little blocky thing, and they nailed ratbat. And they even have good paint apps! The micros are cute too (they paid good attention to their little face sculpts), although they didn't attempt anything with the weapon mode.

I like them. I paid far, far too much, bit I like them.
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Warcry
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Warcry »

I'm entirely too jealous of your Ratbat. :(

I had a couple things show up in the mail yesterday, though none of them are anywhere as cool as a Ratbat!

Earthrise Military Patrol: A neat little pair of military vehicles. Bombshock reuses a few parts from Big Shot (shoulder joints, gun barrel and heels), but he's got a very distinct look to him. His head sculpt is very nice in spite of being so tiny. Growl is a bit awkward, with a bit too much kibble, but overall they're a fun little team and a nice addition to my growing Micromaster army.

Earthrise Grapple: I adore the 80s Inferno/Grapple toy and this is a really faithful adaptation, so by all rights I should love this toy. I really expected to. But holy crap is it boring. Don't get me wrong, it's well-engineered and poseable and all of those things, but it's just so bland looking. Grapple was always the most boring of the mold's many uses, and the simplified cartoon model that they're referencing here made him even more boring. Inferno or Artfire or E-Hobby Hauler would probably look badass on this mold, but Grapple turned out about as exciting as a block of grocery store cheddar cheese. Even just painting the head black would have made a world of difference, and I think I may do that myself eventually.

Credit where it's due, though -- unlike a lot of SIege toys, Grapple has a satisfying selection of accessories. The G1 toy's rifle is rendered really well and the wrist missile is a nice addition, but by far the most fun thing about this toy is the giant claw game thing that you can replace one of his hands with. Hasbro seem incapable of creativity or fun for it's own sake these days, so I'm assuming it's some sort of reference to a scene from the cartoon that I don't remember.
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ganon578
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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Warcry wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2020 4:10 am The G1 toy's rifle is rendered really well and the wrist missile is a nice addition, but by far the most fun thing about this toy is the giant claw game thing that you can replace one of his hands with. Hasbro seem incapable of creativity or fun for it's own sake these days, so I'm assuming it's some sort of reference to a scene from the cartoon that I don't remember.
It's from the G1 Episode 'Auto Berserk' (had to look it up):

https://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/index.php? ... g&limit=50

Quite obscure, but I agree it's a fun addition to the figure.
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HeavyArms
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by HeavyArms »

Studio Series Ironhide - I never saw Ironhide in stores and I never really heard any reports from the other states about him either, so the listing that I found on eBay that was at about retail price was the best chance I'd had to this point.

Cyberverse Power Of The Spark Spark Armor Cheetor.
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Skyquake87
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Re: POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Skyquake87 »

I got a heap of TF: Prime Cyberverse figures!

A list follows: Prowl, Smokescreen (in show colours and G1 homage), Bumblebee, Airachnid, Soundwave, Shockwave, Bulkhead, Huffer, Trailcutter, Hard Shell, Optimus Prime (3 versions - regular colours, in green and Target/ Tesco 2 pack colours), Blight, Rippersnapper, Cutthroat, Sinnertwin, Hun-Gurr (Target/ Tesco clear versions), Predaking (show colours and Target/ Tesco 2 pack colours), Windrazor, Rot Gut, Air Vehicon and Starscream

I'd forgotten how ace the Prime Cyberverse figures are. Really nicely detailed and well executed and just a bit more polished looking than the larger figures in the range. The Soundwave and Airachnid figures are particularly impressive.

I liked them so much I picked up Apex Hunter Armour w/ Breakdown which is a bit of colourful green nonsense. It looks like a massive snot goblin. Breakdown's Legion Class toy doesn't work particularly well with it though. His gangly arms get in the way!

Siege Apeface
A minor disappointment - wibbly plastics aside - for just straight up replicating the original toy, with all that figures horrible design choices; bunched up robot arms and the hind legs in gorilla mode, and the alt mode being a rubbish box with wings. Robot mode and Ape modes are generally great and he is fun, but I just wish the designers could have been a bit bolder instead of phoning it in.

Studio Series Mixmaster
Yup,this is good. He's not as flat out bonkers as the ROTF version and has a way more simpler transformation. He looks good in both modes, although I do prefer the earlier version overall.
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Warcry
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Re: POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Warcry »

I got a Toys'R'Us gift card for my birthday, so I took my son shopping! He got a cement mixer and I found Earthrise Hoist.

Honestly, I was more hoping to see an Ironworks or luck into finding Ratbat and Rumble, but I really didn't see much other than Siege wave 1 leftovers, aside from this guy. I really wasn't 100% sold on him from pictures, but in hand he's definitely the most exciting Earthrise figure I've seen so far. I wasn't in love with the cartoon colours but in person it looks really good. The white is actually a pure, bright white rather than the milky whites and light greys that Hasbro usually use, and that makes a big difference. The articulation is great, with double jointed knees and great range in the elbows and shoulders. The alt mode is a bit clunky unfortunately, with a lot of robot parts visible and very little clearance underneath.

There have been complaints about how much clear plastic they used. The entire front of the truck is cast clear blue and painted green, and peiple are worried about him getting dinged up, and about the joints not being able to stand up as load-bearing parts. Those are valid worries but to me the REAL issue is that the clear windshield makes it impossible not to notice that his entire torso is hollow. You can see through him from basically any angle and it's hard find a pose that hides it.

Not without it's flaws, but Hoist is definitely more impressive than his buddy Grapple was.
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ganon578
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Re: POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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Earthrise Starscream. A very fine figure for sure, but I'm also a bit disappointed. The great parts are the general aesthetic and detailing, the articulation, a true cockpit in the chest, smooth(ish) transformation, and finally having a proper Voyager-class F-15 Starscream. The downsides being that it shares a very large portion of the engineering from the original Classic mold (albeit with some tweaks), the gaping hole in the underside of the jet mode, the light feel of the plastic, and the lack of landing gear (this last one seems nearly unforgivable). It makes me sad, because he's a really solid figure, but it just doesn't feel very new, despite the larger size class.
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Denyer
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Re: POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Denyer »

ER Grapple and I'm more impressed with him than Warcry... a real-ish vehicle, no gimmicks apart from two solid modes, loads of moving parts and options (the grab claw is much neater than a hook) and whilst I'm a bit concerned about how small the hand replacement part is it does integrate nicely. After too many over-complicated transformations in some lines, this is nice and non-fiddly.

Don't have a particular fondness for the character, like a lot of the early cast, but I've got enough Infernos and the orange pops and makes a nice change from lime green construction vehicles.

Deluxes and voyagers are the sweet spot of this toy arc, it's hard to justify twice the price for leaders or four times for commanders, however much I'd quite like a few of them (although not hugely; existing CHUG figures cover Jetfire and Sky Lynx, DD, etc) they don't feel like good value.
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inflatable dalek
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Re: POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by inflatable dalek »

Two toys of characters I never expected to get an official toy.

Rack'N'Ruin: More complicated than I would have expected from the kiddies line, but once I'd adjusted to that, what a fun toy with lots of personality in the two faces. I know it's not technically the Marvel version, but he works great as that.

Rung:

Rung.

Rung.

Bloody Rung.

Jesus as a toy.

He's a simple accesory, but also some thought has been put into making him appropriately Rung. I especially like that he does turn into a drill.

Just look at these two:

https://twitter.com/InflatableDalek/sta ... 4975568896
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Warcry
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Re: POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Warcry »

I absolutely adore Rung's angry eyebrows. In spite of the tiny size, I think Hasbro captured the spirit of the character realy well. Sadly, I haven't seen one in person so I'll have to hope to run into the Earthrise release.
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Tantrum
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Tantrum »

Clay wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2020 5:47 pmI have a junker hoist around here somewhere. I'll see if I can work out how to open up the wrists for part removal.
Much appreciated.


In other broken toy news, I ordered Siege Nightbird while I was visiting my parents over the holidays. It shipped to my parents' house, but not until after I left. I was visiting my parents this weekend and was finally able to pick it up, so I assume the return window has passed.

When I try to bend one elbow, the forearm starts coming apart. I started disassembling it, and found that the elbow pin wasn't seated correctly in the outer forearm piece. The pin looks bent, but that may be due to my disassembly efforts.

I'd try the arm without the pin, but can't get the pin all the way out. The end is stuck in the upper arm. Any thoughts?


In functional toy news, I got Cyberverse Clobber, Bludgeon, and Repugnus. Clobber has flip out armor, which looks bad. I'd never use it, except removing the tank barrel to use as the bot gun automatically deploys the armor. I consider folding the armor back into the torso an extra step of the transformation.

Other than that, I really like her. She has ball jointed shoulders and hips, upper arm swivels, wrist rotation, and hinged knees and elbows. She scales well with Cyberverse Warriors, being a head taller and much beefier, as in the show. She holds the grey tank barrel upside down to make a purple gun

The alt mode somehow manages to look like both an obvious jumble of robot parts and a plausible vehicle at the same time. I believe it's supposed to be a hover tank, as it has no wheels. A wheel could have been added to the back of each shoulder and forearm to allow her to roll.

Bludgeon and Repugnus are 1-step changers, that scale well with the Cyberverse figures that wear small vehicles as armor, like Prowl, Shockwave, and Skybyte.

Bludgeon also does not roll in vehicle mode, though the sculpted treads imply that he should. The chest plate/hood sits lower than the treads, so he doesn't quite sit flat, either. In bot mode, he has hinged elbows. His left wrist rotates as his gimmick, which appears to be manually flicking his sword to make it spin around. It tends to hit his chest.

The helmeted skull head sculpt is impressive at this scale, but not quite executed correctly. His mouth is carved in a jagged smile reminiscent of Animated Blitzwing's crazy face. However, the helmet obscures the sides of the mouth, leaving only the center visible from more than a couple inches away. He looks like his jaw is dropped in surprise more than a fearsome warrior.

The tank turret is on his butt.

Repugnus has ball jointed shoulders and elbows in both modes, since they're the same limbs. Modled fists in the forearms, along with the hollowness of the beast claws when viewed from this angle, help make them lok a little different in the two modes.

He looks good, but his colors differ from the box art much more than usual. The beast legs are yellow instead of red, and the bot thighs are red instead of white. In both cases, I slightly prefer the box art.

His yellow face in a (mostly) yellow helmet looks a bit bland. The eyes are painted white, but don't stand out much. Green probably would've worked better.

The gimmick is in alt mode instead of bot mode. Pulling a tab in the back of the head causes the head pincers to close together.

It sounds like I'm trashing the 1-steps a bit, but I like them. I don' know if they're worth the US$10 each, but I'm glad I got them. Others may want to wait for them to hit discounters.

I also got Earthrise Micromasters and Cyberverse Starscream and Hammerstrike, but haven't opened them yet.
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Hound
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Re: POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Hound »

I feel like I shouldn't have to explain why this is beautiful...

Also do you think Ultra Magnus ought to be included on this shelf or no?
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Clay
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Clay »

Tantrum wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2020 11:49 pm
Clay wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2020 5:47 pmI have a junker hoist around here somewhere. I'll see if I can work out how to open up the wrists for part removal.
Much appreciated.
Let's see if google drive will let me share pictures since photobucket has gone all wonky on me.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id= ... SAFaVu3lGd

If not, PM me with an email address and I'll add you to the folder. When/if you can see the pictures, the two parts holding the forearm together are the green cuff and a screw on the back of the elbow. The cuff isn't glued in place on the g1 figure, but I don't know about the various reissues. Another strategy would be to depress the orange tab like you're trying to fire the missile and point it to the ground while shaking it. You may get lucky and the broken peg will just fall out.

Night bird is the same base mold as green dancer and red femme, yeah? I'll dig those out and have a look.
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Warcry
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Re: POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Warcry »

Hound wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 9:22 pm Also do you think Ultra Magnus ought to be included on this shelf or no?
I feel like there isn't a sufficiently "Marvel UK" Magnus toy to merit a spot in that shelf. I've always wanted a Magnus toy that looks like Geoff Senior and co. art, but cartoon Magnus is the one who always gets the love. Or IDW Magnus that one time.
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Hound
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Re: POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Hound »

WFC Siege Magnus is close, as close as we're ever likely to get at least.

I have him and the IDW version they did a few years earlier.
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