POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Tramp · Post by **Tramp** » Sun Jul 01, 2012 8:03 am

Notabot wrote:I was surprised to find Airachnid on the shelf at Wal-Mart the other day, so I picked her up. I was kind of disappointed. There was a lot of potential, but a number of things just don't work on her. Her helicopter backpack should have been folded up a bit more, her arms are weirdly jointed and kind of ugly, and while it's a cool idea to have the helicopter blades be the spider legs, one of the blades should have split to give her an even number of legs over her shoulders. Instead she has one on each shoulder and a raincover over her head.
She looks neat in helicopter mode and fairly cool in robot mode, but a "spider-bot" mode like in the show would have been nice. She does have very nice paint apps where they are done, though. I was kind of impressed with how clean they were on the weapons, and in TWO colors even! That shouldn't impress me, but it does.

I think if someone can come up with a new rotor assembly for Airachnid (given that it's removable anyway), we will be able to give her the "spider-bot" mode. The rest of the mode should be as simple as transforming the legs to their helicopter tail assembly form while leaving the torso and arms in bot mode.

TLB80 · Post by **TLB80** » Sun Jul 01, 2012 4:06 pm

I just picked up RTD Lugnut.

Poor guy was warming the shelves, surrounded by Prime Soundwaves and Cliffjumpers and leftover DOTM stock. How could I not buy him?

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 9:14 am

Got RTS Trailcutter (chortle) and Gold Bumblebee (bwahahaha) because they were 3 euros in Holland. Still feel a little ripped off, TBH - the Bumblebee mould's a passable scale-down of the Classics figure and a nice idea for a recolour, but Trailbreaker is pretty dire, especially the "yeh, 4x4, whatever" vehicle mode and the tree-trunk thighs.

Also got that G2 Power Master Ironhide thing for a Euro in a flea market. He's neat, in a "Worst Toy I've ever owned" way.

Curious near-total lack of Prime on shelves in both France and Holland, though - most of what I found was reduced DotM stock; more of a "dregs of last year's summer movie" thing than a "successful toyline we stock whether there's a summer blockbuster or not".

numbat · Post by **numbat** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 12:21 pm

Cliffjumper wrote:Got RTS Trailcutter (chortle) and Gold Bumblebee (bwahahaha) because they were 3 euros in Holland. Still feel a little ripped off, TBH - the Bumblebee mould's a passable scale-down of the Classics figure and a nice idea for a recolour, but Trailbreaker is pretty dire, especially the "yeh, 4x4, whatever" vehicle mode and the tree-trunk thighs.

Also got that G2 Power Master Ironhide thing for a Euro in a flea market. He's neat, in a "Worst Toy I've ever owned" way.

Curious near-total lack of Prime on shelves in both France and Holland, though - most of what I found was reduced DotM stock; more of a "dregs of last year's summer movie" thing than a "successful toyline we stock whether there's a summer blockbuster or not".

Hey, I like Trailcutter.

Also I'm fairly certain his truck mode is based on a Cadillac Escalade (or at least draws fairly heavily from it):

Shops around here in Hamilton are fairly Prime-less now too. They're restocked with DOTM figures... Anyone need another random Bumblebee???

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 12:38 pm

It's the back end that's the problem. Behind the cab it's just a pile of blocks with wheels nailed on. I just continue to find it baffling that - ball-joints aside - Legends are still less well engineered than similar sized Gobots designed thirty years ago. IMO the quest for balanced Transformers has swung too far now in favour of robot modes, with vehicles now suffering from this sort of syndrome - especially on smaller figures. It used to be you could confuse Transformers and Gobots with toy cars from a distance, but even Hot Wheels don't look as bizarre and poorly finished as many recent TFs.

numbat · Post by **numbat** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 1:44 pm

That's certainly true - he looks awful from behind.

The boxyness of his back doesn't bother me though - just looks like a pick-up bed cover to me.

I agree that Legends have failed to meet their potential ever since the original Cybertron Legends of Cybertron line that introduced them - almost all the best molds are from that first line, and they were truly pocket-money priced. The modern Legends or Legion are extortionate and far poorer engineered and built. It saddens me

Still, there are some gems in recent lines - most notably RTS Legends G1 Megatron.

The quality of the alternate modes varies a lot, really. While it's true that many of the Generations-style figures really pay no heed to how good the alternate modes come out anymore, a good proportion of the DOTM line still did a damned good job (notable exceptions accepted, such as Voyager Prime...). In fact, an equal number of DOTM line robot modes suffer because of the alternate modes (although I think many could have been done better, such as Deluxe Soundwave).

I only have Prime FE Voyager Bulkhead and RID Prime Voyager Megatron from the Prime lines, so can't really comment on the latest figures. Bulkhead seems pretty awesome in both modes to me, and is easily one of my favourite TFs ever, while Megatron does a decent job in both modes, and although neither is perfect I think they are both equally compromised. If that makes sense.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 2:39 pm

The licensed movie figures generally make a better fist of it, yeh - most of the 'cast' characters have at least one decent alt mode representation from Deluxe up; Jetfire and 'non-transforming' characters like Shockwave, Ravage etc. are the main exceptions. I'm guessing the legal side of things is playing a bigger part nowadays, which is unfortunate.

I suppose the other thing is that a lot of the neo-G1 stuff is trying to tap into the look of the cartoon/comic, where Tracks, Bumblebee & co. rarely looked much like their toy counterparts in vehicle mode beyond colour scheme and rough shape.

Post by **Warcry** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 5:28 pm

Cliffjumper wrote:I just continue to find it baffling that - ball-joints aside - Legends are still less well engineered than similar sized Gobots designed thirty years ago.

Honestly, I don't think Legends even compare very well to the G1 Minibots that they're (often) homaging. They'll have a couple ball-joints, like you say, but just like the G1 toys they'll only have as many joints as their transformation will force them to and their arms are usually random chunks of vehicles with hands crudely sculpted on the insides. But when I compare legends like Beachcomber or Cosmos with their G1 toys, I don't see anything even close to 25+ years of technological advancement going into the new ones. Only toys like Brawn or Wheelie, whose G1 incarnations were horrible even by 80s standards, really show much improvement. Otherwise it feels like 80s toy engineering with ball joints tossed in, and leaves me with the distinct impression that making good, fully-articulated figures just isn't something Hasbro is able to do.

Cliffjumper wrote:IMO the quest for balanced Transformers has swung too far now in favour of robot modes, with vehicles now suffering from this sort of syndrome - especially on smaller figures. It used to be you could confuse Transformers and Gobots with toy cars from a distance, but even Hot Wheels don't look as bizarre and poorly finished as many recent TFs.

I definitely see what you mean, but honestly only Diaclone G1 stuff, Alternators and the Movie toys have ever really made alt-modes any sort of priority. Generations or Prime toys will occasionally do the job, but the designers seem to be all over the map. Some of the alt-modes, like Windcharger or Drift or Prime Cliffjumper, are designed to evoke the 'feel' of a type of car (in Windcharger's case a modern American muscle car, for Drift a stereotypical 90s riceburner) without really looking like one model in particular. Others, like Hot Rod or Sunstreaker/Prowl/Tracks and their repaints, are obviously meant to be a certain type of car (usually with just enough changes that they can pass through Legal). And then you get things like Bumblebee or Inferno/Grapple or Kup, where it's like they're actively trying to make the alt-mode as generic as possible.

War for Cybertron and it's sequels must seem like a godsend to Hasbro's toy designers, though. They get to make toys and not care at all what the vehicle modes look like since they're supposed to be "Cybertronian". I wouldn't be surprised to see more and more of that creep into the main lines as time goes by, which is too bad because most Cybertronian alt-modes are so stupid looking that the toys might as well be Actionmasters in my books.

numbat wrote:The boxyness of his back doesn't bother me though - just looks like a pick-up bed cover to me.

That's what it's supposed to be, I think. But since it doesn't stand out like the ones on the original Trailbreaker and Hoist, he winds up looking like a deformed SUV instead.

Tramp · Post by **Tramp** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 8:37 pm

I would say the only "real" problem with RTS Trailbreaker's vehicle mode is the lack of a rear bumper and gaping hole between the unpainted tail lights, .

Heinrad · Post by **Heinrad** » Sat Jul 14, 2012 7:10 pm

Using the gift card that my former roommate sent me for my birthday, I got RID Prime Bulkhead at Wal-Mart. He's not a bad figure, my only real complaint with him is the fact they gave him a rubbish Mechtech weapon. I'm probably going to dismantle it and turn it into something he can have mounted on his arm.

And, Primus help me, I still like the Legion class version of him better....

Sunstreaker2 · Post by **Sunstreaker2** » Mon Jul 30, 2012 5:35 pm

The Cybertron Leader Galvatron I got off eBay came in today, damn is this a sexy looking toy.

borg72 · Post by **borg72** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 1:52 am

finally completed my G1 Computron with fists/feet off the same seller on ebay. its taken ages to complete him piecemeal, and i'm extremely satisfied to have finished my project of five years having first bought scattorshot at botcon 07.

Tramp · Post by **Tramp** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 6:54 am

Just snagged TFP Knockout. Nice little toy, though it does need some paint.

HotShot81 · Post by **HotShot81** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:30 pm

I don't know if I got a deal or not.

25th Aniveresy Unicron, $114. with tax inculded. He is the first Transformer I have picked up that looks like he can smash Mextroplex into spare parts.

Jaynz · Post by **Jaynz** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 9:05 pm

Kreo Knockout and Wheeljack

Okay, long and short of this set is "If you liked Kreo Prowl, you'll like this set. If you didn't.. you at least get two nice Kreons out of it". Neither of the two builds are that great, but they're not horrific. They're a lot like the level of detail you get with Prowl and Mirage from the first line. Wheeljack comes up a little better than Knock Out, but neither are bad per se.

Kreo Vehicons/Cliffjumper

Yes, I don't care about the actual name. There's only one real reason to get this set, and that's the Kreon Vehicon army in it. In fact, I got two of this set for this reason... so now I have a spare Cliffy. The Vehicons are broken up into "Miner", "Car", and "Jet", and are adorable in their Kreo evilness. They also get a little checkpoint thingy that no one is going to care about.

Cliffjumper is basically a redeco of Bumblebee, which makes sense. Oddly, despite being a G1 take, Hasbro painted his horns white, ala the Prime series. Strangeness. He also gets a little missile-buggy which isn't too bad, but isn't going to be the focal point of this set.

Kreo Autotroopers/Barricade

Again, don't care about the actual name. This is the 'mirror' set of the above with Barricade versus the Autotroopers. Probably not as big of a deal for fans since the Bots don't have their generics shown much. Barricade is okay, though a bit generic. The Autotroopers come in "Jet", "Car", and "Truck" styles, breaking them up a bit as a unit. There's also a little motorcycle for Barricade to pretend he's an Action Master Elite.

Post by **Warcry** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 9:27 pm

Since there's such a drought on the new-figure front, I wound up picking up a few vintage Transformers from a local collectibles store. Most of the early G1 stuff was pretty expensive, as is the norm (though I'll never understand who'd pay $500 for Predaking...) but loose later figures are actually very reasonable.

I wound up getting Blot, who was in good shape except for a loose monster arm. He didn't come with any accessories, but I'm still happy with him because I'm now just a Rippersnapper away from having a full team of Terrorcons and that's something I've wanted since I was about four.

I also got Wildfly's inner robot, in great shape except for the sticker wear. It sounds funny, but he's also a figure I've coveted for ages. A friend of mine had Monstructor when I was a kid, and although I've never thought much of the shells and all the other inner robots are strange nondescript things, I've always thought Wildfly was cute. He came with his gun too, which hilariously is longer than his legs are so he needs to carry it barrel-up like a soldier on parade.

Lastly was Airazor. I wasn't 100% sure until I got home, but this one is the redeco that came with a video tape, with a darker and as best I can tell more show-accurate orange than the mass-retail release. Her gun's missing, but it looks stupid so I don't care.

I almost bought the Strafe they had too, but he was filthy and they wanted $20 for him, so I passed. The same goes for Chase...$20 for a Throttlebot = LOL.

They also had some Headmasters in stock and this might have been the first time in my life that I've seen any in person. I was gobsmacked by how big Apeface and Snapdragon were, in jet mode at least. I figured they'd be about the same size as Crosshairs or Triggerhappy, but it looked like they were about 25% bigger than that. Brainstorm looked pretty huge too. I didn't buy any because only a handful of Headmasters appeal to me, but It's cool that even after all this time G1 stuff can still surprise me.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 9:41 pm

A big thanks to Knightdramon for selling me DOTM Shockwave, RTS Windcharger and Movie Dropkick!

Shockwave's the only one new to me. He's a great figure in that Fallen/Ravage 'never going to be transformed' way; he's a bit tiny but I don't mind. Between him crouching and a bit of squinting he can be comprehensively beaten up by Revoltech Prime, so w00t.

RTS Windcharger I still don't see the fuss about, but I always regretted shifting mine back when they were going for silly money. Windcharger's a great character and it's a decent toy of him despite its' flaws.

Dropkick I can't work out why I got rid of mine - money for honeymoon hookers or something? By far the best of the 'Activision' figures and not a bad toy in his own right - love the chest transformation and the giant Decepticon logo.

EDIT: @ Warcry: IIRC Headmasters are generally hollower than Targetmasters due to the cockpits for the figures; I think the need for big torsos caused a bit of a knock-on as they had to make the rest of the toys bigger and hollower to keep some form of proportion. From memory, the HMs are at least a head taller than the TMs but weigh about the same... I do like the '87 Targetmasters, though - the nature of the gimmick all being in the gun means they're about the last G1 Transformers of that size designed without big compromises.

Post by **Warcry** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 11:50 pm

Cliffjumper wrote:EDIT: @ Warcry: IIRC Headmasters are generally hollower than Targetmasters due to the cockpits for the figures; I think the need for big torsos caused a bit of a knock-on as they had to make the rest of the toys bigger and hollower to keep some form of proportion. From memory, the HMs are at least a head taller than the TMs but weigh about the same...

That makes sense. They need somewhere for the heads to go, after all. I always tend to forget that they even included cockpits, since so many of the G1 toys had no storage at all for accessories in alt-mode. Now that I think about it, doesn't Skullcruncher basically store Grax by eating him?

The likes of Nightbeat, Siren and Squeezeplay aren't much bigger than Spinister or Scoop though, are they?

Cliffjumper wrote:I do like the '87 Targetmasters, though - the nature of the gimmick all being in the gun means they're about the last G1 Transformers of that size designed without big compromises.

The Targetmasters have always been among my favourite toys from that era, especially the Decepticons. Triggerhappy and Misfire have better articulation than some Armada and Energon toys, and though I've never owned him Slugslinger looks like he's in the same boat. The 1988 Targetmasters aren't quite as nice but they're still among the best figures released than year, miles ahead of stuff like the Firecons, Pretenders or Quickswitch.

I think Targetmasters are among the best TF gimmicks ever, when you get right down to it. It gives kids two toys for the price of one and ensures that the main toy's transformation isn't hampered by gimmickry, which generally results in a much better toy. And perhaps most importantly, unlike Headmasters or Powermasters or Cyber Keys the toy isn't ruined if you lose the accessory. I've always been happy when toys like Universe Cyclonus or the PCC two-packs revive the Targetmaster concept.

Part of that is probably down to nostalgia though, because I had more Targetmasters as a kid than any other sub-group bar Micromasters.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 12:25 am

IIRC the 88 Headmasters are larger than the 88 TMs by about the same proportion, though I'm going from memory (I do half-remember that the Autobot HMs were noticeably larger than the 'Con ones). At the same time the mechanism was simplified for them so they probably were a lot more compact - Hosehead didn't even have a proper cockpit for... Lug was it?

Slugslinger's not a bad figure. I'd say he's the weakest of the trio through repeating Misfire's backpack transformation while not looking quite as cool, but he's still decent. All three are streets ahead of, say, Scourge and Cyclonus or the 84/85 jets.

The Reverend · Post by **The Reverend** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:44 pm

Picked up Junkion Blacksmith's JB-01 Justice Leader (aka Headmaster Optimus) and JB-02 "Tatical" Officer (Soundwave) to go with the Destruction Lord (Megatron) I got a while back.

(Here is Destruction Lord's review if you don't know what I'm referring to - http://tfarchive.com/toys/reviews/oth_d ... onlord.php)