POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

[Clay]

And I should say that I've seen people do really cool things with multiple Reflectors in a combined spaceship mode. I've seen some especially creative stuff done with people who were mixing and matching the TV and toy-colours figures.

Got a link? Sounds interesting.

Studio Series Scrapmetal
Ended up importing the TT release (interesting that these lack the numbering system of their western counterparts, when most Japanese collectibles of this ilk have some sort of catalogue number). He's a cool little figure, turning from a back hoe to robot and back. I like him. He's well detailed and looks great. I'm really liking these Studio Series Constructicons. They've been great so far.

Something about Scrapmetal that I didn't notice right away is that he transforms exactly like G1 Scavenger, with which he shares the alternate mode. It's neat that they can be so similar and so different.

As for me, yesterday I found the new wave of Studio deluxes (Arcees, Soundwave, Bumblebee, WWII Hot Rod). Have only opened Soundwave and the Arcees so far.

Soundwave's nice, but you have to change him into a car in a fairly specific order, or else it won't work. He's actually fully painted in silver, which the stock renders don't show.

The Arcees... yeesh. I mean, I like the idea of making them legends-size and putting them in a three pack so that they scale well enough with all the cars and bigger things in the line, but they're not the best designs to try and miniaturize. That said, the designers managed to sneak in the combined mode without compromising the individual figures (most of the connections are facilitated by the stands), but the combined mode itself is left falling far short of the concept art. I think they were right to omit it from the instructions, but I would still like clear images of what's supposed to be right way to do it given that they can't recreate the apocryphal mode.

[Warcry]

Mmm, whilst the pairs are nice, would rather have the rest of existing teams than keep hopping all over the place. And whilst the mould choices are what they are, not having, say, Fixit kinda sucks. But it's far more noticeable with the combiners.

It's too bad really...there's so many Micromaster teams that they would have to continue the price point for quite a while in order to cover all of them, and I really don't think they will. If I'm counting right, twelve Patrols and four Squads equal 36 of the modern two-packs, and they've squeezed the cassettes into that price point too, which probably works out to another 10 or 12 packs depending on how deep they go with obscure repaints. That's about five years' worth of releases and I can't remember the last time Hasbro kept the budget price point unchanged for that long. And I guess Hasbro figured we'd be happier if they touched on parts of as many teams as possible instead of a smaller number of complete ones? But I suppose they'd wind up with people disappointed that their favourites got missed regardless of how they chose who to make.

Got a link? Sounds interesting.

I think I saw it somewhere on TFW a month or two ago, so I don't think I'd be able to find it again. Sorry.

[Skyquake87]

Siege Micromasters Vhisper and Storm Cloud
Wow. What a disappointment these are. It's the legs! Those balljoints are super loose and turning the legs around for the transformation means they fall off. It's a shame, because they're rather nice otherwise. Just not worth the silly amount of money that's asked. A 5 pack of Bot Bots for the same (well, less actually) price have better construction and represent better value

Siege Ratbat and Rumble
These are cute. Ratbat in particular is fantastic. Rumble isn't bad, but has huge podgy legs. The colours! I really like the colours on these guys. They're really vibrant and I like them. Detailing is excellent and the marked difference in quality between these and the Micromasters - which are the same size - is staggering. I suppose having things turn into shapes, rather than vehicles is easier at this scale these days. The alt modes really are a pile of nothing. Well executed, but nothing all the same. Just slabs of folded up robot.

[Tantrum]

I don't know what's worse, that everyone has Spinister before me, or that so many people are buying him because of the one-note IDW portrayal and not the Marvel Comics badass.

I've never encountered Spinister in fiction. I didn't have the G1 toy, so I haven't even read his bio. To me he has no-note characterization. I just bought him because he has a unique color scheme and transformation. And I'm completely satisfied. If you're already inclined to like him due to his characterization, you'll probably think he's worth the wait.

I got Ectotron and Siege Apeface for Chirstmas. I haven't opened Ectotron yet. I'm liking Apeface more than I thought I would. I was really just looking forward to the ape mode, but like the others as well. The vehicle mode works if you think of it as a space craft that has no need to be aerodynamic, and just uses its wings for stabilization instead of flight.

Amazon has Siege Greenlight and Nightbird. Greenlight is here, not yet opened. Nightbird is on her way.

I got the Siege Rainmakers on clearance. The monochrome decos and brown/grey smears are the only time I've liked, as opposed to tolerated, Siege battle damage.

I got a couple blind box BotBots from Amazon to qualify for free shipping. I ended up with the Christmas tree (which was seasonally appropriate) and the pacifier. I'd appreciate the pacifier more if TR Trypticon could close his mouth enough to hold him.

Siege Rung looks good in both modes. But, the handle for his gun/ornament mode is in the middle. If you actually have anyone hold him, it hampers their arm articulation.

Cyberverse Gnaw is a decent upscaling of the TR legends class. But, the bot hip articulation is hampered by tabs that hold the hips in place for the attack gimmick. Which doesn't work. Manipulating the tail in bot mode is supposed to make the torso spin, but it doesn't. I can spin it manually, which works well enough. I'm more bothered by the lack of beast mode shoulderjoints. I think even the G1 toy managed that.

[Clay]

Got a link? Sounds interesting.

I think I saw it somewhere on TFW a month or two ago, so I don't think I'd be able to find it again. Sorry.

Is this it? It doesn't have the toy colors versions mixed in, but these are good fun.

Also, I saw a couple more Spinisters yesterday. Would you like me to pick one up for you?

[Warcry]

Is this it? It doesn't have the toy colors versions mixed in, but these are good fun.

I don't know if I've seen that exact post before, but that's definitely the same idea. The ship that uses two of the lens bits as wings is probably my favourite of that bunch.

I've also seen people use Reflectors as towers for TR Trypticon, which works pretty well. I suspect you could also put together some cool combined ship modes using cartoon Reflectors with Soundwave or Shockwave, since their colours compliment pretty well.

Also, I saw a couple more Spinisters yesterday. Would you like me to pick one up for you?

I should have a package arriving next week with Spinister and Crosshairs, but thanks a million for the offer.

[HeavyArms]

Siege Spinister.

[Dead Man Wade]

Picked up the Siege Bluestreak, and I quite like him.

[Warcry]

Siege Spinister

Toy of the year, eye-searing helicopter/10.

But seriously though, even though I'm giddy just due to the mere existance of such an accurate neon terror of a figure, fanboyism aside I think he's still a great Transformer. My #1 beef with the Siege line (even before the price hike) has always been the lazy transformations and alt-modes. We've gotten several really awesome robot-mode action figures in the line but very few nice vehicles and even fewer well-engineered conversions. But Spinister is a hit on all three fronts: a super-poseable robot, a slick helicopter and a really creative switch between the two.

I didn't realize that his shins were see-through from so many angles, and that's a definite mark against him. So is the fact that he winds up with a second cockpit under his fuselage due to Hasbro's surprising decision to faithfully replicate his box art look. But even so, this is my favourite figure from the Siege line and it's really not even close. And yeah, it probably would have been regardless, but I think it's actually justifiably so. Only a handful of Siege figures even come close to working as well as he does, and they all have much bigger drawbacks. I only wish he had some cronies to hang out with. Needlenose, the Triggercons, Bludgeon's Pretenders, a half-decent Thunderwing...I'm not picky.

One of the figures that does rival Spinister? Siege Impactor. I can say most of the same things for him as I did about Spinister, honestly, and if I'd grown up with the UK comics instead of the back third of the US run I'd probably be squeeing about this one instead. Great articulation, great transformation and a great rendition of the character...except for the face. I don't know what went wrong with Impactor's face scupt, but the end result is probably the worst I've seen since the hasitily-re-sculpted "mouth" on Commemorative Series Jazz. It doesn't ruin the figure, but it definitely detracts from something that should have been an easy 9/10.

Not quite up to the same level as those two, but still a solid entry? Siege Crosshairs. The original Crosshairs was one of the first Transformer toys I got, as a kid. Funny enough, I didn't really like him very much...which led to him being one of the frew Transformers who survived my childhood, which ironically led to him becoming one of my favourite Transformers as an adult simply because I can barely remember a time when I didn't own him. This Crosshairs, though...isn't that guy. This Crosshairs is based on his drastically different Sunbow/Marvel character model, which I'm mostly used to seeing block-coloured in the back of crowd scenes because that's all Marvel Crosshairs ever did. I would have told you that I hated that character model, so I was really surprised to see how gorgeous this figure looks. Of course, the difference here is that Nel Yomtov isn't doing Hasbro's colour layouts, so the figure is properly coloured in Crosshairs' gorgeous dark blue with red and white highlights.

And considering this figure is the sort of minimum-effort "new head and nothing else" retool that we would have expected circa 2008ish, it's surprising how well it works as Crosshairs in robot mode. Really, it's a set of giant shoulder wheels away from convincing me that it was designed to be him from the get-go. Of course, all that goes away when you turn him to vehicle mode, because he transforms into...a box? With wheels? Because while Spinister and Impactor are two of the best actual Transformers in the Siege line, Crosshairs here skews a lot closer to the Soundwave and Reflector group with their "it's an alt-mode because we say it is, shut up" design philosophy. It almost, sorta worked for Ironhide and Ratchet when they used this mold, because they always turn into boxes, but even then the total lack of effort given to hiding robot parts was pretty shocking. But for Crosshairs, a guy who's traditionally turned into an off-road vehicle with a ton of personality? For him it's super disappointing. He's still a pretty good toy thanks to the really nice robot mode, but he's clearly the weakest of the three.

[HeavyArms]

Beast Wars Optimal Optimus - He is a chunky toy.

[Skyquake87]

I've been a bit fatigued by the endless G1 navel-gazing of the recent Geewunerations lines, so been looking back into the distant backness of the early twenty-first century when Hasbro were trying new things with Transformers (er, to a degree).

Energon Battle Ravage
Neat beast mode (aside from the fist holes visible in his front paws) and a decent robot mode. I really like his black/ cream / purple colours and the Energon weapons are decent too.

Energon Cruellock
Simplistic robot to dinosaur lad with a crazy big sword. The spring-loaded parts are annoying, as he's one of those auto-morph types where bits of his kibble don't really go anywhere and hang around. Nice colours though!

Energon Strongarm
Cheerful yellow jeep that turns into a cheery little fellow. With a really big translucent red crane (non-functional). A really fun little figure.

Energon Slugslinger
Nice design and transformation, but never feels like it all holds together very well in spacejet mode. Robot mode is great and he has a suitably hgorrible looking face for a villain.

Energon Demolishor
Lord, this guy is fun. He's a chunky little dump trunk that turns into a chunky little robot with an excellent missile barrage. I'd forgotten how great he is. Love the massive Decepticon logo on the bed of the truck. Good stuff.

These have all been great and I love them. They're just daft, colourful fun. Brilliant.

[Warcry]

Everyone seems to talk about Cybertron as the best of the UT, but Energon has always been tops in my books. The line gets a bad rap because of how awful the Deluxe and Mega combining Autobots were, but there were a lot of great toys around them. I think my sister's kids have them now, but I remember Strongarm and Battle Ravage being two of my absolute favourites at the time. Other faves that come to mind are Sharkticon, Starscream, most of the small combiner team members and the Combaticons' torso bot (Barricade?)

[Skyquake87]

Energon was my favourite too. The colour palette used for the Decepticons was great - all greens, purples and blacks with translucent highlights - and I really liked the designs. Even the chunky looking Autobots have their charms. I like the idea of mix and match weapons much more than I do spring-loaded plug in gimmicks.

As well as looking back at Energon, I've dipped back into the Revenge Of The Fallen line and picked up the original versions of the movie Constructicons.

Deluxe Rampage (Yellow)
Hmm. Well I like the bulldozer mode... His robot mode is a bit of a mess. As well as the pogo-mode (no stand, so just has to lie on it's side), Rampage has an odd looking four legged mode. He can't stand straight like this and leans back looking at the sky and just looks a bit clumsy and awkward. There's a lot of moving parts around the shovel that don't seem to connect together. Coupled with his legs not really clipping into anything in vehicle mode and he feels incredibly messy. I appreciate the rubber treads and tiny use of die-cast though (the latter surprising on a modern toy).

Voyager Demolishor
Actually a lot smaller than I was expecting, for something that's supposed to be massive. The vehicle mode is awesome. Really nicely detailed with again, rubber treads. Transformation is incredibly simple and I love the weird looking robot mode. He's all arms and wheels and ugly. It absolutely works for this monstrous looking thing and I applaud his oddness. Absolutely brilliant.

Voyager Mixmaster
This must still rank as the most complex mainline Transformer toy. He's such a puzzle. The splendid looking vehicle mode belies the clever and baffling engineering that went into this guy. The robot mode is this great expanse of spingly arms and legs with parts of a cement mixer hanging off him and a massive cannon jutting out his back. I still think the ROTF/NEST/HFTD are the peak of the Movie toys, where some real envelope pushing work was done by Hasbro and Takara to get the toys as close as possible to the on screen designs. Mixmaster is probably the peak of that ethos and his complexity is deserved. A real gem.

I couldn't find a Movie Long Haul for a reasonable price, but did find HFTD Voyager Payload. I never owned Payload, so it's nice having him and seeing that he's actually a bit nicer than Long Haul. He's this brilliant Tonka yellow, with some neat muddied up wheels to make him look like he's been working in a quarry or something. In robot mode, he has this nice deep grey/ nearly black gunmetal colour on show that has a nice flecked look and some lovely looking purple in his chest. The two flip out blades in translucent red look very nice too. As with Long Haul, his articulation isn't great and he feels a bit too lithe for what should have been a fairly squat and bulky chap, but he's marvelous all the same.

Looking at the HFTD line again, made me realise (again) how visually superior HFTD Banzaitron is next to NEST Bludgeon. It's just a simple repaint of an already excellent toy, but Banzaitron's colours are just that much more eerie and awesome. And I like that his two swords are blue.

[HeavyArms]

Cyberverse Deadlock.

Platinum Edition Intel Ops - Won an eBay auction for it kind of cheap-ish.

[Tantrum]

Cyberverse Quintesson 3-pack A Quintesson judge comes with the same Shockwave and Prowl from the spark armor line, but with helmets instead of the armor. The Quint is black instead of greay, and has a flat panel for each face instead of having them come from the egg shaped body. Pushing the top rotates the faces. But, only the Death face looks like the G1 design. The other 4 are new. They look good, and I don't remember the other 4 that well, so I don't mind. I assume the face that lines up with one of the toe tentacles is the one in front.

Shockwave is nice. His joints are stiffer that the giant Cyberverse Shockwave I got a while ago. His gun arm is a weapon that fits over a robot fist, so there's no extra limb to get stuck in the torso, either. The gun is attached with a bendy hose which can be removed, but doesn't have to be, for transformation.

Prowl is OK. His knees lock into place when standing, so there's some unneeded limit on articulation. Both Prowl and Shockwave can wear Skybyte's armor, and Skybyte can wear one of the helmets, the other not fitting on the point on Skybyte's head. I'm satisfied, but wouldn't be if I already owned Prowl and Shockwave and had dropped $30 for just the Quint.

From a comic shop, I got:

CHUG Inferno MISB. The materials are nice, and he's fun to fiddle with. The torso lacks bulk under the arms, and the arms are visible in vehicle mode.

Punch/Counterpunch This is the repaint of the Sideswipe/Sunstreaker CHUG mold. I was dissapointed this guy was a club exclusive when he came out. I haven't taken him out of the box yet, though the box was already open.

Wingblade This is a repaint of a Cybertron figure released as part of a movie line. He was loose, but almost complete, having all his weapons and cyberkey. All that's missing is the instructions, which I need because I can't figure out what to do with his head in alt mode. The panel it sits on doesn't want to move. I haven't found instructions online yet, but did see a pic of him being used as armor for Cybertron Optimus, which I may try at some point.

[Denyer]

Punch/Counterpunch This is the repaint of the Sideswipe/Sunstreaker CHUG mold. I was dissapointed this guy was a club exclusive when he came out. I haven't taken him out of the box yet, though the box was already open.

The club one or the CHMS remake? Not a bad mould apart from the head being a little on the small side.

[Tantrum]

I don't know what CHMS is. The box says, "Hasbro Transformers Collector's Club Exclusive". The box also says, "Adult collectible, not intended for use by children." which is pretty odd for a redeco of a mainline toy. I guess the new head never went through safety testing. The instructions are still sealed.

[Denyer]

They did knockoffs (pretty decent quality) including the packaging but did clearly label, so you'd know if it was one of theirs --

http://bravefortress.com/gallery/chms-t ... nterpunch/

[Tantrum]

Thanks for the link. Mine does not have CHMS or a URL on the box, but does have the tech spec/bio card, so I think it's the real deal.

[Skyquake87]

Siege Micromasters Swindler, Roadhandler, Topshot & Flak
Okay. These are much better than Stormcloud and Vhisper. As much fun as the originals, just a little let down by cheap, clip on plastic wheels and being a tiny bit over-engineered for their size. They have the same problems as those late wave Armada Mini-Cons came with Predacon in that the clutch power between various parts means arms and legs are prone to popping off during transformation.