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Tantrum
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Post by Tantrum »

I've opened some of the figures I mentioned her.

TLK Hot Rod is my favorite, so far. Other movie verse cars I've bought recently (SS Lockdown, TLK Drift, Crosshairs, and Cogman) have followed the same formula. The sides of the vehicle become limb kibble, with a wheel on each upper arm and lower leg. The roof of the car shellforms into a backpack.

Hot Rod does something different. First, (most of) the hood forms the chest, so the robot mode actually looks like it's made of a car. The sides form the arms only, with a wheel on each shoulder and elbow, making for beefy arms and kibble free legs. The roof of the car does end up at the figure's back. But, most of this actually becomes the figure's back, keeping the figure upright. Only the windshield and center sliver of roof are a backpack.

The drawback to this is a hollow torso, like SS Megatron. But, the gap is propotionally smaller, with some roof bits folding into place to cover most of it. The arms are bulky enough that you can't see the rest. It's only noticable from above. he also lacks weapons, but I don't mind.

TLK Drift is alright. He follows the formula, but does it better than most, without parts getting in the way of each other. He's more fun to transfrom than the others.

TLK Crosshairs is less impressive. They replaced the rubber coat parts with plastic since the rubber tabs had a tendency to tear. But, the plastic parts have no way to connect to the torso. So, either way you have coat parts just flopping around. This is also the first figure I've had where a clip on wheel falls off regularly; unusally I just dislike them because they don't roll well.

On the plus side, the lighter deco used in the torso makes the coat effect look better than the AoE version. AoE has black abs, thighs, and coat, making him look like a black blob with bot parts sticking out of the top and bottom. TLK has silver abs and thighs, with black and green coat parts which stand out much better. I also prefer TLK's two hand guns to AoE shotgun & 2 pistols.
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

Remembering that old (1992 era) toys exist, with a twist -- inspired by Guard City with a bit more visual interest. I'm imaging a later era in the war where Inferno and Prowl are retooled and not all of the Protectobots survived / stayed on planet. Or it could be a Groove alternative... let's say Sparkride so there's at least one GC member.

Image

Also it's a shame the Kidrobot Madballs aren't more available in the UK, but I snagged an eBay lot of their keychains from a HK seller with a couple of characters from each original assortment.

Would love to go more completist and get any/all of the rest, but apart from the lack of availability and blind box bullshit, they've missed out Splitting Headache in favour of a glow-in-the-dark second version of Oculus Orbus --

https://www.kidrobot.com/collections/ma ... ins-series

Even further off-topic, surprised by how much old stuff seems familiar -- http://blarghhhspot.blogspot.com/ -- the UK also got a lot of lines such as Spitballs and these -- http://www.littleweirdos.net/2014/07/su ... sited.html
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Tantrum
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Post by Tantrum »

PotP Inferno - I've only fiddled with him a little bit, but I'm impressed so far. He seems to hold together a lot better than Hot Spot, especially in torso mode. The legs tab together much better, as does the chest to the torso. The bucket in fire truck mode will hold a TM/PM, though he has to sit on the hinge so as not to topple out at the slightest movement. It's too bad they didn't mold a TM foot peg in the bucket.

Although he's a good figure, he doesn't really strike me as Inferno. The chest deco is supposed to invoke his G1 mode, with yellow representing the roof mounted lights, and a black panel represening the windshield. I appreciate the effort. The truck looks more like movie Sentinal Prime than Inferno.

I'm using him with CW Sunstreaker, Streetwise, First Aid, Mirage, and Legends Groove to make Universe Defensor. Most of the vehicles are in the wrong position, and the F1 racer and motorcycle have swapped colors. But, I'm satisfied. My Blades is part of all redd Betatron, so my G1 Defensor limbs were Deluxe Groove, First Aid, Streetwise, and Rook, which made for a rather dull color scheme.
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Studio Series Stinger
I cracked and picked one up whilst they're still on sale, because I do like the look of Stinger. The figure is actually pretty great. Could have used a little more black on the head, but otherwise not as all red as I'd feared. Posing is decent, and I like the blade things (which are a bit annoying, as they fall off quite a lot). Transformation is really clever, although I find getting the roof into place a bit tricky as there isn't enough clearance in the joint on the arm to lift it up and over to clip into position. Alt mode looks excellent, but the coat hanger assembly those blade pieces sit on protrudes too far down to allow the rear wheels to reach the ground, at least on my example, so I've taken to removing the piece entirely when transforming to vehicle mode, which then allows it to roll about properly. Although not very well because of those crappy cheap clip on wheels.
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Tantrum
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Post by Tantrum »

Sjyquake - I had a similar issue with Stinger's rear wheels not touching the ground the first time I transfromed him. It turns out I was mistransforming the coat hanger thing slightly. On future transformations, all 4 wheels have touched the ground without issue. Unfortunately, it was a subtle enough difference that I still don't know what I did wrong the first time, so I can't explain what you need to do differently. Just that you shouldn't need to detach anything.

Maybe is was putting the coat hanger thing in place before the legs?
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Could be. Instructions don't help. I wish Hasbro wouldn't print instructions using dark colours on dark paper (probably in a dark room, in a dark place, in deepest darkest darktown).
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

Tantrum wrote:I'm using him with CW Sunstreaker, Streetwise, First Aid, Mirage, and Legends Groove to make Universe Defensor.
Also a neat idea. And a red fire truck could work as RID Prime too, and people have been doing Pyro kitbashes... Hasbro came up with a neat redeco with this one.
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

Floppy as **** (the gun overbalances it and calls for several joints to be ratcheted back a notch) plus those ankle connections plus there's a small internal torso connector apparently missing on the Slog I got... but still a very nice collection goal. Aiming to display with the original shells when I get them out.

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Clay
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Post by Clay »

The FP monstructor is out already?
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

Yeah, Andy doesn't invoice until stuff's basically on the way, and that was a good week ago. A lot of it's down to luck of freight shipping schedules unless sellers go for premium options (not sure what the various UK dealers do).

Punch/CP turned up today too, so I think that's TFs for the next while.

edit: Since they were at the top of a storage tub...

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HeavyArms
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Post by HeavyArms »

Cyberverse Decepticon Shockwave - I think that for the most part the Warrior size class will be the main class that will be collecting from this toy line.

POTP Megatronus
POTP Quintus Prime
POTP Solus Prime

These are the last of the regular release Prime Masters that I'm after, barring any that are pack-ins with other figures like Predaking or Punch/Counter-Punch.
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Studio Series Grimlock
I've no major love for the movie Dinobots, the spiky aesthetic doesn't really do it for me - they look like some '90s EXTREME toyline, only without the neon. But this figure really caught my eye. It's a Transformer figure from Hasbro, with the nicest paint apps I've seen them do since... RiD 2001..? There's a good choice of base plastic colours mixed in with this beautiful black / teal dry-brushing and it looks incredible. Grimlock himself is enormous fun. He's chunky and beefy and has a silly mace hand and looks brutal. Transformation takes two minutes and the dino mode looks fab too. Articulation isn't brilliant, but its okay and the thing looks awesome on display and is probably the best version of the movie guy committed to plastic, making earlier toys (even 2017s Last Knight one) look very sad indeed.
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Sunrunner
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Post by Sunrunner »

POTP Punch turned up today. 1st impressions are good, nice transformation between modes, nothing groundbreaking.
Given this is a special edition figure, you'd think they could have included Counterpunch's gun rather than having him share Punch's. I would certainly have taken this over the superfluous Prime Armor that is included. I get that this is because the figure is from POTP and that was the gimmick, but as he is not a combiner limb it does seem a bit pointless...
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ganon578
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Post by ganon578 »

Couple things came my way over the last week:

PotP Hun-Gurrr: Just to complete Abominus. As a robot, he's OK. The relatively tiny monster head-feet look strange, but are at least compensated by additional side tilt. Otherwise it's very meh. I don't care much for the monster mode. The proportions seem out of whack, and it just isn't that enjoyable. The torso mode is fantastic, except the hips (robot shoulders) on mine are a little loose. Everything else tabs in really tightly. I love the mix of colors on Abominus! It's all crazy and fun!

Cyber Battalion Starscream (Voyager): This is the one that's been out on the market since briefly in 2015(?), disappeared, then reappeared at Universal Studios stores. Turns out you can order him from the Universal Studios online store, if you don't mind paying a little extra and some shipping (I didn't, so it's a win). He shares the same mold as CB Walgreens Jetfire, so I knew what to expect when he arrived. The pre-tooling detail is great, the paint apps are fairly plentiful for a 'budget' figure, and I love the head sculpt. I'm really pleased, even though it cost a few extra bucks. :up: Really wish he had knees though.
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Post by Warcry »

My POTP Punch/Counterpunch showed up today! I was expecting something more complex than the normal Generations Deluxe, and he is, but in a totally different way than I'd thought. I was expecting that there'd be a lot of fiddling to go between the two robot modes, but that's actually pretty minimal. Flip the head, flip the hands, move the fenders on his shoulders and turn him around. But the transformation into car mode is like something out of a movie line. It feels like half of the car folds up inside of his chest and legs. It's a very intriguing design and not at all what I'd expected. But the really big downside of it is that he's left with lower legs that are really, noticeably hollow. I'm not one to complain about hollow limbs but even I think this is going a bit too far. He's also left with very little to even hint at the presence of feet, which makes his lower half look a bit unfinished in both modes. The Double Spy gimmick makes him a lot of fun, but it's disappointing to see that Hasbro pull that off almost flawlessly, only to stumble a bit on the basic transformation scheme.
Sunrunner wrote:POTP Punch turned up today. 1st impressions are good, nice transformation between modes, nothing groundbreaking.
Given this is a special edition figure, you'd think they could have included Counterpunch's gun rather than having him share Punch's. I would certainly have taken this over the superfluous Prime Armor that is included. I get that this is because the figure is from POTP and that was the gimmick, but as he is not a combiner limb it does seem a bit pointless...
I don't mind that he only comes with one gun, since I'd just have to find somewhere to store a extra no matter what mode he's in. But the random combiner fist feels like a total waste of plastic. I get wanting to include something that would let him interact with the fancied-up Prime Master figure that all these exclusives have, but surely a Pretender shell would have been the better choice here. Especially since they had poor old Waverider tooled up and never used him. I don't know why they chose to go with the hand instead. The little Pretender shells weigh basically the same as a combiner hand, have the same parts count, the same number of plastic colours, and it's not like the one fifteenth of a cent's worth of paint the shells got would make a significant difference on the accounting side of things when they're already selling the thing at a 25% markup over retail prices. A weapon-mode Pretender would have made a good secondary weapon if you want Punch and Counterpunch to have different sidearms, far better than a folded-up fist.

As-is, both fist and Prime Master have already been tossed into a drawer, never to be seen again. Unless one of you folks has a craving for transparent blue runt?
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Tantrum
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Post by Tantrum »

I picked up a couple PotP Novastars last week: one to complete my all red Betatron, the other to go with Elita-1 and Moonracer. Nova's Moonracer with a new head, weapon, and paintjob. They did a pretty good job of differing the paint apps so they look different. Probably the best example is the triangle molded in the side of the car. Moonracer has the triangle painted white; Novastar has a stripe run along the bottom edge and towards the front of the car, while the triangle itself left red.

The only spot where this fails is the detail on Novastar's shins. Moonracer has the unrecessed section painted pink; Novastar leaves everything red, which looks unfinished. Painting the unrecessed ankle areas orange would've helped. That's my only complaint, though.

Novastar also uses less clear plastic than Moonracer. N's feet are grey where M's are partially painted clear. This means N has a grey windshield. This wouldn't look as odd if N didn't have clear plastic in the roof. It's like an armored car with a sunroof. N also lacks the clear plastic M has in the torso, which actually does a better job of showing the molded detail in the abs.

I don't understand the purpose of the 2 nubs molded in the bot back/vehicle bottom. Both bots have them. All they seem to do is elevate the car so the rear wheels don't touch the ground. They seem purposeless in bot, leg and arm mode, and detrimental to car mode. Does anyone know why they're there?

Speaking of leg mode, N works great as Betatron's leg. The instructions have N's hands folded towards each other, giving the gestalt a pair of small orange hands on its knee. Scattorshot's thigh is narrow enough that the hands can fold towards the back of the bot, where they're far less noticable.
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Transformers Cyberverse Chomp Jaw Grimlock & Wing Slice Starscream
Mildly puzzling Scout/ Legends Class figures that feature only partial transformations and an action feature as the 'alt-mode'. An odd idea, and puzzling that this idea of Transformers that don't Transform has been dusted off. I'm guessing Hasbro took a look at those vehicular Movie toys that transformed from vehicle to weaponised vehicle and thought they'd try it the other way around? What you end up with is very strange and something that's quite odd to play with, but still a surprise bit of fun. The action features are gear and spring-loaded bits of stuff akin to those awful Prime-era fold out weapons. Whilst Grimlock's Chomp Jaw action is fun - if awkward as his beast head faces up at the sky - Starscream's is just silly - his wings whirl around 360 degrees. Woo. Despite the daft gimmicks, the robot modes are both excellent, with some nice detailing and paint apps. The sculpts are also very nice indeed and the overall aesthetic is good. Articulation is nixed for the sake of the gimmicks, which is a shame and the parts budget these have used up is clear to see with all the hollow parts on show. Essentially, this is a range of Action Masters for the C21. Just with better proportions. I picked up both of these in The Entertainer's latest promotion at £7.20 each and I think that's a decent price for them and they make for good desk toys at work, which is where they are now. Cyberverse is shaping up to be a very odd toyline that looks like it's trying to cover too many bases. The packaging is also near-identical to the Bumblebee Movie stuff that's out which makes for a confusing purchasing experience if you're not paying attention.
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Recent-ish buys, mainly from Studio Series, which is abysmal in terms of value for money for normal people but great for me:

74 Bee: lovely details but some of the transformation is a pain; not sure if I bummed out on QC but the windscreen/roof section detaches far too easily and it's a shame the gun is a swap-out instead of clipping over the hand. Nice enough but expecting better things from both the new movie one and whatever connotation of the 07 Concept car they go for.

Stinger: nice! Good transformation despite a couple of minor clearance issues but really good robot from such a flat car. Obviously loads more personality than old Evil Cliffjumper.

Ratchet: really like him, nice height and sorts most of the problems with older versions, nice and simple too, which doesn't always hurt. Also got a very nice "cinematic" transformation too, and I love that rotating torso. Lighter on kibble than expected too.

Jazz: love him. I've always liked Jazz' model and this toy is great, like a scaled-down stripped-out version of the HA. At first I thought he was too tiny but then I remembered he really was a smaller-than-Bumblebee runt in the film. Great work on the legs and arms. Bit worried about how easy to scratch the paint looks.

Optimus: brilliant mould, annoying production. The whole thing needs to be brightened about 20% even if silver wasn't an option but the transformation is beautiful, especially considering the mess every single non-Evasion Mode Voyager Prime has been. He's got a really good Live Action Prime posture to him as well.

Overall impressed enough to make hay and order Blackout, Ironhide, Starscream, Crowbar and Lockdown to even up the sides a bit. Seriously hesitating on Grimlock, though - not sure I like the screen version enough to put down forty quid, especially as I can't even remember what colour he was in the films (IIRC it was "whatever the ambient lighting on metal was in each particular scene"). Keep getting tempted by the cheaper reduced TLK Voyager instead.

Also picked up TLK Deluxe Hot Rod due to heavy reduction. Disappointingly tall for my own selfish purposes but not a bad toy, if a bit Movie Car By Numbers. That and I can't remember what he looked like and am too lazy to Google Images it.
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Tantrum
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Post by Tantrum »

SS Ratchet #16 - I'd passed on the original SS Ratchet since it looked pretty plain. This deco looks much better. It's an improved version of the DotM figure I already own, with better use of shoulder kibble, a beefier bot, and slimmer backpack.

Power Charger 'Bee - This had been in stock for a while, but I waited until the SS version came out so I could compare. The SS was in today; I was dissapointed in how small it was, and that the chest pieces with the headlights are a different shade of yellow than the rest. So, I splurged on the big guy.

I have mixed thoughts about him. It's kind of tricky to get all the panels lined up to transform him, and he doesn't roll too freely due to the sound gimiick. Plus, mine has some scratches right out of the box on the passenger side. I'll have to think about him some more. He does look nice in both modes.
Cliffjumper wrote:Seriously hesitating on Grimlock, though - not sure I like the screen version enough to put down forty quid, especially as I can't even remember what colour he was in the films (IIRC it was "whatever the ambient lighting on metal was in each particular scene"). Keep getting tempted by the cheaper reduced TLK Voyager instead.
I've got and like both. Their transformations are very different (SS is like Scorn, TLK is like G1), but both fun, without any finicky or frustrating bits.

SS advantages:
Better looking bot mode - The drybrushing looks nice, and the only kibble is the dino jaw/arms on the left forearm. TLK has dino feet on each wrist, and a dino jaw hanging down the back. SS's dino head on each shoulder looks much better than TLK's half head on each shoulder.
Better proportioned bot mode - TLK is kind of lanky for Grimlock.
Better proportioned dino mode

TLK advantages:
Better looking dino mode - The SS neck is clearly a folded up arm.
Comes with weapon - SS only has spiked ball in lieu of right hand
Better bot hip articulation - SS skirt impedes much movement
Push button dino jaw - SS jaw is either slightly opened or fully opened
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Post by Heinrad »

After a frustrating week and a half, I stumbled on a couple of figures I didn`t even realize were out. So, in order:

Wal-Mart G1 Reissue Hot Rod: I hadn`t planned on getting any of them, but having a MIB version of a figure my mom got me as a birthday present way back when just struck me as something to get, especially as I gather these have just come out and he`s already been marked down. What surprised me even more was that it was my local pocket Wal-Mart that had him.

In an attempt to find out if any other not very local but far better stocked Wal-Marts had any reissues(specifically Outback. The PotP version needs his gun), I found the other figure I didn`t realize was out:

Studio Series Transformers Bumblebee... er, Bumblebee: Probably the only figure from the movie line I`ll get unless they`ve got some others that will blow me away, I have to say he`s a pretty good figure. Getting him to transform is a bit of a pain, but he`s a lot betteer than the Camaro version of Bumblebee. I can actually completely transform this one and not have to worry about destroying it.
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