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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2019 9:34 pm
by Tantrum
I opened SS 34 Megatron. He's OK. I feel like I should be more impressed with him, as I can't find any particular faults. But, I just find him OK. Like the SS Voyager, the bot torso is hollow. The cloak covers it up well, though. The chain mesh only seems to fit one way. One leg of the mesh has two chians, so I've marked the tab that connects to with a marker.

Truck mode is pretty impressive, except for the lack of a back to the cab. You can see right into the interior. I'd read about potential scraping of chest bits against the ground when rolling, but haven't seen that. He rolls great, though not all 10 wheels touch the ground. Some of the bot parts don't really blend into the trailer that well, but the cloak covers that well.

My only real issue is he's definitely too small to go with face-ripping-hook Optimus.


I finally opened the Dark Energon Knock Out I got MOSC at a flea market last summer. I've complained about Hasbro's instruction being too hard to read lately, but at least they aren't completely wrong. These have the arms completely mistransformed, being long and spindly instead of having the elbow joints fold into the forarms as shown on the box.

The clear green and purple plastic looks great. He doesn't roll well, due to being one of the first to use clip-on wheels instead of pins. Given the fragility of clear plastic, and the fact that I own the regular version of this mold, I doubt I'll put him into car mode again very often.


I also had some luck at a comic shop yesterday. For $32 I got 3 figures:

Classics Grimlock - Opened, and missing his gun, but with his tail. Getting a new (to me) figure from 10ish years ago make the cost cutting of more recent figures stand out. The light piping works great, making me miss it in modern figures. The material feels more satisfying, too. I think there are more screws in Grim's tail/weapon than most new Deluxes have in their entire bodies.

On the down side, the bot torso doesn't tab together well at all, making posing and transformation more awkward that they should be. From what I've read, this is a design issue, not due to wear and tear from the previous owner(s). Still, I'm very happy with him. The Deluxes size means he should scale better with my PotP Dinobot limbs than the Voyager torso. I think I'm up to 26 Grimlocks now, including Kreons.

Titanium Skywarp - There's some paint chipping, but otherwise is in great shape. My only other Titanium figure is Scourge, who I bought at retail years ago. After handling this guy, I wish I'd got more. My only issue with Skywarp is that the thigh swivels are tight ratchets, so it can be difficult getting those joints to rotate when transforming instead of another leg joint.

origRiD Storm Jet MOSC - He's Beast Machines Jetstorm (who I bought MOSC at a different comic shop last year) repainted to look like G1 Jetfire. The cockpit location, wide hips, and lack of seeker-esque wing kibble coming off the torso do a better job of evoking the G1 Jetfire toy than most toon-based CHUG Jetfires. This is what Jetfire would look like if he were in the Bumblebe movie.


I found reissue Gears and Warpath but haven't opened them yet. I haven't opened the Bumblebee, Outback, Tailgate, or Swerve, either. I still have unopened G1 Insecticon reisues, too. Why do I keep buying these?


Also, I've read about Siege Shockwave being the size of a Voyager, with a bunch of bits added to pad the size to Leader. But, Walmart had Seige Ironhide and Shockwave. Holding them next to each other, they seemed the same size head to toe. Is Siege Shockwave's core robot really the size of a large modern Deluxe?

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 3:33 pm
by Warcry
Tantrum wrote: Sun Apr 28, 2019 9:34 pmClassics Grimlock - Opened, and missing his gun, but with his tail. Getting a new (to me) figure from 10ish years ago make the cost cutting of more recent figures stand out. The light piping works great, making me miss it in modern figures. The material feels more satisfying, too. I think there are more screws in Grim's tail/weapon than most new Deluxes have in their entire bodies.
Yeah, it's amazing how much solidly-built they were a decade or two ago. On the other hand, the engineering of Classics-era figures looks really primitive compared to modern stuff. And Grimlock's probably one of the bigger examples of that.
Tantrum wrote: Sun Apr 28, 2019 9:34 pmOn the down side, the bot torso doesn't tab together well at all, making posing and transformation more awkward that they should be. From what I've read, this is a design issue, not due to wear and tear from the previous owner(s).
I've had mine since it was new, and yeah, it really never tabbed together at all. You just need to fold the parts into place and hope that there's enough friction to keep them from un-transforming when you pose him.
Tantrum wrote: Sun Apr 28, 2019 9:34 pmThe Deluxes size means he should scale better with my PotP Dinobot limbs than the Voyager torso.
That's what I'm doing as well. Of course, Classics Grimlock owes more to the Pretender than to the original figure, so he doesn't quite match up to the POTP guys, but I think they make a good squad anyway.
Skyquake87 wrote: Sun Apr 28, 2019 7:18 pm Universe Optimus Primal
Nifty 2003 repaint of the '96 Ultra Class figure. The brown and magenta makes for a nice colour-combo, the sickly green oddly sits well in the mix and the yellow highlights are good (although the missiles and swords being in yellow look a bit odd, especially the latter, which look like wibbly bananas). Beast mode is improved over the original thanks to an excellent silver/ red stripe which runs over the back around his eyes. Still a brilliant figure all these years on, and more fun than the MP :swirly:
I absolutely adore this figure. The MP is pretty great too, but the badass colour scheme on the Universe figure earns it a ton of points and so do the zillions of built-in play features. And if you get Robot Masters Primal, you can complete the trifecta of awesomeness in different sizes and scales! I have a hard time choosing which of the three I like more because they're all absolute winners for different reasons.

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 7:52 pm
by Skyquake87
Siege Shockwave is more Voyager sized, although his lack of mass next to Prime and Megatron make him look smaller than he is. Good figure, all the same and I found all the clip on stuff a lot of fun to mess about with. Probably best waiting for a sale on him, if you can.

I think the Universe mould of Primal is my favourite version of the the boss monkey's original form. The additional paintwork gives it so much more character.

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Fri May 03, 2019 9:37 pm
by ganon578
Shockwave is a touch on the small side of the Voyagers, and for Siege deluxes, Ironhide is on the tall side. I would say Shockwave is taller than Ironhide by a head or so. But Ironhide, is about a head taller than Prowl, Sideswipe, and Hound.

Not a figure acquisition per se, but I did receive several sticker sheets from Toyhax. It's my first time using them (or any 3rd party stickers for that matter), but I've been pleased with them so far. Shipping took a week and a half or so, sadly. The labels go on fairly easily, and seem to have good adhesive. I put some white bordered Con symbols on my NBK Devastator (which look nice), some clear backed Con symbols on my KO MP-11 Starscream (which look splendid on the grey plastic), a sheet for PotP Jazz to 'jazz' him up a bit, and a sheet for TR Full-Tilt for when I can get Trypticon from my buddy this summer. I used some silver backed Con symbols (that came for 'free' with my purchase) for my KO OS Wing of Tyrant.

All in all I'm pretty happy, and may grab some more in the future to spice up some of my more bland figures. :D

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Sat May 04, 2019 6:51 pm
by HeavyArms
Siege Red Heat & Stakeout (Rescue Patrol).

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Sat May 04, 2019 11:27 pm
by Tantrum
Siege Laserbeak & Ravage - Laserbeak's bird mode is great. But, it doesn't actually transform into a cassette. From the front, he's a flat rectangle, which look good. In the back, there's several gaps. Ravage has a better cassette mode, but a weak animal mode. His forelegs' upper arms are poofy, like a fancy lady's dog. My favorite Ravage is still the one that came with CHUG Hound.

CW Wheeljack w/G1 stickers - I hit up the semi-local comic shops for Free Comic Day, and found this guy at one. I knew this sticker set existed, but hadn't looked into it. The wheel rim stickers are poorly applied, and some are missing, but I can do that correctly with a Gundam marker. All the other stickers look good. He has his HFG, but no sword.

This is my 4th CW Wheeljack. One is orignal deco. One I Gundamed with red rims and black bot windshield. The third I Gundamed with red rims and blue bot windshield.

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 9:07 am
by Skyquake87
Studio Series 22 Dropkick (Helicopter Mode)
This is an incredible little figure (little being the operative word)!The robot mode, transformation and vehicle mode are all superb. He's kind of plain to look at, being mostly grey in robot mode, with just his blue head and feet and black shins to break it up. Posability is decent and above average for other figures in the line. He is incredibly small though,and doesn't feel worth the RRP. Jazz looks bigger. However, that doesn't detract from him being easily one of the best figures in the line.

Studio Series 27 Clunker Bumblebee
My third go on a Studio Series Bumblebee. Will this be better than the 01 release (roof falls off, can't transform mine because the shin panels are both 'left's) and the VW release (a pain in the arse to transform, thanks to keeping the same transformation layout as the 01 release - itself a repeat of the TLK/AOE figures) which I couldn't transform either because the left facing headlamp assembly was fixed in place, so you couldn't get the roof/ bonnet assembly to click into place)? Well, there's no doubt that the roof benefits from being pinned, so it doesn't fall off all the time. The rust/ scuffed paint apps are nice, robot mode is still pretty good, but I still can't get this transformed. The way the grill/ bonnet has to slide between the two headlight assemblies is incredibly tight and there doesn't seem to be enough tolerance in the hinged piece underneath the bonnet to allow this to swing into position and fully clip into place. So another failure. I think the designers have just tried too much with this mould and would have been better referencing the HFTD Battle Blade Bumblebee toy. Or I've just had a run of bad luck and managed to pick up every SS 'bee with some QC issues.

Studio Series 32 Optimus Prime
I liked the original Voyager figure that came out in the Studio Series line. The slightly darkened colours were to my liking. Sure the hinge in the middle of his chest looked a little ugly, and the wheels could have used some silver paint, but I thought it was fun and a good figure. This release basically 'fixes' the faults of that earlier figure, by having a better arrangement of panels and parts to make up the chest. The brightened up and the wheels are painted up (although it looks weird, because of the cheap ass clip on wheels). I like it and its all very impressive, but I still find myself drawn to the first release so I'm finding it hard to like this as much as my brain tells me I should, because it is objectively the better figure. Sometimes you just like what you like.

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Tue May 07, 2019 12:56 am
by Tantrum
SS Dropkick is going to be (heavily) retooled into SS 45 helicopter Drift. I wonder if Drift'll be bigger. SS is supposedly aiming for consistent robot mode scale, which would make SS 45 Drift the same height as SS 36 Mercedes Drift, who is TLK Drift with a new head. That's about the size of SS Stinger, which is about as small as SS Deluxes can go without feeling like a ripoff.

The only reason I'm not upset about SS Jazz being so small is that he's the perfect size to ride TLK Slash.


And thanks for the notes about Siege Shockwave. I saw a pic of him with some other bots. Shockwave, without the extra bits, is about the height of Starscream, with less bulk. Both were slightly shorter than Megatron, and much taller than the Deluxes in the photo, which did not include Ironhide. So, your $50 does get you a small $30 Voyager with some extra bits, not a large $20 Deluxe with some extra bits.

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Sat May 11, 2019 7:41 pm
by HeavyArms
Combiner Wars Ultra Magnus - This never came out in Australia and usually when this comes up on listings locally others people have a tendency to buy them up almost immediately, so I finally had a chance with this one.

Studio Series Shatter.

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 5:30 pm
by ganon578
Siege Rescue Patrol. Both are nice, but nothing special. Never owned the originals, and these are just retools of Siege figures I already own. I really like Stakeout. Red Heat is a bit back heavy and the one I got has ridiculously loose hips, which I'll need to fix.

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Fri May 17, 2019 10:23 am
by Denyer
Noticed that on the Generation Selects figures that arrived recently (red Swoop and Ricochet) -- joints are noticeably loose compared to others (and comparing blue Swoop).

But now you mention it, the fire truck MM has one badly loose hip. Mould abuse is definitely a thing.

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Fri May 17, 2019 10:21 pm
by Tantrum
SS #20 - gold VW Bumblebee & (not gold) cassettes - Gamestop marked this down to $50, which is far closer to normal store-exclusive-price-gouging than the $70 they originally asked. I guess they're making room for Ectotron.

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Sat May 18, 2019 3:49 pm
by Skyquake87
Commemorative Series II Powermaster Optimus Prime w/ Apex Armour
My third go at owning this figure. Definitely keeping him this time!Got a nice boxed one this time and have really enjoyed messing around with him.The core tractor cab/ trailer figure is the best bit. Apex Bomber (cool name!) really does feel like a pile of parts that its amazing Takara had the balls to sell this as a legit figure on its own back in the day.

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Sat May 18, 2019 7:41 pm
by HeavyArms
Studio Series Constructicon Scrapmetal - Predominately bought as he makes up a portion of Devastator.

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Sun May 19, 2019 10:34 am
by Skyquake87
TLK Voyager Scorn
Heard a lot of good things about this figure, so picked one up. It is pretty marvellous. The robot mode is hench and looks like one of those weird show-off suits of armour some medieval knights had. Chinny bucket-head, great big long barbed whip for an arm and a fantastic mix of dry-brushed silver and blood red. Lacks a wrist on his right arm, so has the problems that plagued a lot of Beast Wars toys, in having an arm that's well articulated but you can't do anything with it. Transformation is a bit of a fidgety ballache, being one of today's tab it and see jobs, but it does the job. The dino mode is pretty horrible looking. It's an incredibly aggressive mess of spikes and spines and is one of the most threatening things I've ever seen with an Autobot logo stamped on it. Impressive.

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Thu May 23, 2019 10:12 pm
by Heinrad
SIEGE Ravage and Laserbeak: Pretty cool little figures, although I probably have to get Soundwave now. Laserbeak is currently perched on Titans Return Megatron’s arm, but poor Ravage is kind of lost in the shuffle.

DNA DESIGN DK-10 SS IRONHIDE UPGRADE KIT: A pretty cool little kit, giving Ironhide ankle tilt, a new front bumper(which does ruin the sort of smiley face effect the grey bumper gives) and more guns. The only thing I don’t like is the fact they gave him combat knives. They kind of work as bayonets, but knives? Why knives? He’s got massive cannons on his arms, two big shotgun/rifles on his back, and these two little knives.

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Sat May 25, 2019 7:15 pm
by HeavyArms
TLK Crosshairs - Found one on eBay that was on the low side of a local retail price.

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2019 8:14 pm
by Skyquake87
Found some TLK Deluxes reduced to less than half price at Toyland...!

TLK Premier Edition Drift
Fun figure with a quick and easy transformation, even if it is a bit of a shellformer. Vehicle mode looks super swish and the robot mode could be improved with a touch more black, as he's very red in robot mode. Comes with a neat set of swords too.

TLK Premier Edition Crosshairs
This a much nicer than expected figure. He's a bit plain in robot mode, I suppose being very green, but it's accurate if nothing else. Love his two guns and he poses nicely, although he can't do much with his head, in turns of looking about. The balljoint seems incredibly stiff and I'm worried I'll break stuff if he wiggles it about. Love the vehicle mode too, which has painted silver rims!Hooray!

TLK Premier Edition Bumblebee
Same transformation layout as all those Studio Series 'Bees I'm having no luck with, but at least this one works. He looks very cheap, with his plain black wheels, ugly grey plastics and so on. Not the greatest, serviceable is my overall feeling. I think I'm just fed up of underwhelming Movie Bumblebee toys.

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2019 11:43 pm
by Heinrad
WeiJiang Oversized MPP 27 Masterpiece Ironhide: Okay, technically he’s a knockoff, but if it comes down to buying the original and then trying to get a mod kit to fix the problems with the original, or just spend half the amount the original goes for on a KO that completely fixed the problem? KO for the win!

The one review I’ve seen for the figure said that the face was really the only thing wrong with it. I’m guessing they did a revision after the review came out, or I have a KO of a KO.

Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2019 2:26 pm
by inflatable dalek
Two weeks ago I managed to get hold of the Studio Series version of the man, the myth, the legend, the Cogman.

What else can I say, but best toy ever made?