So, now that all the hype for the movie has come and gone, what do you think about the movie line? I've come to realize that a lot of figures I liked sort of... wore off. For example, Ironhide. Loved him initially, but now... not so much. That's not to say there weren't plenty of great figures, but there are some purchases I regret at this point. Also, there seemed to be a lot of figures that suffered from just one fatal flaw, that if it were dealt with, it'd be awesome.

Keepers:
76 Bumblebee: I love this guy, possibly more than his CC version. He's just more posable, thanks to unhindered arm articulation and big, stable feet. But really, it's the guns that make him. There are six points to mount the guns on him, and they attach to each other. That's a lot of possibilities.

08 Bumblebee: Just cool looking and an incredible adaptation of a movie design as a toy.

Voyager Optimus Prime: He looks badass in every pose, and actually has some gimmicks in vehicle mode, a rarity for movie Autobots. People complain about his kibble backpack, but he wears it well and can use it as a mounting point for his dual blasters for some over-the-shoulder cannons, or under-the-arm.

Dropkick: Fantastic design, I wish though his shoulders locked in better. But he's great looking in both modes, has a handheld weapon (something the Decepticons especially were sorely lacking), and as a bonus, the bed of his truck fits a G1 Cassette almost perfectly.

Starscream: People complain about the fatness of his alt-mode, and his arms just sitting there, but I don't mind. The fatness isn't bad at all (Take a look at Universe Powerglide) and I think the arms are a good choice. It adds play value, letting him use his missiles in plane mode. Remember, these are toys. I do wish he had hands, though...

Regrets:

Barricade: Just... meh. Frenzy was the best part of the figure, and he was pretty weak. His awful punch gimmick combined with his complete lack of weaponry just turned me off. Shame, I loved his character.

Brawl: Shoulders.

Wreckage: I like his design overall, and his weapons, and his alt-mode. So what's the problem? His Automorph. Moving his arms will make him start to transform back into vehicle mode. A minor inconvenience, sure, but enough that I don't bother with Wreckage when I have my others out.

Ironhide: As mentioned before. Getting into truck mode is a chore and I wish his truck front locked in robot mode. Guns are kind of cool, but why make it impossible to wear them backwards? That just doesn't make sense.

Blackout: Ugh. Again, hindered by a lack of weaponry, other than his awkward shoulder-mounted propeller... thing. Also his head is poorly done, it just looks out of place with its paint wash and different material. Keeping the propeller on his back limits posability (the tail just hangs down to the ground, he can barely bend his knees), but take it off and he loses half his mass and just looks naked. He was such a disappointment to me.

Overall I would say it's hit or miss. For every solid figure there seems to be one that could have been better. But here are my top pics:

Best -

1. Voyager Prime - nice truck and robot modes with lots of detail.

2. Leader Brawl - He looks good in either mode and comes loaded with weapons. Lights and sounds are better than Leader Prime and Megatron.

3. Landmine - The "All Spark" line doesn't do much for me, but Landmine looks good in either mode and features lots of articulation.

Worst -

1. Scorpinok - Hasbro just wasn't trying.

2. Ratchet - He neded more paint to break up all that lime green. It's a nice figure but it's painful to look at.

3. Deluxe Brawl - I am partial to the bot myself, but the weak arms kills it.

I'd have to put Ratchett, Leader Prime and Swindle as my favorite movie bots.

Regrets:
both Megatrons, Wreckage, Scorponok

Faves:

Most of the non-lenshead, non-movie figs (specifically Landmine, Stockade, Longarm, Incinerator, and Wreckage)
08 Bumblebee and his red repaint (haven't gotten any other of the repaints, yet)
Robovision Prime
Voyager Ratchet

Regrets:
FAB Frenzy and Starscream
Payload and Swindle (I STILL couldn't bring myself to get the third lenshead mold)


Better than I expeted:
Most of the other FAB's (not up to 'normal' Deluxe standards in most cases, but easy enough to transform that I constantly find myself fiddling with them, especially '08 Bee and Jazz
Incinerator specifically was a lot better than I expected.

Not as cool as I hoped:
'76 Bumblebee
Deluxe Brawl

Exactly average to me:
Pretty much the entire rest of the line.

Loved it.

What's not to like? Realistic alt modes, freaking cool looking bot modes, and complex transformation. This line more than made up for the crap they handed us w/ the A-E-C lines.

Overall I thought it was a fantastic line. There were only four figures I bought that I would say "sucked."

Ratchet-I don't get the love. Yeah, both modes are solid, but the lack of weaponry and paint just make what could have been a nice figure very bland.

Jazz-Bottom half of the figure is awesome, the top half just sucks.

Blackout-As Soundwinder mentioned, his proportions are out of whack, and he lacks serious weaponry, which is a disappointment given his role in the film.

Payload-When his pics appeared online I thought the plunger would be this figure's biggest detractor. It really speaks to his suck-ness that it isn't. His leads, arms, and head all pop off if you look at him wrong.

So those four were the disappointments for me. I also have Leader Prime, Leader Megs, Leader Brawl, Voyager Ironhide, Voyager Starscream, Voyager Thundercracker, Deluxe Landmine, Deluxe Longarm, Deluxe CC Bumblebee, Deluxe Cliffjumper, Deluxe Arcee, Deluxe Dreadwing, Deluxe Barricade w/Frenzy, Deluxe Bonecrusher, Deluxe Wreckage, Deluxe Swindle, Deluxe Dropkick, and Scout/Basic Skyblast. And I love them all.

So all in all I think the Movie line was....




AWESOME

Agreed.

Most of the figures I picked up, I liked. The only leader class figure I was super impressed with was Prime, though Brawl wasn't too bad. A vast improvement over his Deluxe version, that's for sure, although I think there were some better figures that could have been made into leaders, but whatever.

For Voyagers, I actually liked Ratchet a lot. I picked up Ironhide, but I couldn't understand even from the beginning why everyone loved him so much. I really didn't like him all that much. Well, he wasn't terrible, but not as good as I thought he would be. Loved Voyager Prime, and in some ways, even thought he was superior to Leader class Prime. Most of the rest of the Voyagers, I didn't care about. Screamer's alt mode I liked a lot, but I thought his robot mode was hideous. Blackout was meh, but oddly, I liked the Evac repaint of him quite a bit.

The deluxe class figures were about half-and-half. The good ones were great--CC 'Bee, Longarm, Dropkick, Wreckage, Landmine, Stockade, etc. But there were some stinkers, to. The drones, Jazz, Barricade was kinda wonky, etc.

So, I would say it was pretty even. Half of them were really cool, and half of them made me regret buying them (though I didn't pick up all of them to begin with). In the end, as much as people did or didn't like them, I think everyone's already tired of the repaints, and people just wish we could move on to animated or something. Which I agree.

I only have figures for the movie characters (plus Arcee, who is great, minus Blackout, who I'm waiting for the premium version of), so I can only speak about them.

The only one that I think is pretty weak is Leader Megatron. There are just too many issues with him (although I want that premium repaint ). Scorponok gets a lot of hate, but let's be honest here, he was ony ever meant to be a scorpion, and in scorpion mode he's awesome.

Overal, the line is

I Loved the line, it got me back into collecting again! But I desperately want my animated and universe.

Fave:
Leader Optimus Prime
Leader Brawl
Bonecrusher
Jazz G1
Ratchet G1
Wreckage

Regrets:
Scorponok
Blackout
Barricade
Leader Megatron

Faves

First Strike OP- Awsome..just awsome
Landmine- Also awsome
Movie legends(y'know, the tiny ones with t 2 packs) Brawl
Movie legends Ironhide
Stockade- Not as awsome, but still cool
Jazz- Definite Knight vibe, with his knight like visor, bulk appearance and his "sword" which is like a lance.
Longarm- Sniper!

Dissapointments

Scorponok- What the hell? he had the worst robot mode ever, IMO
Brawl- Damn shoulders
Concept Camaro BB- not as good as i heard..floppy as hell...and a **** to get >_>
Every form of Megatron- one of the worst alt modes every, rvialed only by classics deluxe prime

Neutral

The rest

Favorites:

-Ironhide

-Wreckage

-Ratchet (This one grew on me. I didn't like him at first, though that might be because I painted some of his details and made him look much better)

-Leader Brawl

-Landmine

-Longarm

-Dropkick

-Stockade

Ones that have some issues, but I still like:

-Barricade

-Blackout

-Payload (Okay, I actually removed the claw arm thing. He's MUCH better without it)

-Swindle/Camshaft (I just don't like the camera head. Working on that...)

Regret:

-Bonecrusher (Besides being too small, I just don't like the style of the guy.)


Didn't buy any others. Oh, except First Strike Prime. He's nifty, but nothing special or bad about him so he's not on the list.

Awesome

Landmine
Longarm

both of these figures just speak tons for themselves andare the storngest toys from the line imo and i include leader prime in that.

Wreckage is alright, the gun on his back can move forward to help keep the chest in place.
Admittedly he looks way cooler when repainted (see movie fallen in my sig)

Regrets
Swindle, he was the only figure where i got him out of the bubble transformed him and went

"oh, that's all he's able to do.)

the dude is just weak and his head is just lame on any character apart from shockwave, and he even manages a little rotation.

Keepers
1. Deluxe Class Bumblebee (Camaro Concept)
2. Leader Class Optimus Prime
3. Voyager Class Ratchet
4. Voyager Class Ironhide
5. Deluxe Class Arcee
6. Deluxe Class Barricade
7. Voyager Class Ironhide
8. High Score 100
9. Deluxe Class Landmine
10. Meantime

Regrets
1. Deluxe Class Jazz
2. Any variant of Megatron (except Legends Class)
3. Ultimate Bumblebee
4. Voyager Class Starscream
5. Deluxe Class Dreadwing/Overcast
6. Deluxe Class Payload
7. Deluxe Class Swindle/Camshaft
8. All Unleashed figures (except Bumblebee)
9. All Robot Replica figures (except Frenzy)
10. Deluxe Class Scorponok

In retrospect I like all my movie bots. The only exception I guess Fab Brawl. After that I canceled out the Fab line entirely and stuck with the mainline.

Don't care much for Voyager Prime though. The LC spoiled this mold for me long before I got it. That and this is the only movie fig I've had break on me following only one transformation. One of the sliding panel hinges in the leg transformation is broken. The whole automorph here is shaky at best IMO and one of the flimsiest constructions I've seen on any of the figs. Since the break doesn't effect either mode I didn't bother bringing it back. That and I wasn't sure if I had broken it or if it came broken.

I have my likes dislikes but when all posed on a shelf together it no longer really matters because they all look awesome. Sadly though playing with some of them detracts from that awesome.

Still a very cool line and this being a first time aesthetic for Hasbro alone makes the line worth owning. By that I mean a line where Transformers aren't just cartoon representatives. It was wonderful/exciting while it lasted but now I'm good and ready for animated and more A/E/C styled Classics. I love solid, non flimsy transforming action figures so bring em on.

I disliked the designs at first, but they grew on me. I am finding that I like a lot of the non-screen toys better than the actual movie cast. By that I mean guys like Landmine, Stockade, Wreckage, etc. I love the Real Gears and the various Cybertron repaints. Of the movie cast, '08 Bee and Ratchet are great, the other Autobots are OK, and the Decepticons sadly could have been better.

The only movie figs I haveare ones that didn't appear in the film in their current form.

Ironhide (repainted/stickered as Classics Trailbreaker)
First Strike Optimus Prime
Jazz (G1-style)
Evac
Incinerator
Booster X10

The only one I have a problem with is Jazz, and I won't be displaying him in bot mode in my collection.

The only one I still have is deluxe Brawl (with a Wreckage head). Other than that, I was ultimately let down by the gulf between toys and movie. I think hyper-detailed robots and small plastic toys are not a good combination.

I really liked:

- Leader Optimus
- Ironhide
- Leader Brawl
- Wreckage
- Stockade
- Landmine
- Incinerator

I really did not like:
- Skorponok - Ugh, he sucks SOOOOOOOOOOOO bad....
- Deluxe Brawl - why bother when you ave the kick ass leader version?
- Swindle/Payload/Dreadwing - Not having a neck sucks real bad for a toy.
- Megatron (any version) - he just sucks. At least the Premium version has better colors...
- Bonecrusher - he's just too little...
- Starscream - he's just...terrible

Overall, I guess I'm kind of ambivalent about the whole movie line. I have most of it (only bought movie figs, NO Legends, NO FAB/CyberSlammers, etc.), and I just need Premium SS and Megs to complete my line. It looks great on the shelf, but coming after a line like Cybertron, it's pretty average IMO.

I think most of that gulf was due to Hasbro having to work from out of date production art to get the toys ready to coincide with the film's release, as opposed to there not being a possibility of translating the toys any better.

I expect the gulf to be smaller between the toys and movie for part 2, if it's true that ILM is working from the same character models for the surviving characters, Hasbro's got an edge on designing new and more accurate molds for these characters. New characters may still suffer, though.

The fundamental issue isn't going to change, though. Optimus "10,000 Moving Parts" Prime just isn't going to make a convincing transforming toy.

ILM used visual cheats in the transformations anyway

Heh, I'm not sure that needed to be spoilered.

Anyway, I agree with you. People forget that the toys have a much longer lead time to the shelf than the film. If you look at the production dates stamped on the toys/packaging, most of those first wave figures were produced in late 2006, which means that the first test shots, etc. - probably had to be completed by July/August 2006. And as I recall, with the exception of Bumblebee (whose design was fixed when the built the giant prop), ILM made some significant changes to some of the CGI models after these dates...

Ah, I see.

No, the gulf I speak of comes more from non-matching head sculpts and weapons that the toys didn't have and things like that. The most accurate movie sculpts represent the "10,000 Moving Parts" look well enough in toy form for my tastes.

Honestly......................






...






I would have liked to have seen Megatron's original head.

LIES

I think they admitted to it actually...
Although it may have been the same types of cheats that directors use all the time anyway -

*Slick cop with hot namebrand shades runs across the street and dives to save small kid from oncoming traffic*

*Close up of cop and kid rolling across busy highway and out of harms way. Both faces showing surprise and concern (glasses mysterisously gone)*

*cop stands and gives kid a thumbs up and a coke (glasses back on and namebrand showing)*

Yeah, they did.

I only bought movie decepticons (regular versions, except for Megatron, who I got as a RR).

I was really excited to find them, and buy them. I was TFing them 2 or 3 times a day each. Then I saw the movie, and my intrest faded steadily. They're all still on my shelf, but I don't look at them much.

FAVORITES:

Leader Class
Prime – My favorite character and the best of the leader class. They should have made the lights in his eyes and chest blue instead of yellow and the sound for his automorph feature G1. Fortunately the premium version is coming out and I plan on getting that one.

Brawl – Both modes are awesome.


Voyager Class
Ironhide – Love both modes. Just wish the details in paint were a lil’ better in robot mode.

Ratchet – Even though I was against the lime green look at first. After watching the movie I grew to like it. When I was looking for this guy I had the option to get either the movie version (Lime Green) or the G1 (Red/White) version. I went with the movie version because I think it looks better and makes him look more badass. Like Ironhide just needs more detailing in robot mode. Wish I could've jumped at the chance of getting the metallic version but I was too late.

Starscream – Love the robot mode just wish he had hands. Alt mode is a little bulky. But hey, it’s a toy, what can you do?


Deluxe Class
Bumblebee (08 Camaro) – Both modes are great. I think he was the best mold in the movie line. Very movie accurate and with multiple points of articulation this figure didn’t go wrong.



NEEDS WORK:

Leader Class
Megatron – Bad paint job and needs serious work. Eyes don’t light up like it does on the box art. Head can’t turn for posing purposes. Legs are a pain in the ass when transforming. Automorph sound sucks. If I knew that they were coming out with a premium version I’ve would have waited.


Voyager Class
Blackout – Should have been up’d to Leader Class. Can’t mount the copter blade weapon because it causes an imbalance to where he can’t use it to pose.


Deluxe Class
Drones – All the drones with circle faces are a waist, which is why I didn’t bother getting any of them. I figured, if they can’t take the time to create decent faces for them. Then I don’t have the time buy them. One maybe two of them would have been okay but I think there were like 5 of them made that way. Payload looked nice in robot mode but I still pass. It was a lack of creativity when it came to these guys.



When I first started collecting these movie figures I only planned on getting Prime and Megatron. Then, before I knew it I had all the characters from the movie and I thought it would stop there. I decided to top off the line by adding a few more that made alt mode appearances in the movie. Overall I’m happy with all the figures. Hunting these things down was an adventure. I love the movie aesthetic to all of them and the realistic approaches towards the alt modes make them enjoyable. My biggest knock on them is the lack of paint detail in most of the figures. Unfortunately, unlike some of you I don’t have the skill with the paintbrush to make detail corrections as needed. Maybe I’ll learn or get someone to do it for me. The other thing that they should have done is upgrade the class on some of these guys. Like Blackout, Evac, and Incinerator should have been leader class. Both Bonecrusher and Wreckage at the least should have been voyager class, possibly leader class. Stockade and Longarm should have been voyager class.

The last time I owned a Transformer I was probably around 10 back in the G1 days. I never thought 20 years later I would have any desire to collect these things. Nostalgia got the better of me. LOL

I loved the movie line and still do. Im still collecting them. Man this layout is lame.

In retrospect, I love this line. IMO the best mainline ever and it won't be topped for some while (probably not until the second movie).

Took me a while to start buying, i didn't get any movie toys until late september, and I most definitely didn't pick up every figure. But those I bought I really like. And even of the ones I passed I can see many appealing points.

Through often interesting transformations they become realistic vehicles. The robot modes are mostly good in the posing area and best of all are highly detailed. I've often lamented the lack of detailing on TF's but with the movie line this is done really well.


What I've bought:

Leader
- Nightwatch Prime: Really fed up with the red/gray/blue colors for Prime, the (Japanese) Nightwatch Prime was a must buy for me. It's a darn fine mold with a very interesting transformation. There is some problem with posing him because of the weight and some kibble, but the figure looks awesome. Only weird thing is that although he has individual fingers but nothing to hold in them. Would be great if he had either a loose gun or a sword to hold. The automorph was something of a letdown.
- Brawl: bought both the regular and the deep desert version and love them both. Really cool mold with great play and posing features.

Voyager
- Ironhide: Aside from a rather monochrome look in robot mode (some silver or steel color details would’ve worked wonders) I absolutely love this. It was my first movie toy and it’s also the first Ironhide toy that doesn’t suck. The large guns in truck mode are a bit of a letdown, but he looks sillier without.
- Ratchet: okay, so I don’t like every movie figure I’ve got . Ratchet is my least favourite. It isn’t the green, it isn’t the details (although some paint apps wouldn’t have hurt), it isn’t the alt mode or the differences between the toy and the movie. No, it’s the size. I think the toy is too big for this design. If he’d been smaller (slightly smaller than Ironhide) I think he would’ve been great. As it is, he’s just too big to be good.
- Optimus Prime: my favourite Optimus Prime ever! Great truck mode, love the automorph feature (probably my favourite automorph), the robot mode looks great and I love the posability. I just wish Hasbro would release this mold as someone else then Prime. So many releases and they’re all the same basic colors and all the same character. (I think it would make an amazing Huffer.)

Deluxe:
- 08 Bumblebee: Love it. The first ever Bumblebee toy that I like without any reserve.
- Longarm: The screwed on gun is a bit of a shame as is the empty interior of the truck, but the rest is great.
- Wreckage: great mold, nice transform and a robot mode that just looks good posed. Too bad about the head constantly looking down and that moving the arms results in a partial transform
- Landmine: not yet unpacked, but I know he is great.
- Stockade: same.
- Salvage: pre-order (the lower legs are a bit weird, but again a nicely looking figure with plenty of details)

I’m still thinking about getting a Cliffjumper and a Payload. The latter I would like to see repainted as Rodimus Prime. Think the mold works great for that character, assuming he’d get another head.



With the movie line almost gone and Animated looking as it does, I probably won't be buying much TF's until the next movie hits.

You'll be highly disappointed if you DO get Payload, I can almost guarantee...

As for TF's until the next movie line - what about Classics 2.0 / Universe?

I love my Payload. People complain about his plunger babygot-back... but you know, he's a toy. and if you play with that gimmick a bit, you know play with it, its pretty cool.

But this does touch on a problem with the movies toys for adult collectors. They aren't much for display pieces. As much as I have enjoyed all of my movie figures but I am really looking forward to the TFA figures just to lighten up the display area.

I think the movie line has satisfied my need for detailed bots, complicated transformations and realistic altmodes.
And now I am ready for some silly fun blot.

One nice thing about the movie toys is that they forced Hasbro to get serious about TF design again. When your alt mode is pre-decided (as well as the look of the robot mode), you have to get creative. And I think they really did -- the best TFs in this line are RiD level complexity, which is cool IMO.

But yeah, a whole bunch of Animated toys would be a breath of fresh air. The movie is great and all, but it's so SERIOUS... at least as far as Transformers goes.

I personally don't care for a lot of complexity with my transformers. The movie line IMO was mid level when compared to the bulk of the alt line which was just fine. After a couple of times through I could transform any number of these movie bots a hell of a lot faster than any of the alts. It was really cool to see Hasbro really have to think outside the box for a change. Even as deluxe/voyager figs they rivaled the overused transformation schemes of the alt line which more or less looked similar in how they transformed. Starscream I think wins for the most unique transformation. The collapse able plane/automorph was brilliant.

As collector I'm about done with this line. All that's left is Stockade, Incinerator, and possibly a premium LC Megatron. The war looks kind of one sided as is With LC Prime towering over everyone.

After that, I'm good and ready for Animated, and possibly some Universe/Classics 2.0.

While I've been a tacet member for a while this is my first post Be gentle, ladies and gentlemen

I'm not a huge fan of the movie aesthetic, but as I look across the room at my movie Autobot posse formation, I'm very happy with most of them, but not overjoyed by the Decepticons. Beside being a new poster, the second strike against me is going to be my need for scale, and I just can't get behind the lack of size in the Decepticons, and so have been most disappointed by them.

As for the biggest thematic disappointment, that would have to be Starscream. How does a character go from this long, tall, lithe profile that we were offered with the protoform SS to ape-bird-man SS during a routine re-formatting? Talk about a major transporter accident!

Someday, I'll kitbash what F-22 Starscream should have looked like based on the protoform toy, and I'll post it in the kitbash forum. Or someone else will do it first, now that I've put this out there. . .

Sucky Mc.Suckerson.