Grahf

I completely expected Metalhawk to be a retool of Cyclonus. What I didn't expect was that it was going to be G1 Metalhawk and not IDW Metalhawk. IDW Metalhawk's jet mode looks an awful lot like G1 Cyclonus' jet mode. Other than changing things like the chest and whatnot, they really only needed to change how the arms turned into the wings. I imagined that they'd have the arms stick out straight from the jet body and then the forearms would turn so that the wings on them would be used for the jet's wings. The wings would be bigger than the ones on Cyclonus' forearms of course. I never thought that Armada Starscream would be used. While the jet mode bears a passing resemblance to G1 Metalhawk's jet mode, nothing else lines up for robot mode. The sides of the chest kind of look like IDW Metalhawk though but only vaguely. At that point, so does T30 deluxe IDW stealth bomber Megatron's chest. I didn't think Metalhawk would be made from Jhiaxus either. Nothing really lined up between the two at all. It's something people were thinking though. They might as well have used Siege or Earthrise Starscream for him at either of those points. Hell, T30 Brainstorm would've been better to use as a base than either Armada Starscream or Jhiaxus. Shame we never did get a reuse of that mold. I have all four versions of TR Brainstorm but I still can't bring myself to get rid of T30 Brainstorm. It's just a really good mold. I always laugh at the actual length of the Headmaster's arms. If they were straightened out instead of molded with a 90 degree bend in them then the arms would go down lower than the knees. Those are some really long arms but you don't notice them since they're just molded and painted on the insides of the head flaps. I'm happy that we're finally getting a new Twincast and all but I really wish he had a vehicle mode. I stopped caring about them having object modes since I picked up Classics Megatron and was reminded by how dumb it was the whole time. You don't realize it as a kid in the 80's though as that shit was cool. But then I'm holding a gun in my hand and well, that's it. You can't woosh it. You can't swoosh it. You can roll it along. Just nothing. It stays in YOUR hand and YOU pull the trigger. Wow. It's even worse when it's a boombox, camera or tape recorder. I'd much rather have my submarine mode Sixshot, leader class space cruiser Shockwave with all the add-ons or space barge Soundwave any day. At least Perceptor has his tank mode thing. Soundwave and Blaster should always have something similar from now on. Maybe make them have a secret combinable alt mode between Reflector and Soundwave and Perceptor and Blaster. I kind of made one with Percy and Blaster but it's missing something. Like that one upgrade kit on Ebay for Perceptor but it costs like $50 and I don't have time for that. I'm sure I can come up with something for Reflector and Walmart Soundwave but I have three of each color (five total colors) of Siege Reflector so I come up with combos for them instead of combos of them with Soundwave.

Not liking this Cheetor as much as I'm liking either Airazor. I think it's the brown. It looks unfinished and not in a skimping on paint apps kind of way. There really looks like there should be quite a bit more paint on this than there is. Or rather it looks like the brown parts are from a color test prototype and that this example was cobbled together using those parts as well as more accurate prototype pieces. But we won't really know until we get some official images. Overall though the robot arms don't hide away quite as nicely as they do on Kingdom Cheetor but in exchange, the arms look better. The back and shoulder kibble looks better too. I also do like how the legs transform. It looks like they learned quite a bit from Kingdom Cheetor and Tigatron as well.

The back kibble looks pretty accurate to me. There is a shot of it elsewhere and it doesn't look any different than the original other than the handlebars being attached. There's a flap as well but it looks like it can be folded down. I actually like how stocky he looks. If not for that then it would've made the upper legs look horrible. Normally I hate when the thighs are so short when they're supposed to be long but the overall proportions make it so that it doesn't bother me any. Especially when the lower legs retain the same transformation scheme as the original.

Wow. That looks awesome. Now I have another figure to sell when I finally finish going through my totes. I'm just so glad that it's not a retool of Arcee in any way. In fact, I'd rather Arcee have been a retool of this. I like Legacy Prime Arcee but it's far from my favorite recent toy. It's overdesigned to its own detriment in all ways. They already made three great toy designs for Prime Arcee (First Edition, Prime Robots in Disguise deluxe and PRID legion). All they needed to do was clean one of them up a bit while adding in more modern articulation and putting it all through the "G1" filter. Regardless, this is one where I can't wait to see the DNA upgrade kit for. DNA has majorly dropped the ball lately (more like the past two years) but this is one where there's no way they should be able to mess it up. It's very clear what's needed, the sidecar/armor upgrade, so just make and implement that. I don't see how it would attach but that's not my problem lol.

Mine hasn't shipped out yet. I got a notification today saying they shipped something but it was the rest of one of my black Friday orders. The Mojo boxest, Flamewar and two Slicer sets. Magnificus is running late though but Holiday Optimus made it to me first even though it was shipped a day later and it was only those two on the order. Then there's going to be another shipment heading my way from them as I ordered that Amazon Exclusive Power Rangers Dino Fury Megazord three pack and it was missing parts...not that anyone is actually surprised to read that about that line. So Hasbro is sending me some apology figures and Amazon is sending the replacement. I know Hasbro gets a lot of shit and I usually stand up for them but ALWAYS double dip when you have problems with your figures that you purchased from somewhere else. Hasbro will NEVER ask for the figure back or ask you to destroy them with proof of destruction unlike some other stores. Just give them all the relevant info and they'll send you something. Then let the actual store you purchased from replace your figure. But seriously though, BBTS asked me to destroy the defective product. I thought it would be easy but it was not. My heart was breaking with every thing that I broke. It just felt so...wrong. But I got to keep them still and ended up fixing them actually and will be using them for customs or something. It was a Reflector 3 pack. I was going to make the Drillbit custom that someone did from Reflector a while back but lost interest. Maybe I'll just toss them into one of the junk lots of Transformers I'll list on Ebay soon though as I just don't have it in me to customize figures anymore. I don't have it in me to keep going through all my stuff and pulling stuff out to sell either. I have like ten more storage totes to go through and then after that I'll have like five totes worth of stuff to list. I have like two and a half right now and can't be bothered to do anything more than what I did get around to listing which was a tote full of single figures that were easy sells. I hate Ebay. Having to take pictures and look up prices only for assholes to tell you that your prices are too high even though you're literally the lowest available or tied for the lowest available for said item at the moment. Then they want to offer you less than half your asking price and insinuate that they're doing you a favor. Or they try to tell you that since you don't have the box and instructions that they'll only offer you this much instead as if they're doing you another favor. Yeah I know I don't have the packaging and instructions. If I did, the price would've been higher dumbass. I price my things accordingly based on completeness and condition. I do a bunch of research on each item and even check misspelled listing to see if some idiot had it lower with the wrong name too. I do avoid the fucktards that list things for like half the going rate because they apparently hate everyone, including themselves. Sure just give the $150 figure away for $30 you stupid fucking dick. Sorry, I just really hate Ebay. Or rather the buyers on Ebay not that Ebay itself is any better with how they cater to the sellers customers (aka the buyers) instead of their own customers (aka the sellers). I, the seller, am Ebay's customer. So why am I treated like shit whereas they treat my customers better even though they don't get paid by them. They get paid by the sellers. Or rather, they steal money from the sellers is more like it. Okay I'm going to stop this time for real. Sorry. Time to open some more black Friday stuff from Pulse.

Guess I'm just going to have to wait until mine comes in so I can see some actual relevant size comparisons. It seems nobody wants to make the ones that should be made, not even Optibotimus. The main one being Takara Legends Super and God Ginrai. Then GS Dai Atlas, GS Star Convoy/PotP Optimus, PotP Rodimus, PotP Optimal Optimus and CW Ultra Magnus to lesser and lesser degrees. I also have my GUOP with thigh, leg and foot upgrades waiting to size up to Star Saber as well. Why you may ask? Because Star Saber and Victory Saber were not only scaled to the current Generations scale, they were also scaled to the older one too just like PotP Optimal Optimus but in reverse. They were made specifically to stand next to Super and God Ginrai, Dai Atlas and Star Convoy. And by default, the others I mentioned as well since they were all around the same size. Only Metalhawk and Fortress Maximus need figures at that size now. Well and Lio Conovy...and Big Convoy...and RiD 2001 Optimus...and Armada Optimus (at least until next year supposedly)...and Energon Optimus...and Animated Wingblade Optimus...and Beast Hunters Optimus...but I mainly meant the first few G1 leaders. Otherwise they could've made them bigger as they are a little on the short side of the scale chart. I'd love a Metalhawk made from PotP Black Shadow/Overlord. Maybe Fortress made from CW Megatron. But just to have them though. All things considered though, they should've made the outward shoulder movement for Star Saber better. They also could've put in a waist swivel for Victory Leo as it's not actually that difficult to do with that design. I think Hasbro has did something similar before actually but I'm currently drawing a blank as to what it was but I know I've seen it before with at least one or two third party figures. There's no reason why those couldn't have happened as this wasn't limited by a price range. If charging an extra $20 could've gotten those things to be designed in then so be it. NOTHING should've been left out like that from the base figures. There is no budget restrictions for these. Oh and Saber should also have had panels for the forearm gaps and there shouldn't have been any waffling either on Victory Leo's cannons or thighs. And if it were me, I would've made the Brain of Courage a Titanmaster.

If this isn't transforming Care Bears then I will riot. Admittedly, that wouldn't amount to much as I am but a single person and I'm too lazy to riot so it would be more like a slightly perturbed scoff. Much scoffing will be had.

Along with Minerva's light bar and guns. It's some sort of real figure going by the color of the translucent plastics. With the way Hasbro has been making people's wish lists lately, I don't doubt that this is a real figure. I made that mistake in doubting them when reading the leaks before but not anymore. Bring it on Hasbro. I just want cool toys regardless of my connection to the fiction or if I have the mold several times over. The only thing I don't look forward to is buying yet another filler kit. I very rarely pick them up but this is one mold where I did for all versions so far. So this is yet another one to get. Then there's Crosscut as well. Not to mention Reboost if they get around to that one. I'd also want the other red Skids as Reboost is red Crosscut or vice versa. And I'd want AoE Rollbar too lol but I wouldn't mind if they didn't do this one so I have a reason to keep the T30 Skids mold around.

Three sets so far. Fangry was in one and that was it as far as we know. Horri-Bull or Squeezeplay should've been in each of the other two. Squeezeplay could've still fit the last theme too with it being a crab monster thing. Not that Horri-Bull couldn't as it only said "Creatures" Collide and not "Insects/Arachnids" Collide. Creature could mean any animal really even a bull monster thing. It just sucks that we got one and not the other two. All three can be made from that same Doublecross...Twinferno base mold if Hasbro felt like it. Horri-Bull wouldn't be that difficult to make from it. But at least the Decepticon Headmaster jrs get some love unlike some of their Autobot counterparts not named Nightbeat. They even made that Dominus Pursuit Punch/Counterpunch in Nightbeat's colors and he got a Funpub figure. All three Decepticons had Titan Masters, Nightbeat and Siren too. But poor Hosehead got nothing. Cab got a Headmaster in Legends though.

The more I look at Needlenose the angrier I get. Not that it's bad or anything, it's just that we're never going to get all three Decepticon Double Targetmasters with matching partners ever again. TR Quake didn't come with any. Transformers Collectors Club Needlenose and Spinister have matching ones though. Siege Spinister has two Battlemasters that you had to hunt down. Legacy Needlenose has a new mold for his. If they make a new Quake he'll probably come with yet another new mold. At the very least he'll come with the ones Needlenose has. It's just that they're not going to redo Spinister any time soon. Even if they do reissue him as a wave filler next year, they're never going to give him the new Double Targetmasters as Spinister wasn't budgeted with those in mind. It would far exceed the budget for a single deluxe even in a wave of simple redecos or reissues to try and cut costs elsewhere. And looking at these new Double Targetmasters, they'd be too expensive to sell them as a pair in the Battlemaster class if they bring it back but not enough to sell them at core class. Singly, they'd be too small to sell as Battlemasters. Maybe put the pair with a gun or two at core class? Quake could possibly get a new mold sometime after Legacy Evolution maybe. Again though, I'm just worried that he'll come with yet another style of Targetmaster by the time they get to him again. But at most, we'll only ever have two sets of matching Double Targetmasters. At least the Deceptions get updates unlike 2/3 of the Autobots. Landfill and Quickmix haven't had new figures in, well, ever. Scoop somehow got one though. Probably due to the comics if I'm not mistaken. So even if we manage to get the Decepticons to have matching Double Targetmasters, we'll never get the Autobots to match those. However, it's not like the standard Targetmasters were all redone with a single mold for the partners either. Takara came close with the Legends releases but never did Nightstick or Fracas. Don't understand why they didn't make them and just release them elsewhere like they did with others. Astrotrain didn't come with anything extra and neither did Sixshot or Soundwave. Galvatron didn't come with anything either but he came out before Blurr and Scourge who also didn't come with anything extra as well and if they were going to give one to Galvatron then they might as well have given Fracas to Scourge then but the Targemaster molds weren't done yet. So much for Hasbro dedicating to finishing teams.

I like that. I like that a lot. I like it better than Kingdom Airazor. I just hope nothing breaks on this like the wings on my Kingdom Airazors. One wing broke on each. Luckily it was the opposite wings and I was able to salvage one good figure between the two. Also that Silverbolt's...er I mean Skywarp's wings didn't break either. And while I know it's not likely for non-SS86 figures to be reused for something other than for Studio Series, I think this could make a good base for a Beast Machines Night scream. Or at least, the basic design could be reused ala CW Wildrider/Deadend/Streetwise and TR Chromedome/Getaway. In that same vein, I always though that SS helicopter Drift would've made for a good base for Airachind. I stared a custom years ago trying to graft her parts onto his but I never finished it. I was stuck on one part due to my limited supplies and knowledge but it would've worked had I just had the tools it would've went pretty well. Both figure are still in pieces on my work desk and I've long since buried them under a pile of other things. I'm cleaning up now though so I'll see them again soon. Not that I need an Airachnid now though. Come to think of it, I started so many customs I didn't finish. CW BW Airazor. CW BW Silverbolt. PotP Crasher. PotP Goradora. TR Flame or Straxus. PotP Jhiaxus. Siege green Ratchet. CW Strika. PotP Dark Nitro Convoy although she's almost completely finished. I forget what I needed to do to finish her other than pop her leg kibble pins back in properly. Damn, that job I took when I was doing those customs really messed me up to the point where I didn't feel like doing anything anymore. This was all years ago if you can't tell by the choice of figures I was trying to make.

There's quite a few things that people don't know about or just outright refuse to acknowledge with this figure. One is that the Baroness figure that everyone seems to overlook is valued at about $15 on its own. So no, Megatron isn't a $90 toy. It's at least $75. Then factor in the packaging like he said at about $5 to $10 and Megatron is now about $65 to $70. Which is about $10 to $15 over the current leader pricing. Which is quite literally what people keep saying what the figure is worth. Funny how people outright refuse to do the full math on this as it actually works out but it also debunks them in the process which is why they willfully ignore it. Two is that this is first and foremost a GI Joe toy and NOT a Transformers toy. Just because it seems that most Transformers collectors are the ones reviewing it doesn't make this go away. There's just several dozen to hundred more Transformers reviewers and news outlets than there are for GI Joe. As such the people we hear the most from on this are from the Transformers side. Three is that this wasn't designed by the Transformers team and was instead made by the GI Joe team. This is why the transformation is odd and the robot mode is lacking but the vehicle mode is spot on. This leads back to this being a GI Joe toy mainly. All Transformers Crossover toys that are crossing over with another series that Hasbro either owns or has the rights to make toys for that is also a new mold was never made by the Transformers team. The old Star Wars Crossovers were made by the Star Wars team with heavy limitations in place by Lucasfilms. Likewise the old Marvel Crossover toys were made by the Marvel Legends team. This is why those toys are so odd to bad and that the two lines not only don't look like standard Transformers at the time but they don't even look alike when compared to each other. Gigawatt, Ultimate X-Spanse and Tonkanator are the exceptions but two are retools of existing figures and the last is just a redeco so none are new molds. Takara's Star Wars Crossovers are not included with the rest as those were Takara doing them by themselves with the okay from Disney with no involvement from Hasbro. Which leads me to the fourth thing in that even if the Transformers team did work on this, which they didn't, it would've had no involvement from Takara. Again, this is a GI Joe toy and thusly has no reason to have been designed in conjunction with Takara. They can't be involved in any Hasbro based Crossover in that regard as they don't own any of the brands in question nor have the rights to work on any of them other than Transformers. They worked their own deal with Disney for the three Star Wars figures and then worked their own deal with Capcom for the Street Fighter figures. However Hasbro seems to have made a deal with someone to release the Street Fighter figures as again, they had no involvement in their creation other than owning the Transformers brand and those toys as they were all just redecos. They didn't have the rights to release them without making a new deal though. There's also another way to look at the pricing. It's $28 for a HISS tank including a figure. It's $55 for a leader class Transformer. Finally $7 for the boxes. There's your $90. Do I want to pay $90 for this ? Nope. Do I personally think it's worth $90? Nope. Do I too devalue the Baroness figure? Yep. Do I not care about the "premium" trash...I mean packaging? Yep. However, I can still argue the points and understand what goes into the process.

I preordered one but I too would've wanted him to be a commander class. It's such a perfect fit. Astrotrain is too small as it is just for Astrotrain and he's way too small for Galaxy Shuttle. But you know who this isn't too short for? Spay-C from the GoBots. It might actually be too big for her but that's better than being too small. I'll grab a second one at some point and customize it into her. Hopefully Toyhax will have made a sticker set upgrade for doing just that. Maybe even with a new head. At the very least I hope someone makes a Super GoBots Spay-C head to put on this. It's cool that this was designed from the start but there's a few others I would've liked to see from this mold long before they went here. Sentinel Prime based on his Titans Return design. Armada Jetfire based on his cancelled Botcon toy also based on Titans Return Astrotrain/Sentinel Prime. Armada Overcast...er I mean Armada Powerlinx Jetfire as Overcast is the US name for Energon Powerlinx Jetfire as Jetfire's brother and I just use it for both Jetfire redecos. The cancelled Spacewarp that was eventually redone into Timelines Astrotrain. Star Dasher which is the new name for that odd white/blue/orange Platinum Astrotrain reissue. Not to mention toy colors Astrotrain. Takara reissue Astrotrain too but then that would pretty much just be Galaxy Shuttle anyway. It would've been nice if they thought of that last one aHEAD of time and kept the Astrotrain head in the box like they did for the Creatures Collide set. And also have a sticker sheet to make him one character or the other. I would've bought three at that point one for each character and one for Spay-C. They certainly would be able to sell more if they had thought of doing that. And since Spay-C is also the same colors, maybe have made a head for her as well and expanded the sticker sheet to further differentiate the three from each other. I mean, it's all pretty obvious and would've made it more likely to sell through stock on such an obscure character. Assuming they still used the Galaxy Shuttle name on the box and not Astrotrain at that point. Damn, I might just have to grab three of this now. I could maybe use Titans Return Darkmoon as the face for the black and white Astrotrain instead of trying to find just the head from another Siege Astrotrain to use. I hope this guy goes on sale before selling out as I don't feel like putting an extra two leader class Transformers on my Walmart card. At least I get points though.

He looks really good. However this design showcases the major limitations of using a large amount of translucent plastic. The paint isn't going to match normally but since it's yellow it's going to be worse. Then the paint is over tranlucent blue plastic which only compounds the matter of the yellow paint. But most egregious is that the windshield just ends up as chunks of kibble since there's no hinges in them. So as a workaround they put the chunks on ball joints so that they can be moved from one place to another in order to use the articulation. If you have to do that then it should tell you to maybe not design it like that. If the windshield had been made of standard opaque plastic then it not only would've saved on paint since there's less paint needed for the windows but only just on this design but it would've allowed them to work in some hinges to have the parts fold flat against the sides of the legs. Or they even could've reused some of those design tricks from PRiD deluxe Vehicon to flip and compress some of those panels to fill in the lower legs. It's just so odd that they haven't gone back to that design for anything. It was a really good design and hid what would've been big panels of kibble otherwise as seen on the first edition Vehicon into the actual parts of the robot while also maintaining accuracy. Most Studio Series figures would greatly benefit from the PRiD Vehicon's design. It really was an amazing way to design and deal with those pieces. The Dreads especially now that we really see just how incredibly bad those kibble pieces are on Hatchet as hiding that kibble on his back means putting them right out in the open as he's a quadruped and not a biped. It's cool that he's reusing the same shell pieces to give them all the same alt mode but damn if it wasn't a bad design to begin with though. The Transformers design teams at Hasbro and Takara should have certain figures visible everywhere in their offices to draw inspiration from while working. Just so that they can look up and remind themselves on how they already solved the problem they're working on now years ago better than anything they can design now seemingly. Prime Robots in Disguise deluxe class Vehicon is one of those figures. It is a masterclass in design still. Again though, I really like the look of Hot Shot. The kibble isn't too bad but it just could've been done so much better and made the figure damn near perfect in the process. It's just so close and then kind of falls apart needlessly.

It's so nice to have internet back again after two weeks. Hurricanes suck. I loved the Weaponizers/Modulators/Fossilizers but always wished that their parts were designed to have more meaningful combinations with each other, themselves or standard bots. I'm currently still trying to make a combined Powerdasher that I like as the three just aren't fully designed to work together in a useful way. Scraphook looks like his parts might be designed to do just that though as he has a bunch of extra ports that can be used up to and including in the center of the wheels as the tire is what spins and not the rim. I mean, the main artwork for the year seems to implicate that they have meaningful combinations in any event and I hope that holds true. However, he's not using the torso when combined with Needlenose so who knows. Maybe it's just that Needlenose doesn't have any other useful ports for combination. There's pegs on the wings he didn't use and the port on the back when you take out the tail fin but the jet kibble would interfere when using that port. These early reviewers have little imagination as it is so I'll just have to wait until I get them in hand myself to see how good these Junkions really are. Regardless I'll be getting three of each like normal. So long as I can afford to get extras that is. Hasbro is killing it lately.

Looks like they learned some lessons from their Orthia combined sword when designing this one. It looks pretty good. Orthia's sword isn't bad though either it's just that the spear/arrow piece warps easily due to the nature of the printed plastic. It's too long and I'm scared to try to do anything to it as I don't want it to break. I wish they used better quality filament if they're going around selling these as they do. But I can only imagine the prices they'd try to charge then. These 3D printed upgrades are usually overpriced as it is and they're made with some of the cheapest filament possible in some kits. Just maybe use better quality plastic for swords, combining pieces and long cannons and then use the cheaper stuff for fillers and smaller guns or something. I'd buy more kits if they weren't so overpriced. Or more to the effect of if they actually did more than just gap fillers. I couldn't care less about gap fillers. My Transformers have had gaps in them since the 80's. It's not a new thing, get over it. And it's not nearly as bad as it was during the Beast Era. Seriously though, pick some of them up, the gaps for some are on the front of the robot mode parts, not the backs or inner sides. And where's my Transmetal Rampage gap filler kit!!!

I was trying to see if there was any clues in the crowd. There aren't any really just some interesting stuff. The RID Decepticons are using their "G1" forms and not their UW forms. Chromia, Arcee and Nightbird are using their Legends/T30 forms and not their newer WFC forms. Parasite is also there but nobody else from his boxset. Yes Parasite and not Skywasp as that's the original name and most importantly, that's the Parasite head on it. Gravedigger aka United EX Buildmaster is also there in between Devastator's legs with Parasite. So there's eight Constructicons total when you also count Road Hauler. Road Pig is there which is nice to see. The Stunticons are there but no Breakdown, not that Takara was going to reveal him here. There's a really nice bit of continuity shown here in that the Titans Return Chaos on Velocitron set is here despite Takara not releasing it. Nautica, Quickswitch, Laser Prime using his Legacy form instead of his TR form and even Fastlane using his deco from that set instead of his Takara Legends deco. I love that Cybertron Metroplex's foot and ankle is just there. Just one. It doesn't even look possible to have the other leg anywhere either. You'd see the foot if it were on the other side of Motormaster and it can't go the other way either as it would be on the barricade or the racetrack at that point. I have since found Cosmos and Clampdown. I picked up two Clampdown actually so that I could swap the white hinges onto Red Alert as I said I was going to. I hate working with that mold though, there's no easy/good way to get to the other side of the pin for the shoulders like there was on the Siege version. So you have to leave the miscolored inner shoulder joint by popping them off at the shoulder swivel where it connected to the transformation hinge. I managed to get one of Sideswipe's inner shoulder pins out when I tried but couldn't get the other so I had to do the other way. I couldn't get any from Red Alert or Clampdown to move so again, I went the other way. I just really hate pins that can't be extracted once they're inserted. Reflector has a couple of those as well. I now know after messing with him from looking at that "custom" that was shown a while back about using one as a replacement for Cybertron Drillbit for Metroplex. I had a Reflector 3 pack that had some issues and BBTS made me destroy them before sending me a replacement. So I still had the destroyed figures lying around and decided to see what I could do with them to make my own version of Drillbit. While taking them apart to fix them I found out that the two pins in the torso can't be taken out without breaking some pieces internally. It's not like the figure doesn't hold together without those pins so I went and broke all the insides of the torsos taking them apart. Now I have them ready to paint if I ever get around to it. I think I fixed them enough to get two good figures out of the three. There's one that I broke in such a way that can't be fixed with just some glue. Oh well, they're free figures anyway.

Oh boy BaCon, I am...I am ever...I am ever so "wet" now. I am just soaking wet from all...of...these...Transformers...leaks... I'm not quite sure that's how these kinds of things go though lol. I'm very interested in the WFC listings provided they're the video game versions as most of us think. Generations WFC Optimus and Megatron were two of the best deluxe molds not only of their time but ever. It would be nice to see those designs as voyagers. I'd be less interested though if they did the FoC deluxe Optimus Prime design instead. I don't like that design quite as much. RED is just so odd though. From the overall design of the figures in how the articulation works to the materials used. I get that each toyline within Hasbro has their own teams to work on them but how is it that none of the 6in action figure lines reuse concepts and designs from the others. They should be able to share notes at least if not "borrow" people from one line to work on another. I also think the RED team should maybe take some design elements from Gundam Universe. Bandai of America sucks at most of their lines but that's one of the best out there. Hasbro could use the same joints between the majority of the figures and then just reshell them into the different characters around the joints just as the mobile suits do. You can even reuse the same parts between differently sized figures with no problem. And for the love of Primus, use better plastic. I swear they're going to melt. Not that I have many. I only have two right now, Arcee and Knockout. Between RED and Super 7's Ultimates lines, I find the choices to be boring. I get whey they have to do who they do but if at least Hasbro marketed RED as a supplementary line to Generations then it would be for the better. If they used RED to make figures of non-transforming characters instead of non-transforming versions of characters that are supposed to be able to transform they might get more sales. Or at least, get more fans to support them. There's plenty of characters that can be used in this fashion. Pretenders, Lithonians, Quintessons, different guards throughout the series, comic only characters like Hook, Line and Sinker and so on. That all being said though, Soundblaster does not interest me one bit. Just couldn't care less.

Indeed that tends to happen. The bots almost always outnumber the cons. To be fair though, they always did. It is however one of the reasons why I don't mind a million seeker redecos. They're nice to have to even things out. I've also taken to purchasing multiples of certain 'cons as well. I have multiples of some of Unicron's minions. And I have three of every color Reflector bot. Three retail, three Netflix and three 3-packs. Not to mention the Sharkticons, Quintessons, Allicons and Baliffs. Gotta make up those numbers somehow. I ended up with so many 'cons, I've started to keep them as their sub factions instead of all being 'cons. So all the Quint related 'cons are all just Quints. All the Unicron Spawn/Minions/Heralds/whatever are all separate to the standard 'cons. I just want them all though. But I came back in during Classics so I'm a more enthused by the non-G1 main cast stuff. I owned them all in the 80's, owned them all in the mid 00's and owned them all again and again ever since. So for me, it's nice to see the other iterations get some love. There's a dozen or three of some original G1 characters but only one or two options for some of these other characters they've been doing.

Okay so Detritus isn't one of the "Deluxe Junkions"? Or maybe he was and his name took over the placeholder name? It's just that if he isn't one of the deluxe Junkions then who is? Are they more Weaponizer type characters? Are they going to be dropped like the Energon Monsters? Just as with the Energon Monsters, I hope these are Weaponizer type characters if they still get made. I love those things. Otherwise, I'd like to see female Junkions like Nancy. Strongarm? RID 2015 Strongarm? If so, I hope they do GoBots Smallfoot from her too. Deluxe Devcon. I wonder if he'll get his own mold to be later retooled into someone else or be a retool of someone. If so, who? You'd think Scourge but that's a voyager. Maybe they go the way of one of his cancelled figures and he's a retool of Mirage based on the Vehicon Mirage redeco. Or maybe the other cancelled figure and be a retool of TR Slugslinger. Dammit, I hope it's not Blurr. I hate that mold. It's definitely going to be a reuse of IDW Blurr, just look at that alt mold, especially the front end. They're both even supposed to have the rear thrusters that Blurr doesn't have but people are making 3D printed kits for. Scraphook? It doesn't even have a size class listed for it. What could this be? Not a single Transformer or GoBot has ever had that name. Oh wait, maybe a new name for Wrecker Hook? Like they can't secure the US name of Tow-Line and are using his Japanese name which they can't secure either. Or maybe they're finally using Earthrise Ironhide as Energon Tow-Line and they don't want both of them with the same name? So if Wrecker Hook, maybe have him based on Hoist? Otherwise I have nothing on what this could be. Maybe a Constructicon but no. So there's an actual listing for Shadow Striker now and not just a misinterpreted listing? There's still no universe designation though but it's a deluxe so it's not going to be a black and red Wheelie redeco lol. So we still don't know if it's Cyberverse Shadow Striker or OTFCC Shadow Striker. I'm okay with both but I'd rather OTFCC SS so that we can get her sister as well as lead into the RID 2001 Autobot brothers with Side Burn. But only for those reasons. Character wise, Cyberverse SS wins. The rest are what they are I guess. Not really much to talk about there. I would be interested in Seaspray though if only to see how they make him. I just finally found a Cosmos the other day and I've been comparing him with Warpath as the original leaks said they were retools. They're obviously not but they very easily could've been. While messing with them to see how easily it would've worked, I noticed that Seaspray could also be made from either. All three should be retools of each other moving forward to save on budget since there's not many reuse options for them otherwise, Seaspray especially. This way we wouldn't have to ever worry again about not getting one due to that reason as all three would use some basic pieces and transformation and just need to be reshelled. Saving on the budget with these three would make Powerglide easier too since he's the most unique of the minibots and only maybe kinda sorta has two potential reuses in Bad Boy and Viper. One's a GoBot that isn't guaranteed to get made due to "reasons" and the other is a GIJoe crossover that was made for the Combiner Wars toyline. But seriously though, the three of them sit down with their feet becoming the front of the vehicles with their torsos becoming obvious parts of the vehicle mode with their arms as the sides of the vehicles. Seaspray is a little different in that his torso doesn't stick up from the vehicle but instead becomes the rear of the vehicle but that's fine as it's just a simple retool to do.

Well I guess that's why Crasher isn't using the Dragstrip mold. But at least I was right that it would look good as Crasher. I guess I know what I'll be doing when I get these. Head swap and some repainting. But I was almost right about what the supposed "Shadow Striker" was going to be. I jokingly said that it was going to be based on RotF Shadow Striker which was just a black with red Universe legends class Wheelie. Well damn, I might be doing this one too. So that's three Shadowstrip and two Crasher I might be picking up. It all depends on if I have the money for that many extras I guess as this will also need an extra Wrecker Leadfoot too but I want more Masterdominus anyway though. I might have to cut that Shadow Striker though as it's the least accurate and there's a perfectly mediocre Wheelie out now to use. Who am I kidding though, I never get around to doing any customs anymore anyway unless they're just parts swaps. I have three easy ones to do which only require the heads to be repainted to make the new characters and I haven't even done that yet. I think I'm just mad that almost all the customs I did in Siege have since been done officially. Tigertrack, Clamp Down, Deep Cover, Delta Magnus, black Ironhide...twice. From Shadowstrip: Shadowstrip, Crasher, Shadow Striker. From Crasher: Crasher, Slicks. From Leadfoot: Leadfoot, Slapdash, Slicks.

Under eleven inches? Not what I'm looking for. I would very much like an Omega Supreme that's roughly in scale with CW/UW/PotP combiners, Legacy Menasor or most importantly, the undersized KO of CW Devastator. And I just want the titans at smaller, easier to handle sizes. I like them, especially the newer titans but you can't really just pick them up and mess around with them as easily as commander class figures and under. Even the old supreme class is easier to mess with than titans even if they're the same weight just because they're smaller.

I hope they don't forget the Tensig Base Optimus Prime. Although, I don't really like these sets anymore. I don't like the hammer or ax as they're too small due to being designed to fit inside of GUOP's water cannons. I don't use them on any of my figures now. As for the leg extensions, I really only like them for GUOP but use them with both versions of UM as well. I use them in conjunction with some 3D printed thigh extenders as well. I modded my Siege UM and GUOP so that they still transform normally even with them. I cut out the plastic behind the hips so that they now shift back to the bumper (kind of like Titans Return Optimus Prime/Octane) to fill in that gap behind the front wheels. This allows the thigh extenders to fill that spot instead of the wheels from the DNA kits. There's the perfect amount of room to allow for two different kinds of 3D printed thighs (they're all made the same size) to fit in that spot while leaving the rest of the legs in the normal spots for transformation. Meaning that the trailer still connects to the cab of the trucks like normal instead of pushing it back. The mod can't be used with Kingdom Ultra Magnus though as his front bumper sits differently on the truck cab and doesn't allow for the mod to work right. It's a moot point though as the trailer for Kingdom UM's trailer doesn't connect to the truck cab anyway. So it sticks out further back to look more like how a normal trailer would sit. The height extension granted by the 3D printed thighs and by the DNA kit is the same. So it doesn't matter which one I use unless I want double height like I do with my GUOP to make him very leggy like the original mold. Regardless, at least this is one of their better kits and was actually decently priced. I still think it's a shame that the Magnus kits never came with fillers for the shoulder pylons. I mean it cost the same as the GUOP kit and that one came with the pieces for the water cannons to fill them and store the weapons.

Well this makes sense since one of them also leaked a potential leader Prime Skyquake. I just hope we get the trifecta with a new Machine Wars Megaplex based on the Botcon figure too. I'll also take a Machine Wars Megatron as well. Maybe Megaplex and Megatron can each come with the standard Skyquake/Dreadwing head as well as their Megatron heads. Multiple heads should be standard for certain figures moving forward. However, budgets are tight as it is with Transformers so it might not ever happen. I hope this means we'll get some more leaks soon. There were a few from that big listing I somewhat jokingly thought was fake that I'd like to see what Hasbro does for their redecos/partials. Tarn, ?Universe? Hot Shot and Needlenose don't all have obvious reuses. Hot Shot might but it all depends on which version it is. Leo Prime would be interesting as well if they don't just plan on making some of his recolors that are mainly just himself still. Crasher still sucks though and should've been a partial off of Dragstrip. I will never let that one go. Slicks from Mirage and Crasher from Dragstrip. That makes the most sense overall.

It's worse than that if the rumors are true. Bludgeon and Metalhawk are supposedly going to be voyagers. So that makes three different sizes for the Pretenders. I hope some decent KO company that's still around will upsize them all to voyager so they can all match or at least make the core class Pretenders the same size as Skullgrin. I watched about half of that video before turning it off as I was reminded why I don't watch Chefatron's videos anymore. He understands so little about the design process and the reasoning behind the plastics being used. Yet he complains all the time making him look like a fool. Tonton was even worse though and Prime vs Prime is only slightly better. It's such a shame that these three are the ones that are willing to pay extra to get the figures early. Actar got one early once and his review was so much better. I miss his Digimon reviews. If only he was more into getting the figures early to make videos or just make more videos in general. Overall though, I still stand by my saying that Generations Skullgrin is the better figure still even though it has those huge backpack shell pieces and the wrong weapons. That won't stop me from getting this new one though. I have more than enough room for both. I don't have the need for only one figure of each character or to sell the old ones as soon as the new ones come out. If I didn't like the older ones though, I'll sell them like I did with almost all the old CHUG figures. Some of them suck so bad and always did like the Classics Seekers, 2.0 Lambor bros, 2.0 Datsuns, 2.0 Ironhid/Ratchet, RTS Tracks and Generations Wheeljack and so on. And while 2.0 Galvatron sucks too, I can't bring myself to sell him. I think I have every non-translucent version of him now too.