Joe Velez

Okay so no translucent plastic on that Trailbreaker. So hopefully the rest won't have it either. Otherwise with him being grey, he'll be my update to GoBots Scratch. Just need someone to make a new head for him. But most likely nobody will. So I'll probably just end up getting Renderform's head in grey when he makes it. At the very least some of these or the ones they're replacing can be gobots. Jeeper Creeper for Hound, Pocket for one of the Sunstreaker and Scratch for Trailbreaker. Then there's Jazz and Wheeljack. I'll figure something out other than trying to flood the market with worthless figures like everyone else is going to try to do. Nobody wants them, don't bother except for Sunstreaker and Trailbreaker if you're not going to use them as other characters like I'm going to. But seriously though, Jazz was just put back on shelves at Walmart for black Friday. He'll probably still be available by the time this set comes out. Nobody is going to want your used Jazz when they can still get a new one for essentially $12.50 + tax. There are five sets of labels for that mold on Toyhax. Just get one of them to turn it into either G2 Jazz, "SG" Jazz or use one of the two Toxitron G2 Jazz label sets to make a new character. As for Wheeljack, didn't he get TWO package refreshes and a Netflix release? Yeah, nobody needs your Wheeljack. I can't even think of anything else to do with him. Paint him black and call him Rube?

It took them all this time for this? Seriously? At the very least this has better transforming leg pieces than I already have. But no shield for Snarl or Grimlock so why bother making the ones for Sludge and Slag? Sludge has better options to fill that void under the dino mode like those nice transforming feet. If they all had Shields I might have gone back and got them all but not if only two have them. Again no full filler kit in this. Only for the bottom of the front dino feet. So only Grimlock gets the fillers for the bottom of the robot feet even though they all need them. Luckily there are options for the fillers for all the Dinobots so far...which I have. No gun. At least there's options for this that I have as it came with the filler pieces for Snarl. Still no rocket launcher looking gun. So this will be the only Dinobot without two guns. Or rather, a gun in general since this kit doesn't come with any gun at all for him and the base figure came with the sword whereas the others came with one of their two guns. Swoop will be the exception since he came with two launchers instead of one launcher and one standard gun and of course his sword will be made by at least three different designers. Is that a non-articulated sword pointing hand stub thing? Why bother? Just make hands that can do that. It's literally the easiest thing ever. Just make the base that goes over the mushroom peg but on this isn't the whole hand but an offset disc for a disc hinge. Then make a hand to go on that disc that has a slot on the bottom so that the hand can spin downward on the disc hinge. Two pieces, that's all that's needed for each hand. The hand will look 100% normal in the standard position but can rotate downward to point the sword forward looking almost exactly like that piece in this kit. You can even have a slight cut out on top of the hand so that the hand can even go upwards a bit. I couldn't care less about the effects parts or the mouth attachment for them. Especially since that piece can't stay there during transformation. I don't care about the new sword but that new angled storage peg for dino mode does make that look good. So I would only want the sword for that good looking storage option and the grey leg parts since the set I have that does something similar only works perfectly on one side. It just wasn't designed properly to work on the one side and several people have stated they have the same problem on the same side. It's doesn't make sense why it doesn't work right either. It looks like it should and that everything was mirrored correctly and nothing seems to be out of place or anything. It just doesn't line up correctly on that one side and throws the whole thing off. These DNA ones looks better and work for both modes too which is more than the other ones do. I don't understand DNA again. They went downhill fast and then started to pick themselves back up after the horrible Transmetal 2 Megatron and Armada Prime kits with the good looking and useful RotB kits and then right back down with this kit that looks like something that was meant to be released months ago when they were doing mediocre to bad kits and they just forgot. It's just how do they keep going from making kits that pretty much do everything needed with some extra bits that are actually useful to making kits that miss the point or don't include the things they should or include things that similar kits had. At least it's not filled with things that happened that one time that nobody wants like all their Kingdom kits.

A "G1" deluxe Autobot five pack? It would almost be a Studio Series 86 five pack if not for the inclusion of Trailbreaker. Bumblebee would've been a good replacement to make that happen. Anyway though, why the other four Autobots in the set? Hound is almost a given that it will be the "G1" version of the Siege mold as seen back in 2022 and is currently used for Detritus. The other four are obviously other season one bots so there's that. Some of them are also difficult to get now apparently like Sunstreaker and maybe Trailbreaker. But that's not really what I'm trying to get at. Are these going to be made without translucent plastic? They can't get rid of Jazz as it is so why make another one already unless it doesn't have the translucent plastic? Similar in a way to what they did with Kup and Cliffjumper. Doing this would also greatly help Sunstreaker since he had three shades of yellow and taking out the yellow paint on the translucent plastic would mean he'd only have two shades of yellow now. Wheeljack was mostly fine except for the robot mode "wings" Trailbreaker was fine as well. He and Hoist are the next ones to be bumped up to a deluxe + style voyager. Or at least they should be. It's just we know Houd will have translucent plastic. So will all of these have it or will some of them have it or is this something else entirely? They're at the very least not going to be straight reissues as it's not listed as a package refresh (PR). Personally, I'd love to see a new Sunstreaker mold already. Like Tracks, the Earthrise mold was lackluster at best. Same with Wheeljack in a way. I just doubt they'll be making new molds for them already let alone releasing them this way. Maybe retools of existing figure? I think that Chase mold would not only make the perfect base for Lockdown (it literally has the same parts layout and transformation for about 90% of it...or rather the RotF figure anyway) but it would also make for a good Sunstreaker and Wheeljack base too. While the transformations are different, the overall result of where the parts go is mostly the same for Chase as it is for Wheeljack and Sunstreaker. The arms are quite a bit different but so were the Earthrise molds. I'll most likely pick this up regardless though. Unless it's straight reissues that is. While I've had no issues with Jazz, I would rather have one without the translucent plastic. Hound is what it is as I like the Siege mold better as I do with Mirage. It's just more "fun" to me and works better overall. However the Siege mold isn't THAT much better like it was with Mirage. The Kingdom Mirage mold just sucks...like Earthrise Megatron. Siege really had great figures compared to their lame retools. Trailbreaker is what it is. At least there's new head options for him now from Renderform. I'd only want another Wheeljack if it had better accessories. I don't want a fourth of that Sunstreaker mold though but I guess one without translucent plastic and better color matching isn't too bad. Where there's an Autobot set, there's bound to be a Decepticon set. So what would it be? Five Reflectors lol. I mean, deluxe sized Decepticons are few and far between when it comes to season 1, season 2, the movie or season 3. There's really only Reflector and the Insecticons. So the three Insecticons/Reflectors and like four core class cassettes? Ravage, Ratbat, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw. If we go season 4 then the Battlechargers could be the other two spots. Those need reissues badly.

Looks pretty good. Glad I picked up an Awakening Primal. The only real thing is though is that I hate those hands and how they "hold" the swords. It's just way too loose for my liking as nothing ports in and the hands barely grip the hilts as there's too little friction to get a firm grasp. At least that gun adapter looks to fit in his hands securely. I would like to have seen new hands that were 5mm compatible with new swords to go with them that tab into the storage slots better as the stock swords fall out easily. Basically, this figure likes to not hang onto the swords well no matter where you put them. The new heads look good. The added neck articulation is nice as well. Shame there's no fillers though. The gaps on the bottom of the feet are pretty egregious. Especially on a figure that doesn't have them anywhere else. New missiles of some sort would've been cool too. Ones that you could leave in for transformation. The stock missiles need to be taken out when not using them. Maybe just new shoulder launchers entirely since they're easy to replace. I didn't start typing my comment with any real negatives in mind but as I was thinking about what to comment on more, I thought of things that could/would have made an already good kit better.

Mayhem deluxe two pack? I hope it's Venom and Chopshop. Even if that would leave Barrage out from the Deluxe Insecticons for the moment. It's still better than just having Ransack though. At the very least, I hope it's not Spinister and Flywheels. Although there's a certain appeal of having them withclean decos. And it's been a while since those were released in Siege so there might be people who need them. It could be Battletrap with Flywheels but I doubt it since the Battletrap mold is still made from two what would now be called core class figures and is most likely not able to be sold as a deluxe due to inflation and whatnot. But Hasbro did question the fans about Prime Wars molds and which ones they'd like to see again so it's not off the table to use PotP molds still. Meanwhile there's also the thought of releasing Needlenose with Spinister even if Needlenose doesn't need a reissue yet. That would be odd though to have two Double Targetmasters in the same pack but only one comes with his Targetmasters. Anything else would need "new" molds or toolings to work as they're all beastforming Pretenders...and Bludgeon who was just released and is a voyager. There are other iterations of the team as well. Ruckus is an option from those other versions of the team to go along with Crankcase maybe using the Beachcomber mold. Windsweeper as well to finish off the trio but I can't think of a mold to use for him. Maybe a retool of Needlenose without the Targetmasters? Oh wait, Take the Targetmasters from the Windsweeper retool of Needlenose and put them in that two pack of Needlenose and Spinister. That way they can both have their Double Targetmasters lol. Other members are Pretender vehicles or those ultra Pretenders which cause problems as do you make them triple changers or just base them on the inner robot or what. I mean, is ROADgrabber just supposed to be a jet? Is Roadblock supposed to be just a six wheeled car? I figured it out!!!!!! The whole subline will be based on the 2005 IDW team. So this way we'll finally get Polar Claw!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean, Tidal Wave is in more than one group (the Star Seekers that are also coming next year at Walmart) since he's also in this same group of the Mayhem Attack Squad. So other than Polar Claw, Tidal Wave and the already mentioned in the article, Impactor (as this is the only version of the team he's even in) its; Stampy, Claw Jaw, PrOWL!!!, Leobreaker!!!, Tuskmaster?, PCC Steamhammer, PCC Smolder, Overbite (Universe version) and their leader Carnivac. Tuskmaster looks to turn into a car so maybe a retool of Axlegrease or Chase. Carnivac is a wolf so maybe a retool of Tigatron that could also be used for Wolfang and K-9. Stampy as a Rattrap or Snarl/Tasmania Kid retool. PrOWL as an Airazor retool but that would suck for him as I really love his design so much more than I love even Airazor. The rest would need new molds though like Claw Jaw, Leobreaker, Steamhammer, Smolder and Overbite. Maybe Smolder could be based on Siege Ironhide or something. The rest really don't really share anything with any "current" molds. Unless they dig up T30 Sky Byte and use that for Overbite lol. Not that making a new Sky Byte mold in general wouldn't sell like gangbusters though. Same for Leobreaker...what's that you say? He's not THAT Leobreaker? Well then. He can be a retool of Cheetor or Tigatron or something depending on how big you want him. There's more you say? Tidal Wave turns into a whale and a tank?!?! but not his standard Dark Fleet? Well I'm just going to ignore that last one despite how cool it would be to have a whale Transformer as Tidal Wave was the main link to this version of the team lol. Oh and Polar Claw can be a retool of Rhinox. That mold is just begging to be turned into so many other Beast Wars characters and yet they do nothing with it. Ironhide/Santon, Torca, Bonecrusher, Polar Claw, Big Convoy, Transmetal Rhinox and more. Well, we don't have to worry about Big Convoy anymore though supposedly though. Just more of my random ramblings. Think of it as my Christmas present to you all.

Okay I thought they made smaller version of all three Dark Fleet pieces. People kept ignoring the backpack when talking about the combining aspect. It was rather visible but nobody seemed to see it and thought that it was only new shoes along with the arm pieces. Anyway though, the fact that they made what is essentially a mini Tidal Wave but DOESN'T have the combined vehicle mode or a robot mode is an absolute travesty. It's TIDAL WAVE. There's not much going on there that they couldn't easily make those pieces a full figure by taking like a quarter inch off the overall height of the main figure. Those guys were talking about this figure as if it was a difficult feat of engineering or something. All they did was upsize the original and add a few pieces of articulation. Then had extra flaps for the base mode and for the storage of the combination components. If DNA doesn't make a replacement for those pieces for it to be a min Tidal Wave, they'll really be dropping the ball. Other than Ramjet, that's all this could possibly need.

The smaller Page Punchers? No thanks. I'm not up for spending that much on trash with limited articulation. If I wanted that kind of stuff I would've kept all my Toy Biz figures or Action Masters. I just don't see the point of those small figures with barely any articulation anymore. Especially when Bandai of Japan is showing all of them up with their Evolve/Ultimate Legends figures on shelves that have better articulation than 90% of modern 6/7 inch figures for half the price. They're even lower priced than most companies smaller limited articulation figures. But for real though, go to Target's "collectible" section over by the DVDs and video games and compare them. Bandai has their Naruto, Demon Slayer and Dragon Ball Evolve/Ultimate Legends figures on shelves next to similarly sized offerings from McFarlane for MHA and Demon Slayer and the Bandai figures blow them away. The Dragon Ball figures are at like $10 each, the Naruto figures are $12 I think and the Demon Slayer figures are I think $15. These figure are even better than Bandai of America's Dragon Stars and Anime Heroes figures by far. They might even be better overall than the Gundam Universe line which is an amazing line as well. But yeah, I'm not going to want a 3 inch figure of a Transformers character than can't do anything. Not when there are companies with 5 inch figures for the same price or less that have all the articulation you can ask for. If this was the larger 7 inch Page Punchers that are just modern standard McFarlane offerings then yes. Those figures are great. Their MHA and Demon Slayers figures are spectacular and their DC and other figures are awesome too. I just don't understand why collectors or anyone else are settling for such crap figures lately. Just because that's what they were like when we were kids doesn't mean that I should settle for them being like that now. Nostalgia isn't that potent of a drug. I got better things to waste my money on.

I'm fairly certain that this DNA kit is for Ultimate Optimus Primal and not SS Optimus Primal. When they posted the update for Volcanicus they asked it people wanted a kit for Takara's RotB Primal by voting for it in the comments. I guess this is the results of that vote. It makes sense since the new parts can just peg into the ports on Ultimate Primal's forearms and shoulders. It also looks like they're replacing the beast mode head too since it looks to have an opening jaw which I think is why people are thinking it's SS Primal. For me the dead giveaway is the flat tab clearly seen on the back of the figure. That to me tells me it's Takara Ultimate Primal. And it would make more sense as I think Apelinq was bigger than Primal so they're using the largest mold for the conversion. I wouldn't mind maybe seeing a small kit for voyager Primal to maybe make him into Optimus Minor or something. That's probably just me though. Voyager Minor, leader Primal and then ultimate Apelinq. Or you can just use the Beast Weaponizer Primal for Minor as that's a decent little figure in its own right and it has the correct beast mode posture. Although, Optimus Minor wasn't a gorilla since he had a tail lol. So no, that wouldn't work. Paint the voyager blue and call him B'Boom then or something like that. I'm still hoping for a retool of Kingdom Primal into B'Boom. They're not all that far off from each other in where their parts go. Not that they really would be as they're such similar animals to begin with. I'd also want another retool into Heinrad too. It could totally pull off the clock chest with how Kingdom Primal's chest transforms. I thought we'd be getting more Beast Wars figures after Snarl/Tazmania Kid was leaked but it seems it's only going to be Magmatron and Big Convoy. Hopefully they'll do Galvatron too from TM2 Megatron.

Studio Series 86 commander class Optimus Prime? Hell yeah! If we were still working with Kingdom Ultra Magnus then Earthrise Optimus prime would be fine. For Rodimus you could still go back to PotP Rodimus and use just Hot Rod as a Rodimus that "matches" Earthrise Optimus and Kingdom Magnus. Or just use SS86 Hot Rod. However we now have SS86 Magnus and that changes things. Earthrise Optimus looks like straight trash next to SS86 Magnus and Kingdom Rodimus. I'm pretty sure that Rodimus has more going on in his two arms than Optimus has going on in his whole body parts wise. Comparing them is not even close.

So uh...what's those clips on the tops of the vehicles of Warrior Bumblebee and Twitch? They certainly look like they can combine with each other. I mean, they can combine together with those two packs with the Malto kid drones but these are different molds from those. They should go on the backs of the robot modes but that doesn't lead to anything really. You could combine them in vehicle mode but one would always be upside down. It could work puttin Twitch on top of Bumblebee though but not the other way around. I take it though that season 2 will have a combining gimmick if these toys are any indication. It just sucks that the first year's warrior class figures won't be able to participate.

I hope this puts to rest anyone still claiming that it's in any way a retool of any Ironhide figure released lately. It has a similar transformation to a few as I already pointed out but that's it. The price is starting to make more sense now seeing as to how tall it is. It was difficult to tell how tall it was just from pictures of it by itself. But seeing it next to Optimus and Ironhide brings it into perspective. I preordered one from Target with the $15 off Target Circle coupon. So it made it about $30. I was far more comfortable with that price. Although $15 off another troopbuilder set would've been nice too.

I was really hoping these weren't shrink wrapped. I only need Wildrider as the rest I already have. I'd like another Ironhide and Ratchet though for customs but they're in different packs. Then I'd maybe want another Kickback but he's in a different set from Wildrider. I already have two Knockouts and Arcees too so getting Wildrider means getting a third Knockout and getting a third Kickback means getting a third Arcee. Then getting Ironhide and Ratchet means getting a second Brawn and Arcee. I'm sure these packs are perfect for someone as they are though. I also thought there'd be a few more sets but it doesn't look like it. Other than the Prime Arcee/Kickback and Jazz/Gnaw sets that aren't shown in any of these pictures. Namely I was hoping for maybe Shrapnel and Scraphook to show up but I doubt it. I don't have Shrapnel at all and would like three more Scraphook. I know I've said I don't like the Junkions but Junkasaurus is growing on me a lot. I'd like at least two and that would require some more Scraphooks as I already have enough Crashbars now.

You mean my constant rambling? lol. Thanks, nice to know that someone other than Bacon read my nonsense. It's baffling as to why Hasbro does and doesn't do things. Especially Polar Claw. They know people are very upset about not getting him so you'd think they would've made him by now. Rhinox is right there to be retooled into him. It wouldn't be too difficult to do and there's even redeco potential for the retool after that. And even taking into account all the Walmart, Target and Pulse store exclusives (that you can pick up right now at Ross), there's still more that could always be done for Generations Selects but they just don't. They start stuff and then don't finish it like they did with Ransack and Fangry. Anyway though more leaks. Of course Cannonball was going to be released. It was obvious. Then why did I go and purchase that Renderform set? Oh yeah, I had an extra Burnout sitting around doing nothing. And an extra Crosscut for the Red Alert set. Still it was rather stupid of me to get them. I guess it was a case of FOMO. They are unique though so that cool. Obvious Dinoking was Obvious. The only problem is deciding on what Upgrade kit to get. You know the three of them so far will all be redone to match. I hope they're retooled. Yes Volcanicus was obviously supposed to be Dinoking but the figures themselves are 100% Dinobots. So to me this would be a bit of a let down if it's just a redeco set with new heads. But I guess that's par for the course with Dinoking having only been a redeco of Monstructor with new Pretender shells. MPM Brawl is what it is. More exciting than Bonecrusher but I couldn't care less about MPM figures. I have Megatron only because it was like $50 on HasbroToyShop on Ebay. Otherwise I don't pick up MP figures other than the Trainbots. Leader Optimus with Bullseye?. Okay. Let me guess, it's NOT a brand new mold that's just Optimus as a leader so that he can look good standing next to Rodimus and Magnus? As he is now, he looks like a cheap "kids toy" next to them. Especially when you bring his dinky little baby trailer over. So I guess we need a SS86 commander class Optimus so he can match Rodimus and Magnus. No ass kibble. New legs! A trailer that isn't shit and actually comes with Roller...both versions. Or rather, that other rolling drone scout thing he had in the show. An Ion Cannon that doesn't fold in half and isn't long enough. A flight pack that you don't have to get from another set like you do for the current one, Roller, a longer (but actually too long) Ion Blaster and his energon axe. So this is most likely going to be a reuse of an existing Prime with that shitty trailer and a Targetmaster. I guess there's quite a few Battlemasters out there now from RotB and WFC that can be used. Kup, as a Triple T? Kup? KUP? Where's the Optimus Prime for this line already? It's nice to see Kup and all but what the hell? Kup? I had to look up what a Triple T was and that's not exactly screaming Kup. Neither was the vehicle for Bumblebee or Soundwave but still. I guess the front scoop thing of the figure looks a bit like Kup. I'd think that maybe maybe Seaspray, Warpath and Powerglide would make for better GI Joe crossovers but okay. I'll get this but when it goes on sale and it WILL go on sale. "Classic Heroes" Primal and Mirage. Okay. Not much to go on here.

I'm down for another from the Steelbane mold. It was rather interesting. I find it funny though as the Steelbane alt mode was a wyvern and not a dragon ("European") as the wings are on the front legs and not the back. Now that you take the wings off if it, it finally makes the mold a dragon ("Chinese"). Having wings in the wrong place makes it not a dragon but taking the wings away in general also make it a dragon. I hope they do more than just "Chinese" dragons though. I'd love another leader Dragonstorm release. Maybe one that doesn't break. Or maybe another use of some of the Prime Predacons? A third ultimate Predaking mold would be great as I have Beast Fire Predaking and Guren Dragotron already. The second voyager is nice too but that first voyager Predaking was really cool. The other Predacons were fun as well, even the two oversized Terrorcons.

So much for $106. It's $220 now it looks like. I don't know if I have time for that anymore. Show Z doesn't have the price up yet. So I'll wait it out still. Not that it really matters as I don't exactly have room to display such big things at the moment and it would basically be getting it for the sake of getting it. But I guess that's my entire collection really.

My months of waiting have paid off! I got an email a week and a half ago from Mandarake about them getting more Burning Plasma Blaster Battmasters in stock. So I grabbed three of them and a Burning Cheetor. I just paid my invoice and it came out to a bit less than a single one of them on BBTS while including tax and shipping. So four for the price of one. Nice. I just wish I grabbed a few more of each now. I think what I got should be enough for what I want though.

There seems to be quite a bit of hate for this figure already. I guess because Junkyard supposedly shelf warmed, that means that people aren't going to want this one as well. Or something like that. I just wish people would make up their minds. They either want all the G1 and then don't buy them or they want all the non-G1 and then don't buy. People paid crazy stupid prices for the previous deluxe Junkions. Sure one was an E-Hobby exclusive but the other two weren't. I just don't get it. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. I'm loving these voyager Junkions. Especially since they have more going on than just new heads. New chests, new shoulders, new arms, new legs, a new vehicle front and a new weapon all split up different ways. I have two of each of the previous with some upgrades and parts swapping. I'll get one of these for sure. Then maybe two more and the another of each of the other two with some other upgrades I haven't gotten yet to see what else I can make. One of each stock and then the other six to mix and match. When I have the room, I'm going to have one hell of a Junkion display. I have 8 PotP Junkions, a CW Junkion (I want more but damn this little guy is expensive now), also the RTS Junkion duo, the Platinum duo and a United Wreck-Gar that I just paid for today on Ebay for cheap. Just need to track down that one E-Hobby one for cheap like I got the Hot Rod for. This is on top of my three Scraphook, three Crashbar and two Trashmaster so far. My Junkasaurus is looking wicked. I should take pics and post them sometime. I still need to get Detritus and Axlegrease. Oh and I guess I have Tow-Line too but fuck him.

I wish this ended up looking like that concept art as the alt modes of the concept art looks a hell of a lot like Transformers Animated season 4's Marauder Megatron. As is, he looks a lot like RotF Megatron in tank mode and core class Bomb-Burst in jet mode.

Magmatron is massive too. Larger than Ultra Magnus and probably around Armada Prime super mode height going by the pics of him holding Leo Prime. So yes, an easy buy. Don't get me wrong about Silverbolt though, he does indeed look beautiful. I just want those damn paws off the arms. And for the wings to come up and over the shoulders so he can point his missile launchers as he did in the show.

And I should've just waited to watch the stream since they did mention that the combined beast mode is still a thing. So the rear feet are just going to look a bit goofy I guess. Blowing up the picture as much as possible it looks like there is a finger flap at the hand. So I was wrong about that too. I see another possible joint at the base of the hand to allow for the hand to become a foot.

Going by SSGE Optimus and Megatron and the look of him in that box lol, Starscream won't be very big. At least it should be a fair bit bigger than the deluxe Starscream as unlike deluxe Optimus and Megatron, Generations FoC SS was made after the size reduction. I can't wait to get SSGE SS and Legacy United Cybertron Starscream. Just need a "MP" third party Armada Starscream and a deluxe Cybertron Starscream now. We got Shapeshift Inc. "legends' WFC SS, FoC deluxe SS, Legacy voyager SS and Planet X SS. We got legends Cybertron SS, the upcoming Legacy voyager SS, Galaxy Force voyager SS, Maketoys SS and Cybertron supreme SS. We got a third part "legends" Armada SS incoming, T30 deluxe SS, Legacy voyager SS and Armada voyager SS. So this way you can pose them all on a shelf like they're Ant-Man growing lol. And of course, there's too many G1 Starscreams that could work for this too but he's boring lol. Let's see: Universe legends SS or a third party "legends" SS, Legacy core SS, Classics deluxe SS, Earthrise/SS86 voyager SS and then a bunch of different MP and third party "MP" Starscreams. Yes I'm crazy I know. Oh wait, Titanium SS, Impossible Toys SS and Siege SS lol. We need more G1 Tetrajets.

Wow. Magmatron looks incredible. The individual "dinosaurs" look amazing even with the gaps in Seasaur's neck. Which even the original has that was made by TAKARA, not Hasbro. So no, gaps in figures are not a new thing nor is it Hasbro that invented it. Takara literally did with their figures from the 70's that eventually became Transformers. It's been there since before the brand itself. Just to cut that off before someone starts in on the gaps. Surprised though that they're no showing of the combined alt mode. But it looks like it might not be able to do that since the hands don't do the Jetfire thing and hide the 5mm ports when they open. In fact, it looks like the hands don't open at all actually. So that could cause problems using them as rear feet. Silverbolt still looks okay. Still bummed out that it's so strictly "G1" in its design instead of changing it up like the others. Keeping the paws hanging off the arms like that still is just so fucking stupid. Maybe not as bad looking as what they did to poor Blitzwing's tank mode but still really bad. It also looks as though he can't point his wings forward either. At least he has size I guess and they cleaned up his back. FAR from a "0" though, but nowhere near a "5". I'd say a "3.5". Code Red is what it is. Not the worst Crossover but not the best. I wonder how long people will continue to go on as if this is in any way a retool of any version of Ironhide. It's not by the way. It doesn't share a single part. I don't need to be told this either, I can clearly see it and compare it too the figures I already have. I have an Autotrooper and SS86 Ratchet right next to me. Nothing is the same with this Code Red. It's nice to see that Hasbro has come up with quite a few ways to handle an all in one Ironhide/Ratchet mold now. The MP, the core class, the voyager and now this. Unrelated to any of this for the most part; I had the oddest urge after getting SS86 Ironhide. I all of a sudden wanted Classics Ironhide and Ratchet back. Except I hated those so I got the Henkei releases instead since the paint they used is better and doesn't get smudged like the Classics versions. I got Ironhide two or three months ago for cheap and I just found Ratchet for cheap too and he came in yesterday. I then proceeded to chop them up after getting them to at least try to fix the original design's mistakes. They can now look straight ahead, for the most part, and not into their chests. Only took trimming off a bunch of plastic to do it too! It's not perfect either as there's not much that can be done with the pelvis as it not crashes into the bumper on the inside of the torso now but it's a huge improvement. What a design oversight with those. Seriously, what were they thinking once they had the prototypes in hand and the design didn't work? The odd joints they used for that mold remind me a lot of the original Star Wars Crossovers line and even the Titanium line. Maybe they were designed by the same people. That would explain a lot actually. I think Prowl had similar design ideas too. So did Galvatron actually. Huh.

I don't know. This is going to have to be really good to beat that one kit out. I mean, you can give Volcanicus FOUR arms! (from the bicep swivel down that is) Meanwhile when I was configuring my Volcanicus to see how those two existing upgrade kits work, I actually thought to myself that the one kit could somehow utilize all four legs to have either made bulkier arms with less work or to give him four arms. Then a few weeks later that one kit actually did just that. I like when the upgrade kits do something in the other modes but I don't think that's going to ever happen with a kit for Legacy Volcannicus. Especially lately when the designers with actual vision when making upgrades have seemingly vanished. But then again, Some of those CW pieces in other modes were horrendously bad. Not that they were much better in their intended mode to begin with like all the third party hands and feet though. Yes, ALL third party CW hands and feet looked awful and anyone telling you otherwise is delusional and trying to justify the purchase. Horribly proportioned feet that are shaped hysterically badly, anemic/skeletal looking hands and fingers that are too small for the arms they're on. Seriously, the feet looked like they were wearing shoes for a baby. They were puffy and bloated and too tall and did nothing to try and integrate the leg figures into their design so they would literally come up to the tiny connection point on the top and into the leg bot. Granted the CW designs didn't always lend themselves to being better integrated but almost all had a similar shape overall being wide and flat or thin and rounded. So something could've been done knowing that much. But I'm off point like always. So I'm going to wait and see now before committing to a set for Volcanicus. There's at least something going on with the torso on this set in order for the sword to be stored on the back like that. So it will be interesting to see what else they do other than the feet and lower arms like the other sets.

Damn, almost six months later. I didn't even remember this. Seems I was right though, the did design it differently than the rest of the line. Almost like they're really trying to course correct with this one. It's quite a bit figure too. I wonder if they'll be going back to redo some of the figures that aren't quite in scale like Bumblebee. Maybe do it the Marvel Legends way and have smaller figures fill a wave with larger figures like this to offset the costs. They do that with the Generations line to an extent already so why not with RED too? It's just so odd for a company that has so many divisions all doing mostly the same shit to not seem to communicate with the others. The Overwatch, GI Joe and Power Rangers designs are better in some aspects than the vast majority of Marvel Legends. So why not try to work some of those design choices into ML since Overwatch is gone from Hasbro now? Nope. Why not try to bring some of that magic to the RED line too since PR and GI Joe are in house like Transformers? Nope. They can't even use the same materials between the lines which is absolutely baffling but I digress. That translucent red chest certainly is a choice. I mean I get it since they wanted the sword in that color and all but damn. They should've put some paint on it if this is the final look. As is, it's looking a bit like one of those KO or lesser third party Grimlock-like figures out there. It looks kind of like it's shaped after Cybertron Megatron's Cyber Key. No doofus, it's Wheeljack's head lol. It's totally Wheeljack's head. It would've been cool if the inner chest details were modeled after PotP Grimlock's Dinobot Enigma.

Okay...what's with the decos? Is that supposed to be scorch marks and battle damage or something? I'm not quite feeling whatever that is. I don't mind the asymmetrical nature of it so much. It's more that it doesn't seem to belong. I don't think the figures are designed to be asymmetrical like a Transmetal 2 or Energon Starscream. Nor is this intentional for twins like Combiner Wars Stormclash and Skyburst. It's not quite as noticeable on Bumblebee as black is in his color scheme normally and it's seemingly not as prominent on him. With Starscream though it's very noticeable in a bad way. There's several Starscream figures that have black on them but that's due to some kind of stupid shit for cheaper figures and it always looked out of place. Sure would like to know if there's ever going to be "clean" versions before committing to getting this set as I like that Starscream so much better than the Earthrise mold. It looks like the IDW T30 legends class/CW leader class Starscream design and I really liked that updated look. With a bit of SSBB Cybertronian Starscream oddly enough or maybe I'm seeing SSBB Blitzwing. The price is a bit weird too. It's more than what a deluxe and voyager would be by $12. Is this representative of another price increase? Is this maybe licencing fees to the game designers? Does this mean that this isn't a standard deluxe and a voyager? The box dimensions are 9.5 inches tall by 13 inches wide by 3.2 inches deep and a little over 1 pound in weight. So that would make me think that these are indeed a voyager and a deluxe at most. So that makes me want to know if/when we're getting "clean" versions all the more. I wouldn't want to pay the prices on upcharged figures just for them to be released later with decos I like better. This isn't a Siege and Premium Finish Starscream situation either where they're both fine and have the exact same decos but in different color saturations and shades. This also isn't a case of Kingdom vs Legacy Galvatron or Siege vs Legacy Soundwave either where it's just a little bit of battle damage paint apps that are not applied for the newer versions and can be removed from the older versions.