SerpentSociety11

This is encouraging, no ball point joints! Warpath is also exciting to see; wonder what the story will be to have modern earth vehicles and dinosaurs/animals. maybe time travel like in that one G1 episode...

I am a bit surprised by the return to ball point joints after both siege and earthrise have provided toys with top quality articulation and long term stability with the pin and lever joints (or however you would describe them). Interestingly, it was the introduction of the ball point joints which allowed Hasbro to make the original beast wars toys beast mode/robot modes work and be similar to the on screen characters. I wonder if the other beast bots will get similar treatment? Of these three, the generations one jumps out as the better figure.

Coneheads at last (had to comment as I have been wishlisting them here for years it feels like!) They all look good, even the maverick figure. Cyclonus alt mode looks so sleek, though my second look at his robot's shoulders remind me of the universe/classics version I already have (shoulder articulation is somewhat limited). So hopefully better articulation than the picture shows. Also, I did not like earthrise megatron's digital renders (too similar to siege) but the in package photo intrigues me...

They are up on Hasbro pulse now pre-order, pulse members only this weekend plus a 4 pack of redecos for the spy patrol, read the description, fans get to pick which is rumble or frenzy, red or blue, lol!

Some thoughts: Megatron: missed opportunity! He is siege Megs with new parts, color placement, tooling, and head. I was hoping for a different alt mode at least; jet maybe or homage to Armada/Energon. Too bad. If his articulation was better than siege, I would upgrade. Doubledealer: a little hollow on the legs but nice overall. I am glad they seem to be steering away from a blitzwing pre-mold; not sure if we'll get WFC blitzwing now. All the base mode bots look swell and I dig the two headed battlemaster; the battlemasters are awesome for the effects parts alone. Scorponok, I really wanted to pass on him because I don't have space for titans but he looks so good! Can't wait to see more pics of all of these. I hope earthrise brings us forward in transformers; the decrease in articulation on some of these is a bit of a let-down

I am looking forward to Cliffjumper the most; I kind of miss the legends scale BUT I really like the extra articulation of the Deluxes so it all works out. I am tempted by the Starscream because I love the character, and recent pictures have almost sold me on the mold (too bad no waist articulation). I am still waiting for my coneheads! Good reuse of this mold maybe? I hope Hasbro has them on the schedule at some point this year.

The Quintessons could be the new "mercenary" faction that is included in the earthrise descriptions. They could be filled out with the sharkticon that was included as an option in the fan poll if I remember correctly along with all the other ideas people have had for mercenaries. Unexpected and welcome.

I thought this Impactor was getting the decepticon logo? The image shows a purple autobot symbol, which is kinda cool but different from what I expected.

It's raining seekers! I am glad I like the starscream mold otherwise I would not even consider this. I wish they had at least one more alternate color as they look a little...bland. the brightness and look is decent. Hope this is true and that the price is not excessive nor that it is hard to get. Fingers crossed!

Kind of smart considering the losses they took last year with Toys R Us leaving. It would be a risky venture I think. This guarantees payment for the product. And, if you are an MP collector who is buying the new MP Optimus which retails for almost this amount, heck, why not buy a Unicron too? Unfortunately, I won't be able to get this, but I honestly still like my Armada Unicron. He has posable fingers and a moveable mouth too

Same! I have really enjoyed the siege art quite a bit. This set will be great and the blast effects are icing on the cybertronian seeker cake

A couple of observations. 1. it looks like the battle armor and extra weapons might be going away, at least for leader figures. 2. Maybe Apeface's headmaster will match the titans return line? Sorta looks that way from the picture. Backwards compatibility I hope! Was going to get Astrotrain when he was rumored but I am unsure now. If Blitzwing gets a leader release, I might go for it. Will depend on how they look next to the siege voyagers. I think Astrotrain and Blitzwing should be chunky and a little taller than Megatron but not too big. Cool to be getting some new faces though! Glad these are delayed till the next round of WFC (if that's true). Will give me a chance to catch up on the summer/fall releases.

I'm happy with the Generations offerings. I started down the MP road but was deterred by price. I know my brother will keep on the MP road though, but maybe more selective. It's a great time to collect transformers as there really is a line of great toys for everyone's unique tastes.

So I study production and industry and I don't think rising productions cost can explain all of it but it is on of the options that makes sense. Presence of competing options should not drive the price up but down. The only other one I think is possible is the presence of other high-price licensed figures that you mention. Those non-transforming ones that are pricey and the statues maybe. Honestly, I am not sure. Inflation? Or a combination of these. Also, 55 votes of other and only 2 comments...lol!

Some of these are actually pretty cool. Speaking of coneheads, when are we getting siege versions!