POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Figures, collectables, customs and collecting.
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Tantrum
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Tantrum »

Cyberverse Warrior Optimus Prime w/Trailer - Some Walmarts have clearanced these down to $5, which was low enough to get me to bite. I'm pleasantly surprised. It's probably not worth full price, but I'm definitely happy with it.

Optimus is OK. I definitely own worse, like the CHUG Deluxe. Due to his transformation, he's one of the few TFs I own with an ab crunch. Ball jointed hips, hinged knees and shoulders, and one hinged elbow make up the rest of the articulation.

The other elbow is at a permanent 90 deg angle to allow for the axe gimmick. It doesn't work well. Something in the back is supposed to trigger the axe to pop out, and maybe the arm to swing forward. The axe on mine has a hard time staying in. There's no fist molded on that arm, either, so I just leave the axe out all the time.

The only unique thing about the transformation is the shoulders have an extra pivot. Instead of the sides of the truck becoming the fronts of the shoulders, the sides of the truck become the side of the shoulders. I'm guessing this is for the axe gimmick. A bad side effect is that he's on of the few Optimi with no elbow swivel. A good side effect is that he can cross his right arm in front of his chest. The left arm is hampered by the axe.

Only 4 of the wheels turn, the other two are molded in place. The axe blade sticks out the back. Still, he rolls OK and does a better job of looking like a truck cab than the CHUG Deluxe or PotP Leader. The toes stick up in the back, which happens a lot on smaller/simpler Optimi. Here, it at least allows for the trailer to connect.

The front of the trailer slips over the toes, meaning it can't turn at its connection point. It also sits further back than most trailers, which cover the majority of the blue rectangle of the backs of most Optimi. It's also lower to the ground than most trailers. I can barely fit Warrior Prowl inside. A 1-step would fit better. Maybe I'll pick up Wheeljack.

The base mode isn't bad. One side of the trailer folds down, a control panel flips up, and the roof folds in half to reveal a cannon. There are several 5 mm holes, and 2 included 5 mm mounted weapons, allowing for some variety. There's also smaller holes, which I'm guessing are for the bast effect bits from Siege.

Pushing a button on the front of the trailer releases a pair of giant cannons. These can be deployed in trailer or base mode. I thought the spring mechanism would be strond enough to launch one of those little half-an-alt-mode figures, but i was wrong; it just topples over. I'll have to try again with a Kreon.

MP-05 Megatron - From a comic shop for $75. I thought he was MISB, but upon getting him home, I noticed the tape on the box flap had been cut. He looks great, though, and appears to have all his accessories, except the orange barrel tip which I'm glad is gone. From what I've read about him, I expect to try transforming him once, possibly succeed, then leave him in bot mode next to 20th Anniversary/MP-01 Optimus forever.
Last edited by Tantrum on Mon Jun 17, 2019 10:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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ganon578
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by ganon578 »

My kids got me Siege Sixgun for Father's Day. I had been kicking around the idea of picking him up for a long time, so it's nice to finally have him in hand.

I wasn't sure if I'd like the whole 'Weaponizer' thing, but I have to admit it's really fun. Just like Shockwave, all the bits and pieces hooked to whoever is absurd but fun in a goofy way. Just and all around fun little guy, even if his 'jet' mode isn't all that great. Makes me want Cog now too...
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Warcry
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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The Weaponizers are surprisingly fun, yeah. I don't have Sixgun, but I enjoy tearing Cog to bits and bolting him onto random ports on other bots.



I bought a few Transformers myself over the weekend, for the first time since January!

Siege Sideswipe: Well, my three year old has claimed ownership over Universe Sideswipe, so...I guess I needed a replacement? And he was on sale. I was kicking around the idea of picking up the black G2 repaint in a few months' time instead, but I eventually came around on this one when I realized that I don't actually have any red Sideswipes left anymore.

He's pretty tiny, which I don't really mind on the face of it. I actually prefer the Autobot cars to be a bit on the smaller side, and since Hasbro has made so many Headmasters and Targetmasters as big Deluxes, Sideswipe (like Generations Wheeljack and Universe Hound) is a good fit with them in my mind's eye. What I'm not so keen on is that he's so small without many accessories to make up for it. I get that they want us to buy the Targetmasters and the Weaponizers to fully kit out our figures, but the Deluxes in all three of the previous Generations lines came with at least a couple substantial accessories. Sideswipe's tiny, non-firing shoulder launcher and the missile that they halfheartedly slapped a handle onto so that they could pretend it was a pistol seem pretty paltry in comparison to the stuff that came with combiner limbs and Headmasters of old. Especially considering the higher prices.

But perpetual "the Generations lines have never really done the 84/85 Autobot cars and their piles of accessories justice" griping aside, Sideswipe's pretty nice. He definitely takes some inspiration from the engineering of the Masterpiece figure, but simpler and with fewer rough edges. The poseability is good and he's got good balance. And by choosing to paint the red parts instead of using bare plastic, they've finally, finally gotten Sideswipe's shade of red just right. The car mode is a neat SPACE Countach but I really wish it had a spoiler.

Overall Sideswipe's a nice figure, but it could have been a great one with a bit more in the way of extras.

Siege Rescue Patrol: Sort of hit or miss. Stakeout is really good for a smaller figure -- nice-looking, surprisingly poseable and a lot of fun to fiddle around with. Red Hot really isn't any of those things. He's retooled from Big Shot, and while turning a mobile gun emplacement into a fire truck isn't the most intuitive thing, the proportions and transformation are basically right. They figure just isn't very good. Where Stakeout has great range of motion and balance, Red Hot can barely move his arms or legs in any useful way without toppling over. And the alt-mode is kinda gappy, and TBH less convincing than the old Red Hot from the 80s that I've probably still got in a box somewhere.

Siege Aimless: Like with the tiny Pretenders in the last line, these Targetmasters just feel so samey. I know there's only so much you can do with a two-inch figure that turns into a gun, but surely they don't all need to do the same thing? The beast ones are way more creative. Buuuuut he's going to be in gun mode 99% of the time because I only bought him so that Misfire could have his traditional accessory, since this duo were the first Transformers I ever picked out on my own in the 80s and they really trigger the old nostalgia. So I guess he fits the bill in that regard, but I can't honestly say I'm all that stoked at the prospect of buying any more of these little guys.
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Clay
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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Tantrum wrote: Sun Jun 16, 2019 11:17 pm
MP-05 Megatron - From a comic shop for $75. I thought he was MISB, but upon getting him home, I noticed the tape on the box flap had been cut. He looks great, though, and appears to have all his accessories, except the orange barrel tip which I'm glad is gone. From what I've read about him, I expect to try transforming him once, possibly succeed, then leave him in bot mode next to 20th Anniversary/MP-01 Optimus forever.
He's not the best, but he's still incredibly impressive given that the designer had something like ten days to complete it... from scratch. Crazy.
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ganon578
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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WFC Siege Springer!

Saw some reports on other sites that these were hitting stores on the East Coast, which typically means I won't see anything for ~3 weeks. Then someone reported a finding about 2-3 hours south of me, so I figured I would just stop by a local Walmart on my way home from work. At first glance it didn't seem to be fruitful, but being a tall fella, I noticed the corner of a Siege box on the top shelf all by itself. Lo and behold it was Springer! I'm guessing another collector thought they would 'stash' it up there until they could buy it, since there was plenty of shelf space for more Voyagers below. At any rate, I'm easily tall enough to grab it so I did (plus I have zero guilt grabbing a figure some collector tried to hide).

He good and blocky and I love the green they used! The battle damage isn't distracting on him either. Good articulation, but he is a bit top heavy. Maybe it's just the ankle joints on mine, but he takes a bit of care to not tilt backwards. It's not helped that the extra gun, sword, and rotor part are on his backpack. The transformation is a bit fiddly too, but I think it's just me trying to get the hang of it. The hard to read instructions are nearly useless, so I was mostly doing it on the fly. I think I'll enjoy it more as I learn. He pretty darn fun though, and he has nice pegs for my newly acquired Sixgun to weaponize him. And it looks cool too. There'll probably be some more things I find less appealing over time, but at first blush he's good fun.
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Tantrum
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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I just (mostly) transformed MP-05 Megs for the first time. The only things that gave me real trouble was the left shoulder panel, which kept popping off. I put it aside until I transformed the rest of him, then popped it back on. It didn't quite line up, so I'm using the safety lever to disguise the gap.

I'm pretty impressed, especially with the way the red torso bits fold away as you push the upper torso down. He's a bit oversized, but at 6' 4", so am I, so I can wield him comfortably. There's another finger's worth of handle below my hand, and my thumb doesn't reach my middle finger, so he's still a bit big for me, but I can reach the trigger without trouble.

The little plastic tab on the scope's battery compartment was still in, so I don't think he's been played with before. The batteries are dead, which is the only thing I can say against him.

I still don't think I'll transform him too many times. Of all the MPs I've owned, (20th Anniversay Optimus, Starscream, Grimlock, Soundwave & cassettes, Prowl, Wheeljack, and mow Megatron), the only one I've transfromed repeatedly is Starscream. Which is probably why I don't own many MPs.
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HeavyArms
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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POTP Throne of the Primes &

Devastator & Metroplex TCG Expansion Packs - Bought together as a bulk-crate style purchase from an local online retailer, but I'm missing an item, so I'm trying to find out what happened there.

Studio Series Optimus Prime (Bumblebee).
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ganon578
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by ganon578 »

WFC Siege Brunt. I've got a TR Trypticon to pick up during our annual vacation this summer from my buddy, and I've got a Toyhax sticker set ready for Full-Tilt. It will be cool to have them all together. As it is, Brunt is really fun on his own! Chunky, purple, and very drone-y. I love that his little visor pokes out of the front of the tank. And I can use his parts to give another bot a backpack with pincer claws!
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Heinrad
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Heinrad »

The local used game store started taking in toys a while ago. I think it was a joke initially(parents bring their kids in, kids bring in toys they aren’t using anymore, get store credit), but then it kind of took off. As an unfortunate side effect, Seth is currently knee deep in wrestling figures.

But a few weeks ago, somebody brought in a lot of boxed figures. The weird part is, they’re all pretty new. And more importantly, marked down.

SIEGE Soundwave: After getting Laserbeak and Ravage, I realized that as perfect as the MP3 Soundwave is, he can’t hold any tapes. And I have to say, the figure itself is amazing. Although the light pole mode is a little weird. I like the idea, but it looks less like a light pole than it did in the cartoon.

STUDIO SERIES DotM Megatron: I’ve always liked this design. Sadly, like all the other Studio Series figures I have, vehicle mode is a little fiddly. Now if I could find somewhere to mount Igor that isn’t covered by the cape or gravity defying....
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Tantrum
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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CHUG Powerglide - from a comic shop. He's got his gun, but is missing the missle and instructions. He wasn't too hard to figure out, though I didn't think to extend the legs until I looked him up on tfwiki. This is the grey Ultra sized figure, with Ultra apparently meaning Leader sized head and upper body, Voyager sized limbs and waist.

Odd proportions aside, he's a great figure. The plane mode actually has a fuselage shaped fuselage. Like other Powerglides, the arms form underwing kibble. I don't know why he has 4 different sets of numbers on him (tail rudders, engines, cockpit, wings).

The electronic lights and sound still work. Oh, lord, do they work. They only go off once or twice while transforming him. I just have to be careful when I set him down. I usually keep new figures on the couch so they're in reach, leaning against the back rest, or just laying them down. If I put any weight on the cockpit, it triggers the sounds until I move him.
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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Studio Series Constructicon Rampage.
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Warcry
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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Siege Soundwave: I'm pretty sure I'm going to blame Heinrad for this.

Soundwave here is the first "bigger" Siege toy (Deluxe or bigger) that I've actually paid retail price for. He doubled as an impulse buy while I was out buying other stuff and also as a "I need something new to occupy me while I'm on vacation" sort of buy. Truth be told, Soundwave is one of my top-five favourite characters so I'm sure I would have wound up owning him anyway, but when I saw a lone Soundwave on the shelves at EB Games while unwanted wave one figures continue to rot away and regular retail outlets, the circumstances were perfect for convincing me not to wait for a sale.

So how does he measure up? Well, honestly...the bar is pretty low, isn't it? Voyagers from the Prime Wars line were exclusively combiner torsos and badly executed triplechangers. The last half-decade's worth of Voyagers have been so thoroughly meh that...well, that it actually feels like a price hike was justified here. Compared to figures like Hot Spot or Sentinel Prime or Hun-grrr, Soundwave easily laps the field. He's got better articulation, better sculpting, scads of paint, no stickers...basically everything I griped about with regards to Voyagers in the past few years has been addressed here. And on top of that, I should mention just how amazing the light piping is. His eyes glow even with a pretty dim backlight. And they really went to town on the battle damage, in a good way. Most Siege figures look slightly dirty or mildly dinged up, but Soundwave looks like he just got driven over by a tank. All in all, I feel like I got more for my money for $40 here than I did for the $30-$35 that Voyagers went for in the last couple lines -- a total 180 from how the Deluxes make me feel.

The big gripes that I've heard are about his alt mode. But, honestly...Soundwave turns into a box. He's always turned into a box, and if you want a passably accurate robot mode, he's always going to turn into a box. This time around they slapped some engines onto that box to pretend that it's a spaceship, and...well, it's not very convincing. I'll probably never transform him into it again. But the thing is...I own and love MP Soundwave. Have for years. I think I've transformed him twice. The tapedeck alt-mode is traditional, but it's also boring, and if this toy turned into a tapedeck I don't think I'd ever transform it either. So the end result is really a wash. The MTMTE lamppost mode is infinitely more interesting to me than either a flying box or a ship anyway, and they've engineered him to do that, so I'm sold. The most exciting thing about him being a tapedeck has always been that it gives him the ability to shoot tape minions out of his chest in robot mode. Alas...

Image

...my minions are a mismatched lot. :( Since Siege Ravage is pretty awful I don't expect I'll be buying him any new ones, unless they release another pack or I can find the Spy Patrol on deep enough discount to justify buying it for just Laserbeak alone. But overall, Soundwave's a lot of fun and I like him.

Counterargument:

Image

He's tiny and expensive and I don't blame folks if that's a dealbreaker for them. It certainly has been for me with Prime, Megatron and Starscream, characters who I'm far less attached to than Soundwave.
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HeavyArms
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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Encore BW Neo Big Convoy - This was missing from the larger order that was mentioned earlier.
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Clay
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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I found Brunt a while back. He's neat, and nicely complements Trypticon and Full-Tilt. Only frustration I have with him is not having a clear and neat way to add his bits to Trypticon's dino mode, so Brunt's disassembled and tucked into T's tail.

I also bought a Unique Toys Challenger, which is a masterpiece-ish style AOE/TLK Optimus Prime. It's freaky... truck has no robot kibble, and the robot has no truck kibble aside from the smoke stacks (which are supposed to be there). Basically, it turns inside out. It's... well, it's amazing.

I did have a problem with the screw holding one of the arms in at the shoulder shearing off. I managed to bore out the broken screw and replace it as none of the plastic molding was damaged, so all's well. Don't know if that's a widespread problem or just a one-off error.
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Heinrad
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Heinrad »

Well, my guidance had helped before, perhaps it can again? :D

GameStop Exclusive Transformers/Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Ectotron: Okay, I freely admit, the main reason I got this one was I thought they did a great job on the vehicle mode. It looks really good. And I have to admit, so does robot mode. Well, other than a few minor quibbles, anyway.

First, the good: The vehicle mode looks like a scaled down version of Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters. The roof equipment, the cabling, the whitewalls... the only improvement they could have made was using chrome instead of silver paint. The robot mode is fairly posable, the shoulder pads are a neat idea, and he looks pretty good.

Now, the bad: While having the proton pack be formed out of the rooftop equipment is pretty cool, they didn’t paint it very much. And for some unknown reason, I’m having a hell of a time getting the equipment locked back in in vehicle mode. The goggles look like they should move, but they don’t, making his eyes almost microscopic. I think they’re going for the look of when Dan Ackroyd had them on his forehead in the movie, but they’re down a little low. Then there’s the price. He ain’t cheap.

That being said, I think he’s about the size of Shockwave, so maybe $50 isn’t so bad?
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ganon578
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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Grabbed a single Siege Refraktor the other day. He's... OK. I wanted one to try out to see if I wanted to put 3 together for the camera, and I don't think I'll be doing that. He's very average with a poor alt mode; obviously HasTak focused on the camera mode and not the single alt mode. It's maybe passable as a non-descript space ship. On his own he's fairly tiny for a deluxe, even for the Siege line. At any rate, at least I have a representation of a classic character I didn't already own.

And through Amazon came Siege Caliburst. A straight repaint of Blowpipe with a new blast effect. I like the colors, and it's great to have the Targetmasters of Triggerhappy, Misfire, and Slugslinger all lined up! Makes me want a Nightstick for my CW Cyclonus though.
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Warcry
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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I didn't feel like paying full price for Siege Shockwave, but when I was able to snag him for around half price I jumped at it.

So, first off, the obligatory pic...

Image

And the obligatory gripe: this is in no way, shape or form a Leader-class toy. And I don't just mean that in the sense of "no one wants or cares about the add-ons", although I do definitely understand that sentiment. No, I mean it in the sense of "he's ridiculously tiny compared to his fellow Leaders". Magnus and Galaxy Prime are shorter than usual because of how their armour gimmick works, sure. But they're still massive toys that fill up the Leader-class box while poor Shockwave is swimming in it. I wasn't too surprised to see Shockwave lingering while Magnus flew off the shelves, and I was pretty confident I'd be able to get him for a decent discount eventually. But I was surprised to find that he's even smaller than I expected -- kitted out in full armour he weighs about the same as TR Voyager Megatron and (if I'm remembering right) about 2/3s what Siege Magnus does. So I totally get why some people who paid full price for this are disappointed. But I didn't, so I can happily ignore all that and focus on the merits of the toy itself. :)

And it is a genuinely good toy. The core robot is a spot on modern update to Shockwave. Like Siege Soundwave, he takes a lot of cues from his Masterpiece counterpart. But even though he's maybe half the size, I think he surpasses the MP quite handily both in looks (thanks to the darker purple) and poseability. And (again) like Soundwave, the light piping in his head is goddamn magical -- his eye glows like there's a lamp built into it, even in low light. His space gun mode is more or less spot on too, though honestly Shockwave's alt-mode has always seemed only slightly less perfunctory than Soundwave's.

And the add-on armour is actually a lot of fun. The kitted-out gunship alt-mode is nice and swooshable. In robot mode it's pretty ridiculous, but in a good way. That said...it's probably going into a box within the week and I'll probably forget that it exists. And I think the reason why is because it just goes entirely against what makes Shockwave cool to begin with. His design is stripped-down and utilitarian, as simple as it gets. To go from "I have a light bulb for a face and only one hand because that's all I need" to "Doctor Shocktopus stomping around with a huge backpack and gun snowshoes" just isn't true to the character. Or at least the classic 80s Marvel Shockwave, the only version of the character I have any attachment to.

And it's too bad, really. If they'd sold the core robot on it's own as a Voyager, I think people would be talking it up as one of the best figures in the line. As-is...well, he's still definitely worth getting if you see him going for a decent amount below MSRP.
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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Siege Soundwave & Starscream - Bought both of these during Myer's Toy Sale.
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Clay »

I've gotten quite a few new things in the past couple of weeks.

After getting Brunt, I went back and found Siege Red Alert. I like that his colors complement Sixgun's, who is now Red Alert's (almost coherent) jet pack. Still pondering who to get for Cog... maybe Crosshairs?

I also got several Studio Series toys from BBTS. Bonecrusher, <3 <3 <3. Sideswipe is pretty neat, what with packing both the swords and guns into the car despite it being an open top. Barricade's a bit better than the DOTM version, but he's far more ornery to get back into car. He's about the same size, too.

And today, I stopped in a bargain hunt / thrift shop / flea market type place and found a loose but complete Siege voyager Megatron for... $2! Whoo bargain hunting! That's my best find since those Robotmasters Primal and Megatron last year.
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by HeavyArms »

Siege Shockwave: Bought one from Myer with enough discounts to get it down to 30% off.

BotBots: Music Mob pack #3 & Shed Heads pack #2.
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