POTP Rodimus Unicronus
Much like in soap operas, you can tell a wrong 'un as they always, always have facial hair (even the women), so Rodimus Unicronus has a beard and handle bar moustache, so you can tell he's bad. In case the balck paint job and the Decepticon badge didn't give it away. He looks fabulous. I'm not sure what I make of this guy though, after being a bit excited by him. It's not that he's disappointing as such - he pretty much delivers what you expect - he's just not as ...good, I suppose as the Titans Return Leader Class figures I have and looks a bit, chunky and basic next to their detail heavy drizzle. He is a good fun toy though, and I like being able to make Nemesis Hot Rod 'evolve' into this guy (seriously, did no-one think of calling him Black Rod, or are quaint British political customs too obscure for a funny name?). The transformation between modes is a bit of a clumsy mess, and Hasbro's continuing 'tabsformation' they've introduced over the last few years makes some worrying cracks and crunches here. The alt mode is okay, but the joins with the smaller Hot Rod toy are quite obvious and it's a shame the trailer doesn't cover more of these sins. Black Rod himself is decent, he's less impressive than the Titans version or even the older Classics mold, but is nice enough. The alto mode is another horrible tab tab tab tab affair and it feels like it's putting a lot of strain on the figure, having things pegged where they should, which isn't a good sign. Overall; wait for a heavy mark down. I do appreciate being able to get a black repaint without having to pay silly money for a TakTom import, so two thumbs up for that
PotP Sinnertwin, Blot, Cutthroat - Found at the same comic shop I got Alchemist Prime at 3 months ago. I've yet to see Alchemist anywhere else, and wave 1 Deluxes are still on the shelves.
They're all very satisfying. I especially like how Blot's bot hand and gauntlents become his beast claws simply by having the beast thumbs attached to the bot fists. I wish they'd come up with something that clever for Rippersnapper.
Cutthroat shares much of his engineering with Swoop, but only uses the same shoulders/upper arms and thighs. Even the forearms are new. His beast head falls off pretty easily, which appears to be a widespread problem.
Sinnertwin has similar engineering as Snarl, but backwards. Snarl's bot arms form the dino hind legs, Sinnertwin's form the beasts forelegs. I had to trim some extra plastic from one of the beast heads to get the jaw to open, but it's fine now.
You can fold the bot head down, and beast heads up, to have a beast headed bot mode. You can actually do something like this for all the Terrorcon Deluxes. But, it's kind of pointless with Blot and Rippersnapper since they have bipedal beast modes.
ganon578 wrote:Surprised to find PotP Inferno at Walmart yesterday. I've been really looking forward to him, mostly so I have a proper torso for an Autobot car combiner (Battle Core Optimus just doesn't cut it) since Smokescreen, Ironhide, Prowl, and Jazz are my orphan Combiner limbs.
I'm a little disappointed with Inferno - granted, I knew what to expect since I already have CW Onslaught, though never owned CW Hot Spot. I wish there was a better way to fold up the ladder on the back, but alas, that's not to be. Otherwise, he's a good toy, if nothing special, and the colors are fantastic. For me he works well, but I don't think he's worth searching the ends of the Earth for.
"orphan Combiner limbs" seems odd to me. Even after doubling up on some limbs when they hit TJ Maxx, I have an extra torso.
Is the molded detail on Inferno's gestalt thighs and chest unpainted? Defensor and G1 Bruticus have the sculpted "inner" parts painted grey, and the straight bars over them painted another color, so they stand out from the blue plastic.
G2 Bruticus left all that yellow, which looks unfinished, which is why G2 Onslaught's my extra torso. How's it look on Inferno?
I've read that Inferno's been slightly retooled so the gestalt stands better. Have you noticed an improvement over Onslaught?
Alleged "poems"
that don't follow a rhyme scheme
are not poetry
Tantrum wrote:"orphan Combiner limbs" seems odd to me. Even after doubling up on some limbs when they hit TJ Maxx, I have an extra torso.
Is the molded detail on Inferno's gestalt thighs and chest unpainted? Defensor and G1 Bruticus have the sculpted "inner" parts painted grey, and the straight bars over them painted another color, so they stand out from the blue plastic.
G2 Bruticus left all that yellow, which looks unfinished, which is why G2 Onslaught's my extra torso. How's it look on Inferno?
I've read that Inferno's been slightly retooled so the gestalt stands better. Have you noticed an improvement over Onslaught?
Well, they're not technically orphans. I sold off Battle Core Optimus a while back because I just couldn't stand the white/gold/grey, and I do have PotP Starscream and CW Cyclonus. Somehow it just doesn't feel right to put Autobot cars on those two - so I needed a new Autobot torso for them. I actually need more Decepticon limbs to fill out the ranks!
The molded details aren't necessarily unpainted. They have a little, but not to the degree of Hot Spot or Bruticus. The thighs are a bit bland but do have some silver on the top and black on the bottom. The grating is totally red though. The chest fairs a bit better with white plastic, silver and black paint, and some stickers for a touch of detail. I think it's varied just enough to be decent.
As for the legs, I can't see any obvious retooling, but the hips seem tighter than on Bruticus. He doesn't have near the forward lean that my Bruticus has, so there may have been some slight adjustment to the clearance/tightness of the joints. They definitely feel a bit more snug.
I'm waaay behind on documenting stuff I've grabbed in the last six months or so, but I would like to say that I found the movie studio voyagers Megatron and Brawl today.
I would like to say that because I think they were first sighted in the US... yesterday? Monday? And yet I still can't find POTP wave three.
ganon578 wrote:Well, they're not technically orphans. I sold off Battle Core Optimus a while back because I just couldn't stand the white/gold/grey, and I do have PotP Starscream and CW Cyclonus. Somehow it just doesn't feel right to put Autobot cars on those two - so I needed a new Autobot torso for them. I actually need more Decepticon limbs to fill out the ranks!
Do most people keep their CW/POTP figures combined all the time? I think I've got more "orphaned" combiner parts than members of complete teams, and generally enjoy the separate figures more than I do the combiners anyway.
Clay wrote:I would like to say that because I think they were first sighted in the US... yesterday? Monday? And yet I still can't find POTP wave three.
That implies you've found wave two, though. So you're way ahead of a lot of us.
I keep most of my combiner sets combined to save shelf space. I've got the Terrorcons separated right now, since I'm still fiddling with them alot. Especially Sinnertwin. I also have an extra Wheeljack that I originally bought to fill out Optimus Maximus, but liked enough to keep separate. OpMax was one-armed until PotP Jazz came out.
I wasn't thinking about faction matching. Though, most of mine do match, except for a Blastoff on Elita Inifinitus. That'll probably change when I get Novastar. That would give me enough Decepticons to go with my G2 Onslaught. Maybe I'll try Gundam markers on the bars to make the legs less monochrome.
ganon - Thanks for the pics. I'm digging the two toned head, but not the unpainted chest detail. I may get him, and use Legends Groove to cover that up.
Alleged "poems"
that don't follow a rhyme scheme
are not poetry
Clay wrote:I would like to say that because I think they were first sighted in the US... yesterday? Monday? And yet I still can't find POTP wave three.
Warcry wrote:That implies you've found wave two, though. So you're way ahead of a lot of us.
Unicron wrote:Wave 3? Bah. I still haven't seen a Hun-Grrr.
I should say that I have not seen wave one two of the voyagers at all, and haven't even seen wave one in months. Come to think of it, I haven't seen wave two of the little Pretenders, either.
Warcry wrote:Do most people keep their CW/POTP figures combined all the time? I think I've got more "orphaned" combiner parts than members of complete teams, and generally enjoy the separate figures more than I do the combiners anyway.
For the most part, my Combiner limbs are separate - this includes Prowl, Ironhide, Smokescreen, Jazz, Darkwing, and Dreadwind. The others that are part of Bruticus stay as Bruticus. Mostly because I just like the look of Bruticus. And G2 Menasor stayed together too. Otherwise, they'd be separate for me - Prowl, for one, is one that I like on his own.
Tantrum wrote:ganon - Thanks for the pics. I'm digging the two toned head, but not the unpainted chest detail. I may get him, and use Legends Groove to cover that up.
You're welcome. I have a groove too, so there's a pic attached so you can get an idea of how it looks as such.
Tantrum wrote:I keep most of my combiner sets combined to save shelf space. I've got the Terrorcons separated right now, since I'm still fiddling with them alot. Especially Sinnertwin. I also have an extra Wheeljack that I originally bought to fill out Optimus Maximus, but liked enough to keep separate. OpMax was one-armed until PotP Jazz came out.
ganon578 wrote:For the most part, my Combiner limbs are separate - this includes Prowl, Ironhide, Smokescreen, Jazz, Darkwing, and Dreadwind. The others that are part of Bruticus stay as Bruticus. Mostly because I just like the look of Bruticus. And G2 Menasor stayed together too. Otherwise, they'd be separate for me - Prowl, for one, is one that I like on his own.
For the most part I don't even have "sets". I collected all the Aerialbots and put together a Bruticus mostly by accident. But I've got 3/5s of Defensor and never really considered collecting the rest, only have one Stunticon, and I'm not going to buy POTP Grimlock and probably won't get Hun-grrr either even though I'll get all their limbs. And of course Dreadwind and eventually Darkwing too, but they don't really belong to a team anyway.
I just think it's a bit weird because I hear a lot of talk about the combined forms, which really don't do much because they're so big, but not so much about the individual figures. Especially for Slag, Swoop, Sludge and Snarl, where I'd really expected most people to jump at the chance to own new toys of the Dinobots and mostly just ignore that they combined.
Clay wrote:I should say that I have not seen wave one of the voyagers at all, and haven't even seen wave one in months. Come to think of it, I haven't seen wave two of the little Pretenders, either.
Ah, we're in the same boat, then. I've seen Rippersnapper twice and Hun-grrr and Elita once each, but none of the wave two Legends, Pretenders or Leaders, and none of the other Deluxes either. Stock at my local stores is mostly just Dreadwind and first-wave Pretenders at the moment.
Haven't tried the combination with the Dinos, and don't really plan on. Superion/Defensor are combined. Computron/Predaking are 3P, not really interested in Menasor, and whilst the 3P Seacons look lovely the set's a bit of a rip off. 3P Monstructor should be fun, though.
Abominus... probably going to end up combined, with a second Rippersnapper loose if they show up at retail. Have already got 3P Sinnertwin and Cutthroat analogues from different companies.
Currently being dicked around a bit by TFs-Express with Rippersnapper as I had the EX-Factory Gladiator on order and after a year or two I don't think it's ever going to surface -- so got that as store credit, and the site's now probably the worst cart/contact system implementation I've seen in a long while. Really don't appreciate having to log in to send or pick up messages, and for some reason the preorders section has been set up as a separate cart system on a different subdomain.
Thanks again, ganon. That does a look better. It actually looks better than Legends Groove on Defensor. I'll have to pick one up if I see him. Of course, then I'll have to double up on more limbs to finish him. Dammit, ganon, you just cost me a hundred bucks.
A while ago, I found some larger than Deluxe, smaller than Voyager not-Construcicon KOs for $6 each. They don't appear to be based on any actual Constructicon molds, but follow the same layout for 6 vehicles; cement mixer forms left leg, etc. The problem is, they only had 3 of the molds, and the box text is geneic enough that I can't search for the rest on line. Here's GarbagePicker (arm mode), CartilidgeEroder (bot mode), and ICan'tThinkOfALessImpressiveAlternativeToScrapper (vehicle mode).
Attachments
Alleged "poems"
that don't follow a rhyme scheme
are not poetry
Tantrum wrote:Thanks again, ganon. That does a look better. It actually looks better than Legends Groove on Defensor. I'll have to pick one up if I see him. Of course, then I'll have to double up on more limbs to finish him. Dammit, ganon, you just cost me a hundred bucks.
At least I've talked myself out of paying whatever Unit-3 costs aftermarket to do Universe Defensor.
Clay - I think you're right.
This isn't technically a new Transformers acquisition, but I did find a couple die-cast pullback toy cars laying on the ground in front of the supermarket this week. One is a Subaru Impreza, Binaltech Smokescreen's alt-mode. Here's a pic, next to a Hot-Wheels scale Lancia Startos I found at a flea market a few years ago.
The other car was a Lamborghini Avocado, or whatever AoE Lockdown's alt-mode is. It's orange with Italian flag stripes. The paint on this one's kind of dinged up from laying on the ground so long. I may try painting it grey at some point.
Attachments
Alleged "poems"
that don't follow a rhyme scheme
are not poetry
I hit quite afew stores and a flea market this past weekend.
SS Grimlock, Stinger, and TLK Steelbane - I've only opened Grimlock so far yet. I planned to skip Steelbane since I already have Skullitron. But, he looks really good, and now I have proof that Target got TLK Deluxes past Wave 1.
Other movie Grims I've owned transformed symmetrically, with the bot arms forming the dino legs G1-style, and the shoulder armor coming together tforming the head. SS Grim transforms asymmetrically, like Scorn. One arm, with weapon in lieu of hand, forms the tail. The other arm forms the head. The bot legs become the dino legs. This results in the best proportioned, but least coherent, Grim dino yet.
Up close, you can see that the dino isn't a solid object, but a mass of barely connected bot parts in the shape of a dino. This is especially clear with the bot fist in the dino neck. It's not too noticable at any distance, as long as he's not in front of a light source. The drybrushing, and general movie-verse spiky appearance help camaflogue the gaps. Having an Optimus ride him, with Op's legs covering the dino neck, helps a lot, too. It's quite a good dino mode, considering the bot mode was clearly the priority.
PCC Searchlight, Smolder - Neither has their minicon, and Searchlight's missing his rotors, so his altmode's a sub, now. Otherwise, they're in great shape. I now own 5 PCC torsos and no limbs.
Construct-bots Ironhide (missing head) and Translucent Optimus Prime (missing head and chestplate). I bought them for parts in case I get into C-bots again. I was out of fists. Plus, they came with Robot Heroes Shrapnel.
Authentics Grimlock is pretty damn great for a $10 Voyager. His only major flaw is that his dino torso seems to make good looking bot wings a higher priority than being a dino torso. The dino neck isn't flush with the dino body, and the dino torso hangs over the gold bot torso like a gut. The dino has a great shape from the side, but looks chubby from the front.
Other flaws are minor. His bot headsculpt looks a little like a bulldog. His dino head is one piece, no moving jaw. His dino mode has barely any paint; the aforementioned dino torso hanging over the gold bot torso emphasises this. The plastic's a bit rubbery, but the give helps let the bot wings fold over the bot shoulders during transformation.
Bot articulation is ball jointed shoulders, elbows, hips, and head; hinged knees. This puts him above Walgreen's figures, which cost 70% more. Dino articulation is ball jointed hips and knees; up-and-down shoulder pivots.
He has no weapon, but neither do NuRiD Grimlock, Energon Grimlock, or PotP Grimlock. Dammit, Hasbro.
I'm very satsified with what I got for what I paid. I'd be happier if Hasbro had designed this for the $17 Walgreen's line instead of the $10 discount line, and put the extra cash into a dino jaw and deco. And painting the bot fists, which are the same grey as the arms. Though, this does help them not stand out when the form the dino heels, as they do not retract into the limbs.
Authentics Megatron is good, but less impressive. His tank altmode has no wheels, though wheel wells are molded into the rear treads. His head just sits there in the back of the tank, but doesn't stand out. The barrel pivots up and down, but the turret does not turn.
Bot mode looks quite good. Molded detail in the abs make it look like a red lower torso with grey components attached to it, instead of a sloid grey torso with tiny spots of red paint. He's got ball jointed shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, and head. Large, flat feet make him very easy to balance.
The head sculpt looks great, but is very small, even for the figure's size, which actually makes the figure look beefy. The tank barrel can either stay attached as an underarm cannon, or be reattached to the side of the forearm, G1 style. My only complaint with the bot mode is that it looks very flat from the side, especially compared to the broad shouldered bot seen from the front. It's like a better proportioned figure was run over by a steamroller.
Alleged "poems"
that don't follow a rhyme scheme
are not poetry
I'm very satsified with what I got for what I paid. I'd be happier if Hasbro had designed this for the $17 Walgreen's line instead of the $10 discount line
Seeing reports that these were finally showing up in discount stores enticed me to look around in my local area.
I came across Authentics Starscream, the one roughly in the Legends size class. Is this one getting the 'Voyager' treatment too?
At any rate, I agree that I am happy for what it is at the cost I paid. The smaller figs run $5-7; Family Dollar is running these at $6.75. I definitely see the appeal of getting the real-deal characters for a cheap price.
Surprisingly, Starscream has ball joints all over - knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, and a swivel neck joint. Paint apps are sparse as you might expect, but the null rays detach, and he's well balanced. The only issue is the neck post slides up and down between modes, and I feel like this is going to be the first thing to go. Jet mode lacks a bunch too, but since the market is aimed at kids, I don't think the younger ones would mind much.
Like Tantrum, if this figure had been upscaled to the $10 'Voyager' line, I think I would prefer it as the Walgreens version (which Hasbro already did, but they didn't distribute many at all). As it is, this figure fills a size class gap in my Starscream collection, so it's a win.
(Hunt For the Decepticons/Reveal the Shield) Strafe
Strafe is the repaint of ROTF Mindwipe. I had picked up the companion repaint Sunspot whenever it was available at retail (and maybe even clearance?), and... have yet to bother opening it to this day. But I never saw Strafe at retail. Well, the bug finally bit a month or two ago and I found a Strafe on ebay for, well, less than it cost to ship it. $6? $7? I forget.
Anyway! He's a lot more gray than I expected, and actually complements Sunspot pretty poorly because of it. It's still a neat mold, but the clish-clash of gray and white doesn't work well in either mode. One or the other would've been fine I think, but not both. Still, it's nice to have completed the pair since I've had Mindwipe and Skystalker on permanent display since 2010.
Also, I got the Takara Warhammer Bumblebee a few ago. It's a reissue of the new 2017 Bee mold (which I never saw at retail anyway) with a war hammer. It's a neat Bee, and better than the 2014 mold, but I loathe the lack of pins and the use of over-tight T joints for the removable arm and blaster. It all comes apart too easily, as do the doors. I don't know if these problems are particular to my figure, but I've read similar complaints about the remolded version used for the studio series, so I guess they're not. Phooey. Besides that, I quite like it.
Will post another pair tomorrow as I try to get into a habit of writing/posting again.
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