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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Beast Machines Night Slash Cheetor
Obviously a huge improvement over the rickety Mega class figure from a year previous, this isn't without some questionable design choices - notably the slashing-action, where you press a button on his back and he flails his arms about. Being spring loaded, it makes his robot arms uncomfortable forelegs in beast mode as they never 'rest' in a good position. Shame, because the colours, robot mode and swing out blades are otherwise great.

Animorphs Tri-Rex
Are Animorphs Transformers? Not really. The fiction is basically Manimal-style hijinks with teens and aliens, but the toys cheekily used the Transformers branding to drum up some interest. Common perception is that these are all weird and awkward looking toys, with really unconvincing humanoid forms - usually because they tried too hard to give the human form clothes and less of a sort of mix of animal characteristics. Not so for Tri-Rex, which is why it probably works better than most from the line. Although it's still an uncomfortable squishy threesome between Jake, Marco and Cassie (here looking like a steroid accident). The main beast mode is superb, Kenner/Hasbro really having learnt how to do beast modes very well by this point. I haven't tried the electronic features yet but the rubber 'flipping' tail is bit rubbish. The transformation (morphing? oh, no that's something else...) is excellent, with all 3 components cleverly locked together. In true beast-ear fashion, the human forms are then basically unravelled from the chunks of dino. They are incredibly kibbly, and I wonder if Kenner/Hasbro had seen what Takara had been up to with Beast Wars by this point, as they feel very Neo inspired.I like how they are a mix of human and animal here with the talons and whatnot forming part of the humanoid form. ALthough the splodgy paintwork drowns it out, the heads of the three humans are great, with some nice texture and scales blending into their flesh. There's been an attempt to keep some clothes going on, which is a shame - I think some blended scales to human flesh would have been great. The human forms are a bit awkward to pose/ stand as a result, but I really like them all the same - they just look like some mad genetics experiment gone made and overall, I'm very impressed. Love it!
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Clay
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Post by Clay »

Had Sunsurge turn up some time back from Mr. Brendocon. I like it! Transformation is overdone, but it's all for good effect. The robot mode is nice and solid instead of hollow, and that's mostly due to the incredibly involved transformation. It didn't have to be so complicated, but a simplified design and lower parts count would have probably led to bad proportions and a hollow chest.

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Also, I looove the feet and double jointed knees on this thing. So flexible...

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And here's a brief and rough montage of getting the thing back into car mode.

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I also found Titans Return Black Shadow Sky Shadow a few days ago. I actually found this version of the mold more appealing than Overlord, so it was neat to find him in a store. I like the blocky, 1970s super-robo vibe he's got. He looks vintage to that era when doing a "one arm slightly lifted" pose.

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I can also say that I am now the proud owner of all both of Black Shadow's western releases.

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Tetsuro
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Post by Tetsuro »

Encore Skids - quite a few stickers ended up staying on the sheet, either because there didn't seem to be any sensible location to put them in (hubcap on one side, screwhead on the other) or were just sucker for punishment, similar to the thigh stickers on G1 Hot Rod.

Still, he's one of those odd characters who I got disproportionate amount of exposure to due to the Marvel issues I actually owned, vs. how many issues in total they actually appeared in.
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HeavyArms
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Post by HeavyArms »

TR Bumblebee - All of the Bumblebees I found in my area had two different shades of yellow comparing his arms to his chest which had put me off buying one, than I started noticing that Bumblebee that came in the Brawn wave had appeared to fixed the color difference so I bought one with the corrected color, also with a bit of a discount.
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

I had a box full of Beast-era figures and redecos show up yesterday! I haven't had a chance to sit down and spend a lot of time with any of them, but here's my initial impressions:

Noctorro's kind of awful, but not in the way I expected. Pictures of him make it seem like the colours are the problem, but in person his combination of deep, inky blue and copper looks pretty good. No, the engineering is where he lets you down. He doesn't lock together very well in either mode, and he has a spring-loaded wing-flapping gimmick that is intensely frustrating. I'd like to say he's the weakest of the bunch, but...

Bonecrusher is pretty sad too. His beast mode is a bison, so I'm inclined to love it (the bison has a lot of historical and symbolic importance here in Manitoba). But a bison doesn't make for a very dynamic toy. In robot mode, the entire back of the bison from horns to tail becomes his "head" so he's nearly as deep as he is tall. Like Noctorro, he really suffers from over-gimmicking -- the giant "head" is the way it is because of a really big, complex "headbutt" system that also fires his mouth missile. I love that the BW designers got creative with action gimmicks, but sometimes they worked and sometimes they didn't, and Bonecrusher falls into that second pile. Also, while he's decently articulated in robot mode it's hard to get him to stand in anything other than a neutral pose because his head is 248 feet long. I want to like him but I think he's going to turn out to be shelf fodder.

Beast Machines Buzzsaw, on the other hand, was a pleasant surprise. I wasn't sure what to expect, and the springy left arm is a funny look, but he's a fun little figure. The beast mode is very expressive, with better articulation than most TF bugs. The transformation is surprisingly involved for such a small guy, and the robot mode is one of the more solid BM designs. Though I'm not sure if the bug legs on his right arm are meant to be a hand, or if he's got a really short arm with some sort of hand-held weapon.

The Terrorsaur repaint that got released as AoE Strafe is one of the more bizarre things to come out of the movie line, but hey...if it means we're still getting new releases of Beast Wars toys two decades after the line debuted I'm not going to complain. I own the "Dinobots" Terranotron version of this mold thanks to the Archive's own Dead Man Wade, so I was familiar with what I was getting, though the QC on Strafe seems a bit spottier. Terranotron's joints were all basically perfect, but Strafes all seem to be either a hair too tight or a hair too loose. I guess that's what a dozen uses of the mold over twenty years gets you, though! The colour scheme is nice -- I especially like the vibrant shade of blue -- but I think Terranotron is a bit prettier. Still a very good figure, though.

The Legion-class Moviebee that came with him...I'm pretty sure I gave an identical Bumblebee to my nephew like six years ago as a Christmas gift, so this mold has probably seen just as much love as Strafe's has. I'm not a big fan of movie Legion stuff, so I've already tossed this into my boy's toybox. Hopefully he likes it!

And lastly there's a repaint of Beast Wars' other Terrosaur toy: Armada Terrorsaur. I love the Armada and Universe recolours of the Transmetal BW toys, because they seem like a completely different set of figures without the chrome to dazzle you. Terrorsaur here is no exception, and he looks nothing like the blingy original figure (or at least the pics I've seen of it). It's a very odd mold though, by Transmetal standards. Most of them are G1-style blocky robotic figures, but Terrorsaur has a skeletal pteranodon mode and a lanky, misproportioned robot mode. He'd probably look more at home among TM2s than the original Transmetals. But it's a very fun figure. The robot mode has great articulation, and (surprisingly) so does the beast, and he comes off as monstrous and threatening in both modes. The colour scheme is a weak spot unless he's camouflaged to hide in a pumpkin patch, but the original is kind of an eyesore so I'd still call it an improvement.

He also came with a Minicon that I'm already forgetting (I think it's called Ironhide?), but like most Armada Minicons it's pretty terrible.

Overall, not a bad haul.
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Unicron
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Post by Unicron »

So I bought one of those new Trypticons today. Hefty bugger, and sturdily built too. A little too sturdy, it would seem... Mine is afflicted with the hip issue that several of those who got him early reported.

The trouble is in the ratchets where the legs connect to the torso. Hasbro seems to have used overly strong springs in an attempt to make sure he holds poses in dino-mode. But the springs are so strong they've effectively frozen the ratchets, making it very difficult to move the legs. I don't know if forcing it would result in the breakage that some suspect would happen, but I'm not interested in finding out. At least there's instructions for a fix floating around.

The dino-mode nails Trypticon perfectly, though that's not hard to pull off. The base mode is nice, and seem slike a good update of the original's. The third mode, a spaceship this time, seems a touch tacked on but it's not like it's a selling point or anything.

Hips aside, it's good and hits every mark I'd expect or want in a Trypticon.
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HeavyArms
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Post by HeavyArms »

TR Decepticon Rumble - Really just a bit of completion with this guy, if you have one of the cassettes you might as well get the others, still after Soundwave though.
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electro girl
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Post by electro girl »

I got TR Overlord because he's Overlord. Pretty fun, nice features, decent pose-ability but nothing really stands out about him. He has a nice design and nice colours but he isn't very interesting to look at considering we got really acquainted with him in his visually striking Nick Roche design from Last Stand of the Wreckers. He really needs a better pout!

That said, my tolerance for these shortcomings are a little greater considering this is an official Hasbro Overlord toy and because I loved LSotW so, in a way, he is sort of coasting by on that. He is by no means a bad toy though, everything seems to fit together real nicely and he is very satisfying to Transform. Maybe I just needed to measure my expectations.
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

Got the Autobot and Decepticon clones for about what they'll be to import when Takara eventually release them... pretty cool. I'm curious what if anything they might be repainted as. Nice and boxy retro.
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HotShot81
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Post by HotShot81 »

HeeFrom , Hee I’ve been a busy little transformer buying beaver! Roll Call!

Transformers: Robots In Disguise (2015) Combiner Wars we have: Dragstrip & Wildbreak, and Shockdrive & Warnado! Why they couldn’t rename Shockdrive something Shark related is a crying shame.

From Transformers: The Last Knight we have that weapon loving mini bot, Autobot Sqweeks! I hear he’s due to take Bumblebee’s role at the team mute.

From Transformers Titan Return we have a load of new recruits. In no order what so ever we start with Aimless & Misfire, I see these two playing Stormtroopers in the next Star Wars film. Flameout & Twin Twist are looking for his brother, got to feel sorry for the cons when they hook up! We have the always lovely Windblade & Scorchfire, woman has a dancer’s grace, but the skills of a harden warrior. We also have those two knuckle heads Overboard & Skytread, one is so stupid because that’s the way he is, and the other loves guns so much he can’t think of anything but blasting Autobots to scrap. That’s all for now folks . . . wait we have a last minute addition to the Titan return line. He’s big! He’s Mean! He loves Headmaster-os for breakfast! He’s Trypticon! Yup, Trypticon has been found north of the 49th parallel!
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Tetsuro
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Post by Tetsuro »

TAV30 Grimlock falls into that odd category of my Transformers collection of "other", similar to a handful of other toys that are both the sole representative of their respective lines as well as fitting in neither MP or G1.

I wanted this guy for a while but his aftermarket prices turned me off (over 50 dollars on ebay, are you kidding me) and I waited forever for him to turn up on Mandarake - which he finally did - granted, he was pre-opened, but he was also 15 dollars, but even with shipping added he was still a lot cheaper than those ebay prices.
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electro girl
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Post by electro girl »

Came across G2 Drench and Armada Smokescreen today. Not bad.
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HeavyArms
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Post by HeavyArms »

TLK Voyager Megatron - Got him through a Facebook group a bit less than at retail.
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Titans Return Broadside w/Blunderbuss
Really pleased to finally have found something from TR Wave 4 locally :) And it's Broadside!And he's great!I like the huge frame this guy has, he's got some bulk, but wears it well all great big blocks of ROBOT. It's like he's one of those old Charles Atlas ads from the comics, where he got fed up of bullies kicking sand in his face and went to the gym and worked out. A lot. Articulation is good,on a par with most deluxes, but nothing to get excited about. The alt modes.. the Aircraft carrier is excellent, but I won't be pinning those tiny Aerialbots on him as I'm bound to loose them. Also, Hasbro not being arsed to paint them up, they make him look like he's covered in lice or something. The jet mode is alright - I like it - but is a bit of a clusterf88k of robo-parts with a nose cone on the front. As everyone else has said, the stickers are good, but there's no way these things are going to survive, having been put on parts that need constant handling and brush up against other parts. A bit like how Rewind's stickers are similarly doomed to failure.
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Thunderwave
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Post by Thunderwave »

TR Seaspray: Randomly found this little fat guy at Walmart when I stopped in. His transformation is simple and expected, but it gets the job done. He's a cute little update to the minibot he once was.

TLK Nitro: First impression of this guy is that he's big. He's bigger then the TR voyagers I have so far. He's got some heft to him as well. His joints are all nice and tight and his paint apps are crisp. I'm not sure he's worth what I paid for him yet, but I really like him. He's big, bulky, and his transformation is interesting enough to do.

TR Trypticon: The big bad himself. Snagged him at a ThinkGeek store at the local mall. Sadly he was a first run one so I had to operate on his hips, which was a pain in the butt. Speaking of a pain in the butt, holy moly Batman, those stickers. There seemed like there was a thousand of the little foil buggers. But after a few hours of fighting with the little things and preforming toy surgery, he was worth the effort. He stacks up well with Fort Max and Metroplex. His little car buddy, Full Tilt, is a full on Deluxe sized headmaster now. He sadly lacks the electronic sounds of the last two city bots. Overall I'm rather fond of the big beasty.
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

Thunderwave wrote:TLK Nitro: First impression of this guy is that he's big. He's bigger then the TR voyagers I have so far. He's got some heft to him as well. His joints are all nice and tight and his paint apps are crisp. I'm not sure he's worth what I paid for him yet, but I really like him. He's big, bulky, and his transformation is interesting enough to do.
Good to hear. I've got a Thunderwing head waiting for one, and whilst it'll be a decidedly overpriced toy overall it does come together in pics as if it was intended.
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Thunderwave
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Post by Thunderwave »

Denyer wrote:Good to hear. I've got a Thunderwing head waiting for one, and whilst it'll be a decidedly overpriced toy overall it does come together in pics as if it was intended.
Good deal. When I say he's bigger, Astrotrain/Sentinel Prime is actually a touch taller at the head, but Nitro has more bulk and mass in the torso. He honestly makes the TR mold look a little thin in comparison. The more I fiddle with Nitro the more I like him.

And darn it all, I was ready to hate The Last Knight toy line and not pick up anything. Here I am two figures in and I really like them both.
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

HeadTitanmasters are a good way to go for movie lines in general, I think -- give people the chance to without fuss put different, more recognisable heads on them and they'd have a lot more cross-over appeal. It'd be far more of a gimmick than putting the "spare" heads onto bodies that are definitely a particular retro character.

Still pretty stoked for this one to arrive.
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Heinrad
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Post by Heinrad »

Thanks to Warcry, I now have TR Sixshot, and he's really neat. I would say something about Revolver, but he seems to have locked himself in. He's also not as bulky as Op or Ginrai.

Now if we can just get Hasbro to not print black and white instructions on dark grey paper....
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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

TFN Haul!:

Purple MMC Rodimus: Those colours really, really work well in person. And a fun toy that really gets the swagger of the guy.

MMC Cyclonus: Yeah, basically the same. Just a great take on the IDW design.

TFN Exclusive Rune: Very faithful to the Don War Within design, meaning anyone who hates that will have no truck with this. But she's good fun on those terms.

Overlord: I bought an actual Transformer! I understand the 3P one is more Roche, but there's something hugely fun about his big blocky nature that's great. Lots of play value, looks great in all modes and isn't remotely worth the full RRP I paid for him in a moment of lust, but at a realistic price for a toy like this he'd be fab. I want Black Shadow now.
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