POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

POTP Rodimus Prime
I had the Nemesis version of this first, but sold him on. After the novelty of having an evil Rodimus wore off, I just wished I'd bought the 'proper' version as I like Rodimus Prime. Also, black repaints strike me as something as a luxury/ premium thing (thanks to years of Takara selling them as such), which black Rodimus definitely wasn't. Anyway, The Entertainer has had everything Transformers related (except RID Warrior Class figures, oddly) at 20% off again for the last 2 months,so I picked up Rodimus after having done my Xmas shopping and I do like the toy much more properly done up as expected. It still feels a bit cheap and very Playskool, but the bright colours and fun of switching between modes shine through.

Titans Return Chaos On Velocitron
Surprise Christmas gift from a good friend. I was half looking for one of these, which have recently hit UK discount shops, but I found none in my area and wasn't up for paying the scalper prices this is now going for on ebay for what is a fairly unremarkable set of 'bots. Unremarkable doesn't however mean that these aren't good fun. Fastclash is a one of the two Autobot Clones and is a straight update of the '87 figure, just now with elbows and knees. I like this guy. He's a big blocky mess, but he's cute enough. Nautica Easily the centerpiece of the set, she's a nice repaint/ retool of the Blurr mold. Nice to see another comic-only character legitimised in plastic. Although her submarine mode doesn't look very water tight. Laser Prime Not really had too much play time with this guy, but he's not as awful as expected. The stickers on the tanker are sadly a load of rubbish, peeling off all over the shop :( Although the tanker itself lacks articulation, it's quite nice looking. Robot mode is good and captures the look of the old G2 toy very well, although I do prefer the blue head antenae to be retracted as I find he has something of a fat head otherwise. Quickswitch Found the original toy to be a charming lump, and it's horrible mix of red, white and turquoise worked quite well. Here, slapped all over the Sixshot mold it looks a bit of an eyesore. Fair enough to represent Quickswitch using the thing, even if a couple of Sixshot's alt modes aren't right for him, but it just looks wrong to me. As with Sixshot, I've plugged the Titan Master in and can't get it out again. Rodimus Prime Nice die-cast rendering of the Autobot leader's head, but now a bit redundant for me following the POTP release. As with the other TR box set that gave us Thunderwing's head, it's a bit cheeky to pass off what is basically an accessory as a legitimate fifth figure to somehow 'add value'. Love the artwork poster, but overall definitely a money for old rope set that isn't as good as the other one (which I forget the name of) that gave us Tidal Wave and that.
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ganon578
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Post by ganon578 »

Got a few new ones over the holiday:

WFC Siege Battle Patrol & Air Strike Patrol: After grabbing my nostalgia-driven Race Car Patrol, I decided to grab the other Micromasters (because these dudes are just fun!!!). All four are great, but I like the Battle Patrol a bit more. They work much nicer as a combined weapon, which looks really good as a BFG for Hound. No knock against the jets as they are nice too, but the 'sword' mode looks silly. And the Race Car Patrol's 'stacked-cars-gun' mode is laughable. I did find that I can peg them (the cars) individually into Sideswipe's forearms for a better look. Overall I think the price point works for pairs of them, especially when compared to the Battlemasters price point and lack of paint/joints. Which brings me to...

WFC Siege Firedrive & Blowpipe: Simply because I wanted to have the Targetmasters for Hot Rod & Triggerhappy. Which I think they do a great job of pulling off. The blaster effects are cool, but for $6 each I think another effect or two would have been great, especially since these have really limited articulation and severely limited paint apps. As standalone figs they're really not worth the price. Am I happy that I have them to match figures in my collection? Yes. Otherwise I think they're an easy pass. But guess what? I have a Misfire coming in a day or so, so I'll be grabbing Aimless when he comes out. Hmm.

Studio Series Ratchet (DOTM) and Shadow Raider: I'm not a big fan of the movie designs, but when my wife has the kids pick out a couple of gifts for Daddy on Christmas, how can I say no? Both of these figures are honestly really nice and solid. I love them both. Each of them have pretty decent articulation, but I give Ratchet the edge on this one, if only because of the ball jointed ankles. I really like how Shadow Raider's gun clips onto his hand, and I like that Ratchet came with his gun instead of the saw blade. Sadly, both have backpacks in robot mode. I don't know if designers have ever come up with a good way to handle Ratchet's top rack - in this case it just hangs there off his back. Shadow Raider has a fair bit of car parts hanging off him as well. SR comes off as a bit of a shellformer, but I think that has more to do with the Movieverse featuring a million shifting razor blades instead of sensible design. I think the busy-ness of the Movie designs is what turned me off in the first place. Anyhoo, all the negatives I just wrote don't detract from me liking these figures. :)
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Post by Clay »

Skyquake87 wrote:Studio Series Starscream
This is a fun figure I wasn't expecting much from. Reminds me of the DOTM Deluxe Thundercracker figure I used to have, in terms of its engineering. Only Voyager sized. Even if it is just that blown up to Voyager sized, it makes for a fantastic figure. The jet mode looks awesome and tidy. Robot mode is good fun and overall I'm very impressed.
Tantrum wrote:Studio Series #21 - Starscream Like Ratchet, SS Starscream is a reworking of the DotM Deluxe, released in two decos. There are several improvements to the mold:

New chest panels manage to fill in more (but not all) of the gaps between the cockpit chest and the broad shoulders. Having two thin panels where DotM had one thick panel means SS's panels fold more compactly under the wings in jet mode, resulting in one of the most aerodynamic jetformers I've bought in quite some time. It's not perfect, since the arms stick out from below the plane more than a jet would, but this is pretty minor.

Better arm articulation. DotM's ball jointed elbow are replaced with hinged elbows, upper arm swivels, and wrist swivels, giving SS even more arm articulation than the Deluxe that could scratch his own back. If you want to pose SS and DotM together, pinky to the mouth all, "I will call him Mini-Me" style, you can, though DotM can't quite pull it off as well as SS. On a related note, SS has solid forearms instead of the hollow ones DotM has.


This does bring up my main concern with this figure. The legs aren't straight when the bot stands. This means that the weight is supported by the hinges of the knee joints instead of plastic resting on plastic. DotM had screws here; SS has screws in one joint, but pins in the other. It's possible (and maybe intended) to bend the pinned joints all the way back and pose the legs accordingly. But, this results in a shorter, more awkward looking bot. I'll do this if the hinges don't hold up, but hope not to have to.
I see what you mean, but I think the standing pose for starscream is to have the thrusters parallel with the ground, which rotates the knee piece as far back as it will go. It only looks weird until you remember that starscream has bird legs... because he's a raptor. The pose is more exaggerated in this figure than some of the others, but... them's his legs, they is. If you want him to stand a bit taller, having the thruster/knee pieces angled down about 45* and then rotating the hips back about 30* so that the knee pins aren't on the same axis works well.

I dug out the DOTM figure when I found studio Starscream. It's 98% the same figure, but embiggened. The only real engineering/mold changes I noticed were the bits that fill in the chest has some extra pieces to help complete the job, as you mentioned. What gets me is how much better the studio Starscream feels than the deluxe, despite the only major difference being size.
ganon578 wrote:NBK Devastator KO (Not GT Gravity Builder):

I'm really happy with the NBK version. The size is right (and the price was too), and the individual bots, though a bit stylized and also simplified, still look close to their respective characters and have a good range of articulation.
Do you know if this KO is the same size as the regular Gravity Builder? I've honestly never looked at GB much since it came out around the same time as I quit being able to chase third party combiners, but it seems like it's about the same size as the TFC Hercules. That I find a bit odd, as I think several other groups had already released much larger combiners trying to cater to the ever-changing masterpiece style.
ganon578 wrote:Got a few new ones over the holiday:

Studio Series Ratchet (DOTM) and Shadow Raider: Sadly, both have backpacks in robot mode. I don't know if designers have ever come up with a good way to handle Ratchet's top rack - in this case it just hangs there off his back.
I was thinking that this one does, but I forgot that they had removed the box back to make him a more traditional humvee with a truck bed.

Denyer wrote:Snagged a studio series Dropkick online and was pretty impressed it turned up this side of Christmas. Quite looking forward to opening -- the box art seems to have very little to do with the actual figure though.
I found one of these a few weeks. The first comparison that struck me was the masterpiece cassettes. Not so much as looks, mind you, but rather just how narrow the helicopter is when looking at it dead-on. It's almost two dimensional like the cassettes, and much like Ravage, they managed to squeeze out a fully three-dimensional figure. I think it's really impressive.

As for me, I got a masterpiece Megatron 2.0 for christmas, yay. I converted it from a robot to a gun and back in as little as 90 minutes! I've never been a purist in demanding that Megatron needs to be a handgun (I mean, a tank is a gun that's so big that it needs its own tractor underneath it to move it around... so just make him a tank), but I've always been fascinated with the engineering challenge of making a humanoid shape out of one, and especially a symmetrical one that splits the gun down the middle. I kind of want to track down some third party MP megatrons now to see what they do different.
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Post by Denyer »

There's quite a range and the thing is that Megs has varied so much in art over the years that they all capture some incarnation.

Personally keeping an eye on whether the + release of MP-36 gets copied, the original toy look differentiates it quite well from other releases out there.
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Post by HeavyArms »

Cyberverse Megatron - Really mostly bought to have a Megatron in this line, it otherwise looks pretty generic.
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Post by Heinrad »

POTP Punch/Counterpunch: He's a pretty neat figure. Got him for Christmas from a friend of mine.
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Post by Warcry »

A few little guys from Christmas...

POTP Octopunch is cute! Probably not the most fitting adjective for the character, but it fits when he's only a couple inches tall. I did a slight mod to make his fist hole big enough to accommodate a Lego weapon, so now he's waving around a little trident, making him even cuter. I have no idea what his weapon mode is even supposed to be, though. Some sort of bizarre hentai implement?

POTP Bomb-Burst is less impressive. He's a leaner, more mechanical take on the original Bomb-Burst, which is cool, but he's not cute like Octopunch and at this size, with their limited articulation, that's really all the size class can offer. Plus he's a retool of Skullgrin, so he turns into a back-scratcher.

Siege Blowpipe and Firebolt are basically the same toy as each other, engineering-wise. Pretty simple really, just five points of articulation (hips, shoulders and an ab joint). Probably not strictly worth the price they're asking, but I'll be damned if they're not the nicest Targetmasters I've ever seen. The simplicity makes them very solid in weapon mode, and they're way more convincing-looking as guns than any of the other modern Targetmasters. The Takara Legends TMs are probably better stand-alone action figures, sure, but these are the first gun-buddies I've ever owned that manage to convince me they're actually transforming into weapons, not just awkwardly doing yoga. They're still basically just add-on kits for TR Triggerhappy and your Hot Rod of choice, but that's the era of Transformers I started out with as a kid so these little guys are basically perfectly targeted at my tastes.
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

POTP Moonracer
Popped into my local Smyths to see the Transformers section largely decimated (one lonley Siege Megatron - £23.99 which is cheaper than everywhere online I've seen) and after having a play with Elita-1 last night thought I'd get her a friend. Moonracer has all the problems that come with designers insistence of giving female Transformers Barbie-style bodies. So she's nice enough to look at until you get to the back, where she's wearing her entire alt-mode. Which is rubbish. Aside from that, she's decently poseable and I like her gun. The vehicle mode looks like a protoform's go-kart though and isn't very good. Especially as she has too nubbins which catch on the ground in front of the rear wheels. whyyyyy?
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Warcry »

Amazon-exclusive Prime Wars Blast Off showed up today. I'd heard some horror stories about the shuttle mold, so I wasn't super keen on paying 50% over normal Deluxe retail for it. But it dropped down to around $11 on Boxing Day, and that was enough to give it a chance.

I like it, but I defintely see the issues some people have with it. The whole head and collar assembly doesn't like to stay in place in robot mode, and the transformation is definitely a lot clunkier than the super simple Hasbro CW molds. Blast Off looks good, though, and the unique mold definitely helps to bring some diversity to a Combiner Wars group that can quickly start to look very samey.
Skyquake87 wrote: Sun Dec 30, 2018 7:28 pm Especially as she has too nubbins which catch on the ground in front of the rear wheels. whyyyyy?
I've seen a few people complaining about this! Apparently the tabs are there to lock in some car kibble in robot mode, but lots of people are filing them down.
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Skyquake87
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Skyquake87 »

Pfft. Bad enough she's got cheap-ass clip on wheels without being able to roll as well. And I used' too' instead of 'two' so I look awesome.
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Warcry »

You would not believe how hard it was for me to not correct that in the quote. I suspect I may have been a copy editor in a past life...

(Now watch me make 200 typos of my own!)

I grabbed the Siege Air Strike Patrol while on a grocery run today. I definitely agree (with ganon, I think it was?) that they feel more "worth it" than the Battlemasters, in spite of being the same size and the price per figure working out about the same. Having better alt-modes helps a lot. More flashy colours, too. All three Micromaster sets looked pretty cool, actually. But I had the original Air Strike Patrol as a kid and not the others, so obviously this was the first team I was going to get.

Even though Tailwind and Nightflight are MIA, I think this is a really nice update to the original set. The robot and jet modes are both pretty accurate, and Storm Cloud's transformation is pretty inventive for such a little guy. And Whisper and Storm Cloud were definitely the better pair to update if you could only do two, since I've always found their colours quite eye-catching while the other pair is a tad more bland. The combined sword mode is wacky fun, though it does bring to mind comparisons with the Armada Star Saber. Which brings to mind in turn the realisation that in a decade and a half I've gone from spending $10 Canadian for a team of three Minicons to $13 for two. It really drives the inflation home for me. On the up-side, these two Micromasters feel sturdier and better-engineered than any Armada Minicon I've ever handled, and it's not even really close.

Whisper and Storm Cloud are good fun, and make me want to track down the other new Micros as well in good time. In fact, they leave me a bit sad that Siege is only going to produce half of each of the original wave of Patrols, and not the veritable mountain of them we got in the late 80s. Hopefully they sell well so the gimmick can carry on!
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Skyquake87
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Skyquake87 »

I really want to pick up the new Micromasters...well the two Decepticons, if nothing else. The price for them isn't half putting me off. Might wait and see what brick and mortar shops do them for when they eventually show up.

I'm trying to plug a few gaps in my collection, some old 'wants' that I keep forgetting to look up. Having swerved Thrustor and Fox Kids Tarantulas for the time being, I was pleased to have found a reasonably priced Binaltech Destron Swindle. Had the Alternators version for years, which I absolutely loved, but sold him on along with Rumble to eventually get the shiny Binaltech version. I like him, but I think objectively this might be one of the rare occasions where the Alternators version is better. Simply because the die-cast makes Swindle incredibly top heavy and his hips struggle to support the weight. Looks bloody great in Jeep mode. I got quite a hit of nostalgia from the thing too, which I wasn't expecting. Ah, the heady days of 2004...
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Re: NEWEST AQUISITIONS!

Post by ganon578 »

Clay wrote: Fri Dec 28, 2018 3:43 pm Do you know if this KO is the same size as the regular Gravity Builder? I've honestly never looked at GB much since it came out around the same time as I quit being able to chase third party combiners, but it seems like it's about the same size as the TFC Hercules. That I find a bit odd, as I think several other groups had already released much larger combiners trying to cater to the ever-changing masterpiece style.
I believe the NBK version is the same size. I've read some blurbs on filling out the real deal Gravity Builder with parts of the NBK KO, and it seems to work fine. Feel free to verify that though. Mine is ~15" tall in combined mode, which seems about right to the GT one. The six Constructicons are all Voyager sized, and comparison videos of a few of them put them on par with the real figures. I think Scrapper is the most 'different' since NBK simplified his legs, making him a tad shorter than the real one. Otherwise, the combined modes are all the same size. In color scheme they're quite different.

As far as I can tell, there are 3 versions of KO Gravity Builders:

NBK - Same size, a touch simplified, green color scheme is different from the original (more purple, some clear orange), cost is ~&70-80 USD. Quality is good/fair.

Jin Jiang (JJ) - Same size, very simplified (some bots have no knees), green color scheme is close to original, cost is ~$75-85 USD. Quality is good.

Jinbao (JB) - Over-sized, same articulation as original, very faithful green color scheme, cost is ~$165. Quality is as good-ish as original.

That's just the research I had done when I got my NBK. Ultimately it came down to size, functionality, and cost - I was willing to sacrifice on the color scheme for my needs (personally I think the other two versions' colors are better). I believe all three offer a G2-ish yellow version as well.
Clay wrote: Fri Dec 28, 2018 3:43 pmI was thinking that this one does, but I forgot that they had removed the box back to make him a more traditional humvee with a truck bed.
Yep. I don't blame the designers, it's hard to find a functional way to collapse the rack without compromising quality. I don't much notice the rack hanging down there unless I am looking at his back anyways, but it sure is there.

As for acquisitions, I came across Studio Series 13 Megatron (ROTF, Voyager) at Target. In person, the guy looked so good in package that I couldn't say no. Of course, I wanted to only stick with my SS06 Starscream, SS16 Ratchet, and SS17 Shadow Raider, but here we are. Beautiful figure, but really hollow in the torso (very noticeable from the side). The cannon arm is cool, and he's got the death spike on there that can be flipped out. I've never been a fan of the spindly fingers on his other arm. Actually, I'm not sure why the movie-verse couldn't have just made a simple bad ass Megs - either they make him too spiky, or give him a half amputated arm, or he's missing half his head. I think this is the best version of the three, and this mold makes the difference in arms bearable. The alt mode is... OK. I like him as a tank more than a jet or tanker truck, so I'll take it.

Additionally, they had a SS21 Starscream that looks so freaking nice I almost got him too. That one will have to wait a bit, but I really dig the colors and tattoos in person.
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Re: NEWEST AQUISITIONS!

Post by Clay »


Additionally, they had a SS21 Starscream that looks so freaking nice I almost got him too. That one will have to wait a bit, but I really dig the colors and tattoos in person.
If it's still there, could you grab it for me? The only physical store near me that carries the studio voyagers overstocked on the prime and starscream wave something crazy (like, a dozen of each). I can't find starscream online without him bundled with megatron, which I already have.
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Re: NEWEST AQUISITIONS!

Post by ganon578 »

Clay wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 1:24 pm

Additionally, they had a SS21 Starscream that looks so freaking nice I almost got him too. That one will have to wait a bit, but I really dig the colors and tattoos in person.
If it's still there, could you grab it for me? The only physical store near me that carries the studio voyagers overstocked on the prime and starscream wave something crazy (like, a dozen of each). I can't find starscream online without him bundled with megatron, which I already have.
I think I should be able to do that. Sent you a PM. :)
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Newest Aquisitions!

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Skyquake87 wrote: Sun Dec 30, 2018 7:28 pmThe vehicle mode looks like a protoform's go-kart though and isn't very good. Especially as she has too nubbins which catch on the ground in front of the rear wheels. whyyyyy?
There are little notches in the clear part of the roof that these nubbins slide into to hold the roof in place in bot mode. I didn't see them until someone else pointed them out to me, either. They aren't needed. The hinges seem strong enough to hold the roof in place on their own. Plus, just about everybody eschews the intent for the roof kibble, and just has it hang down like the back of a skirt.


I got a lot of new TF stuff over the holidays, some for Chrustmas, some I bought myself.

CW legends Skywarp - I passed on him in store as I already had Thundercracker. Then, I got a great deal on Starscream, and decided to complete the set. This is the only non-G1 mold I own all 3 original seekers in.

3P Quintesson Judge - A tiny little guy, and the faces might be a tad too rdark, but the sculpting is excellent.

TR Triptycon - Burlington carries him for $60. He seems about the same size relative to adult me as G1 Tripticon was to kid me, which is nice. I heard something rattling around, and opened the box when I got home to check; one of the purple toes had come off. I should snap on easily enough. For some reason, seeing the little gun mounted on Full-Tilt mounted on Trip's chest had the most nostalgic significance to me. Not Full-Tilt himself. His gun.

PotP Starscream - I'd planned to pass on this guy, as I don't think the design suits Starscream all that well, and I already own the Elita-1 remold. But, he was clearanced down to $19, so I figured I'd try him as a combiner torso. The silver stickers don't seem too appealing, but do seem like the kind of thing Starscream would do.

Edit: I've opened Starscream. He makes a good torso. I'd've liked a slightly bulkier gestalt head, to match the traditional seeker side vent look. But, that may not have been possible with making the gestalt head fit in the bot chest. I'm using all jet limbs, and it looks great. Which is good, because Darkwing is stuck in the shoulder joint. I had that problem with my 2nd Silverbolt. I was able to get the Deluxe out by disassembling the joint, but I never tried to use him as a torso again.

With the wings strightened out, and the null rays attached to his arms, the bot mode is actually OK. It's good enough that I'll try to fix the gestalt shoulder so I can use the bot mode again. The plane mode looks terrible; even if it wasn't difficult to tab together, I doube I'd ever transfrom him into jet again. The bot just hanging out under the jet has been discussed to death, but what I wasn't expecting is how bad the top of the jet looks. The tail fins and rear wings are way too small.

G1 Minibots - 'Bee, Swerve, Tailgate, Outback - I like the toon face on 'Bee, as I already have the toy face in keychain form. I've never owned any toy of Swerve before. I'm glad I skipped TR Outback; I already have the Brawn version of that mold, and this Outback comes with his weapon.

RiD Saberclaw (Bisk/Saberhorn) - Found at TJ Maxx, and the only thing here I've opened so far. Saberclaw's claws are formed much like Warrior Bisk's, though using the rear wheels instead of the front. Bisk is rather plain, but Saberhorn looks nice.

Seige whatever they're calling Flywheels now - I'd seen the first wave of Deluxes at a comic shop for $25 each, and deemed them not worth it. This was the only one I was really interested in, and I found him at Target for $20.

Last Stand of the Wreckers - I'd heard good things about this comic. I liked it, but found the Bullets prose story at the end more compelling. I'm now a little bummed that TR Overlord's face doesn't match the jovial look from the book. I could swap in another face, but it'd be too small.
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Re: Newest Aquisitions!

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Tantrum wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 11:03 pm Last Stand of the Wreckers - I'd heard good things about this comic. I liked it, but found the Bullets prose story at the end more compelling. I'm now a little bummed that TR Overlord's face doesn't match the jovial look from the book. I could swap in another face, but it'd be too small.
It's really tightly scripted. It's the kind of thing that gets better on subsequent readings.

As for me, thanks to Mr. Ganon, I have a studio ROTF Starscream. I like it!

Srsly, it's great.

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Re: Newest Aquisitions!

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Clay wrote: Sun Jan 06, 2019 10:51 pm I have a studio ROTF Starscream. I like it!

Srsly, it's great.
I have one now too! Good looking figure, and I think both have their merits. I don't mind having the 2007 & ROTF on display at the same time. The varied color scheme of the ROTF version really brings out detail in robot mode, while the 2007 has such a nice looking jet.

Additionally, WFC Siege Megatron and WFC Siege Optimus Prime showed up to my house yesterday. I really like them both! Much like Sideswipe and Hound, I'm impressed with how solid these figures feel. The hollowness of the recent Generations lines has been filled in, and the construction has a good feel to it. Neither figure is perfect. Optimus has a bit of arm kibble and a backpack, but slightly better articulation. Megs has a backpack too, but it blends in a bit better since it's a bit like his modern designs like IDW. I'm irked that Megs' giant sword is part of his alt mode, so you need to keep it with him. Fortunately in robot mode, you can at least peg it on his back. His head/neck area doesn't tab in anywhere, so to keep it level it just sort of floats by joint friction. Otherwise, both of the robot modes are good. The alt modes are nice and snug as well, and both compact. No hollow spots, save for a small portion of the back of Prime's cab.

Overall I'm really happy with these three. Now I need my wallet to chill for a while. I really hope Siege Wave 2 stuff doesn't arrive for a few months so I can financially catch up. :cool:
Last edited by ganon578 on Thu Jan 10, 2019 3:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Tantrum »

I'll probably reread LSotW this summer, when the weather's nice enough to sit outside on my deck at night.

I managed to get Darkwing out of Starscream's shoulder joint. I have to turn Dreadwing 90 deg to apply enough force, but it works.

I opened Skytread/Flywheels. I'm pretty impressed. I much prefer the well done combined mode and vehicle modes to the compromises Battletrap needed to give him individual bots. Roadtrap's head joint does give Battletrap a waist swivel Flywheels lacks. But, the jet's tail would impede that anyway, as I found when I swapped components. I forget if the G1 toys could do that.

The tank's turret is pretty blocky, but not too bad. The tank rolls better than Battletrap's jeep. The jet has no noticeable underwing kibble, which is nice. The bot's sides do fold under there, but they're small enough to be out of the way.

They may have overdone it with the 5 mm holes. I counted 17, including two on the soles of the feet.

I'm not a fan of the weathering deco. But, flywheels uses it sparingly enough to work. There's just some on the side of the tank, none on the jet, which is where you'd expect it, given that the tank would be rolling through rough terrain that would scratch up its sides.
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Warcry
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Re: NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Warcry »

I managed to pick up a couple Siege Deluxes during a Toys'R'Us sale. They were buy one, get one half off, so the price worked out to be pretty close to what I'm used to paying for a Deluxe. I'm not sure I'd have bought them otherwise, because I've seen the whole lineup of Deluxes and Voyagers at regular price multiple times and passed on them.

Cog is a nice robot. He fits in well with the TR Headmasters, being a bit shorter and stockier. Poseability is good, and it's obvious that the designers are trying to work in more points of articulation with better range of motion this time around. He doesn't really transform into anything though, not really. He just explodes into a pile of parts. Popping apart into weapons that other figures can use is a neat feature, but I'm a bit disappointed that he can't even fully transform into his Gasket and Grommet component vehicles without partsforming. But he's quite a bit of fun and there's lots you can do with him and his various bits.

Flywheels is a bit weaker. His alt-modes are pretty mediocre, especially the tank, and his robot mode isn't as poseable as Cog. I'm not a huge fan of his transformation either. He's just generally underwhelming, and I feel like I just don't have much to say about him. Maybe it's just that Cog is way, way more fun?

But overall, I don't really see the increase in quality that people have talked about for this line. Both figures have visible hollow parts, and they both suffer from tolerance issues -- Cog's right leg likes to come off way too easily and his right hand can't hold either of his guns, and Flywheels' turret won't stay popped together. Flywheels is quite sparse paint-wise, and Cog uses those disappointing pop-on wheels. I can't say that they feel like much of a step up from the average Prime Wars figure at all, and TBH I'm starting to think that all the talk about how much better Siege toys are and how they're totally worth the extra money is more wishful thinking than actual fact.

I don't mind the figures being a bit smaller than the Prime Wars stuff. In fact, I kinda like it because varying sizes makes a lineup of figures way more visually interesting compared to a shelf where all the Deluxes are exactly the same size, all the Voyagers, etc... But Deluxe prices in Canada jumped all the way to $30 from $20 in one go, and it's hard not to look at these guys and see that I'm being asked to pay a whole lot more for what actually amounts to a little bit less. Bumping up the accessory count and including a bunch of those blast effect pieces with the bigger figures would have at least made it feel like we were being asked to pay more to get more, you know?
Tantrum wrote: Thu Jan 10, 2019 12:29 amRoadtrap's head joint does give Battletrap a waist swivel Flywheels lacks. But, the jet's tail would impede that anyway, as I found when I swapped components. I forget if the G1 toys could do that.
Flywheels actually does have a waist swivel. It's below the hips a bit. If you look at him from behind you'll be able to see the joint. As you say, though, the jet tail restricts his mobility a lot. The way his hips are designed means that you can't move his legs much in any direction while he's swivelled, either.
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