POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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Denyer
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Re: POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Denyer »

Clay wrote:You could try heating the head in hot water first to help weaken the glue, but not water so hot as to deform the plastic.
Have you had that happen? Not had any problems with just-boiled water on other figures, but not had much cause to do similar with TFs.
Clay wrote:It's not about parity of output though, but just that different major iterations are all equally canon even though many/most contradict each other.
Equal might be pushing it. Hasbro just doesn't care / understands that it pays not to be too proscriptive. I think broad church is the natural end point of most franchises that are old and which been recycled many times with attempts at "new" takes. Trek is an odd one out, for instance, and I'm not sure that fans really give much of a shit about what Paramount consider canon. In part because it's not the norm in other franchises where comics tend to explicitly position themselves as having multiverses -- or simply different versions for TV, film, young audiences, etc -- and Transformers has joined them. Doctor Who throws in time travel as a main plot device as well, and 40K generally assumes all accounts are in-universe and unreliable and can therefore coexist.
Clay wrote:The toys/merchandise are the same, but fans in various niches have dramatically different concepts on who/what the characters are.
A lot of the designs are heavily stylised as referential to a particular continuity, though, and whilst people will accept stand-ins they tend to want the ones that fit their preferred fiction or time period. Also goes for things like Marvel Legends.
Clay wrote:And those different characterizations can be understood as different "modes" depending on who's looking at them. It's... more of a conceptual transformation than a literal one.
TBH I think it's just that they're different characters. In some cases sharing little more than a name and a few design cues (and design cues can be thrown out completely as long as a bio states it's a character in the same or a related continuity).

People buy figures to be completely different characters too, with or without customising them. Sometimes a play feature like Headtitanmasters encourages it. (Also something else that Marvel Legends explicitly does with some of the pack-in heads).
Warcry wrote:Hasbro's last CEO was pretty vocal about wanting to be an IP company, not a toy company. From that angle it makes a lot of sense that they shifted from "make awesome toys that people will love" to "sell memorabilia of characters people already love". And that fiction that doesn't really fit into the new paradigm (like the 2015 RiD cartoon and the old IDW) are being retired and replaced with twenty different flavours of "evergreen" legacy characters and concepts.
Considering their now-regular mining of obscure characters for mainline product as well as variants, many of whom had little or no characterisation, I'm not too bothered if they also want to keep the recognisable names on the shelf. And they are still throwing in some new characters.
Warcry wrote:After 20-odd years in the fandom I sometimes forget that this must seem really weird to people who follow other franchises. The utter rage I see from a subset of Star Trek or Star Wars fans when newer works come out and "invalidate" some novel or another from twenty years ago that they liked...as if they just won't be able to enjoy it anymore because it's not "canon" to the newest stuff.
Personally it's more a case of I don't care about eg Picard because after decades of another extended continuity something that essentially resets to Insurrection seems extremely dull and limited. Doesn't invalidate anything, but it does make me care less about another continuity -- in terms of pecking order, audiences prioritise what they like. Similarly didn't have much interest in Regeneration One since it pitched itself as a Marvel US extension but ignored G2. And Discovery seems to have consistently wandered off into mirror universe and time travel (Enterprise couldn't stay away from time travel either; they didn't seem to realise that the time period could be interesting without future-future shinies). Lower Decks is very fun, though.
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Re: POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Warcry »

Clay wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 12:34 amThe head actually pops off easily: https://imgur.com/ZTKRrdQ
Fun fact: I actually took the entire toy apart to get the head bracket out of the neck joint, because I thought there was a solid pin running straight through the head. Naturally, as soon as I got the piece separated and tried to pick it up, the head fell right off of the bracket. :lol:

The face looks like this:
Image

Not the end of the world, but definitely noticeable. The mild case of raccoon eyes (due to the eye piece not being popped in all the way) are what really jump out at me, not the slightly cockeyed face.
Clay wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 12:34 amI'd start with an X-acto knife in the peg holes and start trying to gently pry it apart from there. You could try heating the head in hot water first to help weaken the glue, but not water so hot as to deform the plastic.
I'll give that a try if it still bugs me a week from now. I did try a hair dryer on it with no success, but I was also being really conservative with the heat because I'm 99% sure the green half of the head is all paint and I don't want to damage it.
Clay wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 12:34 am What does the beast head look like when modded to fold up more compactly and looking down? I've noticed that it has the space to do so, but that little piece on the backside of the eye piece prevents it from doing so.
Cheetor's beast head is in the position it'll stop at in an unmodded figure, Tigatron is in the modded position. It's not a huge difference but it definitely a but less gappy.

Image

From the front...this time Cheetor's head is folded down and Tigatron's is in the stock position. It's not super obvious from this angle, but with the head folded in more tightly the mold doesn't have the "can't see over top of its own chest" problem anymore. Like above, not a huge difference but it does help with the robot head's visibility. Having the cat head looking down instead of forwards also makes them look a bit more like the show models if you're into that.

Image

If you want to make the mod, you need to file down the edge of the green bit I've circled in this pic. It comes to a point there, and I just filed it down to be rounded instead. The plastic at that spot is quite thick, so there's no worries about damaging the figure structurally unless you go way overboard. Ten or fifteen minutes with a set of needle files was all it took. TBH since the part isn't visible in either mode it could probably be done a lot more quickly (and little more sloppily) with a Dremel. My hands aren't steady enough to be comfortable using a power tool on such a small part though.

Image
Denyer wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 1:21 amHave you had that happen? Not had any problems with just-boiled water on other figures, but not had much cause to do similar with TFs.
It's been done.

Image

Admittedly, I was being stupid when I did it and refusing to take 'no' for an answer when the plastic didn't want to be dyed. This was the result of probably half an hour of almost-boiling.
Denyer wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 1:21 amPeople buy figures to be completely different characters too, with or without customising them. Sometimes a play feature like Headtitanmasters encourages it. (Also something else that Marvel Legends explicitly does with some of the pack-in heads).
This is something that I wish Transformers would do more often. There's really no excuse why a Masterpiece toy of, say, Red Alert doesn't come with an alternate toy-accurate black head. Off the top of my head, the only figure that got a full-on alternate look (as opposed to alternate faces based on the same design) was the first MP Bumblebee with the faceplated head. Honestly, even the retail stuff should come with them when applicable, considering the prices these days. You only need to look at the number of people who bought IDW alternate heads for the CW and Kingdom Cyclonuses to see that there's a demand for it.
Denyer wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 1:21 amPersonally it's more a case of I don't care about eg Picard because after decades of another extended continuity something that essentially resets to Insurrection seems extremely dull and limited.
I can understand feeling that way, but (to toss out a Star Wars example) for my part I have absolutely no problem embracing The Mandalorian even though it clashes pretty starkly with the 90s X-Wing books that I adore. And I'm super excited to see a live-action Grand Admiral Thrawn even though it's not going to tie into the Heir to the Empire series.

I loved (some parts of) the old Star Wars EU, and I loved (some parts of) the Pocket Books Trek novelverse, and it's definitely disappointing that some of those stories aren't going to be continuing. But I don't want to hold that against a new work if the new work is entertaining on its own merits.

Now if the new work is terrible, sure, it's fair game to point out that it was done better before. But in principle I don't think the rebooted Star Trek or Star Wars timelines are really any different than jumping from, say, Beast Machines to Armada...drastically different takes on the same story, but neither one inherently invalidates the other.
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Re: POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Clay »

Denyer wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 1:21 am Have you had that happen? Not had any problems with just-boiled water on other figures, but not had much cause to do similar with TFs.
It might be that I'm being cautious, but I do remember parts deforming after spending too long in an acetone-dilution to dye them and touching the bottom of the pot too much. Obviously they're going to resist warping more if you're just using hot water to weaken glues, but if they're big enough to not float and contact the metal of the pot too much, that alone might be enough to do it.

Seeing Warcry's pics of the warped guns is what I'm thinking of. Not sure if hot water alone is enough to cause that, but I try to advise caution with the "this could either fix or ruin the figure" techniques.

I think broad church is the natural end point of most franchises that are old and which been recycled many times with attempts at "new" takes. Trek is an odd one out, for instance, and I'm not sure that fans really give much of a shit about what Paramount consider canon.
Yeah, but that's different in that all/most of the Trek stuff occurs in the same universe as all/most of all the other Trek stuff. Stuff like IDW, Armada, RID2001, the Bay movies, and Prime all exist completely separately from each other. The hard reset each of those embodies then becomes a springboard for wildly conflicting or outright contradictory takes. As you say:
TBH I think it's just that they're different characters. In some cases sharing little more than a name and a few design cues (and design cues can be thrown out completely as long as a bio states it's a character in the same or a related continuity).
Which is not different from the point I'm making in that if you take a generalized sketch of [character X], fans of one sub-continuity see one set of traits, whereas fans of another see something ranging from nearly identical to wildly different.
People buy figures to be completely different characters too, with or without customising them. Sometimes a play feature like Headtitanmasters encourages it. (Also something else that Marvel Legends explicitly does with some of the pack-in heads).
Oh yeah, but fan creativity and repurposing is on the other side of the content flow from what I'm interested in with this one.

These back-and-forth exchanges we're having do help me, btw. When I get to writing the essay, the points will be a lot clearer because of them.
Warcry wrote:Considering their now-regular mining of obscure characters for mainline product as well as variants, many of whom had little or no characterisation, I'm not too bothered if they also want to keep the recognisable names on the shelf. And they are still throwing in some new characters.
Yeah, and to tie this back into the thread topic, yesterday I had a box with the other two MMC Combaticons show up (omg they're so good) along with Kingdom Slammer. Slammer! The little tank thing that came with the original Metroplex that didn't even have a robot mode until now! He could've just been a Warparth repaint (which is what I had thought he'd be), but nope, totally new mold to complement an out-of-circulation figure from nine (!) years ago. So on the one hand, they may keep a small group of core characters constantly available, but on the other hand they keep offering "deep cuts" more or less consistently as well. The new Legacy line has, for example, Skywarp and Iguanus in the same wave. Kingdom, in the same size class, had the regular Prime/Megatron/Starscream/Soundwave but also a brand-new skeleton dinosaur transformer. I'd say the approach is pretty balanced on the whole.
Warcry wrote:After 20-odd years in the fandom I sometimes forget that this must seem really weird to people who follow other franchises. The utter rage I see from a subset of Star Trek or Star Wars fans when newer works come out and "invalidate" some novel or another from twenty years ago that they liked...as if they just won't be able to enjoy it anymore because it's not "canon" to the newest stuff.
It's something I've noticed when talking to people in the wild, too. Some initial negative reactions to the 2007 movie were along the lines of it not being a carbon copy of the cartoon, which to me seemed weird as I had just watched Beast Wars, some of Armada, and some of Energon in the years prior. I remember thinking, "but... that's normal for this stuff." But those same people, I've found, also think the series ended with the movie in 1986 and was completely non-existent until 2007.
Warcry wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 6:28 am Fun fact: I actually took the entire toy apart to get the head bracket out of the neck joint, because I thought there was a solid pin running straight through the head. Naturally, as soon as I got the piece separated and tried to pick it up, the head fell right off of the bracket. :lol:
Well, I tried to help! I just wasn't quick enough! :swirly:
Not the end of the world, but definitely noticeable. The mild case of raccoon eyes (due to the eye piece not being popped in all the way) are what really jump out at me, not the slightly cockeyed face.
It may be that I'm groggy and up in the middle of the night, but I can't really see the error from glancing at the pic unless I read your description and specifically look for it (at which point I do see it). If I weighed the annoying-ness of the error against the possibility of damage to the figure in the effort to fix it, I'd probably just leave it be. Of course, I've also taken a more zen approach to flaws in these things over the years... if it were 2010, I'd be cutting that thing up to realign it.
I'll give that a try if it still bugs me a week from now. I did try a hair dryer on it with no success, but I was also being really conservative with the heat because I'm 99% sure the green half of the head is all paint and I don't want to damage it.
Sounds like a reasonable approach. It's really not that badly misaligned, either. He certainly doesn't look like he's doing the quizzical dog head tilt.
Cheetor's beast head is in the position it'll stop at in an unmodded figure, Tigatron is in the modded position. It's not a huge difference but it definitely a but less gappy.

[pic]

From the front...this time Cheetor's head is folded down and Tigatron's is in the stock position. It's not super obvious from this angle, but with the head folded in more tightly the mold doesn't have the "can't see over top of its own chest" problem anymore. Like above, not a huge difference but it does help with the robot head's visibility. Having the cat head looking down instead of forwards also makes them look a bit more like the show models if you're into that.

[pic]
That's... not as dramatic as I thought it would be, but it does look better. If I do it to any of my copies, it'll probably be the Tigatron since his metal bits are corroded anyway.

It's funny how perspectives change over time. I used to always be "MUST MAKE FIGURE BEST IT CAN BE" with everything, but now, I kind of like to leave the flaws and restrictions in. It's more... honest... to the designer, if that makes any sense.
If you want to make the mod, you need to file down the edge of the green bit I've circled in this pic. It comes to a point there, and I just filed it down to be rounded instead.
Yep, that's the exact spot I thought was the culprit. I kind of wonder why it's there, honestly.
This is something that I wish Transformers would do more often. There's really no excuse why a Masterpiece toy of, say, Red Alert doesn't come with an alternate toy-accurate black head.
For my own part, I've never bought the Masterpiece Ratchet simply because they don't offer the head in red. Even with the usual practice of making another entire release of the mold with just that minor change, it's still never materialized.

Superior comic characterization aside, it just looks better. It draws the eye to the natural focal point.
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Denyer
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Re: POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Denyer »

Clay wrote:I do remember parts deforming after spending too long in an acetone-dilution to dye them and touching the bottom of the pot too much
Warcry wrote:Admittedly, I was being stupid when I did it and refusing to take 'no' for an answer when the plastic didn't want to be dyed. This was the result of probably half an hour of almost-boiling.
All bets are off if acetone is involved, some plastics take longer to dissolve but it affects most of them. Even without acetone as a softener if something's still over a heat source when it's in water, dye, etc the bits in contact with a pan/bowl are likely to melt as they're getting much hotter.
Warcry wrote:There's really no excuse why a Masterpiece toy of, say, Red Alert doesn't come with an alternate toy-accurate black head. Off the top of my head, the only figure that got a full-on alternate look (as opposed to alternate faces based on the same design) was the first MP Bumblebee with the faceplated head.
Yeah, wouldn't have bothered with BB without a toy face. I'm not sure it's worth them bothering with things like Cyc where the toy itself is stylised as something very different.
Warcry wrote:I loved (some parts of) the old Star Wars EU, and I loved (some parts of) the Pocket Books Trek novelverse, and it's definitely disappointing that some of those stories aren't going to be continuing. But I don't want to hold that against a new work if the new work is entertaining on its own merits.
I'm not fussed with the Trek novels being over, they're wildly variable in quality and have mined out virtually everything that could be done with them -- although the timeline was still advancing so there was that "what happens next" factor. It'd be nice if the licensing allowed for titles to be published in any continuity, the market seems to be there for it.
Warcry wrote:But in principle I don't think the rebooted Star Trek or Star Wars timelines are really any different than jumping from, say, Beast Machines to Armada...drastically different takes on the same story, but neither one inherently invalidates the other.
Absolutely. It's less a question of valid/invalid, and more the Cybertron Trilogy (from what I've watched/read of it) being shite. So is most of TF fiction, I'm not particularly ragging on UT. People will more readily accept new continuities if they're good, but they're also more likely to accept new material that doesn't ignore existing good stuff, whether that's callbacks or not dialling back character development as an authorial convenience. I single out time travel / alt universe stuff and any similar reality altering tech or magic (including revolving door resurrections) because it inherently trivialises what the audience has been following and undermines any consequences that happen in-universe.
Clay wrote:Stuff like IDW, Armada, RID2001, the Bay movies, and Prime all exist completely separately from each other.
But so do the many, many different takes on DC and Marvel (Batman and Spider-Man particularly by volume). TFs isn't really anything special in that regard, in many ways it's just copying what was already going in comics (particularly with newspaper strip versions) even before the Reagan deregulation of advertising led to everything getting cartoons. We just notice it more with TFs as something we follow.
Clay wrote:I'd say the approach is pretty balanced on the whole.
Certainly gets two thumbs up from me. What's likely to kill the action figure market is it not being financially viable at retail, rather than what's being released. TFs, MOTU, Marvel etc are all going great guns and providing a bit of product for most people.
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Re: POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

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Cyberverse Deluxe Cheetor.
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Re: POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Tantrum »

Warcry wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 5:44 amI think it's interesting that your interpretation of the franchise is very bluntly at odds with what Hasbro obviously wants -- which is to boil everything down to a simplistic set of "evergreen" archetypes that they can recycle ad nauseam with minimal effort for the next few decades. What you're describing is what Transformers used to be, and what I think it should be, but if it's going to continue to be that it'll be because of community effort, not official output. :(
I don't think the evergreen idea is about minimizing effort so much as it is about maximizing appeal of any given toy. Be keeping character designs consistent, Hasbro is hoping that 10 years from now, the same Starscream toy will appeal to fans of the current show, adults who grew up on Cyberverse, and old G1 Starscream fans.

Contrast this with Armada Starscream, who looks quite different than his G1/Evergreen design. There's a small group of fans who really want an update of that design, but that wouldn't appeal to the fanbase as a whole. If every show/movie lineup introduced a different version of each main character, the TF market would be more fragmented than it already is.
Denyer wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 9:07 pmThere's still been very little exploration in the fiction of TFs deliberately mimicking aspects of organics and cultures out of curiosity and anthropological interest, and what processing information at speed and functional immortality mean when not being handled by hack writers. It's lazy to go with looks-like-therefore-is or, to cut and paste organic concepts, or to throw mechanical transformation out because nanites and liquid metal can be pulled out of the special effects workshop's arse.
Has there ever been a continuity where TFs are inherently genderless, and only use genders as part of their acclimation to Earth, the way they adapt their vehicle modes? This could explain why female TFs exist, but there are so few of them. The Cybertronians understand that having some female-appearing bot forms will help them appeal to the humans, but have a hard time convincing many to put up with misogyny.


One thing about making the first major change to a franchise is that the audience doesn't know that this is now an evolving franchise. When the '86 movie came out, Optimus was gone and, except for "The Return of Optimus Prime", stayed gone. When Beast Wars came out, it was reasonable to assume that the loss of vehicle modes was similarly permanent. It wasn't until the next line/show or two that the audience understood that there were now multiple continuities, and that if you don't like the new one, another will come along soon. It's not RUINED FOREVER, just ruined for now.

I think the same thing happened with disco in the 70s. Rock bands like KISS put out disco-influenced records, and their fans got worried that rock would be displaced by disco the same way rock displaced big band and crooners. Then, the rock bands went back to rock and the disco backlash died down.
Warcry wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 6:28 amThis is something that I wish Transformers would do more often. There's really no excuse why a Masterpiece toy of, say, Red Alert doesn't come with an alternate toy-accurate black head. Off the top of my head, the only figure that got a full-on alternate look (as opposed to alternate faces based on the same design) was the first MP Bumblebee with the faceplated head. Honestly, even the retail stuff should come with them when applicable, considering the prices these days. You only need to look at the number of people who bought IDW alternate heads for the CW and Kingdom Cyclonuses to see that there's a demand for it.
The worst example I can think of for this is the IDW Megatron model kit, which is sold in both Autobot and Decepticon versions. I believe the only differences between the two are the faces and stickers, both of which could be included in a single box like the alternate hands are. Though, expecting Hasbro to get two heads right may be too much, since Jackpot proves they have trouble nailing one.


Speaking of which, I opened Kingdom Jackpot yesterday. Taking a closer look at the head, I understand why they tried the split down the middle idea. There's a whole tony car's worth of sculpted detail on each side of the head, and they nailed it. It's a bit ironic that they screwed up the middle of the head on this Jazz repaint, since Animated Jazz has a similar forehead and no seam. Come to think of it, I don't think Actionmaster Jackpot had a seam, either. Over the past 30 years, Hasbro has unlearned how to make this head.

The proportions seem off, too, with the legs being too long and the torso too short. Comparing him to a WfC Datsun, the waist is the same height. But, this guy has smaller feet, and the difference in height appears to have been made up with longer thighs. The distance between the orange knees and shin detail also emphasizes the leg length.

The transformation is similar to the WfC Datsuns, except now the doors and rear window now fld into the backpack, along with the windshield and roof. That's a lot of car back there, but it compacts well, and it's not much bulkier than the Datsun's backpacks. He comes with a Battlemaster decoed like his Actionmaster partner. When I saw this mold in stores, I thought it was OK, but not worth spending money on. I stand by that assessment.

I like that the bot isn't covered in 5-mm holes and blast effect mounting pegs. I didn't think those bothered me until I bought some recent figures with out them, and appreciated the smooth sculptwork. Jackpot comes with the first blast effect I own that looks like damage inflicted by a blast, rather than muzzle flash. It still looks bad. I'll throw this in a drawer with my other blast effects parts as soon as I remember which drawer that is.

The car mode is quite good, except for some yellow bits (hinges, wheel pegs) that I'd prefer be black. He rolls well, and the tinted orange windows look great. The giant toe bumpers don't bother me like I think they would on a white car.

Selects Transmutate holds few surprises for me since I already own Paleotrex. The blue/gold paint scheme does a good job highlighting how well the dino ribs line up, which I hadn't noticed before. The face sculpt looks good, though the hinge for opening the mouth, by sliding back the forehead, is too loose.

Cyberverse Slag/Slug is surprisingly good. Like Thunderhowl, the torso transformation is surprisingly involved for what appears to be a simple beastformer. Here, the torso rotates 180 around the spin, then 180 again around the shoulder axis. The shoulders themselves double-hinge down. This causes the wide bot shoulders and narrow bot waist to swap places, becoming the wide dino midsection and narrow dino neck, respectively.

Unlike Thunderhowl, the plastics are solid, not rubbery at all. The joints are nice and stiff. The ankle tilts being used in transformation so the tops of the bot feet become the dino back is clever. The paint apps are so good that I don't want to display him next to deluxe Grimlock and Energon Armor Sludge because he makes them look bad.

There are some minor issues. The bot legs get in the way of each other when you fold the dino tail halves out. This is aggravated by the bot thighs rubbing against the waist if he does the splits. There are some gaps in the dino mode where the bot ankles meet the bot torso. I need a pen cap or something to fold the dino jaw out from within the dino head. The dino fringe doesn't tab into place in either mode. Again, these are minor issues,none of which distract this from being the best Cyberverse toy I own, on a level with Generations figures.
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Re: POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Post by Warcry »

A package that Canada Post lost for a month finally showed up today!

Selects G2 Ramjet sure is something else. As a kid, I was happily on board for pretty much all of the crazy recolours in the G2 line...except for Ramjet, who I always thought was a bit much. I feel like the scheme works a lot better here. It helps that there's a lot more black on this figure than the G2 original, and even more than that I think it helps that the paint apps are fairly restrained and tasteful rather than trying to slavishly recreate the toy's stickers. The shades of teal and purple that they chose are great, and the loud colours make for a great contrast to the super subdued Selects Sandstorm.

I'm a bit disappointed that the toy comes with Starscream's null rays, though. I understand not retooling the guns for G1 Ramjet, since his and Dirge's unique guns got streamlined out of the character models back in the 80s. But it's super weird to see this toy with normal guns and not the crazy XXL missile launchers that were slapped onto so many toys in G2. The end result is probably a bit more tasteful, but not as unique as it could have been.

Selects Artfire. I'm surprised that retailers in Canada seemed to all be selling him for the same price as Ramjet, since he comes with a whole extra little figure and two pairs of blast effects...but that's more Ramjet being overpriced than Artfire feeling like a deal. I could tell that the Earthrise Grapple mold was a solid, well-designed figure, but the end result was a bit disappointing because of bad paint matching, and honestly because Grapple just has super bland colours to begin with. Adding a third main colour to the figure the way Artfire does immediately makes the figure look so much better. The firetruck mods and the extra "Inferno-y" bits also really add some visual interest to the figure. The Targetmaster is a nice addition too. And I'm super happy that they've fixed those pegs on the head assembly that were always threatening to break off when you transformed Grapple. This was the figure I was really hoping for when Grapple first came out, and it does not disappoint one bit.
Clay wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 9:16 amSeeing Warcry's pics of the warped guns is what I'm thinking of. Not sure if hot water alone is enough to cause that, but I try to advise caution with the "this could either fix or ruin the figure" techniques.
My memory of that particular screw-up is foggy, but I don't think acetone was involved in that one. I absolutely did destroy a Generations Tracks by playing amateur chemist around the same time, though.
Clay wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 9:16 amWell, I tried to help! I just wasn't quick enough! :swirly:
Actually, I did it before I even posted for the first time! Never let it be said that I'm slow to break out the screwdrivers.

It turned out to be alright anyway, because modding the chest was a lot easier when it wasn't attached to the rest of Tigatron.
Clay wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 9:16 amIf I weighed the annoying-ness of the error against the possibility of damage to the figure in the effort to fix it, I'd probably just leave it be.
That's what I'm leaning towards as well. If I had steadier hands I might think differently. But me, a knife and Tigatron's head is a combination that probably winds up with at least one of us more damaged than we started out! :D
Clay wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 9:16 amThat's... not as dramatic as I thought it would be, but it does look better. If I do it to any of my copies, it'll probably be the Tigatron since his metal bits are corroded anyway.
Yeah, when I heard other people talking about it I thought it would be a bigger change than it actually is. I like that it gives me more options so the two can look a bit different in robot mode, though, and it's not really a "permanent" mod since I can just not push the head all the way down when I want to use the stock position.
Clay wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 9:16 amYep, that's the exact spot I thought was the culprit. I kind of wonder why it's there, honestly.
My understanding is that some versions of the mold have enough clearance that the head can fold down without mods. The first time I saw the head in that configuration, the guy said he just...pushed it until it "clicked" and folded down, like it was no big deal. If I'd tried that on either of my toys pre-modding the head would have broken. And the pics of various recolours on TFU.info seems to show a couple with the heads all the way down: http://tfu.info/1996/Maximal/Cheetor/cheetor.htm
Denyer wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 5:51 pmBut so do the many, many different takes on DC and Marvel (Batman and Spider-Man particularly by volume).
I do feel like the differences between Transformers universes are usually a ton more drastic than you see with superhero properties, though. Superhero universes are almost always adapting the comics for a new audience, which means that they are usually branches of the same tree, so to speak. Transformers on the other hand feels like it has a whole forest all to itself. Obviously that's not always the case and some DC and Marvel adaptations go pretty far afield from the source material. But there's never any disagreement that the comics are the source material. I don't know if that makes much sense, but it does in my head!
Tantrum wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 7:05 pmContrast this with Armada Starscream, who looks quite different than his G1/Evergreen design. There's a small group of fans who really want an update of that design, but that wouldn't appeal to the fanbase as a whole. If every show/movie lineup introduced a different version of each main character, the TF market would be more fragmented than it already is.
I can see where you're coming from, but I feel like the risk you take with that approach is that the new generation of kids reject those designs because they look old and out of date, and don't mesh with the aesthetics of the other toys and cartoons they enjoy. Beast Wars, Beast Machines, the UT, Animated and Prime are all very much "of their day", so to speak, because in the past Hasbro figured that that was the best way to maximize their ROI on new lines.

Of course the counterargument to that is "Spider-Man and Batman", but I don't know if G1 Transformers designs are on that same level of "timeless" as those characters are. I'm curious to see if it works out for them, honestly.
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Kingdom Pipes
A favourite from childhood, I was very excited to see Pipes get a new figure. It's really good too - at least in robot mode. The blue is nice and vibrant, in a strange dark blue kind of way and the crisp white next to it looks very nice. Paint apps are limited, but there's dashes of silver and what have you to add neat accents. Love the arm-mounted pipes (for shooting various glues and other solvents, IIRC) which make him look much more hardcore than he actually is. All the usual exciting articulation you could want rounds out a very nice looking robot. Transformation is fun, but the alt-mode is disappointing. Like with Huffer (who I don't own, because he's super-whiny and I don't like the animation model look), the truck mode kind of bows like a banana, so he's no use in vehicle mode.

Kingdom Tigatron
I loved the Golden Disk version (shame they couldn't make that Stripes or something), so this doesn't hold any surprises, but it's still flipping great. The headsculpt is superb and another winner for these Beast Wars guys. Robot mode looks suitably hench and I like the gut gun (shame it can't actually form part of the guts though). Beast mode looks awesome and I like the nod to realism with the discoloured patches. All in all, a really really great figure.

Sparkstalker
The Firecons are rubbish aren't they? Three little fatties wearing monster parts with a silly gimmick. They have a daft charm to them and Sparkstalker is probably my favourite of these ugly little herberts. He's got such an odd beast mode, all toothless gaping mouth and big daft blade arms. Robot mode is ...there. Something of a nadir for late '80s Transformers design and one of many toys of the era where the character art is more interesting than the actual toy.
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This may be more suited for "Remembering Our Old Toys Actually Exist", but I finally opened the SS 76 Thrust I bought almost 4 months ago. He's a repaint of Starscream, but it's not the same paint layout, which is nice. I especially like the bits of green around the thrusters and larger Decepticon symbols on the wings.

His guns stay in their 5 mm holes much better than Starscream's did, too. One was almost too snug. I tried swapping them around to see if I could find a combo where all 4 guns stayed in the 5 mm holes. I did, but now not all the guns stay in their rectangular slots. I mounted them under the wings in the 5 mm holes and they look fine. I may glue them there.

Since I already own the mold, and instructions tend to be useless now, I tried to transform him from memory. I couldn't remember how the head/top of chest folded into the jet, so I tried transforming Starscream, the same mold, to see if that would help. Somehow it did.
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Rattrap looked down at the angular silver panel. “I give up. What th’ slag is it?”

“It is a sword, Vermin. That much should be obvious even to you.”

They stood outside of one of the body shops aboard the Ark, splitting their attention between a rapidly growing pile of black armor plates and a rapidly dwindling pile of silver ones.

“So whaddaya think is goin’ on?”

“SOMETHING I THINK IS A REALLY BAD IDEA!” This voice came out of the body shop, overwhelming the sounds of automation coming from within.

“Given the lack of autoscan among the crew, I should think it’s obvious. Somebody is getting a new alt mode.”

“I -OW!- HOPE NOT! I’M NOT EVEN SURE WHY I’M- GAAHHH!!! MY FACE!!!!!”

After the final piece of silver armor disappeared, the body shop made a PING! And the doors swing open, revealing a silver and black Autobot balanced precariously on wheels.

The Autobot tried to take a step forward, stumbled on it’s ‘skates’, bounced off the opposite wall, and landed on the floor with a resounding CLANG!

Sideswipe groaned. “I don’t CARE how impractical my old alt mode is! I want it back! NOW!!!!!”

Studio Series Revenge of the Fallen Sideswipe: While I much prefer my Masterpiece G2 Sideswipe, I got this guy because I think he looks neat, and I can stand him with my completely overweaponed Studio series Ironhide. Although his wings don’t like to stay in place on his vehicle mode when you transform him.
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Glad to discover that Kingdom Slammer is, besides not feeling too hollow, also enough of a LEGO kit that the gun can go on his back to avoid pointing off his hand (which is how I'd seen it everywhere). As well as lots of other neat combinations.

Much nicer photos than I'd come up with here;
https://tformers.com/transformers-final ... /news.html

I don't think Ironfist is a particularly natural reuse but it could work.
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I hadn't really planned on getting Kingdom Cyclonus, but after reading the rave reviews the figure got and seeing it on clearance for half price, I figured I'd give it a go.

Cyclonus is very poseable and well-engineered, but the boxy proportions kind of trick the eye into thinking that it's actually an undynamic brick no matter what pose it's in. The unappealing face sculpt and King Tut chin don't do it any favours in the looks department either. And then there's the colours. It looks like they were trying to replicate the version of the animation model where his forearms were a different shade of purple than the rest of him. But the shades of purple they wound up using are barely different, so it looks more like a colour-matching error than a deliberate contrast. At the end of the day, it adds up to a robot mode that's a lot of fun to play with, but one with absolutely no shelf presence at all.

On the flip side, Kingdom Cyclonus is a blast to transform. It follows the same basic pattern as the 2008 one but does a much better job of it, and the vehicle mode is stellar. Cyclonus's jet mode has been one of my favourite fictional vehicle designs since I was a kid. It's sleek, aggressive and dangerous-looking, and this toy replicates it so, so well. There's no robot kibble to speak of, and the unsightly gaps on the Universe toy are nowhere to be found here. I feel like this is the rare (for me anyway) toy that's probably going to spend most of its time in alt-mode, since that's where it really shines.
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The latest TF I got is SS86 Wreck-Gar. He's pretty neat, I haven't attempted to TF him yet (after having issues TFing Universe Wreck-Gar) mainly because I want him in bot mode for photocomics.
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Shebakoby wrote: Fri Feb 04, 2022 10:32 am The latest TF I got is SS86 Wreck-Gar. He's pretty neat, I haven't attempted to TF him yet (after having issues TFing Universe Wreck-Gar) mainly because I want him in bot mode for photocomics.
Welcome! SS86 Wreck-Gar is a far simpler affair. He's still got a trick or two in him, but he's much more straightforward than the asymmetrical design of the 2010 mold.

Warcry wrote: Thu Feb 03, 2022 5:57 pm Cyclonus is very poseable and well-engineered, but the boxy proportions kind of trick the eye into thinking that it's actually an undynamic brick no matter what pose it's in.
OMG, yes. I realize that the new one is technically a refinement of the old one, but between the colors and the proportions, I still like the 2008/9 figure better.

Also, check on yours in a few months to see if some of the gray parts are starting to discolor. My Cyclonus, netflix Soundwave, and BW Grimlock all have discoloring after just a months on the parts that are the "unpaintable" plastics. They've been in various opaque totes or cabinets since I've had them, so it's not sun exposure. No sure what's going on.

As for myself, I found the BW reissue Tigatron and Scorponok a few days ago, even though Hasbro only announced their existence today. I actually bought two Tigatrons since, after looking into potentially replacing my old Takara version a few years ago, $23 each was just too cheap. Obviously I need to store them separately.

Also, hoo-boy, Scorponok is $40! That seems like... a lot. Like he should have been $30 or so. But my original Scorponok is missing his missiles and is covered in dust, so getting a brand new one in intact packaging is still reasonably enticing. I just hope I've done my part to get them to reissue Polar Claw now.
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Clay wrote: Sat Feb 05, 2022 12:22 am
Shebakoby wrote: Fri Feb 04, 2022 10:32 am The latest TF I got is SS86 Wreck-Gar. He's pretty neat, I haven't attempted to TF him yet (after having issues TFing Universe Wreck-Gar) mainly because I want him in bot mode for photocomics.
Welcome! SS86 Wreck-Gar is a far simpler affair. He's still got a trick or two in him, but he's much more straightforward than the asymmetrical design of the 2010 mold.

Warcry wrote: Thu Feb 03, 2022 5:57 pm Cyclonus is very poseable and well-engineered, but the boxy proportions kind of trick the eye into thinking that it's actually an undynamic brick no matter what pose it's in.
OMG, yes. I realize that the new one is technically a refinement of the old one, but between the colors and the proportions, I still like the 2008/9 figure better.

Also, check on yours in a few months to see if some of the gray parts are starting to discolor. My Cyclonus, netflix Soundwave, and BW Grimlock all have discoloring after just a months on the parts that are the "unpaintable" plastics. They've been in various opaque totes or cabinets since I've had them, so it's not sun exposure. No sure what's going on.

As for myself, I found the BW reissue Tigatron and Scorponok a few days ago, even though Hasbro only announced their existence today. I actually bought two Tigatrons since, after looking into potentially replacing my old Takara version a few years ago, $23 each was just too cheap. Obviously I need to store them separately.

Also, hoo-boy, Scorponok is $40! That seems like... a lot. Like he should have been $30 or so. But my original Scorponok is missing his missiles and is covered in dust, so getting a brand new one in intact packaging is still reasonably enticing. I just hope I've done my part to get them to reissue Polar Claw now.
thanks!

I got a Kingdom Cyc at the beginning of the Kingdom wave (or the beginning of when it showed up here anyway which is roughly a year ago or so) but even though last I checked there's another Kingdom Cyc (came in last month to Wally World), I don't need him for "Hissar Mada" lol.
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Clay wrote: Sat Feb 05, 2022 12:22 amOMG, yes. I realize that the new one is technically a refinement of the old one, but between the colors and the proportions, I still like the 2008/9 figure better.
You have no idea how hard it was for me to write a post about the new one and not just make it sentence after sentence of comparisons to Universe Cyclonus! Actually I think the old toy is the exact opposite of the Kingdom one in basically every way: it looks dynamic and lively and amazing in every pose and from every angle, but the actual poseability is limited and the jet mode kinda sucks. They complement each other pretty nicely, in that sense.
Clay wrote: Sat Feb 05, 2022 12:22 amAlso, check on yours in a few months to see if some of the gray parts are starting to discolor. My Cyclonus, netflix Soundwave, and BW Grimlock all have discoloring after just a months on the parts that are the "unpaintable" plastics. They've been in various opaque totes or cabinets since I've had them, so it's not sun exposure. No sure what's going on.
You're not the only person I've heard mentioning that, and it's pretty disappointing that the plastics are starting to deteriorate a year or less after production. Thankfully it hasn't hit any of my recent figures yet, but I'll definitely keep an eye on Cyclonus now.
Clay wrote: Sat Feb 05, 2022 12:22 amAlso, hoo-boy, Scorponok is $40! That seems like... a lot. Like he should have been $30 or so. But my original Scorponok is missing his missiles and is covered in dust, so getting a brand new one in intact packaging is still reasonably enticing.
If he's $40 in the States that probably means they'll ask $55 here. Maybe $60 even. :( Which is pretty galling because I know I paid $20 for Scorponok in the 90s and 300% inflation over 25 years is a bit much, "vintage reissue" or not.

But since I was seriously considering paying double or triple that for an intact original before the reissue was announced, honestly, odds are good that I'd pay that anyway. My original Scorponok is the only BW toy from my childhood that didn't survive, and I absolutely adored it. So obviously I'm a part of the problem!
Clay wrote: Sat Feb 05, 2022 12:22 amI just hope I've done my part to get them to reissue Polar Claw now.
I would love to get my hands on a brand-new Polar Claw! The vintage one I own is in...less than mint condition, lets say. And now that we know that Cybershark is a for-sure thing, it seems like they're willing to reissue anyone.
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Soundwave Spy Patrol 3rd Unit - I went out today hoping to find Coronation Starscream, Cyberverse Snarl, and/or Kingdom Tigertron. I only found Tigertron and, seeing him up close, disliked both head sculpts. So I passed. While I was out, I found this 4-pack for slightly less than I'd've spent on Tigertron, so I picked it up, only somewhat remembering who was in it.

It's Frenzy, Wingthing, Skar, and Knok. Two of these go with Doubledealer, so I would get them just a couple days after redoing my triple-changer shelf to make room for Doubledealer in the back. I should be able to reach back and lifting him over the others. Maybe.

There's two of each mold, humanoid and bat. Each figure has its own headsculpt. The humanoid mold does a much better job of being a square cassette. The bat mold's feet do not seem to fit the notches on Soundwave's arm like Laserbeak's do, which is unfortunate. I'll probably give the orange Wingthing to Doubledealer and use the purple Skar as Ratbat.

According to tfwiki, neither of these molds fit very well in Soundwave. I was able to get each of them in, no problem. However, they would not eject normally; I have to hold down the button and pull the door open manually. Ironically, the Autobot Knok works no problem. Still, I'll probably keep Ravage in there, since he's the only one I have that actually has cassette deco.

Speaking of Soundwave and Ravage, I saw their SS Bee Movie versions as well. I thought about getting them, but $45 total seemed a bit steep. especially since neither has an alt mode that looks like anything.
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Warcry wrote: Sat Feb 05, 2022 7:29 am
If he's $40 in the States that probably means they'll ask $55 here. Maybe $60 even. :( Which is pretty galling because I know I paid $20 for Scorponok in the 90s and 300% inflation over 25 years is a bit much, "vintage reissue" or not.

But since I was seriously considering paying double or triple that for an intact original before the reissue was announced, honestly, odds are good that I'd pay that anyway. My original Scorponok is the only BW toy from my childhood that didn't survive, and I absolutely adored it. So obviously I'm a part of the problem!
Well, there's that, and there's also the idea that they're pricing the reissues beyond what would be impulse-purchase range or affordable on a kid's allowance. The BW toys are still perfectly fun in their own right, but making them cost more than similarly sized modern figures just pushes away anyone that wasn't looking for a vintage copy (that likely trades for more) to begin with.
I would love to get my hands on a brand-new Polar Claw! The vintage one I own is in...less than mint condition, lets say. And now that we know that Cybershark is a for-sure thing, it seems like they're willing to reissue anyone.
Yeah, my Polar Claw (purchased around 2005 or so) has discolored a bit over the years, but he's had a floppy foot and a hideously squeaking shoulder since I got him. It'd be a bit of long shot for him to get reissued, but they were apparently thinking of making a brand new mold for him (as evidenced by the characters featured on the Kingdom box art), so it might happen.
Tantrum wrote: Sat Feb 05, 2022 10:57 pm According to tfwiki, neither of these molds fit very well in Soundwave. I was able to get each of them in, no problem. However, they would not eject normally; I have to hold down the button and pull the door open manually.
Oh yeah, they go in Soundwave's chest just fine. Getting them out is another matter.
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Kingdom Rhinox, SS Wreck-Gar & SS Decepticon Sweep - Picked up as a lay-by from Big W.
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Masterpiece some numbers Reboost
These Diaclone homages are my Masterpiece figures of choice these days. I just like seeing some that's familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. Reboost itself is pretty awesome. It's just a more fancy version of how the Skids mould transforms, but doesn't overdo the engineering and keeps things fairly simple - not MP Sideswipe simple, but not far off. As with Skids, I love that this tiny compact car unfurls into a tall robot. I think I would have liked some blue accents so the head doesn't look so incongruous, but it's not the end of the world. He can do lots of poses and that, as you'd expect. I like that at MP scale, this modern fetish for hyper-articulation makes more sense. The figures look more natural just standing about than something in the mainlines does. Comes with some blingy weapons which are fun and also the scooter the real world Honda City vehicles did. There's also a holodriver, which would be more fun if it didn't pop apart with the slightest provocation. This is such a nice figure overall and I'm looking forward to Crosscut :)
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