Happy Birthday to this blog! It is that time again, when I reflect back on what happened in the world of Transformers since the previous year. I can’t believe it has been 4 years already since I started this blog. A lot has happened since then. Transformers are always evolving and transforming like their namesake, and I’m glad to be along for the ride.

This blog managed to get over 100,000 hits in the past year. I think that’s pretty good, considering I do no advertising or marketing campaigns whatsoever. The huge spike in July of 2011 is because of the last TF movie, Dark of the Moon. The next movie will be summer of 2014. So can I expect another spike in hits? Only time will tell.

I do have some tentative future plans for this blog. Among them is to move it off WordPress, and host it on my own domain. I’ve been meaning to do that for some time now, but just can’t find the time. I think I’ll make that a goal for year 5.

Anyway, I’m happy to still be blogging. Long live Transformers. Now and forever… Transform and Roll Out!

September was off to a slow start as far as TF purchases go. But then a whole bunch of figures started to make their appearance past the midpoint of the month. Anyway, here they are.

• Quakewave by Fans Toys, edbomber.com, $150

• Generations Thrilling 30 Thundercracker, Toys R Us, $12.99

• Generations Thrilling 30 Hoist, Toys R Us, $12.99

• Generations Thrilling 30 Starscream and Waspinator, Target, $9.99

• Generations Thrilling 30 Metroplex and Scamper, amazon.com, $106.03

• Generations Thrilling 30 Megatron and Chop Shop, Target, $9.49

That’s a total of 6 purchases for 9 TFs. All are from the Generations Thrilling 30 line, except for Quakewave which is a third party product. There are 6 Decepticons and only 3 Autobots this month, but I think the balance of power is clearly on the side of the good guys with Metroplex alone.

For the first time in a long time, I actually opened all the figures I bought in the month! I guess when it comes to CHUG stuff, I just can’t wait. When it comes down to it, I still like G1 derivatives the best!

I went into Quakewave a little bit in my previous post, so I won’t repeat it here. In short, he’s amazing. Get him now while supplies last. Oh yeah, I also want to give a shout out here to edbomber.com. It’s a great store. Quakewave was my first purchase from them and I was very pleased. I like the usual places where I get my 3rd party Transformers, but having one more option is always a good thing. More competition is always a win for the fans.

This Thundercracker is the Fall of Cybertron version, though he’s not packaged as such. He’s a exact repaint of FOC Starscream. I love that mold, but I think in Thundercracker’s colors, this figure looks even better. Hoist is a repaint of Trailcutter, with a new head mold and a new weapon that becomes his crane. I think I actually like this figure better as Hoist.

The little Megatron and Starscream figs are pretty cool. They are easy and fun to transform, while paying good homage to their G1 selves. I kinda like Chop Shop, even though he’s super simple (think G1 Throttlebot simple). Waspinator is a total fail. All his modes suck.

And that brings us to Metroplex. This is to my knowledge the biggest Transformer ever produced! He’s pure awesomeness. You will need a lot of room to keep this guy around, but believe me he’s worth it. The $106 price tag from Amazon is nice too. Oh yeah, he also comes with Scamper. I must review him in the future. This is something I must do as a TransFan.

That covers my purchases for September. This month was kind of a pleasant surprise. I didn’t think there would be this many TFs hitting the stores. The final TF count is good, not too many that I feel overwhelmed, and not too few that I feel like there are no new figs. Plus these are all good figures that fit well into the CHUG or MP verse. Hopefully October will be just as good… Transform and Roll Out.

Here is what I currently have on display.

Same pic, different angle.

From left to right
Top shelf, in alt mode: TFP Breakdown, TFP Silas Breakdown, TFP Beast Hunters Shockwave, Generations Blitzwing, TFP Dreadwing, Generations Megatron
Top shelf, in robot mode: Fans Toys Quakewave, MP Soundwave with Laserbeak
Middle shelf: Generations Bumblebee, Generations Springer, Generations Sandstorm, TFP Beast Hunters Optimus Prime, TFP Beast Hunters Ultra Magnus, Generations Trailcutter, Generations Orion Pax

Most of the Transformers in this group I would highly recommend. Each figure is a worthy purchase that any TransFan would be happy to include in his collection. The two Breakdown figures are some of the best to come out of the TF Prime line. MP Soundwave is considered by many to be the best MP figure ever made. Generations Springer and Sandstorm are nothing short of spectacular, and I dare argue that, for the first time ever, Hasbro has done triple changers right with these two. Trailcutter has finally arrived to the CHUG party, but better late than never. And for the first time in TF history, Hasbro made a Orion Pax figure. This figure is still a pretty rare find as of this writing.

Quakewave by Fans Toys is absolutely amazing! This is a 3rd party Shockwave homage that scales incredibly well with the MP line (check him out next to MP Soundwave). Construction of the figure is very solid, and the mechanical design of this toy is on par with any MPs that Hasbro and Takara has come up with. He looks good in both modes. Transformation is fun without being overly complex. Price is also reasonable at $150. The LED gimmicks (in both eye and cannon arm) are very cool.

The only two figures that may be debatable is Bumblebee and Blitzwing. Blitzwing has the shoulder-non-locking construction issue that all fans are aware of by now. And Bumblebee, despite being a brand new mold, feels too similar to past figures of the same character. But even with these flaws, I still recommend them. Blitzwing’s problems can be remedied with just a little bit of work. And if for some reason you don’t own any Movie-verse or TF Prime Bumblebees, then this new figure should feel very refreshing for you.

Some of these figs have been on the shelf for a while. They’ve had their 15 minutes, so back to the closets they go to make more room. I expect my next post like this to appear very different. Til then… Transform and Roll Out.

Not a whole lot of TF action this month. All purchases in August are for 3rd party products.

• FansProject Down Force, tfsource.com, $59.95

• FansProject Last Chance, tfsource.com, $59.95

• Beelzeboss Heroic Duo Custom Kit Version 2.0, tfsource.com, $33.95

I opened both Down Force and Last Chance, respectively Drag Strip and Dead End. I like these two way better than the first two that they released (Car Crash and T-Bone). The design of Down Force and Last Chance are much better. They don’t feel like repaints of each other, unlike Car Crash and T-Bone. Also, some joints on Car Crash and T-Bone are way too tight. On this new pair, some joints can still be kinda tight, but much improved. Down Force and Last Chance also feel a tad bigger than the first figures, but they are still smaller than your standard Hasbro deluxe. I would recommend buying only for those fans that really like the Stunticons. Now I’m looking forward to FP’s Motormaster homage to complete the set.

The only other purchase this month is the Heroic Duo Custom Kit Version 2 by Beelzeboss. I saw a review of this some time ago, and felt I had to get it. I opened the set, but haven’t tried it yet. The kit is a bunch of accessories designed to be used with CHUG Sideswipe and Red Alert. Included are 2 rifles, 2 missile launchers, 4 shoulder pads for the missile launchers, 1 new head mold for Red Alert, and 2 pile drivers for Sideswipe. This is Version 2 of this set, which improves upon Version 1 with some minor mold modifications, and molding with plastic color instead of painting. The kit looks cool, but the price seems a tad high for a bunch of add-ons.

That’s it for August. Two 3rd party figs and one 3rd party add-on kit. There was nothing to buy in the stores. I did find some Target exclusive Beast Hunter figures. I even bought the Target exclusive BH Abominus set. But I’m kinda sick of BH toys. Knowing me, I’ll probably play with the Abominus set a little when I first open it, then it would just sit somewhere and collect dust. So I returned it to Target.

Hopefully I’ll have more TFs next month. I still got a bunch of figs on pre-order. I hope some of them will come in next month, but you never know. I only find BH crap these days in the stores, so I’m not counting on finding anything good in mass retail. Historically, in a non-Movie year, August is always bad for TFs. I guess this year is no exception.

Transform and Roll Out.

OMG! Right as I was about to leave work on Wed, Gemini sends me a link to some new unlicensed Transformers made by a new unheard of third party! Apparently this new company is called Warbotron. And their first entry is a combiner set homage to G1 Combatcions that will merge into Bruticus! This set must be seen to be believed! Feast your optics on these pics now!!!

News of this set seems to have come out of nowhere. Warbotron? That appears to be the name of the third party company, and not the fictional name of these Combaticon homages. This set has that TFC look all over it, and the size of the figures resemble that of TFC Hercules.

The trend these days is that multiple 3rd party companies are each doing their own interpretation of a G1 combiner team. TFC Toys and Maketoys each took a stab at the Constructicons (Hercules and Giant, respectively), and they both turned out pretty good. Four different companies are doing the Predacons (Unique Toys, Mastermind Creations, TFC, and another newcomer that I can’t remember).

FansProject started this whole trend with their Crossfire upgrade of Bruticus Maximus. I’m glad someone else is now taking a 2nd stab at upgrading my beloved Combaticons in this modern day and age. Don’t get me wrong, I love FansProject Crossfire 02. But it always irked me that only Blastoff and Swindle are new molds, and the rest are Energon molds that are not G1 enough for me. And while they do scale nicely with other CHUG figures individually, recent 3rd party combiners have become bigger (like TFC Hercules), making Crossfire’s combined form appear small by comparison. This new Warbotron set will address both these issues. Check out the pics above with T-Bone. This set will be massive!

Below are some images of these guys individually in robot mode!

Here is someone’s photoshop estimation of how this set will scale with other 3rd party items.

I’m probably gushing way too much here, but I can’t help but be super impressed. I love how they released pics of their products all at once, instead of teasing us with silhouettes. Other fans have pointed out that this set is very G1 accurate, and that other 3rd parties (like FP, Maketoys, and TFC) have been taking too many liberties in their designs.

Current estimation for a pre-order date is Nov. No price estimation is available at this time.

I don’t know how many times I have said this on my blog now, but the Combaticons are my favorite combiner team. FP made my dreams come true with their Crossfire set. Now someone else is making that dream even sweeter!

You can be sure I will keep my optics open for any new developments on this required purchase. Warbotron… Transform and Roll Out!

I usually try to make at least 4 blog posts a month. Look to the lower right in Archives and you will see I’ve been doing that all year. But that trend stopped in July. I certainly did not intend to ignore Transformers Roll Out for so long. I’m still very much into Transformers, and I hunt for figures whenever and wherever I can. But life has a habit of getting in the way. I’ve been busy, mostly the good kind of busy. For the first time in a long time, I feel like my life is moving forward. Still, all this translates to me not having enough time for this blog.

At the very minimum, I need to report my purchases for July. Much like May of this year, I didn’t find any TFs til late in the month. I really was beginning to think July would be a Transformer-less month, then in the final week the figures took me by storm. Here they are.

• Generations Thrilling 30 Sandstorm, amazon.com, $22.99

• Generations Thrilling 30 Trailcutter x 2, Target, $12.99 each
• Generations Thrilling 30 Megatron, Target, $12.99
• Generations Thrilling 30 Orion Pax, Target, $12.99
• Generations Thrilling 30 Bumblebee, Target, $12.99

• Generations Fall of Cybertron Roadbuster, Walmart, $12.97
• Generations Fall of Cybertron Twintwist, Walmart, $12.97
• Generations Fall of Cybertron Topspin, Walmart, $12.97
• Generations Fall of Cybertron Impactor, Walmart, $12.97
• Generations Fall of Cybertron Whirl, Walmart, $12.97

That’s a total of 11 figures for July, all from Generations. So far I only opened Orion Pax and one of the Trailcutters.

I first spotted Sandstorm late in the month on Amazon. I wasted no time getting him. I heard nothing but rave reviews for him, and the recent Hasbro Triple Changers have been awesome. I assumed Sandstorm is a brand new mold. It wasn’t until after I bought him I learned that he’s a rework of Trilling 30 Springer. I say rework because saying repaint feels like such a injustice. The two figures are off the same general mold, but Hasbro made so many differences off the Springer mold that Sandstorm feels like a completely different figure. I haven’t opened Sandstorm yet. But if he’s anything like Springer, I will like him.

On July 25th, I went to a Oakland A’s game with the GF. On the way back from the game, I stopped by Walmart for some snacks since I was seriously hungry. Lo and behold, I find the Generations Wreckers in the toy aisle! They had exactly one set. I must have got there right after they stocked it. Anyway, I grabbed them all with a quickness. The figures are repaints of the FOC Combaticons. These Wreckers will combine into Ruination, though I don’t ever recall Wreckers combining in any continuity. Getting more repaints of this set kind of feels like a waste of money, but the purchase is justified by the fact that these figs all have new head molds that very closely resembles their G1 counterparts. The GF really likes the colors of Roadbuster.

The very next morning, I had a work conference to attend in a nearby city. After the conference was over, I stopped by the Target right next to it. I’m glad I did, because I found all the Thrilling 30 deluxe wave 1 figures. I knew these were coming, but I wasn’t expecting to find them so soon. They had exactly 2 sets. Again, I must have got there right after someone stocked the TF aisle. I grabbed one whole set, plus one extra Trailcutter. I’m partial to Trailbreaker, so can you blame me for getting two Trailcutters? If you live near me, I guess you can. I really like how these Thrilling 30 deluxe figures all come with a comic. The way these deluxe figs are packed looks awesome too! Poor Megatron, he’s the lone Decepticon of the set. In fact, he’s the lone Decepticon for the month!

I should also mention that I passed up several TF Prime Beast Hunter figures this month. I found Skystalker, Target exclusive Darksteel (Grimwing repaint), and Target exclusive Sky Lynx (Skystalker repaint). I almost bought all these guys just for the sake of buying some TFs, but ultimately left them on store shelves. I’m glad I did, because the Generations figs showed up immediately after.

There you have it… my TFs for July 2013. I should have more TFs next month too, since I just had some 3rd party stuff shipped from tfsource. A number of pre-orders are slated to come in next month. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. It will be a good August. Until then, Transform and Roll Out!

It is now the end of June in 2013. And just like this time last year, I can’t believe half the year is over. 2013 feels like it has gone by pretty quick so far. Though I seem to say that every year. Maybe I’m getting old. With age comes wisdom, like Hot Rod transforming into Rodimus Prime. Or not. Anyway, this month’s TF purchases appear below.

• Generations Blitzwing, amazon.com, $22.99

• TF Prime RID Vehicon, Big Lots, $8

• TF Prime Beast Hunters Grimwing, Target, $21.99

• TF Prime Beast Hunters Ultra Magnus, Target, $21.99

• TF Prime Beast Hunters Dreadwing, Target, $12.99

Blitzwing was bought pretty early in the month. I got this as soon as I saw it on Amazon for MSRP. I think by now everyone is aware of the QC issues of this figure, specifically where the shoulders don’t lock into place. Many fans have found fixes for this. I have been following the advice of one TransFan on YouTube and I started to sand down parts of the upper torso to address the issue. I’ll reserve final thoughts for the figure until the fix is complete. And as of this writing, I only transformed him into jet mode. That mode looks quite good. I’ll do the tank next.

Vehicon is the only repeat purchase here. I already have two RID Vehicons, one of which was a gift from PaxCybertron. This past month I finally finished watching Transformers Prime Season 2 on my Blu-ray set. After about mid-way into the season, I watched through the remaining episodes with a fury! TF Prime is an awesome show! Anyway, the Vehicon army is all over the place in the show. Big Lots was clearing out their TF Prime RID Deluxe figs at $8 each, so I figured I get me one more Vehicon. Earlier in the year I have seen Vehicons for cheaper at $5.99 at Ross. At the time I felt like I didn’t need any more Vehicons so I passed. Oh well. $8 is still cheap. This is a total departure from last year where I couldn’t even find them.

I have not opened Grimwing yet, but I expect to very soon. Ultra Magnus is a repaint of TF Prime RID Powerizer Optimus Prime with some minor mods, most obvious of which is the head mold and shoulder extensions. He also comes with some pretty cool accessories: 2 missles, a jet pack, and the Forge of Solus Prime! UM looks like he’s ready for action when he as all these bad-ass weapons attached (yes, he can deal with that now). I’m really happy Hasbro included the Forge to be show accurate. It’s painted a nice silver too, though it would be better if the other colors bits were on there too. I have a feeling some third party is already making a more show accurate version of the Forge. I have yet to transform UM, but I don’t expect any big differences from the original OP mold. Some fans theorize that this mold was originally meant for UM, and I can certainly see why.

I opened Dreadwing but did not transform him yet. He does seem cool in robot mode, and his transformation appears to be much simpler than the Voyager version. He seems promising.

So that’s all the TFs in June. 5 figs, 4 from TF Prime and 1 from Generations. The names of 3 figures this month end in “wing”, that’s weird. Poor Magnus, he’s the lone Autobot this month.

Late in the month I did find the Ultimate class TF Prime Beast Hunters Optimus Prime at TRU. I almost left the store with the fig, but in the end decided against it. Retail is $59.99. I have a feeling he will drop in price later. I’ll get him then. He did look pretty impressive in the box.

There’s one more purchase I gotta mention. It’s not a TF, but close enough. I got the DX Chogokin VF-171 Nightmare Plus from Macross Frontier, by Bandai. Check out these pics.

I love the jet mode of this piece! Haven’t transformed this either (I know, I’m behind), but that jet looks so awesome I thought I keep it like this for a while. All I did so far is attach the gunpod and stand. This is the fodder version. As a Macross pilot, if you get issued one of these, start writing your will. Much like the brown VF-1As. I guess green is the new brown.

BotCon 2013 is also going on this weekend… too bad I’m unable to attend. San Diego is close enough for me, but hopefully next year it will be back in LA. Transform and Roll Out!

This news kind of came out of nowhere. I sort of heard from around the web that Takara are planning new Masterpiece TFs. But details were super vague. Then all of a sudden, I think on Thur this past week, I get the weekly BBTS newsletter. The first pre-orders on the list were MP-20 Wheeljack and MP-21 Bumblebee! I couldn’t believe my eyes! More MPs of G1 figures are always a plus in my book. No pics yet, but nonetheless this is still awesome news!

I never had the Wheeljack G1 toy growing up. I didn’t know anyone else that had it either. And I’m not sure if he was ever re-issued. The point I’m trying to make is I have never seen the G1 mold. But I’ve seen pics and the Wheeljack robot mode is unflattering to say the least. I’m positive the MP-20 will correct this issue. It will also be very interesting to see a Lancia faithfully reproduced in this day and age.

As for MP-21 Bumblebee, it has gotta be the original Beetle. I never really thought Takara will attempt this. In the mid-2000s it was well known that VW wanted very little of their brand to be associated with Transformers products. I guess they have since changed their mind. If this figure is anywhere near the quality of recent MPs, this may very well be the best Bumblebee ever. I’m also wondering how this figure will scale with other MPs. As Bumblebee he should be smaller (like the MP cassettes, though not that small). But he’s got the same pre-order price as Wheeljack, so he may be the same size as the other cars. I can’t wait to see how this will develop.

Oh yeah, along with these two, there will also be MP-12G, which is G2 MP Sideswipe. Knowing me, I will get this too, because I have the original G2 Sideswipe. A very blurry pic appears below. Apparently MP-12G gets some new weapons and accessories.

It is a dream come true to see some of my favorite Autobot cars reproduced in the MP line. We already have Sideswipe (MP-12) and Red Alert (MP-14). Prowl (MP-17), Bluestreak (MP-18), and Smokescreen (MP-19) are next. Now we’re getting Wheeljack and Bumblebee! It is good to be a TransFan!

Back in 2006 when Transformers Classics first came out (which eventually expanded into Universe, Henkei, Generations, and whatever else Hasbro decides to call them), Gemini and I were thinking it would be so cool if they updated all early G1 Autobots and Decepticons in this line. That dream pretty much came true. Now we’re thinking the same about the MP line. It seems like we’re well on our way there… could this become reality as well? Only time will tell… transform and roll out.

Finally! Seibertron is posting pics of G1 Technobots. Go here to check it out. They are my favorite Autobot combiner group from G1. I can hear what you’re saying now: “You crazy? What about the Aerialbots?!” Yes they are probably the obvious choice for most, but I’m partial to toys that I own. In G1 I completed my Technobot collection. So there.

Check out my pics below. They are nowhere near the quality of Seibertron pics. But it’s proof I own them. I know the pics don’t show it, but I do have all their accessories. Next to my Combaticons, the Technobots are the pride and joy of my G1 combiner collection. And unlike my Combaticons, these guys are still in pretty good shape.

Clockwise from top left: Scattershot, Nosecone, Strafe, Afterburner, Lightspeed

Computron

Rumor has it that a third party (ex: FansProject, MakeToys, TFC Toys) is currently making plans to do a Technobot homage team, much like Hercules or Giant. I can’t wait! If it turns out anything like the current 3rd party combiners, I will be buying.

Technobots… Transform and Roll Out!

The “active” TFs on my shelf have changed somewhat from the last time I did a post like this. So here they are. Most of the figs on the shelf are new for this post. Some are the same as last time, with some of them in a different mode.

Same pic, different angle.

From left to right
Top shelf, back row: FOC Blaster (with Steeljaw inside), FOC Omega Supreme, FOC Air Raid (on Omega’s shoulder), FOC Grimlock, TFP Beast Hunters Optimus Prime
Top shelf, front row: Generations Springer, FOC Starscream, FansProject Car Crash, FansProject T-Bone, TFP Rumble, TFP Beast Hunters Smokescreen
Middle shelf: TFP Breakdown, TFP Dreadwing, TFP Shockwave, TFP Beast Hunters Starscream, TFP Jet Vehicon General
Bottom shelf: TFP Beast Hunters Soundwave, MP Soundwave (with Laserbeak insde), FOC Soundblaster (with Buzzsaw inside)

All these TFs are excellent. There’s not a single one on here that I would not recommend.

I believe all the figures on here are 2013 purchases, with the exception of Breakdown and Dreadwing (which were late 2012). The middle shelf appears to be a TF Prime Decepticon shelf, and the bottom shelf is a turning into a Soundwave exclusive shelf. Maybe I should add a few more Soundwave figs here.

The most recent acquisition displayed here is Springer. I have only transformed him from robot to car, but I can already say that he’s AWESOME! I can’t wait to do the heli mode next. He must be reviewed and I intend to do one.

Transform and Roll Out.