I haven’t posted anything in so long. This blog seriously needs some love, so I’m doing one today. And once again, a bunch of random Decepticon jets are lying about here and there. Which means it’s time for another Decepticon Air Superiority post!

Prior such posts in years past:
2012
2017

Here are the jets to give the Autobots nightmares in 2021.

All 5 jets come from different TF toylines. In order of release:

• Dreadwing is from Transformers Prime Beast Hunters
• Armada Starscream is from Generations Thrilling 30
• Snapdragon is from War From Cybertron: Earthrise
• Cyclonus is from War From Cybertron: Kingdom
• Scourge is from Studio Series 86

In terms of continuity, Cyclonus and Scourge are obviously related in G1, with Snapdragon appearing with them a season later in the US continuity. Armada Starscream and Dreadwing are on their own.

As for the toys, Armada Starscream and Dreadwing are fairly outdated by today’s standards. These are still good mass-retail deluxe figs to pick up and play with. They present no challenge transformation-wise, and both figs look decent in both modes.

In my last post I reviewed Kingzilla, a 3rd party MP homage to Snapdraon. Here we have the official CHUG version of the same character released in the WFC Earthrise line. And just like Kingzilla, I like WFC Earthrise Snapdragon quite a bit. This is a fun figure, easy to transform between the 3 modes. Not only that, all 3 modes look fantastic. This is not an easy feat by any means for a Triple Changer. Of course the Headmaster gimmick is still in place. Krunk functions as the head for both robot and dragon, and he can sit in the cockpit in jet mode. G1 purists may whine over the minor alteration in transformation scheme, in that the jet nosecone become part of the legs instead of being on the robot’s back. Personally I don’t see it as a big deal.

The 2 newest figure here are Cyclonus and Scourge. I acquired them both in 2021. It’s unclear to me why the 2 figs are released in separate toylines. Cyclonus could have easily been released as part of Studio Series 86 as well. Perhaps he has an appearance in Kingdom, the upcoming final chapter of War For Cybertron.

WFC Kingdom Cyclonus is hands down the best Cyclonus that has ever been made. This one easily tops my other Cyclonus figures, such as the one from Generations or Combiner Wars. WFC Cyclonus looks great in both modes. The jet mode is nice and sleek, while the robot mode is proportionate and toon-accurate. Transformation is pure joy. For a mass produced toy, the transformation difficulty is above average yet very satisfying. There are enough steps to fully qualify this piece as geared towards collectors, but at the same time the whole process is intuitive and ingenious. The jet nosecone transformation deserves special mention. The entire unit folds and compacts into itself that it’s the perfect way for Cyclonus to go from alt to robot. Construction of the figure is superb as well. Cyclonus gets the highest recommendation from me.

Studio Series 86 Scourge is a terrific addition as well. I don’t think he’s as good as Cyclonus, but this is also without a doubt the best Scourge figure made to date. Both modes look good. The robot mode is toon-accurate, while the alt mode replicates that boat-looking space craft that he’s supposed to be. The transformation is tweaked a bit from G1 so that SS86 Scourge is not as much a shell-former. It does take some work to align all panels of the alt mode, but it can be done with just a bit of effort. In alt mode, SS86 Scourge can be configured with his head exposed above the space craft, something we often he him do in the G1 cartoons and Movie. Hardcore G1-ers will probably multiples of this figure to create a Sweep army. This makes even more sense if some 3P will create a head for the Sweeps (basically Scourge minus the mustache).

So who’s leading this bunch? Other than Snapdragon, all the others have a claim to Decepticon leadership. Though individually, Snapdragon may be the most powerful.

Transform and Roll Out.
 

April of 2018 is all Power of the Primes and Studio Series action. And one unexpected purchase for an item that I considered in China, but smart to have waited to find back in the States. No 3rd or 4th party products.

• Power of the Primes Battleslash, Walmart, $9.84

• Power of the Primes Roadtrap, Walmart, $9.84

• Power of the Primes Blackwing, Target, $16.99

• Power of the Primes Tailgate, Walmart, $9.84

• Studio Series Bumblebee, amazon.com, $19.99

• Studio Series Stinger, amazon.com, $19.99

• Studio Series Optimus Prime, Target, $29.99

• Studio Series Blackout, amazon.com, $49.99

• Robots in Disguise Bumblebee and Grimlock 2-pack, entertainmentearth.com, $29.99

Battleslash and Roadtrap

For the very first time since G1 (to my knowledge), Hasbro is updating the Duocons! Only the most hardcore of TransFans know of Duocons. They came around in G1 Season 4. Transformer toys in that season were full of gimmicks, and the Duocons were no exception. The gimmick here is that two vehicles come together to form the robot mode. Or alternatively, the robot splits into two vehicles. I never had the G1 toys, but my understanding is that when you put one vehicle on top of the other, the spring loaded action kicks in and the figure auto transforms. It’s similar to Battle Chargers, or Automorph from the first Bay movie.

Only two Duocons were released. One is Flywheels, a jet and a tank. The other is Battletrap, the figure you see updated here. Battletrap is a helicopter and a jeep. For this Power of the Primes upgrade, Hasbro went one step further and gave each component its own robot mode. The heli is named Battleslash, and the jeep is called Roadtrap. They can still come together to form the bigger robot, Battletrap. Yes even the name is a portmanteau of the two individual components (Battleslash + Roadtrap). The two figures are sold separately. See some pics below.

Combined as Battletrap!

Holding a random weapon. Big prizes to whoever correctly identifies who this weapon belongs to.

Overall, I like these two. Both are more complicated than meets the eye when it comes to transformation. To account for the combining gimmick and individual robot and alt modes, none of the modes are all that good, but it’s not terrible either. Combined as Battletrap, the figure can be a tad unstable, but not too bad if you’re not being overly rough. The figures themselves are more than playable. At only about $10 each, you owe it to yourself to get both of them. They are proper updates to some lesser known characters that true G1-ers will appreciate.

And if you’re wondering where is Flywheels, he will be updated in War For Cybertron Siege in 2019. Why they’re calling him Skytread in the update will be a mystery for the ages.

Blackwing

Blackwing was called Darkwing in G1. Darkwing and his very close cohort Dreadwind were both Decepticon Powermasters introduced in G1 Season 5. Powermasters had this gimmick where the Master figure transforms into the engine, which unlocks the transformation ability of the base figure. The toys were kinda cool, having to plug in the Powermaster and then transform. But from a story perspective, Powermasters are totally lame. I mean, why have someone else unlock an ability you always had before?

Dreadwind and Darkwing also has this unique feature where the two jets can come together to form a super jet, then called Dreadwing (Dreadwind + Darkwing). Yes, all these names that can abbreviate to DW is confusing. In G1 I never got them straight without looking at toy catalogs.

As a figure, PotP Blackwing is nothing we haven’t seen before. He feels like another retooled Combiner Wars figure that’s now released in the Power of the Primes line. The transformation is like so many CW figs before it, so I won’t even describe it.

PotP Blackwing can also combine with PotP Dreadwind to form Dreadwing. See pic below.

So does this also make Blackwing and Dreadwind Duocons, except they combine to form the alt mode instead of the robot mode? And are Dreadwind and Blackwing brothers like Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, or are they unrelated? These and any other questions about this pair will not be answered here. Because, quite frankly, these toys are not that good to be worth the time.

Tailgate

PotP Tailgate is a white repaint of PotP Windcharger, just like how it was in G1. Yes this is a quick cash grab on Hasbro’s part. But at least this repaint has its roots in G1 which makes it somewhat more justifiable. I hate it when repaints are created for the silliest reasons, such as when two characters share similar alt modes. One example that comes to mind is repainting Titans Return Hardhead into Titans Return Quake. There are many other such lame efforts.

I like this Tailgate better than Generations Thrilling 30 Tailgate. Both the robot mode and the alt mode bear stronger resemblance to his G1 self. Pics below.

Bumblebee

The Studio Series (SS) is officially kicking off this month. Technically, my first Studio Series purchase happened last month with SS Thundercracker. But that was a store exclusive, the character never appeared in the movies, and it was a repaint of something that existed prior to SS. So to me it did not feel like an official kick off to the series.

The Studio Series is Hasbro’s latest offerings on figures from the movie-verse. SS will offer characters from every movie, from the 1st Bay movie all the way up to Bumblebee. The main selling point of SS is that they’re “BIG SCREEN INSPIRED”. This means the figures are re-engineered to be much more screen accurate than previous offerings. SS pays close attention to scale, and every SS figure will be scaled accurately to each other in size (or so they claim). Every SS figure comes with a cardboard backdrop of an important scene relating to the character in the movie.

All Studio Series are numbered, along with an indication of the figure’s movie of origin. And of course for 01 it would be Bumblebee. And not just any Bumblebee; for 01, it’s the classic Camaro Bee from the first movie.

The only classic Camaro movie Bumblebee figure I had was from the first movie. And he’s broken. So I very much welcomed this new SS01 Bumblebee.

I’ll start with the pros of the figure. In both modes, Bumblebee looks very very screen accurate. I estimate 90% of all movie Bumblebee figures made are of the new Camaro. So it’s very refreshing when we get a Bumblebee figure of the classic Camaro. The figure comes with an extra arm in the arm cannon mode (see pics above), so you can pose Bumblebee in his iconic fighting stance. When not being used, the arm cannon can be stored on Bumblebee’s butt. It’s a weird placement that would invite all kinds of jokes, but I’ll give Hasbro points for coming up the feature nevertheless.

Unfortunately, there ware way too many cons about SS01, in my opinion. He could have been better constructed. Some joints are way too loose, such as the hip joints. The roof joint and arm socket pops off way too easily during transformation. The right arm is meant to come off so it can be swapped with the gun cannon arm, but neither arm bits stay on well. The transformation scheme we have seen a thousand times before. It really does feel like HasTak took deluxe Last Knight Bumblebee and retrofitted a classic Camaro mode on top of that figure. And while we’re on that point, do we really need any more movie-verse Bumblebees? Strip away the fancy Studio Series packaging, and you get the nagging feeling you’ve played with this figure before. Because, chances are, you have.

Despite these negatives, SS01 Bumblebee is the best mass-produced classic Camaro movie Bumblebee that has been made to date. All previous efforts pale in comparison to what we have here. SS01 Bumblebee is a very good figure that looks great in both modes. So do I recommend him? If you don’t own any other movie-verse classic Camaro Bumblebees, then by all means pick up this one. If you must have a classic Camaro Bumblebee figure with today’s TF engineering, then this figure should fit the bill. If you are generally sick of movie Bumblebees, however, you may want to pass on this figure. It’s really just a rehash of all the deluxe movie Bumblebees that has been released in the last few years.

Stinger

Studio Series 02 is Stinger from Age of Extinction. I don’t think a deluxe version of Stinger was ever released in the United States. There is a Takara version floating around out there, and I know there are legion figures made of Stinger. But a mass produced deluxe version of Stinger aimed at mature collectors was never made available on this side of the Pacific. So I very much welcomed Stinger in the SS line.

And this Stinger delivers! Check out pics below.

The robot mode looks great. He’s very proportionate, and I love the look of all the gears sticking out his back. I’m not a big fan of the arm cannon that is transformed from the roof of the car, but that may have been his design from the movies.

Stinger’s transformation is where this toy truly shines. Stinger has perhaps the most unorthodox robot-to-car transformation scheme of any Transformer in history! Yes you read that right. I cannot think of any other Transformer figure that even slightly resembles how Stinger transforms, across all Transformer lines. And because the transformation is so unorthodox, it’s hard to describe it in words. There are a lot of rotations involved. The chest kind of flips back onto itself, then folds out from the windshield where it was resting. It’s super bizarre, but totally refreshing at the same time. The result is a super cool and sleek alt mode that does the figure justice. Pics below.

I love the look of this car mode. I think Stinger is supposed to be a Pagani, and this alt mode pays good tribute to the overall defining shape of the automobile.

SS02 Stinger is a well-built figure. Way better than the SS01. All joints are the right level of tightness, and the alt mode comes together well with no parts flopping around. There are no issues with standing and posing the robot mode. Articulation fiends should have nothing to complain about here.

In the movie, Stinger is an Earth-made Transformer created by humans. It makes sense that Stinger is radically different from all Transformers before it, and the toy transformation more than reflects that fact.

There are minor issues with the toy that I need to point out. In alt mode, it can be tough to position the four back extrusions properly underneath the vehicle so that the car has enough bottom clearance when rested on a flat surface. The 4 gear accessories also love to fall off. They don’t stay on that well. For these reasons, I actually didn’t like SS Stinger too much when I first played with it. But the awesome transformation eventually grew on me. This toy takes Transformers to new territories, and that’s always a plus in my book.

If you like Transformers that are like nothing before it, then Stinger is a required purchase for you.

Optimus Prime

With every new line of TFs, you can bet that one of the first figures will be Optimus Prime. In Studio Series, SS05 is Optimus.

It’s generally agreed that the hallmark of Optimus Prime figures in the movie-verse is the Leader Class figure from Revenge of the Fallen (or any direct derivation of it). That figure is indeed impressive, with a very difficult but satisfying transformation and high screen accuracy in both modes. RotF Leader Class OP was released about 10 years ago, and no movie OP released since has been able to claim the top spot as the best Movie Optimus.

It’s hard for me to evaluate SS05, because comparisons to RotF leader OP will be unavoidable. And I’ll get straight to it: SS05 is not superior to RotF Leader Class OP. But that doesn’t mean SS05 is a bad figure.

SS05 Optimus is a very playable figure. Out of all the Studio Series figures, I transformed SS05 back and forth the most. The transformation feels very natural. Upon picking it up, you just instinctively know what to do next, assuming you’ve had some experience with Transformers. The figure is well built, so there are no issues with posing, or parts not coming together when they should.

SS figures are supposed to be very screen accurate. In the case of SS05, I feel that the robot mode is just OK as far as how close it looks to the movies. I feel that RotF leader OP is still the more movie accurate of the Primes.

The twin blades are attached on SS05. They don’t flip out like RotF leader OP, another area where the RotF fig is superior.

As for the alt mode, it’s very screen accurate.

This is kind of hard to explain in writing, but SS05 is a very blocky figure. I know it doesn’t look it in the pics, but the blockiness shows through when the figure is transformed. In robot mode, the blockiness is apparent when you try to pose the figure. SS05 is not very poseable, and I think it has more to do with the overall shape, as opposed to not having articulated joints.

I will re-emphasize here that the transformation process is very intuitive, which is perhaps the biggest plus for this figure.

SS05 with KBBMP10-V in alt mode.

As you can see from the pic above, SS05 is definitely closer to voyager class and not leader class. Yes I know they did it for scale reasons, but it’s hard to see the great Autobot leader at less than leader class when RotF did it so well in that class. And on that point, I’m not so sure that Optimus at voyager class is the right scale. More on this in the Blackout section below.

So should you get SS05? I recommend it, based on how playable it is. It’s a solid addition to the SS line. Just don’t expect this to be the best Optimus Prime ever made in the movie-verse.

Blackout

Blackout is the first Leader class figure I got from the SS line. And no, it’s not your imagination. Hasbro is really downsizing these guys. Below I have a pic of Leader class Blackout with Leader class Titans Return Overlord, both in the box. See for yourself. SS Leaders are considerably smaller. Hasbro says they’re doing this for scale reasons. You can choose to believe that, or not.

A voyager class Blackout was released for the first movie. To my knowledge that was the only Blackout figure released. I bought that figure well before the existence of this blog, and it was one of my first figures in the movie-verse. I still have that figure, in a box in a closet somewhere. It hasn’t seen the light of day in over 10 years. I remember that figure being pretty good for its time. If you missed out on that figure, there’s no need to fret, because Studio Series Blackout blows it out of the skies. SS Blackout is the true definitive version of this character that does justice to the very first Transformer that we see in the movies.

SS Blackout is way more screen accurate than what was released for the first movie. See the pics below for yourself. A big selling point of Studio Series figures is screen accuracy, and Blackout has got that in spades.

Blackout does come with Scorponok. For the sake of scale, Scorponok is a tiny figure. That works for me. Scorponok is only supposed to be a bit bigger than humans.

Transformation to helicopter features some of the best engineering in a movie-verse fig. It is quite involved, but I would not put it in the complicated category. It is a refreshing transformation for sure, I can’t think of any other figure in the entire TF universe that transforms like Blackout. The head the chest mechanism deserves special mention. From robot to heli, the head pushes downward and into the body. This moves out the front landing gear at the bottom in one motion, and the front antenna folds out. Very very cool. Arms and legs fold back to form the rest of the heli body. My words don’t do it justice. See the pics for yourselves.

Look at this heli mode. Now is that Blackout or is that Blackout? I totally want to do a side by side comparison of this Blackout with the Movie 1 figure, but I’m too lazy to dig it out. As far as looks, SS Blackout wins in a landslide.

SS Blackout is well built. All joints are at the right tightness. Every part and piece come together when it should, in both robot and alt modes.

Posebility in robot mode can be a tad limited, because of all the kibble. But that is the look of this figure. A kibble-free Blackout would not be Blackout. Kibble will impede articulation. I’m ok sacrificing articulation here for a movie accurate look.

SS Blackout is leader class, which makes total sense because he was supposed to be the biggest character from the first movie. But since we’re on the topic of class, let me get back to something I started in the Optimus section above. Even in SS, where figures are supposed to be scale accurate, Optimus feels too small at voyager class. In my opinion, Optimus should have been at the smaller leader class scale, like SS Blackout. SS Blackout in turn then get the traditional leader class size.

SS Blackout deserves a review of its own. I plan on doing one. But all you really need to know is that Blackout is a required purchase for any Transformer fan.

Here is a pic of all the Studio Series figs in alt mode, assembled for a group photo. They look great together. The scale works for the most part, though as I mentioned already, I feel Optimus is too small.

Bumblebee and Grimlock

I first saw this Robots in Disguise Bumblebee and Grimlock 2-pack when I was in Shanghai in 2016. I wanted to buy this set so badly on that trip. But I didn’t after converting local currency to dollars. I wasn’t gonna put down around $100 for RiD figures. And I’m glad I didn’t. Entertainment Earth had this set this month at a clearance price of $29.99. I wasted no time and bought one.

Now that I have it, I am doubly glad I didn’t spend that kind of money in Shanghai. I’ll be blunt: this Grimlock figure is horrible. This is a reworked figure off of Fall Of Cybertron Grimlock. I knew that before the purchase. But what I didn’t know is how poorly done this figure would be. In robot mode, RiD Grimlock is decent. But in dino mode, the whole thing just doesn’t come together well. RiD Grimlock is shaped differently from FoC Grimlock. The extra kibble on RiD Grimlock interferes with the dino formation. I should have known that having different designs retrofitted on top of an existing frame would be a bad idea. The deluxe version of RiD Grimlock is 10 times superior. That mold was made to be RiD Grimlock, and having something designed exclusively for what it was meant for is always the way to go. I wish HasTak just upscaled dexluxe RiD Grimlock to voyager size. I could see a 4th party company do this, but I’m guessing the 3P market for Robots in Disguise is too small to be worth the trouble.

The saving grace of this 2-pack is the Bumblebee figure. I don’t have any RiD Bumblebee figures, which was another reason for me to get this 2-pack. I like RiD deluxe Bumblebee. Both robot mode and alt mode looks good. The figure is well constructed too, for RiD figure standards. Transformation is nothing we haven’t seen before, but I don’t expect much in this area from RiD.
This 2-pack version looks more gold than the standard deluxe retail version, but I’ll take it. The translucent blue sword looks nice too.

Below is a pic of the two of them in alt mode.

That turned out to be a way longer post than I had intended. I wanted to give each of these figs their 15 minutes. Here is the summary if you just want the Cliff Notes version.

Recommended:

• Battleslash
• Roadtrap
• Tailgate
• Stinger (SS02)
• Optimus Prime (SS05)
• Blackout (SS08)
• Bumblebee (RiD)

Not Recommended:

• Blackwing
• Bumblebee (SS01)
• Grimlock (RiD)

Transform and Roll Out!
 

October always seem to be a busy month in terms of TF activity. In October of 2012, I set a personal record for most TFs purchases in a month. This month I may have set another new record, of a related but slightly different category. So sit back, relax, and enjoy. This will be a long post.

• Age of Extinction Drift, Toys R Us, $24.99

• Age of Extinction Optimus Prime Evolution 2-Pack, Toys R Us, $44.99

• MakeToys Quantron, tfsource.com, $399.99

• Generations Thrilling 30 Jetfire, bbts.com, $46.99

• Fans Toys Scoria, bbts.com, $199.99

• Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Cyberverse Optimus Prime, bbts.com, $4.99

• Skrapnel with Reflector and Tailgate with Groundbuster, bbts.com, $21.99

• Nemesis Prime with Spinister and Cliffjumper with Suppressor, bbts.com, $21.99

• Generations Thrilling 30 Waspinator, Skids, Goldfire, Dreadwing, bbts.com, $59.99

• Generations Thrilling 30 Crosscut, Nightbeat, Windblade, Jhiaxus, bbts.com, $59.99

Age of Extinction Voyager Drift is a repaint of Skyhammer from Dark of the Moon. It appears they keep using this mold for Movie-verse figs. Skyhammer is one of my favorite figs from DotM, so I had to have this Drift. The figure is exactly the same, other than the head mold, the blue paint scheme, and the swords. Drift’s swords are kinda cool. He can use them separately in each hand, or have them combine into one huge sword.

I bought the Optimue Prime Evolution 2-Pack purely for the repaint of the Classic Prime mold. I love that figure, and this shiny new paint had my attention. The other Prime figure here is a repaint of Evasion Mode Optimus Prime from Age of Extinction. In retrospect, Evasion Mode Prime is one of the only few good figures from TF4, so I’m glad I have this repaint. I did not open this 2-Pack. The collector in me will probably just hold on to this as mint.

When I first head of MakeToys Quantron, I already made up in my mind that I had to have it. Quantron is an homage to the Technobots of G1, my favorite Autobot combiner team to come out of that era. Sure the Aerialbots are the most famous, but I think the Technobots are the coolest. I still remember buying Afterburner, my first fig from this awesome team. I loved his futuritic motorcycle mode. MakeToys Quantron wasn’t cheap. And I’m ashamed to say that as of this writing I still have not had the chance to play with this at all. I barely opened the box a few weeks ago to inspect the contents. Life as a working adult is way too hectic, and all of you reading should rue the day when you don’t have the time to immediately enjoy a $400 toy. But I promise to get to Quantron soon. All reviews I have seen gave it high marks. I know I will not be disappointed.

I have repeatedly mention how cool Generations 30 Jetfire is elsewhere in this blog, so I won’t do it again. Just know that he is awesomeness manifested in physical form. Go out and get yours now.

Masterpiece scale Dinobots is something that many 3rd parties are jumping into lately. These figures are usually $200 each… not cheap by any means. They all look pretty nice. But if I’m to get one, I want to go with a 3rd party that I trust. And so comes Scoria by Fans Toys. I was thoroughly impressed with Quakewave, so I had to give their interpretation of Slag a shot. Scoria does not disappoint. In robot mode he’s big and beefy. Construction is solid, and the transformation to dino feels familiar and refreshing at the same time. Scoria looks awesome in dino mode. I wish I have some pics handy to show him off. Maybe I will in a separate blog post.

I got TF Prime Beast Wars Optimus Prime purely because he was on sale at BBTS. I saw the fig quite frequently on the racks at stores like Walmart and Target and have always wondered if he’s any good. He’s not. A required purchase this ain’t. I already wasted too much time writing about this figure.

Nemesis Prime and Cliffjumper are just repaints of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, respectively. So I won’t talk about them too much. Skrapnel (or Shrapnel) is a cool little G1 Insecticon. This is probably the first time in a long time that Hasbro has made a G1 looking Insecticon. Tailgate is using a mold that will be repainted into Windcharger. This mold is ok. I got this to have a distinct mold for Tailgate, because I think the Reveal the Shield Windcharger is a much better mold and that will be my Windcharger.

The remaining deluxe Generations Thrilling 30 figures I’ll just quickly mention. Goldfire, Nightbeat, Dreadwing, and Jhiaxus are repaints of a figure in the same lineup. I really like Jhiaxus though. I’m liking the color scheme, and Hasbro reworked the mold to be different enough that it feels like a distinct figure. Windblade is a brand new mold. She looks pretty cool in both modes, but the figure itself is kinda flimsy. Waspinator is very cool! This is probably the coolest Waspinator that Hasbro has ever made. I like the wing gimmick. Skids and Crosscut are repaints of each other, though this mold is the first time we’re getting them. I was really looking forward to Skids, since many reviews praised the figure. The car mode is nice, but the robot mode has some poseability issues. There’s so much going on in robot mode that all the features start to block on itself. Still, all the weapons on Skids (and Crosscut) does make for a nice looking figure, when you can get them to pose the way you want.

Ok… that was a lot of figs! 27 total by my count. 23 if you don’t count the Mini-Cons of the Generations Thrilling 30 legends figs. My previous record for single TFs in a month is 24, so this month does surpass that if Mini-Cons are included as separate figures. However there’s one thing that this month sets a record for… and that’s the amount spent! Adding all these up, the total TF spending this month comes to a whopping $885.90! Ouch. That’s a bit much by anyone’s standard. Quantron and Scoria accounts for $600 by themselves alone. I really need to start selling off whatever I don’t play with anymore. Time to list more stuff in my Sales Section.

October is the last month of extravagant TF spending for 2014. Things will die down for the rest of the year.

Oh, one more thing, at the end of Oct 2014 I took another pic of my orange TFs. Check it out.

More to come… Transform and Roll Out!

Earlier this year I bought a glass display case for all my TFs. I have a small shelf in my bedroom for such a purpose, but there are too many robots I want to display. So I got the Detolf case from Ikea.

It took some effort to put this case together. But in the end the display looks quite nice. Here is what I currently have displayed.

Here on the top shelf is a random collection of Autobots. On display is CHUG Sideswipe with the Beelzeboss Heroic Duo Custom Kit (v2) upgrade, MP Streak, MP Prowl (hiding in the back in alt mode), MP G2 Sideswipe, FansProject Smart Robin, TF Prime Voyager Ultra Magnus, and a Mega Bloks minifig from their Battleship line.

On the 2nd shelf is Maketoys Giant in the combined form, PCC Heavytread with Maketoys Mobine Armor Marine upgrade kit, Generations Thrilling 30 Dreadwing (hiding in the back in alt mode), and another Mega Bloks minifig from the same Battleship set (the GF insists I put these here).

Here on the 3rd shelf is my Wreckers team! I’m so glad Hasbro is taking the time to please us true fans, as most figures here are official products. On display here are Generations Thrilling 30 Springer, Sandstorm, Whirl, and Roadbuster. And from Mech Ideas are Apex and Geminus.

And here on the bottom shelf are some random stuff. FansProject Intimidator appears here in combined form. Other figures include a Samus Aran Figma, Nickelodeon TMNT Donatello riding a a Maisto motorcycle, and a Diarobo figure that transforms into a Japanese garbage truck. The teddy bear and shot glasses are random contributions from the GF.

I will probably rotate out the figures in here every so often, when I want some new stuff to look at. Til next time… Transform and Roll Out!

Continuing with the tradition of this blog, I will still document what I am buying each month. I am now back-posting what I bought per month since the start of 2014.

• Mastermind Creations Fortis, tfsource.com, $89.99

• Generations Thrilling 30 Dreading, Target, $17.99

• FansProject Diesel, tfsource.com, $119.95

I have opened all of these. Fortis (not Headstrong) is almost exactly like Bovis, which I was not expecting. I thought MMC would do more to distinguish between the 2 figures which forms the legs of Predaking. Dreadwing is a redeco of Generations Thrilling 30 Megatron. Only differences between these 2 figs are the paint job and the head mold.

Diesel (not Motormaster) is a complicated piece to say the least. He’s packaged in truck mode like you see in the pic above. In the pics below, I have him transformed to his robot mode, with and without armor.

And for course the real reason we hardcore collectors all get this figure is so we can form the mighty Intimidator (not Menasor)!

Intimidator looks totally kick-ass when combined! The limb components were bought in March and August of last year.

So that’s 3 figures for the month, two 3rd party figs and one generations figs. Not a bad way to start the new year.

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.

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!

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.

Quick post today. I got this little shelf in my bedroom where I like to display my “active” TFs. Usually this refers to the figures that I recently bought and are still playing with, before they get boxed and stored somewhere. Occasionally this could be a TF that I dug out from said storage, for one reason or another. It’s impossible for me to display every single TF that I have, and quite frankly I don’t like having a lot of clutter. So I display my TFs with this more limited approach.

But the TFs are adding up on this shelf, and it does look quite awesome to see them all together.

Same pic, different angle.

From left to right
Top shelf, back row: MP Optimus Prime (US TRU exclusive), FOC Air Raid, FOC Omega Supreme
Top shelf, front row: Reveal the Shield Battle in Space Rodimus, MP Soundwave with Laserbeak, TFP Beast Hunters Trailcutter, Reveal the Shield Windcharger, FansProject Car Crash, FansProject T-Bone, TFP Wildrider, TFP Rumble
Middle shelf: GDO Megatron, TFP Breakdown, TFP Dreadwing, GDO Powerdive, MP Thundercracker
Bottom shelf: GDO Cliffjumper (with G1 head), FOC Kickback, TFP Beast Hunters Wheeljack, TFP Beast Hunters Bulkhead, TFP Beast Hunters Smokescreen
To the side: Spike, Roller, and Trailer for MP Optimus Prime (US TRU exclusive)

Most of these are recent purchases. Reveal the Shield Rodimus and Windcharger are the only two older figures that I dug out from boxes, and even they aren’t that old (2011 I think). MP Optimus, Cliffjumper, and all the figures on the middle shelf were all purchases late in 2012. The rest were acquired in 2013.

FOC Omega Supreme is such an awesome figure! He’s robust, well built, and very playable. Not to mention easy to transform. The details on this figure is also superb. This Omega functions well as both a toy and a collector’s piece. I need to do a full review on this figure soon.

Notice that Spike is sitting inside Roller. And Roller is hauling the Trailer. Optimus can be such a slacker sometimes.

Transform and Roll Out.

When it rains, it pours. Like Cybertron Acid Rain! Or Hurricane Sandy. October was a downpour full of Transformers, I was finding newly released figures multiples times per week. This will be a long post. Prepare yourself.

• Generations GDO Swerve, toysrus.com, $14.99
• Generations GDO Springer, Toys R Us, $14.99
• Generations GDO Wheelie, Toys R Us, $14.99
• Generations GDO Cliffjumper, toysrus.com $14.99

• Generations GDO Brawl, Toys R Us, $9.99
• Generations GDO Laserbeak, toysrus.com $9.99

• Transformers Prime Rumble, Walmart, $15.47

• Transformers Prime Airachnid, Target, $15.49

• Transformers Prime First Edition Terroron Cliffjumper, Toys R Us, $14.99
• Transformers Prime First Edition Vehicon, Toys R Us, $14.99

• Transformers Prime Voyager Dreadwing, Target, $21.99

• Transformers Prime Kup, Walmart, $15.47
• Transformers Prime Vehicon, Walmart, $15.47

• Generations Fall of Cybertron Onslaught, hasbrotoyshop.com, $14.99
• Generations Fall of Cybertron Blastoff, hasbrotoyshop.com, $14.99
• Generations Fall of Cybertron Vortex, hasbrotoyshop.com, $14.99
• Generations Fall of Cybertron Swindle, hasbrotoyshop.com, $14.99
• Generations Fall of Cybertron Brawl, hasbrotoyshop.com, $14.99

• Generations Ultimate Gift Set (Jazz, Combat Hero Optimus Prime, Motorbreath, Thundercracker), hasbrotoyshop.com, $29.99

• Generations GDO legend Silverstreak, Toys R Us, $5.99
• Generations GDO legend Thundercracker, Toys R Us, $5.99

Whew! That’s a lot of TFs! I knew October was gonna be special, when back in this post I said October is off to a great start. 24 TFs for the month. That’s gotta be a new single month record, even for me. 7 figures came out of TF Prime, and the other 17 all belong to Generations. And out of the 17 Generations, 5 are Fall of Cybertron, and the rest GDO. I guess this month more than makes up for the last few months, where I found virtually nothing in the stores.

Out of the 24 figs, 13 are repaints of molds I already have. Still, Hasbro made them different enough for me to want them. They sure know how to keep me interested.

Notice I bought the little legend GDO Thundercracker twice. First came with the Ultimate Gift set from hasbrotoyshop.com, and the second was a standalone purchase at Toys R Us. I guess I could’ve left the the 2nd one on the shelf, but these little guys are rare finds so I couldn’t help myself.

But yeah, so many TFs in such a short span. I’m barely able to process it all. The pic below shows the only figures that I opened so far. And believe me I plan to open them all (except for the 2nd Thundercracker).

I recommend all these figures that I opened. Well, maybe except for Airachnid. Her robot mode is pretty crappy. But the heli mode is cool and she is a rare fig, so there are still some reasons to get one.

Today is also Halloween. So I thought I do a shot of all my orange TFs with a stuff pumpkin that I have. Check it out below.

And speaking of orange, here’s a plug for a totally unrelated topic: San Francisco Giants are world champions! As a sports fan living in the SF Bay Area, it’s something I must mention. Their colors are orange and black, very fitting for Halloween. Coincidentally, the victory parade is also on this day. It will be crazy in the city! I wanted to take a pic of my orange TFs with some Giants memorabilia, but can’t find any. Earlier in the year I went to a Giants game, and I got a Brian Wilson gnome as a stadium give-away. I sold it on eBay for $50, which I’ve come to regret now for 3 reasons: 1) It’s a great piece to take a pic with my orange TFs, 2) Now that Giants are world champs, it’s probably worth way more than $50, and 3) It’s a great memento to keep around for a championship year. Though Brian Wilson has made no contribution to this championship run since he’s been hurt since May, so maybe it’s not a big deal.

Happy Halloween everyone! Transform and Roll Out!