Here we are again. Another St Patrick’s Day, another post for my green Transformers.

Featured in this year’s green and mean machines:

• Titans Return Hardhead
• MakeToys Gundog
• Toyworld Hardbone
• Unique Toys Allen
• Generations Thrilling 30 Springer

For the first time in the history of these St Patrick’s Day posts, the number of third party figures outnumber the official HasTak figures. Very indicative of the trend in the hardcore TF fandom.

Another weird trend: this is the 4th blog post in a row that I have featured MakeToys Gundog. This is not be design. Maybe I’m secretly in love with Gundog. Smart readers will notice that I took this pic before my last post about the rub on decals, since Gundog still is shown here with his sticker faction logo.

And in the tradition of these St Patrick’s Day posts, I have to mention March Madness. My beloved UCLA is already knocked off in the First Four! They couldn’t even get to the First Round. And I never thought I would see this in my lifetime, but a No. 16 seed has knocked off a No. 1 seed! UMBC just eliminated Virginia in the First Round! This totally busts by bracket. Yes, I picked Virginia to win it all. This is much like 2012, when I picked No. 2 Missouri to win it all and they were upset by Norfolk St. I don’t even know why I try. But this is historic! UMBC didn’t just win, they completely dismantled UVA. And Virginia wasn’t just a No. 1 seed, they were the overall No. 1 in the Tournament. UMBC is a school you have never heard of (unless, of course, you’re from there). You could Google what UMBC is, but after tonight, everyone will know them as U Must Be Cinderella.

Here are links to previous St Patrick’s Day posts:

2015
2013
2012
2011

Have a safe and happy St Patrick’s Day everyone. And congratulations to UMBC! Transform and Roll Out.

As promised in a earlier post, I am compiling some stats on my TF purchase and spending habits. But before that, let’s take a look at how 2015 breaks down.

A total of 77 figures were purchased in 2015. This is by far the lowest total since I started tracking my TF acquisitions in 2012. The figures in 2015 break down as follows:

• 2 figures from Age of Extinction
• 4 Masterpiece figures
• 3 figures from Generation Thrilling 30, which ended either late 2014 or early 2015
• 47 Combiner Wars figures (yikes!)
• 5 figs from Robots in Disguise
• 1 Generations fig
• 15 Third Party figures

These numbers are pretty much what I expected. 77 total figs for 2015 is good. I have way too many TFs already, so it’s a good thing to be more selective about what I buy. This number is trending in the right direction, and it comes to about 6.5 figs a month, or about 1.5 figs every week. As for the individual categories, it’s no surprise that Combiner Wars accounted for more than 50% of all purchases. CW was the main thing going in 2015 for hardcore collectors. As a whole I think CW is ok, but could have been better. I probably bought up everything that was put out as CW, and in retrospect some of those I probably should have left on the shelf. Age of Extinction and Generation Thrilling 30 were already on its last legs by the time 2015 rolled around, so the low count here is completely expected. 4 Masterpiece figs seems about on par with all the other years. Robots in Disguise was the major mainstream TF line for 2015. Personally I’m not terribly impressed with this line, which accounts for the modest 5 figs. The 1 fig from Generations was that rare and weird find of Scourage.

As for Third Party items, 15 also feels about on par with how much I buy every year. But since my total purchase count went down, Third Party items now account for a bigger percentage. As a whole, Third Party items are getting better every year. Multiple companies will often now do the same character in the same time frame. Choosy collectors like me have lots of pick from.

OK, now let’s take a look at how things shake out from year to year. Gathering all the stats I have from 2012 to 2015, below is a plot of how many TFs I buy from month to month, in this 4 year span.

The vertical axis is number of TFs bought in the month, while the horizontal axis is the month. Years are coded by color. The obvious thing that sticks out here is that October seems to have the most action. With the exception of 2013, all other years in this period have Oct as a TF heavy month. I have mentioned that several times on this blog already. And looking at the plot as a whole, most purchases seems to be centered around 2 periods, one at Oct-Nov, and the other at Feb-Mar. Oct-Nov I can understand, since it’s right before Christmas. Not sure why there is an increase in activity around Feb-Mar. Also of note are years where there is a TF movie. In this period, 2014 was the only year with a movie (Age of Extinction). So I guess it’s no surprise that 2014 behaved differently from all the other years. Only 2014 had a sharp peak in the summer months, which is probably all the movie toys.

I’m not sure what other conclusions I can draw from this plot. Maybe it will help me in budgeting. But I usually just buy something when I see it, so perhaps not. Ironically enough, the TF heavy months are also when those of us that live in the United States pay property tax (in California anyway). For you foreign readers out there, property tax in the US is super steep. Not a good time to be releasing non-essentials in these months. But it appears I’m still very active in my TF shopping during property tax time, so perhaps this has no impact on the TF community whatsoever.

Now let’s look at some trends from year to year. Below are two bar graphs that summarize my purchase counts and spending totals from 2012 to 2015.

Again, 2014 seems to be the oddball year in this 4 year period. I guess having a movie in the year really makes that much of a difference. 2014 was the only year where I spend more than $3000 total on TFs. The obvious thing to point at is AoE. But I didn’t like the AoE toys that much, so I would be surprised if the all extra spending really went there. I’m gonna have to look at my detailed stats for 2014. Other than that, the overall trend is I’m buying less TFs. Again, that’s a good thing. I got too many. Which reminds me I really need to start selling off some of these figures.

I will start cataloging my 2016 purchases from this point forward. A bit late since 2016 is almost over, but better late than never. Hopefully soon I catch up to where I am currently, and I can have my purchase posts at the end of every month for that month like I used to.

Transform and Roll Out.

November 2015 is back to buying only a handful of Transformers. The 3 figures appear below.

• Age of Extinction Chainsaw Thrash Vehicon, Ross, $5.99

• Combiner Wars Battle Core Optimus Prime, Target, $24.99

• Combiner Wars Motormaster, Target, $24.99

Chainsaw Thrash Vehicon is yet another budget impulse buy. I was semi-impressed with Spinning Grinder Galvatron, and at $5.99 there’s no real reason to be conservative. The TF Movie universe took a cue from TF Prime and adopted the concept of a drone robot army made up of Vehicons. In AoE, Vehicons are man-made Transformers used by Cemetery Wind, as opposed to the non-sentient but self-operating drones in TF Prime. As far as I know, there is not a Generations version of Vehicon in the AoE toys, so this Chainsaw Thrash Vehicon will have to do. I like this figure. His alt mode is unique. I don’t know of any other TF (official or otherwise) that transforms into a Rally Fighter. In robot mode, the chainsaw gimmick is semi entertaining, but adds only marginal value for the adult collector. Kids of today would probably enjoy the gimmick for a good 10 minutes before their super short attention span turns them elsewhere. Transformation is painfully simple. Overall, this Vehicon is a nice distraction on a dry TF month, but not a required purchase by any means.

Battle Core Optimus Prime and Motormaster are repaints of each other. In fact, they are repaints of my purchases from January and March of 2015, respectively. By now, most fans are aware of the hip problems that earlier versions of these figures have. This is why I bought Motormaster again. As for Battle Core Optimus, I got him only because I like his head mold so much more over the standard Optimus fig. So the million dollar question is: are the new figs better than the old ones? Yes and no. In robot mode, the figure now looks better when standing in a neutral pose. And in combined form, the fixed ratchets help to stabilize the gestalt in the legs and hips. This is the biggest improvement in the new figures. However, the truck mode does not come together as nicely. This figure compacts itself quite a bit when going to alt mode, and the slight ratchet tweak somehow made it much more difficult to collapse all the pieces and panels properly. This is the case with both Battle Core OP and Motormaster, so I’m convinced this phenomenon is present on all the new figures (I did not detect this on the older figures). Also, they still did not fix the poorly fitted connection pegs located on the chest (for Rodimus or Blackjack). So is it worth it to buy these figs again? I dunno. If you really must have a more stable combined mode, then go for it. Otherwise, I would suggest you save your money if you already have the older figures.

We are almost at the end of 2015. One more month to go, then onto 2016.

Transform and Roll Out.

September of 2015 is another month of only 2 TFs.

• Generations Thrilling 30 Acid Storm and Venin, amazon.com, $8.13

• Robots in Disguise Megatronus, Toys R Us, $14.99

Acid Storm is yet another repaint of the legend class Seeker mold. As if having Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp is not already enough. I could have easily passed on Acid Storm (and you should too if you’re on the fence about buying), but at about $8 I figured why not. Plus I never saw him in store before. I got this through Amazon, but it was a 3rd party seller. The seller was The Chosen Prime. This was my only experience with them. I have heard good things about them, but to this day I have not ever made a direct order. I’m gonna have to try them soon. Anyway, Acid Storm does not feel as sturdy as the others Seekers of this mold. I guess they used the mold one too many times. Venin is an exact of repaint of Waspinator that came with Starscream. I have said before that Arcee and Chromia are the last of the Thrilling 30 figs. I totally forgot about Acid Storm. He really is the last of the Thrililng 30. And now as I write this, I realize he’s packaged a bit different from Starscream. Weird. Compare pics here and here.

The only other purchase this month is Megatronus from Robots in Disguise. Megatronus is definitely one of the better figures from RiD. His robot mode and alt mode looks good. Transformation is fun. Hasbro managed to make him feel solid and robust despite the cheap plastic. His joints are the right amount of tightness for some nice poses. I got here the Toys R Us exclusive version, which hit stores first. This version has the head of Megatronus in some kind of battle helmet. A mass retail version would come out later (which I also have). Overall I highly recommend this figure. I think he’s my 2nd favorite of the RiD figs, right behind Drift.

Below are some pics of the 2 figs.

2 figs last month, and 2 figs this month. That is very unlike me. But there was a good reason. I went to Europe at the end of September of 2015. I will make a post soon about my TF hunting experience there, much like I did for when I went to Shanghai. Til next time… Transform and Roll Out!

May of 2015 continues with more Combiner Wars, and one unexpected finding.

• Combiner Wars Brake-Neck, amazon.com, $16.99

• Combiner Wars Quickslinger, amazon.com, $16.99

• Generations Scourge, Target, $17.09

I ranted before in previous posts about how it’s so lame that Hasbro don’t release all Aeiralbots or Stunticons in a single wave. And how they are adding new unheard of Aeiralbot or Stunticon characters, which replaces the legendary G1 characters that hardcore fans like myself would demand for. Hasbro has heard your screams and appropriately released the two Combiner Wars figs here. Seeing as they are for the hardcore fans, they came out as a limited release, a shared exclusive between Amazon and some of the bigger 3rd party dealers devoted to TFs. If you’re reading this blog, then you must know that Brake-Neck is really Wildrider, and Quickslinger is really Slingshot. Now with these 2, you can complete your Aeiralbots or Stunticons in full G1 glory. Brake-Neck is pretty much just a repaint of Dead End with a different head mold, while Quickslinger a repaint of Firefly. So I won’t go into them too much. Hasbro probably decided to go with the new characters (Offroad and Alpha Bravo) to minimize repaints. That’s probably a good decision for the general public, now that I think about it. But for hardcore G1 guys like me, getting Brake-Neck and Quickslinger is still a must.

The only other purchase this month is… drum roll please… Generations Scourge! When I saw this on the shelf, I was like WTF?!?!?! This figure was released all the way back in 2011. So what in Primus’s name is this figure doing on the shelf in 2015? I don’t know. Maybe they had an extra one in the back storeroom all this time that was left unsold. Or maybe someone returned one back to Target, after about 4 years. We may never know what really happened here. But I was pleasantly awestruck as to finding another Scourge, so I bought it. I may already have 3 of these, but one more wouldn’t hurt to add to my Sweep army. Oh, this was found at a Target in an expensive area where they always have a markup for unnecessary goods such as toys. Oh well.

This was a light month, only 3 figs. That’s a good thing. A little break from the TF madness that will ensue in the later months.

Transform and Roll Out.

I’m back from Asia! Actually, I got back at the beginning of the month. I was just being a little lazy in updating this blog. But now I got some free time.

I was in Asia for some personal business. Altogether I was in Shanghai (China), Siem Reap (Cambodia), and Taipei (Taiwan). For the purpose of this blog I will only go into the toy hunting aspect of the trip. Gemini accompanied me on the Shanghai leg of the trip. This is the first time that Gemini and I have traveled together internationally. Being the collectors that we are, of course we are gonna go hunting for TFs and other goodies. But enough background info. Let’s get into what we uncovered!

Shanghai Anime Street

On Friday, May 27th, we decided to hit Shanghai Anime Street. Gemini discovered this area from someone’s blog post. Friday we had a driver in Shanghai, and so we asked him to take us here. It’s a good thing we had a driver for this. This area is really hard to get to. We came here in a van, and anyone that has seen Shanghai traffic will tell you that traveling in a van is ill-advised. When the driver got to this area, I was thinking we are gonna have to go in on foot since the streets are really small. Then the driver drove the van into the area! I was half freaking out. I seriously thought he was gonna hit something for sure. But these professional drivers in China have gotten navigating big vehicles in small spaces down to an art. Needless to say I was amazed.

We got out once we got to Shanghai Anime Street. I only have pics of the outside, since most stores do not allow photography of any kind inside. I never really understood that rule.

I think we went into about 8 or 9 stores total, looking for various things. Only 2 stores carried enough TF of interest. One store had a set of the Prometheus Combiner by TFC Toys, Gundog by MakeToys, some figures of Nero Rex by MMC, and some other stuff that I don’t remember. The other store had some figures of Gravity Builder by Generation Toy (GT). Looking at these figures, I was really impressed. The amount of detail on them is amazing. Looking at these figs and comparing them with TFC Toys Hercules, it’s mind blowing to see how far 3rd party transforming figures have come. I was talking with the store owner there, and he really liked the GT set of Constructicons. Doing the conversion of RMB to Dollar, I saw that it was a little cheaper to buy in China. And so I tried to buy GT Scavenger. But then I find out those were for display only and he wasn’t selling them. Bummer. In the end I left Shanghai Anime Street with nothing, but Gemini was able to find some nice Gundam sets.

Isetan

On Sunday, May 29th, Gemini and I roamed around Shanghai during the day. The Shanghai Metro is totally cool; very fast and very easy to use. We looked up places that have toys and went to Isetan. (Sidebar: China blocks Google, including Google Maps. So using some other site for map navigation is preferred, such as Baidu.) Isetan is basically a huge department store. Shanghai has tons and tons of department stores. But Isetan is one of the few that has a dedicated toy section. And of course department stores allow photography, so I was able to capture some pics below.

There were some TFs, but nothing that I can’t get here in the States for cheaper. The store had lots of the G1 Platinum reissues, including Trypticon, the Blaster and Perceptor set, the Insecticons set, and others. On the shelves were also the Combiner Wars G2 color Aerialbots and Stunticons sets. Again, all these can be purchased cheaper in the States for less. So we left without buying anything. It was cool to see all the toys though. Isetan had a really impressive Lego section.

On the way back from Isetan to our hotel, we stopped by Jing’an Temple again. Last time I was here I saw a nice display for Age of Extinction. This time Hasbro/Takara had another booth, but not for TFs. It was their new robot building toy line. I didn’t get the name of this line, so just check out pics below.

Toys R Us

On Monday, May 30th, we had another driver to take us around. We went all over Shanghai on this day. While we were in the Pudong district, we stopped by Toys R Us. Now here we hit the mother lode! Lots of TFs here! And lots of other toys too. I was able to find stuff here that I never saw in the States! Check out pics below.

Most of the figures on the shelves are from Transformers Robots in Disguise. But they had Cominber Wars stuff too. Gemini and I looked hard through the CW section for Groove, since we know this to be an Asian exclusive. We didn’t have any luck finding Groove. But looking at the Takara version of CW figs, it’s clear that the paint job is much better.

See the pic above. In the lower right corner, there is a voyager sized green Grimlock from TF RiD. This is something I never seen before. Looking at it close, this Grimlock is a repaint/rework of Generations Fall of Cybertron Grimlock, with a new color scheme, new head mold, and some minor mold reworks. Very very cool! I have the deluxe size version of this fig, and I feel that’s just too small to be Grimlock. I wanted to get this at the store, but the price wasn’t worth it. I later saw a online retailer here taking orders, at a much more reasonable price. I may get this later.

See the last pic above. They had a whole section of approximately Voyager class figs that I never even knew of! And believe me when I say I’m on top of everything that will come out. At first glance I thought they must be from the TF RiD Line, but the packaging more suggests the Generations line. There are 5 figs in all: Optimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream, and two kinds of Bumblebees (a G1-styled version and a movie-styled version). Gemini has never seen these before either, so we both stood there for a long time to examine these closely. We came to the conclusion that these are basically bigger versions of Generations legend size figs, particularly Starscream. I would find out later, after returning to the States, that these are part of the Cyber Battalion line. But at the time I was beyond thrilled of finding something new, and so I bought Starscream. I wanted to buy them all, but didn’t know if these would be any good. I picked Starscream because he would scale well in the Generations line of figs. Legend and Deluxe Generations Starscream are much too small in CHUG, and the leader class way too big. This one is just right.

Starscream

And so here is Cyber Battalion Starscream, my only TF purchase for this Asian trip. I won’t review this too much. He is very much like the legend figure, but bigger and slightly more intricate.

The last two pics above show him next to legend Starscream. Cyber Battalion Starscream has feet transformation that’s slightly different, and the wing edges can be folded back. The figure only cost about $15 US, so I don’t expect perfection here. He’s a nice figure to pick up and play since he’s so easy to transform, but at the same time he scales nicely with the rest of my CHUG line-up. I like to pick up the rest of the Cyber Battalion figs when they arrive here in the States.

So that’s the re-cap of the toy-hunting aspects of this Asian trip. I had a blast! I want to go back there soon.

Transform and Roll Out!

Much like this previous post from about a year ago, today let’s take a look at some CHUG Autobots from G1 Season 3.

CHUG is an acronym for Classics Henkei Universe Generations. These are all terms that Hasbro or Takara has used to label various Transformers lines that represent a modern update of classic G1 characters. I have also seen some fans refer to them collectively as G3, since it follows G1 and G2. Whatever you call it, they are all modern toy interpretation of Generation 1, though not necessarily in their exact G1 forms.

All characters below are regulars in G1 Season 3. Though they may have had their origins well before that.

I chose these 5, mostly because I have them handy. Let’s look at each of them in detail, in the order of release.

Rodimus, Reveal the Shield, 2011
If you are talking about G1 Season 3, you must include Rodimus. He is the leader of the Autobots for most of the season. Sure, he never lived up to Optimus Prime, but those are big shoes to fill for anyone. Originally in 1986, his name was Hot Rod. And he would become Rodimus Prime after receiving the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. For licensing reasons, Hasbro could not use the name Hot Rod nowadays. So now the Hot Rod incarnation of this character goes simply by Rodimus. The first version of this particular figure came out all the way back in 2006. That Rodimus was one of only 6 figures first released for the Classics line. I have that figure too, but he’s stuck in a box somewhere in the back of the closet. So I am using this Reveal the Shield version instead, only because he was easier to get to. This figure was released in 2011 as part of a 2-pack with Cyclonus. He’s more cartoon color accurate than the initial version, though I’m not sure that’s a good thing here. This figure still holds up well today. The alt mode is nice and sleek while being G1 accurate, and the robot mode is robust with nice poseability. Transformation is also well engineered. In my opinion, this is still the definitive CHUG Rodimus even 10 years later. But he might be due for another upgrade soon. We’ll see what Hasbro does.

Springer, Generations Thrilling 30, 2013
I know I have written about this Springer back in this post. If you read that post, I mention that I was so excited to open this fig that I didn’t even stop to take pics of it in the box. This Springer is one of the best figs that Hasbro has ever produced! That’s a strong statement coming from me. I have limited space for displaying figs. So usually what happens is I display a new figure for a while, then it goes into some storage somewhere. I acquired this Springer back in May of 2013. And almost 3 years later today, I have continuously displayed this on some shelf, never going back into a box! That should tell you how much I like this fig. This figure is hands down the best triple changer that Hasbro has ever made. All 3 modes look good. Transformation is complex enough to satisfy the true fan, while being not overly complex to reduce any fun factor. As of this writing, he’s still very affordable on Amazon. So get one if you don’t have one yet. This mold was later re-worked slightly to be Sandstorm. That fig is good too.

Arcee, Generations Thrilling 30, 2014
This Arcee figure was mentioned in the very last post. I acquired the fig in 2015, but I believe her release was in 2014. Regardless, she is the definitive CHUG Arcee. Mostly because this is the only CHUG Arcee released. As the most famous female Autobot in the history of TF, you would think Hasbro would want to do this figure well before 2015. But better late than never. This Arcee figure is a worthy rendition of the character. I like the alt mode. It well represents the sporty future/Cybertronian car that she transforms into in G1. In robot mode she’s got some back kibble. And transformation wise, she’s a bit of a shell-former. But I can overlook it because I do understand the challenges of making Arcee. Most other TF characters that appear in G1 are toy-first, meaning the designs are based on an existing toy. Arcee is the opposite of that. She was created for the 1986 G1 Movie, and toy makers are now doing a figure based on that design. Overall I am happy with this figure. Not perfect, but pretty solid.

Corelock (aka Grimlock), ToyWorld, 2015
Dinobots are forever favorites among the G1 fandom. By the time Season 3 rolled around, all 5 Dinobots are still kicking butt and taking names. But the only one that made regular appearances in the season is Grimlock. In Season 3, he talks more then ever before, in his classic Grimlock speech. And much like when I made the post for Season 1 Autobots, I am using the ToyWorld version of Grimlock. As a 3rd party, ToyWorld cannot officially call him Grimlock. So he is listed as Corelock (and sometimes Grimshell). Of all the Grimlock toys that I own, this one is hands down my favorite (and I own a lot). In T-Rex mode and robot mode, Corelock captures the G1 look down to the last detail. Transformation follows the tried and true G1 formula for Grimlock, but there are enough engineering differences here to make this figure feel modern. Construction is solid and robust. He is the perfect size for CHUG too. Hasbro has made some CHUG dinos, but scale wise they feel too small. Corelock displays well next to other CHUG Autobots, as you can see in the pics. Large enough to be CHUG, but not so large as the 3rd Party MP dinos. (A sidebar: the FansToys MP style G1 Dinos are awesome figures, which I must write about in a future post.) He can also combine with the other ToyWorld Dinos to form a giant robot. G1 Dinos never did this, so I won’t go into this too much. I know what you’re thinking: how does he compare with MP Grimlock? That is a very tough comparison. I really like that figure too. But I feel Corelock edge him out just a little as the better Dino, only because Corelock is more playable than MP Grimlock. Overall, Corelock gets my highest recommendation. If you need a Grimlock in your CHUG lineup, look no further.

Ultra Magnus, Combiner Wars, 2015
Last but not least, there is Ultra Magnus. I love Ultra Magnus. He never got enough credit as a member in the Autobot leadership hierarchy. Always the 2nd in command, but consistently available to make leadership decisions and fight in tough battles when the Primes are not around. Sure, no one was gonna take the place of Optimus (and rightfully so), but he should have got his chance instead of Rodimus (like Optimus instructed). As a toy, this character never got much love until perhaps the late 2000s. Before that, he was ALWAYS a repaint of the Optimus Prime toy. G1 was nice enough to give him a different trailer at least, so in robot mode he appears completely different. These days, UM always rightfully get his own figure (including a nice MP figure). This Combiner Wars figure is the first full-fledged Ultra Magnus that we get in the CHUG line that is NOT a repaint of Optimus Prime. And boy did they do a good job here. Personally, this is my favorite UM figure of all time, surpassing even the MP. He is Leader class size, like he should be. He looks great in robot mode. One of my complaints about the MP UM fig is that he’s too blocky. CW UM does not have that problem. He appears exactly like he does in the show. In truck mode he looks great too. Some might complain that the cab is a bit small, but if that scales right, UM would be way too big in robot mode. Transformation follows the standard UM formula, but in this case it’s not a bad thing. The cab and trailer is integrated into one when he transforms. He also comes with a Mini-Con, which I don’t really care for. As for this writing, he is lower than MSRP on Amazon. He is released as part of the Combiner Wars lineup, but he doesn’t really combine with anything. Gets your now if you don’t have one already. No true TransFan can live without this UM in their collection.

Below is a pic of the figs in alt mode.

Season 3 Autobots… Transform and Roll Out!

OK, I am now finally getting back to documenting my monthly purchases. I swear to Primus I will finish this and catch up to where I am currently. Might take many posts, but it shall be done!

• Robots in Disguise Grimlock, Toys R Us, $16.99

• Generations Thrilling 30 Arcee and Chromia, tfsource.com, $31.99

• Combiner Wars Optimus Prime, amazon.com, $24.99

• Combiner Wars Silverbolt, amazon.com, $24.99

• Combiner Wars Thundercracker, amazon.com, $10.99

• Combiner Wars Powerglide, amazon.com, $10.99

• Combiner Wars Windcharger, amazon.com, $10.99

• Combiner Wars Bombshell, amazon.com, $10.99

• Toyworld TW-H04 Infinitor, tfsource.com, $114.95

• Microblaze Creations MBC002 Military Titans, tfsource.com, $109.95

• Masterpiece Ultra Magnus, hlj.com, $122.77

• Masterpiece Bumble, hlj.com, $44.26.

Here are the stats breakdown for the month:

• 1 fig from Robots in Disguise
• 2 figs from Generations Thrilling 30
• 6 figs from Combiner Wars
• 2 Masterpiece figs
• 2 Third Party figs

First up is RiD Grimlock. I think this was my first figure from the Robots in Disguise line. RiD figures as a whole seems cheap and simplistic. But this is Grimlock, so I gave it a shot. I dunno… he’s not bad, but not great either. Fun to play with for a while, but very forgettable once the fig is put away. I don’t think too highly of the RiD line, and this figure doesn’t do anything to change that perception.

Arcee and Chromia are the last of the Generations Thrilling 30 figs that I would buy. I still don’t know where this Thrilling 30 tag comes from… I am guessing maybe it’s the 30th anniversary of TF. Whatever the reason, I have enjoyed figs from this line. Arcee was one that I waited for. We finally get a good CHUG representation of everybody’s favorite female Autobot in her G1 stylings. Alt mode for Arcee looks awesome. Robot mode wise, she’s got some kibble on the back, but nothing I can’t live with. Transformation wise she’s a bit of a shell-former, which again deals with the back kibble. But I think I’m just so happy to get an official CHUG Arcee that I’m willing to overlook these minor shortcomings. Chromia is an excellent figure. I believe Chromia is a minor remold of Transformers Prime Arcee. In robot mode they look very similar, but Hasbro did enough modifications to the alt mode to make Chromia feel like a brand new figure. She looks like those bikes out of Tron. Very very cool! I actually enjoyed playing Chromia more so than Arcee. But I am glad I have both TF fembots in my collection.

OK – Now on to Combiner Wars! This is a series that I have looked forward to for some time. Combiner Wars officially kicked off in January of 2015. CW is a G1-inspired subline in the TF Generations line of figures. The gimmick here is that one voyager sized figure and 4 deluxe sized figures can combine to form a giant robot. Much like the combiners from G1, the toy limb components can be mixed with any bodies in any combination (like Scramble City). Third parties have been doing combiners for quite some time now. So I guess it’s about time Hasbro got on this trend and make some money off their own properties, instead of letting third parties hog all the action.

I wasn’t able to find any deluxe sized figs this month, but I was able to get 2 voyager figs and 4 legends figs in CW. These won’t combine obviously, but I like all these characters so I bought them all.

To start things off, we get CW Optimus Prime. Yes friends, they made OP into a combiner. Not technically G1-esque, but whatever. They are also using this mold as Motormaster (which I will go into in future posts), so this is more of a way for me to check out the mold. The robot mode is kinda blocky. Truck mode is not bad. I’m personally not too impressed with this mold in combiner body form. There is a problem with the hips of the figure. But between robot and truck modes, the construction is solid and robust. So for me, the CW OP fig is just ok.

Next in the line is CW Silverbolt. The famous G1 Aerialbot leader is finally getting a modern upgrade! Yeah, there was an Ultra Class figure released around 2008 (and later repainted into Skyfall). But that figure did not combine, so he was never a true Silverbolt in my opinion. The CW Silverbolt is a G1 homage through and through. In both jet and robot modes, he looks accurate to his G1 self. Transformation may be a tad simple for mature collector, but is still leaps and bounds more involved than the Ultra Class figure (which in my opinion was one of the simplest figures ever made, especially considering something of this size). In combined body mode, this figure really shines. The body mode looks good, is G1-accurate, and provides good mechanics as the center of a giant robot. He connects easily to other limb components, and mechanically well-serves the weight distribution challenges of a combiner. I guess one can always say that the jet mode has too much bulk on the underside, but all combiner jets in this history of TF has had that problem. Overall Silverbolt is a great figure. No wonder this figure is repainted into Cyclonus and Scattershot later.

CW Thundercracker is just a repaint of Thrilling 30 Starscream, while CW Windcharger is a repaint of Thrilling 30 Tailgate. So I won’t go into them too much.

CW Powerglide is a fun little figure. Both robot and jet modes are nice, and transformation feels adequate for a figure of this size. Powerglide is another figure where Hasbro has released an Ultra Class version. But true G1 enthusiasts will always think of Powerglide as a Mini-Bot, and so a legend class fig is much more appropriate. CW Bombshell is another welcome addition to this line. We already got Skrapnel (Shrapnel), so having Bombshell is a must (now I’m hoping they do Kickback). This Bombshell is a terrific figure in my opinion. Both modes are fun to play with. He comes together really nice in the beetle mode. Bombshell is my favorite Insecticon, so I am glad to see Hasbro give him a proper modern rendition.

Now onto the 3rd party purchases for the month. I still have not opened Military Titans as of this writing in April of 2016 (shame on me), so I won’t go into him. I did open ToyWorld Infinitor. This is an homage to Fortress Maximus, but a much more smaller and playable version. I never had the pleasure of the G1 Fort Max toy. There are re-issues out there, but he’s a huge piece that would take up way too much space for me. In the G1 cartoons, Fort Max is a city-size robot (like Metroplex). However in the comics, Fort Max is a large but ordinary size Autobot. I think that is what Infinitor is going for. Regardless, Infinitor is a solid, well-built figure. I can’t say for certain since I never had the G1 toy, but Infinitor feels essentially like G1 Fort Max shrunken down to playable size. He’s very blocky, like you would expect. The Headmaster gimmick is alive and well on Infinitor. He’s got the robot mode, a space cruiser mode, and 2 different city modes (though admittedly the 2 city modes look and feel similar). Overall I think this figure is ok. Get him if you like Fort Max, but not a must have in my opinion.

Finally, we are getting to the Masterpieces for the month. First up is MP Ultra Magnus, a figure that many fans have praised over and over. Some even go so far as to suggest that this should win figure of the year. Overall I think MP Ultra Magnus is pretty good. The alt mode could not be more G1. He scales well with other MPs in this mode. Transformation to robot mode uses the familiar scheme, but there are enough differences in the engineering to make him MP worthy. The robot mode of this figure is where I’m not as impressed. He’s still too blocky for me, and I was really hoping those brilliant Takara engineers could produce a robot mode that is more true to the G1 cartoon UM aesthetic. I hold MPs to a higher standard. Maybe figs like the MP-10 Optimus Prime set the bar too high, and I was expecting too much. Nevertheless, MP Ultra Magnus is a figure that is worthy of your collection. He’s not perfect in my opinion, but still something you should consider if you collect MPs or if you’re a fan of Ultra Magnus.

And last but not least, there is MP Bumblebee. This is a figure that gets no complaints from me whatsoever. We finally have in our hands the ultimate version of Bumblebee in all his G1 glory. The VW bug is nothing short of accurate. Transformation to robot is pure genius. And in robot mode, he looks like he jumped straight out of the G1 cartoon. Takara gave us another MP perfection in Bumblebee. He’s very well built and have amazing poseability. Oh, he also comes with Spike in his Exo-Suit, as seen in the 1986 G1 movie. This Spike figure is not bad, but I got this for Bumblebee, which is what I play with most of the time. If you could buy only one figure that I listed here for this month, get Bumblebee. You will not be disappointed.

That was a lot of TFs for one month. Things will slow down a bit after this. Til next time… Transform and Roll Out!

Happy Holidays! Today I am documenting all the TFs acquired back in Dec of 2014. I fully realize that’s one whole year ago. I know… I’m getting behind on my blogging. It’s just so hard to find the time. I am beginning to think I should make more frequent blog writing my new years resolution. But that’s a story for another day. Here are the TFs for the last month of 2014.

• Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Prowl, Walgreens, $7.74

• MakeToys M-F-B, BBTS.com, $12.99
• DX9 004 Armor Set, BBTS.com, $44.99

• Generations Thrilling 30 Brainstorm, BBTS.com, $26.99

TF Prime Beast Hunters Prowl is a repeat purchase. I got one back in June of 2014. The one this month was a random find at Walgreens. He’s rare, he was only $7.74, so I figured why not. I kept him unopened all this time. Maybe he will be worth something someday.

The DX9 004 Armor is for Age of Extinction Evasion Mode Optimus Prime. That figure is one of the first figs I got from the AoE line, and one of the best from that line. When I heard of a armor upgrade that would make him more like Powermaster Optimue Prime from the fifth toy season of G1, I was immediately intrigued. I never heard of DX9 at the time, but I looked at enough pics online to take a chance on this set. I am happy I bought the set. With the armor attached, the figure feels way more G1 like. I especially like the head mold. There are some tolerance issues though. The feet pieces are way too tight. You will need to either sand down the pegs on the feet pieces, or make the feet holes bigger on the figure. I only tried this upgrade set in robot mode. These same pieces also can attach in alt mode, but I didn’t try it.

The MFB from MakeToys is acronym for My First Blaster. I am told this weapon for Swerve makes an appearance in the comics by IDW. I won’t comment anymore as I’m no authority on the IDW-verse of TFs. The weapon itself is pretty cool. Be aware it does require some assembling. I’m a terrible model builder, so I already broke off one piece when assembling this. Also, this weapon is designed to go with MakeToys Trash-Talk, or their version of Swerve. This weapon will not operate with the official Hasbro Generations 30 version of Swerve (coincidentally also purchased in June of 2014). I bought it thinking that it would. The pegs are not the same size. Should have done my research first.

Last but not least, there is Generations Thrilling 30 Brainstorm. I first saw this at BotCon 2014. I could not believe my eyes when I saw this. I mean… if Hasbro was gonna venture into Headmasters, that opens up a whole world of possibilities on what they are willing to re-make in this modern era. I’m salivating just thinking about it! Anyways, Brainstorm is an excellent figure. He’s fairly simple in transformation, but in my opinion that’s a good thing. Modern TFs are so darn complicated sometimes that I just want something I can pick up and play. Brainstorm fits that bill. If I have the figure handy, I can sit there and transform him back and forth repeatedly, like I did all my TFs when I was a kid. Both modes look nice. As a voyager figure, he’s bigger than some of the third party Brainstorms that have been produced (such as Smart Robin). Oh, by the way, there are two versions of this figure. I got the fixed version, code 42791. Click here for more detail.

OK, that does it for the figs in 2014. Now I can move onto 2015… in 2016. I know… I suck. But I will get this done and get up to date like I used to be. Transform and Roll Out!

It seems like forever since I wrote any entries in this blog. Finding the time to do so has been extremely difficult. Today I took the day off from work to take care of some personal business, which turned out to be faster than expected. This left we with some extra time that I’ll devote to my TF blog.

Here are the purchases for November of 2014.

• Generations Thrilling 30 Cosmos and Payload, Target, $9.49

• Age of Extinction Snarl, Target, $14.24

• Age of Extinction Hot Shot, Target, $14.24

• Fall of Cybertron Air Raid, amazon.com, $17.80

• Masterpiece Wheeljack, hlj.com, $49.10

Cosmos is a figure I wanted for some time now. Back around either 2009 or 2010, Hasbro made some legend size figures as remakes of G1 Minibots in the Classic 2.0 lineup. I managed to find them all, except for Cosmos. He was the rarest one of the bunch, and scalpers wasted no time jacking up his price to around $50. No way I’m paying those prices for a tiny legend figure. So when I heard of this Cosmos, I had to get it. I never had the Classic 2.0 figure, but I’m willing to bet this Generations Cosmos is better in every way. The Generations figure is slightly larger, transformation is quite remarkable for a toy of this size, and he looks all around better than his Classic 2.0 counterpart in both modes. At around $10 he also comes with Mini-Con Payload. All in all a very nice deal for the price.

I believe this should be the last of the Age of Extinction figures in my collection. AoE figures as a whole is a sorry lot. Hot Shot is a testament to that sentiment. I was told repeatedly not to buy AoE Crosshairs. Hot Shot is a exact repaint of the mold, and now I know why. His robot mode is awful. There’s so much kibble hanging off the back it’s ridiculous. Even the slick car mode won’t save this atrocious figure. I bought Hot Shot because he reminds me so much of Tracks. I’m willing to bet that’s what Hasbro was counting on, and I fell for it head first. There are some bright spots in the AoE lineup (such as Evasion Mode Optimus Prime, Hound, and Drift), and Snarl is one of them. This is one of the better Dinobot figures out of AoE. I like the Dino mode, I like the robot mode, and transformation is fun. I don’t much care for the neon transparent green, but the mold itself is well engineered. There’s probably some kind of convention exclusive out there that has this figure repainted in G1 colors. That would make this fig even better.

I have written about this Japanese Air Raid, nearly a year ago. I can’t believe I’m so behind on documenting the Transformers for every month. Anyways, this Air Raid was bought during Black Friday weekend of that year. The Japanese version is much more closer to G1 colors than the US version. And getting a Japanese deluxe size figure for only $17 is a steal, so getting this was a no-brainer. Though I will say that the construction of this figure doesn’t seem to be as sturdy as the US figure.

Last but not least, there is Masterpiece Wheeljack. This is a figure that deserves the Masterpiece label. Takara set the var very high when they released Masterpiece Sideswipe. I am completely satisfied with that figure. The 2nd mold they released was for Prowl/Streak/Smokescreen. That figure is nice too, though not as good as Sideswipe in my opinion. Wheeljack is the third mold in this series. Takara managed to capture all the things they did right with Sideswipe when they produced Wheeljack. Transformation is ingenious, and construction is solid. The alt mode is something Lancia felt very comfortable in putting their logo on, and the robot mode is G1 show accurate perfection. Great poseability and great playability. This piece is every bit as good as MP Sidewsipe. Do not call yourself a true TransFan if MP Wheeljack is missing from your collection.

More to come soon… Transform and Roll Out!