Titans Return continue in Feb of 2017. This month also includes one MP fig that I’ve been eagerly awaiting for some time.

• Titans Return Megatron, Walmart, $24.86

• Titans Return Optimus Prime, Walmart, $24.86

• Masterpiece Inferno, hlj.com, ¥11200 (about $101.62)

Both TR Megatron and TR Optimus Prime are solid offerings. These 2 are quite fun to play with. Both of them continue the trend of being Triple Changers for all Voyager class figures in the TR line. And as Triple Changers, all 3 modes for each figure are decent. There are no modes that look immediately out of place. Megatron has a jet mode and a tank mode, while Optimus has a fuel truck mode and a jet mode. Does this sound familiar? That’s right… Hasbro’s real motives are to use these modes as Blitzwing and Octane. Once again, they issued the repaint of the mold first, and saved the real character for later. But this time they used such famous characters for the repaint. Oh Hasbro… will their shenanigans ever cease?

Anyways, if you just want one character each of this mold, then get Blitzwing and Octane. However, if you need more figures to add to your Megatron or Optimus collection, by all means pick these up. Hasbro did make several minor mold changes for each character, so it feels like you’re not getting the exact same thing.

And as Titans Return figures, they both come with a Titan Master which forms the head (aka Headmasters in G1). The Titan Masters can sit comfortably inside the cockpit in alt modes.

Now for the big prize of the month… Masterpiece Inferno! Many fans have waited for this figure for a long time. And he does not disappoint. There are some 3P variants of Inferno out there already, such as MakeToys Hellfire and MMC Backdraft. I don’t have these figs so I can’t attest to how good they are. But what I can attest to is the brilliance of MP Inferno.

MP Inferno comes packaged in fire engine mode. Takara did a good job with this mode. It looks show accurate to me, and the whole piece feels cohesive and solid. Though to be honest, I think every interpretation of a MP styled Inferno has a pretty good alt mode. This official MP is not any better or worse.

Transformation wise, Inferno has one particular feature that has all TransFans wetting themselves… the ladder hiding mechanism. This feature has to be seen to be believed. The ladder collapses on itself and folds into the back. Writing about it doesn’t do it justice… it’s times like these that I wish I did video reviews. I may start doing that one of these days. But yeah, this transformation mechanism alone gets Inferno a score of awesome for engineering.

In robot mode, Inferno looks like he stepped straight out of the G1 cartoons. No gripes about the appearance from me whatsoever. Compared to Hellfire or Backdraft, he as a more simplistic look. But that also makes Inferno more G1 show accurate. Construction of the figure is also superb. The joints are all solid and clicky. Add some nice detailing to all this and you really have a winning package.

Inferno with his good buddy Red Alert.

Check out all the accessories that come included with Inferno! Accessories fiends will find nothing to complain about here.

I don’t even know what all the accessories are, but in here I see:

• 1 hand pistol
• 1 alternate color grill/chest
• 1 alternate color hand cannon
• 1 alternate grill/chest for having Inferno hold Red Alert
• 1 extra helmet, possibly for more G1 toy accuracy
• 3 extra faces
• 1 pipe and water attachment, to make Inferno look like he’s fighting fires

All in all, I highly recommend MP Inferno. If you need a MP scale Inferno in your collection, look no further.

Transform and Roll Out.
 

Hasbro loves their repaints. And I’m a total sucker for them. Below I present my multi-colored legend class Generations truck figs that represents various G1 characters.

• Optimus Prime, red
• Nemesis Prime, black
• Pipes, blue
• Huffer, orange

One more fig and I can have a Power Rangers team. Or a Voltron team.

Enjoy the pics.

Nemesis does not come with a weapon, in case any of you are wondering.

Transform and Roll Out.

 

So I finally watched this movie. And I’ll get straight to it: I was entertained, but this is not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination.

I watched Transformers the Last Knight with several others. We probably had more fun making fun of the movie than really trying to follow what’s going on. The Last Knight is filled with humorous and ridiculous sequences. One example is a scene where Cade Yeager had to jump off a building and onto some TFR automatons as if they’re platforms, like if he was playing Frogger or Pitfall. The Last Knight is the least successful of the 5 films, financially speaking. That’s no surprise. I watched the first 4 movies in the theater, but passed on this one. We rented the movie from iTunes, but only because we had free credits. So technically we spent no money on LK (not counting some figures I bought).

The Last Knight is going for a Arthurian knight motif. That’s obvious by looking at the trailers. Both Prime and Megs look more like knights in this one, and personally I think it’s kinda silly. Mark Wahlberg returns from the previous installment. Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, and Stanley Tucci come back for more as well (though Tucci as a different character). Anthony Hopkins joins the cast. Why someone of his caliber wants to lend his talents to this hot mess of a movie is beyond me. Tyrese wanted to come back, but he obviously wanted to spend his time in a superior franchise (FF8). Early reports were that Megan Fox would be back, but I’m guessing people got confused since Laura Haddock looks so similar in some early leaked shots. Good thing Peter Cullen and Frank Welker are both back as Prime and Megs.

LK is full of your usual Michael Bay movie mayhem. Big explosions, check. Bad editing that jumps for scene A to F to M, check. Immature, racist, and juvenile dialogue, check. Robots that all look the same, check. Uber male objectification of women, check. Plot that you can’t follow, check. And even if you could follow it you see that it makes no sense, check.

But believe it or not, I don’t think LK is the worst film in the franchise. Here’s how I rate the 5, from best to worst:

• Transformers
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon
• Transformers: The Last Knight
• Transformers: Age of Extinction
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

As for the toys, LK is below average when compared to other movies. As of this writing I have bought 6 figures total from LK, and I feel like I have enough to rate the line as a whole. Here’s how I rate them, from best to worst:

• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon
• Transformers
• Transformers: The Last Knight
• Transformers: Age of Extinction

Both Michael Bay and Mark Wahlberg have said they are not coming back for more. I suppose that’s the good news in all of this. Bay must be sick of this franchise after 5 outings. Personally I feel like he never really cared for what Transformers represents to long-time fans that have supported it all these years through thick and thin. After the first movie, Bay has so thoroughly twisted the Transformers mythos that anything moving forward bear only a shallow semblance to the original source material. I actually like Mark Wahlberg as an actor, but I think he’s got better things to do. Wahlberg has complained about this franchise after LK hit theaters, including that he doesn’t like his haircut in part 5. I agree. Time for a new leading man.

It will be interesting to see how things wrap up in part 6, which is already confirmed for Summer 2019. I’m curious how the movie would feel without Bay’s influence. But before this, a Bumblebee spin off is slated for late 2018. I’m not sure where or when the story would take place in the TF Movie-verse. Hailee Steinfeld is confirmed to be in the movie.

I hope the Bumblebee movie will be better. New blood will be good for the franchise. Transform and Roll Out.
 

October has historically been a month filled with many TF purchases. That is not so in 2016. But there are some cool items this month, and one surprising trend that I didn’t notice before.

• Titans Return Powermaster Optimus Prime, amazon.com, $39.99

• Titans Return Apeface, Target, $4.99
• Titans Return Skytread, Target, $4.99

• Robots in Disguise Paralon, Toys R Us, $9.99

• Fans Toys Soar, capturedprey.com, $180

Like I said, October 2016 does not have a crazy TF purchase count, as was the case in 2012, 2014, and 2015. This October is more on par with 2013 with a modest number of TF purchases.

Let’s take a look first at Powermaster Optimus Prime! Growing up, I really wanted G1 Powermaster Optimus Prime. I know, the concept of a Powermaster is really lame. But all Powermaster figures were good toys, for G1 standards anyway. And back in the 80s, Hasbro was not in the habit of releasing 10 different Optimus Prime figures every year across all toylines and sizes. Believe it or not, Powermaster Optimus Prime was only the 2nd OP figure produced, after the original season 1 toy. It was already Season 5 when Powermasters rolled around, and us fans were all itching for a new figure of OP.

My cousin had G1 Powermaster OP. I played with the figure quite a bit. For G1 standards, this was an awesome figure. I tried to buy one back in the 80s, but didn’t have the money. Now nearly 30 years later, Hasbro is giving us a homage to the original Powermaster OP in the Titans Return line. In this case he’s really a Headmaster, but he’s still got his 80s Powermaster design and aesthetics.

The figure is a heavy retool of the wonderful Combiner Wars Ultra Magnus figure that I went into back in this post. Hasbro took that mold and reconfigured it to resemble G1 Powermaster Optimus Prime with modern stylings and updates. The result is quite nice, and I’m happy that Hasbro took the effort to give us true fans something to homage the Powermasters, even though the figure is not a ture Powermaster. The Titan Master (or Headmaster figure) transforms into Prime’s head in robot mode. The helmet of the head is part of Prime’s body, flipped out from the cab. We’ve seen this mechanism before on TR Galvatron.

Since this technically a repaint, I won’t comment too much more. But he is recommended. Below is a pic of the alt mode. Notice how similar the cab appears when compared with CW Ultra Magnus.

Next up are two Titan Masters figures. Hasbro makes a whole bunch of these. For this month I got Apeface and Skytread. Yes, these are small figures that transform to heads. And FYI, all heads are interchangeable for figures in the TR line. Meaning you can take the head for Blurr and stick it on Scourge, or any other combination you see fit. Why you would wanna do this is beyond me. And with these small Titan Master figures, you get extra heads to swap between figures to your heart’s content. I got Apeface because I liked the original G1 Horrocon (and I’m hoping Hasbor will give him a true modern update). Not sure why I bought Skytread. The small Titan Masters also have another alt mode, in addition to the robot mode and head mode. To this day I still have not opened Apeface and Skytread, but I did open some other ones (purchased in later months). These figures are mostly forgettable in opinion. Oh, in my TF count page, I specifically stated that I don’t count mini-figures, such as Targetmasters and Mini-Cons. So I’m not adding Titan Masters to the figure count either. I truly seem them more as accessories. But they will add to the purchase count, since I did have to buy them separately.

The only RiD purchase this month is Paralon. I dont’ even know who Paralon is, as my knowledge of Robots in Disguise is severely limited. I only bought him because I like the purple scorpion. Supposedly, this is a Toys R Us exclusive. And Paralon was released before Scorponok, a brown repaint of this figure. So this was another case where Hasbro gave a new mold to an unknown secondary character, and released the more famous character later. However, when I saw Paralon, Scorponok was already on the shelve too. I chose Paralon anyway because I liked the purple, and honestly, I don’t much care for Scorponok as a character. Anyways, the toy itself is just ok. Like I said, a giant purple scorpion is very unique. Transformation is kind of unorthodox too. The shoulder mechanism requires that you take parts off, but the part never really completely comes off as it still dangles on the arm. So does this count as parts-forming? Who knows. Get Paralon or Scorponok if you’re partial to either character. Most fans could probably skip these two. They’re not bad figures, but they don’t have much going for them either.

Last but not least… ladies and gentlemen… I give you, Soar! That’s right folks! This month we have yet another outstanding 3P Dinobot from Fans Toys. And this time it is our favorite flyer of the group, Swoop! For trademark reasons, FT can’t call this figure Swoop, so they went with Soar. Gotta give them credit from coming up with these creative names.

Soar is packaged in robot mode, like all the other FT Dinos so far. Right upon getting this guy out of the box, the first thing you will notice is that he weighs quite a bit. I think he’s actually heavier than Scoria or Sever. Size wise, he’s smaller than these 2 when you don’t count the wings, so FT packed a lot of heft into the core frame of the figure. This is already a plus in my book.

The robot mode is a sight to behold. I went with the cartoon accurate blue version (FT also produced a G1 toy accurate red version, and I had G1 Swoop as a kid, all broken today). Check out the pic below. It’s like Swoop stepped straight out of the show!

“Me Swoop no see nothing.”

Seriously, this is so cartoon accurate that I can’t gush enough. Everything from the colors to the proportions, it’s like FT looked very carefully at every single one of Swoop’s show appearance and faithfully constructed a figure out of what they saw. Construction of this figure is absolutely superb. All joints are of the ratchet variety, and every one of them is tight enough to support the weight of this heavy figure. Soar is capable of some nice poses. I had him in several action poses, but unfortunately I didn’t take any pics. Take my word for it. If dynamic posing is your thing, Soar will not let you down.

Soar comes with the two iconic G1 wing missiles, as you can see in the pic. Unfortunately they do not fire. He also comes with his sword, which looks just like what he had with the G1 toy. The sword is attached to his back in the pic above. LED lights are featured in the sword (batteries are not included, however). I can’t remember if I have ever seen Swoop use this sword in the cartoon. All these weapons can be held in his hand, or pegged where they are in the pic in robot mode.

Transformation to pterodactyl is fairly simple. Soar is probably the easiest to transform out of all the FT Dinos so far. The overall transforming paradigm is exactly what it was in G1: bird head and beak flip up from the chest, arms and chest collapse toward the middle, and legs fold up to the back of the bird. Obviously this is all updated with modern mechanical engineering. G1 purists should have nothing to complain about in the design of transformation. Check out the pterodactyl mode below.

This dino bird is absolutely amazing! I took a quick measure of the wingspan, and in the above configuration, the wingspan is close to 18 inches! Soar looks fantastic flying above all your other MPs in this mode. The wings hold their position fairly well. On my figure, one side of the wings is nice and tight, while the other side can be argued to be a bit loose. But it still holds up well in alt mode and it does not droop down, so it works well enough for me. Soar comes with an extra set of wings. The default attached wings are more chrome, while the extra wings are more metallic. I did not try the extra wings yet. Fans Toys have thought of everything. They really love you.

In alt mode, the missiles go where you expect them to go. I detect no storage location for the sword in alt mode, but that’s a minor gripe. The beak opens and closes. The beak joint is tight and I expect no less. The alt mode comes together nicely as one cohesive whole. All parts are tabbed into place where they should be. No dangling parts whatsoever. This is the Dinobot pterodactyl that the Autobots deserve.

Last but not least, Soar comes with this awesome display stand for the figure in alt mode. You can see it in the pic above. This stand is large and robust, with enough support for this heavy figure without any worries. Oh, my figure was missing the vertical piece of the display stand when it was first shipped to me. Props to capturedprey.com for contacting Fans Toys and shipping me the missing part. I have complete faith in this retailer and I will use them more in the future. Minor issues with Fans Toys figures are not uncommon, however. I have been lucky thus far, until Soar. Other fans have complained of missing weapons, missing accessories, non-working LED weapons, batteries that should have been included but are not, etc. These periphery issues seem to plague Fans Toy’s track record. So open your FT figures as soon as you get them. Most respectable retailers will work to make it right within the proper time frame.

I give Soar the highest possible recommendation. If you want a MP Swoop in your collection, look no further than Soar. Get one before they all soar off the shelf (bad pun intended).

The surprising trend that I mentioned at the top of this post is the trend of when I buy the FT dinos. Scoria was purchased in October of 2014, and Sever October of 2015. And now Soar in October of 2016. So it looks like I buy one FT dino every year, and at October. I doubt this trend will last though. I have the 2nd release of Stomp (Sludge) pre-ordered, and he’s set to arrive June or July of 2017. But who knows… maybe he will get delayed til October. I hope not. I heard excellent things about Stomp.

More TFs are to come in the months that will end 2016. Until then, Transform and Roll Out.

 

My fellow TransFans, June of 2016 is a historic month! For the first time in the history of this blog, I have acquired more 3rd party items than official Takara/Hasbro items! I think something like this phenomenon was brewing for a long time now. And it finally happened. I’ll comment more on this later, but for now let’s take a look at the figs for the month.

• Combiner Wars Groove, bbts.com, $24.99

• ToyWorld Iron Dreg, bbts.com, $91.99

• Fans Toys Grenadier, bbts.com, $82.99

• Spark Toys Alpha Pack, gift

• Warbotron Heavy Noisy, gift

First let’s look at the lone offical Hasbro purchase and get that out of the way. Combiner Wars deluxe Protectobot Groove is a shared exclusive between Amazon and some of the bigger online TF retailers. This figure is not to be confused with the legend size Groove released in 2015, which is available in mass retail. I have wrote about this before, and it’s worth stating again. For the Protectobots, Hasbro gave us deluxe Rook instead of deluxe Groove. I can only guess that this is a cheap ploy to sell more figures. Those of us that are hardcore G1 had to buy deluxe Groove the hard way. Boo Hasbro.

Deluxe Groove on its own is not a bad figure. Both modes look solid, and at first glance there’s not much to complain about. I’m fairly certain he’s a new unique mold, but he feels awfully similar to the other CW limb components. The toy itself feels quite cheap, but all CW deluxe figs share that flaw. The only real reason to get this fig is for hardcore G1-ers to complete the Protectobots with the right characters in the right scale. Below is a pic of CW Defensor formed in the proper G1 configuration.

Now onto the good stuff. First on the agenda is ToyWorld Iron Dreg, their tribute to Dinobot Slag. I believe this figure was bought back in the March of 2016. At the time, I already had Roar (Snarl) and Corelock (Grimlock), and I was so thoroughly impressed with those two that I vowed to complete the TW Dino set. So when I saw Iron Dreg at a discount in March, its purchase was a no-brainer. He wasn’t shipped and received til this month, because I wanted to ship the stack out along with Grenadier and Groove.

As of this writing now in February of 2017, I have 4 of these Dinos, the only missing one being Spear (Swoop). Though I gotta say, out of these 4, Iron Dreg is the weakest figure. I love the dino mode. It is a good modern update of Slag as a powerful metallic triceratops. The transformation and robot mode is where this figure falls a bit short in my opinion. The overall transformation schema is very close to how Slag transformed in the G1 toy. The only noticeable difference is having the rear dino legs fold inside into the lower legs in robot mode, a common motif among all modern interpretations of Dinobots. There are other minor differences, but nothing that really sticks out as a significant mechanical enhancement to the figure. Hardcore G1-ers would probably appreciate this close resemblance to what came before and see this as a plus. Normally I would wholeheartedly agree, but in the case of Iron Dreg, I feel there’s not enough updated from the G1 toy. As a CHUG update, I feel like a modern figure needs to move the toy forward in terms of engineering. It’s one thing to update aesthetics (something that fans passionately debate over), but it’s quite another to update mechanics. Everything feels too familiar. Don’t get me wrong, Iron Dreg is still a decent update of how Slag would be today. But when compared to ToyWorld’s efforts on Corelock, Roar, and Muddy (Sludge), Iron Dreg feels lazy. I guess it’s no accident that Iron Dreg was the 2nd to the last figure released in this team of 5. While we’re on that note, Spear is the last TW Dinobot released. I have read reviews that Spear is not that great of a figure, so I am debating if I want to spend around $100 to buy a bad figure, just to complete the set. First world problems – woe is me 🙁

As for Iron Dreg’s robot mode, I got the same gripe as its engineering – it feels too similar to G1. Again, Iron Dreg is still leaps and bounds superior to the G1 figure. It’s just that there’s nothing that wows me about this robot mode. All the updates that you expect to be there is there, but that’s all. TW most definitely did not go above and beyond with Iron Dreg, and the result feels like a minimally done update to Slag by 2016 standards.

I know I sound really harsh here, but I still recommend Iron Dreg if your aim is to complete the TW Dinobot set. As part of a team, he is solid enough of a figure that he warrants a purchase to occupy a space on your shelf. But as a standalone figure, I would say pass. There are other Dinos from TW that are way better. If you only wanted to get one Dinobot, you would probably get Grimlock anyway. Below is a pic of Iron Dreg in robot form.

Here is a link to the 4 TW Dinos I have thus far, in their dino modes. I love how the team looks together.

Let’s now take a look at a character that’s very dear to me: Bombshell. I have outlined how Bombshell is my very first official Transformer. And for that reason, I try to buy all the modern updates to the character. I have one set of G1 reissues, the FansProject update (as Stormbomb), and the recent Combiner Wars legend figure. I even have Hardshell, a spiritual update of the character in the TF Prime Beast Hunters line.

By the middle of 2016, many third parties have attempted MP interpretations of everyone’s favorite robotic insect pests. I read and watched some reviews, and the general consensus is that Fans Toys make the best MP Insecticons. And since Bombshell is my favorite of the 3, I bought Fans Toys Grenadier. I know many fans prefer the grey chest toon version of this figure. But I elected for the toy version with the purple chest, because that’s how the G1 toy was. I played with this figure over and over as a kid, and transformed him countless number of times that today this figure is in fairly poor condition. The G1 figure had a purple chest, and that’s what I remember, so I went for purple in Grenadier. And honestly, I didn’t even notice that Bombshell had a grey chest in the cartoon until very recently, when third parties started doing their MP Insecticons.

FT Grenadier comes packaged in robot mode. The first thing that you will notice about this figure upon taking it out of the box is that it’s got some decent heft to it! Seriously, Grenadier weighs more than most figures I own, and that’s saying a lot! Below is a pic. This figure is a wonderful representation of Bombshell in MP scale.

FT was smart enough to mold a design on Grenadier’s chest that’s a perfect fit for third party Decepticon stickers. Notice on my Grenadier I have a faction symbol on his chest, using stickers by Ocean Designs that I bought sometime in 2015. I love the look of Grenadier in robot mode. Appearance wise, he’s a perfect homage to Bombshell, and in my opinion he strikes the perfect balance between how he appears in the cartoon and how he should appear as a toy figure. He scales nicely with other MPs on the shelf. Grenadier has got some decent articulation, capable of some dynamic poses if you want to re-enact scenes of Bombshell in action.

Transformation to bug mode can be a mediocre challenge, but not for the reasons you think. As a rule, I think transforming plastic pieces is usually easier than transforming metal pieces. Transforming Grenadier, it feels like the whole figure is metal. I know that’s not true, but the figure has a fair amount of die-cast, and the plastic used is super high quality. While I applaud the materials used, transforming the figure becomes difficult. There’s very little wiggle room for error when such hard pieces on the figure are used, and thus the process becomes unforgiving. The tight joints also do not lend to an easy transformation process. However, all this is balanced out by the transformation mechanism being on the simple side, resulting in a figure of average difficulty on the challenge scale. In a nut shell, not a whole lot of steps in the transformation, and it’s obvious what the next steps should be. But performing the steps could take some work.

In beetle mode, Grenadier does not disappoint. He’s got the same weighty feel and robust construction that he has in robot mode. The appearance of the bug is tremendously faithful to his show likeness. Fans Toys even included a set of alternate legs for the bug mode. I’m not sure what they are for entirely. It’s possible that, in some episodes, Bombshell had legs that looked more like the alternate legs. I should have took a pic of Grenadier alone in beetle mode. Scroll down to the bottom of this post of Grenadier in alt mode in a group shot.

I highly recommend Grenadier. Here is a pic of Grenadier in robot mode with some of his Decepticon cohorts.

The next two figures are gifts from my wife. I have wishlists set up on my favorite TF retail sites, and she just looks at these when she buys me TFs as gifts. It’s always kind of a surprise which figs she would choose.

The first of these is from a new company called Spark Toys. They decided to do their take on a War Within Optimus Prime. Back in 2006, when it was only 2 years after I started collecting TFs again, Hasbro partnered with Galoob to release the Titanium line. The very first figure released in this line is a War Within Optimus Prime. In all fairness, that figure wasn’t bad. I liked both modes of that figure. The transformation, while simple, captured how a Optimus Prime figure should transform. The paint applications of the figure was solid. Where that figure fell apart is in the construction. The selling feature of the Titanium line is that they include die-cast parts. But they say die-cast construction is a lost art, and in the case of Titanium figures, it’s very true. Titanium OP had some of the worst joints imaginable in a TF. They could not support the weight of the die-cast pieces. The result is a figure that can’t hold any kind of pose, and picking up the figure yields a floppy mess of a Transformer.

Well, that was then. 10 years later in 2016, Spark Toys makes their attempt to do justice to War Within Optimus Prime, in MP scale no less. And since they are third party, the name they are calling OP is Alpha Pack. I’m glad to report that Spark Toys’ efforts is a success! The first thing you will notice about getting this guy out of the box is the spectacular paint job! I think of all the TFs that I have acquired, this guy may have the best paint job ever. The reds, blues, and silvers have this shiny and glossy metallic property to its appearance, and it’s great to see that the application is uniform across the figure. Front head lights and rear tail lights are all accented in bright yellow paint. The tires a made of rubber, and in vehicle mode, Alpha Pack rolls well on a flat surface.

Alpha Pack comes with 3 accessories: the famous OP rifle, an axe (not the energon variety), and their take on the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. In alt mode, Alpha Pack can carry the rifle in the top rear area of the truck. To do this, there is a nice little attachment handle that flips out of the rifle, and this can be hidden when Alpha Pack is using the rifle in robot mode. Very very cool. The Matrix can be comfortably stored in the front grill area (which becomes the chest in robot mode). But there is no room for the axe in alt mode.

Below are some pics of the alt mode of Alpha Pack. I love the look of Alpha Pack in this mode – he looks like he jumped straight out of the comics. I applied an Ocean Designs decal to him as well.

Below is a pic of Alpha Pack next to the awesome DX9 Carry (which I will go into next month).

Transformation to robot mode is not difficult at all. I’m going by all memory here, but in terms of the transformation paradigm and overall number of steps, it feels like the Alpha Pack is only slightly upgraded from the Titanium figure. The mechanics of how that’s achieved, however, is a vast improvement. Alpha Pack does not have any die-cast pieces as far as I can tell, but in opinion that’s a good thing. It makes for a more playable figure. And as far as transformation and poseability, not having die-cast poses less issues in these areas. Alpha Pack has nice joints to support the figure, but not having die-cast means it doesn’t need extra joint reinforcement to begin with.

Alpha Pack looks great in robot mode. The figure feels true to his War Within appearance. Look at the top banner of this blog for a pic of War Within OP if you are not familiar with that incarnation. The outstanding paint job shines in this mode as well. Some fans have mentioned that he looks a tad too bulky in robot mode. When standing next to MP-10, it’s hard to argue against that complaint. But personally, I kind of dig this bulky look. This is how a lot of the comic book artists choose to stylize Optimus Prime in his Cybertron days, and I am glad to see Spark Toys hold true to this design. Below is a pic of Alpha Pack next to the US Version of MP-10.

One gripe I have about Alpha Pack is the poseability. Because he is a bit on the bulky side, his range of poses are more limited. This is something to note if you are one of those collectors that love to display your figures in dynamic poses. But despite this weakness, I still highly recommend Alpha Pack. This figure has way more pluses than minuses, and if you are a fan of War Within or any of the modern G1 Transformer origin stories of their era prior to Earth, you should pick up this figure.

The other figure that I got as a gift from my wife this month is Heavy Noisy, which is Warbotron’s rendition of Brawl. This is the 2nd time that my wife has chosen to get me something from the Warbotron Combaticons (the first being Whirlwind, or Vortex). My wife knows nothing about Transformers. She picks out the figures on my wishlist based on appearance alone. She has always joked that she identifies more with the Decepticons, so perhaps she knows more than she’s letting on.

Heavy Noisy is the 4th figure I have in the Warbotron Combaticon line. I gotta say though, this one feels like the weakest out of the four so far. He’s still a decent figure, but something about him just don’t feel quite up to par with the other team members. Both modes are satisfactory. Transforming the arms into tank mode is a bit of a pain because they are so tight, and it’s even worse when you try to get them back to robot mode. I’m also not thrilled about the tank turret becoming a shield. It feels too much like puzzle forming in my book. But Heavy Noisy is not a bad figure by any means. He is solid enough to earn a place in your collection, and you still need him to form Bruticus. I’ll reserve my final thoughts for when I have all 5 members of Warbotron. As of this writing, I have purchased Air Burst (Blast Off). I should have him in hand soon.

Below I have a pic of all the 3rd party figures acquired this month in a group shot.

It’s quite a sight to see how far 3rd party products have come. I still remember my very first 3rd party figure, which was Defender by FansProject. Third parties have really stepped up their game since then. Most of the figures produced recently seem to be in really high quality. They rival anything that Hasbro/Takara has produced in the MP line, and blows away anything that you would find in retail store shelves. Third party products are not getting any cheaper, though. So many companies are getting into this game that I can’t count them anymore. Very often, multiple companies will produce their version of a particular character. As fans, I am glad I have so many options on something that Hasbro will not produce, but I also feel handicapped by all these options. Many studies have been done on the paradox of choice; that too many options can actually make a person unhappy. As for third party TFs, is too much of it presented to the buyer that decision paralysis is now an issue? I was gonna sum up my thoughts on this topic in a short paragraph here, but now I think this may deserve it’s own post.

June 2016 was a great month. So many great figures, by so many different companies. More to come soon… Transform and Roll Out.

Michael Bay blow stuff up crapfest #5 will soon be upon us. The teaser trailer was released yesterday. Check it out.

I dunno. I have been excited and jaded by the past 3 movies. This article sums up how I feel. Still, that one shot of Unicron has me all giddy like I’m 12 again. Maybe… just maybe… this will be good. But in the end this movie will suck. And I will have paid to watch it in the theaters.

Every TF movie thus far has had an older white guy in a position of authority. Jon Voight in the original movie. Rainn Wilson in Revenge of the Fallen. John Malkovich in Dark of the Moon. Kelsey Grammer in Age of Extinction. And now we have Anthony Hopkins in The Last Knight??!! What’s with this weird trend? I do give credit to Michael Bay for attracting some big Hollywood talent. And it also looks like Megan Fox begged her way back to Bay’s good graces. I guess that’s not news considering she was in TMNT.

Let’s hope we at least get some good toys for TF5. Transform and Roll Out.

Here in the United States, we just had our Presidential Election of 2016. It was one WTF of a election. Donald Trump was elected President. Not in a million Cybertron eons would I have believed it if I didn’t witness this crazy outcome with my own eyes. Many are calling this the US version of Brexit.

Early Tue morning on Election Day, the Donald was only projected to get 212 Electoral Votes, well short of the 270 necessary to become President. Around 5pm Pacific time the tally started. Trump started slow and behind, like predicted. But as the night went on, the counts for the Donald slowly went up, like the water level steadily going up in a clogged toilet. And around midnight, that water would flow over the bowl, and the floor that is America would be drenched in all the poop outcome of this wacky historic election. The whole thing unfolded like a reality show. And speaking of reality shows, this is not the first time on this blog that I wrote about Trump. Back in this post, I mentioned that I don’t think Trump is in the business of war, but he might look into it. Well, he has to now. It will be interesting to see how our Commander in Chief deals with the Middle East. Sometimes I think I’m scarily prophetic.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’m a fan of Hilary. I don’t like either candidates, so I voted third party (because I love third party Transformers.. j/k). It really feels like this election is about who you hate less, and America has clearly indicated that we hate Hilary. Myself included.

So what is the point of this post? Nothing really. I think I’m still in shock at the outcome, so blogging about it seems like a good distraction. I would not be happy if Hilary had won, but at least that would be normal. Sometimes you keep doing the same things even though it makes you miserable, but you keep doing it because you’re familiar with it, you’re used to that misery, and you know how to deal with it. That’s what it would be like if Hilary was elected. Trump in charge turns everything upside down, in the same manner that he won this election. He might turn out to be a crappy President, but he has already transformed the US political landscape. His election forces us to deal with change. In a way, that’s a good thing. Optimus Prime would not want us to live continuously in a comfort zone. He would want us to transform for the better. He knows we have the potential. “Like us, there’s more to them than meets the eye.” — Optimus Prime

But just for kicks, let’s imagine if Trump ran against Optimus Prime. The great Autobot Leader would win in a landslide. It wouldn’t even be close. Here’s how Optimus would deal with the issues of our day.

Healthcare
Appoint Ratchet Chief Medical Officer. Use all that Cybertron technology to research cures to common human illnesses. Cures would be cheap and effective. Even those near death can still be saved (like how Starscream saved Dr. Arkeville by turning him into a cyborg).

Clean Energy
Convert all of Earth’s resources to energon, the most advanced form of energy. Have Grapple build Solar Energy towers all over the Earth. Clean and cheap.

Education
The great minds of Cybertron would have much to teach the humans. There are no better instructors anywhere.

Travel and Commute
Build Space Bridges and Land Bridges all over the Earth.

Overpopulation
We have seen Spike visit Cybertron without wearing any kind of space suit. So apparently Cybertron can sustain human life. Humans can go live there.

National Security
Seriously, would anyone mess with the US if Autobots are in charge?

I can go on and on, but those are just some bullet points. Yes, we need Optimus Prime for President. I’ve seen those T-shirts around.

But for now, we gotta live with Trump. It’s strange, but life goes on. Onward and upward, which is the same thing as… 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.

June of 2015 is Robots in Disguise month! Check out all the RiD figs below. There are some third party items here too.

• Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime, Walmart, $14.97

• Robots in Disguise Drift, amazon.com, $12.80

• Robots in Disguise Jazz, Target, $14.99

• Perfect Effect Perfect Combiner PC-02 Upgrade Set, tfsource.com, $32.99

• Before & After Alpha Launcher for MP-18 Bluestreak, tfsource.com, $14.95

• ToyWorld Grimshell (Corelock), tfsource.com, $149.95

Before this month, I only bought one RiD figure. That was Grimlock from back in January. I was not terribly impressed with RiD Grimlock. So you might be wondering why I bought all these RiD figs here. Truth be told, I only bought them because there wasn’t a whole lot of other TFs on the shelves. Combiner Wars was in a slight retail pause, and my 3rd party orders haven’t come in yet. But I’m glad I got the RiD figs here. Drift is a great one. If you can only get one RiD fig here, get Drift. Both modes are good, transformation is fun, and build construction of the toy is solid. I love his twin swords. Jazz is a nice one too. I don’t know if I’m feeling that spear/gun weapon, but the figure itself is a worthy addition to Jazz. The Optimus Prime figure is not great, but not bad. There’s some fun stuff going on here, but overall he’s too simple and too small. It’s kind of the same gripes that I have for Grimlock. Though Grimlock is getting (or has gotten) a bigger, beefier version for the collectors. I hope OP gets the same treatment.

Now onto those 3rd party accessories. Perfect Combiner PC-02 Upgrade Set is meant to enhance Combiner Wars Menasor. I got some picks from back in this post. Most fans seem to be gushing over these sets, which is why I got them. I don’t know. I think they’re ok, but in my opinion they don’t add that much to the combined form. Maybe I’m expecting too much. Alpha Launcher for MP-18 Bluestreak by Before & After is an excellent upgrade! I got one pic below that shows it off. I like how the MP toy designers incorporated launchers as part of the transformation. But they are more reflective of Bluestreak’s cartoon look, and they look a tad small. With these Alpha Launchers, Bluestreak now has the firepower to be the true gunner that he’s meant to be. This upgrade set also comes with decals for the MP that are much like the decals of the original G1 toy. I did’t put them on. But know that it’s an option for those that like their figures all decked out with decals.

I have written about ToyWorld Grimlock several times already. He’s officially listed as Grimshell on the box, but sometimes he is listed as Corelock on store sites. Anyway, I have raved on and on about this figure here and here. So I won’t repeat my G1 fanboy praises yet again. Just go read those.

Below is a group photo of the bunch (minus the upgrade set for Menasor).

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!