2018 ends on a high note. There were purchases from official TF lines, 3rd party, and 4th party. A brand new line in the TF CHUG-verse also kicked off this month, which takes us past the Prime Wars Trilogy and into a whole new era. And I think for the first time in the history of this blog, a single character had 3 separate purchases in one month.

That’s a lot to get to. Let’s begin.

• G1 Bumblebee, Walmart, $7.86

• Studio Series Grimlock, hasbrotoyshop.com, $39.99

• War For Cybertron Siege Blowpipe, amazon.com, $5.99

• War For Cybertron Siege Firedrive, amazon.com, $5.99

• Power of the Primes Predaking, toydojo.com, $99.99

• Ocular Max Artifex, toydojo.com, $49.99

• x-Transbots Toro, eBay seller, $49.21

• Mech Fans Toys Grmlock, toydojo.com, $24.99

• Fans Toys Grinder, eBay seller, $141.09

Many of these figures were covered in the special 2018 Black Friday post. I will give more detailed treatment here.

Bumblebee

This is the Generation 1 Bumblebee toy that started it all. This figure needs no introduction. Here we have a Walmart G1 Commemorative re-issue. The head is styled more like Bumblebee in the G1 cartoons and not the original G1 toy.

I have an original G1 Bumblebee. It was not purchased from a store. If memory serves, some kid at my school (who I can’t recall) didn’t want it anymore, so I took it. The figure was never in the best shape. One arm was already somewhat loose and floppy when the figure became mine. But still, this is Bumblebee, so I kept it all this time. The condition of the figure only got worse with age, but I am happy to say I have an original copy of perhaps the most iconic TF character of all time.

When I found this re-issue at Walmart, I found several other G1 Mini-bot re-issues as part of the same wave. But the other bots were not from Season 1 or 2, they were from Season 3. I remember distinctively I saw Outback, Swerve, and Tailgate. Possibly Pipes too. It’s as if they took the Encore Mini Vehicle 5-pack, reproduced the figs, and released them individually. The Bumblebee in this 5-pack also has the G1 cartoon head, which further supports that notion. Anyways, I don’t really care for any of the Season 3 Mini-bots, so I didn’t buy them this time.

This re-issue of Bumblebee remains unopened. It will probably stay that way.

Blowpipe, Firedrive

Blowpipe and Firedrive are my first entries into a new era of Transformers in the CHUG-verse called War For Cybertron: Siege. Much like the Prime Wars Trilogy, War For Cybertron will also be a trilogy. The first chapter is called Siege. This War For Cybertron has nothing to do with the video game series that was first released in the early 2010s.

I have always said that I like the Targetmasters more than the Headmasters. So it is nice to see Targetmasters officially get some love in this new era. And what better way to kick off Siege than with Targetmasters. In this new era, they are called Battlemasters.

G1 fans know that Blowpipe is the weapon for Triggerhappy. More hardcore G1 fans will recognize that Firedrive is really Firebolt, the weapon for Hot Rod (after he is Rodimus Prime no more and became a Targetmaster).

Blowpipe and Firedrive are technically different molds. They transform differently, but it’s virtually identical to each other. Just like G1, the transformation process is painfully simple. These new Battlemasters do have some limited articulation, which is superior to G1 in which there was no articulation at all. In weapon mode, the arms and legs does peg in to designated spots, giving this mode a more cohesive feel. They each come with blast effects. Not really my thing, but some fans will dig it.

At $5.99 each I think the price is a bit high. In my opinion they should be half that. But I still wholeheartedly recommend them.

Grimlock

Studio Series 08 Grimlock is the first Grimlock that is featured in this post. I bought him when he was first released at full MSRP, in the summer of 2018. Then I debated if I really want him, and came to the conclusion that maybe I didn’t. So I returned him to the store.

On Black Friday week of 2018, Hasbro was letting this guy go at $39.99. I had another 10% off coupon, which was valid on top of that price. I couldn’t resist the temptation a second time, so I bought him again, this time for keeps.

So was he worth buying? Yes and no. The T-Rex mode is great. This is the best looking Movie dinosaur that HasTak has ever produced, across all the TF Movie lines. If there is one positive about this figure that everyone agrees on, it’s the paint job. HasTak spared no expense here and really gave this figure a quality paint application that no one would find fault with. The result is a menacing, movie-accurate T-Rex that does justice to the character. At leader class, he also scales well with other SS figs. SS Grimlock is not the first leader class Movie Grimlock made, but it’s the best looking one, by far.

The robot mode, however, is so-so at best. As of this writing, I really don’t remember it too well anymore. I just remember the robot mode being unimpressive. I transformed him to T-Rex, and Grimlock stayed like that for 2 years. This figure is on top of a shelf, all this time. My wife really likes this figure, so it never got put away.

If you can find this fig at a reasonable price, and you must have an awesome looking Movie Grimlock in your collection, then he is a buy.

Predaking

HasTak has finally decided to give their G1 Predacons team a proper update in the modern era. Plenty of 3Ps have given their attempts already, such as the Feralcons by MMC. It’s about time HasTak gave it a go on their own property. And on a related but separate note, this may be my very last purchase from the Power of the Primes line.

When toy companies do a modern update to combiners, they have to prioritize which mode gets the optimization emphasis. In a perfect world, the individual robot modes, individual alt modes, and the combined mode would all be great. In this world, extra combining parts would not be necessary, and the figures would scale nicely at every mode, to other figs and to themselves. We don’t live in that world.

With Predaking, HasTak has very obviously chose to optimize for the combined mode. And it is awesome! I dare say that no 3P or 4P has produced a better looking Predaking, in the modern era. He’s big and proportionate. The arms and legs look proper scale in relation to the body. Predaking is a very stable figure, no issues standing on it’s own weight. For a gestalt, he’s fairly poseable. If this is the only mode you care for, then this is the toy for you.

From here, things unfortunately go downhill. Let’s talk about the individual robot modes next. Some are ok, but none of them are great. Divebomb has to haul around that giant wing/backpack assembly that has no where else to go in this mode. Tantrum and Headstrong both look horrible when viewed from the back. The thigh part in combined mode simply hangs off their backs.

Things get even worse in beast modes. Most of them don’t look all that great. The 4-legged beasts simply look like boxes with legs. Razorclaw feels like the smallest of the 5, despite being the leader and forming the chest. The thigh part in combined mode tucks underneath the body of Tantrum and Headstrong, making for a really weird look.

Extra combiner parts are necessary to form Predaking. They are accounted for in the individual modes. For example, the feet pieces can be held or attached as weapons. Lots of combiner toys use this tactic so HasTak isn’t the only guilty party here, but it is something I wanted point out.

I know all this sounds really negative. But overall I still give Predaking a recommendation. The combined mode is really just that good to justify the other weaknesses in this set. And honestly, I don’t see HasTak making another Predaking anytinme soon. None of the 3P Predakings are perfect, either. Most fans buy this set for Predaking, and in that purpose, this set delivers.

Artifex

Artifex is MMC’s interpretation of a Masterpiece-style Hoist. And I’ll get straight to it: this is a disappointing figure. The design of the figure itself is solid enough, but where things really go south is in the manufacturing. Artifex’s joints are way too loose. He can kind of hold poses, but only if you position it very carefully. The figure during transformation is one floppy mess. Some of Artifex’s accessories also don’t properly fit where they should. One of his cannons is supposed to rotate, but too much paint made it unmovable. I tried to force it, and it just broke. The seller was nice enough to get replacement parts for me (thank you ToyDojo!).

Going back to alt mode, it is extremely difficult to get the whole unit to assemble back together. The joints are just too damn loose. Nothing holds in place. Aligning multiple floppy parts into a cohesive whole of a truck will test even the most patient. When I decided to put Artifex away, I was never able to fully get Artifex back into truck with everything properly tabbed together. I did the best I could and put him back in the box.

As of this writing, I have sold Artifex. One bright point of this is I actually sold Artifex for more than I bought it for. But you should not buy Artifex. I believe the best MP Hoist on the market right now is X-Transbots Paean. I have X-Transbots Aegis (their homage to Trailbreaker). He’s excellent, so I’m hoping Paean is just as good.

Toro

I bought Toro on eBay from a seller based in China. Yes I used eBay again after I ranted against using the platform. I chose not to take my own advice. But this was from a seller I had used before and the transaction was good. I had enough faith to use them again, and they did not disappoint with Toro.

I touched on Toro in the special 2018 Black Friday post, but a lot of it is worth repeating again because he’s just so awesome. He comes in a small box. To me this is already a pro, because when you have as many TFs as I do, you need the space. Toro is packed in alt mode. He is a beautiful race car in this mode, something that more closely resembles an 80’s Porsche than the toy minicar that he was in G1. Some fans knock this for being G1 inaccurate, but I welcome this update.

Transformation to robot mode is straightforward. The robot mode appearance is spot on to the G1 show. Some fans knock it for having a chest that doesn’t transform into the car’s cabin, but I think it’s fine. Toro is pretty poseable, with superb construction and joints at the right tightness. Quality materials are used. The paint job deserves special mention. Really, it looks that good. If I was to compile a top 10 figures with the best paint job, Toro would be in there.

I can’t talk about Toro without mentioning the accessories. He comes with a lot! Upon opening the box, they’re packed on this sled type thing that doubles has his alt mode water-skis and a weapon storage unit. For weapons, he comes with 3 pistols, and that giant bazooka that we saw him use in the first ep of G1.

If you want an MP Cliffjumper, get Toro. It’s that simple.

Grmlock

That is not a typo. This 4th party figure is Grmlock. They dropped one letter in the name but it’s fooling no one. And I think that’s the intent.

Grmlock got a quick mention in a post about my Grimlock collection, the 2nd one made on this blog. One aspect about this figure that’s worth repeating is that he transforms differently from the standard Grimlock scheme that every TransFan is familiar with. And like all the other MFT products of this line, the paint job is superb and the joints are super tight.

I recommend this figure. It’s one of the better G1 style Grimlocks made. I don’t think Grmlock scales well with any of the official TF lines, like CHUG or MP. He may go well with a smaller scale of G1 style figures that many 3rd parties have been pumping out lately, such as those from Newage, Magic Square, Iron Factory, or DX9. And yes, these MFT figs are KOs of DX9 War in Pocket Dinobots. If that changes your opinion about these MFT figures, don’t buy them. If you don’t care, then these KOs deserve a place on your shelf.

Grinder

This is the third and final Grimlock to be featured this month. In Feb of 2016 I got two Onslaughts, and in March of 2018 I got two Sludges. This is probably the first time that one character had three different figures in a single month, and I’m glad that’s Grimlock. He’s an Autobot worthy of such an honor.

Grinder also got a quick mention, in that same post about my Grimlock collection. In short, he’s fantastic. If you want a Grimlock for your MP collection, then Grinder is a required purchase. He scales nicely with other MPs. Both modes look good. He’s well built. Transforms intuitively and smoothly. My only gripe was that I don’t like the default dino head. Apparently a lot of other fans had the same complaint, and so FT produced a 2nd dino head that can be purchased separately. I have since bought this 2nd dino head, but I haven’t tried it yet. I will be sure to do that soon and report back.

I believe my copy of Grinder was the 2nd batch of this figure released by Fans Toys. I did not buy Grinder when first released, because I felt that the official Masterpiece Grimlock (MP-08) represented the the MP Dinobot Leader in my collection. But all the FT Iron Dibots are so well made, and MP-08 is really too small when scaled with them. So I got Grinder to complete the Iron Dibots set when FT re-released the figure. Here are links to the other 4 Iron Dibots:

• Scoria (Slag)
• Stomp (Sludge)
• Sever (Snarl)
• Soar (Swoop)

I was quite fortunate to find Grinder on eBay at such a good price. This was from an eBay seller in China that I had never used. I was hesitant, and the price seemed a tad too good to be true. But the seller had over 1000 positives, so I took a chance. Glad it all worked out. Grinder arrived on 12/31/2018. Just made to cutoff to be included in my 2018 Transformers.

And that does it for 2018. I’m getting way too lazy writing about these purchase posts. It’s now Dec of 2020, and I’m writing about Dec of 2018. Two years behind. Maybe one of my resolutions for 2021 is to catch up on this stuff.

Transform and Roll Out.
 

Black Friday + Cyber Monday == TF Shopping. Black Fridays represent everything that is wrong with America. Nevertheless, here are my TF acquisitions per this materialistic tradition in 2018.

Some quick blurb about each figure.

Front row, left to right:

Ocular Max Artifex: I never understood the relationship between MMC (Mastermind Creations) and Ocular Max. Are they the same company with a name change? Or did Ocular Max spin off from MMC? Or is Ocular Max a sub-line in MMC’s offerings? Whatever it is, Artifex is their take on a MP-style Hoist. He’s well designed with a interesting transformation. But sub-par manufacturing really hurt this figure. Tolerance issues abound with Artifex. I already broke one accessory. Artifex is OK as a display piece, but not recommended as a toy. Even at a sale price of $49.99, I regret buying Artifex.

Mech Fans Toys Grmlock: I don’t know much about Mech Fans Toys (MFT). They came out of nowhere. As far as I know, all their products are 4th party (read: knock offs of 3rd party products). MFT Grmlock is their knock off version of this figure, though with better paint (I think). He’s not bad, but gives your hands and fingers a good workout when transforming because the joints are so freakin’ tight. Grmlock is my 2nd dino from MFT, the first being Slurdge (you can guess who that is). And Grmlock is not a mis-spelling; it’s purposely spelled that way, this being KO and all. Grmlock was bought at $24.99, it’s usual price.

PotP Optimal Optimus: I found this at Target at its usual MSRP of $44.99, the day after Black Fri. This figure is pretty rare, even as of this writing. I only saw him this one time in store, and online dealers totally jack up his price. I thought long and hard in the store if I really wanted Optimal Optimus. I bought the figure after some nudging from my wife (think she just got sick of waiting for me to make up my mind). He’s okay. Not bad, but not great.

X-Transbots Toro: I got this from a eBay seller. Lately, eBay has been offering 10% or 15% off coupons at fairly regular intervals, and I took advantage. I used one for Toro and it brought the price down to less than $50. Toro is a great figure! He looks good in both modes, comes with a plethora of accessories, has a interesting transformation, scales well with other MPs, is well built, and boasts some of the best paint and finish I have seen in quite some time. Some fans knock Toro for it’s fake chest windows, but it’s something I can easily overlook because everything else is so well done. Highly recommended.

Back row, left to right:

Studio Series Grimlock: The 2nd Grimlock on this Black Fri, SS Grimlock was bought from hasbrotoyshop.com via eBay for $39.99, with another 10% coupon added for good measure. My wife never comments on my Transformers, but even she gave SS Grimlock an endorsement. These are her words: “That dinosaur looks great! Really sharp!” So there you go. Personally I’m not terribly impressed with the robot mode, but you get this figure for the dino mode and it delivers.

PotP Predaking: This is the big enchilada this Black Fri. He’s normally $159.99. ToyDojo was offering this guy at $99.99 for the sale, so I bought one for the win. And I’ll re-iterate what many TransFans have said: you get this for the combined mode! This Predaking looks so good and is so stable, I would rate this combined mode better than Feral Rex by MMC. However, the individual bots range from mediocre to unimpressive. Most of them have really weak beast modes. The leg bots feature giant back kibble (the Predaking thigh parts) in robot mode. Razorclaw feels like the smallest of the 5, despite being the chest and the leader. But again, the Predaking combined form is where this set shines. When displayed in its full combined glory, this set is worth every penny.

PotP Nemesis Prime: Nemesis Prime is an Amazon exclusive. On Cyber Monday, they had a deal for this guy at $32.99. I already had Nemesis Prime in my cart previous to Cyber Monday. I waited to see if there would be a Black Fri deal, but nothing. Then Cyber Monday happened, I saw the sale price, and bought with haste. I like this figure. Yes, he’s a repaint of PotP Evolution Optimus Prime (which I have too), but he comes with more weapons and has re-worked heads that more accurately depict Nemesis Prime. On my copy, his joints don’t feel as tight as the ones on Optimus, especially the hip and ankle joints. But your mileage may vary. Even as a repaint, Nemesis Prime is worthy of your purchase.

Sometimes I wonder if a society like what is on Cybertron would have a Black Friday equivalent. It is often implied that Cybertronians do have a class structure, at least prior to the war. But you don’t ever see Cybertronians shop. What is their system for distribution of goods and resources? For the Autobots, one can only guess. Decepticons just take what they want.

Transform and Roll Out.
 

Halloween is upon us yet again! I can’t believe it has been two years already since my last Halloween post. Time sure flies when… well, it just flies. No matter what you’re doing.

As per tradition here at TFMatrix, I assemble my orange TFs for a pic with my stuffed pumpkin.

I try to use the orange TFs that I haven’t used before. There has actually been quite a few orange figs acquired in the last two years, a lot of them in 2016. Clockwise from top left:

• Combiner Wars Wheelie
• Combiner Wars Wreck-Gar
• Titans Return Sentinel Prime
• Mastermind Creations Tigris (Rampage)
• Robots in Disguise Drift
• Thrilling 30 Jhiaxus
• Titans Return Stripes
• Combiner Wars Huffer

There are probably a few more orange figures that got left out of the group shot. Smart readers will notice that I included Tigris (Rampage), but left out Talon and Bovis (Divebomb and Tantrum). I really wanted to include the rest of the orange Feralcons (Predacons), but I only had Tigris handy. I will include them in the next Halloween special.

Also of note is that all the deluxe or larger figs in the pic are using twin weapons, one in each hand.

Here are links to previous Halloween posts.
Cybertronian Halloween 2014
Cybertronian Halloween 2012 (scroll down to last pic)

Have a safe and happy Halloween! Transform and Roll Out!

By now, all third party Transformers collectors are familiar with the Feral Cons by Mastermind Creations, an homage to G1 Predacons. The 5 standard Feral Cons combine to form Feral Rex (Predaking).

However, MMC manufactured a sixth Feral Con named Felisaber. Felisaber is a yellow repaint of Tigris (Rampage) with some minor mold tweaks. I know what you’re thinking… “There are only 5 Predacons!” Yes you are right. Maybe this is just a ploy for MMC to sell more toys. But MMC did give Felisaber a backstory. Felisaber is an homage to Catilla, an Autobot Pretender Beast who appeared late in the G1 toyline. The robot head mold, the yellow mechanical saber tooth tiger alt mode, and the tiger helmet with the Pretender shell looks, all point to the fact that Felisaber is Catilla. I don’t know much about Catilla as a character since he arrived way too late to be included in the US G1 cartoons, but he did make appearances in the G1 comics. Apparently, Catilla used to be a Decepticon. And MMC extended the story so that Felisaber was once part of the Feral Cons.

With Felisaber in the mix, all six Feral Cons can combine to form the Ultimate Mode of Feral Rex. In this mode, Felisaber replaces Talon as the left arm. Talon then goes on the back of Feral Rex, acting kind of like a backpack or booster. As of this writing, there ain’t a whole lot of pics of the Ultimate Mode up on the web. Worry not my fellow TransFans! I have Felisaber and I have combined my Feral Cons into Feral Rex Ultimate Mode! Feast your optics on the pics below.

In the Ultimate Mode, Feral Rex does look more balanced. However, he becomes extremely back heavy. Talon is now fully on the back, as you can see in the pic below.

Personally I’m not a big fan of the Ultimate Mode. It’s not in the official TF canon that Predaking has a Ultimate Mode. And as for the MMC figures, Feral Rex easily falls backwards in this mode, making poseability a lot more challenging. I would buy Felisaber if you are a fan of Catilla. Or if you really like the Tigris figure. Tigris is my favorite of the standard 5 Feral Cons, which is why I bought Felisaber. But I would not buy Felisaber for the Ultimate Mode. Feral Rex is already an amazing figure without him, and Felisaber really doesn’t add anything to the combined form in my opinion.

Before I end this post, here are some pics of the Feral Cons individually in their robot modes.

Feral Cons… Transform and Roll Out.

Things cool down a bit in September of 2014. Only 3 TFs this month.

• Generations Thrilling 30 Rattrap, Target, $14.24

• Mastermind Creations Leo Dux, tfsource.com, $109.99

• Mastermind Creations Tigris, tfsource.com, $79.95

I think for the first time ever, all my purchases in a single month are figures where the alt modes are animals. Reminds me of the G1 episode “Call of the Primitives”.

Rattrap was a nice find. His release was 4 or 5 months before this, and at the time he was quite rare. As a fan favorite he’s snatched up quick. So of course online dealers spared no effort jacking up the price, sometimes at well over $40. I first saw this Rattrap figure at BotCon, back in June of 2014. Price dropped a bit by then, but at the con he was still about $25 at the cheapest. I like Rattrap, but I don’t like him enough that I want to pay any markup for this figure. So I was quite pleased when I found him in store this month. The figure itself is not too shabby. As of this writing, I only transformed him once from robot to rat. I remember the transformation was somewhat complicated. I need to spend some more time with this figure.

Leo Dux (Razorclaw) and Tigris (Rampage) from Mastermind Creations round out the rest of the figs this month. These are the last two needed to form Feral Rex (Predaking). Now that I have all 5 Feral Cons (Predacons), I think my favorite is Tigris. I feel he is the most fun to play with, and I really like both his modes. He’s also got some cool accessories. Leo Dux is cool too. Robot mode is especially nice, but the lion mode feels somewhat bulky.

Primitives… answer the call! Transform and Roll Out!

I’m finally back to cataloging my purchases for each month. This activity has been on hiatus for some time, and I’m way behind. June 2014 was a busy month in terms of TFs purchased, partially because of BotCon 2014 that took place this month. The convention was in Pasadena, California, and I always go if the event is at this location. I may make a separate post for my BotCon 2014 pics. But that’s getting off topic. Time to showcase the figures for this month. This is a long list. Prepare yourselves.

• Generations Thrilling 30 Swerve and Flanker, Target, $9.49

• Age of Extinction Drift, Walmart, $9.97

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

• Age of Extinction Slash, Toys R Us, $7.49

• Age of Extinction Strafe, Walmart, $9.97

• Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Bulkhead and Prowl, Walmart, $12

• Transformers Prime Dark Energon Wheeljack, BBTS (at BotCon), $15

• BotCon Exclusive Depth Charge and Rampage, Hasbro (at BotCon), $62.71

• MakeToys Mobine MB01-SP2 Missile Launcher Marine Type, CapturedPrey.com, $48

• Mastermind Creations Hexatron, CapturedPrey.com, $130

• MakeToys Mobine Paladin/Chaos, CapturedPrey.com, $79

• Renderform Gold Scout Upgrade Kit, CapturedPrey.com, $25

There are a lot of TFs here. 12 purchases in all, for a total of 13 figures and 2 upgrade kits.

Generations Swerve and Flanker were the first finds of the month. These are cool little figs. I don’t care much about the Mini-Con (Flanker), but Swerve is a real prize. He’s fun to play with. I like both his robot mode and alt mode. There’s a redeco of this fig out there as Gears, though as of this writing he’s kinda hard to find. I plan to get one.

Next up are all the Age of Extinction figs. As a whole, I think the AoE figs are rather disappointing. The Dinobots pictured here (Slash and Strafe) certainly attest to that assertion. I’m not particularly impressed with either of these and I’m looking to sell them. However, Drift and Hound are quality figures. Drift is probably my favorite of the deluxe figs from AoE. Hound is a solid voyager figure with weapons to spare. I have kind of reviewed them back in this post, so I won’t do it again. Just know that Drift and Hound are both solid additions to your AoE line.

All remaining figures featured in this post are either bought or picked up at BotCon. First up are TF Prime Beast Hunters Bulkhead and Prowl. Gemini bought these for me a few months before BotCon, but I did not have a chance to meet up with him til this event. He found this pair at his Walmart for $12 on clearance. I was really only interested in Prowl as I already have Bulkhead. At the time, Prowl was really hard to find (and he is still kinda is as of this writing). So I did not mind spending $12 for both figs.

At the BBTS booth I picked up Dark Energon Wheeljack. This is a BBTS exclusive. I could have gotten this from their website (for cheaper), but at the time I had nothing else I needed to buy from BBTS and I was already there so I went for it. Normally I don’t like buying repaints for the same character, but I really like this Wheeljack mold, and I love the transparent blue, so I splurged.

At every BotCon, Hasbro will sell some of their exclusive figs at their booth where they handle registration for Transformers Collector’s Club. This year was no exception. I mentioned back in the BotCon 2011 post that this was how I got the very rare Reveal the Shield Windcharger. In 2014, one of their exclusive figs caught my eye… Depth Charge! From Beast Wars, Depth Charge is one of my favorite characters. He’s a good guy, but at the same time a total bad-ass! Plus I love this mold. Terradive, the original character of this mold, is probably my favorite deluxe figure from Revenge of the Fallen. They repainted this awesome mold once for Space Case (from Dark of the Moon). I guess one could argue if using this mold for Depth Charge is fitting, but I don’t care. Depth Charge was about $20 if you have a TFCC membership, but without one the figure was about $40. So I decided to get the TFCC membership (about $42), which also comes with an incentive figure of Rampage. Hasbro chose to repaint TF Prime deluxe Megatron for Rampage. So for about $62 total, I got the TFCC membership, and two figures. Depth Charge and Rampage are rivals and nemesis of each other in Beast Wars, so it’s awesome having the both of them. To this day I still have not opened these 2. But I already know the Depth Charge fig will be remarkable. I know nothing of the TF Prime deluxe Megatron fig, so it remains to be seen how I will like Rampage.

And now for the figures I got from CapturedPrey. I bought all these earlier, some of them as early as the beginning of 2013. However, they don’t ship anything until your entire order comes in, at least that’s how it was at the time. I don’t know if they have developed some kind of stacking mechanism since then, like TF Source. Anyway, I still had several items outstanding at the time of BotCon, but I really wanted the figures that had already arrived. So I emailed CP and told them I like to pick them up at the booth. They were very accommodating. I picked up the four 3rd party items pictured above.

The Mobine Marine Missile Launcher kit by MakeToys is pure awesomeness! These kits really improve upon the crap that are PCCs. I featured this kit a little in this post. I tried this kit with Heavytread, Steelshot, and Undertow. Out of these 3, Heavytread looks the best, but it’s not bad with the other 2. My only regret is I should have also got the Jungle version. Apparently there were a shortage of the Jungle version, and most of the stock went to BBTS. MakeToys Mobine Paladin/Chaos is a similar toy, but with another smaller figure added in that will combine with the armor. This figure is a tribute to The Fallen (from the comics, not Revenge of the Fallen). The armor portion is more or less the same as the Mobine kits, but having a smaller figure combine with the armor to form The Fallen is an excellent idea. A pic of this figure appears here. This is way better than the piece of crap that Galoob tried to do with The Fallen that was featured in the Titanium line. I highly recommend the Mobine line from MakeToys.

Mastermind Creations Hexatron! What can I say about this piece that hasn’t already been said by others?! In case you can’t already tell, Hexatron is a modern interpretation of Sixshot by MMC. Way back in this post, when I first started this blog, I said I would love it if someone made a modern Sixshot. Well, to this day Hasbro still has not made this a reality, so MMC stepped up to the plate! What they delivered here is nothing short of spectacular. Hexatron is transformation engineering genius brought to life. I still have not transformed this figure to all its modes (I only did the robot mode and tank mode so far), but I have seen enough reviews of the other modes to know that all 6 modes are great. Construction of the figure is extremely solid. MMC cares about it’s products and it shows. And at only $130, this is actually not a bad value for 3rd party products of this size. Speaking of size, Hexatron is probably a better fit for the MP-verse than the CHUG-verse, but I’ll take it anyway I can. Of all the figs featured in this post, if you can only get one, this is it. In fact, if you wanted to nominate figs for Figure of the Year and 3rd party products can be included, then Hexatron would without a doublt be nominated. Many may even argue he would win.

That only leaves the Gold Scout Upgrade Kit, which I have yet to open. This set upgrades Classics Bumblebee to Goldbug. I’ll check this out when I have some time.

Whew… that was a lot. So much so that I didn’t even open them all yet as of this writing, like I mentioned above. But having a deluge of TFs is better than being in a drought. And BotCon 2014 was pretty special. I may report on it in a separate post. Til then… Transform and Roll Out!

Happy Chinese New Year! I’m continuing the countdown of the top 15 big cats of the TF Universe during the 15 days of the celebration in honor of the year of the Tiger. Today we’re at no. 6.

No. 7 appears here.

Number 6: Rampage
Series: G1
Allegiance: Decepticon
Sub-Group: Predacon
Function: Gunner
Cat Alt Mode: Tiger

The Predacons are unique among the G1 Combiner groups. Other Combiners teams, such as Aerialbots, Stunticons, and Combaticons, are all cut from the same cloth, in that the limbs are all the same size, they each use the same size square hole and peg, and they can be swapped around (even between teams). Predacons are not part of this paradigm. Individually, they are by far the biggest figures, each about the size of a Dinobot figure. Apparently, there are 2 different versions of the toy back in 1986: an all plastic version, and another version with die-cast pasts. They made regular appearances in season 3 of the G1 animated series. Initially they were advertised to be the nemesis of the Dinobots, but the cartoons never really showed this (though I think in the comics they might have clashed). Rampage is the tiger that forms the right arm of Predaking. His profile lists him as the standard type of Decepticon who’s only into violence and destruction. However, he can be easily distracted by Earth’s mindless television entertainment, and he’s been known to be agreeable for hours while watching some of the most vapid and inane TV has to offer, such as reality shows (seriously, I’m not making this up). Decepticons probably have a good time watching American Idol on their giant 500″ screen.

No. 5 Tomorrow… Transform and Roll Out!