February in a even year is a month that is typically loaded with TF purchases. This was the case in 2012 and 2014. 2016 follows this trend. Focus your optics on all the figures below.

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

• Combiner Wars Vortex, Target, $15.29

• Combiner Wars Swindle, Target, $15.29

• Combiner Wars Brawl, Target, $15.29

• Combiner Wars Blast Off, Target, $15.29

• Combiner Wars Onslaught, capturedprey.com, $24

• Combiner Wars Smokescreen, Target, $15.29

• Combiner Wars Trailbreaker, Target, $15.29

• Combiner Wars Hound, Target, $15.29

• Combiner Wars Wheeljack, Target, $15.29

• Combiner Wars Pipes, capturedprey.com, $10

• Combiner Wars Chop Shop, capturedprey.com, $12

• Combiner Wars Buzzsaw, capturedprey.com, $12

• Masterpiece Ironhide, amiami.com, ¥7490 (about $65.37)

• Warbotron Fierce Attack, capturedprey.com, $100

As the first order of business, let’s get the lone Robots in Disguise fig out of the way. I’ve said many times already that I’m not a big fan of RiD offerings, but Fracture is not too shabby. I found him when me and the wife took a long Valentines weekend trip to Santa Barbara. He was located at a Toys R Us, not in Santa Barbara, but at a nearby town. I don’t watch the RiD show, so I generally don’t buy the RiD toys based on any knowledge or impressions of the character. I look strictly at the toy. Fracture got my attention because I have never seen him before this, and he genuinely looked like a solid fig in the box. The alt mode also looked interesting. The figure does not disappoint. Both modes are solid, and the figure is well built. No figure in RiD is ever difficult to transform, and Fracture is no exception. But I do like some of the transforming mechanisms implemented here. Hasbro and Takara has in recent years really improved upon motorcycle Transformers. In years past, the robot mode would either look too skinny, or the motorcycle mode would look too fat. Fracture shares none of these faults. I also like the kick-ass rifle he comes with. Fracture is definitely one of the better figs in the RiD line. Recommended.

February is a return to Combiner Wars figures, and this sub-category accounts for most of the figs this month. Last year we saw the Aerialbots, Stunticons, Protectobots, and some random Autobot cars reworked in CW fashion. The Constructicons got a awesome unique set all on their own in the CW lineup. This leaves the Combaticons as the only combiner team before the G1 Movie to not receive Combiner War treatment. I mentioned so many times that Combaticons are my favorite combiner team that I’m starting to sound like a broken record, so needless to say I was very excited about CW Combaticons.

I found the 4 limb Combaticons on the same Valentines trip (but at Target). Onslaught was bought online. In the end, I wasn’t too surprised by what’s produced. 3 of the figs are reworks of existing molds. Blast Off is repainted from Quickslinger (Slingshot), Vortex is cloned from Alpha Bravo, and Onslaught is reworked from Hot Spot. Blast Off and Vortex are pure repaints from pre-existing figs without any kind of mold changes.

Warning! I am going into rant mode. Skip to bottom to avoid the rant.

Blast Off – there is no excuse for Blast Off. His head design is nothing like Slingshot’s, but that’s what we have in this toy. You might think Hasbro is just being lazy here (which they are), but there is a Japanese version of this figure where Blast Off is in a new distinct mold. That figure transforms into a space shuttle and has the right head mold. I don’t understand Hasbro’s decisions sometimes. I know they like to produce molds that can be repainted numerous times to be a variety of figures, so they do the work once and make money repeatedly afterwards. I totally get that. But a true Blast Off is already produced! So why not just bring that over?! Their stupidity dumbfounds me. Some fans have made an argument that a jet fighter better fits into what should comprise of the Combaticons, and that a jet scales better than a shuttle. That argument is sound. But the head mold is still an issue. Hasbro could have at least took the head off of the Japanese mold and stuck it on the US figure.

Vortex – I should have realized this sooner, but Alpha Bravo’s head is exactly like that of Vortex. So this mold was always meant to be Vortex. Hasbro tactically released Alpha Bravo first so G1 chumps like me would buy both figures; I bought Alpha Bravo because he was a new mold at the time, and then I bought Vortex because he comes from the famous Combaticons. If the order was reversed, I would have ignored Alpha Bravo altogether. This seems to be Hasbro’s strategy recently. Some other recent examples include releasing Titans Return Sentinel Prime before Astrotrain, and Robots in Disguise Paralon before Scorponok. Notice the more famous character of the same mold is released last, while other less famous or even newly made up characters are released first. Damn you Hasbro! This is such a cheap trick that I feel stupid for not recognizing it sooner. I need to be more vigilant on what Hasbro plans to produce.

End of rant

As for Onslaught, he’s a tweak off of Hot Spot. Hasbro made enough differences here that Onslaught feels like a distinct figure. He’s fine enough on his own in alt mode and robot mode, but he suffers from the same issues that Hot Spot has in combined form. As the gestalt’s center, this figure in combined mode has issues with weight distribution and figure cohesiveness. CW Silverbolt is still the best mold for a standard CW gestalt.

The new molds for the Combaticons are Swindle and Brawl. I like them. Both figs are good modern updates and accurately capture Swindle and Brawl in their G1 persona. Of course Hasbro would waste no time repainting these molds. In fact, Swindle would be repainted into Hound in this same month (more on this later). And I believe Brawl is reworked into Nosecone of the CW Technobots.

Like I said, this CW Combaticons team is pretty much what I expected. They repainted these figures so many times now that it wouldn’t be hard to envision any combiner team in these molds. Unless you are partial to Combaticons like me, there isn’t a whole lot of good reasons to buy this set. Just get Swindle and Brawl if you feel you need the new molds. Below are some pics of Combaticons.

The next 4 CW figs are Smokescreen, Trailbreaker, Hound, and Wheeljack. These are ALL repaints. What can I say? I’m a sucker for G1 characters. I buy them in almost any form that Hasbro will make them. Smokescreen is an exact repaint of Prowl, but this is okay since that’s how it was back in G1. Trailbreaker and Hound are cloned from Ironhide and Swindle, respectively, but with new head molds. Wheeljack, while technically a repaint, is the most reworked mold here. In addition to the new head mold, he gets some molding differences in alt mode that makes him feel quite different from Sunstreaker. I won’t go in depth for this group since they’re so similar to figures that have already come before them. Below are pics of this Combiner Wars foursome, not combined.

It’s a good thing these Combiner Wars repaints stopped here. If Hasbro really wanted to, they could do another foursome: Bluestreak from Smokescreen, Sideswipe from Sunstreaker, Hoist from Trailbreaker, and Ratchet from First Aid. I should stop writing here. Don’t want to give Hasbro any more ideas.

Now let’s take a look at the legend size CW figs this month: Pipes, Chop Shop, and Buzzsaw. In G1, Pipes is a Minibot that appeared in Season 3. He might have had cartoon appearances, but I honestly don’t know since Season 3 was so forgettable. I am kinda partial to the character though, because I had the G1 toy. I got him at Lucky, of all places. Mom took me shopping for groceries and she was kind enough to buy it for me. So yeah, that’s why I even bought CW Pipes. Pipes is the 4th character of this mold (after Optimus Prime, Nemesis Prime, and Huffer). Normally that would be a total skip, but I added Pipes to my collection out of pure nostalgia. Chop Shop was a Deluxe Insecticon during G1. His toy appeared in Season 2, but he never made an animated appearance. CW Chop Shop is a repaint of Skrapnel (Shrapnel). In G1 he was not a repaint of anything. I probably could have skipped this purchase as well, but these little bugs are just too cool. Buzzsaw is a brand new mold. Buzzsaw needs on introduction, but everyone just thinks of him as that repaint of Laserbeak. So here is another example of releasing the less known character first, like stated in my rant above. Damn you Hasbro! CW Buzzsaw is a triple changer. He still has his iconic condor mode. For modern day standards, the tape cassette mode is now replaced by a tablet mode. And he gets a new vehicle mode that’s like a car or armored truck kind of thing. Overall, Buzzsaw is a neat little figure, but not a must-buy by any means. Actually, none of these legend figs are must-buys by any stretch of the imagination. Below is a pic of the three of them.

Next on the agenda is a figure that many of us, including myself, have been waiting for: Masterpiece Ironhide! If you are a G1 fan, then you know that Ironhide is one of the most iconic Autobots, behind perhaps only Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. You would also know that in G1, his toy did not really have a robot mode. His cartoon robot mode appearance is something totally made up by the animation creators (same goes for Ratchet, his ambulance repaint). I am glad to report that MP Ironhide is an awesome figure! Both robot and alt mode are faithfully reproduced from the show. Check out a pic of the very cartoon accurate robot mode below!

Now that is Ironhide! Takara has outdone themselves with this figure. I can’t get over how good he looks; it’s like he stepped straight out of the cartoon. Transformation wise, this figure hits it out of the park. He comes packaged in alt mode (see below), and as of this writing I only transformed him once to robot mode. But I remember the transformation being pure genius. Difficulty is just right too for a MP fig. There’s enough complexity going on to satisfy the most hardcore of TransFans, and at the same time not overly difficult or frustrating. In fact this figure is fun to transform. And that’s saying a lot considering both modes look so good. Below is a pic of the back of Ironhide. He’s so kibble free too! Check it out.

In the pic above he’s wearing the rocket boost backpack. If I took that off, he would look even more kibble free. Construction of the figure is perfect. All joints and transformation points are just the right amount of tightness. He also comes with accessories galore. And he comes with a tray to hold those accessories when they’re not in use. The shape of the tray kind of resembles the base of his G1 robot mode. That’s too cool! See the pics below.

MP Ironhide scales nicely with other MPs. Below is a pic of him next to MP Optimus Prime, Streak (aka Bluestreak), Wheeljack, G2 Bumble (aka Bumblebee), and Invisible (aka Mirage).

I can’t recommend MP Ironhide enough. All G1 TransFans need this in their collection. No excuses.

Last but not least, the only 3rd party figure this month is Fierce Attack. This is Warbotron’s homage to Onslaught. That makes this the 2nd Onslaught figure this month. I’m not sure if I have ever bought two of the same character in a single month (not counting if I buy doubles of the same thing)! As of this writing, I haven’t had the chance to spend that much time with Fierce Attack. I transformed him once from alt mode to robot mode, and that’s it. But what I can say is that I like both modes. He’s well built and I don’t detect any obvious weaknesses in construction. Poseability is somewhat limited, but I need to spend more time with the figure to fully verify that assertion. I will report more on Fierce Attack after I get all 5 Warbotron Combaticons. I really liked Sly Strike (Swindle) and Whirlwind (Vortex), and I like what I see so far on Fierce Attack. Below is a pic.

Whew! Last was a long post. I didn’t know there were so many TFs this month until I counted them up. Here are the stats breakdown for the month:

• 1 fig from Robots in Disguise
• 12 figs from Combiner Wars
• 1 Masterpiece fig
• 1 3rd party fig

I am obviously buying way too many Combiner Wars figures. A lot of them are repaints too. By my count, out of the 15 figures total, 9 of them are repaints! That’s way too many. The repaints outnumber the non-repaints 3 to 2. The only non-repaints are Fracture, Swindle, Brawl, Buzzsaw, Ironhide, and Fierce Attack. I seriously need to be more selective about which TFs I buy. I see myself selling some of these figures in the near future. Not because they’re bad, but because I really don’t need repaints of the same thing.

Until next time… 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!

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.

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!

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.

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!

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!

Here is a pic of some random Autobots, mostly from unrelated continuities.

Included in the pic are Transformers Prime Ultra Magnus, Age of Extinction Hound, Age of Extinction Drift, and Robots in Disguise Grimlock. With the exception of Drift and Hound, these Autobots don’t have anything to do with each other. Why am I putting them in one pic? No good reason. I had some Autobots lying around the house in various places. I was about to put these away, but thought I feature them in a group shot before they go in the closet.

Drift and Hound I sort of featured in my last post. Drift is by far my favorite deluxe mold from Age of Extinction. As a whole, AoE toys are disappointing. But Drift is one rare example of a good figure from this crappy line. He looks good in both molds. His transformation is just the right difficulty, not overly simple and not overly complex. Construction of the figure is solid, and while the transforming mechanism is nothing new, in this case it works by following a tried and true formula. Some have complained that Drift falls apart in alt mode. I sincerely believe those with this complaint did not transform him right. Hound is another good one from AoE. He has… count this… 8 weapons included! This has gotta be a record, for a official Hasbro release anyway. The weapons can be combined in many different configurations. Hound can use them all separately, have some of them combine for more firepower, or have them all merge into a giant rifle. The figure itself is also not too shabby. Hound’s alt mode is fairly solid, and the robot mode does a good job of capturing Hound’s big and round appearance from the movie. The transformation of the figure is also fairly unique.

TF Prime Ultra Magnus is a repaint of the Robots in Disguise voyager Optimus of the same line. I think this mold works much better as Magnus. In fact, I feel like this mold was always designed to be Magnus, and for whatever weird reason Hasbro decided to release this mold first as Optimus. The First Edition mold of Optimus is superior anyway for that character, so it works that this mold is used for Magnus. I like how the toy comes with his hammer (I think in the show they called it the Forge of Souls). Too bad the color is not right.. in the show it’s supposed to be gold.

Robots in Disguise Grimlock is the only figure I have from this new line. I don’t know much about the show, but so far I’m not liking the designs. I had the get this figure though, since it’s Grimlock. He’s a fun figure. Among the figs in thie pic, I transformed him the most. Mostly because he’s easy to transform. I like him. I know a lot of hardcore TransFans would probably bash this figure. I see him as something you can just pick up and play. And I feel he does look good in both modes. Articulation is limited however.

Autobots… Transform and Roll Out.

The next Transformers TV show is Transformers: Robots in Disguise. If memory serves, Transformers Animated first came out in 2008, and Transformers Prime was released in late 2011. So a new show now follows this trend where Hasbro presents a TF reboot once every three or so years.

The season 1 trailer appears below.

At first glance the character designs look awfully close to TF Animated. Though looking at it closer, you also see hints of TF Prime. The appearance of Optimus and Bumblebee always seem to include a few designs from the immediate past. At this point, I don’t know if I like these designs. But I know I’ve said that about both TF Animated and TF Prime, and over time they kinda grew on me. Maybe I just need time to digest this new look.

The animation style appears to be cel shading. So I guess the animators are using 3D models, but rendered to have a more cartoony look. Kind of a mix between 2D and 3D. This could work. Another example of a fusion between Animated (2D) and Prime (3D).

Hasbro seems to be continuing the trend of having a small team for the Autobots, like in Animated and Prime. There’s Optimus, who acts like his usual Peter Cullen self. No surprises here. Then there’s Bumblebee. This Bee is back to being able to talk, which I like. The movie blips Bee never really did it for me. His characterization is also reminiscent of G1, but physically he appears tougher. Next in the group is Sideswipe (the red one). His persona reminds me of Hot Rod. I guess he’s the bad boy of the group. Strongarm is the tough and no non-sense fembot of the bunch. She acts like Arcee but has the looks of a female Wheeljack. The Dino muscle on the team is Grimlock, though his colors and behavior more closely resembles Bulkhead. Rounding out the team is Fixit, the small and spunky orange bot who appears to handle medic duties. I dunno, right now I feel like this cast is ripped straight out of a stock character manual. Hopefully I’ll find them more interesting once the show gets going.

Of course with every new show, Hasbro will be making more toys. I’m not aware of any toy info at the moment, but you can bet your boron compressor they will be making their way to store shelves in 2015.

Robots in Disguise… Transform and Roll Out!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Before I say goodbye to 2013, it is time to count up the Transformers for December.

• Generations Thrilling 30 Doubledealer, hasbrotoyshop.com, $15.99

• Generations Thrilling 30 Rhinox, hasbrotoyshop.com, $15.99

• Mech Ideas Apex and Geminus, tfsource.com, $69.95

• Crazy Devy CDMW-34, tfsource.com, $28.00

• Mech Ideas W-01 Longblast Upgrade Kit, tfsource.com, $15.95

• ToyWorld Trace, tfsource.com, $64.95

• Generations Thrilling 30 Ratbat, gift from Gemini

• TF Prime RID Vehicon with custom head, gift from Gemini

2013 ended on a good note with all these TFs! This might be the only month where I had more 3rd party items than offical Hasbro or Takara items. Altogether, there were 8 purchases for 7 figures (Apex and Geminus was one purchase, and add-ons I don’t count as figures). 9 items total, 4 official products and 5 3rd party products.

Doubledealer, Rhinox, and Ratbat I have not opened yet, but will soon. It’s kind of a drag that Doubledealer still has the same mechanical problems as Blitzwing. I was hoping Hasbro would get around to fixing it for Doubledealer, but no such luck. As for Rhinox, I am hearing good things about the figure, so I’m optimistic. Ratbat is a repaint of Generations Scourge. That is a fantastic mold, so I expect this to be good as well.

I haven’t opened the two upgrade kits either, but I plan to do that soon. I need to dig out Hercules, then add this Crazy Devy head to it to check out the LED visor. The Longblast Upgrade Kit is designed to work with RTS Special Ops Jazz. I think I will use this kit on my G2 Jazz of the same mold. But I mostly got this kit for the little Shockwave and Megatron guns. I can’t wait to try those guns with other CHUG figures.

I opened Trace as soon as I got him. I really liked Aurora, so I had to get Trace. ToyWorld did not let me down with this Chase homage. I’m very happy with how Trace turned out. He’s bigger than Aurora. In fact, he’s about the size of standard deluxes that Hasbro used to make in years past, while Aurora is that of the deluxes now in store (which are smaller). Check out pics in my last post for some size comparisons. I like how ToyWorld decided to base Trace on the Lamborghini Urus Concept. He looks pretty accurate to the real thing in alt mode. In robot mode, Trace is nicely proportioned, very poseable, and free of mechanical issues. I highly recommend this figure.

I heard good things about Apex and Geminus from Mech Ideas so I had to get them. At only about 70 bucks for 2 third party figures, they were a really good deal. Anyway, I also give these figures the highest possible recommendation. They are easy to transform and extremely fun to play with. They are obivous homages to G1 Jumpstarters Topspin and Twin Twist. If you need some figures to complete your Wreckers, then look no further. Apex and Geminus are durable and nicely detailed. Obviously they don’t have the original G1 auto transformation gimmick, but as adult TransFans we probably don’t much care for that anyway.

The Vehicon with the custom head is a gift from Gemini. This particular head works great with the Vehicon mold. Since this guy now looks different from the others, I think I’ll make him the Vehicon leader. I now have 6 Vehicons total. Getting a Vehicon as a gift for Christmas appears to be a trend lately. Probably won’t continue for 2014 haha.

OK, now let’s look at some statistics for 2013. Here is the break down:

• 26 figures from Transformers Prime
• 20 figures from Generations Fall of Cybertron (FOC)
• 23 figures from Generations Thrilling 30
• 10 Masterpieces
• 10 3rd Party figures
• 1 Power Core Combiner (PCC)

That’s a grand total of 90 figures for the year. It comes to 7.5 figures a month. This is less than 2012. For me that’s probably a good thing, since I have way too many TFs. I think I have been more selective in what I buy.

Also, I see most of my figs come from Generations. That’s great news, since I love CHUG. Also, Masterpieces and 3rd party figs I choose to buy are all G1 inspired. That means most of my figures are G1 derivatives. What else did you expect from a G1 guy? 🙂

And as far as the stats from month to month, I don’t really see a trend of when I buy the most TFs in 2013. Next year this might change, since it will be a movie year.

On a more personal note, I’m a little sad to be saying goodbye to 2013. This year has been good to me, both personally and professionally. I hope this good fortune will continue into 2014. And as for TFs, we know Hasbro will release a whole mess of figures since TF4 will be due out in the summer. Long time readers of this blog knows that I’m not the biggest fan of Michael Bay TFs (notice that for 2013 I did not buy a single movie TF haha). So I’m somewhat skeptical of the kinds of toys that will be put on the shelves. I just hope they don’t disturb the release of Generations.

Oh, and one more thing, I got some big changes planned for this blog in early 2014, so stay tuned. Happy New Year and long live Transformers! Transform and Roll Out!