The end of the month is upon us once again. The time has come to count up the TFs my friends. What kind of damage did I do in May? Let’s find out…

• TF Prime RID Hot Shot, Target, $12.99

• Alternity Megatron, Craigslist, $45

• PCC Searchlight, CVS Pharmacy, $8.29

• TF Prime RID Bulkhead, Walmart, $19.96
• TF Prime RID Starscream, Target, $19.99

• TF Prime RID Knock Out, Target, $12.89

• TF Prime Zombie Cliffjumper, about $35

This feels like a typical month as far as TF purchases go, not too many and not too few. 5 figs come from Transformers Prime, which is what I would expect at this point in time. 1 PCC and 1 Alternity rounds out the rest. As of this writing, I opened all of these except the 2 Japanese releases: Alternity Megatron and TF Prime Zombie Cliffjumper.

I bought Alternity Megatron off some dude that posted an ad on Craigslist. For this fig, Takara also made a blue one and a black one. But being the G1-er that I am, I had to get the silver, no exceptions. The asking price was $50. I offered $45 and the dude took it. I remember at Wondercon in 2010, a dealer had the same fig for $50. I thought about buying it, but couldn’t make up my mind. This was around lunch time. I said to my friend Gemini that we’ll go to lunch, and if the figure was still there when we return, I’ll take that as a sign and buy it. So we go eat at the nearby Jollibee, and when we came back to the con, Megatron was gone. I was not destined to have Megatron that day. But finding it 2 years later for cheaper is what fate had in stored for me. Just goes to show, sometimes when things don’t work out, it just isn’t meant to be and something better will come along later. Who says life lessons can’t apply to TFs? 🙂

As for the Japanese TF Prime Zombie CJ, Gemini ordered this from a online retailer. We both had to have this since we both missed out on a First Edition CJ. Zombie CJ is the same mold, just all zombified. Most fans seem to suggest that the FE CJ mold is so much better than the RID mold, so I look forward to opening this soon. Another CJ figure for my Cliffjumper collection.

I opened the remaining figures. RID Hot Shot is a repaint of RID Bumblebee with a different head. I like his colors, and I think his goggle gimmick is pretty cool. RID Knock Out is also a very good figure. I like both his car mode and robot mode, and his transformation is quite refreshing. I think Knock Out is actually one of the harder figures from the TF Prime RID deluxe line, but I only transformed him once so far so this assessment may change.

As for the TF Prime RID Voyager figures, I like Bulkhead. I like his alt mode, no issues here. As for his robot mode, overall it’s not too bad. Some fans complain about his wings on the back, but I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. The only thing that really bug me about Bulkhead is his weapon. It has a cool MechTech feature where pulling the switch back moves the spinning ball forward, but the weapon just looks awful when placed on either the vehicle or the robot. Hasbro really believes that we fans love MechTech. Personally, I could do without MechTech if it means getting a better figure (which is basically what First Editions are). Speaking of First Editions, I bought a FE Bulkhead on eBay and it should arrive next month. As for Voyager Starscream, I can’t really recommend this figure. This is hard to explain in words, but something about this figure just seems off. Maybe it’s because the FE was so impressive. A lot of fans complain about the scale too. If you can only get one, definitely get the FE.

That only leaves the 1 PCC figure, Searchlight. I got this near the middle of the month around Mothers Day. I only got Searchlight because there wasn’t any other new TFs to buy at the time. Plus I had a bunch of coins that I needed to take to Coinstar. With that voucher, I had more than enough for Searchlight. I’m really glad I decided to buy him. He’s one of the better PCCs in my opinion. Also, I don’t have that many helicopter TFs, so I’m happy to add more. I only have one gripe where in robot mode his shoulders don’t really lock into place, but that’s a small complaint.

That about covers it. TFs in the month of May. Will I ever have a month where I don’t buy any TFs? Not something I wanna think about.

Transform and Roll Out!

Back in August of 2011, I reviewed the Kre-O Starscream set in jet mode. Now I’m gonna review the robot mode, 9 months later. As I mentioned in the jet mode review, Kre-O figures do not transform, which is a shame. In December of last year, I took apart the jet mode and built the robot mode. Here we go with the review.

Starscream looks quite nice in robot mode. I like the level of detail. His appearance in this mode is obviously G1 inspired, with the intake on the shoulders, the cockpit down the chest, and the wings on the back. The overall shade of grey with red and blue touches here and there is also very G1. And if you still need further evidence of his G1 roots, just check out the head. With the exception of Masterpiece and CHUG Starscreams, the Kre-O has the most G1-looking head of all the Starscreams made. I like the weapons on each arm. They don’t really resemble his G1 null rays, but they got a charm of their own. On his right arm there appear to be twin machine guns, and on the left arm there are a cluster of 4 missiles. Don’t mess with Screamer!

The robot mode uses a lot less pieces than the jet mode. I’m just estimating here, but I would say there are around 30 unused pieces in robot mode.

Starscream in robot mode is quite poseable. He’s got joints at the shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, ankles, and neck. With the exception of the elbows and knees, all joints I listed are on ball joints. For a building block toy, the level of poseability is impressive. Check out some pics below.

Here are some pics of the back. The wings can be moved forward and back. The thrusters on the upper back can also be raised and lowered.

Here is a shot for size comparison. As you can see, the Kre-O figure is pretty large.

For the robot mode, I do have a gripe about the joints. Like I mentioned already, I had this in robot mode since December. At first the joints felt really tight, and the figure can hold poses well. I didn’t play with him all that much between now and then, just had him posed on the shelf this whole time. Now the hip joints feels quite loose. Kre-O Starscream does weigh a little more than your average TF, and over time it does feel like the joints won’t support the weight. If you decide to build the robot mode, I would recommend that you don’t have him posed in robot mode for too long. I’m going to take this apart soon and store it in the box. Maybe in the future when I build the robot again, the joints would be ok. But this is not something I can confirm at this time.

Also, the quality of the head piece feels poor. I mentioned how I like that it’s G1, but the detail on the face looks pretty bad. The helmet portion also looks like it could be sharper. I know it’s hard to see from my pics, but believe me that the head could look better. This is nowhere near the quality of Masterpiece head molds, which is about the same size for Starscream. Perhaps a customizer can swap a Masterpiece head onto the Kre-O.

Between the robot mode and jet mode, I definitely like the jet mode better. Overall it feels more solid, and uses more pieces. The robot mode’s not bad, but if I can only pick one I would build the jet mode.

The Kre-O Starscream set can be found fairly cheap now at many places. I’ve seen it for about $20 at Walmart. My friend Gemini said he found his for $10. At these prices I would definitely recommend the set if you like building block toys. It doesn’t transform, but you got two modes to build, and all pieces are fully compatible with other building block toys out there, like Legos and Megabloks. I’m hoping in the future, Hasbro will come out with Kre-Os that can really transform. Perhaps I will design a Starscream figure that can transform, using these Kre-O pieces with Legos. That sounds like a fun project. I might try that when I have some time. Transform and Roll Out!

I am a big fan of War For Cybertron. Later this year, perhaps around fall, the sequel Fall of Cybertron will be released. But what’s even better is that there will be figures from FOC! Just like WFC, figures from the sequel will be released in the Generations line.

The following pics are previews of all the deluxe figures planned for FOC. While we only got 5 figures from WFC (Optimus, Megatron, Bumblebee, Soundwave, Cliffjumper), we’re gonna get so much more for FOC! That’s right TransFans. Hasbro loves you. They’re even doing a combiner team that really combines! No release dates are given yet, but most likely the 1st wave will hit store shelves around the same time as the game. Fall of 2012 will be the Fall of Cybertron! Hey, that makes me wonder if there are seasons on Cybertron.

All pics are courtesy of the Transformers Facebook page.

Jazz

Optimus Prime

Shockwave

Blast Off

Brawl

Onslaught

Swindle

Vortex

Bruticus

Kickback

Starscream

Sideswipe

Ultra Magnus

Fireflight

Fireflight doesn’t look right to me. I think this figure makes a better Strafe, with that head mold, alt mode, and the colors. But I like Aerialbots too, so I can live with it.

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting all of them. Transform and Roll Out!

Happy Holidays! I hope everyone got what they wanted this Holiday season. There’s no better way to celebrate the Holidays than to get some new TFs! OK maybe there are, but new TFs are worth celebrating any time of the year. Below are some TFs that I received or found in the past week or so.

The pic above are the 3 Transformers Prime figures that are now out in mass retail. I went into TF Prime figures in this earlier post.

TRU Exclusive Rodimus appears in the lower left in the pic above. I have yet to open this, and I’m hoping this version is equivalent to the Japanese MP Rodimus Prime 2nd Release since the 1st Release is not without its faults. It will be interesting to see if this US version can attach the Japanese trailer in alt mode. In the lower right of the pic is PCC Double Clutch. Haven’t opened this either, but he seems promising for a PCC. In the upper left is the Walmart Exclusive Deluxe DOTM Optimus Prime. I opened this figure and he’s not half bad. The alt mode comes together well, transformation is not overly difficult, and I like the MechTech weapon. And last but not least, in the upper right is Skywarp. Did any of you out there think this is the Japanese Exclusive Takara DOTM Skywarp? Look carefully. It is inside the Japanese packaging, but it is actually a custom made by my buddy Gemini. He took a DOTM Deluxe Starscream and painted it into Skywarp. Very cool. Look for a review of this custom in a future post.

And finally, yesterday I found some Generations Junkheap. Wreck-Gar was such a pain in the ass to find when he was released. In fact, I didn’t find any in retail until this past November at discount stores. So I kept my eyes open for Junkheap. Last year a new Target opened near my home in SoCal that is within walking distance. I had some free time yesterday so I walked over. The trip paid off with these 2 Junkheaps.

This is probably the last post I will make for 2011. Looking back on 2011, I think I bought a record number of TFs for the year. It’s hard to say what Hasbro has in stored for us next year, but I’m curious to find out. See y’all in 2012! Transform and Roll Out!

As a fan of Transformers since 1984, I’m always excited to see new developments and new initiatives in the franchise. Even back in G1, Transformers did not feel the same from season to season. With every new season, Hasbro introduced us to more characters, more stories, more transforming gimmicks, and of course, more toys. In retrospect, some of the things that Hasbro developed were pretty forgettable. But as true fans we still eagerly anticipated what Hasbro would come up with next.

I stopped buying TFs in 1988, and never imagined I would come back to it in 2004. During this 16 year “hiatus”, I’m only vaguely aware of developments that occurred in the world of TF. But since I came back in 2004, I witnessed growth and maturation in the franchise that I never dreamed possible. What brought me back in 2004 were G1 re-issues. It didn’t take me long to move to Binaltechs, Alternators, and MPs, being that they were direct extensions of G1. I was so impressed with the engineering put into these figures, I could not believe what I had in my hands. From there I collected whatever was in mass retail at the time, including Classics (in all forms of CHUG), Titanium, Movie (all 3), Animated, and even Crossovers. I have watched TFs actively evolve in the 7 years since my return, and I’m always thrilled to see what will be the next step in the evolution of TF.

And that brings me to Transformers Prime. In case you don’t already know, Transformers Prime is the latest animated series in this long running franchise. The show is a reboot of our favorite robots in disguise, and it draws inspiration from many of its predecessors, including G1, Movie, and Animated. To this day, I’ve only watched 14 eps (I know I’m behind), but I can already say that this is a series worthy of the Transformers name.

It goes without saying that, with the creation of every new show, the figures won’t be far behind. Although the influence from previous shows is obvious, TF Prime makes some radical changes in character design. Off the top of my head, Arcee, Starscream, and Soundwave are some prominent examples of characters that look vastly different from their previous incarnations. How this was going to translate to the actual figures remained to be seen. Toy engineers at Hasbro certainly had a challenge on their hands.

TF Prime figures appeared in online stores sometime in October (possibly even earlier). I started to see them in local retail this week. The first 3 figures in Wave 1 is now readily available. Taking a cue from the Japanese TF lines, figures in TF Prime are all numbered. 001 is Bumblebee, 002 is Arcee, and 003 is Starscream. In October, NYCC had an exclusive TF Prime 2-pack of Bumblebee and Arcee, repaints of 001 Bumblebee with New York taxi colors and patterns and 002 Arcee in her G1 pink. I wasted no time buying this set from Hasbrotoyshop.com when I learned of it. Then sometime this week I found 003 Starscream at my TRU. So I now possess the first 3 molds of TF Prime.

I’ve opened all 3 figures, so let me just say this now: Transformers Prime figures are awesome! I didn’t think it would be easy to translate the “TF Prime look” into real physical manifestations and still have working figures with both robot and alt modes resemble their show appearance, but Hasbro designers have outdone themselves. The engineering put into these figures is brilliant. Arcee and Starscream is particularly impressive, considering their skinny robot frames and sleek alt modes. Transformation of these two figures are both refreshing and ingenious. Bumblebee ain’t too shabby either, it’s just that we’ve seen similar figures of this quality from the Movie deluxe figures of the same name. But don’t let that stop you from buying one. If these 3 figs are a sign of things to come from the TF Prime line, then I’m looking forward to some great things.

But enough yapping from me. Check out the pics below for yourselves.

I may do reviews of these outstanding figures in the future. But if you don’t already have them, get them before they’re swiped off the shelves. Make no mistake. TF Prime figures are the real deal. Transform and Roll Out!

At BotCon 2011 I first learned about Kre-O, Hasbro’s entry into the building block toys such as Lego and Mega Blocks. Transformers is one of Hasbro’s most successful franchises so it makes sense for them to first market Kre-O replicating toys and characters of the popular robots in disguise. As a kid I loved playing with Lego. I had quite an impressive Lego collection growing up, with sets mostly from the Lego Town and Space lines, and some from the Castle and Technic lines. I had to leave many of these sets behind when we moved to the United States. Only some of my absolute favorites were brought with me, and today they’re sitting in a closet somewhere.

I still played with Legos after the move and I even bought some sets here, but then I also got into Transformers. My parents, being strict as they were, didn’t buy me a whole lot of Transformers. And so I built many of them out of Legos. Its too bad I didn’t take pics of my creations. I remember building a Metroplex that was pretty G1 accurate, for Lego standards anyway. He was fully transformable too. I studied his design from a TF catalog since I never had the figure. Metroplex is kind of a blocky character, a good choice to do in Lego.

Anyway, when I saw the Kre-O at BotCon, I couldn’t have been more thrilled. This is a combination of two of my favorite kinds of toys. Many people were looking at Kre-O at the Con and it sure appears that Hasbro generated a lot of interest with these sets. Of course, the obvious question that was on everyone’s tongue was if these sets could transform. At the Con it was unclear if they would, and Hasbro reps seemed to be dodging the question every time it was asked. We now know that Kre-O sets DO NOT TRANSFORM. You build one mode, take it apart, then build the other mode. In some ways this was kind of a letdown. TFs that don’t transform… maybe they should have called them Kre-O Actionmasters. But regardless, I was still intrigued by the notion of TFs made from building blocks, even if they did not transform.

The second questions that was on many people’s mind was how are the quality of the blocks themselves. I don’t have any Mega Blocks, but many online reviews have suggested they’re crap. Blocks that don’t stick together are reported often. Blocks that don’t fit is another popular complaint. Hasbro went the route of doing the blocks themselves instead of partnering with Lego. So it was anyone’s guess how the Kre-O blocks would turn out.

Less than two weeks ago Amazon had the Starscream set on sale for slightly more than $20. I figured this was the perfect time to find out about these sets for myself, so I got one. It took me about two hours to put this together. It wasn’t too difficult, the hardest part was probably finding the pieces (there are 316 in the set). If you’re used to building Legos than you won’t have any problems. I haven’t really built anything since I was 12 so I thought I might be rusty, but it didn’t feel that way at all. I guess some things you never forget, like riding a bike. Anyway, here it is.

The jet itself is quite amazing to hold in your hands once complete. The size is impressive, easily on par with a Leader class or Masterpiece figure (I go into size comparison below). There’s also some good weight to the finished figure. In jet mode he used almost all 316 pieces. There was only about 7 or 8 pieces that wasn’t used, 1 being the head and 2 being the hands. As far as quality goes, these pieces felt just like Legos to me. Everything fits just right, and with some minor exceptions, everything locks into place. The jet is very robust and it can withstand reasonable rough play. The core of the figure is very solid and I really don’t see any construction issues. The design on the layout of the pieces is on par with anything Lego has come up with, and so the jet is not likely to fall apart. Hasbro has done a pretty good job with the mechanics of this set in jet mode.

This Starscream is obviously G1 inspired. The shape of the wings suggest that he is an F-15. The colors are also true to the G1 incarnation with a base of light grey and bits of blue and red. Overall there’s quite a bit of detail for a building block figure.

I applied all the decals on him. The stripes on the wings are decals. The Decepticon emblem and markings near the cockpit are also decals. Once applied, they stick tight to the building pieces so you don’t have to worry about them falling off. However, I should point out that when I first opened the set, one decal was kind of falling off the sticker sheet. It was one of the long stripe patterns for the wings. Hasbro could probably use better QC in this area.

Here is a shot of the back. I like how they implemented the rear thrusters and I like the way they look. The tail fins are angled. This is done by placing them on hinged pieces. So you can also position them straight up if you want to.

There are landing gears on the jet and they are retractable. See the two shots below.

In these pics of the bottom, you can see that Starscream has more than enough missiles on the wings to punish some hapless Autobots running for their lives on the ground. The missile pieces are attached to the wings, but they can be a little loose and they come off the jet more easily than all the other pieces. But this is not an issue when the jet is only used for display.

The above shows that you can open the cockpit and insert Kre-Ons or Lego minifigs into it. Only the rear cockpit piece can be opened. One gripe that I have here is that it’s hard to place the Kre-Ons into the seat (more on the Kre-Ons later). The black pilot fig is designed to fit, but getting him in there can take some work, even if you choose to take apart the front cockpit piece first. If you want to get the Starscream Kre-On in there, you have to first remove the back wing piece (like standard Lego minifig backpacks) and his arm cannons. Another gripe I have about the cockpit is that it’s hard to get the two cockpit pieces to align with each other. Getting one piece in place is likely to pop off the other piece. It takes some fidgeting to get them flush.

Above is a pic for size comparison with the Kre-O next to Classics Starscream. The Kre-O is obviously much bigger. I don’t have MP Starscream handy or I would’ve took a pic with the Kre-O next to it, but I suspect the Kre-O is a bit longer than the Masterpiece figure in jet mode. Notice I built the Decepticon emblem on the wings so that the crown is towards the rear. This is how I prefer it to look. Hasbro can’t seem to make up their mind when it comes to the orientation of the wing emblem. Half the time they go one way and half the time they go the opposite way. The instructions does indicate you should build them the other way, like how they appear with Classic Starscream in the pic. But the cool thing about Kre-O is that the Decepticon emblem sticker is placed on a square piece, so you can easily rotate the piece to suit your preference.

There is one more feature I want to point out. The set does come with a ladder piece that can be used in jet mode for display. See the pic above on the back of the box.

And of course there are the Kre-Ons. A lot of people buy these purely for the Kre-Ons. On Ebay, auctions for the Kre-On figs alone can fetch a decent price, testament to their popularity. This set comes with two, a Starscream Kre-On and a black pilot fig. Kre-Ons are exactly the same size as Lego minifigs. The only key difference in construction is that Kre-On legs are on ball joints so you can move them pretty much any way you like. Lego minifigs on the other hand can only rotate the legs forward and backwards. Kre-On hand size is the same as Lego minifigs, so you can probably give them Lego accessories. Head size is also the same, so feel free to swap hair or helmets to your heart’s content.

To summarize, I’ll just quickly point out some pros and cons.

PROS:
• Great value at MSRP of $29.99. You get 316 pieces and a similar Lego set would cost you about $40 to $45. Amazon has this set on sale often at barely over $20.
• Lego quality pieces! No crappy Mega Blocks here.
• You can build 2 modes. I only built the jet mode here, but don’t forget there’s still the robot mode.
• Fully compatible with Legos and Mega Blocks.
• Jet mode is robust and solid.
• Easy to follow color instructions that explains how to build both modes.

CONS:
• Does not transform.
• Missile pieces a tad loose.
• Difficult to proprely align cockpit pieces.
• One sticker came half-way off the sticker sheet.
• I got one wrong piece, it came in a different color than it was supposed to. In all the Lego sets that I bought, I never had any missing or wrong pieces. See if you can spot the wrong color piece in the pics above. 🙂

As for that last gripe above, I realize that Hasbro just started in the Kre-O business so I’m not going to complain too much. And I found that they will supply replacement pieces. I’ve provided a handy link here if any of you need it.

My final verdict is that I highly recommend the Starscream Kre-O set. I did point out some weaknesses, but there are way more positives here. If you are a Lego fan, or if you are a TransFan that like putting things together, then do yourself a favor and buy this. I know it doesn’t transform and that’s a shame. But if you approach this as more of a Lego toy then you won’t be disappointed. Hopefully in the future Hasbro will produce Kre-O sets that can really transform.

I will be taking this apart sometime soon and build the robot mode. Until then… Transform and Roll Out!

EDIT 09/14/2011:
Hasbro sent me the replacement piece. It took several weeks but it got here eventually. Thank you Hasbro!