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Transformers Purchased in May 2016

January 6th, 2017 1 comment

Some interesting purchases were made in May of 2016. All the TFs that appear below come from different toylines in the TF-verse. And each was acquired from a different source. Let’s take a look.

  • Platinum Edition Autobot Intel Ops, Amazon seller, $51.99

  • Combiners Wars Wreck-Gar, Walmart, $9.97

  • Cyber Battalion Starscream, Toys R Us Shanghai, 99 RMB (about $15.15)

  • Masterpiece Ratchet, amiami.com, ¥7500 (about $69.17)

Blaster and Perceptor are two figures I have always wanted back at the height of G1. They made frequent appearances in the show, and they both had enough personality to establish themselves as popular characters in the TF fandom. Both characters also had significant supporting roles in the G1 Movie (and they both lived through the G1 Movie, which is saying something). Growing up, I have only seen the Perceptor toy in pictures. Neither myself nor any of my friends had the figure. As for Blaster, I knew one kid that had the toy, so I have played with it a bit. As an adult collector, I already have two Perceptor re-issues, both a US version and a Japanese version. As for Blaster, I have one re-issue as well, the 2010 SDCC Exclusive version. All of these re-issues I have in mint condition, never opened. And because of that, they are worth quite a bit of money. I’m never going to open them now. And so I bought this Autobot Intel Ops set with the intention of actually opening them and playing with them. However, once I have this set in my hands, I’m thinking I won’t open this either. Seriously, this set looks so awesome in the box! With the front box flap raised up and looking at the entire set of goodies inside, it is quite an impressive sight to behold! Both Blaster and Perceptor are in their robot modes, along with 3 cassettes (Eject, Ramhorn, and Steeljaw) and all their accessories, all sitting perfectly packaged in the box. And what a deal! I got all this goodness for a mere $52 from an Amazon seller. I first saw this set back in Oct of 2015 at Target, but it was being sold at retail so I passed on it. I should have took a pic of this goodness. Maybe for another post.

Combiner Wars Wreck-Gar is a repaint of the Protectobot legend Groove figure. He may have a new head mold, but my memory on this fig is iffy. For the most part, he’s a straight up repaint. He’s quite rare, which is the only reason I got him. I think I only saw him one other time after this purchase. The fig itself is OK, not great. Buy him if you are a fan of Wreck-Gar, but pass otherwise.

Poor Starscream. He’s the lone Decepticon this month. I outlined my purchase of Cyber Battalion Starscream back in this post, so I won’t repeat it here. At the time of purchase, I did not know about this Cyber Battalion line. It appears this line never made it to the States. That’s a shame. I wish I bought the other figs in this line when I got CB Starscream in Shanghai.

Last but not certainly not least, we have Masterpiece Ratchet. This is the 4th Masterpiece figure in as many months. I have opened the box, but to this day I still not have taken the figure out of the box. I only opened the package to make sure all the contents are inside. My buddy Gemini got one where once piece was missing. Take a look at MP Ratchet in the package below.

I’m gonna assume MP Ratchet is every bit as impressive as MP Ironhide. I give the Ironhide the highest possible recommendation, and I expect Ratchet to be just as good. I plan to spend some time with Ratchet real soon, and I will give my final thoughts in a future post. But seriously, I will be real surprised is he’s somehow inferior to Ironhide in any way, shape, or form.

No third party items were acquired this month, but some good ones will be presented next month. So stay tuned. Transform and Roll Out.

Categories: On The Hunt, Pics

Transformers On My Shelf, June 2013

June 11th, 2013 Comments off

The “active” TFs on my shelf have changed somewhat from the last time I did a post like this. So here they are. Most of the figs on the shelf are new for this post. Some are the same as last time, with some of them in a different mode.

Same pic, different angle.

From left to right
Top shelf, back row: FOC Blaster (with Steeljaw inside), FOC Omega Supreme, FOC Air Raid (on Omega’s shoulder), FOC Grimlock, TFP Beast Hunters Optimus Prime
Top shelf, front row: Generations Springer, FOC Starscream, FansProject Car Crash, FansProject T-Bone, TFP Rumble, TFP Beast Hunters Smokescreen
Middle shelf: TFP Breakdown, TFP Dreadwing, TFP Shockwave, TFP Beast Hunters Starscream, TFP Jet Vehicon General
Bottom shelf: TFP Beast Hunters Soundwave, MP Soundwave (with Laserbeak insde), FOC Soundblaster (with Buzzsaw inside)

All these TFs are excellent. There’s not a single one on here that I would not recommend.

I believe all the figures on here are 2013 purchases, with the exception of Breakdown and Dreadwing (which were late 2012). The middle shelf appears to be a TF Prime Decepticon shelf, and the bottom shelf is a turning into a Soundwave exclusive shelf. Maybe I should add a few more Soundwave figs here.

The most recent acquisition displayed here is Springer. I have only transformed him from robot to car, but I can already say that he’s AWESOME! I can’t wait to do the heli mode next. He must be reviewed and I intend to do one.

Transform and Roll Out.

Categories: Pics

Transformers Purchased in March 2013

March 31st, 2013 6 comments

When people say March, I think March Madness. It is my favorite time of year as far as sports go. The NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship has my full attention once it gets going. Especially when UCLA does well. But even when my alma mater makes a surprisingly early exit (like this year) or fail to make the tournament altogether (like last year), I still follow it closely to see how well my bracket does in the office pool, or whatever other pools I happen to participate.

As for Transformers, there was a madness this March as well. I didn’t think I was going to get this many TFs this month. In fact, I was kind of counting on a TF drought. So it was a total shock when I added up all the March figures when the end of the month was coming. Ever since I started tracking my purchases every month, this was the 3rd most action packed month, behind only February 2012 and October 2012. I was fairly busy this month too, which makes me wonder when I even had the time to hunt for these TFs. But whatever. Feast your optic sensors on the Transformers below.

  • Generations Fall of Cybertron Blaster and Steeljaw, Walmart, $22.96

  • Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Smokescreen, Walmart, $15.47
  • Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Bulkhead, Walmart, $15.47

  • Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Starscream, Target, $15.99
  • Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Ripclaw, Walmart, $12.97

  • Generations Fall of Cybertron Eject and Ramhorn, Target, $9.99
  • Generations Fall of Cybertron Rewind and Sunder, Target, $9.99

  • Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Trailcutter, Target, $8.99
  • Transformers Prime RID Rumble, Ross, $5.99

  • Transformers Prime Arms Micron Jet Vehicon General, amiami.com, about $23 shipped

  • FansProject Car Crash, bbts.com, $59.99
  • FansProject T-Bone, bbts.com, $59.99

  • Year of the Snake Fall of Cybertron Omega Supreme, bbts.com, $99.99

As you can see, that’s a lot of TFs! Especially since I wasn’t expecting all that much. 7 figures came out of Fall of Cybertron, 7 figures from TF Prime, and 2 independents from FansProject. That makes a total of 16. Certainly a busy month to say the least.

Problem with buying so many TFs in one month is that you just don’t have time to process all of them. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but recently I have become backlogged in opening my Transformers. I’m almost wishing for a TF drought, so I would have the time to properly give each figure the time that it deserves.

As of this writing, I have only opened 4 figures of the 16: Smokescreen, Bulkhead, Car Crash, and T-Bone. I’ll open the rest sooner or later, preferably sooner.

I highly recommend Smokescreen. Bulkhead is ok. Buy him if you got the money to spare, but if you’re on a tight budget then you may want to reconsider.

Car Crash and T-Bone are both smaller than I expected. Early reports of these latest FansProject offerings is that they’re somewhere between scout and deluxe size. They were right. In robot mode they are exactly between these 2 sizes, and in car mode they’re barely bigger than scout. So at $59.99 each, I don’t think they are good value. Also, transformation from robot to car is kind of a pain in the boron compressor. They’re not complex figures, but getting all the tabs to line up to connect takes some effort. They are not figures that I can transform fast for that reason. Still, the figures do look good. They are well articulated and well built. I’ll reserve final thoughts about them after I see the combined Menasor mode.

The only repeat purchase here is RID Rumble. I know I said no more doubles, but I got him purely for the extra pile drivers that I will put on AM Rumble. Besides, he’s so cheap at $5.99. Yes I broke the rule. Sue me.

Year of the Snake FOC Omega Supreme is huge! This is Omega done right! I look forward to some quality time with this piece.

So that’s it for March. There’s a lot more that I wanna talk about, but I think I need to go open these TFs first. Til then, let the March Madness continue. Transform and Roll Out!

Categories: On The Hunt, Pics

My Human Alliance Collection

October 20th, 2011 2 comments

Today I’m showing off all my Human Alliance TFs. They’re called that because each TF comes with a human figure. All HA TFs are of the Movie-verse. Hasbro started this in ROTF. I don’t have that many. Here they are in a group pic.

The following are my scout class HA figs, all from DOTM.

Tailpipe and Pinpointer, with Sergeant Noble
Tailpipe is the black motorcyle, and Pinpointer acts as his Targetmaster weapon. The pic above has Tailpipe in robot holding Pinpointer as a weapon, while in the first pic, Sergeant Noble is riding Tailpipe as a bike while Pinpointer is a robot standing to the side. This figure is alright. Tailpipe is not a bad figure with both decent robot and alt modes. But Pinpointer is very poorly constructed. I like him as a weapon, but his robot mode is a joke. It’s difficult to place Sergeant Noble on Tailpipe to make it look like he’s riding. Attaching Pinpointer as a weapon on Tailpipe in bike mode also takes some work.

Sandstorm, with Private Dedcliff
In my opinion, this is the best of the HA scout figs. Sandstorm has both a spectacular dune buggy alt mode and a balanced robot mode. He’s well constructed and he holds poses well. Transformation is refreshing for a scout class figure. There’s good amount of detail too. Getting Private Dedcliff to ride in the dune buggy is also easy since there’s plenty of room and the roll cage can be lifted to get him in. If you can only get one one scout class HA fig, get this one. When the DOTM toys came out, this was one of the first TFs that I got and that was a good decision.

Whirl, with Major Sparkplug
Whirl is not too bad. I like him a little better than Tailpipe, but he’s not as good as Sandstorm. I like the helicopter mode. The chest area is a tad bulky in robot mode, and he appears as if he’s on skis. Transformation is fun. Major Sparkplug can fit inside the helicopter without too much trouble. I’m pretty sure this Sparkplug is an homage to the G1 character in name only.

Technically, all the scout class HA figs are triple changers. They all have a 3rd “weapon mode”. However, this 3rd mode doesn’t really do it for me. It seems like the toy designers simply chose some halfway configuration between the alt and robot modes and called it a 3rd mode. I usually don’t bother with this weapon mode.

Below are the full size HA figs.

Leadfoot and Steeljaw, with Sergeant Detour
Leadfoot is the red Target Impala. I like the alt mode. The sports cars is nice and sleek. He rolls well on a flat surface and all the pieces come together well. However, getting Sergeant Detour inside takes some work. There’s not enough area inside for the legs. Leadfoot has probably got one of the worst robot modes in recent TF memory. And because of that, I can’t really recommend this figure too much. Steeljaw is the robot dog next to him. He turns into a weapon.

Bumblebee, with Sam Witwicky
These two partners need no introduction. Some fans have argued that this is the best Movie Bumblebee figure ever made, while others think this figure is pure crap because of how the seats appear on the arms in robot mode. Personally I can’t decide which is the best Movie Bumblebee figure. They each have their strengths and weaknesses. But as for me, I like the HA figure. I have no complaints about the alt mode, and in robot mode the seat issue is not nearly as distracting as some fans make it out to be. If I’m forced to pick one, I probably choose deluxe Battle Blade Bumblebee from ROTF as the best Movie Bumblebee. But the HA figure would be a close second. The human figure looks kinda like Sam too so that’s a plus.

Jazz, with Captain Lennox
HA Jazz is without a doubt the best Movie Jazz made, and to my knowledge this is something most fans agree on. The deluxe Movie Jazz is a horrible figure. HA Jazz has none of those weaknesses. He’s got both a solid alt mode and a robust robot mode. This figure comes with a bike for Captain Lennox, and the bike becomes a weapon for Jazz in robot mode. He does have one weakness in car mode. There’s too much stuff underneath the vehicle, so on a flat surface there will be other things touching the ground in addition to the wheels. As a result he does not roll well, but that’s a small gripe. The Captain Lennox figure leaves a lot to be desired though. He looks nothing like Josh Duhamel.

Roadbuster, with Sergeant Recon
Roadbuster is the green Chevy Impala. He is by far the most difficult HA figure that I have come across. In fact, I think the difficulty here rivals most Binaltechs and Alternators. The HA figure is way better than the deluxe. He’s got a good alt mode and a good robot mode so definitely pick him up, but smaller kids will most likely need help to transform the guy. He’s also quite large when he’s standing in robot mode. If you can only get one HA fig from DOTM, get this one.

I really should have took pics of these guys in robot form, but I was too lazy to transform them all. Oh, BTW, all of these are Autobots. I think some Decepticon HA figures are slated for later, but we’ll see. Transform and Roll Out!

Categories: Pics, Toy Reviews

Happy Chinese New Year! Top 15 TF Cats: No. 5

February 24th, 2010 Comments off

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. 5.

No. 6 appears here.

Number 5: Steeljaw
Series: G1
Allegiance: Autobot
Sub-Group: Mini-cassettes
Function: Tracker
Cat Alt Mode: Lion

For the first two seasons of the G1 animated series, Soundwave was the only TF to have transforming cassette minions. My friends and I always wondered why Blaster didn’t have any, and this really gave Soundwave an unfair advantage if the two met in a duel. Then came the G1 Movie, which I watched in the theaters. The scene where Rumble and the other cassettes invaded Blaster’s communication chamber, I thought him and Perceptor were goners. And then, totally unexpected, Blaster launches his own cassettes! I think at the time, I almost jumped out of my seat cheering. Steeljaw was one of these cassettes, and needless to say this was his first appearance in G1. Steeljaw is among the Autobot’s best trackers. When he’s on a tracking mission, he is so focused that fellow Autobots consider him cold, even rude. But he is just as concerned about this allies as any other Autobot. Steeljaw later made regular appearances in season 3, including joining the “primitive” team to battle Tornedron and accompanying a revived Optimus Prime to recover metal that is immune to the Hate Plague. I listed lion as his alt mode just to be consistent to my other posts, but in fact this mode is the robot mode (the alt mode being the cassette). Supposedly, he had a robot mode on Cybertron, but chose to reformat this mode to resemble Earth’s lion to better suit his function. It appears that Steeljaw will be re-issued with Blaster and his other cassettes later this year. I must have this.

No. 4 Tomorrow… Transform and Roll Out!

Categories: Uncategorized