I ordered my Transformers Collector’s Club Subscription Service toys on September 23, 2012 and a mere 272 days, nearly nine months, later I got my first figure.  Yeah, par for the course.

Random thought.  Anyone out there become pregnant and have a baby between ordering and receiving this figure?  Apparently it takes the same amount of time to make this toy as to make a human being.

Seriously…

In fairness to Fun Publications, they claim that this was a screw up on Hasbro’s end (not sure if that was actually at Hasbro or at the factory, but that is essentially the same thing).  That very well might be true.  However, with their past history of almost never meeting a deadline with the club figures, it’s very hard (more like impossible) to give them the benefit of the doubt.  It very well could be the case that it actually wasn’t their fault.

However, having said that, wouldn’t you think they would ship everyone all their figures at once since we’ve been waiting six months?  I mean, we should have gotten the fifth or sixth figure this month, and instead we’re getting the first.  We’ll be paying for next year’s figures before we’ve gotten all of this year’s toys at this rate.  They should have shipped out all figures and given a shipping discount for the screw up.  While it may not have been their screw up, Fun Pub is the seller, and they have a responsibility to their customers, regardless of whose mistake it was.  The buck stops with them.  They should have at least offered people the option of saving shipping costs and getting them all at once.

Unfortunately, this is what I’ve come to expect from Fun Pub, so I am not surprised at all.

On to the toy.

Transformers Collector’s Club Subscription Service Deluxe Scourge

Vehicle Mode: I have to give Fun Pub credit where it’s due.  This is one nice looking toy.  He’s got great paint apps, and the coloring is great, accept for his side windows.  I know the side windows can’t be translucent red, but they should have painted them black.  It’s a minor thing, but it looks odd with the red side windows.

Robot Mode: In robot mode his paint job is even better.  Lots of intricate paint apps, especially on his head.  They really did a great job painting his head.  It looks phenomenal.

I’m not a huge fan of the upside down G2 symbols.  I know the Japanese Car Robots Black Convoy had them, but the USA Scourge didn’t.  I have this feeling that they only did it this way to appeal to fans in Japan, where they are now selling toys via eHobby.  I’m sure there are some fans in the USA who like the use of the upside down G2 symbol, but I just don’t get it.  If they wanted him to be the Japanese version, why isn’t he called Black Convoy?  Also, it should be noted that the Car Robots Black Convoy had the logos on his shoulders.  With this toy in robot mode, the doors hang upside down from his arms making the symbols right side up.  This makes the upside down symbols pointless.  Also, I’m not sure why they did an outline, Car Robots Black Convoy had purple symbols.

To sum up, this is a really beautiful looking toy that I think will be one of the most popular from this year’s subscription service.  Unfortunately, it’s conceptually flawed.  It wants to be both the Japanese and USA version of the original toy at the same time, and ends up being neither.

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Transformers GT Optimus Prime & Star Saber

A new series from TakaraTomy, Transformers GT includes accurate (I assume) race cars from the Japanese Super GT Racing circuit.  All the toys in this line are heavily remolded versions of the Transformers Alternity Optimus Prime.

Accessories

Each toy includes a female action figure, which is unfortunately, not to scale with the cars.  They include a number of extra hands.  I’m not sure if they are supposed to represent any real person or not.

The original toy did not (I believe) have any weapons.  Optimus Prime’s weapon (left) is kind of plain.  It’s a little short gun with no paint apps.  On the other hand, Star Saber’s sword looks fantastic with the translucent blue blade and red and dark gray.  Unfortunately, Star Saber can only hold the sword like a gun.  Not terrible, but they should have molded it differently.

Vehicle Mode: As you can see in the comparison picture, the body of the car has been completely remolded and is nearly unrecognizable beside the original Alternity Optimus Prime.  When I first looked at it, I wasn’t 100% sure it was remolded from Prime, but the insides are pretty much identical.  Even the hubcaps have been remolded.  Both cars have lots of paint apps.  I don’t recognize all the company logos, but many of them are most likely from Japan.  Really great looking toys.

Robot Mode: The only molding difference between the two toys is the head.  Optimus has new head compared to the original Alternity toy.  I love the head sculpts.  As they are supposed to be race cars, both heads have a microphone molded onto them.  Very cool.

Overall: These toys look really cool, but they seem awfully expensive to me at $115 each.  The next ones coming out are Megatron and Fortress Maximus.  It remains to be seen if more Autobot and Decepticon commanders will follow.

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Transformers Masterpiece Tigertrack

Masterpiece Tigertrack is the third use of this base mold, and a fourth use, Generation 2 Sideswipe with new weapons and tires, was recently announced.  More exciting is the announcement of Masterpiece Wheeljack and Bumblebee to follow Prowl, Bluestreak, and Smokescreen.  Presumably we will see a Marlboro Wheeljack with a new head (though most likely without the Marlboro logo, unfortunately).  There are plenty of possibilities for Bumblebee to be repainted and remolded.  Cliffjumper and Hubcap are the obvious ones, but there are loads more, G2 metallic Bumblebee, G2 metallic Hubcap, red Bumblebee, yellow Cliffjumper, or perhaps even a Bumblejumper.  I would love for them to do a Masterpiece Bumblejumper.  I just hope the Bumblebee is less expensive than Sideswipe.  They would be about half the size, and $80 is way too much for Sideswipe already.

For now though, we have Tigertrack.  *Yawn*  It’s very hard to be excited for this toy.

You might want to read my blogs about Masterpiece Sideswipe and Masterpiece Red Alert first.

Tigertrack is based on Diaclone Tigertrack, the same mold later used for Sideswipe.  Previously, a G1 mold Tigertrack was released as a Transformer.  Unfortunately, as you can see in the picture above, they didn’t tampo on the Autobot symbol.  I can only assume this is to make him better match the Diaclone Tigertrack, but as this is a Transformer, they should have put the symbol on with ink and included a yellow sticker to cover it if people wanted it to be a more to Tigertrack.

This is the sticker included.  Not sure why they included two sizes, but having stickers on a Masterpiece toy makes no sense anyway, so it doesn’t much matter.

Aside from the cheapness of having a sticker, it’s a really great looking toy.

I like the look of his weapons mounted on the roof,  The black launcher looks much nicer than Sideswipe’s white launcher.  As you can see from the photo, the mold for all three are identical in vehicle mode.

In robot mode you can see that Tigertrack has Sideswipe’s head and shoulders and Red Alert’s face.  A really nice looking toy.

You may recall that Sideswipe had a second set of jackhammer attachments that were chromed and only available via Amazon.com.  They included those in black with Tigertrack.

My biggest complaints about Sideswipe and Red Alert remain unchanged.  He was way overpriced (though in fairness, Tigertrack was a show exclusive and cost only $10 more than the other two, but the base price is still way too high).  He still has those plastic tires that drive me nuts.  The G2 Sideswipe is supposed to have new tires, to match the spiked ones (I believe) from the comic book.  I am hoping for rubber tires, but I won’t hold my breath.

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Transformers Gari-Gari Kun Popsicles

Gari-Gari Kun is a popular brand of Japanese popsicles.  They did a Transformers promotion recently, making transforming popsicles.  Yes, really.  I swear, I didn’t make this up, I don’t have that stupid a sense of humor.

As you’ll note in the picture above, the toys are in Ziploc type bags, but I think they are actually sold with those bags inside boxes.  As there were no instructions, I can only assume they were either inside or on the box.  Most of them on ebay are in boxes, but I was lucky to get these cheap without boxes.

As you can see the alternate mode is a popsicle.  They come in blue (not sure what flavor it would be), brown (cola), and purple (grape).  I don’t have a purple one yet, but one is on the way to me.  I assume it is just a repaint.  If you’re really interested to see it, I will add photos of it to this blog when it comes in.  I don’t think it’s worth another blog post for it, so stay tuned.

They transform into this guy, who I assume is the Gari mascot.  He has an Optimus Prime helmet, and the blue version is in Optimus Prime colored clothes.  He has a shield and a popsicle stick sword.

I only bought these because I got them cheap.  I paid about $3 for one of them, shipping included from China, and $13.50 for the other, also with free shipping from China.  If they had been much more than that I wouldn’t have bothered.  The grape one is, according to what I’ve seen on ebay, a special edition version.  It was a bit more expensive.  I paid $21 shipped for it.  I would be careful if you’re looking for these, I’ve seen people trying to get as much as $30 to $40 each for these stupid things.  Keep an eye out for low starting bids and you’ll get them heap.

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Transformers Fall of Cybertron Ruination (Wreckers – Impactor, Topspin, Twintwist, Roadbuster, Whirl)

Well, after a long wait, the repainted and remolded Combaticons set is out.  Ruination is made up of Wreckers team members Impactor, Topspin, Twintwist, Roadbuster, and Whirl.  These toys all have new heads (including Ruination) as well as additional weapons with action features, and of course new paint jobs.  As they are essentially still the same toys as the three previous releases of Bruticus, I’m not going to do a full review of them.  I’m just going to focus on the new heads, weapons, and paintjobs.  You can read my previous reviews of SDCC and retail Bruticus, and Generation 2 Bruticus for more information.

Impactor

New Paintjob: Impactor (originally Onslaught) looks pretty great in orange, black, and light blue.  Very nice.

New Head and Weapon: Impactor is the only Wrecker with a projectile launching weapon.  It mounts on top of his regular weapon.  I am not very familiar with Impactor, as I haven’t read the G1 UK comics or the Last Stand of the Wreckers comics, but the pics I see online have his “helmet” in orange.  It’s a nice sculpt that looks right, but it’s blue instead of orange.  I think it would have looked better in orange.

Topspin

New Paintjob: G1 Topspin did not have any orange on him, but I really like the paintjob.  The blue and orange work great with the white even if it is not accurate.

New Head and Weapon: His head mold is nice, but it should be in blue.  He’s got a weapon similar to Dark of the Moon Deluxe Ratchet’s Mech-Tech weapon.  It’s got a saw blade that flips out and spins.  Topspin is the only toy in the set that I have found to have a mold change other than the head.  He has a port to mount a weapon on top of his shuttle mode right behind the orange and blue grating.

Whirl

New Paintjob: I love Whirl’s paint job, but it is completely wrong.  His G1 toy was gray, the only thing they got right is his blue head.

New Head and Weapon: The head mold is great, he’s got the single eye that the G1 toys had.  He sort of has an action feature weapon.  You push the slide and the barrel extends and spins, but it doesn’t spin very well.

Roadbuster

New Paintjob: He’s got a perfect paint job  He really looks great.

New Head and Weapon: His head mold is excellent, but as with many of these, it’s the wrong color, it should be orange.  His weapon is interesting.  It’s got a Y shape, and the barrel sort of collapses together when the slide is pulled back.

Twintwist

New Paintjob: This is probably my favorite toy in the set.  I love the blue and orange, even if there was no orange on G1 Twin Twist.  Also of note, they left the space out of Twintwist’s name, where it was originally two words it is now one.

New Head and Weapon: His head doesn’t look a lot like Twin Twist to me, and is the wrong color, it should be white.  I absolutely love his weapon though.  They gave him a duel spinning drill, the perfect weapon for him.  The instructions have nothing about putting the drills on the front as I have it above.  I couldn’t get it to really stay in place, but maybe there is a way to do it that I am missing.  However, as it is not in the instructions, it is not an official way to do it.  Hasbro should have made it work that way.

Ruination

New Head and Paintjob: I like the new head mold, but I’m not sure if it’s based on any particular character.  The color looks good when assembled, but it would have been nice to have more orange showing on his arms.  It almost looks like he’s got the wrong arms since there is plenty of visible orange on his legs and torso.

With New Weapons: Unfortunately Hasbro has no official way to use the new weapons.  What I did was put Impactor’s regular weapon on his back with the launcher mounted on it and Topspin’s weapon mounted on the other port on Impactor’s regular weapon so it hangs down Ruination’s back.  I mounted the assembled regular weapons (the version without Impactor’s regular weapon) on top of Roadbuster’s new weapon.  I mounted Twintwist’s dual drill’s onto Topspin (left leg) and put Whirl’s new weapon on Ruination’s right wrist.

Thanks for reading!

Transformers Go Samurai Team (Kenzan, Jinbu, Ganoh)

Transformers Go is the new Japanese cartoon (I believe it’s all new animation) that uses the Transformers Prime Beast Hunters toy designs along with a few new additions (and some new heads for the Predacons).  The Samurai Team, Kenzan, Jinbu, and Ganoh are one of the two new combiner teams.

Before I get to the toys, it should be noted that these toys look a lot more like Brave toys than Transformers.  This doesn’t bother me as long as they are well done, but they do look completely out of place next to Beast Hunters toys.

Kenzan

Vehicle Mode: Kenzan’s futuristic police car mode is awesome.  I didn’t have any batteries handy, so I’m not sure the extent of his light and, I think, sound capabilities, but he is supposed to have them.  Each toy has an accessory that includes their combiner robot head folded up.  In vehicle mode Kenzan’s mounts on his roof as a weapons pack.  Looks okay, but it’s nothing special.

Robot Mode: All three robot modes suffer from the same design problem.  Their legs go all the way up to their chests.  There is no lower torso.  It doesn’t look so bad on Kenzan because his upper legs are the same colors as his chest, and a piece hangs down making it look like he has a lower torso.  His swords can be stowed on his back as shown above, and his weapon pack can mount up on his back.  This looks better than it does in car mode.  They aren’t in the picture, but when the weapons pack is in place, his swords can attach to the backs of his shoulders.

Combined Mode: I don’t know if there is any name for any of these combiners.  This one with Kenzan as the head and shoulders is probably the best of them, as Ganoh makes fro the best legs.  It’s in the combined modes that they really don’t look like Transformers.

Jinbu

Vehicle Mode:  I really like Jinbu’s jet mode.  The sword looks just enough like a cannon on the top of the jet.  His weapon pack sort of has a gun on top, but it really doesn’t look that great.

Robot Mode: Since Jinbu’s legs are all gray from his thighs up, you can see how they go right up to his chest with no lower torso.  He looks more than a little ridiculous.  His weapon pack folds into a backpack.

Combined Mode: While Jinbu’s robot mode has too little torso, his combined mode has a torso that is way too tall, with really thin short thighs, thick lower legs, and tiny feet.  Bizarre is the only way I can describe him.

Ganoh

Vehicle Mode: Ganoh has a pretty decent fire truck mode.  I’m torn on how he looks with the weapon pack mounted on the roof.  It sort of works, but the face down samurai head still looks like a face down samurai head.

Robot Mode: Ganoh has the same problem as the others, his legs go all the way up to his chest.  However, he looks an awful lot better than Jinbu.  His weapon can be stored on his back in two different configurations.  The vertical storage is with his weapon pack, which he can use as a hand weapon also.

Combined Mode: This combined mode is a mixed bag.  His legs seem too tall and thin, but it works a lot better than Jinbu’s combined mode, but not as good as Kenzan’s.  His worst problem is that with Kenzan forming the middle of his torso, his legs stick out to the side, so Ganoh’s robot arms have to stay out to his side.  They also don’t bend very well.  Put those issues together and you can see why he has to hold the spear like that.

Overall:  It’s a forgone conclusion that we aren’t getting these toys in the USA.  They aren’t bad, but with as expensive as they are, I’m not sure they’re worth it.  A lot of it has to do with how you feel about Brave toys.  If you really like the look of those, you’ll probably like these a lot more than if you don’t.

Thanks for reading!

Transformers: Prime Beast Hunters Ultimate Class Beast Hunter Optimus Prime

Recently at Botcon, Hasbro said that going forward they will be making some toys with simplified transformations.  This came about because they realized that the transformations were becoming ridiculously complicated as compared to G1 toys.  I could have told them that five years ago, but then Hasbro always has seemed a little slow to figure things out.

I bring that up, because this Optimus Prime seems to have a very simple transformation, and I am wondering if this is an example of their simplifying transformations.  If so, they’ve done a good job.

Vehicle Mode: Lets ignore the missile launcher thing on the roof for a minute.  He looks pretty decent, accept for the fact that he has no sides to the rear of the vehicle accept for the sword and the shield.  The giant eye sore on top is a rotating missile launcher that kind of works, but jams and comes out of alignment very easily.  It is unfortunately not removable.

Robot Mode: The rotating launcher works in robot mode too.  You push down the gray piece under his windows to operate it.  It kind of works, but jams easily.  His sword looks like it came right out of a horror movie.  Very cool.  He’s really great looking, though his head is a little too small for his body.

Overall: He’s a pretty decent toy, certainly large and detailed.  I’m just not sure he’s worth the price tag of $60.

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Transformers Prime Non-Transforming 16 and 12 inch figures Optimus Prime and Bumblebee

These seem to have come out of nowhere.  The 16 inch Non-Transforming figures started showing up not long ago at Canadian Toys R Us stores, and more recently in USA stores.  They are Toys R Us exclusives.  I went to Toys R Us this week and found the 12 inch figures, which I hadn’t even heard of before, though a little research online indicates they were announced for this fall.  These do not have a Toys R Us exclusive sticker on them.  I haven’t seen any info online about these 12 inch ones being found previously.

The 16 inch versions have more detailed molds.  Unfortunately, they could have used some more paint apps.  In fact, if they had a few more paint apps they would be pretty cool and well worth $25 each.  As it is, they look nice, but are not worth $25.  As is probably obvious, they have very little articulation.

The 12 inch figures are less detailed, and have even less paint apps.  Again, these would be very cool with some additional paint apps, though at $10 each, seem a far better value than the 16 inch figures.

Optimus Prime 16 Inch

Optimus Prime 12 Inch

Bumblebee 16 Inch

Bumblebee 12 Inch

Overall: If you aren’t a completist like me, you probably won’t want to bother with these, though the 16 inch versions are reminiscent of Shogun Warrior toys for the 1980’s, and would fit in nicely if you collect those.

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Transformers Collector’s Club 2013 Membership Figure Deluxe Depth Charge

Depth Charge is the Transformers Collector’s Club 2013 membership figure, and credit where credit is due.  He’s absolutely stunning.  Depth Charge is repainted from the Transformers 2010 Terradive without any mold changes.  This was an excellent choice as his head looks a lot like the original Depth Charge’s.  He also has the perfect weapon for a Depth Charge homage.  As Depth Charge was originally a manta ray, the trident works nicely.

Depth Charge has a fantastic paint scheme, blue, pink, yellow, silver, and gray, just like the original Beast Wars toy.  It would have been kind of nice to have his gray parts in a more metallic silver color, but that’s a small thing.

I can’t deny it, Fun Pub does get the toys right sometimes and they deserve credit when they do.  Having said that, in a move that smacks of greed they sold fully carded versions of Depth Charge at Botcon.  There will be more on that in my Botcon blog, reviewing all toys and merchandise, coming in a week or so.

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Transformers Construct-A-Bots Triple Changers Bumblebee and Blitzwing

First announced at Toy Fair 2013, Transformers Construct-A-Bots is Hasbro’s answer to Lego Hero Factory as they continue to try and get into Lego’s product categories.  When I first heard about these, I assumed they would be sold under the Kre-O name.  This seemed logical.  However, as they are not being sold under the Kre-O name, I can only assume this is due to the poor sales of Kre-O (as evidenced by Walmart and Target barely stocking Kre-O toys anymore) and Hasbro wanting to make sure that stores at least order the initial waves of these before the line fails completely as I expect it will.

Having said that, I am encouraged by these toys.  Bumblebee and Blitzwing have a fairly significant flaw, but I am hopeful that the non Triple Changers will be a lot better than I thought.

Bumblebee and Blitzwing have to first be built into a basic robot mode as shown above.  The flaw of the Triple Changers is that now you need to either build them into the robot for the car/tank or the robot for the jets.  Each vehicle mode uses different parts.  So, while it is true that these toys do transform and do not need to be taken apart, the Triple Changers do have parts that must be added and removed to form the different vehicles.  Hopefully the non Triple Changes will not have that problem.

The engineering on these guys is intresting.  Connections are either with pegs and ports, ball and sockets, or clip-ons.  The combination gives them a wide variety of customization options.

Bumblebee (Car)

The Bumblebee car robot adds wheels to his legs and wheels and wings on his arms.  He’s really not too bad looking.  (He comes with two swords, but I forgot to put them in his hands for the picture.)

The car mode looks…interesting.  Certainly it doesn’t look like anything that should be Bumblebee, but it’s not that bad.

Bumblebee (Jet)

The Bumblebee jet robot looks really nice.  Wings are added to this legs and wings and jet engines are added to his arms.  Again though, it just doesn’t look like Bumblebee.  (Yes, I forgot the swords again.)

His jet mode is very cool.  If it was in red, white, and orange he would make a pretty great Technobot Strafe.  It should be noted that the swords on the jet are pictured on the box, but are not shown to be added in the instructions.  I do think it looks better with the swords than without.

Blitzwing (Tank)

The Blitzwing tank robot has a turret added on his back, wheels on his legs and arms, and wings on his shoulders.  He is also armed with a missile launcher and a gun.

The Blitzwing’s tank mode looks like anything but a tank.  It’s more like a car with a turret on top.  Not great to say the least.  It would have been better if they could have at least made it look like he had tank treads.

Blitzwing (Jet)

The Blitzwing jet robot has a launcher on his back and wings on his arms, shoulders, and legs.  I really like the look of this one.

The Blitzwing jet mode isn’t as nice as Bumblebee’s jet mode, but it’s okay.  I would have preferred an add on nose of the jet rather than his feet.  It would have looked a lot better.

In any mode Bumblebee and Blitzwing have left over parts.  The nice thing is, since they are designed to be customized, there are plenty of ways to snap the extra parts on in robot mode.

In both of the above, pics, I started with the jet robot modes for both and added the extra car/tank parts on their backs.

Overall, these toys are better than Kre-O in that they do actually transform.  I’m hopeful that the non Triple Changers will not have the extra parts issues.  The major problem is that the robot and vehicle modes barely resemble the characters they are supposed to be.  While I expect this line to fail, these could very well be popular with kids.  They do have great play value in customization with all the interchangeable parts.

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Japanese Transformers Generations Deluxe Ratbat

I haven’t picked up any of the previous Japanese Generations toys since, to my knowledge, there are no mold changes from the USA versions.  Ratbat however, is repainted from the Generations deluxe Scourge mold with a new head.

Vehicle Mode: Aside from the obvious problem with this toy, that he’s not a bay, it looks great.  The gold, black, and purple color scheme is perfect for Ratbat.  The only problem is that the remolded head looks like a head on the back of the vehicle.  This wasn’t a problem with Scourge, since he had the weapon on his head which sat between the engines in vehicle mode.  Without that, you just see the head.

Robot Mode: The color scheme looks even better in robot mode.  It’s a really great looking toy.  The head mold is nice, but nothing particularly special.

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Transformers Go Deluxe Gaidora

Gaidora is the Japanese version of Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Deluxe Lazerback.  He has a new paintjob and a new head.  (Read my review of Lazerback for more information on this mold.)

Vehicle Mode: The most obvious thing about Gaidora is that he has a really great paintjob.  The USA version really does look like a knockoff by comparison.  I’ll never understand why Hasbro can’t take some lessons from Takara on how to color toys.

Robot Mode: Gaidora’s new head is really nice.  It looks far mare like it goes with a Beast Hunters toy than Lazerback’s does.  I wasn’t a huge fan of Lazerback’s robot mode, but Gaidora certainly looks great.  The extra paint apps and much nicer looking head make a huge difference.

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Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Voyager Megatron

Vehicle Mode: Megatron has been so heavily remolded, that he is nearly unrecognizable.  He’s been done in G1 Sharkticon colors and looks great.  Also he has teeth on the front of the vehicle, another homage to Gnaw.  My only major complaint is that his gun has such a long peg on it that it sticks way up over the vehicle.  The gun also kind of looks like a fish which is a bit odd.  I’m still not a huge fan of the way his shoulders don’t lock in place in vehicle mode.

Robot Mode: I think I actually like this toy more than the original Voyager Megatron.  Admittedly, a lot of that is that I really didn’t like that toy.  While it clearly doesn’t look like a Megatron toy, it does look great in these colors, and I love the shark/monster/fish/whatever torso.  His gun unfolds into a sword.  It’s a really unique design.  As you unfold it, you fold down the handle of the gun and use it to keep the sword from folding back up.

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Transformers Generations Voyager Sandstorm

Sandstorm is a highly remolded repaint of Transformers Generations Voyager Springer.  He’s so remolded that he’s almost not recognizable.

Dune Buggy Mode: As much as I like Springer’s car mode, Sandstorm’s is superior by far.  I really love his color scheme.  G1 Sandstorm was a dune buggy, and while they claim this to be one as well, it really doesn’t look anything like any dune buggy I’ve ever seen.  However, I still really like it.  I thought the large rear wheels would look odd, but they really don’t.  Very nicely done.

VTOL Aircraft Mode: I have mixed feelings on this one.  In some ways, it would have made a lot more sense to leave him as a helicopter, as G1 Sandstorm was a helicopter albeit a very different one from Springer.  Still, the VTOL mode is really great looking and unique.

Robot Mode: Sandstorm looks amazing, really great head to toe.  My only complaint is his feet are angled so he cannot stand with feet together, but this seem to be Hasbro’s preferred way of doing things.  His gun is a missile launcher, and a unique one a that.  Instead of launching with a push button you slide the black piece back and it launches the missile.  (Note: He is not quite transformed properly in the picture.  The orange piece on his back is supposed to be flipped up so you can see it sticking up in robot mode.)

Overall: Sandstorm is a must for G1 fans.  The more great toys like this Hasbro does, the more I’m looking forward to the Thrilling Thirty line next year.

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Botcon 2013 Toys and Merchandise Reviews and News From Botcon and SDCC

Botcon 2013 was held in San Diego earlier this month.  I didn’t go.  It used to piss me off when I couldn’t go, but it really doesn’t bother me anymore.  I do have all the exclusives.  I will review all the toys and merchandise as well as go over all the news about upcoming Hasbro and Club toys, as well as news from San Diego Comic Con.  Since this will be very long, here’s a rundown of everything so you can get right to what you’re looking for.

1. Timelines #8, Machine Wars: Termination Comic Book & Third Party Toys
2. Machine Wars: Termination Box Set Box
3. Pins
4. Toys (Box Set, Souvenirs, Custom Class, Attendee, Club, Kre-O Set)
5. Apparel
6. Lithographs
7. Autograph Cards
8. IDW Exclusives
9. Hasbro News from Botcon and SDCC
10. Hasbro’s “Thrilling Thirty” Thirtieth Anniversary line.
11. Transformers Collector’s Club & Botcon News

1. Timelines #8, Machine Wars: Termination Comic Book & Third Party Toys

You’re probably wondering what the exclusive comic (which I didn’t read because it doesn’t interest me) has to do with Third Party Toys.  Before I get to that, as I blogged about last year, Fun Publications banned the sale or display of third party toys from Botcon starting last year.

If you go to the Botcon FAQ, you’ll find this:

Question: Will 3rd party Transformers toys be sold at this years Botcon?
Answer: Any action figure is welcome as long as it does not infringe on Hasbro copyrights and trademarks. Those items are illegal to sell in this country.

I’d like to point out that the statement is bogus.  There are ABSOLUTELY NO third party toys that are illegal to sell in the USA (unless there has been a court decision that no one knows about).  Until Hasbro sues the manufacturers and a court finds in their favor and says an item is illegal, they are NOT ILLEGAL.  Fun Publications is clearly taking a shortcut through reality.  Either that or Brian Savage just pulled the statement out of his ass.  Take your pick, it could be either or both.

And I also find it very interesting that Hasbro gives exclusives to online retailers who sell third party toys.  I guess they really aren’t that against them after all.  It’s really a joke.

Regardless of how stupid it is, that is their policy.  However, this was on the back of the Timelines comic.

There are a whole bunch of third party toys in that advertisement.  So, I guess in the end, Fun Publications really isn’t against anything as long as they are making money off it.

Now, I admit, more than likely, no one at Fun Publications bothered to examine the ad they were running in their comic.  Considering their deplorable quality control (lots more on that later) it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if that’s what happened.  Even if it was an accident though, that’s still not an excuse for banning something and then promoting it.  It takes any credibility you have, though admittedly that’s not much, and throws it out the window.  I think this is even worse than Nexus Maximus (though nowhere near as funny).

2. Machine Wars: Termination Box Set Box

Credit where it’s due, that’s one fantastic looking box.  I really hate the convention set boxes, they are much larger than necessary and generally add nothing to the set.  But you’ve got to love this one.  My only complaint is that they should have made the window a little smaller and made it so you could only see Obsidian.  It would have completed the look.

The price tag, which is an actual sticker, really is a perfect touch.  It’s made to look like the old Kaybee Toys price stickers that were printed to look like they had been marked down when they hadn’t.

As much as I like the sticker though, I find something entirely unfunny about it and somewhat ironic too.

Kaybee did this because they jacked prices up really high on the black printed price and then tried to make people think they were being marked down in red by hand.  This isn’t the case, the red was printed on also.  This made people who didn’t understand think they were getting a good deal, when in fact, they either weren’t getting a particularly good deal, or were still paying too much.

Since Fun Publications has spent years jacking up prices and trying to convince everyone they are doing us a favor (and it scares me how many people think they are) it almost feels like they are thumbing their noses at everyone who is paying for their overpriced stuff (and that includes me, I buy all the toys).

3. Pins

There is a third pin, the Golden Ticket pin is a black and gold version of the first day registration price sticker pin.  While I think the sticker was a nice touch on the box, this was just a waste as a pin, and if I were attending and spending the money on a golden ticket package, I would be pretty pissed to get this pin in gold.

4. Toys (Box Set, Souvenirs, Custom Class, Attendee, Club, Kre-O Set)

Before we get to the toys, I have a few things to say on the subject of quality control, or the lack there of.  I had the following damage and incorrectly assembled toys (as did many other people).

Megaplex has his feet on the wrong legs and a malformed head.  Both due to factory incompetence.  The head problem was caused by being transformed into jet mode incorrectly and putting pressure on one side of the rubber head.  After a long trip from china, it changed the shape of the rubber and is unfixable.  The feet are on with screws and so should be easy enough to swap.  The guy I bought these from is waiting to hear back from Fun Publications about a replacement head.

Hoist and Electrons have incorrectly assembled chests.  This, like Megaplex’s feet are fixable if you start removing screws.

Hoist has incorrectly assembled shoulders.  These are not fixable without removing rivets, which is at best difficult.  It does not affect transformation, but does cause his shoulders not to bend properly.

Starscream’s trident won’t stay in the open position.  I initially thought this was broken or assembled incorrectly, as Depth Charge is the same mold and his trident locks open fine.  However, a friend of mine pointed out that the neon green plastic used on Starscream’s trident is softer than the blue plastic used for Depth Charge, and this is likely causing the problem.

Sunstorm is broken.  The little black gun on his left wing and the black tip of his left vertical stabilizer is broken.  Also waiting on replacement instructions for this one.

Kre-O Megaplex’s wing connector was bent badly.  I was able to bend it back.  It’s still white across it, but it’s not a huge deal.

Some of these things (Sunstorm, Megaplex’s head, Kre-O Megaplex) are not Fun Publications fault (though they are responsible to replace Sunstorm and Megaplex’s head).  In any large shipment of merchandise there is defective product.  It does seem that quite a few people have the Megaplex head issue, but it’s not all of them, so even spot checks (if in fact they do spot checks) might not have discovered it as a widespread problem.

Starscream’s trident issue…I don’t know.  I would think they got a prototype and noticed this.  If so, they should have changed the color.  They could have made it white, Machine Wars Starscream came with both green or white missiles.  Perhaps a different shade of green.  The neon was less important than the toy functioning properly.  It might be they didn’t know, but then someone at Hasbro/the factory should have realized the plastic wouldn’t work for this toy.  This is not a huge issue, but it still shouldn’t have happened, someone should have caught it.

However, the other problems seem to be universal.  I haven’t heard of any Hoists with the chest and shoulders correct.  I haven’t heard of any Electrons with a correctly assembled chest.  I honestly haven’t heard of anyone else having a Megaplex with the feet on the wrong leg, so maybe that too is just a random one that they couldn’t catch, so let’s leave that one alone and focus on Hoist and Electrons.

If they did the most basic minimum quality control, there is no possible way that they would not have found them to be defective before the convention.  And if they didn’t, then they have no quality control at all.  Either way they should never have sold defective toys to people.  For what we pay for these toys, we shouldn’t have to take them apart to fix them.  The few times I’ve had to take a toy apart, they often don’t go back together right.  They owe replacements for these toys to everyone who has them as well as an apology for letting it happen in the first place.

I keep seeing Fun Publications apologists saying things like “but they are a small business, they can’t afford to replace them,” or “it’s really a small problem and no big deal.”  Well, first of all, if the factory did it wrong, then it is Hasbro’s responsibility.  If I own a convenience store and I get a bread delivery with mold all over it, the company can’t tell me to cut off the green parts.  They have to replace it.  Someone from Hasbro needs to answer for this too, but it is inexcusable that Fun Publications sold them at all.  They should have replaced Hoist in the set with Mirage, sold Thundercracker with Sandstorm, and made a Hoist/Electrons 2-pack available via the club store once they were replaced.  It is inexcusable to knowingly sell defective product, and if they didn’t know then it is because they didn’t bother do the most basic quality control inspection.  Either way, it amounts to the same thing.

Unfortunately, this is how Fun Publications does business.  Lest we forget the Shattered Glass Drift mess with the guns.  I still can’t believe they actually said, “well, we told you that you’d get two guns, but we never said you’d get one of each.”  That sounds like something Elmer Fudd would say with a stupid laugh at the end.

That was disgusting, but it’s not just one or two incidents, it’s there business practice to get away with as much as they can.

In 2007 the Thundercrackers in the box sets were coming with two left or two right missile launchers in some cases.  A friend of mine picked up his set and was told to check it by the Fun Publications employee.  When he asked what he was supposed to be checking for since he hadn’t heard about the problem, THEY WOULDN’T TELL HIM what he was supposed to look for, when they knew very well that there was a specific problem.

Fun Publications, putting the con in Botcon since 2005.

I was very happy to see that almost all the exclusive toys and merchandise made it to the club store.  I think the only thing that sold out was the Rainmakers.  Hopefully at least part of that is people not buying their stuff because of their track record of problems.  I fully admit I’m as guilty of buying their crap as anyone else, but I’m a completist and have every Botcon/OTFCC toy back to G2 Breakdown, so I’m not about to stop now.

Fun Publications can’t be allowed to continue to charge outrageous prices (and yes, for all the FP apologists, of course the toys are going to be more expensive than retail, no shit) then they have to provide a quality product, and we’ve moved past wrong or missing parts and onto multiple toys being defective.

Okay, I’m better now.  Had to get that off my chest.  (I take that back, I’ll be better when Fun Publications replaces my Megaplex head and Sunstorm.)

Now, on to the toys.

I really like the Machine Wars concept this year.  I’m not crazy about the inclusion of Strika and Obsidian because I really never liked them as characters and they have nothing to do with Machine Wars.  If they had to be included, I would have preferred they be Decepticons instead of Autobots.  Since the toys are both molds that I really like that doesn’t bother me too much though.

What does bother me is ridiculous coloring on some of the toys.  Let’s be honest, the reason Machine Wars was created was so that Hasbro could maintain trademarks.  Some names like Optimus Prime, Soundwave, Hoist, Hubcap, Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Starscream hadn’t been used in several years.  The toys were all reuses of existing molds (though a few had not been seen before due to the cancellation of G2).  The art was all reused and didn’t match most of the toys.  I don’t see how you can conclude that it was anything other than a bunch of random toys and art thrown together to maintain the trademarks on the names.  This being the case, it’s clear they didn’t put much thought into the color schemes.  That’s why we have toys that do not match the characters color schemes in any way.  (Even if they are supposed to be different iterations of the characters, they should still have had the correct colors.)  What Fun Publications really should have done is make the “second wave of Machine Wars toys” match the proper color schemes for the characters rather than continue to do them wrong.  Two wrongs don’t make a right.

The Toys (Click for Reviews):

Attendee Exclusive Deluxe Starscream

Club Membership Exclusive Deluxe Depth Charge (Carded Version)

Custom Class Pre-Built Deluxe Blastcharge

Machine  Wars: Termination Box Set Deluxe Hoist

Machine  Wars: Termination Box Set Deluxe Skywarp

Machine  Wars: Termination Box Set Deluxe Strika

Machine  Wars: Termination Box Set Voyager Megaplex

Machine  Wars: Termination Box Set Voyager Obsidian

Machine  Wars: Termination Kre-O Set

Souvenir Deluxe Electrons

Souvenir Deluxe Mirage

Souvenir Deluxe Rainmakers (Bitstream, Hotlink, Sunstorm)

Souvenir Deluxe Thundercracker

Souvenir Voyager Sandstorm

5. Apparel

Nothing much to talk about here.  There were lady’s and men’s t-shirts with black and white drawings of Starscream, Megaplex, Skywarp, and Thundercracker.  There was a Thundercracker baseball cap, and a Machine Wars beanie.

6. Lithographs

There were three Lithographs available this year, Machine Wars: Termination, Obsidian, and Strika.  I really liked all of these, the Obsidian and Strika are is great.  I really don’t like the art on the Tech Specs for the Machine Wars characters, so I’m glad they didn’t use it on these.

7. Autograph Cards

I’ve really liked the autograph cards in the past, but I wasn’t thrilled with them this year.  I much prefer cards with borders to the full bleed, and the puzzles never look very good since the card sheets keep them too far apart.  Having said that, the art is pretty great.  The four chase cards use the Machine Wars art that I don’t like, so that was a let down.  I also got the uncut sheet of regular cards.

One thing I was really disappointed with is that the a blank sketch card was not included in the set as it has been in past year.  I’m still trying to track down one, but no one has them for sale on ebay.

8. IDW Exclusives

IDW had a number of exclusive items.  For starters they had a convention exclusive cover of My Little Pony #5 with Optimus Prime and a litho of the cover.  I don’t get it either.  I understand they try to cross promote their brands, but this is worse than Infestation.  I think the litho was limited to 100 copies.  Not sure if the comic was exclusive to just Botcon or if it would be available at other cons this summer.

They had blank covers (for sketches) for Regeneration One #92, Beast Hunters #1, Monstrosity #1, More Than Meets the Eye #17, and Robots in Disguise #18.  Oddly, the RID cover does not carry the convention exclusive logo.

They also had some exclusives (pictured below) that could be ordered online and picked up at the con, or ordered and sent by mail.  They called them “comic folios”.  It’s just a silly hardcover folder with a die cut cover and a pocket for the comic.  The reason I bought these was that they said they came with exclusive covers and they come with a print.  Well, the exclusive covers are just regular cover without the titles.

The comic folios themselves are generic.  Also of note, the paper pocket glued to the inside for the comic is terribly designed.  All of my covers are damaged because when you slide them in, they hit the  inside piece that is glued on.  It’s a lousy design, especially since they are $25 each.  One was only available with the set for $100, but I don’t recall which.  The issues were Regeneration One #92, Beast Hunters #1, Monstrosity #1, More Than Meets the Eye #17, and Robots in Disguise #18.  Sound familiar?  The image after the comic is the print that came with it.

9. Hasbro News from Botcon and SDCC

Below is a list of only toys newly announced at Botcon and San Diego Comic Con (at least I don’t think they were previously announced).  But first there are a few things I want to talk about.

Kre-O

I was really disappointed with what we saw for Kre-O for two reasons.  First, I was hoping we would see nothing and the line would be ended.  Second, what they did show wasn’t terribly exciting.  We will be getting an Autobot Command Center.  Finally Hasbro realizes that the Kreons are a much bigger seller than the transforming building sets.  I would have preferred some vehicles to a base, but at least it shows they may have figured out the direction for the line.

While they didn’t announce any new Micro-Changers or Micro-Changer Combiners, they did announce new “Custom Kreons”.  These are nothing but Kreons with some extra parts and weapons.  I would have much preferred new Micro-Changers.  In fact, we’ve never got Micro-Changers of any of the Custom Kreon Characters.  It would be nice to have an Optimus Prime Micro-Changer, among others, but we’re getting these Custom Kreons instead.  Very depressing.

Simplified Toys

Hasbro has finally figured out that some of the newer Transformers are way too complicated.  It’s caused costs to go up and the size of toys to go down.  A number of Beast Hunters toys for next year will be highly simplified.  It remains to be seen how good these toys will be.

New Generations

There are a whole pile of new Generations toys on the slate that are absolutely incredible.  These include Voyager Rhinox and Whirl, Deluxe Scoop and Waspinator, and Legends Cosmos and Sharpshot (Shrapnel and he comes with Reflector).  These and the others look fantastic.  I just hope the deluxe toys will be easier to find in the future.  Other lines seem to be more readily available this past year, but Generations Deluxes continue to be hard to find.

The only other toy related thing I want to talk about is the Thrilling Thirty line, but that’s such a cluster f*ck that it needs it’s own section further down.

Platinum Edition
G1 Predaking
FOC Grimlock vs. FOC Bruticus
Omega Supreme (For USA Market, presumably online retailers)

Rescue Bots Video Game
Beam Box w/Optimus Prime

Rescue Bots Beam Box Figures
Bumblebee
Blades
Chase
Heatwave
Boulder

Generations Legends
Swerve with Flanker
Cosmos with Payload
Tailgate with Groundpunder
Sharpshot with Reflector

Generations Deluxe
Goldfire (Grimlock Repaint)
Dreadwing (Megatron Repaint)
Skids
Waspinator
Skywarp (Starscream Repaint)
Scoop with 2 Targetmasters
Armada Starscream
(A combiner set of three black and green military vehicle Mini-Cons was in the case at SDCC, but I’ve only seen photos, no info on what it is, but it would seem to be a deluxe toy in size.)

Generations Voyager
Doubledealer (Blitzwing Repaint)
Rhinox
Whirl

SDCC 2013
Titan Figures 5-Pack (Optimus Prime, Grimlock, Megatron, Starscream, and Soundwave)
Metroplex
Shockwave’s lab
GI Joe Crossover Hound & Skyfire

Prime Legion
Dive Bomb (Repainted Windrazor)
Rot Gut (Repainted Blight)
Ace Vehicon (Repainted Vehicon Jet)
Bluestreak (Repainted Smokescreen)

Prime Commander
Unicron Megatron (Repainted Megatron)
Ultra Magnus (New Mold)
Bludgeon (Shockwave Repaint)

Prime Deluxe (Upsized Legion Toys)
Bumblebee
Windrazor
Smokescreen
Twinstrike

Prime Voyager
Optimus Prime (New Mold)
Predaking (New Mold)

Constructabots Scout
Bumblebee
Thundercracker
Bumblebee (Beast Hunters)
Starscream (Beast Hunters)
Ripclaw (Beast Hunters)

Constructabots Elite
Skystalker (Beast Hunters)
Shockwave (Beast Hunters)
Optimus Prime (Beast Hunters)

Constructabots Team Ups
Megatron w/Ratbat and Barrage (Beast Hunters)
Bulkhead w/? and ? (Beast Hunters)

Kre-O Building Sets
Autobot Command Center

Kre-O Custom Kreons (Kreons with extra parts to customize)
Optimus Prime
Megatron
Starscream
Soundwave
Bumblebee
Ironhide

10. Hasbro’s “Thrilling Thirty” Thirtieth Anniversary line.

Hasbro finally announced the Thrilling Thirty line for the thirtieth anniversary of The Transformers.  I cannot even begin to explain how incredibly disappointing this is.  It’s a complete joke, they really screwed the pooch.  Here’s the first eleven toys in the series, and then I’ll explain why it’s so screwed up on the off chance it’s not obvious.

#1 TRANSFORMERS GENERATIONS TITAN CLASS METROPLEX SDCC EDITION – HasbroToyShop.com & SDCC Exclusive

#2 TRANSFORMERS PRIME BEAST HUNTERS SHOCKWAVE’S LABORATORY – HasbroToyShop.com & SDCC Exclusive

#3 PLATINUM EDITION ULTRA MAGNUS Action Figure – Online Shared Exclusive

#4 TRANSFORMERS PLATINUM EDITION GRIMLOCK VS. BRUTICUS – Online Shared Exclusive

#5 TRANSFORMERS METROPLEX – Ani-Con & Game Convention Edition Action Figure in Hong Kong

#6 TRANSFORMERS PRIME BEAST HUNTERS SHOCKWAVE’S LAB – Ani-Con & Game Convention Edition Action Figure in Hong Kong

#7 FIRST LOOK TRANSFORMERS PRIME BEAST HUNTERS OPTIMUS PRIME – Asian Markets

#8 TRANSFORMERS MASTERPIECE ACID STORM – TRU Exclusive

#9 TRANSFORMERS MASTERPIECE SOUNDWAVE – TRU Exclusive

#10 TRANSFORMERS PLATINUM EDITION PREDAKING – Online Shared Exclusive

#11 TRANSFORMERS CONSTRUCT-BOTS PREDACONS RISING PREDAKING Set – Target Exclusive

Platinum Edition Omega Supreme is also going to be included, but the number in unknown.  It will likely also be a shared online exclusive.

#30 Fan Vote Characters Windblade – Availability Unknown

Where to begin…

SDCC Metroplex and Shockwave are included as numbers 1 and 2.  I had expected that the Thrilling Thirty would be all retail toys.  There are fans who don’t buy ridiculously expensive toys they can only get online or at a show.  This doesn’t bother me personally, but I can understand if some people are not happy about this.  But hey, look on the bright side.  It gets worse.

#3 and #4 are the Platinum Edition Ultra Magnus and the Grimlock vs. Bruticus.  I got my Platinum Edition Ultra Magnus.  It has a sticker added on the box with he Thrilling Thirty Number.  So, apparently, Hasbro decided that for the thirtieth anniversary of one of the greatest toy lines of all time, that picking out some toys that were planned and putting a sticker on the box was a sufficient way to celebrate.  As far as picking these particular toys, the Magnus is fine.  Grimlock is repainted, and supposedly Bruticus has paint changes, but I expect when I receive my Grimlock vs. Bruticus set on Monday it too will have a sticker on the box.  It’s just galling that this line feels like an afterthought when they have had plenty of time to do it right.

Thrilling Thirty #5 and #6 are the same as #1 and #2, Metroplex and Shockwave, but this time they are exclusive to some convention in Hong Kong.  The only difference I am aware of is the color of Metroplex’s decoys.  It is just DUMB to include the same toys in a line twice.  It’s more like the “Thrilling Twenty-Eight.”  I for one don’t need another set of these.

#7 is a repackaged Beast Hunter Optimus Prime that is currently on shelves here to be released only in the Asian market.  Another one I will be skipping.

#8 and #9 are Masterpiece Acid Storm and Soundwave.  No complaints there.

#10 is G1 Predaking.  This online exclusive is the same as the Predaking last released in Japan with gold paint and all new stickers.  It is very much worth buying.  I just wish I hadn’t bought the Japanese version.  I am glad at least one G1 mold is part of the thirtieth anniversary line, though there could be more.  We’ll have to wait and see.

#11 is a Target exclusive Constructabots Predaking.  Yes, that’s right.  A Constructabot is in the thirtieth anniversary line.  I don’t get it either.

So, to some up.  We have two SDCC exclusives released twice, once in Asia.  One platinum remold of a Prime toy.  One platinum FOC repaint set of a decent Grimlock toy and a Bruticus that is not great.  One USA retail toy repacked in Asia.  Two Masterpiece toys, one previously available in Japan.  One G1 repaint previously available in Japan.  One Constructabot.  One platinum toy which will probably be more of the same Year of the Snake Omega Supreme with a sticker on the box.  One fan voting toy.

There is very little there to be excited about.  Now, I am assuming that some of the new toys like Voyager Whirl, Deluxe Scoop, and other new ones will be part of he line, but I’m not optimistic with such a disappointing start.

What was I expecting from the line?  I figured we would get a lot of premium paint jobs of existing toys like Voyager Blitzwing and Springer and new ones like Whirl, Rhinox, etc, and I hoped a few G1 molds thrown in.  I assumed they would be retail toys available in the USA so that everyone can celebrate the thirtieth anniversary.  Instead we’re getting repacked TF Prime toys and Asian exclusives with stickers added to the boxes, and the same toys being released multiple times.

The only exciting thing is the fan vote toy.  Windblade looks absolutely awesome.

I had been really excited about the Thrilling Thirty line.  Now I’m just depressed.  Thanks for nothing Hasbro.

11. Transformers Collector’s Club & Botcon News

Well, nothing like following up the depressing Thrilling Thirty news with Club/Botcon news.  Oh well…

The 2014 membership figure will be Protoform X (Beast Wars Rampage) made from Prime First Edition Deluxe Megatron with a new head.  There will be a club store exclusive boxed figure.  That one will be Transmutate made from the Prime First Edition Deluxe Arcee mold.  Transmutate’s box has a space for Protoform X.  I thought that was silly with Over-Run and Runamuck.  This is no less silly to me, but I do like the toys.  Of course, this means another mad dash to order the Transmutate and another round of the website crashing.

They could only provide three of next year’s subscription service figures at the show, Chromedone made from Prime Deluxe Wheeljack, Action Master Treadshot from Generations Deluxe Warpath, and Ironfist from Generations Deluxe Roadbuster/Swindle.

I like the Wheeljack mold, so Chromedome sounds good.  I also like the Warpath mold, so Treadshot sounds good.  What in the name of hell do we need with another version of one of Bruticus’ limbs?  I know why they are doing it, so people can get a more accurate limb for the Ruination set (unless they are going to do a whole combiner, in which case I may shoot myself, I already have five of that set).

The reason they only announced three of the toys is that the other three they were going to do were announced by Hasbro at the show.  One was Double Dealer, but they wouldn’t say what mold they wanted to use.  No idea who the other two would have been.  Since Botcon a fourth toy has been announced, the red Rainmaker called Red Wing.  I was really disappointed that there was no red seeker in the Rainmakers set, so I’m glad about that.

They also announced that the second installment for this years subscription service toys is due in August and that next year’s will go up for sale in September.  This means that anyone paying in installments has to do so for three straight months, August for this year, September for next year, and October for this year’s final installment.  The least they could have done is wait for this years extremely late toys to be all out before asking us to pay for next year’s.

There was other stuff from the panel, but none of it was of interest to me.

Thanks for reading!

Botcon 2013 Obsidian

If you haven’t read my full review of Botcon Toys, Merchandise, and news from Botcon and San Diego Comic Con, click here.

I really like the Machine Wars concept this year.  I’m not crazy about the inclusion of Strika and Obsidian because I really never liked them as characters and they have nothing to do with Machine Wars.  If they had to be included, I would have preferred they be Decepticons instead of Autobots.  Since the toys are both molds that I really like that doesn’t bother me too much though.

What does bother me is ridiculous coloring on some of the toys.  Let’s be honest, the reason Machine Wars was created was so that Hasbro could maintain trademarks.  Some names like Optimus Prime, Soundwave, Hoist, Hubcap, Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Starscream hadn’t been used in several years.  The toys were all reuses of existing molds (though a few had not been seen before due to the cancellation of G2).  The art was all reused and didn’t match most of the toys.  I don’t see how you can conclude that it was anything other than a bunch of random toys and art thrown together to maintain the trademarks on the names.  This being the case, it’s clear they didn’t put much thought into the color schemes.  That’s why we have toys that do not match the characters color schemes in any way.  (Even if they are supposed to be different iterations of the characters, they should still have had the correct colors.)  What Fun Publications really should have done is make the “second wave of Machine Wars toys” match the proper color schemes for the characters rather than continue to do them wrong.  Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Mold Used: Transformers 2010 Voyager Highbrow (Repainted with a new head.)

The Highbrow mold is one of my favorites in the last five or ten years.  I’m really glad it was used this year.  He’s got a really great head sculpt, and I was really excited for this one when the prototype came out.

Unfortunately, they changed the original prototype from the toy color scheme to the animation color scheme.  This was apparently due to fan reaction to the prototype.  He looked so much nicer in light green.  He looks an awful lot like Generations Powerdive in these colors, not exactly, but close.

It’s always been true that if you put ten Transformers fans in a room and ask them something about Transformers, you’re likely to get ten different answers.  If that’s what the majority of fans wanted, then fine.  It’s just depressing because this could have been a much better toy that I would have given an A+ to.

Grade: B

Thanks for reading!

Botcon 2013 Sandstorm

If you haven’t read my full review of Botcon Toys, Merchandise, and news from Botcon and San Diego Comic Con, click here.

I really like the Machine Wars concept this year.  I’m not crazy about the inclusion of Strika and Obsidian because I really never liked them as characters and they have nothing to do with Machine Wars.  If they had to be included, I would have preferred they be Decepticons instead of Autobots.  Since the toys are both molds that I really like that doesn’t bother me too much though.

What does bother me is ridiculous coloring on some of the toys.  Let’s be honest, the reason Machine Wars was created was so that Hasbro could maintain trademarks.  Some names like Optimus Prime, Soundwave, Hoist, Hubcap, Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Starscream hadn’t been used in several years.  The toys were all reuses of existing molds (though a few had not been seen before due to the cancellation of G2).  The art was all reused and didn’t match most of the toys.  I don’t see how you can conclude that it was anything other than a bunch of random toys and art thrown together to maintain the trademarks on the names.  This being the case, it’s clear they didn’t put much thought into the color schemes.  That’s why we have toys that do not match the characters color schemes in any way.  (Even if they are supposed to be different iterations of the characters, they should still have had the correct colors.)  What Fun Publications really should have done is make the “second wave of Machine Wars toys” match the proper color schemes for the characters rather than continue to do them wrong.  Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Mold Used: Transformers: Dark of the Moon Voyager Skyhammer (Repainted with no mold changes.)

Fun Publications did pick some really great molds to use this year.  (Also some not so great ones.)  Dark of the Moon Skyhammer is one of my favorite toys from the Dark of the Moon line and one of the best helicopter transformers ever.  I say that because he does not have the one major flaw that almost all helicopter transformers do, the rotors.  Most toys either have the rotors hanging off the back or turning into a sword, but Skyhammer’s rotors fold around his torso and lock in place.  It’s an amazing design.

Sandstorm was certainly a good choice for the set.  I would have preferred him in G1 colors, but unlike the seekers, Sandstorm is not as widely associated with a single color scheme.  He really looks sharp and is probably my second favorite toy this year after the Rainmakers.

Grade: A

Thanks for reading!

Botcon 2013 Mirage

If you haven’t read my full review of Botcon Toys, Merchandise, and news from Botcon and San Diego Comic Con, click here.

I really like the Machine Wars concept this year.  I’m not crazy about the inclusion of Strika and Obsidian because I really never liked them as characters and they have nothing to do with Machine Wars.  If they had to be included, I would have preferred they be Decepticons instead of Autobots.  Since the toys are both molds that I really like that doesn’t bother me too much though.

What does bother me is ridiculous coloring on some of the toys.  Let’s be honest, the reason Machine Wars was created was so that Hasbro could maintain trademarks.  Some names like Optimus Prime, Soundwave, Hoist, Hubcap, Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Starscream hadn’t been used in several years.  The toys were all reuses of existing molds (though a few had not been seen before due to the cancellation of G2).  The art was all reused and didn’t match most of the toys.  I don’t see how you can conclude that it was anything other than a bunch of random toys and art thrown together to maintain the trademarks on the names.  This being the case, it’s clear they didn’t put much thought into the color schemes.  That’s why we have toys that do not match the characters color schemes in any way.  (Even if they are supposed to be different iterations of the characters, they should still have had the correct colors.)  What Fun Publications really should have done is make the “second wave of Machine Wars toys” match the proper color schemes for the characters rather than continue to do them wrong.  Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Mold Used: Transformers Classics Deluxe Mirage (Repainted with no mold changes.)

Mirage is repainted as Mirage.  Early reports were that this mold was going to be Prowl, and I would have preferred they did that, I think.  We already got this mold in G1 colors, we don’t need it in the incorrect Machine Wars colors too.  What they should have done is put a G2 logo on it and had it be Generation 2 Mirage.  That would have made a lot more sense to me.

Having said that, while I don’t like the concept, it is an awesome looking toy.  I really love the colors and it is a great mold.

Grade: B+

Thanks for reading!

Botcon 2013 Rainmakers (Bitstream, Hotlink, Sunstorm)

If you haven’t read my full review of Botcon Toys, Merchandise, and news from Botcon and San Diego Comic Con, click here.

I really like the Machine Wars concept this year.  I’m not crazy about the inclusion of Strika and Obsidian because I really never liked them as characters and they have nothing to do with Machine Wars.  If they had to be included, I would have preferred they be Decepticons instead of Autobots.  Since the toys are both molds that I really like that doesn’t bother me too much though.

What does bother me is ridiculous coloring on some of the toys.  Let’s be honest, the reason Machine Wars was created was so that Hasbro could maintain trademarks.  Some names like Optimus Prime, Soundwave, Hoist, Hubcap, Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Starscream hadn’t been used in several years.  The toys were all reuses of existing molds (though a few had not been seen before due to the cancellation of G2).  The art was all reused and didn’t match most of the toys.  I don’t see how you can conclude that it was anything other than a bunch of random toys and art thrown together to maintain the trademarks on the names.  This being the case, it’s clear they didn’t put much thought into the color schemes.  That’s why we have toys that do not match the characters color schemes in any way.  (Even if they are supposed to be different iterations of the characters, they should still have had the correct colors.)  What Fun Publications really should have done is make the “second wave of Machine Wars toys” match the proper color schemes for the characters rather than continue to do them wrong.  Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Mold Used: Transformers Classics Deluxe Starscream (Repainted with no mold changes.)

Finally, they have done a really great troop builder!  Bitstream, Hotlink, and Sunstorm look absolutely amazing.  These guys were long overdue.  I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t get a red one, but it has since been announced that the fourth Rainmaker, Red Wing, will be part of next year’s subscription service.

Now, there are a few little things that aren’t perfect.  Sunstorm’s fists really shouldn’t be back (I think his launchers, too).  But, realistically, they were able to do three different toys because all they changed between them is the one color plastic.  The paint is the same on all toys.  That’s just the nature of the beast, and not a big deal to me.  I wish Hotlink had been lighter purple and just called “Warrior,” but hopefully they will do a generic warrior down the road.  (Probably it will be one of those awful troop builders where we get three of the same toy.)

As you might note on in the jet mode picture of Sunstorm, mine is broken.  The black gun on the end of his left wing and the tip on top of his left stabilizer are both cracked.  I am waiting to find out from Fun Publications how I get it replaced via the guy who I bought it from.

For it being broken, I should reduce my grade, but these are so damn awesome, I can’t.  They get one plus for each toy.

Grade: A+++

Thanks for reading!

Botcon 2013 Skywarp & Thundercracker

If you haven’t read my full review of Botcon Toys, Merchandise, and news from Botcon and San Diego Comic Con, click here.

I really like the Machine Wars concept this year.  I’m not crazy about the inclusion of Strika and Obsidian because I really never liked them as characters and they have nothing to do with Machine Wars.  If they had to be included, I would have preferred they be Decepticons instead of Autobots.  Since the toys are both molds that I really like that doesn’t bother me too much though.

What does bother me is ridiculous coloring on some of the toys.  Let’s be honest, the reason Machine Wars was created was so that Hasbro could maintain trademarks.  Some names like Optimus Prime, Soundwave, Hoist, Hubcap, Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Starscream hadn’t been used in several years.  The toys were all reuses of existing molds (though a few had not been seen before due to the cancellation of G2).  The art was all reused and didn’t match most of the toys.  I don’t see how you can conclude that it was anything other than a bunch of random toys and art thrown together to maintain the trademarks on the names.  This being the case, it’s clear they didn’t put much thought into the color schemes.  That’s why we have toys that do not match the characters color schemes in any way.  (Even if they are supposed to be different iterations of the characters, they should still have had the correct colors.)  What Fun Publications really should have done is make the “second wave of Machine Wars toys” match the proper color schemes for the characters rather than continue to do them wrong.  Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Mold Used: Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Deluxe Dirge (Repainted with a new head.)

I have very little to say about these guys, mostly because I think very little of these guys.  I’m not a huge fan of the mold they chose.  The right arm is terrible and they should have done them in their traditional colors.  I do like the new head sculpt, and if you ignore that they should be different colors, the paint jobs are nice.  I heard that Thundercracker was supposed to have glow in the dark green paint.  That really wouldn’t have added anything to it in my opinion.

This sticker was being given out free to cover Skywarp’s purple G1 symbol.  The outline black G2 symbol is what Machine Wars Skywarp had on his wing.  The question is, why was a sticker needed?  Why didn’t they just have the right logo put on?  Of course, that could be another factory mistake, but I’ve not heard one way or the other.

I can’t rate these guys very high since the mold isn’t great and they aren’t properly colored.  Skywarp gets a bit of a higher grade for that “warping” paint job.

Thundercracker Grade: C

Skywarp Grade: B-

Thanks for reading!