I know at the end of the year we usually talk about the best toys of the year (which is a conversation I always look forward to and enjoy), but what releases are everyone looking forward to the most for the new year?

I'm super excited about Kingdom Blaster (who technically trickled to retail at the tail-end of 2020, but I haven't seen him yet). Oh, and Studio Series Perceptor. I love that the celebration of The Transformers: the Movie continues. Theoretically, anybody who makes a screen appearance in the film could be considered for Studio Series, not just the characters who who were introduced in the film proper.

I think they said Swoop was the next Dinobot they were doing for Studio Series. I know he hasn't been announced or leaked yet, but they gave us two Dinobots in 2021, so I hope we get two more this year. And I do hope they don't leave Snarl out on a technicality. (He really is in the movie somewhere, you just have to look for him.)

I assume Masterpiece Skyfire is going to be ready at some point this year. We haven't heard about him in quite a while, now. Guess we'll see.

Oddly, I'm really looking forward to Legacy Skids. Not because he's a vital character by any stretch of the imagination. But, the Generations version of him just wasn't great, and he's needed a new version for a while now. And it's so great-looking.

What about everyone else?

Zob (has to avoid describing oldskool characters as "legacy characters" now to avoid confusion with the actual Legacy toy line)

On Friday, January 7, 2022 at 2:31:07 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:

<snip>

Hello? *taps microphone* Is this thing on?

Zob

If that Voyager Jhiaxus listing is the G2 guy then that's my most anticipated of the year. I may avoid all news sites so that the first time I see it is in real life. How glorious it will be to finally get an accurate toy of that guy-nothing else ever released in the last few decades with that name comes close to a proper tribute to the character. I really would like a leader but I am more hyped about that one than anything.

Motormaster I cannot wait to see. I hope it's greeblie as all hell and as far away from the cartoon style as possible. I skipped out on all the Combiner Wars stuff because they just looked oddly proportioned. The Stunticons have been badly executed every time including G1. Maybe they will get it right this time. I would die if they came out with a version I liked and released a Menasor giftset in the retro line.

The Studio Series '86 Spike is also something I feel like I've waited decades for. Studio Series core class sounds interesting. Coronation Starscream will be my reward for passing on the Earthrise version.

And I think we're getting another shot at G1 Soundwave in Legacy (possibly the Netflix Voyager) and Titans Return Misfire (via retro wave 3). I am kinda interested in those if the rumors are true.

Zobovor <zmfts@aol.com> wrote:
> On Friday, January 7, 2022 at 2:31:07 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> Hello? *taps microphone* Is this thing on?
>
>
> Zob
>

Prime Arcee interests me, although she seems a little thick. I like that
female characters are being done, although I hope that Chromia is not a
retool.

There with be a TF:Prime Soundwave in wave 2 that has potential, but no
images leaked yet. And an Armada Starscream (who would look better with WFC
greebles rather than the G1 cartoon look they might be aiming for)

Similarly photoless, there is a core class Iguanus, which if it is our BW
friend, suggests a Megatron Alligator. I would love that. There is also a
skullgrin though, so I don’t know what they are doing with pretenders.

I would kill for a Skuxxoid. If they are making tiny pretenders, just
remold one into a Skuxxoid.

Zobovor <zmfts@aol.com> wrote:
> I know at the end of the year we usually talk about the best toys of the
> year (which is a conversation I always look forward to and enjoy), but
> what releases are everyone looking forward to the most for the new year?
>
> I'm super excited about Kingdom Blaster (who technically trickled to
> retail at the tail-end of 2020, but I haven't seen him yet). Oh, and
> Studio Series Perceptor. I love that the celebration of The
> Transformers: the Movie continues. Theoretically, anybody who makes a
> screen appearance in the film could be considered for Studio Series, not
> just the characters who who were introduced in the film proper.

Blaster I will happily pick up, and only think he’s a little redundant,
since I expect he is a Soundwave remold.

I don’t like that they are replacing things on Perceptor that should be
silver with white, just to match the poor animation. It’s also a character
whose G1 toy basically holds up even now. And the Titans Return toy was
great.

I feel similarly about Blitzwing, at least regarding the Titans Return toy.
And Lazer Optimus Prime with the G2 toy. They are hitting the point of
diminishing returns with some of these characters.

Iguanus. Whether G1 or BW, I’m looking forward to him, although I would
rather they made him Deluxe rather than Core.

Where’s Wheelie? And Glyph? And Devcon? And Slipstream (recently featured
in Cyberverse)? And that female Decepticon car also featured in Cyberverse?
That’s just the G1 and G1 adjacent lines, and just the ones that leap to
mind.

I’d like to see Cybertron Brushguard get a good toy (evil Decepticon
botanist), or a pair of Energon style combining Autobots. An armada
Megatron with knees and hips (the original is fun, but a brick, a different
approach wouldn’t feel worse, just different), and maybe even Thunderhoof.

> I think they said Swoop was the next Dinobot they were doing for Studio
> Series. I know he hasn't been announced or leaked yet, but they gave us
> two Dinobots in 2021, so I hope we get two more this year. And I do hope
> they don't leave Snarl out on a technicality. (He really is in the movie
> somewhere, you just have to look for him.)

The Dinobots are at least larger than ever. It gives them a reason to
exist, even if I don’t think they are as awesome as everyone else does.

> I assume Masterpiece Skyfire is going to be ready at some point this
> year. We haven't heard about him in quite a while, now. Guess we'll see.

No interest. I’ve jumped off the Masterpiece line a while ago, so he
doesn’t even make me with they had done someone else instead.

> Oddly, I'm really looking forward to Legacy Skids. Not because he's a
> vital character by any stretch of the imagination. But, the Generations
> version of him just wasn't great, and he's needed a new version for a
> while now. And it's so great-looking.
>
> What about everyone else?
>
>
> Zob (has to avoid describing oldskool characters as "legacy characters"
> now to avoid confusion with the actual Legacy toy line)
>

On Saturday, January 8, 2022 at 6:16:01 PM UTC-7, evil.king.m...@gmail.com wrote:

> If that Voyager Jhiaxus listing is the G2 guy then that's my most anticipated of the year. I may avoid all news sites so that the first time I see it is in real life. How glorious it will be to finally get an accurate toy of that guy-nothing else ever released in the last few decades with that name comes close to a proper tribute to the character.

I guess it depends on what the toy actually looks like. If it's a new mold, and actually designed to look like Jhiaxus from the G2 comics, then I'm totally there. But if it's, like, just a retooled Earthrise Starscream or something, I'll be less excited.

> Motormaster I cannot wait to see. I hope it's greeblie as all hell and as far away from the cartoon style as possible.

You and I have completely opposite hopes in this regard. The closer to the cartoon model, the better, as far as I'm concerned.

> And I think we're getting another shot at G1 Soundwave in Legacy (possibly the Netflix Voyager) and Titans Return Misfire (via retro wave 3). I am kinda interested in those if the rumors are true.

I see no reason for them to do another Soundwave. The Netflix toy was sufficient.

Zob (would love to see the retro Targetmasters to get retooled so you can plug guns into them in jet mode)

On Sunday, January 9, 2022 at 2:32:44 AM UTC-7, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

> Prime Arcee interests me, although she seems a little thick.

The more I think about it, the more I think she's going to serve double-duty as G2 Road Rocket.

> Similarly photoless, there is a core class Iguanus, which if it is our BW
> friend, suggests a Megatron Alligator. I would love that. There is also a
> skullgrin though, so I don’t know what they are doing with pretenders.

I don't think it's the Beast Wars character. I read somewhere that it was the Pretender, and that he was going to change from the Pretender shell lizard into a motorcycle. I don't know why they keep coming back to the Pretenders if they're going to keep doing it wrong, though. This is going to be like Astrotrain or something, where they keep addressing the concept over and over until they finally get it right.

Zob (I mean, Core class is bigger than those dinky Decoy Suits, so at least they're going in the right general direction)

On Sunday, January 9, 2022 at 3:17:48 AM UTC-7, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

> Blaster I will happily pick up, and only think he’s a little redundant,
> since I expect he is a Soundwave remold.

His Titans Return edition was awkward and clunky and much too large. I'm happy he's getting a new toy. You're the second person I've seen mention that they're going to make a Soundwave out of Blaster. Honestly, I don't see it. It would be an awful Soundwave, and they already gave us a good one in the Netflix series. I think we'll get Twincast before we ever see Soundwave.
> I don’t like that they are replacing things on Perceptor that should be
> silver with white, just to match the poor animation. It’s also a character
> whose G1 toy basically holds up even now. And the Titans Return toy was
> great.

You'll be happy when and if they do a Magnificus redeco, won't you? That seems like at least a possibility.

> I feel similarly about Blitzwing, at least regarding the Titans Return toy.
> And Lazer Optimus Prime with the G2 toy. They are hitting the point of
> diminishing returns with some of these characters.

Titans Return Blitzwing had design issues and bad stickers. I hope the new one is basically the G1 toy with better articulation, because that's pretty much what we need.

I'm excited about Laser Prime. It feels more like a true homage to the G2 version than the last one we got, which was too small and had no trailer.

> Iguanus. Whether G1 or BW, I’m looking forward to him, although I would
> rather they made him Deluxe rather than Core.

I feel like they're testing the waters with Pretenders. They're still afraid to commit to great, big toys with the full Pretender gimmick intact, so they keep half-assing it. Eventually they just need to fully commit to the idea and do the thing.

> Where’s Wheelie? And Glyph? And Devcon? And Slipstream (recently featured
> in Cyberverse)? And that female Decepticon car also featured in Cyberverse?

I think Wheelie is coming in the same mini-Studio Series that's giving us Exo-Suit Spike. I think Hasbro looked at doing Devcon out of Studio Series Scourge, and decided it would be too expensive to do him justice. I hope they change their minds about that.

I'd rather see Ladybug and Blow-Out before Glyph and Tap-Out, but I'd ultimately buy all of them.
> The Dinobots are at least larger than ever. It gives them a reason to
> exist, even if I don’t think they are as awesome as everyone else does.

I did play around with Grimlock and I see the problem you have with his feet. I can get the foot parts to pop off on my toy pretty easily, but in the course of transforming him and playing with him, I've never had it happen accidentally.

Zob (also, Studio Series Kranix and Arblus when?)

Zobovor <zmfts@aol.com> wrote:
> On Sunday, January 9, 2022 at 3:17:48 AM UTC-7, Gustavo Wombat, of the
> Seattle Wombats wrote:
>
>> Blaster I will happily pick up, and only think he’s a little redundant,
>> since I expect he is a Soundwave remold.
>
> His Titans Return edition was awkward and clunky and much too large. I'm
> happy he's getting a new toy. You're the second person I've seen mention
> that they're going to make a Soundwave out of Blaster. Honestly, I don't
> see it. It would be an awful Soundwave, and they already gave us a good
> one in the Netflix series. I think we'll get Twincast before we ever see Soundwave.

No, I assume Blaster is a remold of the existing Soundwave and he will feel
a little samey. Is he not?

>> I don’t like that they are replacing things on Perceptor that should be
>> silver with white, just to match the poor animation. It’s also a character
>> whose G1 toy basically holds up even now. And the Titans Return toy was
>> great.
>
> You'll be happy when and if they do a Magnificus redeco, won't you? That
> seems like at least a possibility.

I have my G1 Magnificus with Ga’mede. Never seriously considered getting
the RTS or Titans Return Magnificus redecos. Why mess with perfection?
Plus, Ga’mede is half the draw.

Now, if they toss in a nice Ga’mede, so Magnificus can have his pet Twink…
but if they do he will probably be a Daniel redeco, and no, that’s not ok.
Especially with legs perpetually bent so he’s crawling around on his hands
and knees. Just no.

(Huh, I don’t think there was a Titans Return mold Magnificus)

>> I feel similarly about Blitzwing, at least regarding the Titans Return toy.
>> And Lazer Optimus Prime with the G2 toy. They are hitting the point of
>> diminishing returns with some of these characters.
>
> Titans Return Blitzwing had design issues and bad stickers. I hope the
> new one is basically the G1 toy with better articulation, because that's
> pretty much what we need.

Design issues?

I mostly play with the Combat Hero Megatron version of the mold, so if
something changed, I might not remember it. (I do wish they gave us a plain
G2 version, as the toy seems made for it)

> I'm excited about Laser Prime. It feels more like a true homage to the
> G2 version than the last one we got, which was too small and had no trailer.
>

>> Where’s Wheelie? And Glyph? And Devcon? And Slipstream (recently featured
>> in Cyberverse)? And that female Decepticon car also featured in Cyberverse?
>
> I think Wheelie is coming in the same mini-Studio Series that's giving us
> Exo-Suit Spike. I think Hasbro looked at doing Devcon out of Studio
> Series Scourge, and decided it would be too expensive to do him justice.
> I hope they change their minds about that.
>
> I'd rather see Ladybug and Blow-Out before Glyph and Tap-Out, but I'd
> ultimately buy all of them.

Glyph is a linguist. Just a function we don’t seem to have. I think I
really want to fill out a science team of Autobots, exploring some dead
world, with an archeologist, a linguist, a paleontologist… we have a
metallurgist or two already…

A bunch of Autobots, just exploring the universe, basically not part of the
big war. It just gives the possibility of different types of adventures,
like when GI Joe was rescuing tigers and stuff in the late 70s.

I don’t have a story idea around it, or a grand design of any kind, I just
want some Autobots living the dream of a peaceful life. Maybe they’re
exploring the depths of Cybertron, or the lost world of the Go-Bots (“they
look like robots, but they had organic brains… I think they died off
because they couldn’t reproduce without organic bodies and genitals”)

>> The Dinobots are at least larger than ever. It gives them a reason to
>> exist, even if I don’t think they are as awesome as everyone else does.
>
> I did play around with Grimlock and I see the problem you have with his
> feet. I can get the foot parts to pop off on my toy pretty easily, but
> in the course of transforming him and playing with him, I've never had it
> happen accidentally.

I may have flattened pegs on a strut or something. Now, go look at the side
panels on Slag…

> Zob (also, Studio Series Kranix and Arblus when?)
>

> On Saturday, January 8, 2022 at 6:16:01 PM UTC-7, evil.king.m...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Motormaster I cannot wait to see. I hope it's greeblie as all hell and as far away from the cartoon style as possible.

On Sunday, January 9, 2022 at 3:29:34 PM UTC-8, Zobovor wrote:
> You and I have completely opposite hopes in this regard. The closer to the cartoon model, the better, as far as I'm concerned.

This morning I woke up and was reading my google news on my phone and one of the headlines was a story from TFormers titled "First look at Legacy Motormaster In Hand Images?" and it had a thumbnail shot of what appeared to be Menasor's torso without the Stunticon car limbs attached. Well I clicked on it and it went nowhere because TFormers has pulled the story. I can't find discussion of it on boards. So I can only conclude that this leak is being scrubbed from the internet. Here's screencaps of the headline from my phone:

https://www.facebook.com/steveilking.macrocranios/posts/6864155893654751

It looks like the source for the leaked pics plus a transformation video for legacy Motormaster is here:

https://www.tiktok.com/@tfbasement.com/video/7057747402802924847

On Saturday, January 29, 2022 at 10:37:35 AM UTC-7, evil.king.m...@gmail.com wrote:

> This morning I woke up and was reading my google news on my phone and one of the headlines was a story from TFormers titled "First look at Legacy Motormaster In Hand Images?" and it had a thumbnail shot of what appeared to be Menasor's torso without the Stunticon car limbs attached. Well I clicked on it and it went nowhere because TFormers has pulled the story. I can't find discussion of it on boards.

I saw that yesterday! I got super excited about it for a minute. After some sleuthing, I found that people realized this was actually a third-party toy, Magic Square Overlord. So, false alarm. But, I would not be surprised if Legacy Motormaster is designed similarly to this toy in some ways.

Zob

Zobovor <zmfts@aol.com> wrote:
> I know at the end of the year we usually talk about the best toys of the
> year (which is a conversation I always look forward to and enjoy), but
> what releases are everyone looking forward to the most for the new year?
>
> I'm super excited about Kingdom Blaster (who technically trickled to
> retail at the tail-end of 2020, but I haven't seen him yet). Oh, and
> Studio Series Perceptor. I love that the celebration of The
> Transformers: the Movie continues. Theoretically, anybody who makes a
> screen appearance in the film could be considered for Studio Series, not
> just the characters who who were introduced in the film proper.
>
> I think they said Swoop was the next Dinobot they were doing for Studio
> Series. I know he hasn't been announced or leaked yet, but they gave us
> two Dinobots in 2021, so I hope we get two more this year. And I do hope
> they don't leave Snarl out on a technicality. (He really is in the movie
> somewhere, you just have to look for him.)
>
> I assume Masterpiece Skyfire is going to be ready at some point this
> year. We haven't heard about him in quite a while, now. Guess we'll see.
>
> Oddly, I'm really looking forward to Legacy Skids. Not because he's a
> vital character by any stretch of the imagination. But, the Generations
> version of him just wasn't great, and he's needed a new version for a
> while now. And it's so great-looking.
>
> What about everyone else?
>
>
> Zob (has to avoid describing oldskool characters as "legacy characters"
> now to avoid confusion with the actual Legacy toy line)
>

**turns mic on**. Ok ok. I am desperately looking forward to the guardian
robot. I know he’s a repaint, but I am still thrilled they are going to
make this toy.

Also looking forward to the rest of the dinobots. everything else is
pretty much meh. I’ll end up buying most of it, but those are the big
ones. I’m also STILL waiting for black zarak to ship. He’s trying to
break Unicron’s record for order to ship time.

-Banzaitron

On Friday, February 11, 2022 at 9:55:08 PM UTC-7, Anonymous wrote:

> I am desperately looking forward to the guardian
> robot. I know he’s a repaint, but I am still thrilled they are going to
> make this toy.

Same here. I love how many non-toy characters are getting actual toys after all this time. (I have the Takara reissue G.A.D.E.P., whatever that stands for, but I'm really looking forward to a great big Titan-class version of the Guardian Robot.)

> Also looking forward to the rest of the dinobots. everything else is
> pretty much meh. I’ll end up buying most of it, but those are the big
> ones. I’m also STILL waiting for black zarak to ship. He’s trying to
> break Unicron’s record for order to ship time.

I ordered Black Zarak for some reason (and even tracked down Black Roritchi on eBay so I'd have his little pal). In retrospect I'm not sure why. Well, I can always resell him or something, I suppose.

Zob (such will be the fate of HasLab Star Saber)