It seems like the 1986 characters introduced in The Transformers: the Movie were rushed into production. They were in such a frenzy to get the toys finished that they started work on them almost right away, using preliminary colors and models—and by the time the models had been revised for use in the finished film, it was too late because the toys were already under way.

A lot of the rounded, curvy musculature on the early movie character designs, as designed by Floro Dery, was minimized in favor of more closely matching the Marvel Productions "house style" of drawing most Transformers like superheroes wearing boxes. So, the original version of Cyclonus was a bit different, with wings folded back behind his arms, and significantly different styling for his arms and legs and face. (This early model was also the one used by Marvel Comics, and it appeared in a few cartoon episodes like "Starscream's Ghost" and "The Rebirth"). The 1986 toy release also went through a few changes—the first version had a blue-painted midsection and ears, and is considered more rare than the later version that was missing this paint. And, of course, Cyclonus was also brought back in 1987 as a Targetmaster.

So, this release takes the Kingdom Cyclonus toy, which was designed to match the final version seen in animation, only he's got the original Hasbro toy colors from 1986 rather than the lighter colors used in animation. The darker, richer purple does strongly evoke the old Hasbro toy. They even added black paint operations to the knees (which had black joint connectors) and a black vertical stripe down the belly (this was the flip-out landing gear on the G1 toy). I feel like the secondary color they used for his wings and thighs and forearms, though, is a little too dark. The G1 Cyclonus toy had grey, not gunmetal. I know they were probably trying to make this release as different from 0the Kingdom toy as possible, but I feel like they went a little extreme.

You can fold the wings back, with the wing tips pointing towards each other, if you want to more closely emulate the way the G1 toy transformed. However, the toy is still very clearly cartoon-based in its design. I would have loved to see some superficial remolding to the robot styling, to add the rounded calf musculature or an alternate face, or even new hinges to allow for a different wing transformation altogether. But, of course, spending money on remolding totally defeats the point of a cheap-and-easy redeco, which is what this is.

He also comes with a sticker sheet so you can go full toyetic, if you want—sixteen stickers in all, four of them Decepticon badges, and it also includes the weird computerized light panels for his shoulders. Unfortunately, the way the Kingdom toy transforms is different than the G1 toy, with the fronts of the arms being used as the top of the wings. So, you can either do Decepticon symbols on the top of the plane (which end up upside-down on his shoulders in robot mode) or the computer lights in robot mode (which end up on top of the wings in jet mode).

Nightstick is, weirdly, a redeco of Blowpipe from Siege. This means he's got the odd dual barreled gun mode, with one barrel bigger than the other. He's got a black body with grey limbs, and an orange painted face. I guess they wanted to mix it up and didn't want to just use the Firedrive mold again, like they did with the recent Artfire release. Maybe that's for the best, since Nightstick would end up being physically identical to Fracas. I still kind of prefer the Nightstick design that came with Universe Cyclonus back in 2008, but I'm sure those parts are married to that mold and it may have been difficult to produce just the Targetmaster elements.

He comes with the two-piece Blowpipe blast effect, the explody ring and the explody explosion, as well as the twisty piece from Caliburst, both in purple.

Cyclonus didn't require any remolding to make him Targetmaster-compatible, since he already had a five-millimeter peg hole on the roof of his jet mode.. Honestly, I've been expecting this version of the toy to come out since January 2021. I knew it was coming sooner or later.

I still think I would have liked a remolded version of the toy, but I do like the toyetic dark purple, and of course it's nice to get an official Targetmaster version of the character. And, clearly, I don't own enough plastic robots yet, so I needed this guy.

Zob (hasn't decided what to do about the stickers yet)

Zobovor <zmfts@aol.com> wrote:

> So, this release takes the Kingdom Cyclonus toy, which was designed to
> match the final version seen in animation, only he's got the original
> Hasbro toy colors from 1986 rather than the lighter colors used in
> animation. The darker, richer purple does strongly evoke the old Hasbro
> toy. They even added black paint operations to the knees (which had
> black joint connectors) and a black vertical stripe down the belly (this
> was the flip-out landing gear on the G1 toy). I feel like the secondary
> color they used for his wings and thighs and forearms, though, is a
> little too dark. The G1 Cyclonus toy had grey, not gunmetal. I know
> they were probably trying to make this release as different from 0the
> Kingdom toy as possible, but I feel like they went a little extreme.

Except he looks great. Which is a pretty good defense for any color scheme.

> You can fold the wings back, with the wing tips pointing towards each
> other, if you want to more closely emulate the way the G1 toy
> transformed. However, the toy is still very clearly cartoon-based in its
> design. I would have loved to see some superficial remolding to the
> robot styling, to add the rounded calf musculature or an alternate face,
> or even new hinges to allow for a different wing transformation
> altogether. But, of course, spending money on remolding totally defeats
> the point of a cheap-and-easy redeco, which is what this is.

Given the number of remolds on Impactor, you would think they could at
least tweak the head.

> He also comes with a sticker sheet so you can go full toyetic, if you
> want—sixteen stickers in all, four of them Decepticon badges, and it also
> includes the weird computerized light panels for his shoulders.
> Unfortunately, the way the Kingdom toy transforms is different than the
> G1 toy, with the fronts of the arms being used as the top of the wings.
> So, you can either do Decepticon symbols on the top of the plane (which
> end up upside-down on his shoulders in robot mode) or the computer lights
> in robot mode (which end up on top of the wings in jet mode).
>
> Nightstick is, weirdly, a redeco of Blowpipe from Siege. This means he's
> got the odd dual barreled gun mode, with one barrel bigger than the
> other. He's got a black body with grey limbs, and an orange painted
> face. I guess they wanted to mix it up and didn't want to just use the
> Firedrive mold again, like they did with the recent Artfire release.
> Maybe that's for the best, since Nightstick would end up being physically
> identical to Fracas. I still kind of prefer the Nightstick design that
> came with Universe Cyclonus back in 2008, but I'm sure those parts are
> married to that mold and it may have been difficult to produce just the
> Targetmaster elements.

This is honestly the remold I would have liked most — a new barrel for the
Targetmaster.

> I still think I would have liked a remolded version of the toy, but I do
> like the toyetic dark purple, and of course it's nice to get an official
> Targetmaster version of the character. And, clearly, I don't own enough
> plastic robots yet, so I needed this guy.
>
>
> Zob (hasn't decided what to do about the stickers yet)

My Galvatron only has about half the stickers applied, and I expect my
Cyclonus will too.

Now I want a “toy redeco” of Scourge, even though the toy was a lot closer
to the animation model. I would accept a fake toy color scheme.

Apparently I preordered Cyclonus twice. And two arrived today from
different orders. Mistakes were made. I guess lavender Cyclonus has an
Armada now.

On Wednesday, August 3, 2022 at 7:44:43 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:
> Zob (hasn't decided what to do about the stickers yet)

I'll probably wait for the inevitable ToyHax set.

Glad to know that these are coming.

On Wednesday, August 3, 2022 at 6:44:43 PM UTC-5, Zobovor wrote:
> It seems like the 1986 characters introduced in The Transformers: the Movie were rushed into production. They were in such a frenzy to get the toys finished that they started work on them almost right away, using preliminary colors and models—and by the time the models had been revised for use in the finished film, it was too late because the toys were already under way.
>
> A lot of the rounded, curvy musculature on the early movie character designs, as designed by Floro Dery, was minimized in favor of more closely matching the Marvel Productions "house style" of drawing most Transformers like superheroes wearing boxes. So, the original version of Cyclonus was a bit different, with wings folded back behind his arms, and significantly different styling for his arms and legs and face. (This early model was also the one used by Marvel Comics, and it appeared in a few cartoon episodes like "Starscream's Ghost" and "The Rebirth"). The 1986 toy release also went through a few changes—the first version had a blue-painted midsection and ears, and is considered more rare than the later version that was missing this paint. And, of course, Cyclonus was also brought back in 1987 as a Targetmaster.
>
> So, this release takes the Kingdom Cyclonus toy, which was designed to match the final version seen in animation, only he's got the original Hasbro toy colors from 1986 rather than the lighter colors used in animation. The darker, richer purple does strongly evoke the old Hasbro toy. They even added black paint operations to the knees (which had black joint connectors) and a black vertical stripe down the belly (this was the flip-out landing gear on the G1 toy). I feel like the secondary color they used for his wings and thighs and forearms, though, is a little too dark. The G1 Cyclonus toy had grey, not gunmetal. I know they were probably trying to make this release as different from 0the Kingdom toy as possible, but I feel like they went a little extreme.
>
> You can fold the wings back, with the wing tips pointing towards each other, if you want to more closely emulate the way the G1 toy transformed. However, the toy is still very clearly cartoon-based in its design. I would have loved to see some superficial remolding to the robot styling, to add the rounded calf musculature or an alternate face, or even new hinges to allow for a different wing transformation altogether. But, of course, spending money on remolding totally defeats the point of a cheap-and-easy redeco, which is what this is.
>
> He also comes with a sticker sheet so you can go full toyetic, if you want—sixteen stickers in all, four of them Decepticon badges, and it also includes the weird computerized light panels for his shoulders. Unfortunately, the way the Kingdom toy transforms is different than the G1 toy, with the fronts of the arms being used as the top of the wings. So, you can either do Decepticon symbols on the top of the plane (which end up upside-down on his shoulders in robot mode) or the computer lights in robot mode (which end up on top of the wings in jet mode).
>
> Nightstick is, weirdly, a redeco of Blowpipe from Siege. This means he's got the odd dual barreled gun mode, with one barrel bigger than the other. He's got a black body with grey limbs, and an orange painted face. I guess they wanted to mix it up and didn't want to just use the Firedrive mold again, like they did with the recent Artfire release. Maybe that's for the best, since Nightstick would end up being physically identical to Fracas. I still kind of prefer the Nightstick design that came with Universe Cyclonus back in 2008, but I'm sure those parts are married to that mold and it may have been difficult to produce just the Targetmaster elements.
>
> He comes with the two-piece Blowpipe blast effect, the explody ring and the explody explosion, as well as the twisty piece from Caliburst, both in purple.
>
> Cyclonus didn't require any remolding to make him Targetmaster-compatible, since he already had a five-millimeter peg hole on the roof of his jet mode. Honestly, I've been expecting this version of the toy to come out since January 2021. I knew it was coming sooner or later.
>
> I still think I would have liked a remolded version of the toy, but I do like the toyetic dark purple, and of course it's nice to get an official Targetmaster version of the character. And, clearly, I don't own enough plastic robots yet, so I needed this guy.
>
>
> Zob (hasn't decided what to do about the stickers yet)

I wanted this guy since I like the toy colors better for him (the toy colors just weren't available to the show) and there's new one just sitting there at work so instant gratification, but you bring up an important sticking point for me, which is stickers. I hate stickers as of late, and I would at the same time feel bad if I didn't use the stickers. I didn't use a majority of the stickers for 10th anniversary Prime Megatron Pulse edition and I still wonder if I should go back and do it.

I passed on Selects Galvatron and all other Galvatron from Kingdom/Legacy, but the toy colors in that case aren't a selling point. There's a reason Selects Toy Galvatron is down to $30 now and "Behold Galvatron" is like $100+ (conversely Kingdom is like $20) though I haven't gotten any of them yet. Is it worth double the price to go Legacy to avoid battle paint? Probably not.