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interests / alt.toys.transformers / Dave's TF Rant: most of the Speedia 500 collection

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o Dave's TF Rant: most of the Speedia 500 collectionDave Van Domelen

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Dave's TF Rant: most of the Speedia 500 collection

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From: dvan...@eyrie.org (Dave Van Domelen)
Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
Subject: Dave's TF Rant: most of the Speedia 500 collection
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2022 03:08:35 -0000 (UTC)
Organization: Coherent Comics UnInc
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Originator: dvandom@eyrie.org (Dave Van Domelen)
 by: Dave Van Domelen - Tue, 13 Sep 2022 03:08 UTC

Dave's Transformers Legacy Rant: Velocitron Speedia 500 Collection

Cybertron Universe Override (Velocitronian race car)
Blurr (retool of Studio Series Blurr)
Diaclone Universe Burn Out (Legacy Skids retool)
Autobot Cosmos (UFO)
G2 Universe Road Rocket (Legacy Arcee retool)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Legacy/Speedia500

Intentionally passing on Diaclone Universe Clampdown (really kinda tired
of that mold), Road Hauler (not much interest in a third take on that mold in
Constructicon green, even with the new shouty face), and Robots In Disguise
2000 Universe Scourge (Laser Optimus didn't impress me enough to want a
second Leader toy using that mold).
Clampdown and Cosmos were initially hard to get, with Cosmos selling out
preorders within minutes, but later shipments seemed to address that issue.

https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Studio/Deluxe11 - Blurr mold
https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Legacy/Deluxe1 - Skids and Arcee molds

CAPSULES

$25 for the Deluxes, $34 for the Voyagers, $56 for the Leader that I
didn't get.

Cybertron Universe Override: I think this one would have been better
served by a robot mode packaging, since the toy was clearly designed to be as
show-accurate as possible in robot mode. Vehicle mode ain't great. Still,
recommended.

Blurr: Original mold was mildly recommended, this retool goes with the
IDW looks for the character but sadly the new front wheels are "fake" and do
not roll. A lot of work, but nothing really fixed. Mildly recommended.

Diaclone Universe Burn Out: Original mold was recommended. They don't
change much here, but it looks good and nothing gets messed up. I'm not sure
I'd want a third version if then end up releasing the Crosscut deco, but this
one is still at the low end of recommended even if you have Skids.

Autobot Cosmos: Well, you really can't match both modes to animation
model without Masterpiece-level panel madness, but this does a pretty good
job with the robot mode and a somewhat goofy vehicle mode. Recommended, but
not worth scalper prices.

G2 Universe Road Rocket: Original mold was to be Avoided, but nostalgia
got me on the hook to give this one a chance. The mold isn't really fixed,
but there's some slight aesthetic improvements, and if you have any G2
nostalgia this isn't a complete waste of money. I'd say it's otherwise only
a mild avoid, it makes a better Road Rocket than it did Arcee.

RANTS

So, the Speedia 500 is the big Walmart exclusive this year, since
there's no Netflix show to accompany Legacy. While at first glance it seems
kinda arbitrary, some of the seemingly random characters do show up in the
Wreckers: Tread & Circuits comic, including Burn Out, Road Rocket, Clampdown,
and Road Hauler (as just Hauler) on top of the Obviously Belongs There
character Override. (Knock Out is also important to the comic, but he's in
the regular Legacy wave 2.) Really, the only ones who don't have connections
to the Speedia 500 in the recent comic are Nemesis Prime (who I guess had to
go somewhere as an exclusive) and Cosmos (who at least gets a little flag so
he can be handwaved as the race announcer).
The boxes all have characters in vehicle mode with open windows, and
none of them have QR codes. I scraped the Pulse site for the info below,
plus some info from the Hasbro livestream that introduced the line.

Theme: The race is on! Bots from across the multiverse have gathered on
Velocitron to participate in the Speedia 500, a planet-wide race to determine
its next leader.

Override: Override is the returning champion and is ready to defend her
title as leader of Velocitron.

Blurr: The fastest bot on Cybertron has entered the Speedia 500. Blurr
is racing to become the next leader of Velocitron.

Burn Out: He may not be the fastest, but Burn Out is determined to win
the Speedia 500. [Note: this is supposed to be the same character from Tread
and Circuits, and was announced as female on a Hasbro livestream.]

Cosmos: Racers, start your engines! Cosmos is the announcer for the
Speedia 500, ready to mark the winner with a wave of the checkered flag.

Road Rocket: Road Rocket plans on pushing the limit in the Speedia 500,
eager to cross the finish line as champion. [The same livestream confirmed
that this Road Rocket is also female.]

I suppose I should also add in the info for the ones I'm not reviewing,
for completeness's sake.

Clampdown: Clampdown knows the Speedia 500 is happening, but that
doesn’t mean bots can get away with speeding. He sits on the roadside,
waiting to pull over bots racing above safe speed limits. [Yeah, he's
engaged in election interference here. Whattamaroon.]

Road Hauler: Road Hauler has his towline at the ready to haul away
wrecked racers.

Scourge: For Scourge, the path to victory is through sheer power and
brute strength. After winning the Speedia 500, he will claim the planet in
the name of the Decepticons and rule with an iron fist. [In Tread &
Circuits, there technically were no Decepticons, just Mayhem and Ascenticons,
plus a lot of unaffiliated Velocitronians who would eventually go Decepticon
if the license hadn't been pulled.]

Packaging: Regardless of size class, these are predominantly blue with
some violet and the old Speed Planet Key symbol from the Cybertron cartoon.
Deluxes ns Voyagers are hang-tab boxes wider than they are tall with the toys
in vehicle mode and visible through open windows, while Scourge is packaged
in a closed non-hanging box as one might expect from a Leader. Deluxe boxes
are 7" (18cm) wide, 5" (12.5cm) tall in front, 7" (18cm) tall in back, and
2.5" (6.5cm) deep. Voyager boxes are 9" (22.5cm) wide, 6" (15cm) tall in
front, and 9" (22.5cm) tall in back. I did not measure Scourge in the store,
but it was comparable to Legacy Leader boxes, just landscape instead of
portrait, and a simple rectangular box. The inner trays are various shades
of mostly bright blue with speed lines and other "go fast" symbol stuff.
The Speed Planet icon has also been used as a non-verbal SPD attribute
symbol lately. It's a sideways lightning bolt piercing a sort of broken
crescent moon shape.
For the size classes I did buy, the hang tabs have Legacy-style faux
paintings of the vehicle mode on the left end, traveling to the right and
towards the viewer on a background of blue and purple speed lines and boost
chevrons, with the "VELOCITRON SPEEDIA 500 COLLECTION" in faux chrome letters
in the lower right of the tab. The box top has a render of the vehicle mode
on the right side, with the Legacy logo and a white Speed Planet icon on the
left. The box front has a faux-painted robot mode on the left of the window,
the collection name above the window, a light blue Speed Planet icon in the
upper right, the Legacy logo in the lower left, the character name in the
lower right (and yes, the names include their univese if they're not G1), and
the Transformers logo along the right edge. The right sides of the boxes are
a closeup (waist up, usually) of the robot art from the front, while the
front art wraps around to the left side. The left side has the Speed Planet
icon in blue shades in the rear top corner, and VELOCITRON in Cybertronian
letters along the bad edge. The box bottom has a large white Speed Planet
icon, and the usual legalese. The back repeats the name and collection logo,
renders of both modes, the number of transformation steps, and more
legalese. There's plenty of room on the back for a QR code, they just
decided not to use those for exclusives, I guess.
They all have places behind or under the inner tray for sticking
accessories that might otherwise go wandering, although Override's gun is in
front anyway. Everything attached to the tray is tied on with undyed rattan
strings, sometimes with tape to keep them from coming untied in shipping.
Sometimes the strings aren't even tied, just twisted up and taped down.
Maybe always, but since I don't have the entire assortment I can't be sure.
The instructions are loose behind the inner tray, and use light blue as
the accent color. They do start with vehicle mode, rather than the usual
robot mode, which might explain why some of the retools have a different
number of steps this time...some collapsing or separating of steps when
starting at the other end.

AUTOBOT: CYBERTRON UNIVERSE OVERRIDE
Assortment: F5763
Altmode: Velocitronian Race Car
Transformation Difficulty: 19 steps
Previous Name Use: None (just "Override" was Cybertron)
Previous Mold Use: None

https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Cybertron/Deluxe2 for the original toy
that this homages.

Packaging: Three strings on the vehicle mode, one on the weapon, all
twisted then taped rather than tied.
The package renders carefully pick camera angles that hide the fact that
there's big gaps on the sides of the vehicle mode. The renders for robot
mode don't quite match the toy, the heels are the wrong color and it looks
like they changed how the vehicle front end bits fold up in the backs of the
boots between render and actual toy.


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