So Hasbro unveiled another batch of new toys today (some of which were already spoiled by other sources, but you gotta give them credit for trying).

They had some Rise of the Beast toys—Bumblebee, Battletrap, Core-class Arcee. Also Airazor and Cheetor, who already went live a while ago, and Leader-class Scourge.

They also unveiled the Core-class Baby Grimlock, but they transformed him wrong. His robot legs are supposed to fold up into the dinosaur tail, so he's not quite as awful as the stock photos floating around would have you believe. He forms a leg for Baby Volcanicus, further lending to the idea that the Dinobots might end up being a Dinoking pretool (the T. rex Dinoforce member, Goryu, was also a leg).

There is also a Core-class Nemesis Prime (Optimus Prime redeco, natch) and Core-class Thundercracker (who actually has his arm guns, unlike Skywarp).

The Deluxe-class Junkion motorcycle is named Crashbar. He's not a screen-accurate character from The Transformers: the Movie, though one supposes with as many Junkions as exist, he could have been standing somewhere just off-screen. His general aesthetic and color scheme isn't completely disingenuous, though. He looks like he could fit in with a collection of TF:TM Junkion toys.

The Deluxe-class Shrapnel is probably my favorite reveal from today. (Also, he's the only one who is sold out on Pulse as of this writing. See below!) He's going to be a bit on the large-ish side, like Kickback was, but they said he's supposed to match Kickback's colors. I'm not in love with the way they painted him like the consumer-applied stickers on the 1985 toy, but what can you do. I'll still have to buy like four of these.

Skids is up for a redeco and minor remold as Crosscut, who had already leaked previously. I still hate his red wheels. It makes him look SO knockoffy.

They're doing a Geewunnified version of Animated Prowl, without the absurdly large chin. I wonder if they'll reuse him as an Action Master like Axer or somebody.

Twincast and Metalhawk were also officially unveiled. As was reported yesterday, Twincast is a redeco of Legacy Blaster, and comes with a translucent-black Rewind. (Hasbro is playing up the ability of the rifle to plug into the back of Twincast's boom box mode as feature, as a tribute to the functionality of the Diaclone toy.) Metalhawk is a very extensive retool of Kingdom Cyclonus. We finally get to see his vehicle mode, and it's almost laughably Geewun—a box with a cockpit sticking out of it, pretty much.

They mentioned that they wanted to do an animation-accurate Metalhawk as his robot mode appears in the cartoons, and that the outer shell wasn't as iconic. They did not say anything about the stupidity of fans who wan the original-style Pretenders, despite all the arguing going on right now on the message boards. Sigh.

Leader-class Skyquake is like a weird fusion of his European G1 self and the Prime version of the character. Not sure why. I'll buy him when and if they retool/redeco him into Machine Wars Starscream. As reported previously, he does have some connectivity capability with Needlenose, so it stands to reason we might see Needlenose remolded into one or more of the Predator characters from Europe.

They also showed off some artwork for characters that are coming later. Toys weren't ready for them yet, but characters on the way this year include Beachcomber (likely Deluxe-class). I think he could theoretically get reused as Ruckus, with sufficient remolding. Devcon is also coming, but it's unknown whether he's a retool of an existing toy or a new mold. There's another Junkion coming called Axlegrease (no images, so no idea what he looks like). Earthrise Dirge is getting a package refresh (they are not reissuing the G1 toy as web sites are reporting). Leo Convoy is getting a redeco as Nemesis Leo. There's also an Armada Megatron coming.

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the Christmas-themed Optimus Prime is getting a redeco as a regular-colored Optimus Prime. (I'm assuming it will be the G2 Combat Hero, but who knows.)

They did mention that one of the reasons they've been branching into other universes is because everybody had an entry point at some point down the road, and it wasn't just G1 for everybody. "How can you gatekeep a brand that reboots every three years?" Evan Brooks posited. They did not bash the Geewunners or imply that one group of fans or the other is wrong, despite the arguing going on at various message boards. All they actually said was that somebody's first Transformers toy might be from Animated or Armada or whatever. (But, again, Shrapnel was the first to sell out. So that should tell you the interest in G1 is still very strong.)

Zob (seriously, if you read the comments, you'd think Hasbro just completely ripped into the fans who love G1 or like Pretenders)

On Tuesday, January 31, 2023 at 5:09:55 PM UTC-6, Zobovor wrote:
> So Hasbro unveiled another batch of new toys today (some of which were already spoiled by other sources, but you gotta give them credit for trying).
>
> They had some Rise of the Beast toys—Bumblebee, Battletrap, Core-class Arcee. Also Airazor and Cheetor, who already went live a while ago, and Leader-class Scourge.
>
> They also unveiled the Core-class Baby Grimlock, but they transformed him wrong. His robot legs are supposed to fold up into the dinosaur tail, so he's not quite as awful as the stock photos floating around would have you believe. He forms a leg for Baby Volcanicus, further lending to the idea that the Dinobots might end up being a Dinoking pretool (the T. rex Dinoforce member, Goryu, was also a leg).
>
> There is also a Core-class Nemesis Prime (Optimus Prime redeco, natch) and Core-class Thundercracker (who actually has his arm guns, unlike Skywarp)..
>
> The Deluxe-class Junkion motorcycle is named Crashbar. He's not a screen-accurate character from The Transformers: the Movie, though one supposes with as many Junkions as exist, he could have been standing somewhere just off-screen. His general aesthetic and color scheme isn't completely disingenuous, though. He looks like he could fit in with a collection of TF:TM Junkion toys.
>
> The Deluxe-class Shrapnel is probably my favorite reveal from today. (Also, he's the only one who is sold out on Pulse as of this writing. See below!) He's going to be a bit on the large-ish side, like Kickback was, but they said he's supposed to match Kickback's colors. I'm not in love with the way they painted him like the consumer-applied stickers on the 1985 toy, but what can you do. I'll still have to buy like four of these.
>
> Skids is up for a redeco and minor remold as Crosscut, who had already leaked previously. I still hate his red wheels. It makes him look SO knockoffy.
>
> They're doing a Geewunnified version of Animated Prowl, without the absurdly large chin. I wonder if they'll reuse him as an Action Master like Axer or somebody.
>
> Twincast and Metalhawk were also officially unveiled. As was reported yesterday, Twincast is a redeco of Legacy Blaster, and comes with a translucent-black Rewind. (Hasbro is playing up the ability of the rifle to plug into the back of Twincast's boom box mode as feature, as a tribute to the functionality of the Diaclone toy.) Metalhawk is a very extensive retool of Kingdom Cyclonus. We finally get to see his vehicle mode, and it's almost laughably Geewun—a box with a cockpit sticking out of it, pretty much.
>
> They mentioned that they wanted to do an animation-accurate Metalhawk as his robot mode appears in the cartoons, and that the outer shell wasn't as iconic. They did not say anything about the stupidity of fans who wan the original-style Pretenders, despite all the arguing going on right now on the message boards. Sigh.
>
> Leader-class Skyquake is like a weird fusion of his European G1 self and the Prime version of the character. Not sure why. I'll buy him when and if they retool/redeco him into Machine Wars Starscream. As reported previously, he does have some connectivity capability with Needlenose, so it stands to reason we might see Needlenose remolded into one or more of the Predator characters from Europe.
>
> They also showed off some artwork for characters that are coming later. Toys weren't ready for them yet, but characters on the way this year include Beachcomber (likely Deluxe-class). I think he could theoretically get reused as Ruckus, with sufficient remolding. Devcon is also coming, but it's unknown whether he's a retool of an existing toy or a new mold. There's another Junkion coming called Axlegrease (no images, so no idea what he looks like). Earthrise Dirge is getting a package refresh (they are not reissuing the G1 toy as web sites are reporting). Leo Convoy is getting a redeco as Nemesis Leo. There's also an Armada Megatron coming.
>
> To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the Christmas-themed Optimus Prime is getting a redeco as a regular-colored Optimus Prime. (I'm assuming it will be the G2 Combat Hero, but who knows.)
>
> They did mention that one of the reasons they've been branching into other universes is because everybody had an entry point at some point down the road, and it wasn't just G1 for everybody. "How can you gatekeep a brand that reboots every three years?" Evan Brooks posited. They did not bash the Geewunners or imply that one group of fans or the other is wrong, despite the arguing going on at various message boards. All they actually said was that somebody's first Transformers toy might be from Animated or Armada or whatever. (But, again, Shrapnel was the first to sell out. So that should tell you the interest in G1 is still very strong.)
>
>
> Zob (seriously, if you read the comments, you'd think Hasbro just completely ripped into the fans who love G1 or like Pretenders)
A guy already brought Prowl in to the store on Sunday. It looks pretty good for an animated character. He wasn't trying to sell it, just bragging he had it as he sold us a Speedia Cosmos.
I thought Blaster's gun plugged in to the back on Kingdom/Siege Blaster.
I just still don't care about Metalhawk.

The Skyquake reveal got someone to buy the OG Prime Skyquake on Sunday when I did 15% off loose toys. That original mold for Prime Skyquake was so detailed.

From some of the design renderings floating around, Core Class Freezer plugs in to SS101 Scourge to become his gun so that's why they never showed off his alt mode. I know you don't care about movieverse, but Scourge looks like he has a lot of detail, though his truck mode just has a lot of trailer kibble.
They revealed Battletrap awhile ago and it's just terrible looking.

On Tuesday, January 31, 2023 at 6:14:27 PM UTC-7, Ob1k...@att.net wrote:

> I thought Blaster's gun plugged in to the back on Kingdom/Siege Blaster.

It did, but now they're playing it up as a special feature. There's literally a callout on the back of the package. It's kind of funny.

> I just still don't care about Metalhawk.

I don't much care about him either. But, I'm slowly warming up to the Japanese characters as Hasbro continues to embrace them. I guess if they're good enough for Hasbro to adopt and welcome into the fold, they're good enough for me. I mean, I own HasLab Star Saber now and I helped fund Deathsaurus. I probably won't track down every single vintage Japanese G1 toy in existence, but I don't hate the idea of having neo-G1 versions of a few of them. To me, they're like the weird Diaclone-colored pre-Transformers we've been getting lately. They're like the cousins of the American G1 toy line.
> From some of the design renderings floating around, Core Class Freezer plugs in to SS101 Scourge to become his gun so that's why they never showed off his alt mode. I know you don't care about movieverse, but Scourge looks like he has a lot of detail, though his truck mode just has a lot of trailer kibble.

I can't look at that Scourge toy without thinking of this guy:

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/pjmidearthfilms/images/5/50/X_weta865203125_d.jpg

Zob