So, a few collection updates:

First off, here's a few pics of Dragstrip that will hopefully make you laugh:

https://i.imgur.com/IYe7mQS.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/oPQdti6.jpg

Got two new bots this weekend: Legacy Soundwave, and Burnout. Soundwave is pretty awesome, though sadly he comes with no cassettes. I don't mind his alt mode (he can at least do the Cybertronian lamp post thing, or sensor tower as I always figured it was) and I don't mind the yellow visor, though red would have been my first choice. For some reason what does bother me more is that his lower legs are not white. But it's a minor thing. In a perfect world, the Netflix Earthmode Soundwave would have probably been my first choice but the prices on it are insane now, and I've been reading about the plastic yellowing on it. So I'm pretty happy with my Soundwave.

Burnout is just gorgeous. The mold looks great in black, and unlike Skids she actually has her tail lights painted on so looks less "unfinished". I've mentioned I like Crosscut too (though haven't seen him in person yet) so I'd have to say Skids is the worst of the three to me. He might have seniority as a character but I can't override what my eyes and brain are telling me about the figures just because Skids appeared for 10 seconds in the cartoon and starred in an extremely shitty comic (IDW's MTMTE/Lost Light). Not to say he's bad though, Skids fans!

https://i.imgur.com/sgdt9o4.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/hjM3qRk.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/MdQ4Jcq.jpg

Other figures that I saw at the store and left behind (for now, at least) are Legacy Blitzwing, Legacy Bulkhead (the G1 take on the character, of course) and Wheelie. I'm trying to curb my impulse buying so any thoughts you guys have on any of those figures are more than welcome. Blitzwing looks really cool as a robot, but his alt modes kinda suck, and he's not cheap. I was tempted, but I've gotta think him over a bit. Bulkhead looks cool but for some reason I really have my mind set on Hauler filling my "big green Autobot" niche, so I don't know. And Wheelie was cute, but the little bastard was 10 bucks!

So my collection now stands at 10: Starscream, Ironhide, Elita-1, Arcee, Kickback, Dragstrip, Skids, Sludge, Burnout, and Soundwave. (Walgreens Shockwave doesn't count as I now know he's basically from a different lineage of figures and will probably be making his way to ebay shortly). It's amazing to think that less than a month ago all I had was Starscream. I've been buying them so fast that my concern now is I'm not taking the time to really appreciate and have fun with each figure individually (I STILL have not fully transformed Sludge and Arcee). So I might try to slow things down a bit, at least from stores.

I haven't even shifted into buying them online yet...

On Monday, May 8, 2023 at 5:36:25 AM UTC-7, Sky Raider wrote:
> So, a few collection updates:
>
> First off, here's a few pics of Dragstrip that will hopefully make you laugh:
>
> https://i.imgur.com/IYe7mQS.jpg
> https://i.imgur.com/oPQdti6.jpg
>
> Got two new bots this weekend: Legacy Soundwave, and Burnout. Soundwave is pretty awesome, though sadly he comes with no cassettes. I don't mind his alt mode (he can at least do the Cybertronian lamp post thing, or sensor tower as I always figured it was) and I don't mind the yellow visor, though red would have been my first choice. For some reason what does bother me more is that his lower legs are not white. But it's a minor thing. In a perfect world, the Netflix Earthmode Soundwave would have probably been my first choice but the prices on it are insane now, and I've been reading about the plastic yellowing on it. So I'm pretty happy with my Soundwave.
>
> Burnout is just gorgeous. The mold looks great in black, and unlike Skids she actually has her tail lights painted on so looks less "unfinished". I've mentioned I like Crosscut too (though haven't seen him in person yet) so I'd have to say Skids is the worst of the three to me. He might have seniority as a character but I can't override what my eyes and brain are telling me about the figures just because Skids appeared for 10 seconds in the cartoon and starred in an extremely shitty comic (IDW's MTMTE/Lost Light). Not to say he's bad though, Skids fans!
>
> https://i.imgur.com/sgdt9o4.jpg
> https://i.imgur.com/hjM3qRk.jpg
> https://i.imgur.com/MdQ4Jcq.jpg
>
> Other figures that I saw at the store and left behind (for now, at least) are Legacy Blitzwing, Legacy Bulkhead (the G1 take on the character, of course) and Wheelie. I'm trying to curb my impulse buying so any thoughts you guys have on any of those figures are more than welcome. Blitzwing looks really cool as a robot, but his alt modes kinda suck, and he's not cheap. I was tempted, but I've gotta think him over a bit. Bulkhead looks cool but for some reason I really have my mind set on Hauler filling my "big green Autobot" niche, so I don't know. And Wheelie was cute, but the little bastard was 10 bucks!
>
> So my collection now stands at 10: Starscream, Ironhide, Elita-1, Arcee, Kickback, Dragstrip, Skids, Sludge, Burnout, and Soundwave. (Walgreens Shockwave doesn't count as I now know he's basically from a different lineage of figures and will probably be making his way to ebay shortly). It's amazing to think that less than a month ago all I had was Starscream. I've been buying them so fast that my concern now is I'm not taking the time to really appreciate and have fun with each figure individually (I STILL have not fully transformed Sludge and Arcee). So I might try to slow things down a bit, at least from stores.
>
> I haven't even shifted into buying them online yet...

Excited to check these out this week. Nice work, and thank you, Sky Raider! So cool to see these discoveries flourish. :)

JB

On Monday, May 8, 2023 at 6:36:25 AM UTC-6, Sky Raider wrote:

> In a perfect world, the Netflix Earthmode Soundwave would have probably been my first choice but the prices on it are insane now, and I've been reading about the plastic yellowing on it. So I'm pretty happy with my Soundwave.
Siege Soundwave is still a great toy. Netflix Soundwave is basically the same thing, only they rejiggered the transformation so he turns into a tape deck. I'm sure he'll be made available again at some point in a package refresh, hopefully without the yellowing.

> Blitzwing looks really cool as a robot, but his alt modes kinda suck, and he's not cheap.

Every time they approach Blitzwing, they end up doing a slightly better job than the last time. The Legacy version is the best one they've done yet, but a lot of people complained about his animation-accurate tank cockpit.

> And Wheelie was cute, but the little bastard was 10 bucks!

Wheelie is great in robot mode, and he's better than the non-poseable figure that came with Leader-class Grimlock. But, his car mode is kind of terrible.

> It's amazing to think that less than a month ago all I had was Starscream.. I've been buying them so fast that my concern now is I'm not taking the time to really appreciate and have fun with each figure individually (I STILL have not fully transformed Sludge and Arcee). So I might try to slow things down a bit, at least from stores.

I have so many toys that I can't really give them all the love they deserve.. After I buy him and open him and transform him a few times and write a review and then stick him in a box, there is a non-zero chance that I might never touch that toy ever again. I mean, statistically speaking, it's probably happened. But, the good thing about that is that, years later, I can pull something out of a box, often having forgotten I owned it, and I can rediscover it with fresh eyes.

But, now that you've been bitten by the collecting bug... it's hard to slow down. My brain used to have exactly two settings. Setting number one—I was all caught up, and I was jonesing for the next wave of toys to come out. Setting number two—there was a new batch of toys released, and I went into a mild panic attack trying to figure out how I would be able to afford them all. It was either one or the other. There was no in-between.

But, I'm glad you're being selective, and it sounds like you're enjoying what you've been buying so far. Let us know which toys (both current releases and older styles) are somewhere near the top of your current want list!

Zob (so we can talk you into buying them all, of course)

On Wednesday, May 10, 2023 at 7:23:51 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:

> But, I'm glad you're being selective, and it sounds like you're enjoying what you've been buying so far. Let us know which toys (both current releases and older styles) are somewhere near the top of your current want list!
>
>
> Zob (so we can talk you into buying them all, of course)

I've been having a blast with these little guys, yes! And since I'm getting to the point where I have most of what I'd want that's out in stores now (that I've actually seen in the wild), I guess it's time to go back and order some of the ones I missed online. So yes, I do have questions!

Optimus and Megatron are two rather glaring omissions to my collection so far. I was looking at Siege and Earthrise and I think I'm definitely leading towards Siege for Megatron, with a slight lean maybe towards Siege for Optimus also (though that one is closer). Thoughts?

Regarding the Lambo mold...Siege Sideswipe has an awesome alt mode, but the robot colors might be just a tad nicer on Earthrise? I dunno, that's a close one. For the Datsuns, I love the Siege alt mode (and guys like Prowl and Barricade might be easier to get) but I think the robot looks better in Earthrise. But I think I also read somewhere that Earthrise is fragile and has bad knees? Also with the Datsuns I think I'd want to go all in on either Siege or Earthrise because the bot mode just looks too different; with the Lambo I'd be ok playing mix and match.

You guys have any thoughts on some older figures like Titans Return, etc? I know Triggerhappy is spoken pretty highly of and he looks really cool. The Headmaster guys like Mindwipe, Weirdwolf etc look pretty goofy though, which is too bad because I like Decepticons that turn into animals and freaks. Skullcruncher (or Smasher, whoever) looks cool as a gator and a bot but from videos I've seen he also has those awful hollow legs and can't stand very well. Too bad, I like his colors. Also, any thoughts on the Power of the Primes Terrorcons? I wouldn't even need the whole team (who knows if I could get them even if I wanted to) but again I always liked their mix of colors. I think Cutthroat is supposed to be pretty bad, but I've heard generally good things about the rest of them.

So, one thing I'd like to walk back is that early on I said I would have probably been just as happy with Earthrise Ironhide and Arcee, but having done a little more research now (I really fell down the rabbithole on Youtube) I have to say their 86 movie versions are much better and I lucked out with the better figures. I finally learned how to transform Arcee and Sludge too. I have to say, as an adult, I can really appreciate TF figs not just as representations of characters I love but as self-contained puzzle toys in their own right. I can appreciate the engineering and say, wow, that's clever. They're like Rubix cubes. With guns.

And over the last week, I ended up with all of the Legacy Wave 3 Deluxes (see! I know the lingo now!) My Walmart finally restocked and there was one each of Pointblank and Dead End, and a couple Skullgrins and Crankcases. I grabbed Pointblank and Dead End. Went back a couple days later because I definitely wanted Skullgrin. They were down to one of him, and one Crankcase. I said screw it and grabbed them both, because I knew I'd regret it if I didn't get Cranky also.

Pointblank is so-so as a robot. He's got those hollow legs I don't like (sidenote, I became a snob about this kind of thing appalingly fast). But, he's AWESEOME in car mode. Absolutely gorgeous, 10/10. Peacemaker broke as soon as I took him out of the box; I fixed him but his gun barrel now hangs in an amusingly limp fashion. Also, Nebulans suck so in my toy canon he's a regular Cybertronian and Pointblank's little robot buddy.

Dead End, who I heard mixed things about, actually looks really nice as a robot if you don't view him from the side and see his giant calves. But I love the black paint on his chest and his face sculpt with the purple visor. Like Pointblank, he's pretty gorgeous as a car, and I love how he has the yellow stripe of the original toy. Except...mine was a factory defect. The window panel on the the top of his left leg/back of the driver's side door was missing the black paint. I didn't notice until I was playing around his car mode for a few minutes already. I didn't want to have to alter a figure, but so I colored it in with a black sharpie. It's not perfect, but you don't really see it unless you're looking for it. It's kind of funny on a meta level...because I can just see the character bemoaning that it was fated to happen to him...but it still pissed me off.

Skullgrin is the anti-Pointblank. Awesome as a robot, right down to his 80s-metal skull belt buckle. Alt mode is kind of shit. but I've seen fan modes that turn him into a cool skull battering ram thing. I know combining the shell mode and the robot mode for Pretenders is a hot button topic, but I'm cool with it. To me it preserves the most iconic elements of the characters while still ditching the secondary gimmick and leaving you with a cool transforming robot toy. But I do see both sides of it. (the upcoming Bludgeon, on the other hand, looks pretty ugly).

And finally Crankcase. I wasn't sure if I wanted him because I had Skids AND Burnout already and he's just a retool...but he looks better than both of them honestly. Also I had the G1 as a kid, so I couldn't just leave him there. His only problem is that his little Triggercon cannons are so anemic they might as well not even be there. That's another old toy gimmick that I don't think necessarily needs to be shoe-horned into every modern figure if it doesn't really fit. But anywhow, nice bot and alt mode.

So I'm up to 14 figures now. Primus help me.

> Optimus and Megatron are two rather glaring omissions to my collection so far. I was looking at Siege and Earthrise and I think I'm definitely leading towards Siege for Megatron, with a slight lean maybe towards Siege for Optimus also (though that one is closer). Thoughts?

I have several iterations of the Siege and Earthrise Megatron molds, and I'd go with the Walmart Netflix version of the Siege. Better QC, transformation, and color schemes.

As for Optimus, it's Earthrise all day, every day.
All the poseability of a modern figure with the sturdiness of an older figure. All the complexity of MP-10 without the fragility. A transformation that's complex but intuitive. A deco that's free of battle damage or extraneous kibble.

I'd opt for the Netflix version if you can - it lacks the undercooked trailer (no big loss), but makes up for it with a better color scheme. (https://childrenofprimus.com/news-reviews/bot-reviews-special-building-the-perfect-generations-optimus-prime/)

For a trailer, I'd recommend the vastly superior MP-10v trailer (CHUG-scaled, downsized MP-10 trailer):
Video showing compatibility: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atazwn2jRJ4

>
> You guys have any thoughts on some older figures like Titans Return, etc? I know Triggerhappy is spoken pretty highly of and he looks really cool. The Headmaster guys like Mindwipe, Weirdwolf etc look pretty goofy though, which is too bad because I like Decepticons that turn into animals and freaks. Skullcruncher (or Smasher, whoever) looks cool as a gator and a bot but from videos I've seen he also has those awful hollow legs and can't stand very well. Too bad, I like his colors. Also, any thoughts on the Power of the Primes Terrorcons? I wouldn't even need the whole team (who knows if I could get them even if I wanted to) but again I always liked their mix of colors. I think Cutthroat is supposed to be pretty bad, but I've heard generally good things about the rest of them.
>

I find that the Prime Wars era toys pale in comparison to the WfC era toys. The quality is noticeably inferior, and the show and scale accuracy can't compare. That said, they are fun fiddle toys. SS86 Hot Rod, Kup, and Blurr are far superior in terms of heft and accuracy, but the TR versions are a lot more fun to transform, IMHO.

>
> Skullgrin is the anti-Pointblank. Awesome as a robot, right down to his 80s-metal skull belt buckle. Alt mode is kind of shit. but I've seen fan modes that turn him into a cool skull battering ram thing. I know combining the shell mode and the robot mode for Pretenders is a hot button topic, but I'm cool with it. To me it preserves the most iconic elements of the characters while still ditching the secondary gimmick and leaving you with a cool transforming robot toy. But I do see both sides of it. (the upcoming Bludgeon, on the other hand, looks pretty ugly).

Your review is swaying me towards getting him. Still can't understand why Hasbro didn't make all their Pretenders in the same scale. Instead, we get Core-class Bomb-Burst, Deluxe-class Skullgrin, and no Submarauder.

>
>
> So I'm up to 14 figures now. Primus help me.

That's what we call progress!

On Wednesday, May 17, 2023 at 7:24:08 PM UTC-6, Codigo Postal wrote:

> Your review is swaying me towards getting him. Still can't understand why Hasbro didn't make all their Pretenders in the same scale. Instead, we get Core-class Bomb-Burst, Deluxe-class Skullgrin, and no Submarauder.

The rumor was that for Legacy, we were originally supposed to get Energon Monsters, in both the Core-class and Deluxe-class scale. I have no idea what they are, but I would presume the concept was similar to the Weaponizers and Fossilizers—maybe they were all made of translucent weapons that you could use for C.O.M.B.A.T. loadouts or to build gigantic creatures made of pure energon. The early Legacy accessories (translucent weapons for Skids, Laser Prime, etc.) might have been meant to interact with them. But, it's possible we'll never know for sure.

The Pretenders were reportedly a last-minute addition to replace the Energon Monsters concept, which means they had both Core-class and Deluxe-class slots to fill. So, it's possible that's the only reason why they made the Pretenders at multiple scales—because they had existing Energon Monster slots they needed to use. Maybe some day they'll shed more light on this strange mystery.

Zob (got some reproduction stickers for my 1989 Pretender Starscream, and now he's not naked any longer!)

On Wednesday, May 17, 2023 at 7:10:24 AM UTC-6, Sky Raider wrote:

> Optimus and Megatron are two rather glaring omissions to my collection so far. I was looking at Siege and Earthrise and I think I'm definitely leading towards Siege for Megatron, with a slight lean maybe towards Siege for Optimus also (though that one is closer). Thoughts?

There were multiple Megatrons available across Siege and Earthrise, all variations on the same theme. It's worth mentioning that they changed the face sculpt for the Earthrise version, and it's measurably worse. The same toy just barely became available again as "Miner Megatron" (from the IDW stories) with yellow-and-black hazard stripes on it, so if you don't want to pay secondary market prices, you could get that version (it's in a two-pack).

As for Optimus, the Earthrise version is the best one we've gotten in recent years. The trailer is probably too small, and he doesn't come with Roller, but there's only so much they could cram into the Leader-class price point, I guess. There's supposed to be a Studio Series '86 version coming soon that will be Commander-class, so it will be more expensive, but will likely have a lot more bells and whistles. Depends on how long you want to wait.
> Regarding the Lambo mold...Siege Sideswipe has an awesome alt mode, but the robot colors might be just a tad nicer on Earthrise? I dunno, that's a close one. For the Datsuns, I love the Siege alt mode (and guys like Prowl and Barricade might be easier to get) but I think the robot looks better in Earthrise. But I think I also read somewhere that Earthrise is fragile and has bad knees? Also with the Datsuns I think I'd want to go all in on either Siege or Earthrise because the bot mode just looks too different; with the Lambo I'd be ok playing mix and match.

Spoiler alert: none of the Lamborghini guys have any! Spoilers, that is. However, Nonnef Productions has add-on kits if the spoiler's absence bugs you a lot. The change in the knees is probably from a *perceived* fragility issue (the running change was to add a reinforcing strut to support the knee better) but I don't ever remember reading about their knees actually breaking willy-nilly. You're probably safe to get any version(s) of the Datsuns.

> You guys have any thoughts on some older figures like Titans Return, etc? I know Triggerhappy is spoken pretty highly of and he looks really cool. The Headmaster guys like Mindwipe, Weirdwolf etc look pretty goofy though, which is too bad because I like Decepticons that turn into animals and freaks. Skullcruncher (or Smasher, whoever) looks cool as a gator and a bot but from videos I've seen he also has those awful hollow legs and can't stand very well. Too bad, I like his colors.

Titans Return felt like they had finally moved past doing endless new versions of Optimus and Starscream and Bumblebee, and actually delved deep into the Transformers lore to give us characters who had never gotten updates. If you can get past the Headmasterification of random characters like Blurr and Soundwave and Perceptor, the toy line was honestly a great ride. The toys aren't made quite as well as what we started getting with Siege and beyond, and they were made prior to the focus on accurate Sunbow cartoon scale (so it suffers a little from the "everybody's a Deluxe" syndrome).

It depends on whether you want the best versions of specific characters, or if you just want a neat robot toy to add to your collection. Probably my favorites from Titans Return are Twinferno (new name for Doublecross), Skullcruncher/Krok (same toy experience), and Topspin. Triggerhappy is great, but Misfire and Slugslinger are also solid toys, and all share some engineering. Weirdwolf is good, too, but he has fragility issues in the cockpit.

> Also, any thoughts on the Power of the Primes Terrorcons? I wouldn't even need the whole team (who knows if I could get them even if I wanted to) but again I always liked their mix of colors. I think Cutthroat is supposed to be pretty bad, but I've heard generally good things about the rest of them.

The four small Terrorcons are significant improvements over their G1 counterparts. They're one of the best things to come out of Power of the Primes, hands down. That was such a weird, disjointed toy line. Anyway, I think Rippersnapper is my favorite. Hun-Gurrr is a little less satisfying (you may have heard he's a radically re-engineered Silverbolt) but he's not total garbage. (Now, Snaptrap, on the other hand, also based on the same mold, actually IS total garbage.)
> I have to say, as an adult, I can really appreciate TF figs not just as representations of characters I love but as self-contained puzzle toys in their own right. I can appreciate the engineering and say, wow, that's clever.. They're like Rubix cubes. With guns.

Rubik's Cubes with Guns! That should replace "More Than Meets the Eye" as their official tagline. It even has the same number of syllables, so they wouldn't have to change the G1 theme song!

> And over the last week, I ended up with all of the Legacy Wave 3 Deluxes (see! I know the lingo now!)

*pats you on the head like a puppy* Good boy! That's a good boy!

> My Walmart finally restocked and there was one each of Pointblank and Dead End, and a couple Skullgrins and Crankcases. I grabbed Pointblank and Dead End. Went back a couple days later because I definitely wanted Skullgrin. They were down to one of him, and one Crankcase. I said screw it and grabbed them both, because I knew I'd regret it if I didn't get Cranky also.

That specific wave isn't as good as others. I don't know if the designers were running out of steam, or if they hit an unexpected time crunch and/or budget problems, but I wasn't blown away as I've been with past waves. It's nice that they found a way to give us Crankcase, since I doubt he was important enough to get his own mold. But, my copy is floppy and I'm not really happy with him. And Skullgrin is just a mess of ideas.

Sorry your Pointblank broke, but at least you were able to make repairs.
> Dead End, who I heard mixed things about, actually looks really nice as a robot if you don't view him from the side and see his giant calves.

I wonder how many Stunticons you'll have to own before you feel compelled to collect them all so you can assemble Menasor? What's the magic number here? Three? Four?

> His only problem is that his little Triggercon cannons are so anemic they might as well not even be there.

There is a Nonnef add-on kit that includes bigger guns. It does improve that aspect of the toy quite a bit.

> So I'm up to 14 figures now. Primus help me.

The collection is coming along nicely! Have you given any thought to how you might display them, or has your living space just been dominated by plastic robots?

Zob (whose computer desk is currently cluttered with assorted toys)

On Wednesday, May 17, 2023 at 9:52:03 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:
> On Wednesday, May 17, 2023 at 7:24:08 PM UTC-6, Codigo Postal wrote:
>
> > Your review is swaying me towards getting him. Still can't understand why Hasbro didn't make all their Pretenders in the same scale. Instead, we get Core-class Bomb-Burst, Deluxe-class Skullgrin, and no Submarauder.
> The rumor was that for Legacy, we were originally supposed to get Energon Monsters, in both the Core-class and Deluxe-class scale. I have no idea what they are, but I would presume the concept was similar to the Weaponizers and Fossilizers—maybe they were all made of translucent weapons that you could use for C.O.M.B.A.T. loadouts or to build gigantic creatures made of pure energon. The early Legacy accessories (translucent weapons for Skids, Laser Prime, etc.) might have been meant to interact with them. But, it's possible we'll never know for sure.
>
> The Pretenders were reportedly a last-minute addition to replace the Energon Monsters concept, which means they had both Core-class and Deluxe-class slots to fill. So, it's possible that's the only reason why they made the Pretenders at multiple scales—because they had existing Energon Monster slots they needed to use. Maybe some day they'll shed more light on this strange mystery.

That clears it up! It figures - just as G1 is finally getting the respect it deserves (a unified line of animation-accurate and properly-scaled updates), the Japanese G1 series gets a random hodgepodge of releases (TR Overlord, Walgreens Minerva, Haslab Star Saber and Deathsaurus, Deluxe and Core Decepticon Pretenders, plus Voyager Metalhawk). What's a self-respecting Masterforce/Victory enthusiast to do?

> Pointblank is so-so as a robot. He's got those hollow legs I don't like (sidenote, I became a snob about this kind of thing appallingly fast).

To quote Perceptor in TFTM: "Run [Blaster], save yourself!"

Down that road lies the madness of 3P upgrade kits. Gap fillers to fill the unsightly holes. Weapons packs and accessories to compensate for what Hasbro didn't provide.

Pretty soon, through the magic of Nonnef, Matrix Workshop, BDT, ZX, DNA Designs, TFSafari, Larkins Lair, Sweetmall on eBay, and others, you'll have awesome, near-perfect representations of your favorite bots and cons with accurate accessories and weapons that both look great on a shelf and are fun to pose and interact with, and I'm not sure where I was going with this, but life is short, so get all the upgrade kits you can. My figures are so much better for it. My wallet, less so.

On Wednesday, May 17, 2023 at 8:10:24 AM UTC-5, Sky Raider wrote:
> On Wednesday, May 10, 2023 at 7:23:51 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:
>
> > But, I'm glad you're being selective, and it sounds like you're enjoying what you've been buying so far. Let us know which toys (both current releases and older styles) are somewhere near the top of your current want list!
> >
> >
> > Zob (so we can talk you into buying them all, of course)
> I've been having a blast with these little guys, yes! And since I'm getting to the point where I have most of what I'd want that's out in stores now (that I've actually seen in the wild), I guess it's time to go back and order some of the ones I missed online. So yes, I do have questions!
>
> Optimus and Megatron are two rather glaring omissions to my collection so far. I was looking at Siege and Earthrise and I think I'm definitely leading towards Siege for Megatron, with a slight lean maybe towards Siege for Optimus also (though that one is closer). Thoughts?
>

Earthrise Optmus is much better, unless you just really need a big top panel and an axe for something.
Earthrise Megatron is a little underwhelming in that he's still mostly Siege Megatron but with a ridiculous sword to make the tank turret

> Regarding the Lambo mold...Siege Sideswipe has an awesome alt mode, but the robot colors might be just a tad nicer on Earthrise? I dunno, that's a close one. For the Datsuns, I love the Siege alt mode (and guys like Prowl and Barricade might be easier to get) but I think the robot looks better in Earthrise. But I think I also read somewhere that Earthrise is fragile and has bad knees? Also with the Datsuns I think I'd want to go all in on either Siege or Earthrise because the bot mode just looks too different; with the Lambo I'd be ok playing mix and match.
>

The Sunstreaker Eartkrise mold is great, but he's a redo of Wheeljack but it just kind of works.
The Datsun the siege mold is simpler to transform but also might have hollow leg backs

> You guys have any thoughts on some older figures like Titans Return, etc? I know Triggerhappy is spoken pretty highly of and he looks really cool. The Headmaster guys like Mindwipe, Weirdwolf etc look pretty goofy though, which is too bad because I like Decepticons that turn into animals and freaks. Skullcruncher (or Smasher, whoever) looks cool as a gator and a bot but from videos I've seen he also has those awful hollow legs and can't stand very well. Too bad, I like his colors. Also, any thoughts on the Power of the Primes Terrorcons? I wouldn't even need the whole team (who knows if I could get them even if I wanted to) but again I always liked their mix of colors. I think Cutthroat is supposed to be pretty bad, but I've heard generally good things about the rest of them.
>

Wolfwire was kinda blah, especially with early releases having a torso tabbing issue, Mindwipe was decent, but Skullcruncher is pretty great.
Chromedome is neat,
Twinferno (Doublecross) is really cool to me.
I liked Titans Return Octane, even though he has no reason to be a Headmaster now
Sixshot is really really well done, I got a 3rd party right before I got the Titans Return and it's one f a handful of times where the Hasbro beats the 3rd party.
Apeface and Snapdragon weren't TR but they're very TR inspired and I like both of them, they're under retail online now though
Of the Terrorcons Sinnertwin was the weakest imo, but all of them should still only be $20-30 each online still

> So, one thing I'd like to walk back is that early on I said I would have probably been just as happy with Earthrise Ironhide and Arcee, but having done a little more research now (I really fell down the rabbithole on Youtube) I have to say their 86 movie versions are much better and I lucked out with the better figures. I finally learned how to transform Arcee and Sludge too. I have to say, as an adult, I can really appreciate TF figs not just as representations of characters I love but as self-contained puzzle toys in their own right. I can appreciate the engineering and say, wow, that's clever. They're like Rubix cubes. With guns.
>

I'm sticking with Thrilling 30 Arcee, I just like a few more colors even if not screen accurate.

> And over the last week, I ended up with all of the Legacy Wave 3 Deluxes (see! I know the lingo now!) My Walmart finally restocked and there was one each of Pointblank and Dead End, and a couple Skullgrins and Crankcases. I grabbed Pointblank and Dead End. Went back a couple days later because I definitely wanted Skullgrin. They were down to one of him, and one Crankcase.. I said screw it and grabbed them both, because I knew I'd regret it if I didn't get Cranky also.
>
> Pointblank is so-so as a robot. He's got those hollow legs I don't like (sidenote, I became a snob about this kind of thing appalingly fast). But, he's AWESEOME in car mode. Absolutely gorgeous, 10/10. Peacemaker broke as soon as I took him out of the box; I fixed him but his gun barrel now hangs in an amusingly limp fashion. Also, Nebulans suck so in my toy canon he's a regular Cybertronian and Pointblank's little robot buddy.
>
> Dead End, who I heard mixed things about, actually looks really nice as a robot if you don't view him from the side and see his giant calves. But I love the black paint on his chest and his face sculpt with the purple visor.. Like Pointblank, he's pretty gorgeous as a car, and I love how he has the yellow stripe of the original toy. Except...mine was a factory defect. The window panel on the the top of his left leg/back of the driver's side door was missing the black paint. I didn't notice until I was playing around his car mode for a few minutes already. I didn't want to have to alter a figure, but so I colored it in with a black sharpie. It's not perfect, but you don't really see it unless you're looking for it. It's kind of funny on a meta level...because I can just see the character bemoaning that it was fated to happen to him...but it still pissed me off.
>
> Skullgrin is the anti-Pointblank. Awesome as a robot, right down to his 80s-metal skull belt buckle. Alt mode is kind of shit. but I've seen fan modes that turn him into a cool skull battering ram thing. I know combining the shell mode and the robot mode for Pretenders is a hot button topic, but I'm cool with it. To me it preserves the most iconic elements of the characters while still ditching the secondary gimmick and leaving you with a cool transforming robot toy. But I do see both sides of it. (the upcoming Bludgeon, on the other hand, looks pretty ugly).
>

He''s the largest of the new Pretenders and to me he's the weakest entry. Bomb Burst and Iguanus are core class but to me seem to have better alt modes

> And finally Crankcase. I wasn't sure if I wanted him because I had Skids AND Burnout already and he's just a retool...but he looks better than both of them honestly. Also I had the G1 as a kid, so I couldn't just leave him there. His only problem is that his little Triggercon cannons are so anemic they might as well not even be there. That's another old toy gimmick that I don't think necessarily needs to be shoe-horned into every modern figure if it doesn't really fit. But anywhow, nice bot and alt mode.
>
> So I'm up to 14 figures now. Primus help me.

On Wednesday, May 17, 2023 at 10:19:30 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:

> I wonder how many Stunticons you'll have to own before you feel compelled to collect them all so you can assemble Menasor? What's the magic number here? Three? Four?

I don't know about going all in for Menasor honestly. For one, Wildrider and Breakdown aren't very good figures from what I've seen. Wildrider is at least the right car, but Breakdown can't even claim that. As for Motormaster, I know they're re-releasing him and he makes for a great figure on his own, but for the price they're asking I'm not sure he' worth it for me. Were I to spend that much on a commander class, the whole package better be damn near perfect, and he isn't. The weapons aren't very good, for one. And the trailer forming the Menasor body is a cool idea but I don't like how Breakdown and Wildrider are stuck on the back of the legs (at least if you want Menasor to be able to bend his knees). He looks a hell of a lot better than Combiner Wars Menasor, don't get me wrong...but that's a lot of money. Money that could go to multiple other TF figures.

> The collection is coming along nicely! Have you given any thought to how you might display them, or has your living space just been dominated by plastic robots?
Right now, my collection is mostly stored ignobly in a drawer in a spare closet except for when I take a few out to play around with every now and then. I do have some shelves in my basement that are built in and recessed into the walls where I'd love to have them all on display in robot mode, but right now they're full of books and I'd have to do some serious re-organizing.

Anyway, thank you all for the feedback and suggestions. I'm still hunting on a deal for a Siege Megatron. For Optimus, I ended up going for Siege as well...found a great deal for one on Amazon, meanwhile Earthrise seems to go for a ton of money for some reason. And I think I actually like the look of Siege better. Nicer colors for one, and better proportions. While in a perfect world his wrist kibble wouldn't be there, I could say the same for the giant wheels on Earthrise Prime's ass as well. And the trailer, like with Motormaster, just doesn't seem worth the extra cost for me. It's not even in scale with the cab for one thing, but also I plan on displaying them all in robot mode anyway once I make some more space.

I also looked up the price for SS86 Grimlock online. Now that was depressing. Guess I have no one to blame but myself though. If I could go back and do it again, I'd have picked up all of SS86 wave 1 in one shot. Had they come out today, I would have.

I did grab 86 Scourge online, and he's really cool. Besides Siege Prime I'm also waiting for the arrival of 86 Hot Rod and Titans Return Triggerhappy.

So that's what...like 17, 18 bots now? Jeez, I'm already losing count.

On Tuesday, May 23, 2023 at 6:55:08 PM UTC-6, Sky Raider wrote:

> I don't know about going all in for Menasor honestly.

Really? You don't think you'll reach a point where you go, "Well, I've already got four Stunticons, so I might as well finish off the set"? You have much more self-control than I do!

> I do have some shelves in my basement that are built in and recessed into the walls where I'd love to have them all on display in robot mode, but right now they're full of books and I'd have to do some serious re-organizing..

That actually sounds INCREDIBLY cool. Show us pictures if you ever do any rearranging!

> I also looked up the price for SS86 Grimlock online. Now that was depressing. Guess I have no one to blame but myself though. If I could go back and do it again, I'd have picked up all of SS86 wave 1 in one shot. Had they come out today, I would have.

There is a very strong likelihood that they'll do another production run on Grimlock. Maybe cartoon colors, maybe G2 colors. I'm sure it will happen eventually. They will milk that cow until its udders are sore and raw.
> I did grab 86 Scourge online, and he's really cool. Besides Siege Prime I'm also waiting for the arrival of 86 Hot Rod and Titans Return Triggerhappy.

All excellent choices. I feel like they finally got Scourge right in a way that they didn't quite manage with past versions.

> So that's what...like 17, 18 bots now? Jeez, I'm already losing count.

At least you can get it to within plus or minus one or two toys. I'm at a point where if I were to guess, I could easily be off by, um, hundreds.

Zob (hasn't done a tally since about 2008, and I've bought a handful of toys since then)

On Tuesday, May 23, 2023 at 10:03:27 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:
> On Tuesday, May 23, 2023 at 6:55:08 PM UTC-6, Sky Raider wrote:
>
> > I don't know about going all in for Menasor honestly.
> Really? You don't think you'll reach a point where you go, "Well, I've already got four Stunticons, so I might as well finish off the set"? You have much more self-control than I do!
Your compliments on my self-control are appreciated, but, premature! Here's what I've been up to, since pictures are worth a thousand words and all.

https://imgur.com/fmwggo9
Here was my full collection, circa mid-April.

And here's my full collection now:
https://imgur.com/NmhYVVS
https://imgur.com/PsAflA9
https://imgur.com/gmwNEYd
https://imgur.com/TqRrzJ2
You can pretty much tell who I got from the current store shelves and who I was able to find cheaply (or not so cheaply in a few cases) online. I'd like to think I got much better at posing them too! Sadly no permanent display space for them. I did want to try using those recessed bookshelves I mentioned, but Mrs. Sky Raider put the kabosh on that. The lighting didn't work very well anyway, and I'd already have the shelves pretty much full. So I'm content to take them out here and there to play around and take pics (for now....>:) )

I have Shrapnel on pre-order from Entertainment Earth, because that's one bot I gave up on finding either irl OR online at a decent price. I don't know if it's scalpers or Hasbro's own bad distribution to blame. Also looking forward to 86 Brawn, Strongarm, Shadow Striker, and I guess even Bombshell (his bishop hat is silly but the look has kind of grown on me). But really I already have most of who I really wanted. The only "holy grail" figures I'm missing now are 86 Grimlock and Earthrise Prowl, and I'm not holding my breath on either having either of them. But, I've had a lot of fun with the figures I already have! A few random notes:

-Thundercracker and Skywarp are beautiful! It was quite a coup for me to get those two, especially for a double digit price.
-I was not expecting Siege Megatron to be as tall as he is!
-Axlegrease, Ironworks, and Airwave are ton of fun. The weaponizer play pattern is great.
-Hauler is awesome and his facial expression is hilarious.
-Huffer is adorable.
-One of my favorite figures is one of my newest, Snapdragon. I think his dino/dragon and jet modes are both great.
-Legacy Blitzwing is much better than a lot of people say. I'm glad I took a chance on him. His robot mode is awesome (though I display him with the tank barrel exposed and turret flipped for a more media accurate look) and there's a cool fan mode I found that streamlines the jet and gives it a built in stand from the tank kibble.
-I will never transform Jazz. He came right out of the box with his roof fully extended and nearly refusing to fold in. I won't risk it. I probably won't risk it with Smokescreen either, who also feels pretty fragile. In fact his fragility is what made me hold off from also getting a Bluestreak when I had the chance.
-I MAY be willing to complete the Stunticon team if the price is right...you called it Zob!

On Wednesday, July 12, 2023 at 6:11:44 PM UTC-7, Sky Raider wrote:
> On Tuesday, May 23, 2023 at 10:03:27 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:
> > On Tuesday, May 23, 2023 at 6:55:08 PM UTC-6, Sky Raider wrote:
> >
> > > I don't know about going all in for Menasor honestly.
> > Really? You don't think you'll reach a point where you go, "Well, I've already got four Stunticons, so I might as well finish off the set"? You have much more self-control than I do!
> Your compliments on my self-control are appreciated, but, premature! Here's what I've been up to, since pictures are worth a thousand words and all.
>
> https://imgur.com/fmwggo9
> Here was my full collection, circa mid-April.
>
> And here's my full collection now:
> https://imgur.com/NmhYVVS
> https://imgur.com/PsAflA9
> https://imgur.com/gmwNEYd
> https://imgur.com/TqRrzJ2
> You can pretty much tell who I got from the current store shelves and who I was able to find cheaply (or not so cheaply in a few cases) online. I'd like to think I got much better at posing them too! Sadly no permanent display space for them. I did want to try using those recessed bookshelves I mentioned, but Mrs. Sky Raider put the kabosh on that. The lighting didn't work very well anyway, and I'd already have the shelves pretty much full. So I'm content to take them out here and there to play around and take pics (for now....>:) )
>
> I have Shrapnel on pre-order from Entertainment Earth, because that's one bot I gave up on finding either irl OR online at a decent price. I don't know if it's scalpers or Hasbro's own bad distribution to blame. Also looking forward to 86 Brawn, Strongarm, Shadow Striker, and I guess even Bombshell (his bishop hat is silly but the look has kind of grown on me). But really I already have most of who I really wanted. The only "holy grail" figures I'm missing now are 86 Grimlock and Earthrise Prowl, and I'm not holding my breath on either having either of them. But, I've had a lot of fun with the figures I already have! A few random notes:
>
> -Thundercracker and Skywarp are beautiful! It was quite a coup for me to get those two, especially for a double digit price.
> -I was not expecting Siege Megatron to be as tall as he is!
> -Axlegrease, Ironworks, and Airwave are ton of fun. The weaponizer play pattern is great.
> -Hauler is awesome and his facial expression is hilarious.
> -Huffer is adorable.
> -One of my favorite figures is one of my newest, Snapdragon. I think his dino/dragon and jet modes are both great.
> -Legacy Blitzwing is much better than a lot of people say. I'm glad I took a chance on him. His robot mode is awesome (though I display him with the tank barrel exposed and turret flipped for a more media accurate look) and there's a cool fan mode I found that streamlines the jet and gives
it a built in stand from the tank kibble.
> -I will never transform Jazz. He came right out of the box with his roof fully extended and nearly refusing to fold in. I won't risk it. I probably won't risk it with Smokescreen either, who also feels pretty fragile. In fact his fragility is what made me hold off from also getting a Bluestreak when I had the chance.
> -I MAY be willing to complete the
Process Stunticon team if the price is right...you called it Zob!

Loving these photos, and this journey! So cool to see you rediscover (or, in this case, discover) the collecting habit, Sky Raider.

JB

On Wednesday, July 12, 2023 at 9:12:35 PM UTC-7, Joseph Bardsley wrote:
> On Wednesday, July 12, 2023 at 6:11:44 PM UTC-7, Sky Raider wrote:
> > On Tuesday, May 23, 2023 at 10:03:27 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:
> > > On Tuesday, May 23, 2023 at 6:55:08 PM UTC-6, Sky Raider wrote:
> > >
> > > > I don't know about going all in for Menasor honestly.
> > > Really? You don't think you'll reach a point where you go, "Well, I've already got four Stunticons, so I might as well finish off the set"? You have much more self-control than I do!
> > Your compliments on my self-control are appreciated, but, premature! Here's what I've been up to, since pictures are worth a thousand words and all.
> >
> > https://imgur.com/fmwggo9
> > Here was my full collection, circa mid-April.
> >
> > And here's my full collection now:
> > https://imgur.com/NmhYVVS
> > https://imgur.com/PsAflA9
> > https://imgur.com/gmwNEYd
> > https://imgur.com/TqRrzJ2
> > You can pretty much tell who I got from the current store shelves and who I was able to find cheaply (or not so cheaply in a few cases) online. I'd like to think I got much better at posing them too! Sadly no permanent display space for them. I did want to try using those recessed bookshelves I mentioned, but Mrs. Sky Raider put the kabosh on that. The lighting didn't work very well anyway, and I'd already have the shelves pretty much full. So I'm content to take them out here and there to play around and take pics (for now....>:) )
> >
> > I have Shrapnel on pre-order from Entertainment Earth, because that's one bot I gave up on finding either irl OR online at a decent price. I don't know if it's scalpers or Hasbro's own bad distribution to blame. Also looking forward to 86 Brawn, Strongarm, Shadow Striker, and I guess even Bombshell (his bishop hat is silly but the look has kind of grown on me). But really I already have most of who I really wanted. The only "holy grail" figures I'm missing now are 86 Grimlock and Earthrise Prowl, and I'm not holding my breath on either having either of them. But, I've had a lot of fun with the figures I already have! A few random notes:
> >
> > -Thundercracker and Skywarp are beautiful! It was quite a coup for me to get those two, especially for a double digit price.
> > -I was not expecting Siege Megatron to be as tall as he is!
> > -Axlegrease, Ironworks, and Airwave are ton of fun. The weaponizer play pattern is great.
> > -Hauler is awesome and his facial expression is hilarious.
> > -Huffer is adorable.
> > -One of my favorite figures is one of my newest, Snapdragon. I think his dino/dragon and jet modes are both great.
> > -Legacy Blitzwing is much better than a lot of people say. I'm glad I took a chance on him. His robot mode is awesome (though I display him with the tank barrel exposed and turret flipped for a more media accurate look) and there's a cool fan mode I found that streamlines the jet and gives
> it a built in stand from the tank kibble.
> > -I will never transform Jazz. He came right out of the box with his roof fully extended and nearly refusing to fold in. I won't risk it. I probably won't risk it with Smokescreen either, who also feels pretty fragile. In fact his fragility is what made me hold off from also getting a Bluestreak when I had the chance.
> > -I MAY be willing to complete the
> Process Stunticon team if the price is right...you called it Zob!
>
> Loving these photos, and this journey! So cool to see you rediscover (or, in this case, discover) the collecting habit, Sky Raider.
>
> JB

Ack! Apologies - my newsreader inadvertently quoted part of the original message, and added “process” as a strange autocorrect. Apologies.

Trust that my sentiment stands. :)

JB

On Thursday, July 13, 2023 at 12:13:56 AM UTC-4, Joseph Bardsley wrote:

> Ack! Apologies - my newsreader inadvertently quoted part of the original message, and added “process” as a strange autocorrect. Apologies.
>
> Trust that my sentiment stands. :)
>
> JB

Lol, "process Stunticon team if the price is right" makes me think of something Junkions might say if they captured the Stunticons on Junk and had them chained up and about to feed them into a car-crusher or junk eating machine.

> -One of my favorite figures is one of my newest, Snapdragon. I think his dino/dragon and jet modes are both great.

Try pairing him with the Daniel figure from SS86 Slag to reenact the moment when the poor kid was chewed up and tossed aside like a rag doll.

> -I will never transform Jazz. He came right out of the box with his roof fully extended and nearly refusing to fold in. I won't risk it.

YMMV, but I've transformed mine back and forth several times, and haven't had an issue with any broken clear plastic (and I'm fairly ham-handed too - just ask my broken Kingdom Dinobot and Rattrap).

>>>I probably won't risk it with Smokescreen either, who also feels pretty fragile. In fact his fragility is what made me hold off from also getting a Bluestreak when I had the chance.

My Smokescreen has been living at the bottom of a large tub of plastic robots with little issue so far - he's a lot stronger than he looks. There's a CHUG-scaled anime-styled 3P Prowl/Smokescreen that I'm fond of as well: https://groups.google.com/g/alt.toys.transformers/c/agxghwO6Hbw/m/LCsOlHPeBAAJ

> -I MAY be willing to complete the Stunticon team if the price is right...you called it Zob!

I've stayed away from the Legacy Stunticons, since I know I lack the self-control to resist succumbing to completism.