SDCC is happening right now, and there have been some new products showcased. I don't deal in movie toys so I don't care about the Rise of the Beasts reveals.

The Studio Series '86 version of Decepticon Frenzy (Red) is confirmed, not that there was any doubt we'd get one eventually. I'm fine if they want to keep this line going with more cassettes—Ratbat, Ramhorn, Steeljaw, Overkill, Slugfest, whichever characters they want to sell us. And Buzzsaw! We never got a Siege-era Buzzsaw. Poor Buzzsaw.

Studio Series '86 Voyager-class Ratchet is on the way, the expected redeco of Ironhide. He's got the six-pointed Star of Life emblems on his shoulders instead of the red crosses. I kind of wish they had pulled a Takara and done stickers where you could cut pieces off the sticker to make the proper red cross emblem. That was a genius solution.

Perhaps the most exciting thing, for me, was the Studio Series Commander-class Ultra Magnus reveal. He's designed like the cartoon, so he's not just a white Optimus Prime toy wearing armor this time. (Oh, the complaining abou this has already started on Reddit.) He can grasp the Matrix with two hands, he looks like he comes with a regular gun and a Wreck-Gar rifle, and he can carry Deluxe-class Autobot cars in vehicle mode. It looks like they borrowed at least a few tricks from the Takara Masterpice toy. I expect he'll be around $100, which is a lot more affordable than the Masterpice version. He looks much, much, MUCH better than the Kingdom toy.

We're getting a toy of Nacelle, the Decepticon jet rando, using the Siege-era toy (so he transforms into a Cybertronic jet). Nacelle was originally the prototype version of Thrust from an early Takara toy catalog (using a blue Thundercracker body) but he's since been designated as the fourth, nearly-invisible Decepticon hiding behind Sunstorm and Hotlink and Bitstream in the G1 cartoon pilot "welcoming committee" scene. So, while it makes sense that he'd be a tetrajet, in my mind he's supposed to have Thrust wings, so it's still a weird choice.

There's a "Deadeye Duel" 2-pack featuring two characters named Kaskade and Javelin, who I have never heard of. One of them reuses the ancient and tired Siege Chromia mold. Well, toys I don't need to buy.

They're doing a Menasor gift set, containing all five Legacy Stunticons. It looks like they will be given a different deco with tampographs meant to evoke the G1 toy stickers, and the rumored alternate versions of Breakdown and friends with toy-based head sculpts are likely meant for this set as well. Menasor, at least, still seems to have his cartoon head design. Great idea for those who had trouble finding the Stunticons individually, and/or want their toys to look more like they did in 1986, I suppose.

There's also a Shattered Glass 2-pack featuring Whisper Rodimus (same black colors as Rodimus Unicronus) and "Sideswipe" (the Siege? or Earthrise? toy done up in the colors of G2 Drench, meant to evoke the traitor Armada Wheeljack). He's got the Decepticon symbol with the slash through it and everthing. Whee.

Weirdly, I've heard nothing about the Dion/Erial "War Dawn" 2-pack, which is what I've actually been trolling the interwebs all day hoping to find some information about.

Zob (like, I need to get a copy of this set and I have no idea how)

> Perhaps the most exciting thing, for me, was the Studio Series Commander-class Ultra Magnus reveal. He's designed like the cartoon, so he's not just a white Optimus Prime toy wearing armor this time. (Oh, the complaining abou this has already started on Reddit.) He can grasp the Matrix with two hands, he looks like he comes with a regular gun and a Wreck-Gar rifle, and he can carry Deluxe-class Autobot cars in vehicle mode. It looks like they borrowed at least a few tricks from the Takara Masterpice toy. I expect he'll be around $100, which is a lot more affordable than the Masterpice version. He looks much, much, MUCH better than the Kingdom toy.
>

Solid! Looks better than the MP version, which is superior to the Kingdom version. I'll still keep Siege, as it's different enough to justify its own slot. I'm sure this will be a big seller.

On Thursday, July 20, 2023 at 11:03:52 PM UTC-5, Zobovor wrote:
> SDCC is happening right now, and there have been some new products showcased. I don't deal in movie toys so I don't care about the Rise of the Beasts reveals.
>
> The Studio Series '86 version of Decepticon Frenzy (Red) is confirmed, not that there was any doubt we'd get one eventually. I'm fine if they want to keep this line going with more cassettes—Ratbat, Ramhorn, Steeljaw, Overkill, Slugfest, whichever characters they want to sell us. And Buzzsaw! We never got a Siege-era Buzzsaw. Poor Buzzsaw.
>

I hope they reissue Core Rumble Blue, I literally never saw a single one. We're in desperate need of many cassettes.

> Studio Series '86 Voyager-class Ratchet is on the way, the expected redeco of Ironhide. He's got the six-pointed Star of Life emblems on his shoulders instead of the red crosses. I kind of wish they had pulled a Takara and done stickers where you could cut pieces off the sticker to make the proper red cross emblem. That was a genius solution.
>

I might? I'm more likely to get the Ratchet than the Ironhide, although Ironhide is currently cheaper here.

> Perhaps the most exciting thing, for me, was the Studio Series Commander-class Ultra Magnus reveal. He's designed like the cartoon, so he's not just a white Optimus Prime toy wearing armor this time. (Oh, the complaining abou this has already started on Reddit.) He can grasp the Matrix with two hands, he looks like he comes with a regular gun and a Wreck-Gar rifle, and he can carry Deluxe-class Autobot cars in vehicle mode. It looks like they borrowed at least a few tricks from the Takara Masterpice toy. I expect he'll be around $100, which is a lot more affordable than the Masterpice version. He looks much, much, MUCH better than the Kingdom toy.
>

We heard about Commander Ultra Magnus a few months ago, I hope he's a better commander than the Rodimus, Rodimus was boring. My last Magnus was Combiner Wars, so I'm due for an upgrade.

> We're getting a toy of Nacelle, the Decepticon jet rando, using the Siege-era toy (so he transforms into a Cybertronic jet). Nacelle was originally the prototype version of Thrust from an early Takara toy catalog (using a blue Thundercracker body) but he's since been designated as the fourth, nearly-invisible Decepticon hiding behind Sunstorm and Hotlink and Bitstream in the G1 cartoon pilot "welcoming committee" scene. So, while it makes sense that he'd be a tetrajet, in my mind he's supposed to have Thrust wings, so it's still a weird choice.
>
> There's a "Deadeye Duel" 2-pack featuring two characters named Kaskade and Javelin, who I have never heard of. One of them reuses the ancient and tired Siege Chromia mold. Well, toys I don't need to buy.
>
> They're doing a Menasor gift set, containing all five Legacy Stunticons. It looks like they will be given a different deco with tampographs meant to evoke the G1 toy stickers, and the rumored alternate versions of Breakdown and friends with toy-based head sculpts are likely meant for this set as well. Menasor, at least, still seems to have his cartoon head design. Great idea for those who had trouble finding the Stunticons individually, and/or want their toys to look more like they did in 1986, I suppose.
>

I guess this giftset is the Motormaster reissue they mentioned. I already have 3 of the cars though so it seems silly to invest in a giftset now.

> There's also a Shattered Glass 2-pack featuring Whisper Rodimus (same black colors as Rodimus Unicronus) and "Sideswipe" (the Siege? or Earthrise? toy done up in the colors of G2 Drench, meant to evoke the traitor Armada Wheeljack). He's got the Decepticon symbol with the slash through it and everthing. Whee.
>
> Weirdly, I've heard nothing about the Dion/Erial "War Dawn" 2-pack, which is what I've actually been trolling the interwebs all day hoping to find some information about.
>

I thought the preorderes started when they had the stream and announced it after it was found at that Canadian Gamestop. I've been told the preorders from Hasbro didn't start then.

>
> Zob (like, I need to get a copy of this set and I have no idea how)

I saw the Nova Prime remold of Galaxy Upgrade Prime, a lot of people buying Battle Core Optimus to mod into Nova Prime are happy about that.

On Friday, July 21, 2023 at 6:02:26 PM UTC-6, Irrellius Spamticon wrote:

> I hope they reissue Core Rumble Blue, I literally never saw a single one. We're in desperate need of many cassettes.

I ordered mine from BBTS or someplace, but yeah, I never saw him at retail. Not once. And I agree—I will support any of the cassette characters they choose to sell. As Core-class figures, packed with Leader-class Soundwave, whatever they need to do in order to bring them to market.

> We heard about Commander Ultra Magnus a few months ago, I hope he's a better commander than the Rodimus, Rodimus was boring. My last Magnus was Combiner Wars, so I'm due for an upgrade.

You never got the Siege or Kingdom versions? Siege had a great robot mode, certainly. They *tried* to retool him into the Earth configuration for the Kingdom version, and goodness knows it was an improvement, but there was only so much they could do. You can lure flies with honey, but you can't make an omelet out of vinegar, or however that saying goes.

> I guess this giftset is the Motormaster reissue they mentioned. I already have 3 of the cars though so it seems silly to invest in a giftset now.

There are better comparison pictures available now:

https://tformers.com/stunticon-menasor-gift-pack-figure-changes-images-for-transformers-legacy-evolution/50453/news.html

It's like the Abominus situation all over again, only without the substantial remolding that made Hun-Gurrr 2.0 worth investing in. And, honestly, since the Legacy Stunticons are sculpted to look like their cartoon selves, trying to decorate them in the 1986 toy colors just looks kind of dumb. They toys weren't designed with that deco in mind, so you get stuff like Dead End with a random vertical black stripe going down his chest, that has nothing to do with the molded surface details. And I can't figure out why Breakdown seems to be the only one who got a G1 toy-inspired head sculpt, but nobody else did.

> I thought the preorderes started when they had the stream and announced it after it was found at that Canadian Gamestop. I've been told the preorders from Hasbro didn't start then.

It just barely went on sale through Pulse today. I have been chomping at the bit waiting for this set. Chomp chomp chomp.

Zob (and it's a live sale, not just a pre-sale, which means less wait time to feed my plastic crack addiction!)