Transformers

Studio Series – Bumblebee (VW)

The latest Transformers Movie, Bumblebee, takes things back more to the original roots of Transformers. It features G1 versions of a lot of the characters and the main character, Bumblebee, takes the form of a Volkswagen Beetle like he had in the original 80s cartoon. The movie isn’t getting it’s own toyline but is instead being looped in with the Studio Series line. The first figure from the new films is Bumblebee himself though in many cases, Dropkick from the followup wave is also showing up with him.

The new Bee reminds me a lot of Studio Series Jazz in that he is really tiny in both modes. This feels a lot more appropriate given it’s Bumblebee, who was one of the smallest Autobots in the original G1 series. It does make the $20 price point for deluxe Transformers a little hard to swallow but he has a few little parts that help make it feel more worthwhile. The robot is pretty nice, though he has a huge backpack that feels like it should collapse on itself a bit more, but doesn’t really seem to without pushing the plastic beyond what feels comfortable. The legs also are a little funny in that they feel like they should peg together better but don’t seem to.

The design itself is very reminiscent of the old Camero Bumblebee design from the last few Michael Bay Transformers movies. The way the layered chest lays and the panels fall on his legs and the door wings sit on his back, these elements are all very Movie Bumblebee. The Door wings aren’t very accurate to the film though, where the doors seem to do some mass shifting and point downward instead of becoming wings.

I mentioned he comes with some extras to help offset his cost. Specifically, he has an alternative face plate for his “Battle Mask” look and a swap-able arm piece for his arm cannon. There’s also a blade weapon which can attach to the side of any of the three forearm pieces. These sort of swap out parts aren’t a real common things for Transformers. Having them, it’s kind of clear why. The canon arm falls off a lot more easily than the standard hand arm and the Mask face falls off if you look at it funny. These are definitely parts which will become lost over time by some.

The transformation is pretty straightforward in it’s execution, though fairly complex. Its a pain to get everything to massage together properly, partially I think because it’s such a small figure. The legs and back piece are particularly problematic and I can’t see anything obviously out of place like the hidden peg on the underside of Jazz’s roof that just made everything sit right in place once engaged.

The VW Beetle looks alright aside from things not quite sitting together properly. The vehicle does feel a little funny because the G1 Bumblebee, was very much a stylized chibified VW. This Bee feels too long, though I’m sure he’s not for a real Beetle.

Cutting to the chase here, I think that Studio Series Bumblebee is alright, but I kind of wonder what the wider audience is for him. He’s too complex and finicky for kids, and there are plenty of simpler options out there. He doesn’t really mesh well for collectors. I don’t have it but I suspect the pricier Masterpiece Movie Bee does everything slightly better and he probably looks better. I suppose if you’re in the middle like me and don’t really need a super classy Bee but don’t want something overly simplified this version does the job, but if you want a perfect VW Movie Bee, you’re probably better off looking elsewhere.

Review – Transformers – The Last Knight – Cogman

Dec 13th, 2018

by Ramen Junkie.

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I’m not going to lie, I barely remember anything about The Last Knight. I had some vague hope it was going to be better going into it, but it wasn’t. I don’t really know how but somehow the Michael Bay Transformers movies just got worse and worse with each release. I vaguely remember something with knights in the beginning and then they go to the ruins of Chicago or something then there was something with Anthony Hopkins and Hot Rod in England. Beyond that, the whole thing exists as some sort of weird repressed memory or something.

Still, I like Transformers Movieverse Toys. This guy Cogman was the tail end of the line and got a really random release pretty much straight to discount stores. I believe Cogman was Anthony Hopkins’ butler robot int he film, I don’t remember him turning into any car or anything, but it may have happened at some point. This guy gets a semi proper representation through his Headmaster. This movie came out alongside the Titans Return line, which was all Headmasters, and while the movie line didn’t share that gimmick, this guy does.

Cogman’s headmaster is cross compatible with the Titanmasters and Prime Masters, and like the Titans Return figures, Cogman has a driver’s seat for his head robot. In fact, he has two seats, so a buddy can even ride along, a neat little added gimmick. The vehicle itself is an Aston Martin, a vehicle appropriate for the butler/servant of the eccentric Sir Anthony Hopkins. There was one other pseudo Headmaster in the line if you want to keep things pure, Nitro Zeus has a removable head that’s compatible with the Titan/Headmasters, though his own head doesn’t transform.

The robot fits pretty well in with the Knight theme of the movie and a lot of the toys in the line. He’s all gray with a dark wash in some places. He has a sword which he can wield with one or two hands. His design has sort of an armored look to it as well. The transformation is pretty neat overall, his hood has a neat rotational gimmick instead of just folding over. He holds together fairly well, which is sometimes an issue with characters with cockpits like Cogman has.

Overall, Cogman is a pretty neat figure. It’s kind of a shame that he got shoved tot he back half of the line, because he’s become a bit of a scares toy to find. He’s one of the few actually new molds and characters of The Last Knight toyline, and he has a lot of interesting and unique aspects to him with the double driver interior and Movie themed Headmaster. I believe he’s getting a re-release in the Studio Series line however with a different paint job, so there’s still a chance to find him, though probably not at the discount store price.

Review – Transformers – Masterpiece Sunstreaker (MP-39)

Dec 6th, 2018

by Ramen Junkie.

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I don’t really collect Masterpiece Transformers, not on any sort of large scale. I have a few, the original MP-01 and MP-05 Optimus and Megatron. Though both of those are in the old larger scale of Transformers. I use MP-08 Grimlock as my “Classics Grimlock”, because it’s a nice looking toy and his bulk makes him nice and imposing next to mainline sized toys. Sunstreaker is more of a personal indulgence. When he was announced, he looked really nice, and when a reissue of his brother Sideswipe was announced to go with him, I definitely wanted the pair.

So, I just want to cut to the chase a bit on this guy, this is a really damn nice Transformer. He looked fantastic in the promotional photos and he lives up to that in every way. The robot mode is very slick, very poseable, and very solid. The whole transformation does an excellent job of collapsing everything together and removing any dangling vehicle kibble. The result is a very nice representation of Sunstreaker as he appears on the show.

The Transformation may actually be the downside of this figure, if you aren’t really into complex transformations, it’s definitely a plus if you are, There are a ridiculous number of little flippy and sliding parts that all come apart and come together to make this robot. Everything about his backpack has to collapse together just right to make it all conform into the proper shape. The front windshield of the car is supposed to fold up into the backpack but it pops off easily and honestly, I prefer to just pull it off and put it aside because I worry that its going to break while putting the backpack together.

There is so much more about this figure that makes it exceptional though, even by Masterpiece Transformer levels. There are extra joints in his shoulders, that allow him to hold his gun with two hands. The vehicle itself has some nice surprises as well. Despite already being a complex puzzle of joints and panels to build the robot, the vehicle goes even farther and is able to convert between a standard stock Lamborghini Countach, and the tricked out super car that Sideswipe was on the show. This is more than just a panel flip on the back, it’s a panel flip, and some roll over parts and even a second set of taillights that flip up over the stock tail lights.

He’s also loaded with fun accessories. Aside from a pair of guns, he also includes a small Chip Chase figure in his wheelchair, several alternative face plates, and an alien mask from Hoist Goes to Hollywood. I don’t know if it’s a widespread issue, but I did have a problem with his smaller gun. The clip holding it together pretty much broke immediately. It still holds itself together as a gun, but it doesn’t transform anymore.

Overall, Masterpiece Sunstreaker is just a really fantastic transformer. He’s not even a particularly big name character in G1, so it’s not real clear why he deserved such a great treatment.

DX-9 K1 Freeman (Overwatch Bastion)

Dec 5th, 2018

by Ramen Junkie.

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So, even before Goodsmile announced they were doing Overwatch figures of any kind, a company known for 3rd party Transformers, DX-9 put out a transforming 3rd Party Bastion. Or as it’s officially know, K1 Freeman. So, a little background, “3rd Party” is a term used often in the Transformers community to refer to a slew of toys and companies that produce unofficial, unlicensed Transformers figures. There are, I believe, similar operations in other toylines, but Transformers is definitely the biggest market for these toys. They aren’t straight bootlegs, like you might find at a flee market, where some company produces a replica of of an official toy and sells it for cheap. These are heavily engineered and often expensive figures, released without the official sanction of the company holding the IP. They also often get goofy names like “K1 Freeman”. Bastion, being sort of a Transformer, got the 3rd Party treatment.

I waited on picking this one up for a while, until the official Figma figures were announced. I seriously doubt Figma ever puts out any of the larger characters, though I’d be happy to be wrong. I have even less faith that Figma will ever put out a transforming Bastion. So Freeman is the next best thing. The main thing that feels off about him is the default skin, which I had honestly forgot what it even looked like, because no one uses it in game.

He does the job pretty dang well. There is some limitation on the articulation, especially on the gun arm, but it’s mostly pretty good. Bastion isn’t exactly a ninja or anything, he’s a big heavy military robot that turns into a tank. Being the product of a 3rd Party Transformers company, he also has all three of Bastion’s modes. Granted, none of Bastion’s transformations are particularly complex. For the turret, he pretty much drops to his knees, fold up the arms, and extend the barrel on the back.

The tank involves some parts swapping, though there isn’t really any other way to handle those giant treads. The Gatling turret swaps for a tank barrel and the legs slide off and get replaced by the tank treads. The treads are actually functional, which is cool, but rubber on toys tends to not really last, so I imagine over time, they will likely end up falling apart. The parts forming kind of sucks, but it’s slick and easy so it works.

The best part, Freeman scales very nicely with the official Figma characters. He might be a tad oversized, but it works, and it’s not a lot if he is. He also includes a little version of Ganymede, his little parrot friend. Ganymede has a little peg that lets him peg onto a fee places on the figure.

Overall, Freeman is a pretty nice representation of Bastion. He’s gotten pretty affordable on eBay as well. The whole thing is very solidly built and has some nice heft to it as well, nothing flimsy here. The real X factor is what Hasbro does with it’s recently announced Overwatch line. They are more likely to release Bastion than Figma, but who knows if it will transform at all. I suspect it would at best turn into a turret and not a tank.

Transformers – Studio Series – Jazz

Nov 29th, 2018

by Ramen Junkie.

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Studio Series is a line that I wish I were more excited about. I just really don’t have a need or interest in updated versions of most of the Movie Transformers. I had heard a lot of good things about Jazz, and the only other version of Jazz was the one from the first movie, which wasn’t a bad toy but not super great. After finding him on sale, I decided to go ahead and pick him up, though I was a little worried about his size.

The size of this figure is definitely the most noticeable thing. Jazz is one tiny toy. Part of this stems from the push for robot mode scale that I mentioned in the Studio Series Blackout review. He sort of feels like a not so great value next to other figures, especially with the price bump. He includes a pretty large weapon, but it doesn’t really make up for the lack of plastic. Granted, there’s more to a transformer than how much material it’s made of. Jazz makes up for his lack of size a bit with his very nice looking shinny paint job. He also has a pretty neat transformation.

His robot mode is small, his car mode feels absolutely tiny. It helps a bit that the Pontiac Solstice he is based on is a fairly small car, but it is barely larger than a basic scaled Transform. Even as a small car, it looks out of place next to other deluxe sized Transformers, including previous Movie based characters. It looks really nice at least. On a related note as well, getting things to all mesh together can be a little tricky, there is a peg on the underside of the roof that needs to be pegged in first before almost any other step. Going back to robot mode has a few little quirks, the head is a pain to pull up out of it’s little hole. I do really like how the chest transforms however, the way the whole thing rolls over and clips upside down is really neat and not something that has been done in Transformers that I recall. The front of the car also pops out to flip over which works to really make the chest look similar but different than the front of the car. It’s a nice little touch.

There is also this really need trick with his gun. It’s not as original of an idea as the chest, but the gun can be held by a standard 5mm peg fist, or the fist can be folded in and the gun attached to the end of his arm. It replicates the way the guns in the movies would sort of transform out of the robot arm. The clip isn’t super strong though, so it tends to fall off if bumped the wrong direction. It’s also nice to have a movie Jazz with real arms, and not the weird hollow arms the original had.

Overall, despite the size problem, Studio Series Jazz is a pretty nice figure. He’s visually interesting in both modes, partly from his nice coat of paint. The transformation does some neat tricks. The robot is pretty nicely pose able, he has some really good ankle tilt joints that aren’t even part of the transformation. He’s definitely a good update for the old Jazz and pretty nice on his own.