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Post by Bogatan on Oct 15, 2019 22:24:52 GMT
For some reason I can see him getting a Cyberverse release.
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Post by Shockprowl on Oct 16, 2019 4:56:48 GMT
Then buy the three pack, because that's where you'll find it in clear blue I don't want it in clear blue! I want it coloured! |
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Post by Toph on Oct 16, 2019 5:29:25 GMT
As do I. But as ofnow our only two options for toy head is stupid clear blue, or none.
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Post by Llama God on Oct 16, 2019 6:32:10 GMT
They didn't have to waste Rung on a battlemaster. He's a perfect retool candidate from Chromia, as a Gen Select release. Which is exactly the kind of thing Select should be for. Maybe they're just throwing us this tiny bone as a way of testing the waters, to see if there is indeed still interest for IDW 1.0 out there. I mean, not that it should be needed - a quick glance of t'Interwebs should show that there clearly is. But who knows how the Warden thinks..? ("Surely the Sunbow-only programming must have re-asserted itself by now... it's been nearly a year... What's wrong with these people?!") |
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Post by Toph on Oct 16, 2019 10:08:33 GMT
In hindsight, I think Siege is objectively the worst TF line we've had in ages.
I don't mean that the individual toys are bad, but the overall line, it's theme, aesthetic, and execution are fundamental failures.
Starscream and Chromia, the worst molds of the lot, are the only one that actually accomplishes what they promised us it would be.
Pretty much everything else is a straight up earth mode, or one so slightly different from an earth mode that it fits in nowhere.
The rest is rounded out with "this block is a spaceship because we say so."
On top of that, they cram out as many repaints as they possibly can in one year, then completely switch aesthetics and themes in a way that renders virtually the entire line redundant. (The lambo/dodson/van/jeep straight up won't fit in, and it's not even worth beating the dead horse of Optimus and Starscream)
Megatron doesn't do anything that TR Megatron didn't. In fact, it brings less to the table. And I'm now positive that it'll be rendered even more redundant by an inevitable Earthrise Megatron that's even more cartoon accurate while transforming into a grey tank. At least that's the takeaway that Optimus gives us.
The Micromasters feel exceptionally halfassed, with a ton of repaints that make no sense, at the cost of pretty obvious ones.
Especially halfassed when you look at the minicons and micromasters of yesteryear.
So, like I said. While on a microscopic level, I most of the toys are pretty good, and I enjoy them plenty, however when I step back and look at the line as a whole, it looks like an absolute trainwreck, and for the first time makes me feel like I really waisted my money.
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Post by blueshift on Oct 16, 2019 10:49:43 GMT
It is baffling that they sort of half-squeezed Earthmodes into Siege which is explicitly about early Cybertron stuff, and THEN the next year's line is Earth modes. And they said it had been planned out as well!
I don't mind variety, but Hasbro are the ones that get to choose what their line is about!
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 16, 2019 11:57:31 GMT
I am still amused that Earthrise uses Earth modes for characters despite the blurb for the line saying it takes place 'in space' and 'anywhere in the cosmos'.
-Ralph
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Post by Bogatan on Oct 16, 2019 12:11:28 GMT
It is baffling that they sort of half-squeezed Earthmodes into Siege which is explicitly about early Cybertron stuff, and THEN the next year's line is Earth modes. And they said it had been planned out as well! I don't mind variety, but Hasbro are the ones that get to choose what their line is about! For me its what they didn't do that baffling. Sunbow gave Cybertronian modes to Wheeljack Bumblebee The Jets Soundwave And Jazz showed up with one in TFU Of those we go the jets. They could have given Soundwave a proper lamp post mode and just rotated it 90 degrees and called it a spaceship, but they didn't. WJ, BB and Jazz dont even appear. Im guessing the cars were designed to be easily modified to Earth modes later on, but I think they work pretty well as cybertronian mode by not having space for a pilot. I would have said Prime looked like he did for the same reason, but we've seen ER Prime and it looks like they only used the lower legs so they could have done anything. |
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Post by blueshift on Oct 16, 2019 12:50:22 GMT
They could have just said "this is G3 it is set in the near future" and the line would have made sense. It's more the very explicit "we have planned a new trilogy along very clear lines" and then just doing whatever anyway. I mean I think the figures themselves look mostly great, it's just the lack of any cohesiveness that seems to be the issue.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Oct 16, 2019 15:57:41 GMT
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Post by Shockprowl on Oct 16, 2019 17:41:20 GMT
It is baffling that they sort of half-squeezed Earthmodes into Siege which is explicitly about early Cybertron stuff, and THEN the next year's line is Earth modes. And they said it had been planned out as well! I don't mind variety, but Hasbro are the ones that get to choose what their line is about! Yes! |
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Post by Shockprowl on Oct 16, 2019 17:41:49 GMT
I am still amused that Earthrise uses Earth modes for characters despite the blurb for the line saying it takes place 'in space' and 'anywhere in the cosmos'. -Ralph YES! |
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Post by Shockprowl on Oct 16, 2019 17:46:45 GMT
In hindsight, I think Siege is objectively the worst TF line we've had in ages.
NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!I don't mean that the individual toys are bad, but the overall line, it's theme, aesthetic, and execution are fundamental failures. Starscream and Chromia, the worst molds of the lot, are the only one that actually accomplishes what they promised us it would be. Pretty much everything else is a straight up earth mode, or one so slightly different from an earth mode that it fits in nowhere. The rest is rounded out with "this block is a spaceship because we say so." Well, yeah, you've kinda got a point, actually. It's a bonkers line really when you think about it. They didn't do Cybertronian modes in a line set on Cybertron!!! What?!?!?! (And as Blue' and Doc' say, the fact they then DO an Earth line IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARDS is just pure lunacy. An Earth line set in space. SLOW HAND CLAP.) But. Out of The Hasbro Crazy came a line that I LOVE. It's not Earth, it's not Cybertron. It's something else. It's Siege. |
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 16, 2019 18:59:11 GMT
I think it's best just to enjoy the toys for what they are rather than look for any rhyme or reason for the lines as a whole.
-Ralph
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Post by Toph on Oct 16, 2019 19:53:18 GMT
I think it's best just to enjoy the toys for what they are rather than look for any rhyme or reason for the lines as a whole. -Ralph Well, before Combiner Wars, there was no theme line wide theme (yes I'm aware phil will incorrectly tell me I'm wrong by citing the themeless "t30" and the original WfC). Everything held to it's own, and was expected to be judged on it's own. But starting with CW, they every toy in a given year has a shared aesthetic and gimmick. They want us to view it as a whole as well as individuals. IMO, CW made sense as a full line theme, because it's best to just go full force on combiners and knock out as many as possible. But Headmasters really fall into the "doesn't need a theme" category. If they wanna do a headmaster, just do it. It worked for U2 Cyclonus, and "t30" brainstorm. PotP was a massive trainwreck of a theme (i take back what I said about Siege being the worst. PotP was). And we don't need an entire earth themed line just to give us ER Optimus or a voyager Starscream. |
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 16, 2019 20:17:06 GMT
Oh I agree. I agree. I suppose I just accepted that the Powers That Be who run Transformers haven't got the hang of themes yet.
-Ralph
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Post by Shockprowl on Oct 16, 2019 20:36:26 GMT
I think it's best just to enjoy the toys for what they are rather than look for any rhyme or reason for the lines as a whole. -Ralph But there should be rhyme and reason! There could be rhyme and reason, quite easily! In recent times, everything since Combiner Wars has been ill-thoughtout, miss-matched, cobbled together GUFF, that has, thankfully and despite the absolute lack of cohesion, produced some pretty great toys, on and off (Headmasters excluded). Keep the great toys coming, but sort out your narrative and line cohesion. Transformer toys are not supposed to be enjoyed in isolation, but enjoyed together as a collective toy experience! |
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Post by Llama God on Oct 17, 2019 6:39:23 GMT
I think I'd have to agree that PottoP is the weakest of the recent lines - it just felt like a load of half-assed and leftover ideas from previous lines that they were getting out of the way in readiness for what came next. Some of the concepts are good, like the "evolving" leaders, but in most of those cases the actual execution is poor (Rodimus is a fantastic idea, but the toys themselves are weak).
But that said, Siege is nevertheless less interesting, because despite the failures, PottoP had interesting ideas behind them, at least, and still had some gimmicks (even if they didn't work too well). TR remains my favourite just for the Headmasters gimmick, which sure, isn't to everyone's taste, but made all the figures a lot more interesting to me. CW made everyone combiners, which again added some interest. Siege figures... are just toys. Good toys, true, but just toys. Yeah, it has the weaponiser gimmick, but that requires multiple toys to work properly, and just isn't as interesting as the ideas behind previous lines.
Of course, on an individual basis a lot of the lines have great individual toys. I'm just nowhere near excited about Siege. And I will forever be salty that this line didn't give us the definitive Cybertronian modes for characters. I guess Hasbro just weren't feeling brave enough to risk designs that strayed too far from the original Sunbow designs...
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Jim
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Post by Jim on Oct 17, 2019 7:30:02 GMT
Attempting Sunbow Cybertronian modes as a line was never going to be a winner because the robot modes are tied to the Earth alt-modes. So you get Tetrajet shell-formers, and no attempt at what must be two of the most wanted in Wheeljack and Bumblebee because it would be impossible.
Personally I think they should have comitted to the alt-modes and had the robot modes follow those, especially with Earthrise coming anyway. We could have had a Voyager Wheeljack and Legends-ish Bumblebee interacting!
All that said, I've been loving Siege as the individual toys, at least those I have experienced, have mostly been winners. The QC has ramped up along with posability, I _like_ the battle damage, and they have mostly intuitive, quick transformations (Springer is the obvious exception though I'm getting used to him).
For me, though I know why, I find it almost odd though that it gets referred to as being the Sunbow line - it is, to me, the line giving me the toys from my favourite era of Marvel UK. I first encountered that Jetfire design in Dinobot Hunt. Omega Supreme was introduced in the first issue I started getting the comic weekly (until then it was fits and bursts). And Impactor OMG! Just a shame about Ultra Magnus' white thighs...
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Post by Philip Ayres on Oct 17, 2019 12:11:22 GMT
I think I'd have to agree that PottoP is the weakest of the recent lines - it just felt like a load of half-assed and leftover ideas from previous lines that they were getting out of the way in readiness for what came next. Some of the concepts are good, like the "evolving" leaders, but in most of those cases the actual execution is poor (Rodimus is a fantastic idea, but the toys themselves are weak). The central idea of POTP, essentially Combiner Wars II, is fab. The problem lies with trying to tie in the other three sizes, using an adaptation of the successful TR Titanmster gimmick married to some dodgy Aligned idea that G1 fans don't really buy into, and changing the concept for a G1 sub group with a small but loyal fan base. There's just too much going on and it doesn't help that the first few Leaders are poor and the Voyagers have issues. Then the line gets cut short leaving incomplete combiners, not all 12 Primes done and a general feeling of unfinished business which has resulted in various POTP toys showing up as exclusives and/or in Siege. We know more was planned - Waverider as a shell for one of the Primes and hints at Pretener Monsters/Dinoforc that have not yet materialized elsewhere. - but not much more than that But that said, Siege is nevertheless less interesting, because despite the failures, PottoP had interesting ideas behind them, at least, and still had some gimmicks (even if they didn't work too well). TR remains my favourite just for the Headmasters gimmick, which sure, isn't to everyone's taste, but made all the figures a lot more interesting to me. TR managed to do same gimmick linewide. A rare success making that happen. CW made everyone combiners, which again added some interest. Indeed another big success. But the Leaders sitting the gimmick out felt odd, which is probably one of the factors leading to the mess that is POTP. Siege figures... are just toys. Good toys, true, but just toys. Yeah, it has the weaponiser gimmick, but that requires multiple toys to work properly, and just isn't as interesting as the ideas behind previous lines. Nor is it as publiscised and wide spread. Th overall gimmick seems to be powering up and arming your robot with, varyingly, Battlemasters, Micomasters, Weaponsers and Leader's own armour. But with very little supporting material that idea hasn't really had much publicity and nothing at all has been made of the individual weapons modes for the Micromasters even though they all have them. I think Siege needed a fourth, second Decepticon, Weaponiser. They just vanished as new toys after w3. Earthjrise on the other hand looks a little more coherent with it's "connect the bases together" gimmick Of course, on an individual basis a lot of the lines have great individual toys. Yup, fab figures in each. I'm just nowhere near excited about Siege. And I will forever be salty that this line didn't give us the definitive Cybertronian modes for characters. I guess Hasbro just weren't feeling brave enough to risk designs that strayed too far from the original Sunbow designs... Yes, I think the title and teasing led to a strong expectation for 1984MTMTE BB, Wheeljack and Jazz as well as Soundwave, who we kind of got, and Starscream & co, who we got in spades. And if you not going to do 1984MTMTE, then people still want the likes of War Within Optimus. It's probably best to ignore the supporting fiction (what there is), Hasbro press releases and even the line and trilogy names. This is supposed to be "War for Cybertron" trilogy but at the moment it looks much more like "Modern Micromaster" trilogy. If anything the name Siege looks at the moment like it may well have been better for WFC II with the Micromasters bases! |
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Post by Bogatan on Oct 17, 2019 17:22:46 GMT
I think Im going against the flow here, but I liked that CW didnt try to incorporate coming in to leaders and didnt force it too much with the legends. And it primarily used the combiner gimmick only with toys that were meant to have it. Yes they did a load of repaints but they got out the original 4 teams plus Computron.
Then TR comes along and throws the gimmick at everyone. For the most part that harmless, but also gets repetative. And worse doesnt give us all the headmasters.
If the Targetmasters had come with Targetmasters instead of headmasters then fine, I guess but we ended up with targetless targetmasters and bodyless new Headmasters.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Oct 17, 2019 18:26:43 GMT
I think Im going against the flow here, but I liked that CW didnt try to incorporate coming in to leaders and didnt force it too much with the legends. And it primarily used the combiner gimmick only with toys that were meant to have it. Yes they did a load of repaints but they got out the original 4 teams plus Computron. Oh I don't think CW should have put the gimmicks on the leaders, it's more that they shouldn't have done leaders with CW. I do get the feeling, themeatically, that the CW Leaders may have been intended to be T30 Leaders - at least with the Megatrons and Magnus which are rather IDW and go nicely with the IDW characters in that line. My gut feeling is there's some behind the scenes story as to why the leader class started much later in T30 that we don't know leading to toys being held back. |
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Post by Shockprowl on Oct 17, 2019 21:27:29 GMT
My gut feeling is that Hasbro keep arsing up their toys lines.
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Post by Llama God on Oct 18, 2019 6:34:47 GMT
For me, though I know why, I find it almost odd though that it gets referred to as being the Sunbow line - it is, to me, the line giving me the toys from my favourite era of Marvel UK. I first encountered that Jetfire design in Dinobot Hunt. Omega Supreme was introduced in the first issue I started getting the comic weekly (until then it was fits and bursts). And Impactor OMG! Just a shame about Ultra Magnus' white thighs... Oh yeah, certainly for me - despite how I refer to this - this is the Marvel UK line. Jetfire I also first encountered in the comics when he was created by Shockwave, and that whole fantastic storyline that he ties in to. Which is why it's been do difficult to resist buying him (for now). But that's all just because the comics and the cartoon both used the same character models - and we all know that the majority of people experienced G1 through the cartoons (just look at the way the G1 MPs are being presented now), hence the assumption that that's what it's really trying to do. It's just a nice side-effect that it all matches the comics. |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Oct 18, 2019 17:25:29 GMT
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Post by Shockprowl on Oct 18, 2019 20:43:52 GMT
WANT. NEED. MURDER DEATH KILL.
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Post by Pinwig on Oct 18, 2019 22:40:37 GMT
Barricade looks very striking in hand, but I couldn't bring myself to buy one this evening. I suppose because there's no legacy figure from G1 to compare to, he seems to make the most of the mould. I hope Smokescreen works as well when we finally get him.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Oct 19, 2019 5:16:36 GMT
WANT. NEED. MURDER DEATH KILL. Martin |
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Post by Shockprowl on Oct 19, 2019 7:27:14 GMT
Barricade looks very striking in hand, but I couldn't bring myself to buy one this evening. I suppose because there's no legacy figure from G1 to compare to, he seems to make the most of the mould. I hope Smokescreen works as well when we finally get him. Pfffttt! |
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Post by Toph on Oct 19, 2019 22:26:45 GMT
So I got my Fanvote 3-pack set today.
Initial thoughts-
Aragon, quality wise, is significantly superior to Cog. My Cog, after one use, barely holds together. His legs fall off sometimes just by picking him up. And he wasn't much better before. But Aragon? His parts are so tight they feel like they're actually attached.
That said, I still don't understand how they connected the dots from this mold to that powerdasher.
Impactor. Was never terribly interested in him, but now I'm glad I got him. MMC's Spartan does the job of being Impactor a lot better, but this is a very close second, and worlds better than the last two official ones we've got.
He is impressive in height, but I think that's only compared to the downscaled modern deluxes. I think if you put him with the older Generations deluxes like RtS Jazz and Kup, he'd be on par with them.
If they'd made him a voyager, i think they could have gotten a magnificent pre-earth Grimlock out of him.
His transformation is nifty. And in vehicle mode, he really feels like a deluxe. It doesn't make sense, because the size of his parts don't change, and he doesn't really become any more compact.
I am 90% positive this guy is a Quake pretool.
Mirage... I would almost like him if it weren't for everything about him.
80% sure he's a Slapdash pretool.
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