The Huff
Thunderjet
Hufferlover
Posts: 4,241
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Post by The Huff on May 24, 2024 7:17:29 GMT
Very difficult to choose between Starcream, Red Alert and Scavenger this week. I really like all three.
(Sorry Overload).
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 24, 2024 9:33:20 GMT
Never liked the Starscream - the way the arms hang under the wings without doing any real impersonation of an engine looks odd and only one wing becoming a sword annoys me so much. Love the Skywarp remould though, just the right side of radio rental. Never clicked with Red Alert either, a thin robot with lots of huge vehicle panels hanging off him. The panel for a Minicon to stand on is nice, but on his leg? And his Minicon Longarm is one of the best of the lot despite (because of?) essentially being an effective redo of Micromasters Crumble and Iron Lift tfwiki.net/wiki/Crumble#Toystfwiki.net/wiki/Iron_LiftI love Overload, I really do, big chunky robot mode. But that vehicle mode doesn't make sense without Jetfire riding on it and then doesn't do anything useful like pivoting him up into launch position. If they could have done him as a car Transporter that doubled as a shuttle Transporter/launcher it would have been better. Great weapons add on for the Superbase Prime though! Is Overload the first toy to make the Transforming noise? Which leaves Scavenger. Name and colours aside, which both SCREAM Constructicon and thus other faction, this is a fantastic toy with rolling treads, bobbling shovel, space for a Minicon driver and a stompy stompy walking action in robot mode. Small minus point for not being able to hold 5mm weapons. Wasn't his fault he got solid cased and shelf warmed like nothing before. Seen as the spawn of satan by the articulation is all the matters brigade this is actually a REALLY GOOD FUN TOY! |
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Post by The Doctor on May 24, 2024 10:49:52 GMT
No, it's shite.
-Ralph
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 24, 2024 11:15:08 GMT
SCAVENGER STOMPS RALPH!
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The Huff
Thunderjet
Hufferlover
Posts: 4,241
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Post by The Huff on May 24, 2024 11:16:46 GMT
I forgot that Rollbar could drive Scavenger. So he gets my vote!
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Post by Shockprowl on May 24, 2024 11:27:59 GMT
I only ever had Starscream, and I had the Thundercracker and 'Skywarp' recolours as well of the mold. And the pre-classics/generations era I thought they were brilliant updates of the Seekers (I called them 'Seekers' back then).
Scavenger looks... interesting. I always thought Overlord looks very odd; he's just a little truck towing a big red brick!
So, Starscream for me. The wing-swords were cool.
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Jim
Thunderjet
Micromaster Backside Monitor
Now in glorious Ultra HD 4K
Posts: 4,890
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Post by Jim on May 24, 2024 13:29:28 GMT
Overload!
The fact that in vehicle mode he's mostly a big chunk of machinery with an unclear purpose I find actually kind of appealing, and I love the design of the robot mode - I'd happily see a modern update with some articulation, but I fear they'd feel the need to "fix" his proportions and/or alt-mode and it wouldn't be quite the same.
I have no experience of the other three moulds though, so that may play a part in my decision here...
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Post by The Doctor on May 24, 2024 15:39:08 GMT
Stomp away. It's shite. -Ralph |
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Post by Bogatan on May 24, 2024 16:10:09 GMT
I have issues with all of these and oddly for a single wave each is a different problem.
I love the look of armada, but the toys rarely fully capture that look.
Starscream comes closer than most, though not as well as the T30 deluxe. But its still a pretty janky toy. Like Phil said, the arms are not good, though it's in robot mode where they annoy me.
Red Alert, the bad kind of kibble. And attached to scrawny little arms and legs. Ugh.
Demolisher. Big chunky toy. Captures the armada look well. Feels like an evolution of the autoroller style toys. I should like this a lot more than I do.
Overload. The most g1 of the bunch. I much prefer this approach to minicons, even though it doesn't really make sense in context of the armada concept. Again not really feeling it though. Alt mode doesn't really seem like anything Colour scheme doesn't do it any favours.
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 24, 2024 16:56:09 GMT
I have issues with all of these and oddly for a single wave each is a different problem. These weren't a single wave. How they were distributed varies from the US to here but for us in the UK Wave 1: Red Alert & Starscream
Wave 2: Scavenger
Wave 3: Thundercracker
Wave 4: Overload
Wave 5: Skywarp
Wave 6: Powerlinx Red Alert & Predacon Distribution of these waves varies: Matt M never saw Scavenger while he shelfwarmed in London. I saw one Overload, in Abingdon, while both Ralph & Karl have previously spoken of seeing them in quantity in Scottish Asdas. |
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 24, 2024 16:56:52 GMT
Stomp away. It's shite. -Ralph I'd have thought his play features would be right up your street |
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Post by The Doctor on May 24, 2024 18:06:13 GMT
It's shite though.
-Ralph
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Post by Pinwig on May 24, 2024 21:24:39 GMT
I love all the different reasons everyone has for this round. Wide open vote for once.
It's between Starscream and Scavenger for me. Overload has a great robot but he only really works as part of something else and Red Alert is just a bit awkward. Starscream looks fab in robot mode but Scavenger is just fun.
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 24, 2024 22:09:39 GMT
8 votes
2 all
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 24, 2024 22:11:54 GMT
I love all the different reasons everyone has for this round. Wide open vote for once. All four Armada polls have been great so far! |
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Post by Shockprowl on May 24, 2024 22:13:31 GMT
It's as close as a lingerie shop without a front window.
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Post by The Doctor on May 24, 2024 22:53:48 GMT
I don't own any of these anymore (I am trying to build back the Unicron trilogy, which was all got rid of during Dark Times).
Three of them are fab.
Voted for Overload. First TF with That Transforming Sound. Can you imagine a modern Generations toy doing that?
-Ralph
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Post by Fortmax2020 on May 25, 2024 8:09:09 GMT
Yes. Via the power of Imagination - the ultimate weapon!
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Post by Llama God on May 25, 2024 9:17:50 GMT
Well, seems like I've come into this thread at just the right time. As ever, I'll go with looks on these - which is also fair since I've only played with Starscream out of all of these (I think). Red Alert is indeed a little too spindly, and Scavenger looks a little ungainly. Starscream is close, but for some reason Overload tickles my brain. It shouldn't, because that vehicle mode is ungainly, and I'm sure if I'd bought it there's a chance I'd have buyer's remorse. But it's the one that calls to me, so...
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Post by Benn on May 25, 2024 9:21:21 GMT
I voted for Starscream as the only one of them I've owned, and at a much later date than this. The lack of a tailfin bothered me at the time, but it's proven to be a properly iconic redesign.
I remember seeing either this Overload or the Ultra Magnus repaint in Woollies for ages and there's a small tinge of regret at not picking it up.
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Post by Pinwig on May 25, 2024 10:08:46 GMT
I love all the different reasons everyone has for this round. Wide open vote for once. All four Armada polls have been great so far! Aside from the fact the toys are surprisingly good (back then we didn't know how lucky we were), I think we've all found a little nostalgia sweet spot. Armada arrived around the twentieth anniversary of the 84 line, and pulled a lot of lapsed collectors back in. So now we're around the 20th anniversary of Armada, we're getting the same 'good old days' vibes. |
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 25, 2024 19:36:44 GMT
Hot Shot is a last minute redesign rush job so I wantto be generous that they got a toy out at all. But the inability to swing the shoulders forward is a real killer and the proportions just look odd. I forgot about this but a related subject came up on the call tonight and I stumbled across these images of Prototype HotShot in my archives |
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Post by The Doctor on May 26, 2024 22:26:04 GMT
The version that made it to shops is better.
-Ralph
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Post by Benn on May 26, 2024 22:49:13 GMT
I think I agree.
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Post by Pinwig on May 26, 2024 22:49:16 GMT
Definitely. It's interesting though. These days prototypes wouldn't reach that point. The design changes would happen at the CAD stage.
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 26, 2024 23:04:59 GMT
The Demolishor in the bottom picture is also worth a look, both missile banks are extended insinuating both shoulders could launch
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Post by that_bluestreak on May 27, 2024 18:40:04 GMT
Between Starscream and scavenger for me. Red Alert is horrible for all the reasons given already. Overload, well, its ok. But the other two have play features that are cool. going to go for scavenger because its a fun toy!
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 29, 2024 19:16:20 GMT
3 all to everyone bar Starscream, who has 5.
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 30, 2024 7:19:05 GMT
Starscream now leads by 3 over the others
Finishes tomorrow when we move on to the Gigacons
3 good toys but, no disrespect to the other two, I'm expecting this to be a one horse race
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Post by Bogatan on May 30, 2024 15:55:24 GMT
I mentioned this on the call last Saturday, but I find this lot really odd.
Overload feels very much like a G1 toy something along the lines of Brainmasters.
As I already said, Scavenger fits in to the block G2 Autoroller concept.
Starscream is pretty much what Hasbro had been doing from late G2 through Beast Wars.
Red Alert on the other hand feels a lot more like Takaras Beast Wars/ Car Robots output. Spindly figures with lots of kibble.
Just all over the place.
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