I just transformed...

[Skorpulator]

It's packaged in robot mode... It's still in robot mode. Where's the transformation?

[evenstaves]

Earthspark warrior Thrash, found him on the cheap and dove in
Right off the bat, he's a bit small to directly scale with Twitch, gets the dander up a lil bit
no wrist, no ankle, head can't (swivel) very much inside his raised collar/armor, noticed after one transformation that the motorcycle windshield chestpiece? is already stressmarking underneath near the hinge, grrr
Shoulder ball joints are very stiff as well - the aforementioned witnessed stressmarks have me worried they might appear here too - is he too thin to have this many tight parts? at least, when the plastic is this slightly-lower-quality stuff
At least he looks like the guy, and his face-up is nice/decent
Maybe I'll get the upcoming deluxe Thrash after all, and just give him this guy's sidecar if it's compatible? argh

Ended up getting my replacement NovaPrime... and didn't end up transforming him! since he's basically literally GalaxyOP and I know how that transformation goes
Basically I just cool-posed him and that's that - I mean, he looks awesome!
...maybe I'll transform him down the line?
I wish they added "any" paint apps to that pair of leg guns, tho - SiegeMagnus was the only one to tease us with silver painted barrels, and every re-use of the mold (that came with these guns) since? just unpainted plastic, like an afterthought - I just wish they delivered on that, since this the coolest use of the mold so far (imo, and I love GalaxyOP)

[Gaming Turtle]

Originally Posted by savagephil

Love this figure he is so poseable. Was glad I was able to find him today

Never found him in my area (Missed the 3 that showed up in store). So I ended up just getting the KO. And then Transformed it after 2 hours of sanding joints.

[evenstaves]

Evo Bombshell, actually got this guy a while back but been waiting on my spare Shrapnel in the mail from Mandy in order to cannibalize his parts, so Bombos can lose the hotpants & grey gloves
Of course, this means I didn't really pay close attention to my copy; upon finally opening him - he's got some scratches on his horn from the plastic tie, and some slight paint bubbling on his big purple chest arggggggh
Transformation is ever so slightly more complex than Shrapnel's, but not by much! Basically just the foldaway arms underneath, as opposed to "just floating there, lol" But ya, he's a barely-articulated brick, kek

Takara Selects SuperMegatron! I'm pretty torn on this guy, because I love what he represents, and he's pretty intimidating - he's a big sexy anime space Megatron, which is cool
And I suppose it's the coolest thing they could have done with that TR Galvatron mold, but.. its hard to put into words, I feel its a bit like lipstick on a pig? That mold had some issues (BEYOND the terrible headmaster integration re: flip up mask), like that transformation isn't particularly complicated (or convincing), and SuperMegs doesn't much differently
I like the space plane more than the tank; it channels his Animated incarnation a bit (in fact, so do his long helmet "jowls", haha) - in fact, I think that's a fair broader statement to make "I like this cause it's like getting an updated Animated Megs, kind of not really but kind of"
It's weird because I don't really care to pick up his rival Selects StarConvoy, on the basis that that mold was kind of awful? But there's few good modern Megs incarnations (enough w Siege mold PLS), and I feel they really nailed his face sculpt with this guy, so I appreciate them taking him in a different direction, if nothing else
And of course, the face flip thing is fun, and the gimmickry he's covered with to "change forms" (har har) helps to elevate him to be more than the sum of his parts
I dunno man, I really like him, even if the mold he comes from is a bit dated - he's got enough new thing to make him worth it, and pound for pound he's cooler than Siege mold

[Skorpulator]

G1 Quickswitch. Most of his modes suck (puma being the worst because of the dangling wings under his belly), but it's still vintage fun!

[Skorpulator]

Originally Posted by Gaming Turtle

Never found him in my area (Missed the 3 that showed up in store). So I ended up just getting the KO. And then Transformed it after 2 hours of sanding joints.

Joints were too tight?

[Ozrein]

Just transformed Star Toys Blitzwing. Such a great figure all around. I hadn’t picked him up off the shelf for a little while and forgot how much I like his transformation(s).

[Gaming Turtle]

Originally Posted by Skorpulator

Joints were too tight?

The KO has almost all of the light grey plastic painted to more of a gunmetal color. Due to this most of the already tight joints were siezed up.

[evenstaves]

Been scant gettings up to & including Xmas, but here we go:

Evo core Swoop & Snarl - the best Evo core dinos saved for (released) last, and boy is it ever because of those ELBOWS
Swoop is nice & colourful, the combiner fist integration as bot/dino weapons is pretty cool, even if the actual attachment to the combiner arm itself, sucks (same as Scarr in that regard) - but man is he ever poseable as a MFer
Snarl is even better, with his tiny lil sword that every version of him has to have now? (why always him - and always NOT others?) Red really pops on this guy, dino is nice although it's a COMPLETE BRICK, like not even the dino legs move! If pegged properly into place - and of course we don't need to get into the absolute bullcrap the combiner "leg"(stump) is, in the official configuration, what a crock of crap
Getting a 3rd party kit to trick this combiner out, but even then, EVEN THEN, these two are still the best Evo core dinos of the six
If you're planning to keep some core dinos as lil individuals, on like a desk or something? These two are the best

Pulse exclusive core OP/BB 2-pack, finally opened this one from my back-catalogue
Without my Kingdom core OP readily in hand to compare, I've got to say the OP is a bit whatever, but he looks nice enough with his new axe (no QAs present on it, unlike my 1st copy of EvoNemesisP)
And I never picked up that BB/Spike 2-pack, so this my first go at that core BB mold, and... it's a bit weird? technically the composition hits all my buttons for a BB, I even dig the little car wheel wells stuck off his back like "wings" (a nod to Bay films? sure) - but there's just something about him, I dunno - the arms are a bit thin, like really thin - and the head is kind of mounted "sitting" up on top of his body, like it almost looks like its not connected somehow? I like the new pistol he gets over the mold's "rubber gun" that pegs under his carriage, I don't see that staying intact forever
I absolutely LOVE the effort they put into Prime's trailer - the little crane-y guy is painted(colour-molded?) way better than the afterthought the ER trailer got, the onboard storage for all the weapons is *chef's kiss*, the new panel to properly connect the trailer to OP's legs, the fact that BB alt mode can fit inside, the ROLLER (adorbs)
Worst I could say is, I quickly discovered that (all weapons) (BB) & (Roller), can't all fit in the trailer at once - also I could be overlooking something, but seems like Roller doesn't "peg" onto anything inside the closed trailer, like he's just loose kicking around in there? BB takes up enough space that he's not too bad loose, but I imagine Roller f*ckin flyin around in there, dinging up the axe's paint, etc
All in all, worth it for the trailer alone, and Prime's axe if u give a damn

SS86 cores Rumble & Frenzy, the wait is over, and the hype is true, I love these lil guys - better than the Siege cassettes, even if they basically ARE them, it's the little details that elevate these - having their actual faces, having the guns, having the piledrivers obvs, though I find when you got the PDs on, they can really only do the one pose - I try to pose them different, arms down, with the PDs facing out/forwards, like they were their huge forearms instead? Kinda fun, though it really highlights the PDs' unfortunate waffling present (i hate this)
I really dig these though, they are cool and I hope the upcoming 86 Soundwave is good enough to match this quality

United TasmanianKid, boy is this ever a Beast Wars basic
Not that there's anything wrong with that; he looks great, lots of articulation (no waist) - doesn't really have any weapon storage in bot mode beyond the arm ports, so if you wanted the weapon "shelved", it's going right up his butt, and is just long enough to make tri-posing awkward *sweatdrop*
Beast mode is fine, though mine the skull-cap panel doesn't tab in too great to the beast head halves - with the slight gaps, looks like a yarmulka
Kinda worried that all his ball-jointing is gonna get loose over time?

United Bouldercrash, a little bigger than I thought he'd be, which is nice - right off the bat I'm immediately focused on this large long spine piece that goes right down off his butt like a damn 3rd leg, the part with the 5mm peg that supports his "turns into a weapon for others" mode - seems like it compromises the figure too much! gets in the way of posing, stupid design choice
turns out the rock bike is a "rock trike", didn't see that coming (but also never watched the advance pics all that much) - weapon is a touch unwieldy for his size, but not overly
I wanted to like this guy, but he's "eh" at best

Velocitron Crasher, goddamn it I don't like how they keep painting the leg covers on practically every copy of this mold - the two ports that we're meant to peg the weapons onto, in alt mode? are almost always painted, has me too damn nervous re: paint scratch/damage, I never want to use them (I'll sooner flip the bot fists out and just "hold them" off the sides, which is STUPID, but I'm not gonna f*ck up a nice bot mode's painted look, given how many of these are exclusives) - they did it w/ Leadfoot, they did it w/ G2 crocko-Mirage, and they did it here again
Fig is fine otherwise - I don't know if it's worth all the trouble hunting it down re: Velo wave 2 deluxe being a nightmare to find? It's not that great; Shadowstrip is def the better mold, of the two

86 voyager Ratchet, he's good, same as voyager Ironhide, not much to say, they shoulda done him this way in the first place and saved us all the hassle (re: Paradron medics), no issues with my copy

Finally opened my IDW Nacelle, not much to say (we've all had a Siege tetrajet by now) except to say that my copy appears to have none of that weird wing mold others reported earlier this year - also, that little panel that tabs onto the back of the head? When swinging the head inside during transformation, this the only tetrajet I've had where the softer plastic of that panel, was slightly mis-aligned/sticking out inside the torso - couldn't slide into its particular groove, making it so the head couldn't tuck all the way inside - had to reach in with a thin exacto & kinda "guide it" into the edge of the groove, which afterwards it was fine (may not do too many conversions with this guy as a result)

Selects Antagony, you gotta use the alt Scavenger head! transformed him blind, since I already got Legacy Inferno, figured it would be a slam dunk but actually had some trouble remembering how the stupid bot legs tuck away, not particularly intuitive
But he(she?)'s cool, no complaints

Evo ArmadaMegs, only dabbled with him briefly but he seems nice & big, face is well-detailed and stoic - sucks that he has like, no weapons other than that flaccid joke of a rubber barrel, no issues otherwise that I can recall
I don't mind the shoulder thing as much as others, but I might kit them out if I get the chance
For that matter, wouldn't mind 3rd party kitting him up some more weapons like the old RotF Bludgeon tank's kit, though I imagine once I got the upcoming Tidal Wave, maybe his kibbly bits will be sufficient

Picked up a Troop builder multipack a while ago, we all know these molds so real quick:
- Autotrooper is great, switched to red face and want more copies just to give one all the gunz (like any copy of this mold, natch)
- Quint trooper, this guy make me realize how low the ER Allicon's head sat on his mantle; this guy's neck connection is way higher, when you put the alt head (original Allicon head) on, it's like he's trying to stand at attention, a cool variation to differ up your copies of this mold
- G2 trooper, he's fine enough but I absolutely hate these Skullgrin gummy swords; this guy will benefit tremendously from upgrade kit weapons
- seeker is whatever I guess, it's a passable mold and better IMO than the tetrajet, but I already have the main six, and practically all the outliers, so there's nothing "new" to get excited about here (not even an alt head), the loser of the set for me

RotB "mainline" voyager Rhinox, I kind of happened into this guy - I wouldn't have picked him up but found him @ TreasureHunt, ticketed @ 15 bucks and during a 60% off toys, got him for under seven bucks? For that price I'll take a stab at it
Bot mode is a bit whatever, his legs are panelly but not nearly as complicated as Kingdom's - found after equipping both guns in hand, that I had some real trouble pulling one of them back out - bot face isn't gonna win any beauty pageants, I think the SS voyager's face looks better
Honestly the rhino mode is where it's at, despite his absolute square box of an *ss - forelegs are a bit more poseable than Kingdom's (which is to say, slightly at all) - sucks that they didn't any interior weapon storage for beast mode (sticking out off the shoulders, is stupid), and also it sucks that I can SEE CLEAR THROUGH the rhino mode, in a profile view
But hey, for under seven bucks, he's OK for that value - I'd be right p*ssed if I'd paid full price for this, though

[evenstaves]

Toxitron G2Jazz, snatched him up on the $19 clearancing of Toxitron deluxes, figure I'll play with this one in lieu of my 86Jazz (who I never transformed due to hearing of widespread QA clear-plastic car roof backpack) - converted to car, everything tabbed in nicely - super careful using the top 5mm port in the roof for accessories, no issues there (tacked the other two onto his feet ports, one of the ports stress-marked the plastic right away, rrrrggg) - transformed back to bot mode, and immediately upon un-tabbing the roof panel from the car hood, heard the CRACK and saw the split in the clear-plastic - just on the hinge for now, but I don't think I'll convert him again
And thus my fear of transforming 86Jazz remains

Toxitron leader-class Toxitron, I was gonna skip this guy ( I love the 5.0 beefcake from CW OP mold), but a combination of factors had me reconsider - luckily caught a break in WM website's availability window and got him in - I like the mold enough (got all variants now) despite the tight squeeze for his arms during conversion, and this copy has no QAs that I can see, all good here

United Cyberverse Windblade, this fig is pretty good! Never picked up a Gen WB or RID (DID get TR & TK:L versions, but they can stay as piloted jets for titanmasters, now) - so this one fills a spot for me
Her feet are nice & stable, transformation hides the face & does a bit more with the legs (still just torso & arms sticking out underneath tho) - also she's got my favourite thing, her head can balljoint-tilt upwards like she's flying, always a cool for poses
Should mention I love that nosecone landing gear fold-out - between that & two struts sticking out on her legs, makes it so the jet doesn't rest on any painted chest surface, a big plus for me with jetformers
Got to say, that sword is kind of stupid - idc if it's meant to "blend in" with alt mode jet exhaust, it still looks like a big purple mid-air sh*t streaming out from between legs
And for someone who's named after a sword? You've got to impress me with that sword, and this one doesn't do it
TLDR get a better sword and this fig is best Windblade yet, imo