Page 7 of 10

Re: Transformers: Legacy

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2022 9:51 pm
by Sparky Prime
Got Tarantulas today. My only critique is with the spider legs. They've only got ball joints at the knees which do not allow for a full range of motion. I wish he'd had ball joints like on Kingdom Blackarachina, as well as joints where the legs connect to his robot mode arms to give it a wider range of articulation. But overall, it's a great figure.

Re: Transformers: Legacy

Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2022 10:25 pm
by Shockwave
Dominic wrote: Sat Sep 24, 2022 12:06 pm Tarantulas' spider face (or robot crotch) are facades of each-other. It is the sort of thing that I can accept on BW figures. But, it is still facade parts.
I dunno man, that seems to be stretching the definition of "faux parts" a bit. The robot waist has nine "spider eyes" on it and no spider on the planet has nine eyes. Tarantulas only have six. Some other species have 8. I think this is more a case of the robot mode evoking the arachnid nature of the alt mode rather than actually supposed to be the part in question. I think of it the same way as Arcee's waist folding into her alt mode.

As for the legs, yeah, I kinda thought they should have more movement at first too, but then I saw my actual tarantula in exactly the same pose as this figure and... well if that's how the real thing is then I guess it works.

Re: Transformers: Legacy

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2022 4:24 pm
by Sparky Prime
Bunch of new figures revealed at Pulsecon today, now dubbing the line Legacy: Evolution.

Transformers Legacy Evolution Core Dinobot Slug
Transformers Legacy Evolution Core Dinobot Sludge
Transformers Legacy Evolution Core Soundblaster

Transformers Legacy Evolution Deluxe Brakedown
Transformers Legacy Evolution Deluxe Scraphook
Transformers Legacy Evolution Deluxe Armada Hot Shot
Transformers Legacy Evolution Deluxe Needlenose

Transformers Legacy Evolution Voyager Leo Prime
Transformers Legacy Evolution Voyager Tarn

Pulsecon exclusive
Orion Pax and Alpha Trion

Pulse exclusive
Shattered Glass Soundwave

Also revealed: Transformers Lite-Brite.

***

Surprised to see a brand new mold for Lio Convoy, previous "Leo Prime's" released by Hasbro have always been a repaint/retool of another figure. Good to see one of the Japanese Beast Wars characters as they originally looked getting released in this line... Although I think the lion's face looks a little weird.

Re: Transformers: Legacy

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2022 10:04 am
by Dominic
Tranatulas' robot-crotch is supposed to be the spider-mode face. That was the idea of the original toy and the cartoon. The number of eyes changing was the sort of cheat that was common in the beast-era. (The fact that the BW cartoon cheated so aggressively is why I am a little more forgiving of facade parts on BW figures now.)


Those new figures are good.

I am not going to look for any of them. But, if I see the Core figures, I will grab the Dinobots. Much like the recent "Shattered Glass" comics, I like Soundwave much more than I should. (It is ironic, and a bit surreal, that the best thing IDW has done is "Shattered Glass". The only thing I dislike about the current SG is the Starscream figure from series 1.)

Tarn looks good enough to make me wish that I liked IDW's run (particularly "Lost Light") more. Lio-Convoy looks as good as it can. (That character model looks fantastic in animation, But, I am not sure that it can work as a toy.) Has the same problem as Starscream (the lack of a Minicon). That Junkion looks good. Hopefully, Hasbro goes back to this sort of parts-former.

Re: Transformers: Legacy

Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2022 12:07 pm
by JediTricks
Stupid Target sale got me to buy Elita One, what a turd of a toy. The robot mode's not tooooo bad, they added a lot of maroon to help differentiate her look from Arcee I think, but there's blocky bits and a stupid kibble backpack that doesn't look so good in either Minerva pre-tool mode or in "the whole front end of the car dumped here" mode. Her head's on a ball joint that can't do anything but swivel, this feels like such a pointless waste as there's two different ways this is assembled that could have improved neck movement without altering costs. Her feet are cheap nylon junk that jiggle around, this was a mistake to execute them so cheaply. Oh and her guns are clear blue plastic which don't serve her very well and have stupid storage on the sides of the already-too-wide backpack.

Transformation adds a leg flip and a few minor things, just enough to hide the fact that she's barely above "stand up, you're a robot" happy meal toy level. The biggest thing is her legs fold around towards the rest of the car to make it very, very stubby. And there's a tab which sits loose in robot mode and in vehicle mode is so hard to lock that it snaps with an audible "clack!" to get the vehicle mode properly aligned.

Vehicle mode is atrocious, it's teeny tiny, it's seriously ugly, it doesn't serve either Elita One or Minerva's alt modes, it's basically:
Image
I'd totally hate this if it weren't so laughable, but the real frustrating part is what it was supposed to look like:
Image

Elita One is somewhere between a D+ and a C- depending on what you're looking for.

Re: Transformers: Legacy

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 10:49 am
by JediTricks
Dead End is a mixed bag.
  • Building off Drag Strip's engineering made for some interesting choices like the broad chest, but also some limitations like the alt mode rear end pulling itself apart most of the time.
  • The deco in bot mode is, like Drag Strip, confined to the upper body so he comes off a bit plain, but the alt mode gets a nice deco.
  • The lack of real feet doesn't bother me too much, but the weak ankles do.
  • His lower legs are super thick so when you bend the knee it basically doesn't look like anything's happening.
  • His blasters don't fit together, which is just odd since they did with Drag Strip and Wildrider.
  • As a limb, it's a little weird having a car split in half at its tallest point, it doesn't translate as well as the flat Drag Strip.
  • His weapon storage in robot mode is under his elbows or on the fronts of his shins, which is lame; there isn't even a 5mm hole in his back or under his "feet".
  • The lack of transparent plastic is a welcome one, as this figure would likely self-destruct with it.
He's not awful, but he's far from great as budgetitis really took a heavy toll. Sharing engineering with a thin vehicle robot didn't do this figure any favors at all, and the reliance on tolerances to stay just right harmed the ability to transform effectively.

Crankcase is another mixed bag.
  • The changes from Skids are interesting, the doors folding differently make for a different profile, but the weaknesses in the shoulders and legs remain.
  • The bot mode chest doesn't hold together very well, it's dependent on two tiny tabs from the cockpit slotting into the back but these have no real leverage so it's far too easy to find his chest over his head.
  • The shoulder-mounted guns are tiny yet do exist, unfortunately they aren't 3mm blast effects pegs.
  • The vehicle grille to blaster transformation is awful, it looks horrible on the inside and misfires on functionality with the fold-down cover panel being too wide for to slip into his hand as a front grip; at best it looks like he's holding a boom box.
  • There are homages to his audacious paint on the hood panel for the Decepticon logo and on the rear-end, but the sides are very plain black.
  • The only gun held over from Skids is the awkward single-barrel super-tall blaster, now in unpainted smoke plastic.
Cranky is mostly the same as Skids for better or worse, but loses the charm in robot mode with an unstable chest and a dubious new gun. It's nice to have another Decepticon, but he's not my favorite entry.

Re: Transformers: Legacy

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 11:48 am
by Dominic
The whole wave is an easy skip for me.

I can appreciate the retro sensibilities of the Targetmaster. But, the gun-bot having no articulation is unacceptable.

Skullgrin is everything I have not liked about Hasbro using the Pretender characters for the last decade. (Why the hell are they not making actual shells with articulation?) I got Iguanus for the sword piece. But, Skullgrin is twice the price, and no build-piece.

Not getting Menasor, on account of Motormaster being one of the worst toys I have seen in years.

Crankcase looks okay. But, I have no real fondness for the character.

Elita looks like a Lego car.

Re: Transformers: Legacy

Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2022 4:23 pm
by Sparky Prime
Inferno

Overall, I love the look of this figure. It's a great update for the character next to the original figure. But it has some drawbacks... The jet thruster/gun has no where to go in beast mode that hides it. The ant abdomen hides the robot legs instead, with the robot legs sticking out of the bottom. Thus one of the abdomen blades is a faux part. The insect legs on the robot legs are also faux details, so now he's got two sets of legs on his arms instead of one. I don't mind the faux parts so much, but I feel like they could have figured something else out that could have minimized it. I wish the insect legs had more articulation though. They stick out in robot mode and there's not much you can do with them, I would like it if they could fold in more.

The one thing that annoys me about this figure is the weapon. The jet thruster does have a slot where it's supposed to go in his robot mode, which is nice, but then he's without a gun. The ant mandibles fold into the ant's head for his transformation, so I feel like they could have made them detachable like the original toy to give us a more show accurate weapon for him.

Edit: Much like Kingdom Cheetor, I just feel this figure really needs a show accurate gun. So I've found a 3rd party upgrade kit for him on ebay. Looks like it'll take a while for it to ship to me, but it'll be worth it.

Re: Transformers: Legacy

Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2022 8:22 pm
by Sparky Prime
Enter the dragon!
Transmetal 2 Megatron

Really surprised to get this figure already. Amazon just delivered it a few hours ago, so I haven't had much time with it yet. I'll post some thoughts on it later, but so far I think this is a great update.

Edit: Thoughts...
So to start out with some criticism I have for this figure... Some of his proportions are a little off. It's not terrible, but could be better. I thought it was with the preview images, but I was a bit surprised by how small his robot mode head is in person. I had been thinking of using putty to smooth out his face, but with how small it is, I don't feel confident I could do it very well. On the other hand, I have to say I think his face looks better in person than it had in the preview images. He also feels a bit small in general. I mean, he is Leader Class scale, but compared to the other Kingdom/Legacy Beast Wars figures, he's out of scale because he was significantly larger in this form in the show. I almost wonder if they should have made him a Commander or Titan class. I also noticed while comparing him to my original TM2 Megatron that they've mis-assembled the points on the top of his wings. They're pointed out instead of inward. I think this can be fixed, but requires unscrewing the wings to swap them around.

The wrong Predacon faction symbol that's on the back of the box I can confirm is only on the box. Megatron doesn't have any faction symbols on him at all. I love that they gave this figure a multi-jointed neck and tail for the dragon. The rubber of the original figure didn't allow him to hold a pose, but this one certainly can. Kinda wish the claw on the end of the tail was jointed though. It's a solid piece on this figure and doesn't move at all. The overall look of the figure is much closer to his cartoon appearance. It's not perfect, but they've done a better job of it than the original figure.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this version of TM2 Megatron, despite some flaws. I'm still planning on adding some paint to it, but even without, it's a great looking figure, and a huge improvement over the original.

Re: Transformers: Legacy

Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2022 11:26 am
by Dominic
The scale for BW figures is tricky. While it was not as bad as G1, "Beast Wars" including a fair amount of size changing. Depending on which scenes you are remembering, and what the toy designers are using as reference, a toy could be perfect or massively out of proportion.

Inferno's facade ant legs are enough to make me skip the figure. Hasbro has gotten far too comfortable using facade parts, even when the rest of the figure is not designed to be screen accurate. (I want to like Inferno. But, the current figure has problems that a $30+ toy should not have.)