Animated Review Thread

[Onslaught Six]

Actually, Hasbro said the toy designs come first, and the show is based on those toy designs.

Traditionally? Yes. Right now? Nnnno. We've seen significant evidence so far that very much implies the show was designed first, and the toys later.

[CrossRook]

A box came today. From Mechanicsburg PA. Site of HTS's warehouse. In it contained Blitzwing. A quicky review:
-Loose joints, probably just mine.
-Big robot mode
-Teensy tank mode (IRL mass shifting)
Overall I'd say an 8/10. Not perfect but it does a lot of things well.

I've been thinking of doing a large order from HTS, is Blitzwing out or on preorder and you just got him first for some reason?

He was available for like twelve hours last week. He's back to "Coming soon" now or pre-order I believe. My theory is they got a small shipment of them to appease the fans who got fucked over by the SDCC exclusives. Or it could have been Vampires, I'm not totally sure.

[onslaught86]

What about Transmetal Megatron, or a lot of BW figs really? I would say Ransack's not too bad really, you can take that thing off and he's still mostly a bike. It's when the accessory becomes vital to the alt mode that I think it goes too far.

TM Megs breaks with ridiculous ease, he's not a well engineered figure. I don't mind the 'cutlass' so much since, techncally, it's optional to remove it, even if it's a tad awkward. But yes, it annoys me throughout BW as well. I dislike having to take Transformers apart to transform them when the 'accessories' are actually significant alt. mode pieces.

[JediTricks]

Actually, Hasbro said the toy designs come first, and the show is based on those toy designs.

Traditionally? Yes. Right now? Nnnno. We've seen significant evidence so far that very much implies the show was designed first, and the toys later.

Not traditionally, for this specific series.

TM Megs breaks with ridiculous ease, he's not a well engineered figure. I don't mind the 'cutlass' so much since, techncally, it's optional to remove it, even if it's a tad awkward. But yes, it annoys me throughout BW as well. I dislike having to take Transformers apart to transform them when the 'accessories' are actually significant alt. mode pieces.

I haven't heard of any breakage, and haven't experienced any myself.

[Onslaught Six]

Not traditionally, for this specific series

No, not for this series. I demand evidence that Animated's characters are created toy-first. Hasbro may dictate what characters are on the show or what they turn into or other details, but everything is designed for the animation 'first.'

I haven't heard of any breakage, and haven't experienced any myself.

Well, consider yourself lucky. Those panels that Megs's arms are attached to, that fold back so they can store under his chest? Those. They break horribly easily. Bad bad plastic. The bronze stuff isn't too great either--it snaps like a twig sometimes.

[Dominic]

I have seen plenty of busted Megatrons.

Dom
-looks nervously at "Armada" Predacon.....

[onslaught86]

Armada's Predacon and Takara's BWMetals Megatron aren't as shatter-prone as TM Megs, fortunately. They reinforced Predacon through some surprisingly extensive retooling, it's cleverly done, Hasbro did this a lot with moulds they reused during the Universe V1 era.

Original flavour TM Megs, though, his brown plastic is extremely brittle, and his copper plastic suffers from Gold Plastic Syndrome. That plus flaking chrome is not a winning combo. I have two TM Megatrons, keep one spare specifically to fiddle with, and the other to display and never touch for fear it'll explode.

[Dominic]

For a while, I kept back-up of some toys. But, that gets expensive fast, and takes up huge amounts of space. In some cases, I keep original boxes to store some toys (mostly re-issues) in.

Anyone have thoughts on Jazz by the by?

Speaking of exploding toys, anyone remember the "Secret Wars" Doom Cycle?

Dom
-saw one of those about 8 years back.

[CrossRook]

Jazz is awesome. Small and simple, but awesome.

[Misanthrope Prime]

Jazz is awesome. Small and simple, but awesome.

Just picked him up on a toy hunt with soundwave, voyager prime and oilslick. I regret none of my purchases. I'd have got Grimlock but I was $3 short... shouldn't have got the jumbo slim jim.

EDIT: And, shit, we need more robo-pirates to counter all the robo ninjas.