October Hauls!

[BWprowl]

First off, allow me to apologise for my absence. I recently started a new job stocking at Walmart, 3rd shift, which is playing hell with my sleeping patterns.

See, now that's a haul. Good to hear you're working, even if it's rough because of hours and such.

-Injustice: Gods Among Us, on sale on XBox Live for $7 and change. It's a DC fighting game that plays (mostly) like Mortal Kombat. Biggest complaint is that it uses Street Fighter-style "hold back to block" bullshit rather than a dedicated block button,

What's your ish with holding back to block? I tend to prefer it that way (easier to do on reflex), don't really like dedicated block buttons unless they're using them in conjunction with some other system, like DOA's holds or SoCal's parries.

[Onslaught Six]

What's your ish with holding back to block? I tend to prefer it that way (easier to do on reflex), don't really like dedicated block buttons unless they're using them in conjunction with some other system, like DOA's holds or SoCal's parries.

Because that button (backwards) is ALREADY being used for something else--moving backwards. Context-sensitive anything is always my downfall in gaming, especially in a fast-paced fighting game like Street Fighter or, well, Injustice. Plus, the ENTIRE rest of the fighting system is designed around Mortal Kombat--instead of a series of increasingly complex inputs, every character has a handful of the same 2-3 patterns in different configurations and conjunctions with buttons. (Front Hadoken + A is Batarang, Back Hadoken + X is grappling hook, for example.) MK, especially the newest one, has always had a dedicated block button, so removing it for this seems like a strange departure. (It doesn't help that the LT/L2 button is dedicated to, um, "Change Stance," which appears to be...completely fucking useless for every character. You just look at their ass instead of their front. I gave up my block button for this?)

Still, I haven't actually had to block that much to do well in the game in the first place, so I guess that's a plus. I also didn't mention this but I really love the environment destruction you can do--every stage has 2-4 objects in the background that you can press RB/R1 near and your character will do something neat, like jump off of it and over the opponent, pick it up and throw it at them, or (for example) breaking the aquariums in Atlantis and flooding the arena for a short time.

[Shockwave]

Jesus, I'm starting to be glad I can't even afford these things at the moment. Well, since you're on a roll, what other shitty toys should I avoid?

Well, I would urge you to seek out comparative reviews and pictures of toys you're interested in in general, rather than just relying on the rantings of a frustrated fanboy like myself to steer you to or away from plastic totems. Everything's subjective, and what works for one person might not work for others, and if you want to, you can always find a pile of negative things to say about something other people think is great. Cases in point: While Generations Waspinator makes me crazy, JT apparently thinks it's alright, while meanwhile I think Tankorr is a fine little toy, while he apparently would rather have a root canal than handle it. I think the new Roadbuster is pretty awesome, he thinks it's a monument to sin made from feces and children's tears. Look at them, check them out for yourself, and make your choice on whether you want to own them based on if they look like they cater to your preferences and priorities.

Though as a rule, if you need to be 'talked into' a toy rather than wanting it the instant you see it or check it out, you probably don't want it badly enough to worry so much about.

Well in your defense, you have been listing specific things about the figures that bug you. It's not like these things are just your opinion, they exist, they're there and they're real. Case in point: Jetfire's wings. Seriously don't know how I missed that before, but when you mentioned it, I googled some galleries and sure enough... Same with Waspinator. Again I googled some galleries and all of the things you mentioned that are deal breakers for me are there. I also think we're pretty much on the same page with Tankor too. In fact, I just transformed him again while I was typing this. He is a fun little toy to fidget with, I like the robot mode a lot, but I do have some complaints about the vehicle mode. But, those complaints are rather minor. Also, I like that fact that if he's posed correctly he looks like a beefed up Johnny 5 from Short Circuit. Anyway, like I said, you seemed to be on a roll so I figured I'd ask.

[Shockwave]

O6, congrats on the job! Like Prowl said, you win the thread.

[JediTricks]

What was wrong with Waspinator? (I'm genuinely curious since, like Jetfire, that was a figure I've been looking for and well... you did just talk me out of leader Jetfire).

Stupid head visible through gaps in the back in beast mode, wing-chopping gimmick that cripples the articulation of the wings in both mode, fake kibble on the knees in robot mode, weird static chest-panel that's only there because the panel was a detail on the show model, which had it because it was a functional, opening panel on the original toy. The whole thing is a shameless slave to details from the cartoon model, without actually understanding or acknowledging why those details were there in the first place. It's also got those sculpted-open hands that I personally don't like because they look cruddy holding the gun.

Soooooo the majority of your problem is that the figure is designed to look like the cartoon version.

BTW, the wing gimmick on Waspinator seems pretty decent to me, and he still has ball joints at the roots. which allow them to be folded back or rotated.

And I don't hate Roadbuster, I just don't love him, he's chintzy and cheap and lazy - for $25, he really doesn't deliver much.

I also got Tankorr a few weeks back and, much like JT, was vastly disappointed in him. I wish that I returned toys, but I don't out of principle; this is one of the few that I would actually probably return. Might shuffle him off to eBay soon, or put him up on the boards, I dunno.

Yeah, if I had paid full price, I would have returned him to the store, I was thinking about that last night. At $10.50, he can be the largest Legends figure I own, I guess.

Congrats on getting money for labor!

[Shockwave]

Soooooo the majority of your problem is that the figure is designed to look like the cartoon version.

The problem isn't that it looks like the show. The problem is that the show model looked like the original toy, but this version tried to model the show without understanding why the various parts of that model were the way they were. The chest piece is the perfect example of this. That was seen on the show model because it was an important piece of the original toy, vital to it's transformation and it's look in bot mode. But this new one has that piece there for no functional reason at all. It's like the faux car chest on Generations Bumblebee. There's really no reason for that to be there, but it is and the figure's functionality is nerfed because of it.

[Onslaught Six]

Soooooo the majority of your problem is that the figure is designed to look like the cartoon version.

The problem isn't that it looks like the show. The problem is that the show model looked like the original toy, but this version tried to model the show without understanding why the various parts of that model were the way they were. The chest piece is the perfect example of this. That was seen on the show model because it was an important piece of the original toy, vital to it's transformation and it's look in bot mode. But this new one has that piece there for no functional reason at all. It's like the faux car chest on Generations Bumblebee. There's really no reason for that to be there, but it is and the figure's functionality is nerfed because of it.

Boom.

Incidentally, I had some extra cash and decided to pick up:

-AOE Slash. I know I'm the only person left on the planet buying AOE toys, but this guy is actually awesome. He's probably the figure most fucked over by bad packaging photography in recent memory. With an extra joint or two in the legs to make the thigh feathers look a little better, and some wrist swivels, he would really be something.
-Generations Rattrap. After being so disappointed in his wavemate Tankor, I was fully expecting to be disappointed in Rattrap as well, but it seems like all the money that should have gone into Tankor went into Rattrap instead. This feels more like a toy that would've been released circa 2010 than most of the things released in recent memory; really stands up to stuff like Generations Kup or Drift. Unfortunately, it also carries some of those same flaws--getting him into his altmode can be an exercise in frustration and panel massaging for 10 minutes, especially if you forget to do something in the right order; I feel like the arms and shoulders are a little too fiddly for what they're trying to do there. Aside from that, the only real complaint I have is that his elbows don't bend as much as I'd like, but it's not as severe as some toys, it's almost a full 90 degree bend, so it's not that bad. I LOVE his gun and especially his little forearm bombs from the show! One thing that I love and hate is how his head and body are designed to let him stand upright on his hind legs, like he used to do all the time in the show, but doing so just shows his belly kibble, defeating most of the purpose. It's not even like this is a side effect of transformation, there's a panel behind his beast head for his neck that serves literally no other purpose. I can't complain too much since it's not like there's, well, a single TF in existence whose disguise doesn't fall completely apart once you look at them from the bottom, but I question the logic in using budget for parts and engineering in something that won't really be used anyway--some of that probably could've gone towards Tankor.

Really, comparing Rattrap to Tankor is like night and day, they don't even feel like they're part of the same brand, let alone the same toyline.

[BWprowl]

The problem isn't that it looks like the show. The problem is that the show model looked like the original toy, but this version tried to model the show without understanding why the various parts of that model were the way they were. The chest piece is the perfect example of this. That was seen on the show model because it was an important piece of the original toy, vital to it's transformation and it's look in bot mode. But this new one has that piece there for no functional reason at all. It's like the faux car chest on Generations Bumblebee. There's really no reason for that to be there, but it is and the figure's functionality is nerfed because of it.

The chest-panel isn't even technically fake kibble; the panel on the original toy was the panel for the mutant head gimmick, so while you didn't have to do anything with it for transformation, it was still there and looked and moved like it did to facilitate a particular function of the toy. So having a static version of that panel, which was only there on the show-model because it was there on the original toy, is just...weird. Like if they made new versions of Armada or Cybertron guys that had fake Powerlinx points or Cyber Key slots. Just very distracting and off-putting. Now the knees, *those* are legitimate fake-kibble. The insect-legs turned into the robot legs on the original toy, and the leg design of the show-model followed that, but the new toy doesn't have that transformation scheme at all, so he just has stand-alone robot legs that look like big folded-up insect legs for no reason. It's the exact same thing as Leader Jetfire's fake-cockpit chest, yet I see way more people complaining about Jetfire's chest than Waspinator's legs, for some reason.

-Generations Rattrap. After being so disappointed in his wavemate Tankor, I was fully expecting to be disappointed in Rattrap as well, but it seems like all the money that should have gone into Tankor went into Rattrap instead. This feels more like a toy that would've been released circa 2010 than most of the things released in recent memory; really stands up to stuff like Generations Kup or Drift. Unfortunately, it also carries some of those same flaws--getting him into his altmode can be an exercise in frustration and panel massaging for 10 minutes, especially if you forget to do something in the right order; I feel like the arms and shoulders are a little too fiddly for what they're trying to do there. Aside from that, the only real complaint I have is that his elbows don't bend as much as I'd like, but it's not as severe as some toys, it's almost a full 90 degree bend, so it's not that bad. I LOVE his gun and especially his little forearm bombs from the show! One thing that I love and hate is how his head and body are designed to let him stand upright on his hind legs, like he used to do all the time in the show, but doing so just shows his belly kibble, defeating most of the purpose. It's not even like this is a side effect of transformation, there's a panel behind his beast head for his neck that serves literally no other purpose. I can't complain too much since it's not like there's, well, a single TF in existence whose disguise doesn't fall completely apart once you look at them from the bottom, but I question the logic in using budget for parts and engineering in something that won't really be used anyway--some of that probably could've gone towards Tankor.

I've warmed up to Rattrap quite a bit since I got him, I had initially written him off due to how...not-fun he felt. Once I had fiddled with him more and gotten used to his various workings (once you 'get' how the arms go in Beast Mode, the whole transformation just clicks and he becomes a lot nicer to play with) I became a lot more fond of him. I still hate his stupid facade robot legs, but the rest is great. It just generally feels less like a regular 'toy' or action figure, and more like a detailed attempt at making a real figure out of the show model that worked (as opposed Waspinator's slavish, no-innovation idolatry). It's definitely not a Masterpiece or anything, but...I hesitate to compare it to a third-party offering, but that's only comparison I can draw. Whoever made this *really* wanted a Rattrap that worked, and they actually cared about *how* it worked. The open-beast-chest thing is the only problem, and there's absolutely no way they could have gotten that to work without something like a detachable panel that had to become a shield or something dumb in robot mode.

[Onslaught Six]

It's the exact same thing as Leader Jetfire's fake-cockpit chest, yet I see way more people complaining about Jetfire's chest than Waspinator's legs, for some reason.

In Waspy's defense, BW was a better show than G1, and Waspy doesn't have a huge, obnoxious piece of identical-looking kibble hanging off his back. His legs may be designed to only superficially resemble his other legs transformed (or whatever it is) BUT, because of the way the character is designed in the first place, it is more immediately believable that he would have those details on his robot parts anyway. It's kinda like how a Movie Dinobot might have beast-like detailing on his robot mode-only parts, because that's just the aesthetic that it is. This kind of thing 'can' work pretty okay with realistic beast-type TFs because of that aesthetic; it's a LOT harder to pull off with a vehicle TF because most vehicle parts have distinct parts to them that make it obvious it's a fake part--a grill and headlights will always look like a grill and headlights, no matter what it is, whereas fur or other animal parts can kind of look like anything and still work.

I've warmed up to Rattrap quite a bit since I got him, I had initially written him off due to how...not-fun he felt.

The last new toy I got before him was Tankor, and he was the first TF I've bought since June, and there was a long dry spell between that and Springer and Blitzwing and such around this time last year, so you can see why my benchmark could be a little...low. Tankor almost turned me off buying anything else for a while. Rattrap has ensured that I'll stick around as long as I can.

[JediTricks]

Soooooo the majority of your problem is that the figure is designed to look like the cartoon version.

The problem isn't that it looks like the show. The problem is that the show model looked like the original toy, but this version tried to model the show without understanding why the various parts of that model were the way they were. The chest piece is the perfect example of this. That was seen on the show model because it was an important piece of the original toy, vital to it's transformation and it's look in bot mode. But this new one has that piece there for no functional reason at all. It's like the faux car chest on Generations Bumblebee. There's really no reason for that to be there, but it is and the figure's functionality is nerfed because of it.

First, no it wasn't vital to his transformation, that's his chest either way, the moving panel was only a tertiary feature.

Second, that is a pretty luxurious problem to have. The product looks nice, the panel isn't super wide or trying to be anything other than the thorax/chest, and it's far narrower than the original toy, plus something's got to be there because the head splits. You are literally decrying that it's not the same as a rather shitty section of the toy that the show integrated into a likable character, that's so ass-backwards I can't imagine how you could possibly ever accept change in any way whatsoever. It's NOTHING like the faux car chest on Bumblebee, that is a FAKE PIECE OF THE ALT MODE; this is the opposite, this is part of his look which isn't emulating anything from beast mode, it just doesn't have the same ugly function and it's not as clumsy as the original toy was back then since there aren't giant halves of the wasp head gapped open to the world on either side.

In Waspy's defense, BW was a better show than G1, and Waspy doesn't have a huge, obnoxious piece of identical-looking kibble hanging off his back. His legs may be designed to only superficially resemble his other legs transformed (or whatever it is) BUT, because of the way the character is designed in the first place, it is more immediately believable that he would have those details on his robot parts anyway. It's kinda like how a Movie Dinobot might have beast-like detailing on his robot mode-only parts, because that's just the aesthetic that it is.

It's 2 small horns on the kneecap of the figure, and it's not even pointed the same way it was on the original Waspinator, it's literally the smallest, most inconsequential detail, it's a weapon for kneeing an enemy in the nuts permanently, it's no different than the little mace balls on Rhinox's chainguns of doom - the function is different, but they're part of that design because the show adapted the character that way and it's part of that look. There's a million examples of little touches as throwbacks to this and that in Transformers updates, yet there's this toxic attitude in the community that is a fluid perception depending on NOTHING really which makes one thing work and another fail despite being identical concepts.