NYCC 2018 - First Impressions of the Siege Decepticons

Yes, inevitably, I feel the need to write a little bit about the images from this year's New York Comic Con now surfacing on the TransFormers fan sites. My first impression of the Autobots could be boiled down to a resounding 'Nope'... So the big question is: have Hasbro done any better with the Decepticons...?

Well, for my money... Kinda?

Allow me to elaborate and elucidate...

We have a continuation and an expansion on the 'Battle Master' concept, and another Deluxe class figure based on an omitted component from one of the previous Titan class figures. We have an official, G1 animation-inspired tetrajet Starscream, a new Soundwave with Micromaster minions Ravage and Laserbeak, a new Shockwave, a new Megatron... and a handful of wild cards. Let's start with the latter...

Trypticon's tank component, Brunt, was left out of the Titans Return/TFLegends set and, while it might be tempting to think this was deliberate - leaving an opening so they could introduce Brunt and Cog in a later toyline - part of me feels it's far more likely that Hasbro are taking advantage of a previous omission to help sell the Battle Masters. After all, a good chunk of those who bought Titans Return Fortress Maximus will probably want Cog, and a similar number of those who picked up Titans Return Trypticon are likely to feel the need to buy Brunt. Both break apart into individual weapons which can be distributed between other figures of all size classes, thus piquing an interest in buying additional mini-figures. Cog looked like a jumble of parts largely because the G1 version - a combination of two simplistic vehicles - actually was a jumble of parts. Brunt, being based on an odd-looking tank, has a slightly more coherent look, and exhibits elements of Beast Machines Tankor, with his ginormous claws, shoulder cannon, and a head that's sort-of visible in vehicle mode. I'm bizarrely tempted, even though I only have the Platinum Edition re-release of G1 Trypticon, including its somewhat more basic (albeit electronic light-featuring) cannon. To be released as a Deluxe class figure, it's probably going to be very similar in size to G1 Brunt, but has a decent-looking individual robot mode, a more detailed sculpt, some paintwork, and the ability to upgrade other figures. If the tank turret actually rotates, that alone represents a pretty significant upgrade on the original.

Refraktor is basically the first official, mainline toy based on the animation model for the G1 Reflector team. I might have preferred a re-do of the toy, because I disliked the purple-and-grey clone look of the animation models, but the fact that three robots combine into a camera, and their handguns combine into a tripod, with the lense formed out of three shields, seems pretty cool... However, it would appear that Refraktor is only one robot, not a boxed set of three - one of the promotional slides notes that "Camera mode requires 3 Refraktor figures. Each sold separately." - and their individual alternate modes are some kind of bizarre, nondescript gunship. The 'shutter' part that differentiates Viewfinder from Spectro and Spyglass appears to be an interchangeable attachment for the torso rather than an integral part of one, unique component of the trio. If the camera mode looked remotely convincing (or even just like the animation model for the camera!), I'd consider buying three of this guy... but several Third Party companies have produced far more effective interpretations of Reflector, and all of them have been sold as a set.

Slightly less out of the blue, Skytread was teased in name several months ago... and, having now seen photos of him, he's absolutely on my shopping list - it hasn't taken long for me to change my tune though, admittedly, he looks more like a late Power of the Primes release than something designed for War for Cybertron, so I can rationalise it that way. He's neither boxy enough nor as excessive in his panel lining than most of the other toys exhibited. PotP Battletrap was awesome, so I have high hopes for this Flywheels remake... though there's currently no evidence of individual robot modes for the jet and the tank components. Not really a dealbreaker for me, but disappointing considering that bit of extra effort that went into Battletrap.

And then we have the pre-Earth forms of some of the G1 stalwarts... I'll start with the good(ish):

Shockwave puzzled me at first glance, as it looked as though two copies of the figure had been assembled into one super-robot, but it turns out that he comes packaged with a bunch of additional parts that complete his 'vehicle' mode - a jumbly, weird-looking dreadnought with hints of his G1 laser gun mode - and act as Battle Master-style upgrades to his robot mode, giving him massive shoulder pads (which 'coincidentally' resemble the grip on his G1 toy) with two additional arms, ridiculous gun feet, and a massive backpack. It looks as though his 'vehicle' mode minus all these extras is not so much the robot transformed as just lying down, but robot mode nevertheless looks pretty good... and the last halfway decent Shockwaves we've had were the Energon/Superlink version and the TFPrime version, neither of which were particularly good in vehicle mode. The extra limbs are somewhat reminiscent of the design for the aborted Transtech Shockwave, but with a very G1 spin... and, is it just me, or does he have a couple of grey Lego bricks sticking up at the back end of his vehicle mode? He has the overdone panel lining which seems to be a characteristic of WfC2019, appears not to have a great deal of paintwork, and that backpack is heinous... but I might consider picking him up once I see more of him...

When remaking Soundwave, there's always a sense of trying to capture lightning in a bottle. The G1 figure was iconic - a prime example of the right toy, the right character and one of the best bios Budiansky ever wrote. If you ask me, updates to Soundwave have always been much stronger when they don't try to emulate the G1 figure too much, TFPrime in particular. I consider Masterpiece Soundwave to be the definitive G1 Soundwave and I really don't see the need for the Titans Return and War for Cybertron retreads, particularly when the latter gave the designers free rein to create something new and unique, and all they've done is remake the G1 toy again. Compounding the slavishly G1 robot mode, we have more excessive panel lining, limited paintwork (unless you count the 'weathering')... and his 'vehicle' mode is a joke. It's literally a brick with a cockpit and things that almost look like Star Trek-style nacelles sticking out at angles from the top. Ask yourself one small question: if G1 Soundwave took a microcassette recorder (seriously, it's the late 70s equivalent of a dictaphone, not a bloody boombox - that was Blaster!) as his disguise on Earth, why is his Cybertronian mode a giant space brick?

The diorama shown at the NYCC features a copy of the Soundwave figure mistransformed and spray-painted as part of the background detail, resembling his 'lamppost' mode from the TV show's pilot episode. This may have been a better choice of primary alternate mode, but either one really misses the point. None of these characters should be defined by their G1 appearance, and Soundwave in particular was an opportunity for something special, but we're just getting another G1 Soundwave. While he comes with his proper handgun and shoulder launcher, the two minions thusfar shown - Ravage and Laserbeak - are being packaged as a separate pair, the "Micromaster Soundwave Spy Patrol", and Soundwave appears to have no default, packed-in minion of his own. These two and Soundwave himself almost look as if they could be repackaged as Bumblebee movie toys as, while rather chubby, Micromaster Ravage looks very much like the minion that pops out of Soundwave's chest in the trailers.

At the crappy end of the scale, the new Megatron looks like something out of Cyberverse, but with the blocky, overcomplicated surface detail of WfC2019. It's designed to resemble the G1 animation model, but is far too chunky, its simplistic transformation turns him into yet another bloody H-Tank and the head sculpt is terrible. Combiner Wars Megatron was a bit underachieving, but at least looked the part because he was well painted. This one is largely bare grey plastic, has a handful of halfhearted paint applications, and doesn't look as though he belongs in the same toyline as any of the other figures.

Starscream, meanwhile, is just a joke... His tetrajet mode looks like a Battlestar Galactic Viper drawn from memory while hung over, and has most of the robot mode hanging off the bottom. This may be nothing unusual in TransFormers, sadly, but looking at the WfC2019 version, one can't help but think they just looked at the design for MAAS Toys' tetrajets and removed every innovation. It has a ridiculous amount of thoroughly unnecessary surface detail, but is ultimately very blocky and squared-off. His weapons look as if they were designed for another toy because, while they are mounted in the traditional way, there are telescopic sights sculpted into the top of each one... what's the point of a sight on a gun that's mounted on the upper arm?

So, a bit of a mixed bag... On the one hand, I'll probably be buying more than I'd previously expected (and probably with a focus on the Decepticons), but War for Cybertron still hasn't really impressed me. It has been argued that the Generations line - even including the Prime Wars trilogy - was for collectors as much as it was for kids... and, while I see some truth in that, I don't feel the same argument can possibly apply to War for Cybertron. A lot of what I've seen feels like a huge step backward in terms of engineering and aesthetics - there's loads of sculpted detail, but it's largely unnecessary and the underlying robot/vehicle tends to be boxy, ugly and nonsensical. These are not 'robots in disguise', these are robots that fold up into unidentifiable chunks of plastic, under the guise of being 'Cybertronian' vehicles... But no real thought appears to have gone into the utility of these vehicles, and there's not even a sense that they've been designed to "look cool" or "look menacing"... it's just dull shapes prettied up with excessive panel lining and no rhyme or reason to any of it. It's like they've started with a robot mode and just randomly twisted and turned parts until they get something they thought they could get away with calling 'vehicle mode', then added wings, wheels or treads to support that assertion.

What's most baffling is that it's not even being a decent G1 reboot so far. One might think that, if they're taking the war as their new starting point, the first wave would introduce Orion Pax and a non-military Megatron... Give us something like an origin story, at least. But everyone is exactly who they'll be on Earth, just with a stupid vehicle mode and overdetailed boxy chunk limbs. I don't know who's in charge of the aesthetic, but it's horrible... Even compared to Cyberverse.