Reflecting on 'Dark Portents'

A little over three years ago, I wrote an opinion piece - Dark Portents - reflecting of the TransFormers brand during Titans Return, just before the shift into Power of the Primes. It occurred to me to go back to that and consider how things actually transpired versus my dread pronouncements on the matter... and then opine a little further on what the future may bring.

Another Public Service Announcement

Having acquired Studio Series Blitzwing this last weekend, it didn't take me long to notice something slightly adrift with the figure. No, not the lack of paintwork or the strange choices of accessory storage: a minor assembly error.

If you take a look at any of the cgi images of Blitzwing from the Bumblebee solo movie, you'll notice that the fins on his shoulders are angled backward. They're also larger and feature red paint, but let's ignore that for the moment. It appears as though the fins are angled forward on the toy so they can be folded a bit more flush with the body in vehicle mode... But they also feel a little floppy, and the sculpted detail on the shoulder doesn't seem to line up as well as it ought:

There's a distinct forward tilt at the joint, and the panel lining at the base of the fin isn't quite in line with the line on the grey shoulder mass. It's not far off, but just enough to look bad when coupled with the mismatched angling of the base of the fin with the joint socket it sits inside. The 'back' of the joint rises above the level of the socket, while the 'front' is sunk well below it.

Thankfully, the fins aren't pinned in place, so pop 'em off, swap 'em round, and you get this:

Suddenly, everything seems to line up properly - more than that, though, the fin almost clips into place in this position, and the joint is nowhere near as floppy as it was with the fins the other way round. They're still too small versus the CGI, and of course there's no red paint on either side, but it looks far better generally.

The only downside is that, in jet mode, the fins now butt up against the shoulder section's transformation hinges in jet mode, where they used to fold in behind them. It actually doesn't look too bad, though. In fact, considering how much robot junk is under the wings already, it almost looks intentional - like a part bridging between the jet's body and the supplementary engines hidden under the wings:

I'll obviously get into more detail about this figure once I have the opportunity to set up my light tent and take some better photos, but I'm genuinely more impressed with Studio Series Blitzwing than I'd expected to be, even having seen some video reviews.

Twelfth Anniversary

Somehow I neglected to log this anniversary on any of my calendars this year, and only remembered it yesterday... Mind you, there would have been a good reason for skipping this year, as I've only bought ten official TransFormers toys and two Third Party figures due to my finances being somewhat less stable this year than they were last, thanks to this whole COVID-19 situation. Really, the only reasons I bought anything after March of this year was that I started selling a few bits and bobs on eBay. I figured I may as well divest myself of a handful of duplicates and toys that just don't seem to fit in my collection anymore - things that, according to the all-powerful KonMari Method, no longer spark joy.

One might think that having a selection of only twelve figures to work with, organising a top ten and a couple of Honorary Mentions would be simplicity itself: just organise things in order of preference... But this year's slim pickings have been highly targeted. All have been toys that I was really looking forward to, or that I had high expectations of. Certainly, some turned out to be a bit disappointing, for one reason or another, but the main problem is that I feel as though I'd be doing my latest three purchases an injustice by attempting to include them at all, since they only arrived in the last week. I really haven't had time to decide whether they've met (or exceeded) my expectations, let alone fully get to know and appreciate them.

With that in mind, I'm going to present only a Top Nine this year, with my most recent purchases being honorary Honorary Mentions because otherwise this list would feel disappointing.

So, let's get on with it:

Revenge of the Fallen Bumblebee

You know, it's honestly starting to feel as though the Revenge of the Fallen toyline just isn't going to leave me alone... As I've been sorting through the toys I had in storage, I keep finding more of them... I know it was pretty much the biggest TransFormers toyline in quite a few years, and had myriad spin-offs and sublines, but this is getting a bit silly.

Also, I really, genuinely hate that what now appears to be the final RotF toy in my collection is the first Bumblebee from that line, and techically just a minimally altered re-release of the Camaro Concept toy from the first movie's range. There's almost a poetic irony to it, considering it'd forgotten I even had this thing...

So, let's get it over and done with...

Binaltech BT14 Wheeljack

If the choice of the contemporary Ford Mustang for Grimlock seemed strange, using that same bodytype for Binaltech Wheeljack made no sense whatsoever. Going by artwork available online, it seems as though the plan had originally been to make the second usage into Windcharger, but with Hasbro renaming Overdrive as Windcharger for the western market, Takara Tomy dropped the idea. Their Windcharger head sculpt ended up being used for the Alternators-only release Decepticharge and the Binaltech-only Arcee - both made using Overdrive's Honda S2000 mold - and the mismatch between the head sculpt and the way it attached to the body was very apparent.

Wheeljack certainly isn't an obvious candidate for a muscle car vehicle mode, having always been some form of racing car in other toylines, but let's give Takara Tomy the benefit of the doubt, and see what he looks like...

TransFormers (Movie) Strongarm (Target Exclusive)

Based on an Energon/Superlink Omnicon mold which I declined to purchase when it first emerged, something about movie Strongarm nevertheless tickled my fancy, because I can remember having to return the copy I originally bought to the Harrow branch of Woolworths for a replacement, because parts of it had become glued together during its construction. Whether this means it was a Woolies exclusive in the UK, I can't say...

I can also remember being somewhat interested in the BotCon 2005 'Descent into Evil' repaint as Outback (named Fallback in that set for legal reasons), but have never felt like paying the secondary market prices for it... It's possible I bought this to see if it would be worth trying to acquire Fallback, or it may simply have been a substitute.

Either way, this is the first - and, so far, only - iteration of this mold I own, so let's have a look...