OK, so clearly there's a bit more to be said about
War for Cybertron... I guess it's a positive that the line
seemingly is not getting prematurely canned like
Power of the Primes...
While there wasn't anything TransFormers to report after the pre-show 'Party'
last night (unless you count a short gig by The Cybertronic Spree), the
Fan Fest proper had a whole -
quite substantial (half-hour/forty minute) - section devoted to the
brand. Interestingly, they acknowledged that a lot of the stuff they
were showing off had already been 'leaked', but that's not to suggest they had
nothing new...
This being the first time I've had access to one of these events -
the last one, I think, was region-locked - I wasn't quite sure what to
expect. I'd actually wondered whether it would even be worth my tuning
in, considering everything would be online within minutes of the show
anyway... but,
much like my spur-of-the-moment decision to take advantage of the evening
entertainment at the debut TFNation, I figured it'd be daft to skip it, especially considering I signed
up for Pulse Premium, and there were suggestions of
exclusives available to preorder for members only.
I watched the event live but, obviously, this is now a little delayed due to
dinner... and watching a movie over dinner... So, let's take a
brief look at what was revealed... no pictures, but they're
all now live on Hasbro Pulse and will probably be everywhere
very shortly:
Titan class
The Ark - I'm really not impressed by this Titan class figure... but then, I've not been particularly impressed by any of them, to be honest. Vehicle mode looks OK (that is to say, it's a reasonable plastic interpretation of a cartoon spacecraft designed to look like the Autobot insignia) albeit let down by open spaces down the sides and a lack of weathering or some kind of dark paint wash to highlight the panel lines and really emphasise that this thing is supposed to be massive. What it seems to have instead is a few dark splats around the front. It's bristling with gun turrets which, by the looks of things, are not mobile, but it has a working - spring-loaded - cargo bay door. Robot mode looks just plain ugly, and also very gappy, with panels hanging off the forearm that really should have been able to fold in below it. The problem, I think, is that they basically turned it into a giant action figure inside a spaceship shell... something they need to get away from, regardless of the vehicle type. At the Titan class size, the simplicity of engineering is probably to keep the toy strong and stable... but it just seems ridiculous that a robot that much bigger than any of the other Cybertronians - who transforms into the spacecraft that brought them to Earth - would have such large chunks of its vehicle mode apparent on its robot mode. As happened with Studio Series Shockwave, there's a tiny - supposedly in-scale - figurine accompanying The Ark. No surprise, it's Optimus Prime... but he's only painted in one colour, red, so he looks pretty crap despite a reasonably detailed sculpt. Might have been better to mold it in red plastic, then paint the legs blue.
The Ark - I'm really not impressed by this Titan class figure... but then, I've not been particularly impressed by any of them, to be honest. Vehicle mode looks OK (that is to say, it's a reasonable plastic interpretation of a cartoon spacecraft designed to look like the Autobot insignia) albeit let down by open spaces down the sides and a lack of weathering or some kind of dark paint wash to highlight the panel lines and really emphasise that this thing is supposed to be massive. What it seems to have instead is a few dark splats around the front. It's bristling with gun turrets which, by the looks of things, are not mobile, but it has a working - spring-loaded - cargo bay door. Robot mode looks just plain ugly, and also very gappy, with panels hanging off the forearm that really should have been able to fold in below it. The problem, I think, is that they basically turned it into a giant action figure inside a spaceship shell... something they need to get away from, regardless of the vehicle type. At the Titan class size, the simplicity of engineering is probably to keep the toy strong and stable... but it just seems ridiculous that a robot that much bigger than any of the other Cybertronians - who transforms into the spacecraft that brought them to Earth - would have such large chunks of its vehicle mode apparent on its robot mode. As happened with Studio Series Shockwave, there's a tiny - supposedly in-scale - figurine accompanying The Ark. No surprise, it's Optimus Prime... but he's only painted in one colour, red, so he looks pretty crap despite a reasonably detailed sculpt. Might have been better to mold it in red plastic, then paint the legs blue.
The separate figure for Teletraan-1 seemed a bit pointless when I first
saw it - transforming from a small (Deluxe class?) orange robot into
a mostly flat panel detailed and painted to look like the Autobots'
computer from the G1 cartoon... Having seen it on the stream, I'm now a
little frustrated that he's also effectively a means of storage
for the only Golden Disks the line has to offer. I mentioned in my
write-up of Dinobot that he should have come with a Golden Disk... Megatron
could have come with another, or they could have packaged parts of a Golden
Disk with multiple figures, encouraging fans to buy some of the figures they
might otherwise have skipped. Instead, they've been added as
accessories to a Deluxe class accessory to a Titan class figure.
It's a really weird decision...
Commander class
Rodimus Prime - I find that I'm slightly more impressed than I'd expected to be with this new version because of all the storage options in the trailer, and the fact that the cannons in the trailer can be removed, leaving room for small vehicles to hitch a ride inside the trailer. I'm assuming the space restrictions will be pretty similar to Earthrise Optimus Prime, but it's still a nice effort. The cannons can be mounted on the trailer's roof via the standard port, and its shield panels fold away nicely. Naturally, the trailer's ramp has the necessary connection for attaching the trailer to Omega Supreme, Sky Lynx, etc, but I wasn't clear on whether it can fold down below the horizontal. It's not really long enough to meet ground level at a useful angle, but that's kind of what a ramp needs to do. The big surprise is that there's a slide-out storage tray on the underside of the trailer, which would otherwise be wasted space - not that I have any blast effect parts, but it'd be a good place to stash them when not in use. It looks quite well-designed and interesting, but not £85 interesting, and I still kinda prefer PotP version because it makes better use of the trailer to build the larger robot.
Leader class
Galvatron - ugh... really can't be bothered with this. I've always been pretty ambivalent toward Galvatron, whether he's the City Commander of the G1 toyline or Megatron reborn, per the '86 movie. So far, very few of the efforts to make a toy that looks like the animation model have actually ended up looking good... and all of them have been Third Party figures. I wish someone would just reinvent Galvatron, giving him a better alternate mode for starters, but then creating a robot that isn't lumbered with the need to look like the ridiculous, thigh-high-boot-wearing cartoon villain designed by someone who clearly didn't give a single shit about the toys. For example, is it just me, or is the 2013 Generations/30th Anniversary Stealth bomber Megatron a better Galvatron than most Galvatron toys?
Galvatron - ugh... really can't be bothered with this. I've always been pretty ambivalent toward Galvatron, whether he's the City Commander of the G1 toyline or Megatron reborn, per the '86 movie. So far, very few of the efforts to make a toy that looks like the animation model have actually ended up looking good... and all of them have been Third Party figures. I wish someone would just reinvent Galvatron, giving him a better alternate mode for starters, but then creating a robot that isn't lumbered with the need to look like the ridiculous, thigh-high-boot-wearing cartoon villain designed by someone who clearly didn't give a single shit about the toys. For example, is it just me, or is the 2013 Generations/30th Anniversary Stealth bomber Megatron a better Galvatron than most Galvatron toys?
Deluxe class
Scorponok - yeah, kinda dig it... the tail's a good length, and is actually articulated to reach over the beast mode's head for striking, but the boxy torso looks all out of proportion with the legs... At first, I thought the toy must have been mistransformed in all the images, but it seems not. Nevertheless, it's a massive improvement on the gangly original, even if it does remind me of baby-leg Deadpool
Scorponok - yeah, kinda dig it... the tail's a good length, and is actually articulated to reach over the beast mode's head for striking, but the boxy torso looks all out of proportion with the legs... At first, I thought the toy must have been mistransformed in all the images, but it seems not. Nevertheless, it's a massive improvement on the gangly original, even if it does remind me of baby-leg Deadpool
Wingfinger - I'm sure someone's very proud of themselves for naming this new Pteranodon fossiliser... And, to be fair, the name did give my girlfriend a good chuckle, even if she then said "that's so stupid!". It looks daft in beast mode - not least because the hands are oriented wrong on the 'wings', which are lacking a certain something to make them flight-capable. Weirdly, robot mode just looks kinda like one of the Bay movie Dinobots, particularly with his largely featureless head. Also, is it just me, or does this 'Deluxe' look even smaller than Blackarachnia in terms of overall mass?
At this point, there was a brief diversion in the form of a question
from the designer: Do we want more Fossilisers? I mean... No prizes for
guessing my answer to that question, but do they seriously expect to
continue this concept beyond Kingdom? Let's hope not...
We were then treated to the revelation that all Fossilisers can be turned into an 'ultimate combiner' - possibly in response to all the fan-made combinations that have been posted online since that certain subset of the fandom started obsessively hoovering up multiple copies of the same Fossiliser for exactly that purpose. No name was given for this abomination, so it wasn't really clear if it's an official, Kingdom-canonical gestalt... but I have to admit it looked pretty interesting... I'm just not sure it belongs in TransFormers or something like... I dunno... Power Rangers, maybe?
Tracks - while showing off this toy, the designer opined that 'Deluxe class has turned into mini-Masterpiece', and that's certainly been the case with some of the Kingdom line... This new Deluxe class version of Tracks is potentially looking better - more basic, but less wobbly - than the rightfully-maligned Masterpiece version but, from the brief glimpse we got, it looks as though the backpack is a mess, and the integration of his missile launchers is bit ropey... Flying car mode is definitely not as well-realised, though, with quite a gap between the sides of the car and the robot's partially-transformed arms. Personally, I don't think this is as good as the Generations version, but I'd really need to have a better look. No doubt one of the big YouTubers will get their hands on an early copy. Vehicle mode is certainly closer to the old Corvette... but the flame pattern on his bonnet is unfinished and looks really cheap.
Voyager class
Rhinox - I'm not sure this was really necessary considering the Generations version, but this new version actually looks... OK? Another semi-realistic beast mode, but robot mode looks terrible - hollow upper arms, jumble on the back... Looks like the legs/feet are a bit more stable than the older version, but I don't think I'll bother with it. By the looks of it, the 'Chainguns of Doom' don't have any geared features, which makes them a bit pointless.
Rhinox - I'm not sure this was really necessary considering the Generations version, but this new version actually looks... OK? Another semi-realistic beast mode, but robot mode looks terrible - hollow upper arms, jumble on the back... Looks like the legs/feet are a bit more stable than the older version, but I don't think I'll bother with it. By the looks of it, the 'Chainguns of Doom' don't have any geared features, which makes them a bit pointless.
Core class
Dracodon - supposedly a 'radioactive' green repaint of the Core class Fossiliser Vertebreak... Why?
Dracodon - supposedly a 'radioactive' green repaint of the Core class Fossiliser Vertebreak... Why?
Soundwave - again, I must ask why? This Core class figure comes with a (non-transforming) Laserbeak 'cassette' and has a manual-release tape deck. It's a super-basic, shrunk-down version of the G1 original, without any of the elegance of its design. Worse still, they've taken the same shortcuts with his weapons as the War for Cybertron version - no more storage inside the 'battery compartment'... Maybe I'm just a grumpy, middle-aged Geewunner, but I fail to see the point in constantly reinventing the wheel without actually making any improvements. G1 Soundwave was - and still is - an excellent toy. The Masterpiece is also excellent... Every other version thusfar released has been less than either of them.
Pulse Exclusive
Fossiliser Tricranius/Beast Power Fire Blasts Collection Pack - OK, I have to admit that the lava effect colourscheme on Tricranius looks pretty cool, and that the Triceratops Fossiliser mold is probably the best of the bunch... But packaging it with 19 blast effect parts (in 2 different colours, and apparently with no paintwork?) for almost twice the price of a regular Deluxe seems like the very definition of an absolute rip-off. I'd almost be tempted just to have some blast effects but, really, I'm just not that invested in these accessories and, to be frank, they look like 'Lunchtime Special' KOs of blast effects from other figures, molded in whatever colours were available at the time.
Fossiliser Tricranius/Beast Power Fire Blasts Collection Pack - OK, I have to admit that the lava effect colourscheme on Tricranius looks pretty cool, and that the Triceratops Fossiliser mold is probably the best of the bunch... But packaging it with 19 blast effect parts (in 2 different colours, and apparently with no paintwork?) for almost twice the price of a regular Deluxe seems like the very definition of an absolute rip-off. I'd almost be tempted just to have some blast effects but, really, I'm just not that invested in these accessories and, to be frank, they look like 'Lunchtime Special' KOs of blast effects from other figures, molded in whatever colours were available at the time.
As an aside, the diorama shots are all excellent, and really do help to
sell the toys... as far as they can... The photographer's segment from
the 'party' last night was very interesting - particularly to learn that he
was essentially self-taught, having started by taking photos of
his own toys in his back yard as a child.
The chat seemed to show lots of disappointment that Terrorsaur was not revealed - I can only assume he's still in development...
"Capsule Programme"
T-Shirt - The two members of the TransFormers team presenting this segment were both wearing T-shirts showing a red/purple Autobot insignia in the middle of a 'Shattered Glass' pattern. This, it was explained, relates to a 5-toy "capsule programme" being launched via Hasbro Pulse. By the sounds of it, it's essentially like a BotCon boxed set (only sold individually, in boxes featuring unique artwork) and the inaugural 'capsule' will be Hasbro's own take on the BotCon 2008 theme, Shattered Glass. Each toy will be accompanied by IDW comic (with an exclusive variant cover), and the first figure to be revealed is Blurr. The artwork looks great, but...
T-Shirt - The two members of the TransFormers team presenting this segment were both wearing T-shirts showing a red/purple Autobot insignia in the middle of a 'Shattered Glass' pattern. This, it was explained, relates to a 5-toy "capsule programme" being launched via Hasbro Pulse. By the sounds of it, it's essentially like a BotCon boxed set (only sold individually, in boxes featuring unique artwork) and the inaugural 'capsule' will be Hasbro's own take on the BotCon 2008 theme, Shattered Glass. Each toy will be accompanied by IDW comic (with an exclusive variant cover), and the first figure to be revealed is Blurr. The artwork looks great, but...
Blurr - is a repaint of SS86 Blurr - a shockingly poor rendition of the character considering how good the Titans Return version was (well, OK, the Takara Tomy Legends version). The colourscheme, some elements of the paint job and the head sculpt have been directly ripped off from the FunPub/BotCon 2008 design for Shattered Glass Blurr. Looks quite good, but I've little to no interest in the original toy, let alone an exclusive version that isn't even an original take on the character... even if it is better than the Armada Blurr mold used for the original BotCon version. The head sculpt actually looks a bit amateurish, but the same could be said for the plain SS86 version.
At the end of the presentation, the hosts confirmed that all the figures they
presented were available to preorder for Pulse Premium members, with preorders
becming open to all as of 5pm EST.
Celebrity Promotion
The main presentation was followed by a shorter segment, in which Kevin Smith
& Jason Mewes revealed an electronic, auto-transforming Optimus
Prime figure - made by Robosen, and fully licensed by Hasbro. This has
been a long time coming, considering how long ago Robosen's toys debuted, and
it's another example of Hasbro really dropping the ball. Truck mode looks
pretty good - much better than the T9's weird, futuristic pickup form. Robot
looks a bit basic, but has 'idle animation' and both forms have lights. A few
stats were reeled off:
- 60 chips
- 27 servos
- 25 voice commands
- Also operable via phone app
- Voice clips recorded by Peter Cullen
Saying "Hey Optimus Prime", the figure responds with "Greetings" (every
time!)
Saying "Roll out" causes the robot to transform itself into robot mode, say "Let's Roll" then literally roll a short way, all on its own. Vehicle mode has working head- and tail-lights.
Saying "Move forward" causes the robot to walk forward (and, one would presume, roll forward if in vehicle mode).
The accompanying phone app allows it to do a 'Superhero Landing' pose (with a sound effect as he slams his fist into the ground), workout poses, fighting animations, etc. and has a facilty to "create missions", which I took to mean putting together a string of actions into a sequence that can then be replayed easily via the app.
Saying "Roll out" causes the robot to transform itself into robot mode, say "Let's Roll" then literally roll a short way, all on its own. Vehicle mode has working head- and tail-lights.
Saying "Move forward" causes the robot to walk forward (and, one would presume, roll forward if in vehicle mode).
The accompanying phone app allows it to do a 'Superhero Landing' pose (with a sound effect as he slams his fist into the ground), workout poses, fighting animations, etc. and has a facilty to "create missions", which I took to mean putting together a string of actions into a sequence that can then be replayed easily via the app.
It's a remarkable piece of kit, and a decent size (19")... but, at $699, it costs at least $200 more than equivalent non-TF version available direct from Robosen. I'm not sure the license, sculpt and colourscheme are worth that much... Though I'd imagine getting Peter Cullen to record all the voice clips is another factor in the cost. Still, given that Robosen had already developed this framework, and this is just a reshell... it seems rather steep. It's already been noted by fans that it's more expensive than the crowdfunded Unicron figure.
Perfunctory 'Fan Chat'
For the final segment, we returned to the Fan Fest compere for some fan chat. I recognised Ben from Ben's Collectables on the screen, but didn't recognise any of the others. There were ten on-screen in total, but nine (Ben included) were muted and just had to gesture, while the one singled out in the larger window was asked to give his impressions verbally. Funnily enough, I'd say this is essentially further proof that TransFormers toys (and, to be honest, most of the other lines featured in the show) are no longer targeted at kids, because all of the fans featured looked to be in their 30s at the earliest... One would have hoped that Hasbro would get at least one child involved, just to show willing.
For the final segment, we returned to the Fan Fest compere for some fan chat. I recognised Ben from Ben's Collectables on the screen, but didn't recognise any of the others. There were ten on-screen in total, but nine (Ben included) were muted and just had to gesture, while the one singled out in the larger window was asked to give his impressions verbally. Funnily enough, I'd say this is essentially further proof that TransFormers toys (and, to be honest, most of the other lines featured in the show) are no longer targeted at kids, because all of the fans featured looked to be in their 30s at the earliest... One would have hoped that Hasbro would get at least one child involved, just to show willing.
At the end of this chat, another
copy of the Robosen Optimus Prime toy failed to respond to his command, but it
wasn't clear whether this was because he didn't speak loudly enough, or if the
toy wasn't in a receptive operating mode.
To round off the TransFormers segment of the show, there were three questions
taken from Social Media sites, which I shall paraphrase here:
Do Hasbro plan to include any of the toys only released in Japan in the late 80s in upcoming/ongoing toylines? This received a long, corporate-speak answer - the sort of response one might get to an emailed enquiry - essentially boiling down to "Maybe (if they fit the 'plan' for a toyline)". The exact phrase was "definitely a possibility". I'd have more confidence in this response if I'd seen any evidence in recent years of Hasbro having a plan in the first place...
Do Hasbro plan to include any of the toys only released in Japan in the late 80s in upcoming/ongoing toylines? This received a long, corporate-speak answer - the sort of response one might get to an emailed enquiry - essentially boiling down to "Maybe (if they fit the 'plan' for a toyline)". The exact phrase was "definitely a possibility". I'd have more confidence in this response if I'd seen any evidence in recent years of Hasbro having a plan in the first place...
Will the rest of the Bayverse Dinobots appear in Studio Series? This got a slightly more definitive response: "Stay tuned for a Fan Friday in May."
Following on from the Back to the Future crossover figure, Gigawatt, are there any plans to retool War for Cybertron Astrotrain into Doc Brown's train from BttF Part 3? Apparently the TransFormers brand team liked this idea but couldn't comment on future collaboration projects... They did, however, say "thanks for the suggestion". I'd say this one is pretty unlikely, personally... but I wouldn't have predicted any of the crossovers we've seen in recent years.
So, to sum up... I quite enjoyed the show, hokey and obviously scripted as it was in places. I carried on watching until dinnertime (just as the Marvel segment started) and will probably go back and finish watching the show, even though I have no real interest in the other toylines to be featured.
More importantly, I have already put in a preorder for Kingdom Scorponok... I'll have to see how I feel about Rodimus Prime when he comes out, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to pay £85 for him. Other than that, I'm going to keep an eye on their Shattered Glass offerings - Blurr was not a good choice to start the line, but I'll be interested to see what the remaining four figures are.
Aside from that, we're going to have to wait till the May event... But I think I'll probably tune in to that as well.
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