Unexpected Challenges

Back in March, my girlfriend took the opportunity to go travelling around Europe. Over the last year or so, she'd had two complicated bereavements within the space of just two months, a toxic situation had developed at work at much the same time and, all the while, she was working on her Masters degree in Space Science and Technology. When she received her results (pass with distinction) she handed in her notice and started planning in earnest a trip she'd fully expected to have to put off till she retired.

This presented a useful opportunity for me to get some work done on our flat, since I'd only have to worry about my own (in)convenience. I've needed to get the ceilings redone ever since the roof got fixed about two years ago, so that was the main job I wanted to get done. Courtney and I had also discussed redecorating the bedroom, so I was even able to tag the redecoration onto the end of the ceilings refit, once I had her preference for paint colour.

But what has this to do with TransFormers, you ask? Why is this momentous enough to warrant a blog post?

Well, because I ended up transforming a bunch of my figures into vehicle mode for the sake of portability (also to pass the time while work was going on in another room), and completely empty an Ikea 'Detolf' cabinet so it could be moved without the contents falling over (or out).

And the figures in this cabinet were largely Masterpiece and 3P MP-analogues, with a couple of exclusives.

So, while work progressed in the lounge, I had the cabinet temporarily in the bedroom, with its contents spread out on the bed and, in every case, the instructions stashed away in the boxes which were, naturally, inaccessible... Some of the figures were notoriously breakable, or had complicated or fussy transformations, while others were simplicity itself... Here's a quick breakdown:

Trying Out Another New Webshop - AKA Not Another Unboxing IX

Although when I say 'new', I mean only that it's new to me - Show.Z Store have been around for ages, I've just never tried ordering from them before. However, they listed Unique Toys R-09 Red Destroyer before my usual online retailers - even those others also based in China - and, with the fear of missing out uncommonly strong on this figure, I preordered him at the earliest opportunity, back in mid-August.

Preordering can be a bit of a gamble at the best of times, but this one actually got quite alarming when I received notification of despatch on 4th September, precisely a week before I was due to fly to Iceland with my girlfriend, for a relaxing break after she handed in her MSc thesis. This meant that there was a chance the package would arrive while we were away... and, knowing most couriers, that meant it might end up getting shipped back to China before I even returned home.

Notification that the package was out for delivery arrived the very day we were set to fly out... though there was no indication that delivery had actually been attempted when I checked the tracking later on.

However, while away, on a coach, out in the wilds of Iceland, I got a phone call from the courier, attempting to deliver. I explained that I was out of the country, and asked if delivery could be rescheduled for this week. He seemed to be OK with that, but couldn't offer anything concrete, so I later visited the courier's website to look for my options. Finding nothing, I contacted their UK Customer Service department via email, explaining the situation and asking again for delivery to be rescheduled to anytime this week. They emailed back to confirm that was all OK, and that they'd flag my package for delivery in the week commencing 15th September.

However, the following day - as Courtney and I were on our way back to the airport - I got another call, from another courier. When I explained that I was still out of the country, but due back later that day and that I believed that I'd arranged for delivery to happen another day, this one said he could see that my package had been flagged for redelivery, but that no date had been specified... and he pretty much insisted on making the delivery there and then, leaving it with a neighbour.

Thankfully, it all worked out... but I dropped the Customer Service department another email to say that someone hadn't received the memo about holding the package for a day or two before attempting another delivery, and have yet to see any response from them.

So, super-fast delivery from Show.Z Store - this package probably cleared UK Customs at Heathrow quicker than I did - if somewhat nerve-wracking in its final stages. Not Show.Z's fault at all, but I'll be certain to avoid ordering from them - or any other overseas vendor, for that matter - anywhere near a holiday, and potentially avoid pre-ordering entirely, as far as is practical.

Trying A New Webshop - AKA Not An Unboxing Post VIII

So, while most online retailers - including Hasbro Pulse - are listing the likes of KSI Widow and TFOne Elita-1 as preorders, expected in the next month or so, I learned that a Northamptonshire-based retailer by the name of The Whole Shebang already had both in stock.

Better still, where some other retailers have imported stock of yet-to-be-released figures and - quite reasonably - sold them at a markup, these were going for the expected RRP of about £25 each. I'll get into whether or not almost £50 for these two was money well spent when I do their individual write-ups, but I'll say for now that The Whole Shebang has impressed me: not only was despatch very fast (ordered on the evening of 26th, notification of despatch came at lunchtime the following day), each box was individually wrapped in bubblewrap, with the sturdy enclosing box further padded with packing paper. I also liked that the box was sent via Royal Mail, given the distinctly variable service I've received from couriers like DPD, Yodel and Evri. My local postman is an absolute treasure, so I know anything coming in the post will get to me in good condition.

That Feeling When...

When I posted about Human Alliance Skids, back at the end of 2023, I was fairly sure that was the last figure from the Revenge of the Fallen toyline that I had left to write about. In the last couple of days, I have come to realise that I was wrong.

Pretty much front and centre one one of my Live Action Movie toys shelves - admittedly one mainly occupied by Studio Series figures - was the 2009 Deluxe class toy, Ransack... A Decepticon who turns into a biplane, in reference to one of the photos Simmons shows Sam and co. in Revenge of the Fallen.

For most of my collection, I remember taking photos - whether those be the final, published photos or a set that I wound up replacing later - but I swiftly realised that I had no recollection whatsoever of photographing Ransack... Just in case, I checked through the tags for this blog and, sure enough, there are only two Ransacks, neither of which are the RotF version.

Likewise, I checked through my photo folders and found nothing for Ransack under Live Action Movies/Revenge of the Fallen.

So... that's another figure on the list of outstanding posts from 15 years ago...

Masterpiece On Clearance - AKA Not An Unboxing Post VII

I learned a few years back that Game carry TransFormers toys and then, toward the end of last year, that they'd reduced the price of MPM-14. In fact, they'd cut the price to half their original price, offering him for just £88.

By and large, I feel that the Masterpiece line has been egregiously overpriced for years now, and the reduced price still felt a little steep. I'm certainly not intending to pay full price for MPM Blackout or Brawl (and may in fact pick up a KO of one or the other... or both)... but I got back into gainful employment back in January, and felt the need to treat myself, so I ordered him on a bit of a whim.

I was at work when it was delivered, and Courtney messaged me to say it had arrived... and that it was a big box, but felt surprisingly light. That didn't bode well, but I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised when I got my hands on him.

Proper write-up to follow soon (hopefully), but here's the box and a meme, just for funsies.

Legacy On Clearance - AKA Not An Unboxing Post VI

Aside from occasionally voicing my disdain for the enervated mess that is TransFormers Legacy, I've not had a lot to say about the toyline because I'd bought just two products featuring Legacy branding, and one of those had it playing second fiddle to the Buzzworthy Bumblebee brand.

Nevertheless, there have been occasional announcements that have piqued my interest... at least until I apply a cost/benefit analysis and decide that I don't want to pay Hasbro's current prices for the quality of product they're pushing. One of these announcements was the Deadeye Duel 2-pack, featuring a retooling of the Bumblebee movie Arcee toy. Unfortunately, the other figure in the set was an extensive retool of the Power of the Primes Moonracer/Novastar and War For Cybertron: Siege Lancer/Greenlight figures (or, more accurately, a minor retool of Siege Chromia/Nightbird) which made its £50 price tag far less appealing. That mold was bad enough back in Power of the Primes... that they're still using it more than five years later is just embarrassing.

Once in a while, I'll pop back to the Hasbro Pulse website and have a quick look at the new offerings and, on one such visit, I noticed they now have an 'Outlet' section... which appears to be where their shelfwarmers go to die. I think, by now, the majority of my Pulse purchases have been discounted, either with the help of one of their coupon codes or in a seasonal sale, so finding Deadeye Duel on sale for £22.99, I figured I might as well put some birthday money toward it... After all, that's two Deluxe class toys for less than the current price of a single Deluxe class toy.

Granted, I already knew one of them was going to be crap, but that's still a (small) discount on the figure I actually wanted.

I'm still not convinced that the mixture of figure styles really works for Legacy, but we'll see when I do the full write-up.

Another New Third Party Figure - AKA Not An Unboxing Post V

With my interest in Hasbro's output at an all time low, I've been paying closer attention to Third Party output recently. While that means fewer purchases at greater expense (though Hasbro have become increasingly enthusiastic about decreasing the gap), it does mean I can focus on acquiring figures I really want, rather than just obsessively filling shelf space with products I find acceptable, if not entirely exciting.

Thus, when Unique Toys revealed Red Dasher, their take on Dino/Mirage from Dark of the Moon, that went straight onto my Want List. Hasbro's Faux-rrari vehicle mode for the Studio Series toy just didn't work for me and, while I already have Alien Attack's Firage - the mass-produced version of a custom figure based on Battle Blades Bumblebee - and still think it's a fantastic figure, I'm enough of a fan of Dino/Mirage's design that I felt a MPM-ish scale figure with a simpler transformation had a place in my collection.

And the bonus is that he came with the Collectors' Card that was omitted from DX9's La Hire, five years ago!

I ordered this from Omegalock, at a point when it was listed as 'Imminent', and only had to wait a couple of weeks for it to be despatched. I was a little dubious as the delivery options are focussed on DPD as the courier, and they've let me down recently, but this one went OK, arriving yesterday.

Had a quick fiddle with it in the afternoon and, aside from one point of the transformation that I had to look up on a video, he's just as intuitive and straightforward as La Hire and Peru Kill.

First New Purchases In Quite A While - AKA Not An Unboxing Post IV

When I started this post, I wasn't quite sure how long it had been since I last ordered anything TransFormers related. Having subsequently looked it up, it's technically only about five months... but that was a non-transforming model kit (Flame Toys' Furai Model Kit Arcee, specifically).

It's been a touch over a year since I bought an actual Hasbro TransFormers toy... Which probably tells you everything you need to know about my opinion of Legacy as a toyline. I (technically) still only own a single Legacy toy, and that was Tarantulas, from the second wave of Legacy's first year.

However, after successfully completing a couple of freelance jobs earlier this year, I decided to order a couple of Third Party figures I was keen not to miss out on... Both of them are Femme-Bots, so look out for some Femme-Bot Fridays coming 'soon' (though that's absolutely in the Fun Publications/TFCC sense of the word 'soon').

The box they arrived in was significantly battered, though thankfully there's only minor damage to Red Fantasy's box. Before even opening either, the first thing that struck me was how heavy Metagate's latest offering is - I knew there were die-cast parts in it, but she's much heavier than I'd expected. Conversely, Spider Lady is surprisingly light, especially in comparison.

Can't wait to get these out properly and have a fiddle with them before eventually taking some photos. Their arrival gives me a bit of motivation to tidy up the coffee table in the lounge, so I can set up the light tent... But I have to admit, I'm still struggling to find the motivation to photograph Furai Model Kit Arcee - which I put together before Christmas - or even finish the post about Furai Model Kit Windblade, which I photographed almost six months ago.

Fun With Chrome

A few years ago, I discovered the YouTube channel Toy Polloi, which offers both reviews of vintage toys and documents repair work to those that are damaged. Through this channel, I learned that there are pens available which can (re)apply chrome to toys where it has worn away. These pens are made by Molotow, and come in a variety of nib sizes. This information I squirrelled away until, after my birthday this year, I found myself with some Amazon vouchers left over, and decided to treat myself.

Now, it's been years since I did any proper customisation on any of my TransFormers toys, most of which was to underpainted movie toys (no surprise there) and was not exactly extensive or detailed. The idea of being able to add chrome via what is essentially a felt-tipped pen, rather than brushes, was instantly appealing, and I started combing through my collection to pick out toys that would benefit the most from some added shine.

It turned out to be quite a fussy process: the 'ink' takes absolutely ages to dry properly (I found that best results were achieved by leaving it for 24 hours, just in case) and, in the meantime, is uncommonly easy to smudge, smear, or ruin with fingerprints. Nevertheless, the results so far have been more than satisfactory.

Hasbro, Collecting, and Me...

Long-time readers will surely have noticed that 2022 was a bit of a sparse year as far as the TransForm-A-Blog is concerned. Twenty-nine posts in total, of which just 17 were proper toy write-ups - the lowest number since 2009 - which was the first full year I was posting this blog, when I was still figuring out how I wanted to use the blog, and still only a few years back into the idea of collecting as a genuine hobby.

During this two or three years, with the launch of Hasbro Pulse, Hasbro has really upped its game in terms of its Social Media engagement, hosting semi-regular livestreams catering to fans across their portfolio of brands. Hasbro has launched new toylines, new TV shows, and even started the promotional juggernaut for the first live action TransFormers movie in five years. In theory, there's an awful lot of material to blog about. One could be forgiven for thinking that now is an exciting time for TransFormers fans... But it's really not.

Not for me, at any rate, and I can be fairly sure that I'm not completely alone in all my concerns... Some of them, maybe, but not all of them.

I've written, in other opinion pieces here, about my increasing sense of ennui regarding Hasbro's TransFormers output, the downsizing, the increased costs, etc... but the War For Cybertron Trilogy, Studio Series '86 and now Legacy/Legacy Evolution seem to me to represent the absolute stagnation of the brand shifting swiftly and assuredly into active decay, along with an increasing sense that everything Hasbro does now is about maximising shareholder profits, heedless of any and all fallout, rather than creating worthwhile products... And it's not only evident in TransFormers.

A Brief Outage...

While working on a couple of upcoming posts this morning, I was a little surprised to see an email, purporting to be from Google's Blogger team, telling me this blog had been removed. According to the email, it had been "flagged for review" because my content had "violated our SPAM policy".

Now, I'm no stranger to spam comments, and I've removed and replaced a couple of posts because they started getting increased volumes of traffic well outside what I would consider believable... I've also previously had a couple of posts flagged and suspended due to some sort of false flag caused (if I remember correctly) by Google's own bots... But the idea that the whole blog could be taken down as spam? That seemed a little far-fetched.

And yet, when I then tried to view the blog itself, I was presented with a message to the effect that the blog could not be found... And then I noticed my current drafts weren't saving... And then I couldn't access the back end of this blog at all.

Naturally, I clicked the link to request a review, and even the web page that initiates the process seemed to give me some cause for optimism... Apparently the very fact that I followed the link went some way toward proving this wasn't a spam blog. However, it said that the review would take place some time in the next two working days. This being a Sunday, it's not normally considered 'a working day'...

Yet, lo and behold, precisely 30 minutes later, I had a new email telling me the blog had been reinstated.

And then it occurred to me: the original email said the TransForm-A-Blog had been "flagged to us for review", the implication being that it had been deliberately flagged by a person. I mean... Wow. Nice.

In other news, I got a lot of photography done today, and got quite a way through several drafts, one of which is now scheduled for late this coming week, another might even go live tomorrow...

For the moment, I'll leave you with a hint about one of the upcoming posts...

...Something I would never have bought were it not for a massive price cut...

New Purchases - AKA A Third Not An Unboxing Post

During some recent tidying, my girlfriend uncovered a box containing my old Nintendo Game Boy Color and the 17 game cartridges I bought for it many, many years ago. I'd pretty much forgotten its existence, since it hadn't seen the light of day in the eight years Courtney has been living with me. I remember bringing it to my flat, but I wouldn't have been able to remember where I'd put it... And, since I've not used it in so long, I figured it was time to sell it all on.

What has this to do with TransFormers? Well, I've bought nothing new since January, and the act of selling those 17 games made for a surprising windfall. As a result, I decided to spend a small part of it on acquiring the handful of toys I'd actually been looking forward to from Hasbro, and take the opportunity to have a more serious look at obtaining a couple of Third Party figures I was starting to think I'd have to miss out on (unless their release conveniently coincided with Christmas).

It also seemed like a good opportunity to try out a couple of new e-retailers I've found - Dinobot Island Toys and Star Action Figures - both of whom have been added to my sidebar's 'Cybertronian Datanet' section for a short while now. They seem to have a good range of stock, all of which is a few quid cheaper than the likes of Hasbro Pulse, Smyths, and some of the other online stores I've used in the past. They also, between them, had everything I wanted to buy, where my regular options were out of stock when I was ready to order.

Of course, my orders went through at precisely the time the CWU (Communication Workers Union) were going on strike, which naturally had an effect on postal services. That said, I put my orders through on 27/8 and 31/8, they were despatched on 30/8 and 1/9, respectively, which is quick service on the part of the two stores, in spite of the Summer Bank Holiday Weekend.

Additionally, both packages arrived in this morning's post, so I'd say that's still pretty good service on the part of the Royal Mail, in spite of any backlog caused by the (very necessary) industrial action.

Full writeups will, of course, be coming... but here are a few pics to tide you over.

Medic!

Following my disappointing Amazon experience recently, my replacement Studio Series #82 Ratchet arrived today, and I was pleased to find that it was actually the Studio Series figure, not another Rescue Bots Academy, or Siege, or Earthrise... However, my joy was perhaps a little shorter-lived than I might have hoped.

I've been reading about this figure yellowing far more quickly than other contemporary figures and, to my dismay, mine was already starting to turn, inside the box. It's quite obvious that different types of plastic have been used, as some parts are pristine white across the whole figure, while other parts are discolouring inconsistently. It may not be easily apparent in the photo below, but the the panel the right side rear wheel is attached to and the robot's right thigh joint are perceptibly discoloured versus those on the opposite side, while the front wheel arches on both sides are discoloured. Making this all the worse is that the white paint used for the front section is far whiter than any of the plastic, possibly because it's painted over translucent blue.

Left side: Pristine White

Right side: Discoloured

Not good, Hasbro... Really not good, considering the price hikes. I'm also a little dubious about the engineering, but I'll get into that later...

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others

Having received a whole bunch of Amazon gift cards for Christmas, I tried valiantly to avoid using them for TransFormers toys, but the temptation to acquire the first wave of new Studio Series toys from the Bumblebee movie - #80 Brawn, #81 Wheeljack, #82 Ratchet and #83 Soundwave - quickly proved too great for me.

Naturally, everyone who ordered the toys from Hasbro Pulse (as I would normally have done in the absence of Amazon gift cards) would have received them earlier, but my shipment from Amazon was despatched today for collection at my local post office. Upon receipt of delivery confirmation, I wandered down, collected my parcel, brought it home, and opened it to find... this:

Now, strangely, while the three Studio Series toys in the box were listed as having been sold and despatched by Amazon, the erroneously-included Rescue Bots Academy Autobot Ratchet was not - it appeared to have been sold by a third party vendor under Amazon's umbrella. In these circumstances, though, I'd have expected it to have been despatched in a separate box, so I'm more than a little confused.

I've gone through the Returns procedure - with the small hitch that the closest shop that has an Amazon counter did not have a functional printer, so I had to come home, cancel the return, restart the return and print a label myself. No great shakes, really, but it was raining by the time I was ready to head out again, so I decided to wait till tomorrow/later in the week.

The figures I ordered are quite fun, so hopefully I'll get to writing about them soon. I'll re-order Ratchet once the refund comes through.

TransFormers Legacy: already a joke

So, Hasbro have chosen to pre-empt their own online PulseCon event - running Friday 22nd to Saturday 23rd October - by revealing a couple of toys from the upcoming TransFormers Legacy toyline: new versions of Skids (from G1) and Bulkhead (from TF Prime). It's a bold move... but also means they can get a feel for the fan reaction without their own servers being bombarded.

Call me a cynic, but I think that might be the main reason... Because, if these two toys are representative of what TransFormers Legacy is going to be, Hasbro have pretty much lost me as a customer.

The Crushing Ennui of Modern TransFormers Collecting (w/ Addendum 28/9/21)

OK, perhaps that's a little dramatic, but the dearth of activity on this blog over most of a couple of months basically comes down to a fundamental loss of impetus due to a number of factors.

First and foremost, the War for Cybertron Trilogy has been a massive disappointment in my opinion. Not just in and of itself, considering how few of the toys I've bothered to purchase, but in what it represents. Not only had Hasbro already devoted the preceding decade to remaking G1 over and over again, literally re-treading the same ground, just with a different gimmick each time, but they then chose to take yet another crack at it with War for Cybertron and then failed to keep to their original plan for the line. Dunno about anyone else, but it gave me the impression they never really had a plan other than "Quick! We need more G1! But different! Only not too different!"

Hasbro Pulse/Shattered Glass: OK, I Honestly Didn't See THAT Coming...

The final figure in the Hasbro Pulse Shattered Glass 'Capsule Programme' has been revealed (by leaked images) as Jetfire... This presents two genuine surprises.

Neither should be surprises, all things considered, but I have to admit that I didn't see either coming and, even if I'd expected the first, the second would still have been unexpected.

The first surprise, then, was that they'd repainted a Commander class figure. The reason it was a surprise is that these figure are pretty huge, and the idea that they'd turn one into what's ostensibly a limited edition figure seems like more of a risk than I'd have thought Hasbro would be comfortable with. The reason it shouldn't have been a surprise is that Hasbro tends not to make a mold if they're not planning on releasing at least one repaint, and there aren't exactly abundant options with Jetfire. The Classics Jetfire mold may only have been repainted as the random and nondescript Universe Treadbolt by Hasbro, but it was also used by Takara Tomy to create Dark Skyfire, and for BotCon Dreadwind. 

The second surprise is the colourscheme because, where SG Starscream took on the colourscheme of G1 Jetfire, SG Jetfire has just been giving a bland, mostly black paint job with a few highlights in silver/gunmetal, purple and green. Essentially a colourscheme somewhere between Siege Skywarp and Hotlink, but with a lot more black. This was a surprise because a lot of fans - myself included - would have predicted a Jetfire in Starscream's colourscheme. Shattered Glass wasn't all straight colour-swaps between analogous characters on either side, but it would have made sense in this case. Of course, the reason it shouldn't have been surprise was that it's basically a rip-off of the Takara Tomy Dark Skyfire figure, which had been officially repurposed as SG Jetfire in BotCon 2012's follow-up story, Invasion.

Still, assuming a Commader class figure was always on the cards, a repaint of Rodimus Prime would have been more logical... if a little predictable... making for a bit of a no-win situation for Hasbro, in my opinion. Do the predictable thing and people are disappointed by the lack of originality. Do the unexpected and people are disappointed that it's not unexpected enough.

So... Touché, Hasbro - you've done something somewhat unexpected... I hope you're proud of yourselves for defying my predictions.

...But your whole take on Shattered Glass in its entirety is still a bit rubbish, and you'd have been far better off creating figures of characters not featured in the BotCon comic book... Or featured in the comic book but not appearing as BotCon exclusive toys. Straight remakes - most of which are fundamentally inferior to the originals - are both disappointing and dull and, given the premium prices you've been charging due to their exclusivity (be it real or just perceived), just not worth the money.

Here's hoping your next 'Capsule Progamme' does something a little better.

...And Yet More Surprises

I just wish I could say they were pleasant.

So, first we have the revelation of a G1 toy-coloured version of Kingdom Galvatron - a toy that sold out on the UK branch of Hasbro Pulse within a couple of days of going live, despite its £59 ($82) price tag. I won't deny that the figure looks marginally better in the toy-accurate colourscheme, but the mold generally - and its alternate mode specifically - look utterly dire. Galvatron was a badly-designed character in the animated movie, not just because it looks nothing like the toy... and the sentiment works just as well the other way round. I will probably never understand the fixation on remaking a character like Galvatron in such a way as to make him more accurate to the ugly animation model, rather than just completely reinventing him into something that actually looks good in both modes, with perhaps a few nods to the animation model.

Since then, images of a War For Cybertron Trilogy version of Ravage (AKA Tripredacus Agent) made out of a re-engineered version of the Kingdom Cheetor mold have emerged. It currently appears to be available exclusively in Asia, though the instruction leaflet includes 'SDCC1' in its text, seemingly suggesting it's something for an upcoming San Diego Comic Con.

Initially, this was a pleasant surprise, not least because the original Beast Wars figure generally commands a few hundred quid on the secondary market these days (anywhere from £300 to £500+, boxed). What was visible in the box shots of this new version looked pretty good, and the set also includes a G1 Ravage toy (with chromed missile pods) in a clever presentation box representing Ravage's final appearance in the Beast Wars TV show, where he transformed into a cassette and disappeared into the console of his exploding spacecraft.

...And Yet More Crossovers

We've seen announcements recently for TransFormers crossovers with both Jurassic Park and some musical artist named J. Balvin (both with photos) as well as, supposedly, the whole pantheon of Universal Monsters, starting with Dracula, and even some tentative plot details about the next live action TransFormers movie, subtitled Rise of the Beasts... 

...And I'm genuinely starting to worry about the future of TransFormers.

The Thrilling Climax

A 'teaser' trailer for the War for Cybertron: Kingdom series on Netflix arrived in the last couple of days and, without any real enthusiasm, I watched it.

Naturally, at just a little over 20 seconds in length, it doesn't offer much, even as a teaser, but it does suggest that most, if not all transformations will continue to happen 'off screen'. There's a bit where Optimus Prime comes under fire in robot mode, and emerges from a cloud of smoke and debris in truck mode after the traditional transformation sound is heard. For that reason alone, I wouldn't bother watching any of its six episodes. But then... he also still has his Cybertronian vehicle mode, so precisely what was the point of Earthrise? And what's the point of the Earthrise toyline - and half of the Kingdom toyline - if the Autobots never adopt their contemporary, terrestrial vehicle disguises?