TransFormers: Prime Megatron

For no obvious reason, Megatron has become a very difficult character to do 'right' in the TransFormers toyline and, by extension, the fiction. The G1 character was iconic and recreating his original alternate mode, a handgun, has proven contentious for many years. In many ways, transforming into a gun is the ultimate expression of Megatron's power... though it does come with the built-in drawback of needing someone else to wield him. Since G1 he's been a tank (several times), a dragon (several times), a purple dinosaur, a spider-tank head thing, a spacecraft, a car (twice) and a helicopter. In the live action movies, he was a jet (of sorts), a tank, and finally a rusty, heavily modified truck. In the many incarnations of Classics/Generations, he's been a Nerf gun, a Cybertronian tank and, most recently, a stealth bomber.

TF Prime, in some ways a development of the live action movies, has him as some kind of Cybertronian jet/spacecraft. Personally, I've found just about every 'Cybertronian' alternate mode in the history of the toyline to be lacklustre and ill-conceived... Does TF Prime break that awful tradition?

TransFormers: Prime Cliffjumper

Cliffjumper was an interesting if contentious addition to the first wave of TF Prime Robots In Disguise. The character was the first to appear in the TV series, joking with Arcee as they patrolled their sectors, but gets killed off before the end of the first episode, returning only briefly as a Dark Energon zombie and, thereafter, only in flashbacks. That he deserved a toy I don't argue - particularly since this is the first time since Generation 1 that a toyline has had both Bumblebee and Cliffjumper as unique molds - but putting him in the first wave - and in such great numbers - clearly left most fans cold, and he was sitting on shelves for months. In fact, even now, approximately twenty months after the toyline made its début in the UK, it's still possible to find Cliffjumper in some shops.

Making it all the more infuriating, there was a First Edition version of Cliffjumper as well. The character may have warranted one toy, but two?

But enough about Hasbro doing everything wrong... What's the Cliffjumper toy like?

TransFormers Collectors' Club 2013 (Timelines) Jackpot

And so we approach the end of the first year of Fun Publications' TransFormers Collectors' Club Subscription Service. Jackpot, the penultimate figure, is yet another Action Master turned into a 'true' TransFormer... And, just to make things as inconsistent as possible, rather than taking his form from Classics or TF Prime or any number of other sources that would fit with the rest of the Subscription Service, they went and adapted a mold from TF Animated, even going so far as to give it a (largely unnecessary) new head sculpt.

You might almost get the impression I don't like this one...

TransFormers: Prime Bumblebee

Well, I had to get around to this fella eventually, so why not sooner rather than later? Bumblebee has been a fixture of TransFormers fiction over the last five or so years, having been cruelly neglected for many years after Generation 1. There was an excellent Classics figure (which has yet to be surpassed, in my humble opinion) but it's only really since the live action movies and TF Animated that Bumblebee has been ubiquitous in the toyline, to the point where seeing only one version of him in a line is highly irregular.

TF Prime took a leaf out of the movie franchise's book, casting Bumblebee as effectively mute, communicating in buzzes and beeps, much like a latter-day R2-D2. The First Edition toy was generally praised for its accuracy to the TV show but, just like the other FE models, he was completely redone for the mainstream toyline, Robots in Disguise.

Masterpiece Optimus Prime v2

When I finally got round to writing up the original Takara Tomy Masterpiece Convoy, I noted that it would be interesting to see the Masterpiece line revisit Optimus Prime after the live action movies, to see what improvements would be worked in. Little did I know (a) that they'd actually do that and (b) that, for the most part, the improvements would be very subtle - after all, when it comes to remaking G1 Optimus Prime, it's on a par with trying to reinvent the wheel.

When I first saw MP10, I wasn't especially impressed, and I certainly didn't rush to buy the Japanese version on import. Even when I learned that Hasbro would be releasing it - and particularly that it would be sold in the UK by Toys'R'Us - I just wasn't interested. I was perfectly happy with MP01, and the new version was smaller, lacking the extensive die-cast metal, and just didn't look as impressive overall.

However, regular readers of this blog will know that I make a habit of buying things I didn't expect - or indeed want - to buy. Seeing it in person, in one of my 'local' branches of Toys'R'Us caused me to throw caution to the wind and part with £100...

How big a mistake did I make..?

TransFormers Collectors' Club 2013 (Timelines) Breakdown

So far, the output from the TFCC Subscription Service has been variable. On the whole, I've basically got what I expected, though the last one, Circuit, was a pleasant surprise.

Breakdown, meanwhile, is a bit of a sore point. Most of the figures in the set are straight repaints, with a couple of remolded heads, but the molds delivered thusfar have all been fairly new and interesting (at least to me). Breakdown is not just the billionth re-use of the Sunstreaker/Sideswipe mold from 2008, it's been used for two Club Exclusives already, one of which was the G2 version of Breakdown, so his inclusion in the 2013 Subscription Service seems very cynical.

Still, it can't be all bad... can it?