Before I get to the specifics, you can read my thoughts on the Bot Shots concept here, the online video game here, and the new Flip Shot, Spin Shot, and Jump Shot designs for 2013 here.

Transformers Bot Shots 5-Pack Autobot Air Force (Quickslinger, Firestrike, Silverbolt, Air Raid, Skydive)

The obvious question is, why didn’t they just call them Aerialbots?  I don’t recall them not having that name available to them.  All are repaints, no remolds here.  This is a decent set, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how they screwed up the colors.  Firestrike (AKA Flireflight) is the red jet and Quickslinger (AKA Slingshot) is white.  They are fine, but the rest all have the color switched around.  Silverbolt is gray, Skydive is black, Air Raid is Black and White.  All they had to do is swap the names, they didn’t even have to alter the toys.  Make the Gray one Skydive and the black one Air Raid.  Sure, that leaves Silverbolt with black and white instead of the an off-white cream color.  I could have lived with that if they didn’t want to use the right color for Silverbolt.  Four out of Five in the right colors and I could have forgiven the fifth.  They didn’t want him to be white since they already had a white one, so okay.  I’m good with that.  It would have taken so little effort to get it right.  It seems that lately sometimes Hasbro is making some really good decisions, and then the go and screw up something simple.  Sigh…

Transformers Bot Shots 5-Pack Decepticon Fire Assault Team (Megatron, Shockwave, Starscream, Barricade, Lockdown)

I absolutely LOVE this set, or at least I almost do.  They screwed it up by making Lockdown black.  Why in a set where all the other toys are red and orange would you make the fifth member of the team black?  If they had made him red with orange highlights, or something like that, this would be my favorite Bot Shots set.  As with the above, so close.

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Transformers: Prime Beast Hunters Cyberverse Commander Shockwave

Vehicle Mode: Shockwave’s tank mode suffers from a lack of parts locking in place.  His front and rear treads have no set position, a real negative for me.  I do otherwise really like the look of the tank, especially the coloring.

Robot Mode: In robot mode he looks awesome.  He’s got everything shockwave should have, single eye, gun arm, and the proper shape of his chest.  Very nice looking.

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SDCC 2013 Transformers Prime Shockwave’s Lab Play Set with Predaking

The Play Set

I forgot to take a picture of the set with the cylinder over Predaking, so I’ve included a picture of the box innards without the toys removed.

Let’s get this out of the way right off.  The play set is a cheap piece of crap.  It’s a cardboard base with a control panel that is made from the same kind of plastic as the toys are packed in (maybe even thinner) glued to the base with a sticker on top.  I was expecting actual toy grade (not that Hasbro’s toy grade is all that good anymore) plastic.  The cylinder and top are made of slightly better quality thin plastic.  The pedestal Predaking sits on is the same as the console, only clear.  This is cheap crap. And nowhere worth $50.

Shockwave

Shockwave looks pretty good in G1 colors.  They did not include his beast hunter armor.  This really annoys me.  (They left a part out of  the GI Joe set too.)  Leaving parts out of a toy, especially one that is as over priced as this one is at $50, is just lousy.

Predaking

Predaking looks okay, but he’s nothing special. The translucent orange one the Hong Kong show is getting looks much better.

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Target Exclusive Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Predacons Rising Cyberverse Commander 2-Pack Bombshock vs. Shockwave

You can read my full reviews of these molds for Hardshell and Shockwave.  I am just going to talk about the paintjobs.

Bombshock

Bombshock is supposed to be a Predacon.  This makes no sense since Hardshell is not a Predacon, he’s an Insecticon.  The paint job isn’t bad, but if they wanted another Predacon Commander Class toy, then they should have made one.  In fact, Abominus would have been better if Hun-Gurrr were a Commander, so the opportunity was certainly there, they just didn’t take it.

Shockwave

Shockwave got a G1 color scheme.  Really nice, but far from inspiring.

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Transformers Kre-O Autobot Command Center with Building Set Optimus Prime Vehicle and Rippersnapper and Kreons Shockwave, Arcee, Bumblebee, Knock Out, and Ratchet

Hasbro for the first time has done what they should have started doing a long time ago.  The Autobot Command Center is the first building set meant specifically as a play set for Kreons.  Considering that Kreons seem to be the most popular segment of the line, play sets for them seem to make sense, especially since the actual robot building sets always end up heavily clearanced.  Currently the only Kre-O items scheduled to come out is the Micro-Changers Wave 4 and the Micro-Change Combiners Computron and Menasor.  There is however a Kreons Encyclopedia due out next year with an exclusive Orion Pax Kreon, so this would suggest the line is continuing.  Perhaps Hasbro has figured out that focusing on Kreons rather than robot building sets makes sense.

Unfortunately, at best, this set is okay.  But at least it’s a step in the right direction.

Kreons

It’s funny, every time I think Hasbro is getting their act together, they regress.  The early Kreons had lots of problems with faces being badly positioned on the heads.  For a long time though, they seemed okay.  This set, unfortunately, has issues in that area.  Shockwave’s red spot should be painted higher up so that it fills in the hole in the helmet.  Even worse is Ratchet.  His eyes are painted so high up that they are nearly covered by his helmet.  Overall this isn’t a bad group of Kreons, but things like painting the faces in the wrong places really takes away from them.

Optimus Prime Truck

The Optimus Prime truck is pretty cool.  His action feature sucks though.  It is supposed to launch a net.  I don’t have it put on correctly in the photo, since it just flopped off the back of the truck the way they say to put it on.  It’s a bad design.

Rippersnapper

Yet another screw up by Hasbro, they have continued the habit of not bothering to put the beast names on the box.  This guy is supposed to be called Rippersnapper even though he looks nothing like Beast Hunters Rippersnapper (though he honestly looks better than the actual Rippersnapper toy).  He’s pretty cool looking for a demonic killer goat.  I don’t know what else he is supposed to be.  Not sure we’ve ever had a Transformers goat before, so there’s that.

Autobot Command Center Armory

The armory is…kind of lame.  It’s got a bunch of weapons and what appears to be some kind of energy tap, maybe?  I’m not sure.  I’m sure this is meant to work as part of the Custom Kreons idea.  The idea didn’t work there either.

Autobot Command Center Brig

The brig portion of the set is kind of cool.  The roof is open, so presumably the claw is an easy way to put prisoners inside, though that seems a bit unnecessary since there is a door.  The security camera is a really nice touch though, and it has a break away rear wall for jail breaks.

Autobot Command Center

The Command Center is really nice, if lacking in…well, everything.  The door (with the large Autobot logo on it) flips down.  It has two guns on the second floor and a dual missile launcher on the roof.  It’s nice looking, though I kind of hoped for more.

There really isn’t much to it on the inside, accept a control room with some graphics up on the monitors.  Not sure why Optimus Prime’s face is on the floor.

I’m not sure what I was expecting, maybe something with a larger control room with multiple stations, and more elaborate defense systems?  A medical bay, hangar, Ratchet’s lab, would have all been nice.  It’s not a bad set, just not really special.

Hopefully Hasbro’s next foray into Kreon play sets will have more to it, perhaps an ark?  They could even make it look like G1.  Now that would be awesome.

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Transformers Construct Bots Elite Wave 3 Smokescreen, Dragstrip, and Shockwave

This is the first wave of Construct Bots that have really excited me.  These are three great toys.  It is unfortunate that we have seen the last of the toys before the start of the Construct Bots Beast Hunters series, but if the Predaking is any indication, the beasts could be really great.

I am still very unhappy with the overall quality of the line.  The instructions are a joke, often not showing the same transformation to vehicle mode as the toy is pictured on the cover, often leaving the weapons off the vehicle mode entirely, and sometimes showing parts moved in ways that it is not possible to move them on the toy.  If Hasbro really wants to challenge Lego (and this is true for Kre-O as well) they need to stop looking like a Lego knockoff (which is what they essentially are).

Smokescreen

Smokescreen is pretty great.  While I love the whole wave, he is the weakest of the three, though that’s still high praise.  He is done in traditional Smokescreen red, white, and blue.  He has the G1 style shoulder cannons, and a really great head sculpt, though it would be nice if he had the gold horns.  His vehicle mode is nice, but I hate the way the feet become front or rear bumpers.  The combination of ball and socket joints at the foot, and pivots at the ankle make it damn near impossible to get them positioned level to the surface under the vehicle.  I suppose it shouldn’t matter since many of the toys wheels rarely all touch the surface at the same time anyway.  Most of the Elite class toys are better at that though, as they have something in the rear of the vehicle that connects the two wheels and helps to keep them straight and level.

Dragstrip

Dragstrip is probably the best wheeled vehicle mode yet.  Not only does he have the connection between the back wheels to keep them level, but the classic Formula One car front, connects the body to his feet forcing them in place.  He looks great, and if you buy only one vehicle Construct Bot, make it this one.  He also has an amazing G1 head sculpt.  It’s really fantastic.  His colors are classic G1 Drag Strip.  Very nice, one of my favorites in the line.

Shockwave

Shockwave is hands down the best Construct Bots toy yet.  He has one of the best head sculpt of 2013 and is perfectly done in gray and G1 purple.  While he has two hands, they gave him a hand weapon that looks like his G1 gun hand.  However, you can remove the gray pieces that hang on his back and plug them on the sides of his gun to make it look like his G1 gun barrel.  Full points to Hasbro for this one.  In vehicle mode, the two gray pieces are weapons, but they can be removed to put the gun barrel on top of the jet mode.  I think the reason they didn’t just make the gun barrel weapon the default weapon is that they need to be taken off and put back on in different places.  They wanted the usual Construct Bots design for Scouts and Elites where you don’t have to take them apart at all to transform them.  (The exception to that was the Triple Changers.)

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Transformers Artifact of the Week: Dark of the Moon Stamp Set (Megatron, Starscream, Sentinel Prime, Shockwave, Ratchet, Ironhide)

Ironhide

Megatron

Ratchet

Shockwave

Sentinel Prime

Starscream

Picked these up on ebay recently.  They’re ink stamps from China manufactured by FMC.  What I like about them is that the figures are pretty detailed for what they are.  They are much better than the Jazz, Optimus Prime, Starscream, and Wheeljack stamps from G1.

The unfortunate thing is that the ebay auction said this was a set, and that was untrue.  The set contains eight stamps, and only six were included in the auction.  “Set” indicates completeness unless qualified with “Incomplete” or “Partial” or something like that.  So, I got screwed, and worst of all, no one seems to have the missing Optimus Prime and Bumblebee stamps on ebay.  They were only $20 shipped, so it wasn’t like they were expensive, but it still ticks me off and adds something else to my want list, which is already filled with things I can’t find.  I hate incomplete sets almost as much as I hate misleading ebay listings.  Okay, rant over.

As always, you can find over 9000 Transformers merchandise items and collectibles at TFMuseum.com.

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Toy Reviews: Transformers: Prime Titan Heroes Bumblebee, Sharkticon Megatron, Optimus Prime, and Shockwave

Finally found these at Walmart.  They have four points of articulation, which is probably two more than they really need.  Finding them gives me some hope that maybe the last few Prime toys might still show up somewhere.  I know they won’t, but I can dream, right?

Bumblebee

It’s not a terrible mold, but not great either.  Could have used a few more paint apps.

Sharkticon Megatron

This one is cool.  It really looks nice, but again needed more paint apps.  Still, as we only got a single Sharkticon Megatron toy and he never appeared in the cartoon, it’s nice enough to have something more of that design.

Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime looks really cool.  In some ways he looks better than the actual transforming toys.  He just needed some paint apps.  I know, I keep saying that, but it’s true.

Shockwave

Okay, this one is awful.  His left arm looks ridiculous.

Overall: It’s not like you’ll miss them if you don’t get these, but the Prime and Megatron are pretty cool.

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Toy & Merchandise Reviews: 2014 San Diego Comic Con

Previously I put up a blog about the toy news and previews from SDCC.  It’s taken me a while to track down most of the exclusives, swag, and other merchandise that was available.  I’m still missing a few things, but I’ve got most of it.  There are links below to reviews of the Kreon Class of 1984, Knights of Unicron, Dinobots, and Loyal Subjects sets.  Other merchandise is below.

Angry Birds

There were five Transformers Angry Birds posters (as far as I know, I have not seen any others online).  Seems kind of overkill.  I am sure the game is going to be hugely popular, but I’m not so sure of the toys.

Hasbro was also giving out Transformers Angry Birds belt bags.

There was also a Transformers Angry Birds shirts and hat available for sale, but I’m not sure who was selling them.  I’ve bought the shirt, but I’m still trying to track down the hat at a reasonable price.

Dinobots Set

Click here for my Dinobots Set Review Blog.

Transformers vs. GI #1 Joe Exclusive comic Covers

It is almost unimaginable to me, but there were NINE different exclusive covers to one issue.  It’s idiotic.  I really am starting to hate IDW.  These were available from various retailers.  If they cut out the sketch cover, blank covers (there was a regular blank version available), and two half covers that would have been 4 different covers.  That would have been extreme, but not terrible.

Knights of Unicron Set

Click here for my Knights of Unicron Set Review Blog.

Knights of Unicron T-Shirt

This shirt was available from the We Love Fine booth at SDCC.  Some were also available online where I got this one.  Not sure if they still have them.  It was $25.

Knights of Unicron Till All Are One CD

This CD was given away at SDCC.  I don’t recognize any of the bands or songs on it.  Kind of stupid that they called it Till All Are One and didn’t include Stan Bush’s Till All Are One.  Even Better, why not get Stan Bush and his band to perform the songs that have lyrics in the box set?

Kre-O Kreon Class of 1984 Poster

This was a free giveaway at the Hasbro booth.

Kre-O Kreon Class of 1984 Set

Click here for my Kre-O Kreon Class of 1984 Set Review Blog.

Loyal Subjects Exclusives

Click here for my Loyal Subjects Exclusives Review Blog.

Loyal Subjects Tote Bags

They had both Autobot red and Decepticon purple tote bags, but I haven’t tracked these down yet, nor found good pictures.

Rescue Bots Poster

This is a really nice poster that has some of the best art we’ve seen of the Rescue Bots Dinobots.  The reverse has pictures of some recent toys.  Interestingly, almost everything on the poster is already out, save for maybe a couple of DVDs and books.

Rescue Bots Toy Fire Helmet

It’s cheap thin plastic, but kind of cool.

Shopping Bag

This shopping bag was available at the Hasbro booth.  It’s pretty big so that it can hold the overly large SDCC exclusives.

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Toy Review: 2014 San Diego Comic Con Transformers Kre-O Kreon Class of 1984 Box Set

San Diego Comic Con Toy and Merchandise Reviews

This is a really cool set.  They did include all 28 1984 toys, though the three animal cassettes are in cassette mode.  This left five slots filled by Arcee, Ultra Magnus, Skrapnel (Shrapnel), Shockwave, and Perceptor.  This I do not understand.  I have no issue with the inclusion of Shockwave and Shrapnel, but Perceptor did not show up until 1985 (in the cartoon) and Arcee and Ultra Magnus until 1986.  What would have made more sense would be to include Grimlock, Slag, and Sludge instead of Perceptor, Arcee, and Ultra Magnus.  While those three toys (like Shrapnel and Shockwave) were not out until 1985, they were in season one of the cartoon.  I was really hoping that they would do this again next year as Class of 1985.  I went through all the 1985 catalog toys, and if you don’t include all the ones that were in this year’s set and the combiners who were already done in their own sets, that leaves you 31: Whirl, Roadbuster, Perceptor, Snarl, Swoop, Blaster, Topspin, Twintwist, Warpath, Beachcomber, Seaspray, Powerglide, Cosmos, Hoist, Inferno, Tracks, Grapple, Red Alert, Jetfire, Omega Supreme, Astrotrain, Blitzwing, Dirge, Ramjet, Thrust, Barrage, Chopshop, Ransack, Venom, Bombshell, and Kickback.  That gives you 31 for 1985, but you could do an Omega Supreme building set and leave him out of the Kreons.  Now, if you want to do 1986, let’s eliminate all five combiner sets again since they were done, it leaves you 26 (which I won’t list) not including Sky Lynx.  Need 4 more?  Arcee, Unicron, In Memoriam Optimus Prime, and In Memoriam Megatron fills out the set.  Had they really thought this out they could do sets for at least two more years.  I think this was a really popular set based on it selling out at the show, though it was also the cheapest of the options, so that might have had something to do with it.  If Hasbro was really committed to Kre-O long term, they should have thought ahead and set this up.  Could they still do it?  Sure, but doing Arcee, Perceptor, and Ultra Magnus just makes things later make no sense.

Of course, the reality is that it is unlikely that anyone thought about doing another and that they won’t.  It would have been cool though.

Anyway, the lack of thinking ahead aside, these are really awesome, though I would happily have paid $90 (as the retail) to have these guys all be Micro-Changers.  I have not taken mine out of the box as I think leaving them in the display would be an easier way to store them than on a shelf.  Besides, the superlatives listed under each one are hilarious.  I highly recommend this set.

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Transformers: Prime: Beast Hunters Construct Bots (Bumblebee, Ripclaw, Starscream, Optimus Prime, Shockwave, Skystalker, Bulkhead with Airazor and Wolfang, Unicron Megatron with Barrage and Ratbat)

I was pretty sure that these had been canceled, but I discovered, quite accidentally, that they were released in Canada and the UK.  Is it really that hard for Hasbro to either release toys or not release toys?  Instead they screw over the USA.  You suck, Hasbro.

Anyway…

I decided to review these all in one blog since no one will care about them anyway.  It should be noted that they are designed just like the Age of Extinction Dinobot Warriors with the same spring operated piece in the chest that makes them transform much better than the original toys did.  I don’t have a lot to say about these, but I figured I should review them since a lot of people probably don’t even realize that they were released at all.

Scout Class Bumblebee

Bumblebee is pretty generic, very much like the original Construct Bots Bumblebee.  I do really like his head sculpt.

Scout Class Ripclaw

Ripclaw looks pretty great.  I love his colors.  He has a great head sculpt in both modes.  I think I even prefer him to the deluxe toy since he doesn’t have that ridiculous tail.

Scout Class Starscream

Starscream is pretty awesome looking.  His jet mode is really nice.  I love the three missile clusters.  Really nice colors.

Elite Class Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime looks…different.  The dragon head launchers look odd, but then, so did Beast Hunter Optimus Prime on which this toy is loosely based.  I’m not a fan of Optimus’s snarling expression, nor those odd looking feet.  Vehicle mode isn’t bad as long as you ignore that he has a green halo.

Elite Class Shockwave

Shockwave looks awesome.  He’s probably the best of the bunch.  I love his head sculpt, it looks really cool.  I love his tank mode, though it would look better with treads.

Elite Class Skystalker

Much like Dinofire Predaking, Skystalker is pretty cool, and one of the better Construct Bots toys.  He’s got a great head sculpt in both modes.  His Beast Mode wings are a little cumbersome and hard to pose.

Triple Team Class Bulkhead with Airazor & Wolfang

Airazor

Kind of cool, but really not much to his transformation.

Wolfang

I like this one, very cool.  I love the orange and black.

Bulkhead

Bulkhead looks awesome.  I love the colors they used.  Not a big fan of his head sculpt.  It looks odd.  His vehicle mode is nice.  I especially like the plow on the front.

Triple Team Class Unicron Megatron with Barrage & Ratbat

Barrage

Nice colors.  I really like his insect mode.

Ratbat

Ratbat is very cool.  His wings in bat mode look odd.  Not sure if they would look better with the blades on top of his wings, but this is what he is supposed to look like.  His saw mode is awesome.  They did a nice job designing the blades so that they could snap together and still spin.

Unicron Megatron

I love the head sculpt.  The purple and bronze look really cool.  I’m not a fan of his sword sticking out the back of the vehicle, but I guess it kind of looks like flames if you squint at it.

Overall: They are better than the first Construct Bots, but probably not quite up to the level of the AOE Dinobot Warriors and certainly not the AOE Dinobots.  They probably won’t be worth the cost to get them since they are not readily available.

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Transformers Artifact of the Week: Foreign “Apollo” Stickers

I picked these stickers from an ebay seller in Singapore.  Not sure if they are official or not.  In the lot there were a few variants, you’ll notice different positions of some of the text.  It looks like someone colored in some with a red marker, but it’s hard to say.  The Seaspray clearly has been drawn on, but it’s not as obvious on the others.  I’m not sure what to make of these.  If you have any information on them, please leave a comment.

As always, you can find over 9000 Transformers merchandise items and collectibles at TFMuseum.com.  I have not done an update to the site in a while.  Hopefully I will be doing a major update this winter with more than 1500 more items including a huge number of Age of Extinction items.

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Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015) Tiny Titans Series 3 (Drift, Filch, Fixit, Fracture, Beast Wars Megatron, Optimus Prime, Repugnus, Shockwave, Springload, Twinferno, Wheeljack, Wreck-Gar)

Series 1 Review

Series 2 Review

After a really cool series 1 and a train wreck of awful paintjobs in series 2, Tiny Titans series 3 came out much better than I expected.

Drift isn’t bad, but if they had at least painted the flair on his weapons blue it would have been a major improvement.

Filch’s feathers are way too subdued.  Instead of sticking out they are flat against his arms and legs.

They didn’t bother paint Fixit except for his face.  He looks awful.

Fracture looks pretty cool, though he needed a few more paint apps.

Awesome.  Beast Wars Megatron is really nicely molded.  Could have used more paint apps, but really well done.

G1 Optimus Prime is nearly perfect.  All they had to do was paint his windows, so of course they didn’t.  Seems Hasbro is doing a great job striving for mediocrity and achieving it.

This one is kind of random.  Repugnus is a G1 Monsterbot.  He’s shown here in his monster mode.  A good choice, and pretty well done.

Shockwave is awesome, and while he could use a few more paint apps, he’s fine without them.

What the fuck?

Twinferno is another G1 Monsterbot.  His original name was Doublecross, but I must admit, Twinferno is an awesome name.  He looks pretty cool, but since Repugnus was in monster mode, I would have preferred him in monster mode also.

What is it with this series and white plastic?  Why in god’s name is Wheeljack gray.  Have they lost the ability to use white plastic?  Otherwise he looks pretty good.

Wreck-Gar needs a lot more paint apps.  He’s got way too much orange.

Overall: This is not a bad wave, but a few paint apps and a little bit of change to the plastic color is all it would take to make these awesome.

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Transformers: Kre-O Warriors Collection 1 (Gladiator Bumblebee, Wiseguy Bumblebee, Knight Megatron, Ninja Megatron, Samurai Optimus Prime, Wild West Optimus Prime, Gladiator Ratchet, Pirate Ratchet, Army Shockwave, Ninja Shockwave, Army Starscream, Pirate Starscream)

In Hasbro’s infinite idiocy, it appears that none of the 2015 Kre-O toys will be available in the USA, but are available in Canada.  Canadian ebay sellers are loving it, jacking up prices on them, but it sucks shift for the rest of us.  If the stores don’t want to sell them, then either cancel them completely, or sell them through their web site.  Hasbro’s inability to use their web site to sell things that stores don’t want is mind boggling, truly idiotic.  There is no excuse for not releasing an entire line in the USA.  Fuckheads.

The really sad part is that Hasbro has finally figured out how to make Kre-O toys that don’t suck (for the most part).  No more big clunky sets where you need to build your vehicle then take it apart and build your robot.  Battle Changers now actually transform, and the RID construction sets are mostly vehicles being used by the Kreons, as they always should have been.  Though let’s not talk about the Kreon Warriors.  Someone was on an awful lot of crack when they came up with those.

And unfortunately, this blog is about the aforementioned Kreon Warriors.  To put it simply, they have taken Transformers characters and had them play dress up wearing costumes like knight, gladiator, pirate, and more.  This might be Hasbro’s dumbest idea ever.  The truly saddest part is that this is replacing the awesome Micro-Changer line.  Somewhat ironically, I don’t think we got Micro-Changers of any of these characters.  Hasbro really screwed up.  They should have done one or two more series of Micro-Changers at least so that we could get all the core characters that have never been released as Micro-Changers.

Also, as an FYI, none of my comments below are terribly constructive.  Basically just hating on these.  (At least I admit it.)

Bumblebee (Gladiator)

Gladiator Bumblebee’s only redeeming quality is the bee on his shield, and that’s only because it’s amusing.

Bumblebee (Wiseguy)

Making an Autobot as a Mafioso is idiotic.  I will say they did a nice job designing the Tommy Gun.  Had they been thinking, the Autobots could have been FBI and the Decepticons Wiseguys.  This is probably better, lest this idea have any kind of legitimacy.

Megatron (Knight)

When I first saw a photo of Knight Megatron, I didn’t know that was what he was supposed to be.  Frankly, those horns on the side of his head make him look more like a Viking than a knight.  Stupid either way.

Megatron (Ninja)

I think Vanilla Ice said it best.  “Ninja!  Ninja crap!  Ninja!  Ninja crap!”  That was the line, right?

Optimus Prime (Samurai)

I kind of like the look of Samurai Optimus Prime.  This makes me sad.

Optimus Prime (Wild West)

I give them credit for making his chest the side of a stage coach.  Creative, and at the same time stupid.

Ratchet (Gladiator)

Of all the characters to choose for a Gladiator.  Ironhide would have been a better choice.

Ratchet (Pirate)

WTF?  What crack was someone of when they designed this?  He’s got a flag pole sticking out of his head.  Probably represents the one the person had up their ass when they came up with this series.

Shockwave (Army)

Shockwave has run off and joined the army.  He’s got a sword for a hand.  That could be dangerous when he salutes.  :-)

Shockwave (Ninja)

See Ninja Megatron above.

Starscream (Army)

This one is mildly interesting.  Rather than a modern army soldier like Shockwave, Starscream is dressed as world war one fighter pilot.  Only because of the Hearts of Steel comic series does this one’s existence make any sense.

Starscream (Pirate)

Why wouldn’t he have weapons on both arms?  I’m almost sorry for asking that.  It might be misconstrued as a constructive comment.

Overall: Unless you are a completist like me, you don’t want any part of this garbage.  I wish I could have no part of this garbage.

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Transformers: Kre-O Battle Changers Wave 2 (Hound, Shcokwave)

Hound

Hound might be my favorite in the whole series.  He looks great in vehicle mode.  In robot mode he looks even better.

Shockwave

Shockwave is okay.  I like his robot mode a lot, but his tank mode is pretty lousy.  His turret is off to the side rather than centered, and he has only two wheels so he can’t really even role.  Just not a great design.

Overall: These have started to show up at USA retail in discount stores.  There are only four Kre-O toys that have yet to see release, Battle Changers Triplechangers Blitzwing and Drift and the extremely bizarre combiners made up of different versions of Bumblebee and Optimus Prime.  I would have liked the Triplechangers, which could still show up as canceled stuff tends to do, but I’ll be just as happy to never see the combiners.  As much as I like the Kre-O line, Hasbro has so completely botched it that I would rather they let it go the way of Construct-Bots, another line with potential which was mishandled into oblivion.  It just took them so long to get it right that people lost interest.

RIP
Kre-O
2011-2015
Some will miss you, most don’t care.Thanks for reading!

Q Transformers Wave 7 (Shockwave, Soundwave, Cliffjumper)

These are all very cool G1 based toys that are packaged on movie card backs which makes no sense whatsoever.  Previously we got G1 card backs for the G1 toys.  No idea what to make of that.  I do really like these.  Shockwave is my favorite of the three.  I really like Soundwave’s head sculpt.

Overall: I don’t know what is happening with this line.  It was just announced that the next toys coming after the three seekers and the long delayed Tracks would start numbering over again, but instead of a prefix of “QT-“ they will have a prefix of “QTF-“  The first three of those are repacks of movie toys from wave 6 (I think) and G1 Optimus Prime.  After that though, we get Ultra Magnus and Arcee.

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Transformers: Generations: Legends Wave 5 (Buzzsaw, Chop Shop, Pipes, Shockwave)

Chop Shop is a repaint of Skrapnel with a new head, and Pipes is a repaint of Huffer.

Buzzsaw

Buzzsaw is not what I would call…good.  Bird mode is okay, but his tail is really bizarre.  The car mode looks completely stupid.  At least they could have given him a weapon to mount on top and call him a tank.  The third mode is supposed to be a tablet.  I could buy it as a cell phone, but the dimensions are not right for a tablet.  This is really disappointing.

Chop Shop

Chops Shop is a repaint of Skrapnel with a new head.  The head sculpt is pretty cool, and it works well enough as a repaint, but I’m a little annoyed that we still don’t have Kickback.  Hasbro said they were going to complete the sub groups.  They would need a new mold for Kickback, but could then repaint it with a new head as Ransack, but that still leaves Venom, who will need to be a new mold.

Pipes

Pipes is okay.  The cool thing about G1 Pipes was that he was a remold of Huffer, not a straight repaint.  I wasn’t expecting anything like that.  Glad to have him, but nothing special.  Hasbro said they would complete the sub groups.  If my info is right, we still need Beachcomber, Brawn, Hubcap, Outback, and Seaspray.  Brawn and Outback obviously share a mold.  Bumblebee/Cliffjumper can be repainted and or remolded into Hubcap.  If they really want to go all out, maybe we can even get Bumblejumper.  Beachcomber and Seaspray would need to be their own molds.

Shockwave

Shockwave’s spaceship mode is okay.  He does have a handle that flips down so he is also a gun, but overall I’m not terribly impressed.  I would have preferred he actually transform into the laser gun.  This is the cartoon color version.  Hasbro claims there will be a running change to the toy color version.  I’m not holding my breath.

Overall: Not a bad wave except for the turkey that is Buzzsaw.

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Transformers: Generations: Combiner Wars Combaticon Bruticus

Combined Mode: Bruticus is pretty darn awesome.  He was always one of my favorite combiners because I loved the military vehicles.  He’s had more iterations, not just numerous G1 mold re-releases, but new versions than any other G1 combiner.  They did a really nice job on his chest and waste plate, and I heard that the second wave of these to be in cases with Skylynx will have olive green armor like the cartoon, but I doubt it will be remolded.  I love the head sculpt.  It’s a perfect Bruticus head.  My only complaint, similar to Onslaught, is that to give him the guns on his back, he doesn’t have any weapon other than the weapons for Blast Off and Vortex.  Yes, I know I put Swindle’s gun on upside down.

Overall: Do I really have to say it?  This one is a must.  True, Hasbro’s failure to make a new mold or significant remold for Blast Off does suck, but it doesn’t take away from the overall.  I just wish I didn’t have to buy the Japanese version to get the real Blast Off.  Unlike Defensor, where it is a debatable point whether the USA or Japanese versions are better, the Japanese version of Bruticus will be far superior.

Blast Off

Brawl

Bruticus

Onslaught

Shockwave

Swindle

Vortex

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Transformers Masterpiece Shockwave

Coin

Accessories

I really like the mini Shockwave gun.  He comes with fists and hands in translucent and opaque plastic, as well as a translucent gun hand.

Shockwave

Vehicle Mode: I’ve included comparison photos with Quakewave, the best third party Transformer in existence.  Shockwave in some ways compares favorably to Quakewave, and in other ways, unfavorably.  I really like Quakewave’s darker purple color, but I don’t hate Shockwave’s lighter color.  Quakewave’s silver looks much better than Shockwave’s gray.  The rear part of Quakewave’s gun mode is very square and blocky, while Shockwave looks more streamlined.  Shockwave also has a longer barrel that looks much more like the G1.  Shockwave comes with a stand that integrates into his robot mode, while Quakewave does not.  Quakewave uses a plain black hose to connect to his gun arm.  Shockwave’s cord is much more interesting.  It is metal coiled around a core (rubber core I’m guessing).  It’s hard to describe, kind of like a spring that isn’t springy.  It is really cool.

Robot Mode: In robot mode, Quakewave seems to have more molded details, but I like the Shockwave head sculpt better.  Quakewave has really fat lower legs.  Shockwave’s legs are slimmer and more reminiscent of the G1.  I have heard Shockwave described as “hollow”.  I guess that’s true, but the hollowness of a toy has never bothered me if it looks good and has an interesting transformation, which both toys do.  Shockwave’s transformation is complex, without being ridiculously hard like some of the Masterpiece toys.

Overall:  The simple question is, which is better, Shockwave or Quakewave?  It comes down to which aspects of the toy are more important to you.  To me, Shockwave has one undeniable advantage.  It’s official product.  It just happens that Quakewave is the best third party toy ever made.  If it wasn’t as good, Shockwave would be the hands down better toy.  As it is, it comes down to your personal preference.  Both have good points and bad.  For me it’s easy.  I have both, so I don’t need to decide.

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Transformers: Generations: Combiner Wars Generation 2 Combaticons (Blast Off, Brawl, Onslaught, Shockwave, Swindle, Vortex, Bruticus)

G2 Blast Off

Previous Mold Reviews: Starscream, Skydive G2, Skydive

I am very disappointed that Hasbro did not use the Japanese Blast Off mold.  I am guessing the reason they didn’t is that it hadn’t been released in Japan yet.  I am hoping that next May, like Groove and Brake-Neck and Quickslingler before him, will be released on card.  Hopefully, Hasbro will release two versions, a G1 and a G2 version.  I’m not going to hold my breath.  In vehicle mode, Blast Off looks great with the purple camouflage, but in robot mode, you can’t see any of the camouflage and it makes him look really plain.

G2 Brawl

Previous Mold Reviews: Brawl

Brawl could use a little more camouflage, but other than that, he looks great.

G2 Onslaught

Previous Mold Reviews: Pyra Magna, Onslaught, Hot Spot (Unite Warriors), Hot Spot

Onslaught needed some more camouflage, but the only real problem with him is that he’s got this enormous black mass on the top of the truck.  It needed some color.  Some silver paint, or even light purple on his guns and the mount would make him look so much better.

G2 Shockwave

Previous Mold Reviews: Shockwave

This is a travesty.  If you read my blog about G2 Superion, G2 Powerglide didn’t have any of the G2 art that you would expect.  They did the same thing with G2 Blackjack.  Both were at least repainted into colors that made them look like they belonged with G2.  Shockwave is a joke.  He’s still purple.  They changed the color of a few parts to red and painted his chest.  The didn’t include any of the translucent plastic.  He does not look like he belongs with G2 toy at all.  In an otherwise excellent set, it’s this kind of crap that really makes Hasbro look incompetent.

G2 Swindle

Previous Mold Reviews: Hound, Swindle

They did a really nice job on Swindle.  He looks great in vehicle mode, and even better in robot mode.

G2 Vortex

Previous Mold Reviews: Spinister, Skyburst and Stormclash, Blades (Unite Warriors), Vortex, Blades, Alpha Bravo

The colors are great on Vortex.  I am still disappointed from the original version that that Vortex did not get any remolds, but I certainly wasn’t expecting Hasbro to get it right.  They rarely do.

G2 Menasor

Previous Mold Reviews: Bruticus

So, this is interesting.  I apparently had Bruticus transformed incorrectly in my original review.  When I transformed his shoulders, I did it the way Defensor’s shoulders are transformed.  Bruticus is supposed to have Onslaught’s arms flipped up giving him the big shoulders.  It’s interesting, as this is the first time a Combiner Wars combiner’s arms have slid in from the front rather than down on top.  The wings on his chest shield peg into Onslaught’s arms which help keep the combiner arms in place.  Bruticus looks pretty great, accept for the total joke that is Shockwave’s color scheme.  He doesn’t belong in this set in those colors.

Overall: G2 Bruticus is one of my favorite G2 toys.  I think this one is a must for any G2 fan.

Update: A friend of mine pointed out to me that the incompetents at Hasbro used G1 Decepticon logs instead of the G2.  I didn’t even notice.

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