What is the cab on Magnus? Looks awesome!

 

Not sure what the name of this Waspinator repaint is (and I’m too lazy to look it up) but he’s my favourite of the set

 

It's a third party toy. There's one for Powermaster Prime. They transform into updates of the G1 Prime mold.

 

Battle Blade Bumblebee today.

 

Soundwave and friends

 

I've got this sucker with me at work today so he can be favourite!



MakeToys Bounceback (Stepper)

All the best
Maz

 

Need some sunshine to penetrate the January gloom. Luckily I have Mech Planet Big Yellow Bee!

 

Ooooooh, he's a nice scale!

In a weird way Rodimus was kind of 'my' Prime. I knew him before he was a Prime, saw him triumph over Galvatron and Unicron, watched him struggle with the mantle of leadership and make lousy choices (Wanted: Galvatron- Dead or Alive). Optimus was infallible and, like an arsehole in a job interview ("I think my biggest weakness is my work ethic, oh and I'm a perfectionist"), all his supposed flaws were really incredible strengths. I love Optimus, but I relate to Rodimus.

And he looked great. Optimus dressed like your dad but Rodimus dressed like Marty McFly. the cover to TF:UK #113 is one of the greatest, and it wouldn't have worked if Rodimus didn't have such an impressive design. Those colours man!

So it's a bit of a pity the toy is such a dog. Of course I was so into the character that I'd tell myself the toy was cool. I didn't own it, but my freind did. He lived in the next town over so I only ever got to have a go on ol' Rodimus on the odd occasion. I think somehow that made it easier to build the toy up into something it wasn't.

In many ways the robot mode is bloody basic that it'd be easy to believe it was some kind of knock off Transformer toy, rather than the real deal. Even the Battlechargers and Jumpstarters feel more substantial and involved. And the facesculpt makes him look like Jimmy Page c.1983. Once seen it cannot be unseen.

The vehicle mode is a bit better, but only when you combine the two parts together. Compare this to Optimus, who works well in both modes as a combined unit or independant parts. The vehicle mode is rightly derided as a 'space winebago', but I must admit that I actually kind of like it. It's dumb and goofy as fuck, but I'd still drive one if it was real. If I could drive.

Much like Power of the Primes Optimus, I was prepared to write this off as an over-ambitious folly. And much like Optimus as soon as I pulled his box out of the packaging I was impressed with just how much of a premium product he looked. Sure the fact that his 'clip on' lower arms are a different shade of red from his shoulders is irritating, and the partsforming is well, partsforming, but I was too busy enjoying the figure to get irritated.

I'm so impressed with engineering that's gone into the articulation on these two leaders. Like Optimus his legs feel so poseable and robust at the same time. His ankle tilts allow him to go ever further with the splits than Optimus without it ever feeling less than 100% stable.

His face manages to look older and wiser rather than just making him look like he's not slept for twelve days. It's a beautifully detailed headsculpt really. If there's any area where the Hasbro design team have really refined their skills, it's those headsculpts! Titans Return had some stunning one and it looks like PotP is going to continue the level of quality.

As fun as it is, it's not perfect. You can see Hot Rod's hands stucking out, Hot Rod's thighs are just as unmissable, and he looks so 'roided up that I keep expecting to see the cast of Predator turn up to flank him. If you point one arm straight ahead he looks hideously lopsided. I was also a bit concerend about some of his tolerances. There were a few moments where I was either tabbing him or clicking something apart and felt my blood run cold when I heard a shrill snap. I can't see any visible damage and maybe it's just a scary sound, but I will keeping a close eye out for stress marks.

Basic as it is, the Hot Rod component is actually pretty cool. In fact if it wasn't for the weedy arms this would probabaly be my Hot Rod of choice. If you can carry ignoring the arms for a few moments longer I'd go as far to say it's probabaly the best represenation of of Hot Rod we've seen, moreso than either of his Masterpiece versions. Even the car mode looks pretty good. Not as good as the TR version, but still pretty good. Perhaps there's some humour in the fact that TR Hot Rod had oversized arms and PotP has undersized ones. Maybe the next line will have a Hot Rod with perfect arms? Who wouldn't want to buy ANOTHER version?

I was so sure this toy would be a frustrating mess. As far as my Lost Light display goes, he won't be replacing my Legends Hot Rod, but that's utterly beside the point. Sure he's a scale nightmare, making even Combiner Wars Ultra Magnus look like a bit of a lightweight, but he's loads of fun, looks great, is super poseable and is a joy to fiddle around with. And Titans Return Blaster made Magnus look like a pipsqueak first. If you're not bothered about the perfect display and you just want a super cool Transformers toy, you could do a hell of a lot worse than PotP Rodimus.

 

Oh man after I swore off the wave 1 leaders your photos are really making me wanna buy Rodimus dammit. I could recreate that bit in Space Pirates when they take the Matrix off him and he shrinks.

 

Hmmmm, I could get both from TFs Express then sell on the OP...

 

Hahaha I feel like a bad enabler Rob!

 

No way- a good enabler!

 

All done. I’ll easily be able to sell on Optimus on eBay anyway. And Roddy and GCreation Rebel are both covered by Christmas money. And it is depressing January.

 

May Rodimus light our darkest hour, month, like...whatever!

 

PotP Slug for today. I meant to include him in my faves picture yesterday, but I was too damned tired and...forgot.  

 

@smf2045 I'll get in on that

 

These boys are fucking naughty, mate.

 

Iron Factory Shadow Assassin (Arcee):

 

True Legends today.