If there's one thing I've learned, it's that stock photos can be atrocious sometimes. I still have very good hopes for Topspin and Cliffy in hand images

 

If the head of my DOTM Topspin wasn’t missing, I’d consider sticking with it as well. That’s really one of the best movie deluxes, and it does handle its kibble much better than the new one.

the guns are an interesting thing, though: the original renders show 4 guns: 2 on the sides that are detachable, and 2 on top that are presumably anchored in place and (I think) end up on his back in robot mode.

You can also see this with the one at toy fair or wherever this got revealed:


The new stock photos only show 2 at a time though, which is weird.

(Also, while the arms are maybe a little long, they do look much better in the in-person shots than the stock photos).

 

I mean, there aren’t really any more large autobots for SS to do. Only one I can think of is Hound and I guess the dinobots (and they’ll be heavily underscaled compared to their on screen portrayal) and the guardian Knights (but that’s entirely different beast as to if the 12 will combine to make Dragonstorm)

Decepticon wise, Galvatron needs a new mold badly, alongside Onslaught and a more accurate Nitro.

I guess they can do movie tie in stuff like Stratosphere and Breakway.

 

The great thing about those two, is that they already have molds to work with. So Hasbro can improve and upscale them rather than having to start completely from scratch.

 

Which is why I was so confused when people were saying that “Hasbro is slowly running out of characters to do for Studio Series” several weeks ago. There’s a plethora of characters from the films’ expanded media that could be turned into toys. While the original deluxe Breakaway is a solid figure, we could definitely use another one.

And with the Generations Selects leaks today, I must reiterate that Hasbro should do a Generations Selects-esque sub-line for Studio Series.

 

What's the obsession with Breakaway in particular? There are a lot of awesome offscreen toys but he always seems to come up constantly.

 

I think it’s mainly due to Breakaway being a playable character (and a part of the core Autobot team) in the ROTF game.

 

He was a popular character in the RoTF game, ever since then he’s been a fan favorite.

 

Breakaway was actually supposed to appear in the RotF movie, but was cut last minute. It’s the reason he had a very large role in the RotF PS3 Game as a main character. He also has a very kickass design.

 

Does anyone know what the hell those speckles are all over ROTF Soundwave?

 

Space dust?

 

Interesting use of mixmaster’s legs! I personally use the legs to bulk up the neck area. Also, if you want a better place for mixmaster’s cab, it fits almost perfectly between the struts on scavenger. Then mixmaster’s fingers can kinda snap themselves onto the edges of the bumper, and then the struts can further secure it in place

 

For me it's because the movie Autobots are really lacking in fliers. They had
* Jetfire; who's barely functional and his only meaningful interaction with the Autobots is dying and being recycled into a flight suit
* Drift: Who only uses his helicopter mode twice (from what i remember)
*Strafe: Who only appears in AOE for like two minutes

Breakway stands out by being a strong, capable jet who was part of the team in the ROTF game.

 

The missing weapons on topspin and the missing paint on everyone else could be budget cuts due to Covid. Who knows for sure, but this is my theory.

 

I feel like we have the same discussion of adding off-screen characters to studio series every couple of days...

 

I agree that Topspin's proportions seem better in person, adding that the figure does indeed come with four guns:

If you see right below his waist/alt-mode windshield kibble, the small grey piece sticking out looks like the tip of one roof gun.

[Edit] the piece sticking out is the very back of Topspin's gun, not the barrel/tip.

 

Human hair.

 

Hey that looks pretty good! I had an initially similar thought about the fingers, I might still play around with it to see if I can get it on there in a position I like better.

 

Oilpan, 1-step Barricade and my custom pre Earth version of Spacecase.