I think it probably has to do more with the import tariffs from China since this is probably the first line that they've really had to compensate for that. Hopefully, there is a change in leadership soon and those tariffs will be done away with next year.

 

Everyone is complaining about the new Smokescreen's wheels, and here I am not being able to get this dude out of my head whenever I look at his head sculpt:



Same energy:



(Seriously, between this and the new Megatron, I don't get why Hasbro is dropping the ball on the head sculpts for the returning characters from last year, This is otherwise something they've got down pat, especially in recent years.)

 

Oof, this deal's getting worse all the time! Twenty bucks each for these? This is not for me.

Airwave doesn't have an altmode at all, that's just a sad mess of nothings, I thought he was supposed to be a battleship for a moment.

Smokescreen's snap-on wheels and raised boots are just rough.

Arcee's alt mode is uglier than I was expecting, chunky in a bad way with a lack of quality detailing, which makes no sense since zero of it ends up in bot mode.

The Allicon's looks the best of the bunch but I have no attachment to it, and the "transformation" is a bit of a fart.

 

Smokescreens headsculpt looks fine its much better than the angry looking siege one

 

his headsculpt in hand looks handsome , you really try to say bad stuff

 

Why does it matter why they thought CW Smokescreen was better? They thought it was better, for whatever reason they measure preference by.

For me, it specifically is because they combine.

 

But it also shows Kup as the same size as Ultra Magnus.

 

I think my issue is I was expecting them to be able to form like a larger land base and they just don’t have the required ports. The best I can do is like a large square but then they have a huge gap usually in the middle.
I do have 4 sound barriers as well though

 

Honestly I don’t mind the backpack on arcee 

 

Most episodes of the G1 cartoon showed Magnus as the same size as bots like Optimus, Kup, Springer, etc.

 

Got this pic of mine:


And then there is this thread on this here message board showing weaponizers and modulators getting all sorts of weird:
Show off your weaponizer builds

 

Oh, Smokescreen actually looks really good- the thighs being more animation accurate than the skinny ones on the Siege mold does wonders for his proportions. Might have to pick up some version of him.

 

Hmmm, I'm 95% certain that a rough approximation of Hothouse's base tank mode could be doable with a more "concertinaed"/condensed construction of Airwave's treaded "land carrier" mode.
Maybe something to do with sloping the forward runways to carry them up & over the torso building?

 

I'm not gonna make excuses for that Arcee's "transformation" but I still want it. I love the robot mode and it looks highly poseable.

 

I'm thinking once we get that little ramp dude that has the four connection points (one on each side) we'll be able to create larger 'table' style land masses with them. Airwave also looks like he has potential to form bigger areas that are completely filled in.

I'm just so fascinated with having all the roads/runway options right now. I haven't spent much time pondering how to build a larger area with them, though I would like to at least be able to build a deluxe accommodating road at some point.

 

You’re asking why it matters why they thought the CW version is better- it matters because if you judge something based on how something else is better, the comparison should be similar.

If you ultimately only care about combining ability then every Siege and ER deluxe figure is a failure. No one is arguing this though. Why bring it up? It’s irrelevant to what everyone else is talking about.

 

I\'m really excited for Airwave. After all of the Autobots weaponizers in siege, it\'s nice to so more cons in using this concept.

 

I only have 1 Soundbarrier, but I have four versions of the Ironworks mold including Greasepit. I combine them into what I call “Irontown.”


Like the Ironworks mold, I’m sure Airwave would be greatly supplemented by a second of third version of himself to create a larger complex, which could then be added onto an Irontown complex, and buying up multiple Greasepit’s and the Hot House repaint we know is coming would make a decent little city with four major districts. Though, I’m not as imaginative as I wish I was, so I’m sure you could take the surplus units and reconfigure them into cooler shit and still have a decent city.

 

I need all of the Datsun's. That is all.

EDIT: And FWIW... I'd love to see Hasbro take another stab at the Stunticons in the Earthrise styling. And this time... please we need a proper six-wheel Dragstrip.

 

"Why do you like this version better?"

*gives reason*

"NO NO NO THAT DOESN'T COUNT!"

Well, yeah. That's why I bought all the CW/PotP stuff and only a handful of WfC so far.

Also, depending on what aspect of combination people enjoy, there's stuff like Skytread and the Modulators who have neat combination aspects. On top of the obvious (Greenlight, Lancer)