I kinda want that rifle for the Deluxe Elita as a sniper .

 

I love my Siege Ultra Magnus and accept that his trailer isn’t a car carrier as this is his Cybertronian mode, and it makes a decent looking alien battle-wagon. And the robot mode is suitably G1. However when I saw that the Kingdom version was pretty much more of the same, except with an Earth style cab (and minor trailer remoulding to be fair) I decided to look elsewhere.

A good deal on EBay later and I was able to purchase a new CW Ultra Magnus. A rather different design to Seige and G1, but I really like it. Can sort of see why people complain about the smaller size of the new Leader class figures. I thought they were being a bit precious, as Siege Magnus (with armour) is a decent size. He is only a bit taller than the voyager sized Siege and ER Optimus Primes but he has a lot more width, and his height in comparison to Optimus fits the movie better than the original G1 toys used to do.

On seeing CW Magnus, however, I get what they were complaining about. This is a big boy. Even bigger when you consider that he manages to be taller than the Siege version despite appearing to be scaled smaller. This seems evident when you transform it into it’s truck mode. The cab is smaller than the Siege equivalent, despite the truck with trailer being larger overall. I understand that truck cabs do differ in size, but I get the impression CW Magnus truck is meant to be a monster.

I had been warned that CW Magnus doesn’t hold his guns properly. While they are a bit loose, I found that as long as I closed the hands tightly, they will hold the weapons just fine. And you get a combo weapons hammer mode too!

Of the two, Siege has more poseability and as a more G1 guy, I think I prefer his robot mode a bit more, but CW is a nice figure in his rangy way, and he provides that decent car carrier trailer. His truck is a bit smaller than I’d have liked, but short of forking out for an MP (or compromising for one of the great looking KOs, something I’m uncomfortable with) he seems the best out there. And an Earth cab with a different style to Optimus’s is nice.

 

I don't know if this opinion is popular or not, but I think HasTak made the right call by making Bug Bite out of the CJ mold, instead of the BB. I prefer the CJ one because to me, BB's rounded chest makes him look like a chubby little boy. My perfect version of ER BB would have only changed CJ's feet to be rounder, even if that would have made the VW Beetle a little flat.

 

Not sure if this is unpopular, but I don't like the CW Megatron mould.

 

My headcanon is that Bug Bite decided the VW Beetle altmode was too "dorky" and scanned a different car.  

 

I actually prefer SS Cliffjumper to Earthrise CJ in both modes.

I don't like the Earthrise Seeker mold. I think it's too small and we're not likely to get more repaints of the Siege Seeker mold because of it.

I don't like Earthrise Runamuck. I think he's too big and beefy for the character.

I wish the Battlecharger, Sunstreaker, Wheeljack and Sideswipe molds were all narrower in car mode.

I don't like Hotlink's colour scheme. I wish he was closer to his TFCC colour scheme so I could armybuild him as Seeker drones.

I hate Rodimus Unicronus' shades and goatee.

I think CW Superion, POTP Abomibus and Volcanicus are too small and Predaking is too big.

 

People who trash Action Masters for “ruining Transformers” but praise and scarf up the new non-transforming figures are low-key hypocrites.  

 

I think the backlash towards those was becuase they replaced the actual transforming bots and maybe they're still bitter about that. Do people really still go on about them?

And maybe it's just the circles I tend to go to but I've seen quite a bit of complain about the Red series existing and I just think "why?" It's not like they said "Kingdom Studio Series and MP are all cancelled and this is all you're getting for now screw you bye" when they were unveiled. Like I said I think the action Masters getting all the flack back then made more sense.

at worst I wish they weren't exclusive to Walmart and that it wasn't the only recent Prime Arcee figure becuase I would have preferred one that transformed, but what are ya gonna do?

 

I personally love the G1 Red Characters and hope they do more in thay 20$ Cartoon style.

 

An easier explanation is that it's a Bayverse movie.

 

I don't like beast modes in general, but if they must be, then in my opinion they must be mechanical. I don't like the organic theme at all.

My biggest problem with the G1 Predacons is that 2/5 of the team members aren't even predators. Tantrum and Headstrong have herbivorous alt modes.

 

Yeah, I actually like them better than the cats. Tantrum was a favorite of mine back in the day... one of the last G1 TFs I bought. I guess I really take issue with the team name, not the alt modes. "Predacons" is a great tagline, but doesn't apply to rhinos and bulls.

 

On the topic of beasts, my unpopular opinion. If it's a mechanical normal animal that's living today, 99% of the time it looks really stupid.

 

I didn't know those existed.....

Phrashing?

 

Yeah, I was exhausted when I wrote that.

 

Tough comparison, considering I can't see animals that aren't living today. Mechanical beasts in general look stupid to me, but conceptually, one covered in an organic skin is horrifying.

 

As a guy who only tries to collect one of each character (with a couple of exceptions for "favorite" characters), I just can't bring myself to replace my Generations Warpath with the Kingdom one. No matter how much more accurate it is to both the Sunbow and original G1 toy. It looks great....but I freaking love that Generations Warpath.

 

Then keep it. It’s a good toy and you clearly still like it. I follow a similar rule myself, but an exception here and there isn’t going to hurt.

 

Megatron and Soundwave's G1 alt modes are stupid.*

I understand that the original toyline consisted of figures from multiple lines, and that we had Diaclone in (mostly) 1/60 scale and Micro Change in 1/1 scale. And the figures were similar in size. But in-universe? It's just dumb.

A team of fighter jets, giant construction vehicles that combine to turn into an even bigger robot, combiner teams of street racers and military vehicles, a train that turns into a space shuttle, a tank that turns into a jet... and their leader turns into a handgun. His loyal second-in-command turns into a tape recorder.

o.0

So they have to say "well they change size too!" "Guns can fly!" "Mass shifting uses lots of power!"

It was dumb in the 80s, and it's dumb now. You get a whole toyline that consists of robots that turn into vehicles, except this guy who turns into a gun and this other guy who turns into a... what is it, a boombox? No, it's a micro-cassette recorder. They were all the rage in the early 80s.

When G2 came along and turned Megatron into a tank, I was like... yessssss! This is what the leader of a group of military robots should be. Not a tiny handgun that someone else has to carry around. Before G2 it was like the Decepticons were led by a Targetmaster. Since then we've had tank Megatron (G2 and Armada), space jet Megatron (Energon), space Dragula Megatron (Cybertron), space future Osprey Megatron (Animated), stealth bomber Megatron (IDW)... but for some reason we keep going back to gun mode.

Soundwave got what I thought was a decent alt mode in Cybertron, finally, as a sort of F-117-inspired design, which worked if you thought of him as a spy/intel/secret agent kind of guy. Even the "communications truck" of War for Cybertron / Fall of Cybertron was alright. Satellite in Revenge of the Fallen? Sure, that works. Stealth drone in Prime? Yes please. Pimped out jeep with big speakers in Animated? I'll take it.

But every time a new Megatron or Soundwave comes out and it's gun Megatron, or tape recorder / stereo Soundwave, I'm like... pass.

I grew up in the 80s, watching Transformers when it first aired, and even then I thought it was dumb that Soundwave turned into a tape recorder. But I guess it's better than being a cybertronian streetlight.




* honorable mention to Shockwave, who has been made into a tank pretty consistently (Energon, Animated, Prime, DotM), and once, briefly, a helicopter (Cloud), and Galvatron, who has also been made into a tank. I guess tanks are a logical alt mode to pair with fighter jets. Who'd have thought?