Got £25 Smyths Siege/ER Astrotrain today, courtesy of Ryan Button on the Twitters. TBH I didn't particularly want him initially as I felt he was overpriced thanks to the useless caboose etc, but I couldn't say not to £20 off.

He feel quite hefty and compact in hand and his caboose is exactly as surplus to requirements as I thought it would be, but his other issue is pretty much unavoidable - he's so bloody overgreebled!! If they'd laid off the detailing a bit he'd have had more of a chance of fitting in with the Kingdom and SS86 lot.

Two other other things that are a bit of a shame are the lack of folded out red and blue tailfin for his chest and the lack of foresight shown with compatibility of the caboose parts -



So, his rear end in shuttle mode is a bloody disgrace, BUT we have these two parts from the caboose that could easily fix the sides...




...but there's no way to attach them DAMMIT!!

Missed opportunity IMHO.

 

There is a nice kit on TFSafari to upgrade his back end with a better tail fin assembly, and the whole thing becomes a hand-held missile launcher in bot mode.

Matrix Workshop M23B M-23B Tail fin for WFC Siege Astrotrain Upgrade Kit

Greatly, greatly improves the mess that is his back-end.

 

Yeah, that is DEFINITELY needed! I've seen a set of fillers for him too but, tbh, he really doesn't need them - there's barely any hollows in him aside from under his feet and his wrists. I wouldn't mind a clip on bit to give him his chest 'boomerang' though.

 

Wait… all of that mess above the wings is exposed in shuttle mode? That’s the way it’s intended to look?? I assumed you had disassembled it in some way.

I’m sorry, but that’s terrible. That’s laughably bad. I find it hard to believe someone at Hasbro approved that for release.

(I just looked up images of train mode, and it’s honestly not much better.)

 

That's one of the several reasons I wasn't buying him at full price. That back half just looks like they gave up, like with MP44's truck bed and the whole back of MP Bumblebee V2. Like, 'Fuck it, it's Friday afternoon, that'll have to do'.

Thankfully I also have Fancy Cell Transportation Captain, who put everything about him apart from plastic quality and general transformation totally to shame.

 

I picked up Earthrise Megatron for a good price on eBay. I love this figure way more than I thought I would.

 

Classified Zartan and Kingdom Scorponok arrived today!  

 

I know the feeling. Even if hasbro does them all again I’m not buying. I like all my combiners, and that uw Computron was a commitment  

 

My reissue knockoff Superion arrived yesterday. It arrived pretty fast. I was expecting a month to arrive.

 

They honestly look great, and the next best option for any of them is going to run 300-800 dollars. I am trying to get the upcoming GT ReBuilder off BBTS later this year as I don't have a Devastator and I don't really like the CHUG ones... But we'll see if the money materializes when it needs to.

GT-99DX ReBuilder with Golden Pistol

As for me, my Pit of Judgement arrived in mostly great shape. The carrier was a little rude to it and so the upper right corner is a bit bent, but no one's perfect.

 

So excited for this guy to be here! Won’t be able to truly mess with him until tomorrow.

 

lucked out and found one used on ebay in good condition for a reasonable price.

I’m happy with I’ve got and they fit my G1 84-87 lineup. I’ll most likely buy the Menasor redo that might come out next year but I don’t know if I’d replace all of them. I kind of see having a complete 84-86 era as my end point with a few notable exceptions.

 

Newage Galactic Man Astro Magnum via ShowZ

 

Latest haul

 

Ordered from Japan.
I do like this one better. The colors pop more.

 

the fear of them doing them all again is what holds me back from buying. The after market prices are a nightmare

 

Got this guy in the mail today. This line… not sure if I want them to make more or not because of the price. So great though. Ordering Megatron promptly. Three zero/3A really do great work. Between the Tranformers stuff and the Game of Thrones line they’re knocking it put of the park.

 

Light our darkest hour!  

 

I went and got all the uw versions of the combiners I wanted, so safe to say I’m committed. Luckily I got superion and defensor before their prices spiked.

 

Insects