Oooh, new game! I like it, let's go:

War for Cybertron
Kingdom: Rodimus (probably some recency bias here)
Earthrise: Quinteson Judge (I still can't believe this exists)
Siege: Sideswipe (it really set the tone for the rest of the line)

SS86: Hotrod
Netflix: Optimus Prime pack

Prime Wars
Power of the Primes: Volcanicus (is that cheating? It'smore that I;ve never had a full set of Dinobots before)
Titans Return: Triggerhappy
Combiner Wars: Ultra Magnus + Minimus Ambus

Thrilling 30: Springer (loved this line, Brainstorm is a close second)
Reveal the Shield: Wreckgar (I guess)
Generations: Drift (well, the OSKO in my case)
Universe 2.0: Cyclonus
Classics: Hot Rod

So what you're saying is we should sell our Misfires now for a million pounds and rebuy for twenty soon?

I guess it's just toy photography, so all I really want is a crisp subject in the foreground and the background to be blurry. I used to take pics of toys in London so background was part of it, now that it's just my back garden, the toys themselves are the stars of the show and that's all I really want to have focus on. I think my smartphone cheats this with some very clever software, but you can often spot it with odd bits being blurred and others not. So in the pic below, The tip of Springer's sword and Magnus' horns are blurred. There's also a bit of background not blurred.



I've been playing with the guide mode, auto, P and close up modes, nothing looks that good to my eye. It occurs to me, maybe part of it is just the camera's display vs the fancy smartphone screen.
I've got a Nikon D3200 with this lens:



So for example, took this with the smartphone today, no filters or adjustments, just using portrait mode. Could not for the life of me come close to recreating it on the camera, though i do see all the imperfections in the blur, especially on Rodimus' bonnet and the tops of his and Optimus' trailers.



Any and all advice is massively appreciated, but also, please don't feel obliged, i know we just come here to chill and chat toys, it's not on you to teach this old Luddite how to use a camera!

 

I think you’re quoting me here haha…@CactusReporter is very reliable (I know he likely doesn’t frequent this thread, but he is extremely knowledgeable on these sort of things!), I think there may be other hints listed in that thread as well but this was one I remembered clearly.

I’m not sure anyone could offer much advice to you here if I’m honest, when I first glanced at your post and photos I thought they were a how-to guide! Your photos are spectacular and I always look forward to seeing whatever new ones you’ve taken, they really are outstanding and a highlight in this thread!

 

The convoy pic is really good! Is it using pics art or phone's own native software?

 

That's a cool pic too! Whether you end up using a phone or a DSLR, i think you definitely have a good sense of composition.

So yeah, phones can do a lot of clever stuff right now, background blur being one of them. Funnily enough I just watched a video comparing the AI faux blur from a few different algorithms (including the ones packaged with iPhones nowadays) with the real thing and they are REALLY hard to distinguish without knowing what you're looking for, i.e. those edge pieces that get a little blurred. Phones can also do a bunch of other stuff which DSLRs won't do automatically, but can be done afterwards whilst processing the image. Some shots that a phone can create after its AI processing literally can't be taken with an DSLR. A DSLR has to conform to the laws of physics because the only thing affecting it is the photons hitting the camera sensor. A phone can take the data from the sensor and then manipulate it further. This has advantages.

But if you want help to achieve that effect with your SLR, there's three variables that will affect it;

Firstly - how far your figure is from your camera compared to how far the background is. A figure in focus, near your camera, with the background across the other side of your garden, will have greater background blur than if both the figure and the background were near each other.

Secondly, zoom in your lens as far as you can. Your lens is an 18-55mm - when it's zoomed in all the way it's at the 55mm end of that range. This might require you to get a bit further away from your figures to take the picture you want. The more zoomed in you are, the greater separation you will get from the background. (Which is why I love my 100mm lens for portraits - it makes the background lovely and blurry). Obviously there's a balance between the first variable and the second because one is telling you to get close to the camera and one is telling you that you might need to get a bit further away. It might be worth trying either way and seeing if anything works for you.

Third and finally - something called the aperture which is how big the hole in the lens is that's letting in light. You can control this either in Manual (M) or Aperture (A) modes on the dial on your camera. The smaller this number is, the bigger the hole is (bit counter-intuitive i know), and the bigger the hole is, the more separation you will get between subject and background.

If you are interested in learning than you can try playing around with the M, A, S and P modes. There are 3 main elements to a camera controls w.r.t. taking pictures - aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Aperture is the hole, shutter speed is how long the hole is open, and ISO is kinda like the volume - you can crank it higher to make darker scenes more visible, but just like how a speaker buzzes when you crank it really high, you'll get noise in your picture at high ISOs. A gives you aperture control, S gives you shutter control and I guess P is ISO control (although dont quote me, I havent used a Nikon in +10 years). And if you want to spend some money then I'd definitely look into lenses before thinking about a new camera. I found the Canon equivalent of this lens - Used Nikon AF 50mm f/1.8D lens - mpb.com - to be excellent for learning since it was super cheap and highly performative for the price. It's a prime lens (apt name considering the forum I'm posting this on) which means it doesn't zoom - it only has one "distance". But this comes with advantages - less moving parts meaning clearer pictures, and a much wider aperture meaning better blur.)

Okay that's a lot of info, hope that helps. If you wish to pursue this and have any more questions, DM me.

 

Yay, new lists! I'm game. I think I have at least one figure from all those lines except maybe Universe 2.0, in which case I'll replace it with the 'Hunt for the Decepticons' subline.

SS86: Grimlock - Big, beefy, an all-round hefty chonker
Netflix: Soundwave - THE best version of the G1 character we've ever gotten

War for Cybertron Trilogy
Kingdom: Cyclonus - An unmatched, tidy transformation that will be the bar I set for all others going forward
Earthrise: Optimus Prime - See Netflix Soundwave
Siege: Shockwave - See Netflix Soundwave

Prime Wars Trilogy
Power of the Primes: Punch-Counterpunch - Three toys for the (special edition) price of one, and extremely well executed
Titans Return: Triggerhappy - One of my all time favourite altmodes on a transformer. Has yet to be beaten IMO
Combiner Wars: Bruticus - A cheat, but worth it. The best looking of all the voyager/deluxe combiners from the line

Thrilling 30: Metroplex - The first titan, 'nuff said
Reveal the Shield: Lugnut - A personal grail finally realised, just needs to be bigger
Hunt for the Decepticons: Sea Spray - One of the first figures I got when getting back into the hobby, so this is a sentimental pick
Generations: Warpath - An EXCELLENT reimagining of the character. He still stands in my display today and will not be shifted
Universe 2.0:
Classics: Optimus Prime - Very chunky, very heavy, decently articulated for the time, and a very faithful reimagining of the character

 

The swords do have that issue on my skywarp but the others seems alright.

See pictures like this are what stops a fellow selling robots. And hankering for Takara armada screamer.

 
I'll give you a buzz when I need a new kidney or lung

You talking about me again? It's true, I am special.

I wouldn't say no to a big galaxy shuttle, but was he that big in fiction? I'd swap, give me titan scale rocket base and commander shuttleman.

Surprised we haven't had an astrotrain repaint of GS yet. Or even a white toy version repaint of siege choo-choo

As @QPrime shows, you can, just have his hands clasp the gauntlet pegs rather than slot them in the arm holes. Makes a big difference.

For now... Collaborative evil dead oldsmobile in 2024.... Watch this space.

My new hood is right next to a lough, so the wee bastards swarm like crazy. You can hear them quite loudly. Sometimes they swarm in such sense plumes it looks like nearby trees have stink lines. Nature is scary cool.

 

Remember in the 90's when the Smurfs released an album of pop parodies?

No?

Well now SUFFER.

 

Well I managed 11 seconds and now that's in my head and you will PAY FOR THIS!!!

 

I am so happy YouTube doesn’t auto play!

 

Can't be any worse than Ectotron  

 

TFW when you're going through archives of "what's released" from 2013 and it transpires that Beast Hunters Shockwave was NEVER released in the UK? Is this true?
That explains why he's so flippin' hard to find and a set of his armour alone is £30 on eBay!
Does anyone who was collecting back then remember him being in shops in the UK?

 

I don't own Ectotron, but from what I've seen, he seems "ok", like his altmode is fairly accurate and he has a simple, but robust transformation. What are the issues with him, in your eyes?

 

Mwahahahaha.

Today is BW Kingdom Megatron day. Currently the best Purple T-Rex man you can get it you can't justify the Masterpiece. Personally prefer the "realistic" rex mode.

Yeah we only got the diddy Cyberverse one. I did get the Voyager but from Amazon US. This was when the £ wasn't in the toilet and even with shipping it worked out the same as RRP for the others.

 

Looks like I can get rid of ER Runabout and Runamuck. Thanks XTB!!

Guess I should probably just get rid of the small amount of mainline stuff I have while I'm at it!

Expect a sales post soon.

 

 

I remember seeing him, yep! He was in smyths Newry, on the bottom shelf around 2013. I remember being weirded out by the beast armour. You mentioning it seems to have jogged my memory! I also remember being gifted the wee cyberverse one, not sure if it retailed here though.

Yeah, it works great! Thanks @Q Prime!
Also...

Yellow just suits Magnus better!

 

Urgh, where to start... he barely stands because nothing locks his knees in place and since they can go forward... the backpack barely stays on. In alt mode a lot doesn't clip in properly, but especially all the rubber pieces. And if those aren't warped out of the box you'll be lucky if they last a year without breaking. I immediately sent it back after really looking forward to it because I thought Gigawatt had turned out decent.
...

BBC News - Mike Ashley to step down from leading Sports Direct Group
Mike Ashley to step down from leading Sports Direct Group

"Yeah, sold enough 'Sky Lynx' to take it easy! I thought it was deodorant for my punters to spray in their trainers!"

 

Jet lag. Ugh. You're not even "supposed" to suffer it that badly on South/North journeys but I'm disproving another old wives tale.

So this Galvatron fella.

Fair to say I think he's a game of two halves, and my opinions are not going to be widely shared - at all.

So much they got right, so much I can't understand how they got this badly wrong.

Was this thing designed by committee? The morning shift did his top-half (all the right, even with the "shoulders") and the late shift did his trunks on downwards (all the wrong) and just phoned that in from whatever lockdown-defying rave they were at that evening?

Pros: Presence, heft (always popular) actually pretty well made by current standards despite the shoulder-snafu, expressive, does what you would want on the tin - no effing about with superfluous "third modes." Great headsculpt.

Cons: stumpy legs, Trump-feet, poor articulation at the knees for a figure this big, crap heel-spurs, arm-treads too big and unwealdy, lucazade bottle too big (again!!) Bird-shit for what reason exactly?

A bit unforgivable - to me - that the TR Galvy with all its faults and feckups is actually better articulated than this guy. That's not on.

So very nearly great, definitive and barring the Toy/Marvel version no further version needed. But if somebody updates this with legs that work as well as the top-half I'd swap this out for an upgrade in a heartbeat.

I'm glad I opened him before Rodimus.

 

Planting something on a grave is a good shout. That's what we did with Rascal.

Again, it's good to see you back! Sounds like quite the odyssey.

I'll look forward to luxuriating in the filth, Brian.

When I've got enough mental space to actually give this some thought I shall revisit it.

"Things are bound to calm down real soon!"
From TF:UK#102 'Fallen Angel'

 

I do remember. Too well. My friend and next door neighbour used to play it on repeat when we were at his house and playing. Burned into my brain.

You shut your dirty mouth! ECTOTRON IS A SAINT! A SAINT!

... aye but yeah his knees should have locked into place. Mine has no real issues standing though, do you have the newer version? I half remember hearing it had worse tolerances.

Definitely. I love how the angle of this shot makes it looks like his chest bewbs have yellow eyes here too.

TR Galvatron for all his faults has incredible legs. Maria Carey and him share more than just that trait.

I'll get the bubble bath and sponge

 

Yup. Can confirm no UK (and Europe?) release, I ended up getting one of the boxset versions that came with a mini “lab” and a legends size version of Predaking.

In other news, Kapow Towers beating Hasbro Pulse at their own game! Thanks @Red leader !