Makes me wonder about his jet mode.
Because I can't imagine him not having reverse wings if they didn't rework that hinge armature.

 

They fall off.

Da-doy.

 

My BBTS preorder for Twincast got updated.

 

Metalhawk looks really nice, even if he's a Kingdom Cyclonus retool. We'll get to see his full body and alternate mode in the later stream.

According to the Twitter user who tweeted this image first, they also said that the nosecone will be different and some parts will be completely new, but transformation is mostly the same as Kingdom Cyclonus.
I'm really interested to see how his alternate mode will turn out. Glad he wasn't the IDW version, I didn't like that one much.

 

According to Marvel G1 continuity the shells separate from the robot and act independently.

 

Schizoformers be like

 

These are decent enough, Cyclonus wasn't necessarily my top vote, but definitely not the worst option out there. My only criticism is we're still using translucent plastic for major areas of the cassette bots.

 

Definitely getting both of these.

Twincast goes with Soundblaster and it's easy enough to head-canon since Blaster has a big family.
And of course Rewind is a must even if I'm not fond of the clear plastic.

totally didn't think Metalhawk would be a remold of Cyclonus.
In fact, I more or less expected to be disappointed with another distasteful hybrid design.
Very pleasantly surprised.

For those expecting an IDW-ish alt mode...
I suspect that the alt mode has been significantly altered from what Cyclonus does.
Kinda like how NewAge turned their Cyclonus into a G1 style Depthcharge.

Wouldn't surprise me if the thrusters and tail fins come out of the chest while the legs form the intakes and cockpit.

 

Some of the others have already mentioned, but while he got overshadowed by Ginrai he led the Autobots on Earth until Ginrai formally joined the team. And even then, Metalhawk still led the Autobots until he concluded that with Ginrai's raw power he made a more effective frontline commander (which is what they needed to counter the likes of King Poseidon and the Darkwings). That's when he ceded commanded to Ginrai and took up a support role, acting as mission control.

There's also the "A Tale Of The Pretenders" prequel manga from a few years back where Metalhawk and a bunch of other Autobot Pretenders (including DoubleHeader and Longtooth) fought against a bunch of Decepticon Pretenders (including Bludgeon, Octopunch, Stranglehold and Iguanus), where he managed to duel Bludgeon before causing him to fall into a lava flow.

 

I think the main problem with a Voyager-sized shell is how you'd need the inner robot to fold up quite a bit if the shell is going to have any sort of leg articulation. A Core class inner robot would definitely fit, but considering in most cases the inner robots are depicted as being roughly the same height as the likes of Prowl (i.e. Deluxe-sized bots), I'd be kind of disappointed. It'd definitely work with someone like Bumblebee, sure.

Would it still count as a Pretender if the shell was made up of clip-on armour? I'm not suggesting that'd be feasible, I'm just curious. Like those old Batman Returns "Secret Identity Batman" toys where you had Bruce Wayne, and then you clipped on armour on his arms and legs and then the chestplate and mask to turn him into Batman.

 

What if you did it closer to POTP Optimus prime? Have the core inner bots legs stick out the voyagers back, that way they don’t have to fold up as much and still get to be a decent, albeit slightly smaller size?

 

Oh yeah. I'm ready!

 

Not really. The Rewind/Eject mould is gang-moulded with the Blaster mould and the Ravage mould is gang-moulded with Laserbeak, so they can't just be run off on their own. And Twincast couldn't have come with just Flip Sides without having a bunch of his own plastic in purple too (and it's unpaintable plastic).

Something like a Stripes/Sundor pair could be viable, but they're hardly gonna throw a entire Core worth of extra product into a mass-retail Voyager for free.

 

Im wondering what his Evo fusion is as thus far they have incorporated prev gimmicks in them albeit not activated the same way IE Hotshots axelzooka and the shoulder cannons on Armada Starscream, and the duel link up feature of Needlenoses target masters, so maybe they throw some pretender stuff in who knows.

 

See though plastic on rewind again! That sucks. I think the shattered glass version had that covered.

 

Honestly a bit bummed he doesn't have the double cassette door. Maybe a 3P upgrade down the road. Or maybe they deepened the internal chest cavity without having to expand the door.

Metalhawk looks amazing.

 

Not really interested. Blaster has always been a favourite thanks to Marvel, but Twin-Cast I care nothing about. (I've seen Headmasters and that already helps in not caring.) And whatever interest I have is been satisfied by the 3rd party MS version.

Metalhawk is interesting. Using Cyclonus is an interesting choice. Sadly, it does result in even more different Pretender sizes: two cores, a deluxe and now a voyager.

Depends on the continuity.

In Masterforce Pretenders seemed more like a transformation. They wore normal clothes, then activated their shell armour causing the armour to just appear. And when they went from shell to robotmode it seemed to morph somehow into the much larger robotmode: regular human sized with the shell, regular TF sized without.

In Marvel the TF was really in the shell which not only served as a disguise (that really only worked when they were on an alien space station) but also as a form of armour making them more durable (Thunderwing being the prime example). When going to regular robot mode the shell continued to exist. It could then be radio controlled and could fight alongside the TF, giving a pretender automatic reinforcement and to be able to attack an opponent from two sides.

With IDW the pretender suit was more integrated into the robot, at least with Thunderwing and Bludgeon, and the impression I got was that it couldn't be taken off.

 

Those colors would look perfect on this figure

 

Agreed. Fingers crossed this is how they handle Bludgeon & other future pretenders. I'm all for Hasbro giving us quality renditions of the inner bots & leaving the shells for other parties to do a proper job of.

Bundling Rewind with Twincast on the other hand is just plain dirty. And still no guns? Ergh...

 

I would love to see HasTak do the inner bot for thunderwing. The original was my last figure back in the day. I totally don't even remember having the shell lol