@GrahamFA and @Seeaich,

Horses mouth from the company I bought it from Robotoybase.com, they were adamant it doesn't contain any electronics whatsoever. There was a comment posted about him that suggested these Cerebro-s were Actual Takara seconds, that didn't make it to stage two of production and have wiring fitted. I moved my Fort Max on but still wanted a Headmaster to join with Brainstorm et al.

 

Saw the chat about the Amazon dragon megs orders disappearing and thought I'd better check mine,



Still there, for now...

 

Hmmmmm. I wonder if this has got anything to do with Smyths not listing any more new TF's on their site? Cuz that's bad isn't it?

 

Top of the Bots 2022

#8: Cyberverse Deluxe Slut



Ah but gee golly begorrah lads if it isn't an absolute stunner, and out of nowhere too. You can keep your SS86 version, he's much too big for a Triceratops and his face is boring and red. This guy's a complete nutcase with his over-the-top transformation, his handy battle-axe, that utterly furious scrunched-up face and big royal frill behind him. This is a man who is going places, even though it's not entirely clear where those places may be and what fresh horrors await there.

"Oh but if only they'd done all the dinobots like this blah blah blah" yeah alright whatever. I mean, that was clearly not the point of this, rather that they put each dinobot in a different sub-line that was going - Sludge with the Energon armour, Swoop as a crash combiner, Snarl as a Warrior and Slut here as the Good One. If you're a grumpy old shit like me, not a child who's there to enjoy it of course.

And yeah, thanks be to TK Maxx for getting in massive crates of unsold stock out of the blue and flogging them for a song.


#7: Shattered Glass Ultra Magnus / Regular Glass Delta Magnus / Overload



I know, what a nerd I am getting this one guy who's designed like another guy and then pretending he's yet another guy. But honestly, this one is good enough to serve as all three. I don't much care about Shattered Glass, but Delta Magnus is a fine boy, and getting a robot that looks enough like a grown-up version of micromaster Overload is a lovely bonus. Onto the Bigromaster shelf he goes!

I guess people are a bit cold on the Kingdom Magnus mould? I get it. CW Magnus is still the best one out there, and by comparison this one is a poor reflection, especially in alt mode. But it's amazing how little that matters when it's a different character that doesn't have to look much like anything in particular. And the tubby dad bod robot mode is also far, far better when distanced further from Optimus Prime and his need to be all hench-like. And hoo boy, such wondrously rich colours.

So yes - good Overload, good Delta Magnus, crap Ultra Magnus. That's more or less fine though, isn't it? Yes?

 

I've gotten used to waiting on discounts, what are they missing? They're possibly being as random as ever, they've had MOTU listed for over a month with no date whatsoever against them.

 

Update: Seller offering to send me the Japanese speaking head, so at least I’d be able to sell it on. Don’t suppose anyone knows if anywhere sells an English speaking chipset kit? If so, can they do it in a Glasgow accent while they’re at it?

 

Have I missed a big Hasbro rumor or news article?

 

Thanks - that’s great to hear. The seller is mortified and remorseful and want to make it right, so thinking I’ll sell what I’ve got here with a Japanese speaking head - hopefully for not too much less than I paid and pick a new one up with an english speaking head ASAP.
Can’t not have one - who’d dance for ‘Plex?


So, anyone near Glasgow looking for a good deal on FM?!?

 

The sound chip for FM is a little dull, he just says Cerebros, Fortress Maximus. Emissary and Decepticons. Plus some transformation noises. Metroplex got all the drama moments.

 

Well, my the tracking for my SAF order from near two weeks ago has finally started working… and it says that it’s not moved since last Wednesday. Hopefully it’s just a bit delayed, but I’m not liking my chances of it showing up before new year’s.
…
Also got one of the Micro Galaxy blind boxes for £3.75 at Tesco and got Ahsoka. It’s reasonable quality for something so small… but it really is small. I’d feel bad paying the full fiver for it, never mind those collecting the full set. The bigger ones do seem to be of better value from what I’ve seen though.

 

Yeah, it’s probably a lot of hassle and not worth trying to sorting - might have a buyer already though!

 

What age is your kid to be reading MTMTE?

 

More compelling data to suggest we need a Glasgow re-record. Might as well do a repaint for a Rangers strip and swap the sword for a can of Tennent’s and a broken Irn Bru bottle.

 

Yeah regional releases are needed, a West Country David Prowse Vader type version with cyber pasty and shepherd's crook.

"Faaartress Maaassimush dun like these ee Dessepticaans."

 

Oh man I'm really enjoying new xmen, from 130ish to 156 it's been stonking and uncanny has been great alongside it.

Trying to break off and read all of xtreme xmen but it's really not hitting the same. In fact I've decided I'll finish new xmen and go back to xtreme after. Just not feeling it.

 

Haslab folks need to see this

@Trunkkey is sound, so if you guys can get your hands on these somehow, you're in safe hands

 

LOL, Ninja'ed by Bobby in the composition:
To be fair the speech may be Japanese but it's a far more expansive set of sounds as the Takara LG head actually spouts Fortress Quotes/Catchphrases from the Japanese Headmasters 'toon, where the Western release is at best monosyllabic in speech just spouting "AUTOBOTS", "DECEPTICONS", "EMISSARY" (when top of Tower mode is properly pegged in), "CEREBROS" (when in said form), & "FORTRESS MAXIMUS" (as the Big Fella, naturally) between various blast & powering-up sound effects.
Sadly cutbacks meant that he didn't get a more loquacious home market US version like T30 Metroplex.

Which reminds me I made this supercut of all the City mode SFX to try and let the TF Wiki lot know about "EMISSARY" and the "Techno Tune" that apparently only plays in City Mode that hasn't been documented by them but I couldn't figure out how to start discourse with them after making an account on the site. It seems my prior Vimeo videos have gone from my account so I've re-uploaded it & thought I might as well share it here (again? I may have posted it once already?)!

Actually running through the clip, there's quite the variety in SF SFX, just a shame about the speech!

 

Busy day but the 2022 grail has arrived...G1 reissue Predaking!

Upfront, I've never handled any of the G1 Predacons besides a KO Razorclaw years ago.

When I first re-joined the fandom in 2003 or so, there was no tfwiki or many detailed resources beyond tfarchive. Video reviews were not a thing and even pictorial reviews were rare. Besides cartoon screenshots and crappy ebay pictures of G1 scrap I had little visual reference of many of the things I read about. One of the hearsay from back then was G1 Predaking, and how it was head and shoulders above other G1 bots, bots were of similar size to each other, LARGE scale, five beasts etc.

I wasn't convinced from the artwork and subsequent pictures of it looked too garish for my teenage year tastes. Don't get me wrong, as a combiner it is certainly a memorable design, cannon feet, animal heads, the iconic lion chest, wings, spiked gauntlets...but bright orange, yellow, red and black did not do it for me. I never went for one, but the characters were my first complete 3P combiner [MMC back then]. The current Cang Toys redesign does it immense justice but those figures are 100000000000% style and presentation and about 5% transformation elegance and playability.

As my vintage/G1 collection is slowly [read; glacially] increasing with odd bits and pieces here and there that I always wanted [no rhyme or reason between them], I chanced upon a decent deal on an opened one and went for it. In hindsight, as I said before, never again ordering from abroad in December. Between strikes, Xmas closures and "missed deliveries" this took close to a month.

In-hand, it's everything I hoped for, more...and less all at the same time.

Each figure is the size of a modern voyager and weigh what, twice what a legacy voyager does? All bots have tons of die-cast. Most [but not all] joints are ratcheted on all of them. Most joints/animal limbs have got soft and hard locking points, the plastic is dense...they really do have a very tactile feeling, made to be played with. They've made me look into late G1 toys anew. Each toy has decent but variable amounts of articulation, ages ahead of the competition, but they all lose something in the process.

Tantrum and Headstrong have got really good arm articulation but immobile sticks for legs. Divebomb, Rampage and Razorclaw have got ratcheted waist swivels, ratcheted thighs, ratcheted knees, technically feet joints and ratcheted arms with variable head articulation. Wow.

Combined mode is ahead of its time, ratcheted shoulders, ratcheted elbows, swivel at the wrists, ratcheted hips, ratcheted waist and pseudo head articulation. Hips swing out to accommodate both chunky legs. Only thing that lets it down in combined mode is that the wings feel like an afterthought. With all the locking bits all over I'm surprised they're supposed to just rest on the lion feet.

Individual bots...Rampage seems to have the best proportions out of them all. No way I can remember which sword and accessories go where.

Next G1 target for 2023? Dunno. Sixshot? A G1 Jetfire mould?

 

I wasn’t a big fan of the Fort Mac simply because it was too much based on the flawed Metroplex. The Headmasters audio was the only thing that made me regret selling him on

 

I’d noticed that too, literally their only mainstream retail presence in the UK…