FYI, Kapow have split that Marvel Legends 5 pack with Stryfe etc in it.
...

Jada Toys - Street Fighter Series 2 Ken, Dhalsim and Bison 6 Inch Action Figures
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Comics have the retro movie TFs in.

 

Was there anyone here who preordered Robot Base (Ground Dion)?

Thinking of going in on it but need a nudge.

 

I'm in for 2. Paid off the second one today just before the exchange rate for worse again...
The shipping price has gone up since I preordered, too, but currently Amazon japan still works out a hair cheaper than omegalock. If rates get better, or shipping prices go down, it could be better still.

As for the nudge... It seems like diaclone is very much 'get it or regret it'. Late tax is pretty bad with these.
This release looks set to be one of the biggest bestest they've done so far, so doesn't seem a bad decision to get it. My titans will be moving out to make room for these.

Edit to add - these are getting quite expensive, though. A couple of add on sets already, and there's another one or two just for the legs, then the top half of the robot is going to be as much as the legs again, and then the add ons for that, too...

 

Game have the likes of Tarn, Needlenose and Lio in at standard prices if your local Smyths or wherever doesn't.

 

Cheers fellas. If anyone winds up in the same boat, cerulean blue acrylic with a splash of titanium white is your answer. Spot of Future when dry gives it a matching sheen.




Just made a Rampage claw out of a Creme Egg wrapper. Absolutely smashing it today.

 

Do it now or regret it later. That's the Diaclone Way.

 

Yeah I did but I won't get it for a wee bit yet.

I can't make that choice for anyone Diaclone is a VERY expensive hobby.

 

Cheap Blitzwing has a decent enough robot mode, but yeah the jet/brick mode is very lacklustre…

 

The tank mode upgrade helps so does transforming the thing properly as I'm pretty sure the instructions are wrong for the rear sides of the jet as it actually has horizontal tails they just tell you not to use them. It's got a good robot mode though.

 

I’m in for one but I thought the pre-orders for it had all been taken, seem to recall reading something about that over in the DR thread

 

It's still up on Omegalock, and marked as incoming I believe (I only know because I got a twitter notification about it)

 

Yep
£479.99 on omegalock (not sure how much postage will add) Diaclone DA-95 Robot Base (Ground Dion)
And currently £474ish on amazon japan, with a small chance of either the exchange rate getting better or shipping getting cheaper (shipping had gone up quite a lot since it was first listed there) both could get worse, though - https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/aw/d/B0BCVKZFRL/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_1?smid=AN1VRQENFRJN5&psc=1

 

Just £7.50 on top of the product price with Omegalock:

 

Oh, Prowl. You and Ratchet were, without a shadow of a doubt, my favourite TFA characters. I still can’t watch ‘Endgame Part II’ without feeling a little over come with emotion.

But man, they had to work to make me love him. In his first appearances Prowl was set up as a totally arrogant bellend. The disdain he felt for the rest of ‘Team Optimus’ couldn’t have been stated more clearly in ‘Transform and Roll Out’, and naturally his refusal to be a team player caused more problems than his skill set would solve.

But he grew as a character quickly. Early on we get his love and respect for nature. Then we understood his guilt and his inadequacies, beautifully illustrated by Jazz simply observing that the resident ‘Cyber-Ninja’ hot shot hadn’t actually completed his training. And then, of course, we see him at his noblest. That melancholy smile, man…where they simply flip his shades. I may be tearing up already. Beautiful, beautiful story telling.

I’ve already written about my affection for Transformers Animated, so I won’t start gushing about all the things I loved about the cartoon and the toy line. Suffice to say, I loved the smart storytelling and the inspired character designs. And Prowl is one of my favourite character designs. But first let me take you back to January 1988 and 2000ad ‘prog’ 555.

I’d started getting 2000ad regularly some months before, but as I get this comic, just after the Christmas where I got Scorponok, my brain is blown all over the place by Simon Bisley’s work on A.B.C. Warriors. It was astonishing. 2000ad was full of brilliant artwork back then, but I really don’t think I’d ever seen anything as beautiful, intense, innovative, or well constructed as Bisley’s work on that strip. I pulled out some old issues to look at it and went straight down the rabbit hole. For many people it’s Bisley’s painted work that stands as his peak, but I’ll always love these monochrome strips, with the impossibly heavy black inks.

And my favourite, and possibly Bisley’s favourite character was Joe Pineapples. To the eyes of nine year old, Joe was incredibly cool. A lethal assassin of few words but great style, with a long angular chin and some pointy edged shades. And Derrick J Wyatt, Prowl’s designer, is on record as being influenced by Bisley’s A.B.C. Warriors. My mind was a little blown upon discovering this. Someone had fused my two mid to late 80’s obsessions. Sometimes I almost think TFA was made with me in mind.

Like so many other characters, TFA Prowl’s figure comes as close to looking like he’s stepped right off the screen as it’s probably possible to get. They’ve leant into everything that’s distinctive about the head design. The chin is massive, the shades are pointy, and the mouth is cut an angle that highlights his aloof nature. It’s wonderful. His body and limbs are long and sleek, with his thighs being absolutely tiny! I love how big and chunky his boots are and seeing the wheels sit so well and prominently is a joy. It’s the sort of thing that probably only makes sense on a Transformer and I’m so glad to see such a thing be embraced. I think my only complaint about this guy is his tiny, insubstantial pelvis. It looks incomplete. Which is such a shame for such a well considered figure.

The bike mode is possibly one of the finest and tightest examples of this notoriously difficult alt mode. It has gaps, but the gaps are designed in such a way as to look like they’re part of the bike. For example his lower abdomen, which sits in the middle of the significant gap, has been designed to look an engine. An engine where some ventilation might be desirable. And that speaks to the amount of thought that’s gone into the design of this bike mode. The arms links tightly around the curve of his lower back to make a seat where all the bot mode kibble is incredibly well integrated. To be honest, the only real bot mode kibble that catches my eye is some fingers and thumbs peaking out behind the read of the bike.

I was both very excited and a little nervous when I saw the first rumours that we’d be getting a Generations take on TFA Prowl. In Legacy we’d seen some…sub-optimal takes on the Prime characters (along with some excellent takes on Beast Wars characters) and the creeping dread that they might fuck up something so dear to me was palpable. But then so was the excitement that they might do it some serious justice. I’m won’t drag it out; Legacy Prowl is a very respectable take on the character.

I should start by acknowledging that G1-ififcation of the guy. Of course all the most stylised extremities of the original design have been smoothed out. The super slender limbs, with their exaggerated length, and – most challengingly for me – the spikey shades and the big long chin, have all been made to look for more ‘normal’. But I look at this toy and all I see is love, commitment and effort. I feel like the design team have tried to honour as much as they can from the original design while making it fit well with the rest of the line. And I think they’ve done a great job.

The headsculpt is lovely. He’s still got a chin that’s much longer than your typical Generations guy, but even with all his sharp edges rolled off it’s still very much yer TFA Prowl. While the thighs are far thicker, they actually evoke the pants of a highway patrol cop a lot better than the original. In fact, his entire pelvis is quite an improvement over the original.

There’s some glaring QC issues on the paint apps. Mine’s…passable, with tiny streaks of gold pain and blue paint on his helmet, but I’ve seen some people with massive smears from his goggles. The inner wheels on his calves also seem to have suffered from a bit of over spray. It’s kinda sad, because the paint decos on this guy are lovely. The gold stripes on his shoulders and forearms really ‘pop’ and I love they’ve taken the care to give his ‘ears’ a little gold highlight.

One of the areas where they’ve really gone above and beyond is the articulation. Prowl has all the leg articulation and poseability that you’d expect from a Cyber-Ninja, and he also has the stability to support a number of high kicking one legged poses. I’m not sure I can think of another Generations figure that can rock a one legged pose so confidently. He’s even got a little ab crunch.

I swear that it’s not just my deteriorating eyesight (I just got new glasses); these fucking instructions are getting harder and harder to see, never mind read clearly. Is the ink really that expensive?

The bike is far weaker than the ‘bot mode. It’s got plenty of nice touches, and it’s a handsome bike in many ways, though I’m not convinced that making the windshield rounder was a great choice. But however nice it might look, the massive gaps in places are impossible to ignore. And they’re visible from nearly every angle. When I look from above there’s a gap behind the seat. From either side I’ve got a choice of four gaps to pick from, one of which looks big enough to get Starsaber’s Brainmaster through. And then we’ve got some visible bot head behind his windshield, even when you push it all the way forward. Urk! In it’s defense, it does manage to hide the fingers and thumbs in a much tighter way, with the back of the hands forming a rear light.

There’s rumours of more TFA stuff coming down the line. From what I’ve seen we’re due to get some of the more predictable characters. While I’m still excited to get new versions of Optimus or Bumblebee, I’d be rrrrrrreally excited to see some of the more far out characters, like Oilslick, Lugnut, or Lockdown (say, that Junkion car sure looks a lot like…)

 

Seems like we’re in the same boat in 2 ways! I got smashed by a bug on Sunday, pretty scary stuff. Pulling through now though, just about!

My BBB Parkour is in the same shipment as yours, and I don’t recall seeing that delay before but it doesn’t look to have delayed it much. Might even be out today…?

 

The recent chat about Diaclone DA-95 Robot Base, AKA Diaclone ‘Trousers’, has rekindled a longing. However, perhaps for the better, I don’t think it can be justified

Also, is it outrageous Omegalock want £7.50 P&P for domestic shipping on a £480 figure?

 

Coming to a theatre near you in *checks notes*...summer 1988.

Fuck I'm old.

 

A1!

Animated Prowl influenced by JP, that makes sense! Bisley ABC Warriors = top Bisley for me too. Got the collected edition and it gets re-read regularly.

Am now picturing Prowl with one foot on a decapitated kneeling android corpse, calmly aiming a sniper rifle. He'd do it you know.

Now, somebody post Nemesis' nose.  

 

RE: Ground Dion, I hate, HATE telling people what to do, even jokingly but if you don't get it now it will cost an absolute fortune later, Diaclone has had a big surge in popularity with Battle Convoy/Great Robot Base project and now prices are escalating for every single thing in the line.

With that, here are the first package pictures, it's done and will be officially released on Saturday.  


Make space in your storage facility!

Callouts for days!

By land or by sofa it is coming!

Free plastic garage included to justify insane cost!