Amazon Listings for Takara Tomy Transformers Studio Series Wave 2

You know... I like not needing to worry about Takara versions being any better than Hasbro's cos i used to have to choose between cheaper Hasbro ones or more expensive (including shipping) Takara versions. Now I don't have to spend time making that decision and just buy Hasbro's and add any lil extra paint myself knowing there is no better factory version available to make me envious or broke.

Brawl is more scrawny looking as a voyager than the THICC leader. I may pick him up on sale. Lockdown seem pretty fine too, despite the obligatory arm panels and backpack. Maybe on sale too. Jazz and Megs are day one sure buy, no matter the price.

-Kanrabat- wrote:Brawl is more scrawny looking as a voyager than the THICC leader. I may pick him up on sale. Lockdown seem pretty fine too, despite the obligatory arm panels and backpack. Maybe on sale too. Jazz and Megs are day one sure buy, no matter the price.

Lockdown has an insane amount of detail especially for a Deluxe figure. And despite not being as tall as Prime he's certainly bulky enough and well proportioned enough that he looks like he can take him on. Wish my photo skills could do justice to the figures but here's a slightly blurry shot anyways.


Also thanks muchly to Munkky for the spare Ratchet & Bee backdrop cards. They just arrived a few minutes ago and were better packaged than some of the actual full on boxed Transformers I've ordered in past year or so Giving one of those to DotM Barricade (that I'm using at least until the possiblity of an actual Studio figure is made) and haven't decided which figure to use on the other. Will need some voyager backdrops at some point too cos I want one for my custom RotF Bludgeon.

Didn't realize before now how Brawl's turret just hangs off his back like a really long third peg-leg.

So there is probably a Barricade coming as part of the Bee movie (since I just saw a bit about Jess Harnell confirming he's voicing Barricade in the film). Possibly 80's cop car? Could be cool.

ZeroWolf wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:The pics above clearly show that 2007 Ratchet is stupidly LARGE. Damn, he's almost a leader by today's standards.

And simultaneously showing that the perfect sized Ratchet is around halfway between him and the shrimpy SS guy

Perfect size compared to what though? Or are you suggesting that ratchet should have been a voyager in the ss line to scale with his live mates?

Looking at the figures included that came from AoE and TLK, and even many of the DotM figures, all scale well with each other, even if the DotM felt a bit chinsier. The Studio series line could EASILY have kept that scale and thus made the new modern versions of movie 1, 2, and 3 characters in scale with the new post DotM guys.

So by extent, you could have had every character from movies 4 and 5 line up with the new toys from 1, 2, and 3, thus making a perfect shelf across the whole movie board. And we have the proper robot mode scale for pretty much everyone save Slug and Strafe (and even Strafe is debatable), so it would not have been that much of a stretch. It could have been perfect!

Carnivius_Prime wrote:Studio is it's OWN scale. It's a movie line where all the figures are intentionally designed to try and be in scale with each other as best as can be allowed given budget and other reasons. Previous movie lines did not have this focus. Characters were simply placed into whichever class their a toy could be made for and the toy was made best to fit that particular budget class and that's why you got multiple size versions of the same character in the same line, (for example in Dark of the Moon there is Ironhide in Deluxe, Voyager AND Leader class all at the same time). If previous movie figures fit into Studio scale it is by chance, not by design (especially since the size classes have all actually changed physical sizes and costs in the past 11 years since the first movie line). In this scale Optimus Prime and Megatron are NOT Leader class. They are Voyager so that photo having the Leader class figures is way off anyways.

The only voyager Primes I own are the Evasion and TLK ones, and I did not grab the TLK one since I had a TLK voyager in there already.

But see my above comments, AOE and TLK were all in scale with one another save pretty much Slug and the non-movie dinobots, this was a perfect chance to continue that scale, but instead they fudged it all up and went smaller for many of these guys.

As a movie lover, it's a hard pill to swallow spending $22 on Jazz or Bee, and Ratchet should have been a voyager. The fact that he keeps getting deluxe toys infuriates me to no end.

I can see your argument but i liken this to what takara did with the masterpiece line when they released mp 10 as a start in a new more accurate scale (or as close as possible to what they consider a scale, given its inconsistencies). This fulfills a couple of goals 1) create a new consistent scale 2) create a new consistent scale that is designed with minimising costs and maximising profits since we have to pay for licencing on some of these.

After having voyager rachet and deluxe rachet, I found the deluxe more fun, and with the rotf version, I loved the interaction it had with the Lockdown toy (mirroring the interaction between the Animated versions of their toys)

Reminds me...I need to grab both animated Lockdowns at some point.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:
As a movie lover, it's a hard pill to swallow spending $22 on Jazz or Bee, and Ratchet should have been a voyager. The fact that he keeps getting deluxe toys infuriates me to no end.

I'm looking at voyager Prime and Megatron from the Last Knight on my shelf and there's no way Ratchet should be anywhere near as big as either of them. To scale with them as a voyager he'd have to be a very tiny Voyager and then be even more overpriced as a Voyager toy than you apparently consider actual Studio Bee and Jazz to be. Especially when standing next to someone like Studio Starscream who is a voyager but clearly meant to be far larger than Ratchet and so is. And Megatron is meant to be taller than Starscream which the Studio figures do right too. So if Ratchet was a voyager, then Starscream and Megatron (and Optimus and Brawl) would be pushed into being Leaders to be far taller than Ratchet which would up their costs greatly too, and then push Blackout and Grimlock into being Supremes which hugely inflate their costs to the point they'd probably not be profitable at all that size with only the richer collectors being able to afford them at all (not me) and stores less likely to want to devote shelf space to them.

Personally I think they've got it mostly right with this series. I don't know all the decisions they had to make with size in relation to how certain characters are designed factoring costs of parts and paint and such as an overall line.
So yeah gonna have to agree to disagree on this. I really like the overall scale they've done for this line. Moreso than previous ones and I'm enjoying collecting these as a complete line more than any other TF line in my 30+ years as a TF fan.

ZeroWolf wrote:Reminds me...I need to grab both animated Lockdowns at some point.

I literally just sold one a couple weeks ago. I had a junker one and found another junker one at charity shop and mixed the pieces together. I don't like the figure myself much. Fun car mode but not keen on the robot design (in either Animated or RotF versions). It was the third/fourth one I'd come across in past couple years in just my local charity shop for some reason. If I'd known you were looking for one I might have been able to help. Sorry

ok now i must try sleep. after i wipe the blood of these keyboard. been having nosebleeds all day. No idea why. Goodnight.

Carnivius_Prime wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:Brawl is more scrawny looking as a voyager than the THICC leader. I may pick him up on sale. Lockdown seem pretty fine too, despite the obligatory arm panels and backpack. Maybe on sale too. Jazz and Megs are day one sure buy, no matter the price.

Lockdown has an insane amount of detail especially for a Deluxe figure. And despite not being as tall as Prime he's certainly bulky enough and well proportioned enough that he looks like he can take him on. Wish my photo skills could do justice to the figures but here's a slightly blurry shot anyways.

Damn. Okay, I changed my mind. Even though I have Peru-Kill, that deluxe Lockdown is a thing of beauty. Making the original AoE version completely GARBAGE in comparison. I'm so getting this!

Carnivius_Prime wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:
As a movie lover, it's a hard pill to swallow spending $22 on Jazz or Bee, and Ratchet should have been a voyager. The fact that he keeps getting deluxe toys infuriates me to no end.

I'm looking at voyager Prime and Megatron from the Last Knight on my shelf and there's no way Ratchet should be anywhere near as big as either of them. To scale with them as a voyager he'd have to be a very tiny Voyager and then be even more overpriced as a Voyager toy than you apparently consider actual Studio Bee and Jazz to be. Especially when standing next to someone like Studio Starscream who is a voyager but clearly meant to be far larger than Ratchet and so is. And Megatron is meant to be taller than Starscream which the Studio figures do right too. So if Ratchet was a voyager, then Starscream and Megatron (and Optimus and Brawl) would be pushed into being Leaders to be far taller than Ratchet which would up their costs greatly too, and then push Blackout and Grimlock into being Supremes which hugely inflate their costs to the point they'd probably not be profitable at all that size with only the richer collectors being able to afford them at all (not me) and stores less likely to want to devote shelf space to them.

Personally I think they've got it mostly right with this series. I don't know all the decisions they had to make with size in relation to how certain characters are designed factoring costs of parts and paint and such as an overall line.
So yeah gonna have to agree to disagree on this. I really like the overall scale they've done for this line. Moreso than previous ones and I'm enjoying collecting these as a complete line more than any other TF line in my 30+ years as a TF fan.

ZeroWolf wrote:Reminds me...I need to grab both animated Lockdowns at some point.

I literally just sold one a couple weeks ago. I had a junker one and found another junker one at charity shop and mixed the pieces together. I don't like the figure myself much. Fun car mode but not keen on the robot design (in either Animated or RotF versions). It was the third/fourth one I'd come across in past couple years in just my local charity shop for some reason. If I'd known you were looking for one I might have been able to help. Sorry

ok now i must try sleep. after i wipe the blood of these keyboard. been having nosebleeds all day. No idea why. Goodnight.

Don't worry about it mate My budget for toy buying anyway has just been dramatically slashed by future plans

People consider the HFTD deluxe Ironhide to be a great toy. So why not just oversizing it by a few millimeters and release it as SS deluxe Ironhide?
It would scale perfectly with Ratchet, Optimus, the Dreads, and the others.

-Kanrabat- wrote:People consider the HFTD deluxe Ironhide to be a great toy. So why not just oversizing it by a few millimeters and release it as SS deluxe Ironhide?
It would scale perfectly with Ratchet, Optimus, the Dreads, and the others.

Yeah, I broke out my deluxe Ironhide to compare with my SS figures and was really surprised that he wasn’t that far off from being in scale. I think it’s a pretty good figure, but if they upscale it they’d have to do it like SS Starscream and fix a few things, like having his chest actually tab into place and some better upper arms.

I feel like I'm jumping into a convo with random thoughts here...

But I have enjoyed this line a lot so far. It's one of those things where I really hope it continues enough to provide a decently large cast. If it stops after a wave or two, I don't want to end up with a bunch of out of place, out of scale figures on their own lame shelf.

There's a lot of potential here and I hope it isn't wasted is basically what I'm getting at.

I'm also really hoping for an improved Prime mold. His colors just aren't right and the whole back configuration bothers me the more I look at it.

Source: https://gramrix.com/p/1765127089952220302_7589158183

Not a lot to go off there...

ZeroWolf wrote:Not a lot to go off there...

BUT IT'S BUMBLEBEE! IN A MOVIE LINE! IT MEAN SOMETHING!

ZeroWolf wrote:Not a lot to go off there...

What do you mean, it clearly has a VW beetle headlight on his shoulder. Please tell me that's his shoulder. God, I hope they didn't give him headlight, um headlights.

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Not a lot to go off there...

What do you mean, it clearly has a VW beetle headlight on his shoulder. Please tell me that's his shoulder. God, I hope they didn't give him headlight, um headlights.

I've got some bad news for you.

So we all know that SS Starscream is a modified upscale of the DOTM Deluxe. Well something occurred to me- seeing as Thundercracker is a retool of Nitro Zeus, and Hasbro are clearly able to "upscale" older figures, how about a Voyager sized upscale of HFTD Terradive into a Skywarp for a Voyager class Seeker trio made of different molds?

I would be down for that, that is one good mold...but who would sunstorm be a redco of

Black Hat wrote:So we all know that SS Starscream is a modified upscale of the DOTM Deluxe. Well something occurred to me- seeing as Thundercracker is a retool of Nitro Zeus, and Hasbro are clearly able to "upscale" older figures, how about a Voyager sized upscale of HFTD Terradive into a Skywarp for a Voyager class Seeker trio made of different molds?

A nice idea, but I'd rather Hasbro and Takara focus more on getting out on-screen characters for now. Thundercracker was a nice little bonus, but only exists because Toys 'R' Us asked for it before they knew they were going completely out of business. I think that's how a lot of these exclusives work, if I recall correctly. Places like TRU and BBTS ask for exclusives to attract potential customers and then Hasbro decides what to make for them. Hasbro probably picked a non-screen character for an exclusive for TRU so that no one would balk at having to go there to get an "essential" character for their movie collection. I'm betting this is why Takara isn't bothering too, because the line is supposed to be about on-screen characters, and Thundercracker doesn't really fit in that motif.

If Hasbro does go forward with more exclusives like Thundercracker, though, I wonder who'd pick up those exclusives? Big Bad Toy Store? I don't think Target, Walmart, or any extant brick and mortar retailer really cares for that kind of stuff nowadays. Although, Walgreens might be game for it.

Wolfman Jake wrote:

Black Hat wrote:So we all know that SS Starscream is a modified upscale of the DOTM Deluxe. Well something occurred to me- seeing as Thundercracker is a retool of Nitro Zeus, and Hasbro are clearly able to "upscale" older figures, how about a Voyager sized upscale of HFTD Terradive into a Skywarp for a Voyager class Seeker trio made of different molds?

A nice idea, but I'd rather Hasbro and Takara focus more on getting out on-screen characters for now. Thundercracker was a nice little bonus, but only exists because Toys 'R' Us asked for it before they knew they were going completely out of business. I think that's how a lot of these exclusives work, if I recall correctly. Places like TRU and BBTS ask for exclusives to attract potential customers and then Hasbro decides what to make for them. Hasbro probably picked a non-screen character for an exclusive for TRU so that no one would balk at having to go there to get an "essential" character for their movie collection. I'm betting this is why Takara isn't bothering too, because the line is supposed to be about on-screen characters, and Thundercracker doesn't really fit in that motif.

If Hasbro does go forward with more exclusives like Thundercracker, though, I wonder who'd pick up those exclusives? Big Bad Toy Store? I don't think Target, Walmart, or any extant brick and mortar retailer really cares for that kind of stuff nowadays. Although, Walgreens might be game for it.

That's true, albeit a shame as IMO some of the best figures from the Movie lines were "offscreen" characters. I mean I get it 100%, I'm just a bit sad because A: yet another Seeker trio is left incomplete, and B: that mold looks awesome and seeing it get the SS Starscream treatment would have been cool.

On topic: I REALLY hope that the new F4 Phantom Starscream design from the Bumblebee movie gets an SS figure. It looks really, really good and I'd love a decent Phantom TF.

Black Hat wrote:That's true, albeit a shame as IMO some of the best figures from the Movie lines were "offscreen" characters. I mean I get it 100%, I'm just a bit sad because A: yet another Seeker trio is left incomplete, and B: that mold looks awesome and seeing it get the SS Starscream treatment would have been cool.

On topic: I REALLY hope that the new F4 Phantom Starscream design from the Bumblebee movie gets an SS figure. It looks really, really good and I'd love a decent Phantom TF.

If it makes you feel any better, HFTD Terradive did get the "Starscream" treatment, in a way. Fun Pub released a repaint of Terradive as "Machine Wars Starscream" for one of the latter BotCons. It was the attendee figure, I believe. Lots were still available on the TFCC store before it went out of business last year.

I'm sure that Hasbro will release a figure of Starscream in his new (old?) form for the Bumblebee movie. That's too good of an opportunity for them to pass up, really. Starscream is one of the big names in Transformers, so any toy of him they can get away with, they'll make (hence, the decedly "meh" Power of the Primes release of Starscream).

Crazy theory here: what if the listing for Starscream coming in wave 4 (I think, could be 3) isn't the RotF tattooed version of his current voyager toy, but rather his Bumblebee movie design?

Think about it, that wave would be coming right around the Bee movie, so having the VW Bee, Starscream, and what I am thinking is Barricade as that red muscle car be part of the wave coming at the time of the movie would be perfect.

Now I need to get the current voyager, just in case I'm right.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Crazy theory here: what if the listing for Starscream coming in wave 4 (I think, could be 3) isn't the RotF tattooed version of his current voyager toy, but rather his Bumblebee movie design?

I think Starscream from this film will get a toy, I hope so.

But the Starscream coming out next in the SS line is indeed the ROTF tatooed version. The listing was pretty clear about that: https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... bel/41092/

william-james88 wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Crazy theory here: what if the listing for Starscream coming in wave 4 (I think, could be 3) isn't the RotF tattooed version of his current voyager toy, but rather his Bumblebee movie design?

I think Starscream from this film will get a toy, I hope so.

But the Starscream coming out next in the SS line is indeed the ROTF tatooed version. The listing was pretty clear about that: https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... bel/41092/

Although, with the movie having been pushed back we know the lineup is going to be a bit different from the leak. TF2 Starscream was supposed to be wave 4 but now he seems to be wave 3 based on such an early listing so it's possible TF6 'Screamer got his wave 4 slot.

Emerje

Among other things, Studio Series Blackout is on sale on HTS Ebay for $39.99, and it is still eligible for the 20% off coupon expiring in 3 hours (7pm west coast time) code PICKDADSGIFT. Just got my Blackout for $34 after tax!

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?siteid=0&pub=5574891718&campid=5336631220&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1&mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fitm%2FTransformers-S%20...%20SwIIha3u2~%3C%2Fa%3E%3F

HTS transformers page on ebay: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?siteid=0&pub=5574891718&campid=5336631220&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fstores.ebay.com%2Fhasbrotoyshop%2F_i%20...%20ansformers%3C%2Fa%3E%3F

Seibertronian news staff member on hiatus Bounti76 comes at us live from Salt Lake City (during a lunch break) to report a sighting of the Transformers Studio Series Voyager class Megatron and Brawl figures - which were first reported in a sighting from Singapore a while back - now found at US retail in a Walmart store for the price of 29.84 USD each.

If you come across these or any other Transformers figures of interest, make sure to mark them down in the Sightings Database and our regional (worldwide) Sightings forum to help out fellow collectors - we currently have reports for Ohio and California too, along with this Utah one!

the only figure I'm getting has finally showed up. Now to wait 3 more months before I finally see it in Long Beach California, which takes FOREVER to ship here.

fruityrobo wrote:the only figure I'm getting has finally showed up. Now to wait 3 more months before I finally see it in Long Beach California, which takes FOREVER to ship here.

Long Beach is the big port in SoCal, no? Why would it take things so long to show up there if that's where they come in to the country?

Distribution is weird that way. Sure, Long Beach is where the port is, but that's not the big governing factor. The people in charge of ordering stock for stores, what stock is already sitting on the shelves, what stock orders are in the queue.. Those have a far more direct influence.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Among other things, Studio Series Blackout is on sale on HTS Ebay for $39.99, and it is still eligible for the 20% off coupon expiring in 3 hours (7pm west coast time) code PICKDADSGIFT. Just got my Blackout for $34 after tax!

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?siteid=0&pub=5574891718&campid=5336631220&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1&mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fitm%2FTransformers-S%20...%20SwIIha3u2~%3C%2Fa%3E%3F

HTS transformers page on ebay: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?siteid=0&pub=5574891718&campid=5336631220&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fstores.ebay.com%2Fhasbrotoyshop%2F_i%20...%20ansformers%3C%2Fa%3E%3F

Oh, that just f***ing figures, I don't find that out until AFTER I go and pay full price for him at Target. I could have saved a notable amount!

All the same, last I looked complete Movie 1 Voyager Blackouts were often going for around that much... And he's a bigger and better Blackout than that one by far.

I'm tempted by a lot of the Studio Series, honestly, though I'm prioritizing Power of the Primes. Blackout was an impulse buy due to frustration at the dearth of new PotP Deluxes at my local Targets combined with not wanting to have to buy him later when he was selling for $80 to $100 on eBay.

There is one Studio Series figure that I'm not tempted by in the slightest: Optimus. His original movie design is one they already mastered, all they needed to do was scale down Battle Blades Optimus a smidge and he'd have been fine..
But no, they had to be stupid and reinvent the wheel and end up with a figure that looks almost like a regression to the 2007 Movie Optimus toys.

Thanks to a heads up from Seibertronian and 'Leaked from Cybertron' watchdog westjames/notirish, we have a new 'Leaked from Cybertron' video, this time in the form of Studio Series Brawl!

In this video, designer Mike once again takes center stage as he talks about the just now hitting stores Studio Series Brawl figure, and an interesting bit of information that is new to us. While working with the design team, there were 2 different heads designed for Brawl, with a 2nd what appears to be more of a screaming head shown off. This screaming face version of the head was the head that got chopped (not by Prime though) and the head that we now see on the figure was chosen as it was more accurate to the film.

You can now watch this video either on the Transformers Facebook page or the Instagram page. Let us know what you think in the comments section below!

What about the dimes, though?
That aside, has anyone taken a photo of Blackout tanking up Starscream yet? Or him tanking up anyone else for that matter? I mean, he does have the requisite probe for it.
I have plans to take some such photos myself, though I don't have a couple figures I would really like to see him refueling (Studio Series Screamer, and HFTD Leader-class Screamer). Never mind, had the probe's function backwards

I'd love to have a 2nd Blackout to make into Grindor (who I doubt they'll make), and maybe more beyond that.

My hopes for the line include a Movie 1 Megatron, an improved DOTM Megatron (sure, the existing DOTM Voyager Megs is a decent figure and even cleverly pulls off some trailer articulation, but his weapon was dumb since without it his altmode is incomplete... I may be slightly bitter because I got mine secondhand and have had sh*t luck finding a replacement), a better Voyager Sentinel Prime, a do-over of Optimus since they blew it with the one that's out now, and last but not least... a new Leader Jetfire.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:What about the dimes, though?

That aside, has anyone taken a photo of Blackout tanking up Starscream yet? Or him tanking up anyone else for that matter? I mean, he does have the requisite probe for it.
I have plans to take some such photos myself, though I don't have a couple figures I would really like to see him refueling (Studio Series Screamer, and HFTD Leader-class Screamer).

I'd love to have a 2nd Blackout to make into Grindor (who I doubt they'll make), and maybe more beyond that.

My hopes for the line include a Movie 1 Megatron, an improved DOTM Megatron (sure, the existing DOTM Voyager Megs is a decent figure and even cleverly pulls off some trailer articulation, but his weapon was dumb since without it his altmode is incomplete... I may be slightly bitter because I got mine secondhand and have had sh*t luck finding a replacement), a better Voyager Sentinel Prime, a do-over of Optimus since they blew it with the one that's out now, and last but not least... a new Leader Jetfire.

um.... from my knowledge (which includes vids) that probe is for him to get refueled mid air, not to fill someone else's tank.....

Is it just me, or does SCREAMING Brawlastator look about 100X less intimidating than the strong, silent noggin'? I certainly understand sculpting another option, but doubt that was seriously considered for more than 5 seconds upon completion.

Always nice to see a mighta-been prototype though!

Octobotimus wrote:um.... from my knowledge (which includes vids) that probe is for him to get refueled mid air, not to fill someone else's tank.....

You're right, my bad

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:a do-over of Optimus since they blew it with the one that's out now

I don't agree with 'they blew it'. I think it's actually become my fave Voyager Optimus Prime figure to play with and certainly for it's excellent articulation and easy transformation. I'm hoping Toyhax include smoke stack extenders along with their sticker sheet when they're done but I'm very happy with my Optimus Prime after having added some of my own paint to it and vastly prefer it to the Battle Blade/Revenge mold (which looks nice at first but is fiddly as hell and the arms are hampered by kibble and having to accomodate the swords and oh god i hate the backpack and dislike the tiny feet).

This be mine at present, waiting for Toyhax flame stickers

Why do you hate the backpack that at least somewhat resembles the backpack from the movies? Studio Series' Optimus' is COMPLETELY wrong. On top of that, his leg tires are reversed from where they should be, his window pecs end up oriented too flat and have too large a gap between them, the hood sections/faux hood sections in his chest seem to be tucked in too far, the big hinges on either side of his torso make it look too blocky, and his truck mode's bed is ugly as heck - it looks more like something a legion-class figure would be forced to have. The most I can say for him in his favor is that the arms are more accurate-looking.

The Battle Blade figure's transformation scheme puts everything about where it should be, has a better-looking chest and torso shape, looks way better in truck mode due to having a proper truck bed... The awkwardness of the forearms could easily be dealt with by eliminating the sword integration. It'd probably still be a bit fiddly, but sometimes that's the price you have to pay for accuracy with Bayformers because of how blasted complex the designs are.

Maybe he likes it for the reasons he gave. You may not agree with them but it's his opinion. I quite the ss op as well, people with it in hand do say it's fun to handle and that's enough for me

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Why do you hate the backpack that at least somewhat resembles the backpack from the movies? Studio Series' Optimus' is COMPLETELY wrong. On top of that, his leg tires are reversed from where they should be, his window pecs end up oriented too flat and have too large a gap between them, the hood sections/faux hood sections in his chest seem to be tucked in too far, the big hinges on either side of his torso make it look too blocky, and his truck mode's bed is ugly as heck - it looks more like something a legion-class figure would be forced to have. The most I can say for him in his favor is that the arms are more accurate-looking.

I find the backpack on the Battle Blade mold far too fiddly and difficult to lock into place (on mine the slightest touch and that whole red wheel-arch section falls down) and because of that design it has no waist articulation (Studio Prime does since nothing needs to connect from the crotch/butt area to the torso other than the actual waist joint)

The Battle Blade figure's transformation scheme puts everything about where it should be, has a better-looking chest and torso shape, looks way better in truck mode due to having a proper truck bed... The awkwardness of the forearms could easily be dealt with by eliminating the sword integration.

It's not the swords that cause the most problems, it's the huge truck hood panels and the shoulder pads that aren't actually connected to the shoulders where they should but are actually fixed to the upper arms. Plus those shoulder panels are still very wrong being that they are flat panels (wheras Studio Prime has proper three dimensional shoulder pads). I also really dislike the hands since they are molded with a rectangular hole meaning he can hold his own (weird looking fuel tank) guns but not much else. I prefer Studio Prime having the swords as seperate pieces you insert into the hands from underneath and it using the 5mm standard so that Prime can hole a lot more different weapons too (or let someone else use his swords just for fun). Plus I like that his swords are plastic and transparent rather than bendy rubber.

Battle Blade/Revenge certainly has the more accurate truck mode but I often find it such a chore to change it into that mode and back again it sometimes doesn't seem worth it so if I am to keep mine I may just leave it in truck mode.

And again the fun factor in Studio Prime wins it for me. He's non-fiddly, he's well proportioned, has superb articulation (even the soles of his feet can touch each other almost flatly) and his large feet and good centre of balance means he can even stand on one foot pretty easily for some nice action poses.

Have you touched up the paint work on any of the other studio figures yet like megs?

ZeroWolf wrote:Have you touched up the paint work on any of the other studio figures yet like megs?

Nope. I didn't want to start on Megatron yet cos I'm very low on silvery paint and don't want to leave him hanging with just a lil paint on him (he's one of my fave figures) and he's a big guy with a looottt of grey areas to cover. :O He still looks rather cool as he is though whereas Prime really needed a bit of colour fixing up to bring out his awesomeness and I'm pleased with it despite my lack of skills.

Girlfriend will be here soon, so probs won't get to play with this guy till next week, but so far I am loving him.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Girlfriend will be here soon, so probs won't get to play with this guy till next week, but so far I am loving him.

Does look cool. I'll have to wait til I can find that one cheaper.

In case anyone's interested, hts has voyager megatron and brawl in stock to purchase as of right now, dunno how long they'll last though

Carnivius_Prime wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Girlfriend will be here soon, so probs won't get to play with this guy till next week, but so far I am loving him.

Does look cool. I'll have to wait til I can find that one cheaper.

Got him for $32 on Wednesday night with that 20% off Ebay coupon coupled with HTS Ebay having him for 20% off! I would have paid the $50 for him, but $32 makes him even better cause I feel like I stole him

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Got him for $32 on Wednesday night with that 20% off Ebay coupon coupled with HTS Ebay having him for 20% off! I would have paid the $50 for him, but $32 makes him even better cause I feel like I stole him

I keep getting outbid on eBay on Blackouts that have a low starting price as they get bid more than I can afford. I can't go very high as have spent a lot of money on Studio figures the past couple months so Megatron that I got a week and half ago probably has to be my last one for a while til my bank balance is ok again.

Anyways enjoy your Blackout. He looks awesome in that pic.

Carnivius_Prime wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Got him for $32 on Wednesday night with that 20% off Ebay coupon coupled with HTS Ebay having him for 20% off! I would have paid the $50 for him, but $32 makes him even better cause I feel like I stole him

I keep getting outbid on eBay on Blackouts that have a low starting price as they get bid more than I can afford. I can't go very high as have spent a lot of money on Studio figures the past couple months so Megatron that I got a week and half ago probably has to be my last one for a while til my bank balance is ok again.

Anyways enjoy your Blackout. He looks awesome in that pic.

Too bad you're not in Canada. Currently SS Blackout and Grimlock are on sale at 52$CAN. Add one of those 3 TrU Club coupons for Hasbro products bought at TrU (20$ off when spending 50$+)(Buy 2 get the 3rd free)(10% off) and you can get a Blackout for very cheap.

Well, I used the Hasbro Toy Shop deal, and went on and got Brawl.

Sorry if I missed any but I haven’t seen pictures of Brawl on here yet. I managed to snag him and Megatron for $30 each off Amazon the other day and they got here this afternoon. They finally managed to get Megatron’s head sculpt right after what, 9 years? I love it. He’s also massive, looks appropriately threatening and imposing next to Prime. To be honest I think Brawl is more fun though - a bit less fiddly and a nicer looking tank. I love the detail all over him but especially on his face, I never knew he had a toothy little mouth under that faceplate until I got him and looked super close at movie stills. The panels under his hands are a bummer but I’m calling him one of my favorites from Studio Series as of now. I’ll get some more pictures of these guys with all their Con buddies later once they’re all in robot mode again.

*edit: of course half the pictures are upside down. Really have to figure out how my phone camera works