In-Hand Images and Comparisons of Transformers Studio Series Ratchet, Stinger, Bumblebee, Crowbar

So it looks like the "new" old be got a straight up down-size from the "original" mold... what. the. actual. duck!

I'd like to know where everyone found the TlK wave 3 bee's I've never see ANY wave 3 in California. Do we know if the *other* studio bee is a re-release of that one, or a unknown new mold?

My Bee and Stinger should be coming later today, now I'm a bit disappointed.

I'm fascinated by this series. The fact that it's like every figure is a grab-bag of parts from other good figures is weirdly enticing. Like how Optimus is a rework of Evasion Prime.

The way the figures shrink, it made me remember the transition between RotF and DotM.

SpikeyTigertron wrote:So it looks like the "new" old be got a straight up down-size from the "original" mold... what. the. actual. duck!

I'd like to know where everyone found the TlK wave 3 bee's I've never see ANY wave 3 in California. Do we know if the *other* studio bee is a re-release of that one, or a unknown new mold?

My Bee and Stinger should be coming later today, now I'm a bit disappointed.

As a fan of KOs, I'm happy with this new direction. If Hasbro start "doing a Wei Jiang" and making osko or usko versions of their existing toys, with nicer paint, etc, I'll be really up for it.

I think Stinger looks fantastic. The shoulder headlights need to be folded down. Im hoping for a retool for Extinction Bee.

I was able to get a TLK 2017 Bee at my toys r us in So Cal but it was the first and last time I saw him

We have a couple of pieces of news coming to us from Vietnamese Transformers fans, both pertaining the Studio Series line, and featuring different Voyager class figures: Studio Series 05 Optimus Prime and Studio Series 06 Starscream!

Optimus Prime has a gorgeous pictorial showcase, taken by Raikki07 and shared with us via Flickr here, and of which we've selected a sample below for your enjoyment. Starscream on the other hand comes as a video review, via fellow Seibertronian Hellscream9999, by user Đức Hiển Nguyễn. Check it all out below, and let us know what you think in the Energon Pub discussion!

I wish that Optimus had the windows closer to each other. Almost looks like he has a matrix chamber. Regardless, I like the rest of the proportions on this guy more than Battle Blades.

the more I see that Prime the more I actually like it and just wish it had better paint (flames in particular.. am sure Toyhax will sort that) and longer smokestacks. It's not a priority figure but it's certainly a consideration one when I've got the ones I really want.

BombshellDaBug wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:They all have widespread issues, just look at the wikis:

Dragonstorm

Extreme caution must be taken for separating Dragonstorm from his packaging: especially both sides of the heads / Dragonicus's hands.

Steelbane (and retool)

Unfortunately, Steelbane suffers from loose ball joints, which prevent his dragon mode from staying together. Additionally, the figure's larger wings are molded in a softer plastic, and are prone to being warped straight out of the package.

Berserker

The vehicle mode kibble on his forearms is not affixed to him and merely pegs into sculpted slots on his arms. This leads to a somewhat weak hold and the kibble parts falling off during conversion. In vehicle mode, several of the tabs meant to hold the outer body together don't fit well, resulting in large gaps. The panels that form the back of the vehicle, in particular, have a tendency to pop out due to excessive pressure.

Crosshairs

The simple-assembly wheels are known to easily pop off from the vehicle due to slightly wide holes, and the guns were unable to peg into his trenchcoats properly.

Wave 3 Bee

On a lot of copies of this toy, the pegs securing the feet come undone easily, making the feet really floppy

For those who actually bought all the toys, the TLK line is a QC nightmare with widespread issues. I strongly advise anyone who claims there not to be problems to actually say that with experience of said molds because or else it's meaningless.

That's a lot of hyperbole, I mean, movie figs have always suffered a little for their complexity, I had more problems with movie automorph than the tlk figures, so does that mean that all movie figures with automorph are a nightmare, just cuz I had some lemons? And, besides which reports of most of these issues are far and few between from what I've seen 'round the net, and wiki entries is hardly firm evidence when one person with a lousy figure can just go on there and spread a bunch of hyperbolic slander.

Like, is dragostorm the equivalent of tr wolfwire? Is he destined to break no matter what? Or did someone get a lemon and we blew it out of proportion b/c we were looking forward to the figure? Look, I'm not saying there weren't problem's I just wanted actual quantifiable input. But I guess it doesn't matter anyways, and this is getting close to being off-topic, we'll know whether this line is any good come April

I own Dragonstorm, Steelbane, and Berserker. And unfortunately, I'd say that the TFWiki entries for Berserker and Steelbane are right on the ball. Steelbane is super floppy in dragon mode, and is best kept in robot mode (which is the strongest of the two modes anyways). Berserker's car kibble on his forearms had a nasty habit of falling off every time I tried to transform him. His transformation was also just flat out not fun. The damn thing would not tab together correctly. Also, his head is not secure on that ball joint for some odd reason. That was pretty annoying.

Dragonstorm, on the other hand, I did not have the issue of the dragon heads falling off. A lot of pieces felt loose and floppy, but nothing really broke for no apparent reason. I suspect that people may have been a bit rough trying to get it out of packaging. Although I did notice a few plastic ties that I thought could have been easy for a few people to miss. But again, did not have the issue of the dragon heads falling off.

My TLK Bee (see video i posted a couple days ago) and Berserker have had no issues whatsoever. Also TFwiki mentions a fault with Sqweeks 'Similar to Berserker's arm kibble, Sqweek's vehicle mode headlight piece does not have any glue holding it in place and tends to pop out during transformation.'. I actually tried pulling that piece off my Sqweeks and it simply wouldn't come off at all. Bit weird this... in other TF lines too everyone says the stickers on certain figures have issues such as those on Titans Return Megatron but I've had that figure well over a year and despite constant transforming he has had absolutely no sticker issue at all. In fact I had hard work trying to peel off the chest stickers recently (I never liked the swirly black lines and the 'con insignia was too small and I replaced it with a larger one).

Also today I got Skullitron and Deluxe Megatron (going very cheap in Toys R Us closing down sale). Skullitron's nowhere near as loose as I was led to believe (he stands up fine other than being a bit back-heavy in certain wing configurations and while the wings are sorta bent from packaging, a bit of hairdryer heat and flattening them out fixes it no problem) and transforms ok into that dragony thing but Deluxe Megs, a figure I haven't heard many complaints about, is quite a floppy mess in places and was not fun to turn into stealth bomber mode at all. I find it odd how the same figures end up good quality in some places and bad in others.

The fact that the quality of the same figure could be great for one person and terrible for another is proof that it has QC issues. Or else, it would be the same quality everywhere.

william-james88 wrote:The fact that the quality of the same figure could be great for one person and terrible for another is proof that it has QC issues. Or else, it would be the same quality everywhere.

ah ok. so if it's faulty everywhere it's a design flaw but if some are good and some bad, it's qc issues? Sorry I'm a bit dim.

Carnivius_Prime wrote:

william-james88 wrote:The fact that the quality of the same figure could be great for one person and terrible for another is proof that it has QC issues. Or else, it would be the same quality everywhere.

ah ok. so if it's faulty everywhere it's a design flaw but if some are good and some bad, it's qc issues? Sorry I'm a bit dim.

Yes, thats how I always saw it. There is no control over the quality. Some issues can be more widespread than others but it wont affect everyone.

T30 Bltizwing's shoulders for instance are a design flaw, as was the handlebar part of Generations Wreckgar.

Thus far nothing exciting that i would shell out cash for. Perhaps Blackout if they didn't butcher the qc.

I feel like Bumblebee is missing a piece, like a metal rod that connects the hood to the roof

Ig89ninja wrote:I feel like Bumblebee is missing a piece, like a metal rod that connects the hood to the roof

I really wish they put one in there, I would've called it a near perfect figure at that point (plus the upper legs would've looked much better in a light grey that matched the rest of him like in the cg renders, but oh well). Right now though it takes me 10 minutes to get him into car mode, and the shape of the hood has to be forced past his headlight chest sections so I won't be doing it much.

Prime’s transformation reminds me of the Transformers Prime First Edition Deluxe Optimus Prime

Ig89ninja wrote:I feel like Bumblebee is missing a piece, like a metal rod that connects the hood to the roof

That's due to to unhappy customers smashing those parts out with hammers...

...no thank you. I’ll stick with my voyager Battle Blades OP...

primalxconvoy wrote:

Ig89ninja wrote:I feel like Bumblebee is missing a piece, like a metal rod that connects the hood to the roof

That's due to to unhappy customers smashing those parts out with hammers...

ok, that got a chuckle out of me

Rellko wrote:...no thank you. I’ll stick with my voyager Battle Blades OP...

You and me both.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Rellko wrote:...no thank you. I’ll stick with my voyager Battle Blades OP...

You and me both.

You and most everyone else it seems, can't honestly say that o/p seems to fit in with the rest of the line... the alt mode has kibble everywhere, the bot mode doesn't really look anything like the character model, it's just weird

Hellscream9999 wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Rellko wrote:...no thank you. I’ll stick with my voyager Battle Blades OP...

You and me both.

You and most everyone else it seems, can't honestly say that o/p seems to fit in with the rest of the line... the alt mode has kibble everywhere, the bot mode doesn't really look anything like the character model, it's just weird

It is still more accurate than the cartoonish DOTM voyager and this one will surely be way more easy to transform than the rather difficult Battle Blades. So that may be what they were going for.

i cant stadn watch these videos any more i all ready have these figures i know how to trasnfrm them i know aritculation on them all it is with these is better paint details and some new accesories its nothing knew its watching masterpiece prime figure today and four years later watching same masterpiece prime figure review only as repaint as evil prime

Wow, some joker is selling pre-orders of Grimlock at Amazon Japan for over 100 Dollars:

- https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/aw/d/B079VH ... ref=plSrch?tag=seibertron00-22&



Seems that the scalpers have already had their way with Grimlock.

Anyway, pre-orders at Amazon Japan are below.

MP Barricade: - https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/aw/d/B079VH ... ref=plSrch?tag=seibertron00-22&

SS Optimus - https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/aw/d/B079VK ... ref=plSrch?tag=seibertron00-22&

SS Starscream (SS SS?) - https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/aw/d/B079VW ... ref=plSrch?tag=seibertron00-22&

SS Stinger - https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/aw/d/B079VJ ... ref=plSrch?tag=seibertron00-22&

SS Bumblebee: - https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/aw/d/B079VM ... ref=plSrch?tag=seibertron00-22&

SS "Dreadbot" (can't remember its name) - https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/aw/d/B079VW ... ref=plSrch?tag=seibertron00-22&

SS Ratchet: - https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/aw/d/B079VD ... ref=plSrch?tag=seibertron00-22&

(Most, if not all of those are being sold by Amazon, with Grimlock not. My uneducated guess is that all preorders for him sold out and that the private preorder shown above is then by a reseller. I have felt this has happened before in certain hyped up TF toys at Amazon. I hope Amazon sells it officially though).

Also courtesy of the Loopaza Mega Store page on Facebook, we have some new images of the Takara Tomy Transformers Studio Series line - to all effects and purposes identical to the Hasbro release, after the brand unification for decos and tooling - featuring figures seen at both Toy Fair 2018 and Wonderfest such as Optimus Prime, Grimlock, Blackout, Bumblebee, Starscream, Crowbar, Ratchet, Stinger.

As a bonus, we also have features on Movie Masterpiece MPM-5 Barricade (whose thread is here), MP-17+ Anime Version Prowl, discussed here, and the Terrorcons plus their combined form Abominus over from Power of the Primes (see here). Check it all out below, and join the relevant discussions in the Energon Pub!

Brand unification" makes me want to vomit.

Ironhidensh wrote:Brand unification" makes me want to vomit.

That black rectangle all along Optimus' chest makes me vomit. The worst part is that it looks like a pretty cool transformation.

Big thanks to TF Fan Phil who reached out to us with some pretty awesome news. He found the Studio Series figures while doing his groceries:

Found the Studio Series Deluxes last night at Dillons Marketplace (part of the Kroger chain) in Derby, Kansas.

He says there were 2 of each deluxe, which makes sense in a case of 8. These were priced at $24.99 USD. While it appeared that these would only be coming to retail in April, this confirms that these deluxes are ready to ship to retailers and that Hasbro has already shipped some out.

The ones found at Dillons Marketplace were Ratchet, Stinger, Bumblebee, Crowbar, and you can see in hand images of those toys here if you are thinking of picking them up. Also, for those unaware, the Takara version of this line will have the exact same toys, as you can see here, so fans don't need to wait for their releases this time.

If you find them, let us know in our sightings section and sightings forum!

$25 deluxes. Yeah. I'm not buying these.

Ill grab stinger and the dread. Totally skipping the ratchet and bee. It seems they said f**k scale with this line, at least with ratchet. That ambulance is bigger than an H2 hummer but some idiot at hasbro thought it was the same size as a camaro.

25 DOLLARS!?!?! Why is hasbro raising the deluxe price to that of a voyager?!? ARE THEY TRYING TO LOSE CUSTOMERS!?!


EDIT: Especially since the official website lists them at 20!

Ig89ninja wrote:25 DOLLARS!?!?! Why is hasbro raising the deluxe price to that of a voyager?!? ARE THEY TRYING TO LOSE CUSTOMERS!?!


EDIT: Especially since the official website lists them at 20!

Relax, I'm willing to bet that is just the store chain jacking the price.

Ironhidensh wrote:

Ig89ninja wrote:25 DOLLARS!?!?! Why is hasbro raising the deluxe price to that of a voyager?!? ARE THEY TRYING TO LOSE CUSTOMERS!?!


EDIT: Especially since the official website lists them at 20!

Relax, I'm willing to bet that is just the store chain jacking the price.

...we shall see

Dillon's / Kroger do in fact Jack up prices, 25 dollars is how much they charge for most Deluxes, so the walmart/target prices of these Figures will most likely be 20/22.

Ig89ninja wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:

Ig89ninja wrote:25 DOLLARS!?!?! Why is hasbro raising the deluxe price to that of a voyager?!? ARE THEY TRYING TO LOSE CUSTOMERS!?!


EDIT: Especially since the official website lists them at 20!

Relax, I'm willing to bet that is just the store chain jacking the price.

...we shall see

It is the chain, trust me. Dillon's is a grocery store like Albertson's, Tom Thumb, and of course Kroger. Surprised they appeared there of all places, but that may be a store not paying attention to the 4/20 street date.

Regular source of toy news NOTRAB, user on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, has shared some new in hand images of a Studio Series figure that many have been quite keen on: the new Leader class Age of Extinction-debuting Dinobot leader Grimlock!

Check out the images below, featuring Grimlock in both Tyrannosaurus Rex (liberally inspired by) and robot modes, plus some poses, including a very static one with the background that is part of the line's packaging. Is this movieverse design something that interests you at all? Will you picking one up? Make sure to let us know in the Energon Pub discussion forums, and join the conversation!

Sweet Solus Prime.......THIS is what movie Grimlock's Leader Class toy should have been from the start. It's like it stepped right off the screen. While not 100% perfectly proportioned, it's quantum leaps ahead of what the original toy was.

While I'm no movie fan this thing does look very nice. I'll definitely be picking him up.

Guyver looks cool here.

Too detailed...

Just a guess, but I think it will have a similar transformation to Last Knight Scorn.

DAT GRIMLOCK!

When and how are the studio series available? Because I want that Grimlock!

hinomars19 wrote:When and how are the studio series available? Because I want that Grimlock!

These are standard retail toys available sometime this year between now and summer

hinomars19 wrote:When and how are the studio series available? Because I want that Grimlock!

I posted above that some of them are officially available to preorder from Amazon Japan, although Grimlock is only available via a private seller for silly money. Amazon Japan exports toys outside Japan, btw.

I don't even collect movie figures and I want this guy. He's gorgeous!

OK firstly, the Takara scans with Optimus riding Grimlock are great!

Secondly, and more importantly, holy hell that Grimlock is amazing!!!! He is worth every penny that he'll cost, he is gorgeous, amazing, and awesome. This is what Grimlock always needed to look like

No sword or accessories?

User897 wrote:No sword or accessories?

The mace thing over his fist?

User897 wrote:No sword or accessories?

Does this Grimlock even use a sword?