Transformers Cyberverse Ark Power Optimus Prime Sighted At UK Retail

Transformers Cyberverse Ultimate class Seismis Stomp Grimlock, aka the Leader sized Grimlock figure, was found in a Canadian Walmart last friday by yours truly. This toy has yet to hit the US (if it has, let us know) so I thought I could give you a pictorial review since there is very little coverage on this toy.







While it is leader sized, the Cyberverse Ultimate class is very much a thing of its own at its own price point. You get a toy bigger than any Transformers Siege leader figure for the price of a Siege voyager figure, so you basically get what you are paying for. For 4-8 year old kids, that can be a rather big value. They get a nice big toy and parents don't have to spend a lot for it. And the toy itself, isn't bad, for the money. It's basically as articulated and complex as any toy from the fabled Cybertron line from over 10 years ago. Of course, the sculpt is not as detailed, the plastic is lighter and it is more hollow.

Here is the imposing robot mode. The Jetfire in the images below is voyager sized.

















While the legs are rather chunkier than usual for Grimlock, it goes with the overall bulky look, so I don't mind that. What I do mind is that head sculpt which while nice on its own does not invoke Grimlock enough. The eyes are too insectoid to my liking and instead of giving him either a mouth or a faceplate, they went with a merger of both with a teeth detailed plate (I think?). Either way, it looks nothing like the drawing on the box, nor like any take on G1 Grimlock I can remember.

The articulation is the same as the Age of Extinction voyager, or just about. So yeah, gorilla arms. But to be fair, this bot doesn't come with any weapons that would demand extra arm articulation and story wise, he fights more in beast mode than robot mode. Here is what I got to do for posing. You will also see the seismic stomp gimmick at play below. Stomping his feet does set off two spring loaded gimmicks where clear blue plastic stomp effects pop downwards onto the floor.











The transformation was surprising in the fact that there was at least one new thing to the classic G1 Grimlock transformation. The legs themselves make up his belly rather than mainly the tail. It's more complex than the transformation of POTP Grimlock when going from Bot to Dinosaur. The details of his robot chest line up nicely with the lower back of the dinosaur mode to make it seem like those robot mode details are not out of place on the dinosaur mode. The dinosaur mode is rather short when keeping it in a vertical axis (as was POTP Grimlock's), which is what official renders do. However, if you raise him up a bit, with a stance similar to the original Grimlock, it works much better. Especially since his tail is raised up permanently. While I do not like that about his tail, that particular issue ends up moot when posed upright. It also gives Grimlock a nicer range of poses for his neck. I do like the details in his mouth when you open it. The T-Rex mode has as much articulation as most Grimlock dino modes of the past. The gimmick here means those same blue pieces come out of the tail now.





























In the end, if you want to give your kids a nice big Grimlock without breaking the bank, this does the job nicely. The transformation is not dumbed down and the articulation does the trick for this character. And for any Grimlock fans, this looks very nice and imposing on a shelf. It's just very much a kids toy, and I don't see anything wrong with that, especially at that lower price point.

I think he is one of the better toys of Grimlock that you can get on this line.

That's actually a really nice Grimlock. What was the price for him?

Fires_Of_Inferno wrote:That's actually a really nice Grimlock. What was the price for him?

40$CAN plus taxes. Same price as a Siege / Studio Series voyager. But it's slightly bigger than a Leader.

I too, saw it at Walmart. But I'll wait for a sale. That Grimlock is definitely on my list though.

william-james88 wrote:While the legs are rather chunkier than usual for Grimlock, it goes with the overall bulky look, so I don't mind that. What I do mind is that head sculpt which while nice on its own does not invoke Grimlock enough. The eyes are too insectoid to my liking and instead of giving him either a mouth or a faceplate, they went with a merger of both with a teeth detailed plate (I think?). Either way, it looks nothing like the drawing on the box, nor like any take on G1 Grimlock I can remember.

Ah, so it's War Within Grimlock's face.



Or Spotlight: Grimlock Grimlock's face.

Sabrblade wrote:

william-james88 wrote:While the legs are rather chunkier than usual for Grimlock, it goes with the overall bulky look, so I don't mind that. What I do mind is that head sculpt which while nice on its own does not invoke Grimlock enough. The eyes are too insectoid to my liking and instead of giving him either a mouth or a faceplate, they went with a merger of both with a teeth detailed plate (I think?). Either way, it looks nothing like the drawing on the box, nor like any take on G1 Grimlock I can remember.

Ah, so it's War Within Grimlock's face.



Or Spotlight: Grimlock Grimlock's face.

Was gonna say, that sounded like war within grimlock - who even had a toy in the titanium line

an actual, honest to Slaanesh, GOOD Cyberverse toy? what trickery is this?

Sabrblade wrote:
Or Spotlight: Grimlock Grimlock's face.

More Spotlight Grimlock since the eyes look less like a visor.

And, ha, I never saw that before. Granted, I didn't read war within nor was I keen to collect the titanium line. The deco choice for the head is of course not at all like either of those two.

What store is this? I can't find that many transformers in 5 stores.

i guess hes at least not looking like hes puking up a big red and yellow puke missile

Grimlock looks pretty dang cool, he is definitely the best looking Cyberverse figure released so far, I think topping Shockwave

Thank you for the pictorial review. I will always appreciate these over 45 minute you tube vids. Grimlock looks genuinely fantastic. His face alone has paint I wish his PotP version had. And both robot and alt mode look sleek. If I buy him, it’s definitely going to be on my shelf. Sorry kids.

45 minute youtube vids will always give you more info than a pictorial review. Also I've yet to see a 45 minute review on anything from Cyberverse, not that I've looked too closely

chuckdawg1999 wrote:45 minute youtube vids will always give you more info than a pictorial review. Also I've yet to see a 45 minute review on anything from Cyberverse, not that I've looked too closely

It's possible. I saw it happen on other simple toys. A LOUD 5 minutes intro. 20 minutes of ranting about the story, the character, ect. 10 minutes screwing around the box and every single details. 5 minutes on the actual toy. 5 last minutes talking about sponsors, e-begging, and filler time to click other videos that pop on screen.

BAM! 45 minutes.

Don’t forget the 5-10 minutes touching on their personal lives or that they’re sick.

CobraKai wrote:Don’t forget the 5-10 minutes touching on their personal lives or that they’re sick.

Oh yeah, a classic. And when it's time to show how to transform the toy, the only thing we see are the reviewer's hands.

AHAHAHAHAHAHA. Another point for pictorial reviews.

Thanks to postings to the Takara Tomy Twitter via the Takara Tomy Mall we have some new images of the promo art for the first wave of Cyberverse toys hitting Japan! The show and the toyline are just debuting so we're rather ahead of the game elsewhere in the world, but the character art appears to be brand new and injects a lot of kinetic energy into the characters.

Any fans of the animation style of the cartoon and toy packaging will surely enjoy what they've done here. We've included the translated Twitter summary for each character which lists their respective voice actors in the Japanese dub.

Enjoy the images and as always share your view with the Seibertron crew in the forums!

Optimus Prime's translated description:
"\ \ Cyber Bath first release July 13 / "Optimus Prime" played by Takehito Koyasu can reproduce the proof of the leader, the deadly matrix attack gimmick that is activated by rotating the matrix (° ꒳ °) no"




Windblade's translated description:
"\ The first server Berth will be released July 13 / Autobot female warrior "Windblade" played by Atsushi Yuki transforms from jet to robot (= Ω ω)) Target age is over 5 years old and it is a specification that can be transformed even by your child!"





From Bumblebee's translated description:
"The first BBS is released on July 13. The Bumblebee, played by Ryohei Kimura, has a gimmick that can activate the Stinger Sword of its Special Move in both vehicle and robot modes. As it is above, it is a specification that even a child like that can transform it! "





Megatron's translated summary:
"\ Ebi fried rice! / "Megatron" of Cyberverse series played by Shigeru Chiba will be released on July 13th tomorrow. Chiba TRON is still alive as ever in Cyberverse ... （´-` )"




And at last we have Starscream's summary:
"\ \ Cyber Bath first release July 13 / New leader of the self-proclaimed Decepticon played by Tsuruoka Satoshi "Star Scream" transforms from a jet to a robot (· ᄇ ·) و 対 象 Target age 5 years or older Therefore, it is a specification that even a child like that can transform it!"

The Cyberverse cartoon began airing in Japan back on April 27. As of May 24, eight episodes have aired so far.

Is it me or do the Japanese stock photos look different, like the toys have a different paint job?

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Is it me or do the Japanese stock photos look different, like the toys have a different paint job?

It's the sharp cleanliness of the lighting and photography.

Sabrblade wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Is it me or do the Japanese stock photos look different, like the toys have a different paint job?

It's the sharp cleanliness of the lighting and photography.

Yup.
Unless it's some sort of special exclusive Takara edition, the days of the "superior Takara paint job" are gone.

Glad that Hasbro decided to give us the "Takara paint" (while increasing the prices) instead of Takara giving the Japanese the "Hasbro paint". At least we no longer have to import anything anymore in order to have the "superior paint".

Huh, Takehito 'Dio Brando' Koyasu back into an Optimus role! That's one I didn't expect. He was Optimus Primal.

Skritz wrote:Huh, Takehito 'Dio Brando' Koyasu back into an Optimus role! That's one I didn't expect. He was Optimus Primal.

It might have been mentioned in the cartoon thread (this is the toyline thread), but I can't recall without double-checking.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Is it me or do the Japanese stock photos look different, like the toys have a different paint job?

It's the sharp cleanliness of the lighting and photography.

Yup.
Unless it's some sort of special exclusive Takara edition, the days of the "superior Takara paint job" are gone.

Glad that Hasbro decided to give us the "Takara paint" (while increasing the prices) instead of Takara giving the Japanese the "Hasbro paint". At least we no longer have to import anything anymore in order to have the "superior paint".

Honestly, in a lot of cases I don't think the "superior Takara deco" was better enough to be worth the fuss or the extra cost and bother.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Honestly, in a lot of cases I don't think the "superior Takara deco" was better enough to be worth the fuss or the extra cost and bother.

It was a case-by-case basis. Most of the times, the Takara were better. Especially for the Henkei line. But sometimes, the Hasbro were the superior one. Especially for the TF Prime line when Takara's had NO paint and only stickers. Animated was debatable. Takara's were super painted, but had that super shiny color. Making them less cartoon accurate.

No matter superior or inferior, one would had to pay at the very minimum double or triple the Hasbro price for the Takara one factoring shipping. At least now, there's no longer any hard choices to make.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Honestly, in a lot of cases I don't think the "superior Takara deco" was better enough to be worth the fuss or the extra cost and bother.

It was a case-by-case basis. Most of the times, the Takara were better. Especially for the Henkei line. But sometimes, the Hasbro were the superior one. Especially for the TF Prime line when Takara's had NO paint and only stickers. Animated was debatable. Takara's were super painted, but had that super shiny color. Making them less cartoon accurate.

No matter superior or inferior, one would had to pay at the very minimum double or triple the Hasbro price for the Takara one factoring shipping. At least now, there's no longer any hard choices to make.

Evidently I didn't emphasize a certain key word properly. In a lot of the cases where the Takara deco was the better one, I don't think it was so amazingly better as to be worth all the fuss or going to extra cost and trouble to import.

Ooops. Grimlock is depicted with a red chest, instead of a yellow one. He's on the artwork for Megatron. Lower left-hand side of image.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Evidently I didn't emphasize a certain key word properly. In a lot of the cases where the Takara deco was the better one, I don't think it was so amazingly better as to be worth all the fuss or going to extra cost and trouble to import.

On my end, I should have added:
"Whenever it was worth it paying double, triple, or quadruple the usual price for better paint was up to the buyer."

For me it was not worth it 90% of the time.

thedistinctroom wrote:Ooops. Grimlock is depicted with a red chest, instead of a yellow one. He's on the artwork for Megatron. Lower left-hand side of image.

Or it could be a generic, who simply reuses Grimlock's character model, albeit recolored.

Sabrblade wrote:

thedistinctroom wrote:Ooops. Grimlock is depicted with a red chest, instead of a yellow one. He's on the artwork for Megatron. Lower left-hand side of image.

Or it could be a generic, who simply reuses Grimlock's character model, albeit recolored.

Speaking if which, was the gladiator fighting megatron in the begining of the Megatron is my Hero episode a generic using Grimlock's chatacter model?

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

thedistinctroom wrote:Ooops. Grimlock is depicted with a red chest, instead of a yellow one. He's on the artwork for Megatron. Lower left-hand side of image.

Or it could be a generic, who simply reuses Grimlock's character model, albeit recolored.

Speaking if which, was the gladiator fighting megatron in the begining of the Megatron is my Hero episode a generic using Grimlock's chatacter model?

Double-checking, indeed it is!

Sabrblade wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

thedistinctroom wrote:Ooops. Grimlock is depicted with a red chest, instead of a yellow one. He's on the artwork for Megatron. Lower left-hand side of image.

Or it could be a generic, who simply reuses Grimlock's character model, albeit recolored.

Speaking if which, was the gladiator fighting megatron in the begining of the Megatron is my Hero episode a generic using Grimlock's chatacter model?

Double-checking, indeed it is!

So there you go, thats the scene the art is referencing, with accurate deco and all.

Greetings Seibertronians! In the midst of all the SDCC action, fellow Seibertron user and YouTube Reviewer, Chuckdawg1999, has done a video review of the forthcoming Transformers Cyberverse Ultra Class Alpha Trion.

Here's what he has to say about this figure:

Chuckdawg1999 wrote:I'm not going to go over all the complaints about the Cyberverse line, you're here so you're at least interested in this figure. After decades of being almost forgotten it's nice to see Alpha Trion getting some love if my counting is correct this is the third figure, the character has gotten. Drawing heavily on its G1 design the figure cuts a rather regal and knowing pose, Trion has seen and done things. Transformation is simple and as always the action feature works just ok. I can really only recommend it if you're a fan of Optimus Primes' wise mentor

We have embedded the video below for your convenience:


What do you think of this version of Alpha Trion? Will you be getting him to add to your collection, or are you happy with one of his other versions? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews! Remember as well to check out all our SDCC coverage, including galleries of the upcoming Cyberverse toys, here!

Going by Hasbro mass retail only, then yes, this is the third official Alpha Trion figure.

It would seem that Alpha Trion is now forever doomed to continue aping the look Vector Prime's vehicle mode, which itself was already very similar to the Sith Infiltrator from Star Wars Episode 1.

Despite the Cyberverse line being so limited in articulation, I would actually argue that this particular Alpha Trion figure may look quite good when placed in a G1 collection among other similarly-articulated molds from the 1980s, specifically some of the non-Diaclone/non-Micro Change molds from 1986-onward. Like, this figure might look good standing next to some of the movie figures from 1986 like Hot Rod, Kup, Blurr, Springer, Wreck-Gar, Scourge, Cyclonus, etc.

I'll say that Alpha Trion could work with limited articulation since traditionally he's a non combatant and thus would need less dynamic posing.

give it a slight retool and color change to blue and white and we could have scourge

Ultra Markus wrote:give it a slight retool and color change to blue and white and we could have scourge

Or make it white and we get Vector Prime.

Don't pretend like there aren't any Primes in the show.

Warrior class Slipstream and Spark Armor Cheetor are Target exclusives.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Warrior class Slipstream and Spark Armor Cheetor are Target exclusives.

A source would be really handy here.

william-james88 wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Warrior class Slipstream and Spark Armor Cheetor are Target exclusives.

A source would be really handy here.

The transformers Instagram channel

Thanks to the official Transformers Facebook page, we now know of a new upcoming Cyberverse Warrior Class Slipstream, who will be exclusive at Target along with Cheetor. The Cyberverse Spark Armor Elite Class Cheetor was shown off at San Diego Comic-Con this year, but we have yet to see anything on a Warrior Class Slipstream. This Slipstream is just a redeco of Warrior Class Starscream, even with painted lips, and as such, is very inaccurate due to her model used in the show. This also means she has the same Action Attack, with her waist spinning and the wings flipping out due to centrifugal force.

The Facebook post also has attached a stock render for the already released, "Seekers 3-Pack," containing the Rainmakers, Ion Storm, Nova Storm, and Acid Storm. We already knew these were Target exclusives, and already had stock photography done.

So, would you buy any of these figures at your Target? Thoughts on the newly revealed Slipstream? Tell us below in Pub forums!

I will probably never have to worry about buying these from my local Target because my local Target SUCKS and I'll probably never see any of them there.

I'm definitely going to pick up Slipstream. Sure the mold has many flaws, but I'd rather pay $10 as opposed to $50 or more for the Legends one.

I hope these aren't red card exclusives

I wonder who will distribute these bots in Canada?

-Kanrabat- wrote:I wonder who will distribute these bots in Canada?

Toysrus probably.all these exclusives seem randomly distributed because the US lost its main toy store. But canada didnt.

william-james88 wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:I wonder who will distribute these bots in Canada?

Toysrus probably.all these exclusives seem randomly distributed because the US lost its main toy store. But canada didnt.

I dont care for the random seekers, but I genuinely want that Cheetor.