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Despite being such an important, central character in the 1986 Transformers movie, the post-movie cartoon, and the rest of the Transformers franchise in general, Arcee actually didn’t get a toy back in the original Generation One line. She was supposed to have one, though, and we’ve seen pictures of an unproduced prototype for many years, based on a preliminary animation model and colorscheme.
Odds are the finished product would have at least had more animation-accurate colors.
This original Arcee figure would have been the fourth 1986 Autobot Car, alongside Hot Rod, Kup and Blurr, but 1980s Hasbro got cold feet about including a Girl Toy in a Boy Toyline. These were, after all, the same people who got weird about Hot Rod being pink, so no surprise there.
Share this image to scare a Hasbro exec.
The 21st century, meanwhile, would belatedly grace us with many Arcee toys based on her classic design (like the Earthrise and Studio Series 86 versions that I’ve reviewed), but this new one from Missing Link is something special, because it’s specifically trying to make the 1986 dream come true, and replicate that original lost prototype.
Behold! The reason I don’t usually collect Missing Link. And these prices are in American dollars!
So, Missing Link. It isn’t a Transformers line I’ve really dipped my toes into, mostly because of how expensive it is. The big idea behind this fancy Takara-only set of figures is to literally give us “G1 with Knees,” or perfect 1-to-1 replicas of G1 figures, but with modern articulation. It’s a neat idea, but, again, it comes with a hefty price tag, which is why I was happy that Legacy Deluxe G1 Optimus Prime (reviewed here) offered basically the same thing, just a bit smaller, and for normal Deluxe prices. Missing Link Arcee, though, she was one I absolutely had to splurge on. I love the prototype Arcee colors (see my review of Ocular Max’s Masterpiece-scale take on it), but also, I wanted it for headcanon original-character reasons. And, well, TFCon’s the place to get it, even if the price was substantial. Also, Takara simultaneously released an animation color version of this figure with a different headsculpt, emulating what a final-production version of 1986 Arcee might have looked like, but I like this version better.
Probably closer to what would have made it to shelves in 1986, though.
Either way, let’s see if she’s worth it. One thing’s for sure, the packaging and presentation is trying really hard to make you believe she’s worth it, with her replica G1 box, complete with styrofoam tray.
Vehicle Mode
I think we were all too edgy to actually rock this kind of ride in 2005.
An immediately interesting thing about Missing Link Arcee is her scale: She’s basically the size of a modern Deluxe Carformer, and fits in nicely with them. She’s a hair shorter, and a good deal thinner than Studio Series 86 Arcee, but plenty bigger than some of the smaller modern Deluxes, like *glances at shelf* Origin Bumblebee, Selects Hubcap, those guys.
They both happened to be in vehicle mode.
More importantly, she just seems like a mainline figure at a glance. If I didn’t know what she was, I’d believe it was a new Age of the Primes release, at least until I picked her up (more on that later).
Concept, and final.
As for her design, it’s Arcee’s Sunbow car mode put through a funhouse mirror. All of the details and shapes are there, from the vent at her bumper, to the clear windscreen in front of two seats, to the big fin at the back. It’s the proportions that are way different. The middle’s very tapered, and the front stretches and extends, like the tongue of a shoe. It takes the “retro-future 50s dream car” look that she already had, and enhances it even more. It’s also very faithful to what the prototype looked like, with the only changes being extra seams and holes for the transformation, the windscreen being added, and her wheels being a hair smaller.
I call this flashy group the Battle Racers.
The colors, though. That’s where the real story is, because they’re just gorgeous. They look like how certain types of Synthwave or Retrowave music sound. The car’s decked out in a more vibrant pink than usual, mixed with accents of fiery orange, some deep red cherry towards the rear, and an off-white bumper, with dark gray seats. What did I say the last time I looked at these colors? “Myself and others have compared this layout to: A sunset, the fires in a forge, summer in general, the 80’s, the Vaporwave aesthetic, Generation 2 before it existed.” Yep, still holds true. These should just be Arcee’s normal colors, that’s how good I think they look. They even pair surprisingly well with a properly pink Hot Rod.
Two of a kind.
I’ll also note, at this point, that she comes with a sheet of foil stickers that you can apply, which are newly-invented for this release, and resemble the kind of random made-up detailing so many 1986 figures were slathered with. I really appreciate what the designers did here, but I’m going to leave them off, both because I think she looks better without them, and because that’s not what the prototype looked like. Cool idea, though.
Hypothetically a part of this group.
Build quality is, again, surprisingly good and solid. This doesn’t feel fiddly or fragile, or too much like a collector’s piece, as opposed to a toy. Maybe a real mainline release would have made the fin at the back semi-removable to prevent breakage, but it doesn’t feel like that’s a potential problem. I’m still going to handle her carefully, but I don’t feel like I actually need to.The big surprise, though, is that there’s diecast metal in her construction, like an actual G1 toy.
Specifically, this bit.
The two “headlight” projections on either side of her hood are cold to the touch, in a way that, I guess, is imitating how a G1 toy might have been built.
Giving her grand-nephew a joyride.
For features, despite her tiny wheels, Arcee rolls really well, with no ground clearance problems. Up on her hood, she’s got an old-fashioned G1 rubsign, something that wasn’t present on the prototype, but which I appreciate here.
It’s how you know she’s authentic.
She’s also got a lone accessory, in the form of a very small, pea-shooter pistol. At this resolution, I’m not sure if it’s copying her animation model design, or is something original.
Stashed safely.
It’s meant to stash in a dedicated slot underneath her car mode, but you can also pop it into a pair of holes at the car’s rear, for a bit of an attack mode.
It’s not terribly threatening, though.
Her car’s seats, meanwhile, don’t quite offer enough clearance for Titan Masters to sit comfortably, but I wonder if some of the Diaclone pilots other Missing Link figures come with would work instead.
Okay, it sort of works.
Transformation
All in all, surprisingly simple and painless, despite a couple of initially worrying bits. In the abstract, this is a G1-simple transformation. You flip out the legs from underneath her, shorten her spine, flip out the arms, fold down the front of the car, adjust the backpack, and you’re done, with the rest just being fine details. It’s actually pretty similar to her Studio Series 86 transformation, but far simpler, and less fiddly. As for the trouble spots, I was initially sweating when moving her clear windshield down into its folded-away position, because it was extremely tight, didn’t want to move, and was, again, made of clear plastic.
You just gotta move it down a bit.
After that first nerve-wracking time, though, it’s since been easier to reposition. Meanwhile, I’d heard reports of possible breakage on her legs, due to a funky little step where you slide her knees down and sideways, along a pair of plastic rods. In hand, they don’t seem especially fragile, though, but I do handle that step a bit carefully, on general principle.
The before and after of that step.
It’s interesting, also, trying to analyse this transformation through a G1 lens. I can imagine a version of this where her spinal compression is done by a big yank, rather than folding a complicated ligature around. Also, while most of her car parts move into the corresponding locations in her robot mode, she fully has a fake set of wheels at her knees, and this wasn’t the done thing in G1, they’d have been real. On the other hand, I’ve got no idea how they would have engineered the transformation to make them real, and I suspect the 1986 figure they didn’t produce would just have been redesigned a bit by the time it hit the market.
Robot Mode
My wife saw this picture, and said “make sure your review says that she has hips like Shakira.”
Missing Link Arcee’s now taller than her Studio Series 86 version, but still really firmly at the Deluxe scale.
A few inches off the top, but they all went to her backpack.
And while she’s a detailed replica of a G1-era design, it’s again astounding how she slips seamlessly in with my modern mainline figures.
Like this bunch!
Like her car mode, nearly all of the details of G1 Arcee’s character model are here, just shaped and positioned slightly differently. The major exceptions are shoulder pylons instead of backpack pylons, and those fake wheels at her knees. She’s less of a stereotypically skinny girl-with-a-backpack, and more wide and bulky, in a way that sort of feels progressive, design-wise, even if they still gave her an exaggeratedly hourglass-shaped lower torso, complete with bikini bottoms. Little steps, I guess.
Or big ones!
Her weird arms also look better in person than I expected. I thought they’d read as shrunken and vestigial, coming out of the sides of her shoulder pylons, but they’re very carefully shaped in a way that suggests normal arms beneath the armor. I am annoyed that her forearms have visible hollow bits on them, though.
Why are these here?
In this premium line, that’s a cost-cutting measure you’d think they wouldn’t need. She also does have a bit of a backpack behind her, some of the car’s roof at the small of her back, but it’s extremely minor. In terms of fidelity to the original prototype, a few more liberties were taken here, including visible wheels on her shoulders, and forearms and feet that are generally shaped a bit differently, but it all feels like realistic stability and transformation needs dictated these changes.
A no-nonsense kind of woman.
The headsculpt is also great, especially because the actual prototype’s face is a bit fuzzy and indistinct. She’s still got the Leia-buns-helmet, but it’s bulkier and more oval. Her face, meanwhile, reads as a bit sterner and more serious than Arcee normally is, between her more chiselled jawline, fuller lips, and more serious expression, compared to the softer face her cartoon model (and most modern figures of her) actually have. It’s recognizeable, but I could totally buy that this is a different character (which is what I use her for).
She brings the sunset wherever she goes.
The colors are, of course, still that wonderful Retrowave/fiery forge/80’s Miami sunset type deal of vibrant pink, orange, and cherry red, with bits of off-white and dark gray. Her face is where most of the new deco is, and it adds a little bit of blue to her eyes. It’s basically perfect.
Honorary G2.
In terms of build quality, she, again, doesn’t feel flimsy or fragile, but about as good as a modern mainline Deluxe. Besides the diecast on what’s now her shoulders, there’s also some metal in her feet, which is good, because it adds to her stability. Between that, and flip-out heel spurs, she manages to stay standing far easier than her shape would suggest, though, sadly, she can’t pass the “stand on one foot and kick” test.
She’s trying to find her inner peace over that failure.
Her articulation is interesting, because of what it is, and what it isn’t. A true G1 Arcee would have had minimal joints, probably just her shoulders and hips, going by the prototype.
She’s being nice to Hot Rod, by imitating their range of jointage.
But Missing Link is all about adding crazy-elaborate articulation to G1 figures, instead of literally reissuing them, so they’ve instead given her a somewhat-modern suite of jointage, with some odd limitations. For her lower torso, she has impressive omni-directional ankle tilts, swivelling knees, and universal hips. There’s no kind of thigh swivel on her, though, and her waist is totally immobile, due to the transformation.
It makes turning a bit awkward.
Uptop, her head’s got a double-jointed neck, giving her side-to-side and up-and-down motion, albeit a bit limited by her helmet bumping into her backpack. Meanwhile, her arms are very carefully articulated as much as they can be, with shoulder swivels inside her armor, sideways swivels where her arms meet it, and both bicep swivels, and swivelling elbows.
I complain about her limitations, but she still cuts a pose quite well.
No wrist swivels, though, which is a bit vexing, as there’s no obvious reason not to include them in this high-budget toyline. Between that, and the missing waist and thigh swivels, we land on something just a little below modern Age of the Primes articulation. It’s not bad, but it’s an odd place for them to have landed, and I can’t help but feel they could have done a bit more.
Her weapon may be puny, but it packs a punch, especially when blind-fired.
For accessories and features, again, she’s got her little pistol, which fits securely into either hand, or stashes at her back, in the vehicle mode’s attack configuration.
Ready for the quick-draw.
Again, I appreciate all the effort taken to make her arms as mobile as possible (even without wrist swivels), so she can aim and dramatically pose with that weapon.
Sometimes, she just needs a good backhand, though.
Overall
Okay. So. I really, really like this figure. Conceptually, firstly, it’s great that they made the impossible dream real, and produced the G1 Arcee prototype, it’s an idea I was immediately into. Plus, I just think the design, especially the colorscheme, looks really, really cool, and it’s well-rendered here. And if you don’t like the colorscheme, firstly, what’s wrong with you, and secondly, there’s an animation-colors version also available, with a headsculpt that’s more toon-ish.
I like this one, though.
Beyond that, Arcee manages to just be a fun figure. Missing Link has a reputation for feeling fragile and fiddly, but that’s not the case here, and, besides some complaints about missing a few obvious points of articulation, she feels as solid and fun as a modern Age of the Primes Deluxe, and, again, slides nicely into a shelf next to them.
I’ve thought a lot about this whole cast.
And therein lies the big issue, in my opinion. This is an *expensive* toy, like the rest of Missing Link. Obviously, price depends on where and when you get her, but she’ll definitely cost more than a Leader-class Transformer, will definitely crack triple digits, at least in Canadian Dollars, and probably start to hit Commander-Class price levels. Now, some of that I get. She’s a limited-run Takara thing, she’s got diecast metal parts, and they went ham on the packaging and presentation. But, well, I can’t shake the feeling that she doesn’t feel *worth* the premium price tag she commands, that she ought to be closer in price to the Deluxe-class figures she fits in amongst. Now, I’m not personally experiencing any buyer’s regret, partially because she is a really fun figure, but also because, as a dealer at TFCon, I funded the purchase with my sales. So, I guess it really comes down to your financials. If you ignore the money, she is absolutely worth getting, kind of a must-have, in my opinion, but that price tag is a very big thing to ignore.
She’s also hard to ignore, though.
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One of my odd little collecting fixations is that I’m always compelled by a Janky Small G1 Optimus Prime. I used to own the Robot Masters version, and the old Classics Deluxe, for example. Both weren’t great, but were certainly interesting to me, for some reason.
The Robot Masters version, atrocious truck mode and all.
The Classics Deluxe was even less accurate, but he came with a Tommy Gun.
Maybe it’s that I admire the efforts to turn the Sunbow version of everyone’s favorite big red bot into a marketable small toy, maybe I find the ways they fail interesting. That’s why I was initially interested in this smaller Studio Series Optimus Prime. And I was even more interested when I heard some word-of-mouth that, despite appearances, he was actually secretly a really fun figure. That said, these days, I don’t deliberately drop money on possibly-bad things too often, so I didn’t actually bite on him for a couple of years, until I finally managed to snag this loose one at TFCon for a song, finally giving me a chance to see what all of the fuss was about.
Technically, this new Optimus is based on this guy.
Based on his appearance in the Transformers: Devastation video game (which just means he’s his G1 cartoon self, that’s what the game was doing), this Optimus was an “A-Level” release, meaning stores could order solid cases of just him, along with that year’s Bumblebee, so he wasn’t hard to find, and honestly still isn’t on the aftermarket, meaning this review’s still relevant, dammit! Anyway, let’s figure out where this miniaturized version of the big bot landed.
Robot Mode
It’s yer Da.
It’s funny how my eyes play tricks on me with this guy. Stand him up next to other Deluxes, and you can see that he’s actually pretty tall for the size class. But on his own, he still feels tiny. Maybe it has to do with taking an Optimus design that’s usually pretty big, and shrinking it down.
Two Deluxe Optimusus, not alike in dignity…
He actually ends up in the middle of the scale chart.
Speaking of design, this is pure Sunbow Cartoon Optimus. He’s a man made of boxes, but they’re soft boxes, if that makes sense. He’s got blocky proportions, but no hard angles, everthing’s a little marshmallow-y. I’m really fond of the vibes that his headculpt communicates, in particular.
Ready to spout wisdom and schmaltz, in equal amounts.
This is the kind, fatherly Optimus, who tried to play basketball, who gave Spike sage wisdom, and who loved tossing bad one-liners around. The sculpt just gives off those good vibes, in a way a lot of other Optimuses fail to, which is especially impressive.
I’ll say it: He feels more Sunbow than the Commander, to me.
That said, those vibes are fighting a tough battle against an extremely visible budget crunch. Optimus has got a ton of obvious hollow parts on his thighs, legs and his arms, visible from most angles.
Most poses expose his problems.
The figure tries to hide his altmode wheels, but four of them awkwardly stick out sideways from his legs, with the last two crunched up in a messy pile of parts at his lower back.
Most Optimii don’t come with fanny packs.
For every pristine bit of detailing, there’s an eyesore. The whole thing still comes together, but it’s in spite of the visual shortcomings.
This scale allllmost works.
Prime’s colors, meanwhile, are pleasantly cartoony. He’s got the usual red and blue, with a very light gray, almost white, as a third plastic color, and all three colors are sort on the pastel side, adding to his Sunbow vibes. For paint, he’s got accents of yellow, a slightly darker gray, and light blue, as well as a white Autobrand on his shoulders. His chest windows, meanwhile, have a bit of “cell shading,” in opaque blue and white. This was an important visual quirk of Devastation’s art style, and it’s not usually something I’m fond of on physical figures, so I’m glad they went for the light touch here. In fact, there’s a premium version of this tooling out, as a part of a three-pack tracking the figure’s development, with much more elaborate cell-shading, and I actually don’t care for how that version looks.
Honestly? Kinda ugly. (c. Weibo user NOTRAB).
As for this guy, the sculpt may be budget crunched, but the colors definitely aren’t, and he comes across as really complete.
Prime can kick with the best of them.
Prime’s build quality is mostly pretty good, too, albeit with one frustrating exception. I’ll start with the good. Picking him up and posing his joints, I immediately understood his appeal. The materials and construction of him just feels good to handle and manipulate.
You naturally want to do stuff like this.
He’s a bit on the light side when it comes to his weight, and his wheels make a rattling as you move him around, but he’s just got that ineffable quality of good construction, until you get to his abdomen. The sides of it are meant to tab into the grill that makes up his abs, but those tabs are loose, at least on my copy, so picking up and posing him with my hands there immediately makes them start to slide out.
Those tabs on either side of his grill aren’t supposed to be visible.
It’s not the worst problem, and I can slide them back in easily enough, but the fact that it’s in a place where it happens most times I pose him makes it a very visible black mark.
More dynamism!
On the upside, his poseability’s pretty great, another instants of the chatter being true. Well, mostly. His thighs bug me, because they don’t swivel at the hip, like they usually do on Transformers these days. They’re locked facing forwards, and instead, his knee joints incorporate a side-to-side swivel, in addition to their usual type of swivel. It doesn’t hamper him to much, it’s just a strange choice. Something that does hamper him, though, is the pile of truck parts at his lower back blocking his waist swivel, another annoying eyesore. Beyond that, bottom to top, he’s got deep ankle tilts, clamping toes and heels due to his transformation, universal hips, elbow and bicep swivels, a neck swivel, and really expressive, mobile “butterfly shoulders.” No wrist swivels, though, but range of motion on the joints he does have is another point in his favor. Between his handfeel, and their range, he’s the kind of figure that seems naturally meant to always look dynamic, even if that does expose all those hollow bits he’s got.
Schwing!
For accessories and features, there’s a big absence here: He doesn’t have his Ion Blaster, a.k.a. The thing every G1 Optimus is supposed to come with. The thing is, we know it was costed out of him, because that premium version I mentioned earlier includes one. Now, granted, I immediately gave him one of Legacy Deluxe Optimus’s two weapons, and it suits him perfectly.
He gets by with a little help from his friends.
Still, the fact that he didn’t have one out of the box is a strange choice.
Especially when this one suits him so well!
What he does have is his Energon Axe, but this particular version’s kind of…not great.
Okay, it does look great doing this.
The sculpting on it includes speed lines sticking out of the back, implying it’s mid-swish, as it would often look in the video game, but, like, I just don’t think it looks great like that, and I’d rather it have been sculpted more neutrally.
Otherwise, it’s like he’s always swinging it.
On top of that, instead of being translucent, it’s cast in red plastic and slathered in yellow paint, and the visible red bits still on it (including a peg on the side of it) manage to really break the illusion that it’s made out of energy. I’d rather they had just included the gun, instead.
Shoulda looked like this.
On the flip side, despite his small scale, Optimus includes opening chest panels, with a Matrix stashed inside.
It always bugs me when people act like the Matrix can do some kind of super-attack. It does make for a cool pose, though.
Granted, it’s unpainted white, and it’s kind of a pain to pry out of him, but its inclusion is a nifty bonus.
Ghost Matrix! Woooooo!!
The crystal sculpted inside the back’s also a nice detail.
Take it out, and there’s even a 5-millimeter port sculpted in the back of it.
Primes helping Primes.
He looks so sad without it, though.
Not only that, but he uses the same trick as Studio Series Transformers One Optimus, where there are little tabs on the sides of it that fit into little cuts on the sides of his fists that let him properly hold it.
On the other hand, he looks annoyed about having to light the umpteenth dark hour.
Well, kinda hold it. It’s admittedly a loose fit that’s hard to set up, which doesn’t look great next to Transformers One Optimus’s much better implementation of the feature.
He got worse at it as he got older. Also, he shrank.
On one hand, spending so much partscount and engineering on this feature feels like the reason why he doesn’t have his blaster, and so much visible waffling on him, but on the other hand…this is such a nifty set of features at this scale, that I kind of don’t care
Transformation
Like every modern take on G1 Optimus, the abstract of this Prime’s transformation is just the G1 conversion, plus a waist twist, and then a bunch of little fiddly details.
You get the idea.
Fortunately, those details are easy enough to figure out, and there’s no tricky, or frustrating bits. There’s even some satisfyingly tactile motions to be found in his legs, including the way you rotate big blocks around to get his truck wheels in position, and flip out two pieces that form his trailer hitch. And at the end, it all comes together solidly.
Truck Mode
A.k.a. The Great Tradeoff.
Welp. The mark of a Janky Small Optimus is always a messy truck mode, and there’s no exception here.
Smash Bros Announcer Voice: NO CONTEST!
The general shape of him is right, sure, but there’s just so many problems. Out front, there’s a big gap between the grill and bumper that makes him look like he’s got a mouth, and another gap between his windows and headlights. At the sides of him, there’s these big empty gaps where his fuel tanks should be, with tons of hollow plastic-saving sculpting exposed. At the back of him, the back of his robot head is completely uncovered, and his robot thighs ruin the illusion that his truck bed is anything but a pair of legs.
Calling this a bad angle would imply there was a good one.
It’s not great, but it is interesting, and I kind of like the messiness. He doesn’t have the budget, but by gum, he’s gonna try.
Immensely funny that Beaccomber takes up more surface area than him.
For colors, he’s mostly the same as robot mode, including the fact that he, despite everything, feels decently complete in the paint department. He’s got red, light gray and blue where you’d expect, and painted bits of yellow and silver on his bumper and headlights, in addition to tire rims that are cast in silver. And for build quality, if nothing else, he at least holds together solidly. I appreciate that his tires are just cast in plastic, too, after some recent reports about rubber tires on modern Transformers (like my beloved Legacy Deluxe Optimus) possibly melting? I’ve not had that issue so far, but it’s a non-issue on this truck, at least.
Well, that’s one way to end the fight.
For features, this messy truck can roll nice and smooth on his wheels, making a clattering model-kit-like noise as he does so. And while it’s kind of hard to pry his truck windows open, you can still access his Matrix.
The highest of highbeams.
At the back of him, there’s a dedicated slot to plug in his energy axe on his truck bed, and just…like…I get it, but that ugly red tab on the axe wouldn’t be there if they didn’t do it.
Don’t think about how this would work in-universe.
Meanwhile, he’s got a pair of shallow 5-millimeter ports amongst that exposed hollow fuel tank detailing, so you can arm him up a little bit, if you’ve got spare weapons.
He heard you talking smack.
Finally, like Legacy Deluxe Optimus, he’s got a round hitch behind him, specifically so he can tow the old Earthrise Optimus trailer, or any of its many repaints (I’m using the one from VNR Optimus, myself).
Not bad!
Like Legacy Optimus, he actually scales really well with this trailer, and it feels meant for him. Too bad LegOp’s got first dibs.
Overall
“Put ’em up!”
How to rate this? Here’s the thing: There are three statements I can make about this Optimus that are all simultaneously true:
- He is full of problems related to an obvious budget crunch.
- He is actually a really fun figure in spite of all that.
- He is not worth full Deluxe price.
*Slash* *BOOM*
I like him a lot! He has great sculpting and vibes in robot mode, better than many other cracks at the design, and he’s really fun to pose and play around with. He makes for an excellent desk toy, or something to carry around with you when you travel. He’s even fun to transform! On the other hand, he’s chock full of hollow bits, stuff that was budgeted out, and he’s got a vehicle mode that’s just a real mess, even if, again, it’s fun to transform him into it.
Look, I’ve never played Devastation. Is there victory music? If so, it goes here.
I’m glad I got him, but also, I’m keenly aware that I paid 20 Canadian Dollars for him, tax-free, instead of the standard modern Deluxe price of $ 39.99 CAD, before taxes. I basically got him for less than half price, and if I’d paid full price, I definitely would have felt ripped off. So, it’s a strange recommendation. Can you find him loose? Can you get a deal on him? Then by all means, get yourself one, he’s fun. Full price? Maybe hold off on him. There’s that three-pack that I recently mentioned, plus rumors of an eventual Nemesis repaint in Studio Series, so you’ll certainly have time to make the choice.
“Now that we have these delicious Slurpees, how about you tell me what’s bothering you, Bee?”
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I’m not the biggest anime guy, but my wife’s much more up on the culture, and keeps me informed of all of the important ones, including Chainsaw Man. The original manga recently ended, and so far, it’s been adapted into a single-season television show, followed by a surprisingly good theatrical film, with more of the show coming in the future.
Left to right: The transformed Chainsaw Man, the untransformed Denji, and a young Denji with Pochita. c. CBR
Chainsaw Man’s got a fairly straightforward premise: It’s set in a version of the modern world where demons run rampant, with seemingly every concept or object imaginable having its own dedicated demon. Our main character is a teenager named Denji, who formerly lived in extreme, soul-crushing poverty, with his demonic pet, Pochita. After nearly dying, Pochita fuses with him to save his life, giving him the ability to transform into a powerful warrior, the titular Chainsaw Man, who’s immediately scooped up and recruited into a special government task force dedicated to finding and destroying dangerous demons.
Also, this happens in the movie.
Still, that doesn’t quite explain the manga and show’s appeal. The thing is, it’s a very strange story in a very specific way. Denji’s a very believably dense teenage boy, desperate for approval and affection, with the story focusing a lot on the awkward little moments that make up his life, between the action. Plus, every other member of his organization is some kind of weirdo or another. It’s hard to explain what makes the show work, and it’s not for everyone, but I get it. And, naturally, it’s gotten a ton of merchandise, with most of the figures being of the expensive Japanese variety, except for this one.
This ain’t no Mickey Mouse! This ain’t no Looney Tunes! This is anime, and it’s taking America by storm!
Made by Jazzwares, this Chainsaw Man comes from a toyline called Total Anime, which feels like a bizarre throwback to the turn of the millennium, when all of “anime” was grouped together into a singular genre. Other figures in the line come from shonen action hits like My Hero Academia, and Attack on Titan, but also the popular action-comedy Spy X Family. But most importantly, the line’s cheap. I’ve actually been hard-pressed to find specific prices (this was a gift that my wife got), but EB Games has an assortment of the line’s figures up for $29.99 Canadian a pop, way less money than your average Hasbro 6-incher. A lot of us don’t have casual Figuarts money (hi, it’s me), so I was particularly interested to see what this affordable available-at-retail alternative looked like. So, let’s cut into it:
The Sculpt
Denji was a man, or maybe he was a Chainsaw Man…
Mr. Man’s firmly in the six-inch range in terms of scale, making him the perfect size to interact with Marvel Legends, Figuarts, and a whole range of other action figures, so he naturally invites comparisons with them.
Spider-Man doesn’t realize things are about to get messy.
I’ll rip one band-aid off right at the start of this: The figure doesn’t include a normal Denji head or arms, he’s strictly the transformed Chainsaw Man, which is a little bit disappointing, if only because it would have required so few option parts to pull off. On the other hand, the other Total Anime figures I’ve seen tend to have facesculpts that come out a bit off-looking, so maybe not bothering here was a blessing in disguise. That, and they’d have to replace his neck, too, which is sculpted as a tangled mass of cables.
“Handsome guy, isn’t he?”
As for what Chainsaw Man is, he’s a lanky teenage boy, with a chainsaw for a head, and chainsaws cooming out of his arms, rendered surprisingly well here. His work uniform’s a very sensible button-up shirt, slacks, and a tie, plus running shoes, and all of these items have been lovingly detailed with wrinkles, creases, buttons, and a tie that’s a separate piece, instead of being sculpted in. Everything on him’s nice and detailed, and just looks the way it’s supposed to. It’s not a complicated character design, but if any toyline was going to mess it up, it’d be this one, but they didn’t. I appreciate the fact, too, that the sculptors remembered that Denji’s a slim beanpole of a character, instead of a more standard superhero build.
“OH MY GOD!!” “What? We won, didn’t we?”
If there’s any criticism of how they’ve rendered him in plastic, it’s that his joint cuts are all super visible on him.
I’m not even sure why he’s got that bit cut out of his back.
His knees, in particular, break his slacks up with diamond shapes for his double-knees, while uptop, it’s easy for holes to appear at his shoulder joints, depending on how you pose him.
Check the big gap in his shoulder, just beneath his chin.
Still, looking at images of the more expensive Figuarts and Figma offerings, they don’t seem to have done much better at hiding the cuts. The Figma did worse, even!
Seriously, what is going on here?
As for this Total Anime version, I can at least appreciate that he doesn’t have any visible pinned joints, which are often a problem on cheaper figures (see Jakks Pacific Samus).
The Colors
Power definitely thinks she wears the uniform better than him.
Much like the sculpt, Chainsaw Man’s not terribly complicated in terms of his deco, but it’s good to see that they, again, got him right. He’s got a white shirt with a dark tie, dark pants with a brown belt and silver buckle, white shoes with red highlights, pink skin, and chainsaws in two shades of silver. His head gets the lion’s share of color, in different shades of brown and gray, with orange up front, and white teeth, all behind another silver chainsaw. One detail that I appreciate is that there’s a subtle blue inkwash on his white shirt, which really helps pick out the details. One thing I don’t appreciate is the sheer amount of paint blemishes on him, though.
I suppose it makes sense for his chainsaw to be digned up, but it’s still a bit of a bummer.
On this copy, his default silver head-chainsaw’s got a big chunk of missing paint, there’s flakes on some of his teeth, and a white chip on one of his knees. At least the effort was there, even if the materials weren’t quite up to snuff.
Build Quality
Speaking of that, aside from the paint, this guy’s pretty solidly built. Now, if you pick him up, you’re not going to mistake him for a Figma, Figuart, or even a Marvel Legend.
“Much less sturdy than me, yes?”
His plastic’s got enough of that kind of cheap, smooth feel to it, that you can tell he’s a bit budget. But materials aside, they still built him well. All of his joints are nice and tight, and he’s pretty easy to stand up on his feet. I appreciate the little extra of his tie being made of soft, flexible plastic, so it can flap around like it realistically would.
He can even pass the “stand on one foot” test!
There’s one extremely curious choice with how he’s been constructed, though: His chainsaws are actually surprisingly sharp and pointy. The plastic they’re made out of is a bit on the softer side, sure, but those teeth have some actual bite to them, which startled me.
And they’re about to startle Death’s Head.
I thought safety standards for mass-release western figures would have prevented this. Certainly, if it was a Hasbro 6-incher, they’d have made them as soft and dull as possible, probably out of the same material as his tie. I can’t say whether or not this is a bad or good thing, beyond making sure you don’t hand him to a small child, but it is incredibly surprising.
Articulation
She might wear it better, but he can actually pose.
This is really, really impressive, especially when you consider his status as a budget figure. He’s got articulation on par with a good, modern Marvel Legend, which is to say, on par with a high-end Japanese figure. Let’s go bottom-to-top here: Denji’s got full omni-directional ankles (albeit on ratchets with some wide clicks), he’s got double-knees for those deep bends, and he’s got “drop hips,” the trick some action figures do where you can lower his hips, to allow them to bend even more.
He can take a knee with the best of them.
Moving up, he’s got a waist swivel, and a really well-executed mid-torso ab-crunch, as well as a neck that’s on two ball joints. His shoulders are a little odd, being made up of a cluster of joints that, like I mentioned at the start, can sometimes lead to gaps appearing. They also tend to rest a bit oddly on him. But they seem to be built that way to facilitate the kind of lanky poses he tends to get into, so I appreciate that. Finally, he’s got double-elbows, below bicep swivels.
The better to facilitate chilling.
Basically, he’s really impressively bendable, way more than I was expecting for the price and release vector.
Accessories
He doesn’t need this figure stand, but I’m very glad he has it.
First of all, Chainsaw Man comes with something every action figure ought to have, but most don’t: A figure stand. It’s clear, oval, and it has a little peg to go in one of his feet. Sure, he stands fine on his own, but the support it gives him when I want to do poses is always appreciated.
The rest of the spread.
The rest of his accessories are option parts for his arms and face. You can pop both of his arms out of his sleeves on mushroom pegs, to switch them between versions where his fists are closed, and versions where his fingers are splayed out. It’s an easy enough swap, and the arms stay on just fine.
The open hands give him more gravitas, I think.
Uptop, he actually has two entire Chainsaw Man heads, with the only difference being the deco on them. Specifically, one of the heads now has a bunch of blood splatters on the chainsaw, in deep maroon. It feels like a bit of a waste to have an entire variant head just for that, but performing the swap via popping the head on and off the ball joint is, again, easy enough.
For his last set of accessories, you’ve got to do this.
Lastly, there’s three different mouth/jaw pieces that you can swap out from the bottom of either head. One of them’s a toothy grin, another one has his mouth open, and the third has him sticking out his pink tongue, which can make for some amusing poses.
Denji’s dream realized.
Swapping these jaws around is the only trouble spot here, though. Each jaw has three pegs that go into three holes in his head, and the connection is loose and gummy enough that it can be a challenge to secure the jaws in such a way that they don’t fall off after a bit. I’ve found taking the head off, securing the jaw that way, and then popping the head back on helps, but it’s a rare black mark on this guy.
Another black mark to some people: He finds Aruto’s jokes funny.
I do kinda feel like they missed the mark on his accessories, though. Like I mentioned at the top, I’d have preferred an untransformed head and arms for him, instead of minor variants of the limbs and head that he already had. And just, generally, there’s so many more characterful things he could have included, like a mini Pochita (the pet demon that merged with him to turn him into Chainsaw Man), or the little axe he sometimes fought with, or a big plate of toast with jams (it makes sense in context) or something. It feels just a little bit like the designers of the figure didn’t actually know enough about the character to include anything like that, but maybe I’m assuming too much.
He has a bone to pick with Jason, and it’s all the pretty girls he’s taken from the world.
Overall
Despite that grousing at the end, I’m actually surprised at how much I liked this figure. I was expecting something a bit on the chintzy side, but he’s surprisingly well-made, especially considering this whole line’s on the cheaper side.
Imagine some sparking effects here.
He’s well-sculpted, well-colored, is shockingly well-articulated, and generally feels like far less of a budget figure than his price and release vector would suggest. I’m not going to sit here and say he’s better than either the Figuart or the Figma, but…well…he is a miniscule fraction of what those cost, and doesn’t feel like that much of a downgrade. If you liked Chainsaw Man, it’s hard not to recommend this guy for your shelves.
Finally, a real challenge!
I’d say the only catch is that he’s mostly a one-off figure, because Total Anime has only done one other character from this franchise, his handler, Aki. And they probably won’t continue past that, it’s a really “one or two characters per franchise” type of line. Still, if they’re all like this, and they did another one of your favorites, it’s, again, hard not to recommend giving one of them a whirl.
If only for photos like this shamelessly re-used one.
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If I’ve counted correctly, and if you can believe it, this is actually the 300th review that I’ve posted here on Children of Primus, since I started in 2020. And what better thing to look at this time around than sonething related to one of my little areas of expertise: Obscure Transformers comics characters.
Also, I already looked at the best Hot Rod ever a month ago.
So, this two-pack here’s a part of the same Generations Comic Edition series as the Straxus I reviewed some time ago. The line was a series of premium boxed figures that you could mostly only get from Hasbro Pulse in the US. That made these guys prohibitively expensive for me to grab, until I noticed that the wonderful Comic Alley Toys, over in Oshawa, had a loose set, with the box, for a good price.
Funny enough, Xaaron’s barely on the box’s cover, and Flame isn’t at all, thanks to the comic issue they used for the art.
The most notable thing about Xaaron and Flame, though, is that they represent a rare accomplishment when it comes to modern Transformers: They’re both Generation One characters, straight from the 80s, that have never once gotten figures made of them before, mostly due to their obscurity, and how they belong to the Marvel UK comics, instead of the US ones.
A showdown unseen by American audiences for decades!
As I recounted during my review of Death’s Head, the Marvel Transformers comics in the UK were published weekly, instead of monthly, but with a much smaller pagecount than the American book. So, they’d chop each American issue into multiple parts, and serialize it across the weeks, but even then, ran out of material fast, resulting in a stable of British artists and authors (eventually, almost entirely just Simon Furman as the writer) creating their own stories, taking place between the US issues. But instead of just making them quick filler, Furman and company decided to put their backs in to it, and tell their own set of unique, darker stories, often exploring settings and characters that the American book didn’t have the time to linger on, or use at all. These stories really resonated, making the UK edition of the comic more popular over there than the cartoon ever was, even as these stories remain obscure in the American market.
Also, there were zombies one time.
But, enough with the backstory, let’s talk about the characters!
Emirate Xaaron
Despite being a member of the ruling elite who’s made of gold, he’s not a villain!
Introduced pretty early on in Furman’s UK comics, Emirate Xaaron was an ancient Autobot senator, who, in the present, served in the important role of leader of the Autobot resistance back on Cybertron. He wasn’t a ‘bot of action, and hadn’t even transformed in eons, but he was great at inspiring the troops, while also being cunning enough for Impactor, leader of the Wreckers, to persistently call him a “wiley old buzzard.” Xaaron’s probably the less obscure of these two characters, both because he was in a lot of stories, but also because he did eventually make the leap to the American Marvel books, when Furman took them over. Still, he’s really only had tiny cameos in other works since the 80s, and the whole thing with him being, y’know, a politician, means he wasn’t the first choice for getting merchandise, until now.
Robot Mode
Ready to speechify!
Xaaron arrives in plastic form as a retool of the old 2019 Siege Deluxe Refraktor (aka Reflector) figure, which I reviewed ages ago when it came out in a special three-pack. The thing about Reflector’s design is that he makes for an extremely generic robot, a pile of boxes in the shape of a person. And, wouldn’t you know it, that’s what Xaaron was also drawn as, making this the perfect tooling to make him out of. There’s even less retooling on him than I thought, with only his head and chestplate being new.
A clandestine meeting with his counterpart on the other side.
I guess, technically, a lot of smaller details on Xaaron are off from his comic design, especially considering all the techie greebling sculpted across his body, but it feels very correct unless you’re literally comparing him to comic art. His new chest is incredibly accurate, though, including a little triangle of damage at his left pec that he was always drawn with, which helps sell the design.
He never turns his back, for aesthetic reasons.
One disappointing thing about the Reflector body, though, is how hollow it is from the back, with big, visible holes behind his legs, at the small of his back, and under his forearms, with the weapons ports on those forearms often showing what’s behind him, so he can come off as a bit chintzy when he isn’t covered with accessories, to say nothing of him feeling kind of small for a Deluxe.
He may be small, but he’s got heavy hitters like this backing him.
On the positive side, he’s got a great new headsculpt, with a helmeted, crowned head. Xaaron was designed early enough that Transformers design language hadn’t really been nailed down yet, so his weird vent-mouth really stands out.
It’s a vent for blowing hot air.
Xaaron’s sculpt may be generic, but he makes up for it with a unique, eye-catching set of colors. They picked a good shade of gold to be his main color, not too metallic, but not too yellow, often a hard line for figures to walk. He’s also got some light gray, and accents of silver, bronze and black, all laid out precisely how he appeared in the UK version of the comics (his US appearances saw him get a more monochrome solid-gold deco.)
That one comic panel.
There’s also the unique color gimmick this entire toyline shares, a set of complicated black accents across his lower legs and torso, designed to resemble comic art shading, and a scattering of dots across the left of his chest, in imitation of ben-day dots. As I said in my review of Straxus, it’s not an aesthetic choice I was initially fond of, and its use turned me off the first wave of this line, but it’s subtle enough on Xaaron that I think it actually works for him, and just reads as additional bits of weathering on a robot that’s already supposed to be ancient.
Inspiring the troops since 4 million BC!
Despite his hollowness, Xaaron’s still solidly-built, if a bit on the light side in your hands. His joints are tight, and despite his lack of heel spurs, he’s got no problems staying standing.
“Good argument. Have you considered that I can do this?”
For articulation, Xaaron’s got the standard Siege Suite (™), including ankle tilts, knee and thigh swivels, universal hips, a swivel waist, shoulders with enough swivels to be universal, bicep and elbow swivels, and a head that’s on both a ball joint, and a transformation joint that lets it look really far up and down. No wrist swivels, but that’s down to the transformation. I do think his shoulder articulation looks a bit odd, though, thanks to the outward swivels on them being a bit lower than they should be on a person. Aside from that, though, he’s basically bendy.
For when his powers of persuasion need a boost.
Xaaron’s accessories are interesting, because they’re both brand new toolings, and also stuff that they just made up for the figure, since Xaaron never once used a weapon during his comic appearances, at least that I can remember. Firstly, though, he’s got a pair of tank treads, cast in gold, with silver and black paint, that are meant to clip onto his lower legs, mostly intended for his alternate mode. For armaments, he’s got a tank turret, which can split apart into the barrel, and the turret itself, to form both a long gun, and a shield.
“Speak softly, but carry a big stick.”
Both of them are in gold, with bronze paint, and more of that inky black shading on the gunbarrel. The shield can peg onto his back, or on his forearm, and he can hold or arm-mount the gun, as well as recombine them on a 5-millimeter port.
For when the stick needs to be bigger.
It’s a made-up set of stuff, but it fits him well in an amusing way. It’s like how, for a long time, Star Wars figures of officers, politicians, and civilians all came with guns they never actually used in the movies.
Three hours into the cabinet meeting, and he just does this.
Xaaron’s other feature, though, is his Weaponizer potential. The original figure’s from early Siege, when that was a hot new gimmick, so they made sure he was lousy with 5-millimeter ports and pegs.
This isn’t even most of them!
I count 11 ports and two pegs on his body, more if you count his accessories. It’s funny how much stuff you can give this unassuming character.
Masqueraiders is a Tabletop RPG by Red Requiem games, available now on Itch.io.
Transformation
The original Refraktor tooling was meant to combine with two other copies of itself to make a camera, but each individual release had a “spaceship” mode, so he could technically work independently. That’s what you’re changing Xaaron into, but, to be clear, you can still cube him up and make him part of a combined Refraktor camera mode, though the instructions won’t tell you how, and his retooling means he can’t form the center portion.
“Day 75: The Decepticons still suspect nothing.”
As for the transformation you’re supposed to do, it’s a more involved process than you’d think, with a fair amount of flipping around of limbs, and a ton of dedicated tabs and slots to fit everything together. Controversially, he’s also a partsformer, with his clip-on tank treads and turret.
Otherwise, he looks like this.
According to the designers, this is on purpose, since The Canonical Xaaron hasn’t transformed in eons, and needs the parts to help him along. A clever way to justify it, I suppose, and I’m on record as never having minded partsforming. More Transformers should be open to it.
Vehicle Mode
What are you?
To be clear, this is an Action Master Elite-esque, Pretender-inner-robot-altmode-esque mess of a thing, a slab of folded up person that can’t decide if it’s pretending to be a tank or a spaceship, thanks to the tiny little cockpit and general shape clashing with the turret and treads, which feel like they’re at an entirely different scale than the rest of him.
Not that the implied scale of the original version was any better.
But, honestly, he’s kind of charming. It’s this cute, confused little rolling vehicle, and despite my grousing, feels more cohesive in hand than you’d think. It’s supposed to be a bit makeshift, and it looks like it.
Cybertronial altmodes come in all shapes and sizes, after all.
In terms of colors, we’re in the same territory as the robot mode, with only some extra silver windows making an appearance, and in terms of build quality, despite many of his parts being held on by 5-millimeter ports, he stays together just fine. Well, mostly. I find myself fiddling with his tank treads a lot, I swear they’re never quite properly lined up with the ground.
Also, here’s what they look like on Refraktor.
In terms of features, he can’t roll at all (even fictionally, since he’s held up by a middle leg without wheels). The most action you get is a rotating turret, with a barrel you can stick blast effects in.
Something about Political Power.
Of course, you can also Weaponize him, and he’s got six ports and a peg available, before you even take his tank parts off, which makes it eight ports and two pegs.
His carcinization policies were not popular.
I dunno, it’s simple and strange, but I find it oddly compelling.
Scale is fake, anyway.
Overall
This is an odd one to rate, because the whole point of him is that he’s not a ‘bot of action, he’s a politician, so that can be hard to translate into a dynamic, transforming action figure. But they kind of pulled it off here, and I’m surprised at how much I like him. His colors prevent him from being nondescript, his accessories and weaponization potential make him fun, and I’m way more fond of his strange, kitbashed alternate mode than I thought I’d be. I’d say he’s worth grabbing, both for the quality, and for how unique he is.
Trust me, this is a cool reference.
Honestly, I partially got him for obtuse reasons relating to a game of Masqueraiders I’ve been playing, but he’ll spend equal amounts of time being Xaaron, the Action Senator to me, because of how fun he is at being that, too.
Flame
The Transformers Wiki has a really nice composite of Flame’s robot and tank modes.
Flame’s definitely the more obscure of this pair, in that he only appeared in the UK Marvel comics, and only for one multi-issue story arc, albeit a memorable one, often collectively called City of Fear, which ran from Marvel UK issues 164-169. Flame was a pretty unique character concept for the 80s: An Autobot, complete with the faction symbol, that was outright evil. In Flame’s case, he was a mad scientist, determined to activate ancient planetary engines that could move Cybertron through space. Calmer minds than his knew that activating these engines would destroy the planet, but Flame was so determined to be proven right, that he worked on them in secret, and then raised an army of robot zombies to defend his laboratory (y’know, like a normal, non-mad scientist would do). It fell to the Weckers, and, surprisingly, Xaaron himself, in a rare role of action, to stop him. Like Xaaron, though, Flame’s only gotten tiny little cameos since, but as a deep cut character from a story I enjoyed, that’s part of the appeal.
This was the other half of the appeal.
Plus, he’s a retool of Studio Series War for Cybertron Megatron, pictured above, a figure I’ve never handled before.
Robot Mode
Dramatic even when standing still.
Flame’s on the larger side of Voyager-class, and looms fairly impressively over Xaaron, specifically.
Memories of happier times.
War for Cybertron Megatron’s got a pretty unique design, one I’m familiar with from playing the game, so it’s impressive how Flame doesn’t immediately read as Megatron to me. It helps that they changed more than just the head and chest, also giving him a new pelvis and thighs, making him feel nicely accurate, again, to his comic book iteration, even if some of the specific details are off.
He fits right in with this “Marvel-original baddies” microshelf.
Still, there’s some obvious War For Cybertron Megs DNA left in here, like his asymmetrical shoulders, the “crown” detail behind his back, and his spiky, trapezoidal legs, but at a glance, it works way better than it ought to have. It helps that the retooled bits are extremely comic-faithful, giving him the ridged tubes and curved shoulderpads he had in the comic, and the sculpted flames on his chest that seem to mimic Hot Rod’s design, among other things.
“I don’t know him” -Hot Rod.
There’s one ugly bit of design work, though, and it’s his lower legs, which have this folded-up mess of tank treads on either side that don’t really come together in a cohesive way, and also have hollow bits flagrantly sticking out on the front. There’s also a bit of hollowness on his torso around the back, too, but it’s sculpted to look kinda tech-y, so I tend not to notice it.
And this is on a bot that’s very noticeable.
Uptop, Flame’s got a great headsculpt. It’s less accurate than Xaaron’s, in that it doesn’t really doesn’t imitate the big, flared shape of Flame’s noggin in the comics, but is more, well, Megatron-shaped, due to transformation needs. But he’s got all the details present, including sculpted flame patterns all on his helmet, and, importantly, a distressingly happy look on his face. This is a mad scientist who’s just stoked at the horrible things he’s created.
30 minutes into Necromancy and Chill, and he gives you this look.
Flame’s colors are really bright, and really impressive, as theatrical and loud at the character is. He’s mostly glaring orange and yellow, with a slightly darker red, and light gray, with bits of black and silver. That, plus the Autobrand on his chest, is really giving me “related to Hot Rod,” even if Hot Rod prefers pink these days.
Wants to finish his forbidden experiments in secret, and so, naturally, raises an army of the dead.
Like Xaaron, Flame’s also doing the Comic Book Colorscheme thing, but it’s even milder on him. There’s none of the ben-day dot stuff, he’s just got some inky black accents on his legs, and a little on his torso, but they’re very unobtrusive, and read as general detailing to my eyes, especially the one on his torso. Funny how I’m, again, like “The feature I don’t like is barely here,” though.
“How’s THIS for build quality?”
For build quality, Flame feels nicely hefty by Voyager standards, has joints that are nice and tight, and, while he’s got an odd footprint (tiny feet in front, separate heel-spur pieces a ways back), he stays standing just fine.
An unmodified Flame can’t do this.
There’s one big, huge design flaw with this tooling, though, one he apparently inherited from Megatron…which is what I’d say, if the previous owner of this copy hadn’t already fixed it for me. The supposed problem is that he’s got a plastic spike sculpted into the back of each of his knees, and they collide with his lower legs in a way that directly prevents those knees from bending more than a little bit, blocking a major point of articulation. It’s a bizarre, unforced error in the sculpt, but one that you can apparently fix by simply cutting, or sanding the spikes off of him. That’s what happened on my copy, and if I hadn’t heard about this issue in advance, I wouldn’t have even noticed that the figure had been modded.
The empty spaces at the bottom of those yellow portions behind his knees are where some kind soul removed some plastic.
It’s bad to have a design flaw like that, but it seems easily fixable, and even if you left it on, it’s not a Haslab Omega Prime or Earthrise Grapple situation, he won’t break, he’s just not going to be as bendy as he ought to be.
Still bendy, though.
Speaking of that articulation, once you unblock those knees, Flame’s got plenty of it. He’s got strangely well-articulated feet, with multi-joint ankles, tiltable toes, and movable heel spurs. Moving up, he’s got the usual swivel knees and thighs, universal hips, a waist swivel, a balljointed head, universal shoulders, and swivel biceps and elbows. No wrist swivels again, though! It’s almost the exact same set of joints as Xaaron, even. Importantly, he sure can wave those arms around like a scientist bellowing at the heavens that it is, in fact, alive. His articulation, combined with that grin of his to just make him incredibly expressive in a way that I love.
Born to be a theatre kid, forced to be a scientist.
For accessories, Flame’s got Megatron’s fusion cannon, which you can specifically only peg onto his right arm, on a 5-millimeter port.
He’ll probably tell you he invented it.
The cannon’s War for Cybertron design was already a pretty big departure from Megs’s traditional look, though, kind of short and stumpy, with a flared, techie front end, so it manages to not look too specifically Megatron-y. It’s got a ton of paint on it, too, with orange, red and yellow, plus more of that inky black comic shading, in a way that makes it look like a racing stripe. The cannon itself also has 5-millimeter ports on the front and back of it, for blast effects, or other weapons.
Living up to his name.
Another amusing little feature that all the War for Cybertron figures shared is that their forearms could detach. Flame’s still got that, and comes with a left forearm that pops off to reveal a 5-millimeter peg. The idea was that you could swap weapons with other figures in the range, to simulate the way each character would morph their forearms into their equipped weapon in the game. For Flame, diegetically severing his arm and sticking other things on there feels like a thing he’d do.
He’s taking after Shockwave, the greatest mad scientist of them all (in other continuities).
You can also, amusingly, stick that severed arm to his backside, using a pair of dedicated tabs.
Give ’em the ol’ butthand.
Besides that, Flame doesn’t Weaponize as much as Xaaron, though, with there only being a lone extra 5-millimeter port on his back, on top of the ones I mentioned already.
I still found ways, though.
Transformation
This is a complicated one, mostly because of how unique it is, especially for a tank-former. The most interesting thing about how Flame transforms is that his asymmetrical arms serve asymmetrical purposes, with one going where his chest was, and one swinging around to his back. The other impressive thing is what happens to his legs, which unfold into big, hollow bits of cowling that fit around either side of the body to finish off the tank.
Leave those parts unfolded for a bonus spaceship mode.
I do find the Final Squeeze you do with those exploded legs a bit challenging, though, with a lot of micro-adjustments, but the clever engineering conquers any frustrations I might have.
It gets real snug down there.
It’s a bit challenging to remember where everything goes, but the designers included that lovely little trick of bespoke tabs and slots that serve to jog your memory.
Tank Mode
Unlike Xaaron, Flame actually did transform in the comics, into a treaded sci-fi tank, and so does this figure. This mode does less to pretend it’s not War for Cybertron Megatron, though, with no visible retooling, or anything to imitate Flame’s comic look, outside of the colors. It’s just the Tank from the Video Game, in red and orange!
Y’know. For science.
It does create the interesting visual of Flame completely switching aesthetics when he switches modes, though, and it’s still a cool-looking vehicle. It’s all triangles, and odd trapezoidal angles, with barely a rectangle in sight, compared to Xaaron being All Cubes.
War of the Shapes.
The treads amuse me, because they’re not pointed in a way where he could possibly roll on them, but are instead sideways in a hovering configuration. I’m pretty sure that’s how it worked in the game, though the camera tended to cut off the bottom of the tank. Similarly, while it mostly manages to avoid looking like a folded-up person, the back of the tank is where that fails, with a hollowness exposing his bent knee joints. I know you couldn’t see that in the game, because the camera was always looking at it.
The most visible target on the entire battlefield.
For colors, Flame’s similarly a lot simpler in this form. He’s mostly now two-tone orange and red, with most of the other colors being minimized, limited to the gray treads, and the yellow at the end of his tank barrel, plus a black stripe along said barrel, and a bit of black on the side of the tank, again coming off more as diegetic scouring than the odd Comic Book Art effect it’s supposed to be. It’s plain, but plan isn’t bad when you’ve got base colors this vibrant.
Leader of the Zombie Convoy.
For build quality, despite all the little adjustments you need to make to get the tank snapped together, it sticks really solidly to itself. For features, though, Flame feels like he doesn’t do too much in this mode, beyond a bit of weaponization. At first I was all like, “the turret doesn’t move! That seems like a huge oversight.” And then I watched some game footage, and remembered that it actually doesn’t rotate in the, either, so it’s fine, I guess, same with him not being able to roll, because he’s a hover-tank.
One of the Zom-bots broke down. Who could have forseen it?
As for that weaponization, the Flame Tank’s got a 5-millimeter ports on his tank barrel, and another right above it, plus you can pop the barrel off for a 5-millimeter peg, so there’s a few options, even if it’s a bit more threadbare than I’d like.
Again, you can still find ways.
Overall
Flame’s probably the weaker of this pair, but only on technicality, and I’d like to stress, he’s still really great. He’s a big, beefy Voyager, with personality and presence to burn in his robot mode, and an intriguing transformation. His only real problems are those weird knees that you’ll want to fix, and a tank mode that’s competent, but oddly dull compared to Xaaron’s inventively strange one. He’s still definitely worth a look, though, especially if, like me, it’s a tooling you haven’t messed around with before. And how likely are they to ever make another Evil Autobot Scientist Flame?
The Whole Set Overall
That’s really the big caveat hanging over this two-pack: These are a pair of delightfully obscure comics-only c-listers (well, d-lister in Flame’s case), who have never gotten figures previously, and who, honestly, probably won’t again for a long time, if ever, so if you’re interested in the characters themselves, this is your one-stop shop. But beyond that, I genuinely do like the pair a lot, on their own merits. They took a couple of figures that were already really good, and cleverly retooled them into this unique pair. They’re a fun set, and the whole “Comic Book coloration” thing that turned me off the line’s not really a factor, either. So, I’d say to definitely track them down if you have the chance. I paid $60 Canadian for the pair loose, with their box, and I feel like that’s a pretty good deal for a set that were once far more costly. I’d go so far as to say they’re worth a bit more than that, especially if you like the kinds of obscure pulls that I do.
In terms of order posted on this website, my first review was of this Bumblebee, linked here.
…And that’s a wrap on review #300. Honestly, I’m startled that I’ve talked that much about plastic robots. I can’t help it, though, I compose these things in my head inadvertently, and putting them on the page is a bit like an exorcism. Either way, I’m grateful for the platform to write and release them on, and if you’ve read even one of my ramblings, thank you very much for taking the time, as well.
Meanwhile, this way-too-crunchy image is from my first written review, available here.
I’ve definitely slowed down over the years (I buy less figures, and I only put reviews out fortnightly), so it would take me much, much longer to do another 300, but either way, it’ll be a long, long time until I’ve got nothing more to say about the Transformers. Either way, thanks again for lending me your optics!
For precisely 300 Bot, Non-Bot, and Retro Bot Reviews, click here to view my archive. Want to run it back to the beginning? Right now, that means starting on page 50.
After I miraculously managed to nab Haslab Omega Prime last year, I made it my mission to grab every modern update of Robots in Disguise 2001 characters, to go with him. That’s a small enough group of figures that I was able to get most of them on a single spin around TFCon 2025’s dealer room, including the newest member of the group, Age of the Primes Sky-Byte, here. So, why’d it take me so long to review him? Well, at the time, I got a bum copy with a broken shoulder, and it took me until now to grab another one. Shout-out to Comic Alley Toys in Oshawa, they got a loose one that I was able to grab for a decent price.
“This is entirely too much reading that isn’t about me!”
So, Sky-Byte. Out of all of the original characters created for Robots in Disguise, he seems to be the one with the most fan-favorite staying power. He was technically a villain, second-in-command to Megatron, and fancied himself a warrior-poet, quoting haikus as he terrorized the Autobots. But he was also somewhat inept, prone to panicking, and a bit too eager to get on Megatron’s good side. Plus, when push came to shove, he ultimately turned out to not be that bad of a guy, moreso someone who wanted recognition. He’d go on to appear in IDW’s comics, and the Cyberverse and Cyberworld TV shows, though, distressingly, those last two versions of him would forget the “poet with a soft heart” angle, and just go for “vicious killer,” as his characterization, for some reason.
The original 2000/2001 figure.
The fact that Sky-Byte’s had this staying power’s kind of funny when you consider that he was originally a simple repaint, done to save money. See, the tooling used for his original figure was first released in in 1999’s Beast Wars toyline as the Transmetal 2 version of the Maximal, Cybershark, and he was repainted into Sky-Byte for Robots in Disguise, because nearly all the bad guys in the line were recycled figures.
He started out as this figure! It’s the one I had, too.
But Sky-Byte got so popular that we haven’t seen a new Cybershark since then, and it’s Sky-Byte that’s always getting the new figures. Back in the day, I had Transmetal 2 Cybershark, and my cousin had Sky-Byte, so do have some experience with the nostalgia this new version’s pandering to.
Robot Mode
A rare moment of not panicking or poet-ing.
My immediate impression of this guy is that he’s huuuuge. It’s really funny that I just reviewed Studio Series 86 Hot Rod, who’s a tiny little undersized Voyager, and then went straight to this giant-sized fishman.
“Try to hook me with that rod ONE MORE TIME!!!”
Sky Byte’s about as tall as Legacy Tarn, taller if you count the big fin at the top of his head, and he’s also a good deal wider and beefier in all directions. The bot’s got some real *presence*.
Despite that, he’s still envious of Scourge.
The other thing about him is that he really feels like a carbon copy of the vintage toy, in terms of design and sculpting. He’s not an exact duplicate, I’ve seen comparison images online, he’s got adjusted proportions and whatnot (including a much smaller claw-hand), but the resemblance is startling, and immediately makes me remember my old Cybershark.
“A little more than kin, and less than kind.”
It helps that, unlike nearly every Transformers show before it (and plenty after it) the Robots in Disguise anime had characters drawn to be extremely toy-accurate, so this is what he looked like on TV, too. He’s a kibbly robot, with two giant shoulderpads of shark skin hanging off of him, and a shark-upper-torso hanging off his back, but we’ve fully crossed the threshold into “this feels like character design, instead of toy limitations” at this point. It helps that, on this version, that backpack all folds up and pegs together.
“Smooth as a shark’s behind!”
One thing that the designers got really, really right with him is his sculpted detailing. See, Cybershark was a Transmetal 2 figure, and the whole idea behind them was that they were mutated bio-mechanical monstrosities, chock full of asymmetrical detailing. And sure enough, Sky-Byte’s got all kinds of sculpted little greebles across his limbs and torso, including a “face” on his chest, and they’re totally different on each side, as they’re supposed to be. This comes after Legacy Transmetal 2 Megatron and Tigerhawk both undersold that whole asymmetrical thing, so it’s good to see an update that understands the assignment.
“The difference between you and me? Nothing I’ve got matches. And that’s a good thing.”
Uptop, Sky-Byte’s got a headsculpt with a huuuuge shark’s fin, and a face with the kind of toothy snarl on it that action figures in the 90’s loved to have.
He’s snarling because I just switched photo-editing software, and am rapidly realizing the new one stinks at noise reduction, so he’s stuck looking all grainy.
I like that they also managed to make the face on him just a little bit “soft,” enough that I can buy that this is the insecure haiku-spouter from the show, and that he’s trying to be fierce.
Loudly insisting that he’s evil.
Now, the original Sky-Byte may have been a repaint, but he was a well-regarded repaint, because of how elaborate his paint job was compared to Cybershark. Doing that on a modern paint budget feels implausible, but they mostly got it right here. He’s a colorful bot, with a combination of navy blue, mustard yellow, multiple different shades of gray and silver, and a bit of red and purple, all across him. He looks really lush. Comparing it to the original animation model and toy, he got it pretty close, too, he’s just missing some hits of brown on his shins, blue on his upper arms, and a red stripe on his chest. But I didn’t notice until I checked the images, and he looks plenty lush on his own merits.
He’s delivering sonnets about it.
Well, okay, I still wish the “Spark Crystal” in his chest was translucent purple, it’s opaque here, though, apparently it’s still got a sculpted Predacon symbol on the inside of it (I saw it when I tried to fix my previous copy), so I guess they changed their minds at some point about it. Also, the original figure had silver chrome in several places, which this version doesn’t bother with, but as anyone who owned a chromed figure from that time period knows, that’s a good thing, because that chrome was doomed to chip, crack, and shed sooner or later.
This blog is no longer safe for work.
In terms of his construction, there’s a bit of literal “Build Quality” to this figure, in that you actually need to assemble him when you take him out of the box, since he’s too big to fit on his own. His giant shoulderpads need to be pegged onto him, as do the shark’s fins on his backpack, with the latter actually coming on model kit-style sprues that you need to break them out of. I’ve got no idea why they included them that way, but it was easy enough to pop them off, and put him together, and those 5-millimeter connections do stay put. This is a big improvement over the original figure, which I remember having shoulderpads that loved to come off at the slightest provocation.
Sure, this looks cool, but he’s going to break his foot on Optimus’s abs.
In fact, the whole robot’s remarkably solidly built. I was worried he’d feel kind of rickety, thanks to spreading his materials budget out over such a large bot, but that isn’t the case. He’s a bit on the light side in terms of weight, but not distressingly so, and his material quality and general stability (including on his feet) feels pretty on-par for a normal Voyager. There isn’t even much hollowness on him, just a little bit on the back of his lower legs, and a block in his shark-claw-arm that’s needed for transformation. That said, his tight joints do occasionally cause problems. Bending his knees the wrong way can result in his shins coming apart on their transformation struts, and bending his shoulders can make them come untabbed, but both cases aren’t really severe, and speak more to the tightness of the joints than the looseness of his transformation tabs.
Time to start flexing!
Speaking of that, onto articulation! I don’t have a strong memory of what the original Cybershark tooling was packing, but Beast Wars was the point where good articulation started being the norm. That said, this figure feels like it has to have a leg up on the original, if only because they weren’t doing omni-directional ankles or wrist swivels as a standard at the time, and he’s got both. Beyond that, he’s got a standard suite of swivelling knees, universal hips, a waist swivel, a ball-jointed neck, and universal shoulders and elbows. The fishman’s bendy!
Way bendier than his Cyberworld contemporary.
Something I particularly appreciate is that his shoulderpads and shark head are both poseable, too, to ensure that they stay out of the way of his movement. Another thing I appreciate is that there’s additional articulation on his shark-claw-hand, with two of the four prongs being able to pinch inwards.
There’s some real strength to him, too!
That articulation makes up for the fact that he’s missing the original gimmick behind the claw, though, which was that you could press a switch to spin it. Instead, it just swivels on a joint. Similarly, his lone non-built-in accessory, a yellow, square, double-barrelled weapon, originally shot missiles, but now can’t even host blast effects.
He’s trying to make you believe it’s a deadly weapon.
It’s also hollow on one side!
Rapidly realizing he got a dud.
I don’t expect modern figures to have those spring-loaded gimmicks, but it’s still a bit of a drag to lose them. You can stash the weapon inside his shark-head-butt-flap, though. In addition, you can pop out his two fins, and have him hold them like a double-bladed weapon in his one humanoid hand.
“We’ll see which one of us gets to be the real kid-appeal character, Autobot!”
When it comes to -Izer integration, too, he’s a bit limited. He’s got a 5-millimeter port on his humanoid arm, and the two ports that his fins fit into, and that’s about it. You could pop his shoulderpads off and use the 5-millimeter pegs that they’re on as an additional point of Weaponization, though.
Honestly, this kinda goes.
Transformation
Sky-Byte’s pretty much a shellformer. You’re folding up his robot body, extending his arms above his head, and then closing up his shark-body parts around him. I remember it being a bit fiddly on the original figure, and kind of a challenge. On one hand, the designers clearly went out of their way to take this previously rickety transformation, and make it solid and stable. On the other hand, it’s still a bit more difficult than I’d like.
Closing this bit up’s the challenge.
See, here’s the problem: Most of his shark-skin-panels have tabs and pegs on the inside of them, and they’re meant to fit in specific ports on his folded-up robot body. Lining them up and getting them pegged in can be a real chore, especially since most of the time, you can’t really see what you’re doing, since these connections are literally underneath his skin, and the best you can do is squint through the gaps at the bottom of the shark. There hasn’t been a transformation yet where I haven’t wound up wrestling with getting him pegged together. Another trouble spot’s his head, which is on a joint for the transformation, and if it pops out of place, getting it popped back in can be a pain.
His expression is how I feel trying to fix this.
That said, once you do get him pegged together, it’s a really, really solid connection, but getting him there’s a journey. And, of course, it’s a cinch to undo everything when going back to his robot mode.
Shark Mode
Something about Jaws, I dunno.
The original TM2 Cybershark toy made a notoriously strange choice in this mode: He came pre-posed, bent into a sideways curve, like his whole body was turning. I remember early internet reviews giving him a lot of flack for that, and I understood why. There was even a previous Sky-Byte update in the Thrilling 30 toyline back in 2014 that had the chance to not do that, but it opted instead to pre-pose him mid-leap, curving downwards. So it’s great to see a version of this biomechanical shark mode that’s actually just pointed straight forwards.
Like a normal Cyborg shark.
The fact that you’re compressing him down into this mode means he doesn’t come off quite as ginormous as his robot mode, but this shark’s still got some heft to him.
Reluctant allies.
The sculpting, as in his robot mode, goes nuts with the cyborg detailing. In this case, the motif is ripped shark skin, with technology beneath each tear. It’s also lovingly asymmetrical, which gives him kind of a funny face, because it looks like he has a different emotion depending on which side of him you’re looking at.
Mildly irritated….
…..and startled!
The colors were a spot where I knew there was going to be trouble. One of the things that made the original Sky-Byte such a beloved repaint is that he colored in all of the tech detail, adding lights, wires, and all kinds of tiny hits of paint. That wasn’t in the budget here, and all of his tech detail is uniform silver. I’m not really complaining, though, because he still looks really colorful and detailed in this form, and I think the solid silver tech is animation-accurate, anyway.
Theyre actually singing karaoke.
Most of the yellow’s now hidden, save for some on the tail, and on the belly, making Sky-Byte primarily that dark shade of blue, with silver tech detailing poking out, plus different other shades of gray and silver, including a nice fade into dark gray on the lower half of the body. Finish it off with points of red for the eyes, and you’ve still got an oddly calm-looking apex predator.
He found a different Megatron to glom onto.
For build quality, this shark’s even more stable than in his robot mode, thanks to all of those solid tabs snapping everything into place.
And he’s about to snap Prime’s arm out of place!
For articulation, the biggest twist is just that he has any at all, for effectively the first time. At the back of him, his tail can swish from side to side. At the front of him, his fins can move, and his mouth can open. Most impressively, his head’s on a joint that lets it point downwards a little bit, giving him a fun bit of cartoony expressiveness.
He’s still not ready to accept being a Friend To All Children.
That said, it does highlight the fact that he can’t elevate or stand up in any way, just kind of flop on his belly. Granted, I do find myself holding this shark in my hand and swishing him around a lot, but still, a stand or something would have gone a long way.
Famous Poster Reference.
For features, you can stash his fake missile launcher inside his head, though you’ll want to put it there when he’s in robot mode, since you have to tear his jaw open to get it up there in this form. You can also install it inside his lower jaw, so that it’s popping out of his mouth.
He tried to say a one-liner, but couldn’t get it out with his mouth full.
You can remove his fins, too, to access two 5-millimeter ports if you want some weaponization.
When subtlety has gone out the window.
Plus, the original Cybershark had a really lame “flight mode” that was accessed by popping open the panels on the shark’s sides, and flipping open the extra claws on his tail, which you can also do here.
He’s scandalized that the little guy’s winning.
He does feel kind of threadbare features-wise in this form, but just being a well-sculpted, well-painted poseable robo-shark goes a long way, in my book.
“Hey! Get off of there!”
Overall
I really like this one. As an owner of the original Transmetal 2 Cybershark, seeing such a direct update of the original, with such specific quality-of-life updates really hits the spot for me. In fact, it’s funny how much of an equivalent exchange this figure is. You lose spring-loaded missiles, a geared spinning table, and some of Sky-Byte’s paint apps, and you gain more joints in both modes, a shark mode that isn’t pre-posed, a lack of chrome, and a general upgrade to stability and durability. Feels like a pretty solid trade-off to me.
The Chainsaw Man Movie was really good. That’s all.
On his own, there’s a lot to like, too. He’s a weirdly huge Voyager that doesn’t seem to sacrifice any engineering to be that size, he’s well sculpted, painted and built, and he’s just a really unique character, well worth the pick-up. In terms of shark Transformers, he may, in fact, be the greatest shark around.
His predecessor still won’t talk to him, though.
For exactly 299 Bot, Non-Bot, and Retro Bot Reviews, click here to view my archive.
Collectors in Disguise Reviews
Not once or twice, but three times we have had Big Angry Trev from The Transformatorium appear on our Frenzy Freestyle Sundays, and I have to give Trev a huge overdue THANK YOU as part of my Journey of Amends like a certain company that brought us...
Original G1 Tie in products are the “New” Transformers figures in the collector world? Why?
Because serious collectors already have the figures, and through Hasbro and third-party companies continue to push
BIG ANGRY TREV!!! The Man! The Legend! First I first off have to say THANK YOU for taking your time to hang out with us. As this post is long overdue, it was a lot of fun having you on as a guest. You have quite a collection that is very impressive...
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Transformers News
Wonder Festival 2026 Summer has started in Chiba, Japan and the Takara Tomy booth had some new products and updates here. Images come via Hobby Dengeki. We have the following items on display: New Legends Beast Wars II Galvatron – First color...
Check out the official pics and product info for all the panel reveals from earlier today. ### SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON 2026 TRANSFORMERS COLLAB MONSTER JAM GRAVE DIGGER (HASBRO | Ages 8 & up | Approx. Retail Price: $49.99 | Pre-Order on July 25 at...
As revealed in the Transformers brand team’s panel this evening, this fall’s The Transformers: The Movie theatrical re-release will feature a new post-credits companion piece. We won’t spoil the fun, so watch now the new The Transformers: The Movie...
Coming to us thanks to Twitter/X @tagoal, @kaelu_only, and @Smokingray7775 users we have our first in-hand images of the new Takara Tomy New Legends NL-01 Lio Convoy Legendary Green Lion Ver. which has just been released in Japan! This is a special...
Thanks to 2005 Boards member lonewolf96 for giving us the heads up of his sighting of the new NFL x Transformers helmets Wave 2 at US retail. NFL x Transformers Goldrush, who transforms into a San Francisco 49ers football helmet, was found at a...
The official Robosen website has been updated with images and information of their new Robosen Flagship “Fallen Leader” Optimus Prime. This is a special Battle-Worn Gray-Black Finish redeco of Robosen Flagship Optimus Prime featuring...
Energon Universe additions scheduled for October include: Transformers #37, Void Rivals #35, G.I. Joe #27 and M.A.S.K. #5. Discuss the details revealed so far with fellow readers on the 2005 boards! Transformers #37 THE PRICE OF BEING PRIME! How...
Cang Toys Weibo have shared images of the gray prototypes of their new CT-Longyan Grandspino & Trusaurus (Masterpiece Scale Dinobots). This is Cang Toys highly stylized take on the G1 Dinobots similar to the style they used with...
Via ToysWalker and Hobbymizer Production on Facebook we can share for you images of the Hasbro Transformers “Fan Expo” booth at the ACGHK 2026 event in China. This is sure an impressive display of figures from Age Of The Prime, Studio Series, MPG,...
Our TFW2005 team is bringing us all the information and images of the San Diego Comic Con 2026 – Hasbro Transformers Panel. See the latest reveals for Age Of The Primes and Studio Series for 2026 and 207, and notes from the event after the jump! ...
Takara Tomy website has been updated with the official Transformers New Legends NL-05 BW II Galvatron Web Manga, part 2. This is the follow-up of the story presented in the first part of New Legends BW II Galvatron manga. Galva-Unicron is back and...
The ACGHK (Animation-Comic-Game Hong Kong) 2025 event is taking place in China this weekend and we have some new Transformers reveals by Yolopark. Yolopark is coming in hot with new Transformers 2007 movie characters plus some updates of their...
Energon Universe intel from the Robert Kirkman panel at Comic-Con included cover art previews for the 37th issues of Transformers (guest artist Karl Kerschl) and Void Rivals (new artist Frank Mazzoli). Check out the details revealed so far in the...
Thanks to the TFW2005 team at SDCC 2026 we have pics from Threezero booth. MDLX Stepper MDLX Shockwave MDLX G2 Heroes Combat Megatron DLX Bumblebee Movie Soundblaster & Ravage DLX Bumblebee Movie Shockwave DLX Rise Of The Beasts Shattered Glass...
Just in from the TFW2005 team at SDCC 2026 we have pics from Blokees booth. We have color prototypes/samples of the following items: Classic/Champion Class Bumblebee Movie Bumblebee Classic/Champion Class Bumblebee Movie Optimus Prime Action...
Hasbro has just dropped new reveals for Studio Series More Than Meets The Eye Collection with Voyager Starscream, Deluxe Prowl and an Insecticon 3-pack (Bombshell, Kickback and Shrapnel). These are Walmart exclusives in the US market. Read on for...
Frezny Freestyle Sundays
TFCON Toronto 2026. Today were doing a 30 minute Pre-Show to TFCON Toronto 2026. A few Do’s and Don’ts and a Special Segment. The Space Bridge will be ready for the weekend. Join Us on the stream or Live at TFCON this weekend.
COME TO TFCON TORONTO https://www.tfcon.ca/
FRIDAY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usy_EKCo18Y
SATURDAY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcYNwuB9vdQ
SUNDAY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDxUzAN1Uog
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TFCON Toronto 2026. Join us on Sunday as we hang out at TFCON at the Space Bridge for interviews, giveaways, exclusives, Transformers for sale, along with a tour of TFCON. Join Us on the stream or Live at TFCON.
COME TO TFCON TORONTO https://www.tfcon.ca/
FRIDAY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usy_EKCo18Y
SATURDAY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcYNwuB9vdQ
SUNDAY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDxUzAN1Uog
We would love if you checked out our latest videos and subscribed to our channel. Thank You for your continued support! https://www.youtube.com/@childrenofprimus?sub_confirmation=1
Daily Transformers News and Weekly Reviews: https://childrenofprimus.com/
Please Support Our Channel
– Coming Soon
Connect with the Children of Primus
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▶ Mr. O: childrenofprimus@gmail.com
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▶ Mr. Magnus: childrenofprimus@gmail.com
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This Sunday our Collectors in Disguise will debate about using Ai for Transformers content. Do we support it or frown upon it? Facebook groups are banning Ai content while more people are using it to produce content. What are the reasons you love or hate it? Or is it just a tool to help with workflow? Let us know in the comments.
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Connect with the Children of Primus
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▶ Mr. Magnus: childrenofprimus@gmail.com
▶ Toywarp Vinatge Reviews: https://www.youtube.com/@toywarp
▶ Cruizers Motorsports: https://www.youtube.com/@CruizersMotorsports
▶ Settom Bock Arts: https://www.instagram.com/settom_bocks_arts
▶ Impactor Productions: https://www.youtube.com/@ImpactorProductions
▶ Sha-Clan Entertainment https://www.youtube.com/@OfficialSHAClanEntertaiment
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News from the Transformers franchise from Our Collectors in Disguise. We will cover some Age of the Primes, the Eternal Wars video game, Liokaiser being shipped out, Skybound Comics, TFCON Toronto, and other news. Join Us with questions and comments.
We would love if you checked out our latest videos and subscribed to our channel. Thank You for your continued support! https://www.youtube.com/@childrenofprimus?sub_confirmation=1
Daily Transformers News and Weekly Reviews: https://childrenofprimus.com/
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Connect with the Children of Primus
▶ Spin: childrenofprimus@gmail.com
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▶ Mr. Magnus: childrenofprimus@gmail.com
▶ Toywarp Vinatge Reviews: https://www.youtube.com/@toywarp
▶ Cruizers Motorsports: https://www.youtube.com/@CruizersMotorsports
▶ Settom Bock Arts: https://www.instagram.com/settom_bocks_arts
▶ Impactor Productions: https://www.youtube.com/@ImpactorProductions
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This Sunday our Collectors in Disguise will chat with Todd Douglas Bailey (@TFBerserker), an Emmy winning and two-time Emmy nominated television producer, and creator and producer of More Than Meets The Voice: A Transformers Legacy, a feature documentary exploring the lasting impact of the iconic voice actors, creators, musicians, and fans who helped shape one of the most beloved entertainment franchises of all time. The project brings together legendary industry figures, including acclaimed composer Vince DiCola and numerous voices from the Transformers universe, to celebrate a legacy that has inspired generations.
Support the KickStarter
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/berserkermedia/more-than-meets-the-voice-a-transformers-legacy
The Kickstarter campaign for MORE THAN MEETS THE VOICE is officially live!
Help us create a feature-length documentary celebrating the legendary voice actors behind The Transformers: The Movie (1986).
🎬 Exclusive interviews 🎤 Behind-the-scenes stories ❤️ Fan memories
👉 Back the project now and help bring this story to life.
#Kickstarter #Transformers #Documentary
We would love if you checked out our latest videos and subscribed to our channel. Thank You for your continued support! https://www.youtube.com/@childrenofprimus?sub_confirmation=1
Daily Transformers News and Weekly Reviews: https://childrenofprimus.com/
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Connect with the Children of Primus
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▶ Mr. Magnus: childrenofprimus@gmail.com
▶ Toywarp Vinatge Reviews: https://www.youtube.com/@toywarp
▶ Cruizers Motorsports: https://www.youtube.com/@CruizersMotorsports
▶ Settom Bock Arts: https://www.instagram.com/settom_bocks_arts
▶ Impactor Productions: https://www.youtube.com/@ImpactorProductions
▶ Sha-Clan Entertainment https://www.youtube.com/@OfficialSHAClanEntertaiment
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News from the Transformers franchise from Our Collectors in Disguise. We will cover the final wave of Age of the Primes, Exclusive Mini Cons, SDCC Exclusives, Transformers the Movie Reformatted Concert at SDCC with Cold Slither and JEM. Join Us with questions and comments.
We would love if you checked out our latest videos and subscribed to our channel. Thank You for your continued support! https://www.youtube.com/@childrenofprimus?sub_confirmation=1
Daily Transformers News and Weekly Reviews: https://childrenofprimus.com/
Please Support Our Channel
– Coming Soon
Connect with the Children of Primus
▶ Spin: childrenofprimus@gmail.com
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▶ Mr. Magnus: childrenofprimus@gmail.com
▶ Toywarp Vinatge Reviews: https://www.youtube.com/@toywarp
▶ Cruizers Motorsports: https://www.youtube.com/@CruizersMotorsports
▶ Settom Bock Arts: https://www.instagram.com/settom_bocks_arts
▶ Impactor Productions: https://www.youtube.com/@ImpactorProductions
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Tune in this Sunday as we talk about Mental Health Awareness with London Green Ranger, Lianne Gagné and Gerrimy Keiffer. Discusssions that many fans have been through or witnessed in comic books, fanexpos, cospaly events, cartoons and movies.
#fypシ #mentalhealth #cosplay #transformers #powerrangers
We will have two guests joining our Collectors in Disguise as we will talk about Mental Health Awareness in the many fandoms surrounding toys, cartoons, Sci-Fi, Cosplay and more. London Green Ranger, an Award Winning Advocate and Public Figure who we met at the Action Figure Comic Con, and Lianne Gagné, a Registered Psychotherapist (Q) will hang out with our Collectors as we discuss topics that are sometimes pushed aside. Join Us with questions and comments.
London Green Ranger
https://site-0v1vfmom2.godaddysites.com/
https://www.tiktok.com/@londongreenranger519
https://www.instagram.com/londongreenranger519/
https://www.facebook.com/LondonGreenRanger
Lianne Gagné – Destined for Distinction
https://destinedfordistinction.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@DestinedforDistinction
https://www.instagram.com/destinedfordistinction/
We would love if you checked out our latest videos and subscribed to our channel. Thank You for your continued support! https://www.youtube.com/@childrenofprimus?sub_confirmation=1
Daily Transformers News and Weekly Reviews: https://childrenofprimus.com/
Please Support Our Channel
– Coming Soon
Connect with the Children of Primus
▶ Spin: childrenofprimus@gmail.com
▶ Mr. O: childrenofprimus@gmail.com
▶ Fear or Courage: https://twitter.com/OrCourage
▶ Mr. Magnus: childrenofprimus@gmail.com
▶ Toywarp Vinatge Reviews: https://www.youtube.com/@toywarp
▶ Cruizers Motorsports: https://www.youtube.com/@CruizersMotorsports
▶ Settom Bock Arts: https://www.instagram.com/settom_bocks_arts
▶ Impactor Productions: https://www.youtube.com/@ImpactorProductions
▶ Sha-Clan Entertainment https://www.youtube.com/@OfficialSHAClanEntertaiment
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