Mecha Mad and Figure Fixation V3.0

[Neon Ignition]

Seperate from the one a few posts up, Hot Wheels are making a 40th anniversary die-cast Optimus Prime. The good news? It's a fully transforming replica of the G1 toy. The bad news? It's $80 and has no trailer

[QualityChimp]

Yeah, I was thinking how cool and dinky this was, then I saw they wanted $80 for it and I think I'd rather have a 3rd party Legends-scale figure from Newage or Magic Cube.

[Neon Ignition]

It tickles me how they've blatantly made the box big to try and disguise how little you're getting

[QualityChimp]

it's still worth pointing out how timelessly futuristic that design of a truck that turns into a robot is.

Worth watching "The Toys That Made Us" on Netflix. They're all good, although the editing style can grate, but the content is great. I like the Transformers and TMNT ones the most.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, and that 40 years on its been reinvented by Hasbro/Takara countless times now and they've never come close to beating it

[QualityChimp]

I don't think I'd agree with that, if I'm honest.

All of the Masterpiece re-inventions have improved the design to the point that they're both accurate alt modes and highly poseable figures.
They've recently introduced a version of that G1 figure that's even more poseable:


Top top that, there are 3rd party versions that are just as complex but are tiny and even a self-transforming version!


However, I do agree that all these redesigns are standing on the shoulders of giants.

[Lebowski]

Nothing beats MP10 for me, (that includes the new mp prime toy which lent far to much into the cartoon for me) giving more articulation to the original figure is quite cool but it shows up the shortcomings of that figure in how boxy his chest is and how they have struggled to hide the truck part. Mp10 is is a joy to transform too unlike a lot of masterpiece toys which can be a bit fiddly. He came out in a time when Hasbro weren't charging £300 plus a figure.

[QualityChimp]

So good.

You ever used japan-figure.com?
I popped on as they had the Star Fleet Dai-X kit.

Kapow Toys expecting a Star Fleet Dai-X restock soon.

[Neon Ignition]

Absolutely, by redesigns I don't mean the various developments that have been made on the G1 version (MP10 is king), more the other variants:










etc




Show your other half how much someone can truly be loved with....

[QualityChimp]

Ah, OK, I gotcha, sorry.

Love that TMNT arcade bag!

[Neon Ignition]

Clearer photo's are out of the Hot Wheels 1:64 Bumblebee and Optimus Prime, these are the ones you'll be able to get for the standard prices in shops so around £1.80 for Bumblebee and £9.99 for Optimus as they are non-transforming toys. Turns out more TF characters will be getting the treatment too down the line.

[QualityChimp]

At least they're the actual vehicles.
I get the licensing issues, but the recent ones that look a bit like the cars just feel like the Wish version.

[Soundwave]

The next 2 missing Link figures have been announced now and are updated poseable versions of the original Bumblebee & Cliffjumper






And how the look next to the original release




Prices aren't ridiculous at around £35 each, I'll be getting both

Neil

[Protocol Penguin]

I’d rather get the Generations/Legacy takes on older characters, TBH.

(Anyone seen the Lord Straxus figure out later this year? Looks properly Marvel comic accurate. And rather intimidating.)

[Lebowski]

The next 2 missing Link figures have been announced now and are updated poseable versions of the original Bumblebee & Cliffjumper






And how the look next to the original release




Prices aren't ridiculous at around £35 each, I'll be getting both

Neil

£70 for two legend scale bots is pretty crazy £2.99 in 1984 to £35 in 2024