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Burn wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Burn wrote:Most Animated figures that have/may get a "modern" make over fall into the trap of "It's hard to top the original"

Not unless the original wasn't really good to begin with (as was the case with Animated Voyager Optimus being stuck with a bad Automorph that greatly destabilized the figure, a mouthplate gimmick that only barely revealed his face beneath it, and a weapon that could only generously be described as an "axe"; his Deluxe molds were much better figures, but weren't big enough).

Hence why I said "MOST". I'm well aware there was a couple of stinkers, but most of the others will be hard to top.

One that should be easy to top was voyager Animated Starscream. The automorph was annoying and there were parts that popped off all over the place. The Activator was excellent however. So, if they "G1nify" Animated Starscream, I wonder how it would turn out?

And I suppose Animated Bulkhead already count at being remade in Legacy? If not, that's another one that will be hard to top. That old voyager was stellar, ¸aside being too small.

-Kanrabat- wrote:And I suppose Animated Bulkhead already count at being remade in Legacy? If not, that's another one that will be hard to top. That old voyager was stellar, ¸aside being too small.

They really should give it another go, that's if it was intended as a modern take on Animated Bulkhead.

So, I recently picked up Shadow Striker on an impulse and I gotta say: She's such a weird figure for me. Articulation in the arms is awful thanks to the shoulder design, I'm not big on the partsforming roof option or the leaving it attached option, and her vehicle mode doesn't especially wow me. And yet, I can't put her down. The transformation is so satisfying to me, and even though I hate her shoulders, she's so much fun to pose when you get used to the shoulders. I love her little door cape things.

If it wasn't for the shoulders and unfortunate roof set up, I'd say she's easily worth the pick up, but as is, I still think she's a solidily good figure, with some issues that take getting used to

Burn wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:And I suppose Animated Bulkhead already count at being remade in Legacy? If not, that's another one that will be hard to top. That old voyager was stellar, ¸aside being too small.

They really should give it another go, that's if it was intended as a modern take on Animated Bulkhead.

It was intended to be Prime Bulkhead. But aside from being green, it looked nothing like him from the neck down.

Sabrblade wrote:

Burn wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:And I suppose Animated Bulkhead already count at being remade in Legacy? If not, that's another one that will be hard to top. That old voyager was stellar, ¸aside being too small.

They really should give it another go, that's if it was intended as a modern take on Animated Bulkhead.

It was intended to be Prime Bulkhead. But aside from being green, it looked nothing like him from the neck down.

Exactly.

That's why I bought the Amazon Camo version and applied most of the labels for General Optimus Prime to turn him into Legacy Age Of Extinction Universe Hound.

AcademyofDrX wrote:"Almost exactly like the original, just remove the play features" really is a Generations collector mindset, huh.

I wanted to come to this quote, because this is an interesting concept that I am split on. And I will use 2 easy figures to compare:

Armada Optimus vs Megatron.

Armada Optimus is my figure of the year. They took the original, removed the electronic gimmicks, gave him a matrix gimmick and more posing, as well as a more complete trailer transformation. They took what to me was not an overly exciting gimmick, and traded it for a much more involved transformation that provided a much more satisfying combination gimmick. In my mind, they complete overhauled him and made him different but the same but made him better.

Armada Megatron is sort of the opposite, he is one of my Top 5 disappointments in 2023. They took the original, removed all of the gimmicks but the torso turret part, and gave him articulation. Problem is, they did not supplement the removal of his old gimmicks with more convincing good ones. He can actually pose sure, but the original Megatron is such a fun toy, and all that was fun about him was removed and not really replaced with anything. We will see if Tidal Wave helps make him a better/more fun toy.

And that sort of is my deal: is what was taken from the original at least equated by what was given to the new one? A couple other examples:

Cyberverse Windblade now has articulation and a sword, something none of her toys actually had. She is a win.

Animated Optimus has a much better head and weapon, and there really weren't any sacrifices outside of the waist autotransformation, which was not a very good gimmick to begin with to me. To me, both are winners, but in different ways thanks to the different approaches.

Transmetal 2 Megatron swapped the wing flapping gimmick and 3rd mode for articulation, and included the effects for fire breath. To me, he wins out over the original because the original was hindered by those gimmicks.

So it all comes down to the opinion on the gimmicks really. Ones named above show how they found a balance of a trade off, as well as Armada Megatron showing how they didn't.

Great post. I was just being lazy and snarky, but you actually thought about what makes toys work or not.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

AcademyofDrX wrote:"Almost exactly like the original, just remove the play features" really is a Generations collector mindset, huh.

I wanted to come to this quote, because this is an interesting concept that I am split on. And I will use 2 easy figures to compare:

Armada Optimus vs Megatron.

Armada Optimus is my figure of the year. They took the original, removed the electronic gimmicks, gave him a matrix gimmick and more posing, as well as a more complete trailer transformation. They took what to me was not an overly exciting gimmick, and traded it for a much more involved transformation that provided a much more satisfying combination gimmick. In my mind, they complete overhauled him and made him different but the same but made him better.

Armada Megatron is sort of the opposite, he is one of my Top 5 disappointments in 2023. They took the original, removed all of the gimmicks but the torso turret part, and gave him articulation. Problem is, they did not supplement the removal of his old gimmicks with more convincing good ones. He can actually pose sure, but the original Megatron is such a fun toy, and all that was fun about him was removed and not really replaced with anything. We will see if Tidal Wave helps make him a better/more fun toy.

And that sort of is my deal: is what was taken from the original at least equated by what was given to the new one? A couple other examples:

Cyberverse Windblade now has articulation and a sword, something none of her toys actually had. She is a win.

Animated Optimus has a much better head and weapon, and there really weren't any sacrifices outside of the waist autotransformation, which was not a very good gimmick to begin with to me. To me, both are winners, but in different ways thanks to the different approaches.

Transmetal 2 Megatron swapped the wing flapping gimmick and 3rd mode for articulation, and included the effects for fire breath. To me, he wins out over the original because the original was hindered by those gimmicks.

So it all comes down to the opinion on the gimmicks really. Ones named above show how they found a balance of a trade off, as well as Armada Megatron showing how they didn't.

Excellent writeup. Armada Megatron is a very good example, as his gimmicks really carried the toy, compensating for a very simplistic transformation and lackluster articulation. The "minicon hoarder" aspect the combination of gimmicks was not only fun, but really thematically on point, also.

There's also the matter of show accuracy. This plays against A LOT of Unicron Trilogy updates, because the original toy line was already quite screen accurate, and Megatron is again a good example of this. This point in particular I think is also what makes redoing Animated so difficult: that toyline was made with screen accuracy in mind, it has pretty good articulation unlike the Unicron Trilogy, AND was developed in an era when fun gimmicks were still on the table. So there's very little chance of new releases living up to the original, except for VERY specific cases like Starscream or... Well, I really can't think of anyone else. SPECIALLY given Hasbro's insistence in G1fying Animated's style, when its unique idiosyncratic is THE big draw from that line. Scale is the only really universal fix you could apply to Animated, but personally I find scale to be a minor concern compared to how fun the toy is.

I have the three new Core figures now, some quick thoughts in the order I got them (because Amazon shipped them all out separately).

Bouldercrash: He's interesting. I love the color and the alt mode. I wish the bar going up his back could be removed and used as a weapon on its own or attached to the sword to make a spear or something. That bar really hurts an otherwise fun figure. Weapon mode is basically a club with a blade on the end.

Energon Megatron: Best of the three. Transformation is fairly faithful, I was surprised to see they retained the spinning backpack. The tiny guns are going to be easy to lose, good thing they're neon green! Can't wait to stick him with his bigger brothers and looking forward to Galvatron. one complaint, his legs like to fall off at the knees when transforming sometimes.

Tasmania Kid: Solid figure, holds together really well. I really like the way the reconfigured his Transformation compared to the original to give him a bit more of a cartoon look. Two things I wish they would have done differently. I wish the peg hole on his arm was on the other side so he can "hold" his gun properly (or at least fake it) instead of pop it onto the underside of his arm and I wish his hands weren't so flat, he suffers from the same issues as Kingdom Dinobot, but in bot mode. No need to be that faithful the original's hands, curl the fingers or something just a little.

They're fun figures all the same.

Two thoughts on repaints/retools:

The obvious one


The less obvious for Bouldercrash in Studio Series


Emerje

Your first suggestion is cool, but I hope they don't go with the second (and I doubt they will). The autobot protoform model deserves its own mold, and Optimus Prime's cybertronian form could very well be a "concept art" figure on its own, like Bumblebee Movie Megatron. In fact, now I wish they'd do it for Protoform Starscream, since the original figure suffers from GPS...

I'm really excited to see Tasmania Kid in this lineup, Snarl was one of my favourite Beast Wars figures that I owned as a kid. Although I usually passed him off as Rattrap, since I didn't have any of the original cast.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

AcademyofDrX wrote:"Almost exactly like the original, just remove the play features" really is a Generations collector mindset, huh.

I wanted to come to this quote, because this is an interesting concept that I am split on. And I will use 2 easy figures to compare:

Armada Optimus vs Megatron.

Armada Optimus is my figure of the year. They took the original, removed the electronic gimmicks, gave him a matrix gimmick and more posing, as well as a more complete trailer transformation. They took what to me was not an overly exciting gimmick, and traded it for a much more involved transformation that provided a much more satisfying combination gimmick. In my mind, they complete overhauled him and made him different but the same but made him better.

Armada Megatron is sort of the opposite, he is one of my Top 5 disappointments in 2023. They took the original, removed all of the gimmicks but the torso turret part, and gave him articulation. Problem is, they did not supplement the removal of his old gimmicks with more convincing good ones. He can actually pose sure, but the original Megatron is such a fun toy, and all that was fun about him was removed and not really replaced with anything. We will see if Tidal Wave helps make him a better/more fun toy.

And that sort of is my deal: is what was taken from the original at least equated by what was given to the new one? A couple other examples:

Cyberverse Windblade now has articulation and a sword, something none of her toys actually had. She is a win.

Animated Optimus has a much better head and weapon, and there really weren't any sacrifices outside of the waist autotransformation, which was not a very good gimmick to begin with to me. To me, both are winners, but in different ways thanks to the different approaches.

Transmetal 2 Megatron swapped the wing flapping gimmick and 3rd mode for articulation, and included the effects for fire breath. To me, he wins out over the original because the original was hindered by those gimmicks.

So it all comes down to the opinion on the gimmicks really. Ones named above show how they found a balance of a trade off, as well as Armada Megatron showing how they didn't.

Very well written, and excellent points! Definitely an interesting topic

My first few Legacy United figures, Thundertron, Tigerhawk and Tasmania Kid, arrived today. Thundertron is a lot of fun and looks great on the shelf, the beast mode is a bit clunky, but can still do a couple of good poses. Tigerhawk has a very fiddly transformation, and the two pieces that form the tiger's chest don't clip together very well, but he still looks nice in both modes. Tasmania is a fun little figure, unlike the first two I had the original Beast Wars Snarl toy when I was little so the new one is a nice little nostalgia buzz for me, the only gripe I have is the piece that forms the top of the beast's head doesn't clip in very well, so it looks like his skull has cracked open.

I got and opened Windblade, Magneous, and Chase. The first two are fine, but I don't care for Chase at all. I haven't had this much trouble tabbing a car together since Titans Return Wheelie. Maybe I'll get the hang of it and stop being miserable, but my first impressions are very negative.

Merry Christmas my friends!

Merry christmas! Here's hoping all of you got some transformery goodness this year!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas y'all!! Thank you for being you!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Now that we're solidly done with Legacy Evolution and people are getting their hands on United Wave 1, I'm curious to hear the consensus: which line did people think was better, the initial year of Legacy or Legacy Evolution?

Nemesis Primal wrote:Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Now that we're solidly done with Legacy Evolution and people are getting their hands on United Wave 1, I'm curious to hear the consensus: which line did people think was better, the initial year of Legacy or Legacy Evolution?

I'd say both were equally terrible, distribution-wise. Walmart and Target over-ordered the first waves and skipped several later waves, resulting in Wave 1 items still clogging the shelves to this day (from both lines), while several other items from later waves never made it to the stores.

Sabrblade wrote:

Nemesis Primal wrote:Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Now that we're solidly done with Legacy Evolution and people are getting their hands on United Wave 1, I'm curious to hear the consensus: which line did people think was better, the initial year of Legacy or Legacy Evolution?

I'd say both were equally terrible, distribution-wise. Walmart and Target over-ordered the first waves and skipped several later waves, resulting in Wave 1 items still clogging the shelves to this day (from both lines), while several other items from later waves never made it to the stores.

....y'know, I meant more in terms of the figures themselves and the character selections, but I suppose that's on me for not being specific enough. Distribution is an entirely other question that I'll probably now go tally up as well.

I'm going to digress on Sabrblade's distribution point for the most part although I might have a little something to say in the regard as I stream of conciousness this post.

Overall, I have to say I liked Legacy a bit better than Evolution. Evolution feels like a rehash of Legacy, which is a touch ironic considering it's the sequel. They've figured out mold reuse almost to an art form, but has led to some mold burnout (ha - Burnout matches this feeling). The retools seem better from the Legacy set - more substantial - I'm thinking on the surface right this second. Metalhawk was good, but I felt like there wasn't much to say that wasn't already said about the twice-used Cyclonus for example. Tarn is obviously going to be a feather in the cap of Evolution, with Bludgeon ultimately not going far enough to differeniate - Breakdown AND Bombshell suffered from the budget non-finishes to two sought after G1 teams, and while they expanded the non-G1 aspect it still left me wistfully wondering when we would finish the remaining 84-86 crew we're not getting in SS86. The continued move into Generations-izing (not really g1-izing as much now) in United is cool, but will ultimately have me saving money on Transformers when it gets to the deeper cuts.

The capsules are 50/50 - Legacy had Velocitron and Wreck n Rule collections. Evolution had G2 and Pre-war collections. Pump - Velocitron and Pre-War. Dump - Wreck N Rule and G2. And I didn't "hate" either. I'm just saying what I felt was the stronger program(s).

Now distribution was wonky - but I did eventually see everything - even at Walmart - in my neck of the woods. I got my Bombshell at Walmart even though I saw the rest of the wave at Target for example. In terms of pace, I would say Legacy as well as the breakneck pace of things coming out this year in general was just a bit too much when you collect multiple lines, but I still would have thought that if I only was collecting Transformers.

I enjoyed Legacy a bit better. I got more figures from that line than Evolution. Evolution does have some great selections, but mostly figures of characters I have no attachment to. I was looking forward to getting the rest of the G2 Stunticons, it was a slam dunk for Hasbro to release a Commander G2 Motormaster, but I guess I'll have to settle for Shadowstrip and G2 Dead End.

I wonder if we'll get more Animated "updates" and if they start getting better in design. So far they're mostly failures, with only Prowl not being a total disappointment looks-wise. I really want to see the Dinobots get updates, and perhaps we'll finally get a completed Animated Devastator.

Legacy Year 1 Vs Legacy Evolution is a debate for me.

Core wise, I liked the pretenders, but the Evolution had the more interesting core class releases to me, thanks to the Dinobots and Nemesis.

Deluxe wise, there wasn't a clear winner for me, i was mostly just whelmed with both years of deluxes. They had some strong ones, but also some mediocre ones, and also each had figures I was excited for in leaks end up being pretty weak in hand (see Shadow Striker and Pointblank). I'd say the deluxes were probably the weakest class of Legacy overall so far.

Voyager wise, I think Year 1 wins out easily. Jhiaxus was a clear highlight of year 1, and Inferno was very strong and thoroughly enjoyable. I was disappointed in Tarn, he was pretty boring to me, to the point where Bludgeon in my opinion was the better mold use. The Lio mold was also a letdown, Twincast was eh, and the only real highlight was Trashmaster.

Leaders are also tough. The Laser Optimus mold was really weak, and to me only works as Toxitron. Blitzwing was actual garbage. only TMII Megatron from year 1 was good, but he was really good. Evolution had the great Prime seeker mold, with both uses being fantastic, but also Armada Megatron, my previously stated disappointment of the year. So, they were both either feast or famine, with 2 molds standing out good and the rest kinda lame.

Commanders were both good, but Armada Optimus clears all contest easily.

Year 1 wins out for Titan. Nemesis didn't really excite me at all, whereas Metroplex continues to be one of my favorite Legacy figures overall, and is just super cool.

Exclusive wise, it's also a mixed bag between the 2, but my favorite exclusives are the G2 repaints, Wreckers Springer, Override, and the Deadeye duel 2-pack, so no real favoritism there.

So in conclusion I guess, I can't pick any year in particular, what one did well was balanced out by a different size class.

As 2023 draws to a close, I look back on Legacy Evolution and find, while I didn't get a lot, I purchased more than I thought I did...

Core Class = All 6 Dinobots
Deluxe Class = Scraphook, Crashbar, Axlegrease, Buzzworthy Towline, G2 Dead End
Voyager Class= Leo Prime, Metalhawk, (Dark Leo Prime my son surprisingly purchased on his own), & Trashmaster
Leader Class= None
Commander Class= None
Titan Class = Nemesis
Haslab= Deathsaurus

Most of these were purchased through Amazon, but a few were purchased at Target, NONE were purchased at Walmart (I had to pay scalper price to get G2 Dead End of eBay). I even went to a Walmart yesterday for the first time in months, they had a Ton of Toxitron toys, but no G2 Dead End, so I feel it was somewhat justified as I've never seen it in the wild.

Additionally, it appears CC and Titans are back to being online exclusives at least in the U.S. In 2022 Cybertron Metroplex was easily obtainable at Target, and Motormaster was extremely rare, but it was out there (thanks to my daughter who spotted it only once so I got it). HOWEVER.... It appears Target passed on Armada Prime & The Nemesis, which dosen't bode well for 2024.

I only purchased ONE item from wave 1 of Legacy United (Deluxe Magneous), and the only other Pre-Order I have on Amazon currently is for CC Magmatron. Hasbro letting go of 20% of its employees does make me think this interesting ride we've been on for the past decade or so with Transformers Generations is closer to its end than its beginning. But hopefully the 40th anniversary will have a few surprises. I know much has been revealed across all lines, but its the things you dont expect that are usually the most fun.