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Fans are getting their Transformers Masterpiece Hounds from Amazon Japan and we already have not one but two video reviews, which you can see below. These include the transformation which is rather intricate, as fans would expect. As just a word of precaution, there have also been some breakage reports, some either already broken in the box or after the first transformation and it is all in regards to some tight hinges. A fan took to Twitter with a rather dramatic image that you can see here. These are just early reports of course and just as many have received flawless copies.
Please let us know how your copy turned out and if you are enjoying him!
Didn't get enough plastic crack on Christmas? Well, we have a Boxing Day treat for you! Thanks to fan transformers_va, we have a video review of another upcoming Earthrise figure for you, that of Wheeljack! Reviewer TonTon is at it again, bringing us the first look at the transformation, the accessory (singular ), and also does some nice size comparisons.
While somewhat plain in robot mode, his car mode is amazing to see. Plenty of "sponsor" decals and paint; very reminiscent of his Masterpiece figure. Wheeljack and his fellow deluxe figures Hoist, Cliffjumper, and Ironworks are due out in the next quarter (many preorders say March).
What do you think of this figure? Will it become THE Wheeljack in your CHUG collection? Let us know what you think!
We posted pictorial reviews for the much anticipated deluxe Optimus Prime and Shockwave from Cyberverse already but of course pictures don't convey the transformation. To cover that part, Chuckdawg1999 has video reviews of these two toys.
chuckdawg1999 wrote:Shockwave is a good deluxe figure but I feel it falls short when compared to Bumblebee and Megatron. My one big issue is the neon-pink rubber cable that connects the large cannon to the backpack; it's way too stiff out of the box and even after working it can still limit arm articulation. Overall, Shockwave is a solid purchase but I would recommend the other figures in the wave first.
chuckdawg1999 wrote:While I was hoping that Optimus Prime would be the best figure of the first four, it ends up falling somewhere in the middle due to incredibly loose joints that make a fun transformation finicky. The included Ion Blaster while small, features quite a bit of detail but I feel the Matrix is where the included blast effect will spend most of its time. Overall, this is a solid figure but not the home run that I was hoping for.
It's been two weeks since Studio Series Roadbuster was revealed, and thanks to Seibertroian PrimeVsPrime, we have an early review of this Scottish fella!
PrimeVsPrime showed great content for this figure, citing its superiority to the Deluxe Class Roadbuster, which is shown through comparisons. We also have a nice comparison between this and the other two Deluxe Wreckers from Dark of the Moon, in which the toy fits in nicely. Since this is an early review, there is unfortunately no view of the figure's backdrop or box.
If you have any interest in Roadbuster or PrimeVsPrime's reviews, than we suggest watching the video, and telling your thoughts in the Pub forums below!
Another thanks to Chuck for his review of Transformers Cyberverse Deluxe Bumblebee.
chuckdawg1999 wrote:Following up on Megatron is Bumblebee, while not as good as Megatron, it's probably the best deluxe class Bumblebee I've handled. My one complaint with the figure is that the wings can bump into the shoulder pads and limit arm articulation, small potatoes honestly as you can adjust things to your liking. Overall, this is a very, very solid figure and worth the purchase.
These toys have yet to be found at US retail, so if you find them, let us know!
Am I the only one getting a bit sick of Studio Series Bumblebee toys? Not in the fact that there are lots of them, but more that it's the same functional design every time. Unlike Optimus, where movie toy designers kept reinventing the transformation throughout the years, Bumblebee toys suffer from just changing incrementally every time. And that's been the case since the first deluxe toy (which you can see in a comparison shot below). That doesn't make them bad toys, it just makes them predictable and rather boring in terms of transforming figures.
That's what this toy suffers most of. It's based on the same movie Bumblebee transformation we have gotten since The Last Knight (TLK). Meaning, the car roof folds up and gets stuffed into the torso, the arms with no wrist swivels are tucked at the base of the car, you get that back window flip for the double wings, the middle of the car hood is separated from the sides and under it is a fake kibble piece for a more accurate chest and the legs unfold through a series of 90 degree pivots with the feet doing a full 180. These are all ok steps to go from a good looking car to a decent looking robot but they are all steps we did before. And the fact that it's the same steps results in robot modes that look about the same from one toy to the next, as you can see below.
I will repeat, none of that makes this a bad toy, it just makes for a boring experience. If this is your first movie Bumblebee toy, then you will probably be satisfied. What is frustrating is that this toy only comes with the battle mask, meaning that if you want a Bumblebee toy looking closer to his movie one appearance where all the Autobots meet up the first time with Sam, then you are gonna fork out some money again for another incremental change.
The car mode is fine. It's apparently not a perfectly accurate alt mode, but I can't tell. I have it compared to the alt mode his first movie toy had, which is said to be a perfect representation in car mode. Looks fine to me though. I will say that I much prefer how the car mode tabs together than other Bumblebee toys with this transformation, like the one from TLK or the one from the Bumblebee movie.
The robot mode looks great but I would have really liked to have a normal face, it feels a shady not to include it. While the transformation is a rinse repeat of other toys, design wise this does make it the first Bumblebee with that now iconic Camaro alt mode to have those extra little wings in the back, along with a very nice looking chest and even those small clavicle-like details next to his neck (pretty sure those are supposed to be his mirrors). I would have loved them to paint those yellow though. I mean it would go a long way and highlight the novelty to the sculpting. His robot mode is the best looking transforming deluxe representation of this Bumblebee design.
He has an arm cannon accessory which covers his hands. It feels really cheap though since it's just all in black and clashes with the rest of the deco. I mean for a line that is all about movie accuracy, the sole accessory to come with the figure looking like this is a bit lame. In terms of articulation, while he is missing some (like wrist swivels), there is a transformation joint on the leg that you can use to make up for a lack of ankle pivot.
The best thing I can say about this figure is that nothing falls apart, it tabs in as it should, nothing feels too loose and you can pose him with little issue. While this should all be a given for a toy of passable quality, it's almost a miracle for a movie Bumblebee toy of recent years. Still I'd wish for more articulation because right now even Cyberverse has surpassed Studio Series in terms of articulation for the deluxe class. Also I would have liked that additional face and some kind of effort for the cannon's deco.
As I wrote in the site's pictorial review, the big selling factor for the new deluxe Megatron from Cyberverse was the transformation. However, pictures can only go so far, so fellow Seibertronian chuckdawg1999 has a video review for us where you can now see the transformation I was talking about. Chuck believes this to be the best deluxe Megatron we have ever gotten, and I look forward to more fans getting these to debate whether that's true or not. You'll let us know what you think based on what you have seen so far.
chuckdawg1999 wrote:Megatron is a part of the new for 2020 Transformers Cyberverse Deluxe Class line. As many collectors have said, these are the Cyberverse figures they've been waiting for. Megatron features an involved, intuitive transformation that becomes second nature after a few go-rounds. This is by far the best Deluxe Class Megatron figure I've ever handled and highly, highly recommend it.
I'll cut to the chase, this is the best representation of movie Soundwave we have ever gotten. I have comparison images to the on screen character below and looking back I am baffled that we were all so laissez fair about what came before. I know I love the Human Alliance mold (you will see it below in the comparison shots as the Movie the Best redeco) but it doesn't really convey the proportions of the character properly, definitely not as good as this new deluxe does.
The car looks fine. I really like how everything tabs in well. Everyone will be very happy that the car is covered in the appropriate silver paint (no more off white plastic, yay!). The clear windows do mean we see some of the robot junk in there, but I am fine with it. The clean interior and opening doors lead to lots of sacrifices on the Human Alliance toy so I prefer that the designers chose to favour different aspects this go around.
And it pays off, boy does it pay off, because the robot mode looks perfect. Soundwave was a stocky guy in the films, and while he had a large torso, it wasn't immense compared to some teeny tiny legs. He was more Wolverine than Johnny Bravo and we finally get that here. What impresses me most with this toy is how few steps there are to the conversion to get from two modes that look nothing alike. People often think that more steps may equate to a better design/engineering, but I never did. There can be beauty in simplicity. In fact, I would argue that it is much harder to get to a good looking and accurate robot mode, especially of a movie bot, with fewer steps. Toys can be overcomplicated just as much as they can be oversimplified and this one is just right.
The designers picked their battles well here with the alt mode integration and what parts should be real (like the chest) and which can be designed to look like alt mode detail (the front of the legs). I love how the arms are half car detail and half robot detail and each mode orients it just right so taht you think it can only belong to one particular mode. It's just a very efficient design. The car lights reorienting to give him the side panels framing his chest are the best example of that.
In terms of articulation, I didn't notice until comparing these to the new Cyberverse toys, but it's lacking for today's standards. Unlike deluxes in the Siege and Cyberverse line, this toy and many other Studio Series deluxes do not have wrist swivels, ankle pivots or even waist articulation. Which is kind of ironic since the movie look has them sculpted to make it look like they are made up of a million moving parts. Kudos to the designers for at least tricking me into thinking it is made of more parts than other lines (and I mean that sincerely).
He comes with a very important accessory, Laserbeak. While I never liked the skeletal chicken look, I can't fault it for looking the part. It latches well onto wither or Soundwave's forearms and can even tag along in the back of the vehicle mode. Those are two different type of latches and the mini figure will slightly convert to fit in whichever scenario.
It's odd how objectively, this toy may not be offering much as much as other Transformers toys at his price point (for instance, he has less steps, less height, less accessories and much less articulation than the new Cyberverse toys), but subjectively I feel more satisfied by him than many other toys. He always had a unique design for a car bot and he did not get as much representation in the movie lines in the west, and unlike Siege and Cyberverse this isn't retreading the same G1 design, so he feels more fresh. He surprised me, and I loved discovering the efficient conversion, and sometimes that's all I need for a toy to stand out. I would thus recommend him to any Transformers fan, regardless of their feel for the Bay aesthetic.
The new deluxe Cyberverse toys are by far the toy which fans are most curious about. We all know more or less what to expect from more toys from the Studio Series or War for Cybertron Trilogy line but this is completely new.
I will start by saying this, while these deluxes are the same price point as a Studio Series and WFC deluxe they are as different from either of those as a Studio Series toy is from a WFC toy. It's a different feel and aesthetic. This review is for Shockwave. Now, right off the bat my first impression was that he was far less interesting than the other two, but there is a good reason for that: he already had a decent toy. Megatron and Optimus are both infinitely better than whatever else you can get in that scale in that line, but Shockwave had several good toys, in whatever scale you wanted. Unlike all other warrior class toys, his warrior figure did actually feel worthwhile. The fact that the spider tank needs him to have crucial articulation like knees and elbows made him leagues better than any other warrior figure.
So now we have this deluxe which costs a third more and the big question for me was, is he a third better? The short answer is objectively yes. As you will see in the images below, he is gorgeously painted on all sides, which really helps in the tank mode. He has way more articulation like ankles, head, waist and a wrist. He has lots of accessories, like a nicely painted gun (a way cooler gun than any other weapon to come with any deluxe this year), two clear effect parts that can combine and a removable clear plastic tube attached to a gun hand that you can insert above his hand. Meaning that unlike many other Shockwaves we got recently, you can give him either two hands or have one be a gun hand. So yeah, he has a lot more to offer. Oh yeah, he also comes with a leg to build Maccadam, but that's a bonus I will write about in another article.
In terms of complexity, objectively he has a lot of steps. He has more steps than the new Studio Series deluxe Soundwave (is also bigger, more articulated, and has more accessories) for instance, if anyone cares about value comparisons between two new toys that cost the same. But the conversion is nothing special. Not only because it's a very straightforward transformation due to how obvious the limb placement is, but also because it's the same transformation we got for the warrior Shockwave. It's more refined, of course, like now you completely replace robot hands with spider tank feet (adding 4 steps to the transformation per arm), but it's still the same brush strokes arriving at a similar alt mode.
Speaking of the alt mode, while the deco is way better than the previous toys we got for this designs (and I do like the front spider feet), I think the warrior looks better. The big cannon is more central while it's too far back on this deluxe. It makes the tank look more on the long side rather than being a more symmetrical X shape. Even though they go more out of their way to make the alt mode different than the robot mode, even so much as adding extra antenna for the tank face to differentiate it from the robot mode chest, the fact that the cannon is smaller makes it look more like the robot on all fours.
Speaking of the cannon, which also fits over the hand, the clear tube connected to it is rather rigid. So it isn't easy to pose. It will revert to whichever pose has it in a relaxed position. This really hurts poseability in robot mode since the gun arm will not keep a bent elbow due to the wire being rigid. Speaking of accessories, his effect parts are compatible with 3mm and 5 mm ports so you can use them for Siege figures too.
You can remove the tube and gun arm for robot mode and it still looks great. The deco helps a lot of course, and he has all the articulation you'd want, but my favourite part is the backpack. Not only can it serve as a place to post his cool gun when hes not using it, but the G1 callback is great. Especially the sculpted circle at the base of it.
In the end, he looks great, feels great and has some really nice accessories. Not a fan of the alt mode, but that is par for the course with Shockwave toys and I knew what I signed up for. He's worth a Siege deluxe price point, more so than I feel the Siege leader is worth his price point, so take that as you will. And now I will leave you with some size comparisons to other deluxe toys.
Thanks to regular YouTube reviewer TonTon, we have a review of an upcoming figure that was just officially announced weeks ago, that of Shatter, in her jet mode! This new iteration of Shatter sees her in her Harrier jet mode that she scanned upon meeting Sector 7 in last year's Bumblebee movie. This version of the Decepticon seems to be a marked improvement upon car mode Shatter, who was notorious for loose parts that would pop off easily. As TonTon shows, this new mold holds together well and also has her movie accurate face sculpt.
Shatter isn't scheduled for release until the second quarter of 2020, though she is available for preorder at various retailers right now.
So, for you, how does she compare with her previous toy (if you have it)? Is this a figure you plan on getting? Let us know in the comments below, and keep your browsers pointed towards Seibertron for the latest in Transformers news!
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), and also does some nice size comparisons. 
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