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When a YouTuber also gets to help set up the displays at a toy show it also comes with the perks of being able to handle figures early. That's what happened with Ben Custom Toys was able to work the Hasbro booth at Cybertron Con 2023 in Singapore this weekend giving us early access and our first look at the newly revealed Transformers Legacy United Origin Wheeljack. Surpassing expectations, Voyager Wheeljack does not appear to share any parts with the previous Deluxe Origin Jazz and for the most part seems to be on par with the previous Origins releases. As with the previous releases he's expected to be a Target exclusive, but an image of the box shared on Baidu appears to be a normal United box rather than Buzzworthy Bumblebee. The package also shows that much of the alt mode shell can be removed and probably isn't required to be hung off his back.
Also handled in the video are Studio Series Bumblebee Movie Megatron and Rumble, United Tiger Hawk, Thundertron, Animated Optimus Prime, Animated Bumblebee, Cyberverse Windblade, Rescue Bots Chase, Gamer Edition Starscream, 86 Scrapheap, Reactivate Soundwave, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Starscream, and closeups of others.
Thanks to Seibertronian Munkky we have a new batch of leaks from Jtprime17 for the 2024 Legacy line. The first two figures take place of the previous leak that called the figures "Rock 1" and "Rock 2". And if you weren't already thinking "Rock Lords" with that clue then the names Bouldercrash and Magneous sounding so close to good and evil Rock Lord leaders Boulder and Magmar should really cinch it. We also have our first mention of a Deluxe Optimus Prime, something we've seen in the child centered lines like Cyberverse and Earthspark, but it's been many years since we've had a new Deluxe Prime in the "main line". And with all the new Unicron Trilogy figures that have been showing up in Legacy it's shouldn't be a huge suprise that we have a listing for Cybertron Vector Prime who should go nicely with the previous Galaxy Upgrade Optimus Prime from the previous Trilogy and last year's Titan Metroplex and Velocitron Override. Also for a Voyager we have Origin Wheeljack who will mostly certainly be a Target exclusive next year. Final figure in this batch is Armada Galvatron who I'm not sure a lot of people expected to be a retail figure.
Munkky wrote:More leaks for the 2024 Legacy line have been revealed by Jtprime17:
TRA GEN LEGACY UNI CORE BOULDERCRASH
Product Number: F8516
This is the previously leaked Core Class "Rock 1"
TRA GEN LEGACY UNI DELUXE MAGNEOUS
Product Number: F8526
This is the previously leaked Deluxe Class "Rock 1"
TRA GEN LEGACY UNI DELUXE G1 OPTIMUS PRIME
Product Number: F9848
TRA GEN LEGACY UNI VOY CYBER VECTOR PRIME
Product Number: F8546
TRA BB GEN LEGACY UNI VOY ORIGIN WHEELJACK
Product Number: F9688
This is for Buzzworthy Bumblebee, as Origins Bumblebee and Jazz were.
TRA GEN LEGACY UNI ARMADA GALVATRON
Product Number: F8522
Since we're getting four wave in Evolution this year the soonest we'll see any of these figures in store is late winter or early spring 2024 at best. Anything here getting you excited? Let us know in the Energon Pub forums!
SDCC may have wrapped up but it looks like there's still a lot left to talk about when it comes to the future of Legacy! HUGE thanks to our own Seibertronian Nemesis Primal for combing through Q&As and interviews to find many key bits of information about the future of Legacy. His post to our Energon Pub Forums is as follows:
Nemesis Primal wrote:So I've been doing a bit of reading, and between what little Q & A escaped the panel, a video interview done by Shartimus Prime, and the big interview TFW just posted, I have compiled the following list of Legacy-relevant confirmations/hints given at SDCC outside of just the figures we actually saw. Notes so far (*inhales*):
-Legacy Wave 4/Breakdown will be shown at Pulsecon
-Legacy Wave 4/Breakdown are scheduled to come out next year
-Evan mentioned that Menasor's lack of Scramble City compatibility/limbs being dedicated to just Menasor has been well-received and they are keeping that in mind for future potential combiners
-No continuity is off the table for Legacy, Cyberverse is an option
-Animated was given a flat-out confirmation by Evan, Animated characters/designs WILL be in Legacy, the theory of those characters/designs being held up by Cartoon Network rights is incorrect
-Evan cited Animated Lockdown, Ratchet, and Prime as characters/designs he specifically would like to work on
-Legacy Animated figures WILL be G1-ified, HOWEVER the team has also heard the feedback on Arcee/Bulkhead/Knock Out and are working to find a better G1-ification balance
-Titans and Selects are both still planned to continue release, called out the theory of Selects ending specifically as incorrect
-Hasbro is considering 2022 and 2023 both to be the Armada anniversary due to the show's release date in Japan (which probably also explains "RiD 2000 Universe")
-Armada Prime "may happen" for the anniversary, unlikely to be the unreleased Takara-initiated one shown years back but may borrow from it if happening
-Cyber Planet Keys and Cheetor's gut gun both being thought about in terms of potential weapon/accessory packs
-They KNOW people want Tidal Wave
-Minicons are something they're intending to figure out "once they move more fully into Armada"
-Wider release/more allotments of Velocitron Cosmos and his in-store availability are up to Walmart, Pulse cannot restock (sounds familiar)
-Next Haslab is being worked on but has no associated dates yet
-No version of Optimus Prime will EVER be a Haslab (when asked about Armada Prime)
-When asked about a new Cybertron OP & Wing Saber: "it would be totally doable to make a new Wing Saber connect to Siege GUOP" (implying Wing Saber is on the table but Optimus is considered done)
-More Titans from Cybertron are possible albeit daunting due to number (Starscream, Primus, Quickmix, & Menasor all mentioned)
-Evan wants to incorporate Powerlinx into Armada/Energon updates
-Mark and Evan talk about making figures of the 13 Primes "all the time", mentioned The Fallen's tank mode
-As far as Evan knows, Legacy is planned to go for 3 years and is a trilogy (?)
-More non-G1 updates can be expected even if/when Legacy ends
-Evan wants to make Beast Machines Vehicons
-Most obscure characters Evan wants to do in Legacy: Velocity, Javelin, Mistress of Flame, Camiens
-Interest in bringing Fan Votes back
-Expansion into non-G1 was due to designer interest, characters needing updates, and people being sick of the same characters
-Positive reaction to being asked about Omnibots, vague "anything is possible" response given
-More Minibots "will make it in eventually"
-Mention of potential Coneheads rerelease in Legacy
-Evan mentioned "having a few more beasts to get through"
...and on top of all that semi-official stuff, JTPrime has said as of yesterday that Breakdown and Twincast's EAN numbers have been replaced with new ones that change what we thought the next few waves would be, indicating that Wave 4 will now include Needlenose, "Junkion 1", Hot Shot, Tarn, & Leo Prime (at least, don't think we know Leaders-per-specific-wave yet for 2023) in addition to Breakdown, while Twincast has been pushed back to the wave containing Metalhawk and the Wheeljack & Cheetor repacks have been possibly scrapped.
If you actually read to the end, I appreciate you
And there you have it. It looks like the design team isn't leaving much off the table which may well make this the most exciting era of the Transformers franchise. It's a lot to unload but feel free to leave your thoughts in the Energon Pub Forums!
Hasbro has quietly rereleased Transformers Cyberverse Deluxe Arcee, Bumblebee and Starscream in the current Dinobots Unite packaging. Like the previous wave these will likely not include the parts to build Maccadam despite what the stock photos show but you'll still get the other weapons and effect parts, just be sure to inspect those open air boxes to make sure the parts didn't slip out! And hey, you can go to Target right now and buy these if you're lucky to have a local store that's reasonably well stocked (or even not well stocked as you can see from my photo below). Or you can go over to Target.com where they're currently in stock, click on the photos to be taken to the figure.
Now hopefully Prowl will be next to get reissued along side some new molds. If any of these are helping you fill gaps in your Cyberverse collection let us know in the Energon Pub Forums!
Once again official third parties do what Hasbro refuses to, just not transformable. At this point Hasbro will probably never give us a proper transforming Tarn figure despite his popular IDW stories and his visage now being all over the Cyberverse animated series, but at least we can get the next best official thing from Super7. The new Ultimate Tarn stands at a 7" scale (roughly the size of a Voyager) meaning he should work well with the modern Transformers scale. He includes an alternate unmasked head, a spare mask "prop", double canon, a bunch of hands and, most importantly, Nickle with her backpack. Could this open the door to more DJD members? Probably not, but it's still a good looking figure.
Meanwhile we never got that easy Titans Return Skullsmasher repaint into Alligaticon, the misassembled monsters made from Optimus Prime's parts from the G1 cartoon episode "City of Steel". This will be our first official Alligaticon figure, but he'll also include Prime's severed head, the tower Prime's arm was mounted to, and a Decepticon battle taxi, bet you thought we'd never get a figure of that!
The wave wraps up with less obscure G2 Megatron featuring both his G1 and G2 canons, extra hands, swappable blue and gray faces, a bunch of hands and many weapons straight out of the G2 comic. Then there's Wreck-Gar who comes with his cartoon and toy heads, cartoon and toy axes, Energon treats, a mini TV for Earth broadcasts, wax and cloth for detailing Ultra Magnus, gun wheel shields.
Ultimates wave 3 is expected to be out third quarter of 2022 and cost around $55 each. You can pick these up and just about any of our site sponsors. Big thanks to Seibertronians D-Maximal_Primal via email and AcademyofDrX on the Energon Pub Forums for letting us know.
Great news for all those following the Cyberverse show, the second movie is now available on Youtube for all to see. It is called "The Perfect Decepticon" and features the debut of Tarn in this universe. You'll let us know what you think. We thank Sabrblade for bringing this to our attention.
The second Transformers Cyberverse TV film concluding what Hasbro has labelled as "season 4" is now available in Canada. It appeared on Teletoon and is now available on streaming with whichever package includes teletoon, like Stack TV. I just watched it and here is the review: if you liked the Volcanicus episode, then you will surely like this.
I'll go more into depth of course, but that is the crux of it. It is a fun short movie for kids that never feels overly long and is a great mix of G1 and other continuities combined into a new modern day Transformer saga. And like last time, if you are a soundwave fan, this is a must watch. Both he and Hot Rod, another amazing character from the series, shine here.
I personally really love what Cyberverse has become. We get fun stories with great references for the most die hard fans, definitely feels like the perfect show for fans to watch with their kids. There are some wonderful deep cuts with Onyx Prime lore and Skybyte's love of Haikus. For anyone who wanted a deeper dive into the current leadership roles within the Decepticon ranks than what was hinted at in the previous episode, well it's given. And of course, this is the episode that brings fan favourite Tarn to the mainstream. While you'd think it is jarring to have the leader of the DJD be a main character in a movie for kids, the Cyberverse team makes it work. They give him a new origin and anyone who has not watched the final episodes of season 3 should really watch that first since it ties into that. Other members of the DJD do not make an appearance (Tarn is not a member of the DJD here, this is a different interpretation) and we never see his alt mode. While that last part is disappointing, there is an in story reason for it, Tarn is missing some of his parts (at least, we see he's missing parts, so that's what I inferred).
While it is a different interpretation, it is still one I quite liked, and Tarn becoming a legacy character gives greater chances to us getting a toy of him on day from Hasbro. Speaking of toys, while the Volcanicus episode definitely felt like a commercial for all the new Dinobot themed toys in the Cyberverse lines (and even for toys that don't exist, like an actual combiner), there was none of that here. This episode is purely about telling a story, and having loads of action. We get some really awesome moments here, like Arcee riding into battle atop Chromia (get your mind out of the gutter), Repugnas coming to the rescue with his voracious appetite, and Cosmos showing how you shouldn't underestimate a cute little UFO mode. As you can tell, the cast of characters is great and they all have their little moments. It just reminds me of how great a sandbox the Cyberverse show is for creators who love the Transformers lore.
That's all I will say for now aside from saying I hope that this is not the end of Cyberverse. This film will be dropping on youtube soon (no specific date given) and both films will be available on Netflix November 22.
A trailer for the labelled "4th season" of Cyberverse was released today from Netflix and Hasbro. This is in anticipation for the final episodes (aka mini films) that will serve as the conclusion to the series. In this trailer we see the perfect Decepticons (an army of Tarn looking Decepticons) taking over Cybertron in a full scale assault. The Dinobots, and their combined form, are the secret weapon to save the day. There are more surprises in this trailer, especially for those who love giant robots. So check it out!
Thanks to Seibertronian D-Maximal_Primal for letting us know that this week you can go to Ollies and try to nab yourself the Target exclusive Cyberverse Seeker Sinister Strikeforce for the low price of $19.99. That's half off the original price and works out to $5 per figure for the four pack, a great price if you can find it! If you're north of the boarder then you may recall this same set is also showing up at Winners in Canada for the equivalent of just a few dollars more at $29.99 CAD.
If you happen to find any amazing deals in store or online be sure to let us know in the Energon Pub forum or by contacting news staff directly through the link at the top of every page!
War for Fall of Cybertron
A Review of Transformers: War for Cybertron, "Chapter Three: Kingdom"
Spoiler Free-ish
Almost a year after Siege and another half of one departed from Earthrise, the final chapter of that Transformers Netflix series we thought we always wanted has arrived. Multi-channel brand synergy dictates that this chapter must make the worlds of War for Cybertron and Beast Wars collide, and for more on that here's the official synopsis provided by Netflix:
Having crash-landed on Earth, the Autobots and Decepticons are confronted by two rival Cybertronian factions from a future that their conflict has inadvertently created, as the heroes and villains of the classic BEAST WARS: TRANSFORMERS series make their WAR FOR CYBERTRON debut. Now the Autobots must team up with the Maximals to confront the Decepticons, who have joined forces with the Predacons, in the race to find the missing AllSpark. However, the Predacons are in control of the Golden Disk, a mysterious artifact which has a personal connection to Megatron and gives him an untold advantage over his enemy, Optimus Prime. Which faction will triumph in the final battle that will decide the fate of Cybertron’s future?
Does this chapter redeem the trilogy after the lukewarm Earthrise? Read on to find out, or tune in anytime after July 29th at 3 AM Eastern Daylight Time to make up your own mind.
Siege III: With a Vengeance
Beast Wars fans are in for their first, or maybe second, foray into a world of ambivalence where you have to forget the characters you knew before and be ready to start fresh with new iterations while also keeping in mind the general archetype of the character you knew before because the new version will lean on that. If that sounds confusing, just ask a G1 fan about what this is like, as that's been happening for ages with constant new iterations of G1 characters that are close to their original portrayals but still just off enough that it's easier to compartmentalize them as a new thing entirely. When things pick up with the Maximals and Predacons on Earth, it's similar to what you remember from Beast Wars but indeed completely different under the surface, so be prepared for this. The provided setup works within the context of the story being told and through the course of the series' six episodes both the Maximals and Predacons feel like welcome, fitting additions - or at least they do through five episodes, but more on that later.
I spent a lot of time in the first episode reflecting on the voice portrayals of the beast characters, and much will rightfully be made about a very questionable casting choice with Marqus Bobesich performing the role of Beast Wars Megatron. New voice actors in established roles is not only fine, it's an inevitability, so while I personally would have loved to hear David Kaye again the reality of the series' apparently low budget for voice talent (or maybe it's some typical corporate anti-union thing, who knows) dictates that some new voices are going to get used instead. The issue is, as it has been since Siege, voice over director Philip Bache. Bobesich sounds downright uncomfortable in the role, there's a strain at times which makes Beast Megatron feel more like a moody teenager than a Predacon Commander. The performance isn't necessarily bad, but it does make me feel sorry for the actor having to do something clearly outside of their practiced range. Bache's questionable handiwork is found many other times, with Beau Marie's Tigatron waxing and waning between "oh my god what is this?" and "this is just fine, actually", Justin Pierce's mostly well done performance of Optimus Primal having a notable spot or two of missed enunciation and a brief monologue with his back to the camera that has the speaking beats of a high schooler reading lines from a script for the first time, and of course Frank Marnocha's Siege Megatron and Jake Foushee's Siege Optimus can't go the whole series without a weird start-and-stop exchange that will put you to sleep, though they do find time to creep these iterations closer to their much, much better performances of these characters in Cyberverse.
A full-blown review of just the voice acting could occur, but since no one wants to read that much, know that it isn't all bad and is in fact mostly in that previously mentioned category of "this is just fine, actually." Jeanne Carr's Blackarachnia nails the character's tone, Krizz Kaliko sounds like he genuinely gets Dinobot, Erin Ebers provides great emotional range for Airazor and Andy Barnett might just make you love Rhinox all over again. Rattrap is picked up by Frank Todaro, who also voices Starscream, and it's this recurring role that steals the show as far as the voice-talent goes. As the story progresses, Starscream is given what I found to be one hell of a character arc, and Todaro is superb every step of the way in his portrayal of the legendary Decepticon Air Commander. A+ voicework can be achieved with D- direction after all.
What'd you say about my shoulders?
The wider story carried through Kingdom is best left unrevealed here. It's nothing complicated, but if I get into detail implicit spoilers will immediately follow. Instead, let's talk about the writing on this chapter, because there are times when it feels like two different shows got pieced together. Mae Catt (whose name is not a Scottish pun about a cat writing television), who fans may recognize from Transformers: Cyberverse, handles the odd numbered episodes 1, 3 and 5 while Tim Sheridan, who wrote episodes on Siege and Earthrise, handles the even numbered ones. The odd numbered episodes, though mostly episodes 3 and 5 since they don't have so much expository work, do something very pleasantly surprising which was absent for most characters in Siege and Earthrise. These episodes build characters through dialogue and interactions where entertaining things are said that are still relevant to the plot and its supporting actions. Soundwave gets snappy and snobby with Megatron, Rattrap calls Optimus Prime "the truck", Wheeljack doesn't want to give something a literal Whirl - they're all moments that are small but end up being large in your memory. The even-numbered episodes aren't totally devoid of such moments, for instance, Hound's confusion over Optimus Primal's first utterance of "Maximize!" is great stuff. The issue in these comes down to a couple notable things, for one, how they suddenly insist upon the Autobots and Maximals being argumentative well after it's established that they're going to get along fine now. There are also some banal exchanges that threaten to stop any momentum dead, while in others, characters say things that either make no sense or are unconvincing, only for other characters to somehow totally follow them or be totally convinced into something. Either the characters in episodes 2, 4 and 6 are the stupid ones or I am; no offense taken if you choose to believe the latter.
Apart from some of the dialogue the greatest single improvement in Kingdom as compared to Siege and Earthrise, at least writing-wise, is the pacing. There wasn't a stretch of chore-like episodes in this one, which was a very welcome change that made this brief binge-watch much more fun.
The production itself is going to be very unsurprising to those who have already watched Kingdom's predecessors. Fantastic texture work and some downright amazing key frames continue, and perhaps the greater achievement here by Polygon is how they've managed to make the Maximals and Predacons look right at home beside the Autobots and Decepticons, even in beast mode. There are moments where the color work will amaze as well, but maybe I'm only noticing this now that I can watch Netflix in 4K HDR - thanks, Playstation 5. The only visual frustration this time around came in the overuse of bokeh on the edges of the screen. This show is almost literally too dark at times to watch during the day on an LCD or LED television, which is what most fans are probably going to have. The Maximals weren't the only ones despairing when the sun set in episode 2.
The score by Alexander Bornstein must be mentioned, because suffice it to say that I was extremely critical of it in my previous War for Cybertron reviews. Outside of some recycling/call-backs to previous scoring, Kingdom opts for a more traditional sound in its score, and the improvement is downright exponential. Having a score that finally feels, mostly, like it's trying to be its own thing is extremely welcome and appreciated.
Verdict Mederi vibes in this one, at least sort of
There's a segment of Transformers fans that is quick to apply hyperbolic praise to this series for being serious and edgy and dark, but the world sucks enough and while I personally want Transformers fiction to treat me like an adult some of the time I also want it to actually be fun to watch. With Siege and Earthrise I have a hard time saying they were fun experiences in retrospect. Kingdom was, mostly, a fun experience while retaining a slightly chunibyo quality, for better or worse. The final episode is a bit by the numbers and quick to wrap up a great deal of plot, but two episodes would likely have been too dragged out, so I'm not sure what the best answer here was. Things did feel like they got in a hurry to wrap up the trilogy and it left the impact of the beast characters in the dust for the most part, but at least they weren't totally forgotten like the Mercenaries from Earthrise who never appear or are even mentioned once in Kingdom.
Transformers television usually finds its stride somewhere in the middle of or late into a second season, and for the War for Cybertron trilogy this definitely applies. The last couple episodes of Earthrise spill into Kingdom and finally get on with telling a story that you want to watch. While there are enough things that still aren't as great as they could be holding it back, Kingdom is the most fun chapter of the trilogy by a wide margin.
Final Score - Kingdom .
out of
The ending is satisfying but does manage to tease at least a possibility that more stories in the War for Cybertron universe could occur. I don't think we need that and to be more specific, the creative reins should be handed to either the Cyberverse team or totally new talent, but this trilogy was a good step in the right direction and a remarkable improvement over the Prime Wars trilogy which I still can't bring myself to even finish watching. It's no all-time great, but take another step up or two from here and Transformers' original streaming series pedigree might start to really attract more long-term attention.
Final Score - War for Cybertron Trilogy .
out of
Seibertron.com was provided with complimentary advance screening access to Transformers Chapter Three: Kingdom by Netflix for the purpose of this review. "Thank you" to Netflix and Hasbro for this access!
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