Transformers Studio Series Movie Hot Rod and Crosshairs Appearing at Walmarts in the US and Canada

Ey, Hot Rod and Crosshairs are finally showing up! Glad people are getting a good shot at getting them, I really like them both!

EvasionModeBumblebee wrote:Ey, Hot Rod and Crosshairs are finally showing up! Glad people are getting a good shot at getting them, I really like them both!

As do I. Some quality toys right here.

Back when Core class Freezer was first official revealed by Hasbro for the Transformers: Rise of the Beasts portion of Studio Series fans were surprised to learn that he had three alt modes. The Hasbro Pulse Transformers live stream that soon followed gave us a better idea of what was going on, explaining that he has a stand alone canon mode, a hand held gun mode and a third mode for mounting on Leader Scourge in truck mode, but without demonstrating. Thanks to Takara Tomy's round of pre-orders they've given us a new set of stock photos detailing all of Freezer's modes. As expected the differences between the three alt modes are fairly minor, coming mainly down to how the arms and feet are positioned, but it's fairly effective for such a small figure.













Do you find these different alt modes convincing? Will you be displaying him next to your Beast Wars Optimus Minor? Let us now in the Energon Pub forums!

Targetmaster on steroid! Damn that hand-held gun looks great with Battletrap!

I see. His alt mode is garbage. Someone designed that.

Solrac333 wrote:I see. His alt mode is garbage. Someone designed that.

The character doesn't transform in the film, so it's like with other Bayverse designs we've seen in the past where Hasbro makes up an alt mode from contorting a non transforming bot.

Personally, I think they've done a great job, it looks a beefy cannon in that shot with him attached to battletrap. I'm guessing that first alt mode picture is when he'll be combined with Scourge.

Gotta admit, Freezer is a nice Targetmaster.

My one issue is this:



As an alt mode I think it's neat, but his legs are the issue, they're just floating there untabbed to anything. His legs don't peg together in any way, for the other two modes they depend on the arms to keep them in place, but for this mode they're just there. That may not necessarily be a bad thing because it gives you some freedom to try other things with those legs if you want to change up his look, but I'd rather he pegged together at the ankles like we've seen so many other figures do.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:My one issue is this:



As an alt mode I think it's neat, but his legs are the issue, they're just floating there untabbed to anything. His legs don't peg together in any way, for the other two modes they depend on the arms to keep them in place, but for this mode they're just there. That may not necessarily be a bad thing because it gives you some freedom to try other things with those legs if you want to change up his look, but I'd rather he pegged together at the ankles like we've seen so many other figures do.

Emerje

You could counter that by saying that the legs are handles and can spread, allowing for multiple size bots to use the tripod. I'm thinking like in the Millenium Falcon, how Luke and han both had separate handles to control the turret guns, but adjustable for bigger people/bots.

SS ROTB Mirage revealed! I actually like how this looks much more than the movie CG model

Not screen accurate at all for the bot, but it look nice nonetheless.
Plus, that a freaking LICENSECD PORSHE.
G1 MP Jazz when?

Very nice figure! Some little nods to G1 colors despite the vehicle coloration.

Hasbro has unveiled Studio Series deluxe class Mirage from the Rise of the Beasts movie. The images below were posted on their Facebook page, stating that a preorder will be up at a later date. This reveal coincides with the Superbowl spot showcasing the character. The only studio series Autobot toy left to reveal now is Wheeljack. Let us know what you think of this Mirage toy.

Honestly I like how this looks more then the character model in the trailer. Which is probably unfair because the trailer cg is never finished, but still this just looks like a fun car bot to mess around with and have fighting your bad guys

He looks... interesting.

His feet look really awkward. Lots of car parts hanging off of him in robot mode.
He gets the lower front bumper sections with the turn signals for a chest, which means they are not trying to pass him off as a "You can use him as Jazz" toy but he's not really Jazz, at all.

I love the car mode.

Interesting... Is all I can say. Don't know if I really want to to pick him up. Maybe just for the Porsche mode. Since we probably won't see a licensed Porsche 911 Turbo ever again.

Mirage is just… okay. He reminds me of a Bayverse figure from 2007-09, blocky/shell-like robot mode but a nice and sleek alt-mode. It makes sense as a design choice, but from screen to figure something seems off.

I’m might be beating a dead horse here, but WHY is this character not Jazz? This figure furthers the similarities of this Mirage to G1 Jazz, he even has a visor. And of course the alt-mode speaks for itself.

Worst Jazz figure ever

No,I don't think you're beating a dead horse...I've been reading a bunch of outlets on this topic. Some sound really wierd, but all in all, it's all around disappointing to me. I'm open to certain things, but this character has a visor and is a Porsche. Just Michael Bay all over again.
They fooled me with Bumblebee... I thought we were going in a good direction at first,but have to wait an see... hopefully the Porsche, is a Mirage

Overcracker wrote:He looks... interesting.

Why can't you just say "bad"? Whose feelings are you sparing?

Stormshot_Prime wrote:he even has a visor.

He does not have a visor. He has a blue panel/browline right above his blue eyes, so if you aren't looking closely enough it looks like a visor.

That's just Jazz.

Mirage is looking a lot like Helicopter Dropkick to me, a cool licensed alt mode with a robot mode that, while inaccurate to the movie, I actually like more than the one in the movie. Even if I don’t like his character in the movie, he could be a fun repaint into a different character to fit in with my Bayverse bots.

I like it, the name issue is a nonstater for me, this is movieverse Mirage...that's it. Besides which, we already had movieverse Jazz complete with visor.

I also love how people are reacting like this is the first name slap in the franchise when that boat sailed back in G2 (and then again in Machine Wars/beast wars). Nameslaps are tradition now.

ZeroWolf wrote:I like it, the name issue is a nonstater for me, this is movieverse Mirage...that's it. Besides which, we already had movieverse Jazz complete with visor.

I also love how people are reacting like this is the first name slap in the franchise when that boat sailed back in G2 (and then again in Machine Wars/beast wars). Nameslaps are tradition now.

I hear much useless wailing and gnashing of teeth and temper tantrums. Trying to decide if Star Wars fans or Transformers fans are more whiny...

...running neck and neck right now....

Overcracker wrote:He looks... interesting.

His feet look really awkward. Lots of car parts hanging off of him in robot mode.
He gets the lower front bumper sections with the turn signals for a chest, which means they are not trying to pass him off as a "You can use him as Jazz" toy but he's not really Jazz, at all.

I love the car mode.

Interesting... Is all I can say. Don't know if I really want to to pick him up. Maybe just for the Porsche mode. Since we probably won't see a licensed Porsche 911 Turbo ever again.

Pretty much my sentiments. I am curious if they might be able to repaint/retool in the future for an actual jazz figure but it's not like he transforms the same as Jazz does anyways. G1 at least. it's kind of tough to get a real sense of things due to the digital render that often looks different in toy form, but the Bot mode isn't anything special to look at and appears IDK odd.

Not understanding licensing issues they seem to run up against I don't see why they didn't just call him Jazz and change a few things, if in fact they couldn't secure the license for Mirage's alt mode.
Heck, for that matter why even bother with them when you've got dozens of other characters to use. I guess they are in need of Mirage's hologram projection technology for some reason and is why they went with him.

84everfan wrote:

Overcracker wrote:He looks... interesting.

Why can't you just say "bad"? Whose feelings are you sparing?

I'm not sparing anyone's feelings. I just don't think he qualifies as bad. He's just not very good, or really appealing, but I would not say he's bad. He's just average looking, a bit too much kibble, not Jazz, and yet still a Porsche.

There's been terrible, terrible things in the Movie lines in the past, this is just ...meh.

We did get movie 1 Demolishor, movie 3 Scalpel? Those are bad. This is just meh. Saved by the Porsche mode.

First-Aid wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:I like it, the name issue is a nonstater for me, this is movieverse Mirage...that's it. Besides which, we already had movieverse Jazz complete with visor.

I also love how people are reacting like this is the first name slap in the franchise when that boat sailed back in G2 (and then again in Machine Wars/beast wars). Nameslaps are tradition now.

I hear much useless wailing and gnashing of teeth and temper tantrums. Trying to decide if Star Wars fans or Transformers fans are more whiny...

...running neck and neck right now....

The vitriol towards Kathleen Kennedy dwarfs any hard feelings this community had for Bay.

I feel like the only reason this isn't called Jazz is because they had to renew the copyright for Mirage. There's no other reason this couldn't be Jazz really.

I don't know if I like the design, but then I wasn't really wild about the design that appears in the movie either. I really want to like this movie so maybe seeing it will change my mind about the figure. I mean that's what happened with the Bumblebee movie. Wasn't going to see it because I hated Bumblebee and the movie franchise. Then I saw it and loved it and immediately bought the Bumblebee toy. Maybe the same will happen here? Maybe the toy's engineering is excellent. Maybe the visible car kibble is actually parts of the vehicle mode instead of fakeout parts like what usually happens these days.

Nemesis Primal wrote:

Stormshot_Prime wrote:he even has a visor.

He does not have a visor. He has a blue panel/browline right above his blue eyes, so if you aren't looking closely enough it looks like a visor.

mirage eyes.JPG

Yup, this isn't a Visor guys just a bad angle that makes that part look like one.

If anything Mirage seems to be a live-action attempt at a Transformers Prime Smokescreen character from attitude to color-scheme.

william-james88 wrote:

First-Aid wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:I like it, the name issue is a nonstater for me, this is movieverse Mirage...that's it. Besides which, we already had movieverse Jazz complete with visor.

I also love how people are reacting like this is the first name slap in the franchise when that boat sailed back in G2 (and then again in Machine Wars/beast wars). Nameslaps are tradition now.

I hear much useless wailing and gnashing of teeth and temper tantrums. Trying to decide if Star Wars fans or Transformers fans are more whiny...

...running neck and neck right now....

The vitriol towards Kathleen Kennedy dwarfs any hard feelings this community had for Bay.

Bay was far from perfect, but he did brought something FRESH to transformers. I could even daresay a renaissance.

But Kennedy? She downright sabotaged Star Wars and it will take a looooooong time for the franchise to recover.

Freezer's pain is great, and so are his gun modes. He might end up being the best target master ever. Hope there's a 2007 Frenzy of some sort in the horizon.

No sure yet about Mirage, save for the alt mode which is excelent. don't get the whining about the name. He makes mirages and goes fast, so he's called Mirage. Simple and effective as that. He's the same colors and everything.

Feet are really odd and the chest...uhhh is Mirage a girl?

First-Aid wrote:

Emerje wrote:My one issue is this:



As an alt mode I think it's neat, but his legs are the issue, they're just floating there untabbed to anything. His legs don't peg together in any way, for the other two modes they depend on the arms to keep them in place, but for this mode they're just there. That may not necessarily be a bad thing because it gives you some freedom to try other things with those legs if you want to change up his look, but I'd rather he pegged together at the ankles like we've seen so many other figures do.

Emerje

You could counter that by saying that the legs are handles and can spread, allowing for multiple size bots to use the tripod. I'm thinking like in the Millenium Falcon, how Luke and han both had separate handles to control the turret guns, but adjustable for bigger people/bots.

Maybe the pegs on the feet are for when it combines with Scourge and that's how the legs are secured?

I think this figure looks pretty good, might pick it up. Kinda wish it was more offroad centric like Prime and Bee are (even if the only shots shown of Mirage before never indicated such a thing, I'm just a fan of rally cars.) but I still think both modes look nice.

I think the only two cents I'll throw in about the whole name thing is that it's weird, but I couldn't care less. I've played a lot of racing games so I mostly see the Porche 911 as a racing machine which still fits most other Mirages, and him being an open wheel racer might've stuck out too much from the regular Autobot crew in the film. It does feel Jazzy, but this is also from the Bayverse where Jazz was never a Porsche on screen so I'm fine with Mirage having it.

I like how smoothly Freezer seems to intergrate into the other figures, neat stuff. Mirage? ... Eh I really think we need to wait until some actual toy pics and not renders are shown. So it's a pass from me for now

Deadput wrote:

Nemesis Primal wrote:

Stormshot_Prime wrote:he even has a visor.

He does not have a visor. He has a blue panel/browline right above his blue eyes, so if you aren't looking closely enough it looks like a visor.

mirage eyes.JPG

Yup, this isn't a Visor guys just a bad angle that makes that part look like one.

If anything Mirage seems to be a live-action attempt at a Transformers Prime Smokescreen character from attitude to color-scheme.

A character that many people whined about stealing Hot Rod's role and personality?

Great car mode, less than impressive bot mode, especially in the side view.

Easy pass.

[size=150]WHY?! I know it's been talked about already, but still? Jazz hasn't had a single role in any movie, tv show, or as even a figure in years. He has a good personality, he likes music, and is "hip" i guess you could say. wouldn't that fit the theme better? Him liking earth and stuff would be a reason for him and the main character to meet right?
Anyway, I feel like maybe they could've introduced Jazz later as like a Shelby cobra or something. While other characters have been porches, none have had that specific color scene, with the blue stripe. :
... still going to see rotb though...

Studio Series voyager ROTB Cheetor review!

And no, for once it's not PvP, but Baltmatrix!

This might be a hot take, but the level of hate Mirage's design is getting has really illustrated to me just how superficially we as a fandom think of these characters.

I've seen relatively little talk about how Mirage's personality seems to be very Hot Rod-esque in this movie and overall very different from G1; the vast majority of the discussion is about how simply having a different alt mode from G1 Mirage has completely ruined the character in many's eyes, and how this should be Jazz instead just because he has a similar alt mode to G1 (not the same alt mode mind you, only the same automaker).

Like, guys, this is a franchise about transforming robots that can scan almost any object they want and reformat their bodies accordingly, and can do it on a whim. Why do they have to be the same vehicles every time? How does that somehow ruin the character? A Porsche is honestly a more fitting alt mode for the formerly wealthy, high-society G1 Mirage than an F1 racecar ever was.


Also, a bit of a side tangent, but I've never liked the term "nameslap". I've always thought of it similarly to people names, since there are presumably millions, if not billions of cybertronians (depending on the continuity and timeframe the story takes place), multiple bots with the same name is inevitable.

Wait until people hear what Tidal Wave's name changed to when he got upgraded!

In G1 Jazz wasn't even the only Porsche, there was also Cliffjumper (Porsche 924), Dead End (Porsche 928) and Nightbeat (Porsche 959). And I know what you're thinking, that's different because they were different models of Porsche than Jazz. Guess what, movie Mirage and G1 Jazz aren't the same model either!

G1 Jazz Porsche 935:



Movie Mirage Porsche 911:


They aren't even that similar side by side.

As for the figure, it's probably fine as a transforming toy, but the bot likeness is no good.

Emerje

Close enough.

Interesting that Mirage's forearms appear to be clear plastic. Guess we'll have to wait for official product shots, but that seems like a weird choice unless they're going for a hologram/invisible aesthetic.

I still feel like it's worth mentioning that this is the Bayverse...
Where Jazz never was a Porsche on screen...

I'm getting flashbacks to fan complaints about Bumblebee not being a Beetle all over again!

Just imagine if Paramount pulled a Blitzwing/Starscream all over again, and by that I mean have Jazz appear in a small role, but he somehow looks even more like his G1 self than Mirage.

I think some people are overreacting, in most cases it isn't hate at all merely disgruntled. And since when is it not okay to have an opinion on something? Some individuals think everyone is supposed to like the exact same things and if you don't it requires some sort of insult to be launched/

I don't hate this take, in fact I'm really indifferent because I haven't like very many of the TF movies at all, the very first one was fine and I really like Bumblebee. Not that I care to collect any of the figure because I simply don't care for the designs. As for ROTB I have almost zero interest in seeing it other than a slight curiosity how they integrate beasts into the story and live action mythos, I still don't much care for the bot designs. Some are decent others not as much. I simply asked why they chose to go with Mirage as a Porche instead of an F1 or maybe even something cooler like a Ford GT. I could definitely see that as Mirage.

Amazon has been shipping out the new Transformers Studio Series voyager class Rise of the Beasts Cheetor. So fans are getting him and we can see the transformation as indicated in the instructions. Balmatrix did a review after receiving him and you can see the review below.

If this is a toy you'd like to own, he is still available from amazon now for $34.99 USD: https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Stu ... 125&sr=8-2?tag=seibertron07-20&