Video Review - Transformers Generations Voyager Brainstorm

Awe Man!
COME ON!!!

an unfortunate number of quality control issues

*sigh* Why does it seem like this happens to every Generations figure I'm interested in?

Like he said, let's wait and see if other reviewers have the same issue. I'm hoping it's going to be a one time concern. Aside from the QC stuff, Brainstorm is pretty great.

Ok. Sorry. I had just got up.
I'll try to stay positive y'all.
He does look really good in both modes.
despite his thin plastic flimsy-ness, I do like Jetfire,
so maybe Brainstorm will surprise me.

Drift082111 wrote:Like he said, let's wait and see if other reviewers have the same issue. I'm hoping it's going to be a one time concern. Aside from the QC stuff, Brainstorm is pretty great.

The issues with the pins, I can deal with, I doubt it's wide spread. The Headmaster though? I'd keep an eye on that with multiple reviews. Either way, caution is advised.

Do I just not exist to you?

KirbyForce1 wrote:Do I just not exist to you?

I'm sorry?

Va'al wrote:

KirbyForce1 wrote:Do I just not exist to you?

I'm sorry?

He's been complaining that a bunch of news item's he's submitted seem to have gone unnoticed by the news staff.

Perhaps it might be an issue like the one I once had back when anything I submitted wasn't going through for some reason.

looking forward to a review by someone who doesn't break their toys fairly often (granted it's usually ball joints, but still...)

craggy wrote:looking forward to a review by someone who doesn't break their toys fairly often (granted it's usually ball joints, but still...)

He breaks his toys so you won't break yours

mooncake623 wrote:

craggy wrote:looking forward to a review by someone who doesn't break their toys fairly often (granted it's usually ball joints, but still...)

He breaks his toys so you won't break yours

Yea... give that man a medal!

I'm liking Brainstorm, sans quality control. If it seems to persist on other units, I'm certain a small amount of shaving on the back of Arcana's head will solve that.

On the subject of Brainstorm... If Hasbro is willing to produce more Headmasters, would I be the only one who would be on board for a retool of Brainstorm into Mindwipe? A new head and bat styling to the vehicle mode would make a screaming Mindwipe, if you ask me.

Given the thin neck joint/head of the "Headmaster" Arcana, this would really be an issue. The originals had immobile solid heads so no issue. I'll try to get the Tomy version which are all but sold out because I'm kind of curious. Have the complete 1st season Headmaster Autobots and Decepticons except for Scorponok.

Mindmaster wrote:I'm liking Brainstorm, sans quality control. If it seems to persist on other units, I'm certain a small amount of shaving on the back of Arcana's head will solve that.

On the subject of Brainstorm... If Hasbro is willing to produce more Headmasters, would I be the only one who would be on board for a retool of Brainstorm into Mindwipe? A new head and bat styling to the vehicle mode would make a screaming Mindwipe, if you ask me.

I'd down for that.

What's the best Generations figure?

SlyTF1 wrote:What's the best Generations figure?

That's like asking what's the best food. Everyone has different opinions.

However, Generations Voyager Springer did land the #1 spot in this fair and just, democratic, Top 30 TF toys list. And for good reason. It's a great figure.

Sabrblade wrote:

SlyTF1 wrote:What's the best Generations figure?

That's like asking what's the best food. Everyone has different opinions.

However, Generations Voyager Springer did land the #1 spot in this fair and just, democratic, Top 30 TF toys list. And for good reason. It's a great figure.

I thought it would be Springer.

SlyTF1 wrote:What's the best Generations figure?

What kind of question is that? There is so many, of all shapes and sizes. "Best" as in in general consensus? Best car, best plane, best whatever?

So, I say Metroplex because it can be used as a great murder weapon. The others are too light and small to do any decent killing.

SlyTF1 wrote:What's the best Generations figure?

Personal preference? 30th Jetfire if not for the hollow parts. Wait! Despite the hollow parts, he's still the best for me this year. Last year, I'd say it was Metroplex.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

SlyTF1 wrote:What's the best Generations figure?

What kind of question is that? There is so many, of all shapes and sizes. "Best" as in in general consensus? Best car, best plane, best whatever?

So, I say Metroplex because it can be used as a great murder weapon. The others are too light and small to do any decent killing.

Just the best one, period. How about the best Deluxe class?

SlyTF1 wrote:Just the best one, period. How about the best Deluxe class?

For me, it's Armada Starscream (shocking, right?). Good looks, good posability, decent gimmicks, fun and simple transformation, and a screaming (lolgetit) jet mode.

SlyTF1 wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

SlyTF1 wrote:What's the best Generations figure?

What kind of question is that? There is so many, of all shapes and sizes. "Best" as in in general consensus? Best car, best plane, best whatever?

So, I say Metroplex because it can be used as a great murder weapon. The others are too light and small to do any decent killing.

Just the best one, period. How about the best Deluxe class?

I say Generations Crosscut. Really the only thing bad about it objectively is the shoulders.

SlyTF1 wrote:What's the best Generations figure?

Rhinox, personal opinion. Also, are we ignoring the WFC and FOC Lines? Because the Optimus and Megatron from WFC were pretty boss!

Peaugh's pic

brainstorm compared to third party offerings. I think I like Hasbro's the most.

I quite enjoyed the review but now I'm hanging out for Peaugh's! Disappointing to hear of the QC issues on Baltmatrix's figure but I don't think it was as bad as some of the folk above have made out.

Truly excited for the Takara version!

you know what would had been great? if his mask was removable, had mouth details and also...... a logo inside the mask! if they had pulled it off, this would be a must buy it now. but the quality issues are really apparent, so i am going to hold my breath to buy it for the matter.

hunter4life wrote:you know what would had been great? if his mask was removable, had mouth details and also...... a logo inside the mask! if they had pulled it off, this would be a must buy it now. but the quality issues are really apparent, so i am going to hold my breath to buy it for the matter.

Cost cost cost..........

mooncake623 wrote:Peaugh's pic

brainstorm compared to third party offerings. I think I like Hasbro's the most.

I kinda like the size of Hasbro's, but after seeing that picture, the FP Smart Robin is my definitive Brainstorm. He's just that good. Hasbro's Brainstorm has a gimmick has the potential to lead to breakage if you're not careful, as evidenced by Balt's video, where as FP's gimmick IS the transformation and it's so nicely balanced and intuitive. Hasbro's, you just fold him up and unfold a bunch of wing panels, where as Smart Robin...everything on him just explodes open like a flower blossoming, and then comes back together in either mode to form one of the tightest and cleanest robot or jet modes, I've ever seen.

Autobot032 wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:Peaugh's pic

brainstorm compared to third party offerings. I think I like Hasbro's the most.

I kinda like the size of Hasbro's, but after seeing that picture, the FP Smart Robin is my definitive Brainstorm. He's just that good. Hasbro's Brainstorm has a gimmick has the potential to lead to breakage if you're not careful, as evidenced by Balt's video, where as FP's gimmick IS the transformation and it's so nicely balanced and intuitive. Hasbro's, you just fold him up and unfold a bunch of wing panels, where as Smart Robin...everything on him just explodes open like a flower blossoming, and then comes back together in either mode to form one of the tightest and cleanest robot or jet modes, I've ever seen.

That's the difference between a $70 3rd Party figures vs. a $25 Hasbro figure.

Both are great & nice, but in different ways. (notice how I'm just ignoring TW's figure)

Just wish TFCC Chromedome and Hasbro Brainstorm were around the same height. That might have gotten me to divest from the Function X line, but as it is, they have too many good characters in the pipeline for me to give FP up.

Autobot032 wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:Peaugh's pic

brainstorm compared to third party offerings. I think I like Hasbro's the most.

I kinda like the size of Hasbro's, but after seeing that picture, the FP Smart Robin is my definitive Brainstorm. He's just that good. Hasbro's Brainstorm has a gimmick has the potential to lead to breakage if you're not careful, as evidenced by Balt's video, where as FP's gimmick IS the transformation and it's so nicely balanced and intuitive. Hasbro's, you just fold him up and unfold a bunch of wing panels, where as Smart Robin...everything on him just explodes open like a flower blossoming, and then comes back together in either mode to form one of the tightest and cleanest robot or jet modes, I've ever seen.

I agree no doubt FP's has the best transformation and looks the cleanest! but I like the new Hasbro one cause he looks like that in the IDW comics! which is the only Brainstorm I really care about. Thinking about selling my Smart Robin... hmm... but transformation is still really fun.

Peaugh's review of Generations Brainstorm is now up, looks like Baltmatrix had the misfortune of a poorly assembled one, same with others who are experiencing QC issues. Hopefully it won't be a common thing -



Fingers crossed that none of us, once any of us who have pre-ordered him, have him in hand won't be experiencing the QC issues that others who have received one already.

megatronus wrote:

Autobot032 wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:Peaugh's pic

brainstorm compared to third party offerings. I think I like Hasbro's the most.

I kinda like the size of Hasbro's, but after seeing that picture, the FP Smart Robin is my definitive Brainstorm. He's just that good. Hasbro's Brainstorm has a gimmick has the potential to lead to breakage if you're not careful, as evidenced by Balt's video, where as FP's gimmick IS the transformation and it's so nicely balanced and intuitive. Hasbro's, you just fold him up and unfold a bunch of wing panels, where as Smart Robin...everything on him just explodes open like a flower blossoming, and then comes back together in either mode to form one of the tightest and cleanest robot or jet modes, I've ever seen.

That's the difference between a $70 3rd Party figures vs. a $25 Hasbro figure.

Both are great & nice, but in different ways. (notice how I'm just ignoring TW's figure)

Just wish TFCC Chromedome and Hasbro Brainstorm were around the same height. That might have gotten me to divest from the Function X line, but as it is, they have too many good characters in the pipeline for me to give FP up.

Is the TW figure the tiny one in the centre? He certainly looks nicely detailed, but...yeah, he's a bit too small. Sorry, TW. (The actual design and sculpting looks great though, no arguing with that.)

Feeling much better about Brainstorm after this 2nd review.
Love that blue color.
Don't know why, but the comparison next to Jetfire made me real excited about this guy.

Delta Magnus wrote:

megatronus wrote:

Autobot032 wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:Peaugh's pic

brainstorm compared to third party offerings. I think I like Hasbro's the most.

I kinda like the size of Hasbro's, but after seeing that picture, the FP Smart Robin is my definitive Brainstorm. He's just that good. Hasbro's Brainstorm has a gimmick has the potential to lead to breakage if you're not careful, as evidenced by Balt's video, where as FP's gimmick IS the transformation and it's so nicely balanced and intuitive. Hasbro's, you just fold him up and unfold a bunch of wing panels, where as Smart Robin...everything on him just explodes open like a flower blossoming, and then comes back together in either mode to form one of the tightest and cleanest robot or jet modes, I've ever seen.

That's the difference between a $70 3rd Party figures vs. a $25 Hasbro figure.

Both are great & nice, but in different ways. (notice how I'm just ignoring TW's figure)

Just wish TFCC Chromedome and Hasbro Brainstorm were around the same height. That might have gotten me to divest from the Function X line, but as it is, they have too many good characters in the pipeline for me to give FP up.

Is the TW figure the tiny one in the centre? He certainly looks nicely detailed, but...yeah, he's a bit too small. Sorry, TW. (The actual design and sculpting looks great though, no arguing with that.)

No, ToyWorld's is the one on the left. Fansproject's is the deluxe-sized one.

I really like this Brainstorm.

I'd love to see the G1 version in this group shot for scale. Can't believe that middle one is deluxe sized!

megatronus wrote:

Delta Magnus wrote:

megatronus wrote:

Autobot032 wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:Peaugh's pic

brainstorm compared to third party offerings. I think I like Hasbro's the most.

I kinda like the size of Hasbro's, but after seeing that picture, the FP Smart Robin is my definitive Brainstorm. He's just that good. Hasbro's Brainstorm has a gimmick has the potential to lead to breakage if you're not careful, as evidenced by Balt's video, where as FP's gimmick IS the transformation and it's so nicely balanced and intuitive. Hasbro's, you just fold him up and unfold a bunch of wing panels, where as Smart Robin...everything on him just explodes open like a flower blossoming, and then comes back together in either mode to form one of the tightest and cleanest robot or jet modes, I've ever seen.

That's the difference between a $70 3rd Party figures vs. a $25 Hasbro figure.

Both are great & nice, but in different ways. (notice how I'm just ignoring TW's figure)

Just wish TFCC Chromedome and Hasbro Brainstorm were around the same height. That might have gotten me to divest from the Function X line, but as it is, they have too many good characters in the pipeline for me to give FP up.

Is the TW figure the tiny one in the centre? He certainly looks nicely detailed, but...yeah, he's a bit too small. Sorry, TW. (The actual design and sculpting looks great though, no arguing with that.)

No, ToyWorld's is the one on the left. Fansproject's is the deluxe-sized one.

Huh, I see.

Doesn't look too bad to me but then I know nothing about Brainstorm beyond him being a Headmaster that turns into a sci-fi plane. Did he have some QC issues?

Delta Magnus wrote:
Huh, I see.

Doesn't look too bad to me but then I know nothing about Brainstorm beyond him being a Headmaster that turns into a sci-fi plane. Did he have some QC issues?

Did you read this thread? The last page is all about that.

No, I'm talking about the ToyWorld Brainstorm.

Delta Magnus wrote:No, I'm talking about the ToyWorld Brainstorm.

not from anything ive researched. TW's first offering (hardbone/hardhead) had issues though. still both great figures though. just depends what aesthetics you prefer.

Yeah I don't care about Fansproject one because, I don't like the Headmasters (the show) look. Is it a good figure, sure. Well made, most definitely. But for me it's not the definitive Brainstorm; Hasbro's one is. Why? because it represents all of IDW brainstorm this side of a briefcase; and to me, IDW Brainstorm is a more interesting and dynamic character than either the headmaster's version of the character, or the Marvel G1 characterization. Also the Hasbro's one's bigger. I prefer headmasters to be larger figure. It's why TFCC Chromedome is probably one of my least favorite figure of the year objectively.

Yeah, if I were to go for any Brainstorm figure, I go for the one that actually looks like a character I can see in the fiction, rather than any of the ones with the made up designs that are only somewhat inspired by the actual character's look.

Sabrblade wrote:Yeah, if I were to go for any Brainstorm figure, I go for the one that actually looks like a character I can see in the fiction, rather than any of the ones with the made up designs that are only somewhat inspired by the actual character's look.

Agreed. Also, there is just something awesome in owning the version that is fully licensed and made by the company who created the character.

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Yeah, if I were to go for any Brainstorm figure, I go for the one that actually looks like a character I can see in the fiction, rather than any of the ones with the made up designs that are only somewhat inspired by the actual character's look.

Agreed. Also, there is just something awesome in owning the version that is fully licensed and made by the company who created the character.

It's why I have the Takara version on preorder, and plan to buy the Hasbro one on sight!

megatronus wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Yeah, if I were to go for any Brainstorm figure, I go for the one that actually looks like a character I can see in the fiction, rather than any of the ones with the made up designs that are only somewhat inspired by the actual character's look.

Agreed. Also, there is just something awesome in owning the version that is fully licensed and made by the company who created the character.

It's why I have the Takara version on preorder, and plan to buy the Hasbro one on sight!

I'll just stick with Hasbro's since Takara's has yet to appear in any fiction.

3rd party figs help to fill the gaps not done by Tomy/Hasbro. But now that the latter have made them possible, why not support the OFFICIAL goods first?

Gives Tomy/Hasbro the "incentive" to make more official goods and not just Bayverse Bumble Bees? Sooooooooooo much yellow

Sabrblade wrote:

megatronus wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Yeah, if I were to go for any Brainstorm figure, I go for the one that actually looks like a character I can see in the fiction, rather than any of the ones with the made up designs that are only somewhat inspired by the actual character's look.

Agreed. Also, there is just something awesome in owning the version that is fully licensed and made by the company who created the character.

It's why I have the Takara version on preorder, and plan to buy the Hasbro one on sight!

I'll just stick with Hasbro's since Takara's has yet to appear in any fiction.

This is going to sound like a dumb question but how are they not the same character?

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

megatronus wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Yeah, if I were to go for any Brainstorm figure, I go for the one that actually looks like a character I can see in the fiction, rather than any of the ones with the made up designs that are only somewhat inspired by the actual character's look.

Agreed. Also, there is just something awesome in owning the version that is fully licensed and made by the company who created the character.

It's why I have the Takara version on preorder, and plan to buy the Hasbro one on sight!

I'll just stick with Hasbro's since Takara's has yet to appear in any fiction.

This is going to sound like a dumb question but how are they not the same character?

The American version of Brainstorm depicted a tag team of Brainstorm himself and his Headmaster, Arcana, who was an organic Nebulan from Nebulos. The Japanese version depicts the Headmaster unit as Brainstorm himself (don't remember if the Japanese named the little guys like Hasbro did or not) from the planet Master, while the larger guy is a lifeless Transtector that the Headmaster connects to so as to interact with their non-Headmaster allies.

That's the answer you're looking for, right?

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

megatronus wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Yeah, if I were to go for any Brainstorm figure, I go for the one that actually looks like a character I can see in the fiction, rather than any of the ones with the made up designs that are only somewhat inspired by the actual character's look.

Agreed. Also, there is just something awesome in owning the version that is fully licensed and made by the company who created the character.

It's why I have the Takara version on preorder, and plan to buy the Hasbro one on sight!

I'll just stick with Hasbro's since Takara's has yet to appear in any fiction.

This is going to sound like a dumb question but how are they not the same character?

It's not that. It's that I want to own toys of the characters I see in fiction as they are depicted in said fiction. The Generations Brainstorm toy is based on the design of the IDW iteration of the character and represents that character. But between the Hasbro and TakaraTomy versions of the toy, the Hasbro one is the one that is more closely colored to resemble the look of the IDW character, whereas TakaraTomy took their version and gave it different colors from the Hasbro version to make it look more like the G1 toy, decreasing its resemblance to the IDW character since that character does not have the color scheme of the TakaraTomy figure.

I'm a stickler for fiction-accuracy, and there has yet to be an iteration of the Brainstorm character that uses both the physical design and the color scheme of the TakaraTomy figure in any fiction.

megatronus wrote:It's why I have the Takara version on preorder, and plan to buy the Hasbro one on sight!

getting the hasbro brainstorm will have to be a game time decision. but ill get the takara one for sure. fiction accurate or not, he just looks sharper to me.