Onward now to the most devicive line, at least in terms of what it's representing, the Studio Series, toys based on the Live Action movies. While I haven't reviewed any of them yet (I have two I'm waiting to cover), I will say this for the line. While I am not a fan overall of the designs used, these are good representations of those versions of the characters, and this is going to be analyzing them as representations of those characters. If you're looking for a beatdown of the movie designs, you're not going to find it here. We all clear about that? Yes? Let's move on.
While I don't have stock photos for the Studio Series, I do have onsite photography, thanks to Seibertron, and so we have images of the display, featuring recent releases (or at the very least, currently releasing toys), and upcoming releases. You can find the full gallery here https://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/photos-of-new-studio-series-toys-at-ny-toy-fair-2019-tfny-hasbrotoyfair/42945/ however I will be uploading some pictures here for highlights.
Starting off with the Deluxes, in movie release order, we have Barricade and what they call "Clunker Bumblebee" from the 07 movie, Constructicon Hightower and Scrapmetal from Revenge of the Fallen, Sideswipe from Dark of the Moon, Helicopter Drift from Age of Extinction, WWII Bumblebee and Cogman from The Last Knight, along with Shatter and Dropkick's car modes from Bumblebee. As ugly as the source material is, a lot of these look rather interesting and there are some I'm strongly considering getting (alongside some that I missed if I can find them second hand). Even though I haven't seen the movie yet, I do like the look of Shatter and Dropkick's car modes (heard mixed things about Dropkick's Helicopter mode). Barricade looks nice, and considering as in universe, he came the closest to ending the pain of these movies, that alone is worth acknowledgement. I know I'm stealing a joke here, but I still think Ford should have capitalized on that fact. "Ford Mustang. We almost killed Shia LeBeouf in Transformers" (joke came from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVO7gjB1Lio&t)
The Constructicons have me intregued though due to the premise. Studio Series is aiming for in scale robot modes for everything in the line... including Devastator. Yes, aparently these things are going to form a abomination that is Movieverse Devastator, spread out accross several waves, maybe even a few years of waiting, and accross different size classes. While I'm glad that they're putting their money into something like that then something more... shall we say "well known"... like the Twins, but I don't know how well this thing is going to work because of all the requirements it needs to have. Accurate, almost flawless vehicle modes, movie accurate robot modes, robot modes that scale with the rest of the figures in the line, have the connections needed to form Devastator, strong enough connections to hold Devastator, and be an accurate Devastator. Just to remind and inform people, this was their last attempt at a large movie Devastator, and I'm pretty sure these didn't have individual robot modes.
Yes, engineering has improved since then, but remember how saccrificed Titan Class Devastator was? Long Haul's still working on his diet.
In terms of the Voyagers, we have an 07 movie Bonecrusher and Optimus Prime, "KSI Boss" from Age of Extinction (a glorified repaint of The Last Knight Nitro Zeus), and Bumblebee's version of Optimus Prime. I've heard good things about the Nitro Zeus mould, I just have nothing to say about it because I've yet to see that mould on store shelves in anything other then pictures. The KSI Boss though... looks like Nitro Zeus, almost 1/1 with the exception of some missing paint applications to the point where I'm surprised they're not just calling this Nitro Zeus. The 07 Prime and Bonecrusher do look really nice, Bonecrusher in particular is a large improvement over the last try, while 07 Prime is a glorified re release of the Studio Series Revenge of The Fallen Prime, but the brighter colours do look nicer, and the minor changes to engineering are nice considering what they're meant for. As for the Bumblebee movie?... I know this is an unpopular opinion, and I'm going to into it more when I review Bumblebee, but I'm not a huge fan of the Cybertronian designs used in the opening of the movie, and the version of it cast in plastic, while fine for what it is, isn't very appealing when compared to the sister line, War for Cybertron, having a more refined looking G1 inspired Prime. As much as the Optimus designs have had issues in the Live Action films, I do at least apreciate that they tried something different. This one just blends in with the others to me, only a little darker in terms of colours. Maybe it looks better in the movie? It's hard to say.
Finally for Leaders, we have Revenge of the Fallen Jetfire, Dark of the Moon Optimus (that looks to be the 07 Voyager but with his trailer from the movie, and Dark of the Moon Megatron. For Jetfire, I like the alt mode, I like the transformation, both when going from Jet to robot, along with combining with 07 Optimus), I think the body is fitting considering the design... but I hate that face sculpt they gave him. It looks creepy! I'm more reminded of the old man in Family Guy then by Movie 2 Jetfire. This is honestly a time when I wish they didn't go for movie accuracy, or even go all in on it because I do not remember Jetfire in the movie looking like that... thing! As for the other two? I think they look alright. I do like DotM Megs' truck mode, it looks like it belongs in Mad Max, though the robot isn't something I particually care for. I might still end up getting this guy for the truck mode. Prime is a minor retool of the 07 Voyager, which again, looks fine considering the design, but the trailer is more interesting to me. Parts of it can be used to make a wing pack, the rest of it makes the weapons platform from the movie, and I honestly prefer this over the attempts at base modes many trailers have done before. This Prime might be the best bang for your buck, because it looks like it could also come with all the weapons from the RotF and 07 movie Primes, and can still combine with that evil looking Jetfire if you so choose. I will say though to close this part out, can we please calm down when it comes to Bumblebees and Optimus Primes for a while in this line? We've had four each now, it's kind of obnoxious now.
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