Transformers War for Cybertron Earthrise Arcee, Netflix Siege Elita-1 and Galactic Odyssey Paradron Medics Lifeline: Oh dear...

 Is it just me, or does it feel like we're regressing? I applaud Hasbro and Takara for them adding more female characters to the franchise and giving them more toys, but I'd be lying if I said they were doing a good job at it lately. The problems mostly come from the execution of the toys themselves, primarily by kibble management, and a barrage of repaints. I can cut Victorion and Megatronia some slack as "repaint spamming" was the subtitle of Combiner Wars. The three girls of Titans Return were all unique in their own ways, even with two of them sharing Blurr's mould, Power of the Primes was when it felt like they were taking the piss with it. A fembot combiner with limb bots that were the same toy, just with different colour pallets, with alt mode junk slapped onto their backs in a hideous way (which says something for a Combiner Wars styled limb bot). That mould got retooled into Tentakill and Scylla for Pirahnacon and God Neptune, which somehow made the alt mode junk look even more slapdash. The mould got retooled into Siege Chromia (and then repainted into Nightbird for Generations Selects), and like before, she had kibble issues! Siege Chromia is a figure where they could have addressed the backpack issues if they remembered the problem fans had with her last toy (Generations Chromia, a retool of Transformers Prime Arcee), and let people use the windscreen as a shield. Now in Earthrise, where they at least made a new Fembot mould, that allows you to do something with a large chunk of the backpack, but at a cost. Earthrise Arcee, a figure many consider to be one of the worst toys in the Earthrise line, not that it saved her from getting two repaints.

Usually, I start these reviews in Alt mode and then go into Robot mode. However, in this case, I think it's best to start with the reason for the flaws, before going into the flaws themselves. The robot modes themselves look ok. The parts that are the robot look quite good, with solid articulation that's serviceable, although I do find it odd that they don't have wrist swivels. Paint applications on Arcee though are ok except for her face, in that she doesn't have any paint on it (except for her eyes), which makes the detailing on it look fuzzy, unfocused. Granted, the white face is G1 accurate, but like the Siege Rainmakers, G1 accurate isn't always a good thing. Paint though is something that Lifeline improves on, sporting pretty much all the same paint applications as Arcee does in robot mode, but also has some colour on her face and head to help break up the giant chunk of white and make it look more like a face and not a ball with blue eyes. I also appreciate the fact that Elita-1 isn't a full repaint, as the torso, shoulders, and head are all original for this toy, giving her a different presence compared to her pink and green sisters in arms. However, for some reason, all three get tiny pistols moulded in the same plastic as their windscreens, which looks terrible. Instead of a way to store them on their hips, they plug into their strangely defined asses... make of that what you will. Unfortunately, though, that's where the positives (and in the case of weapons and storage, questionable choices) end.

A G1 faithful Arcee was always going to have some form of a backpack on her; it's more a matter of how large it would be and what you can do with it. Unfortunately, the Earthrise Arcee mould has an awful backpack on her, regardless of the version of the toy you have. The entire car mode is crushed onto her back if you choose not to parts-forming anything. It looks ugly, and even when removing the part that you can, the entire back half of the car, you're still stuck with something that looks bolted onto her back, but does at least look better, all it would need is a few extra joints to compress it a bit more. If the sides had hinges on them so that the backpack (not counting the back of the car) could create a triangle-like shape with the car hood's headlight sections, I think that would have gone a long way to help to improve the backpacks. If you do detach the car's back though, you can fold out some panels and turn them into hoverboards for the girls. Yes, this is dumb. Maybe if they did more to make these look like actual vehicles and not just the backs of cars, perhaps this could have worked. At most though, these are subpar stands that you can use to have the girls do poses on (though my Lifeline does have slightly weak hips, however, that's more of a minor QC issue with my copy of the toy).

As for the car modes, they're not great. For the sake of a shell forming transformation (when the alt mode wraps around the robot mode), the three cars look boxy, something that goes against the design of Arcee's alt mode, a rounded, sleek futuristic space convertible. What doesn't help is that due to the car mode being nothing but panels, it doesn't hold together securely compared to any other Carformer in recent memory. Elita's is probably the worst of the three due to paint, or a lack thereof for the car's back. Still, when the only thing making a car better is paint (the winner of that once again going to Lifeline, with Arcee coming a close second as the only thing missing is some grey on the sides), you know you've got an awful alternate mode. I can forgive a bad alternate mode if the robot mode is great, it's why I can give a pass to stuff like Siege Soundwave and his rectangle pooping spaceship mode. These three are why I think G1 Arcee needs a massive, modernized redesign, something that tries to incorporate the car mode into the robot mode. The G1 cartoon design was not designed to be a toy; it was intended solely for animation in the cartoon and movie. While they've been able to do accurate cartoon designs for the other movie characters, Arcee has consistently failed due to varying degrees of awful kibble management. Sure, Masterpiece and Third-Party companies have come close, but I genuinely think it is impossible to pull off a completely cartoon accurate robot mode that also transforms. The feminine physique first, transformers second thing for the fembots needs to stop. They're great characters and deserve great toys. Stop designing them like Transformers Cybertron's Thunderblast, where the kibble blatantly looks like kibble.

The frustrating thing is that I wanted to like this mould. I've wanted a G1 Arcee to add to my collection. She was one of the final members of the 86 movie crew that I was missing having a version of. I also wanted a better version of Elita-1, and though I wish it were taller, upscaled to stand closer to Optimus' height, it wasn't something I was expecting out of this. Why did I get Lifeline? Because I like seeing novelty characters get new figures, and even if I wasn't the biggest fan of the original toy, it is nice at least to have a version of Lifeline in my collection. I know this mould had potential, it's not a lost cause, especially as people are customizing Arcee to ditch the backpack to give her a better looking back in exchange for losing the car mode. What makes this frustrating is that these three are tiny compared to other deluxe class figures in the line when it comes to plastic mass. You'd think there would have been more room in the budget to do things like better compressing the mandatory backpack, or giving something to the back of the car to make it look more like a hoverboard, but there isn't. They're not compatible with the War for Cybertron play patterns either, as none of them have any decent weapon ports (save for on their feet), nor do they have any blast effects plugs in robot mode, with the only two meant more for the hoverboard gimmick. There were just enough cut corners to turn this from passable, to frustrating.

I can see why people are keeping the old Generations or Takara Legends one if you're wondering why there aren't any comparisons to it, it's because I don't own one. The only comparison I could make is Elita with her Power of the Primes version, and that's not a reasonable comparison to make. Arcee is getting a reissue in Kingdom. If you're desperate for a representation of them, they'll do, but you can do better for Arcee and Lifeline (according to the community). Elita though? This figure is the best version of her so far, which is a depressing thing to think about, considering her status in the franchise. A leader in her own right, a character gaining a lot of attention recently thanks to the Netflix seasons, and the best representation in plastic that she has is a repaint of one of Arcee's worst G1 toys.

Top 10 Transformers figures of 2020

 *insert obligatory "2020 was a awful year" joke here

 

Now that 2020 is over, I thought it might be fun to look back on what has been, because while reviews haven't really happened this year, my collection did keep growing. Delayed? Yes, but here's hoping that this can kick off consistent reviews again, here are the top 10 best figures I got in 2020... which all came out IN 2020, as I didn't really get anything older last year...

10. Netflix Nemesis Prime

 

This feels like a steal in terms of value in the box, considering all the accessories you get in it, along with a black repaint of Siege Optimus Prime. The weapons once exclusive to the Power of the Primes Nemesis Prime along with Earthrise Optimus Prime's trailer, some Energon cubes and even a Battle Master that I'll get into later in the list for $120 AUD and the stink of unnecessary Play-Doh? Nemesis Prime is a character that gets my attention at the moment mostly because I like black repaints of Optimus Prime, there's just a intimidation factor to it that I don't think other designs for Evil Optimus Primes capture. My one complaint though with this figure comes from the reuse of Power of the Primes accessories. Though the Nemesis Prime Takara put out (which I almost got this year, but cancelled when the Pandemic struck in order to help cover the cost of the Seacons) has the better looking sword, the Power of the Primes swords aren't the issue for me, it's the arm cannons. They're too big, and barely fit into the trailer, certainly can't fit onto the weapon ports inside the trailer. If vehicle mode storage was more reliable then "try and squeeze all these bits of plastic in the box", this would have been put even higher on my list. 

9. Generations Selects Lobclaw

 

Representing both sets of Seacons, the one member missing from God Neptune. If you're sick of Combiner Wars styled combiners, then you're not going to like the Seacons, but that being said, it's nice to get a Combiner Wars team that feels complete in terms of gear. Lobclaw/ Nautilator is the stand out of the team, even if the Lobster legs don't want to stay in place in beast mode, mainly due to the use of Blot's mould for the foundation. It's a shame he never got a white repaint in God Neptune, as it was way better Overbite. Granted the name Sea Phantom is kinda badass.

8. Studio Series Scrapper

 

From one combiner crew to another, Studio Series Scrapper is probably the one member of Devastator that I can recommend on his own, because he isn't compromised that much in order to do the combined mode. Granted, he still suffers from the overly designed issues that plague the live action movie characters and his proportions are a too leg focused, but the excavator mode looks great. I do wish his wrecking ball hand was a normal hand with the wrecking ball whip as a accessory, as it looks more like a odd looking claw in robot mode rather then a weapon.

7. Earthrise Slitherfang

 

How did this become a thing? Not that I'm complaining, I think this is amazing, but just imagining the pitch for this guy. "Ok, so the new Battle Masters are going to be roads and shields, right? What if one of them turned into a snake?". I don't have much to say about this one because the Battle Masters are so basic, but the idea of a chunk of road turning into a giant snake is kind of amazing. This Battlemaster got repainted into Fangtron for the previously mentioned Netflix Nemesis Prime, which honestly further drives home the idea that the person who designed this works in the GI Joe team and snuck the design in. Question though, why aren't there official Transformers that turn into GI Joe vehicles? Hasbro, you're underestimating the interest this crossover would have. Make the vehicles generic Autobots and Decepticons and you have Army building the toyline.

6. Generations Selects Black Rorichi

 

The Decepticons pulled off the Weaponizer gimmick a lot better then the Autobots did. Though I have enjoyed the Modulators that have released this year, to the point that next year I'll be able to make my own take on the Micromaster Rocket Base, even with a Countdown I bought off a Omega Supreme owner who didn't want it, there's something sattisfying about a robot that turns into giant guns for another robot. Originally I was going to skip this guy, as I picked up Fasttrack and was enjoying him, plus considering as I don't own a Earthrise Skorponok, the chances of me owning a modern to of Black Zarak are insanely low. But this and Doublecrosser qualified for free shipping, and Rorichi is tons better then Fasttrack. So much so that I've considered getting a few more Fasttracks to army build Rorichi's drones from Super-God Masterforce. I just hope that this one is more durable then his original toy was.

5. Earthrise Sky Lynx

 

Like many, I thought the last we'd see of Sky Lynx was Combiner Wars. He is the biggest outlier in the G1 roster when it comes to a "Where did this come from?", both in concept and the toy itself looking nothing like any other figure in the G1 toyline. It seemed unlikely that they'd make a modern version that could pull off all the modes, that he'd be stuck as a new Combiner torso due to the sheer size of him. Well, it turns out he can survive in the modern day as (almost, there's no motor walking gimmick) his original self. In fact, he can thrive! It just makes me smile whenever I look at it, because it is such a stupid idea done so beautifully. He's a pain in the ass to store, don't get me wrong, but considering as this may never happen again, I'm willing to give it to him. Fitting that his space shuttle is called the Magnificence.

4. Earthrise Ramjet

 

This team was way harder to complete then it needed to be. I've probably spent way too much on trying to complete a Seeker Squad this year, something that many would say I still haven't because I haven't got Red Wing and the Rainmakers from Siege (maybe someday? but G1 accurate... not always a good thing!). Though Thrust didn't make the deadline (not that he would have made it anyway if I'm being honest), the best of the 5 that I did get this year would have to be Ramjet, if for nothing else then the fact that I can fold his wings forward, meaning he doesn't take up as much room when in Robot mode. They're all solid, and great if you don't have the Classics Seekers, just... be ready for the continued barrage of repaints.

3. Studio Series Jazz: 

 

Time to flex a little for anyone overseas who reads this (at least it would have been if I got this out at the start of the month like I intended). Australia seems to have gotten Studio Series 1986 first, and after picking up all three Deluxes, and the two Voyagers of the sub-series, all I can say is that if this is a indicator of where they're going with SS86, I'm excited! Paint and plastic matching isn't great on it, though it's not a deal-breaker for me as the plastic matching is only noticeable in Daylight, and the paint matching is hidden away in robot mode. Definitely worth getting this one, especially if you're a fan of Jazz.

2. Alternate Universe Optimus Prime

 I couldn't find any good pics of it as a corpse, so here it is as a Zombie!

 Or to give it the toys real name, Dead Prime. Though I still really enjoy the Siege version of Optimus Prime, it's hard to deny that the Earthrise one is a step up in terms of engineering. They're both as good as each other, but when comparing the versions of the Earthrise one that are out there, Dead Prime is the one I find the more interesting of the two I personally own (the two Leader versions, sorry Shattered Glass fans... for now...). It's rare to get novelty repaints of Optimus that aren't Nemesis Prime in general retail, and I think the first time Dead Prime has gotten a general retail toy. With the influx of 86 movie characters coming soon, it's a great figure to include with them.

Before getting to Number 1, some honorable mentions:

• Earthrise Doubledealer: It's the thighs that kill this figure for me. I can live with the hollow legs, that was done for Transformation, though I wish there was something trying to cover it. The thighs though that are a problem, he's too short! It's a shame because he's so close to becoming a great modernization of Doubledealer. It's nice though that his Powermasters got a release in Generations Selects, credit where it's due at least.
  
  
  
  
  
• Earthrise Runabout and Runamuck: I have a soft spot for Z list nobodies. The Battlechargers were not good toys from what I can tell. Better then the Jumpstarters, but that's not saying much. Their Earthrise figures do look good though, not great, I think Runamuck should have had Orange somewhere in the colours to help break up the white plastic and white paint, but that's a minor complaint. I love the fact though that they can pull of the G1 toy accurate robot modes though, very nice touch.
  
  
  
  
  
• Generations Selects Rotorstorm: Why has it taken this long to get a new Rotorstorm? The original toy is one of the coolest looking Helicopter Transformers I've seen, the fact that it took a repaint of Siege Spinister to get a new Rotorstorm is absurd! Still, love the Spinister mold, and once I found some 3D printed blasters that replicated his Turbomaster canons, he just got better. This doesn't excuse the fact that this is a repaint, maybe someday the Turbomasters can get new toys. Maybe Hasbro are waiting for all the Thunderclashes to be destroyed by Gold Plastic Syndrome...
  
  
  
  
  
• Studio Series Kup: Though I wish the front of the car that made up his chest poked out a bit more in robot mode, I don't have many complaints about this guy. Head looks great in person, I love the accessories he comes with, I just wish a Battlemaster Flintlock existed so I could give him his Targetmaster.
  
  
  
  
  
• Masterpiece Hound: So... funny story behind this one, I won it as a raffle prize drawn New Years Eve on a Facebook group I'm a part of... Though I didn't get a choice in prizes as my number was the last one called in the Skippie, so I got last dibs on prizes, some how I've ended up with one of a few MP Hounds that is still in one piece. How that happened is beyond me, though a part of me still wishes I got that Blackarachnia... oh well, at least Kingdom will give me some exposure to the Beasts outside of Transmetal Primal.
  
  
  
  
  
• Earthrise Quintesson Judge: All I can really say about them is "how did this get green-lit to go into production?"
  

 And for the best figures I got in 2020...

1. Studio Series Scourge and Hot Rod: 

 

I couldn't decide which was better, both are amazing interpretations of the characters for two different reasons. I love the engineering that went into Hot Rod, along with how effortless he is to pose. Being perfectly honest, he's the main reason I hope those rumors of a Commander Class Rodimus are fake, I just don't think we need a Rodimus that's that big (or more accurately, I don't know if he needs a giant trailer that fits the Leader class sized bot part, can't it be a Leader that turns into the car and trailer like what DX9 did?). Tangent aside, those Scourge is the lesser of the two in terms of complexity, he always has a strong presence to him, so much so that I'm actively considering getting more of him to make a Sweeps squad of that mould, even though I still have a Titans Return Scourge, and 5 of the Generations Bomber (thank you to whoever it was on Facebook selling all of those bombers in a cheap lot). It makes me really excited to get Kingdom Cyclonus, and see what Galvatron will eventually look like. 2021 looks to be a exciting year for Transformers.

 I plan to catch up on proper 2020 reviews, mixing them in with reviews of the 2021 figures, hopefully this year won't be as barron content wise as the last. Coming up though as the next review? A look at a mould that many consider one of the worst of Earthrise... Surf's up?

Lego Super Mario 71360; Adventures with Mario: The Miyamoto Effect truely has no limits

That's not always a good thing though...

To say that this theme has been controversial would probably be an understatement. What many assumed would be a simple, easy, almost free money for Lego and Nintendo theme quickly turned into quite the debate. "Too many specific pieces", "The electronics are unnecessary", "It's going to look awful to display", "It's too expensive for what you're getting" (though that last one is justified), "Why can't it just be a normal Lego set?". Hopes for Minifig scale display sets like Peach's castle were quickly dashed by the reveal, and many weren't happy. Me? I honestly had a feeling something like this would happen. This is a Nintendo collaboration after all. When have those made sense? I could see why people weren't liking the look of it though, but now that this is out, were those criticisms justified? At time of writing, right now I only have the Adventures with Mario set, the set you need to get the most out of the theme, and will from this point out be referred to as the "Starter course". There are some things I can bring up about the rest of the wave in terms of criticisms (I'm not personally a fan of how they handled the powerups for example), but until I can get some first-hand experience, the bulk of this review is going to be focused on the Starter course.

Transformers Power of the Primes Leader Class Optimal Optimus (with upgrades): Peak Boss Monkey?

By fan demand, Optimus Primal returns as the newest Autobot leader. A brand new toy where he can stand shoulder to shoulder with Optimus Prime and Rodimus Prime, he even got a convention exclusive black repaint that I won't be covering here even though I am still bitter about the last four Prime Masters being locked behind it. I was excited when this was announced, curious as to how it was going to work given the gimmick of Power of the Primes Leader Class figures. Then I saw it and... oh dear... credit for trying? It had problems, it needed a lot of help to improve it, which is why for this review, not only will I be reviewing the figure but the two DNA Design upgrade kits that came for it, along with one free modification you can do to any copy of the toy.

Lego Ideas 21322; Pirates of Barracuda Bay: Dammit, they ate the monkey!

Pirates wasn't something that interested me as a kid. It did when I was younger, alongside Medieval with a toyline I honestly don't remember the name of. But around the time I got into Lego themes like Bionicle, my interest in things like Pirates drifted away for an interest in machines. The only time I got back into Pirates was the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, but with the state of those movies, that didn't last very long. In all seriousness, how many variations on Undead Pirates can they come up with? When I saw this though, I was interested as due to being bound to crutches twice in two years due to my own stupidity, the attempts to kill time have given me an interest in older Lego themes, and seeing how people reimagine them, which this set basically is. Welcome, to Barracuda Bay.

Lego Ideas 21318 Tree House (With Light my Bricks addon): This is just takes Glamping to a whole new level

One thing that is nice to see about the models presented on Lego Ideas is the abundance of original designs that aren't tied to any theme or licence. Things like the Dinosaur fossils, Ship in a Bottle, and Old Fishing Store being a few examples of the original concepts that make it through, highlighting an interesting level of creativity as there aren't any limits to what they could be. One of the more recent examples of this is one of last year's sets, which as the name states, is just a treehouse, though one of the most impressive looking treehouses I've seen ever. How well does it hold up on closer inspection though?

I will say this now, this review is going to be focused on the Autumn colours for the set. A nice bit of detail is that the set comes with enough leaves that you can have a Spring/ Summer look with a set of green and dark green leaves, or an Autumn look with a set of dark yellow and two tones of brown. To those in the northern hemisphere, March, April and May are Australia's Autumn, or where I live it can be called "I don't know if I want to be Summer or Winter yet" due to how rapid the temperature changes can be, especially in March. So for now, the copy of the set that I have is using the Autumn leaves. It doesn't change much about the set in terms of functions, it's just aesthetical preferences.

Transformers War For Cybertron (Siege and Earthrise); Astrotrain: All aboard the murder Choo Choo!... wait, wrong one...

Before getting started, I do have to make a quick announcement. Due to the state of the world right now, I've revived a Patreon account to try and ease the blow that is basically the world shutting down due to the Coronavirus. It has affected me pretty hard, due to my main work being Events Operations, so if you do enjoy the work that I do (which should be coming out more consistently due to all the extra free time I have), and you are in a position where you can help, please support me on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/mediaholics), and hopefully, the state of the world isn't like this for too long. If you start seeing an influx of older toys, older shows, movies, games etc in the coming months from both sites, this is the reason why. Anyway...

Sharing releases between both Siege and Earthrise (supposedly, I hear reports of him coming out in Siege but based on Australia's releases, the only two leaders were Magnus and Shockwave*), to make up for the Titans Return Astrotrain being more sci-fi themed, we get a modern recreation of G1 Astrotrain... in the toy line that wanted to be more sci-fi themed but didn't want to commit to it... On top of that, Astrotrain has a similar issue to what Siege Shockwave had and came out smaller than the Titans Return Tripple changers that people actually like, and it felt like Siege AT was brushed aside too early. Of course, me and my dumb decisions decided to pick up this one first and not the Leader Optimus, thinking that AT would be the harder of the two to find now we can at least see if the pre-release hate was justified.

Starting in Train mode, and for better or worse, this is an updated version of the G1 toy, something that I don't think works as an advantage, but as a disadvantage. To achieve the Triple Changer ability in the '80s, a lot of Transformers like Astrotrain had parts of alt modes basically bolted onto them to make modes pass off as something more than a brick with vehicle parts. This is a brick with vehicle parts. While it looks nice with all the paint and sculpt details, and I love the fact that most of the purple is not going to be seen in the shuttle mode, things like the main train wheels still look like they're bolted on, and when looking at the new Tinder accessory that he comes with, it just comes off as Astrotrain having no idea what he's supposed to be travelling on. Does he need train tracks? how do those work when the wheels can't be on the same set of tracks? Why does the tinder have tank treads along with regular wheels? It just comes off as a mess of design styles that encapsulates my issues with the War for Cybertron Aesthetic conflicts. At least the Tinder acts as a great way to store all the weapons in this mode?

While the space shuttle mode does suffer in the looks department due to the other modes, I find it to be the more enduring mode. It's a loveable awkwardness that the train mode has to an extent, but it feels like they were trying to make it as close as possible to a real train that the issues are more blatant. Details like the "clearly not the front train wheel slabs" looking more like canons work better, and honestly could have been great if they had effects parts plugs on them, the brick that the nosecone peaks out of, it's funny to me. One thing that I'll admit is a issue is the section that houses the tailfin when it's not needed for the other modes. It looks ugly, gappy, and overall unpleasant to look at with no real way to hide it (not without a 3D Printer at least). The Tinder's integration in this mode does work really nicely as well, becoming a launch platform for the space shuttle that can also connect to other bases. However...

Minor tangent for the Adaptable Interconnection Retrofitter Lock System, or A.I.R Lock System. While I love the idea of these interconnecting to form layouts for the Micromasters to drive on, it does sting that they can't connect to the connection points used in Titans Return, seeing as they're not against bringing back older gimmicks for the toyline, such as the Titans Return integration for Jetfire, Apeface and the upcoming Snapdragon. Apparently, Omega Supreme can connect to both the old system and the new system, though I can't confirm that. It still would have been nice if at least some of the Battlemasters could act as a bridge between the Titans Return connectors and the new system.

To the robot mode, while yes I would have liked it to be taller, it's still a great looking robot mode. The animation colour scheme, along with the WFC articulation easily make it the better toy when compared to the Titans Return release. It's effortless to pose him, and a lot of fun to mess with, especially as he joins Generations Roadbuster and Age of Extinction Hound (among others) in the "Overcompensating in the gear department", with his usual gun, two rifles, a machine gun and a rocket launcher, all of which can be used to tool him up with C.O.M.B.A.T ports, or be stuck together to form a massive Frag you cannon. Even the cyber mud battle damage looks great here because it doesn't ruin the look of the toy, and it works nicely in the space shuttle mode. Unfortunately, the Tinder is dead weight in this mode, as all you can do with it is give Astrotrain slightly taller shoes, and an ugly backpack which ruins the look from the back. It would have been great if it could have been a shield, maybe bigger shoes to put him in line with his Titans Return companions, but as is, you're better off treating it like Earthrise Optimus' trailer, left to the side.

Though I've listed a lot of issues with this toy, in truth, I really enjoy it. The issues I have with it, subjectively, are relatively minor to me. Though I wish it wasn't so faithful to G1 that it could have taken some liberties to keep in the spirit of the character, that's kind of what the Titans Return one was, so it's hard to blame them for making a more faithful one for those wanting a faithful toy. If you can justify the cost right now, he's worth picking up. As I mentioned at the start of this review, things are going to be rough for a while, and if you want to support what I do, please consider supporting it on Patreon, or just sharing it around.

*This is an attempt at satire mocking the state of Hasbro's Australia distribution.