Linkfest - Unicron

More links of Transformers things to enjoy. This set includes two custom figures, a look at upcoming waves of Transformers: Prime toys, Masterpiece toys & interview, more 3rd party toys, Hasbro art ban, and new toy reviews.

Custom Generation One Unicron
Hit the link for a gallery of images for a custom re-creation of the Unicron prototype that Hasbro created as a potential release for Transformers: The Movie toy line. As the images show, Hasbro probably made a wise decision to not go past the prototype phase but I am sure there are many collectors who still wouldn't mind having a G1 Unicron of their own.

Upcoming Transformers Prime - Deluxe | Legion | Wave 3 | Play sets
A new gallery shows off of upcoming wave of Transformers: Prime deluxe toys. They will include Airachnid, Deadend (repaint of Wheeljack), and Ultra Magnus in the deluxe class. For Legion there will be a repaint of Bumblebee, Mirage, Flamewar (repaint of Arcee), and others. Evac is thrown in with the lot but he is really release for Transformers: The Ride. The wave 3 toys are Knock Out, Hot Shot and Vehicon. No info on release dates.

Mastermind Creations' Cyclops
MC has released new images of their Hearts of Steel version of Shockwave with an alt mode of a warship. The images show that the final product will be about Masterpiece in size as it stands a little taller than Masterpiece Grimlock.

MP-11 Masterpiece Starscream 2.0 Gallery
The next MP toy has been released by Takara and now available at most online stores (for around $160+). The result looks pretty good but debatable if non diehard collectors want to spin that kind of money if they already have the 1.0 version from a few years ago (or its many repaints since then).

Shogo Hasui Interview on Masterpiece Prime 2.0
Hit the link for TFW2005's translation of an interview with Shogo Hasui who helped design last year’s Masterpiece Optimus Prime 2.0 which (to me) is the best Masterpiece toy released yet. He gives insight on some of his goals with the line which seems to have a likely bright future. Starting with Prime, there is a goal to standardize the sizes so they are more in scale with each other, more fun to transform, and easier for children with a real effort to emulate the cartoon look as close as possible. Worth a read for fans of the MP line.

Custom Pretender Iguanus
Another custom creation, this one from aprim. This creation is for the Decepticon Pretender Iguanus. The Pretender line came out in the late 80s as the G1 line was decaying as their main audience (like me) that grew up on the line moved on other things (can't remember what). It involved a simple Transformer hiding in a plastic shell. The result was blah at best in part because the shell was just two piece of plastic with little detail and the robot inside was very simple with usually very weak transformation. Nowadays the idea just might work because can give the shell a great deal of detail with articulation and also do the same for the robot in side giving it a two 2 for 1 type deal that Hasbro was probably intending at the time. Something this custom demonstrates very nicely.

Takara Transformers: Prime Package Images
As if often the case, the Takara releases are often improvements of the Hasbro stateside releases. While the weapons remain so-so with their huge sizes, they do seem to just look a whole lot better in design, improved packaging, and better paint jobs. They also include "Microns" which are basically very simple TargetMasters (robot to handgun). Not worth the often triple cost to import but still kind of makes you miss the Hasbro road not taken.


iGears Upcoming
Hit the link for the next wave of iGear releases coming out over the next few months. Shark Sentry is their version of the Sharkicons from Transformers: The Movie. Hench (not Brawl) and UFO (not Cosmos) have estimated release date of July 2012 and the average cost is $35 each.

MakeToys Crane and Dump Truck
3rd Party maker Maketoys have released images of their next two additions to their not Devastator toy called Giant. The limited edition yellow color is based on the Generation Two re-release of Devastator back in the early 90s. This version is a bit cheaper than TFC toys with each toy coming together as a set for an average cost of $60 each.

Hasbro Fails to Block Transformers Prime Tablet
Asus has one the fight to retain the Transformers Prime tablet brand as a US Federal Court judge ruled against the toy company. In his ruling he said Hasbro failed to prove that the tablet would cause brand confusion with their cartoon & toy line, noted the name properly describes the nature of the tablet, and failed to demonstrate how the continued sale of the tablets would cause "irreparable injury" to Hasbro. The court case also revealed that the Asus tablet sales are not exactly stellar so chances are the toy line will outlast the Asus product on store shelves making the whole thing moot.

Botcon/Hasbro Potentially Bans Fan Art
It seems that Hasbro's push to maintain its intellectual property (which seems like over reaction to above case), might have led to another push against fans. Before Hasbro banned the sale of any 3rd party non-licensed toys at the 'Con with risk of loss of property. Now it seems the ban will extend to fan art which use to be a hallmark of the convention with fans from all over selling and displaying their custom pieces and express their love of all things Transformers. At this point it seems the only thing allowed to be displayed and sold at Botcon will be stuff that Hasbro has produced or agreements with licensee's to produce (like IDW, their artists, etc.).

Transformers: Prime Voyager Optimus Prime
Video review of the Robots in Disguise Prime that is on toy stores now. Overall not bad toy with decent transformation and look. The main drawback is the completely useless "gun" that probably should not have been bothered with including. The sword is a nice but sadly they didn't come up with an effective way to hide on the underside or elsewhere. Really, based on my experiences with Megatron and Optimus (I had a coupon); I recommend just passing on the Voyager class and focus on Deluxe or Commander class.


Dark of the Moon Human Alliance Soundwave Review
A look at the now never to be released (at least stateside) of the Human Alliance Soundwave figure. May have posted this before, don't remember but the final product is just ok so probably no loss.


Transformers Prime Reviews - Vehicon | KnockoutTwo Peaugh reviews of the next wave of Transformers: Prime Robots in Disguise toys that will start hitting toy shelves soon. Both figures are looking good and continue what has been a pretty solid deluxe line of toys (excluding the voyager class). As I am at this point completely over the movie line, it is refreshing to see something new like these out in stores. Hopefully they will be succesful but the limited reach of The Hub network makes me wonder on their long term viability.