Linkfest - More Beast Hunters

More Transformers are coming, official or otherwise. For 3rd party makers, combiners seems to be the main theme while Takara has truly embraced the Masterpiece line and Hasbro is moving ahead with a full Beast Hunters line despite the short final season of Transformers Prime.  Hasbro finally revealed what Masterpiece Acid Storm looks like while Takara shows off blurry images of MP Prowl and Bluestreak.  Add to that lots of reviews of upcoming Beast Hunters toys, two members of TFC Toys Uranos combiner, next Throttlebot combiner member, and more.

Masterpiece Update - Hasbro MP Acid Storm | Hasbro MP Soundwave | Takara Prowl and Bluestreak
This year is just chock full of Masterpiece releases once include by the Takara and Hasbro plans. Already this year has seen the release of Takara's Soundwave toy with two of his cassettes (review below). On top of that have MP-10B Nemesis Prime 2.0 cab (March), MP-12T Tigertrack (July), MP-16 Frenzy and Rumble (April), and now a look at MP-17 Prowl (August), MP-18 Bluestreak (October) and later MP-19 Smokescreen (September). On top of that can add Hasbro's official images Masterpiece Acid Storm which is a repaint of Starscream 2.0 in a military green and black look while Soundwave is identical to the Takara release only it will come with all five cassettes instead of separate two pack releases.

Beast Hunters Galleries - Cyberverse Terrorcons | Voyager Shockwave | Voyager Ultra Magnus | Voyager Grimwing
There are more Beast Hunters coming, no clue when but figure sometime this summer. This set of galleries is for the Cyberverse Terrorcons which may or may not merge to form Abominus, a retooled version of Shockwave & Ultra Magnus and a new character Grimwing with some creature alt mode.


FansProject Intimidator Tease
Combiners is the theme this year for third party makers and Fansproject is prepping one of their versions. Coming soon is the first two not Stunticons and as the image shows, the final combiner is a sweet looking version of not Menasor that they are calling Intimidator. If the result lives up to the promise, its going to be an expensive (guessing $600 range total) but awesome addition to a collection.

Kre-O - Predaking | Checklists
One of the Kre-O sets coming out soon is the Micro Changer combiners that takes 4 Kreons and lets you "merge" (aka assemble) them into their combiner counter part. At the link above is the breakdown of the Predaking version. I think the cost is around $10 for the sets but not really sure. At the other link is a nice check list to help those with really love the Kreons and trying hard to collect them all.

Beast Hunters Video Reviews - Commander Optimus Prime | Commander Predaking | Legion Smokescreen | Legion Twinstrike | Deluxe Ripclaw | Deluxe Smokescreen | Deluxe Starscream | Deluxe Bulkhead
More Transformers Beast Hunters line toys are starting to hit shelves. Most are the Cyberverse Commander and Legion classes (smallest ones) but just a matter of time before the deluxes show up. Any case hit the links to find the review of the latest additions. Personally I think I am just going to skip the whole Beast Hunters line and focus on Generations, Masterpiece and the occasional 3rd party awesomeness.

Masterpiece Rumble & Ravage
Below is video review of the latest Masterpiece release with the cassette forms of Rumble and Ravage from Takara to go with MP-13 Soundwave. As post above indicates, Soundwave and all five cassettes are getting a stateside release so at this point the $60 (or $30 per cassette) seems beyond excessive in price but for die hard fans the review below may help decide if worth it. A gallery of images from the set can be found here.

Not Sixshot Video Review
From Mastermind Creations (makers of the Heart of Steel TF toys) comes their latest called Terminus Hexatron which is a much more details direct homage to the classic Generation 1 six-changer Sixshot. The figure is around $135 in price for an April release. Based on this early review he might just be worth ordering.

TFC Toys Uranos - not Silverbolt | not Air Raid
Below are reviews of the latest additions to the not-Arielbots set that TFC Toys is releasing. The five jet combiner will form Uranos (aka not-Superion) once its complete and be about the same size as their Hercules figure from last year. The five figures will be AV-88 Harrier II (not Slingshot), F-15 Eagle (not Air Raid), F-16 Falcon (not Skydive), F-4 Phantom (not Fireflight), SR-71 Blackbird with X-47 Phantomray (not Silverbolt). Below are the reviews of the Silverbolt and Air Raid homages. The average price is arond $100 with a release in next month or so.



Toyworld Hardbone Review
Toyworld is a new 3rd party maker, like the others, re-creates the Generation One figures with a more modern, details and articulated take. Hardbone is their G1 homage to headmaster Hardhead which did get a Generations remake a little over a year ago but without the headmaster feature (unless bought an upgrade kit). The robot mode looks pretty good but the tank makes is meh. The cost is $110 with a March release.

Toyworld Aurora Review
This is another upcoming release from Toyworld, this one is part of a Throttlebot combiner. The Throttlebots were six G1 Autobots that had a very simple transformation similar to the bot shots toys. They did not combine like this take apparently does (even though the combined form has yet to be revealed). I think Aurora is not Searchlight but not entirely sure. Any case its another modern take on old characters and looks pretty good. The cost is $70 with a release date of any day now.

Year of the Snake Omega Supreme Review
Below is the review of the currently Takara only re-release of Energon Omega Supreme in new packaging. I think this is also getting released via BigBadToyStore.com but not clear on the details. Personally it doesn't seem worth the $100 plus price tag but use the review below to help you make your own determination.