Transformers Lay Siege on Your Wallet!

If you visit my humble site then I'm sure you're following all of the news as it's released from San Diego as part of SDCC '19. I've been geeking out all weekend about the comic, movie and toy news...especially when it comes to some new Transformers that are on the horizon.

I began to think at how Hasbro and Transformers specifically would laying siege on fans' wallets with all of the news that has been officially revealed. There were already several great Siege pre-orders in place (such as Omega Supreme) and now we have even more great toys coming. Hmm...I wonder where I can donate some plasma?

Many of these new pre-orders that are just now hitting the web are exclusive to stores, such as Amazon, Target, Walmart and Hasbro Pulse. I've tried to provide links to these retailers to make it easy if you wish to drop a pre-order or two.

We'll start off with Amazon's 3 exclusive offerings.

War for Cybertron: Siege - Fan Vote Battle 3-Pack

(available 10/15/19) - $69.99

This set includes deluxes of Holo Mirage, a partially translucent blue Mirage to mimic his invisibility ability; Powerdasher Aragon, a repaint and slight retool of Six-Gun; and Impactor. While I think these figures look nice, I think this will be an easy pass for me.

War for Cybertron: Siege - Phantonstrike Squadron

(available 08/15/19) - $49.99

This exclusive 4 pack contains the Decepticons Skywarp and 3 Battle Masters: Fracas, Shrute, Terror-Dactyl. Who wouldn't want to at least complete the original seeker trio? This one is an easy purchase for me.

War for Cybertron: Siege - Autobot Alphastrike Counterforce

(available 08/15/19) - $49.99

This 3 pack includes Covert Clone Sideswipe, a G2 redeco; Slamdance, a redeco of the Decepticon Skytread (Flywheels); as well as one Battle Master, Trenchfoot (redeco Aimless).

There was a time where I would buy any exclusive Transformers release, but today I have to be a little more picky about what I buy. Part of me really likes this set. Sideswipe looks awesome in black and Trenchfoot is sporting some great colors. Slamdance is, well...interesting. Comprised of Raindance and Grandslam, originally combining cassettes during the G1 days, I don't know if Hasbro has pulled this off or not. With so many releases coming out around the same time this one will be a tough sell for me.

Target is providing additional Decepticon seeker jets in the form of Redwing and a 3 pack of "rainmakers". Currently Redwing is only available to Red Card holders, but hopefully that will change soon. I can't find an online listing yet for the 3 pack, but there have been confirmed sightings in the US already at select Target stores. Happy hunting!

Not to be outdone in the exclusives department, Walmart also had a few surprises for us collectors. 

War for Cybertron: Siege - Bluestreak

(available holiday 2019?) - $19.99

When Siege Prowl was released I guess I should have seen the inevitable releases of the other "Datsun Brothers". Bluestreak looks beautiful and is a must buy. Sadly by the time I found the link on Walmart's website the pre-order had already sold out. You can sign up for updates, which I have, so I'll just have to wait and see if they re-open the pre-orders or not.

War for Cybertron: Siege - Megatron

(available October 2019) - $29.99

It's hard for me to comment on Megatron (or Optimus) as I still haven't opened the original versions of this mold, but I have to say this classic animation deco is beautiful. I don't know if I'll pick him up or not, but this is cool none the less.

War for Cybertron: Siege - Optimus Prime

(available October 2019) - $29.99

I'll buy just about any version of Optimus Prime and this one is no different. This classic animation deco is absolutely beautiful and I'm sure it'll look better in hand. October can't come quick enough for this one!

War for Cybertron: Siege - Soundblaster

(available October 2019) - $29.99

Hasbro has been on the Soundblaster train for sometime now, repainting/retooling various Soundwave toys into his rebuilt Japanese counterpart. It looks fantastic, I'm just not sure there will be a place in my collection for him.

Walmart will be continuing their line of G1 reissues with Soundwave and multi-packs of Frenzy/Laserbeak and Ravage/Rumble. I haven't bought many of these re-issues as I already have nice specimens of the original toys, but I'm sure these 3 releases will sell good assuming the prices aren't too high. I don't believe these are available for pre-order at the time of this post.

Hasbro Pulse also has a few exclusives of their own that I'm sure will tickle the fancy of old school collectors.

War for Cybertron: Siege - Refraktor Reconnaissance Team 3-Pack

(available 09/01/19) - $69.99

Having just found my 3rd and final Refraktor figure, I'm excited about getting the 3 figures together and forming the 35mm camera. While I'm just fine with the regular deco of the figures, I do think this new G1 toy deco looks great. The additional parts added to the set also really help sell the alt mode. This one is tempting, but I'm not made of money so I'll just had to admire the pictures on the 'net.

War for Cybertron: Siege - Autobot Lancer

(available August 2019) - $19.99

Entertainment Earth pre-order - $19.99

My eyes!! Wow, this sucker is a bright toy. This looks like something from the last few years of GI Joe. I'm sure there are fans that are happy to get another fembot and be able to complete their all female combiner...but I'm not one of those.

Vintage G1 Mini-Cassette 3 Pack

(available 09/08/19) - $34.99

Oh. My. Gosh. While I'm not totally floored to see Gurafi and Noizu coming, I'm super excited. Last year Hasbro teased fans with the translucent G1 dino cassettes in their Bumblebee SDCC releases and now fans everywhere can finally complete their cassette collections without having to pay an arm and a leg. Pre-ordered.

War for Cybertron: Siege - Ratchet

(available ?) $19.99

Last but not least we have Ratchet. He will be an upcoming exclusive at Walgreens drug stores in the US. He's already been released in Hong Kong as a Toys 'R Us exclusive there. I am hoping Walgreens offers Ratchet online so it's not the whole Marvel Legends the Thing fiasco all over again.

As you can see there are a lot of great new Transformer toys coming out later this year. If you plan to pick up every figure on this list along with the others that are coming, good luck. I haven't been this excited about a main line Transformers series in a long time. Hasbro and Takara Tomy are hitting it out of the park with Siege and I can't wait to see what else they may have in store for us. I just hope they give all of our wallets a change to breath and recuperate!

Hot Wheels Mystery Models (Series 1)

As a kid I was a sucker for Hot Wheels, however today as an adult I'm more of a sucker for blind packaged toys. Oddly enough I'm not all that into cars, but I can appreciate certain makes and models.

Mattel got in on the blind packaged toy craze not that long ago by packaging various Hot Wheels in opaque bags and label them as "Mystery Models". However on the back of the package is a small circle where you can see ever so slightly inside. If you finagle the car around enough you can usually see which car is inside.

After looking over this particular assortment I was on the look out for the Chevy Volt...or Super Volt as it was labeled. This wave also included a traditional trading card sized sticker of the included car. Whenever I see these in the store I usually pick one up to see what cars are included in the assortment. I don't know how many different assortments Mattel has released of these Mystery Models, but they are essentially priced the same as the regular Hot Wheels so why not inject some fun into your die-cast car buying?

Transformers: Adventure - Windra TMC-05

Hasbro and Takara Tomy decided to do a little something with Mini-Cons in their Robot in Disguise (2015) / Adventure series. Instead of just being smaller robots that could aid other Transformers they transformed into various projectile like objects. Think cassettes with Blaster and Soundwave from the original G1 era, the Mini-Con toys interacted with larger Deployer toys such as Fracture. These new Mini-Cons came in various shapes, such as discs, round spheres or torpedos. Windra falls in the latter category.

Mini-Cons in the Adventure series came packaged in small window like boxes. Takara Tomy always did package their TFs in cooler packaging than what we received in the West courtesy of Hasbro...at least in my opinion. This packaging allows you to see the actual toy along with the Energon armor bits in the rear.

On the rear of the packaging you get some simple transformation instructions, along with a view of the Energon armor bits and how you can attach them to the figure itself. I believe there is a bio/tech spec of sorts in the blue box, but since I can't read the language this is just an educated guess.

Windra is based on the Robots in Disguise toy Dragonus. Outside of the obvious color change, a clear 5mm port was added to the tip of the tail. This allows Windra to be attached to other toys or even be wielded by another Transformer.

In traditional Takara fashion there are more paint applications to the toy than the US version. Whether or not the pink, blue and metallic purple of Windra appeal to you more than the neon green and bronze of Dragonus is up to you. Personally, I love the new colors and was excited to add Windra to my Mini-Con collection.

Windra's alternate mode is a torpedo shape. These type Mini-Cons I feel are the idea versions for the deployer version of Fracture. Not only do these Mini-Cons look great when inserted into the spring loaded launcher, they also seem to launch better.

Like other Mini-Cons, the torpedo shape has an auto-transformation basically. Pull out on each side and you're done. Overall this design does a good job at concealing the robot bits. Flip it over however and you can see the feet and the tail. Look underneath the tail and you can see the dragon head.

The Energon armor bits come attached to a faction shaped symbol. The parts are attached via small plastic sprues. For the older Transformer collectors this harkens back to the days of the original TF toys where accessories had to be removed from little plastic "trees".

As I was getting ready to create this post I realized that when I took these photos (which was awhile ago) I realized that I didn't have any photos with the armor bits attached. I almost scrapped this post entirely since it's "incomplete", but instead I'll just borror a pic from the TF Wiki instead!

I like the little helmet piece and gun that attaches to the back. The wings get axe like pieces while the feet get longer talon attachments. I really like the look of the figure with these Energon attachments and in part reminds me of certain toys from the Transformers Energon line.

When the Transformer Adventure Mini-Cons were originally released in Japan they were affordable to import. On the secondary market (at the time of this post) they can be purchased from Japanese sellers for less than $15 shipped. More than I paid, but not too bad. I used to be a super collector of Mini-Con/Micron toys and that mentality re-surfaced when I learned that the Japanese version of the RID toys would feature different decos. These are fun little toys and I love the new characters and I enjoy them, but your mileage may vary.

Beast Saga: Guereu BS-38

The members of the Kingdom of Death Sea are varied aquatic animals with individual personalities, however Guereu seems to be the first "army builder" of the Beast Saga series. Similar to how the Seacons were used in the Japanese animated Transformers show, multiples of Guereu can be seen in both the animated and manga versions of media. Whether or not this character has his own individual personality I have no idea.

Guereu is a green frog in gray armor with a sword and shield. Maybe it's the head crest on the armor, but I feel as if the armor is modeled after an old Japanese Samurai? The armor has some nice touches, most noticeably the "frog feet" on the front of his shoulders. The paint apps are nicely done with a touch of bronze and orange on the armor. The skin is a light green with gold used for the eyes. 

Very nice sculpt, but with all Beast Saga figures the articulation is very limited. Arms have a full 360 degree of rotation. Legs are hindered by the sculpt (mostly the dice launching gimmick) from the same free range movement the arms have.

His sword is a simple weapon cast in a very soft plastic. A lot of the Beast Saga weapons came out of the packaging slightly warped. I'm sure I could use a hair dryer on low to soften the plastic enough to try and flatten it out, but I never bothered to try as the slight curve doesn't bother me that much.

Guereu also comes packaged with two dice, one translucent blue dice based on the character and light blue dice used in the game. I still don't know how the dice game plays so I just tuck the extra dice away.

The Kingdom of Death Sea quickly became one of my favorite segments of the Beast Saga series based on some of the designs. Guereu isn't my favorite, but definitely stands out amongst his teammates. Beast Saga is a lot of fun and I wish it would have lasted longer than it did. Sadly if you didn't jump on the series when it was on store shelves in Japan, it'll cost you quite a lot now on the secondary market. These figures only retailed for a few dollars each and now most sellers want $20.00+ each. Ouch! However if you keep looking you can find deals pop up online from time to time so if you're curious about these Battle Beast homage toys, don't give up searching out those deals. **EDIT** I just released that Robot Kingdom still has many of the Beast Saga figures in stock for under $7 each, including Guereu.

Transformers 3rd Party: MasterShooter Collectibles - Strangedog

I have a confession to make. I simply cannot keep up w/ the 3rd party Transformers scene anymore. Everytime I stop by a TF fan site or get a newsletter in my inbox from one of the big Transformers retailers, there are so many new 3rd party companies and toys that it makes my head want to explode. If you've followed my blog for long then you'll know I don't buy a lot of 3rd party items, but before it seems this segment of the hobby exploded I did pick up a few items here and there.

One of which was the 2013 Slagacon exclusive (limited to just 25 pieces!) from MasterShooter Collectibles - Strangedog. Strange name, yes, but when you realize it's a homage to the Generation 1 Headmaster Weirdwolf, then it makes more sense.

If you're not familiar w/ MasterShooter Collectibles, it's a really small company - like one person. I don't "know" the owner, but I've interacted with him on various social media platforms and he had a table set up behind me at Charticon 2013. His designs are rather simple, yet awesome. Strangedog is a simple recolor of a previous mold, but that doesn't detract from how awesome this little character/toy is.

G1 Weirdwolf was a Headmaster so why would one want a matching Targetmaster? Because Weirdwolf is the best Headmaster of all time so the real question is why wouldn't you want a Weirdwolf themed Targetmaster?!

The colors chosen match pretty well, although the yellow is a darker, more "spicy mustard" yellow. This little guy has plenty of articulation as well as the head, shoulders, elbows and knees are ball joints.

Transformation from robot to gun is very simple and G1-esque. Fold down the gun barrels, fold back the legs and affix the arms to each side of the robot.

All of MasterShooter Collectible targetmaster figures are compatible with both vintage and modern Transformers. At the time I took these pictures (which was years ago!) I only had the FansProject version of Weirdwolf handy. You can tell the colors aren't a 1:1 match, however at least for this fan there is no confusion over who Strangedog is meant to be partnered with.

This is a great toy, but due to it's limited nature be prepared to pay a pretty penny for it on the secondary market...and that is if you can find it. MasterShooter Collectibles put out some great figures, but according to their Facebook page it seems they are just about out of the 3rd party business. It's a real shame because everything of theirs that I've owned has been top notch.

VooV: FT06 Hokutosei / D51 498

Several years ago I purchased my first VooV toy (Guardian Robo) from HLJ.com on a whim. Before I checked out I wanted to see what else was offered in the VooV line and I saw a series of trains. I've always been a fan of trains for as long as I could remember so I grabbed the cheapest one I could find out of sheer curiosity.

I ended up picking up FT06 Hokutosei. From what I could tell it transformed from an modern style Japanese train to an old steam engine. I've since long sold this train and these photos have been sitting on my external hard drive for years. I should've included something for scale purposes as this train is rather small.

The train came packaged in a very slender cardboard box with a hang tab. On the front you can see the transformation from one style of train to the other. The back of the box doesn't offer much unless you speak Japanese. The side of the box does offer a better image of the transformation process.

When it comes to scale I'm going to say these trains are close to a N scale used in the model railroad community. I could be wrong, but that seems pretty spot on in my opinion. The train does have a connector hook on the front and back so it is possible to link up multiple VooV trains. There isn't a lot of design, sculpt wise, going on in this mode, however the front of the train does have windows and the aforementioned connection hook. The other side of the train does have small painted windows to complete the look. There are several small free rolling wheels on the underside that allow the toy to roll freely on a hard, smooth surface.

The train sides simply unsnap and flip up and over to reveal the coal powered engine inside. You  then take the engine and swing it out and close up the blue train portion to form the final train.

The black engine is very detailed, from the pipes on the side of the engine to the molded wheels themselves. This has the look of an old fashion train and brought out the little kid in me. There is also a little coal tender cart molded into the back of the engine.

I found this toy to be a fun to fiddle around with. I believe it cost me around $4 or $5 US dollars so it was worth what I paid. There were several different versions of these VooV trains available, some featuring more current shinkansen styles. 

I checked HLJ this evening before I started this post and they still had a few, but not many VooV toys left. If you area train lover and want to try something different then you may want to seek out one of these toys. Otherwise, I hope this little review helps satisfies your curiosity.