Grahf: Beautiful yes. However, this isn't a difficult design to get to look amazing and still have it transform. So the MP is still better. At least to me. That Dinobot though. I have the MP but the Yolopark figure is stunning. I might have to pick that one up.

Grahf: Mini Weirdwolf is speaking to me. I love the Headmasters. To think that they can get them at this size too. Dr. Wu must use black magic sometimes. lol.

Grahf: This isn't exactly a traditional Missing Link figure now is it.

It's a completely different figure all together. Even the Arcee figure was based almost entirely off that original Prototype without straying from it for much of anything. This though has been completely redesigned from the ground up.

That's for the best obviously, it's just slightly disingenuous to call this a Missing Link figure when it's something so much more than that.

I mean, Missing Link has, up until this point, been about taking G1 figures and designs and just adding some articulation while keeping everything else the same. Whereas this takes that original design, throws it out the window and makes a completely modern figure with some G1 era design work to try and make it fit.  

Again, it looks great. It's just that it looks TOO good for the line now. It's out of place among its own line at this point.

Grahf: I'm still holding out hope for this.

I just got Megatron off the shelf and was reminded of Tigerhawk. Came to check on it and still nothing. If that Megatron is the only mold this company releases, at least it was one that good.

It's a shame too since I don't get many third party figures because it's usually the same crap over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. So when I see a company actually do something different for a change, I want to buy from them. While I still hold out hope, it's slowly fading.

Grahf: Legends scale? Sure I guess. But isn't Armada Starscream long overdue for a larger scale figure? I like the Legacy version well enough and I have every version of the T30 mold but I really want a big beefy Armada Starscream mold. One to go right next to my Maketoys Galaxy Meteor and Planet-X Mors. I don't collect many third party "MP" figures but that's one I'd get for sure. And for the love of Primus, somebody do an Energon Starscream too. Shame about Maas Toys and their Tetrajet too. At first I didn't want it since they went "MP" scale unlike their Bumblebee but now I want a beefy Tetrajet now that we have the Siege version.

Grahf: What a waste this kit is.

The new dragon chest is modeled after the original so no, it doesn't "look better". It's only in the kit so that the dragon chest sits more flush along the back of the robot mode. You know what else let's you do that? Cutting a little bit of plastic off the hinge on the back of the neck area that get's in the way of the stock chest sitting flush. You know what it costs to do that? Nothing.

If they were going through the trouble of making a whole new chest anyway then they should've had extra pieces that fixed the lower dragon neck problem that folded in and out of the hollow chest to hide away for robot mode. THAT'S the actual problem with the base figure and is pretty much the only real problem the figure even has. That neck area is horrible looking and not a single kit for this figure addresses it. This should've had something that build up to from traps for the neck and chest area. Then this kit would've been worth it even with all the other problems this kit has.

The faces don't look any "better" than the stock head nor are they more accurate as they're not. They're just as inaccurate as the stock head but in different ways. The stock head and the DNA heads all are a weird mix of toy and show accuracy. Neither head looks 100% accurate to either thing so why bother changing them if what you're changing to isn't any more accurate than what you're changing from.

The new hand is an absolute waste as all it does is point with the one finger. If you're going to bother making articulated hands then go all in on it. I personally hate articulated hands most of the time but since this figure doesn't have weapons to hold, I'm fine with a fully articulated hand. Yet all we have here is a single pointing finger. Wow, so amazing.

The wig is just more garbage that's going in a baggie to never be used by anyone other than photographers for like one or two shots. They didn't even make a gavel. So you only did half the thing that happened that one time. That's somehow even more lame. You didn't even finish the thing you're trying to homage.

The tail pieces are cool though. The tail is indeed too short. However even though DNA is usually really good at color and aesthetic matching, they're not perfect. The pieces could still look out of place. Just not as much so as the Kingdom Magnus legs. I took them off as the color matching is horrible and actually ends up making the figure look worse.

I found purchasing a second figure on sale to be a better use of money for upgrading Megs.

I had already opened the wings up and cut off the tabs that limited the wings in how they worked and splayed out. So when I had the second figure in hand I opened the wings back up and took the wing parts I liked from both and put them on one figure. I had to modify the wing segments more to work but it wasn't difficult. Now I think the wings look better as all the segments are the same length like the original toy and the Jiang Xing figure and now two segments on each wing has the purple paint on them.

Again, I modified the one hinge by cutting it a bit so that the dragon chest sits flush along the back of the robot. There's just too much plastic there and it wasn't even needed. I would imagine it's there for extra support but the plastic is still plenty thick after removing the excess. You also can't notice a thing in any mode either so no need to even make it look pretty. Just cut the excess away however is easiest for the most part.

I took the two tail segments off one tail to give them to the other to lengthen it. This provided 100% color matching as well as made sure that the parts are as sturdy as possible and the fit was perfect as it was all designed that way from the start.

I also took two dragon neck segments off and added them to the other for a longer dragon neck like the original figure. There's three you can take but I took two. Some people want a shorter dragon neck as I've seen them take off segments but I wanted a longer one so I added some. Fit, finish and quality was again 100%.

I found this to be cheaper to do and it provided me with more actual useable pieces. Since the DNA faces are still inaccurate there's no need to even worry about this not providing a new face. And by the end, I still have a full figure. Yeah it has a shorter dragon tail, neck and wing segments but it's still a full figure. Resell it for parts. Donate it. Give it to a kid. Customize it. Do whatever you want with it as it's still a complete and usable figure.

I wouldn't have been so bothered by this set had they just had something with that new chest to fix the dragon neck. I would've gotten it if they just did something for it. Damn what a waste

Grahf: They made it a Decepticon!!!!!! More of these redecos should've been as well. It's just this and Exhaust and to an extent, Loudpedal. DK-2 Guard, DK-3 Breaker, Lift-Ticket, Road Rage, Clamp Down, Deepcover, Tigertrack, Cordon, Spin Out, Crosscut, Burnout, Reboost, Silverstreak, silver Silverstreak and Delta Magnus are all Autobots. There's not many others left to make Decepticons. Red Mirage, blue/purple Hoist, red Skids (no not Reboost as that's red Crosscut) and that's about it.

Grahf: I'm not much of a fan of these either but I'm three deep now due to the Hasbro sales so I'll be picking this up eventually. The sales from Pulse certainly make these more tolerable. I'd hate to have paid full price for any of these.

Shame about the combined mode though. That last piece adding almost nothing but some connectors for the legs, the hip joints and a waist swivel is unfortunate. Almost the entire figure just forms a backpack instead of being used to extend the torso which is sorely needed. The individual bot modes aren't bad despite the kibble though.

Grahf: It doesn't look too bad but it's just Bonecrusher. I mean I guess they had to do him at some point but damn, what a boring stealth drop. Not that I collect MPM figures though so what do I know? I only got Megatron because it was like $55 on Hasbro Toy Shop's Ebay store.

I just got the grey Studio Series Bonecrusher, transformed it then tossed it aside as well, it's still just Bonecrusher. Oh and I just got a mixed lot on Ebay with a complete 2007 deluxe as well as a complete 2007 legends Bonecrusher. So I'm all Bonecrushered out.

Grahf: I was going to ignore this complete as I remember it being about $200 when it first came out but for $77, I might have to pick this up. That's a really enticing price. I'd buy more third party figures if they were so stupidly priced for no actual reason. Sure you can say whatever about them being limited, more complex, having higher parts counts, being made with metal and anything else. Then you see other companies like Modfans, Metagate and a few other companies release figures for decent prices that completely destroy that argument. There's no way a 3 or 4 inch figure should cost around the price of a commander class figure or 7 to 8 inch figures around the price of a titan.