Grahf: I think I'm going to have to hold out a bit more still. While 10% off is nice, I'm still very weary of that translucent plastic.

This is also going to make me wish more of the Maximals were done by third parties. I mean, they're starting to get out numbered with the presence of Lazorbeak and Double Punch here. And I imagine that Robot Toys will also being doing Buzzsaw from their upcoming Waspinator. And Metagate should be doing Fractyl too.

The Maximals need some of their redecos to help out a bit. Nightprowler from Cheetor, Packrat from Rattrap, Mutant Tigatron from Tigatron, Lio Jr. from Lio Convoy now that the Legends Manga has shown them to both use the same mold now, Universe Optimus Primal. There's also a few molds that can make some from each faction in Megatron being used for T-Wrecks and Tyrannocon Rex, Dinobot being used for Grimlock, Hardhead, Dinotron and well, the other Grimlock and so on.

However this would need involvement from the KO companies since Takara is so very slow at doing things in the MP line. For starters, we need a KO Lio Convoy in general. The rest would involve the original KO companies to come back for some quick redecos and some slight retools. Maybe Packrat and Predacon Rhinox will be done as those are the two most recently released molds and Takara announcing Predacon Rhinox themselves.

Regardless, I do still wish this wasn't translucent plastic. While I have no fear of Scorponok breaking or anything, that's standard opaque plastic. As myself and many others already said, translucent plastic in general, let along how much is used in this figure, is extremely dangerous for the longevity of the figure. It could be quick, it could take a while, but it will break without warning. Which is something that's far less likely to happen with standard opaque plastics. And again, it's not like this is even 100% accurate anyway. It's like 75% accurate as it is. So might as well just go the other way with it and prioritize the integrity of the figure itself over any accuracy to a 30 year old figure/design/artwork.

Grahf: While I still love that "Maketoys" is doing all these decos seen throughout the original cartoon and it's various pieces of media, I really do wish it was on a different mold.

I like this mold don't get me wrong, it's just a bit on the older side as many others have already said.

I have about as many as I was ever going to get from this mold though. I had to cut it off otherwise I'd get them all and that would cost way too much, even here on Show Z with them being quite a bit cheaper than the other option to purchase these and the fact that these even go on sale here.

I'll keep saying it until it actually happens, but I'd love it if a KO company did all these decos to the Siege, Earthrise, Legacy Armada, Legacy Cybertron of even the SS86 molds instead. Sure, it's what I collect and all, but it's more cost effective for background nameless characters and animation errors. Like $20 a pop for each from a KO of one of the voyager molds would go over so well with the fans.

And again, this is one of the Seekers from the episodes More than Meets they eye 2 and/or 3. Just in case you were wondering where they got this deco idea from.

One thing I always wondered about the different background Seekers from the first season; Why were they almost always some shade of blue? If not blue itself as a primary color, but the secondary colors of blue in either green and purple. Rarely were any Seekers past the main six were done in another color.

The only times red showed up was in one Starscream error and a Silverbolt colored Seeker error. Redwing himself is an error as well having been some sort of mistranslation or misunderstanding that somehow turned into a character.

Yellow is only seen in Sunstorm and Nova Storm and the Silverbolt colored Seeker errors.

Orange is only seen in Sunstorm's E-Hobby toy.

Black is seen once in a background Seeker as well as a variant of the G1 Starscream toy.

Brown is seen once in a Brawl colored Seeker error.

White is seen a few times from the Silverbolt Seeker Error, the Starscream error and two background Seekers in the first season.

But everyone else is blue, purple or green to some extent including the Onslaught colored Seeker error. Hotlink, Acid Storm, Ion Storm, Nacelle (both colors), Bitstream and at least 15 other nameless guys all use this color.

Also, not counting any version of the main six Seekers and any toy only deco used or unused from G2. I just didn't want to try and break down the colors on Action Master/Shattered Glass Skywarp lol.

I just want to know the reason why they never used more colors for the Seekers in the cartoon when the different colors were intentional. Why not red at all? Was it considered an "Autobot color"? Why not more yellow? Why not orange? All these barely different shades of blue and hues of purple all blend in together lol. At least Thundercracker, Dirge, Ion Storm, Bitstream and G1 Nacelle all happen to be different enough from each other. FunPub Nacelle is based on Thundercracker with red and white Thrust wings as was originally seen in a Japanese toy catalog showcasing Season 2 toys before the decos were finalized. It's how we got the GoBots colors of the Minibots. I'm just surprised nobody has done the other two Seekers from the picture yet. Starscream with red Ramjet wings and Skywarp with red Dirge wings. And the red matched between the three  and was a bright blood red.

Grahf: So I actually reviewed this properly already.

I didn't much care for it then. However, it was on sale for nearly half off and it comes with a gun and accessory for a titan so I thought I'd pick up a second one for the $13. I mean, DNA is charging more than double that for their upcoming enhanced, yet still entirely inaccurate, blue Scorponok gun for Fortress Maximus. And again, this also comes with the radar dish for what's that worth. Oh and the figure itself lol.

I do have a few things to add though.

One is that the weapons for Cerebros himself are ever so slightly larger than 5mm front to pack on the rectangular pegs. Why? I just don't understand why they're not 5mm. It's been the standard for several action figure lines since the 70's. I mean I just tried to give his gun to Nexus Prime and it wouldn't go in his hand. That's so stupid and shortsighted.

Also of note despite it not having anything to do with this kit, is that the slots on the DNA hands for Autonomous Maximus/The Last Autobot/The Ark, can't accept the tab on the gun handle from this set. It also CAN'T accept the tab on the handle of the Scroponok/Fort Max gun either. Lolwut? DNA made new hands with slots for weapons to go on The Ark yet it's incompatible with the other weapons they've made for titans. So damn lame.

I bring that up as I actually picked this up to use the guns for The Ark only to find you that he can't even use them. I mean, I could've tried before ordering this second one as I already have the gun, but I sometimes forget I even have the DNA hands on the Ark as I never actually got the kit as I thought it sucked horribly and that only the hands were decent as The Ark's hands sucked horribly. DNA's hands suck too lol, but that's another story.

So long story shot on that, I now have three guns (2 Modfans, 1 DNA) for Fortress Maximus since the Ark can't hold them. Oh and my Metroplex already has enough guns technically as I have the Before and After Sixgun kit and planned on getting some other kits if I can ever remember to track then down for cheap. But I digress.

The figure itself here still isn't doing much for me. Shame I already have this color from the first time too. I now have no idea what to do with the base figure. The titan accessories will find some use though as I can always give some to Metroplex and keep that giant Sixgun in robot mode since his other parts don't go anywhere on Metroplex while in robot mode. Maybe I'll see if Cybertron Metroplex can hold this gun somehow. It would look good with him considering the color.

I was expecting a bit more from this when it first came out based on their Roller figure being so good. However this is a bit of a letdown. It's not great, but not horrible either. It exists. It doesn't go to anything as it's not in scale for ANYTHING though. The smaller weapons can't even be used on actual figures either so there's that as well. At $13 though, it's not like I spent much on this and still wasn't much when adding in the full price I paid for the first one.

JACKIE!!!

ONE

MORE

THING

...

Does anyone else find it so puzzling that this company was somehow able to use the Toyworld/Zeta Fortress Maximus mold? Don't be fooled though as this head is way too big for that lol. It would've been so cool had there been some sort of hidden compatibility, but alas, there is none to be found. Oh well.



I don't know what else to say. If you never got this then you're not missing much. If you did get it, I would imagine you're really none too thrilled by it. As for the people who gave 5 and even 4 stars, I just don't know what to make of you.

Grahf: Yeah, I actually got a set. lol

I mean, it was on sale for 40% off and I have been joking about this pairing since it was first shown off. So I figured I should pick it up if only for that.

Truth be told, this is my first actual Dr. Wu purchase. I mean I have Trypticon and the cassettes as well as an upgrade kit or two I think, but those aren't standard Dr. Wu figure releases...anymore in the case of the upgrade kits.

That being said, I wasn't actually prepared for how small these were. The box was the same size as the cassette boxes were. I guess it makes sense though. It's just that I wasn't prepared for it. I knew they were small and all, just not quite THAT small, especially Treds.

Being small though is not a detriment to these figures though. So let's not get confused about that.

They're quite good in fact. They have all the joints and articulation you'd expect even at such a small size. The alt and robot modes are clean and the transformations are straightforward. There's even a few teeny tiny little things that were added in that didn't need to be. I mean, the rear of the Warpath mold has this tiny series of hinges to ever so slightly fill out the back of the tank mode like Hasbro's deluxe does. Yet the parts are so miniscule that you wouldn't even notice if they weren't there. However, they are and that's a testament to Dr. Wu's design and build quality.

They even worked around giving Alpha Trion the staff he's become known for without having to make itty bitty ports in the hands. While it makes the staff look a bit goofy as a result, it does work. I just don't like not having storage options for the staff. I feel that maybe it could've had a peg to go into the flight stand port under the alt mode or something. I just don't like separating things for one more or another as things can get lost easily like that. I lived though the 80's lol. While some people scoff or laugh at the whacky storage options in alt mode sometimes, I really appreciate it. This way things are far more likely to stay together when you have to put things away. And as someone who's moved many, many times in their life, I've lost quite a few things along the way since they didn't have a place to go on the figure itself. Yeah, I'm more careful about things like that now, but things do still fall through the cracks still so to speak.

It's a fun little set. I don't know what I'm going to do with it though, but it wasn't expensive being 40% off.

Grahf: To be fair, to do everything this needs to do, it can't be any bigger or better proportioned. It's limited by it replacing the stock parts that come off of the titan to combine with Megatron. So in order to fit in the same spots (other than the arms) they can't be much different than the parts they're replacing. Being this small and light also helps to not overload Megatron who's joints aren't able to support the extra weight as it is. And this isn't trying to replace or outdo the titan in any way as the titan is well, a titan and this is pretty much a leader class. Comparing the two in any way is silly.

Grahf: Fair enough.

Grahf: Okay, I think it's safe...

I love when 3rd party and knockoff companies do the actual redecos for the figures they make and this is no exception. However, I really was expecting toy/video game colors first though as there's been several people asking for that.

The wild thing about this being the Energon deco though is that they managed to beat Hasbro to it. There's been listing leaks almost 100% confirming that the next titan in the Generations Selects line will in fact be, Energon Tidal Wave. So this will actually have a titan to go with. It just remains to be seen if the decos are going to match.

So with this we'll be able to make Burning Megatron AND Galvatron.

There's just one thing though.

The long ago leaked package refresh of Legacy Armada Megatron in the last wave of Age of the Primes changed. It's now being called Megazarak. Which is quite interesting. Why? Because that's one of two other deco options for Armada Mega/Galvatron. The OTFCC/Botcon deco.

Meaning that we're going to have more Megatron molds than we will TDW Tidal Wave molds to put on them lol. So they're going to have to do toy colors Tidal Wave after all lol. Sadly, I don't think Hasbro is going to triple dip on another titan redeco though and Takara should have NO interest in making a Hasbro toy colors Tidal Wave even despite those being the colors for the PS2 game and why he's a titan in the first place as that's the only place he was actually titan sized.

As for this figure in general. It's good. Not bad, but also not great either.

People are mentioning that this should've been a bit taller or at least beefier. However since two thirds of this set are meant to fit inside certain places on the titan, they couldn't be much bigger. In fact, these are slightly bigger than the parts they replace on the titan that are used to combine with Mega/Galvatron normally. So for what TDW wanted to market this as, that being a titan Tidal Wave upgrade kit, they couldn't make this bigger. And besides, you wouldn't actually want this to be any larger anyway due to it combining with Mega/Galvatron. His joints aren't exactly the best, especially if you modify the shoulders with either the 3D printed shoulders or use the actually far superior DNA shoulders. Even the DNA shouldn't won't last long with the extra weight. Surprisingly, I actually have little to nothing bad to say about the Legacy Armada Mega/Galvatron upgrade kits. Well designed, break but then FIX transformation, color matched where needed and most importantly, cheap.

A few things to note with this figure though. One being that I found most of the joints to be too squeaky. Normally that's just noise and you can ignore it. However in this case, it's the type that if you don't know what it means, you're going to break something. So do yourself a favor when you get this and open up all the joints (it's just screws) and lightly sand/file down the squeaky joints a bit so that they move smoothly yet tightly and without the squeaks. The squeak I heard from these joints was the type that means that the joint is going to seize up after a while and if you're not expecting it, you're going to start snapping joints.

HOWEVER, I haven't heard or read anything like this happening though. It's just best to take easy precautions just in case. It will only take you the time to do it and you'll lose nothing in return other than your time. However, if it's reported that the joints do eventually break, you'll have saved yourself future time of not having to deal with the after sales department. Worse case scenario do doing this is that the joints are no longer squeaky.

One thing I can say this figure should've added is some sort of longer heel or maybe some kind of plank that helps balance the figure a bit better. Despite being so lean and lanky with nothing on its back, it's very prone to falling backwards on its own. Due to how tall it is for how light it is, it ends up being very top heave and surprisingly back heavy. However, better heels would've fist this. Maybe even having made the feet out of metal could've too to make the very bottom of the figure more counterweight.

There's also two grey joints that people are also questioning.

These are alternate shoulder joints for this figure. Normally they'll just plug into the chest using the 5mm pegs and ports like a Weaponizer. This will allow 360 degrees rotation at the shoulder and 90 degrees outward. Very standard.

The new shoulders are a ball and socket joint instead. So you'll retain the stock articulation, but also add some extra movement at the ball joints. It's a thing you can do if you want to do it.

I haven't done it so I can't say for sure, but I think it all still works with the alternate shoulders. The only thing is that if you want to store the arms on the titan's back, you'll have to use the shorter pegs for the Megatron combination instead.

Again, it's a good figure. A tad overpriced for an upgrade, but not a 3rd party figure.

Grahf: Again, I think it's safe...

Still not a fan of the super deformed look, but that's a clean design.

It's looks to have a really good transformation and very good robot and beast modes. Almost as good as the Robot Toys version. That's quite the accomplishment.

From some angles, I almost think this base design can also be used for a SD Inferno after some tweaks. I mean, Ants and Wasps are VERY closely related and pretty much have the same bodies as it is. And in this SD format, you don't really have to worry about the height differences in robot mode the two would normally have. Hell, keep the wings on Inferno so that he's at least have a 50% chance at being a male ant instead of the 100% chance of being a female ant. No wingless ant is male and only have of the winged ones are. So Inferno, like Tigatron, are a male presenting robot mode with notably female alt modes. Snowstalker, the tiger that Tigatron scanned for his alt mode, was female. And again, wingless ants are female. Not trying to cause some sort of thing over all of that, I'm just saying. Maybe they both can become icons or something.

Anyway...

This figure does look good. It's just between the SD design and the size, I don't have a place for it in my collection. But that can't stop me from admiring it regardless. Seeing this just makes me wish Robot Toys Waspinator would get here faster lol.

HOWEVER, if they wanted to make a SD Airazor, I'd be enticed to purchase it lol. We really need a third party Airazor already. An no, the Beast Alliance oversized knockoff of the Kingdom Airazor doesn't count. Such a shame they never fixed the hands on those KOs. They're even smaller than the original's hands yet they're for an oversized figure lol. It's one thing on Airazor and Bluebolts since they're both female, but on Terrorsaur it's so funny looking. I don't know why though, it just is. Poor Terrorsaur just can't catch a break sometimes.

Oh but wait...i see this company has an Abominus on the way. I might be interested in that. MIGHT be.

Grahf: Out of all of the sets to come back in stock, why is it this?

This is by far one of their least useful sets ever.

The parts aren't good or useful. You're just adding bad parts to an already bad trailer just to make the end result still bad. Again, Maketoys Battle tanker wasn't good when it came out. Why would we want a set to make another bade G2 Optimus, just as bad? It's just so weird.

The hands are cool but they didn't even work in a way to have them angle down to point a sword forward. I don't know how designers haven't made that standard yet. I've come up with a great way to do it, but I wouldn't know how to  get my idea to anyone as I don't know how to do the drawing thing on a computer thing. I'm old and STILL haven't learns how to do computers past the little I actually do on them lol.

And maybe the guns are cool, but there are better options that don't look too big for the base figure.

I think it's time we get either a leader class G2 Prime on his own without the trailer or a commander class with the trailer. That way the trailer can do all the normal trailer things a G2 trailer does. Which are none of the things this kit adds to the trailer. How do you have all of these parts and not a single one of them make the trailer do anything the original does? Did they look up G2 Optimus Prime and only came up with the Maketoys trailer and not the actual original G2 trailer? I don't much care for trailers that turn into battle stations, but that is a very nice battle station.

The only way I'd get this kit if the MechaGodzilla kit goes on sale finally. I really want that backpack.

Grahf: So I got mine in yesterday.

Two things.

One: It's really good, but it held back by being "accurate".

Two: I still think the Thrilling 30 deluxe is great and does things better.

I didn't bother getting the overpriced Takara version so while I can't say how this compares to that, I do have several official and KO MP BW figures so I'll just compare this to those.

The quality is great. Nothing wrong there. Everything feels nice and sturdy, I don't thing anything is going to break or that the paint is going to come off easily. Seems like it should. Joints are tight, paint looks good, parts seem to do what they were originally designed to do and go.

So as far as this unnamed KO company, they did what they were supposed to do and that was make an affordable KO of the original figure that seems to retain all the original's functionality and quality.

That all being said, I'm about to tear into Takara now.

Toy and/or animation accuracy SHOULD NOT take precedence over making a good toy. This goes for most of Trans Art's figures too for that matter.

This design is majorly let down by the need to put the entire rat except for the head on the figure's back in robot mode. Every single other part of the rat mode is just hanging off the back worse than any Arcee figure. Which is funny given that she's his great aunt. Oh sorry, two small panels on the side flip around to make the sides of the robot torso and half of the faux chest is reused for the underside of the rat.

Due to having the entire rat on the back of the figure and to nobody's surprise, the figure can't stand up in robot mode under its own power. Wait...that reminds me of something....oh yeah! Trans Art's Transmetal Rattrap has the same problem. They at least tried to give the figure heel spurs, but since they had them flip downward from the backs of the calves to the feet, any pressure applied to the heels just caused them to flip back up. They should've have the heels either lock into place or better yet, have them flip out form under the long forward feet that the mold has so that the hinge for the heels doesn't buckle under the weight. TransArt remedied their major design flaw by including a robot mode stand that's meant to support the backpack instead of just redesigning how the heels work. Takara decided to make you use the tail as a tripod.

Now look, I have literal thousands of figures. I know how to deal with getting figures to stand and I can't get this damn thing to stand in a stock straight pose without wanting to fall backwards. It's so close too. All it needed was small flip out heels. Or at least have the foot extend out the back a bit or something.

I can get Thrilling 30 Skids to stand just fine when most people couldn't.

I can get Robots In Disguise 2015 Steeljaw to stand just fine, without using his tail to tripod, when most people couldn't.

I just can't with this one.

With the other two, 90% of people are just transforming the lower legs incorrectly. So it's actually user error when it comes to those two figures. However, there's nothing to be done with these legs. There's no trick in the transformation that cause you to hyperextend the joints past their obvious correct resting points causing the balance issues. This is all from a backpack that's too heavy with feet that aren't long enough or have heels to catch that weight. Again, just a small heel is needed as it's so close to balancing.

With it being that close, I keep going to the backpack trying to see if I can collapse it more or better or move something so that the weight is distributed differently and nothing.

I've tried a few different spots and while I have found some spots on that allow the figure to stand, it want's to fall and will at the slightest of vibrations. So in part, the table I'm at has spots that are slightly not level. However, I'm still having the issue on other, more level, shelves and tables.

A wider stance helps a bit too, but I'm talking about a stock straight pose.

Again, it just needs a little bit of a heel to catch that weight too.

I have to keep him slightly hunched forward with his arms slightly forward to counter the backpack's weight.

Which brings me back to the point that making figures "accurate" like this to the point that it's a detriment to the figure and play experience needs to stop. The Thrilling 30 deluxe Rattrap had the genius idea of taking the rear rat legs and working them into the lower legs while somehow still making the legs look accurate from the front. It's brilliant. It helps to mitigate the backpack as well as keeps the figure from being a 95% shellformer like the MP is. Hell, even the Kingdom core class does a better job with the transformation. And both cheaper figures have heels to help with the much smaller backpacks anyway.

I just hate that the two "MP" Rattraps on my shelf just can't stand on their own. Even if I could with this, any shake will cause it to fall and the shell I'll have it on will get shook.