Grahf: On one hand, I like Cosmos. On the other, it's XTransbots.                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                                                      
From what I've read in the comments here and on the original release, this is one of their better molds so maybe.

Grahf: Still not a fan of the elbows and knees being made of translucent plastic. The ankles, hips and shoulders aren't so why the knees and elbows? It's an odd choice. Especially when he's lit up. The most manipulated joints made of a plastic that no matter how durable it should be, will break over time is a bad design choice. It looks good otherwise though.

Grahf: I wonder what came first; The third party companies hearing that Hasbro was intending on making a new Devastator so they all decided to do some of their own. Or: Hasbro heard that the third party companies were all intending to do a bunch of Devastators again and they decided to do one of their own.

It's Devastator wars 2.0.

Or is it 3.0?

I sure do wish people would stop making Devastators.

I'm fine with Hasbro and/or Takara doing another one though since I mean, it's their actual right to and it has been a decent enough time since the last one. It's just another round of third party nonsense is annoying. But I guess there's that small subset of the market (most likely you reading this as that small subset are the only people here) that keeps buying them. Only one so far has actually added anything and that's the one that's making a kinda Scramble City style Devastator. Maybe the cube/WWI version too but I think it's kinda a waste of money to have to pay extra for the design work and toolings to turn them into cubes when ultimately, who cares? but that's about it.

But oh well. Third party is going to continue to cater to a smaller and smaller market and that market is still going to disagree from the echo chamber.

Grahf: It's beautiful. The paint work and the shades they chose look amazing. They changed some of the molded colors to quite a few parts and things end up so much better now as a result.

The back of the truck cleans up nicely with their modified parts for transformation. Still not as clean as SS-38 Optimus but not bad.

All the weapons are great. A tad overkill maybe but as always, options are good. Or something like that.

I have nothing bad to say at all really.

So then why the 4 stars?

Because it's not perfect.

I do have some things that I didn't like or would like to have seen improved upon or implemented.

For starters they didn't do anything with the shoulder articulation. They're completely unchanged. It's just an odd choice since they changed so many pieces anyway for this supposed 'direct copy of the original products'. They went out of their way to change so much but left the other most glaring problem with the figure unaltered. Why stop with just fixing the rear of the truck mode?

Such a shame.

You also can't use the DNA upgrades as the red is a different shade. So you'll have to resort to some of those other 3D printed options that all have their own drawbacks.

There's two new parts added in. They allow this to be compatible with the SS DotM trailer and the jetpack. Real nice touch. I don't plan on digging mine out to use with this but I can dig that.

The only thing i don't like about that is that trailer hitch piece can only be utilized in truck mode as there's nothing to do with it in robot mode. Not even as a stupid shield or something. Yet this piece is almost needed for truck mode even without the trailer as it also serves as the piece that almost all the weapons attach to for alt mode storage. So having something for this piece to do for robot mode would've been stellar.

Yet another shame and wasted opportunity.

Also the backpack piece can only be utilized in robot mode and not stored in truck mode. This doesn't matter though since it's only meant to be used with the trailer and as such, would just store in there for alt mode. If you're not using the jetpack anyway then there's no reason to even keep the backpack adapter piece around. So this is what it is. A net positive ultimately as again, options are good.

One small quibble I don't like is the feel of the pegs and ports for all the weapons. They have that feeling as though something is going to break. If you've been around figures long enough you know what I'm talking about. They have that squeak that's only audible from this type of problem. This particular noise is only made from pieces that you have to worry about breaking. Its a mix of the plastic used, the design of the pegs on the parts and the paint used. But if you know about it ahead of time, I mean you should by this point, you should be able to make this a non-issue. Just be aware that it is something to watch out for ahead of time. You should be alright from there.

However even knowing and being careful, you can still break them even after taking actions to prevent it. One of the pegs on one of the guns from their SS Ironhide broke in the figure's hand. I had already did some things to try and prevent it but it still happened. I don't think this Optimus will have quite the same problem as almost all the pegs are shorter than the ones on Ironhide's weapons but still, be careful.

So yeah, not a five star rating mainly due to the lack of something for the shoulder articulation. The other things are more personal nitpicks. Well, other than having to be careful about potential breakage issues on the weapon handles that is.

Not mad one bit that I forgot to cancel this preorder once I was able to get SS-102 Optimus from Takara last month after the debacle that was my Target Preorder. The colors alone make this one wroth getting let alone the fixed up truck rear. The weapons are just a bonus at that point. It's just those shoulders are still a letdown.

Grahf: Yeah, you're not missing much with this kit.

Grahf: An oversized knockoff of a figure people want but with barely anything changed.

Why?

There's so many figures people want/need KOed and others that need to be oversized instead.

At least the colors on this look as good as the BW version.

I just don't understand this company. They do 1:1 Studio Series KOs, oversized SS KOs to mostly scale with MPM and oversized non-SS Generations figures to their own scale that doesn't really match anything else. Pick a lane.

Grahf: Those are certainly choices to put together to be sold as a set. Some of the pairs I've seen lately have me questioning the thought process behind them.

It really is a shame we don't have a new official SG Cyclonus yet.

Grahf: Scoop...okay, cool.                                                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                                                    
But uh...can we maybe finally have a company do Landfill and Quickmix too and/or instead of Scoop?

Quake, Scoop, Needlenose and especially Spinister seem to get all the love when it comes to the Double Targetmasters. Landfill has been completely replaced by the RiD 2001 combiner Landfill and my boy Quickmix are just forgotten even despite the name reuse in Cybertron. They're BOTH forgotten. I'd love for a commander class Cybertron Quickmix with Stripmine and a voyager G1 Quickmix with Boomer and Ricochet.

I had Quickmix way back when. I loved that toy along with Squeezeplay and Hosehead. Some of my favorites. Late G1 is my jam. I just wish they'd get more love. Well, at least I have Snapdragon, Apeface, Doublecross, Grotusque, Repugnus and a few others from a few different companies. Squeezeplay is coming up. Some Firecon updates would be great too. Beast Hunters and PotP Cindersaur just aren't cutting it. Neither is Botcon G2 Cindersaur.

Grahf: Completely forgot I had this preordered. It comes with the gun and radar dish for Fortress Maximus in the preorder for the $42.99? Well damn, now I have to pay it off. Was gonna pass when I seen the email this morning but that's a really good price.

Not that I need the gun as I have the DNA gun for $15 already and I have the SDCC version so mine has the sword too but oh well. Metroplex could use a gun or something I guess.

Still would like to have seen some compatibility with Siege Cog and all but oh well.

Grahf: So uh...we're in the second quarter of 2024 and no updates yet? Instead we got a listing for a so called legends scale Nosecone from Computron.

Maybe update and/or finish Tigerhawk before moving onto Computron. Get something out to stake your flag in the third party market and then start showing off what else your company can do.

But why the two wildly different releases?

A mostly Generations scale Tigerhawk and then a so called legends scale Computron. What's your deal CraftsmanToys?