S(uck)DCC

Well, Hasbro's SDCC panels have come and gone, with very little new info to comb over. Almost none - save a few things like the 3rd PCC wave, which leaked online last week anyway - of the new stuff from Botcon was shown to the general public here. I'm glad I got to see it at the time, but I wish I had online photos to refer to. Whatever.

At least the new stuff is finally starting to reach something approaching wide distribution.

Star Wars TFs...and their strange charm.

One of my favorite vehicles designed for the Revenge of the Sith movie was the Nimbus/V-Wing. It just looked awesome, and was yet another spacecraft, along with the Eta/Actis, designed to bridge the gap between Episode II's Aethersprite Jedi fighters and the TIE fighters of Episodes IV-VI. So naturally, when Hasbro unveiled sometime ago that they were using the Nimbus for a SWTF design (as one of the cool Ep III Shock Troopers, no less), I was pretty stoked.

However, when I eventually got it, I was a bit disappointed. True, most SWTF molds are not, generally, superb examples of engineering (usually because they have a strange alt mode they have to exactly replicate), but the Shock Trooper's toy had bent wings/solar panels and was a particularly wonky mold, especially in the arms. As a result, it sat in one of the storage tubs for a long while.

However, Hasbro recently released a repaint. Not strikingly different, this Nimbus represents those spacecraft used by the first starfighter pilots of the Empire, and thus is dominated by a grey color scheme, unlike the Republic red of the original. In short, it was different enough to convince me to want it, but not without getting rid of my lackluster older version. Luckily, I managed to pitch it on ebay for a decent price and recently picked up the new version.

I'm really glad I did, as this copy has perfectly aligned wings and a great color scheme (it lacks the very white plastic of the original's robot mode, which helps). Also, I've found renewed interest in the unofficial "hover" bot mode, which is extremely reminiscent of Beast Machines Jetstorm.

Hey, new stuff

So, I managed to find some of the new product at a semi-local TRU yesterday. I'd wanted to get PCC Searchlight and Skyburst, but there weren't either any Skybursts nor Bombshocks left, so I just got all three of the "Commander/Mini-con" 2-packs. Huffer is actually a lot better than I expected. Can't wait to get Skyburst, though; I'm itching to try out the combined modes.

Botcon news review

So, I hadn't really gotten a chance to go over all the new stuff they showed off at the Hasbro panels last weekend. My memory is already a bit fuzzy, so I'm basing this off of TFW's new list (my comments are underlined):

Legends Size Class
- G1 Optimus Prime (Awesome! Now I can have a real Legends G1 Prime in the collection)
- G1 Starscream (he looked really impressive. Glad I never really considered the Universe repaint to be the G1 character)
- G1 Megatron (A handgun! In his original colors! That can be held by the MP Seekers! I never thought we'd see anything like this again)
- G1 Prowl (About time he finally gets something like this, since his Robot Hero was canceled)
- All will have rub symbols (I didn't notice this on the legends, but that's pretty neat!)

Scout Size Class
- G1 Windcharger (First off, Generations scout class! Yay! Secondly, I never really cared about Windcharger, but this toy looked pretty cool, reminding me, at least in spirit, of Cybertron Clocker. Has the same "rail" system that Recon Ironhide does, so he can use his weapons, despite this being a Generations, and not movie, toy)

Deluxe class -
Skullgrin (Darkmount redeco, has a new ram-style head) (Nice enough for what they were going for - kind of a take on Stormbringer pretenders - but I'm not really that invested in the character. Nothing I have to get.
- Scourge (G1, stealth jet, white in color, head elevates in vehicle mode, gun is a mixture of his G1 head-gun and his Targetmaster gun, NOT A TARGETMASTER TOY! (Alt mode is actually based on those Blended-Wing-Body airliner designs I love so much. Looked pretty awesome)
- WFC Cliffjumper (repaint of WFC Bumblebee, Cliffjumper will have "devil horns") (No surprise, but looked good. I guess this will be the last of the Cliffjumpers to be made from a BB?)
- Thunderwing (G1, has detachable drone which does not transform) (Awesome. Detachable drone is a neat throw-in, and both the jet and bot modes looked great, very close to the original).
- Tracks (has a car and flying-car mode) (Really glad to see this guy. I thought he would, if anything, get relegated to repaint/remold status. Also glad they managed to keep a flying car mode!)
- Jazz (has car speakers that pop out of his vehicle mode) (Really great, and again, it's nice that he gets his own mold instead of being made from Universe Prowl. The speakers are neat, new touch that make a lot of sense).
- Perceptor (slightly based on Animated design, will be redeco'd in to REFLECTOR, chest opens to 'scan things') (Very military, the alt mode is actually a half-track to the Animated version's off-road truck. Looked superb)

Other size toys (actually all voyagers, duh)
- Grapple (Universe 2.0 Inferno redeco/remold, will come with crane) (looked WAY better than I thought it would! The crane boom and new head look awesome. Definitely worth getting)
- Lugnut (new mold, WWII style bomber, looks amazing, very bulky) (Absolutely fantastic - managed to still be recognizably Lugnut without being in the Animated stylized aesthetic. Also looked better than the original version, with the fingers very cleverly being formed from wing flaps)
- The Fallen repaint (shown in previous pictures, blue in color) (Still not sure about the colors, but the new, removable face and the folding staff make this one pretty tempting. At least he doesn't look just like the other to versions...)