First look at Transformers: Generation Legacy!

 Wow, for once I am going to be posting something in a timely fashion. I'm on my lunch break, excited for PulseCon on Friday/Saturday, and much like last fall, Hasbro has, via IGN, unveiled just a snippet of their new mainline. According to the press release, the line is called "Transformers: Generation Legacy." The rumor mill (and retail listings) have indicated that "Legacy" would be the title of the new trilogy and that the nascent subline would be called "Evolution," but we don't see that word being used here - maybe that will come during Friday's Transformers panel. 

Anyway, we have deluxe class Skids and voyager class Bulkhead for our (pre)viewing pleasure!

Skids:

Starting with the clean render of Skids's vehicle mode, he looks perfect. Obviously, we have the anomalous energon weapon on the roof, but Bulkhead also has an energon weapon, so we can surmise that these weapons are part of this trilogy's or subline's gimmick. As a big Unicron Trilogy (including Energon) fan, I appreciate that we are getting these types of accessories back. What especially nice is that, so far, these energon weapons do not seem to be included at the expense of the characters' traditional weapons! Skids has great-looking weapons based on the original toy. 

Here is his compact car mode sans weaponry. Again, it looks just as it should. I have always enjoyed Skids' unique car mode (compared to so many "deluxe" Autobots being sports cars or offroad vehicles), so it's great to see him with a faithful update. 

Here is the car with the roof-mounted energon axe/gun and the smaller single-barrel gun mounted on the left side.

And here is the right side, showing the twin-barreled weapon (rockets?). Clearly, Skids's otherwise unassuming little car mode can be equipped for some destruction.

He is the clean render for robot mode, again showing all the accessories, this time with the energon weapon stowed on the back (car roof). Terrific render!

Here we see Skids's two normal weapons combined together for a triple-barreled mode. Again, the energon weapon can be used as a gun. Amusingly, I was just looking over some of my Commemorative Series reissue boxes (still in my parents' basement) about a week ago, and while I opened Commemorative Skids many years in the past, a few of his weapons/missles are still tucked away in the original packaging. 

Finally, all three weapons can be combined! I do wish an image showing the energon weapon being used as an axe had been included, but that's alright.

Edit: it occurs to me that this will be my first Skids since the Alternators version (which I love; it's such a fun mold and car design). The reason for this is that I skipped out on Thrilling 30 Skids, which was released in 2014. This was a few years into the More Than Meets the Eye series from IDW, and I loved the idea of getting as many toys accurate to the comic as possible. Skids was selected, and hadn't received a normal scale neo-G1 figure yet, so I was pretty excited. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out looking too hot. This new Legacy release will resolve this gap in my collection.

Bulkhead:

This is the clean render for Bulkhead's truck mode. This looks really great! It looks realistic, and it leans toward the version of Bulkhead from Animated more than Prime, as in the latter he was an offroad SUV. I appreciate the fabric-like appearance of the truck bed covering. Interesting is the presence of extra wheels behind the cab.

Edit: not sure why I didn't think of this before, but clearly this truck mode draws on movie Hound as well, who for all intents and purposes is movie Bulkhead. Of course, this goes back full circle to the fact that, upon seeing the first images of the Animated core cast (sans names) in 2007, most of us assumed that Animated Bulkhead was the new version of Hound for that show.

Now we can see the truck with Bulkhead's enegon minigun attached. I'll admit this weapon looks a little dinky compared to its wielder, but that probably has to do with so much of the toy's mass going to the covering shield accessory. Not a tremendous problem. 

In this render, we have Bulkhead wielding his signature hand mace! It looks great, including multiple ports so that some blast effects can be attached (or maybe this can be attached to other weapons). The shield is still shown here with the fabric side showing, and the energon minigun looks pretty good in a shoulder-mounted position (I'm sure Kingdom Mirage is jealous 😉). What really grabs my attention here is how much this looks like what I envisioned a G1 Bulkhead to be! While the head is still very similar to the design from Prime, otherwise this body design is completely new and definitely fits in with the older Diaclone-based characters from seasons 1 and 2 of the original television show. When it was first leaked that "Prime" Bulkhead would be an upcoming toy, I expected a retread of the design we see in the Prime television show (which had already gotten two fairly different interpretations as voyager class toys back in 2012), so I'm quite pleasantly surprised to see something more up my alley here. Not that I dislike the SUV-based design from Prime, but that I was weary of already having it twice over and seeing a new interpretation of the character (that also homages the original Animated design) is really what I needed to see from this kind of release!

Now we can see that the shield has a more "typical" armored underside that can allow it to be more convincing as a shield. Again, notice the extra wheels behind the head, plus what is definitely intended to be a spare tire on the shield itself. I am a bit afraid that the shoulder wheels (which look great) will not end up being the actual cab wheels in vehicle mode, but we will see.

Lastly, we have the shield as backpack armor, which is nice in case you want one of the arms uncluttered; plus we see the minigun being hand-wielded. One other thing I should mention is that the rumors around Bulkhead included him sharing a base mold with an upcoming Prime-based Optimus toy. Now that we know that this Bulkhead is a truck rather than SUV, this makes much more sense; one can easily envision this toy being made into a new Optimus with even just a new head mold. If it is to become a new Prime Optimus, we will see much more remolding than that (hopefully not including faux windows for the chest), but already I can visualize how this will work. 

Ok, that is all for now! I did not include all of the images, but you can see them at: https://www.ign.com/articles/new-transformers-generations-legacy-figure-line-announced-by-hasbro or at other Transformers news sites (I grabbed these images from TFW2005). 

Haslab Victory Saber

I originally meant to publish a post on Haslab Victory Saber about a month ago, but...you know. Busyness, time slipping away, etc. 

     Honestly, at the time I wasn't too seriously considering backing the project, as the initial grey renders did not wow me (though the actual photos of physical prototypes started to get my attention). Me being the mark that I am, the first serious temptation was a couple of weeks ago when Tier 3 was unveiled, which included a wonderful photo gallery of the fully painted sample, including finally showing the blast effects to be a clear green - honestly, those blast effects are what did me in!

     Anyhow, if you've been paying attention, you know that the backing window for Victory Saber closed on the night of Sunday, 10/10/21. The initial unveiling and Tier 1 (V-Lock Cannon & blast effects) were both shown back in August, with Tier 2 (flight stand) shown in mid-September and Tier 3 (shield and micromasters Fire & Holi) shown on 10/1/21 (with that awesome gallery). The set reached its funding goal of 11,000 backers on my birthday (9/29!), with Tiers 1, 2 and 3 unlocking on 10/6, 10/8 and 10/10 respectively. I have just read that more of the international orders have finally been added, with the current number of backer reading 27,372!

     I managed to figure out funding last week and finally backed last Friday, 10/8/21, the same day I picked up the new Metroid: Dread game that I'd been looking forward to, so it was a fun day.

Now for the set itself:

Here's the Brain of Courage; that is to say, Saber in his Brainmaster form. He is tinier than even the Titanmasters/Primemasters of the Prime Wars Trilogy, which I think makes him the smallest functional -master type toy yet! The face flips up from the back when inserting him into the larger Saber body, and he sports shoulder and hip articulation so that he can be seated in Saber's alt mode. Visually, he resembles a tiny version of unhelmeted Star Saber.

Here's Saber's jet mode, which has a bit of a resemblance to a Gundam core fighter. Again, the Brain of Courage can pilot the jet (you can see this in the image).

This is Saber in his robot mode - the brainmaster is installed while still allowing for neck rotation. The nosecone is an unfortunate kibble "shield," but whatever. Overall I like the chunky look. He reminds me quite a bit of the Titans Return Jumpstarters.

Saber's "trailer" is the V-Star, an aerospace weapons platform that Saber can dock with in jet mode. As such, this can also be considered to be Star Saber's altmode. I have always loved how this looks, and they have certainly done a good job with this Haslab version. Mine will probably be in this mode quite a bit!

I love this image even more; the flight stand looks terrific and I've already expressed what a sucker I am for these green blast effects. This is one of the images that honestly helped sell me on the set!

Behold: Star Saber. This is Saber transformed into the torso unit (again; core fighter) of the V-Star; this is akin to Powermaster Optimus Prime. This design has always resonated with me because I have wanted a true jet mode Optimus that had a super mode as well; I think Star Saber is the closest we will get to this, especially due to his very Optimus-looking helmet and faceplate. 

Star Saber wields the Tier 3 shield in this image. The shield was an invention of the Victory television show and only appeared once (to my knowledge). It was included with the masterpiece Star Saber toy, but also had to double as the base of that toy's flight stand; thankfully the Haslab mold has a dedicated stand. 

I actually really like this base mode; I attribute this fondness to the base mode of Powermaster Optimus Prime (easily the biggest transformer I had as a child). This base mode isn't too different from PMOP's; however the shield really helps sell it as a defensive emplacement. I didn't include the shieldless base mode image as it is kind of pointless now that the shield has been unlocked. I do really like the articulated shoulder guns; apparently that is a feature that the original toy lacked. Saber looks great operating the base mode!

Victory Leo! His lion mode is interesting with its ridiculous armament and wings; he definitely looks like he means business, even down to the fantastical tusks. This mode is fun and has strong Voltron vibes.

This is Victory Leo's nominal attack configuration; I like hip-mounted cannons (see Armada Megatron or the smart rifles from Aliens), so I'm quite glad the V-Lock Cannon was unlocked in Tier 1. The cannon plus the arm-mounted rifles looks awesome. I have recently learned about Leo's characterization in the more recent IDW continuity, and I think it fits the design.

Leo's "3rd mode," which is really just an independent version of how he combines with the V-Star. Still, it's fun in a dumb way. I would love a bonus item to be thrown in - an add-on cockpit/nosecone as it was depicted in the Victory Show. If Star Saber can get his anime-exclusive shield (twice!), then surely Leo can get a somewhat more believable altmode, right? 

Again, the blast effects and flight stand are employed to make Leo's flight mode look pretty awesome!

As you can see, Saber is quite a bit smaller than Leo. Saber is about the size of a deluxe, while Leo is close to a modern Leader class transformer. I like this image, especially with how it contrasts with the next one: 

Woah! Saber's a big boy now! As you can see, Star Saber is quite a bit taller than Leo, being closer in size to older Leader class toys, such as from the Prime Wars Trilogy (I hesitate to say that he is as tall as something like Cybertron Galvatron, who for some reason still serves as a Leader class benchmark for me). Awesome shot.

The V-Star, as noted, combines with Leo's flight mode to gain a booster, more wings, and much heavier armament. The aircraft/physics enthusiast in me is a bit bothered by the huge V-Lock Cannon being off-center, but at least Saber's gun on the opposite kind of balances it out. Kind of.

While the flight stand and blast effects are back, you can also see that the shield can be incorporated into the combined vehicle mode, which I think looks great. it greatly improves the visual continuity of this giant vehicle. 

VICTORY SABER! Yep, Leo becomes a backpack and platform shoes. Not the most dignified combination, but i actually like it. The boots hit a good balance between big but not too big, and the wings and rifles from the backpack sell a war machine look. Also, one of the few things I dislike about the Star Saber mode is the lack of back-mounted wings, which this combination resolves. The V-Lock Cannon looks great once again. 

Victory Saber is posed with the shield swapped for the sword. I hope the shield and sword both can be attached somehow in this mode, but it's not a huge loss if it's not possible. 

This is another image that helped sell me on this set. It really is beautiful. 

Here are Fire and Holi. These two are too similar to their pre-existing Siege releases for me to be very interested, but at least we get one more (not great) weapon mode from them, though it's not shown in the gallery. 

Fire and Holi in alt mode. Again they are part of Tier 3 with the shield.

Finally, the base mode with Fire and Holi. This is fun and probably the best reason for their inclusion.

There has been some discussion about whether or not the Victory Saber set is worth the asking price of $180+tax. It's a totally fair question, and people who don't think the set is worth the cost don't bother me as I can understand some of the arguments used to support that stance. However, one word stands out to me that describes this set: uncompromised. When was the last time you saw a retro set this big that included all of its legacy features and components? I bought Titans Return Fortress Maximus for half price at Ross and was still disappointed due to his lack of a normal weapon and inaccurate base mode. Even Earthrise Scorponok, who is much better than his counterpart, is lacking a primary weapon and has non-elevating turret guns. Some other releases, like Combiner Wars Liokaiser and Titans Return Overlord, also come to mind specifically as JG1 designs hampered by being forced into the existing play pattern of the toylines they were released through (mind, I actually like CW Liokaiser quite a bit, but a proper update is always on peoples' minds. Overlord I find more boring and almost wish the original had been reissued instead).  What, exactly, is Victory Saber missing? Nothing that I can think of, at least as it compares to the original toy and the Masterpiece (which neglected Victory Leo, leaving an opening for an illegal "third party" version). If anything, I was a bit disappointed that Haslab didn't go whole hog and produce Deathsaurus, but at the same time that is a relief, as the price would have been somewhere around $250 minimum (the rumor mill suggests a Deathsaurus at retail in 2023 pending the success of Victory Saber; I think it's been a success, so hopefully they are right). Additionally, this thing is priced way more competitively than any large Masterpiece or third party release and still manages to scale with normal Generations releases. 

On top of the uncompromised aspect of the toy, while I have no real attachment to the character (I've never watched Victory and I don't care too much for the IDW version of Star Saber), I've always loved his look and the playability/functionality of the design. It really is "Optimus, but in space" in a way that Star Convoy isn't (or really any other futuristic type Optimus toy). It's nice to see that design get the appreciation it deserves outside of the Masterpiece realm.

One final point about the price: collectors having been paying very high prices for less for a while now. I've always been more of a Hasbro guy rather than Takara, willing to suffer deficits in accuracy, paint coverage, etc., in order to not pay an arm and a leg to acquire mainline toys (for the most part). However, once Pulse started offering Takara products in an easily accessible fashion with free shipping, I started to get tempted by such remolds as Star Convoy, Super Megatron and the Seacons. All of these have cost near double the price of their original molds, and not one of them is a new mold! The older FunPub releases similarly fall under this umbrella. Even the Crossovers Jurassic Park set - which includes one leader class retool and a new mold deluxe* is very high priced at $104. To be fair, I have seen a decent number of complaints about that price. And of course, I haven't even mentioned the illegal "third party" figures, most of which cost incredible sums for the amount of product you receive. Finally, I was priced out of the Masterpiece market years ago; those figures also have a tremendous price for their size. 

I think the issue here is that Haslab Victory Saber doesn't really fit into any of these other categories - he's not MP, not 3P, not a Takara import, not a licensed Crossovers release, etc. This set is definitely meant to fit in with the War for Cybertron line and upcoming Legacy line, both of which are retail lines . They are collector-oriented, but still ostensibly mainlines, of which our previously most expensive figures (aside from Unicron, of whom few question the value) have been the Titan class releases. And until the new Legacy line, all other Titans have been cheaper than Victory Saber. 

Oh well. I'm committed now, anyway, and the people who don't see the value will either be just fine without a Victory Saber or they will wish they didn't have to pay aftermarket prices come next winter.

*JP-93 - the Ford Explorer new mold from the Jurassic Park set - seems like a deluxe, though a larger one. He could have enough mass/engineering to be a voyager, maybe. Alternatively, it's been suggested that JP-93 is not the new mold as we've been led to believe, but rather a pretool for an up coming Legacy release. Not sure if I buy this, but it might be true.

Coronation

 Note: I began writing this post on Saturday, August 14th, 2021, and did not post it until 8/15/21. All time references are correct to when I began the post. Also, names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved.

      Yesterday was not a good day for me. Those in the Transformers fandom might assume this means that I was among those disappointed or worse by the lack of new figures shown off in the Hasbro Pulse Fan First Friday, but that's not the case.

     I learned yesterday morning that my closest coworker of the last five years died late Thursday night. 

     I don't talk much about my personal life on this blog anymore (I don't post much in general!), but I am a teacher, and have been since the fall of 2007, not long before I started this blog. I currently teach at a high school and have just started my fifth year there. For the previous four school years, Carol has been my "neighbor" teacher - her classroom is next to mine. She and I are also on the Physics team together. Due to some scheduling issues in my first year, I couldn't attend planning meetings with the Physics team, so Carol was a lifetime, sharing resources and updates, but also her sense of humor, care, and friendship. 

     I haven't seen Carol since her last day in the building which was the last Wednesday in July. I watched her, that afternoon, lead some training for the 8th grade science teachers from one of the local middle schools; those teachers would be the last people Carol would ever teach. Carol did not feel well and did not come back the next day; this was something that she attributed, at the time, to possible problems with her blood sugar level, as she was diabetic. Carol's niece, Erica, is also a teacher at the school, and I learned from her on that following Friday night that Carol had been hospitalized. Things looked very bad at first, and then seemed to sort of plateau last week, and then by the middle of this week Carol took a swift downturn. It was Covid-19 that had stricken and eventually killed her. 

     Yesterday's livestream was scheduled for 11:00 AM, which is in the middle of my lunch; I started the day excited and looking forward to seeing new figure unveilings while I had that lunch break. Anyone paying attention to the fandom lately knows that advanced leaks have been a big deal for the past year or so, and one of the leaked figures, presumably for 2022 release, was a Studio Series '86 Coronation Starscream. The leak specified that it would be an Earthrise Starscream remold with new parts, including not only the expected cape, shoulder armor and crown, but also a throne. After a brief delay from unveiling the SS86 Sweep figure (yawn), this is exactly what was shown. I have not been more excited for a Starscream release in a while, even after being quite happy with the announcement of the new Shattered Glass Starscream this spring. SS86 Coronation Starscream looks great! I helps that I am a fan of the Earthrise mold, of course. Take a look for yourself:

     

     See? Wonderful! I have wanted something like this for a long time - a King Starscream that is an actual, transforming, mainline figure. Not the new RED figurine (which I just saw in person the first time last week; it's ok) nor an overly expensive masterpiece release (I stopped buying MPs a long time ago). Take a look at the throne: 

     While this particular shot is a bit humorous, I think it's great that this throne is included. The livestream mentioned that it is based off of the command (bridge?) chair of the Nemesis. All of Starscream's accessories can be stored on the back, as you can see with the back of package image:

     Speaking of which, the Leader class packaging - at least for Studio Series, they didn't discuss other lines - will now have no window and instead feature artwork, much like the WFC Trilogy Commander class packages:

     It looks great, but I don't like that I can't see the figure itself. That matters more for buying off the shelf than for online orders (I did preorder from Hasbro Pulse), but some worry that this will further embolden toy swappers. I don't think it will be any bigger of a problem, as retail customer service workers often allow all kinds of obviously wrong swaps to happen with windowed packaging.

     Back to Starscream himself. I mentioned that he is a remold of the Earthrise toy; the most obvious changes are the new opening hands (no wrist rotation, unfortunately) and some new connectors that allow for accessories to attach. When first leaked, it was claimed that the wings and intakes would have larger, exaggerated molding, resulting in the jet mode looking a bit off but allowing the bot mode to resemble the animation model better. Clearly this did not eventuate. I'm a bit disappointed as at least having the larger, pointed wings would have looked really cool in bot mode, but I can live with it. There a few deco changes to try and hew to the animation even more closely than with Earthrise. 

     The accessories themselves look great. I particularly like how the shoulder armor has hinged connectors that allow the null-ray cannons to look like they are correctly positioned, maintain mobility but also allow for expressive arm posing. It's a really clever trick that even the Masterpiece didn't employ. The cape looks good, and while I don't think it has as many sections as that of the Masterpiece, I think it's a better choice than cloth (which is available on the new RED figure anyway) and it does have at least one hinge for posing.

     One thing I like so much about King/Emperor/Coronation Starscream is that he takes on the purple. Starscream is my favorite Decepticon (really, my favorite transformer), but out of the context of Transformers fiction, he looks heroic. He's almost red white and blue! Shattered Glass Starscream only looks more heroic by adopting the colors of a known Autobot hero, G1 Jetfire. So when Starscream ascends to Decepticon leadership, it's telling that he takes on the colors of the movement, which nicely coincide with traditional colors of royalty. He's trying to sell himself as a true Decepticon - perhaps even moreso than the discarded Megatron, who lacked purple in his deco as well. He also dons a crown, which we have never seen on the show before, but the environment of the scene suggests that it could be some traditional element of Decepticon or Cybertronian leadership; it could just as easily be a device of Starscream's own creation, as suggested by the IDW comics. Either way, it's clear that Starscream considers it important. Then, of course, Galvatron arrives. What does Galvatron look like? Well, a futuristic Megatron, sure, but notably, he's nearly covered in purple, and in contrast to Megatron's Nazi "buckethead," Galvatron's helmet is a crown. He doesn't wear one; it's built in. Starscream is the pretender to the throne, draped in these symbols of authority and faction allegiance, while Galvatron embodies them.

     The significance of this scene, which occurs in the 1986 film, is underscored by the previous two seasons of the television show, throughout which Starscream works to undermine and usurp Megatron, utterly convinced that he himself has what it takes to lead the Decepticons to victory and rule the Cybertronian race. In the film, he finally gets his shot: Megatron mortally wounds Optimus Prime, but has barely survived the battle, making his ejection from Astrotrain's passenger area trivial. Starscream arranges for his coronation on Cybertron, fulfilling the dream he's had at least as long as he has been a Decepticon. But it kills him. Megatron, as the (sort of) resurrected Galvatron, literally turns him to ash, crushing the crown with his foot for emphasis. 

Coronation. Crown. Coronavirus. 

   

 

     Coronaviruses get their name from their appearance, bring ringed with spike proteins in such a way to resemble the Sun's atmospheric corona as seen during a total solar eclipse. The Covid-19 pandemic, now exceeding a year and a half in duration in America, has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in this country alone at this point. It's been devastating; I feel fortunate to only personally know two victims of the virus, but it has torn through communities across the world. 

     August 8th marked the 35th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie, and despite the fun movies that film includes, it's also a showcase of devastation. Characters that kids had come to love over the long first and second seasons of the television show are killed in battle, in some cases being literally executed. Prowl burns from the inside out, glowing fumes exiting his eyes and mouth. Corpses with dead, dark eyes and evidence of physical trauma are seen. Of course, the culmination of this is the death of Optimus Prime, hinted at earlier in the post. Even before all of this, the film opens with the slaughter of the planet Lithone by Unicron. Yes, the slaughter of the planet as Unicron, a planet himself, devours the world inhabited by another mechanical race similar to the Cybertronians. We see children on Lithone, joyfully playing mere moments before being reduced to fuel for the world-eater. It's terrifying.

     I'm sorry if this all reads as sort of scattershot. I'm not really drawing an analogy between the coronavirus and Starscream's crown, or even between the coronavirus and Unicron. I'm just processing all of this, and the juxtaposition of the experiences is strange. I'd lost one of the best coworkers I've ever had, and an hour after I found out, one of my most anticipated rumored Transformers was announced, being how Starscream, my favorite character in the franchise, was depicted at the height of his glory in The Transformers: The Movie. This is additionally in the context of the 35th anniversary of the film, which is a beloved film (and one of the mainstays of my Generation 1 exposure as a child) but at the same time is full of slaughter, from which Starscream was not spared.

     I think that's the resonance - this isn't just another Starscream toy. It's Starscream, who knows not his coming fate, moments before death. That's how this school year started - I met Carol the morning of preplanning and worked with her the next two days, neither of us knowing her own imminent end. As I noted above, my last working interaction with her was watching her train the 8th grade science teachers from the local middle school, one of whom taught my son last year and may teach my daughter in two years. Carol was mostly instructing them on how we execute lab assignments, and I chimed in a few times with some advice. After she went home shortly after, I'd never see her again. How would I have acted differently if I had known what was coming? 

      According to Hasbro Pulse, I'll receive Coronation Starscream by April, but based on the past year it might arrive earlier. With the way that the Delta variant is working its way through the community, I'm not sure when or if we'll have a service for Carol (there are other mitigating factors in her family that make planning such an event difficult at the moment). However that works out, opening up Starscream in the spring will be fun, and I'll enjoy setting him up with his accessories and throne, but it'll be a reminder of what this school year wasn't. Already I've read of at least one county in a neighboring state that has switched to online learning, so who knows what things will look like by April; the only certainty is that Carol won't be there. She won't be there to crack wise with me about any of our coworkers, nor to serve as the newly appointed Physics team lead, nor to chat with my daughter when I bring her in the mornings, nor ask me how the new art school is going for my son so she can decide if she wants her own daughter to apply this fall. And of course this is just a short list of the unnumbered things that will now never occur. Carol was always bemused, but accepting of the transformers I would display in my classroom. When Coronation Starscream arrives and I put him out in my classroom, he'll add a tough but touching reminder of her absence, if only for myself. 

     The audience that originally followed the Transformers television series would learn in it's third season that Starscream was not totally snuffed out by Galvatron, reappearing as a ghost that even showed up a decade later in Beast Wars, explained as having an immortal, mutated spark. Starscream, it turned out, persisted after death. This of course will not be true in a literal sense for Carol. I hate to engage in cliche in this kind of tragic event, but Carol will persist too, but only through us that knew her. This means much more for her family than for myself, but her example of how to treat students and other teachers will be something I strive to emulate. Her students this year never got to know her - her second day out of the building was open house - but I'll make sure they know that she had their best in mind as she prepared to work with them this year. I look forward to meeting and working with her successor, whoever it may be, so that we have another new light to shine in the halls of our school.

     Hug your loved ones. I know the pandemic is a political powder keg, but urge those in your circle who are hesitant to get vaccinated. If Carol had, this would just have been another Starscream fanboy post. She would still be here. Pray for the teachers you know, along with our students and other fellow school employees, and my heart goes out to any of you who have also lost someone close due to the pandemic. 

Pulse Fan Fest April 2021

 Hey everyone (?)! 

My last post was in September, detailing the unveiling of the Kingdom line. I had actually drafted two posts since then, one about the unveiling of Studio Series '86 and then my once-usual "Transformers of the Year" post. However, I never finished either in a timely manner, so I thought I'd make up for it with a post covering the Hasbro Pulse Fan Fest, which occurred just the other day. This event served to replace what Hasbro would normally show at ToyFair, which is a February event in normal times. I'm really not sure why they waited about 2 months to show off these items, and it led to some problems like leakers showing ample Kingdom Galvatron footage about three weeks ago, but all in all it was a great showing with some killer transformers:

First we have Core Class Soundwave! This is exciting as Soundwave never got a small-sized release back during the Generations/Thrilling 30 line/Combiner Wars like Optimus, Megatron, Starscream (and other Seekers) and Shockwave did. Kingdom reinstated this size class, having been absent since the end of Power of the Primes. Soundwave looks particularly impressive. Like the Core Class versions of Optimus, Megatron and Starscream, his appearance is based on his "Earthrise" toy (though this previous Voyager Class Soundwave was actually released in the Walmart Exclusive Netflix line, not Earthrise proper). Wonderfully, he includes both weapons and can store/eject a Laserbeak cassette!

Next is Dracodon. I don't care too much for this one; this is one of the few straight repaints we've gotten in Kingdom (probably the only one so far), being a repaint of Vertebreak. The green color (normally a slam dunk for me) is meant to represent radioactivity, and this new character is a Maximal rather than a Predacon, but overall this is just going to be $10 saved. 

 Here's Tracks! Tracks hasn't seen an update since his incorrectly-named repaint of Crosshairs in The Last Knight (called Hot Shot) and prior to that, he got a pretty nice release in the Reveal the Shield line (shared with Wheeljack). This never version does an overall better job with the car modes - both normal and flying. The bot mode looks great too, but partly due to cheating with a fake roof chest. I do wish the flame hood deco was better; it needs yellow in addition to the red. My final complaint is that the primary weapon - the black beam gun - doesn't cover the hand. This is something they made work with other releases, like Trailbreaker and Hoist, so I'm not sure why it wasn't done here. Still, I'm really pleased with this. I've always had a soft spot for the character and his design, so it's great to see Tracks in the spotlight again!

Another Scorponok! Hot on the heels of the Titan Class Scorponok from Earthrise, the later (and smaller!) Predacon who took the name of the giant headmaster finally gets another release. Scorponok was homaged during the RiD '15 line with the release of Paralon, but this direct update is really nice to have - Scorponok hasn't had another release since the original during Beast Wars! The scorpion mode is terrific, and I'm very happy they included both the missiles and the cyber-bee. The bot mode could be more svelte, but I'm happy with him otherwise!

Wingfinger! This is the newest (and probably final) Fossilizer mold, and the first deluxe Fossilizer Maximal. While I've not shown it here due to the lack of good official photos, there is a designed combined mode for Wingfinger, Ractonite and Paleotrex! Kind of rare to have a cross-factional combiner, but a giant skeletal abomination is pretty cool. Wingfinger also looks cool on his own, being the most dynamic-looking Fossilizer. I am curious if he will get repainted into a more visually insterested deco like both Paleotrex and Ractonite have.

Rhinox! He looks great. A lot of folks think this version compares unfavorably with the Generations/Thrilling 30 version, but I passed on that one many times (for a few reasons), so I'm pretty happy to have another shot at an updated toy for this important character. Looking forward to him!

Ah, yes...Galvatron. I've been waiting for this one for a while! It's not that we've lacked in Galvatron updates; he was first given a decent update in the form of Energon Megatron/Galvatron, and in the neo-G1 lines, we've gotten the deluxe Universe (2.0) Galvatron, Combiner Wars Galvatronus, and Titans Return Galvatron. However, each of those releases was compromised in some way from being a truly updated toy of the character's appearance as seen in the original movie and cartoon show. I noted above that this toy was leaked several weeks before this official unveiling, and some unfortunate shots really soured some people on the look of the toy, but I couldn't be more excited for him to be released. I appreciate the accessories - yet another release of the Matrix (this time with Galvatron's chain) is never a bad thing, and the Revenge-styled guns are a neat new addition. Ever since the release of Combiner Wars Armada Megatron and Galvatronus, I've really been on a Decepticon leader kick and this really helps cement a cornerstone in that collection.

Speaking of controversial figures, here's another! Commander Class Rodimus Prime. Yes, that's right - Commander Class, as in $80. This is the first non-Masterpiece Rodimus toy to truly update the design of the original toy, with its combat deck trailer. Aside from the price, the main problem folks have is that the cab/car cannot slot far enough back into the trailer to have the wheels of both line up and also make a more compact appearance to the front of the combined vehicle. I too dislike this aspect of the toy, but it's not awful - just inaccurate - and it's not something that would prevent a purchase from me. I do really love the trailer's base mode, especially now that the cannon emplacement can be detached. Rodimus's robot mode is fantastic as well, and the fact that he can transform into an actual, complete car mode (as compared to the G1 toy) is great. I have a preorder placed, and while I'm not 100% certain I'll keep it, I'd hate to pass up this version of the character, especially as part of the modern take on the '86 Movie characters we have been getting since Springer was released during Siege. 

And here it is! Previewed in the Kingdom concept art that I posted last September, this is the Titan Class Autobot Ark. No, they unfortunately did not give him a robot mode name, but he is clearly at least based on the Last Autobot of the Marvel comics. The Ark mode itself looks great, though the gaps on the side are less than ideal. The robot mode is pretty awesome, and some have pointed out that he has a decent resemblance to Tidal Wave; I would not be opposed to such as release (and the recent unveiling of Generations Selects Black Zarak means such a thing is at least possible!). As you can see, the included Teletraan-1 console transforms into a yellow version of Actionmaster Mainframe, which is cool. He includes the Sky Spy that scans alt modes, but also both Golden Disks and can also transform into the Ark's bridge for use with the tiny Optimus figurine!

And here we have Tricranius! Not only is Tricranius a neat clear-plastic Fossilizer repaint in the vein of Skelivore, but he is also sort of this year's version of the Centurion drone - meaning a destructible deluxe with lots of bonus accessories. This time around, instead of character-specific weapons, Tricranius comes with tons of fireblast effects, which is pretty cool. I've really only used a few of the items from the Centurion Drone set - namely the Megatron pistol/silencer and morning star - but I use the WfC series fireblast effects quite a bit in my play/display. This does make me expect that Wingfinger will also get a clear plastic repaint so that you can make the Fossilizer combiner in both natural and "extreme" colors.

YES. 

I've been waiting for this for a while! We finally have an official Shattered Glass line. Rodimus Unicronus from Power of the Primes came close - completely based on Shattered Glass Rodimus Prime, only to lose his purple Autobot sigil between design and release. More recently, we got the Generations Selects 2-pack of Optimus and Ratchet based on the Earthrise molds, which is a great set but was released with little fanfare. Now, while limited to being Pulse-exclusive, Shattered Glass gets a "capsule" line (as the Pulse streamers described it) of 5 releases. Blurr is probably not the msot exciting to start with, but he looks great. The deco is killer - more visually interesting than the SS86 version - and the toy shows that Hasbro is willing to sink funds into retooling parts for the sake of accuracy. I've always thought an SG line could do well at retail (and Hasbro has been working with multiple factions at retail since Earthrise began), and while this isn't quite fully there, it's the next best thing. The only thing I'm really not looking forward to is the rumored Jetfire, since he'd be yet another $80 Commander purchase. Also, the toys include each issue of IDW's new SG comic series!