Kingdom Come

 As I type this, my last post was 3 years and 4 days ago - 9/16/17, in which I briefly gushed over The Last Knight Voyager Class Nitro Zeus. 

     Since then, I have made a few attempts at substantive posts. I attempted to do a write-up of the unveiled later-wave Power of the Primes toys from NYCC 2017, followed by an analysis of the initial Siege unveiling in late summer 2018, and finally a Transformers of the Year post for 2018. I never finished any of them! 

    This isn't to say I have failed to keep up with the Transformers toylines. Instead, I've probably spent more on Transformers in 2020 than in any other single year, except maybe in 2010 when I went to Botcon (that was a decade ago!). Also, since my last post, the brand has changed a bit, becoming much more collector-oriented. Studio Series (which I haven't written about at all) came onto the scene in early 2018, though we knew much of its early contents from The Big Leak in summer 2017. While still not officially announced, Studio Series is set to (at least temporarily) shift from the live-action movies to The Transformers: The Movie, the 1986 film set between Seasons 2 and 3 of the original show. Presumably, this is to actually celebrate the animated film's 35th anniversary in 2021, but also to make room in the third chapter of Hasbro's "mainline"/primary collector-oriented trilogy, War for Cybertron (no, not the video game). 

Make room for what? The first two chapters of the WfC Trilogy - Siege and Earthrise - are unapologetically G1-focused. Prime Wars may have moved the Generations line in that direction, but the aesthetic was still filtered through the gimmicks of the line (combining and smaller partner figures). And yet, for the third chapter of the WfC Trilogy - officially revealed via a Netflix tweet to be titled Kingdom - we aren't simply getting more G1, but a mix of G1 and Beast Wars! Keep in mind, this is partly to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Beast Wars (though the 10th anniversary was the only previous one that was truly celebrated). Based on early leaks, roughly half of Kingdom consists of Season 1 style Beast Wars characters. While we are still getting plenty of G1 characters in Kingdom (including, allegedly, Galvatron), the shift of some TFTM characters to Studio Series has allowed the "mainline" to accommodate the BW characters that may not have survived if released in their own series. 

     I'm not the world's biggest BW fan. I'm not one of, what I consider, the BW hipsters on some online locations. Yes, the show was great, and yes, the toyline was too, but it's no longer the apex of the franchise. Still, it's certainly one of the portions of the brand with a air of high quality about it, and the characters definitely deserve recognition. I'm very, very excited for it. I used to salivated over the leaked test shot of Fall of Cybertron Grimlock with the Transmetal Megatron new head mold, which was never released. Now, if the leaks are to be trusted, Beast Wars Megatron is getting a new leader class mold, and I can't wait to see it.

UPDATE #1:

Amusingly, I finished the previous paragraph a few days before (we had a scary family emergency in the interim, but things are fine now thank God). As of today, 9/23/20, Hasbro has finally officially unveiled some of the first wave Kingdom figures! They have shown off great images of Rattrap, Cheetor, Cyclonus and Megatron. Rattrap hails from the new Core class, which is replacing the micromaster 2-packs from Siege and Earthrise. Rumor says that most Core figures will be small iterations of typically larger G1 characters. Hmm, I wonder what they are intended for...;). Cheetor, as expected, is from the deluxe class, Cyclonus a Voyager, and Megatron (the Second, of the beast variety) is leader class. Somewhat sadly, all but Megatron had been previously leaked, though Cyclonus was leaked as an under-painted test shot with poor photos, and was assumed to be part of Studio Series fora while. It is a bit strange that he won't end up there. All four of these guys look great. Rattrap makes me happy I passed on the larger and wonkier Thrilling 30 version, and Cheetor has a much better balance between an accurate cheetah mode and his robot mode. His only downside is they gave him the claw/tail whip weapon of his Transmetal form instead of his gut gun. Cyclonus looks great, especially in jet mode. I love both Combiner Wars and Universe 2.0/Reveal the Shield Cyclonus, but this one has the size of the former but the lack of gimmick compromises of the latter. I do think the head/face sculpt could be better, but it'll do. Megatron looks amazing aside from all of the dino skin kibble on his back. The dino mode itself is really incredible, one of the best beast modes ever, maybe, especially for the realistic/organic style of BW Season 1.

I'll update more as Hasbro continues to push out more updates, especially this Saturday at PulseCon!

UPDATE #2: 

Ok, So PulseCon has come and gone. As typically happens when major toyline surprises are preceded by (multiple) leaks, I'm a bit disappointed that Hasbro didn't care to show more, namely Studio Series '86 and the "Headmasters" line that is supposedly Titans Return reissues/redecos exclusive to Walmart, if listings are to be believed. 

All that aside - WOW, what a great showing! The care that has gone into the presentation of the Kingdom line is fantastic, and I'm really happy that wave 1/what they decided to show off today is definitely heavy on Beast Wars characters, despite the line being partially Generation 1. Here we go:

Core Class: Core Class is the new, smallest size class, with Battlemasters being phased out and the Micromaster 2-packs being replaced by Core. Three figures were on display: Rattrap, Vertebreak and Optimus Prime:

Rattrap was the first leaked Kingdom toy, and he looks fantastic for his size. I'm very happy that they felt that they could be flexible and create a new size class to allow him to be closer to being in scale with the rest of the BW cast, especially compared to his Thrilling 30 toy, which I passed on. 

Vertebreak, who has an amazing name that has only be used for two transformer characters previously, is one of the first new fossilizers, who clearly transform into the fossil remains of extinct creatures. While larger fossilizers from the deluxe class (see Paleotrex below) can split apart into bone armor & weapons, akin to the Weaponizers and Modulators of Siege and Earthrise, I don't see any evidence that Vertebreak, as a smaller, Core class toy, can do the same, aside from her tail being shown as a weapon in another official image. This is supported by her transformation not seeming to show any rearranged parts in the way that Paleotrex does. If the Core class fossilizers can't be split apart, that will be too bad, but she does look great. Again, fossilizers are one of the best things about this line, both in toy concept but also for adding new Predacon (and presumably Maximal) characters to the BW cast line-up!

Here we have Core class Optimus Prime! His design is clearly trying to emulate the look of Earthrise Optimus (who seems to be getting reissued in Kingdom). Leaks/rumors have shown that a few G1 characters will be getting Core class toys...based on the poster art shown below, they are clearly intended to be paired with the upcoming Titan Class Ark! What's amusing is that you could interpret Core class G1 toys as an inversion of the scale of the characters as shown in the BW show, where all Beast Warriors were supposed to be much smaller than G1 counterparts, while we now we have larger BW character toys with small G1 counterparts!

The Deluxe class, of course, returns, with Hasbro revealing four of them:

Blackarachnia looks pretty great! Her original toy unfortunately suffered from simply being a Tarantulus repaint, while in the show her character model differed quite a bit. I'm pretty impressed with the spider mode, and the robot mode looks just about as accurate as it could, save for the legs being black rather than copper (I think the black works better for the spider mode). I do really hope we also get Tarantulus, though I doubt he would work as a remold.

And here's Cheetor, perhaps the quintessential BW character. My only complaint for Cheetor is the lack of a gun weapon. Giving him an organic version of his transmetal tail whip blade is clever, but he seems a bit incomplete without a firearm.  I am quite happy with how much better of a balance has been struck between an accurate cheetah mode and robot mode; Universe 2.0 Cheetor had a pretty great cheetah mode but the robot mode was terrible. I'm definitely sold on Cheetor, and the rumors already claim a Shadowpanther repaint; I'd love a Prowl repaint for Generations Selects!

Now, here is the guy I'm really interested in. While somewhat few in number, the Weaponizers and Modulators of Siege and Earthrise have been some of the most interesting and fun figures of this trilogy. They have allowed the trilogy to have a unifying gimmick that I don't think most of us would have asked for: parts-formers. Now that parts-forming has been adapted to the Fossilizers, or at least the Deluxe Fossilizers. Paleotrex is the first of these, and he can, as with Weaponizers, be disassembled to form armor/weapons for other characters. One of the most fun things about this guy is his head - not only does he have a moveable skull mask that can reveal his true face (an homage to the "mutant" heads of the first year of most BW toys), the skull mask is the mace that came with the original Optimus Primal toy, and can be wielded as such! It's almost unfortunate; this guy will be headless in many people's collections. As I noted with Vertebreak, the Fossilizers are one of the most fun things about Kingdom, especially Paleotrex with his ability to arm other figures.  

Warpath is the final Deluxe shown off, and probably the most conservative as he is yet another G1 update. While he is a Deluxe and not a Core class toy, I hope he is not much taller than the Earthrise Cliffjumper mold, as that toy was suitably short for a Minibot. Warpath's previous Deluxe toy in the original Generations line was terrific, but had an "H-tank" alt mode that many don't care for, and his Combiner Wars Legends class toy suffered from being a Thrilling 30 Megatron remold that lacked Warpath's signature design cues. I'll probably pick him up, but he's definitely the least exciting of this set of four deluxes. 

Optimus Primal kicks off the Voyager class, and he looks fantastic! His robot mode is great, but I think I am most impressed with the gorilla mode. I was fortunate enough to obtain Power of the Primes "Throne of the Primes" Optimus Primal two years ago, but as great as that mold looks in Primal's Season 1 color scheme, the mold itself has some problems and I don't care much for the stickers, which are wearing out over time. I'm grateful that Season 1 Primal is getting a much more faithful release for a fraction of what his Throne of the Primes incarnation cost. I do wish this Voyager Primal didn't have so much of a height deficit with Leader class Megatron, but it's not something I'm too worried about. 

And here we have a new take on Cyclonus! Again, not sure why he would not be in Studio Series '86, but I'm not complaining. Cyclonus looks nearly perfect; I think his head/face sculpt could be a bit better. However, everything else is pretty perfect. I do really like my Reveal the Shield repaint of Universe 2.0 Cyclonus, and Combiner Wars Cyclonus is pretty great too, but the former is a bit too small for the character and the latter spends nearly all its time in combiner mode as Galvatronus, so I'm quite happy that we are getting a larger, accurate take on the character. Makes me a bit sad that I won't be getting War for Cybertron Unicron, but I guess you can't win them all!

Ah, Megatron. Beast Wars Megatron, interestingly trademarked here as "T-Rex Megatron," is something the Generations line has needed for a long time. While the character did get both a new mold (Cybertron-style) and repaint/remold in the Beast Wars 10th Anniversary line, this character is significant enough to deserve the new mold, Leader class treatment he is finally getting. While the Fall of Cybertron Grimlock mold isn't amazing, Hasbro missed an opportunity to get this important version of Megatron on shelves when they didn't pursue the Transmetal-style remold of FoC Grimlock. This toy may have one of the best beast modes Hasbro has ever done, at least of the organic variety. The robot mode looks great as well, and thankfully the left arm/tail does include a normal hand (even the new-mold Deluxe BWX toy had a weird, 3-clawed left hand underneath the tail). I can't wait to add this guy to my display of Megatrons and Galvatrons. 

I included this image because, as I noted earlier, I love how much care has been put into the presentation of this new toyline. The toys themselves look great, but the volcanic backdrop and dramatic lighting really sells the whole idea. I love how Cyclonus is "fossilized" with Paleotrex parts, and seeing Primal and Prime fighting together is a treat. Also, as an aside, Earthrise Leader class Optimus Prime seems to be getting reissued in Kingdom (sort of like how Siege Astrotrain was for Earthrise), and I can't say I blame Hasbro. I acquired Earthrise Optimus myself over the summer, and I've really become enamored with him; he is the definitive Optimus Prime toy (aside from any Masterpiece releases), and it makes sense to have him on shelves alongside his "descendant." At the same time, I'm glad we didn't get yet another new mold or remold of Optimus (aside from the Core class toy), as it would look a bit greedy on Hasbro's part to release 3 different, but similar Optimus toys for three toylines in a row. I do think it's a bit strange to not have a G1 Megatron (like Earthrise Megatron) also in the picture, but maybe he will also be reissued later in Kingdom. 

Here is the poster-type artwork that was leaked in the late summer. I do wonder if Bumblebee will actually be released in Kingdom as well as the Netflix line, and again, G1 Megatron is referenced alongside Galvatron. I do think that they are meant to be the same individual, since so much inspiration is being taken from the actual 1986 movie rather than other depictions of 1986 characters (such as IDW Galvatron being very distinct from Megatron). 

This artwork for Kingdom is amazing. I'm pretty sure it's Don's work, and while some online have already confirmed that it serves more of a conceptual role for the line rather than acting as a strict preview of upcoming toys, it's amazing. This is the first confirmation that the new Titan class toy will be the Ark (!), with a Last Autobot-inspired robot mode, which is pretty amazing. I love the inclusion of Polar Claw and the several Fossilizers, though I understand that some of those may not have made the cut for Kingdom, though this doesn't totally rule out some other kind of release, such as Generations Selects, Netflix, or a store exclusive. I'm very much looking forward to seeing a Leader Class Galvatron that isn't compromised by gimmicks or poor design (and this is coming from someone who likes Titans Returns Galvatron quite a bit, and will still fiddle with Universe 2.0 Galvatron from time to time). I also hope Tracks does show up, as I think he will look great through the lens of War for Cyberton-style engineering. Primal looks great with the Smilodon armor (we do need to get at least one mammal/Maximal Fossilizer), and again, seeing Primal and Prime fight together is great (as is seeing Galvatron alongside Beast Megatron). 

That's all for now! While there were some other announcements today at PulseCon, I really wanted to focus on Kingdom as it is one of the most exciting things Hasbro has done in a long time. Hopefully it won't be too long until my next post!

    

Nitro

Nitro, from The Last Knight toyline, is a real surprise. He feels like a toy from the 2007 or ROTF movie lines, and in a good way. Great robot mode, interesting and involved transformation, pretty good alt mode. The Titanmaster interactivity is just a cherry on top. While my TLK collection is pretty small (voyager Optimus, Leader Megatron), I can easily say that Nitro is my favorite.

Turn It Up to Eleven

Ok! Here is my overdue post on Prime Wars Part 3: Power of the Primes! Hasbro did their initial unveiling in July for SDCC, and then unfortunately a HUGE leak ocurred last month, spoiling many of the surprises for this weekend's new Hascon. As such, this post will have a mix of old and new info and I'll update it if any more news emerges from Hascon!

Here is the first shown Prime Master: Liege Maximo! Ok, as we can all tell, what we really have here is Skullgrin. According to Hasbro's copy, Prime Masters transform into spark chambers containing the spark of one of the Thirteen; Skullgrin happens to possess the spark of Liege Maximo. This is clearly the new counterpart to the Titan Master size class, with the Prime Masters being indentical to Titan Masters from an engineering standpoint, but ditching the transforming vehicles/weapons fo new Pretender shells that turn into weapons. This is a fairly neat, if simplistic, way to work Pretenders back into a modern TF mainline while preserving their gimmick. Skullgrin's shell looks pretty good, even if the claw mode looks a little rough. The Prime Master itself is servicable and the spark chamber mode is interesting, especially since it can still function as a head if one so desires. Luckily, new toys in the larger size classes have methods of utilizing the spark cores in ways that (more or less) make sense!

Here us another Prime Master, this time from Hascon: Micronus! Carrying Micronus's spark is Autobot Pretender Cloudburst. There are two main things I really like about this one: first, the weapon mode is a lot better than Skullgrin's. Second, I LOVE that Hasbro took a cue from IDW and ditched the shell's human face. In fact, there is even a space in the shell's helmet through which the inner robot can peer through! It's great, and it really helps to lower the goof level of the Pretender concept. I also think human faces would have looked particularly bad on these more diminutive shells, so good move overall, hasbro!

And now we arrive at the Legends class! While overpriced, I've really loved this size class ever since it evolved out of the Cyberverse Commander class some years ago. Thrilling 30, Combiner Wars and Titans Return have done a great job reviving the G1 Minibots, and it seems that Power of the Primes will continue that by giving us Beachcomber! I've had a soft spot for the guy since getting his metallic green G2 repaint as a kid, so it's nice to see him updated. Like the TR legends, Beachcomber can seat a Prime Master/Titan Master in car mode, so if Liege Maximo/Skullgrin wants to hit the dunes then he's good to go!

New territory! Slash enters the world of G1 via the movie continuity, but this version also serves as the franchise's first female dinobot! Pretty neat. While she can also seat Prime Masters in beast mode, it's not yet clear if she can assist the larger dinobots in some other way. Overall she looks terrific and I look forward to when she hits shelves!

Jazz! I have yo admit that when he was revealed at SDCC I was a bit perplexed; we got a pretty good neo-G1 Jazz back in the Reveal the Shield line and this one looked nust a bit more simplistic. That was before I knew PotP Jazz was also a combiner limb! A CW Jazz was, I thought, one of the CW line's biggest missed opportunities, but at that time I at most expected a Dead End remold. Instead Jazz gets his own brand new mold! We haven't seen the design for his combiner hand/armor yet, but I'm sure it will look great on him. My only reservation is that he has no obvious team/limb-mates (yet).

Dreadwind! I've always thought he and Darkwing were pretty cool, and to get them both in a form that lets them serve as combiner limbs and preserve their combined jet mode is quite impressive! Again, like with Jazz, we haven't seen their combiner accessories yet but I look forward to it. I will refrain from posting a pic of Darkwing (now officially titled Blackwing) until Hasbro releases an official render as with these other images. Still, he looks vreat and is an imressive remold of CW Air Raid.

...and here are the dinobots! I'll start with my least favorite, Snarl. He looks good enough, and the image here again leaves some things out: his hand/armor and a double-barrelled gun that can mount above the beast mode head. On his own, I'm not overly thrilled by Snarl but as part of the group he'll do nicely!

And here we have Slag! I hate that Hasbro has given up on his original name, but whatever. It will be great to finally own a G1 version of this guy; I've always enjoyed his head transformation...maybe we can get a Rhinox out of him one day?

Swoop is probably my favorite of these five from a toy perspective. I like how relatively compact his body is (compared to, say, Energon Swoop) in beast mode and his bot mode is very dynamic looking. Really looking forward to this guy.

I saved the best for last (of the deluxes): Sludge! A few remarks. First, I will admit that his robot shoulders make him look a bit weak being so low. Second, I think it's funny that Sludge didn't have to stick with his AoE replacement name of Slog, mainly because now Sludge has to be on the same team as "Slug." Lastly, one of the best things about these new Dinobots is highly featured on Sludge: the clear plastic over gold paint. It was one of the coolest things, visually, about the original toys. I was excited to get my son AoE Slog a few years ago (he was the best of the AoE dinobot toys in my estimation), so it will be great to replace my banged-up G1 copy.

Starscream was shown at SDCC before Hasbro revealed he had combiner compatibility, but it didn't take people long to figure it out. I had a similar reaction to Starscream as I did to when CW Optimus was unveiled; that is, not positive. The bulky design is growing on me, and the fact thay he forms a combiner core with his crown as part of the head is a bit of a dream come true. I do hope that he gets two more decepticon jets to combine with, but his box art shows him using what is presumably Sinnertwin as a leg, so we'll see. It's also nice to finally get a voyager class G1 Starscream!

Here is the big hombre, Grimlock! It's pretty incredible how this toy manages to make both Classics and Fall of Cybertron Grimlocks obsolete and at the same time include the combining feature. My only hesistation so far is that I have yet to see a sword for Grimlock, but I'm not too worried about it. I also like that his included combiner feet can be mounted as gauntlet claws and can store a Prime Master. Pretty awesome!

Rodimus Prime! The Leader class Evolution toys have a pretty awesome gimmick in that they all involve upgrade-style supermodes courtesy of the Matrix of Leadership that each comes with. The Matrix itself is a two part item: the inner crystal/casing can be removed from the handles and is compatible with Prime Master/Titan Master ports, though it does not turn into a smaller robot itself. Of course, the matrix can be stored in Rodimus's chest. I presume that it is too big to fit inside the smaller base Hot Rod toy, but that makes sense. I should note that I don't think I've seen any images of what Hot Rod looks like in his smaller robot mode, so I can't say how it compares to the recent TR deluxe Hot Rod. It is interesting that Hot Rod/imus has been featued in each segment of the Prime Wars trilogy. I am pretty sure that Optimus is the only other character that can claim that, which leads us to...

I am pretty excited about this one! While I ended up really liking CW Optimus, I did not end up getting either of his TR toys despite being initially excited for them. He also got a TR Orion Pax toy I am interested in, but I don't think it has been released yet and/or will be hard to get. This toy does something cool: it allows Orion Pax to actually be upgraded into Optimus via the Matrix! Amusingly, the base Optimus design here serves as the supermode, and fans of the original show are excited that Orion finally gets a toy of his original model. I'll point out that this marks the third retail release of an Orion Pax toy, all of which have been released within four years. Pretty impressive! I really hope we can get a decent Ultra Magnus out of this mold as I was never sold on CW Magnus.

Our official G1 Dinobot combiner is here: Volcanicus! This is his official artwork, which looks pretty good, though the actual toy will have all-black hands and feet; no gold paint.

Prototype image! Unfortunately, there is no evidence yet that Slash can be incorporated. Also, I anticipate Volcanicus having a big sword to wield. One interesting note: in PotP, deluxes include armor that can change into a combiner hand, but not into a foot. The voyager toys come with both combiner feet. As you can reckon, this means that when a complete combiner is assembled, there will be two extra hand pieces. At least with Volcanicus, we can see tbat Hasbro was kind enough to engineer the combined form to include these extra hands as armor to flesh out the torso of the combined form. This is great attention to detail and I hope it is standard practice for these new combiners.

This is a lot...!

Toyfair 2017! Man oh man did Hasbro show off a ton of TF product. Firstly, RiD Combiner Force gets some real combiners:

This here is Ultrabee, who interestingly gets away with only four components by using the appropriately larger Grimlock as a pair of pants, almost Energon-style. It's pretty neat!

Motormaster! I like his look.

Menasor is interesting - not as good as I'd like but it's nice to see this combiner that hasn't seen much action outside of G1 get a new look.

Cyclonus! I'll get the legion toy and hope for a Voyager, but this is pretty neat...he forms the torso of:

Galvatronus! Holy crap, I can't believe this guy made the multiversal jump so quickly, and with new-character limbs to boot! The head favors Cyclonus over Galvatron more than I'd like, but otherwise this is really cool.

Bee looks GREAT. So much better than either AoE mold, I may actually buy this despite having too many BBs already.

Sqweeks! I think that's how you spell it. This is a pretty awesome toy; it's much more fun looking than ROTF Wheelie was and has more going on than Legion Fixit.