I just transformed...

[razin]

Acoustic Wave. He is glorious.

[evenstaves]

Toxitron G2 Sideswipe, everyone's had this mold before, so just pointing out that this version has NO painted joints/ports that would possibly scrape/chip with regular use of 5mm pegs
And none of his weapons are painted! Basically, I feel much safer futzing around with him, than I do w ER's BAT 2-pack "earthmode" Sideswipe, who had that damned fully painted-white shoulder missilelauncher (and I think the gun was too?)
Also, of course, these ToxitronG2 colours are choice, and his head/face looks pretty cool with the stark white eyes glaring out from a sea-of-blue face
Too bad about the RedAlert headsculpt use, but he's an offshoot deco choice so I'm not gonna flip (even Siege's Alphastrike CC G2 Sideswipe has me covered here, for having a G2Swipe w horns)

2023 Collab Volvo VNR OP, I got XmasOP just like everyone, so I knew what I was getting into here - but damn if he isn't gorgeous in-hand
Only possible QA is a miniscule speck off the tip of the chin of his mouthplate, and arguably that the two halves of his gun seem to love popping apart during transformation
I could possibly see some taking issue with all the red on his legs (and maybe the mold's comically-short torso compared to his huge long legs), but this guy is pretty cool, a great Optimus
Found out when opening him up that the instruction manual has the printed logos officially identifying this fig as part of the "Collaborative" line (Ectotron, Maverick, Draculus, X-Spanse, etc) - thought it was worth mentioning considering little if any advertisement for this figure, that i've seen? has even mentioned that connection - even TFWiki doesn't have Volvo OP listed among the figures on their page for the Collab series (it's mentioned in the footnotes)

[Echotransformer]

X-Transbots Commander Stack. Took....like...2 hours. Now I'll be honest, I try to do it without instructions, but not only did I need to look up a couple steps on Emgo's video, I had the hip skirt issue, had to disassemble the arms to get them to extend, etc.

Painful, painful, painful. Going back to bot mode took only 20mins...and admittedly both modes look amazing. But Takara MP Magnus is so much more efficient in looking good in both modes with way fewer steps.

[evenstaves]

picked up my 4th core Dino, that new guy Scarr/Skarr
Man did these core dinos ever start high and get progressively worse
Slag is pretty good, and is the combiner head so that's cool
Sludge is super compromised, but he's a decent articulated pelvis (if nothing else)
Grimlock is embarrassing as a leg (he's just a goddamned block!), and his dino mode lacks an articulated jaw (how COULD you), but his bot mode is passable, nice & chunky, if lacking elbows
And this guy? holy f*ck - bot mode is "eh", legs suffer that hollow Cyberverse sh*t where the shins down are literally just the hollow carapace cover parts, down into the little hoof of a feet - dino mode is best, incorporation of his combiner fist is pretty intelligent (even if it doesn't quite read) though neck doesn't clip into the bot arms/carapace easily - but as a arm? jesus christ
Once again it's those f*ckin hollow bot legs, that comprise the "forearm" of the arm, using the bot's pelvis/knee joints and waist swivel as the combiner limb's elbow articulation - makes it look awful if you have the arm viewing from (underneath facing up, like exposing wrist to the sky), ESPECIALLY because of how the combiner fist officially attachs to the arm? that "peg on from underneath" effect really makes it look like the fist is just adhesed onto the side of the arm, rather than part of the arm
I honestly would recommend just not bothering with the fully-extended arm configuration, and just keep him in his dino mode, but then attaching THAT as the limb - sure you lose the elbow articulation, but at least this way the fist (attached as the dino's "tail") actually looks like it's part of the arm... ...plus that's G1 combiner limb level of articulation anyways? lol

that recent Cyberverse deluxe Bumblebee that doesn't suck? marketed under the Dinobots Unite subline, but nothing to do with Dinobots visually
He's pretty good, got him on the cheap from THunt
worst thing i could say about him is his shoulder joints are a bit funky, don't look great in most angles other than "arms at the sides, shoulders covered by big car-front pauldrons"
but he's a damn sight better than most Cyberverse, which I usually wouldn't buy

Walgreens exclusive Medix (bought from GameStop ofc), not much to say other than he's got maybe a bit too many guns? You basically HAVE to Evo-Fuse them just to keep them all on his person, and I end up keeping his big chest/grill gun on his chest - which a damn shame cause I love that aspect of Crankcase, grill-gun is cool
Also recently grabbed Crosscut, which really all that did is remind me that my 2ndhand copy of Velocitron BurnOut doesn't have the stupid energon axe, which now I miss, which is how Hasbarp got me in the end, after all (in terms of thinking Legacy's energon weapons were stupid, which is absolutely true)

Also messed around with Toxitron G2 Mirage, which only gets noted cause it occurred to me that this funky Mirage crocko-deco could be an excuse to "over-extend" his ab crunch & shoulder connection joints, and make a real freak-a-deak Mirage, like a TMNT mutant bad guy or something

[Marcotron]

Went to transform my Kingdom Pipes, but accidentally knocked my Generations Cosmos off the shelf, and while trying to catch Cosmos, I jammed my finger on the shelf and that hurt, so I left Cosmos sitting on the floor to think about what he had done. Pipes remains in vehicle mode.

[evenstaves]

Evo Metalhawk, honestly this is better than I anticipated
Figured he would suck; as a Cyclonus retool he's already "having to make do" with someone else's engineering - but it helps that the Cyclonus mold was pretty damn good to begin with
He's got those weird floating Cyc knees, which is prob the biggest strike against him
I also am not super crazy about the washed-out shade of grey plastic they used on him, looks a little bit sickly - but ofc the tradeoff is we don't have to worry about paint rub/scratch, so that's a plus again
Complaints about the plane mode, now that I have him in hand, I've got to agree are not as bad in person - of course if you flip him over, he's an aerialbot "entire man body underneath the jet" style
Perhaps the greatest thing that surprised me, from seeing pics in advance? His titanium saber weapon is all hard plastic, like it's not soft! I was so disappointed in 86Snarl's soft weiner sword; EvoHawk's sword is back to what we should be goddamned doing
As a Masterforce fan I was looking forward to this guy, and was worried he would disappoint - I'm pleased to say he's pretty damned OK
(don't know if Metalhawk needs to be a voyager class size? oh well, they had to re-use the Cyc mold somehow)

[evenstaves]

Evo Crashbar, hell f*ckin ya this guy is pretty cool
Love the face, he's got five (!) different weapons, got the asymmetrical legs, lots to love
His bot feet are a bit cantankerous but great for keeping him upright; this guy won't fall over on you
That head transformation, and how it just f*ckin slides into the torso? It's not very obvious at first, I was going instruction-less and had to look it up "no f*ckin way" etc, thought for sure it was a "chest cracks open, head pivots inside, close chest" but it isn't, pretty cool - pretty visible from underneath though, aren't these guys the junkasaurus arms? Wonder if we'll have faces poking out, lol
those two big "cycle side carriage exhaust whatever" guns, one of mine is a bit loose in the 5mm peg/port fist connection, so posing it is a bit not-great, but I ended up just attaching it to his ribs, like a G1 Megs "gun barrel under the arm" type of thing, pretty fun as far as options go (to further illustrate how many 5mm ports this guy has)
Favourite Evo junkion so far, bring on more!

SS86 Brawn, looks nice, transformation pretty basic (shades of SiegeHound, TR Kup etc)
Worst thing I could say, and might just be my copy? but his big gorgeous painted head, seems to be stuck in a dead-on shot - I can't turn his head swivel for the life of me
It's a big piece too, connected to a relatively thin panel - I am a bit anxious to try & force it, in case I stress out the plastic or something - also would hate to scratch/shred off any of his head paint, in the attempt
Only just opened him last night so haven't really dabbled extensively with him, but I will say that I LOVE the concept of how they "secret-featured" his G1 legs, in all their stupidity
That kind of thing is my goddamned jam, I love it

[delrue]

The head on my Brawn was also pretty tight, once you get it moving it should loosen up.

[evenstaves]

Earthspark Jawbreaker, couldn't resist in-store, and I have to say this guy oozes personality - fig is a bit basic compared to other current figs (no wrist swivel, no waist swivel, no ankle tilts - jeez) and his neck swivel is just that (not a ball joint), though I noticed my neck tends to "raise" as I swivel it, so there's unofficially a bit of height leverage you can use with this head port
Gimmick on his one hand there is fun, even if it seems like something is missing re: not spring-loaded
Alt mode is fun; the "big secret" about the character in-show, blown by the figure's release beforehand, is a bit kufufufufu
Plastic quality is a LITTLE reminiscent of sh*ttier lines, makes him feel a touch cyberverse-y
Picked up the red drone girl from 2022's Earthspark standie last year, and now finally adding to my "new characters from Earthspark" sub-collection - I should really pick up the motorbike guy, though I might wait to see about those rumoured ES deluxes coming next year (mighta blown it already since I think JB was one of those, but anyways)

PulseCon exclusive HotShot & Jolt, I will say this deco is nicer than the Evo standalone deluxe - and the extra guns rule, even if they peg onto the car a bit gangly, and the one there is slightly too long in the back to be able to get a really good arm bend with it equipped
Surprised to see that the packaging just tossed all accessories (guns, blast effects, the mini-con) into the same big paper bundle taped to the inner cardboard sleeve - like, they really didn't do Jolt any favours there
Speaking of Jolt, now that I have this set out in-hand, I have to say... people are right about this set not being worth its GameStop pricepoint; Jolt is neat and he's absolutely what the Siege micromasters should have been, but he's definitely not (worth the added price of) a core-class figure... wonder how he proportions next to the 86 core cassettemans?
If Jolt gets released on his own later on down the line (return of titan-master size-class?), it's be good for anyone who skipped out on this set - but for everyone who bought it, *clench teeth*

[evenstaves]

Opened up a number of myUSaddy packages last night

IDW Senator Ratbat, my good goddamn, is this guy ever awesome! this dude is a better dracula than Draculus! easily the best figure of the night, so sexy deco and commanding presence, I absolutely love him - I love the bat mouth detailing on his chest, I love that he's ALSO a space soapbar and can do the (bot head looking off the top of the alt mode) that Scourge can do - he's cool AND fun! And I think his thighs aren't painted like Scourge's were, so don't have to worry about that with him (one of the thigh swivels was a bit "almost off the edge", but popped it back into place and good to go)

IDW Miner Megatron, I will allow that the minor (ha!) retooling from Siege does differentiate him slightly from the other billion uses of this accursed mold, but this mold is showing its damned age - both my dude's legs are pretty floppy at the hips, and his left arm mushroom peg literally fell out of the shoulder swivel while I was posing him, and annoyingly KEPT falling out 2-3 times from popping it back in! We need a NEW Megs already dudes, get Waltherin'

IDW Senator Shockwave, goddamned greeble-y *ss tetrajet mold can't leave us tf alone - I hate that this 1st attempt at doing pre-one-eye Shockwave has been foisted on this bullcrap mold, I've never liked its stilted high-heel feet, its super-long legs compared to stubby arms - ya ya sure articulation, too bad its nightmare design keeps poisoning future character uses "just stick a couple detachable fins on him" and those big nothing turbines (they still kept Scream's "two back shoulder antenna things", so what was the point of molding him these fancy new turbines and then just hang them off his back like an afterthought?) Coulda used a new mold, or frig idk who else could have been used instead, rargh

IDW Orion Pax, the MOST I will give it is that maybe it's a touch less stupid in-hand than I originally expected - Siege Hound mold is not my favourite, and this grump-a-dump face doesn't help (strangely, Toyhax' new mouthplate that covers him up, makes him dangerously close to OK) - but action-posing him with (that stupid Pax-axe that I never liked since T30), honestly does help differentiate him slightly from (Hound, SelectsHotShot, etc), so that's something

IDW Kaskade, I was ready to dislike this one, but honestly it's not too bad? ya she's got a ton of POTP fembot kibble, and I passed on Siege Chromia & Selects Nightbird cause I'd had enough of that mold just completing the Orthia combiner (plus never thought the Siege Chromia was a good replacement for T30) - with all that said, Kaskade's face-up is pretty tight/cool, and while the "attempt" to hide her torso in alt mode is kinda laughable? Should be commended for at least not totally shellforming (again, even if it IS just the POTP mold retooled)

IDW Javelin, I've got to say, I didn't pick up mv6 BB Arcee, so this my 1st whack at this mold, and I expected it to be cool, and fair game, the bot mode is pretty damn sick - you can tilt that head w chin up in the air, and her open hands are like WHAT - what I'm saying is, I really like how she presents - cool helmet, nice big (wheel)boots, colours work together
Sure the alt mode is not much more than a mangled woman (what bayformer fembot isn't), but i'll give it a pass because that bot mode is pretty cool

*didn't open Nacelle yet, we all know exactly what we're getting anyways*
*if mine has any of that wing mold fungus, let's wait till Xmas and really give it time to "culture up" lol*

I WOULDA opened Nova Prime, but noticed right away a slight paint QA on his face - he's arguably the one I was looking forward to the most (knew he'd be slightly more "playable" than Ratbat), so I'm holding him to a slightly higher standard - gonna replace him before I open him all up
As an aside, want to quickly mention the difference in the packaging presentation "upgrade" between the 1st two IDW packs, and the latter ones (could be present on Nacelle but I didn't check so) - the boxes for DeadeyeDuel & NovaPrime are really f*ckin nice! I love this direction, makes the exclusives feel actually pretty fancy... it's too bad Hasbarp is in the middle of their "plastic-less" throes, and decided to wrap everything up in paper, inside - these the type of thing that could really benefit from plastic windows
It's like the new packaging was designed by cool dept, and then environment paper guy came rushing in "HOLD THE F*CKIN PHONE* etc - like it seems like clashing ideals, packed in together

Shattered *ss Rodimus, man what fun to monkey with the 86 HotRod mold again after so long - mustache is awesome, red shades ftw, what else to say? A great complement to POTP mustache Rod; they can be big brother lil brothers, in mustaches, haha
I can't remember though, does this mold really not have packed-in storage for that lil matrix he comes with? It's been too long for me since 86Rod, I've forgotten

Shattered *ss Sideswipe, we all know the mold so I'll just say, similar to Toxitron G2 sunset-swipe, this guy appears to not have any paint interfering with 5mm peg/ports, so that's good (safe playability) - I'm not super familiar with the whole Armada Wheeljack thing so I just went & boned up on it, and his two sticks are kinda stupid? Espec if there's no gimmick to go with em - ah well, the mold is still going strong, nothing to complain about here

Shattered *ss Whisper, now THIS little *sskicker, I f*ckin love this guy! WAY more fun than Powerlinx Jolt, I have got to say
Everyone in this set is packed in alt modes, so transforming this guy for the first time, seeing his lil 3-fer prong hands, and the "auto-morph" of pulling his jet nose down into the gut to pop his lil visor-y face, and his back wings kinda pop up? It's like "hohoho, look at this guy, he's a bad*ss" hahaha
I really didn't expect it, but he ended up being my favourite in this set, haha