Thoughts on Studio Series so far?

[MapleMegatron]

With Studio Series being a pretty big deal (both to Hasbro and fans) this year, and with Canada finally stocking all of wave 1, I thought it would be a good time to exchange our thoughts on them here.

Here are my thoughts so far:

I still dont think the premium price is equal to how much more I get from these than the Generations mainline figures. I personally find Hun Gurr to be as good if not better a toy than the 2 SS voyagers we got so far and he is 10$ less.

I am a bit dissapointed with the approach to reuse so much engineering. Granted, the transformations are good and both Crowbar and Starscream are improvements over the prvious toys that had the same engineering (Berserker and deluxe starscream).
But still, for a line that is supposed to be a big deal (with a premium price and all) and Hasbro saying that all these are new molds, its a bit of a letdown.

So far BB, Ratchet, Starscream and Crowbar are all based very closely previous transformation schemes.

And while I do preffer this Sarscream to the deluxe (and any other movei Starscream aside from the leader) and Crowbar to Berserker, I a very dissapointed with BB. I was let down by TLK Wave 2 Bee and this guy si worse. I really hate that car roof that keeps unlatching. It could be a great toy but they really screwed up on that part and it ruins the toy for me.

I do like Starscream, I like the deco (which uses that MP Beast Wars technique of adding that extra skin layer digitally) and he feels very solid.

Grimlock is pretty great in robot mode. The articulation is a bit limited compared to what I expected, but the deco and proportions and detailing are incredible. Smart transformation but not everything pegs in the back.

Basically, while this line may have been hyped, Ifind that its similar to the TLK line. Some great toys, some piss poor toys, with a nice helping of reused engineering.

[GotBot]

Do the roof before the doors are closed. It is sometimes easy and sometimes a nuisance, but it keeps the roof from popping off. Close the doors last.

So far, i am generally more impressed than I thought I would be with Studio Series. Starscream is basically perfect with, at least in my experience, every single hinge, joint and tab working like butter. Prime takes the best parts of previous versions. I find Crowbar even worse than poor ole Berserker and those dreads all but have nowhere to go. Stinger kinda rocks and is involved and interesting. Grimlock is definitely intended for his pure display appeal but, man, what a display. I find the line far superior than TLK which was pretty aweful seven ways from Sunday WITh the very, very clear exception of all the voyagers. That was the absolute shining point of that line for sure.

[Gaming Turtle]

I feel the same about most of the line. Every Bee I have seen has the roof half off the hinge in the package so it seems to be a widespread issue. My Ratchet has loose hips and Starscream loose knees. Optimus Prime is a new mold but it borrows a lot of design aspects from TF Prime First Edition Optimus Prime (Chest, arm, and some of the back transformation) and AOE Evasion Prime (Lower legs).

[optimusb39]

Blah... only like the beserker so far

[Alexander Quinn]

I only have Stinger and Starscream, and love them both. Planning to grab Blackout, Grimlock, Megatron, Jazz and Lockdown, quality dependant. I think Hasbro should straight up recall that Bumblebee, (every review I’ve watch it falls apart), and the others seem...ok... on a steep sale. I agree that the prices are generally too high for what you’re getting though.

[Xtreme987]

The only ones so far that have peaked my interest are Stinger & Crowbar. The rest of them anh I'll pass at the price point. Save my money for POTP wave 2 deluxes .... that is if we ever get them in my area ?

[Ozrein]

I have Bumblebee and while I like the figure, it has some issues. It's rather floppy with loose joints and the car mode hood and roof are a bit of a pain to get transformed, not to mention the roof detaches way too easy for my liking. Still, posed on the shelf, it's certainly a much better looking figure than the '07 figure.

I'm looking forward to Jazz and Blackout. I think those will be the only other two figures I pick up from the line. I have other movie figures that I'm quite happy with for the remaining characters.

[Alexander Quinn]

Seems idiotic that they didn’t give more attention to figures we’re lacking in. I’d have like to see Soundwave, Leadfoot, Dino and Q instead of more Bumblebee and Ratchet. Hopefully the line lasts and we actually get these instead of getting them cancelled or in a last wave that never materializes.

[Pascal]

Bee's roof should have been pinned.

I have Bee and Stinger, I'm really liking Stinger. Bee leaves me cold, I'm just hoping we someday get a MPM version of the old Camaro instead. I still find the original deluxe toy more interesting. Prime is solid (but small), Starscream is great.

[Sun Swipe Prime]

In terms of engineering, it's shrug. They based the Star Scream off a the old DOTM deluxe, no skin off my nose. BUT, it's the priemium price that gets me.

To me, these aren't premium figures. A little extra paint, a fancy name for the line, "scaling", doesn't overcome all the short comings.

To me, these aren't necessarily the best representations of the movie characters and leave a lot to be desired, especially with the price tag. If the price tag wasn't so high, I think I'd be looking at these in a better light.

Even the leader Blackout and Grimlock--figures I was looking forward too--fall short in areas they shouldn't fall short in, like Grimlock's fist or lack there of and Blackout's height. From the pictures I've seen, he's roughly the same height as Starscream, a Voyager.

Overall, this adds up to me not really being interested in any of this. The dollars and cents just don't add up in my head, so I'm probably going to pass on most if not all of it, so more for everyone else.