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If you find speculating annoying, scroll past this post...

After getting the SS & SS86 list with specific quarter info, I'm back to thinking on Hook and Long Haul and how those may be released.

Although they should still be roughly deluxe class in size, these two not only essentially have to be triple changers, but all of the extras will be packed with them one way or another.

I'm guessing Devastator's upper legs will be separate parts. This will allow for Long Haul to be correctly sized with the others. Part of me thinks Devy's gun may be modular... The upper legs may somehow connect with parts of his gun to make alternate weapons, so that all of those parts have some sort of playability when the figures aren't combined (or for a kid who never gets all 6 Constructicons).
From this thought, I could see Long Haul being a Voyager.

Leaving Hook with all of the other parts; Devy's head, chest plate, waist plate (? Unless that's part of Long Haul), forearms, and hands. I'm assuming Hook's crane arm will be articulated, and between his own blaster and everything listed above, most likely he's Leader class.

Looking at the release schedule, it appears these two are going to be slotted for 2026. Which then Devastator is technically part of the 40th anniversary year. Not to mention, if the Voyager/Leader scenario above were to happen, both could be released first quarter.
*So far, Commander Class releases have all been 3rd or 4th quarter.

Speaking to CC... I am okay with this option as well. Assuming the price point stays at $90, I'm good with these two figures and all of the necessary packed-in extras costing that much. Essentially two $35-ish figures, and roughly $20 worth of pack-in's. Obviously it's more than I want to pay, but that's a realistic price.
I had a thought at one point that these both would each be Leader class; but that totals close to $120 after tax. That seems like a stretch, especially considering the limb bots will already be $100+.

Here's why I don't think Commander Class is the play...
CC figures are less likely to be in stores. I'm going to give Hastak some credit that they won't want to make this set a pain in the arse to complete. Trying to use the PR card down the road doesn't work with a combiner. Especially one made-up of 6 characters.
It seems to me that CC figures are released in the second half of the year so that people may still be willing to purchase it even though they've already spent x amount on figures during the first half of the year...
There would be some who would back off buying 1, 2, or even 3+ figures after the first quarter if they've already dropped $90+ within the first three months of the year.
All this to say, since it doesn't look like Hook and Long Haul are happening in 2025, would Hastak really make everyone wait until July or later in '26 to finish this set?
I'm going to say no. That's a real sudden halt and long wait after building the momentum of getting the other 4 in the previous 2 waves.

For me, the question is, will Hastak milk these last two figures and make them each Leader class? This would mean the 5th figure is released in wave 1, and the 6th would be released in wave 2; there wouldn't be a huge gap/wait in-between getting the set finished, but it would still feel really dragged-out through the first half of the year. Devy probably wouldn't be complete for most until June if not later.

Of course part of me thinks about SS86 Swoop, and then I can quickly shift to "Hastak doesn't give a sh!t how long we have to wait for figures".

At any rate, I'm very anxious to see how this works out.

After the experience of trying to acquire all of Menasor and still waiting on Breaker, I've pretty much given up on Combiners. I do not have the patience or the fortitude for tracking them down. lol

Till-all-R1 wrote:After the experience of trying to acquire all of Menasor and still waiting on Breaker, I've pretty much given up on Combiners. I do not have the patience or the fortitude for tracking them down. lol

I think this is part of the reason the first 4 Constructicons will be released in two consecutive waves during the second half of next year.
It is unfortunate that the Stunticons were an issue for people to get. I have definitely not forgotten how lucky I was to find Dead End in a store the way I did.
We’ve reached a point where the safest way to try and ensure getting a figure is to preorder asap.
The nice thing for most is that making a return is relatively easy. And although it can seem like a hassle, if it means getting your money back for a figure you really don’t want, then it’s completely worth it.

One more thought I’ve had about Hook & Long Haul…. I don’t see them both being Leader class….
Even with the packed-in extras, I don’t see how both could justify the price.
Next, I would assume that would mean any other Leader class figure for SS or SS86 that year would be a PR. Which isn’t a surprise and has already been happening. But again, if a lot of people buy Hook & Long Haul (spending close to $120), how many of those same people are going to drop another $55-$60 later in the year for another Leader class figure (whether it’s a PR or a new mold)? If these two are leaders, it could create a major shelf-warming issue later in the year.

Even though my recent predictions have been wrong, here’s what I’m calling;

Long Haul will be a Voyager, and will include his own blaster, and Devastator’s upper legs and chest plate. These parts may be compatible with his alt mode.
Hook will be Leader class, include his own blaster and all of the remaining parts for Devy. I don’t think all of these extras will have alternative functions/playability, but in the grand scheme, who cares.
I think Hook is a more interesting-looking bot (not to mention he actually spoke in the movie) which imo makes him a better choice for a Leader class figure.

Even with six bots, this distribution of class still puts the total cost of these Constructicons right about the same as Legacy Menasor.

Here he is, LEADER 86 SWOOP. He was revealed officially by Hasbro at Wondercon a little while ago. Below are some images shared across social media where we see both modes.

Fans were also teased with announcements that these figures would be coming out:

-RID Sideburn
-Cybertron Hot Shot
-Infernac Nucleous
-Vector Prime

Swoop is a no-brainer.

What I'm really curious about are the other reveals.

I've already seen people complain how he just turns into a square and I'm just like "Yeah, that's Swoop. He's a square with wings, did you expect him to be accurate to an actual Pteranodon?"

Fires_Of_Inferno wrote:I've already seen people complain how he just turns into a square and I'm just like "Yeah, that's Swoop. He's a square with wings, did you expect him to be accurate to an actual Pteranodon?"

Maybe they were expecting him to have a more impressive wingspan. Though, that angle in dino mode doesn't really show a good look at said wingspan at all.

Sabrblade wrote:

Fires_Of_Inferno wrote:I've already seen people complain how he just turns into a square and I'm just like "Yeah, that's Swoop. He's a square with wings, did you expect him to be accurate to an actual Pteranodon?"

Maybe they were expecting him to have a more impressive wingspan. Though, that angle in dino mode doesn't really show a good look at said wingspan at all.

I can tell from the picture that the wings on the dino mode may be a wee bit shorter compared to the cartoon itself. However, they are perfect compared to the character sheet in both modes.

They do look small, but weirdly that doesn't look wrong to me necessarily? Maybe it's mistransformed and they pull out more or the arms collapse in more? But if that's just how it is then, again, it doesn't look wrong to my eyes.

I admit these initial pics have me feeling underwhelmed. I was hoping for something more cartoon-model, like the other leader Dinobots were. The body could be said to have accuracy, but the head and wings...

Well, I hope better shots are forthcoming. The wings really need a 3-hinge bend setup like the cartoon had.

The newly revealed Transformers Studio Series toys were on display at Wondercon allowing fans to check them out.
Toy Shiz posted a video of the various toy displays which includes Swoop. Below are screen caps of that video, giving us our best look yet at the figure in both modes which are very G1 accurate. Preorders for this figure go up next thursday.

Looks great, can't wait to get this guy
Can't decide if I want him to keep both swords or if I wanna give one to Slug. Or maybe I'll give it to Snarl and give snarls sword to the tiger stripe Grimlock. Decisions decisions

YAY Finally!!!!! I must have him. He was always a favorite of mine!

MUCH better! I like what I see!

Wow. Finally.
Here are my initial thoughts, starting with the criticisms.

The wings in dino mode do look a bit short.
From top to bottom, the torso in dino mode looks a bit thick.
Having a blaster would’ve been nice, but I can understand the swords.
The bot mode really should have forearm panels.

Obviously none of these come anywhere close to being “deal-breakers”. But I also wouldn’t necessarily call them nit-picks either. For being Leader class with substantially less engineering and parts than the other 4, at least a few items listed above should’ve been non-issues.

For me, as far as what can be seen in these stills, the positives far outweigh and out-number any negatives.
The highlights for me are definitely the bot mode, and the face and head sculpt…. Again based on what I can see, Hastak nailed the look of his face and head…. This alone makes me really happy. The whole bot mode is fantastic, the proportions look to be on point, and I like that the torso collapses together for dino mode.
So I am beyond excited to get this figure.
I’m also thankful that Snarl and Swoop have been the last two released since they’re my favorites.

Looks like my ranking of these Dinobots is:
1: Snarl and Swoop
2: Grimlock
3: Sludge and Slag

I can’t wait to see images of all 5 together.

Confounded , Infernal, slaggin' Box art pics, not showing his number deisgnation... . You know thats gotta be on purpose. But Im guessing its going to be SS 86 26. Although we now live ina world with two 86-24's (Buzzworthy label aside), so I'm not sure why I still keep track, Hasbro obviously dosen't

I did see that there is a swivel hinge on each wing that would allow that last section to rotate into a different position; it may not make the wings look longer, but they can be put into more of a dive-bombing, aggressive look.
This is a guess, but it’s what I’m seeing.

For reference:

william-james88 wrote:The newly revealed Transformers Studio Series toys were on display at Wondercon allowing fans to check them out.
Toy Shiz posted a video of the various toy displays which includes Swoop. Below are screen caps of that video, giving us our best look yet at the figure in both modes which are very G1 accurate. Preorders for this figure go up next thursday.

Video is broken

I can't tell you folks how VERY excited I am to see that this guy is finally revealed to the world! There is no doubt in my mind that I will be preordering this guy when it goes up on Hasbro Pulse!

Sowndwave76 wrote:I did see that there is a swivel hinge on each wing that would allow that last section to rotate into a different position; it may not make the wings look longer, but they can be put into more of a dive-bombing, aggressive look.
This is a guess, but it’s what I’m seeing.

I've noticed that as well. We don't get a good image of the back side of the toy in robot mode to tell, unfortunately.

So people on Facebook and Reddit can now stop complaining that we havent' seen him and now complain that

*his wings are too short
*he only comes with 1 other sword

or other complaints. Yaaaay!

For my part, not that there was a whole lot of doubt, but I'm sold. I'll preorder him ASAP on Thursday. Swords are whatever as far as I'm concerned, I got the solid red Nonnef swords for everyone (including Snarl so he'd match the others) so if anything now I'll have a surplus Grimlock sword. I could give it to the tiger stripes version I suppose.

Well at least people can't complain about him being too small, he takes up the whole box and looks like a giant with all those Deluxe figures on the display.

Emerje

Overall, he looks pretty good.

I really hope we get a red version eventually, to go with comics Grimlock.

Why couldn't they give us a couple of Dinobot group shots?

I'm a little bit disappointed for Swoop. For its simplicity and hollowness, Hasbro could've/should've provide the missing weapons of his brethrens. I personally am not too mad about missing swords, it's Snarl's gun that I wanted.

Oh well, it's in Hasbro's habit of skimming out on design/accessories for a last member of a group, like Menasor breakdown, so I half expected it.

Sowndwave76 wrote:Wow. Finally.
Here are my initial thoughts, starting with the criticisms.

The wings in dino mode do look a bit short.
From top to bottom, the torso in dino mode looks a bit thick.
Having a blaster would’ve been nice, but I can understand the swords.
The bot mode really should have forearm panels.

I can’t wait to see images of all 5 together.

Hastak definitely erred towards the character sheet. the wings aren't necessarily too short widthwise but they're definitely thinner along the lengthwise axis than they ought be. If they were to do a toy color version I'd really like to see the wings retooled because while they look *fine* as they are, the point where the wings "connect" to the body at the bottom should be further down.