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Top 5 Best Nemesis Prime / Scourge Transformers Toys

Date: Sunday, June 21st 2020 10:03pm CDT
Categories: Site Articles, Editorials, Top Lists
Posted by: william-james88

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Views: 73,327

We had a list before by our good friend Megatronus, and he had his own guidelines. Now, not only have 4 years past since, with a bunch of new black Optimus Prime repaints, but I'm opening it up to whichever toy had Nemesis or Scourge in their name. It seems to be the same with others, but I do tend to favour uniqueness when it comes to these repaints. Of course, that's a challenge for repaints, and hence why being ever so slightly unique scores a lot of points. Ok so on with the show!

5. Legends EX Black Convoy (Scourge/Nemesis Prime)

Firstly, the truck mode is a beautiful love letter to the original RID Scourge. And I really like it as an update. While the truck mode looks the part, it gives us a new take on the transformation by having the tanker segment incorporated into the robot mode, which also looks the part. And you can now have an RID Scourge in your classics collection. Of course, this deco works much better for this mold than the original release's red and blue Optimus Prime colour scheme but I even think this mold works better as Scourge than it does Octane, with those pop up antennas working much better on an Optimus style head. This, along with the various ways to position the shoulder pylons and wings adds to the versatility of the look to distinguish this from Titans Return Optimus or any other generations voyager Optimus figure. In the end, this toy looks the part, with the deco being a labour of love to the original, and has an interesting transformation. The plane serves as an extra and you can choose to ignore it without it detracting in any way.

4. Transformers Go! Hunter Nemesis Prime

Another toy which works much better in this particular deco. For some reason, the Hasbro version of the Optimus deco went for a greenish theme and gave him such an odd smiling headsculpt. But here we get that awesome black with teal highlights and red windows deco and a bad ass headsculpt. This toy's proportions works really well with the idea of Nemesis Prime being an intimidating threat and the wings and shoulders give you options as to how to present him on your shelf. He works really well in truck mode too with those extra teeth/spikes in the front giving him that extra murderous edge.

3. Transformers Robots In Disguise Scourge (Black Convoy)

This is basically G1 Nemesis. Well, G2, but you know what I mean, he's the original. And this is the toy that influenced the idea of Nemesis Prime we have in our collective minds (for the most part). Not only do we get the previously mentioned deco, but we also get the fact that this Prime looking figure is not the same as Optimus Prime since in that same line, Optimus had a very different look. Along with the toy's bigger stature, this sets a precedent for Nemesis needing to distinguish himself from Optimus and being imposing. Hence why I always favour Nemesis Primes that have a more unique look like different details, different molding, variation in presentation, rather than the straight up black Primes we get in the MP line.

2. Power of the Primes Nemesis Prime

If not for how unique Number 1 is as a concept, this one would take the cake. He is basically the ultimate Nemesis Prime figure. Not only do we get a very different and bad ass head sculpt for the leader class robot, but we get a different headsculpt for the smaller Optimus figure too. Plus we get a weapon that turns into a bird, reminiscent of the arms mircon line, a red sword homaging the multitude of red weapons Nemesis Prime toys got throughout the years and arm cannons from the Armada Nemesis Prime. So you get two toys in one encompassing many versions of Nemesis Prime with a bunch of new exclusive weapons made just for this toy. It was sold in a much bigger box than any leader class toy we've ever seen in the generations line and yet was still sold at the leader price point, which was a really cool surprise.

1. Transformers Universe Nemesis Prime

This Big Convoy redeco is a beast! I am still so amazed that this is how Hasbro chose to release the mold in the west. We finally got an incredibly fun toy, but in an excellent deco. Between the viking-esque horns, massive gun, and blood red matrix, this surprisingly well articulated recycle of the older Beast Wares Neo figure is the perfect vessel for a bad as bones Nemesis.

Speaking of which, he gets major points for the PG13 blood on those horns, which look evil as all heck. You don't want to be caught out alone on the icy tundra, that's for sure!

Top 5 Best Female Transformers Toys

Date: Saturday, June 6th 2020 8:39pm CDT
Categories: Site Articles, Editorials, Top Lists
Posted by: william-james88

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Views: 94,693

Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are my opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.

Top 5 Best Female Transformers (Fembot) Toys

We had covered the top 5 female transformers characters a looooooong time ago. And it was suggested we also cover the best Transformer toys made for female characters. Now, I was a bit apprehensive because, from my memory, that would be a very short list. But we've come a long way from the days where the gender was only decided in the fiction after a non gender specific toy was done. We've even had 2 fully female combiner teams. So let's have fun and get to it!

5. Transformers Animated Arcee

We often get sleeker versions of earth based cars (like Cybertron Hotshot) that don't capitalize on the potential of designing vehicles from other worlds. This one totally fits the bill though. Unlike so many other alt modes, it bravely crosses the line between being a futuristic design to a full blown cybertronian one. It is a great homage to G1 Arcee which is followed through in robot mode and I like the added massive spoilers in the back. That detail gives it enough variation from the traditional Arcee model. Too bad it has exposed hands in vehicle mode though. Props go for it having that signature Arcee backpack without going the easy route and making this a shellformer. - William-james88

4. Unite Warriors Mega Empress (central element of Megatronia, Takara's version of Victorion)

While this is a retool of Hotspot, the new chest, hands, combiner bits and head completely change the identity of the mold. The chest manages to be subtly feminine, the headsculpt is excellent with its classic finned helmet and noble, elegant face, and the hands are definitely female whilst still looking powerful. The holdovers from the original mold work well too, with the massive shoulder pauldrons making her look suitably imperious and her gauntleted hands and booted feet looking properly brutal. On top of that, you can fold the "ladder" over her shoulder or under her arm to form her railgun, which is a feature she does in the fiction.

Megaempress is decked in a very Megatron silver, black and red colour scheme with hints of dark grey and some magenta for the combined mode.

Her greatest triumph, however, is that she takes the old chestnut of "What if (insert character here) was a girl?" and makes it work! The toy looks great, is a lot of fun to play with, AND she's a combiner torso- and a damn good looking one to boot! All Hail Megaempress! - Black Hat

Transformers Generations Combiner Wars Victorion Gallery

Transformers Generations Combiner Wars Pyra Magna Gallery

3. Transformers MP-46 Masterpiece Blackwidow (Blackarachnia)

This is easily the best representation we've ever had of Blackarachnia, who I find to be the best female character in the entire Transformers franchise. The paint is sublime and I can see where all my money went since the robot mode is perfect. However as a Transformers toy, it falls a bit short since there isn't much to the transformation and the beast mode is nothing to write home about. But all around, it is still a toy I am happy to own in my collection and I recommend it to any Blackarachnia and fembot fan. -William-james88

2. Transformers Legends Arcee/Nightbird Shadow

It is great to see a deluxe come with so many accessories and different places to store them in both robot mode and vehicle mode (the vehicle mode storage where Arcee’s robot hands hold a gun into place is really clever). While this is not a masterpiece, it looks exactly like the G1 cartoon model. Especially with the softer Takara deco which looks like it is made of delicious candy. For those who don’t know, this is the only toy from this line (Thrilling 30) to be designed partly by Takara instead of simply Hasbro. Since this is the very first toy of G1 Arcee, Takara felt it would be a disservice for it to be an update to her G1 self, which is the theme of the Generations line (and all the other “classics” lines.) So they stepped in and made her design reflect her G1 self as much as they could. That dedication and passion makes this toy extra special.- William-james88

1. Transformers Beast Machines Blackarachnia (Black Widow)

Even with the MP out, this remains one of the better Blackarachnia figures. I really like the transformation, which gives us a great spider mode even though the details don't match up perfectly with the show. And it gives us the multiple eyes gimmick in robot mode too. I find it the best toy done for a female character, emphasizing the different body type a female Cybertronian could have. It's just a well done toy all around, conveying the essence of the character and the biotech theme of the show, regardless of its accuracy. - William-james88

Honourable mention: Takara Transformers Adventures TAV-52 Strongarm and Sawback (Battle Pack Strongarm from Robots in Disguise)

I really like Strongarm's design. While she is female, she doesn't have the typical fembot physique, and instead is more in line with the classic boxy image of Transformers. And doesn't that make more sense? While her warrior class toy was not one of the standouts in the line, her two smaller toys were pretty great. Her Legion toy was already on our top 10 list for that class and now I would like to highlight her Battle Pack class toy. Especially the Takara version which had the best deco of all Stong Arm toys. In a line that fans first feared to be simpler, these Battlepack toys had the perfect articulation and complexity to go with the size. I find it remarkable how the designers were able to achieve the same bot and alt mode in this smaller scale.

Top 5 Best Transformers Botbots Series 2 Toys

Date: Saturday, May 23rd 2020 2:11pm CDT
Categories: Site Articles, Editorials, Top Lists
Posted by: TF-fan kev777

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Views: 67,618

Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by your fellow editor or a guest writer, like in today's case with TF-fan kev777. These are our opinions so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.

Top 5 Series 2 Botbots Toys

So with series 1 out of the way here(add link), it is time to take a look at Series 2 of the Botbots. This series for me is the one that solidifies the Botbtos line as a true Transformers line. Why, you ask? Repaints! Repaints everywhere! From the lazy, lets make the pink ruler now yellow, to the somewhat clever, hockey puck into smart speaker, this line combined a number of repaints with a number of new molds. Don’t get me wrong, some of the repaints are pretty useful, like the food items. I have a fairly large TF collection to feed at home so extra food is always welcome. Anyway, this list will stick to the new molds because I didn’t feel any of the repaints were really outstanding enough to warrant a spot on the list or even an honorable mention. Now onto the list.

5. Grampiano

Grampiano takes the last spot on the list for me. The alt mode does scale decently enough for your various masters (Titan/Prime/Battle/Micro) to play. It even works as a ridiculously undersized piano for your bigger bots. The transformation is fun, and I love that the sheet music becomes the hair for bot mode. It also pulls of a grumpy old man face well very well. Articulation is different from most bots with 2 rotating joints on each arm, instead of either a single ball joint or a single rotating joint. This allow you to use his arms a bit more than most bots, and I love the pincher type hands. There is virtually no kibble as all the piano parts are used in bot mode, and the black color helps the legs blend in for piano mode.

4. Ollie Bite

Ollie Bite is another great new mold turning from a hat into a legged shark monster thingy, basically a Sharkticon junior. The transformation is pretty fun and has a few more steps that most Botbots. Bot mode is great with good arm articulation, and the bill of the hat becoming the shark tail helps counterbalance the rest of the hat being fairly front-heavy, so he is actually pretty easy to stand and pose. In hat mode, everything hides away nicely with only the teeth line on the hat giving away that it isn’t just a hat. The hat is right-sized for most combiners and larger bots. You can pull of a 3rd fan mode of being just a shark by leaving the arms and legs tucked away. Ollie Bite also happens to be my daughters pick for Series 2, what can I say, she has good taste.

3. Bottocorrect

Okay, so I’m old enough to have actually used white-out in school, so this hits a little bit of nostalgia for me, but Bottocorrect makes the list on his own merits, no nostalgia needed. This mold gives us something we have not seen in Botbots before, a built in cannon complete with sights!!! That would be enough to secure a spot on this list alone, but the bot mode pushed him up to number 3. The bot mode is fantastic. Both arms have good articulation with shoulder ball joints, and the cannon arm also has another ball joint allowing you to aim the cannon. The transformation is fun, but the legs can be a little deceiving. They look like they should fold out to be straight with the rest of the body, but they don’t. The body is actually angled backward to offset the weight of the cannon in front. The bot mode face is perfect for a maniacal bot with a cannon arm, and the single eye gives me Plankton from Spongebob kind of vibe.

2. Big Cantuna

The alt mode of a rotting can of tuna with the lid peeled back and a dead fish head sticking out had me at first sight. The Spoiled Rotten clan was a great idea for redecos of unspoiled food from Series 1, but also they ended up with one of the most unique overall molds of the whole line. The transformation is fun and pretty intuitive for a disk to bot change. I love that the fish head is the bot head. There really is no kibble since the whole can gets used for the limbs and torso. This figure actually has some of the best articulation of the whole botbots line as well with double ball joints on each arm, ball joints for the hips and even a neck ball joint. Yep, you can give him an upside-down head if you want. The only real downside is the overall size and shape in alt mode makes it hard for many other TF’s to hold.

1. Javasaurus Rex

Here we are at the top of another list and this time the choice was easy. Javasaurus Rex might be my favorite mold of the entire Botbot franchise so far (up through Series 4 as of writing this list). Javasaurus Rex would take the top spot based on transformation alone, but is actually solid in both modes as well, making it a no-brainer here. The transformation is probably the closest one in all of Botbots to the mainline Transformers, and you could easily see this upscaled to be an appliance bot for the movie lines with a movie type deco. The transformation uses one of my favorite things, rotating the waist 180 degrees. For articulation, there are ball jointed shoulders giving full range of motion for the arms. The mouth can be open or closed. The legs are only on rotating joints, but when you combine that with the holy grail of Transformers, the waist swivel, you have possibly the best combination of proportions, weight balance and articulation in all of Botbots. For the alt mode of the coffee maker, the only real downside is the visible eyes, and that was nowhere near enough to keep him from the top.

Honourable Mentions: I’ll once again be doing these a little differently, more of a bullet point list pointing out a few other botbots that I wanted to give a shout out for a specific reason.
Drumbeats gets a mention here because I played the drums when I was younger and really appreciate the leg detail they gave him to make each leg look like a bass drum pedal. That attention to detail really impressed me.
Hamauri gets a spot here for being the first Botbots partsformer with the ham bone becoming his knife and bringing another typical feature of the other TF lines to Botbots Alt mode weapon storage. The knife can also be held by many other bots that have the 3mm openings on their hands. For that matter, the entire ham can also be held by other Botbots with the 3mm hands.
Hawt Mess gets a spot here because everyone loves tacos and he is also a very solid mold overall, he just missed getting a spot on the list.
Overpack gets a spot here for being another solid new mold, and I particularly like how the backpack straps kind of look like dreads in bot mode. Dreads Junior for your movie line?
The Music Mob tribe in general gets a mention here as since they all scale well with the various Generation “Masters” as well as being ridiculously undersized instruments for your regular bots. Grab some masters, the Botbots instruments and a TR Soundwave or Blaster and you have yourself a concert.

Top 5 Best G1 Styled Megatron Transformers Toys

Date: Sunday, May 10th 2020 2:26pm CDT
Categories: Site Articles, Editorials, Top Lists
Posted by: william-james88

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Views: 107,714

Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are my opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.

Top 5 Best G1 Styled Megatron Toys

Megatron has had loads of toys throughout the years and unlike Optimus, they have all been very very different from one to the next. That's because his original alt mode, a realistic 1:1 gun, is not something that can be made a toy of as easily as a truck. We already made a list of the best toys to sport the Megatron name but with such varied toys representing his G1 self alone, we thought it could be fun to look at just those. This refers to toys that evoke the original look of Megatron we all know and love. Unlike Optimus Prime, that look has changed throughout the years since Megatron toys released in the US could not turn into realistic life sized guns, but the general theme and aesthetic was still maintained.

5. Transformers Reveal The Shield Legends Megatron

This toy HAD to be on this list, at all cost since it is much more significant than one may think. It is, to this day, Hasbro's final stab at a Megatron toy that turns into a hand gun. Sure, he is small, but that comes with its own set of advantages. For one that means you have a G1 gun Megatron to scale with larger toys like Generations Metroplex, joining other G1 styled smaller toys like Optimus and Starscream. Plus, him being so small, means you have a transforming Megatron toy that can be held by Masterpiece Starscream. In fact, in terms of cross compatibility, Megatron in his gun form can be held by Starscream in both robot mode(thanks to a peg at the handle) and jet mode (thanks to the clip underneath).

Image from Yatsuya Reviews

4. Transformers G1 1984 Megatron (Reissue)

While G1 Megatron may look of with propotions and a trigger hear his crotch, I feel this is one of the main G1 toys everyone should experience. The transformation is very clever and it is very impressive how back in the 80s they could have a realistic gun turn into a robot. There are plenty of reissues available, so taht helps, and it turns out the reissues are even better than the original. The original Hasbro version couldn't fire pellets while the original Takara release was not silver but several reissues give you the best of both worlds by having a silver/chrome finish gun that actually fires.

3. Transformers United Megatron

For over a decade, this was the best G1 styled Megatron toy. The design is still great and very smart. I espeially love how the legs become different parts of the gun's alt mode and yet are identical. While the Hasbro deco was a bit off, with some purple and neon green, the Takara versions and the recent Platinum release have some very nice paint schemes.

2. WFC Siege Megatron Netflix (specifically the Netflix boxset)

This toy was a looooooong time coming. While we had several Classics Megatrons over the years, they were either too small or too big or a redeco of another character (like Blitzwing or Bludgeon). And finally in the Siege line, we got a G1 styled Megatron who was the right size and not someone else's mold/body. That is worth celebrating, let alone the fact that he is a fun toy. The proportions are nice, especially the size of the fusion cannon, and while the tank mode could be better the robot mode makes up for any alt mode shortcoming. I especially recommend the Netflix version since the deco is more apt, especially int terms of the weathering, and it fixes an issue with the ankles. Plus it comes with targetmasters we actually needed like a properly coloured Lionizer and pinpointer.

1. Takara Transformers Masterpiece MP 36 Megatron

I will be honest, I had my doubts with this toy. The price was the highest I had ever paid for a Transformers figure and the intricacies of the transformation worried me. The previous MP Megatron was not fun to transform and this one was even more complex.
But all those worries melted away when I first transformed the figure. Well, even before even because i was amazed at how solid the robot was. This toy has great articulation and parts don't unclip, he really stays together as a full fledged action figure. And then when transforming him you see just how many parts are involved and you wonder just how it's possible that you have all these small moving piece that can disconnect and reconnect themselves in different positions to form two solid modes. The transformation, while complex, was not annoying. Every part had a place to go, it felt like a pleasant journey. I especially liked the side of his abdominal area disappearing within the body of the gun. I also like transforming the legs since there are smaller pieces used just for the robot mode to fill out the legs and since they disappear when forming the gun handle, it really gives the impression that the toy is morphing to accommodate closer proportions to what we see on the show even though initially the handle of the gun simply split into two legs.
Whether that last part was clear or not doesn't matter, what I want to get across is that I felt I had a great toy and a great experience and that it was money well spent. I do not know if this is the best Masterpiece toy of all time but it is easily the best G1 Megatron toy by a country mile.

Honourable Mention: The Combiner Wars leader class Megatron is an ok toy, and looks the part, especially the headsculpt. But unlike any of the figures above, it just didn't break any new ground. It was also a very basic toy for the leader price point and it started the now aborted budget MP scale which I still have a tough time remedying within my collection (and eventually sold).

Top 5 Best Grimlock Transformers Toys

Date: Saturday, April 25th 2020 2:41pm CDT
Categories: Site Articles, Editorials, Top Lists
Posted by: william-james88

Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 82,130

Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are my opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.

Top 5 Best Grimlock Transformers toys

Grimlock is one of the most iconic and popular characters in the Transformers brand. I made a list three years ago for his best toys and I must say there wasn't the cornocopia of great Grimlock toys we have now, so I really felt this character needed another list. He feels a lot like Shockwave and Ironhide where even though they are classic characters, it took a while for Hasbro to give us some really great toys for our collections. Well, I am glad Grimlock is now getting his due.

5. Transformers G1 1985 Grimlock

The Dinobots are some of the crown jewels of any G1 collection and while their poseability is nothing to brag about, they will always looks great. Grimlock especially with his massive shoulders and decorative wings, adding to his upper mass. His T-Rex tail become the legs brings equal mass to his lower area, offsetting any top heaviness. The colours are also just great, with that gold just popping. It was a smart transformation and one that keeps getting carried over through different iterations over the years, even the movie toy covered above. And that biologically incorrect T-Rex mode adds to this toy being a time capsule of the 80s era while also giving him a more stylized mechanical dinosaur look, turning something dated into a timeless design.

4. Transformers Studio Series SS-07 Grimlock

FINALLY a good movie Grimlock figure came out. The previous voyager was not bad, but it wasn't something great. This one though really takes it up a notch. Firstly, they make him as big as you could while trying to still fit in a leader class box and then they give it a sweet air brush deco that is found all throughout the toy, making him look much closer to how he appearaed in the film. Speaking of that, we finally have a grimlock which, like in the film, has 2 full T-Rex heads as shoulder pads. And that second T-rex head is hiding in plain sight when in dino mode is pretty cool to me. I always love clever details like that. There is actually a lot of the robot mode detail hiding in plain sight in the dino mode, but that gives it a nearly kibble free robot mode. He is a tad simple, and not all pieces like to stay in place, but his imposing stature and look in both modes make him an easy pick for a list of the best Grimlock toys around.

3. Transformers Cyberverse Ultimate Grimlock

What's so fun to me about that toy is that it feels like a toy we would have gotten in the Cybertron line from the unicron trilogy, right down to a spring gimmick. It's something that both kids and collectors could enjoy while really having a presence and a smart transformation that feels familiar yet has some extra tricks to it. And it just looks so good as an update to g1 while being it's own take at the same time, and a the price of a voyager figure, you sure got your money's worth with this big beefy looking toy.

2. Transformers Adventure TAV-30 Battle Grimlock / Robots in Disguise Platinum Grimlock

Lipstick on a pig is an expression fans throw around when there is a deeply flawed Transformers toy that Hasbro or Takara tries to amerliorate with a paint job. It doesn't always work and usually the toy ends up remaining just the same, but with lipstick. However, this is a good example of a time when it worked. Of course some retooling helped a lot to the point where this Robots in Disguise Battle Grimlock (the Hasbro version was just called RID Grimlock) feels very different from the Fall of Cybertron Grimlock toy it is based on, with different transformation steps too. The shoulders which were once a mess are reworked and made simpler and less frustrating, and if you didn't know the mold existed before you would think this was made just for this character. They reworked a lot of pieces from the original and give it a faithful colour scheme (Hasbro's version is a tad less faithful). Here is a quick example to show how it keeps the base mold yet reworks it.

1. Transformers Masterpiece Grimlock (Grimlock (MP-08))

What can I say at this point that hasn't been said? This toy is nearly flawless. It has an imposing robot mode and a smooth Dinosaur mode that looks exactly like the show but with the extra shine of the G1 toy. The Transformation is well executed as it replicates the G1 transformation while taking modern engineering into account. Plus he is fully poseable and comes in gorgeous comic colours as well (and there is a version with hus tux too if you want). After three years and a huge influx of Grimlocks, nothing's come close.

Honourable Mention:

I didn't have an honourable mention last time, but now that we have more toys, you can look back on the previous list to see who didn't make the cut this time around: /transformers ... oys/38563/

Also, I do want to mention another: Transformers Animated Grimlock.

While he isn't too innovative on the G1 formula transformation wise, I do like like how they were able to get the proportions and cartoon look into an actual toy. And he is a solid toy, as is most of the animated line, probably even one of best voyager class toys from that whole line.

Top 5 Best Transformers Toys with Drill Themed Alt Modes

Date: Friday, April 10th 2020 11:35pm CDT
Categories: Site Articles, Editorials, Top Lists
Posted by: william-james88

Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 75,412

Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are my opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.

Top 5 Best Transformers Toys with Drill Themed Alt Modes

You'd be surprised how many Transformers turn into drill themed alt modes, mainly drill tanks. They come up throughout the generations. G1 alone had a Powerdasher, Twin Twist, Nosecone and Drill Horn. All those got redone in the Generations line (even multiple times for some). Beast Wars couldn't resist keeping the drill theme with Drill-Bit, the Unicron Trilogy gave us Menasor, and one of the best toys from the current Cyberverse line includes a drill tank that you can take apart to armor up Sky Byte. Even the comics made a big deal of the drill tank alt mode when it was believed to be Rung's fabled mysterious alt mode. Just to say that it's a theme we keep seeing. Now that we recently got another toy of this type with Generations Selects Zetar, I thought it would be a fun theme of toys to explore. And I am sure all of us would like a fun distraction at the moment.

5. Transformers G1 Victory Drillhorn

While there were many drill tanks in the long G1 era, the only one who's update was rather lackluster compared to the original is Drillhorn. What's great about the G1 version, aside from it being an original mold of a decent looking drilltank, is how Takara went all out on the animal theme. The Liokaiser combiner, as the name would suggest, had an animal theme going on where each bot not only had an animal styled helmet but also a triple changing animal partner. Drillhorn had a robot Rhino buddy that turned into a gun and a chest shield. Add that to him also being a combiner component and you just have loads of playability in one set.

4. Transformers Cybertron Menasor (Moledive)

While the Transformation is barely anything to talk about, it's still quite an imposing toy in both robot mode and alt mode and that drill plays a big factor in that. And I always like to plug in the Unicron trilogy since it's an often forgotten generations but here we see that they were being new and fresh in designs while still homaging some aspects of G1, like the idea of drill tanks and reusing G1 names like Menasor. I just love how nightmarish this toy is in that nimble looking alt mode with that cowcatcher and drill weapons extended out on both sides, making this seem far more offensive in design than anything linked to construction.

3. Transformers Power Core Combiners Sledge

The Power Core combiners get a bad rap for their combiner limbs, which is understandable. They arent articulated, don't have their own bot modes, and are spring loaded. But that bad rap should not extend to the core bots where several are very good toys all on their own. Like Sledge for instance who looks great in both alt mode and robot mode. What takes him up a notch is his partner Throttler who probably has the best (or most convincing) alt mode, which is a big drill. You can attach that drill to Sledge's alt mode or even to his chest in robot mode. It also turns into an armour for both Sledge in robot mode and the bigger combiner.

2. Titans Return Twin Twist

Top Spin and Twin Twist were a big surprise for me in Titans Return. They were easily the most lackluster G1 figures for me, and we didn't really have better versions of these cool characters looking as they did in the G1 comics. But then Titans Return came and the designers went all out on these. For starters, these were big deluxes. Also, as with the G1 toys, even though they transform similarly and have a similar build, there was enough difference in the two molds to make them distinct more than just in colour scheme. Which should be the case when they have different alt modes. I really like the transformation, where it requires big pivoting movements and how the arms recede is always very satisfying.

1. Transformers Unite Warriors Nosecone

This toy is perfect. Combiner Wars was founded on the idea that henceforth, you could maximize a single design by using it for several characters. While fans were happy it meant they would get lots of characters all at once, I was hesitant. And my fears came true when I saw the poor excuse of a drill tank that Hasbro had in mind with reusing the Combiner Wars Brawl tank mold and adding a tooth pick at the end of it and calling it a day. No way Jose, the drill tank is a sacred alt mode, it needs a good update, not an extra accessory added to the worse mold of the line. Well, Takara answered my call and gave us a really good drill tank in its Combiner Wars line with Unite Warriors Nosecone. I really love how that front drill can even be removed and can become a hand for Computron, which is just cherry on the sunday.

Honourable Mention

Transformers Cyberverse Spark Armor Battle Class Skybyte

Speaking of drill hands, Spark Armor Sky Byte also has that ability. His smaller drill tank drone's drill front can either be handheld or totally fit onto the hand of Sky Byte. It's a great smaller toy all around and easily the best of the first year of the Cyberverse line. And you can see more about him here.

Pictorial Review of Studio Series Sentinel Prime + Singaporean Sighting of him and Scrapper

Date: Saturday, March 28th 2020 10:07pm CDT
Categories: Movie Related News, Toy News, Reviews, Site Articles
Posted by: william-james88

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Fellow Seibertronian Actar found Transformers Studio Series Sentinel Prime and Scrapper at the BHG Bugis outlet in Singapore. He was even kind enough to take some images and make a write a review for us, which you can find right here:

Here's my review for Sentinel in the event anyone's interested!

Ooh boy. This one's going to be a tough review! To preface it, I'm going to come clean and say that I'm absolutely in love with the DOTM Leader Class figure from way, way back. It's one of the last few great Transformers toys with a transformation scheme that rivals the now-legendary ROTF Leader Prime. The way the windshield just collapses into his chest? That's a slice of fried gold right there.

That's not to say that it didn't have its fair share of issues. As biased as I am, I'm not delusional. For one, it suffered from a rather severe backpack thanks to the batteries that were required for his electronic lights and sounds, there were a ton more panels hanging off his back than just his cape, and his non-faux chest is way too large.

All these years later, we finally have a new Sentinel figure in the SS line. Can the SS figure topple the Leader and take its place as the definitive Sentinel figure? Let's find out.

Since we're here, let's start off with robot mode. The SS figure does indeed address and fix a number of the problems with the Leader Class figure. Without a battery box, the backpack is drastically reduced. However, the other fixes do come with their own compromises. Firstly, the chest. Yes, it is far, far more accurate and proportional, but you lose the amazing bit of transformation engineering and all of that kibble gets relegated to his butt. Credit where credit is due, it's worthy to note that they at least placed the real windows behind the faux ones ala the Beast Wars MPs and their animal heads. Secondly, they were able to minimize the number of superfluous panels by turning a couple of them into his swords. Rather ingenious idea, but the swords end up really wonky looking from one side and they cannot be stored in robot mode.

All in all, however, bot mode is great. Proportion-wise, it's spot on. (Boxy chest from some angles aside) he looks far more accurate than any Sentinel Prime figure before him with the only real, obvious kibble being the butt windshield the ladders on the side of the legs. The amount of molded detail is also insane. While paint would have gone a long, long way in bringing out all of that detail, it's also rather unfortunate that he's mainly cast in a all black plastic. It's not as dark as what most pictures will have you believe, the black plastic does mask a ton of that detail. It's also really unfortunate that while the Studio Series line excels in terms of molded detail, it lacks in terms of transformation detail. In my opinion, there are way too few transformation steps that are purely for the sake of maintaining accuracy. One obvious example would be the two wheels on the insides of Sentinel's legs instead of just the one.

In terms of articulation, there are problems. His head articulation is horrendous with minimal ability to look even left and right. The ankles don't move side to side either. The waist joint can indeed rotate somewhat, but it can come undone way too easily. At least the transformation joint at the waist can be used as a means to achieve a crazy waist twist. The only other thing that gets in the way of the posing is the fact that his chest is angled downwards due to the transformation. What this means is that if you want him to stand straight with his chest held high, he'll be constantly looking upwards at an awkward angle.

Still, the figure is articulated enough to pretty much pull of almost any pose you want him in.

The last major complaint relating to his poses is that, yes, his shield is missing. One of the most iconic aspects of his character... gone. Urgh. Perhaps they wanted to reduce the cost or perhaps they weren't able to find a way for him to store it in vehicle mode, like how the Leader could. Regardless, this severely limits his posing potential.

Speaking of vehicle mode, the transformation process to it borrows heavily from the Leader but is streamlined to make it more simple but yet almost just as satisfying. The only really annoying part is the fact that the back of the vehicle mode takes a ton of effort to stay pegged together. I'm not sure if it's because the pegs lack friction or that the tolerances aren't as precise as they should have been, but it takes a ton of massaging on my copy to get those back panels to stay together.

As for the vehicle mode itself, it's a boxy firetruck. The only nitpick that I have is the fact that, compared to the Leader figure, it appears to be way too long and thin. I'm not 100% sure which figure is more accurate, but the Leader figure's vehicle mode does seem to be better proportioned.

IN CONCLUSION!

If you're a fan of Sentinel Prime and want a version of him to scale with your other SS figures and are okay with all the (admittedly relatively minor) issues I noted, there's really no reason not to pick this guy up. There're no deal-breaking QC or design flaws and they genuinely did a really decent job of representing the character in the SS line even with all the constraints that come with it. Of course, that might be due to his inherently shellformerish design, but he fairs far better than some of the Deluxes with their entire roofs hanging off their back.

Coming back to the question that I posed at the beginning of the review. Is he a replacement for the DOTM Leader figure?

...not by a long shot! (^o^)

No review (yet), but some images of Scrapper as well!

Top 5 Beast Wars Transformers Toys of Show Characters

Date: Saturday, March 28th 2020 9:22am CDT
Categories: Site Articles, Editorials, Top Lists
Posted by: william-james88

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Views: 63,543

Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are our opinions so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.

Top 5 Beast Wars Toys of Show Characters

I did a list of non show characters before, and even a list for the best Beast Machine toys, but there was one list just waiting to happen. That being of the Beast Wars toys for the characters found in the CG show that lasted for three seasons. Well, here it is!

5. Transformers Beast Wars Transmetal II Megatron (Dragon Megatron)

Hasbro and Takara went all out on this toy. Design wise, I just adore the asymetry that you obviously see in the robot mode with the arms and that is also found more subtly in the dragon mode with the differences on each side of the wings. The deco with the chrome is absolutely lovely and I love all the extra gimmicks like the missiles for a firebreathing effect, the flapping wings that can also remain openned, and the long dragon neck that can be puppeteered. And I always loved the dynamic transformation of Beast Wars megatron where the toy has to be flipped into a different axis.

Transformers News: Top 5 Beast Wars Toys of Show Characters

4. Transformers Beast Wars Transmetals Rampage

I was always impressed with how a robot mode that looks to be so back heavy can actually stand. Rampage pulls it off here and it gives him this very intimidating look. Which is odd when the he doesn't have an alt mode that you'd think would strike much fear. But the designers make you fear that crab by giving him the biggest pincers you could imagine. Also, of all the Transmetal toys, I feel he pulls off that third mode best, especially since it has a nice set of treads dedicated to it. And these treads actually work.

3. Transformers Beast Wars Transmetals Depth Charge

I know, not very original to have this guy right after his sworn enemy but its not my fault Hasbro gave these two rivals excellent toys. Once again, the manta ray is not an obvious alt mode a kid would think of in a show about robots turning into animals but the designers really sell it. The colours are excellent and the chrome is a beautiful touch. They also do something here that I find fun with the chest conversion. In terms of the fiction, the manta ray head morphs to be smaller for his chest and they recreate that by having a smaller manta ray head under the bigger one in the alt mode, which I find to be a nice compromise for a sleeker look. His arsenal is awesome with his chest firing disks, a drone shark which becomes a cannon and his tail becoming a sword.

2. Transformers Beast Wars Fusors Silverbolt

What I truly love here is how they pulled off such a particular design. The flying wolf mode looks really good and feels like its own creature rather than simply adding wings on a wolf. And then from that you get a great looking robot. I especially like all the new robot details, like the chest and skirt, that are nowhere to be found in the flying wolf mode. And those feather missiles have a great dual as both batons and a cool firing feature, along with being well incorporated into the alt mode. You know, I do miss the days when we had absolutely perfect toys that were original and simply wowed us.

1. Transformers Beast Wars Megatron

Yes this is one of my all time favourite toys but that doesn't cloud my judgement in the least because him being the best toy from the original line was also why he was my favourite. I mean, think about it, it's the mid 90s and you get a big beautiful T-Rex toy that also transforms into a badass robot. And one of his hands is the T-Rex head, which can spray water when you open the T-Rex mouth. Which kid would not put this at the top of their Christmas list? I always found the transformation rather inspired with many shifts in axis. Even the MP, while offering more detail, folds and articulation, follows the same transformation steps. I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Honourable Mention: There is one toy that I don't know where to put so I will leave him here. Tripredicus is awesome and I give this combiner his due whenever I can. It was the better of two beast combiners with a very nice mix of components each contributing equal part to the combiner. The reason I leave him here is because these are characters on the show but they looked nothing like this toy.

Transformers Beast Wars Tripredacus (Tripledacus) Gallery

Pictorial Review for Exclusive Transformers Netflix Series Toys Megatron with Lionizer & Pinpointer

Date: Thursday, March 26th 2020 3:58pm CDT
Categories: Toy News, Reviews, Site Articles
Posted by: william-james88

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Views: 39,149

The Walmart exclusive Netflix Series voyager three packs are out in Canada and your fellow news editor found them while getting some milk today. Since these are all simply redecos, I felt in hand images would be all that was needed for a review since all of these molds have already been released multiple times.

This review will be for Megatron with Battlemasters Captive Lionizer & Captive Pinpointer (yes, that is their names, Megatron has imprisoned these guys).

Firstly, as a multipack, I much preferred this one over Hotlink's simply due to wanting all these toys. Lionizer is the orange redeco we always wanted. It is a perfect G1 homage to the bot that came with action master Rad. And while Pinpointer does feels cheap, with the barrel detaching rather easily, I do like that we are getting the targetmaster that goes with Crosshairs.

Now onto Megatron, while I still don't fully get what Hasbro is going for with the spray paint effect, I do prefer him much more than the other versions of this mold. For one, they fixed something with the ankles. I can't tell for sure what it is mechanically, since it does still look the same, but there's no longer the idea of locking and unlocking his ankles. And once unlocked, they don't feel loose. It results in a more satisfying time posing him with ankle pivot.

While the paint seemed to be the biggest difference at first glance (especially due to cameras picking up that silver in an oddly lighted room), I find the change in plastic itself to be more significant to the overall look. It is leagues better than on the original, now that I have them to compare. The "black" plastic on the original had a rust/brown tinge to it but here, it is actually black. It looks especially great on his legs since it created the perfect contrasting look to that spray painted silver on the front, which gives it a G1 toy homage. This adds to the G1 homage that was already on the original toy, with those red highlights in the joint areas and sword, and of course that silver paint and darker grey plastic all add to that theme.

This makes this particular version of Megatron truly shine (ha!) as a more specific homage compared to the original version which was more of an amalgamation. Also, he fact that the inner tank treads are unpainted on this new version makes them less obvious and easier to ignore. You instead get a more Megatron-like silhouette created through the colour contrast of the two different plastic colours.

The spray paint scheme is purposefully uneven, though I don't really know why (this is the case for all these Netflix series redecos). You end up with half his helmet painted. It actually reminds me a lot of that Friends episode where Ross gets a spray tan and through some mishap only gets the spray done on one side of his body. But as you can tell from the images, it still makes for a decent look. It actually ends up emphasizing effectiveness more so creating a cell shaded effect naturally.

The only thing I actually have against this deco is that they just could not resist putting that battle damage splatter somewhere. It has been greatly reduced from the original toy, but it's all focused on his crotch. It would be nice to go one year without attention being given to Meg's crotch (for a recap: MP 36 and 36+ had octo crotch, and last year we got several shots of Beast Wars Meg's broken crotch).

On that fine note, I give you all these images, enjoy!