Targetmasters Are Back! Takara Transformers Prime Micron Arms Series: First Look at Skywarp

oooooo, so instead of making built in guns like FE cliff, they made a targetmaster that specifically looks like his gun? ill hafta admit im okay w that; im warming to RID cliff but i still wuda preferred FE cliff

That's pretty cool! Any chance Hasbro will do this, or is this going to be a Takara-only thing?

Ah, that's why the crap weapons in prime rid/powerizer... the good ones will come later... (as long as you pay extra for them...)

Eh with this, makes me feel like just getting all the Takara RID figures, I'll take Minicons or Micron than light up parts any day.

I think the Cliffjumper figure used in these pictures is broken. He only has one horn on his head? That's stupid. At least use a figure that has all the parts & pieces.

acchillyaout wrote:I think the Cliffjumper figure used in these pictures is broken. He only has one horn on his head? That's stupid. At least use a figure that has all the parts & pieces.

Dude, that is the remold/repaint of Cliffjumper into Zombie Cliffjumper, he's supposed to look like that.


Also, yea, look like I'll be collecting the Takara line.

Please come to North America, please come to North America...

I'm sooooooo hoping someone brings these to Botcon or they get announced as also US availability.

acchillyaout wrote:I think the Cliffjumper figure used in these pictures is broken. He only has one horn on his head? That's stupid. At least use a figure that has all the parts & pieces.

Either you haven't seen the show or you're making a funny...

And, Squeeeee! Zombie Cliffy looks to be a slight remold of FE Cliffy. This possibility might have me skipping PRID Cliffy entirely.

All in all, the target masters look good. I hope Hasbro brings them in. It might bring me back to the Prime line...

Below Skywarp....They wouldn't do a silhouette of Starscream...Thundercracker?

Just watch as Takara releases this Skywarp and Hasbro does nothing and I become heartbroken, having missed yet another Skywarp.

wow, these are cool. the added minicon awesomeness is making me consider getting the majority of these. sucks for my wallet. unless Hasbro are able to announce that they'll be releasing these minicons, and at mass market, and for more than 5 minutes, i'm turning japanese

Great news!

After what Hasbro did to us even one reason more to stick with Takaras TF:Prime toys. They re-use at least some of the first edition molds and include Targetmasters instead of glowing-mechtec crap.

Hope your RID line becomes the biggest shelf warmer Hasbro!

Okay, I'm interested. Hopefully they convincingly transform. Are these the ones being capsule figs or something. I hope they come in a one shot set.

craggy wrote:wow, these are cool. the added minicon awesomeness is making me consider getting the majority of these. sucks for my wallet. unless Hasbro are able to announce that they'll be releasing these minicons, and at mass market, and for more than 5 minutes, i'm turning japanese

Yikes, I'll have that song in my head for weeks. Ironically, I think a few other fans "turned Japanese" the moment they saw these figures.

And it looks like I'll be getting TT almost exclusively this line.

My poor wallet

weeping...weeping...

Is this HasTak's attempt to make us forget about losing out on the FE figures & make the inferior RID figures more palatable?

^Nope, it's Takara doing what they do and Hasbro not giving a crap.

I bet that Skywarp will never see the light of day in Hasbro's line, and while we may see these minicons somehow, they won't be included with the Hasbro figures.

hopefully we get these
looks like they will work perfectly with the aesthetic of the new line

The light I see at the end of this tunnel is this: If you can't get FE cliff, at least Zombie Cliffjumper is the same mold.

Thumbs up, on this idea...

Agamemnon wrote:Below Skywarp....They wouldn't do a silhouette of Starscream...Thundercracker?

Ah, but they would do a silhouette of Starscream, as that'd be the voyager class figure. Kapow also have listings for Knock-Out and Breakdown. Worryingly they're both priced as deluxe class.

Can Ratchet and Arcee be called Targetmasters? Shouldn't they be Sushi-masters or something?

As much as I want those Mini-Cons, there's no way I'm paying for Takara's premium versions of what I feel are truely horrific figures just to get them. Hopefully Hasbro will release them in Mini-Con packs.

I am realy getting into these figures I realy want the ones for RID Cliff so i can give him the horns. Skywarp looks cool but a new HEad sculped would of been better

ok, people keep callin cliffs b=guns the horns and i keep gettin confused. They're not literally called the horns, he was referencing that he's guna fight back n play rough, and that he has horns. the guns rnt called horns; sry to bitch but i keep getting really confuseed reading these. But yea, thatd be my main reason for getting them too

Hypershock wrote:ok, people keep callin cliffs b=guns the horns and i keep gettin confused. They're not literally called the horns, he was referencing that he's guna fight back n play rough, and that he has horns. the guns rnt called horns; sry to bitch but i keep getting really confuseed reading these. But yea, thatd be my main reason for getting them too

I know they aren't called the Horns I just liked that name

SOUNDWAVE SUPERIOR!!!!!!!!!!!!

Soundwave is definitely tempting. Skywarp too, sort of. I could use it as a Classics Slipstream maybe? I'd actually like that mold in red and silver, as Terrorsaur (or Terrorsoar? maybe?). Assuming Bulk will be the FE version, his Micron looks nice, but Voyagers are a bit too expensive in this way. I can almost rationalise the cost of a few Deluxes, but Voyagers are enough to feed me for a few weeks. Cliffjumper has the RID mold, but he has the awesome awesome gun... Megatron's nice, but I think from Kapow's pricing, that's the Deluxe. Not paying the random extra fiver they've slapped on it and I do like the look of Ratchet, and his Micron, so we'll see.

I still would like some word on if we're getting any of these wee guys from Hasbro. I'd probably buy a set of just the Minicons quite happily.

Did we ever figure out if that's the powerizer version of Prime or the First Edition + Targetmaster?

Mkall wrote:Please come to North America, please come to North America...

What he said, what he said, what he said............

Rodimus Minor wrote:

Hypershock wrote:ok, people keep callin cliffs b=guns the horns and i keep gettin confused. They're not literally called the horns, he was referencing that he's guna fight back n play rough, and that he has horns. the guns rnt called horns; sry to bitch but i keep getting really confuseed reading these. But yea, thatd be my main reason for getting them too

I know they aren't called the Horns I just liked that name

Sokay, i was in a bad mood :J so will the micron/ gun thing come in place of the gun/hammer thing or will they both be with it, anybody know?

The Shadow knows...

Some of these look really sweet. It looks like a pretty cool throwback to the good ol' days of G1 Targetmasters. I think I will be buying most of these .

Are these figures coming with 2 or 1 micron figure I hope its 2 I don't want to bye doubles

Rodimus Minor wrote:Are these figures coming with 2 or 1 micron figure I hope its 2 I don't want to bye doubles

My Japanese is rustier than the Titanic so I'm going to have to go with the pictures, where it looks like probably all but Soundwave have 1 Minicon, that has 2 modes. Soundwave has the Laserbeak "minicon" as part of him anyway, so with his Micron Arms partner, that's 2 you'll get with him.

Skywarp64 wrote:Just watch as Takara releases this Skywarp and Hasbro does nothing and I become heartbroken, having missed yet another Skywarp.

I will be a little surprised if Hasbro ever releases this mold again.

And, frankly, I'd be more disappointed if Skywarp made an appearance on the show and then didn't get the Voyager treatment that Starscream is getting.

But my guess is that Skywarp/Thundercracker never appear on the show and these just are just easy recolors that TakaraTomy is putting out there for the die-hard Seeker collectors. It looks like the head hasn't even been remolded. (If it has, the difference is subtle.) As someone who's collected more than one set of seekers and as someone who's very fond of the Transformers: Prime characterizations, I'm still having a hard time getting excited about these recolors.

I might feel differently if they do appear in the show and these TarakaTomy renditions turn out to be the only figures of them made. But I doubt that will turn out to be the case.

Dear Hasbro.

Do this.

Love,

RhA

Considering that Skywarp is a retool, Hasbro MAY release him, I think. I'm having a hard time justifying not getting Terrorcon Cliffjumper. I love the idea of a zombie Cliff.

I'm anxious to see the specifics of which molds will be used for the Takara Arms Micron releases, especially Optimus and Bulkhead.


I have the Takara First Edition Bulkhead and hae the Takara First Edition Optimus on the way; I wonder if they'll be made redundant by the Arms Micron releases....

metaphorge wrote:I'm anxious to see the specifics of which molds will be used for the Takara Arms Micron releases, especially Optimus and Bulkhead.

You can see that that silhouette is Powerizer Optimus and considering we know a new mold Bulkhead is on the way, I think it's safe to assume that it'll be Arms Micron Bulkhead.

i dint know hlj charges in yen; there wont be any discrepancy if i try to order AM cliff w the micron, will there?

Starscream GaGa wrote:

metaphorge wrote:I'm anxious to see the specifics of which molds will be used for the Takara Arms Micron releases, especially Optimus and Bulkhead.

You can see that that silhouette is Powerizer Optimus and considering we know a new mold Bulkhead is on the way, I think it's safe to assume that it'll be Arms Micron Bulkhead.

Yeah, I thought it was likely that Takara will be using the RID molds for the majority of the Arms Micron releases, but it will be nice to get confirmation on that.

How much you want to bet that AM-01 Optimus Prime will not be plagued with as much translucent material as his RID counterpart (if he does indeed use the "Powerizer" mold)?

I want that tiny, movie-inspired, Scorponok. He looks like the Scientists' Energon Maces in WfC, in addition to my like for tiny scorponoks... I bet he'd look great, with maybe a little paint, if they ever come out with a WfC/FoC scientist mold to hold him. :3

I know a lot of folks here are quite serious about their Mini-cons/Targetmasters/Headmasters/Powermasters/Brainmasters/whathaveyoumasters. And to those folks, I apologize.

I must dissent. I'm no fan of this gimmick.

These little robots (or humanoids in exo-suits) have been responsible for some of the worst Transformers fiction. Please understand that I say this as a child of the 80s who was unimpressed with the rationale for Targetmasters/Headmasters at their inception and, later, borderline offended at the rationale for Mini-cons in Armada. (Really? Robots that want to be enslaved by the Right Masters?)

It's my hope that this is just a gimmick in the TakaraTomy toys that will not be reflected in the Transformers: Prime fiction. Because that just hasn't turned out well in the past.

Actually.. on a minor point... I rewatched "The Rebirth", and its definately my favorite post-movie story... yes, its a little contrived how it all works, but I think if you read Marvel UK and especially the relationship between Highbrow and Gort or even Scourge and Fracas, I think done well, its a really nice idea.

I can see these targetmasters working VERY well with UN23. Takara, I see what you did there. Bastards!

Dammit... Jealous...

I think I've figured out why the Arms Micron Megatron is going to be the Deluxe class mold, not the RID Voyager class: Takara did not want to have to make a Micron large enough to transform into the Voyager's big-assed cannon.

Doesn't hurt my feelings; I don't have any versions of the Deluxe Megs mold yet.

I wonder if we have already seen images of the AM Voyager Optimus from the World Hobby Fair...

If you look at the weapons attached to optimus in the two pictures, you can clearly tell that these resemble the press release mock up of the AM Microns. The sword in his hand resembles the Micro w/ Ratchet, the three barrel cannon on his left shoulder looks like Cliffjumper's. And the right shoulder looks like Bumblebee's and Optimus' combined.

Now this is only speculation on my part and may have no basis in reality

Turlain wrote:I wonder if we have already seen images of the AM Voyager Optimus from the World Hobby Fair...

If you look at the weapons attached to optimus in the two pictures, you can clearly tell that these resemble the press release mock up of the AM Microns. The sword in his hand resembles the Micro w/ Ratchet, the three barrel cannon on his left shoulder looks like Cliffjumper's. And the right shoulder looks like Bumblebee's and Optimus' combined.

I think your identification of the Microns is dead-on. They look full of majesty!

As to the Prime in that photo, I think it's been generally agreed upon that it's a slightly modified First Edition; apparently the AM-01 solicitation image shows the RID "Powerizer" mold:



It's possible Takara might release a slight retool of the FE Prime as AM-01, but if so, why would they use the Powerizer version for the image above?

Also: Why does AM-01's gun transform into a Micron Shockwave? It seems like many of the other Autobots' Microns tranform into tiny replicas of the Autobots (with an Optimus-like Micron being one of the Microns included in the capsule assortment), so what's the deal here?

Yeah I noticed that to in the press release. I can only hope they don't go that route, as I think we can all agree it's an inferior mold.