The Energon Pub

[SpaceEagle]

The Bayverse bots look very spiffy, I think I like how this Crosshairs looks over the previous toy but I am curious about seeing a comparison between the two - overall I like the paintjob on this one more, TLK's toy looked a bit sparse imo

[chuckdawg1999]

Is it me or does Crosshairs look to be a retool of Hot Rod?

[william-james88]

I’m not a fan of the characterization of TLK Hot Rod (and shockingly, not a fan of the movie itself either), but that figure looks too damn good to pass up! It’s tight, the alt mode is sleek, the colors are on point. I can’t quite tell if it’s a retool of Lockdown though.

I don't think it's a retool. Also, about not being a fan, I don't know if anyone ever said they were a fan of TLK.

[Till-all-R1]

Yeah I'm not into the Bay movies that much nor the designs for the bots, but this version of Hot Rod looks pretty darn cool. I won't be getting him but nevertheless both forms do look pretty good.

The figure I'm most looking forward to is Rumble, this latest version really does look great! The one aspect that bothers me a tad is his scale, he doesn't look small enough to fit into Soundwave. lol
Being a core version it's certainly going to be larger than the previous Siege version as well as the latest Eject that accompanied Blaster. So it seems as if I'm going to have to replace all of them.

Next up Ironhide, IDK something still seems off about him even though he's supposedly more screen accurate. I will probably wind up getting him in the end though.

[Nemesis Reformatted]

Ever since the Studio Series started The Fallen was the one I wanted the most. I was hoping they would give him a better alt mode than the previous toys. So in typical LAZY-ASS Hasbro fashion, they gave him basically the same stupid alt mode, only worse.



So that's another $55 I get to spend on Masters Of The Universe instead. Looks like Hasbro wants Mattel to get all my money these days. lol

[Cyber Bishop]

Rumble and Ironhide are all that interest me from this wave.

[EvasionModeBumblebee]

I don't think it's a retool. Also, about not being a fan, I don't know if anyone ever said they were a fan of TLK.

Agreed that it doesn’t appear to be a retool. I actually had a blast watching TLK in theaters, and even though it’s a mess it does have some fun moments. I still prefer it to the Bumblebee movie.

As for the canon of the films though, I only count the first 3.

Ever since the Studio Series started The Fallen was the one I wanted the most. I was hoping they would give him a better alt mode than the previous toys. So in typical LAZY-ASS Hasbro fashion, they gave him basically the same stupid alt mode, only worse.

I mean, considering he doesn’t transform in the movies and the changes to alt mode result in a much better looking robot mode, I’d call it a win

[RodimusPrimeUkraine1]

Rumble is good (he is based on the cartoon your argument is invalid)

I'm impressed enough

Just wish they could pack rumble and frenzy together as a core class.

[Nemesis Primal]

The figure I'm most looking forward to is Rumble, this latest version really does look great! The one aspect that bothers me a tad is his scale, he doesn't look small enough to fit into Soundwave. lol
Being a core version it's certainly going to be larger than the previous Siege version as well as the latest Eject that accompanied Blaster. So it seems as if I'm going to have to replace all of them.

Rumble is 100% Soundwave-compatible and only slightly bigger than the Siege mold according to the stream, he's like half the height of the other Cores.

frumble scale.jpg

[EvasionModeBumblebee]

Sam Smith has more Screen to Toy and 360 renders for today’s reveals! Just Hot Rod and Crosshairs so far, but we should be seeing The Fallen soon too!

https://www.instagram.com/king_samlock/

04D04298-6DF7-46AF-A549-C52004E6D7E6.jpeg

FA9A3B07-3921-4E1F-B06B-88D751C7D797.jpeg

A couple interesting notes:

- Hot Rod’s spoiler is up in alt mode, which is accurate to the London chase scene

- Crosshairs is just a little taller than the SS-49 mold, and his backpack is detachable (though detachment is not required for transformation)

[-Kanrabat-]

I don't think I'll ever buy that Fallen (unless some sale) but I'm glad the he got the REAL leader that he deserved at last.

[TulioDude]

Hot Rod is like robotic version of Omar Sy.

He is one of the best parts of The Last Knight.

I hope future versions of Crosshairs take some cues from his movie version.

[william-james88]

Here are the official pics forStudio Series 2022 Wave 4. Cool to see pics of the actual toy rather than a render for Crosshairs. And we have our firs look at the packaging here too, which tells us that Ironhide will come with his death scene (such heroic nonsense). Here is a case breakdown as well:

This Transformers Studio Series Premier Leader Case contains 2 individually packaged figures:
1x The Fallen
1x Sludge

This Transformers Studio Series Premier Deluxe Case contains 8 individually packaged figures:
1x Bumblebee Movie Ratchet
3x The Last Knight Crosshairs
3x The Last Knight Hot Rod
1x 1986 Arcee

This Transformers Studio Series Premier Voyager Case contains 3 individually packaged figures:
2x 1986 Ironhide
1x Age of Extinction Galvatron

[blakeberrins]

The Fallen is a hard pass. I'm always surprised when they release a figure that has such a lazy transformation that is the equivalent to a robot doing a yoga pose and expecting us to just accept it as some Cybertronian vehicle.

[EvasionModeBumblebee]

Went back and watched the Bayverse portions of the livestream and wow, The Fallen looks even better in-hand from his brief appearance on the stream! Those arm appendages were done perfectly, it looks like he walked (er, teleported I guess!) right off the screen.

[First-Aid]

I know I'm going to be castigated for this but that Fallen figure looks fantastic! Yes, the alt mode is kind of lame, but I don't think he every transformed in the movie...he just teleported around so who cares about the alt mode. I don't plan on transforming him unless I get the bug to.

That Crosshairs fig looks pretty good to, and the facial detailing on Hot Rod just seems better this time around for some reason. All said, pretty good efforts all around.

[Sowndwave76]

Rumble and Ironhide are all that interest me from this wave.

Same.

As good as the bot mode of the Fallen looks, it doesn't look almost $60 good.
IF I can get him on sale, and by "sale", I mean for $40-sh, I'll consider it.

[Cheetron]

Ironhide and Sludge are all I want from this wave. I did see a odd scout class guy on tiktok. Not sure where he came from.

[Starseeker]

I'm just here to say, "give me your face!"

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Words cannot describe how happy I am with the reveals from the stream today.

Finally, some more TLK love at last! This renews my hope that we might finally see some more TLK bots and get some that actually still don't have ANY toys!

As for the reveals:

Crosshairs is surprisingly good looking. I like that they tried something different, and that they seem to have gotten the trenchcoat pretty well done. I have always loved his design with the trenchcoat and the British paratrooper design, and this is a great new toy. I am excited for him!

Hot Rod looks GREAT!!! At last, an accurate Hot Rod, and he looks really good. They look to have gotten him done really well, gotten the proportions right, and his time gun and joints all look good. i am super excited, they have done him well!

As for the Fallen, wow, at last they have given him justice too! that robot mode looks so damn good, they really did well there. I like the alt mode, I don't mind it given his robot mode is the main attraction here. I love the face gimmick, and I am glad the staff is there.

Thank you for this, all 3 of these figures are very well done. I am super excited for this wave

[-Kanrabat-]

Unsurprisingly, The Fallen "transform" into a yoga pose.

Hot Rod have his own mold at long last and it look fine.

As for Crosshair, that character that I hated both his AoE and TlK toys.... He looks pretty damn awesome here!

[Rtron]

Love the Fallen, the only thing he might be missing is some extra orange paint. I personally don't like AoE/TLK designs much, but the new Hot Rod and Crosshairs look like excellent toys regardless, glad for everyone who likes those designs. Crosshair's colors look way better on this one too.

[Emerje]

Unless he's more complex than the photos let on I think they could have gone "tall Voyager" with the Fallen since SS Jetfire Optimus Prime isn't that tall. Combining the two just gets Prime up to Megatron's size, he's only bigger if you really lean Megs forward like this.

Studio-Series-Jetpower-Optimus-Prime-05.jpg

Emerje

No such thing as a tall voyager in this day and age. If it's taller than a standard voyager, it becomes a leader. It's what happened to Leader DOTM Shockwave and DOTM Megatron, who both are tall voyagers.

And the Fallen will be just that. He is 2 heads taller than voyager prime, that's a leader in today's world.



And to anyone asking, yes that is a real promotional image for the ROTF ad campaign.

SS10.jpg

This is what I mean by "tall Voyager" though maybe the right description is "not short". Starscream is the right height for the Fallen (especially if you stretch the legs out more) and seemingly more complex since he has two screen accurate modes and didn't have to make one up. I look at that Fallen figure and I don't see anything about it that screams LEADER! to me, though I'm sure they made the transformation into it's entirely made up for the toy alt mode as complex as possible to justify the price! As far as I can tell they made him into a Leader just for the heck of it, not out of necessity, which kinda stings when you have another figure, Galvatron, that by all accounts should have been a leader.

Incidentally I just put my Optimus Prime M&M dispenser away in a box while I clear off my shelves.

Emerje

[william-james88]

though I'm sure they made the transformation into it's entirely made up for the toy alt mode as complex as possible to justify the price!

The complexity was spoken of during the stream and it turns out he is simpler than most of today's deluxes.

On another note, I checked out the 360 video for Crosshairs and looks like they just gave up on that trenchcoat. It's the worst take yet since they just split it, so you have half in the front, then a gap at the sides, and then the rest of the coat in the back. Ends up looking more like a green version of that pope outfit on the top left.



The top half of crosshairs looks better though, as does the alt mode. But the main thing about him is botched.



compared to

[First-Aid]

though I'm sure they made the transformation into it's entirely made up for the toy alt mode as complex as possible to justify the price!

The complexity was spoken of during the stream and it turns out he is simpler than most of today's deluxes.

On another note, I checked out the 360 video for Crosshairs and looks like they just gave up on that trenchcoat. It's the worst take yet since they just split it, so you have half in the front, then a gap at the sides, and then the rest of the coat in the back. Ends up looking more like a green version of that pope outfit on the top left.



The top half of crosshairs looks better though, as does the alt mode. But the main thing about him is botched.



compared to

Let's face it....how do you accurately portray something in plastic that was cloth-like on the big screen? The only thing I can think of would be to include a soft rubber fold that could connect the two pieces making up the front and rear of the "trench coat" together. But that would likely be too stiff or tear too easily. For what they had to work with, it's a pretty good representation. It was another of the things that made the Bayverse bots so unique in TF history...they did things no one even considered before because everyone was locked into a traditional humanoid look. Hasbro and Dreamworks gave MB a basic set of guidelines, but basically said "Here's a blank check...let's see what you can come up with". We got bots without bodies, wheels for feet, cloth trench coats, built in weapon systems, the ability to rapidly alter alt modes (which I never understood why, if they were in disguise, they stuck with the SAME disguise for years to the point where EVERYONE recognized the disguise), and more organic looks instead of the traditional Robby-the-Robot blocky builds. Say what you want about the movies (popcorn fun, that's it though), they made more changes to the way Transformers were thought of and created than at ANY other point. And THAT is why they are so hard to replicate accurately in toy form.