Seeing the cooperation among everyone here to get the links was really encouraging. Makes me feel like a dingus for F5'ing Hasbro and Amazon, thinking scalpers would devour everything like in the old days.
Hot takes on the new reveals:
Camera Refraktor works surprisingly well, Kremzeek makes it a killer set! Sticking with my doofy KO, but very happy for other, more loyal collectors. The camera mode on mine has made for a great display piece and I see this doing the same for lots of other fans.
Seeing Skywarp and the Firestormers up for pre-order is encouraging, hopefully Redwing gets the same treatment outside the US...? That Redcard business still has me peeved. On a similar front, I'm curious to see if people will be reselling Slamdance separate from the other firestormers, and how much he goes for on the aftermarket. With more paint, his color reversal could have been minimized but... it wasn't.
Soundblaster is not for me, definitely prefer the FoC version since it's a better double for Logos Prime. Bluestreak would be tempting since he's something of a hole in my collection, but the mold is out-scale with said collection. C'est la vie. Wonder if they'll make blue+yellow alternators/prime Smokescreen, or diaclone bluestreak?
I genuinely did not expect cel-shaded prime and megatron. The amount of paint is... shocking. I honestly thought they would start a line of minor/damage-free variants, then throw Soundwave in there to twist the knife a bit. As it stands, I love they exist but won't bite for fear of starting a weird micro-collection made of overpriced exclusives.
For Wave 5 (seriously WHAT and HOW) I pre-ordered apeface and crosshairs. Shame Rung wasn't pre-orderable, I'm sure he'd have sold through. If I ever see a Rung for SRP or less I'm buying - just too weird and the novelty factor overrides all my frustration with battlemasters NOT being worth $6. Really helps when there's a character attached to the toy, instead of just a gimmick. I'm not keen on re-buying the same characters over and over, though, so Astrotrain and Spinister, for all their engineering glory, are out. The sheer volume of amazing product means there will be other chances to own transformers of that caliber in the main line - heck, maybe retools of those two.
The Micromaster 10-pack is a neat idea, but not enough to pull me to Target - same for the rainmakers I've jabbered on about before.
Now comes the part where I give up on all my griping over Siege and fork over a ton of cash for probably-tiny figures. The fan vote three-pack had me in awe, so I pre-ordered it immediately. I don't care much for Mirage, though the head looks nice. Recent photos have shown that he's an absolute shrimp of a deluxe, so I might resell him. I was surprised by how much better Impactor looked with the IDW spartan helmet and caution stripes. Even the strange chest design looked better once he had the proper noggin. Encouraging to see him stand over a head above mirage, but who knows what that even means for size. My Universe Onslaught custom undoubtedly dwarfs him. And then there was Aragon.
FREAKING
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The main reason I pre-ordered, of all the silly reasons to buy that set, he takes the cake. Sure the head looks ridiculous, almost gobot-like and sure he looks like he's wearing red pajamas, but I am overjoyed to see the weaponizers getting redecoed. Even his name seems unsuited to Transformers, but it just works. Somehow, it works. Only problem is, I'm now roped into trying to get the other two.
Somehow the Transformers team have outdone themselves to make WFC a new golden age - quite literally, given the astronomically rising prices, but golden nonetheless. Since 2018, generations has covered the first decade of Masterpiece releases. It's staggering. I'm not sure which will quit first: SIEGE's barrage of new releases or my keyboard typing this lengthy po
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