Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

[Wolfman Jake]

Bluestreak looks on point. The only big "cartoon accuracy" criticism I would give is that the upper arms should be gray, not red. I'm not bothered by the reuse of the Prowl mold head either, as they always looked very similar anyway. I don't think the original toys had different head sculpts, and the cartoon models are close enough, despite some small detailing and shape differences. Technically, the pelvis should have been retooled too, but whatever. A little bit of silver paint on the lower torso would have been good too. I guess the shoulder cannons could have been retooled too, as they are supposed to look different than Smokescreen's, but they don't look bad on Bluestreak. I accept them doing "double duty" in that sense. Overall, I'm very happy with how SIEGE Bluestreak has turned out.

I'm also very happy to see that Ratchet has his animation accurate dark gray/black head crest. The shoulders look good with those red highlights and the light bars as visible kibble from alt mode. They can't really do the Red Cross symbol anymore, so I can't knock them for not being that accurate to the G1 cartoon model. In that regard, I also accept the "extraneous" red paint detailing on the wrists, collar, leg panels, and feet, as otherwise, Ratchet has got a LOT of white/negative space in his deco. What does bother me, though, is that they DIDN'T paint the few parts that are SUPPOSED to be red, like his hands and pelvis. Looking at the plastic color layout for SIEGE Ironhide, I think they should have cast those parts in red plastic and just painted over the shoulders in white where needed. Paying attention to that detail, along with the rest of the detailing "embellishments," would have made for a very sharp looking toy with just two main colors (plus that delicious light blue clear windshield).

[sol magnus]

Both are a given. I only wish they developed new launchers for Bluestreak.

[Cobotron]

Cool!
Bluestreak = Gimme, gimme, gimme!!
Looks like Ratchet has a bunch of re-sculpted bits. Nice!

[PushYouDown]

Yes--I think that's why I'm not feeling this Ratchet--he's too much of a brick of white. Red waist would have broken it up and red hands would have helped.

[ZeroWolf]

Rachet looks pretty slick, and I'll echo Sabrblade's sentiments about the head crest

[DMSL]

Bland looking figures, i will hang onto my iGear Ratchet and my Universe Classic Bluestreak.

[Skritz]

Aw yeah, its our boy Ratchet and he's looking...well, he looks good enough. Damn it Siege, stop making me like 1984 Autobots!

[Stargrave]

This is awesome I maybe wish this was that color or that was this color but man this makes for an awesome week of previews thanks dude!

I love Ratchet having that style gun! Gotta have him.

[Microbot]

Finally!! I wait for this really much!!! I really love Ratchet!!! Awesome! Take my money! Also glad to another glad return with a nice Bluestreak! Please Hasbro/Takara and siege masterminds...give me B and Dinobots and make this guy really happy forever!!!

[Stargrave]

Aw yeah, its our boy Ratchet and he's looking...well, he looks good enough. Damn it Siege, stop making me like 1984 Autobots!

Dude you’re pooched, these are so cool!

Hey if you all could pick like 2 out of the 3: Prowl, Bluesteak, or Smokescreen, which would you pick? They’re like the Autobot Seekers. So cool.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Hey if you all could pick like 2 out of the 3: Prowl, Bluesteak, or Smokescreen, which would you pick? They’re like the Autobot Seekers. So cool.

I would pick Bluestreak: he is a talker, and thus is very relatable to me.

My 2nd pick would be Smokescreen cause cool name, racecar alt mode, and Prime made me love and pay more attention to Smokescreen characters.

[Autobot N]

Hey if you all could pick like 2 out of the 3: Prowl, Bluesteak, or Smokescreen, which would you pick? They’re like the Autobot Seekers. So cool.

Probably Bluestreak and Smokescreen.

[william-james88]

Aw yeah, its our boy Ratchet and he's looking...well, he looks good enough. Damn it Siege, stop making me like 1984 Autobots!

Dude you’re pooched, these are so cool!

Hey if you all could pick like 2 out of the 3: Prowl, Bluesteak, or Smokescreen, which would you pick? They’re like the Autobot Seekers. So cool.

I love that notion of autobot seekers, I never thought of it that way but it works perfectly.

[Stargrave]

Aw yeah, its our boy Ratchet and he's looking...well, he looks good enough. Damn it Siege, stop making me like 1984 Autobots!

Dude you’re pooched, these are so cool!

Hey if you all could pick like 2 out of the 3: Prowl, Bluesteak, or Smokescreen, which would you pick? They’re like the Autobot Seekers. So cool.

I love that notion of autobot seekers, I never thought of it that way but it works perfectly.

I thought I was maybe being too dorky about that
The Rovers? The Adventurers? Locators? Shoot where’s my thesaurus ...

[Mindmaster]

Now that I see these two and like the way they look, I might as well dip for Prowl and Ironhide...

...when I come back from deployment and go on leave.

[Sentinel_Primal]

Hm... Not sure what I was expecting, but Ratchet took me a second to get used to and I already love it. And Bluestreak actually looks nice to me here despite me not liking the design for Prowl. I was always going to pick up the Ratchet figure but I may actually pick up Bluestreak and potentially Smokescreen. Also it would appear that they didn't end up pinning Ratchet's side panels. Let's just hope they managed to fix the issue of the panels popping off

[Nemesis Primal]

Well Bluestreak looks perfect, he's easily the best use of this mold and a guaranteed purchase. That red really pops, and I'm glad he looks to have dark windows as opposed to Prowl's clear ones. Maybe having the mold in-hand will help me come to a final opinion on Barricade...still nothing on when or how he's released though, which isn't helpful.

Ratchet though...ehhhh. I can't really tell what his weapon is even supposed to be at this angle, the G1 cartoon head sculpt/coloring is still off-putting to me, and he's so blindingly white. Ironhide has two different shades of grey plus battle damage in robot mode, what happened here? I mean I'm glad they didn't go full G1 cartoon and make him all white, but I still think they went too far in that direction. Maybe when we get official pics of him and see his alt mode he'll look better, but right now all I like about him are his retooled shoulders and his windshield.

[ThunderThruster]

Aw yeah, its our boy Ratchet and he's looking...well, he looks good enough. Damn it Siege, stop making me like 1984 Autobots!

Dude you’re pooched, these are so cool!

Hey if you all could pick like 2 out of the 3: Prowl, Bluesteak, or Smokescreen, which would you pick? They’re like the Autobot Seekers. So cool.

I love that notion of autobot seekers, I never thought of it that way but it works perfectly.

I thought I was maybe being too dorky about that
The Rovers? The Adventurers? Locators? Shoot where’s my thesaurus ...

The Cruisers?

[Bounti76]

I'm sorry, but Ratchet looks pretty awful. The head is fine, but that stark sea of white, offset only by tiny patches of red .... it's the most boring deco in ages.

[Gemstonegemini]

This fella arrived on Wednesday morning, and I have some thoughts. So, I hope you all don't mind my rambling opinions on this guy.



Overall, he's much better than I thought he'd be when he was first shown. I think my initial disappointment was due to my own mismanaged expectations towards him, namely, that he's not supposed to be a direct successor to the Original Cybertron toy, and instead he's a blend of that and G1 to bring him into the Generations styling.

That being said, I have my quibbles, and I'll briefly go over them now. Firstly, and let's not beat around the bush, the separate cab mode is pretty awful.



It's by far the weakest mode, and it's understandable that a toy that does this much is going to have a mode that's lower on the priority list. But this cab isn't just passable, like POTP Orion Pax's was, but an active detriment, and makes me want to fiddle around with the inner figure less.



Which is a shame because, despite this guy's odd proportions, I actually like it quite a lot. It has a strange chunky charm that I can't fully explain. It just appeals to me. It's robot mode is also surprisingly detailed and pose-able for something that most people probably will never display on it's own.

The fact is has things like a ball joint neck and ankle tilts took me by surprise, and there's a lot of paint here along with the sculpted details. This robot mode doesn't feel like a stepping stone like POTP Orion does, which is ironic, considering that in terms of pure utility, he's far more of a stepping stone than the former.

I also have to point out that I love the rotating spine piece that the bumper uses to form the backpack. It's just a pit that the cab on it's own is so poor, otherwise I'd be more positive.



Thankfully, these complaints don't carry over to the combined modes, both of which are fantastic. This might just be the most gorgeous headsculpt I've seen on an Optimus Prime toy since Classics. It's just so imposing looking, and really captures the original look of the cartoon far better than the OG leader. The figure as a whole has such a presence. The painting and detailing is superb and I really appreciate that all weapons can be stores away on the back without cluttering the backpack further.

I only have one real criticism, and that is that I wish that the legs had sideways ratchets and the combined mode boots are rather heavy, which means the legs can;t hold certain poses, and he can occasionally be prone to doing the splits if put into a wide A-frame stance.

Otherwise, this guy is great, and I'm very happy I got him. If I didn't already own the classics, this toy would for sure be my new CHUG Prime.

Thanks for reading my rambling, and I'm sorry I'm so long winded.

[Stargrave]

Aw yeah, its our boy Ratchet and he's looking...well, he looks good enough. Damn it Siege, stop making me like 1984 Autobots!

Dude you’re pooched, these are so cool!

Hey if you all could pick like 2 out of the 3: Prowl, Bluesteak, or Smokescreen, which would you pick? They’re like the Autobot Seekers. So cool.

I love that notion of autobot seekers, I never thought of it that way but it works perfectly.

I thought I was maybe being too dorky about that
The Rovers? The Adventurers? Locators? Shoot where’s my thesaurus ...

The Cruisers?

Love that! Yessss!

[Stargrave]

This fella arrived on Wednesday morning, and I have some thoughts. So, I hope you all don't mind my rambling opinions on this guy.



Overall, he's much better than I thought he'd be when he was first shown. I think my initial disappointment was due to my own mismanaged expectations towards him, namely, that he's not supposed to be a direct successor to the Original Cybertron toy, and instead he's a blend of that and G1 to bring him into the Generations styling.

That being said, I have my quibbles, and I'll briefly go over them now. Firstly, and let's not beat around the bush, the separate cab mode is pretty awful.



It's by far the weakest mode, and it's understandable that a toy that does this much is going to have a mode that's lower on the priority list. But this cab isn't just passable, like POTP Orion Pax's was, but an active detriment, and makes me want to fiddle around with the inner figure less.



Which is a shame because, despite this guy's odd proportions, I actually like it quite a lot. It has a strange chunky charm that I can't fully explain. It just appeals to me. It's robot mode is also surprisingly detailed and pose-able for something that most people probably will never display on it's own.

The fact is has things like a ball joint neck and ankle tilts took me by surprise, and there's a lot of paint here along with the sculpted details. This robot mode doesn't feel like a stepping stone like POTP Orion does, which is ironic, considering that in terms of pure utility, he's far more of a stepping stone than the former.

I also have to point out that I love the rotating spine piece that the bumper uses to form the backpack. It's just a pit that the cab on it's own is so poor, otherwise I'd be more positive.



Thankfully, these complaints don't carry over to the combined modes, both of which are fantastic. This might just be the most gorgeous headsculpt I've seen on an Optimus Prime toy since Classics. It's just so imposing looking, and really captures the original look of the cartoon far better than the OG leader. The figure as a whole has such a presence. The painting and detailing is superb and I really appreciate that all weapons can be stores away on the back without cluttering the backpack further.

I only have one real criticism, and that is that I wish that the legs had sideways ratchets and the combined mode boots are rather heavy, which means the legs can;t hold certain poses, and he can occasionally be prone to doing the splits if put into a wide A-frame stance.

Otherwise, this guy is great, and I'm very happy I got him. If I didn't already own the classics, this toy would for sure be my new CHUG Prime.

Thanks for reading my rambling, and I'm sorry I'm so long winded.

Love this review I share so many of the same feelings dude. Hey I know I keep posting this but for a tad less chunk in his trunk you can slide that front grill/backpack off easy! Just rotate him 180 and it slides down down the open his cod piece all the way then over his flat belt buckle side. Shooop, no more caboose and it works for Magnus too bro.

[Gemstonegemini]

TL;DR

Love this review I share so many of the same feelings dude. Hey I know I keep posting this but for a tad less chunk in his trunk you can slide that front grill/backpack off easy! Just rotate him 180 and it slides down down the open his cod piece all the way then over his flat belt buckle side. Shooop, no more caboose and it works for Magnus too bro.

Thanks! I try to write the best reviews I can, and I'm always attempting to improve. And I really do have to gush about how cool the spine piece is. It's such a simple but clever piece of engineering that means the bumper doesn't have to sit on the butt. I hope we see more clever solutions like this in future.

[PushYouDown]

Aw yeah, its our boy Ratchet and he's looking...well, he looks good enough. Damn it Siege, stop making me like 1984 Autobots!

Dude you’re pooched, these are so cool!

Hey if you all could pick like 2 out of the 3: Prowl, Bluesteak, or Smokescreen, which would you pick? They’re like the Autobot Seekers. So cool.

I love that notion of autobot seekers, I never thought of it that way but it works perfectly.

I thought I was maybe being too dorky about that
The Rovers? The Adventurers? Locators? Shoot where’s my thesaurus ...

The Cruisers?

I'd go with "The Chasers"

[william-james88]

Hey everyone, the wave 2 Siege voyagers took their super sweet time to get to local stores but I finally got Soundwave an Starscream and I 100% back up Shajaki's argument that Starscream is by far the better toy. There isn't much to the transformation but it works well and you get from a cool looking form to another. The legs at the bottom are compact enough that it just adds mass to the jet without it being all that terrible looking.

I have lots of problems with Soundwave though. They clearly favoured the robot mode in looks but I dont feel they did it enough. Like the forearms don't look good and its only to give some skis to the odd alt mode. It doesnt really add anything that would warrant not having cleaner forearms. The transformation is very complex for a result that looks ultra basic and the lamp mode isn't even the right looking one with the arms extended out. In a line where they try to be as G1 as possible, I find it odd they didnt retain the boom box alt mode or something similar instead of going for a "ship" that doesnt look right.

I of course needed a voyager sized soundwave in my collection so I am glad to have one but that's basically where the attraction for this toy starts and ends.