Additional Images of Takara Transformers LG-EX Convobat from Superfest Japan

Nice comparison

The Sentinel head looks really big on that body. I don't know, I like him but I don't think I $90 like him.

Yamato delivered Fort Max this afternoon.

I love the robot mode. The sculpting. The colors. And especially how well-articulated it is. Fort Max was my "white whale" for a very long time, and this updated version does it for me. It's a few bits of metal and some extra paint applications away from being a Masterpiece.

I also dig that TakaraTomy apparently went to the trouble and expense of getting Fortress' original Japanese voice actor to record lines for this release. That's both awesome *and* unnecessary, what with the lines just being lines from Headmasters. Plus, they tossed in the theme song, which is fun.

The box is neat, too. Puts the figure squarely in the Legends line, instead of using the Combiner Wars/Unite Warriors style that Hasbro's version used. Unless I missed it, the box wasn't even revealed until yesterday. If not for a chance click on another TF board, I wouldn't have known what the box looked like until I opened the massive shipping package from Amazon.

But it's not all sunshine and rainbows. There are a few (mostly minor) complaints I've got about LG-31.

The lack of accessories kind of hurts it. Not so much Cog, but having at least *one* of Max's trademark guns would have been nice. This bad boy retails for 28,000 yen. Would it really have broken the bank to throw in an extra stationary bit of plastic?

The alternate modes aren't as, let's say "convincing", as the original. While I outright applaud them for making a giant Transformer that kids could conceivably have fun with (a nice contrast w/ Titans Return/UW Devy), the alt modes just don't do much for me. Which, really, is fine, since I display my TFs in bot mode, anyway.

So, yeah. Nice figure. Could be nicer, but what figure couldn't. Worth the 18,000 yen Amazon charged. Not sure I'd be in for the 28,000 MSRP. But I'm happy with it.

The Real Last Knight (@singgg4 on twitter)

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Bumblebee21 wrote:

Kurona wrote:Why do they keep referencing that thing

i think one of them is a perv. cough cough kiss players cough cough cough.

By the same illustrator, no less.

But, that was Yuki Ohshima who did Kiss Players and 15 Go! Go!. This is Hayato Sakamoto doing these Legends manga.

Bronzewolf wrote:Seibertronians, our very own xRotorstormx is currently reporting directly from the Japanese convention Superfest. She's shared with us some exclusive additional pictures of LG-EX Convobat, along with his Ape-x drone. Check 'em out below and then tell us in the comments below: Do these additional images make you like the figure more or less? Will you be getting it when it comes out in December?

Surprised to see this in the main Legends thread instead of Convobat's own thread. Still cool.

Professor Smooth wrote:The lack of accessories kind of hurts it. Not so much Cog, but having at least *one* of Max's trademark guns would have been nice. This bad boy retails for 28,000 yen. Would it really have broken the bank to throw in an extra stationary bit of plastic?

The same applies to the Hasbro versions. No gun for any Fort Max. Though, it may not sting as much for the Takara version as far as Japan is concerned since Fort Max in Japan was never a gun wielder in The Headmasters cartoon, as he was only ever strictly a sword wielding bot. He never used a gun in the cartoon.

Professor Smooth wrote:The alternate modes aren't as, let's say "convincing", as the original. While I outright applaud them for making a giant Transformer that kids could conceivably have fun with (a nice contrast w/ Titans Return/UW Devy), the alt modes just don't do much for me. Which, really, is fine, since I display my TFs in bot mode, anyway.

For Japan, they've justified the new altmodes as the larger body is a new construct altogether, with the Battleship Mode being similar to the original and the City Mode now replaced with a Fortress Mode.

Sabrblade wrote:

Professor Smooth wrote:The lack of accessories kind of hurts it. Not so much Cog, but having at least *one* of Max's trademark guns would have been nice. This bad boy retails for 28,000 yen. Would it really have broken the bank to throw in an extra stationary bit of plastic?

The same applies to the Hasbro versions. No gun for any Fort Max. Though, it may not sting as much for the Takara version as far as Japan is concerned since Fort Max in Japan was never a gun wielder in The Headmasters cartoon, as he was only ever strictly a sword wielding bot. He never used a gun in the cartoon.

True. As is their way, TakaraTomy went for animation accuracy before anything else. Which is understandable. Still, it'd have been nice to have those cannons, even if just to spice up the different alt modes.

Sabrblade wrote:

Professor Smooth wrote:The alternate modes aren't as, let's say "convincing", as the original. While I outright applaud them for making a giant Transformer that kids could conceivably have fun with (a nice contrast w/ Titans Return/UW Devy), the alt modes just don't do much for me. Which, really, is fine, since I display my TFs in bot mode, anyway.

For Japan, they've justified the new altmodes as the larger body is a new construct altogether, with the Battleship Mode being similar to the original and the City Mode now replaced with a Fortress Mode.

I do appreciate TakaraTomy going to such lengths to explain away the discrepancy. They do good work.

Oh snap! It just hit me that Takara is treating the Base Mode of Blaster's toy as a Zone Mode! That's awesome!

Zone Modes were what the Base Modes of the Powered Masters (Dai Atlas, Sonic Bomber, and Roadfire) from Transformers: Zone were called. They could harness the power of the Zodiac energy and channel it into an extremely powerful energy blast. And when all of the Micromaster bases were all hooked up together on Planet Micro (then renamed Planet Zone), the combined base formation was referred to as the Zone Base.

What's the story behind Scourge's Hun-Gurrr impersonation?

Cyberpath wrote:What's the story behind Scourge's Hun-Gurrr impersonation?

Nothing too fancy. Just that the Zodiac he was wearing somehow turned him into a two-headed monster.

Sabrblade wrote:

Cyberpath wrote:What's the story behind Scourge's Hun-Gurrr impersonation?

Nothing too fancy. Just that the Zodiac he was wearing somehow turned him into a two-headed monster.

It reminds me of Deluxe Prime, they gave him Hun-grrry feet.

We have every comics page from this month's release of Takara Transformers Legends line. These figures include LG27 Blaster (Braodcast), LG28 Rewind, LG29 Wheelie and LG30 Weirdwolf. These come from Twitter user aonoseijakujp1 and have a ton of detail for hardcore fans. You can also see the tech sheets for the figures/characters and the art that comes with these toys.

Feel free to let us know if you find any interesting tidbits within these pages.

Heh, turns out Weirdwolf's new Transtector is alive, behaving like a big animal pet. Its name is "Wolnosuke", a portmanteau of the word "wolf" and the Japanese name particle "-nosuke".

Hm, Road-Rage is slightly more busty than I remember.

SillySpringer wrote:Hm, Road-Rage is slightly more busty than I remember.

Um, where did you see Roadrage?

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:

SillySpringer wrote:Hm, Road-Rage is slightly more busty than I remember.

Um, where did you see Roadrage?

Top panel:

Sabrblade wrote:Heh, turns out Weirdwolf's new Transtector is alive, behaving like a big animal pet. Its name is "Wolnosuke", a portmanteau of the word "wolf" and the Japanese name particle "-nosuke".

It's more of a nickname, really... nothing official.

This looks great!

SillySpringer wrote:

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:

SillySpringer wrote:Hm, Road-Rage is slightly more busty than I remember.

Um, where did you see Roadrage?

Top panel:

Oh bewbs Stop the presses!

Anyways, Scourge always gets an allergy attack when he gets close to a super charged power source.

fenrir72 wrote:
Oh bewbs

Uh she forgot to turn off her airbags after a crash due to her "roadrage" right?

Official 3rd mode? (Pics from Planet Iacon on Facebook)

Oh hey, Road Rage! Not sure why she's there in-universe but it's a nice reference to how her MP has Twincast as an accessory.

Kurona wrote:Oh hey, Road Rage! Not sure why she's there in-universe but it's a nice reference to how her MP has Twincast as an accessory.

The scene is a reference to Road Rage's MP bio in which she has placed Flip Sides on trial for suspicion of being a Decepticon spy, and Twincast is trying to defend Flip Sides. But it turned out that Flip Sides was guilty and Twincast had to learn to live with the fact that one of his friends and closest comrades was really a traitor.

Sabrblade wrote:Though, for clarity's sake, this toy isn't being treated as Blaster's cartoon body proper, but is instead treated as an evolved form of that body, an upgrade from his Twincast body that he got in The Headmasters cartoon. A third form for Cartoon Blaster overall.

Yet the colours being so slavishly G1 indicate that Takara did cilour this in hope to also please collectors who want an accurate G1 Blaster in their collction. If he was truly a new form in every way, then there would be no need to mirror that deco to a T.

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Though, for clarity's sake, this toy isn't being treated as Blaster's cartoon body proper, but is instead treated as an evolved form of that body, an upgrade from his Twincast body that he got in The Headmasters cartoon. A third form for Cartoon Blaster overall.

Yet the colours being so slavishly G1 indicate that Takara did cilour this in hope to also please collectors who want an accurate G1 Blaster in their collction. If he was truly a new form in every way, then there would be no need to mirror that deco to a T.

I mean, it's a new form that allows Twincast to go back to being his old Blaster self, in which Takara is using to let him look as much like his old self from the cartoon as possible (within reason, of course, as they kept the toy-accurate shoulder designs intact and did integrate a ton of show-inaccurate blue joint pieces into the figure).

It a new form for the cartoon character but with some newness added to it, yet still tied more closely to the cartoon's lore than the Hasbro version.

It's a weird thing Takara always does. They paint over details to make things more accurate... and then say in the comic it's a new body, so the painting over details then feels extremely pointless.

Sabrblade wrote:

Kurona wrote:Oh hey, Road Rage! Not sure why she's there in-universe but it's a nice reference to how her MP has Twincast as an accessory.

The scene is a reference to Road Rage's MP bio in which she has placed Flip Sides on trial for suspicion of being a Decepticon spy, and Twincast is trying to defend Flip Sides. But it turned out that Flip Sides was guilty and Twincast had to learn to live with the fact that one of his friends and closest comrades was really a traitor.

Speaking of which- Legends/MP Flip Sides when? I want my Decepticon infiltrator fembot.

Wheelie

So I guess that there is more of a connection to G1 Wheelie and Movie Wheelie eh?

Thanks to Transformers Square One on Facebook: Scourge and Blurr with their G1 Targetmasters

Sabrblade wrote:Though people originally thought that Blaster's Titan Master head was based on Perceptor, it actually seems to sculpted (not colored, but sculpted) more in homage to the headsculpt of Binaltech Asterisk Broad Blast.

Blaster's pack-in Legends comic seems to agree with this as there's a close up panel of Blaster's helmet-less head that also contains a thought bubble that flashes back to his Binaltech Asterisk body.

This is an extremely obvious (and pretty unbelievable) attempt by Takara Tomy to explain why the head looks this way in their continuity. If it was really intended to be Asterisk Broadblast it would look just like it, not vaguely like it if you squint. It was definitely originally designed to look like Perceptor.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Though people originally thought that Blaster's Titan Master head was based on Perceptor, it actually seems to sculpted (not colored, but sculpted) more in homage to the headsculpt of Binaltech Asterisk Broad Blast.

Blaster's pack-in Legends comic seems to agree with this as there's a close up panel of Blaster's helmet-less head that also contains a thought bubble that flashes back to his Binaltech Asterisk body.

This is an extremely obvious (and pretty unbelievable) attempt by Takara Tomy to explain why the head looks this way in their continuity. If it was really intended to be Asterisk Broadblast it would look just like it, not vaguely like it if you squint. It was definitely originally designed to look like Perceptor.

Emerje

That goes along with their entire philosophy about this toy, trying to repurpose it into something it wasnt concieved to be.

I just kinda wish they'd actually made him Twincast.
Who wants to bet Twincast and Soundblaster will end up being E-Hobby or Takaratomy Mall exclusives?

Someone want to translate this?

Kurona wrote:I just kinda wish they'd actually made him Twincast.
Who wants to bet Twincast and Soundblaster will end up being E-Hobby or Takaratomy Mall exclusives?

Aren't their "heads" already that? Twincast and Soundblaster?

fenrir72 wrote:

Kurona wrote:I just kinda wish they'd actually made him Twincast.
Who wants to bet Twincast and Soundblaster will end up being E-Hobby or Takaratomy Mall exclusives?

Aren't their "heads" already that? Twincast and Soundblaster?

Yeah, but all they'd have to do is color the heads differently and call them Soundwave and blaster instead. Problem solved.

steals_your_goats wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:

Kurona wrote:I just kinda wish they'd actually made him Twincast.
Who wants to bet Twincast and Soundblaster will end up being E-Hobby or Takaratomy Mall exclusives?

Aren't their "heads" already that? Twincast and Soundblaster?

Yeah, but all they'd have to do is color the heads differently and call them Soundwave and blaster instead. Problem solved.

No, because they like to have a story to go with it. They'd have to be able to explain why Twincast and Soundblaster are suddenly "downgraded" back to Blaster and Soundwave again while their new bodies are made to look like Twincast and Soundblaster. It's a little too complicated to be worth explaining.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

steals_your_goats wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:

Kurona wrote:I just kinda wish they'd actually made him Twincast.
Who wants to bet Twincast and Soundblaster will end up being E-Hobby or Takaratomy Mall exclusives?

Aren't their "heads" already that? Twincast and Soundblaster?

Yeah, but all they'd have to do is color the heads differently and call them Soundwave and blaster instead. Problem solved.

No, because they like to have a story to go with it. They'd have to be able to explain why Twincast and Soundblaster are suddenly "downgraded" back to Blaster and Soundwave again while their new bodies are made to look like Twincast and Soundblaster. It's a little too complicated to be worth explaining.

Emerje

If it was an Ehobby release wouldn't the fiction they create not interfere with the standard legends fiction? So they could do whatever they wanted/had to to justify the figures.

steals_your_goats wrote:If it was an Ehobby release wouldn't the fiction they create not interfere with the standard legends fiction? So they could do whatever they wanted/had to to justify the figures.

I wonder if it would be that easy? I mean, e-hobby fiction is separate from the Legends fiction, but then they'd have to come up with a second explanation for why Twincast and Soundblaster are suddenly Headmasters.

It's especially unlikely when all signs seem to point at their next figure being Mutant Soundwave. They seem content with doing Beast Wars story right now.

Takara Tomy Mall is focused on Unite Warriors still and I can't see them getting any Legends exclusives.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

steals_your_goats wrote:If it was an Ehobby release wouldn't the fiction they create not interfere with the standard legends fiction? So they could do whatever they wanted/had to to justify the figures.

I wonder if it would be that easy? I mean, e-hobby fiction is separate from the Legends fiction, but then they'd have to come up with a second explanation for why Twincast and Soundblaster are suddenly Headmasters.

It's especially unlikely when all signs seem to point at their next figure being Mutant Soundwave. They seem content with doing Beast Wars story right now.

Takara Tomy Mall is focused on Unite Warriors still and I can't see them getting any Legends exclusives.

Emerje

Oh I'm not saying that it will happen, but I think it would be cool. As far as a quick explanation, couldn't they just go back to when blaster and Soundwave had that fight that destroyed each other? They could have it to where instead of being rebuilt completely they were only able to salvage enough to turn them into the headmaster then had transtectors built for them. I'm not sure how in line with g1 the Ehobby fiction is but if they have liberties with it I think my idea could work.

Truth be told though I would almost like these two more as a Hasbro box set. Someone on here (I think I was RAR?) mentioned about other possible box sets to go with the strength and speed sets that were based on the other Tech specs intelligence and firepower. What better bots for intelligence than redecos of blaster and Soundwave with one cassette each.

G-guys, all I meant was for the leader figures to be in their Twincast and Soundblaster colours

I think we're all on the same page as far as mould use goes, what we're discussing is if Takara were to do these there's no doubt that some sort of fiction would have to accompany it. But that's why I brought up the Hasbro idea since there wouldn't necessarily need to be an explanation for them.

steals_your_goats wrote:I think we're all on the same page as far as mould use goes, what we're discussing is if Takara were to do these there's no doubt that some sort of fiction would have to accompany it. But that's why I brought up the Hasbro idea since there wouldn't necessarily need to be an explanation for them.

Eh, they'd come up with some excuse. It's not exactly a barrier or anything; Takara makes the toys and tells their comic guys to come up with something. Toys are always primary.

Kurona wrote:

steals_your_goats wrote:I think we're all on the same page as far as mould use goes, what we're discussing is if Takara were to do these there's no doubt that some sort of fiction would have to accompany it. But that's why I brought up the Hasbro idea since there wouldn't necessarily need to be an explanation for them.

Eh, they'd come up with some excuse. It's not exactly a barrier or anything; Takara makes the toys and tells their comic guys to come up with something. Toys are always primary.

Yeah, money talks. Case in point, the Club wanted to make a buch of random redecos using the recent molds that were then newly available. But they were from different eras. What to do? Just lump em all together in another universe merging saga.



I still find it a crazy stretch that the Megatron to was a classics version of the movie voyager toy. Why not just say, "here's a cool megatron, have fun!" instead of creating a crazy story to fit him in. Anyways, just saying that the fiction is indeed secondary so its not a reason not to make a toy. Hell, SoundBlaster and Twincast could be reverse clones of the new Soundwave and Blaster bodies, inspired from their own bodies, in the fiction for all they care.

There's a very easy way for Takara to do full Leader-sized versions of Soundblaster and Twincast without interfering with the fiction: Just leave the little Headmaster figures unaltered, identical to those that come with Blaster and Soundwave, as those little guys are the real characters in the fiction while the Transtector bodies are lifeless. So long as the little heads are the same as the normal versions, the accompanying fiction could write whatever temporary side story about the new Transtector toys that they'd want.

Like, maybe Twincast's Blaster Transtector and Soundblaster's Soundwave Transtector get momentarily upgraded by a special power source or something that changes the former from red to blue and the latter from blue to black, and then have then revert back to their normal colors by having the power boost wear off at the end of the story.

Or, a story where Twincast's Blaster Transtector and Soundblaster's Soundwave Transtector both get broken and in need of repair, with the Twincast Transtector and the Soundblaster Transtector being temporary replacements used by the two until their normal Transtector's get fixed.

There's a thousand ways to do it, really. Super forms, their Headmasters influence the body, the Headmasters become full-sized, Twincast misses how he looked in blue so he grabs some paint cans...

But Will, I like it when a bunch of guys are randomly thrown together with some sort of fun story. It's how we got Grand Galvatron, and that to date I believe is a real hit and winner of Unite Warriors.

Plus, it's fun to not make any sense at time. Dare to be stupid mi amigo

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:But Will, I like it when a bunch of guys are randomly thrown together with some sort of fun story. It's how we got Grand Galvatron, and that to date I believe is a real hit and winner of Unite Warriors.

Plus, it's fun to not make any sense at time. Dare to be stupid mi amigo

I never said I didnt like the idea. I was just showing that it was possible to make fiction for anything. (I just found that megatron odd since we already had a DOTM movie voyager Megatron)

I personally dont care much for fiction made to go with toys, the toy's look is usually all I need to want him. I wanted RTS wreckgar and Lugnut before I even knew who those characters were.

I do like fiction that goes beyond that, that is its own product, which is basically what Beast Machines turned out to be and what MTMTE really is.

william-james88 wrote:

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:But Will, I like it when a bunch of guys are randomly thrown together with some sort of fun story. It's how we got Grand Galvatron, and that to date I believe is a real hit and winner of Unite Warriors.

Plus, it's fun to not make any sense at time. Dare to be stupid mi amigo

I never said I didnt like the idea. I was just showing that it was possible to make fiction for anything. (I just found that megatron odd since we already had a DOTM movie voyager Megatron)

I personally dont care much for fiction made to go with toys, the toy's look is usually all I need to want him. I wanted RTS wreckgar and Lugnut before I even knew who those characters were.

I do like fiction that goes beyond that, that is its own product, which is basically what Beast Machines turned out to be and what MTMTE really is.

Were it not for Oilmaster, Megatron would easily be my most desired Botcon figure that is not shattered glass. and I love a little fiction, makes some sense towards bringing them together for me

@Alfes2010 on Twitter