Better Images of Legacy Transmetal 2 Megatron May Put Many Worries to Rest

Megatron's wings don't look organic, neither do the parts sculpted into his legs and I'm sure the tail will have a lot of mechanical details, too. I really like it, it feels more cohesive than the original and I wont miss the car mode at all since vehicle modes weren't really a TMII feature, I prefer keeping it unique to Optimal Optimus. I can easily see how they'd remake him as Beast Machines Megatron if that's an option, just swap the wings and head. It would be kinda fitting if he was repainted into Prime Predaking considering how the other Prime figures turned out.

Thoughts on the rest:
Alpha Trion & Orion Pax - Best we've had yet, they look perfect despite being retools. And since Pax is a Kup retool we can really amp up the battle damage.

Dead End - Once again loses his feet, but he's still another great looking Stunticon.

Crankcase - Kinda hard to tell from the picture, but I'm sure it's fine. Hope he has proper guns.

Pointblank/Blanker - Not sure what to make of it. He's done right, everything is where it should be, but his crotch is weirdly long and his torso isn't quite right. I'll get him since I need a Pointblank, but not sure how I feel about him, we'll see what the later pics look like.

Skullgrin - Love it, looks really cool. Appears to have the same alt mode as the original figure's inner bot, the guns on his back are the same as the ones hidden in original's hands and the tank treads can be seen on the back of his legs.



Emerje

Sabrblade wrote:
So he's a fully organic dragon this time. A Transmetal without the metal.

Those wings don't look organic one bit, I think he is still as robotic as the first one there just isn't any vac metal finish or vehicle components.

LinaNui wrote:Really wished they showed The Fallen. Hopefully there is more to come.

We newsed what you would get days ago to avoid such posts. All SDCC would reveal would be some Legacy and the first look at the Earthspark line.

william-james88 wrote:The SDCC Panel gave us reveals of Legacy wave 3 (no wave 4 for you!).

That's fine, we know Breakdown is coming. I am still curious about the whole "Energon Monster" thing. Was that just a placeholder name for Iguanas and now Skullgrin (one as a core and the other as a deluxe?)

I mean I was hoping the "izer" theme would continue in some new form, but oh well, at least we have Red Cog, and 2 Wrecker Fossilizers coming.

So another Pretender that isn't really a Pretender. Yay ... some day maybe ...

And yay, another Autobot Targetmaster! Just need Sureshot (which I'm sure could easily be re-used for Energon Cliffjumper if they wanted to)

But that Pax/Trion set...definitely want.

100% going to get that Skullgrin!

o.supreme wrote:

william-james88 wrote:The SDCC Panel gave us reveals of Legacy wave 3 (no wave 4 for you!).

That's fine, we know Breakdown is coming. I am still curious about the whole "Energon Monster" thing. Was that just a placeholder name for Iguanas and now Skullgrin (one as a core and the other as a deluxe?)

I mean I was hoping the "izer" theme would continue in some new form, but oh well, at least we have Red Cog, and 2 Wrecker Fossilizers coming.

Yeah, looks like a placeholder name.

Back to Megatron, AHA, now I se why the other pic was off, the shins are mistransformed. They stretch out for Dragon mode but must be compressed for bot mode. Looks awesome, I am very happy with how he turned out. I have no need for vac metal.

Alpha Trion looks great, love the headsculpt. Not really interested in Orion Pax but the figure looks good and the paintjob is nice. Wish I didn't have to pay close to $70 for a definitive Alpha Trion in my collection but I know I'll be happy once I have the guy in hand

TMII Megatron, yesssssssss. The blast effect is a nice addition, and this guy looks pretty solid. The toon accurate dragon head looks dope, and the robot head looks good too, an improvement to the shows look imo. I didn't like that they copy and pasted regular Megatron head onto dragon Megatron body in cartoon, looked lame and this looks nicer so far. I was gonna skip this guy and get the (hopefully) inevitable cryotek but I like the mold enough to get both. I need a rival for my potp Optimal Optimus anyways. Dragon mode torso looks a little messy but wings and head are great. Not sure what the "gUesS hEs nAwT tRansMetUL" complaints are about, it says it in the name. And it looks accurate to the cartoon. And the cartoon never made him look all that "transmetal" either so I don't see what the whoop is about it lol

I have no interest in "blanker" but I hope those that do are happy. Don't like the forearms though

Don't really care about crankcase either so thats money saved

Dead end looks pretty cool. Not collecting the stunticons but this one is my favorite so far

Skullgrin is an instant buy. Just beautiful. Love it. Love the design. I'm sure I'll like the alt mode. And he looks like he has tiny little legs inside his normal legs so for a second I thought he was gonna be a real Pretender haha

The SDCC panel convened, and with it a number of Transformer toy reveals. What does Death think?

Skullgrin: They got the head right, seemingly. But beyond that, it's no Pretender. I'll be interested in seeing the alt mode. Definitely looks like he'll be a tank of some kind.
Blanker: Don't recognize it, so it might be a new mold. Looks like the legs are hollow at the shins, and the pelvis seems a bit off.
Crankcase: We all knew they wouldn't leave the Skids mold alone!
Dead End: Glad to see the 3rd in the Stunticon set! It'll probably be as hard to find/order as the others...
Dragon Megatron: I was never really a fan of the Beast Wars iterations of Megatron. So I don't have the pull of nostalgia tempting me. Collectors and fans, you have nothing to fear because I won't be picking this one up. Just more for the rest of you!
Orion Pax/Alpha Trion set: The inclusion of a Vector Sigma piece is interesting, but not enough to tempt me. I guess the Studio Series Scourge mold was probably the closest they could get to Alpha Trion when they had to pick which figure to use for a remold. Hope they show pics of the alt modes soon.

In the end, only Dead End and perhaps Skullgrin are 'review-worthy' from my perspective...

Before I jump into thoughts on the SDCC reveals, just wanted to say that Target sent me emails overnight showing Metroplex and Motormaster are supposed to come in stock in 10 days to ship. Will be nice to get them cheap thanks to the deals I used.

As for the reveals:

Trion/Pax: this set looks surprisingly good, and I want Vector Sigma and the key, so I guess I'll get them. Trion will look good on the Cyberverse shelf too.

Megatron: i was not thrilled with the slide picture, but the box makes him look so much better, now I am excited for him!

Dead End: shame my favorite stunticon kinda looks funky, mostly with the leg design.

Crankcase: I must have missed everyone and their mother saying he would be a Skids partial, that surprised me. Doesn't look bad.

Skullgrin: happy he is a deluxe, but he looks off. I hope future pictures make him look better.

Pointblank: same as Skullgrin, he looks off, hopefully future pictures make him look better.

Hopefully we get a Cryotek out of it.

Loving TMII Megs. Looks awesome.

Need better pics of the rest before I can make an assessment.

"Blanker" is another "Titans Return Octane/Octone" situation wherein Hasbro is using the Japanese name instead of the English one.

ZeroWolf wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

LinaNui wrote:Dragon megs looks terrible. Shame they retooled kingdom megs to make him,

Surely you jest.

Yeah, I'm not seeing it either, looks like a new mold to me.

Honestly when I was first scrolling down the screen looking at the grainy angled pic of the slide, I kind of sort of thought that the pelvis, hips and thighs were the same. Then I scrolled back up to do a double take by expanding the pic and stopped thinking that. At first glance they do look similar. They have several key designs that they share. Especially when you're looking at a bad pic. With the other pics and now product shots out, there shouldn't be any way to confuse them.

YIKES!!!

Apparently they aren't going to reveal the alt modes or accessories until August 16th, which... just... why? Genuinely baffling decision.

For the half reveals, both Alpha Trion and Orion Pax look really good, and come with some cool accessories. TM II Megatron looks great IMO, I really like the dragon head and how articulated the neck is. Hopefully he's large and has a commanding presence in hand.

As for the deluxes, these pics are to poor to make any final judgments, but at this point Skullgrin looks cool, Dead End looks OK, Pointblank looks pretty bad, and that pic of Crankcase is too low quality to really tell much of anything, except that he has Skid's legs, which is disappointing.

EDIT: What do you know, a better pic of Pointblank. It makes me feel a bit better about his arms, but man do his hips look rough.

As of now, I think I'll be picking up Skullgrin, Dead End, and Pointblank for deluxes, both voyagers, and TMII Megatron. Crankcase is a maybe

Better pics of the accessory-less bot modes (from TFW):

Tuned Agent wrote:Better pics of the accessory-less bot modes (from TFW):

There's something about Megatron's face that looks... off.

Like, very inaccurate to either the original toy or his cartoon face.

33 steps for a dragon that barely looks any different from the bot?

HOW?

Regardless, Dragon Megs looks amazing.

-Kanrabat- wrote:33 steps for a dragon that barely looks any different from the bot?

HOW?

Regardless, Dragon Megs looks amazing.

Ever transform the original toy? That thing was gymnastics incarnate.

Sabrblade wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:33 steps for a dragon that barely looks any different from the bot?

HOW?

Regardless, Dragon Megs looks amazing.

Ever transform the original toy? That thing was gymnastics incarnate.

I never had enough interests in the original to pay the absurd secondary market price. So I can't tell.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:33 steps for a dragon that barely looks any different from the bot?

HOW?

Regardless, Dragon Megs looks amazing.

Ever transform the original toy? That thing was gymnastics incarnate.

I never had enough interests in the original to pay the absurd secondary market price. So I can't tell.

"Absurd" is definitely a good word for the original toy's transformation. The whole thing turned upside-down, inside out, backwards, and all other which ways in order to get every single body part in completely different positions between from beast mode and robot mode. It was ridiculously over-complicated.

Yeah I remember getting TMII Megs and Tigerhawk brand new on the same day when they first came out. Actually all BW Ultras I got in pairs...fun times.

Starscream is looking better and better
Inferno, not so much. The arms and torso look like they just have the Ant legs all over the place

Megatron's face, yeesh. Looks like he had one too many big macs and he's got heartburn. Face barely fits in the helmet. Maybe I'll wait on cryotek after all, idk

Pointblank just looks like a mess all around now

Sabrblade wrote:

Tuned Agent wrote:Better pics of the accessory-less bot modes (from TFW):

There's something about Megatron's face that looks... off.

Like, very inaccurate to either the original toy or his cartoon face.

Isn't that the carrobot Gigatron/ Robot in Disguise Megatron's face?

Sculyblast wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Tuned Agent wrote:Better pics of the accessory-less bot modes (from TFW):

There's something about Megatron's face that looks... off.

Like, very inaccurate to either the original toy or his cartoon face.

Isn't that the carrobot Gigatron/ Robot in Disguise Megatron's face?

...No?

Sabrblade wrote:

Tuned Agent wrote:Better pics of the accessory-less bot modes (from TFW):

There's something about Megatron's face that looks... off.

Like, very inaccurate to either the original toy or his cartoon face.

It could have been worse... I think this will still be the Transformer of the year.

I await dragon Megs with impatience.

LinaNui wrote:skipping Inferno since it is BW.

I say this about any Bayverse toy.

Hasbro sent us the actual images used in the SDCC 2022 Transformers presentation so we get a clearer look at them. Compared to the images in the back of the box though, TM2 Megatron's robot mode ankles are not transformed correctly making him look a bit more lanky. We also have an image of the back of Skullgrin's box showing us his double cannon tank alt mode. It is very G1 accurate and you can compare that to the G1 comic design below. We also have pics of the alt modes for Alpha Trion and Orion Pax which will be available to preorder on Hasbro Pulse soon. The other alt modes and weapons have not been shown and we will know more in about a month's time, according to Hasbro. Let us know which of these you will be adding to your collection.

Sabrblade wrote:

Tuned Agent wrote:Better pics of the accessory-less bot modes (from TFW):

There's something about Megatron's face that looks... off.

Like, very inaccurate to either the original toy or his cartoon face.

It's the nose and teeth. Both are triangular in the new toy, while they were square in both the original toy and the show. Also, he has protruding cheeks in this new toy, while his cheeks were flat in the original toy and the show. Fortunately, it seems to be the toy's only real miss. It's a big one because it's the facesculpt, but oh well, everything else looks great.

Noticed a cat hair over his left thigh in his picture, guessing that's not included!

Also, the complicated transformation is nothing new, I never had the original one, but I've seen reviews and that thing's transformation is crazy!

-Kanrabat- wrote:33 steps for a dragon that barely looks any different from the bot?

HOW?

Check the orientation of the limbs and extremities. His tail is connected to his head which is at the opposite end from his legs in robot mode but close together in alt mode. All the while, the robot dragon head arm must realign with the wings and and pivot to the same vertical axis as the legs. Sure, we see the same parts in both modes (aside from the robot arm which has to end up stored in the chest) but they are all oriented in very different ways and getting them to the proper orientation takes lots of steps.

Anyways, I love how they kept the asymetry to the design where the knees and shoulders are organic on one side and robotic on the other.

I think I really like Alpha Trion. As many have said, he's the best Trion we've seen so far.

But it's the "so far" that is holding me back. How long before they make a new mold Alpha Trion that looks near-perfect? There've been lots of instances where I pick up a figure, only to have a better version come out a few years later...

For me, it's come down to "is this figure good enough that any new version won't be better enough to upset me?" And in this case, I don't care for Orion Pax...I prefer the Generations version with his own alt-mode, rather than the retool of Kup (though I understand the history...dare I say Legacy?...of retooling Kup for Pax)

Skullgrin will be a deluxe?
I don't really like his boxy design in bot mode. I would have been impressed if that Skullgrin would have managed to have the pure look of his OG pretender shell but with that boxy tank altmode. Oh well.


Having Orion Pax being a retool of Kup was expected, but they really nailed it.

How bad do aftermarket prices on these Pulse exclusives tend to be? Are they resold at online stores like BBTS and such? I already missed out on Beast Wars Ravage, a favourite character of mine whom I intend to look for eventually, and I'm also interested on the Orion Pax & Alpha Trion set, but Pulse doesn't ship to my country.

Rtron wrote:How bad do aftermarket prices on these Pulse exclusives tend to be? Are they resold at online stores like BBTS and such? I already missed out on Beast Wars Ravage, a favourite character of mine whom I intend to look for eventually, and I'm also interested on the Orion Pax & Alpha Trion set, but Pulse doesn't ship to my country.

Aftermarket is pretty steep.

Also, Ravage is still on Pulse: https://hasbropulse.com/products/transf ... ver-ravage

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Rtron wrote:How bad do aftermarket prices on these Pulse exclusives tend to be? Are they resold at online stores like BBTS and such? I already missed out on Beast Wars Ravage, a favourite character of mine whom I intend to look for eventually, and I'm also interested on the Orion Pax & Alpha Trion set, but Pulse doesn't ship to my country.

Aftermarket is pretty steep.

Also, Ravage is still on Pulse: https://hasbropulse.com/products/transf ... ver-ravage

He says they don't ship to him, but I definitely want one, so...thanks!

sol magnus wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Rtron wrote:How bad do aftermarket prices on these Pulse exclusives tend to be? Are they resold at online stores like BBTS and such? I already missed out on Beast Wars Ravage, a favourite character of mine whom I intend to look for eventually, and I'm also interested on the Orion Pax & Alpha Trion set, but Pulse doesn't ship to my country.

Aftermarket is pretty steep.

Also, Ravage is still on Pulse: https://hasbropulse.com/products/transf ... ver-ravage

He says they don't ship to him, but I definitely want one, so...thanks!

Ah, I missed that last part. Glad I could help irregardless!

Looks like Skullgrin is the most awesome of the lot this time out. He'll be a must-have, along with Dead End, simply because we all want to complete Menasor .

Rtron wrote:How bad do aftermarket prices on these Pulse exclusives tend to be? Are they resold at online stores like BBTS and such? I already missed out on Beast Wars Ravage, a favourite character of mine whom I intend to look for eventually, and I'm also interested on the Orion Pax & Alpha Trion set, but Pulse doesn't ship to my country.

Everything can become ridiculously expensive once it is no longer available from primary retailers. No matter how deeply discounted it once may have been. And it's always worst with exclusives.

I'm not liking that alt mode for Skullgrin. It has too much of the robot-just-laying-down thing going on. I guess it resembles his old alt mode but Pretenders, in general, were usually criticized for having crappy alt modes. This could've been a good opportunity to really address that.
I might just still with the one from 2010.

Of course that brings up another complaint. Skullgrin has been revisited a few times already. I would've really liked to see some other Pretenders who haven't been touched yet get some kind of update like Carnivac or Stranglehold

RiddlerJ wrote:I'm not liking that alt mode for Skullgrin. It has too much of the robot-just-laying-down thing going on. I guess it resembles his old alt mode but Pretenders, in general, were usually criticized for having crappy alt modes. This could've been a good opportunity to really address that.
I might just still with the one from 2010.

Of course that brings up another complaint. Skullgrin has been revisited a few times already. I would've really liked to see some other Pretenders who haven't been touched yet get some kind of update like Carnivac or Stranglehold

If they keep along this "fusing shell with altmode" trend, the Pretender Beasts would probably just end up as retools of Beast Wars characters. Stranglehold would look freaky as hell, almost naked dude that turns into a scorpion... Proper body horror-former, I'd love it.

It's a shame that Alpha and Pax are exclusives.
We'll try to get them though.
The more I see the Kup mold, the more I'm convinved you could get a very nice and accurate Firestar out of it. Keep hoping some day it happens.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Also, Ravage is still on Pulse: https://hasbropulse.com/products/transf ... ver-ravage

That's kinda tragic since they couldn't even sell out of them at 40% off. I hope Hasbro doesn't take anything negative away from that. Really the only bad thing about it was including the G1 Ravage, but that was a pretty interesting unique version of that figure, too.

Rtron wrote:If they keep along this "fusing shell with altmode" trend, the Pretender Beasts would probably just end up as retools of Beast Wars characters. Stranglehold would look freaky as hell, almost naked dude that turns into a scorpion... Proper body horror-former, I'd love it.

That would be weird considering the original turned into a rhino. That could actually work in a theoretical figure's favor since the shell and rhino can share "skin" and we could almost get something that looks like a "What If..?" Transmetal II Rhinox (and work as a potential retool). Makes you wonder what the leaked Metalhawk will look like.

Sabrblade wrote:

Sculyblast wrote:Isn't that the carrobot Gigatron/ Robot in Disguise Megatron's face?

...No?

Actually I can see it too. Look closely at the sides of his face. TM2 Megatron usually has two orange squares on each side of his face, but instead has one on each, and above and below that are those claw like shapes that RID Megatron has above and below. It's a weird thing to add that makes me wonder if they're trying to get more than one use out of that head sculpt, perhaps with a different helmet and tail going around it. The claws going over his chest is also reminiscent of how the RID figure has a claw "belt". Then you've got the big orb in the middle of the chest like both characters had. I think there's something to this.

BTW, the jagged teeth look to be painted on that way, they don't look like they're sculpted like that so it might change.

Emerje

DeathReviews wrote:Looks like Skullgrin is the most awesome of the lot this time out. He'll be a must-have, along with Dead End, simply because we all want to complete Menasor .

I'm not completing Menasor in fact I'm not even bothering with him.

I confess he looks a lot better now than in the before images. The opposite of Inferno.

Tuned Agent wrote:Better pics of the accessory-less bot modes (from TFW):

Megs looks great. I think they want to retool him into R.I.D Megs at some point.

Starscream looks really good. Can't wait for Supermodel SS a.k.a Thundercracker.

Inferno is surpassingly growing on me.

Skullgrin's o.k.

Breakdown looks quite nice.

Dead End looks like he's on stilts.


And Pointblank.... sheesh. Is he just rocking a jockstrap and no pants?

So pre-ordering Megs, Breakdown and Dead End.

Maybe Starscream, and maaaaaaybe Inferno.

Overcracker wrote:
So pre-ordering Megs, Breakdown

I beleive that's crankcase

So Skullgrin will have two sword/gun weapons that'll hopefully be able to split into two parts. Noice.

Alt mode is okay. I also don't really like the laying down look but then seeing the pics from the comic, seems pretty accurate. So that's pretty cool. Mixed feelings

Emerje wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Also, Ravage is still on Pulse: https://hasbropulse.com/products/transf ... ver-ravage

That's kinda tragic since they couldn't even sell out of them at 40% off. I hope Hasbro doesn't take anything negative away from that. Really the only bad thing about it was including the G1 Ravage, but that was a pretty interesting unique version of that figure, too.

Rtron wrote:If they keep along this "fusing shell with altmode" trend, the Pretender Beasts would probably just end up as retools of Beast Wars characters. Stranglehold would look freaky as hell, almost naked dude that turns into a scorpion... Proper body horror-former, I'd love it.

That would be weird considering the original turned into a rhino. That could actually work in a theoretical figure's favor since the shell and rhino can share "skin" and we could almost get something that looks like a "What If..?" Transmetal II Rhinox (and work as a potential retool). Makes you wonder what the leaked Metalhawk will look like.

Sabrblade wrote:

Sculyblast wrote:Isn't that the carrobot Gigatron/ Robot in Disguise Megatron's face?

...No?

tm2megs.JPG

Actually I can see it too. Look closely at the sides of his face. TM2 Megatron usually has two orange squares on each side of his face, but instead has one on each, and above and below that are those claw like shapes that RID Megatron has above and below. It's a weird thing to add that makes me wonder if they're trying to get more than one use out of that head sculpt, perhaps with a different helmet and tail going around it. The claws going over his chest is also reminiscent of how the RID figure has a claw "belt". Then you've got the big orb in the middle of the chest like both characters had. I think there's something to this.

BTW, the jagged teeth look to be painted on that way, they don't look like they're sculpted like that so it might change.

Emerje

Oops, you're right, I got him mixed up with Pincher. A rhino would be slightly less disturbing for sure, specially if they're not fussy about his human mode skin color and just make his skin the color of a rhino's skin.

TMII Megs looks better there and I LOVE Skullgrin!

The resculpting on Kup and Scourge that's gone into Pax and Trion is wonderful!

~ Grim