Possible First Look at 2022 Exclusive Twin Twist and Waspinator Redecos

Otherwise known as Beast Wars Skywasp.

Lots to catch up on, I haven't been to this thread in almost 3 weeks.

so, let's start with the reveals:

Wildrider: this one got my hopes up for the Stunticons. I actually really like how this one looks. i will get this one.

Elita: She doesn't really appeal to me, I love the PotP one. I look forward to the mold as Minerva though.

Tarantulas: It looks like a good toy. It took me a day to figure it out, but it doesn't really appeal to me as much as I had hoped it would, and that is because the Transmetal look is THE look for me. It's odd to see him back in his season 1 body. Doesn't help that Sins of the Wreckers made his TM form his main mode but still gave him a fully organic beast mode.

Knockout: this one really bothers me. Prime Arcee ended up working as a Prime figure mostly, and is a pretty nice figure. Bulkhead is not the Prime character to me, the head and wrecking ball are about the only things that work for me as that character. Knockout falls into the Bulkhead status. He needed a new mold. He is too bulky/square, and the head sculpt is a disappointment. He's the wrong shape for Knockout, and simplifies some of his most distinct features. for me, Knockout is another victim of G1-ification, and it sucks to see him done dirty this way.

Jhiaxus: I enjoy this one a good bit. He feels too skinny though. he seems off somehow. That headsculpt is utterly wonderful though.

Soundwave: don't care.

Blitzwing: he ugly.

Motormaster: this one wiped out the goodwill I had towards the Stunticons after seeing Wildrider. I just don't like him that much. Too much cartoon, which is OK, I'm not the audience for him.

Now, as for wave 1 figures, I got Arcee, Ignuanus, and Bulkhead.

I got Arcee first. She is actually quite adorable and fun. The aesthetic changes hinder her as a Prime figure, but her design is pretty good. Transformation is really good, they nailed that. I wish I could give her her wings without having to put the wheels on her back too, but it's necessary since I will not use those wheels as a gun. Overall, very nice, I like her.

Iguanus is as good as I could have hoped. He's so posable too! I love this lizard man, they understood the assignment and they killed it. I look forward to more Pretenders like this.

Bulkhead isn't too bad. He is not the Prime guy to me, it just doesn't work. But I'm thinking he can be my Wrecker Bulkhead, giving him a spot to go. I think a lot of my issues with the guy would be resolved if he wasn't explicitly called "Prime universe Bulkhead." He seems like a good figure. joints are pretty stiff too, so he can hold those poses really well. Hoping we can maybe get Pyro from him. That's a Wrecker I need.

Sabrblade wrote:Otherwise known as Beast Wars Skywasp.

This conflicts with my headcanon of Kingdom Skywarp being the G1 guy who switched sides

primalxconvoy wrote:

Elita 1.jpg

That's not Elita's real cartoon model. It's a fanmade one.

This is (a preliminary version of) her real one:

Autobot N wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Otherwise known as Beast Wars Skywasp.

This conflicts with my headcanon of Kingdom Skywarp being the G1 guy who switched sides

Why? Skywasp isn't G1 Skywarp. He's a Predacon analogue, like what BW Megatron and BWII Starscream are to G1 Megatron and Starscream.

Sabrblade wrote:

Autobot N wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Otherwise known as Beast Wars Skywasp.

This conflicts with my headcanon of Kingdom Skywarp being the G1 guy who switched sides

Why? Skywasp isn't G1 Skywarp. He's a Predacon analogue, like what BW Megatron and BWII Starscream are to G1 Megatron and Starscream.

It kinda seemed like they were the same guy since he has the same prankster personality trait as the original

william-james88 wrote:

Emerje wrote:Jhiaxus retooled into Armada Thrust, I can actually see that, but would they make a Voyager Thrust?

Emerje

Thrust is usually a voyager, as are seekers, these days. Him not being a voyager would be more odd for me.

Armada Thrust, not G1. He's only had two previous figures, both Deluxe.

Sowndwave76 wrote:Thanks to Will and whoever else helped news Target's preorder link for Motormaster...
I still can't believe how horrible their website is... What a joke.

Will had nothing to do with it...

blackeyedprime wrote:well, I think we can all look at Tr Galvatron and say his head could have been worse hahahah (even if its still better figure than the recent one)

https://www.kapowtoys.co.uk/product/act ... KhY3xwev58

There's plenty of people that would have been happy with that head since it's seemingly based on some of the Japanese art that greatly exaggerates his crown.

Tuned Agent wrote:...That being said, are we sure this mold was made to be Minerva first and foremost? The alt mode and robot details are nothing like Minerva's, and if the recent Wreckers comic is anything to go by, only the head is getting retooled. It looks to me more like Elita 1 was the one this mold was designed for, and Minerva is just the headswap retool, with the shoulder pylons being designed in to make the mold more versatile.

Can't really think of why they would do the shoulder thing in the first place if not for Minerva. It's not like it has anything to do with Elita's design. Even Mark on the live stream seemed to prefer them folded away despite being unfolded in all of the stock photos. Granted they'd have to swap out most of the torso and maybe the lower legs and there's still no guarantee she'll be a Headmaster, but at the same time we're getting used to exclusives with heavy retooling so it's possible.

Sabrblade wrote:Otherwise known as Beast Wars Skywasp.

Otherwise known as a poor consolation prize for never getting that cool Transmetal repaint. Do the right thing, Hasbro, give us this as a Walmart exclusive!



Emerje

Emerje wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:Thanks to Will and whoever else helped news Target's preorder link for Motormaster...
I still can't believe how horrible their website is... What a joke.

Will had nothing to do with it...

Well thanks very much to you then!!

I may be crazy, but between that promotional discount, a couple giftcards, and the 'ol Redcard, I went back and preordered TWO... Both for just over $115.

I figure there's time to cancel if I that's what I decide. And even if they both get delivered and I change my mind after that, returning one would be easy enough.

Emerje wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Emerje wrote:Jhiaxus retooled into Armada Thrust, I can actually see that, but would they make a Voyager Thrust?

Emerje

Thrust is usually a voyager, as are seekers, these days. Him not being a voyager would be more odd for me.

Armada Thrust, not G1. He's only had two previous figures, both Deluxe.

I'm well aware, but I still think non combining planes are voyagers at a minimum now. Plus, in that grand galvatron set, those deluxe figures were deluxe sized versions of voyager characters (like Starscream and Breakdown). Basically, I would be very surprised if Armada Thrust is released as a deluxe if ever they choose to incorporate him in this unified Transformers universe toyline.

Tuned Agent wrote:...That being said, are we sure this mold was made to be Minerva first and foremost?

Yes, because the robot mode functionalities match up more to her than Elita. They even straight up give us Minerva's gun (see below). Not an homage or something that can work both ways, they literally made a mold of Minerva's G1 rifle and that is the gun that comes with Elita 1.

Here is a digibash showing how this mold works as Minerva.



Hasbro is trying to be toon accurate now, more than ever. So it makes absolutely no sense that they wouldn't give Elita her actual cybertronian alt mode unless this tooling was made to give to a character that has an earth mode.

Autobot N wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Autobot N wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Otherwise known as Beast Wars Skywasp.

This conflicts with my headcanon of Kingdom Skywarp being the G1 guy who switched sides

Why? Skywasp isn't G1 Skywarp. He's a Predacon analogue, like what BW Megatron and BWII Starscream are to G1 Megatron and Starscream.

It kinda seemed like they were the same guy since he has the same prankster personality trait as the original

Well, BW Starscream is a self-serving schemer and backstabber. BW Megatron is a tyrannical conqueror with ambitions of ruling Cybertron. BW Optimus is a brave defender of justice and freedom. Some things are just constant with certain names or name homages.

And, to be frank, Skywasp's bio was written just to make Skywarp fanboy Randy "Powered Convoy" Para happy about another Skywarp-esque character existing.

I love it all! I know nothing about Jhiaxus beyond what I've read on the Wiki but for some reason I LOVE his guns! Elita-1 looks great, SG Magnus is very cool, Tarantulas looks spot-on...honestly, all of these guys and gals look terrific!

As I've never been a Stunticons guy I have to call out Motormaster: he looks awesome and I'm super intrigued by the new combiner format as well as his battle station. I'm very excited to see Menasor in full as well as the other combiners (waiting on Superion and Blades, because plane guy).

Knock Out. He was my favourite character of Prime and I absolutely loved his toy I easily transformed him the most out of all my many figures from that line. I regret selling it and now even more so. I really like this new version, but the fact he's not an obvious Aston Martin is disappointing - as is the fact his face isn't moulded with a smirk!!! How?! All that said, I want him!

I'm really enjoying Legacy. More power to the design team and bring on more cool new stuff!

I've said a lot of negative things about Legacy Menasor, particularly since seeing that Drag Strip split. And I don't know that I'd call the "skeleton" thing "real G1 look" since it was only ever a frequent animation error (probably caused by the simplification and the Stunticons' gray undercarriages, now that I think about it). But finally getting the actual damn pics has turned me around at least on Motormaster.

Because not only is Motormaster not left out in the cold while the combiner torso is purely made from his trailer (which is what I feared would happen), he can indeed still use CW limb connections if one chooses. The legs are obvious, and seeing this photo:


In relation to this one:


Seems to prove that the arm "bones" use them as well.

So hey, I'm actually interested in this Motormaster after all; I can get a Menasor I like out of him. Yaaaay! I'm also going to get Drag Strip (and eventually kitbash him to use a CW joint, most likely). That will have the added benefit of letting me convert my current CW Drag Strip back to Mirage (pain though that's going to be, between someone at Takara seeming to have it in for customizers and the fact that I'll have to re-Mirageify (or else replace) the head), bringing my "Masquerade" set to 3 out of 5.

william-james88 wrote:Hasbro is trying to be toon accurate now, more than ever. So it makes absolutely no sense that they wouldn't give Elita her actual cybertronian alt mode unless this tooling was made to give to a character that has an earth mode.

Although funnily enough, this mold blows toon accuracy on the Minerva end too, since it's influenced by the IDW design (which itself my have been influenced by either Fans Hobby or Animated) which has completely different arms compared to the G1 toy and cartoon, and a different chest.

Sabrblade wrote:

primalxconvoy wrote:

Elita 1.jpg

That's not Elita's real cartoon model. It's a fanmade one.

This is (a preliminary version of) her real one:

For my money, the fanmade model is in fact much closer to that prefinal than it is to the Legacy toy. The person doing the comparison is using a photo of Legacy Elita that severely foreshortens the car mode's Armada Hot Shot-esque aft (and is underestimating the more straight edge of the front bumper).


Although the Legacy toy is certainly trying to evoke Elita's cartoon altmode more than past outings have, given the head poking up (probably where Minerva's lightbar will be) and having details based on her cartoon chest on the hood.

Tuned Agent wrote:...That being said, are we sure this mold was made to be Minerva first and foremost? The alt mode and robot details are nothing like Minerva's, and if the recent Wreckers comic is anything to go by, only the head is getting retooled.

For the benefit of those who haven't seen the comic, the robot mode details are a dead-on match for her appearance there (though I don't think they look much like Elita One's or Minerva's cartoon models).

o.supreme wrote:It seems recently that when a toy is an All new mold, Hasbro makes sure to let us know. If it is a recolor or retool, they of course try to spin it in the best way possible. I get it, not judging.

However...it appears Tarantulas has some shared engineering, perhaps even the arachnid legs with Kingdom Scorponok, or am I just imagining? I don't seem to remember the presenter firmly stating one way or another if it was all new, or not.

I think you are either imagining or mixing up characters. Tarantulas appears to be a new mold and has nothing to do with Scorponok other than having a similar looking feet in bot mode. Scorponok's transformation is all wrong to work for sharing anything with Tarantulas.

If he shares anything with another figure it will be engineering/transformation with Black Arachnia since their bot parts end up in pretty much the same places in the spider modes. Bot arms and legs tuck in and form the side of the spider body and the backpack becomes the spider shell. Spider legs are attached to the bot mode arms in a similar way as well. The biggest difference is BA's bot arms end up at the back of the spider and Tarantula's end up front and center.

I thought for a quick minute that he might re-use BA's weapon, but even that is new (but very similar to BA's).

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

o.supreme wrote:It seems recently that when a toy is an All new mold, Hasbro makes sure to let us know. If it is a recolor or retool, they of course try to spin it in the best way possible. I get it, not judging.

However...it appears Tarantulas has some shared engineering, perhaps even the arachnid legs with Kingdom Scorponok, or am I just imagining? I don't seem to remember the presenter firmly stating one way or another if it was all new, or not.

I think you are either imagining or mixing up characters. Tarantulas appears to be a new mold and has nothing to do with Scorponok other than having a similar looking feet in bot mode. Scorponok's transformation is all wrong to work for sharing anything with Tarantulas.

If he shares anything with another figure it will be engineering/transformation with Black Arachnia since their bot parts end up in pretty much the same places in the spider modes. Bot arms and legs tuck in and form the side of the spider body and the backpack becomes the spider shell. Spider legs are attached to the bot mode arms in a similar way as well. The biggest difference is BA's bot arms end up at the back of the spider and Tarantula's end up front and center.

I thought for a quick minute that he might re-use BA's weapon, but even that is new (but very similar to BA's).

As with the G1 characters, the Beast Wars characters have a lot of simple straight redeco options, which I think plays a big part in them being new molds (then again, Terrorsaur has a ton of repaint options and he's a retool ... AAARRGHHHH!!!! Dammit, why is the only retool in the main cast one of my favourite characters, he really deserved his own brand new mold and something innovative)

Omegatron. wrote:

Tuned Agent wrote:...That being said, are we sure this mold was made to be Minerva first and foremost? The alt mode and robot details are nothing like Minerva's, and if the recent Wreckers comic is anything to go by, only the head is getting retooled.

For the benefit of those who haven't seen the comic, the robot mode details are a dead-on match for her appearance there (though I don't think they look much like Elita One's or Minerva's cartoon models).

lj3phzbgedt81.png

While yes, the mold is definitely what we see in the comics for Minerva, toys are made 2 year in advance while a comic is drawn just a few months in advance. As with Knockout, the liklier scenario as to what happened is Hasbro gave the comic people the look the eventual Minerva would have and that's what was used in the comic. So the comic book element on it's own does not add to the evidence of this Elita mold being made for Minerva primarily, jut like Knout Out's look in the comic does not mean that Knockout was conceived before Jazz. I think it's just Hasbro being forward thinking and always thinking of multiple uses at the design stage.
But regardless, in the end, when all will be said and done, stating that this mold is primarily for Elita and that it's the first time she has her own mold just for her will still be innacurate.

And while I think she looks like a great transformers toy, I won't be getting rid of my Netflix Elita since I actually think it looks more like the Elita I know in bot mode.

william-james88 wrote:As with the G1 characters, the Beast Wars characters have a lot of simple straight redeco options, which I think plays a big part in them being new molds

Actually I saw it as Hasbro kind of biting a bullet in that repaints/remolds of BW characters are much more limited than OG characters (not saying its good or bad, just an observation). I think they have done well with what they had, with some exceptions. I mean they could have done straight repaints of Tigatron from Cheetor, and a slight retool of BA into Tarantulas, but by creating new molds they've kind of limited themselves.

There's really no way to reuse Optimus Primal (I think we can all agree Netflix Primal (barely any color change), and Buzzworthy "Nemesis Primal" were pointless cash grabs).

Not much you can do with Rhinox (except maybe the Predacon Rhinox from one episode). Toy color "repaints" to me are also pretty lame as well.

I think most of the versatility of BW characters is more fabricated based on toy vs animation deco, also Botcon and other past exclusives, which were made originally, because some of the molds had no secondary use, so of course they ae going to do it again.

I mean a Selects or retailer exclusive Antagony from BW Inferno is pretty much a given. Same for Cryotek from TM2 Megatron.

I think Hasbro takes into account however, If they can use the WFC Seeker molds, or WFC Megatron like 10 times, it compensates for the cost of one time uses such as Siege Astrotrain, ER Doubledealer, and most likely Kingdom Rhinox, as well as commanders such as Skylynx or RP, although with SG Jetfire, I guess nothing is off the table.

o.supreme wrote:There's really no way to reuse Optimus Primal

Universe/SG Optimus, Burning Convoy, RobotMasters Black Beast Convoy, BotCon 2014 Apelinq, BotCon 2014 Primal Prime (both of which used the 10th Anniversary Deluxe mold that shared design elements with Primal's season 1 body).

o.supreme wrote:Not much you can do with Rhinox (except maybe the Predacon Rhinox from one episode). Toy color "repaints" to me are also pretty lame as well.

Fox Kids "Energon Surge" Rhinox, McDonalds Rhino, Rally's/SG Rhinox

And now that we have seen all the Cheetor repaints possible, making him Tigatron would have seemed pretty darn excessive.

Also, as Sabre pointed out, there is a lot you can do with Primal. The Netflix version didn't have much different because it wasn't meant for fans to double dip. As with Netlix Prime, Primal was there to ensure that the main good guy character was on shelves since the regaular release might have been long gone since it was wave 1 (that's my thinking, since he cam with wave 1 rattrap)

william-james88 wrote:And now that we have seen all the Cheetor repaints possible,

There's still Fox Kids and SG Cheetor they could do.

And a fan made a custom pre-Transmetal version of Cataclysm from the Kingdom Cheetor mold that looks pretty sweet.