Review of Studio Series TLK Hot Rod with Comparisons

As always, if this is not the official version, it would be prudent to wait for actual retail versions being reviewed by legit YouTubers before we jump to any conclusions regarding any possible faults or defects in this mold. For all we know, the retail versions might differ considerably to ones by those giving us peegey tips, however "helpful" they may seem. This might even be true if the unboxed versions are BETTER than the originals, and we get our hopes up.

Emerje wrote:

primalxconvoy wrote:As always, if this is not the official version, it would be prudent to wait for actual retail versions being reviewed by legit YouTubers before we jump to any conclusions regarding any possible faults or defects in this mold. For all we know, the retail versions might differ considerably to ones by those giving us peegey tips, however "helpful" they may seem. This might even be true if the unboxed versions are BETTER than the originals, and we get our hopes up.

Don't these usually come right off the assembly line? Unless they have Hasbro's serial numbers printed directly on them they're probably final products. Do you have any examples of reviewed figures being different from the retail release (aside from blemishes and broken parts)?

Emerje

With 3P products, whenever they're reviewed, they're often accompanied by disclosures that they're pre-production samples (even if they're close to the final product or end up being exactly the same as the final product). This is how more honest YouTubers give us a look at such toys, while also giving us enough info to make more informed decisions prior to purchasing. In some cases, they even state that the companies are aware of certain faults and will (or already have) rectified them.

From personal experience, I've found some of the faults mentioned by those that have watched such unripe product reviews, don't always turn up in the Takara-Tomy versions, so I'm a little sceptical. That's why I usually only watch legit YouTube videos, as any faults mentioned in them might be more widespread.

I'm more interested in the facts, rather than "reviews" akin to fortune telling:

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EvasionModeBumblebee wrote:And here's CvC's review for Crosshairs. Important to note is that his copy is missing the spoiler, which we know the figure will include based on prior renders and in-hand pics from Hasbro.

Crosshairs definitely isn't as much of a win as Hot Rod, but the molded detail is pretty impressive.

Well, this "kind-of" highlights my point, although not exactly. The copy in this "review" (sic) isn't the same as the proposed/actual retail version, for better or for worse.

The live action movie Crosshairs does not have a design that translates well to toys. His whole design gimmick is that the car body becomes a flowing trench coat. The previous attempts (both in AOE and TLK) went all in on the trenchcoat design, with the idea of it wrapping around his sides as it does in the film. There were clearly some sacrifices to make that happen with innacuracies in the top half of the toy. The new Studio Series version aims more to look like the sleek character model and drops the trenchcoat gimmick for the most part. The toy attempts to keep the look when facing dead on but does not retain the dual functonality of the car body as previous toys have. That does of course liberate the designers in other aspects as you will see below when comparing to the previous version. People seem torn on this with there being pros and cons to both attempts at bringing this character to toy form. You'll let us know where you land.

The images come from a review by PrimevsPrime. All shots below are of the robot mode because the car mode in the video is incomplete and we would rather not confuse you with it. You can see the original review here.

Poor ol' Crosshairs, has enough kibble to rival that of Arcee.
I do really like the upper body and colours of the Studio Series version, but the trenchcoat looks nicer on the previous toy. I might still pick it up if there's better ways to handle the kibble (official or not, à la Sentinel Prime's cape) because I still otherwise like the rest of it.

Well the paint and face look better. But man those bots have horrible designs of TF 4. They are just big dudes in space armor who can teleport in a vehicle mode.

If the robot mode doesn't resemble a vehicle at all, then you know what it is and can only be. A shellformer. Galvatron practically is a shellformer because his robot mode is just a sci fi space robot, not a Transformer.

I think I'll continue to hunt for the first version of Crosshairs since it has some feely value.

SpaceEagle wrote:

noctorro wrote:Well the paint and face look better. But man those bots have horrible designs of TF 4. They are just big dudes in space armor who can teleport in a vehicle mode.

If the robot mode doesn't resemble a vehicle at all, then you know what it is and can only be. A shellformer. Galvatron practically is a shellformer because his robot mode is just a sci fi space robot, not a Transformer.

I think I'll continue to hunt for the first version of Crosshairs since it has some feely value.

I definitely agree, 4 & 5's designs are amongst my least favourite because they don't even look like robots that are able transform into cars, just robots that happen to 'animorph' into a car. The toys did somewhat help me with liking the designs - but that's due to them actually embracing the car parts for some (I do like Drift's Bugatti toy, as an example, even if it's quite kibbly.)

It took 3P/KO versions of Bayverse characters for me to appreciate some of their aesthetic qualities, such as this upcoming, triple-changing version of Drift. It's great, although the copter mode isn't great.



(Source: - https://showzstore.com/metagate-haiku-drift_p4108.html )

primalxconvoy wrote:

Emerje wrote:

primalxconvoy wrote:As always, if this is not the official version, it would be prudent to wait for actual retail versions being reviewed by legit YouTubers before we jump to any conclusions regarding any possible faults or defects in this mold. For all we know, the retail versions might differ considerably to ones by those giving us peegey tips, however "helpful" they may seem. This might even be true if the unboxed versions are BETTER than the originals, and we get our hopes up.

Don't these usually come right off the assembly line? Unless they have Hasbro's serial numbers printed directly on them they're probably final products. Do you have any examples of reviewed figures being different from the retail release (aside from blemishes and broken parts)?

Emerje

With 3P products, whenever they're reviewed, they're often accompanied by disclosures that they're pre-production samples (even if they're close to the final product or end up being exactly the same as the final product). This is how more honest YouTubers give us a look at such toys, while also giving us enough info to make more informed decisions prior to purchasing. In some cases, they even state that the companies are aware of certain faults and will (or already have) rectified them.

From personal experience, I've found some of the faults mentioned by those that have watched such unripe product reviews, don't always turn up in the Takara-Tomy versions, so I'm a little sceptical. That's why I usually only watch legit YouTube videos, as any faults mentioned in them might be more widespread.

I'm more interested in the facts, rather than "reviews" akin to fortune telling:

I'm talking about real Transformers, not bootleg garbage.

Emerje

primalxconvoy wrote:

Emerje wrote:

primalxconvoy wrote:
I'm talking about real Transformers, not bootleg garbage.

Emerje

1/ 3P TFs aren't "bootleg garbage".
2/ I already mentioned the differences between "reviews" of (possibly stolen) pre-production samples and later official Takara-Tomy releases.

They are technically bootlegs though, with the IP theft and all, which I think Hasbro hates more then the early sample reviewers.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:They are technically bootlegs though, with the IP theft and all, which I think Hasbro hates more then the early sample reviewers.

It would be an "I.P theft" if they used the official symbols and names. So unless they are straight KOs like what's plaguing G1 and MP, I see most if not all 3P toys as "fan art".

And so often, the "fan art" one-up the officials by a large margin. Just look at anything Unique Toys are making.

I would only compare them if they're in the same price range as 3p have their fair share of advantages over hasbro. I would be far happier if more 3rd parties made their own IP, then Hasbro would see some real competition (something they've not had in a long while)