#bumblebee cyberverse adventure

[transmetal-tk]

With all the new toy reveals and leaks lately, clearly it is the right time to revisit this mold from a few years ago

My timing is just horrible...

[trashhole]

Bot love!!!

Soundrod on a library date ! No idea why they’re at the library but maybe they like to have quiet time with eachother sometimes too.

Are they gonna smash eachothers mouths as enemies or lovers? Maybe both.

I feel like starscream needs platform heels, he could be so slay

Edit: I was attempting to pose bee and star and bumblebee broke off stars aft panels I’m sobbing

Attempting glue surgery 💀💀💀

[jazzluca]

DINOBOT SLUG ( Deluxe ) CYBERVERSE

Se il cartone animato di Cyberverse è stata una piccola gemma nel vasto parco delle serie dei Transformers, non si può dire lo stesso della sua linea di giocattoli, ovviamente votata alla semplicità giocattolosa, ma che ha un po' disatteso le aspettative anche nella tardiva ed aggiuntiva linea di Deluxe, per questo o quel motivo, ma che almeno ha saputo donarci qualcosa di interessante, come questo bel DINOBOT SLUG.

La storia dei Dinobot nel cartone di Cyberverse è un po' complicata,  dato che sono protagonisti di un film  apposito della quarta stagione della serie, dove Slug, Snarl, Sludge e Swoop sono abitanti di un altro pianeta che assumono questi alt mode in omaggio ad un video trasmesso da Grimlock dove si presentava con i suoi amici sauri, ma vabbè, come ho detto è complicato ( ed alla fine formano pure Volcanicus!! ). ^^'

Ciò che conta è che il ROBOT di questa ennesima versione di Tricex è davvero ben fatto ed omaggiante dell'originale, anche se NON è effettivamente come appare nel cartone, ma si ispira più ad un concept iniziale sul personaggio, prendendo poi il meglio fra questo e quanto apparso in tv, a mio avviso, dato che mantiene i caratteristici occhi grandi ( piuttosto che non quelli normali ed anonimi dello show ), ma ha forme leggermente super deformed come nello stile della serie.

E anzi, anche se nel cartone gli hanno messo gli occhi "normali" piuttosto che non i classici semi visori, magari proprio per accentuare l'espressività, la scultura del viso presenta un muso bello arcigno con tanto di occhi aggrottati NONOSTANTE il visore, donando ancor più personalità al modellino! ^^

Il resto delle novità del design è invece visto sia sul concept che in tv, con aculei sparsi su spalle e cosce delle zampe posteriori, ai lati del bacino, ma non intorno alla cresta, anche se questa è rivolta in avanti, così come leggermente il muso del triceratopo, con l'effetto della testa del robot che pare proprio "vomitata" dalla prima! ^^

A parte la questione dello stampo, il giocattolo di suo si differenzia dai due modelli cromaticamente, a occhio più per un discorso di risparmio delle plastiche e dettagli dipinti, dato che gli stinchi e le spalle sono dorati laddove non lo dovrebbero essere, così come i polsi non sono dipinti d'oro, o le cosce nere, ed anche il torso pare un po' grezzo rispetto a quanto si vede in tv, ma onestamente a me andrebbe bene anche così, dato che ci sta un leggero cambio cromatico rispetto a quello iconico e stravisto del personaggio.

E si perdona tranquillamente questa presunta faciloneria cromatica, dato che viene compensata dall'alta posabilità, con tanto di avambracci che ruotano sotto il gomito, rotazione del bacino, caviglie inclinabili, etc. Idem si soprassiede sui vuoti all'interno delle spalle, quelli minimi all'interno delle cosce e pure i polpacci un po' sguarniti, che però contengono la coda ripiegata del sauro, laddove nel concept era prevista intera che pendeva dal sedere!!! :O

Chiudiamo con il tocco di classe che pure il Leader Studio Series si sogna, ovvero le corna del triceratopo  che si possono piegare verso il basso!!!! <3

A livello di armi abbiamo delle novità, nella forma di una fucilone bicanna con tanto di effetto sparante in plastica rossa ed un'ascia che effettivamente è un po' miserella, dato che pare più un'accetta: per un personaggio come il nostro Slag ci stava meglio una bella ascia bipenne da barbaro, piuttosto, ma la minuta arma bianca almeno può inserirsi tramite la lama nel fucilone aumentandone la potenza di fuoco, oppure vi si attacca tramite la spina ed il foro nelle parti posteriori delle stesse.

( Volendo, a riposo le armi possono sistemarsi nei due fori appositi dietro la schiena )

Visto l'aspetto classico, ci aspetterebbe una TRASFORMAZIONE semplice e già vista, ma sorprendentemente non accade, dato che i passaggi della parte superiore sono squisitamente complicati per il gusto di esserlo, con le spalle che si abbassano sull'addome, il torso si solleva per far ruotare all'indietro le teste ( che poi ruotano di 180° ), mentre il resto del busto in avanti di 90°, così come poi va a ruotare il bacino e la testa del sauro riprende posizione. Più semplice la trasformazione delle gambe, che semplicemente si ripiegano sulle cosce, previo aver tirato fuori le due metà della coda.

Il TRICERATOPO robotico risultante è assai carino, fedele al G1 iconico per struttura e graziato dal dettaglio aggiuntivo e già menzionato degli spuntoni su spalle ed anche, mentre sono assenti quelli intorno alla cresta, presenti nel sauro visto in TV ma non nel concept.

Snodato un po' sulle sole zampe, e con la possibilità di aprire la mandibola, quel che ( ancora ) lascerebbe un po' basiti anche qui è sempre la colorazione, che siamo abituati a vedere i Dinobot praticamente tutti grigi mentre qui abbiamo le spalle e sedere dorati, la schiena grigia, il pannello nero sopra questa, le zampe posteriori nere pure quelle, e dettagli dipinti quasi a caso sparsi.

MA, come già detto, anche basta con i Dinobot tutti grigi, quindi ben vengano questi rimescoloni dei colori classici, fermo restando che l'unica cosa fastidiosa è la mancanza alla fedeltà del personaggio nei cartoni.

Infine, le armi combinate possono sistemarsi sul foro apposito sulla schiena, rendendo così il nostro Slug un piccolo carrarmato su 4 zampe! E sempre concludendo, direi che è un acquisto doveroso per i fan del personaggio, dato che per gli standard della sua linea e classe è davvero un gioiellino, con tanto di trasformazione un po' originale, ma peccato / per fortuna, dipende dai punti di vista, per la non fedelissima colorazione rispetto al Tricex del cartone di Cyberverse.

[naughtygirl286]

A New Optimus Prime for our Collection!! 😄😄 I know these have been out for a while now but I just had the chance to pick him up this week. So of course I was extremely happy to get him. Nothing new was put out at Wal-Mart being they are getting ready to rearrange toys for the spring So I finally grabbed this guy before they started doing that and moving stuff around.

[randomfandoms234]

Also in the bee of the multiverse au there’s eventual starbee it’s takes so heckling long but eventually happens happens in cyberverse arc where idw Starscream/ghostscream realises oh fuck I love him as more than a friend- after bumblebee forgets almost everything from his past adventures- he eventually gets it back but after that debacal starscream/ghostscream confesses

[rhysmaart]

Trying to figure out a TFA style windblade. Since TFA autobots don’t typically fly, I’m reimagining her as an f1 car since the spoiler and front bit could still inform the name “windblade” for her. Kinda basing it off a mix of classics mirage and TFA samurai prowl in terms of design (she would share prowls mold like how all the bumblebee body type characters do, but both have modified themselves in diff ways over time.)

In terms of powers, her wheels would still let her do the turbine thing, she would still have her sword, and the city speaking thing would be replaced with straight up telepathy since the whole omega supreme plot would suggest city/titan transformers don’t exist in the TFA world.

For personality, I’m building off the fact that her and bee were supposed to be best friends in cyberverse and making her similar to him here. She thinks things our better, but is still an impulsive racer who would get into all kinds of trouble with bee before he left the planet, and now that he’s back on cybertron wants to reconnect with him and potentially join team Optimus when they leave again for new adventures. After seeing primes jetpack she also wants to convince sari, sumdac, and rachet to make her one too so she can fly, but they shoot her down every time she asks.

Doing windblade was suggested by @legofreak33

[iamanemotionaltimebomb]

I’m rewatching Cyberverse, because I never finished this series (I don’t actually remember when I stopped watching, but I wanna say I finished at least season 1).

This show has big G1 energy but then throws in some TFP/IDW energy for good measure (If I remember correctly, I’m pretty sure Tarn was even in this in later seasons).

That’s not a bad thing per se, but I do remember it gave a lot of severe whiplash at times.

And good news, it still does!

 I just finished episode 8 again. 

An entire colony gets taken out by a plague (implied to be a very painful way to die), Bee and Hot Rod nearly die in the episode and Bee watches one of his friends die, and it’s even worse if you consider this fun tidbit from the tfwiki:

Bumblebee and Hot Rod are shown wearing Autobot insignias during their trip to Velocitron, and many of the Velocitronian civilians (including Blurr) appear to be as well. This suggests that this adventure took place early into the war, following the events depicted in the first half of "Megatron Is My Hero"; when combined with the news report mentioning "multiple planets" have been consumed by the Plague of Rust, it raises questions as to whether Velocitron's fate was entirely an accident...

and the episode just ends with “Phew, I’m glad that’s over!”

Like, Bee just potentially remembered a fucking genocide of an entire colony and the death of his friend and he acts like it was a bad movie he saw on TV. 

[blueikeproductions]

So the original pitch bible for Transformers Prime was revealed, its prototypical stage was called Robots in Disguise funnily enough, and I’m mixed on what I’ve seen.

Let’s be clear, Prime is ok, but I’ve always found it bland. Flash over substance, best remembered for being gritty and violent with little to say outside of that becoming a forced amalgam of what came before, while its true saving grace being it got Peter Cullen and Frank Welker back on TV in their best known roles. It never knew what it wanted to be, and it’s why I preferred RiD15 since, while far more “kiddy”, I respect a show that at least knows what it is sincere about it.

With that in mind, the concept art oddly feels more cohesive than Prime. The general gist was pretty unabashedly Bayformers: The Animated Series and to a degree I’m surprised they didn’t just do that with NEST, Sam & Mikayla instead of trying to make douchebag hacker Spike a thing.

Indeed, Spike was originally meant as the lead human, described as a rebellious hacker seeking the truth, and one day discovers a Transformer. While there’s no design drawn, reference photos use what looks like stereotypical teens from the 2000’s, ranging from a skateboarder to a grungy emo teen that reminds me of douchebag SM3 Peter with the symbiote. Going by the description and visuals, Spike was evidently split apart into Jack, Raf and Miko, which might explain why they never worked… at least to me. They became a fragment of Spike’s original personality and never fully grew beyond that, when keeping them a single character might’ve been far more interesting.

It appears NEST inspired TASK, no idea what it stands for, but they were similarly a military unit aligned with the Autobots. A female love interest was sketched out, though frankly with how masculine the sketch looks, I keep thinking it’s a guy. Sort of the reverse TF Zone Akira (looks like a girl, is actually a dude). Frankly I say keep the military person a love interest and make ’em a dude: let’s get Akira and Cain up in here with it lol. (I know they weren’t officially a couple, but I still think it’s funny. Plus a version of Spike with a boyfriend could be fun as something different.)

Anyhow, a big emphasis was humanity joining the fight, as well as how they’d react to the TF’s Great War. This didn’t really make it into the final product beyond Prime and RiD’s over fixation on hiding the robots (when in both cases it was becoming increasingly hard to believe people didn’t see anything or just shrugged it off. Though RiD at least had some funny bits poking fun at this I liked.) TASK was basically NEST, and in some cases was just one letter away from just becoming MASK. …Which leads into the toy aspect.

I think had they played their cards right with this early pitch, they could’ve had Autobots, Decepticons, and TASK/MASK transforming vehicles. A huge emphasis was placed on Optimus having specialized trailers, all seemingly based on the Armada and Prime Force drones from Energon to some extent. There was the base trailer that unfolded into a military platform for Autobots and humans to use, a drill trailer for Energon mining, a submarine trailer for water missions, I think I saw a jet trailer, and a tank trailer. It appears they could all Transform to some extent, even becoming armor for other characters to combine with. They evoke the later Cyberverse Spark Armor vehicle combinations with a dash of ROTF Jet Optimus, so the concept made it out just not in Proto-Prime lol.

There was also a proposed Energon Weapon gimmick that strongly resembles the RB style Energon Tools gimmick, so presumably it too got repurposed.

Curiously there’s a LOT of concept art of the Autobots in underwater missions, wearing armor that resembles the submarine armor TFA Bumblebee toy. One concept art drawing features a giant robot manta-fish guy, who I’m assuming was a Seacon or a Sharkticon of some sort. The later TFP prequel stuff that did get made involves an adventure on Aquatron, with Megatron becoming a liberator of the Sharkticons, so I guess that’s where that came from? Megatron even got a Sharkticon inspired toy to boot. I suppose it’s ironic we have all this water business but no one thought to include guys like Sea Spray (and NOT kill him off screen). The robot designs were all over the place. A lot of art mostly uses stylized G1 designs, but the proposed designs were a stronger hybrid of the movies and G1, as opposed to what we got which was purely movie inspired with a dash of Animated. It’s funny to me that after years of praise for Prime’s art style, upon seeing the concept art, it’s now ok to absolutely dunk on Prime. Megatron is the stand out for many, being a hybrid of his WFC, body, his Cybertron Mode Animated body and his Revenge of the Fallen bodies. His vehicle mode was a tank, instead of the first Bayformer space jet thing. He also had what I think might have been a battle axe on his back. It’s definitely cooler than what we got, and I get a strong sense it might crop up as a toy in a future Concept Art Studio Series release. The other designs I think got repurposed though. Bee’s design looks to be what eventually became RiD15, CV and ES Bee, Starscream became RiD15 Screamer, Soundwave’s Earth Mode became RiD15 and CV Soundwave. I genuinely believe RiD15 was where some of these designs were saved lol. Optimus was pry the more G1 looking, with the look possibly influencing his CV and RBA bodies. Soundwave had an alternate design that was his ROTF design, but with Fixit’s wheel feet. I personally hate this look, buts pretty clear ROTF Soundwave was still a huge influence for what became the final and genuinely popular TFP Soundwave design. Ironhide was one of the main Autobots along with Ratchet, both being heavily influenced by their Movie selves, like what would’ve happened with TFA Ironhide and TFA Ratchet. I suppose the funny thing is the Ironhide design made it through, becoming Kup in the American release but staying Ironhide in the Japanese release. Still, the designs were very rough, and as much as people seem to be more for them, they’re too busy and are still clearly finding a balance in what they wanted. I think had they refined it a bit more we could’ve had the perfect Godzilla: The Animated Series equivalent to the original Bayformers. Alas we got Prime, while well intentioned was a show that coasted hard on being dark and gritty, shackled to continued unpopular modern ideas that’s only held TF down than uplift it. I think at the very least EarthSpark is a better version of Prime’s ideas even if I don’t agree with its execution.

[merlinfromberlin]

I'm half way through Season 3 of Transformers Cyberverse and honestly, I don't get why they called it Bumblebee Cyberverse Adventure when Bee barely even appears in this season.

If anything, this season should be called Hot Rod Cyberverse Adventure because he is our main character. He has been front and center to most of these episodes.

I guess that all of that can still change because I am only on episode 14, but tbh. right now it seems as if they only called it Bumblebee because Bee is more popular/sells better than Hot Rod.

But then again. It would still be so odd because Bee was basically non-existent in the first half of the season.

[transingthoseformers]

ORIGINAL DIVORCE AU ANON

Galvatron the MegaLord Baby ACCEPTED! Damus is convinced that Megatron reproduced asexually and refuses to accept Overlord had any part in this.

Hot Rod is the oldest and is terribly fond of his slightly feral baby brother. Hotlock doesn't intend to help escalate them but Hot Rod is weak to puppy eyes when Damus asks for things he really shouldn't have and Deadlock wants to impresses his not-yet-maybe boyfriend and proceeds to teach Damus how to properly stab someone. Damus gives a disturbingly articulate speech about Deadlock serving the Cause well that Deadlock thinks is cute.

Damus is the equivalent of eleven, so Overlord has beef with a whole ass child, but Megatron is convinced "they're just playing" (and has informed Overlord of what will happen if it goes beyond what a ex-gladitor parent considers just playing in explicit non-sexy detail). Overlord mainly treats Baby Damus's assassination attempts like a cat treats a kitten and paps at him in what he'd consider playful.

Damus is convinced if his stepdad just dies horrifically he can swing his parents getting back together. He's even got a power point about Optimus keeping Ratchet if he really wants him. Megatron has Soundwave after all.

This is another point in Optimus's "I sometimes think about my exes new wife meeting an unfortunate accident".

They do switch off weekends at the Cyberverse esque wall splitting Cybertron. And sometimes have to cohabitate areas when they are visiting for events like Hot Rod's First Big Race or Damus's musical recital or holidays.

The baby DJD is forged by Optomus sending Damus to Summer Camp to socialize more because he's concerned about the increase in blood thirsty commentary since Megatron had Galvatron and Ratchet and he adopted First Aid. He gave Bumblebee nightmares and Arcee has been encouraging him. Damus proceeds to sort everyone by usefulness, genuinely befriend the weirdest kids there in a semi-positive manner, burn down the arts and crafts room, incite several riots, blackmail a riny medic jet into being his minion and tried to sneak him back home in his luggage, start a cabin gang war with the other weird kid gang in Cabin 3 (the Scavengers), and helped kidnap a Beastformer kid who was just watching the chaos go down fascinated while Ultra Magnus frantically tried to help with a missing child case.

The main portion of the story is Damus's adventures in Summer Camp.

The fact that Damus is younger than I anticipated makes it even funnier, like damn this kid has red flags. Especially with Hotlock and a weeeeee bit Optimus enabling him! I adore how Overlord is basically going "aww, too bad buddy😁" to this disturbed preteen who tried to poison his energon that morning. Damus trying to demote Ratchet to sidechick status.

Sbkkdh yES THE CYBERVERSE STYLE WALL IS BACKKKKKKK

The summer camp section is just. Sweet jesus Damus my little guy, if that's the main portion i am highly intrigued and i would read the hell out of that. This menace. He's just. You can practically see the fire crackling behind his optics with how much he can accomplish

[siphersaysstuff]

THE LEGEND OF EZ!

Tore myself away from Tears Of The Kingdom long enough to make this Patreon-backed @tfwiki pic update, focusing on the tiny TFs of the "LEGENDS" size class, aka "EZ COLLECTION" in Japan, and a buncha other names in Hasbro markets!

"Legends of Cybertron" started in 2005's Transformers: Cybertron, with the goal of making sure kids could get toys of major characters who are usually represented by big, expensive toys. Thus sub-Basic, simple, inexpensive versions of characters like VECTOR PRIME were created.

These molds were then recycled in the 2006 Classics toyline, deco'd up as classic G1 characters, which in many cases was definitely a stretch. Yes, those Red Alert and Scourge redecoes are supposed to be Perceptor and Trypticon. (old pics)

With the 2007 movie toyline, toys of onscreen characters at multiple price points was an absolute priority, even if those models were hard to translate! Even "simpler" "Legends Class" bots like BATTLE JAZZ would need weird concessions to work.

2008's Transformers Animated line only had four Legends class molds, including STARSCREAM, and those were only released in the Hasbro Animated line in a pair of Target-exclusive multi-packs. They were also released in the 2008 Universe line individually with minor changes.

Speaking of, the '08 Universe line (not the '03 Universe line; yes, TF is very recursive) introduced new molds based directly on G1 characters like BRAWN. More followed in the 2010 Transformers line, and many of these molds were redeco'd & rereleased a LOT.

The Legends class really went into overdrive in 2009's Revenge of the Fallen toyline, with toys of both on-screen and all-new "off-screen" bots like Springer (old pic) filling it out.

ROTF even had the first Legends-class combiner! DEVASTATOR is made up of HIGHTOWER, LONG HAUL, MIXMASTER, OVERLOAD, RAMPAGE, SCAVENGER and SCRAPPER. These were sold as a complete set of seven through Walmart in the US, but were on individual cards in Japan.

For 2011's Dark of the Moon line, the sizeclass was rebranded as "Cyberverse" and expanded considerably. The now-"Legion Class" toys were joined by the slightly-larger "Commander Class" toys for larger characters, like Dread member HATCHET.

The concurrently-running Prime toyline also had Cyberverse toys at both Legion and Commander classes. This version of KNOCK OUT was a redeco of a more screen-accurate release that came with a massive Energon Driller vehicle.

In Japan, Legends toys were called "EZ Collection", and usually were sold in blindpacked boxes, often in convenience stores. Some were "candy toys", coming with a tiny piece of candy to be sold w/o taxes, like the EZ COLLECTION GUM toys shown here, shiny-shiny versions of CONVOY, HOT RODIMUS, PROWL, MEGATRON and STARSCREAM, each with a piece of chiclet-like lemon gum.

Takara had many EZ Collection promotional giveaways. GRIMLOCK CLEAR VER. was a gift at Edion and Bic Camera stores w/ 3000 yen of Adventure toys... and Adventure (aka Robots in Disguise 2015; yes, TF is very recursive) was the last line to have this size for a while.

The "Cyberverse" name would be re-used for a new franchise in 2018 (yes, TF is very recursive), which did not feature any Legends/Cyberverse toys. The niche kind of got taken over by the blind-bagged Tiny Turbo Changers for The Last Knight and Cyberverse.

A very short run of Legends-style "Speed Series" toys were made for the 2018 Bumblebee movie line, meant to attach to larger "Energon Igniter" engines that would push them forward via gear-fed motor. A few of these have been re-released for Rise of the Beasts.

Nowadays, the small-scale TF segment is mostly taken up by the Core Class price point (not to be confused with the ROTB "Core" series; yes, TF is very recursive), which I suppose you could argue are Cyberverse Commander-ish, but they're more like the Basics of old.

Any rate, if you enjoy these pics and themed trips down the history of the TF toyline, why not check out and throw a coin into my Patreon?

www dot patreon dot com / gregstfwikipics

You can help make each update even larger, and even pick a theme at the higher pledge level!

[deepfriedhopesanddreams]

Aight, so what's the Lazy Road AU all about?

It's like a hodge podge of the previous tf aus and continuities like Box and some others. Transformers rescue bots academy? Yeah! Transformers animated? Yeah! A little bit of Cyberverse? Absolutely!

Gabby origins still play the same way... With human experiments in them... Gabby doesn't care about her dad, she'd rather forget him, little did she know... He's still alive. Kabiguan is also in this au, alongside another sibling, a cassetticon named Scratchin.

The autobot and decepticon war is still going on. Bumblebee went into hiding. But his kid, Rubble takes his place. And an organization called L.I.B.R.A, an organization that really wants to get rid of the transformers off the earth (why is it called Libra? Dunno, it sounds cool) are the main antagonists in the au!

The botbots do exist, though they don't have a large role.

There's a group of new colonies, one of them is called the Daemonitronians, basically like transformers demons... For some reason...

Megatron on the road to redemption!... And Shutter blocking the way also for some reason...

A lovely colorful cast of decepticons who didn't realize that they're in a horrible predicament and probably need help.

A transformers oc, Mica, she's a therapist who jumps back and forth from decepticon to autobot bases, and no one knew...

But eventually... Everyone just stops caring and settled down, enjoying their new life... It was a bumpy road but at least they get to slow down, before the next adventure.

[jimclassicstoycollection]

Transformers Bumblebee

Cyberverse Adventure

Deluxe class

Cheetor

by Hasbro (2021)

Cheetor, made famous originally from 1995′s Beast Wars as the young and impetuous Maximal has popped up several times throughout Transformers series and this is Cyberverses second version of Cheetor, and I have to say this toy is pretty cool!

Beast Mode:

Cheetor’s beast mode happens to be a cheetah.

Such as the Cyberverse toyline and cartoon the cheetah mode is very stylized and angular in areas.

The cheetah can be outfitted with armor pieces which he comes included with.

Transformation:

Cheetor’s transformation is pretty simple and fun.

Robot Mode:

Once you get Cheetor into robot mode

Much like the beast mode the robot mode is heavily stylized. He’s got the basic Cheetor look established with a lot of hard angles and some cartoonsih proportion. and that head sculpt looks so series. 

I’m almost getting like a samurai vibe from this toy, because parts of his body looks pretty armored up.

I’m not a fan that the back of the legs are hollow.

The claws aren’t really meant for the robot mode, but if you’re careful they won’t fall off of the wrists.

Accessories:

The accessories are a battle mask for the beast mode, a pair of swords, and two claws for the beast mode.

Final Thoughts:

I’ve said this several times that I’m not a fan of Cyberverse toys, but I rather like this toy.

Yes, it’s simple and hollow as all Cyberverse toys are, but it looks good, and poses well and I can tell some effort was put into this toy.

[itcamefromthetoybox]

He’s the Leader of The Bunch

Next week’s the premier of “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” and you all know how excited I am! I absolutely can’t wait! So this week, we’re looking at yet another “Rise of the Beasts” figure, and a character I’ve loved ever since I was a kid: “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Smash Changer Optimus Primal!”

So, again, we know jack diddly about Primal in the movies because, and I cannot stress this enough, the movies are not out yet. The Primal I know best is the one from “Beast Wars,” the original, who was an inexperienced captain of a science ship who found himself stranded with his crew on a strange alien world, forced to battle a group of dangerous criminals and Waspinator, and who became one of the greatest heroes Cybertron has ever had. He turns into a gorilla, and I love him.

The Smash Changers are a line of simple, kid-friendly larger figures that transform from alt mode to robot mode via pressing down on a part of the toy 1-3 times to get the figure to automatically transform. How well this works varies from figure to figure. We talked about a Smash Changer figure before, “Transformers Bumblebee Cyberverse Adventures Smash Changers Optimus Prime,” and you’ll recall I wasn’t too impressed. I’ve since gotten another figure that is a remold of that one and found that my problems with it are limited to that mold itself, thankfully.

“Smash Changers Optimus Primal” transforms from a gorilla to a robot by pressing down on the backs of his feet, which unlocks and triggers the whole transformation, and the whole thing works so much better for this toy. I’ve had no problems with anything sticking, and the manual transformation to gorilla mode is very straightforward and not even a bit frustrating. Heck, if anything, the gimmick’s too effective sometimes, and I mean that in a good way. In theory, you press down on Primal three times to transform him. However, sometimes, pressing on him once triggers multiple or even every step of his transformation, which is a nice surprise. The whole gimmick works great, and I love it.

In terms of looks, I love Primal’s robot mode. Unlike a lot of the other Primal movie figures, this one isn’t just grey and black. He’s also got some striking blue that dominates his torso and really serves to draw attention to the toy, and, rather than a lot of grey, he has a sort of earthy brown, almost like darker mud, covering his body. It really makes him stand out and looks absolutely fantastic. Really, I cannot praise his paint job enough. Whenever I see him at stores, my eye immediately goes to him because, unlike a lot of movie characters, he’s more than just one color. His paint looks great, he has a lot of sculpted details, and I love it. He’s clearly a toy and not some collector’s piece, and he’s very much designed to be noticed by kids. It’s also helped by the fact that he’s very broad. Like, he’s got the physique of someone who works out. Broad chest, muscular arms, and strong legs. His entire body screams that he’s large and in charge, and you strongly get the impression that he could punch out anyone else in your toy collection.

Dawn of the Planet of the Robot Apes

Primal’s gorilla mode also looks pretty good, and I, again, love the paint job. It looks really good for any gorilla toy, much less a robot one. One thing that sticks out to me here is the red Maximal symbol on his shoulder. I love the choice of red here, because it matches the common color used for the Autobot symbol and tells kids who might not know the character that he’s a good guy. It stands out on the shoulder, but it doesn’t dominate the toy as a whole. It’s big enough to notice, which is really want you want on a kid’s toy, but it doesn’t overwhelm the eye to look at. One other detail I’m crazy about is the sculpted fur all over Primal’s body. It adds texture to the toy and feels like that extra step that makes it clear Primal’s more than just a robot gorilla, much like the original Primal. Just A+ sculpting.

Unfortunately, Optimus Primal has no articulation other than his robot mode head being able to turn. Because of how his gimmick works and the fact that the moving parts for it are in his entire body, Primal’s entirely static in either mode. I understand why that is, but it does still bug me. I wish that he at least had elbow articulation.

Primal has to be transformed into beast mode by hand. It’s a really simple process and one I’ve never run into problems with, which is great. I mean, nothing sticks, nothing jams, the whole process is frustration free. It’s exactly what you would want for a kid. The worst you might have to deal with is his shoulder armor popping back out, and that literally takes less than two seconds to fix. Considering this and how smooth his automatic transformation is, like I said earlier, he’s a great toy. Just make sure to follow the instructions. Unlike some toys, you can only rotate his waist one direction when transforming him.

Mecha Harambe 

“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Smash Changer Optimus Primal” is recommended for ages 6+, which I strongly agree with. Older kids and collectors might be frustrated by his lack of articulation, and younger kids run the risk of breaking something in him. He’s available at mass retail right now for the hefty price tag of about $35, which really stings. Considering his complete lack of articulation, I feel like you’re paying that much just for the size and gimmick, and as much as I love this toy, I gotta say that that price is way too much for him. I would still recommend him, because he has a fun gimmick and looks great, but definitely wait to grab him when he’s on sale or you have some coupons. Don’t pay full price for him if you can help it. Now, this review came out a bit late, so the next review will be later in the week. After that, we’ll be taking a look at toys from another franchise I love that’s getting a movie soon, so stay posted! This is JS, signing off and wishing you Happy Toy Hunting.

[megapwnus]

Never over the fact that they changed the name to BUMBLEBEE’S Cyberverse Adventures and then almost immediately made Hot Rod the main protagonist

[miradanii]

Cyberverse S3 ep 15

Clobber is so cute. And focusing on a completely different cast of characters was really fun!

Bumblebee's Cyberverse adventure??

Okay Hot Rod isn't dead. It's very funny how the goo just gave him a new paint job. With a series like this you can tell the writers are doing whatever and having a lot of fun on what's going on. It felt the most experimental.

Okay so Perceptor or Percep-TOR is a character I've seen before in TFA and just didn't know...I'm not done with that rewatch yet. He's so funny and gets shit done. What a wild guy.

Hi Whirl I didn't imagine you're another character with a dude bro accent but I still like you a lot.

Love Clobber. Protect her. Is she only in this series?

Half way through I'm still debating if I had to reccomend this series if someone could just skip to season 3. The robots fighting on Earth kind of felt like a joke. And Cheetor is uhh gone?? Poor guy. Because they just jump you straight into the action. Sure there's hints here and there that lead up to the Quintessences, but there was absolutely no break in between. Though I think if you did want any lighthearted fun, s2 had some good things to it.

Oh starscream...