Chris hosts while Brian is out sick, and Hasbro’s Fan First Friday leads the news. Studio Series Arcee finally gets a real vehicle mode, and Studio Series Sludge gets its first look.
The crew debates clear plastic after Hasbro drops it from the Buzzworthy Bumblebee Cliffjumper. Diecast spots a Core Class Ravage already stolen from its windowless box, and TakaraTomy surprises with a Premium Finish Optimus Prime.
News
Fan First Friday Reveals Studio Series Arcee
Hasbro’s February Fan First Friday stream mostly showed toys fans had already seen, some of them already on shelves. It did bring the first public reveal of Bumblebee movie Studio Series Arcee and a first look at her vehicle mode. Chris likes that the modes are integrated, though the robot still sits close to a backpack under the car. He calls it miles ahead of the Cyberverse and Earthrise Arcee molds, and still wants something like Energon Arcee. Don likes the design even though it was never canon. [Source: BWTF]
First Look at Studio Series Sludge
Studio Series Sludge got its first look anywhere, and the crew loves it. Sludge was Don’s very first Transformer, a birthday gift in June 1984, and he wants two. The leader comes without a pack-in figure, and nobody seems to mind. Per Evan on the stream, Hasbro would have skipped the Exosuit Spike with Grimlock had they known Core Class Exosuit was coming. Chris notes that this shows how far ahead Hasbro designs its toys. [Source: BWTF]
Buzzworthy Bumblebee Toys Drop Clear Plastic
The stream noted that the upcoming Buzzworthy Bumblebee Studio Series toys use no clear plastic. Evan sees clear plastic as a sign of quality, which Chris questions given cracked joints on retail toys. Mark from the design team raised the problem of matching paint over tinted plastic. Chris explains that switching Cliffjumper to opaque plastic lets Hasbro reuse its existing paint mask. The crew agrees clear plastic should stay off hinges and load-bearing parts. Some chatters dislike painted windshields, and Chris points to the gloss black windows on the 2010 Scout Class Windcharger as a good example. [Source: BWTF]
Beast Wars Reissues, R.E.D. Ultra Magnus and Knock Out
Hasbro also acknowledged the next Beast Wars reissues, Tigatron and Scorponok, already on shelves. Don found Scorponok at Walmart for $41.67 and passed, preferring to wait for clearance. The new Scorponok swaps the black body for a show-accurate gray but keeps the sparkly blue claws. Wolfang and Cybershark product codes have surfaced, and Antagony is expected through Legacy Inferno. R.E.D. Ultra Magnus and Knock Out also appeared. Don preordered Knock Out because no other toy captures his Transformers: Prime design. [Source: BWTF]
The stream also revealed a Transformers VR game for home systems, with PlayStation and PC mentioned on air. The publisher previously made two Transformers VR arcade experiences. Players fight alongside the Autobots as an augmented human, with the robots shown at true scale. Diecast owns an Oculus headset and hopes to play it through his PC cable. [Source: BWTF]
Core Class Ravage Stolen From Windowless Box
Diecast photographed a Core Class Soundwave at a Pittsburgh Walmart with Ravage ripped out of the open box. The crew had predicted exactly this. Chris warns that Studio Series boxes can be opened from the bottom without a trace. Windowless packaging is spreading to Cyberverse deluxes and some Legacy Voyagers. Chris explains that a window holds a box together structurally. One host expects Hasbro to bear the cost of store claims for stolen parts. Chris predicts closed boxes for online retail and windowed boxes for stores.
TakaraTomy preorders surprised everyone with Premium Finish SS-05 Optimus Prime, a redeco of the early Studio Series Voyager movie Optimus. Chris says the Premium Finish line seems to be winding down rather than ending. One host says the line looks fixed rather than premium. Another dropped his preorder for the Bumblebee movie Optimus Prime redeco at around $55 to $60. [Source: BWTF]
What We Got This Week
Don rebought Studio Series Soundwave on a Greensboro toy crawl, swayed by reviews of his articulation and Ravage coming soon. At another Walmart he found two Beast Wars reissue Tigatrons in the Takara deco and bought both. He also paid over retail for the Hasbro Pulse Behold Galvatron in purple. He warns that its tiny Unicron accessory figures come loose in tissue paper and are easy to throw away.
Matt got the Behold Galvatron at retail, his third purchase of the mold, and plans to display it beside his Unicron.
Chris had nothing this week.
Diecast got a third-party Skywarp in the same Crimson Wings box as his earlier Seekers, completing his trio. He finished the legend-scale Zeta Superion with its last three jets and got the Behold Galvatron. He also got Legacy Selects Lift Ticket, in a smaller box than the War for Cybertron Trilogy Selects.