Combiner Wars has hit the UK at the same time as the rest of the World (possibly even before North America). Every now and again, it happens! I picked up Silverbolt and the three other Aerialbots (passed on Drag Strip). I'm saving Silverbolt for opening on Christmas Day, but have opened the other three. I haven't really played with them much yet, but they look good, just the right level of complexity and are a good size. Nice job Hasbro!
I'm not quite sure about Menasor yet, from the pictures released so far he doesn't look as good as Superion, but there's a strong indication of us getting Defensor, and so if we get Bruticus as well (and given how easy it would be for them to do so it would make sense), then I'm in. There have also been rumours of Devastator which I'm not quite sure about yet. The four scramble city combiners would be sweet though.
I haven't seen the Legends yet but am keen to pick up Powerglide and Bombshell. Potentially some tough decisions to make about Maketoys Powerglide and FansProject Insecticons, Superion and Bruticus. I have a one toy of each character rule, although with the Insecticons I could easily make an exception given their ability to clone themselves.
I am making some good progress with opening everything from the last pile of loot I shipped, I opened KFC Ratbat who I rather like. He has some incredibly small balljoints so some nice posability. The rule I work to with my Classics collection is to get the best version of each character, with the cassettes this is slightly muddled by the Masterpiece cassettes who are the same size as the G1 cassettes. I've got all of the MP cassettes apart from Ratbat, but they're part of my MP collection, so I have the Real Gear Laserbeak and custom Buzzsaw, Perfect Effect Rumble and Frenzy and Universe (Classics) Ravage. I have KFC Steeljaw and Ramhorn, so for Ratbat I had a choice of the KFC or KO MP versions (because I really can't justify spending over £100 on actual MP Soundblaster). I've also got KFC Overkill and Slugfest in my current POL, so opted for KFC Ratbat to go with. I might give him a bit of silver paint on his 'ears' but I'm happy with my decision.
I've also opened Botcon Metalhawk, I'm a fan of the Thunderwing mold, so am happy to have him. I think the face sculpt is okay, straight on it's not so good, but in profile it looks good. Play with this Too have hinted that they may also do Metalhawk, so again, could be a tough decision. They also revealed Waverider and Cloudburst, so it would also be pretty cool if they did a Grand Maximus and Gilmer to complete the Masterforce lineup. I'm getting pretty excited for their figures! I also opened Hoist who I had as a kid, so good to add him to my Classics display.
Masterpiece Bumblebee and Wheeljack have also arrived, as with pretty much every other MP I have they're still sealed in box. I will open them up at some point, I'm not quite sure what I'm waiting for. Maybe because so much is happening with Classics at the moment that I'm saving them for a dry spell. Speaking of which, I've decided that for the first 6 months of 2015 I'm only going to buy figures at retail. I will make an exception for FansProject and Loyal Subjects Dinobots though! So could well be a dry spell coming up pretty soon given that Wave 1 of Combiner wars is already here.
That means that I'm going to hold off on MP 11 Skywarp, Legacy Tigerzord (and I'm still holding off on Maketoys Computron), plus a few other bits. Experience tells me that those things won't be impossible to find after that time, but I really need to pay off my overdraft!
I'll also be working on some custom stuff in that time, I'm building a Iron Man Armoury at the moment, it's going to hold 24 figures and will have lights. I've built a prototype version of the stand. Hopefully I will get a chance over Christmas to work on it. After that I'm going to try and do something similar for Punisher (with all his weapons). I'm conscious that a lot of my display looks rather white and sterile so am going to try and make it more interesting. Another thing I'm thinking about is doing something with my beast Pretender shells as I have the inner robots displayed with my Primatives, but the shells are stored away.
My predictions for next year (well 2016) are that we will see some animal mode Transformers: Beast Wars, I reckon Tarantulas with Blackarachnia repaint. Possibly some Dinobots and a Titan class Trypticon. If the Combiner Wars goes well maybe some Terrorcons. We can hope!
Happy Christmas everyone and good luck finding those Combiner Wars figures!
