My Star Wars kick is still ongoing, I managed to snag a few more Jedi for a decent price.
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I've bought a few more Star Wars figures, I was actually quite close to getting all the characters I wanted. But then I had an idea, I should rewatch the Clone Wars cartoon and the battle scene of Episode II! I've added a few extra characters to my list on that basis. Oppo Rancisis and Even Piell to join my Jedi Council (I'm ignoring the characters who only appear in Episode I), Barriss Offee because she appears a few times, Coleman Trebor because he actually gets a death scene in Episode II, Pablo Jill appears a couple of times (his duplicate Coleman Kcaj appears as a hologram in Episode III), and then there are 3 characters created for the Clone Was cartoon who because they're aliens also seem fun to get (they are based on three background characters who appear in the Mos Eisley cantina). So, still a ways to go but I'll soon have an awesome alien Jedi lineup!
I bought a really cheap Clone Wars General Grievous to get a couple of extra lightsabers for him, I really like the four-saber look!
NYCC has become a big deal; the Transformers reveals were pretty amazing. Galvatron, Hardhead and Skullcruncher leading the charge. I could be in for a Blaster and cassettes (not quite sure whether Stripes is supposed to be Steeljaw) and the individual headmasters look pretty good. Maybe this is a bit extreme, but I think Hasbro may just have killed off the Classics scaled third party market for me (and actually with Shockwave, Takara have killed the Masterpiece one off). They have done it in the best way possible by releasing the figures we want.
I was in the market for Fansprojects Skullcruncher, Highbrow and Hardhead. Not any more! How can I possibly justify spending £60 on those figures when I can get them for £16? I was winding down my third party figure spending anyway, but I'm looking at Mastermind Creations Overlord and thinking, if I wait a little bit, Hasbro might just release a figure. Same with Abominus. I'm sticking with Fansprojects Dinobots though, I don't believe Hasbro would release them all at that size point so I'll take my chances.
So I'm very happy to be getting a Voyager Galvatron, I'd rather he wasn't a headmaster, but I'll take what I can get. Skullcruncher and Hardhead look great and I'll wait and see with Blaster (who will likely get a Soundwave repaint). Sentinel Prime I will pass on, he'll obviously get an Astrotrain repaint, but I could also be in for a Broadside remold if they do one. Rumours are swirling that we're getting a Powermaster Optimus Prime which I'll also get, there is presumably a slot or two for another Leader figure, we're getting Fortress Maximus as a repaint of Metroplex (almost definitely), so a Scorponok or Overlord could be on the cards. I think Scorponok would make more sense as he has an easy repaint and he's a headmaster to go with Fort Max and the deluxes, but Overlord could make more sense as he turns into two vehicles rather than a robotic scorpion. I'm struggling to think of other characters that could get a Leader Class figure - Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Fort Max, Megatron and Galvatron will all have been covered fairly recently. All of the other larger characters will have figures, so apart from Shockwave maybe, Scorponok could be a reasonable bet.
Incidentally, Titan Wars is supposed to be part two or the Prime Wars trilogy, my prediction of the third instalment will be animal Transformers covering the Dinobots, Predacons and Beast Wars. With a Titan Trypticon of course.
Titan Wars is also supposed to be covering Targetmasters and Powermasters (all masters I guess). So I thought it might be fun to think about who might get a deluxe figure. The headmaster characters are Chromedome, Hardhead, Highbrow, Brainstorm, Skullcruncher, Weirdwolf, Mindwipe, Apeface and Snapdragon. The Targetmasters are Hot Rod, Kup, Blurr, Cyclonus, Scourge, Sureshot, Pointblank, Crosshairs, Triggerhappy, Slugslinger and Misfire. The headmaster juniors are Nightbeat/Minerva, Siren, Hosehead, Horri-Bull, Squeezeplay and Fangry. There are some double Targetmasters, I'm going to ignore them as they didn't appear in the US or Japanese cartoon (and surely Scoop is enough?!). The Powermasters are Joyride, Slapdash, Getaway, Darkwing, Dreadwind and Doubledealer. (I'm also ignoring the leaders who wouldn't get a deluxe figure.)
For the headmaster juniors it seems like we're just going to get the heads so I'll also ignore them, plus we've had a Nightbeat figure fairly recently. Headmasters wise, we've already got Brainstorm, we're getting Hardhead and Skullcruncher, but Chromedome, Highbrow, Weirdwolf and Mindwipe seem highly likely. So that's six figures. The Horrorcons could be repaints of each other, if they're triple changers they could be Voyager, but as deluxes, they could just make them turn into jets and have the head turn into an ape or dragon. I can't imagine a deluxe Apeface turning into an decent ape any more than the G1 figure does. I think they'll leave those characters though if they can't do them properly.
We've already had a very passable Targetmaster Cyclonus, in addition, he's just had a Voyager figure so I think he's out. Kup and Scourge also have decent figures so why remake them (could reissue them with a targetmaster I guess). Hot Rod and Blurr could easily go new figures, but Hot Rod should get a Voyager figure. Blurr (is that him in the shadowed out picture of the rest of wave 1?) could be repainted into Pointblank, and Sureshot and Crosshairs could share a mold. There's got to be mold reuse and the masters of each type and faction all share more or less the same altmode, which is mostly Cybetronian or generalised, making the whole thing a bit easier. Misfire and Slugslinger could also share a mold.
Powermasters; when I was reading MTMTE recently I realised that I really want a figure of Getaway, I think he's one of the better later G1 figures. Anyway, I think Slapdash and Joyride could easily share a mold as they look close enough. We've just had a Doubledealer so I think he's out. Darkwing and Dreadwind could share a mold (as an extra gimmick they could form either Darkwind or Dreadwing). If I assume we get four waves that's 16 figures so I'm gonna go with - Hardhead, Skullcruncher, Chromedome, Highbrow, Weirdwolf, Mindwipe, Blurr, Pointblank, Crosshairs, Sureshot, Misfire, Slugslinger, Slapdash, Joyride, Darkwind and Dreadwind.
If they're feeling crazy and go 5 waves, then I reckon Arcee(!) with Minerva repaint, Triggerhappy and Getaway. I'm sure Hasbro would like to throw in a couple of fembots! Actually I've just opened Generations regular Arcee, who is basically the Impossible Toys figure, but can stand much better. Solid figure anyway (I quite liked the Impossible Toys figure).
So not much other news for me at NYCC, the first wave of 3.75" Marvel Legends looks good, I'm amazed at how for both the Transformers Generations and Marvel 3.75" lines I still want to get most of the figures, I really had expected it to be winding down. I'm quite excited about getting Triton and Lockjaw for my Inhumans, Spider-Man Noir for my Shattered Dimensions set up and Yondu for the Guardians.
So it seems that Marvel is trying to replace the X-Men with the Inhumans, but I guess they're also trying to replace the Fantastic 4 with the Guardians of the Galaxy as a way of exploring the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe. Using Ronan as the villain in the film just seems to be rubbing it in even more. I heard some discussion recently that distribution numbers on comics are really quite low now compared to a few years ago. It's all about the films and merchandise now. I'm just glad that I've got most of the Fantastic 4 and X-Men related characters I want in 3.75" form!
I've opened up my Marvel Select Hulkbuster, he's properly beefy. Since Hulk is a bit small I'm going to use it as a Foombuster - have him facing off against Fin Fang Foom! It's a sweet figure, the paint is great, a few misplaced drips here and there but overall, for the price it's great.
I've been moving all of my figures to a smaller room so some are having to go into storage but it's been fun messing round with my toys as I do so. I'm going to have a set up with my Lego on the desk so I can mess round with them when I'm working. Should be pretty cool!
