Will it ever arrive?

As seems to be the story of the year, I've given up on the new TMNT Mega Bloks arriving in the UK, so ordered online. I ordered the Krang set as well as Rocksteady and Bebop. They're awesome! When I was a kid I remember pretending I had Turtles Lego, this is what I imagined I was playing with. I think the scale is strange with Krang, but the quality of the bricks compared to, say, Kreo is much better. The look of the figures is spot on - it's what I wanted from the TMNT Lego, the minifigs use ball joints so pretty dynamic. I'm looking forward to displaying them with my Ghostbusters firehouse on the fire escape or running across the roof. I really can't wait until the van comes out, if they do a blimp I will cry with excitement!

Botcon! I'm super excited about the news from Botcon, granted it's mostly confirmation of the various leaks, but Weirdwolf and Highbrow to complete 8 of the 9 the main Headmasters (need Scorponok), Groove and Computron, and a hint of Overlord! I'm thinking of going for the Hasbro Computron as I prefer the toy accurate combiner head, I'll display him in combined mode, apart from Strafe who will be with the Lost Light crew. (Could be another stand in job for Alpha Bravo.) I do prefer the Takara Lightspeed and Nosecone, but as legs it makes no odds. Also I prefer Afterburner to be orange despite the green windscreen. The new combiner hands and feet are just icing on the cake!

So it seems that the 7 deluxes will get various repaints (Brainstorm already is a repaint), but there are rumours of Getaway, Triggerhappy, Doublecross and Quake. Sweet! In terms of who else I want, assuming we get Broadside, Overlord and Trypticon, I think it's mainly the Dinobots and Scorponok, but I'd quite like some Terrorcons and Throttlebots. Anything else like the Targetmasters and Powermasters would also be welcome, but for me they really are just background characters.

Some random Transformers 3.75" appreciation! Of all the toys I have in storage and not display these are the ones I miss the most.

Although I believe the Marvel Legends 3.75" comic packs have arrived in the UK, I decided to get them online individually cheaper (I don't want Cap Falcon). Another Iron Man for the Armoury and a couple of characters to go in storage. I think I only know who Machine Man is because he had a 6" Legends figure recently but you never know, they might just turn up in the MCU.

I also ordered Swindle and Brawl online, I'm still hopeful to see Vortex, but just in case I don't see them it'll only be one figure to pay too much for. I'm still not sure about Blast Off - along with Groove I hope we see the Takara shuttle version. I decided to keep Swindle by himself because all of the combiner limbs (and Decepticons generally really) he is one of the few to get anything resembling characterisation. After reading MTMTE I'm keener on having figures of the the more interesting characters (Swindle appeared briefly at the start of the series to sell some 'snuff' videos to Rewind).

I hadn't messed with the Rook mold before, but it's great! Initially I though the Offroad mold would have been a better choice, but the squat look does work well for Swindle. The head sculpt is great, the altmode is neat, if not clear in what it really is. However, I love this figure! It really has character.

I wasn't expecting to like Brawl, I didn't like the colour in pictures and had heard about the waist problems. The waist on mine indeed didn't look neat (I found an alternative configuration which I think looked okay, despite showing off the serial number), but again, I really like this figure! It's everything I want from a Brawl figure despite the waist.

After leaving the Stunticons separate, I decided to combine the Combaticons, but replace Swindle with Drag Strip (my least favourite Stunticon). I had to take a screwdriver to Onslaught as the combiner port was a bit stuck, but I think he looks great with his legs on. I wasn't sure about the colours based on pictures, but it all works nicely, I might end up painting the head in silver. Hope to get some arms for him soon.

Combiner Wars has been absolutely brilliant, I love every single figure. A few years ago I had FP upgraded Superion and Bruticus, plus Menasor and Maketoys Devastator and was ready to buy their Defensor and Computron. I don't regret going official one bit. Having the four scramble city combiners, posable, with properly interchangeable limbs is everything I had ever dreamt of. I think the oversized Devastator is a thing of beauty despite my initial reservations about the scale. A few years ago I might have been tempted by the Perfect Effect upgrades, hand/feet replacements, now I'm perfectly content to pass and save the money. I think Computron is going to be a great end to this line!