AUG 16th live reveal - Studio Series & Legacy wave 3

Mark's comments in the live stream and his follow-up Instagram posts indicate that the Pretenders were a fairly late addition to the line-up once the initial intended figures fell out.

I wonder if the "Energon Monster" tag was supposed to be the intended figures like the Fossilsers - and designed to tie in with the energon weapon theme they have for their figures and that they couldn't make them work as intended so went with Pretenders.

On one hand I'm much more glad we got these pretty amazing Pretenders, but on the other hand I'm wondering what the Energon Monsters were supposed to be and if that then explained some extraneous accessories like Blitzwing's hand turrets.

I don't want to sound like a broken record but every subsequent image I see of SS TLK Hot Rod has me more excited. The in hand official pics here look outstanding.

It's been a while since I've been this excited for a retail deluxe class.

I love Rumble, and I love how he isn't a 5cm figure without accessories for $20. He looks about 8cm tall, like Spike. So him transforming into the current cassette range size is some nifty engineering.

Edit: Scratch that. Looking at TFW, he is slightly taller than the Micromasters.

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Originally Posted by griffin

Okay... that's surprising. It will be small for a Core Class, even with the added accessories. A 2-pack of (Micromaster) cassettes was $20, but now a single one is also going to be $20.

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I'm mostly okay with getting the accessories instead of a second figure. I just wish they could've given him elbow joints too.

These in hand pics of The Fallen have actually really turned me around on the figure.

The official reveal images look ugly but this looks great in a really alien kind of way.

It is amazing how often the things being shown in a natural style in hand makes a gigantic difference to the formal product pictures (even allowing for the toys being photographed by people who honestly neither know nor care about the product).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by griffin

Okay... that's surprising. It will be small for a Core Class, even with the added accessories. A 2-pack of (Micromaster) cassettes was $20, but now a single one is also going to be $20.

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There is some massshifting wizardry with Rumble in that he's taller than the previous cassettes but transforms into the same size. It's neat.

I am totally surprised by how much a little core class Bomburst stole the show. He's fantastic. Skullgrin is the weakest of the Pretenders so far. Interesting that they asked if fans are keen on bringing the shell back.... I mean, heck yeah. However I'd also be interested in how they implement before signing up for it.

Love the little Easter egg for Crankcase's shoulder guns. That's a real nice touch, above and beyond.

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Originally Posted by KELPIE

There is some massshifting wizardry with Rumble in that he's taller than the previous cassettes but transforms into the same size. It's neat.

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Except that the new Rumble is only a matter of mm (half a head) taller than the old.

I'm not complaining about the size or what we're going to be getting for our money, but I'm seeing a lot of people who think the toy is a lot larger than it turns out to be.

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Originally Posted by SharkyMcShark

These in hand pics of The Fallen have actually really turned me around on the figure.

The official reveal images look ugly but this looks great in a really alien kind of way.

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A couple of the images from there...
(It looks to be a little bigger than Voyager Megatron, and a little bit smaller than Leader Jetfire)
They also show clearer images of the head underneath the mask.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2022/081823.jpg

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2022/081822.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SharkyMcShark

I don't want to sound like a broken record but every subsequent image I see of SS TLK Hot Rod has me more excited. The in hand official pics here look outstanding.

It's been a while since I've been this excited for a retail deluxe class.

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The link also features images of Crosshairs, and I thought this one was interesting enough to post up, as it allows us to remove the car kibble if we wanted to, or keep it on there if we are more purist fans who don't like to see any cheating of parts-forming or removal.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2022/081811.jpg