Toy Review - Earthrise Micromasters

MICROMASTERS
Series - Earthrise
Size/class - Micromaster
New/remould/redeco - New
Released here - February 2020
Approximate Retail Price - $20 per set of two
Approximate Size - 6cm
Main Features/Gimmicks - Cybertronian Omnifunctional Modular Battlefield Assault Technology System

Autobot Hot Rod Patrol & Decepticon Military Patrol

https://i.ibb.co/7GpTvD2/Earthrise-micro01.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/WxR8ypK/Earthrise-micro02.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/vw4rxVk/Earthrise-micro03.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/VB7KNXJ/Earthrise-micro04.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/SB1jpth/Earthrise-micro05.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/B6tcCTv/Earthrise-micro06.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/y5qLXcq/Earthrise-micro07.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/JcHCqJ0/Earthrise-micro08.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/kqSyf3y/Earthrise-micro09.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/741yqJG/Earthrise00b.jpg

Love Bombshock and Growl. The cars suffer a bit from Micromaster Car Disease, they're pretty boring and it's hard to do much with those arms that extend the same distance in both directions.

On the whole though I'm still very happy that Micromasters are back.

Is that $20 per set! :O

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Autocon

Is that $20 per set! :O

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Yeah, it's been that way for all of them - the old 'Legends' pricing used to be the same and also seemed out of whack with Deluxe/Voyager pricing.

I still would have preferred teams of 4, sold in the Deluxe price range. But I'm very biased since the G1 Micromasters were my favourite transformer toys as a kid, being able to have actual armies on a budget was fantastic.

But even so - great to see Hasbro giving this segment of TF history a nod, and even better that they're apparently keeping it going across all of the 'War For Cybertron' series...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Autocon

Is that $20 per set! :O

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Yes, which makes them the same RRP as the Siege Micromasters. Which is stupidly expensive considering that, adjusting for inflation, it's the same price as the G1 Micromaster Patrols which gave us four figures per set instead of two. It's for this reason that I'd vote "Only if cheap." I really cannot in good conscience say that these are really worth the asking price.

I used a silver Sharpie pen and coloured in Trip-Up's faux chest engine.
https://i.ibb.co/yVtJb7r/Earthrise-micro10.jpg

The Decepticon pack is heaps of fun; I am really impressed by their poseability and how neat the alt modes are. Also think the weapon mode kinda makes sense (as much as these weapons can make sense).
Sad that Bombshock doesn't have rolling wheels though, and that you can't remove his turret as a robot mode accessory.

"Astro Squad" & "Race Track Patrol"

https://i.ibb.co/FD7g8Nq/Earthrise-micro11.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/WzMKsvp/Earthrise-micro12.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/QDGBLJk/Earthrise-micro13.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Y2ZGcn9/Earthrise-micro14.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/72658PY/Earthrise-micro15.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/kSfC6F5/Earthrise-micro16.jpg

"Astro Squad":
* quite nice and finally feels like a CHUG Micromaster set that's a significant improvement over the G1s.
* Nice use of the NASA logo (obviously trademark secured before for Sky Lynx)
* Phaser (Fuzer) has a small cockpit moulded in which is concealed in their combined shuttle mode, meaning that both Blastmaster (Autobot Blast Master) and Phaser have independent shuttle modes! :)

"Race Track Patrol": Y U NO BARRICADE?! :p
* Ground Hog and Roller Force's names are switched around. <sigh> I'm just going to refer to their original G1 names hereon.
* Not sure why Roller Force is violet instead of pink, and Ground Hog is blue instead of indigo. Gah!
* They've painted Roller Force's thighs blue for greater G1 accuracy but didn't bother painted Ground Hog's thighs yellow.
* The lower leg transformation on Roller Force is pretty neat. The lower legs separate to become the spoiler and rear window of the car mode.

The inner arm/hand part broke off my Hyperdrive. The inner arm/hand is strongly tabbed into the roof part of the car (just below the side window) and the door panel is attached by a peg to the inner arm. So if you pull out the arm by using the panel, instead of by the hand, the inner arm/hand can be left behind still tabbed in and the peg snapped. It's the same design on Blackjack and similar moulds (Roadhandler, Swindler and I think other cars).

So a word of advice - pull the arm out using the hand not just the door.

Is there a group photo of all the ones released?

Are we getting the Astro Squad and Race Track Patrol in general retail if it ever opens again?

Wave 1 ended up going on clearance in most places so it's looking doubtful at the moment.

I bought the fire truck and police car dudes on a whim as I heard they were improving. I don't like them because of reasons.
While I like the fire truck, his little ball jointed hips keep popping off at the slightest touch. He does have a nice transformation and I like the big white skis he has adding to his stability.
The police car is slightly better than the racing car guys I bought earlier. It least now tabs aren't locking into one another in such an infuriating way. He is still a bit floppy and back heavy though so h doesn't like standing up.
Wepaon mode - I'm going to forget this exists - it's terrible.

So I guess since I metioned things that I saw as improvements, they are getting better. BUT I truly despised the firt lot I got so, that is not really a compliment. I'm only really keeping them to have more little vehicles to populate my base-bots.

Sadly the ones I really want (space shuttle dudes) are TTmall exclusive s and order closed a while ago

These "dudes" have unique names, personalities, hopes and dreams. ;)

The "Fire truck^engine dude" is either Red Hot or Wheel Blaze. Red Hot is called "Red Heat" in Siege for trademark reasons. Red Hot's Japanese G1 counterpart is "Fire" and Wheel Blaze was called "Wheel Breeze" in Japan.
The "Police car dude" is either Stakeout or Road Police. Stakeout's Japanese G1 counterpart is "Holy" and Road Police was a Japanese-exclusive G1 toy who combined with his teammates to form Six-Turbo.

https://i.ibb.co/VvLF3HH/temp.jpg
Ah, Machine Men. Back when 'bots had classy names like Police Dude, Cycle Dude and Buggy Dude. It was a simpler time.

I'm not sure which fire engine and police car Micromasters you got. I'm curious to know if TakaraTOMY have used the Anglophone names or Japanese names for these characters. Under brand unification I suspect that they'd be using the Anglophone names, which seems a bit strange as I'd imagine a lot of collectors in Japan might not be as familiar with who the hell Stakeout is, but they'd know who Holy and Fire are (as they appeared throughout the Victory and Zone series). Having said that, Hasbro have also favoured Japanese names/personae where the Anglophone ones would make more sense; e.g. they released Overair instead of Airwave. Now the G1 toys are identical, but one difference is that Overair is an Autobot and Airwave is a Decepticon, so my Siege Overair toy comes with a tampographed Autobot insignia. I've since stuck a little Decepticon logo over that tampograph and repurposed that toy as Airwave in my collection (and so he stands on my Decepticon CHUG Micromaster shelf, not with the Autobots). But technically/officially speaking, that toy is the Autobot Overair, which mildly annoys me. I miss the days when Hasbro and TakaraTOMY would market their toys for their respective markets. e.g. Titans Return Powermaster Optimus Prime and Legends Ginrai (I have both toys as they represent entirely different characters; I'm so glad that they didn't just release one or the other). Similarly I bought both Titans Return Overlord (representing Hasbro's Overlord) and Legends Overlord (representing Takara's Overlord). :)

https://i.ibb.co/B48fhWz/temp.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

These "dudes" have unique names, personalities, hopes and dreams. ;)

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When they are not terrible toys, I will call them their names. :p
Turns out they are Readheat and Stakeout, which is what Japan calls them and my apologies as they are Siege figures as well, not Earthrise. so that sucks And so do they as toys :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tetsuwan Convoy

When they are not terrible toys, I will call them their names. :p

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燃やされちゃった！:D sik burn!

I think the toys are fine, but the problem is that they're too expensive. They'd be better at half RRP, because they're not that much better than G1 Micromasters - and while the RRP of G1 Micromaster Patrols would be the same as these Siege/ER ones, the G1 sets came with four Micromasters, not two. So IMO we should either be getting four Micros per Patrol or two at half the price.

Although the Reject Shop is selling some Micromaster Patrols at half RRP - works out to be $5 per Micro. :)