The most recent issue (Aug/Sept) finally arrived at Australian mailboxes a couple weeks ago, and I finally had a flick through it the other day.
Cover - photo from SDCC of the Optimus Statue.
P2 - intro/index. Promotes the Club store and Subscription Service. Also mentions that the 6 figures in that set will be featured in a story, together, even though they are from different eras.
P3 - SDCC pics, a small list of the more interesting upcoming items, and 2 questions to one of the Hasbro Reps. One question asked if we would see the Microns or the concept brought over to the TFPrime line, and the answer was "no current plans"... adding that, "our focus will remain on characters that appear in the show".
Which isn't entirely true, as they have no plans for releasing in-show (Voyager) Breakdown, Jet Vehicon and Unicron, but have released non-show Hotshot, Ironhide, Dead End, Grey Bbee, Kup, Rumble, Flamewar, Ultra Magnus, Thundertron, Fallback, Tailgate. Admittedly, some of those may end up in the cartoon, but aren't yet.
P4&5 - Interview with JP designer Kohjin Ohno, by a fan who isn't on the FunPub staff. This was the designer credited with designing the first convertible toy that ended up in the Transformers line - Sunstreaker. He worked with the 1/60-ish scale Diaclone and 1/1-ish scale Microman lines, and when Hasbro combined them into the one line, it was both surprising and interesting... noting that both lines were distinctly different in concept in Japan, and that evil toys were usually something of a rarity because they don't normally sell well in that country. So to have so many Decepticons was going to be a challenge, which is why the often had Verses sets to pair them up with the good-guy toys that kids/parents preferred to buy. As well as making the more complex/interesting ones as Decepticons, like Triplechangers and combiners (in the second year). There is mention of how colour changes from their pre-TFs colours were entirely by Hasbro Marketing, so that there was a spread of colours (making Sunstreaker yellow, as there were quite a few red ones in the line up).
He also talks about the pre-TFs toys that he wished had been picked up by Hasbro as part of the Transformers line, but didn't - The Watch Robo toys (several that were just watches transforming into vehicles or robots), the Key Robo (padlock alt-mode), Meteor Robos, Scope Robo, and other cassettes that turned into vehicles instead of beasts or bots (there was the helicopter and motorcycle that I recall).
P6-11 - Comic. Part 4 of "A Flash Forward". A lot of talking in this issue, which I haven't read yet, as I need to refresh my memory of what's happened before this issue. Features a lot of the Euro Gen1-2 characters.
P12 - Gen2 Hubcap Bio
P13 - BotCon Nightracer Bio
P14&15 - Advertisement for their Subscription Service, showing Circuit and Scourge in both modes. Didn't need two pages, which just pads out the magazine with images they post up on their website anyway. There's only 16 pages every 2 months, so it needs to have more content, less padding & redundant items that they have promoted on their site.
P16 - Trivia and "funnies" page.
Not going to waste having a separate review topic, as these are just looking more like a last-minute half-ass products from FunPub, who have their resources tied up with producing 60+ toys each year now, between their two clubs. If anyone got one and wants to comment, just post here.
