Ok, yeah, got my Buster Prime off the shelf. It doesn't seem to share any of the same parts as Buster and looking at Seibertron's gallery of the Voyager that doesn't match up either so I'm saying new mould not remould.
Thing is while there are some elements that are more movie accurate there are many that are less movie accurate than Buster. Oh well.
EDIT: I wonder if the stock photographer might have him transformed wrong making him look less accurate.
Hasbro photographers could never pose the figures
I would punch a man half to death for a Starscream in this line that isn't a repaint of the (admittedly excellent and already literally my favourite TF ever) Leader Class toy.
Prime looks pretty good and I will likely buy. I like that they're leaning into this line instead of just using it to release leader repaints with premium paint and pricing.
I'm really just here for the free food and open bar.
There's that. It's good that the gun is a separate piece, since in a lot of cases I feel that the design of a weapon is compromised for the sake of storage, although the buster gun was a good execution of this idea.
Looking at pictures that have been released since, it's clear that this is an all-new mould and not just a heavy retool. I'm particularly curious to see differences in the upper torso, since there is no longer a need to accommodate a light and sound board, two AA batteries, and the Mech-Alive gimmick behind the windscreens.
That would be nice. I'd be up for that.
I think the issue with the AoE leader mould is that Optimus was a new design that the toy designers didn't have enough time to work with to properly translate into a toy in time for its intended release. This is an issue with movieverse toys, and it's why figures in subsequent movies with the same CGI models are better. Examples are RotF leader Optimus and voyager Starscream, HftD leader Starscream and Battle Blades Bumblebee, and now TLK voyager Optimus.
The first two MPMs were the Japanese releases of HftD leader Starscream and Battle Ops Bumblebee, so as far as the Japanese consumers were concerned, they were new moulds and not cheaper toys with nice paint jobs. Both had pretty good engineering.
This figure and MPM-3 are all-new moulds.
Someone on Reddit posted this album. I'm not sure where some of the photos were taken. Note that the figure in the display box is mistransformed.
Last edited by Magnus; 28th April 2017 at 06:53 PM.
If I didn't have my DOTM Jetwing Optimus Prime this would've been tempting. I'm more interested in a good quality bee however and will keep an eye on that one.
Looks like I'm going to finally display some movie figures! While I would love some more G1 Masterpiece releases this will do just fine.
Found some more photos in the TFW2005 discussion thread:
Someone used the profile photo to make a comparison shot with the RotF mould:
I've mirrored all the photos from those posts into this album.