i have to admit my interest has waned a little as some more info and photos came out. that video may have just brought it back up.

some (long, what the heck happened there???) thoughts after watching

- watching the video it looks a lot better than in photos, i guess that is to be expected but does help a bit in making me more excited
- it does look like there is HEAPS of sculpted detail on the figures in alt modes, but some of it may get lost in the bigger picture, i wonder if an ink wash or something may help bring it out
- i'm not really a fan of that particular yellow-ish green but man does that purple pop out, it does seem very vibrant and the other red, silver and black touches to me do look fantastic. the heads and bot modes look great in terms of paint and detail also
- i think bonecrusher has always seemed a bit bland, i really like just the simple touch of the black inside the treads on the sdcc version. why keep that for an exclusive? because this is trying to be an accurate homage? if that's so, why change mixmaster then? i don't quite get some of the design decisions made but maybe there will be some explanations or something later.
- i'm impressed at the way they get everything together without using any extra connection bits or 'kibble'
- there's certainly been a lot of...discussion...on some forums regarding lack of elbows etc. i don't think it really seems that bad from watching the video and seeing the figures held and stuff. they all look like they have pretty good articulation everywhere else
- however there does seem to be some definite 'playability' compromises with things like not being able to rotate the crane and scoop etc. the tray doesn't seem like it tilts either. i've got the encore 20A and there is a little bit of childish joy in pretending they are actually constructing or being a site or something lol. doesn't look like you will be able to do this with these ones.
- he does look very imposing and solid in combined mode, sweet!

seeing that has made me more excited about the thing but i still just wonder if the focus on "cheap(...? compared to 3rd party at least)" and "huge" has meant compromises in articulation and playability.

i also want to see more of the takara version, i'm not sure if i want this regular retail colour.