I've just kind of been trolling through this whole thread waiting until we saw pics of all the parts. Now that I've seen them, I can't even begin to say how excited I am about this. I don't think I've been this excited about a hasbro product in a few years. Congrats on pulling money out of my wallet.

I don't understand what looks so bad about Bruticus that everyone apparently hates him?

I don't hate him.

I want to touch him.

I love the color of Vortex's chest in the concept art, but not as his primary or secondary color.

I will say his two swords and blade weapon are awesome, and he's gonna chop you up!



I think he's quite great honestly. I just wish some of the colors were more like the concept. Doesn't mean they won't match in the game though.

Randy

I love how if you just got Brawl's Pistol and Swindle's gun. You could make a pretty Awesome Sniper rifle!



I honestly really like Bruticus so far. The only thing I wish, is that it were possible for each seperate figure to have a bit more paint. Im not complaining, but thats about it. Considering that they did a good job in painting what needed to be painted im happy.

I just feel it would be nice if Vortex and Brawl's head were painted, and if those red helicopter blades on Vortex had some silver paint.



I'm gonna definately adding some more detail on these guys when I get them. Otherwise their nice the way they are.


My only real disapointment with Vortex. Is I doubt you can get the Helicopter blades to all turn upwards. Im pretty certain they can mount on his back. Despite it not being in the photography. Im just a little disapointed that you can't do it the same way like in the concept art. Due to a lack of an extra joint or two. To curve the blades upwards.

I'm absolutely fine with a tan Vortex. He just needs a bit of hand applied painting later on to be even closer to his concept artwork.


Otherwise.

Call me kooky, but I'm looking forward to owning Blast Off and Vortex. The rest I might track down just for the sake of a complete Bruticus, but those two are must buys for me. :-)

I'm guessing that the big combined gun plugs into Bruty's back and gives us the double guns.


...or is that a thing that's obvious to everyone else and I'm just slow?

My one complaint about Blast Off is that he just has way too many tail fins. Counting the ones on his guns, he's got seven. That's insane.

Vortex is a rare specimen of the vicious helicopter shark.

Bruticus is just waiting for the right pose. (And the right transformation.)



Hehe.



If the gun is too big for individuals to carry, then how does it get out to the battlefield? I mean, unless the combiner never separates, but at that point, you effectively don't even have a combiner, just a big guy who doesn't transform.



I read this as "middle finger" and you wouldn't believe how confused I was.



That's all right. I'm a bad G1 fan, too. I can't even remember what color Vortex is "supposed" to be.

That's the best thing about him!

Seriously, Blast Off is only one of these I really want, and his crazy over abundance of tailfins is pretty much the reason why.

My Vortex and my Armada Optimus Prime are gonna shake hands with their ankles.

Vortex looks like a fun toy. Don't care much about the individual modes of the others. I also wish Vortex were in G1 colors, but I understand he's not "classics" either.

Is it even feasible that Bruticus has big guns sticking up on his back, or are those guns dedicated elsewhere?

I hope they do.


But anyways, it seems like the Blade guns from Vortex go underneath the dual barrel's of Onslaughts cannon. Giving it two circular barrel tips as well as two bayonetts.


Pretty intersting. I really hope it can be back mounted. But you really need Vortex's blades to give the cannon circular barrel tips. An addition of blades makes it also a melee weapon when in hand. Which is pretty neat.

The only thing that seriously looks off to me about the combined mode are the orang-utan arms. I'm still going to buy this gray-and-golden god of war!

I'm liking the individual bot modes, Bruticus.....not so much. I'm definately holding out for better pics before deciding yay or nay on these guys but I REALLY hope this guy can look better. As others have said he looks like a deluxe size PCC which at this scale just looks plain awful IMO.

Anyone else note that Vortex, still has his dual arm mounted machineguns?


The black components on his shoulders in the box art seem to be the machineguns. Their scuplted onto the toy but are unpainted.


Thats pretty sweet honestly. Because even though their a bit inconspicuous. It makes the dagger guns feel like a nice addition.


Considering he was always the torturer/interrorgator of the group. It is nice for him to have two daggers. And, im pretty happy that he still technically has his chainguns.

Man, Blast-off is busy. Between all the fins and the gold - he's Donald Trump's space shuttle, I'll bet he's got a solid marble interior. Vortex is just not right. I can understand trying to liven up the colors, but man - they kept everything else in the same family and then ... Vortex. I'm taking solace in the fact that the real toys are nearly always more muted than the pictures and these two won't be quite so bright.



Yeah, because a giant tower that can only be moved by a few dozen of your precious ground forces is far superior to something that can move and act on its own. I'm not arguing the primary purpose for gestalts in the fiction is to look cool but there are some battlefield advantages as well.

The compromises of the combiner are to be expected with a team of all deluxes. That works for Liokaiser, Devastator, or Monstructor. Their torsos are two figures. For a scramble city team, you need a disparity in size between the leaders and others.

That said, I still like the look of the combiner and plan on buying two. One for Bruticus and one for customizing. I love Cheets' Computron idea.

Blast-Off's sculpting is insane! I don't think I've ever seen a shuttle mode with that much intricate detailing.

Vortex has a very mosquito-like appearance. I miss the grey though.

So the biggest question: how stable will Bruticus be? I hope he's got strong connections and some really good feet.

I am not feeling Blast-off at all. That is one weird toy.

I can see where the color changes on Vortex aren't unprecedented, but I really don't like them, and don't understand why they made those changes in the game. Plus the toy color scheme takes the game scheme and makes it even more different from his usual colors. It's like, are we sure this isn't FoC G1 Over-Run?

Blast-Off is neat. Hopefully the combiner can be made to look a bit better, but for being only about $60 to complete it I think I like it well enough.

Really with the arms, it seems like you can get a good pose with Vortex that'll look really good. If you just balance the legs better than they are in the pictures.


With Blastoff's arm thats where im worried. Im wondering if theres a middle swieval joint at the waist or not.


Because if there is. You can just Lock those legs in. And the arm would actually look pretty decent and have a nice elbow joint as well.


Come to think of it. I think that Blast Off's arm mode is mistransformed. From the looks of it. I think theres a swieval joint near the top of arm mode. If that is turned. Then the Legs which jut out are probably meant to make a upward pose. Like a fist being help up sideways. Ready to punch someone else in the belly.


Thats what looks to be wrong with the blast off arm. It seems meant to turn at an angle so you actually do get an elbow joint that raises forward. Instead of only being able to move sideways and reach his hip.

Is it just me or does vortex's copter mode look fish-like to anyone else? It's probably the white patterns on his cockpit.

Of course, now I'm kinda wanting a redeco of these guys into Terrorcons, even though I know it wouldn't be that good. Sinnertwin Brawl, Blot Swindle, Rippersnapper Vortex, Cutthroat Blastoff, and Hun-Grr Onslaught.

I think im right about there being a Swieval joint on Blastoff that lets the arm turn sideways.

If you look underneath the purple connector that hooks into Onslaught/Bruticus' chest.

There seems to be a portion of blastoff with a swieval joint. Im betting im right that the arm can be turned. And that you can make a pose with a raised fist.


I'm getting the impression he's designed for a specific static pose. One arm raised in the air with a clenched first and an open hand on the other arm.


But there seems to be a joint that allows the Blast off Arm to turn. And, Im thinking it's there on vortex as well. Since the vortex arm is turned in a very weird way...

Like I said, he's a vicious helicopter shark.

I keep thinking Hummingbird, or mosquito like someone said.

Cheets, Digibash us up that computron STAT!
What does Stat even man anyway?

Besisdes the point.

of the individuals, I am most excited for Onslaught in general. Even in G1 and with no cannon, I loved mine, and each reiteration has impressed me and gotten desk-toy status. (Energon Barricade still ranking among my top 10 TFs of all time after all)

I really like Vortex and Blast Off. A lot. Vortex's new colors are going to take some getting used to, but I'm pretty sure I have some big boy pants around here somewhere.

The first thing I thought of when I saw Blastoff was "STEAMPUNK SPACESHIP."

Yeah that's what he looks like.

He gave me a Hearts of Steel vibe.

Randy

Mine was "STEAMPUNK SERENITY."


So...pretty much the same thing

They're beautiful even when mistransformed and mis-merged. Toy Fair will show us Onslaught's proper torso and vehicle modes and then we all just settle in for 5 months of masturwaiting.

I nominate that for word of the year. I gotta mix that into my conversations. "I'm just masturwaiting for the new Hobbit movie."

But then we wouldn't be able to turn his head.

Vortex shakes hands with his knee. SO he and the dude from Total Recall would have a GREAT time together.

Go buy me a mouse first...

I can see a couple of possible reasons behind Vortex's new colors.

They simply wanted him to stand out more when combined with the others, rather than just blend into Onslaught.

OR

The level where you play as him is rather dark, and having him in a brighter color scheme helps him stand out more from the scenery.

At any rate, I actually LOVE his new colors. Him and Blast Off both look great. I was looking forward to them the most since they were the first Combaticons I ever owned.

Blast Off is so awesome.

I like how he's a space shuttle.

Vortex is pretty cool and I'm convinced Bruticus is mistransformed, but I'm just plain in love with Blast Off.

So far the only individual toy that looks iffy is Onslaught. But I suppose he has to be the one that makes the most compromises.

Yeah, I'm ready to buy Blast-Off all on his own.

I don't think that's such a problem - the problem is that they're expecting too much of the Dlx torsobot. If Onslaught's shoulders/arms went in and down and the *whole shoulder assembly* was formed from the armbots, that would give a bigger torso and avoid "orangutang" arms out on sticks...

Bruticus has dainty hands.

Okay, that looks awesome! Finally a Gestalt with an actual hand! Maybe two! : )

After third-parties have shown what is possible with combiners, these are kind of a let down. Still, I think some of the individual figures are pretty good.

Pwhaahahahahahahahaha.

Except hands integrated into the limbs...

Yeah, I know that when I play with my Hercules guys, I'm super torn up that those Devastator hands aren't on a permanent swivel arm that has to be engineered into the robot mode somewhere. They'd be so much better toys overall if it did!

Yes, they would.

Vortex makes me think of the Micromaster Helicopter Base.

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Image:SkyhopperToy.jpg


Yeah, more red less purple, but the tan is enough to suggest it to my mind.


-ZacWilliam, I'd love it if Takara did them all, especially Vortex, in more G1 colors, BUT the colors here a fine too and won't deter me even slightly from picking up this awesomeness the second it is available.