Studio Series discussion

[CoffeeHorse]

I don't envy the poor fool who had to pick Soundwave's colors since no two screencaps match, but I've seen a few that are close to this.

It doesn't help that no two home video releases of TFTM look alike either.

 

[Sabrblade]

I don't envy the poor fool who had to pick Soundwave's colors since no two screencaps match,

All they gotta do is stick to the animation model:

 

[Haywire]

Well, for starters, the modern Siege-style cassettes are about one-third the size of the G1 and MP cassettes, so just tweaking the original would make it too big to fit in Soundwave's chest.

I would assume resizing the design specs to fit the current scale would be part of the whole "tweaking the design" thing?

Maybe my memory is just faulty (nope, checked the wiki, its not) but I feel like most of the modern Ravage figures try to give Ravage width by folding the cassette mode in half in some way, which then forces them to make weird compromises with the legs, and the heads just look weird. The G1 design was thin, but it worked pretty well; maybe it's not possible to replicate with modern parts counts, but I feel like that design is a better starting point than what we've gotten from trying to do Ravage different?

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I could try the model sheet. Somehow those never seem to match any episode or any copy of TFTM, but if they're really what was intended then they're the best standard we've got.

 

[unluckiness]

The biggest deco loss is the cassette detailing, really.

The feet look silver. Not sure if that's just overzealous airbrushing but hopefully it's the same color as his other body parts. I don't have a strong preference for cartoon flat gray vs toy silver but I'd at least like consistency.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. I'd honestly felt like I might be the only one out there who legitimately likes MP Ravage!

I thought I was the only one!

Anyway, Soundwave...

I don't mind the smooth surfaces. It's kinda what I expect from a 1980's consumer electronic?

Is it just me, or is the handle on his gun a little high up towards the middle?

I'm not a fan of how straight Buzzsaw and Laserbeak's wings are, but they look good otherwise. Or the gaps in tape mode. Ravage I like, except for the big butt. Seems unnecessary. Couldn't we just have a place to peg the missiles? Or are they trying to do the "doubles as bonus weapons" thing they did with Ratbat, Ramhorn, and Perceptor?

Speaking of those guys, I wonder if these are the same size? And if they'll actually fit inside like they're supposed to.

Maybe my memory is just faulty (nope, checked the wiki, its not) but I feel like most of the modern Ravage figures try to give Ravage width by folding the cassette mode in half in some way, which then forces them to make weird compromises with the legs, and the heads just look weird. The G1 design was thin, but it worked pretty well; maybe it's not possible to replicate with modern parts counts, but I feel like that design is a better starting point than what we've gotten from trying to do Ravage different?

If it would help, they should just carve out a bit more space in Soundwave and Blaster's chests and make the tapes thicker, then.

No one's going to care. No one that isn't already turned off by these, anyway. Cassette spools are wherever, they have gaps, and they're tinier than any actual functional cassette I've ever seen, unlike the microcassettes the original G1 versions were imitating.

Not saying make them a cube or whatever like in Bumblebee, but shoot, for all the inaccuracies they do anyway, this one would probably at least be forgivable if it helped mitigate some of the other problems.

 

[unluckiness]

These should be around the same size as previous cassette bots since they’ll presumably be meant to go with Core Rumble and Frenzy. Hopefully they tweak Soundwave’s chest compartment on the new mold. The core red/blue dudes were a very tight squeeze.

 

[Magnusblitz]

Man those tapes are awful. The birds have terrible wing designs and weird gaps in cassette mode. Ravage is okay in panther mode, but his alt-mode is just a rectangle and doesn't even look close to a cassette.

I like the bulky proportions on Soundwave himself. The shade of blue is too light IMO, though I know it's varied over the years. (Kinda funny the screencap they lifted is actually too dark.) Overall I think it's a pass, I just got the Legacy one and while I'm not thrilled with it either, not feeling $60 for this one either.

Getting Airachnid which looks pretty good, aside from the somewhat dippy face (to be fair, it's dippy in the source material too). Would love to see a take on it in Prime colors though with some purple and gold bits.

$28 for a deluxe though, yeesh...

 

[Gizmoboy]

Preorders are up for Soundwave, Airrachnid, Barricade, and Nemesis.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Preorders are out at your preferred venue for most of the 2026 wave 1 products. It's worth noting that, TECHNICALLY, one of the deluxe figures and one of the Voyager figures are "TBD".

At this point, the only REVEALED figures are 86 Windcharger and 86 Thundercracker, but it remains to be seen if Hasbro was showing stuff out of order.


I'm tempted by Airrachnid, just because it tickles my Beast Machines tinglies. Less so at $28. Same with Barricade, I LOVE that design, but not sure I "$28" want him. I'm sort of glad I waited on Nemesis Prime. Aside from the lack of a faceplate (which is disappointing as the art shows it), the darker colors really DO play better on the mold, with less detail loss with the darker plastics. But I wouldn't be lying if I said I might have preferred Hasbro play with the "Shadow Spark" deco they used back on the original toyline instead of "darker colors Optimus Prime".

Soundwave is...fine, I guess. But given the broader trends of the past 5 plus years? I'm not sure I'm in the "sleek pseudo-Masterpiece" camp. Especially not for someone like Soundwave who I have MULTIPLE versions of, with MULTIPLE FLAVORS of cassettes/deployers/minicons. I'm especially not enthused about a new Soundwave so soon after after the United rerun of the Netflix version, which I felt got better cassettes to begin with. It's fine, I'm sure it will sell as well as the United version (which seemed to go pretty fast), but the cassettes, especially the birds, aren't doing much for me. The birds really drop the ball with the wings, and I'm bemused at the inclusion of Buzzsaw when he was completely absent from the film.

 

[lastmaximal]

I'm tempted by Airrachnid, just because it tickles my Beast Machines tinglies. Less so at $28. Same with Barricade, I LOVE that design, but not sure I "$28" want him. I'm sort of glad I waited on Nemesis Prime. Aside from the lack of a faceplate (which is disappointing as the art shows it), the darker colors really DO play better on the mold, with less detail loss with the darker plastics. But I wouldn't be lying if I said I might have preferred Hasbro play with the "Shadow Spark" deco they used back on the original toyline instead of "darker colors Optimus Prime".

I wish they'd include both heads or had a swappable masked/unmasked face, but oh well.

The color scheme I really want to see is the Silver Knight one, with some chromed bits. But of course there's really no reason to bother making one. Unless they need to pad out the price point and feel like fudging a Concept Art redeco.

Aside from that, Airachnid is the one I'm really looking forward to. A new mold/design, a long-awaited next chance at a decent Airachnid toy. Hope it's not too fiddly or fragile. Barricade will get budgeted out, as I'm more or less okay with the original TLK figure (generally great look). So he's currently on the "get it later if it shows up for quite a bit less".

The Soundwave... I like it fine, but idk if I'm at "I like this enough to go through the rigmarole of replacing the previous version and selling it". The last one only really worked out because, in addition to getting a Buzzsaw, I'd get a fresh Soundwave without the bizarre yellowing. And that doesn't seem to have repeated itself YET, not to jinx it or anything. So here it's mostly to get a Ravage that isn't an accidental corgi, as the first bird mold was a bit better. Just generally better wing shapes (wish they could tilt up or were on small ball joints, although definitely see why not the latter), effective neck joint, even managed a little backpack.

(The cassette modes are absolute write-offs, but I've been excusing away the "vague rectangle? That'll do" altmodes on the Dr. Wu stuff I've been getting to bulk up my microcassette ranks, so I can be a bit more accommodating here too.)