Naturally.
Transformers Collaborative series
- Thread starter TriBlurr
- Start date
Yup. I thought I knew how to link to a specific post, but apparently not?
Anyway, that was really the gist of what I was trying to say. I have a soft spot for the off-brand transforming robots that don't quite hit the standard of Gobots or Transformers, and this HW Bee really ticks all those boxes, except for price, which is kind of the critical one...
That is an amazing thread though. Love the trailer truck dinosaur, that should totally be a thing Transformers absorbs into the brand.
The fact that The Strokes have albums that are over 25 years old isn't making me feel positively ancient. No siree.
I just had a moment where I realized something. All those times in the past few years that I saw G1 toys getting these vehicle only toys, and wishing that they transformed. Now, I know why they shouldn't.
But it would have been funnier if they did.
For you, the day Bison came to my house meant absolutely nothing. For me, it was Monday...
Since it's a collaborative figure, i suppose this is the best place for it? Kinda wanted the Vega/M. Bison Transformer since it was released, but wasn't able to justify spending the money on the set, and never found it discounted. Back-burnered it for a while, until recently, when I decided I NEEDED an o-ring M. Bison to go with another figure. While I was searching for Bison, the TFxSF figures started popping up. After barely failing to win a quite reasonable auction for all 4, I found a Buy it Now for this guy for less than the current cost of a Voyager, and went ahead and pulled the trigger. He's got some loose joints, and the wings fall off rather easily (kind of typical for this mold), but he looks suitably imposing, and I quite like the colors on this mold!
Since it's a collaborative figure, i suppose this is the best place for it? Kinda wanted the Vega/M. Bison Transformer since it was released, but wasn't able to justify spending the money on the set, and never found it discounted. Back-burnered it for a while, until recently, when I decided I NEEDED an o-ring M. Bison to go with another figure. While I was searching for Bison, the TFxSF figures started popping up. After barely failing to win a quite reasonable auction for all 4, I found a Buy it Now for this guy for less than the current cost of a Voyager, and went ahead and pulled the trigger. He's got some loose joints, and the wings fall off rather easily (kind of typical for this mold), but he looks suitably imposing, and I quite like the colors on this mold!
I still want that Ryu/M Bison 2-pack. A good deal on it will be a while to find, but it's a fun concept and both are pretty good executions. I was only able to get the Ken/Chun-Li 2-pack, and that was similarly great.
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Well, it looks like Hasbro's about to charge me for the Monster Jam collab. Which is cool, as I'm almost done freeing the regular Hot Wheels collabs from their packaging.
After getting Grave Digger yesterday from Amazon, I must say that between him and the Hot Wheels collabs, the Collaborative line has generally been the source of the best TFs over the past several years. While there have been some stinkers (Mando and Scooby mostly), the balance has generally been tipped far more towards good figures. I am wondering if much of that is to satisfy the rights holders for those properties, who likely had veto power over prototypes.
Was it the designs of the heads that made Scooby a stinker for you? How would you feel about the toy if it had a 3rd party head who's design you liked?
I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, the Scooby collab is perfectly fine from the neck down. The heads are my only real quibble; I personally feel like they should have just had one head, and leaned more into a Gobot-based design (because of the Hanna-Barbera-ness of it). Or just made the head a tiny Mystery Machine atop the robot mode's shoulders (a nod to the Super Mystery Machine mech, and also Megas-XLR). The robot mode is decent, with a fairly intuitive transformation. So, like, yeah, if a 3P comes out with a head I like, I would be interested.
For me, the head is just too small. Titan's Return gave the larger figures extra crap around the heads so they didn't look at tiny, but the Scooby van doesn't have those, so he's very pin-headed.
If a larger head would work with the transformation scheme, I'd be more open to grabbing it.
If a larger head would work with the transformation scheme, I'd be more open to grabbing it.
I considered it but then decided it's not worth the asking price. Too many weird design decisions like the complex head switching gimmick that doesn't add much, subpar articulation, the multiple heads using the TR system but with no robot modes or neck articulation and the mediocre scooby robot meant that I didn't feel I get much value out of it.
I'm also not a huge Scooby Doo fan and I dislike the type of crossovers that robotify the maincharacters, so those might contribute to my decision too.
I'm also not a huge Scooby Doo fan and I dislike the type of crossovers that robotify the maincharacters, so those might contribute to my decision too.
The lack of storage is still the biggest issue for me. The Mystery Machine is a cool vehicle. It has all the storage and amenities any particular episode felt like giving it. It's a ride, and it's home base. It is awesome. And this toy does not capture that at all.
I adore the stupid head swapping gimmick though. It's so unnecessary but it works.
I adore the stupid head swapping gimmick though. It's so unnecessary but it works.
It definitely needed more time in the oven. Of all the Vanformer collabs to date, I'm not sure why they made this so teeny tiny. It deserved to be bigger, and the heads needed to be better. But, it's a Mystery Machine that transforms into...something, so I guess that's sorta cool??
Sure, it's not as big as Party Wallop, but the Mystery Machine is bigger than the Stranger Things vans, and the SS Ironhide and Ratchet vans. It's shorter, but that's pretty accurate to the animation.
I agree, it could have used maybe one more round of fine-tuning before release, and I am dissatisfied with the heads (but also have yet to find an alternative that I like), but it's still a pretty solid figure overall. Probably not worth the asking price, but I was still happy to get it.
(Incidentally, I guess the Mystery Machine was trying to ward off Hyenas in that pic?)
Party Wallop is somehow simultaneously bigger and smaller than I thought.
He's also much chunkier when in robot mode. I was surprised at how big he was, and then scrunched down into the truck...