the vynsane asylum

New figures revealed at BotCon were Arcee, Chromia, Brainstorm, Bombshell... and another Thundercracker, another Powerglide, another Cliffjumper, another Windcharger, another Optimus Prime (who looks really bad), and another Megatron.

Why do they keep making new sculpts of characters who've been updated? I can see Thundercracker, he's a straight repaint. But the others are totally new. I don't get it. If you're creating a new mold and transformation scheme anyway, why not give collectors something new? I'll imagine a lot of people will be passing on a lot of those "new" figures.

Tailgate and Skrapnel are both fucking awesome. Their Targetmaster partners, not so much.

I have to tell the story of how I got them when I have more time and no risk of anyone seeing me typing this. Not bad, just funny, in an awkward sort of way.

If anyone's reading this, I saw the new Jetfire in person yesterday.

I happen to have my old Voyager one from 2008, which I pulled off the shelf to compare to pics of the new one. He's not perfect, but I see no reason to upgrade at all. Given that he was, IIRC, $20, and the new one is about $50 and looks really fucking hollow, I'd go so far as to say the new one appears to be a waste.

If you need a Jetfire, I'd watch eBay in case the prices go down on the 2008 one now that the new one's out.

I might buy the Thundercracker repaint. Not because I want another damn Thundercracker, but if it looks like I can customize him into Overlord, I'm all over that.

I saw that Jetfire and thought it looked kind of cool, but not $50 cool.

A few weeks ago I was at Tuesday Morning. They had some import toys, including the vehicle version of Voltron and a complete Devestator for $6. Devestator has the logo similar to the Decepticon logo. I ended up buying both. There were others, but I can't remember what they were.

hahah, at first i read "Construction" as "con-STRUCT-ee-on".

Next Fan's Choice poll is for an entire team. Lots if folks seem to be leaning toward a female combiner.

Heh heh. With BEWBS.

I'm still pissed that they gave us options for Windblade's city of origin, then dropped them and made up Caminus.

Also no mention whatsoever of the weird kabuki influence in her design.

Okay, Foolery, something that might appeal to you.

There is a team called the "Hydrobots."

Riptide is a Hydrobot.

Riptide missed the initial liftoff of the Lost Light, but came onboard when it returned to Cybertron.

Prior to Riptide's arrival, Ultra Magnus (IIRC--might have been someone talking to him) commented that half the Hydrobots were aboard. Assuming it's a standard size team (and adjusting for odd numbers), this would mean that there were two or three at the time, meaning there are three or four after Riptide's arrival (assuming none left, and no additional ones boarded).

The only other things we know about the Hydrobots is that they are an aquatic assault team (as the name would imply), one is named Aquabat, and Aquabat and one other (possibly Riptide, who knows?) are triple changers.

Shifting gears a bit, Megatron has always been enamored of Combiners. Megatron is now an Autobot, Captain of the Lost Light. But it's unlikely his fascination with Combiners is diminished, and it might seem an even more immediate concern now that Starscream's "neutrals" and the main Autobot force (and, likely, the remaining Decepticons) are in a bit of an arms race to build up new and better Combiners.

All the Protectobots are on board. A couple of Protectobots have already shown up in store computers in the Combiner Wars line, meaning it's pretty much a given Defensor will soon appear in IDW. But will he remain on the Lost Light, and will one Combiner be enough for Megatron (particularly now that they know the Decepticon Justice Division has a hard-on for them)?

If there were three Hydrobots aboard before, and four now, the Hydrobots are one man down from forming a Combiner.

There also needs to be at least one highly skilled scientist involved in actually building the Combiner. We've got Perceptor (unless he left), as well as Ratchet and First Aid for backup. But the more minds, the better, particularly since Megatron would be particularly concerned about developing a Combiner who can think like the sum of five like-minded personalities, rather than five bickering individuals whose combination result in a huge moron. (Defensor's presence on the Lost Light jives with this, as he's one of the most stable Combiners.) Sure, Rung could help the Combiner team work through their differences, but a scientist on par with Shockwave or Bludgeon (or Thunderwing or Perceptor, to be fair) would be an asset.

Damn. If only there were an aquatic-themed Autobot who got along well with Riptide, and was a quantum engineer. Maybe this theoretical Autobot could be a girl, giving fanboys the best of both worlds. Where could we find such a Transformers, particularly among the rather small sample size on the Lost Light?

And, if you're keeping score, the Fan's Choice Combiner poll is pretty much horseshit, entirely "how do you want the new Aerialbots, Stunticons, and Protectobots repainted and mixed up into some new combiner no one gives a shit about because he'll be all repaints when it looks like most of the Protectobots are repaints already?"

That said, though, The Superion is motherfucking amazing. I look forward to them releasing the missing one (Air Raid?) in a few months, so I can replace Drag Strip. That Stunticon is driving him a little nucking futs.

I gave up waiting and ordered Motormaster from Amazon. $2 more than MSRP, $2 less than the current price at Target. I should have him Saturday, and he's the last Stunticon I need. There will be a gestalt party soon, oyes!

Before they were Transformers...

Those new pics from Toyfair look pretty awesome. I haven't bought TFs in a verrrry long time, but I may have to get those triple changers and Topspin and Twintwist.

Yeah, but it really pisses me off that they're doing those massive sets, which we know will be impossible to find, each with half of a Clone team, a MTMTE favorite, and a fucking reissue Optimus Prime.

Nautica. We get fucking Nautica, and she's in a $100+ set.