The recent history of Transformers games on the Wii has been less than impressive, thanks in large part to needing to be redeveloped off the framework of games for more current systems. Transformers Prime: The Game moves to break this trend of shaky-at-best ports by developing a new software title specifically for the Nintendo platforms. This effort has definitely not been misplaced, as we seem finally to have a Transformers game for the Wii that's actually worth playing. Continue to full review.

On the heels of Fall of Cybertron, Activision releases Transformers Prime: The Game for the Nintendo platforms that didn't receive FoC. While High Moon Studios' game is aimed at adult gamers and fans, NowPro's Transformers Prime design choices clearly mark it as a game for younger Transformers fans. Continue to full review

Prime First Edition stuff got a really bad break in the US. The normal form of Cliffjumper was never available in any capacity to US collectors without foreign aid of some kind, and the "Terrorcon" remold was just outright shelved. But in a move of considerable awesome, Hasbro used that remold for the smaller of its SDCC Transformers offerings, expanding on last year's concept of special packaging and slightly modified deco. The result was something a lot more special than "Matrix" Optimus Prime from last year. Continue to full review...

Ironhide is the first Transformers Prime character in the Cyberverse scale who's not on the show. Based on an early design by Ken Christiansen, somebody at Hasbro liked Ironhide enough that he made it through to the toyline. And unlike our other non-show characters he's an all-original mold! Very weird. Continue to full review

Transformers Prime's First Edition line was really unlucky. Thanks to Dark of The Moon overstock, most stores didn't want any of it when it was ready early last year. And thanks to an amazing sequence of distribution failures at what few retailers did handle the line, certain toys like Bulkhead were especially rare and demand soared. Many were skeptical of the new mold main line Bulkhead that the majority would have to settle for. But things have a funny way of working out sometimes. Continue to full review...

One of the things that appealed to me about Cyberverse was the promise of playsets like this one. You don't see a lot of these in Transformers. Since this is currently the only way to get Cyberverse Knock Out, that's two good reasons to seek it out.Continue to full review

Since a home video set of Transformers Prime's second season is a ways off so far (as of this writing only around half of season two has yet aired) it isn't surprising that Shout would look to take advantage of an opportunity for a supplemental release. As the end of season one and the beginning of season two were done as "event" story arcs, they're a great source for a quick one-shot DVD release, much like Darkness Rising from what seems like so long ago now. Continue to full review...

In terms of character, Dreadwing's not too bad. He falls within the "honorable evil" character type which is at least good for offering some depth of personality. Plus having Tony Todd voice him hurts nothing. At least this time that voice talent is not utterly wasted as it was with The Fallen in ROTF. But I decided to buy the toy long before any of this was known, almost entirely because the colors really appealed to me. I can be simple like that, but thankfully the toy has more to offer than just an agreeable deco. Continue to full review...

We've got a small problem- the problem is that Breakdown is small. Bulkhead is a Commander figure, roughly akin to the older Scout class, but Breakdown is a Legion, the class formerly known as Legends. Which might've been fine if they talked up his partnership with fellow Legion Knock Out, but no. He is Bulkhead's tiny, tiny rival. Continue to full review

And now, my Cyberverse Wave 1 collection is complete with my acquisition of Starscream, everybody's favorite scheming, backstabbing toady. Like Bulkhead and the Vehicon, Starscream was available in Cyberverse scale well before the traditional-scale figure hit. Continue to full review

He was actually low on my want list of Prime characters. I like The Rock well enough, and I like a Cliffjumper that's not a Bumblebee recolor well enough, but somehow it wasn't... enough, so I saved him for last. So naturally I hear that he's turned out to be the best articulated figure in all of the Prime Legion class. Let's see about that. Continue to full review

The original Vehicons debuted over a decade ago in Beast Machines as an army of lifeless, mass production drone Transformers under Megatron's direct control. Today's Vehicons are much less diverse, even in fiction, but they fill the same general story role in Transformers Prime. Except now the disposable soldiers tend to have individual personalities, often distinct voices from each other, and a vague will to live. But it's okay for the good guys to slaughter them anyway! Continue to full review...

Arcee was the last of the Wave 1 Legion figures I needed, and I just plain lucked into the last one at TRU. (Another nice thing I've discovered about Legion is that TRU's markup isn't quite so painful at this scale- it's generally a dollar or less.) I like Arcee; she's probably the best delineated Autobot so far in Prime, with the most explored backstory... and the most baggage. But this is a war story, and the two go hand in hand. Continue to full review

Prime Megatron's design is actually quite nice. There's a clear lineage of modern Megatron designs leading back to the Movies, though I'd lay more of Megatron's aesthetic at the feet of Derrick J. Wyatt. I had a hard time seeing the connection between those two designs anyway, because Wyatt's Megatron doesn't look like an unfortunate accident at a silverware factory. Continue to full review

Generic goons like Vehicons make a lot of sense in a CG show: you have a slow trickle of new character models because of the cost and time involved with designing and building those models. So enter the Vehicon, a slick-looking piece of animation copy-paste. Continue to full review