Wait so the wheels are supposed to be up on the hips? So the pictures with them down on the lower legs are wrong? Okay.

4 hours ago, BaCon said:

I get a strong Combiner Wars vibe from this one.

I have to disagree. The original can hardly stand up in robot mode. The transformation is fiddly, and always worry it will break. The voyager here looks much more solid, and hopefully not gravity challenged.

Like the hands for Victorion? Yeah I can see that. The Ark had those too. Luckily someone on Ebay was selling just the hands from the DNA kit for cheap. Which was the only useful thing from that set. 

Thinking more about this Barricade though, it reminds me of FoC Onslaught/Impactor. They look very similar.

That's strange, I haven't had a single problem with WFC Optimus. I have the Darksyde version (the two figures from that set are two of the most beautiful toys I've ever seen by the way), the two pack version from TR and the oversized KO Purple one. I don't recall having any difficulty standing them. While I agree somewhat about worrying it will break during transformation, that's only for the KO as it's much cheaper and thinner plastic. Never had that thought about the two official versions I have though. They're both solid and I never felt that anything would break. Maybe it's because I got them after I got the KO. When I finally got the officials, those thoughts I had about the KO went away due to the more robust plastic used.

I actually liked the transformation too. It's so different to pretty much every other Transformer official or not. The things it does to get the parts to where they need to be seem crazy but are very intuitive. To me, it's one of those that give a sense of accomplishment afterwards. It really "scratches the itch" so to speak. Which all went out the window for the followup Fall of Cybertron Deluxe which is about as bland and boring as it can get for a Transformer. 

And honestly, this is the first time I ever seen or heard of anyone taking issue with WFC Optimus. Other than the transformation as I have heard people say they don't like it. However I might not be one to talk though as I actually thought the same about T30 Rhinox when I finally got it. That thing just would not stand no matter what I did. That whole pelvis and hip section was one of the loosest joints I've ever experienced on a figure. I only knew of using super glue to tighten joints back then but it barely helped. It wasn't until about a year and a half ago when I dug it back out to compare with Kingdom Rhinox that I finally tightened the joints up with some water based polyurethane (the active ingredient in KIKI and floor polish) that I actually started to enjoy it. 

Barricade's hands are some of the worst hands I've ever seen on a Transformer. That pose is so unnatural and hurt my hand when I tried to emulate it. What were they going for there lol. And while I get that the photographers don't know how to transform them but did they actually think that leaving those huge chunks of vehicle kibble up next to the robot hips was a good look. Regardless, it just baffles me as to how they don't realize that those pieces can still move. They're messing with it while posing so they know those pieces move. Just keep moving them until they're either out of the way, in a place that looks "natural" or just look better in general. Yeah I get that core class Sludge looks like that too but it's a core class...and a combiner so it has an excuse to have huge pieces hanging off the hips as it's needed for the articulation and robot mode in general to work. I don't know what I was expecting as I never actually played the games but he doesn't look all that good otherwise though. It's fine enough I guess but it's nothing amazing or it's just not "wowing" me in any way. The vehicle mode looks good though.

I never picked up the other WFC Bumblebee but I did just get a NIP Cliffjumper last year for cheap so I'm at least somewhat familiar with the mold. That being said, this is not better than the older one. That torso is unfortunate looking. I'd rather have the well proportioned torso form the original with the huge turtle shell on the back than this extra wide and stubby short and portly one. He looks like a Chrono Q Transformer. The legs are horrible too. Why do Hasbro designers in general continue to think that thighs are the shortest part of a humanoid's body? It's like all of their lines too. The femur is the longest single bone in the human body. Yes the spine is longer but that's comprised of multiple pieces. So the thigh should be the second longest part on any figure that resembles a human. Be it an actual human from Marvel Legends, GI Joe, Power Rangers and so on to alien humanoids from Transformers, Power Rangers, Star Wars and so on. So this has short and tiny thighs that have huge hollow gaps on the backs to accommodate these huge kibble spikes on the backs of the lower legs. At least they're thicker though which is nice. I have no complaints about the arms though. Those look good in general and look better overall than the original since there's no Mega Blastoise turtle shells on the forearms. I'm going to miss the flip out blades though. 

Optimus though. I don't know what to think about that. The original deluxe is going to be hard to beat. I need to see a bit more before deciding. I do like that this voyager is a beefy bot. LIke CW Optimus but "better". I do regret not getting that oversize KO of the deluxe. I only picked up the SG version but not the Optimus, Nemesis or Nova Prime colors. Just when I was ready to buy them I couldn't find them anymore. 

It looks like the right arms all come off at a 5mm peg. Cool in theory but I don't like that too much in the long run as it looks like that's the only way to actually use the guns. I don't want to set an arm to the side just to have the figure interact with their gun. This isn't G1 anymore. Sure some previous movie Bumblebees and Squeaks do that too but I don't like those either.

While it's cool that the WFC and possibly the FoC games are being made as Studio Series figures, I still do wish they'd make some Transformers Prime: Predacons Rising and Beast Wars II: Lio Convoy's Close Call! figures. At least those are movies. Yeah they already made Leo Prime in Legacy but they could always do the Flash version of SS. It's not like they haven't moved molds from SS86 to WFCT, GS and Legacy before. I brought that up on another site years ago back before SS86 was first revealed. People laughed and said the 86 movie would never be part of Studio Series and look how that turned out. Then people also laughed when someone brought up the games being part of it as well and yet here we go. Those same people also laughed about the other two movies being made for Studio Series and I hope they're wrong. Just like they were when they laughed when I said T30 Rattrap would make for a good Tazmania Kid but these same people think that Kingdom Rattrap will be used for Legacy Evo Tazmania Kid.