Transformers Go Hunter Nemesis Prime

Read my review of Transformers Beast Hunters Voyager Optimus Prime for details on this mold.

Hunter Nemesis Prime looks awesome.  I love the black and gunmetal gray with translucent red windows and sword.  Really nice looking.  The only mold change is his head, which has been remolded to have a face plate.  It’s just unfortunate that we won’t get the Optimus Prime colored version with this head.

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Transformers Go Go Prime

Read my reviews of Transformers Prime Voyager Thundertron and Transformers Arms Micron Voyager Leo Prime.

Not much to say here.  I really like the new color scheme on Go Prime.  I think it looks better than either of the previous releases.  He does not come with either of the previous weapons, but with the swords from Transformers Go Kenzan molded in red.  It’s pretty crappy that they couldn’t even mold him his own weapons.  How hard is it to make a simple sword mold?  Nice if you like the colors, not worth your time if you don’t.

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Transformers Go Optimus Exprime

In what might be the biggest WTF moment in history, Takara decided to make Optimus Prime into a triple changer that turns into a train and a dragon.  No, I don’t get it either.

So, this is pretty straight forward.

So, here’s the good.  Optimus Prime looks pretty great in train mode, ignoring the I don’t know what weapons thing that sits on top and really doesn’t stay on very well.  Robot mode is pretty cool.  He’s a bit thin in the middle under the windows on his chest, but it’s not bad.  If they had just released this and given him a gun, in stead of the thing on his roof, I think it would have been a neat toy.

That’s where the good ends.

This is supposed to be a dragon.  Looks more like a train wreck (pun intended) to me.  I don’t even know what to say.  It looks like a dog ate the toy, shit this out, and they said “cool, he’s a triple changer!”  I am shocked at this level of bad by Takara.  I don’t even expect that Hasbro could put out a toy this awful, though lord knows they’ve tried.

He combines with Kenzan (Samurai Team) and Gekisoumaru (Swordbot Shinobi Team) with either being on top or on the bottom with Optimus Exprime in the middle (that sounds somehow dirtier than it did in my head).  They aren’t really any worse than the other combiners, so I can’t exactly tear into them that much, but they certainly don’t do anything for this toy.

At the end of the day, the train is really awesome without the crap on top.  Is it worth buying for $60, only for a crazy completist like me.

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It is being reported that the following is a list of Botcon 2014 Souvenir toys.  This is as of now mostly unconfirmed rumor, but pictures of Flamewar have surfaced, so that one seems a virtual certainty, but we won’t know for sure until Botcon.

• Alpha Trion (Transformers: Prime Voyager Thundertron Mold)
• Pounce (Transformers: Prime Deluxe Vehicon Mold)
• Wingspan (Transformers: Prime Deluxe Air Vehicon Mold)
• Flare-Up (Transformers: Prime: Beast Hunters Deluxe Arcee Mold)
• Flamewar (Transformers: Prime: Beast Hunters Deluxe Arcee Mold)
• Shokaract (Transformers: Prime: First Edition Deluxe Megatron mold with Club Exclusive Rampage Head Mold)
• Apelinq (Transformers: Cybertron Deluxe Optimus Primal Mold)

I will remind you that this is all rumor, and what I am about to say is complete conjecture based on logic, so take it all with a grain of salt.

Alpha Trion – With the Pirate vs. Knights theme, a repaint of Thundertron seems like a forgone conclusion.  It’s not the greatest of toys, but was designed to be a pirate, even including a peg leg.  Way back at Botcon 2002 it was revealed that instead of the horrible Catscan toy, the other option was Beast Machines Snarl (a lion) repainted as Alpha Trion.  This almost makes too much sense not to be true.

Pounce and Wingspan – I can come up with no logic for this one, but I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS IDEA.  This is one of the rare moments when I am 100% behind an idea from Botcon, though the Autobot clones would make more sense and be even more awesome.  However, there are seven toys on the above list, so where then does it fit into the usual 2 2-packs, 1 3-pack, 1 freebie for 6 different toys total scenario.  More on that later.

Flare-Up and Flamewar – As this is the tenth Botcon by Fun Pub (I can’t believe we’ve been suffering that long) I can see them doing this.  The photos of Flamewar look amazing, and seemingly confirm this toy.  If they are doing Flamewar, then Flare-Up is almost certainly in the mix as well.

Shokaract and Apelinq – Again, as this is the tenth Botcon by Fun Pub this makes sense, even if they weren’t ones that they did originally.  It makes even more sense when you consider that Rampage was the club membership toy, and it has a new head.  No previous membership toy has had new molding (I don’t think) so they must be reusing it in order to recoup the costs of the new molding.  If they are doing Shokaract, then Apelinq is a virtual certainty.

That leaves one question, how exactly are these to be distributed?

Pounce and Wingspan would seem to be the most likely scenario for a troop builder.  It would be only two instead of three, but since it would be two different molds, it would make sense.

Shokaract and Apelinq would make the most sense in one 2-Pack.

Either Flamewar or Flare-Up would be the freebie with the other in a 2-Pack with Alpha Trion.

A 2-Pack troop builder instead of three would be a change and also assumes that the toy for the custom class is one of the three deluxe molds in box set.  Still it all makes logical sense, but it’s probably all wrong.

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Transformers: Prime: Beast Hunters Construct Bots (Bumblebee, Ripclaw, Starscream, Optimus Prime, Shockwave, Skystalker, Bulkhead with Airazor and Wolfang, Unicron Megatron with Barrage and Ratbat)

I was pretty sure that these had been canceled, but I discovered, quite accidentally, that they were released in Canada and the UK.  Is it really that hard for Hasbro to either release toys or not release toys?  Instead they screw over the USA.  You suck, Hasbro.

Anyway…

I decided to review these all in one blog since no one will care about them anyway.  It should be noted that they are designed just like the Age of Extinction Dinobot Warriors with the same spring operated piece in the chest that makes them transform much better than the original toys did.  I don’t have a lot to say about these, but I figured I should review them since a lot of people probably don’t even realize that they were released at all.

Scout Class Bumblebee

Bumblebee is pretty generic, very much like the original Construct Bots Bumblebee.  I do really like his head sculpt.

Scout Class Ripclaw

Ripclaw looks pretty great.  I love his colors.  He has a great head sculpt in both modes.  I think I even prefer him to the deluxe toy since he doesn’t have that ridiculous tail.

Scout Class Starscream

Starscream is pretty awesome looking.  His jet mode is really nice.  I love the three missile clusters.  Really nice colors.

Elite Class Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime looks…different.  The dragon head launchers look odd, but then, so did Beast Hunter Optimus Prime on which this toy is loosely based.  I’m not a fan of Optimus’s snarling expression, nor those odd looking feet.  Vehicle mode isn’t bad as long as you ignore that he has a green halo.

Elite Class Shockwave

Shockwave looks awesome.  He’s probably the best of the bunch.  I love his head sculpt, it looks really cool.  I love his tank mode, though it would look better with treads.

Elite Class Skystalker

Much like Dinofire Predaking, Skystalker is pretty cool, and one of the better Construct Bots toys.  He’s got a great head sculpt in both modes.  His Beast Mode wings are a little cumbersome and hard to pose.

Triple Team Class Bulkhead with Airazor & Wolfang

Airazor

Kind of cool, but really not much to his transformation.

Wolfang

I like this one, very cool.  I love the orange and black.

Bulkhead

Bulkhead looks awesome.  I love the colors they used.  Not a big fan of his head sculpt.  It looks odd.  His vehicle mode is nice.  I especially like the plow on the front.

Triple Team Class Unicron Megatron with Barrage & Ratbat

Barrage

Nice colors.  I really like his insect mode.

Ratbat

Ratbat is very cool.  His wings in bat mode look odd.  Not sure if they would look better with the blades on top of his wings, but this is what he is supposed to look like.  His saw mode is awesome.  They did a nice job designing the blades so that they could snap together and still spin.

Unicron Megatron

I love the head sculpt.  The purple and bronze look really cool.  I’m not a fan of his sword sticking out the back of the vehicle, but I guess it kind of looks like flames if you squint at it.

Overall: They are better than the first Construct Bots, but probably not quite up to the level of the AOE Dinobot Warriors and certainly not the AOE Dinobots.  They probably won’t be worth the cost to get them since they are not readily available.

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