The movies have been running long enough to get their own "Generations" sort
of line, apparently. Nostalgia happens, as does a desire to keep trademarks
active despite the movieverse being really into killing off characters.
Released in 2018 to bridge the gap between shelf-warming Last Knight toys and
the Bumblebee movie toys, it's a mix of tweaked molds and all new molds,
spanning the decade's worth of movies to date.
Toys with names in italics rated worse than "Mildly Recommended" while
those in boldface are "Strongly Recommended" or better.
- So far no indication that there will be Legends/Legion in the Studio
Series, but I'll leave the section in for now.
- Wave 1: Bumblebee (retooled Last Knight
version with 1970s Camaro shell), Ratchet (entirely new mold based on
MechTech), Stinger (new 2014-movie design), Crowbar (inferior retool
of 2017 Berzerker).
- Wave 2: Autobot Jazz (Pontiac Solstice), Lockdown
(Lamborghini Aventador). Jazz would be strongly recommended but for a fatal
flaw of hubris in assuming assembly would always allow for the exacting
tolerances the designers required. I outline a fix if you're handy with a
Dremel.
- Wave 3: Autobot Ratchet (redeco for Dark of the Moon
colors, swaps saw for a gun, not reviewed), Shadow Raider (orange retool of
Lockdown with battlemask head and new weapon), VW Bumblebee. I decided not
to pay $20 for just a new gun for Ratchet, but the new gun and head were
enough to tip me over the edge on Shadow Raider.
- Wave 4: KSI Sentry (Stinger retool with new head and
weapon, the new weapon enhances his kibble blades), Dropkick
(helicopter...it's a triple-changer in the movie, but the toys don't try to
get that fancy, it's either-or).
- Wave 5: Really disappointing wave. I only did
capsules for WWII Bumblebee (great idea, horrible execution) and Barricade
(kinda meh in general). Sideswipe is the other new mold, with tweaks or
redecos for Clunker Bumblebee and Crankcase (both of which have prior reviews
in wave 1).
- Wave 1: Optimus Prime, Starscream (2009). While, contrary to initial
impressions, they seem to be entirely new molds, I'm just not interested in
more movie Optimuses and the movie Starscream aesthetic has done the opposite
of growing on me. Don't expect reviews unless I get them on deep clearance.
- TRU Exclusive Thundercracker: Possibly the
last TRU exclusive ever, it's a redeco of Nitro Zeus from 2017, but with a
Starscream (2009) style head and a blue deco. The new head implies a
Starscream might be in a later wave, even though a regular Starscream is in
the first wave?
- Wave 2: Decepticon Brawl (2007), Megatron (2009). Brawl's decent, but Megatron
disappoints the moment he gets out of the box.
- Wave 3: Autobot Ironhide (2007), seems to have
been swapped into the wave 2 assortment in Brawl's place.
- Wave 4: #32 Optimus Prime (redeco of the wave 1 mold, I think), #33 Bonecrusher (2007). Won't be getting Optimus.
- Wave 5: #37 Constructicon Rampage (part of a Devastator combiner team),
#38 Optimus Prime (Bumblebee movie version). Status: I own Optimus Prime and
will review it soon, I'm giving a hard pass to movie Devastator's
components. Really no interest in a large version of that character, the
Legion combiner was enough for me.
- Wave 1: Grimlock (new mold, 2014-style), Blackout (new mold, 2007
style). While Blackout is reportedly not as bad as most movieverse Leaders,
I'm still not thrilled by the fiddly bits on either mold, and don't plan to
buy either
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