Legacy Retail Listings for 2024

[Zobovor]

Retail listings are already floating about on the Interwebs for some Legacy toys, likely late 2023 or early 2024 releases.

TRA GEN LEGACY CAPSULE LDR G2 GRIMLOCK
TRA GEN LEGACY UNI LDR BW TIGERHAWK
TRA GEN LEGACY UNI LDR G1 SANDSTORM
TRA GEN LEGACY EV LDR OPTIMUS
TRA GEN LEGACY UNI VOY ANIMATED OPTIMUS
TRA GEN LEGACY UNI VOY PRIME THUNDERTRON
TRA GEN LEGACY UNI VOY CYBER STARSCREAM
TRA GEN LEGACI UNI VOY BW SILVERBOLT

They are continuing to branch out and celebrate various incarnations of the franchise, which I suppose is fine for those who need new versions of toys that already had modern-era designs and articulation. But according to "slot logic" it bumps serviceable G1 characters out of the running who will now have to wait months or years before they get their turn, which saddens me a little. But, anything to get the whippersnappers to shut up about the "endless G1 snorefest," I suppose.

So, they're actually doing G2 versions of the Leader-class Dinobots. I mean, yes, I'm excited. But a $55 price tag stings a lot more than it would have if they'd done this during the Power of the Primes days. That's $275, assuming they do all five characters, and assuming they only do one G2 color scheme (I would prefer blue for Grimlock and red for Snarl and green for Slag; if they tap into the planned but unrelease versions, then Sludge will be orange and Swoop will be light blue with green wings). But, I didn't grouse when I gobbled up multiple versions of Leader-class Galvatron, so I suppose I shouldn't do so here.

Tigerhawk and Silverbolt are very exciting. The original Tigerhawk toy was kind of a mess, with aborted gimmicks and vestigial wheels. I imagine Silverbolt will be a Deluxe-sized Voyager, and that they're just selling him at the price point so they can throw in extra engineering and get his wings right.

If Sandstorm looks like his cartoon model, instead of that bizarre abomination we got during Generations circa 2014, I'll be very pleased. Looks like they're going to knock out all the Triple Changers, eventually. Can't wait to see what they do with Octane and Broadside.

I had no idea what a Thundertron was. I had to look it up. Are people really clamoring for an update to a character that nobody online ever talks about, ever?


Zob (has a Transmetal 2 vehicle mode, but never uses it)

[Codigo Postal]

On Friday, December 2, 2022 at 10:11:28 AM UTC-5, Zobovor wrote:
> Retail listings are already floating about on the Interwebs for some Legacy toys, likely late 2023 or early 2024 releases.
>
> TRA GEN LEGACY CAPSULE LDR G2 GRIMLOCK
> TRA GEN LEGACY UNI LDR BW TIGERHAWK
> TRA GEN LEGACY UNI LDR G1 SANDSTORM
> TRA GEN LEGACY EV LDR OPTIMUS
> TRA GEN LEGACY UNI VOY ANIMATED OPTIMUS
> TRA GEN LEGACY UNI VOY PRIME THUNDERTRON
> TRA GEN LEGACY UNI VOY CYBER STARSCREAM
> TRA GEN LEGACI UNI VOY BW SILVERBOLT
>

I wonder if they deliberately held off on the G2 repaints during POTP knowing they could charge a much heftier price now.

Who wanted a Thundertron? What even is a Thundertron? This seems like a waste of a perfectly good slot that could have gone to a character from another universe with greater name recognition.

I'm all over the Silverbolt though.

[Irrellius Spamticon]

On Friday, December 2, 2022 at 9:11:28 AM UTC-6, Zobovor wrote:
> Retail listings are already floating about on the Interwebs for some Legacy toys, likely late 2023 or early 2024 releases.
>
> TRA GEN LEGACY CAPSULE LDR G2 GRIMLOCK
> TRA GEN LEGACY UNI LDR BW TIGERHAWK
> TRA GEN LEGACY UNI LDR G1 SANDSTORM
> TRA GEN LEGACY EV LDR OPTIMUS
> TRA GEN LEGACY UNI VOY ANIMATED OPTIMUS
> TRA GEN LEGACY UNI VOY PRIME THUNDERTRON
> TRA GEN LEGACY UNI VOY CYBER STARSCREAM
> TRA GEN LEGACI UNI VOY BW SILVERBOLT
>
> They are continuing to branch out and celebrate various incarnations of the franchise, which I suppose is fine for those who need new versions of toys that already had modern-era designs and articulation. But according to "slot logic" it bumps serviceable G1 characters out of the running who will now have to wait months or years before they get their turn, which saddens me a little. But, anything to get the whippersnappers to shut up about the "endless G1 snorefest," I suppose.
>
> So, they're actually doing G2 versions of the Leader-class Dinobots. I mean, yes, I'm excited. But a $55 price tag stings a lot more than it would have if they'd done this during the Power of the Primes days. That's $275, assuming they do all five characters, and assuming they only do one G2 color scheme (I would prefer blue for Grimlock and red for Snarl and green for Slag; if they tap into the planned but unrelease versions, then Sludge will be orange and Swoop will be light blue with green wings). But, I didn't grouse when I gobbled up multiple versions of Leader-class Galvatron, so I suppose I shouldn't do so here.
>

If they do too many Dinobots you might be able to pick some up loose for $15 like Galvatron. If they do too little you'll have people paying $100 like they are for Studio series 86 Grimlock. Or $80 for that AoE Grimlock abomination.

> Tigerhawk and Silverbolt are very exciting. The original Tigerhawk toy was kind of a mess, with aborted gimmicks and vestigial wheels. I imagine Silverbolt will be a Deluxe-sized Voyager, and that they're just selling him at the price point so they can throw in extra engineering and get his wings right.
>

I too read Tigerhawk and immediately wondered what they'd do if he didn't have all of his abandoned features and springs and missile launchers.

> If Sandstorm looks like his cartoon model, instead of that bizarre abomination we got during Generations circa 2014, I'll be very pleased. Looks like they're going to knock out all the Triple Changers, eventually. Can't wait to see what they do with Octane and Broadside.
>

Hey! That 2014 Sadstorm was the best thing to come out of that line! Sure he's not as much of a brick as his G1 self but it' a great toy.

> I had no idea what a Thundertron was. I had to look it up. Are people really clamoring for an update to a character that nobody online ever talks about, ever?
>

Someone told me he's a pirate that was cut from the show? It's a Prime toy that's easy to find, while every other Prime toy are some of the rarest Prime toys. It' the last thing I would have chosen from Prime. Give us Breakdown. Dreadwing. A second try of the mini Abominus

>
> Zob (has a Transmetal 2 vehicle mode, but never uses it)

A unicycle with a flame-throwing bagpipe is only useful in specific situations.

[Codigo Postal]

> > If Sandstorm looks like his cartoon model, instead of that bizarre abomination we got during Generations circa 2014, I'll be very pleased. Looks like they're going to knock out all the Triple Changers, eventually. Can't wait to see what they do with Octane and Broadside.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhAcPGKJisU
https://sirtoys.com/toys.php?c=10&p=7920&t=Marine_Morphers_Aircraft_Carrier.html

There's a 3rd party original design that looks a bit like Broadside, if you squint.

[Gustavo Wombat]

I want a redeco based on the original deco for Tigatron. Orange, black
stripes, use the green robot parts color for the transmetal chunks.

>> If Sandstorm looks like his cartoon model, instead of that bizarre
>> abomination we got during Generations circa 2014, I'll be very pleased.
>> Looks like they're going to knock out all the Triple Changers,
>> eventually. Can't wait to see what they do with Octane and Broadside.
>>
>
> Hey! That 2014 Sadstorm was the best thing to come out of that line! Sure
> he's not as much of a brick as his G1 self but it' a great toy.

He’s a skinny, weird, emo* take on Sandstorm. I love him, even if he did
terrorize my cat.**

*: he just looks depressed in every pose, and like he needs to eat a donut.
He was apparently based on a character design for a TF:Prime Sandstorm, who
would hang out with Thundertron as part of an “abandoned colonies come
together to take over Cybertron” storyline.

**: I had a 20+ year old cat who hated the sound of the ratcheting joints
and actually had an anxiety attack or seizure (vet was unsure, we decided
not to run lots of tests on an ancient cat) because of the noise. I didn’t
touch my ratcheting joint toys for another year or two until after she
died. I miss that rumpled old cat, even if she was on the verge of death
for the last 5 years or so of her life.

(Pet sitter was once given instructions to just tuck her in the freezer if
she died, and just leave me a note, but not to ruin my vacation. They
thought the instructions were insane until they saw the cat. I used the
same pet sitter a few more times, and they were always shocked the cat was
alive)

>
>> I had no idea what a Thundertron was. I had to look it up. Are people
>> really clamoring for an update to a character that nobody online ever talks about, ever?
>>
>
> Someone told me he's a pirate that was cut from the show? It's a Prime
> toy that's easy to find, while every other Prime toy are some of the
> rarest Prime toys. It' the last thing I would have chosen from Prime.
> Give us Breakdown. Dreadwing. A second try of the mini Abominus

The character design is great, the toy was not. The obvious redecorate
potential will have been covered by then (Lio Prime) so it seems a little
odd to do him though. There was a BotCon Cheetor in Alpha Trion colors, but
I don’t know if anyone is interested in that.

I’m happy that we get something that is sort of slightly new — I’d rather
they dig through the archives and look at things like Transtech or Marauder
Megatron, or give us something from Earthspark, but I don’t hate this.

[Gustavo Wombat]

Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
> Retail listings are already floating about on the Interwebs for some
> Legacy toys, likely late 2023 or early 2024 releases.
>
> TRA GEN LEGACY CAPSULE LDR G2 GRIMLOCK

I wonder if they will try to give that mold a toy deco, or whether this
will be what Grimlock would have looked like in a proper G2 cartoon.

> TRA GEN LEGACY UNI LDR BW TIGERHAWK
> TRA GEN LEGACY UNI LDR G1 SANDSTORM
> TRA GEN LEGACY EV LDR OPTIMUS
> TRA GEN LEGACY UNI VOY ANIMATED OPTIMUS

I like Animated, but there are lots of distinctive characters that would be
better. Samurai Prowl would have been my choice.

> TRA GEN LEGACY UNI VOY PRIME THUNDERTRON
> TRA GEN LEGACY UNI VOY CYBER STARSCREAM

I don’t see how they will come even remotely close to the original toy in
terms of inherent goodness. That’s one of the best molds in the entire
history of Transformers. It would be like trying again with Laser Optimus
Prime — the Legacy toy is good, but pales in comparison with the original,
and is inherently disappointing.

Sometimes they should just reissue toys.

> TRA GEN LEGACI UNI VOY BW SILVERBOLT

Do we even know what Uni stands for? Bird-dog so close to bird-cat seems
like a mistake, but I want both.

[Zobovor]

On Friday, December 2, 2022 at 8:32:35 AM UTC-7, Codigo Postal wrote:

> I wonder if they deliberately held off on the G2 repaints during POTP knowing they could charge a much heftier price now.

Well, Power of the Primes was in 2018, and they announced the pivot to Transformers: the Movie characters for Studio Series in 2020. So, the timeline certainly tracks. I've gotten the feeling that they've gradually become bolder about producing bigger and more expensive toys. I remember a time when it was safe and comfortable to buy Deluxe-class armybuilders (or redeco toys you arguably didn't absolutely need) but what they're doing now, with Voyager-class armybuilders at thirty bucks a pop, or multiple fifty-dollar versions of Galvatron (collect them all!) would have been unthinkable.

Given how long the fandom waited for new Dinobots, the Power of the Primes versions sure didn't stay in the limelight for very long, did they? They weren't awful, certainly. The Studio Series editions have certainly supplanted them, but they just never really got their chance to shine. I think a G2 gift set would have been practical and affordable (trying to remember the pricing at that point... Grimlock was $25 and the Deluxes were all $15, so a box set with all six including baby Slash would realistically have been about $100 or so), but buying every one of the Studio Series Dinobots over again at $55 a pop is going to sting a little.


Zob (time to sell some more extra organs, I guess... you don't really need *two* kidneys, do you?)

[Zobovor]

On Friday, December 2, 2022 at 6:53:21 PM UTC-7, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

> He’s a skinny, weird, emo take on Sandstorm.

I saw on Twitter or somewhere recently that the artist who designed that toy was designed as Sandstorm first and then repurposed as Springer by Hasbro. Which seems awfully strange to me, since the toy so obviously embodies Springer in so many ways.

But, I just want a G1-with-ball-joints version of Sandstorm with a cute cartoon face that I can imagine Jerry Houser's voice coming out of. "Aw, Octane, now you're hearin' things! But, don't worry, it's normal to be a little jittery. You are an older model, after all..."

(That episode would have made so much more sense with Springer and Blitzwing in the key roles.)

> I had a 20+ year old cat who hated the sound of the ratcheting joints
> and actually had an anxiety attack or seizure (vet was unsure, we decided
> not to run lots of tests on an ancient cat) because of the noise.

It's a good thing we don't live in the reality of the G1 toy commercials, where literally anything you did to a toy produced a deafening clicking sound. Flip Optimus Prime's head around. CLICK! Plug his fists into the slots. CLICK!! Fit his gun into his hands. CLICK!!!

> I’m happy that we get something that is sort of slightly new — I’d rather
> they dig through the archives and look at things like Transtech or Marauder
> Megatron, or give us something from Earthspark, but I don’t hate this.

People were really, really excited about TransTech back in the day, weren't they? It will always be remembered that the toy line we should have gotten instead of Beast Machines. I wonder if Draxhall Jump still has the rights to the designs, or whether Hasbro owns the concept art free and clear? That would honestly be an awesome thing to do. Fans would gobble that up.

I wouldn't hate it if they dug through old concept art and just did a bunch of toys based on those drawings. Like a fire truck version of Rodimus Prime, or a Megatron who can transform into Skywarp. At this point, that stuff has achieved nearly legendary status. They need to realize more toys in the Studio Ox style, too. Not as a full range of toys, and not as the "definitive" versions of anybody who hasn't gotten a neo-G1 figure yet, but as a sub-line celebrating that great art style.


Zob (would also accept Tokyo Movie Shinsha versions of characters as seen in "Call of the Primitives")

[Zobovor]

On Friday, December 2, 2022 at 7:06:51 PM UTC-7, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

> I wonder if they will try to give that mold a toy deco, or whether this
> will be what Grimlock would have looked like in a proper G2 cartoon.

Ugh, I didn't think about that. I hope they don't go the super toyetic route and do tampographs that look like the G1 stickers, or give Slag red horns and give Swoop a red beak and talons, or any of that nonsense.

I think there's at least a small possibility that Grimlock will have "BIG GRIM" painted on his shoulder and I think I might be okay with that.

> > TRA GEN LEGACI UNI VOY BW SILVERBOLT
>
> Do we even know what Uni stands for? Bird-dog so close to bird-cat seems
> like a mistake, but I want both.

I'm assuming that year one was Legacy, year two is Legacy: Evolutions, and year three will be Legacy: Universe, but that's just a wild guess. (This will also be... counts on fingers... carry the two... the THIRD time they have used "Universe" as the name of a toy line, and the FOURTH time it's been used if you count the old Marvel Comics character profiles. They seriously just need to name a toy line Transformers: Robots and be done with it.)


Zob (honestly looking forward to the possibility of a new Rampage crab-tank without rubber treads)

[Gustavo Wombat]

Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
> On Friday, December 2, 2022 at 7:06:51 PM UTC-7, Gustavo Wombat, of the
> Seattle Wombats wrote:
>
>> I wonder if they will try to give that mold a toy deco, or whether this
>> will be what Grimlock would have looked like in a proper G2 cartoon.
>
> Ugh, I didn't think about that. I hope they don't go the super toyetic
> route and do tampographs that look like the G1 stickers, or give Slag red
> horns and give Swoop a red beak and talons, or any of that nonsense.
>
> I think there's at least a small possibility that Grimlock will have "BIG
> GRIM" painted on his shoulder and I think I might be okay with that.

Given that G2 was a toyline, not a cartoon, It would make more sense to go
the toyetic route. It’s why I would rather have had the PotP toys done in
G2 colors, as they got a lot of the feel of the toys right, if not the
details — the clear plastic with gold paint inside was genius, and the
surfaces were covered in rivets, etc.

But, I’m not really a fan of toys that are trying to reflect an overly
simplified drawing of older toys, so the new Dinobots don’t feel right to
me. Or Perceptor. Or the recent Masterpiece toys.

I think there’s a balance to be struck that has been off a bit. We don’t
want headless Ironhides or something like that either.

Ok, now I want a Headmaster Ironhide, where you can put the driver in the
chest in either robot mode or head mode. That would be perfect.