Showing posts with label Twintwist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twintwist. Show all posts

Friday, January 7, 2022

The best Transformers of 2021

 Another dreadful year of higher up control. But let's recap this year of my favorite Kingdom, 86 Studio series, and whatever figures I opened up this year. This year was a little different due to the fact Kingdom consisted mainly of Beast wars figures (I'm not into BW), so to make a top 5 out of that category was going to be fairly slim and difficult. Same for the 86 line since I didn't get everyone. I do have a Sharkticon 86 review but he will have to settle for a 2022 post and possibly a re-edit "best of" post if the character warrants such a change. 


Transformers Kingdom

Inferno

The mold was made for him. Colors are vibrant. He looks good and plays well overall. An improvement over Grapple. 

86 Studio Series



Grimlock

Sweep

Grimlock is a 86 masterpiece done well plus Sweep whose lighter colors doesn't detract any value from the original Scourge figure. In fact, the wings are tightened and not loose as in comparison to Scourge. Despite being a repaint of Scourge, Sweep is still a pretty good figure. 

Legends and Netflix

Topspin and Twintwist

Octane


Megatron




Soundwave

I started to open up some of my figures late. Topspin and Twintwist were simply amazing figures. Lots of replay value for Octane thanks to the ghost Starscream gimmick. Megatron with his nicely painted scheme is a robust looking figure (thanks to Darkonen for supplying me this bad boy). Lastly, Soundwave, immaculate as always stands out in this category as the true last years release (my version is the Japanese NF released that year). 

Honorable mentions: Improved outlook







Sunstreaker who is arguably the blandest looking character in the ER line from 2020 had the most improved look thanks to the upgrades Nonnef supplied. Not to mention, he also supplied Smokescreen's shoulder canon stacks making the figure more G1 looking accurate. 


Thank you folks. 2021 turned out pretty well. Most of the figures were great. Don't get me wrong but these were the ones that stood out to me. Anyhow, thank you once again and I'll see you next time. 

Update: 5/5/22

Kingdom Rodimus Prime


Despite the fact I opened him up earlier this year, he was released back in 2021 so I'll give him that much. Although I feel he is overpriced due to his trailer, he is made with high quality plastic. Fun to play with overall. 






Friday, February 5, 2021

The Jumpstarters review! Transformers Takara Legends LG65 Twintwist w/ Spoil and LG66 Topspin w/ Peaceman.

 

Social distancing is not normal.

We Jumpstart a February review with the Jumpstarters. Let's get started!

Boxing contents





















This is their trade specs, boxing, and comic. The comic involves Katsu Don and Windblade. The Jumpstarters are from the post G2 era and are involved in Springers Wreckers whom was a dominant force in the comics. Anyhow, here is the link for the comic book explanations on how the Jumpstarters are now Headmasters and Targetmasters. 








I just want to get this out of the way that Topspin and Twintwist are remolds of one another, so for the most part the transformations are the same. If you can do one, you can pretty much transform the other. The only difference is physicality for some parts of both figures. TT is basically the ground unit while TS is airborne. TT has a few 5mm ports on his drill tank mode. It's easily visible on both sides. TS loses 2 of his ports simply because he has wings rather than TT's tank wheels. 

TT is fun to play with in this alt mode. I love the drills and how he rolls as a drill tank. The HM unit is painted like him and if you are familiar with HM, then you already know how this mode works and plays out. This is up to the user, but TT's knee flaps can be folded in or folded out. I prefer it folded in but once again user mileage may vary. TT has a waist swivel and joints are pretty tight. The blue colors are very nice looking on him. More on this later.

As for Spoil (aka Spoilsport), he was originally Sureshot's partner, but since the figure wasn't made, he was paired up with TT. He is G1 cartoon color accurate to his Japanese HM anime. Like most Targetmasters, he plays similar and has a waist swivel simply because it's part of his transformation. 

LG Topspin and Peaceman (Peacemaker)



































LG 66 Topspin once again is a remold of TT. He has wings rather than drills and tank wheels. He also sports a landing gear. I think his alt mode would benefit with a toy stand. His Targetmaster consists of a single canon rather than the usual duo blaster most figures come packaged with. He plays fairly similar to TT and his TG Peaceman (aka Peacemaker) the same to Spoil. Peaceman is paired with TS because Pointblank/Blanker's figure did not, and as of today, doesn't exist. 

 I love TS's robot mode possibly because I'm a big fan of the Jazz-like visors. He also looks pretty rad in this mode. The blue really stands out here as well. Totally digging the dark blue colors Takara chose which I believed from what I researched online that Takara selected these colors because it resonates with the original G1 toy release. When I looked at some of the G1 figures on Ebay, I realized there was a light and dark versions of them. I'm assuming that the Hasbro Titans return versions were based on the lighter color releases or IDW versions while Takara went with the original dark blue coloring of the original release toys. 

LG 66 Topspin also marked the end of the Legends numbered line. Due to the unification of Takara and Hasbro, any LG figures after that were simply exclusives and given the "Ex" title usually after. 

Also, I was on the fence of getting these guys since they didn't exist in the G1 cartoons though they were considered at one point. Their renders do exist right here.





From what I gathered online is that their mortal enemies are the Battlechargers. Jumpstarters vs Battlechargers. Sounds like a awesome tag team matchup!

I do prefer Takara's versions in comparison. These guys were also difficult to get at one point mainly the TR versions. I remember getting these guys at RobotKingdom and I think many fans just started going for the Takara route on these guys along with Misfire since they were difficult to get. They got tired of waiting and people who were able to obtain TT, TS, and Misfire tried selling the TR versions for nearly a premium. Fans figured why pay $ 40 to 60+  when I can get the Takara versions whom are usually G1 anime accurate for nearly the same price or even less because RK sold theirs roughly for $ 25-29 not factoring in shipping of course but still. 


The Duo together (HM switch and fan mode)









Credit goes to Oscar Fung for the duo fan mode. 


Conclusion

If you can get these guys for $30, I say go for them. That's how much I got them for each. Takara quality as well. They play well despite me not knowing their history much. Anyhow, the last of the Legends numbered lineup was done very nice. See you next time.