Yesterday was yet another Hasbro livestream on YouTube. The big focus was on the latest Robosen auto-transforming toy, this time a version of Megatron with a tank vehicle form but a G1-inspired robot mode (so, not too different conceptually from the Leader-class Combiner Wars toy we got some years ago). He's very impressive, and they brought in Frank Welker to record sound clips for the toy. Somebody really did their research and had him recite specific lines from the G1 cartoon, along with "Peace through tyrrany!" which has been a classic Megatron quote since 1984 but has never actually been uttered in Megatron's cartoon voice until now. Robosen Megatron is $900, just in case HasLab Unicron didn't give you sufficient sticker shock, so if you're able to blow almost a grand on this thing, then more power to you. Seriously, congratulations on having that much disposable income you can throw at a single plastic robot toy.

Other stuff revealed included an Optimus Prime toy from the upcoming Transformers One film, the Marvel Comics inspired redeco of Studio Series '86 Grimlock (which comes with three Dinobot swords), Studio Series '86 Swoop (who comes with the other two swords), concept art versions of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe from the Bumblebee movie (a bit late on the reveal, as these have already been in stores for weeks now), Shockwave from the Bumblebee movie (same deal), the new version of RiD Sideburn, another Rock Lord named Nucleous (apparently the fiction is that just as Shard is made of Death Crystals, Nucelous is made of Nucleon, which created the Action Masters), the updated Cybertron version of Hot Shot, and the new Vector Prime (heavily retooled from Legacy Jhiaxus). Not really a particularly exciting batch of toys, except for Grimlock and Swoop.

Toys not yet ready to showcase, but which were mentioned, include Core-class Steeljaw (has been rumored for a while, but I believe this is the first official confirmation of him). the War for Cybertron generic Decepticon trooper armybuilder, Bumblebee movie Skywarp, Leader-class Springer (confirmed to be a partial retool of the Siege toy but beefed up to be more movie accurate), a Studio Series '86 Deluxe-class Bumblebee (sounds like it might be an all-new mold), and Leader-class Straxus (will be part of the comic book toyline along with Grimlock and Shockwave). Straxus is especially exciting because I thought he had been cancelled (or delayed).

Zob (can't see the vehicle mode for Nucleous and not think of the Homermobile)

Will easily refrain from throwing my money at Megatron.

Will struggle harder to refrain from throwing my money at the Dinobots and Steeljaw.

Will absolutely throw my money at Springer.

Velvet Glove (I mean, you probably knew that, but I'm super happy to get this confirmation he's still coming)

VelvetGlove wrote:

> Will absolutely throw my money at Springer.

I'm glad you saw this! I was going to dig for one of the other threads where you were talking about maybe buying him, and now I don't have to.

I'm really wondering what they're actually going to do to the earlier toy, though. I guess it's possible that they will just take the original CAD file and scale it up slightly. That would result in some engineering issues (like the screw holes and pin holes suddenly being too big, which is obviously fixable) but the end result wouldn't be awful. And the Siege toy is arguably too small for the current scale system (according to Sunbow guides, Springer pretty much stands eye-to-eye with Ultra Magnus).

But, I wonder what they'll do instead is take the same toy and just throw in some value-added accessories and gimmicks. Like, maybe a dedicated sword that isn't just the folded-up helicopter blade (in the movie he's got a blade with an ornate golden crossguard) or maybe they'll modify the forearms to include the little pop-out blasters he uses during the beginning of the Autobot City battle. Regardless of what they do, I suspect he will have a different color scheme, with a stronger focus on being screen-accurate.

Zob (I mean, we're spending $50 on every other Triple Changer, so at this point why not...)

Zobovor wrote:
> I'm glad you saw this! I was going to dig for one of the other threads where you were talking about maybe buying him, and now I don't have to.

Aww, that's sweet! But don't worry... I knew livestreams were likely to be the first source of new information on this toy, so I'm keeping an eye out for these threads.

> I'm really wondering what they're actually going to do to the earlier toy, though. I guess it's possible that they will just take the original CAD file and scale it up slightly. That would result in some engineering issues (like the screw holes and pin holes suddenly being too big, which is obviously fixable) but the end result wouldn't be awful. And the Siege toy is arguably too small for the current scale system (according to Sunbow guides, Springer pretty much stands eye-to-eye with Ultra Magnus).

Yeah, I really want a toy that properly reflects his scale, but honestly, anything will be an improvement on the G1 Springer I have. He's *so* small in comparison with the Studio Series crew. I at least want a Springer who's taller than Hot Rod!

> But, I wonder what they'll do instead is take the same toy and just throw in some value-added accessories and gimmicks. Like, maybe a dedicated sword that isn't just the folded-up helicopter blade (in the movie he's got a blade with an ornate golden crossguard) or maybe they'll modify the forearms to include the little pop-out blasters he uses during the beginning of the Autobot City battle.

The forearm blasters sound like the sort of update they'd make, though perhaps as add-ons rather than literally popping out. But I'd rather we had the scale.

I'm also waiting with bated breath to see what the face will be like... The Siege toy actually isn't bad for a facial expression so I'll live without an update, but I kind of wish we could get a Springer with a smirk. I'm not holding out too much hope though, seeing as the Studio Series toys I have so far are... disappointing when it comes to facial expressions. Hot Rod's probably the best one and that's very generic. Perceptor looks dead, Arcee stoned, and Kup hungover.

Velvet Glove (Yeah, Hasbro, you gave us poseability, screen accuracy, increasingly sophisticated transformations... and now I'm complaining about those teeny tiny facial features.)

VelvetGlove wrote:

> Yeah, I really want a toy that properly reflects his scale, but honestly, anything will be an improvement on the G1 Springer I have. He's *so* small in comparison with the Studio Series crew.

Oh, the G1 Springer toy is preposterously small. It's almost comical.

So now I'm seeing details on Twitter from people who are supposedly in the know. Springer is going to get a new head, chest, shoulders, thighs, and opening hands. He'll be equipped with a new blaster, two new swords, a new hammer (?!), and he'll come with an artillery shell. Because he's got better things to do tonight than die, you know.

I'm not sure if all those goodies will effectively raise his value from being a $30 toy to being a $50 toy, but this is apparently the plan.

So, the good news is that I expect a *lot* of people will be selling off their Siege versions of Springer in anticipation for the new Leader-class version, so he should be quite plentiful on the secondary market. The Voyager-class release is honestly a pretty good toy already, and I honestly wonder if all these modifications will significantly improve it.

I mean, they tried this once before, selling the Earthrise Starscream at a much higher price point, but he came with a throne and a cape and some minor modifications to the toy like articulated fingers, but he languished at retail and could be found all over Amazon and discount stores at dirt cheap prices. And that's STARSCREAM, perhaps the third-most popular Transformers character ever, behind Optimus and Megatron. Springer is a fine lad, but he doesn't quite rank as high in the popularity ratings, which I think means he has even greater potential to become a poor-selling shelfwarmer. I mean, if even Starscream couldn't hack it...

Zob (I am now convinced that my days off are many, many hours shorter than my days at work, no matter what logic and science may claim)