Sea won the alt mode type round of Hasbro’s Activate Your Alt Mode vote, and creature leads the final poll, so the crew is calling it for Sharkwave. A report out of Fan Expo says there is no PulseCon this year and possibly no 10/27 event. Postal services in Japan and other countries have stopped most parcels to the U.S., just as Takara Tomy reveals the gorgeous Wild King World Dragnus and Missing Link Ultra Magnus. Dramatic Capture Decepticons Part 2, Lio Convoy, the Target Age of the Primes four-pack and Transformers perfume round out the news. In What We Got This Week, Don scores a Lego Bumblebee for $57 and Brian stocks up on lifted-bubble Technobots and Stunticons.

News

Activate Your Alt Mode: Sea Wins, Creature Leads the Final Vote

Sea won the alt mode type round of Activate Your Alt Mode, so Shockwave will be a speedboat, submarine, sea creature or hoverboat. When Brian wrote the show notes, creature led the Instagram poll at 60%, with submarine at 33%. Hovercraft and speedboat trailed at 4% and 3%. One host suspects many submarine votes are upside-down gun jokes. The crew expects Sharkwave, and everyone is down for it. [Source: TFW2005]

Walmart’s New Collector Island Fixture

Brian got a Hasbro press release about the new island fixture at Walmart and finally saw one in person. The Mattel side was full, while the Hasbro side had a few pegs spread out to look stocked. One host has not seen the display anywhere around Philadelphia. At one he saw in Kansas City, the figures meant for the display sat in the aisle instead. Other hosts found the island freed shelf space, and one Walmart got Leader Class figures back in stock for the first time in years. The display even talked one host into a second Scrapper and Bonecrusher. [Source: not found]

Rumor: No PulseCon 2025, and Possibly No Hasbro 10/27

A report out of Fan Expo says there will be no PulseCon this year, and possibly no 10/27 event. The crew traced it to a LinkedIn post from Kevin Shea, who handled Hasbro’s streaming content and was let go in August. Hasbro now seems to have no dedicated streaming staff. The crew expects the focus to shift back to San Diego Comic-Con, New York Comic Con and Toy Fair. One host figures HasLab presentations will become simpler recorded videos. Another worries fans are losing the transparency Hasbro offered in recent years. [Source: TFW2005]

Global Postal Services Suspend Most Package Shipments to the U.S.

Postal services in Japan and several European countries are suspending most package acceptance for mail to the U.S. The cause is the end of the de minimis exemption and the new tariff rules. Brian has multiple Amazon Japan preorders and a Mandarake order now in limbo. Letters and personal gifts under $100 still go through, but business shipments do not. One host said the postal services cite missing logistics or unclear compliance guidance. [Source: Yahoo News]

Transformers Wild King WKEX-01 World Dragnus Official Images

Takara Tomy revealed a new large Wild King toy, WKEX-01 World Dragnus, and it was Brian’s favorite news of the week. The design channels Car Robots Gigatron. Its energy beast parts let you rebuild it into more outlandish forms. The crew loves it, and even hosts lukewarm on Wild King find it tempting. The crew is already eager for a recolor, perhaps in Galvatron purple. It hits Japan at the end of October, just as shipping from Japan has become a problem. [Source: TFW2005]

Dramatic Capture Decepticons Part 2: Skywarp and the Insecticons

Takara Tomy teased Dramatic Capture Decepticons Part 2 with Skywarp and the Insecticons. One host loves the Insecticons, including Bombshell’s new gray chest and Kickback’s opaque wings. One host would be tempted if Bombshell finally matched. Since Hasbro supplies Dramatic Capture to the U.S., the crew expects better access than with Wild King. It suits fans sticking with Earthrise Seekers who missed the hard-to-find Skywarp. That sparked a debate over whether the 2006 Classics Seeker mold still earns shelf space. [Source: TFW2005]

Takara Tomy Missing Link Ultra Magnus Promotional Image

Missing Link Ultra Magnus arrived to the surprise of no one, and one host calls it his everything. Another plans to buy it and the inevitable Powered Convoy, possibly two of each. The promo image crops the legs, but it shows outward hip movement and shoulder articulation. Someone from Unicron.com noted the cab robot’s legs seem to sit inside the armor’s legs. The crew spotted a possible chest hinge for storing the Matrix. One host believes the jet will detach, as in the Legends comics preview. Everyone expects the box art pose, and anything beyond that is a gift. [Source: TFW2005]

e-Hobby G2 Faction Logo Acrylic Standee

Chris says e-Hobby finally made an acrylic standee worth buying. It shows the G2 Autobot logo on one side and the G2 Decepticon logo on the other. e-Hobby only sells in Japan, so it needs a middleman, and it retails for about 3,800 yen. Chris wishes it were two standees so both logos could show at once. He is not buying one either way. [Source: Snakas Blog]

40th Anniversary Selection Lio Convoy In-Hand Images

In-hand photos show the 40th Anniversary Selection Lio Convoy did finally ship. It was due back in February, then went back for assembly fixes. An Australian store even canceled preorders, fueling cancellation rumors. One host says the cartoon-accurate lion mode is goofy, but the side-by-side shows the Hasbro original was goofy too. The crew rates the Robot Masters version as the best Lio Convoy toy. One host has it preordered and will keep it in robot mode. [Source: TFW2005]

Age of the Primes Target Four-Pack In-Hand Images

In-hand images surfaced of the Target Age of the Primes four-pack, which should ship in about a month. The big takeaway: Horri-Bull’s horns come on a blue sprue spray-painted purple, leaving blue dots where they attach. One host explained a separate purple sprue would have cost tens of thousands of dollars. Most of the crew will never notice once the horns are on. [Source: TFW2005]

Transformers Cereal and Fruit Pouches at Dollar Tree

Transformers-branded fruit pouches and chocolate cereal turned up at Dollar Tree. The cereal looks like chocolate frosted flakes, and the pouches look like applesauce. The crew figures Brian would snack on the cereal, while one host wants nothing to do with the pouches. [Source: TFW2005]

Licensed G1 Transformers Perfume From Fairy Tail

Fairy Tail will sell several Transformers-inspired fragrances, but only in Japan. The crew guessed a Transformer smells like burning ozone, or a cardboard baler’s hydraulic fluid. One host joked the Matrix of Leadership is actually a diffuser. One host thinks the Megatron and Optimus Prime art comes from Masterpiece design control art, while the splash art remains a mystery. [Source: TFW2005]

Missing Link Ultra Magnus Prototype Appears With Powered Buggy

Midway through What We Got This Week, John brought in convention photos from Japan. A gray Missing Link Ultra Magnus prototype has the Powered Buggy, which originally came with Powered Convoy. It clearly has two distinct legs. One host spotted part lines that suggest a knee hinge of 30 to 45 degrees at most. The crew still expects the box art pose and little more. The photos also showed Missing Link Nemesis Prime and Masterpiece Rattrap, which look great. [Source: TFW2005]

What We Got This Week

Diecast

Following Don’s lead, Diecast got the ReAction Devastator in Diaclone colors for his wall. Amazon shipped it in a bag twice, so the replacement also has some plastic damage. He also grabbed the Studio Series KSI Widow concept art deluxe from Amazon after Hasbro Pulse kept canceling his orders. Last, he paid $5 on Facebook Marketplace for the Hot Wheels Optimus Prime cab.

Don

Don’s Big Bad Toy Store box brought Transformers One Elita-1 and the DNA Design Volcanicus upgrade kit for Legends. He also got X-Transbots Ballistic, a Misfire homage and only the second third-party Masterpiece-scale Targetmaster. Ballistic does the Japanese Targetmaster function, but the handheld mode lacks a matching tab. Last, some Donanomics turned a Target clearance Lego Bumblebee into a $57 buy, with every bag present.

John

John got nothing new but started assembling his Gigastorm kit with about $45 of Toyhax stickers. Toyhax packs the sheets so tightly that the stickers face every direction. He is doing about one sheet a night.

Matt

Matt had nothing in Transformers this week.

Rob

A forgotten Hasbro Pulse preorder left Rob with a second Rathalos Prime, which he is passing along. He also bought Soulless Prime from Amazon. He likes the robot mode but says the truck mode is half a truck with legs doing yoga, and not worth the trip. Grant, aka Hellcat86 from the Discord, sent him the Studio Series Devastator convention poster.

Brian

Brian found the Hot Wheels Color Shifters 1980 Corvette Tracks at Walmart. A Temu order before the de minimis change brought bootleg Transformers stickers and a knockoff Optimus Prime pen that writes better than expected. From Mandarake came a boxed green Universal Dominator Unicron, since he tossed the box from his first one. From Transformerland, he got lifted-bubble Technobots Lightspeed, Afterburner, Strafe and Nosecone, mostly unpunched. A second site supplied lifted-bubble Stunticons Breakdown, Dragstrip, Dead End, Wildrider and Motormaster, the last with a $12.99 Woolworths sticker. Finally, a Classics Wheeljack from Greece got a repro bubble attached with a dot of hot glue.

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