Voyager Long Haul mini-view

[onslaught86]

It's funny, when I saw him at Botcon I thought "chunky" as well, but in person he's very well balanced, he's got a bruiser's torso but his arms and legs are more "powerful" than "HUGE AND CHUNKY". He's a good balance. As for being "normal", he might be called that, but not for this line, which has been an utter disaster of sub-par designs with a mere smattering of good, and this figure is good. Boring? no. Good detail and articulation, no ridiculous design philosophy or gimmick getting in the way anywhere.

Bit of an aside here.

I think a lot of my problems with TF of late has been that, simply put, I look for things in my toys that the Transformers franchise is not necessarily geared to deliver. I focus on Transformers over other action figures for a number of reasons, and a big one is that they're made to be moved. Given transformation is their primary gimmick, their joints have to support that kind of play, which means they're good to mess with solidly without fear of damage. It's the tactile, interesting transformations that keep me buying them, as well as my desire to collect. Half the time I fear that upon transforming a toy I've paid HUGE dollars for (They are stupidly expensive here. Not continental Europe levels, but pretty fucking awful. Human Alliance figures are $50US each. I will buy none at that price), I'll lose interest. I know how it works, so it has no more appeal for me. I can look at it, instantly recall my mind-map of its transformation, and then have no desire to lift it off of its shelf.

I have 2000+ TFs now, and recently I find more and more of them are just sitting there, taking up space. It's a damned shame, but I've just spent two years avidly awaiting a movie that was so many shades of fucking awful that it's kicked my dearest hobby in the pants. Michael Bay makes 8% off of the wholesale price of every piece of ROTF merchandise, according to an interview I've read, and I need a toy that's not just 'as good as other toys' to make me buy it and continue to enjoy it.

Sure, Long Haul's a solid toy with nothing fundamentally wrong with it, but he doesn't look very interesting. What's he got that my other 2000 toys don't?
That's largely what I mean by 'boring'.

As many of you know, I'm also a huge sucker, and often I just desire a new transformation to figure out, so I cave and buy whatever's on the shelf. Chalk it down to a childhood-rooted sense of reward in getting something new if you will, I lived very remotely and was excited by trips to the supermarket, surrounding myself with small pleasurable changes pleases me. So yeah, I'll probably buy Long Haul, and maybe he will be awesome and I'll eat my words as I often do. But maybe in another year he'll be at the bottom of some box and I'll wish I had the money I paid for him back - But I couldn't sell him, I'd just have to buy him again in the *snerk snerk* long haul anyway.

Just starting to question my desire for some things..

[JediTricks]

No, not *Sideways'* hands, sideways hands. Hands that are sideways, not the hands Of Sideways. They're sideways because of the elbow joint--if you raise the elbow as one would on a regular proper TF, the hands will always be pointing up and the only pose you can do that way is a kind of "Come on!" pose. It's not a problem I tend to be annoyed with, but 86 haaaates it.

Oh, that makes more sense. I do notice the issue with Long Haul, but since he looks cool with his elbows pointed in rather than forward, he has a normal hand in that position, and really, that's how we humans have our arms most of the time. Still, wrist rotation would have gone a long way.

Bit of an aside here.

I think a lot of my problems with TF of late has been that, simply put, I look for things in my toys that the Transformers franchise is not necessarily geared to deliver. I focus on Transformers over other action figures for a number of reasons, and a big one is that they're made to be moved. Given transformation is their primary gimmick, their joints have to support that kind of play, which means they're good to mess with solidly without fear of damage. It's the tactile, interesting transformations that keep me buying them, as well as my desire to collect. Half the time I fear that upon transforming a toy I've paid HUGE dollars for (They are stupidly expensive here. Not continental Europe levels, but pretty fucking awful. Human Alliance figures are $50US each. I will buy none at that price), I'll lose interest. I know how it works, so it has no more appeal for me. I can look at it, instantly recall my mind-map of its transformation, and then have no desire to lift it off of its shelf.

I am not concerned that Long Haul will break, he seems solid even if his hip joints are a little loose, he's got enough jointing that he could still be stood up. His transformation is interesting in that it has a flow about it from the movie, arms coming out first, then the front folding around the thighs, then the legs and waist unfurling from their compact mode. It's not even remotely the most complex, but it's not simplistic either. Not everything can be a weirdy, not everything can be unique simply for the sake of being unique - look at movie 2 LC Optimus, you hate that figure.

I have 2000+ TFs now, and recently I find more and more of them are just sitting there, taking up space. It's a damned shame, but I've just spent two years avidly awaiting a movie that was so many shades of fucking awful that it's kicked my dearest hobby in the pants. Michael Bay makes 8% off of the wholesale price of every piece of ROTF merchandise, according to an interview I've read, and I need a toy that's not just 'as good as other toys' to make me buy it and continue to enjoy it.

Ugh, I hope Bay doesn't make 8% off these, that'd be terrible.

But Long Haul is a good figure all around, and he stands out for being such in a line of a lot of shitty designs.

Sure, Long Haul's a solid toy with nothing fundamentally wrong with it, but he doesn't look very interesting. What's he got that my other 2000 toys don't?
That's largely what I mean by 'boring'.

That's for you to figure out, but when you're stuck in a few years with shit like Wheelie and Breakway and Demolishor wondering why you have 2,000+ toys sitting on a shelf and you don't enjoy the new stuff after their weird-factor wears off, this is why, you go for the fringe stuff and avoid the few really snazzy figures. You look for short-term stimulation rather than long-term needs. Long Haul is a figure that can menace any Autobot, he's big and tough and armored. From this line, I can single out a very small number of figures as being worth it, and he's on that list:
- Sideways
- Sideswipe
- Depth Charge
- Ransack
- Long Haul

(I'm not yet convinced on Dune Runner)

[Onslaught Six]

Hey, what's wrong with Wheelie? I fiddled with my friend's on several occasions.

[donosaur]

Dune Runner's quite good, but I wish I had gotten the movieverse Strongarm and Hardtop, then I could have a dune buggy team.

[BWprowl]

Dune Runner's quite good, but I wish I had gotten the movieverse Strongarm and Hardtop, then I could have a dune buggy team.

Actually, the Movie 1 Deluxe Dune Buggy was Landmine. Strongarm was his casemate, the SUV.

Incidentally, one reason I got Dune Runner was so he could hang out with my Landmine and Hardtop. Does so quite well (and Hardtop's lack of faction symbol makes it easy to ignore that he's a Decepticon in this situation).

I'm with O6, JT, what's so bad about Wheelie? I'm incredibly fond of him, he's nicely expressive with a lot of personality. And his transformation is a feat of engineering. Probably the most impressive display of Movie Toy Size-Changing Syndrome.

[Shockwave]

Yeah, Long Haul is just a solid figure all the way around (and the hip joints are still tight on mine, so that might be a copy specific thing). Also on the good list should be Dirt Boss. I know I said I didn't collect ones that weren't in the movie but obviously I got passed that. And I'm glad too cause Dirt Boss is small, cheap and fun. Another thing I like about Wheelie is that he has two ways his feet can transform. Makes for added play value.

[onslaught86]

I am not concerned that Long Haul will break, he seems solid even if his hip joints are a little loose, he's got enough jointing that he could still be stood up. His transformation is interesting in that it has a flow about it from the movie, arms coming out first, then the front folding around the thighs, then the legs and waist unfurling from their compact mode. It's not even remotely the most complex, but it's not simplistic either. Not everything can be a weirdy, not everything can be unique simply for the sake of being unique - look at movie 2 LC Optimus, you hate that figure.

I'm not specifically concerned about breakage on Long Haul, was just musing about why I like TFs more than other toys - their tactile nature et cetera.

I don't expect everything to be weird or unique, but averagely good isn't going to encourage me to pick it up off the shelf amidst a sea of other equally good toys.

Yeah, I pulled the swords out of my Prime and like him a bit more now. He's not weird or unique, and doesn't really try for it. He shot for excellent and ended up shooting himself in the foot thanks to nasty plastic/colour/paint choices, and poorly thought-out engineering tolerances. Clever, yes, fun, less so.

Ugh, I hope Bay doesn't make 8% off these, that'd be terrible.

But Long Haul is a good figure all around, and he stands out for being such in a line of a lot of shitty designs.

I read an interview with Bay comparing his take to Lucas's, who apparently makes a tidy 15% from Star Wars merch. Yikes.

Like I said, I'll probably end up getting Long Haul on sale or some such, he's just not a toy that grabs my attention at all. No interesting gimmicks, no "How do they do that?" to make me want to hunt for him. Plus, he's casemates with Stratosphere, who I've already had a good fiddle with. Strato is very very cool, a suitably 'big' toy with a bonus minifig that lets you re-enact an action scene, it's still a great purchase despite odd colours and the removed accessory, a pleasant surprise.

Actually, the Movie 1 Deluxe Dune Buggy was Landmine. Strongarm was his casemate, the SUV.

No no, he's talking about the Cybertron Hardtop and Strongarm redecos. SUV was Stockade, and Stockade is worlds of awesome.

[BWprowl]

Like I said, I'll probably end up getting Long Haul on sale or some such, he's just not a toy that grabs my attention at all. No interesting gimmicks, no "How do they do that?" to make me want to hunt for him. Plus, he's casemates with Stratosphere, who I've already had a good fiddle with. Strato is very very cool, a suitably 'big' toy with a bonus minifig that lets you re-enact an action scene, it's still a great purchase despite odd colours and the removed accessory, a pleasant surprise.

Stratosphere had an accessory removed? What was it? Good to hear he's good though, I've been eyeing him.

No no, he's talking about the Cybertron Hardtop and Strongarm redecos. SUV was Stockade, and Stockade is worlds of awesome.

God dammit, you're right, how did I miss that? I think I just brain-farted out because Strongarm is an equally appropriate name for the character. You're right though, Stockade is awesome. He can do finger quotes.

[Onslaught Six]

Stratosphere had an accessory removed? What was it? Good to hear he's good though, I've been eyeing him.

Early test shots and the like included a bigass space shuttle that attached to the top of his vehicle mode and also became a big gun. This is gone, but the hole for it is still conspicuously on top of his vehicle mode.

Early Stratosphere pics disappointed, a kind of what-the-hell-is-this vibe, and then later someone who actually had skills in posing toys took actual good pics and, somehow, he gave off this awesome retro 1960s super robot vibe--like Gigantor or Mazinger Z. Granted, he doesn't *look* like that at all, but something about him and his posing gave that out, and now I want him.

[onslaught86]

Yeah, there're pics of the shuttle at Tformers, I'll see if I can fetch the link. It was small and grey, the wings folded up, and it fired a blue flame missile from the back. Honestly looked a little lame, but the figure now lacks a gun.

Although he's meant to represent the plane that dropped Prime, he's a mishmash of several similar ones for licensing. Robot mode does have quite Super Roboty proportions, with really long legs and such, he's quite tall.