Hasbro designer Sam Smith continues treating us with his “From Screen To Toy” Instagram posts about Studio Series toys. Today it’s turn of the new Studio Series SS-88 Revenge of the Fallen Sideways.
A very nice update of the original ROTF Sideways toy with a more movie-accurate robot mode, even if we only saw a glimpse of it during his transformation.
As usual, tons of information, trivia, images and even turnaround videos of both modes! and you can also read all Sam’s comments and new development material after the jump and let us know your impressions on the 2005 Boards!
SS-88 TF2 Revenge of the Fallen Sideways
What a long-winded reveal, but as of today we can officially talk about Sideways! This was an awesome robot design that we sadly only saw a glimpse of as he transformed through a building before transforming back into a vehicle mode. Similar to Jolt though, a lot of work went Into this robot mode, so it was great to get the opportunity to revisit the character.
I won’t linger on the vehicle mode for long. Similar to Dino, we needed to work from a generic vehicle form. I tried to keep it in the vein of a similar European mid-engine supercar while making some deliberate deviations from the original design. Regardless making up cars is always a fun exercise. One thing that I didn’t realize prior to scanning for frames of the character from the film, was that the original movie car was two-toned with a black hood/roof, and silver pinstripes traveling over the center body. I always recall it being silver in the movie, but I guess I had never examined this opening scene closely enough.
Sideways was a lot of fun to develop. Kunihiro Takashi absolutely killed it with this figure and did an amazing job of adapting the film’s CAD to our proposed vehicle form. It’s a pretty rewarding transformation, with a pretty minimal backpack. The original character never wielded a weapon in the film, and we didn’t want to sacrifice that fantastic articulated hands to make them compatible with the 5mm port system. We ended up scanning through a bunch of the ROTF video game footage to settle on a multi-barrel rifle that his arm would transform into as it could be adapted with a sleeve over mount to the hand.
Deco-wise, similar to ROTF Sideswipe, I wanted to paint the panels of the car silver, and keep the robot parts darker gray. This also enabled us to get the two-tone effect out of the base color. The only downside was that the nylon hinges couldn’t be painted, making them more identifiable on the doors and the roof.
Caption too long. Continued in the comments below
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f-primusunicron
i still like the old tlk mold, and i still plan to get one at some point, but it was only a good mold, the new ss hotrod is PERFECT
troglodyteman217
i mean thats kinda true? it really isn't hiding the the arm kibble as that one is on full display and from the rotations i dont see a gap in there, just his back hanging off a bit but it looks very compact. the ankles are sadly skinny but a compromise like this is to be expected from a bay deluxe. he is still a generally very lanky bot just the arm kibble makes him look wider than he is. i see your points tho and certainly the original isnt a bad figure by any means
Max Tower
That is possed in a rather flattering angle – it hides the kibble on the arms and legs the thin ankles and the stocky legs- as well as the visible gap though his body – and the short and fat torso – the original at least looked lanky as it was based on Lockdown who is skinny too.
That said I don't much like the should kibble on the original – but I do like the colours and the skinny legs. I also like that the new one has a decent launcher.
I certainly don't dislike the new one – he just wouldn't have been on my personal top 20 of the things as yet unmade Movie things to prioritise is all.
I wouldn't mind a more elegantly propotioned Laserbeak sometime.
TF Hot Rod
But the trade off was accuracy and being a retool.
troglodyteman217
thats true but i am not surprised considering he was a lockdown with new arms
octobotimus
Huh… as bad as that tlk hotrod was, somehow has more paint on it…
troglodyteman217
i was like that saying to myself that they couldnt really make a good looking hot rod but goly what a glow up
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Max Tower
I pre Ordered The Fallen – as I can see me playing with that – as a rule Live Action Movie toys often tend to be overly complex and so not fun to play with that doesn't matter with The Fallen as his Transformation is just 'some sillyness'.
So considering I don't get much actual use out of most live Action Movie toys (Bayverse ones anyway) I think I will wait for a sale on these guys, and Sideways and Bee Movie Ironhide as well. After all both Sideswipe and Jolt both got cheap rather quickly.
I just have to remember to actually buy them at some point in the future – that said I might bite if Hasbro has another 40% off Pulse sale sometime too. But these days I prioritise what I know I will actually play with – that is why I don't prioritise Cyberverse – as the knackered articulation on them ruins their playability just as much being tiny and fiddly ruins Bayformers for me – I'd in all honesty buy a lot more of these thing with more enthusiasm as 17cm KO's as at least them the overly squashed in Transformations of something like a Bumblebee or Dino wouldn't be quite so much of finger biters to mess with.
They are fine for what they are – though Hot Rod isn't exactly "sleek" looking – he still has a face like a cartoon seal too.
To be honest I was perfectly fine with the deluxe's we already had.
TF Hot Rod
It seems they can.
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f-primusunicron
only will consider him if the doors have enough articulation to be moved to the sides of his body, i know the front panels can , but i want the DOORS, thats the only way he could get a bit less…"back kibble"
Nova Maximus
Hot Rod really does look like DX9's but smol.
Edwardmus Prime
Knew Crosshairs was too good to be true. Pretty clever how the reveal images hid the backpack. Sad truth is that it was inevitable. At least they kind of made it seem like part of his trenchcoat.
T-Hybrid
Man anyone who thinks these guys don't love what they do needs to read more of these. You can tell there's pride in everything they do.
Black Convoy
Crosshairs
Sam Smith – Hasbro ⚓️ on Instagram #Transformers #Autobots #Decepticons #Hasbro #Studioseries #generations #legacy #Takara #Tomy #robot #concept #studio #movie #toydesign #TheLastKnight #TLK #NEST #Crosshairs #generalmotors #chevy #chevorlet #gm #Corvette #Stingray #7thgen #Z06 #AOE #AgeofExtinction #TF4 #TF5"
SS-92 TF5 The Last Knight Crosshairs
“Love that guy. Goosebumps every time.”
Next up on the reveals today we debuted the all new Crosshairs! TF5 Crosshairs is based on a repurposed design from AOE that saw modifications to the vehicle mode. The licensed C7 Corvette Stingray saw minor body modifications to mimic some of the wider flared details of a Z06, while introducing a new spoiler, canards and an all new livery.
Talk about an impossible design, a lot of the new characters introduced in Age of Extinction didn’t take transformation into consideration when hiding car parts amongst the robot forms. To make matters worse, they introduced a figure wearing a trench coat, turning car parts into pliable clothing.
Yuki Hisashi had a hell of an undertaking in trying to bring this character to life, but I think he succeeded marvelously. This figure is a massive improvement from his premier edition release, and does a great job of modernizing the articulation, and introducing an articulated trench coat flaps to the front of the figure.
Crosshairs includes his iconic submachine guns which can be stowed in his door panels, along with his jetpack that can be found on the upper back. Unfortunately Crosshairs does have a rather sizable kibble on his back due to the entire vehicle form needing to disappear from the robot design.
What are your thoughts on this guy? Does he hit his mark, or miss the target?
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Black Convoy
via Sam Smith on Instagram
Sam Smith – Hasbro ⚓️ on Instagram
SS-93 TF5 The Last Knight Hot Rod
“Bonjour, cheri!”
I am thrilled to finally be able to share (and potentially unspoiled) Studio Series Hot Rod! This figured was an absolute blast to work on, so sit back and enjoy as I blush over this design.
Hot Rod gets a proper figure and vehicle representation by way of his primary vehicle mode for the film, a licensed 2017 Lamborghini Centenario. No repurposed parts, no alt heads, just a true to form figure with phenomenal transformation and articulation.
The Last Knight presented a number of fantastic robot designs, but they in most instances were absent of any of their vehicle counterparts pieces. In the minority, is Hot Rod. He maintains enough of the vehicle mode to make for an ultra compact transformation, with next to no kibble. I was fortunate enough to partner with Tomo Tatsumi on this item, who delivered on all of the complex curveballs that our RI design team, and vehicle licensor through at him.
The vehicle and a majority of the robot mode are clad in a gun metal metallic to help replicate the carbon fiber chassis of the Centenario, and is accented with an orange livery to match the robot panels. I was happy to be able to capture the DRL and tail lamps, along with active aero spoiler in the raised position as seen in the majority of the London chase scenes.
As I mentioned on the stream, this might be my favorite studio series character of the year, at least from the Bayverse. I really hope you all enjoy him as much as I do! What do you all think, will he be joining your collection?
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Turnaround video
Steampunk13
Same. Some positive news though, there is a possibility that they’ll make a core class figure for Frenzy that turns into something like a protoform gun for Barricade to wield. It was an idea presented to designer Sam Smith under one of his studio series posts. He seemed to like the concept, which was of course based on the DNA Designs upgrade kit version of the character.
TF Hot Rod
VW Bumblebee is in desperately needs of a update.
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Yeah you pretty much need a commander class price point to allow them to work. And even then I doubt that all modes will work.
Novaburnhilde
I'm still not quite over how Studio Series Barricade didn't come with a Frenzy.