Newage Toys H-51 Hawk & H-52 ER (Legends Scale G1 Ironhide & Ratchet) Color Images

I've got a request for anyone who picks up Ironhide or Ratchet. I have NA SG Soundwave but I think it was more interesting when that version of the character was a van. I'd like to see if Soundwave's headsculpt can fit on Ratchet/Ironhide. If so, I may try my hand at customizing my own SG Soundwave as I find it unlikely that NA will release their own in this mold.

View attachment 29805937

Teletran-1

ShowZ has shipped out my Ratchet so I guess their finally in stock

My Ratchet shipped too.  

Read your message and I went on their site to check the status. Didn’t receive an email though. Nothing in the junk box either. Glad they are back from CNY break. Thought they’d be out at least one more week.

DickDastardly00

  Ok I understand the misunderstanding. You mentioned that you liked the real-life altmodes in the first post so I'm assuming you didn't like BB 2.0 since it's much more toon. Now I understand that you don't think it's very toon, but to me it is and very much too. I thought you would prefer something like the old Masterepiece MP-21 which is much more like the original Beetle than the 2.0 Takara or Newage which are very chibi/toon  

View attachment 29799877

for me BB v1 and more so BB v2 is more chiba than say toon accurate. where i think chiba retains a lot of details/style/lines of real world, but distorts the proportions to make it more short and or squat. toon accurate is more devoid of details, lines and are very generic geometric shapes/panels, which i don't find BB v2 as. i would say the alts for the their constructicons are more toon'ed.  

DickDastardly00

You disagree with what?   Where did I ever write that BB 2.0 is worse than 1.0? I love 2.0, for that I hope they remade some old ones like Datsun

i'm confused, you said they took that direction with BB 2.0. what direction are you referring to if not going more overly simplified toon alt in your initial reply to me?

i do not find that BB 2.0 is overly toon simplified, and i think it's sculpt and styling fits fine with the old jazz, datsuns, van bros, as well as mirage alts.

fatfaso

Man, I was just thinking that NA could have another hit on their hands if they beat everyone else to market with the triple changers.

I get what you mean, but Iron Factory Blitzwing came out six years ago and Unique Toys Horrorcons four years ago.

Just transformed mine. I really like him. It’s hard to get upset at a figure’s shortcomings in this scale. The bloated forearms and the giant hinge through the middle of his shin and knee are maybe my biggest gripes but they kinda fade away in-hand with him being so small. I think a slightly better head sculpt or alternate faces would have helped a lot.

I think the sled accessory would have worked better if it doubled as a topper in alt-mode to cover all those panels and hinges on the roof. Might have helped make the van look a little less boxy as well.

I thought the windshield was gonna bug me but I love how it works and looks in-hand.

Paint, materials and construction are top notch as always with newage.

View attachment 29799425

Ryan F

Haven’t they always been a bit hit and miss, though? Neither of their Bumblebees gets the proper beetle proportions right, and their seeker mould has the wrong-shaped wings. NA Megatron is far more toon than a real Walther. To me, it’s not that NewAge have suddenly changed tack – sometimes their alt modes are realistic and sometimes they aren’t. And that’s pretty much been the case from their very first release.

yes, there of course have been better alts on some releases than on others. i'm not expecting perfect real world replicas. there will always need to be some compromises to make the transformation to bot mode. but they still seemed to have given a shiate about making them look like what they were supposed to look like, at least compared to MS they appeared to care more. but yes it seems more inconsistent lately. i was pleasantly surprised that MS put more real world details on their constructicon set versus what NA did. if it wasn't for the fact MS devy towers over their menasor, it would have been my main devy vesus having gotten NA for that, which matches better with MS menasor and Zeta superion. i think NA devy is the first release that i have major disappointment with it in lacking the real world touch in details for individual alts.

both NA BB versions look unmistakably like a VW beetle, more so than MS. the seekers though missing the wing flaps still look great as jets they are supposed to represent. sucks to make the extra purchase(s), but you can add the flaps on if you really need to fix that.

DickDastardly00

They took this direction from Bumblebee 2.0. I think it's a little late to realize that. They will probably also do a 2.0 revision of Jazz and the Datsun as they are completely out of scale and different from the rest of the collection

i have to disagree with that. BB v2 alt looks great, and i like it better than v1. it may have been a scale reset, but it was still a great alt for me, albeit they made it chiba, which i didn't mind personally in this case given how small they made it.

also i don't think NA will do a reset on the remaining earlier carbots given they released mirage at that exact same scale to match them.

anyway, back on topic. think i'm gonna pick up v2 ironhide to check out first hand. really doubt i'll go all in and replace the three v1 vans i got, but i do like the improved bot mode enough to try and give this a chance. it would have been ratchet since it came out first, but i dislike that extra pearl coat finish the added unevenly to it, as well as missing the jetpack accessory.

DickDastardly00

They took this direction from Bumblebee 2.0. I think it's a little late to realize that. They will probably also do a 2.0 revision of Jazz and the Datsun as they are completely out of scale and different from the rest of the collection

Jazz and Datsuns match MP scale and the “holy” scale chart when next to Prime. Also they did Mirage not that long ago and his scale is the same. I think their scale is fine. If they ever did them again I don’t think they’d change their scale.

TIKnTIN

but that's the problem, this WASN'T NA's design philosophy standpoint. all their previous carbots were more real world accurate versus being "toon" accurate. i bought into collectiong NA three years ago because of that when i saw jazz, the datsun bros, and van bros alts that looked like mini replicas of MP scale real world style alts.

if they've now decided to go more "toon" with real world vehicle alts, then that's a direction i don't want them to go.  

Haven’t they always been a bit hit and miss, though? Neither of their Bumblebees gets the proper beetle proportions right, and their seeker mould has the wrong-shaped wings. NA Megatron is far more toon than a real Walther. To me, it’s not that NewAge have suddenly changed tack – sometimes their alt modes are realistic and sometimes they aren’t. And that’s pretty much been the case from their very first release.

LeoJ

Yeah I would’ve loved accurate VW beetles and I’m hoping for accurate mig-25 if they ever make blitzwing

Man, I was just thinking that NA could have another hit on their hands if they beat everyone else to market with the triple changers. The latest MP
of Blitzwing looks damn good (the MiG isn’t perfect, but it’s not horrible like the mainline version… completely acceptable… but I’ve seen an older MP version where they prioritized the plane alt mode and it shows).