September Transformers Round Up

Fair warning, this one is short which is why it is a tad late. I was making sure that I didn't miss anything on accident since there was so few on my list. Summer had me running all over trying to track down everything worth grabbing, but this round just didn't have the same pull. Nothing wrong with that, not every month needs to be a frenzy, but it does mean I only have a few things worth talking about instead of a whole haul. Let's take the reprieve as a break for the wallet until we get slammed again in the holiday season 😶‍🌫️

Blokees Wheels C04 Heart of the Ark Set of 12

I have a love hate thing with blind box toy lines and this one is no exception. The concept is genuinely fun, you're building little 1:64 scale versions of characters like Bumblebee, Soundwave, Jazz, Ratchet, and Astrotrain, snap together with no glue or paint needed, and there's something satisfying about building up a tiny fleet piece by piece. For the scale they're at, the articulation holds up better than I expected going in, these aren't just static shapes you glue to a shelf.

The blind box part is where it gets complicated though. You don't get to pick who you're building, which is the whole gimmick, but it also means completing a full set with the specials means either buying multiples and praying or trading with other collectors online. I get why it works as a business model, gacha mechanics are effective for a reason, but it does turn what should be a fun little build into something that can nickel and dime you if you let it.

Transformers Collaborative Hot Wheels x Transformers Deluxe Class El Segundo Coupe

This is a cute idea on paper, two toy brands a lot of us grew up loving smashed together into one figure. The conversion is a full 17 steps for a Deluxe Class figure, which is more involved than I expected for something that reads as a novelty crossover piece, and the racing stripes with the number 68 in car mode are a nice touch for anyone who likes their Transformers with a little motorsport flavor.

Where it falls flat for me is that El Segundo Coupe isn't an actual car people have nostalgia for, it's a made up Hot Wheels design, so the whole thing leans entirely on the crossover novelty rather than any real connection to either brand's history. I'm not the only one who feels lukewarm on it either, I've already seen this one marked down hard at some retailers not long after release, which tells me the hype didn't match the price point. The robot mode is fine, nothing offensive about it, it just doesn't give me a reason to reach for it over an actual Transformers release.

Blokees Transformers Model Kit Classic Class 21 Movie 3 Jet Wing Optimus Prime

This is the kind of Blokees release that makes me forgive the brand for all their blind box nonsense. It's 163 pieces, snap together with no glue or tools, and the end result actually looks like the Dark of the Moon version of Optimus with the full Battle of New York loadout, dual rotary cannons, missile launchers, and the deployable boost wings that made that whole flight sequence so over the top in the movie. The LED lighting in the eyes and chest is a genuinely nice touch for a kit at this price point, it's not something you'd expect outside of a much pricier collector figure.

My one real gripe is the battery situation. Changing the button cell means partially taking apart the torso, which feels like an odd design choice when it's the one part of the kit you'll actually need to open back up down the line. There's also an error in the instructions that swaps the labels on two of the wing pieces, so if you're building this and the wing pack looks off, that's not you misreading a step, that's the manual being wrong. Outside of those two hiccups, this is genuinely one of the better Classic Class kits Blokees has put out, and it doesn't carry any of the gacha baggage that comes with their blind box lines.

4th Party JCS-001C Starscream

Third party Starscreams are always a bit of a gamble and this one keeps that tradition alive. These figures live outside the official Hasbro and Takara ecosystem entirely, so you're buying through specialty shops and group buys instead of walking into a store and grabbing one off a peg, and that changes the whole experience. On the plus side, third party companies aren't bound by the same budget and safety constraints as the big names, so the engineering and sculpt detail on a figure like this one tends to punch above what you'd get from an officially licensed Starscream at a similar price.

The tradeoff is real though. No mass retail means no easy returns if something arrives with a loose joint or paint slop, which happens more often than I'd like with small batch production like this. You're also at the mercy of preorder windows that can stretch out for months before the thing actually ships, so patience is a requirement, not a suggestion. If you're the kind of collector who wants the sharpest possible version of a character and doesn't mind a little risk to get there, this scratches that itch. If you want the simplicity of official product with a box on a shelf at your local store, stick with Hasbro.

That's the whole list this time around. A quiet month, but not a bad one. Is these something you thought I missed or a different honorable mention? Let me know down below!