Star Wars The Black Series Episode III Anakin and Obi-Wan (20th anniversary) review

As we all know by this point, Revenge of the Sith is the best Star Wars movie, Battle of the Heroes is one of the most important events in the saga, and the time from when Prequel hate and Disney's ownership of the brand makes one miss the good times from Star Wars. And I'm hoping you the reader knows I previously reviewed versions of Anakin and Obi-Wan back in 2023 when I started collecting more Black Series figures. Those were the Archive versions with updated actor likenesses, which was a common practice with some later Hasbro figures. Obi-Wan was heavily discounted, though Anakin suffered from being harder to get a good deal for in the aftermarket. That being said, both figures suffered from articulation issues, so maybe these 2025 updates in time for the 20th anniversary can help collectors get better versions?

Here we have Anakin Skywalker in hand, with his wicked black and dark brown tunic that represents his eventual turn to the dark side as well as the eventual black attire of his son in Return of the Jedi. Many say that the proportions in Anakin look better than the original version, though the swag the shoulders point inwards while being obscured by the torso makes it hard to determine if he's petite or not. Same issue goes for Obi-Wan, though their tunics are made of softer PVC materials, which should make them easier to pose without the rigid limitations we had before. Not much deco beyond where it should be placed, like the boots, belt, and the right arm. Anakin's lightsaber hilt is thankfully painted accurately to the movie, though it may be a bit thicker yet still flexible (get your mind out of the gutter btw).

As for Obi-Wan, he shares the same proportions as Anakin, though not as tall and possibly not as more tuned in physique. I say that since Anakin was occasionally seen to be somewhat muscular from the times we saw him shirtless unlike his master. However, he appears to be sorely lacking in terms of deco, leaving his tunic and presumably pants and boots under detailed without a wash. As it stands, he looks more like a $10, which is something you don't want to see on a figure with an increasing price over the years. Sure, the belt and inner shirt are painted, but that shouldn't be it for his tunic. Also, while both lightsaber hilts on our boys are pegged in their belts, is it me or is Obi-Wan missing some silver on the space where the blade comes out? If it's not a defect, wtf is Hasbro doing???

Their head sculpts look generally good, though they could use some shading on their hair to add some needed depth and realism. If we're going to make their actor likenesses better, why not go all the way with the deco?

With their lightsabers deployed, their articulation consists of double ball peg necks, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, rotation and bends at the elbows, butterfly joints, ball jointed wrists, ball joints at the waist, ball jointed hips, rotation and hinges at the knees, and ankles that hinge as well as pivot.

For a comparison, here we have all the Anakins I have minus Vader since he is in the whole suit. I appreciate Hasbro didn't choose to simply retool the Ahsoka series version into the Episode 3 design apart from maybe the right arm and boots. Thankfully even the heads aren't the same, wince I always preferred the Episode 3 haircut more than his TCW look. Makes him feel more like a proud warrior. The original version of ROTS Anakin certainly looks dated with the neck and articulation, though maybe he has his shoulders up higher as they should be?

As for Obi-Wan, the original version felt like it had worse proportions than the newer version, even a seemingly smaller head. To it's credit, the colors look better on his clothes than what we got now. Even the texture work on the original is a bit more convincing. However, it sucks that the Episode 3 Mustafar set has more accessories for these two than what we get for retail. It would have been fine if we got the robes and alternate hands to make them a little more worthwhile for anyone who never got the scalped set, but as it stands, they are a bit lacking despite otherwise being good. I would recommend you get them if you love these two and the Prequels, but their single releases may be as hard to get as the 2-pack. Don't expect them to pop up in Ollie's like the usual Disney canon garbage.

 Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Anakin)

⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Obi-Wan)

Transformers Energon Megatron review

A year ago, I reviewed the Core Class version of Energon Megatron, which was the first step towards me getting a piece of that iconic design in figure form. It was made from a time when Hasbro used to have their G1 homages less common and back when there was no Evergreen crap everywhere. Some will say that the way of turning him into a Galvatron-esque design makes no sense if he is still named Megatron, but I suggest watching Superlink if you prefer he stays named Galvatron the whole time. Anyways, the original versions of the toys were ones I always wanted to get, but I could never get around to finding a good price for one until now. Let's see if Megatron's second design in the Unicron Trilogy is worth the hunt! 

Here we have Energon Megatron in his Cybertronic gunship mode. This thing is far too loaded with weapons and bulk to be any normal jet; the guns, mini guns, twin cannons, and giant turbines under the gull wings results in a very aggressive alt mode design. The nose of the altmode even look evil with that unibrow on top of the narrow cockpit. This thing also feels heavy, with some dense plastic and a mix of ratchets and spring loaded mechanisms that we'll talk about later in the review. To top it all off, he has rolling landing gear, a concept modern jetformers lack severely.

The Hyper Mode can be accessed by plonking the tank on top of four Minicon ports on his back and moving the upper wing plates out to form an X-Wing shape. That extends the green inner wings and flips two additional cannons out. Nothing ground breaking but still a neat bonus.

Here is the Core Class version of the same character on top of the original. What a size difference inflation and production costs make, huh? 

His transformation revolves around Automorph Technology before it was promoted heavily in the 2007 movie. After detaching the wings, rotating him around, and hinging the cockpit back, the landing gear shins not only hinge forward to being the feet out all flat and in place, but the boosters become the knee pads automatically. Then straightening the legs brings the hands out from the forearms without sliding them out manually. The arms can then be pulled so the rest of the torso can jut out in place, allowing the head assembly to hinge back and face forward. The horns then have to point up to complete his crown. The robot mode may scream Galvatron, but it still rocks the look as Megatron regardless. I love that this wasn't just a slightly tweaked G1 Galvatron design like wit a lot of Evergreen characters, but he instead represents a reimagining with carried over elements as the trend was back in Energon. I love that he has the wings on his back as well as the redesigned shins and the twin shoulder cannons to make the design feel new, which is something I always appreciate versus making the G1 designs a little rounder for Evergreen and barely distinguishing them in media made since 2018. I also felt that the color scheme, though not exactly 1:1, could sort of homage the old toy's colors on G1 Megatron. I say that because the old figure was mostly grey rather than purple, though the figure here has blue and teal green placed throughout. Hell, you know how some fans bring up Energon Rodimus's head being homaged in the Classics version of G1 Hot Rod? I bet Classics Megatron had a similar homage with the wing kibble from this design.

His head sculpt is great, especially given the size class he was in and also being from the early days of CAD files being a thing for designing toys. Having the horns a separate color from the rest of his head, on top of having a nod to his Armada horns in the etched detailing, gives him the look of wearing a crown. His articulation consists of a neck swivel, and ratchets of varying degrees of softness or clickiness for the shoulders, elbows, forearm rotation, hips, and knees. The lack of wrist and waist rotation as well as ankle pivot is forgivable for a toy like this; the main point was to be a cool yet fun toy to play with, unlike the average kid-aimed toys Hasbro made since Age of Extinction all the way up to Cyberworld. The shoulder cannons can also hinge out of the way if you want to pose his arms without interfering with the wings; they also work as additional firepower.

Upon a closer look, the callbacks to his original Armada design increase with his tank drone, which is sculpted to look like a damaged and undead version of his original alt mode. You have a lot of the details carried over, though with some new ones representing the scars revealing inner mechanisms. It's not much of an H-tank anymore with the back piece in the way, but at least we have a new Minicon port.

It features lights and sounds in addition to a launching missile and a flip up targeting reticle. Unusually, he has rapid fire machine gun sounds that are not really appropriate for a tank, but they were partially reused for DOTM Leader Class Ironhide...a figure I once had but gave away years later since I felt let down by him.

It can clip onto his right arm as an unwieldy yet badass weapon, reminiscent of the average fusion cannon mounted on other Megatrons. This method uses no 5mm ports, so only he can wear it like this.

There is a reason why the back of his tank mode has an unusual port as well as why there is a blue button on the back...

...and it reveals a sword blade! It is sculpted after the one he hand-wielded in the cartoon, but this still works given his gimmick does still work decently accurate, even if in concept than execution.

The blade being colorless allows it to light up, though the slash sound effects are more appropriate. This is all done by flicking the blade lightly whenever it presses on something.

As far as repaints are concerned, we got the usual Galvatron recolor, this time in stronger G1 goodness. I would have loved getting this version, especially since these colors are even better than the original. I nearly thought of buying one at TFCon 2025 Chicago, but I decided to instead buy new molds I don't have yet instead of repaints of figures I already own (with one exception because he isn't a true TF toy but instead Blokees). Someday, I will buy him.

There was a canceled repaint meant for Target stores depicting him in a weird half-stealth, half-neon color scheme that is both absurd for Megatron yet weirdly awesome at the same time. It has the same energy as the Universe 2003 repaints, but it would have included Smallest Transforming Transformers Soundwave (yet not Megatron for some reason beyond him being a gun). By the way, did you know that the original version of the Megatron mold was originally sold at Walmart stores before getting a wide-retail release later in the Energon run?

This is not the only version of Megatron we got, as the Takara Superlink toyline had it's own version of the character, only smaller and in more vibrant colors and with a Voyager/Ultra Class scale than the Leader-sized approach of the Hasbro release. His sword is also green to match the cannons and wings instead of clear parts. This later got a US release in a 2-pack with a Deluxe Energon Optimus Prime. I hope to get that set to share some more Energon love. Takara did get the Leader version as Galvatron, but as a USA Edition sold in Toys R Us.

For a size comparison, here we have him along with his prior and subsequent designs! Armada is the Legacy Evolution version yet is scaled similarly to his original version. If I had the Takara version, he should scale better with Armada about as well as he once did with the original. Obviously, Cybertron remains taller than both.

And here we have him with the Core Class figure as we reach the conclusion! This is one of the best Transformers toys to come out of Energon, and not because of the Galvatron design homage. With how over-saturated G1 rep has been in recent years, going back to a time when these tributes felt special. But even setting that aside, he is one of the best balances of fun play factor and awesome to pose and display. Sure, Cybertron was the most refined of the Unicron Trilogy and Armada had the Minicon gimmicks despite being after the more detailed and articulated RID2001, but Energon had something going for it. Even if the show sucked and the toys were hit or miss, they still have more going for them than a lot of mainline stuff we got of late. I know apologists will say "but Earthspark and Cyberworld are for kids!!!", and I refuse with showcasing TF toys we got in the 2000s and even in the 90s being better at making that fun balance than the penny pinching excuses of Sparkworld. That being said, getting Megatron complete will be pricey, owing to the sought after nature of this toy and many of the Unicron Trilogy figures. Even something as poorly received as Energon has some nostalgic factor put into it, so good luck getting this figure at a good price, including landing gear, cannons, and his accessories.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Transformers Age of the Primes Onyx Prime review

Not all Prime's are land or aerial vehicles; Onyx Prime represents one of the more unique characters to represent the original Thirteen. Not only does he have a beast mode, but he can also tap into the minds of other beasts and even the afterlife. It's all these attributes that led to him being one of the most inspirational characters ever, even if some would see this as him being comparable to a motivational Facebook post. Regardless, I was curious to see how he would turn out given there is no way you could make any other figure work like Onyx Prime, not even Predaking! Let's see how he turned out for today's review!

Here we have Onyx Prime in his beast mode. It is a hippogriff of some kind, with a bit of dragon-like elements added. Though the color scheme may not be as colorful as other beasts like him, it is still fitting given his ancient history in addition to him not needing to be as flashy as TFP Predaking or Cybertron Scourge. The Beast mode generally.looks good, and I appreciate that the articulation from the robot mode is still accessible without making it too obvious that parts of him are barely different from what he'll be like in robot mode. I will say that the hands being unchanged and just open kind of sucks, but the rest of him is still cool. His articulation consists of a ball jointed head, jaw movement, front and back rotation as well as in and out movement for what will be the robot arms, rotation above what will be the forearms, and wrist rotation. His hind legs can move around on universal hip joints, thigh rotation, hinged knees if you want to extend them for posing, and some pivot. Like with many TFP Predacons, articulation between beast and bot mode is mostly the same. As a bonus, you gain even more articulation with the added legs meant for centaur mode, allowing for a 6-legged hippogriff. 

For an altmode size comparison, here he is alongside everyone else minus Star Convoy because he is huge. I like that we have a bit of variety with alt modes, sizes, and aesthetics between these characters, and in addition to seeing Amalgamous and Quintus, I hope this continues with Liege Maximo, Nexus Prime, and Vector Prime.

The midway transformation grants us his centaur mode, which involves hinging the upper body back on a specific abdominal joint after straightening the front legs shaped after a horse. The tail splits in half to become part of a crossbow that he can hold decently firmly without a 5mm peg. That and the staff doubles as an arrow. This mode also grants us a mask on his face, giving him an extra bit of distinction from his normal robot mode. Feels pretty rare to see a centaur mode on a Transformer, especially an official one and not a fan mode. Articulation is still the same, but the figure still looks great.

As for the robot mode, it is generally accurate to how he appeared in the Covenant of Primus, but now as a biped as we saw with some recent media like his appearance in Transformers One. While it is modified somewhat to fit in with the current Generations aesthetic, the influence is kept intact as with other Prime designs themes after the book, unlike what happened with the early TFP characters. He has the right balance of segmentation without being too complex for the current Leader Class budget (thanks to the smaller figures despite price hikes making things worse). Apart from the feathery look on the wings and the hooves in place of feet, he has a bit of a good guy Predaking look. Ironic because his Prime Master was included with Predaking for the Power of the Primes line. He feels regal and isn't either too blocky or too close to the organic aesthetics of the Beast Era. Even the digitigrade legs, normally used for more evil characters, feel oddly heroic for a design such as Onyx Prime's.

His head sculpt has that look of an ancient warrior wearing the skins of animals he killed before, making for a tribal design choice compared to the more traditionally robotic heads of his fellow Primes. Even his spear, which is a new take on the Triptych Mask, has that sort of totem pole look while still remaining alien and ancient in appearance. Articulation is mostly the same but he has a ball jointed neck and can fully use his knee bends. He has a waist swivel, but the one thing that sucks about the toy is that the skirt flap gets in the way, which always irks me with any toy that does that instead of integrating it as part of the waist swivel.

Here we have him with the other Primes so far (minus Star Convoy once again). Feels good to have another Leader Class figure for this line-up, and one that is taller than Megatronus the Fallen at that! Honestly, I thought he and Alchemist was going to be my favorite figures of the Prime lineup, but Onyx may easily take the throne (but probably not the one that Optimal Optimus owns). Regardless, I am happy to say that his one-of-a-kind design, combined with the versatility of making him a centaur or a quadruped and even a six-legged beast, gives him a lot more to do than the average two-mode offerings. Get him before the price hike ruins things for us all.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Transformers Cybertron Megatron review

The Cybertron toyline is one of the best ways to balance playability with good engineering and articulation; a line-wide gimmick like the Cyber Keys, combined with some cool gimmicks that made the figures unique from one another, made the line so well-loved and nostalgic alongside early Beast Wars, the early Movie toylines, and Animated. Megatron, like most Unicron Trilogy characters, received a new body as he continues his conquest to rule the universe; this time, he has the armor of Unicron to strengthen him that bit more. Furthering the influence from the Chaos Bringer is the continued thirst that ultimately led to his downfall as Optimus Prime attested to. With all that said, I can FINALLY say it's time to review the one version of Megatron I always wanted but never got until now!

Here we have Cybertron Megatron in his alien dragster mode. It's one of the more unique forms he's had in his history of tanks, jet, and alien beasts. Other than the DOTM design for Megatron (and by extension, AOE Galvatron), it's rare seeing a Megatron hit the road on some hotter wheels than the Autobots. Setting aside his Eva Unit 1 looking colors is a design that feels very Batmobile-esque. I remember Aaron Archer and other Hasbro designers saying how Batman Begins was bringing back mainstream popularity for the superhero, so he got to be themed after the general Batmobile shape. There is definitely some Burton influence, maybe a bit of Nolan, though being a 2005 toy, Snyder and Reeves versions of the mythos didn't exist yet. Either way, with massive turbines, a tiny cockpit compared to the rest of the vehicle, and rear wheels larger than the ones in the front, he is a Transformer you don't want to get ran over by.

There is a flight mode that can be accessed if the wheel assemblies are tabbed to the rear wheels, and make sure that the front bumper fin halves are rotated to be winglets. It isn't what I'd choose for a flight mode or anything worthwhile as a Triple Changer, but it could be sort of like the way Transmetals worked in Beast Wars.

Inserting the Cyber Key not only pops the turbines up, but you get an activation sound effect to go with it. Pressing the missiles activates the lights in addition to the blasting sounds.

Transformation involves straightening he legs out while hinging the waist down in place, with the latter normally skipped in simpler toys; meanwhile, the arms have a little more going on with the shoulders hinging up in place while the nosecones splitting in half so that the halves can tab behind the forearms. The torso hinging down is normally expected on other TFs, but I like seeing that the cockpit shift back in place to streamline the midriff. I also love that the horns and the shoulder spikes fold out in place. The front wheel parts don't really tab anywhere but they don't flop around thankfully. The robot mode looks very different from the designs we previously saw with his Armada and Energon designs, though that can be explained by him taking influence from the design of Unicron. You can see that the shoulders and forearms take influence from that, and the orange on some parts of the figure make for a chaotic yet badass color scheme on the Decepticon leader. Sure, there are haters who would look at the black, purple, and teal in addition to the orange and say "erm why is he Halloween themed ☝️🤓" yet it's a statement of a color scheme that nobody else can have but himself. Even the bot mode designs not part of Unicron are great, from the huge lower legs with the rear wheels facing forward while the shin guards cover them to the giant embossed Decepticon insignia.

The head sculpt almost feels like he's trying to homage the Decepticon insignia with his horns as well as having a vague shape resembling it, kind of like how G1 Soundwave's face was used as the inspiration for it. Hell, I always thought Cybertron Prime's face, when unmasked, had his face based on the Autobot logo despite it actually being Vector Prime.getting that treatment (though we know G1 Prowl was there to inspire the sigil). His eyes are j usually teal, but they do have light-piping. His articulation consists of a limited neck swivel, rotation at the shoulders, ratchets moving in and out, bicep rotation, double jointed elbows, wrist rotation, slight waist ratchet, ratchets for the hips moving front and back, swivel hinges in and out, swivel above the knees, ratcheted knees, and the ankles have ratchets for hinging up and down with a slight bit of pivot.

His weapons can be accessed with the Cyber Keys inserted in either of his back pieces, giving you access to a machine gun made from one of the wheels (which looks less impressive than the toy, but you can crank the lever so it can spin). Alternatively, a power claw can be deployed and attached onto his left forearm to further homage Unicron's design.

His other versions include the Takara Galaxy Force version known as Master Galvatron. Japanese toy elitists may prefer their versions of Transformers, but what if I told you that the lavender on the rubbery parts instead, the paler yet metallic shade of green for any non-molded green parts, and the unpainted robot nose made it less show accurate than the Hasbro version?

And this is Galvatron, who is colored like G,1 Megatron. While he still has some.u painted stray parts, most of him is costed in a beautiful silver cost of paint. Combine that with the purple, black, and red, and we have one of the best repaints in the Unicron Trilogy. While Cybertron Megatron is pricey enough as it is through the aftermarket, Galvatron could nearly go from $200 to $500 MISB.

For a size comparison, here he is along with my very, very first Transformer in the form of Cybertron Optimus Prime! For 20 years, I never had my hands on Cybertron Megatron to go along with my Optimus, and now, that gap has finally been filled. That being said, it will not be an easy feat for various reasons: most copies have parts missing, and complete or near complete sets will cost you in the triple digits. If you can get him complete, I highly recommend him. Hopefully, they also have any of the spare parts or accessories where applicable. In other words, happy hunting!

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐