S250 and TF08.net have posted images of some up coming Transformers Universe toys and instructions scans.  These include the instructions of what is said to be a repainted version of Transformers Energon Bruticus Maximus, probably in Generation One Bruticus colours.  Also shown are images of the Transformers Universe Legends Beachcomber and Brawn figures.

You can see the images here

SGCollect member Sparkplug has posted over on their message board that he received confirmation the Masterpiece Grimlock will be released in March 2009 in Japan at a cost of 130,000 Yen.  He then later posted that Alternity Megatron will be released in two colours (blue and silver) with the car based on the Nissan Fairlady Z.

Treat both as rumours at this stage, but no doubt more will follow in the coming weeks.

Transformers At The Moon's Transformers Toy Gallery section has been updated with the latest Transformers Collectors Club exclusive figures of Nightbeat and the Seacons.  The toys feature in 8 galleries and take the total number of Transformers Toys featured in that section to 2,134.

• Nightbeat
• Nautilator
• Overbite
• Tentakil
• Skalor
• Seawing
• Snap Trap
• Piranacon

Thanks to Rockimus Prime for letting Transformers Animated.com know that MonkeyBar has been updated by Hasbro with yet another Transformers Animated short.  This time the short features the Autobot Leader Optimus Prime

Kapow Toys have posted a comment over on TFW2005 that the next two Transformers Henkei releases will be Hound and Cheetas (Cheetor).  The figures will be released on the 27th December 2008 which coincides with the release of Transformers Encore Trailbreaker and Hoist.

Whilst photographing our set of Transformers Collectors Club Exclusive Transformers Universe Seacons we discovered a couple of flaws in the mold which we want to warn you about.

The first flaw, and the most serious, can be found on Tentakill.  The flaw can be found on the figures head (legs in robot mode) and occurs when transforming the toy.  Like several molding problems found in Transformers, the most recent example being Lockdown from Transformers Aniamted, the toy has too much plastic on a joint, which results in you being unable to rotate the legs around, thus meaning that you cannot transform the toy.

The only solution we have found so far is to unscrew the two screws in the legs, allowing you to pivot the legs around.  A permanent solution will be to sand off the edges of the pink leg plastic.

We should have a full photographic gallery of the toy online later this weekend, and will highlight the molding flaw.  What you need to remember is to be careful, too much force will break the plastic.

The second flaw in on Seawing, and is more of a minor problem.  The whole on Seawing, used to fit the Pirranacon hand and his gun, is too large to firmly hold the gun in-place.  This means the guns will fall out of the toy if held vertically.

Other flaws in the toys molding is that the whole in Tentakill, to place the Pirranacon foot, is slightly too small, though you can still fit the foot on the toy.

Luck y Draw Transformers.com has been updated with more images in it's Transformers Super Link Fire Kicker gallery showing more details of the oty which we purchased a few months ago.

The figure is a red and yellow reclour of the Transformers: Super Link Kicker toy, which uses Takara's Microman body.

1. LOCKDOWN

In his latest comment against the Prowl concept art, Derrick Wyatt posted the following comment.

"Eric Siebenaler from Hasbro showed me his concept for Oilslick right from the get go. I was too busy with show stuff to give much input, but liked what he had done anyway. How could I not like a bot with a Mr. Freeze tank on his head and a ram skull on his shoulder? We really consider Eric to be part of the show's creative team anyway. I'm sure it is hard for Hasbro to coordinate everything. Since Marty Isenberg actually wrote the Transformers Animated: The Arrival comic for IDW himself, we consider that part of the show continuity. I got to do some designs for the IDW comic as well. Marty also was involved with the story for the Nintendo DS game. Having the show creators involved in these types of projects really helps them feel more like they are all part of the same universe.

There are absolutely TONS of G1 concepts that are practically begging to be in Animated. Maybe some of them will get to."

KapowToys have announced that Transformers Encore 13 and 14 will by reissues of Trailbreaker and Hoist. Here's a copy of their announcement at TFW2005.com

"China Wholesalers have begun taking pre-orders from retailers for these awesome G1 trucks from today."

First up some images were posted on Flickr from the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AKA The Boneyard).  This was then followed up by an anonymous post made to Seibertron.com which also included some images of the Chevy Volt and Sideswipe.

Shortly after Jalopnik posted some imags which appear to confirm that the Chevy Beat will be Skids.  How does it confirm this, you may ask, well the pictures include a number plate on the back of the car with Skids on the back.  Of course, this could still turn out to be a ruse, with the name being digitally removed in post-production.

Finally the Coronado CA city website posted some inforoamtion saying that some scenes were shot there today involving pyrotechnic.

 "The San Diego Film Commission and Naval Base Coronado are working with DreamWorks Productions for a day of filming on Naval Base Coronado. They will be filming an action sequence near the bunker at the south end of Naval Base Coronado approximately a mile north of the Imperial Beach city limits. The work will take place from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Thursday, October 9 and will include gunfire and small explosive visual effects. It is planned that the gunfire and pyrotechnics will take place between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. There will be production trucks and trailers, generators and lighting equipment used on site. The Film Commission, the Navy and the production company acknowledge that the filming may create a disruption and have indicated they will do their best to keep the disturbance to a minimum. The location manager Marc Meeks and San Diego Film Commission representative Kathy McCurdy will be onsite during the entire project."

An auction has appeared on ebay for a black testshot of the Beast Wars Optimal Optimus toy.  The auction claims that only 2 of these items have been confirmed to exist, although they also include a photograph of a certificate from Wixbang toys stating that there were probably less than 10 made.

The auction lists the item as a Hardcopy Optimal Optimus toy, although this does not appear to be the case.  Having said that we've not seen this testshot before and you don't see too many original Beast Wars testshots around, especially of this size.  The auction has a starting price of just under $2000.