As you would have noticed, our regulary posting on the Moon hasn't been that regular in a long-time, and our focus on TheVisionaries.net has also slowed in recent months.  The basic reason is work and life　getting in the way.  We recently bought a second light tent and are hoping to get back to taking more (regular or semi-regular) pictures soon (once work  goes back to just 5 days a week).

Anyway the reason for that introduction is that we missed quiet a bit of 3rd Party news this week ... so here's a roundup.

3rd Party Masterpiece Hound

Like buses you wait for one, and two come along at once.  Both MakeToys and TFCToys have shown off grey prorotypes of their Not-Masterpiece Hound  figure, so you can substitute their Hound in place of the one Takara-Tomy haven't made ... yet

1. MakeToys
   Name; Gun Dog
   Height: 16.5 CM / 6 1/2 inches
   Notes: Has two robot modes (pretty much the shoulder postions) for "Classic G1 Look" and "Modern Classic Look"
   
   
2. TFC Toys
   Name: Detective
   Height: Unknown
   Notes: Less G1 toy accurate

3rd Party Masterpiece Chromdome

MakeToys' entrerance into the Masterpiece Class of Transformers figures doesn't stop with Gun Dog (Hound) as they have also announced a nive looking Masterpiece Chromedome.  The character, made popular by Nick Roche and James Roberts in the Transformers More Than Meets The Eye comic certainly looks nice.

1. Maketoys
2. Name: Cupola
   Height: 22 CM / 9 inches
   Notes: Comes with his Headmaster figure (Stylor in the West)

To see images make sure to click the stories link

Takara-Tomy have sent a marketing email to point out their lottery sales of a thres set of Transformers Generations toys, Miraga (Riji), Hound and Ironhide TRANSFORMERS SPECIALIST AUTOBOTS listing

The three pack is excluisive to Japan and the details are below.

200 lottery sales limit of Tomy mall limited. ¥ 11,800.
From February 25, lottery, accepting up to 13:00 on March 25.
The winner, there is a contact until March 28, release of the product talk of June 25.
At the bottom of the link, there is the application form of lottery sales.

The toys are very close to the Asia exclusive versions, with subtle colouring differences.  There is currently no mention of a Decepticon set, though that is liktley to change.

Thanks to a post on 78dm.net we can now share the first look at three of the Transformers 4 Age of Extinction Power Attackers (AKA Power Battlers) figures. The toys shown are Bumblebee, Hound (using his placeholder name of Duke) and Swoop (AKA Strafe under his alias of Paulie).  The toys confirm that Swoop / Strafe will have two heads in his animal form therefore suggesting that the "Dinobots" will be more like cybertronian beasts than based on Earth Dinosaurs. You can view the images below but please take care when visiting that thread on the 78dm.net website as it images that link to viruses.

As with the previous three live action Transformers Movies, the position of the CGI Transformers, on set, is represented by someone holding a cardboard face on a stick.  The faces generally represent the character who will be added in in Post Production.  In this case the figure appears to be an older, bearded Transformers, smoking a pipe.   This will most likely turn out to be Hound (Autobot Hound).

The folks at Kotaku have got their hands on the San Diego Comic Con exclusive Transformers / GI-Joe Crossover set.

The set contains the Jetfire Skystriker, Hound Vamp, Baroness with Ravage, Blugeon (recolour of Budo), Snake-eyes (with Autobot Symbol) and Blaster (geto-blaster mode) with his cassettes

You can read their review by clicking the link Kotaku

Last night Michael Bay confirmed that the military truck which was revealed as an Autobot in recent on-set images will indeed be called Hound.  The bio on Mr Bays's website read as "The always rugged and reliable Hound, one of the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles from Oshkosh Defense. High resolution".  We'd expect Hasbro to release a "Roadbuster" style recolour either as Roadbuster or as "Roadbuster Bulkhead" when a toy is eventually released.

In releated news, Fox Detroit have posted a video, which can be viewed below, regarding the recent Transformers 4 casting call which took place in Michigan. The report states that Michael Bay will be stepping up his filming within the area including using the location to shoot parts of the story which will be set within Hong Kong.

Fox 2 News Headlines

A Taobao auction has bought the world the first images of what appears to be a Botcon Exclusive Scorch toy.  The figure is a recolour Universe Hound based on the G1/G2 figure Scorch who was released in both Europe an­d Japan originally.  you can see our galley of the original figure here, and can compare it to the auction here.

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Credit to S250 for posting this over on TFW2005.com

Higekuma Toy Toy Blog has been updated with images both in and out of packaging of Transformers Henkei Cheetas (Transformers Universe Cheetor) and Transformers Henkei Hound.

The Cheetas images also include comparison pictures to the American Transformers Universe Cheetor figure, highlighting the colouring differences.

We have created two new toy galleries of some upcoming Transformers Universe figures, mirroring some images that were posted over on the message board of Chinese fansite TFClub by wangbaobao.

The galleries are of Transformers Universe Hound and Transformers Universe Ravage and feature both toys in robot and alternative modes.

Thanks to board member Jaymz for posting a thread on our message board containing images of some of the upcoming Japanese Transformers figures including Masterpiece Grimlock, Transformers Disney Label (The official name of the line it would seem) Mickey Mouse (two versions) and Henkei Hound with Ravage which he received from one of his suppliers.  You can view the images below.

Site Sponsor Robotkingdom has dropped us a quick email to let us know that they are now taking preorders for the following up coming figures:

Takara Transformers Encore Reissue #13 Trailbreaker here
Takara Transformers Encore Reissue #14 Hoist here
Takara Henkei Classics C-12 Cheetor here
Takara Henkei Classics C-13 Hound here

All of the items will available in December.