Posts on David T Catmull

Studio Series 86 Megatron

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Summary:

This is essentially a Voyager size figure at the Leader class price. Hasbro doesn’t tie price strictly to size like they used to, so how does this one justify the upgrade? Well it has above average articulation, including fingers with separate index fingers like SS86 Optimus. And it has 54 transformation steps, compared to Optimus’ 40.

But there is an inherent problem with making a “Studio Series” Megatron: you can’t do the alt mode, especially if you’re Hasbro. So they made it a tank, which breaks the Studio Series implicit rule of screen accuracy. But what else can they do?

Even so, I’d say the tank mode has issues. We might say this is the alternate version of Megatron where his Earth mode is a tank instead of a gun. But this doesn’t look like an Earth tank: the barrel is way too big and it has a gun sight on the end.

The other issue is the turret rotation: the hinge is at the back, so it doesn’t look good when it’s turned.

Mine also has a couple of bits of stray paint, only visible in tank mode, as if someone was testing their brush.

The bright side is that the bot mode looks great, and more screen accurate than Optimus because there’s no backpack. I like to transform my Transformers, but I think I’ll keep this one in bot mode.

DK-32 & DK-50 G2 Dino Warrior Upgrade Kit

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Links:

Big Bad Toy Store

Summary:

My first DNA Designs upgrade kit, and I made it a double.

This set has a lot more for Snarl, probably because the original Slag set also had the Daniel Exosuit replacement figure, and they decided not to have a G2 version of that.

One of the most interesting parts is the leg fillers for Snarl. It’s a pretty good color match, and they even transform in place so you can leave them on in dino mode. They do block the underbelly sword storage spot though.

The dino feet fillers are pretty good, and again a decent color match. One of them doesn’t stay in as well as the other.

The second sword doesn’t actually match the original, but it does match the shape of the G1 sword better, and the storage peg folds in. The flames only fit the included sword, not the original, and though they have 5mm ports they’re at a weird angle, so they’re not as versatile as they could have been.

The rifles for Snarl are very nice, and since there are two, I’m giving one to my Studio Series Snarl.

I like the nice solid replacement Slag horns to replace the gappy originals. Removing the original horns may have mixed results since they’re glued on, but if they come off cleanly enough for you, you can put them on the shield. That’s a nice bonus.

Slag gets a sword, too. It’s kind of weird that Snarl ends up with two of each and Slag doesn’t, but that just comes from the original sets being designed separately and then thrown together for the G2 version.

Altogether it’s a pretty good set. Not everything is a home run, but I think enough of them are good to make it worth it.

Studio Series 86 Optimus Prime

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Summary:

I didn’t grab SS86 Optimus right away because of 4 concerns:

Did it really earn the Commander Class price point?
Those windshield tab holes bug me.
I’m not a fan of the boost effects.
Is it different enough from my other Optimus Primes?

And then as I opened it, I discovered a 5th issue: the smokestacks are surprisingly loose. They come out of place just while posing or transforming it.

My conclusions on the other questions:

The price is pretty much justified, comparing the complexity of it to Earthrise Optimus Prime, including number of parts.
Thanks to Toyhax, I can cover up the tab holes.
The boost effects did not win me over.
I do feel like it earns a spot on my shelf, and it’s actually mostly because the trailer is so much better than the Earthrise one.

So, including the smokestack issue, that makes it 3 out of 5 issues where I’m satisfied.

Floral He-Man

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Summary:

This figure… inspires a lot of questions. I’m going to focus on:

What is it?
Is it an action figure or more of a display piece?
Is it worth the price?

What is it?

This is an “artistic re-imagining” by artist James Jean, who cites the da Vinci painting The Battle of Angiari as inspiration. I don’t see much similarity to the original painting other than the overall poses; nothing floral there.

So where the flowers come from, and what they mean, is still kind of a mystery. Is that the point, that we’re just supposed to wonder about it? Is it intended to be simply art, subject to personal interpretation?

I’m left wondering what the story is. Did He-Man get shrunk down to flower size? Or did he have an adventure in Giant Flower Land? For his counterpart, Coral Skeletor, it’s much easier to imagine that he had an undersea adventure and discovered some coral magic.

Action figure or display piece?

Some of both, but I think mostly the latter. The packaging is elaborate, and articulation is limited (though maybe that’s just me being used to Transformers where expectations may be different).

And it is interesting to just look at.

Worth it?

I compared it with my similarly-priced and also-recently-purchased Studio Series 86 Optimus Prime. Floral He-Man certainly wins on packaging; Optimus’ cardboard display stand is pretty basic. But Optimus is more poseable, and still very displayable, especially if you like the movie-like look, plus he has the full featured trailer.

So I’m not totally convinced on the price question, and that’s compared to the Optimus where I’m just barely convinced he’s worth it.

But if you’re a big He-Man fan, and you’re looking for something unusual, go for it.

Interview with artist Nate Baertsch

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Nate Baertsh has been doing package art for Masters of the Universe toys for a number of years, and currently works at Four Horsement Studios doing art for their Mythic Legions and Cosmic Legions lines of action figures.

Some memorable quotes:

“I don’t play the lottery, I don’t gamble. But if, if I did and if, you know, millions of dollars fell in my lap, I would, I’d be like, great. My kids will be taken care of. Because I would still work. I wouldn’t stop working.”
“We like surprises and … we want to reward the child or the individual or whoever it is that’s tinkering with the toy, to be able to discover stuff that they might not have otherwise seen.”
“We like to hide stuff. We like to surprise people. We like to reward those that are ready to take the action figure out of the box and actually play with it, because at the end of the day, that’s what we want.”
On toys with hidden details: “Whenever you see stuff like that on a toy, it’s, to me, that is a mark of whoever designed it and sculpted it was having fun. Like they really wanted to make it special for all of us that are purchasing them and enjoying them.”