🎄Mister Valiant🎁
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mistervaliant.bsky.social
🎄Mister Valiant🎁
@mistervaliant.bsky.social
330 followers 360 following 4.9K posts
Still offering 31 flavors of nerd, all day every day. Giant robots and TRPGs a specialty.
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mistervaliant.bsky.social
COMING OUT OF OUR CAGE
ME GRIMLOCK DOING JUST FINE

#deskbot #transformers #toyphotography
The Dinobots! A group shot of toys from three different lines because I feel like they fit the characters, all in dino mode.
November 16, 2025 at 5:44 AM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
"YOU'RE NEXT!"
#deskbot #transformers #toyphotography
Devastator (4th party yellow Gravity Builder IIRC) pointing at you with a scream of rage, wielding the crane boom like a club. It's currently on his shoulder but in about two seconds is coming down right on top of you. This shot only shows him from the waist up. The same shot, but showing off the whole combiner this time. I couldn't decide which one I liked better.
November 12, 2025 at 10:49 PM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
This, except he doesn't even surf at all anymore
November 11, 2025 at 1:17 PM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
November 9, 2025 at 1:08 AM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
Ah, @nonnef.com you've done it again.
Studio Series Sideswipe with some fresh, upgraded weaponry courtesy of Nonnef Productions. Not pictured: the spoiler that Hasbro just LOVES to leave off. Seriously. Just give us the damn spoiler. It cannot be saving you that much plastic.
November 8, 2025 at 12:38 AM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
A frustrating and exhausting week means I need the help of these handsome boys to get me through it

#deskbots #toyphotography
Henkei Sunstreaker and Classics Sideswipe, because we all deserve to look at something pretty today
November 6, 2025 at 7:01 PM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
There is an alternative, thanks to @squishybelle.bsky.social
November 4, 2025 at 12:01 AM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
October 31, 2025 at 3:29 PM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
Bombshell is just a walking blender, all stabbing and slicing
This one just just plain FUN. I always really liked it when weapons integrated into the alt modes - what the hell happened to that trend?! I'll take a tailpipe gun or a grill blaster or, in this case, leg and horn blades any day of the week. Bombshell is a... kabuto beetle, I believe? Or some form of scarab? Whatever he is, he makes for a creepy alt mode, with all those pointy little legs that you can practically FEEL skittering around. Another straightforward, no-nonsense transformation that's REALLY effective, particularly with the shoulders and hip pieces being able to move so freely to cover up joints and allow for more dynamic posing. Even when all of that is smooshed up into insect mode here, he still looks a treat, ready to just come right out at you and give you the shankin' of a lifetime. Great fun.
October 30, 2025 at 8:40 PM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
Don't have a date for Halloween? That's fine - Shrapnel went stag.
I'll say it again: transforming this guy is the scariest thing I'll do this Halloween. Nothing feels like it should do what it's supposed to, and those C-clips are sturdy enough to require some REAL force popping them off that I'm terrified I'm going to break one. But it's hard to argue with the results. Tucking the arms into the legs is a very cool move, and those arm blades make killer stag beetle pincers, articulated juuust enough to be able to crush an unwary Autobot. I like that tiny splash of red-orange on top; when looked at from this angle, it could pass as a cockpit for a much larger robot. I'm also a huge fan of any kind of insect bot with legs sturdy enough to hold it up off the ground.
October 30, 2025 at 8:31 PM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
Kickback: Lethal Cricket
Kickback has such a bizarre transformation. The arms and legs are pretty straightforward, but then the chest just completely flips out, spinning around almost a complete turn to sit against the rest of the body at a different angle. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it. "Hey, c'mere... I got somethin' good fer ya..." Likewise, the head transformation is so simple yet so effective - just rotate it and slap another component from the back onto it, and BAM, you've got something that looks totally different from the robot mode. It just works so well. Inspired use of the wings as swords, the legs explode to create so much more additional length and texture... unreal.
October 30, 2025 at 8:26 PM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
Insect moooode! 🪰🪲🪳
The figures posted above, just now in their alt-modes. "Kidnap the Optimus Prime?" "I wanna do it, do it!" "What a crime!" "Megatron said we should work together~" "Three of a kind!" "Birds of a feather, feather!" "Now and forever!" "LAAA LALALALALA, LALALALALAAAA LAAAA LALALALALA, LALALALALAAAAA!!"
October 30, 2025 at 8:17 PM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
You'll get no mercy
You'll get no hugs
From these shinobi
Who are bugs

#transformers #deskbots #toyphotography
I've had WFC Kickback for years, but finally pounced on Fansproject's Thundershred (Shrapnel) and Stormbomb (Bombshell). Do they match? Not really. But Kickback needed his team, and of the FP Causality Insecticons, I found their version of Kickback to be the least interesting, so I'm cramming the two teams together. It works for me. Maybe it's because it's Halloween, but I keep thinking of Nightmare Before Christmas with these guys. "What are YOU doing here?!" "Megatron sent for us!" "Specifically, specifically~" "Lock!" "Shock, Shock...!" "And Barrell!" This guy has always rocked, from the moment I got him out of the package. Something so menacing and satisfying about it, he's just fun to tinker with. (Eventually I need to get around to removing that incredibly tiny and hard-to-see 'Con badge on the lower portion of his chest.) Not gonna like, this one's a bit of a pain in the ass to transform, but Thundershred/Shrapnel has it where it counts. He's, what, 15ish years old or so? And my only real complaint was that it arrived from eBay looking like there was about that much dust on him. For a big transforming robotic bug, he cleans up nice, hurr hurr. Way more impressed with Stormbomb/Bombshell here. Compared to Shrapnel, he is a JOY to handle and transform - satisfyingly chunky, transformation is simple but effective, and he's coated with weapons. I mean, a pair of kamas and juttes that form the beetle mode's horns and legs are fantastic enough... but then the added chain so you can make a full-on kusarigama?! That's freaking amazing.
October 30, 2025 at 7:27 PM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
Oh that's easy
The alt text is that I'm an asshole. It's an ad for some old Diaclone toys, the ones that were eventually turned into Transformers later on down the line
October 30, 2025 at 4:08 AM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
OMG SEASPRAY AND BEACHCOMBER ARE SMOOCHIN'!!!
October 25, 2025 at 11:16 PM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
Long week.
Bad mood.
Have some beach buddies.
Legacy Beachcomber, a figure that took me entirely too long to get, seen here in vehicle mode racing along the dunes. Retro Seaspray, making a splash as he plows through the waves in hovercraft mode. The two figures in robot mode, having a nice little stroll along the shore in a rare moment of peace in their fight against the Decepticons. Sometimes, they think, Earth ain't so bad.
October 24, 2025 at 11:56 PM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
October 24, 2025 at 5:54 PM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
October 21, 2025 at 12:05 AM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
He may be a lumberjack, but he ain't okay.
Some shots of Legacy Animated Nemesis Prime, seen here in a static standing pose but with his axe hefted up over his shoulder - a pose made very easy thanks to double-joined elbows. Why it took THIS long for me to notice that the white balance was off I'll never know. Same figure, now looking a bit more ready for action. He's sighted you, and is calling out his target, axe at the ready. Best run, son. I like how much the colors POP in this one. A jumping pose, with effects parts affixed to the back of the axe to give it Rocket Power™ because that's totally awesome. I was hoping the up angle would give this some more dynamic energy, but I dunno, something's off about it and I can't quite figure out what it is.
October 18, 2025 at 11:46 PM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
Fucking

FINALLY
I have been looking for a friggin Beachcomber ever since they came out, and I have been thwarted at every single turn. BUT THE DAY IS MINE.
October 18, 2025 at 7:14 PM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
For whatever reason my brain decided to give these two Bevis and Butthead's voices and now I can't unhear it
"Heh heh. Heh heh heh heh. Hey Horri-Bull. Skorpinok says we need to, like, do stuff." "Uh huh huh huh. Dude. Skorpinok sucks. Huh huh huh. Uh huh huh huh huh." "Yeah! Yeah he SUCKS! Heh heh heh heh heh."
October 16, 2025 at 8:34 PM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
The Legacy version of an Animated Nemesis Prime that was not very available in its original release, especially outside of Japan, in Scourge colors, but not THAT Scourge, or THAT one, and somehow if you know your Transformers toys that makes sense to you and is not the ravings of a madman.
The other mold that this is my first time handling. I wasn't quite prepared for how BIG he would be, and that's awesome - he's big and chunky and hefty, that's always a welcome change from how small and dinky these toys are getting. The original Animated toys were SPECTACULAR, not only because they managed to capture the incredibly stylistic appearance of the show but because they were really damn good toys in their own right. I only had a few but they were an utter delight. An updated version doesn't honestly add a whole lot, but again, a few QoL improvements here and there and some proportion-juggling goes a long way. This guy is impressive as hell all on his own... but that axe. THAT AXE. Holy cow, that thing REALLY sells itself. That would be intimidating even in standard Optimus Prime colors. Here? That's an extremely intimidating package. I can't wait to get this guy in the lightbox for some proper pics. .........Okay that transformation was rad, too. Great use of parts and mass, nothing feels wasted or left out, and the final product feels quite compacted and manages to look menacing and alien. I love this guy. Another vehicle mode pic, just with the light bar removed and honestly I think I might just keep it off. He looks arguably better without it and it opens up two more storage ports. My biggest and, frankly, only real complaint is that there's TECHNICALLY, like, almost a full dozen places to store that axe but they all manage to look incredibly goofy. But I have plenty of Transformers who just have to have their weapons lying to the side in alt-mode, and if that's the biggest negative I have to say about this thing than Legacy Animated Nemesis Prime is friggin' incredible.
October 16, 2025 at 7:55 PM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
I don't know what I expected.
Horri-Bull and his counterparts have always held a very strange place for me. What is a Robot In Disguise™ if it is not, in fact, in disguise? What is a mechanical bull if he isn't THAT KIND of mechanical bull? I do sort of enjoy these on the level of "after a while the Transformers just kind of gave up the idea of disguise and went with what seemed effective," though granted "Alt-Modes That Are Useful™" isn't nearly as catchy, is it? But I get it. I mean we all give the Dinobots a pass on this shit. Horri-Bull isn't horrible - a heavy retool of the ol' Skullcruncher mold plus some ankle pivots, which are one of the only things I could have really asked for from that guy. I like him, honestly - bold colors, a simple but striking appearance, he looks like a big tough bruiser and that's exactly what he is. At least my Squeezeplay will have someone to play with now. I don't care to hunt down or sell a kidney to afford a Fangry/Grotesque. These dudes are free to be two halves of a whole idiot in all their pink-and-blue glory, and that's totally cool with me. Probably the weakest part of this whole set, but he's still pretty okay by me, so there you go.
October 16, 2025 at 7:55 PM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
First time handling a Missing Link.
........Okay I get it.
The Missing Link series has always seemed like an odd and niche choice for me - the old '80s toys, but with modern articulation? Why? What's the point? It does make more sense now that I have one in-hand. It's a lot like when they do an update on a beloved video game - yeah, the original still exists, and yes, the more modern remakes have more flash and polish and are perhaps built better from the ground-up, but there's something to be said for this sort of in-between thing, the original plus some QoL upgrades. I'd forgotten how small these old toys were, and the ability to actually get Magnus into any kind of actual pose is really kinda friggin' neat, actually. All the stuff I'd wanted to do with the original toy, I now can, and not having to worry about losing the detachable fists is a HUGE plus. It scratches a unique itch: you get to have all the weird "just a little guy" charm of the old molding AND all the play fun of a modern toy. And it didn't really sink in until I started messing with one myself. Maybe I WILL get one of those damn Arcees after all OH WAIT just one of those costs more than this whole damn set fuck that completely. This'll make a great companion piece to the Studio Series Ultra Magnus I got not too long ago, in a sort of "look how far we've come" kind of way. I love that the transformation is exactly the same as it was way back when, but with some added tabs to make up for the extra range the limbs have. Again, SUPER glad I don't have to stress over losing those damn fists, and then adding his own Matrix chamber where those fists used to go was a really nice touch. Didn't care about this guy an hour ago. Love him now. A+
October 16, 2025 at 7:55 PM
mistervaliant.bsky.social
Check the alt-text for Extra Bonus Content Thoughts on these guys.
Bumper in vehicle mode. I like this mold a lot, just not for Bumblebee. It doesn't have the rounded curves that say "VW Bug" and that's, like, 9/10ths of the reason you CALL him Bumblebee, damn it. Bumper is a great substitute - I can enjoy the mold but not agonize about how much he DOESN'T look like Bumblebee. Plus, this one holds together better than my Bee. Solves a lot of problems for me, personally. Bumper gets the thumbs-up.
October 16, 2025 at 7:55 PM