Here's what I have to say. (I'm an avid TF fan/collector and member of Seibertron.com) When I say 'Looks/Feels very much like [Character name]', I'm referring to their likeliness to their G1 alter-egos. Before buying a figure, check out his
gallery at Seibertron.com to get a better idea of what the toy is all about:
Wave I:Optimus Prime - Excellent figure, terrific articulation. Looks/Feels very G1 Prime, and two guns are cool. No trailer, though.
Megatron - they basically gave the Nerf Maverick a crappy robot form and removed its firing power. Doesn't even look like Megs, and the colours don't help.
Bumblebee - Great figure, really looks and feels like Bumblebee. Too bad he doesn't have a gun.
Astrotrain - Neither vehicle mode is pulled off very well, and the robot suffers from bad articulation. He should have been in the American colours. Hasbro should have just made a Blitzwing figure instead.
Starscream - Jet mode really looks good, but the transformation is hard due to weak plastic and overly tight joints. Null-rays are too big and hinder arm articulation.
Hot Rod (they call him 'Rodimus,' Hot Rod's upgraded form [Rodimus Prime], since they lost the trademark to 'Hot Rod') - Hands down the worst Classic so far. Car mode isn't too bad, but the robot is terrible. Weak plastic, very bad articulation and a weapon that they essentially just carried over from Energon don't help.
Ultimate Battle 2-Pack with DVD - Includes two figures, Optimus Prime and Megatron, different than the ones mentioned earlier, and a bonus DVD. Prime looks awful. Truck is a combination of G1, War Within, and a buttload of FAIL. Plus his head is just nasty-looking. At least his Tommy gun is remotely cool. Megatron looks like G2 Megs on crack, but not in a good way. Lame weapons, bad colours, and only having one had doesn't help. The DVD is just a recap of the last few horrible Generations. Yaaay.
Wave II:Jetfire - Looks and feels very Jetfire in both modes, and accessories can be added/removed. Very nice.
Mirage - Amazing articulation, very stable thanks to large feet, feels very much like Mirage.
Grimlock - Modeled after Pretender Grimlock. I frankly don't like the design, nor his weapons. Dino-head as feet fail. He looks more like a fat raptor or a T-Rex with a shrunken head than G1 Grimlock.
Wave III:Cliffjumper - Bumblebee repaint. 'Nuff said. No notable remoulding/different accessories.
Ramjet - Severely remoulded Starscream. Tough I'm sure he suffers from the same problems (weak plastic, tight joints).
Battle for Autobot City 2-Pack (Target Exclusive) - Includes Ultra Magnus (repaint of Optimus Prime) and Skywarp (repaint of Starscream). I really don't like the whole 'Paint Optimus white and call him Magnus!' game. Give him is armour, damn it! But Skywarp looks great. A lot of Transfans will get this pack just for Skywarp. If Legends carries it, I'll grab it for sure!
There are other figures in the Classics line. They aren't redesigned oldschool characters, they're just more toys to buy.
DVD-Not-Included Optimus Prime - They took the 20th Anniversary Prime, removed the silver and replaced it with flat gray, made his eyes flat, changed the amount of die-cast, put yellow on his head, coloured his gun blue, and gave him a crappy baseplate with sounds that are lines from The Movie, but are not taken from The Movie. They not spoken by ANY of the 3 Optimus Prime actors (Cullen, Caplan, Chalk), nor by someone who can do a Prime impression. Yeesh.
Mini-Cons - Much like the characters from Michael Bay's upcoming "Screw you Transformers fans!!11" movie, these Mini-Cons have nice alternate modes but their robot forms are just plain ugly. Few of them even have hands.
Micro Series (aka Legends of Cybertron) - Bad repaints of sized-down figures from the Cybertron run. They just slapped G1-esque (for the most part) colours onto them, gave them the name of a G1 (for the most part) character, and called them Classics. FAIL.
This is only my opinion. Buy what you want, make your own opinions, and make the Transfan within you happy!
