Aug 22 2010

Back to the Future: 1:15 Scale Delorean by Diamond Select

It’s ridiculous how long I’ve had this thing on my want list, and how long it has taken me to actually pick it up. I’ve had it in cart at various e-tailers plenty of times, but it always seemed to get axed just before checkout in favor of something else. Part of the reason might have been that I was struggling between getting this original version, the BTTF2 version, or wait to see the BTTF3 version. I really don’t want to invest in a fleet of these things. In the end, I opted for the original and I decided to spend a little birthday money and get it before it disappears.

My first reaction when I slid this out of the packing box was, “holy shit it’s big.” And I’m not just talking about the toy in the box. There’s very little extra space used in the Delorean’s packaging. I guess I had a hard time imagining what a 1:15 scale Delorean would look like, because this thing is much bigger and beefier than I had expected.

First, a little about the packaging. I’m not sure why this one was released under the Back to the Future, Part II moniker, rather than the original movie. Especially since toy e-tailer Entertainment Earth secured the exclusive version seen in the second film, complete with Mr. Fusion and the hover conversion. Seems like that one should have been the only one released under the BTTF2 title. Either way, this toy comes in a serviceable window box with the back panel showing the toy and listing it’s features. The inside of the box is made to look like a street, complete with burning tire marks. It’s a nice presentation, and best of all the car is easy to slide out and then put back in.

I am absolutely thrilled with the quality and attention to detail on this piece. I’ve always been impressed with the sculpting that Diamond Select turns out and this car is no exception. They’ve captured the profile and proportions of the Delorean very well and all the extra time machine bits look outstanding. It’s even got the OUTATIME license plate. There’s certainly room for more detail in the engine area, but considering the relatively low price point, I think they did a fine job. Especially when you consider the amount of detail in other areas.


The attention paid to the interior is truly amazing. Most toy companies would have been happy with tossing in some seats and a steering wheel, but the Delorean’s detailed interior makes me want to crawl inside to better see it all. Luckily with the way the Delorean’s gull wing doors work, you can open both of them and get a pretty good look inside. You get detailed bucket seats with sculpted safety belts, a light up dashboard with gauges and a light up computer for setting the time destination. Naturally, the flux capacitor is there as well and yes, it lights up too!


Yes, a big part of this toy consists of the electronic FX. There’s about five or so different sequences of sound and lights that you can cycle through by pushing the button on the engine. Honestly, some of them are a bit muffled and it’s hard for me to recognize what they are supposed to be, but that’s ok, because holding down the button for about three seconds gives me the real money shot. This sequence gives you the full time travel effect with all the lights firing at once. Let’s count them! Headlights, the blue energy piping on the front and sides, the dash board and time computer, the flux capacitor and the break and rear engine lights. Nice. Even the battery compartment is cleverly concealed under the opening hood.

Overall, the quality control on mine is pretty good. There are a few minor blemishes on the bodywork, but that’s the only thing I can see.

One of the really appealing things about this Delorean is that it’s done in the 1:15 scale, so it should technically fit most 3 3/4″ action figures. And thus also leads us to the only really disappointing thing about this whole toy: It doesn’t include any 3 3/4″ action figures. Sure, I’m willing to appreciate this thing of beauty as it is, but at the same time I find it positively maddening that Diamond Select can churn out those ridiculousBack to the Future Minimates and not a Marty and Doc Brown for this set. Even if they sold them separately and at a premium, it would be so worth it. Part of my rage on this matter may just be that I absolutely hate/can’t understand the whole Mini-mates collecting mindset. Or perhaps it’s the fact that they actually thought more people would want a Mini-mate figure of Marty’s mom in her prom dress than a Doc Brown figure for this Delorean. Ok, so I’m a little bitter. [My apologies to any collectors of Mini-mates. I know they’re popular, and I don’t mean to knock them. I just don’t get it. – Ed.]


Diamond Select’s Delorean first retailed at around $45-50, but these days it can be had for more in the $40-45 range as a number of e-tailers have been clearancing it out. At either price, I think it’s a nice acquisition. There’s no doubt it’s nicely executed, the electronics are very well done, and it’s big enough to be a real impessive piece on my DVD shelf. In fact, it’s the first thing people tend to flock to when they come in my living room. They all want to pick it up and play with it.

Aug 21 2010

Star Wars Vintage Collection: Han Solo (Echo Base) and Princess Leia (Hoth Outfit) by Hasbro

I picked up my first figures from the new Vintage Collection today. Actually I picked up two of each, so I could keep two carded. This is something I almost never do, but since I already got on board this whole vintage style figure idea back during the Original Trilogy Collection, I might as well keep going. The first two I’m going to look at are Han and Leia in their Hoth outfits. I also picked up 3PO, but we’ll save him for next time.

The packaging is the real draw here for me. Hasbro certainly knows how to pull on the heart (and wallet) strings of late thirty-something geeks, because seeing these things hanging on the pegs again really is something special. As with the VOTC releases, the fronts of these cards are excellent facsimiles of their early 80’s counterparts. Ok, actually Han is oddly enough an original figure with an original card, but it still looks like something authentic. The backs of the cards show the old figure with the new one (again, except for Han), along with a blurb about the line and some photos of other figures in the assortment. The other big difference is the Boba Fett mailaway advert on the front, which is a sticker and not printed directly on the card. What’s missing? That’s right, the clamshell.

I had mixed feelings about Hasbro abandoning the clamshells they used for the VOTC line. On the one hand, these new released don’t quite look as streamlined next to the VOTC carded figures. Yes, I plan on putting them in clamshells (which Hasbro conveniently sells), but they won’t have the special foil stickers or the embossed “Star Wars” on the back. On the other hand, as we’ll see a little later on the price is significantly lower, so there are some good points too.


Let’s start with Han in his Echo Base outfit, which is basically a Bespin Han only instead of the regular blue jacket, he’s wearing a Hoth style trenchcoat. The trousers and boots are the same as we’ve seen Han wearing as part of his Cloud City outfit. His belt is a separate piece, which includes a working holster for his pistol. His trenchcoat is also a separate piece, which is actually sculpted like a vest, which in conjunction with the figure’s arms is meant to look like a jacket. It works, pretty well, although the illusion crumbles under close inspection around the arms, or obviously if you take it off. Still, I don’t mind it and the jacket features some nice sculpting.

Hasbro didn’t quite get the job done with this figure’s head sculpt, which is kind of strange, since many of the modern Han figures have been fairly good likenesses. This one doesn’t completely miss the mark, but it’s not exactly Harrison Ford either. Fortunately, you can always grab one of your other recent Han figures and swap the heads if you so desire. Of course, that doesn’t help you for your mint-on-card figure.

Han’s articulation is excellent. He has a ball jointed head. His arms have ball jointed shoulders, elbows and he has swivel wrists. His legs have standard rotation at the hips and balljoints in the knees and ankles. Han also has a ball joint in the torso.

Apart from his iconic broom-handled pistol, Han comes with a welding mask and a welding tool. The mask has a handle, so he can hold it up to his face. I think they’re pretty cool accessories to stow away in the BMF Falcon.

Hoth Leia is a very welcome figure, since this version of her hasn’t been done in a while, and I don’t think it’s ever really been done particuarly well until now. Her outfit consists of her Hoth off-white fatigues and gloves with grey boots. There’s a lot of excellent sculpting on her outfit, including wrinkles, stitching and her arm communicator. Her vest is a separate piece, and unlike Han’s jacket, this piece is intended to be a vest so it can be removed without exposing the whole fake sleeve syndrome.

Hasbro has frequently had issues getting Leia’s head sculpt right, but in a bizarre turn of events, they actually did a fine job here. It’s not a perfect likeness, but it’s close (certainly closer than Han’s), and it’s not f’ugly, nor does it look like a monkey. The hair is also well sculpted and the paint apps on the lips and eyes are razor sharp.

Leia’s articulation includes a ball jointed head. Her arms have ball joints in the shoulders and elbows, and her wrists swivel. She has standard rotation in the hips and her knees are ball jointed. She can also swivel at the waist. Leia is missing any ankle articulation.

Leia comes with a standard Rebel-style blaster.

I picked up these figures for $7.98 each at Walmart, which is what regular Star Wars figures have been priced at for a while now. Keep in mind that back when the VOTC figures were released, they sold for around $9.99 to start with, but before the line ended they were up to $12.99 each at a lot of retailers, and that was a few years ago. I realize that they no longer come with the clamshell, but even if you buy a pack from Hasbro, you’re still ahead of the game. I think what I like about this pricing the most is that I’m not paying for an unwanted clamshell on the doubles that I plan on opening. If Hasbro was smart, they’d sell special clamshells with the foil stickers on them, but I’m willing to make do with the generic ones in favor of this price reduction. In hindsight, it’s too bad I didn’t keep the ones from the VOTC doubles that I opened.


Aug 17 2010

Doctor Who: Scarecrow by Character Options

I’ve been meaning to getting around to looking at some of Character Options’ older Doctor Who figures, and so today I’m going to start doing just that. Afterall, with the exception of the occasional surprise release (like The Master and Axon set), it’ll probably be a little while before there are any new releases for me to look at. There will be no rhyme or reason to which ones I select or the order I do them in. I’m just going to grab them off the shelf from time to time and dig in. We’ll start with The Scarecrow from Human Nature.

The origins of this creature are possibly a little more convaluted than one might think. They were featured in the Series 3 episodes Human Nature and Family of Blood. which were adapted from Paul Cornell’s excellent 7th Doctor novel, Human Nature. There were no evil animated Scarecrows in Cornell’s original story and the official word is that Russell Davies had the idea to toss them in, because the story lacked a proper monster. Still, it’s kind of hard to not believe these shambling bags of hay might have been inspired by another Doctor Who novel, The Hollow Men by Keith Topping and Martin Day, which did in fact contain evil animated Scarecrows.

Um, yeah. Either way, the Scarecrows from the Series 3 story were simply animated soldiers, drummed up by the aliens who called themselves The Family of Blood, to lay siege to the school where The Doctor was hiding in human form thanks to a very special pocket watch and a device called the Chameleon Arch. Phew. Enough back story. Let’s look at the figure.

I know that there are a couple schools of thought on these guys. Some saw them as silly, some saw them as creepy. But then isn’t that the case with most Doctor Who aliens, both old and new? I rather liked these things and I’m particularly fond of the figure as well. It was actually released with a few different color variants. I have two Scarecrow figures, but they are both the same.

The sculpted detail on this figure is excellent. The colors are all… well, mostly brown and reddish brown and muted. The sculpting on the head bag is particularly well done, complete with a downturned, stitched mouth, angry eyes and the cord around the neck. The outfit is tattered and ill fitting, and I like the way the sculpted hay protrudes from the cuffs.

These are earlier CO efforts, so the articulation is lacking a few points that we are now used to seeing in the Doctor Who figures. This guy has rotating head, rotating shoulders, universal movement in the hips, hinged elbows and knees, and swivel cuts in the wrists and ankles. Conspicuously absent are the swivel cuts in the biceps and thighs that most Who figures have now. Still, not bad articulation, overall.

The Scarecrow is a pretty easy figure to find and fairly cheap too, which makes them good army builders if you are so inclined. I wouldn’t rank them up there as one of the more iconic monsters, and I wouldn’t say that they are a “must” for any Doctor Who collection, but they were well designed, creepy, and they left a lasting impression on me.

 

Aug 17 2010

Transformers The Hunt for The Decepticons: Hubcap by Hasbro

I don’t know how many Hunt for the Decepticon figures I’m going to actually pick up. I’m not keen on too many of the repaints (except maybe Jetblade), and I have no real interest in buying Deluxe versions of Ironhide and Ratchet when I already own the Voyager versions. There are, however, a number of interesting looking Scout Class figures in this lineup that I will no doubt buy, and the first is this little Autobot named Hubcap.

Hubcap comes on a simple card and mounted in his robot form. The packaging is serviceable, but very reminiscent of the Egyptian theme used for the Revenge of the Fallen toys, just colored more orange than red. As the packaging suggests, these figures are designed to fit in the “Bayformer” aesthetic (although as we saw a few posts back, Sea Spray is an exception to that rule). As usual, there’s a small bio blurb on the back of the package along with the character’s stats.

Hubcap’s alt mode is a vintage automobile. Its a pretty simple car without a lot of sculpting detail or paint apps. The body is somewhere between orange and red, the windows are painted black, and there’s gray exhaust pipes, bumpers and radiator grill. He’s also got a tiny little Autobot emblem right about where his hood ornament would be. Like i said, it’s simple, but still very appealing. It holds together well, although the seaming down the trunk is a little bit sloppy, and it rolls along great. I suppose Hasbro could have gotten a little more creative with the color scheme, but I’m sure they’re just saving that for an inevitable repaint.

Transforming Hubcap to and from his robot form is a breeze. He actually has one of the most simplest conversions I’ve seen in the movie based lineup. In fact it’s almost reminiscent of the simpler G1 styles. Nonetheless, Hubcap has a really great robot mode. He pretty much wears his car parts as armor and the robot underneath is two-tone gray. His head sculpt leaves a lot to be desired, but for a Scout, I guess it isn’t too bad.

Hubcap sports excellent articulation. He has ball joints in the neck, elbows and hips. He has universal joints in the shoulders and hinged knees and ankles.

For the most part, I’ve really enjoyed most of the Scout Class figures that came out of the movie lines, but Hubcap here has a special place in my heart. He has an unabashed G1 simplicity to him and yet once transformed he makes for a great action figure, and there’s something in me that loves a Transformer based on a vintage car. Hasbro really should do more of these. Either way, I really recommend picking up Hubcap. Even if you have been shying away from the movie based “Bayformers,” this cool little guy might be worth a look for you.

Aug 16 2010

MOTU Classics: Orko and Prince Adam by Mattel

It was with heavy heart that I ultimately decided not to subscribe to Matty’s Club Eternia for next year. Well, not really a heavy heart. For a while now, I’ve suspected the line would not have enough core characters left to make me want all the figures next year, and from early indicators (ie. 2011’s first figure being Bow from She-Ra… wow, really Matty? Really??) it looks like I was right. Granted, I am not the diehard Masters of the Universe fan that a lot of these figures are aimed at and I don’t have a pressing need to own every figure that comes out. As such, Orko and Prince Adam were among two of the last “must have” figures for me. There are still a few that I missed that I would like to own, and I’m still waiting for The Sorceress, but from here on in, I’ll be cherry picking the line carefully. Even if I wind up paying a little more for individual figures on Ebay, it’ll be less bother than having to sell off all the ones I don’t want.

Before getting into these figures, I should say that I have no idea if this set is still considered to be an SDCC exclusive or not. I know the shitty looking color change Orko was the one that was *only* available for sale at the show. This regular flavor Orko went up for sale on the Matty Collector site afterwards and quickly sold out. Is it still considered a Con exclusive? I have no idea. Probably not. There’s nothing on the package that says so.

Speaking of the package, I really hate the direction Matty went with on this set. Oh, the card and bubble and all that jazz are fine as they’re the same classic inspired deco used on the rest of the line and it still looks awesome. It also still comes in the traditional white mailer box. What I hate is the way Matty tried to be cute and put Adam on the bottom as an accessory and have tiny Orko hovering like a dot amidst all the waisted space. If I were a mint-on-card collector, this would have infuriated me to no end. Fortunately, I just tear it open to get at the goods inside. Either way, I think the presentation would have been better served with Orko mounted hovering next to Adam. Not as clever, but it would have looked a lot less ridiculous.

Let’s start with Orko, since its his name on the card. There were a lot of directions Matty could have gone in making this figure, but in the end I think they really nailed it. He’s perfectly in scale with the other figures, and the addition of the clear stand to give him a hovering effect is just what I was hoping they would do. The sculpt is spot on, with a striking resemblance to the Filmation character design. The blue skin tone on his hands and ears is perfect, the eyes and scarf look great. The only nitpick I can come up with is that there are quite a few shades of variation between the red used on his hat and his cloak. No big deal, though.

Orko has a decent amount of articulation for what he is. He has ball joints in his shoulders and elbows, his hands have swivel cuts, and I suppose you can count the ball and socket to his stand as a joint as it allows you to tweak the position he’s hovering in. Oh yeah, even his, erm… head is balljointed giving him more movement there than I would have expected.

Orko comes with two accessories: A wand and a spell book. His right hand is sculpted to hold the wand. As for the book, I can just about get him to hold it in both hands, but not easily. The wand is a wink back to the 200x Orko figure. I suppose you can count his stand as an accessory too.

Prince Adam is also a very nice figure. Once again, I think Matty hit all the right points on his design. They kept the controversial purple tights and purple furry diaper. His white shirt is painted on, which does look a little cheap around his neckline, but not too bad. His bracers are smaller than the ones on the He-Man figure, and they are painted silver. Matty went with a soft plastic tunic, similar to the type used on Teela and it works very well. I’m very glad they didn’t opt for using soft goods here. I would, however have liked a loop on the back of the tunic to hold his sword.

Adam comes with two interchangeable heads. One is pretty much the same as the one used for previous He-Man releases, the other is a resculpt that has him grinning. I like the sculpt on the grinning head as being more appropriate to the figure, but the skin tone is waxy and it looks like Adam is sweating profusely. The other head is fine, but I don’t think Adam should look that pissed off. I’ll have to decide between the lesser of two evils when displaying him. He also comes with one and a half power swords.

Adam’s articulation is typical for the line. He has a ball jointed neck, ball jointed shoulders and hips. His elbows, knees and ankles are all hinged. He has swivel cuts in his biceps, wrists and waist. He has the torso hinge, but the tunic prevents it form being much use. Unfortunately, the joints on my Adam are mighty loose right out of the package. Especially his ankles. I can tell right away he is going to be a shelf diver.

As mentioned at the beginning, this set sold out crazy fast when it went on sale at Matty Collector on the 2nd. That was, of course, to be expected, since even the regular figures sell out like mad. I was lucky enough to get in on a pre-order at another site (which also sold out shortly after) offering the set for $45. Honestly, I expected to get beaten up a lot worse on the price. Considering there are technically two figures here and how important the characters are, I don’t think I did too badly. Although in hindsight I would have done better on Ebay where he has been frequently selling for around $25-35. Live and learn. I’m just happy to have it, as these are both fantastic figures.

 

Aug 15 2010

Transformers The Hunt For The Decepticons: Sea Spray by Hasbro

The new Transformers are showing up all over the place here. Its taking all my resolve to resist picking up all the new stuff in one shot, but I’m trying to pace myself and just grab a couple new figures each time I hit the toy aisles. On my last trip to Walmart for groceries, I didn’t intend to pick up any new toys, but when I saw Sea Spray, I couldn’t help myself.

Ok, so technically Sea Spray is part of The Hunt for the Decepticons line. Its how he’s listed in retail inventories and that’s the style of packaging he comes in. But why? Clearly this guy should have been released as part of Generations. I’m guessing the reason is that Hasbro didn’t plan on anything in Generations being larger than a Deluxe, so it was just easier to go with The Hunt packaging. Either way, I consider Sea Spray as part of the whole Classics/Universe 2.0/Generations continuum. Besides being an obvious G1 homage, his style clearly doesn’t fit in with the movie stuff.

The Voyager Class figures in The Hunt lineup are packaged in robot form. I like this idea, because I get a good look at what the bot form looks like. Afterall, the alt modes are almost always solid. I’m not so crazy about package deco used on this line, though. It still looks like its hanging on to the Egyptian theme from Revenge of the Fallen and I really think its time to move on from that. The angular edges on the box does make the package stand out nicely and the package is pretty collector friendly if you want to return your figure to it for display.

The most obvious thing about Sea Spray is how much he’s grown since his humble G1 days as a minibot. As a Voyager, he stands shoulder to shoulder with Classics Optimus Prime. I don’t mind this so much, because despite being larger, Sea Spray’s proportions still work with the Classic style figures, whereas when fellow minibot Power Glide got the larger make over, he just didn’t seem to fit in with the Classics. Besides, which Sea Spray’s alt mode is designed to carry other Autobots, so his larger size just makes sense.

Sea Spray’s alt mode is a hover craft, and a good one at that. There isn’t a lot of substance to him as he’s pretty much hollow underneith and a good portion of him is the flatbed platform. The main bulk of the toy is the ring that runs around him and the control cabin. There’s a good amount of detail on the cabin structure, and the blue ring is textured. Sea Spray features two firing missile launchers, adjustable fans in the back, and a moving ramp to provide access to his flatbed. The flatbed will fit most Scout Class vehicles, but Minicons definitely work better. Overall, this is a great looking alt mode, and with the blue and white color scheme, he’s a good match for G1 Sea Spray, although he would have been closer if Hasbro had used yellow instead of gold for his fans.

In theory, transforming Sea Spray is pretty simple, but things get a bit sticky because of the way the blue ring locks together. Its tough to figure out where to disconnect it first to start the transformation. I’ve done it quite a few times, and locking/unlocking the final pieces always seems to be a little frustrating.

Sea Spray’s robot mode is outstanding. The proportions are excellent, making him look like one powerful dude and he has good balance. There’s a great deal of nautical influence in the robot mode as well. Sea Spray’s head is obviously derived from a diving mask complete with breathing aparatus, his back with the twin fans looks a bit like a diving backpack, and if you so desire, you can fold flippers out onto his feet. I just pretend that option doesn’t exist! The side mounted missile launchers from the hovercraft mode wind up on Sea Spray’s arms, giving him some solid firepower.

Articulation includes universal joints in Sea Spray’s shoulders and hips, as well as hinges in his elbows, knees and ankles. His head can also turn and you can make adjustments to his fans.

Sea Spray retails for $19.99, which is right on point for the Voyager size toys. As far as I’m concerned, Hasbro hit a home run with Sea Spray. The size change made good sense, and they made good use of it to create an impressively designed toy. He’s a nice update to the vintage character, loads of fun, and makes a great addition to my collection of Classics, er Generations, er whatever.


Aug 14 2010

GI JOE The Pursuit of Cobra: Ghost Hawk by Hasbro

The Rise of Cobra line was really starting to get long in the tooth, so its a good thing that the new Pursuit of Cobra toys are starting to hit the shelves. My last trip to Toys R Us didn’t net me any of the new carded figures, but the initial assortment of vehicles were out so I picked up the Ghost Hawk here. Obviously, the Ghost Hawk is supposed to be an update to the vintage Sky Hawk, which was re-released in the 25th Anniversary line under the new name, Ghost Hawk. When I saw the initial brief shots of this vehicle, I thought it was going to be a remold of that reissue, but as it turns out, this baby is a brand new toy, and one fantastic update to a classic design.

The Ghost Hawk is a one-man, short range verticle take off and landing attack craft. Just think of it as a tiny attack chopper without rotors and you get the idea. Its a pretty simple toy, but very well executed and it features a number of nice improvements over the old model.

The new Pursuit of Cobra packaging is fantastic. Its a pretty simple window box, showing off the toy and the figure, but I love the way Hasbro has themed each of the toys into a type of mission and then decorated the package with that theme. The Ghost Hawk is part of the Jungle Attack mission, which apparently entails hunting for the location of the Terrordrome base in the jungle. [No fair, Hasbro. Don’t drop the name unless you plan on releasing the playset!]. This year, Hasbro is taking a page from their defunct Indiana Jones line and having the toy box’s inserts convert into dioramas. I don’t have a lot of use for the gimmick, but its a nice idea. The Ghost Hawk comes mostly assembled, but with a whole mess of stickers that need applying. And some of those stickers are ridiculously tiny.

Once out of the package, the Ghost Hawk is ready for action. The toy features rotating engines, an opening cockpit and two detachable weapon pods on the undercarriage. One is a missile launcher, the other is a chain gun. The missile is ridiculously long, but if you’d rather have realism over play features, you can remove it and launcher could double as just an extra fuel pod or a bomb or something. There’s also two chin cannons under the cockpit that can swivel a bit from side to side. That’s about all the features this thing has. Like I said, its a simple toy, but the beauty is in the design.

The sculpting on the vehicle is extremely well done. There are lots of panel lines on the hull and every inch of the toy is brimming with details.The Pursuit of Cobra line definitely looks like its going for realism in the sculpts, even if they are based on fictional vehicle designs. The original Sky Hawk featured a completely open cockpit, and the reissue had clear plastic added, but this new model has an enclosed, armored cockpit with a small red tinted clear window. There’s also a sticker to go inside that shows a digital Heads Up Display on this screen. I also like the new streamlined stablizers in the back, as opposed to the big square ones on the old model as well as the modernized VTOL engines.

The Ghost Hawk’s pilot is called Tomahawk. He’s a pretty nice figure, especially for a pack-in, but I hate the name. Hasbro must really be taking a beating with the copyrights on their character names, because they’ve come up with some real stinkers lately. Tomahawk has a removable helmet and flight vest and he comes with a combat knife that can fit into the scabbard sculpted onto his leg. No gun or stand, though. Right away, he reminded me of 25th Anni. Mutt and after comparing the two I see its because they share the same bottom half. The only difference is Mutt’s holster has been resculpted into a scabbard for Tomahawk.

In case you haven’t guessed, I’m really happy with this vehicle. Its an Alpha Class toy, so it retails at around $16.99. I think its a much better value than the Alpha Class toys from Rise of Cobra, all of which I passed on. The Sky Hawk was always a favorite of mine, and this is an awesome redesign that brings a lot of realism and grit to the original concept without sacrificing anything that made it so cool to begin with.

Aug 13 2010

Transformers War for Cybertron: Optimus Prime by Hasbro

I don’t play a lot of video games these days. Well, at least not nearly as much as I used to back in my game junkie days. But I did pick up War for Cybertron and I played it like crack until I was done and then started it all over again. Besides being a great game, it really brought the characters to life and featured some downright fantastic re-designs of some of my favorite childhood characters. Needless to say, when I found out that some of these designs would be transformed into figures for the Generations line, I was mighty excited. The initial assortment features Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, and today we’re going to look at Prime.

Hasbro opted to include these in the Generations line so you get the exact same style of package as we saw with Thrust. Prime is mounted in his Cybertron truck form. Its a very appealing presentation, but I would have liked something different about the card to make the War for Cybertron figures stand out a bit more. Even a sticker on the bubble might have been nice. Then again, I just rip these things open, so what do I care?



But wait, what’s this? Optimus Prime’s a Deluxe? Yeah, that doesn’t happen too often, and I don’t think it should have happened here. Granted, in the game, Prime wasn’t much taller than his fellow Autobots, but I still think Hasbro should have made this figure a Voyager Class. Not only because Prime is usually taller, but for reasons of the figure’s complexity that we’ll get to in a minute. With the popularity and press about the game, you’d think some Voyager sized toys wouldn’t have been that big risk. I mean, even Sea Spray is a Voyager so… come on!

I love the design of Prime’s truck mode. Its got a retro look to it, what with the curving shape of the front quarter panels and the grill, and yet it still looks futuristic. Its also got no windows, which makes sense, because, afterall, in his natural Cybertron form, why would he have windows? The truck mode locks together really well and rolls along great. There’s a socket on the top that you can peg his gun into, which is great because in the game, all the Autobots packed quite a bit of firepower in their alternate forms.


Transforming Prime is a daunting task, at least the first couple of times. The package lists him as a Level 4 Advanced conversion, and they’re not kidding around. There’s a lot of moving parts on this guy and more than a few double hinged pieces that need to be moved just right to get everything else to work. I can usually work out my Transformers without instructions, especially Deluxes, but I had to glance at Prime’s a few times to get it right. Still, after a few conversions, he’s not so bad. In fact, this is one of the more clever transformations I’ve seen in a while.

In robot mode, Prime is just a fantastic looking figure. In fact, he’s one of my favorite looking Prime figures in quite a while. His head sculpt is classic Prime, but with a few more stylized features, like the longer ear antenna. I like how this design leaves in the chest “windshields” even though they aren’t part of the truck design. The various bits of the truck’s outer shell fall into line nicely to form pieces of armor for his shoulders and non-obtrusive back plating. Its a really elegant design and a really convincing concept of what a pre-Earth Prime should have looked like.

Prime has great articulation, which includes a rotating head, ball joints in the shoulders and hips and hinged elbows and knees. His joints feel pretty loose right out of the package, but he doesn’t have much trouble standing or holding his positions.


Cybertronian Optimus Prime retails for around $11.99, which is about right for Deluxes these days and actually not bad for a figure of this complexity. Actually, he’s an amazing enough figure that I would have probably paid a lot more for him if I had to. I sincerely hope he sells well, because I’d like to see a lot of figures produced from the War for Cybertron game beyond the handful that we’ve seen so far. The early pictures for Soundwave look great. Now bring on the Seekers, Warpath, Ironhide, Sideswipe, etc. etc.

 

Aug 12 2010

Transformers Generations: Thrust by Hasbro

When Hasbro came out with Starscream and Skywarp in the Classics line, I thought they were among some of the best Transformers figures ever produced… and I still do. They took the classic design of the G1 toys and made them into the actual articulated action figures that I always wanted to own as a kid. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in being pissed off that Hasbro decided not to complete the set with Thundercracker. And even when we did get Ramjet later on, Dirge and Thrust were nowhere to be found, unless you lived in Japan or were willing to drop a couple hundred dollars for them on Ebay.

Well, with the Classics line once again renamed (this time as Generations), we are finally getting another Decepticon Seeker here in the States. While I would have preferred Thundercracker to complete my set of the original three, Thrust here is still a very nice pick-up. Let’s take a look…

I like the packaging on the Generations Deluxe figures. Yes, Generations. What used to be Classics and then Universe (Universe 2.0 to many fans) is now Generations. The cards feature unique character art, and the large bubble shows off the figure nicely in its jet mode, although its kind of odd that he’s carded with his VTOL engines mounted under the back wings. The back panel has a photo of Thrust in his robot mode and the usual little bio blurb. There’s a new sticker on the bubble advertising Hasbro’s upcoming TV network, which will be the home of the new Transformers series. Ah, but packaging was made to be ripped open, so let’s get to the figure inside.

Thrust is one great looking jet. The brown and deep crimson colors are extremely close to the original G1 toy and the clear golden cockpit looks striking against the darker colors. The main body of this figure is naturally a reuse of the Ramjet body, with the new wing designs, complete with removable VTOL engine pods. You can also mount Thrust’s rocket launchers under the rear wings if you prefer. Next to Skywarp, Thrust here is now my favorite of the modern Decepticon seeker jet designs.

Converting Thrust to robot form is fairly simple, but I’m not sure I would agree with the package in calling it Easy. Especially not since these are designed for little kids. Either way, he transforms exactly the same way as the other Seekers, until you get to his wings and there you have a couple of options. You can transform him the same as Starscream or Skywarp, or you can remove the VTOLs from his larger wings and mount them on the smaller wings near his feet. Going with this second option gives him a little more clearance for moving his arms.

Either way, Thrust looks awesome in his robot mode. Hasbro did a fine job making this figure resemble its original animated counterpart. As with the other newly designed Seekers, I do wish the missiles weren’t so large. I realize its a safety issue, but I would have preferred they just molded these into non-firing laser cannons to make them smaller and more animation accurate. Still, with a figure this good, I’m just nit picking. Thrust has solid articulation. He can turn his head. He has universal movement in his shoulders and upper legs, and his elbows and knees are hinged. Essentially, he can do all the things I wished my G1 Seekers could do.

Thrust retails at $11.99. The price of the Deluxe figures are slowly creeping up there, but I don’t think they’ve reached unreasonable levels yet. That’s especially the case when you take a look at how much the Henkei Thrust was selling for on Ebay or import toy sites. Either way, I’m really happy with this figure and I’ve got new hope that we may yet still see Dirge and Thundercracker on this side of the Pacific.

Aug 12 2010

Transformers Power Core Combiners: Skyburst by Hasbro

Not long ago, I took a look at the Combaticons Power Core Combiner set, now its time to check out the Autobot competition: The Aerialbots, led by Skyburst. In case you missed out on the Combaticon post, here’s a quick breakdown on how these Power Core Combiner 5-packs work. You get one Commander figure (roughly Scout Class size) in this case that’s Skyburst, who transforms into a robot. He comes with four smaller drones that don’t transform into robots, but do automatically convert into limbs when plugged into the Commander figure’s combiner pegs to create a larger combined robot. With that out of the way, let’s take a look at the Aerialbots.

The packaging is the same as the one used on the Combaticon set. Its colorful, exciting, and pretty pleasing on the eye. The front panel of the box has a large window to show off the toys inside. Skyburst is mounted in the center in his robot form and flanked by his four nameless drones in their vehicle forms. There are two helicopters and two jets. The back panel shows the combined figure and there’s a description on the side panel about how the whole Power Core Combiner system works. All in all, its a serviceable package and its fairly collector friendly if you wanted to return your Transformers to the box. I do, however, disagree with the conversion level at Intermediate. There’s nothing even remotely challenging about transforming Skyburst.

On my last trip to Toys R Us, I specifically left this set on the shelf and bought the Combaticons instead, just because I thought this one was the lesser of the two sets. That assessment, of course, was based just on quick initial impressions, but boy was I right. While the Combaticon set pretty much sold me on this whole iffy drone combiner idea, this Aerialbot set makes me start questioning it again. There’s just very little to like about it.

Skyburst is a pretty average figure. His jet mode looks like it was inspired by G1 Silverbolt. Its not a bad looking jet, although I’m not thrilled about the drab gray and gold colors. There’s some decent sculpting of the panel lines, the landing gear works, and unless you turn it upside down, you won’t see too much robot kibble. The minicon peg on the back of the jet is unsightly, but I guess its part of the line’s gimmick. One nice thing is that he doesn’t have any of his combiner pegs hanging off of him like Bombshock’s truck mode does.

His transformation is pretty simple even for a Scout Class, which have been getting remarkably sophisticated these days. But even compared to the Combaticon Commander, Skyburst comes up severely lacking in robot mode. He wears most of his jet mode as an enormous backpack, which apart from giving him the illusion of height, just looks ugly. Apart from that at least his articulation is fairly good, with ball joints in the shoulders, elbows and hips, and hinges in the knees. Even still, Skyburst’s robot mode just doesn’t hold up all that well to today’s standards. I’ve certainly seen worse, but its just average and uninspiring.




I wasn’t terribly impressed with the Combaticon drones, but they were ok for what they were. The Aerialbot drones don’t fare quite so well. The blue helicopter gunship is just a mess. The yellow (rescue?) chopper is ok, but it almost looks like its supposed to be superdeformed. The black and grey jet would be passable if it weren’t for the huge and unnecessary minicon peg towering up from behind the cockpit and the massive hole between the wings. At least the white electronic survaillance jet is a pretty cool little Autobot jet. I really don’t have anything bad to say about that one.

At least the combined robot form is solid right? Eh, no. While I expect combiner robots to have a hodgepodge element to their aesthetics, Skyburst’s combined form really goes too far. The white jet makes for a pretty good arm, but look at the yellow helicopter’s limb. What the hell is going on with that thing? Its just awful. And both of the legs are wobbly and unstable and I had to do quite a bit of fiddling to get him to stand up right on these legs, even though they are supposed to auto-transform. The chopper leg doesn’t offer a lot of support and I’m still not sure what the jet leg is really supposed to do to be correct. I also had a real tough time getting the grey jet pegged into his combiner port without transforming it manually first. Skyburst’s torso form is actually not too bad. Its a clever transformation and pegs together well. I do, however, hate the head as it seems to be inspired by the Bayformer heads, whereas Bombshock’s was clearly a G1 homage.

In the end this Aerialbot set is an epic fail for me. I could forgive certain things about Skyburst and his drones, if they added up to a really cool combined form, but they don’t. This set just doesn’t really succeed at anything. If you were on the fence over whether or not to embrace these Power Core Combiner sets, this one will likely make up your mind against the idea. Bombshock’s set made for a pretty cool and solid combiner, whereas this one is just not very well executed and not a lot of fun. I’m glad TRU was having a sale on it, because at least I saved $2. My recommendation is to invest your money in some of the other awesome Transformers figures showing up right now, and leave this set on the shelf.